The Basics of Couplet Writing (Chapter 3, Couplet Metre)

The meter of a couplet refers to the basic norms to be followed in the creation of couplets. The word "meter" originally refers to the format and rules of poems, lyrics, songs and rhymes about the number of words, sentences, couplets, leveling, rhyming and so on, and the basic norms of form in the creation of couplets are called "meter", which is only a customary use formed in recent decades. In fact, unlike the classical lyrics and songs which have the strict rules of "fixed sentences, fixed words and fixed sounds", the couplets are extremely varied in terms of the number of words, sentences, rhythms and language styles, etc. The formation of couplets was influenced by the legal poetry. The formation of the couplet is greatly influenced by the poems, so the initial five or seven lines of the couplet basically inherited the two lines of the poems in the metrical requirements. In the later development, the form of couplets gathered the characteristics of many literary styles, such as ekphrasis, fugue, lyrics, songs, ancient texts and even the vernacular, and the requirements for the form tended to be broader and more complex, so that it was not possible to use an absolutized "couplets of laws" to dominate all of the couplets in a "one-size-fits-all" way. It is impossible to use an absolutized "joint law" to dominate all the creation of couplets in a "one-size-fits-all" way. However, there is no "absolute law" does not mean that there is not a relatively loose so that the basic norms of the couplet genre can be set up, if we look at the ancient and modern couplet creation from this high level, then there are two principles can be said to cover all the basic norms of the couplet, which is the words of the words and the harmony of the tone. In other words, the meter of the couplet includes the harmony of words and tones in a broad sense.

The Chinese Association of Couplet Societies formally promulgated the General Rules of Couplet Laws in October, 2008, which provides a detailed "strict in, wide out" style of formal requirements for couplets, thus providing a solid theoretical basis for the creation and appreciation of contemporary couplets. Although there is a great space between "strict rules" and "loose norms" for authors to create couplets, for beginners, the rules should be strict, i.e., to put the requirement of "word pairing" into as many words as possible. However, for beginners, the metre should be strict, i.e., the requirement of "word pairing" should fall on as many pairs as possible, and the requirement of "harmony of tones" should fall on the strictest format of leveling and arranging, so that the level of creativity can be improved through sharpening, and the process of introduction can be completed quickly, and the art of couplets can be mounted as soon as possible. For those who participate in the activities and have specific requirements of the occasion should also be strict requirements.

Section 1: the couplets of the couplets

Couplets of the couplets of the couplets of the form of people in the long-term creative practice in the accumulation of the generalization of a format, a pair of law, a type or a model. The couplets of the couplets are originated from the couplet rhetoric and borrowed from the couplets in the ancient poems. The ancients firstly divided Chinese characters into two categories of real and imaginary from the perspective of pairwise rhetoric, and then used the method of "real to real, imaginary to imaginary" to form a pair, which is concerned with the relative of each word, and generally does not involve the words, let alone the pairing of sentences, except for a small number of couplings. The ancients summarized the couplets of no less than dozens of ways, there are positive, against, running water, since the pair, the sentence, the real pair, the merciless pair, double tone, superimposed tone, continuous pair, neighboring pairs, back to the text of the pair and so on, each of which is summarized as a rhetorical pattern. With the introduction of Western grammar in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, Chinese people gradually formed the trend of analyzing and guiding the phenomenon of pairs with grammar. The theory of pairs under the guidance of grammar focuses on the classification of words based on grammatical significance and the analysis of sentence components, and then pairs of words with the same lexical nature or the same sentence components are formed. The theory of couplets purely from the perspective of rhetoric is close to the original appearance of the ancient couplets, but it is divorced from the modern linguistic environment, and there is a lack of organization among the various independent rhetorical frames; the theory of couplets purely from the perspective of grammar is close to the modern linguistic environment, but it fails to reflect the reality of the ancient couplets in a clear and concise way. According to the relevant expression of the General Rules of Joint Laws, we adopt the "basic rules" from the perspective of grammar, and then supplement it with the rhetorical couplets in order to deepen and perfect it, and then finally integrate the ancient word categories of the relative real and imaginary, and the modern lexical relative and syntactic component relative to form a flexible and tolerant theoretical system of the couplet.

