The two major sources of China's ancient poetry are The Book of Songs, a representative of realism, and The Songs of the South, a representative of romanticism, which are collectively called Li Sao (or coquettish).
As the first collection of poems in China, The Book of Songs contains about 500 years' poems from the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1 1 century BC) to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (6th century BC). Rich in content, it reflects labor and love, war and corvee, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and feasting, and even astronomical phenomena.
Chu Ci is the first poetry anthology written by China. Songs of the South is of extraordinary significance to the whole cultural system of China, especially to literature. It created the poetic style of China's romantic literature, so later generations called this style "Chu Ci" and "Sao".
Extended data
First, the historical value of The Book of Songs:
Judging from the value of historical materials, The Book of Songs actually comprehensively reflects the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, and records the historical development and realistic situation from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period in an all-round, multi-faceted and multi-angle manner, covering almost all aspects of society such as politics, economy, military affairs, folk customs, culture, literature and art. 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.
Second, the historical value of Songs of the South:
Songs of the South is recognized as a poetic monument as famous as The Book of Songs, which has created a new poetic style and played an extremely important role in the development of poetry.
First of all, The Songs of the South creatively broke the style of The Book of Songs, which focused on four characters and emphasized chapters and rhymes. Secondly, Songs of the South enriched the theme of poetry and expanded the field of poetry expression. For example, the poems of seclusion and wandering immortals in Zhao 'an are directly bred from Chu Ci, and the political poems of chanting things are also deeply influenced by Chu Ci.