Life In Philip Meiinke's Advice To My Son

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What is life? This is probably the simplest but essential question which can be answered in various ways. For doctors, their lives are about giving medical treatment to their patients; for teachers, they are obliged to educate and enlighten the students; for parents, it’s necessary for them to do their best to help and guide their children. People usually use life to convey the meaning of duty, obligation, and path; as a matter of fact, those people have different ideas on striving for a better life. Meinke suggests to “live your days as if each one may be your last” ("Advice to My Son” 1-2). As for Hughes, “Life for me ain 't been no crystal stair” ("Mother to Son” 2). Frost, on the other hand, “took the road less traveled by” (“The Road Not …show more content…

First, he urges his son to regard every single day as his last one. In this way, he will not waste time on trifles and cherish every moment he has. Later, he uses “plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes” (12) to represent the practically beneficial substance that we need to sustain our bodies. Although these necessities may not be our favorite, we can never reject them. In other words, even if we dislike them, we have to take them for no reason. On the other hand, Meinke uses “peony and the rose” (11) to represent beautiful flowers, which are nothing but embellishment; those are something seemingly attractive but not essential for our life. Yet in a way, they are similar to the “wine” (21). Wine is always served to the social elites, and it will be used to identify one’s success. Even though people don’t need them to survive, those substances can improve their lives. The “bread,” similar to the vegetables but unlike the wine, can satisfy our hunger. Meinke reminds his son to “serve bread with your wine” (21), hoping that his son will be able to balance embellishment and necessities, which are important for a man to attain a meaningful life. Moreover, he tells his son to “marry a pretty girl / after seeing her mother” (17-18), which means that he wants his son to see the future of a girl from his mom before …show more content…

At the beginning, he creates a picture of “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (1) to discuss that he is about to make a crucial decision in his old age. He feels “sorry” (2) for his incapability of choosing both roads because the other one that he is not taken makes him feel curious, regretful, and sorry. Even though he took a long time to study one of the roads, he prefers to take the other one, because of “better claim” (7) and fewer people traveled by. Eventually, he regrets his decision by giving a “sigh” (16). However, he insists that he will still “took the one less travel by” (19) if he has a chance to choose a road again. Ironically, although he knows he will certainly regret, he is still unwilling to change his mind. In general, the poet uses roads to describe his complex inner contradiction to the

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