Daughter Leaving Home

Linda Pastan’s poem, “For a Daughter Leaving Home,” displays how a parent views the life of his or her daughter by relating it to their daughter’s first bicycle ride. Her bicycle ride represents the difficult and stressful journey that the girl has embarked on throughout her life. Although the girl is now grown up and ready to start a life of her own, her parent is recalling everything about the girl’s life up to this point.

The reader cannot help but feel the burden the daughter will be sharing with the mother. And while the plight of the mother is real, the reader cannot ignore how the isolation and loneliness of this type of community, or lack there of, has effected Tome's judgment in mothering.

In Father and Child, as the persona moves on from childhood, her father becomes elderly and is entertained by simple things in nature, “birds, flowers, shivery-grass.” These symbols of nature remind the persona of the inconsistency of life and the certainty of death, “sunset exalts its known symbols of transience,” where sunset represents time. Both poems are indicative of the impermanence of life and that the persona has managed to mature and grow beyond the initial fearlessness of childhood moving onto a sophisticated understanding of death.

In the poem, Home by Pauline Kaldas, upon moving to Boston, the speaker expresses her longing for her hometown. She misses the atmosphere, the crowdedness, and the food that Cairo, her indigenous hometown possesses. The poem conveys that no matter where one goes to, it will never feel as sound and as delightful as home.

The poem “The White Porch” by Cathy Song is an illustration of maturity and coming of age. There is an innocent tone to the beginning of the poem with sensual undertones as the writing progress’s. In the poem, a woman is reminiscing about her young womanhood as she sits on her porch awaiting her presumed lover. Song creates the character of the woman to be of a homemaker, describing her duties taking care of laundry, having a cake in the oven and snapping beans in her lap. Through the visualization that Song creates it is assumed that the woman is pregnant, and as she is waiting for her husband she thinks back to the things she herself used to do when she was younger with her own mother. She is reflecting on the way her mother raised her thinking about how she wants to raise her own child. The speaker admits to sneaking in her lover late at night behind her mother’s back, but does not seem to feel remorseful because all her decisions led to where she is in her life now. Cathy Songs poem “The White Porch” portrays the transition of a girl into a woman using symbolism, imagery and simile.

After telling her daughter she can go to the church, the mother gives her a bath in rose petal water, dresses her in her best clothes, and even gives her a pair of gloves to wear and little white shoes. This is the most ironic part of the intire poem because the mother believes she is sending her to a safe place, but is unaware of the fact, that she is doing the exact opposite

Natasha Tretheway’s first two poems, leading introductions give an image of having false expectations and leads with another device of foreshadowing. “Theories of Time and Space,” and “The Southern Crescent” both show how the same situation happens to the mother, and then it happens again to her when she is with her mother. The train personifies as the mother’s life. She leaves at sixteen years old, “She is leaving behind, the dirt roads of Mississippi…” However she doesn’t ascertain for what she would find at the end of her journey. This ride involves another disappointment, just like the first trip. The speaker and her mother derail on their train ride and never reach their final destination. Both trips, the reader can imagine and feel the hope of visiting important man in their lives that let them down in the end. “Each small town pass before her window/ until light goes, and the reflection/ of mothers face appears clear now/ as evening comes on, dark and

First, the speaker represents the bright side of the mothers and daughters’ relationship where they have strong bond and they love each other presence. She says mothers and daughter walk happily “arm-in-arm” in the “villages and shopping malls” (line 1-2). Here, mother is drawing a pleasant image of mothers and daughters bond. They are holding each other hand, talking, and

