Prajakta Kanegaonkar - Essay Example

Discuss the relationship between self and nature in Chinese poetry, making specific reference to at least two poets taken from our anthology or . Prajakta Kanegaonkar Poetry is the art of subtle consciousness. We, the commoners think that poetry is borne out of some super natural element present in a person. However when we read the poetry of the masters, we realize that in fact the experiences shared by these great poets and writers are not really different from what we experience. What converts these experiences into poetry is the sight to see beyond the material experiences. When we read the poetry of great Chinese poet Tao, we come across this extraordinary gift of seeing life in a different and a very subtle perspective. The fact that this great poet lived in sheer poverty, lived in shacks, was a wine addict and all are the material things we have to overlook while analyzing his beautiful and mysterious poetry. However the influence of these things on his poetry cannot be overlooked. He makes his position very clear when he says, “My youth felt no comfort in common things, by my nature I clung to the mountains and hills”. The comfort to look beyond the ordinary is depicted through these lines. In simple words I am looking beyond the life the nature has offered me. Is it about me going back to my natural instincts or going back to the nature who has given me happiness in abundance? This would be applicable to our lives as well. We have the simple beauty of life calling us in our hearts, but how many times do we pay any attention to it. Tao beautifully underlines the basic nature of a human being which derives simplistic pleasures from the nature around, however leaving behind that, we go after the complexities of life. It is very ironic in our lives that all our youth we think of acquiring happiness for some later stage of our lives, some stage wherein we don’t relish the happiness anymore. So when he clings to the mountains and hills by nature he renounces the worldly pleasures for the ultimate simplicity and ecstasy of life. If we go through the poem, “Drinking Wine V”, Tao chooses to describe the state of his mind in the most simplistic way. He describes staying amidst the territory of men and yet he talks about the serenity. The serenity within, he has achieved in the process. In this poem he is not physically close to the nature, but nature dwells inside him. The serenity and calmness comes from within him to say that the mind reaches a place where there is no noise, no sound, and it has become remote. The loneliness and solitude reside in all of us. There have been situations where irrespective of being amongst a crowd a serene peace takes over our minds and we experience solitude and contentment, however it could also be a situation where we are physically lonely and yet what we experience is chaos. He sees the mountains far off. There is no physical proximity to the mountains and yet he sees them glow in twilight. This truly describes the journey of the soul towards its peace. This is truly an experience beyond words. Life at times takes you on the journey of soul searching and happiness. We do not realize the indications and signs on the roads of the journey. Very few are lucky like the great master Tao who are truly gifted with words that can sketch the beauty of the road ahead. But even as we read his poem we can also sense the effort to put it in complete words. Only then we realize the inadequacy of words, which he himself admits in the last line, “I want to expound it but have lost the words”. The person of serenity within has shown a different turn in his next poem, “Moving my Dwelling I”. The spiritual journey of the poet brings a resigned attitude towards the materialistic pleasures of life. When the world runs behind the comforts and money, he is simply content in staying a ramshackle hut built in a far off village. It is so true when say that life is incomplete without friends around us. Friends, who truly understand us, want to share time with us and want to spend time for us. Being a simple hearted person himself he seeks company of the people who are simple hearted like himself. He wishes to spend time with them, share his life stories and listen to theirs. All this with the glow of the days gone by, for talking without regrets and without remorse give the calmness of the age that lightly descends upon the shoulders of these men. Cribbing about the time gone by would not help us change the time and the era. So very few of us realize this to start afresh. Tao wants to rewrite the life all over again. In his new life he doesn’t want to have materialistic pleasures. He is happy with a shamble that would cover his head, being in a remote far off village he can be close to the nature he so truly carries in his heart. His only happiness would be finding problems of meanings. This indeed is a very beautiful line. We apply what we learnt in life to what is yet to be learnt from life. The problems and riddles of life are meaningful for us. Post solving these, the solutions and the problems itself does not hold any value for they seem meaningless. The triviality of these hits us severely. We derive meaning from the problems of life. What Tao intends to do is find problems of meanings. Life has been very blissful and meaningful to find any problem. The solitude he has achieved puts him on a much higher platform from where he has a holistic view of life and goes ahead to find new problems to confirm his solidarity and deliverance. In, “The classic of Mountains and Seas”, he is physically very close to nature again. The description of the spring comes very natural to him. Spring is long considered the season of happiness and beauty. Tao describes spring in his simple yet beautiful words. The proximity of the nature is clearly seen in the poem. Once again he experiences solitude in his cottage and is content in being in the company of the nature. Once done with his chores he observes the nature run the show in its own way. The trees grow tall and dense, birds find shelter amongst them. He pours himself the wine of the spring. A reader is left to derive his or her own meaning in this line. It is very easy to deduce the meaning that in such pleasant conditions one would easily indulge into a glass of wine to soothe the spirits. Tao could also mean that the experience is so heady that I feast myself over and over again; I do not need an aphrodisiac to give me a heady experience. It could simply be, “my cup runneth over”. I do not need to drink myself when I am intoxicated with the enchanting spring. As we see Tao’s poetry has a range which is truly amazing. He is remote and aloof in one poem while he is almost on the verge of opening his heart in the other. It is not very difficult to guess as we know the volatility of a poet’s