Compiled around 1763 by Qing scholar
孙洙 (Sūn Zhū, pen name
蘅塘退士) as a child's reader. The proverb
熟读唐诗三百首,
不会作诗也会吟 — 'read the Three Hundred Tang Poems till you know them, and even a non-poet will be able to recite' — appears in his preface and remains the standard pitch for memorising it.
