Pre-Qin literature history

1. The pre-Qin period was the germination and foundation period of China culture, and the cultural spirit constructed in this period had a far-reaching impact on later generations. As an important part of pre-Qin culture, pre-Qin literature has also become a model of respecting the law in previous dynasties.

2. The various cultural forms in the pre-Qin era are still harmonious, so the forms of pre-Qin literature also show the characteristics of no distinction between literature, history and philosophy, and the combination of poetry, music and dance.

3. Pre-Qin literature can be roughly divided into three periods: Xia and Shang Dynasties, Western Zhou Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period.

3- 1 Xia and Shang dynasties, primitive religious culture dominated, and witchcraft played a decisive role. Their rhymes (such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions) and incantation songs for divination and sacrifice are the oldest existing literary styles.

Historians are the main undertakers of another cultural heritage. Their functions used to be religious affairs, but later witchcraft and history were separated, and historians' duties were biased towards personnel. The Shang Dynasty works preserved in Shangshu are the earliest historical prose creation.

After 3-2 weeks of revolution, witchcraft culture was replaced by ritual and music culture, which was called "replacing heaven with virtue". The concern for politics, society and life transcends the concern of religion, and the historian culture rises, resulting in the representative works of historical prose such as Zuo Zhuan. Some great cultural giants put forward different social ideals, resulting in the Analects of Confucius, Laozi and other works with far-reaching influence in the cultural history of China.

3-3 During the Western Zhou Dynasty, students studied in Wang Guan, and only nobles had the right to receive education. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Zhou family declined, the aristocratic status declined, and the scholar class rose. The spread of knowledge broke through the aristocratic monopoly, and the wind of folk lectures prevailed, which is the so-called "downward trend of rites and music". Hundred schools of thought has mushroomed, and various schools of thought have been talking about it, forming a cultural pattern in which a hundred schools of thought contend. Their views are different, and their literary concepts and styles are also colorful, resulting in different essays and poems from the previous generation.

Chapter I Ancient Myths

First of all, what is myth?

In short, myth is the story of God. The psychological basis of its birth is the concept of "animism", which is usually used to explain natural or social phenomena or express the desire to conquer and transform. Heroes in mythology are usually natural gods or deified heroes. They have extraordinary power and supernatural power and are revered by people.

Second, the origin of myth

Regarding the origin of myth, the popular explanations are the theory of labor origin and the theory of religious origin. The former thinks that myth originated from the working life of primitive people, while the latter thinks that myth was born from the religious activities of primitive people.

Third, the types of ancient myths in China.

1, China's ancient myths are very rich, but they are not completely preserved. Among the existing documents, Shan Hai Jing has the greatest mythological value. The rest of the fragments are scattered in various records.

2. Ancient myths can be simply divided into natural myths and ancient historical myths. The former was born very early, and often personified nature, including the earliest mythologies of things and spirits, such as mountain gods and tree monsters, as well as systematic myths of creation, ancestors and floods. The latter is a historical myth or a historical myth, which is close to legend, including war myth, hero myth, invention myth and so on.

Fourth, the characteristics of mythical thinking.

1, the mental level of early people is still at a low level, and it is still impossible to clearly distinguish the subject and object of thinking. There is a "mutual infiltration" relationship between man and nature.

2. When our ancestors perceived nature, they often personified nature and formed the thinking characteristics of seeing things from me.

3. Mythical thinking is a concrete and vivid way of thinking. According to the specific emotional experience, abstract concepts such as time and orientation are expressed as various gods and their activities. Some mythical images are separated from concrete images and are composed of different objects and images.

4. Mythical thinking is always accompanied by strong emotional experience.

Mythical thinking is actually a symbolic or metaphorical thinking. Myth is the product of collective consciousness.

Fifth, the influence of myth on later literature.

Marx once said that Greek mythology is the soil and arsenal of Greek art, and so is China mythology.

1. Myth provides inexhaustible creative materials for future generations.

2. The primitive thinking mode of myth provides a rich means of expression for the creation of later writers, and the prototype image created by the mythical world has become a powerful spiritual force in the blood of literature.

