How do the poems ‘The Choosing’ and ‘As I Grew Older’ explore different lives? Essay

Two incompatible poems explore various aspects in life such as different paths and h every last(predicate)ucinations interpreted by different individuals.In the poem As I Grew Older punctuation causes the poem to flow at a slower paste. This is done by separating all(prenominal) idea into individual lines, causing readers to stop at the end of each line before continuing into the next. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly,In the first stanza, the poet seems to view lost hope, feeling hopeless as his dream is forgotten. Then suddenly, his dream seemed to have moved closer in front of me and the expertness to reach out to his dreams, once again.In the second stanza, the poet uses and repeats words more than once creating a dream like atmosphere, as the last word at the end of the first two lines are carried and used again in the beginning of the next. Wall rose rose slowly slowly By ingeminate and having very short lines, it suggests that these words are being echoed again and again almost allowing readers to see an image of this wall rising. Although it does not state whether the wall is panoptical or not, it tells us that time is passing since the wall is rising higher and higher, slowly. Higher and higher the wall becomes as time passes, it slowly blocks and damages his dream Dimming, The light of my dream. He eventually becomes frustrated as this wall rose so high it touched the sky, again showing the passing of time.The third stanza totally contains two short lines, which is able to communicate a lot to the readers. A single word shadow whitethorn lead us to think of darkness, which may then link back into the second stanza, where the wall have rose so high that it is causing this shadow. This may further suggest and tote up to the imagery that the wall is visible. The poet then goes on and describes himself as being black which might put forward the idea of him being racially black, informing readers that he could have been discriminated and therefore, have lost hope or could also imply that the shadow have caused this blackness over him.In the next stanza, the verbaliser seemed to have given up as he realized that no matter how hard he tries, his dream is out of reach. No longer the light of my dream before me above me. Followed by the most depressed moment in the poem, where the poet uses the word only implying that he could no longer see his future, as all he sees is the wall and the shadow.In the last stanza, there is a change in both the tone and the speed. The lines seem to flow quicker as each line is longer and extended. Exclamation marks are constantly used fleck there are less full stops, my hands showing mogul and motivation. Then the speaker changes his tone demonstrating hope and excitement. Break through the wall indicating success, having the potential to achieve his dream.The Choosing explores and compares two individuals and the path they have chosen. The eye is the narrator (participant poet) that creates a stream of consciousness effect.The first stanza stronger enforces the idea to readers that the two individuals are represent and alike, by using words such as we same and tolerable over and over again. This stanza is written in past tense with the continuous use of the word first indicating that the two individuals have started with the same ability and chances. This stanza informs readers virtually the similarities and feelings they shared inside school.The second stanza occurs outside school, showing readers that as well as being alike, they are also best friends who have a honey oil bond being the cleverest. The poet has used brackets (equal) reinforcing to the readers that they are still equal. Readers is also told that they do not have many opportunities, as everything is small, small town, a small school. Despite the fact that they are equally bright, the poet also admits that fear is present between them as one individual excels more at a subject whilst they bot h fear that the other would be able to achieve more.In the third stanza, things begin to change. Since things are no longer equal, they start becoming different in the separate homes but same houses. The idea of alikeness is still present although the word home extends further suggesting different cultural and traditional ideas inside the families. Readers start to become aware that things begin to change as it states, Where the choices were made. This shows how similar two individuals may be physically, with the same colorful ribbons and hair and yet, they are so different.In the fourth stanza, a decision was made as Mary have moved away from their little town, while there is a change in status cheaper rent, high school bus. Readers hear the decision being made as Marys father didnt believe in high school education especially for girls and so we learn that Marys father has very traditional and old-fashioned ideas. Informal languages are used to describe how Marys father feels such as forking.Then there is a jump in time as it states ten years later where the two individuals meet up again, no longer alike. It has shorter lines that again, would make the flow slower taking in each idea separately. These seem like memories, where Mary is seated on the same bus, but with something extra. Her husband and the newborn baby (suggesting a happy family) since the poet describes how lovely they seem. Then the speaker says not that I envy her, really giving an impression to the readers that somewhere deep inside her, she would too like someone who loves her. in the end in the last stanza, there is a comparison between the speaker and Mary. Marys limb wraps around her newborn baby, where the speakers arm are full of books. The speaker wonders what path would have been taken if the individuals were able to make their own choices, wondering if they would have chosen different paths, as the speaker finishes with we do not remember making them.In conclusion, the two poems explore different lives through the use of punctuation and repetition of words, which helps to create imagery as well as assisting the indication of the passing of time.