As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi left a poem "New Year's Day": "The firecrackers are one year old, and the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of families are eager for new peaches to be inserted into old peaches. " The meaning of the poem is: One year after firecrackers, the spring breeze warms the face, the earth is brand-new, people are in high spirits, and the whole family get together, drink Tu Su wine and celebrate the festival. At this time, the morning glow filled the sky, illuminating thousands of families, as if wearing red; People are in high spirits, scrambling to tear off the old symbols and replace them with new ones, indicating that the old ones are removed and the new ones are welcome.

Couplets are called "couplets", commonly known as "couplets" As a unique combination of language art and calligraphy art in China, it not only occupies a certain position in China's splendid cultural and artistic treasure house, but also shines brilliantly in the world's literary and artistic halls.

Couplets have a long history. Tracing back to the source, the earliest Spring Festival couplets appeared, which evolved from "Fu Tao". Fu Tao was born in the Qin Dynasty. At that time, Fu Tao wrote "Shen Tu" and "Lei Yu" and "Er Shen" on two crimson mahogany boards, or drew the image of Er Shen, aiming at exorcising evil and praying for happiness. Later, with the appearance of parallel prose in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the development of regular poems in the Tang Dynasty, the content of "Fu Tao" was also updated, resulting in two antithetical sentences, which can be said to be the earliest prototype of Spring Festival couplets. As early as before the Qin and Han dynasties, there was a custom of hanging peach symbols in the New Year.

When and who made the earliest Spring Festival couplets? There are about eight or nine kinds of sayings. Traditionally, it is also the current view of most people in the United Kingdom. The earliest Spring Festival couplets were written by Meng Changjun of the Five Dynasties. The main basis is a record in the Book of Shu Family in the History of Song Dynasty: Xin, a bachelor of Shu, was ordered by Meng Changjun to write Spring Festival couplets on New Year's Eve. Meng Chang thought that couplets were ineffective, so he wrote a poem by Fu Tao: "Qing Yu in the New Year, Changchun in the First Festival". These two "Fu Tao Poems" are considered as the earliest Spring Festival couplets.

In the Song Dynasty, the custom of hanging "Fu Tao" on the portal during the Spring Festival was still used. Wang Anshi's "New Year's Day" poem: "Thousands of households are always changing peaches in Tongtian." This "new peach" is the "peach rhyme" of the new topic. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, couplets carved on wooden pillars appeared in palaces, official doors, temples and Buddhists, and were later called "couplets". Moreover, according to relevant data, the earliest birthday couplets, elegiac couplets and inscribed couplets were also produced at that time.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who is known as the "couplet of the Emperor", wrote a letter, and Spring Festival couplets were distributed all over Jinling: "Set up Spring Festival couplets in Ming Taizu, Jinling, the imperial capital, and order public officials and scholars to hang a pair of Spring Festival couplets on the doors on New Year's Eve." Since then, Spring Festival couplets have replaced the custom of "writing peach symbols", and overnight, Spring Festival couplets have spread from the palace giants to the people's portals. In the history of couplet development, this is a great contribution of the feudal emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

Since then, especially in the prosperous period of Kanggan in the Qing Dynasty, the art of couplets has reached a state of perfection, with a wide range of topics and a large number of celebrities and experts.

(B) antithesis of couplets

First, parts of speech must be equal. For example:

The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow; Bamboo shoots in the mountains have a thick mouth and an empty stomach.

Wall to mountain, reed to bamboo shoot, head to mouth, foot to skin and root to belly are all nouns to nouns. Heavy versus sharp, light versus thick, and shallow versus empty are adjectives versus adjectives. "Shang" is relative to "seeing" and "ground" is relative to "middle". Whether according to the requirements of the ancients or today's standards, they are all right and good.

Second, the structure must correspond, that is, the grammatical structure of the two conjunctions is the same. Take the couplets on the wall as an example. Upper couplet is a subject-predicate structure, and lower couplet is also a subject-predicate structure. The subject part of the upper couplet is partial structure, and the subject part of the lower couplet is also partial structure. The upper part of the predicate is a parallel structure, and the lower part of the predicate is also a parallel structure. These two related structures are corresponding. Now according to the analytic hierarchy process, it is drawn as follows. Because the two associations have the same structure, they only cooperate in one picture:

The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and have shallow roots;

Bamboo shoots in the mountains have a thick mouth and an empty stomach.

