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dankodesThis is the last book in Lessons from the States! After this, we get into some fairly different material:
Minor odes of the kingdom (about 7 weeks)
Greater odes of the kingdom (3 weeks)
Odes of the temple and the altar (4 weeks)
And then we'll be talking about what we want to do next. But seriously, working through all the Lessons from the States is itself a milestone: one building-block of your Classical Education achieved.
* 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 22.**
Minor odes of the kingdom (about 7 weeks)
Greater odes of the kingdom (3 weeks)
Odes of the temple and the altar (4 weeks)
And then we'll be talking about what we want to do next. But seriously, working through all the Lessons from the States is itself a milestone: one building-block of your Classical Education achieved.
* 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 22.**
154. 七月 - Qi Yue
一之日觱发、二之日栗烈。
无衣无褐、何以卒岁。
三之日于耜、四之日举趾。
同我妇子、饁彼南亩、田畯至喜。
In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the 9th month, clothes are given out.
In the days of [our] first month, the wind blows cold;
In the days of [our] second, the air is cold; -
Without the clothes and garments of hair,
How could we get to the end of the year?
In the days of [our] third month, they take their ploughs in hand;
In the days of [our] fourth, they take their way to the fields.
Along with my wife and children,
I carry food to them in those south-lying acres.
The surveyor of the fields comes, and is glad.
七月流火、九月授衣。
春日载阳、有鸣仓庚。
女执懿筐、遵彼微行、爰求柔桑。
春日迟迟、采蘩祁祁。
女心伤悲、殆及公子同归。
In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the ninth month, clothes are given out.
With the spring days the warmth begins,
And the oriole utters its song.
The young women take their deep baskets,
And go along the small paths,
Looking for the tender [leaves of the] mulberry trees.
As the spring days lengthen out,
They gather in crowds the white southernwood.
That young lady's heart is wounded with sadness,
For she will [soon] be going with one of our princes as his wife.
七月流火、八月萑苇。
蚕月条桑、取彼斧斨、以伐远扬、猗彼女桑。
七月鸣鵙、八月载绩。
载玄载黄、我朱孔阳、为公子裳。
In the seventh month, the Fire Star passes the meridian;
In the eighth month are the sedges and reeds.
In the silkworm month they strip the mulberry branches of their leaves,
And take their axes and hatchets,
To lop off those that are distant and high;
Only stripping the young trees of their leaves.
In the seventh month, the shrike is heard;
In the eighth month, they begin their spinning; -
They make dark fabrics and yellow.
Our red manufacture is very brilliant,
It is for the lower robes of our young princes.
四月秀葽、五月鸣蜩。
八月其获、十月陨蘀。
一之日于貉、取彼狐狸、为公子裘。
二之日其同、载缵武功、言私其豵、献豜于公。
In the fourth month, the Small grass is in seed.
In the fifth, the cicada gives out its note.
In the eighth, they reap.
In the tenth, the leaves fall.
In the days of [our] first month, they go after badgers,
And take foxes and wild cats,
To make furs for our young princes.
In the days of [our] second month, they have a general hunt,
And proceed to keep up the exercises of war.
The boars of one year are for themselves;
Those of three years are for our prince.
五月斯螽动股、六月莎鸡振羽。
七月在野、八月在宇、九月在户。
十月蟋蟀、入我牀下。
穹窒熏鼠。
塞向墐户。
嗟我妇子、曰为改岁、入此室处。
In the fifth month, the locust moves its legs;
In the sixth month, the spinner sounds its wings.
In the seventh month, in the fields;
In the eighth month, under the eaves;
In the ninth month, about the doors;
In the tenth month, the cricket
Enters under our beds.
Chinks are filled up, and rats are smoked out;
The windows that face [the north] are stopped up;
And the doors are plastered.
' Ah! our wives and children,
' Changing the year requires this :
Enter here and dwell. '
六月食郁及薁、七月亨葵及菽。
八月剥枣、十月获稻。
为此春酒、以介眉寿。
七月食瓜、八月断壶、九月叔苴、采荼薪樗。
食我农夫。
In the sixth month they eat the sparrow-plums and grapes;
In the seventh, they cook the Kui and pulse,
In the eighth, they knock down the dates;
In the tenth, they reap the rice;
And make the spirits for the spring,
For the benefit of the bushy eyebrows.
In the seventh month, they eat the melons;
In the eighth, they cut down the bottle-gourds;
In the ninth, they gather the hemp-seed;
They gather the sowthistle and make firewood of the Fetid tree;
To feed our husbandmen.
