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Shi Jing Introduction Table of content – The Book of Odes

The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).

Section II — Minor odes of the kingdom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chapter 8 — Decade of Du Ren Shi

225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234

Shijing II. 8. (225)

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 by all the people.

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.

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.

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.

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 !

Legge 225

Shi Jing II. 8. (225) IntroductionTable of content
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The Book of Odes – Shi Jing II. 8. (225) – Chinese on/offFrançais/English
Alias Shijing, Shi Jing, Book of Odes, Book of Songs, Classic of Odes, Classic of Poetry, Livre des Odes, Canon des Poèmes.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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