Poem For My Daughter Poem Analysis

In the two poems The Gift by Chris Banks and Poem for my sister by Liz Lochhead family relationship are explored in different ways. Both viewpoints are 1st person, implying the poets are talking from their own experiences. In The Gift we see the storyline from the viewpoint of a mother who got caught it an accident while in Poem for my sister we see through the eye of a older sister trying to warn her little sister of adulthood.

In Poem for my sister, the story start with Lochhead’s little sister trying her older sister’s shoes. We could tell that her little sister wants to be view as a young adult and she is going through adulthood. In addition it implies they have a strong, close relationship as “my little sister” shows possession, the poet wants to protect her sister while she looks up to the poet, imitating her as she “likes to try my shoes.” Liz Lochhead also used phrases such as “to strut in them”, describing how her little sister walks, confidently and trying to be seductive which is inappropriate for someone of her age. Through this explanation the poet pointed out that her little sister is trying to be an adult but also mentioned that she is not ready as she “wobbles” and “find it hard to balance”. Furthermore, Lochhead used contrast with “strut” and describing her little sister “spindle-thin” legs, implying she is still a developing child, thus creating an abnormal image of a child doing unnatural thing at her ages. In addition, the little sister is lying