Lecture 5 of the Couplet School, Couplet Writing
Lecturer: Yundu Yeqiao
Previous words: Today’s junior classes are not what they used to be, and they are full of talents, hiding dragons and crouching tigers. It’s really scary to give lectures to everyone. I have little talent and little knowledge, and I dare not claim to be a teacher. I just hope that I can do my best to play the role of a guide. Couplet is a small skill, and the threshold for entry is low, but it is also a knowledge that requires us to explore with heart. No one can say that they are against China Unicom. This lecture is purely one family's opinion. Please don't listen to it. I'm not right. Please forgive me if I don't explain well. I hope we can communicate together and improve together. Have fun surfing the Internet and play online easily.
Opening chapter: Everything that is difficult is also easy, and everything that is easy is also difficult. Success or failure depends on personal attitude. As the saying goes, "The master introduces the door, and practice depends on the individual." Cheng Lian needs to be explained in detail, and I am afraid it will take several days and nights to explain it, so I can only give you an overview here. Please forgive me. If there are students who want to further their studies, they can join intermediate classes and advanced classes to continue learning after graduation.
1. Internal Strength
To write good couplets, we must first cultivate our interest and literacy in classical literature. This requires us to read more, remember more, and think more. Excellent classical literary works, when read in the voice, the clouds and flowing water flow; when remembered in the mind, the bright clouds disperse; when thought in the heart, the cocoons are peeled off and silk threads are peeled off.
Read more - often read poems, lyrics, songs and couplets by famous writers... appreciate the beauty of classical literature. Intoxicate in the sonorous phonology, fantasize in the beautiful artistic conception, and linger in the timeless words. Thereby enhancing interest, harvesting happiness and beauty enjoyment, and turning boring learning into easy and interesting. Why should we read more poems, lyrics and music? Because couplets are developed from poems, words, and music, special attention should be paid to the long and short sentences and leading characters of words and music, because they are often used in the creation of long couplets. When reading more, we should also pay attention to the balance in the sentences, which is very helpful for the memory of entering tone characters and the familiarity of metrical knowledge. When reading more, you must slowly develop a discerning eye that can filter out good and bad.
Recommended books:
"Three Hundred Tang Poems", "Three Hundred Song Ci Poems", "Three Hundred Yuan Operas", "Enlightenment of Rhythm", "Longwen Whip Shadow" ", "Li Weng's Rhymes"...
"Si Ming Poetry Talk", "Original Poetry", "Yi Lao Poetry Talk", "Human Words Talk"...
More notes - —Reading is often just a blur, and only by keeping it in your mind can you get real gains. Be sure to accumulate when reading more. Accumulation is not about aimless memorization, but about memorizing skillfully and well. There is no need to memorize some poems in full, just excerpts of beautiful sentences and vocabulary are enough to lay the foundation for our future creations. Reading more good sentences will help improve your understanding of the artistic conception, and memorizing more will help create a better environment for future creations. (Example 1) Memorizing more vocabulary can make the sentences written more ancient and literary; (Example 2) Memorizing the very neat vocabulary of the predecessors will have a great influence on the speed and stability of future couplets and couplets. Big help. (Example 3)
Example 1:
The King of Huainan: The king and his grandson have not returned from their travels, and the spring grass is growing luxuriantly. Bai Juyi transformed into: Spring grass is green every year, kings and grandsons never return.
Li Qunyu: Please measure the waters of the East Sea to see how shallow it is and how deep it is. Li Bai said: "Please ask me about the east flowing water. I don't know who is good or bad."
Couplet: Wisdom and Zen fill the sea of ??desire [Yiling Gongzi] Sentence: Wind and rain move the heart of the boat [Red Lotus and Blue Water]
Yunqiao: The sound of Zen calms the waves; the sea of ??wisdom crosses the boat of the mind.
Example 2:
< p>Li Yun: The dawn sun shines through the sparse windows. Xie Zhen: The cold sun shines in the sky.Yunqiao: There are singing cicadas deep in the green mountains.
These all come from the same meaning, but the words are different and the meanings are different.
Example 3:
The hairpin is the most amazing place with water; Fengdo Yunliang is the only one. Mountains == water, winds == clouds and beams
When there are few governors, there are fewer worries; when there are many people, there are many worries == right and wrong
The country is in chaos and the family is poor. Thinking of a good wife. The country is in turmoil == the family is poor, the good generals == the good wife
Thinking too much - "Learning without thinking will lead to loss, and thinking without learning will lead to peril." "Reading more and memorizing is not enough, you have to think at any time. Only what you think about is your own, otherwise it will always be imitating others. What to think about? Think about the structure and artistic conception of sentences. If you don't understand these two points of classical poetry and Familiar with it, there will be many problems when choosing words and sentences, such as: confusing sentences, not conveying the meaning, too vernacular, etc. (Example 1) Also, think about whether you can use the memorized sentences and vocabulary in your creation, and think more. It’s for getting more and using it
(Example 2)
Example 1:
Pick a flower casually. Same, different structures, different effects.
