Establish a scientific view of couplets and promote the creation, appreciation and review of couplets

Establish a scientific view of couplets and promote the creation, appreciation and review of couplets

Liu Taipin

The last lesson of this advanced seminar on "General Principles of Couples" , the society arranged for me to host it. Strictly speaking, it is not a "class". It can only be regarded as my experience of learning the general principles based on my practical experience in creation and review work for many years. The topic I want to talk about is "Establishing a scientific view of couplet rhythm and promoting the creation, appreciation and review of couplets". Some gentlemen once equated the rhythm of couplets with the laws of nature and believed that the rhythm of couplets came first in the world, and then the couplets. Such an overly "scientific" statement is of course inconsistent with the facts; but some gentlemen may say that the law of conjunction is a conventional rule of literature and art. It seems that it cannot be said to be scientific or unscientific. In terms of the conventional nature of the rules, This statement does make sense, but when we examine the history of the formation of this convention and why it is achieved, this discussion becomes objective and scientific. Just like everything has a process of occurrence and development, the couplet style has also experienced the complex historical process of origin, germination, emergence, development and maturity. In sync with the development history of couplets, the inherent formal requirements of the couplet style - This is what we call couplet rhythm today - it is also in the process of constant development, enrichment, sublation, and perfection, and this process. Things can only apply corresponding rules at different stages of development, and there are no rules for the next stage a priori. This is especially true for couplets as a literary genre.

The couplet genre did not appear overnight. Its emergence went through a long process from spontaneity to consciousness. To paraphrase Mr. Lu Xun’s words: “There were no couplets in the world, but there were so many people who made them. "The linguistic foundation of the couplet style is the ancient rhetoric of antitheses. Before the emergence of the couplet style, the rhetoric of antitheses has always been a basic technique in various literary creations such as poetry and parallel prose. In order to master this technique, In children's enlightenment education since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the education of antithetical rhetoric has always been the most important content. In the antithetical training from short to long, some very exquisite antithetical phrases such as "Xanthium" vs. "Pulsatilla" and some celebrities Intentional or unintentional short pairs of phrases such as "Lu Shilong in the clouds" versus "Xun Minghe under the sun" are widely circulated because of their humor. This is the source of humorous couplets in the couplet style, but this Such works can only be used as the lowest form of expression of couplet style, and there is a certain difference between the formal requirements of mature couplet style. Practical couplet works appeared accidentally through the use of peach symbols in the folklore sense. In the Northern Song Dynasty, there were only couplets inscribed with peach symbols by Meng Chang and Su Shi. At this time, the couplet style was in what we call a spontaneous stage, and the author did not have any couplets. The subjective intention of creation was not until the creation of Zhu Xi in the Southern Song Dynasty that we began to have a vague cultural awareness of couplets. When we see couplets everywhere in our lives, we will naturally assume that couplets are also everywhere in the lives of the ancients. In fact, this It is not a historical fact at all. The clear awareness of couplet style should not be clearly revealed until the mid-Ming Dynasty in Li Kaixian and Yang Shen. From then on, the couplet style entered the stage of consciousness.

1. The development history of couplet meter

Couplet meter is the basic formal requirement that couplets should have as an independent style. The rhythm of couplets is not an objective rule that existed before the style of couplets. It is just a summary and summary of the basic formal requirements of couplets that previous generations of couplets adhered to in their creative practice. Scientific and systematic couplet rhythm is an important cornerstone of the construction of Chinese coupletology.

Because couplets were born out of rhymed poetry and parallel prose, and continued to absorb formal elements from various styles during the development process, the formal requirements of couplets vary according to different language styles. Because couplets originated from folk customs, they have been surviving in the gap between folk literature and mainstream literature for more than a thousand years. From elegant to popular, the team of authors is very large, ranging from emperors and generals to literati and ordinary people. There are considerable differences in the stylistic formal norms that people follow. It can be said that the couplet style has never been able to form a strict metrical regulation similar to that of metrical poetry, "the articles have definite sentences, the sentences have definite characters, and the words have definite sounds." However, it is obvious that the couplet style has basic formal norms, but each The norms in people's minds are just slightly different. Let's put aside the various "norms" that we have already preconceived, and analyze the formal requirements of couplets from scratch in the order of the development history of couplets, that is, the origin of couplet rhythms.

