Do you know the first poem in history?
Maybe many of my friends don’t know it very well, and they may think it is the first “Guan Ju” in the “Book of Songs”, but it is not this one, but the ancient ballad “Dan Ge”. This poem is recognized as the first ancient poem in the history of literature, which is the source of poetry. In ancient times, people lived a life of slash-and-burn farming, and often went to the mountains to hunt to get more food. This “Dan Song” describes how people make hunting tools and the situation of hunting in the mountains. The poem is also very interesting.
Broken bamboo, continue bamboo;
This “Dange” has only 8 short words in its entirety, but each word is powerful and expresses the wisdom of the working people. In fact, the earliest poetry in ancient times was the ballads that came from the mouths of working people. Even today, if you go to the countryside, you can still see some elderly people singing very old songs. After sorting out, later generations spread these ballads farther, so that more people know this kind of ballads, and slowly evolved into poems.
We have to sigh the wisdom of the ancients, although it is just so open, it is vivid and interesting, In this “Dan Song”, it is about the ancients, in order to get more food, they went up the mountain to hunt, so they went to the mountain to chop bamboo, and then made the bamboo into bows and arrows, then shot mud bombs, and finally hit Animals get the food they want.
In ancient times, unlike today, we can grow crops by ourselves, there is no need to go hunting in the mountains, but People in that period were different. They had low yields, and even if they planted crops, they could not have a good harvest. Hunting has become the most important part of their lives, so people often go out hunting, and over time they like to work and sing. Most of these ballads come from the mouth and are not very particular, but because people have their own understanding of things in daily life, although they are not very particular, they are very expressive.
Ancient poetry is a treasure of literature, from ancient times, all the way to the pre-Qin Dynasty, and finally reached in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. However, the evolution of this road has also given poetry a fixed form, forming a unique style of five-character quatrains, seven-character quatrains, five-character rhythm poems, seven-character rhythm poems, etc. As people understand the reasons for poetry, the form naturally becomes more mature. It is because of such a developmental trajectory that we can read those beautiful poems, which once again makes people sigh at the wisdom of the ancients.
Although the poem “Dange” seems very ordinary, it is just a few ballads, But it occupies a very important position in the history of literature and is known as the first ancient poem. However, it is impossible to verify the author of it now, after all, the time is too long. Although it has only 8 words, it is also vivid and delicate. Let us know from this poem how people lived at that time and how they used wisdom to get more food. Of course, we don’t know how it “Dange” is sung, we can only read its literal meaning. People in ancient times must have sang it out loud, not like we chant it today.
Now when we mention poetry, we will naturally think of Tang poetry, but while reading these poems, It’s still about understanding how poetry is created, and ultimately forms a fixed literary form, which is ultimately passed down from generation to generation. That’s why it is necessary to go back to the source. Only by knowing how it came from can we have a new understanding of poetry. Then “Dange” is the first poem in history, which is also the source of poetry. Although this ancient ballad seems to be very ordinary, there is no superb expression technique, it is completely original ecology, but it is most worthy of our attention. As long as you understand the poem and how it came from, you will understand the earliest origin of poetry, which is why you should read this poem.