Lecture 5: Writing Methods and Requirements for Couplets

Five basic requirements for couplet creation:

a) The number of words is equal. This is the most basic requirement for couplets, only the number of words is equal, and the neatness of the couplet format is maintained, which is a prerequisite for couplet symmetry.

2) Consistent sentence breaks. The couplet is composed of two couplets, each of which has a number of words or words. In the process of couplet, it must be noted that a word in the upper link corresponds to a word in the lower link, and a word in the lower link corresponds to a word in the lower link.

Do not break sentences inconsistently, so that the upper and lower sentences are smooth.

3) Relative parts of speech. It refers to the words corresponding to the same position in the upper and lower links or the words have the same character characteristics, that is, the noun corresponds to the noun, the verb corresponds to the verb, the adverb corresponds to the adverb, and the adjective corresponds to the adjective. It is important to note here that some words may have different parts of speech in specific contexts, and should not be confused.

4) The content should be relevant and cohesive up and down. The meaning of the upper and lower links must be connected with each other, and the upper and lower links must be connected; In addition to the "repeated words" in the upper link and the "repeated words" in the lower link (such as the use of compound words, overlapping rhymes, thimbles, etc.), there can be no repeated words and words in the general couplet.

5) Equality and harmony. The simplest embodiment of Pingqian is the last word, that is, the last word of the upper link is used in the sound of the voice, and the last word of the lower link is best used in the sound of Ping.

From the perspective of traditional couplets, the law requires that there be a flat voice, and the ending word of the upper couplet is required to be 仄, that is, the upper sound (the third tone) and the sound (the fourth tone); The lower ending word is Ping, that is, Yin Ping (the first tone) and Yang Ping (the second tone), otherwise it will not be catchy. The rhythm of the peace is to suppress the rhythm of the frustration. However, from the perspective of entering the category of modern culture, more people are not confined to some trivial sections of couplets, but also abandon some redundant rules and regulations.

More people pay more attention to the artistic conception and charm of the couplet, but do not care much about the words between the upper and lower couplets, and many people do not care or do not understand what is the couplet, which makes the traditional couplet have a modern couplet reform taste. And as long as the initials and finals are not consistent at the beginning and end of the couplet, there will always be a slight sense of inhibition and frustration, so that most of them will have some charm.

With the changes of culture and the progress of the times, the pressure on couplets is no longer as traditional and elaborate as before. As long as the words are neat, the meaning of the words is relative or similar, the numbers are the same and the words will not be repeated, and the tone of the first and last words between the upper and lower couplets is different, the pronunciation is smooth and smooth, and the whole couplet reads with a sense of meaning, it is a more rhythmic couplet.

1. Methods and skills: 1. The number of words should be equal and the sentences should be consistent. Except for deliberately vacating the space of a certain word to achieve a certain effect, the number of words in the upper and lower conjunctions must be the same, no more, no less.

2. The parts of speech should be relative and the position should be the same. It is generally called "virtual to virtual, real to real", which is equivalent to the noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, quantifier to quantifier, adverb to adverb, and the relative words must be in the same position.

3. It should be equal and harmonious. The flat requirements of the couplet are "Qi Qi Ping Closed", that is, if the upper couplet rhyme foot is the sound of the couplet, then the lower couplet rhyme foot should be closed in a flat voice, which is called "Qi Qi Ping Close". As for the couplet, there is an occasional phenomenon of "equalizing and receiving", but it should be regarded as a declension and should not be regarded as a regular example of a couplet.

4. The content should be relevant and cohesive up and down. 5.The meanings of the upper and lower links should be connected with each other and should not be repeated. <>

2. Expansion: The puppet stage: The puppet script originated from the Cifu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and flourished in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

As can be seen from its name, it is a style that advocates duality and is mostly composed of dual sentences. This kind of dual sentence is used continuously, also known as arranging couples or puppets. Liu Xian's evaluation of the pun style text in "Wenxin Carving Dragon Ming Poems" is "a couple of 100 words, and a strange sentence of competition".

A paragraph of Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng" in the early Tang Dynasty is an example:

The time is September, and the order belongs to the third autumn. The water is exhausted and the cold pool is clear, and the smoke is condensed and the twilight is purple. In the middle of the road, visit the scenery in Chong'a.

The Changzhou of the emperor, the old museum of the immortals. The mountains are towering and green, and the sky is heavy; Feige Liudan, next to the landless. Heting Zhu, the lingering of the poor island; Shen Pei which Guidian Lan Palace, that is, the posture of the hills.

Draped in embroidery, carved down, the mountains are wide and their eyes are open, and the rivers are shocking. Lu Yan pounced on the ground, and the bell rang Ding Food House; The ship's maze, the axis of the green finch and the yellow dragon. The clouds are gone, and the color is bright.

