*~Poem Analysis~*

In the poem " Advise to My Son", by Peter Meinke, he is set out to give his son advise on choices he should make in life. In the first stanza he states, ".... live your days as if each one may be your last..."( Diyanni 806) , essentially saying that you need to savor the moment and appreciate the present, because tomorrow is not promise to you. Then he go off to say"... but at the same time, plan long range..."(806) In other words, while you're enjoying life plan for the future. He also advises his son to plant peony and roses between the squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes, he uses symbolism in these two lines. The peony and roses represent beauty and the veggies represent substance, because the body can not survive on beauty alone. In the second stanza, he also implies that you should enjoy the finer things in life, but at the same time be concerned about your healthy by eating the right foods. He's focus of the poem is to show the impact of our choices with added advise. For example he tells his son to "...marry a pretty girl after seeing her mother"(806) This is good advise because woman are a product of their mother, in most cases. Peter Meinke is simply telling his son that he will experience many things and every choice has consequences.