Analysis Of A Hymn To Childhood By Li-Young Lee

Li-Young Lee’s “A Hymn to Childhood” flashes back to the Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China, which took place from 1966 to 1976. During this time, the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong was losing influence because of his failed policy, the Great Leap Forward, and so he wanted to reaffirm his power by starting a sociopolitical movement to eliminate his adversaries and other revisionists. Li-Young Lee infuses this past by including himself as the speaker who narrates his childhood. While the speaker recalls his childhood with images of fear, oppression, and pain, he also remembers it as a period of hope and innocence. The first stanza focuses on the theme of fear. Beginning and ending with an ominous series of apostrophes, the speaker provides a seemingly negative view …show more content…
The direct usages of words such as “low song,” “…octave and minutes…,” “listening,” and “breathing,” all point to sound as a part of the child’s candid perspective of his surroundings (43, 36, 33, 45). Such perceptiveness illustrates a child’s frankness and purity even when surrounded by chaos. In terms of the religious aspects of this poem, the metaphor, “…thinking that the snow falling is the sound of God listening” resonates with “…grief in the heard dove at evening…” (32-33, 46). In a sense, this comparison draws the image of hope and faith juxtaposed with wretchedness. The mere act of praying is not a childish deed, but the speaker’s presentation of the child praying at a time of disorder and despair captures the innocence of the child’s actions. With regards to the dove, it symbolizes peace and freedom and embodies the presence of God; thus, the speaker is trying to maintain the imagery of hope and optimism in the midst of