Final Paper

One important aspect of all cultures around the world is their take on literature and how they approach the concept. There are different styles of writing everywhere, even in distinct cultures themselves. Along with the thought of literary style is the way that readers look at and analyze pieces of work. Also the importance and influence that literature has on a society is different around the world. These cultural influences may not be obvious at first but when one is able to see literature from another culture, and actually have someone from that culture express their view points and thoughts, then differences in thought become apparent. People approach and analyze a piece of literature differently based upon how they see things and what they find important. Two people can look at the very same poem and interpret it in totally different ways, and who is to say which interpretation is right?
Poetry in America compared to China has a smaller role. Something interesting about the Chinese is their involvement in literature at such an early age. Children from about age four already start to learn the classic poems and other pieces of work. There are some poems that almost everyone in China can recite by memory. In America we really do not have this dedication to literature. We see it in a different way. Poetry in America has more of a universal meaning. One is able to read a poem and get at least an idea of what the poet is feeling and thinking. This is not true for poems in China. They are much more difficult to understand. My partner said that in order to understand that poem one must first understand the poet and his background. The poet that I focused on was a first century poet named Du Fu. Du Fu’s poems focused on suffering and war because during this time war and riots were in full swing. This is a key element to understand the meaning of his works. Du Fu also implements a technique called yi xiang by the Chinese. This form of writing relates nature and scenery to the way the poet is feeling. The use of colors is also used to describe emotions and feelings.
One poem that I analyzed by Du Fu goes as follows:
Two yellowbirds chirp in the green willow
one row of egret fly into the blue sky
outside the window, a thousand years of snow lies on the western mountains
in front of the door, ten thousand miles of boats float in the Dong Wu harbor
The way that I analyzed this was with American influence and thinking. In the first two lines I thought of spring and happiness, which then turned into dark and gloomy due to the snow. I thought that this represented some onset of sadness. However this was the wrong meaning, quite the opposite. Really to understand this poem one needed to understand Chinese culture and history. This poem was written right after the end of a war and the soldiers were coming home in their ships. This was a happy time for Du Fu; this happiness was represented by spring and all its colors. Even the snow represented happiness because the day was so clear and bright that he was able to see the snow on top of the mountains. Although this just may be my way of thinking, there are differences in the way that we as Americans understand things versus the Chinese.
This second poem written by Du Fu was his first major piece of work. I learned that knowing this was a key element to the poem.
View of Mt. Tai
What shall I say of the Great Peak?
The ancient dukedoms are everywhere green
Inspired and stirred by the breath of creation
With the Twin Forces balancing day and night
My chest holds layers of clouds
I strain my sight to see the birds flying home
Once I get to the very top
All the other mountains will look very small
I thought that this poem was about his insignificance in the world which was related to how everything looked so small from on top of the mountain. Bu this poem was really about Du Fu wanting to succeed and reach the top. It was helpful to learn that Mount Tai was considered by the ancient Chinese to be the highest place in the world. So this poem is describing how he wants to be great and it shows his ambitions to be above everyone.
Through this project I was able to see the great contrast between views on literature and what kinds of ideas and things we focus on. But the thing that sticks out most was what my partner said about needing to know the poet in order to understand the poem. This struck me because this is not something that I think about at all when reading poems. I look more at the words to find out the meaning versus at the person themselves. I believe that culture has a great influence on the way we look at things and in turn the way we write. This is what creates such a diverse array of literature; each has greater focus on different ideas, themes, writing forms or something totally different. This factor is what makes the impact, importance and interpretation of literature different in every culture.