Thousands of silks drink dew, and the sky and the earth are absorbed in a mirror. Yanbo fishing is an inversion, which is understood as fishing for smoke. If you are not familiar with the sentence structure, it is easy to write, For example: A mirror with a clear light and a sparrow singing.
Thinking can also help us use it
Example 2:
The wind is the most amazing place in the hairpin mountain. When Hu Yunliang is alone, he learns and transforms himself:
The moonlight candle and the willow curtain hide the water house; the flowing light flies into the Yaochi.
When the governor is young, there are fewer worries; he knows more about people's right and wrong. Many. Anxiety turns into right and wrong:
Don’t increase your annoyance by lying; and use a calm mind to distinguish right from wrong.
There is a path of chrysanthemums at the foot of the steps; there is a new poetry field in the pavilion. The broken words are transformed into:
The clear snow humiliates the old trees with plum blossoms; the spring breeze breaks the green and decorates the new flowers.
2. Moves
Only moves without internal strength is just a trick; only internal strength without moves is boring. Appropriate use of moves can make our couplets lively and interesting. The trick here is the writing method of couplets and the techniques of couplets.
(The following is excerpted from the lecture notes of Principal Dameng)
1. Collected sentences
Collected sentences are to combine other people’s poems and articles that meet the characteristics and meaning of couplets. Consecutive ready-made sentences form a couplet. Collecting sentences is also a kind of creative labor. For example:
Toast a glass to invite the bright moon (Li Bai's sentence)
Look at the green mountains (Bai Juyi's sentence)
2. Excerpted sentence style
Sentence excerpts are also a way of creating couplets, which are made by directly excerpting even sentences from poems. For example:
Jiang Zuo Qingluodai====The water is like a jasper hairpin (Han Yu's "Send to Dr. Yan in Guizhou")
3. Decomposition formula
Detransformation, also called renovation, is to slightly change the sentences in the poems and articles according to your own needs to express new themes and create new couplets. For example: a famous joint title:
Unknown talents give up,
Many old patients become sparse
This is Ji Xiaogang's poem by Meng Haoran: "Unable to understand the master Abandoned, sick, old and sparse" slightly modified.
4. Innovative style
Innovative style is a couplet written in your own words. This is a common method in couplet creation. There are expanded couplet innovation, couplet innovation, topic innovation, and free innovation. The most commonly used is the free innovation style, which is what we often call completing the integration by ourselves. Our lecture mainly introduces the commonly used methods of composing couplets.
Couplet writing skills:
(1). Wording skills
1. Metaphoric method
Metaphoric method. For example: Diligence is a money tree==Frugality is a cornucopia
Blessings are like the long flowing water of the East China Sea===The longevity is as long as the immortal pine in Nanshan
There is a road in the book mountain and diligence is the path===There is no sea of ??learning Ya Ku Zuo Zhou
In the past, someone once wrote a couplet that satirized the six parts of the lobby:
The executioners, the officials, and the engineers and soldiers, the six parts of the lobby;
Horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, and dogs Pig, a family of small animals.
2. Hyperbole
Exaggerate or reduce the image of things to describe the main aspects and essential characteristics of the object. For example:
The sound drives thousands of horses to the speed == Qi rolls over thousands of mountains
The iron man has three cups and soft feet === The king of kings shakes his head with one cup.
The world is hidden in a grain of rice == half of the pot is cooking.
3. The foil method
The foil method is to use other things to set off or contrast in order to make the characteristics of things stand out. For example:
Lotus on four sides and willows on three sides === One city is full of spring scenery and half is a lake. (Jinan Daming Lake Union)
Nowadays, Yu is still worshiped, but there is no Gaohou Temple in the Eastern Han Dynasty==Sizhen was overlord, and Xishi was ashamed to board the Fan family boat. (Xijiang Shaoxing Shangyu Yuji Temple Couplet)
4. Contrast method
The heart is clear and the water is turbid == The dwarf in the mountain is tall.
Ambitionists bring disaster to the country and the people, and life is worse than death === Revolutionaries are loyal and courageous, and they live even in death.
