Linda Pastan's To A Daughter Leaving Home

Linda Pastan’s poem “To a Daughter Leaving Home” tells the story of when a little girl first learned how to ride her bike while her parent watched over her. The poem is written from the parent’s perspective so it can, therefore, show the parent’s thoughts and inner conflict with the daughter learning how to ride her bike. The parent describes himself nervously watching the daughter confidently round a windy path. The farther away the daughter got, the more fragile she became in the parent’s eyes. The daughter, joyfully enjoying her new skill rode away as her fearful parent ran after her. The parent realized that the daughter is gaining independence as she can now do things on her own. She does not need the parent’s support to ride the bike anymore and soon enough she will not need their support for almost everything. Linda Pastan was raised in New York City but lived in Potomac, Maryland for most of her life. She decided to take a break writing poetry and place her focus on her
The parent describes the concrete path she is riding her bike down as windy and dangerous. The path is meant to symbolize her life and the curves symbolize the fun and dangerous adventures that life holds. The farther away the daughter gets from the parent on the path symbolizes the daughter maturing and growing apart from the parent. She doesn't need their support as much as she is fully capable of riding the bicycle on her own. Once the daughter gets too far away, the parent begins to sprint after the daughter because they believe she is too fragile. Pastan uses a simile to describe the daughter’s hair in wind as if it were waving like a handkerchief. Symbolizing the daughter waving goodbye to her parent as she leaves home. Through these images, the reader can infer that the theme of the poem is about growing and gaining