The Poetic Function of The Book of Songs

First, the social function The compilation of The Book of Songs itself was in the Spring and Autumn Period, in fact, mainly for application: First, it was used as a teaching book for learning music and reciting poems; Secondly, as a ritual song for feasting and offering sacrifices; Thirdly, it can be used as a tool to express one's feelings in diplomatic occasions or speech responses. [ 19]? The diplomatic communication through poetry in the Spring and Autumn Period was very extensive, which made The Book of Songs a very important tool at that time. There are many records about this in Zuo Zhuan, such as poems satirizing the other side (twenty-seven years as "xianggong"), poems being laughed at because they didn't understand the other side's meaning (twenty years as Zhao Gong), poems in which a small country turned to a big country for help (thirteen years as Wen Gong) and so on. These quotations from The Book of Songs, or exhortations, or comments, or analysis, or expressions, have their own functions, but they have one thing in common, that is, all the quoted poems are "taken out of context"-take one or two of them, regardless of the meaning of the whole article. This phenomenon was called "commonplace" in the Spring and Autumn Period. In other words, at that time, the function of The Book of Songs was not in itself, but in "expressing ambition through poetry". If you want to express your ambition, you can quote a poem. Poetry serves the ambition, not what the original intention of the poem is, but whether the quoted content can explain the ambition. This is a true application of The Book of Songs in the Spring and Autumn Period, but its literary function has been misinterpreted. On the other hand, the expression of the function of giving poems to express aspirations conforms to the literary function of The Book of Songs, and it is a real "poem to express aspirations"-it reflects and shows the understanding of literary function and social significance, and it is the embryonic form of China's early literary criticism. For example, Xiaoya Knots Nanshan: "My father recited it to study Wang Yi". Elegance for the elderly: "Wang wants beauty, but uses big hints" and so on. Poets are aware of their purpose and attitude in writing poems, and use poems to express their thoughts and feelings and attitudes towards society and life, so as to achieve the purpose of praising, praising, persuading and satirizing. This is the true meaning of poetry, and it really fits the literary function and literary criticism of The Book of Songs. On the other hand, the social function of The Book of Songs is that the society (including scholar-officials and court rulers) uses it to publicize and practice self-cultivation in governing the country. This is one of the purposes of compiling the Book of Songs, and it is also the content that some scholars strongly advocated and promoted when the Book of Songs came into being. Confucius attached great importance to The Book of Songs, and he admonished his disciples and sons to learn it many times. For example, he said to Kong Li, "If you don't study poetry, there is nothing to say." (Ji's) Confucius thought: "Poetry can be appreciated, considerable, gathered and resentful." (Yang Huo) This is Confucius' highly generalized theory of "prosperity, management, group and resentment" in The Book of Songs, and it is also the reason why he believes that The Book of Songs will have great social functions. Confucius' theory of "Xing, Guan, Qun and Resentment" clarified the social function of The Book of Songs, which not only pointed out the literary characteristics of The Book of Songs that infected people with images and aroused readers' imagination and association, but also conformed to social life and achieved practical results. On the basis of inheriting Confucius and Mencius, Preface to Mao's Poems particularly emphasizes the top-down educational function of poetry, especially "filial piety to couples, respect for others, beautiful education and changing customs", and emphasizes that rulers should subtly educate people on ethics through poetry, making it a social fashion, which is conducive to the establishment of social order and the consolidation of rule. Xu's theory on the education of The Book of Songs undoubtedly greatly strengthened the social function of The Book of Songs, and also greatly improved its status, making it an essential tool for rulers to exercise their rule, which had a great influence on later generations. Second, the value of history and folklore From the perspective of historical value, the Book of Songs actually comprehensively reflects the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, and comprehensively records the historical development and realistic situation from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period (including the Shang Dynasty), covering a wide range, including almost all aspects of society-politics, economy, military, folklore, culture, literature, art and so on. When describing this historical stage, a considerable part of the history books of later historians are based on the records of the Book of Songs. Epic such as Daya People's Life is an ancestor's