Poetry Analysis Essay on ''The Red Hat'' and ''To Daughter Leaving Home''

Introduction

Generally, some things are portraying a sense of similarity in their forms and appearances. For the case of literary components, particular pieces are addressing the same thematic concerns and employing, in most cases, more similar stylistic devices and techniques. Interestingly, some of them address the same receiving subjects, and the personas are the same. That shows the extent of how similar issues and events in life can be. In the context of poetry, more particularly, there have been poems, from the personas sharing many similarities, addressing the same thematic issue and to the same subjects, although from different poets. Some two of them, portraying homogeneity in several of its aspects is the '' To a Daughter Leaving Home'' by Pastan and ''The Red Hat'' by the poet Hadras. Their thematic concerns seem more related while employing many similar stylistic devices in stressing their messages in a nutshell. It appears that they address similar themes on growing up and parental attitudes in them. Their comparison is thus drawn in the paper. Also, there are some stylistic techniques they apply in the delivery of their messages. They include the use of metaphor, repetition, and symbolism, further elaborated in the subsequent paragraphs more comprehensively.

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First, the theme of growing up is brought out both in Hadas's ''The Red Hat'' and in Pastan's ''To a Daughter Leaving Home'' poems. In the poem ''To a Daughter Leaving Home,'' the persona's daughter is portrayed growing up as a protege of her mother. Growing up, her mother teaches her how to ride a bicycle, which metaphorically translates to her being taught how to handle the issues in life single-handedly and independently when she grows up. The concern of a parent is seen in her protectiveness and constant worry about the welfare of her daughter. When the daughter is fully grown and can steer the bicycle more independently, the parent leaves her to move alone while watching on her as she moves to a distance. She is emotional and is concerned about the possibility of her daughter falling with a thud. It metaphorically points out to the fact that her daughter is fully grown and it is time to be left to fend for herself all alone, while the mother is still concerned about the welfare and ability of the daughter to correctly steer the activities in life without a slip. On the other hand, the theme of growing up is metaphorically brought out in the poem ''The Red Hat'' by Hadas. The boy is, at first, being taken to school by the parents up to a point where their roads diverge and the boy, excitedly, races off to the shoo with enthusiasm. However, the parents are not content with the fact that the boy can indeed arrive at the school safely. They however emotionally leave their love to accompany and protect their boy. It translates to the fact that as the boy grows up, his parents nurture him and they are still happy that he is still around, where they can interact more easily. However as the child grows up, it reaches a point when he is supposed to go and fend for himself in the world, with no parents around. However, the parents are not satisfied that the boy is really fully grown to tackle life issues and they periodically check on their son to see how he fairs on so far. Thus, the themes of growing up are brought out in the two poems

Moreover, the theme of parental attitude is brought out both in Pastan's ''To a Daughter Leaving Home'' and Hadas's ''The Red Hat'' poems. In Pasta's ''To a Daughter Leaving Home,'' the attitude of the mother towards her daughter is the affective attitude. The mother teaches her daughter how to tackle issues in life when the right time comes because she is concerned about her welfare in the outside world. In this case, the mother teaches her daughter out of love and wish for the best for her daughter. The thought and concern for her daughter make her possessive, and when the daughter attains her freedom to ride into the world and deal with issues solitarily, the mother emotively watches her daughter leave, wondering about her safety. She loves her hence an affective attitude towards her. It is an attitude that is also manifested in the Hadas's ''The Red Hat'' poem. The parents have an affective attitude towards their growing son. In this case, they are still happy about seeing him every day by their side, since he is still under their tutelage. As they boy grows older and the time has come for him to gain independence and go to the outside world to fend for himself, he is being watched by the parents periodically to see whether he is going on well, despite the moving out more gladly enjoying the gained freedom and the ability to explore the things lonely. Thus, affective parental attitude is portrayed in the two poems.

Further, there are various poetic elements employed in the poems ''The Red Hat'' and ''To Daughter Leaving Home.'' One of them is the use of metaphor. The daughter is earning how to ride a bicycle in the poem ''To the Daughter Leaving Home'' is translated to mean learning how to deal with the issues of life. It is a stylistic device that helps in the presentation of the message, in a nutshell, avoiding the boredom of the use of too many words. Also, the boy being taken to school by his parents and finally having to go to school by himself translates to a corresponding meaning. It means that the boy grows up under the tutelage of his parents who imparts life skills to him. They finally were not happy when the boy was leaving to the outside world, who was however glad for freedom and chance to do things under little supervision.

Another stylistic device used is the symbolism. In the poem ''The Red Hat'' the Red Hat symbolizes the boy, the journey to school symbolizes the life journey in growing up, and the divergence of the road means the parting between the boy and his parents. On the other hand, in the poem 'To the Daughter Leaving Home,'' the bicycle symbolizes life. They help in adding a taste of figurative language to the poetry, hence demanding the reader to decipher for its meaning. It also emphasizes on the message being relayed in the poem. Repetition of the word ''pumping'' in the poem ''To Daughter Leaving Home'' suggest that the daughter is accelerating ahead with rejuvenated energy and livelihood typical of a child.

Conclusion

Cumulatively, the poems ''The Red Hat'' and ''To Daughter Leaving Home'' displays the same themes of parental attitude and growing up. Also, they employ such stylistic devices such as repetition, metaphor, and symbolism. They are thus more of homogeneous artistic pieces.