Session 7 - Cosmopolitan China, 4/3

[Anonymous]

Professor Ye made looking at this historic time very interesting and compelling by looking at it through art and poetry. It was very beautiful to hear him sing some of the poems. I thought about connecting this to my classroom by having my students write singing poems. My students truly struggle with writing poems (including myself) but they connect to music very well.

[Anonymous]

Poetry is a very unique form of art. It was really interesting to hear Professor Ye perform the way the poetry is supposed to be heard by "chanting". I have never heard it done in that way before and it is important to know how poets want their writings to be shared.

[Anonymous]

I was particularly intrigued by Professor Ye’s inclusion of classical Chinese poetry. I had taken a world literature in translation course in which we analyzed and interpreted classical Chinese poems. Those poems were from famous and influential poets such as Du Fu. Some of his poems are written in7 syllable lines in which much of the imagery is about nature, gods, and philosophy of life.
edited by hsidhu on 5/1/2017

[Anonymous]

Wow! Professor Ye tore it up! I really appreciated his teaching style! He was very passionate about poetry and I really appreciated him reciting/performing poems to us. I learned just as much about teaching than I learned about Chinese poetry. I especially appreciated when Dr. Ye broke down the structure of specific forms of Chinese poetry. I also thought it was funny when he compared this structure to a straight jacket! I found it fascinating because I thought about all of the other forms of poetry that I have been taught about and how they were very structured as well! From sonnets, to Sijos, to corridos, to modern hip hop. I think it is so interesting that we see the world as very small today with all of the forms of communication that we have, but even in past times there were lots of similarities between cultures that would never make contact with each other.

[Anonymous]

I thought Professor Ye's lecture was so thorough and interesting, about this vast period of China's history, and a golden age of culture and poetry. It was really neat to think about Xian as a cultural cornerstone of the world at the time, having visited there myself. I remember there being a lot of interesting religious buildings, and a great history, as a launching point of the silk road, but it was great to learn more about that in context. It was also really interesting to be introduced to the idea of "chanting" poetry. I've not generally been a big poetry afficionado, so a lot of this was new to me, so listening to W. B. Yeats chant his poem was new. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ptVEZ0vEEE And to have Professor Ye chant his examples was a treat.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed reading "Poems of the River Wang" by Wang Wei and P'ei Ti. The poetry is simple yet deep, with really good vocabulary words like "bewilderment", "lamentation", and "flourishes." I never thought about using poetry to teach vocabulary, but this poem might be a great place to start. Chanting the poetry out loud with my English Learners would also be a great speaking/listening activity.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed learning about the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove in Ebrey's text. The story of one of the sages, Ruan Ji, who cried over the death of a neighbor-girl, but indulged in food and drink following the death of his mother was quite funny to me. Upon further independent research, I found that there are "Seven Sages" of Greece, Rome, India, Mesopotamia, and other ancient civilizations. I wonder where this "club" originated, and if the following sages were simply following a trend.

[Anonymous]

This approach to poetry is great to exercise speaking and listening skills of my students. Maybe one of them could recite their poem for another to transcribe what he/she hears. Also, speaking academic language and specific diction aloud will raise confidence and energy levels in class.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be interesting to have students chant or recite poetry in the author's tone. Then, another reading out loud, but this time, in the reader's mood. This activity can show my students that texts have meaning when we as readers give it meaning through our own unique interpretations.

[Anonymous]

Wow! What a treat to have professor Ye for this session. I was completely mesmerized by his passion when it comes to teaching poetry. I would like to try and chant a couple of lessons like this one to my students, after all, we are performers in front of a group of students.

[Anonymous]

Enrichment galore. I've covered some of these poetic styles in my English classes, but not in History. When discussing developments in the western world, specifically Europe in the "Dark Ages," a discussing of the Tang dynasty and its culture would certainly help the students understand that the perspective of the west did not apply to a world view. Collapse of civilization in one region did not negate growth and development within another.

[Anonymous]

Professor Ye's presentation on Chinese poetry got me thinking about a literature in translation course I took at UCLA on Chinese poetry. We read poems from Wang Wei about how he wrote from a "Gothic" taste about ruined temples, stormy nights, and dragons with gleaming eyes. One poem in particular, "Songs for the Goddess' Shrine on Fish Mountain" talks about the speaker getting drunk at the foot of fish mountain waiting for the goddess to appear while shaman women are conducting a ritual through dance. Because the goddess never shows herself, the speaker feels pain.
edited by hsidhu on 6/5/2017

[Anonymous]

Another poet that Professor Ye made a comment about is Du Fu who is considered the greatest Chinese poet. He wrote extensively about history and had a unique style. In his poem "Song of my Cares," Du Fu writes about his accounts of leaving the capital to visit his family. It is written as a lyric poem that no one really did at the time. He conveys the unease of the political situation at the time and weaves together self-analysis, political comment, and public and private tragedy.

[Anonymous]

In teaching American Literature, I would incorporate the different Chinese poets in how they convey their message about nature. These poems would fit in well with American poets like Wordsworth and I would have my students compare and contrast their use of literary elements and style.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed Dr. Ye’s presentation. As someone with little prior knowledge of Asian history, it was helpful that he singled out the Tang Dynasty for its apparently considerable contributions to the arts. His focus on poetry was particularly inspirational and informative. The idea that poems were meant to be sung rather than spoken is interesting. I think Dr. Ye compared it to Gregorian chant, which might make a good contrast in a lesson, with a focus on religion. By singing rather than speaking, the poem achieves a great emotional impact on the listener.

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