1. Humorous couplets and their formal requirements

In order to comprehensively understand the culture of couplets, we can divide the connotation of couplet culture into three parts: humorousness, practicality and literary nature. Among them, the humorous and clever couplets were the earliest, most widely circulated, and the metrical requirements were also the most complex and broad. The humorous couplets generally pursue the craftsmanship of the form. As for the rhythm, some works are standardized, while others are basically not particular.

The emergence of humorous couplets can be traced back to the couplet "Lu Shilong in the clouds, Xun Minghe under the sun" in the Western Jin Dynasty. From today's perspective, the rhythm of this couplet is quite satisfactory, but because it was fashionable at the time There is no "four tones theory", so it can only be considered a coincidence.

Since then, the harmonious couplets have been spread throughout the ages, and in terms of tone and rhythm, they can be said or not. For example, Wei Ju'an of the Yuan Dynasty recorded in "Mei Pei Poetry Talk":

"Sanlian Poetry Talk" It says: "It is said that the rich Zheng Gong was envoy to the Liao Kingdom, and the captive envoy said: 'If you climb the peak of Jizi early, you will be in danger as if you were laying eggs.' The answer is: 'Sleeping at my father-in-law's house at night is as safe as Mount Tai.' He also said: 'Wine is like a thread, because The needle is seen. 'Fu replied: 'Bread is like the moon, and when there is food, there is no shortage of food. Focusing on homophones and puns, there are no rules in tone. This situation has continued to develop into the modern era. For example, "The cows in the green fields get grass" are completely in tune, while "Shanghai's running water comes from the sea" has absolutely no tonal regulations. Its requirements for couplets are of course limited to the last word. It's just relative.

Liang Zhangju was the first to realize the huge difference in form between "Qiao Pairs" and "Couplets". He included training-style Qiao Pairs and highly technical Qiao Couples outside of "Couplets". The collection is "Qiao Dui Lu". His approach has great reference significance for us to organize the rhythm of couplets today, that is, the formal requirements of Qiao Qiao couplets should be excluded from the rhythm of couplets. Article 12 of the General Principles makes this statement : "Smart pairs, interesting pairs, borrowed pairs (or borrowed sounds or meanings), excerpted sentence pairs, collected sentence pairs, etc. are not allowed to be strictly restricted by typical couplets." In practical application, when general couplet works involve When it comes to harmonious elements, we can allow the restrictions on the rhythm to be relaxed and broadened. For example, the couplet of Donglin Academy: "The sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, can be heard in the ears; family affairs, state affairs, and world affairs, everything is concerned about."

2. Poetic couplets and their rhythm

Rhymed poetry is the main source of the couplet style. It can be said that the original couplet style completely inherited the metrical requirements of the two couplets in rhythmic poetry. We can see from the earliest Spring Festival couplets "New Year's greetings, festive festivals Changchun", which not only inherits all the dual rhythm forms of five-character rhymed poetry, but also inherits the rhythmic form of rhymed poetry, which combines "plain, flat, 廄廄" Write "Ping Ping Ze Ping Ze".

From the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, couplets have been in a period when "peach charm verses" and "spring couplets with peach charms" coexisted. It should be common to excerpt couplets from the rhyme poems of predecessors or contemporaries as spring couplets. For example, Lu You wrote a couplet for "Book Nest": "Ten thousand volumes of ancient and modern books disappear forever; a window of dusk sends the fleeting years away." It is an excerpt from a self-composed poem. It is said that Zhao Mengfu wrote a spring couplet for Kublai Khan: "The sun and moon shine and heaven is virtuous, and the mountains and rivers are where the emperor lives." "A poem by Chen Shubao from the Southern Dynasties. Therefore, the self-written five-seven-character couplets that appeared during this period are no different from regular verses in terms of metrical requirements. For example, Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote about Cangzhou Jingshe: "Love the king and hope for peace; worry about the country and hope for a good life." Another example is the Yuan Dynasty. On behalf of Yang Yu (yǔ), he wrote a spring post: "The light is based on the library on the east wall; the heart is among the mountains and rivers of the West Lake." They all belong to a relatively standard rhythmic verse style.

