What exactly is rhyme, meter, and obliqueness all about?

One of the important reasons why people like old-style poetry is that it is short, concise and easy to remember. Why is it easy to pronounce and remember? The reason is simple: Old-style poetry all rhymes. The rhyme is natural and smooth, and it is easy to remember when spoken smoothly. So what is rhyme? The so-called rhyme in poetry rhythm is simply the ending of a word, which is roughly equivalent to the finals in modern Chinese. For example, the endings of "长" and "方" have the same final rhyme in Mandarin as "ang". This final is the "rhyme" of these two words, and they belong to the same rhyme part. So what is the rhyme department? Words with the same or close finals form rhymes when combined together. When poets use rhyme in their poems, it is called rhyme. The so-called rhyme is to put two or more words with the same rhyme part in the same position. This repetition of the same rhyme part words in the same position can form a loop of sound, making the work harmonious and convenient. memory. The "rhyme words" rhymed with are usually placed at the end of the sentence, so they are also called rhymes. For example: Red beans grow in the south, and they sprout a few branches in spring. I hope you will pick more of them, this is the most loved thing. The two words "branch" and "si" in the poem rhyme with the same rhyme. They appear repeatedly in the same position every other sentence, creating a harmonious and looping phonological beauty, making the work catchy to read. There are many opinions on rhyme, but the main issue is whether to use lenient or strict rhyme, whether to use old rhyme or new rhyme. There are many versions of Xin Yun rhyme books, but if you speak Mandarin well, these rhyme books are not necessary. At most, you can prepare a Xinhua dictionary or something. Nowadays, most people still use the old rhyme when writing old-style poems. There are many rhyme books in old rhyme, but they are basically inherited from "Qie Yun". The old rhyme books currently in use are generally recognized as follows: "Pingshui Yun" is used for writing poems, and "Ci Lin Zhengyun" is used for writing lyrics. In my personal opinion, it is better for beginners not to be greedy for convenience, but to start with the old rhyme. Because when writing metrical poetry, there is an inheritance problem. Learning old rhymes is of great benefit to better understanding and grasping the works of predecessors and the changes in their melodies and rhythms. At the same time, it will not cause a joke that "Chen Ziang's "Dengyouzhou Taige" does not rhyme." The earliest rhyme book of "Pingshui Yun" is hard to see now. After the Qing Dynasty, the rhyme books used by people when writing poems were mainly based on "Peiwen Shiyun", "Poetry Rhyme Collection", "Shiyun Hebi", etc. These rhyme books were re-edited and promulgated on the basis of "Pingshui Yun", and they all belong to the " "Pingshui rhyme" type, so people still habitually call them Pingshui rhyme. "Pingshui Yun" has 106 rhymes, including 30 rhymes for the flat tone, 29 rhymes for the upper tone, 30 rhymes for the falling tone, and 17 rhymes for the entering tone. The flat tones in Yun Shu are divided into upper flat tones and lower flat tones. This is just because there are many characters for Ping tone, so it is divided into two volumes, which is equivalent to saying that Ping tone is rolled up and Ping tone is rolled down. It is not the same concept as Yin Ping tone and Yang Ping tone in modern Chinese. This should be noted. Some words that seem to have the same rhyme today may belong to different rhymes in the old rhyme. For example, the two characters "东" and "东" belong to two rhyme parts in the old rhyme. The former belongs to "Shangping Yidong" and the latter belongs to "Shangping Erdong". Another example is the words "Yin" and "Yin". The former belongs to the "Shangping Eleven True" and the latter belongs to the "Xiaping Twelve Invasion". As for the difference