The river merchant's wife

The husband's letter to his wife. the husband is reminiscing moments with his wife because he is longing to see his wife since he is a merchant.

1. The River-Merchants
Wife : A Letter
by: Li Po
Translated by: Ezra Pound
Republic of the Philippines
Philippine Normal University
The National Center for Teacher Education
Mindanao
Multicultural Education Hub
Lea Mae Languido-Gonida BEE II-2
Discussant

2. Authors Background
LiBai(701–762),alsoknownasLiPo,wasaChinese
poetacclaimedfromhisowndaytothepresentasa
geniusandaromanticfigurewhotooktraditionalpoetic
formstonewheights.HeandhisfriendDuFu(712–770)
werethetwomostprominentfiguresintheflourishing
ofChinesepoetryintheTangDynastythatisoftencalled
the"GoldenAgeofChina".Theexpression"Three
Wonders"referredtoLiBai’spoetry,PeiMin’sswordplay,
andZhangXu’scalligraphy

3. Aroundathousandpoemsattributedtohimareextant.Hispoemshave
beencollectedintofourTangdynastypoetryanthologies,andthirty-fourof
hispoemsareincludedintheanthologyThreeHundredTangPoems,which
wasfirstpublishedinthe18thcentury.Inthesamecentury,translationsof
hispoemsbegantoappearinEurope.Thepoemsweremodelsfor
celebratingthepleasuresoffriendship,thedepthofnature,solitude,and
thejoysofdrinkingwine.Amongthemostfamousare"Wakingfrom
DrunkennessonaSpringDay","TheHardRoadtoShu",and"QuietNight
Thought",whichstillappearinschooltextsinChina.IntheWest,multi-
lingualtranslationsofLi'spoemscontinuetobemade.Hislifehaseven
takenonalegendaryaspect,includingtalesofdrunkenness,chivalry,and
thewell-knownfablethatLidrownedwhenhereachedfromhisboatto
graspthemoon’sreflectionintheriver.

4. The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter
Li Po
Translated by: Ezra Pound

5. ?

6. !

8. Whoisspeaking?
To whom is the speaker speaking?
What is the situation?
What is the dominant mood?

9. What does every stanza convey?
Stanza 1
Lines 1-6
The opening 6 lines are centered around them as children.
The mark of adult women in Chinese culture was elaborate
arrangements of long hair.
The repetition of the verb "playing" in three separate lines
emphasizes the activity of children.

10. Stanza 2
Lines 7-10
These lines are centered around the woman and man as
adults. Lines 8-9 establish the wife's shyness by painting a
picture of her with her head bent and looking down to the
ground.

11. Stanza 3
Lines 11-14
These lines are centered around the growth of love between
the young couple. lines 12-13 are similar to wedding vows
almost meaning "till death do us part" emphasized by the
triple repetition of the word "forever".
Line 14 shows her deep love for him.

12. Stanza 4
Lines 15-18
These lines give an image of separation when her husband
takes his job as a river merchant and has to travel in
dangerous waters.
In line 18 the use of the sorrowful sounds of the monkeys are a
reminder to the wife of her own sorrows.

13. Stanza 5
Lines 19-21
These lines are centered on the river merchant’s absence. In
line 20 the phrase "by the gate" implies she has returned to
the gate and is a memory of when/where he left.

14. Stanza 6
Lines 22-25
In line 22 the river merchant’s wife is again reminded of her
sorrow by the falling leaves of autumn and by the "paired"
butterflies who are turning yellow and changing with the
season. She says the butterflies hurt her because they make
her realize she is growing old too but not with her husband.

15. Stanza 7
Lines 26-29
In the final lines of the poem it emphasizes the woman's
desire to be with her husband and to shorten the distance
between them. She is willing to walk hundreds of miles
upstream just to meet her husband and to lessen their
distance from one another.

16. WORDS DENOTATIVE MEANING CONNOTATIVE MEANING
hairstyle hairdo youthful days
flowers Part of plant that is often brightly
colored, that usually lasts a short
time, and from which the seed or fruit
develops
fresh feelings
plum A round juicy fruit that has red or
purple skin, sweet yellow flesh, and
hard seed at the center
sweetness
dust Fine powder made up of very small
pieces of earth or sand
self
River Large natural flow of water that
crosses an area of land and goes into
an ocean
life
Mosses A type of green plant that has very
small leaves and no flowers and that
grows on rock, bark, or wet ground
longing
butterflies A kind of insect that has a long thin
body and brightly colored wings and
that flies mostly during the day.
pain
Falling leaves Green plants that grow from a stem or
twig.
time passes by

17. bashful
forever
month
wind
august
hurt
time
sorrow
hair
flowers
bamboo
horse
blue plums
people
dust
monkey
gate
mosses
Abstract Words Concrete Words
butterflies
garden
River
wall

18. Figures of Speech
Hyperbole
"The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.“
“Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.”

19. Implication of the Title