The Poem „Spring Evening“ by Teranti Graneli and Daoist Paradigm of Space

Abstract

The depiction of space in poetry merges psycho-emotional and mate­rial dimensions. Cultural heritage delineates different types of spaces; in Eas­tern painting and poetry, there exists a distinct model influenced by Chinese philosophy. Here, nature holds a dual significance, being both a constant and continuously evolving material entity.

Our aim is to observe how spatial construction is formed, and conse­quently, how poetic imagery is built in the poem; we also seek to highlight its similarities with various principles of spatial perception and image const­ruction found in Eastern traditions. It is also noteworthy that in Chinese painting, the bird is a significant artistic motif, and the "birds and flowers" genre emerges as a distinct style within landscape painting.

In the  first stanza of the poem ,,Spring Evening’’ by Terenti Graneli a model of space is realized that begins with the flutter of a small bird and, passing through the soul of the poet  merges with infinity ("its flight crosses the boundary of the soul’’). Within this minimalist yet self-contained image the poem’s  entire spatial logic and aesthetic are encoded.  The  introduction of the soul as a category  and its  fusion with the image of nature  is the foun­dation of a Daoist worldview. It is significant that for the author, the image of the universe necessarily implies the presence of the Other (,,I still remember your address").

In Graneli’s poem the main element of poetic matter is lightness, which serves as an important instrument for creating a spiritual dimension. The effect of lightness is strongly shaped by the linguistic style: the landscape is rendered minimally, with no descriptive details. In Chinese painting this function is fulfilled by the empty background of the painting, which is filled with Dao and seems to merge with the air that fills the universe.This back­ground is not a passive, secondary element but rather an active component, a kind of broad and deep screen upon which the spiritual world of the human being is reflected.

The  emotional climax of the poem is expressed in the phrase: “I felt some great joy.” The poet, as both witness and participant, becomes immer­sed in and united with a space that gradually expands (“its flight crosses the boundary of the soul’’) and simultaneously strives upward (“the length of the nights reaches the sky”). This all-encompassing ascending dynamic is reve­aled both outside the poet and within his inner world.It is in this very state that the poet’s indescribable (“some’’) joy is born – as the result of a breath synchronized with the universe.

In the final line “The moon grew tired of gazing at the earth,” the poet steps beyond the personal dimension of happiness. The image seen by the moon – the earth from above – offers us a cosmic perspective ot the space.

In the poem, we simultaneously encounter two oppositional dimen­sions: the cosmic (universal, timeless, distant) and the human (concrete, emo­tional, intimate). These are resolved differently in each instance: in the first image, the flight of the bird appears as a bridge between two distant trees. A strong human sense of attraction is felt in the image of the beloved: despite the temporal and spatial abyss, the poet experiences her in the present. He reconstructs her image and spiritually draws near to her.

The nights that reach the sky are overlaid by the poet’s immense joy, as if he fills this boundless space with equally immense emotion. This dyna­mic is transparently reflected in the cyclical structure of the poem, where the final line returns us once again to the initial moment.  

Such an ending also serves as an illustration of the poem’s philoso­phical worldview, as the brief movement of the bird within the field of visi­on becomes a window through which the eternal can be glimpsed recalling the Eastern principle of  seeing the great in the small.”

The analogies and observations we have discussed provide a basis for concluding that the correspondence between the world of Terenti Graneli’s poem “Spring Evening” and its associated artistic forms with the Eastern spa­tial model goes beyond mere associative or intuitive parallels and allows us to speak of fundamental structural similarities.