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Have you ever had difficulty in your relationship with your parents? Do you sometimes feel simultaneously close and far from them? “A Story” (1990) by Li-Young Lee (1957-present) explores a father and son relationship. The poem picks up on the nuances of a close and caring relationship riddled with doubt and the knowledge that the child will inevitably grow and outgrow the father. Although it explores the theme of a father and son relationship, it is a piece that speaks to the Nature of many types of relationships and how growing up can sometimes mean growing apart.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenHave you ever had difficulty in your relationship with your parents? Do you sometimes feel simultaneously close and far from them? “A Story” (1990) by Li-Young Lee (1957-present) explores a father and son relationship. The poem picks up on the nuances of a close and caring relationship riddled with doubt and the knowledge that the child will inevitably grow and outgrow the father. Although it explores the theme of a father and son relationship, it is a piece that speaks to the Nature of many types of relationships and how growing up can sometimes mean growing apart.
To best analyze a poem and draw deeper meaning, an understanding of the basics is best. Let's look at a breakdown of the poem’s details.
Title | “A Story” |
Published | 1990 |
Writer | |
Structure | Six stanzas of varying length (between two to six lines each) |
Form | Free-verse narrative |
Literary devices | Enjambment, diction, metaphor |
Imagery | Tactile, visual |
Theme | Father and son relationship |
Meaning | The father-son relationship changes as the son grows and the father ages. A father’s awareness of this strengthens his love and causes him pain. |
Before a deeper analysis, a summary of “A Story” is necessary. "A Story" is in the third-person point of view and is the dramatized account of a father trying to tell a story his son has requested.
Third-person point of view: a perspective in which the narrator is not one of the characters and uses third-person pronouns such as "he," "she," and "they" to explain what is happening
In conjuring up a new story and trying affectionately to hold his child’s attention, the father realizes that his son will one day grow up and sadly outgrow him. Their relationship will change, and the son may not have time for such imaginative stories. The father’s thoughts are pulled back into real-time and the present, with the little boy still Waiting for his father to tell him a story. The silence as the two patiently and lovingly sit together is symbolic of a father-son relationship — of all that's said and all that goes unsaid.
Li-Young Lee's father was the personal doctor of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China. His father was later exiled due to his anti-communist beliefs, and the family moved to various countries before permanently settling in the United States. Li-Young Lee was born along the way in Indonesia. His father was put in an Indonesian prison for over a year because of anti-Chinese sentiment. Li-Young Lee was only 1 year old when his father was imprisoned.
Read the full poem "A Story" below.
Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can't come up with one.
His five-year-old son waits in his lap.
Not the same story, Baba. A new one.
The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear. (5)
In a room full of books in a world
of stories, he can recall
not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy
will give up on his father.
Already the man lives far ahead, he sees (10)
the day this boy will go. Don't go!
Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!
You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.
Let me tell it!
But the boy is packing his shirts, (15)
he is looking for his keys. Are you a god,
the man screams, that I sit mute before you?
Am I a god that I should never disappoint?
But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story?
It is an emotional rather than logical equation, (20)
an earthly rather than heavenly one,
which posits that a boy's supplications
and a father's love add up to silence."
“A Story” is a brief poem with a strong message about parenthood, but it requires deeper analysis to flesh out the various literary devices used. Some of the devices poet Li-Young Lee uses include enjambment, metaphor, diction, and imagery.
Fig. 1 - Knowing quality time between a father and son will lessen over time makes the father all the more upset that he can't give his son the story he desires.
Lee uses no patterned rhyme scheme or consistent meter in "A Story" as it is a free-verse poem. Its rhythm is dependent upon the natural cadence of language and purposeful techniques, such as enjambment.
Enjambment: the trickling over of ideas from one line of poetry onto the next without the use of end punctuation
Lee begins the poem with an instance of enjambment, and he connects the first two lines of the poem — all of stanza one — together.
Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can't come up with one."
(Lines 1-2)
The purposeful line break creates a visual pause as your eyes move from one line to the next, creating a bit of suspense before concluding the idea. The reader's anticipation of finishing the idea heightens the emotional connection the reader has with the voice as the poem progresses.
Metaphors are a wonderful literary device often used in both poetry and prose to help writers establish mood, tone, and setting or connect with the reader and provide a more vivid description.
Metaphor: a direct comparison of two unlike things without using the words like or as. Metaphors typically utilize one object familiar to the reader to describe a less familiar or abstract idea, such as an emotion.
