In David Wagoner's poem, "My Father's Garden," the speaker describes his father's work as successful gardener who his father finds very productive but doesn't end up yielding anything of value. Through the use of vivid imagery, we are presented with two contrasting views of life. In four stanzas, Wagoner's use of imagery and metaphor shows us how he feels about his father's work, his upbringing, and subsequently the choices his father made throughout his life . We are first presented with the image of an open fireplace which directly sets the tone. for the first stanza. The speaker's description of his father as a knight in a furnace with where "white-hot steel" (ln, 1) which is pierced by "his lance" (ln, 2) has a negative connotation. With the use of the words "flaming" and "molten" (ln, 4), the setting is hellish and ultimately gives us insight into the speaker's impression of his father. However, in the last sentence, the scene changes dramatically from a ruthless "open home" to a quiet junkyard that is his father's "kind of garden" (ln, 6)....