Chapter Five: The Musicality of Modern Poetry (Part One)

Preface

Modern Poetry: A Product of Formal Transformation

Modern poetry, in contrast to classical poetry (Tang poetry, Song ci, Yuan qu), namely the so-called regulated verse and lyric poetry, is primarily characterized by formal transformation. In other words, modern poetry liberated itself from the various constraints and rules of regulated verse, such as: (1) restrictions on the number of characters, namely five-character and seven-character lines, and restrictions on the number of lines, such as four-line and eight-line forms; (2) the emphasis on neatly matched antithesis in grammar (parts of speech); and (3) the requirements of tonal patterns and rhyme. Therefore, in terms of formal expansiveness, modern poetry was called “vernacular poetry” during the early period of the May Fourth Literary Movement in the 1920s, in contrast to “classical-language poetry”; it was also called “free verse,” in contrast to “metrical poetry,” whose form is orderly and whose prosody is rigorous.

The orderly rhythm and densely saturated tone quality originally found in regulated verse arose from the unity of form (fixed numbers of characters and lines), the rigorous grammatical structure among words (the structure of grammar, including antithetical parts of speech), and formal structures (tonal contrasts and rhyming). However, such rules were abandoned. After modern poetry broke free from the various artificial constraints and conventions of regulated verse, its form approached complete freedom. The ancient dictum, “With rhyme it is poetry; without rhyme it is prose,” the guiding principle followed by poets through the ages and the supreme literary canon, seemed to be shaken as well. After formal liberation, the boundary between modern poetry and prose became blurred, producing a phenomenon of confusion. Consequently, a transitional literary form known as “prose poetry” emerged, replacing sentences with lines. As Aristotle stated in Poetics: “Poetry need not always possess meter, and what possesses meter is not necessarily poetry.” Nor is it necessarily true that modern poetry completely disregards rhythm. The “polyphonic prose” that arose after the European War in the 1920s, and the “metrical poetry” of China in the 1920s and 1930s (the so-called “bean-curd block poems”), both returned to the old path of mixed use of prosodic elements.

From the evolutionary perspective of literary forms, the development of “unrhymed poetry” has become an emerging trend. From the standpoint of prosody, unrhymed poetry overturns the traditional criterion that poetry is “pure literature with musicality” (in Zhu Guangqian’s words). The secondary requirements of free verse should include “formal freedom”: no self-imposed restrictions on character count, line count, tonal patterns, or antithesis; and “prosodic freedom”: no self-imposed restrictions on end-line rhymes. Under this concept, “metrical poetry,” “prose poetry,” and “unrhymed poetry” may all be regarded as dimensions encompassed by free verse. In other words, free verse may transition from rigorously metrical poetry, to prose poetry with less rigorous prosody, and ultimately to completely irregular unrhymed poetry.

Section One: The Three Elements of Musicality in Modern Poetry

1. The Three Elements of Musicality: Melody, Rhythm, and Harmony

Prosody

Rhyming (homophony)

The periodic repetition of line-ending finals or vowels: homophony

Cadence (tone)

The rise and fall of syllables and the varying lengths of notes: harmony

Rhythm

The speed, strength, intonation, and pauses occurring during the succession of syllables (tone feet)

In the field of music, percussion instruments such as drums, gongs, cymbals, and chime instruments, as well as plucked instruments such as the bass (for example, bass guitar), play the role of constructing “rhythm.” Other brass and woodwind instruments are primarily responsible for performing the main melody and accompaniment, thereby forming “melody.” Rhythm and melody complement each other and together form a complete musical composition (harmony). Professor Chen Zhengzhi, a scholar of children’s poetics, stated: “The three major elements of music are: melody, rhythm, and harmony. Melody refers to a combination of musical sounds differing in pitch, duration, and intensity; rhythm refers to the tempo and intensity of sounds; harmony refers to the simultaneous vertical combination of several musical sounds.” 1

Section Two: The Design of Musicality

The musicality of modern poetry may be designed from three perspectives: (1) rhyming, homophony, and the rise and fall of stanzas; (2) the combination of long and short lines; (3) rhythm and formal design.

