The five-character quatrain is one of the Han poetry genres. It is a type of quatrain, which refers to a short poem with five characters and four sentences that conforms to the standard of rhymed poetry and belongs to the category of modern poetry. There are two grids: Pingqi and Pingqi. This style originated from the Yuefu poems of the Han Dynasty and was deeply influenced by the Han folk songs of the Six Dynasties.
In the Tang Dynasty and modern rhythm poetry, they were like twin sisters, with twin flowers, appearing in the poetry world with their new splendor. Only twenty five-character quatrains can show fresh pictures and convey various true artistic conceptions. Because the small makes the big, the small makes up the big, and the short chapters contain rich content, which is its biggest feature.
Representative works include Li Bai's "Quiet Night Thoughts", Liu Zongyuan's "River Snow", Wang Wei's "Bird Song Stream", Du Fu's "Eight Formations", Wang Zhihuan's "Ascend the Stork Tower", Liu Changqing's "Farewell to Master Lingche", Yan Jiangdong's "Seeing the Clouds", etc.
Extended information:
The five-character quatrain was not originated by poets of the Tang Dynasty. It originated from the ancient Yuefu poems of the Han and Wei dynasties. The style is relatively simple and ancient, advocating natural and true interest. Judging from a five-character poem titled "Queju" written by the Northern Zhou poet Yu Xin, its stylistic form was formed at least in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties. "Visitors have been traveling for many years, and they have many old memories.
I recently learned about Hengyang wild geese and crossed the river together at the autumnal equinox." This is one of Yu Xin's "Three Wonders of Master Hekan". This poem is flat, oblique and sticky, completely in line with the rhythm of Tang Dynasty. The second and fourth lines end in flat rhymes, and the first and third lines end in oblique rhymes. The title of the poem has been called "Jue".
Due to the limitation of the number of words, compared with other poetry genres, the language and expression techniques of five-character quatrains are required to be more concise and general during creation, making the creation more difficult. Zhang Qianyi summarized this with the eight words "short but long-lasting, and extremely difficult to understand". Therefore, the five-character quatrain naturally became the brightest pearl in the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the essence of Tang poetry.