Basic rules of counterpoint

Of the six basic rules of the General Principles of the Joint Laws, there are four rules on counterpoint, namely, "the equivalence of words and phrases, the equivalence of lexical properties, the equivalence of structures, and the equivalence of rhythms," because "words and phrases" and "rhythms" are the same as "words and phrases" and "rhythms. Because "words and sentences" and "rhythm" can be attached to the structure of words and sentences, from a grammatical point of view, the basic rules of counterpoint are mainly manifested in the lexical and sentence structure of words relative to each other.

First, let's talk about the relative nature of words. Through his study of classical poetry, Mr. Wang Li, a contemporary grammarian, believes that the ancients generally classified words into nine categories: nouns, adjectives, number words, color words, locative words, verbs, adverbs, false words, and pronouns. In his Ten Lectures on Poetic Metre, he said, ""Counterpoint requires words to be relative, noun to noun, adjective to adjective, verb to verb, adverb to adverb ......." From the modern Chinese grammar, words can be divided into nouns, verbs, adjectives, numbers, quantifiers, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, exclamations of eleven categories, modern Chinese said that the counterpoint, that is, according to the above eleven kinds of lexically identical words to the relative, that is, to nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, adjectives to adjectives, numbers to numbers, quantifiers to quantifiers ... ...etc. As a student who is learning couplets for the first time, it is easy to grasp and improve the practice of couplets according to the knowledge of modern Chinese. Below we will analyze each of the eleven types of words and their key points in modern Chinese, combining them with examples of couplets.

I. Noun: It is the word that expresses the name of people and things, which is the most numerous in Chinese. Nouns are divided into proper nouns, i.e., names of people, places and books; concrete nouns, i.e., mountains, water, pines, cypresses, etc.; abstract nouns, i.e., sex, love, loyalty, righteousness, etc. The three types of nouns should be analyzed as far as possible in terms of their relative importance to each other. These three kinds of nouns should try to do their own relative, in order to show the neatness of the battle. For example, the couplet:

The mountain of books is a path of diligence;

The sea of learning is a boat of suffering.

The "mountain of books" and "sea of learning" and "path" and "boat" are all relative nouns.

Second, the verb: is to express the change or action of the word, there are walk, run, do, make, say, eat, see, smell, see, hear, float, sink, fight, fight, call, ask ......, such as Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, the joint:

Still very Pu Yao Shan, want to see the emperor in the pavilion;

And a long wind and huge waves, to send the river talent! The first is to see the emperor's son in the pavilion.

The words "to see" and "to send" are conjunctive verbs, with the former being used as a gerund.

Three, adjectives: is to express the nature of things and changes in the word, there are good, bad, soft, hard, hard, easy, cool, hot, big, small, long, short ......, such as Hanyang Parrot Chau Couplet:

Farfetch grass, lonely graves looking west has been stale;

Flood waves rolling, the great river east to have a new sound.

"Lush" versus "rolling" is a superlative adjective, and "Chen" versus "new" is an adjective. The adjective "Chen" to "New" is a superlative adjective, where the former denotes shape and the latter denotes nature.

Four, pronouns: used in place of nouns, verbs, adjectives, number words, quantifiers or reorganization of sentences: such as: I, I, you, he, he, he, this, you, his, Yi, Nong, my generation, you, they ......, and who, what, who, and so on questionable pronouns. For example, Zuo Zongtang inscription wine spring joint:

In the saints of the clear, there is such water;

Take the drunkard, to name my pavilion.

"This" refers to the wine spring, the pair to my is the pronoun opposite.

Fifth, the number of words: the number of words are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred million, one hundred million, one hundred million, one trillion ......, such as Yangzhou maundy hall couplet:

The very spring water double gable shadow;

Hundreds of lotus leaves seven miles incense.

"Hundred" to "ten", "seven" to "double" are numbers relative. It is important to note that some words that imply numbers, such as "lone", "half", "and", "full", etc., can also be counted as number words. can also be counted words, Du Fu has even "unusual" to "seventy", because the ancient eight feet for a "search", two search for a "often "

Sixty-footer.

Sixth, quantitative words: words that indicate the unit of calculation, generally placed after the number of words, there are liters, buckets, feet, zhang, miles, pounds, tons, pieces ......, such as Lanzhou Shenhe Temple Couplet:

Once upon a time, there were a thousand waves of the sea;

And on the Yellow River, a bridge.

