Night Thoughts Float Poem Summary

The most influential Chinese poets, Du Fu, grew up motherless. Although he didn’t have a complete family, but he used this as the motivation in his poem. He had provided creditable poems by his early teens that had been widely spread through the nation. However, during his later years, he was suffering from illness, and financial problems that he needed to face by himself. Arthur Cooper, interested in Chinese Culture and history, translated Night Thoughts Afloat. It retained the original meaning that Du Fu wanted to express, use a variety of symbolism and imagery to create a quiet and loneliness mood.

First of all, the first two stanzas are the setting of the story, it shows Du Fu’s location, which gives the reader a feeling of peace and loneliness. The mood of the poem is very close to the setting, the surroundings have a big influence on the atmosphere. From the first stanza “By bent grasses In a gentle wind Under straight mast I’m alone tonight”(line1-4), we can easily have a imagery that there must be a strong or violet wind that bent the grasses. However, the answer is opposite. The first stanza creates an illusion that a soft wind that slowly bends the grass, as Du Fu is left alone on his boat. We can also illustrate that he must been through a harsh day and his low social standing. During such a bad weather, he was the only one that was on the boat, and the only equipment

Nights Thoughts Afloat expresses the author’s feeling of loneliness and quietness. The contemplative, peaceful mood allows the reader to walk into his mind and feeling of virtually being there. Even though time passed, there was no doubt with his influence of his writing style and shifting moods in the story that had been well known. Also, his great logical thinking made the poem with his personal impression but also tied the knot between with his individual mood and overall