The origin of couplets can be traced back to Fu Tao. Fu Tao, also known as Xianmu, is a red wooden board hung on both sides of the door during the New Year in China, with the legendary statues of shentu and Lei Yu painted. Later, the peach characters were gradually simplified, and only spells were drawn or the names of "Shencha" and "Lei Yu" were written on them. This peach symbol is changed once a year on New Year's Eve. Wang Anshi wrote in "January Day" that "thousands of families always exchange new peaches for old ones" refers to this matter, so the ancients also called Spring Festival couplets "peach symbols". However, this kind of peach symbol is only to pray for God to eliminate disasters and reduce happiness, and there is no sense of using antithesis independently, so it is not a couplet in the literary sense.
In the Five Dynasties, conjunctions and names such as "Shencha" and "Lei Yu" were gradually replaced by conjunctions. It is said that this originated from a whim of the late Shu monarch Meng. In the twenty-seventh year of the post-Shu Dynasty, the Meng School suddenly issued a decree, ordering ministers to write antithetical sentences on peach symbols to test their talents. Ministers wrote and wrote, but Meng Climb was not satisfied. Finally, Mumpa simply wrote a couplet himself: "Qing Yu in the New Year, Jiajieno. Changchun. " Later, this form of writing couplets on New Year's Taofu slowly spread to the people, loved by the people, and spread more and more widely. Although this five-character couplet is not necessarily the earliest couplet in China, most scholars think it is the earliest Spring Festival couplet in China.
Judging from the development law of literature itself, the formation of couplets has 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. For example, in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Cai Wei, "I have been there, Liu Yiyi; Today I think it's raining. " Another example is "full loss, modest benefit", "riding a fat horse and wearing a light coat" in The Analects of Confucius, and "an upright man is open and poised, small people are always United" in The Analects of Confucius. There is also Li Bai's "three mountains and a half fall to the sky, like this island where egrets divide the river"; Du Fu's "She went out from the Purple Palace to the desert and stayed at home alone until dusk", and so on.
The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the heyday of couplets. The ruling class attaches great importance to arrogant articles and couplets and lists them as imperial examinations. Scholars express political views and school disputes in the current situation through couplets. The application of couplets has spread all over the society, which is a great landscape. Couplets have reached unprecedented heights in content and art. For example, Zhang Zhidong said that "the four rivers are the first, the four seasons are the second, and the husband lives in Jiangxia. Who is the first and who is the second? " Liang Qichao said to himself, "Confucianism, three religions are in the front, three talents are in the back, and the boy is Confucianism." How dare he be ahead and behind! " And "study hard, plow well and study hard;" It is difficult to start a business, to stay in business, and to advance despite difficulties.
The most important feature of couplets is that the upper and lower sentences are relatively uniform, and duality is mainly realized in the following four aspects:
One is the equal number of words. This is the basic feature of couplets. Qian Zhongshu once said in Tan Yi Lu: "The method of antithesis is to write with words."
Second, the sentence pattern is the same. First of all, we must be equal in part of speech. The words corresponding to the up and down links should be nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, adjectives to adjectives, etc. Secondly, the structure of the upper and lower couplet should correspond, the subject-predicate structure should be opposite to the subject-predicate structure, the verb-object structure should be opposite to the verb-object structure, the coordinate structure should be opposite to the coordinate structure, and the partial structure should be opposite to the partial structure. If the sentence patterns are the same, couplets will have a symmetrical and neat beauty in form.
The third is level harmony. Couplets pay attention to rhythm and have musical beauty. Flat tones are two main tones in Chinese characters. The four tones in ancient Chinese are Ping, Shang, Qu and Ren. Pingsheng is listed as "Ping", and getting on, going and people are summarized as "Yi". Modern Mandarin has no human voice, and the four tones are flat tone, rising tone, rising tone and falling tone. Among them, it is flat with Yang Ping, and the rising tone and falling tone are muffled voices. The harmony of flat and even lines requires that the characters in the corresponding parts of the upper and lower couplet should be flat and even. It is strictly stipulated in couplets that the last word of the first couplet should be flat and the last word of the second couplet should be flat. In addition to the requirements of flat and parallel characters, the flat and parallel characters at the end of each sentence, that is, the flat and parallel characters at the end of the sentence, should also be coordinated. Usually, this method is repetitive.
