"A Story" Analysis

Literary devices help convey a message or explain a relationship in novels or poems. In the poem, A Story by Li-Young Lee, he uses literary devices to describe the complex relationship between a father and son. Point of view and structure help convey his message. Lee uses point of view by telling the father’s thoughts. In the poem, the father is very concerned about upsetting his son. Their relationship reflects off of these thoughts. The father wants his son to look up to him because of the stories he tells. The father thinks that if he disappoints his son even once that the son would be upset and disappointed with him. The son asks to hear a new story and the father thinks to himself about what story to tell. The father feels that he is taking too long and starts to worry about the son getting upset and giving up on him. Lee also uses structure to show the complex relationship between the father and son. The poem shows a thought of the father’s. The father is picturing the day the son gives up on him. He sees him walking away and the father is encouraging him to stay to listen to another story. The structure of the poem shows the father’s need for the son to stay. With the father’s thoughts included in the poem it shows how he would beg his son to stay. Using this literary device helps Lee explain the father and son’s relationship. A Story by Li-Young Lee includes literary devices to show a relationship with two characters. These help Lee convey the complex relationship that is shown in the