Explication of “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee [Poetry]

English 275

8 October 2016

Explication of “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee 

The poem “Persimmons” by Li-Young Lee has themes of struggling with understanding a new language and culture, as well as the depth and beauty of human life. In addition to understanding a new culture, “Persimmons” also discusses understanding, and at times losing, one’s native culture, especially in the context of a child trying to blend into a new school. The poem begins with the speaker’s struggle with the English language, and grappling with a new language is a recurring idea throughout. Another recurring idea in “Persimmons” is the persimmons themselves. The persimmons are a symbol of many things regarding the depth of human capacity, including the speaker’s difficulty in learning English, the understanding of his own culture, the hope and optimism of his mother, the weight of hardships in life, and the beauty of human emotion.

     The speaker uses elements of the English language to express the linguistic aspects of English that confuse him. For example, when speaking about two words that he mixes up—“wren” and “yarn”—he says:

Wrens are small, plain birds,

yarn is what one knits with.

Wrens are soft as yarn.

My mother made birds out of yarn. (Lines 34-37)

In this way, the speaker is demonstrating how he has struggled with the English language. The words “wren” and “yarn” are phonetically similar, but have two different definitions. This element of language is difficult for him, because his mother makes wrens out of yarn, confusing the fact that a wren and yarn are two different things. The speaker is showing why the English language is difficult for him, in order to support to theme of the struggle of understanding a new language.

     “Persimmons” also deals with further understanding, and losing, one’s native language and culture. In the second stanza, the speaker is teaching his girlfriend Chinese. Translating words that describe their night, he says, “Crickets: chiu chiu. Dew: I’ve forgotten. / Naked: I’ve forgotten” (23-24). There are words in Chinese he can no longer speak, because they have slipped his mind during his acquisition of English, which demonstrates the loss of a native language. However, there are aspects of his culture that he desires to preserve and understand. For example, when the speaker’s sixth grade teacher brings a persimmon to class so her students can have a taste of “a Chinese apple” (43), the speaker does not eat it. He says, “Knowing / it wasn’t ripe or sweet, I didn’t eat / but watched the other faces” (43-45). His instructor is teaching his culture, but she is incorrect about when persimmons are ripe to eat, and only the speaker knows it. This also seems to be a challenging reference to the opening of the poem, when the speaker’s teacher chastises him for “not knowing the difference / between persimmon and precision” (4-5). As a child, the speaker is intelligent enough to understand the difference of cultures, but is chastised because he confuses words.

Figure of speech is prominent in “Persimmons.” When the speaker is with his girlfriend Donna, he uses a simile by saying, “I part her legs, / remember to tell her / she is beautiful as the moon” (26-28). The context of this type of language seems to suggest that the speaker relies on figures of speech—an element of language he is able to truly understand—in order to cope with significant life experiences. Later, he remembers his mother using a metaphor, and he says “every persimmon has a sun / inside, something golden, glowing, / warm as my face” (46-48). This example supports the speaker’s reliance on figures of speech, because he repeats his mother’s metaphor of persimmons having suns inside them. This short stanza is one of two important mentions of his mother, which could imply his mother played a significant role in his life. When speaking of his mother, he uses the past tense, in contrast to the present tense he uses with his father. This could mean his mother passed away, and the speaker yet again returns to figures of speech to understand the depth of human capacity.

There is also personification in “Persimmons.” When the speaker is with his father in his parents’ cellar, his language comes to life. He speaks of a cardinal singing “The sun, the sun” (53) near his bedroom windowsill, perhaps referring back to his mother’s metaphor about the sun being in every persimmon, as well as personifying the cardinal by saying it is singing human language. To his father who is going blind, the speaker says, “I gave him the persimmons, / swelled, heavy as sadness, / and sweet as love” (58-60). Here, he is personifying the persimmons, allowing them to swell with sadness, and be as sweet as love, two human emotions of significant depth. He also personifies his parents’ cellar stairs, when he says, “My father sits on the tired, wooden stairs” (64). This could also be referring to his tired father, who his losing his eyesight as he ages.

The poetic form of “Persimmons” is free verse. With stanzas of varying lengths and compositional weight, the lack of fixed metrical pattern does not seem to play a significant role in the poem. In “Persimmons,” there are multiple settings or situations. For example, there is a scene of the speaker in his sixth grade classroom with his teacher, in the yard undressing with his girlfriend Donna, and two separate times in his life when he is in his parents’ cellar. These multiple settings are connected through the speaker’s need for “precision” (5, 82) in language in every scene. In his classroom, he must be precise in getting the words correctly; in the yard with Donna, he needs to be precise in remembering his native language; in the cellar, he must be precise when communicating with his father, who reminds his son of the beauty and importance of life:

Some things never leave a person:

scent of the hair of one you love;

the texture of persimmons,

in your palm, the ripe weight. (85-88)

In this final scene, the speaker’s father is relaying his personal experience of going blind, which could be referring to the physical things one forgets when he can no longer see them. However, there are certain important and beautiful things one can never forget, referring to love between two people, and the “ripe weight” (88) of persimmons, or human life.

     “Persimmons” discusses themes of understanding a new and native language, as well as the depth and beauty of human life. The speaker demonstrates scenes throughout his life in which he grappled with understanding his native language and the English language, as well as significant life experiences where he used figurative language—such as simile and metaphor—to comprehend the depth and beauty of human life. Overall, this poem is rich in metaphors and ideas. I was moved by this poem, because it discusses the great and intimate human experiences in a simple, yet abstract way. The speaker takes personal life experiences, and analyzes them so that he can understand the deeper meaning underlying them. I enjoyed explicating this poem, and will continue to read it so as to find deeper meaning with each additional read.

Works Cited

Lee, Li-Young. “Persimmons.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Kelly J. Mays, 
Norton, 2014, pp. 513-514.