The fourth is semantic relevance. It is required that the contents of the upper and lower links are closely linked and are an organic whole. Any kind of couplet must have the same meaning, so these two sentences are not mixed together, but a harmonious and unified whole.
There has been a lack of clear theoretical research on the classification of couplets. For example, the concept connotation of different types of couplets is often vague, and the extensions between different types of couplets often overlap each other, and so on. At the same time, the use of couplets often has obvious randomness. It should be said that these phenomena violate the basic requirements of scientific classification. In view of this, we think it should be divided according to the content and use of couplets. Although theoretically, this division is difficult to be strict and complete, in practice, only this division is more meaningful.
The content and use of couplets have the nature of topic or topic gift, so writing couplets is often called topic couplets. According to the different contents and objects of couplets, they can generally be divided into festivals, celebrations, elegiac couplets, scenic spots, industries, titles, miscellaneous feelings and interesting couplets. Among them, each category can be divided into several subcategories.
Festival couplets: refers to couplets with specific timeliness or commemoration, and the contents are mostly general chanting, lyricism, discussion and wishes. Among the Spring Festival couplets, the most important one is Spring Festival couplets, which are used for the Spring Festival. Most Spring Festival couplets can be used universally.
Festive couplets: also known as congratulatory couplets, refer to couplets with a certain congratulatory nature in addition to festivals and celebrations. According to its contents and objects, it can be divided into several subcategories, such as wedding couplets, longevity couplets, housewarming couplets and so on. The outstanding feature of festive couplets is that they have certain festive and congratulatory nature, and their contents must be good wishes, celebrations and auspiciousness. There are universal and special holiday couplets. Whether it is universal depends on the alliance, and it is not easy to copy, so as not to make jokes.
Mourning elegiac couplet: also called elegiac couplet, refers to the couplet used to mourn the dead. Its content is limited to mourning, remembering, evaluating and wishing the deceased, and its style is generally sad, solemn, deep and solemn. Others write elegiac couplets for the dead, or write elegiac couplets for themselves, which is another matter. The content of elegiac couplet generally refers to more specific objects, although there are also general objects and special objects, but in practice, we should pay more attention to the distinction.
Scenic spot couplets: refers to couplets posted, hung and carved in scenic spots. Most of its contents are engraved with scenic spots and landscapes, such as landscape towers and cultural relics. Such couplets often become an important part of scenic spots and even history and culture. The subcategories of places of interest can be divided into landscape gardens, temples and temples, pavilions, courtyards and halls, monuments and tombs, etc.
Industry couplet: refers to the couplet whose content is directed at a certain industry, department or field. Due to the changes of the times, the application of couplets in the industry is not as good as before, but it is still considerable. Judging from its scope of application and content characteristics, it is still a major category of couplets. Trade associations can be subdivided according to industries and departments.
Inscribe couplets: refers to couplets inscribed to others. Although many couplets are endowed with a certain theme, the theme couplets mentioned here are limited to the theme of interpersonal communication, excluding elegiac couplets and congratulatory couplets. Its content generally has a certain nature of praise, wishes and encouragement. From the perspective of the application of couplets, title couplets can be regarded as a big category. According to the different objects of the questions, the questions can generally be divided into several small categories, such as questions, questions, and questions.
Miscellaneous couplet: refers to couplets that have no specific object but contain a wide range of contents. This kind of couplets often have simple literary creation characteristics, such as philosophical couplets, lyric couplets, persuasion couplets and so on.
