Hey class,
While reading Li Bo’s poetry, I found the style of his writing to be intriguing. The mood of his poetry caught me off guard at first, however, the way he transitioned these moods to spark new emotions was quite fascinating to me. The way Li Bo transitions the mood In the poem South of the Walls We Fought was quite significant in my opinion. Li Bo introduces us to a mysterious and sort of gloomy setting, “…They died in fighting on the steppes, their vanquished horses neigh, mourning to the sky. Kites and ravens peck men’s guts, fly with them dangling from their beaks and hang them high on boughs of barren trees…Now I truly see that weapons are evil’s tools: the sage will use them only wen he cannot do otherwise.” After reading these lines, I anticipated a further analysis of the impact of what seemed to be a brutal battle with many casualties. However, to my surprise, the very next stanza had transitioned into a tranquil environment “Look there! The waters of the Yellow River, coming down from Heaven, rush in their flow to the sea, never turn back again…For satisfaction in this life taste pleasure to the limit, And never let a goblet of gold face the bright moon empty. Heaven bred in me talents, and they must be put to use…And when you sit yourself to drink, always down three hundred cups.” This new mood was a little confusing at first, as I wondered what had happened to this horrible battleground. Besides that slight confusion, I enjoyed the sudden transition and found it interesting how Li Bo was able to transition his moods in the matter of just a few lines.
My question for the class is: Were you guys just as taken back as I was when reading the poem South of the Walls We Fought? Were you surprised at such a drastic change of the mood in the poem?
Response to Nick’s post.
I was not exactly taken aback by the reading. I happen to love gruesome war movies (The Last Samurai, The Patriot) so for me it kind of just fit into that category. I will say that the writing is truly powerful and he did an amazing job creating visuals for the reader. You almost gain an emotional attachment to the scene being created in such few words. Yes I can agree with the mood swing being unexpected and abrupt. I don’t disagree with where Li Bo took the poem, and I was able to understand the beauty in it. However it did kind of just jump as I was expecting the entire poem to be one of mourning and despair. Honestly the two different moods brought out by this poem led to a really fun and enjoyable read. I kind of like how deep and real this poetry is in comparison to some of the other poetry readings I have been assigned in the past.
Hey Christian,
I completely agree with you on the fact that Li Bo’s style in writing his poetry was quite entertaining. I felt intrigued to continue reading. I also agree with you on the fact that Li Bo is able to spark a special emotional attachment when you read his plays. Hopefully we can find more poetry like this because poetry rocks!!
I completely agree! I felt the same way when reading The Sun Rises and Sets. At first when the earth and sun were being described in a positive connotation, i thought this was poem was going to be about the beauty of the universe. However, in the second stanza, he goes in into talking about a goddess for the sun drowning herself. He then goes on into talking about destruction and chaos of the world. I just found it interesting that he took such a negative turn compared to the way he started.
Hey Erica,
I completely agree! Do you think Li Bo switched the mood of his poems so abruptly to spark emotion within his readers?
Or perhaps his intentions were to draw the reader closer to the poem itself using a change in moods. I haven’t read much poetry similar to Li Bo but I find his work fascinating and intriguing!
Hey Nick, I also agree with what you’re saying. The way the mood changed in between stanzas was quite sudden and did raise incertitude within me. I was amazed by how quickly Li Bo changed the mood of the poem which honestly kept me engaged in reading this poem sparking a certain degree of interest within me.
Hello All,
So overall I agree with all of you on the basis that Li Bo’s style of transmitting the overall message of the poem is different than many other writers with the transition from happiness to sadness and mourning. I like the way this poem is outlined because if gives the reader a Mellon Colly feeling. Overall, I thought that Li Bo did an amazing job with using a limited amount of words and still being able to convey his message the reader with great visual language.
Best,
Yasir Walli
Hello Nick & Commenter,
Li Bo’s writing style is definitely not the same as some of the other writers we’ve seen before, so I think we can all agree on that. The way he abruptly changes the mood within his poems caught my eye, making me first believe the poem is going to be about a happier topic, only to immediately change the tone to a much more morbid scenario. I guess I would say I was a little taken aback by it, but also felt a lot more intrigued by his writing, especially considering he used very few words to present his message.
-Danny