Symbolism
The poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden is about the love and sacrifice of a father. The poem contains different symbolic elements illustrating the love that the father had for his family, and the sacrifices he made for them. The speaker begins by describing the tough situations and the sacrifices that his father made. The cracked hands that ached and the work done in the harsh weather, shows the negative sides of love that many people do not discuss. Love requires sacrifice, and this sacrifice is not easy. The speaker talks of avoiding the “chronic angers of the house” illustrating hiss home environment. This is symbolic because it shows that although there were arguments in the house, his father took the responsibility of ensuring that his family was well protected and provided. Responsible fathers for their families without conditions. The speaker says that “No one ever thanked him.” This shows the character of the speaker’s father. On many Sundays during the winter period, the father woke up ahead of his family and prepared a fire for them, ensuring that they would not feel cold when they woke up. The use of winter is symbolic of the gloominess of the weather, as well as the family situation. The use of the word Sunday is symbolic because it means that the father never had a days rest, even after working during the week.
The poem “My Old Man” by Charles Bukowski is about a son’s relationship with his father. The two of them do not have a good relationship, and this is clear in the way the son talks about his father. The son comes home drunk, and the father beats him and throws his things outside. The fact that the father wants his son to finish high school shows some level of concern on his part. The father takes the time to read his son’s work, and at one point, he admires the work that his son has done. The father probably beats the son as a way of disciplining him. The kind of relationship that the father and son have is not one that the son wants to remember when he grows up. this is in contrast with Hayden’s poem concerning his father. The father’s admiration of the work that his son has done is proof of the relationship between the two of them. It is clear that the son want the father dead because of the way he treats his family. Throughout the poem, the son constantly refers to the father as ‘he’ showing the great distance between the two.
The poem “Daystar” by Rita Dove shows a mother’s sacrificial love for her family. The title of the poem is symbolic of the role of the woman in the family. She is a daystar, meaning that she has two roles. She is present in the night and during the day, and she is the light of her family. A star that appears during the day is not relevant since people do not see its light. The doll and the little room for thinking, is symbolic of the lack of importance that the people around the woman hold her. The palace represents the woman’s fantasies. She would love to be treated, and feel like a queen for once in her life. Her desire to be nothing in the middle of the day is symbolic of the place that she holds in her family’s life. The family cannot do anything without her, and she seems present in everyone’s life, and in every situation. The people mentioned in the poem are symbolic, representing the burden that the woman bears for her family. Use of the words ‘slumped’ and ‘lugged’ are symbolic, showing the exhaustion that the woman feels.
The poem, “The Possessive” by Sharon Olds is a reflection of a mother’s pain towards her daughter’s rebellious nature, which separates them. In the poem, the speaker uses words such as knife grinder, sharpened, cuts both ways, blade, and sliced, all these words are related to cutting or sharpness. They are symbolic and they represent the division between the mother and daughter. There is much pain on the mother’s part on being separated from her daughter. The speaker compares the situation to war. This is symbolic, referring to the opposition, struggle, and conflict between two groups, which cannot find any other way of resolving their differences. Dove and Olds have different perceptions of motherhood. The mother in Dove’s poem will do anything to take care of her family, and she makes great sacrifices. The mother in Olds’ poem is not willing to reconcile her differences with her daughter, preferring to see the situation between them as war.
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