"The Book of Songs" is my country's first collection of realistic poems, with 305 poems, so it is also called "Three Hundred Poems". According to the purpose and music, it is divided into three parts: "wind, ya, and song". The wind refers to the folk songs of various places, the ya is mostly the palace music of the nobles, and the song is used by the emperor of Zhou and the princes to worship the ancestral temple. dance music. The main expression techniques of "The Book of Songs" are Fu, Bi and Xing. Among them, directly stating the thing is called a poem; using an analogy is called a comparison; and speaking of other things first to arouse the excitement of the thing being chanted is called a poem. There are 305 poems in the Book of Songs (another 6 have titles but no content, that is, they have goals but no words, and are called Sheng poems). There are many opinions about the collection of "The Book of Songs" throughout the ages. There are three main types:
1. Cai Shishuo
The earliest record appears in "Zuo Zhuan". In addition, in the "Book of Han·Shihuo Zhi": "In the month of Mengchun, the people living in groups are about to disperse. Travelers vibrate the wooden door and stand on the road to pick up poems and present them to the imperial master to compare their music and rhythm so that they can be heard by the emperor. Therefore, he is called the king. You can know the world without leaving your home." The poetry collectors at that time were called "walkers" (see "Zuo Zhuan").
2. The theory of offering poems
"Guoyu Zhouyu": "Therefore, the emperor listened to the government and sent the ministers to offer poems to the distinguished officials."
3. Deletion Poems
"Historical Records: Confucius' Family": "There were more than 3,000 poems in the ancient times, but when it came to Confucius, the emphasis was removed, and the ones that could be applied to etiquette and justice...350 poems." However, many scholars believe that this statement is not credible. The most likely possibility is that Confucius participated in the compilation of the Book of Songs. The Book of Songs is my country's first collection of poems with a strong realistic style. The Book of Songs contains a total of 305 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period. The content is divided into three parts: Feng, Ya and Song. Among them, "wind" includes folk songs from fifteen places, including today's Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, and some places in northern Hubei (Qi, Chu, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin), called "Fifteen Kingdoms Wind" , with 160 chapters, is the core content of the Book of Songs. "Wind" means local customs and customs. "Ya" refers to the formal song of elegant music, which is the music played when nobles enjoy banquets or princes attend court meetings. According to the layout of the music, it is divided into "Daya" and "Xiaoya". There are 105 poems, including 31 in Daya and 74 in Xiaoya. "Songs" are sacrificial songs, divided into 31 "Zhou Songs", 4 "Lu Songs", 5 "Shang Songs", and 40 ***. It is one of the "Five Classics". The Book of Songs has a history of more than 2,500 years. The expression techniques in "The Book of Songs" are divided into Fu, Bi and Xing. Together with Feng, Ya and Song, it is called the "Six Meanings". The Book of Songs is mostly composed of four words, with some miscellaneous words. The "Book of Songs" collects 311 poems (also known as the Three Hundred Poems), 6 of which are Sheng poems with only titles and no content. There are 305 existing poems (with both titles and words) (take the integer to become Poems 300). During the Warring States Period, rituals collapsed and music collapsed, and a large number of musical scores were lost. The only remaining lyrics were compiled into the Book of Songs. In the pre-Qin Dynasty, it was called "Poetry", or the whole number was called "Poetry Three Hundred". During the Western Han Dynasty, it was revered as a Confucian classic, called the Book of Songs, and is still used today. These poems were originally composed of lyrics that were sung to music, retaining the form of combining ancient poetry, music, and dance. However, during the long period of circulation, the music scores and dances were lost, and only the poems remained. Confucius said: There are 305 chapters in the Book of Songs. Each chapter tells a story, and each story has a truth. It can be said quite a lot, but one sentence from it can cover everything in the Book of Songs. All the principles without any omission, this is what "Lu Songjie" said: thinking without evil. It means that human thoughts and ideas are born from the laws of heaven and are not distorted by selfish desires. This sentence completely summarizes the thoughts and principles of the "Book of Songs". The poet's words are either praising or sarcastic. For good people and things, he uses beautiful words to praise them to inspire people's kindness. For ugly people and things, he uses harsh words to satirize them. To punish people for their evil thoughts. It is all about raising people's good thoughts, getting rid of people's ugly thoughts, and making people's temperaments gentle and pure. If every thought in the human heart is pure and not distorted by selfish desires and evil thoughts, then what he does will naturally be full of good deeds and no evil deeds, and full of praised actions but not satirical actions. The poet's praise and satire are just to encourage good and punish evil. Therefore, the three words "siwuxie" are enough to summarize the spirit of "The Book of Songs". Scholars who want to cultivate themselves must understand that they should focus on "careful thinking".
