Poem and China

[Clarie]

Can anyone tell me what does "Poem" connotes for the chinese people? Like, does it convey a hidden deeper meaning or something?

For example, water in chinese doesn't just mean water. But it also connotes pliancy and humbleness.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks!!

[aristotle1990]

I think water "connotes pliancy and humbleness" for the average Chinese person about as much as it does for the average American, which is to say not at all.

[liuzhou]

娃哈哈

[daofeishi]

Why would there be a "hidden deeper meaning" to the word "poem" more than there would be one to the word "particle accelerator"?

[Hofmann]

The following is from Kramsch, Claire (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The encoding of experience differs [...] in the nature of the cultural associations evoked by different linguistic signs. [...] Studies of the

semantic networks

of bilingual speakers makes these associations particularly visible. For example, bilingual speakers of English and Spanish have been shown to activate different associations within one of their languages and across their two languages. In English they would associate 'house' with 'window', and 'boy' with 'girl', but in Spanish they may associate

casa

with

madre

, and

muchacho

with

hombre

. But even within the same

speech community

, signs might have different semantic values for people from different

discourse communities

.

Anyway, there are different kind of Chinese poems, and they connote different ideas. For me, the English word "poem" connotes "spoony bard", 詩 connotes Tang poetry, 詞 connotes Song poetry. It isn't necessarily deeper for any culture, but some cultures may be tied closer to literature than others. China has a relatively strong literary culture.

[doraemon]

The word doesn't really mean much on its own, but it would hold lots of other meanings if it was say, in a name or something. In my opinion, the character 诗 in a name would suggest that the person is sophisticated, cultured, educated/academic, refined, quiet and reserved (but in a good way) and maybe even wise if you really look into it. Overall, it generally embodies positive connotations but I think it's mainly used in girl's names.

[DecafLat]

For me, the English word "poem" connotes "spoony bard", 詩 connotes Tang poetry, 詞 connotes Song poetry.

You lost me on this, because there are also 詩's from Song Dynasty, and 詞's from Tang Dynasty. 詩 and 詞 pertain to style/genre, not to one period in history or another.

[Hofmann]

You lost me on this, because there are also 詩's from Song Dynasty, and 詞's from Tang Dynasty.

...and there is more to English poetry than spoony bards. Maybe reading a bit on connotation might help.