Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Hi Trojan,
I just meant that this particular line doesn't mention punishment, sin etc. It offers you the image of someone with their 'nose in the trough', as it were, and you get to apply the image in context. Which might be immersing oneself in a relationship, 'getting stuck in' to solving a problem, or something else altogether. The 'relationship' theme emerges from the relationship to 22.5, and maybe the relationship to 38 and 38.2 as well.
As for whether there's a problem with getting immersed in this way - I think having the nose disappear indicates a loss of powers of discrimination, and it's not that much of a stretch to say these are powers you'd normally use to keep yourself safe. So one might think this was misguided... if Yi didn't say, 'No mistake'.
(I forgot it'd say 'originally posted by' when quoting!)
Bites through tender meat,
So that his nose disappears.
No blame.
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style.
And so I came to see him to listen for a while.
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes.
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on ...
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair.
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there.
But he just came to singing, singing clear and strong.
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
He was strumming, oh, he was singing my song.
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
With his song ...
Dear Luis I don't understand what you are trying to convey in your last post
You have line 21,2 from Wilhelm, the lyrics to 'Killing me Softly' and then you ROFL ?
What is the connection ? You can't mean killing someone softly by eating them beginning with their nose, thats too weird even for you
Anyone know what the 'metal arrows' signify ?
Ah rewards hmm. I thought the arrows might symbolise the kinds of 'tools' or rather qualities one needs to bite through the problem ?
I did too for a long while. But I never found much practical use for a metal arrow.
On the other hand, I have heard of the metal arrow as referring to the arrowhead, left inside the game being eaten. But that makes less sense to me than the idea of a metal medal or trophy which represents an accomplishment.
Agreed. 40.2 also talks about finding a golden arrow...
From Cleary's translation of 40.2:
Catching three foxes on a hunt, finding a golden arrow, you will be lucky if upright and true.
Makes more sense as a reward than as a tool here.
I did too for a long while. But I never found much practical use for a metal arrow.
.
to be honest I can't say I've much use for a metal arrow either but I also would not value one as a trophy much. I don't know I've never given the arrow much thought before.. so you and Getojack see it as an emblem of recognition,an acknowlegment of accomplishment, hmm. Wilhelm seems to take it that one needs to 'be hard as metal and straight as an arrow to surmount the difficulties'. Karcher sees it as acquiring something of value.
This is one of those lines I've never been able to apply meaningfully in real life so I don't really get it, and interpretations seem to vary enormously.
How about this idea... finding the arrow could mean that someone else tried to kill the game animal before you did, and did not succeed. You however, succeeded, and get the meat. You also benefit from the efforts of the one who tried earlier - thus the idea of reward - something not *directly* related to one's effort, but received because of it from someone else - from another vector as it were....
Ah yes, I'm nearing the source of my confusion that I hadn't quite spelt out to myself before, bear with me as my thought wheels grind exeedingly slow hmm. Anyway some interpretations/translations describe someone biting into meat and hitting an arrow embedded in the flesh - as in above interpretation, where to others the arrow is not within the flesh of the meat at all but something external awarded or given.
I'm wondering over this because surely this would give rise to very different understanding of the line. I have generally subconsciously visualised the arrow as lodged within the meat rather than something external to it. And its something in the meat that shouldn't really still be in there - it will break your teeth and spoil the food, guess it would be like eating a plate of fish and finding a hook within it. If I look at it like this, like Rinda says, then the arrow is something to be removed, an obstacle to get out, something inadvertantly come across that isn't where it belongs. Yet most are seeing the arrow as a reward ?
Some say he 'receives' the arrow others that he 'finds' it, there seems a world of difference between 'receives' and 'finds' here to me. I don't know why but finding it in the meat is far more plausible to me - otherwise what does eating and finding arrows have to do with each other - what does biting through meat have to do with gaining rewards, one is merely getting to an obstacle to dislodge it. Finding an arrowhead in the meat makes more sense to me, haven't yet come across any interpretation I can connect with for this one.
21.5
* Six in the fifth place means:
Bites on dried lean meat.
Receives yellow gold.
Perseveringly aware of danger.
No blame.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).