The Gift by Li-Young Lee was quite an amazing poem. It jumped out at me because the visualizations provided by Lee explained similarities to my own childhood, and I’m sure many others had the sa me feelings. I believe the author of this poem is also the main character. The poem is about something all children dread, slivers in their skin and the fear that accompanies it, and more importantly how to get over it. The speaker uses many connotative references to describe the horrors of childhood splinters. The connotative idea that spoke to me the loudest was how Young described the sliver itself. When I think of slivers, I think of wood. Lee was talking about a more sinister type of sliver made of metal. This is explained in denotative words such as “iron”, “silver tear”, “shard” and “Metal”. All of these words are literal descriptions for metal, or small pieces of metal. My favorite line of the whole poem is when he used annotative descriptions of the sliver when he says, “Little Assassin, Ore Going Deep for My Heart.” This line sums up his anxiety of how horrific a sliver can be and the pain that will accompany the removal of it. Another connotative word used in this poem is the word “flame”. Flame as we know the literal meaning describes fire and heat. In this t his sense, it describes pain and emotion. When he says, “a silver tear, a tiny flame,” he is describing the intense searing pain that something so small can provide. He also uses the word “flame” to describe the intensity of how disciplined one must be to trust someone to take out a sliver. We take this idea of discipline even further in the last part of the poem. The author is describing “The Gift” he was given by his father: a quiet gift of discipline and also the gift of being able to take out a splinter in a correct way. In the last paragraph, Lee transforms from child to husband/adult whilst describing the gift of discipline that was given to him by his own adult father. This is evidenced when he says, “I did not hold that shard between my fingers and think… and I did not lift up my wound and cry, Death visited her!” As a child, it requires extre me discipline to remove a sliver, t end a wound, etc. and do it wit hout bawling your eyes out. I remember when I was a child, the littlest cut would make me cry. The author does not cry, does not reminisce about the pain (Death ( Death visited here!). here!). He uses this experience and this discipline and translates it into adulthood… and takes out the sliver of his wife without causing her pain, yet another example of discipline, discipline, disciplined hands and thoughts. I believe this was “The Gift” that was given to the author… the gift of discipline through adversity.
