How Do We Forgive Our Fathers: Textual Analysis

As human beings we are often reluctant to let go of our anger and unwilling to forgive others. This becomes especially true in the case of loved ones or family members. The poem, “How Do We Forgive Our Fathers?,” written by Dick Lourie, addresses the different dilemmas associated with a child forgiving his/her father. In his six-stanza poem, the poet discusses how a child should forgive their father for traumatic events imposed on the child. This includes reasons for forgiveness, appropriate time to forgive, and whether or not to even forgive at all. Detailed through the different stanzas, the poem suggests that until one learns how to appropriately forgive another for wrongful behavior, they will never be able to let go of resentment and find inner peace.

In the first stanza, the poet approaches the idea of a child forgiving their father for wrongdoing. The first line states, “How do we forgive our Fathers?” This line, being the same as the title, introduces the topic of the poem to the reader. In doing so, it suggests a father has traumatized his child through horrific events and the child does not know how to come to terms with it and find forgiveness in their heart. The poet continues the thought in the second line, which states, “Maybe in a dream.” These words imply that the child does not want to forgive their father since a dream is far from reality. Also, the child, not wanting to forgive his/her father, displays some of the anger he/she has toward their father. The third line states, “Do we forgive our Fathers for leaving us too often or forever.” Here, the child is hinting that one of the traumatic events he/she has endured is abandonment. The fourth line states, “when we were little?” This line simply adds details of the father’s absence and suggests that at an early adolescent age the child’s father abandoned him. The full stanza portrays a child filled with resentment and unsure of forgiving his/her father for disappearing from the child’s life at