EAST 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Chinese Poetry, Mount Tai, Simile
15 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Music and Poetry
Question: Do you think music and poetry have the ability to transform people? Why
or why not?
Connection with feelings and expressive quality of poetry
-
2 of the Main Functions of Chinese poetry:
Understandings each other, forming connections/bonds
○
Getting help; bringing problems of society out into the world
○
-
Music
Music/poetry completely transform the individual and society. One of the ways
they governed the people in the realm in order to bring things into order
-
Four instruments of government:
Rites, Music, Law, Punishments
Laws and punishment were last results
§
Teaching rites and music were more effective in forming an orderly
society
§
○
-
Music: poetry, song, dance
Conceptions of music were broad
○
-
Music and morality:
Music is both the sign of and cause of morality (bring about moral
transformation in people/society)
○
-
Music harmony = social harmony
-
Music
As sign of morality and government:
The affections are moved within and take on form in sound. When these sounds have
patterning, they are called “tones.” The tones of a well managed state are at rest and
happy: its government is balanced. The tones of an age of turmoil are bitter and full of
anger: its government is perverse. The tones of a ruined state are filled with lament
and brooding: its people are in difficulty. The way of sounds and tones communicates
with [the quality of] government.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68 (see also p.
65)
Listen of music from different states to judge character
-
Based on emotion, understand people/desires to deduce moral character
-
Music
Psychological interpretation of music
Music comes from mental/emotional state. You can understand
someone's inner mental state/character through music
○
-
Correlation between internal and external
Internal and external naturally resonate with each other (think of
correlative thought from last lecture)
○
-
Music originates from tone. Its root lies in the human mind’s being stirred by external
things. Thus when a mind that is miserable is stirred, its sound is vexed and anxious.
When a mind that is happy is stirred, its sound is relaxed and leisurely. When a
wrathful mind is stirred, its sound is crude and harsh. When a respectful mind is
stirred...etc., etc.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Stirred by things --> resonate with things happen externally. This comes out
through music
-
As cause of morality:
“...We have music to bring those sounds into harmony...Rites, music, government,
and punishment are ultimately one and the same—as a means to unify people’s
minds and correctly execute the way.”
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Music as tool of rulers to create virtue and harmony in society
-
Music and causation
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Musical analogy
○
Organic model
○
-
Perfect music and perfect people in the state/rulers
-
Music Micro-macro harmony:
“The supreme music shares the harmony of Heaven and Earth”
Supreme music correlates with cosmos themselves
○
If you perfect music, you don't need laws and punishment
○
Bring ultimate era of peace through production and creation of music.
Need to learn, perform and internalize music to become one with
supreme music. Will bring transformation of character
○
-
“To bow and yield yet govern the world is the true meaning of rites and music.
There is no oppression of the people; the great nobility submit; armor is not
worn; the five punishments are not used; no calamity befalls the masses; the
Son of Heaven feels no wrath—when things are thus, music has been
perfected.”
-
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 70
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Music in the Confucian Analects
Confucius: concerned with ritual/music so that people know how to act in
society and how to get along
-
The Master said, “A man who is not Good—what has he to do with ritual? A
man who is not Good, what has he to do with music? (3.3)
-
The Master said, “Find inspiration in the Odes [Classic of Poetry], take your
place through ritual, and achieve perfection with music” (8.8)
-
Instruments of government→Instruments of self-cultivation
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
Poetry as music; music has greater expressive potential
-
Poetry is where intention goes. Within the mind, it is intention, issued forth in
words, it is poetry. Feelings are stirred within. Their external form is in words.
When words are not enough, feelings are expressed with exclamations. When
exclamations are not enough, feelings are extended in song. When extending in
song is not enough, feelings are expressed unconsciously with dancing hands
and bouncing feet.
-
“Great Preface”, trans. DeWoskin, 20. See Owen reading, p. 65.
-
Summary:
Connection between musical harmony and social harmony. If you play music
that resonates, you can bring people into accord with the cosmos
-
Music becomes more and more important over time. Music, at the beginning,
was privileged as transforming society/the world. Over time, poetry becomes
more and more important
-
Poetry
Shijing 詩經 [Book/Classic of Poetry/Odes/Songs]
-
Zhou dynasty: 11th to 7th C. BCE
-
one of 5 Confucian Classics
-
folk songs and state ceremonial songs
-
songs about ordinary life, agriculture
-
erotic songs on courtship, love
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
Airs (feng 風): Theories and Reception
Origin legend: authentic folk songs
-
Traditional interpretation: moral significance
Take folk songs that are not necessarily moralistic but assume they have
moral power; construct modern meanings out of the songs
○
-
Modern interpretations:
20th C. Communist/Nationalist
Reject traditional past of China and Confucianism; liked Shijing
because they though that they were the 'voice of the people'; also
the poetry seemed secular
§
○
Current scholarship: folk songs or court songs?
