Poetry Analysis #2-The Red Hat

p. 296, #233

This poem by Rachel Hadas is a poem written from the point of view of a mother who is watching her son walk to school on his own for the first time. As this may be the literal meaning, the general idea of the poem is the emotions and thoughts of a parent watching their child grow up. The poet uses parentheses, rhyme, and alliteration to convey these emotions and to help the reader experience the same feelings.
In line 7 parentheses are used to emphasize the fact that these parents take any and every opportunity to guide their son. "Glances can extend (and do)," stops the reader and makes the line more significant. The continuation of that line, "across the street; not eye contact," reveals that the parents are afraid that the son is losing sight of them and what they have taught him. They are worried they are losing his attention, and overall his love.
The rhyme scheme in this poem really helps to emphasize important words that are crucial to the emotions of this poem. Words like "part" and "heart", "fear" and "disappear", "pull" and "school" show the different worries that a parent may have. The endings to the sentences are all crucial in their word choice, and need to be viewed as key elements.
Rachel Hadas also uses some alliteration in line 14 where it says, "Where two weeks ago, holding a hand, he'd dawdle, dreamy, slow." This alliteration also slows down the line, just as the words explain, and put the reader into the parent's dream-like state where they are remembering when their child was younger.

I enjoyed this poem because of its emotional connections and subject matter. It was very easy for me to feel for the parent who is afraid of losing their child. The writing really made the emotions very real.