Persimmons li young lee analysis
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English 275
8 October 2016
The poem “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee has themes of struggling with understanding a new language and culture, as well as the depth and beauty of human life. In addition to understanding a new culture, “Persimmons” also discusses understanding, and at times losing, one’s native culture, especially in the context of a child trying to blend into a new school. The poem begins with the speaker’s struggle with the English language, and grappling with a new language is a recurring idea throughout. Another recurring idea in “Persimmons” is the persimmons themselves. The persimmons are a symbol of many things regarding the depth of human capacity, including the speaker’s difficulty in learning English, the understanding of his own culture, the hope and optimism of his mother, the weight of hardships in life, and the beauty of human emotion.
The speaker uses elements of the English language to express the linguistic aspects of English that confuse him. For example, when speaking about two words that he mixes up—“wren” and “yarn”—he says:
Wrens are small, plain birds
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
“Persimmons” is a free verse poem by Chinese American author Li-Young Lee. The poem was originally part of Lee’s first collection, Roses, published in1986. Lee’s poetry is influenced by Eastern and Western poetic traditions, such as Tang Dynasty, Romantic, and American confessional. Nevertheless, “Persimmons,” like much of Lee’s work, exists outside of the traditions and movements that influenced it, developing an independent Asian American poetic voice.
“Persimmons” navigates the space between Asian and American identities. The poem’s speaker is a Chinese immigrant who grows up an imperfect speaker of English and Chinese. “Persimmons” shares the speaker’s sense of linguistic exile, focusing on how language shapes one’s identity and one’s connection with others. “Persimmons” remains one of Lee’s most anthologized and celebrated poems.
Li-Young Lee was born August 19, 1957, in Jakarta, Indonesia to an ethnically Chinese family. Lee’s maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China's first Republican President who attempted to restore hereditary monarchy in China and name himself emperor. Lee’s father was one of Communist leader Mao Zedong’s personal physicians, and was forced to flee to Indonesia for political reasons. Lee and
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Li-Young Lee's "Persimmons"
Tim Engles
(as available in The Explicator, Waste pipe, 1996)
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