A Comment on Tao Yuan-ming's Farming Life and Related Poetry Creation
Tao Yuan-ming had great aspiration since early youth,and also served as an official away from home in many years,but he could not adapt himself to the officialdom,and was deeply attracted by the farming life the previous hermits,which finally led to his resignation and returning to the countryside.He lived by his personal plough ever since.Tao Yuan-ming's farming life can be divided into three stages: hesitating between farming and official career,keeping his mind on farming and his later years with illness and poverty.In the long course of his farming practices,he recognized the meaning of farming and enjoyed his idyllic life,however he was also puzzled by war,natural calamity,hunger and cold.He responded to all those experiences in his poetry writing,thus building a complete self-image.