The first chapter is about some concepts of poetry meter Rhyme is one of the basic elements of poetry meter.Poets use rhyme in their poems, which is called rhyme.From the "Book of Songs" to later generations of poetry, there is almost no non-rhyme.There is no folk song that does not rhyme.In northern opera, rhyme is also called Zhe.Rhyming is called matching rhyme. Whether a poem has rhyme or not is something most people can detect.As for explaining what rhyme is, it is not so simple.but.Today we have the Chinese Pinyin alphabet, and it is easy to explain the concept of rhyme. The so-called rhyme in poetry is roughly equal to the so-called final in Chinese Pinyin.We all know that when a Chinese character is put together with pinyin letters, it usually has initials and finals.For example, the word "公" is spelled gong, where g is the initial consonant and ong is the final consonant.The initial consonant is always in the front, and the final is always in the back.Let's look at "dong" dong, "tong" tong, "long" long, "zong" zong, "Cong" cong, etc. Their finals are all ong, so they are words with the same rhyme.

Any word that rhymes with the same rhyme can rhyme.The so-called rhyme is to put two or more words with the same rhyme in the same position.Generally, the rhyme is always placed at the end of the sentence, so it is also called "rhyme foot".Try the following example: Book Huyin Mr. Wall [Song] Wang Anshi The thatched eaves are often swept clean without moss (tai), Flowers and trees are planted by hand (zai) One water protects the field and surrounds it with greenery, The two mountains push the door to send Qinglai (lai). Here "moss", "zai" and "lai" rhyme because their finals are all ai. The word "环" (环) does not rhyme, because the word "环" is spelled rao, and its final consonant is ao, which does not rhyme with "moss", "zai" and "lai".According to the rhyme, in a four-line poem like this, the third line does not rhyme.

In pinyin, there may be i, u, u in front of a, e, o, such as ia, ua, uai, iao, ian, uan, uan, iang, uang, ie, ue, iong, ueng, etc., such i, u, and u are called rhymes, and words with different rhymes are also considered as rhyming words, and they can also rhyme.For example: Four seasons pastoral miscellaneous [Song] Fan Chengda Cultivate fields during the day and produce hemp at night (ma), The sons and daughters of the village are in charge of their families (jia). Children and grandchildren have not been released for farming and weaving, I also learn to grow melons (gua) near Sangyin.

The finals of "ma", "jia" and "gua" are, although the finals are not exactly the same, they are words with the same rhyme, and the rhymes are equally harmonious. The purpose of rhyming is for the harmony of sound and rhyme.The repetition of similar tones in the same position constitutes the beauty of the sound loop. But why, when we read the poems of the ancients, do we often feel that their rhymes are not very harmonious, or even very dissonant?This is because of the different times.As the language develops, the pronunciation has changed. When we use modern pronunciation to read them, it is naturally not completely suitable, for example:

hiking [Tang] Du Mu Far above the cold mountain stone path oblique (xie), There is a family in the depths of the white clouds (jia) Stop and sit in Aifenglin at night, Frost leaves are red in February flowers (hua). Xie, jia, and hua are not words with the same rhyme, but the pronunciation of "Xie" in Tang Dynasty is sia (s is pronounced as voiced), which is the same as the pronunciation of "Xie" in modern Shanghai.Therefore, it was harmonious at the time.Another example: Jiangnan Qu [Tang] Li Yi Married to Qutang Jia, Chaochao mistaken concubine period (qi).

I knew Chao had a letter early, Marry and make waves (er). In this poem, "period" and "er" rhyme; in today's Mandarin, qi and er cannot be counted as rhymes.If you read the word "er" according to the pronunciation of the vernacular in Shanghai, and pronounce it like the ni sound (this sound is close to the ancient sound), then it will be harmonious.Today, it is certainly impossible (and unnecessary) for us to read the poems of the ancients according to the ancient pronunciation; but we should understand this truth.It is not possible to suspect that the rhymes rhymed by the ancients are discordant.

