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

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In the poem “A Story”, Li-Young Lee depicts a frustration in a man’s relationship with his son. The poem engenders a complexity and ambivalent nature of parenthood through the “story” of the father’s silence. The first three stanzas establish Lee’s doubt as a father. On the present, his child “waits in his lap” and asks his father to tell him a bedtime story; however, the father “can’t come ip with one”. He sits, confused and reticent, unsure of what to do. “[Rubbing] his chin”, the father “can recall not one” story that he has heard/told before. His doubt over this trivial matter reveals the insecurities that a parent may feel with their child. The father is afraid the “boy will give up on his father” and will lose the meaningful relationship that he cherishes with his son. Lost in thought, the father panics and does not know what to tell his eagerly waiting son. …show more content…

Thinking of the future, “the [father] lives far ahead”. He begins to think of the worst possible scenario, imagining “the day [his] boy will go”. Through his arduous process of creating a story, the father begins to believe that his silence, in this situation, will lead to his son “packing his shirts...looking for his keys”, and leaving him. As a parent, Lee highlights the overwhelming through-process of a parent and the scary reality that the parent is responsible for a dependent child. The father cries “Don’t go!” to the boy as he is packing, longing to maintain their emotional connection as father and son. This section of the poem highlights the man’s anxiety. The quick, blunt exclamations indicates the father’s frustration and desperation for his son to

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