in pronunciation of these words in the old rhyme, we don't need to investigate it too much now. All you need to know is that their pronunciation was different at first, but later they became one as the language changed. Rhymes can be broad or narrow. Those with a large number of characters are called broad rhymes, while those with few characters are called narrow rhymes. There are many words in broad rhymes, so it is easier to choose rhyme words when writing poems; there are few words in narrow rhymes, so it is more difficult to choose words, so narrow rhyme poems are rarer than broad rhyme poems. The rhyming rules of modern poetry are: 1) Except for the first sentence, which sometimes needs to rhyme, the rest rhyme with each other, that is, the words at the end of even-numbered sentences rhyme, and the sentences in odd-numbered positions do not rhyme. 2) Generally, only flat rhymes are used, and one rhyme is required to the end. No rhymes can be changed in the middle, and rhymes are not allowed. Of course, no rhymes are allowed. 3) The rhyme cannot be repeated, that is, "repeat rhyme" is not allowed. In other words, you can only use different rhyme words with the same rhyme part, and you cannot reuse the same rhyme word. In addition, when the first and last words of each poem are in flat tone, the first sentence must also rhyme. However, since the first sentence does not have to rhyme (when the oblique character ends), the rhyme requirements of the first sentence are relatively looser than the rhymes in other positions. Either the original rhyme or the adjacent rhyme can be used. It is common that the first sentence of the five-rhythm does not rhyme, and that of the seven-rhythm it is common that the first sentence does the rhyme.

As for what is a flat tone character and what is a oblique tone character, we will discuss it another day. Let’s talk about neighbor rhyme first. The so-called adjacent rhyme does not mean that the adjacent rhymes in the rhyme book are adjacent rhymes, but refers to the words in those rhymes that are relatively similar in pronunciation. "Similar" is not separated by the boundary between upper level tone and lower level tone. If the neighboring rhymes are divided according to the middle and ancient pronunciation, the general situation is: a) the two rhymes of Dongdong are in the same category; b) the two rhymes of Jiangyang are in the same category (note that in the ancient pronunciation, Jiangyang is not adjacent, and Jiang is closer to Dongdong, so this is Special case); c) The three rhymes of "Zhi Wei Qi" are in one category; d) The two rhymes of "Yu Yu" are in the same category; e) The two rhymes of "Jia Hui" are in the same category; f) The two rhymes of "Jia Ma" are in the same category (special case); g) True The three rhymes of Wen and Yuan (part) are in the same category; h) The three rhymes of Han Xian are in the same category; i) The three rhymes of Shuxian and Yuan (part) are in the same category; j) The three rhymes of Xiao Yahao are in the same category; k) The three rhymes of Gengqing steaming are in the same category; l) The two rhymes of steaming are in the same category (special case); m) The three rhymes of Qin, salt and salt are in the same category. Regarding the use of rhyme in modern poetry, it was said earlier that "rhymes are not allowed", but there are often exceptions. The ancients also wrote poems in rhyme, and they also found some reasons to give them beautiful names, such as "lone wild goose out of the flock", "a bird flying alone", "window style", "gourd style", "advance and back style", etc. , these are all things after a thorough understanding of meter, so I won’t go into them here. The rhyme used in ancient poetry is looser than that in modern poetry. It can be rhymed with flat tones or oblique rhymes. It can rhyme to the end or change rhymes in the middle. Sometimes common rhymes and repeated rhymes are also allowed, but each rhyme change must not be less than Two rhymes. The rhyme used