White knuckles clench the wheel at ten and two, beads of sweat line the forehead, and a unsteady foot slams the pedals as the adolescent takes the drive into adulthood. As the adolescent moves forward, she must patiently learn control and meaning similar to how one learns to drive. In Ingrid Ankerson’s “Cruising”, the use of a reminiscence, interaction with still frames, and adolescent voice reveals the adolescent’s longing to find purpose and take control as she drives into adulthood. As the poem recalls an adolescent’s cruise, the meaning becomes apparent. The speaker “remember[s] cruising” as the night went by “like movie credits”, and as movie credits are commonly displayed as an insignificant blur of words that quickly pass, this gives the impression that the night lacked purpose. Following the description of the night, the speaker shows how desperate and adrift adolescents are in learning and finding their purpose by describing herself as “sniffing the …show more content…
As the reader attempts to follow along with the narrator, the still frames flow quickly past the screen and out of control in both directions (Ankerson and Sapnar). This erotic and seemingly uncontrollable movement represents how the reader’s struggle to find control parallels the adolescent’s struggle; the reader must learn how to control and drive the still frames as the adolescent must learn how to control and drive into adulthood. Additionally, the adolescent voice that accompanies the interactive still frames and text helps elucidate the meaning by giving the poem an emotional appeal that stresses the young female’s longing for purpose and control as she drives into adulthood (Ankerson and Sapnar). The use of these visual and auditory aspects drives the meaning of the poem home on different layer than the text
The friends of the narrator, however, do not hide in the imaginary world of childhood and are maturing into adolescents. Sally, “ screamed if she got her stockings muddy,” felt they were too old to “ the games” (paragraph 9). Sally stayed by the curb and talked to the boys (paragraph 10).
Equally essential as the narrative in poetic writing is the overall effect of language structure and description. Although there is no distinct rhythm or rhyme to this poem, it is through language and structure that the text is made inviting. In the blank verse, “Why are you still seventeen.../ dragging a shadow you’ve found?” (1), this metaphor for a borrowed lifestyle facilitates a feeling of lost identity and nostalgia for the past. By incorporating such language, and by choosing a self-proclaimed rhetorical question, the speaker adds to the effect of personal obscurity. An immense component of the entire poem are the combined stanzas: “that's not the road you want,/ though you have it to yourself.” This emulates the feeling of regret. In continuation of the metaphorical self-evaluation of the poem, it supports the idea
Various speakers reflecting on the same topic provide a change in perspective, and give different levels of insight to the audience. This can be represented when comparing the poems “The Ball” and “We Real Cool”. The Ball, told in a perspective of a matured man contemplating his journey, brings a more reflective approach to coming of age than the speaker in “We Real Cool”, who speak about the subject in the present tense. Additionally, the speaker in “The Ball” is singular while the speaker in “We Real Cool” is clearly a group. This difference conveys a separation between a specific experience and a collective opinion. These varying speakers present two different avenues for analyzing the experience of coming of age.
p. 82). Therefore, the adult narrator’s ability to comment and reflect on his child-self effectively emphasizes the naïve and vulnerable nature of youth, and contributes to the mood of foreboding and suspense throughout the novel, ‘now I was over confident. I expected things to go my way’ (Chapter 1. p. 28).
As a little girl, I saw the world in the best light simply because innocence clouded my judgement. As a child, I was innocent of mortality, as a teen hope, and as a young adult love. However, later on that innocence took on the role of ignorance. Not in the sense of not being knowledgeable or educated on the matter, but rather knowing it all too well that I choose not to acknowledge it. Innocence can be served as an instrument to block out surroundings when problems arise. It is an illusion of reality to protect what the individual desires to be true to what is actual. In Wendy Cope’s poem “Reading Scheme,” Cope writes about an affair more from the perspective of children by using the villanelle form to illustrate the inability of the
In the poem “XIV”, Derek Walcott recalls a memory in which he visits an elderly storyteller. The reader can understand the significance behind the journey as Walcott uses poetic devices such as imagery, metaphors, and personification to establish tone and highlight symbolic aspects in the poem. The overall intriguing tone of the poem adds
This dramatization brings the reader to the realization that the protagonist’s stream of consciousness narration is very unpredictable, yet will ultimately lead to his ability to expose his true feelings as the story develops. The author clearly likes to represent this feeling of indecision with poetic illustration as it is used several times in both stories. In “Newlywed”, the narrator vividly describes his mixed feelings toward his wife, Atsuko, during the peak of his epiphany-like experience:
In many cultures, coming of age is often celebrated because children become young adults who grasp self-awareness and accountability. At the same time, childhood is threatened by responsibility, which is dreaded because there is an unpredictable world of adulthood waiting with no guarantees. James Hurst demonstrates the journey of growing up through life experiences everyone goes through in the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”. Throughout his use of mood, setting, and symbolism, Hurst shows that maturing requires reflecting on past experiences and losing innocence, which then can transform one’s outlook on life.