I. Rhyming, Homophony, and the Rise and Fall of Stanzas

(1) Rhyming: Divided into internal-line rhyme, end-line rhyme, and rhyme shifting

1. Internal-Line Rhyme

When rhyme does not occur at the end of lines but instead occurs among words (or phrases) between lines, it is called internal-line rhyme.

“Journey” / Zheng Chouyu (excerpt)

After all, after the great famine there will still be talk of war
I might as well continue being a mercenary
(I might as well continue being a mercenary)
I have once been a husband, been a father, and almost reached there too

In the final line, the words “husband” and “father,” along with the three occurrences of the character “guo” (“have been” / “passed”), present two different groups of sounds and rhymes in an alternating manner.

2. End-Line Rhyme

Using words with the same final vowel at the end of poetic lines creates phonetic resonance through homophony, producing a rounded and pleasing musical quality.

(1) End-Line Rhyme: Within the same stanza, every line ends with the same final vowel or with a group of similar final vowels (such as a-o-e, ie-ai-ei, ao-ou, an-en-ang-eng, i-ü).

“Dream” / Zhu Xiang

How can only dreams be empty in this life?
How is life any different from a dream?
You see wealth and splendor enter barren tombs;
The dream ends,
Yet the flavor of a beautiful dream remains profound!
Bitterness and hardship fill this human world,
A beauty’s face is not forever red like spring blossoms,
Even spring flowers fear frost and freezing;
The dream ends,
Yet the flowers in dreams know no severe winter!
Moonlight clear as water filters through ancient pines,
Within the mountain temple the night bell tolls slowly,
Dream-like spring sounds stir in the distance:
The dream ends,
Yet dreams in moonlight are endlessly delightful!
The fragrance of flowers, rich as wine, makes one languid,
Bees hum busily upon the flowering branches,
Warm breezes arrive in waves through the window:
The dream ends,
Yet dreams in sunlight are full of joy and harmony!
Within the grave there is not the slightest sound,
The bluish grave lamp glows dimly,
Figures of yellow earth stand in attendance on every side:
The dream ends,
Yet dreams within the tomb are endless and eternal!

Every long line in this poem ends with the “-eng” rhyme, and the same rhyme is maintained throughout. The lengths of the sentences are identical, and the rhythm (metrical feet) is evenly balanced.

“By Chance” / Xu Zhimo

I am a cloud in the sky,

By chance casting a shadow upon your heart’s waves—

You need not be surprised, nor need you rejoice,

For in an instant the trace has disappeared.

You and I meet upon the sea at night,

You have your direction, and I have mine;

You may remember, or better yet, forget

The radiance we exchanged at this encounter!

The first stanza employs the same group of similar finals, “-en” and “-eng”; the second stanza employs the “-ang” rhyme throughout. The two stanzas are linked through a rhyme shift, while the rhyme finals still belong to the same group of similar vowel sounds.

(2) End-Rhyme in Alternating Lines

In poetic lines, when the endings of odd-numbered lines (1, 3, 5) or the endings of even-numbered lines (2, 4, 6) use the same type of rhyme, thereby forming an alternating-line pattern, it is called: alternating-line rhyme (alternate-line end rhyme).

“Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again” ∕ Xu Zhimo

Softly I am leaving,
Just as softly I came;
Softly I wave my hand,
To bid farewell to the clouds in the western sky.

The golden willows by the riverbank
Are brides in the setting sun;
Their gorgeous reflections in the rippling light
Ripple upon my heart.

The green duckweed on the soft mud,
Greasily sways beneath the water;
In the gentle waves of the Cam River,
I am willing to be a water plant.

That pool beneath the shade of trees,
Is not a clear spring, but a rainbow from the sky,
Shattered among the floating algae,
Depositing rainbow-like dreams.

Seeking dreams? Pole a long punt,
Upstream toward where the grass is greener still;
Loaded with a boatful of starlight,
I sing amid the splendor of the stars.

But I cannot sing,
Silence is the panpipe of parting;
Even the summer insects are silent for me,
Silence is Cambridge tonight!

