Analysis Of My Father's Hats By Suzanne Rancourt

Marcus Tullius Cicero once said “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living”. With figurative language and tone a poem communicates the theme and consists of more information than even a 300 page novel could. These things can be seen in both “Whose Mouth Do I Speak With” by Suzanne Rancourt and “My Father’s Hats” by Mark Irwin. Both speakers share a common theme of nostalgia through different uses of figurative language and tone.

“Whose Mouth Do I Speak With” by Suzanne Rancourt reveals the memories that the narrator experienced with their father with a tone of admiration. The text says, “ The spruce gum/ was so close to chewing amber” ( Rancourt 12-13). This metaphorical imagery compares the spruce gum to chewing amber.

In the text Irwin says, “ the yellow fruit,leaves whose scent/was that of a clove in the godsome/air.. ” (14 -16) . The imagery talks about the fruit sacredly, but also like the narrator is telling a fantasy, especially because of the word “godsome”. Instead of saying awesome they use “godsome” to create an out of this world feeling. The “godsome” air shows the fanciful tone they use with the idea of their father. In “My Father's Hats” Irwin also says “imagine/ I was in a forest, wind hyming”( 5- 6). The personification uses the word hymning for the word wind, which can’t actually hymn.The word hymning also shows a fanciful and mystical tone. The “forest” the narrator imagines also shows the relationship that they had between them and their father was something adventurous. Altogether, this shows the figurative language used in “My Father's Hat” in order to portray a fanciful

“My Father’s Hats” by Mark Irwin, as previously mentioned, talks about their father. “My Father’s Hats” uses a forest as it’s setting, and takes the reader through an adventure through the forest. This shows how the speaker remembers the father and the sentimental attachment to the memories he has with his father. The overall theme statement of this poem is that memories can open doors to place we’ve never been. “Whose Mouth Do I Speak With” by Suzanne Rancourt, also talks about their father. “Whose Mouth Do I Speak With” gives their father lots of appreciation, such as referring to him as “Coyote”. Even as she says “we had no money” she still continues to admire her dad. They both show sentiment and nostalgia in their narrations. The overall theme statement of this poem is that the best memories are the ones that are still felt. Nostalgia was portrayed through both poems in different ways, but this still gave them similar overall