Thoughts on a Still Night
Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.
Dialogue in a Mountain
You ask me why I live among the hills green,
I smile without reply, my heart serene.
Peach blossoms flow away with running streams.
It’s a world other than the earth of men.
Sitting Alone on Mount Jingting
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I.
Introduction
China has a written history that is over 2,500 years old. During this extensive period of human history, the Chinese developed many forms of art and philosophy. Poetry was an extremely important art form in Chinese history. The Period of Division is the time in between a new Dynasty. The Period of Division began at the end of the Han Dynasty and lasted roughly close to eight hundred years until Tang dynasty and also still nowadays.
During this time, many people wanted to retreat from the world and live among nature. They were tired of the turmoil, wars, and government jobs. Many individuals wanted to return to the land were their families lived and live out their lives in peace and seclusion.
Li Bai was one of China’s most famous poets. He lived nearly 2,000 years ago, during the Tang Dynasty . He grew up near Chengdu ,in Sichuan Province, which is adjacent to Yunnan Province in the western part of China. Li Bai was known for writing about nature. One form of poetry that he used is called Jue Ju (Heifer International).
Taoism is one of the most influencing religions way back more than two millennia and until now it still gives inspiration and impact among Chinese people and foreigners. Taoist beliefs include teachings based on revelations from various sources. Therefore, different branches of Taoism often have differing beliefs, especially concerning nature. Nevertheless, there are certain core beliefs that nearly all the sects share (Robinet, 1997). Li Bai was influenced by Taoism which emphasizes the link between people and nature and aligning the human character with nature; much of his poetry depicted nature and human interaction with it and this kind of poetry was called Jue Ju Poetry - Jue Ju style is about the relationship between humans and nature.
Discussion of the Theme
Man is one with nature.
The main theme of the poems is intertwined with Taoism. Since that it is inspired in the Taoist belief that man has an intuitive connection to nature, vice versa, the poems of Li Bai has a central theme of relationship of man to nature.
In the first poem, Thoughts On a Still Night, depicts a man separated to his family. The persona is away from home as cited on this line, I lower my head and think of home. The persona must be a recluse or a hermit who chooses to be away from home and be with nature. He sees the beauty of life in nature and in the poem it states that he is tranquil as he is gazing at the celestial beings such as the stars and moon in the night sky, here is the citation, Before my bed, the moon is shining bright, I think that it is frost upon the ground. I raise my head and look at the bright moon. The persona’s love for nature is inevitable as he is a Taoist believing that man is in accordance to nature, vice versa.
The second poem is Dialogue in the Mountain. In this poem it is obviously stated that the persona is a hermit or a recluse, this is the cited line, You ask me why I live among the hills green. Someone – this might be a friend or a visitor - asks the persona why he lives in such a remote area and a response, the persona only smiled which is a symbol of solitude he found in nature, I smile without reply, my heart serene. The persona implies a feeling of peace amidst the nature. Contentment is also perceived in this last two lines, Peach blossoms flow away with running streams. It’s a world other than the earth of men. He also suggests that the place where he lives in is like heaven on earth.
In the third poem, Sitting Alone on Mount Jingting , evokes an action of observing nature at its best, citation as follows, All the birds have flown up and gone; A lonely cloud floats leisurely by. The persona watches and remarks the sceneries like the clouds and birds do their stuff. He eventually falls in love with these things as perceived in these lines, We never tire of looking at each other - Only the mountain and I. This line also contributes the fact that the persona is a hermit. A hermit or a recluse leaves on a remote area to be isolated from the other beings rather than nature.
Conclusion
The three poems which are all written by Li Bai pertains to its readers the life of a recluse in an isolated area. One with nature, a man who is secluded from other people is considered as a man who believes in Taoism. The central theme of these poems is the tranquillity and contentment of the isolated life of the recluse. Moreover, the mood is evoked to the readers as serious, calm and contented. These moods contributed to the main theme of the poems. In addition, The Three Jewels, or Three Treasures, are basic virtues in Taoism. The Three Jewels are compassion, moderation, and humility. They are also translated as kindness, simplicity , and modesty. It is also the three rules that formed the practical, political side of the author's teaching. It is correlated to the Three Treasures with "abstention from aggressive war and capital punishment", "absolute simplicity of living", and "refusal to assert active authority" (Waley, 1958). This is the reason why Taoist are on the secluded places like mountains to live. Hence, the poems are purely Jue Je poetry - a variety of Chinese poetry which suggests the religion of Taoism. These poems combine the ideas of nature, peace, and a person's will to follow his or her heart and live away from civilization. These poems also focus on the feelings of individuals and try to explain why they have left their past lives to now live alone or with very few friends and family.
Works Cited
Heifer International. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2011, from HeiferInternational.org: http://www.heiferinternational.org
Robinet, I. (1997). Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity . Albany: Suny Press.
Waley, A. (1958). The Way and Its Power: A Study of the Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought . Grove Press.
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