The song thất lục bát (雙七六八, literally "double seven, six eight") is a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

poetic form Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in a ...

, which consists of a

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

comprising a couplet of two seven-

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

lines followed by a

Lục bát Lục bát (, ) is a traditional Vietnamese verse form – historically first recorded in Chữ Nôm script. "Lục bát" is Sino-Vietnamese for "six eight", referring to the alternating lines of six and eight syllables. It will always begin with ...

couplet (a six-syllable line and an eight-syllable line). Each line requires certain syllables to exhibit a "flat" or "sharp" pitch. Lines and stanzas are linked in a complex rhyme scheme. :: ::• = any syllable; = trắc (sharp) syllable; = bằng (flat) syllable; A = bằng (flat) syllable with "A" rhyme. ::'' and are used only as handy mnemonic symbols; no connection with music should be inferred.'' Examples in Vietnamese include: * Chinh phụ ngâm (The Complaint of the Warrior's Wife ) by

Đoàn Thị Điểm Đoàn Thị Điểm ( vi-hantu, 段氏點, 1705 - 1748), courtesy name Thụy Châu (瑞珠), pseudonym Mai Khuê (梅閨) or Rosy Clouds Lady (紅霞女士), was the classical-Vietnamese female poet. Biography Đoàn Thị Điểm was born in 17 ...

Cung oán ngâm khúc ''Cung oán ngâm khúc'' (chữ Hán: 宮怨吟曲 Complaint of a Palace Maid) is a Vietnamese poem by Nguyễn Gia Thiều Nguyễn Gia Thiều ( vi-hantu, 阮嘉韶, 1741–1798), courtesy name Quang Thanh (光聲), pen name Đạm Trai (澹� ...

(Sadness of the Palace ) by

Nguyễn Gia Thiều Nguyễn Gia Thiều ( vi-hantu, 阮嘉韶, 1741–1798), courtesy name Quang Thanh (光聲), pen name Đạm Trai (澹齋), formal title Ôn Như hầu (溫如侯), was a Vietnamese poet in the 18th century. Biography His best known work, the "L ...

Although the Song Thất Lục Bát stanza is the most common way of incorporating the secondary ''song thất'' form into the primary ''lục bát'' form, two other methods have also been used: ''song thất'' couplets may be randomly interspersed within a long ''lục bát'' poem; and the two types may alternate in an odd number of couplets, in which case the series both begins and ends with a ''lục bát'' couplet.

References

External links

Culture of Vietnam encyclopedia
* ttp://www.thepoetsgarret.com/orient.html#luc Oriental Poetry: Song That Luc Bat(found under "Luc Bat") Vietnamese literary genres Poetic forms Vietnamese words and phrases {{poetry-stub