| Pear
trees can live for a very long time, and they are often used in China as a symbol
for longevity. Pear blossoms with raindrops are a sight of special beauty, and
the phrase is used to describe beautiful women. The poem changes the symbolic
meaning of these flowers, however, by expressing the artist's profound sorrow
over the destruction of the Song. The flowering pear blossoms become a visual
metaphor for a beautiful, isolated court woman who has survived the fall of the
Song dynasty, and is herself a symbol of the past beauty of a fallen empire. "Before
darkness fell" in the last line refers to the last moments of Song glory
before the Mongol invasion.
The starkness of the composition, if one
imagines this painting without all the later collectors' seals, suggests the artist's
sad, contemplative mood. Rendered in thin calligraphic brushstrokes and cool,
pale colors, the flat patterning of the pear blossom petals and leaves expresses
the detached, alienated feelings of the artist. The calligraphy used for his poem
resembles the painting with its delicate, controlled elegance echoing the twisting
movement of the pear branch and its leaves.
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