Poetry is an artform employed to explore the deepest human truths that are otherwise almost impossible to get hold of via day-to-day prose. Its musical qualities and relative brevity mean that it has been created by writers from all sections of society, regardless of culture and class, giving us incredible insight into diverse lives. It would therefore be remiss of us to only pay attention to English speaking poets. Sometimes, it takes a little more effort to truly immerse ourselves in the work of writers from other cultures, but it is well worth the effort, as you\u2019ll see through this exploration of two poets from distinct cultural backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Spearheading our mini-voyage is Xixi, the local poet-par-excellence of her generation and an influential figure in contemporary Hong Kong literature. Inspired by film, Xixi has experimented with fusing elements of it into her poetry. At Marienbad<\/i>\/\u5728\u99ac\u502b\u5821 (1964) is an early exemplary example of this effort:<\/p>\n The face of the afternoon paper. A stampede of fenced-in cattle. Green light. I race against the sick Futurist sun. All figures are \u2192.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n – 1st stanza; translated by Jennifer Feely<\/i><\/p>\n By employing the oft-used film technique of montage in her poem, Xixi is able to establish a quick rhythm and evoke intense and varied emotions by juxtaposing images with each other. The controlled freedom of \u2018green light\u2019 complements the contradictory imagery of a \u2018stampede of fenced-in cattle\u2019 perfectly, bringing to mind perhaps job-bound Hong Kong workers at a crossroad during rush hour.<\/p>\n Our second poet is Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca. Born near Granada in Fuente Vaqueros, Spain, Lorca became famous for drawing inspiration from the local area\u2019s Gypsy heritage while also embracing the fiery passion of Spanish song and dance. This extract from Canci\u00f3n de Jinete \/ Rider\u2019s Song <\/i>(1937) exemplifies the songlike quality of his poetry:<\/p>\n Alas! the long, long highway,<\/p>\n Alas! my valiant pony,<\/p>\n Alas, that death is waiting<\/p>\n Before I reach Cordova.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Cordova, far and lonely.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n By employing short lines and segments, Lorca was able to infuse his poem with a unique musicality that mimics that of a song, creating a mournful yet longing mood as the rider foresees his inevitable death before arriving at that promised land of Cordova, his home.<\/p>\n Appreciating poetry from different backgrounds does not require knowing another language, only curiosity and the desire to empathize. It is also conducive to gaining a global perspective that transcends the East-West divide. What\u2019s more, the human truths and artistic achievements contained within the artform definitely deserve exploration beyond our comfort zone!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Poetry is an artform employed to explore the deepest human truths that are otherwise almost impossible to get hold of via day-to-day prose. Its musical qualities and relative brevity mean that it has been created by writers from all sections of society, regardless of culture and class, giving us incredible insight into diverse lives. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":16500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[832],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16498"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16501,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16498\/revisions\/16501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www23.i-learner.com.hk\/studiowebsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}