Chapter Six: Parallelism in the Ballad-Style Works of the Poet Yu Guangzhong

Section One: Ballad-Style New Poetry

Among Taiwan’s modern poets, the one who most frequently employed the “ballad style” form to compose poetry was Deng Yuping¹, who has gradually been forgotten; next are the poet Yu Guangzhong, Xi Murong², and Chen Kehua.

I. Ballad Style and Metrical Style

The primary difference between ballad-style poetry and general modern free verse lies in the external “formal design.” The ballad style possesses its own distinctive form (Form), and these specific forms become its own characteristics (Characteristic); at the same time, they constitute the key distinction between ballad-style poetry and metrical-style poetry. Xu Zhimo’s “Second Farewell to Cambridge” is a “metrical body” (Metrical body) poem. Later generations set it to music, which led to its being mistakenly regarded as a “ballad.” “Metrical body” poetry, in terms of form, emphasizes the musical beauty of rhyme, rhythm, and metrical pattern; it stresses the formal beauty of well-proportioned sentence structures, ornate diction, and resounding rhymes. What it values is the “symmetry of beats” within poetic lines and the “neatness of sentences” within stanzas. Therefore, it is regarded as “square-block poetry” or “tofu-dried poetry.”

Yu Guangzhong’s “Nostalgia” and “Four Rhymes of Nostalgia,” in terms of form, are “songs of the body” (Songs of the body) poems; they conform to the compositional form of modern ballads.

From this analysis, one may understand that the “ballad style” is a member of the “metrical poetry family.” Moreover, its formal constraints and requirements are even more rigorous than those of metrical poetry. Therefore, the difficulty of composing in the ballad style is far higher than that of free-form lineated modern poetry and even higher than that of “metrical poetry,” which is constrained by fixed metrical rules; it requires far more painstaking effort and mental exertion.

In the previous year (2016), the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American folk singer Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan). Some people considered it a major upset. The author has composed dozens of Mandarin and Minnan song lyrics, more than forty of which have been set to music and released. Having personally experienced the hardship involved, the author knows well the taste of such toil: “The difficulty of composing lyrics and music is truly far higher than that of lineated modern poetry.” This is what an insider would say.

II. Types of Ballad Style

Analyzed from the perspective of form, ballad style under the concept of modern popular music can be divided into two principal types:

1. Repetition and Circling of the Verse Melody

For example, “Nostalgia” and “Four Rhymes of Nostalgia” adopt a four-stanza structure of verse chanting. This form does not contain a chorus.

1. Two-Part Structure of Verse Plus Chorus

This can be divided into A (Verse 1) + A (Verse 2) + B + B, or A (Verse 1) + B + A (Verse 2) + B. In other words, the lyrics of the chorus (B) are generally repeated; the lyrics of the verses, A, may undergo some variation, appearing as A (Verse 1) + A (Verse 2). However, between the two sections the following conditions must be strictly observed:

(1) The number of lines and the word count between stanzas must be evenly balanced and neatly aligned.
(2) Each line must contain the same number of syllables (pauses).
(3) The end rhyme of each line must be identical or similar.
(4) The grammatical structure must be the same.
(5) The tone of each sentence must be similar.
(6) The meaning of each stanza, whether parallel, sequential, or progressive, must possess interrelatedness.

The chorus adopts a repetitive form and, within a song, usually occupies the emotional climax; through its generalizing quality, it makes the song easy for listeners to remember. In melody, rhythm, and emotion, the chorus forms a contrast with the verse, thereby providing variation to the musical tune. In fact, after most people hear a song for the first time, the part they remember first is its chorus; when ordinary people hum a song, they also mostly hum its chorus.

Section Two: The Parallel Structure of Ballad Style

I. Formal Analysis of the Parallelism Figure

“A rhetorical device in which three or more phrases, sentences, or paragraphs with identical or similar structures and consistent tone are arranged consecutively to express similar or related content.”³ “Parallelism means arranging three or more phrases, sentences, or paragraphs with similar structures, consistent tone, and related meanings in sequence, in order to strengthen the momentum of expression and deepen emotion.”⁴

Because identical or similar sentences appear repeatedly, they create a sense of multiplicity, liveliness, and gradation. They not only powerfully elucidate principles, but also highlight the content one intends to express. The method of parallelism is precisely a means of expression that combines formal beauty with emotional articulation.

