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

95. 溱洧 - Zhen Wei

[x_los]

溱與洧、方渙渙兮。
士與女、方秉蕑兮。
女曰觀乎。
士曰既且。
且往觀乎。
洧之外、洵訏且樂。
維士與女、伊其相謔、贈之以勺藥。

The Zhen and Wei,
Now present their broad sheets of water.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Are carrying flowers of valerian.
A lady says, ' Have you been to see? '
A gentleman replies, ' I have been. '
' But let us go again to see.
Beyond the Wei,
The ground is large and fit for pleasure. '
So the gentlemen and ladies.
Make sport together,
Presenting one another with small peonies.

溱與洧、瀏其清矣。
士與女、殷其盈兮。
女曰觀乎。
士曰既且。
且往觀乎。
洧之外、洵訏且樂。
維士與女、伊其將謔、贈之以勺藥。

The Zhen and Wei,
Show their deep, clear streams.
Gentlemen and ladies,
Appear in crowds.
A lady says, ' Have you been to see? '
A gentleman replies, ' I have been. '
' But let us go again to see.
Beyond the Wei,
The ground is large and fit for pleasure. '
So the gentlemen and ladies.
Make sport together,
Presenting one another with small peonies.

Re: 95. 溱洧 - Zhen Wei

[x_los]

so this is interesting for Nerd Reasons bc there's significant peony presentation in MDZS (tho not CQL), and the structure of this indicates it's:

1. a whole thing,
2. potentially gendered.

So do we know more about this?

Re: 95. 溱洧 - Zhen Wei

[x_los]

Classic of Poetry poem XCV. “Zhen and Wei”
https://crbaird.weebly.com/classic-of-poetry-poem-xcv.html

O Zhen and Wei together,
swollen now they flow.
Men and maids together,
chrysanthemums in hand.
The maid says, “Have you looked?”
The man says, “I have gone.”
“Let’s go then look across the Wei,
it is truly a place for our pleasure.”
Man and maid together
each frolicked with the other
and gave as gift the peony.

O Zhen and Wei together,
flowing deep and clear.
Men and maids together,
teeming everywhere.
The maid says, “Have you looked?”
The man says, “I have gone.”
“Let’s go then look across the Wei,
Man and maid together
each will frolic with the other
and give as gift the peony (Norton 763).

*What is the significance of the natural setting in the poem? Why is it an especially appropriate backdrop to this conversation?

Re: 95. 溱洧 - Zhen Wei

[superborb]

I never know if I can't parse Baidu bc it's fluffy poetry interpretation stuff or genuinely a concept I don't understand haha. But Baidu says a lot about how it's the early Spring season, and how the two fulcrums of the poem are the two flowers (orchid and peony) and something about transformation from nature to people, landscapes to social customs Spring as a time of change as ice melts into spring floods and so the people also gather. That the main strong point of the poem is in how it portrays transformations. And so the orchid fades out and the peonies fade in.