Chinese poem illustration: 郑风 叔于田/ Zheng Wind – Junior Brother at Hunting by Anonymous
full video also available at Bilibili: 郑风 叔于田
By analysing a lord’s family, especially the importance of senior and junior brothers in a family(伯仲叔季), an arguement is raised about this poem: what exactly does this simple poem talk about? a tongue-twister of nothing important? a poem reflects real concern and favor of the time which is unfamiliar to nowaday people? An interesting history story(郑伯克段于鄢) is shared which might be related to this poem.
Traditional explanation to Shijing were developed in Han dynasty(汉朝), most poems in Shijing were related to a story in the East Zhou dynasty(东周), which finally turned out to be wrong in most cases. While King Wind(王风), Zheng Wind(郑风) and Qin Wind(秦风) were basically written during East Zhou dynasty which was well recorded by a chronicle book Zuo Zhuan (春秋左传), thus some poems could be possibly related.
The writing technique employed is amazing: hyperbole about his consciousness to a level of denying the real facts by asking rhetorical question. Is it the earlist stream of consciousness?
郑风 叔于田
佚名
叔于田，巷无居人。
岂无居人？不如叔也，洵美且仁。
叔于狩，巷无饮酒。
岂无饮酒？不如叔也，洵美且好。
叔适野，巷无服马。
岂无服马？不如叔也，洵美且武。
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