Luoxia and lonely birds fly together, and the autumn water is the same color as the sky. The fishing boat sings at night, ringing on the shore of the poor Peng Li; The geese were frightened, and the sound broke the pool of Hengyang.

All of them are organized with dual sentences, among which "Luoxia and the lonely bird fly together, and the autumn water grows together in the sky" is a famous dual sentence for the ages. This kind of dual sentence is a further development of the dual sentence in ancient poetry and literary rhetoric, and it has the following three characteristics: First, duality is no longer purely a rhetorical device, but has become the main rhythmic requirement of the style.

There are three characteristics of the pun style, namely, four or six sentence patterns, puppets, and dictionaries, one of which is this. Second, there is a certain rule in the number of dual words. It is mainly the "four-six" sentence form and its variations.

Mainly: four-character duality, six-character duality, eight-character duality, cross duality, twelve-character duality. The third is that the battle is quite skillful, but there are many heavy characters ("zhi", "and" and other words), and the rhythm of the battle is not fully mature.

To create couplets, the number of words in the upper and lower sentences must be equal, the words are opposite, the words are harmonious, the left and right are symmetrical, and the meanings are similar, connected or opposite.

1. The number of words is equal (the number of words is the same).

2. The parts of speech are the same (noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, number to number, adverb to adverb, and the relative words must be in the same position).

3. The structure is consistent (juxtaposition to juxtaposition, bias to bias, subject-verb to subject-verb, verb-object to verb-object) 4. The last word of the last sentence of the upper link is used in the sound word, and the last word of the last sentence of the lower link is used in the flat sound) 5, the content is related (the content of the upper and lower links is related to each other, and cannot be unrelated, but the meaning cannot be repeated).

The basic requirement of the couplet is to achieve the rhythm, and the rhythm generally has four elements:

Prosody (rhythmic rules, rhymes),

Pingqian (relative tone),

Confrontation (the same part of speech, the meaning of the word should be similar or opposite),

Neat (the number of words should be the same, and the upper and lower sentences should not be repeated).

If it is a five-character couplet and a seven-character couplet, because the number of words is exactly the same as that of the near-body poem, the rules of rescue in the near-body poem are also applicable. The so-called rescue means that the battle is not good in one place, and some remedies are made in other positions in this union, and the battle is repaired. The rules of reluctance are very cumbersome to say, so I will not show them here.

But because the five or seven words in the couplet are the most common, if you know it, it is still very good for the couplet. In addition to this, pay attention to the rhythm.

1. The number of words should be equal and the sentences should be consistent. Except for deliberately vacating the position of a certain word to achieve a certain effect, the number of words in the upper and lower links must be the same, no more, no less.

2. It should be harmonious and harmonious. The traditional habit is to rise and fall, that is, the last word of the last sentence of the upper couplet is used in the sound of the voice, and the last word of the last sentence of the lower couplet is used in the flat sound.

3. The parts of speech should be relative and the position should be the same. It is generally called virtual to virtual, real to real , that is, noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective, word to adjective, quantifier to quantifier, adverb to adverb, and the relative words must be in the same position.

4. The content should be relevant and cohesive up and down. The meanings of the upper and lower links must be connected to each other, but they must not be repeated.

Extended Materials. The prose and the lyric poems are the two direct sources of envy of the couplet. In the process of its own development, the couplet also absorbed the characteristics of ancient style poetry, prose, lyrics and songs.

Therefore, the sentence patterns used in couplets, in addition to the rhythmic verse sentence style and the prose sentence style, there are also ancient style poetry sentences, prose sentence patterns, and imitation word rock pants beat song sentence forms. Different sentence patterns are applicable to different rhythms, and the leniency and severity are different. Among them, the rhythm of the verse style is the most stringent, and the ancient style of the verse is not informal, except for the requirements for the end of the sentence.

The Spring Festival couplets have a long history, and according to legend, they began in the fifth generation of the Later Shu Lord Meng Chang. His inscription on the peach charm on the door of the dormitory: "New Year's Nayuqing, Jiajie Changchun", and the predicate "Title Chunqiao Peach Symbol" (see "Shu Han 杌"), which is the earliest couplet in China and the first Spring Festival couplet.

The basis for this theory is that Liang Zhangju, a Qing Dynasty couplet scholar, quoted "Shu Han Zhu" in "Couplet Conghua", but according to the research in "Introduction to Couplets", Liang Zhangju changed "with its word work" to "with its word non-work" when quoting, and the original text of Shu Han Zhu believed that the couplet was written by Xin Yinxun rather than Meng Chang.