antithetical couplet
Couplets, also known as couplets or couplets, are antithetical sentences written on paper, cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood and columns. They are concise, profound, neat and even, and are a unique artistic form of Chinese language. According to legend, couplets originated from Meng Changjun, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. It is a cultural treasure of the Chinese nation. The couplets hung during the Spring Festival are called Spring Festival couplets. Couplets, also known as couplets, dual plays, door pairs, spring stickers, spring couplets, couplets and peach symbols, are a kind of dual literature and originated from peach symbols. Couplets are a national style written by using the characteristics of Chinese characters. Generally, there is no need to rhyme (only couplets in regular poems need to rhyme). Couplets can be roughly divided into poetry couplets and prose couplets, which are relatively strict and divided into large and small parts of speech. Traditional couplets are connected in form, with the same content, harmonious tone and rigorous antithesis. With the rise of poetry in the Tang Dynasty, prose couplets were excluded. Prose couplets are generally informal, straightforward, and do not avoid repetition. They do not overemphasize the equivalence of parts of speech without losing duality. Couplets have a long history, and it is said that they originated from Meng Chang, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. On the peach symbol board at the door of his bedroom, he wrote: "Come in the New Year, the first day is Changchun", which means "Write the peach symbol" (see Shu Lang). This is the earliest couplet in China and the earliest Spring Festival couplets. The second part is to confront, agree with or refute foreign objects. The meaning and depth of antithesis cannot be said without prose couplets. Features: First, the upper and lower couplets have the same number of words and the same structure. In addition to deliberately leaving the position of a word to achieve a certain effect, the number of words in the upper and lower parts must be the same. Second, the corresponding parts of speech are the same. Verb to verb, adjective to adjective, quantifier to quantifier, adverb to adverb and relative words must be in relative positions. Third, it is necessary to have a clear hierarchy and a harmonious tone. According to the rhyme, the upper rhyme should be wrinkled and the lower rhyme should be flat, which is called "wrinkled flat". Fourth, the rhythm corresponds, that is, the places where the upper and lower links stop must be consistent.
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Historical origin
Couplets are antithetical literature. The parallel symmetry of this language is very similar to the so-called "Tai Chi gives birth to two instruments" in philosophy, that is, everything in the world is divided into two halves of yin and yang symmetry, which are very similar in thinking essence. Therefore, we can say that the philosophical origin and deep-seated national cultural psychology of China's couplets are binary concepts of Yin and Yang. The dualism of yin and yang is the basis of China's ancient world outlook. It is the way of thinking of ancient people in China to grasp things with the binary concept of Yin and Yang. This concept of duality of yin and yang has a long history, and so does the custom of Spring Festival couplets in the Book of Changes.
The divinatory symbols in Yi Zhuan are composed of yin and yang, and Yi Zhuan says, "One yin and one yang is the Tao." Laozi also said: "Everything is negative and holds Yang, and it is harmonious to rush." ("Lao Zi" Chapter 42. Xunzi thought: "Heaven and earth combine to create everything, and Yin and Yang combine to change." (Xunzi's Book of Rites) Huang Lao's silk book says: "The way of heaven and earth is left and right, yin and yang." This concept of Yin and Yang is not only an abstract concept, but also widely penetrated into the understanding and explanation of everything in nature and human society in ancient China. The preface to the Book of Changes says, "Where there is heaven and earth, everything is men and women, men and women, couples, fathers and sons, princes and ministers, ups and downs, and manners." In Yi Zhuan, various concrete things are used to symbolize Yin and Yang. Yin represents Kun, earth, female, woman, son, minister, abdomen, lower, north, wind, water, lustre, flowers, black and white, suppleness and so on. Correspondingly, Yang represents dryness, sky, male, father, monarch, head, upper, south, thunder, fire, mountain, fruit, red and yellow, vigor and so on. This ubiquitous concept of yin and yang has penetrated into the subconscious of the Han people, thus becoming the collective unconscious of the nation. The concept of yin and yang is manifested in national psychology, and one of the important characteristics is the persistence and infatuation with things in the form of "two" and "pair".