"Road" to "layer" is a quantifier.

Seven, adverbs: generally placed in front of the verb, adjective to express the scope, degree, time, affirmation, negation, rhetorical questions, prayer, politeness, etc., there are: phase, very, very, that is, must be, have not, not, please, please ......, such as Hangu Pass, Judas Dragon Pavilion Couplet:

Not allowed to Tianwen light steering horse;

Wish to meet the old man then Riding oxen.

"Not yet," "light," "wish," and "again" are all adverbs before verbs, with "not yet" denoting negation, "light" denoting degree, and "wish" denoting supplication. Light denotes degree, wish denotes supplication, and again denotes scope.

Eight, prepositions: used in nouns, pronouns or phrases before the prepositional structure, indicating the time, place, manner, cause, state, purpose of the word, there are in, in, on, in, because of, by, in order to, to, with, to, and, with, and with ......, such as the ancient couplet:

Green water is not worrying, the wind wrinkled face;

The green mountain originally does not age, for the snow white head.

"Original" and "original", "because" and "for" are prepositions, the former indicates the state, the latter indicates the cause. The latter indicates the cause.

Nine, conjunction: is connected words, phrases or clauses, in order to express the relationship between them, and, or, and, and, with, and ......, such as Tengwang Pavilion:

Autumn water **** long days a color;

falling Xia and the unassisted flying.

"***" and "with" are conjunctions, both of which indicate the connection of nouns before and after.

Ten, auxiliary words: attached to the words, phrases or sentences above, indicating some kind of grammatical words, there are non, carry on, ear, also, almost, Ja, the, it, it, well, well ......, such as the Guandi Temple joint:

Worship Siren will be thinking of learning Siren, no account of the kowtow to go;

Into this mountain must be out of this mountain, when carefully I am not a man of the world, but I am a man of the world.

The word "着" and "了" are tense auxiliaries.

Eleven, sighs, when there is a lament on things, independent of the sentence. There are yelp, appeal, contempt, alas, whoop ......, such as the West Lake King Yue tomb of Qin Hui couple kneeling and sobbing like the coupling:

Alas! Servants have no heart, there is a virtuous wife how to be;

Pfft! The woman is long-tongued, not the old thief to the present day.

"Alas" and "spit" are the opposite of an independent exclamation.

The above mentioned eleven kinds of words, is in line with the modern Chinese norms, but in practice, there are two cases need to pay attention to: First, in the battle between the word class sometimes live situation, the noun can be used as a verb or adjective, adjective can also be used as a noun or verb, the use of different occasions, different lexical properties, which are common. Secondly, grammatically, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliaries, and exclamations can be categorized as dummy words, and they can be different from each other when strict lexical relativity is not possible.

Again, the relative of structure. Structure can be divided into two levels: word structure and sentence structure. Mr. Wang Li clearly stated in his book Ancient Chinese: "The basic requirement of parallelism is the mutual symmetry of syntactic structures: subject-predicate structure to subject-predicate structure, verb-object structure to verb-object structure, bias-orthogonal structure to bias-orthogonal structure, and compound sentence to compound sentence. Although these grammatical terms did not exist in ancient times, they were in fact done." "If further analyzed, parallelism requires not only overall symmetry, but also consistency in the syntactic structure within the context: subject to subject, predicate to predicate, object to object, complement to complement, determiner to determiner, and pronominal to pronominal."

The upper and lower couplets should be in the word structure and sentence structure to mirror each other, symmetrical with each other, that is, the structure of the counterpoint. Sentences in modern Chinese consist of six components: subject, predicate, object, determiner, dative, and complement. The sentence structure of a single sentence is divided into subject-predicate, subject-predicate-object, and no-subject sentence. For compound sentences composed of two or more clauses, we need to analyze the structure of the clauses separately. The structure of a clause is the same as that of a single sentence; some clauses are not sentences but words or phrases, so the structure of words or phrases is analyzed. Words and phrases are formed in the following ways: subject-predicate structure, verb-object structure, parallel structure, partial structure, independent structure, verb-complement structure, linkage structure, and orientation structure. Words or phrases that are opposite to each other in the upper and lower couples should preferably be joint structure to joint structure, paratactic structure to paratactic structure, subject-predicate structure to subject-predicate structure, and so on. If it is not possible to achieve the same structure, it should also be similar in structure, such as joint structure to paratactic structure. If it is wider, at least the number of words or phrases should be equal, two-word structure to two-word structure, three-word structure to three-word structure.

