  用英语讲好中国故事之——孟浩然《宿建德江》赏析   A general character that Chinese art possesses is revealed by Feng Youlan who thus put: The Confucianists took art as an instrument for moral education while the Taoists took art as the idealisation of nature which gave profound inspiration to the great artists of China. In a landscape painting, at the foot of a mountain or the bank of a stream, one always finds a man sitting, appreciating the beauty of nature and contemplating the Tao or Way that transcends both nature and man. Li Zehou pointed out that the art of China is the offspring of mutual complementation of Confusiunism and Taoism. In the long history of poetry art, there are many peoms to verify Feng and Li. But today we will read a unique poem which can illustrate the character in itself. When I say so, I mean from the poem alone, we can feel how Confuciunism and Taoism simultaneously exert their impact on this poem. Here is the poem: 移舟泊烟渚 日暮客愁新 野旷天低树 江清月近人 ————孟浩然《宿建德江》 Rowing boat to misty islet Sun setting adds new sentiment In wilderness sky looks lower than trees On limpid stream the moon loos so close. ————Trs. by Peter Wang His boat is afloat on a river. It is like his life journey. The boat is his life and the river, his life vicissitudes. The boat of life is now exhausted in the waves of the social river, so it is finding a rest place. Meng Haoran, the poet, was ever committing himself to the pursuit of being an official in court, but the reality disappointed him over and again, which tortured, ground and gnawed his heart and soul, so he felt rejected and hurt in it, just like a boat floating on a torrential river, for which an islet, even an islet, can be the best rest place for a breath. Confuciusim urges a man to make the political belief prevail, which is called man can make the Way prevail, not in reverse. A man should shoulder the burdens of making Dao, here referring to Confuciusim, prevail among people. This way, the ideal society can be realised. According to doctrines of Confuciunism, a man is supposed to stand out in a career, devoting himself to making contributions to establishing a harmonious society. By harmonious it means a society of “let the ruler be ruler, the minister minister, the father father, the son son” following the moral doctrine: human-heartedness inside and rituals outside. The best way, in accordance with its political beliefs, is either to be a prime minister or to be a doctor. But to Meng Haoran and poets alike, to be an official in court to serve the emperor, which is equal to serving the country, is not easy. So his boat of life needs a rest place badly. To accept failure is hard. Resting his head on the pillow, he couldn’t help thinking of many things he experienced in life and in reality, which added more sorrows to his life. Setting your heart on the Dao( the Way), Confuciunism taught him, but now he was like a homeless man who couldn’t find his heart's destination. When he found an islet at last, he anchored his boat and had a good rest, desiring to get refreshed. But the setting sun dyed the circumstances a ray of sentiment and melancholy. His sadness, agony, depression, disappointment and humiliation rushed into his mind and kept him awake. He needed a cure for his homesickness. The cure is nature. This is the turning point of the poet’s attitude towards his life from the social responsibilities of man Confuciunism emphasizes to what is natural and spontaneous in him Taoism emphasises, which makes the poem unique in the history of Chinese poetry because never before was there any poem which contains so clear a trace of the transition of the philosophy of Confuciunism to that of Taoism. Once the pot returns to nature, which, by Emerson, is made to conspire with spirit to emanciate us. In a sense, the poet suffers from reality in the early stage, but then he communicates with nature in pleasure. So the tune of feelings of the first part and the second part of this poem is quite different as it is, as in the second part, in which the theme of the poem lies, the poet lives the life of nature and doesn’t import into his mind difficulties and sufferings in the first part.. Nothing in nature is exhausted. Every natural process is a version of a moral sentence. The moral law lies at the centre of nature and radiates to the circumference. The moral influence of nature upon every individual is that amount of truth which it illustrates to him. I may be safe to say that the poet in this poem tries to keep a balance of reality, humanity, and naturality, which is the bridge between the former two. And thus the poet starts to lead a life in harmony with nature to sweep away the bitterness of the first part, which describes his disunity with himself, lacking unity, which is the reason why he leads a broken life, but now when he totally gets united with nature, he finds peace and eternity. Reading this peom reminds me of an English peom of which there are the following lines: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude And then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils |
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