Both Alice Walker’s “Poem at 39” and Rudyard Kipling’s “IF” explore the theme of Father/child relationship , however each explores the theme from a different angle with “Poem at Thirty-Nine” being more reminiscent and emotional whereas “IF” is more of an inspirational poemgood. The poems both have many similarities and differences which I am going to look at within this essay.
Firstly Walker’s poem has a very unique titlea really weak phrase… if you want to discuss it, just discuss it… “Poem at thirty-nine” which is to represent the significant time in the life of this women and how thoughts of her father are coming to her in a flashback. We immediately notice the extraordinary structure of this piece in the sense that each sentence is so short and can be explained in no more than five words. This use of so littlefew words could be a representation of Walker’s nostalgic state and how even though she suffered a lot from her father’s death she has learnt to accept it and move on.easier to prove if you focus on the simplicity of the language As we can see from reading the poem it is very reminiscent with Walker remembering characteristics of her father and how he made her become the person she is today. In particular this poem uses many poetic devices which really help convey this sense of remembrance. For example the poem contained the simile “I look and cook just like him. This simile is used to help show that the teaching of her father made her a better person which helps to create a element of brightness in the poem which contrasts with the deep sorrow of the fathers death. The poem also uses many metaphors for example “ Seasoning none of my life “ this being reference to how she cherishes her father’s cooking and again creating a sense of happiness in grief by showing her father taught her a lotnot fully explained, but a sensible comment. The poem is written