Poetry us the simplest form of expressing emotions. If the person could not state his or her angst through verbal communication, writing a poem can ease the feeling of anxiety and burden but could also gives extreme happiness to the poet.
Because poetry is one of the genres of literature and literature is the mirror of the society, poetry deals with social reality. In writing a poem, there are several issues to tackle whether personal, family, or social. This paper will discuss three poems that talks about parent-child relationship.The three poems entitled “The Meal” by Suzanne Berger, “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke, and “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath.
All these verses discussed the relationship between the parent and child especially the authority of the father towards his kid(s). Through the discussion, we will understand how imagery affects the nature of parent-child relationship by using these poems. Therefore, it can be said that imagery is evidence of relationship and emotions of the speakers in the three poems. Suzanne Berger’s poem described the life of the children during meal as they face their parents.The poem is serious. Though there are children in the story, they live in fear, seriousness, and formality.
Each stanza reveals the deepness of the characters – whether the parents or the children. In the first stanza, the physical features of the characters before they face the most important part of the day is described in fear and obedience. The second stanza described the characters of the whole family within their dining table. “The girls are braided and rebraided their hair, and tied ribbons without a single mistake. The boy has put away his coin collection. They are waiting for the mother to straighten her lipstick, and for the father to speak.
(Berger, 6-10)” through the discussion of the author, the readers feel the ambiance or feelings of the children in this part of the poem. All the characters are waiting for the command of the authority – the father. For the reason that he did not speak, no one should speak. The third stanza discussed how the characters become extra careful with their actions. They are ready to eat – to enter the domination of the father.The children are waiting for the cue – if they could have fun while eating but there is no command so they must eat their meals silently.
The last stanza is the ending of the children’s portrayal in their meal. The last line of this poem showed how the minds of the children want to escape and be free. On the other way around, Theodore Roethke’s poem discussed the struggle of the speaker of the poem towards his father. The symbolism of the waltz is the action of the child. Whatever actions the child may take, it must abide by the rules of the father.
If ever he has a wrong combination of actions; his father will definitely punish him by using his knuckles. The mother has no power over the father. The father’s decision is the authority. “We romped until the pans slid from the kitchen shelf; my mother’s countenance could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist was battered on one knuckle; at every step you missed my right ear scraped a buckle (Roethke, 8-12).
” The child could not escape and accept the beatings of his father. There is no way for him to runaway against his father because he is just a child with no way to run.The first stanza of the poem served as the current situation of the speaker as he goes with the flow of his father to make him happy. The last stanza on the other hand shows the result of the punishment from the father. The speaker feels the deep pain and trouble as he laid his body on the bed. Through the moods, emotions, and symbolisms of the poem, the readers could feel the pain and struggle of the speaker as he accepts the knuckles of his father.
The concept of waltz can be said as the dance of the speaker’s life. Lastly, Sylvia Plath’s poem discussed the hatred of the speaker towards his father.He knew the background of his father and would not want to be like him. The speaker is full of issues and troubles towards his father. He wanted to escape from his father’s shadow – from his domination. The whole poem showed different forms of symbolisms to represent the emotions of the speaker as he described his life within the hands of the father as well as the hands of the whole village.
“The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna are not very pure or true.With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck and my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack I may be a bit of a Jew (Plath, 36-40). The imagery of the whole poem is a combination of illusion, irony, metaphor, and personification. The persona of the verse discussed how his life is shaped by his father’s actions against other people especially him – being the child. From the beginning of the poem, the readers could understand how the speaker became risky and hated the world within him.
The poet moulds the speaker with hatred and angst because of his father’s selfishness and greed. In conclusion to this, it can be said that the imagery in these three poems showed how the relationship of the parent to their children differs from one after another.Through these imageries, the readers could define and analyze the impact of parenthood to the social system as they keep their children struggle in life right through their hands. The three poets made a significant attack to justify the reality of the society – child abuse. Children are being spoken in these poems that need to be taken into consideration.
That is why the poets rightfully conveyed their readers the real situation of the society whether in the first or third world country.
