Poems Dealing with Parent/Child Relationships

Poems Dealing with Parent/Child Relationships

All of these poems deal with parents’ relationships with and

reflections on their children. Show how the poets bring out their

feelings through use of theme, language, imagery and structure

The relationship between parent and child is one of great mystery and

also profundity. Love can survive a lifetime but can also falter

within a second, though the love of a parent for their child, their

offspring, no matter what, is eternal and unconditional. Though it is

hard to express a love so full of devotion, so powerful it can survive

generations, in to a few simple words. Yet here we have three poems

written over four centuries expressing the author’s love for their

child. Although the poems were written in a number of different eras,

where social stance, economy and living conditions were so different,

love is and will always be the same. Love can bring endless pain and

heartbreak but also immeasurable joy and happiness and this vast range

of emotions is captured in the three poems that we studied. The

earliest to be written being, ‘For my son Samuel, on his going to

England, Novem 6, 1687, wrote by Ann Bradstreet confessing her worries

over her sons departure on a sea voyage. A later poem was, a parental

ode to my son, aged 3 years and 5 months, by ‘Thomas Hood’, written in

a humorous style, with many contradictions. Then the modern poem,

written by Sylvia Plath relates to her body and state of mind during

the development of the foetus in her womb and how she thinks it will

grow. Although different at first glance, they all share the common

bond of parental love, so there are many underlying comparisons

between the three poems.

Firstly, we have the pre-twent...

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...e the nest and their parents protective love in order to achieve

full fulfilment. This poem also gives the reader the an idea of the

unbearable pain felt when having to let a part of you leave, I’m sure

every parent must also feel some sort of pride in this situation,

though in Ann Bradstreet’s poem any other emotion that she may be

feeling is masked by her grief. Each poem was clearly written in a

different era with the modern one more flowing and the earlier two,

sticking to a particular rhyming scheme. The use of archaic language

in the pre-twentieth century poems, I believe add a sense of clarity

even in thee humorous ode. Yet despite the time difference all of the

poems written and those that will be written in the future on this

subject, will contain a line or perhaps more that certainly comes from

the heart and speaks clearly to all generations..