People around the world have a common misconception that young adults experiencing the transformation of puberty are overly dramatic. Making the transition from an undeveloped child to a fully developed young adult can be an extremely confusing and complex time for these young adults and this is shown throughout this poem. Sharon Hamilton describes a metaphor as including “a word or phrase that in literal use designates one kind of thing is applied to a conspicuously different object, concept, or experience, without asserting an explicit comparison” (35). Sharon Old utilizes the literary device of the metaphor, effectively in her comparison of mathematics to a young girl discovering womanhood in “The Only Girl at the Boys Party” to convey this feeling of complexity brought upon by accepting one’s developing body and accepting the new changes within you throughout these developing years. Throughout this essay this will be argued through the demonstration of two points of evidence. The first piece of evidence revolving around the description of the girl’s recently transformed body and the way it’s described as indivisible. The second piece of evidence discusses the way the pool is compared to adulthood and the sentiments the poet attributes to this metaphor. It will be clear after reading this essay that the application of metaphor can be an extremely impactful way to further one’s understanding of a topic and to convey an opinion or take-home message to an audience, and it
Teenage rebellion is typically portrayed in stories, films, and other genres as a testosterone-based phenomenon. There is an overplayed need for one to acknowledge a boy’s rebellion against his father, his life direction, the “system,” in an effort to become a man, or rather an adult. However, rarely is the female addressed in such a scenario. What happens when little girls grow up? Do they rebel? Do they, in a sudden overpowering rush of estrogen, deny what has been taught to them from birth and shed their former youthful façades? Do they turn on their mothers? In Sharon Olds’ poem, “The Possessive,” the reader is finally introduced to the female version of the popular coming-of-age theme as a simple
The atmospheric conditions may represent the hardships that the couple had to go through in their relationship, and may also be used contrast the unpredictability of the outside world compared to the steady relationship that the couple have. ‘A Youth Mowing’ is also a poem about relationships, this time it is between a younger couple. The river ‘Isar’ is a symbol of freedom, it represents the way that the men’s lives are. However, this sense of liberty is broken by the ‘swish of the scythe-strokes’ as the girl takes ‘four sharp breaths.’ Sibilance is used to show that there is a sinister undertone to the freedom that the boy has which will be broken by the news that his girlfriend is bringing. She feels guilty for ‘what’s in store,’ as now the boy will have to be committed to spending the rest of his life with her, and paying the price for the fun that they had.
“Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier is a personal narrative of the challenges that adolescents face with coming of age. The author is able to accurately capture the voice of her younger self-using literary devices such as imagery, juxtaposition, and diction. The author uses these literary devices to give the reader a precise representation of the struggles she surpassed, which pushed her towards adulthood.
The strongest usage of metaphor in this poem is in the first stanza in the line “write their knees with necessary scratches”. While scratches cannot be written, words can, so this insinuates that children learn with nature, and that despite its fading presence in today’s urban structures, it is a necessary learning tool for children. The poet has used this metaphor to remind the reader of their childhood, and how important it is to not just learn from the confines of a classroom, but in the world outside. This leads to create a sense of guilt in the reader for allowing such significant part of a child’s growing up to disintegrate into its concrete surroundings. Although a positive statement within itself, this metaphor brings upon a negative
The child seems to address the reader and says, “You tell me it’s too early to be looking back, but that is because you have forgotten the perfect simplicity of being one and the beautiful complexity introduced by two” (76). The child goes on to list more magnificent experiences he had as a younger child. With these lines Collins masterfully predicts what the reader must be feeling. The reader is doubtful at first that this boy is old enough to be thinking about this, but as the stanza carries on they begin to realize he has a point. Collins reminds the reader of possible memories they have and proves that what this child is feeling is valid. The boy goes on to proclaim, “It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number. Collins suggests that an active and free roaming imagination must be let go as one grows older. Again he targets the readers past experiences and reminds them that growing up can be a really sad thing. The reader is also reminded of the fun childhood they lost. It is clear to see that adults who have forgotten their past are the targeted audience as the poem reminds them of old times and causes them to remember lost memories of growing
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).
Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Often times in our society young people push off responsibilities, it's easy to do. Technology and other innovations have made it convenient for us to become distracted and to push things off. However when growing up, sometimes taking responsibility cannot be avoided. In coming of age stories, the author uses symbolism to exemplify how the protagonists experience new independence and responsibility while they transition from childhood to adulthood.
The imagery in the poem “35/10” also conveys the speaker’s wistfulness and jealousy for her daughter’s youth. The speaker describes her daughter as, “a moist/ precise flower on the tip of a cactus” (9-10) while she says, “my skin shows/ its dry pitting” (8-9). These phrases paint an image of the daughter as blooming and new, whereas the speaker is wilting and used. The word moist is associated with youthfulness and the word dry is associated with old age. The speaker’s use of the contrasting words moist and dry also allows the reader to use visual and tactile senses to picture the physical differences between the
The poem “Seniors” by Alberto Ríos tells of one man’s experiences with imaginary girls. During high school students are go through puberty and are experiencing bodily changes and changes in feelings as well. But what change this poem mostly goes in depth with is the increase of sexual feelings towards the other gender in the perspective of a male. The narrator talks about his classmates, he provides us with a glimpse of what it means for males to develop sexual feelings. However, once the narrator starts talking about himself is when the poem begins to unfold. You understand that the poem is mostly about masturbation, Ríos argues that an imaginary girl is as good as if not better than having sex with a real girl.
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.
Being on the verge of adulthood and having just left the simplicity of childhood, teenagers have always been particularly complex and enigmatic individuals. While most people struggle to see things from an adolescent perspective, Canadian playwright Joan MacLeod is well-known for her accurate portrayal of teenagers. In 2002, she published The Shape of a Girl, a play related to the dramatic story of a young girl named Reena Virk who was tragically affected by bullying, a characteristic behavior of adolescent development. Throughout The Shape of a Girl, MacLeod effectively exploits the Aristotelian dramatic elements and she uses Reena Virk’s story as well as the thoughts that it produces in the antagonist’s mind to portray both adolescent character traits and behavioral patterns.
In this stylistic analysis of the lost baby poem written by Lucille Clifton I will deal mainly with two aspects of stylistic: derivation and parallelism features present in the poem. However I will first give a general interpretation of the poem to link more easily the stylistic features with the meaning of the poem itself.
While reading both “On Growing Up Between Genders”, by Stephen Burt and “The Female Body” by Margaret Atwood, I was so moved by both poets writing that I felt as though I was living their experiences with them. Throughout the course of both pieces, I felt emotionally drawn to obstacles of both writers, while understanding their wants of an experience very different from the ones previously given to them.
The film Boy Meets Girl (2014) is about a transgender woman named Ricky Jones trying to navigate her life and feelings with her childhood best friend Robby Riley, and new romantic interest, Francesca Duval. The movie presents many themes and ideas concerning gender and sexuality, as well as its construction and development. First, the film shows how sexuality, and gender, is something that is assumed to be known on some level, but is never actually discussed in detail, or at length. Instead, sexuality becomes something that is never really talked about. The film showed this idea with having Ricky try to ask advice about having sex with a female was like, and how it was different from having sex with a guy, and Robby believed that it
Sharon Old’s was born on November 19th, 1942 in San Francisco, California. She grew up in a strict household where her family believed in Calvinism (Christian traditions and principles of John Calvin, the theologian) for example; they did not watch TV or go to the movies. Her father was an alcoholic who often beat on his wife, and kids like his father did. Consequently, after completing elementary school, Sharon went off to an all-girls school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Below is a list of Ms. Sharon Old’s, once she found her interest in reading and poetry: