孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
蜘蛛讽
Mocking the Spider
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万类皆有性 各各禀天和 蚕身与汝身 汝身何太讹 |
All earth's creatures have their nature. Each receives its blessing from above. Silkworms have their form. You have yours. But yours -- what a mistake! |
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蚕身不为己 汝身不为佗 蚕丝为衣裳 汝丝为网罗 |
Silworm's body is nothing like yours And yours is nothing like his. A silkworms' silk is for clothing. Yours is just a rough net. |
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济物几无功 害物日已多 百虫虽切恨 其将奈尔何 |
Helpful things all have their merits. Harmful ones -- we already have too many. So what if one hundred bugs buzz badly? How does that do anything for you? |
-- 孟郊
废话
This poem is an excellent example of flagrant disregard for the rules of regulated poetry. It is excessive beyond Meng Jiao's normal free approach to poetry. I think he's making a point here. Some poet (the spider) has apparently critiized Meng Jiao's poems for their lack of conservativism. So Meng Jiao gives him both barrels (allusion to a shotgun). The poem repeatedly addresses the spider as 汝 which dictionaries usually define as "thou." It's the kind of thing you use with your wife, like "darling" or "dear." Meng Jiao is using it here to irritate his critic.