Funny couplets: Couplets that emphasize interest or skill rather than content. For example, various humorous associations and skill associations. The content of this kind of couplets is either to highlight the uniqueness of a certain style, such as humorous couplets, or relatively unimportant skills, such as word games, to make them unique. In this sense, it can be regarded as a single category.
Of course, there is no absolute limit to the above classification. But in general, this classification makes the concept of couplets clearer in connotation, and basically covers all couplets in extension, and basically does not overlap each other.
Basic requirements for creating couplets
A couplet should completely or basically conform to the characteristics and laws of couplets, that is, it should follow the basic creative principles. Generally speaking, there are four principles in the creation of couplets:
One is to grasp the characteristics, such as the Spring Festival couplets classified according to the practical scope, which are characterized by writing auspicious and festive words, expressing the festive and spring-like atmosphere and people's desire to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new and pursue a better life. Therefore, the overall conception should be carried out according to this feature in the creation;
Second, pay attention to conception, and make a general conception of couplets before creation, such as what rhetorical devices and logical relations are used to express the theme, so that the theme is prominent and the form is novel and ingenious;
The third is to temper the language, requiring the language to be concise, giving people the most intuitive impression, as well as aesthetic rhythm and harmony;
Fourth, pay attention to style and abandon negative and decadent ideas and cliches.
How are the above four principles embodied in couplet creation? The following is a brief discussion for readers' reference and study. First, there are many ways to pay attention to words, mainly the following.
The first is the embedded grid. That is, the names of people, places or objects are embedded in the couplets, and their relative independence is maintained, so that the couplets are intentional and produce good artistic effects. Embedded grid mainly has the following formats.
And freeze-frame, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the first word in the upper and lower links respectively. Such as "how delicious the dragon saliva and vegetables are;" Tea brewed by spring water has a strange smell. "
Yanling pavilion, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the second word in the upper and lower couplet respectively. For example, the word "Ping An Tong"; He Le is in Sanchun. "
Deer neck lattice, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the third word in the upper and lower links respectively. For example, "the evening breeze adds fuel to the flames; Don't dye the spring xiangyan. "
Bee waist lattice, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the fourth word in the upper and lower links respectively. Such as "this place is rare; He is like a fairy pearl. "
Crane knee lattice, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the fifth word in the upper and lower parts respectively. For example, "lay a foundation and carry forward the style; Daxing career, Zhan Buhong. "
Ghost case, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the sixth word in the upper and lower parts respectively. For example, "Ten years of shogunate mourning Qin Day; A roll of Tang poetry fills the breeze. "
Goose feet, that is, the two words before and after a word are embedded in the position of the seventh word in the upper and lower parts respectively. Such as "the blank twilight of Laoshan in history; The ancient trees in the Southern Dynasties are autumn. "
The second is palindrome. It is characterized by paying attention to the arrangement skills of language and characters, reciprocating structure, reading through before and after, and fluency. Such as "guests are natural homes; In fact, there are guests in the sky. " Another example is "fog lock mountain, lock fog; The sky is connected with the tail water. "
The third is the overlapping word case. That is, the same word is used one after another. The use of reduplication can not only strengthen the weight of word meaning repeatedly, but also strengthen the sense of rhythm of syllables. Such as "overlapping mountains, winding roads; Follow the tree height, ding-dong, ding-dong, spring. " Another example is "ups and downs, self-knowledge, looking around; Yingying Yanyan, there are flowers and leaves, and you will come sooner or later. "
The fourth is the analysis grid. That is to say, through the analysis and interpretation of words, some meanings are derived to form couplets, which is a more exquisite word game. For example, "Sun Moon Ming; Wuyue * * * Qiushan. " Another example is "the woman in the long towel account is good, and the girl is still wonderful;" The wood in the rock is old and dry, and this wood is firewood. "
Fifth, radical radicals. That is to say, the radicals of Chinese characters are skillfully aligned according to certain rules. Such as "Yan Suochi Liu Tang; Dengshen Village Temple Bell. " Another example is "Lijiang River is full of tears;" Tao hard to swallow a sigh of relief and "spoil Su Han poor window lonely; The guest officer is tolerant of the rich rooms in the palace. "Wait a minute.