in words is more relaxed than that in poetry. Not only can the adjacent rhymes in Pingshui rhyme rhyme together, but also the rising sound can rhyme together. There are also many ancient works that rhyme with dialect rhymes, mainly in the Tang and Song dynasties. The lyrics mostly rely on spoken rhymes. In the Qing Dynasty, Ge Shi compiled a "Ci Lin Zheng Yun" based on Ping Shui Yun based on most of the poetry works of Tang and Song dynasties. Since this rhyme book is based on "Pingshui Rhyme", it only merges, disassembles or recombines some rhymes with relatively close pronunciation, which conforms to the poets' rhyming habits, so it is gradually accepted by poets. The poets gradually began to rhyme according to this rhyme book when writing lyrics. "Ci Lin Zheng Yun" is divided into nineteen rhyme parts. Except for the fifteen to nineteen five rhyme parts that are listed separately, the other fourteen rhyme parts are all listed separately. The rhyme of words is relatively complicated. Different tones of words have different rules for rhyme. Some rhyme with flat rhymes, some rhyme with oblique rhymes, and some rhyme with each other; In short, the words are filled in according to the word score. Where rhyme is needed and where it is not, whether to use oblique rhyme or flat rhyme, whether to rhyme to the end or to change rhymes in the middle, there are regulations in the word score. You only need to arrange the rhyme according to the word score. . Poetry has rhyme, just like a house has pillars; if the pillars are not stable, the house will collapse. If the rhyme is not stable, the poem will be bad. Therefore, there are some situations in rhyming that should be avoided, especially for beginners: 1) Coupled rhymes: commonly known as hanging rhymes, which means that the rhymed words are not consistent with the meaning of the whole sentence, but barely fit in with the previous rhyme. Character. 2) Falling rhyme: It is also commonly known as Chuyun. 3) Double rhyme: The same rhyme word appears repeatedly in a poem, even if the word has two meanings and rhymes with it, it is considered double rhyme. Heavy rhyme is not allowed in modern poetry, but it is allowed in ancient poetry. 4) Inversion rhyme: that is to say, invert the two words to make them rhyme. This is also possible when some words are reversed and have little impact on the understanding of the words. 5) Dumb rhyme: When writing poems, you should choose a rhyme with a loud sound, and the natural tone is high. If dumb rhyme is used, not only will the verses be weak, but the whole poem will also be weak. 6) Unusual rhyme: Also known as dangerous rhyme, it refers to those rare words or words with only one meaning. 7) Synonymous rhymes: Repeated rhymes with synonymous words, such as flower, fragrance, sadness, etc., have the same meaning respectively. Rhyming them together in one poem will be tiresome. 8) Same words with different meanings and different rhymes: the same word often has multiple meanings, so do not forcefully borrow meanings to make up rhymes. If the word "si" belongs to the "four rhymes", it cannot be rhymed with "si" for "emotional thoughts". Beginners should be cautious in this aspect. Whether you are writing poetry or filling in lyrics, "singing harmony" is a situation you often encounter. Singing harmony does not necessarily have to be in harmony, but some people like to show their talents. When singing harmony, they not only harmonize with the meaning, but also "harmonize with the rhyme". Harmony rhyme is divided into the following types: 1) Secondary rhyme: also known as step rhyme, that is, the same rhyme characters are used in the original poem, and the order before and after must be the same. This is the most common method. 2) Use rhyme: Even if you use the rhyme words in the original poem, you don’t have to follow their original order. 3) According to rhyme: that is, using words in the same rhyme part as the original poem, but it is not necessary to use the original words.

