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Lament Of The Frontier Guard Analysis

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In Lament of the Frontier Guard, Li Bai uses repetition to describe the aftermath of a war and the anger felt by a single guard. Bai describes the guards ascent into a tower to look over “the barbarous land” where he observes a lonely city, a “desolate castle, the sky, the wide desert.” Regarding the abandoned and empty city, Bai asks, “Who brought this to pass? Who has brought the flaming imperial anger? Who has brought the army with drums and kettle-drums?” By wording the questions similarly, Bai conveys a sense of growing anger. The answer to his questions: “barbarous kings.” The use of barbarous to describe both the land and the Kings leads to the reader to understand who was responsible for the destruction of the city. This repetition
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