There are mature antithetical sentences in The Book of Songs, such as the familiar "I was gone, I loved Liu Yiyi; Today, I think it's raining. "
There are also in the Book of Changes, such as "simultaneous response, seeking for the same spirit".
There are many "Lisao", such as "making Yuan Xiang Xi have no waves and making the river flow safely".
In other words, antithesis has become a widely used rhetorical device in pre-Qin classics and poems, although it is not strict.
There are many antitheses in the Han Yuefu in the Han Dynasty, such as "everything is brilliant without virtue in Yangchun". It is said that in Nineteen Ancient Poems written at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "grass beside the Qingjiang River and willow in the gloomy garden" is more mature.
In fact, you should know that the sentences in Han Fu are antithetical and characterized by antithesis. Later, Dafu, Fu Xiao and Inscriptions were developed. , characterized by antithesis.
Parallel prose was the most prosperous in the Six Dynasties. Why is it called a parallel body? Because of confrontation. In addition, parallel prose also forms a basically fixed sentence pattern, so it is also called "Si Liu Style". The first four words, the last six words, this is a sentence, and the next sentence has the same format, and it is the opposite.
With the development of phonology in the Six Dynasties, the requirements of antithesis are getting higher and higher, which is closer to the antithesis we see now.
This gorgeous style of writing became a cloak to cover up the empty content in the Six Dynasties, which was criticized by many people. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were official documents criticized and corrected. Because the poem not only uses antithesis, but also memorials in four or six styles.
In the early Tang Dynasty, Shangguan Yi, Shangguan Waner's grandfather, summarized the law of antithetical sentences and put forward the theory of "six pairs" and "eight pairs", which had a great influence on antithetical sentences in later poems.
Later, in the period of Wu Zetian, in the hands of court poets such as Shen Quanqi, Song and Du Fu, antithesis norms were listed as rules of metrical style, and became modern poetry that became popular in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, that is, the five laws and seven laws that we are studying and using now.
Supposedly, antithesis, as a rhetorical method, needs to carve words, which is incompatible with the simple poetic atmosphere. Today, we think that simplicity is more natural, and confrontation at least undermines natural style.
However, the ancients did not see it that way.
Shen Yue and Zhong Rong of the Six Dynasties believed that confrontation was natural. What logic is this? Because in their view, everything in the world is yin and yang, on the contrary, they complement each other. Therefore, this kind of neat sentence is the harmonious embodiment of nature. So at first this form was called "even sentence" or "dual", which means two identical meanings. When they evaluate a antithetical sentence, they often make a "natural" evaluation.
Later, people found that the "even sentence" and the guard of honor were lined up neatly, so it was called "antithesis" duel, and antithesis and even sentence were the same thing.
Parallel style is widely used in metrical style and fu style, and antithetical sentences often appear in ancient prose, especially in Tang and Song dynasties and later. You can understand it after reading the essays of eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties, so I won't give examples here.
Although antithesis is very mature and widely used in poetry and prose, it is still relatively late to actually post couplets. Couplets did not appear until the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Everyone thinks that the first couplet was created by Meng Min of Houshu, and it was used as Spring Festival couplets as soon as it came up. His pair is like this, "New Year Qing Yu, Jiajie Changchun". This is the first couplet in history and the first Spring Festival couplets.
What is interesting about this pair is that after Meng Changjun pacified the Northern Song Dynasty and Meng Changjun was captured, Zhao Kuangyin sent his own officials to Chengdu. This official is actually called "Lv Yuqing". Today is New Year's Day, and I was admitted to Qing Yu University.
Not counting this, Zhao Kuangyin later designated his birthday as a national statutory holiday, called the "Long Spring Festival". Meng Changjun predicted in this couplet that there would be a "Jia Festival" called "Changchun".
A word becomes a prophecy, so you can't write casually when you write something.
Meng Chang's newly invented Spring Festival couplets were originally carved on two mahogany boards, so they were called "Fu Tao". When poets in later generations refer to couplets, they often use "Fu Tao" instead.
For example, Lu You's "But the Year": "Peach symbols are written in grass, and pepper wine is poured on flowers." Wang Anshi's January Day: "Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones."
Later, when paper was developed, it became a couplet written on red paper, which has been in use ever since.
Couplets, as the name implies, are posted on the "Ying", that is, on the door frame. Only Spring Festival couplets are called Spring Festival couplets, and there are other names on other occasions, such as birthday couplets, wedding couplets and elegiac couplets.
As a lively and interesting style, couplets are also elegant tools for literati. Many couplets are for fun and don't need to be posted.
In ancient times, children had to pair up for enlightenment when they went to private schools, which was the basic skill of writing poems and a tool for literati communication. It was only in the Qing Dynasty that books such as "Enlightenment of Melody" and "Rion Duyun" came into being, which made it more convenient for children to learn antithesis.
We are familiar with "heaven to earth, rain to wind" and so on, all from such books. These two books are both written in antithesis. In addition to popularizing dual knowledge, there are many allusions, which are commonly used by poets in past dynasties. One more thing, this kind of book is divided into chapters according to rhyme, so it is also a good book to understand and learn Pingshui rhyme.