What is the poem persimmons by Li-Young Lee about?
‘ Persimmons’ by Li-Young Lee is a poem about family and the importance of language. The poem begins with the speaker in sixth grade getting punished for not remembering the difference between two words, “persimmon” and “precision.”
What type of poem is persimmons?
The Poem. “Persimmons” consists of eighty-eight lines of free verse. The speaker is clearly Li-Young Lee himself, who immigrated to the United States from China as a small boy.
What is the theme of persimmons by John Donne?
Persimmons carry the hint of Asian perception of harmony that is important in this world. The main theme of the poem is the variety of the world’s elements, all of which have their meaning. The first stanza of the poem implies that the author is in the sixth grade.
Who is the speaker in the poem persimmon?
The speaker is clearly Li-Young Lee himself, who immigrated to the United States from China as a small boy. The poem begins with Lee in trouble with his sixth-grade teacher because he cannot hear the difference between the words “persimmon” and “precision.”...
What is the theme of persimmons?
Summary. In the poem, persimmons are a symbol of several elements that have figured importantly in this Chinese narrator's life: they stand for painful memories of cultural barriers imposed by language and custom, and for a present-day loving connection to an elderly, blind father.
What kind of poem is persimmons?
The poet is bashed by his sixth-grade teacher Mrs. Walker, but with the help of his mother and father he can overcome English boundaries and gain knowledge through their love. Persimmons is a free verse lyric poem from which the poet himself tells the story.…
What is the poem eating alone about?
In his poem “Eating Alone” Li-Young Lee celebrates the simple joys in life while embracing death as an unavoidable reality. Death is a natural part of daily existence and the poem seeks to mourn the passing of the speaker's father by recognizing the many small deaths that occur in the natural world.
How do you eat a persimmon poem?
Peel the skin tenderly, not to tear the meat. Chew the skin, suck it, and swallow. Now, eat the meat of the fruit, so sweet, all of it, to the heart. Donna undresses, her stomach is white.
What do persimmons represent?
good luck and longevityAssociated with good luck and longevity, it was also used in traditional New Year's celebrations and decorations. Japanese Hawaiians, for example, serve it as a symbol of transformation, signifying health and success in the New Year.
What do you mean by persimmon?
Definition of persimmon 1 : any of a genus (Diospyros) of trees of the ebony family with hard fine wood, oblong leaves, and small bell-shaped flowers especially : an eastern U.S. tree (D. virginiana) or a Japanese tree (D. kaki)
How do you eat yourself at a restaurant?
5 Tips for Eating Out AloneAsk for a seat at the bar if you feel self-conscious about sitting at a table by your lonesome. If the place isn't too busy, you can always chat with the bartender. ... Bring a book or magazine. ... Don't be afraid to people-watch. ... Try not to rely on your phone. ... Relax and enjoy.
What is this boy now who lost his ball?
What is the boy now, who has lost his ball. Merrily over—there it is in the water! In a world of possessions.
What is Enjambment poem?
Enjambment, from the French meaning “a striding over,” is a poetic term for the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried smoothly and swiftly—without interruption—to the next line of the poem.
When was persimmons published?
“Persimmons,” a signature poem by Li-Young Lee, was published in his debut collection, Rose (1986). In this poem, Lee strolls down his memory lane, finding traces of his childhood experiences and cultural heritage.
What is Enjambment poem?
Enjambment, from the French meaning “a striding over,” is a poetic term for the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of poetry to the next. An enjambed line typically lacks punctuation at its line break, so the reader is carried smoothly and swiftly—without interruption—to the next line of the poem.
When was persimmons published?
“Persimmons,” a signature poem by Li-Young Lee, was published in his debut collection, Rose (1986). In this poem, Lee strolls down his memory lane, finding traces of his childhood experiences and cultural heritage.
What is the theme of the poem "The Persimmon"?
The main theme of the poem is the variety of the world’s elements, all of which have their meaning. The first stanza of the poem implies that the author is in the sixth grade. Children at this age are not skilled in using language to describe concepts that are abstract or unknown to them. This task is especially hard for the author, as his primary language is Chinese. He manages to get punished by the teacher for failing to distinguish between the persimmon and the precision.
What is the theme of Li Young Lee's poems?
The scholarly research goes further and identifies key themes that the author uses in his works. For instance, this is a recurring theme of his father who seemed to have a great influence on Lee’s life (Haralson 381). This figure is mentioned in such poems as Dreaming of Hair, The Gift , and Rain Diary . The conflict between the two cultures also seems to be persistent in Lee’s poetry. He brought his Chinese origin through his life and tried to make a valuable connection to both cultures. Thus, the scholarly works focus more on the cultural aspect of the author’s poetry, while the popular view includes an understanding of its beauty and emotional language.
What is the poetry of Li Young Lee?
The poetry by Li-Young Lee is a great example of a lyrical genre filled with emotions and passion for nature and life. Both popular and scholarly resources identify the influence of Chinese background on his works. Persimmon is an example of both the beauty of nature and the deeper meaning it carries in Asian culture.
Is the poem "Fight and Fright" a free verse?
