The History Of The Literary Explanation Of The Book Of Songs (From The Pre-Qin Days [221B.C] To The Tang Dynasty [618-907])

This paper has six parts. In the introduction we mainly discuss the meaning and archaic value of the history of the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs which is the opposite of the interpretation from the study of Confucian classics. The aim of the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs is to reveal, criticize and appraise the emotional features , artistic form, craft-ship of the Book of Songs and its effect on the poems of the later periods from the poems themselves and aesthetic standards. The literary interpretation of the Book of Songs had not been paid attention until the Qing Dynasty. And this paper describes comprehensively the history of the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs and its relations with the interpretation of the Book of Songs from the study of Confucian classics on the basis of the achievements in the book by our predecessors and provides leads and experiences for further study.The first chapter describes the original forms and literature features of the poems in the Book of Songs and establishes the theory and method for the overall research. To seek the source of the poems is a good method to explore the original forms of the Book of Songs. There are three different versions about the source of the poems. Among them the statement that the poems came from folk literature would explain the literary meanings of the Book of Songs. Zhu Dong-Run had written an article named the query on the statement that the Guofeng came from folk literature. But this query existed some questions. In this chapter we think that the original forms of the Book of Songs emerged with the music simultaneously. The original meanings of the Book of Songs are theirliteral meanings. The functions of poems are not only the enlightening by education but also the appreciation of the beautiful. The scholars who smash the bonds of the traditional explanation on the Book of Songs try to return to the original shapes of the Book of Songs and bring about a great advance in the literary interpretation on the Bookof Songs. The aesthetic conceptions and the ideas guiding literary creation about the Book of Songs would be seen from which we know that the Book of Songs was the poems for expressing the feelings. And the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs is fundamental.The second chapter discusses the early forms of the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs, the theory about the Book of Songs of Confucius, etc. The comments on the Book of Songs by Confucius discussed the artistic features and the emotional manifestation of the Book of Songs.The third chapter is the literary interpretation.n of the Book of Songs in the background of the study of Confucian classics.The fourth chapter inquires into the development and the nourishment of the literary interpretation of the Book of Songs in the Wei Dynasty(220-280), Jin Dynasty (265-420) and the North and Southern Dynasties (420-589) in which the individual character-consciousness and the literature-consciousness came into being and the scared face of the book of songs entrusted by the study of Confucian classics began to subside. And the literature-features had been approved.The fifth chapter probes into the interpretation of the Book of Songs from both literature and study of Confucian classics in the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty.In the domain of the study of Confucian classics the literature characteristics had been given more attention than ever before at that tune. And in the domain of the literature the political functions had been emphasized.