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

[x_los]

This 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.**

Comments

156. 东山 - Dong Shan

[x_los]

我徂东山、慆慆不归。
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

[x_los]

But there were they preparing our clothes for us,
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

[ann712]

This reminded me of Wilfred Owen and other war poets. I suppose I’m picking up on the rank and gags line and the idea that the clothes in the west are different and more personal than those they have to wear in the east,
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

[superborb]

Baike: the background of this poem is Zhou gong's Eastern Expedition (https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%91%A8%E5%85%AC%E4%B8%9C%E5%BE%81/1410277), using the view of an ordinary soldier. Stanza 1: the memory of the hardships and danger; 2: the guess of what changes have happened at home; 3: missing his wife and speculating about how she must be thinking of him; 4: continued thinking about the memories of the past.

'the gags': they had these sticks in their mouths to ensure silence while marching

Re: 156. 东山 - Dong Shan

[x_los]

'the gags': they had these sticks in their mouths to ensure silence while marching what's the point, the enemy will hear a baggage train anyway