|
明月何以寄相思？ Dreariness in Homesickness1 A repeated word may have caught your attention in the first part of this article,which is exile. Exile means the state of being sent to live in another country that is not your own, especially for political reasons or as a punishment, which may confound the readers who will think it a little surprising to connect exile to the poet who wrote the poem just to give expression to his homesickness. Was the poet forced into exile? Yeah, it’s true. Zhang Jiuling was appointed the prime minister by the Xuan Emperor of Tang Dynasty but was calumniated by cunning minister Li Linfu and was forced into exile and then he wrote such poems in the memory of happiness and harmony of family life with complaints about depression and frustration of being exiled. In ancient China, a scholar who was not being given an official post was a failure and so many poems written by the scholars who felt frustrated are found in any anthology of poetry. Zhang Jiuling is not exceptional. This is the fate of the scholars who have never achieved an independent position in society and have to be attached to the ruling class for a decent living. When they can get such a social position, they can change their family fate as well as their own fate. Meng Jiao ,when winning the first place in imperial examination, wrote the lines: be all smiles, proud, for my achievement, even the horse galloping faster; in a day, just today, I will see all the flowers in Changan in prosperity(春风得意马蹄疾，一日看尽长安花)，fully expressing his pride, satisfaction, happiness and complacence. What he achieved was just that he passed the imperial examination which was the ultimate goals of ancient scholars because the achievement predicated glory, splendor, wealth and rank for the rest of life. Just because of the ecstasy when he was successful in the examination and the following fame and gain, they would feel frustrated badly when they were forced into exile as it meant he would lose everything that he had got. So, in his glory, they would get dizzy with success and even forget his family responsibilities in the name of being unable to devote himself both to family and state( so-called loyalty and filial piety can’tbe realized at the same time). They would stay at his post in the capital city, leaving the duty of taking care of old parents and young children to wife who in tradition point of view should stay at home to fulfill her duties as a woman. They could go round singsong houses but their wives had to remain chaste for them, including in the form of death. Till one day, he was exiled and lost his official position or post that he would be homesickness and recalled the days spent with the wife and children. ZhangJiuling wrote a series of poem after he was calumniated by Li Linfu and was demoted, like many of the scholars who had experienced the same rises and falls in officialdom. When in glory, they held that a man shouldn’t be confined to family affection but should burden a great mission to assist the emperor with his rule to excel Yao and Shun the most ideal rulers, thus purifying and simplifying the customs again but when infrustration, they would find cure from the love of the family. The frustration awaken their love for the family and help them obliterate the hurt in officialdom. They were really good at finding consolation in their lives. Don’t be shocked for their shamelessness because they have never enjoyed their independence of their personality and dignity. They are immersed in family love now but they suddenly become excited and again on the journey to see all the flowers in the capital city if they are called in by the emperor again and they will be immersed in the state love without hesitation. So many historical stories proved that. When Li Si, the prime minister of Qin Dynasty, was to be executed to death by cuttingin two at the waist, he called his son to his side and said: Is it possible that you and me should hold our yellow dog and go out of the eastern door to chase a rabbit? Impossible!“(吾欲与若复牵黄犬，俱出上蔡东门逐狡兔，岂可得乎！”（《史记·李斯列传》）Before his death, his human nature was eventually awakened. Pu Yi, after being deprived of privileges as the emperor, rushed to a secret place to find his grasshoppers. He restrained himself all the years when he was the emperor. And now he came back to a man,one with formal affection and feelings. (Tobe continued) |
|
|
