Identification in Bai Juyi’s “Song of a Pipa Player”
Keywords:
Identification by sympathy, identification by antithesis, and identification by inaccuracy, Formal identification, “Song of a Pipa Player”, Kenneth BurkeAbstract
In the context of globalization, Chinese literature has stepped into the world and is favored by a number of foreigners. “Song of a Pipa Player” [1] is a representative work of Tang poetry, a brilliant part of traditional Chinese literature. This study, applying the theory of identification, analyzes its elements of both content identification and formal identification in “Song of a Pipa Player.” The results show that the poet uses identification by sympathy, identification by antithesis, and identification by inaccuracy to build identification with the pipa player with the assistance of repetition, repetitive form, and progressive form. This study demonstrates that these strategies not only convey his appreciation to the pipa player but also deepen the connection in their souls.
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