Chapter II The Book of Songs

Section 1 The Layout and System of The Book of Songs

I. Arrangement of The Book of Songs

1, The Book of Songs is the first collection of poems in China, formerly known as Poems, also known as Poems 300. * * * * 305 poems, six poems. This book mainly collects works from the early Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period for more than 500 years. These projects generally cover the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the upper reaches of Hanshui River. The authors of The Book of Songs include all social classes from aristocrats to civilians.

2. The book of songs was compiled in the 6th century BC. As for compilation, later generations have the theories of "offering poems", "collecting poems" and "deleting poems". At present, it is generally believed that these works are the original singing poems compiled and edited by court music officials.

Second, the system and function of The Book of Songs

1, Today's Book of Songs is divided into three categories according to music types: wind, elegance and ode. Wind means music. The fifteen-country style in The Book of Songs refers to different music in different places. Elegant, with the meaning of positive tone, "elegant" means positive tone, which is the music of Gyeonggi area in the dynasty; The difference between elegance and vulgarity is also based on the type of music. Ode, which originally refers to the dance method in the sacrificial ceremony, is extended to the dance music used in the ancestral temple sacrifice.

2. The Book of Songs is an important carrier of ritual and music culture and an important tool for education. In the Zhou dynasty, it was mainly used for ceremonies, satire and entertainment, and was widely used in sacrificial ceremonies, courtship, diplomacy, banquets and other occasions. At the same time, it is also a popular textbook for aristocratic education. The tradition of teaching poetry and the system of telling poetry formed after the study of poetics in Han Dynasty had a far-reaching influence on the formation of China's literary tradition.

The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo: Confucius said: What is the poem written by the young Mo Xuefu? Poetry can be appreciated, watched, grouped and resented. Your father is a thing, and your father is a distant thing; Know the names of birds, animals and plants.

"Preface to Poetry": Love comes from sound, written as sound, governing the voice of the world, peace and joy, and its politics; The voice of troubled times is angry, and its politics is good; The voice of national subjugation grieves, and its people are trapped. Therefore, gain and loss, movement and the world, feeling and ghosts and gods are close to poetry. The former king learned from the husband and wife, became filial, virtuous, beautiful and civilized, and changed customs.

3. There are three poems in The Book of Songs in Han Dynasty, namely Qi, Lu and Han, whose authors are Shen Pei of Lu, Yuan Gu of Qi and Han Ying of Yan. In addition, there are ancient prose "Mao Shi" handed down from generation to generation, such as Mao Heng and Zhao Maoji. Later, three poems were lost, and Mao's poems were passed on alone. The Book of Songs we saw today is a poem by Mao.

Section two: The content of The Book of Songs.

First, sacrificial poems and epics.

Second, farming poetry

Third, Yan Yan's poems

Fourth, the poem of resentment.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) conscription poem

Sixth, love poems

Section III Literary Achievements of The Book of Songs

1, operator, bi, xing

Fu, Bi and Xing are generally regarded as the expressive methods of The Book of Songs, but there is no consensus on their meanings. Among them, Zhu's statement is relatively simple and widely accepted by future generations. He believes: "The giver will tell the truth about Chen Qi; Compare this thing with another thing; When you are excited, just say something else that will make you say something. "

2. Composition structure

The Book of Songs usually adopts the structure of heavy chapters. The so-called re-chapter is not to list the same words again, but to change or replace some words and sing them again. There are two situations. First, although the words have changed, the meaning is the same. First, after changing words, there is a hierarchical relationship between poems.

"Complain": Pick slugs and choose fine words. Pick slugs, fine print. Select slugs and make a short comment. Pick slugs and smooth them with fine print. Pick slugs and talk about them. Pick and choose and say a few words.

3. Sentence patterns and language

The Book of Songs takes four characters as the basic sentence pattern. At the same time, under the four-character basic sentence pattern, the change is irregular, the length is free and flexible. The rhythm is distinct, the rhyme is harmonious, and there is natural musical beauty. In fact, the basic patterns and rules of rhyme have become the standards of rhyme in later poems.

