The Rice of Knowing is a poetic form, originating in The Bamboo of Enlarging. The rules of the form are applied by poets to produce individual poems which can be recited. The poem is a single couplet. Each line has five syllables. The ending of each line of the poem shares the same rhyme. The second line of the couplet has the same grammatical structure as the first line. The second line of the couplet presents a different view of the subject of the first line. The first line is solemn and intended to make an assertion. The second line is ribald and intended to undercut the previous assertion.