Language root-seeking
The most essential feature of a standard couplet is "antithesis". When expressed orally, it is verbal confrontation, and when written, it is verbal confrontation. What is the meaning of language duality? Usually we talk about four items: equal number of words, relative parts of speech, flat and oblique contradictions, and the same syntax. The most important of the four items is that the number of words is equal and the contradiction is flat and oblique. The number of words here is equal, which is different from the "number of words" in English. Its essence is syllable equality. That is, one syllable corresponds to one syllable. In English, the words "cart" and "jeep" are equal in number, but not in syllable. However, in Chinese, "k?m?ch?" and "j?p?" are equal in number and syllable. The reason why Chinese can achieve "syllable" equality is because Chinese is a language with monosyllabic as the basic unit. Syllables, morphemes and characters are trinity. Every syllable in Chinese has a strong independence and has a certain length and tone. In ancient times, there were four tones: flat, rising, falling and entering. Now there are four tones: rising, falling, rising and falling, which are divided into flat and falling. Flat confrontation is a contradiction. In this way, between morphemes in Chinese (that is, between words), we can establish an antagonistic relationship with equal words or even equal words. In English, even if the name and concept of things can be relative, the number and part of speech of words can be relative, and the sentence patterns of two sentences can be relative, but their syllables are different in length, weak in independence, free to spell and have no tone, so they can't be relative. Couplets are mostly written in words, often written, hung or engraved on other buildings or objects. So the second level of antithesis of couplets is the so-called literal opposition. The relativity of words means that couplets are both language art and decorative art. As decorative art couplets, it requires neatness and symmetry, giving people a harmonious and symmetrical aesthetic feeling. Chinese characters just have the conditions to achieve neat symmetry. They exist in the form of individual squares, square and uniform, occupying an equal spatial position in writing. It is readable and visible. Its square configuration has both aesthetic principles and mechanical requirements. Whether writing horizontally or vertically, it can be dense, neat and beautiful. English, on the other hand, is a phonetic symbol, and each word has different lengths, and it is only phonetic but not ideographic, and it is even more invisible. It can only be arranged horizontally, not vertically, and it is impossible to achieve true symmetry in form. In the following interview, two Chinese and English antitheses with the same meaning are compared to further explain why only Chinese has a real antithesis, while English and other pinyin characters do not.
Other statements
Couplets originated in the Qin Dynasty and were called Fu Tao in ancient times. With regard to the earliest couplets in China, Mr. Tan Chan-xue wrote in the fourth issue of Knowledge of Literature and History 199 1 that the earliest couplets in China appeared in the Tang Dynasty. According to the Dunhuang suicide note with the volume number Stein 06 10 unearthed from the Tibetan Sutra Cave in Mogao Grottoes, she said: Year, month and day: Sanyang began to spread, and the fourth order began to open. Fuqing is new at the beginning, and Shouluyan. Also: Sanyang returns to the beginning, and the fourth order reaches Kyrgyzstan. Yan Fu New Year, Celebrate Life Without Borders. Beginning of spring Day: When the copper turbidity begins to celebrate the banquet, the jade method begins to adjust the yang. In addition to three disasters, Five Blessingg has suffered countless disasters throughout the ages. Baoji can ward off evil spirits, and Yan Rui can ward off evil spirits. Beginning of spring □ (Home), Fukiko, Sun Chang. Also: Sanyang began to spread, and Simeng (Meng) began to open. □□ Walk over and come to Kyrgyzstan one by one. Celebrate every year, and there is no disaster every month. Chicken-evil, Yan Fu Cai Yi. Guardians guard, ghosts hide and bury. Around the door book, I am healthy! Zhao Zhixin, the author of Sound Spectrum, clearly pointed out: "Two sentences are connected, and four sentences are unique (sentences), which began in the Six Dynasties, and the Yuan (original) is not close." Wang Fuzhi said that couplets originated from the theory of metrical poetry, just like "decapitation and gouging out the feet, harming people's physiology"-the couplets in Qing Shi Hua originated from China's symmetry in pronunciation and had appeared before the Zhou Dynasty. The development of papermaking and calligraphy makes couplets an independent style.
