“Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead”-Andrew Hudgins This 20 lined poem dramatizes the differences in religious beliefs in heaven of a Father and a son. An Elegy by definition is a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead .Andrew Hudgins sometimes known for writing about his relationship with his parents (Poetry Foundation). Written in a Sons point of view, perhaps uses this poem to point out the difference in belief systems between his father and himself. The difference in their ideas of what occurs after death; the father’s belief system in the afterlife was one based on his faith. While the speaker does not share this conviction and does not think there is an afterlife at all. “In the sureness of his faith, he talks/ about a world beyond this world” (4-5).…show more content… The Speaker is using a familiar language. Which makes the poem somewhat easy to read; however, the occasional Enjambed lines made it seem a little disassembled. ”I think he wants to go/a little bit-a new desire/to travel building up, an inch/ to see fresh worlds. Or older ones (6-9). The jagged speech accentuates the pain the speaker may be feeling at the thought of losing his father. The love between the father and son is sensed to be a strong bond. The son being a non-believer is not ready to lose his father. His thinking is that this would be an end. In contrast his father is welcoming death because he knows that this will not be the end but only a momentary absence. “He thinks that when I follow him/ he’ll wrap me in his arms and laugh,/the way he did when I arrived / on earth. I do not think he’s right” (10-13). His father is happy because he knows they will meet again; while the speaker is questioning the existence of
