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Chapter 4 Sequential Structure: Gradation Section 1: Gradation (gradation) 1. Definition and function of gradation “Whenever there are three or more things to be stated, and these things have proportional relations such as size or weight, then in speaking or writing, arranging them in successive step-by-step progression is called gradation.”¹ “Gradation is a rhetorical device in which several layers of meaning expressed in discourse are arranged in order according to temporal sequence, spatial position, scope size, depth of reasoning, or lightness/heaviness of semantic meaning. Its arrangement order may be from earlier to later, from small to large, from inside to outside, from shallow to deep, or from light to heavy, either progressively ascending or conversely descending, thereby embodying the layered nature of linguistic expression.”² “Arrangement,” “sequence,” and “hierarchy” are the three main formal characteristics of the rhetorical figure of gradation, from which its “layered nature” and “hierarchical nature” are manifested. “Arrangement” is the shared formal basis of rhetorical devices such as parallelism, gradation, and anadiplosis. When combined with “sequence” and “hierarchy,” it becomes gradation; when combined with “linking repetition” (where the end of one sentence connects with the beginning of the next through repetition), it becomes anadiplosis. The functions of gradation include: (1) clear structure, (2) distinct layering, (3) strengthening rhythm, and (4) enhancing persuasiveness and emotional impact.³ (1) Clear structure The formal basis of gradation is “arrangement.” The form of arrangement refers to first classifying diverse things into categories, and then assigning a certain “order of sequence” to similar or related categories. Thus, after these two processing steps, the material (things) presents a clear structure and order, no longer in its original chaotic and mixed state. For the author, it allows complex materials to be handled in an orderly manner; for the reader, it allows information to be received and understood easily. (2) Distinct layering After arrangement and sequencing, if the materials are further classified into “hierarchies” according to quantity, quality, or nature, and then rearranged according to the principle of gradual increase or decrease, the materials will present a “gradational phenomenon” with a sense of layering. Clearly layered materials allow readers to have “traces to follow,” and immediately enter a cognitive and interpretive context. (3) Strengthening rhythm Layered materials, because they share similar syntactic structures and word order, and have similar meanings and consistent tone, inherently possess rhythmicity. During the process of gradual increase or decrease, they systematically present rhythmic patterns of “long-short rhythm,” “fast-slow rhythm,” and “rise-and-fall rhythm” (see Introduction, Section 4). In other words, through the structural design of gradation, whether in the incremental expansion of short sentences or the gradual reduction of long sentences, rhythmicity can be strengthened. (4) Enhancing persuasiveness and emotional impact “The use of gradation, in expressing progressively deepening thought and gradually intensifying emotion, is most effective in strengthening the persuasiveness of language.”⁴ Whether in reasoning, narration, or lyrical expression, layered materials combined with intensified rhythm can create a tightening atmosphere layer by layer, producing suspenseful and compact situations, thereby enhancing the persuasiveness and emotional impact of prose and poetry. 2. Historical development of gradation In classical poetry and prose, the rhetorical device of gradation first appears in the Book of Songs (Shijing), such as “Zhou Nan · Peach Blossom,” “Zhao Nan · Plum Ripening,” and “Wang Feng · Gathering Dodder.” Formally, it is often combined with repetition or parallelism, forming a “combined style”; in content, it develops layer by layer, expressing the simple rhythm and mood of ancient folk songs. Consider “Zhou Nan · Peach Blossom”: Peach trees are young and elegant, their blossoms bright and flourishing. Peach trees are young and elegant, their fruits abundant. Peach trees are young and elegant, their leaves lush and dense. This is a congratulatory song written for a newly married woman. Using the abundant blossoms, plentiful fruits, and dense leaves of the peach tree, it on one hand praises the bride, metaphorically suggesting her plump figure and beautiful features; on the other hand, it expresses the hope that after marriage she will bring prosperity to her husband’s family. Each stanza only substitutes certain words in the second and fourth lines, combining repetition and parallelism in form. In content, it follows a temporal sequence of “full bloom (marriage) → abundant fruit (bearing children) → lush leaves (descendants flourishing),” adopting a progressive method to express different stages of life, showing a clear and orderly sense of layering. In Tang poetry, such as Du Fu’s “Climbing High”: “A thousand miles of autumn sorrow, always as a guest; a hundred years of illness, alone ascending the tower.” Song scholar Luo Dajing in Hulin Yulu (Volume 11) pointed out: “Du Fu’s poem says: ‘A thousand miles of autumn sorrow, always as a guest; a hundred years of illness, alone ascending the tower.’ ‘A thousand miles’ refers to distance; ‘autumn’ refers to seasonal desolation; ‘guest’ refers to wandering; ‘always a guest’ refers to long-term wandering; ‘a hundred years’ refers to old age; ‘illness’ refers to frailty; ‘tower high’ refers to elevated place; ‘alone ascending’ refers to having no friends or relatives. Within fourteen characters there are eight meanings, and the parallelism is precise.” If the poet only said “guest” and “ascending tower,” it would merely express homesickness. Saying “always a guest” and “alone ascending” adds the feeling of long-term loneliness in a foreign land. Adding “autumn sorrow” and “illness” deepens the sorrow and suffering. Adding “a thousand miles” and “a hundred years” further extends space and time, emphasizing exile, loneliness, autumn sorrow, and grief. The fourteen characters of the couplet contain four layers of progressive meaning. Ancient critics had already recognized this. Du Fu achieves both “depth of layering”—deepening emotion layer by layer with endless meaning—and “natural wholeness”—language so naturally formed that no artificial structure is visible. Thus, Du Fu’s “Climbing High” achieves both depth and naturalness without superficiality or artificial carving. Another example is the Song lyric “Beautiful Lady Yu” (Jiang Jie): In youth, I listened to the rain in the singing pavilion, red candles dim behind silk curtains. Jiang Jie’s lyric uses the scene of listening to rain to describe his youthful romance, middle-aged wandering, and old-age reflection after experiencing life’s vicissitudes. The entire lyric adopts a gradational structure: temporally three layers—youth, adulthood, old age—progressing step by step; emotionally also three layers—romantic, wandering, desolate—progressing layer by layer. Through the single motif of “listening to rain,” the author’s whole life is summarized.⁵ Another example is the final two lines of Ouyang Xiu’s “Butterfly Loves Flowers”: “Tearful eyes ask flowers, but flowers remain silent; scattered petals fly past the swing.” These lines are highly praised for their layered subtlety. Qing scholar Mao Xianshu said: “There are four layers of meaning, each deeper than the last…” The ancient saying “In ci poetry, meaning should be deep, language should be natural” expresses the requirement for gradation: meaning should be profound, language should be natural and unadorned. However, achieving both is difficult, because deep meaning often leads to artificial expression, while natural language often leads to superficial meaning. Both are difficult to reconcile.
The foundation of formal aesthetics In Western aesthetics, the form of the rhetorical device “gradation” is designed according to principles such as “proportion,” “order,” and “gradation” in aesthetics.⁶ (1) Proportion “In artistic and aesthetic activities, proportion essentially refers to a certain corresponding relationship formed between the formal qualities of an object and the psychological experience related to human beings. When an artistic form, due to certain internal mathematical relations, corresponds with the pleasurable psychological experience formed by people through long-term practical exposure to such mathematical relations, this form can be called a proportionally satisfying form.”⁷ In the history of Western aesthetics, the Pythagorean school first proposed the theory of beautiful form, believing that “beauty is harmony and proportion,” and that “the most beautiful of all solid forms is the sphere, and the most beautiful of all plane figures is the circle.” This school proposed the “Golden Mean” (Golden Ratio) (A : B = (A + B) : A) as the numerical expression of proportion. Modern aesthetician Zhu Guangqian once analyzed this as follows: “The golden section is the most beautiful whole, because it embodies the fundamental principle of ‘unity within variation.’ A form that is too orderly tends to become rigid and monotonous; a form with too much variation tends to become scattered and chaotic. Order represents discipline, while variation stimulates new interest; the two must be harmonized. The golden section is orderly on the one hand, because the opposite sides are equal; on the other hand, it contains variation, because adjacent sides differ in length. Many shapes have a long side much longer than the short one, but in the golden section the long side is just right, neither excessive nor insufficient, thus most capable of producing aesthetic pleasure. It is disciplined, so attention is not wasted; at the same time, it has variation, so interest does not stagnate.”