Writing A Chinese Poem

Anecdotes

oi-Staff

By Staff

Friday, July 17, 2009, 12:06

An acclaimed Japanese poet was once asked as to how a Chinese poem is composed.

The poet went on to explain, "The usual Chinese poem consists of four lines. The first line consists of the initial state, the second line is a continuation of the initial phase, the third takes a diversion from the subject, introducing a new one. The fourth line brings the first three lines together. A popular Japanese song illustrates thus :

"Two daughters of a silk merchant live in Kyoto.

The elder is twenty, the younger, eighteen.

A soldier may kill with his sword.

But these girls slay men with their eyes."