Personal understanding of couplets

This is a bar friend's speech in Baidu Post Bar, and the original text is for you:

Part I: What are couplets?

Everyone has their own answer to this question, as long as they are friends who come here to mix. Everyone has a different understanding of couplets, but after all, they can say ugly things. The answer is nothing more than "couplets", also called couplets or couplets, which are antithetical sentences written on paper, cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood and columns. They are concise and meaningful, and the antithesis is neat, even and harmonious. (Quoted from Baidu Encyclopedia) Yun Yun. But I always feel that this answer can't go deep into it, it just floats on the surface and doesn't really express the essence of couplets.

Do you know The Master of Yin and Yang? Ah, of course, these two words are too profound and complicated. I mentioned them just to illustrate an idea. Yin and Yang are opposites, which are two opposite attributes. This is the great dialectical thought of China people. Heaven, earth, sun and moon, up and down, male and female, black and white, high and low, everything exists in the universe in a relative form, whether it is nature or society. The genius of this idea is that it can look at things comprehensively and grasp the whole picture of things as a whole, and that it can see its own characteristics clearly. Only in this way can we observe the universe comprehensively and thoroughly. The concept of yin and yang includes relativity, universality, relativity, separability, the combination of yin and yang, opposition and restriction, mutual utilization, growth and decline balance and mutual transformation.

Yin and yang fish, everyone is familiar with it. This is a vivid and simple pattern, alternating with black and white, and the beginning and end are corrected. The two transform each other and complement each other. The real meaning can only be understood by yourself.

After a brief introduction of the word "Yin and Yang", I really think couplets are the most perfect embodiment of "Yin and Yang" in literature. The upper and lower couplets are divided into yin and yang, which are inseparable and combined into one. I won't go into details about the scenery, crossed hands, and the weight of couplets. I can find a lot on the Internet. A good couplet is a literal version of the image of yin and yang fish. Interested friends can search for related terms such as "Tai Chi" and "Yin Yang" by themselves. From the perspective of "pair", the upper and lower links are relative, that is, equivalent, matching, relative and competing with each other. The strength of the two is equal, and the tip of the needle is against the wheat. Can you understand? There are high and low levels, but it doesn't mean that the high one is definitely better than the low one. However, even if it is good or bad, it is impossible to compare which one is better. On the one hand, because the two complement each other. On the other hand, they can be transformed. It can even be said that they are one in themselves, just two appearances of the same thing. I don't think I understand. Hey hey. Further, from the aspect of "couplet", the upper couplet and the lower couplet are a unified whole, which is a high-level unity, because it is not only the unity of words, figures of speech and parts of speech, but also the unity of the overall situation and feelings, even if it is a poem. Of course, there are some heartless people, and there are exceptions to everything. However, even ruthless things follow a kind of beauty of consistency, coordination, harmony and unity of opposites. If you are interested, I'll talk about it later.

Next, I want to talk about the double helix structure of DNA, the electronic stability structure, and the attack-connection couplet system. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are not interested in the first two parts, you can skip and watch the attack and reception directly. Let's start with the double helix structure of DNA. This matter sounds profound. I only take a little bit about couplets and tell you. Don't be afraid. DNA consists of two chains, just like a zipper. Each chain has many teeth. There are four kinds of teeth on DNA. We named them A\T\G\C, in which A-t and G-c are complementary and can match the upper teeth. So as long as we know the structure of one chain, we can infer the structure of another chain, and then we can synthesize it artificially (semi-conservative replication). Speaking of which, you are smart enough to understand the taste. Isn't this a couplet? ! Of course, I don't mean that after the upper part is determined, the lower part is fixed, and there is only one answer. What I want to explain is that everything has certain rules and is carried out according to certain rules. This is true from the molecular structure of organisms to "word games". In fact, this can also be attributed to the aforementioned "Yin-Yang" theory, so I won't go into details.

