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Behind poetry is philosophy, and deciphering poems is to find out the philosophy poets maintain. In other words, without comprehension of its philosophy, there doesn’t exist the possibility to comprehend a poem deeply. The best poetry equals to philosophy , which is more important than the life story of a poet, just because philosophy exercises much more impact on his creation than his life story. Life stories but provide a poet with what to write but philosophy decide how to turn the stories into poems. Li Bai, with the appellation of poetry god, left behind him opulent poems, which consist of culture prosperity of Tang Dynasty, and was drowned at sea when he dived into it to take hold of the moon reflected. If we didn’t have a better understanding of Li Bai’s devotion and addiction to themoon, we would not understand why he would, regardless of life, dive into the river to embrace the moon. To comprehend it, one has to discern the philosophy behind it. It is universally acknowledged that Li Bai’spoem Tranquil Meditation at Night (《静夜思》) is a poem about homesickness. A man who travels far from home falls ill with homesickness when he confronts with the bring moonlight on the bedside.For thousands of years, people decipher the poem as a poem of homesickness. This,in a sense, is right and would not diminish its beauty. But in my opinion, this interpretation narrows its abundant meaning and connotation. The reason is that the poem is deciphered without considering Li Bai’s philosophy which, without any doubt, lies behind it. As is known to all, Li Bai was much influenced by Daoism, which, if condensed into one word, is purity. Being mentally and physically pure is the key point of Daoism, which means that the outer world, sorrows and joys, fames and profits, will not exert any power on his mind and he can keep tranquil inside all the time by seeking after something lofty. The pure spirit, for instance, is the common goal for people who believe in Daoism. They would find a place far from the secular life,eating wild fruits when hungry, drinking spring water when thirsty. In so doing, they purify their bodies as well as their spirits. The moon, in Li Bai’s eye, is the purest object beyond this secular world and so he in many poems personifies it. The moon cures him of his soul. He dreamt of becoming one with the moon all the time and eventually he died from such a dream. Daoism holds the view that human beings should become one with nature for pure existence. Lao Zi says man follows the earth, which follows the heaven and the heaven follows nature, and Zhuang Zi has ever dreamt of becoming one with a butterfly, not discerning whether he is the butterfly or the butterfly is he, which, in Daoism principle,is the climax of a life. Li Bai, fast influenced by this idea, dreamt of becoming one with the moon, the mountain, the river, all in all, nature. We are sure he didn’t become one with the moon but was drowned by himself. But we should keep it in mind that he dreamt of becoming one with the moon when we interpret his poems, that is, the philosophy perplexs the poem and meanwhile paves the road to the truth of the peom. Now you will find that Tranquil Meditationat Night is not a poem of homesickness but a poem with more complicated connotation, which throws light on the fact that not only the wanderers enjoy this poem, but people who have never left his hometown enjoy it as well. The reason is simple: the poem was written nor for wanderers only. Man is inclined to keep a corner in heart as his spiritual world and all his life he makes effort to return spiritually to it. Man was thrown out of his spiritual world into the secular world and he began to care, care about so many this-worldly things, which makes him frustrated, depressed, anxious, etc. ,as Heidegger put. So in this poem, the moon, if face, symbolizes the spiritual world of Li Bai, where he dreamt of returning. The moonlight is so bright and pure, especially compared with the harsh reality, which is represented by the frost on the ground. You can imagine how desirous Li Bai was to return to the pure spiritual world. The moon is his homeland, his love, his dream, his butterfly,his nature. Actually, everyone has their spiritual world and they desire to return to it all the time because he can, in this world only, be blessed with absolute belief, love, hope, freedom, purity, beauty without any burden of evils. So everyone who has an opportunity to appreciate the poem by Li Bai would echo in heart with him and is deeply touched by the simple but deep lines. All in all, comprehending the philosophy behind a poem is the key to interpreting it. |
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