THE RIVER MERCHANT’S WIFE: A LETTER

By

Li Po

(701-762)

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 1

• Young Girl

– “While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead” (1)

• Simple haircut suggests a young girl

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 1

• Young Girl

– Childish Games

• “pulling flowers” (2)

• “You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse” (3)

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 1

• Young Girl

– “Two small people, without dislike or suspicion” (6)

• Natural innocence of children

• No romantic interest involved

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 2

• 14 Years Old

– Diction suggests she is shy

• “never laughed” (7)

• “bashful” (8)

• “lowering my head” (9)

• “looked at the wall” (9)

• “called to, a thousand times, I never looked back”(10)

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 3

• 15 Years Old

– Diction suggests she has moved beyond her shyness

– She is becoming a woman

• “I stopped scowling” (11)

• “I desired my dust to be mingled with yours/ Forever and forever and forever” (12-13)

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• 16 Years Old– He departs

• Most likely to work–Title: The River-Merchant’s Wife: A

Letter• He goes to a dangerous place

–“You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river of swirling eddies” (16)

»By a dangerous gorge

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• He Departs

– He has been gone for five months

• Most likely dead

– “You dragged your feet when you went out” (19)

• Diction

–Why “dragged?”

»He did not want to leaveGeschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• Nature Imagery

– “The monkeys make sorrowful noises overhead” (18)

• Nature literally echoes her pain

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• Nature Imagery

– “By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,/ Too deep to clear them away!” (20-21)

• Suggests a significant length of time has passed

• Clearing the moss would be his job

–Reflecting his absence

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• Nature Imagery

– “The leaves fall early this autumn” (22)

• Early Death

• Premature Death

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• Nature Imagery– “The paired butterflies are already yellow with

August/ Over the grass in the West garden; They hurt me” (23-25)• Butterflies parallel her relationship• Premature death• West garden

–Death imagery• The pair found in nature actually causes

her painGeschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"

STANZA 4

• Willing to journey a long way to meet him– 200 miles– This unrealistic comment regarding a journey

suggests that the River Merchant’s wife is aware that her husband is dead

Geschke/Englsih IV "The River Merchant's Wife"