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However, from the perspective of literary history, couplets gradually evolved from antitheses in ancient poems. This development process has gone through three stages:
Double stage
The time span is from the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In China's ancient poems, some neat antitheses appeared very early. Several ancient ballads that have been handed down to this day have already seen their origins. Such as "digging wells to drink water, ploughing fields to eat", "doing at sunrise and resting at sunset" and so on. In the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, antithetical sentences became more common. There have been some neat sentences in the hexagrams of the Book of Changes, such as: "Those who can see can be lame." ("Lu" hexagram "63"), "Go to heaven first, then go to the ground." (Ming Yi's "Shangliu" hexagram) The neat sentences in Yi Zhuan are more common, such as: "Look up at astronomy and look down at geography." ("Declining Cohesion"), "Correspondence with one voice, seeking with the same spirit, wet water and dry fire, cloud following dragon, wind following tiger ... are all according to their own categories." There are many antithetical sentences in The Book of Songs in the Spring and Autumn Period. Liu said in the History of Parallel Prose in China: "The law of opposing ancient and modern times is almost perfect in the Book of Songs." He listed examples of correct name pairs, similar pairs, renju pairs, disyllabic pairs, overlapping pairs and disyllabic pairs. Such as: "Qing Er, leisurely in my heart." ("Zheng Feng Ji Zi") "There are floating elements in the mountains and lotus in the hills." There are many antithetical sentences in the Tao Te Ching. Liu Zeng said: "The methods of correcting right in Tao Te Ching have changed a lot, including serial correction, unfair correction and split-word correction. Some people repeat their words. Anyway, there is something right. " China's parallel prose history is an example: "What you believe is not beautiful, and what you say is not true. Good people don't argue, and debaters are not good. " (Chapter 8 1) "Independence and changelessness, freedom and danger." (Chapter 22) Look at the antitheses in hundred schools of thought's essays. Such as: "full loss, modest benefit." ("Shangshu Wucheng") "Take a fat horse and go into battle lightly." "The Analects of Confucius Yongye") "Honest people are magnanimous, and villains are often sad." (The Analects of Confucius) and so on. Cifu, which arose in the Han Dynasty, is a new style that pays attention to literary talent and rhythm. As a rhetorical device with the beauty of neatness, contrast and music, duality has been widely and consciously used in the creation of Fu. For example, Sima Xiangru's "Zi Xufu" has: "Drumming, starting a bonfire; The car follows the route and rides on the team. "
Parallel coupling stage
Parallel prose originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and flourished in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. As can be seen from the name, parallel prose is a dual style, which is mostly composed of antitheses. The continuous use of such antithetical sentences is also called parallelism or parallelism. In Wen Xin Diao Long Shi Ming, Liu Xie commented that parallel prose is "a hundred words are right, and the price is strange". Take the preface to Wang Tengting by Wang Bo in the early Tang Dynasty as an example: September will return to Sanqiu. The water is cold and the pool is clear, and the smoke is purple. Yan Yan likes to walk on the road and watch the scenery to worship Afghanistan. Near the Emperor Changzhou, it is the old fairy temple. Mountains and clouds are heavy; Feige is full of blood, and there is no land under it. Heting ancient bamboo, the haunt of poor islands; Gui Dian Lan Gong is the posture of hills. Embroidered, Yamahara full of vision, Kawasawa full of vision. Yan Lu, the hometown of Zhong Mingding's delicious food; Ge boat maze, green finch Huanglong axis. Clouds selling rain Ji, colorful. Sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn waters and sky are the same color. Fishing boats sing late and resound all over the coast of Peng Li; Yan Zhen was stunned by the cold, and his voice broke Hengyang's pu. They are all composed of antithetical sentences, among which "the sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn water and sky are the same color" is an eternal antithetical sentence. This antithesis is the further development of antithesis in ancient poetry, which has the following three characteristics: First, antithesis is no longer purely a rhetorical device, but has become the main metrical requirement of style. Parallel prose has three characteristics, namely, four or six sentence patterns, antithesis and allusions. Second, the number of dual words has certain rules. Mainly "46" sentence pattern and its variant forms. Mainly include: four-character dual, six-character dual, eight-character dual, cross dual and twelve-character dual. Third, the antithesis is quite skillful, but there are many heavy words (such as "Zhi, Er"), and the tone and rhythm of the antithesis are not fully mature.
