• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
• /
• v.137
• /
• pp.439-462
• /
• 2016

This Article's aim is to articulate Confucius's theory of poetics in analects. Confucius tried to establish Humanism and educate the idea of 'learning to become a sage' based upon six classics. He empathized with the education of The Book of Poetry. Sze-ma Tseen said that the old poems amounted to more than 3,000. Confucius removed those which were only repetitions of others and sang to them with his lute, bringing them into accordance with the appropriate musical style. This is the first notice which we have of any compilation of the ancient poems by Confucius. Confucius said, "If you do not learn the Odes, you are not fit to converse with. The Odes 1) serve to stimulate the mind, 2) may be used for purposes of self-contemplation, 3) teach the art of sociability, 4) show how to regulate feelings of resentment, 5-6.) 'From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one's father, and the remoter one of serving one's prince. and from them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.' Confucius' said, 'In the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one sentence-- "Having no depraved thoughts."' This sentence is the final definition of Poetics.