Walking Away (P) Flashcards
Exposition
” Like a satellite, / Wrenched from its orbit”
A01
This personal poem follows Cecil day Lewis as he takes his son to boarding school for the first time
A02
Violent verb “wrenched” against his will evoking a sense of trauma and turmoil going to a new place
The jarring enjambment: represents the metaphorical snap in their relational bond as he becomes disattached from his father’s “orbit”.
Once a satellite is pulled out of its “orbit” it will drift off into space and not return unless caught and brought back, perhaps Day Lewis is afraid that his son will never come back after he leaves the “orbit” of home.
A03
Contextually Day Lewis is voicing his own feelings on letting a child go as he wrote this poem in remembrance of when he dropped his own son off at boarding school
Mid point
”a half-fledged thing set free / Into a wilderness “
A01:
The father doesn’t think the son was ready looking back
A02:
Infantile noun phrase “half-fledged” emphasises his vulnerability he is susceptible to danger and defenceless
Natural imagery “wilderness” the father is starting to recognise that moving apart is natural though he remains concerned that he cannot see what lies ahead, it is like dense foliage in a vast “wilderness” that he cannot follow the son into.
A03:
The natural pain like pushing a bird out of the nest.
Denouement
” How selfhood begins with a walking away, / And love is proved in the letting go.”
A01:
The father finally accepts the son’s leaving
A02:
Finalising couplet: captures the overall message of the poem and makes the father’s decision more permanent
Aphoristic simple statement creates a true and yielding tone as the father accepts the separation
refrain of “away”, throughout the poem, highlights the father’s incessant struggle with this concept and how he keeps revisiting it however the poem ends almost bitter sweet as he realises that it’s natural to feel that way
A03:
The father shows the love of a parent transcends distance
