Labels Schmabels.

For the poem "Elegy for My Father, Who Is Not Dead", the categories of "optimistic" and "pessimistic" do fail to describe the poem. The speaker sees life as this grand adventure, which could be labelled optimistic. at the same time, he is questioning his dad for welcoming death and stating his refusal to die. This could be labelled "pessimistic". So, these labels are too confining for a poem of this nature. On the pessimistic side, the speaker says, " He's ready. I am not. I can't just say good-bye as cheerfully as if he were embarking on a trip...". The speaker sees his father's cheerful attitude toward death as preposterous. On the optimistic side, the speaker says, "...a new desire building up, an itch to see fresh new worlds." This is an optimistic view in the sense that he is describing death as a gateway to new experiences and new worlds. As is the case with most things in life, these labels are whack.