Knowing what four tones are, it is easy to understand the flat tone. The ancients divided four tones into two categories: flat tones. Ping means ping (Putonghua is divided into flat tone and rising tone), which means rising tone and entering tone (Putonghua is divided into rising tone, falling tone and entering tone). The so-called "roughness" means "profile", which means unevenness. If these two tones are used alternately in poetry, the tones can be diversified and not monotonous. Although the ancients said "cadence" and "sonorous voice", there are other stresses, but balance and harmony are indeed an important factor. How exactly are the flat lines in poetry staggered? It can be summarized as two sentences: (1) In the same sentence, levels and levels alternate; (2) In the antithetical sentence (1), the word "level off" is the opposite of the previous sentence. This rule of leveling is particularly obvious in metrical poems. For example, the third and fourth sentences of the poem "Seven Laws: Stone Living in a Quiet Place" say: The shade is like night, and the drizzle is like smoke and green grass. These two sentences are flat: flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat | flat. As far as this sentence is concerned, every word has a rhythm. Pingping is followed by Xu Wei, Xu Wei is followed by Pingping, and the last word is Xu Wei. This is alternation. As far as the sentence is concerned, "Mao Mao rain" doesn't mean "cloudy day"; "Smoke" equals "account"; "Green grass" is relative to "Hong Wei", relative to mediocrity, and "new" is relative to "late". This is relative. Originally, it was very convenient to distinguish flat tones only in Mandarin. However, there is also an entering tone in the ancient sound (see introduction), which has a unique pronunciation and brings some troubles to modern people. If you have Rusheng in your dialect (such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang people or Shanxi people, Hunan people and South China people), then this problem will be solved easily. If you are from Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and northern Guangxi, Rusheng characters in these dialects are classified as Yangping in Mandarin. Then, as long as you meet the word Yangping, you should pay special attention to the distinction. If necessary, you can only look them up in a dictionary or rhyme book. If you are from the north, the words from entering tone to falling tone, and from entering tone to rising tone do not prevent us from distinguishing flat tones. Only when the entering tone is changed to flat tone (flat tone and upper tone) will it be difficult to distinguish flat tone. In a word, when we meet a place where rhyme is stipulated in the poetic meter, but the poet uses a word that sounds very flat today, it should arouse our suspicion and can be solved by looking it up in a dictionary or rhyme book (see another book by the author, Poetry Rhyme). Modern Chinese phonetics). Note: any word ending in -ng will not be an entering tone word. The problem of entering tone is the only obstacle to distinguish the level tone. This obstacle can only be eliminated by consulting dictionaries, rhyming books or practicing more; However, the truth of leveling is easy to understand. Moreover, there are still about half of the places in China with flat tones, and people in those places have no problem in distinguishing flat tones. For the corresponding relationship between Rusheng and Putonghua, please refer to the author's appendix "Complete Poems and Rhymes".
The first, third, fifth and seventh sentences of a metrical poem are called antitheses, and the second, fourth, sixth and eighth sentences are called antitheses.
The fourth quarter battle
The antithesis in rhetoric is called duality in ancient poetry. Rights are relative, fighting is ceremonial, and ancient guard of honor is opposite in pairs, so it is called "antithesis". Anyone who has studied Chinese in middle school knows duality. Duality refers to juxtaposing similar concepts or opposing concepts to form neat beauty. For example, "many people are far away", "many people" and "far away" form duality. Duality can be a sentence that is self-correct, or it can be two sentences that are opposite. For example, "long-term commitment, long-term success" is self-correct, and "long-term commitment, long-term success, be prepared for danger in times of peace" 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 law of duality is that words with the same part of speech are relative, such as noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, adverb to adverb. Or take "a long way to go, be prepared for danger in times of peace" as an example: Ren (Shoulder), Zhi, Ju and Si are all verbs, while Chong, Yuan, An and Wei are adjectives. The law of antithesis in poetry is as follows: (1) The sentences and levels of antithesis are relative; (2) Words in a sentence cannot be duplicated (at least in the same position). Therefore, the two sentences in the poem "Seven Laws: A Stone Living in a Quiet Place" mentioned above: "The shade is as warm as Hong Wei, and the drizzle is as fresh as tobacco." It is in line with the standard of antithesis of metrical poems. Couplets are the same standard.
