Shi Jing, The Book of Odes: Greater Odes of the Kingdom, Decade of Wen Wang

[x_los]

 * 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 24.** 

Comments

244. 文王有聲 - Wen Wang You Sheng

[x_los]

文王有聲、遹駿有聲。
遹求厥寧、遹觀厥成。
文王烝哉。

King Wen is famous;
Yea, he is very famous.
What he sought was the repose [of the people];
What he saw was the completion [of his work].
A sovereign true was king Wen!

文王受命、有此武功。
既伐于崇、作邑于豐。
文王烝哉。

King Wen received the appointment [of Heaven],
And achieved his martial success.
Having overthrown Chong,
He fixed his [capital] city in Feng.
A sovereign true was king Wen!

築城伊淢、作豐伊匹。
匪棘其欲、遹追來孝。
王后烝哉。

He repaired the walls along the [old] moat :
His establishing himself in Feng was according to [the pattern of his forefathers],
It was not that he was in haste to gratify his wishes; -
It was to show the filial duty which had come down to him.
A sovereign true was [our] royal prince!

王公伊濯、為豐之垣。
四方攸同、王后維翰。
王后烝哉。

His royal merit was brightly displayed,
By those walls of Feng.
There were collected [the sympathies of the people of] the four quarters,
Who regarded the royal prince as their protector.
A sovereign true was [our] royal prince!

豐水東注、維禹之績。
四方攸同、皇王維辟。
皇王烝哉。

The Feng-water flowed on to the east [of the city],
Through the meritorious labour of Yu.
There were collected [the sympathies of the people of ] the four quarters,
Who would have the great king as their ruler.
A sovereign true was the great king!

鎬京辟廱。
自西自東、自南自北、無思不服。
皇王烝哉。

In the capital of Hao he built his hall with its circlet of water;
From the west to the east,
From the south to the north,
There was not a thought but did him homage.
A sovereign true was the great king!

考卜維王、宅是鎬京。
維龜正之、武王成之。
武王烝哉。

He examined and divined, did the king,
About settling in the capital of Hao.
The tortoise-shell decided the site,
And king Wu completed the city.
A sovereign true was king Wu!

豐水有芑、武王豈不仕。
詒厥孫謀、以燕翼子。
武王烝哉。

By the Feng-water grows the white millet; -
Did not king Wu show wisdom in his employment of officers?
He would leave his plans to his descendants,
And secure comfort and support to his son.
A sovereign true was king Wu!

Re: 244. 文王有聲 - Wen Wang You Sheng

[x_los]

"There were collected [the sympathies of the people of] the four quarters," oddly phrased

"In the capital of Hao he built his hall with its circlet of water;" again with that moat

"By the Feng-water grows the white millet;" does that mean anything for us?

Re: 244. 文王有聲 - Wen Wang You Sheng

[superborb]

Baike's vernacular translates the people of the four quarters to feudal vassals interestingly. I have a suspicion that the four quarters just means 'all directions' instead of literally four directions.

So Baike says this term for the hall is the name of the palace of the Western Zhou, which I think Legge is just taking liberty in translation with??

The white millet is glossed as Chinese wolfberry shrub / willow, some say water celery. (I think it is meant to be a willow?) Fengshui means abundant water, so I think just a plentiful image?