The Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry
by Arthur Waley (Translator)
On This Page
Description
The earliest anthology of poetry in China, The Book of Songs tells of the joys and sorrows of the Chinese people in ancient times.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
The earliest collection of ancient Chinese literature, these poems give us a glimpse of daily life on a wide socio-economic range, from the 11th to 7th centuries BCE. Most interesting to me is the comparison between these poems and those the Greeks were coming up with. The lives and concerns of women appear much more frequently here, which is really interesting.
A couple of my favorites:
Along the Highroad
If along the highroad
I caught hold of your sleeve,
Do not hate me;
Old ways take time to overcome.
Sun in the East
Sun in the east!
This lovely man
Is in my house,
Is in my home,
His foot is upon my doorstep.
Moon in the east!
This lovely man
Is in my bower,
Is in my bower,
His foot is upon my threshold.
A couple of my favorites:
Along the Highroad
If along the highroad
I caught hold of your sleeve,
Do not hate me;
Old ways take time to overcome.
Sun in the East
Sun in the east!
This lovely man
Is in my house,
Is in my home,
His foot is upon my doorstep.
Moon in the east!
This lovely man
Is in my bower,
Is in my bower,
His foot is upon my threshold.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (That Are Older Than 200 Years)
415 works; 175 members
Philip Ward's Lifetime Reading Plan
592 works; 22 members
Author Information
Arthur Waley (1889-1966) is highly regarded for his many translations of Chinese & Japanese literature. (Bowker Author Biography)
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Shi jing
- Alternate titles
- Shijing; Shih ching
- Original publication date
- 0600 BCE circa; 1937 (English: Waley) (English: Waley); 1950 (English: Waley revised) (English: Waley revised); 1996 (English: Waley and Allen) (English: Waley and Allen)
- Dedication
- to Gustav Haloun
- First words
- Introduction: Early Chinese songs do not as a rule introduce a comparison with an 'as if' or 'like,' but state it on the same footing as the facts that they narrate.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Above all, in the last three years, when the text has been continually before me, the jumble of problems linguistic, botanic, zoological, historical, geographical which the translator of such a work must face, has never robbed the Songs of their freshness; and I trust that some part of my delight in them, despite the deadening lack of rhyme and formal metric, has found its way to the reader of the foregoing translations.
Classifications
- Genres
- Poetry, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 895.1 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Chinese
- LCC
- PL2478 .F813 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Chinese language and literature Chinese literature Collections
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 293
- Popularity
- 109,325
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.93)
- Languages
- Chinese, English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 6