I. Subject-predicate structure. The predicate of the latter states the subject of the former. For example, Yuan Mei's self-titled couplet:

Wonderful books and ancient paintings regardless of price;

Dreams and clear poems are believed to be divine.

"Wonderful books and paintings" and "Dreams and poems" are the subject, "regardless of" and "believe in" are the predicate, "price" is the subject, "price" is the predicate, and "price" is the predicate. The "price" and "God" are the objects.

Second, the verb-object structure. The verb in front indicates action or behavior, and the noun or pronoun (object) in the back is governed by the verb (predicate) in the front. For example, Fang Xiaoru's poem on Guangzhou's Yihong Mansion:

Crossing the bridge and separating the colors of the field;

Moving the stone and moving the roots of the clouds.

The words "cross" and "move", "divide" and "move" are predicates. The words "bridge" and "stone", "wild color" and "cloud root" are all objects.

Three, parallel structure. Also known as the joint structure, by the words or phrases in juxtaposition together, each part of the weight, high and low, no modification and modification of the relationship, more than self-pairing. For example, the couplet of Da Chuan Dian Building in Beijing:

Four times of spring, summer, fall and winter scenery,

One east, west, south, north and south people.

"Spring, summer, fall and winter" and "east, west, south and north" are both parallel.

Fourth, partial structure. It is also called the main-subordinate structure, and there is restriction, modification, and supplementation between words. The former part of the modification or restriction of the latter part, the former part is called bias, the latter part is called positive (center word). For example, Liu Fengguang wrote a couplet on the Little Canglang Pavilion in Jinan:

Lotus flowers on all sides, willows on three sides,

A city of mountains, half a city of lakes.

Four sides, three sides, one city, and half a city are all determiners, restricting the center words lotus, willow, mountain color, and lake, respectively. Form a counterpoint with a paratactic structure.

Fifth, verb-complement structure. The first part is a verb, indicating behavior or action. The latter part to illustrate and supplement the previous behavior and action. For example, Lin Zexu's couplet:

The sea is the shore of the sky,

Man climbs to the top of the mountain and I am the peak.

Sixth, orientation structure. The monotone orientation words in Chinese are: up, down, left, right, inside, outside, front, back, inside, center, east, west, south, north, between, bottom, top and so on. The monophthong orientation words are followed by "side", "face" and "head" to form a synthetic orientation word. Orientation words can also be added to the front of the word or phrase and the composition of the orientation structure. For example, the Beihai Zhizhu Temple couplet:

The shadow of the pagoda hangs on the sky,

Buddha's light often appears between the water and clouds.

Seven, prepositional structure. A preposition in front, combined with a noun, pronoun or noun structure behind. For example:

Walking in the world with the original face,

Within the family without self-interest.

"In" and "at" are prepositions, and "in the world" and "within the family" are noun structures. structure.

Working pairs require that the sentence patterns of the upper and lower couplets be identical, but if they are not identical, they can be regarded as wide pairs as long as they are corresponding or roughly comparable, e.g.

There are Buddhas in the world, Zongshe Buddha

There are no bridges in the world, so this bridge is a long bridge

The phrase "Zongshe Buddha" is a verb-object structure, and "Long this bridge" is a noun structure. The structure of the sentence should also be made to try to achieve the corresponding structure of the words, in order to achieve the purpose of the form of neat, this kind of work on the comprehensive analysis of the structure of the words and sentences to Lin Zexu as an example:

Yi County, good mountains to stay guests live;

└─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘

Partial structure Partial structure Move the structure of the guest

└────┬────┘ └─┬─┘

The main part of the subject part of the sentence is not the same as the main part of the sentence, but it is a very important part. p>

Subject part Predicate part

Wu Xi Autumn Water is clear for you.

└─┬─┘ └─┬─┘ └─┬─┘

Biased structure Biased structure Prepositional structure Medium-object structure

└────┬────┘ └─┬─┘

Subject part Predicate part

In the basic rules of the counterpoint, in addition to lexical and structural relativity, there is also the correspondence between words and rhythms, the so-called The so-called "word-sentence equivalence" and "rhythmic counterpoint". Equivalence of words and phrases is a minimum requirement, that is, how many words in the first line and how many words in the second line, and how many clauses in the first line and how many clauses in the second line. The rhythm of the "rhythm of the beat" is slightly more complex, and is described below.

