The Banquet Poetry Of The Book Of Songs And The Structure Of Zhou Ritual-and-Music Culture

The banquet poetry in the Book of Songs came into prominence with the development of the banquet rituals of the Zhou Dynasty and had an extremely important position in the Zhou ritual-and-music culture. Based on the studies of ancient and contemporary scholars, this paper is presented to make an earnest study of the themes of the banquet poetry in the Book of Songs, defining banquet poetry as poems in the Book of Songs that describe banquet etiquette and the relevant religious, political and daily activities, and the poems that have been composed into banquet ritual music and those that were improvised in the course of banquets. In addition, reinforced with historical documents and literature and relevant archaeological findings, the author of the paper also intends to issue personal opinions on the ritual music and poetry, and the improvised banquet poetry in the Zhou Dynasty, focusing on the important part that banquet poetry had been playing in the formation and development of the Zhou ritual-and-music culture and endeavoring to present an overview of the ritual and music culture of the Zhou Dynasty with philosophical, artistic, anthropological and historical views.