The poem lacks rhyme. This is a free verse, which is understandable since the Asian culture supports this type of poetics. The appropriate language is more important than the use of rhyme. Words like fight and fright are specifically chosen to show both differences and similarities. Although the teacher implies they have different meanings, the boy insists that one is always associated with the other. The same trend is identified with wren and yarn.
What does a persimmon taste like?
Lee’s imagery often employs synesthesia, whereby one sense is described by evoking another; thus, the persimmon tastes like sunlight, and the backyard shivers with the sound of crickets. The persimmon also carries a kind of symbolic weight for the poet and his family.
What does the boy see in the poem?
The boy can see that the fruit is not ripe, but he says nothing and only watches the faces of his classmates. Two brief verse paragraphs follow in which the poet describes the persimmon more fully and compares it with the cardinal on his windowsill, which sings to him, “The sun, the sun.”.
What does Lee's mother tell him about the fruit?
Further, the more his mother and father tell him about the fruit, the more mysteriously potent it becomes: It has a sun inside, it is “heavy as sadness/ and sweet as love.”. Lee has been granted a kind of power through knowing the secrets of the persimmon. Other objects carry similar weight in the poem.
What is the meaning of the poem Persimmons?
The poem Persimmons by Li-Young Lee (17) is one of the interesting examples of how the author uses words that are similar to speak about different concepts. The poet was also chosen since he is a representative of a mixed culture. While Lee knows English very well, the Chinese language has formed his cultural background along with the visionary elements carried from his home country. Persimmons carry the hint of Asian perception of harmony that is important in this world.
What is the theme of Persimmon?
The theme of persimmon as a fruit intersects with the cultural concept. While the first part of the poem describes its skin, meat, taste, and color, the second one reveals the meaning of this fruit to the author. He identifies it as the Chinese sun he is so familiar with that he is capable of drawing it with his eyes closed.
What is the poetry of Li Young Lee?
The poetry by Li-Young Lee is a great example of a lyrical genre filled with emotions and passion for nature and life. Both popular and scholarly resources identify the influence of Chinese background on his works. Persimmon is an example of both the beauty of nature and the deeper meaning it carries in Asian culture.
What is a lyrical poem?
This is a type of poetry when an author expresses his or her feelings and emotions, which is usually done in the first person. Although there are not many conventional elements like the rhyme or the equal meter, the poem relies on the classical determinants of the lyrical genre. The language both supports the emotional tone and perceives the featured concepts as tools for a deeper understanding of the author’s longing for his culture.
What is the theme of Li Young Lee's poems?
The scholarly research goes further and identifies key themes that the author uses in his works. For instance, this is a recurring theme of his father who seemed to have a great influence on Lee’s life (Haralson 381). This figure is mentioned in such poems as Dreaming of Hair, The Gift , and Rain Diary . The conflict between the two cultures also seems to be persistent in Lee’s poetry. He brought his Chinese origin through his life and tried to make a valuable connection to both cultures. Thus, the scholarly works focus more on the cultural aspect of the author’s poetry, while the popular view includes an understanding of its beauty and emotional language.
Who wrote the poem "Persimmons"?
This essay on The Poem “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee was written and submitted by your fellow student. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly .
Is the poem "Fight and Fright" a free verse?
The poem lacks rhyme. This is a free verse, which is understandable since the Asian culture supports this type of poetics. The appropriate language is more important than the use of rhyme. Words like fight and fright are specifically chosen to show both differences and similarities. Although the teacher implies they have different meanings, the boy insists that one is always associated with the other. The same trend is identified with wren and yarn.
What is the meaning of the Persimmon poem?
By the use of symbolism, it is known that “Persimmon” is t and so acts as a metaphor of the love scene, focusing on the pass hat marks the speaker for life. In the ninth stanza, a new scene there is another shift in time, this time the speaker is a mature ad parents, but also revisiting old memories, that arouse ancient feel particular stanza, Lee’s use of vivid imagery is openly present, whew the speakers elderly father who has gone blind: …. 1 rummage, looking for something I lost…. I find a box…. Three paintings by my father: Hibiscus leaf and a white flower.
What is the reality of the poem "Persimmon"?
In the poem, the reality revealed is that we will someday fade away from people and this world. But that the true beauty lies during the events in our lives and until the finale, we are the ones to hold the sweet, ripe “Persimmon,” a sacred and distinct “sun inside … Golden warm. ” Lie-Young Lee implements imagery and symbolism to underline the metamorphosis of the early life of the struggles of social placement of a young American Chinese boy to the deep passions of a young man.
What does Persimmons teach us?
Persimmons” teach us that even if we may go blind, Just like the speakers father in the poem, it comes to show that our experiences of life, that despite not everyone will appreciate, or understand fully, that it is something that will forever remain etched in our souls. At first the poem starts out a bit scattered. There were several pieces that did not seem to follow the time and meaning, but while seemingly scattered, his memories do in fact connect in several ways. As one specific device, most of his recollections involve the symbol of the Chinese fruit, persimmons.
What are the persimmons in the poem?
