Pursuit of Poetry: The Forbidden City

This two-class series explains the importance of poetry in the Qing Dynasty Court and helps students write poetry, using objects from the exhibit and examples of Chinese poetry as inspiration. The first class is done the week before the exhibit, while one of the two options for the second class is done the week after the exhibit.

Class One:

The overall goals of this class are to:

• preview selected images from the "Secret World of the Forbidden City" to stimulate interest for the show and to generate a sense of belonging at the museum;
• introduce ideas about Chinese civilization, its art and poetry;
• encourage students to see poetry as a game, an activity to enjoy frequently;
• assist students to use poetry to perceive objects in a new way; and
• stimulate imagination to use language more expressively in general.

During this class students will:

• hear a short poem in the Chinese (Mandarin) language;
• hear several Chinese poems in English translation;
• hear of several "forms" used in Chinese poetry (although the requirements or formal poetry are not the subject of this class; forms are only mentioned);
• know how poetry became integral to life in the Chinese Court;
• write a group poem;
• write one or two individual poems;
• see pictures of items from the museum show;
• have a poetry project to stimulate their attention during the tour.

General Outline of the Class
(to be adapted depending on grade and related curricula):

1. Introduction to show and Chinese art.
2. Story: "How Poetry Became a National Sport" This is the story of how Wu Zhao became empress during the Tang Dynasty and why she made poetry essential to the civil service exam. Consequently, people began to practice writing poems all the time so that it became a common recreation. Chinese practiced poetry the way Michael Jordan practices basketball, Tiger Woods practices golf or Venus Williams practices tennis.
3. Games Chinese played with poetry: the "shih" and "t'zu (or ci)" forms and the importance of couplets. The only form explained will be couplets: contrast in sounds and content, with an example in Chinese from Li Bai.
4. Rhythm game done in class to stir students to improvise, as well as to stretch and use their vocabularies. (This game may be skipped for older students.)
5. Group poem based on Chinese poem. Often students are more relaxed if they are only responsible for one line of a group poem. The assigned couplets will push students to use imagery to express who they are or aspire to be.
6. Each student will try writing a couplet or a poem based on three couplets. (These usually will be shared in the second class, not during this class.)
7. Distribute a hand-out with a few examples of short Chinese poems written about knights, dresses, or on paintings to show how poetry was used to look at everything. I will ask students to look for an item at the exhibit and suggest they write a similar poem in the voice of that object or in the voice of someone using the object.
8. Distribute poems by the Emperor Kangxi, who is portrayed in the exhibit, as well as Chinese poems used in class.

Optional exercises:

1. In the art exhibit there is a character for "longevity" made up of butterflies. We will use this to write five-line poems that combine unusual words for contrasts in form and content. Write a poem to a song melody (a modern-day "t'zu")
2. Write a poem to match an assigned inflection.

Items used in class include:

• five posters from exhibit
• replica of Qing flower painting mounted on brocade scroll
• sample items from a scholar's study
• print copies of several paintings inscribed with poems
• page of poems relating to exhibit for distribution

Class Two (Option One):

The objectives of this class are to:

• continue experience of poetry using Chinese examples;
• experience sense of rhythm in poetry without resorting to formalized meters;
• introduce idea of participation in history of poetry;
• introduce ideas about translation of languages.

During this class students will:

• learn what a Chinese "t'zu (or ci)" poem is;
• write a modern "t'zu (or ci)" poem;
• hear several Chinese poems in English translation;
• write a poem in response to Chinese poets;
• try translating a Chinese poem.

General outline of class:

1. Ask for a sharing of poems written at the museum.
2. Explain "t'zu (or ci)" poems, the practice of writing own words to popular music.
3. Play a recording of a Chinese traditional song and have students write a poem based on assigned theme.
4. Explain tradition of "answering" or using famous poems, with two examples from Li Bai and Tu Fu.
5. Distribute sheet with poem by Wang Wei with Chinese characters and literal translation, and have students try to write a poem to make it a poetic translation.
6. Have students write poems that respond to a line by Tu Fu, Han Shan or Su Tungpo.

Items used in this class include:

• scrolls and posters used in first class
• sample items from a scholar's study: ink stone, brushes, weights, brush holder, seal;
• page of poems used in class

Class Two (Option Two):

The objectives of this class are to:

• emphasize how art and word are integrated in Chinese art
• introduce the art form of Chinese calligraphy
• explain the significance of seals in Chinese art

In this class students will:
• know the names and be able to distinguish three Chinese calligraphic styles;
• know how to hold a brush for Chinese brush painting and how that brush differs from those used in Western watercolor or oil painting;
• do characters in Seal Script and Cursive Script;
• do the character for "art" in Cursive Script on rice paper;
• draw a Chinese seal on their work

General Outline of Class:

1. Sharing of poems written in the first class or at museum.
2. Quote section from Kangxi's biography about why he practiced calligraphy.
3. Demonstrate three styles of Chinese calligraphy.
4. Hand out brushes, ink and paper and have students do the character for "water" in the two styles, teaching the different ways the brush is held and used for each style.
5. Demonstrate the Cursive Script for "art" and let students do this character on rice paper.
6. Explain how seals were used in Chinese art and show examples of seals for four of the Five Virtues (longevity, health, wealth, knowledge of virtue)
7. Have students paint a seal on their calligraphic art.

Items used for this class include:

• scrolls and posters used in first class
• sample items from a scholar's study
• brushes for calligraphy
• newsprint paper for practice calligraphy
• rice paper for student work
• red ink pens for doing seals