The Book of Songs is the earliest poetry collection in China. It was compiled around the middle of the sixth century BC. It is said to have been compiled by Confucius, the founder of Confucianism. The Book of Songs was originally called "Poems" and contains 305 poems (another 6 have titles but no content, that is, they have goals but no words, and are called Sheng poems), so it is also called "Three Hundred Poems". Since the Han Dynasty, Confucianism has regarded it as a classic, so it is called "The Book of Songs". Mao Heng and Mao Chang in the Han Dynasty once commented on the Book of Songs, so it is also called "Mao Shi". The authors of most of the poems in the Book of Songs cannot be verified.
Most of the poems recorded in the Book of Songs come from the folk. It is said that the Zhou Dynasty had a special poetry collector to collect folk songs to understand folk customs and political gains and losses. Most of the poems in the Book of Songs come from this. The other part is composed of poems written by ministers and scholar-bureaucrats to the Emperor of Zhou, praising virtues and whitewashing peace. Among them, some people have verified the author of some poems, some are conjectures, and some are well-founded, but they are not very important. As for the compiler of the Book of Songs, some thought it was Duke Zhou, but it seems that this cannot be established now. There is also an argument that Confucius deleted poems, which is not convincing either.
The poems recorded in The Book of Songs span a long time span, from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, covering a wide range of areas, from the north of the Yellow River to the Jianghan Basin. In the Han Dynasty, there were three schools of Lu, Qi and Han first, who were established as academic officials, and then "Mao Shi". After "Mao Shi" became popular, the poems of Qi, Lu and Han were lost one after another. There are many interpreters of the Book of Songs in the past, among which the better ones include Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty's "Collected Poems", Wang Fuzhi of the Qing Dynasty's "The Book of Songs", Ma Ruichen's "General Commentary on the Biography of Mao's Poems", and Wang Xianxuan's "Collected Works of the Three Schools of Poetry", etc.
"The Book of Songs" contains 305 chapters, divided into three parts: "Wind", "Ya" and "Song". "Wind" has the style of fifteen countries and is a folk song from various places. This part has the highest literary achievement. It contains songs about love, labor and other beautiful things, as well as laments and anger about homeland, longing for people, and anti-oppression and bullying. . "Ya" is divided into "Daya" and "Xiaoya". Most of them are poems for nobles to pray for good harvests and praise their ancestors' virtues. There are also some folk songs in "Xiaoya". "Ode" is a poem for worship in the ancestral temple. The poems in "Ya" and "Song" are of great value to our investigation of early history, religion and society. Confucius once summarized the purpose of the Book of Songs as "innocence", and taught his disciples and children 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. Later, "The Book of Songs" was regarded as a classic by Confucianism and became the "Six Classics" (including "Poetry", "Book", "Li", "Yue", "Yi", "Spring and Autumn") and "Five Classics" (without "Music"). ")one.
The area covered by the works of "The Book of Songs" is mainly the Yellow River Basin, starting from Shanxi and part of Gansu in the west, southwestern Hebei Province in the north, Shandong in the east, and Jianghan Basin in the south.
The process of writing the book
The earliest work in "The Book of Songs" was probably written in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. According to "Shangshu", "Binfeng·Owl" was written by Ji Dan, Duke of Zhou. The latest work was completed in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. According to Zheng Xuan's "Preface to the Book of Poetry", it is "Chen Feng·Zhu Lin", spanning about 600 years.
Regarding the collection and compilation of "The Book of Songs", there are sayings that "Wang Guan collected poems" and "Confucius deleted poems":
Wang Guan collected poems
"Han Shu· It is recorded in "Shi Huo Zhi" that the Zhou Dynasty court sent special envoys to collect folk songs across the country during busy farming periods. The historians of the Zhou Dynasty collected and compiled them and showed them to the emperor in order to understand the sentiments of the people.
Confucius deleted poems
This statement is found in "Historical Records". It is said that there were originally 3,000 ancient poems. Confucius compiled and selected 300 of them according to the standards of etiquette and justice, and compiled the "Book of Songs" .
It is now generally believed that the Book of Songs was collected by various vassal states with the assistance of the Zhou Dynasty court, and was later compiled and compiled by historians and musicians. Confucius also participated in this sorting process.
