Poem Analysis “As I Grew Older,” by Langston Hughes Time passes by, leaving behind memories but dreams never fade. They are immortalised in ones’ souls. In the poem, “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes, the persona’s dreams are immortalised since his childhood although he faces numerous obstacles in achieving them. The poem is about one’s dream in life. In the quest of his journey, the persona encounters enormous number of challenges and barriers. The theme of this poem revolves around the strong willingness and the hardship needed for ones to achieve their goals. For teenagers, dreams seem to be their inspiration in life. They are stronger with the presence of dreams in their life. The persona first introduces his poem with the existence of his dreams, ‘It was a long time ago’ (line 1), and ‘I have almost forgotten my dream’ (line 2). This is typical in most teenagers. They come out with so many dreams, slowly the dreams fade as the time passes by and the dreams are forgotten due to their other commitments and in a certain point of their life, the dreams reappear and they become very enthusiastic about them. The poet uses ‘The wall’ to symbolise the barriers and hardships that teenagers might have come across in order to achieve their dreams. ‘Rose until it touched the sky’, (line 11) the barriers faced by teenagers can sometime be to the maximum point where only courage and determination are needed to resolve them. Physical barrier such as poverty, inter personal barrier that revolves around the teenager’s individual mental states as well as intra personal barrier that takes the others as the medium of control and semantic barrier which includes the communication process. All these four barriers play a very big role in a... ... middle of paper ... ...ntain one’s motivation in life. There is a saying which goes “there is no one who became rich because he worked on a holiday, and no one who became fat because he broke a fast”. Bibliography 1. http:www.todays-woman.net/famous-poetsprint-828.html, retrieved on October 29 2008, 5.30 pm. 2. Beard, Adrian. (2003). The Language of Literature. USA: Routledge. 3. Dr. Leng, Andrew. (2002). Literature:Reading, Drama, Poetry and The Unsen Features. Singapore: Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd. 4. Calvo, Clara & Jacques, Jean. (1998). The Literature Workbook. USA: Routledge. 5. Simpsom, J.A. & Weiner, E.S.C. (1989). The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, volume xvll). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 6. Stanford, Judith A. (2002). Responding to Literature : Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays. New York : McGraw-Hill
The persona in the poem reacts to the power the wall has and realizes that he must face his past and everything related to it, especially Vietnam.
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These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages. The form of the poem is open because there are no specific instances where the lines are similar. The words in each stanza are divided into each of the three growth stages or personal experiences.
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It describes how the conservative farmer follows traditions blindly and the isolated life followed by him. It reflects how people overcome physical barriers and that later in life come to their social life too. Where a neighbor with a pine tree, believes that this separation is needed as it is essential for their privacy and personal life. The poem explores a paradox in human nature. The first few lines reflect demolition of the wall,?Something there is that doesn?t reflect love a wall?
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
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The poem itself is a technique Robert Frost uses to convey his ideas. Behind the literal representation of building walls, there is a deeper metaphoric meaning, which reflects people's attitudes towards others. It reflects the social barriers people build, to provide a sense of personal security and comfort, in the belief that barriers are a source of protection which will make people less vulnerable to their fears. Robert Frost's ideas are communicated strongly through the perspective of the narrator in the poem, the 'I' voice, who questions the need for barriers. The use of conversation and the thoughts of the narrator reflect the poet's own thoughts. In line thirty to line thirty-five, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall. He has an open disposition and does not understand the need to 'wall in' or 'wall out' anything or anyone.
In the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth, this difference between children and adults and their respective states of mind is articulated and developed. As a person ages, they move undeniably from childhood to adulthood, and their mentality moves with them. On the backs of Blake and Wordsworth, the reader is taken along this journey.