From primary school to senior high school, our Chinese teachers always asked us to recite ancient Chinese poems. We did that partly to meet the national education criteria while some of the poems were extra assignment. Personally I was inclined to learn those masterpieces of ancient talent. I was quite into the way they manipulated words, the rhyme that generated beauty of music, the object and sense used to create certain atmosphere, the emotion flowed within the lines.
When facing those curious pieces of art, I was always amazed by how sensitive the poets were-they could discern the most subtle variation of their emotion and convey them precisely through limited words. Somehow most touching poems reveal painful feelings: suffering from homesick, depressions of failure, missing loved ones, morning the exhausted youth. Perhaps the character of being sensitive also caused the great poets to be susceptible and vulnerable. From this perspective, maybe these masters in literature led painful lives; however, I perceive them to have more enjoyment than ordinary people for they found a channel of releasing their deepest feelings and communicating with readers regardless of the gap of time.
When I learnt those poems actually I could not completely share those feelings though I could literally understand the content. The emotions in the context were distant. My Chinese teacher in the senior high school once told us that it was nothing out of ordinary that we could not completely relate to those poems, and we would be truly touched after experiencing more. She was right for now I feel that the pieces in which homesick is depicted makes more sense to me. I am grateful that my teachers asked me to learn those great masterpieces by heart, and I will cherish the knowledge.
Well, giftedly, I have never fascinated by poem. Whenver my Chinese teacher requiered me to recite poems, I feel so terrible even than lose my life. I think that is one of the reason that I can not do well in my English.
ReplyDeleteChinese ancient poems were beautiful. I didn't realize the beauty of Chinese until I came to Singapore and forced to learn English all day..haha. Well, English is also nice. But there're so many beautiful sentences that we can only express in Chinese.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you. In china, students are always required to recite poem, preparing for Chinese College Entrance Examination. However, I don't understand these poem well. So, I doubt whether it is worthy for us to learn something that we don't understand.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think it is important to learn Chinese poetry. It is a kind of culture of China, and it represents the history of some dynasty. I think we can just appreciate them without aim and purpose, and then you will find the beauty behind Chinese poetry.
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