White Lotus
- Poetry of Lu Guimeng
White lotus blooms are often outweighed by red flowers;
They'd rather be transplanted before lunar bowers.
Heartless they seem, but they have deep grief no one knows.
See them fall in moonlight when the morning wind blows.
Composed during the late Tang Dynasty, this poem embodies Lu Guimeng's lifelong frustration—a talented scholar-official who, thwarted by political adversity, retreated to Songjiang as a self-styled "Wanderer of Rivers and Lakes." Through the metaphor of white lotus blossoms, the poem voices his resentment toward personal misfortunes and societal injustice. The pristine yet overlooked lotus symbolizes upright intellectuals marginalized by a world that favors gaudy mediocrity, reflecting not only the poet's plight but also the universal dilemma of virtuous scholars in feudal society.
素蘤多蒙别艳欺，此花端合在瑶池。
无情有恨何人觉，月晓风清欲堕时。
- Why Chinese poems is so special?
- The most distinctive features of Chinese poetry are: concision- many poems are only four lines, and few are much longer than eight; ambiguity- number, tense and parts of speech are often undetermined, creating particularly rich interpretative possibilities; and structure- most poems follow quite strict formal patterns which have beauty in themselves as well as highlighting meaningful contrasts.
- How to read a Chinese poem?
- Like an English poem, but more so. Everything is there for a reason, so try to find that reason. Think about all the possible connotations, and be aware of the different possibilities of number and tense. Look for contrasts: within lines, between the lines of each couplet and between successive couplets. Above all, don't worry about what the poet meant- find your meaning.
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