The author loves national culture and the real Jin Meiyu's The Book of Songs. He combined many years' research and teaching work of The Book of Songs, drawing on the achievements of ancient and modern researchers, and thinking independently, connecting ancient and modern folk customs, languages and so on. And pay attention to digging more hidden and enlightening things in the poem in order to have new ideas, so as to write this book.
The Chinese nation has thousands of years of civilization history, created splendid ancient culture and left rich spiritual wealth to mankind. It not only has great cohesion to the formation and development of the Chinese nation, but also helps people to get patriotic education, cultivate moral sentiments, improve the cultural quality of the whole nation and promote the prosperity of socialist culture while correctly understanding today's national history. It still has great practical significance. They are the cultural essence of China people, and they have shaped the national spirit of our Chinese nation.
In order to inherit China's outstanding cultural heritage and carry forward the historical heritage of ancient civilizations, we have specially published a series of classic library books of China traditional culture. This series of books is based on the purpose of bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new and carrying forward the tradition. China's classics of past dynasties and various masterpieces of historical subsets were selected as modern translations of ancient masterpieces for publication.
First of all, it focuses on the immortal historical masterpieces with typical significance in China's ancient philosophy, history, geography, literature, science and technology, and the famous anthologies that have been handed down through the ages. Considering the needs of popularization and the target audience, as far as each masterpiece is concerned, except for a few translations, most of them are selected translations; That is to say, the selected works of this famous book should be translated and annotated accurately and smoothly, so as to avoid readers suffering from complicated and difficult ancient books, adapt to the fast-paced era, and let readers directly face the essence of China ancient culture and use it while learning. Let the old, middle-aged and young people be willing to read and understand, so as to learn from it.
The ancient history of China, from primitive society to slave society, is Wu Zhu's full-time job. At this time, with or without words, history is preserved in Wu Zhu's heart and mouth as poetry. Witches were originally "people who dance to bring down their spirits" (see Shuowen), that is, they expressed their opinions on behalf of the gods, and in their history, they made myths and history indistinguishable. The form of expression was the combination of epic and music and dance, which was the origin of Fu in The Book of Songs. 2
From this perspective, Wu Zhudang was the earliest poet. Therefore, the so-called "Historical Records" in which Shun Di conducted classical music for the purpose of "harmony between man and nature" is absolutely well-founded. It should be an indisputable fact that poetry originates from the context of the relationship between man and god and is a unique way of dialogue between man and god. This unique linguistic context also endows poetry with all kinds of uniqueness: because it shoulders the supreme mission of communicating between man and God at that time, its linguistic style is necessarily different from ordinary spoken language, which is consistent with Oracle Bone Inscriptions, divination and rhetoric in Zhouyi. Because poetry, as a part of the ceremony, is closely connected with music and dance, it gradually requires rhythm and rhythm. This means that, from the origin, poetry has not been endowed with the aesthetic function of later poetry, although there may be an aesthetic nature behind the solemnity in the specific process of ceremony. Later generations, especially researchers since modern times, all look at the works of The Book of Songs from the literary concept of later generations, so they all attach importance to the works of "style" and "elegance" and despise "fu". In the cultural context of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the status of "Fu" is far higher than that of "Feng" and "Ya".
