antithetical couplet
Couplets are one of the traditional cultures of the Han nationality. They are antithetical sentences written on paper and cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood and columns. The antithesis of couplets is neat and even, which is a unique cultural and artistic form of Chinese language. According to legend, couplets originated from Meng Changjun, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. Couplets are the traditional cultural treasures of Han nationality in China.
Couplets, also called couplets, are named after the pillars hung in halls and houses in ancient times. They are commonly known as even characters, couplets, couplets and doors. The name "couplets" began in the Ming Dynasty. It is a kind of dual literature, which originated in Fu Tao, and it is a national style that uses the characteristics of Chinese characters to write. Its wonderful combination with calligraphy has become a colorful artistic creation of the Chinese nation.
The origin of development
Couplets, also known as antithesis, antithesis, spring stickers, Spring Festival couplets, couplets, Taofu and couplets (named after the pillars hanging in halls and houses in ancient times), are a kind of dual literature, which originated from Taofu. It is a antithetical sentence written on paper, cloth or engraved on bamboo, wood and columns. It is a unique art form of Chinese language, concise and profound, neat and even, with consistent word structure [1]? .
Legend has it that couplets originated from Meng Chang, a master of Shu in the Five Dynasties. It is a treasure of China traditional culture. Spring Festival couplets are called Spring Festival couplets, funeral couplets are called elegiac couplets, and wedding couplets are called violet couplets. Couplets are a national style written by using the characteristics of Chinese characters, and generally do not need to rhyme (only the antitheses in the rhyme need to rhyme).
Parallel prose and rhyme are two direct sources of couplets. In the process of its own development, couplets have absorbed the characteristics of ancient poems, essays, lyrics and songs. Therefore, the sentence patterns used in couplets include ancient poems, prose sentences and parody sentences in addition to regular poems and parallel prose sentences. Different sentence patterns have different metrical patterns and different leniency. Among them, the sentence pattern of rhythmic poetry is the most strict, while the sentence pattern of ancient verse has no restrictions except at the end of the sentence.
Spring Festival couplets have a long history. It is said that they originated from Meng Chang, the master of Shu after the Five Dynasties. He inscribed on the peach symbol on the door of the dormitory: "New Year's Eve, Qing Yu, the number of festivals, Changchun", which means the word "inscribed peach symbol" (see "Shu Lang"). This is the earliest couplet in China and the first Spring Festival couplet. The basis of this theory is that Liang Zhangju, a couplets scholar in Qing Dynasty, quoted Lang from Couplets Conghua. However, according to the textual research of the General Theory of Couplets, Liang Zhangju changed "Ci" into "Fei Ci" and "Shu Lang Lang" when quoting. Different historical materials in the Song Dynasty have different opinions on this, and some people classify the author as the son of Meng Yun. So who is the author of this pair of Spring Festival couplets is still an unsolved case.
As a custom, couplets are an important part of China traditional culture. In 2005, the custom of couplets was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in the State Council, China. The custom of couplets is passed down and spread in Chinese-speaking areas and ethnic groups with cultural origins of Chinese characters, which is of great value for promoting Chinese culture.
Exploration of folding history
Couplets are antithetical literature. The parallel symmetry of this language is similar to the so-called "Tai Chi gives birth to two instruments" in philosophy. In other words, everything in the world is divided into two halves of yin and yang symmetry, and the essence of thinking is extremely similar. Therefore, we can say that the philosophical origin and deep-seated national cultural psychology of China's couplets are binary concepts of Yin and Yang. The dualism of yin and yang is the basis of China's ancient world outlook. It is the way of thinking of ancient people in China to grasp things with the binary concept of Yin and Yang. This idea of duality of yin and yang has a long history. The divinatory symbols in the Book of Changes are composed of yin and yang, and the Book of Changes says, "One yin and one yang is the Tao." Laozi also said, "Everything is negative and holds Yang, and it is harmonious with anger." ("Lao Zi" Chapter 42. Xunzi thought: "Heaven and earth combine to create everything, and Yin and Yang combine to change." (Xun Gigi Lai's theory) "Huang Lao Silk Book" says: "The way of heaven and earth has left and right, yin and yang." This concept of Yin and Yang is not only an abstract concept, but also widely penetrated into the understanding and explanation of everything in nature and human society in ancient China.
The preface to the Book of Changes says, "Where there is heaven and earth, everything is men and women, men and women, couples, fathers and sons, princes and ministers, ups and downs, and manners." In Yi Zhuan, various concrete things are used to symbolize Yin and Yang. Yin represents Kun, earth, female, woman, son, minister, abdomen, lower, north, wind, water, lustre, flowers, black and white, suppleness and so on. Correspondingly, Yang represents dryness, sky, male, husband, father, monarch, head, up, south, thunder, fire, mountain, fruit, red and yellow, vigor and so on. This ubiquitous concept of yin and yang has penetrated into the subconscious of the Han people, thus becoming the collective unconscious of the nation. The concept of yin and yang is manifested in national psychology, and one of its important characteristics is the persistence and infatuation with things in the form of "two" and "pair". The format of couplets is strict and the part of speech is relative. Traditional couplets are connected in form, with the same content, harmonious tone and rigorous antithesis.
