This poem is about women and how being a women naturally comes with roles that you must balance in your everyday life. This is essential when it comes to living and existing in society. This poem shows the good and bad qualities of womanhood. This is mostly shown through the ending lines of the poem, “Bearing yet not possessing, working yet not taking credit, leading yet not dominating, this is the Primal Virtue”. Women are simply existing, they do not stand out or make any waves. They must follow this, but on the contrary, they also have to have a balance of love and respect. This is shown through the line, “Loving all men and ruling the country”. A women must be a lover and a fighter at the same time. If a women is too submissive and has no power she will have failed and not achieved the Primal Virtue. The following line, “Can you be without cleverness?” emphasizes how important it is to always be strong and independent for their own sake, but to society, they must be flexible, openminded, loving and caring.
2 Responses to Tao Te Ching (#10)
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I found your interpretation of this poem very relatable to all women. Society expects women to conform to any image in which they desire. If she can’t fit this cookie-cutter image, the world looks down upon her. A woman is expected to be loving and soft, but at the same time they have to create this hard shell around themselves. I agree with the idea that a woman must be a lover and a fighter. She wants to love and care, but refuses to be passive or background noise. There’s this inner conflict on how to keep both sides balanced.
I can definitely see how you have come to this interpretation of the poem. I agree with your points of how women often exist in the background but do not stand out in the spotlight. I also love how you added the fact of how a woman must be a lover and fighter at the same time, which often is true as women are expected to show a soft and gentle personality, yet they have to be strong for everything they go through. Women have to be strong on the inside but not let that shine too much on the outside or society will often see them in a bad way, and I think this is a constant internal struggle for women who want to stand their ground and prove what they are capable of.