When I taught you at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping1 along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

HOW DOES LINES 21-25 CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE PEOM THEME?
CITE EVIDENCE FROM THE POEM TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER

Lines 21-25 makes all the difference when you look at the theme of the poem which speaks to Children Growing up and eventually leaving home.

Explanation:

The learning how to ride a bicycle is a metaphor for life.

Every other line seems to be talking about her eight-year-old daughter learning how to ride a bicycle. See lines 1-6.

Her surprise is ignited when her daughter starts "pumping away" at the pedals screaming with life. She is surprised to know that the mother-daughter experience as she knows it is over already. See lines 7-10.

But when you read those lines "like a handkerchief waving goodbye" all of a sudden the entire picture, the intended message hits you and you are almost moved to tears when you see from a mothers perspective how ti feels to quickly a daughter grow up and leave home.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)