Chinese Literature: Works of Chinese Poets

Works of Chinese Poet: Li Po

According to American Literature Website, Li Po is also called as Li Bai, Li Bo, or Li Pai, is one of the famous poets in Tang Dynasty. Some famous works of Li Po include from "Drunkenness on a Spring Day", "Hard Road in Shu", and "Quiet Night Thoughts"

Drunkenness on a Spring Day

Life in the world is but a big dream;
I will not spoil it by any labour or care.
so saying, I was drunk all the day,
lying helpless at the porch in front of my door.
when I awoke, I blinked at the garden-lawn;
a lonely bird was singing amid the flowers.
I asked myself, had the day been wet or fine?
the Spring wind was telling the mango-bird.
moved by its song I soon began to sigh,
and, as wine was there, I filled my own cup.
wildly singing I waited for the moon to rise;
when my song was over, all my senses had gone.

Drunkenness on a Spring Day, what I understood in this poem is that, in the first line "life is but a dream", in this poem the author is telling us that we should not worry on a lot of things or be serious on everything we do. I also find the emotions of Li Po here like somewhat he does not worry about a lot of things, it is like he is enjoying what is happening in the present. But at the ending when he said that "when my song was over, all my senses had gone." I realized that he was only enjoying the time of the day but when the night comes, his joy of seeing nature in front of him just disappeared.

I also tried to think about what the title really means, like the word drunkenness, then I remembered from my past learning in high school, that drunkenness does not only mean being drunk from alcohol but it could also mean something else. In my own thought, from the title "Drunkenness," that author maybe referring it to putting yourself too much into something, like for example, in work, sometimes other people become workaholic or spend most of their time working too much. Then, the words "on a Spring Day" maybe referred to a season, a year, or a day in one season or one year. Therefore, I must say, maybe the whole title itself means that, people puts themselves into something or focus themselves into doing things that they never know the season already pass or some people put too much effort into things that they tend do it in a single day.

Hard Road in Shu

The next poem is "Hard Road in Shu" In this part I will not include the whole poem but rather I will just explained my thoughts on these lines that I have picked:

"We wonder if this westward trail will never have an end.

The formidable path ahead grows darker, darker still,

With nothing heard but the call of birds hemmed in by the ancient forest,"

~line from Hard Road in Shu by Li Po

What I understood in this part is that the persona in the story is not alone because it uses the words "We". I also understood in this part that, the persona is already expressing the idea that the road they are going through is like a never ending road. In this part, the persona also stated that there path are getting darker. It also feels like the road they are taking is somehow creepy. But even though they have this frightening feeling of the very unlikely road, they still keep on going.

"Though the City of Silk be delectable, I would rather turn home quickly."

~line from Hard Road in Shu by Li Po

This is the third to last line of the poem. What I understood in this line is that, they already arrived in Shu but the persona says that although the city was "delectable," still he still thought of turning back home.

Overall, "Hard Road in Shu," tells us the experience of the man who went to Shu. If I relate this poem to reality, I learned that in life we usually goes to a hard path before we could reach the goal we are trying to achieved. The poem inspired me to keep going on what I am trying to achieved because by the end of the journey it is worth it. In life, we usually take risks on taking or going to a hard path because we know that by the end of such journey, good things awaits us.

A Quiet Night Thoughts

Another famous poem of Li Po is "A Quiet Night Thoughts"

In front of my bed, there is bright moonlight.

It appears to be frost on the ground.

I gaze my head and gaze at the August moon,

I lower my head and think of my hometown.

What I understood in this poem is that the persona or the author misses his home because when he mentioned "think of my hometown," that means he was not in his own hometown. I also think that the persona was daydreaming because he was just looking out on the moon. I also think that this happens on a specific event or it was suppose to be the day to be celebrated because when the author mentioned "August moon," I think it is a day that worth celebrating.

What I learned in this poem is that, people who live from far from their homeplace cannot deny the feeling of missing home because as what people usually say "there is no place like home," which I totally agree because living far from home felt like you are just alone and very different from the people who lived in that certain place. Most of the time, if we live in another place or stay in another place, we cannot deny the feeling of missing the life we used to have.

SOURCES:

Afro - Asian Literature

Saturday, October 30, 2021