Chapter 761: Who wrote Zhongguo's first love poem?

Who wrote Zhongguo's first love poem?

April 12: Who wrote Zhongguo's first love poem?

Speaking of the first love poem in the Classic of Poetry, the author is Kongzi; perhaps some people would not believe this is a fact. In fact, regarding this, the historian Sima Qian has long told us the background of Kongzi writing the love poem Ospreys.

Kongzi's father was a martial arts practitioner, had some fame in Lu State, but in his later years he felt deep self-pity, often lamenting that he had no son to continue the ancestral line. Shu Liang He gave birth to nine daughters. In that era, having no son was considered a great act of unfiliality. The Analects says: 'There are three forms of unfiliality; having no posterity is the greatest.'

Sima Qian said, one day, Kongzi's father Shu Liang He, while hunting in the fields, took a liking to a maiden. The maiden was beautiful and also gentle and virtuous. Kongzi's father felt affection, perhaps it was fate; the maiden working in the fields actually accepted Shu Liang He's marriage proposal, and so Shu Liang He took her as his wife.

Later, this maiden gave birth to the great Kongzi. In the Records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian said that 'Shu Liang He and the Yan clan woman conceived Kongzi through a union in the wild'; that Shu Liang He is Kongzi's father.

Regarding this peculiar marriage, Sima Qian summarized it with the term 'wild union'.

In the term 'wild union', the character 'ye' I understand as wilderness or outskirts; 'he', some understand as your 'illicit union', which carries a derogatory connotation. Why use a derogatory term? Because Kongzi was quite old, a man past sixty, who took a fancy to a young blossom-like maiden; in Kongzi's era this was considered contrary to ritual propriety, therefore Sima Qian said that the love union of Shu Liang He and the maiden picking wild vetch by the river was a 'wild union'.

Why do I say this? Because it is related to Kongzi's 'Ospreys'. Please look at the content written in 'Ospreys'——

Guan guan ospreys, on the river's islet.

The graceful and virtuous lady, the Gentleman seeks her as a match.

Uneven waterweed, left and right, they flow.

The graceful and virtuous lady, I seek her in waking and dreaming.

Unable to obtain her, I think of her in waking and dreaming.

At ease and leisurely, I toss and turn.

Uneven waterweed, left and right, I pick it.

The graceful and virtuous lady, I befriend her with zither and lute.

Uneven waterweed, left and right,? it.

The graceful and virtuous lady, I enjoy her with bells and drums Classic of Music.

The love story of Kongzi's father Shu Liang He, as written in the poem 'Ospreys', fits the plot perfectly. Kongzi's father died when Kongzi was three years old. When Kongzi's father died, Kongzi's mother was still in the bloom of youth. A young widow bringing up a young son led a hard life. It was difficult. Moreover, it was harder because Kongzi was born of a 'wild union'; thus this orphaned widow and mother lost the sympathy and support of those around them, and all kinds of rumors and filth were directed at this vulnerable group.

When Kongzi grew up one day, his mother must have often told him the love story of his father Shu Liang He, immersing herself in beautiful memories. The mother's memories gave Kongzi's young mind repeated shocks; long contemplation and precipitation eventually became the poem on Kongzi's bamboo slips——'Ospreys'……………………………….