Complete basic knowledge of couplets:
1. The origin and development of couplets
Couplets, also known as couplets or pairs, are written on paper, cloth or Dual sentences carved on bamboo, wood, and pillars. It is a form of national culture that is generally loved by the people of our country. When the people encounter important events or moments such as weddings, funerals, holidays, birthdays, etc., they like to use it to express their celebration or condolences. This kind of couplet is most widely used during the Spring Festival and is called Spring Festival couplets. Spring couplets, also called "door couplets", "spring posts", "couples" and "couples", are a unique Chinese literary form. It depicts the background of the times and expresses good wishes with neat, dual, concise and exquisite words. Every Spring Festival, no matter in urban or rural areas, every household will select a pair of red Spring Festival couplets and paste them on the door to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, in order to increase the festive atmosphere of the festival.
Spring couplets originated from ancient peach symbols. The Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Shisui Ji" records: "Spring couplets are peach charms." The "peach charms" at that time were rectangular peach boards hung on both sides of the door, with the words "Shen Tu" and "Yulei" written on them. The name of a god is used to drive away ghosts and ward off evil spirits. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, some people in the palace inscribed couplets on peach symbols. According to "History of the Song Dynasty: Shu Family", Meng Chang, the Lord of Later Shu, ordered the scholar Xin Yinxun to inscribe the peach wood board. "Yu Qing, Jiajie Changchun", this is the first Spring Festival couplet recorded in my country. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Peach Talisman". In Wang Anshi's poem, there is a line that "thousands of households are always replacing old talismans with new peaches". Later, due to the mass production of paper, the peach charms were gradually changed from peach wood boards to paper, called "spring stickers". This was the beginning of spring couplets.
The term "Spring Couplets" appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. Spring couplets became popular in the Ming Dynasty. According to the "Miscellaneous Theory of Hairpin Cloud Tower": "The creation of Spring Festival couplets dates back to Taizu of the Ming Dynasty. In the imperial capital of Jinling, on New Year's Eve, a decree was issued that a Spring Festival couplet must be added to the doors of ministers, officials and common people. Taizu went out for a visit and thought it was amusement." It is said that before New Year's Eve one year, he issued an imperial edict requiring every household in Jinling to paste Spring Festival couplets written on red paper on the door frame to welcome the New Year. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Yuanzhang inspected the Spring Festival couplets incognito from house to house. Whenever he saw a well-written Spring Festival couplet, he was very happy and praised it full of praise. During his inspection, he saw that a family did not post Spring Festival couplets. Zhu Yuanzhang was very angry and asked the reason. The attendant replied: "This is a master who is engaged in killing pigs and trimming pigs. They are very busy during the New Year and have not had time to hire someone to write them." Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to bring pens, inks, paper and inkstones and write a couplet for the family: "Cleave the road of life and death with both hands, and cut off the roots of right and wrong with one knife." After writing, he continued to patrol. After some time, when Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace after his inspection, he passed by here again and saw that the butcher's house had not posted the Spring Festival couplets written by him, so he asked what was going on. The owner of the family replied respectfully: "This couplet was written by the emperor himself. We hang it high in the middle hall and burn incense to worship it every day." Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy after hearing this and ordered his attendants to reward the family with thirty taels of silver. In addition, he also wrote Spring Festival couplets for the princes and ministers. The couplet given to King Xu Da of Zhongshan was: "He defeated the barbarians and brought down the barbarians. He is the first person in ancient and modern times. He has become a general and prime minister, and his talents in civil and military affairs are unparalleled in the world." The couplet given to Tao An. The couplet is: "The strategy of the country is unparalleled, and Hanyuan is the first to write." It can be seen that the name and promotion of "Spring Festival Couplets" are due to the emperor's personal practice, coupled with the love of literati and the spread of the masses, the Spring Festival couplets are posted It was passed down as a custom.
2. Characteristics of couplets:
The characteristic of couplets is that they must have both "pairs" and "connections". They are in pairs in form and "opposite" each other; the content of the context refers to each other and is closely related. The upper and lower couplets of a couplet must have a complete and unified structure and clear and concise language. The characteristics of couplets can be summarized as "six phases", which are summarized as follows:
First, the number of words must be equal. The number of words in the first line is equal to the number of words in the second line. In the long couplet, the number of words in each clause of the upper and lower couplets is equal. There is a special case where the number of words in the upper and lower couplets is intentionally different. For example, during the Republic of China, someone satirized Yuan Shikai in a couplet: "Yuan Shikai is eternal; long live the Chinese people." The first couplet has three words "Yuan Shikai" and the second couplet has four words "Chinese people". It means that Yuan Shikai has failed the Chinese people.
Duplicate words or repeated words are allowed in couplets. Duplicated words and repeated words are common rhetorical techniques in couplets. However, when overlapping, pay attention to the consistency of the upper and lower couplets. For example, Gu Xiancheng in the Ming Dynasty wrote a couplet about Wuxi Donglin Academy: "The sound of wind, rain, and reading are heard in the ears; family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs are all concerned."