When employing orderly and systematic parallel techniques to record events, depict scenery, or express emotion, things and scenes may be presented one by one from shallow to deep, from near to far, from narrow to broad, and from small to large. This not only creates a layered aesthetic effect, but also produces rhythmic effects of cumulative reiteration and progressive intensification. At the same time, it enriches the content and renders the theme more thorough and complete in its expression.

According to formal structure, parallelism may be divided into “parallelism of phrases” (parallelism of word groups), “parallelism of single sentences,” “parallelism of complex sentences,” and “parallelism of paragraphs.” From the perspective of semantic relations, it may be divided into “coordinate parallelism,” “sequential parallelism,” and “progressive parallelism.”

From scholarly definitions and explanations of “parallelism,” the following formal requirements may be summarized: (1) three or more linguistic units; (2) similarity of syntactic structure; (3) consistency of tone; (4) approximately equal word count; (5) the expression of imagery within the same scope or of the same nature. These five conditions may be reduced to six aspects for discussion: “number of sentences,” “sentence pattern,” “tone,” “word count,” “diction,” and “literary meaning.” The first five items relate to external “form,” whereas the final item relates to “content.”

II. Characteristics and Functions of the Parallelism Figure

The characteristics of “parallelism” are as follows:

1. In nature, it is the sequential arrangement of phrases or sentences, rather than the repetition of sentences (reiteration) or simple pairing (antithesis).
2. In form, it must consist of three or more word groups, phrases, or sentences.
3. These sequentially arranged word groups, phrases, or sentences must be structurally identical or similar.
4. These sequentially arranged word groups, phrases, or sentences must maintain consistency in tone.

As a type of formal design within the lineated writing of modern poetry, parallelism possesses the following functions:

1. It renders sentence structures neat and well-proportioned.
2. It makes lyrical exposition clear and logically ordered.
3. It produces coordinated rhythm and a sense of melody in the sentences.
4. It can “magnify the momentum of the text and broaden the meaning of the text.”⁵

III. The Use of Parallel Structure in Ballad Style

Ballad style generally makes extensive use of parallel structure in order to meet the melodic requirement of “cyclical repetition.” Moreover, in the verse section, “paragraph-level parallelism” is often employed. This allows the verse to achieve variation in the literal meaning of the lyrics while still maintaining cyclical repetition in melody.

Naturally, the formal design of modern lyrics also includes reiterative patterns and paragraph-level antithesis. Nevertheless, parallel structure remains the most important among these formal devices.

Section Three: Yu Guangzhong’s Ballad Style and Parallelism

Yu Guangzhong’s ballad style, in terms of form, includes the two aforementioned types: (1) repetition and cyclical return of the verse melody, as exemplified by “Nostalgia” and “Four Rhymes of Nostalgia,” both of which belong to this form; (2) the two-part structure of verse plus chorus, as exemplified by “The Bus Passing Fangliao.” In terms of semantic relations, it encompasses three types: “coordinate parallelism,” “sequential parallelism,” and “progressive parallelism.”

I. Coordinate Parallelism

In coordinate parallelism, each parallel item stands in a relationship of semantic equivalence and juxtaposition. “In language, it is a rhetorical technique whereby phenomena of the same nature and scope are expressed item by item through syntactic structures that are similar.”⁶ “In coordinate parallelism, the contents of each item belong to things of the same scope and nature; the connections among them are mostly based on associative similarity (analogy) and associative contrast.”⁷ That is to say, the “juxtaposition” in coordinate parallelism is in itself random and arbitrary.

“The Bus Passing Fangliao”

Rain falls in the sugarcane fields of Pingtung
Sweet sugarcane, sweet rain
Plump sugarcane, plump fields
Rain falls in the plump fields of Pingtung
From here to the foothills
A vast plain lifts itself up
So much sugarcane, so many sweet expectations
The long-distance bus drives across the verdant plain
Reviewing the green honor guard of the pastoral god
Thinking of the pastoral god, hairy and bearded
On which stalk of sugarcane does he nap in the afternoon

Rain falls in the watermelon fields of Pingtung
Sweet watermelon, sweet rain
Plump watermelon, plump fields
Rain falls in the plump fields of Pingtung
From here to the coast
A broad riverbed hatches forth
So many watermelons, so many round and full hopes
The long-distance bus drives across the clustered riverbed
Reviewing the clustered treasury of the pastoral god
Thinking of the pastoral god, full-blooded and prolific
After all, upon which melon does he sit

