The six major categories of the main content of the Book of Songs

The six categories of the main contents of the Book of Songs are: ode to ancestors and epic poems of the Zhou tribe, agricultural poems, poems about swallowing, poems about grievances, poems about labor, and poems about marriage and love.

1. Songs of Ancestor Sacrifice and Zhou Epic Poetry

Sacrificial activities were prevalent in the ancient times, and many ethnic groups produced sacrificial songs in praise of the gods and ancestors, as well as praying for blessings and avoiding calamities. The ritual poems preserved in the Daya and the "Three Songs" were mostly focused on sacrifices and praises to ancestors, or recounted the history of the tribes or the development of the tribes, or extolled the virtues of the former kings and kings, such as the "Shengmin," "Gongliu," "Mian," "Huangyi," and "Daiming," which depicted the epics of the Zhou tribe, and which were distinctly different from the temple literature of the later generations.

2. Agricultural Poetry

The works in the Book of Songs are not only imprinted with agricultural civilization in terms of moral concepts and aesthetic interests, but also produce some agricultural poems directly depicting agricultural production and life and related political and religious activities, such as the works of "Ministers of Work," "Yelp," "Bountiful Years," "Carrying Scythes," "Liangyi," etc. Among them, "July" is a wind poem, which is the first of its kind in the world. Among them, "July" is the longest of the wind poems, and it is the best of the agricultural poems in terms of both content and art.

3. Swallowing and Entertaining Poems

The Book of Songs also contains poems of swallowing and entertaining, which mainly focus on the gathering and enjoyment of the ruler and ministers, relatives and friends, and reflect the joy and harmony of the upper class. For example, "Xiao Ya - Deer Song". Zhou rulers often utilized patriarchal relationships to strengthen their rule, and the Yan feasts were not simply for enjoyment, but in these feasts, they played on the way of kinship and patriarchal justice, and had some kind of political purpose.

4. Grievance Poems

Grievance poems are mainly preserved in the "two elegance" and the state winds, either satirizing those who gained something for nothing or those who were insatiable in greed, or exposing the impudence and wickedness of the rulers, and the pungent satire is accompanied by a strong sense of grievances and indignation. For example, the "Board", "Dang" and "Sang Zuo" in the Daya, the "Festival of Nanshan", "The First Moon" and "Xiao Min" in the Xiao Ya, and the "Wei Feng - False Sandalwood", "Wei Feng - Shuo Rats" and "Qi Feng - Nanshan" in the Guofeng.

5. Autonomous service poems

Autonomous service poems. The poems about corvée service in the Book of Songs are totally indignant and tired of the heavy corvée service. For example, Tang Feng - Bustard Feather, Wei Feng - Bo Ruoxi, and Wang Feng - Gentleman in Service.

6. Marriage and Love Poems

Poems reflecting the life of marriage and love account for a large proportion of the Book of Songs, which is mainly concentrated in the State Winds, an important part of the Book of Songs and the most wonderful and moving chapters.

(1) Love poems. The love poems in the Book of Songs widely reflect the happiness, joy and frustration of the love life of men and women in that era, and are full of honest and sincere feelings. For example, "Zhou Nan - Guan Ju", "Name Wind - Jing Nu", "Zheng Feng - Dicky", "Qi Feng - Nanshan", and "Yong Feng - Cypress Boat".

(2) Poems reflecting marriage and the family life of the couple. For example, "Zhou Nan - Peachyoung", "Zheng Feng - The Woman Says Rooster".

(3) Poems about abandoned women. Such as "Name Wind - Green Clothes", "Name Wind - Valley Wind" and "Wei Feng - Hooligan".