Form of 7-character Lueh poem beginning in the Ping tone:
A. Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping
Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping
Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping.
Form of 7-character Lueh poem beginning in the Tseh tone:
B. Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping
Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping
Tseh tseh ping ping ping tseh tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Ping ping tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh tseh ping.
Form of 5-character Lueh poem beginning in the Ping tone:
C. Ping ping tseh tseh ping
Tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh ping
Ping ping ping tseh tseh
Tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh ping.
Form of 5-character Lueh poem beginning in the Tseh tone:
D. Tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Ping ping tseh tseh ping
Ping ping ping tseh tseh
Tseh tseh tseh ping ping
Tseh tseh ping ping tseh
Ping ping tseh tseh ping
Ping ping ping tseh tseh
Tseh tseh tseh ping ping.
In order to understand this arrangement of characters, it should be
borne in mind that Chinese characters are distinguished not only by the
phonetic sounds, but also by tones resembling musical notes.
Of these only four are generally recognized in poetical compositions:
(1) The Ping-sheng, or low and even note.
(2) The Shang-sheng, or sharp and ascending note.
(3) The Khue-sheng, or clear and far-reaching note.
(4) The Ruh-sheng, or straight and abruptly finished note.
These tones help to distinguish words which have the same phonetic sound
but different meanings. For instance, the word--
'li' (Ping-sheng) = black.
'li' (Shang-sheng) = village.
'li' (Khue-sheng) = sharp.
'li' (Ruh-sheng) = strength.
In written Chinese each of these words is distinguished by a different
character, and the tone is, therefore, of secondary importance; but
occasionally a character has two tones--a ping and a khue, for instance,
and then each tone indicates a difference of meaning, or distinguishes
the use of the word as a substantive from its use as a verb.
But in poetry these tones are used to make rhythm as well as to express
meaning, and when used for this purpose they are divided into ping and
tseh, the ping representing the ping or low, even tone, and the tseh the
other three tones, Shang, Khue, and Ruh. This brief explanation will
enable the reader, I think, to perceive what is regarded by Chinese as
the rhythm of a poem. In the diagrams given above, the first line
consists of two ping tones, followed by three tseh tones, which are
followed by two ping tones; and the arrangement of the characters in
each line in terms of ping and tseh forms the rhythm of Chinese poetry.
When compared, it will be seen that there are lines or couplets which
are in contrast to, or harmonize with, other lines, &c.
But it is not necessary that the tones of all the characters in each
couplet should agree, excepting the first and last lines which always
agree exactly--tone for tone. In the other lines, the tones of the
first, third, and fifth characters in a seven-character line, and the
first and third in a five-character line, may be varied--ping for tseh,
or tseh for ping; but the second, fourth, and sixth characters in
seven-character poems, and the second and fourth in five-character poems
must not be changed; when the ping tone should be used it must be used,
the tseh may not be substituted for it, and when the tseh should be used
it must be used, the ping may not be substituted for it. And when the
opening tone of the first line is a ping, the opening tone of the line
following must be tseh, and vice versa.
The following two poems are perfect specimens of the 'Tsueeh', or poem of
four lines, which may be regarded as the unit of Chinese poetical
composition. The first specimen shows a 'tsueeh' beginning in the Ping
tone; and the second specimen a 'tsueeh' beginning in the Tseh tone:
(1) _p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._
Ch'un fung tseh ye tao Yue Kwan
_ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._
Ku kwoh yen hwa siang i tsan
_ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._
Shao fu puh chi kwei wei teh
_p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._
Chao chao ying shang wang fu shan.
(2) _ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._
Tze meh hong ch'en fuh mien lai
_p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._
Wu ren puh tao k'un hwa hwei
_p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._ _ts._
Hsueen tu kwan li tao ts'ien shu
_ts._ _ts._ _p._ _p._ _ts._ _ts._ _p._
Tsin shi liu lang ku heo tsai
As I have stated above the 'tsueeh' of four lines, whether the line is
composed of five or seven characters, may be regarded as the unit of
Chinese poetical composition. In order to make a 'lueh' poem four more
lines, composed exactly according to the ping-tseh arrangement of tones
in the tsueeh, are added to the tsueeh; while a 'p'ai-lueh' poem is made by
continuing this process beyond eight lines.
