Jade Flower Palace Tu Fu Imagery and Mood Jade Flower Palace Tu Fu

Jade Flower Palace Tu Fu, translated by Kenneth Rexroth             The stream swirls. The wind moans in              The pines. Gray rats scurry over              Broken tiles. What prince, long ago,              Built this palace, standing in  5          Ruins beside the cliffs? There are              Green ghost fires in the black rooms.              The shattered pavements are all              Washed away. Ten thousand organ              Pipes whistle and roar. The storm  10        Scatters the red autumn leaves.              His dancing girls are yellow dust.              Their painted cheeks have crumbled              Away. His gold chariots              And courtiers are gone. Only  15        A stone horse is left of his              Glory. I sit on the grass and              Start a poem, but the pathos of              It overcomes me. The future              Slips imperceptibly away.  20        Who can say what the years will bring? 

Group Work Get into your groups. Read your stanza out loud as a group. Underline Tu Fu’s use of imagery. Using Tu Fu’s words, draw a visual of your stanza representing the mood. When depicting the mood, consider your use of color, setting, action and objects.

Example By bent grasses In a gentle wind Under straight mast I’m alone tonight,

Interactive Reader Complete Pages 184 and 185 in your group.

Mood and Tone Worksheet Some possible word choices to describe the tone of “Jade Flower Palace”…. Nostalgic, mysterious, reflective, sentimental, thoughtful, haunting, overwhlemed.

Example Paragraph The tone of “Jade Flower Palace”, by Tu Fu is haunting. Tu Fu uses the words ghost, moan and storm to describe the ruined palace (setting). Tu Fu describes the ruined palace because he is thinking about how fast time passes. He feels overwhelmed. This is evident by the line “I sit on the grass and start a poem, but the pathos of it overcomes me “.