Comparing poems A Parental Ode to My Son Aged Three Years and Five Months, Catrin, and For Heidi With Blue Hair

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Comparing poems A Parental Ode to My Son Aged Three Years and Five Months, Catrin, and For Heidi With Blue Hair

'A Parental Ode…' is a poem, which has been written about a son

through his father's eyes. It is a poem emphasizing the beauty and

virtues of his son, talking as if he is a creature of fantasy; though

in reality the father's son is a mischievous child, getting into

trouble, which is distracting the father from writing his poem.

'Catrin' is written in the same format as 'A Parental Ode…' but in

this poem it is the mother viewing her child (which in this case is

Catrin). This poem is a lot more serious and down to earth. It talks

about their relationship and how they have grown together whereas 'A

Parental Ode…' is about the troubles that the father's child gets up

to and is more bubbly and amusing. 'For Heidi With Blue Hair' shares

some characteristics as 'Catrin' in the sense that it is the same

poem. This poem is written about a girl who has dyed her hair blue,

basically as it says in the title. It tries to be amusing by using

irony so it does have some similarity to 'A Parental Ode…' in a

humorous sense but 'A Parental Ode's…' humour is more direct.

'A Parental Ode…' is a poem by a father idolizing his son. It is

written in 'real-time' - that the father is describing his son as he

is writing the poem. The father is writing about his son, a

troublesome child that is naughty. His father, however, does not want

to show this in the poem as he makes no reference of it but you find

out that he is ghastly. The father likes to romanticize the image of

his son by using fantasy creatures (elf, sprite, puck, imp), and by
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...w the frustration and anxiety that the

mother is feeling. The mother wanted us to feel the same frustration,

so she makes the poem more difficult to understand which ash been

cleverly done with the metaphors. I feel that by using such words

about the birth and the child like ' a struggle and saying that she

wanted 'to be two', I come to feel that Catrin was an accidental baby

and the mother didn't want her but now she is stuck with her daughter.

So to conclude, I would say that all three poems are about viewing a

child, but it depends on who is viewing them; whether it is the father

in 'A Parental Ode…' the mother in 'Catrin' or actually the poet in

'For Heidi With Blue Hair'. Different people are perceiving all these,

but I wouldn't go on what they say, it's just their opinion, not what

the child actually is like.

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