In addition, the language of The Book of Songs is also very distinctive. First, the vocabulary is rich; The second is the extensive use of disyllabic words and reduplicated words. Such as "Guan Guan", "graceful", "Yao Shao", "injustice", "enthusiasm", "take precautions", "mistakes" and "try your best to comfort" and so on. These characteristics increase the beauty of the rhythm of poetry and convey the poet's tortuous and subtle emotions and images more delicately.

Part four: The position and influence of The Book of Songs.

1, The Book of Songs initiated the tradition of lyric poetry.

2. The Book of Songs established an elegant spirit of paying attention to reality.

3. The tradition of "Bi Xing" established in The Book of Songs constitutes the basic means of literary expression in later generations.

Chapter III Pre-Qin Historical Prose

The culture of ancient historians in China is very developed, and narrative prose describing historical events first appeared in the history of prose. Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronze inscriptions in Yin and Shang Dynasties are the earliest written records in China, while Shangshu and Chunqiu provide different styles of historical prose. The appearance of Zuozhuan, Guoyu and Warring States Policy marked the maturity of narrative literature and opened the tradition of narrative literature in China.

The first section from Oracle Bone Inscriptions to Chunqiu

1. The origin of China's prose can be traced back to Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Their notes are simple and unorganized. A few narratives are relatively complete in narrative elements, which can be regarded as the bud of narrative prose in the pre-Qin period.

2. The inscriptions on bronze in Shang and Zhou Dynasties have changed from simple to complex, with longer length and more complex content, and have a certain narrative scale.

3. Shangshu is the first historical anthology in China, which mainly focuses on memorizing words, and it is a compilation of historical materials of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Include Yu Shu, Xia Shu, Shangshu and Zhou Shu. Pan Geng is a reliable work of Shang Dynasty and the ancestor of Chinese words. The words in Shangshu are archaic, just as Han Yu's Xue Jie said: "Zhou Yu is full of enthusiasm and flinches." The patent structure of Shangshu is complete and independent, and its language skills are obviously more mature than those of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen. It has a far-reaching influence on the official document style of later generations.

4. The Spring and Autumn Annals was originally the general name of Zhou Dynasty history books, and later it specifically refers to the history of Lu State. It recorded the history from the year of Luyin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Aigong (48 BC1year). Chunqiu arranges historical events in chronological order, which is the first chronological history book in China. Legend has it that Confucius once wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, but some people think that Confucius was only used to teach his disciples. Its annotations have conventions, but they are very brief, like modern news headlines, not real narrative prose.

5. The Spring and Autumn Annals runs through the idea of maintaining rites and correcting names. This idea is not to resort to argumentative words in writing, but to express it through the comparison of historical facts and implicit and rigorous wording. This is the so-called "spring and autumn brushwork" and "words with slight meanings", and the word contains praise and criticism.

Section 2 Zuo Zhuan

I. The Book of Zuo Zhuan

1, Zuo Zhuan is the abbreviation of Zuo Zhuan in Chunqiu, also known as Zuo Chunqiu. According to legend, Zuo Zhuan was written by Zuo Qiuming, but later generations doubted it.

2. The chronicle of Zuo Zhuan began in the year of Lu Yin (722 BC) and ended in the twenty-seventh year of Lu Aigong (468 BC), which basically coincided with Spring and Autumn Annals. This book was written in the early Warring States period, and the editor should be a Confucian scholar.

3. Zuozhuan was written at that time, and it was a long single line. Together with Biography of Ram and Biography of Gu Liang, it is called Spring and Autumn Annals. After the Western Jin Dynasty, the combination of classics and biographies became what we see today.

Second, the historical view of Zuo Zhuan

1, Zuo Zhuan inherited the good historical spirit of Chunqiu, summed up historical experience from the standpoint of Confucianism, evaluated historical figures and events, and provided historical reference for future generations.

2. People-oriented spirit and people-oriented thought are the outstanding ideological characteristics of Zuo Zhuan, which embodies the author's progressive view of history and reflects the social reality and ideological trend at that time. Humanism is a subversion of theocratic consciousness, and Zuo Zhuan puts forward the view that "people are gods"; People-oriented thought is manifested in attaching importance to public opinion and expressing the view that the people are the foundation of the country and the people are the king.