Rain falls in the banana fields of Pingtung
Sweet bananas, sweet rain
Plump bananas, plump fields
Rain falls in the plump fields of Pingtung
Rain is a wet pastoral song
The road is a slender shepherd’s flute
Blowing through the crisscrossing paths for miles upon miles

Rain falls in the banana fields of Pingtung
Portly bananas, plump rain
The long-distance bus cannot drive beyond the jurisdiction of the pastoral god
The road is a long shepherd’s flute
Declaring that Pingtung is the sweetest county
Pingtung is a city built of sugar cubes
Suddenly a right turn, the saltiest, the saltiest
Bursting straight upon the face
That sea

In this ballad-style poem, in terms of form, the first and second stanzas present “paragraph-level coordinate parallelism,” forming the pattern A (Verse 1) + A (Verse 2). The diction employed in the two stanzas is similar and homogeneous (both describing agricultural crops). The third stanza functions as the chorus B. In particular, the abrupt emergence at the end—“Suddenly a right turn, the saltiest, the saltiest / Bursting straight upon the face / That sea”—causes the reader’s eyes to light up at once.

II. Sequential Parallelism

In sequential parallelism, the meanings of the parallel items are linked in succession. They follow one another in an ordered sequence and possess a logical progression, forming a layered effect like waves arriving one after another. The connections among them are mostly based on associative contiguity. Associative contiguity refers to associations produced by things that are close to one another in time or space.

“Nostalgia”

When I was young
Nostalgia was a small, small postage stamp
I was at this end
Mother was at the other end

After I grew up
Nostalgia was a narrow, narrow boat ticket
I was at this end
The bride was at the other end

Later on
Nostalgia was a low, low grave
I was outside
Mother, oh, was inside

And now
Nostalgia is a shallow, shallow strait
I am at this end
The mainland is at the other end

In terms of form, this poem exemplifies “paragraph-level parallelism”; in terms of meaning, it is a typical use of “sequential parallelism.” Three principal threads intertwine with one another:

(1) In terms of time: it progresses in order from “when I was young – after I grew up – later on – and now.”

(2) In terms of space: it unfolds sequentially from “leaving home to study elsewhere – being a sojourner in a foreign land though it is one’s native place – separation by life and death – gazing across the strait.”

(3) In terms of familial affection: between the poet and his mother, it evolves in sequence from “exchanging family letters – returning home by boat to visit – separation between the living and the dead – division between the Iron Curtain and the land of freedom.”

This poem employs “sequential parallelism” to unfold in order from the three dimensions of time, space, and familial affection. Therefore, its imagery is vivid and palpable. The shared sentence patterns are evenly balanced and neatly aligned, which also enables each stanza to possess the characteristics of ballad style: “melodic cyclical return” and “balanced and unified rhythm.”

 

III. Progressive Parallelism

“Progressive parallelism” employs sentences with identical or similar grammatical structures to express meanings that bear a cause-and-effect relationship, thereby linking the meanings before and after in close connection. The preceding and following sentences present the pattern of “proposition (cause) – conclusion (effect).”

“What Is the Sound of Rain Saying?”

What is the sound of rain saying through the night?
The upstairs lamp asks the tree outside the window
The tree outside the window asks the car at the alley’s mouth
What is the sound of rain saying through the night?
The car at the alley’s mouth asks the distant road
The distant road asks the bridge upstream

What is the sound of rain saying through the night?
The bridge upstream asks the umbrella of childhood
The umbrella of childhood asks the drenched shoes
What is the sound of rain saying through the night?
The drenched shoes ask the croaking frogs
The croaking frogs ask the surrounding mist

Saying what? The sound of rain through the night?
The surrounding mist asks the upstairs lamp
The upstairs lamp asks the person beneath the lamp
The person beneath the lamp raises his head and says
  Why has it not stopped yet:
  From legend it has fallen to the present
  From drizzling it has fallen to surging
  From the dripping eaves it has fallen to rivers and seas
  I ask you, foolish Qingtu
What is the sound of rain saying through the night?

