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What is maturity in literature
On turning ten by billy collins analysis
On turning ten by billy collins analysis
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In the poem “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins, imagery and movement is used to display the sadness of a little boy who is turning ten and does not want to grow up.
The overall theme of the poem shows sadness and humor. The boy in the poem is very depressed about getting older, but there is some irony in the sadness that the boy is experiencing. He acts like getting older is a sickness. "The whole idea of it makes me feel like im coming down with somthing" (1-2). Collins does acknowledge that is hard for anyone to leave their childhood, and that it is not an enjoyable experience. However, Collins was not turning ten when he was writing the poem. Its seems as though he is making fun of how depressed the boy feels because he still has his whole life ahead of him. The little guy is not even close to being mature, and thats what is so ironic about the boy being sad. He acts like he will never have fun again, and that life will never be the same. Others would most likely agree with Collins that the boy is being over dramatic.
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The imagery used by Collins shows how an imagination slowly fades as a person ages."At four I was an arabian wizard. I could make myself invisable by drinking a glass of milk a certain way. At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince" (13-16). Even though the boy is using his imagination, it is clear that each year he gets older his imagination becomes less fictional and more real. At each age his dreams become more realistic. The order of being a wizard, being invisible, and becoming a prince show how the boy has matured. Now as he looks back, he feels as though he is completely mature and all his dreams must come to an
This is displayed in lines one through five, as he expresses through imagery the bliss of a first chapter. Many examples of positive imagery is displayed when he says lines such as, “how even the banisters are polished for us, / that we feel free to walk out / with the lady of the house and smoke / a cigarette, down the grand alley of elms” (9-12). The fact that the poet enjoys the first chapter of a book helps develop a positive connotation towards the chapter, which helps contribute to the innocence of the first chapter. When readers relate this to their own life, they will think back at how joyous and buoyant their early life was. The first chapter and early childhood go hand-in-hand because they are both so simple. The first chapter is mostly the exposition, where you explain the time, place, and characters. Nothing that furthers the plot or suspense of the book is introduced in the first chapter. The poet institutes this simplicity by saying, “Nothing really happens now, / beyond the delivery of breakfast trays” (15-16). This can relate to one’s own childhood because no sense of responsibility is established. So, someone will be stuck being a kid with no worries of the outside world and no mature
With the use of irony and a free rhyme scheme, Collins’ poem vocalizes his opinion on how lying to children about significant facts can only serve to make them ignorant. The way he communicates this to us is by ironically emphasizing events by understating them. He shows how important an event is by mocking the teacher’s portrayal of the event. One example of how he does this is how the teacher tells his students that the ice age was just the “chilly age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters.”(3-4). Collins does this several times with other important events in history, such as the Spanish Inquisition, where “[It] was nothing more than an outbreak of questions.”(7-8). The teacher’s interpretation of events, when compared to the actual events themselves creates a sense of unease, as the lies stray far away from what actually happened, and brings up the question of whether or not these lies should be told. Collins uses events that involve death and destruction to accentuate how big the contrast between the teacher’s explanation and reality is. After the class ends, the children leave the classroom to “torment the weak and the smart” (15-16), while the teacher is oblivious to it all. Note that Collins puts “and the smart” (16) on a separate line from “torment the weak” (15). The children in the class aren’t smart because they did not learn about the true events in history. This distinction emphasized the ignorance of the children. This contrasts with Wilbur’s poem, as the lie told there served to soothe a child’s fear, rather than breed ignorance. The rhyme scheme is different as well. Collins’ free rhyme scheme is used to create a sense of unease, whereas Wilbur’s rhyme scheme creates a child-like feeling to his poem. Unlike the parents in “A Barred Owl”, the teacher is portrayed as an ignorant man, unaware of what happens around
Youth often indicates a sense of self that is no longer present in adulthood, an individuality with a distinct disregard of the expectations of others. A couple of Doty’s poems draw from the experiences of youth, Brian Age Seven showcases a young boy, unperturbed by society’s mores, while Charlie Howard’s Descent describes the pressure that youths face as they grow older. Brian Age Seven follows a first-grade class on a field trip to a pharmacy, after which the students draw self-portraits. Doty describes Brian’s drawing, “It isn’t craft / that makes this figure come alive; / Brian draws just balls and lines, / in wobbly crayon strokes.
