Ancient Literature in our Modern World

When I read Qiang Village I by Du Fu it reminded me of Where’d You Go by Fort Minor. It was a direct corresponding relationship. To me, the song was a perfect prelude for the poem. The song by Fort Minor tells a tale of men and women leaving for the military and leaving their families behind.

“I miss you so,
Seems like it’s been forever,
That you’ve been gone,
Please come back home…”

The poem Du Fu wrote was about a man that is returning from a long journey and he is greeted with love and open arms.

“Wife and children marvel that I am here:

When the shock wears off, still they wipe away tears.”

In the song, the artist expresses various emotions when loves ones leave to pursue careers or into the military. After a certain amount of time has pass by, the families start to get worried and miss their love ones. At the same time, the artist show anger toward them for leaving and leaving behind their families by themselves. The artist ask if they can still remember their home, their backyards where they once had barbecue and ribs. I feel Du Fu poem shows the emotions of the family once they returned from their journey. Even though they’ve been gone for such a long time, their family will still greet them back with open arms and tears of joy. No matter how angry or sad the families might be when their love ones are missing, once they return the same feelings of love and happiness come back with it.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk5jIDzWv_s

After reading Du Fu’s “Qiang Village” I was reminded of a J. Cole song titled “Visions of Home”

In the poem, Du Fu describes his arrival home after having spent years of his life away from family and friends:

“And the homebound stranger from a thousand li arrives

Wife and children marvel that I am here

When the shock wears off, still they wipe away tears”

Du Fu is referring of himself as a stranger because he feels he’s been through so many experiences that he is no longer the same person who left years ago. Similarly, J. Cole says  “it’s been awhile/ I’m still your child/ I’ve grown in ways that you’ve never known/ I’ve ventured into the world.” Both, Du Fu and J Cole, feel like a different person after being away for a long time.

Du Fu’s description of his family crying portrays not only the joy they have of seeing him but also the pain and suffering they experienced during his absence. In his song, J. Cole also shares this sentiment; by saying “I hate to leave you alone” he is acknowledging that his departure saddens the people who are close to him.

Du Fu wrote poetry while he was away from home; smilarly J Cole says “Seen shit you wouldn’t believe, I write em down in these poems” I think both of them see it of importance to write down their experiences as a way of being remembered. The line “That I return alive is a happening of chance” expresses Du Fu’s belief that he is lucky to have returned home alive. In addition, Du Fu’s saying that his family was shocked to see him implies that nobody expected him to come back; however, had he not been able to return, he would at least have had his cautiously written poems as legacy to his family and the world.

Hi all,

It was very difficult for me to find the relationship between a poem and a song and that is why it took me so long to post. But I finally realized what I was doing wrong. I know the meaning of the songs because I hear them over and over again and tried to do the same with a poem after only reading it once or twice. I read this poem a zillion times today and I finally made it speak to me. We had a beautiful conversation and this is what it told me…

“The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter Ezra Pound” translated by Rihaku tells the story about a love that started when they were both very young. The woman in the poem didn’t know any other love. He departed after just a short time of enjoying love and she decides to wait for him even if it hurts.

I relate this poem to the song “Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx.

At the beginning of the poem I see how the author tries to represent how young they were when the love began, when it says:

“While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead

I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.

You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,

You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.

And we went on living in the village of Chokan:

Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

She wanted to be with him forever, “I desired my dust to be mingled with yours”. That love had no end in her heart. Her love departed and she kept waiting. She waited a long time, so long that the moss grew deep. She is getting older and she knows it, the wait is hurting her but she doesn’t care. She will still wait for her one and only love.

Reading you can feel her desperation and anxiety because she misses him and wants him to come back. In his song Richard Marx starts by saying:

“Oceans apart day after day And I slowly go insane…”

I can picture her in my head looking out the window and going crazy waiting for her love.

When I compared portions of the song and the poem, they both gave me the same feeling. A feeling of desire for a love to never end. The conviction of waiting for that one person no matter how long it takes.

Poem:

“I desired my love to be mingled with yours

Forever and forever and forever”

 Song:

“Wherever you go Whatever you do I will be right here waiting for you Whatever it takes Or how my heart breaks I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all the times That I thought would last somehow”

I have a very mixed taste for music. I saw a posts about “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, “Chandelier”, “Day And Night”, and I love them all. It all depends on the mood I wake up in. I hope some of you like Richard Marx as well, he is a great artist and his songs continue to be perfection even after so many years.

Here is the link, I know after listening to this song some of you will feel like listening to romantic songs like this all night. I do 🙂

One of the Tang Dynasty poems that stood out for me was Du Fu’s Moonlight Night.  Du Fu writes of his wife, who, along with his children, were sent away to safety before rebels captured the city, and their longing to be with each other again.  Thinking upon what they each felt as these events unfolded around them, I feel that Coldplay’s Til Kingdom Come is an appropriate companion to the poem.

