In these four works, “Fern Hill”, “The Video”, “My Papa’s Waltz”, and “Bored” memories provide the link and the connections between them all. Memories are something that are universal, they exist among every race, every culture, every century and throughout these four works we follow the childhood memories that shaped each speaker’s life.
In Dylan Thomas’s “Fern Hill” the speaker reflects more on the joyous memories of their childhood. The most prominent feature of this poem is the author’s use of color and how he uses the imagery of the colors to portray the memories and the feelings. More specifically he uses green and things that are green, evoking feelings of youth. He uses this memory to reflect on his current life, wishing that his life could still be as happy and carefree as it was in these childhood memories.
In Fleur Adcock’s “The video” the speaker reflects back on the memory of a younger sister being born. Here this memory is used as a wish, wishing that the event never happened, wishing, just as the speaker in “Fern Hill” wished that things could be returned to a earlier date, and earlier time.
In Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” the speakers memories are less of bliss and more of abuse. The speaker only remembers only his father’s whiskey breath and his father’s battered hands as well as “his palm caked with hard dirt” (line 13). The speaker is reflecting on something that happened so long ago, proving just how memorable that time in his life was, just how much of an impact it made on his life.
In Margaret Atwood’s “Bored” the speaker is reflecting on the event of assisting a man with his work, something that at the time was seen as a mundane event, boring. But it was not until the speaker looked back and reflected on the events, on the memories that they realized how it was a life-changing event, and how they should not have been taking life for granted.
Memories serves as something to make you happy, something to provide joy, but they can also bring pain, but you can also look back on memories and realize just how much certain events can change your life. Most importantly everyone has memories, which provide a link between everyone.