The poem explores the repetitive nature of relationships and life experiences. It describes the typical progression of a day and relationship through greetings, shared meals, and goodbyes. This cycle represents the "story we know" that feels monotonous and prevents growth. In the end, the poem suggests that accepting this repetitive pattern blindly may prevent finding new stories and opportunities.

1. The Story we Know
Martha Collins

2. The way to begin is always the same. Hello,
Hello. Your hand, your name. So glad, Just fine,
and Good-bye at the end. That's every story we know,
and why pretend? But lunch tomorrow? No?
Yes? An omelette, salad, chilled white wine?
The way to begin is simple, sane, Hello,
and then it's Sunday, coffee, the Times, a slow
day by the fire, dinner at eight or nine
and Good-bye. In the end, this is a story we know
so well we don't turn the page, or look below
the picture, or follow the words to the next line:
The way to begin is always the same Hello.
But one night, through the latticed window, snow
begins to whiten the air, and the tall white pine.
Good-bye is the end of every story we know
that night, and when we close the curtains, oh,
we hold each other against that cold white sign
of the way we all begin and end. Hello,
Good-bye is the only story. We know, we know.

3. Syntax
• Use of frequent punctuation- “Hello, / Hello. Your hand,
your name. So glad, Just fine” (2-3).
– creates broken, choppy language
– sense of short greetings, makes matters appear less personal
• Enjambment at the end of stanzas- stanza II to stanza III
“we know / so well” and stanza V to stanza VI “we know /
that night”
– Wait for the next stanza to find out what else “we know”
– By dragging it out the “what we know” sounds redundant
– Rushing through life without stopping to appreciate anything,
rushing to the next line

4. Repetition
• “Hello.” “Goodbye.”
– Standard greetings- repetitiveness reminds reader
of how often they are used
– Equally, how many people we “go through” in life
• “We Know”
– The monotony of life becomes a constant tirade of
being told the same things
– Being polite can be boring- in merely being polite
we appear uninterested in learning more about
people

5. Structure
• 3 lines, 6 stanzas
– Set structure, set rules for how we interact
• Rhyme- “Hello/know,” “slow/ know,” “below/ hello”
– Singsong effect: feels like a round, an endless variation of
the same encounter happening endless times
– Diction: words with long “o” sound, makes the last words
drag on, speaker sounds more bored
• Shift in tone- Stanza IV to stanza V
– Start discussing goodbye, more nostalgic feel
– “hold each other” (17) – first mention of true affection
– Theme of death

6. Imagery
• White Imagery- “snow / begins to whiten the
air, and the tall white pine” (13-14)
– Snow brings the end of the story, death
– Also begins the end of the poem, shift in tone
• “hold each other against that cold white sign”
(17).
– Snow is white and pure, it begins but it also covers
up or ends
– Hello and goodbye are essentially the same

7. Progression of Day vs. Lifetime
• “Omlette, Salad, chilled white wine?” –
breakfast, lunch, then nighttime options
• “and then it's Sunday, coffee, the Times, a slow /
day by the fire, dinner at eight or nine”-
progression of an average day
– Certain parameters we have to follow like meals or
activities
– Going through a day parallels going through a
relationship or a life
– Dinner or end of day vs. end of life

8. Analysis
• Poem like any relationship with someone
• “We know / so well we don’t turn the page, or
look below / the picture, or follow the words to
the next line: / The way to begin is always the
same Hello” (9-12).
– We are so conditioned to one way of life that we don’t
expect anything outside it
– Next line of the poem is another beginning, start of
the poem again
• Looking beyond what we know produces new
beginnings, new opportunities

9. Analysis Cont.
• “Hello, Good-bye is the only story. We know, we
know” (18-19).
– Anyone can relate to this story
– As dull as it is, this story is the cycle of life
– We finished one story (the poem) but another one will
start as soon as we focus on something else
• We don’t give ourselves enough time to appreciate
something before we move to someone or something new
– “we know, we know”- it has to be this way, but only
because we as people make it that way
• We could choose to “turn the page”

10. “A poem begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes a direction
with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a
clarification of life – not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and
cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion” (Frost).
• “The Story we Know” agrees with Frost’s definition of
poetry
• First line of the poem- “The way to begin is always the
same. Hello” (1).
– Again, the singsong effect draws us in
– The hello almost greets the reader delightfully
– Introduces us to the themes of repetition and the endless
meetings in life, we begin this story
• Clarification of life- “Hello, / Goodbye is the only story” (18-
19).
– Makes known the cycle of starting and ending things that makes
up every persons life
– Reader leaves wanting to know if another story is possible, may
take time to appreciate more things in life