Let's talk about the electronic stable structure, also called the 8-electron stable structure. Simply put, there are electrons around the atom, but these electrons are at different energy levels. Finally, only when the number of electrons in the outer layer reaches 8 will it be stable. But except for some inert gases, most atoms are not 8 electrons outside, and they need to combine with other atoms to be stable with electrons. Like water, h? O, the outermost layer of oxygen is 6 electrons, and the stable structure is realized by borrowing two electrons of hydrogen. This is also a complementary and unified beauty. It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Let's understand it this way. Hydrogen and oxygen are flammable and explosive when put together in a certain proportion. However, when they are closely combined, they become water, which is also a transformation. Couplets may be a simple sentence, let's see what's the beauty. When the upper and lower couplets are put together, unexpected changes may occur and a qualitative leap will be achieved. Then, talk about attack and acceptance, which is also a combination, complementarity and unity. Maybe each of them is a one-winged angel, falling into the world and trying to find the other half. Finally, one day, they combined perfectly and reached the paradise of the soul. This is just a joke. I just want to use it to show that everything is the unity of opposites, men and women are unified, and men and men are also unified. For example, 1 and 0, some people seem to be attacking or collecting, while others think that kindergartens know numbers. IT people may think that this is a string of information, so I won't say it. Interested in searching "Double Stars and China Gossip", it's good. I didn't expect so much to be written in the first book. In fact, in the final analysis, couplets contain extremely profound thoughts, which are completely in line with the philosophical unity of opposites. These are just some typical examples. Take a sip of water and get ready to enter.

The second part.

Part II: There are many different literary forms between couplets and novels, essays, poems, plays and other literary forms. Each sentence has its own characteristics and unique advantages. The particularity of couplets mainly has two aspects. First, the threshold is low and easy to learn. The second is fun.

First, the threshold is low and easy to learn. Personally, I think literature is an elegant thing after all. After all the wheat in the field has been confiscated, you can't have the mind to write at your desk. This is different from a song, because you can hum a tune when cutting wheat. However, literature mostly needs a quiet environment. However, more importantly, whether it is novels, essays, poems or plays, the requirements for authors are relatively high. For example, a novel may make people feel that it is just a compilation, but how to create plump characters, arrange reasonable plots, describe typical scenes, how to ambush pens, how to create suspense and how to render feelings. Would you? Writing prose is often more scattered in form and spirit. Poetry, do you know the basic format and words? But there are many kinds of poems, such as quatrains, Yuefu poems and sonnets. Do you want to rhyme, what is a complex star, what is an ellipsis and what is an inversion? What are these? Don't talk about the plot, let alone the writing, I can't understand it. Most of the time we are worried about adding new words, and occasionally we are a little worried and don't understand.

However, couplets are much simpler, and Ma Pingchuan is the master of the meter, because the requirements of couplets are six aspects, and the word 1 is equal. Needless to say, you can count. 2 parts of speech are equivalent, and 3 structures are commensurate. This is noun to noun and verb to verb. You can understand as soon as you say it. 4 rhythm corresponds, 5 is even and harmonious. It takes a little effort to learn this. The content is related and basically easy to understand, as long as the links up and down are not too bad. So, I think, in the final analysis, the difficulty of getting started is the problem of rice. Take some time, and you will be able to learn linking, orthography, different reading, triple stress, heavy words and so on in ten minutes. Therefore, the threshold is extremely low. Many times, even if you don't know the level and meter, you can write couplets. You can pick up some romantic things and write something, or you can copy something from Tang poetry and Song poetry. Moreover, most literati are a little "light" in their bones, and they all feel a little ink in their stomachs. Couplets seem to be the most appropriate channel to express themselves and show themselves. In particular, some special forms such as palindrome pairs, glass pairs, edge pairs, five-element pairs and split words seem to show their talents better. In addition, the length of couplets is extremely short, ranging from one or two sentences to more than ten sentences, usually five or seven sentences, which can be blurted out after a little thinking. In short, compared with other literary forms, it is really simple. Therefore, all women and children know how to appreciate elegance and vulgarity. When you see a fallen leaf while waiting for the bus, you can write a sentence. Eat, the food is salty, write a sentence, drink too much, write a sentence, wake up, write a sentence. Anytime and anywhere. Write if you want. It is precisely because, sometimes, I feel that many people are a little lost. There is no definite method in writing, and words have true feelings, which seems to be the best high-sounding shield. Actually, strictly speaking, you didn't write couplets.

