The yue-fu poem: "South of the Walls We Fought" Poem Review by Master Researcher

The question of the "voice" of a yue-fu poem is a complicated one given the circumstances under which these poems came to be written. This is a strange poem because it has more than one voice. In fact, parts of the poem are even in the quotation marks that usually separate speakers in prose. In the first section of the poem the voice is that of a soldier. However, it is important to note that the soldier never uses "I" as an individual. Instead, the "voice" always uses the pronoun "we" in reference to the entire group of soldiers in his unit.