On The Rhyme Scheme Used In Zhang Heng's Verese

The ancient Chinese culture was at its best in the Han Dynasty during which its politics, management system, philosophy, literature, science and technology had moved towards its apex. Zharig Heng had emerged at the great moment in such a favorable atmosphere, not only a world-famous scientist and writer, but also a versatile man of great attainments in philosophy, politics, history and calligraphy. This paper makes a study of the rhyme scheme used in Zhang's verses. Based on the re- search achievements made by the predecessors, the conclusion has been drawn fmm the 391 timed stanzas of his verses which are carefully induced and analyzed in this thesis that the rhymes in Zhang's verses are 27 sorts, among which 8 are high and level tone, (the first of the four tones in modem standard Chinese prurnmciation like: zhi之,you幽, and xiao宵;and arerisingtones, (zheng蒸,dong冬,yang阳,geng耕,zhen真,yuan 元,tan谈,qin侵); the entering tone ( zhi职,jue觉,yao药,wu屋,duo铎,xi锡,zhi 质, yue月 ,ye叶,ji缉). It also makes a systematic exposition of all sorts of rhyme schemes and their evolutions, listing all the timed wonls on the foregmund of the rhyme pedigree of Zhang's verses .Vertically, the paper makes an examination on the evolution and changes of the rhymes used in Zhang Heng's verses and those of The Book of Odes ~ and The Book of Qieyun ~fl ~ horizontally, it makes a comparison of the similarities and differences between the rhymes used in Zhang's verses and those in other poets of his time. The features of the thymes in Zhang' s verses are that Zlxang Heng was the one who wmte most verses and used the widest thymes in the Eastern Han Dynasty. His rhymes were strictly balanced with more high and level tones, ris- ing tones but less entering tones. Each tone was interchangeably timed. ,but zhi 支 , zhi 脂, zhi之,the three were distinguished strictly by Zhang Heng and never timed together; and dong东, yang阳 ,the two tones were not timed; zhen真, geng耕 two tones also not riined. In the case of interchangeablerimedtones, ge歌,yu鱼, tones were more used ,also yang 阳and geng耕, zhen真 and ynan元,yue月 and ye叶. The examples pmve that the sounds of interchangeable timed tones in Nanyang dialects axe very close to each other, or the main vowels are the same or close to each other.