GCSE (9-1): Literature: Poetry: AQA Love and Relationships: Walking Away: Theme

the central theme

the sacrificial nature of parental love

similarities between 'Walking Away' and 'Follower' by Seamus Heaney

C.D. Lewis has a lyric style that is very similar to that of Heaney, especially in use of rhyme and rhythm. 'Walking Away' was written in 1956 and recalls his son's first day at school, while 'Follower' is told from the perspective of the son remembering his childhood.

shared themes with 'Mother Any Distance' by Simon Armitage

strong family bonds, distance and ageing

shared themes with 'Climbing My Grandfather' by Andrew Waterhouse

strong family bonds and ageing

shared themes with 'Before You Were Mine' by Carol Ann Duffy

independence, the sacrificial nature of parental love, strong family bonds and ageing

the sacrificial nature of parental love

love is proved in the letting go' - reflects the sacrificial nature of parental love; he lets his son go to define his identify and find his way through the world, despite how painful it is for the father to let him go

the changing nature of parent-child relationships

The poem also explores how relationships change over time like 'Follower' by Seamus Heaney and 'Mother Any Distance' by Simon Armitage

letting go

There is a sense of shock for the father who can't quite let go of his son but has to accept that the relationship is changing, and his son is growing up; this makes for a good comparison with 'Mother Any Distance'

the 'give-and-take' antithetical reality of nature

nature gives us priceless gifts such as children and relationships and it also takes them away

nature

the speaker cannot control the give-and-take reality of nature

new beginnings

'The touch-lines new-ruled', 'leaves just turning,' 'Your first game of football', 'a half-fledged thing set free'' all suggest new seasons, or new beginnings, symbolic of new phases of life for the son and transition into old age for the speaker

selfhood definition

A noun denoting 'the quality that constitutes one's individuality; the state of having an individual identity'

the theme of selfhood in 'Walking Away'

'selfhood begins with a walking away': suggests this stage of letting his son go is the beginning of his son defining his identity and of him, the father, redefining his without his son

memories

The first stanza begins in the present but the rest of the poem focuses on the past - 'It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day -'