mind. Here when we use the word ‘volatility’ it also means the god gifted intellect which at times is as light as a feather and at times as practical as mathematics. Undoubtedly his poetry cannot be segregated from himself. The reflection of his inner peace, serenity and solitude is seen in his every poem. He has no qualms in admitting that he cannot be the great general Han Xin in one poem while he admits the pleasure of simple hearted people in the other. This goes ahead to prove the simplicity of the heart he carried. The sensitivity does not restrict itself to the beautiful and enigmatic descriptions of the nature but also takes to life very kindly. His spiritual journey is evident in his poems. The greatness of the poet, Tao lies in the honest way of putting life’s simple pleasure truly and beautifully as they are. The most important point of Wang Wei’s poetry is the picturesque quality about them. One can easily feel the space and the colors of the poems he has written. If we go through the poem, “Crossing the yellow river to Qing-He”, the picture he has sketched has an absolute visual effect to it. The sailing boat, the blue sky, the horizon, everything has a peculiar quality to it. He firmly sees the market I front of him and then suddenly turning back he realizes there is no turning back now. For the land is lost in the vast stretch of journey he has covered. He himself admits of his love towards painting and the painter is often seen in his poetry as well. Very few of the poets like Robert Browning or William Wordsworth have an extremely picturesque style of writing. Like the “daffodils” which makes one see a valley of daffodils swaying gently to the soft winds, one can see the boat moving in water towards its destination of the market town and cutting through the edge of water. The visual quality of Wan Wei’s poetry is unmatched. The reader sees his poem like a canvas painted with colors and emotions. He describes the village rituals with an equal ease in his poems. The futility of human life, titles and statures is seen in the poem “straw dogs”. Even when the populace worships the idols, the mortality of the idols is so very well expressed. The divinity stays but the idols vanish in the impending times. The elements of the universe are themselves a strong force to reckon. Not only these elements but also the irony of human nature destroys the idols by trampling the idols. This reminds of the famous saying, “After a game of chess, the kings and the pawns go in the same box”. No human being is greater than humanity, no idol worships (be it human or divine) can sustain the impending time. As the rituals get over the idols are simply lumps of clay, does the poet indicate that all idols or gods have feet of clay? No heaven or earth to spare them. The futility of human values, worships and probably human life is no better indicated than in this poem. The proximity of the nature is very evident in Wang Wei’s poems like that in Tao’s. However one senses a little aloofness in his poetry unlike Tao. Tao’s poetry at one level signifies unison with nature. The beauty of the nature and serenity it brings is visible in Tao’s heart as well as his poetry. In case of Wang Wei, he prefers to stand on the edge and experience the beauty of the nature around. This can also be traced backwards towards his being a painter. There is always a matter of fact attitude present with a painter. Although the emotionality of a painter can be traced in his paintings, the outlook of a painter is to look at the “object” to be painted, from a distance. Thus he is very vivid in explaining the shades of colors, scenic beauty, even the field activity but the oneness with the nature is evidently absent. In his poem, “To Pei Di”, he describes the day of farming activity. He quotes his field hand giving him an account. But it can be made out that he would be standing on the edge of the field and drinking the scene in his mind and then putting it down in words. To understand Wang Wei’s poetry one has to also consider his background. He comes from distinguished family. He was able to write a more stylized poetry in the circles he moved. But he was drawn to the inner peace laid by Buddhism, landscapes and was greatly influenced by none other than Tao. The similarity between Tao and Wang Wei is the simplicity of words they choose, the beautiful description of nature and the search for the peace within. The Wang stream collection is a collection of his four lined poems, which are very simple, very straight and very to the point. They convey what they are supposed to, in a point blank manner. As he mentions in his poem, “Deer Fence”, he listens to the echoes of voices. He doesn’t see anyone around. The sunlight seems to go back and the rays shine the moss. Very vivacious description of the landscape within!! Can it be assumed that the landscape is within him? We all carry echoes in ourselves. There are so many voices and persons within us. At any point of time we are not alone. We as human beings have always faced the duel within us. The echoes of positive and negative, assumption of various identities, dialogues with ourselves, all indicate that even when we are alone, we are not alone. The solitude that comes so often to surface in Tao’s poetry is the calming of voices within. Wang Wei’s abovementioned poem indicates want of this serenity. He mentions listening to the voices from within and yet he sees no one around. How often do we get a chance to listen to the voice from within? He sees the landscape more clearly because he is empowered with the vision of a painter. The echo of his own self compels him to listen to the music within. The reflecting of light through woods makes it seem go eastwards. The darkness in us is not completely dispelled. The rays that cut through the darkness are deflected from within to add the shine. If we go by the words it would simply paint a quiet late afternoon in the woods. But the painter poet doesn’t miss any detail in the view to tell us the subtlety of his mind. While reading the poems of both the poets, it is evident that the nature plays a very critical role in the making of these poets and their poetry. It is not a secret if we go through the poetry worldwide. The journey is towards the core, and peace within. It is achieved through, sometimes with the proximity of the nature, sometimes staying away from it, some times explaining the turmoil within with the metaphors and sometimes giving up to the secrets yet unopened. The poetry gives us a sheer pleasure of discovering ourselves, and discovering the self that is probably lost in today’s world. The idea of such calmness from within is virtually inexperienced in today’s world. Hence the freshness of the poetry of these two great poets transcends beyond the time. Sources: 1. Poetry of Tao Qian 2. Poetry of Wang Wei Read More