└—┘ └—┘ └—┘ └—┘ └—┘ |

Directional coordinate subject-predicate subject-predicate orientation

└————┘ │ │ └——┘

Partial correction │ │ subject and predicate

└┬┘ └———┴—————┘

assort or arrange in pairs or groups

└———————————┘

Subject-predicate structure

Parts of speech must be the same, and the structure must correspond. These two items should generally be observed.

Third, the rhythm must be consistent, that is to say, the places where the two couplets pause must be consistent. Please look at a pair of Maitreya Buddha halls in Yongquan Temple in Fuzhou:

Carrying an empty cloth bag every day, there is little rice and no salt, but the stomach is big and the intestines are wide. I don't know what to support when I am confident.

Sitting at the cold mountain gate every year, I am always in high spirits in Li See. What is the source of this Zen master's pride?

Judging from the big pause, the rhythm of this couplet is 64758, and from the small pause, the rhythm is 242342314. Both couplets are like this.

(C) The levels of couplets-alternation and opposition

In order to be able to use flexible flat cable, we must first be able to distinguish flexible flat cable. Flat tones were first used to write poems. The ancients divided the level and flat tones into two categories. Flat tone is flat tone, and flat tone is flat tone. In Mandarin, even tones and rising tones are flat tones, while rising tones and falling tones are Legato tones.

The so-called alternation of flat and parallel lines means that in a couplet, not only flat and parallel lines or flat and parallel lines should be used alternately regularly. Nothing can be done except as an artistic skill. The so-called level and level opposition refers to the words with the same position between the upper and lower couplets, and the level and level should be opposite. That is, the upper part is silent and the lower part is flat; The upper part is flat and the lower part is silent. It should not be violated unless it is modified within the scope allowed by the rules (for example, even number, even number).

Let's try two poems by Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty:

Qian Fan is on the side of the sunken ship.

ΔΔООΔΔО

Wan Muchun is in front of the sick tree.

ООΔΔООΔ

From the level of labeling, the upper part is "Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping" and the lower part is "Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping-Ping". (where δ stands for о and о stands for flat. In each poem, levels alternate with levels. A poem like this is written in a level tone of Chinese, which makes people feel smooth and rhythmic.

Let's try to read this couplet: let's read the following seven-character couplet again:

There are mountains every year, water every year, and beautiful spring scenery.

ОООΔΔ ООΔΔООΔ

Celebrate the New Year with beautiful winds and new scenery.

ΔΔΔОО ΔΔООΔΔО

Here, let's take a look at the couplets of Anqing Daguan Pavilion:

Autumn has spread all over the southeast, and it's not fun to go boating with guests since Chibi.

ОΔΔОО ΔΔ О ΔΔО ΔΔ

The river flows day and night, ask Violet to come to till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon.

ΔООΔΔ ОО Δ ООΔ ОО

Judging from the flat symbols of this couplet, the places with flat symbols in the book are rhythm points, which are flat and alternate, while the rhythm points of the upper couplet and the lower couplet are opposite. But apart from these rhythm points, the similarities between the upper and lower parts are not necessarily the opposite. This phenomenon means that the leveling between the upper couplet and the lower couplet outside the rhythm point does not necessarily need to be opposed, but can be relaxed. This kind of relaxation does not affect the rhythm of the all-China Federation, so this phenomenon is allowed, especially the long-term Federation.

It can be seen that when writing couplets, we must pay attention to the alternation of the horizontal lines in the couplet and the alignment of the rhythm points of the upper and lower couplets.

(D) the basic requirements for writing couplets

First, the number of words in upper and lower couplets is equal. Second, words in the same position have the same part of speech. Third, the structure of words in the same position is the same, that is, the subject-predicate structure is opposite to the subject-predicate structure, the verb-object structure is opposite to the verb-object structure, and the partial structure is opposite to the partial structure. Fourth, the reading rhythm of the upper and lower couplets must be consistent. Fifth, the rhetorical devices used in the upper and lower couplets are the same. Sixth, we should pay attention to the level and level alternation in the couplet and the level and level opposition between the rhythm points of the upper and lower couplet.

