Growing up, children need love and support coming from family members and friends. The poems “Hand Shadows,” by Mary Cornish and “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” by Jan Heller Levi, illustrate the love a father gives to his children and show how the differently children react to it. When comparing and contrasting the two poems, both show the underrated bond between a father and child, from the child’s point of view, and how drastically different the child can perceive the relationship.
Both “Hand Shadows,” by Mary Cornish and “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” by Jan Heller are written from the child’s point of view. Based only off of the title “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” the reader is able to conclude that the poem is meant to be from the viewpoint of a son
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or daughter because of the word “Dad.” In the poem, “Hand Shadows” the word “father” is repeated multiple times and is even stated in the first sentence with, “My father put his hand in the white light” (1). The other time the author uses the word “father” in the poem, is in line 13 which states, “My father’s hands became…” (13). The way the person reacts to the shadow puppets with a sense of innocence gives the impression that it’s coming from the view of a young child. The way the two children perceive their relationships with their father’s lead to the two poems having extremely different endings. In “Hand Shadows,” the author ends the poem with the young child admiring the shadow puppets her father made and feels that her relationship with her father grew because of the experience. The author uses symbolism to compare the relationship between father and his child to birds by saying, “My father's hands became two birds, linked / by a thumb, they flew one following the other” (13-14). In the second poem, “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” the speaker ends the poem in an apologetic tone to her father for not appreciating him in the past. She says that “[she] always thought [he was] moving too slowly to save [her], / When [he was] moving as fast as [he] could” (16). She realizes that her father tried his absolute best, and did everything he could to take care of his child and make her happy, but she rarely showed him enough appreciation and is now feeling remorseful. Another contrasting element between the two poems is the time span difference.
The poem “Hand Shadows” is set in the shorter time frame and ends on the same night as it started. Because of this shorter time frame, this camping poem between a father and his child could potentially be based off of a true story. The author, Mary Cornish, could’ve based this off of a true memory of a childhood camping trip with her father that brought the two closer together.
The poem “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” started off the first two stanzas, with a flashback to a child remembering watching her father swimming. At the start of the third stanza the speaker says, “I think of how different things might have been” (9). The words “might have been” show that she is thinking into the past and even more specifically, about growing up with her father.
Throughout the two poems there were many examples of literary terms, but the three that stood out the most to me were personification, symbolism, and metaphors. In “Hand Shadows,” the author uses personification when describing the shadow animals to allow the reader to picture them more clearly, the outside of the tent, and the stars in the sky. She describes the new stars as being “born”
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(12). The animals in this poem contain lots of symbolism relating the animals back to the child.
Cornish uses five very different animals for her choice of shadow puppets. Starting with the alligator who “... feigning sleep along the canvas wall leapt up / and snapped its jaws” (4-5). Children can be snippy and moody at times and even bite. The next animal in the poem was the swan with “... its perfect neck and drop / a fingered beak toward that shadowed head / to lightly preen [her] father's feathered hair…” (6-8). The swan symbolizes the child’s innocence and peacefulness. The first animal that was listed in the poem was the horse who “bucked” (3). When something or someone bucks, they oppose or resist, so the horse represents a child’s stubbornness. An example of a child bucking something is when his or her parents tell them it’s time to go to bed and they resist. The fourth animal who was listed was the skunk who “shuffled in the woods” (9). The skunk represents a child's adventurous qualities, being that the skunk was the only animal who was outside of the tent. The final animal(s) that were listed at the end of the poem were the two birds who “flew one following the other” (14). The two birds in the end symbolize the child and her father and how the child now wants to follow his father’s example and views him as a role model. Symbolism is used in “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad” as well, but it’s not as in such a positive way. In “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” the “...icy ocean between
us” (14) symbolizes the relationship between the father and child and how there was a large gap in it. The final literary term i found within the two poems is the use of metaphors. The metaphors were used mainly in “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad,” whenever the author referenced swimming. Whenever the speaker would mention swimming, she was using it as a metaphor for her relationship with her father. The reader can tell that the daughter regrets the way she treated her father when she was younger, and that she was a bit self-centered. She says that, “[she] always thought [she] was drowning / in that icy ocean between [them], / [she] always thought [he was] moving too slowly to save [her], / When [he was] moving as fast as [he could]” (13-16).
