Tone patterns () are common constraints in classical

Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...

. The four tones of

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

—''level'' (平), ''rising'' (上), ''departing'' (去), and ''entering'' (入) tones—are categorized into level (平) tones and oblique (仄) tones. Tones that are not ''level'' are ''oblique''. When tone patterns are used in poetry, the pattern in which level and oblique tones occur in one line is often the inverse of that of the line next to it. For example, in the poem 春望 (

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: chūn wàng, ''Spring View'') by

Du Fu Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Chinese poet and politician during the Tang dynasty. Together with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai, Du is often considered one of the greatest Chinese poets of his time. His greatest ambition was to serve ...

, the tone pattern of the first line is 仄仄平平仄, while that of the second line is 平平仄仄平:

In poetry

Classical Chinese poetry Classical Chinese poetry is traditional Chinese poetry written in Classical Chinese and typified by certain traditional forms, or modes; traditional genres; and connections with particular historical periods, such as the poetry of the Tang dy ...

, the presence or absence of formal tonal constraints regarding tone pattern varies according to the poetic form of a specific poem. Sometimes the rules governing the permissible tone patterns for a poem were quite strict, yet still allowed for a certain amount of liberty and variation, as in the case of

regulated verse Regulated verse – also known as Jintishi () – is a development within Classical Chinese poetry of the '' shi'' main formal type. Regulated verse is one of the most important of all Classical Chinese poetry types. Although often regarded as a Tan ...

. In the fixed-tone pattern type of verse, poems were written according to preexisting models known as "tunes". This was the case with the ci and the qu: an individual poem was written so that its tone pattern (and line lengths) were the same as one of the model types, the poetic variation was in the change in the particular wording of the lyrics.

In poetry

See also

General

Tone pattern in poetry