Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Lessons from the States, Odes Of Gui and Odes of Cao

[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 are doing a Nirvana in Fire read-along here. Anyone with thoughts is welcome to chime in. 

**NEXT BATCH MARCH 15.**

Comments

檜風 - Odes Of Gui; 148. 隰有萇楚 - Xi You Chang Chu

[x_los]

隰有萇楚、猗儺其枝。
夭之沃沃、樂子之無知。

In the low wet grouds is the carambola tree;
Soft and pliant are its branches,
With the glossiness of tender beauty.
I should rejoice to be like you, [O tree], without consciousness.

隰有萇楚、猗儺其華。
夭之沃沃、樂子之無家。

In the low, damp grounds is the carambola tree;
Soft and delicate are its flowers,
With the glossiness of its tender beauty.
I should rejoice to be like you, [O tree], without a family.

隰有萇楚、猗儺其實。
夭之沃沃、樂子之無室。

In the low, damp grounds is the carambola tree;
Soft and delicate is its fruit,
With the glossiness of its tender beauty.
I should rejoice to be like you, [O tree], without a household.

Re: 檜風 - Odes Of Gui; 148. 隰有萇楚 - Xi You Chang Chu

[x_los]

'too many jokes about suicide' territory here

Re: 檜風 - Odes Of Gui; 148. 隰有萇楚 - Xi You Chang Chu

[superborb]

Man, whatever this plant is seems to be Uncertain?

Baike: 'carambola tree': a creeper/ climbing plant, either carambola/star fruit, or kiwi fruit/Chinese gooseberry

Lots of speculation about how this fits in with political troubles (as a country declines), exploitation by the ruling class... More modern scholars say it's a love poem.