My Father's Song

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1976

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Respect for the Earth

Ortiz’s work often addresses the necessity of respecting the natural world we live in and acting as stewards of the earth. His writing is known for exploring humankind’s alienation from the environment, and from each other, and he encourages readers to reconnect with ancient traditions to reclaim that bond. “My Father’s Song” addresses this desire to respect and appreciate the land, showing that a reverence for nature must be taught by parents to their children. As the power of that moment becomes clear in the poem, it likewise shows that these lessons will create stronger bonds within a family. Indeed, this powerful moment that lingers in the memory of Ortiz shows how the father models respect for the small field mice they find, and rather than lecture the boy, he encourages him to touch the animals so he may fully understand their aliveness and fragility. He allows the boy to help him rehome the mice, just as he is teaching him to farm and to become a thoughtful adult.

Ortiz also writes against the over-mechanization of human life, as he believes excessive over-development and machinery ultimately dehumanize humanity. In “My Father’s Song,” the farmers are using a simple plowshare, ancient technology that is still used in the modern world. Because they are not sitting on top of tractors and using enormous, modern equipment, they do not kill the mice, but rather disturb their nest. Their closeness to the ground also allows the father to spot the nest, just as he can see and appreciate the negative effects of their farming on the local environment. Had they been riding tractors, this moment would not have happened. In turn, the father teaches his son how to best rectify a situation when the damage is done: They attempt to rescue the nest together, giving the mice a chance to live. While many readers might consider mice an insignificant cost of farming, or even a pest in the field, Ortiz’s father teaches his son that it is important to respect even the smallest of creatures, and to coexist with nature as much as possible.

Fathers and Sons

“My Father’s Song” tells a brief story about a father and son doing hard farming work in a rural environment. It centers their relationship: They are the only two characters who appear in the poem, and this moment in their relationship is presented as pivotal for the author. In missing his father, Ortiz’s mind goes back to this exchange from his childhood, which would have likely taught him a lot about his father’s character, and the man’s priorities. In some way, this moment shared between the boy and his father reverses expectations, for while lessons from father to son can often be stereotyped as teaching strength, self-defense, or how to compete in the world, the lesson here is one of softness, compassion, and mercy.

For instance, while they are laboring in the field, a practice they have done “several times” (Line 9) before, the father stops the work to show his son this mouse’s nest. Here, he pauses work to favor the family relationship, relegating work as secondary to his son’s education. Rather than ignore the relatively insignificant mouse’s nest among many in a large field, he also prioritizes their survival, showing his son how easily he could move them from danger and show mercy when it is not required. The lesson in masculinity the father teaches to the son is one of strength through compassion, recognizing the authority and power they have as humans in the natural environment, and instead showing softness. He teaches the boy not to abuse that power, but to use it to remedy their mistakes to maintain balance in the world.

As a man, in the first stanza, Ortiz opens the poem by admitting the loss of his father is difficult for him. He remembers his father, too, for expressing his emotions, rather than hiding them from his son. His father’s voice catches as Ortiz hears a “tremble of emotion” (Line 5) in his voice, coming from the depth of “his thin chest” (Line 4). In this moment in the field, now remembered years later, Ortiz misses this honest expression of emotion from his father. While some fathers might be depicted as stoic and emotionally unavailable, Ortiz’s father speaks with emotion to a son who wishes he could still do the same. In many ways, Ortiz’s father upends expectations of masculinity: The poem presents an alternate way that fathers and sons might relate to and teach one another.

The Fragility of Life

From the threatened baby mice in the field, to the father who has already been lost, the fragility of life dominates thematically in the poem. In the opening stanza, the reader already knows Ortiz’s father has passed—the poem is a remembrance of his father, who himself appears somewhat vulnerable with a “thin-chest” (Line 4) and a catch and tremble in his voice. That trembling vulnerability is echoed in the baby mice, who must be rescued and set out of harm’s way as they plow and plant the field. This ties into the greater theme of respecting nature and showing compassion for the vulnerable. The relation is reciprocal, for just as the mice need help to survive, even humans, as powerful as they are, may eventually need care someday as they age.

The father’s lesson, or “his song” (Line 7), is also one of respecting that fragility. It speaks to maintaining the delicate balance of the ecosystem, where humans possess the power to pollute, waste, and destroy the land, but should strive to preserve it. He teaches his son how easily humans can irresponsibly farm without regard for the habitat they are disrupting, and he demonstrates alternate ways to approach human necessity. Finally, with imagery like the “soft damp sand” (Line 11), Ortiz reminds the reader that while the ecosystem is fragile, nature is a valuable resource. It is fertile and capable of renewal, of sheltering small creatures, of growing fields of corn, year after year. While the world is full of fragile and vulnerable creatures, Ortiz’s poem celebrates their inherent value, no matter how small and powerless.