Hello class,
While reading about both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi, along with their poems, I was relatively intrigued by their unique styles in writing. Before reading about them, I was unfamiliar with the concept of T’ang poetry altogether. After reading, I got a better understanding on how T’ang poetry can be expressed quite differently. Both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi are examples of how they use this style of poetry to convey very different messages. For example, Wang Wei’s poems seem to focus mostly on expressing a tranquil scenery of what he sees. He displays a bit of a detachment from reality. During the time period he lived on, there was the An Lushan Rebellion going on. Many writers and poets from that time decided to focus on the events from it, but Wang Wei decided not to for the most, despite being effected by it (i.e. becoming imprisoned). Wang basically created his own alternate reality through his writing, to perhaps escape what was actually happening. Interestingly, Bo Juyi uses T’ang poetry to bring focus towards social issues, unlike what Wang would have done. His style of writing is quite different from Wang’s as well. Juyi’s poems were relatively long and in the form of songs, whereas Wang’s poems were always very short and vague in comparison.
My question is: why do think Wang Wei steered away from any of the political and social issues going on in his time throughout most of his writing? Do you think it’s because he tried to escape that reality, or is it for a different reason?
Hello
Thank for sharing your thoughts. I like how you present your case for both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi. Your before and after experience and description of reading help me(the reader) enter in your mind set of thinking. You careful articulate your thoughts and gave your reason. To answer your question, in my opinion I think Wang Wei steered away from any of the political and social issues going on in his time throughout is writing because I believe he wanted his poetry to solely for entertainment. Also not just for entertainment but for make the reader enter in his world or relax the reader. Reason being to relax the reader in way of distraction. Maybe there was chaos during that time period of the writing.
Also for your second question, it would be the possibility to escape reality. Escape from worries of the world.
Hello Danny,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on both Wang Wei and Bo Juyi. Reading your blog post, I also wasn’t fully aware on the historical background that was in play during that time period in which the An Lushan Rebellion was taking place. I like the way you used this information to connect to the motives behind why the writers wrote their literature the way they did. To answer the question you posed to the class, I agree with the conclusion that Wang Wei most likely wrote the way he did in order to relax his mind from the hardships around him. Writing for many people is a way to express their emotions therefore id feel that Wang Wei is doing so to distract his mind, or in other words trying to look at the glass half full instead of empty by writing about things other than that which bring about negative vibes.
Best,
Yasir
Hello Abigail
Thank you for commenting and sharing your input in response to my blog post. I also very much appreciate the kind comments you made in regards to my writing. Your point on how Wang Wei steered away from the issues for entertainment is a very interesting one. What was even more interesting was how you mentioned he probably wanted to relax the reader or make the reader enter this world. I didn’t really think about it that way, but that sure does open up my mind a bit more in regards to this. I’m glad I was able to see a different view regarding Wang’s purpose behind his behaviors.
-Danny
Hello Yasir
Thank you for commenting and sharing your input in response to my blog post as well. In terms of your answer to the question where you say that Wang Wei most likely wrote the way he did to relax himself from all the trouble going on around him, I do agree with you. When I first read it, the conclusion that Wang was trying to look at the glass as half full made the most sense to me, although Abigail also brought up a great point that not only was it meant to relax himself, but the readers as well. Glad I could hear your views on this.
-Danny
Hi, Danny thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree with people here stating that Wang steered away from what he had been engaging, mostly works in an aristocratic setting (ranking up the ladder in the court), in order to somewhat escape from the reality. I think the rebel of An Lushan, as one of the most catastrophic rebels during the Tang dynasty, was the cause for Wang to jump into poetry describing quiet nature and stuff. Additionally, we may find Li Bo and Wang shares a similarity in a cause for kind of being away from a court/aristocratic setting for a moment; both of them had gone through hardship from an impact of a rebel which made Wang to be held captive and Li Bo to be exiled respectively.