{"id":3876,"date":"2017-10-13T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3876"},"modified":"2017-10-12T09:14:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T01:14:14","slug":"anthony-madrid-on-the-shijings-thorn-vine-on-the-wall-wag-finger-like-no-no-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=3876","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Madrid on the Shijing’s “Thorn Vine on the Wall” [wag finger like no-no-no]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Writing for The Paris Review<\/em><\/a>, Anthony Madrid remembers misremembering a poem from the Shijing<\/em>, “the oldest anthology of Chinese poetry,” he explains. “The poems date back to the Zhou dynasty, which fell apart in the year 256 B.C.E. … <\/small>You\u2019ve probably actually heard of the Shijing<\/em>, just not under that name. In English, it is usually called The Book of Odes<\/i> or The Book of Songs<\/i> or The Confucian Odes<\/i> or that sort of thing. I\u2019m not fond of any of those Englishings; I think it should be translated literally: The Poetry Classic<\/i>.”<\/p>\n

Madrid offers “the original poem, with Pinyin Romanization, for those of you out there who know what to do with Pinyin Romanization,” but what he’s trying to recall is how Burton Watson translated the poem, “Burton Watson, never better, never more elegant”:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Thorn vine on the wall
\nmust not be stripped:
\nwords in the chamber
\nmust not be told.
\nWhat could be told
\nwould be the ugliest tale!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Thorn vine on the wall
\nmust not be pulled down:
\nwords in the chamber
\nmust not be recited.
\nWhat could be recited
\nwould be the longest tale!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Thorn vine on the wall
\nmust not be bundled off:
\nwords in the chamber
\nmust not be rehearsed.
\nWhat could be rehearsed
\nwould be a shameful tale!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But what he ended up reciting was, instead:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thorn vine on the wall?
\nmust not be stripped.
\nWords in the chamber \u2026 ?
\nmust not be repeated.
\n\u2019Cuz what could be repeated \u2026 ?
\nUgkh. You don\u2019t wanna know.<\/p>\n

Thorn vine on the wall?
\nmust not be taken down.
\nWords in the chamber \u2026 ?
\nShhh.<\/i> That\u2019s\u2014not for you.
\n\u2019Cuz what happened in that<\/i> chamber \u2026 ?
\n[wag finger like no-no-no]
\nUh-uh. Uh-uh<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Thorn vine on the wall?
\nmust not be fucked with.
\nWords in the chamber \u2026 uuuhhh.
\n\u2019Cuz\u2014that\u00a0<\/i>\u2026 ?
\n[waving hand in front of your nose in the Mexican manner of waving off a bad smell]
\nthat? \u2026 ooh, ugkh.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole piece (click the image above) to find out why that might be even better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing for The Paris Review, Anthony Madrid remembers misremembering a poem from the Shijing, “the oldest anthology of Chinese poetry,” he explains. “The poems date back to the Zhou dynasty, which fell apart in the year 256 B.C.E. … You\u2019ve … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1898,436],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-10w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4693,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4693","url_meta":{"origin":3876,"position":0},"title":"Announcing publication of Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"November 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Chinese Poetry and Translation: Rights and Wrongs We are pleased to announce publication of\u00a0Chinese Poetry\u00a0and Translation: Rights and Wrongs\u00a0(Amsterdam University\u00a0Press, 2019). 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