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Andrew Hudgins's Elegy For My Father Who Is Not Dead

Decent Essays

Andrew Hudgins’s, “Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead” considering the title of the poem is ironic because of the loss of his father, who is still alive. The speaker gives an “elegy” which is a poem about a dead person. “He’s ready. I am not. I can’t just say good-bye as cheerfully,” describes the conflict of beliefs between the father and the son (14-15). The son does not believe in afterlife and wants to be with his father forever. On the other hand, the father believes in afterlife and is okay with dying when his time comes. When the son describes the conflicting scenes, “I see myself on deck, convinced his ship’s gone down, while he’s convinced” shows the different beliefs of the son verses the father (17-18). In reference to the boat and deck, the setting reveals the father’s life after death reuniting with God and his …show more content…

This poem does not follow the formal pattern of meter or rhyme. It consist of one long stanza and enjambment lines that goes from one line to the next without capitalization or punctuation. A prime example would be in lines 7-9, “a new desire to travel building up, an itch to see fresh worlds.” Hudgins uses a long flowing lines broken into short sentences: “He thinks that when I follow him / he’ll wrap me in his arms and laugh, / the way he did when I arrived / on earth. I do not think he’s right. / He’s ready. I am not.” (10-14). There is a feeling of a shortness of breath when reading. There is no poetic form nor rhyming in this poem. The use of tone, diction and point of view convey the feeling of jealousy, uncertainty and the anxiety of the possibility of afterlife. By the speaker using first person point of view, he reveals the emotions produced within himself. He is unwilling to let his father die, although his father “is ready” (14). The speaker says, “I do not think he is right” towards his response to his father going to a better place.

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