Although literature originated from the folk, it belongs to the cry of labor and the record of emotion, but folk people don't know that random folk songs are literature and won't pay attention to them. After the literati of the ruling class collected folk poems, they compiled them into books for the appreciation of the ruling class figures. In addition to appreciation, more professional literati will be born. Thus, after the emergence of professional literati, literature was monopolized by the ruling class.
The previous folk tunes were vulgar and easy to understand. After being collected by scholars, it became orthodox poetry. Although it was created by professional literati imitating the original meaning of the tune, it lost its original color and became pseudo original's thing. However, this kind of creation has become inevitable. Some scholars write some poems according to folk customs, but there are never real folk students.
Live experience, but it can also make poetry pass down and get a lot of praise. There are also literati who imitate the lyricism of abandoned wives, that is, write from the perspective of abandoned wives, which is euphemistic and subtle and quite touching. Even Cao Pi, who is your son of heaven, wrote Ge Yanxing by simulating the situation that his wife was abandoned. It is basically impossible to let the abandoned wife write it herself. At that time, women didn't read and couldn't read. How can they write gentle poems? Therefore, professional literati will write poems from the perspectives of abandoned wives, farmers, ordinary women, children and officials, and they can switch between different characters and different perspectives, but they are not automatically generated by the people and have not been passed down from generation to generation.
Literature automatically generated by the people and handed down from generation to generation is called popular literature, including myths, legends, legends, stories, novels and so on. And most of them are popular, especially the stories written by some literati, which can be popularized and told by storytellers and are suitable for public acceptance. But the masses can't create scripts, and they are still created by professional literati. So that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many literati began to write novels to support their families. Some have adapted stories handed down from generation to generation into books. Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, etc. They are all works accumulated from generation to generation, while A Dream of Red Mansions, Jin Ping Mei, The Scholars and so on. They are all personal original works.
In other words, many folk stories are scattered and unsystematic. Only after finishing, processing, polishing and abridgement by professional literati can they be made into excellent works, regarded as masters and more conducive to circulation. Personal original works are professional literati's own thoughts, which may not be published after hard work, and some even have to be "hidden in the mountains and left to future generations". At that time, most people were illiterate and could only listen to other people's stories. I heard that storytellers tell stories, but they can't read. Besides government gentlemen, even the last scholars can study. After reading, they will explain the contents of the book. Ordinary people can't read and write, but can only appreciate some stories told by others or storytellers.
Elegant literature has always been monopolized by the ruling class, while popular literature has gradually evolved into spoken language, which makes literature lack seriousness. People will pass it on by word of mouth, from generation to generation, and in the process of passing it on from generation to generation, they will add the content of collective creation. If the ending of a story is not accepted by people, people will do some personalized processing and sorting in the process of communication. After all, only when you say it yourself will others believe it. Anyway, it's all on your own, and it's not easy to deal with the ending of a story. You can turn tragedy into comedy, comedy into tragedy, even change the protagonist, and add personalized and reasonable imagination. Even in the circle of literati and officialdom, there is such an adaptation, and it is even said that it is actually arbitrary plagiarism. Folk people do not have the integrity of literati. No matter plagiarism or adaptation, they will change whatever they want according to their own mood and emotional logic when they dictate. As long as people like to listen, they can make some changes. Therefore, folk stories often come from a collection, in which the protagonist experiences some pains, and finally a good deed is rewarded, while the wicked will get bad consequences, and the story will have a happy ending. Even if the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are separated by the Queen Mother, they will finally meet at Queqiao on July 7th every year with the consent of the Queen Mother. Even if Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are separated, they will eventually become beautiful butterflies with people's feelings.
The shallowness of folk stories can be seen. True elegant literature is generally monopolized by the ruling class, especially poetry, which can only be done by literati and officialdom, but not by ordinary people. Even if some poor scholars can do it, they may not be famous. This can explain why many ancient poets were officials. Only a few poets and poets are scholars, but they are definitely not illiterate.
Therefore, elegant literature has always been monopolized by the ruling class literati, even now. A large amount of capital has entered literature, which has greatly developed popular literature, while elegant literature has always been out of touch, beyond the understanding of ordinary people. Look at the prosperity of online literature and the decline of serious literature, and you will know what is going on.