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Chapter 1: Repetitive Forms — Repetition (Leidie / Repetition) Section 1: Leidie (Repetition) I. Definition and Functions of Leidie In the field of literature, poetry is the genre that most frequently employs “leidie.” Repetition (leidie) in poetry is also called “futa” (refrain or reiteration). It possesses special expressive power, capable of revealing strong and profound thoughts and emotions, strengthening tone, forming melodic beauty, and producing an effect of “one chant with three sighs.” Regarding this, the prose master Zhu Ziqing, in Classical Talks: The Book of Songs, Chapter Four, stated: “The rhythm of folk songs mainly relies on repetition, also called refrain; originally, folk songs focus on expressing emotion, and as long as the emotion is fully conveyed through repeated expression, it suffices, without the need for many words. Repetition can be said to be the life of folk songs, and rhythm is thus established upon it.” He also said, “The characteristic of poetry seems to lie in circular repetition, what is called going in circles; after all is said and done, only that little point is expressed. Repetition is not for saying less, but for making what is said less yet more intense.”³ Repetition can make sounds vivid and prominent, produce special auditory effects, and also serve descriptive and expressive functions, strengthening the imagery of language and intensifying semantic expression, thereby arousing resonance in readers and listeners and enhancing the artistic appeal of poetic lines. II. Historical Development of Leidie In Tang poetry, examples include Meng Jiao’s “Song of the Parting Son”: “Before departure, stitch by stitch sewn tight; fearing his return will be delayed and slight.” In Song lyrics, Xin Qiji’s “Ugly Slave”: “In youth, not knowing the taste of sorrow, I loved climbing high towers, loved climbing high towers; to compose new lyrics, I forced myself to speak of sorrow. Now having fully known the taste of sorrow, I wish to speak, yet stop; wish to speak, yet stop; instead I say, what a fine cool autumn.” This is an example of repeated sentences. In the Yuan dynasty, Qiao Ji’s “Tianjingsha”: “Orioles, swallows, spring, spring; flowers, willows, true, true; everything, charm, charm; delicate, tender; proper, proper, everyone,” the entire piece is completed in one continuous flow of reduplicated words. In terms of sentence-level repetition, there are also outstanding examples, such as Su Shi’s “Watching the Tide” of the Song dynasty: “Misty rain over Qiantang, the Zhejiang tide; before seeing it, countless regrets cannot be dispelled. When it comes, there is actually nothing at all; misty rain over Qiantang, the Zhejiang tide.” This is a “repetitive sentence” structure where the beginning and ending echo each other, demonstrating remarkable talent and ingenuity. The earliest discussion of the rhetorical use of “leidie” appears in Chen Kui’s Wenze of the Song dynasty, which explains it through five categories: “similar characters,” “interweaving,” “indirection,” “repetition,” and “same heading.” Section 2: The Formal Aesthetics of Leidie I. The Basis of Formal Beauty The principle of repetition can also be called the principle of uniformity. This principle, originally a very simple form, can be applied everywhere to produce a simple and pure pleasure. Often, things that appear to have no value when viewed individually acquire a certain interest once arranged repeatedly. The poet Xu Zhimo wrote in “Xu Zhimo’s Diary: Notes on West Lake”: “Quantity itself is beauty. When quantity increases, it seems to follow a natural law, naturally producing a particular arrangement, a particular rhythm, a particular pattern, stirring our aesthetic instincts and arousing our aesthetic emotions.” The beauty of repetition is most deeply appreciated by poets. Scholar Huang Qingxuan, citing the aesthetician George Santayana’s concept of “multiplicity in uniformity” from The Sense of Beauty, proposed: “Leidie is a repeated occurrence of imagery, either overlapping or reiterative… In aesthetics, leidie is based on multiplicity within uniformity.”⁶ This provides a clear and concise explanation. II. The Aesthetic Effects of Leidie (1) Reduplication (Repeated Characters)
