Common sense of couplets

As a couplet, it should meet the following rules:

(1) The number of words in the upper and lower parts must be equal, and repeated words cannot be used.

(2) The last sentence of the first couplet must be written silently, and the last word of the next couplet must be flat.

(3) The sentence patterns of the upper and lower couplets must be consistent (equivalent parts of speech and corresponding structures).

(4) The horizontal lines of the upper and lower couplets should be relative. Where the word "Ping" is used in the upper part, the word "Ping" must be used in the lower part, and vice versa (Ping: Ping

Phonetic characters; Cue, Cue, including words with three tones of up, down and middle).

(5) The upper and lower couplets can have similar or opposite meanings, and they can only say one thing, or they can say two things separately.

The antithesis between couplets and regular poems is related to inheritance and evolution, and the flat and even meter of regular poems and the principle of "whether 135246 is clear" are also applicable to couplets. As for the number of words in each couplet, there is no limit, ranging from four words, five words, six words, seven words, eight words and nine words to tens or hundreds of words, as long as you have something to say. Here are some examples to illustrate this point:

The motherland is strong; These people are new here.

(average, average. )

The motherland, mountains and rivers in the upper part and the people and years in the lower part are nouns, and the last word Zhuang in the upper part and Xin in the lower part are adjectives, which are relatively harmonious, and their contents and forms are consistent with the above five laws.

In short, writing couplets should rhyme harmoniously. The language is concise, consistent with the law and has certain content. Words are not relative, levels and levels are not harmonious, or slogan-style sentences are divided into two lines, which can't be regarded as couplets.

The above contents can be summarized as "four stresses", that is, "word equivalence, flat pronunciation, word opposition and syntactic symmetry". At the same time, the contents of the upper and lower couplets should be related, but they cannot be the same or repeated. The same antithesis is commonly known as "fighting", such as "Welcome Five Blessingg in the New Year, receive more than three in the Spring Festival", in which "New Year" and "Spring Festival", "Welcome" and "Receive" are all agreed. Traditionally, this kind of couplets is considered as a taboo in making couplets.

The principle that "one, three and five are distinct, and two, four and six are also applicable to couplets" in this paper means that the first, three and five words in each sentence of a five-character seven-character poem are not flat, and the flat and turbid words are flat and turbid. The second, fourth and sixth words of each sentence must be plain and clear, and cannot be replaced. Because the first, third and fifth words are relatively flat and easy to move, the pronunciation has little influence. If the second, fourth and sixth words are flat and unbalanced, it will be difficult to read. This is a taboo for orthographic poetry, and it is also a taboo for traditional couplets when used in the creation of couplets.

What has been described above is the practice and procedure of traditional couplets. With the gradual maturity and development of couplet art, various novel practices and sentence patterns have emerged, and many unique couplets have appeared. The so-called authentic couplets refer to couplets that do not overemphasize hierarchy, fighting and rhyme. This kind of couplets has long been denounced as "non-authentic" couplets. In fact, from the objective reality that dual rhetoric gave birth to couplets, the sentence pattern, syntax and structure of uneven couplets and even couplets are the same; As can be seen from the folk custom of pasting peach symbols and couplets, uneven and non-parallel couplets are also produced and developed at the same time. Informal and coupled writing is flexible and free, can be tailored to the actual content, fully adapt to the new situation of popularizing Putonghua, has a strong sense of the times, and shows its strong vitality more and more. It shines strangely in the sea with its straightforward, simple and steady artistic style.

The patterns and procedures of informal couplets are: natural, non-carved, uneven, not demanding workmanship and even identical words. Because this mode and procedure is contrary to the traditional writing mode and procedure of couplets, it has been ignored by people and even denied by scholars of all ages. However, it has not disappeared. On the contrary, with the development of the times, it shows more and more powerful vitality.

