The Simple Song – the Classic of Poetry

The bulk of the Classic of Poetry is lyrical poems, but some of it is also storytelling narrative ones. For example, Sheng Min of the Major Festal odes is about the story of Hou Ji, an ancestor of the Zhou clan. 1155815.com

What is the greatest in number and best in composition in the Classic of Poetry are the songs of love affairs and lovesickness between man and woman and the poems on family and nuptial life. Its first poem is Ospreys of Zhou Nan, which tells the love affair between man and woman of a young man’s one-sided love for a woman. What’s more, Qian Shang of Zheng about the lovers’ flirations; A Rainy Day of Tang about the surprised joy for the newly wed at first night; and the Plum Falling of Zheng about the life scenes between husband and wife—all these are very interesting. Some of the Classic of Poetry, too, gives an account of the lovelorn grief and the unfortunate marriage, for instance, the Deserted Wife of Wei.

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Some of the Classic of Poetry also copes with the peoples’ life, including the aristocrats’ wine-drinking, archery, feasting and merry-making as well as the life of hard-working peasants. For example, July of Bin unrolls a truthful picture of the hard-working peasants in front of us. Wood-chopping of Wei uttered strong indignation at the rulers who gained without any pains. In the Big Rats of Wei the laboring people flatly compared the rulers to the hateful big rats who had eaten up their crops and food.

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Written mostly in four-word lines with four lines to a stanza, the Classic of Poetry is rich in refrains and recurrent songs. Rhythmical and musical, it is easy to recite and relish. www.1155815.cn