Li-Young Lee is a famous American poet of his great times. He was born on August 19, 1957. He was born in Indonesia and his parents were Chinese. Lee has written many poems that got famous among people around the world. People love to read and to listen to his poetries.
Most of Lee's poems are based on the themes of innocence, silence, simplicity, unity and the feelings of love and care. Almost all of his poems are influenced by his family. Lee loves his family very much. He loves the history of his family and he loves his parents, siblings and his childhood which is he clearly pictures in his poetries. The poems are written by Lee in such a way that it creates the images in the minds of the readers. He creates the imagination in the minds of his audience through his poetries.
Thesis statement
The poem “Eating Alone” represents the sad feelings of the poet and his family at the preparation of cultural food. There are three main points in the poem: 1) Imagery 2) tone 3) Time.
Discussion and analysis of the poem “Eating Alone”
The poem “Eating Alone” was written in 1986 by the poet Li-Young Lee. The poet clearly reveals the sad feelings of the poet. The pet is feeling sad in the poem because the father of poet has died a year before and at present when the special meal is cooking, the memories of father are spreading all around.
The poet is saying that it is the family culture that every person in the home takes meal by sitting together on the table. He says that if anyone of the family member goes away forever, it creates the pain in heart o... f all family members and someone takes the place of that person. As in every relation there is a hierarchy and so the home also has a hierarchy. The poet pictures that the father is going far away forever and the mother will be taking his place.
As the father is the head of the home and he is honored and very respected. The mother too respects the father. The poet says after the death of the father, the mother have to take the place of the father and she have to head the family. The mother will perform all the acts as the father of the poet was used to do. It is matter of the fact that by the passage of time, the husband and wife begin to look in the same way, they eat in the same ways, thus everything they reflects the habits and styles of each other.
Imagery
In the first stanza of the poem, the poet is telling about the making of food. He is saying how the collection of food ingredients is giving the sweet memories of his father. The poet is revealing that when he went out to collect the white rice, the sweet green peas, the shrimps, the onion and the garlic and sesame seeds, the memories of his father strike him. He is saying that when he was collecting the onion in the field, he remembered how his was used to doing work in the fields and how the poet and father were used to walk side by side among the windfall pears. The poet is remembering the memories of his father while collecting the ingredients of meal and when the meal was cooking, the smell of white rice bring the memories to the poet hat how his family all together were used to eat the meal and today when the father is not there with them, it's painful for the poet and for the poet's family to eat the meal.
Tone
In the second stanza the poet remembers waling with his father. In the last stanza the poet has ended by saying that “what more could I, a young man, want”. This is showing the sad feelings of the poet that father cannot be come back at any cost and all he want is that his father remain happy in the heaven and his mother may live long with him and his siblings. The poet is saying he wants his mother to stay with them forever and he doesn't want to lose her after his father because mother is not only the mother she has also the reflection of his father.
Time
The poet is saying that after the death of the father, the mother will have to take the sweet part of the meat and she will eat in the same way as the father was used to do. The poet is comparing the presence of his mother and the activities and the way of living of his father. The poem also describes how the father left his children and his wife alone. The poet says that his father very calm and polite and he also died in the same way. He died peacefully and quietly leaving the sadness all around in the home.
Conclusion
The overall poem has shown that how the poet is feeling while eating the food and how his mother is remembering his husband while eating the sweet part of the meat. The poem is all about the pain of losing a father and the pain that is felt at the time of lunch or dinner.
Works Cited
Dana R. (2012), “Fatherhood in Poetry: Li-Young Lee's Rose”, retrieved from: http://www.nwc.cc.wy.us/dotAsset/111810.pdf, on 31/Oct/2012.
Meaning Maker By: Butts, Lisa; Publishers Weekly, 2007 Nov 19; 254 (56): 38.