On the third day, distinguish the "four tones" and adjust the "level and oblique". Chinese pronunciation is usually composed of three aspects: initial consonants, finals and tones. The pitch, rise and fall, and length of the pronunciation constitute the tone of Chinese, among which pitch and rise are the main factors. . Chinese has tones, which is one of its distinctive features. For example, the same sound can be pronounced in four tones in modern Mandarin: "Qing, Qing, Qing, and Qing". Ancient Chinese also had four tones, but they were different from the four tones in modern Chinese. Metrical poetry makes use of this four-tone feature of Chinese to match words with different tones to create a musical beauty. The four tones are the four tones of Chinese. But it needs to be pointed out that the four tones in classical poetry do not refer to the four tones of Mandarin we now call, but to the four tones of ancient Chinese (there is still debate on whether it is appropriate to write metrical poetry in modern Mandarin). , I don’t want to talk more about it here). During the historical development and evolution of Chinese, the sounds and sounds are constantly changing. Phonologists divide the pronunciation of Chinese into four periods: the ancient pronunciation (covering the Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties), the middle ancient pronunciation (from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties), and the recent ancient pronunciation (from the Yuan and Ming to the late Qing Dynasty and even including Early Republic of China), modern music (Republic of China to the present). What we are talking about now is distinguishing the four tones based on ancient Chinese, which mainly refers to the four tones of the medieval pronunciation system (except for Beiqu, which is based on the recent ancient pronunciation). The medieval phonetic system is represented by "Qie Yun", and the "Pingshui Yun" we use now belongs to the "Qie Yun" system. Some explanations were given on this aspect when we talked about rhyme the next day. The medieval pronunciation system of "Qie Yun" divides Chinese tones into four, namely: (1) Ping tone: in later generations, it gradually differentiated into two tones: Yinping and Yangping. (2) Shang Ting: In later generations, part of it became the falling tone. (3) Qusheng: It will still be used as Qusheng to future generations. (4) Entering tone: This is a short tone, which has been assigned to three tones in modern Chinese: Ping, Shang and Qu. The entering tone has disappeared in Mandarin and has been replaced by several other tones. In some places, such as the dialects in Guangdong, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, some of the pronunciation of the entering tone still exists. It is no longer possible to know in detail what the rising and falling shapes of the four tones were in ancient times. According to traditional saying, the flat tone should be a mid-level tone, the ascending tone should be a rising tone, the falling tone should be a falling tone, and the entering tone should be a short tone. Regarding the four tones, the ancients had a song that can roughly explain their rise and fall. This motto is called "Method of Dividing Four Tones": "Don't raise your voice when the level is flat. The upper tone is louder and more powerful. The going tone is clear and mournful. The entering tone is short and urgent." Distinguishing the four tones is the basis for distinguishing the level and tones, and it is also the basis for learning the rhythm of poetry. difficulties. Not being able to distinguish the four tones well is unimaginable for writing metrical poetry. Nowadays, many people find it difficult to learn the rhythm of poetry. One of the reasons is that it is difficult to master the entrance tone. Haha, since you have to learn, you’d better put in more effort (there are some rules to follow about entering the voice, but I won’t go into details here due to space limitations). Once you know the four tones, it will be easy to understand Ping Ze. Ping and Ze are just a term for the rhythm of poetry. Poets divide the four tones into two categories: Ping and Ze. Ping means the flat tone, and Teng means the three tones that go up. As for why they are divided like this, the ancients made it this way. We can ignore it when writing poems and lyrics now. It is enough to know which is the level tone and which is the oblique tone, and how to use the level and oblique sounds together. If you have to know why, according to Wang Li's "Poetry Rhythm", it is because the flat tone does not rise and fall, and is longer, while the other three tones have rise and fall (the entrance tone may also rise or fall slightly), which is longer. Short, thus forming two major types. In poetry, words with different tones (some words even have four tones) are interlaced and arranged, which can enrich and diversify the tones of the sentences, prevent them from appearing monotonous, and form a patchwork rhythm and harmony. Create a musical quality. Ping and Qi are interlaced in poetry, which can be summarized as the following two sentences: (1) Ping and Qi are alternate in this sentence; (2) Ping and Qi are opposite in the couplet. This rule of unevenness is particularly evident in metrical poetry. For example, there are two sentences in Yang Wanli's "Xue": The cold voice brings rain and the mountains are hard to whiten, and the cold air invades people and makes them red. The matching of flat and flat is: flat│ flat│ flat│ flat│ flat, flat│ flat│ flat│ flat. In this sentence, the two tones are intertwined, and in the couplet, the two tones are opposite.

