Walking Away - Cecil Day-Lewis

Context

The poem talks about a father remembering an 18 year old memory of his son’s 1st football game. It reminds him of letting his child have some independence.

Key Themes

• Parents face pain and worry when letting their children be independent

• Parents try to provide protection for their children

• Letting your children go is a way of showing love, it’s natural

Form & Structure

rhyme scheme

• in all of the stanza’s lines there’s an abaca rhyme scheme this could reflect the poets composure with having to let his child go. Everything is rational and calm, he’s calm to the conclusion that it’s a natural occurrence and although it will hurt it’s a way to show his love for his son

• often ends in monosyllabic rhymes (‘day’, ‘play’, ‘away’). This lends a melancholic tone to the poem, as if these feelings are uncomplicated but raw.

The pace of the poem is measured, reflecting the thought processes of the parent. This separation hasn’t happened in a hurry. It is gradual and slow-paced like the poem.

A first-person voice is used, and the persona speaks directly to his child using the personal pronoun ‘you’ which gives the poem a very intimate and moving feel.

stanzas

• stanza 1 talks about the pain of the sudden separation

• stanza 2 talks about the how scary roaming in the unknown is

• stanza 3 talks about how painful it is for the father

• stanza 4 talks about coming to the resolution that “love is proved in the letting go”

Imagery