Classic of Poetry

Poems included in the Classic of Poetry use rhetorical devices such as enumeration, evocative images, and comparisons to convey images from daily life of an ancient, farming society. Puchner indicates that “centuries of commentary and interpretation have accrued around it, adding to its meaning and significance and endowing the simple scenes in the poems with moral or political purpose” (756). Endorsement by Confucius led to the anthology becoming foundational to a comprehensive education. Analysis of “Fishhawk,” one of the 305 poems included in the anthology, offers insight into the effectiveness of Classic of Poetry for teaching rhetoric, morals, and virtues.

“Fishhawk” tells a story of a man’s desire for a maiden. The first stanza establishes the idea of courtship through the song of the birds, and the image of the maiden, “fit pair for a prince” (4). Social status is introduced with the prince, but the status of the maiden is unclear. The second stanza suggests she is from a lower social class, and gathers watercress along the river. Repetition of the third line of each stanza: “Gentle maiden, pure and fair” reinforces the growing desire of the man who thinks of her day and night. Music, a symbol of courtship, begins the poem, and ends the last lines of the last two stanzas: “with harps we bring her company / …with bells and drums do her delight” (16, 20). Owen suggests “watercress picking should be a parallel to the nobleman picking his mate: reach down and pick it up, as easily as birds find their mates” (42). However, it is not that easy for the man. “There is a deferment of desire and attainment, out of which comes a tossing back and forth that echoes the gathering on either side” (Owen 43). “Fishhawk” uses comparison of the birds to humans, and of the elite to the common. The simplicity of birds choosing a mate and of people harvesting watercress are in direct contrast to the difficulty in human courtship. Morality and virtue can be seen through the purity of the maiden, repeated throughout the poem.

Puchner indicates the Mao Commentary imbued this and other poems in the anthology with “specific moral and historical significance” (758). The Commentary established “Fishhawk” as praising the king’s consort for not being jealous when he took a new consort. Puchner suggests this “counterintuitive reading of the poem established “Fishhawk” as a model of exemplary female behavior for all times and embedded it in the history of the early Zhou kings” (758). Thus, the poem became a tale of history, as well as an example of virtuous female behavior.

Even without the historical view offered by the Mao Commentary, poems like “Fishhawk” are effective tools for teaching rhetoric with multiple rhetorical devices operating within a given poem. Themes of morality and virtue are evident through images of nature juxtaposed with images of humans, suggesting opportunities for comparison.

Works Cited

“Fishhawk.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 759-760.

Owen, Stephen. “The Lessons of the Feng.” cccp.uchicago.edu/archive/2009BookOfOdesSymposium/2009_BookOfOdesSymposium_StephenOwen.pdf.

Puchner, Martin. “Classic of Poetry: ca. 1000-600 B.C.E.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 756-759.

 

 

Somadeva

“The Red Lotus of Chastity” is a story about clever women using disguise to achieve their goals. Devasmita and Saktimati are faithful wives, while Siddhikari and Yogakarandika are criminals and tricksters. The contrast of the wives and tricksters is important because the tricksters are punished and maimed, while the wives are applauded. The message is that it is okay to use deception and even violence, if the goal is protecting a husband. 

Devasmita is a disobedient daughter, running away to marry Guhasena. This sets up the probability that she will expect others to be deceptive, too. And indeed, Devasmita does not trust Guhasena to travel without her. “She was a jealous wife and naturally suspected that he would love another woman” (Somadeva 1275). Armed with the red lotus of chastity, which will wither and die if the other spouse commits adultery, Guhasena travels to Cathay, gets drunk and is tricked into telling the story of the lotus to four merchants who “set sail at once for Tamralipti, without telling anybody, to see if they could not undo the chastity of Guhasena’s wife” (1275). The merchants meet Yogakarandika, an unholy nun, who tells the story of her pupil. Siddhikari, and promises to help them seduce Devasmita.

Unlike the faithful wives, Siddhikari is a thief who steals gold from a merchant, kills a drummer, and bites off the tongue of a servant to get away with her crime. Yogakarandika describes her as a “cunning girl” (1276), but trying to outwit Devasmita is the downfall of these two treacherous women: “the chaste wife cut off their noses and ears and tossed them outside in a sewage pit” (1278). Not only does she outwit Yogakarandika and Siddhikari, Devasmita uses disguise to punish and brand the men who would seduce her, and to protect her husband, whose drunken tales put them both at risk. Devasmita tells Saktimati’s story because Saktimati uses disguise to save her unfaithful husband, and it provides justification for her own use of disguise to protect Guhasena.

The relationships between women and men in “The Red Lotus of Chastity” are tenuous at best, requiring the strength of chaste women to maintain them, while weak and unfaithful men create risk. Women are justified in the use of disguise, deception, and even violence, to punish those who threaten their marriage.

Works Cited

Somadeva. “The Red Lotus of Chastity.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Edited by Martin Puchner, Shorter 3^rd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 1274-1279.