An analysis of the origin relationship between couplets and poems

An analysis of the origin relationship between couplets and poems

Couplets, also known as couplets, couplets and couplets, include scenic couplets, Spring Festival couplets, festive couplets, elegiac couplets, cultural and academic research couplets, house relocation couplets and industry couplets. Couplets are called pairs, which are composed of upper and lower couplets and have unique forms and norms. In ancient China, the rhymes, such as parallel prose, poems and Ming Fu, were all based on couplets, so in the past, all literati used couplets as their basic skills. This paper attempts to explore the origin of couplets and poems from the perspective of duality.

First of all, couplets originated from even writing.

The application of duality is the natural product of human's use of language and writing. In production and life, people unconsciously create symmetrical language under the influence of simple and symmetrical aesthetic concepts. After writing came into being, literati recorded these languages and thoughts, resulting in symmetrical sentences, that is, even sentences. Monosyllabic block Chinese characters with the trinity of sound, form and meaning are the important basis for generating even sentences. The ancient "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" contains a Song (handed down by the Yellow Emperor):

Broken bamboo, continued bamboo;

Fly to the earth and leave.

"Mi", the ancient word "meat". The lyrics mean cutting bamboo, connecting bamboo into bows, loading it with dirt, shooting animals and hunting for meat. This song has short syllables and a strong sense of rhythm. You may sing when making slingshots or hunting with slingshots. It is very simple and reflects human life at that time. According to the grammatical analysis of modern Chinese, these four short sentences are all verb-object structures with the same part of speech. Although it is not a couplet, its dual rhetoric is consistent with the current legal couplet.

It can be said that the antithesis in classical literary works is the original form of couplets.

As a kind of national folk literature, antithetical couplets have their own characteristics, with special emphasis on the stability of antithesis, the coordination of leveling and leveling, and the synchronization of rhythm. Although it came into being in the Tang Dynasty, its formation has gone through a long historical process. The antithesis in classical literary works such as The Book of Songs, Songs of the South, A Hundred Schools of Thought contend, Han Fu and Tang Poetry is the original form of couplets. The prosperity and development of Tang culture laid the foundation for the emergence of couplets, which made them stand out and become an independent style. In the long historical period, they gradually improved their own norms and expanded their scope of application. Since the advent of the Spring Festival couplets of Meng Chang in Shu in the Five Dynasties, it has developed into dozens, involving all fields of people's lives and becoming an important part of the forest of literature. It absorbs all kinds of knowledge and nutrients from history, politics, economy, literature, philosophy, logic, humanities, calligraphy, modeling, architecture and other disciplines, making itself a wonderful flower in the art garden. Different from other styles, couplets are widely adaptable and practical, so they do not lose with the rise and fall of history. Instead, it draws nutrition from national culture and develops from a single category-Spring Festival couplets into a comprehensive discipline. Under the impetus of emperors and literati in past dynasties, it spread from the palace to the people, forming a folk custom in China and becoming an important part of the traditional culture of people of all ethnic groups in China.

Second, The Book of Songs has a far-reaching influence on the formation of couplets.

The Book of Songs, formerly known as Poems or 300 Poems, is the first collection of poems in the history of China literature. It reflects the historical period from 1 1 century BC to the 6th century BC, which lasted for 500 years. There are 305 works in The Book of Songs, with diverse contents, which are divided into three parts: wind (the wind of fifteen countries), elegance (elegance) and ode (ode to business). "Feng" is a local dialect, "Ya" is a positive tone, and "Ode" is a temple movement, which can be sung and danced with the music. The Book of Songs is the first-hand material to study politics, economy, culture, art and folk customs from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. This paper focuses on the rhetorical devices of The Book of Songs, so as to see its influence on the formation of couplets.

The Book of Songs uses the method of interest to "express one's mind directly", uses metaphor to "write one's will with things", and uses parallelism format to present an orderly and distinct hierarchy. There are many works describing love in The Book of Songs, such as Guan Ju and Mei in the Wind. However, there are also a large number of works reflecting the anger and resistance of slaves to slave owners. The slaves accused the slave owners and nobles of the decadent parasitic life of "no crops" and "no hunting". Slaves described these rulers as greedy voles (Feng Wei? Storytelling). The contents of these chapters are positive and the sentence arrangement structure is extremely neat. This arrangement plays an extremely important role in the formation of Tang poetry and couplets, such as Xiaoya? A passage in "Picking the EU" can be regarded as a perfect eight-character couplet:

Yesterday, I left, and the willows were reluctant;

The road is muddy and difficult to walk, and people are thirsty and hungry.