5. Opposition method
Opposition is a two-part couplet, one positive and one negative, and the meanings reflect each other. For example, the couplet of Youlong Pavilion in Hanguguan, Henan: Tian Wen is not allowed to ride a horse lightly,
I would like to hear that I ride an ox again.
6. Direct opposition
The upper and lower couplets in direct opposition have different angles, and their meanings complement each other. For example:
The mountains are so majestic that the hawksbills cannot cross them;
The cliffs are so steep that even flying apes have difficulty climbing.
The upper and lower couplets both talk about the height of Motianling. The first couplet expresses its height, while the second couplet expresses its majesty. The meanings of the two couplets are complementary to each other.
7. Self-pairing method
Self-pairing, also known as "self-pairing in a sentence" or "dang-sentence pairing", refers to the words and sentences in the couplet, not only the upper and lower couplets are opposite to each other. , and there is also a contrast between the first couplet itself and the second couplet itself (the so-called sentence). This makes the couplets more stable and adds to the beauty of the couplets. For example:
Entering a place of exile ==== Landing on a boat (Note: The quoted couplets without indicating the author or source are all from my book "Collection of Touchings - Eight Hundred Buddhist Couplets" Book, the same below. )
Among them, "entering the stream" and "going to the place of death", "landing on the shore" and "leaving the boat" are self-contrasts in the sentence. Another example is, "honor and disgrace" versus "right and wrong", "supreme" versus "subtle and profound", "the sound of the stream and the color of the mountains" versus "drums at dusk and bells in the morning", "troubles are Bodhi" versus "motes of dust contain earth", "like a hammer." "Fell into a well, a sharpened stone sinks into a pool" versus "The magic of vertical magic is hidden in the sky, the magical power reaches the sea", etc. Not only are the upper and lower couplets opposite, but there are also self-pairings in the sentences. The use of self-pairing in sentences is widely used in couplets (especially long couplets). Of course, if there is self-contrast in the sentence, then the contrast between the upper and lower couplets is generally required to be looser. For example:
Idle clouds and wild cranes are flying away
Thousands of rivers and thousands of mountains are obtained
Among them, "idle clouds" and "wild cranes", "ten thousand rivers" and "thousands of mountains" , the self-contrast is quite good, but the confrontation between the upper and lower couplets is wider.
8. String pairing method
Chuan pairing is also called running pair, which means continuous connection. It is meaningless to separate them separately. For example, Changsha Yuelu Mountain couplet:
Go straight to the foot of the clouds three thousand feet,
See millions of homes in Changsha.
"Climbing" is for "seeing", and "seeing" is the purpose of "climbing". This couplet is just one sentence divided into two sentences, and the upper and lower couplets mean to be connected in sequence. There is also the couplet of Pang Jinghou Temple in Baimaguan, Sichuan:
Knowing that Luofengcun was the late emperor,
I was willing to let Wolong be an old minister.
The first couplet of this couplet describes Pang Tong’s spirit of sacrifice, and the second couplet explains the motivation for sacrifice. Also a good pair.
9. Borrowing method
Borrowing method. The so-called borrowing is to use the A meaning of a word and at the same time borrow the B meaning to compare it with another word. There are two types of borrowing: borrowing from above and borrowing from below. Borrowing words from the second line to adapt to the first line is called borrowing. For example:
The lamp is bright and the moon is bright, illuminating the great Ming Dynasty;
The king is happy and his ministers are happy, and I wish him eternal happiness for thousands of years.
In this couplet, which states that Chengzu watched the lanterns, the word "Yongle" in the second couplet is used to connect the meaning of "forever happy" with the meaning of Chengzu's reign and "Da Ming" in the first couplet. relatively. Another example:
With both red and white, how can one tell the north from the south when drunk;
Red and white refer to two kinds of wine. In this couplet, the "East and West" in the second couplet not only expresses the meaning of the object, but also uses its meaning to contrast with the "North and South" in the first couplet.
Similarly, borrowing words from the first couplet to correspond to the second couplet is called borrowing from the upper line. For example:
The moon in the sea has tears;
The sun is warm in Lantian and the jade produces smoke.
The original meaning of "Cang" in this couplet is "cold". Since it has the same pronunciation as "Cang", the color "Cang" (dark green) is used here to represent the opposite of "blue".
Due to the high skill level of borrowing pairs, it is also a relatively difficult pairing. The more you read and practice, the more practice makes perfect.
10. Pun method
Use homophones to make the language pun. For example:
You get lotus root because of the charge;
You get apricot and bald plum. "Lotus", "lotus root", "apricot" and "plum" also have homophonic pronunciations. The second meaning is:
Why do you get a match?
