Mining For Meaning.

Poetry Exercise 1

1) From my point of view, the poem is about the feelings of a father towards his son that is growing up and is leaving him. He talked about how his son Sean is drifting away from him. This is evident from the way he described it as “like a satalite wrenched from its orbit” this shows that Sean is getting further away from him as he grows up. The writer is unable to comprehend his feelings as his son grows up and goes through the different stages of life. Using words like “ebbing” and “selfhood” it shows that the writer is still trying to accept the fact that his beloved son is no longer the little boy that he used to be.

2) My impression of their relationship is that Sean is not as close to his father compared to the past. The writer expressed through the title "Walking Away" directing the poem at his son Sean. the poem talks about how Sean is "fading away" and has "loosened from its parent stem." it shows that Sean has distanced himself from the writer and he's feeling upset about how they ended up. thus my conclusion is that the relationship between Sean and the writer is a very distant one.

3)The poet is trying to express his feelings with evidence as, "setting free a grown bird away". He thinks that he has to let "Sean" go, as he's growing up. The mood of the poem is sad, because he has to let go of a "child" that hasn't completely grown up. Another evidence would be, "Selfhood begins with walking away". This shows that one will be independent when one leaves or departs from it's pillar of support.