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Unit 4
Unit
4 |
English
203:
Literature of
the NonWestern World |
Questions:
Chat:
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Explain
the message in Tu Fu’s “My Thatched Roof”:
“I have lived through
upheavals & ruin/ & have seldom slept very well.”
Explain the ending,
from line 39 on.
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Explain
Li Po's "Yearning." "Heave the sigh that does no good," why is this?
"The endless yearing/ Crushes a man's heart." What do we (or the
narrator) yearn for? Which of the 3 Chinese outlooks does this poem
illustrate: Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism? Explain.
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In
"The Sun Rises & Sets" Li Po writes: "Plants feel no thanks for their
flowering." What does this line mean? Who or what is Li Po
criticizing here?
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Are
Li Ch'ing-Chao's poems too negative? How do they work for readers
in a Buddhist culture? Compare them to Christian revivalist sermons
or to Dante's Inferno.
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Li
Ch'ing-Chao writes: "Everything in the world is right; I am wrong" ("Spring
in Wu-ling"). Explain how this is Buddhist. What should she
(or we) do in order not to be wrong? What does the word "wrong" allude
to in Chinese culture?
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Explain
the difference in response between T'ao Ch'ien & Tu Fu on losing their
houses. T'ao Ch'ien explains his loss "In the Sixth Month of 408,
Fire"; Tu Fu's house is damaged in "My Thatched roof Is Ruined by the Autumn
Wind." Identify each man's outlook.
Short Answers:
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