Introduction: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
“A Story” by Li-Young Lee, first appeared in his 2001 poetry collection Book of My Nights, explores themes of fatherhood, love, memory, and the inevitable passage of time, capturing the emotional weight of a father’s inability to meet his son’s simple request for a new story. The father’s failure to recall a tale becomes a metaphor for his deeper fear of failing his son, as he envisions a future where the child has grown and drifted away. The poem’s poignant meditation on the fleeting nature of childhood and parental love resonates with readers, making it widely admired. Lines such as “the boy is packing his shirts, / he is looking for his keys” vividly depict the father’s anticipatory grief, emphasizing how parental love often carries the pain of knowing that children will one day leave. Lee’s lyrical style and universal themes contribute to the poem’s popularity, as it captures the tension between love and loss with striking emotional depth.
Text: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
Sad is the man who is asked for a story
and can’t come up with one.
His five-year-old son waits in his lap.
Not the same story, Baba. A new one.
The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear.
In a room full of books in a world
of stories, he can recall
not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy
will give up on his father.
Already the man lives far ahead, he sees
the day this boy will go. Don’t go!
Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!
You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.
Let me tell it!
But the boy is packing his shirts,
he is looking for his keys. Are you a god,
the man screams, that I sit mute before you?
Am I a god that I should never disappoint?
But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story?
It is an emotional rather than logical equation,
an earthly rather than heavenly one,
which posits that a boy’s supplications
and a father’s love add up to silence.
Annotations: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
| Line from the Poem | Annotation (Simple English) | Literary Devices |
| Sad is the man who is asked for a story | The father feels sad because he is expected to tell a story but cannot think of one. | Irony, Personification |
| and can’t come up with one. | He struggles to come up with a new story for his child. | Hyperbole, Contrast |
| His five-year-old son waits in his lap. | His young son is waiting eagerly on his lap. | Imagery |
| Not the same story, Baba. A new one. | The boy wants a new story, not an old one. | Dialogue, Repetition |
| The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear. | The father is thinking hard, touching his face in thought. | Imagery, Kinesthetic Imagery |
| In a room full of books in a world | Even though he is surrounded by books, | Imagery, Symbolism |
| of stories, he can recall | he cannot recall any stories to tell. | Hyperbole |
| not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy | He begins to fear that his son will stop asking him for stories. | Foreshadowing, Internal Monologue |
| will give up on his father. | He worries that his child will lose interest in him. | Foreshadowing |
| Already the man lives far ahead, he sees | His mind jumps to the future, imagining what will happen. | Enjambment, Internal Monologue |
| the day this boy will go. Don’t go! | He sees the day his son will grow up and leave home. | Foreshadowing, Repetition |
| Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more! | He tries to hold onto the boy with familiar stories. | Repetition, Symbolism |
| You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider. | He reminds the boy of the stories they used to love together. | Imagery, Symbolism |
| Let me tell it! | He desperately wants to tell a story to keep him close. | Exclamation, Dialogue |
| But the boy is packing his shirts, | But now, the boy is growing up and preparing to leave. | Symbolism, Foreshadowing |
| he is looking for his keys. Are you a god, | He is searching for his keys, ready to go out into the world. | Imagery, Symbolism |
| the man screams, that I sit mute before you? | The father is frustrated, questioning if his child sees him as powerless. | Rhetorical Question, Personification |
| Am I a god that I should never disappoint? | He wonders if he is expected to be perfect and never fail his son. | Rhetorical Question, Hyperbole |
| But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story? | The son is still there in the present, asking for a story. | Contrast, Present vs. Future |
| It is an emotional rather than logical equation, | Love and emotions are not based on logic. | Metaphor, Contrast |
| an earthly rather than heavenly one, | Parent-child relationships are about human connection, not perfection. | Juxtaposition, Contrast |
| which posits that a boy’s supplications | The father’s love for his son cannot always be expressed in words. | Symbolism, Metaphor |
| and a father’s love add up to silence. | Sometimes, emotions and love result in silence, rather than words. | Metaphor, Irony |
Literary And Poetic Devices: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
| Literary Device | Example from the Poem | Explanation |
| Allusion | “Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?” | The father compares his son to a god, suggesting a biblical or mythical reference to power and expectation. |
| Contrast | “It is an emotional rather than logical equation, / an earthly rather than heavenly one,” | The poem contrasts logic vs. emotion and earthly vs. heavenly to emphasize the complexity of love. |
