William Stafford's Burning A Book

American poet and pacifist, William Stafford, in his poem “Burning a Book”, expresses a profound belief that is valid to this day – not all that is known is true. Through writing and publishing “Burning a Book”, Stafford’s purpose is to inform the audience that not all information is credible, hence book burning, but without information or knowledge, ignorance walks the streets. He assumes a solemn, yet empathetic tone in order to remind readers to consider and to not just automatically censor or blindly believe information. To understand an authors’, painters’, and other creative person’s work, one must understand their background. According to the University of Nebraska, “William Edgar Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on January …show more content…
The speaker begins describing the sight of books burning, the pages fade away, layer by layer. The beginning of line one, “Protecting each other…” is personification. As the book begins to dissipate due to the fire, the individual parts that make up the book shield one another. This vivid and forceful sight paints a clear picture for the audience and sets the mood for the rest of the poem to come. From describing the burning process, the speaker transitions to the content within the books. The narrator says, “Truth, brittle and faint, burns easily”, describing what the book holds to be true, burns as every other book does. In a way, that statement is ironic. Throughout history, truth has remained for generations upon generations, leaving the upcoming generations to reflect on these statement – truth never really does fade. However, when books containing “truth” and books containing “lies” are both burned, the flame is just as great. Although the books itself are burned and the ideas the books contain are censored, the philosophies of the book remain. The speaker says in line seven, “…flame doesn’t care”, this piece of text being personification. Stafford personifies the flame this time to paint another picture within the audience’s minds. The personified flame destroys the books that contain lies or truths, but the idea will always remain. The final line of this stanza states, “…charred words in the ashes”, following the furious flames, one can expect to find “charred words” in all that is left. “Charred” as used in line eight has a very strong connotation, through the perilous journey the books have gone through, truth still remains. The strong connotation on “charred” leaves the audience with an impression that books do contain some truth, whether or not they contain false