Miscellaneous Poems I
- Poetry of Tao Yuanming
A man is rootless in his day,
Floating like dust along the way.
Blown east and west, no longer am I
Still the same as in days gone by.
When born, I may be called your brother,
why then should we not love each other?
Let us enjoy when days are fine,
Call neighbors out to drink our wine!
The prime of our life won’t come twice;
Each day can’t have two mornings nice.
I urge you to rise with the sun,
For time and tide will wait for none.
Composed in 414 CE when Tao Yuanming was fifty years old and had lived eight years in rural seclusion, this poem reflects the poet's philosophical maturity forged through national upheavals and career disappointments. Blending Confucian activism with Daoist naturalism, Tao developed a unique worldview that embraced both soaring ambition ("aspirations reaching beyond the four seas") and recluse's devotion ("my nature loves hills and mountains"). The poem confronts life's impermanence with enlightened equanimity, demonstrating the poet's clear-eyed awareness of mortality while advocating the carpe diem philosophy - urging readers to cherish fleeting time through mindful enjoyment.
人生无根蒂，飘如陌上尘。
分散逐风转，此已非常身。
落地为兄弟，何必骨肉亲！
得欢当作乐，斗酒聚比邻。
盛年不重来，一日难再晨。
及时当勉励，岁月不待人。
- 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.