I looked back in the willows one summer

day and a motorcycle’s engine was running

as it was lying on its side, slowly rolling

over in the high grass. I was fifteen.

border where it lay; I walked it slowly

to the road, and stay there with that

friend, ready and friendly. I was fifteen.

the sky on out Seventeenth. I thought about

kills, and touching the handle I got a

confident feeling. On the bridge we gave into

a forward feeling, a vibration. I was fifteen.

Thinking, there should be an owner in the

grass, just feeling better, where he had flipped

over the rail. He had blood on his hand, was white

This poem boasts, and it tells a scene when the speaker talks about finding a motorcycle on the side of the road with the grassy land next to the road. This poem has a turning point when the speaker realizes that there is a rider to the motorcycle in the field. There is a climatic point to this poem right before the speaker realizes that there is a rider to the motorcycle. The symbolism in this poem refers to the motorcycle, the boy treats this motorcycle as if it were a woman or a horse. He does this with the way he describes the motorcycle, “I admired all the pulsing gleam, the shiny flanks, demure headlights fringed where it lay I led it gently to the road, and stay there with that companion, ready and friendly.”(Stafford stanza 2) The theme is a boy’s transformation into manhood, by showing that with freedom comes great danger.

“Fifteen” is a poem about a teenage boy and his feelings for a motorcycle. It shows that the teenager feels more mature while in the presence of the motorcycle this helps the reader to understand a boy’s transformation to manhood, by showing that with freedom comes great danger.

Over it, called me good sir, drove off.

Some topics in this essay:
Fifteen South, Linda Wagner, William Stafford, Ann Jaeger, Ann Jaeger’s, Linda Wagner’s, , road stay, admired pulsing gleam, Sharon Ann, freedom comes danger, shiny flanks demure, comes danger, shiny flanks, pulsing gleam, admired pulsing, gleam shiny flanks, freedom comes, pulsing gleam shiny, boy’s transformation, flanks demure, manhood freedom, transformation manhood,