Metaphors in Po Chu-i’s poetry
Po Chu I is a well-known poet who lived during the Tang dynasty. Po Chu I’s family was from the lower class and as a child, he experienced much poverty (Hinton, 2008). However, he was able to take examinations and achieve success in governmental works: he was an advisor to the emperor and crown prince. While holding official positions he advocated for the poor and against improper governance and militarism. Moreover, this was a common theme in his poetry which made it popular across the nation. Po had a belief that poetry should be understandable to everyone despite the level of education and therefore wrote in a simple, natural style on socially important topics (Hinton, 2008). This paper will take a deeper look into some works of Po Chu-I: ‘Crimson-Weave Carpet’ and ‘Waves Sifting Sand’.
Poetry in China is an important tradition and has its start from 1500 B.C.E to these days (Hinton, 2008). According to Hinton, it originated as an oral folk opus, however, around 300–400 B.C.E a written practice started to appear (2008). During that time poets were mainly from the educated, elite group who served the government. Classical Chinese poetry bears distinct characteristics that differentiate it from the poetic traditions of other cultures. The most important feature is that it pays attention to the graphical and visual aspects of characters that make up poetry (Hinton, 2008). Another salient attribute of poetry is its ambiguity and absence of grammatical components which provides space for the reader’s imagination. There is more emphasis on meaning rather than the complexity of the grammatical aspect of language. So, this paper will discuss Po Chu-i’s poetry, how he tried to depict deep meaning by incorporating metaphors and the purpose behind it.
‘Crimson-Weave Carpet’ is part of the bigger political ballad ‘New Yueh-Fu’ that was written during his first years of work in government (Waley, 1970). These poems had a big influence on the emperor and promoted the formation of reforms. In ‘Crimson-Weave Carpet’ he describes the lavish life of the rich by portraying the process of making crimson carpet from silk. One of the lines from poetry are these:
“Sent each year from Hsüan-chou in the tenth month.
Hsüan-chou’s grand prefect orders a new pattern woven,
saying they’ll spare no effort on the emperor’s behalf.” (Hinton, 2008).
Po Chu-i uses the silk material as a metaphor for a rich life and criticizes the emperor Hsuan-chou who orders carpets every year and perceives it as no effort. Silk is known as a luxurious material that was very expensive in Ancient China and was desired by many nobles. In the ending line Po in a satirical way sends the message to the emperor on rich’s squander behavior:
“Can you fathom what it means, O prefect of Hsüan-chou:
for ten feet of carpet, a thousand taels of silk?
Floors don’t feel the cold — people do. People need warmth.
No more floors dressed in clothes stolen from the people.” (Hinton, 2008).
Po Chu-i is trying to say that there is no need for such a lavish life if the cost is ordinary people being poor. I think that in this work he uses the metaphor of silk because it is a cultural aspect and everyone is familiar with it. Also, it is an item that has a clear association with luxury and rich life.
In another work called ‘Waves Sifting Sand’ Po Chu-i uses the imagery of sand and waves as a metaphor for parting with someone but still have hopes of meeting again.
“One anchorage of sand appears as another dissolves away,
and one fold of wave ends as another rises. Wave and sand
mingling together day after day, sifting through each other
without cease: they level up mountains and seas in no time”
In the following lines, he implements little change in words: previously he used a word as ‘white-waves’ but changed it to ‘dark waves’, which evokes sad emotions.
“Ten thousand miles across a lake where the grass never fades,
a lone traveler, you find yourself in rain among yellow plums,
gazing grief-stricken toward an anchorage of sand. Dark waves
wind keeps churned up: the sound of them slapping at the boat.” (Hinton, 2008).
The ending of poetry is the following:
“Young lovers may part, a man leaving, setting out on some boat,
but who could say they’ll never come together again one day?” (Hinton, 2008).
As it was explained in the previous paragraphs Chinese poetry is vague in essence and can depict various meanings. In the case of Po Chu-i I think it could be biographical, as he experienced multiple losses in his life. His mother died while looking for flowers, his son died only after being sick for one day, and one of his best friends Yuan Chen also died (Waley, 1970). So, in this poetry, Po Chu-i is possibly depicting his emotions of loss and hopes of meeting that person someday.
Po Chu-i as a poet is known for simplicity, however, without such metaphors and imageries his poetry would portray different meanings. Despite simple grammar, due to metaphors, his poetry can be decoded in various ways based on the perceptions of each reader. Also, both of the mentioned poetries can be viewed as biographical in a way, because ‘Crimson-Weave Carpet’ was written during his governmental work, and ‘Waves Sifting Sand’ can be a manifestation of his grievance or sad emotions. So, it is evidenced that his personal life had an influence on his works.
References
Hinton, D. (2008). Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Waley, A. (1970). The Life and Times of Po Chu-i. London: George Allen and Unwin LTD. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2049012
