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Poem Analysis Of 'A Story' By Li-Young Lee

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The poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee depicts the complex relationship between a boy and his father when the boy asks his father for a story and he can’t come up with one. When you’re a parent your main focus is to make your child happy and to meet all the expectations your child meets. When you come to realize a certain expectation can’t satisfy the person you love your reaction should automatically be to question what would happen if you never end up satisfying them. When the father does this he realizes the outcome isn’t what he’d hope for. He then finally realizes that he still has time to meet that expectation and he isn’t being rushed. Through shifting points of view, a purposeful structure, and settle choices in diction the author adds …show more content…

Words like sad, baba, the man and the boy are meaningful to the story along with adding to the meaning behind this complex relationship. A childlike tone is observed when we see the words sad and baba being repeated throughout the poem. This story is about a son wanting a story from his father. Since that is the word choice will be a lot different than if a teenage boy asked for a story. The word sad in the poem has two purposes. One purpose is to leave open the man’s feelings so others can interpret his feelings and by using the word sad it helps the reader understand the mood of the poem. The son calls his father baba as if he sees his dad being some sort of entertainment, that is also why he is asking for a story. The word baba is also childlike to add to the childlike tone of the poem. Lastly, the two words the son and the man add to the complexity of the relationship. This shows that the man can’t picture himself being a father, especially after knowing he can’t meet the child’s expectation, but will always picture his son being a child in his eyes. In conclusion the author uses literary devices to add depth and emotion to the complex relationship between the two characters. He does this by changing the point of view throughout the poem from son to father. He uses a purposeful structure from present to future coming back to present to demonstrate with the complexity of the father's

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