Judging from the thirty-one poems of Ode to Zhou, more than half of them are directly related to the sacrifice in the ancestral temple, all of which are dedicated to the late king. In addition, there are seven songs dedicated to mountain gods, river gods and heaven and earth gods [2]. It is controversial whether the poems of Hao Tianyou, Wu, Zhu Yi, Huan, Lu and Fan 1 which are supposed to be the joy of great witchcraft are the joy of sacrifice. According to the statement in the Twelve Years of Zuo Zhuan, Daya Shimai and Wu Huan Yun, which were judged by later generations as great military moves, were written in the Shang Dynasty. Some people think that the title of "King Wu" in the poem should be used for divination, so it is suspected that it was used by people to sacrifice the happy event of King Wu after his death. After textual research, Wang Guowei and Guo Moruo thought that there was no funeral ceremony in the Zhou Dynasty, so "King Wu" and "King Cheng" were his titles before his death, so the academic circles judged that these so-called "Great Wu" movements were a tribute to King Wu before his death. Recently, Professor Zhao Guangxian, a famous historian, said in an article entitled "The King of Wu is Fair with the Kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty" that "comparing inscriptions with documents, from Wenwu to You Xuan, it should be posthumous title, not his birth name". Dr. Li Shan also agreed with Professor Zhao Guangxian through detailed textual research. Judging from the discourse context of the relationship between man and god, the author also agrees with Zhao's theory. Therefore, we believe that several poems, as the movements of the great martial arts, are also used to worship the ancestral temple, and they are people's words to God. There is no poem praising the living king in Ode to Zhou. In addition, both ancient and modern theorists believe that Jing Zhi and Xiao Ya are works of self-vigilance. Judging from the meaning of the poem, this is good, but since the words of the vigilante are solemnly said and turned into words, their meaning is extraordinary. This is done to be serious and solemn, in line with the identity of the listener. So who is the audience? Some researchers think that it is a group of ministers, and calling the king is a self-warning speech in front of the group of ministers. This is not true. A king can't be so humble in front of his servants. Although the word "give a boy" was very common at that time, emperors only used it when facing gods, ancestors or elders. For example, in Shangshu, Duke Zhou said, "Give it to a boy, but don't dare to live for God." In Luo's patent, he called himself "Zhixiaozi" in front of Duke Zhou. Therefore, these two poems are also written to the ancestors in the spirit of heaven, and they are "words to the temple." The purpose is to win the sympathy and protection of ancestors in the spirit of heaven through self-vigilance and self-reporting.
From the perspective of existence, as the earliest work in the Book of Songs, Zhou Song was born in the context of the relationship between man and god, and it is man's speech to god. This was originally the knowledge of the ancients, but only since modern times have different opinions appeared. For example, "Preface to Mao Poetry" said: "Those who eulogize are described as beautiful and virtuous, and tell them the god of success." In the Song Dynasty, Gui Li and Huang Chun also explained Mao Zedong's poems: "Those who praise God also tell God's movement." Even those actions that are not directly used for sacrificial activities are said in the relationship between man and god. Fan Chuyi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, pointed out: "Virtue is given to tell the gods, while Zhou Song's poems are about offering sacrifices, seeking temples, entering precepts and asking for help, as if not to tell the gods. Poetry, music, all poems can be sung and played. If the United States helps sacrifice, it will tell the gods about the sacrifice; The beauty of asking for a temple is to tell the gods about asking for a temple; The beauty of entering the precepts lies in telling the gods about it; The beauty of asking for people lies in telling the gods about asking for people. " This is a very insightful point of view. From this point of view, poems such as Jing Zhi and Xiao Ya are indeed words of self-warning, but they are not spoken directly to ministers, but in front of the gods, so naturally they can also receive the effect of netting ministers, because ministers will also know the words of becoming kings to the gods.
In the era when Zhou Song came into being, the most basic dimension of cultural space was the relationship between man and God. Therefore, sacrifice, the main way of communication between man and god, has become one of the most important cultural activities of nobles. At that time, people thought that all the fortunes of the world, especially the rise and fall of the dynasty, were directly related to the will of God, so they respected God extremely, and sacrifice activities became solemn ceremonies. Of course, a speech in this context can't be an ordinary daily speech. In order to highlight the sanctity of speech, poetry has acquired a rhetorical way that can reflect the sanctity, such as neat sentence patterns, concise words and rhymes. Moreover, as mentioned above, writing at that time was not a common way of communication like later generations, and only words that were considered significant would be recorded in words. Therefore, once the speech is written, it naturally has some authority and sacredness. It can be said that it was the relationship between man and God at the core of the cultural space at that time that caused the expression of poetry, and the poetic nature first appeared in the form of divinity. Divinity makes poetry enter writing, and writing strengthens the divinity of poetry. At this time, poetry appeared as a text, but poetry did not appear as the soul of this text. Poetic culture only "appeared" after the abdication of divine culture. It seems illogical to have "poetry" before "poetic nature", but it is precisely the historical reality.
