The Tea Cools Down When The Person Is Gone
Let’s talk about poetry.
I know that a lot of you are actually interested in why Jia Baoyu hung his head after Jia Zheng addressed him in yesterday’s post:
While Jia Baoyu’s psychological response to his father is interesting, I honestly feel that the poem Jia Baoyu composed is a lot more interesting.
The thing about the poetry in Dream of the Red Chamber is that it tends to have deeper meanings than what you see on the surface. The poems also tend to be predictive in nature. However, as we’ll see in a second, sometimes the poems have multiple possible and contradictory interpretations.
If you take it at face value, the poem Jia Baoyu composed at the end of yesterday’s post is about Jia Yuanchun’s coming visit back home:
寶鼎茶閒煙尚綠，幽窗棋罷指猶涼。
In the precious kettle, the tea sits idle, and the steam is green;
By the quiet window, the chess game is abandoned, and the fingers are cold.
Now, if you’re familiar with Chinese idioms (and it’s okay if you’re not), this poem should remind you of a fairly well known idiom.
