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dankodes* 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.
* One of our members is doing posts on the foundations and development of wuxia. Worth checking out!
**NEXT BATCH APRIL 19.**
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.
* One of our members is doing posts on the foundations and development of wuxia. Worth checking out!
**NEXT BATCH APRIL 19.**
192. 正月 - Zheng Yue
民之訛言、亦孔之將。
念我獨兮、憂心京京。
哀我小心、癙憂以痒。
In the first month [of summer] the hoar-frost abounds,
And my heart is wounded with sorrow.
The false calumnies of the people,
Also wax greater and greater.
I think how I stand alone,
And the sorrow of my heart grows intense.
Alas! through my anxious cares,
My hidden sorrow goes on to make me ill.
父母生我、胡俾我瘉。
不自我先、不自我後。
好言自口、莠言自口。
憂心愈愈、是以有侮。
Ye parents who gave me birth!
Was it to make me suffer this pain?
[Why was this time] not before me?
Or [why was it] not after me?
Their good words are [only] from the mouth;
Their bad words are [only] from the mouth.
The sorrow of my heart becomes greater,
And because of this I incur contempt.
憂心惸惸、念我無祿。
民之無辜、并其臣僕。
哀我人斯、于何從祿。
瞻烏爰止、于誰之屋。
My sorrow heart is very sad;
I think of my unfortunate position.
The innocent people,
Will all be reduced to servitude with me.
Alas for me!
From whom shall I henceforth get support?
I see a crow which will rest,
- But on whose house?
瞻彼中林、侯薪侯蒸。
民今方殆、視天夢夢。
既克有定、靡人弗勝。
有皇上帝、伊誰云憎。
Look into the middle of the forest;
There are [only] large faggots and small branches in it.
The people now amidst their perils,
Look to Heaven, all dark.
But let its determination be fixed,
And there is none whom it will not overcome.
There is the great God, -
Does He hate any one?
謂山蓋卑、為岡為陵。
民之訛言、寧莫之懲。
召彼故老、訊之占夢。
具曰予聖、誰知烏之雌雄。
If one say of a hill that it is low,
There are its ridges, and its large masses.
The false calumnies of the people, -
How is it that you do not repress them?
You call those experienced ancients;
You consult the diviner of dreams :
They all say, ' We are wise;
But who can distinguish the male and female crow? '
謂天蓋高、不敢不局。
謂地蓋厚、不敢不蹐。
維號斯言、有倫有脊。
哀今之人、胡為虺蜴。
We say of the heavens that they are high,
But I dare not but stoop under them.
We say of the earth that it is thick,
But I dare not but walk daintily on it.
For my freely expressing myself thus,
I have reason, I have good ground.
Alas for the men of this time!
Why are they such cobras and efts?
瞻彼阪田、有菀其特。
天之扤我、如不我克。
彼求我則、如不我得。
執我仇仇、亦不我力。
Look at that rugged and stony field; -
Luxuriantly rises in it the springing grain!
[But] Heaven moves and shakes me,
As if it could not overcome me.
They sought me [at first] to be a pattern [to them],
[Eagerly] as if they could not get me.
[Now] they regard me with great animosity,
And will not use my strength.
心之憂矣、如或結之。
今茲之正、胡然厲矣。
燎之方揚、寧或滅之。
赫赫宗周、褒姒滅之。
My heart with its sorrow,
Feels as if it were tied and bound by something.
This government of the present time, -
How oppressive it is!
The flames, when they are blazing,
May still perhaps be extinguished;
But the majestic honoured capital of Zhou,
Is being destroyed by Si of Bao.
終其永懷、又窘陰雨。
其車既載、乃棄爾輔。
載輸爾載、 將伯助予。
This issue is ever my anxious thought.
Moreover, you have the embarrassment of soaking rain.
Your carriage is loaded,
And if you throw away your wheel-aids,
Your load will be overturned,
And you will be crying, ' O sir, help me! '
無棄爾輔、員于爾輻。
屢顧爾僕、不輸爾載。
終踰絕險、曾是不意。
If you do throw away your wheel-aids,
Which give asistance to the spokes;
And if you constantly look after the driver,
You will not overturn your load,
And in the end will get over the most difficult places;
But you have not thought of this.
魚在于沼、亦匪克樂。
潛雖伏矣、亦孔之炤。
憂心慘慘、念國之為虐。
The fish are in the pond,
But they cannot enjoy themselves.
Although they dive to the bottom,
They are very clearly seen.
My sorrow heart is deeply pained,
When I think of the oppression in the kingdom.
彼有旨酒、又有嘉殽。
洽比其鄰、昏姻孔云。
念我獨兮、憂心慇慇。
They have their good spirits,
And their fine viands along with them.
They assemble their neighbours,
And their relatives are full of their praise.
When I think of my solitariness,
My sorrowing heart is full of distress.
佌佌彼有屋、蔌蔌方有穀。
民今之無祿、天夭是椓。
哿矣富人、哀此惸獨。
Mean-like, those have their houses;
Abjects, they will have their emoluments.
But the people now have no maintenance.
For Heaven is pounding them with its calamities,
The rich may get through,
But alas for the helpless and solitary!
Re: 192. 正月 - Zheng Yue
Their bad words are [only] from the mouth.'
Not clear on this.
What's the significance of the crow coming to rest on a house?
What does it mean that there are only twigs and great bundles of sticks in the wood?
What is the cobras and efts business?
Fish in the pond being visible and unable to enjoy themselves for it also maximally weird.
The beginning of the final stanza is confusing.
So this clearly has a historical referent that might contextualise it?
Re: 192. 正月 - Zheng Yue
"Their good words are [only] from the mouth;
Their bad words are [only] from the mouth." Buried in the discussion, Baike says this is saying how people are glib in speech and wear an ingratiating expression (an idiom), jealous and envious. I guess it's basically saying that people will use the same mouth to say both nice and vicious things?
"crow": omen about the Zhou dynasty. The whole two phrases mean the Zhou dynasty is losing the mandate of heaven
The vernacular translation of the line "There are [only] large faggots and small branches in it." is 粗细只能当柴烧 thick or thin, can only be used as firewood. I'm having trouble parsing what it says about this line in the discussion 此诗批评最高当权者亲小人, which means "this poem criticizes the villains that are the highest authorities", but does not seem to... fully connect to the line?
efts is presumably Legge's translation of lizards, which baike informs me that ancient people thought both snakes and lizards were poisonous. It's a standard poisonous animal metaphor for bad people.
I think the fish metaphor is like, there is nowhere to hide themselves? Baike doesn't say anything more about it.
"Mean-like, those have their houses;
Abjects, they will have their emoluments.": The vernacular translation is 卑鄙小人有华屋，庸劣之徒有米谷。Contemptible nasty people have splendid houses, superficial people have rice and grain.
Re: 192. 正月 - Zheng Yue