Ancient poetry works are spectacular and diverse, which can be divided into two categories: ancient poetry and modern poetry from the perspective of meter. Modern poetry is represented by metrical poetry, which has strict metrical requirements; Accordingly, whatever is not bound by the rhythm of modern poetry is generally called ancient poetry. In addition, in terms of the number of words in a poem, there are two main forms of poetry: five-character poems and seven-character poems. Therefore, this paper will limit the discussion of the meter of ancient poetry to five-character or seven-character meter poems.
Each poem has eight sentences, which constitute a quartet respectively. They are called first couplet, parallel couplet, neck couplet and tail couplet in turn. Talking about metrical poetry mainly means understanding the concepts of "rhyme", "flatness" and "duality".
First of all, rhyme
Rhyme is one of the basic elements of poetry meter. Poets use rhyme in their poems, which is called rhyme. Poetry (including classical poetry, folk songs, etc. ) It doesn't rhyme. The so-called rhyme means putting two or more rhyming words in the same position (usually at the end of a sentence). The rhyme in ancient poetry creation is not completely equivalent to the vowels in modern Chinese Pinyin, so the so-called homonym can be approximately understood as the same or similar vowels.
Example (1): Mr. Shu Huyin's wall (Wang Song Anshi)
Maoyan is often cleaned without moss, and flowers and trees are planted by hand. One water protects the field and surrounds the green, and two mountains send green.
The vowels of "moss", "plant" and "lai" here are all "ai", which naturally belongs to "homophonic", so it rhymes.
Example (2): The four seasons are idyllic (Song Fan Chengda)
Work during the day, weave hemp at night, and the children in the village are in charge. Although the children don't plow and weave, they also learn a kind of melon in the shade of mulberry trees.
The vowels of "Ma", "Jia" and "Gua" in this poem are "A", "ia" and "ua" respectively, but the main vowel is "A", which is a homophone in ancient rhyme, so it rhymes.
Example (3): Mountain Tour (Tara in Tang Dynasty)
In the distance, there are cold mountains, oblique stone paths and people in the depths of white clouds. Stop and sit in the maple forest late, and the frost leaves are red in February flowers.
Comparing the pronunciations of Xie, Jia and Hua, we can find that Xie should not be homophony with Jia and Hua. However, the word "Xie" in the Tang Dynasty was pronounced "sia" (equivalent to summer), so it also rhymed at that time. Therefore, when judging the rhyme of ancient poetry, we should also consider the evolution factors of pronunciation, which can not be measured completely according to the pronunciation of modern Chinese.
The ancients wrote rhymes in strict accordance with the official rhyming books.
In metrical poems, there are usually even-numbered sentences such as two, four, six and eight, that is, the end of each couplet rhymes, and three, five and seven sentences, that is, the sentences of each couplet do not rhyme, and the first sentence of the whole poem can rhyme or not (most of the first sentences of the five laws do not rhyme, and most of the first sentences of the seven laws rhyme); Moreover, rhyming feet (rhyming words) are generally flat and turbid words (that is, words with yin and yang tones). For example:
(1) General Wei (Zi Ang)
The Huns are still alive and Wei will rejoin the army. No, no, three rivers, chasing six counties.
The wild goose mountain crosses the north, and the fox inserts the cloud. Don't let it go to the top, but stay in Korea and you will succeed.
(2) Forever coal (money)
Digging for black gold, saving Yang is meaningful. The fire rekindled into spring, and the furnace shone all night.
Ding yiyuan relies on power and pays attention to the stone after death. I hope that all people will warm their hearts and go out of the mountains tirelessly.
(1) The words "Rong", "Xiong", "Zhong" and "Gong" in the poem rhyme in a flat tone, and the whole poem rhymes with sentences. (2) The words "gold", "deep", "heavy", "heart" and "forest" in the poem rhyme, and they are all flat-voiced words. The whole poem rhymes with sentences, and the first sentence rhymes.
Second, leveling.
Flat tone is another important factor in metrical poetry. When we say metrical poems, we mainly mean even tones. Flat tone is a term of poetic meter: the poet divides the four tones of Chinese into two categories, "flat" refers to flat tone (including Yin Ping and Yang Ping), and "flat" includes three tones: up, down and inside. If even sounds appear alternately in poetry, it can diversify the tones and achieve the phonological effect of "harmony". This kind of "interlacing" includes: 1, flat and even words appear alternately in this sentence, and 2, flat and even words exist in the antithesis sentence. For example, "Jinsha River is warm in the clouds and cliffs, and Dadu Bridge is cold in the hurdles." The levels of these two poems are "levels and levels, levels and levels, levels and levels". As far as this sentence is concerned, every word has a rhythm. Pingping's sentence is followed by Xu Wei, followed by Pingping, and the last one is Xu Wei. When you start a sentence, it is flat, followed by flat, and finally flat. This is alternation. As far as sentences are concerned, "Jinsha" is flat to "Dadu", "Shuipai" is flat to "Qiaodu" and "Yunya" is flat to "Tiesuo". This is opposition.
