How was poetry defined in Ancient China?

 Ask any poet today to define poetry.  You are likely to get as many definitions as there are poets. 

       But in ancient China, the definition of poetry was quite direct and simple.  Poetry was generally considered to be a form of verbal expression that conveyed how one felt in the heart.

       We can develop some insight into the nature of Chinese poetry by examining the Chinese character that means poetry 詩 (shi). 

       As shown, 詩 is composed of two parts: 言 (yan) and 寺 (si).  The phonetic element 寺 was originally written as 志 (zhi), meaning "feelings in the heart."  The radical 言 has something to do with "words or speech."  Thus, the character 詩 suggests that poetry is the speech of the heart.

       The early definition of poetry can be found In the Book of Songs ( 詩經 ):

       "When it is in the heart, it is zhi (志), when zhi is expressed in words, it is poetry." 

       Thus, the function of poetry was to convey in words how one felt.  Few people wrote poems just for the sake of self enjoyment; they wrote poems because they wanted to share with others their feelings and to evoke similar emotional experiences in their readers or listeners.

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