Til Kingdom Come isn’t necessarily a song about a war setting, but there are certain lines that can be interpreted as such:

The wheels just keep on turning,
The drummer begins to drum,

They provoke an image of the enemy’s war chariots charging onward into the capital where Du Fu was, and the war drums sounding the attack.  But more importantly, Coldplay’s song revolves around the concept of waiting for a loved one.  Waiting, personally, is a particularly potent display of love and affection for another.

For you, I’d wait ’til kingdom come.
Until my day, my day is done.
And say you’ll come, and set me free,
Just say you’ll wait, you’ll wait for me.

Du Fu must have felt despaired watching his country’s capital fall to rebels firsthand, yet he remembers and yearns for his wife.  It reminds me of many dramatic period love stories in cinema that are set against a war backdrop, where the two protagonists are separated and must overcome adversities to reunite for a happy ending.  For Du Fu, it’s not just a movie, but his reality, and that, to me, makes me empathize with him all the more in Moonlight Night.

Lyrics available here: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/coldplay/tilkingdomcome.html

You can access the link to the video “I Drink Alone by” George Thorogood if you click HERE

You can access the link to the lyrics if you click HERE

Hi, I’ll have to be honest that I couldn’t think of any song to relate to the poems while reading them a couple times. I then had to search online for something I thought would relate to “Drinking Alone with the Moon” and I came across “I Drink Alone” by George Thorogood. Both of the works have a very similar title and once I read the lyrics and watched the video I felt it would be a good choice for my post.

In Li Bo’s poem, he starts his poem off saying he finds wine laying in the flowers and he’s drinking alone without friends and he invites the moon to have a drink with him which is unreal. He also considers himself, the moon, and his shadow to giving him company with the quote:

“I raise the cup to invite the moon.

He and my shadow and I make three?”

The way that I believe “I Drink Alone” relates to this is that George is also drinking alone at the bar if you watch the video and he talks about how he prefers to be by himself when he drinks. Although in Li Bo’s poem there is nothing that says that he’s an alcoholic but someone may assume he is due to him drinking with the moon and alone. The way the song relates to the last quote is that he considers his company to be different types of whiskeys. They both create imaginary friends which they drink with. The quotes from the song that prove this are:

“So I caught up my pal Jack Daniel’s

And his partner Jimmy Beam”

and

“Just me and my pal Johnny Walker

And his brothers Black and Red

And we drank alone, yeah

With nobody else”

Another thing I noticed was how in the poem he states how he sings and the moon moves “to and fro” and when he dances his shadow “leaps and sways”. He imagines the moon and shadow enacting these actions while in the song he has the whiskeys but later states that his “Old Grand-Dad” is the only person that would spend time with him. From that, I understood it as he imagines his dead grandfather drinking with him and giving him company while he drinks.

In both the poem and the song some people can say that they are depressed or lonely but I believe they are happy with drinking alone. In the song he states multiple times that he prefers to drink by himself. On the other hand in the poem, Li Bo states:

“I’ll make merry with them both”

Which shows that he accepts that he’s alone and he’ll make due with what he has.

I hope I made my points clear. If you have any questions feel free to comment.

As I was reading Qiang Village by Du Fu, the first song that came in my mind it was “Let me go home” by Michael Bubble, and I’m coming home from Diddy. As I went deeper the context of the poem didn’t seem to completely sync with this two choices. As the few feelings that I got from this poem was the pain he been through while he was in the war and held hostage” Red clouds tower in the west,/The sun is sinking on the plain” but yet an unbelievable happiness that he is back home. “Laugh, I nearly Died” by Rolling Stones lyrics says

“I’ve been traveling but I don’t know where
I’ve been missing you but you just don’t care
And I’ve been wandering, I’ve seen Greece and Rome
Lost in the wilderness, so far from home
Yeah, yeah”

Lines that relates with the poem how far the poet traveled to finally get home. And then the lyrics say

“I’m so sick and tired
Trying to turn the tide, yeah
So I’ll say my goodbye
Laugh, laugh
I nearly died”

This line shows how the singer was ready to die, but yet he can laugh now because he missed death.

Probably “I’m coming home” by P. Diddy has stanza that says:

” Ain’t No Stopping Us Now”, I love that song
Whenever it comes on it makes me feel strong
I thought I told y’all that we won’t stop
We back cruising through Harlem, these ol’ blocks
It’s what made me, saved me, drove me crazy
Drove me away then embraced me
Forgave me for all of my shortcomings
Welcome to my homecoming
Yeah, it’s been a long time coming
Lot of fights, lot of scars, lot of bottles
Lot of cars, lot of ups, lot of downs
Made it back, lost my dog (I miss you BIG)
But here I stand (here I stand), a better man! (a better man)
Thank you Lord (Thank you Lord)
Thank you all!”

