The composition of the authors of The Book of Songs is very complicated and the region is very wide. But these poems, by their very nature, are the lyrics of songs. It can be seen from the pre-Qin works that the original function of poetry is singing, which is the product of aristocratic sacrifice and banquet. Judging from its universal four-character poem format, it is obviously compiled to adapt to percussion instruments such as chimes.
However, if we simply look at the content, this poem is obviously written for a specific purpose. National Style is a part of Xiaoya and a folk song in a sense. In the scene it depicts, we can see the complexity of its environment. But the so-called folk songs here are popular among the people, not in the general sense. Their creative groups were literati and aristocratic intellectuals at that time, and it was difficult to see words reflecting the sufferings of the people except July in their descriptions. Therefore, in a broad sense, such works can be attributed to the creation of the public; The ode poem is mainly Zhou Song, which is the ancestral temple sacrifice poem of the Zhou royal family, and it was produced in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. In addition to simply praising the merits of ancestors, some people pray for God in spring and summer or thank God in autumn and winter, which reflects the social characteristics and agricultural production of Zhou people in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Fu poetry is of great significance to the study of the history of the Western Zhou Dynasty and even the Shang Dynasty, but it is far from being compared with Xiaoya, the national wind, in terms of literary achievements.
Most of the works in The Book of Songs are lyric poems, which do not attach importance to characterization or even ignore the events themselves. What it conveys is the author's understanding of society and feelings, or just a kind of literary compassion. In most love poems, we can't see the long narrative like the western and Indian poems of the same period. Just to praise love, this is an emotional expression in a broad sense. This had a great influence on our later literature. In the course of literary development for thousands of years, lyric poetry has always been the main line of literary development.
Judging from the materials in The Book of Songs, it has obvious realism. The Book of Songs almost covered all aspects of social life at that time, and its attention to politics and society made it shed the cloak of myths and legends, which had certain positive significance at that time. Although this is largely only a small number of people's concern about the literariness of the lower classes, it is undeniable that it slightly distracts people's attention to rights and struggles. We can't say that the theme of The Book of Songs is to oppose the tyranny of the ruling class, but it has given the later generations a tradition, so that our later generations' literature will not be too indulged in the narrow aesthetic scope, thus defining the development direction of poetry. However, we should also see that the excessive emphasis on social responsibility also hinders the free expression of literary emotions and inhibits the development of literary diversity.
However, the lyricism of The Book of Songs is not as passionate as that of modern western operas, and it is generally restrained. Most of the lyrics in The Book of Songs are based on sadness, not strong grief and strong joy, but euphemistic twists and turns. This also makes The Book of Songs appear meticulous and meaningful in lyrical expression. When we read the Book of Songs now, we can't even imagine that it was originally a carrier of secular songs, just a simple literary form. In addition, although the lyrics of The Book of Songs are generally peaceful, they are still sincere and moving, and there are many lively, cheerful and interesting works. Confucianism in later generations said that all the works in The Book of Songs were written for political and moral purposes, but it could not erase the appeal of those lyric works, especially love poems. Therefore, in the era of feudal autocracy, when the moralization tendency and preaching tendency of literature are too serious, poets will also play the authoritative banner of the Book of Songs and demand that their feelings be properly, at least moderately recognized.
In a word, The Book of Songs is the glorious starting point of China's poetry and even the whole China literature. It shows the colorful real life of that era in many ways, and reflects the joys and sorrows of people from all walks of life. It is different from the early poems of other nationalities by its sober reality, which opens up a unique road for China's poems.
As the inheritor of The Book of Songs, Han Yuefu inherited its excellent tradition and improved and developed it in many aspects.
The mainstream literature of Han Dynasty is the creation of literati, and the mainstream of literati's creation is Ci Fu. The similarities between Yuefu folk songs and The Book of Songs exist as folk creations and are non-mainstream cultures. Although it is consistent with literati literature, there are more inconsistencies. This non-mainstream folk creation, with its strong vitality, gradually influenced the creation of literati, and finally promoted the vigorous rise of poetry, replacing the rule of Ci and Fu on the literary world.
The folk songs of Han Yuefu have a strong flavor of life, especially for the first time, which concretely and profoundly reflects the hardships and pains of the daily life of the lower classes. In the literati literature of Han Dynasty, political comments and ci fu did not involve the life of the lower class, and Yuefu poems just made up for this vacancy. Its exposure to social reality is very direct, even naked. Scenes described in the Tenth Five-Year Plan and the Battle of the South of the City. It can't just be explained by complaining. It is an accusation against the reality of the dark society, and this accusation is directly transformed into resistance in the poem "Walking to the East Gate", which is not seen in the Book of Songs. The folk songs of Han Yuefu reflected this point concretely and profoundly for the first time, which was a great progress in China literature and provided an important and extremely extensive theme for later poems. As many poets have inherited the tradition of folk songs in Han Yuefu, reflecting the sufferings of people's livelihood has gradually become a prominent feature of China's poems.
Secondly, the folk songs of Han Yuefu laid the foundation of China's ancient narrative poems. At the beginning of China's poetry, lyric poetry occupied an overwhelming advantage. There are only a few immature narrative works in The Book of Songs, and the songs of Chu are mainly lyrical. Although the appearance of folk songs in Han Yuefu is not enough to change the mainstream situation of lyric poetry, it also makes narrative poetry occupy a place in literary themes. Moreover, the narrative poems in the folk songs of Han Yuefu are mostly short stories, and such works are often represented by a typical life segment, which makes the contradiction focus on one focus, which not only avoids too much explanation and elaboration, but also shows a broad social background. This is undoubtedly an epoch-making progress in the development history of classical literature. The later narrative poems can be said to be completely developed on the basis of the folk songs of Han Yuefu, and the later narrative poems generally belong to Yuefu poems in classification. This is also the inheritance of literature on another level.
Another great progress in Yuefu poetry is the emergence of a literary theme similar to fable, such as a dead fish crossing the river and crying. It has a more vivid and flexible form of expression than the Book of Songs, so it can express feelings that were not easy to express before. This is a major feature of Yuefu poetry and has become a model of later literature. Like the rich associations and flexible expressions in Tang poetry, it can't be said that it is directly influenced by it.
Judging from the development of China literature, the rise and fall of any literary form are closely related. As the original text literature, The Book of Songs provided the foundation for the prosperity of Yuefu poetry. Even the Book of Songs itself is Yuefu poetry, which is only the inevitable progress of the Book of Songs in the progress of the times. Under their influence, China's classical literature gradually moved from naivety to maturity, from single theme to diversification, until it left a brilliant and strong stroke in the history of world civilization. Today, we analyze the relationship between The Book of Songs and Yuefu poems in order to find the essential relationship within literature and find the basis and practical way out for the revival of our traditional literature and even Chinese civilization. Here, we will find that the prosperity and development of a civilization is not untraceable. Before its rules appear inside, we have reason to believe that everything we expect now is the future it will reach, and it is not far away.