Sixth, homonyms. That is, using the complex pronunciation characteristics of Chinese characters to correct them skillfully. For example, "the sea is falling towards the DPRK; The cloud is long, long, long. "
Seven is homophonic. That is, using the pronunciation similarity in Chinese characters to make clever pairing. For example, "dogs gnaw bones by the river; Poetry of flowing water on Dongpo. " "River" is homophonic with "monk", "Dongpo Poetry" is homophonic with "Dongpo corpse".
Eight is homophonic. That is, using homonyms and variant characters of Chinese characters to match skillfully. Such as "the stars in the sky, the wages in the ground, people-centered, have different meanings; The geese in the clouds, the geese in front of the eaves, and the cranes on the fence. "
Nine is to hide the character lattice. That is, consciously omit some words to make couplets have meanings and insinuate people or things. For example, "Prime Minister Hefei is thinner than the world: Sinong Changshu is barren." Li Hongzhang, an important official in the late Qing Dynasty, was born in Hefei, and Weng Tonghe, an important official in charge of agriculture, was born in Changshu. Weng and Li are both important officials. Weng taunted Li and Li retorted.
Ten is a two-part allegorical saying. In other words, proverbs are divided into two parts, the first part is the question, and the second part is the answer. Such as "the straw sticks to the seedling-the father holds the child; Bamboo baskets pick bamboo shoots-mother is pregnant. "
Eleven is the couplet of place names. That is, the place names of various places are combined into a joint law according to the rules of antithesis and leveling. For example, the names of Beijing and Hebei are written on the couplets. "The dense clouds do not rain and the three rivers dry, although fertile soil is difficult to get rich; Huairou has a way to Zunhua, knowing that Shunyi is a good hometown. "
Twelve is the azimuth grid. That is to say, nouns of directions such as southeast, northwest, up and down, left and right, front and back, high and low are embedded in the couplet. For example, "Nantong, North Tongzhou, North Tongzhou connects North and South; Spring reading, autumn reading, spring and autumn reading. " Second, pay attention to the logical relationship of couplets. The meanings of couplets are closely related, and their logical relations can be divided into the following categories.
The first is the parallel relationship. That is, the upper and lower couplets are in the same tone and parallel in form, showing the same theme from two different angles. For example, "Skillful hands can cure all diseases; Red hearts are warm. " Another example is "fighting wine runs through twenty-four histories; The incense burner is still against the thirteen classics. "
The second is consistency. That is to say, the up and down links tell events in chronological order or in a sequential sense. For example, "only drink Changsha water; Eat Wuchang fish again. "
The third is the progressive relationship. That is, the bottom line is more meaningful than the top line, or the range is from small to large, or the degree is from shallow to deep. For example, "the head can be broken, the body can be killed, and the national struggle cannot be bent; It is not arrogant, it is not lazy, and diplomatic compromise is not worrying. "
The fourth is the choice relationship. That is, the up and down links represent two meanings, one of which is choice. For example, "I don't want to be like a mandarin duck, very much in love and shallow in water;" I am interested in learning Haiyan and fighting the wind and waves sooner or later. "
The fifth is the purpose relationship. That is, the bottom line and the top line represent the relationship between purpose and action. For example, "the bench will be cold for ten years, and the article will not be empty."
Sixth, the antonym relationship. That is, the words in the upper and lower conjunctions have antonyms or the meanings of the upper and lower conjunctions are opposite. For example, "Although it is a skill, it is a top-level kung fu."
The seventh is the hypothetical relationship. The first part puts forward the hypothesis, and the second part infers the result. For example, "If a glass of water is as light as its name; Tea in Xinying Village is more fragrant than wine. "
Eight is the conditional relationship. That is, the first half puts forward the conditions and the second half tells the results. For example, "You have to read the Five Classics before you know what has happened through the ages."