There are only two rules for forming sentences in rhythmic verses: one is to alternate two pairs of flat and oblique in the sentence, which is often called "equal and oblique poles", and the other is to add after or before the last rhythm unit A word that is the opposite of oblique to form an odd-numbered sentence. The odd-numbered sentence pattern is far superior to the even-numbered sentence pattern in terms of the cadence of the tone. From these two rules, it can be concluded that there are only the following two types of rhythmic patterns in rhythmic verse (taking Qiyan as an example): "平平廄仄平平仄; 任仄平仄仄平." and "任仄平平仄仄; "Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it has been a very common phenomenon to write five-seven-character couplets in the verse style, with the exception of a few clever pairs, three-four structure seven-character or one-four structure five-character. Starting from this tradition, when we create five- and seven-character couplets today, it is best to use these two standard sentence patterns of rhythmic poetry as much as possible.

3. Parallel prose couplets and their rhythm

Parallel prose is another major source of couplets. Parallel prose is opposite to prose, and its main feature is that it uses a four-six sentence pattern. Mainly, it pays attention to the contrast, the sentence pattern is relative to each other, and the pronunciation pays attention to the alternation and relativeness of level and oblique to achieve the harmony of pronunciation. "Wen Tingyun" in "The Poems of the Complete Tang Dynasty" records:

Li Yishan said: "There is a couplet close to it, and the sentence goes: 'Far better than Zhao Gong, he was the prime minister and assistant in the thirty-sixth year', but there is no even sentence. "Wen said: "Why don't you say, 'I'm close to Guo Ling, and I won the 24th Examination'."

This response between Wen Tingyun and Li Shangyin is a standard parallel prose sentence pattern. Of course, Liang Zhangju’s division method of this couplet can only be classified as a "coincidence" of names and numbers, and cannot be considered formal. "Couplet".

The standard four or six sentences in parallel prose can be composed in an alternating manner like rhymed poetry. However, in many cases, the sentence structure will change due to the inclusion of empty words, so it cannot be mechanically composed. Use the alternating method of flat and oblique, and discuss the alternation and relative rhythm of rhythm points according to the actual semantic rhythm.

The earlier parallel prose couplets should be attributed to the works of Zhu Xi of the Southern Song Dynasty, as recorded in "Couplet Cong Hua":

There are many couplets attached at the end of the volume of "The Complete Works of Zhu Zi"... The couplet of Xue Minglun Hall in Jianning Prefecture says: "Teaching the common officials, they live in a safe house and stand upright; they help the monks and enter the ceremonial gate from the righteous road." The couplet of Xueming Lun Hall in Songxi County says: "Study and become a gentleman. For example, the lin and phoenix represent auspiciousness, while the dragon and tiger represent change. Virtue lies in bringing prosperity to the people, such as rain and dew represent marshmallows, while thunder represents power.

The characteristic of these two couplets is that they pay more attention to each clause and sentence. The rhythm points in the sentence do not pay much attention to the alternation and relativeness of oblique and oblique.

As the Ming and Qing Dynasties progressed, there were more and more authors of parallel couplets. For example, Yang Shen, Li Kaixian, Xu Wei, Li Yu, etc. all had similar works. The rhythmic characteristics of their such couplets were, first of all, to ensure that the footwork of the sentences was relatively balanced, and that the lines within the sentences were balanced. Generally, the alternation and relative arrangement of oblique and oblique are arranged according to the semantic rhythm, but there are also situations where they do not alternate or are even opposite. It can be seen that the rhythmic arrangement of parallel couplets is relatively wider than that of poetic couplets.

4. The influence of lyrics, classical prose, and vernacular sentence patterns on the rhythm of couplets

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, more and more authors have focused on the creation of couplets, influenced by their stylistic preferences and language habits. Affected, the sentence pattern characteristics of couplets were gradually eroded by various literary styles. Ci and music, as the mainstream literature of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, first affected the sentence patterns of couplets. The most obvious feature is the combination of the leading character in the lyrics and the lining in the music. When characters are introduced into the couplets, the leading characters can play the role of command and guidance, and the lining characters are mostly empty characters, which can adjust the rhythm. Due to the intervention of these factors, while enhancing the stylistic expressiveness of the couplets, it also makes the metrical requirements of the couplets more complex and broad, because the pronunciation requirements of the leading characters in the words are wider, and the lining characters can basically be used regardless of whether they are flat or oblique in the song. . The influence of lyrics and music on the couplet sentence pattern is also reflected in the fact that the alternation of oblique and oblique words within the sentence does not necessarily strictly follow the rhythm of every two words, such as the six-character sentence "Where will I wake up tonight" and the eight-character sentence "Should be a beautiful place for a good time". .

