In order to find another twin brother and sister, writing and music, history has generously endowed mankind with two completely different methods.
Firstly, the music theory is developed independently by using analytical methods: starting with the smallest element of music-sound (vibration of different frequencies), then scales, phrases and movements, with concepts such as beat, dynamics and mode. This kind of music theory has nothing to do with words, and it is completely another "language". It can produce a separate "instrumental music" to express vague feelings with personal characteristics within a certain range; You can also combine the lyrics to temporarily reproduce the harmonious beauty of twin brothers and sisters. "Analysis" pursues individuality and individual freedom.
The other is to combine words and music harmoniously with "comprehensive method". This method is based on the musical connotation of China characters: Chinese has "four tones" (it is said that there are also "five tones"), which basically corresponds to the "five tones" of ancient music. Sentence reading and the initial consonants of Chinese monosyllabic and disyllabic words constitute the concepts of "beat" and "strength"; The sentences and paragraphs of the lyrics themselves correspond to phrases and actions. This method is not as diverse in form as the previous one, but it combines words with music: as long as the lyrics are written in this way, you already have your own music, and you don't have to worry about losing it. "Comprehensive law" pursues * * *, not the principle of individual freedom.
According to the "analysis method" to develop music theory, there is not much difference between China and the west, but China's melody is more beautiful and the west has a strong three-dimensional sense; The development of the integration of speech and music according to the "comprehensive method" is mainly manifested in the development of poetry meter from the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty and "Ci" in the Song Dynasty; Because there is no four-tone pronunciation of words in western languages, the "metrical poems" in western poems have strict rules and patterns, but the sense of music is still not as good as that of China's metrical poems.
Reading the lyrics of a song is very different from listening to the lyrics of a song; Similarly, reading a poem that does not conform to the law will have a different feeling from reading a poem that conforms to the law. Although we can live without singing, we need to learn how to sing when we want to sing, especially when we want to sing on the stage. We can live without writing poems, but when we want to write poems, especially when we want to publish them, we need to write them as much as possible. When we write poetry without writing other styles, we actually admit that poetry is different from other styles, and the characteristics of poetry come from the special requirements of poetry for meter. When we give up these requirements, the "poem" we wrote loses its basic characteristics.
With more and more writers writing poems, many of them want to know some basic knowledge about poetry methods and techniques in order to improve their level of writing poems. In order to meet the requirements of readers, we specially set up this column to introduce some basic and practical common sense of poetry to readers who are interested in writing poetry through some short articles. At present, the content we introduce is temporarily limited to some relatively simple poems and aphorisms of five or seven words.
For those who don't write poems according to the rules for a long time, it is difficult to completely abide by the rules of poetry at once. If we adopt the method of "using its spirit": after understanding the basic laws, try our best to work in the right direction, step by step, even if it is very slow, as long as we persist in doing it bit by bit, our poetry will certainly make remarkable progress in a short time.