SHIJING - THE CLASSIC OF POETRY

(1)

INTRODUCTION

Shijing, also called The Classic of Poetry, is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. It consists of 305 works dating from the 11th to the 7th centuries BC. It contains the oldest chronologically authenticated Chinese poems, which can be divided into two main sections:

• the "Airs of the States." 

• the "Eulogies" and "Hymns." 

WHAT IS SHIJING?

The Classic of Poetry, otherwise known as Shijing (Shi-chig) is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. It consists of 305 works dating from the 11th to the 7th centuries BC. It is also called the Book of Poetry, Book of Odes, Odes, or simply Poetry. (2)

Shijing contains the oldest chronologically authenticated Chinese poems. The majority are from the Western Zhou period, the final section is from the Shang dynasty, and the song "Tree-Stump Grove" is from the Spring and Autumn period. (2)

THE CONTENTS OF SHIJING

The songs of Shijing can roughly be divided into two main sections:

• the "Airs of the States." 

• the "Eulogies" and "Hymns." (2)

The Airs of the States are shorter lyrics in simple language. They were usually folk songs created by the common people. The themes were love, soldiers on campaign, farming and housework, and political satire and protest. (2)

Songs in the two "Hymns" sections and the "Eulogies" section tend to be longer ritual or sacrificial songs. They also include hymns used in sacrificial rites and songs used by the aristocracy in their sacrificial ceremonies or at banquets. Most of the poems were used by the aristocrats to pray for good harvests each year, worship gods, and venerate their ancestors. (2)

THE STYLE

About 95% of lines in the Poetry are written in a four-syllable meter. There does seem to be a slight caesura between the second and third syllables. (2)

Lines tend to occur in syntactically related couplets, with occasional parallelism. Longer poems are usually divided into similarly structured stanzas. (2)

All but six of the "Eulogies" consist of a single stanza. The "Court Hymns" exhibit wide variation in the number of stanzas and their lengths. Almost all of the "Airs" consist of at least three stanzas, with four-line stanzas being most common. (2)

The poems tend to possess "elements of repetition and variation". Some lines and phrases are repeated verbatim, while others vary from stanza to stanza. (2)

They vary in their lyrical qualities. The songs from the "Hymns" and "Eulogies" were performed to slow, heavy accompaniment from bells, drums, and stone chimes. (2)

Nearly all the poems are rhyming, with end rhyme, as well as frequent internal rhyming. In modern Chinese, the songs do not rhyme anymore in most cases. (2)

Three major literary devices can be found in the songs: straightforward narrative (賦; fù), explicit comparisons (比; bǐ), and implied comparisons (興; xìng). Also, there is much use of imagery, often derived from nature. (2)

CONCLUSION

The Classic of Poetry consists of the oldest chronologically authenticated Chinese poems. Most can be dated back to the  Western Zhou period, the Shang dynasty, or the Spring and Autumn period. 

The poems can roughly be divided into a) the "Airs of the States", and b) the "Eulogies" and "Hymns." The Airs of the States are shorter lyrics, echoes of folk songs created by common people. Songs in the two "Hymns" sections and the "Eulogies" section, on the other hand, tended to be longer ritual or sacrificial songs of the aristocracy. 

The length of the poems varies, from one stanza to the most common number of four. They characteristically contain elements of rhyming, repetition, and variation. Also, the use of imagery, often from nature, was quite common. 

SOURCES

1. Image was created via canva.com

2. Wikipedia. Classic of Poetry. Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Poetry