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As I Grew Older Analysis

Decent Essays

The poems “Hall of Fame” and “As I Grew Older” are about achieving dreams. These pieces of literature share a similar theme, but the works themselves are different in several ways. “Hall of Fame” is a song that uses repetition and hyperboles to inspire the reader. “As I Grew Older” is a poem written by Langston Hughes that uses similes and metaphors to describe the pain and hardship of having a dream. In this essay, I will compare and contrast “Hall of Fame” and “As I Grew Older.” These works differ in tone, structure, and ideas. These works have many differences, yet both share one goal: they want to make you try and achieve your dream.

First off, one main difference in these two poems is that they were written for different audiences. “Hall of Fame” is a poem that was written for those who need inspiration in attaining success. This poem was made to inspire and encourage you to try your hardest to achieve your dreams. For example, the poem uses several lines starting with “you can” and “you could,” which are meant to make readers believe they can reach success. Readers can tell that the author believes in them and thinks that they should never give up. The line “and the world’s gonna know your name” shows that the author wrote this for the audience, and not himself. In comparison, “As I Grew Older” is a poem that uses words like “I” and “me” to show that the author is describing himself. This poem is about the author’s struggles with trying to achieve his dream. The author explains that long ago he forgot his dream and he warns us of how hard it can be to stay true to your dream. The author describes this in the line, “I have almost forgotten my dream” shows us that the author long ago forgot what he was working for. Later, the author writes “And then the wall rose… between me and my dream.” This isn’t a struggle that we’re going through, but it’s one that the author has felt and what’s to describe to us.

In addition, a difference in the poems “Hall of Fame” and “As I Grew Older” is that these two poems have different tones. The poem “Hall of Fame” has a confident tone because of its bold word choice. For instance, this poem uses lines like “and you’ll be on the wall of the hall of fame” and “dedicate

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