With the evolution of couplet art, ancient writing techniques have also been introduced into the creation of couplets. The most famous among them is Zeng Guofan, whose masterpieces include: "There are no easy situations in the world; there are no easy situations in the world; Do you have free time?" Another example is Tang Peng's couplet, which was once called the best work of ancient Chinese couplets: "The book has 200,000 words, and the talent is not exhausted; it has been slandered all over the world, and the name has followed. "Using ancient Chinese prose as a couplet, he pays attention to the meaning of the text, and does not ask for work but works on his own. In terms of tone, he only pays attention to the footings and important rhythm points in the sentence. He does not limit himself to a few words as a sentence, but uses a large span. Seek for the vast and melancholy atmosphere.

After the "May 4th" New Literature Movement, some couplet authors tried to use vernacular couplets as couplets. Chen Yiquan of the Republic of China compiled a book called "The Complete Collection of Vernacular Couplets", which contains thousands of works. The most widely circulated vernacular couplets today, such as Tao Xingzhi's couplet "Come with a heart in your hands and leave without a blade of grass." Mao Zedong's couplet "The world is ours, and everyone must do things." etc. Regarding the attempts of vernacular couplets, it is still difficult to say how many successful ones there are. In terms of form, they are mostly pursued to be simple and understandable. In terms of antithesis, many meanings are correct or half-correct. In terms of rhythm, they can be so wide that only the ends of sentences are in harmony, and the rest lacks rules. It can be said. Cai Dongfan said in "Traditional Chinese Couplet Practice? Preface":

In recent times, vernacular writing has become popular, and there may be couplets written in vernacular. It is said that using vernacular as a couplet is particularly difficult compared to classical Chinese. However, the vernacular couplets I have seen are just vernacular and have no rules for couplets. Those who can use vernacular as couplets are still not without masters.

The above analysis basically summarizes the outline of the development and evolution of couplet rhythm. It was after the integration of poetry, music, and ancient prose that the couplets gradually formed their own language characteristics and basic metrical norms. As Xiang Yi said in "Liu Bei Ni Guishan Couplet? On Miscellaneous Couples" published in 1923:

Those with five or seven characters in the couplets are poetic; those with four or six characters Those with four or six characters are also in four-character style; those with four characters are in a proverb-inscription style. The long and short sentences that do not care about the rhythm are prose style; the ones that focus on the rhythm are also the parallel prose style. Although the couplets are used in various styles, they mostly use four or six character sentences, which seems to have little flavor. Only when the long and short words are used interchangeably can the result of confusion (dànɡ) be seen. The loose body cannot be vigorously lifted unless it is lifted vigorously. Since I have more than a few thoughts in the lyrics and chapters, I think it is easier to excel in the syntax of the poems.

In 1926, Qin Tongpei wrote the book "Guide to Writing Couplets", which included a chapter on "Couplet Style". He divided the style of couplets into "poetry style", "article style" and "common saying style". "Three categories, among which "poetic style" is divided into two types: "poetic tone" and "ci tone". Due to the different rhythms of the languages ??among the various types, the severity of the rhythm is also different accordingly.

Li Chengyu's "Weiwanlou Lianhua" in the late 1940s also made a similar statement:

Some of the couplets are like scriptures, some are like history, some are like essays, and some are like essays. Poems, some are like words and music, and some are like lotus flowers falling. The tailoring of clothes depends on the author.

In Lianzhong since the Qing Dynasty, authors who uphold the principle of integrity generally use poetic language or parallel prose language with fewer empty words. They pay attention to the combination of odd and even sentence patterns, and often use "four seven" and "five seven" Sentence patterns such as "五四七" use no or less collar words, giving people a sense of grandeur and elegance. This type of couplets completely adheres to the rhythm of poetry in form. Other authors who show off their individuality and like to be surprising often use parallel prose or even ancient Chinese syntax to intersperse and combine poetry and sentence patterns. They often use collar words and self-pairs, and use sonorous and rasp intonations to add a sense of surprise and wantonness. The composition of analogies is relatively free in terms of rhythm, but it can always form its own rules, that is, it can be written down and formed according to the situation. If couplets have their own "rhythms" that are different from poetic rhythm, this type of couplets should be more typical representatives.

