Chinese poetry qilv

Chinese Poetry: Seven-Character Regulated Verse (Qi Lu)

A seven-character regulated verse (七言律诗 or Qiyan Lüshi) is a classical Chinese poetic form that consists of exactly eight lines, each containing seven characters.

Form and Structure

1. Length: 8 lines (4 couplets: head, jaw, neck, tail).
2. Characters: 7 characters per line.
3. Rhyme: The last character of the even-numbered lines (2, 4, 6, 8) must rhyme. The first line may also optionally rhyme at the end. The same rhyme must be used throughout the poem.
4. Tonal Patterns (Pingze): Classical poetry distinguishes between level (平, ping) and oblique (仄, ze) tones. The patterns strictly govern the arrangement of these tones within and across lines. Modern Mandarin equivalent assigns tones 1 and 2 to "ping" and tones 3 and 4 to "ze".
5. Parallelism (Duizhang): The two middle couplets (lines 3-4 and lines 5-6) must be perfectly parallel in terms of grammar, part of speech, and meaning.

Modern Mandarin Rhyming (Xin Yun)

When composing poems using modern Mandarin (新韵), the rhymes are determined by modern Pinyin rather than traditional Pingshui Yun. Characters ending in the same vowel sound rhyme together (e.g., an/ian/uan/üan).

Creating a Poem

• Structure your poem logically:
  • Lines 1-2 (Head): Introduce the setting or theme.
  • Lines 3-4 (Jaw): Expand on the theme with parallel imagery.
  • Lines 5-6 (Neck): Deepen the emotion or context with further parallelism.
  • Lines 7-8 (Tail): Conclude and express the core feeling or thought.