Another example is "Daya? Poetry in early hilly areas;

Kites fly in the sky and fish jump in the Yuyuan Garden.

If you are a gentleman, you are not a man.

The antithesis in The Book of Songs is very neat, and the phrase structure is very similar to that of couplets. This kind of neatly arranged couplets with equal words undoubtedly inspired the formation of couplets in the future.

Thirdly, the theory of a hundred schools of thought contend provides a theoretical basis for couplets.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the intellectual class gradually formed, and feudal rulers of various countries recruited people with lofty ideals who had the general plan of governing the country to serve the consolidation and development of their political power. In the history of China literature, Confucius, Mozi, Laozi, Xunzi, Zhuangzi and other "schools of thought contend" flourished, and a series of academic systems such as Confucianism, Mohism and Taoism emerged. It can be said that the Warring States Period (48L-221) was an unprecedented era of prosperity in China's cultural history, which further laid the foundation of China's civilization for thousands of years and left a lot of cultural heritage for future generations. The theories of various schools have had a far-reaching impact on history and culture. Hundred schools of thought's works pay special attention to the refinement of language, and there are many antithetical sentences in the article, such as The Book of Rites? The table ":"love letter, the text is clever. Zuo Zhuan: "Without words, it is not far away." "Le": "Anyone who has a voice is also a person with a heart. Emotion moves in the middle, so it is shaped by sound; When the sound is written, it means the sound; It is to rule the voice of the world to mourn and its people are trapped; The way of speaking is associated with politics. "Legend has it that Le Ji was written by Confucius' disciple Gongsun Nizi, and it is a monograph devoted to music. The article runs through Confucius' philosophical thought of "the way of sound", and some parts are arranged in long and short sentences to demonstrate the relationship between "music" and "current affairs", such as slightly correcting antithetical sentences. This is a philosophical couplet. For example:

The voice of troubled times is angry, and its politics is good;

The vocal music that governs the world is also political.

The Analects of Confucius was compiled by beginners in the Warring States period using materials in the late Spring and Autumn Period. It records the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, and takes it as a dogma to promote Confucius' philosophical thoughts, such as "Do not do to others what you don't want others to do to you" (Yan Yuan). "Be a man standing, be a man reaching out" (Yongye). A large number of antithetical sentences in The Analects of Confucius are easy to recite, thus achieving the purpose of propagating Confucianism. There are also many neat sentences in Mencius, such as: "There are fat blisters and fat horses in the stables; People are hungry, wild hunger "("Hui Liang Wang Shang ") and" competing for land, killing people, benefiting the wild; Fight for the city and kill for the city "(Li Lou). These antitheses can be regarded as the early forms of couplets.

Fourthly, Tao Te Ching provides philosophical theory and stylistic basis for the emergence of couplets.

Couplets are the only style full of dialectical thoughts of unity of opposites at all times and in all countries. It is the epitome of symmetry, correspondence, equivalence, contrast, contrast, opposition, contrast and relativity in nature and human society. It is the perfect crystallization of dialectical thought, and its source is mainly Tao Te Ching. There are many relations of unity of opposites revealed in the Classic of Filial Piety, such as existence, difficulties, competition, before and after, severity, length, men and women, black and white, strength, honor and disgrace, misfortune, attack and defense, victory and defeat, advance and retreat, beauty and ugliness, truth and falsehood, life and death, cleverness, men and women, rain or shine, gains and losses, etc. These are all objective or subjective.

Almost all the eighty-one chapters of Tao Te Ching have antithetical sentences, and we can appreciate the charm of those antithetical sentences. For example:

"Tao can be Tao, very Tao; The name can be named. It's very famous. Nothing, the beginning of the world; Yes, the mother of all things. Therefore, there is often nothing to see; Often, I want to see it. " These are concise antitheses. The sentence pattern of couplets is the basis of couplets, and it can also be said to be the original prototype of couplets. Therefore, the antithesis in Tao Te Ching has a great influence on the formation and development of couplets.

