“Solitude” is a forever theme in poems. Qian Zhongshu once wrote, “寂静并非是声响全无。声响全无是死，不是静；…寂静可以说是听觉方面的透明状态，正好像空明可以说是视觉方面的寂穆。寂穆能使人听见平常所听不到的声息，…使诗人们听见了暮色移动的潜息或青草萌芽的幽响。”Solitude, shielding all the secular troublesome from poets, gifts them with a crystal mind which can reflect the beauty nearby and make it shining. And the magical feeling it brings these is a combination of peace and joyment, leaving them with enough room for meditation. In this essay, two poems, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and 《题破山寺后禅院》, are chosen as demonstrators for this forever theme.
To begin with, I think it necessary mentioning the images-creating capability of the two poems. Both of the poems are like brushes and they draw a beautiful picture sentence by sentence. Nevertheless, the description of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud makes it an oil painting with bright color and splendid details while 《题破山寺后禅院》a Chinese brush drawing with sketch of different natural items and a misty adjectives. The beauty of solitude is expressed by the two vivid images.
The first part of two poems is a similar scene: the poets are walking. Wordsworth wrote down “I wandered lonely as a cloud/That floats on high o’er vales and hills, /When all at once I saw a crowd,”. Except for the simple act of “walking”, Wordsworth also wrote his thought as well as his feeling specifically. “Cloud” always serves as a symbol of loneliness in western culture, and the word “lonely” enhanced such feeling. But the clause in next line, “that floats on high o’er vales and hills”, also implies a sense of freedom. Thus if these two are combined, the word “solitude” may be the most appropriate words to apply here. In the contrast, the sentence “清晨入古寺，初日照高林。” appears to be more objective. Chang Jian did not focus much on himself but the surroundings he walked through. The first half of the sentence merely states a fact that the poet went into an ancient temple in the morning. However, next, by the selection of image, the early sun shining...