— Melissa Chauca
I consider a “great work” to be a form of media with a lasting message. Not only should a great work have a lasting message, but it should be widely applicable, and interesting to read. I found the idea’s described in the poems to be important to society, as they range from discussing balance, human desire, darkness, human suffering, virtue, the human soul, humility, stillness, dynamism, immortality, etc. The poems left me with an never-ending list of questions, mostly because I felt like I had no idea what I was reading. Some of the concepts described are so vague I did not even have the slightest clue what they could be referring to. For example, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.” Personally, I have no idea how to interpret this line, but I did find it enjoyable that these poems were so ambiguous that the interpretations for the poems differ greatly from person to person. Even reading back to last weeks posts, I found that there was little overlap between the concepts of each poem as described by my peers. The confusion I felt while reading these poems added to my dislike of having to read them. I felt as though they almost sounded pretentious, like they did not know what they were talking about but if they used enough ominous language it would sound like they were actually saying something. Someone please tell me if they can find a meaning behind “Therefore, ‘Tao is great; Heaven is great; Earth is great; The king is also great.’ These are the four great powers of the universe, And the king is one of them.” Obviously heaven is great, that is the entire point of heaven, and obviously the Earth is great too. The Earth is our home, and I am sure people would not disagree with this statement. So what is the purpose of adding these lines? They do not seem to hold a deeper meaning, and the only reason I can find would be to compare the greatness of the king to that if tao, heaven, and earth, but that is not a valid comparison. These lines say more about the time period in which the poem was written than they contribute to the idea of these poems being considered “great works.” Its as though these poems are so vague and ambiguous that they have no actual meaning besides the meaning we give to it.