The ancients rhymed according to the rhyme book.The so-called "official rhyme" by the ancients is the rhyme book promulgated by the imperial court.This kind of rhyme book was basically the same as spoken language in the Tang Dynasty; it is more reasonable to rhyme according to the rhyme book.After the Song Dynasty, the pronunciation changed greatly, and it became unreasonable for poets to still rhyme according to the rhyme book.If we write old poems today, we don't necessarily have to rhyme according to the rhyme book.However, when we read the poems of the ancients.But you should know the rhyme of the ancients.In the second chapter.We have to come back to this question.

Four tones, here refers to the four accumulated tones of ancient Chinese.If we want to know the four tones, we must first know how the tones are composed.So let's start with the tone here. Tone, which is characteristic of Chinese (and some other languages).The pitch, rise and fall, and length of the voice constitute the tone of Chinese, and the pitch, rise and fall are the main factors.Take the tones of Mandarin as an example, there are four tones in total: Yinping is a high-pitched tone (neither ascending nor descending is called level); Yangping is a middle-rising tone (neither high nor low is called middle); Shangsheng is a low-rising tone tone (sometimes a low-pitched tone); Qusheng is a high-falling tone.

Ancient Chinese also has four tones, but they are not exactly the same as the types of tones in Mandarin today.The ancient four tones are: (1) flat voice.This tone is differentiated into Yinping and Yangping in later generations. (2) Upper voice.Part of this tone will be changed to the descending tone in later generations. (3) Qu Sheng.This tone is still going to the future generations. (4) into the sound.This tone is a short tone.Modern Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi and other places still preserve the entering sound.There are also many places in the north (such as Shanxi and Inner Mongolia) that preserve entering sounds.Hunan's entering tone is no longer short, but it still retains the tone of entering tone.In most of the spoken languages ​​in the north and most of the southwest, the incoming tone has disappeared.Some of the entering tones in the north are changed to Yinping, some to Yangping, some to Shangsheng, and some to Qusheng.As far as Mandarin is concerned, most of the entering-sound characters are changed to the falling-sound.Followed by Yangping; the least changed to Shangsheng.The entering tone characters in the southwest dialect (from Hubei to Yunnan) have all changed to Yangping.

What is the shape of the ancient four-tone ups and downs?Can't know the details now.According to tradition.The flat tone should be a mid-level tone, the upper tone should be a rising tone, the going tone should be a falling tone, and the entering tone should be a short tone. "Kangxi Dictionary" contains a formula in front of it, which is called "Four Tone Method": Keep your voice level and your voice low, Shout loudly and violently, The sound of going away is clear and mournful, Enter the short and urgent collection. This kind of narrative is not scientific enough, but it also gives us an overview of the ancient four tones.

