Daughter Leaving Home

In Linda Pastan’s To a Daughter Leaving Home, the speaker’s detailed recollection of teaching a daughter to ride a bicycle illustrates the emotions of a parent as a child matures and eventually leaves home, utilizing the experience as a metaphorical depiction of the daughter’s growth into adulthood. As the parent initially “lop[es] along beside [the child],” the speaker highlights the necessity of restraint in a parent to protect the daughter and watch closely her actions to ensure that she stays safe. From this depiction, the poem initially portrays the childhood stages of development as parents often monitor infants and constantly remain in near vicinity to guarantee the child’s safety. The speaker further expresses this figurative representation
Additionally, the speaker promotes this viewpoint while “waiting for the thud of [the daughter’s] crash,” portraying the parental dedication always prepared to save her and supporting the metaphorical view of the child maturing while needing less of the parent’s help. As the speaker “sprinted to catch up,” the poem elaborates on the life stages when the daughter truly begins to establish her own independence, moving ahead of the parent who previously had to take precautions not to travel too quickly from the child. In the daughter’s life, this greatly illustrates her first experience as an individual without the protection of a parent, as she pushes herself further than the speaker had anticipated. The poem follows with the typical thoughts of a parent fearing for a child, viewing distance as an exponential multiplier of the dangers that the daughter may encounter and always fearing the worst, as with the speaker’s use of “screaming with laughter” introducing a sense of panic at first before reasserting that the daughter remains