The Objects in Motion versus the Static Gaze of the Subject in Wang Wei's Poems - Essay Example

? The Objects in Motion versus the Static Gaze of the in Wang Wei's Poems Wang Wei, who was both a poet and a painter, has been regarded as one of the most important representatives of the High Tang Poetry (712-755). His poems reflected the artistic sensibility and keen observational skills of a painter especially in depicting the nature, combined with the Buddhist conception of the world as an illusory place. As a painter he successfully managed to create optic illusions revealing the transience as well as the naturalness of the things. Indeed, his poems convey a sense of spontaneity. The aim of this essay is to discuss the issue of spontaneity and naturalness in Wang Wei's two poems “Written Crossing the Yellow River to Qing-he” and “Watching a Hunt” (Owen 386). The title of the “Written Crossing the Yellow River” sets the place as Yellow River and signals the upcoming stream of pictorial images. Indeed, both the noun “river” and the verb “to cross” denote a motion and imply that the narrator sets out on a voyage. The first line begins with a noun and the narrator speaks about a define boat: the boat that he is in. The river was described as “great”. The reason of its greatness is explained in the second line as to its “swollen waters” (386). It can be inferred from the second line that the weather is either extremely bad or the narrator is exaggerating the weather conditions since he describes the waters as “stretched to the sky edge” (386). We understand from the third line that the storm has just broke out. The motion is intensified and accelerated as “the sky and waves split apart suddenly”. Although it is the boat that wavered back and forth with the waves, the narrator perceives it as if sky and waves split apart. The waves which obscured the narrator's view, now allow him to see his hometown as we can infer from the forth line. “The thousands of homes” in his town appear momentarily with the ebb of the tides. In the fifth line, he shifts his focus from homes to the marketplace. The sixth line paints a bit blurry picture, since the narrator's actual perception and his imagination seems to be merged. The adverb “vaguely” signifies the blurring of perception and imagination as he contemplates mulberry and hemp displayed at the town's marketplace. Indeed, it was impossible for him to discern mulberry and hemp from that distance (if we accept the previous information that he sees the thousands of homes in that distance). However, he sees the mulberry and hemp with his mind eye or “makes them out”. The one and only symbol of the poem appears when his mind shifts from the actual view to the landscape of his imagination. Indeed, the symbol of “mulberry and hemp” traditionally stands for China and its cultivated lands. After a momentary distraction, in the seventh line, he brings back his focus to his homeland and fixes his gaze, nevertheless it was too late. While he turned to gaze back, the town has already been disappeared with the flow of the tides. The last line brings us back to the beginning as the waters stretched to the clouds obscuring the subject's view. The last line is metaphorically linked to the second line as the verb “stretched” repeated twice in the poem. Meanwhile, “the vast floods” replaced “swollen waters” and “the clouds” substituted for “sky's edge”. The “vast floods” and “swollen waters” function like metaphorical curtains first covering then under-covering then covering again the view of the subject. The poet uses the ebb and flow of the tides to create an optical illusion, which hides and then reveals his homeland. This rhythmic flow of waters reminds the fort-da (Gone! and There!) game. According to Freud, the child plays this game in order to appease his anxiety due to the absence of the mother. In this case, it is the homeland that first “Gone!” then “There” again” and the subject tries to overcome his feelings of loss while he leaves his hometown behind. In fact, the rhythmic structure “Written Crossing the Yellow River to Qing-he” incorporates three motions: first waters swell, then they ebb, then they swell again. Meanwhile, the narrator's gaze remains fixed at his homeland, which appears and disappears rhythmically with the tides. The rhythmic movement portrayed by Wang Wei is quite natural and voluntary. Wang Wei, creates an effect of spontaneity by using that natural and voluntary motions. Indeed, the spontaneity is defined as voluntary and undetermined movement. He resorts to kinaesthetic (cross, swell, stretch, split, move on, flood) and visual images of nature (river, boat, waters, sky, clouds) to evoke a sense of natural movement and spontaneity. However, the narrator is both static and dynamic at the same time. Although he actually moves as the boat sails upon the river, he seems quite detached and his gaze is fixed. The natural movement and the constant flux of the tides were seen through his static gaze. The stark contrast between