Sean Barrs 's Reviews > Poems

"In a past life I was mistakenly a poet
In a former existence I must have been a painter
Unable to throw off my remnant habits."

I’ve been reading a lot of Chinese poetry in translation lately. I’m in the early stages of researching my Master’s dissertation; I will be looking at how twentieth century western writers appropriated Chinese poetry and brought it into the modern world. Wang Wei is one of the best poets I’ve come across and he exemplifies the forms I will be discussing.

There’s a certain simplicity in his words that is thoroughly deceptive. Chinese poetry is bare and precise. The language appears commonplace and ordinary. It does not feel like an overflow of feelings or passion: it is discreet. Yet, for all that, it carries with it a certain persuasive power.

The poetry of Wang Wei is very much driven by descriptions of nature. Regardless of what’s happening in the world, whether it’s war or a woeful departure, nature remains a beautiful inspiration. Nothing can change that for him, as he marches on, as he plods through life, the splendour of nature remains. Like so:

On Leaving the Wang River retreat

“At last I put my carriage in motion
Go sadly out from these ivied pines
Can I bear to leave these blue hills?
And the green stream – what of that?”



It’s deceptively simple. These four lines carry so much meaning. The narrator is leaving, but that doesn’t matter. The reasons for his departure aren’t important. The real world isn’t important. The issues are small and perhaps petty when faced with such glory. His surroundings here mean more to him, in this instance, than the whole of mankind combined. Leaving the purity of the ivied pines behind is a lamentable loss. Walking away from the blue hills, the hills of stability, of intelligence and of heaven itself is no easy departure. They represent much. It’s all about the colours. The sky and the sea are both blue, as are these symbolic hills. And the stream, the green stream, that represents oneness with nature that is the hardest of all to walk away from. The line “at last I put my carriage in motion,” says it all. The reluctance is palpable. Simple language is the key.

It would remiss though to dub Wang Wei a nature poet. Such a thing ignores the mystical and spiritual elements to his writing. Much of it was driven by love and loss, by the sorrows of human existence. And he copes with such things rather well, as such there are echoes of Buddhist philosophy across his writing. For example:

Suffering from the heat

My thoughts went out to the world
To somewhere utterly alone
Far winds came from a thousand miles
Rivers and seas washed impurities away
Now I realized the body is the affliction
At last I knew, my mind has never awakened
Here is the way to Nirvana, the gate
To pass though the joy of purity.



The words suggest a certain separation the physical world, to the world of possession and objects. They recognise the impermanence of physical sensation, and that overcoming such an obstacle is the final hurdle on the road to enlightenment: to nirvana.

Wang Wei is an excellent poet, and his words are moving. They are driven by isolation, loneliness and will to reconcile with the natural order of things.