In the poem ¨My Father¨ by Scott Hightower, the author describes a rather unstable relationship with his now deceased father. Scott describes his father as a mix of both amazing and atrocious traits. The father is described as someone who constantly contradicts himself through his actions. He is never in between but either loving and heroic or cold and passive. The relationship between Scott and his father is shown to be always changing depending on the father’s mood towards him. He sees his father as the reason he now does certain things he finds bad. But at the end of it all, he owes a great deal to his father. Scott expresses that despite his flaws, his father helped shape the man he is today. Hightower uses certain diction, style, and imagery to
Li-Young Lee’s poem, A Story, explores a complex relationship between a father and his five year old son. Although the poem’s purpose is to elaborate on the complexity of the relationship and the father’s fear of disappointing his son, the main conflict that the father is faced with is not uncommon among parents. Lee is able to successfully portray the father’s paranoia and son’s innocence through the use of alternating point of view, stanza structure, and Biblical symbolism.
While most of us think back to memories of our childhood and our relationships with our parents, we all have what he would call defining moments in our views of motherhood or fatherhood. It is clearly evident that both Theodore Roethke and Robert Hayden have much to say about the roles of fathers in their two poems as well. While the relationships with their fathers differ somewhat, both men are thinking back to a defining moment in their childhood and remembering it with a poem. "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays" both give the reader a snapshot view of one defining moment in their childhood, and these moments speak about the way these children view their fathers. Told now years later, they understand even more about these moments.
The poem, A Story, is written in the third person point of view. Thereby, allowing the audience to grasp onto the sentimental emotions of the father. The story begins with the depiction of the father as a “sad...man who is asked
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
The simultaneous distance and closeness within the relationship between the father and the child are inevitable even in the most tragic and happy events in life. The poems “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad” by Jan Heller Levi and “In the Well” by Andrew Hudgins are both about the closeness and distance in a father and child relationship. Both poems are written in first person, or in the child’s point of view to emphasize the thoughts of distance and the experience of childhood thinking to the readers. The poems both use similar literary devices such as motifs and imagery to illustrate and accentuate the ideas of each event that the narrator, a child, experiences. Similarities between both poems are the use of water as a motif of the barrier to being farther away from the father, and the use of different synonyms for the word, father, to indicate the amount of distance at each point in the poems. On the other hand, each poem takes its route of distance in completely opposite directions. “Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad” by Jan Heller Levi and “In the Well” by Andrew Hudgins accommodate the similarities for the use of the same motif, water, and the use of several synonyms for “dad” throughout the poems, but also differentiate because they proceed in opposite directions from the beginning to the end.
“Those Winter Sundays” tells of Robert Hayden’s father and the cold mornings his father endures to keep his family warm in the winters. In “Digging” Heaney is sitting in the window watching his father do hard manual labor, which has taken a toll on his body. In “My Father as a Guitar” Espada goes to the doctors office with his father and is sitting in the office with his dad when the doctor tells him he has to take pain killers and to stop working because his body was growing old and weak. The authors of the poems all look at their fathers the same; they look at them with much respect and gratitude. All three poems tell of the hard work the dads have to do to keep their family fed and clothed. “The landlord, here a symbol of all the mainstream social institutions that hold authority over the working class” (Constantakis.) Espada’s father is growing old and his health is deteriorating quickly but his ability to stop working is not in his own hands, “I can’t the landlord won’t let me” (774.) “He is separated from the homeland, and his life in the United States is far from welcoming” (Constantakis.) Espada’s Grandmother dies in Puerto Rico and the family learns this by a lett...