From the above analysis, we can see that the context of the relationship between man and god played a decisive role in the occurrence of ancient poetry. It is this context that creates a unique discourse system that is quite different from the daily life style, and makes it published in simplified books and passed on to future generations. The relationship between man and god gave birth to poetry, but the actual trend of poetry lies in reality. In this context, the important practical functions of poetry are mainly manifested in the following aspects: First, poetry, as a special expression, has a strong ideological function. As a part of the most solemn and sacred ceremony, poetry has played an important role in affirming the established social order, regardless of its lexical connotation. Because the creator and user of this way of speaking can only be a politically dominant aristocrat, and it is a special discourse produced in a special context, the speech itself is an affirmation and reinforcement of the speaker's privileged position. The ritual of poetry comes not entirely from its speech content, but also from its writing form. It can be said that in the context of the relationship between man and god, writing has become a ritual and has a sacred and inviolable position. Of course, this position of poetry comes from the political position of the speaker, because in the ritual and music system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the way of speaking is consistent with the political position of the speaker. But at the same time, poetry can further legitimize the political status of the speaker, because this special and written discourse has unquestionable mysterious power, which is closely related to the relationship between man and god and the context of its ceremony. Therefore, poetry had an important ideological function at that time. Secondly, the formation of the context of the relationship between man and god in the Western Zhou Dynasty certainly includes the legacy of primitive witchcraft and people's psychological expectation of blessing to heaven, but these are all integrated into the political consciousness system of the aristocratic class. Therefore, the ceremony to communicate the relationship between man and god has become an excellent means to confirm the hierarchy, and this ceremony itself has become one of the main manifestations of the hierarchy, thus bringing distinctive political utility characteristics. For example, major sacrificial activities such as "suburban sacrifice" to heaven, "social sacrifice" to the earth, and "sacrifice" to the former king are all patents of the monarch. Even offering sacrifices to ancestors is not something you can do casually. In the ancestral temple system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, people of different classes also had completely different rights to worship their ancestors. For example, according to historical records, "There are seven temples of Emperor, three temples of Zhao, three temples of Mu and Taizu, and seven temples; Five temples of princes, two temples of Zhao, Mu and Mao, and five temples; There are three doctor temples, one is Zhao Temple, the other is Mu Temple and the other is Mao Temple. Shiyi Temple. " ("Zhao Mu", the so-called "Zuo Zhao You Mu". Arrangement of the temple owner. Below Mao, the father is Zhao, the son is Mu, and the grandson is Zhao. In this way, one of the practical significance of the communication between man and god is to confirm the hierarchy and make people live in peace. Over time, people will think that this is natural and forget the power operation behind it. Therefore, poetry with the basic function of communicating the relationship between man and god is essentially a symbol of real power. Thirdly, judging from the content of the ode, the communication between man and God is actually to coordinate interpersonal relationships: the great purpose of praising the justice and wisdom of God and ancestors is to determine the value standard of interpersonal relationships. For example, The Life of Tian Wei, a sacrifice to Wang Wen, first praised the impartiality and endless destiny ("Tian Wei's life is endless"), then praised Wang Wenzhi's nobleness ("the purity of Wang Wenzhi's virtue"), and finally put it into practice ("if it overflows, I will take it"). Jun Hui, my king of literature, great-grandson Benedict "). In a word, "God listens to it, and it will be peaceful in the end" (Xiaoya logging) is the constant goal of the nobles. Such poems make them self-motivated and establish an unbreakable value foundation for the realistic code of conduct.
I used to read the sentence of Preface to Mao Poetry, which always felt abrupt and exaggerated, that is, "So, gain and loss, move heaven and earth, feel ghosts and gods, and approach poetry". How can poetry have such a magical function? In fact, this is precisely the unique significance given to poetry by the context of the relationship between man and god. The author of Preface to Mao Poetry is not rootless. As far as the occurrence of poetry is concerned, it really undertakes the important mission of touching the gods and spirits of heaven and earth. The significance of describing history and reflecting reality discovered by later poets is from the perspective of discourse effect, not the speaker's conscious consciousness. As for the aesthetic function, it is not the original meaning of poetry. Critics often use modern people's poetic concepts to understand the works of The Book of Songs, which will inevitably lead to many mistakes.