Nine is causality. That is to say, the upper part is the cause, the lower part is the effect, and there is also inversion. For example, "Emancipate the mind and strive for high yield in rural areas; Implement policies to celebrate the harvest. "Third, couplets should pay attention to rhetorical devices. As a unique literary form, antithetical couplets contain rich rhetorical devices. Its rhetorical devices mainly include the following categories.
The first is metaphor. That is, to use something similar as an example to express something more vividly. Metaphor is divided into simile, metaphor and metonymy. For example, "the valley is the treasure of the country, and the people take food as the sky." Another example is "strict father shoulders the sun and the moon, and the loving mother turns to Kun."
The second is comparison. That is to say, things are people, or people are crops. The personification of things is personification, and the personification of things is personification. For example, "the green willows laugh in the new year, and the heart laughs in the harvest year." Another example is "beauty sitting in a green gauze tent, peony in a smoke cage;" Wash monks and soak gourds by the clear water pool. "
The third is exaggeration. That is, deliberately expanding or narrowing the appearance of objective things to make their essential characteristics more obvious. Subdivided into expansion and contraction. For example, "Wan Li is surrounded by clouds and snow, and nine dragons are like a window to protect the diameter." Another example is "door nine, three wins; The order is thousands of levels, overlooking the wonders. "
The fourth is parallelism. That is, three or more phrases with related content and similar structure are combined together to express key and deep-seated people. For example, "Dedication to the Motherland: Taking part in the discussion of state affairs, observing the people's feelings, driving colorful pens, and writing heroic essays, Bi Qisheng has made outstanding contributions, seeing the Spring Festival in the Long March, tiger leaping dragon, waiting for a triumph; Personal friendship is a mentor: self-discipline, generosity, diligence and courage. For decades, it has inspired a lot, once for ever, and it feels like a full moon. How can it be unintentional? "
The fifth is comparison. That is to compare two things with opposite nature, or two opposite aspects of a thing. For example, "in the past, huts followed the flowing water, but today, tile houses are accompanied by mountains."
The sixth is pun. It is to let a word or a sentence express two meanings at the same time, one is superficial and the other is deep. For example, "you get lotus root because of lotus, but you don't need plum if you have apricot." Another example is "the breeze intentionally makes it difficult to keep me, and the bright moon unintentionally shines on people."
The seventh is to start. Just two things put together, one sets off the other. For example, "the rich are far from the poor, and the world is less polite; If you are a friend, you will be scattered all over the world because of your wealth. "
Eight is repetition. That is, to emphasize a certain meaning, the same phrase or phrase appears repeatedly. For example, "the waterwheel will pump water, the water will follow the car, and the car will stop water; Fan fan wind, wind fan, fan. "
Nine is to ask questions. In other words, in order to arouse people's thinking, we should first ask questions about sentences, and then answer them or not, so that readers can think for themselves. For example, "When will the good news come? Apricot flowers and eight laurels in February; Where is the real effort? At night, the lights are even chickens. "
Ten is anti-cleaning. That is, to emphasize a certain point of view, express the opposite meaning in a questioning tone. Anti-cleanliness is undoubtedly a question, and there is no need to answer it. For example, "What are the addictions besides poetry and books?" A person in the mountains and rivers can't be cheap. "
Eleven is thimble. That is, the last word of each phrase in the couplet is the same as the first word of the next sentence. Such as "cocoon, spinning, weaving; The rabbit gave birth to a hair, wrote a stroke and wrote a splendid article. "
Usage of couplets and horizontal comments
Traditional couplets are flat and even, that is, the final word is flat and even. For example, "Spring tides bring good news, and the Year of the Rat brings good news." Traditionally, hanging couplets must be written correctly and pasted vertically, from right to left and from top to bottom, and cannot be reversed. Sticking couplets is still confusing and looks awkward. Therefore, you need to know the correct posting method.