This stanza makes me feel like is a more modern situation as the one Du Fu describes. “Lot of fights, lot of scars, lot of bottles/Lot of cars, lot of ups, lot of downs/Made it back, lost my dog (I miss you BIG)” can be compared with the war and the hard situation that Du Fu experienced at the time and P. Diddy says that he been through fights, he got scars (probably he has been disappointed by people, but also physical scars), then he says how he lost his “dog” as he is referring to Notorious BIG, his close murdered friend and also a legend for Hip Hop.

At the end of this stanza, Diddy says:

“But here I stand (here I stand), a better man! (a better man)
Thank you Lord (Thank you Lord)
Thank you all!”

These final verses state the same thing Du Fu stated, that he made it home, thanking God for it as Du Fu lighted also his candles at night. And yet all that seemed a dream.

Going through the Tang poetry many of them interested me , but one written by Li Bo titled Drinking along with the moon caught my eye. This poem had a deep message and one that everyone can learn from. It seems in the poem The author is Lonely, depressed and in need of a friend. Instead of going out to reach out to his real friends he reaches out to the devil Alcohol. the person in the poet drinks to the point where he is talking to himself as well as believing that the moon and stars are his friends.

After reading this poem a couple of songs came to my mind but one that such out was Habits by Tove Lo. In the song the artist turns to drugs and alcohol to get over a recent breakup or fight between her friends. She is feeling lonely and turning to that same devil to get over the pain. one line in the song that i see are connected is,  “cant go home alone again, need something to numb the pain” obviously when she says she need something to numb the pain she is talking about something to make her feel better. Same thing in the poem the person in the poem it states “I raise mt cup to invite the moon, he and my shadow and i make three”. The author in the poet is alone as well and turning to alcohol to make him feel better.

There is a recurring theme of alcohol and loneliness in the poem and the song. Today there is a major problem with alcohol especially as you move up the social ladder. People with more money are usually the ones that result to alcohol to make them feel better as we see this famous song writer and producer talks about her addiction with drugs and alcohol.

Lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/tovelo/habits.html

Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh2LWWORoiM

When I read Wang Wei’s “Farewell”, I thought of sad songs from alternative bands that I love listening to. I tried to listen to Secondhand Serenade, Coldplay, MCR, Paramore, Green Day, etc to find the perfect song that best relates to this poem. I believed that I will find one easily because these bands write a lot of “emo” or sad songs that I used to love listening to when I was in high school. When I tried to listen to Dashboard Confessional song “The Best Deceptions”, I immediately knew I’m going to be using that song for this assignment. Just because the first line of the lyrics says:

“I heard about your trip”

and I already knew what was the song is about. “Farewell” by Wang Wei can be understood in a different ways as I read it again and again. For me, I understand it as to someone writing a poem about a friend who is about to leave and having a farewell goodbye. The poem’s first lines are:

“Dismounting, I offer my friend a cup of wine,
I ask what place he is headed to.”

Wang Wei’s simply telling a story of a leave-taking scene by starting to offer his friend a parting drink. He doesn’t know where his friend is going but he is aware about his leave that is why he want to celebrate it. I relate this to Dashboard Confessional’s “The Best Deceptions” as this song is also about a farewell to a friend who is moving somewhere and the writer of the song also didn’t have any idea about the whole trip his friend was headed to. I understand the poem as Wang Wei is questioned about the reasons of his friend’s sudden leave and asking for an explanation.

Meanwhile, Dashboard Confessional’s lyrics include this line many times: “I guess I should have heard of them from you”, the song writer was upset about his friend’s leave and that he wanted to be informed about it. This questions the story why that certain person wanted to a sudden leave and not even telling his friend about his trip. As the Wang Wei’s “Farewell” includes these lines:

“He says he has not achieved his aims”

While in Dashboard Confessional’s “The Best Deceptions”:

“I heard about your regrets
I heard that you were feeling sorry
I heard from someone that you wish you could set things right between us”

In the poem “Farewell”, Wang Wei told us that his friend didn’t achieved his aims, his expectations or predictions. I compare this to “The Best Deceptions” lyrics as the song writer mentioned reasons why his friend left him and had a farewell goodbye.