When the Red Scarf Army of the Central Plains of the Yuan Dynasty started to fight, the "Flag Union" written on the battle flag was:

Three thousand warriors, arrived at the land of secluded swallows;

Dragonfly ninth five-year plan, the day of reopening the Great Song Dynasty.

This pair of "flag league" fully embodies the majestic momentum and invincible heroism of the Red Scarf Army. In the writing mode and procedure, it is not importunate, word for word, but it has a great influence. Later, when Liu Liu and Liu Qi revolted in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the flag of the marked army just changed the word "Dasong" to "chaos":

Three thousand warriors, arrived at the land of secluded swallows;

Dragonfly's ninth five-year plan, reopening chaotic days.

After the Taiping rebels occupied Nanjing in the late Qing Dynasty, it was relatively easy to see this couplet on the pillars on both sides of Longfeng Temple:

Three thousand warriors, arrived at the land of secluded swallows;

Dragonfly's Ninth Five-Year Plan reopened the days of Yao and Shun.

In the Ming Dynasty, according to Lang Ying's Seven Revisions and Couplets, "Xu Shangshu praised the official department, which is also a respect for the official department. I am the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, my brother wrote a letter, and I am also the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in South China. My friend Yu made a cloud:

Father's burial and slaughter, son's burial and slaughter, grasp the balance of a generation;

Brother Stuart, brother Stuart, accountant in Beijing. "

Both the upper and lower couplets of this couplet have the same "zhi" opposite. In the Qing Dynasty, according to Liang Zhangju's "Conghua Xun of Couplets", Hu Kequan learned about Suzhou and unveiled a pair of couplets outside the door. Couplets are:

Those who look at each other, tell fortune, and make a fortune, please avoid them;

Those who help the church, those who spread the church and those who bump into the old are all interviewed.

This shows that the couplets with the same character were not forced to be typed, but also posted in the government office. According to Tsui Hark's Notes Clearing, Documents and Ma Miao Lian as Seen by Ji Wenda, "Ji Wenda tasted friends in the capital and passed Ma Miao. There is a door on the left of the temple gate, and there is a couplet on the door that says' Left hand leads a swift horse'. A friend named Wenda said,' Don't look at the next couplet, try to think about it. Wen Da said:' Erlian is the predecessor, and it will always be the height of nine squares.' Look, the right hand is holding the pony. "This record once again shows that it is very common to create couplets in an eclectic, plain and elegant, non-demanding, non-fighting mode and procedure. Generally speaking, there are two situations: first, people with low educational level often have this hand, such as "left hand" and "right hand" couplets; Secondly, in order to accurately express the theme of their couplets, the literati do not want to be bound by the traditional writing mode and procedure of couplets, knowing that it is illegal, but also deliberately do it.

But on the whole, this kind of eclectic couplet was not elegant in the past. After the May 4th Movement, the New Culture Movement shocked the whole academic and cultural circles, and this kind of couplet gradually increased and was accepted by people, and some celebrities began to create this kind of couplet. For example, we often see such couplets in many schools now:

A thousand teachers teach people to seek truth;

Learn everything and be a real person.

This is a couplet inscribed by Guo Moruo for Mr. Tao Xingzhi's tomb in Nanjing Xiaozhuang Normal Campus on February 1944. Another example is 65438+ 1930. In February, when the General Front Committee of the Red Army held a swearing-in meeting between the army and the people in Ningdu County, Mao Zedong personally wrote a couplet on both sides of the rostrum:

Guerrilla warfare can only be won if the enemy advances and retreats, if the enemy is stationed and harassed, if the enemy is tired and I fight, and if the enemy retreats and I chase;

Advance and retreat in moderation, lure the enemy deeper, concentrate forces, split in two, and destroy the enemy by mobile warfare.

To sum up, this informal, even couplets approach has brought a new atmosphere to Lianyuan, which should be fully affirmed and recommended. Just as Haha advocated using modern sounds and rhymes as old-fashioned poems in his poems, he should also advocate writing traditional couplets in a flexible format.