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My Father's Song Poem Analysis

853 Words4 Pages

Billions of people live in this world, each one taking part in countless relationships. These relationships form through the various interactions of everyday life. There are the relationships between friends, teachers and their students, and even the relationships between pets and their owners, all of which develop unique and amiable friendships over time. These relationships, however, often end and cannot withstand life’s hard ways, leaving only the strongest and deepest bond to survive the storms—the bond within the family. Simon J. Ortiz and Robert Hayden both depict this family bond differently in their poems. In “My Father’s Song,” Ortiz describes the caring and tender relationship between a father and his son. Hayden, however speaks in …show more content…

Speaking in past tense, Ortiz seems to hint that this man’s father must either be gone or have passed away. The son tells of the memorable days farming with his father. He even recalls the exact feelings and details of one particular time saying, “I remember the soft damp sand / in my hand” (11-12). Throughout the poem we see a continual use of the pronoun “we.” The speaker describes his experiences with his father, saying, “We planted corn one Spring at Acu— / we planted several times / […] We took them to the edge”(8-9, 21). The frequency of this word suggests that the father and son regularly spent time with each other, not completing daily tasks separately, but together. This type of unity will often improve the dynamic of a loving relationship. To further emphasize the pleasant father-son relationship, Ortiz writes his poem in a soft, warm tone. His word choices and illustrations aid in creating this calm atmosphere. Utilizing words like “soft,” “cool,” “gently,” and “warm”; Ortiz gives his poem a calm appearance. Words such as these help the sentences to flow flawlessly, reflecting the father and son’s tender relationship with each other. Ortiz also fills his poem with lively descriptions of pleasant experiences between the father-son duo. The son shares of a time when he and his father came across a nest of mice, …show more content…

“My Father’s Song” describes the close, tender relationship between a father and his son, while “Those Winter Sundays” depicts a more distant, strained relationship between the father and his family. Ortiz’s lively descriptions of pleasant memories, illustrate how the father’s interactions with his son reveal his love and strengthen their relationship. A darker, emotionless tone fills Hayden’s poem as he emphasizes a father’s austere, yet sacrificial love toward his family. These poems both set different examples of how some families choose live out the bond between one

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