Question the notion that they are folk songs; became performed
and revised in a court (re-written and changed)
§
○
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
"In the wilds, there is a dead doe.
In white rushes it is wrapped.
There was a girl longing for spring
A fine gentleman seduced her.
"In the woods there are tree stumps;
In the wilds lies a dead deer,
Wrapped and bound with white rushes.
There was a girl fair as jade.
“Ah, not so hasty, not so rough!
Do not move my girdle-kerchief;
Do not make the dog bark!”
Discussion questions:
What do you think is the relationship between the imagery (dead doe, white
rushes, etc.) and the theme of the poem?
-
Do you think the poem teaches some kind of lesson or moral?
Telling women not to rush into love. Spring represents the time where
people fall in love.
○
Theme: loss of innocence (represented by the dead doe)
White rushes represent innocence
§
○
Relationship between the imagery of the poem and the meaning is open-
ended; ambiguous
-
Original meaning: white refers to mourning rights and loss of filial piety
Moral interpretation comes from a later period
○
-
*theme is never clearly defined. They have resonance but how they are understood is
open to interpretation
Bi-xing imagery
Imagery in the Shijing: Bi 比: “comparison”
Xing 興: “affective image”
○
Bi-xing imagery
○
-
*not separate things, but they are also different
Bi 比: “comparison”
“like” Western simile...but...
-
implicit, not explicit
Ex implicit relationship between dead doe and innocence
○
Because of these ambiguities, you get these moral interpretations as the
interpretations of the poems
○
-
Xing 興: “affective image”
literal meaning: to stir, to inspire
Creates emotional response; association of ideas
○
Doesn't define or articulate an idea; it inspires/stirs feeling
○
Notion of sympathetic resonance here
○
-
"affective”: moods, feelings
-
Stimulus and response model of writing
-
“Guanju” (Fishhawk) 關雎
*first poem in the book of songs; as the first poem, it is read with the greatest
significance
The fishhawks sing gwan gwan
on sandbars of the stream.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
fit pair for a prince.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we gather it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
wanted waking and asleep.
Wanting, sought her, had her not,
waking, sleeping, thought of her,
on and on he thought of her,
he tossed from one side to another.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pull it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with harps we bring her company.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pick it out.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with bells and drums do her delight.
-Owen, p. 29
Discussion questions:
Relationship between the imagery and the theme?
Context of love between a man and a woman; love as part of the natural
world; natural world as resilient, while human emotions change
○
Love: choosing a lover/maiden
○
-
Moral lesson?
Lesson about treating a woman kindly and convincing her to be with you
(seducing her) --> treating someone with respect in a relationship
○
-
Prof's Interpretation
Often seen as a poem not related so much to seduction but to marriage and
finding a match for the prince. Problem in poems: matching men and women
together, sometimes it symbolizes romantic love but often it doesn't/ in the
poem, a men love a women and finds a way to win her over with music
-
Watercress has to do with picking and choosing. Watercress come in different
sizes which shows the variation and choices in choosing a bride
-
Fishhawks: singing, emotional response. Couple, stay together
-
Moral lesson? Not obvious. Could be something about respect and treating
women with respect during the process of choosing
-
Emotional tone:
Happiness/joy about love and ideas of fertility (included in traditional
ideas of marriage and mating)
○
Longing?
○
-
“Fishhawk”
Confucius:
-
“In the [guanzhu, “Fishhawk”], there is joy without wantonness, and sorrow
without self-injury”
-
Confucius commented on this poem and recommends it for longing
Joy without lewdness/self-indulgence.
Confucius: concerned with decorum; having emotions confined
within a proper moral context
§
○
Notion of longing: may not be talking about poem, but about the
emotional expression of the music rather than the words itself
○
-
Analects 3.20, trans. D.C. Lau
-
*because Confucius talked about it, interpreting it is more important
“Fishhawk”
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
The “Great Preface”:
“Fishhawk” is the virtue of the Queen Consort and the beginning of the “Airs.” It
is the means by which the world is influenced and by which the relations
between husband and wife are made correct...By influence it stirs them; by
teaching it transforms them (trans. Owen, pp. 65-66)
Read in way about relations between husband and wife. How social
relationship naturally resonates and has positive effects on other
relationships in society
○
Queen is not jealous when the King selects concubines (has desire for
other women): supposed to be indicative of her moral virtue
Gender roles and discrimination; passiveness of women
§
Poem doesn't actually say anything about the King/Queen but this
becomes an orthodox interpretation because every poem is
supposed to have a moral meanings
§
○
-
-
"Fishhawk"
feng 風: wind, “Airs”
Poems are supposed to have a force that isn't a physical force
○
-
Confucius:
The Virtue of the gentleman is like the wind, and the Virtue of a petty
person is like the grass—when the wind moves over the grass, the grass is
sure to bend.” (12.19)
○
Confucius didn't believe in punishment, but transformation. Idea that
through these poems, airs will blow over people and they will transform
○
-
The “Great Preface”:
Thus to correctly present achievements and failures, to move Heaven and
Earth, to stir the gods and spirits, there is nothing more appropriate than
poetry.
