About the poet- Tao Qian (or Tao Yuanming) (365-427) is the most famous pre-Tang Chinese poet. His best-known works deal with his retirement from public life.
Literal translation
Settle home in person place But no cart horse noise Ask gentleman how able so Heart far place self partial Pluck chrysanthemum east hedge down Leisurely look south mountain Mountain air day night beautiful Fly birds together return This here have clear meaning Wish argue already neglect speech
Simple English meaning
I made my home amidst this human bustle, Yet I hear no clamour from the carts and horses. My friend, you ask me how this can be so? A distant heart will tend towards like places. From the eastern hedge, I pluck chrysanthemum flowers, And idly look towards the southern hills. The mountain air is beautiful day and night, The birds fly back to roost with one another. I know that this must have some deeper meaning, I try to explain, but cannot find the words.
Critical Analysis: Robert Oxnam :: One of Tao Qian's poems is particularly famous for its influence on later generations of poets. It is the fifth in a series entitled "Drinking Wine."
In this poem, Tao Qian meditates upon the meaning of retreat.
"Drinking Wine, #5," by Tao Qian
I built my hut on the realm of men yet I hear no rumble of horse and carriage.
Pray, sir, how can this be true? When the mind's far away, your land too is remote.
Paul Rouzer :: At the beginning of this poem, Tao Qian mentions that his own particular hut of reclusion still exists in the realm of men. And yet he goes on to say in a form of paradox that he can no longer hear the sounds of the people who pass by his own particular place.
Why is this? Why does this happen to be so? he asks. The reason, he says, is that reclusion is really a state of mind and not necessarily a question of physical occupation of a remote place. So in other words, Tao Qian is suggesting that a man can live in a state of reclusion, yet continue to participate in the realm of men. He illustrates this by a particularly powerful couplet. A couplet which in many ways is a couplet which has been influential on many Chinese poets.
"Drinking Wine, #5" (continued)
I pick chrysanthemums by my eastern hedge; far off I see the southern hills.
How fine the sunset through mountain mists, and the soaring birds come home together.
There is some real meaning in all of this, though when I try to grasp it I forget the words.
Paul Rouzer :: In between Tao Qian's hedge and the southern mountains is precisely this world of men, which, through a sheer act of will, he's able to ignore. He then elaborates on this particular image to some extent, further on in the poem.
And then goes on to suggest, as many Daoist philosophers have suggested, that ultimate truth cannot be conveyed in language. ------------------------------------------------------------
"I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, and serenely I gaze at the southern mountains." This is a quote from the famous poem Drinking Wine by Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming), a renowned poet who lived during the Eastern Jin (AD 317-420) period in ancient China. Tao was a zesty lover of chrysanthemums, for both their beauty and the flourish cultural meaning the flower represents in Chinese culture.
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Chrysanthemum is native to China and was then introduced all over the world, becoming popular because of its beauty. Ancient Chinese people vested the flower with characteristics like nobility, which is also associated with a gentleman, and longevity. Thus the cultivation of chrysanthemum increased day by day and different varieties were created.
The chrysanthemum is normally planted for ornamental purposes but it's also used to make herbal tea, medicine, and is used in some Chinese dishes.