However, the couplet should try to avoid "the same position" "Heavy words" and "Heavy words in different places". The so-called word repetition in the same position means that the same word is used in the same position above and below. The so-called overlapping words in different places means that the same word appears in different positions in the upper and lower couplets. However, some function words with the same position are allowed, such as the Hangzhou West Lake Geling couplet: "The song of peach blossoms and flowing water, among the green shade and fragrant grass."
The word "Zhi" in the upper and lower couplets is repeated in the same position, but Because it is a virtual word, it is okay. However, there is a relatively special "heterotopic and mutual emphasis" format that is allowed (called "transposition format"), such as Lin Sen's couplet to Mr. Sun Yat-sen: "One person lasts for thousands of years, and one person for thousands of years."
Second, the parts of speech are equivalent. In modern Chinese, there are two major categories of speech, namely content words and function words. The former includes six categories: nouns, verbs, adjectives, numerals, quantifiers and pronouns. The latter includes six categories: adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, interjections, and onomatopoeia. Equivalent parts of speech means that words or phrases in the same position in the upper and lower conjunctions should have the same or similar parts of speech.
The first is the rule of "real versus real, virtual versus virtual", which is the most basic rule with the broadest meaning. Just follow this in some cases. Secondly, there are corresponding rules for parts of speech, that is, the above-mentioned 12 types of words correspond to each other. This rule should be followed in most cases. The third is the meaning-category correspondence rule. Meaning-category correspondence refers to putting the same type of things expressed in Chinese characters together and contrasting them. The ancients noticed this rhetorical method very early. In particular, the noun part is divided into many subcategories, such as astronomy, seasons, geography, officials, vegetation, birds, etc. Finally, there is the adjacent category correspondence rule, that is, words in adjacent categories can communicate with each other. Such as astronomy versus seasons, astronomy versus geography, geography versus palaces, etc.
The third is structural symmetry. The so-called structural compatibility means that the grammatical structures of the upper and lower couplets should be as identical as possible, that is, subject-predicate structure versus subject-predicate structure, verb-object structure versus verb-object structure, partial structure versus partial-positive structure, parallel structure versus parallel structure, etc. For example, Li Bai wrote a couplet on the Yueyang Tower in Hunan: "The water and sky are the same color, the wind and moon are boundless."
The upper and lower couplets of this couplet have a subject-predicate structure. Among them, "water and sky" and "wind and moon" are both parallel structures, and "one color" and "boundless" are both positive structures.
However, in the case of equivalent parts of speech, the requirements for some more similar or special sentence structures can be relaxed appropriately.
Fourth is the rhythm. That is, the pauses in the upper and lower couplets must be consistent, such as: "Don't let the good days of spring and autumn pass; it's hardest for old friends to come in the wind and rain."
This is a seven-character short couplet. The rhythm of the upper and lower couplets is exactly the same. "Two-two-three." For longer couplets, the rhythm must also be corresponding.
The fifth is harmony between level and oblique. The harmony between flat and oblique parts includes two aspects: one is that the upper and lower lines are opposite to oblique and oblique parts. Generally speaking, it is not required that the words should be opposite, but it should be noted that: the horizontal and oblique characters at the end of the upper and lower couplets should be opposite, and the upper and lower lines should be oblique and flat; the words at the end of the phrase or at the rhythm point should be the opposite of oblique and oblique; in the long couplet, each part of the upper and lower couplets should be opposite. The last word of the sentence should be the opposite of oblique and oblique. The second is that the upper and lower couplets alternate between oblique and oblique sentences. The contemporary couplet Yu Dequan summarized a set of "horseshoe rhyme" rules. In short, it is "Pingping Ping Ping Ping Ping Ping", like the rhythm of horseshoe.
The issue of couplet balance is not absolute and can be modified in many cases. If there are overlapping words, compound words, palindromes, humor, phonology, etc. in the couplets, it can be determined according to the specific situation.
Sixth is content related. What are couplets? It means both "right" and "connected". The above-mentioned words with the same number of words, the same part of speech, the same structure, the corresponding rhythm and the harmony of oblique and oblique are all "right", but there is still one "link" missing. "Connection" means that the content must be relevant. The content between the upper and lower couplets of a couplet should be related. If the upper and lower couplets each write about an unrelated thing, and the two cannot reflect, connect, and echo, then it cannot be regarded as a qualified couplet, or even a couplet.
However, there is a form of couplet called "merciless pair". The upper and lower couplets contrast neatly word for word, but the content is irrelevant. The contrast in meaning of the upper and lower couplets can create unexpected interest. He Danru, who became famous in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China and was known as a geek, used the Guangzhou dialect proverb "I am confused and don't know my origin" to express the famous line of Tang poetry "Who calls the shots in the clouds and mountains on all sides?"