To a daughter leaving home

“To a Daughter Leaving
Home”
By Linda Pastan

Megan Griesser
Ms. Kramer
AP English 4, Period 5
March 15, 2012

“When I taught you sprinted to catch up,

at eight to ride while you grew

a bicycle, loping along smaller, more breakable

beside you with distance,

as you wobbled away pumping, pumping

on two round wheels, for your life, screaming

my own mouth rounding with laughter

in surprise when you pulled the hair flapping

ahead down the curved behind you like a

path of the park, handkerchief waving

I kept waiting goodbye.”

for the thud -Linda Pastan

of your crash as I

Analysis
 Lines 1-10
 speaker recalls the moment as she ran along side her daughter,
teaching her to ride a bike
 symbolizes how the speaker raised her the young girl, sticking by
her through all the “wobbles” of life
 excitement when the girl begins to ride on her own

 Lines 11-17
 daughter rides further and further away on the bike
 speaker grows more worried about her as she experiences new
things in life, waiting to save her the moment something goes wrong

 Lines 18-24
 speaker watches as daughter squeals with freedom and glee
 realization that her daughter has grown up, and the speaker is not
needed to help anymore

Analysis
 Diction and Tone
 simple words and sentences
 speaker’s tone is reflective and melancholy as she remembers
this pivotal moment of her daughter’s childhood
 instability imagery
 “wobbled” (5)
 “thud” (11)
 “crashed” (12)
 “breakable” (15)
 symbolizes the speaker’s fear for her daughter’s departure, trying to
protect her from what will go wrong
 symbolizes the daughter’s vulnerability as she leaves the safety of
her home

Analysis
 Syntax
 line ends are broken; sounds similar to choking back
tears as one speaks
 choppy lines create a more realistic and deeper meaning
 has a more emotional and dramatic effect as opposed to the
poem being written in prose
 abrupt endings in lines show speaker’s deep thought as she
recalls this moment
 also creates the natural pauses people take when telling stories
of events from the past

Analysis
 Emotion
 Anxiety
 “I kept waiting for the thud” (9-10)
 “sprinted to catch up” (14)
 The speaker is anxious for her daughter, as any caring parent would
be
 Excitement
 “my own mouth rounding, in surprise” (7)
 “with laughter” (20)
 speaker is happy her daughter can ride on her own
 Sadness
 “like a handkerchief waving goodbye” (22-24)
 speaker says goodbye to her daughter, sad moment
 does not see a wave of a hand, but a wave of a handkerchief that is
used to dry her tears

Analysis
 Surprise
 broken line ends create a suspense at the end of each line
 “I sprinted to catch up
while you grew,
smaller, more breakable”
 “while you grew” seems like it implies as the girl grew
older, but the next line is surprise because it contradicts that
idea, saying she is “smaller, more breakable”
 “pumping pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter”
 “for your life, screaming” suggests the daughter is panicking;
similar to someone running for their life screaming in horror
 “with laughter” is a surprise because this positive emotion was
not expected to follow a description that sounded so terrible

Analysis
 Surprise (contd.)
 the use of surprise expresses the speaker’s mixed feelings
as her daughter grows up
 as the speaker begins to say one thing, she completes her
thought with a different and surprising idea
 unable to sort out her emotions
 mixed feelings when a child leaves

Analysis
 Use of Prepositions
 gradual transition of prepositions parallels the life of the young
girl as she grows up
 “loping along, beside you” (3-4)
 the daughter rides along next to the speaker, relying on her guidance
to teach her and protection to keep her safe
 “when you pulled ahead” (9)
 the girl now rides ahead of her mother, not too far. She beings to
explore on her own
 “with distance”
 the girl is now further away, and the speaker realizes her daughter
has mastered the task of bike riding, meaning she is now
independent
 “hair flapping behind you” (21-22)
 the speaker is behind her daughter now, and can only see her hair as
she rides off into the distance
 moment of realization that her daughter has grown up and she is no
longer needed

Evaluation
 "Poetry should be great & unobtrusive, a thing which
enters into one's soul, and does not startle it or amaze
it with itself but with its subject” -Keats

Evaluation
 “To a Daughter Leaving Home” fits Keats’ definition of poetry
 the story enters the soul
 a. the reader, along with the speaker, feels an attachment to the
daughter
 b. the reader sympathizes with the speaker as she watches her
daughter grow up in the blink of an eye
 it is unobtrusive because is does not use wordy or flashy diction
to force itself upon a reader
 therefore, it does not startle or amaze the reader with itself
 the lines are short and simple
 there are no drastic elements that aim to startle the reader and
distract from the real message

Evaluation
 This poem is considered great poetry because of its
ability to amaze its readers with the subject at hand:
 the thrill of growing up; holding mommy’s hand one
moment and leaving the house the next
 the tender emotions of a mother who is so proud of what
her daughter has become, yet still blindsided by such a
sudden departure of her little girl
 poem acts as an adage that life goes by too quickly
 appreciate youth and innocence, as they will end far too soon
 appreciate family, as you will go your separate ways before you
know it

To a daughter leaving home

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