What is the difference between the word cards and words in ancient Chinese poetry?

Formally speaking, ancient Chinese poetry is an overall concept, and words are also a type of poetry.

But since the concept of independent words is naturally the reason why the concept of poetry is narrowed and the classification is more refined.

Differences in form

Generally speaking, in addition to Cipai, ancient Chinese poetry is also divided into ancient poetry and modern poetry. The distinction is based on whether they comply with the oblique rhythm: those who comply with the oblique rhythm are Metrical poetry (modern poetry), those that do not follow the oblique rhythm are ancient style (ancient poetry).

The requirements of the oblique meter for poetry are that the sentences are of equal length (three to seven words), organized (all have an even number of sentences), abide by the oblique relationship (alternation, relativeness, adhesion), and have equal rhymes ( One rhyme to the end), appropriate counterpoint (two couplets in rhymed poems, all middle couplets in arranged rhymes).

Those whose formats cannot meet the above requirements are ancient poems, and the first to bear the brunt are works with sentences of varying lengths, that is, miscellaneous poems.

Miscellaneous poems are actually "long and short sentences" - the predecessor of Cipai.

However, Cipai was born in the early Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. Its production itself has its own metrical influence. After the emergence of meter, there are also many poets who still insist on creating miscellaneous poems. Although their works are ancient poems, they are inevitably affected by metrical relationships in the sentences. This kind of ancient poems with certain metrical elements, we have Another name - "Lugu".

The difference between Lugu and Cipai is very small. If a rhyme is used for singing, and other poets think the music is pleasant and write another rhyme based on the relationship between the rhyme and the rhyme, then the music attached to this rhyme becomes the "word card" of these works. "Name", and these rhymes attached to this "Cipai name" have become Cipai.

This is where Cipai comes from - ancient poetry in which rhythm and oblique relationships are locked by music.

Rhythmic poetry also has a tight relationship between oblique and oblique lines, but the length of the verses is limited and must be of equal length and neatly arranged. The metrical relationship is locked into four basic patterns: level rise and level, level rise and level, level and level, and level.

So, the difference between Ci Pai and ancient poetry is that Ci Pai must abide by the equal and oblique relationship under the "Ci Pai name" (music). Appropriate changes that do not affect the singing are called "variations".

The difference between Cipai and metrical poetry is that Cipai is composed of long and short sentences, while metrical poetry is composed of four or eight sentences of five characters, four or eight sentences of seven characters, and a rhythm (five or seven characters or more than ten sentences).

Difference in content

There was originally no difference in content. The so-called "poetry has the same origin".

But poetry is a product attached to music. Early Central Plains music was dignified and elegant, and was called "grace music". Therefore, four-character poetry was the theme of Central Plains poetry, which was steady and magnificent. The music and literature of Chu State in the South spread all over the world with the Han Dynasty, and the miscellaneous style of Chu Ci structure became popular, such as Liu Bang's "Song of the Wind", Xiang Yu's "Gaixia Qu", etc., coupled with the integration of ethnic minorities, the music changed more and became more elegant. The lyrics of Lexia could no longer be adapted to singing, so five-character and seven-character poems appeared.

In the early Tang Dynasty, when all nations came to the dynasty, the integration of national culture and music was unprecedented. Especially the music of the Western Regions such as Hu music became very popular because of its novel instruments and novel tunes.

As music changed, lyrics faced huge reforms. However, in the early Han Dynasty, the organized form of poetry gradually developed into "singing songs" because the music could not keep up. Recitation literature began to appear, and for For poetry, music is no longer important. The development of Chinese character phonology in the late Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties gave wings to poetry recitation. Poetry began to gradually separate from music. Although there were still singing songs with old Yuefu themes in the Tang Dynasty, many works in Qijue, such as "Liangzhou Ci" and so on, were actually lyrics. However, in addition to singing, these works also adhered to the rhythm of the oblique and oblique rhythms. The chanting is sonorous and powerful, touching people's hearts.

Poetry as a recitative style has become a special tool for high-level literati to express their feelings. This is the popularity brought about by the recitative nature, because not everyone is a musician, and everyone can sing small poems. Poems serve as lyrics.

At this time, there was an urgent need for another form to supplement the entertainment between the common people and officials. Because of the complex development of music, long and short sentences came into being at the right time, and they were called "Shiyu" (the leftovers when writing poems). (Fragments of words below) have suddenly become the main body of lyrics played and sung for banquets.

The Ci Pai was born from this. Therefore, the Ci Pai has its own entertainment value and is popular in Goulan Winery and Flowers Before and Under the Moon. It is obviously different from the elegance, dignity, allegory and admonition adhering to in poetry - it is called " Poetry Diversion”.

Although Su Shi in the Northern Song Dynasty and Xin Qiji in the Southern Song Dynasty worked hard to create the bold style of Ci Pai, raising the pattern of Ci to the realm of poetry and realizing a "confluence of poetry and poetry," the inherent genes of Ci Pai are not the same. It is not very suitable for the expression of heroic spirit, so after Xin Qiji's death, Cipai immediately returned to the euphemistic realm - in Li Qingzhao's words, "Cibie is a family."

In the following thousands of years, the basic literary path of "poetry expresses aspirations and words conveys emotions" has been fixed among Chinese literati. It was not until the emergence of modern great poets and revolutionaries that "poems express aspirations and words convey feelings" was once again truly achieved. The poetry merges”.

Today, both rhymed poetry and Cipai have become historical traces of the poetry world. Modern poetry is so domineering that it is both the future and a joke.

But when we look back and read these classic works of ancient poetry, we can still understand the different cultural trends of poetry.

The purpose of studying history is of course to see clearly the current situation and predict the future.

In this way, we can have a clear understanding of the chaos in the current poetry world. Let the wind blow over the hills, and the bright moon will shine on the river.