The Coffee Time Talks on Chinese Thought series, sponsored by the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) Center at Saint Louis University, will be hosting a Zoom lecture by Dr. Michael Ing (Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Indiana University Bloomington) on Wednesday, March 29th from 4:30-6:00PM Central Time. The lecture is titled: “The First Teacher Left Behind Instruction”: Images of Confucius (and Zhuangzi) in the Poetry of Tao Yuanming.
Zoom ID: 984 9500 6071
Please see the attached flyer for more details.
Lecture Summary:
Tao Yuanming (c. 365 – 427) has long been seen as one of China’s greatest poets. Interpreters have debated the degree to which he might identify as Confucian or Daoist. This presentation will explore the ways Confucius and Zhuangzi appear in his poetry. More specifically, it will explore the ways Tao was fond of the Analects and the Zhuangzi while at the same time remaining aloof from wholly committing himself to the Confucian or Zhuangzist Way.
Pity I missed this meeting. I love Tao Yuanming and have been translating some of his poems with my colleague!! Another poet very much influenced by Tao Yuanming was the great Song Dynasty poet Su Dong-po. He composed poems rhyming everyone of the poems by Tao Yuanming he knew. My colleague and I have translated some of their poems in pairs, Tao’s original ones and Su’s responding ones. It was a great exercise!!
I would love to see Su Dongpo’s poetry juxtaposed with Tao Yuanming’s in this way.