9 Classic Chinese Poetry

Ca. 1000—600 B.C.

Archaic Chinese Script

In contrast to other ancient literary cultures, which begin with epics, prose legends, or hymns to the gods, the Chinese tradition begins with lyric poetry.⁶³⁴⁵ The Classic of Poetry (also known as Book of Songs) is a collection of 305 songs representing the heritage of the Chou people. The earliest in the collection are believed to date from around 1000 B.C. and the latest from around 600 B.C., at which time it seems to have reached something like its present form.

Although the collection circulated among the Chou aristocracy, it obviously drew from a wide variety of sources, and its diversity represents many levels of Chou society. There are temple hymns to the ancestors of the Chou ruling house, narrative ballads on the foundation and history of the dynasty, royal laments, songs of soldiers glori­fying war and deploring war, love songs, marriage songs, hunting songs, songs of women whose husbands had deserted them, banquet songs, poems of mourning, and others. Many seem to have originated as folk songs, but these are mixed together with poems from the Chou aristocracy.

Classic of Poetry is a collection of many voices; there are the voices of kings, aristocrats, peasants, soldiers, men, and women. The Chou Dynasty’s sense of its own authority depended on Heaven’s charge to rule, which was contingent on ruling well and receiving the sup­port of the common people. As the ballad that tells of Chou’s rise to power says, “Heaven cannot be trusted; I Kingship is easily lost.” This same law, by which the Chou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, applied no less to the Chou itself. Because the dynasty depended on the common people, their concerns were considered an essential part of the polity. Voices of protest are mingled with voices of cel­ebration. And the great influence of the Classic of Poetry in later ages was as a continual reminder that society contains many legitimate voices.

The Classic of Poetry give words to feelings that would otherwise be hard or uncomfortable to articulate and traditional Chinese interpretations of the Classic of Poetry have always stressed the role of the Poems as vehicles for political and social protest. But in a broader sense, the diversity of the Poems acknowledged that the contrary forces in individual hearts could still, when given utterance, contribute to a society that would ultimately prove more durable than one dominated by social authority and ideology. The immense cultural authority of the Classic of Poetry made it a means to say what one truly thought, rather than silently submitting to social authority. This principle is often found as a theme within the Poems themselves.

The Classic of Poetry had a profound influence on the future development of Chinese literature. It encouraged poets and readers alike to assume that a poem revealed the state of mind of the writer, the writer’s nature, and the writer’s circumstances. And this led to a notion of literature, particularly poetry, as a form of interior history, revealing in an intensely direct way both the person and the age. The Classic of Poetry embodies the central values (if not the realities) of early Chinese civilization. Again and again the poems return to a fascination with timely action, to the need to speak out, to balances and exchanges, and to acts of explanation. These are the values of a world in which domination and absolute superiority threaten the social fabric and poetry becomes a tool of resistance to domination.

Classic Chinese Poetry

The Book of Songs is available at the following link: https://pressbooks.nvcc.edu/eng255/chapter/the-book-of-songs/

EXERCISE:

Let’s review our definitions on imagery (included below) and use them to analyze the Book of Songs. After you go over the definitions on imagery pick three poems from the Book of Songs, finding as many of the figures of speech mentioned below as you can (simile, metaphor, personification, and onomatopoeia).

Remember that imagery is the term we use to explain when a line, especially in a poem, sparks off the senses. Imagery uses “language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually, it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds.” Although we equate an “image” with a “picture,” images are not only visual; they can use any of the five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell—to engulf the reader in the poem.

Imagery needs the aid of figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, and onomatopoeia, to appeal to the bodily senses.¹

What are your three poems? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FURTHER READINGS:

For an overview on Confucius, his life, and Confucian beliefs, see here:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/confucius/

For another overview of Confucianism, including the beliefs and the cultural impact, see here:

https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/ort/confucianism.htm