Five-Character Regulated Verse

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

2.8

Word count: 5.1K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Five-Character Regulated Verse, or wuyan lüshi (wulü for short), is a form of regulated verse (jintishi). It originated in the Yongming era of the Southern Qi dynasty, when Shen Yue and others championed a new poetry that stressed tonal euphony and parallelism. It took basic shape in the Early Tang under Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen, and matured in the High Tang. A poem consists of eight lines of five characters each; there are two basic patterns, one beginning with an oblique (ze) tone and one with a level (ping) tone; and the two middle couplets must be parallel.

Editor's review

This book examines wuyan lüshi, or five-character regulated verse, as a form of regulated verse. It begins with the new poetry of Shen Yue and others in the Yongming era of the Southern Qi, which stressed tonal euphony and parallelism, and traces the form's development as it took basic shape under Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen in the Early Tang and matured in the High Tang. The book clearly explains the formal rules of wulü: eight lines of five characters each, two basic patterns beginning with an oblique or a level tone, and the requirement that the two middle couplets be parallel. It serves well as an introductory guide to understanding the wulü form. For readers who want to grasp how wulü differs from ancient-style verse and to master the rules of parallelism and tonal euphony, it offers a concise framework. When reading, one can compare specific poems against the formal points: understand the form first, then read the works, and it becomes easier to appreciate how wulü achieves parallelism and tonal euphony within a limited length. Published by Bashu Publishing House in 2024, the book focuses on popularizing basic knowledge of the genre and is suitable for desk reference and as a foundation for beginners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Beginners new to regulated verse who want to understand the basic rules of wulü
Primary and secondary school Chinese teachers who need to explain the wulü form to students
Lovers of classical literature who want to learn the genre's background before reading Tang poetry
Writers who need a concise reference on poetic forms at their desk

Not a good fit for

Readers who want in-depth appreciation and line-by-line annotation of famous wulü poems
Researchers who have already mastered regulated verse prosody and seek advanced scholarly textual criticism
Readers who only want to read individual poets' works and are not interested in the genre's basics

Reading tips

Read the section on the genre's origins first to clarify the general development of wulü from the Yongming new poetry to its maturity in the High Tang.
Compare the two patterns, oblique-tone start and level-tone start, each with a familiar famous poem, checking tone patterns and parallelism line by line.
Note separately the rule that the two middle couplets must be parallel; when reading a poem, first see how the jaw and neck couplets pair up.
After finishing, make a checklist of key points of wulü prosody for easy reference when reading poems later.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
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FAQ

What is the difference between five-character regulated verse and five-character ancient verse?

Five-character regulated verse belongs to regulated verse: eight lines of five characters each, with strict tonal rules, the two middle couplets parallel, and two basic patterns beginning with an oblique or a level tone. Five-character ancient verse does not require such a fixed number of lines, tonal pattern, or parallelism, and its rhyme is relatively free. The book gives a focused explanation of the wulü formal rules, which can be used to distinguish it from ancient-style verse.

Why must the two middle couplets in wulü be parallel?

Parallelism is one of the core requirements of regulated verse prosody. In the eight lines of a wulü, the jaw couplet and the neck couplet lie in the middle of the poem; the upper and lower lines must match in part of speech and structure, creating a neat symmetry. This rule took basic shape in the Early Tang under Shen Quanqi and Song Zhiwen and became an important mark distinguishing wulü from other poetic forms. Noticing how the two middle couplets pair up is key to grasping the wulü form.

How should the two forms, oblique-tone start and level-tone start, be understood?

Oblique-tone start and level-tone start are the two basic patterns, classified by the tone of the second character in the first line. Each wulü line has five characters, and the arrangement of level and oblique tones follows fixed rules; a different opening pattern means a different tonal scheme for the whole poem. The book explains that wulü has two basic forms, oblique-tone start and level-tone start. Readers can take a famous poem for each, mark the tones line by line, and directly perceive the difference between the two patterns.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.