Rhyme in literary works
Rhyme is one of the basic elements of classical poetry meter. The author uses rhyme in poetry, which is called "rhyme". From The Book of Songs to later poems, including folk songs, there is almost no rhyme. The so-called rhyme is equivalent to vowels in Chinese Pinyin. The pinyin of a Chinese character generally has initials and finals. For example, the word "Fang" is spelled as fāng, where f is the initial and ang is the final. Look at "bang" bā ng, "Chang”cháng and so on. Their vowel is ang, so they are homophones. All rhyming words can rhyme, that is, all rhyming words are put at the end of the sentence, so it is also called "rhyme foot". A poem with the same rhyme part is called "rhyme". For example:
Always in my heart [Don] Wang Changling
Young women in boudoir don't know how to worry (chóu), put on makeup in spring, and go to the Cuilou (lóu). Suddenly I saw the willow color (Se) on the head of a stranger and regretted teaching my husband to find the seal (hóu). Here "sorrow", "building" and "Hou" rhyme, because their vowels are ou. The word "color" doesn't rhyme, because when you read se, the vowel is e, which is not the same rhyme as "sorrow", "building" and "Hou". According to the poetic law, four poems like this don't have to rhyme with the third poem. In Chinese Pinyin, I, U and ü are sometimes added before A, O and E, such as ia, ua, ie and ü e; Sometimes followed by I, O, N, ng, such as uai, ao, iao, an, ian, uan, ü an, iang, uang, UN, Ueng, ü n, etc. This I, u, u is called rhyme; I, o, n and ng are called rhymes. Words with different endings can also be regarded as homonyms, because their stems (the trunk of rhyme) can also rhyme. For example, the silkworm girl [Tang] in "Du Xunhe" has no hunger and is colorless (jiā). Do you know that there is glory in the world? Every year, it is said that silkworms are hard, and I am covered in ramie (má). The vowels of "Jia", "Hua" and "Ma" are ia, ua and A. Although the vowels are not exactly the same, they are all A, so they are also homophones, and they are equally harmonious together. The purpose of rhyming is to rhyme harmoniously. The repetition of the same rhyme in the same position constitutes the beauty of the sound ring. However, when we read ancient poems, why do we often feel that their rhymes are not very harmonious, or even very harmonious? This is because times have changed and pronunciation has changed. If we read ancient poems with modern pronunciation, it will happen naturally. For example:
Cold food [Tang] Han Yi's Spring City is Full of Flowers (huā), and cold food Dongfeng Willow (xié). At dusk, candles were issued in the Han Palace, and light smoke was scattered into the hall of the Five Emperors (jiā). Xié and Hu ā and Ji ā are not homonyms, but the word "Xie" in the Tang Dynasty sounds like jiá, just like the pronunciation of "Xie" in modern Shanghai and Hangzhou. So, it was harmonious. Another example is:
Jiangnan Qu [Tang] Li Yi Since I married a Qutang businessman, he has broken his promise day by day (Q: He). If I thought that the tides were so regular, I might choose a riverside boy (ér). In this poem, "period" and "zi" rhyme; However, if you read in Mandarin today, Qρ and ér can't rhyme. If the word "er" is pronounced according to the pronunciation of Shanghai dialect, it will be pronounced harmoniously like the ní sound (close to the ancient sound). Today, of course, it is impossible (and unnecessary) for us to read the poems of the ancients completely according to the ancient sound; However, we have to understand this truth, so that we won't doubt that the rhymes of the ancients are not harmonious. Similarly, if your daily pronunciation does not belong to the northern phonetic area, you can skillfully rhyme with the pronunciation of your familiar hometown dialect when writing ancient poems.