In addition to the above mainstream forms, metrical requirements are downplayed due to the influence of slang, colloquialism, and vernacular, and metrical requirements are relaxed due to the pursuit of writing skills. These are unavoidable objective realities. As far as specific authors and For joint works, the formal requirements of couplets range from extremely strict to extremely broad, and there are huge variations in continuous distribution.

2. History of Research on Couplet Rhythm

Couplet can be said to be a recently developed and mature style. From the perspective of the publication of Lianji, which is a symbol of the maturity of the style, the earliest Lianji It is "Zhonglu Mountain Man's Clumsy Couple" by Li Kaixian, a Jinshi of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. In terms of physical couplets, the earliest calligraphy work of couplets we can see can only be traced back to the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, couplets are almost the latest stylistic form to appear in the history of Chinese stylistic development.

As far as we can see so far, there are only a few words from Li Kaixian in the preface and postscript of his couplets in the Ming Dynasty regarding the meter of couplets, "The Preface to the Continuation of the Couplet by Zhonglushanren":

Language of the Ancients There is a pairing, but it is not a pairing in mind. It is formed naturally when the text and meaning meet. This is true for all the poems and biographies in the Book of Changes. Later generations restricted the sound rhythm and divided it into categories, such as Yan Zhengzhan, parallel four and Li Liu, and yellow dialogue, but the natural literary meaning was vivid.

Although there is criticism of the metrical requirements of the couplets here, it can be seen that the so-called formal requirements are also two points: "restriction of tone" and "categorization (referring to antithesis)".

The Qing Dynasty was a stage when China's various traditional literary styles reached their peak and maturity. The newly emerged couplet style took advantage of such an era to reach its peak in one step. The era of Kangxi and Qianlong was peaceful for a long time, and those in power needed a literary and artistic form to show peace, so the couplet style became a "distinguished study" that literati, famous officials and officials competed to create.

Although the couplet style reached unprecedented prosperity during the Kangxi and Qianlong eras, no one had collected, organized and specialized research on these works at this time. During the Kangxi period, Wang Sheng said in "Selected Reviews and Exquisite Couples? Preface" To: "The method of speaking, regardless of the life and death of the meaning of the words, whether it is true or false, or the level, pitch, or pitch of the sound, should be consistent. That is, the objects and the subject and the object of the meaning must be in harmony without any difference." What is said here The metrical requirements should be the metrical requirements for the basic training of antitheses for the purpose of writing poetry, which includes couplets but does not specifically talk about couplets. Wang Sheng's nephew Wang Ji said in the "Postscript" of the book: "Anyone who writes four or six, the pronunciation of the sound is different, the life and death of the characters are false and true, and the work is not done, all because the method of belonging is not understood." It is more obvious. The "method of duality" is for writing parallel prose. In addition, the books collected in this book are basically humorous couplets. There are many cases where the formal requirements are very broad for the sake of cleverness.

It was not until the Daoguang period that Liang Zhangju compiled the series of couplets, which was the first of its kind. It can be said to be the beginning of systematic research on the style of couplets. Liang's systematic research on couplet style is mainly reflected in its origin, ability and language style. He does not pay much attention to the basic level of couplet rhythm. The whole book only comments on a couplet saying, "It is a pity that the words and sentences are not well-proportioned. Ping and Qi are not yet harmonious." Such a sentence. After Liang Zhangju, Lin Qingquan wrote "Records of Couplets". This book also rarely discusses the rhythm of couplets. It quotes a passage from his father Lin Changyi: "Everyone who makes long and short couplets must have a method and be able to get rid of the art." The admonishing words are wonderful. If they are not in accordance with the rules, that is, five characters and seven characters, two lines of poetry. "Whether the "law" mentioned here refers to the language style or the metrical requirements is actually very vague. Another point that needs to be pointed out is that Mr. Yu Dequan has such a discussion in "Liantong":

Lin Changyi, a native of the Qing Dynasty, said: "If the flat pronunciation of the sentence is bad, the top sentence should also be flat pronunciation; the oblique pronunciation is bad. In sentences, the top couplet also uses the oblique sound. By analogy, the syllables are all adjusted to ye (xié)." (Lin Qingquan's "Couple Couplet Record") Another way to put this sentence is "the top is flat and the top is flat." This rule of using couplets is called "horse hoof rhyme", also known as "horse hoof grid".