There are not many poems in the Book of Songs for which the specific year of writing can be determined. Roughly speaking, "Song" and "Ya" were produced earlier, basically in the Western Zhou Dynasty; "Guofeng", except for "Bin Feng" and part of "Er Nan", were all produced in the early and middle Spring and Autumn Period. As far as the nature of poetry is concerned, "Ya" and "Song" are basically songs written for specific purposes and used on specific occasions, while "Guofeng" is mostly folk songs. It's just a part of "Xiaoya", similar to "Guofeng". However, it must be pointed out that the "folk songs" we are talking about here are just a general term; their characteristics are exactly opposite to those of "Ya" and "Song" mentioned above. They are ordinary lyric songs created by unknown authors and circulated in society. The identities of most folk song authors are difficult to ascertain. If the identity of the narrator in the poem is taken as the author's identity, it includes not only laborers and soldiers, but also a considerable number of people who belong to the "scholar" and "gentleman" classes. "Shi" was the lowest level of nobility at that time, while "gentleman" was a general term for nobility.
There are also many unidentified characters. So we can only roughly say that this kind of folk song is a social mass work.
Due to the different nature of poetry, the content of its description is also different. Below, we select several important types to introduce.
The "Ode" poem is mainly "Zhou Ode", which is the ancestral temple sacrificial poem of the Zhou royal family and was produced in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. In addition to simply praising the merits of ancestors, there are also some songs that pray to the gods for a good harvest in the spring and summer or reward the gods in the autumn and winter. This reflects the social characteristics of the Zhou people who built their country on agriculture and the situation of agricultural production in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. For example, "Feng Nian" sings: In a good year, there will be many millet and crops, and there will also be high crops, trillions and crops. For wine and li, it is given to the ancestors and descendants, and all kinds of gifts are exchanged, and blessings are brought to everyone. On harvest days, people happily and grandly offer sacrifices to their ancestors, hoping that they will bestow more blessings. "Ai Xi" depicts the situation of large-scale farming: Ai Xi became the king, and after showing off his falsehood, he led the farmers to sow hundreds of grains. Junfa and you are private, and you will end up thirty miles away. Also serve you and cultivate, ten thousand dimensional coupling. In the vast fields, tens of thousands of farmers are working at the same time. What a spectacular scene it is! At the same time, we will also think: in such powerful collective activities, the value of individual existence can easily be ignored and obliterated. This is the price that must be paid under that specific historical stage and economic conditions.
The five chapters of "Daya": "Shengmin", "Gongliu", "Mian", "Huangyi" and "Daming" are a set of epics of the Zhou people, describing the history of the Zhou people The history from the ancestor Hou Ji to the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu, destroyed the Shang Dynasty. Its origin was roughly in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. "Shengmin" narrates that Hou Ji's mother, Jiang Yuan, prayed to God for a son. Later, she stepped in God's footsteps and became pregnant. She gave birth to Hou Ji, but she did not dare to raise him and abandoned him. However, Hou Ji survived through hardships: "The birth of Ji In the narrow alley, there are cattle and sheep in the plain forest. The birds are covered with ice and their wings are flying. The description in this paragraph shows the mythical color of Houji. After Hou Ji grew up, he invented agriculture and the crops he planted were very lush. Later, he got married and established a business in Youtai (now southwest of Wugong, Shaanxi), establishing the foundation of the Zhou nation, and he himself became the ancestor of the Zhou nation and the god of agriculture. This poem, which is full of myth and legend, reflects the Zhou nation's concepts of origin and history, as well as the social characteristics of establishing a country based on agriculture.