The second chapter of the Tao Te Ching says, "Whether there is mutual complementarity, difficulty in complementing each other, length in phase, height in phase, sound and sound in phase are consistent." Among them, "harmony of sound and sound" is not only the dialectical thought of unity of opposites in phonology. At the same time, it is also about the phonological harmony of sentences and even words. In Tao Te Ching, the phonology of sentences is harmonious and prominent. For example, in the third chapter, "Empty one's heart, strengthen one's abdomen, weaken one's will and strengthen one's bones", and in the fourth chapter, "File one's sharpness, resolve one's disputes, and let one's light go with the dust." Chapter 22: "Flexion is complete, waste is straight, depression is surplus, we are new, less is gain, more is confusion." And so on. At that time, the phonological harmony was so wonderful that it laid a theoretical and practical foundation for the phonological harmony of couplets, and paid attention to the relative and alternating levels.

Fifth, the antithesis in Lisao provides rich nutrients for the formation of couplets.

Chu Ci originated from Chu State in the Warring States Period, represented by Qu Yuan's Lisao. In the Ming Dynasty, Xu Shizeng's "Discrimination of Poetry" thought that "Songs of the South" was actually a variant of "The Book of Songs". His writing is slightly poetic, and the word "Xi" is pronounced. Chu Ci is characterized by its circuitous and intermittent body, sad allegory, far-reaching and flexible style, great imagination and an eclectic romantic atmosphere. Different from the rhetoric of The Book of Songs, the representative of northern culture in China. It is not just an exaggerated metaphor, but through metaphor, it produces a specific realm, indifferent, sincere, sincere, and sometimes accompanied by depression and sadness.

Li Sao, written by Qu Yuan of Chu State, is the longest lyric poem in ancient China and the originator of Ci and Fu. Compared with other styles at that time, this style of Sao is more readable, lively in genre and content, and imitated by later generations. At the same time, it had a far-reaching impact on the formation of "Fu", and its formal characteristics provided rich nutrients for the formation of couplets in later generations. Such as Li Sao:

The sun and the moon are not flooded suddenly, and the spring and autumn have their order;

But the vegetation is scattered, and I am afraid that the beauty will come late.

Everyone is greedy and eager to seek;

In Qiang, I forgive myself for judging others, and I envy each other.

Take lotus flowers as clothes and hibiscus as clothes;

I don't know. It's embarrassing. I feel like I believe it.

These chapters and sentences have relatively simple antithesis forms, which can be regarded as the embryonic form of couplets. Exploring the historical origin of the formation of couplets is still very enlightening for us to study and study these chapters and sentences.

There are many similar sentences in Qu Yuan's other works, such as About the River:

Swallows and magpies, the nest hall increases;

Xinyi, Shen Lu, is sparsely populated.

Another example is "mourning":

Increase the beauty of the soul, the generosity of a good wife;

Many people are making more money every day, which is beautiful.

Another example is nine songs:

Yulantang Xi Fang Mu; China's clothes are like British clothes.

Beauty should be wonderful and mended; Wu Pei occupied Xi.

Sixth, the rhetoric of Fu and Parallel Prose in the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties provided a model for couplets.

The Han Dynasty was the most prosperous period of China's ancient culture, and a number of talented writers such as Sima Qian, Sima Xiangru and Jia Yi appeared. They absorbed nutrition from their predecessors' works and formed a new style-Han Fu.

The authors of Han Fu pay attention to the symmetrical beauty of language from the pursuit of literary talent. Therefore, there are many neat and symmetrical sentence patterns in Da Fu and Xiao Fu in Han Dynasty. For example:

The mountains are rugged and the rocks are rugged.

The valley is full of rocks and the water is full of waves. -Huainan Mountain Villa "Recruit Hermits"

Buying wine is almost a platform of heaven.

Zhang Le is the hometown of eucalyptus. -Sima Xiangru's Upper Fu Lin

If it is loud, it will vomit around the flow, if it is the son of a loving father;

Its voice is beautiful, then it is quiet and disgusting, and they are different from each other. If it is a dutiful son, it is also a father.

