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dankodes* 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 8.**
Re: 141. 墓門 - Mu Men
Re: 143. 月出 - Yue Chu
Re: 137. 東門之枌 - Dong Men Zhi Fen
Re: 136. 宛丘 - Wan Qiu
*'witch' here obs an approximation, not same as Western perception of witches, etc.
Re: 145. 澤陂 - Ze Po
Re: 144. 株林 - Zhu Lin
Re: 143. 月出 - Yue Chu
Re: 141. 墓門 - Mu Men
Re: 140. 東門之楊 - Dong Men Zhi Yang
Re: 136. 宛丘 - Wan Qiu
Re: 137. 東門之枌 - Dong Men Zhi Fen
Re: 137. 東門之枌 - Dong Men Zhi Fen
Re: 138. 衡門 - Heng Men
The "cross pieces of wood" means the house is simple/crude. Normally 衡 means to weigh/measure, but baike says this is 横 (homonym) which means horizontal. One source says it means the city gates
"my fountain": this may be the name of a spring in Chen country, but could just be a general name instead of a specific reference.
"hunger": often in the Shijing, the word hunger means sexual desire. One source says in ancient times, sexual desire was often called hunger, as a set idiom. [A cross cultural idiom if so lol]
The He is the Yellow River
The interpretation Baike spends the most time explicating is indeed that of a love poem, basically saying that a humble life is a joy. [The following I'm not sure if I'm reading 100% correctly since it's very dense] It also says some historical interpretations are to help/encourage the monarch; a hermit happy by themself; men and women having meetings for sex.
Re: 139. 東門之池 - Dong Men Zhi Chi
"moat": Baike's gloss says moat, but one source says pond
"virtuous": could mean virtuous/beautiful, one source says it means the seniority among siblings is third
"lady": a surname, one source says a nice sounding moniker for a woman
"songs": specifically referring to antiphonal songs
"boehmeria": also ramie, used to make ropes
"rope-rush": a plant like reeds, used to make straw shoes after soaked
The Mao commentary on this is, once again, about satirizing the monarch. Is any poem not? But Baike spends most time interpreting it as a love poem, where they are hard at work and they're talking and singing.
The poem has the very common pattern of the second+third stanza basically being repetitions, as in traditional folk songs.
Re: 140. 東門之楊 - Dong Men Zhi Yang
Baike: this poem uses the "fu" technique to describe these scenes instead of "xing". (What is the difference??)
Re: 141. 墓門 - Mu Men
"plum trees": one source said this was once "thorn" but there was a mis-copy bc the characters look similar
"owl": to the ancients, owls were evil birds
According to Mao's commentary, this was written about Chen Tuo, son of Chen Wen gong during the Spring and Autumn period. (This guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Tuo) However, during the Song dynasty, this interpretation became challenged.
Re: 142. 防有鵲巢 - Fang You Que Chao
"embankment": dam, dike. One source says embankment; one source says a "fang", an evergreen tree that gives a red dye.
"height": mound, hill
"pea": a type of creeper / climbing plant, grows in low, wet places. Several plants are then proposed to be what the plant is.
"the middle path of the temple": in the ancient halls, the main corridor in the courtyard
"tiles": baike glosses this as tiles, and then one source says DUCKS [i'm dying]
So again, it's the contrast of "things that don't belong here": magpies on dams, water plants on hills, roof tiles on courtyards.
Mao's commentary says this is Xuan gong believing in slander, and Ju Zi worried about it. Zhu Xi disagrees and says it's a love poem and modern scholars mostly agree it's a poem for lovers who are worried about separation and losing their love.
Re: 143. 月出 - Yue Chu
Baike says this is the first poem about the moon and moonlight, which is p interesting bc I think of it as a v common poetic topic
Re: 144. 株林 - Zhu Lin
But also, yes it is.
Baike: This poem exposes and satirizes Chen Ling gong and Xia Ji's promiscuous behavior.
"Zhulin": Zhu is the name of a city in Chen country, in current day Zhecheng county in Henan. Lin means the open area outside a city / the countryside.
"Xianan": Xia Zhengshu, the son of Xia Ji
So the "horses" are horses over 6 chi (chinese feet) high, used by monarchs, the "colts" are horses between 5 and 6 chi, used by ministers. So Chen Ling gong is riding the horse and the people riding the colt are his ministers Kong Ning and Yi Hangfu (or Yi Xingfu? -- the character can be read either way)
"breakfast": food is a euphemism for sex
So, the Xia Nan here is Xia Zhengshu, the son of Chen country's minister Xia Yushu. His courtesy name is Xia Nan. His mother, Xia Ji, was Zheng Mu gong's daughter, and a famously beautiful woman. After she married into Chen country, Chen Ling gong and his ministers Kong Ning and Yi Hangfu coveted her. According to Zuo Zhuan (a commentary on the Spring-Autumn history), they all had an affair with her, even wearing her underwear and bantered in court. The second year they went to Zhu city, Chen Ling gong teased Yi Hangfu in front of Xia Ji's son by saying, "he looks like you". Yi Hangfu retorted "he looks more like your majesty!" Xia Zhengshu was very angry, and finally ambushed him in the stable and shot Chen Ling gong dead. This led to a notorious period of civil unrest.
The poem's first stanza is the people on the road pretending to ask "what are they doing in Zhu"? And the response is satirical. The second stanza is Chen Ling gong and his ministers joking among themselves
Re: 145. 澤陂 - Ze Po
Baike:
"marsh": baike's gloss is pond/pool
"valerian": should be lotus seed head. though, one source says bluegrass. (Though to me, it makes more sense as lotus seeds, bc then it's three references to lotus?)
The Mao commentary says this is saying how after the events of #144, this led to adultery increasing the country and people are sad. Liu Yuan says this is the worries of isolated loyal officials. But modern scholars think it is a love poem either by a woman or man longing for the person they love.
Re: 139. 東門之池 - Dong Men Zhi Chi
Re: 143. 月出 - Yue Chu
Re: 144. 株林 - Zhu Lin
Re: 144. 株林 - Zhu Lin
'According to Zuo Zhuan (a commentary on the Spring-Autumn history), they all had an affair with her, even wearing her underwear and bantered in court.' wtf
this is the best drama yet tho
Re: 145. 澤陂 - Ze Po