Song-ci (宋词) lyrics are a tighter discipline than generic guofeng or even shi (诗). Ci uses fixed long-short line patterns from named tunes, intricate tonal pattern, and a leaner imagery vocabulary than Tang shi. AI usually flattens all of this into one beige “ancient soup.” The 10 prompts below each lock the model to one named Song-ci master and one explicit ci tune feel, so the output reads like a real Song-era ci, not an anime opening that wishes it were one.
The structure these lyrics actually use
Song ci has a more flexible skeleton than a four-line shi. A workable structural recipe to spell out in the prompt:
- Upper que (上阕): opening scene; one location, one season, one time of day
- Hinge line: a single line that bridges scene into feeling, often a question or fragment
- Lower que (下阕): interior thought, memory, or address to an absent person
- Repeated short refrain: many ci tunes carry a 3-4 character refrain echoed across both que
- Closing image: return to one concrete object from the upper que, transformed by what was said in the lower que
- No moral: Song ci never ends on a lesson; it ends on a held image
Once these six slots are spelled out, AI stops drifting into generic moon-and-longing pastiche.
A great prompt always includes
- Theme: not “sadness,” but “Li Qingzhao after her husband Zhao Mingcheng dies, looking at the chrysanthemums he planted”
- Structure: name upper / lower que, hinge line, refrain length
- Chorus or hook: name the refrain word and how many times it repeats
- Forbidden phrases: 红尘 / 苍生 / 万古 / 永恒 / 一生一世 — fake-ancient markers
- Rhyme: name one rhyme group: ang / ong / ou / ai
- Mood: bittersweet farewell, detached calm, drunken regret, late-life acceptance
- Length: total character count (90-120 chars total is real Song ci range)
10 copy-ready prompt templates
1. Li Qingzhao bittersweet farewell
Best for: Female-vocal Song-ci original
Write a Chinese Song-ci style lyric in the voice of Li Qingzhao after parting from her husband.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, scene of west chamber at dusk) / hinge line (1 line, a question) / lower que (4 lines, what she could not say) / closing line that returns to one object from upper que.
Refrain: the word "瘦" appears twice, once in upper, once in lower.
Imagery whitelist: 西窗, 黄花, 雁字, 罗衾, 香炉.
Rhyme: ou.
Forbidden: 红尘, 万古, 永恒, 一生一世.
Mood: bittersweet, not weeping.
Total length: about 100 Chinese characters.2. Su Shi Mid-Autumn moon
Best for: Mid-Autumn brand film, period drama
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Su Shi on the Mid-Autumn night he wrote 水调歌头.
Structure: upper que (questioning the moon, 4 lines, 7/5/7/5 char pattern) / hinge line / lower que (thinking of his brother Ziyou, 4 lines) / closing image of the moon over the rooftop.
Refrain: the character "明" appears 3 times across the piece.
Imagery: 月, 楼, 影, 酒, 兄弟, 长夜.
Rhyme: an.
Mood: drunken philosophical, warm not bitter.
Forbidden: 苍生, 红尘, 万古.
Length: ~110 chars.3. Xin Qiji battle remembrance
Best for: Wuxia / historical drama theme
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Xin Qiji remembering his northern frontier campaigns in his old age.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, present scene: lamp, sword on wall, autumn rain) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, memory: gallop, banner, drum) / closing line back to the sword.
Refrain: the word "醉" appears twice.
Imagery: 灯, 剑, 旗, 鼓, 沙场, 白发.
Rhyme: ang.
Mood: heroic but resigned, not weeping.
Forbidden: 苍生, 万古, 永恒.
Length: ~110 chars.4. Liu Yong urban-night poet
Best for: Period romance, courtesan-district scene
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Liu Yong wandering the Bianjing night entertainment quarter.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, lantern-lit alley, lute music from a pavilion) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, conversation with a courtesan-singer) / closing image of dawn approaching.
Refrain: the word "灯" appears 3 times.
Imagery: 灯, 楼, 琵琶, 酒, 朱户, 残更.
Rhyme: ou.
Mood: melancholy in a crowd.
Forbidden: 红尘, 万古, 一生一世.
Length: ~120 chars.5. Ouyang Xiu spring rain
Best for: Brand spring campaign with literary tone
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Ouyang Xiu watching spring rain at West Lake.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, scene: rain, swallow, fallen petals) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, drifting interior thought) / closing image of one petal on the water.
Refrain: the word "春" appears twice.
Imagery: 春雨, 燕, 落花, 湖, 杏花, 帘.
Rhyme: ing.
Mood: tender, lightly melancholy.
Forbidden: 红尘, 苍生.