ode, which records the history of Zhou people from the late matriarchal society to the demise of Shang Dynasty and the founding of the People's Republic of China, and praises the brilliant achievements of Hou Ji, Gong Liu, Wang Ji and others. The historical value of these poems is obvious. They recorded the historical process of the emergence and development of Zhou nationality, the demise of commerce, the establishment of Zhou and the unification of the world, as well as the great migration and great war in this historical development process, reflecting the political, economic, folk and military aspects of Zhou nationality and leaving valuable historical materials for future generations. Although these historical materials are mixed with myths, there are undeniable historical facts that can be trusted. The folk value of The Book of Songs is also obvious, including love, marriage, sacrifice and many other aspects. For example, "the peak girl" is about the mutual love of young men and women in the nobility; The Last Wind is a ballad of flirting between men and women. Zheng Feng outside the East Gate shows a man's single-mindedness for love. These poems reflect all kinds of marital status from different sides and angles, and comprehensively reflect the folk customs of various places in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty. They are good materials for understanding the history of ancient marriage in China, from which we can also understand the different attitudes and views of ancient men and women towards marriage. Many poems describing sacrificial scenes or scenes in The Book of Songs, as well as hymns directly describing sacrificial ceremonies in ancestral temples, have left folk information about sacrificial ceremonies for later generations. For example, "Wan Dance" written in "Li", as well as the movements and dance methods of the performers who danced "Wan Dance", tell people the specific situation of this kind of dance similar to witch dance, which is used for ancestral temple sacrifice or court dance. More and more official poems recording the contents of sacrifices are mainly concentrated in ode poems. For example, "Tianzuo" records a king's sacrifice to Qishan, and "Hao Tian You Cheng Zi" is sung when the suburbs worship heaven and earth. These poems fully show Zhou people's reverence and piety for ancestors, ancestors, God, heaven and earth, eulogize and pray in the form of sacrifice and praise, reflect people's good wishes for emperors and ancestors at that time and fear for life, and reflect ancient people's mentality and folk customs. They are extremely precious folk materials. Three. The distinctive features of Zhou culture, such as ritual and music culture, have produced a ritual and music culture different from the previous generation, which has had a far-reaching impact on future generations. Among them, the ceremony integrated the thoughts and systems of the Zhou Dynasty, while the music had the function of education. The Book of Songs reflects and shows this kind of ritual and music culture in Zhou Dynasty to a certain extent, and has become one of the precious documents to preserve the ritual and music culture. For example, Xiaoya's "There is a Jiayu in the South" and "There is a Taiwan in the South Mountain" are all the movements of Yan Yan, or the guests of Yan Le, or the ministers who wish the son of heaven; Liao Xiao is the music song of Yan Guoyuan. It can be seen that the Zhou Dynasty adopted a good-neighborly and friendly etiquette policy towards neighboring countries, which reflected the wide application of rites and music in the Zhou Dynasty. Another example is "Xiaoya Tong Gong", which describes that Zhou Tianzi bowed to a vassal who made meritorious deeds, indicating that from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Tianzi bowed to a vassal who made meritorious deeds for his country, even in the form of a grand ceremony. In contrast, Xiaoya Luming Literature is more representative. This poem is the work of guests at the king's banquet. "Duke Zhou made a ceremony, and Luming Literature was listed in the singing poem." Zhu even thought it was written in the poem "Music Songs for Yan", which not only entertained guests, but also involved Tao ("Teach me how to travel around") and virtue ("Sound with virtue, Confucius, Zhao"), thus it can be seen that "Duke Zhou sang in Wang Zhidao, which is a method for future generations". In addition to the ceremony, the cultural contents of ceremony and music reflected in the Book of Songs include: describing the "ceremony of spring" in Spring Hunting; Xiaoya Chegongan and Xiaoya Jiri describe Zhou Xuanwang's hunting with the princes. Chutz, Xiaoya, Futian, Xiaoya, Datian, Xiaoya, etc. Describe and write about ancestor worship, god worship and other gods such as Sifang, Houtu and Xiannong; There are many articles in Zhou Song that offer sacrifices to King Wen and heaven and earth, from which we can learn about the sacrificial ceremony. "Xiaoya Yuanyang Pu" eulogizes the marriage of nobles and gentlemen, and "Xiaoya vs. Piluo Clothes" shows the governors of the Zhou Dynasty inspecting the six armies, from which we can learn about weddings and military ceremonies respectively.