The Splinter & The Story (Literal Details)
The young speaker of the poem claims this object is "going deep for my heart".
What is a (metal) splinter/iron sliver?
The father’s hands are described using this metaphor, suggesting they are gentle.
What is "two measures of tenderness"?
This is the primary theme of the poem, reflecting on a childhood experience.
What is memory?
The poem takes place in a room, focusing on only this many figures.
What is two?
"The Gift" is written in this form, meaning it does not follow a strict rhyme scheme.
What is free verse?
The boy is only this age when his father removes the object from his hand.
What is seven?
The father also uses these "flames" to describe the discipline he holds over his son.
What are the flames of discipline?
The speaker's father was a refugee from this country.
What is China?
In the present, the speaker is now helping this person with a splinter.
Who is his wife?
This collection of poems by Li-Young Lee, published in 1986, includes "The Gift".
What is Rose?
To distract the boy, the father tells a story in this type of "dark" voice.
What is a well of dark water?
The poem uses this literary term for the metal shard to make it seem like a tiny killer.
What is personification?
The "gift" in the title is not the removal of the splinter, but the gift of this, passed down from father to son.
What is tenderness/compassion/love?
The speaker recalls his father's hands, which were both gentle and "flames of" this.
What is discipline?
This poetic device is used in the poem when the father's hand is described as "two measures of tenderness".
What is a metaphor?
While the father is working, the boy is told to watch his father's "lovely" this, rather than the blade.
What is his face?
The speaker tells the reader to "watch" as he performs this action on his wife, connecting the past to the present.
What is "lift the splinter out"?
In the third stanza, the speaker compares the father to this type of person who is "planting" something.
What is a gardener/farmer?
The narrator's father was not just a father, but also this, according to the biographical analysis.
What is a Presbyterian minister?
The poem uses this structural technique in stanza three to jump from the past to the present.
What is a flashback/parallel imagery?
The boy refuses to do this action with his wound, even though he's in pain.
What is cry (or cry "Death visited here!")?
The poem concludes with the speaker doing this action, showing his love and gratitude.
What is kissing his father?
The poem's structure shifts from this tense (in the first stanza) to the present (in the second).
What is past tense?
The speaker recalls his father's voice, which he describes as a "well of dark water" and a this.
What is a prayer?
The speaker uses this word for his wife's hand to describe the delicate nature of the task.
What is "right hand"?