The so-called rhythm of the beat, that is, the rhythm of the upper and lower couplet is the same, corresponding, similar or as far as possible to maintain the same. Rhythm includes rhythm and semantic rhythm and two aspects.

Vocal rhythm is originally transplanted from metrical poetry, because the language of pentameter or hendecasyllabic poetry is always a rhythm of two words, and the second, fourth and sixth words of each sentence are the rhythmic points, so the pentameter couplets are generally always two-two-one rhythm:

Huangshan Mountain/clouds are like/sea,

Tianmu/Sun is a/maru.

And the seven-character couplets generally always have a two-two-two-one rhythm:

The spring breeze/dares/come to comb/the willows,

The night rain/conceals/goes to moisten/the flowers.

And so on, for all the four-, six-, eight-, nine- and even longer couplets written in the poetic language style, the basic sonorous rhythms are two-by-two alternating, with every even number as a syllabic point.

Semantic rhythm is a concept that corresponds to the rhythm of sound, and it is precisely because the rhythm of sound in strict accordance with the poems is relatively dull and single that in actual creation, in order to seek more variations, there is a situation in which the inner rhythm of the meaning of the language does not correspond to the rhythm of sound. In the pentameter, it is expressed as two or three rhythms or two-one-two rhythms, etc., such as:

The four poems/Feng Ya Song,

San Li/De Gong Yan.

Spring light/leave/shu qi,

Autumn moon/extend/clean wind.

Seven-character couplets also appear in rhythmic patterns such as two-two-one-two and three-two-two, e.g.

Raccoon stream / on the stone / peeping / at the bright moon,

Toward the sun / in the building / blowing / falling plums.

Between heaven and earth/poetry and books/are the most valuable,

Inside the family/harmony/is the first priority.

Syntactic rhythm is divided according to the structure of words, that is, the way of pausing on syllables according to the meaning of words. Semantic rhythm has no fixed number of words for each rhythm, and the division of sentences can be coarse or fine. Because it draws nutrition from fugue, words and songs, it is far more flexible than the rhythm of the couplet, which has been proved by a large number of famous couplets with non-vocal rhythm passed down in history.

The rhythm and semantic rhythm of the couplets have a close connection, and the two are often the same. In the creation of the appropriate rhythm according to the actual need to choose the way. Regardless of the number of words and sentences in the couplet, the words must be carefully adjusted, the order of words, adjust the sentence, adjust the rhythmic points, so that the upper and lower couplets to maintain the rhythm of the corresponding.

Another factor that has a greater impact on the rhythm of the couplet is the so-called leading character problem, such as the motto couplet:

Nurture/Heaven and Earth;

Fa/Ancient and Modern Perfection.

The characters for "Nurture" and "Law" in the motto are in a separate rhythm, and this is the leading character. The word "collar" was originally introduced from classical words, and in addition to one word called "one-word collar", there are also "two-word collar" and "three-word collar". Couplets, especially long couplets, in the appropriate first part of the sentence to add the word collar, can be better adjusted to the rhythm of the way the whole couplet.

The above is the rhythm within a sentence, for long couplets, there is also a higher level of the problem, that is, the rhythm of the sentence, such as Liang Zhangjui Qingquan Temple in Lanzhou couplet:

Buddhist land has no boundaries, look at the door layer by layer, the Purple Sai thousands of peaks by the threshold;

Clean springs can not be turbid, laughing out of the mountain roll, the Yellow River, the Yellow River nine curves hold the pass to come.

The rhythm of the whole line is five-five-seven, which is very steady. In order to avoid the dullness of the rhythm caused by the first two clauses being the same as five words, the author purposely set up a leading character at the beginning of the second clause to make it a four rhythm, which makes the whole line stable with changes.

Two clauses, especially more than three clauses of the long line, clever arrangement of the whole line of the rhythm of the sentence, careful arrangement of the sentence within the rhythm of the semantic, will make the whole line or floating dynamic, or majestic and dignified, and even cause euphemism, firm, long and so on a variety of tone of voice, which is a lot of wonderful, as long as the heart of the understanding of the progress of the work of the United States since it will be of great benefit.