(1) Musicality “Identical initials and finals” and “alliteration and rhyme” are both “disyllabic metrical units.” The “foot” is the smallest unit of metrical measurement in English poetry; the main types and numbers of feet determined through metrical analysis define a poem’s meter. In the phonological system of classical Chinese poetry, this is called a “pause” (dun). “Identical initials and finals” (reduplicated sounds) are formed by the repeated alternation of identical initials and finals, creating a rhythmic pattern. Their phonological structure is: a character with identical initial and final + another character with identical initial and final, forming a repetitive linkage pattern. “Alliteration and rhyme,” on the other hand, form rhythmic cycles through the unity of contrasting sound qualities. Alliteration, rhyme, and reduplication are all musical forms; they are pleasing to the ear because, in addition to rhythmic patterns within the metrical units, they are accompanied by tonal pauses, forming compound rhythmic sound segments within the metrical units.¹² (2) Descriptiveness (3) Evocative Rendering (2) Repetition (Repeated Words)
(1) Continuous Repetition (2) Interval Repetition From the semantic perspective of repeated expressions, repetition can be divided into “repetition” and “reduplicative diction.” “Reduplicative diction and repetition as rhetorical figures are different: in reduplicative diction, what is repeated are characters, and the meanings of the repeated characters are not identical; in repetition as a rhetorical figure, what is generally repeated are words, phrases, or sentences, and the meanings of the repeated components are identical.”¹⁷
(1) Prominence (2) Stratification (3) Descriptiveness (4) Musicality Section 3: The Formal Structure of Leidie I. The Unity of Content between the Base Form and the Repeated Form II. The Structural Independence of Repetition “Seeking, seeking; cold, cold, desolate, desolate; miserable, miserable, sorrowful, sorrowful. When warmth returns yet cold lingers, it is hardest to recuperate. Three cups, two cups of thin wine—how can they withstand the sudden evening wind? The geese pass by; just as I am heartbroken, they are old acquaintances. Chrysanthemums cover the ground in heaps; worn and withered, who now would pick them? Guarding the window alone, how can the night be endured? The parasol tree, together with fine rain, until dusk—drip by drip. In such a situation, how can a single word ‘sorrow’ suffice?” (Li Qingzhao of the Song dynasty, “Slow, Slow Tune”) In the opening couplet, seven groups of reduplicated words are used consecutively: “Seeking, seeking; cold, cold, desolate, desolate; miserable, miserable, sorrowful, sorrowful,” and later, “until dusk—drip by drip.” These reduplicated words do not stand in relationships of modification or mutual dependence. Even if the repeated forms are removed, the original basic structure remains intact, and the essential meaning (the emotion of sorrow and grief) is not fundamentally affected. However, in terms of rhythm, it would become shorter and more abrupt, losing the slow, slightly helpless melodic quality produced by repeated chanting and layered singing. “The courtyard, deep, deep—how deep is it? Willows pile in mist, curtains in countless layers. At places where carved saddles and jeweled reins roam, from high towers one cannot see the road to Zhangtai. The rain sweeps across, the wind rages at the end of the third month. Doors close at dusk; there is no way to keep spring from staying. Tearful eyes ask the flowers; the flowers do not speak. Scattered petals fly past the swing.” (Ouyang Xiu of the Northern Song, “Butterflies in Love with Flowers”) In the opening line “The courtyard, deep, deep—how deep is it?”, the first two characters “deep, deep” are reduplicated words, functioning grammatically as adjectives modifying the noun “courtyard.” The third “deep,” although seemingly repeated, actually functions as a verb; its part of speech differs from the previous two, and its grammatical role is also different. Therefore, the third “deep” should not be regarded as a reduplicated word but rather as “reduplicative diction.” Another example is the line “Tearful eyes ask the flowers; the flowers do not speak.” The first “flowers” is a noun functioning as an object, while the second “flowers” is a noun functioning as a subject. Although both are nouns, grammatically