Thirdly, the narrative of Zuo Zhuan.

Although Zuozhuan is a historical work, it has detailed records and vivid style, which is quite different from Chunqiu and Shangshu. Its narrative features can be seen from the following four aspects:

1, literary tailoring and storytelling of historical events.

Literary tailoring is not only to describe the true face of historical events, but also to be good at making the conveyed events interesting and avoiding boring running accounts. Storytelling of historical events means that when Zuo Zhuan narrates historical facts, he often uses the description of characters to describe their words, behaviors and relationships, and some even have the color of novels and operas.

2. The characters are vivid and three-dimensional.

Although Zuo Zhuan didn't record history in the form of biography, it attached great importance to the portrayal of characters when describing historical events. Among them, Cao Gui, Xian Zhen, Gao Xian, Zichan and Yan Ying are all vivid images. What is more noteworthy is that Zuo Zhuan can not only describe the character characteristics of the characters, but also pay attention to depicting many aspects of the characters' characters, and some even can write the development of the characters' characters.

Zuo Zhuan mainly uses dialogues and actions to express characters, but rarely describes their subjective and static characteristics such as appearance and psychology.

3. Vivid scene description and vivid detail description.

Zuo Zhuan is famous for being good at describing war. It recorded many battles, big and small, in the Spring and Autumn Period, and often paid attention to the narration of the pre-war plans of both sides. For example, the complicated diplomatic strategy formulated before the Chengpu Campaign in Chu Jin is an example. Scenes describing the battlefield are famous for their simplicity and vividness. For example, in the Battle of the Jin Dynasty, the soldiers of the Jin army who were defeated by the Chu army crossed the river for a boat, attacked each other and killed each other. As a result, "fingers in the boat are clumsy" and there is a state of confusion.

The narration and description of Zuo Zhuan used many details, which was very vivid. For example, after the Battle of Kans, Duke Xiang of Jin released Qin Sanshuai, and the Marshal was furious and denounced, showing his foresight and bad temper. Another example is the battle of Chu Jin, where the chariots of deserters of the Jin army got stuck in a pit. The chased Chu people taught them to take away the crossbar in front of the car, and also taught them to pull out the flag, take off the yoke and flee light. While fleeing, the Jin soldiers retaliated against the Chu army, saying that they were not often defeated by the Chu army, so there was no way to escape. This detail vividly shows the confusion of the Jin army, the leisure of the Chu army and the ridiculous banter of the Jin army.

4. Zuo Zhuan is also good at writing diplomatic rhetoric, which is rich in literature and beauty. For example, Yi Yin's nephew's reply to Qin Mugong not only admitted that the State of Jin had been defeated by the State of Qin, but also showed that the State of Jin was United and would never give in. It not only expressed the people's grief over the capture of Jin, but also explained the reason why Qin had to release Jin. Go deep into each other's hearts, grasp their psychology, be polite, tactful, neither humble nor supercilious, reasonable and measured, so that the other party has to be impressed. Others, such as "paying tribute to Qin's family by candle", "asking the king of Chu by discipline" and "Lu Xiang's farewell to Qin", are all famous examples.

These literary achievements of Zuo Zhuan have had a far-reaching impact on later literature, especially novel creation.

Section 3 "Mandarin" and "Warring States Policy"

First, "Mandarin"

1, Guoyu is the first national history book in China, which records the major events of Zhou, Lu, Qi, Jin, Zheng, Chu and wuyue, and is a compilation of historical materials from various countries. It is mainly based on memorizing words, so it is called "Mandarin". Legend has it that its author is also Zuo Qiuming, but it is not reliable.

2. The words recorded in Guoyu are thoughtful in images and logical thinking, popular and colloquial, and vivid.

3. Although "Guoyu" mainly recites words, there are no simple argumentative papers or quotations, but a series of large and small stories are interspersed among them, which is sometimes successful in narrative skills, plot conception, characterization and so on.