I just read this amazing poem by William Stafford called Ask Me, and I wanted to share my interpretation of it with you guys.
Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt-ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.
I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.
Now, I feel the most important thing to address when looking at this poem is the tone of it, and establishing who the speaker and listeners are. It is a quote less conversation between two people, and it is clear from the first line that none of this has happened; it is in the future tense.
I will start with the first line. Some time when the river is ice. This, to me, is a metaphor to say, "When things (issues) cool down, and we have time to talk".
Ask me mistakes I have made. This is one of the most important and controversial lines in the poem. It is asking whether or not the speaker has been true to themselves, and whether their accomplishes and beliefs are what their life was suppose to be. The tone of it suggests that the speaker believes they have not lived to their fullest, as for only someone in doubt would ask this question.
The last few lines of the first stanza bring in the idea of how others shape your life, and how they can either "make or break you."
The first line of the second stanza always surprises me. I will listen to what you say. So far, the listener has not said anything. The speaker has just asked them to ask questions. So will the speaker listen to the questions?
For the next few lines, the words "we" and "us" are introduced, as suddenly speaker and listener are a team.
You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait. Suddenly both of them seem to be listening to the river itself, as if the river is the true speaker, while the author is the listener.
We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings and goings from miles away. This represents all of the things that are hidden, but known, or implied in the world. All the mysteries the world is full of, but that are not revealed.
What the river says, that is what I say. This is the most challenging line of the poem for me, but I believe it means that you can take comfort in the fact that we don't need to know everything, and that the ice of the river will hide it for us.
I hope you all enjoyed this poem as much as I did!
xoxo,
Angel
2 comments:
I love this poem too. I asked my children to read and record themselves reading it, individually. I asked them questions about it. Interestingly enough, my son (10) thought the conversation represented in the poem was between you and somebody very important to you, like your mom or God. My daughter, 12, thought the conversation was between a mother and her child.
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