Facing Fears And Rejecting Childhood Fantasies: The Analysis Of Two Poems Analysis

Facing Fears and Rejecting Childhood Fantasies: The Analysis of Two Poems The transitional period that children and their parents endure can be a challenging time as children are forced to become mature adults. Children have to say goodbye to what they think is everyday. They have to reject some of their orthodox childhood practices. However, this time period can also affect a parent’s life. A parent may feel that they have lost the connection between themselves and their children. Two poems, “The Death of Santa Claus by Charles Webb and “Into the Well” by Andrew Hudgins relay this similar message. However, the poem “The Death of Santa Claus” is developed in a different manner in comparison to the poem “Into the Well”. Essentially, the
In the poem, a child is lowered into a well in order to rescue a dog from the bottom of the well. During the descent, the narrator becomes scared and lonely. The narrator is terrified of the whole experience that he loses all of his confidence and addresses his father as daddy. Upon reaching the top, the narrator returns to addressing his father as father. For instance, the poem reads: “I shouted. Daddy hauled / the wet rope. I gagged, and pressed” (lines 15-16). The child is suffering during this ordeal as he is not accustomed to being independent. This tone emphasizes that the child still requires the care and assistance of a parent in dire situations. Words like “gagged” demonstrate the torturous mood perceived from the child’s suffering. Towards the end of the poem when the child arrives back to the surface, he describes what he sees: “Then light. Then hands. Then breath.” (20). The words “light” and “breath” give the feeling of relief as a result of the child meeting his/her father. The child realizes that growing up involves much more sacrifice and change. In addition to this, a shift occurs in this passage that signifies the child’s return back to the world as he knows it. The physical barrier that is the well separates the child and his father results in the child returning to his/her childlike personality. Hudgins also
Both show how growing up can be a grueling experience for children. “Into the Well” describes how a child cannot handle being alone inside a well without the child’s parents. Similarly, “The Death of Santa Claus” reveals how an 8 year old has to deny childhood idols. Another similarity in both poems is that both poems have a clear and distinct shift in the tone. “Into the Well” has a shift in the tone when the child goes from calling his father as father to daddy and then back to father. “The Death of Santa Claus” has a shift when the author goes from addressing the mournful death of Santa to returning to the reality of growing up. These two poems differ in the ways that there are differing uses of figurative language. “Into the Well” contains a motif of the well that compares the well to the harsh reality of the world. Also, this poem has various examples of imagery that help establish the fact that the well is a scary and dark place to be for a child. “The Death of Santa Claus” uses different types of figurative language. Hudgins juxtaposes the happiness of a place like the North Pole to the grim reality that children have to face. The author also uses uses imagery that further corroborates the stark differences from a fantasy to the reality. Although both poems differ in the way the theme of growing up affects parents and children is addressed, they both share a similar