Letters from a Father by Mona Van Duyn
"Letters from a Father" by Mona Van Duyn is a poignant poem that explores the emotional and physical journey of an elderly couple, presumably the speaker's parents, as they navigate the challenges of aging. The poem is structured in six sections, primarily conveying the father's perspective through rhymed quatrains. Initially, the father expresses a deep sense of pain and resignation, detailing various health issues and dismissing a bird feeder gifted by his daughter as a waste of money. However, as the poem progresses, the tone shifts towards positivity, revealing how the bird feeder becomes a source of joy and connection to the outside world.
The couple's initial reluctance transforms into delight as they engage with the birds, with the father even requesting a bird identification book. The poem captures moments of tenderness and humor, such as the father's fascination with the birds and a humorous anecdote about his dental self-surgery. By the final section, there is a sense of renewal and hope, as both parents find purpose in caring for the birds and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. The concluding line, voiced by the daughter, encapsulates the theme of connection and the healing power of nature. Overall, the poem reflects the beauty of everyday moments and the profound impact of small joys in the face of life's difficulties.
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Letters from a Father by Mona Van Duyn
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1982 (collected in Letters from a Father, and Other Poems, 1982)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
The six sections of the title poem of Letters from a Father record the slow growth into health and peace of an elderly couple, presumably the speaker’s parents, as they find increasing pleasure in a bird feeder the speaker has given them. The voice throughout most of the poem is that of the father. Throughout, the stanzas are composed of rhymed quatrains.
In the first section, the speaker offers a long list of his pains—an ulcerated tooth, pressure sores from a leg brace, a bad prostate gland, and a bad heart. He feels ready to die. His old wife is in even worse shape: She falls down and forgets her medicines; her ankles are swollen, and her bowels are bad. This letter concludes with the old man chastising his daughter for wasting good money on a bird feeder; better to poison the birds and be rid of their diseases and mess, he says.
The next section notes that the daughter has brought her parents a bird feeder of their own—a waste of money, the old man says, as they will surely live no more than a few weeks. Still, he confesses that they are enjoying it. In this section, the old man’s physical complaints are still vivid—deafness, a bad heart, and belching—and he has added complaints about the birds. They are not even good for food, like the ones the father used to hunt years ago.
The third section creates a sort of transition; its tone is far more positive than that of the first two. The old man is evidently pleased at the large numbers of birds coming to the feeder, and he asks the daughter for a bird book so that he and “Mother” can identify them. They have even sent “the girl” (evidently a household helper) to buy more feed, although the old man tempers the hopefulness of this remark by noting that she had to go to town anyway (the reader suspects that the father is rationalizing).
In the fourth section, the reader learns that, in their feeding frenzy, some of the birds are flying into the old couple’s window and knocking themselves out. The old man recounts how a visitor rescued one unconscious bird and brought it in to be restored by the old man’s stroking. His joy in the little bird’s recovery is evident. He adds that the bird book has arrived.
The fifth section records the old man’s delight in the great variety of birds that frequent the feeder. He has names for all the species and describes their habits with pleasure (reminding the reader of Van Duyn’s assertions about the beauty of the specific in “Three Valentines to the Wide World”). He even has a kind word for squirrels. At the end of the section, he notes that he has pulled his ulcerated tooth himself and, despite his predictions, he did not bleed at all.
Section 6 continues to record the old man’s newfound joy; moreover, he is full of plans for feeding his birds all summer and next winter, too. Mother is doing well, too. She still forgets her medicine, but her bowels are fine. The old man takes some sly pleasure in noting that he has learned that some birds have three wives.
The last line is in the daughter’s voice: “So the world woos its children back for an evening kiss.” The kiss is the healing pleasure the old couple take in the specific beauties of the world’s birds.
Bibliography
Burns, Michael, ed. Discovery and Reminiscence: Essays on the Poetry of Mona Van Duyn. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998.
Hall, Judith. “Strangers May Run: The Nation’s First Woman Poet Laureate.” The Antioch Review 52, no. 1 (Winter, 1994): 141.
Prunty, Wyatt.“Fallen from the Symboled World”: Precedents for the New Formalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.