What is the "law" in couplets? What are the requirements for couplets?

Couplets are a literary form that pays attention to meter. To appreciate and write couplets, we must understand its basic metrical requirements. The so-called couplet law refers to some basic rules and formats of couplet writing, and its core requirement is antithesis. The basic meter of couplets can be summarized as six elements and six taboos.

Generally speaking, the basic meter of couplets has six elements, namely, word equivalence, content correlation, part-of-speech equivalence, structural proportionality, rhythm correspondence, balance and harmony. The author believes that these six elements can be understood from three aspects: foundation, grammar and temperament:

1. The number of words is equal and the content is related.

These are two basic elements of couplet rhyme. Equal number of words means that if the first part consists of several clauses, then the second part should also consist of several clauses with equal number of words. In short, if the number of words is not equal, it is hard to be called a veritable couplet anyway.

From the content point of view, the contents of the upper and lower links should be interrelated in order to achieve the opposite or complementary effect. This relationship either sets off from the same angle, sets off each other and complements each other, which is the so-called "right"; Or compare and contrast each other from the perspective of opposition, which is the so-called "opposition." For example:

Sense of accomplishment; Solemn achievement. (right)

Peace of mind; Want to talk again. (against)

There are also several couplets that are linked together, that is, the so-called "serial pairs" or "flowing pairs". For example:

Except sweet, bitter, salty and sour;

Nothing more than rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.

If the content of the couplet is irrelevant, it will make people feel awkward and stiff, and the couplet will not have its due literary effect, so it is difficult to be called a qualified couplet. Of course, there is also a special form of couplets, which is the so-called "unfeeling pair". It means that couplets are neat in form (literal meaning) and irrelevant in content (meaning), thus causing a special effect. Love-less antithesis mainly uses the formal characteristics of couplets (antithesis) to reflect a kind of literary interest and skills, and the content is secondary. For example:

Flowers began to bloom in front of the court;

Your Excellency, Mr. Li (often without love)

The tree is half dead, resting on the axe;

Really irrelevant. (often without love)

In a word, words are equivalent and content is related, which is the minimum requirement of couplets in form and content, and reflects the most basic correspondence and relevance, so it is called the basic element.

2. The parts of speech are equivalent and the structure is commensurate.

These are two grammatical elements and two key elements of couplets. Part-of-speech equivalence means that the relative words of the upper and lower parts should be the same or similar as much as possible. Such as noun to noun, verb to verb, and so on. For example:

The five aggregates are empty and comfortable;

I don't want to see Tathagata.

In this couplet, Wu and Yi are numerals, Yun and Xin are nouns, Jing and Bu are adverbs, Kong and Luan are adjectives, Guan and Jian are verbs, and Yu Zi and Tathagata are nominalizations. Generally speaking, the requirements for function words are loose, while the requirements for content words are strict. In the specific antithesis, in addition to the part of speech, the role of words in sentences can be properly considered, and the requirements for modifiers are loose and the requirements for head words are strict.

Structural symmetry means that the grammatical structure of the sentences corresponding to the upper and lower links should be as same as possible. For example:

Always be United in humiliation;

Everything is fate.

The upper and lower parts of this couplet are both subject-predicate-object structures, in which "one heart" is biased towards "everything" and "humiliation" is a verb-object structure.

3. The rhythm is corresponding, even and gentle.

These are the two elements of metrical association. Rhythm, originally a musical term, refers to the phenomenon of regular alternation of strength and length in music. In antithesis, it refers to the regular pause in antithesis. Rhythm is corresponding, which means that the upper and lower couplet should be as consistent as possible in the pause of rhythm. For example:

Leak-fly-go;

Return empty-hearted.

Use-divine power-protection-Buddhism;

Set-Menglan basin-cross-kindness.

But the author thinks that rhythm can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Generalized rhythm includes semantic rhythm and prosodic rhythm. The narrow sense of rhythm refers to the semantic rhythm. Semantic rhythm is mainly divided according to sentence structure, which refers to the division of syllable pauses or intervals according to semantics. Rhythm rhythm refers to the tone requirement of a certain position (flat arrangement) in a sentence from the perspective of flat requirements. The author thinks that in order to make the concept clear, semantic rhythm and rhythm rhythm are best represented by "rhythm" and "step" respectively. Examples are as follows:

At the same time-smell-give notes; Diddy bodhi. (rhythm)

At the same time-smell-remember; Second time -depo-ti. (Step)

Of course, rhythm and pace are closely related and often consistent.

Flat and even harmony, also known as flat and even harmony, in a narrow sense refers to the two major requirements of couplets in tone: flat and even opposition and flat and even alternation. In a broad sense, it also includes other flat problems such as the flat arrangement of sentence endings (see six taboos). Flat tone means that the sound should be flat between the steps of the upper and lower couplet and the feet of each clause, that is, the upper couplet is flat tone, the lower couplet is flat tone, and vice versa. There is a saying that the arrangement of steps is "135 regardless, 246 is clear", because in fact, the whole step does not necessarily need to be flat and relative, but it can be flat and relative at the step position. The so-called step position is the last word of each step and the key sound that determines the nature of the whole step. Because most Chinese characters are two-character steps, the step position generally refers to the second, fourth and sixth words of each sentence. So there is a saying that "135 doesn't matter, 246 is clear". For example:

Heart-external-real model-there is; Air-invisible-empty.

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The first 35 words of this couplet are not necessarily flat, but the last 46 words are flat. However, not all the steps are in the position of 246, mainly because of the sentence patterns of couplets, in addition to the antithesis sentence patterns in regular poems, there are also sentence patterns such as words, songs, fu, parallel prose and even prose, as well as the use of titles and proper nouns. For example:

Building-mandala altar-practicing dharma;

In-Alonso's place-meditation.

Straight heart-is the foundation of all things;

Greed is the root of all suffering.

Deep heart-diligence-mantra-doctrine;

Go all out-promotion-fingerprints-practice.

For the above link, the step position is not necessarily at the position of 246.

The alternation of flat words, compared with flat words, is actually two aspects of the same problem, that is to say, flat words should be used alternately between sentences connected up and down and their own steps (or phonemes). Alternation can only be ignored between the foot of each clause and the previous step. For example:

The real body has passed the mortal world; Xiao Zhi can't stand tipping.

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Believe in Buddha at first; Deep understanding has no magic.

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The requirements of leveling and leveling coordination are not absolute. Sometimes, in order not to damage the meaning of the law, there will be leveling and leveling dislocation or leveling and leveling dislocation in some places, and they can also be accommodating. In the case of using special rhetorical devices such as parallelism, rhyme and quotation, and using fixed sentence patterns such as idioms and allusions, the metrical requirements of flat tones can be appropriately relaxed.