Source: Three Hundred Poems by Confucius.
Confucius said, "Why did Zi learn poetry? Poetry can be appreciated, observed, grouped and resented. Your father is far away, and you know the names of birds, animals and plants better. "
Interpretation of the original text: Confucius said: "Why don't students learn poetry? Poetry can stimulate emotions, observe society, make friends and complain about injustice. You can serve your parents nearby, you can serve the king far away, and you can know the names of many birds, animals and plants. "
Extended data:
Appreciate:
This is the highest praise for the social function of poetry. The three functions of cognition, education and aesthetics, which modern poetry criticism relishes, can actually find their place in this passage of Confucius.
As we said in the chapter of Ji, in the era of Confucius, The Book of Songs was just an all-encompassing encyclopedia. Therefore, the sage not only told his son Kong Li to learn poetry etiquette, but also appealed to all the students to learn poetry again.