Choice Padlet Analysis: Baca Vs. Hall by Natalia Sawyer https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi "My Son My Executioner" by Donald Hall en-us 2021-10-27 05:52:29 UTC 2021-11-03 14:26:43 UTC hello@padlet.com Structure ns129914 https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847297577 Poem: My son, my executioner,
      I take you in my arms,
Quiet and small and just astir
And whom my body warms.
Sweet death, small son, our instrument
     Of immortality,
Your cries and hunger document
Our bodily decay.
We twenty-five and twenty-two
     Who seemed to live forever
Observe enduring life in you
And start to die together.

Paraphrase: My son, my future killer,
I hold you in my arms, 
My body warms you as you stay quietly there.
Sweet death, my small son, the device that is used to kill people, 
Your cries are a way to show how we die in the end
Now that you have come it seems to be the beginning of the end of my life

By looking at each stanza, the speaker seems to be switching back and forth between his differing emotions from line to line. This can be seen in the sentence, "Sweet death, small son, our instrument/ Of immortality".
]]> 2021-10-27 05:53:59 UTC https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847297577 Fig Lang 1 ns129914 https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847297896 Throughout the poem the speaker uses intense hyperboles to discuss their impending feelings towards death after their son was born. The speaker seems to feel that they are getting closer to dying and their young child is just a constant reminder of this fact. The speaker states, "Your cries and hunger document our bodily decay". This means that with every cry the child makes there is a reminder that the son's life just started while there is still death in the future for the parents. ]]> 2021-10-27 05:54:11 UTC https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847297896 Fig Lang 2 ns129914 https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298058 The speaker of the poem chose his words carefully in order to exhibit multiple meanings with just one word. In this poem the speaker describes his son as his executioner. It is obvious that the son of the speaker is not actually an executioner but is being described as one in a figurative way. This figurative metaphor serves to convey the feelings that the speaker feels in regards to becoming a parent. He feels as if the arrival of his son will end one part of his life and the remainder of his life will be dedicated to taking care of his son. ]]> 2021-10-27 05:54:17 UTC https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298058 Narrator/Character ns129914 https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298418 The speaker of the poem is a new parent to a baby boy. It seems as if the speaker is having issues with the arrival of their son due to their conflicting emotions throughout the poem. The poem transitions from a cradling, admiring tone to a scared mood. This back and forth transition shows the speaker's uneasiness with the entire situation and gives a glimpse into the feelings he has towards the baby himself. The speaker also seems like the type to be scared of death, as he talks multiple times about how his son is the instrument of immortality as well as how they will start to die together. ]]> 2021-10-27 05:54:31 UTC https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298418 Simile/Metaphor ns129914 https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298747 The speaker applies metaphors to the poem to relate to death. Throughout the poem the speaker will talk in a paternal nature about holding the child in their arms and using their body to warm them. A switch is made multiple times from this loving nature to metaphors that discuss mortality and death. From the title alone provides a metaphor upon which the rest of the poem will be based on. The title, "My Son, My Executioner" uses the metaphor that the son is the executioner as a way to maintain that the arrival their son has brought on a new chapter to their lives. This chapter that starts could mean that their death is coming and it feels more real to the speaker.]]> 2021-10-27 05:54:41 UTC https://padlet.com/ns129914/mw4975a4mvz4vlvi/wish/1847298747