Fortunately, you don't need a matchmaker.
Another example:
Lotus seeds are bitter in the heart;
Pear seeds are sour in the abdomen.
The second meaning is:
Pity's heart is bitter;
Li'er's abdomen is sour.
11. Use numbers
Smartly use numbers in the couplets to enhance the expressiveness of the couplets and make them lively. For example:
Ten thousand trees and plum blossoms in a pool of water == Misty rain and clouds halfway up the mountain at all times.
There is no sign of energy in May and June == There are bells ringing at the second and third watch.
A general lives alone in a solitary temple, working alone == Two fishermen on both sides of the river, fishing in two ditches.
12. Allusion method
Use allusion - use historical allusions or words with provenance to explain the problem. For example:
Looking at the weather brightens the people's soul, I am happy that the temple is reopening today, and the old cypress has raised his eyes for thousands of years;
Turning the mountains and rivers to reward the ambition, look at the rise of China today, and the new journey of thousands of miles. Drive a long car.
This is the couplet inscribed by Mr. Zhao Puchu for Yue Fei Temple, using the five classics. "Old cypress" refers to the fine and loyal cypress in front of Yue Fei's tomb. It is said that it was transformed by Yue Fei's loyal soul. "Look up", "Take care of the mountains and rivers", "Ambition", and "Driving a long chariot" all come from Yue Fei's "The River is Red". "Wen Xin Diao Long - Li Ci" says that "it is easy to say the right thing, but difficult to do the right thing", which refers to the use of allusions. The reason why it is difficult to use allusions is that it is difficult to coordinate the text and meaning properly. Mr. Zhao's couplet is so natural and appropriate that even those who have not read "Man Jiang Hong" can still understand it. Of course, it is not advisable to use allusions that are remote and obscure.
There are also quotation stirring, pseudo-translation, analogy, similarity and difference, syntax augmentation, etc., which are not introduced one by one
(2) Word usage skills
p>1. Character analysis method
Analyze word couplets. The so-called word-analyzing couplets refer to the technique of splitting and splitting Chinese character shapes in the couplets, either dividing or combining them to form a couplet.
One clearly distinguishes the sun and the moon;
The five mountains are each hill.
Hong is a bird by the river;
Silkworms are insects in the world.
2. Combining characters
For example: eight knives divided into rice noodles == Thousand Miles Heavy Golden Bell (old font).
Two people are in the upper seat of the earth = the sun is bright in January.
3. Compound character method
That is, one or several same characters appear in the upper and lower couplets respectively. Such as:
Beautiful water, beautiful mountains, beautiful wind and beautiful moon, beautiful land for thousands of years;
Crazy voices, crazy colors, crazy dreams, crazy love, generations of idiots.
It is good to study well, to farm well, and to learn well;
It is difficult to start a business, and it is difficult to keep a business, but it is not difficult to know the difficulty.
4. The method of overlaying characters
The water, water and mountains are bright and beautiful everywhere;
Sunny or rainy, every year comes and goes.
The blueprint for the four modernizations is beautiful,
The spring scenery in Kyushu is new.
5. Homophony method
Plum leaves, peach leaves and grape leaves are herbaceous and woody;
Plum blossoms, osmanthus and roses are fragrant in spring and autumn.
The boy beats the tung seeds, but the seeds do not fall, and the boy is unhappy;
Magu picks mushrooms, the mushrooms are so fresh, Magu is really immortal.
6. Same as the next method
Same as the next connection. The so-called same-side couplet means that the same radical is used in the couplet.
Smoke locks willows in the pond;
Cannons suppress Haicheng Tower.
(Humen Lian, Dongguan, Guangdong.)
Three natives test the old man;
Princes from five families play the pipa.
Mr. Wang is a rustic;
Mr. Zhu is half in the shape of an ox.
(According to legend, there was an old man Wang in a certain place who was very good at making couplets. A Zhu scholar nearby saw his ordinary appearance and was quite disapproving. One day, the scholar came to the door and said: Old man Wang is all rustic, Wang The old man said: Mr. Zhu is half-shaped. The scholar is silent. The first couplet of Zhu Xiucai uses the word analysis method because the three characters "王", "老" and "Zhe" all contain native characters, so it says "一一一一". "Rustic". Old Wang's couplets also use character analysis. Because the three characters "Zhu", "Xian" and "生" all contain the character "ox", and they are all in the upper part, it is said to be "half-cut cow shape".) < /p>
The clear waves of Zhanjiang Port are rolling;
The turbid waves of Bohai Bay are rolling.
