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Jade Flower Palace Tu Fu

The narrator of the poem is sitting by the ruin of the old palace imagining what it looked like in its glory days. The diction used in this poem helps provide a negative connotation and a depressing and confused tone. The theme of Jade Flower Palace is that no one knows what the future brings so appreciate the present.

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1K views2 pages

Jade Flower Palace Tu Fu

The narrator of the poem is sitting by the ruin of the old palace imagining what it looked like in its glory days. The diction used in this poem helps provide a negative connotation and a depressing and confused tone. The theme of Jade Flower Palace is that no one knows what the future brings so appreciate the present.

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Sami Aronson

Mrs. Hope
Honors Writers Workshop
9 November 2015
Jade Flower Palace Analysis
In Taoism, a major belief is letting nature be and accepting reality. Jade Flower
Palace is an example of that belief. This poem discusses an old palace that was once
beautiful but now is in rubble. The narrator of the poem is sitting by the ruin of the old
palace imagining what it looked like in its glory days. He is writing the poem and hoping
that his fate isnt the same as this palaces. He wants to achieve something in his lifetime
and not be forgotten.
In Jade Flower Palace there are aspects of figurative language to provide abstract
imagery. This gives off an image to picture when reading the text. For example, Ten
thousand organ Pipes whistle and roar,(Tu Fu 8-9). This is an example of
personification. The organ pipes cant actually whistle and moan, and it produces the
image of the organ being played; also pipes blaring loud noises and them moving gives
off an image. The diction used in this poem helps provide a negative connotation and a
depressing and confused tone. It is very negative because the narrator is describing how
ruined the palace is and everything that was there that isnt anymore. These objects were
precious and had meaning and then they vanished.
Moreover, the negative connotation in Jade Flower Palace is demonstrated in a
formal tone. To illustrate the negative connotation, Gray rats scurry over Broken
tiles,(Tu Fu 2-3). Rats represent disgust and lack of care. Rats live in abandoned areas;

this palace has been abandoned and is now in ruin. There were two examples of shifts
demonstrated throughout the text; they were both questions. This was a shift in syntax. As
demonstrated in the text, What prince, long ago, Built this palace, standing in Ruins
beside the cliffs?(Tu Fu 4-6) This is the narrator questioning whoever built this palace.
He wonders who built it and where they are today. He wonders what was the background
of this now ruined palace.
To conclude, the theme of Jade Flower Palace is that no one knows what the
future brings so appreciate the present. To illustrate, The future Slips imperceptibly
away. Who can say what the years will bring?(18-20) The narrator doesnt want to end
up forgotten like the palace. He wants to be remembered and still have glory. Jade
Flower Palace encompasses Taoist ideals by waiting for what is to come and not rushing
life.

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