This is the speech of a friend in Baidu Tieba, and I will give you the original text:
Part 1: What is a couplet?
This question, as long as it is Friends who come here to hang out, everyone has their own answer. Everyone has different understandings of couplets, but after all, they can tell the idea of ????Chou Yinmao. The answer is nothing more than "Couplets, also known as couplets or pairs, are written on paper, The couplets written on cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood, or pillars have simple and profound meanings, neat contrasts, and coordinated levels. They are a unique art form of the Chinese language with one word and one sound." (Quoted from Baidu Encyclopedia) However, I always feel that this kind of answer cannot go deep into it. It is just superficial and does not really express the essence of the couplet.
Do you know "Yin and Yang"? Well, of course, these two words are too profound and complicated. I mentioned these two words just to express a thought. Yin and Yang are an opposition, two opposite attributes. It is the great dialectical thought of the Chinese people. Heaven and earth, sun and moon, up and down, male and female, black and white, high and low. Whether it is in nature or at the social level, everything is related in a relative way. form exists in the universe. The brilliance of this kind of thinking is that, first, it can look at things comprehensively and grasp the whole picture of things as a whole, and second, it can see the characteristics of each. Only in this way can we observe the universe comprehensively and thoroughly. The view of yin and yang includes correlation, universality, relativity, and divisibility. Yin and yang interact with each other, oppose each other, restrict each other, rely on each other, balance growth and decline, and transform each other.
Everyone is familiar with the yin and yang fish. This is a very vivid, simple pattern of black and white, with the head and tail intertwined. The two transform and complement each other. The true meaning can only be understood by oneself.
After briefly introducing the word "yin and yang", I really feel that the couplet is the most perfect embodiment of "yin and yang" in literature. The upper and lower couplets are divided into yin and yang. The two cannot be separated and merge into one. I will not go into details about the separation of scenes, gassing of hands, and the inappropriate weight of the upper and lower couplets. You can find a lot of them on the Internet. A good couplet is a text version of the image of yin and yang fish. Friends who are interested can search for related terms such as "Tai Chi" and "Yin Yang". From the perspective of "right", the upper and lower lines are opposite, that is, they are equal, matched, and relative, competing with each other. The strength of the two is equal, and they are matched against each other. Do you understand? There are high and low things, but it does not mean that high is necessarily better than low. That's it, even if it's good or bad, you can't compare which one is superior. On the one hand, it's because they complement each other. On the other hand, they are transformable. It can even be said that they are one in themselves, just two appearances of the same thing. I guess I don't understand. hey-hey. Let’s talk about it next. From the perspective of “coupling”, the upper and lower couplets are a unified whole. This unity is a high-level unity, because it is not only the unity of the number of words, rhythm, and parts of speech, but also the overall scene, Emotional unity, even if it is divided into chants, is no exception. Of course, there are also alternative things like the ruthless pair, and there are exceptions to everything. However, even the ruthless pair follows a kind of consistency, coordination, harmony, and the beauty of the unity of opposites. If you're interested, I'll talk to you later.
Next, I want to talk about the DNA double helix structure, the electronic stable structure, and the system of attack and acceptance and couplets. Dear readers, if you are not interested in the first two parts, you can skip it and look directly at attack and reception. Let me first talk about the double helix structure of DNA. This thing sounds very profound. I will only take a little bit of it that is related to the couplet and share it with you. Don’t be afraid. DNA is composed of two chains, just like a zipper. Each chain has many teeth. There are four kinds of teeth on DNA. We named them A\T\G\C, among which A-T and G-C match and complement each other. Able to match the upper teeth. Therefore, as long as we know the structure of one chain, we can infer the structure of the other chain, and then synthesize it artificially (semi-conservative replication). Speaking of which, you smart people have already understood the meaning. Aren’t these the upper and lower lines of the couplet? ! Of course, I am not saying that after the first line is determined, the second line will be fixed, and there is only one and only answer. I want to show that everything has certain rules and is carried out according to certain rules. This is true from the molecular structure of living things to "wordplay". In fact, this can also be restored to the "yin and yang" theory mentioned above, so I won't go into details.
