The Story of Our Lives (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Mark Strand
- First Published: 1972
- Type of Work: Narrative
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Husbands, Wives, Self, Marriage, Life, philosophy of, Mind and body
The Poem
“The Story of Our Lives” is a 201-line narration divided into seven numbered sections. Although the title suggests a history, the poem plays with the discrepancy between what one would expect in a story and the speaker’s reluctance or inability to share substantial narrative details. To be sure, traditional narrative elements exist: The speaker reveals that the poem takes place in a room that looks out onto a street, and there are characters. The plural pronouns “we” and “our” in the poem hint at a married couple whose life is not so much told as lived, a...
[The entire page is 1525 words long]
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