William Stafford Ask Me

In “Ask Me” by William Stafford, Stafford uses positive tone,idiom, and symbolism to explain why thought his life was like a river. William Stafford uses the river to help him answer questions that they may have for him about the events in his life which inspired him to write. There were several critics who did not agree with Stafford was a major poet. Stafford lived a busy life; he worked at a young age, went to school, sent to camps during World War II, and still managed to write poetry and short stories. William Stafford was born on January 17, 1914 in Hutchinson, Kansas. He was the oldest of the three children in the family. When he was younger, Stafford had grown to love books and the beauty of nature (William Stafford - William Stafford

He was a man who had refused to serve in the military, due to moral beliefs (“Lives of the Poets”)Stafford spent a lot of his time in different states such as Illinois, California, and Arkansas. He spent about four years working in these camps and he was not paid much for all the hard word he had done within that time period. While his time in WWII, he was able to write a book about all of his experiences, “Down in My Heart”, which had been published in 1947. His book “Down in My Heart” was written based off daily activities the men did in the camps. They did such things as building roads and trails and fought fires that occurred in the forests (Stafford, William. "Down in My Heart." Goodreads). When he was at a camp in California, he met a woman named Dorothy Frantz; the two ended up getting married in California in 1944. The couple also had four children. After the ending of the war, William Stafford had a job as a high school teacher for about a year. Also in 1947, William was able to earn his masters at the University of Kansas. His story about being in the forest camps, was his master’s thesis. William Stafford moved to Oregon in 1948 and he taught students in colleges such as Lewis and Clark University, which are located in Portland. He was very much involved with working for relief organization Church World Service as

Stafford."). G.E Murray, a poet and a poetry reviewer, said that William Stafford was appreciated as a poet, but said that many of Stafford’s pieces contradicted themselves by not following other poet’s footsteps ("William E. Stafford."). Some of Stafford’s colleagues thought the complete opposite of Murray. Colleague Steve Garrison thought that his voice was something to not be ignored; he believed that Stafford’s pieces of writings were respectful and worthy of others. Steve Garrison had a strong belief that Stafford’s work was unique and it had a unique way into the heart of the