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

[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.

**NEXT BATCH MARCH 1.**

Comments

126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[x_los]

有車鄰鄰、有馬白顛。
未見君子、寺人之令。

He has many carriages, giving forth their lin-lin;
He has horses with their white foreheads.
Before we can see our prince,
We must get the services of the eunuch.

阪有漆、隰有栗。
既見君子、並坐鼓瑟。
今者不樂、逝者其耋。

On the hill-sides are varnish trees;
In the low wet grounds are chestnuts.
When we have seen our prince,
We sit together with him, and they play on their lutes.
If now we do not take our joy,
The time will pass till we are octogenarians.

阪有桑、隰有楊。
既見君子、並坐鼓簧。
今者不樂、逝者其亡。

On the hill-sides are mulberry trees;
In the low wet grounds are willows.
When we have seen our prince,
We sit together with him, and they play on their organs.
If now we do not take our joy,
The time will pass till we are no more.

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[x_los]

So they're gonna take their pleasures while they can, but also they need the eunuch to get them in? What's the first stanza doing? The separation mountain-lowlands duo is back, so maybe you don't get to see your homie/liege lord very often.

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[ann712]

I guess Princes use Eunuchs as gate keepers, perhaps because they can’t be influenced sexually? Is that even true?

What are Lin lins?

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[x_los]

Sound effect of jangling equipage I guess?

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[superborb]

linlin is the sound of the carriage wheels

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[ann712]

Good to know. Thanks

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[superborb]

I think the eunuchs might just be another term for servants here? Baike first says imperial official / court eunuch, then continues kinda vaguely, quoting other sources that suggest it refers to a servant. Baike's vernacular translation of that line is something like "waiting for the official guarding the door to send the order"

I think the first stanza is like, going to his friend's home but like his friend is so fancy they have to wait before they can go have fun.

Re: 126. 車鄰 - Che Lin

[ann712]

Oh that’s funny. Having to wade through so much protocol before you can have fun.