⁸ “Unity within variation” is precisely the aesthetic characteristic manifested by proportion. “Orderliness” is “order,” expressed through regularity. In ancient Chinese painting theory, painters based on practical experience proposed: “Mountains one zhang high, trees one chi high; horses the size of beans, humans the size of beans; distant mountains without texture, distant water without ripples, distant trees without leaves, distant forests without branches, distant people without eyes, distant pavilions without foundations.” (Jing Hao, Ode on Landscape Painting) These are fixed conventions in landscape painting, reflecting the application of perspective in painting. The mathematical basis of perspective is precisely the relationship of proportion. (2) Order Aristotle was the first to propose the relationship between “order” and visual beauty: “For the sake of beauty, a living being or any whole composed of parts must not only present a certain order in the arrangement of its parts, but must also possess a certain size. Beauty is related to size and order… A beautiful whole composed of parts or a beautiful organism must have a certain magnitude such that it can be grasped at a glance; therefore, a story or plot must have a certain length, a length suitable for memory.”⁹ He further stated: “The action in poetry must represent one action, a complete and unified action, in which events are closely connected; if any event is changed or removed, the whole becomes fragmented and disconnected. If the presence or absence of a certain event makes no perceptible difference, then it is not part of the whole.”¹⁰ “Unity (wholeness), order, and magnitude/length/scale” together constitute the aesthetic foundation of art, among which order is the most important. Scholar Yao Yih-wei explains: “All art must establish a certain order; art is an expression of order (Art as order). Thus, the so-called whole is not merely a combination of parts under a certain idea forming a relation, but must also possess a definite order… Once this order is established, it cannot be arbitrarily changed or replaced.”¹¹ (3) Gradation “Gradation is the order of proportion. The ancient Greeks believed that the most beautiful proportion in visual form is the golden section… Arithmetic and geometric progressions in mathematics also originate from the concept of gradation.”¹² Gradation is a “structured proportion” perceived visually; its order derives from arithmetic or geometric incremental change. Gradation is also a form of rhythm, similar to musical crescendo, diminuendo, increase and decrease in volume. It is a formally ordered, repeated, and rhythmically structured progression. It includes arithmetic progression, geometric progression, and gradual transformation, and carries a sense of sequential order and natural transition. It can create visual illusion and a sense of spatial or temporal progression. For example:
In sculpture and painting, gradation naturally creates a sense of spatial depth and distance, producing rhythmic visual effects. In nature, gradation is everywhere:
From the perspective of formal aesthetics, gradation is a special form of repetition: within a repeated unit, elements change gradually from large to small, strong to weak, bright to dark, and vice versa. Although gradation is similar to repetition, the effect is completely different:
Thus, gradual increase or decrease in size, intensity, or brightness constitutes gradation. Within these layered changes, the aesthetic quality of gradation emerges. Section 3: Formal Structure of Gradation The formal structure of gradation can be analyzed from external form and semantic content. 1. External form “Formally, gradation requires at least three linguistic units; two units cannot constitute gradation. Moreover, the structures of these linguistic units must be fundamentally identical.”¹³ “Structurally identical” refers to identical syntactic structure and word order, i.e., a shared grammatical pattern. This is similar to parallelism and antithesis. Because gradation, parallelism, and anadiplosis all rely on arrangement, they are often conceptually confused. Gradation has four formal manifestations:
Scholar Cai Moufang argues that the last three express sequentiality, but sequentiality is not the original purpose of gradation, and he further claims that gradation should only take the form of anadiplosis. This view is not accepted here, for the following reasons: (1) In form Gradation is based on “arrangement,” expressing ascending or descending order and hierarchy. (2) In content Gradation arranges material according to laws such as size, weight, intensity of emotion, etc., forming directional progression (increase or decrease). (3) Sequence inherent in the material itself In classical poetry, this is evident. For example, Liu Zongyuan’s “River Snow”: “From a thousand mountains no birds fly; from ten thousand paths no human trace; If viewed as cinematic shots:
