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  • The Paris Review

    Thorn Vine on the Wall

    by Anthony Madrid Oct 11, 2017 3 minutes

    I don’t remember what I was talking about, that day in class, but somehow I found myself explaining about the Shijing. The Shijing, I said, is the oldest anthology of Chinese poetry. The poems date back to the Zhou dynasty, which fell apart in the year 256 B.C.E. They are not the oldest poems in the world, but they are old, old. Most of them—and definitely the ones that everybody loves and quotes—sound like the lyrics to folk songs.

    My paddle keen and bright Flashing with silver Follow the wild goose flight Dip, dip and swing

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