The second is fun. This is another feature of couplets. Compared with other literary forms, couplets are sentence by sentence, sentence by sentence and sentence by sentence. Interesting. Of course, poetry, for example, can also be written by everyone on a topic to see who writes better. In couplets, apart from chanting, it is more common for one person to make sentences, so everyone will make sentences more and compete naturally. Hand-to-hand combat, tit for tat, the scene is extremely spectacular There are many interesting stories about Su Shi and Ji Xiaolan's couplets in history, but the stories about poetry and prose are extremely rare. Of course, any literary form is used to express one's feelings and self. As a game, it doesn't matter You can play after dinner, but you can't put the cart before the horse. The couplet itself is still extremely serious. It also has its own fixed format and certain requirements. This is not a simple trick, this is not a simple literary game. You don't have to understand, you don't have to learn, but you can't talk nonsense. Say something casually and everyone can forgive you, but you can't always do this. If you really like it, then I suggest you learn more about it. I'm going to the toilet, and then I'm going to the third part.

The third part of couplets and music couplets talk about rhythm, so what is rhythm and what is rhythm? Actually, it has something to do with music. Here, I don't say up and down, I don't say flat rise, I don't say anti-tangent, I don't say palace, business, horn, sign, feather, I don't say major scale in C key, because these things are just popular forms, which I can't understand and neither can you. Besides, these are all my personal understandings. I just want to say that couplets and music are interlinked and rhythmic. Novels may be mainly used for reading, while couplets are not only used for reading, but also for reading and making fun of. I don't know how much you know about music, but I really think art is connected. If you have a talent for music, I think it is relatively easy to master couplets. It doesn't matter if you don't know music At least, you have songs you like and songs you don't like. And those songs you don't like to listen to are because the tune doesn't suit you, not because the lyrics are bad. Think about Jay's songs. When I first listened to them, I couldn't hear what I was singing, but I was inexplicably good. Listen to them first, then pay attention to the beauty of the lyrics. And there are some world famous songs, just a string of melodies, without lyrics, which make you crazy. This is the charm of music. The same is true of couplets, where lyrics and tunes are combined into one. Therefore, the rhyme of couplets is extremely important. It feels like a song, and the words used are the lyrics of this song. Both are indispensable. You got it? No matter how good the lyrics are, the music is not good. The beauty of couplets is also here. Words and songs are unified.

The fifth part is the great beauty of couplets.

Couplets are unique to China. Think about it. If you write couplets with a string of English words, what effect will it have? How to hang up after writing? Do you write horizontally or vertically? This question is too fucking serious. Have you suddenly realized the beauty of Chinese characters? For a simple example, part one: ink and part two: spring. Can you feel the beauty in it? Flat and thin, black and white, soil and water, and then think about the deep relationship between them. If it is changed to upward: ink downward: spring, it looks uncomfortable at first. Write horizontally and vertically, with different letters. Second, I always feel that this is spring pen water. I don't know how to translate it properly. I don't mean to laugh at other languages, but I just want to show that Chinese characters have their own symmetrical beauty. Of course, many countries have poems and songs. I won't go into details. I emphasize the beauty of symmetry here. Such as human eyes and hands. We write couplets online, mostly horizontally, only on the screen. Real couplets should be posted, which is the complete beauty. I think China people really like this symmetry and balance, which is just an expression of the idea of "the golden mean". Architecture and painting are the same. Look at the halls and temples. Most of them are symmetrical. In addition, the beauty of couplets is also reflected in calligraphy. It's Spring Festival now, and everyone will write couplets, mostly printed by machine. There is no charm of calligraphy in it. Of course, now that technology is highly developed, you can choose Songti, Kaiti, Li Shu, Weibei and Bold. But I always feel a little cold and desolate. How happy it is to spread out a piece of green sandalwood, study half a piece of gold without changing it, lift a eight-character pen and brush off the dragon and snake? !

Part VI

These scribbled things seem to have nothing to do with couplets. After reading it, friends who don't understand couplets probably still don't understand and don't know what horseshoe rhyme is. Friends who know antithetical couplets may feel bored, and deliberately contact them to impress others. In short, the above content is just personal feelings.