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

[x_los]

* I know the two titular Weis are confusing; I believe they're different characters both rendered thus in Pinyin.

* I found the best option for the weekly reminder emails, via Gmail. The external service options are more involved than our purposes require. Does anyone know anything about how to arrange an Apps Script? Basically all it has to do is tell ten people, on Saturdays, to come and get their juice/poems. 

* 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.

* IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS WHO MIGHT LIKE TO JOIN or have other ideas, please let me know on this post.

* 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.

Comments

107. 葛屨 - Ge Ju

[x_los]

糾糾葛屨、可以履霜。
摻摻女手、可以縫裳。
要之襋之、好人服之。

Shoes thinly woven of the dolichos fibre,
May be used to walk on the hoarfrost.
The delicate fingers of a bride,
May be used in making clothes.
[His bride] puts the waistband to his lower garment and the collar to his upper,
And he, a wealthy man, wears them.

好人提提、宛然左辟、佩其象揥。
維是褊心、是以為刺。

Wealthy, he moves about quite at ease,
And politely he stands aside to the left.
From his girdle hangs his ivory comb-pin.
It is the narrowness of his disposition,
Which makes him a subject for satire.

Re: 107. 葛屨 - Ge Ju

[x_los]

Always with the kudzu! Sick and tired of fuckin kudzu now, is that!

So what is the contrast of thin, delicate things doing? Like, the man's careful, delicate appearance and comportment or face has the same 'thin' quality or narrowness as his attitude, but one is a problem and one isn't?

In Western historical clothing, collars etc are often replaceable, because they wear more quickly, and/or specially embellished. There are jokes (from truth) about poor men sewing shirt collars onto their jackets like a tuxedo shirt to look respectable, when in fact they can't afford the actual shirt that should be sewn to them/go under the jacket. This comes up for ex in Dickensian material.

Re: 107. 葛屨 - Ge Ju

[superborb]

The delicate appearance shows how thin/hungry the seamstress is, and the other is the narrow-mindedness of the rich person (Baike seems to think it's a woman, but I don't think it's specified in text, really?), and since a lot of the poem is trying to contrast their images, it does seem reasonable that this is also meant as a sort of commentary?

Re: 107. 葛屨 - Ge Ju

[llonkrebboj]

were liberties taken? i don't know! but if i were to read this i'd understand it like this:

纠纠葛屦，可以履霜。
Jiū jiū gé jù, kěyǐ lǚ shuāng.
woven woven the ivy-hemp shoes, can they be worn to walk upon frost?

掺掺女手，可以缝裳。
Càn càn nǚ shǒu, kěyǐ fèng shang.
slender, so slender, the lady's hands, can they sew clothing into being?

要之襋之，好人服之。
Yào zhī jí zhī, hǎorén fú zhī.
the waist, the collar, the fine person puts it all on


好人提提，宛然左辟，佩其象揥。
Hǎorén tí tí, wǎnrán zuǒ pì, pèi qí xiàng tì.
the fine person feels wonderful, giving a twirl and then stepping left in avoidance, ivory pin worn in their hair

维是褊心，是以为刺。
Wéi shì biǎn xīn, shì yǐwéi cì.
it is because of such narrow-heartedness, that this poem was written as mockery

the poet walks on the street and sees a poor seamstress working at fine clothes everyday. she is so poor, she wears her summer hemp shoes right into winter, and struggles on icy roads.

when she has completed her work, the person who buys the clothes is dressed in finery with an ivory hair accessory. they try on the clothes and twirl on the spot to get a good look, but step aside with clear disdain for the seamstress.

the poet is like D:< the nerve of some people!!!!! i must record this disgraceful, unappreciative behavior so people may see the contrast as an third party and feel ashamed when they do this!