One such figure was Qu Yuan (c.340-278 BC), a poet and aristocrat for whom theShi Jinghad almost certainly served as a foundational text. Remembered as a tragic patriot, Qu Yuan took his own life in despair, drowning himself 55 years before the fall of his homeland, the State of Chu. His poems, marked by their distinctive rhythm and political overtone, overflow with vivid imagination and a deep, brooding sense of escapism.

　　Through his work, now known collectively asChu Ci(The Songs of Chu), Qu Yuan established new traditions in Chinese poetry, notably the articulation of profound political disillusionment and the use of nature-bound escapism as a form of emotional refuge. While others contributed to theChu Citradition, the majority of surviving works in this genre are attributed to Qu Yuan himself.

　　Banished to remote and desolate regions, he transformed long-distance travel into a metaphor for exile: both imposed and self-chosen. Over the two millennia following his death, countless poets, especially scholar-officials, echoed this theme. Their travel poems, rich with allusions to political marginalization, gave rise to a uniquely enduring motif in the history of Chinese literature.

　　“From theBook of Songs to The Songs of Chu, a crucial transition occurred from the collective expression of emotion to a more individualistic one,“ Tan says. “This shift brought Chinese poetry closer to what poetry ultimately aspires to be: a vehicle for conveying inner experience.“

　　He notes that, as a Confucian classic,Shi Jinginevitably carried a public and communal character.