According to the requirements of Pinge, there are only two fixed basic forms of regular poetry in this respect. They are:
(1) Five Laws:
1, starting type
Flat and light, flat and light. Flat and light, flat and light.
Flat and light, flat and light. Flat and light, flat and light.
2. Flat type
Flat and light, flat and light. Flat and light, flat and light.
Flat and light, flat and light. Flat and light, flat and light.
(2) Seven Laws
1, starting type
Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping Pingping. Plain, plain, plain.
Flat and light, flat and light. Plain, plain, plain.
2. Flat type
Flat and light, flat and light. Flat and light, flat and light.
Plain, plain, plain. Flat and light, flat and light.
Of course, there are many other formats that can be changed, and you don't need to know them one by one.
Rhyme also has special requirements for flat tones, mainly as follows:
First, there is a law of "sticking to the right" in the leveling of regular poems. "Right" means opposition, which has been mentioned above and will not be repeated here. "Sticky" means flat and sticky; The fluency of the second word of the subsequent sentence should be consistent with that of the previous sentence. Specifically, the third sentence should adhere to the second sentence, the fifth sentence to the fourth sentence, and the seventh sentence to the sixth sentence. The five-law flat format and seven-law flat format mentioned above all conform to this law. Look at Chairman Mao's Long March. "The Red Army is not afraid of the expedition, and Qianshan is just idle. Wuling winds through the waves, and Wumeng walks away with mud balls. Jinsha River is warm in the clouds and cliffs, and Dadu Bridge is cold in the iron bars. I like the snow in the mountains, and I will open my eyes after the three armies. " The word "water" in the second sentence is not pronounced, and the word "ridge" in the third sentence is not pronounced; The word "Meng" in the fourth sentence is flat, and the word "Sha" in the fifth sentence is also flat; The word "Du" in the sixth sentence is not pronounced, nor is the word "Xi" in the seventh sentence pronounced. It can be seen that the rules of "posting" are very strict. The function of matching is to diversify the timbre. If it is not "right", the level of the upper and lower sentences will be the same; If you don't "paste", the horizontal lines of the front and back couplets will be almost the same. Understanding and adhering to the correct principles can help us recite Pingping's lyrics (that is, the format). As long as you know the level of the first sentence, you can recite the level of the whole article. Understanding and adhering to the correct principles can help us understand the level of long law. No matter how long the law is, it is only in accordance with the rules of sticking to the hierarchy. Violation of adhesion rules is called loss of adhesion; Violation of the correct rules is called mismatch.
Second, the taboo of "loneliness" in metrical poems. Loneliness is the taboo of metrical poetry, so the poet should pay attention to avoiding loneliness when writing metrical poetry. In the five-character "Pingou" sentence pattern, the first word must be flat; If you use the word "slander", you are alone. Because in addition to rhyme, there is only one flat word left. Seven characters are the expansion of five characters, so in the sentence pattern of "occasionally flat, occasionally flat", if the third word is even, it is also called loneliness. If the first word of five words and the third word of seven words must be ambiguous, then remedial measures must be taken (see below).
Third, the "difficult to survive" in metrical poems. Every flat and irregular sentence is called an embarrassing sentence. Use the word "embarrassed" in front and "save" in the back. The so-called "salvation" means compensation. Generally speaking, the flat sound is used in the front where it should be used, and the flat sound must be compensated (or often compensated) in the back. The specific ways of "rescue" are extremely complicated, and we don't need to know them one by one.
Fourth, the statement that "135 is irrelevant, 246 is clear". There is a saying about the training of metrical poems: "No matter what 135 is, 246 is clear." This refers to the seven methods (including seven sections). This means that the levels of the first, third and fifth characters can be arbitrary, while the levels of the second, fourth and sixth characters must be different. As for the seventh word, natural requirements are very high. As far as the five-character rhyme is concerned, it should be "whether one or three, two or four are clear." This formula is very useful for beginners because it is simple and clear. However, its analysis of the problem is not comprehensive, which is easy to cause misunderstanding. It is not comprehensive to say "135 regardless" first. In the five-character "flat" format, the first word can't be ignored, and in the seven-character "flat" format, the third word can't be ignored, otherwise it will make a big taboo of loneliness. As for the third word of five words and the fifth word of seven words, on the whole, it is based on the principle of "theory" In short, a seven-character sentence can have three words regardless, and a flat-tone sentence can only have two words regardless. Five sentences can have two words regardless, and only one word can be ignored in Pingruo sentences. It is wrong to say "135". Moreover, the sentence "246 is clear" is not comprehensive. The word "distinct" in five words is correct, and the word "distinct" in seven words is correct. As for the fourth word in five words and the sixth word in seven words, it is not necessarily "clear". For example, the format of "Pingdui" can also be changed to "Pingdui", and it is enough to compensate a flat tone in the third word of the sentence. Seven words and so on. The words "246 clear" are not completely correct.
