The Book Of Poetry And Confucianism

There has been two obvious trends on the research work of the Book of Poetry since the May 4th Movement of 1919: one is the number of the people who think much of the Book of Lyrics is far more than those who attach importance to the Book of Odes and Hymns; the other is that more people set store by literature research, but fewer focus on the idealistic study. The essence of the research is to spare no efforts to make a clear distinction between the Book of Poetry and Confucianism. Without any doubt, it is just as wrong as to regard the Book of Poetry as the visual sermon of Confucianism. The history of China has made the relationship between the Book of Poetry and Confucianism indiscerptible, and we cannot dodge round this point. This kind of situation has been a bit better these years, but the study of the relationship between the Book of Poetry and Confucianism still only can be seen occasionally. Actually, the Book of Poetry contains omnifarious original factor of Confucianism, becomes one of the origins of the later Confucianism and ties up with the thoughts of Confucianism in particular. To begin with , the Book of Poetry has a very close tie with Confucius , which can be concluded from the unique fashion in Confucius epoch and Confucius' deep inquiry into the Book of Poetry, especially the emphasis on harmony and virtues in the Book of Odes and the Book of Hymns, we find it has gestated the essential points of Confucius' benevolence and embodies the proposition of kindheartedness and the ideal of benevolent government visually. In the third place, from the close relationship between the Book of Poetry and Etiquette and the pump of Etiquette in Zhou Dynasty , are can draw a conclusion that Confucius ,worship towards Etiquette benefits from the Book of Poetry much.Finally, indubitably, Confucius' thoughts of literature are based on the Book of Poetry. Moreover , even some of his well-known theories on literature are related to the Book of Poetry more or less. All the points above illustrate that the Book of Poetry has a great impact on Confucianism created by Confucius.