yeawutever Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 Hey people, sup Ok, this is the first time I'm writing on the poetry forum. I really need help on this one called "My Son, My Executioner". This is for my literary analysis class. I'm suppost to choose another poem out of the 3 from textbook and 4 on paper and I choose one from the book. Th first poem got a "C" and well he's gonna average this poem I'm turning in tomorrow with the previous poem, and well I wanna do better on this one, if possible an "A". Well see, if there is some reading I'm very weak at, is analysing things, specially poems, poems are like one of my nightmares. I normally go to spraknotes, but they don't have this one on sparknote, and well I'm turning this essay tomorrow in the morning, and well if u people have analytical ideas, write them down, if possible a whole essay analyzing this following poem, but NO summary not plots, just analysis. This is the poem. It's about a father's new born son dying. Oh, forgot to mention, also a thesis statement. My Son, My Executioner My son, my executioner, I take you in my arms quiet and small and just astir and whom my body warms. Sweet death, small son, out instrument of immortality, your cries and hunger document and our bodily decay. We tewnty-five and twenty-two who seemed to live forever observe enduring life in you and start to die together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShySoul Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Don't know how good these ideas will be or if you want to try them or go with something else, but here's what I'm thinking. The poem is conveying the lost and regret the father feels at losing the baby. It's not just the baby dying, its as if his heart and soul is dying along with the child. Maybe the thesis could be something about how deep the bond is between parent and child, how they need each other to keep going in life. Like, clearly the baby needs the parents to feed them, bathe them, raise them, help them learn and grow into eventually an adult who takes care of himself. But the parents also need the child. The joy and happiness that a child brings changes you and becomes a reason for living. Not being parents ourselves, its kind of hard to describe. But I'm sure your parents have said to you how much you mean to them. I know when I went to college, my mom felt lost. I was the youngest, she didn't work, so it was as if she had put all her energy into her children and made them her life mission. Then she didn't have that anyone, so she felt empty. My mother also had a miscarriage. And that was tramautic for her. She gets attached to the baby inside her, only to have it taken away from her. So that shows how the loss of a child (be it death or just them growing up) can affect a parent. The son is his executioner, in the sense that his death will be the death of the father. It's like his heart is being ripped out of him. The parents say in the child immortality. Parents dream about how their child will carry on their memories and leave a legacy, carry on family traditions and stuff. They see that even though they may die, they pass things on to their children and the child will carry those things after the parents die. So its as if the parents never die, their spirit lives on in their children. But these parents are watching those dreams and hopes die with the child. And so they are dying as well. Hope that gives you some ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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