Following poetic devices have been used in the poem A Father to His Son:

1. Metaphor- A metaphor directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. Example- “Life is a soft loam”
2. Personification– Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human. Examples- “lazy days”, “a world resenting change”
3. Alliteration- It is the occurrence of the same sound at the beginning of closely connected words. Examples- “frail flower”, “whatever the white lies”
4. Enjambment– It is the continuation of a sentence to multiple lines. Many of the sentences in this poem span multiple lines and are therefore of this nature.
5. Repetition- It is the repetition of a word or a phrase in the poem for poetic effect. Throughout this poem, the phrase “Tell him” is repeatedly used to emphasize the poet’s instructions.

Summary of the Poem a Father to His Son by Carl August Sandburg