“The night begins
With the first beheading
Of the jasmine, its captive fragrance
Rid at last of burial clothes”
Author Li-Young Lee in his poem “Pillow” ends with that stanza. Throughout the poem you can understand his symbolism, but what I wanted to know more about was his choice to use the jasmine flower. I did know that the jasmine is a popular flower for women in Asian countries, as they like to wear them in their hair, but I wondered what that had to do with this particular poem. According to Kathleen Karlsen, an internet author, the meaning of a jasmine flower is “attachment, sensuality, modesty, grace and elegance” (Karlsen, web). Knowing the meaning behind the jasmine, I found the poem making more sense. The entire poem Lee is talking about his life, how he was constantly moving and being whisked away in the night. His family never settled in one place for long. Due to this fact, he was not able to have real freedom. Even his ability to speak was hindered; he did not speak a full sentence until he was three years old. Throughout the poem you have this sense of restriction and a life almost on the run. There was nothing stable in his life. Knowing this and the background of his life, the symbolism of the jasmine is so deep and alludes to his detachment from things. In essence, Lee is saying his nights or moves always start with the cutting off of attachment. These nights were anything but graceful and elegant. Not only does the jasmine have significant meaning behind it, it was also relevant and symbolic to his culture. Jasmines were used as a decoration of beauty, reflecting gentleness and modesty, but he uses it in this story to illustrate the exact opposite of that. Beheading is to cut off from the source of life. Being attached to a place or a person is the source of our emotional life. I believe this could even be taken as far as to say he felt cut off from his culture upon his move to America. Nothing in his life was easy, and for me personally knowing his history and knowing the meaning behind one of his most famous poems, I have a new appreciation for his writings and how they are influential in our society. We may not all have lived a life that we had to be whisked away in the night, but we can all relate to the point that at one time in our lives, we felt detached from our culture, our family, our friends, and even our own selves.
Works Cited
Karlsen, Kathleen. Livingartsoriginals.com. Living Arts Enterprises, LLC 2007-2010. Web. 24 February 2011.
(I have NO idea if this is cited correctly. I was not sure exactly how to do it, if it is wrong, please tell me so I can fix it and not get fined.)
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