The “Classic of Poetry” contains the earliest known examples of Chinese literature. While its 300-some poems, odes, and songs were compiled by the sage Confucius, the lyrics themselves come from different regions and social strata that made up the early Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C.–771 B.C.). Depicted are the lives of men and women, lovers and workers, peasants and rulers.
Confucius (551 B.C.–479 B.C.), who greatly admired the beliefs and customs of the Zhou people and kingdom, collected the works in order to record the ways of the ancients and to guide the scholars and leaders of his own generation toward a path of rectitude. Though by now less well-known as compared to the later work of the Tang and Song Dynasty poets, the “Classic” holds key value if we are to understand the world in which the great classical philosophers and teachers of ancient China lived.
