All the parents in this world love their children. However, their way of showing their love to their children may be different. "A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood" by Carl Sandburg and "First Lesson" by Phyllis McGinley both poems clearly demonstrated the parent's reactions to their children's growth. Both poems have similarities and differences as well. In order to make the poem seemed more vividly and attractively, the poet used many literary devices such as similes, metaphor, and personification.

The father in poem "A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood" seemed more flexible and open-minded. He tried to show his son many images of what possible outcomes of the life would be. He encouraged his son to pursue his own interests. From father's point of view, when a boy develop into manhood, he should be independent. In addition, he told his son many other theories: "Life is hard; be steel; be a rock. And this might stand him for the storms" and "Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy". More ever, the father also provides much suggestion to his son. As the mentioned in the poem "Tell him too much money has killed men. Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted. Tell him to be a fool every so often and to have no shame over having been a fool yet learning something out of every folly hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies thus arriving at intimate understanding of a world numbering many fools. Tell him to be alone often and get at himself and above all tell himself on lies about himself whatever the white lies and protective fronts he may use amongst other people. Tell him solitude is creative if he is strong and the final decisions are made in silent rooms. Tell him to be different from other people if it comes natural and easy being different." "Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives. Let him seek deep for where he is a born natural." The father wanted his son to seek the ambitions anyway. At the end of the poem, the author mentions Shakespeare and the others because he wanted his son to understand them. This poem was trying to get a message across: free imaginations bring changes into a world resenting change. We know as our own. Life should be containing both work and entertainment.

The father in poem "First Lesson" is overprotective for his daughter. His main goal is to teach his daughter: change is a threat. He believed that "change is like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle, it took such months to get." Also, the author said the father is not only a man but also a worrier. "Walk in strange woods, they warn you about the snakes there. Climb and they fear you'll fall. Books, angular boys, or swimming in deep water-fathers mistrust them all" have illustrated that how much a father cares about his daughter. From every sentence of this poem, the poet's general attitude toward her father is considering and understanding.

Parents' reactions to their children's growing up and becoming independent are depicted in Carl Sandburg's "A Father Sees His Son Nearing manhood" and in Phyllis McGinley's "First Lesson" have some of the similarities and differences between fathers' attitudes towards their sons in Sandburg's poem and their attitudes towards their daughters in McGinley's poem. The similarities between these two poems are use of metaphor, similes, and the common theme. Both poems show how much a father cares about his son/daughter, they all love their son/daughter. In the first poem "A Father Sees A Son Nearing Manhood", an example of the use of similes is in line 21, "Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted." In line 4, metaphor is used on the word "storms". In the second poem "First Lesson", an example of the use of similes is in line 3, metaphor is used in the phase "dragon seekers". Starting from line 6, it mentions "change is a threat-like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle". The differences between two poems are two different imaginary. In the first poem "A Father Sees A Son Nearing Manhood", the author using other literary elements such as repetition, personification, and alliteration. Also, it's about the relation between father to son. An example of alliteration is in line 4 and 5, "Life is hard; be steel, be a rock. And this might stand him for the storms. From this poem, we can find many examples of repetition. Start from line 4 to line 7, line 9 by using the word "And". The word "tell him" also appear many times. An example of personification is start from line 3 to line 7 "Life is hard; be steel; be a rock. And this might stand him for the storms. And serve him for humdrum and monotony. And guide him amid sudden betrayals. And tighten him for slack moments." The poet's way of writing is very creative. Life cannot serve anyone. Life is just a word to explain human nature. Father encouraged his son to explore and take the risk of life, life should be fun. The second poem "First Lesson" shows the relationship between daughter and father. On the first stanza, line1 to line 4, by just look at the end of every line, the rhyme scheme is a b c b. The father suggests life should not have any change. From a father's point of view, a kid will always be the kid. Change took such months to get any way.

As you can see, all the parents love their children. However, their way of showing love to their children is different. Carl Sandburg's "A Father Sees His Son Nearing Manhood" and Phyllis McGinley's "First Lesson" have provided us great examples about that concept. Although parents' reaction to their children's development and independence have both the similarities and differences, as long as their children understand, it would work eventually.