Length: ~100 chars.6. Yan Shu autumn melancholy
Best for: Quiet autumn period drama interlude
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Yan Shu walking the garden alone in late autumn.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, scene: chrysanthemum, falling leaves, empty pavilion) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, recall of an old guest who never returned) / closing image of an empty cup.
Refrain: the word "独" appears twice.
Imagery: 菊, 落叶, 亭, 酒, 旧客, 西风.
Rhyme: i.
Mood: composed solitude, not self-pity.
Forbidden: 永恒, 万古.
Length: ~100 chars.7. Yan Jidao willow-bridge parting
Best for: Period drama farewell scene
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Yan Jidao parting from a singer-girl at a willow bridge.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, scene of the willow bridge at dawn) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, what was said and not said) / closing image of a single willow branch handed over.
Refrain: the word "柳" appears 3 times.
Imagery: 柳, 桥, 露, 酒, 红袖, 马蹄.
Rhyme: ou.
Mood: tender resignation.
Forbidden: 再见 said directly, 红尘, 万古.
Length: ~110 chars.8. Zhou Bangyan Xihu spring dawn
Best for: West Lake tourism brand, literary documentary
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Zhou Bangyan watching West Lake at spring dawn.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, dawn mist on water, distant pagoda, plum blossom) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, thought of court politics he left behind) / closing image of one bird crossing the water.
Refrain: the word "晓" appears twice.
Imagery: 西湖, 烟, 塔, 梅, 朝, 鸟.
Rhyme: ao.
Mood: detached calm.
Forbidden: 红尘, 苍生, 万古.
Length: ~115 chars.9. Jiang Kui pavilion-by-river
Best for: High-literary single, scholar’s aesthetic
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Jiang Kui composing music in a riverside pavilion at dusk.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, river twilight, lone reed, fishing boat lantern) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, memory of an old friend now far away) / closing image of the lantern crossing the water.
Refrain: the word "夜" appears twice.
Imagery: 江, 芦, 渔火, 笛, 故人, 夜.
Rhyme: eng.
Mood: refined sadness, restrained.
Forbidden: 永恒, 红尘.
Length: ~115 chars.10. Lu You late-life regret
Best for: Period drama elderly-protagonist theme
Write a Song-ci style Chinese lyric in the voice of Lu You in old age, recalling his lost love Tang Wan.
Structure: upper que (4 lines, scene: Shen Garden walls, moss, peach blossom) / hinge / lower que (4 lines, what he would say if he saw her again) / closing image of one peach petal on the wall.
Refrain: the word "错" appears 3 times (echo of his 钗头凤).
Imagery: 墙, 苔, 桃花, 红, 旧, 春.
Rhyme: o.
Mood: late-life regret without bitterness.
Forbidden: 红尘, 万古.
Length: ~110 chars.Common mistakes
- Treating ci like shi — fixed 5/7 lines instead of long-short que pattern
- Allusion stacking — three ancient figures in one upper que is one too many
- Forbidden words sneak back in — model loves 红尘 and 万古 unless explicitly banned
- No refrain — Song ci almost always carries a 1-2 character echo across both que
- Ending on a moral — Song ci ends on a held image, not a lesson
How to push results further
- Name the ci master, not just “Song style” — Li Qingzhao and Xin Qiji write very different upper que
- Specify upper-que line count separately from lower-que line count
- Add one historical biographical detail to the prompt (Su Shi exiled to Huangzhou) and the imagery sharpens
- Pair with Suno style tag
pentatonic, guzheng, dizi, slowfor matching music - Generate three versions and pick the one whose closing image is most concrete
FAQ
Q: Can AI write actual ci-pai tonal pattern correctly?
A: Not reliably. Specify character count and rhyme group; accept that strict tonal pattern (平仄) will be approximate. The feel matters more than the textbook compliance.
Q: How is Song ci different from Tang shi for prompting?
A: Tang shi is fixed 5 or 7 chars per line, four or eight lines, strict parallelism. Song ci is long-short lines from named tunes, two que (上阕 / 下阕), more interior. Prompt accordingly.
Q: Should I name the actual ci-pai (e.g., 念奴娇)?
A: Yes for character count guidance, but expect the model to be loose with tonal pattern. The named tune helps it set the right line-length rhythm.
Q: Suno can sing Song ci?
A: Suno’s Mandarin is weak with classical characters. Best path: generate the lyric in modern Mandarin with Song-ci structure, or generate instrumental and record real vocals.
Q: Difference between this and ancient-poetic lyrics?
A: Ancient-poetic is a broader bucket that includes shi, fu, and ci. Song-ci is specifically the Song-era ci form — long-short lines, two que, named-tune patterns. Tighter constraints, more authentic feel.