Summary In-depth analysis notes of 'Walking Away' by Cecil Day-Lewis
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English
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GCSE
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New GCSE English Literature AQA Poetry Guide
In-depth analysis of the poem 'Walking Away' by Cecil Day-Lewis from the AQA Poetry Anthology - Love & Relationships. Other poems from Cluster are available
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Parent – Child Relationship Walking Away
Poem opens with specific
Noun - Symbolically , it could
Caesural pause - There is a
reference to time – shows
the memory’s importance Cecil Day-Lewis
represent the drawing up of new
boundaries in the lives of the shift as the break in the
relationship is conveyed. Seasonal change – Literally, marks new
parent and child- time has school year. Metaphorically, Autumn
passed since the boy’s first game symbolises change & transition -
of football, he is growing up
Transitional Point It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day – “turning leaf” suggesting new events
A sunny day with leaves just turning, Simile of the satellite – shows how
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play children orbit their parents and are a
Violent verb – associated with dependant part of the family system
last simile suggesting the father’s Your first game of football, then, like a satellite rather than an object in their own right
pain and trauma – he feels like Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away – this is a natural process – Similar
son has been unnaturally taken space imagery in ‘Mother, any Distance’
away from him.
Juxtaposition of verbs – Gentler verb Verb – projection of the father’s worry as it is
is associated with the boy – perhaps an aimless movement showing no clear path
Back into present tense - showing this he doesn’t feel the same pain?
memory has remained – similar shift in
‘When we Two Parted’ and ‘Before you Metaphor of the boy being lost to father. Abstract noun
were Mine’ “scatter” reveals the father’s concern that the ordered
movement of his son’s orbit has been lost, he is now in a
Behind a scatter of boys. I can see chaos of boys and cannot be distinctly picked out.
You walking away from me towards the school
“Pathos” means pity and
sorrow - Shows father’s With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free Bird imagery – Implying that boy is
sensitivity to his son’s
vulnerable state Into a wilderness, the gait of one between two stages of growth. “Half
fledge” – Not quite ready to fully fly on
Who finds no path where the path should be. his own but he must let go – Similar
imagery in ‘Mother, any Distance’
Implying it is difficult “loosened” like “eddying” seems less violent,
to find a path? contrast with “wrenched” – perhaps
speaker is starting to accept natural process. “Eddying” means to move in a spiral
Like A seed cannot grow and flourish itself like water – perhaps a less violent
until released from parent plant. movement than “wrenched”?
Speaker shifts to a more
philosophical tone and That hesitant figure, eddying away Sibilance – hissing sound,
away from the specific helps enhance metaphor
memory to the general life Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
lesson. These moments are Has something I never quite grasp to convey
the trials of life – they are
painful, but necessary. About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
Later time Metaphor of a kiln that you fire clay in to make it
– a present Tense into something useful – shows that the
Time Shift Allusion – Reference to God – God’s letting go of transformation albeit painful, needs to take place
Animalistic verb “gnaws” Christ for the greater good of mankind. It for the character formation of the father
– represent how he references sacrifice and that allowing a child to
cannot let this incident go; grow up is something so important it is sacred
his brain worries at it Moral Message of poem – letting go
even now, although he proves love more than possessively
knows it is necessary
I have had worse partings, but none that so stifling a child, even if it causes the
parent pain
Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
The father reflects that this
small incident in his life has a Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
major impact since.
How selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go.
Analysing Structure (A02) Last Stanza
Time change into
Focus & Movement speaker’s present,
Stanza 1-3 later; we realise th 18 years
is
. Detail on the boy’s literal for speaker to let moment has been difficult
go
movement away from father the walking away of. The reader realises that
Stanza 1 Speaker uses metaphors of
. is
of father’s ability as much as ‘ordeal’ or test
on sig nif ica nt mo me nt to let go, as it is of th
Focuses vast space, dangerous 3 e son.
the im po rta nce is En d of Sta nza
in past, time.
wilder ness and processes in ophical
emphasised by pinpointing the nature to convey conflicting Shift to a more philos this Contrast & Repetition
foc us is on a mo me nt in em con sidera tion of wh at • Past & Present
Th e otions about parting.
– the moment has taught him
life of a parent and child • Vulnerability vs. Danger
boy is leaving for bo ar din g about the nature of the • Dependency vs. Independence
life.
school for the first tim
e. parental relationship and • Father’s influence vs. Son’s Autonomy
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