Plant Imagery

Plants cannot process ideas or emotions. They seem silent, but grow and change with time. Each plant possesses a unique shape, making up for the lack of conversation they produce. The color of plants changes with the seasons, and stimulate the poet’s visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile, and olfactory senses. Plant images are one of the most important components in landscape poetry. Wu states that poets can portray the imagery of plants through observation of their image (xiang), combined with the concept (yi) and emotions of the poet (Q.Z. Wu 345). Plant images in Wang Wei’s poems often appear in the form of trees, flowers, and grass. Among the three, trees are the most common plant imagery used by Wang Wei.

While the outer appearance of some trees seems tall, green, and strong, other tree images can evoke a sense of loneliness or gloom. This is especially apparent in Wang Wei’s farewell poems. For example, in “獨樹臨關門，黃河向天外” (〈送魏 郡李太守赴任〉), the imagery of the “lone tree (獨樹)” standing alone by/near the closed , conveys a sense of solitary and loneliness. In “遠樹帶行客，孤城當落暉”

(〈送綦毋潛落第還鄉〉) and “遠樹蔽行人，長天隱秋塞” (〈別弟縉後登青龍寺 望藍田山〉), the imagery of “faraway tree” (遠樹) creates a sense of distance and of the subject moving away from the poet, bringing out the bleakness associated with being by oneself. Tree images can also be used as contrast. In “妝成對春樹，不語淚 千行” (〈閨人贈遠五首〉之二), the lady can only talk to the “spring tree” (春樹), speaking of her longing for her husband who is garrisoned, using the lightness of spring to contrast the heavy emotions. They can also evoke the sense of mourning.

Using the method of transference, the poet feels as though the trees are mourning with him, such as the “bitter autumn trees” (秋樹苦) in “山川秋樹苦，窗戶夜泉哀”

(〈哭褚司馬〉). Tree images can also bring a sense of homesickness. In “鄉樹扶桑 外，主人孤島中” (〈送秘書晁監還日本國〉), the “trees of home” (鄉樹) brings out the imagery of homesickness, a longing that stretches for miles on end. However,

tree images in Wang Wei’s poem were not always so depressing. They can represent a sense of towering, leisure, and the seasons. In “萬壑樹參天，千山響杜鵑” (〈送梓 州李使君〉) and “遙看一處攢雲樹，近入千家散花竹” (〈桃源行〉), the trees that are “high into the skies and clouds” (樹參天, 攥雲樹) stretches the boundaries of the poem vertically, creating a sense of greatness and openness. Trees in Wang Wei’s poems may also represent a sense of leisure when combined with scenery of the mountains or countryside. In “時倚檐前樹，遠看原上村” (〈輞川閒居〉), the poet occasionally leans against the “tree in front of the eaves”, looking faraway, enjoying life in the countryside.

Aside from the overall connotation of the general trees, different types of trees have their own connotations as well. The three most common to appear in Wang Wei’s poems are pine, willow, and peach. Pine imagery has the connotation of integrity and life in mountains and countryside. In “青青山上松，數里不見今更逢”

(〈新秦郡松樹歌〉), the “green pine in the mountains” (山上松) has been

personified to represent a person of noble character. In “科頭箕踞長松下，白眼看他 世上人” (〈與盧員外象過崔處士興宗林亭〉), the imagery of the poet with messy hairstyle, sitting freely beneath the “long pines” (長松下) represents the mountains and living in seclusion, away from fame and glory. Willow imagery has the

connotation most closely tied to the theme of farewell. In poems by Wang Wei, Wu has calculated that willow has been mentioned 48 times (Q.Z. Wu 357-358), and was mostly used to portray the imagery of parting, longing, and envy for the poet Tao Yuanming. In “楊柳渡頭行客稀，罟師蕩槳向臨圻。惟有相思似春色，江南江北 送君歸”。(〈送沈子福之江東〉), the willow imagery at the beginning of the first line decorates the “dock” (渡頭), and seems even bleaker that there are not many passengers there. Combined with the “boatman” (罟師) sailing away, creates the image of sorrow. To Wang Wei, the willow also represents character, especially that related to Tao Yuanming. Wang Wei was a “celebrator of the quiet joys of rural life”, and follows “a line of development earlier explored by Tao Yuanming” (Watson 198),

