Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Beginners who wish to approach the Book of Songs through close reading of a single poem
- Researchers interested in pre-Qin women's emotions and views on love and marriage
- Language teachers who need a short text for classroom use
- General readers who enjoy classical poetry and prefer short lyric pieces
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking a systematic overview of the Book of Songs or full commentary
- Readers of literature who need long narratives or complex plots
- Beginners with low tolerance for classical Chinese and ancient annotations
Reading tips
- Read the original text two or three times first to grasp its rhythm and tone, then work through it line by line with the annotations.
- Note the turn between "I'll never wed another" and "O mother, Heaven mine!", and feel how the emotion shifts from vow to appeal.
- Read this poem alongside "Cypress Boat" in the Odes of Yong, distinguishing the different themes and techniques of poems sharing a title.
- Read the whole poem aloud to feel the cadence of the four-character lines and the emotional tension created by the exclamations in the final line.
About the publisher
Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 序
- 柏舟
- 墙有茨
- 君子偕老
- 桑中
- 鹑之奔奔
- 定之方中
- 蝃蝬
- 相鼠
- 干旄
- 载驰
FAQ
What does "with hair in double coil" refer to in this poem?
How should "I'll never wed another" be understood?
What emotion does the closing line "O mother, Heaven mine! You know not what I suffer!" express?
Comments
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About the author
Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.