The author starts by describing old memories as a child she has of the table itself. Lyon tells us of the countless family games nights and discussions that have taken place there. George Ella speaks of the family recipes and hard work both of her parents did at the kitchen table. Lyon tells us about her mom's time working for the chamber and making calls for the march of dimes. Lyon brings the poem full circle by talking about her adult memories she has at the kitchen table. George Ella talks about the time where she first had to tell her mother that she need help and couldn’t live on her own. Her mom responds by telling Lyon she is babying her. This part of the book is very personal to me. My grandmother has just recently gone through this exact hardship. It is incredibly hard to see your parent move out of your childhood home and realizing they are no longer able to live on their own. Although I haven’t had to experience it for myself, I am sure it will be hard when it happens. Lyon also speaks of stories she has heard about the kitchen table. In the past her mother mixed her formula at the same table where she later told her she needed to move back in. It is interesting to see how the role of caregiver has switched from her mom to her over time. This role reversal, although unfortunate, is necessary. The kitchen table has stood steadfast through

In the poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” by Linda Pastan is filed with metaphors and symbols that represent the feeling of a child growing up and moving out onto their own. There comes a time when every parent must send off their child into the world, and these parents feel a multitude of things when sending them off. It paints a picture of a father teaching his young daughter to ride a bike, but uses this image to represent a child growing up. The mixed feeling of pride and fear as the child grows up and moves out of the nest. The use of first person past tense shows us that the narrator is recalling the time they taught their child to ride a bike and are reliving that experience with the child moving out again. The fright of watching your child speed down the road towards life is portrayed from the start and continues throughout the poem. A good parent is always worried about their child’s wellbeing; they will always worry as they watch their children head straight to the destruction that comes with living life. Though the good parent will try their best to teach their child how to ride their bike into adulthood. This poem uses imagery, word choice, and metaphor to express the fears a parent has when sending their child out on their own into the world.

In the poem the speaker tells us about how his father woke up early on Sundays and warmed the house so his family can wake up comfortably. We are also told that as he would dress up and head down stairs he feared ¨the chronic angers of that house¨, which can be some sort of quarrel between his father and his mother in the house. This can also lead the reader to believe that the father may have had been a hard dad to deal with. However the father would polish his son's shoes with his cracked hands that ached. This shows the love that the father had for his son and now that the son has grown he realizes what his father did for him. The sons morals and feelings have changed him because as he has grown to become a man he has learned the true meaning of love is being there for one's family and not expecting it to be more than what it is. Consequently this teaches him a lesson on how much his father loved him and how much he regrets not telling him thank

In Susan Wood’s poem “Eggs,” she describes what her mornings were like growing up and how they later affected her parenting. She discusses that if she had sat down with her father to work through their issues rather than argue, they could have been happier people in the end. To emphasize these points, she uses repetition and pattern to create a feeling of hostility toward her childhood. Wood’s use of diction and allusion illustrates the speaker’s attitude toward mornings and her upbringing to shed light on how harboring feelings can create animosity toward family members.

The relationship between a parent and child is potentially one of the most influential in a child’s life. A positive interaction often yields admiration, love or a sense of support. A negative relationship may yield distrust, animosity or a sense of solitude. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” describes the admiration of his hardworking father. The speaker, a young boy, depicts roughhousing with his father in the form of a waltz; expressing his desire to stay up and spend more time together though their relationship is detached. Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” instills a sense of respect, pride, and a slight affliction for the speaker’s choice of the pen over the spade. The speaker has chosen a different path in life than that of his father and grandfather. Although written at different stages in life, both Roethke and Heaney write a poem about their families utilizing vivid imagery to demonstrate the love and pride they felt for these men.

She is also concern about her little girl not knowing how to adapt a dangerous world. A major theme for the writer is the ability for the young girl to enter adulthood and gain independence. The poem implies, the mother had very close relationship. “Loping along beside you as you wobbled away on two round wheels” (Lines 3-6).

Home can be described in many meanings. In both short stories of “Eveline” by James Joyce and “Soldier’s Home” by Earnest Hemingway, it defined home in many similar and opposite ways against one another. Since both authors used different ways to uncover the protagonist’s story, they both resulted in different interpretations of “Home.” Both stories revolved around family affairs so both the protagonist’s mother and father played a major role in the story but they also shared similarities throughout the story. However, both protagonists were caught in different situations that drove them on deciding to stay or leave home.