The Slave Mother and Walking Away Essay Example

written it in an abcb rhyme scheme.

This would help people who were listening to her remember the poem easier and therefore would have a greater effect on them. C. Day Lewis wrote about a personal experience- when his son left home to move on, a she grew up. He is able to write clearly about parent-child separation as it is something that he has experienced. We can see that this event has made lasting effect on the poet as he is actually dedicating this poem to his son. This also helps to show the personal issue in it between the father and child.

In each poem the poets have used different methods to explore the theme of Parent-Child separation. From the title of "the Slave Mother" we can see that this is going to be a saddening poem. Harper sues paradoxes, repetition and her use of moving language to explore the theme of Parent-Child separation. Another technique she uses is to make the first and last stanzas quite similar with a few differences. For example the first line of both talks about a "shriek". The last 3 lines of the verses both end with air, heart and despair.

However the main difference between both stanzas is that the first is before the main incident takes places. It also seems as though the speaker is further away from the incident than in the last verse when they are telling the reader what has happened. In the first verse the poet conveys the mothers anguish by the way she describes the shriek rising "wildly" in the air. The world wildly emphasising the pain through the piercing sound "Walking Away"

begins with 'eighteen years ago' showing the father is deep in thought reflecting back.

The words "almost to the day" show how significant it was- that he can remember the exact day. The naturalness of the event is described by comparing it to nature itself - "leaves just turning"- as nature is changing the son will too. Lewis also remembers the few seconds when he lost sight of his son many years ago during a football game and now he is reflecting back on that time which is similar to the events now. However this time it is long-term. He is trying to understand why nature gives us children but is natural that they move away form us. We can see this form the line "about natures give-and-take".

Lewis says that he has had "worse partings but none that gnaws at my mind still". This tells us that the physical parting was not the worst he has ever experienced but the emotional parting has made a lasting imprint on him. Throughout the poems, we can see they are very different and they are written at different times but still have some similarities. The clearest of these is the fact both are based on the idea of Parent-Child separation. However both separations are very different. The separation in "Walking Away" is brought about by growth and is a voluntary separation that is part of nature.

We can see this in the very last line of the poem where it says, "love is proved in the letting go". Whereas in "The Slave Mother" the separation is brought about by the captors and American law at that time. It is a

forced separation that seems extremely unnatural. We can see this through the language that is used. For example the boy 'clings' to her side and is 'trembling'. The outcome is not death as such but is extremely painful and through out the poem is compared to being like death and had quite a morbid theme running through it.

Both poems show references to religion. In "The Slave Mother" the speaker exclaims "Oh Father! Must they part? " as if shouting to God for help. In" Walking Away" the poet comments on religion by saying "saying what God above could perfectly show". These references to God show that these Parent-child separations are all to do with him as he has created each and every person. In "Walking Away" the poet has written about a 'half-fledged thing' being 'set free'. This is a contrast to "The Slave Mother where they are 'torn apart'.

The phrase "for cruel hands/may rudely tear apart" shows the forcefulness of the action itself. The metaphor described by 'torn apart' describes the relationship as extremely strong and that there is a very strong bond that has been physically torn apart but these captors. In "The Slave Mother" the reader immediately becomes a part of the poem with the question "Heard you that shriek? " being the opening line. The speaker in "The Slave Mother" seems to be a by-stander at this shocking incident. They are not a reporter on this but are empathising with the mother.

In "Walking Away" the speaker is very much a part of the poem, whereas the reader is not involved to they same extent as they are in "The Slave Mother".

We can see that the speaker is involved in "Walking Away" through Lewis' repetitive use of the word "I" Both "The Slave Mother" and "Walking Away" are scattered with a series of image references, to get across clearer this separation that is taking place. In "The Slave Mother" all the natural images such as "storm of agony" and "life's desert wild" show the relationship between the mother and child.

I think the way they are expressed with such sorrow shows how strong the bond is. Many of the image references are about the same thing compared to "Walking Away" where they are slightly different each time. The poet has used these image references to make us feel more empathy for the mother at this heartbreaking time and so the separation will have more effect on us and Harpers listeners at her lectures. It also makes it all the more shocking for listeners and therefore would be a good way for Harper to get her point across.

In "Walking Away" there are a few references to nature. For example Lewis talks about the 'half fledged thing set free, into a wilderness' and 'that hesitant figure, eddying away like a winged seed loosened from its parents stem'. These both vividly describe the natural process that takes place when growing up and children move away from home. They all show that the separation taking place is what is supposed to happen. In "The Slave Mother" the un-natural process is described by the paradox "he is not hers".

These few words show that even though she carried him and cared for him for this long that he does not belong to her

anymore- as she is a save. This goes against the natural process of life and therefore a paradox is a good way to get across the un-natural incident, showing the contradiction of what ahs happened. Both poems have explored the common theme of parent-child separation very well. They also both had an effect on me, although both in different ways. In "The Slave Mother" I was quite shocked and almost disturbed at what the captors had done to this poor mother whose only possession was her son.

I also felt a lot of sorrow for the mother. In "Walking Away" I also felt sorry for the parent who was loosing their son. However the whole poem did not sadden me, but rather comforted me by the fact that some losses are purely natural and that it is something that most of us can relate to. Both poems - especially "The Slave Mother" - help me to form a vivid picture in my mind of the two poems. Although both poems were outstanding my favourite out of the two would be "Walking Away" as I feel it is something I can or will be able to relate to.