ENGLISH UNSEEN POETRY

DICE

D- device

I- inference

C- connotations

E- effect

C1: How does the poet feel about her daughter growing up, and how are these feelings presented? 

(24 marks; 25 minutes)

‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’ by Linda Pastan

When I taught you

at eight to ride

a bicycle, loping along

beside you

as you wobbled away

on two round wheels,

my own mouth rounding

in surprise when you pulled

ahead down the curved

path of the park,

I kept waiting

for the thud

of your crash as I

sprinted to catch up,

while you grew

smaller, more breakable

with distance,

pumping, pumping

for your life, screaming

with laughter,

the hair flapping

behind you like a

handkerchief waving

Goodbye.

In ‘To a Daughter Leaving Home’, Linda Pastan conveys a mix of emotions as she reflects on her daughter growing up and leaving home. The poet feels a sense of bittersweet loss, pride, and fear, which she presents through vivid imagery and the use of dynamic verbs, creating a moment that is both tender and poignant.

Firstly, the poet's feelings of pride and love are evident in her description of teaching her daughter to ride a bicycle. The phrase “my own mouth rounding in surprise” conveys the mother's astonishment and pride at her daughter’s progress. There is a deep sense of admiration in the way the daughter is portrayed, as the mother watches her "sprint" ahead, growing "smaller, more breakable with distance." The use of “pumping, pumping for your life” suggests energy, determination, and a sense of adventure, highlighting the daughter’s vitality and independence, which the mother feels both proud and protective of.

At the same time, the poet presents her fear through the constant anticipation of her daughter’s potential fall – “I kept waiting for the thud of your crash as I sprinted to catch up.” This image reveals the mother’s anxiety and concern for her daughter’s safety as she ventures further away, both physically and metaphorically. The “thud” implies an impending sense of danger or harm, suggesting the mother’s underlying worry about her daughter growing up and facing the world on her own.

The recurring image of the daughter getting “smaller, more breakable” over the course of the poem suggests the emotional distance growing between them as the daughter becomes more independent. The mother views her child as fragile, perhaps recognising that as she grows, her daughter will be exposed to more challenges and uncertainties, which she cannot control or protect her from.

The metaphor of the daughter’s hair “flapping behind you like a handkerchief waving / Goodbye” poignantly captures the sense of finality. The handkerchief is a symbol of parting, a farewell that is not just physical, but emotional. The image of the daughter moving away, becoming more independent, and the handkerchief waving in the wind encapsulates the mother’s feeling of loss.

In conclusion, Pastan uses the act of teaching her daughter to ride a bicycle as a powerful symbol for the process of growing up and the inevitable distance that grows between parent and child. The mother’s complex emotions—pride, fear, and sorrow—are revealed through the vivid imagery of movement, separation, and the metaphor of the handkerchief. These feelings are conveyed with tenderness and a sense of inevitability, illustrating the poet’s awareness that her daughter’s growing up is both a moment of joy and a source of grief.

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F

GF

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