In “Farewell”, the second to the last line is:

“Now go, and ask me nothing more,”

Wang Wei is now replying a dissatisfaction from his friend whose fulfillment wasn’t met. While Dashboard Confessional has also the same situation as this line from “The Best Deceptions” says:

“I’ll be all right when my hands get warm
Ignoring the phone, I’d rather say nothing
I’d rather you’d never heard my voice”

I found the last line from “Farewell” a little bit confusing as I don’t fully understand what “white clouds drifting” mean. But I understood it as like a promise to a friend that they can still keep in touch with each other. Communication can still happen between them after this sad farewell. His goodbye will not mean a forever leave from his friend.

“White clouds will drift on for all time.” – Farewell, Wang Wei

“So kiss me hard ’cause this will be the last time that I let you
You will be back someday
And this awkward kiss that screams of other people’s lips
Will be of service to keeping you away”  – The Best Deceptions, Dashboard Confessional.

Dashboard Confessional’s “The Best Deceptions” lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-best-deceptions-lyrics-dashboard-confessional.html

listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnGp3ylJ2x8

I found another song that reminded me “Farewell” but it is in a Tagalog language. I grew up listening to Filipino songs and I really love this Filipino band. I found this song that also has a great connection to Wang Wei’s Farewell poem. It’s also about someone who is about to leave and he is upset saying goodbye. Here is the English Translation of the song “Bye Bye Na” by Rivermaya:

“Bye Bye Na” by Rivermaya music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrwuVEHJu1Q

Kid Cudi’s song “Day ‘N’ Nite ” has deep and intriguing meaning to it, and it specifically relates to a poem we read last week, “I Stand Alone” Du Fu in terms of the topic. Loneliness and anguish are the center of attention throughout both poems.

“Instigations in nature approach men’s affairs—
I stand alone in thousands of sources of worry.”

In these two lines, the author is trying to tell the reader that finally, after describing the falcon in the sky, the seagulls gliding in the river, the dew on the grass, and the spider’s web ready, humans also have a place in nature. This place to Du Fu, is a world of a thousand sources of worry which leads to loneliness because of all these things (the seagulls/grass) around him, none can related to him and his problems and he “Stand(s) Alone,” a reference to the title. His dilemma, is that no humans are around for him to share his thoughts with in this forest he is in.

Kid Cudi makes the same references in the following lyrics:

“Day and night (what, what)
I toss and turn, I keep stressing my mind, mind (what, what)
I look for peace but see I don’t attain (what, what)”

He is telling the listener of his work, that he is having a hard time finding harmony within himself due to the troubles he may be having with his life or internally. This relates back to the anguish I said Du Fu might be feeling and the problem he faces with not having the ability to share his problems; portraying the aspect of loneliness. This same loneliness that Du Fu goes through, Kid Cudi goes through as well in the lines:

“The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He’s all alone through the day and night
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night (at, at, at night)”

Kid Cudi is facing these problems alone, with only himself to help reconcile his problematic situation at night, as he is alone (figuratively, could be that he has no one to talk to) throughout all other times of the day.

This post was difficult for me as I was not able to find a correlation between a poem and song. After some extensive research, I was finally able to decide on a song and poem. The poem I choose to relate to a song is Du Fu’s Spring Prospect. I choose this song because I felt it reminded me of Metallica’s “One”. “One” is an antiwar song derived by the events of World War I on a soldier. Very much like “Spring Prospect”, “One” describes the pain and struggles that occur during war.

The first verses I choose to compare, starting with “Spring Prospect” is

“Feeling the times, blossoms draw tears;
hating separation, birds alarm the heart.”

“a letter from home worth ten thousand in gold”

And in Metallica’s “One” I chose the following verse, this verse portrays similar emotions but at a much more drastic level,

“Darkness
Imprisoning Me
All That I See
Absolute Horror
I Cannot Live
I Cannot Die
Trapped in Myself
Body My Holding Cell”

These verses express mental traumatic stress experienced through their respective events. At this point the melody of the song becomes much more aggressive and rapid. Which I believe is a representation of anger, just like how Du Fu expresses in the second line.

The line in “Spring Prospect” that says

“White hairs, fewer for the scratching, soon too few to hold a hairpin up.”

Du Fu speaks on how the long war has altered his physicality and I felt Metallica’s “One” similarly portrays this, in a much more gruesome way, in the verse that says

“Landmine

Has Taken My Sight
Taken My Speech
Taken My Hearing
Taken My Arms
Taken My Legs
Taken My Soul
Left Me with Life in Hell.”

I felt both verses are great examples of how war changes people physically. Du Fu’s example regards how much he has aged, which is caused by the duration of his imprisonment during the war. And the other is a soldier that was permanently wounded during World War I.

In conclusion, I felt both compositions depicted the effects of War, one from the perspective of a prisoner of war, while the other is through the eyes of a severely injured soldier.

LYRICS: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/metallica/one.html