Letter to his two small children by Li Po Adeja Cicero 1B 3/19/14

Letter to his two small children poem Here in Wu land mulberry leaves are green, Silkworms in Wu have now had three sleeps; My family, left in Eastern Lu, Oh, to sow now Turtle-shaded fields, 5 Do the Spring things I can never join, Sailing Yangtze always on my own---

Letter to his two small children poem Let the South Wind blow you back my heart, Fly and land it in the Tavern court Where, to the East, there are sprays and leaves 10 Of one peach tree, sweeping the blue mist; This is the tree I myself put in When I left you, nearly three years past; A peach tree now, level with the eaves And I sailing cannot yet turn home!

Letter to his two small children poem 15 Pretty daughter, P’ing-yang is your name, Breaking blossom, there beside my tree, Breaking blossom, you cannot see me And your tears flow like the running stream; And little son, Po-ch’in you are called, 20 Your big sister’s shoulder you must reach When you come there underneath my peach, Oh, to pat and pet you too, my child!

Letter to his two small children poem I dreamt like this till my wits went wild , By such yearning daily burned within; 25 So tore some silk, wrote this distant pang From me to you living at Wen Yang…

Li Po’s background information 701-762 A.D. Born in Central Asia Was a Chinese poet Genius and romantic figure Li Po and Du Fu were the two most prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry in the Golden Age of China

Background information on the poem Why: Letting his children know how he feels It is an old Chinese poem, not a lot of background information on it but I feel like the Li Po wrote the poem to let his children know how he feels about being away from them

Interpretation Meaning: A father who loves his family but he is away trying to help his family Author’s saying: He loves his children and he would like them to know how much he loves them Theme: Sacrificing yourself to help your family demonstrates true love

Literary devices Simile: “Tears flow like a running stream” Metaphor: “South Wind blowing back my heart” Mood tone: Sad and calm

Song Theme: Having someone there for you when nobody else was Title: Because you loved me Songwriters: Celine Dion “You were my strength when I was weak, you were my voice when I couldn’t speak, you were my eyes when I couldn’t see, you saw the best there was in me, lifted me up when I couldn’t reach, you gave me faith cause you believed, I’m everything I am because you loved me.”

Explanation of the song The song is because you loved me by Celine Dion and it is about having someone there for you through all the good and bad when no one else was there to help In the poem letter to his two children relates to the song because its about a father who wants to be there for his children through the good and bad, he lets them know that he does love them even though he can’t always be there, he still tries and he lets them know that.

Conclusion Li Po wrote the poem “Letter to his two small children” because he wanted to let his children know how he feels about being away from them and telling them how he still loves them and cares about them.