Usually when you read something you may not understand it at first, its the same case with everyone. When I first read Fifteen by William Stafford all I could interpret it that a boy found a bike, out of curiosity he took it for a spin and realized there was an owner. If you read the story again you some words may catch you eye like companion, fifteen, and Seventeenth. If you read even closer these words mean something a little more and play a larger role in the poem than you think.
When the poem starts it talk about what I assumed was directions. The poem mentioned "South of the bridge on Seventeen," think automatically made me think of a place on a highway; just like to 101 or 118. Stanza two and three say "I found, back of the willows in summer day" and from this I quickly made the assumption that this story is a flash back to memory about the age of fifteen. The next stanza stunned me a little bit because in this flash back the boy finds a motorcycle lying on the ground with its engine on! The only logical explanation for the engine being on wound be its been in an accident. At the end of this group of stanzas it there is a short sentence that seems slightly out of place. The stanza says "I was fifteen" which then also gives us more evidence that this took place in the past with the word was.
In the next group of stanzas the boy vividly describes what the bike look like. Something is unique about these words, the can also be used to describe an animal. Shiny flanks are the mane of the horse, pulsing gleam is like the silky coat of the animal, and demure headlights are like the focused eyes that stare back at you. He leads the bike down to the road which makes me assume that he is going to hop on that bike at the age of fifteen and ride it. The word that comes up next that stood out to me was "companion" because now he is treating the bike like an animal or a best friend. Once again Stafford ends another group of stanzas with the same sentence "I was fifteen" which makes me think that this may mean something in important knowing that the title is fifteen and each group of stanzas is ending with "I was fifteen."
If you look back at the other two groups of stanzas you realize that they both begin with "I' but this one stats with "We" as if the bike has now become a person.
When the poem starts it talk about what I assumed was directions. The poem mentioned "South of the bridge on Seventeen," think automatically made me think of a place on a highway; just like to 101 or 118. Stanza two and three say "I found, back of the willows in summer day" and from this I quickly made the assumption that this story is a flash back to memory about the age of fifteen. The next stanza stunned me a little bit because in this flash back the boy finds a motorcycle lying on the ground with its engine on! The only logical explanation for the engine being on wound be its been in an accident. At the end of this group of stanzas it there is a short sentence that seems slightly out of place. The stanza says "I was fifteen" which then also gives us more evidence that this took place in the past with the word was.
In the next group of stanzas the boy vividly describes what the bike look like. Something is unique about these words, the can also be used to describe an animal. Shiny flanks are the mane of the horse, pulsing gleam is like the silky coat of the animal, and demure headlights are like the focused eyes that stare back at you. He leads the bike down to the road which makes me assume that he is going to hop on that bike at the age of fifteen and ride it. The word that comes up next that stood out to me was "companion" because now he is treating the bike like an animal or a best friend. Once again Stafford ends another group of stanzas with the same sentence "I was fifteen" which makes me think that this may mean something in important knowing that the title is fifteen and each group of stanzas is ending with "I was fifteen."
If you look back at the other two groups of stanzas you realize that they both begin with "I' but this one stats with "We" as if the bike has now become a person.