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Yue fu (Chinese poetry)

LC control no.sh 85149438
LC classificationPL2309.Y8 History
PL2519.Y8 Collections
Topical headingYue fu (Chinese poetry)
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Variant(s)Yuefu (Chinese poetry)
Yüeh fu (Chinese poetry)
See alsoChinese poetry
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Found inBritannica Macro.: v. 16, p. 233 (yüeh fu)
Wikipedia, Aug. 13, 2012: Yuefu (Yuefu (traditional Chinese: 樂府; simplified Chinese: 乐府; pinyin: yuèfǔ) are Chinese poems composed in a folk song style. The term originally literally meant "Music Bureau", a reference to the imperial Chinese governmental organization(s) originally charged with collecting or writing the lyrics, later the term yuefu was applied to later literary imitations or adaptations of the Music Bureau's poems. Note that the use of fu in yuefu is different than the other Chinese term fu, referring to a type of poetry or literature: although homonyms in English, the other fu (traditional Chinese: 賦; simplified Chinese: 赋; pinyin: fù) instead refers to a rhapsodic poetry/prose form of literature.)
Britannica online, Aug. 13, 2012 (yuefu, Wade-Giles romanization yüeh-fu, form of Chinese poetry derived from the folk-ballad tradition. The yuefu takes its name from the Yuefu ("Music Bureau") created in 120 bc by Wudi of Han for the purpose of collecting songs and their musical scores for ceremonial occasions at court. The music for these songs was later lost, but the words remained, forming a collection of Han dynasty (206 bc--ad 220) folk poetry that served as the basis of the yuefu form. These poems were significant because they consisted of lines of varying lengths, some having a regular form of five syllables per line rather than the then-standard four-syllable line. The yuefu thus broke ground for the later classic gushi ("ancient-style poetry"), with its broader use of rhyme and fewer metrical restrictions. Many later writers, including the great Li Bai (701--762) and Bai Juyi (772--846), continued to create poems derived from the yuefu tradition.)