An Analysis Of Don Paterson's Waking With Russell

The poem ‘Waking with Russell’ is written by the poet, Don Paterson. Paterson depicts a relationship between a father and his new born son from his point of view. The poem is written in the form of a sonnet, however it is split into a sestet and an octet respectively. In the first six lines the speaker, Paterson, talks about the beginning of fatherhood and in the next eight lines he describes how it has impacted his life. Paterson speaks in first person throughout the poem, he addresses it to the reader and to his son in the last eight lines.

The poem starts out with a sentence that catches the reader’s attention, “Whatever the difference, it all began.” This is implying that something new is about to start and make a positive impact for the speaker’s life. I know the impact is going to be positive from the next line when he says, “face-to-face like lovers”. The use of the simile at the end of the second line shows how passionate the speaker is towards his ”four-day-old” son. Imagery is used in the third line when the child’s “smile dawned on him”, it portrays his smile which lit up his face causing his father to pitch back with the exact same smile. This is also ironic as normally the child would copy the adult, not the other way round.
He addresses his son then says, “I was mezzo del’ cammin” meaning he was in the middle of life’s path. In the next two lines, he mentions his “true path”, which is a metaphor for his path in life, and how he was lost until his child had arrived who “cut in front and lit” his path showing him the way. Here, he shows how his son had made him have a purpose and describe’s Russell as the light of his life. In the tenth line, Paterson cleverly uses a paradox saying, “the true gift never leaves the giver” where he symbolises “the true gift” as Russell’s smile that “never leaves”