Parent-Child Relationships

There are two (arguably three) parent-child relationships explored within the first canto of the poem. The first is that between the speaker and their father, which is established right from the first line: “When I am so small Da’s sock covers my arm” (Line 1). There is an immediate sense of comfort, safety, and protection; the father is extending their care to the child through a symbolic blanket-like object. Despite the grittiness of the urban environment, this memory is a positive one for the speaker. The father’s “smile is a gold-plated incantation” (Line 4), suggesting a magical introduction to an extraordinary new world; this idea is further compounded in one of the following lines: “This is a school / I do not know yet” (Lines 6-7). In this scene, the father is showing the child a new layer of the world for the first time. As...