r e C e n t-s t y l e Sh i P oe t ry : P e n ta s y l l a biC r e gul at eD v e r s e 165(verbs of emotional response), and “tear” and “heart” (nouns related to emotion).
In the third couplet, there is the meticulous matching of “beacon fire” with “home
letter” (binomes relating to the transit of messages), “span” with “equal” (verbs in-
dicative of temporal-spatial linkage), “three” with “ten thousand” (numbers), and
“month” with “gold tael” (nouns of measurement).
These two nexuses of words signify a well-codified web of prescribed syntactic
links underlying the forty or fifty-six words and integrating them into a unified
whole.
Rules of Structure
There are also two structural rules, one mandatory and the other optional, that
serve to bind together the four couplets of a lüshi work. The first rule is a manda-
tory alternation of nonparallel and parallel couplets (duiju). The majority of lüshi
works begin with a nonparallel couplet, continue through two parallel couplets,
and end with another nonparallel couplet. A lüshi poet normally should not end
a poem with a parallel couplet, although he could choose to begin with a parallel
one. This alternation of the two couplet types gives rise to a tripartite structure of
beginning, middle, and end. This structure does not, however, effect a straight se-
quence of narration or description. Instead, a poem’s middle part often functions
to suspend the temporal flow and allow for an intense perception and reflection in
the timeless lyrical present. References to a specific time and place seldom occur
in this middle part. In “Spring Scene,” for instance, the two middle couplets are
composed solely of words and images detached from any specific time and place.
The second structural rule is the optional observance of a four-stage progres-
sion: qi (to begin, to arise), cheng (to continue, to elaborate), zhuan (to make a
turn), and he (to conclude, to enclose). This four-stage progression was widely ob-
served in High Tang lüshi. In every poem discussed in this chapter, for instance,
the four couplets are cast in this fashion. Now let us trace the four-stage progres-
sion in “Spring Scene”:
country broken mountain river◦ remain 國破山河在 (guó pò shān hé zài)
city spring grass wood◦ thick 城春草木深 (chéng chūn căo mù shēn)
Performing the function of qi, the opening couplet sets the time, place, and theme
for the entire poem. In the first line, what is human (“country”) is set against what
is natural (“mountain,” “river”), and what is “broken” by men is pitted against
what “remains” in nature. The contrast between human destruction and na-
ture’s luxuriance is not explicitly stated but implied in the second line. The thick
growth of grasses and trees clearly signifies the state of an abandoned city in the
springtime.
feel time flower◦ shed tear 感時花濺淚 (găn shí huā jiàn lèi)
hate separation bird◦ startle heart 恨別鳥驚心 (hèn bié niăo jīng xīn)