Literal Glamour In Li-Young Lee's Eating Together

Literal Glamour in Li-Young Lee’s “Eating Together” On a first reading, Li-Young Lee’s “Eating Together” seems to be a simple and straightforward poem. It starts with the description of a delicious meal, and from the eighth line, Lee gets into recalling his father and mourning for his father’s death. By telling us the habit of family members eating together and sharing meals, to express his deep love to his father. However, after reading this poem for a few more times, I found deeper meanings behind Lee’s words, which enhance the tone and sublimate the theme of this poem. With careful consideration and selection of words, Lee provides readers a vivid imagery and makes a smooth tonal shift in this poem, and fully expresses his emotions as well.

This is a plain description constructed with the simplest words, without any flowery modification. However, this description provides a vivid picture of the delicious meal. I can see the yellow ginger and the green onion, the glittering oil on the trout, and the water vapor coming out from the steamer. I can smell the aroma of the trout, the ginger, and the sesame oil. I feel like I’m in the kitchen of Lee’s home. This description makes me hungry and homesick. Because I love fish, when I was home, my mother always cooks a lot of different fish dishes for me, and the trout dish in this poem is one of my favorites. Lee’s description seems simple but not that simple. It has a power that can bring readers into his scene. “Brothers, sister, my mother who will taste the sweetest meat of the head, holding it between her fingers deftly, the way my father did weeks age” (line5-8). We know the structure of Lee’s family. To savor these words, we can faintly see a good relationship between father and mother, because some people say spouses will become more alike in their personalities and behaviors, and here