*~ Work Cited~*

Meinke, Peter. “Advice to My Son.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed.

Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. 805 – 806

Clockwatch. An Interview with Peter Meinke. 1990-1991. 14 April 2009

<http://titan.iwu.edu/~jplath/meinke.html>.

*~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.

*~My Interest~*

This is a poem that i can relate to on so many different levels. I have found in my life, as many others have found in theirs, that it can be difficult to learn through another person, rather than having to learn from your own experience. This poem encourages me to enjoy everyday the Lord so graciously give me and at the same time plan for my future if i survive the expected and unexpected events that will take place in my life.

~*Peter Meinke's Background*~

Peter Meinke was born on December 29, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York. He married Jeanne Clark in 1957, and they have four children. Meinke received an A.B degree from Hamilton College in 1955, an M.A from the University of Michigan in 1961, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1965. In 1968 he went t teach at Florida Presbyterian College ( later renamed Eckerd College)in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is currently professor of the English literature and director of the creative writing program at Eckerd. He is a poet and a fiction writer, but poetry is his first love. According to the interview by James Plath, Meinke states,"I always thought I wanted to write poetry, and fiction came as a result of experiences from traveling."