• Compare and contrast these two poems in terms of the speaker’s relationship with his father
Questions to Guide Your Analysis
• Look for quotes from each poem that reveal information about the poem’s speaker.
o For instance, about how old is the speaker when the action of the poem takes place? Is he the
same age then as he is when he writes the poem? (In other words, is the speaker speaking in “real
time,” or does the speaker recall these events by memory?)
• How would you describe each speaker’s tone toward his father?
o What quotes from the poem guide you toward this interpretation?
o Analyze both the actions that the speaker describes, as well as the imagery the speaker provides
• What is your interpretation of the theme of each poem?
o In other words, what message does each speaker communicate through his poem?
Reminders