Book of Songs

Through the “Book of Songs” one can is able to observe numerous aspects about the people. The people are speaking to the audience through figurative language. This is because the Chinese society due to its strict traditions sensitive topics cannot be discussed using open language. Any opinion an individual wishes to express must be guided by diplomacy in language (Puchner et al. 532). The people are expressing to the audience their dream that is, how the civilizations would have wished to view themselves. The songs comprises of a collection of numerous voices, each of them expressing their opinions. The songs carry messages from kings, peasants, men women, soldiers and aristocrats: this is the voice of the people. It is clear that the songs awards a platform of expressing ones feelings especially the topics that are forbidden, for instance, political opinions (Puchner et al. 500). The people are telling the audience no matter the amount of political oppression and denial of voicing out their concerns or opinions through songs, there exist a channel of expressing their views.

Issues pertaining to love are extremely sensitive in the Chinese society. Women are disallowed to express their feelings especially choosing a man who they would prefer marrying. One of the songs brings out a woman who is asking the men who are willing to marry her to come make an approach (Shih, and Waley 10). However, this is done through hidden language, for instance, the term falling plums means the grace period is coming to an end. This woman is able to express herself through this song. Through the songs the spouses are able to exchange nice words through concealed terms of reference for instance a woman gave to a man a quince: this represents special love which is exclusively from an Asian woman.  The people are showing us how love within China is expressed along with the region’s wealth in romance.  Within another song a man is awarded a fruit by a woman and gives back a diamond. This shows the inequity between men and women within this society (Puchner et al. 520). A man possesses more property and money through which he is capable of purchasing diamonds whilst a woman can only afford to give a fruit picked in the wild.   

As the audience we can witness the culture of this society through these songs. For example, the songs portray this society as a hunting community. Hunting has been brought out within the songs and inter-mingled with love (Puchner et al. 534). We can see that the songs’ words have come naturally and spontaneously from the people’s feelings. The songs reveals the state of mind of the narrator, his nature and also his circumstances. The audience gets a glimpse of the people’s interior history. The songs on the surface appear simple but they portray the core traditions of the Chinese civilization. The audience can feel that the need for people to use hidden language to express themselves is motivated by the community’s conservativeness, within which domination and extreme superiority terrorizes social fabric (Shih, and Waley 56). As the audience we also notice that the people reside in windy area which is nearest to a sea. One of the major activities in this area is fishing. Thus the songs certainly show us the historical activities of the Chinese people as being hunting and fishing. Further, the songs manifest the rules surrounding the love expressions within this society.

Works Cited

Puchner, M. et al. The Norton Anthropology of World Literature. N.p., 2013. Print.

Shih, and A. Waley. The book of songs. New York: Grove Press, 1960. Print.