Reading Responses

Since I missed class last week on April 11 I wanted to share my thoughts about the poems that were assigned as reading material for that class. First, Raymond Carver's poem about the photo of his father was touching. It almost feels like the narrator's father has just passed away and he is studying a picture of him. Since the poem refers to the father in the past tense (ex: All his life my father wanted to be bold) I get the sense he has passed. The narrator also expresses his regret that his father never passed on certain things to him as if it were too late now. I think the narrator is looking for something to be happy about in the wake of his father's death, but it having trouble finding it because it appears his father never became the man that he wished to be, and now he never will.

The poem written by Robert Hayden I get a sense of deep regret from the narrator, who wishes he had been more thankful and loving of his father when he was young. The author paints a picture of a tired, weathered man who works tirelessly to make the house warm for everyone else even on his days off, and no one ever thanked him for his work. It sounds like the father had become a bitter man by the time the narrator is recalling, yet he continued to work for others. It sounds like the narrator is still haunted today by how poorly he treated his father, and wishes he could go back and change how he was as a child.