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

[x_los]

* 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.

Until someone knows what to do there, I'll send out manual messages weekly. If you'd like to receive these and are not getting them, please let me know.

* 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.

* In case you missed it and are interested, some people on the com did a Scum Villain read-along here. Anyone with thoughts is welcome to chime in.

* PROGRESS REPORT: With this, we're through the first ten books of the Shi Jing. There will be four more weeks in Lessons from the States, because I'm combining the very short books Gui and Cao. Then we have about seven weeks in Minor Odes of the Kingdom, because the short Baihua will go in with the book before it. Then come three weeks in Greater Odes, then four in Odes of the Temple and the Altar. Then we're entirely done with Shi Jing, and can do Tang or Song or something.

**NEXT BATCH FEB 22.**

Comments

117. 椒聊 - Jiao Liao

[x_los]

椒聊之實、蕃衍盈升。
彼其之子、碩大無朋。
椒聊且、遠條且。

The clusters of the pepper plant,
Large and luxuriant, would fill a pint.
That hero there
Is large and peerless.
O the pepper plant!
How its shoots extend!

椒聊之實、蕃衍盈匊。
彼其之子、碩大且篤。
椒聊且、遠條且。

The clusters of the pepper plant,
Large and luxuriant, would fill both your hands.
That hero there
Is large and generous.
O the pepper plant!
How its shoots extend!

Re: 117. 椒聊 - Jiao Liao

[x_los]

I'm getting big Peerless Cucumber energy from this one, idk.

"There're three poems involving the meaning of"Chinese red peer"in The Book of Songs.This "meaning"not only refers to its real meaning,but also its rich cultural connotations. According to the Interpretation of the poem,the meaning of word"Jiao"in Tang Feng:Jiao Liao is not praising man for "many sons"but the blessing or praise for women's fertility. On the basis of folk custom,the meaning of word"Jiao"in Chen Feng:Jiao Liao is"to bless or to express emotions as a gift",which also involves the discussion about whether or not the meaning of"Jiao"is"a witch makes the gods come with Chinese red peer". The word"Jiao"in Zhou Song:Zai Shan is not real imagery but a interchangeable word. This also involves the relationships between the poem and the word meaning. Generally speakcing,meaning of a word is always explained from the poetic meaning,but if it is explained from the reverse direction,the meaning of a single word may also affect and even decide the interpretation of a poem." https://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTotal-LSSZ201402013.htm

Re: 117. 椒聊 - Jiao Liao

[superborb]

These peppers are, of course, Sichuan peppercorns.

Baike says it's not conclusive if this is about [several historical figures brought up], or praising men (for fertility), or praising women (for fertility), or just about women picking peppers. Though it seems likely that the peppers are a metaphor for people and therefore the numerous fruit = descendants. This poem is a good example of the 'bixing' technique.

Re: 117. 椒聊 - Jiao Liao

[x_los]

What what's the bixing technique, is it different from just having a xing?

Re: 117. 椒聊 - Jiao Liao

[superborb]

I think earlier during poetry club we ran into it and I was very confused. But after a bit more reading, I think it's just a common poetic technique where the author uses analogy (bi) to evoke a comparison with the poet's feelings and intentions (xing).