While I can't get on board with the idea of killing oneself because of the death of your husband, there is something in the idea that doesn't feel completely foreign either.
I have known many stories where an elderly husband and wife who have been married a long time die within a short time of each other-- as if living without the other just feels impossible.
My own in-laws died within a year of each other-- he in September and she in the following February. Even though they had been divorced for a long time, in their final years they reconciled somewhat; and while they didn't live together as husband and wife, they were good friends once again who often went to lunch together and spent the day together. Until mother-in-law could no longer drive. She seemed to fail so fast once she lost the freedom to drive herself and him around. Even though he had left her for another woman, she never remarried and always kept his name. For me she is a kind of icon of a different kind of faithfulness-- a faithfulness that never gives up hope, even when all hope seems to be gone. I think once she knew that he was gone, she was ready to go too.
I really appreciate your translation! Eastern poetry remains a black box to me: opaque, subtle, and abstract. Chinese has such an amazingly long literary history; one day I hope to have enough command of the language to dig into it myself.
Classical Chinese as a language is quite simple from the way I see it. Of course, there are so many characters to memorize, but other languages also have many words. If all you want to do is read some poems, I think the language learning itself won't be that difficult.
This poem touched my heart. Faithfulness is something sneered at in the West where the individual is revered, but I have seen couples so tied together that they basically die inside when their partner passes. Thanks for sharing this ancient wisdom - I think it does have something to say to us today.
Different times I guess, which raises a question, if a poem is meant to convey the emotions of the poets, when those emotions are no longer relevant, would the poem retains its meaning?
An interesting question indeed. I think though we might not feel the same with those from different times, it is still possible to understand what they would have felt, and it is one of the functions of literature.
It wasn't compulsory, and it was often enough to just stay as a widow to become a government-certified "faithful woman". A "faithful woman"'s family would receive some benefits, such as being exempt from compulsory labor, along with fame. Of course, women following their husbands to death were praised even more, so there would have been some social pressure. I've just looked up and found that there were 58 "virtuous widows" who killed themselves in the city of Quanzhou from 1368 to 1612, and 32 of them did so in protest to forced remarriages. I guess sati-like incidents did take place in China but were rather rare.
"My heart is the water in a well."
That is a haunting line.
While I can't get on board with the idea of killing oneself because of the death of your husband, there is something in the idea that doesn't feel completely foreign either.
I have known many stories where an elderly husband and wife who have been married a long time die within a short time of each other-- as if living without the other just feels impossible.
My own in-laws died within a year of each other-- he in September and she in the following February. Even though they had been divorced for a long time, in their final years they reconciled somewhat; and while they didn't live together as husband and wife, they were good friends once again who often went to lunch together and spent the day together. Until mother-in-law could no longer drive. She seemed to fail so fast once she lost the freedom to drive herself and him around. Even though he had left her for another woman, she never remarried and always kept his name. For me she is a kind of icon of a different kind of faithfulness-- a faithfulness that never gives up hope, even when all hope seems to be gone. I think once she knew that he was gone, she was ready to go too.
What a hauntingly impressive comment. Thank you, Melanie, for sharing this with us.
a glimpse into a very different society. thanks for this Hyun!
Thank you for reading it!
My (Chinese) wife was not impressed with the idea.... :-)
She did say your translation was good.
Well please give my thanks to her! I also hope she won't be so impressed with the idea😂
I really appreciate your translation! Eastern poetry remains a black box to me: opaque, subtle, and abstract. Chinese has such an amazingly long literary history; one day I hope to have enough command of the language to dig into it myself.
Classical Chinese as a language is quite simple from the way I see it. Of course, there are so many characters to memorize, but other languages also have many words. If all you want to do is read some poems, I think the language learning itself won't be that difficult.
This poem touched my heart. Faithfulness is something sneered at in the West where the individual is revered, but I have seen couples so tied together that they basically die inside when their partner passes. Thanks for sharing this ancient wisdom - I think it does have something to say to us today.
Reading texts from different times lets us reexamine the way we think, I guess.
Different times I guess, which raises a question, if a poem is meant to convey the emotions of the poets, when those emotions are no longer relevant, would the poem retains its meaning?
An interesting question indeed. I think though we might not feel the same with those from different times, it is still possible to understand what they would have felt, and it is one of the functions of literature.
Interesting. Was this a thing in china? Widows followingtheir husbands? In India it was compulsory till the 19th century -sati.
It wasn't compulsory, and it was often enough to just stay as a widow to become a government-certified "faithful woman". A "faithful woman"'s family would receive some benefits, such as being exempt from compulsory labor, along with fame. Of course, women following their husbands to death were praised even more, so there would have been some social pressure. I've just looked up and found that there were 58 "virtuous widows" who killed themselves in the city of Quanzhou from 1368 to 1612, and 32 of them did so in protest to forced remarriages. I guess sati-like incidents did take place in China but were rather rare.