And I will come out to meet you 八月蝴蝶黃，雙飛西園草。 The image of mosses in an accumulation “too deep to clear them away!” suggests the effect of time’s passage, and the image of “paired butterflies” shows that she is aware of love’s delicacy and fragility. "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is a poem loosely translated by Ezra Pound from a poem by Chinese poet Li Bai.It first appeared in Pound's 1915 collection Cathay.It is the most widely anthologized poem of the collection. Notice the speaker's shyness when she interacts with her new husband. Pound wrote that “An ‘Image’ is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time.” Pound believed that the essence of this method,... (The entire section contains 3033 words.). The paired butterflies are already yellow with August Demonstrating her resiliency and depth of character, the wife now addresses her husband as an equal partner. 相迎不道遠，直至長風沙。, While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead. "The world that Ming Di constructs in RIVER MERCHANT'S WIFE is a richly complex one, operating in a twilight of loss and discovery and bounded by history and legend. “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” was published in 1915 in Ezra Pound’s third collection of poetry, Cathay: Translations, which contains versions of Chinese poems composed from the sixteen notebooks of Ernest Fenollosa, a scholar of Chinese literature. At fourteen I married My Lord you. The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead. Pound's title, "The River Merchant's Wife," suggests that he left for work, but the original title doesn't, and Li Po gives no direct indication of the husband's profession, except that he's frequently on the river. Her maturity is registered by the extremely powerful use of the only active verb in the poem: Her statement “They hurt me” refers to seasonal changes and their consequences. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this The River-Merchant's Wife study guide. He has covered considerable distance in both geographic and temporal terms, and the wife expresses her unhappiness. 五月不可觸，猿聲天上哀。 By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses, 十六君遠行，瞿塘灩滪堆。 I grow older. At fifteen I stopped scowling, As far as Cho-fu-Sa. Ezra Pound - 1885-1972. I never laughed, being bashful. Here it's important to note that Pound didn't write "The River Merchant's Wife" but rather translated it from the original Chinese, written by Li Po. What does it tell us about what the speaker is feeling. It is written in open verse in the form of a letter from the wife of a river-merchant to her husband, who has been away from their home for five months. From this line, we can assume that the speaker equates childhood with a kind of innocence corruptible by time. Forever and forever, and forever. Li Po's natural images and Eastern sensibility would've appealed to Pound as one of the founding members of Imagism, a movement in poetry dedicated to clarity, rhythm, and precision in diction. The second line starts with the word “I” and contains an image of the girl playing at the moment when she met her future husband. The opening of the poem conveys both immediacy and continuance. Pound wrote his translation in free verse, structured around the chronological life events of the river-merchant and his wife. Notice how the speaker uses the word "still" in combination with the description of the haircut to indicate both her age at the time and the fact that some time has passed. The fourth stanza moves to the present, and the wife is now sixteen. Instead, it anchors itself by way of single-celled rhizoids that cling to surfaces. 十四為君婦，羞顏未嘗開。 The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter. The last part of this stanza contains a reversal of mood. gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses. Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back. 郎騎竹馬來，繞床弄青梅。 同居長干裡，兩小無嫌猜。 苔深不能掃，落葉秋風早。 You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums. In his cryptic reference, he implies that the woman is content to be in her husband’s company or to be by herself. Perhaps, as was often the case in 8th century China, this marriage was arranged for her by her parents, and though she loved her friend dearly, she wasn't prepared for this change in the nature of their relationship. You dragged your feet when you went out. Moss, unlike ivy, doesn't take root in its substrate or upset a foundation's structural integrity. Clearing it away wouldn't be a terribly difficult process, but would take some time, especially if the moss has grown as thick as the speaker suggests. 長幹行 Release Date January 1, 1915. What's an example of imagery from the poem, "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter"? Adopting an almost businesslike tone but maintaining her care and concern, she expresses her confidence in herself by declaring that she too will leave the protection of their home in order to meet him along the river Kiang. It seems written for the reader's benefit, not his. One reading of this line would be, "Why should I look elsewhere for happiness?" Only the last stanzas begins to sound like a letter written to him. I desired my dust to be mingled with yours Here's where the poem's structure first suggests that it's a letter. Translated from Chinese by Tony Barnstone, Neil Aitken, Afaa Weaver, Katie Farris, and Sylvia Burn with the author. While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead I played about the front gate, pulling flowers. The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead. 十五始展眉，願同塵與灰。 By Rihaku, Chinese Original Why should I climb the look-out? 門前遲行跡，一一生綠苔。 ©2020 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The willingness to travel along the river herself solidifies the relationship, and the reference to Cho-fu-Sa (Pound’s version of the Chinese Ch’ang-feng-sha or “long wind beach”) is a specific commitment to a particular place, rather than the previous nebulous “forever” of the second year of her marriage. Given that they were friends before this, it's a little strange that she's uncomfortable. The first line begins with the word “while” and presents an image of the wife as a young girl. then becomes "Why should I ever leave you behind?". Too deep to clear them away! Preface to Cathay 2. Her reflective utterance “I grow older” summarizes the range and scope of time that the poem encompasses. Already a member? 常存抱柱信，豈上望夫台。 Luckily for the speaker, she knows and likes her husband, but this doesn't mitigate her youth or inexperience. She seemed to be acting out of obligation. The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind. I played about the front gate, pulling flowers. Then, at fifteen, she began to relax and remembers that she “desired” to join her husband in both temporal and etherial realms, recognizing the immediate call of the physical as well as the transcendant appeal of the eternal. In the first five stanzas, the speaker provides a summary of her relationship with her husband, the "you" of the poem, even though he knows all of this already. In 8th century China, when this poem was written, girls married in their teens, shortly after they reached child-bearing age. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Here it's important to note that Pound didn't write "The River Merchant's Wife" but rather translated it from the original Chinese, written by Li Po. played about the front gate, pulling flowers. This practice, common even into the early 20th Century, resulted in many forced or arranged marriages between two people unprepared for this situation. The Chinese original likely had a specific form and identifiable meter, but Pound did not know enough about Chinese poetry to preserve it in his translation. If you are coming down through the narrows of the river. Ezra Pound’s adaptation of a poem by Li Bo, an eighth century Chinese poet, is a dramatic monologue spoken by a sixteen-year-old girl. And we went on living in the village of Chokan: Chinese Original 長幹行 ... "The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter" Track Info. Though these lines describe two kids playing happily in a yard, they also introduce an important power differential: the speaker, a female, stays low to the ground, inadvertently positioning herself as an inferior to her friend, the boy on bamboo stilts. 早晚下三巴，預將書報家。 Study questions about The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter. The River-Merchant's Wife content, as well as access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Five months ago, the river-merchant had departed on some unexplained journey. You'll get access to all of the The last section of the poem, an extended stanza of ten lines, is located entirely in the immediate present. She's aware that adults are far more prone to dislike and suspicion, and that they will likely fall victim to these same troubles, but is both wise enough and sensitive enough to enjoy her innocence while she has it; whether it lasts, readers may never know for sure. It pains the speaker to see the symbols of time passing. "Why should I climb the look out?" Study questions, discussion questions, essay topics for The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter 低頭向暗壁，千喚不一回。 Pound's translation is one of the most faithful and well-known, with the only major change being the title, originally written as "Chang'an Memories.". You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse, You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.

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