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 173t h e l ü s h i F o r m a nD y i n -y a n g C o s m o l o g yThe establishment of any regulated poetry, whether Chinese lüshi or English son-
nets, represents an endeavor to formalize and amplify our delight in the natural
order of language—the rhythm of both its sounds and its sense. On a more ab-
stract plane, the lüshi form may be seen to reflect the order of the universe at large.
To embody the grand cosmic order in a finite work has been a high artistic ideal
long pursued by the Chinese, and the lüshi form is a prime example of this quest.
In collectively developing the lüshi form during the Qi–Liang and the Early Tang
periods, Chinese poets, consciously or unconsciously, modeled it on the yin-yang
cosmological scheme to such an extent that it practically became a microcosm of
that scheme. Indeed, all its syntactic, structural, and metrical rules bear the im-
print of the yin-yang operation as represented by this well-known symbol:
☯
In this symbol, the sharp contrast of the black and white parts is meant to show
the opposition of the basic cosmic forces of yin and yang. This fundamental oppo-
sition is mirrored in the major aspects of the lüshi form. As we have seen, its basic
semantic rhythm consists of a contrast between a disyllabic segment and a trisyl-
labic segment that is usually made up of a binome and a monosyllabic word. Also,
the construction of a parallel couplet often entails a matching of opposite or dif-
ferent images (heaven versus earth, and so on). The organization of four couplets,
too, often involves a broad, bipartite contrast between nature and man, scenes and
emotions. On the level of prosody, we note a maximum contrast between level and
oblique tones both within a line and between two lines of a couplet.
The black and white dots inside the opposed areas of the symbol are meant to
show a subtle equivalence between yin and yang that accompanies and tempers
their mutual opposition. In the lüshi form, too, such an equivalence of bipolar
opposites is readily noticeable. For instance, the two middle couplets each demand
a stringent equivalence in parts of speech, often set against an antithesis in mean-
ing. In addition, there is the prosodic rule of partial equivalence (nian) between
any two adjacent couplets.
The gently curved borderline between the white and black parts of the symbol is
intended to indicate a tendency of yin and yang to transform themselves into their
opposites—yin becomes yang, and yang becomes yin. The dynamic interplay of
yin and yang thus follows a cyclical path of thrust and counterthrust, ascendancy
and decline, instead of a teleological path of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. In
lüshi prosody, the regular alternation of parallel and nonparallel couplets traces a
similar cyclical path.
Finally, the circle of the yin-yang symbol itself speaks to the all-inclusiveness,
completeness, and eternity of the yin-yang operation. In the lüshi form, the repe-
tition of the same or essentially the same tonal patterns in two quatrains and the