Clarity,
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London.
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United Kingdom
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+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
Hi David:I'm wondering if anyone has any recommended English translations of the Book of Odes, or Shih-Ching, (also, the Classic of Poetry, Book of Songs) .... I have found two bi-lingual (Chinese/English) online versions:
https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry
http://chinesenotes.com/shijing.html
... and also a Kindle versions (for $3US). The English translations I believe are all from James Legge.
Are there any other translations / versions anyone would recommend?
Thanks, all the best ....
The english translations given there are:
Source: Virginia Univerity
- Arthur Waley. The Book of Songs: Translated by Arthur Waley, Edited with Additional Translations by Joseph R. Allen, New York: Grove Press, 1996
- ShiJing: Translated by YunZhong Xu, Edited by ShengZhang Jiang, Hunan, China: Hu Nan Chu Ban She, 1993
- William Jennings. The Shi King: The Old "Poetry Classic" of the Chinese, New York: Paragon Book, 1969
- Ezra Pound. The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius, Cambridge: Harvard U Press, 1954
- Bernhard Karlgren. The Book of Odes, Stockholm: The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1950
Thank you so much. I'll check these out. I may be able to see samples on Amazon or get them through inter-library loan, whenever my library starts doing that again.My favourite translation of the Book of Odes would be Stephen Owen's .... I go back and forth between Pound and Waley ... these are my main go-tos. The old translation by Jenning is hit and miss ... and I don't really like the new bilingual version by Ha Poong Kim
Thank you so much. I'll check these out. I may be able to see samples on Amazon or get them through inter-library loan, whenever my library starts doing that again.
As to the ones you mention, do you have a sense of which might lean more towards translation, versus interpretation? A pretty broad and perhaps non-specific destinction I realize. But by way of example, I assume that Pound's version would be more poetic and perhaps less a 'pure' translation?
Again, thanks. All the best ....
PS - I found a PDF version of Karlgren's so I have a good place to start I think.
Again, thanks all. I have a PDF of the Karlgren version and I have looked at the UofV online version based on Legge's translation.
However, I'm still wondering ....
Looking at an example from Rutt's Zhouyi (p300) we have
(in almost the last lines of Ode 168):
'we have brought prisioners for questioning, caugth the chieftans'
From the UofV website we have (Legge):
'With our prisoners for the question and our captive crowd,We return.'
And from Karlgren:
'we have seized prisioners for the question and caught a crowd. And now we return home.'
So, I'm wondering if the translation in Rutt is familiar to anyone, and if so which translation is it from?
***
As an aside, in the translation in Rutt, I could interpret this to mean that enemy prisoners and their chieftan's were brought in for interogation - e.g. to find out what they know about the enemy's troop strenght, movements, plans ....
And looking at the other two translations I could also interpret these to mean: as part of the divination ritual surrounding a 'question' (singular) that's been asked, enemy prisoners were captured - perhaps to be part of a ritual sacrifice (mass murder), but they were not being brought in to find out what they know.
However, since Rutt refers to this line in his notes about Hex. 7 - troops, but at the same time the Odes do not (as far as I know) mention which particular types of divination are being used - it sseems that both meanings might work: either as war-time interogation, or as a ritual sacrifice to ensure success, perhaps done as part of oracle bone, or Zhouyi, or another type of divination.
all the best ...
No, I don't mean this expression, or any particular expression. (But perhaps I misled people by my 'as an aside' comments, which were not the main point of what I was asking about). So, I'll try again:I think you mean the expression: "執訊獲醜".
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).