Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Lu Ming

[x_los]

Welcome to Minor Odes of the Kingdom!

* 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 29.**

Comments

164. 常棣 - Chang Di

[x_los]

常棣之華、鄂不韡韡。
凡今之人、莫如兄弟。

The flowers of the cherry tree -
Are they not gorgeously displayed?
Of all the men in the world,
There are none equal to brothers.

死喪之威、兄弟孔懷。
原隰裒矣、兄弟求矣。

On the dreaded occasions of death and burial,
It is brothers who greatly sympathize.
When fugitives are collected on the heights and low grounds,
They are brothers who will seek one another out.

脊今在原、兄弟急難。
每有良朋、況也永歎。

There is the wagtail on the level height; -
When brothers are in urgent difficulties,
Friends, though they may be good,
Will [only] heave long sighs.

兄弟鬩于牆、外禦其務。
每有良朋、烝也無戎。

Brothers may quarrel inside the walls,
But they will oppose insult from without,
When friends, however good they may be,
Will not afford help.

喪亂既平、既安且寧。
雖有兄弟、不如友生。

When death and disorder are past,
And there are tranquillity and rest;
Although they have brothers,
[Some] reckon them not equal to friends.

儐爾籩豆、飲酒之飫。
兄弟既具、和樂且孺。

Your dishes may be set in array,
And you may drink to satiety;
But it is when your brothers are all present,
That you are harmonious and happy, with child-like joy.

妻子好合、如鼓瑟琴。
兄弟既翕、和樂且湛。

Loving union with wife and children,
Is like the music of lutes;
But it is the accord of brothers,
Which makes the harmony and happiness lasting.

宜爾室家、樂爾妻帑。
是究是圖、亶其然乎。

For the ordering of your family,
For your joy in your wife and children,
Examine this and study it; -
Will you not find that it is truly so?

Re: 164. 常棣 - Chang Di

[x_los]

Examine this and study it; -
Will you not find that it is truly so? eh, no.

'The flowers of the cherry tree -
Are they not gorgeously displayed?' and 'There is the wagtail on the level height; -'

is this a double-xing situation? What are either of them saying to the poem?

Re: 164. 常棣 - Chang Di

[ann712]

I’m reading it that cherry trees have flashy blossom and nice fruit but these are not necessarily accessible when you need them. This is paired with friends feasting - very enjoyable but occasional not permanent.. the wagtail also represents jovial friendship. Wives and children well they’re okay. But it’s brothers, good old brothers who are there for the good times and the bad. ( I’m beginning to understand Jiang Chang’s beef with Wei Wuxian)

Re: 164. 常棣 - Chang Di

[superborb]

Baike:

'There is the wagtail on the level height': Wagtails are water birds, so being in the plain is dangerous, a metaphor for the danger the brothers are in.

The Mao commentary says it is written by Zhou Cheng wang, whose brothers rebelled. But other sources have different suggestions, e.g. Zhou gong or Shao Mu gong, since [a bunch of idioms that figuratively mean brothers?] had conflict during this time.

Baike also says this is a song meant to be sung during a banquet, so despite stanza 5 adding a layer [of sadness?], it is mostly cheerful