Chinese Art

You said you did not care for Chinese art

Because you could not tell what dynasty

   A scroll or bowl came from. (...)

The speaker is reporting the words of the addressee, who apparently doesn’t appreciate Chinese Art. The reason why  the addressee doesn’t like Chinese art is related  to the fact that he cannot identify the period in which each work of art was produced as all artists seem to use the same traditional style. The persona uses  internal rhyme (scroll and bowl) to stress the fact that the addressee considers all Chinese productions are similar.

                         (...)  ´There is no heart’

You said, ‘Where time’s avoided consciously.’

The persona uses direct speech to introduce the voice of the addressee. In his view,
Chinese art doesn't express feelings because none of the paintings represent what was happening at the time in which the works were produced.  There is not much difference between a drawing and another despite the fact they might have been created at distant times.

The rhyme “art/heart” suggests the two concepts are connected in the view of art that the persona conveys in this stanza, according to which art communicates a personal message that comes from the heart, i.e. an expression of the concrete feelings of an individual at a certain time. The caesura that isolates the phrase “There is no heart” also stresses how important it is to clarify and summarise the view of the addressee.

I saw your point because I loved you then.

The persona understood what the addressee said because of the close bond  they had: “I loved you” They could have been friends or partners, but the use of past tense and the adverb “then” makes us think that this relationship is over, and that the speaker´s negative view of Chinese art has changed.

The willows and the horses and the birds

Seemed cold to me; each skilfully laid-on, thin

Phrase spoke like nothing but unpassionate words.

In the past, the persona was influenced by the addressee´s ideas and considered that both the recurrent themes of Chinese art (willows, horses and birds) and the Chinese phrases that accompanies them were  devoid of feelings ("cold" and "unpassionate"). The speaker used to appreciate the craft with which the inscriptions in Chinese were drawn ("skilfully laid-on") but used the phrase " nothing but" to stress the fact that they are only an example of the artist´s skill, but they don´t convey any message for him.

I understand now what those artists meant;

They did not care for style at all, or fashion.

The third stanza focuses on the present ("now"), and therefore contrasts with the first and second stanzas, which described the past ("then") This shows the passage of time, and the changes brought about with it. Now the persona understands that what the artists want to transmit doesn't have to do with shifting trends like "style" or "fashion" but their purpose was different.  

It was eternity they tried to paint,

The speaker uses a cleft sentence to emphasise what she discovered about the purpose of Chinese artists. These painters aimed  at expressing what is eternal and  remains constant along time.

And timelessness, they thought, must lack all passion.

    Now the persona reports the thoughts of Chinese artists. The line reminds us of the way she described the ideas of the addressee in stanza one. This parallel stresses the fact that she has changed her view and now she understands the artists´ perspective.  From their vantage point, timelessness must lack passion: depicting what is eternal implies leaving out what is transient, i.e. the artist´s strong personal emotions.

Odd that just when my feeling need for you

Has gone all wrong, I should discover this.

Her rediscovery of Chinese Art coincides with the time when her need of her beloved  could not be fulfilled and- we assume- the relationship ended. She qualifies this coincidence as “odd”. However, we think that the two events are deeply intertwined.

Yes, but I lack the sense of what is true

Within these wise old artists’ skillfulness.

Although the persona understands the ideas Chinese artists seem to have about passion, she lacks the ability to put them in practice. Chinese artists succeeded in leaving passion aside,  but that is not possible for her.  The persona shows her admiration for these artists  by using the words “wise” and “skillfulness”, but clearly states that she lacks what is true about them, i.e. the fact that they can focus on timelessness and ignore their present feelings.

It would be easy now to close again

My heart against such hurt. (...)

The word “would” suggests an implicit if- clause: “If I had the ability to leave passion aside, ...". The speaker wishes she could have this ability because it will help her not to suffer so much in the present.

The pararhyme “heart”/ “hurt” links the two words and tinges the word "heart" with negative connotations. In the speaker´s current situation, a lack of feeling- like the one found in Chinese art- is desirable, but difficult to attain.

We wonder which "hurt" she refers to: the hurt caused by her own personal situation, because of her unsuccessful relationship; or the pain her present state has led her to discover in Chinese art, as the following sentence suggests:

(...) Those willows show,

In one quick stroke, a lover feeling pain,

And birds escape fast as the brush-strokes go.

She seems to interpret Chinese figures in a new way. She has discovered that, as the paintings are timeless, the feelings they transmit are relatable to all human beings who are open to see them. Even if the figures seem to have been painted in a passionless and restrained way ( “in one quick stroke”, “as the brush-strokes go”), they are universal, and the beholder may relate them to his or her own reality. Her interpretation of the willows and the birds in the picture mirrors her own situation: in her eyes, the willows represent a lover feeling pain and loneliness. The plural forms “willows and “birds” suggest they could apply to all lovers in the world, and are evidence that the pictures never lose their current nature.

All in all, we may say the failure of her relationship leads her to rediscover Chinese art and to understand its universality.

Iara Ceriale - Adriana Chen-Micaela Ferreyra- Wendy Hortis- Catalina Humphreys-Sol Lindon- Lucila Torres- Sophie Wassani O´Connor-Natasha Wodovosoff