Julia Sempowski

Seeing Off a Friend
Li Bai

Green hills above the northern wall,
White water winding east of the city.
On this spot our single act of parting,
The lonely tumbleweed journeys ten thousand li.
Drifting clouds echo the traveler's thoughts,
The setting sun reflects my old friend's feelings.
You wave your hand and set off from this place,
Your horse whinnies as it leaves

 Poem Source: http://www.chinese-poems.com/lb15t.htm
Photo Source: https://pixabay.com/en/photos/goodbye/


The photo shown is of a man waving goodbye. In line 7 of the poem, Li Bai speaks of someone waving their hand and leaving “this place”.


 Biography of the Poet:
     Li Bai was a Chinese poet in the era of the Tang Dynasty. He was born May 19, 701 AD in Suyab, China. When he was 24 he left his home in “a period of wandering”. In 742 he was chosen to attend  Hanlin Academy by Emperor Xuanzong. He served Prince of Yun who led a revolt in 755. He was arrested for treason, when he was let go he wandered again in the Yangtze Valley. He was married four times and was friends with many famous ancient Chinese poets. 
Biography Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/li-po


Analysis of the Poem:
The poem Seeing off a Friend first talks of the landscape around the spot where the speaker and his friend parted. The speaker's friend is leaving on a horse away from “this place”. The speaker is a companion of the person who is leaving him. He reflects on his “old friend’s” thoughts and feelings on this parting of the two of them. The first type of figurative language used in the poem is alliteration, “white water winding” (2). Bai uses this alliteration to draw the reader into the poem. Bai also uses personification in the lines, “The lonely tumbleweed journeys ten thousand li” (4). He uses this language to show the loneliness of the speaker’s friend on his travels. There is no rhyme scheme in Seeing off a Friend. In the beginning of the poem the tone can be interpreted as a calming tone, because of the landscape description. Towards the middle of the poem, around line 4, the poems tone switches. At this shift the tone of the poem turns more depressing because of the speakers friend leaving the speaker. The theme of this poem is that friends may come and go but you should let yourself and them move on.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2019 at 6:19 PM

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2019 at 6:23 PM

    I agree with your analysis of the shift in the poem when the speakers realizes that their friend is really leaving and the mood becomes more depressing. During the first three lines of this poem the speaker describes the beautiful scenery surrounding them where their friend leaves. The tone of the poem gets less light and happy as the speaker begins to describe their friend leaving them starting at line four. I also believe that the "lonely tumbleweed" traveling a very far distance could be the speaker's friend on their journey. However, I also think that the "lonely tumbleweed" could represent the memories that they have made together and because the friend is leaving and the memories may fade hence the "tumbleweed journey[ing] ten thousand li."

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