The camera moves from far to near, from vague to clear, showing layered progression. There is no anadiplosis in this poem. 2. Semantic content “In terms of content, the linguistic units forming gradation must be semantically connected and hierarchical. According to logical relations among things, differences in size, length, height, weight, distance, depth, etc., are described in order, either ascending layer by layer or descending layer by layer.”¹⁶ In other words, if there is no quantitative or qualitative progressive relationship among the units, it is not gradation but merely linguistic parallelism, i.e., parallel structure. Section 4: Forms of Expression of Gradation From the perspective of content, gradation can be divided into:
From structural composition, it can be divided into:
1. Content-based classification (1) Ascending gradation Progression from light to heavy, shallow to deep, small to large, few to many, easy to difficult, low to high, short to long, near to far. Du Ye, “Traveler’s Message”¹⁷ “If I leave a message for the station, From “station → Earth → universe,” this is spatial ascending gradation, expanding from small to vast. Xiao Xiao, “Red Dust Wilderness”¹⁸ “Twenty centuries have passed, From “primitive cannibalism → rough songs → orderly footsteps,” this is cultural evolution from barbarism to civilization, an ascending historical gradation. Xiang Yang, “Chaos”¹⁹ “We, obedient like building blocks, From “region → coordinates → dream,” this is spatial expansion from narrow to broad. (2) Descending gradation Progression from heavy to light, deep to shallow, large to small, many to few, difficult to easy, high to low, long to short, far to near. Mai Sui, “Stone Carved Tang Book”²⁰ “Once I stretch out my hand, This passage contains two layers:
Yang Mu, “The Man in Black”²¹ “I take down from the window From “rain scene → tree shadow → you,” this is descending gradation from large image to intimate object. Xia Yu, “You Will Never Travel There Again”²² “You are cut into a plane, This is descending gradation from large to minimal existence. 2. Structural classification (1) Phrase-level gradation Luo Qing²³ “A cup of milk, a cup of warm love This contains phrase-level gradation in two sequences:
(2) Clause-level gradation Zheng Chouyu²⁵ “I am a nameless tributary of Tamsui This is ascending clause-level gradation: tributary → Guanyin → clouds → unknown entity. (3) Sentence-level gradation Luo Fu²⁷ “A face hidden in leaves This is ascending imagery and emotional gradation. (4) Paragraph-level gradation Yu Guangzhong²⁸ “She is older than Mong Kok itself… This is temporal paragraph-level gradation, moving from individual → language → homeland. (4) Paragraph-level Gradation Luo Fu, “Reading Du Fu on the Bus”²⁹ A journey of mountains, a journey of water A journey of rain, a journey of snow In these two sections, the poet uses two sets of gradational syntax to imagine Du Fu’s ecstatic emotional state when he left Sichuan and returned home. The two gradational passages repeat the same syntactic structure, forming a paragraph-based rhythm that is very brisk and smooth. Most ballad-style poems, under the premise of using paragraph parallelism as their main form, sometimes also through the arrangement of “paragraph gradation,” allow semantic meaning, emotion, time, space, etc., to expand or deepen or intensify layer by layer. Examples include Yu Guangzhong’s “Homesickness,” “Four Variations of Homesickness,” and “Legend.” Yu Guangzhong, “Legend”²⁸ It is said that in the North there is a folk song from Qinghai to the Yellow Sea if the Yellow River freezes into an ice river from the plateau to the plain if the Yangtze River freezes into an ice river from morning tide to evening tide one day my blood freezes from type A to type O This poem contains both “paragraph parallelism” and “paragraph gradation.” Within the cinematic imagery, the view shifts from a long shot of the Yellow River in the North, to a medium shot of the Yangtze River, to a close shot of the Red Sea, and finally to an extreme close-up of “frozen blood.” This is a gradation of real objects moving from far to near. At the same time, there is also movement from concrete imagery such as “wind, sand, fish, dragon” toward abstract emotion such as “wakefulness, dream, crying, laughter.” That is, a transition from landscape language to emotional language. In this sense, it is also a “from external objects to inner experience” process of permeation and gradation. Section 5: Differences between Gradation and Parallelism
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