In the poem “Boat of Cypress” from
the Ancient Chinese works Classic of Poetry,
the speaker of the work is traveling to a new place and leaving her
home. This poem teaches important accepted morals of the time, as the
girl describes the way she is feeling as she is traveling. She is
upset about the way she is forced to leave her home and travel, as
she expressed to her brothers (“Boat” 9-12). She has these doubts
and frustrations about what she is doing and her path, yet she is
still on the boat traveling away from her home. This woman was upset
and showed her feelings, but she still went through what was expected
of her. In Ancient China, women were expected to do as they were
told. If they had reservations about it, they were expected to be
seen and not heard. This woman, by the fact that she was on the boat
at all, showed that she did as she was told. However, she describes
her misery with the lines “This heart of mine is no mat; / I cannot
roll it up within” (“Boat 15-16). Unlike most women of the time,
she does not feel as though she can be expected to keep her
reservations inside. She describes the woes that she has felt and
those that she is still expecting to feel.
By
continuing to travel even though she does not agree with the
decision, she is showing that she is a virtuous woman. However, she
is not willing to remain quiet about her reservations about the
situation. Because of this, she is not as virtuous as women were
expected to be in Ancient China.
Works
Cited
"Boat
of Cypress." Trans. Stephen Owen. The
Norton Anthology of World Literature.
Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2013.
761-62. Print.
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