January Chance January Chance is written by Mark Van Doren, the poem is about how a father and son need to patch things up before it is too late. The poem uses many descriptive literal and metaphorical details to describe the life of the father and son. It also uses a purposeful organization of its details and a meaningful title. The message that the poet tries to send is that if a person needs to talk to a loved one, then that person should do it before it’s too late or he/she will never get another chance. The poem is written so that the literal details are shown first, then as the reader explores deeper in