Taghreed, 1

Poetry

Taghreed Alajmi

Mrs.Timm

12G

29-11-2011 Taghreed, 2

Literary Analysis Outline

I. Introduction

A. “At sixteen you departed.”(15)

B. The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter

C. Li Po

1. Chinese poet

2. Free-spirited, graceful, and Lyrical style

D. Lyric poem

E. While reading this small poem, it became easier for me to believe that love

does not last forever.

II. Meter and Rhythm

A. Music carries the tone and reflection of the subject.

B. The rhythm represents the arrangement of syllables.

III. Stanzas

A. This poetry is structured into five different stanzas.

B. Support a clear emotional image.

C. The history of the relationship between the River-Merchants wife and her

husband. Taghreed, 3

IV. Sound devices

A. Divided into five parts.

B. The repetition of the word forever.

V. Imagery and figurative language

A. Conveys a message behind the literal meaning.

B. There are several types of elements that can be used as a figurative

language.

C. The personification type is found in this poetry.

VI. Conclusion Taghreed, 4

Literary Analysis Essay

“At sixteen you departed.” (15) The human experience of sorrow at separation and love. This Lyric poem is written by the Chinese poet Li Po. Its title is The River-

Merchants Wife: A letter. Mainly Li Po has concentrated on graceful, free-spirited and lyrical style of poetry. Since this poem is a Lyric poem, it focused on expressing personal and emotional feelings. While reading this poem, it became easier for me to believe that love does not last forever.

In fact, when it comes to music, meter is automatically considered. Music carries the tone and reflection of the subject. Basically, it means the number of beats in a line.

Furthermore, a rhythm best describes the arrangement of syllables whether short, long, accented or unaccented. For example, “At fourteen I married my lord you.” (7). In this line, nine syllables are found. Noticeably, this raises the natural speech rhythm of the conversation to the poetry level. These combinations create a sense of naturalness in the conversation of a letter writing. Eventually, it represents a direct simple image of the poem.

This poetry is structured into five different stanzas. The first is a sestets. Then the second, third and fourth are quatrains. Each of these four stanzas presents a clear emotional image. This image focuses on the history of the relationship between the River

Merchant’s wife and her husband. The final stanza is consisted of 10 lines and a dropped half line. Similarly, it represents a centered-image, which gives an attractive detail to the poetry. The last four lines of these 10 has a mixture of the emotional and physical distance between the River-Merchant and his wife. Taghreed, 5

Basically, the sound devices are divided into five parts: alliteration, rhyme, assonance, consonance and onomatopia. The Alliteration is the repetition of the first consonant letters in the words. For example: “ Forever and forever and forever.”(13)

Furthermore, the rhyme represents the repetition of the final sounds in a line. “ Forever and forever and forever.” Similarly, the consonance describes the repetition of sounds at the end or within a word. “ Forever and forever and forever.” Assonance is the repetition of vowel sound in the words. “ Forever and forever and forever.” However, the repetition of the word forever, expresses how much more the wife wanted to be with her husband.

Conversely, Onomatopia is the use of words that their sounds refer to their meanings such as“ Playing with blue plums” (4)

The figurative language is a technique used to create a strong imagery. It conveys a message behind the literal meaning of the words. Furthermore, it gives a clear entertaining image of the poem. Mainly, it depends on the usage of simile, metaphor, personification, and, synecdoche. “The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.”(18) In this line, there is a personification used, in which the monkeys are given a human quality to make a sorrowful noise. As the wife was sad, the monkeys were moaning.

As a result, several conclusions can be drawn. First, love is not a lasting term.

Usually, the separation of lovers leads to the experience of sorrow. Second, the lyric poem focuses on expressing personal and emotional feelings. It uses meter, rhythm, and, sound devices to make an attractive music of the poem. While, it employs stanzas, and figurative language to create an entertaining imagery. Finally, the poem is expressing the emotional and the physical distance between the River-Merchant and his wife. Taghreed, 6