THEME:
the poem explores the themes of love, grief and the struggle to cope with loss.
-the speaker grapples with the death of his 9-year-old son, Elias, and the pain of remembering him.
-the speaker uses language, naming and poetry as a way of finding meaning to the unbearable grief of losing his child
-in the poem, naming is an act of remembrance, almost sacred, a way of keeping Elias alive.
TONE:
the tone of the poem is melancholic, emotional and introspective convey the speaker’s deep sorrow and longing.
RHYME SCHEME:
The poem does not follow a traditional rhyme scheme but focuses on a free verse and emotional expression.
SYMBOLISM:
-The use of Elias in the poem represents the speaker’s son and the love they shared.
-‘Pen and paper’ symbolises the speaker’s creative outlet and connection to Elias.
-While the use of ‘Grand Canyon’ represents the vastness of death and the unknown.
-Naming things symbolises the speaker’s attempt to hold onto memories of Elias.
‘My son was only nine years old when he died”:
opens the poem abruptly with the fact of death, establishing the poem’s emotional weight and autobiographical intimacy.
The Father’s:
the father’s memory permeates daily life, and ordinary acts evoke the loss of his son.
“Everything even my pen and paper I have named after him”:
is a metaphor showing that the poet’s creative tools hold the identity of his son and that the act of writing itself has become an act of remembrance.
“Jealous Death came to for me last night”:
provides for personification, where the father dreams or imagines a confrontation with death, who tempts him with peace.
DEATH OFFERS:
Deaths offers peace through acceptance, to stop projecting Elias onto the world.
The Father’s grief:
the father’s grief is sustained through renaming.
In the poem:
in the poem, love overpowers the temptation of peace, as the father chooses memory over oblivion, defying both Death and God.
