Preface#
Recently, I discovered an interesting open-source project on GitHub, Regulated Verse Editing Program. It not only automatically checks for tonal patterns and other regulated verse rules but also uses machine learning to compare its own works with the verses of "Complete Tang Poems." This allows it to find Tang poems that are highly similar to the verses one has written.
I remember that during high school, I was also obsessed with writing poetry for a while, but at that time, I didn't understand many of the basic concepts. So, what I wrote was just for my own amusement, lacking any structure.
The cope project is written in node.js and runs on the electron framework. Coincidentally, I am also learning related knowledge, so while learning development, I can also learn about poetry creation. Why not?
Basic Elements#
Tones#
- Four Tones
Explanation: Simply put, for Mandarin, the 1st and 2nd tones are level (ping), while the 3rd and 4th tones are oblique (ze). - Basic Sentence Patterns
- Level start, level end: level level【oblique】oblique level
- Level start, oblique end: 【level】level level oblique oblique
- Oblique start, level end: 【oblique】oblique oblique level level
- Oblique start, oblique end: 【oblique】oblique level level oblique
Explanation: Level follows oblique, oblique follows level. The characters in 【】 can be either level or oblique. The same applies to seven-character regulated verse; just add two characters with opposite tones at the front.
Rhyme#
Rules#
Even-numbered lines must belong to the same rhyme group and must be level tone rhymes.
Parallelism#
Rules#
- Regulated quatrains do not need to be parallel
Wang Changling's "Out of the Frontier" => Not parallel
The clear moon at the Han border, the long journey of thousands of miles, the person has not returned. As long as the flying general of Longcheng is there, do not let the Hu horses cross the Yin Mountain.
Du Fu's "Quatrain" => Parallel
Two yellow orioles sing among the green willows, a line of white egrets flies in the blue sky. The window contains the autumn snow of the western ridge, the door docks the ships of Dongwu for thousands of miles.
- In an eight-line regulated verse, the two middle couplets must be parallel
Li Shangyin's "Brocade Zither"
The brocade zither has no reason for fifty strings, each string and each post reflects thoughts of youth. 【Zhuangzi's morning dream confuses the butterfly, the emperor's spring heart is entrusted to the cuckoo】.
【The moon over the vast sea shines with tears, the warm sun over Lantian produces smoke from jade】. This feeling can be awaited for remembrance, but at that time it was already bewildered.
- In regulated verses of more than eight lines, all middle couplets must be parallel except for the first and last couplets.
Different Types of Parallelism#
- Exact Parallelism => Same part of speech and category, as in Du Fu's quatrain above. Two || one line; oriole || egret; window contains || door docks;
- Loose Parallelism, Neighboring Parallelism => Same part of speech and broad category, such as willow || sky; snow || ship; they are different categories but are all nouns.
- ....
Cohesion#
Rules#
The second character of even-numbered lines and the second character of odd-numbered lines must have the same tonal pattern.
Conclusion#
This article organizes the basic knowledge and some rules of regulated verse creation. Of course, if the creation of regulated verse overly pursues formal norms, it may lose the joy of creation. However, for beginners, it is still important to understand these rules and common knowledge. In fact, the way of learning is largely like this; only by mastering the rules can one create.