Walking away - Cecil-day Lewis

• Written by...

  Cecil Day Lewis
• Themes:

  Parental Love, Protectiveness, Loss
• Tones:


  Anxious, Authentic, Melancholy
• Summary:

  First person narrative where poet reflects on anxiety of dropping his young son off at boarding school, and how it still affects him 18 years on
• Big Ideas:


  Growing up and change is natural, To love someone means to allow them to grow, Abandonment, Guilt of letting someone grow which is unavoidable, Inner conflict between letting someone go
• The Poem is about Day Lewis's...

  oldest son, Sean
• Cecil Day Lewis was Poet Laureate for...

  5 years before his death
• Context:

  Day Lewis attended boarding school as a child and appreciated the anxiety and pain from both sides of the relationship, and he felt abandoned by his father which harmed their relationship
• The Poem was published in...

  1962
• "Wrenched" , "Scorching" , "Gnaws"

  - Painful Verbs show intensity and tough nature of the experience

  - Implies the son is being forced away from father and perhaps feels abandoned
• "like a satellite...


  wrenched from its orbit"
• "like a satellite wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away"

  - Painful verb 'wrenched' forms an intense tone, and shows inner conflict as father is also passive and unsure whether to let son go

  - Simile established semantic field of space which is thematically linked to exploration and development

  - Space Simile conjures image of vast abyss, which metaphorically represents the wider world, which he feels he throws his son into

  - Juxtaposition of "wrenched" and "drifting" highlights contrast between father's reluctance and son's readiness to embrace independence

  - Simile shows how father feels powerless

  - 'Away' is repeated in poem to show growing distance

  - Enjambment suggests father's emotions are intense as they cannot be contained within a single line
• "like a winged seed...

  loosened from its parent stem"
• "like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem"

  - Simile dehumanises son showing the father does not feel the son is ready to be let go

  - 'Seeds' are symbolic of plant reproduction suggesting son is starting his own family

  - verb 'loosened' shows father no longer has control

  - Sibilance of 'seed' and 'stem' add frustrated tone, implying the father is desperate and doesn't want to let go
• "God alone could perfectly...

  show... love is proved in the letting go"
• "God alone could perfectly show... love is proved in the letting go"

  - Final conclusion shows acceptance as father acknowledges their relationship doesn't diminish with distance, just changes

  - Religious allusion to God gives sense of omniscience to conclusion

  - Rhyming couplet gives conclusion a sense of it being a pre-established saying to make speaker sound certain

  - Speaker seems to have absolved his guilt
• "that hesitant...

  figure, eddying away"
• "That hesitant figure, eddying away"


  - Adjective 'hesitant' and verb 'eddying' portray the son to recognise his vulnerability and spotlights his uncertainty

  - Removes his son's individuality, referring to him as a 'figure', to justify letting son go despite as he was in his son's position
• "pathos of a...


  half-fledged thing set free into the wilderness"
• "pathos of a half-fledged thing set free into the wilderness"

  - Enjambment speeds up rhythm of poem to reflect how father feels son is growing up too fast

  - Abstract noun 'pathos' evokes pity

  - Dehumanisation of son being called a 'thing' , almost zoomorphising him, emphasises his vulnerability and Day Lewis justifies his protectiveness

  - Nature metaphor suggests it is natural to feel hesitant, which Day Lewis understands as he was once in that position

  - 'Wilderness' is symbolic of the wider world which is depicted as a daunting place of unknown, as 'wild' has scary connotations; conveys anxiety
• "scorching ordeals which...


  fire one's irresolute clay"
• "scorching ordeals which fire one's irresolute clay"


  - noun 'clay' forms imagery of humans to be malleable and suggests people are changed by their environments and experiences
• "I have had worse partings, but none that so gnaws at my mind still"

  - Animalistic verb shows sadness is uncontrollable

  - Personifies his guilt, making it seem like a bloodthirsty creature, to add to intense tone

  - Enjambment shows the strong nature of his feelings that cannot be contained in a single line

  - 'Worse Partings' is ambiguous as to if he regrets letting his son grow up
• "gnaws at...


  my mind still"
• "finds no path...


  where the path should be"
• "finds no path where the path should be"


  - Noun 'path' explores idea of a person's direction in their life, hinting the son feels lost and has to find his own way in life (independance)

  - Repetition of 'path' underlines how lost the son feels
• "I can see you...

  walking away from me"
• "I can see you walking away from me"

  - Separation of pronouns embeds the theme of separation

  - Enjambment speeds up pace to show father's lack of control over his son growing up, and how the two are not on the same page; son is ready but father is not

  - Adverb 'away' is repeated in poem to show growing distance
• "A sunny day with the leaves just turning" , "nature's give and take"

  - Natural Imagery to acknowledge growing up is natural, yet still a painful experience for parents

  - Seasonal change shows growing up is natural; cycle of seasons mirrors the circle of life
• The son is presented as active while the father is passive to show...

  how powerless the father feels, and that growing up cannot be controlled
• Constant ABACA rhyme scheme to show...

  the stability and consistency of parental love
• Rhyme Scheme is...


  constant ABACA
• What word is repeated in each stanza?

  Away
• The Refrain of 'away' is used to...

  reflect growing distance
• Enjambment is used to show...

  strong bond and create personal tone as it gives the poem a conversational mood
• The seasonal change within the poem shows...

  growing up as a natural process
• The First Person Narrative of the poem conveys...


  the personal nature of the poem, hinting at the close bond with his son
• Quintains are consistently used to show..

  the stability of parental love OR how people in relationships may change but the bond remains OR foreshadow the contentment at the end OR make experience seem universal
• Despite the poem being a reflection of the past, it is written in present tense to show...

  how relationships are forever changing, and people don't stop growing up and changing, and how the pain and sadness he felt 18 years ago are still with him