My Father in the Night Commanding No (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Louis Simpson
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Work: Meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Children, Family or family life, Mothers, Parents and children, Traveling or travelers, Fathers, Storytelling, Work or workers, Entertaining or entertainers, Meditation, Joy or sorrow
The Poem
“My Father in the Night Commanding No” is a meditation on the permanence of childhood experiences and impressions. One of the poet’s earliest recollections is of evenings at home when his father would order him to stop whatever he was doing. The father, depicted as silently reading and smoking, is a forbidding figure. Even in the evening he has no time for amusement; he “Has work to do.” The phrase “Smoke issues from his lips” suggests something more sinister than the smoking of a cigarette or pipe, something almost demoniacal.
The mother, on the...
[The entire page is 1246 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
