Poetry of T'ao Ch'ien

T'ao Ch'ien was born of an impoverished noble family in the late 4th century. He served many posts in the Chinese court, but was appalled by the compromise to principle that was required for his class to succeed. He removed himself from society and lived as a Taoist recluse in the two decades before his death, farming and composing poetry. He writes without the artifice of the publicly recognized poets of his time, and his works are thus more easily approachable.


Substance, Shadow, Spirit

This is a series of three short poems: Substance to Shadow, Shadow to Substance, and Spirit's Solution. The poems are dialogues between man's mortality/physical being, his reputation, and his soul. In the first poem, Substance argues that physical enjoyment is ultimately man's life on earth, for he is forgotten once dead--when wine is offered, when man has a chance to assauage his senses, he should take it. Shadow replies that if man does good works, his fame survive his death, and that is the closest to immortality that man will come.

II. Shadow to Substance

No use discussing immortality
When just to keep alive is hard enough.
Of course I want to roam in paradise,
But it's a long way there and the road is lost.
In all the time since I met up with you
We never differed in our grief and joy.
In shade we may have parted for a time,
But sunshine always brings us close again.
Still this union cannot last forever--
Together we will vanish into darkness.
The body goes; that fame should also end
Is a thought that makes me burn inside.
Do good, and your love will outlive you;
Surely this is worth your every effort.
While it is true, wine may dissolve care,
That is not so good a way as this.

Spirit has the last word, claiming that until he accepts his death and his insignificance to the world, man will not be happy in life. This is a taoist ideal, and claims that good works should be done for themselves, not for reputation. That the pleasure of wine is good, but for its consequences, should be limited. The Spirit professes a "surrender to the cycle of things" as the solution to man's disquiet, a stoic acceptance of the inevitability of death.

The above image is Portrait of T'ao Ch'ien by Chen Hongshou (1599-1652). It can be found here.