A ci poem usually has an upper stanza and a lower stanza.
Tips
usage
Mostly literary. As a noun it names one of the two halves of a 词 (a song-lyric poem): the 上阕 (upper stanza) and 下阕 (lower stanza). It also works as a classifier for whole songs or ci, and originally meant 'to finish, to come to a close'.
The gate radical wrapping over the top and sides. Historically the character meant closing the gate when a ceremony or piece of music ended, which is the root of its 'to finish' sense.
