Why are there so many repetitions in The Book of Songs? Did the authors at that time like to be lazy?

Let's first look at a poem in the Book of Songs: papaya gives me papaya, and I get it. It is always good to repay bandits. You want to send me a peach, and I want to give it back to Qiong Yao. It is always good to repay bandits. You give me wood, and I'll take Joan Jiu in return. It is always good to repay bandits.

The Book of Songs Papaya consists of 54 words and three paragraphs, with only two different words in each paragraph. Aren't all 305 articles in The Book of Songs classics? However, why do they always repeat?

It turns out that The Book of Songs created a very interesting art form, which was later called "singing in harmony with chapters". Repetition is an artistic technique of poetry creation, that is, sentences with the same meaning echo back and forth and appear repeatedly. It is often used to express the strong feelings of the characters in poetry, which are endless, lingering or thrilling, giving people the feeling of "walking around the beam for three days".

Among the 305 articles in The Book of Songs, there are 177 articles that adopt the structural technique of re-chapter chorus. It can be said that re-chapter chorus is the most important form in the creative structure of The Book of Songs. The use of this method to express feelings is particularly prominent in the "national style". 177 articles, among which 128 articles are from "national style".

There are two structural ways to repeat a chapter: the first is to repeat the whole chapter and each paragraph, and each sentence of each paragraph is similar or even identical in structure. The words and expressions in each chapter are exactly the same or basically the same, only a few words have changed, but most of them are synonyms or synonyms, which appear repeatedly to emphasize the feelings expressed in poetry, such as papaya.

The second is that the whole poem does not adopt the method of repeating each chapter, but only some paragraphs overlap and repeat, such as Zi Heng: Qingqing Zi Heng, leisurely in my heart. Even if I don't go, I'd rather not send a message! Green is what you wear, and leisurely is my feeling. Even if I don't go, I would rather not come! Come on, always open your eyes, on this high tower. I haven't seen you for a day, like March!

There are three paragraphs in The Poem of * * *. The first two paragraphs adopt the structural technique of chorus, and the characters in three positions in the two paragraphs have changed. The hero thinks of his lover's "clothes" and "accessories", which gives birth to infinite yearning and complains why his lover doesn't take the initiative to see her.

The structure of the last chapter is self-contained, which directly expresses the feeling of "not seeing for a day, like March". From the perspective of reciting, there are seven different words in the first two paragraphs. Remembering the first paragraph is almost equivalent to remembering the second paragraph, and the third paragraph only takes a little effort to remember.

In fact, this method has been used in China's traditional poems, and some modern lyrics also follow this technique, especially in children's songs, such as:

Little snail

Snails, beep, beep, seagulls spread their wings and fly; Trumpet, beep, waves smile; Little snail, toot, toot, call the boat home; Baby horn, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot. The vast ocean, the blue sea, blowing the horn, the heart is beautiful.

This children's song uses the method of repeating chapters and singing, which shows the happiness of fishermen's life and the children's love for snails.