The Beautiful Road

            Knowing how to interpret poetry in a literal way is one thing, but to analyze it and reveal its metaphor is a completely different thing, and takes much more time to solve. The Hard Road by Li Bai, is a great poem and I am glad I chose to experience this art for myself. It's not too long, not too short, and in my opinion couldn't have been written any better. Its structure, word choice, and description is perfect, and with that is complexity. The poem itself is fairly easy to read, at least for me, but I did not understand at least half of what Bai was trying to convey through his writing the first time around. It's easy in form, yet, complex in nature, meaning, and metaphor. I will say when I first read the poem, I only thought about his words in the perspective of literalness. Through much time, research, and analysis I discovered what he was really trying to say. The poem is written in such a way that it can easily be interpreted as a literal story, a literal suffering−a literal journey. But everything Bai says, and how he says it, shows that he was trying to create metaphor to his reality. This poem, as are most others by him, is literally about him. In his lifetime he had periods of wandering, where he would travel in China by foot or by boat, letting his feet take him wherever they please. Every day, it is said he wrote a poem about his travels, about nature, or himself. The Hard Road is about all three, but especially of his own suffering and wonderment. So one could argue that he literally just wrote down, in poetic form, what he felt at the end of a day, and what he literally wanted to do at that time. His dream would be to "sail for the sun" as he says, to wander through nature with no ending, and find enlightenment in a sense. Even a Taoist like him, no one would want to travel endlessly until death at sea or in the mountains. One may be in their 'heaven', but they would fall to death, without understanding themselves. Life without death is one thing, but death without life is worse, because one would only ever experience the darkness. That endless darkness is found when only discovering the world. One must discover the Self and nature in order to find light in life, to one day reach an enlightenment, if that's what they believe. In the end, everyone wants to live their life to the fullest, and it must be accomplished to reach an enlightenment at death. This is what Bai tries to get across, what his poem means as a whole. One must find Self and the world, never give up or waste life and keep going, and experience what they want and need to experience for fulfillment. This is what I analyzed in The Hard Road after reading it many more times, and seeing the metaphorical and meaningful side to the poem. This is only a summary of his entire message, as I found much more to the poem with many different elements and in many different ways.

            The first time I read the poem, the first four lines out of anything else, confused me. As I've said, I took everything literally and later tried to find the metaphor. I thought the first four lines were setting the scene of the poem, and shouldn't be analyzed at all because everything else in the poem seemed so much more important. In fact, now I believe the fourth line sets the mood and the basis of why Bai wrote the poem. "I fling aside my chop-sticks and cup, I cannot eat nor drink..." (Bai 4). The first few lines I still think set the scene in a literal way. Bai worked for one of the Emperors of China for a few years, in which Bai could not wander or be with nature. Instead he was surrounded by riches, which I feel the first three lines of the poem describe the Emperor's place of dining, since he describes gold cups and jade plates, both very luxurious. In reality, he wandered when he wanted when not employed, which pleased him, but if working for the Emperor in the poem is true, he cannot leave to wander anymore. This probably would make him frustrated and feel isolated over time, which leads to my analysis of the fourth line. When he throws his chopsticks, it is clear he is stressed to the limit to do that. Then he says he cannot eat nor drink anymore. Eating and drinking are basic necessities of life, and are simple pleasures in life as well. For him to say he cannot eat or drink anymore shows not only his stress and possibly anger, but depression. This I did not realize until later on. Bai was a heavy wine drinker, and the scene describes him drinking expensive wine. For him to not be able to drink anymore really shows his depression, since alcohol is 'the most pleasurable drink' one could have, especially for an alcoholic like him. Then the next line is also complex. "I pull out my dagger, I peer four ways in vain." (Bai 5). At first, this was the line I had the most questions about, even though it is one with less meaning than others. After interviewing my dad, I narrowed it down to a meaning that makes sense, and now is more obvious than ever to me. He pulls out the dagger in vain as a sign of so much stress and depression, he is willing to hurt himself. Another interpretation, which I thought more and more as I analyzed it, is that he is having a thought of suicide. He feels so isolated and out of place from the world he lives and breathes that he either needs attention from others, or he needs to end his suffering by dying. Either way, this line is the entrance to his abyss in the poem. Whether it is to hurt himself or kill himself, this line is his darkest hour. After this, he starts to prove to himself why he is so sad, and then he finds why life is worth living for, even in extreme suffering.

