Tagore [India]
The darkness of the long night,
Like pain, it is dumb;
The darkness of dawn,
Like peace, it is silent.
(translated by Yanwu, selected from firefly collection)
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Darkness, in essence, is an objective phenomenon that is extremely lacking in light. Many poets are used to using these two words to describe real life from its natural meaning. However, in this poem, Tagore discusses the philosophical significance of these two words pointing to the universal society from the perspective of real life.
Specifically, this poem shows the poet's specific psychological feelings and profound thinking through the comparative observation of "darkness at night" and "darkness at dawn". "The darkness of the long night" means a long and slim wait for those who are there. Waiting itself is a difficult thing, and the long and slim waiting is a great mental depression that wants to rest and stop. It is in this sense that the poet attributed the long "night" to long pain. "The darkness of dawn" is different. Although it provides a dark and gloomy scene, the existence of this scene is short-lived, and then the world will restore its original harmonious and stable order after the sun bursts from the eastern sky. In this case, the poet compares the "darkness of dawn" to the silent "peace". The poet seems to tell us such a philosophy: darkness is inevitable and not terrible. The terrible thing is to lose confidence in the coming of light. Realistic people should never give up their persistent pursuit of the lamp of hope.
In art, this poem not only makes a strong contrast, but also skillfully uses synaesthesia: "The darkness of the long night is as dumb as pain" is a gradual transformation from vision to perception and then to hearing; The same is true of the sentence "The darkness of dawn,/like peace, is silent".
(Cao Yuchuan)