As narrative works, the strength of these epics lies in their simplicity and orderliness. However, since the purpose of its writing is mainly to record historical facts (including legends that are regarded as historical facts) and to praise ancestors, it does not pay much attention to the storyline and characters. Moreover, there are not many narrative poems in "The Book of Songs", the main ones are the above. It can be seen that from the beginning of the Book of Songs, Chinese poetry has shown a tendency to pay less attention to narrative poetry.
From the late Western Zhou Dynasty to the time when King Ping moved eastward, due to the intrusion of the Rong tribe, the annexation of princes, and the destruction of the ruling order, violent social turmoil occurred. Among the poems in "Daya" and "Xiaoya" that were produced during this period, many works criticizing politics were written by scholar-bureaucrats. This is probably what is said in ancient books: "The ministers offer poems to the distinguished officials" (Guoyu·Zhouyu).
In this category of poems, some authors criticize the chaos and injustice within the ruling class. For example, it is said in "Zhan Ang": "A man has land, but a woman owns it; a man has people, and a woman takes it. It is better to be innocent, and the woman takes it. It is better to be guilty, and the woman takes it." "Beishan" It says: "Some Yanyan is resting, or exhausted from serving the country; some are lying on the bed, or unable to walk; some do not know how to call, or work miserably; some sacrifices are late and they lie down, or the king is using the palm of a martingale; or When Zhan Le drank, he was miserable and fearful of blame; he went out and discussed things, or he did not do anything. "From here we can see that social relations were undergoing drastic changes at that time. Some people were up and down, and some were working hard for "king affairs." And there is nothing to gain, and some people enjoy honor while doing nothing. The poet, on the other hand, stands on the old "just" standpoint, hoping to correct this inevitable chaos.
More political criticism poems express the authors' extreme worries about difficult and critical current events and their strong dissatisfaction with the ruling groups to which they belong, including the supreme ruler. For example, "The Turn of October", according to "Preface to Mao's Poems", is the work of "The Doctor Assassins King You". The poet started from the misfortune of the weather, which was considered a very serious disaster at the time, and issued a serious warning to the rulers. It wrote: Ye Ye was shocked and uneasy. Hundreds of rivers are boiling, and mountains and hills are collapsing. The high bank is the valley, and the deep valley is the mausoleum. Those who mourn today should not be punished for their stupidity! This is a picture of great turmoil and disaster about to happen.
The reason for this is that poets try to avoid direct conflicts with the groups to which they belong, or in other words, they always feel coerced by the power of the group. It seems that poets strongly express their concern for the fate of the country and people's lives, and criticize others for lacking such concern. This is a contradiction; but on the other hand, this concern is essentially concerned about the stability of the ruling order. , is the correct position and moral principle recognized by the entire ruling group (regardless of whether it can be achieved). What they criticize is precisely the departure from this position and principle. When they find (or think) that most people have deviated from this position and principle, they feel confused, indignant, and frightened, and they never dare to express a purely personal attitude and put themselves in confrontation with the group or even breaking position.
The examples cited above, as well as other similar poems in the major and minor "Ya", can be said to have created the tradition of Chinese political poetry. The sentiments of concern for the country and the people expressed in the poem, as well as the fact that one must first stand on the "correct", that is, the moral stance recognized by society, before criticism can be made and avoid publicizing one's personal attitude, have had a profound impact on the political poetry of future generations. Influence.
The folk songs in "Guofeng" (including some similar works in "Xiaoya") reflect a much broader content of life than "Ya" and "Ode" which are purely from the upper class of society. The atmosphere of life is also more intense.
In the 15th "Guo Feng", "Bin Feng" is the earliest. One of them, "July", is an extremely ancient farming poem, generally believed to have originated in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Different from the agricultural poems in "Song of Zhou", it describes the working life of farmers throughout the year at a considerable length, and records the agricultural knowledge and production experience at that time, like a ballad recording the lunar calendar. This poem is not only a very valuable material in terms of sociology, history, and agriculture, but also in terms of literary history, it is also the origin of the Tian family poetry of later generations.