Legal coupling stage
Duality, the antithesis in metrical poems. This style of poetry, also known as modern poetry, was formally formed in the Tang Dynasty, but its origin began in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Cao Wei period, he wrote ten volumes of the Sound and five volumes of the Rhyme, which separated the clear and turbid sound from the palace, the merchants, the horns, the zither and Yu. In addition, Sun Yan also wrote Er Ya Yi Yin, using the method of anti-tangent phonetic notation. He is the founder of arc tangent. Generally, five-character or seven-character metrical poems are all eight sentences, and there are two couplets in the middle, which are called parallel prose and necklaces. They must be opposite, and the sentence pattern, level and meaning are all relative. This is a standard couple. Take Du Fu's "Climbing the Mountain" for example: the sky is high and the wind is urgent, the ape whimpers, the birds return to their nests, and the lake is blue and white. The endless trees are rustling leaves, and the Yangtze River is rolling unpredictably. Li in the sad autumn scenery, a wanderer all the year round, lives alone on the high platform in today's illness. Hardship, pain, hatred, heartache and fatigue are a thick layer of dust in my wine. The jaw joint and neck joint of this poem, "leaves fall like the waves of a waterfall, and I watch the long river always roll forward." "I came from three thousand miles away. Sad this autumn, with my sorrow for a hundred years, I climbed this high alone "is extremely stable." Far better than the parallel prose dialogues in parallel prose. In addition to five or seven-character poems, Tang poetry also has three rhymes, six rhymes and arranged rhymes, and the couplets in the middle are also antithetical. Couples also have three characteristics: first, antithesis is the metrical requirement of style; Second, the number of words changed from even sentences to odd sentences, and finally fixed at five or seven words; Third, the antithesis is accurate and stable, and the tone is mature.
One-character couplet
Mo (right) Chun This is the most classic couplet. The upper part of the word' ink' is the word' black'; The upper part of the word "spring" is the word "white". Each one belongs to a color and has opposite meanings. The lower half of the two characters are' earth' and' water', which belong to one of the five elements. There is another antithesis in this couplet: Mo (anti) cypress is opposite to "black" and "white", "earth" and "wood" are five elements, and ink comes from cypress, which can be described as Mo Bai.
Two-character couplets
Chunhua (right) Qiuyue Hanfu (right) Chuci Shushan (right) Xue Hai Hongyu (right) Yao Dan
Three-character couplets
Sun Walker in the Underwater Moon (right) In the mirror (right) Zu Chongzhi water curtain cave (right) Bird Hidden in Huaguo Mountain (right).
Four-character couplets
Castle peak is not old (right), green water is long and beautiful (right), outstanding people are in the southeast and northwest (right), flowers bloom in spring, summer, autumn and winter (right), and a hundred schools of thought contend.
Five-character couplets
Love you, hope Qin (right) cares about the country, and hope that prosperity will take off. Wan Li (right) has been coming and going for thousands and a half years. (Right) Bypassing foreign ships, it will become a different island. (right) It will be clear and ripple in the direction of turbidity.
Six-character couplets
It's not intentional to know that birds are tired of flying. Can you do what you want (right) but ask for a clear conscience? Bamboo rain pine organ rhyme (right) the sound of tea, cigarettes and books on the moon. There is no doubt that heaven and earth (right) have their own spring and autumn.
Seven-character couplets
As we all know, there is no false color (right) in rocks, and vegetation has real fragrance. Lin Bu is happy to be near the cool house (right) and participate in text meditation with the guests. Wan Li autumn wind blows brocade water (right) Jiuzhong spring scenery drunk Xiantao. His pen and ink are earth-shattering (right) for ten thousand paintings.
Eight-character couplets
The spirit of mountains and rivers is also pleasantly surprised by the harvest of bosom friend (right) temperament. There is a Gu Song court at the door, but there is no rock (right). Jin Xi Yu Hui County Zaolingyan (right) Lin Zongji traveled in Li Yong. On the same day in the Qing Dynasty, silk and bamboo sang mountains and rivers together, reflecting daily life.
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Fu's On the Characteristics of China Couplets summarizes the characteristics of couplets into five opposites:
Unity of uniqueness and universality