The following is the electron stable structure, also called the 8-electron stable structure. Simply put, there are electrons rotating around the outside of the atom, but these electrons are at different levels. Finally, the electrons in the outer layer Generally, it becomes stable only when the number reaches 8. But except for some inert gases, most atoms do not have 8 electrons outside and need to be combined with other atoms to use electrons to be stable. For example, the outermost shell of water, H?O, and oxygen has 6 electrons, borrowing two electrons from hydrogen to achieve a stable structure. This is also a kind of complementarity, a kind of unified beauty. In fact, it doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. Just understand it this way. Hydrogen and oxygen are flammable and explosive when put together in a certain ratio. However, when the two are closely combined, they become water. This is also a kind of Convert. For couplets, you may not be able to see the beauty of a simple sentence. When the upper and lower couplets are put together, unexpected changes may occur and a qualitative leap will be achieved. Then, let’s talk about attack and reception. This is also a kind of combination, complementation, and unity. Maybe each of them is a one-winged angel, falling to the world, trying to find the other half. Finally one day, they are perfectly combined and achieve A paradise for the soul. This is just a joke, just to show that everything is a unity of opposites, men and women are unified, and men and men are also unified. Another example is 1 and 0. Some people think it is attack and reception, and some people think it is like learning numbers in kindergarten. IT professionals may think it is a string of information and will not elaborate further. If you are interested, search for "Binary System and Chinese Gossip", it's good. I didn’t expect to write so much in the first part. In fact, in the final analysis, the couplet contains extremely profound concepts, which is completely consistent with the unity of opposites in philosophy. The above are just some more distinctive examples. Take a drink of water and prepare to enter the second part
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Part 2 The difference between couplets and other literary forms There are many literary forms, including novels, prose, poetry, and drama. Each sentence form has its own characteristics and its own unique advantages. Couplets are special in two main aspects. First, the threshold is low, simple and easy to learn. Second, it is interesting and game-like.
First, the threshold is low, simple and easy to learn. Personally, I feel that literature is an elegant thing after all. The wheat in the fields is not finished yet, so you can’t have the heart to sit down at your desk and write. This is different from a song, because you can hum a tune while cutting the wheat. However, engaging in literature usually requires a relatively quiet environment. That’s all. More importantly, whether it is novels, essays, poetry, or dramas, relatively speaking, they have relatively high requirements for authors. For example, novels may make people think that they are just an editor, but how to create a full and full story? characters, arrange reasonable plots, describe typical situations, how to foreshadow, how to create suspense, and how to exaggerate emotions. Will you? When writing prose, it's often written in a way that's loose in form and even loose in spirit. Poetry, do you understand the basic format and the wording? That’s it. There are many types of poetry, both at home and abroad, including quatrains, Yuefu poems, and sonnets. Whether they rhyme or not, what is fubixing, what is omission, what is inversion, these are all. Not to mention drama, let alone writing, I can’t even understand it. Most of the time, we force ourselves to express our sorrow over writing new words. Occasionally, we feel a little worried but can’t explain it clearly.
However, couplets are much simpler in comparison. Basically mastering the rhythm is easy, because the general requirements for couplets are six aspects, and the number of words in 1 is equal. Needless to say, you can count. It will. 2. The parts of speech are equivalent, and 3. the structure is equivalent. This is noun to noun, verb to verb. You can understand it as soon as you say it. 4 Rhythm Correspondence, 5 Level and Oblique Harmony require a little effort to learn. 6 The content is related, which is basically easy to understand, as long as the upper and lower lines are not too different. So, I feel that, in the final analysis, the most difficult thing for getting started is the issue of meter. Spend some time and in just ten minutes you can learn the flat and oblique tones, regular patterns, declensions, triple oblique sounds, heavy characters and so on. Therefore, the threshold is extremely low, and, often, I can write couplets even if I don’t understand ping and lei and don’t understand meter. You can write something by just picking up some romance, or you can copy something from Tang poetry and Song lyrics. Moreover, most literati have a bit of "love" in their hearts, and they all feel that they have a bit of ink in their stomachs. Couplets seem to be the most suitable channel to express and show themselves. In particular, there are some special forms such as palindrome pairs, glass pairs, connected-edge pairs, five-element pairs, split-character pairs, etc. It seems that this can better demonstrate one's intelligence.
In addition, the length of couplets is very short, ranging from one or two words to more than ten, usually five or seven words. They can be blurted out and can be thought about for a while. In short, compared with other literary forms, they are really simple and cannot be simpler. Therefore, women and children all know that couplets are both elegant and popular. When you see a leaf falling while waiting for the bus, you can write a sentence. If the food is salty after eating, write one sentence. If you drink too much, write one sentence. If you sober up, write one sentence. Anytime, anywhere. Write whatever you want. It is precisely because sometimes it feels like many people are a little lost. The writing has no formula, but the words are full of true feelings, which seems to be the best-sounding shield. In fact, strictly speaking, what you wrote is not a couplet.