There are also quite a few poems of political criticism and moral criticism in "Guofeng". Some of these poems are about specific people and events, while others have a general meaning. Generally speaking, these poems mostly reflect the dissatisfaction of the middle and lower classes of society towards the upper class rulers. For example, the famous "Cutting Down the Sandalwood": Cutting down the sandalwood in every possible place, place it at the dry end of the river. The river water is clear and rippled. If you don’t farm or plough, how about three hundred grains of grain? If you don’t hunt or hunt, will there be anything hanging in the courtyard of Hu Zhan? That gentleman is not a vegetarian! This poem has been interpreted by many people in the past as the workers' accusation against the exploiters for reaping the rewards without working for anything, but this may not be accurate. It should be pointed out that in the era of "The Book of Songs", the so-called "gentlemen work hard, and villains work hard" ("Zuo Zhuan"), "Those who work hard govern others, and those who work hard govern others" ("Mencius"), in the general understanding of society , it turns out to be just and justified. Whether the slaves who were severely enslaved both materially and mentally could clearly deny this principle recognized by the society at that time is a question in itself; even if someone recognized and expressed it, such a poem would not be accepted by the princes. The music palace of the Zhou Dynasty was still accommodating, and it became the object of daily chanting and learning for the children of the nobles. The "Preface to Mao's Poems" explains this poem by saying, "It is also about stabbing greed. When one is in power, he is greedy and despises his salary without merit." This should be correct. In other words, the poet still starts from the socially recognized principles and believes that a "gentleman" should pursue his career in his position, and "eating a salary without merit" becomes a shameless "vegetarian meal" - eating for free. The last sentence "That gentleman is here, he is not a vegetarian" is a sarcastic style of writing. In fact, it is a common phenomenon for "gentlemen" to eat without their bodies. By satirizing their behavior based on the principles they claim, the poem is already profound and does not need to be elevated beyond its original meaning.
Another example is "Shuo Mouse", which is also a profound political satire. In the poem, the ruler is compared to a greedy big rat. He feels that he cannot bear the heavy oppression of these guys and wants to escape to a "promised land". Judging from the lines in the poem, such as "I have no food to eat," we can see that the author owns his own land and property, and his identity may be a lower-class noble or other free citizen. This kind of opinion against excessive exploitation is also something that wise rulers are willing to recognize and consider worthy of warning.
As mentioned earlier, some poems in "Xiaoya" are similar to "Guofeng", the most prominent of which are works about war and labor. We will introduce this type of poem together with the poems on the same theme in "Guo Feng". "Plucking Wei", "Jidu", "What grass is not yellow" in "Xiaoya", "Broken Ax" and "Dongshan" in "Bin Feng", "Drumming" in "Bei Feng", " "Bo Xi" in "Wei Feng" are all masterpieces in this area. Different from epics describing martial arts, most of these poems express the experiences and thoughts of ordinary soldiers from the perspective of ordinary soldiers, focusing on singing about their weariness of war and longing for their hometown, which makes them feel more intimate to read.
It should be noted that this type of works in the "Book of Songs" cannot simply be called "anti-war poetry." Because although the poem expresses the tiredness of military life and nostalgia for peaceful family life, it does not directly express opposition to the war or criticize those who call themselves to serve. The mood in the poem is also mainly sadness, with almost no anger. This is because, from a collective standpoint, joining the army is an obligation that individuals must fulfill. Even if it hinders the personal happiness of the soldiers, there is nothing they can do. This characteristic can be seen more clearly in "Wei Feng·Bo Xi": The Bo Xi is bold and the state is Jie Xi. Bo also died and became the king's pioneer. The joy of my uncle is like flying across my head. Without anointing and bathing, who would be suitable for it? It rains, it rains, and the sun rises. I would like to speak to Si Bo and be willing to be ill. How can I get the weeds and talk about the back of the tree? May your words Sibo make my heart aching. This poem is written in a woman's voice. She was proud of her husband because he was the "Jie of the state" and could "pioneer for the king", but she was also in pain because of her husband's long absence and the destruction of her family life. The emotions expressed by the poet are both restrained and true.