| Dialogue | “Not the same story, Baba. A new one.” | The direct speech of the child personalizes the interaction, making the plea for a story more vivid and emotional. |
| Enjambment | “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees / the day this boy will go.” | The thought flows into the next line without punctuation, reflecting the father’s uncontrolled thoughts about the future. |
| Exclamation | “Let me tell it!” | The exclamation mark conveys the father’s desperation and urgency to hold onto his son through stories. |
| Foreshadowing | “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” | This hints at the future when the son will leave home, reinforcing the father’s fear of losing him. |
| Hyperbole | “In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one.” | The exaggeration of being surrounded by countless stories but unable to think of one heightens the father’s anxiety. |
| Imagery | “The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear.” | The sensory details help the reader visualize the father’s deep contemplation and struggle. |
| Irony | “and a father’s love add up to silence.” | It is ironic that love, which is expected to be expressive, results in silence between the father and son. |
| Juxtaposition | “an earthly rather than heavenly one,” | Placing earthly and heavenly side by side contrasts human imperfection with divine expectations. |
| Kinesthetic Imagery | “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” | The physical movement of packing and looking for keys symbolizes transition and departure. |
| Metaphor | “It is an emotional rather than logical equation.” | Love is compared to an equation, showing the complexity of relationships beyond rational thought. |
| Monologue (Internal) | “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go.” | The father’s internal thoughts reveal his anxieties and anticipation of the future. |
| Personification | “Sad is the man who is asked for a story and can’t come up with one.” | The man’s sadness is given an active role, making it a dominant force in his emotions. |
| Repetition | “Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more! / You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.” | The repetition emphasizes the father’s desperation to keep his son engaged and prevent him from growing distant. |
| Rhetorical Question | “Am I a god that I should never disappoint?” | The father questions his role and the impossibility of meeting his son’s expectations. |
| Symbolism | “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” | Packing shirts and searching for keys symbolize the son’s impending departure and independence. |
| Tone (Melancholic & Nostalgic) | “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go.” | The reflective, sorrowful tone captures the father’s fear of losing his son to time. |
| Understatement | “and a father’s love add up to silence.” | The simplicity of this line underplays the deep emotional weight of parental love and the pain of silence. |
Themes: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
1. The Passage of Time and Inevitable Change: Li-Young Lee’s “A Story” poignantly explores the passage of time and the inevitability of change, particularly in the parent-child relationship. The father, while physically present with his young son, mentally projects himself into the future, imagining the day his son will leave. The line “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” foreshadows the moment when childhood innocence and dependence give way to maturity and independence. The father’s inability to tell a new story symbolizes his struggle to hold onto the present, knowing that time will carry his son away. The contrast between the boy’s simple, immediate request (“Please, Baba, a story?”) and the father’s overwhelming sorrow about the future highlights the painful awareness of time’s relentless movement. This theme resonates universally, as every parent faces the bittersweet reality that their children will grow up and move on.
2. Parental Love and Fear of Inadequacy: The poem deeply examines parental love and the fear of inadequacy that accompanies it. The father struggles not only to come up with a new story but also with the fear that one day his son will stop turning to him altogether. This insecurity is expressed in the line “Not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” The father equates his failure to tell a new story with a much greater failure—his fear of no longer being important in his child’s life. His internal monologue, “Am I a god that I should never disappoint?” reveals the pressure he feels to be an ever-reliable figure for his son. The poem reflects the universal anxiety parents feel—wanting to be enough for their children but knowing that they will inevitably disappoint them at times. Through this, “A Story” captures the vulnerability of parenthood and the silent sacrifices made in love.
3. Communication and Emotional Silence: “A Story” explores the challenges of communication and the pain of emotional silence, particularly in familial relationships. The father’s inability to tell a new story becomes a metaphor for the deeper silences that often exist between loved ones. The poem’s final lines, “It is an emotional rather than logical equation, / an earthly rather than heavenly one, / which posits that a boy’s supplications / and a father’s love add up to silence,” encapsulate this struggle. Despite the deep love between the father and son, there is an unspoken gap between them. The poem suggests that love is not always expressed through words or stories but can manifest in quiet presence, longing, and even regret. Sometimes, no matter how much one loves, words may fail, and what remains is a profound yet painful silence.
