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Entry tags:
Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Lessons from the States, Odes Of Wei and Odes of Wang
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.
* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.
* 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.
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.
* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.
* 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.
Re: 55. 淇奧 - Qi Yu
'[Pure] as gold or as tin,
[Soft and rich] as a sceptre of jade!' is tin pure? is jade soft?
is it good for a chariot to have high sides??
idk if this dude can't be forgotten bc I do /not/ know his name, but he sounds hot, so, fair.
Re: 55. 淇奧 - Qi Yu
A little weird to say pebbles when it's made of precious stone, but ok Legge
Baidu's gloss on the gold or tin line is 金：黄金。一说铜。闻一多《风诗类钞》主张为铜，还说：“古人铸器的青铜，便是铜与锡的合金，所以二者极被他们重视，而且每每连称。”
Jin: gold, one source says copper. [this source] advocates copper, saying, "Ancient cast tools of bronze, made precisely of an alloy of copper and tin. Therefore, they placed importance on the two and linked them together"
The line by itself is literally something like: "as gold, as tin"
Baidu's vernacular translation is 青铜器般见精坚, which is something like "with a manner as resolute as bronzeware"
The jade line: 圭：玉制礼器，上尖下方，在举行隆重仪式时使用。璧：玉制礼器，正圆形，中有小孔，也是贵族朝会或祭祀时使用。圭与璧制作精细，显示佩带者身份、品德高雅。
Gui: a ritual object made of jade, sharp/pointed on top, square on bottom, used in grand ceremonies. Bi: a ritual object made of jade, perfectly round, with a small hole in the center, also used in aristocratic courts or offerings. Gui and bi are meticulously crafted, displayed/worn as an accessory (on the belt) to show the identity and elegance of the wearer.
The line is literally "as gui, as bi"
Baidu's vernacular translation is 玉礼器般见庄严, "with a manner as solemn/stately as a jade ritual object"
Hilariously, the whole chariot line makes 0% sense in Chinese to me bc of meaning drift. But Baidu just describes the chariot, which I guess is used to transport ancient high ranking officials.