Besides the ping and tseh arrangement of tones in each line to form the
metre or rhythm, the final characters of the first, second, and fourth
lines of the tsueeh may rhyme with each other; but these rhymes are also
controlled by the ping-tseh tones. For instance, in the specimen of a
perfect tsueeh given above, the final characters of the first, second,
and fourth lines are kwan, ts'an, and shan, and these sounds rhyme in
Chinese; but it will be observed that all three words belong to the ping
tone, and this is the rule generally followed in the technique of modern
poetry, that is, poetry made according to the new rules introduced by
the poets of the T'ang Dynasty; but in ancient poetry, words both in
ping and tseh tones were used for rhymes; and poets of all periods have
used both systems--ancient and modern--in their poetical compositions.
The tendency in recent dynasties, however, has been to follow the
elaborate technique of the modern school of poetry in which great skill
in the art of poetical composition is too often more highly prized than
true poetry, and consequently mere cleverness is mistaken for genius.
These few remarks on the use of the ping-tseh tones in the rhythm and
rhyme of Chinese poetry must not be regarded by readers as an exhaustive
summary of the system, which is much more intricate than it seems, owing
to many qualifying rules and conditions as to its application in
relation to the other factors required to form a correct poetical
composition; they will, however, suffice to give a general conception of
the part played by the ping and tseh tones in the technique of Chinese
poetry, especially in modern poetical compositions. But although the
ping-tseh tones are indispensable to the rhythm of the modern poem,
there are, as I have remarked above, other factors required to form a
perfect 'tsueeh', or 'Lueh', or 'pai-lueh', and most elaborate instructions
as to the use of each character or line in relation to other characters
and lines in the same stanza must be mastered before a poem can be
constructed that would satisfy the eye and ear, and literary standard,
of the modern Chinese critic of poetry. But it must not be forgotten
that the scholarly Chinese poet is just as familiar as his Western
_confrere_ with the metaphor, simile, allegory, epigram, climax, and all
other figures of speech which are common in the prose and poetry of a
literary people; and the skilful use of these in harmony with the rigid
ping-tseh rules concerning rhythm and rhyme is a task of considerable
difficulty for the conscientious poet. Fortunately the ancient poets did
not adhere very rigidly to technique; and not a few modern poets have in
many of their compositions imitated the ancient style. Besides the
tsueeh and lueh there are many poetical compositions, such as the ko,
hsing, yin, tz'e, k'ueh, p'ien, yong, yao, t'an, ai, yuen, and pieh--many
of them of very ancient origin, which are all put under the generic term
'yoh-fu', implying that they are compositions which can be set to music
and sung, chanted, recited, &c. Some of the most charming poetical
compositions are found in Chinese anthologies under the above-mentioned
headings; but in this brief introduction it is only possible just to
call the attention of readers to them without attempting to describe the
form of each separately. For the same reason I cannot attempt any
description of the ancient terms fung, ya, song, &c., to which, however,
translators of the Shi-King have given some attention.
It is doubtful, indeed, whether the information which I can crowd into a
few introductory pages will help readers to gain an insight into Chinese
poetry in the making, or utterly confuse them; but I am loath to send
forth the translations without an introduction, and I must, therefore,
remind readers again that this introduction gives only the barest
outline of the rise and progress of Chinese poetry, and of a few of the
factors which are required by modern technique in the construction of
poetical compositions since the revival of literature and poetry in the
T'ang Dynasty.
It should be observed that no attempt has been made to reproduce the
technique outlined above in the English translations of Chinese poems in
this book, as it would be impossible to restrict the translations to
lines of five and seven words. In Chinese each character is a word of
one syllable only, therefore a five-character line of poetry contains
only five monosyllabic words, and a seven-character line seven
monosyllabic words; but as many articles, pronouns, prepositions,
auxiliary verbs, &c., which are understood in the Chinese, must be
inserted in the English translation in order to connect the meaning of
the five or seven monosyllabic words which form a line of Chinese
poetry, it is obvious that, in most cases, the length of the line in the
translation must be longer than that in the original Chinese. Some
Chinese poems might be rendered into English in lines of five or seven
syllables without doing much violence to the meaning of the original,
but in most cases, the five or seven monosyllabic line in Chinese is
translated into English far more correctly and accurately by a line of
eight, ten, or more syllables, because the Chinese reader mentally
inserts connecting parts of speech which must be written in English to
make the grammar correct and the meaning of a line complete.