Course:Journey to the West

CRWR 501P 003
Advanced Writing of Poetry
	Instructor:Dr. Bronwen Tate; Email: Bronwen.tate@ubc.ca; Office: Buchanan E #456;
Important Course Pages
	Inspirations & Influences;
Categories
	Sources of Inspiration and Influence Aardvark Book of Poems Book of Poems by a Living Poet Choufleur Conflicted, Ambivalent, or Antagonistic Feelings CRWR 501 People Encountered Before Twelve Essay Fiction Films Fox Gemini Music Orchid Otis Places Poem Composed Before 1945 Poetic Prose Sadcactussometimesblooms Song, Painting, Film, Etc. Souris Yarrow Yellow Silver

Journey to the West

This isn’t a story written for children, but I am 100% certain that every child from where I come from know of this story. They might not have read the original work, but the story itself is made into television series, comics, and cartoons. It tells the story of a Buddhist monk, Xuanzang, and his travels to obtain the sacred Buddhist texts in the “far West” (looking at it geographically with the present-day map, it refers to Central Asia and India). With four protectors by his side, it tells the story of them facing eighty-one obstacles along the way, and reaching enlightenment in the end.

For me, this is one of the first stories that I heard/watched rather than read. It’s one of those folk stories that has plot, but it’s very much up to the storyteller to rearrange the obstacles that Xuanzang faces. There’s a lot of freedom and choice in this story. And while it has changed a lot since its first publication in 1592, it astonishes me still how it is so popular amongst children in China. The spiritual, historical, folklore, myths, and adventure all combined to have made the manuscript into something entirely magical.

I sometimes think about poetry in this way. What kinds of poems are meant to be read aloud? Are all poems meant to be read aloud and passed verbally rather than silently in the heart?

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