九月筑场圃、十月纳禾稼。
黍稷重穋、禾麻菽麦。
嗟我农夫、我稼既同、上入执宫功。
昼尔于茅、宵尔索綯。
亟其乘屋、其始播百谷。
In the ninth month, they prepare the vegetable gardens for their stacks,
And in the tenth they convey the sheaves to them;
The millets, both the early sown and the late,
With other grain, the hemp, the pulse, and the wheat.
' O my husbandmen,
Our harvest is all collected.
Let us go to the town, and be at work on our houses.
In the day time collect the grass,
And at night twist it into ropes;
Then get up quickly on our roofs; -
We shall have to recommence our sowing. '
二之日凿冰冲冲、三之日纳于凌阴。
四之日其蚤、献羔祭韭。
九月肃霜、十月涤场。
朋酒斯飨、曰杀羔羊。
跻彼公堂、称彼兕觥、万寿无疆。
In the days of [our] second month, they hew out the ice with harmonious blows;
And in those of [our] third month, they convey it to the ice-houses,
[Which they open] in those of the fourth, early in the morning,
Having offered in sacrifice a lamb with scallions.
In the ninth month, it is cold, with frost;
In the tenth month, they sweep clean their stack-sites.
The two bottles of spirits are enjoyed,
And they say, ' Let us kill our lambs and sheep,
And go to the hall of our prince,
There raise the cup of rhinoceros horn,
And wish him long life, - that he may live for ever. '
Re: 154. 七月 - Qi Yue
That young lady's heart is wounded with sadness,For she will [soon] be going with one of our princes as his wife. eesh
So this one feels like a ritual calendar song, to me: setting out right behaviour for the agricultural and spiritual year. It also feels like the manifesto/biography of a specific place.
The boars of one year are for themselves;Those of three years are for our prince. this is the type of annual taxation system discussed at length in the Talmud, for tithing and thus the support of priestly-clerical classes.
In the tenth, they reap the rice; so are we in the South?
For the benefit of the bushy eyebrows. huh?
Why is the chronology not straight forward?
rhinoceros horn, homie where did you GET that?
They already have ice houses?!
Re: 154. 七月 - Qi Yue
Odes of Bin -- Bin is an ancient city name in present day Shaanxi, Xunyi + Bin county region. (So to your later question, it's northwestern China. Shaanxi cuisine tends to noodles, but I think it's also a rice growing region? Just less?)
"bushy eyebrows": longevity; old people have luxurious eyebrows
"rhinocerous horn": the gloss is just that it's an ancient drinking vessel made of animal horn, so this may be Legge editorializing
Legge should keep the sound effects. "chong chong" for the sound of ice being chiseled!
Re: 154. 七月 - Qi Yue
"the Fire Star passes the meridian;" In the fifth month, at dusk, he fire star is in the south, in the center/middle + highest spot. In the sixth month, it moves west-ward and down, so this is called 'flow'
"southernwood": Asteraceae or Compositae, namely Herba Artimisiae Sieversianae. Used as a sacrifice to gods/ancestors. (And /maybe/ by women before marriage? I can't quite parse this sentence)
"The boars of one year" vs "three years": means small animals vs big ones.
"bushy eyebrows": longevity; old people have luxurious eyebrows
The lamb sacrifice in the last stanza is as required in the classic of rites for early spring.
When reading the months, keep in mind that the Zhou calendar starts in the 11th month of the modern lunar calendar, so the 7-10 months in the poem correspond to the 4-6 of modern lunar calendar (? Not sure why we lost a month in the transition lol)
155. 鸱鴞 - Chi Xiao
恩斯勤斯、鬻子之闵斯。
O owl, O owl,
You have taken my young ones; -
Do not [also] destroy my nest.
With love and with toil,
I nourished them. - I am to be pitied.
迨天之未阴雨、彻彼桑土、绸缪牖户。
今女下民、或敢侮予。
Before the sky was dark with rain,
I gathered the roots of the mulberry tree,
And bound round and round my window and door.
Now ye people below,
Dare any of you despise my house?
予手拮据、予所捋荼、予所蓄租、予口卒瘏、曰予未有室家。
With my claws I tore and held.
Through the rushes which I gathered,
And all the materials I collected,
My mouth was all sore; -
I said to myself, ' I have not yet got my house complete. '
予羽谯谯、予尾翛翛、予室翘翘、风雨所漂摇、予维音哓哓。
My wings are all-injured;
My tail is all-broken;
My house is in a perilous condition;
It is tossed about in the wind and rain:
I can but cry out with this note of alarm.
Re: 155. 鸱鴞 - Chi Xiao
Re: 155. 鸱鴞 - Chi Xiao
Re: 155. 鸱鴞 - Chi Xiao
156. 东山 - Dong Shan
我来自东、零雨其蒙。
我东曰归、我心西悲。
制彼裳衣、勿士行枚。
蜎蜎者蠋、烝在桑野。
敦彼独宿、亦在车下。
We went to the hills of the east,
And long were we there without returning,
When we came back from the east,
Down came the rain drizzlingly.
