DDCPoetry

Original poem reprinted online here: "Day's End" by Tu Fu Originally read: May 26, 2013 More information about the Poet: Tu Fu At the end of this poem I wrote, "cynicism? / sincerity?"  And, although the last line is very loaded -- "and for what?"  The progression the poem takes questions the intent of the speaker.  In these two quatrains, the first stanza hints at a return, "Oxen and sheep were brought back down / Long ago, and bramble gates closed."  Note how the line reinforces two ideas -- the return and never exiting.  The animals were brought in long ago, and the gates closed behind them.  Now, this doesn't seem like much, but in a sparse poem, every image stands out, meanwhile, every action is buffered in this poem since the sentence construction is written in the passive.   Like my previous sentence. The next line, "Over / Mountains and rivers, far from my old garden, A windswept moon rises into clear night."  The images...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River" by Tu Fu Originally read: May 9, 2013 More information about the Poet: Tu Fu Continuing on with the idea of metaphor, the speaker in this poem automatically compares himself to the blossoms along the river.  Both are alone.  Now, the reasons should unfold throughout the poem, but I want to explain the picture past me drew in the margins.  The image of blossoms along the river are easy to visualize, but past me (and current me), doesn't quite see the connection.  Or rather, when it comes to loneliness and nature, there are some other representative images, but it feels like the blossoms near the river either have an historically symbolic reason or a personal symbolic reason.  Maybe a little bit of both. Yet, the focus of the speaker's loneliness is further impacted with the drinking.  "But my friend in wine / Gone ten days drinking" and then the image of the bed in which could...

Original poem reprinted online here: "Full Moon" by Tu Fu Originally read: April 2, 2013 More information about the Poet: Tu Fu Tang Chinese Poets.  I don't know how many times I've heard that they were a big influence in someone's poetic work.  And, from my reading of Li Po, Tu Fu, Po Chu II, and Wang Wei -- the focus for me is how the image is implemented in the poem.  There's a visual concrete presence that moves in the majority of the poems of Tang Chinese Poets.  So, with this poem, I think the translation does a real disservice to the poem by using "it."  However, what "it" does for the translation adds another layer of miscommunication that adds a certain depth to the poem. There are only two quatrains here.  The first focuses on the location of the full moon which is above human constructs (a tower) passing over.  The first "it" in this poem occurs in the third line with "It scatters restless gold across the waves...