○
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
Reading the poet: Authentic Voice
Historical person expresses moral concern/interests
○
-
In the case of composing literature, the emotions are stirred and the words come
forth; but in the case of reading, one opens the literary text and enters the emotions
[of the writer], goes up against the waves to find the source; and though it be [at first]
hidden, it will certainly become manifest. None may see the actual faces of a faraway
age, but by viewing their writing, one may immediately see their hearts/minds
Wenxin diaolong, trans. Owen, “Transparencies,” 59
-
Ideal of literature where you have access to sages wrote in the past/any ideal
figure that left poetry; can access their mind and moral character. Idea of having
a true friend
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the sounds.”
Have to be a cultivated person and develop connection with author to
know what is in their heart and mind. What is in their heart and mind is
beyond words; can be understood more through emotion
○
-
Bo Ya was a good lute player and Zhong Ziqi was a good listener. Bo Ya strummed his
lute, with his mind on climbing high mountains; and Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Lofty like
Mount Tai!” When his mind was on flowing waters, Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Boundless
like the Yellow River and the Yangtze!” Whatever came into Bo Ya’s thoughts, Zhong
Ziqi always grasped it.
- Adapted from A.C. Graham, The Book of Lieh-tzu, 109-110
- See also Stephen Owen, “The One Who Knows the Tone”
Characters don't need to talk to each other; they know each other so well, they
have immediate access to each others minds
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
Zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the tone”
ideal reader
True friend is what the reader should be
○
-
wordless communication within words
-
Cultivated person
Any cultivated person should an ideal reader
○
Learn poetry/music to understand the authors
○
-
Poetry
Poetry and literary culture
elite society (men and women)
Poetry was a central social activity for the elite
○
From Zhou to mid 20th century?
○
Needed to be educated, know poetic vocabulary and be able to write
○
Social context of exchange: you write poetry to connect with other people
○
Elite society usually meant men and men wrote poetry (usually the ones
in the public sphere)
○
-
political criticism
-
civil service examination
Poetry as part of civil service examination
○
You had to take this exam to be an official/be admitted into the
bureaucracy
○
Wanted to test if you were a moral person or not
○
-
4: Music and Poetry
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
12:59 AM
Music and Poetry
Question: Do you think music and poetry have the ability to transform people? Why
or why not?
Connection with feelings and expressive quality of poetry
-
2 of the Main Functions of Chinese poetry:
Understandings each other, forming connections/bonds
○
Getting help; bringing problems of society out into the world
○
-
Music
Music/poetry completely transform the individual and society. One of the ways
they governed the people in the realm in order to bring things into order
-
Four instruments of government:
Rites, Music, Law, Punishments
Laws and punishment were last results
§
Teaching rites and music were more effective in forming an orderly
society
§
○
-
Music: poetry, song, dance
Conceptions of music were broad
○
-
Music and morality:
Music is both the sign of and cause of morality (bring about moral
transformation in people/society)
○
-
Music harmony = social harmony
-
Music
As sign of morality and government:
The affections are moved within and take on form in sound. When these sounds have
patterning, they are called “tones.” The tones of a well managed state are at rest and
happy: its government is balanced. The tones of an age of turmoil are bitter and full of
anger: its government is perverse. The tones of a ruined state are filled with lament
and brooding: its people are in difficulty. The way of sounds and tones communicates
with [the quality of] government.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68 (see also p.
65)
Listen of music from different states to judge character
-
Based on emotion, understand people/desires to deduce moral character
-
Music
Psychological interpretation of music
Music comes from mental/emotional state. You can understand
someone's inner mental state/character through music
○
-
Correlation between internal and external
Internal and external naturally resonate with each other (think of
correlative thought from last lecture)
○
-
Music originates from tone. Its root lies in the human mind’s being stirred by external
things. Thus when a mind that is miserable is stirred, its sound is vexed and anxious.