the former is in a passive structure and the latter in an active structure. Their parts of speech and meanings are similar, but their grammatical roles differ—should this be regarded as reduplication? The author believes there is still room for consideration. This sentence is originally a compound sentence, semantically containing two layers: “I, with tearful eyes, ask the flowers” and “the flowers are silent toward me.” If the repeated form is removed, ambiguity arises, yielding two interpretations: “I ask the flowers with tearful eyes; the flowers are silent toward me,” or “I ask the flowers with tearful eyes; I am silent toward the flowers.” Section 4: The Manifestational Forms of Leidie The rhetorical device “leidie” can be formally divided into two categories: “continuous reduplication” and “interval repetition.” Each can further be classified, according to compositional units, into repetition of “words (characters),” “phrases,” “short expressions,” “sentences,” and “initial-final repetition,” encompassing both repetition (leidie) and reduplication (reduplicated words). I. Continuous Reduplication (1) Continuous Reduplication of Single Words (Reduplicated Characters) Consider the reduplication poem by the Tang dynasty monk-poet Hanshan: “Vast, vast the Cold Mountain path; In this poem, each line begins with reduplicated words, following the AA pattern. The use of reduplication not only strengthens the imagery—visual imagery such as “Cold Mountain path,” auditory imagery such as “cold stream’s edge” and “birds are often heard,” and action imagery such as “wind blows against the face” and “snow gathers on the body”—making the imagery vivid and moving, but also harmonizes the rhythm, giving it a measured and graceful cadence. In modern poetry, poets also frequently use reduplication: Xin Yu, “Variations of the Face”²¹ “Large, large” and “round, round” follow the AAB pattern and function as adjectives. “This face face face face face overlapping,” with five consecutive “face” characters, is an expanded AA pattern functioning as a noun. In this poem, reduplication serves to emphasize meaning and harmonize rhythm. Yu Guangzhong, “The World in the Mirror—A Secret Dream”²² In this stanza, the poet successively uses five groups of reduplicated adjectives. Their use creates a gentle and measured rhythm, and the reduplicated adjectives make the nouns they modify more vivid, enhancing the evocative power of imagery. The poet’s brush follows the shifting focus of vision, like a zoom lens moving in and out: beginning with nearby lotus flowers, whose slender stems fill the mirror-like lake surface; then the graceful reflections of lotus stems; next, the lens pulls far away to faint mountain hues and empty scenery; then it returns to a nearer view, where a small boat floats lightly on the lake; finally, the lens moves closer to the boat, revealing two or three human figures aboard. In modern poetry, there are also cases where large quantities of reduplication appear, usually to create special visual effects. For example, in Ye Weilian’s poem “Continuous Stream,” more than a hundred instances of the character “locust” are arranged across six lines, producing a shocking visual effect. This has already surpassed the inherent meaning of the rhetorical device “leidie” and entered the stage of “pictorialization.” Wu Sheng, “In a Foreign Forest”²³ In this passage of verse, the poet makes extensive use of reduplication, including the adjective “dazed and trance-like,” the quantitative adjective “tens of thousands,” the adverb “thread by thread, strand by strand,” and the verb phrase “murmuring and murmuring again,” thereby creating a gentle rhythm and a romantic atmosphere. As the poet paces in a foreign forest, he transforms the sounds he hears into a metaphorical form (like willow branches by the riverbank), expressing, after sensory transference (synesthesia), a visual image (willow branches swaying endlessly by the riverbank / threads and strands entwining me). (2) Continuous Reduplication of Phrases (Reduplicated Words) Yu Guangzhong, “Percussion Music”²⁵ Xiang Ming, “Reading the Newspaper”²⁶ In these two poetic examples, the continuous appearance of phrases forms a dense rhythm, strengthens the force of expression, raises the volume, and draws the reader’s attention. Although reduplicated words