Each of the poems offers insight to what a boy needs to know and will expect when turning twenty one. The each shows different perspectives on the importance of this birthday and how it can change a boy into a man. The tone, dictions, and structure offers insights and help to the reader of how these poems can convey each their own compelling
The author throughout the poem discusses the troubles and changes faced by a newly-turned ten-year-old boy. “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers. It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number.” (Collins 46) The boy feels as though he must leave behind the playfulness of his early childhood with the addition of another digit. As he lies on his bed he remembers the fun he had playing as an Arabian Wizard, a soldier, and a prince. The rite of passage, turning ten, has brought him further into reality, shown by the final stanza. “It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light. If you cut me I could shine. But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life, I skin my knees. I bleed.” Collins
...h is why fantasy is necessary for children in succeeding through a quest for sanity and morality. Through what is essentially known as escaping reality, children such as the character Max can further bring themselves to understand what they are feeling by unconsciously thinking about it in an imaginative way. Projecting certain personalities into characters in a way that accurately relates to Max is a prosperous way to develop a reassured idea in his life, between himself and the relationships around him. Thus, effortlessly reaching a sense of sanity and morality after all, “Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.” (Lloyd Alexander)
Jack’s poems focus heavily on experiences he’s had throughout his life. He stays very close to his childhood and says he truly remembers what it was like to be a kid. He includes these good and bad experiences in his poetry, really relating with events that happen to today’s youngsters.
Throughout his poetry, Collins demonstrates, in a witty and satirical voice, his insightfulness towards the objects, using numerous poetic devices, especially allusions and metaphors to effectively convey his messages, most of which revolves around the theme of death. Humor and irony are unique combinations Collins displays in many of his poems, challenging the readers to interpret his work from different perspectives. In “Introduction to Poetry,” Collins offers a witty comparison between the definition of poetry and various other experiments. He asks the reader to “hold [the poem] up to the light/ like a color slide” (1-3), “press an ear against its hive” (4), “drop a mouse into a poem” (5), “walk inside the poem's room” (7), and “waterski across the surface of a poem” (9-10). Rather than stiffly explaining the definition of a poem, he finds creative and humorous approaches to explain his methods of enjoying the poems, and promote the readers’ interest towards discovering the true meaning of poetry.
Indeed, the satirical tone of this poem suggests that the speaker is somewhat critical of his father. The whiskey smell, the roughness, the inconsiderate and reckless actions are under scrutiny. The mother's frowning countenance suggests she too is rather unhappy with the scene. However, the winning tone of the poem is the light and comical one.
The Trouble with Poetry mainly focuses on time, whether it's actual time like; day and night or describing the atmosphere that is in his surroundings. Collins begins his poem with "walked along a beach.. cold Florida sand.." and ends with "poet of San Francisco.. treacherous halls of high school.." Possibly describing a time he has lived. His tone rotates throughout the poem expressing the pros and cons about poetry itself. He expresses sorrow in lines 1-24 wanting poetry to stop spreading almost like an act of selfishness, but his emotions shift in lines 25-47 to a positive tone referring to poetry being something he can escape to.
While the initial feeling of the song can be glum, the true message behind the song is happiness. In the song Cole raps about the life he once lived while growing up in poverty. Cole connects with the listeners by referring to when he was growing up, and the hardships he would face. I see poetry through this because this provides an emotional message about how life was growing up in poverty and dealing with the difficulties of life. Cole starts his first verse by saying the following:
innocence and how it all changed at the end of primary school. inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks I believe. This symbolizes the change from a child into an adolescent. However, in Piano, the poem shows us how the past will always shape us. tells us how we can never go back to the past I weep like a child for.
The title has one line, representing the son’s age as one and the first stanza has two lines, representing the son’s age as two – this continues until stanza five when the child is five. At the age of five, the son “waits in [his father’s] lap” (3) and awaits a new story; this is when the father realizes that he is unable to come up with a new story and begins to fear his son’s disappointment. The following stanza has four lines, representing how the father wishes to go back to a time where he was able to entertain the son with the “alligator story” or the “angel story” (13) without the sons desire for something new. The final stanza has five lines, this is because it is the reality which the father has to face because his son will not ‘become younger’ or interested again in the stories that he has heard before. The structure of the poem expresses the complexity of the internal struggle of the father to fill his son’s desire as he reaches an age in which stories that he has already heard do not entertain him through the purposefully structured stanzas that represent the son’s growth along with the father’s wish to go back rather than
The popular American Poet, Billy Collins, is playing a significant role in the evolution of poetry. His writing style evokes an array of emotions for the reader. Every stanza in his poetry passes the satirical standard that he generated for himself over his career. Collins swiftly captivates his readers through his diverse use of figurative language. More specifically, his use of vivid imagery paired with humorous personification and extended metaphors create his unique style of satirical poetry. This developed form of writing appeals to a large crowd of people because the generally accessible topics that he discusses are fairly easy to resonate for the common man. However, his poetry offers an interesting perspective on what otherwise would be simplistic ideas. The main themes and concepts that are being presented in each of his writings are revered and coveted by the general population. An appealing aspect of his writing is his ability to directly convey the main idea within the poem. As a result, the reader can understand the meaning of his work with ease. The typical beginning of his work gives the reader a slight taste of what is to come. Billy Collins’ unique writing style and various trademarks directly influenced by his ability to propagate an array of emotions for the reader, his humorous tone, and the accessibility of the topics he describes within his poetry.
The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism.... ... middle of paper ... ...