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Li-Young LeeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Thoughts on a Still Night“ by Li Bai (744-756)
Li Bai is a prominent figure in Tang Dynasty poetry, and is likely the most internationally regarded Chinese poet. Lee’s engagement with Tang Dynasty poetry most certainly included Li Bai’s works, and “Thoughts on a Still Night” showcases the period’s influence on Lee’s poetry well, featuring feelings of displacement, nostalgia, and the mutability of definitional boundaries. Also noteworthy is the shared use of the moon as a beauty symbol.
“Blackberrying“ by Sylvia Plath (1971)
Lee’s Western influences most obviously include the mid-20th century American confessional tradition, which places an emphasis on private experiences, and often conflates the poet and the poem’s speaker. “Persimmons” and “Blackberrying” both foreground the experience of picking fruit as a way of tackling feelings of isolation and disconnection.
“The Gift“ by Li-Young Lee (1986)
“The Gift” is another one of Li-Young Lee’s most famous poems. Published in the collection Rose, “The Gift” also connects the poet-speaker’s father with the lasting importance of memory. Unlike the elderly, blind father in “Persimmons,” the young father of “The Gift” is a competent caretaker extracting a splinter from the seven-year-old speaker while implanting an indelible sense of love.
By Li-Young Lee
Early in the Morning
Early in the Morning
Li-Young Lee
Eating Alone
Eating Alone
Li-Young Lee
Eating Together
Eating Together
Li-Young Lee
From Blossoms
From Blossoms
Li-Young Lee
I Ask My Mother to Sing
I Ask My Mother to Sing
Li-Young Lee
The Gift
The Gift
Li-Young Lee