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dankodesWelcome 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.**
* 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.**
169. 杕杜 - Di Du
王事靡盬、繼嗣我日。
日月陽止、女心傷止、征夫遑止。
Solitary stands the russet pear tree,
With its fruit so bright.
The king's business must not be slackly performed,
And the days are prolonged with us one after another.
The sun and moon are in the tenth month.
My woman's heart is wounded;
My soldier might have leisure [to return]!
有杕之杜、其葉萋萋。
王事靡盬、我心傷悲。
卉木萋止、女心悲止、征夫歸止。
Solitary stands the russet pear tree,
With its leaves so luxuriant.
The king's business must not be slackly performed,
And my heart is wounded and sad.
The plants and trees are luxuriant,
But my heart is sad.
O that my soldier might return!
陟彼北山、言采其杞。
王事靡盬、憂我父母。
檀車幝幝、四牡痯痯、征夫不遠。
I ascended that hill in the north,
To gather the medlars.
The king's business must not be slackly performed,
And our parents are made sorrowful.
His chariot of sandal wood must be damaged;
His four horses must be worn out;
My soldier cannot be far off.
匪載匪來、憂心孔疚。
期逝不至、而多為恤。
卜筮偕止、會言近止、征夫邇止。
They have not packed up, they do not come;
My sorrowing heart is greatly distressed.
The time is past, and he is not here,
To the multiplication of my sorrows.
Both by the tortoise shell and the reeds have I divined,
And they unite in saying he is near.
My soldier is at hand!
Re: 169. 杕杜 - Di Du
Re: 169. 杕杜 - Di Du
The second stanza implies that a year has passed, as the tree is now luxuriant again. This is the same technique used in the line 昔我往矣，杨柳依依 in 167.
Apparently it's a source of debate if the poem, or if specific sections of the poem, are from a male or female POV. Mao's commentary has the entire POV as the male soldier thinking about a woman. However, certain stanzas are more straightforward from either the male or female POV.