-Wang Bao's "Dong Xiao Fu"

Flying clouds are covered with snow. -Ban Biao's "Northern Expedition"

Carve jade to inhabit the pond, and cut gold for decoration. -Ban Gu's "Two Capitals Fu"

Play five strings of beautiful fingers and recite Kong Zhou's books. -Zhang Heng's Return to Tianfu

Compared with one-line prose sentences, these antithetical sentences have a unique aesthetic form, which has played a great role in the generation of couplets in later generations.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the further pursuit of neat and gorgeous language, a new style-parallel prose was formed. There are many antitheses in parallel prose. Compared with the antithesis of Han Fu, it has taken a big step in the neat antithesis of sentence patterns and the harmony of phonology. For example:

The ability of Nanwei can be said to be Yu Shuyuan;

Long Yuan's benefit is negotiable. -Cao Zhi's Book with Yang Dezu

Those who are pregnant with life, etc., do not infiltrate in Ze, thinking that heaven is negative;

You are ashamed of preconceived ideas and ashamed of those who are not immersed in interests. -Huan Fan's "The King is Difficult"

Capital is brilliant, but it is inevitably humble;

Live in constant peace, and eventually the child will leave. -Lu Ji "Hanging Wei Wudi"

The sense of war is absent, and the wind of punishment is beginning to show;

The road of the country has not been shaken, but the track has been moved repeatedly. -Guo Pu's "Salvation"

Jincai worships Cao Cao in Kuafu because he is eager for progress.

The reason why the Qin people had their legs broken was that they were forced to lift the tripod in order to leave.

-Ge Hong's "Bao Puzi"

Parallel prose in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is often composed of antithetical sentences, only occasionally inserting some scattered sentences.

Xiao Gang's "Answering New Chongqing Houhe Poetry Book" is almost a parallel prose:

Hang three songs. The wind and cloud spit between the lines, and Zhu Yu was born between the lines. Cao Heng Nie Zuo, including. The temples are light, and the wind is gone; Nine bunches of flower arrangements, shake them one step at a time. High-rise buildings complain and have eyebrows; Crying under the long door, breaking into a scar. There is a thin waist in the shadow to make it real; The good side in the mirror will be drawn. This is an extraordinary temperament, which is brand-new to Qi Ying. Therefore, it is known that you can play the flute into the piano before you know the cleverness of coming to the phoenix; When I sang to Zhao, I began to see this song in the clouds. Holding hands and reading, I enjoy paying attention to lotus flowers.

These couplets with neat antithesis and harmonious parallel prose have undoubtedly become the model for future generations to make couplets. Almost all articles that use antithetical sentences have a great influence on the appearance of couplets.

Sixth, the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty created conditions for the appearance of couplets.

With the development of history, the ancient culture of China reached a quite perfect level in the Tang Dynasty. Historically known as the culture of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was also the most prosperous period of ancient literature in China, with a large number of famous writers and masterpieces handed down from generation to generation.

The Preface to Wang Tengting written by Wang Bo, a talented teenager in the Tang Dynasty, is a famous "fantastic article". Almost all of this essay is antithetical, or in the form of four or six parallel essays, with the aesthetic feeling of singing and sighing. Many chapters and sentences in the text have been transplanted into couplets, and some of them have become well-known sentences for women and children:

Wuhua Tianbao; Excellent person.

After ten days' rest, friends are like clouds; Welcome thousands of miles, weddings.

These two groups of sentences can be called good couplets. Obviously, when planning this idea, Wang Bo paid great attention to the antithesis of the article. From "extremes meet" to "outstanding people", "Tianbao" to "local spirit". The same is true below. Ten Years is perfect for A Thousand Miles, and Winning Friends is perfect for Gao Peng. Reread other chapters of Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting, such as:

Yan Lu, the hometown of Zhong Mingding's delicious food; Ge boat maze, green finch Huanglong axis. Rainbow sells raindrops, and the color wears clouds. Sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn waters and sky are the same color. Fishing boats sing late and resound all over the coast of Peng Li; Yan Zhen was stunned by the cold, and his voice broke Hengyang's pu. In the distance, I can sing freely and fly happily. Cool breeze blowing gently, singing white clouds. There are bamboos in Suiyuan, which makes Peng Ze angry. Shui Ye Zhu Hua, a pen shining in Linchuan.

