Search results
The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter. I played about the front gate, pulling flowers. You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums. Two small people, without dislike or suspicion. At fourteen I married My Lord you. I never laughed, being bashful. Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Learn about the themes, structure, and techniques of Pound's famous poem, a loose translation of a Chinese poem by Li Bai. The poem tells the story of a young wife who writes a letter to her merchant husband who is away on a trip.
Learn about Ezra Pound's reinterpretation of an 8th-century Chinese poem by Li Bai, a young wife pining for her husband. Explore the poem's themes, form, meter, rhyme scheme, poetic devices, vocabulary, and context.
A poem inspired by a Chinese letter, translated by Ezra Pound, about a woman's love and loss. Read the full text, the original Chinese, and the translation notes on Poets.org.
The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is a four stanza poem, written in free verse, and loosely translated by Ezra Pound from a poem by Chinese poet Li Bai. It first appeared in Pound's 1915 collection Cathay. It is the most widely anthologized poem of the collection.
Read Full Text and Annotations on The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter Text of the Poem at Owl Eyes.
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion. At fourteen I married My Lord you. I never laughed, being bashful. Lowering my head, I looked at the wall. Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back. At fifteen I stopped scowling, I desired my dust to be mingled with yours. Forever and forever, and forever. Why should I climb the look out?
