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.

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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

65. 黍離 - Shu Li : START OF WANG

[x_los]

彼黍離離、彼稷之苗。
行邁靡靡、中心搖搖。
知我者、謂我心憂、不知我者、謂我何求。
悠悠蒼天、此何人哉。

There was the millet with its drooping heads;
There was the sacrificial millet coming into blade.
Slowly I moved about,
In my heart all-agitated.
Those who knew me,
Said I was sad at heart.
Those who did not know me,
Said I was seeking for something.
O distant and azure Heaven!
By what man was this [brought about]?

彼黍離離、彼稷之穗。
行邁靡靡、中心如醉。
知我者、謂我心憂、不知我者、謂我何求。
悠悠蒼天、此何人哉。

There was the millet with its drooping heads;
There was the sacrificial millet in the ear.
Slowly I moved about,
My heart intoxicated, as it were, [with grief].
Those who knew me,
Said I was sad at heart.
Those who did not know me,
Said I was seeking for something.
O thou distant and azure Heaven!
By what man was this [brought about]?

彼黍離離、彼稷之實。
行邁靡靡、中心如噎。
知我者、謂我心憂、不知我者、謂我何求。
悠悠蒼天、此何人哉。

There was the millet with its drooping heads;
There was the sacrificial millet in grain.
Slowly I moved about,
As if there were a stoppage at my heart.
Those who knew me,
Said I was sad at heart.
Those who did not know me,
Said I was seeking for something.
O thou distant and azure Heaven!
By what man was this [brought about]?

Re: 65. 黍離 - Shu Li : START OF WANG

[x_los]

The mature millet ready for harvest and the sorrow-bent head with hair falling down--good comparison.