Traditional word couplets and common forms of couplets

The ancient theory of couplets is basically to divide all Chinese characters into two categories: real characters and imaginary characters, plus individual "之乎者也", a kind of auxiliary characters. The real ones have a solid form, and the rest are virtual ones. If you use virtual characters to virtual characters, and real characters to real characters, then you can form a pair.

Because of the complexity of the reality of the Chinese characters, it is impossible to separate all the Chinese characters by the simple use of the real and the imaginary, so the transitional concepts of "half real" and "half imaginary" were added, and the imaginary characters were distinguished as "dead" and "alive". The imaginary characters were also divided into "dead" and "alive". Analyzing the classification of words of the ancients, and the classification of modern Chinese language also has a certain degree of similarity, of course, the difference is not small. Roughly converted, what the ancients called real words, that is, what we call today's nouns; the so-called semi-real, abstract nouns; the so-called virtual part of the word, live is a verb, dead is an adjective; half-virtual includes the more abstract time words and adjectives. What modern Chinese calls intransitive verbs and adjectives are no longer of the same kind, but in the view of the ancients they were of the same kind as the opposite of imaginary words. Auxiliary words, that is, false words, including prepositions and conjunctions, auxiliaries and so on.

Because of the huge number of real words in the Chinese language, in order to make the pairing more neat, the real words were divided into dozens of "small categories" or "door", such as the "Wulin Dianxian" is divided into nouns, astronomy, seasonal, geography, empire and queen, official, political, Ceremony, music, humane, characters (things), door and cabinet, form, literature, martial arts, skills, foreign education, treasures, palaces, utensils, clothing, food, beans and millet, cloth and silk, grass, trees, flowers, fruits, birds, beasts, scales, insects, and other thirty doors (classes), outside the eight pairs: head up the right, color, number of pairs, trigrams on the name of the pairs, the dry branch on the pairs of the names of the pairs of the pairs of the people, the virtual word on the pairs, and so on. In addition to the above, "small class" in the word relative to the work outside, the ancients also set up a few types of words with the significance of the logo, the requirements of the strict relative, which is the number of numbers, color to color, orientation to the orientation, the dry branch of the dry branch. Why is it called "marking"? As soon as we see these types of words appearing in the corresponding position, people will realize that there will be a pair of rhetoric.

Mr. Wang Li, in his book "Chinese Poetry and Rhythm", summarized the classification of the ancients and merged them into 11 categories and 28 gates, such as (with examples of the characters attached):

The astronomy gate: heaven, sky, sun, moon, wind, rain ......

The seasonal gate; year, year, day, month, hour, moment. ......

Geography gate: earth, soil, mountain, river, river ......

Palace gate: room, house, hut, house, building, platform ......

Artifacts gate: boats, carts, flags, swords, pots, cups ......

Clothing gate: clothes, scarves, hats, boots, staffs, fans ......

Dietary gate: wine, tea, rice, vegetables, soups, sauces... ...

Stationery Gate: pen, ink, paper, inkstone, qin, jian ......

Literature Gate: poetry, fugue, literature, letters, paintings, collections ......

Grass, Wood, Flower, and Fruit Gate: tree, wood, flower, grass, Pine, Bamboo ......

Birds, Beasts, Insects and Fish Gate: Horse, Cow, Chicken, Dog, Hong, Sparrow ......

Form and Body Gate: Body, Mind, Muscle, Skin, Bone, Flesh ......

Personnel: merit, fame, enmity, grievance, talent, love ......

Humanity: brother, brother, father, mother, ruler, minister ......