his static gaze and the dynamism of the nature accelerates the dynamism further. His fixed gaze tries to capture the fleeting moment in vain; as what was there in one moment, gone in the second. Meanwhile, by strictly adhering to his senses and through minute observation, the poet reveals the illusory nature of our senses. The second poem, “Watching a Hunt” utilizes very similar tools to create the effect of spontaneity. Even the title of the poem reflects the dynamic tension between the passive observation and the active world in motion. While the verb “hunt” denotes a very dynamic, if not brutal, action; the verb “watch” underlines the passive state of the observer vis a vis to the nature. “Watching a Hunt” begins with even more heightened and quickened pace of action compared to “Written Crossing the Yellow River to Qing-he”. In the very first line, “wind blows hard” and “the hornbow sings” (386) implying the setting of the hunt. The second line informs about the hunter, who is the general and his whereabouts by Wei's old walls. In third and forth lines, the poem blends a sense of waiting with the anticipation of movement, as a result alertness prevails. The plants stand still while the hawk's eye keen and vigilant actively scanning the sky for its prey. The waiting here is not passive, but full with anticipation. However, it is not anxious either, since the “horse hooves move light” (386). The lightness of the motion invokes the hunter's sense of ease with his movements, he is confident that he will hunt his prey. The horse, the hunter and the hawk move together searching for their prey. Although their movements are light, it does not mean that they are slow. Indeed, the fifth and sifth lines indicate the fastness and speed of their pace. Their speed can be inferred from the adverb “all at once”. They move so fast that they pass Xin-feng market and return to Thin-Willow Camp in the blink of an eye. Indeed, the narrator, who is watching them, is not even able to describe their motion, they move like a flash. The seventh and eighth line inform that the eagle was already shot. However, it seems that it was too fast to an extent that the narrator did not even see the bird. Within the whirlwind of activities going back and forth, we cannot get a glimpse of the shot eagle. The narrator fixes his gaze once more and “turn to look where the eagle was shot” (386). Nevertheless, his effort is futile. It can be inferred from the the last line that twilight clouds have already covered the place where the eagle was shot. However, it was not sure if he could have seen the place it was shot even if the clouds were not there. Although the clouds blocked his vision, the bird has already disappeared in the twilight. “Watching a Hunt” creates a sense of fast spontaneity with its kinaesthetic and visual imagery, similar to the first poem. The poem also has two auditory images signaling the beginning and the end of the hunt: singing and shot. Kinaesthetic images can be listed as hunt, wind, blow hard, keen, gone, move, light, past, back, hang. Visual images are hornbow, walls, the plants, the hawk, eye, snow, horse hooves, market, camp, eagle, twilight and clouds. Thus, the poem paints a picture of the nature in a constant motion. In the second poem, the alert motion permeates everywhere, from the blowing wind to the horse hooves. Whereas in the first poem, the movements were rhythmic; here, they begin fast and their fast pace is even accelerated to the point of an invisible flash, throughout the poem. The poem reflects both the vigilance and the fast face of the hunt. It starts with an alert anticipation and ends with a precise action. The fast pace of the poem creates a very dynamic and spontaneous picture of the nature. Both poems are similar in a sense that they portray a world full with objects in a constant flux and a passive subject recording their motion. They both invoke a natural and kinaesthetic imagery that make them seem natural and spontaneous. In both poems, the narrator looks back to recapture what was there just a minute ago (to see his homeland in the first poem and the shot eagle in the second), in vain. In both poems, the illusory nature of the senses are highlighted by the objects impairing the vision of narrator's view temporarily. However, while in the first poem, the object that the subject has fixed his gaze was and will be still there, just covered by waters; in the second poem the object (shot eagle) actually is not there, it is totally gone, lost in the twilight. In that respect, the second poem highlights the transient nature of things, while the first poem implies that they will still be there even if we cannot see them. Lastly, it can be said that the contrast between the static gaze of the subject and objects in motion increases the tension further and heightens the sense of spontaneous flux in both poems. Works Cited Owen, Stephen. An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911. New York and London:W. W. Norton & Company, 1996. Read More