In ancient China, couplets were always written straight and arranged from right to left. It is necessary to stick couplets mainly on the walls of columns, and they have been written straight. Although the bottom couplet should be arranged from left to right when one line cannot be finished, when two couplets are pasted, the top couplet is still on the right and the bottom couplet is on the left. The so-called left and right depends on where the couplets are posted. Some couplets are posted upside down, or because they don't know if they should be posted on the right, on the bottom and on the left, or with their backs to each other. Now, because the writing habit is from left to right, some people stick the top couplet on the left side of the door.
Where should I put it? It depends on what kind of horizontal batch you choose. If the horizontal batch is written from right to left, the upper part should be posted on the right, and vice versa. In addition, in addition to the requirements of antithesis, couplets should generally be flat on the top and flat on the bottom, that is, the tone of the upper couplet should rise and fall, and the tone of the lower couplet should be flat. I see many couplets, some of which are written from right to left, but the couplets above are posted on the left, some are written from left to right, and some are posted on the right, some of which are uneven and do not conform to people's reading habits.
Let's take Spring Festival couplets as an example to illustrate the correct way to paste couplets. Some Spring Festival couplets have two pairs of direct couplets and one pair of horizontal couplets. The last word of each direct couplet has the rhyme of ping, Shang, Qu and Ren, which is close to the current national tone four-tone method, but there are still people. The correct pasting method is: the upper voice, the lower voice, the human voice are the upper half, and the flat voice is the lower half. Simply put, the right hand is the upper part and the left hand is the lower part. That is, when facing the gate, the upper part is on the right, the lower part is on the left, and the order of the banners is from right to left.
The correct way to paste Spring Festival couplets is "flat" and "from right to left". Here are some examples to illustrate:
As time goes on, people live longer and longer (right).
Spring at first releases kung fu (left). Business is booming in the world (right), and financial resources are abundant in Sanjiang (left). With firecrackers, we bid farewell to the old year (right), and plum blossoms report the new year (left). God-given peace, Fu Lushou (right) gives birth to golden jade, Fuchun (left).
Yuanyun Changlong plus Baifu (right),
Revitalizing the industry of enriching the people has won a thousand fortunes (left).
It's no big deal to post Spring Festival couplets, but I'm lucky, even if I post them wrong, no one will prompt me. However, since it is a national culture, it can't be publicized, and it can't be too much. Sticking wrong couplets reflects ignorance of national culture. Since today is still a symbol of festive festivals, we should know about it, and don't post it wrong to make people laugh.
As for the reading of Spring Festival couplets, it is actually very simple. In short, how to see how to post.
As for the comment on couplets, some of the couplets we usually see have comments, but most of them don't. Why?
Horizontal batch refers to the banners hanging on the top of couplets, also called "horizontal" and "horizontal". The so-called "horizontal" refers to the writing method of horizontal writing; "Approval" means revealing and commenting, which means supplementing, summarizing and perfecting the theme of the All-China Federation.
Horizontal criticism is generally only used for a few necessary couplets, and most of them have no horizontal criticism, which is a very common phenomenon. For example, many shop couplets do not have horizontal approval, and the position of horizontal approval is often hung or engraved with the store name.
According to the content and use of couplets, a certain type of horizontal batch can generally be used. For example, the general sections of Spring Festival couplets are Vientiane renewal, celebrating the Spring Festival, celebrating the Spring Festival, welcoming the Spring Festival, good luck, peace and prosperity, full of spring, farewell to the old year, abundant financial resources, spring back to the earth, happy people, celebrating the New Year, singing and dancing, and so on. The cross-evaluation of inspirational couplets in the college entrance examination has vowed to win the first place, go forward bravely, stand out from the crowd, have the highest aspirations, unite as one, encourage people to report their relatives, be in full bloom, be high-spirited, aim high, strive to be the first, be United with teachers and students, only work hard, have the highest aspirations, be proud of the third year of high school, give up who I am, work hard, and so on.
There are many sections of couplets used in various aspects, so I won't list them here.