![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Baihua
I know this is a short week and that doing it on its own will not speed us through the Minor Odes, but given that the poems are longer in this section, Baihua's five felt too bulky to tack on to either side (to make one of those batches a kind of awkward 14-15 medium sized poems).
* 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.
**NEXT BATCH APRIL 5.**
* 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.
**NEXT BATCH APRIL 5.**
173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
既見君子、我心寫兮。
燕笑語兮、是以有譽處兮。
How long grows the southernwood,
With the dew lying on it so bright!
Now that I see my noble men,
My heart is entirely satisfied.
As we feast, we laugh and talk; -
It is right they should have fame and prosperity!
蓼彼蕭斯、零露瀼瀼。
既見君子、為龍為光。
其德不爽、壽考不忘。
How long grows the southernwood,
With the dew lying on it so abundantly!
Now that I see my noble men,
I appreciate their favour and their brightness.
Their virtue is without taint of error; -
May they live long, and not be forgotten!
蓼彼蕭斯、零露泥泥。
既見君子、孔燕豈弟。
宜兄宜弟、令德壽豈。
How high is the southernwood,
All wet with the fallen dew!
Now that I see my noble men,
Grandly we feast, delighted and complacent.
May their relations with their brothers be right!
May they be happy in their excellent virtue to old age!
蓼彼蕭斯、零露濃濃。
既見君子、鞗革沖沖。
和鸞雝雝、萬福攸同。
How high is the southernwood,
With the dew lying on it so richly!
I have seen my noble men,
With the ends of their reins hanging down,
With the bells tinkling on their cross-boards and bits.
May all happiness gather upon them.
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
[Shocked that Baike is highly informative for this metaphor lol]
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao
The historical background is that this is a poem that feudal vassals used to praise the Zhou emperor in the early years of the Western Zhou dynasty when the country prospered. It's all very happy and praising the emperor [which I guess makes sense if this is intended to be presented to him?]
The southernwood (mugwort in the Baike gloss) is the feudal vassals/princes, the dew is the emperor's grace. The mugwort is also used for sacrificial offerings.
Baike also comments that this is an elegant poem in content and form. Since it was given to the emperor, it must be reserved and cautious. Compared to the healthy and vivacious folk poems that express true feelings, its artistic merits and feelings are lacking.
[
Re: 173. 蓼蕭 - Liao Xiao