Finally, we need to draw attention to this: for poems: Ping, Shang, Qu and Ru are incompatible with each other; for words: Shangshang tone can be interoperable with Ru tone, but under normal circumstances (except for some special word scores) they cannot Mixed deposits. Some words must be rhymed with rhyme, and some words must distinguish between flat and oblique words in certain places, but also distinguish between ascending and falling tones. Therefore, learning classical old-style poetry is not only about being able to distinguish oblique and oblique tones, but also the distinction between four tones. It should also be clear. Day 4: Be able to "stick to the right". You have learned the four tones, the tones, and the rhyme. Now you can start to learn how to arrange the rhyme of modern poetry. "Sticking pairs" is a basic principle of the rhythm of modern poetry. Ancient poetry does not talk about sticking pairs, and some poets even deliberately arrange to avoid sticking pairs. In addition, apart from the consistent rhyme and rhyme, there are no other regulations that must be followed in the arrangement of levels and tones in ancient poetry, so it is relatively free. Even if there are certain sayings, such as flat head, upper tail, wasp's waist, crane's knees, etc., they are only used as a reference for arranging pronunciation and rhyme, and are not mandatory. Therefore, the metrical format discussed below is mainly for modern poetry. Some people may say: A poem is dull here, dull there, the format is too complicated, and I can’t even understand it even if I read it. It’s so difficult to understand and learn. In fact, this is because we have not mastered the trick and failed to avoid complexity and simplify. After knowing what Ping and Ze are and how they should rhyme, in fact, to learn the metrical pattern of modern poetry and the matching of Ping and Ze, as long as you understand two words - stick, pair, and one sentence pattern - Ping Ping Ze, Ping Ping Ze, everything will become very special. Simple. What? Don't believe it? If you don’t believe it, let’s try it! Before trying it, let’s introduce two concepts - pairing and sticking. Let's talk about "pair" first. The so-called "pair" means opposition. The "pair" mentioned in the poetry format is to make the upper and lower sentences of a couplet (every two sentences of a metrical poem form a couplet) oppose each other. Pair, in fact, is also equal. The principle of interleaving (the interlacing of levels and obliques is mainly reflected in the interlacing of opposites between levels and obliques in a sentence). Let's talk about "glue", which means sticking up. In poetry, it means "application". The level of the characters should be consistent with the second character of the couplet. To put it more specifically, the third sentence should be consistent with the second sentence, the fifth sentence should be consistent with the fourth sentence, and the seventh sentence should be consistent with the sixth sentence. , and by analogy. After understanding what antithesis is, and remembering the sentence pattern "平平仄仄平平仄", the metrical format of modern poetry can be derived. The first sentence is: 平平仄仄平平仄. We might as well give it a code name: ① Sentence pattern. According to the "pair" principle, the next sentence is: 廄组平廄廄平. What about the third sentence? In the second sentence, it starts with 仄, and I also start with 仄, but it cannot violate the 仄 at the end of a single sentence, so I exchange the third-to-last character of Nian Zi with the last character of Nian Ping, thus forming: 仄仄平平仄仄 (③Sentence pattern). The fourth sentence is "right" again, and it becomes: Pingping廄仄仄平平 (④Sentence pattern). In this way, Pingqi (based on the second character) and Chihu (based on the last character) do not fit into the rhyme. The standard format of Qijue is: Pingqizhejieqixue Qijue format: Pingpingzheqiaopingpingpingzhu (① sentence pattern) 仄仄平平仄仄平 (② sentence pattern) 仄仄平平仄仄 (③ sentence pattern) 平平仄仄廄 Ping Ping (④ Sentence Pattern) Qijue is available, Qi Lv and Qipai just need to be glued together according to the prescription. The above only introduces the "Ping Qi Ping Fa" method, so what about other methods? Just take any of the four sentence patterns derived above as the first sentence, and then stick it together according to the principle of "gluing". However, when sticking, you should also grasp the following two points: 1) If not. In the first sentence, the last word of an odd-numbered sentence must be squared. If the last word of an odd-numbered sentence is encountered, the last word and the third word from the last sentence must be squared. 2) Because rhyme is needed, the last word of an odd-numbered sentence must be squared. When encountering an even sentence with a cleavage in the process, the last character and the third character from the last should be exchanged for a cleavage. Because of this, when using the two sentence patterns ② and ④ as the first sentence, the last character of the couplet should be the third character from the last. Interchanged, the couplets should be: ④ sentence pattern and ② sentence pattern. In this way, the standard format of Qijue and Qilu is: Qijue: a) Pingqiqieqi, the first sentence does not fit into the rhyme: ①②③④ Pingpingzhizhizhipingpingzhi,zhu. 仄平平仄仄平. 仄仄平平仄仄, 平平任仄仄平平. Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat.

