I have heard people say, "Poets seldom become wealthy and powerful. Most of
them endure constant hardship." Is this true? Indeed, most popular poems passed
down from ancient times were written by destitute scholars. Poets accumulate
what they have learned, and love to engage their passions at mountain peaks and
watersides when their talents cannot be utilized by their government. As they
observe various natural phenomena like insects, fish, grass, trees, wind,
clouds, birds and animals, they are often able to reveal their subtleties. When
their hearts are burdened with worry and indignation, they present their
feelings in the form of satire and lamentation. They are driven to express their
sorrows as deeply as an official in exile or a widow mourning her late husband,
and to write something that ordinary people could not describe. The more
misfortune these poets experience, the more moving their poems become. It is not
that poetry makes them poor, but that hardship refines their art.
My friend, Mei, was offered a position at a young age because of the
reputation of his grandfather. Mei failed the advanced level exams many times
because the examiners did not write questions that could reveal his talent. He
has been bound in this lowly position for more than ten years. Now he is fifty
and still accepts working for someone. It is unfortunate that his broad
knowledge cannot be utilized in his career. City Wan is his hometown. He learned
to write poetry at an early age. When he was still a child, his words astonished
his seniors. As he grew up, he studied the Six Bibles on moral virtues. His
essays were pure, simple, concise, and did not follow the accepted fashion for
pleasing contemporary readers. People in China only knew he was good at writing
poetry. At that time any poet who had questions pertaining to writing would
certainly consult Mei. Mei loved to vent his sorrows by writing poetry, so most
of his writings were in that form. Everyone knew that Mei was a great poet, but
no one recommended his talent to the Emperor.
After Official Wang read Mei's poems, he sighed,
"Such great poems have not
been written for over 200 years." Although he appreciated Mei's talent very
much, he did not recommend Mei to the Emperor. Had the government used Mei's
talent, he could have written poems to praise the great work of the emperor of
China, and his music could have been performed in a temple. He could have
followed great musicians and left an enduring legacy. Because the government
still failed to use his talent even when he was old, Mei's poems were confined
to the category expressing the worry and sorrow of a destitute wanderer through
reflections on insects, fish and other natural phenomena. It was a pity that
people loved his poems, but did not know that he endured hardship so long that
he became old.
Mei wrote many poems, but he did not collect them. The son of his wife’s
elder brother, Hsieh, worried that Mei's poems might be easily misplaced because
there were too many of them. Therefore, he collected Mei's poems that were
written from the time he was staying in City L to the time he was working at
City Wu. Hsieh organized them into ten chapters. I love to read Mei's poems and
wish I could acquire all of them. I was glad that Hsieh was able to put them
into book form. Consequently, I wrote a preface to the book and stored it safely
away for later use.
Fifteen years later, Mei died at the capital from a disease. I cried and wrote an
epitaph to honor him. I also visited Mei's house to collect his legacy of more
than 1,000 poems in manuscript. After combining them with my previous
collection, I selected the best 677 poems of Mei's and organized them into
fifteen chapters. Because I have discussed Mei’s poems in great detail, I will
not say more.