can indeed intensify tone and emotional impact, the number of repetitions and frequency of use must be carefully controlled, because the same kind of “stimulus” can easily numb readers or even make them feel weary. Ye Weilian, “Thames River, Flow Quietly”²⁷ In this passage, there are not only reduplicated characters (“new new humanity”; “positive positive, negative negative”), but also reduplicated phrases (“without regard”; “enjoy”), as well as interval repetition of characters such as “in” and “water,” presenting a highly diverse set of leidie forms. These are used to express the hedonistic, pleasure-indulgent lifestyle of the new generation. The simile “like fish swimming in water, delighting in water, yet unaware of water” is particularly vivid; “unaware of water” carries multiple possible meanings and is highly thought-provoking. (3) Continuous Reduplication of Sentences (Repeated Sentences) “In youth, not knowing the taste of sorrow, This lyric uses consecutive repeated sentences in both the upper and lower stanzas; the two groups of repeated sentences respectively express the actions and realizations of two different stages of life. Luo Ying, “A Cat’s Autumn”²⁹ a glimmer of starlight In this passage, the repeated sentence not only performs its inherent function but also serves to connect the semantic flow of the preceding and following text. In form, such repeated sentences resemble the rhetorical device of “anadiplosis” (linking the end of one clause to the beginning of the next), and their connective function is also similar, making them not easily distinguishable. In this case, the first “a glimmer of starlight” functions as the object of “calling for a restless,” whereas the second “a glimmer of starlight” serves as the subject leading “from the base of the mountain peak,” clearly differing in function. Zhang Cuo, “Anecdotes of Tea”³⁰ The final line, “what exactly is the meaning?”, is repeated once, forming a “sentence repetition at the end of the passage,” which can lengthen the rhythm and create an echoing effect. Semantically, it also serves to emphasize meaning. This passage narrates the story of Bodhidharma coming from India to spread Buddhist teachings, incorporating legendary elements that claim that bitter tea trees originated from Bodhidharma’s cut eyelashes. II. Interval Reduplication (1) Repetition with Intervening Words (Leizi / Similar Characters) Luo Qing, “Nüwa Battles the Giant Excavator — A Sketch of Taiwan”³³ This passage depicts the greed of sand and gravel operators extracting river resources, damaging river hydrology and ecology. In the line “shoulder to shoulder, veins linked to veins,” the words “shoulder” and “vein” are each repeated at intervals, presenting the magnificent scene of continuous mountain ranges in the distance. Yu Guangzhong, “Sea Sacrifice”³⁴ In the line “stars brighten, stars fade; the moon rises, the moon sinks,” the words “star” and “moon” are each repeated at intervals, expressing the passage of time through their alternation. This compound sentence is also, in form, a parallel sentence. In modern poetry, inserting structurally balanced sentences (such as repetition, parallelism, and listing) within free verse can regulate rhythm, strengthen expressive force, and prevent the lines from becoming loose due to irregular sentence lengths. Zhang Mo, “War, By Chance”³⁵ Poet Zhang Mo, with a military background and experience of wartime, naturally possesses a profound understanding of the brutal nature of war. This passage describes the poet, in a sleepless night, recalling his time on the front lines, witnessing firsthand the tragic scenes of countless bodies with mutilated limbs scattered across the battlefield. These inescapable memories remain like shadows deeply embedded in time. “Many dreams without dreams, In this passage, the parallel structure employs a shared sentence pattern: “many without ■ of ■.” The use of formal interval repetition creates a regular rhythm and vividly outlines the real scenes of the battlefield. (2) Repetition with Intervening Phrases (Leici / Similar Words) Luo Qing, “After the Disaster Occurs Again — A Sketch of the Mine Pit”³⁶ In the line “the tunnel is silent, the coal seam is silent,” the phrase “silent” constitutes repetition with intervening phrases. The “silent” in the second line is repetition with intervening