The author tries to convey this message mainly through writing this piece in first person while using the literary style of stream of consciousness. Periodically throughout the piece, the author shows his
The different styles of writing and wording that Moody used throughout his piece created and maintained a continuous pace. This pace allows the reader along with the narrator to become a part of the ‘boys’” aging process. Lastly, his choice of topic adds to the energy of the story, he begins his piece inspired by someone else’s, creates a variation of sentences based on the phrase “the boys entered the house” and then writes what he knows and incorporates personal aspects of
There are some images and events that stick with a person forever and can change their entire outlook on life. Sometimes these events are experienced indirectly, through the media, but that does not mean that it impacts the person any less. Audre Lorde is one of those people who is indirectly affected by a tragedy that she witnesses through the eyes of the media and her society. For Audre Lorde, the brutal murder of a young African American boy sticks with her and inspires her to write an emotional poem entitled “Afterimages.” The image of the boy, Emmett till, is forever engraved in Audre Lorde’s brain (Lorde 48). Her poem clearly expresses how distraught she is, not only with what happens to Emmett Till, but also with the views of society as a whole. The theme for Audre Lorde’s “Afterimages” is traumatic events can reflect the attitudes of members of a society and can also significantly impact the lives of young people.
The poem Suicide Note, written by Janice Mirikitani (1987), talks about a young lady, who has studied in an Asian-American female college. The lady, unfortunately, committed suicide by jumping through her dormitory’s window. She left behind a note, citing reasons that led to her actions. After a critical analysis of the note, her parents were held responsible for her actions; they were pressurizing her to perform better in her exams. The poem, thus, describes the real feelings and the emotions of this young lady, who believes that committing suicide is the only option left to please her parents and to escape the enormous pressure placed on her. The persona uses voice in the poem to bring our attention to the sufferings she was going through, and that led to the devastating event. Voice in poetry is the strong words of a line, stanza or a page that creates a relationship between the audience and the persona. Voice can, therefore, be categorized as imagery, patterns of sounds created, rhythm, tone, and diction (Gahern 166). The following is a description of how the voice in Mirikitani’s suicide note helps the reader understand the persona’s reasoning.
Poetry can follow your life all the way through, from the innocence of a child, to the end of your days. The comfort, seduction, education, occasion and hope found in poems are elaborated in Poetry Should Ride the Bus by Ruth Forman. As the poem reads on, you not only travel through the life of a person from adolescence to being elderly through vivid imagery, but also hit on specific genres of poems through the personification of poetry as the characters in the stages of life. This poem’s genres hit on what poetry should do and be, by connecting the life many of us live.
When the narrator first encounters the girl, his friend's older sister, he can only see her silhouette in the “light from the half-opened door”. This is the beginning of his infatuation with the girl. After his discovery, he is plagued by thoughts of the girl which make his daily obligations seem like “ugly, monotonous, child's play”. He has become blinded by the light. The narrator not only fails to learn the name of his “girl”, he does not realize that his infatuation with a woman considerably older than himself is not appropriate. He relishes in his infatuation, feeling “thankful [he] could see so little” while he thinks of the distant “lamp or lighted window” that represents his girl. The narrator is engulfed by the false light that is his futile love.
Blake’s two poems are both told from a child’s point of view, which is different from many works and forces adult readers to realize the fault in society’s standards through the bleak eyes of the many unfortunate children.