Pub 5

Fatherhood is a concept that is to be treasured and respected. A man that has children has a responsibility to teach them and raise them with courtesy and self-confidence. Simon J. Ortiz wrote a poem about fatherhood and titled it "My Father's Song". This poem can also be tied into a different poem written by Bill Knott, known as "The Day After My Father's Death". Both poems take the perspective of young men who look up to their fathers. These poems could also be related to a recent song by the Zac Brown Band known as "My Old Man". This song focuses on the joys of fatherhood sung by a father who recently lost his old man. Each poem/song invokes emotion and allows the reader to really visualize the bond between a boy and his father.

The first poem, "My Father's Song" by Simon J. Ortiz is about a young man that misses his late father. The tone of this poem is one of grievance and reminiscence. The reader truly gets a sense of the poet's sorrow in the first few lines of the poem. "Wanting to say things, I miss my father tonight. His voice, the slight catch, the depth from his thin chest, the tremble of emotion in something he has just said to his son, his song," (Ortiz 1-7) Here, the poet really describes his father's voice and characteristics as if he cherished each and every one of them. Later in the poem, Ortiz writes, "Very gently, he scooped tiny pink animals into the palm of his hand and told me to touch them. We took them to the edge of the field and put them in the shade of a sand moist clod." (Ortiz 18-23) This is Ortiz specifically reminiscing of a moment when his father helped him to save a bunch of baby mice. This embellishes the caring characteristics of his father. The poem closes as follows, "I remember the very softness of cool and warm sand and tiny alive mice, and my father saying things." (Ortiz 24-26) This ending shows that the poet really cherished every moment with his father. He is thinking about a specific story that they shared together, and even though his father is gone, he will always have those memories that shaped him into the person that he is today.

The second poem is known as "The Day After My Father's Death" by Bill Knott. The theme of this poem is a young boy who misses his father after his departure. The tone of this poem is one of grievance and reminiscence as well. The poem begins as follows, "It's too complex to explain, but I was already in the orphanage when dad died; and so that day when I cried, to keep the other children safe from my infectious grief, they left me in lockdown." (Knott 1-7) This boy lost his father at a young age, and due to the depressing circumstances of orphanages, the staff locked him away to grieve so he would not damper the moods of other children. This is almost inhumane, yet the poet seems to be careless due to his fixation on the death of his father. Slightly later, Knott writes, "I'd never see them again: I'd regret each missed issue, and worse than that I knew that if a day ever did come when I could obtain them, gee I'd be too old to read." (Knott 16-22) In these lines, Knott is referring to a group of old comic books he found in the orphanage, but he is actually really referring to having parents. The last line in particular is really depressing. He is so deprived of hope that he feels once some parents actually decide to adopt him and love him, it will be too late and he will be a grown man.

The song that best exemplifies the themes of the previous poems is "My Old Man" by Zac Brown Band. The artist of this song is now a father that recently lost his own dad. He details this struggle in the opening lines of the song. "He was a giant, when I was just a kid. I was always trying to do everything he did. I can still remember every lesson he taught me. Growing up learning how to be like my old man." (ZBB 1-6) This quote really ties into the tones of the other poems, grievance and reminiscence. If he can still remember every lesson his father taught him, then he obviously idolizes his father and his ideologies. Later on in the song, the listener hears the following lyrics; "Now I'm a giant. Got a son of my own. He's always trying, to go everywhere I go. Do the best I can to raise him up the right way, hoping that he someday wants to be like his old man." (ZBB 22-28) These lyrics further show how the artist idolizes his father. He has the desire to raise his own son exactly the same way that his father raised him. For a man to raise his pride and joy just as he was raised brings a sense of respect and honor.

Not to downplay the extremely important role of motherhood, but a father's upbringing is one of the most influential aspects of a child's life. The poems "My Father's Song" by Simon J. Ortiz, "The Day After My Father'S Death" by Bill Knott, and the song "My Old Man" by the Zac Brown Band are all closely related examples of the influence of late fathers on their sons. In a world where not every child is fortunate enough to know their father, it is refreshing to have the ability to live vicariously through poetry and music.

Works Cited

Brown, Zac. My Old Man. Zac Brown Band. N.d. MP3.

Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature 12^th Edition. New York, London. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, Print.

Knott, Bill. "The Day After My Father’s Death." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 03 Apr. 2017. Web. 10 May 2017.