In "National Style", the most concentrated poems are about love and marriage. In the era of "The Book of Songs", in some areas, the restrictions on the interaction between men and women were not as strict as in later generations. Therefore, in these poems we can see scenes of young men and women freely meeting and falling in love, such as "Zhao Nan" ·There is a dead crocodile in the wild": There is a dead crocodile in the wild. Wrap it with white grass. If there is a girl who is pregnant, you will be lured by good luck. There are Puxi trees in the woods and dead deer in the wilds. There are pure bunches of white grass, and there are women like jade.
"Come and take off your clothes, you don't feel my coquettishness, and you don't have to make me bark." A hunting man seduces a "jade-like" woman in the forest. The woman advises the man not to be reckless and not to disturb the dog, showing that The subtle psychology of joy and fear.
The artistic style of all poetry is not formed without reason. A bright and enthusiastic style must be the product of free and unrestrained emotions; implicit and tortuous expressions are always the result of suppressed emotions. This is especially true in the early stages of literary development, when people have not yet consciously pursued diverse artistic styles.
"Guo Feng" also contains many poems describing the emotional life between husband and wife. For example, in "Tang Feng·Gesheng", a wife whose husband died said: "On summer days and winter nights, after a hundred years of age, she will return to her home." Her experience is sympathetic. But there are also men who are eager to abandon their wives. In that era when women had no status, the fate of abandoned women was even more sad.
"Gu Feng" in "Bei Feng" and "Meng" in "Wei Feng" are the two most famous poems about abandoned wives. "Wind in the Valley" is the plaintive cry of a kind and weak woman, describing how she worked hard to run the house for her husband and how she struggled to live in poverty. However, when her family's financial situation improved and she got older, her husband found other ways to enjoy himself. Kick yourself out of the house; when you leave your husband's house, it's hard to leave because you can't stop remembering the past. What is described in the poem is a typical example of a virtuous and tolerant Chinese woman.
"Mang" narrates a woman's painful experience from falling in love to getting married to being abandoned. One incident is written in sequence, and the context is very clear. First, a man smiled and bought silk from her, taking the opportunity to get acquainted with her. She agreed to the marriage, and during the days of waiting for the wedding, she often climbed up the wall to look forward to him. But a few years after they got married, her husband abandoned her. She angrily accused her husband: "A scholar is not good at what he does," and "A scholar is too ignorant to be virtuous." She also warned other women not to trust men credulously: "If you are a grieving girl, you should not hesitate with a scholar; if a scholar is delayed, it is just like a gentleman." It can be said; a woman's infatuation cannot be said!" This is a true psychology, and it also contains a certain moral admonishment. The poems in the "Book of Songs" that deal with love and marriage issues may sing about the joy and longing for each other between men and women, or praise each other's style and appearance, or describe the scene of a tryst, or express the subtle psychology of a woman, or lament the misfortune of an abandoned wife. Rich in content and true in emotion, it is the work with the highest artistic achievement in the entire Book of Songs.
Author:
The composition of the authors of "The Book of Songs" is very complex, and its origin is also very wide. In addition to the songs produced by the music officials of the Zhou Dynasty and the songs presented by officials and scholars, there are also many ballads that were originally circulated among the people. There are different accounts of how these folk songs came to the imperial court. Some scholars in the Han Dynasty believe that the Zhou Dynasty sent special poets to collect folk songs to understand the pros and cons of politics and customs; another theory is that these folk songs were collected by musicians from various countries. Musicians are officials and experts in charge of music. They make singing and composing music as their profession. They collect ballads to enrich their lyrics and tunes. The music of the princes was dedicated to the emperor, and these folk songs were gathered in the imperial court. There is some truth to these statements.