In fact, this sentence cannot be found in Lin Qingquan's "Couplets". Is this sentence said by someone else? Who said that? Until we see credible information, we can only remain skeptical.

After the Republic of China, the couplet style was less impacted by the New Culture Movement, and a large number of couplets and joint collections were published. However, the discussion of couplet rhythm in the couplet writings was still limited to a few words. For example, Wu Gongheng's "Couplets", which has a greater influence, has several expressions such as "chuǎn", "chuǎn", "short tone", "unharmonic", and even "bad rhythm" and "arrhythmia". ", but it does not discuss the systematic couplet rhythm. It is worth mentioning that this book records a conversation between the author and his teacher Zhu Xunshu, revealing one of the rules of long couplets: "Zhu's Rules":

Another question: "Several sentences are accumulated one after another. , is it like writing a poem with a straight and oblique tone? " He said: "No. A couplet is as long as ten sentences. The first nine sentences are all in a flat tone, and the last sentence is in an oblique tone. The opposite is true. This is different. /p>

There are also other couplet-type works such as Lei Jin's "Xinhua of Couplets", which sporadically talk about taboos in couplets such as irregular heavy characters and Xiang Yi's "Guishan Couplet in the Liubei Niche". There are also chapters such as "Couplings also have tonal rhythms", "Couplings also have tonal rhythm", "Coupling theory comes from the plain and oblique origins naturally", "Since it is a couplet, it must be a duality", etc., which specializes in the content of couplet style. Although it is not very systematic, it is The discussion has been more specific.

In addition to the above-mentioned couplet collections, several popular books on "couplet practice" were also published during the Republic of China, because these books were intended to specifically guide beginners on how to make couplets. , so they gave us a relatively comprehensive description of the formal requirements of the couplet style as they understood it - close to what contemporary people call "couplet rhythm."

1. "Traditional Chinese Couplet Practice" by Cai Dongfan

This book is divided into three parts: "System", "Materials" and "Format and Annotations", of which Volume 1 "System" "It's about the formal requirements of couplet style. The author summarizes it into three points: "There are three major differences in the system of couplets: the first is homophony, the second is even sentences, and the third is word modification."

As for "homonym", it is the so-called "leveling and obliqueness". The author lists two fixed formats of five- and seven-character couplets. Those that do not conform to the standard format are called "set ancient" or "imitation ancient" by the author, and the intonation can range from broad to only paying attention to the "waist eyes" and "sha feet". Later, the oblique format of multi-clause couplets was introduced, which is roughly the same. Regarding the principle of equilateral arrangement of long couplet clauses, the concept of "section" introduced by the author is equivalent to what we call dividing levels and paragraphs. The sentence feet are interlaced in each section and are bonded between the upper and lower sections. The author said: "The longer the couplet is, the more stanzas it has. Each stanza starts from one sentence and ends with four sentences. The pronunciation of the character Shajia in the last sentence of the previous stanza is Ping tone, so the pronunciation of the character Shajia in the beginning sentence of the next stanza should still be in Ping tone. Its usage The same is true for oblique tones. However, when ending a couplet, the oblique tones are always used, and when a couplet is concluded, the flat tones are always used. This is the general rule for solid couplets. This arrangement of sentence footwork is closely related to the content of the couplet. Alternate straight and oblique in sections, and pay attention to the connection between sections. Unlike horse hoof rhyme, which only mechanically alternates levels and obliques in form, the rationality is obvious.