A child’s destiny crucially and heavily relies on the parental figures in their lives. Without such beacons of authority children in these broken homes easily feel partial, mislaid and typically turn out to be errant. The novel “Father Cry” by William Wilson, beautifully covers both the ideas of spiritual parental figures and physical parental figures. Analyzing several different subjects such as heartbreak, love, hope and many more, this book is able to holistically cover the general subject of parenthood. This is an amazing book with many things that one can learn from. Many ideas and topics in this book opened my eyes, pushing me to the verge of tears in some parts. That being said, one subject in particular that most impacted me was the
There is no greater bond then a boy and his father, the significant importance of having a father through your young life can help mold you to who you want to become without having emotional distraught or the fear of being neglected. This poem shows the importance in between the lines of how much love is deeply rooted between these two. In a boys life he must look up to his father as a mentor and his best friend, the father teaches the son as much as he can throughout his experience in life and build a strong relationship along the way. As the boy grows up after learning everything his father has taught him, he can provide help for his father at his old-age if problems were to come up in each others
Abuse is a difficult and sensitive subject that can have long lasting effects. These traumatic emotional effects are often intensified if the abuse happens at a young age because children do not understand why the abuse is happening or how to deal with it. There are many abuse programs set up to counter the severe effects which abuse can have. Even more, poets and writers all over the world contribute works that express the saddening events and force the public to realize it is much more real than the informative articles we read about. One such poem is Theodore Roethke’s My Papa’s Waltz which looks carefully through the eyes of a young boy into the household of an abusive father. Robert Hayden’s Those Winter Sundays is a similar poem from the perspective of a young adult reflecting back on the childhood relationship with his father and the abuse his father inflicted. These poems are important because they deal with the complex issues surrounding the subject of abuse and also show the different ways which children react to it. My Papa’s Waltz and Those Winter Sundays are similar poems because they use tone, imagery, and sounds and rhythms to create tension between the negative aspects of abuse and the boys own love and understanding for their father.
Family bonds are very important which can determine the ability for a family to get along. They can be between a mother and son, a father and son, or even a whole entire family itself. To some people anything can happen between them and their family relationship and they will get over it, but to others they may hold resentment. Throughout the poems Those Winter Sundays, My Papa’s Waltz, and The Ballad of Birmingham family bonds are tested greatly. In Those Winter Sundays the relationship being shown is between the father and son, with the way the son treats his father. My Papa’s Waltz shows the relationship between a father and son as well, but the son is being beaten by his father. In The Ballad of Birmingham the relationship shown is between
Scott Hightower’s poem “Father” could be very confusing to interpret. Throughout almost the entirety of the poem the speaker tries to define who his father is by comparing him to various things. As the poem begins the reader is provided with the information that the father “was” all of these things this things that he is being compared to. The constant use of the word “was” gets the reader to think ‘how come the speaker’s father is no longer comparable to these things?’ After the speaker reveals that his father is no longer around, he describes how his father impacted him. Details about the father as well as descriptions of the impacts the father has distraught on the speaker are all presented in metaphors. The repetitive pattern concerning the speaker’s father and the constant use of metaphors gives the reader a sense that the speaker possesses an obsessive trait. As the reader tries to interpret the seemingly endless amount of metaphors, sets of connotative image banks begin to develop in the reader’s mind. Major concepts that are expressed throughout the poem are ideas about what the speaker’s father was like, what he meant to the speaker, and how he influenced the speaker.
A father can play many roles throughout a child’s life: a caregiver, friend, supporter, coach, protector, provider, companion, and so much more. In many situations, a father takes part in a very active position when it comes to being a positive role model who contributes to the overall well-being of the child. Such is the case for the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In this poem, readers are shown the discreet ways in which a father can love his child. On the other hand, there are also many unfortunate situations where the fathers of children are absent, or fail to treat the children with the love and respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In the contrasting poem “Like Riding a Bicycle” by George Bilgere, readers are shown how a son who was mistreated by his drunken father is affected by their past relationship many years later. Although both of these poems have fairly similar themes and literary techniques, they each focus on contradicting situations based on the various roles a father can play in a child’s life.
There is a special bond between parents and children, but there is always uncertainty, whether it’s with the parents having to let go or the children, now adults, reminiscing on the times they had with their parents. The poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is a very emotional poem about what you can assume: a daughter leaving home. Then the poem “Alzheimer 's" by Kelly Cherry is about the poet’s father, a former professional musician who develops the disease. These are only two examples that show the ambivalence between the parents and the children.
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.