Speaker’s feelings
are clear
Less ambiguous – suggests
Walking Away separation, freedom or letting go
Pathetic fallacy –
Emphasises love as he still remembers
weather creating a mood
the day – it is an important memory
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
Reflects how A sunny day with leaves just turning, Transition from summer to autumn
the father The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play reflects the transition in his son’s life
found the Your first game of football, then, like a satellite Simile – suggests that the son did not want to
separation Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away go and was pulled away from his father. It also
sudden and
Highlights the way the boy turns away emphasise that the son is gaining freedom
painful
from his father to follow the other boys
Metaphor/animalistic imagery – learning
Sadness Behind a scatter of boys. I can see to fly – the speaker is concerned that his
You walking away from me towards the school son is not ready to have freedom yet
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free Repetition of ‘path’ - emphasises that the
Into a wilderness, the gait of one father is desperate for his son to find the right
Who finds no path where the path should be. way in life and that he sees himself as helpless
Abstract Noun – sense of fear. He is worried that his
son won’t be able to survive without his protection
That hesitant figure, eddying away Swirl – reflects the son’s
Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, uncertainty and lack of control
Has something I never quite grasp to convey Simile/pathetic fallacy – use of nature –
Difficulties About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching it is natural for the son to leave. It also
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay. shows that the father is coming to
terms with what happened and
Bites – the Uncertain understands that it is natural
father is still I have had worse partings, but none that so Burning – experiences of
affected by Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly growing up are painful
seeing his son Saying what God alone could perfectly show – Fire turns clay into a pot – difficult
go through theHow selfhood begins with a walking away, experiences of growing up turn children
tough process into independent people
And love is proved in the letting go.
of growing up
Religious imagery – in the Bible, God lets go of
The change to a more steady rhythm underlines how the father
Jesus, his only son, when Jesus came to Earth
has come to a philosophical understanding – the son has to
and was crucified. He did this to show humans
walk away from his father to find his own identity, and the
that he loved them. ‘God alone’ shows how
father proves his love for his son by letting go of his son
difficult it is to let go
Cecil Day-Lewis
are clear
Less ambiguous – suggests
Walking Away separation, freedom or letting go
Pathetic fallacy –
Emphasises love as he still remembers
weather creating a mood
the day – it is an important memory
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
Reflects how A sunny day with leaves just turning, Transition from summer to autumn
the father The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play reflects the transition in his son’s life
found the Your first game of football, then, like a satellite Simile – suggests that the son did not want to
separation Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away go and was pulled away from his father. It also
sudden and
Highlights the way the boy turns away emphasise that the son is gaining freedom
painful
from his father to follow the other boys
Metaphor/animalistic imagery – learning
Sadness Behind a scatter of boys. I can see to fly – the speaker is concerned that his
You walking away from me towards the school son is not ready to have freedom yet
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free Repetition of ‘path’ - emphasises that the
Into a wilderness, the gait of one father is desperate for his son to find the right
Who finds no path where the path should be. way in life and that he sees himself as helpless
Abstract Noun – sense of fear. He is worried that his
son won’t be able to survive without his protection
That hesitant figure, eddying away Swirl – reflects the son’s
Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, uncertainty and lack of control
Has something I never quite grasp to convey Simile/pathetic fallacy – use of nature –
Difficulties About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching it is natural for the son to leave. It also
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay. shows that the father is coming to
terms with what happened and
Bites – the Uncertain understands that it is natural
father is still I have had worse partings, but none that so Burning – experiences of
affected by Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly growing up are painful
seeing his son Saying what God alone could perfectly show – Fire turns clay into a pot – difficult
go through theHow selfhood begins with a walking away, experiences of growing up turn children
tough process into independent people
And love is proved in the letting go.
of growing up
Religious imagery – in the Bible, God lets go of
The change to a more steady rhythm underlines how the father
Jesus, his only son, when Jesus came to Earth
has come to a philosophical understanding – the son has to
and was crucified. He did this to show humans
walk away from his father to find his own identity, and the
that he loved them. ‘God alone’ shows how
father proves his love for his son by letting go of his son
difficult it is to let go
Cecil Day-Lewis
