The Gift by LI-YOUNG LEE
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
Organize your research findings and write your paper according to the four main sections of your project as follows:
1. Provide a brief overview of the life of Li-Young Lee
2. Describe Li-Young Lee’s school of thought or poetic tradition. Was your poet part of a poetry movement or school of poets? What are some of the characteristics of that school/movement? What was the influence of this group on your poet? How did he or she influence others?
3. Share one critical opinion about Li-Young Lee. Include if possible any comment about the poet's contribution to American literature.
4. Analyze one poem by the poet. This is where you combine your own thoughts about the poem with one or two observations from your research. Ask yourself, "What does the poem say or mean?" (Include any background or tradition to the poem that you know.) Comment on the poet's use of form: images, phrasing, symbols, structure, words, repeated details, etc. Read and analyze the poem carefully.