21 pages • 42-minute read
Persimmons
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“Persimmons” consists of 14 stanzas of free verse poetry. Free verse does not follow strict formal rules of rhyme or meter. Instead, it relies on other rhetorical and poetic devices to enhance particular aspects of the poem. First popularized by American poet Walt Whitman, free verse was later adopted by modernist and confessional poetry movements, which interpreted it as more authentic than other forms. For modernists, free verse was a way to experiment and defy traditional poetic rules; for confessionals, the form allowed direct communication of the poet’s emotional state, unfiltered by formal constraints.
The elements that give “Persimmons” structure include assonance, repetition, and enjambment. Assonance and repetition are used frequently enough in the poem to have their own dedicated sections below. Enjambment is the practice of not ending a line with a punctuation mark, thus forcing a reader not to pause at the end of a line but to continue to the next one. Lee’s most notable use of enjambment occurs between the first and second stanza, which are separated by a stanza break but connected by the lack of punctuation: “How to choose / persimmons. This is precision” (Lines 6-7). This allows Lee to echo the earlier phrase “between persimmons and precision” (Line 4) and connects two stanzas that are otherwise different in tone and content.
Assonance
Assonance, or the repetition of sounds for poetic effect, is one of the most versatile rhetorical features of “Persimmons.” For example, in “Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted” (Line 8), two different “o” sounds are repeated to give a sense of the ripe fruit’s rotundity.
Lee takes this technique a step further by paying close attention to the shape one’s mouth makes when making each vowel sound. In the same stanza, he writes “Now, eat / the meat of the fruit / so sweet” (Lines 14-16). Here the long “e” of “eat,” “meat,” and “sweet” recurs and creates continuity between the lines. Saying these words aloud requires the reader to draw back their mouth as if they were smiling, embodying the speaker’s joyful consumption of this good, sweet fruit. Lee employs similar effects throughout the poem, but concentrates them in this second stanza in order to communicate the persimmon’s fullness and sweetness.
Repetition
Lee employs repetition throughout the poem to draw connections between its narrative scenes. For example, father’s use of the work “precision” (Line 82), intentionally hearkens back to the beginning of the poem, when misusing the word earned Lee a smack on the head.
More nuanced use of repetition occurs within stanzas. The third and fourth stanza, in particular, feature repetition in almost every line. In the third stanza, the repetition of the words “naked” (Lines 20, 24) “dew” (Lines 19, 23), and “Crickets” (Lines 20, 23) demonstrates that the speaker is attempting to translate his experience directly from English to Chinese. The repetition creates a mirroring effect: Many of the key words of the first half are reflected in the second. In the fourth stanza, Lee repeats phrases and syntactical structures to demonstrate the proximity between near homophones. The two lines “Fight was what I did when I was frightened / fright was what I felt when I was fighting” (Lines 32-33) are an example of anaphora, or the repetition of an identical structure that becomes almost a chant. Here, this poetic device shows how interchangeable the speaker sees the words.
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