2009-03-19

Renhai Reflections 89: An Encounter (Extra note)


An Encounter: Interpretations


In posted Renhai a couple of days ago (An Encounter), about a rise and fall of a kite, Polona mention in a comment the following:

"cute on a superficial level and much deeper if one cares to think"

From this Zhanna and I realized that this simple renhai has depth that we had not imagined. I have therefore added this to the comments of the Renhai:

[It is interesting that different individuals have interpreted this renhai in different ways. For example, if the kite is taken as a woman that got infatuated with another man (purple kite) after she got to the top of the society thanks to her first man, then she sort of deserves what she got, i.e. falling down from that height. That encounter was wrong. :-)

Another interpretation is more on the serious side. It is the idea that society has been flirting with higher and higher levels of debt and living above its needs (the first verse depicts the early days of this society; the 2nd verse up to about the beginning of 2008)... and now, the experience of the downward spiral of the worldwide economic collapse of 2009!]

Click here for notes and linking details:
http://cflat7.drivehq.com/Renhai_0126.htm

6 comments:

Devika Jyothi said...

Interesting takes Masago...

I read it just as things that rise, are destined for a fall...the natural law of science...

There is a riddle --

What goes up but never comes down --the answer is "your age" :)

As an encounter -- I saw it as love before marriage and love after marriage in love-marriages...

and then the last verse seperately as --
the physical relationship between a man and woman...

All that seemed very playfull put :)

wishes,
devika

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

interesting- yes, there's a lot to it, isn't there?

Borut said...

With every good poem, I suppose, the following applies: Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare, but, if you seek safety, it is on the shore. Paraphrasing it, one could say: High in the sky are treasures one can only imagine, but, if one seeks safety, it is on the ground!?:)

polona said...

yep, good examples...
another example could be, say, an athlete's career...

Janice Thomson said...

These are all good possibilities - it's fascinating each reader's perspective.

Masago said...

Thank you all! I appreciate your sharing of what you get out of this one.

Borut: the ground does feel safer. :-)