To a Mother Leaving Home and Margaret Atwood’s Young Son by Death both employ imagery and symbolism to reflect the difficulties parents face. These poems capture the most difficult and distressing moments that every parent has to face. They are a reminder that parenting can prove to be the most difficult job on the planet. The two poems are very similar in terms of symbolism and imagery. They also focus on two very different difficult situations parents face.

To a daughter leaving home describes a difficult situation in which a mother realizes her daughter doesn’t need her guidance. The poem does not mention the destination of the daughter, but rather focuses on her feelings and the pain she feels at seeing her daughter go. Reminiscing about her daughter’s first experience of independence, when she was able to learn how to ride her bike on her own, years ago, she reminisces. She remembers the terror she felt when her daughter was first riding away on a bike. Her daughter vanished from her sight. She also mentions that her 16-year-old daughter was “more tolerant of distance.” This expression reflects the anxiety and fear she feels about this situation. She must accept her daughter’s departure and watch her slip from her grasp. She is nervous about her daughter going out on her own, as she is vulnerable and easily broken without her mom. The book Death of a Young Boy by Drowning depicts a much worse parenting nightmare than any parent can imagine. It’s about the feeling of loss and the emptyness that comes with it. As her hopes and dreams fell away, her mother watched (7-8). Her affection for her son was evident and she looked forward to the voyage with him. However, losing him meant that “The dreamed sailings collapsed, and ragged”. (26-27) This expression describes her feelings after losing her son. Atwood used imagery to explain her mother’s experience of the death of her son. She was unable to help her son’s funeral because it happened so quickly. She recalls him hanging in the river like an infant’s heart. The body was rescued (17-18). They retrieved the drowned body” (17-18). To a Daughter Leaving home, the author recalls her daughter’s first bike ride alone. This is to symbolise her and her daughter being separated. The poem’s last line is a metaphor. “The hair flapping behind me like a kerchief waving goodbye,” she says (21-24). She connects her daughter’s current departure to her first bike ride. It hit her in that moment that her daughter was leaving. She knew she had to let go and be strong. This analogy was a key symbol used in the poem. It helps readers understand why Atwood was thinking about her daughter riding her bike for the first time and how this moment compares to current circumstances. Margaret Atwood also employed a lot symbolism in Death of a Young Son By Drowning. She wants to show the river as a symbol of life, saying that he “navigated with great success the river of his birth.” (1-2). This phrase conveys her belief that her son was created because he navigated the river. While water is an essential element that allows life to thrive, Atwood points out that it can also destroy it. The river symbolises how calm and serene life can be, but at the same time it can cause pain and make people feel hopeless and helpless. Line 16 is where she describes how the “air locked”, and how she realized that her dreams and hopes are no more. The mother of a young child who died suddenly, she continues to say that the world must continue even though her world is halted. The poem ends with the last two lines, which are direct statements about how hopeless her mother’s life is. This is to show how terrible it must feel to lose a child so young. “My foot fell on the rock,” says the mother. The dreamed sailings fell apart, ragged” (26-27). This symbolises the moment she realizes her son has gone. The voyage was meant to be a journey of discovery and new beginnings, but she was left with her entire world crumbling after the death of her son. She said that she “planted her son in this nation like a flag” (28, 29). The flag symbolises the legacy her son left, no matter how young or old he died. While he has passed away physically, there is still a part of him spiritually. The poems are a combination of symbolism and poetry. They show two mothers in similar situations, but with very different pains.

The authors also use imagery to show mothers how emotionally affected by the circumstances being addressed. Pastan uses language throughout her poem To a Girl’s Leaving Home to create imagery. Pastan creates a visual showing a child learning how to ride a bicycle and then falling off the bike. This is the mother’s experience of one of the most difficult things as a parent. The mother says that her daughter has left and she feels sad and helpless. This visual image was created to reach the same emotional level as the mother, which is despair and a longing for the past that many others have. Atwood uses imagery and personal experiences to describe the drowning of her young son. She describes how her son died in the third stanza. She uses a lot of chilling imagery in this example. The mother is able to see the audience through her eyes and witness what happened that day. She is creating a detailed account of the experience to show how it impacted her life, and how it left her feeling hopeless.

These poems, which describe two different hardships parents will face, are contextually very different. Both poems use imagery and symbolism as a way to communicate their messages and elicit specific emotions. The poem Death of a Young Son by Drowning begins with hope and excitement for a new adventure, but ends up being a life-altering experience for the mother who loses her son. The poem’s symbols and images give us a first-hand account of the pain that the mother experienced. To a daughter leaving home, however, is less tragic. However, it still triggers sadness and despair because a mother must accept the fact her daughter has grown up without her help. Margaret Atwood’s death of a young son by drowning and Linda Pastan’sTo a Daughter leaving Home both employ imagery and symbolism to address different challenges of parenting that no parent can anticipate.