Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Lew Welch’s "Empress Herself Served Tea to Su Tung-Po" is a brief yet evocative poem that juxtaposes historical grandeur with personal disenchantment. By invoking the legendary Chinese poet Su Tung-Po (Su Shi) and his encounter with an empress, Welch situates himself within a poetic lineage, only to undercut this connection with his own sense of disorientation and neglect. The poem is both an allusion to classical Chinese poetry and a wry lament for the poet’s own diminished circumstances.

The opening lines present a vision of high honor: "The Empress herself served tea to Su Tung-Po, / and ordered him escorted home by Ladies of the Palace, with torches." This moment of imperial grace suggests a time when poets were revered figures, their talents recognized and rewarded with royal hospitality. The imagery of the empress personally serving tea evokes a world where poetry held social and even political importance, while the torches illuminating Su Tung-Po’s path home emphasize the care and grandeur of his reception. Welch, a poet deeply influenced by Eastern traditions, gestures toward a past where poetry was an esteemed and integral part of cultural life.

However, this historical reverie quickly collapses into the poet’s own predicament: "I forgot my flashlight." This simple, almost comedic statement punctures the preceding grandeur. While Su Tung-Po was honored with a torch-lit escort, Welch is left fumbling in the dark, forgotten and alone. The contrast is both humorous and poignant, highlighting the shift in poetry’s social status from a position of reverence to one of obscurity.

The next line—"Drunk, Eli never get across this rickety bridge."—introduces an unnamed companion, presumably struggling to navigate a precarious crossing. The broken grammar ("never get across") adds to the sense of instability and inebriation, suggesting a scene of both physical and existential uncertainty. The "rickety bridge" serves as a metaphor for Welch’s own position—unsteady, on the verge of collapse, lacking the secure footing that poets of the past seemed to enjoy. Unlike Su Tung-Po, whose path was lit with torches by palace attendants, Welch’s world is dark and hazardous.

The final line—"Even the Lady in the Sky abandons me."—deepens this sense of desolation. The Lady in the Sky could refer to a celestial deity, a poetic muse, or even a personal figure of devotion. Whoever she is, her abandonment reinforces the theme of neglect and exclusion. If Su Tung-Po was granted divine favor, Welch is left to stumble in the dark, stripped of guidance and inspiration.

Ultimately, "Empress Herself Served Tea to Su Tung-Po" is a meditation on poetic alienation. Welch contrasts an imagined past where poets were exalted with his own reality, where poetry provides neither recognition nor stability. The humor of the poem’s deflationary shift—from imperial honor to forgetting a flashlight—adds an ironic edge, yet the underlying sentiment is one of deep estrangement. By invoking Su Tung-Po, Welch acknowledges his place in a poetic tradition, but he also marks the distance between his era and that of the revered poet. In the end, he is left with darkness, uncertainty, and the realization that whatever favor poetry once held, it is no longer extended to him.

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