Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.20
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The Guanju is expressive of enjoyment without being licentious, and of grief without being hurtfully excessive."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 master, teacher; here an honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 關雎 guān jū
Guanju ("Ospreys Cry"), the opening ode of the Book of Songs
- 關 onomatopoeia for the osprey's cry; opening word of the ode title 關雎
- 雎 osprey, a fish hawk; with 關 forms the ode's title 關雎
the poem depicts ospreys calling to each other on a river island, a courtship image
- 樂 lè
joy, happiness
Read lè, joy, not yuè, music; the line judges the feeling the ode expresses (孔安國: 樂不至淫，哀不至傷).
- 而不 ér bù
but not, without
- 而 contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 不 not
first half of the couplet's balanced restraint pattern, repeated at 而不傷 below
- 淫 yín
excessive, immoderate, carried past due measure
- 哀 āi
sorrow, grief
- 而不 ér bù
but not, without
- 而 contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 不 not
second half of the couplet, mirroring 樂而不淫 above
- 傷 shāng
injurious, hurtful to the point of harm
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