To write couplets well, we should not only understand the basic requirements of couplets, but also read more famous sayings and epigrams, expert couplets, folk couplets and poetry couplets. Students have some at will, such as "the thread in the hand of a loving mother makes clothes for the body of wayward teenagers", "One water protects the fields and green flowers are sent to two mountains", "The petals have flowed like tears, and the lonely birds have sung their sorrows", "Look at a thousand fingers coldly, bow their heads and be a willing ox", "If a teenager doesn't work hard, the boss will be sad" and "Water is eye-catching, while the mountains are gathering eyebrows." Wait a minute. In fact, many famous aphorisms are neat sentences. Reading more and remembering more is a practice of couplets!

Su Shi is a good hand at couplets. As long as he studies, his wonderful anecdotes are always there. For example, when Su Shi went to the countryside one day, he saw fellow villagers picking mud in the pond. An old woman said, "A car full of heavy dirt blocked the way" (Zhong Ni was Confucius; Luz, a student of Confucius) Su Shi immediately replied: "Two lines of Confucius laughed back" (Confucius is Confucius; Yan Hui (a student of Confucius) was right. It's really neat and interesting.

Couplets originated from poetry and are characterized by neatness, antithesis and equality. For example, Wen Tingyun's "Walking in the Morning": "Chicken sounds like Maodian Moon, and people are covered with frost." The six nouns * * * are not only neat and even, but also can express the complete meaning without any prepositions and verbs, creating a perfect artistic conception.

"If you are familiar with 300 Tang poems, you can recite them even if you can't write them." Paying attention to some interesting couplets and consciously increasing cultural accumulation are very beneficial to doing well couplets.

In addition, we must master the method of writing couplets:

(1) association method

Associative ability is the most important ability in human thinking activities. Because the greatest feature of couplets is that they are both "positive" and "linked". "Right", that is, there must be a corresponding relationship between the upper and lower links in the structure; "Lian" means that the couplets with up and down contents should be related, so it can be said that "association method" is the most basic and commonly used method to make couplets.

There are generally three kinds of associations, which play an important role in the making of couplets.

Similar association: refers to the association between things with the same or similar nature or characteristics (including the meaning in the production of couplets). For example, in the national volumes of Jilin and Sichuan, the couplet "Spring is full of soil, Ruiqi is full of dry Kun" is mainly drafted in this way: from "spring" to "Ruiqi" and from "surplus" to "surplus"; From "the earth" to "Gankun", these words are all associations between things with the same nature or characteristics.

Relative association: refers to the association between things with opposite nature or characteristics. For example, in the couplets of "Sweep away the old habits for thousands of years and build a new generation of new styles" used in Jiangxi and Henan, there is relativity or opposition between things.

Association: refers to the association between things related in nature or characteristics. For example, the "gardener"-"peach and plum" in the couplet of "a generation of gardeners' music, Kyushu peaches and plums" used in Ningxia, Gansu Province, belongs to the association of things.

Generally speaking, the most commonly used associations in making couplets are similar associations and related associations, while relative associations are more commonly used in making "objections" (for example, "Sweep away the old habits of thousands of years, build new ones" in the national volumes of Jiangxi and Henan, and "firecrackers go away with the old year, and spring breeze blows new ideas and new atmosphere with the new year" in the volumes of Guangxi and Hainan). In most cases, the preparation of couplets must be done by various associations.

Of course, when using the association method to write couplets, we should not associate from a single word in isolation, but focus on the overall grasp. We should not only consider the relevance of the Chinese characters in the upper and lower couplets, but also pay attention to the adhesion between the Chinese characters in the upper and lower couplets.

(2) the use of chemicals

The so-called "cultural usage" refers to the flexible use of famous poems or idioms to make couplets. Many famous couplets in ancient and modern times were made in this way. For example, Pu Songling wrote a self-encouragement couplet-"Where there is a will, there is a way." If you cross the rubicon, 120 Qin Guan will eventually return to Chu; Hard-working people, hard-working, hard-working, more than 3,000 armor can swallow Wu, so they skillfully combine idioms and allusions such as "where there is a will, there is a way", "God helps the hard-working", "cross the rubicon" and "hard struggle", which can be called the classics of this kind of couplets.

In fact, the previous "association method" and "cultural usage" should be based on "disassembly method", and disassembly is the best way to use couplets. That is to break a sentence into several phrases according to the basic rhythm, and then combine them into a sentence.