Third, antithesis
Duality in poetry is called duality.
Duality means juxtaposing similar concepts or opposing concepts, such as "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea" and "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea" to form duality. Duality can be a sentence that is self-correct, or it can be two sentences that are opposite. For example, "to resist US aggression and aid Korea" is self-contradictory, while "to resist US aggression and aid Korea and defend the country" are two opposite sentences. Generally speaking, duality refers to two opposite sentences. The last sentence is called a sentence, and the next sentence is called a sentence. The general rules of duality are noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, adverb to adverb. Take "Resisting US aggression and aiding Korea and defending our country" as an example: resistance, aid, protection and defence are all verbs, while beauty, Korea, home and country are all nouns. In fact, nouns can be subdivided into several categories, and similar nouns are relatively neat and dual, referred to as "work pairs". Here, "beauty" and "Korea" are both place names and abbreviations, so they are industrial pairs; Both "home" and "country" are people's collectives, so they are also workers. "Defending the country and defending the country" is also right for "resisting US aggression and aiding Korea", because the sentences are self-aligned, so it is not required that the two sentences are equally neat. Duality is a rhetorical device, whose function is to form neat beauty.
There are many stresses on the antithesis of metrical poems, mainly including:
1, work team
Where words of the same kind have relative relations, they are called public pairs. Because nouns are divided into several subcategories, words in the same subcategory are more orderly. Although some nouns have different subcategories, they are often juxtaposed in language, such as heaven and earth, poetry and wine, flowers and birds, etc. They are also regarded as working pairs. The antonym is also right. For example, Li Bai's "Xia Sai Qu", "Playing the golden drum at dawn and holding the jade saddle at night", is the working time. Self-rightness in one sentence and two opposite sentences is considered right. Just like Du Fu's poem "Although the country is broken, the mountains and rivers remain forever, and the vegetation turns green in spring", the mountains and rivers are geography, and the vegetation is a plant, so geography is also neat for plants. In a couplet, as long as the numbers are arranged neatly, it is a pair of workers' bodies. For example, Chairman Mao's "Farewell to the God of Sorrow" (Part II): "Red rain turns waves at will, and Castle Peak turns bridges intentionally. Even the Wuling silver hoe fell, and the three rivers shook. " Red is neat to Qing, meaning to free will, ploughing to change, tianlian to earthquake, Wuling to Sanjiang, silver to iron, falling to tremble. And "rain" to "mountain", "wave" to "bridge", "hoe" to "arm", nouns to nouns are still relatively neat. Beyond this limit, it is not neat, but slim. Generally speaking, the antithesis of Song poetry is more exquisite than that of Tang poetry; However, the artistic level of Song poetry is relatively low. Synonyms are relative, like working but clumsy. "Wen Xin Diao Long" said: "Those who oppose it are the best, and those who are right are the worst." Synonyms are more natural than normal. For example, Du Fu's Hakka words: "My road is full of petals-I swept it for others, and my thatched door was closed-but now it is open for you", "Yuan" and "Wei" are synonyms. Because it is a function word (preposition), not a content word, it is not a defect. Besides, in a poem, it doesn't matter to use a pair of synonyms occasionally, but it is not appropriate to use them more often. Sentence and antithesis are completely synonymous (or basically synonymous), which is called "fighting" and is also a taboo for poets.
