The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter Themes
Love
In "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter," we observe the wife remembering how she first fell in love with her husband, and how that love has survived his five-month absence. Even though we only get...
Isolation
In "The River Merchant's Wife," it's appropriate that this monologue/letter is written in isolation. There are no other people around that we know of, and monkeys and moss just don't count as compa...
Women and Femininity
So, "The River-Merchant's Wife" never became a feminist poem. The portrayal of this woman was originally written by a man, Li Po, and it was then translated by men, like Ezra Pound. As a result, th...
Memory and The Past
Half of "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" takes place in the past. The speaker is recalling certain memories about her own experience with marriage in order to express her love for her husband...