The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter

1. The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter Li Po

2. Origin • South East Asia/China

3. Li Po • T’ang Dynasty • Golden Age of Poetry • Free spirited poetry • Graceful and lyrical style • Moved frequently • Lived in exile • Influenced by Taoist thought and Neo-Taost thought • Poetry conveys his love for freedom

4. Persona • The characters assumed by the speaker of the poem, novel, or short story. • Not who the author actually is • Often times in Chinese poetry, the author and the speaker are very different

5. Poem • Persona (mask in Latin) think about the author putting on a mask of the character to reveal the story or message through the character’s point of view • Song-like poem (ballad) • Tells a story

6. The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter • Persona- the speaker is a young woman waiting for the return of her husband • Her husband has gone on a long and dangerous journey up the Yangtze River • Li Po has put on the “mask” of the river-merchant’s wife to narrate this letter

7. What characters take on a different persona? • Hannah Montana • Superman • Batman • Spiderman