4. Nostalgia and the Longing for Connection: Nostalgia and the longing for connection between a father and son permeate “A Story”. The father does not just see his son in the present; he also envisions his future self, already distant and moving away. His desperate attempts to recall old stories—“Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more! You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.”—highlight his desire to keep his son engaged and connected. The father clings to past moments when his son found joy in these stories, fearing that such moments will no longer exist in the future. This reflects a universal longing in parenthood—the wish to freeze time and preserve the closeness shared with a child before they inevitably grow up. The tension between holding onto the past and facing the future makes this theme deeply emotional and relatable.
Literary Theories and “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
| Literary Theory | Application to “A Story” | Reference from the Poem |
| Reader-Response Theory | This theory emphasizes the reader’s personal interpretation and emotional connection to the text. Readers who are parents might relate to the father’s fear of inadequacy, while children might see the son’s innocent request for a story. Different readers will interpret the father’s silence and anxiety in unique ways. | “Not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” – Some readers may see this as overthinking, while others may connect deeply with the father’s worry. |
| Psychoanalytic Theory | This theory, based on Freud’s ideas, can be applied to analyze the subconscious fears and anxieties of the father. His fear of losing his son and his failure to tell a story reveal deeper insecurities about love, memory, and self-worth. His projection into the future shows his psychological distress. | “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees / the day this boy will go.” – The father’s mind is consumed with fear about the future rather than focusing on the present. |
| Existentialist Theory | Existentialist themes in the poem include the father’s struggle with meaning, choice, and responsibility. His internal questioning, “Am I a god that I should never disappoint?”, highlights his existential crisis, as he wrestles with the burden of expectations and the inevitability of change. | “It is an emotional rather than logical equation, / an earthly rather than heavenly one.” – The poem suggests that love and relationships are human struggles rather than divine perfections. |
| Structuralism | Structuralist theory examines patterns and binaries in the text. In “A Story”, the contrast between past and future, childhood and adulthood, storytelling and silence, highlights the structured oppositions that define human experience. The father and son’s dynamic reflects the broader theme of generational shifts. | “Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!” vs. “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” – The past is filled with shared joy, but the future signals separation. |
Critical Questions about “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
1. How does the poem explore the theme of parental fear and inadequacy?
Li-Young Lee’s “A Story” delves into the deep-seated fear of inadequacy that many parents experience. The father, though physically present with his son, is consumed by self-doubt and anxiety about his ability to meet his child’s expectations. His inability to produce a new story becomes symbolic of his greater fear—that one day, his son will no longer turn to him. The line “Not one, and soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” encapsulates this insecurity. The father’s internal monologue, “Am I a god that I should never disappoint?”, further reveals his struggle with the unrealistic expectation that he must always be perfect. This highlights the emotional burden of parenthood, where love is often accompanied by the fear of failing to provide, not just materially, but emotionally and intellectually. The father’s silence at the end suggests that, despite his deep love, he feels powerless in the face of time and change, reinforcing the poem’s melancholic tone.
2. What is the significance of storytelling in the poem, and how does it relate to the father-son relationship?
Storytelling in “A Story” serves as a metaphor for the bond between the father and son. It represents connection, tradition, and the shared experiences that define their relationship. The son’s request for a new story—“Not the same story, Baba. A new one.”—demonstrates his desire for novelty and growth, whereas the father’s struggle to provide one reveals his deeper fears about losing his role in his child’s life. The contrast between past and present storytelling moments highlights the father’s realization that his son is growing older, symbolizing a shift in their relationship. When the father desperately offers “Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!”, it is not just an attempt to entertain but a plea to keep the past alive. However, the son’s eventual departure is inevitable, reinforcing the idea that while stories can bridge generations, they cannot stop the passage of time.
3. How does the poem use imagery and symbolism to depict the father’s emotional turmoil?
Lee’s poem is rich with imagery and symbolism, painting a vivid picture of the father’s inner turmoil. The father’s actions, such as “The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear,” illustrate his frustration and helplessness. Additionally, the moment when the boy is imagined to be “packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys” symbolizes the father’s greatest fear—his son’s eventual departure from his life. This moment, though only imagined, is described as if it were real, emphasizing how the father is already grieving the future loss of his son. The final lines, “a boy’s supplications and a father’s love add up to silence,” serve as a powerful metaphor for the limitations of love and language. Despite the father’s overwhelming love, his fears and emotions manifest in silence, highlighting the struggle of expressing deep parental emotions through words.
