The Early Development of Poetry in China: Reading the Classic of Poetry from Back to Front

Edward Shaughnessy

China's Classic of Poetry is the earliest collection of rhymed verse in world literature, usually said to have been created over the course of four centuries from roughly 1000 BCE until 600 BCE. In this talk, I will survey this collection from its beginnings in simple prayers to ancestors through sagas of culture heroes, political critiques, and finally to personal love poems. I will highlight illustrate this developmental trajectory with just a few of the 305 poems in the collection.

The lecture is in English.