This is one of the most perfect parallel prose written by the Tang people. Many couplets are extremely precious couplets.

Another example is Liu Yuxi's "Humble Room Inscription":

The mountain is not high, and the fairy is named; The water is not deep, and the dragon is the spirit. I am a humble room, but I am virtuous. The moss on the stage is green, and the curtain grass is green. Talking and laughing, there are scholars, and there is no Ding Bai. ...

In the article, "There is a great scholar in conversation and laughter, but there is no Ding Bai in communication". In feudal times, until 1949, families of intellectuals often used these two sentences as Spring Festival couplets to show their nobility.

Another example is "night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, night, Lv Yun, comb Xiao Huan also! ..... "The Original Road by Han Yu" ... If you want to govern your country, your husband will be at home; If you want to reunite with your family, you should first repair your body; If you want to cultivate yourself, you should be upright first; If you want to be correct, you must first be sincere ... "And so on, are antithetical couplets, but also a model of couplets.

According to Comrade Wu Zhixiong's exposition on the origin of couplets in Volume 2 No.2 1986, it is considered that couplets originated in or before the Tang Dynasty. He took the drinkers' wager game in the Tang Dynasty as an example, such as:

Ma Yuan wrapped his body in a horse and died;

Li Er called Li Shu his surname, which he was born with.

If you touch a locust, you will die like a ghost on the edge of the forest;

Jade let swallowed charcoal, but it turned out to be ashes at the foot of the mountain.

The rhetorical devices of these two wine orders in Tang Dynasty are profound, which can be said to be standard couplets, with perfect antithesis, leveling and rhythm. Without a deep literary foundation, you can't write such a philosophical and interesting couple. According to a large number of existing historical materials of couplets, couplets are largely derived from Tang poetry, and a large number of couplets are selected from Tang poetry dialogues. In fact, Tang poems and couplets are "integrated", that is, the whole article (the first poem) is called "poem", and it is the easiest way for scholars to collect poems by using antithesis.

In the Tang Dynasty, couplets were called couplets or couplets. In fact, as early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the communication between literati took poetry or couplets as fun, which was an elegant "talk about capital" for couples and urged literati to be diligent in dialogue. Lu Ji, a writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, clearly advocated the coordination of phonology in Wen Fu, which attracted more and more attention and laid a theoretical foundation for the formation of couplet.

In the Southern Dynasties, Liu Xie wrote in Wen Xin Diao Long? In Li Ci, there are theoretical explanations and examples about the meaning, material meaning and right and wrong involved in the duality of language. Shen Yue, another writer in the Southern Dynasties, put forward the theory of "four tones and eight diseases", which solved the theoretical problems of antithesis and rhyme of couplets well and provided theoretical support for the maturity of couplets. Under the guidance of the correct theory, the metrical pattern of couplets has gradually formed, and the quality of couplets has also been improved and improved.

The formation and development of couplets are gradually improved to meet the needs of society. Couplets (antitheses) parasitized in various ancient books in advance do not completely conform to the laws of couplets. They are just equal in number and consistent in content, but their antithesis, diction and rhyme are still in the "low stage". With the development of the times, even prose has gradually developed into folk songs, proverbs, couplets and couplets. It can be said that even prose is the direct matrix of couplets. Since the Tang Dynasty, regular poems have prevailed, and their strict requirements for neat sentences have further promoted the perfection and standardization of couplets.

To sum up, couplets have been formed in ancient documents before the Tang Dynasty, but they cannot become a subject independently until their own norms and systems are perfected. Generally speaking, couplets perfected their own rules and systems in the Tang Dynasty. Couplets are widely used by scholars in all aspects of society, especially after Meng Chang, a master of Shu in the Five Dynasties, replaced them with couplets, which became a folk custom in China, spreading in court gardens, people's doorways and pillars. This style is easily accepted by people because of its unique artistic effect of being short and pithy, easy to listen to and remember. This literary form relies on "calligraphy" to express itself, so it has the characteristics of "illustration and text". For more than 1000 years, emperors and generals, literati, literati, farmers and businessmen, and Yu Qiao all loved music.