Whalen 1

Elizabeth Whalen
Mrs. Hope
English LPS
9 November 2015
TPCASTT
Jade Flower Palace
Tu Fu
Title: Based on the title, I predict the poem will be about a natural, beautiful landform that
resembles something as great as a palace.
Paraphrase:
The stream circulates.
The wind blows painfully through the pines.
Gray rats scamper over broken, deserted tiles.
Which Prince built this palace a long time ago that stands today in ruins beside the cliffs?
Death and memories are in the dark rooms.
The destructed pavements washed away.
Ten thousand organ pipes play in the empty palace.
Natures power scatters the death.
His dancing girls are gone.
Their beauty has disappeared.
His valued possessions and people are gone.
Only an inanimate object remains to represent him.
I sit on the grass and begin a poem, but the quality that evokes sorrow overcomes me.
The future slips away without being noticed.
Who is able to predict what the future years will bring?
Connotation:
This poem displays a negative connotation throughout the whole entire poem which conveys a
depressing, sorrowful mood.
Gray rats scurry over/Broken tiles (Rexroth 2-3)
His dancing girls are yellow dust./Their painted cheeks have crumbled away. (Rexroth 11-13)
Attitude/Tone
The authors tone is solemn and depressing. Throughout the whole poem he is imagining
depressing, sorrowful thoughts about the former beauty of the palace and what has caused the
disappointing remains of it.
Only a stone horse is left of his/Glory. I sit on the grass and/Start a poem, but the pathos of/It
overcomes me (Rexroth 15-19)
Shifts

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A shift occurs when in the beginning and throughout the majority of the poem the author is
envisioning what the palace was like before it crumbled and then describes what is left of the
palace. In the last five lines of the poem when the author talks about writing the actual poem and
realizes that his life might turn out as the palace did.
The future slips imperceptibly away./Who can say what the years will bring? (Rexroth 19-20)
Title
The title shows and explains how the palace had once been extremely beautiful and breathtaking
place.
Theme
The future is almost always unpredictable and most good does not last forever.
Jade Flower Palace Analysis
In the poem, Jade Flower Palace, written by Kenneth Rexroth, it explains the ruins of
what once was a beautiful castle. Before reading, the title made it seem as if the poem would be
about a natural, beautiful landform that resembled a palace. This is because the word flower in
the title relates to nature, so a natural area, full of flowers and other aspects of wildlife that
resembled a palace because of its beauty was envisioned. After reading and paraphrasing the
poem, the poem became much easier to understand and to identify its true meaning allowing for
further analysis in order to prove the theme that overtime changes naturally will always occur.
Within the poem there is a very negative connotation that is displayed. The authors use
of diction proves this. Tu Fu says, Gray rats scurry over/Broken tiles (Rexroth). This reads as
being depressing. This is because the words gray and scurry both associate with negativity.
Gray is related to being gloomy and sorrowful, and the word scurry as trying to run away from
something as quickly as possible. Both of these words show how the palace is no longer a
beautiful, desirable place. Another example that the author uses to display a negative connotation
is when he says, His dancing girls are yellow dust./Their painted cheeks have crumbled
(Rexroth 11-13). This also releases a negative mood. The words dust and crumbled are
generally used when describing something disappointing or unfortunate. In the poems context,

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the word dust means that the dancing girls are gone and the word crumbled means that their
beauty has disappeared. Both of these sentences have negative outcomes, and these results are
clearly depressing because of the negative connotation. The negative connotation that is used
helps to relate the poem to Taoism. Taoism values not interfering with the flow of life and letting
nature take its course. Because the palace gets older and is destroyed without any force, this
proves that good or bad, everything eventually changes in some way naturally, without any
force.
The authors tone in the poem is solemn and depressing. This is because throughout the
poem, Tu Fu is describing how a once beautiful palace has turned into ruins. He is saying that
most good will not last; it will eventually worsen, just like the palace did. He says, Only a stone
horse is left of his/Glory. I sit on the grass and/Start a poem, but the pathos of/It overcomes me
(Rexroth 15-19). This displays how only a single, inanimate object is left over to express what
used to be an abundance of beauty. It is almost too upsetting for him to even write the poem
because this beautiful palace did not deserve such a disappointing legacy. In the poem there is
also a very big shift. Throughout the majority of the poem, the poet describes the remains of the
palace. He is only talking about how such an important structure was disregarded. In the last five
lines of the poem, the author then begins to relate this palace to life in general. He says, The
future slips imperceptibly away./Who can say what the years will bring? (Rexroth 19-20). He
realizes that his life might turn out as the palace did. Tu Fu is questioning whether he too will not
have a legacy once he is gone. Nobody is able to predict or change the future, only nature is.
Lastly, after reading and analyzing the poem, it became clear that the title describes the
palace when it was a truly beautiful place by using words that are generally associated with
positive, astounding aspects in life. The theme of the poem was also understood after reading.

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The theme is that the future is almost always unpredictable and not all good lasts forever. This
poem relates many of the important beliefs of Taoism to the palace. Though Tu Fu was
technically a Confucianist, he existed in the overlapping time period with Taoism; therefore, he
had very similar beliefs and goals that Taoists do and this poem describes many of these values.