onsisting of 8 lines per stanza. Many poems of the “Great Odes” are historical poems; the origins of the Zhou Dynasty and the great achievements of the Zhou rulers are reoccurring themes. Take “Spreading,” which is an account of the settlement of the “plain of Zhou.” Stanza three reads: The Plain of Zhou was fat and fair, Where thistle and buttercup tasted like honey. There he started, there he reckoned, there he pierced our tortoise shells. Stop, it was, and Stand, in this place they built houses. In the later parts of this poem, there is a description of the Zhou city and the expansion of the kingdom by conquering surrounding kingdoms. There is almost an epic feel to this poem; the reader gets the sense that the founder (Dan-fu) of the Zhou is legendary. “The Greater Brightness” is another example of a poem in the “Great Odes,” gives an account of how the Zhou came to power through good deeds, strategic marriages, and by following the plan from the Charge of Heaven to rule. “The Greater Brightness.” The beginning of the second stanza reads: From Zhi the second daughter, Ren, went from the land of Yin and Shang. She came to marry into Zhou, in its great city, foreign bride. Together then with Ji the King they did that work of Power. Owen calls poems that celebrate the dynasty’s anointment by right of receiving Heaven’s Charge “propaganda of Zhou.” Some of this “propaganda of Zhou” is seen in the fourth stanza: Heaven scanned the land below, its charge was laid upon him. In the first doing of King WenHeaven made a mate for him. In the sixth stanza we read: There was a charge from Heaven, a charge for Wen the King….I who preserve you, charge you to join and smite the great Shang. Later on in the poem, the Zhou would destroy the Shang. It is important to note that a lot of the poems in the “Gr...