From the perspective of literary history, antithetical couplets evolved from antithesis in ancient poems. This development process has roughly gone through three stages.
Double stage
The time span is pre-Qin, Han, Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. In China's ancient poems, some neat antitheses appeared very early. Several ancient ballads that have been handed down to this day have already seen their origins. Such as "digging wells to drink water, ploughing fields to eat", "doing at sunrise and resting at sunset" and so on. In the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, antithetical sentences became more common. There have been some neat sentences in the hexagrams of the Book of Changes, such as: "Those who can see can be lame." ("63" in "Tread"), "Go to heaven first, then to the ground." (Ming Yi's "Shangliu" hexagram) The neat sentences in Yi Zhuan are more common, such as: "Look up at astronomy and look down at geography." (Declining Cohesion), "Correspond with one voice, seek with the same spirit, the water is wet and the fire is dry, the cloud follows the dragon, and the wind follows the tiger ..." (Biography in classical Chinese)
There are many antithetical sentences in The Book of Songs in the Spring and Autumn Period. Liu said in the History of Parallel Prose in China: "The law of opposing ancient and modern times is almost perfect in the Book of Songs." He listed examples of correct name pairs, similar pairs, renju pairs, disyllabic pairs, overlapping pairs and disyllabic pairs. Such as: "Qing Er, leisurely in my heart." (Zheng Fengjizi) "There are floating elements in the mountains and lotus in the mountains." There are many antithetical sentences in the Tao Te Ching. Liu Zeng said: "The arbitration method of Tao Te Ching has changed greatly. There are counterparties with serial numbers, uneven counterparties and segmented counterparties. Some people repeat their words. There are opponents. " (China's parallel prose history is an example: "Words are not beautiful, but words are not believed. Good people don't argue, and the debaters are bad. " (Chapter 8 1) "Independence and changelessness, freedom and danger." (Chapter 22) Look at the antitheses in hundred schools of thought's essays. Such as: "full loss, modest benefit." ("Shangshu Wucheng") "Ride a fat horse and go into battle lightly." "The Analects of Confucius forever"), "An upright person is open and poised, and small people often have the same fate." (The Analects of Confucius) and so on. Cifu, which arose in the Han Dynasty, is a new style that pays attention to literary talent and rhythm. Duality, a rhetorical device with neat beauty, comparative beauty and beauty, has been widely and consciously used in the creation of Fu. For example, in Sima Xiangru's Zi Xufu, there is: "Drumming and making sounds; If the car follows the route, it will ride the team. "
Parallel coupling stage
Parallel prose originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and flourished in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. As can be seen from the name, parallel prose is a dual style, which is mostly composed of antitheses. The continuous use of such antithetical sentences is also called parallelism or parallelism. In "Wen Xin Diao Long Shi Ming", Liu Xie commented that parallel prose is "two or three hundred words, competing for one price, and strange." Take Wang Bo's Preface to Wang Tengting in the Early Tang Dynasty as an example;
When Wei is in September, the sequence belongs to Sanqiu. The water is cold and the pool is clear, and the smoke is purple. Yan Yan likes to walk on the road and watch the scenery to worship Afghanistan. Near the Emperor Changzhou, it is the old fairy temple. Mountains and clouds are heavy; Feige is full of blood, and there is no land under it. Heting ancient bamboo, the haunt of poor islands; Gui Dian Lan Gong is the posture of hills.
Embroidered, Yamahara full of vision, Kawasawa full of vision. Yan Lu, the hometown of Zhong Mingding's delicious food; Ge boat maze, green finch Huanglong axis. Clouds selling rain Ji, colorful. 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.
They are all composed of antithetical sentences, among which "the sunset and lonely Qi Fei, autumn water and sky are the same color" is an eternal antithetical sentence. This antithesis is the further development of antithesis in ancient poetry, which has the following three characteristics: First, antithesis is no longer purely a rhetorical device, but has become the main metrical requirement of style. Parallel prose has three characteristics, namely, four or six sentence patterns, antithesis and allusions. Second, the number of dual words has certain rules. Mainly "46" sentence pattern and its variant forms. Mainly include: four-character dual, six-character dual, eight-character dual, cross dual and twelve-character dual. Third, the antithesis is quite skillful, but there are many heavy words (such as "Zhi, Er"), and the tone and rhythm of the antithesis are not fully mature.
Legal coupling stage
Duality, the antithesis in metrical poems. This poetic style, also known as modern poetry, was formally formed in the Tang Dynasty. But its origin began in Wei and Jin Dynasties. During the Cao Wei period, he wrote ten volumes of the Sound and five volumes of the Rhyme, which separated the clear and turbid sound from the palace, the merchants, the horns, the zither and Yu. In addition, Sun Yan also wrote Er Ya Yi Yin, using the method of anti-tangent phonetic notation. He is the founder of arc tangent. Generally, five-character or seven-character metrical poems are all eight sentences, and there are two couplets in the middle, which are called parallel prose and necklaces. They must be opposite, and the sentence pattern, level and meaning are all required to be relative. This is a standard couple.