Sighs and howls are choked in the throat;
The Xiangjiang River fills the sea with tears.
Drive the arrogant horses and drive the horses;
Plant sandalwood and cinnamon trees.
The lotus stems are covered with lotus moss;
The hibiscus and peony stamens are fragrant.
Lonely and cold, I am a widow with an empty window;
A handsome and beautiful woman is alone.
Welcome far and near with ease;
Advance and retreat will lead to luck.
Welcome and see off the road to the far and near;
Go and retreat quickly and travel freely.
7. Chongyang Chongyang is to use a certain word or words multiple times in a couplet to achieve a certain artistic effect. Some tautology is performed in units of one word. For example:
With a red face and a red heart, riding a red rabbit to chase the wind, not forgetting the Red Emperor when galloping; observing the history of the Qing Dynasty with a green lantern, holding a green dragon gnawing at the moon, and worthy of the blue sky in the hidden place. This couplet is inscribed at Guandi Temple in Yuquan Mountain, Dangyang, Hubei Province. The first line emphasizes the word "red", and the second line emphasizes the word "green", which is a single word. There are also a few words that form a single knot and repeat the meaning, such as: I admire the two perfect people of Han and Song Dynasties, whose articles are peerless, and their calligraphy is peerless; it is said that Bashu is a beautiful place, the pipa has sound, and the gong has sound. This couplet is inscribed at Zhangfei Temple in Yunyang, Sichuan. The first couplet emphasizes "peerless" and the second couplet emphasizes "sound", both of which are based on two characters. For example, the long couplet of Fangguang Temple in Tiantai Mountain, Zhejiang: The sound of wind, water, insects, birds, and Sanskrit chants, totaling three hundred and sixty bells and drums, silent and silent; moonlight, mountains, grass, trees, clouds, and forty-eight thousand Thousands of feet of peaks and mountains, all colored and empty. The first couplet emphasizes "sound" and the second couplet emphasizes "color". The Buddhist principles are clear and wonderful.
There are also onomatopoeic methods, Feibai methods, number analysis methods, Yingshou method, etc.
3. Jianghu Chapter
Couplets are like compositions. I hope it will be helpful to everyone by summarizing the "eight-character formula" in a couplet.
1. Establish the topic - the theme comes first and the effect is immediate.
2. Layout—choose angles, organize materials, and arrange reality and reality.
3. Draft—choose rhetorical methods and couplet techniques. Such as rhetoric: metaphor, personification, exaggeration, repetition, thimble, intertextuality, etc. Skills: Sentence collection, self-pairing of sentences, duplication of words, allusion, homophony, splitting of words, running pairs, ruthlessness, etc.
4. Modification - chant repeatedly and check the rhythm to see if it seems smooth. Refine the words, clarify the meaning, and enhance the artistic conception.
This handout was written by the principal of Dameng and revised by many teachers. The red font is my experience. The "planning of couplets" mentioned here is mainly proposed for the creation of completed couplets. If it is a response, the syntax of the first couplet can be adopted, and there is no need to strategize alone.
Section 1: Clear intention
Yun said: There are two levels of intention: one is the meaning, and the other is the artistic conception. The "meaning" here refers to the central idea expressed in the whole couplet rather than the artistic conception. To be more precise, it is to establish a topic. When writing a couplet, like a composition, you should put the topic first, and then arrange the materials and words according to the topic.
Poems are mainly about meaning, and so are couplets. Wang Fuzhi pointed out in "Jiang Zhai Poetry Talk" that "Both poems and long lines of text are all based on meaning, and meaning is still handsome. Without handsome soldiers, it is called a rabble. The reason why Li Du calls Master is a poem with no intention, There are no more than one or two, smoke, clouds, springs, rocks, flowers, birds and moss forests, all covered with brocade tents, the meaning is spiritual. "Yi" is the "subject" in the couplet. When the author writes a couplet, he must clearly express what he praises, what he praises, and what he criticizes. What, there must be a clear feeling. Without the intention first, no matter how good the diction or technique is, it can only be a pile of words. A couplet should not only have a clear meaning, but also have a lofty and spiritual intention. Famous couplets of ancient and modern times may talk about scenery, trace back history, excel in literary talent, or win with skill, resulting in exquisite compositions. For example, the couplet of the Yueyang Tower in Hunan Province written by Chen Outline, a Jinshi during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty:
The lakes and mountains on all sides are within sight;
Everyone is filled with sorrow and joy.
Yun said: The upper part of this couplet is realistic and the lower part is lyrical.
