2 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
to preserve beauty for the reader, praise that beauty, pray for it, and then accept
that he must let it go.
The greatest strength of the poems collected in Rose is their ability to func-
tion on two levels: one level concerning the specific experience of the speaker
and another concerning the speaker’s similarities with greater mankind. This
complexity and Lee’s careful attention to craft did not go unnoticed by critics,
and the collection won him New York University’s Delmore Schwartz Memorial
Poetry Award in 1987. His other collections have also garnered him significant
critical acclaim; his second collection, The City in Which I Love You (1990), was
the Lamont Poetry Selection of The Academy of American Poets. His other
works are Book of My Nights (2001), winner of the 2002 William Carlos Williams
Award, and Behind My Eyes (2008). His memoir, The Winged Seed: A Remem-
brance, also shows the influence of his craft; it has been described as a book-length
lyric prose poem. In the works published since Rose, Lee continues to deal with
his primary subjects of family, his Chinese-American heritage, and loss. To these
subjects he also adds his own evolution into fatherhood.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- Li-Young Lee is often discussed in light of his Chinese-American background
as well as his attempt to reconcile his multicultural identity with his role as a
child, parent, and poet. This is seen in the poem “Persimmons,” in which the
speaker of the poem is punished because of his confusion with language: “In
sixth grade Mrs. Walker / slapped the back of my head / and made me stand in
the corner / for not knowing the difference / between persimmon and precision .”
The struggle to reconcile the compound cultural identities on display in this
poem permeates Lee’s book. His speaker finds himself calling a country home
that does not accommodate his cultural diversity, and so his poems show the
frequent ramifications of that conflict. The poem continues with the speaker’s
memory of teaching his wife how to speak Chinese, an intimate expression of
his love for her, but this intimacy is not without sadness. In trying to teach his
wife, he realizes how much of his first language he has forgotten, and his grief
over this loss inspires him to appreciate where and what he is right now—in
love with his wife. Fortunately, the poem’s representation of diversity does
not lack joy. The speaker also realizes that his heritage and experience can
be assets for him. When the poem returns to the classroom with the speaker
as a child, Mrs. Walker brings in a persimmon for the class to taste, but the
speaker refuses to eat, “knowing / it wasn’t ripe or sweet... ” but watched the
other faces. What first caused the speaker ridicule earlier in the poem now
protects him. A cultural shortsightedness still exists within the classroom, but
the speaker does not face the same cruel ridicule displayed earlier. Here the
speaker acts as a keen observer of those around him, admiring how their faces
react violently to the taste of the unripe fruit. Again, this keen observance
carries through the book. Though the speaker’s awareness of his own heri-
tage alienates him, he still finds moments to celebrate his identity. Students
might compare the speaker’s multiple feelings toward his cultural background