BUYING FLOWERS

by: Po-Chu-I

In the capital, Spring comes late;

The noisy chariots and horses are passing.

They say, "It is the time of the peonies."

So they come together to buy flowers.

Prices, high and low, may change,

But also it depends on how much you buy,

Hundreds shine bright red.

There is a bouquet white as crystal.

Sheltered by curtains overhead.

And constructed on a bamboo framework

Water and set in mud.

These are the old colors, but changed.

Every house boys them according to custom

And nobody thinks wrong of it.

Only an old man from the farm

Coming by chance to the flower market

Lowers his head, deeply sighs

A sigh which no one understands.

Over a single posy of deep-colored flowers

Ten common families might sing!

About the Author

PO-CHU-I

He was a well-known Chinese poet who represented the classical tradition in Chinese literature, politics and morality. He was a public official who was inspired by a strong social conscience, making his verses rather didactic and satirical as he chastised the warmongers, corrupt politicians, and troublemakers. His poems are sturdy, however, and their subject matters is as good in the twentieth century as it was in the ninth.

The Figurative language used are:

Simile - There are a bouquet white as crystal.

                (because it uses "as" to compare the bouquet to the crystal)

Metaphor - Hundreds shine bright red.
                     (a situation is compared to a real thing, although the situation is not actually that particular thing)

SYMBOL:

For me, the symbol is passion, love, and energy (red flower) at the same time purity and innocence (white flower).

IMAGERY:

The noisy chariots and horses are passing.

(because it appeals to our sense of hear or auditory sense)