When a mind that is happy is stirred, its sound is relaxed and leisurely. When a
wrathful mind is stirred, its sound is crude and harsh. When a respectful mind is
stirred...etc., etc.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Stirred by things --> resonate with things happen externally. This comes out
through music
-
As cause of morality:
“...We have music to bring those sounds into harmony...Rites, music, government,
and punishment are ultimately one and the same—as a means to unify people’s
minds and correctly execute the way.”
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Music as tool of rulers to create virtue and harmony in society
-
Music and causation
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Musical analogy
○
Organic model
○
-
Perfect music and perfect people in the state/rulers
-
Music Micro-macro harmony:
“The supreme music shares the harmony of Heaven and Earth”
Supreme music correlates with cosmos themselves
○
If you perfect music, you don't need laws and punishment
○
Bring ultimate era of peace through production and creation of music.
Need to learn, perform and internalize music to become one with
supreme music. Will bring transformation of character
○
-
“To bow and yield yet govern the world is the true meaning of rites and music.
There is no oppression of the people; the great nobility submit; armor is not
worn; the five punishments are not used; no calamity befalls the masses; the
Son of Heaven feels no wrath—when things are thus, music has been
perfected.”
-
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 70
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Music in the Confucian Analects
Confucius: concerned with ritual/music so that people know how to act in
society and how to get along
-
The Master said, “A man who is not Good—what has he to do with ritual? A
man who is not Good, what has he to do with music? (3.3)
-
The Master said, “Find inspiration in the Odes [Classic of Poetry], take your
place through ritual, and achieve perfection with music” (8.8)
-
Instruments of government→Instruments of self-cultivation
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
Poetry as music; music has greater expressive potential
-
Poetry is where intention goes. Within the mind, it is intention, issued forth in
words, it is poetry. Feelings are stirred within. Their external form is in words.
When words are not enough, feelings are expressed with exclamations. When
exclamations are not enough, feelings are extended in song. When extending in
song is not enough, feelings are expressed unconsciously with dancing hands
and bouncing feet.
-
“Great Preface”, trans. DeWoskin, 20. See Owen reading, p. 65.
-
Summary:
Connection between musical harmony and social harmony. If you play music
that resonates, you can bring people into accord with the cosmos
-
Music becomes more and more important over time. Music, at the beginning,
was privileged as transforming society/the world. Over time, poetry becomes
more and more important
-
Poetry
Shijing 詩經 [Book/Classic of Poetry/Odes/Songs]
-
Zhou dynasty: 11th to 7th C. BCE
-
one of 5 Confucian Classics
-
folk songs and state ceremonial songs
-
songs about ordinary life, agriculture
-
erotic songs on courtship, love
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
Airs (feng 風): Theories and Reception
Origin legend: authentic folk songs
-
Traditional interpretation: moral significance
Take folk songs that are not necessarily moralistic but assume they have
moral power; construct modern meanings out of the songs
○
-
Modern interpretations:
20th C. Communist/Nationalist
Reject traditional past of China and Confucianism; liked Shijing
because they though that they were the 'voice of the people'; also
the poetry seemed secular
§
○
Current scholarship: folk songs or court songs?
Question the notion that they are folk songs; became performed
and revised in a court (re-written and changed)
§
○
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
"In the wilds, there is a dead doe.
In white rushes it is wrapped.
There was a girl longing for spring
A fine gentleman seduced her.
"In the woods there are tree stumps;
In the wilds lies a dead deer,
Wrapped and bound with white rushes.
There was a girl fair as jade.
“Ah, not so hasty, not so rough!
Do not move my girdle-kerchief;
Do not make the dog bark!”
Discussion questions:
What do you think is the relationship between the imagery (dead doe, white
rushes, etc.) and the theme of the poem?
-
Do you think the poem teaches some kind of lesson or moral?
Telling women not to rush into love. Spring represents the time where
people fall in love.
○
Theme: loss of innocence (represented by the dead doe)
White rushes represent innocence
§
○
Relationship between the imagery of the poem and the meaning is open-
ended; ambiguous
-
Original meaning: white refers to mourning rights and loss of filial piety
Moral interpretation comes from a later period
○
-
*theme is never clearly defined. They have resonance but how they are understood is
open to interpretation
Bi-xing imagery
Imagery in the Shijing: Bi 比: “comparison”
Xing 興: “affective image”
○
Bi-xing imagery
○
-
*not separate things, but they are also different
Bi 比: “comparison”
“like” Western simile...but...
-
implicit, not explicit
Ex implicit relationship between dead doe and innocence
○
Because of these ambiguities, you get these moral interpretations as the
interpretations of the poems
○
-
Xing 興: “affective image”
literal meaning: to stir, to inspire
Creates emotional response; association of ideas
○
Doesn't define or articulate an idea; it inspires/stirs feeling
○
Notion of sympathetic resonance here
○
-
"affective”: moods, feelings
-
Stimulus and response model of writing
-
“Guanju” (Fishhawk) 關雎
*first poem in the book of songs; as the first poem, it is read with the greatest
significance
The fishhawks sing gwan gwan
on sandbars of the stream.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
fit pair for a prince.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we gather it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
wanted waking and asleep.
