Poem Analysis: The Gift By Li-Young Lee

When I first read “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee, my first thought was, “What?” The way the poem was written was so confusing at first glance, but after reading the poem over and over, I feel I have a good understanding of what Lee was trying to get across. In the first and second paragraph, the narrator talks about the memory of his father taking a splinter out of his hand. The narrator talks about his father telling him a story while he pulled the silver from his hand. When the poem said, “The flames of discipline, he raised above my head.” I thought that the father slapped the narrator after he removed the splinter, but after the class discussion I realized that the flames were above his head, meaning the father didn’t yell at him; he soothed

him. The third paragraph shows how perspective is very impactful. “Had you entered that afternoon you would have thought you saw a man planting something in a boy’s palm..” meaning the father must have looked grim, but in reality was being kind by pulling a splinter out of his son’s hand, a loving gesture. The paragraph then continues, “Had you followed that boy you would arrived here, where I bend over my wife’s right hand.” which lead me believe that “The Gift” is the kindness and love the narrator’s father showed him at the age of seven, that he is now passing on to his wife. The fourth phrase says, “Look how I shave her thumbnail down so carefully she feels no pain. Watch as I lift the splinter out.” The narrator is now taking the role of the father, and his wife is taking the role of his seven year old self; now the narrator is the kindness giver and his wife is the receiver. At the end, the narrator recites how he did not think that the silver would kill him because of his father’s tale, which distracted him from the pain and the “tiny flame” that caused it. The last two lines I feel are the most important part of “The Gift”, “I did what a child does when he’s given something to keep. I kissed my father.” The young narrator was given the gift of love and the power to pass it on, which he is giving to his wife now, and to repay his father, he gave him a kiss.