"The Glorified Outcasts: a study of 'A Farewell' and 'Drifting on the Lake' by Wang Wei"

A Farewell I dismount from my horse and drink your wine. I ask where you're going You say you are a failure And want to hibernate at the foot of Deep South Mountain Once you're gone no one will ask about you. There are endless white clouds on the mountain. -Wang Wei Drifting on the Lake Autumn is crisp and the firmament far, especially far from where people live. I look at cranes on the …

…he is able to be alone. He remarks that he is "not willing to return" to the place from whence he came with something of a disappointment buried in his words. In contrast, the character in "A Farewell" explains to the poem's speaker that he is traveling to isolation from society. He remarks that he is a failure...but this is a notion he has received from society and it has made him an outcast.