“险韵”新论

A New Perspective on “Perilous Rhyme”

本文针对学界有关'险韵'的经典定义提出质疑与修正。险韵非仅指韵字少的韵部、生僻的韵字,宽韵、熟字亦可为险韵。韵之险与否不仅视乎单一的韵脚字,亦关乎韵脚字与其前相关字组成的韵藻以及韵字、韵藻与诗题之间的意义关联度。

The classical definition of 'perilous rhyme(险韵)' is to be questioned and revised. It is argued that perilous rhyme is not necessarily exclusive to rarely used words or rhymes with scarce words, for those with abundant or frequent words may also be perilous to rhyme. Whether a rhyme is perilous or not depends not only on the rhyming word at the end of the line, but also on its relation with the rhyme diction(韵藻) — its adjacent words in the line, and the semantic relevance between the rhyming word, rhyme diction and the theme of the poem. Therefore, rhymes with abundant or frequent words are also likely to be a 'perilous rhyme'.