This couplet takes a new approach, describing the scenery, concisely and concisely, only breaking up at the end of the sentence. The strokes of the second couplet suddenly change, from the emptiness of the surrounding lakes and mountains to the thought of the joy and sorrow of thousands of families. This is the theme of the entire couplet, and this is also the intention. If the author didn't have sincere compassion, he would never write such a couplet.
The intention, also called the destiny, is the premise of the couplet. Couplets have a wide range of social effects. Therefore, the work must first have a clear theme, clear imagery, and concrete concepts. What you want to write and how you write it all depends on your intention. It should be said that the refinement of art often comes from the intention before writing, and the bright strokes often come from thoughtful thinking and witty literary talent. Please look at the Shanhaiguan couplet:
The mountains can give a glimpse of the situation;
The sea can make a sound.
Yun said: When writing about scenery, it is usually necessary to grasp the essential characteristics of the scenery and make associations around the physical objects, instead of expressing one's own feelings, that is, to express the feelings of things rather than the feelings of people. . Of course, it's a different matter if it's Yan Zhilian.
The couplet expresses the momentum of "mountain" and "sea", and cleverly uses the words "peeping at the border" and "going out of the fortress" to imitate the soldiers guarding the border, revealing the special geographical location and history of Shanhaiguan. importance of load. The author seems to be narrating history to people, taking them back to the years of war and smoke. The intention can be described as lofty and extraordinary. It is regarded as a rare top quality.
1. The intention is correct and reflects the spirit of the times
Yun said: The so-called spirit of the times means being new and close to the current social background. The first one means that the meaning needs to be new, and the other means that the words need to be new. It’s okay to use old words to write new ideas, but using new words to write old ideas has a different flavor. Most of the winning couplets in this year's Spring Festival Gala are old words with new meanings, and revolve around harmony. Old words such as: Huaxia, Shenzhou, Spring Breeze, etc.
The spirit of the times refers to the ideological outlook of an era. The ideological outlook of different eras is different. A good couplet should give people healthy emotions, correct thoughts and the flavor of the times. In terms of intentions, we must: love the motherland, care about national affairs, praise the broad masses of the people, have an overall view, stand high and look far, and not be limited to personal gains and losses. Write about scenic spots, the country and the country, etc.
Welcome the science popularization team to the well-off village (Dameng, Liandu)
The golden rooster crows at two years old and science and technology will enrich rural areas (Dameng, Liandu)
The golden rooster The dawn welcomes a good year, the red phoenix rises to the sun, and rushes to a well-off society (Liandu Dameng)
Science and technology boosts agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, heaps gold and jade, and civilization is passed down to generations, benefiting children and grandchildren (Liandu Dameng)
Myself These couplets basically reflect the rural features of the times in the north and south of the motherland.
However, some couplets are very old and "old-fashioned", such as:
Wealth and Ding are prosperous;
Wealth and honor are both prosperous.
At first glance, it seems rather old-fashioned, and it is the old concept of the past: "seven men and three women", having many children will lead to happiness, and great wealth. And it is inconsistent with the current national family planning policy and has no sense of the times.
2. Clear intention and clear attitude
When creating couplets, one should have clear intention and clear attitude. What one loves, what one hates, what one supports and what one opposes must be expressed clearly.
The green mountains are fortunate enough to bury loyal bones;
White iron casts innocent ministers into sycophants.
This is the couplet on Yue Fei's tomb. The first couplet praises Yue Fei's "loyalty". The first couplet hates Qin's executioner for being "sycophantic", and his attitude is very clear.
It’s just the Year of the Little Dragon, and it’s time for a thousand-mile horse;
There was a storm, but it’s getting better.
This is the couplet that won the first prize in the 1990 Spring Festival couplet of "Taiyuan Beijiao News". Through this couplet, the author shows his firm confidence in the cause of socialism.
3. The idea is novel and unconventional
When creating couplets, you must reflect your own unique insights, do not follow others' opinions, and do not repeat what others have written.
Landscape *** couplets in one color;
Humanities and economy fly together.
This is a masterpiece that was recited repeatedly during the opening ceremony of the first Nanchang Couplet Culture and Art Festival in November 2004. The author can resolve it in the famous sentence in "Preface to Prince Teng's Pavilion": "Autumn water and long sky are the same color; falling clouds and solitary swans fly together", giving the era and the content of Nanchang's new ten sceneries. It is very clever and unconventional, and was unanimously praised by the representatives present at the conference.
Section 2: Get the truth from the image
Yun said: The image is the expression of the meaning, and the image is the carrier of the expression of the artistic conception, and it is also the blend of the couplet, emotion and scene. Taking images, or looking for objects, is to select images. This is an issue that must be considered after the couplets are designed.