Softly I am leaving,
Just as softly I came;
I wave my sleeve,
Taking away not a single cloud.

This poem, “Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again,” is a representative work of New Metrical Poetry. The entire poem consists of seven stanzas, each stanza containing four lines, with each line having two or three pauses. Though not rigidly fixed in form, it nevertheless maintains strict discipline. Formally, it strictly follows the pattern of rhyming on the second and fourth lines (alternating-line end rhyme). Its cadence rises and falls with rhythmic modulation, making it pleasant and easy to recite.

This beautiful rhythm spreads outward like ripples. It is both the sound of a devoted student seeking dreams and a reflection of the ebb and flow of the poet’s emotions, possessing a unique romantic beauty. The seven stanzas are arranged in a scattered yet orderly manner, while the rhythm unfolds within them at a slow and measured pace, displaying something of the poetic bearing described as “long-robed and pale-faced, austere and lean.” It can be said to embody Xu Zhimo’s aesthetic (metrical) principles of poetry.

3. Changing Rhymes

“Four Rhymes of Nostalgia” ∕ Yu Guangzhong

Give me a ladle of Yangtze River water, ah Yangtze River water,
Yangtze River water like wine,
The taste of drunkenness,
Is the taste of homesickness.
Give me a ladle of Yangtze River water, ah Yangtze River water.

Give me a piece of crabapple red, ah crabapple red,
Crabapple red like blood,
The burning pain of boiling blood,
Is the burning pain of homesickness.
Give me a piece of crabapple red, ah crabapple red.

Give me a flake of snow-white, ah snow-white,
Snow-white like a letter,
The waiting for a letter from home,
Is the waiting of homesickness.
Give me a flake of snow-white, ah snow-white.

Give me a blossom of wintersweet fragrance, ah wintersweet fragrance,
Wintersweet fragrance like a mother,
A mother’s fragrance,
Is the fragrance of homeland.
Give me a blossom of wintersweet fragrance, ah wintersweet fragrance.

In each stanza of this poem, different vowel rhymes are skillfully employed, producing the pleasing auditory effect of changing rhymes (ㄟ → ㄥ → ㄞ → ㄤ). The use of changing rhymes is very common in the folk-song-style sections of the Airs of the States in the Book of Songs, such as in “Reeds and Rushes” (Jianjia):

Reeds and rushes, lush and green,
White dew becomes frost.
The one whom I long for
Is on the other side of the water.
I go upstream to seek her,
But the road is difficult and long.
I go downstream to seek her,
She seems to be in the middle of the water.

Reeds and rushes, dense and flourishing,
The white dew has not yet dried.
The one whom I long for
Is at the water’s edge.
I go upstream to seek her,
But the road is difficult and steep.
I go downstream to seek her,
She seems to be upon an islet in the water.

Reeds and rushes, luxuriant and abundant,
The white dew has not yet vanished.
The one whom I long for
Is by the water’s bank.
I go upstream to seek her,
But the road is difficult and winding.
I go downstream to seek her,
She seems to be upon a sandbar in the water.

(II) Intermittent Rhythm

Breaking an entire sentence into one independent unit after another, and reading each word separately through truncated syllables, is called intermittent rhythm. Intermittent rhythm uses divided and truncated syllables to express profound physical and psychological feelings; therefore, the emotions conveyed in the poem are even stronger than those produced by caesural rhythm.

“The Wanderer” ∕ Bai Qiu

Gazing at a silk cedar beneath a distant cloud

Gazing at a silk cedar beneath the cloud

A silk cedar

Silk cedar

On

The

Ho

Ri

Zon

Bai Qiu’s “The Wanderer” is generally discussed within the category of visual poetry. In this poem, the final phrase, “on the horizon,” not only creates a visual effect but also produces a powerful effect of interrupted sound rhythm. Through this device, it suggests the wanderer’s endless inner vicissitudes and the boundless sense of drifting through the vastness of heaven and earth.

Notes

1. Chen Zhengzhi, Studies in Children's Poetry Writing, Chapter Four, “The Language of Children's Poetry”: Section Three, “The Language of Music.”