Classic of Poetry

Morals, Virtue, and Rhetoric 6/2/13

The “Classic of Poetry” contains many poems by many different poets. Each poet, whether intentionally or not, incorporates morals, virtue and/or rhetoric. Whether these poets meant to discuss these topics or not, does not sway from some of the powerful messages that they portray.

Poem number 42, “Gentle Girl”, in the “Classic of Poetry” teaches all three topics: morals, virtue and rhetoric. The poet writes “A gentle girl and fair / awaits by the crook of the wall” (Gentle line 1-2). The words “gentle” and “fair” describe the girl as a virtuous girl. She is gentle, or kind and she is fair, or good. The poet then continues on saying “A gentle girl and comely / gave me a scarlet pipe; / scarlet pipe that gleams - / in your beauty I find delight” (Gentle line 5-8). Here the poet is again describing the girl as virtuous; however, the speaker who can be assumed a male is being moral by accepting her gift. In the last stanza the girl gives the speaker a reed. The speaker writes “Reed – the beauty is not yours - / you are but beauty’s gift” (Gentle line 11-12). This simple statement is a play on words, saying that the reed may be beautiful, but the true beauty is in the gift giver. While all this seems moral and virtuous, this poem could be taken in the opposite direction. The speaker and the girl are meeting in the middle of the night, outside of her home. This could be seen as being immoral and not virtuous because they were sneaking around without her family’s knowledge.

The final poem in our selection of “Classic of Poetry” is poem number 245, “She Bore the Folk”. This poem seems the most virtuous and moral to me. This poem is about the first mother, Jiang, and her son, Lord Millet. Jiang raised her son, and he was good and virtuous. “Not splitting, not rending, / working no hurt, no harm” (She Bore line 14-15). Lord Millet was so good that he made the high god happy. He kept high morals by not hurting anyone or anything. Lord Millet grew up to farm and work as he was expected to. He never swayed toward evil, staying virtuous. The second to last stanza states;

And how goes this rite we have? –

at times we hull, at times we scoop,

at times we winnow, at times we stomp,

we hear it slosh as we wash it,

we hear it puff as we steam it.

Then we reckon, then we consider,

take Artemisia, offer fat.

We take a ram for the flaying,

then we roast it, then we sear it,

to rouse up the following year. (She Bore line 56-65)

This stanza teaches the readers that things must be done, and maybe they will not always be fun, but you will be rewarded in the end. Lord Millet had to work the farm, he had to take the animals and slay them for food because it was his job, his moral obligation, and since he was virtuous and good he did his job without a complaint. He was then rewarded with starting the new year well.

            The poems teach rhetoric, good diction and good prose, they teach morals and virtue, and they do so in very different ways. Some of the poems may not have the greatest rhetoric, and therefore confuse the reader, but that could just be my opinion. The poem “Huge Rat” is confusing in its rhetoric. The repeated phrase “huge rat” is a metaphor, and I believe the speaker to be female and to be talking about a male who is not respecting her as he should. The problem lies in the fact that the poems are anonymous, so that question will remain unanswered. (Huge)

Work Cited

Puchner, Martin. "Gentle Girl." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 764. Print.

Puchner, Martin. "Huge Rat." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 764. Print.

Puchner, Martin. "She Bore the Folk." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 764. Print.