4. What does the poem suggest about the limitations of human relationships and communication?
The ending of “A Story” suggests that love, no matter how profound, does not always translate into perfect communication. The father loves his son deeply, yet he is unable to tell him a simple story. This moment reflects a larger truth—that human relationships are often marked by miscommunication, unspoken fears, and emotional silences. The poem states, “It is an emotional rather than logical equation,” implying that relationships are governed by feelings rather than clear, rational exchanges. The father’s silence at the end is not a lack of love but rather an overwhelming expression of it, one that words cannot fully capture. His struggle represents the universal challenge of parental love—how to communicate its depth, how to prepare for inevitable change, and how to let go when the time comes.
Literary Works Similar to “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
- “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden – Like “A Story”, this poem explores a father’s love and sacrifice, highlighting the emotional distance and unspoken expressions of care between parent and child.
- “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke – This poem, like Lee’s, captures the complex dynamics of a father-son relationship, mixing affection with underlying tension and uncertainty.
- “Father and Son” by Mary Nagy – This poem also delves into a father’s fear of losing his bond with his child, reflecting on the inevitable passage of time and changing relationships.
- “Walking Away” by Cecil Day-Lewis – Similar to “A Story”, this poem portrays the painful yet necessary process of a parent letting go as their child grows and becomes independent.
- “For a Father” by Elise Partridge – This poem shares themes of parental love, nostalgia, and the quiet struggles of expressing affection, much like the father’s dilemma in Lee’s poem.
Representative Quotations of “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
| Quotation | Context | Theoretical Perspective |
| “Sad is the man who is asked for a story and can’t come up with one.” | The poem opens with the father’s struggle to fulfill his son’s request for a story, symbolizing his deeper fear of inadequacy. | Psychoanalytic Theory – The father’s inability to recall a story reflects his internalized anxiety about failing as a parent. |
| “Not the same story, Baba. A new one.” | The child’s plea for a fresh story contrasts with the father’s struggle, emphasizing generational differences and change. | Structuralism – The contrast between past and present stories highlights the binary opposition of familiarity vs. novelty. |
| “In a room full of books in a world of stories, he can recall not one.” | Despite being surrounded by books, the father cannot think of a story, symbolizing emotional and creative paralysis. | Existentialist Theory – The father experiences existential doubt, questioning his role and ability to meet his child’s needs. |
| “Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go.” | The father imagines the future where his son has grown up and left, revealing his deep-seated fears. | Psychoanalytic Theory – His projection into the future reflects subconscious anxiety about loss and separation. |
| “Hear the alligator story! The angel story once more!” | The father desperately offers old stories in an attempt to keep his son engaged and maintain their bond. | Reader-Response Theory – Readers may interpret this either as nostalgia or as a fear-driven effort to hold onto the past. |
| “You love the spider story. You laugh at the spider.” | The father recalls moments of joy they once shared, contrasting them with his current inability to satisfy his son’s request. | Nostalgia Theory – This line reflects an idealized longing for the past when connection felt effortless. |
| “The boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.” | The imagined image of the boy preparing to leave symbolizes growing independence and inevitable separation. | Symbolism in Structuralism – Packing shirts and searching for keys represent transition and maturity. |
| “Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?” | The father questions whether his son has unrealistic expectations of him, revealing his frustration and helplessness. | Postmodernism – Challenges the expectation of parental perfection, showing the father’s vulnerability. |
| “Am I a god that I should never disappoint?” | The father questions whether he is expected to be infallible, highlighting the pressure of parenthood. | Psychoanalytic Theory – This line reflects the father’s self-doubt and the weight of paternal expectations. |
| “A boy’s supplications and a father’s love add up to silence.” | The final line of the poem suggests that love and emotions sometimes lead to silence rather than spoken words. | Deconstruction – Challenges the idea that love must always be expressed through words, showing that silence can be equally powerful. |
Suggested Readings: “A Story” by Li-Young Lee
- Lee, Li-Young. Book of My Nights: Poems. No. 68. BOA Editions, Ltd., 2001.
- Bilyak, Dianne, and Li-Young Lee. “Interview with Li-Young Lee.” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 44, no. 4, 2003, pp. 600–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25092000. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.
- Hughes, Henry. Harvard Review, no. 34, 2008, pp. 219–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40346452. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.
- Hesford, Walter A. “‘The City in Which I Love You’: Li-Young Lee’s Excellent Song.” Christianity and Literature, vol. 46, no. 1, 1996, pp. 37–60. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44312502. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.
- Axelrod, Steven Gould, et al., editors. “LI-YOUNG LEE: (B. 1957).” The New Anthology of American Poetry: Postmodernisms 1950-Present, Rutgers University Press, 2012, pp. 507–08. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bj4sjv.74. Accessed 7 Mar. 2025.