On how to form a pair, the ancients had a very strict norms, the Ming Dynasty "Nyongxiang pair of class book The book clearly puts forward the basic law of "real to real, virtual to virtual", and further emphasizes the distinction between "virtual and real, dead and alive, heavy and light". Ming Dynasty "class" book has "Xi on the format of the hair": "...... and to the virtual dead and alive word to teach, cover the word of the form of the real, the word of the formless for the virtual. The one that seems to have nothing is half-void, and the one that seems to have nothing is half-real. The real ones are all dead words, but the virtual words are both dead and alive. Dead is said to be natural, such as high and low flood fiber and so on is also. Live is said to make it so, such as flying and diving changes and so on is also. Void word on the virtual, real word on the real, half-void half-solid is also the same, the most is the dead word can not be to the living word, the living word can not be to the dead word, this and do not examine, then the text is fallacious." Qing Wang Sheng in the "Selection and evaluation of exquisite class - preface" said: This since ancient times, regardless of adults and children, all have to say. To the class, inherent astronomy, geography, personnel and birds and animals, flowers and trees, body, clothing, palace, utensils and treasures, books and history, seasonal, number of different doors. The questioner, or caressing the idea, or see the scene, or touching things Xinghuai, or due to people's destiny, all kinds of different; and belongs to the right to each of its purpose for the best. In order to say its law, not only the word meaning of the dead and alive, real and imaginary, the sound of the level, high and low, it is appropriate to match also, that is, the object of each other, the intention of the host and the guest, are required to rival and no difference. The law is also fine. If you are able to understand the law, then all couplets can be modeled after this."

Learning to classify the real and the imaginary and the training of the genus, since the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties for a thousand years has been an important course of education for the enlightenment of China's children, Su Shi's father, Su Xun, the Song Dynasty, once said, "I grew up, but also a little bit of knowledge of the book, the study of the sentence reading, the genus of the pair, the sound of the law, the abolition of the undeveloped." Mr. Cai Yuanpei also talked about the education of the late Qing Dynasty: "The class is similar to the present sentence-making method. About one word to four words, Mr. out of the first line, the students come up with the next line. Not only should nouns be used for nouns, static words for static words, and verbs for verbs, but also each kind of word should be similar in character. For example, if Mr. Wang came up with the word "mountain", which is a noun, he should use the word "sea" or the word "water" to match him, because they are all geographical nouns. Another example is the word "peach red", we have to use "willow green" or "violet" and other words to him; the first word are used in the plant nouns, the second word are used in the color of the still words. Other words can be used by analogy. This tool is not only the beginning of composition, but also the foundation of poetry." The word "jingji" is the folk-era name for "adjective".

Using the method of word pairing to organize a pair of sentences, according to the ancient practice of pairing and its theoretical summary, from different perspectives can be distinguished from the following groups of categories and forms of pairing:

One, the work pair, neighboring pairs, wide pairs:

The work pair is also known as the strict pair. That is, the text of the upper and lower couplet, the statement is very neat and appropriate. It is the same type of things expressed in the Chinese characters are put together to form a pair. The ancients divided the vocabulary into many small categories, if the same small category of words constitute a pair of words, that is, astronomical category to astronomical category, human nature category to human nature category ......, can be called the work of the pair. Such as spring couplets:

Spring before the rain flowers bloom early;

Autumn after no frost leaves fall late.

"Spring" to "fall" for the seasonal door, "frost" to "rain" for the astronomical door, "flowers" to "rain" for the astronomical door, "frost" to "rain" for the astronomical door. "Flowers" to "leaves" for the grass, flowers and fruits door, learning to do couplets, should follow more of this technique. But if you are deliberately seeking to work, the opposite into a far-fetched or delicate, is also not desirable.

Neighboring pairs are the opposite of neighboring real words, such as astronomy and seasonal, geography and palace, artifacts and clothing, plants and animals, location and quantity. With these words close to the meaning of the word for the pair, is the neighboring pair. For example, the couplet of Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai:

The building is high, but it allows the clouds to fly over;

The pool is small, and it can send the moon to the city.

The "building" is the door to the palace, and the "pool" is the door to the geography, which are opposite to each other, and are neighboring pairs.

Wide pairs are neither the same nor neighboring categories, but are the opposite of distant categories, such as astronomy versus personnel, geography versus form, and so on. For example, X丏尊自题联：

青山当户；

白眼看人。

Taking "mountain" to "eye" is the door of geography to the door of form, and taking "household" to "person" is the door of palace to the door of human relationships. The door of the palace to the door of human nature is very far away from each other, so it is called a wide pair.

Compared with the word relative "noun to noun" in the provisions of the ancient word relative, even if it is a wide pair, but also a very neat pair.

Second, the words to, things to, positive, against:

Southern Dynasty, Liu Fuzhou put forward a set of concepts of couplets, "Wenxin Diao Long - Li Rhetoric" in the "Li Rhetoric of the body, where there are four pairs: the words to the easy, the things to the difficult; against the superior, the right for the poor. The pair of words, double than the empty rhetoric also. The right thing is the one who cites people's experience as well. Oppositions are those in which the reasoning is different and the interest is the same. The right pair is the one in which the matter is different and the meaning is the same."

