When every pencil meant a sacrifice

his parents boarded him at school in town,
slaving to free him from the stony fields,
the meagre acreage that bore them down.

They blushed with pride when, at his graduation,
they watched him picking up the slender scroll,
his passport from the years of brutal toil
and lonely patience in a barren hole.

When he went in the Bank their cups ran over.
They marvelled how he wore a milk-white shirt
work days and jeans on Sundays. He was saved
from their thistle-strewn farm and its red dirt.

And he said nothing. Hard and serious
like a young bear inside his teller's cage,
his axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills
aching with empty strength and throttled rage.

This poem is Warren Pryor by Alden Nowlan.

Question is "Even though this story poem is written b a third person narrator who describes what happened to Warren Pryor, there are, in fact, three people in the poem who have viewpoints. Who are they?

Are the three people Warren Pryor and his parents? Or is it him as a kid, him as an adult, and his parents(who share a viewpoint)?

I vote for the latter option.

Another question - 3rd stanza first line - Who is the "he" the author is referring to?

He is the young teller at the bank, the poor boy who grew up.

In order to answer this question, we need to analyze the viewpoints presented in the poem "Warren Pryor" by Alden Nowlan. While the poem is narrated in the third person, it does provide insight into the perspectives of three individuals involved in the story.

The first viewpoint belongs to Warren Pryor himself, who experiences the events described in the poem. As a child, he is sent to school in town by his parents, who sacrifice for his education. Later, he graduates and gets a job at a bank, where he feels trapped and frustrated, represented by his "axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills."

The second viewpoint is that of Warren Pryor's parents. They are described as working hard and making sacrifices to provide their son with better opportunities. They take pride in his accomplishments, such as his graduation and his job at the bank. They see these achievements as a means of escaping their challenging life on the farm.

The third viewpoint in the poem is a collective viewpoint shared by Warren Pryor's parents. This can be inferred from the description of how "their cups ran over" and how they "marvelled" at his appearance and success at the bank. They are presented as a unified unit, both in their sacrifices for Warren and in their shared hope for his future.

Therefore, the three people with viewpoints in the poem "Warren Pryor" are Warren Pryor, his parents (who share a viewpoint), and the third-person narrator who describes their story.