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Storgy

The Annotated Edition

Walking Away by Cecil Day-Lewis

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

Composed
1962 · Postwar

In copyright · excerpt not reproduced

Read the full poem at Sinclair-Stevenson, 1962.

Our analysis below quotes only short phrases from the poem under fair-dealing criticism and commentary. The complete poem is available through the publisher above.

parenthoodlossgrowing apart
TeacherAQA scaffold — preview

AO1 — Interpretation + textual reference

In 'Walking Away', Day-Lewis presents the pain of parental love as inseparable from the act of release, arguing that love is proved most powerfully not through holding on but through letting go. The speaker watches his child move away …

  • AO2 — Language, form, structure (with effect)
  • AO3 — Context woven into close reading
  • Comparison hooks
  • Common student errors
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