Prior to the Western Zhou Dynasty there were also some ballads and songs . It is now hard to see them in their original forms , due to lack of records . But according to “Tan Ge” (stringed music) in “Wu-Yue Spring and Autumn Annals” and to “Qin Yun” (fine cloud) and “Ode to Five Masters” in the “Book of History” , the ancient ballads and songs were mostly plain and simple , indicating that literature then was still in the rudimentary stage . On the other hand , although the poems contained in the “Book of Poems” retained traces of literature before the Zhou , yet “the literary forms of the poem were compatible for the themes and showed varied techniques of expression .
The “Guo Feng” sub-section of the “Book of Poems” contained mostly poems in the literary form of four words in a line and every other line rhymed , though the form was flexible . For example , the poem of “Zhou Nan : Plantain”.
芣苢
采采芣苢，薄言采之。采采芣苢，薄言有之，
采采芣苢，薄言掇之。采采芣苢，薄言捋之。
采采芣苢，薄言袺之。采采芣苢，薄言襭之。
Plantains
We gather plantain seed .
Let’s gather them with speed .
We gather plantain ears .
Let’s gather them with cheers.
We gather plantain seed .
Let’s rub them out with speed .
We gather plantain ears .
Pull by handfuls with cheers .
We gather plantain seed .
Let’s fill our skirts with speed .
We gather plantain ears .
Belt up full skirts with cheers .
This ballad was sung while the women were bending over plantains in the field . The poem was composed of three stanzas and twelve lines , with only six different verbs . It struck the readers with images of gleeful laborers and gave rise to a flight of fancy by means of its epithets and refrains . Just imagine that in the bright sunshine and gentle breezes , a throng of farming women , scattered by twos and threes in the field , sing in antiphony while laboring , their voices echoing far and near , off and on sometimes continually and sometimes broken and you will have an aesthetic perception out of the brisk rhythm and the repeated chanting .
Two literary devices , “比” (Bi) and “兴” (Xing) were frequently employed in the “Book of Poems” with good artistic effects . “比” (Bi) means analogy or comparing one thing with another . That is to use a concrete image to compare with the thing or matter the writer wants to express . For example , to describe the abominable and mean characteristics of the ruler by comparing with the characteristics of “Fat Rat” and “Big Rat” . In the poem “Meng” (common people) , the flourishing and withering of the mulberry tree was used to compare to the vicissitudes of love between husband and wife . “兴” (xing) means start , or , starting a poem by evoking images other than the subject matter . Foe example , the poem “Zhou Nan : Peach in Bloom” started a wedding hymn by describing first the beauty and blossoming of the peach . The poem “Zhou Nan: Water fowls” starts a wedding hymn with the verse “waterfowls cooing on the islet in the river”. These literary devices enrich greatly the forms of expression of poems and lyrics , making it possible to create a moving mood and a moving image in a few short paragraphs .
In brief , the “Book of Poems” marked a brilliant beginning of the Chinese literature , its artistic forms and devices for expression provided the later generations with useful references. That is why Liu Xie said , “Poems are the foundation of rhyme prose , hymns , lyrics and odes”.
