Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Lessons from the States, Odes Of Yong

[x_los]

First off, THANK YOU for your email and poem responses this week! Please do check out each others' thoughts in the comments. There's some fun stuff to build off of, and it's less intimidating to offer up some thoughts if we're having a conversation. I'm looking forward to getting into these this evening. 

Some notes:

* Two members asked for weekly email reminders on Saturday, so I've figured out how to set that up. If you did NOT get an email yesterday, I haven't got you on the list. If you'd like to be on the list, please let me know!

If you would like *not* to be on the list, let's see whether the first Automated Email on Saturday has an unsubscribe option? If it doesn't, please just respond 'unsubscribe' or something and I'll take you off the reminder.

* One member asked that we do a classic Tang collection right after this one, for something a bit more modern and approachable (she phrased it as the difference between Chaucer and Shakespeare). Unless there are objections, I'm very happy to jump forward in time--we can always circle back to danker parts later if/when we feel like it, and Tang is regarded as some very good shit.

* If you have further ideas, please let me know on this post. 

* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN, please also let me know on this post. I think we're getting to a more stable point, where a handful of additional commenters would be welcome?

* If you haven't read it yet, chapter one, on tetrasyllabic shi poetry, in How to Read Chinese Poetry is hugely useful for the Book of Odes, imo.



Thank you!

Comments

Re: 47. 君子偕老 - Jun Zi Xie Lao

[x_los]

"A “jue” is a Chinese word denoting “nobility”. This character is interchangeable with the character for “pheasant”, having evolved out of the use of pheasant-shaped crowns by nobility of neolithic times. When used to refer to jewelry, it denotes a bird-shaped ornament. A “jue”, then, is a jeweled bird perched upon the branches of the buyao. Also perched on the branches are six auspicious beasts, imitating the “cross-pins with their six jewels” mentioned in the Classic of Poetry."

" The Queen’s crosspins and hairsticks are all made of jade. Only sacrificial regalia includes crosspins. They hang to the two sides of the tiara above the ears, and below each of them jade plugs dangle from ear tassels. The lines ‘How rich and splendid is her pheasant-figured robe! Her black hair in masses like clouds, no false locks does she descend to. There are her ear-plugs of jade…’ from the Classic of Poetry refer to these ornaments."

"In the current era, the Empress wears a long swallow-tail hem robe that has been given the name of the Great Pheasant robe.” The “Etiquette” section of the Book of Sui records the regalia of the Northern and Southern Dynasties [...] As to how similar, the wife of the great dukes qualify for the Great Pheasant robe down to the Bordered Robe. The Great Pheasant robe is used for paying reverence to the ancestral temple alongside the ruler, the Lesser Pheasant robe is used in sacrifices to the various gods of nature, the Courtyard Pheasant robe is used in sacrifices to all the lesser gods, the Yellow Mulberry robe is used for the Silkworm Ceremony, the Plain White Robe is used for greeting guests and paying court to the ruler, the Bordered Robe is used for greeting the ruler. The wives of the marquesses and counts qualify for the Lesser Pheasant and all robes lower in rank. The Lesser Pheasant is used to accompany the ruler to sacrifices to the ancestral temple and the various gods of nature, with the Courtyard Pheasant and all the other robes used for the same purposes as those of a Duchess."

https://han-clothing.tumblr.com/post/174994495728/swaying-with-every-step-an-analysis-of-the/amp

So the pheasant-figured robe is a very specific thing.

Is the poet calling out the empress/duchess for looking great but in fact lacking virtue, or is he addressing some other female figure for that passage? The placement of the call-out, so quickly reached and then drifted from, seems strange.

Re: 47. 君子偕老 - Jun Zi Xie Lao

[superborb]

Baidu says this is about the same lady as in 46, and you're right, it's calling out how beautiful Xuan Jiang's clothes are while criticizing her character and behavior.