Book of Songs
Gao Yang
Anonymous
羔羊之皮
素丝五紽
退食自公
委蛇委蛇
羔羊之革
素丝五緎
委蛇委蛇
自公退食
羔羊之缝
素丝五总
委蛇委蛇
退食自公
Translation
The lambskin robe is sewn with white silk in ordered seams. Retiring from public office to take his meal, he moves with calm and ease. The lambskin garment is stitched with white silk in fine rows. Calm and easy, calm and easy, he retires from public office to take his meal. The lambskin robe is joined and sewn, bound with white silk in neat knots. Calm and easy, calm and easy, he retires from public office to take his meal.
Analysis
"Gao Yang" is a poem from the "Shao Nan" section of the Book of Songs. It is usually read as a poem praising an upright public servant or official. Rather than telling a story, it presents an image: a person dressed in a clean lambskin garment, leaving public duty and returning to take his meal with calm dignity. The repeated references to lambskin and white silk are important. Lambskin suggests softness, purity, and restraint. White silk suggests cleanliness, simplicity, and order. The garment's neat stitching becomes a visible sign of moral order. The poem uses clothing to imply character. "Retiring from public office to take his meal" is the central action. The person has been engaged in public duty and now withdraws in proper order. The act is ordinary, but the poem treats it as meaningful. He does not scramble, boast, compete, or grasp for advantage. He completes public business and returns with composure. The phrase "wei yi wei yi" describes graceful, unhurried, composed movement. It is not laziness. It is the ease of someone whose conduct is regulated by inner steadiness and ritual propriety. His external bearing reflects internal discipline. The poem's three stanzas are highly repetitive, with slight changes in terms for the garment and stitching. This creates a ceremonial rhythm. The repetition reinforces the sense of order: clean clothing, white thread, public service, peaceful withdrawal. Modern readers may find the poem understated, but that is exactly its point. It praises not dramatic achievement, but quiet integrity. The ideal public person is clean, measured, dutiful, and calm. In this sense, "Gao Yang" is a poem about the moral aesthetics of public conduct.
About the Author
"Gao Yang" comes from the "Shao Nan" section of the "Airs of the States" in the Book of Songs. Its author is unknown. The Book of Songs is the earliest anthology of Chinese poetry, containing more than three hundred poems from roughly the early Western Zhou to the mid-Spring and Autumn period. "Shao Nan," together with "Zhou Nan," forms the opening part of the "Airs of the States" and contains many poems related to marriage, household life, labor, ritual, and social order. "Gao Yang" is traditionally read as a poem praising the clean, composed conduct of a public official through the imagery of lambskin clothing and dignified movement.