Wanting, sought her, had her not,
waking, sleeping, thought of her,
on and on he thought of her,
he tossed from one side to another.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pull it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with harps we bring her company.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pick it out.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with bells and drums do her delight.
-Owen, p. 29
Discussion questions:
Relationship between the imagery and the theme?
Context of love between a man and a woman; love as part of the natural
world; natural world as resilient, while human emotions change
○
Love: choosing a lover/maiden
○
-
Moral lesson?
Lesson about treating a woman kindly and convincing her to be with you
(seducing her) --> treating someone with respect in a relationship
○
-
Prof's Interpretation
Often seen as a poem not related so much to seduction but to marriage and
finding a match for the prince. Problem in poems: matching men and women
together, sometimes it symbolizes romantic love but often it doesn't/ in the
poem, a men love a women and finds a way to win her over with music
-
Watercress has to do with picking and choosing. Watercress come in different
sizes which shows the variation and choices in choosing a bride
-
Fishhawks: singing, emotional response. Couple, stay together
-
Moral lesson? Not obvious. Could be something about respect and treating
women with respect during the process of choosing
-
Emotional tone:
Happiness/joy about love and ideas of fertility (included in traditional
ideas of marriage and mating)
○
Longing?
○
-
“Fishhawk”
Confucius:
-
“In the [guanzhu, “Fishhawk”], there is joy without wantonness, and sorrow
without self-injury”
-
Confucius commented on this poem and recommends it for longing
Joy without lewdness/self-indulgence.
Confucius: concerned with decorum; having emotions confined
within a proper moral context
§
○
Notion of longing: may not be talking about poem, but about the
emotional expression of the music rather than the words itself
○
-
Analects 3.20, trans. D.C. Lau
-
*because Confucius talked about it, interpreting it is more important
“Fishhawk”
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
The “Great Preface”:
“Fishhawk” is the virtue of the Queen Consort and the beginning of the “Airs.” It
is the means by which the world is influenced and by which the relations
between husband and wife are made correct...By influence it stirs them; by
teaching it transforms them (trans. Owen, pp. 65-66)
Read in way about relations between husband and wife. How social
relationship naturally resonates and has positive effects on other
relationships in society
○
Queen is not jealous when the King selects concubines (has desire for
other women): supposed to be indicative of her moral virtue
Gender roles and discrimination; passiveness of women
§
Poem doesn't actually say anything about the King/Queen but this
becomes an orthodox interpretation because every poem is
supposed to have a moral meanings
§
○
-
-
"Fishhawk"
feng 風: wind, “Airs”
Poems are supposed to have a force that isn't a physical force
○
-
Confucius:
The Virtue of the gentleman is like the wind, and the Virtue of a petty
person is like the grass—when the wind moves over the grass, the grass is
sure to bend.” (12.19)
○
Confucius didn't believe in punishment, but transformation. Idea that
through these poems, airs will blow over people and they will transform
○
-
The “Great Preface”:
Thus to correctly present achievements and failures, to move Heaven and
Earth, to stir the gods and spirits, there is nothing more appropriate than
poetry.
○
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
Reading the poet: Authentic Voice
Historical person expresses moral concern/interests
○
-
In the case of composing literature, the emotions are stirred and the words come
forth; but in the case of reading, one opens the literary text and enters the emotions
[of the writer], goes up against the waves to find the source; and though it be [at first]
hidden, it will certainly become manifest. None may see the actual faces of a faraway
age, but by viewing their writing, one may immediately see their hearts/minds
Wenxin diaolong, trans. Owen, “Transparencies,” 59
-
Ideal of literature where you have access to sages wrote in the past/any ideal
figure that left poetry; can access their mind and moral character. Idea of having
a true friend
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the sounds.”
Have to be a cultivated person and develop connection with author to
know what is in their heart and mind. What is in their heart and mind is
beyond words; can be understood more through emotion
○
-
Bo Ya was a good lute player and Zhong Ziqi was a good listener. Bo Ya strummed his
lute, with his mind on climbing high mountains; and Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Lofty like
Mount Tai!” When his mind was on flowing waters, Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Boundless
like the Yellow River and the Yangtze!” Whatever came into Bo Ya’s thoughts, Zhong
Ziqi always grasped it.