            The next few lines are perfectly worded to show his meaning, in which they could be literal, but if analyzed, were probably to convey metaphor. "I would cross the Yellow River, but ice chokes the ferry;/ I would climb the Tai-hang Mountains,/ But the sky is blind with snow..." (Bai 6-8). As I first read this, I was still in the realm of literalness, and thought that these were only to explain the places that he could be journeying to, but can't because of nature's obstacles. Then I noticed his word choice, how the ice "chokes" the ferry and how the sky is "blind". These words are usually used for human suffering, and not to describe what nature is doing to other things. I realized that this too has a metaphorical meaning to it. Previously he is describing what he does because of his suffering, and now he is describing his suffering, through his mind and soul. He uses these examples from nature and reality as things to metaphorically describe his own suffering, and how he "chokes" and how he is now "blind" from his own suffering. I realized that lines like these could be literal, but how they're written shows that Bai was clearly writing metaphor. He then goes on to a turning point, a realization for him, in life's worthiness and beauty. He talks about how he could be a lazy fisherman who only fishes every day, only experiencing one part of life, one beauty. But in his heart, he is a wanderer, whose journey is to wander through the world. My favorite line of the poem: "But I suddenly dream of riding a boat, sailing for the sun..." (Bai 10). If the poem were laid out as a book, the moment after this line is his rebirth, and the his exit from the abyss. He may have actually had a dream of sailing for the sun, but the metaphor in the line is so much more simple, yet extraordinary, than a dream. The beauty of dreams is that they are metaphors themselves, but still occur in subconscious. The line describes a thought of hope, of passion. He loves journeying more than anything, and he just wants to be in nature again, and be one with the world. The boat represents his body, what he can do, and what he will do to reach happiness again. The sailing of that boat is the act of wandering, experiencing the world, and the act of dreaming. His journey in life, or his Path that he must take, is journeying itself, which has no ending, only more discoveries of the world and Self. The sun referred in the line represents happiness, balance, oneness with nature, and at end, enlightenment. I really like this line, because it is a new beginning in the poem, a start to optimism for Bai. That's why the rest of the poem is my favorite part, and why I think it has the most meaning as well.

            The last part of the poem is the start of a new life, from his rebirth. He recognizes that "journeying is hard", but he now understands it is something to live for. He asks which path he should take, in which he is metaphorically referring the Paths of his life journey, not a specific journey. The idea of journeying is to travel into the unknown and discover and suffer through things for oneself, finding bliss. The paths he refers to do not have a set path literally, but one to be wandered and explored. I think how Bai structures the repetition of "journeying is hard" is tastefully used, because it is the most straightforward line to be repeated, in which shows Bai's point. Journeying is hard, and it's a fact of life, but is hard to accept and comprehend at the same time. This is why he repeats these lines, because he had been pondering if life is worth the journey through his depression. But he then figures out that it is, and gains back his selfhood and knowledge of what life really is. The last two lines are definitely my other two favorite lines, because they are his optimism, his hope, and his desire for life. Again with the word choice he uses, it shows that he is bringing forth a metaphorical message rather than literal. Basically the whole poem can be interpreted literally, but sometimes scenes wouldn't flow well with the poem, and the poem would merely be another story, but with little words. Through symbolism and metaphor, or allegory, capturing multiple meanings and interpretations of the poem, the poem is beautiful and wonderfully meaningful. "I will mount a long wind some day and break the heavy waves/ And set my cloudy sail straight and bridge the deep, deep sea" (Bai 15-16). First reading this, it seems like there should be a whole lot of meaning to go with this ending, but it's hard to understand it. Through interviewing my dad and my own analysis, I not only noticed the rebirth element, but the water imagery. Once I noticed the amount of water in the ending, I realized how much water imagery there is throughout the entire poem, and its importance. The water, its flow, intensity, and kind, is a metaphor to everything Bai describes in the poem. The wine in the beginning is a 'drugged' water, in which his mind is blurry and in sadness.  The ice and the snow in the poem are both forms of frozen water, cold and unfriendly for his journey, and how they choke and blind the ferry and the sky. Then the brook described where the fisherman is, is the calmest flow of water possible, or the most 'lazy', analogous to the fisherman. Also riding and boat and sailing describe water as the thing which gives life to his journey, to being able to ride a boat and sail for the sun through his Path, Self, and the world. Lastly, these lines describe breaking the "heavy waves" and sailing the "deep, deep sea". The water imagery described here is ominous and dark, something hard to overcome−something worth taking the journey! Sailing itself is overcoming the sea, traveling amongst the unknown below and his word choice of "breaking" tells of his triumph over the sea. The sea I have analyzed represents the journey itself and the Path he must take. The heavy waves are the obstacles he must face, the boat is his Self and his body, and the act of 'bridging' the sea is analogous to wandering and journeying, and taking his life journey to someday reach the sun, which again is his enlightenment. Of the entire poem, these lines are his resolution, and the start of his new, reborn life. The ending of the poem left me hanging, as I bet it did to everyone else who has read this poem. I will assume the best for him, and if he ever did "reach the sun" and "bridge the sea" after this, that is a story I must tell for myself, and one a reader must finish for themselves. Whether it all was close to happening in reality, or if indeed it was all metaphor to his own life journey, at the time or forever on, the poem is a great representation of the abyss, rebirth, and the journey.

            I have come to not only appreciate this poem, but to love it. I've never really enjoyed poetry, because it is hard to understand a lot of the time for something so short, and when it is hard to comprehend, it is not exciting. The fact that I could chose a world poem that I liked form the start is great, because it already helped me enjoy the poem to a certain extent. After much research and analysis on Li Bai as a poet and person, and The Hard Road for weeks, it made me think much more of the poem and poetry in general. I will say I do enjoy poetry now, not more than fantasy-fiction, but enough to admit I like it. But this poem is very meaningful to me, and I honestly have never analyzed a poem like this one to where I believe the scenery, metaphor, and words of the poem are beautiful. It's no wonder to me that Li Bai is considered the greatest poet to ever have lived in China. What I wonder is why this particular poem is not one of his more famous ones. I have not read his most famous ones, and maybe if I were to analyze those and appreciate them as much as I have this one, then maybe I'd believe those poems are even more beautiful than this. With my own present knowledge, this poem is awesome, and I have enjoyed analyzing the poem on my own. The Hard Road is now my favorite poem, and is going to be hard to ever like a poem more than this one in my high school career.