Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Lessons from the states, Odes Of Bei

[x_los]

This is a longer chapter than the previous two, and people are still catching up with the last two chapters/acclimating to the format. Thus we'll only do one chapter this week.

I'm going to post this week's poem translations in the body of the discussion to make commenting a bit easier. 

Get your 'odes of bae' jokes out early, before the rush.

Comments

42. 靜女 - Jing Nu

[x_los]

靜女其姝、俟我於城隅。
愛而不見、搔首踟躕。

How lovely is the retiring girl!
She was to await me at a corner of the wall.
Loving and not seeing her,
I scratch my head, and am in perplexity.

靜女其孌、貽我彤管。
彤管有煒、說懌女美。

How handsome is the retiring girl!
She presented to me a red tube.
Bright is the red tube; -
I delight in the beauty of the girl.

自牧歸荑、洵美且異。
匪女之為美、美人之貽。

From the pasture lands she gave a shoot of the white grass,
Truly elegant and rare.
It is not you, O grass, that are elegant; -
You are the gift of an elegant girl.

Re: 42. 靜女 - Jing Nu

[x_los]

Here's this poem being read:

http://d2xzbm87hekj13.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/18160928/c1.6.mp3

There's a rather different translation and some nice analysis in How to Read Chinese Poetry's first chapter.