Shih-ching: The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius

by Pound

Ezra Pound here recreates for the English-speaking world the great poetry of ancient China. The 305 odes of the Classic Anthology are the living tradition of Chinese poetry. Since the fifth century before Christ, they have been as familiar to literate Chinese as the Homeric poems were to the ancient Greeks. Indeed, Confucius held that no man was truly educated until he had studied the odes.

Genres: Poetry, China, Chinese Literature

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Jacob Hurley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pound's thesis on the Odes were that they were meant to impart concrete examples along with the benefits of musical prosody to the Confucian students; as such, this whole collection is primarily an example of trying as many different metrical rhythms as he can. Most of them are pretty awkward, with some nice ones here and there, primarily in the "War Songs" section where he lets loose his classic spondaic, alliterative style, and I suppose also in a section he felt called for boogie-woogie type lyricism. I think most of what's holding this back is Pound's translation method; not actually speaking chinese, he mostly just compared translations and then 'contempated' the ideograms that he felt were important to derive his own analysis. As such, most of them poems often resemble more word-salad sketches than coherent translations, and lack any sort of coherent voice or structure. Naturally more of interest to those wanting further examples of the ideas Pound found in Confucianism (although further examples are hardly wanting across nearly all his other works) than for anything to do with Confucianism or Chinese poetry itself.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undoubtedly genius but very difficult. Expanded my vocabulary quite a bit. Ode 65 in Songs of Wang I found spectacular, but perhaps it just excited my imagination

Black millet recks not the heavy ears of the temple grain.
Aimless slowness, heart choked with grief.
Acquaintance say: Ajh, melancholy!
Strangers say: he hunts, but why.
Let heaven's far span, azure darkness,
declare what manner of man this is.*
"Tous je connais"
Villon.

ALITER
From the commentary:
"Where once was palace now is straggling grain."

…

Straggling millet, grain heavy in ear
aimless slowness, choking in heart
my acquaintance say: How melancholy.
Strangers: What is he hunting now?
Sky never near:
"This, here, who, how?"

Other Odes I particularly enjoyed
70
165
193 - on a solar eclipse “what imprecise force swallows the sun”
255
258
265
281
305

悠悠蒼天，此何人哉

[ET · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accuracy in this "translation" would have meant a different text all together.
Though in the end the mental imaginings and serene natural vistas along with quick and paced meter truly makes a joy of this work.

I believe pound had a different method of poetic translations. Pound seems to have lived in ancient china, and somehow his ancient manuscript has survived. Poetic translations are much different then say Thomas Taylors translation of Plotinus.
The poetry has to FEEL and be SEEN while capturing the tune of the original laungage. Critics of pounds understanding of Chinese should keep this in mind.

[Andrew Jampol-Petzinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without speaking too directly to translational issues about which I am unqualified to speak, I can say nonetheless that much of Pound’s poetry evokes a more strikingly “poetic” quality in the Odes than even more stilted, if more academically correct, translations.

We speak not of Pound’s politics.

[Danny Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A constant source

[Ben Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't speak to its value as a translation of the Shih-Ching - but I found this the most enjoyable and insightful poetry I've read by Pound.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these poems years ago, and ended up flipping through them again the other night for the first time since. And they're just beautiful. Pound completely reinvented the art of poetic translation in the modern period, and this book is as good an example as any of what a genius he was as a translator. It's a deep shame that his approach has not been widely accepted, and a lot of great poems have been sodomized into bad ones as a result.

[Vladimir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russian translation by Alexey Shtukin is absolutely stunning.
The rhythm was caught delicately and saved, so the poetry keeps alive.

[Shoes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating for the culture and historical context, but not an easy read. Some poems are more accessible than others.

[Louis Cabri]

"inwit to act"

Translation by Ezra Pound