Japanese / Chinese poetry question

[JapanPoetry]

Lately, I’ve been reading an old text in Japanese. It's an autobiographical account, written by a Japanese male who was educated in the late Edo period. At one point in the text, the man includes something he wrote that he calls “a Chinese-style” poem. The writer gives only the opening several lines of the poem, which he says he composed in his youth and has largely forgotten. He adds that his family was very poor, so the theme of his poem was 二十四貧 (twenty-four aspects of poverty). So, presumably there were 24 lines in total to this poem, with each line ending in 貧 (poverty).

Below are the first three lines. (The original was written vertically; here it is horizontal, left to right):

貧士処貧不辞貧
三尺炉辺守清貧
負米自比子路貧

My questions:
First, I wonder....is 7 characters per line x 24 lines a prescribed form of classical Chinese poetry, and, if so, is there a name for such a 24-line style?

Also, what about the way the writer ends each line with the same word? Is this also a prescribed form with a name?

I want to find out more, but I haven't been able to find anything similar to this poem. None of my Japanese colleagues here can help me out, and I don't know Chinese. I’d appreciate any information.

[lawpark]

I cannot see what you have posted as image for some reasons. Not an expert in Chinese poetry myself ... but the style you describe as most probably NOT a classical form. It might be some form of later (yes Edo period is very late ...) vernacular word-play-style poem (or, rather, "song") intended for easy memory.

[JBI]

7 characters is a Chinese metre, but I'll pipe in. Literacy in Japan started in Chinese, and in the Heian mixed with localized form - this was rooted in several things, women were using local language, and men couldn't figure out Chinese properly. Likewise if you look at who are considered major Chinese poets from a Japanese perspective, they don't match with Chinese poets, and they generally are more attuned to Japanese then Chinese senses of poetry. For instance, Du Mu the Chinese poet would be a major figure in Japanese poetics.

That aside, Chinese poetry and education held a purpose at court - if you look at something like the Tale of Genji, people are always throwing poems out at each other - poetry was more of a social exercise than an art form, and skill in Chinese language marked an educated man - the first Anthology was more or less in Chinese.

However Japanese language is very different, so two traditions divided, for the poet to be writing in Chinese style, it implies not only a difference in form, but also language - there are several ways to read a Japanese character - a Chinese style poem would use a Chinese-rooted, rather than local rooted reading of a character (word). In the Edo period, this was not as common place s earlier times, hence why the poet decided to declare it, rather than just write it. The whole narrative gestures to "In my youth during my study," by the idea of poverty, and Chinese education, which is crossed with neo-Confucian philosophies.

Basically it implies more on the word order (classical Chinese syntax) with Chinese-rooted readings of the characters. As for ending everything with the same character, that is not common at all in Chinese poetry, especially for 20 or so lines straight.

[JapanPoetry]

Since the jpg image file did not display properly, I have replaced the jpg file with Chinese characters, which seem to display OK.

[lawpark]

See it now. Doesn't affect my comments. What JBI says is right - "As for ending everything with the same character, that is not common at all in Chinese poetry"

[yuka]

Truely it is not commen in Chinese poetry to end each line with the same word. Judging from this 3lines you posted here, the poem can not be counted into Chinese classical poetry, it's wording is too modern, and it doesn't fit the metric pattern. If you must give it a name, then you can call it 7 characters verse. Actually, it’s somewhat like a doggerel verse, but not much humor within it.

[JBI]

Truely it is not commen in Chinese poetry to end each line with the same word. Judging from this 3lines you posted here, the poem can not be counted into Chinese classical poetry, it's wording is too modern, and it doesn't fit the metric pattern. If you must give it a name, then you can call it 7 characters verse. Actually, it’s somewhat like a doggerel verse, but not much humor within it.

Chinese style poetry means poetry modeled off of the Chinese language - it is an established convention in Japanese which is routed in translation of Tang poets, and then localization of their work.

[yuka]

I just tried to suggest a name for such a 24-lines style in Chinese poety. If that's a standard classical Chinese poetry with 7 characters per line X 24 lines, we'll call it Gu Feng)(Shi) or (Lü Shi), but 24-line-Lv Shi not so commen in Chinese poetry. And many Chineses style poetries from Japan just model the style after that of classical Chinese poetry, but really lacking of the Shenyun(Chinese).