- Adapted from A.C. Graham, The Book of Lieh-tzu, 109-110
- See also Stephen Owen, “The One Who Knows the Tone”
Characters don't need to talk to each other; they know each other so well, they
have immediate access to each others minds
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
Zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the tone”
ideal reader
True friend is what the reader should be
○
-
wordless communication within words
-
Cultivated person
Any cultivated person should an ideal reader
○
Learn poetry/music to understand the authors
○
-
Poetry
Poetry and literary culture
elite society (men and women)
Poetry was a central social activity for the elite
○
From Zhou to mid 20th century?
○
Needed to be educated, know poetic vocabulary and be able to write
○
Social context of exchange: you write poetry to connect with other people
○
Elite society usually meant men and men wrote poetry (usually the ones
in the public sphere)
○
-
political criticism
-
civil service examination
Poetry as part of civil service examination
○
You had to take this exam to be an official/be admitted into the
bureaucracy
○
Wanted to test if you were a moral person or not
○
-
4: Music and Poetry
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 12:59 AM
Music and Poetry
Question: Do you think music and poetry have the ability to transform people? Why
or why not?
Connection with feelings and expressive quality of poetry
-
2 of the Main Functions of Chinese poetry:
Understandings each other, forming connections/bonds
○
Getting help; bringing problems of society out into the world
○
-
Music
Music/poetry completely transform the individual and society. One of the ways
they governed the people in the realm in order to bring things into order
-
Four instruments of government:
Rites, Music, Law, Punishments
Laws and punishment were last results
§
Teaching rites and music were more effective in forming an orderly
society
§
○
-
Music: poetry, song, dance
Conceptions of music were broad
○
-
Music and morality:
Music is both the sign of and cause of morality (bring about moral
transformation in people/society)
○
-
Music harmony = social harmony
-
Music
As sign of morality and government:
The affections are moved within and take on form in sound. When these sounds have
patterning, they are called “tones.” The tones of a well managed state are at rest and
happy: its government is balanced. The tones of an age of turmoil are bitter and full of
anger: its government is perverse. The tones of a ruined state are filled with lament
and brooding: its people are in difficulty. The way of sounds and tones communicates
with [the quality of] government.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68 (see also p.
65)
Listen of music from different states to judge character
-
Based on emotion, understand people/desires to deduce moral character
-
Music
Psychological interpretation of music
Music comes from mental/emotional state. You can understand
someone's inner mental state/character through music
○
-
Correlation between internal and external
Internal and external naturally resonate with each other (think of
correlative thought from last lecture)
○
-
Music originates from tone. Its root lies in the human mind’s being stirred by external
things. Thus when a mind that is miserable is stirred, its sound is vexed and anxious.
When a mind that is happy is stirred, its sound is relaxed and leisurely. When a
wrathful mind is stirred, its sound is crude and harsh. When a respectful mind is
stirred...etc., etc.
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Stirred by things --> resonate with things happen externally. This comes out
through music
-
As cause of morality:
“...We have music to bring those sounds into harmony...Rites, music, government,
and punishment are ultimately one and the same—as a means to unify people’s
minds and correctly execute the way.”
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 68
Music as tool of rulers to create virtue and harmony in society
-
Music and causation
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Musical analogy
○
Organic model
○
-
Perfect music and perfect people in the state/rulers
-
Music Micro-macro harmony:
“The supreme music shares the harmony of Heaven and Earth”
Supreme music correlates with cosmos themselves
○
If you perfect music, you don't need laws and punishment
○
Bring ultimate era of peace through production and creation of music.
Need to learn, perform and internalize music to become one with
supreme music. Will bring transformation of character
○
-
“To bow and yield yet govern the world is the true meaning of rites and music.
There is no oppression of the people; the great nobility submit; armor is not
worn; the five punishments are not used; no calamity befalls the masses; the
Son of Heaven feels no wrath—when things are thus, music has been
perfected.”
-
From the “Record of Music” (Yueji) in the Book of Rites, trans. Owen, p. 70
“Sympathetic resonance” (ganying 感應)
Music in the Confucian Analects
Confucius: concerned with ritual/music so that people know how to act in
society and how to get along
-
The Master said, “A man who is not Good—what has he to do with ritual? A
man who is not Good, what has he to do with music? (3.3)
-
The Master said, “Find inspiration in the Odes [Classic of Poetry], take your
place through ritual, and achieve perfection with music” (8.8)
-
Instruments of government→Instruments of self-cultivation
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
Poetry as music; music has greater expressive potential
-
Poetry is where intention goes. Within the mind, it is intention, issued forth in
words, it is poetry. Feelings are stirred within. Their external form is in words.
When words are not enough, feelings are expressed with exclamations. When
exclamations are not enough, feelings are extended in song. When extending in
song is not enough, feelings are expressed unconsciously with dancing hands
and bouncing feet.
