A Spring Morning
- Poetry of Meng Haoran

Five-character-quatrain

Meng Haoran’s poems often depict quiet, solitary sceneries that stem from living his first forty years in relative isolation from the rest of society. Due to his reclusive lifestyle, he spent much of his time observing the natural world surrounding him. In this particular poem, he builds upon his observation of the natural balance of nature: every pleasant aspect of nature is accompanied by its bleak counterpart. The first two lines paint a bright spring morning filled with blooming life and the chirping of birds; however, the third line darkens this image with the reference to the shadowy night, where the sound of the heavy rain and wind replaces that of the singing birds. Furthermore, the flourishing life mentioned in the first half of the poem, inferred from the lively songs of the birds, juxtaposes the decaying life — the fallen blossoms — in the latter portion of the poem. The fact that Meng offsets positive and negative forces demonstrates his belief that there are two sides to every situation.