19 pages 38 minutes read

Li-Young Lee

Early in the Morning

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1986

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Early in the Morning” is a short lyric poem composed of four stanzas. A lyric is a type of poem that is not focused on describing a narrative (or telling a story) but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of the speaker. For example, “Early in the Morning” does not outline the events of the speaker’s day or tell the story of how his parent’s met. Rather, the poem is told through the perspective of the speaker and highlights his thoughts and interior dialogue. A stanza is a break in the lineation of a poem’s organizational structure. Stanza breaks often occur when the subject, idea or thought of the previous stanza concludes. They are similar to paragraph breaks in prose. In “Early in the Morning,” the first stanza’s subject is what occurs before his mother makes breakfast. Lee utilizes a stanza break to signify a shift in subject before continuing on to the next stanza.

The poem is written in the free-verse style and has no regular meter or rhyme scheme. Line breaks occur by natural

blurred text

blurred text

Related Titles

By Li-Young Lee

Study Guide

logo

Eating Alone

Li-Young Lee

Eating Alone

Li-Young Lee

Study Guide

logo

Eating Together

Li-Young Lee

Eating Together

Li-Young Lee

Study Guide

logo

From Blossoms

Li-Young Lee

From Blossoms

Li-Young Lee

Study Guide

logo

I Ask My Mother to Sing

Li-Young Lee

I Ask My Mother to Sing

Li-Young Lee

Study Guide

logo

Persimmons

Li-Young Lee

Persimmons

Li-Young Lee