The biggest structural feature of "The Book of Songs" is that it often uses the form of repeated chapters and repeated sentences to enhance the lyrical effect.
1. The Book of Songs
The Book of Songs is the beginning of ancient Chinese poetry and the earliest collection of poems. It collects poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (11th century BC to 6th century BC). ) poems, there are a total of 311 poems, 6 of which are Sheng poems, that is, they only have titles and no content, which are called the six Sheng poems (Nanmei, Baihua, Huashui, Youkang, Chongwu, and Youyi). It reflects the social outlook of about 500 years from the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty to the late Zhou Dynasty.
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. The Book of Songs was called "The Book of Songs" in the pre-Qin period, or the whole number was called "The Three Hundred Poems". It was revered as a Confucian classic during the Western Han Dynasty and was first called the Book of Songs, which is still used today.
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 Confucianists 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 the Zhou Dynasty A mirror of social life.
2. Creators
According to legend, there was a poetry collector in the Zhou Dynasty. Every spring, he would rock a wooden instrument and go deep into the folk to collect folk songs, and sort out the works that could reflect the joys and sufferings of the people. It was handed over to the Taishi (the official in charge of music) to compose 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.
3. Creation background
Zhouyuan, the ancestral home of the Zhou Dynasty, is suitable for agriculture. Poems such as "Shengmin", "Gongliu" and "Mianmian Gualu" in "Daya" All show that the Zhou Dynasty relied on agriculture to prosper, and the development of agriculture promoted social progress. After King Wu defeated Zhou, the Zhou clan became the dominant people in the world. The family patriarchal system, private ownership of land, slaves, and the rule of noble lords became the social and political characteristics of this historical period.