American Literature / Unit 18 AML 1725 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Li-Young Lee and the Immigrant Lyric
Captions available
The idea
Lee was born in Jakarta to Chinese parents in exile; his father, once physician to Mao Zedong, was imprisoned nineteen months, and the family trekked five years through Hong Kong, Macau and Japan before reaching the United States in nineteen sixty-four. His first book, Rose, appeared in nineteen eighty-six.
In practice
A five-year journey, ending in Pennsylvania.
Where people slip
His poems centre on the father.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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