"Words to words" is "double than empty rhetoric", that is, the upper and lower couplets are only opposite to the vague concept, such as the Spring Festival couplet:

YiYuanRuBei;

WanXiangRenewal.

"Things" is "and cite people to check also", that is, to cite other people's deeds and or allusions to illustrate the theme, such as industry couplets:

Tao Zhu career;

Send pipe Bao career.

The first couplet cites the story of Tao Zhu Gong, also known as Fan Li, who was a businessman, while the second couplet cites the story of Guan Zhong and Bao Shu Ya, who were partners in business, in order to elevate the status of the shopkeeper.

The "correct pair" is "the same thing with different meanings". Although the contents of the upper and lower couplets are different, the theme is the same, and their logical relationship should be juxtaposed. The author tends to seize the two different sides of things to narrate or discuss, to express roughly the same theme. For example, in the temple of the God of Flowers in Huqiu, Suzhou,

One hundred and eighty bells ringing, arousing the dreams of ten thousand families in spring;

Twenty-four letters of flowers blowing incense on seven miles of ponds.

The first line is that the author came to the Flower God Temple to hear and feel: the sound of bells in the temple woke up the people who were dreaming of spring and told them that a new day had begun; the second line says that the hard-working Flower God sent twenty-four letters of flowers to the wind, and the neighborhood of the "seven miles of ponds" were "blown fragrance". The next couplet says that the God of Flowers has sent twenty-four flower letters to the nearby "Seven Mile Pond" to "blow the fragrance" and intoxicate people.

This pair is mainly reflected in the same mode of expression, the same tone of voice, the same main idea of the couplet. But it should be noted that the upper and lower couplets to avoid repeating the side of things, the angle to avoid repetition, to avoid the same words, otherwise, easy to appear "clap" of the taboo.

"Against" is the opposite of the content of the upper and lower couplet by the composition of the way. That is, "the rationale is different from the interest of the person." With the opposite or relative words composed of couplets, positive and negative aspects complement each other, reflecting each other, not only cleverly, but also to deepen the theme. For example, Dr. Cheng Daozhou's self-signed couplet:

But I wish all people were healthy,

Why should I be poor alone?

The first couplet expresses the good wishes of the physician who saves lives and helps people, and it also paves the way for the second couplet; the second couplet is the main idea of the whole couplet, in which the word "I" and the word "people" in the first couplet are in the rhetorical relationship, but in real life it is an antagonistic relationship: When everyone is healthy and disease-free, doctors are out of business, and the duty of doctors is to make the world healthy. By sacrificing his ego, the author harmonizes the conflicting interests of "I" and "man". This kind of "against" technique is concise and profound, and has a strong influence. Liu Fei said, "Opposition is superior", which is also the reason.

Some of the "against" with the antonym. For example, in the West Lake in Hangzhou, Yue's tomb couplet:

The green mountain is fortunate to bury loyal bones,

White iron is innocent of casting sycophants.

This is a pair of upper and lower couplet meaning completely opposite "against", the couplet used the antonym "yes" and "no", so that the theme is more prominent, enhance the expressive power.

Three, flat pair, running water, ruthless pair:

Flat pair refers to the content of the upper and lower couplets parallel and parallel, between them semantics, regardless of priority, regardless of the successive, in two parallel ways from different sides to emphasize a **** the same theme.

Pine, bamboo and plum are the three friends of the year;

Peach, plum and apricot are the family of the spring breeze.

Running water couplets are also called string couplets. A meaning is expressed by dividing it into an upper and lower couplet, which are coherent in content and connected in tone. If the first or second couplet is considered separately, it has no independent meaning. In the grammatical relationship, the upper and lower couplets are two clauses of a complex sentence; logically, the upper and lower couplets are united to form a counterpoint, constituting a relationship of inheritance, progression, transition, choice, cause and effect, assumption, purpose and so on. The so-called "water pair", the relationship between the upper and lower couplets is like flowing water; the so-called "string pair", meaning that the tone of the upper and lower couplets is coherent, meaning coherent. As a result, it is not easy to find the best way to get the most out of your life.