Reflections on the art of couplets

Pu Gong said couplets: Walking the streets and telling couplets.

After the Spring Festival, I took the opportunity of visiting relatives and friends to watch some Spring Festival couplets and give some thoughts.

Feeling 1: The new alliance is not new, but there are numerous similarities. According to my rough statistics, dozens of Spring Festival couplets I have seen (including those published in newspapers) are basically inseparable from the words "good spring scenery" or "good scenery" or "many blessings" or "many joys", which are similar, except that "thousands of families are beaming", that is, "saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new". It's not that the above words can't be used, but "unified stereotyped writing" is "unified by thousands of people", which is really a pity. As for those who are obviously out of line, they are not included in this theory-strictly speaking, they cannot be called couplets.

Feeling 2: lack of characteristics, no spring. Some (of course, a few) so-called Spring Festival couplets are slogans made solely for the needs of political propaganda. Their ideological content is beyond reproach, but it is not suitable for the characteristics of Spring Festival couplets-most of them are party and government organs. Hanging Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival is mainly to express people's wishes for the new year. Happy and auspicious words can directly express people's good wishes, which is in line with this psychological characteristic. The language images of Spring Festival couplets are mostly colorful and full of passion, giving people a fresh, lively and pleasant feeling. Generally speaking, Spring Festival couplets should not only be vague, but also pay attention to the characteristics of happiness and auspiciousness, and avoid indecent and ominous words (such as death, death, disaster, difficulty, etc. ).

Feeling 3: the intention is not high, and the intention is mediocre. Or lack of literary talent, novelty, innovation, mostly street prints. Or straightforward, tasteless, it is difficult to refine and innovate. The couplet is actually a purified article, a compressed poem. All the skills of writing poems can be used to write couplets. When writing, there are both descriptions and narratives, both lyrical and argumentative. Rhetorically, metaphor, exaggeration, pun and repetition have their own advantages. Good at thinking contains philosophy, good at describing blending scenes, and various styles are unconventional, all of which are formed and embodied in meticulous carving and careful selection of words.

Feeling 4: Regardless of the object, smear it at will. I think each couplet has its own scope of application, which is its particularity. Dedicated is relative to universal. For example, Spring Festival couplets are special couplets for the Spring Festival, which are different from elegiac couplets, congratulatory couplets and title couplets. If the scope is narrowed, the content of Spring Festival couplets between farmers and workshops, barracks and classrooms should be different. In other words, in a relatively large range, it is dedicated, while in a small range, some can be universal. If the scope is narrowed down a little, in a farmer, the use of couplets with different contents and outstanding characteristics, such as gate and barn, nave and kitchen, sheepfold and cowshed, may be more specific. But this is not the most typical special couplet. Only this pair of couplets can be used here and here, reflecting the essence of things here and now, and conforming to the characteristics of this situation, can it be called a special structure. I think the development of special couplets marks the maturity and prosperity of the art of couplets, and the special uses of couplets have existed since ancient times. The famous couplet written by Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty, highlights the characteristics of butchers and implies philosophy in popularity (of course, this couplet can also be applied to other butchers). But what I saw was just the opposite. This year and last year are applicable to the Lee family. For example, Spring Festival couplets sold on the street are ready-made, but they have no user characteristics.

Feeling 5: Randomly match horizontal batch, gild the lily. Horizontal criticism (or banners, rungs, horizontal curtains, etc. ) is an important part of couplets. Horizontal criticism is like the title of an article. It can mark the theme of couplets and is the icing on the cake. Generally speaking, horizontal criticism plays a role in summarizing, prompting, supplementing and explaining couplets. From the scope of use, the most commonly used and original form of couplets is to stick them between couplets (so it is also commonly known as couplets). The upper and lower couplets, together with the horizontal comments on the lintel, are "door-shaped". Symmetry is the most striking feature of couplets, and China's architectural aesthetics mostly embodies the traditional form of symmetry. Architecture and the structure of couplets set each other off, which is another reason why couplets are criticized. However, it does not mean that all couplets have horizontal comments. For example, some door plaques can be cross-commented, and cross-comments can be omitted for couplets and elegiac couplets (not suitable for hanging between couplets).

Spring Festival couplets are generally accompanied by horizontal criticism. Most of the four-character phrases in the horizontal criticism are flat and easy to match, which makes the phonology harmonious, short and powerful, flat and changeable. For example, "the spring breeze is powerful" means "flat and flat". In addition, the phrase structure is easy to be uniform or uneven. For example: a lifetime//a year (subject-predicate//subject-predicate), welcoming the spring//being blessed (verb-object//verb-object). In addition to the commonly used four-word horizontal batch, there are also multi-word phrases or short sentences, but no matter how many words are used, they must be accurate and appropriate, organically combined with couplets. A good horizontal criticism can really turn the stone into gold and turn decay into magic. For example, the female supervisor of Zhazidong: "The hole has only been closed for several months; The world has been for thousands of years, and it has been criticized: revolving around Gankun implies the meaning of contacting with the outside world, which shows the alertness and wisdom of revolutionaries.

There is a tendency that must attract the attention of the international community: horizontal criticism is dispensable, and at most it is an ornament. In the movement of collecting couplets (Spring Festival couplets) and compiling couplets, some gave up. Even if some collected couplets, most of them did not look up the numbers (couplets), but gathered some four-character idioms together for selection or common use. In this way, I think it is irresponsible at least. No wonder many horizontal criticisms are similar or irrelevant. Wang Yang is in Haiti, but there are really not many concise "best horizontal approvals". Users have no choice but to label them as "removing old cloth and making new ones" and "returning to the earth in spring", and some of them have nothing to do with lianwen, which is beyond the theme and is undoubtedly redundant.