Tao Yuan-ming’s Retirement Life in Country is plain in language but rich in its connotations. Readers may get different understandings of the poem from different angles. It seemingly is describing the life in country but actually it is the reflection of the poet’s dissatisfaction with the dark reality of his time. Others hold the point that this poem expresses the independent personality of the poet. An overlook of all the works of the poet proves that the third view is more proper.
