Poems ”Poem at Thirty-Nine” and ”Once Upon a Time”
- Pages: 4
- Word count: 779
- Category: Once Upon a Time Poems time
A limited time offer! Get a custom sample essay written according to your requirements urgent 3h delivery guaranteed
Order NowIn the poems âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ and âOnce Upon a Timeâ, the idea of the relationship between father and child is explored, but in different ways. In âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ, the relationship between the poet and her father is portrayed as a warm and positive one. The poet writes of her father as a teacher to her. The lines âWriting deposit slips and checks, I think of him. He taught me howâ tells us of his guiding her in the practice of necessary activities of life. We can see that the poet is appreciative of her father, as she used her fatherâs lessons to escape the âlife he knewâ which was most probably a very hard one, as the poet says that she wishes her father âhad not been so tiredâ. The poet looks up to her father, which is evident in that she grows up to be like him, as shown in the lines âNow I look and cook just like himâ. Being like her father has had a positive impact on her life as she says that her âbrainâ is âlightâ and she is âhappy to feedâ others, reflecting her fatherâs hospitality and generosity which is shown in the lines which say that he âcraved the voluptuous sharing of good foodâ.
The repetition of âHow I miss my fatherâ adds a feeling of longing in the poem, and displays how close the poet was to her father and how she wishes for the father to be with her now. The phrase âHe would have grown to admire the woman Iâve becomeâ reveals the poetâs confidence in that her father would approve of who she has grown up to be, highlighting the intimacy in her relationship with her father, as she knows how her father would feel. However, the relationship between the poet and her father might not be entirely positive. There is a hint of resentment towards her father in the poetâs tone, as she says âI wish he had not been so tired when I was bornâ, as though blaming her father for not being there for her. In âOnce Upon a Timeâ however, the relationship between father and child is portrayed differently. In âOnce Upon a Timeâ, the father is shown teaching his son about the harsh and unforgiving world, contrasting to the lessons from the poetâs father in âPoem at 39â who teaches the poet life skills. The father in âOnce Upon a Timeâ tells his son of the artificiality and insincerity of others who âlaugh with their teethâ and âshake hands without their heartsâ.
The phrase âlaugh with their teethâ almost gives the reader an image of a grimace or gritted teeth, both of which are negative, which shows the reader how people no longer laugh with positive feeling. âShake hands without their heartsâ is also impactful upon the reader, as the heart, which commonly symbolizes emotion, is not used, revealing to the reader how people of society are without emotion in their activity. This contrasts with the society of âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ, which is one of sharing and joy. The father then laments to his son how he has also learned to fit into this artificial society as he has learned to wear many facesâ with âall their conforming smilesâ. These âfacesâ are worn like masks, all with the same emotionless smile, which displays to the reader how the father in the poem himself has become part of this false and bleak society. The sadness of the father about this is reinforced in the lines in which he sees his own smile like âa snakeâs bare fangsâ, which conveys a sense of danger, perhaps danger of losing himself completely to society.
The father then reveals to his son that he in fact admires his son but not in the same way that the father in âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ would have admired the poet, While the father in âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ would admire the poet for how she has developed and her maturity, the father in âOnce Upon a Timeâ instead admires his son for his innocence, and how his not changed to fit into this cold society. He reveals his wish to learn from his son how to show true emotion, to âunlearn these muting thingsâ which restrict his feelings, and for his on to teach him innocence and sincerity once more. While the ideas of relationship between parent and child seem to greatly contrast in âPoem at Thirty-Nineâ and âOnce Upon a Timeâ, the lessons of living generously and cheerfully as well as the importance of showing true emotion are both applicable in our daily lives.