When we were in the east, and it was said we should return,
Our hearts were in the west and sad;
But there were they preparing our clothes for us,
As to serve no more in the ranks with the gags.
Creeping about were the caterpillars,
All over the mulberry grounds;
And quietly and solitarily did we pass the night,
Under our carriages.
我徂东山、慆慆不归。
我来自东、零雨其蒙。
果裸之实、亦施于宇。
伊威在室、蠨蛸在户。
町疃鹿场、熠耀宵行。
不可畏也、伊可怀也。
We went to the hills of the east,
And long were we there without returning,
When we came back from the east,
Down came the rain drizzlingly.
The fruit of the heavenly gourd,
Would be hanging about our eaves;
The sowbug would be in our chambers;
The spiders' webs would be in our doors;
Our paddocks would be deer-fields;
The fitful light of the glow-worms would be all about.
These thoughts made us apprehensive,
And they occupied our breasts.
我徂东山、慆慆不归。
我来自东、零雨其蒙。
鹳鸣于垤、妇叹于室。
洒扫穹窒、我征聿至。
有敦瓜苦、烝在栗薪。
自我不见、于今三年。
We went to the hills of the east,
And long were we there without returning,
On our way back from the east,
Down came the rain drizzlingly.
The cranes were crying on the ant-hills;
Our wives were sighing in their rooms;
They had sprinkled and swept, and stuffed up all the crevices.
Suddenly we arrived from the expedition,
And there were the bitter gourds hanging,
From the branches of the chestnut trees.
Since we had seen such a sight,
Three years were now elapsed.
我徂东山、慆慆不归。
我来自东、零雨其蒙。
仓庚于飞、熠耀其羽。
之子于归、皇驳其马。
亲结其缡、九十其仪。
其新孔嘉、其旧如之何。
We went to the hills of the east,
And long were we there without returning,
On our way back from the east,
Down came the rain drizzlingly.
The oriole is flying about,
Now here, now there, are its wings.
Those young ladies are going to be married,
With their bay and red horses, flecked with white.
Their mothers have tied their sashes;
Complete are their equipments.
The new matches are admirable; -
How can the reunions of the old be expressed?
Re: 156. 东山 - Dong Shan
As to serve no more in the ranks with the gags. ?
Stanza 2: farms decaying, going back to nature, while they're away
The cranes were crying on the ant-hills; ?
Does it take the gourds three years to grow? OH no wait, he means it's been three years since they saw these plants, or any plants like this.
The new matches are admirable; -
How can the reunions of the old be expressed? so did you want to marry them but in the interim of absence other plans have been made? In stanza 3 you had wives already. Maybe not all of you? Or a poly thing?
Re: 156. 东山 - Dong Shan
Sent away to war and recalling longingly the seasonal rituals of home - the domesticity of a world at peace? But also the recognition that even places unaffected directly by the war will suffer as they are neglected? And that ordinary life (marriage etc) passes them by while they are away. The girls they admired turn to other lovers and marry them. They return as strangers to their homes.
Re: 156. 东山 - Dong Shan
'the gags': they had these sticks in their mouths to ensure silence while marching
Re: 156. 东山 - Dong Shan
157. 破斧 - Po Fu
周公东征、四国是皇。
哀我人斯、亦孔之将。
We broke our axes,
And we splintered our hatchets;
But the object of the duke of Zhou, in marching to the east,
Was to put the four States to rights.
His compassion for us people,
Is very great.
既破我斧、又缺我锜。
周公东征、四国是吪。
哀我人斯、亦孔之嘉。
We broke our axes,
And we splintered our chisels;
But the object of the duke of Zhou, in marching to the east,
Was to reform the four States.
His compassion for us people,
Is very admirable.
既破我斧、又缺我銶。
周公东征、四国是遒。
哀我人斯、亦孔之休。
We broke our axes,
And splintered our clubs.
But the object of the duke of Zhou, in marching to the east,
Was to save the alliance of the four States.
His compassion for us people,
Is very excellent.
Re: 157. 破斧 - Po Fu
Re: 157. 破斧 - Po Fu
158. 伐柯 - Fa Ke
取妻如何、匪媒不得。
In hewing [the wood for] an axe-handle, how do you proceed?
Without [another] axe it cannot be done.
In taking a wife, how do you proceed?
Without a go-between it cannot be done.
伐柯伐柯、其则不远。
我觏之子、笾豆有践。
In hewing an axe-handle, in hewing an axe-handle,
The pattern is not far off.
I see the lady,
And forthwith the vessels are arranged in rows.
