“Walking Away” by C Day-Lewis was published in 1962 and is a poem dedicated to his son. In the poem, the poet discusses the most important event of his life and the time when he realized that it was time for him to let his son go. The poem is a message for all the children that they must learn to be brave on their own, and the parents must love them enough to let them go.
Do you feel that letting someone go is proof of love? We might not understand this statement initially and question its intensity, but it is only when we look at our parents and realize how true this statement is.
We have grown only because our parents were ready for us to leave to become better people. We all have become mature only after making mistakes and making our own decisions.
We all have passed through stages of disappointment and learning but that is the only reason we are different from other people. The struggle of every person is different from another, and that is what sets us apart.
Walking Away
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day – A sunny day with leaves just turning, The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play Your first game of football, then, like a satellite Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away Behind a scatter of boys. I can see You walking away from me towards the school With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free Into a wilderness, the gait of one Who finds no path where the path should be. That hesitant figure, eddying away Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, Has something I never quite grasp to convey About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay. I have had worse partings, but none that so Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly Saying what God alone could perfectly show – How selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in the letting go. -C Day-Lewis
Meaning and Summary
In the poem, “Walking Away” by C Day Lewis the speaker of the poem shares a specific event that happened eighteen years ago, yet he remembers every little detail of that day as if it was his son’s football match.
After the match, his son moved away from him to join a certain group of boys. The speaker stills remembers the uncertainty on his son’s face when he walked away from his father. The boy’s appearance evoked a sense of regret in the speaker.
The speaker compares his son to leaving him behind, just like that a half-grown bird that is released into the wild. The speaker again compares his son to that of a “seed loosened from its parent stem” stating that one must leave to grow on their own. The speaker, thus, talks about the progression of life. It is after facing the obstacles in life that one learns about their true adult identity.
In the end, the speaker sends a message to all the parents that if they love their children they must allow them to leave because only children only grow on the path of independence.
Analysis of the Poem
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
A sunny day with leaves just turning,
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
In the first stanza of the poem the speaker shares the details of a specific event that happened eighteen years ago. He tells us that it was a sunny day when the leaves had just started changing their color. The sidelines of the football field had been painted recently.
Then, the speaker discloses the event as his son’s first football game and that was the first time in the poet’s life that he saw his son move away from him like a satellite that has been violently pulled away from its fixed path.
In these lines, “sunny day” could be a reference to the poet’s son who was still young, and “leaves turning” could suggest him becoming mature and entering adulthood.
One can understand that this specific event must be very important to the speaker as he remembers the exact time when it happened and also he uses strong imagery to describe the details of that day.
This day was of emotional significance to him because it was on this day that the speaker felt that his son was going away from him to join a disorganized group of other boys.
The speaker realized that he was no longer going to be that important to his son, he knew that the bond they shared had somehow ended and his son would not share anything with him anymore.
Behind a scatter of boys. I can see
You walking away from me towards the school
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Into a wilderness, the gait of one
Who finds no path where the path should be.
In the second stanza, the speaker tells us that he still remembers how his son looked when he walked away from his father to the school. It evoked an emotion of sadness and pity in the speaker’s mind. The speaker tells us that it looked as if a half-grown bird was released into the wild. The boy was looking for directions and guidance in his path, but he could not find any.
When a half-grown bird is released into the wild, it starts to learn how to fly without any guidance or direction. Similarly, when the boy left his father and walked to school he had set on a path where he was going to learn on his own. It was time for him to walk without directions and listen to himself.
That hesitant figure, eddying away
Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem,
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
In the third stanza, the speaker recalls that his son was hesitant and uncertain to move away from his father for the first time. The speaker tells us that though his son was going away from him, he felt good because that is how life progresses. Just like a seed falls from the parent stem, to grow into a plant, similarly, his son had moved away to grow.
The speaker tells us that this memory is like a lesson, that he feels unable to describe. The speaker wonders about the progression of life where parents take care of their children but adulthood and maturity take those children away from their parents.
