. The style of "The Book of Songs" is divided according to the different nature of music, and is divided into three categories: style, elegance and song. ①Wind. It is local music from different regions, mostly folk songs. "Wind" poems are folk songs collected from 15 regions including Zhounan, Zhaonan, Bei, Yong, Wei, Wang, Zheng, Qi, Wei, Tang, Qin, Chen, Hui, Cao and Bin. ***160 articles. Most of them are folk songs. ②Elegance. That is, the music of the imperial court is the music of the areas under the direct jurisdiction of the Zhou Dynasty. Most of it is the work of the nobles, which is the so-called formal music. "Ya" poems are songs for palace banquets or court meetings. According to different music, they are divided into 31 poems in "Daya", 74 poems in "Xiaoya" and 105 poems in "Xiaoya". Except for a small number of folk songs in "Xiaoya", most of them are works by aristocratic literati. ③Ode. They are songs and epics performed in ancestral temples, mostly praising the achievements of ancestors. The "Song" poems are divided into 31 "Zhou Songs", 4 "Lu Songs", 5 "Shang Songs", and 40 *** poems. All are works by aristocratic literati. From a time perspective, "Zhou Song" and most of "Daya" should have been produced in the early Western Zhou Dynasty; a small part of "Daya" and most of "Xiaoya" should have been produced in the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the eastward movement; "Guofeng" Most of them and "Songs of Lu" and "Songs of Shang" should have been produced in the Spring and Autumn Period. From the perspective of ideological and artistic value, three poems are not as good as two elegances, and two elegances are not as good as fifteen national styles.
Ideological content "The Book of Songs" comprehensively displays the social life of China during the Zhou Dynasty, and truly reflects the historical appearance of China's slave society from its prosperity to its decline. Some of the poems, such as "Shengmin", "Gong Liu", "Mian", "Huang Yi", "Da Ming", etc. in "Daya" record the birth of Hou Ji to King Wu's conquest of Zhou, which is the origin and development of the Zhou tribe. and the historical narrative poem of the founding of the country.
Some poems, such as "Wei Feng·Shuo Shu", "Wei Feng·Fa Tan", etc., use a sarcastic tone to vividly reveal the slave owners' greedy and parasitic nature of getting something for nothing, and sing out the The people's voice of resistance and yearning for an ideal life showed the awakening of slaves during the collapse of slavery. Some poems, such as "Xiaoya·Why the grass is not yellow", "Binfeng·Dongshan", "Tangfeng·Bustard Yu", "Xiaoya·Plucking Wei", etc. describe the husband's homesickness, love for the land and sorrow for the war; "Wang Feng·Gentleman in Service" and "Wei Feng·Bo Xi" express the missing woman's yearning for the conscript. They reflect from different angles the endless pain and disaster that the unreasonable military service system and war corvee brought to the people during the Western Zhou Dynasty. Some poems, such as "Zhou Nan·Fengjuan" completely depict the labor process of women collecting plantain; "Binfeng·July" narrates the working life of slaves throughout the year; "Xiaoya·No Sheep" reflects the The shepherding life of slaves.
There are also many poems that express the love life of young men and women, such as "Qin Feng·Jianjia" which expresses the dreamlike pursuit between men and women; "Zheng Feng·Qin Wei", "Bei Feng·Jianjia" "Standing Girl" shows the playful party between men and women; "Wang Feng·Plucking Ge" shows the painful lovesickness between men and women; "Wei Feng·Papaya" and "Zhaonan·Gu Youmei" show the love between men and women. Mutual gifts; "Bao Feng·Bo Zhou" and "Zheng Feng·Jiang Zhongzi" reflect the pain caused by parental interference and public opinion to young men and women. For example, "Beifeng·Gufeng" and "Weifeng·Meng" also express the sorrow of abandoned women, angrily condemn the ungratefulness of men, and reflect the tragic fate of the majority of women in class society.
Artistic Achievements and Their Influence "Zhou Li Chunguan Master" says: "The master taught six poems: Feng, Fu, Bi, Xing, Ya and Ode." Six poems In the "Preface to Mao's Poems", he also wrote six meanings. Among them, Feng, Ya, and Song refer to the classification of styles; Fu, Bi, and Xing refer to the expression techniques. Regarding Fu, Bi, and Xing, Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty gave a more precise explanation in the "Collected Poems": "Fu refers to stating things directly; Bi refers to comparing this thing with other things; Xing refers to the first thing. Talking about other things can lead to the words that are chanted. "For example, "Bin Feng·July" and "Wei Feng·Meng" are both Fu style: the former describes slaves' spring plowing, mulberry picking, weaving, field hunting, wine making, storage and preparation. The entire working life throughout the year, including winter, expresses the class antagonism and the grief and indignation of the slaves; the latter flashes back to the tragic experience of the abandoned wife and the gangster from falling in love to getting married to being abandoned by the gangster, showing the sorrow and determination of the abandoned wife. Another example is "Wei Feng·Shuo Shu" and "Bei Feng·Xintai" are both analogies: the former compares the exploiters to greedy big rats; the latter compares the promiscuous and shameless Wei Xuangong to a big toad; both of them are inhabited. A great deal of irony. For example, "Zhou Nan·Guan Ju" and "Wei Feng·Fa Tan" are both in Xing style: the former is inspired by the "Guan Guan" cry of the virgin bird Jiujiu, which reminds people of the relationship between men and women; the latter is based on slaves. The sound of "kankan" logging was rising, which reminded the slave-owning class of getting something for nothing. In "The Book of Songs", the techniques of Fu, Bi and Xing are often used interchangeably. There are "Fu and Bi Ye", "Bi and Xing Ye", and "Xing and Bi Ye". For example, "Wei Feng·Meng" is in the form of a poem, but the poem "The mulberry leaves have not yet fallen, and their leaves are as thick as silk, and the doves are sighing, and there is no food for the mulberries", which is obviously "happiness and comparison". Another example is "Wei Feng·Shuo Ren", which describes Zhuang Jiang's beauty in a descriptive way, but the "hands are like catkins, skin is like gelatin, teeth are like gourd rhinoceros, and the head is like a moth's eyebrows" vividly expresses Zhuang Jiang's natural beauty. This is obviously another "comparison based on endowment". The successful application of Fu, Bi and Xing techniques is an important reason for the strong local flavor of folk songs in The Book of Songs.