Yin Jifu:
Is a famous politician, strategist and writer in Chinese history. He is the main collector of the Book of Songs and is honored as the ancestor of Chinese poetry. Yin Jifu was born in Jiangyang (now Luzhou City). In his later years, he was exiled to Fangling (the ancient name of Fangxian County). After his death, he was buried in Qingfeng Mountain in today's Fangxian County, Hubei Province. There are a large number of Yin Jifu cultural relics in Fang County. He assisted three generations of emperors. When he arrived at the age of King You of Zhou, he believed the slander and was beheaded by King You of Zhou. Later, when he found out that he had been killed by mistake, he made a gold head and gave him a rich burial. In order to hide others from robbing the tomb, he built twelve tombs in the east of Fang County. . He has written "The Book of Songs, Daya, Hao Min", "Daya, Jianghan", etc.
The social basis for the production of "The Book of Songs":
Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, said: "From the east of Guanzhong from Qian and Yong to He and Hua, there are thousands of miles of fertile soil and fertile fields. Since the Yuxia period, Paying tribute was thought of as a way to go to the fields. However, Duke Liu and Wang Ji were in Qi, King Wen was doing great work, and King Wu was managing Hao, so the people still had the legacy of the previous kings, and they were good at farming and cultivating grain. It can be seen from this that the Zhou Dynasty was already an agricultural society. Although the tribute of Yu and Xia mentioned here is not credible, it is true that the ancestral homeland of the Zhou Dynasty was suitable for agriculture. Judging from the poems such as "Shengmin", "Gongliu", and "Mianmian Gualu" in "Daya", the Zhou people indeed prospered and developed based on agriculture. "Bin Feng·July" completely describes the relationship between the farming activities of the year and the class oppression of the society at that time. In addition, "Nanshan", "Chuci", "Datian", "Fengnian", "Liangshu" in "The Book of Songs" and "Jin Teng", "Zicai" and "Kang Gao" in "Book of Zhou" There are records of farming in chapters such as "Luo Gao" and "Wu Yi".
The development of agriculture promotes social progress. After King Wu defeated Zhou, the Zhou clan became the rulers of the world. The family patriarchal system, private ownership of land, slaves and the rule of aristocratic lords became the social and political features of this historical period. Religious beliefs are integrated with social politics. This is the social basis for why there are many sacrificial hymns and elegant poems in the Book of Songs. Zaiwo once asked Confucius what ghosts and gods are, and Confucius replied: "Qi refers to the prosperity of gods; soul refers to the prosperity of ghosts. Combining ghosts and gods is the best way to teach them." He further explained: "Mingming the ghosts and gods, It is thought that the head of Guizhou will be feared by hundreds of people and obeyed by all people.
The sage thought that this was not enough, so he built it into an official residence and set it up as a ancestral hall. He kept away relatives and distanced himself from the near and far, and taught the people to return to the past and start again without forgetting the origin of their lives. Since then, everyone has been convinced, so listen quickly. "("Book of Rites·Jiyi Chapter") By using this to understand the odes and elegant poems in the "Book of Songs", you can get the essentials.
The Zhou Dynasty was founded by Wen and Wu, and Cheng and Kang prospered , it is said in history that the punishment was not used for forty years. This can be called the golden period of the Zhou Dynasty. After Zhao and Mu, the country gradually declined. Later, King Li was expelled, King You was killed, and King Ping moved eastward, entering the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the royal family declined, princes merged, barbarians invaded, and society was in turmoil. The Book of Songs reflects the social life from the early Zhou Dynasty to the middle Spring and Autumn Period. On the whole, it is a reflection of the social life in China during these five hundred years. The image reflects the carols of ancestors' entrepreneurship and the music for worshiping gods and ghosts; there are also banquets and interactions among nobles, and the resentment of uneven work and rest; there are also touching scenes reflecting labor, hunting, and a large number of love affairs, marriages, and social customs. Chapter.
Literature is a reflection of life, and life has social and historical characteristics. When we study the Book of Songs, we must first pay attention to the historical and social foundation that produced the Book of Songs.
