---- An Analysis of the Metaphorical and Symbolic Meaning of the Water Imagery in Tang Poetry
A painting of mountains intertwined with mists, a fishing village, and rivers
‘Fishing Village in Moonlight’ - Gu Liang (15th century)
The conventional tie between water and autumn in Chinese literature has been a significant and interesting one, which is likely influenced by Zhuangzi in Book 17: The Autumn Floods of Zhuangzi. The natural occurrence of leaves falling and plants withering away during autumn endowed the season with the sense of melancholy and loss. Water in autumn was subsequently used to express the poets’ emotions of sorrow and pessimism and further emphasize the alienation of these individuals in society. For instance, in the poem Yellow Grass Gorge, Du Fu combined the depiction of water with autumn to further paint a vivid, though bleak, imagery of family parting in a time of war and chaos, “From ten thousand leagues the autumn wind blows on the water of the Brocade River, whose parting tears are those that soak the gossamer gown? (万里秋风吹锦水, 谁家别泪湿罗衣 。)” In these two lines, Du Fu combined the cold autumn wind with water to depict a dismal yet grandeur scenery that reflects the grief in parting with one’s family. The use of water here elicits a coherent, sorrowful atmosphere with the other objects portrayed in the poem to collectively sway the readers of the cruelty of war and its dreadful impacts on the people. On the surface, the “parting tears” are elicited and emphasized by the natural environment, while the underlying significance of this line lies in Du Fu’s deeply rooted concerns for the welfare of the nation. Therefore, the “parting tears” here further refer to the grief of parting with one’s family who has been enlisted into the army and whom they may never see again. The lines before these two lines sets up this implicit meaning well, “Of the official courier from Qin there is no news, troops and arms on the roads of Shu, there are disputes.” These two lines demonstrate the political dismay that Du Fu faced during the majority of his life and his lack of knowledge of the news from the frontier. Though Du Fu never explicitly expressed loneliness in this poem, the grief of parting with one’s family, in combination with his misgivings and apprehension towards the future of the nation in the two lines before, are all filled with the implicit connotations of the lonely existence of oneself in the world and alienation from the political and social center. The rhetorical question at the end of the poem shows the pervasiveness of parting grief in the late Tang era, furthering the sense of loneliness depicted in the prior portions of the poem.
Though Li Bai also uses autumn water to express loneliness and social disengagement in his poems, unlike Du Fu, there is a certain sense of willingness and untamed nature in the symbolic meaning of water. For example, Li Bai wrote in the second poem of his series of five poems titled A Trip To Dongting, “Autumnal waters and a clear sky – what a nice and smokeless night. Right up to the heavens shall I fly following the lake's rippling tide? Joyously in my boat I ride, borrowing Dongting's moonlight bright; Do let's moor the boat and buy wine beside the clouds white.” (*note there was no “I” in the original Chinese text) Li Bai frequently linked water with the moon to paint an aloof, distant, and lonely imagery as a means to express his own self-awareness as someone who deems himself as not being understood by those that hold power. Though Li Bai also depicted autumn water in this poem, the overall atmosphere that such motif elicits is refreshing and enchanting. Autumn water, the moon, as well as the cloud all formed a vivid, cogent autumn scenery that refreshes the senses of the readers. However, there is also an underlying sense of loneliness aroused by the poet’s frantic imagination. In the line “Right up to Heaven shall I fly following the lake's rippling tide?” Li Bai wishes to transcend beyond the mundane world and rise up to Heaven on the “lake’s rippling tide.” which arguably can be said to be influenced by the Daoist emphasis on bypassing one’s earthly desire and adhering to the spontaneity of the universe. The water here is a chilly, dynamic object that has been tied with the poet’s otherworldly aspirations and idealistic fantasies. Li Bai seems to find no console or belongingness in this world and thus actively seeks a way to rise up to Heaven through his frantic imaginations. Though the poem appeared to be optimistic, the connotations of the imagery still reflect the psychological world of a person who has been alienated from society. From these two poems, it is evident that the personal characters of the different poets (Du Fu as more humble and Li Bai as more unrestrained) impart the water metaphor with nuanced, different meanings and thus create different impacts on the readers.