Ask Me Poem Analysis

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“Ask Me” by William Stafford is a contemporary poem that compares the author’s life to a river. The reader is instilled with a strong sense of nostalgia, placidity, and introspection as Stafford reflects on his past and the meaning of his actions and life. The theme of this piece is life and its relative pace, similar to a river which is used as an ongoing metaphor Stafford introduces himself early on because this work is a conversation between the author and the reader. In the first stanza, Stafford repeatedly implores the reader to “ask me” (1, 2, 6) about his past and his thoughts. This repetition causes a slight uneasiness in the reader as Stafford is insisting the reader to participate. The first line, “Some time when the river is ice …show more content…
As the second stanza continues, the reader and author or joined together as Stafford progresses from “you” (8) to “You and I” (9) to “We” (10) and “us” (13). The peaceful tone is stronger in the second stanza as Stafford describes the river as “silent” (10) and refers to the river’s current as “hidden” (11) which is also a comment on how most people have much more going on beneath the surface. Most people do not display every thought or emotions on their face for the world to see. Much like a river, one’s thoughts are hidden like a current. Stafford introduces the contrast between the placidity of the river and the distance and movement experienced by the water: “comings and goings from miles away / that hold the stillness exactly before us” (12-13). This is a comment on how one can feel like their world or their life is halted, but the world is still turning and time is still passing, just because the perceive stillness does not mean that it is actually still. Stafford ends his poem with actually comparing himself to the river by stating: “What the river says, that is what I say” (14). Stafford was known as a believer in non-violence which elucidates why he compared himself to the peaceful river and its flow. He acknowledges he has made mistakes, but he refuses to stop pushing on in his journey, much like the river will never stop even if the current or movement is hidden. The last line of the poem gives the reader a sense of finality, but ends on an expansive note that is open ended and allows for various

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