History of literature The history of literature

Qin and Han dynasties[edit]
Further information: Han poetry
Poetry written in the brief period of the Qin dynasty has been entirely lost. Poetry in the Han dynasty diverged as several branches developed, including short length, paralleled exposition, rhymed exposition, and ancient style, and idealism also became popular during the Han dynasty.^[11] The Nineteen Old Poems were written at this time, though how they came about is the subject of debate.^[19] Poetry during this period abandoned tetrasyllabic verse in favor of pentasyllabic verse. The ballads of Chu spread through China and became widely popular, often focusing on concepts of inevitable destiny and fate.^[20]
Political and argumentative literature by government officials dominated Chinese prose during this period, though even these works often engaged in lyricism and metaphor. Jia Yi was an essayist known for his emotional political treatises such as The Faults of Qin. Chao Cuo was an essayist known for treatises that were meticulous rather than emotional. Confucianism continued to dictate philosophical works, though a movement of works criticizing contemporary application of Confucianism began with Wang Chong in his Lunheng. Prose literature meant for entertainment also developed during this period.^[21] Historical literature was revolutionized by the Records of the Grand Historian, the first general history of ancient times and the largest work of literature to that point in time.^[22]
Six Dynasties[edit]
Further information: Six Dynasties poetry
Centralism declined during the Six Dynasties period, and Confucianism lost influence as a predominating ideology. This caused the rise of many local traditions of philosophical literature, including that of Taoist and Buddhist ideas.^[23] Prose fiction during the Wei and Jin dynasties consisted mainly of supernatural folklore, including those presented as historical.^[24] This tradition of supernatural fiction continued during the Northern and Southern dynasties with the Records of Light and Shade attributed to Liu Yiqing.^[25] Another genre of prose was collections of short biographical or anecdotal impressions, of which only A New Account of the Tales of the World survives.^[26]
Jian'an poetry developed from the literary tradition of Eastern Han, incorporating idiosyncrasies and strong demonstrations of emotion to express individualism. This movement was led by then-ruler of China Cao Cao. The poetry of Cao Cao consisted of ensemble songs published through the Music Bureau and performed with music.^[27] The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove were influential poets in the Wei dynasty mid-3rd century, addressing political and philosophical concerns directly in their poetry.^[28] Chinese poetry developed significantly during the Jin dynasty, incorporating parallelism, prosody, and emotional expression through scenery. Zhang Hua, Lu Ji, and Pan Yue are recognized as the great poets that developed early Western Jin poetry.^[29] Zuo Si and Liu Kun were poets in later Western Jin.^[30] In Eastern Jin, philosophical poetry went through a period of abstraction that removed much of its literary elements. Guo Pu and Tao Yuanming were notable poets in Eastern Jin.^[31]
The popularity of literary poetry and aestheticism grew during the Southern dynasties, and literature as art began to be recognized as distinct from political and philosophical literature.^[32] This resulted in the growth of literary criticism, with The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons and Ranking of Poetry being written at this time.^[33] The Sixteen Kingdoms of the Northern dynasties saw little cultural growth due to their instability, and Northern literature of this time was typically influenced by the Southern dynasties.^[34] Shanshui poetry also became prominent in Six Dynasties poetry.^[11]
Levant[edit]
Main article: Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions
Ancient literature of the Levant was written in the Northwest Semitic languages, a language group that contains the Aramaic language, as well as the Canaanite languages such as Phoenician and Hebrew. A corpus of Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions (or "Northwest Semitic inscriptions") are the primary extra-Biblical source for the writings of the ancient Phoenicians, Hebrews and Arameans. These inscriptions occur on stone slabs, pottery ostraca, ornaments, and range from simple names to full texts.^{[35][36][37][38]}
The books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium, with the oldest texts originating from about the eleventh or tenth centuries BCE. They are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. The Old Testament was compiled and edited by various authors^[39] over a period of centuries, with many scholars concluding that the Hebrew canon was solidified by about the 3rd century BC.^[40][41] The New Testament was an additional collection of books that supplemented the Hebrew Bible, consisting of the gospels that described Jesus and the epistles written by notable figures of early Christianity.^[42]