Words for My Daughter (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Balaban
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Children, Parents and children, Child abuse, Violence, Vietnam War, Fathers
The Poem
“Words for My Daughter” is a six-stanza poem written in free verse directed to the poet’s daughter. Although the poem tells several brief stories of the poet’s past, it is not truly a narrative poem. Rather, it is the poet’s first-person voice recalling events to his daughter in order to account for the violence that adults direct at children. The poem opens with scenes from John Balaban’s childhood in the rough neighborhood of a Philadelphia housing project. In the opening stanza, the reader learns the story of a boy named Reds, “fourteen, huge/ as a...
[The entire page is 1526 words long]
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