Concerning "coupled sentences", he emphasized: "Couplings pay special attention to duality, otherwise it will not become a couplet." "The method of duality is nothing more than using similar words to similar words." It is worth noting that the concept of parts of speech from Western linguistics and the concept of character categories in ancient China met head-on for the first time in his work: "People who wrote essays in the past did not carefully check the parts of speech, and distinguished them based on two major principles: false and true. In other words, nouns, static words, and interjections are mostly called substantive words; prepositions, conjunctions, and particles are mostly called virtual words; verbs, adjectives, and pronouns are both virtual and substantive. " He believes that the antithesis should ultimately be based on traditional words. Relativity between virtual and actual words is fundamental: "The method of couplets does not have to be strictly limited to the current literary classics, but the use of real words against real words and virtual words against virtual words is consistent with the practice of correlation. Scholars specialize in discussing the virtual and true characters and the smoothness of the pronunciation of characters. The guideline of couplets is enough."

In terms of "refining words", Cai Dongfan only put forward the principle of "the sentences should be concise and precise, and the wording should be shrewd". Regarding the relationship between the form and content of couplets, the author believes: "Couplets pay special attention to form and meaning. The words are harmonious and oblique, and the sentences are paired, which is a model in form; as for the meaning, it must be based on the corresponding description." Therefore, the couplet rhythm mentioned by Cai Dongfan can basically be summarized as "the words are harmonious and oblique, and the sentences are paired". The method of making couplets mentioned in this book is actually still of great reference significance today.

2. "Couplet Practice" of Guangzhou Publishing House Compilation and Compilation Office

This book is only signed by the editing unit and not the author. It is the first work of the eight-volume "Couplet Series" of Guangdong Publishing House. . In the chapter "Couplets and Poems", this book clearly points out four differences between the style of couplets and verses: "There is no limit to the length of couplets. If you want it to be short, make it short, if you want it to be long, make it long. It's up to people." "Although couplets are also When dividing into flat and oblique tones, which word should be flat and which word should be oblique, it should never be static. When writing, you only need to pay attention to whether the tone is smooth. "The advantage of couplets is that even if they are as short as three or four characters, they can convey the full meaning." , and sometimes the shorter it is, the more natural it is, the more implicit it is, and the more interesting it is. ""The couplets are all relative to each other, and the meaning is complete rather than fragmentary."

In the chapter "The Couplet's Ping and Qi". In the book, the author believes: "Couplet is one of the rhymes" and "the next character is all adjusted to level and oblique. The tones of level and oblique, and the couplets formed by them, have a natural and smooth tone, and the clear and voicing can be felt to be appropriate." At the same time, the book also points out : "In a couplet, flat tones are used somewhere and oblique tones are used somewhere. They should be used in different ways according to the intention and whether the tone is suitable, and there are no regulations. Even if there are regulations in the rules and they cannot be violated even slightly, That is to say, the last character of the first couplet must be in oblique tone, and the last character of the second couplet must be in flat tone. ”

In the chapter “The Correspondence of Couplets”, the author puts forward: “Every word in the couplet must be used. , not only the flat and oblique sounds must be relative to each other, but also the spirit of all forms, which is a method of pairing, and there are many variations." "To put it more specifically, nouns should be opposite to nouns, verbs should be opposite to verbs, and other directional adjectives should be used. , empty words, repeated words, repeated sentences and words with two or more words should be compared with the same example. "Although the author uses nouns, verbs, adjectives and other grammatical vocabulary, he also makes further distinctions. In addition to subdividing nouns into subcategories, verbs are also divided into "internal actions" and "external actions", etc., which are very detailed. It can be said that the discussion of antithesis in this book is a kind of antithesis theory that combines Chinese and Western methods, with mixed gains and losses. .

3. Li Tiangen's "A Brief Discussion on Couplet Practice"

This book was written by Li Tiangen in Shuangliu, Sichuan and published in 1923. It was later included in the first volume of "Couplet Series".

The author goes straight to the point in the section "Construction" and says: "There is no other way to create couplets than to harmonize the pronunciation and pay attention to counterpoint." This book has a special section on "Rhythm", which believes that "the rhyme clouds , that is, there are certain rules of format, and the first step in making couplets is to balance the levels." After elaborating on the common formats of five-character to twelve-character couplets, the author added: "Sometimes, there is no need to be rigid when using idioms for idioms. As long as the last word of the upper and lower sentences is 仄 同平 or 平 同仄, that's fine.

