Abstract： The Major Preface（大序） and the Minor Preface（小序） to the Mao Text of the Book of Poetry （毛诗） were classic texts of the poetic education era during the Zhou Dynasty, which were inherited and passed down by the Confucians in the Han Dynasty. Poetic education during the Zhou Dynasty was the practical application of rituals and music, in which the study of music-performing actually contained its theoretical part. Because the function of the Book of Poetry（诗经） as rituals and music declined in the Han Dynasty, the study of the Book of Poetry was reduced to be a study of Confucian classics whose primary coverage was its theoretical part and whose expository system was originated from the poetic education era. The Mao Text of the Book of Poetry was the most valuable in this respect. The Major Preface became a classic text of poetic theory, exactly because it was passed down from the poetic education era, and its theoretical text was the essence of the study of its Six Core Categories（六义）. It not only highly summarized the principles of group poetics in the poetic education era, but also laid the foundation for the principal theories of individual poetics afterwards. Therefore its value both as a study of the Book of Poetry and as a zeneral poetic theorv was irreplaceable in later ages%《毛诗》的大、小序，是汉儒传承的周代诗教时代的经典文本。周代诗教是礼乐的实际应用，其声歌之学中原本包含义理的部分。汉代《诗经》礼乐功能失落，《诗》学缩小为以义理为宗的经学，但其解诗系统仍传自诗教时代。《毛诗》在这方面的价值最高。《大序》在诗歌理论方面的经典价值的成因，正在于其是对诗教时代诗学的传承，其理论文本是六义之学的浓缩，不仅对诗教时代的群体诗学的原则作了高度的概括。而且也奠定了后世个体诗学的基本理论。无论是在《诗经》学还是一般的诗歌理论方面，都具有后世所无法取代的价值。
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