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The Gift. my father recited a story in a low voice. I watched his lovely face and not the blade. the iron sliver I thought I’d die from. of dark water, a prayer. he raised above my head. a silver tear, a tiny flame. where I bend over my wife’s right hand. so carefully she feels no pain.
- Summary
- Poem Meaning
- Figurative Language
- Detailed Analysis
- Themes
- Tone
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Similar Poetry
‘The Gift’by Li-Young Lee is a thoughtful poem inspired by a childhood memory that’s at once painful and soothing. In the first lines of the poem, the speaker (commonly considered to be Li-Young Lee himself) begins by describing how his father distracted him in order to remove a metal splinter from his palm. Despite the young child’s interpretation...
The poem ‘The Gift’ contains a speaker’s specific memory of his father showing kindness, patience, and gentleness when removing a splinter from his son’s hand. The poem suggests that this act of kindness, and the other lessons the speaker learned from his father, were a “gift” that his father left him. Now, he can tap into that same kind/patient at...
Within this poem, the poet uses a few examples of figurative language. They include: Metaphor: a comparisonbetween two things that does not use “like” or “as.” It suggests that one thing is another 1. In stanzatwo, the poet writes: “but hear his voice still, a well / of dark water, a prayer.” He compares his father’s voice to dark water that is som...
Stanza One
In the first stanza of ‘The Gift,’ the speaker begins by taking readers back to a memory from his youth. He brings the reader into the middle of an incident (a literary device known as in medias res) in which he got a “metal splinter” stuck in his poem, and his father, in a cool and disciplined way, removed it. He recalls how his father “recited a story in a low voice.” The young speaker, while watching his “lovely face and not the blade,” was completely distracted from what his father was do...
Stanza Two
While the speaker remembers the incident with a great deal of clarity, he can’t remember the story that his father told him. More than anything, his father’s voice stuck in his mind. It is the emotions of the moment and the way his father calmed him down with his voice like “dark water” and like a “prayer.” This is an example of a metaphor. The poet compares his father’s voice on the effect it had on him to a “well of dark water” without using the words “like” or “as.” Within these lines, the...
Stanza Three
The transition between the second and the third stanza. Here, the poet moves into using the second-personperspective, addressing their lines to “you.” Here, it is unclear if they have a specific listener in mind (it could be any reader, or it could be a single person), but by using “you,” readers are included within the text’s narrative. They are asked to imagine walking in on the scene of the speaker and his father. The speaker suggests that you would’ve thought that you saw a man” planting...
Below, readers can explore the most important themes in ‘The Gift’ by Li-Young Lee. 1. Memory. The main theme Li-Young Lee’s poem, ‘The Gift,’ is memory. The entire poem was sparked by a memory of the past that the speaker recalled while engaged in a similar task with his wife. As a grown man, the speaker, who is likely the poet himself, was helpin...
The tone of ‘The Gift’ is nostalgic. Throughout this contemporary poem, the poet looks back on an experience from his youth. He recalls the hyperbolic emotions that plagued him after getting a splinter in his palm and how those emotions were juxtaposedwith his father’s calm and cool approach to the incident. These memories came to him in a burst of...
‘The Gift’ by Li-Young Lee is a four-stanza narrative poem written from the perspective of a first-person narrator. The poem is divided into uneven sets of lines. The first stanza contains five lines, the second: eight, the third: seven, and the fourth: fifteen. Additionally, the poet chose to compose his piece in free verse. This means that he did...
Throughout this poem, the poet makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to: 1. Hyperbole: an intentional exaggerationthat’s used to emphasize something in a poem. For example, “the iron silver I thought I’d die from” in line five of the first stanza. 2. Personification: occurs when the poet abuse a non-human feature ...
Readers who enjoyed this piece should also consider reading other Li-Young Lee poems. For example: 1. ‘Eating Together’ – is a beautiful contemporary poem about death. It uses a thoughtful simileand direct language. 2. ‘This Hour and What is Dead’ – the poet explores themes of life, death, and the possibility, or impossibility, of finding peace. So...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
The Gift. my father recited a story in a low voice. I watched his lovely face and not the blade. the iron sliver I thought I’d die from. of dark water, a prayer. he raised above my head. a silver tear, a tiny flame. where I bend over my wife’s right hand. so carefully she feels no pain.
1. A Helping Hand. Underneath life's heavy load, A hand to lift, a heart to share. Kindness given, blessings bestowed, A world made better through love's affair. This short poem beautifully encapsulates the essence of giving. It reminds us that even a small act of kindness can make a significant impact on someone's life.
Sep 24, 2023 · The poem explores the contrasting scenarios. As in several of Lee's major poems, his father features strongly. "The Gift" focuses on a specific incident at a time when the speaker, as a child, is particularly sensitive and aware. The child feels threatened by the iron sliver; the father, by pulling it out, 'saves' his life.
The Best of 25 Birthday Gift Poems. 1. A Year More Golden. In celebration of your birth, a day so bright and dear, A gift I send with heartfelt words, for you, I hold so near. May this year bring joy and laughter, dreams that touch the sky, A journey filled with happiness, as hours gently fly. 2.
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Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem. Free Verse: Free Verse is a type of poetry that does not contain patterns of rhyme or meter. This is a free-verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter. Quintet: A quintet is a five-line stanza. Here, the first stanza is a quintet.