Step 2 be lenient
Form is subordinate to content, and poets should not damage their ideology in pursuit of their works. The same poet, used correctly in this poem, in another poem, depends entirely on the specific situation. There is an adjacent pair between the wide pair and the working pair, that is, the adjacent things are relative. For example, astronomy is in season, geography is in the house, color is in the opposite position, synonyms are in Lian Mian, and so on. Wang Wei sent an envoy to the Great Wall: "To collect Peng from the Great Wall of Han Dynasty and return geese to the lake field", and to take "heaven" as "the Great Wall" is astronomical and geographical; Chen Ziang's "Farewell to Friends on a Spring Night": "Going out of the hall to think about the harp, taking a different road around the mountains and rivers, and taking the" road "to the" hall "are a pair of palaces in geography. There are many such cases. A little wider, that is, noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective and so on. This is the most common situation. A little wider, that's half wrong. The antithesis of the first couplet could have been used but useless. Naturally, the first couplet is half wrong and half wrong. Chen Ziang's "Huns still exist, Jiang Wei joins the army" and Li Bai's "Sail to Jingmen Ferry, and soon you will come south with people" are such cases. If the first sentence rhymes, there will be more cases of half right and half wrong. The antithesis of parallel couplets is not as strict as that of neck couplets, so it is common to be half wrong. This is the case with Du Fu's "For our boys and girls, poor little babes, too young to know where the capital is". Now cite Chairman Mao's poems as proof:
To Mr. Mao Zedong Liu Yazi.
I can't forget that when I was drinking tea in Guangdong, I was talking about Ye Huang Zheng in Yuzhou. Thirty-one years after returning from my motherland, I read zhanghua when the flowers fell.
Complaining too much can prevent heartbroken, and you should pay attention to it after a long history. The water in Kunming, Mo Island is shallow, and watching fish is better than Fuchun River.
3. Sorry
A word has two meanings. The poet uses the first meaning in his poems, but at the same time borrows its second meaning to oppose another word. This is called borrowing power. For example, Du Fu's "My Uncle Drowned by Luggage, Mao asked the old man" in "My humble abode in Wuxia". The "Li" of "luggage" is not the "Li" of Tao Lizhi, but the poet uses the meaning of "Li" of Tao Lizhi to oppose the word "Mao". Another example is Du Fu's Qujiang, "Wine debts are common, and life is seventy years old." In ancient times, eight feet were found and two feet were found, so the number "seventy" was borrowed. Sometimes, not through meaning, but through sound. Loanwords often appear in pairs of colors, such as blue for basket, yellow for emperor, pale for pale, Zhu for Zhu, and blue for green. Du Fu's "Hate Farewell" said: "I miss my home, stand up in the clear night, miss my brother, watch the clouds and sleep in the daytime", use "Qing" to "Bai", use "Go to Qingcheng County, stay in Chengdu to see off the second little Yin and Tao Wang", "East Guo Cangjiang meets, the snow is high in the western hills" and use "Cang" to "Bai", that's all.
4. flowing water pair
Duality is generally two parallel sentences, and each sentence has its own independence. But there is also a kind of antithesis in which one sentence is divided into two sentences. In fact, ten words or fourteen words are just a whole, and it is meaningless to make sentences independently, at least it is incomplete. This is the so-called running pair. For example:
Come back from this mountain, pass another mountain, go up from the south and then go north-to my own town! . (Du Fu)
Although people are sympathetic and eloquent, birds have different meanings when they recall flying high. (Bai Juyi)
Stuffed on the Great Wall, making empty promises, the sideburns in the mirror have long faded. (land travel)
In a word, the antithesis of regular poems is not as strict as Pingze, and poets have more freedom in using antithesis. Poets with high artistic accomplishment can often successfully use neat antithesis to better express their ideological content rather than destroy it. If necessary, you can get rid of the shackles of confrontation and fully express your artistic conception. It is vulgar to pursue the subtlety of duality without principle.
The antithesis in metrical poems also has its own rules, namely: 1, the level of sentences and antithesis is opposite, and 2, sentences and antithesis words cannot be repeated. For example, "the mountains cover the day, and the ocean drains the golden river." Parallel prose and neck couplets in metrical poems require antithesis, and the first couplet can be used or not (there are many antitheses in the five-law first couplet and few in the seven-law antithesis), and the last couplet is generally not needed (but there are exceptions, usually running pairs). For example:
(A) Hate farewell (Tang Du Fu)
The length of a line is 4 thousand Li, and Hu rode for five or six years. The vegetation weakened and went beyond the sword, and the soldiers blocked the old river.
I miss my home, but I miss my brother. I watch the clouds and sleep during the day. I heard that Heyang was going to win, and Stuart was worried about Youyan.
(2) The banks of the Yellow River were recovered by the imperial army (Tang Du Fu)
The news of this distant western station! The north has been recovered! At first, I couldn't stop crying on my coat. Where are my wife and son? There is not a trace of sadness on their faces. However, I packed my books and poems crazily!
On a green spring day, I began to go home, singing my songs loudly and drinking my wine. Come back from this mountain, pass another mountain, go up from the south and then go north-to my own town! .
