The author of "The Book of Songs" is unknown, and most of it cannot be verified. It is said that it was collected by Yin Jifu and compiled by Confucius.
Confucius once summarized the purpose of the "Book of Songs" as "innocence" and taught his disciples to read the "Book of Songs" as the standard for speech and action. Among the pre-Qin scholars, many quoted the Book of Songs. For example, Mencius, Xunzi, Mozi, Zhuangzi, Han Feizi, etc. often quoted sentences from the Book of Songs to enhance their persuasiveness when reasoning and demonstrating. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Book of Songs was regarded as a classic by Confucianism and became one of the Six Classics and the Five Classics.
The Book of Songs is rich in content, reflecting labor and love, war and corvee, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and banquets, and even celestial phenomena, landforms, animals, plants and other aspects. It is a masterpiece of Zhou Dynasty A mirror of social life.
Extended information:
It is said that in the Zhou Dynasty, there was an official who collected poems. Every spring, he would rock the wooden duo and go deep into the folk to collect folk songs, sort out the works that could reflect the joys and sufferings of the people, and then hand them over. Composed music for the Grand Master (the official in charge of music) and sang it to the Emperor of Zhou as a reference for governing. The works of these unnamed folk authors occupy most parts of the Book of Songs, such as the Fifteen Kingdoms.
The works of aristocratic literati of the Zhou Dynasty constitute another part of the Book of Songs. "Shangshu" records that "Binfeng·Owl" was written by Zhou Gongdan. In the chapter "Qi Ye" among a batch of Warring States Bamboo Slips (Tsinghua Slips) collected by Tsinghua University in 2008, it is described that King Wu and others drank in celebration after the victory over Li State. During this period, Zhou Gongdan composed an impromptu poem "Cricket", which is similar to the existing "Cricket". The article "Cricket" in "The Book of Songs·Tang Feng" is closely related.