-
“Great Preface”, trans. DeWoskin, 20. See Owen reading, p. 65.
-
Summary:
Connection between musical harmony and social harmony. If you play music
that resonates, you can bring people into accord with the cosmos
-
Music becomes more and more important over time. Music, at the beginning,
was privileged as transforming society/the world. Over time, poetry becomes
more and more important
-
Poetry
Shijing 詩經 [Book/Classic of Poetry/Odes/Songs]
-
Zhou dynasty: 11th to 7th C. BCE
-
one of 5 Confucian Classics
-
folk songs and state ceremonial songs
-
songs about ordinary life, agriculture
-
erotic songs on courtship, love
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
Airs (feng 風): Theories and Reception
Origin legend: authentic folk songs
-
Traditional interpretation: moral significance
Take folk songs that are not necessarily moralistic but assume they have
moral power; construct modern meanings out of the songs
○
-
Modern interpretations:
20th C. Communist/Nationalist
Reject traditional past of China and Confucianism; liked Shijing
because they though that they were the 'voice of the people'; also
the poetry seemed secular
§
○
Current scholarship: folk songs or court songs?
Question the notion that they are folk songs; became performed
and revised in a court (re-written and changed)
§
○
-
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs)
"In the wilds, there is a dead doe.
In white rushes it is wrapped.
There was a girl longing for spring
A fine gentleman seduced her.
"In the woods there are tree stumps;
In the wilds lies a dead deer,
Wrapped and bound with white rushes.
There was a girl fair as jade.
“Ah, not so hasty, not so rough!
Do not move my girdle-kerchief;
Do not make the dog bark!”
Discussion questions:
What do you think is the relationship between the imagery (dead doe, white
rushes, etc.) and the theme of the poem?
-
Do you think the poem teaches some kind of lesson or moral?
Telling women not to rush into love. Spring represents the time where
people fall in love.
○
Theme: loss of innocence (represented by the dead doe)
White rushes represent innocence
§
○
Relationship between the imagery of the poem and the meaning is open-
ended; ambiguous
-
Original meaning: white refers to mourning rights and loss of filial piety
Moral interpretation comes from a later period
○
-
*theme is never clearly defined. They have resonance but how they are understood is
open to interpretation
Bi-xing imagery
Imagery in the Shijing: Bi 比: “comparison”
Xing 興: “affective image”
○
Bi-xing imagery
○
-
*not separate things, but they are also different
Bi 比: “comparison”
“like” Western simile...but...
-
implicit, not explicit
Ex implicit relationship between dead doe and innocence
○
Because of these ambiguities, you get these moral interpretations as the
interpretations of the poems
○
-
Xing 興: “affective image”
literal meaning: to stir, to inspire
Creates emotional response; association of ideas
○
Doesn't define or articulate an idea; it inspires/stirs feeling
○
Notion of sympathetic resonance here
○
-
"affective”: moods, feelings
-
Stimulus and response model of writing
-
“Guanju” (Fishhawk) 關雎
*first poem in the book of songs; as the first poem, it is read with the greatest
significance
The fishhawks sing gwan gwan
on sandbars of the stream.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
fit pair for a prince.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we gather it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
wanted waking and asleep.
Wanting, sought her, had her not,
waking, sleeping, thought of her,
on and on he thought of her,
he tossed from one side to another.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pull it.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with harps we bring her company.
Watercress grows here and there,
right and left we pick it out.
Gentle maiden, pure and fair,
with bells and drums do her delight.
-Owen, p. 29
Discussion questions:
Relationship between the imagery and the theme?
Context of love between a man and a woman; love as part of the natural
world; natural world as resilient, while human emotions change
○
Love: choosing a lover/maiden
○
-
Moral lesson?
Lesson about treating a woman kindly and convincing her to be with you
(seducing her) --> treating someone with respect in a relationship
○
-
Prof's Interpretation
Often seen as a poem not related so much to seduction but to marriage and
finding a match for the prince. Problem in poems: matching men and women
together, sometimes it symbolizes romantic love but often it doesn't/ in the
poem, a men love a women and finds a way to win her over with music
-
Watercress has to do with picking and choosing. Watercress come in different
sizes which shows the variation and choices in choosing a bride
-
Fishhawks: singing, emotional response. Couple, stay together
-
Moral lesson? Not obvious. Could be something about respect and treating
women with respect during the process of choosing
-
Emotional tone:
Happiness/joy about love and ideas of fertility (included in traditional
ideas of marriage and mating)
○
Longing?
○
-
“Fishhawk”
Confucius:
-
“In the [guanzhu, “Fishhawk”], there is joy without wantonness, and sorrow
without self-injury”
-
Confucius commented on this poem and recommends it for longing
Joy without lewdness/self-indulgence.
