it is seen in at present. Modern poetry commonly consists of either five or seven words in a line. Of these two kinds, that of seven syllables (words) in a line is the more common. There are also verses of three, four, six, and nine words, or syllables, in a line; but the ordinary poetry is written in measures of either five or seven syllables.
In poetry there are recognised only two distinctions of tone, namely, the 平 ping, or smooth, and the 仄 cha4, or harsh tones. The latter comprehends the 上 siong2, or rising, the 去 k‘ëü3, or vanishing, and the 入 ih8, or abrupt tones, these being all considered harsh tones.
In verses of five words (syllables) no attention is paid to the tones of the first and third. The second and fourth ought to alternate; that is, if the second is a ping tone, the fourth ought to be cha4, and vice versa. The second and third lines ought to be the reverse of the first, and, by consequence, the fourth verse resembles the first. In verses of seven syllables, the tones of the first, third, and fifth may be selected at pleasure. The tones of the second and fourth words should alternate, and the sixth should correspond with the second. In verses of five, and also of seven syllables, the stanzas, consisting of four lines each, require three of the lines to terminate alike both in rhyme and tone, or accent. Usually the ending of the third line does not rhyme with the others, and frequently they dispense with the rhyme altogether. ’
The structure of Chinese poetry may be illustrated by diagrams, using the open circle to represent smooth tones, the shaded circle for harsh tones, and the circle with one half only shaded, to represent syllables which may be smooth or harsh at pleasure.
In this example the left hand column represents the first line, having the second syllable a smooth tone, and the fourth harsh. The second syllable of the second line is harsh, and the fourth smooth, and so on.
| ◗ | ◗ | ◗ | ◗ |
| ○ | ● | ● | ○ |
| ◗ | ◗ | ◗ | ◗ |
| ● | ○ | ○ | ● |
| ● | ○ | ● | ● |
| ○ | ● | ● | ○ |
| ○ | ● | ○ | ○ |
In the following example, the second syllable of the first line is harsh, and the fourth smooth, and so on. This example is the inversion of the first.
| ◗ | ◗ | ◗ | ◗ |
| ● | ○ | ○ | ● |
| ◗ | ◗ | ◗ | ◗ |
| ● | ○ | ○ | ● |
| ● | ○ | ● | ● |
| ● | ○ | ○ | ● |
| ○ | ● | ○ | ○ |
It is thus admissible to choose at pleasure the tone of the governing syllable, (the second of the first line,) but when that is chosen, the whole stanza must be made to correspond to the peculiar form which agrees with it; in the same manner as in music, the whole tune must preserve a certain relation to the key note. In some poems of five sylla