Style Classification
Regarding the classification of poems in the Book of Songs, there is a theory of "Four Beginnings and Six Meanings". "Four Beginnings" refers to the top four poems of "Feng", "Daya", "Xiaoya" and "Song". The "six meanings" refer to "wind, elegance, praise, fu, bi, and xing". "Feng, Ya, and Song" are the classifications of the Book of Songs according to different music, and "Fu, Bi, and Xing" are the expression techniques of the Book of Songs.
Feng, Ya, Song
"Wind" is also called "Guo Feng". There are 15 groups in one song. "Wind" is the general name of music. The 15 sets of national styles are not music from 15 countries, but music from more than a dozen regions. The national style includes 160 songs from Zhou Nan, Zhao Nan, Bei, Yong, Wei, Wang, Zheng, Hui, Qi, Wei, Tang, Qin, Bin, Chen and Cao. Guofeng was a popular local song at that time, with local flavor. In terms of content, most of them are folk songs. Most of the authors are folk singers, but there are also some nobles.
There are various views on the understanding of "Ya". One view is that it refers to the music in the areas directly ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. "Ya" means "righteousness", and this kind of music is regarded as "zhengsheng", which is intended to show the difference from music in other places. Some people also say that "Ya" is connected with "Xia", and Xia is the name of the area directly ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. There is also a view that "Ya" refers to elegant music that everyone can understand. There are 105 chapters in "Ya", divided into 31 chapters in "Daya" and 74 chapters in "Xiaoya".
Most of "Ya" are works by court officials and officials, and a small part are folk songs. The contents are almost all about politics, some praising good people and good governance, and some satirizing bad governance. There are only a few poems expressing personal feelings. But there are no love poems.
"Ode" is a piece of music used by nobles to worship ghosts and gods in their family temples and praise the merits of rulers. It is accompanied by dance when played. It is divided into "Zhou Song", "Lu Song" and "Shang Song", with a total of 40 chapters. Among them, 31 "Songs of Zhou" are believed to be works of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and most were written before King Zhao and King Mu of Zhou; 4 "Songs of Lu" are believed to be works of the reign of Duke Xi of Lu; "Songs of Shang" are believed to be Works from the Song Dynasty before the Spring and Autumn Period.
Fu, Bi, Xing
"Fu, Bi, Xing" are the expression techniques of poetry. "Fu" is to tell the story directly and describe the process of an event. "Bi" is a metaphor, using one thing to compare another thing. "Xing" means to associate one thing with another.
Preface to Mao's Poems
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were four main schools that taught the Book of Songs. One is Shen Gong from Lu, the second is Yuan Gu from Qi, and the third is Han Ying from Yan. However, except for "Han Shi Wai Zhuan", these three works no longer exist. The other one is Mao Shi. That is, it was passed down by Da Mao Gong Mao Heng and Xiao Mao Gong Mao Chang. Each of the existing Mao poems has an explanation, called a "small preface". Most of its authors are unknown. Nowadays, it is generally believed that except for a few of the explanatory texts, most of them are unreliable. But the preface to Mao's poems had a great influence on future generations. The ancients loved to use the explanations in it when writing poems and articles.
Evaluation and influence
The Book of Songs has a profound impact on China's literary history, politics, language, and even thought.
Confucius had a high opinion of the Book of Songs. Regarding the ideological content of "The Book of Songs", he said, "Three hundred poems can be summed up in one sentence, and the thoughts are innocent." As for its characteristics, it is "gentle and honest, and poetic education" (that is, it is believed that the Book of Songs can clarify people's soul after reading it, and it is the best way to use it as a tool for education). Confucius even said, "If you don't learn poetry, you won't be able to express it." This shows the profound influence of the Book of Songs on ancient Chinese literature. Confucius believed that studying the Book of Songs can cultivate the ability to associate, improve observation, and learn satirical methods. You can use the principles to serve your parents and the emperor, so as to achieve order in the family, rule the country, and bring peace to the world.
In ancient times, the Book of Songs also played a political role. During the Spring and Autumn Period, in diplomacy between countries, songs or poems were often used to express unspeakable or unspeakable words, similar to today's diplomatic rhetoric.
The Book of Songs is the first of thousands of years of Chinese literature, and also the first of many Chinese literary works that have been dominated by realism for many years.
Nowadays, the study of the Book of Songs is more used to examine the differences in phonology between ancient and modern times, or to study the history of ancient times. There are even more ancient and modern writings on the Book of Songs.