Confucius: concerned with decorum; having emotions confined
within a proper moral context
§
○
Notion of longing: may not be talking about poem, but about the
emotional expression of the music rather than the words itself
○
-
Analects 3.20, trans. D.C. Lau
-
*because Confucius talked about it, interpreting it is more important
“Fishhawk”
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
The “Great Preface”:
“Fishhawk” is the virtue of the Queen Consort and the beginning of the “Airs.” It
is the means by which the world is influenced and by which the relations
between husband and wife are made correct...By influence it stirs them; by
teaching it transforms them (trans. Owen, pp. 65-66)
Read in way about relations between husband and wife. How social
relationship naturally resonates and has positive effects on other
relationships in society
○
Queen is not jealous when the King selects concubines (has desire for
other women): supposed to be indicative of her moral virtue
Gender roles and discrimination; passiveness of women
§
Poem doesn't actually say anything about the King/Queen but this
becomes an orthodox interpretation because every poem is
supposed to have a moral meanings
§
○
-
-
"Fishhawk"
feng 風: wind, “Airs”
Poems are supposed to have a force that isn't a physical force
○
-
Confucius:
The Virtue of the gentleman is like the wind, and the Virtue of a petty
person is like the grass—when the wind moves over the grass, the grass is
sure to bend.” (12.19)
○
Confucius didn't believe in punishment, but transformation. Idea that
through these poems, airs will blow over people and they will transform
○
-
The “Great Preface”:
Thus to correctly present achievements and failures, to move Heaven and
Earth, to stir the gods and spirits, there is nothing more appropriate than
poetry.
○
-
Poetry
“Poetry expresses intent” 詩言志
-
Reading the poet: Authentic Voice
Historical person expresses moral concern/interests
○
-
In the case of composing literature, the emotions are stirred and the words come
forth; but in the case of reading, one opens the literary text and enters the emotions
[of the writer], goes up against the waves to find the source; and though it be [at first]
hidden, it will certainly become manifest. None may see the actual faces of a faraway
age, but by viewing their writing, one may immediately see their hearts/minds
Wenxin diaolong, trans. Owen, “Transparencies,” 59
-
Ideal of literature where you have access to sages wrote in the past/any ideal
figure that left poetry; can access their mind and moral character. Idea of having
a true friend
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the sounds.”
Have to be a cultivated person and develop connection with author to
know what is in their heart and mind. What is in their heart and mind is
beyond words; can be understood more through emotion
○
-
Bo Ya was a good lute player and Zhong Ziqi was a good listener. Bo Ya strummed his
lute, with his mind on climbing high mountains; and Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Lofty like
Mount Tai!” When his mind was on flowing waters, Zhong Ziqi said: “Good! Boundless
like the Yellow River and the Yangtze!” Whatever came into Bo Ya’s thoughts, Zhong
Ziqi always grasped it.
- Adapted from A.C. Graham, The Book of Lieh-tzu, 109-110
- See also Stephen Owen, “The One Who Knows the Tone”
Characters don't need to talk to each other; they know each other so well, they
have immediate access to each others minds
-
Ideal of the “True Friend”
Zhiyin 知音, or true friend—literally, one who “knows the tone”
ideal reader
True friend is what the reader should be
○
-
wordless communication within words
-
Cultivated person
Any cultivated person should an ideal reader
○
Learn poetry/music to understand the authors
○
-
Poetry
Poetry and literary culture
elite society (men and women)
Poetry was a central social activity for the elite
○
From Zhou to mid 20th century?
○
Needed to be educated, know poetic vocabulary and be able to write
○
Social context of exchange: you write poetry to connect with other people
○
Elite society usually meant men and men wrote poetry (usually the ones
in the public sphere)
○
-
political criticism
-
civil service examination
Poetry as part of civil service examination
○
You had to take this exam to be an official/be admitted into the
bureaucracy
○
Wanted to test if you were a moral person or not
○
-
4: Music and Poetry
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 12:59 AM
Document Summary
Connection with feelings and expressive quality of poetry. 2 of the main functions of chinese poetry: Getting help; bringing problems of society out into the world. One of the ways they governed the people in the realm in order to bring things into order. Teaching rites and music were more effective in forming an orderly society. Music is both the sign of and cause of morality (bring about moral transformation in people/society) The affections are moved within and take on form in sound. When these sounds have patterning, they are called tones. the tones of a well managed state are at rest and happy: its government is balanced. The tones of an age of turmoil are bitter and full of anger: its government is perverse. The tones of a ruined state are filled with lament and brooding: its people are in difficulty. The way of sounds and tones communicates with [the quality of] government.
