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Entry tags:
Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Minor Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Du Ren Shi
* 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.
* Remember you can also look at How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context.
* 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 MAY 17.**
This is the last chapter in the Minor Odes! After this we move to the Greater Odes (three weeks) and the Odes of the Temple and the Altar (four weeks). Then, a whole new set of 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.
* Remember you can also look at How to Read Chinese Poetry in Context.
* 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 MAY 17.**
This is the last chapter in the Minor Odes! After this we move to the Greater Odes (three weeks) and the Odes of the Temple and the Altar (four weeks). Then, a whole new set of poems!
225. 都人士 - Du Ren Shi
其容不改、出言有章。
行歸于周、萬民所望。
Those officers of the [old] capital,
With their fox-furs so yellow,
Their deportment unvaryingly [correct],
And their speech full of elegance! -
If we could go back to [the old] Zhou,
They would be admiringly looked up to by all the people.
彼都人士、臺笠緇撮。
彼君子女、綢直如髮。
我不見兮、我心不說。
Those officers of the [old] capital,
With their hats of Tai leaves and small black caps! -
Those ladies of noble Houses.
With their hair so thick and straight! -
I do not see them [now],
And my heart is dissatisfied.
彼都人士、充耳琇實。
彼君子女、謂之尹吉。
我不見兮、我心苑結。
Those officers of the [old] capital,
With their ear-plugs of xiu-stones! -
Those ladies of noble Houses,
Each fit to be called a Yin or a Ji! -
I do not see them [now],
And my heart grieves with indissoluble sorrow.
彼都人士、垂帶而厲。
彼君子女、卷髮如蠆。
我不見兮、言從之邁。
Those officers of the [old] capital,
With their girdles hanging elegantly down! -
Those ladies of great Houses,
With their [side] hair curving up like a scorpion's tail! -
I do not see them [now],
[If I could], I would walk along after them.
匪伊垂之、帶則有餘。
匪伊卷之、髮則有旟。
我不見兮、云何盱矣。
Not that they purposely let their girdles hang down; -
The girdles were naturally long.
Not that they gave their hair that curve; -
The hair had a natural curl.
I do not see them [now],
And how do I long for them!
Re: 225. 都人士 - Du Ren Shi
With their hats of Tai leaves and small black caps! so what are these?
Each fit to be called a Yin or a Ji! ?
The girdles were naturally long.
Not that they gave their hair that curve; -
The hair had a natural curl. so we're talking about the irreplaceability of things that are natural rather than constructed, sure, but do these qualities/the faking of them have more weight than that?
Re: 225. 都人士 - Du Ren Shi
Hats of Tai leaves are rain hats made of the coco-grass or nut sedge. The small black caps are small caps (to bind the hair?).
Some say that Yin and Ji were the two noble surnames at that time. [I previously translated the "some say" as "one source" but I think "some say" is more accurate since it's not like they're citing anything...]
I think it's more just nostalgia for the past and using the aesthetics as a metaphor for the culture of that time?
Re: 225. 都人士 - Du Ren Shi