Chinese poem?

Question

This is a copy of the Chinese poem, "I built my house near where others dwell."

I built my house near where others dwell,
And yet there is no clamour of carriages and horses.
You ask of me “How can this be so?”
“When the heart is far the place of itself is distant.”
I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,
And gaze afar towards the southern mountains.
The mountain air is fine at evening of the day
And flying birds return together homewards.
Within these things there is a hint of Truth,
But when I start to tell it, I cannot find the words.

Can someone please analyze the poem and find the general theme, literary/poetic devices, tone, and any other connections or observations about the poem? Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Fine short poem about the truth about wonders of the heart or heartfelt longings and inability to express these secret truths in words.
Whatever Truth the heart longs for "cannot find the words."
The speaker laments that "I built my house near where others dwell" YET "there is no clamour of carriages and horses", The Yet suggests that the house ought to be built where there's the clamor.
Literally, I try to focus on manifest realities BUT the manifest turns out to be latent. How could that be! one (you) could ask. The truth is that reality is evasive and the secret longings (not physical but moral) tend to wander far afield, “When the heart is far the place of itself is distant.”
The speaker enumerates these aspects - plucking flowers, feeling mountain breeze, and watching birds flying homeward bound. All these the heart sees, feels, experiences and they make sense as valid ultimate Truth, "Within these things there is a hint of Truth." (Note Truth with capital T) YET even though all these suggest the eternal ultimate Truth, their essential truth cannot adequately be expressed in human words, "But when I start to tell it, I cannot find the words."
The poem is metaphorical abounding in imagery spiced with sense of sight and sense of feeling.

good luck

Answer 2

chinese poem

Answer 3

chinese is hard to translate, because the characters are also pictures sometimes with multiple meanings and they also have sounds like other characters (homonyms). maybe the characters in this poem hint to a truth that cannot be spoken.. sounds like tao?

Answer 4

Sorry, This one's a toughy..
I couldent find anyt exact matches..
sorry.

Answer 5

I would, except I believe in people doing there own work, sorry.

Answer 6

good.