Themes
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Love & Relationships, topic 8.1.2
Natural Imagery
Throughout the poem Lewis uses images from the natural world to show the transition in his relationship with his son.
Pathetic fallacy
- The poem begins with pathetic fallacy, as the ‘leaves just turning’, suggesting transition of the season.
- This reflects the state of transition the father is witnessing in his son, and the changing nature of their relationship.
Simile
- Lewis also uses natural imagery as metaphor for the natural process of growing up and letting go.
- For example, ‘like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem’ is a powerful simile that embodies the sense of loss Lewis feels but also the inevitability of the process of growing up.
Separation in Walking Away
Lewis' poem explores the feelings of a parent as he realises that he must allow his son to move on and grow up. Here are some examples of how he develops that theme in the poem.
Abrupt verbs
- The narrator’s use of abrupt verbs such as ‘wrenched’, ‘scorching’ and ‘gnaws' helps to describe the process of growing up.
- There is a sense that the father is struggling to let go of his son, yet knows he must in order to let him grow up.
- These verbs show how painful the process is, despite its necessity.
Repetition
- The word ‘away’ is repeated throughout the poem, which emphasises their separation
- Lewis' use of the phrases, ‘loosened from', ‘set free’, and ‘wrenched from’, also helps show the process of separation as his son grows up.
Test yourself on Themes
What technique is used in the quote 'like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem’?
Which word is repeated throughout Walking Away?