Why a Generation Acts in the Ways in Which They Do: "Why Young Men Are So Ugly" by Tony Hoagland

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Why Young Men Are So Ugly by Tony Hoagland is a fantastic poem because I think it gives a hidden reasoning for why a certain generation of people acts in the ways in which they do. Upon reading the name of the poem, I immediately noticed how out there it was, which gave me the idea that the author may be an outspoken person. The title was effective in making me interested in the poem, because it stuck out and wasn’t a topic I’d ever read a piece about. Why Young Men Are So Ugly is a poet’s explanation of what goes on inside a young man’s mind, and on the inside of his body, despite what that young man may be displaying through his actions and words. The fact that Tony Hoagland was once a young man himself, and so this need for explanation is somewhat personal. Hoagland is giving reasoning for an experience he’s been through, which is probably why the poem clearly demonstrates a familiarity with the topic. Personification is an extravagant part of the poem, and used frequently. The first major and significant example of personification is in the second stanza “Making the metal ring like sledgehammers on iron/like dungeon prisoners rattling their chains.” (Hoagland). These two lines created an apparent image in my mind of what the author described was going on inside a young man’s body. I thought these lines could have been a comparison to the emotions one may be going through, a way for the author to explain how he could have felt, and had gave me the feeling he was crying out for someone to understand a certain frustration. I thought the third stanza in Why Young Men Are So Ugly had a lot of hidden meanings and significance. “That is why they shriek their tires at the stopsign/ why they turn the bass up on the ster... ... middle of paper ... ... is the most important line in the poem. I think the author used personification here to make the image clearer to the reader, and help them make the connection from the line to life. The line gives the idea that the author has had to overcome his own struggles in life, and is describing how it felt in this poem. Why Young Men Are So Ugly by Tony Hoagland is a brilliant poem because it portrays one of society’s stereotypes in a different and personal way. I think by describing the physical and emotional sides of how it may have felt to go through things young men may go through in this poem, the author successfully caught the my attention with the sense of emotion behind the lines he wrote. I really liked this poem because I liked making the connections between life and the stanzas in it, and then relating it back to what I know about judgment, and struggle.

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