So what is imagery? The so-called image refers to the image in the couplet that contains the author's subjective emotional color. In other words, it is a variety of images that directly appear in the author's mind when conceiving, to express one of his thoughts and emotions. What we usually call "scenery" is what we call "image".
To achieve a natural and real image, you must first have an in-depth understanding of the object you are writing about. Secondly, the words should be relevant to the person, thing, emotion, place and time.
How to hit the topic of couplets:
Yun said: The cleverness of couplets to hit the topic lies in the combination of virtuality and reality. When writing about objects, the conventional way of writing is to write the physical appearance of the object in both upper and lower couplets. A slightly better method is to write one sentence about description and one sentence about quality (purpose, characteristics). It would be better if there is no appearance but the characteristics of the object are fully displayed. When writing about people and things, one should be factual and the other fictitious. One sentence revolves around a person or thing, and the other sentence is a lyrical discussion. If it is a long couplet, both the upper and lower couplets can be arranged between the preceding and following clauses.
1. Create couplets by grasping the essential characteristics of the people, objects, and things being chanted.
Such as:
A true hero who benefits the country and the people;
The great foundation and great achievements shine in the blue sky. (Liandu Dameng)
This couplet was written for the aerospace hero Mr. Yang Liwei during the Spring Festival in 2005 (see the first issue of "Chinese Couplets" in 2005). Yang Liwei is an aerospace hero, and his career is in the blue sky. The Lianzhong closely adheres to the two specific "scenes" of "blue sky" and "strong man", and basically covers everyone, every time and everything.
2. Cleverly place the people, objects and things you are chanting in the couplet, and write out the characteristics.
Special Prize
The country spans thousands of years, and we meet Liuhe. Listen to the cockcrow of three provinces today
Businessmen are from all over the world, and the city is diverse. Watch the Hedong Phoenix lift for nine days ( "Liandu" netizen (Jiangxi) Pan Yizhi)
This is "Liandu" netizen (Jiangxi) Mr. Pan Yizhi won the special prize in the Hedong "Today International Mall" domestic and overseas prize-winning competition Award couplet. "Hedong Today International Mall" is embedded in the couplet, which is very natural. This couplet mainly reflects the characteristics of the mall, the scenery of Hedong and the characteristics of the three provinces in the area. Couplet works should be positive, healthy in content, lofty in intention, elegant and popular, rich in literary and artistic color, and conform to the rhythm of couplets. They should try their best to organically combine traditional literary and artistic forms with modern business atmosphere, and combine profound cultural connotation with popular language. The text is well combined. Use couplets, a traditional literary and artistic wonder, to show the advertising effect of the mall.
Another example is a couplet on Hanjiang Restaurant in Guangzhou:
Han Yu was poor and Liu Ling was drunk;
Jiang Yan wrote a poem and Wang Can Climb the stairs.
This couplet cleverly quotes four historical figures closely related to poetry and wine: Han Yu, Liu Ling, Jiang Yan, and Wang Can. The four characters of the restaurant's name "Hanjiang Restaurant" are embedded at the beginning and end of the couplet, which is very appropriate.
Section 3: Expressing lofty aspirations
Emperor Shun said: "Poetry expresses ambition, and songs sing words." This is talking about the literary purpose of poetic style. The same is true for couplets. Poetry does not express ambition, and the author cannot express his own ideals, ambitions, ambitions, and tastes. From this point of view, "ambition" should be the soul of poetry. Couples and poems share the same writing method. Expression of ambition can be divided into two types: One is an intentional expression, and the other is an unintentional revelation.
The former is like the self-encouragement couplet written by Peng Yuanrui in the Qing Dynasty:
What is moving? Apricot blossoms in February and laurel in August;
Who urges me? The lights are on at three and the chicken is on at five.
Although it is the mentality of diligent study in the old era, it also has very good educational significance for today. < /p>
Be a heroic soul for thousands of years and never return home.
A couplet by Su Shi collected by Gu Hongming belongs to the latter:
The load is gone and there is no rain cover;
The chrysanthemums still have frost branches.
Zhou Cezong's collection of poems and couplets seem to be revealed unconsciously and unintentionally, but they can best reveal the thoughts and interests of the characters.
Please see:
For whom do I leave the romantic moon? Two parts are dust, one part is running water;
When spring returns, it is nowhere to be found. The cherries turn red and the bananas turn green.