In this poem, in terms of meaning, it exemplifies “progressive parallelism.” The first and second stanzas constitute paragraph-level parallelism, adopting the combinational pattern A (Verse 1) + A (Verse 2) + B. Each stanza contains two sub-sections, and each sub-section contains two lines. The concrete nouns at the end of each line are linked head to tail by means of the rhetorical device of anadiplosis, creating interlocking connections. Each layer advances more deeply than the previous one, and they bear a cause-and-effect relationship with one another: “the tree outside the window” → “the car at the alley’s mouth” → “the distant road” → “the bridge upstream.” This portion of spatial imagery presents a progression from near to far.

Then, from the spatial image of “the bridge upstream,” it shifts to spatial imagery within the meaning of childhood: “the umbrella of childhood” → “the drenched shoes” → “the croaking frogs” → “the surrounding mist.” The connections among them are largely based on associative cause-and-effect relationships. In its formal design, this poem combines parallelism with anadiplosis to introduce variation. Though it appears rather intricate, its structural logic is in fact clearly traceable.

Saying what? The sound of rain through the night?
The surrounding mist asks the upstairs lamp
The upstairs lamp asks the person beneath the lamp
The person beneath the lamp raises his head and says
  Why has it not stopped yet:
  From legend it has fallen to the present
  From drizzling it has fallen to surging
  From the dripping eaves it has fallen to rivers and seas
  I ask you, foolish Qingtu
What is the sound of rain saying through the night?

In the concluding stanza, in order to create variation, the author begins with an inverted syntax—“Saying what? The sound of rain through the night?”—to pose a question to the reader. He then introduces another sequence of short parallel sentences combined with anadiplosis, leading out “the surrounding mist” → “the upstairs lamp” → “the person beneath the lamp,” drawing the camera from far to near and focusing it upon “the person beneath the lamp,” culminating in a close-up (Close-up) of the face.

Then comes the murmuring soliloquy of this “foolish Qingtu” beneath the lamp: “Why has it not stopped yet: / From legend it has fallen to the present / From drizzling it has fallen to surging / From the dripping eaves it has fallen to rivers and seas.” At the very end, it is even more striking: the author unexpectedly jumps into the camera frame and, smiling, asks this “Qingtu”: “I ask you, foolish Qingtu / What is the sound of rain saying through the night?” Such narrative design not only winds through twists and turns, but ultimately delivers a self-reflexive blow to the protagonist within the poem.

 

[Notes]

(1) “A Song for You” by Xi Murong

I love you only because the years pass like a shuttle
Never lingering Never turning back
Only thus can they weave a magnificent countenance
Revealing not the slightest fading sorrow

I love you only because you have already gone far away
No longer appearing No longer remembered
Only thus can they lift the heart layered with scabs
In a night without stars and without moon

One layer is a kind of struggle
One layer is a kind of transformation
And within the pain of suddenly turning back
Gracefully emerging is the splendid youth of you and me

Although the number of Xi Murong’s ballad-style poems is not large, several have been revised and set to music, such as “Parting in Life” and “Song of Going Beyond the Pass,” among others.

(2) “Time · Space” by Deng Yuping

When you are not by my side
I keep on thinking of you, missing you
Humming over and over again
That song I love to sing most—
Your name.

When we are together
I always keep on looking at you, holding you
Reciting over and over again
That poem I love to read most—
Your eyes.

Recorded in Deng Yuping’s poetry collection “I Exist, Because of Song, Because of Love,” the widely sung “Green Mountains,” popular from the 1970s until today, was written by Deng Yuping; in addition, there are other famous songs such as “My Longing.”

(3) Lu Jiaxiang and Chi Taining, chief editors, “Dictionary of Examples and Explanations of Rhetorical Devices,” Hangzhou: Zhejiang Education, 1990, p. 166.

(4) Cheng Weijun and two others, chief editors, “Comprehensive Mirror of Rhetoric,” Taipei: Jianhong, 1991, p. 829.

(5) Chen Kui of the Southern Song once said in “Wenze”: “In writing, when several sentences use the same category of words, it serves to magnify the momentum of the text and broaden the meaning of the text.”

(6) Cai Zongyang, “Applied Rhetoric,” Taipei: Hongfan, 1986, p. 197.

(7) Written by Ma Ruichao, edited by Wu Zhankun, “General Treatise on Common Figures of Speech,” Shijiazhuang: Hebei Education, 1990, p. 207.