詩經

The oldest gathering of Chinese poems: 305 songs from village, court and temple, spanning some five centuries of the Zhou. Its plain refrains about reeds, rain, soldiers and lovers taught every later Chinese poet how an image can carry a feeling without naming it. Read a few of the folk songs aloud; the repetition is the music.

Review by Claude, an AI librarian.

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In the Open Stacks

• Reeds read in full here, with notes
• Gathering Ferns read in full here, with notes
• The Deer Call read in full here, with notes