sentences. The three occurrences of “silent,” arranged before and after, present the tragic scene of a mining disaster, where miners trapped deep in the tunnel are on the brink of death. Yu Guangzhong, “Kowloon–Canton Railway”³⁷ In the line “You ask me what kind of taste Hong Kong has, what kind of taste,” the phrase “what kind of taste” is repetition with intervening phrases. The poet could originally have omitted this phrase, yet deliberately repeats it in order to emphasize the sensory word “taste,” highlighting the poet’s mixed and complex emotions at that moment. (3) Repetition with Intervening Sentences (Leiju / Similar Sentences) Ya Xian, “The Circus Clown”³⁸ “The ladies are smiling” is repetition with intervening sentences. Spoken from the clown’s perspective, it forms a sharp contrast with the clown’s inner feelings—namely, an intense contrast of “external warmth and internal coldness.” Even though the clown is inwardly sorrowful, he must conceal it and strive to amuse the audience. Zhang Mo, “Death, Farewell”³⁹ “Farewell” is repetition of a phrase with intervening sentences. “We, naked,” is repetition of a sentence with intervening sentences. “We, naked,” when combined with the following lines, also forms a “progressive parallelism.” Both the first half and the second half of this passage consist of structurally regular “balanced sentences,” giving the rhythm a cyclical, recurring melodic quality. (4) Repetition with Intervening Paragraphs (Leiju / Similar Sentences) Zheng Chouyu, “Skylight”⁴⁰ The sentence “the stars are all beautiful” is repetition with intervening paragraphs, appearing at the beginning of two separate stanzas, serving an emphatic function. Zheng Chouyu’s early lyric poetry is romantic and gentle, and this poem “Skylight” is one of his representative works. The poem describes the poet imagining the skylight as a deep well; lying on his bed, he feels as if he is reclining within the well, imagining the stars outside the skylight coming to his roof tiles to draw water. The use of personification turns the stars into gentle young maidens holding clay jars to fetch water. “Water from the spring source already wanders idly along the four walls / the tinkling clay jar has not yet been lowered”—the “tinkling” of the clay jar is an onomatopoeic expression, giving the lines both sound and imagery. Luo Zhicheng, “A Candle Falls Asleep Within Its Own Flame”⁴¹ Baby, let us quietly walk downstairs. A candle falls asleep within its own flame. The cradle of time gently sways, From the gap pierced by meteors in the night sky, A candle has fallen asleep, like a marvelous brush, drawing dreamlike lines into the air. A candle falls deeply asleep within its own flame. The sentence “A candle falls deeply asleep within its own flame” is repetition with intervening paragraphs, appearing as the opening line of the first, third, and fourth stanzas. This poem is written by a father about his daughter; the lines reveal the father’s love for his child. After the daughter falls asleep, the father tidies her toys, tucks in her blanket, and then sits beside her, beginning a beautiful and warm reverie: “Let us go fly kites on the beach! …” (5) Initial–Final Repetition Zheng Chouyu, “A Farewell”⁴² This time I leave you, and will no longer think of seeing you again. “This time I leave you” is an example of initial–final repetition, which in rhythm produces the effect of correspondence between the beginning and the end. This lyric poem employs a “simultaneous yet spatially separated imaginative projection,” narrating how, after parting from his lover on a night of bitter wind and rain, the poet imagines his lover’s feelings and activities at that very moment during his journey home. Section 5: The Distinction Between Leidie and Parallelism (1) Repetition (leidie) focuses on the literal repetition of words or sentences, whereas parallelism focuses on similarity or identity of structure, similarity of meaning, and consistency of tone. (2) The primary function of repetition is emphasis and highlighting, whereas the primary function of parallelism is to strengthen momentum and rhetorical force. (3) The components that constitute parallelism must be continuous, whereas repetition, although it may be continuous, can also occur at intervals.⁴³ Notes
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