Metric poems, including metrical poems and quatrains, are called modern metrical poems by the ancients, and we call them modern metrical poems. Although it is actually very old, it began in Qi Liang in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and matured in the early Tang Dynasty. Poetry before the Tang Dynasty, except for the so-called "Qi Liang Style" and Chu Ci, is called ancient style. After the Tang Dynasty, poems that did not conform to modern poetry were also called ancient styles. There are differences between ancient style and modern style in syntax, phonology and level.
Syntax: The number of words in each sentence in ancient Chinese is variable, including four, five, six, seven and even miscellaneous words (uneven sentences), and the number of sentences in each poem is also variable. If you lose two sentences, you will lose dozens or hundreds. Only five words and seven words are near-body words. General poetry stipulates eight sentences, and quatrains stipulate four sentences. More than eight sentences are also called long method. When Li Yu of the Qing Dynasty talked about martial arts, Yu Sao said, "As long as he has momentum and covers his head and tail, I will be besieged on all sides." Sun Li's Reading the Secretary's Records: "His language is long-term, old and new words, sometimes harmonious, sometimes strong and harmonious, fighting east and west, virtual and real, cadence and endless changes."
It can be seen from these poems that ancient and modern voices are completely different. Some of them belonged to different rhymes in ancient times, but they can't be seen in modern times. For example, Dong Hedong, Jiang Heyang, Zhen Hewen, Xiao, Cui, Xian Xian, Yan Hexian, Geng Heqing and Han He were deleted. If we look at the words in every rhyming part, we will find the opposite situation: the ancients thought they belonged to the same rhyme, but today they don't rhyme at all. This sentence comes from the Sixth Army of Tongdian: The 18th time in Water Margin: "It is said that it is an attack from the east to the west, but it is actually an attack from the west", and Song Zhanggang's "Seeking medical treatment": "The potential of Kuang Lu is unpredictable, the left is true, the right is false, and things are beaten", "Lei Heng also wants to save Zhao Gai and fight for the first back door; However, Jeikiy said he opened the door, so he had to bump into the front door and make a scene. Yuan Miao and others recorded the Revolution of 1911: "It was the night revolutionary party that planned to start from Hankou and made Wuchang unprepared with twelve sentences. "
Modern people can use modern verse to create modern-style poems. If we want to use Pingshui rhyme according to tradition, we must pay attention to the difference between ancient sounds and modern sounds, especially when reading ancient poems. These differences can sometimes be distinguished by dialects, but they are not necessarily reliable. They can only read more and recite more.