c) The first sentence is not in rhyme: ③④①② (equivalent to exchanging the first two sentences with the last two sentences in the a format). Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat. d) From the beginning to the end, the first sentence enters the rhyme: ②④①② (just replace the first sentence of the c format with the ② sentence pattern). Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat, flat. Seven Rhythms: a) Level rise and end, the first sentence is not in rhyme: ①②③④①②③④ (equivalent to the superposition of two a-format Qijue) b) Level rise and end, the first sentence is in rhyme: ④②③④①②③④ (just replace the first sentence in a-format with ④ Sentence pattern) c) The first sentence is not in rhyme: ③④①②③④①② (equivalent to the superposition of two c-form seven poems) d) The first sentence is in rhyme: ②④①②③④①② (just the first sentence in c-form is added) The sentence is replaced by the ② sentence pattern) Now that the format of the seven-character metrical poem is available, it is very simple to know the format of the five-character metrical poem. You only need to remove the first two words of each sentence in each format of the seven-character metrical poem, that is The format of Wujue, Wulu and Wupai. The format of the five-character metrical poem is not listed here. In addition to the four sentence patterns introduced above, there is also a special sentence pattern: the five-character sentence is "平平廄平廄" and the seven-character sentence is "廻仄平平廄平廄". This sentence pattern is actually a kind of awkward sentence that will be discussed later, but poets use it more often, and it has become a fixed form. This sentence pattern is mainly used occasionally as a substitute for the ③ sentence pattern. The above is the standard format of metrical poetry. In fact, there are not many ancient works that completely conform to these formats. So why? This involves the importance of phonological position (it is also related to the rescue, which will be discussed separately later). Generally speaking, in terms of rhythmic performance, the back is more important than the front, the front is loose and the back is tight, the front is light and the back is heavy. Specifically: 1) The last sentence in the same couplet is more important than the previous sentence, and the second sentence is stricter than the previous sentence. 2) A sentence is composed of two consecutive tones as one section, and the last word is a separate section. In the same sentence, the later bytes are more important than the previous bytes. The last word of each sentence is the most important and has the strictest requirements. Equality and oblique characters cannot be replaced. . Then comes the penultimate syllable (the 3rd and 4th characters in Wuyan, the 5th and 6th in Sevensyllables), which can occasionally be changed, if the sentence pattern is particularly awkward, such as "平平廄平廄", "任仄平平廄平仄", etc. And so on. 3) In a sentence, except for the last word of the sentence, which alone forms a musical scale, the words in even positions are more important and stricter than the words in odd positions. Except for the last word, the words in the even position are the key to the rhythm. 4) In a syllable composed of the same two characters, the latter character is more important than the previous character, so the requirements are strict. Because of the two-syllable byte, the stress mainly falls on the latter word. In view of the above 3 and 4, the predecessors concluded a mantra of "Ignore one, three, and five, but distinguish two, four, and six." This formula means that the characters in the first and third positions of five-character sentences and the characters in the first, third and fifth positions of seven-character sentences (the characters in the "five" position of the five-character sentences cannot be replaced) can be regardless of whether they are flat or oblique. The characters in the second and fourth positions of five-character characters and the characters in the two, four and six positions of seven-character characters must be clear.