Poetry that deals with wanting to be rescued?

Question

I'm looking for some, mainstream, poetry that deals with wanting to be rescued.

China Baike gave me:

黄鹤洞中仙 继重阳韵

拯救扶风活。逗引扶风耍。故遣扶风颠更狂。扶风马。家累扶风舍。业火扶风洒。云鹤扶风跨。这个扶风灵更灵，扶风马。真称扶风也。

蓦山溪

观公形貌，俊爽偏清秀。慷慨又雄豪，你肯把、清闲拯救。只知名利，前路做荣华，论文章，说佳吉，衣紫金章绶。肯来随我，闻早植休咎。切虑逐波流，但肯还、迷情恋酒。稍知玄妙，略得悟逍遥，明月里，弄清风，蓬岛同携手。

清心镜 寄四舍弟马运甫

与人和，休打斗。慎勿迷迷，博弈饮酒。暗风病、谑杀傍人，疾些儿拯救。要病除，须拂袖。物外持修，亘初清秀。更有般、真个长安，待来

and

题景范堂

曾子才高呈事能，就中一事最堪黎明。 前贤拯救苍生，赖有斯人解服膺。

I don't necessarily feel that these are good examples of wanting to be rescued, nor very mainstream.

Any pointers?

Answer 1

There are few examples I can think of that exactly match your request of wanting (the poet himself) to be rescued. I think the reason here is the Chinese culture, in which people usually express their personal hopes in a more euphemistic way.

Here I think of a few related example that may be closest to your need:

• 《茅屋为秋风所破歌》 by 杜甫. In the poem, he described his poor status and he want to rescue all the poors in the world -- this kind of universal love makes it a well-known poem. The most famous segments:

  安得广厦千万间，大庇天下寒士俱欢颜，风雨不动安如山。

• 《虞美人》 by 李煜, who is the last emperor of the Nan Tang dynasty. He wrote a lot of sad poems since his country is going to fall. His sadness mixed with his hope of returning to the old days.

  小楼昨夜又东风，故国不堪回首月明中。

• 《满江红》 by 岳飞. The poem express the feeling of the General Yue Fei, who wants to save his country (Nan Song) from being defeated by alien empire Jin.

  靖康耻，犹未雪。臣子恨，何时灭。驾长车，踏破贺兰山缺。

Answer 2

As a Chinese, these three poem is not a good example in literature. But why? Let's look back who wrote these poems first: 黄鹤洞中仙 继重阳韵 by 马钰 清心镜 寄四舍弟马运甫 by 马钰 题景范堂 by 袁燮

These two people are not well known as a poet, but their contribution to the other field.

马钰 sounds familiar with me.He is the 2nd Head of Quanzhen School. A really famous branch of Taoism even for ordinary people thanks to Jin Yong, who wrote a list of fictional wuxia novels. His collection is super popular in Chinese(both oversee and China mainland) starting from 1955.(Imagine how popular "the Game of Throne" in the western world.)

Then 袁燮, who less sounds familiar but seems play an important role in the Confucianism in Southern Song Dynasty. Southern Song Dynasty is a really important in the East Asia history. Its collapse not only leads the culture change of China, not also affect China's neighbors: Japan and Korea. You could check "崖山之后无中国 明亡之后无华夏" if you interested