When Mencius was discussing poetry, he once proposed two reading methods: "using one's will to counter one's will" and "knowing people and analyzing the world". The former means that only by fully understanding the work can one understand the author's thoughts; the latter It means that in order to understand a certain writer's work, you must have some understanding of the author's life experience. The two complement each other and will be of great help to us in appreciating the couplets. In the process of creating couplets, we must follow the purpose of "poetic expression of ambition" and emphasize a correct and serious writing attitude, because once a work is written, it will have certain social significance. If it is not handled well, it will make a joke in a minor case or make a joke in a serious case. It will also bring very bad social impact.
Section 4 Lyrical and Real
Lyric is the author expressing his inner thoughts and feelings in his works. It can "express one's feelings directly", which is called direct expression of emotion, or it can also be said to "embody feelings in the scenery", which is called indirect expression of emotion. It carries the author's distinctive personality characteristics and reflects a certain sympathy of a certain era and a certain group of people, thereby enhancing the artistic appeal of the work. Lu Ji of the Jin Dynasty pointed out the theory of "poetry is related to emotion". The emotion he mentioned refers to people's spiritual mood, which includes the joys and sorrows of life, and is characterized by authenticity and touchingness.
Please take a look at Zhou Zuoren's couplet with Ma Yuqing:
On a moonlit night it is only a dream to look at the lantern;
What more is there to sleep on the pillow under the rainy window.
Ma Yuqing is a professor at Peking University and an old friend of Zhou. The first couplet describes that the two of them watched the lanterns together the day before, but died of illness just one dream (that is, one night) apart; the second couplet describes his own uneasy emotions in the wind and rain. The couplet is concise and concise. It neither writes about the deceased's life achievements nor his own grief and sorrow, but only writes about a space, using small things to show it, which is very poetic. This deep and sincere meaning comes entirely from the expression of emotion in the scenery. This kind of writing method is indirect lyricism. There is also a lyrical technique that is neither direct nor indirect. Literally, it seems that the whole story is describing the scene, and not a single word involves subjective emotions, but the author's thoughts and feelings have been integrated into it in some ways.
For example, the Daming Lake couplet in Jinan, Shandong:
Lotus on four sides and willows on three;
One city is filled with mountains and half is a lake.
The couplet does not incorporate any subjective emotions, but only expresses the actual scenery of the place in a direct way, just like a beautiful landscape painting.
However, we cannot say that the author has no "poetic" works. I would like to ask, if the author did not love the motherland and love life, how could he write such an emotional and relaxing masterpiece? The ancients said: "All scenery words are love words." This is the truth.
Section 5 Flexible Chapter
Chapter refers to the organizational structure of the article. Generally speaking, there is no set method to follow when writing couplets. In general, the couplets are flexible in composition, complete in meaning, fresh in language, and have outstanding themes and ideas. In the process of creation, we should still learn from some creation methods of poetry, so when we learn couplets, we also need to know some methods of writing poems, which is helpful for our creation of couplets.
For example, the couplet of Yongji Temple in Yanziji, Nanjing:
The sound of pines, bamboos, and bells and chimes are all at ease;
The scenery of mountains, water, The color of haze is empty.
This couplet is cleverly conceived. The first couplet describes the beauty of sound, using five characters for "sound" and using "sound and sound at ease" to compose a harmonious and beautiful symphony of nature. The second couplet describes visual beauty, and the beautiful mountains and waters are concluded with "emptiness", expressing the monks' otherworldly thoughts. The whole couplet alternates between sound and color, and the use of repetition techniques emphasizes what it sees and hears from different angles, making the couplet more vivid and the rhythm sonorous and powerful.
Please read a couplet written by Xu Da for his former residence:
As the river goes eastward, the heroes of all ages are swept away. I wonder where the green mountains and white clouds outside the building are, where is the Tang Palace and the Han Palace;
Spring comes back in the small garden, and the orioles evoke a beautiful garden. Look at the green trees by the pool, and the red rain beside the trees. Here are the days of Shun and Yao.
The first two sentences of the first couplet are derived from Su Shi's poem "Niannujiao·The Great River Goes East", which triggers the nostalgia for the mountains and rivers of the motherland and the nostalgia for the ancient times. This is a large-scale writing, which unfolds a magnificent scene of turbulence and vastness for readers; the second couplet touches on small details, and the big things are seen from small things. They are scattered and orderly, so that people can see things, hear things, and have appropriate emotions. " "Asking" and "seeing" make the beginning, succession, transition and combination very appropriate, and it is amazing to see.
In short, the composition of couplets must be flexible in application, careful, complete, well-organized, clear in context, and coherent. The kind of straightforward writing style is unstructured and unorganized. Better couplets are rarely written.