The relationship between four tones and rhyme is very close.in the rhyme book.Words with different tones cannot be regarded as having the same rhyme.in poetry.Words with different tones generally cannot rhyme. It is very clear in the rhyme book which word belongs to which tone.In the Chinese dialects that still preserve the entering tone today.It is also quite clear that a certain word belongs to a certain sound.We should pay special attention to the double reading of one word.Sometimes, a word has two meanings (often with different parts of speech), and it also has two pronunciations.For example, the word "wei" is interpreted as "to do" when used as a verb, and it is pronounced in flat tone (Yangping);In ancient Chinese.This situation is much more than modern Chinese.Now try some examples: Riding, level tone, verb, riding a horse; Qu tone, noun, cavalry. Si, flat tone, verb, yearning; Qusheng, noun, thought, feeling. Honor, flat tone, verb, praise; Qusheng, noun, reputation. Dirty, flat tone, adjective, filthy; Qusheng, verb, dirty. Number, upper tone, verb, calculation; falling tone, noun, number, fate; entering tone (read Rushuo), adjective, frequent. Teach, remove the voice.Noun, enlightenment, education; flat tone, verb, to make, let. Order, Qu Sheng, noun, command; flat tone, verb, make, let. Ban, Qu Sheng, noun, prohibition, palace ban; flat tone, verb, worthy, can stand. Kill, enter the tone, transitive verb, kill; Qusheng (pronounced as sun), intransitive verb, decline. Some characters were originally pronounced in flat tones, but later changed to falling tones, but the meaning and part of speech remain unchanged. "Look", "sigh", and "look" all belong to this category. "Wang" and "sigh" have already been pronounced in the tones in Tang poetry, and the word "kan" is often pronounced in the flat tone (read as a magazine) until modern verses.In modern Chinese, the character "kan" is always pronounced with a flat tone, except for "watchman" which is pronounced in a flat tone.There are also more complicated situations: for example, when the word "Guo" is used as a verb, it has two readings of flat to go. Distinguishing the four tones is the basis for distinguishing level and oblique.In the next section we will discuss the level problem. Once you know what four tones are, it will be easy to understand Pingze.Ping-Ze is a term for the rhythm of poetry: Poets divide the four tones into two categories: Ping-Zhe, which is the flat tone, and Zhe, which is the three tones going up and down.Zhe, interpreted according to the literal meaning, means uneven. Why are you divided into two categories?Because the flat tone has no ups and downs and is longer, while the other three tones have a ups and downs (the entrance tone may also rise or fall slightly) and are shorter, so they form two types.If these two types of tones are interlaced in the poems, the tones can be diversified instead of monotonous.The ancients called "sonaring tones"[1], although there are many particularities, but harmony is also an important factor. How are level and oblique intertwined in poetry?We can sum it up in two sentences: (1) Pingzhe is alternate in this sentence; (2) Ping and Zhe are opposites in couplets. This level rule is particularly evident in regulated poems. For example, the fifth and sixth lines of Chairman Mao's "Long March" poem: The golden sand water beats the clouds and cliffs to warm, The iron cables of the Dadu Bridge are cold. The level of these two poems is: Flat │ flat │ flat │ flat, Zeze│Pingping│Zeze│Ping. As far as this sentence is concerned, every two words have a rhythm.The sentence "Pingping" is followed by "Zeze", "Zeze" is followed by "Pingping", and the last one is "Zeze".The sentence "Zeze" is followed by "Pingping", "Pingping" is followed by "Zeze", and the last one is "Ping".This is alternation.In terms of paired sentences, "Jinsha" is to "Dadu" is flat to flat; "Warm" versus "cold" is flat versus flat.This is the opposite. The rules of level and obliqueness of poetry will be discussed in detail below.Now let’s talk about how we can distinguish flatness. If your dialect has entering sounds (for example, you are from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanxi, Hunan, or South China), then the problem is easy to solve.In those dialects with entering tones, there are more than four tones, not only the flat tones are divided into yin and yang, but also the ascending tones, falling tones, and entering tones are often divided into yin and yang.Like Guangzhou into the sound is also divided into three categories.It's all easy to do: just combine them, for example, combine Yinping and Yangping into a flat tone, and combine Yinshang, Yangshang, Yinqu, Yangqu, Yinjin, and Yangru into a flat tone, and that's it.The problem is that you have to figure out how many tones there are in your dialect.This is to find a friend who knows the tone of voice to help.It would be even better if you have learned the corresponding rules between local tones and Mandarin tones in Chinese class, and have figured out the tones in your own dialect. If you are from Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and northern Guangxi, then Rusheng characters are all assigned to Yangping in your dialect.In this way, special attention should be paid when encountering Yangping characters, some of which belonged to Rusheng characters in ancient times.As for which characters belong to Rusheng and which ones belong to Yangping, you have to look them up in a dictionary or rhyme book. If you are a northerner, then the method of distinguishing mediocrity is slightly different from Hubei and other places.Since most of the ancient entering-tone characters in Mandarin have changed to the falling tone, the going tone is also a flat tone; some of them have changed to the upper tone, and the upper tone is also a flat tone.Therefore, the characters of Yourubianqu and Yourubianshang do not prevent us from distinguishing between flat and narrow; only Yourubianping (Yinping, Yangping) causes difficulties in