East-West Cross-Cultural Encounters of the Lyric Horace (bce 65-8) and Tao Yuanming (ce 365-427)

Abstract

<p>Adorno described the lyric as “a philosophical sundial telling the time of history”. Here I read two poets whose continued cultural dominance make their work an ideal site for defining the privileged access of lyric to the nature of things. Horace and Tao body forth deep-rooted cultural thinking in a specific language at a specific time, but share universal concerns with the art of living well. Horace’s <em>Odes</em> suggest the freedom that art confers; the continual return of Chinese poets to Tao’s oeuvre suggests they found there a touchstone for their own questing voice. These small lyrics enshrine theories of the natural world, the self and society which present an enlarged vision of the good life. Articulating variously the realities of sacrifice and struggle, the pull of necessity and freedom, the path of beauty and the role of poetry, Horace and Tao open up horizons for reading empathetically across cultures.</p><p><br></p>