Stories Dwell

 Stories dwell

John Clare Stokes

Shhhh, here comes another interloper 

Expecting a story from us

Let's just sit still and maybe he won't notice

Oh they so annoy us!

Make up one of the high climbing boy

Or the old hope chest from the attic

Embellish it with an exaggerated mystra 

Give them something to take them back.

Shhh,  but don't tell him our inner secrets

Soon he will tire and move on

Why, why do they expect us to speak?

Just take the shot and leave us alone.

Hansen

I know, if walls could talk 

Literary Analysis of 

“Stories Dwell”

by John Clare Stokes

Overview

“Stories Dwell” explores the tension between human curiosity and the silence of places, objects, and memories. The poem adopts a collective, defensive voice—suggesting walls, spaces, or witnesses that are repeatedly asked to give meaning or narrative to the past. Rather than romanticizing memory, the poem resists it, emphasizing intrusion, fatigue, and guardedness.

Theme

The central theme is the exploitation of memory—how people expect places, objects, or history to perform emotionally for them.

Secondary themes include:

• Privacy vs. exposure
• Authenticity vs. fabrication
• The burden of nostalgia
• Silence as resistance

Speaker and Point of View

The poem is written in the first-person plural (“us”), suggesting:

• A collective consciousness (walls, rooms, buildings, or artifacts)
• Shared weariness from repeated interrogation
• A defensive unity against the outside observer

This choice distances the reader and reinforces the idea that not all stories belong to the listener.

Tone and Mood

Tone: ironic, weary, guarded, quietly defiant

Mood: restrained, secretive, contemplative

The repeated “Shhh” functions both as a hush and a boundary, reinforcing secrecy and reluctance.

Imagery and Symbolism

Recorder / Shot

• Represents modern intrusion: documentation, journalism, photography, or historical extraction
• Suggests a transactional approach to memory—take something and leave

Invented Stories (boy climbing a tree, hope chest)

• Familiar, nostalgic tropes
• Symbolize the ease with which false or embellished narratives satisfy curiosity
• Suggest that audiences prefer comfort over truth

Hope Chest

• A symbol of inherited memory and expectation
• Often associated with preservation, yet here it becomes a prop rather than a truth

Walls

• Classic metaphor for silent witnesses
• Inverted here: walls could talk, but won’t

Structure and Style

• Free verse, conversational and restrained
• Short lines and breaks mimic whispered speech
• Minimal punctuation enhances the sense of secrecy and avoidance

The poem resists flourish, mirroring its resistance to storytelling itself.

Irony

The poem is itself a story about refusing to tell stories. This irony deepens its meaning:

• By fabricating examples, the speaker exposes how easily meaning is manufactured
• The poem fulfills the reader’s desire while critiquing it

Ending Analysis

“I know— / if walls could talk.”

This closing line:

• References a familiar cliché
• Undermines it by context
• Leaves the reader with an unresolved tension: the knowledge that stories exist, paired with the acceptance that they may remain untold

Interpretation

“Stories Dwell” argues that silence can be ethical. Not all memories are meant to be shared, recorded, or consumed. The poem reframes silence not as emptiness, but as ownership.

Just take the shot and leave us alone.