The persimmons in the general sense are the primary recurring image in Lee's poem, but they have a few specific ways in which they appear. The image of persimmons wrapped in newspaper appears multiple times, culminating in the speaker offering those persimmons to his father. The sweetness of persimmons and their connection to the sun—"golden, glowing, / warm"—build a sense of the significance of the persimmon as a symbol. The sweetness is also connected to love and the relationship between the speaker and his mother and father. The image of the sun appears within the persimmon and outside the speaker's bedroom window, where he sets the two persimmons to ripen. There are recurring images of birds in these scenes as well: the knitted wrens the speaker's mother makes, which reappear, so to speak, as cardinals at the window, singing about the sun.
What is the sensory description of a persimmon?
The strong, concise descriptive language allows the poet to effectively communicate beyond visual imagery, engaging the reader with smells, tastes, weight, and textures. This sensory description primarily focuses on the image of the persimmons, but it is also not limited to that image.
How to choose a persimmon?
If they are ripe they are soft and brown spotted and will smell sweet. The speaker instructs the reader to eat a persimmon by peeling away the skin and chewing it before eating the rest of the fruit, "all of it, to the heart."
Why are the images of light in Persimmons important?
The images of light in "Persimmons" are particularly significant because of the blindness the speaker's father experiences toward the end of the poem. The literal sun outside the window and the suns inside persimmons create bold, glowing images of light in the poem. The moon that is related to Donna also creates light imagery in the poem. These images dim by the poem's end, when the speaker describes the "muddy lighting" of a cellar. In this cellar the speaker confronts his father's blindness while his father sinks into his own memories.
What is the fourth stanza of the poem about?
The speaker lists other English words that he got in trouble for mixing up. He then links these words to one another. The words "fight" and "fright" are connected because he fights when he is frightened but feels frightened when he fights. He links the words "wren" and "yarn" in the memory of his mother making birds and other creatures out of yarn.
How does Lee's poem structure work?
The structure of Lee's poem is not straightforward but rather formed out of a gradual development of ideas and stanzas that connect back to one another. Some stanzas interlink clearly, such as the two stanzas that mention the speaker's teacher, while others develop more subtle connections. The first half of the poem moves back and forth between connected stanzas, while the latter stanzas begin to move in a more linear narrative.
How to choose in the opening stanza of the poem?
In the opening stanza the speaker describes a scene he remembers from sixth grade. In this scene the teacher strikes him on the back of the head and makes him stand in a corner for mixing up the words "persimmon" and "precision." The stanza ends with a partial sentence that sets up the second stanza: "How to choose." The fragment "How to choose" in this situation is an enjambment, which means it is intended to be read as the ending of Stanza 1 and as the beginning of Stanza 2, which starts with the word "persimmons."
Theme
Language
Tone
- Although the poem is narrated by a boy, the tone of it is rather sad. First, there is a disappointment by the teacher’s action who does not understand that the boy possesses critical thinking. She is focused only on the language and the rules that have to be applied when using words. However, the boy sees the application of each word in real life. The story that finishes th…
Connotation
- It is a fact that Asian culture supports paternalism. Whether it is a parent or a teacher, and author of the Chinese origin would be expected to show respect for these figures. However, this cannot be fully traced in the poem. The boy does not find a connection with his teacher. The fact that she brings the fruit that is not ripe implies that she cannot understand the beauty of this world. Ther…
Sound
- The poem lacks rhyme. This is a free verse, which is understandable since the Asian culture supports this type of poetics. The appropriate language is more important than the use of rhyme. Words like fight and fright are specifically chosen to show both differences and similarities. Although the teacher implies they have different meanings, the boy insists that one is always as…
Genre
- Analyzing the elements described above, it can be stated that the poem belongs to the lyrical genre. This is a type of poetry when an author expresses his or her feelings and emotions, which is usually done in the first person. Although there are not many conventional elements like the rhyme or the equal meter, the poem relies on the classical determinants of the lyrical genre. Th…
Context
- Persimmons can be called a typical poem by Li-Young Lee. For instance, his other work From Blossoms features the same passion for nature (Lee 21). There, he describes the taste and texture of peaches that they ate on a dusty summer day. Once again, there is a description of sweetness and the rich flavor that makes those peaches so precious. There i...
Conclusion
- The poetry by Li-Young Lee is a great example of a lyrical genre filled with emotions and passion for nature and life. Both popular and scholarly resources identify the influence of Chinese background on his works. Persimmon is an example of both the beauty of nature and the deeper meaning it carries in Asian culture.
Works Cited
- Haralson, Eric L., editor. Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century. Routledge, 2001. Lee, Li-Young. Rose: Poems. BOA Editions, Ltd, 1986. Li-Young Lee.Wikipedia, 2016, Web.
Theme
Language
Tone
Connotation
Sound
Genre
Context
- Persimmons can be called a typical poem by Li-Young Lee. For instance, his other work From Blossoms features the same passion for nature (Lee 21). There, he describes the taste and texture of peaches that they ate on a dusty summer day. Once again, there is a description of sweetness and the rich flavor that makes those peaches so precious. There i...
Conclusion
Works Cited