distinguishing between flat and narrow.When we encounter a place where the rhyming tone is stipulated in the rhythm of poetry, the poet used a word that is pronounced in a flat tone today, which arouses our doubts. We can look it up in a dictionary or a rhyme book. Note that any word whose rhyme ends in -n or -ng will not be a phonetic character.For Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and northern Guangxi, there are basically no input characters for rhymes such as ai, ei, ao, and ou. In short, the problem of incoming sound is the only obstacle to distinguish mediocrity.This obstacle can only be eliminated by looking up a dictionary or a rhyme book; however, the principle of mediocrity is easy to understand.Moreover, about half of China still retains the entering tone, and people in those places have no problem distinguishing between flat and narrow. The duality in poetry is called antithesis.In ancient times, guards of honor faced each other two by two, which is the origin of the term "confrontation". What is the dual?Duality is to juxtapose similar concepts or opposite concepts, such as "resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea", "resisting U.S. aggression" and "aiding Korea" form a dual.Duality can be self-aligned in a sentence, or two sentences can be opposite.For example, "Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea" is a self-alignment in the sentence, and "Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, protect the family and the country" are two relative sentences.Generally speaking, duality refers to the opposite of two sentences.The previous sentence is called a sentence, and the next sentence is called a sentence. The general rule of duality is noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, and adverb to adverb.Still take "Resist US Aggression, Aid Korea, Defend Home and Country" as an example: "Resistance", "Aid", "Protection", and "Defense" are all relative verbs, while "Beauty", "North Korea", "Home" and "Country" are all relative verbs. Relative nouns.In fact, noun pairs can be subdivided into several categories, and nouns of the same kind are relatively considered as neat duals, referred to as "work pairs".Here, "Mei" and "Chao" are both proper names and abbreviations, so they are Gong pairs; "Family" and "Guo" are both collectives of people, so they are also Gong pairs. "Defending the family and defending the country" is also considered correct for "resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea", because the self-alignment in the sentence is neat, and the two sentences that are opposite do not require the same neatness. Duality is a rhetorical device whose function is to form neat beauty.The characteristics of Chinese are particularly suitable for duality, because there are many monosyllabic words in Chinese, and even polysyllabic words have considerable independence in their morphemes, which can easily cause duality. Since duality is a rhetorical device, it can be used in both prose and poetry. .For example, the "Book of Changes" says: "The same sound corresponds to the same breath, and the same spirit seeks each other." ("Yi Qian Wenyan") The "Book of Songs" says: "In the past, I went there, and the willows were Yiyi; now I come to think, and it is raining and snowing. "("Xiaoya Caiwei") These confrontations are adapted to the needs of rhetoric.However, the antithesis in verses still has its rules, not as casual as in the Book of Songs.This rule is: (1) The level and tone of the sentence and the sentence are opposite; (2) The words in the sentence and the words in the sentence cannot be repeated [2]. Therefore, the examples of "Book of Changes" and "Book of Songs" mentioned above are not in line with the standard of rhyming poetry confrontation.The two lines in Chairman Mao's "Long March" poem mentioned above: "The sand and water are warm against the clouds and cliffs, and the iron cables across the Dadu Bridge are cold", which meet the standard of antithesis in verses. Couplets (pairs) evolved from verses, so they must also meet the above two criteria.For example, in Chairman Mao's "Reforming Our Learning", a pair of pairs was cited: The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow-rooted; The bamboo shoots in the mountains have a thick skin and a hollow belly. Here the characters in the upper couplet (out of sentences) and the characters in the lower couplet (in pairs) are not repeated, but their levels are opposite: Zee flat, flat flat, flat flat; Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat [3]. In terms of rhetoric, this pair is also very neat. "Wall" is a noun with a location word, and the corresponding "mountain" is also a noun with a location word. "Basic" is a noun with a location word, and the "belly" in [4] is also a noun with a location word. "Head" to "mouth", "feet" to "skin", are all nouns to nouns. "Heavy" versus "sharp," "light" versus "thick" are all adjectives versus adjectives. "Heavy-headed" versus "light-footed," and "sharp-mouthed" versus "thick-skinned," are all correct sentences.This sentence is self-aligning and the two sentences are opposite, which makes it even more neat. Regarding the antithesis of poetry, we will discuss it in detail below, so let's talk about it here first. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ [1] "Clang", the sound of musical instruments.Refers to the coordination of palace merchants. [2] At least the same position cannot be repeated.For example, "In the past, I went, and the willows are Yiyi; now I come to think, and the rain and snow are falling", and the second word of the sentence and the second word of the sentence are both "I", that is repetition in the same position. [3] There is a circle outside the word, which means it can be flat or flat. [4] "Basic" The original "Basic" is a parallel structure.The "basis" of writing is still a parallel structure.We say that nouns have location words because the fact that "bottom" can also be used as a location word is indeed used here to form a confrontation.