"The Book of Songs" is mainly composed of four words, with some miscellaneous words. In terms of structure, the form of repeated chapters and repeated sentences is often used to enhance the lyrical effect. Only a few words are changed in each chapter, but it can achieve a dramatic artistic effect. In terms of language, double-tone rhymes and repeated words are often used to describe objects, onomatopoeia, and poor appearance. "Use less to make more, leaving no trace of emotion behind." In addition, in terms of rhyme in The Book of Songs, some sentences rhyme, some rhyme every other sentence, some rhyme to the end, and some change rhymes midway. Almost all the rhyme rules of modern poetry are already available in the Book of Songs.
"The Book of Songs" is the glorious starting point of Chinese realist literature. Due to its rich content and high ideological and artistic achievements, it occupies an important position in the cultural history of China and the world. It created an excellent tradition of Chinese poetry and had an indelible influence on later literature. The influence of "The Book of Songs" has also transcended China's borders and spread all over the world. Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other countries introduced the Chinese version of the Book of Songs very early. Since the 18th century, French, German, English, Russian and other translations have appeared. The original main uses of music and songs in the Book of Songs were, firstly, as part of various ceremonies, secondly, for entertainment, and thirdly, to express views on social and political issues. But later, "The Book of Songs" became a commonly used cultural teaching material in the education of aristocrats, and studying "The Book of Songs" became a necessary cultural quality for aristocrats. On the one hand, this kind of education has the function of beautifying language. Especially in diplomatic situations, it is often necessary to quote verses from the Book of Songs to express one's own meaning in a tortuous way. This is called "composing poems to express one's ambitions", and its specific circumstances are mostly recorded in "Zuo Zhuan". The Analects of Confucius records what Confucius said: "If you don't study the Poems, you will have nothing to say." "Recite the Poems three hundred times and teach them how to govern, which is not enough; when they are sent to all directions, they cannot be specific. Even though they are many, they are ridiculed?" "It can be seen how important studying "The Book of Songs" is for the upper class and those who are preparing to enter the upper class society. On the other hand, the education in The Book of Songs also has political and moral significance. "Book of Rites - Jingjie" quotes Confucius as saying that through "poetic teaching", people can be made "gentle and honest". The Analects of Confucius records the words of Confucius, and also said that after studying the "Poetry", one can "serve the king from afar and serve the father who is near", that is, one can learn the principle of serving the king and elders. According to Confucius's opinion (which should be the opinion of the upper class of society at that time), "Three hundred poems can be summed up in one sentence: thinking without evil". This means that all the works in the Book of Songs (or at least generally) are in line with the generally accepted moral principles of the society at that time. Otherwise, it would be impossible to use it for “educational” purposes.
There are two points worth noting here: First, based on what Confucius said, people at that time speculated on the views of the "Book of Songs", and the scope of "innocence" they defined was quite broad. Many poems that denounce the reign of darkness and express the love between men and women can still be considered "innocent" or legitimate expressions of emotion as long as they do not exceed a certain limit. Second, despite this, the Book of Songs is not a simple collection of poems after all. It is not only a cultural accumulation of the Zhou Dynasty, but also an object of daily recitation by the nobles. Therefore, although it contains many folk songs, it may not contain content that directly and directly conflicts with socially recognized political and moral principles.
The Qin Dynasty burned all Confucian classics including the Book of Songs. However, because the Book of Songs is easy to memorize and is generally familiar to scholars, it was circulated again in the Han Dynasty. In the early Han Dynasty, there were four scholars who taught the study of "The Book of Songs", that is, four schools: Yuan Gusheng of Qi, Shen Pei of Lu, Han Ying of Yan, Mao Heng and Mao Chang of Zhao, referred to as Qi Shi and Lu. Poetry, Korean poetry, and Mao poetry (the first two take the name of the country, and the latter two take the surname). The modern classics of Qi, Lu and Han are officially recognized schools, while Mao Shi belongs to the ancient classics and is a folk school. But after the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mao's poetry became more and more prosperous and was officially recognized; the first three schools gradually declined, and by the Southern Song Dynasty, they were completely lost. The "Book of Songs" we see today is the biography of Mao's school of poetry.