The children go through several experiences and then these difficult challenges help them to form their true identities. These lines explain the cycle of life, where first we are protected by our parents, and then they leave us to face challenges on our own. It might be difficult at first to leave, but this is the only way to find your true identity. It is only when we learn from those mistakes we become mature.
I have had worse partings, but none that so
Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
Saying what God alone could perfectly show –
How selfhood begins with a walking away,
And love is proved in the letting go
In the last stanza, the speaker tells us that he has had experiences of telling people goodbyes but this one hurt him the most. And, it still generates a strong pain in his heart. He tells us that only God could reveal why this memory haunts him so powerfully.
And the idea is that to become independent one must learn to walk away, suggesting that there should come a time when children must leave the guidance and protection of their parents to become mature, and if parents love their children, they must allow them to leave.
Through these lines, the speaker has suggested that love is found when you let go of something you love because you know that they are going to grow on their own. Children should never be dependent on their parents, they should learn to do things on their own even if they are scared. Facing obstacles and life on your own is the only thing that makes a person mature.
Themes
The theme of the poem “Walking Away” by C Day Lewis is parental love and growing up. In the poem, the poet explores parental love and the pain that parents face while letting their children go.
But, the speaker at the end of the poem also acknowledges that for the child to grow, parents need to let them go and be on their own so that they can understand the real struggles of life.
True parental love is only shown when the parents allow their children to leave. It might be painful at first, but it is a necessity. The child is compared to that of an orbit that moves away from its embodied path, the embodied path is the path set by parents and the child is drifting away from it.
Moreover, the child is compared to a “half-fledged” bird which is partially developed and is left in the wild world. The boy’s uncertainty is reflected on his face, yet the father has to let him go.
Furthermore, the poet suggests that a seed must be detached to grow, and a clay pot must be fired in an oven to achieve a perfect and real structure.
Similarly, the child has to be on his own to find his real identity. The speaker affirms that true parental love means allowing the child to face obstacles on their own. The fact that letting go of his son still hurts the speaker suggests how painful it is for parents to let their children grow.
The poem also establishes a certain progress of life, of how children grow up and face obstacles on their own. The path to being independent is not to have a set destination, it is when we leave the guidance and structure of security we become mature and find our true selves.
Literary Devices
The literary devices used in the poem “Walking Away” are:
Simile– The poet uses a simile to compare how he feels about letting his son go on his own. He first tells us that the drifting away of his son is like a “ satellite wrenched from its orbit”.
Moreover, the emotions the speaker feels can be compared to that of a “half-fledged thing set free/Into a wilderness”.
In the end, the poet compares the child walking away to “a winged seed loosened from its parent stem”.
Repetition– A few examples of repetition from the poem are “You”, “I”, “Walking away”, “path”, and “like”.
Enjambment- A few examples of enjambment from the poem are:
The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play
Your first game of football, then, like a satellite
Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
I have had worse partings, but none that so
Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly
Metaphor– The poet uses a metaphor to explain that to find the true adult identity oneself we must face obstacles and struggles in our life. One becomes mature not through set paths but with experiences. For example:
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
Aporia– The poet uses aporia to express the doubt or uncertainty he feels about letting his child go. He knows that it is important to do so, yet it invokes a strong feeling of pain in his heart. For example:
You walking away from me towards the school
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Into a wilderness, the gait of one
Who finds no path where the path should be.
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching
Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay.
Consonance- A few examples of consonance from the poem are:
It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day –
With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free
Has something I never quite grasp to convey
Conclusion
In the poem “Walking Away” the poet has tried to express what the parents go through when a child grows up. They know that they have to let them go, so that they become individual and independent beings, but it is not so easy for them to do that either.
They want their children to grow, just as a plant grows from a seed. They know that the children have to set paths on their own, and the parents understand when it is time to allow the children to leave.
The parents know that one can never truly become mature when protected and secured, it is only through failures that one realizes what is correct for them. A clay pot can be molded into different shapes as long as it is not fired in the oven.
Similarly, these experiences mold children to become better people. I believe that this poem is a message not only to the parents but also to the children. The poet makes sure that we all know that for our children to grow, we must allow them to leave and face challenges on their own because letting someone go for them to grow is an expression of love.