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Tu Fu's Gift: A Poetic Reflection on Life

Tu Fu wrote the poem "Sent to Li Po as a Gift" to advise his friend Li Po on how to live his life. The poem uses shifts in tone to portray two perspectives - an initial positive tone describing Li Po's free-spirited nature, and a skeptical, disapproving tone revealing Tu Fu's true thoughts on Li Po wasting his youth. Through metaphors and rhetorical questions, Tu Fu conveys that Li Po should embrace life instead of foolishly chasing immortality. The shifts in tone demonstrate Tu Fu's thought process and aim to help Li Po understand that he should appreciate each day, as death could come unexpectedly.

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189 views2 pages

Tu Fu's Gift: A Poetic Reflection on Life

Tu Fu wrote the poem "Sent to Li Po as a Gift" to advise his friend Li Po on how to live his life. The poem uses shifts in tone to portray two perspectives - an initial positive tone describing Li Po's free-spirited nature, and a skeptical, disapproving tone revealing Tu Fu's true thoughts on Li Po wasting his youth. Through metaphors and rhetorical questions, Tu Fu conveys that Li Po should embrace life instead of foolishly chasing immortality. The shifts in tone demonstrate Tu Fu's thought process and aim to help Li Po understand that he should appreciate each day, as death could come unexpectedly.

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Lamah 1

Ghadeer Lamah
Mrs. Hope
Honors World Literature
9 November 2015
Analysis of Sent to Li Po as a Gift
Originating in around 500 BCE, Confucianism is a highly valued philosophy in China,
even to this day. It's teachings of respect and living harmoniously in order to fully experience and
appreciate what life has to offer are presented in the works of Chinese poets. Two Chinese poets
specifically reflect this ideology in their works: Li Po and Tu Fu. Although, these two poets were
practically opposites. Tu Fu was a reserved and serious man who was only interested in writing
meaningful poetry, whereas Li Po spent his days drinking with happy-go-lucky attitude. The two
of them being friends, the poem Sent to Li Po as a Gift written by Tu Fu is not only a poem
that abstractly conveys the teachings of Confucianism, but it also is a poetic gift given to a friend
as advice on how to live. He touches upon his true opinions on how Li Po carelessly dismisses
the importance of his youth. Through the use of shifts in tone, the author is able to portray the
theme that life should not be taken advantage of, but rather embraced.
The poem initially is emitting a very welcoming and uplifting tone, especially when
describing Li Po: We meet each other,/ You still whirl about as a thistledown in the wind. (Tu
Fu 2-3). Words like whirl, wind, and thistledown are all words with a free-spirited and
uplifting connotation to go along with them, adding to the positive tone. Although, this tone is
then shifted to the opposite in the next few lines of the text, where the words resonate a
questionable and skeptical tone. The authors opinion on Li Pos naive personality now is
uncovered: Your Elixir of immortality is not yet perfected/And, remembering Ko Hung, you are

Lamah 2

ashamed (Tu Fu 4-5). Tu Fus true thoughts and emotions of his friends attitude towards life are
now completely divulged to Li Po, transforming the tone. In line 5, Tu Fu is intentionally
highlighting a flaw of Li Pos to display how utterly ridiculous he finds it that Li Po dares to
waste his life chasing immortality that he will never be able to attain. Finally, the ending lines of
the poem tie together Tu Fus disappointment and disapproval in his friend's actions: Your days
pass in emptiness./Your nature is a spreading fire,/It is swift and strenuous. But what does all this
bravery amount to? (Tu Fu 8-11). Spreading fire is being used as a symbolic metaphor
describing Li Po. Fire is something that is bright and lively, yet dangerous and unpredictable at
the same time; this is how Li Po is portrayed in the poem. The ending sentence of the poem is a
rhetorical question,but what does all this bravery amount to? (Tu Fu 11). In other words, the
author is telling Li Po that, yes, bravery and adventurousness embody who he is, but is any of
that nonsense important in the long run? This is the question Tu Fu hopes Li Po will find the
answer to himself.
Through shifts in tone, the author is able to present the theme that death is inevitable;
there is no way to escape the effects of time. The changes in attitude provide different viewpoints
of Tu Fu, as well as reveal his thought process when dealing with Li Po. Therefore, Tu Fu wants
to help his friend Li Po understand that instead of giving his youth and well-being little to no
thought, he should consider and accept the fact that no matter what, life will catch up when it is
least expected. It is not important for one to be prepared for death, but more so to be living life as
if death could be just around the corner.

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