Re: 158. 伐柯 - Fa Ke
"The same urge to compare courtship with the world of everyday activities, and in the same questioning format, is to be seen in the poem Fa Ke 伐柯, “Chopping an axe-handle’ (Mao 158).159 As Arthur Waley points out, the poem Fa Ke goes on to show “the popular view that marriage was a very simple matter, and a match-maker by no means necessary”, thus problematising the wisdom dispensed by Nan Shan.
160 However, the first stanza of Fa Ke, in setting up the assumption of the need for a match-maker, notably uses almost exactly the same diction as is used in Nan Shan:
伐柯如何? Chopping an axe-handle, how is it done?
匪斧不克 If not for an axe it would be impossible
取妻如何？ Seeking a wife, how is it done?
匪媒不得 If not for a matchmaker, she cannot be obtained.
This indicates that either one of these poems plays off the other in its coincidence of marriage and axe imagery, or both poems play off some existing conventional way of thinking about, and, in particular (given their shared diction), talking about marriage. It is quite possible that this convention could also be associated with a convention of ritual. The use of axes is a vividly physical and visual act - elements which, as we will recall, Granet considers indicative of and fundamental to performative ritual."
Also, is there something here in the idea that you need a woman to get a woman?
Re: 158. 伐柯 - Fa Ke
"And forthwith the vessels are arranged in rows.": this is the way that food vessels would be presented during festive celebrations.
This era is when traditional Chinese wedding customs were developed, including that of the matchmaker.
"斧" (fu3) axe is also a pun, it sounds like "夫" (fu1) husband.
The first line of the second stanza "伐柯伐柯、其则不远" is now used to represent a harmonious and principled relationship, and "伐柯" means to act as a matchmaker.
Re: 158. 伐柯 - Fa Ke
The pattern is not far off."
I'm guessing that is not--a /great/ translation, quite, bc that doesn't seem to either express or allude to the nugget of the chengyu, quite.
Re: 158. 伐柯 - Fa Ke
The first line of the second stanza might be (from Baike's vernacular): "Chopping an axe handle, chopping an axe handle, these rules and regulations come to the front"
159. 九罭 - Jiu Yu
我觏之子、衮衣绣裳。
In the net with its nine bags,
Are rud and bream.
We see this prince,
With his grand-ducal robe and embroidered skirt.
鸿飞遵渚、公归无所、于女信处。
The wild geese fly [only] about the islets.
The duke is returning; - is it not to his proper place?
He was stopping with you [and me] but for a couple of nights.
鸿飞遵陆、公归不复、于女信宿。
The wild geese fly about the land.
The duke is returning, and will not come back here?
He was lodging with you [and me] but for a couple of nights.
是以有衮衣兮、无以我公归兮、无使我心悲兮。
(It looks on the page like there should be another stanza after this, but this other site's version of the translation seems to agree that there isn't?)
Re: 159. 九罭 - Jiu Yu
Re: 159. 九罭 - Jiu Yu
Baike:
nine bags: nine is again an imaginary number, just means 'many'
Some think this is a sister poem to "伐柯" Fa Ke and both praise Zhou gong. Then there was other commentary, and Baike noted that this was all speculation
Another interpretation is this is someone hosting a high ranking official for a banquet, saying they're having so much fun, why doesn't he stay for a few more days?
Re: 159. 九罭 - Jiu Yu
Re: 159. 九罭 - Jiu Yu
160. 狼跋 - Lang Ba
公孙硕肤、赤舄几几。
The wolf springs forward on his dewlap,
Or trips back on his tail.
The duke was humble, and greatly admirable,
狼疐其尾、载跋其胡。
公孙硕肤、德音不瑕。
The wolf springs forward on his dewlap,
Or trips back on his tail.
The duke was humble, and greatly admirable,
There is no flaw in his virtuous fame.
Re: 160. 狼跋 - Lang Ba
Re: 160. 狼跋 - Lang Ba
Re: 160. 狼跋 - Lang Ba
(Did we lose the last line of translation of stanza 1 btw? It should be something about red shoes)
Baike:
Scholars generally believe the duke here is Zhou gong (Duke of Zhou), and this praises his regency. Some think this is satirizing the nobility / sons of the nobility. One says it isn't Zhou gong, but some other descendent of Bin gong. Another says this is about a husband and wife, and it is the wife teasing the husband.
Basically, a lot of controversy over if the wolf is sarcastic or not? It could be neutrally describing how the Zhou country advanced and retreated.
The red shoes that are supposed to be the last line of stanza 1 are worn by the nobility. So it is the image of a plump nobleman caring about his shoes, looking ridiculous. But then it softens this humor with the last sentence.
Re: 160. 狼跋 - Lang Ba