A Poem Of Changgan By Li Po - 864 Words

The poem I read for this assignment is â€Å"A Poem of Changgan† by Li Po. I was surprised by that I can find a Chinese poem in the website. Li Po is one of the greatest poets in China and wrote hundreds of poems during his lifetime. This poem describes a merchant woman’s love story. Li was using a young woman live in Changgan as first person in the poem, and the poem is based on her narrative of her life. In the poem, young woman’s husband was traveled to another place for business purpose, and she has to stay home and waiting for him to come back home. It is very uncommon for a woman to travel with her husband for business in that era. The poem portrays her love, her loneliness, and her eagerness to see her husband through both physical and emotional expressions. The poem started with descriptions of her childhood with her husband. The first line, â€Å"My hair had hardly covered my forehead†, reveals that she was in her early age because her hair hasn’t fully grown. â€Å"Green plum† and â€Å"bamboo horse† can combine together to form a Chinese idiom, which means a boy and a girl have known each other since their childhood. They have a happy childhood and spend a great amount of time together. I can imagine their childhood when I read through first stanza. â€Å"Picking†, â€Å"playing†, â€Å"trotting†, and â€Å"throwing† illustrate their childhood through various actions and provide a detailed image for readers. The first stanza end with â€Å"Both of us young and happy hearted†, I think this line emphasize