(a) antithesis of poetry, (b) antithesis of poetry, but these two sentences are in one go, a pair of flowing clouds, or a different general antithesis.
After understanding the regular metrical requirements of metrical poetry, we can practice "poetry arrangement" smoothly. Generally speaking, when doing this kind of work, we have the following rules to follow: (For the sake of explanation, we take the poem "A Spring Tour in Qiantang" as an example)
Spring outing in Qiantang (poetry has been disrupted) (Tang Bai Juyi)
Flowers are becoming more and more charming, and new swallows peck at the soil in spring. The west of Gushan Temple Pavilion is flat and its feet are low.
Several early warblers compete to warm the trees, and the white sand embankment under the shade of Populus davidiana loves the lake best. Only shallow grass can make it lose its horseshoe.
The first step is to find out "rhyme feet" (flat and turbid words with the same rhyme). The rhyme in this poem includes: mud, west, low, embankment and hoof.
The second step is to compile eight poems into four pairs of "couplets". The four poems in this poem are: "Flowers are more and more attractive/shallow grass can make you lose your horseshoe", "Whose new swallow pecks at spring mud/a few early-rising warblers compete for warm trees", "Gushan Temple is in the west of the ancient pavilion/the water level is low at the beginning" and "The favorite lake under the shade of Baisha dike/Populus davidiana is not enough to swim eastward".
The third step is to determine the order of sentences and dialogues according to the leveling rule of "Lian" (the word at the end of a sentence is flat). Therefore, the first four links are adjusted as follows: "Flowers are getting more attractive/shallow grass can lose horseshoes", "Several early warblers compete for warm trees/whose new swallows peck at spring mud", "Gushan Temple is in the west of Guting/the water level is low" and "the favorite lake is not enough to swim eastward/the white sand embankment under the shade of Qingyang".
The fourth step is that this poem has only two couplets. Therefore, the couplets of "flowers are getting more attractive/shallow grass can lose horseshoes" and "several early warblers compete for warm trees/whose new swallow pecks at spring mud" are called "couplets" or "necklaces".
Step five, this poem has five rhymes, which means that the first sentence of the whole poem enters rhyme. Therefore, the couplet with the rhyme "Gushan Temple in the north and ancient pavilion in the west/low water level" should be the first couplet. The remaining couplets are naturally tail couplets.
The sixth step, according to the content of the poem, the poet begins with "the horizontal clouds are light and the feet are low", first writes the "high and far" scenery "how many early birds compete to warm the trees/whose new swallow pecks at the spring mud", then writes the "low and near" scenery "flowers are getting more attractive/shallow grass can lose horseshoes", and finally ends with "lack of East Lake/shade", so "a few"
Step 7, discharge the sequence and check the instrument. This poem rhymes with "I", the first sentence rhymes, and two antitheses. Poetry conforms to the law of "sticking to the right" in the level tone.
The order of the original poem should be:
Spring outing in Qiantang River (original poem) (Tang Bai Juyi)
Gushan Temple is in the north of Gu Ting West. At first, the water level was low. Several early songbirds compete for warm trees. Whose new swallow pecks at spring mud?
Colorful spring flowers will gradually fascinate people's eyes, and shallow spring grass can barely cover the horseshoe. I love the beauty on the east bank of the West Lake, and I can't get enough of it, especially the white sand embankment under the green poplar.
In addition, after understanding the rules and requirements of metrical poetry, we can also practice "poetry filling" smoothly. For example:
Please choose the most suitable group of words to fill in the blanks:
Lushan Mountain (Mao Zedong)
A mountain flew to the river, jumped into the onion cage and rotated 400 times.
Xiangyang looks at the world coldly, and it is hot and windy.
The yellow crane floats in the school at nine o'clock, and the white smoke rises from Wuqi under the waves.
Tao _ _ I don't know where to go, Peach Blossom Garden can be cultivated _ _?
Options: A East Palace Day B East Palace Cloud C Sanlingtian D Sanlingtian
Answer: "Wu Dong" is often used, but according to the principle of duality, we should choose "three" as opposed to the numeral "nine" in the previous sentence. "Taogong" and "county magistrate" are all acceptable, but according to the law of "pasting", the word "Ling" should be pasted together with the word "Xia" in the previous sentence. Finally, according to the principle of rhyme, we should choose "Tian" to rhyme with the rhyme foot (sound "An") of the whole poem. So the answer is C.
The meter of ancient poetry is quite complicated. As far as metrical poetry is concerned, it can't be covered in just a few words. On the basis of a preliminary understanding, we should read more ancient poems and cultivate a sense of language, so as to better grasp them and help us understand and appreciate them more deeply.