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

[x_los]

Back after the Christmas/New Year break! I'd really like to get through the Book of Odes in the next months, so we can enter into our next Tang or Song offering. I'll try to be more regulated in the poem posts accordingly. 

Some notes:

* 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.

* I believe the reminder emails have stopped, so I'll seek a new service to run that. 

When the second batch of these is up and running, 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.

**NEXT BATCH FEB 1.**

Comments

76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[x_los]

將仲子兮、無踰我里、無折我樹杞。
豈敢愛之、畏我父母。
仲可懷也、父母之言、亦可畏也。

I pray you, Mr. Zhong,
Do not come leaping into my hamlet;
Do not break my willow trees.
Do I care for them?
But I fear my parents.
You, O Zhong, are to be loved,
But the words of my parents,
Are also to be feared.

將仲子兮、無踰我墻、無折我樹桑。
豈敢愛之、畏我諸兄。
仲可懷也、諸兄之言、亦可畏也。

I pray you, Mr. Zhong,
Do not come leaping over my wall;
Do not break my mulberry trees.
Do I care for them?
But I fear the words of my brothers.
You, O Zhong, are to be loved,
But the words of my brothers,
Are also to be feared.

將仲子兮、無踰我園、無折我樹檀。
豈敢愛之、畏人之多言。
仲可懷也、人之多言、亦可畏也。

I pray you, Mr. Zhong,
Do not come leaping into my garden;
Do not break my sandal trees.
Do I care for them?
But I dread the talk of people.
You, O Zhong, are to be loved,
But the talk of people,
Is also to be feared.

Re: 76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[(Anonymous)]

actually p sure the poet is in fact desperate for Mr. 仲 to come leaping and crashing into zer little walled grove like the damn Kool-Aid Man

Re: 76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[aeriallon]

(Okay this was actually me but not logged in, sorry!)

Re: 76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[x_los]

Extreme 'Baby it'c cold outside' vibes--I wonder if there's similar irritating Discourse?

How to Read Chinese Poetry has v good, full coverage of this one, which I highly rec.

Re: 76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[superborb]

Also getting strong "baby it's cold outside" vibes from this one, and Baidu's descriptions run along the same lines. Baidu not v helpful, though it points out each stanza gets wider disapproval -- from parents, to brothers, to society.

Re: 76. 將仲子 - Jiang Zhong Zi

[douqi]

(cn: sexual assault reference)

This is referenced in the title to Chapter 13 of Jin Yong's The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, 不悔仲子踰我墻 (literally: I do not regret that Mr Zhong leapt over my wall). I really hate the context in which the reference occurs, but here goes.

The chapter tells the backstory of Ji Xiaofui, a disciple of the Emei sect. She is stalked by Yang Xiao, a senior member of the Ming Cult, is abducted by him, held prisoner, and sexually assaulted. Somehow this causes her to fall in love with him enough that she names their daughter 不悔 (no regrets).

This is doubly disturbing because the poem itself seems to be from the perspective of a woman who wants to meet with her lover but is afraid of what her family and neighbours might say. Old Master Jin really needed more than a few things drummed into his head about consent.