I would like to introduce the poem, “The Red Hat”. In this poem, the “son” had walked to school with his parent because he had needed to be guided. While l read this poem, I remembered going to a kindergarten with my grandfather. I was a very little boy and I was always sad and I cried whenever he left me in front of the door of the kindergarten. As time went by, I could go to school with my friends or by myself and this made me refuse to go there with my grandfather. I’m a quite impressed while reading this poem and that is the reason why I hope to teach this poem to high school students.
“The Red Hat” delivers the message about the growing son’s independence and the parent’s mixed emotions watching this. Not that long ago, the “son” was guided by his parent because he would “dawdle”, was “dreamy” and too “slow” to go to school alone. However, he started walking to school around Christmas time. The parent wanted to ensure his safety so they tracked him on the way. They could see that their son “striding briskly”. They felt proud and fearful at the same time. And, these feelings give this poem its atmosphere. Even though, the poet uses difficult grammatical structures and poetic diction such as ties, stride, briskly, dawdle, flimsy, eddies, etc., this does not matters. The most significant part of learning poems is not grammar or structure but feeling the mood of what the poet wants to impart and apprehending implicit words.
The poet uses a familiar situation that all of us have experienced before. We are able to look back on the past and feel the parent’s heart while reading this poem. This means we can empathize with this poem. It’s like a reminder of how our parents care for us and their sacrifice in letting go, which everyone must never take for granted. I’m sure that it’s absolutely meaningful that I can learn and teach this poem. 