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"The Book of Songs" comprehensively displays the social life of China during the Zhou Dynasty (Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and the middle period of Spring and Autumn Period of Eastern Zhou Dynasty), and truly reflects the historical appearance of China's slave society from its prosperity to its decline. Poems, such as "Shengmin", "Gongliu", "Mian", "Huangyi", "Daming", etc. in "Daya" record the birth of Houji to King Wu's conquest of Zhou, which is the origin, development and founding of the Zhou tribe. Historical narrative poems.
Some poems, such as "Wei Feng·Shuo Shu" and "Wei Feng·Fa Tan", vividly reveal the greedy and parasitic nature of slave owners in a sarcastic tone. , sung the people’s call for resistance and yearning for an ideal life, and showed the awakening of slaves during the collapse of slavery; some poems, such as "Xiaoya·Where the Grass Is Not Yellow", "Binfeng·Dongshan", "Tangfeng Bustard Yu", "Xiaoya Caiwei", etc. describe Zheng's husband's homesickness for home and his sorrow for the war; "Wang Feng·Gentleman in War", "Wei Feng·Bo Xi", etc. express the thoughts of the wife who misses Zheng. Nostalgia. They reflect from different angles the endless suffering and disasters brought to the people by the unreasonable military service system and war corvee in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Some poems, such as "Zhou Nan·Fengju", completely depict the women's collection of plantain. The labor process; "Binfeng·July" describes the labor life of slaves throughout the year; "Xiaoya·No Sheep" reflects the slaves' shepherding life.
There are also many poems that express youth. The love life of men and women, such as "Qin Feng·Jianjia" shows the dreamlike pursuit between men and women; "Zheng Feng·Qin Wei" and "Bei Feng·Jingnu" show the playful party between men and women; "Wang Feng·Qin Wei" shows the playful party between men and women; "Picking Ge" shows the painful lovesickness between men and women; "Weifeng·Papaya" and "Zhaonan·Pu Youmei" show the mutual gifts between men and women; "Yongfeng·Bo Zhou", "Zheng Feng·Jiang" "Zhongzi" reflects the pain caused by parental interference and public opinion to young men and women; others such as "Beifeng·Gufeng" and "Weifeng·Meng" also express the sorrow of abandoned women and angrily condemn the ingratitude of men, reflecting the The tragic fate of the majority of women in class society.
"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 a 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 "Six Meanings" of "The Book of Songs":
The "Six Meanings" of "The Book of Songs" refer to Feng, Ya, Song, Fu, Bi, and Xing. The first three refer to Content, the last three are about techniques.
The division of "Wind", "Ya" and "Song" into three parts is based on the difference in music. "Wind" consists of 15 parts, most of which are folk songs from the Yellow River Basin, called "Winds of the Fifteen Kingdoms". There are 160 chapters. "Ya" is divided into "Xiaoya" (74 chapters) and "Daya" (31 chapters), which are palace songs with 105 chapters. "Song" includes "Song of Zhou" (31 pieces), "Song of Lu" (4 pieces), and "Song of Shang" (5 pieces), which are music songs and dance songs used for sacrifices in the ancestral temple, totaling 40 pieces.
The meaning of "wind" is tone. It is relative to "Wang Ji" - the area directly ruled by the Zhou Dynasty. 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.
According to the names of the Fifteen Kingdoms Styles and the content of the poems, it can be roughly inferred that the poems originated in what are now Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and northern Hubei.
"Ya" refers to the music of "Wang Ji". Zhou people in this area called it "Xia". "Ya" and "Xia" were used interchangeably in ancient times. Ya also means "right". At that time, Wang Ji's music was regarded as Zhengsheng - a model of music. People in the Zhou Dynasty called Zhengsheng Yale, just like people in the Qing Dynasty called Kunqiang Yabu, which has a sense of respect. Zhu Xi's "Collected Poems" says: "Elegance is Zhengye, and the song of Zhengle is also a song of Zhengle. There are differences in the size of its chapters, and the former Confucianism also has the difference between Zhengxiaoya and Yanxiao. It is also a joy; Zhengdaya is the joy of court gatherings. The style of speech is different, and the syllables are also different. Therefore, the difference between Xiaoya and Xiaoya lies in its content. "
"Ode" refers to the ancestral temple sacrifice. Most of their songs and epics praise the achievements of their ancestors. "Preface to Mao's Poems" says: "The person who eulogizes is a description of his beauty and virtue, and he is the one who tells the gods about his success." This is the meaning and purpose of the ode. Wang Guowei said: "The sound of the song is slower than that of wind and elegance." ("Shuo Zhou Ode") This is the characteristic of its music.