Second. Fun and game-like. This is another characteristic of the couplet. Compared with other literary forms, a couplet has a sentence above and a sentence below, one person writes a sentence and the other person makes a couplet. Highly interesting. Of course, for example, poetry can also be based on a certain thing, and everyone can write it to see who can write it better. In couplets, in addition to chanting things, it is more common for one person to write a sentence, and everyone to respond. appear naturally. The scenes of close combat and tit-for-tat confrontation were extremely spectacular. There are many interesting stories about couplets by Su Shi and Ji Xiaolan in history, but such stories about poetry and prose are extremely rare. Of course, any literary form is used to express one's feelings and show oneself. It's fine as a game, you can play it after dinner, but you can't put the cart before the horse. The couplet itself is extremely serious. It also has its own fixed format and certain requirements. It's not a simple trick, it's not a simple literary game. You don’t have to understand or not learn, but you can’t talk nonsense. You can say whatever you want and people can forgive you, but it can't always be like this. If you really like it, then I suggest you have an in-depth understanding and in-depth study. I go to the bathroom and get ready for part three.
Part Three Couplets and Music Couplets are about meter and rhythm, so what is rhythm and what is meter? In fact, it is connected with music. Here, I don’t talk about Ping Shang Lu Enter, I don’t talk about Yin Ping and Yang Ping, I don’t talk about Fanqie, I don’t talk about Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng and Yu, and I don’t talk about the C major scale. Because these things are just popular forms, dry and dry, I can’t explain them, and you can’t understand them either. Moreover, these things themselves are my personal understanding. I just want to say that couplets and music are connected and have rhythm. The novel may be mainly read, but the couplets are not only read but also read aloud. I don’t know how well you understand music, but I really feel that art is the same. If you have musical talent, I think it is relatively easy to master the rhythm of couplets. It doesn't matter if you don't know anything about music. At least, you have some songs you like to listen to and some songs you don't like to listen to. And those songs you don’t like to listen to are often because the melody doesn’t suit your taste, not because the lyrics are bad. Think about JAY’s songs. When you listen to them for the first time, you can’t hear what they are singing, but you just feel inexplicable. It sounds great. You should listen to it first, and then pay attention to the beauty of the lyrics. Moreover, there are some world-famous songs that are just a string of melodies without lyrics, and they will make you mesmerized. This is the charm of music. The same is true for couplets, whose lyrics and melody are integrated into one. Therefore, the rhythm of the couplet is extremely important. I feel that the rhythm is like the music of a song, and the words are the lyrics of the song. Both are indispensable. Do you understand? No matter how good the lyrics are, the music is not beautiful or pleasant. The beauty of the couplet lies in this, the words and music are unified.
Part Five: The Beauty of Couplets
Couplets are unique to China. Think about it, what effect would it have if you wrote the couplets with a string of English words? How to hang it out, should it be written horizontally or vertically. This question is so fucking serious. Have you suddenly realized the beauty of Chinese characters? To give a simple example, the first couplet: Ink. The second couplet: Spring. Can you feel the beauty of it? Flat and oblique, black and white, earth and water, think about the deep connection between the two. If it is changed to the first line: ink, the second line: spring, first of all, it’s uncomfortable to look at. When written horizontally or vertically, the number of letters is different. Second, I always feel that this is pen water for spring. I don't know how to translate it more appropriately. I don't mean to ridicule other languages, I just want to point out that Chinese characters have a unique symmetrical beauty. Of course, many countries have poetry and rhyme. I won’t go into details. What I am here is emphasizing the beauty of symmetry. Like human eyes and hands. Most of the couplets we write online are written horizontally, limited to the screen.
The real couplets must be posted, so that they can be completely beautiful. I think that Chinese people like this kind of symmetry and balance from the bottom of their hearts. This is also an expression of the "gold mean" thought. This is true for buildings and paintings. Look at the main halls and temples. Most of them are symmetrical. In addition, the beauty of couplets is also reflected in calligraphy. Now is the Chinese New Year, and everyone knows how to write couplets, most of which are machine-printed. There is no charm of calligraphy in it. Of course, today's technology is highly developed, and you can choose Song style, regular script, official script, Wei stele, and bold style. But I always feel a bit cold and desolate. Spread out a piece of green sandalwood, grind out half a piece of gold without exchanging it, pick up a rat-whisker pen, and the pen will move like a dragon or a snake. What kind of happiness is this? !
Part 6
I wrote these things in a hurry. It seems that they have no direct relationship with the couplets. Friends who don’t understand the couplets probably still don’t understand them after reading them. What is horse hoof rhyme. Friends who understand couplets may think this thing is boring, a deliberate connection, and just sensationalism. In short, the above contents are just personal feelings.