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

110. 陟岵 - Zhi Hu

[x_los]

陟彼岵兮、瞻望父兮。
父曰嗟、予子行役、夙夜無已。
上慎旃哉、猶來無止。

I ascend that tree-clad hill,
And look towards [the residence of] my father.
My father is saying, ' Alas! my son, abroad on the public service,
Morning and night never rests.
May he be careful,
That he may come [back], and not remain there! '

陟彼屺兮、瞻望母兮。
母曰嗟、予季行役、夙夜無寐。
上慎旃哉、猶來無棄。

I ascend that bare hill,
And look towards [the residence of] my mother.
My mother is saying, ' Alas! my child, abroad on the public service,
Morning and night has no sleep.
May he be careful,
That he may come [back], and not leave his body there! '

陟彼岡兮、瞻望兄兮。
兄曰嗟、予弟行役、夙夜必偕。
上慎旃哉、猶來無死。

I ascend that ridge,
And look towards [the residence of] my elder brother.
My brother is saying, ' Alas! my younger brother, abroad on the public service,
Morning and night must consort with his comrades.
May he be careful,
That he may come back, and not die! '

Re: 110. 陟岵 - Zhi Hu

[x_los]

Three distinct places, three occasions, presumably all the same family home? Any significance to the distinctions and repetition?

Re: 110. 陟岵 - Zhi Hu

[llonkrebboj]

The repetitions give me the feeling that as conditions are progressively more miserable for the soldier, his longing for home and family hurts more each time he imagines them and what they might say to him and/or what they said (maybe?) before he left. Because he's gone so far away and it's exhausting, dangerous and he might never get home. That becomes clearer the longer the campaign stretches on.

Father:
He's on a 岵 verdant mountain looking homewards. His father calls out to him '予子 my son/child'. He would worry for the soldier because he has 夙夜無已 no time to rest, telling him 無止 not to dally and to come home soon. There's a feeling of familial concern here, but also very much 'don't forget your duty to the family' sorta. very asian dad xD

Mother:
He's on a 屺 rocky, bare mountain now, looking homeward. His mother calls out to him '予季 my youngest' (when you are someone's 'child', well they have another. but when you are your mom's baby then 🥺). Her heart would ache for him because he has 夙夜無寐 no time to even sleep, telling him to return and not to 無棄 forget home (possible interpretations of 無棄 are not to abandon yourself i.e. die, and not to abandon your home i.e. by not coming back). Idk I get a more emotional feel here, possibly it's been a longer time away and moms always bring out the more tender part of you xD

Brother:
He's on a 岡 mountain ridge and the climb here harder than before, and still looks homeward. His brother calls out to him '予弟 my little brother'. He sympathizes because 夙夜必偕 they work in the night just as they would in the days, telling him to return and to 無死 not die. T_T But out of them, my bro is the one who grew up with me and he just wants me to not die and please please come back. Also, sorta get a feeling that death has gone from a possibility to something he is actually looking in the face of. Hence coming right out and saying it.

Overall, instead of describing the difficulties and how much he misses his family and home, i think it hits differently and also like it a lot more that we get a peek into his thoughts & and the vividness of the people he imagines in what time he has to snatch, looking in a general direction. eg. 'my home is north of here, though exactly where? i'm not sure. i wonder what they would say if they're seeing me now' sorta feel.

Re: 110. 陟岵 - Zhi Hu

[llonkrebboj]

oh by the way!!!! there's an idiom which is a reference to this shijing poem: 陟岵陟屺 zhì hù zhì qǐ, which means 'climbing verdant mountains, climbing barren mountains' which is used for people who have lingered long out in the world and are missing their parents.

found it while googling something else and thought it might be interesting to share!

- actually wouldn't it be fun to find out more chengyu that originate from shijing?

Re: 110. 陟岵 - Zhi Hu

[x_los]

Yeah I'd be SUPER interested in any pertinent chengyu!