Common sense about couplets

When making couplets, the following rules must be followed:

(1) The number of words in the upper and lower couplets must be equal, and repeated words cannot be used.

(2) The last sentence of the first couplet must be in oblique tone, and the last character of the next couplet must be in flat tone.

(3) The sentence patterns of the upper and lower couplets must be consistent (similar parts of speech and corresponding structures).

(4) The oblique tones of the upper and lower lines should be opposite to each other. Where the upper couplet uses flat tones, the second line must use oblique tones, and vice versa (ping: flat

Characters; oblique, characters with oblique tones, including characters with the three tones of Shang, Lai and Ru).

(5) The meanings of the upper and lower couplets can be similar or opposite. They can only say one thing, or they may also say two things separately.

The antithesis between couplets and verses has an evolutionary relationship. The rhythm of verses and the principle of "one, three, and five are irrelevant, but two, four, and six are distinct" also apply to couplets. As for the number of words in each couplet, there is no limit, ranging from four, five, six, seven, eight, nine to several or hundreds of words, as long as there is something to say and it can be paired. The following examples illustrate this:

The motherland’s mountains and rivers are strong; the people’s years are new.

(廻仄平平廄, 平平廄廄平.)

The "motherland" and "mountains and rivers" in the first line and the "people" and "years" in the second line are all nouns. The last word "zhuang" in the first line and the last word "xin" in the second line are both adjectives. They are relative to each other and harmonious. The content and form are consistent with the five rules mentioned above.

In short, the phonology and harmony of couplets should be harmonious. The language is concise, consistent with the rules, and has certain content. The words are not relative to each other, the flatness and obliqueness are inconsistent, or the slogan-like sentences are divided into two lines, they cannot be regarded as couplets.

We can summarize the content of the above introduction into the "four principles", that is, "the number of words is equal, the pronunciation of characters is flat, the words are antithetical, and the syntax is symmetrical." At the same time, the content of the upper and lower couplets must be related to a certain extent, but cannot be similar or repeated. Similar couplets are commonly known as "Gasho Pairs", such as "New Year welcomes five blessings, and Spring Festival welcomes three more blessings." Among them, "New Year" and "Spring Festival", Both "ying" and "connecting" agree that such couplets are traditionally considered a taboo in making couplets.

The principle of "'one, three, and five are irrelevant, but two, four, and six are clear'" in the text also applies to couplets, which refers to the first, third, and fifth characters of each sentence of five- and seven-character poems. Regardless of the oblique tone, it is okay to use oblique characters when using flat tones, or use flat tones when using oblique characters. However, the second, fourth, and sixth characters of each sentence must be clear and oblique and cannot be replaced. This is all because the first, third, and fifth characters are shifted from straight to oblique, and the pronunciation is not affected much. The second, fourth, and sixth characters are out of balance, making the reading difficult to read. This is a taboo in verse, and it is also a taboo in traditional couplet writing when used in couplet creation.

What is introduced above is the practice and formula of traditional couplets. With the gradual maturity and development of the art of couplets, various novel practices and sentence patterns are constantly emerging, and many unique couplets have also appeared. The so-called Non-authentic couplets refer to couplets that do not overemphasize flatness, obliqueness, workmanship, and rhyme. This kind of couplet work has long been criticized as "unorthodox" couplet work. In fact, from the objective reality that the rhetorical technique of antithesis gave birth to couplets, the sentence pattern, syntax, and structure of the couplets that are not restricted to oblique and oblique and the couplets that are coordinated between oblique and oblique are all available at the same time; from the perspective of the folk custom of pasting peach charms to pasting couplets, the informal couplets are not restricted to oblique and oblique. Couplets and couplets that harmonize levels and oblique angles also emerged and developed at the same time. The writing of couplets is flexible and free, and can be tailored according to the actual content. It is fully adapted to the new situation of promoting Mandarin. It has a strong sense of the times and is increasingly showing its strong vitality. With its straightforward, simple and steady artistic style , shining with strange light in Lianhai.

