Classic of Poetry
This is the style of those poems which compose this collection, the "Shijing", or "Shi Jing", known variously in English such as "The Book of Songs", the "Classic of Poetry", the "Book of Odes", or just "The Odes". Associated with the court of the Zhou Dynasty, particularly Western Zhou, the poems of this collection are of uncertain dates. Some of the individual pieces of this material may be quite older than other ones. The "Classic of Poetry" was edited supposedly by Confucius in the Spring and Autumn period, which correlates with the first half of the Eastern Zhou. Confucius at this time is said to have chosen approximately 300 out of a collection which at that time included about 3,000 individual pieces of verse. Although some of these may have been collected as folk-songs, they show signs of editorial reworking. The original musical scores and choreography meant to be performed together with them have all been lost. In following dynasties, especially with the Han Dynasty deification of Confucius and the incorporation of the "Classic of Poetry" into the mandatory material for testing under the imperial examination system, the poems within it became subject to much artificial and moralistic reinterpretation. Especially the sexual elements came to be officially viewed as parables for love of the Confucian rites and social order, especially the love of the subject for his political lord and master. Although of historical interest and importance, such interpretations are not in line with modern scholarship. All of the "Classic of Poetry"s poems are anonymous.