The 24th question of the national college entrance examination in 2004 is couplets, and the last sentence is: ① Sweep away thousands of years of old habits; 2 the motherland is good; (3) winter goes and spring comes, and thousands of Liu Suifeng are green. Three sentences or do ① ② or ③. How to answer such questions well? For example, the phrase "Sweep away the old habits of a thousand years" can be divided into three paragraphs: "Sweep away the old habits of a thousand years". At first glance, we know that "sweep" is a verb, and we can quickly identify a long list of "divide, innovate, promote, go, build, develop, break, stand, rise, multiply and accumulate". "Millennium" is a quantifier, and we can distinguish "centenary, longevity, generation, four seasons, Sanqiu, two generations, five summers, one hundred million years" and so on. "Old habits" are biased words, which can be treated as "new style, bad customs, ugly behavior, quirks, bad habits" and so on. Select some combinations from them to form "except centenarians-bad customs", "revolution-endless years-bad customs", "exhibition-generation-new style" and so on.

Finally, we should develop the good habit of reviewing questions when answering questions.

In order to write couplets that meet the requirements in the examination room, it is very important to examine the questions. In particular, students should be warned not to ignore the information that expresses or implies the writing requirements in the questions. For example, the national volume requires writing Spring Festival couplets, which means that the content of the couplets to be written must reflect the festive color of the Spring Festival; The title requirement of Zhejiang Volume is "Please supplement the next copy for the library", so the next copy given to it "Learning from the present" should reflect the industry characteristics of "library". If the next couplet is drawn up, such as "Honesty Earns Success", although the antithesis is neat, the content is obviously "off topic" and cannot be regarded as a couplet that meets the requirements. (Wisdom connects China and foreign countries)

(5) Highlights of the Spring Festival Gala in 2005.

The South China Sea is clear, telling the story of spring (Guangdong I), Confucius' model of benevolence, justice and humanity (Shandong I)

Lijiang River is blue, Third Sister's new song is floating (Guangxi Part II). Mount Tai sky, Hukou smoke, wonders of heaven and earth (Shanxi Part II)

The 800-mile Dongting is based on the magnificent Yueyang (Hunan Shanglian) Wan Li Great Wall Shanhaiguan, headed by the dragon head (Hebei Shanglian).

In 2000, I saw the Yellow Crane in Chibi (Hubei Part II) and the wheel of Shaolin Temple's stunt "Journey to the West" (Henan Part II) flying in the east, west, north and south (Jilin Part I), and molten steel rushed into my eyes in spring, summer, autumn and winter (Liaoning Part II).

Drink Longjing tea, taste Jiangnan silk and bamboo (Zhejiang Shanglian) and climb the tiger hill. On the World Garden Expo (Jiangsu Shanglian), Huangguoshu in Miaozhai Mountain, Chishui in Maotai (Guizhou Shanglian) and Jianghu in Shui Ze (Qinghai Shanglian).

Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan embroidery, Jinguancheng, Huajing Caotang (the second part of Sichuan), gold, silver, copper, iron, chromium, nickel, lead and zinc (the second part of Gansu), and Shilin have their own lofty disciples, and the peaks are pulled up (the first part of Yunnan), and the flowers are in full bloom and the flowers are overflowing (the first part of Hong Kong).

Qionghai has a unique style, with five fingers reaching into the sky (Hainan bottom allied), lotus flowers blooming in the wind, and Jinghai (Macao bottom allied).

Taste Tieguanyin, worship on both sides of the river (Fujian Part I), love a family (Taiwan Province Part II), the history of five treasures of red, yellow, blue, white and black (Ningxia Part I), wine and medicine poems, and all saints stay behind (Shaanxi Part II).

(6) Prediction and practice of college entrance examination questions

1,

In 2004, seven couplet questions in the college entrance examination all appeared in the same way, which we call "antithetical sentences" for the time being.

Example: The following are couplets of Spring Festival couplets. Please choose one of them to make the next couplet. (Examination papers in Yunnan and other places)

1) Spring fills the earth, and fighting spirit writes the sky. Science can make you rich, and industry can make you prosperous. Democracy will make the country prosperous.

The country is rich and strong, and the country is prosperous and the people are safe. Momoka Li Xiang Tao Xiang.