The pattern and formula of informal couplets are: out of nature, without any need for refinement, informal with oblique and oblique lines, and without insisting on workmanship or even the use of the same word relative to each other. Because this pattern and formula are contrary to the traditional couplet writing pattern and formula, it has never been taken seriously by people, and it has been denied by literati of all ages. However, it has not become extinct because of this. On the contrary, with the development of the times, It is increasingly showing its strong vitality. < /p>

Long Fei Nine Five, reopening the sky of the Song Dynasty.

This "Flag Union" fully reflects the huge momentum and invincible heroism of the Red Turban Army.

In terms of writing pattern and program, it does not insist on workmanship and has the same word, but its influence is great. Later, during the Liu Liu and Liu Qi uprising in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the banner couplet of the West Route Army's battle flag only changed the word "Da Song" to "Chaos":

Three thousand tigers, reaching the land of Youyan ;

Long Fei Nine-Fifth, reopening the Heaven of Chaos.

After the Taiping Rebellion occupied Nanjing in the late Qing Dynasty, this couplet was again seen on the pillars on both sides of the Dragon and Phoenix Hall, but it still had the word "Changyi":

Three thousand tigers and benches, Straight to the land of Youyan;

The dragon flies ninety-five, and the heaven of Yao and Shun reopens.

In the Ming Dynasty, according to the "Couplet Article" of Lang Ying's "Seven Revised Drafts" (Part 2): "The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel praised Xu Shangshu, which is also the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. I was first the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. , Brother Zhao is also the Minister of the Ministry of Nanhu. My friend Yu Zimu made a pair of words:

The father's tomb is the chief, and the son's tomb is to be the heir of the generation;

Brother Situ. , Disciple Situ, the accountant of the two capitals."

The upper and lower lines of this couplet have the same word "zhi". In the Qing Dynasty, according to Liang Zhangju's "Couplets Cong Hua·Motto", Hu Kequan knew about Suzhou and unveiled a couplet outside the door. The couplet is:

Those who read faces, tell fortunes, and those who draw fortunes, each has his own fortune. Please avoid seeing;

Those who support the hall, those who pave the hall, and those who bump into Tai Sui will all be interviewed and taken.

This shows that couplets that do not insist on work and have opposite words with the same word were also posted in government offices at that time. According to Xu Ke's "Qing Bailei Chao·Literature·Couplet of Ma Temple Seen by Ji Wenda": "Ji Wenda was in the capital and visited the Ma Temple with his friends. There is a door to the left of the temple with a couplet saying: ' The friend said to Wenda: "Don't look at the second couplet. Think about it." Wenda said: "The predecessor is Jiufang Gao." And when he looked at it, he brought the thousand-mile horse in the right hand. ." This record once again shows that it is very common to create couplets in a pattern and procedure that is informal, uncarved, and unforced. There are generally two situations: first, those people with low cultural level among the people mostly use this hand, as shown in the "left hand" and "right hand" couplets raised above; second, literati, in order to accurately express the purpose of their own couplets , unwilling to be bound by the traditional couplet writing format and procedures, knowingly violating the law but deliberately doing so.

But in general, this kind of informal couplets was not elegant in the past. After the "May 4th" movement, the New Culture Movement impacted the entire academic and cultural world, and this kind of couplets gradually became more and more popular. It became popular and accepted by people, and some celebrities also began to create this kind of couplet. For example, we often see this couplet in many schools now:

Thousands of lessons teach people to seek truth;

Thousands of lessons teach people to be real people.

This is a couplet written by Guo Moruo in December 1944 for the door of Mr. Tao Xingzhi’s tomb on the Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal Campus. For another example, in December 1930, when the General Front Committee of the Red Army held a military-civilian swearing-in meeting in Ningdu County, Mao Zedong personally wrote a couplet on both sides of the rostrum:

The enemy advances and we retreat, the enemy is stationed and we harass, the enemy is tired We fight, and when the enemy retreats, we pursue them. In guerrilla warfare, we have a chance of winning;

Advance and retreat in large strides, luring the enemy deep into the enemy's territory, concentrating our forces, defeating them one by one, and annihilating the enemy in mobile warfare.

To sum up, this kind of informal couplets brings a new atmosphere to the couplet, and should be fully affirmed and recommended, just as Haha advocates using modern sounds and modern rhymes in his poems Just like writing old-style poems, we should also advocate writing traditional couplets in a flexible format.