Lee uses metaphor in lines 16-17:
...Are you a god,
the man screams, that I sit mute before you?"
The metaphor here compares the son to a god. The father becomes insecure before his son, who he thinks of as a transcendental being, and it causes him to fumble and forget stories that he was once able to tell. He feels hopeless and like he can't complete the request, even though books surround him. The metaphor comparing his son to a god also implies unconditional love. The son does have an absolute love for his father, and it's conveyed through the son's pet name, "Baba" for his father.
Fig. 2 - A room full of books should make it easy to choose a story... but the father still struggles.
Diction often indicates the voice’s perspective or the writer’s perspective. Each word is meticulously chosen to communicate a cohesive idea and create a certain effect.
Diction: the specific word choice the writer uses to communicate the tone and mood of a piece.
Here the informal diction chosen by Lee effortlessly communicates the tender and caring relationship between the father and his young son. Words like “Baba” are a term of endearment and speak to the very close and personal connection the parent has with his child. The little boy “waits in his lap” (line 3) to hear a story from his father. These simple gestures are evidence that this is a recurring event in their lives. Another important stylistic technique is the use of italics within the poem to show the father’s perspective through internal dialogue. Readers understand this self-doubt through the father’s experience and can relate to these feelings of uncertainty.
Imagery within the poem helps establish the close and caring relationship between the two and gives a sense of place within the narrative poem.
Imagery is a description that appeals to the five senses. For example, tactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch, while visual imagery appeals to the sense of sight.
Lee uses tactile imagery in the second stanza:
The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear."
(Line 5)
The words “rubs” and “scratches” show the father’s inability to find the words he wants to say and his nervousness about letting down his son. The father's touch in this line provides a more concrete method to communicate to the audience the father feels a sense of worry and overall sadness.
In a room full of books in a world"
(Line 6)
The visual imagery shows the father surrounded by books filled with stories, yet it's juxtaposed with his inability to recount a single story. This expresses his emotional state, which is in the present with his five-year-old but lost in the inevitable future he fears. The man senses the disconnect coming. There will be times in the story of life when he can’t provide an answer for the son, and both will be lost in silence.
The primary theme in the poem “A Story” is a father’s love for his son, their relationship, and the inevitable change in their relationship as they age.
The father’s acute awareness of this fact draws him away from the present, where he's attempting to tell his young child a story he requested. The father is pulled into the narrative of what the future holds. This poem's true story is all too familiar to parents. It is the story of growth, maturity, and development. The story inevitably leads the child away from the parent. Although a heartbreaking experience, it is one that must be.
Fig. 3 - Many parents tell each other to enjoy their children's childhood while it lasts.
We see the love between the father and son with terms of endearment, such as “Baba” (line 4). The man, the father, yearns to hold onto the time he has with his five-year-old son, but he also worries that “the boy will go” (line 11). This man, simultaneously sad over what the future holds and trying to embrace the present, becomes a visual representation of the meaning of “a father’s love” (line 23).
The meaning of “A Story” is a familiar one. It is the tale of a parent’s labor and the tragedy of parenthood. The father’s job is to teach his child to want to live without him. While his five-year-old boy sits on his lap pleading for a story, the man envisions the true story of fatherhood, and he fears the inevitable loss. He is simultaneously joyful and sad, appreciative of the present, and fearful of the future. The father-son relationship changes as the son grows and the father ages and a father’s awareness of this both strengthens his love and causes him pain.
Poet Li-Young Lee uses literary elements such as enjambment, metaphor, diction, symbolism, and imagery to add depth and meaning to the poem.
“A Story” is about the love between a father and son and how the father is already feeling sadness over his child inevitably growing up and growing away from him.
The main theme in the poem is the nature of the relationship between a father and son.
"A Story" was written by poet Li-Young Lee.
The poem "A Story" was published in 1990.
Enjambment, metaphor, diction, and imagery are literary devices used in "A Story."
Flashcards in A Story10
Start learningWhat is the poem "A Story" about?
A father and son relationship
The first stanza in the poem,
"Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can't come up with one"
is an example of which literary device?
Enjambment
What type of poem is "A Story"?
The poem "A Story" is a narrative poem.
The poem "A Story" has no rhyme scheme or meter. What is the term for this?
free-verse poem
In lines 16-17 the metaphor "...Are you a god, / the man screams, that I sit mute before you?" is used to show...
the father's insecurity before his son, who he thinks of as a transcendental being. It causes him to fumble and forget stories that he was once able to tell.
The enjambment in lines 1-2 helps to create
anticipation
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