Li Po: A Poet words from the heart
Li Po a poet from Western China or so the introduction tells me. I do not think that I really have a care from where a poet hails, only that he is a poet seems to matter to me. Long ago reading some small poem God only know which one that set me on the path to writing poetry and the love I now bear for reading it. I think for me this was the most thrilling section to read.
I found myself reading The Sun Rises and Sets a couple dozen times since my text book arrived. I think it is the aesthetics of his style that is pleasing to me. The descriptiveness he uses to describe something I know about, yet feel I lack the grace to pen something as eloquent in nature as the way Li Po did. This will not be the end of my belief that it is possible though. Once a person reads the words of a good poet it only gives them something to reach for, Li Po’s style is the brass ring of poetry I think.
Take the first Line of The Sun Rises and Sets: “The sun comes up from its nook in the east,” everyone knows that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, however his usage of the work “nook” adds a since of circular eulogistic-ness to the simple action of the suns elliptical path. As Li Po continues in this poem one garners the evidence that he truly did have a phenomenal way with words that super cedes the simplistic nature of words and makes them rise above the earth and lifts them into heaven. Take the simple question from line 5 and 6 for instance. “And where, oh, where, can its team of six dragons ever find any rest?” He adds fantasy to the suns elliptical orbit making it seem possible that if one looks hard enough we will see those six dragons flapping their wings gracefully pulling the sun around. I do not think that I will ever see the sun in the same light again. In my mind I will always see six shiny red-orange dragons harnessed to the red-hot ball of flames we know as the sun.
So while we celebrate the warm glow...