Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Poem at Thirty Nine - Alice Walker - Coggle Diagram
Poem at Thirty Nine - Alice Walker
Summary: poet reflects on how she has adopted her father's habits and wisdom after his death - deep personal poem - speaker balances mourning with gratitude showing her father's guidance continues to shape her identity and daily habits
Key Themes:
parental influence
legacy
memory
Parent-Child Relationships: A daughter reminiscing about her father's influence.
Memory and Legacy: The enduring impact of a parent’s wisdom and behaviour.
Loss and Grief: The emotional experience of losing a loved one.
Love in Actions: Rather than sentimentality, the father expressed love through practical lessons and life skills.
Structure:
Free verse - natural flowing tone that mirror internal thought
Personal tone
irregular rhyme
6 uniqual stanzas
Techniques:
Repetition -Reflects on then vs now; childhood vs adulthood.
domestic imagery
reflection
Enjambment: Mimics natural speech and emotional reflection.
-Metaphor: Learning to write and cook become metaphors for independence and nurturing.
-Tone: Gentle, nostalgic, reflective.
Compare with:
Piano (nostalgia)
Search for my tounge - (identity)
If - (parental advice) - moral development
remember - grief and memory
Key Terms
mournful regretful tone - theme of loss
Reptetiton - "how I miss my father"
Listing emphasises her independance
symbolism - "fire" her father still lives on
key ideas :
Remembering with Fondness: The speaker honours her father by practising the habits he taught her.
Inherited Wisdom: Simple acts (cooking, budgeting) become symbols of love passed down.
Strength in Independence: She appreciates how her father prepared her for self-sufficiency.
Transformation of Grief: Loss is turned into gratitude and self-growth.