sun notes db compare/contrast

NOTES FROM THE CITY OF THE SUN REFLECTION

 

What do I know?   Not much.  How can I go about this? How can I analyze this?

 

What do I see?

· There are 14 stanzas – not more than a sentence for each. Often, there are just fragments. Where is the end punctuation?

· The background says that the number five is significant to Chinese culture. 1 + 4 = 5.  I see that 5 can be either positive or negative.  This means that circumstances can be taken either way; the outcome can be either way. All may depend upon the perspective of the reader. * So, the work can have ambiguity or be ambivalent. Where else does this occur?

There are five elements water (black), fire (red), earth (yellow), wood (green), and metal (silver/white). Where are each of these mentioned? What is the context for each? EX: The old tree has toppled (fallen) and later the rifle is built from wood (and metal) and sprouts branches and new shoots (a play on words?) serving a new purpose of longevity. When does this happen? Answer: When the old king dies (is toppled). https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/Chinese_Customs/five_elements_chart.htm

· Each stanza leads with an abstraction followed by an image, a description or clarification.

· The stanza abstractions’ order is life>love>freedom>child>girl>youth >art>people>labor>fate>faith>peace>motherland>living,

· I need to see if there is an order. The poem begins and ends with life/living. Next in:  Mothers are synonymous with love. There can be a connection between freedom and peace although war may be required.  Ah, a child’s faith is pure and direct.  A girl child’s fate can often end before it begins with the one family-one child policy or the country’s history of not validating female life. Analysis can be successful using this approach.

· I wonder if the original Chinese words carry greater significance than what I see here. Is the meaning sensitive to translation? Is the structure impacted by translation? Do I need to know more about the culture to be relevant to me?

Analysis can be successful using this approach.

Putting this aside to brainstorm other things.

 

What do I know?

· The set up says that the poet was an ardent protester against the Cultural Revolution. This was a period that rewrote history and tried to force people into a mold -- always bad things

· Tiananmen gate has five arches. Bingo!

· The word notes is part of the title.  Notes contain the essence, the essentials. Essence requires insight. Notes are recorded to remind, to provide an overview, to trigger memory. Notes are not weakened by the needless clutter of additional words. In opposition, detail is often critical to sound decisions.

· The sun is enriching and healthy or it is searing and destructive. It can reveal truth or blind people to it.  Here is the ambiguity and ambivalence again.

· Ask why. Why is there repetition? Either is lazy thinking or an insistence on emphasis.

EX:

A child strikes at random at a railing. (Picture a child walking along a fence with stick in hand, striking at the boards one after another.)

The railing (that which was struck) strikes at random at the night. (Can you visualize the vertical stakes/panels that pierce the night whose darkness makes distinguishing individuals difficult? If struck what does that strike?)

I look at adjectives and adverbs. Here are a few:

Wild geese

Virgin wasteland

Brightly colored birds’ feathers

Red waves

Green ditch

Living net

I look at action verbs.

Flown

Toppled

Drifts

Fluttering

Holding

Folded

Gathers

Soak

Appear

Torn

Sown

Encircling

Strikes

Strikes

Spills

Pipes

Sprouts

Becomes

Cask

Leans

Do they have anything in common? Is there a cycle, regression, or progression?

What is significant to the culture? Here are some examples:

· Five (Discussed earlier)

· White crane (In Japanese, Chinese, and Korean tradition, cranes stand for good fortune and longevity because of its fabled life span of a thousand years. ... The Japanese refer to the crane as “the bird of happiness;” the Chinese as “heavenly crane” believing they were symbols of wisdom. There is also: White Crane Kung Fu is generally regarded as an internal system, though initial training is extremely demanding. Although difficult to learn because of these physical demands, it is in fact a highly effective combat system, once the method employed by the Emperor of China's bodyguards.)

· Green is used to communicate growing, generating, sprouting, striving, refreshing, balancing, calming, healing, self assurance, foundation, benevolence, health, harmony, sensitivity, patience vs. anger

· Red is used to signify happiness and joy. (As an informally adopted member of a Chinese family, I benefit from a yearly financial gift given to me because I am the youngest of the family. It arrives in an ornate red envelop trimmed in gold.)

· White is a symbol of the unknown and purity. The color white is used during the time of mourning, death, and during ghost festivals. Therefore, Chinese people will wear white during a funeral.

· Wild Geese (Chinese sources typically distinguish between two types of geese, the domestic goose, and the wild goose. Of the two, the wild goose is the more important for poetry, whether as significant of migratory seasonal change, or as "bearing a message of love from afar", by persons separated by a great distance (generally north and south, since that is how geese generally migrate), or as the "lone goose", bereft of both mate and flock?)

https://nazmiyalantiquerugs.com/blog/cranes-chinese-art-symbol-meaning/#:~:text=There%20are%20four%20types%20of,%2C%20black%2C%20blue%20and%20yellow.&text=Since%20cranes%20fly%20in%20the,turning%20into%20a%20feathered%20crane.

And finally, perhaps relate to what you have already studied.

Life

The sun has risen too

Do you remember Charles Atlas Also Dies as in Charles Atlas dies, too?

* 5 (五, WǓ) - LUCKY/UNLUCKY   The number 5 is associated with both good luck and bad luck depending on context. Since 五 sounds similar to 无 (wú), which means “not” or “without” in Chinese, it can be viewed as bad luck. However, the number is also associated with positivity because many Chinese traditional philosophical concepts revolve around the number 5, such as the five elements(Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal) 五行 (wǔ xíng), which is used in traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, martial arts, and even music.

http://blog.tutorming.com/expats/lucky-and-unlucky-chinese-numbers#:~:text=5%20(%E4%BA%94%2C%20W%C7%93)%20%2D,be%20viewed%20as%20bad%20luck.      

    

Five is also associated with Chinese philosophy, and was historically associated with the Emperor of China. The Tiananmen gate, being the main thoroughfare to the Forbidden City, has five arches.