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A Bride, Wang Jian (Tang Shi #242)
Wednesday, 5 June 2019 10:15Her third day, she enters the kitchen,
Washes hands, prepares the soup.
She doesn’t know his mother’s tastes,
So has his sister try it first.
新嫁娘
三日入厨下，
洗手作羹汤。
未谙姑食性，
先遣小姑尝。
Specifically, her husband’s younger sister, because Chinese has finely graded kinship terms like that. This can be read just as easily (if not more) as first person—addressed to the bride is less likely. This is Wang Jian’s only poem in the collection.
—L.
Washes hands, prepares the soup.
She doesn’t know his mother’s tastes,
So has his sister try it first.
新嫁娘
三日入厨下，
洗手作羹汤。
未谙姑食性，
先遣小姑尝。
Specifically, her husband’s younger sister, because Chinese has finely graded kinship terms like that. This can be read just as easily (if not more) as first person—addressed to the bride is less likely. This is Wang Jian’s only poem in the collection.
—L.