Task III
In these two poems, "A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood" by Carl Sandburg and "First Lesson" by Phyllis McGinley, both authors depicted fathers' reactions to their children's growing up and becoming independent. There are some similarities and differences between father's attitudes towards his son in Sandburg's poem and father's attitudes towards their daughters in McGinley's poem.
In the poem "A father Sees his Son Nearing Manhood", Sandburg tells us the father's advices to his son. Father tells his son to be strong because "life is hard." He also tells him to be gentle because "life is a soft loam." To be strong and gentle might serve him. Don't be greedy, since "too much money has killed men." Sometimes you can do something fool, you will learn from them. Also, the father tells his son don't lie to himself, but he can do that to others. There are a lot of poetic devices in this poem, such as metaphor, and reputation.
In the poem "First Lesson" by McGinley, the fathers attitudes towards his daughter is overprotection. As she says "Men are worriers. It is difficult for them to learn what they must learn." Here, the poet also shows her attitude towards her father, which is understanding. All the fathers are "chock-full of qualms and romantic terrors They are afraid of changes, they are overprotective towards their daughters. McGinley also uses some poetic devices in her poem. "Like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle." She uses this simile as an example of change that cause the father's fear.
In both poems, the father's love to their children is the same. They all love their children, all want to protect them and let them have a good life. In Sandburg's poem, the gather gives his son advises for the life, such as be strong and gentle. However. in McGinley's poem, the father is overprotective towards his daughter. He's fear about all the changes. In addition, both poets uses metaphor in their poems. In the poem "A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood", an example of metaphor is "Life is a soft loam." The father uses this to tell his son to be gentle, go easy. In "First Lesson", the metaphor is "They are dragon-seekers." The poet uses "dragon-seekers" to describe her father, to show how he protects her.
The fathers' attitudes towards their children in these two poems are different. Nevertheless, both poets are successful in use the poetic devices to show the fathers' reactions to their children's growing up and becoming independent.
