Dec 3rd - The Lueshi

DFC 2016

It's not my favorite form and I found it hard to come up with a theme, but in the end it didn't work out too bad. Inspired by taking a look at my violin lying next to me and feeling guilty about not having practiced yet, hehe.

The Lüshi
The Lüshi is a Chinese regulated form. It has eight lines and specific word restrictions. There are two common types of lüshi which dictate how many characters/words are in each line: the wulü lüshi (five characters), and the qilü lüshi (seven characters). There is also a six character lüshi form which is rarely used. Characters in this context refer to number of words rather than syllables. All lüshi forms monorhyme on the even lines (abcbdbeb). The first couplet sets up the piece, middle two develops it, and final couplet concludes. Middle two should have some mirrored elements/words in them. Caesuras (pauses) are used to separate different phrases.