"Fu" according to Zhu Xi's "Collected Poems", "The person who writes poems is the one who explains the matter and speaks directly." That is to say, Fu directly lays out the narrative. It is the most basic expression technique. For example, "The bond between life and death is broad, and it is said to the child. Hold the hand of the child, and grow old together with the child." This is a direct expression of one's feelings.
"Bi", according to Zhu Xi's explanation, means "comparing another thing to this thing", which means metaphor. Both simile and metaphor fall into this category. There are many places where metaphors are used in the Book of Songs, and the techniques are also varied. For example, "Meng" uses the change of mulberry trees from flourishing to withering to describe the rise and fall of love; "Crane" uses "stones from other mountains can attack jade" to describe the need for wise men to govern the country; "Shuo Ren" continuously uses "catkins" The word "congealing fat" is used to describe a beautiful woman's hands, "congealing fat" is used to describe a beautiful woman's skin, "hu rhinoceros" is used to describe a beautiful woman's teeth, etc. These are all good examples of the use of "bi" in the Book of Songs.
"Fu" and "Bi" are the most basic expression techniques in all poetry, while "Xing" is a unique technique in the "Book of Songs" and even Chinese poetry. The original meaning of the word "Xing" is "rising", so it is often called "rising", which plays an important role in exaggerating the atmosphere and creating artistic conception in poetry. "Xing" in "The Book of Songs", according to Zhu Xi's explanation, means "preface other things to trigger the words to be chanted", that is, to use other things to pave the way for the content of the chant. It is often used at the beginning of a poem or chapter. Sometimes when a sentence in a poem seems to be Xing, you can judge whether it is Xing by whether it is used at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph. For example, in Wei Feng·Meng, "the mulberry trees have not yet fallen, and their leaves are wobbly", which means they are prosperous. . Probably the most primitive "Xing" is just an origin and has no meaningful relationship with the following text. It shows that thoughts wander and associate for no reason. Just like Qin Feng's "Morning Wind", it is difficult to find the meaningful connection between the beginning of "The morning breeze, the gloomy northern forest" and the following "I haven't seen the gentleman, I am worried about Qin Qin". Although in this case, it may be that it is incomprehensible due to the age gap, this situation must exist. Even in modern ballads, we can still see this kind of "xing". Furthermore, "Xing" also has more practical uses such as metaphor, symbol, and foil. But precisely because "Xing" is originally caused by the wandering thoughts and associations for no reason, even if it has a more practical meaning, it is not so fixed and rigid, but ethereal and subtle. For example, at the beginning of "Guan Ju", "Guan Guan Ju dove, in the river island", the poet originally used the foreground to create the following "A graceful lady, a gentleman is fond of hunting". However, Guan Ju's harmonious singing can also be used as a metaphor for male and female courtship. Or the harmonious love between men and women, but its metaphor is not so clear and definite. Another example is the poem "Peach Blossoms", which begins with "The peach blossoms shine brightly", describing the beautiful atmosphere when the peach blossoms bloom in spring. It can be said to be a realistic writing, but it can also be understood as a metaphor for the beauty of the bride. , it can also be said that this is to set off the warm atmosphere during the wedding. Because "Xing" is such a subtle technique that can be used freely, later generations of poets who like the implicit and euphemistic charm of poetry are particularly interested in it. They each show off their skills, revise the old and bring out the new, etc. , constitutes a special flavor of Chinese classical poetry. The form of the poem is mainly four words, using techniques such as fu, comparison, and xing.