What is the source of Chinese poetry?

The source of poetry is the ballad. In ancient times, there was no writing, only sung ballads, not written poems. When a person was happy or sad, he was often willing to tell his feelings. If everyday words were not strong enough, they would sing; singing and sighing would make people feel good about themselves. If singing and sighing were not enough, they would dance with their hands and feet, and they would exert their energy to the fullest. On festive occasions, when we gather together to honor the gods and make merry, there are more opportunities for singing. They sang in harmony with each other, or competed with each other. Legend has it that the eight chapters of Ge Tian's music, sung by three people, holding the tail of an ox and stepping on the foot, seems to depict this scene. The more the songs were sung, the more they existed in one's memory, though not in books. If you have a ready-made song, you can borrow someone else's wine cup to pour out your own block; and if you can pick a suitable song at any time, it will be enough to relieve your worries and relieve your boredom. If you don't have one that fits perfectly, you can delete or change it until you find it satisfactory. This is the reason why different words and phrases often go hand in hand in popular songs. However, there are also those that have been modified by many people and have become the finalized version. Songs can be described as "one person's wit, many people's wisdom".

Songs can be categorized into songs of the disciples and songs of music. The songs are sung on the spot. The rhythm of the songs was also rhythmic, helped by the hand and foot movements; however, the rhythm of the songs was more regularized. By the time of the Book of Songs, there were qin and sepals, bells and drums, which were already a great variety of songs. The rhythm of a ballad is mainly based on overlapping or repetition; originally, ballads were mainly about expression, so as long as they were repeated over and over again to express the feelings of the family, there was no need for nonsense. Repetition can be said to be the life of a ballad, and rhythm is built on it. It seems that the equalization of the number of words and the harmonization of rhymes were developed later. With these, overlap lost its primary place in poetry. It was only after writing that the songs were recorded, and they were the first poems to be written.