When the Emperor sought guidance from wise men, from exiles,
He found no calmer w i sdom than that of young Chia
And assigned him the foremost council-seat at midnight,
Yet asked him about gods, instead of about people.
Original Poem:
「列女操」
孟郊
梧桐相待老， 鸳鸯会双死。
贞妇贵殉夫， 舍生亦如此。
波澜誓不起， 妾心井中水。
Interpretation:
This is a poem in praise of a martyr woman’s steadfastness in her virtue. Many Chinese women in the olden times became victims of feudal rites and ethics. Some died with their husbands but not alone, and some died with their husbands but not married for life, all of which indicated their fidelity to their husbands. The author’s glorification of chaste women is indicative of his strong conception of feudal ethics and morality and reflects his class limitations.
The poet opens his poem with a metaphor of the chastity of a virtuous woman with a mandarin duck and a sycamore tree. Next, the poet directly writes about the martyrdom of the chaste woman to her husband, showing the noble sentiment of the chaste woman to keep her honor and not to get married. In the last two lines, the poet uses “ancient well water” as a metaphor to further demonstrate the unswerving nature of the “concubine’s heart”. In the feudal society, women could not be economically independent and could only depend on their husbands for a living, with no independent status at all.
The whole poem uses apt similes to show the martyr’s steadfastness in love, but it also shows the poet’s deep sense of feudal ethics and morality. The poet has invariably upheld the feudal ethics and morality, which is unavoidable for the era in which the poet lived, and we should look at it dialectically, taking the essence and removing the dregs. However, in light of the author’s difficult life and incomplete character, some people believe that the poet created this poem as a message, to celebrate the virtues of the martyr woman who vowed not to get married, to show his own will and noble behavior, that is, he would rather die than to be in the same boat with the feudal powers and nobles.
About the Poet:
Meng Jiao (孟郊), 751-814 A.D., was a native of Deqing, Zhejiang Province, and spent his early years in the mountains of Songshan, Henan Province. In 796 A.D., he was forty-six years old when he first became a jinshi. In 800 A.D., he became a lieutenant of Liyang, but later resigned. In 806 AD, Meng Jiao moved to be the counselor of Xingyuan Army, but he died on the way to his post, and his friend Zhang Ji and other friends posthumously named him Mr. Zhen Yao.
Meng Jiao wrote more than 400 poems, most of them were Lefu and ancient poems, most of which were about personal sorrow and loneliness, and expressed cynical thoughts and feelings. Some of his poems also expose the social phenomenon of disparity between the rich and the poor, and sympathize with the suffering of the people. He used words and phrases to avoid mediocrity, and pursued the ancient, strange and dangerous, cold and craggy style of poetry. He was a famous bitter poet, and was also famous with Jia Island, known as “Cold and Thin on the Outside Island”. He was also known as Jia Dao, and was known as the “Thin and Cold Island”. He was also known as Han Yu, the founder of the Han and Meng School of Poetry.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
