Nature In Tao Qii

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“White clouds have no ending time,” is the last line in Wang Wei’s poem “Farewell.” This line has enormous meaning within itself, because a white cloud exists without any roots. It is an “unrooted” phenomenon, grounded nowhere or grounded in the nowhere. But it still exists. The whole of existence is like a white cloud: without any roots, without any causality, without any ultimate cause, it exists. (Osho) It exists as a mystery, a mystery admired by many such as Tao Qian and Wang Wei. Clouds contribute to nature’s endless beauty. The beauty of nature is represented in several poems of Tao Qian and Wang Wei. Although both poets share the love of nature, both poets differ through their life experiences, ambitions and miscellaneous societies.
China has been prominently known for its poetry since ancient times and the Chinese classical poetry has gained a significant place in the poetry world by its “melodious rhythms, refined language, profound cultural backgrounds, and the pursuit of artistic conception (Chen Xi).” A remarkable area of Chinese classical poetry is the landscape poetry. Landscape poetry is characterized by its harmonious combination of emotional conditions and poetic imagery. Both Tao Qian and Wang Wei gain much inspiration and pleasure from the surrounding landscape and in turn create masterpieces in form of poetry. Tao Qian shows captivation in his farm along the countryside; therefore, he tends to write about domestic nature found in gardens, backyards and in the cultivated countryside. Tao Qian expresses the overwhelming feeling that nature gives him in several lines from his poem “The Return.” “Seeing the trees in the courtyard brings joy to my face” (line 22) and “Every day I stroll in the garden for pleasur...

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...oken paintings, his painted as silent poems.
Although both Tao Qian and Wang Wei are separated by time and space, and are influenced by their own environments and philosophical traditions, their poetic inspirations, however, seem originate from the same foundation: nature. Nature plays a major role in both the poets’ lives and exclusively their poetry. Tao Qian’s ideals gives him much respect as a man content with his inner self, material deficiency, and the difficulties of his farm life. His poems evolve around the pleasures he gain from working on his fields and his modest cottage. Wang Wei’s gained appreciation arises from his description of the landscape giving one that sense of beauty of a picture within a poem. Both poets’ process the ability to create poems that can that solely convey sweet emotions and in turn stirs the heart and mind of the reader.

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