This type of question is generally given directly, and the structure and meaning should be considered when solving the problem. The first topic "Spring is all over the earth" and "Science can make you rich" are all "2 12" in sentence structure, which expresses the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival in content, so that we can compare the bottom two parts with enthusiasm, sprinkling warmth on the earth and entering the house with joy. The second topic "The country is rich and strong, the country is rich and strong" consists of three subject-predicate clauses: the country is rich and strong, the family is rich and strong, and the country is rich and strong. And "country" and "home" can be combined into the word "country", and the word "rich" appears repeatedly; The content is to express good wishes for the New Year. The second part can be said as "always lucky, less lucky, all ages are lucky", "out of safety, into safety, out of safety" and so on. Give a bottom line to "nothing is difficult in the world, I am afraid that there is a will": where there is scientific truth, there is will.

Exercise: Choosing couplet questions for college entrance examination in 2004.

1. National volumes in Guangxi, Hainan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai:

The first question: ① firecrackers are crisp and spring is good everywhere; The weather is very new; Everyone is happy; This river is full of springs. Flowers bloom all over the mountains.

All love is good, and the whole country has a new look; Kyushu Tao Lirong; Millennium great cause; The future of the four seas is beautiful; The five lakes have an excellent environment.

The second question: firecrackers, old customs and habits leave with the old year, and the spring breeze blows new ideas and new atmosphere with the arrival of the new year;

Yangko, a big-axis gongs and drums performance in the New Year.

(2) the national volume of Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other places:

The first question: ① Spring is good everywhere, and everyone has a new atmosphere. (2) The first generation of gardeners are happy and the five lakes environment is excellent.

The second question: the east wind warms the north and south of the great river, the spring is good, and the rain and dew moisten the new atmosphere inside and outside the Great Wall; The good news is that the whole country is warm and harmonious in spring.

3. Fujian Volume: Please add a bottom line with the same number of words and similar structure as the top line (regardless of level):

Part I: Patriotism and honesty are the foundation of being a man.

Bottom line: Seeking truth and modesty is the premise of academic research. A model of law-abiding, tolerant and true life.

2. Theme style

For example, please choose one of the words "study hard" and "aspire to" as the topic and write a couplet. (You can draw up the good upper part, or you can draw up the lower part yourself. )

The examination and conception of this type of question is somewhat similar to the topic composition. Compared with ordinary couplets, this form is more open and can provide students with greater autonomy in answering questions and broader creative space.

Diligence-Part I: Know all the words in the world and read all the books in the world.

Ambition-Part I: The sea is vast, the sky is shore, the mountain is high and I am the peak.

Exercise:

Please choose one of the words "dedication", "determination" and "perseverance" as the topic and write a self-encouragement couplet of no more than 20 words.

Title: Dedication. Part One: Candles shed tears and smiles, and chalk exudes the fragrance of Melissa Zhou.

Title: determination. Part One: Learning from the sea is a long journey, and learning from mountains is Wan Ren's great ambition to climb.

Topic: Perseverance. Part 1: A rope saw will never stop wood from breaking, and water drops will never stop stones from penetrating.

"Spring Tide" magazine plans to open a column of "campus writers" with the aim of "showing students' excellent works and cultivating future writers". Please write a pair of couplets for this column as advertising words for this purpose, requiring the use of figurative rhetoric methods, not exceeding 20 words.

The first part: the exhibition hall of students' works, and the second part: the training camp for future writers.

Step 3 configure

Example of theme setting:

Please use relevant knowledge and choose four sentences from the following eight sentences to form two pairs of Spring Festival couplets that meet the requirements and characteristics of couplets.

Spring in Kyushu is full of flowers. The east wind is blowing, and the earth is green. The sunrise in the east illuminates the universe. The sun is shining, and spring in China is like the sea. China has beautiful scenery, green water and green hills. In spring, flowers, flowers and birds sing on the earth. Peach blossoms add beauty to beautiful mountains and rivers. Sanchun dances in the mountains on earth.

The first part: spring flowers, birds and flowers,

Part II (1): China is full of beautiful colors, green mountains and green waters.

Part II: Beautiful days, beautiful flowers, beautiful flowers. Spring in China is like the sea.

Part II (2): The east wind blows and the earth is green.

(Combining the knowledge of couplet structure and leveling)

To do this kind of topic, we should not only use the knowledge of "equivalence of parts of speech, structural correspondence and similar sentence patterns", but also determine the upper and lower couplets in each pair of couplets according to the characteristics of "Pingji"