If the long couplet can be changed at will, but it has a certain rhythm. Each breath of the upper fan ends with the character of flat tone and ends with the character of flat tone, then the upper fan is complete; each breath of the lower fan ends with the character of oblique tone and ends with the character of flat tone. , then the fan is finished. "This illustrates two points: First, in the author's mind, if idioms are used to express the opposite, the rhythm within the sentence can be as wide as only the end of the sentence is flat; second, the author admires the "Zhu's rule" of long couplets.

4. Bao Guangzi's "Simple Couplet Method"

This book was published in 1922 and was later compiled into the first volume of "Couplet Series"

The author wrote in "Couplets". In the chapter "The Main Points of Dual Practice", it is first clarified that "there are two main points of couplets, one is the harmony of phonology, and the other is the neatness of the opposition. ” In the detailed descriptions below, the author introduces the method of arguing four tones and adjusting the level and obliqueness. Later, he also emphasizes that “when comparing idioms to idioms, the obsequiousness and obliqueness can be freely used, or the last word of the first couplet is flat, and the second couplet is the last word.” The last character is 廄, which is okay. It should be regarded as a good use of the couplet. "When discussing antithesis, the author said: "When you are new to writing, you can harmonize the flat and oblique, and the contrast is especially valuable and neat. "Then he classified 29 subcategories of content words such as astronomy, geography, seasonal, etc., and finally concluded:

According to the above instructions on each category, you can get a rough idea of ??them. Those who make couplets must first learn to make a couplet, starting from two characters and increasing in sequence until they reach four or five characters, and then they have already formed a couplet. If sometimes your mind is stuck and you are unable to find the right couple, you can seek it from the above categories. , the first word of a couplet can be either plain or oblique, and the third character of a seven-character couplet can also be unrestricted. However, if you use an idiom or a really good sentence, it is difficult to change other characters, so you can make an exception if you use oblique or oblique contrasts. But for beginners, It is better to abide by the law.

There are also discussions on "Five Essentials for Beginners to Make Couplets" and "Ten Do's and Don'ts for Beginners to Make Couplets", which are very helpful for beginners.

5. Qin Tongpei's "Guide to Writing Couplets"

This book was published in 1926 and was written by Qin Tongpei of Jiangsu Province. It was later compiled into the first volume of "Couplets Series"

This. The first chapter of the book is "Coupling Phonology". When discussing the phonology of couplets, the author pays more attention to the waist and end of sentences:

Couplings are just dual sentences, and those with many sentences are just disguised versions of long and short sentences in ancient times. When using rhyme, it is not necessary to have a certain level of characters like the rhythmic poems. For the most superficial ones, you only need to pay attention to the waist and end of the sentence. Generally speaking, if the waist of the sentence is flat, the tail will be flat. If the waist of the sentence is flat, the tail will be flat. Sometimes the rest can be informal. , the so-called sentence waist depends on the number of words in a sentence. If the number of words is single, the sentence waist should be based on the middle word. If the number of words is double, the sentence waist should be the last word of the first half of the sentence.

The author is in. After discussing the stricter "poetic rhythm" and the broader "exception", we summarized two rules of the rhythm of couplets: "First, the rhythm of couplets, according to the rhythm of poetry, pay attention to each double word, make equal and oblique alternate, which means Formal tone. The second is the pronunciation and rhyme of the couplet, but pay attention to the words in each sentence where there is a pause, so that the harmonious leaves are eliminated in the reading, and the rest is left to its own devices. This is called informal intonation. "These two points can be said to be the earliest discussion of the relationship between "phonological rhythm" and "semantic rhythm" in later generations. Regarding the equal and oblique lines of long couplets, the author uses equal and oblique alternations (mainly single and equal single and oblique alternations, rather than the double and double rhyme of horse hoof rhyme). The second chapter of this book is "The Coupling Method". The author believes that: "Couplings are dual sentences, and they are used in antithesis." We must pay attention to the fact that it is legal to use real words against real words and imaginary words against imaginary words to make the virtual words match the real words. However, although there are no clear rules for virtual words, there are various conventions among real words. Beginners must not know it, especially The important ones, such as numbers, colors, stems and branches, year of year, animals and plants, place names, utensils, celestial phenomena, geography and other categories, should be used as usual, and it must be correct. "Then, the book lists examples and analysis of various small categories of work pairs.

The book also details the "word usage", "sentence addition", "appropriateness" and "style" of the couplets. method.

The word count exceeds the maximum allowable value and will be deleted!