who has referred to himself as “Mr. Five Willows” (五柳先生). Tao was Wang’s model in life and poetry due to his noble character. The sense of Tao’s not "bowing like a servant in return for five bushels of grain" (不為五斗米折腰), can be seen in many of Wang Wei’s poem to represent life away from glory and fame, such as the poet singing in front of the “five willows” (五柳) in “復值接輿醉，狂歌五柳前”

(〈輞川閒居贈裴秀才迪〉), and the “five willows” (五柳) that were tall and sparse in “秋風自蕭索，五柳高且疏” (〈戲贈張五弟諲三首〉). The imagery of peach trees also appears often in Wang Wei’s poems. They represent a life of leisure. In “開 畦分白水，間柳發紅桃” (〈春園即事〉), the spring scenery depicted here has the colors of the “red peach” (紅桃) and “(green) willow” (柳), which seems brisk and bright. In “桃紅復含宿雨，柳綠更帶朝煙” (〈田園樂七首〉之六), the

entwinement of colors from the “red peach” (紅桃) and “green willow” (柳綠) again creates a diverse and enthusiastic atmosphere. Peach imagery can also have the connotation of luxury and fortune. In “畫閣朱樓盡相望，紅桃綠柳垂簷向” (〈洛陽 女兒行〉), the “peach blossoms are red” (紅桃), and give off the feeling of liveliness, color, and luxury, and is in contrast with the next line which brings out those whom are more unfortunate.

The most common flower imagery to appear in Wang Wei’s poem is that of the “falling flower” (落花) (Q.Z. Wu 383-384). Blossoming and wilting of flowers are a phenomenon of nature. Poets perceive these occurrences around them, and assign emotions to them. In the mind of the poet, falling/wilting flowers create a sense of sadness and pity. What was once so beautiful must inevitably fall and cease to exist.

However, flower images in Wang Wei’s poems are not all ‘doom and gloom’. In his poems, flower images can create a sense of happiness, such as that of “笑謝桃源人，

花紅復來覿” (〈藍田山石門精舍〉), where the “red flowers” (花紅) are a

representation of the poets happy emotions, looking forward to the blossoming of red flowers next year. Flower images can also represent decorate the scenery of the countryside, for example “花落家僮未掃，鶯啼山客猶眠” (〈田園樂七首〉之六), where the “fallen flowers” (花落) have yet to have been swept up and decorates the scene of the poem.

Grass, like trees and flowers, represents the changing of seasons. New grown grass also means life and thriving emotions. Wang Wei’s use of grass images most commonly appears in the form of “color of grass” (草色), “color of autumn grass” (秋 草色), and “color of spring grass” (春草色). Wang utilized the color of grass to express the season and emotions of the poet. His use of grass imagery may represent the sense of farewell, such as that in “祖席依寒草，行車起暮塵” (〈送孫二〉). The

“cold grass” (寒草) bring out a sense of coldness and loneliness, adding to the sadness of the farewell. Grass imagery may also represent the sense of sorrow, such as that in

“閒門寂已閉，落日照秋草” (〈贈組三詠〉), where the setting sun shines upon the

“autumn grass” (秋草), completing the sense of sorrow that were also brought out by the “closed door” and “setting sun”. Of course, Wang Wei’s use of grass imagery also has some cheerful connotations. In “草樹連容衛，山和對冕旒” (〈三月三日曲江 侍宴應制〉), the “grass and tree” (草樹) represents the poet’s fondness for spring and exudes a sense of positivity.