170 t He tang Dy na s t y
│ │ │ ─ ─. These two line combinations (1 and 2; 3 and 4) constitute the two standard
couplets in recent-style shi poetry.
Reverse combinations of the four line types (2 and 1, 4 and 3), however, are not
permissible. What complicates the matter here is two unbending rhyming rules:
all even lines must rhyme and all rhyming words must be in level tones (as in-
dicated, in the tables, by the hollow triangular rhyme marker △). So line types 1
and 3, which end with oblique tones, cannot be the closing lines of a couplet. The
resulting loss of two alternative couplet forms is, however, partially compensated
for by the formation of two variant couplets. Poets choosing to employ rhyme in
both lines, instead of in just the second line, of the opening couplet had no choice
but to use both line types 2 and 4, which end with a level tone. They could combine
them in the order of 2 and 4 (─ ─ │ │ ─, │ │ │ ─ ─) or 4 and 2 (│ │ │ ─ ─, ─ ─ │ │ ─). It
is important to stress that these two variant couplets are used only in the opening
couplet.
The third rule demands a partial equivalence between two adjacent couplets.
Known as nian (to make things stick together), this rule is intended to help inte-
grate the relatively self-contained couplets into a whole. It stipulates a correspon-
dence in tone between the first two words in the closing line of a couplet and those
in the opening line of the next couplet (as indicated, in the table showing the
standard jueju tonal patterns, by the shaded areas). To avoid monotony, these two
adjacent lines cannot be of the same line type. For instance, ─ ─ │ │ ─ cannot be
followed by another ─ ─ │ │ ─. The next line must be ─ ─ ─ │ │.
So this leaves us with only two possible ways of combining two couplets into
a quatrain. If line type 2 is employed in the second line, it must be followed by
line type 3 in the third line; if line type 4 is employed in the second line, it must
be followed by line type 1 in the third line. This combining process yields the two
standard jueju tonal patterns, as shown in the table.
The use of rhyme in both lines of the opening couplet gives rise to two variant
jueju tonal patterns, as shown in the next table. If we compare this table with the
preceding one, we can clearly see that the two variant tonal patterns are almost
identical to the two standard ones, with only a slight one-line variation (as indi-Standard Jueju Tonal Patterns
Type I Type II
(─ ─) │ │ ─ ─ │ (│ │) ─ ─ ─ │ │
(│ │) ─ ─ │ │ ─ △ (─ ─) │ │ │ ─ ─ △
(│ │) ─ ─ ─ │ │ (─ ─) │ │ ─ ─ │
(─ ─) │ │ │ ─ ─ △ (│ │) ─ ─ │ │ ─ △
Pentasyllabic jueju employing
this tonal pattern are C10.5 and
C17.7. None of the heptasyllabic
jueju presented in this book
employs this tonal pattern.A pentasyllabic jueju employing
this tonal pattern is C10.7
(imperfect).A heptasyllabic jueju
employing this tonal pattern is
C15.5.