and the Tsze or oblique.

The even tone has two variations differing from each other only in pitch;
the oblique tone has three variations, known as "Rising, Sinking,
and Entering." In a seven-syllable verse the odd syllables can have any tone;
as regards the even syllables, when the second syllable is even,
then the fourth is oblique, and the sixth even. Furthermore,
lines two and three, four and five, six and seven, have the same tones
on the even syllables. The origin of the Chinese tone is not a poetical one,
but is undoubtedly due to the necessity of having some distinguishing method
of accentuation in a language which only contains about four hundred
different sounds.




The Influence of Religion on Chinese Poetry



To Confucius, as has been already stated, is due that groundwork
of Chinese poetry -- the Odes. But the master gave his fellow countrymen
an ethical system based upon sound common sense, and a deep knowledge of
their customs and characteristics. There is little in the Confucian classics
to inspire a poet, and we must turn to Buddhism and the mystical philosophy
of Lao Tzu for any source of spiritual inspiration from which
the poets have drawn. Buddhism and Taoism are sisters.
Their parents are self-observance and the Law. Both are quietists,
yet in this respect they differ, that the former is the grey quietist,
the latter the pearl. The neutral tint is better adapted to the sister