Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Lessons from the States, Odes Of Wei and Odes of Wang

[x_los]

Thanks for a nice crop of responses! Remember to check out the comments, and thank you to those who've contributed Baidu and other language insights that aren't accessible to non-Chinese speakers.

Some notes:

* Two chapters translate in pinyin into Odes of Wei. This is the first one, not the second.

* I'm posting these two chapters together because they're short. We'll drop to one chapter a week if a chapter hits 'about 20' poems rather than 'about 10'.

* Every week I search the poems' English results to see if I can find any scholarship or neat bits and pop the results in Resources. Here is this week's collection.

* The first of our reminder emails should have gone out on Saturday. If you did not get an email but you'd like to be on the list, please let me know!

If you would like not to be on the list and there isn't an unsubscribe option in the email itself, please just respond 'unsubscribe' or something and I'll take you off the reminder roster.

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* 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.

Comments

71. 葛藟 - Ge Lei

[x_los]

緜緜葛藟、在河之滸。
終遠兄弟、謂他人父。
謂他人父、亦莫我顧。

Thickly they spread about, the dolichos creepers,
On the borders of the He.
For ever separated from my brothers,
I call a stranger father.
I call a stranger father,
But he will not look at me.

緜緜葛藟、在河之涘。
終遠兄弟、謂他人母。
謂他人母、亦莫我有。

Thickly they spread about, the dolichos creepers,
On the banks of the He.
For ever separated from my brothers,
I call a stranger mother.
I call a stranger mother,
But she will not recognize me.

緜緜葛藟、在河之漘。
終遠兄弟、謂他人昆。
謂他人昆、亦莫我聞。

Thickly they spread about, the dolichos creepers,
On the lips of the He.
For ever separated from my brothers,
I call a stranger elder-brother.
I call a stranger elder-brother,
But he will not listen to me.

Re: 71. 葛藟 - Ge Lei

[x_los]

p 28 of How to Read Chinese Poetry mentions this poem

Re: 71. 葛藟 - Ge Lei

[x_los]

So I see the fucking kudzu is back again.

This another one about how girls get married off and disconnected from their families?

Re: 71. 葛藟 - Ge Lei

[superborb]

Apparently not! Baidu says the modern consensus is this is a poem about vagrants who can't ask for help. During the Spring and Autumn Period, wars were frequent and people displaced, so the author is a wandering person who is living in other people's homes