Millay Hughes Young Essay, Research Paper

While reading the poems of Millay, Hughes, and Young two similarities jumped out

of the text. Between ?God?s World,? ?As I grew Older,? and ?For

Poets? the theme of enjoying life became very evident. The other theme that

jumps out falls along the lines of looking to nature for happiness and

inspiration. Many lines in these poems support their themes so people find it

easier to understand the message of what the poems mean. Enjoying life and

experiencing different aspects of it becomes evident as people read through

Langston Hughes?s poem ?As I Grew Older.? In lines one and two, it reads,

?It was a long time ago. / I have almost forgotten my dream.? A feeling of

forgetting a dream doesn?t help people to enjoy life. The person in the poem

that has forgotten his or her dream cannot experience different things because

he or she has no motivation for experiencing life. If someone has a dream of

becoming an astronaut, then they should pursue that dream. Instead the world

tells people that they must have certain criteria for becoming that astronaut

and if they don?t measure up they cannot become an astronaut. Hughes? poem

should help people remember their dreams of childhood. Lines six through eleven

?And then the wall rose,/ Rose slowly, /Slowly, / Between me and my dream. /

Rose until it touched the sky– /The wall.? These lines symbolize the act of

losing sight of a dream, reinforcing what was mentioned previously. In Edna

Millay?s poem, ?God?s World,? lines for and five help convey the theme

of getting out and delighting in life. ?Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache

and sag / And all but cry with color!? This reminds people that they could be

missing out on a beautiful day. Presenting a new look on an autumn day helps the

reader know what the author was feeling when he or she wrote the poem. Instead

of looking at an autumn day and thinking that everything is dying and winter is

coming soon, it?s looking at the trees, and the colors, and how wonderful

everything looks. ?For Poets? may be one of the biggest poems for getting

people to seize the day. Just to use an example, lines one through seven,

?Stay Beautiful / but don?t stay down underground too long / don?t turn

into a mole / or a worm / or a root / or a stone? Not staying underground too

long is a great way to enjoy life. Staying underground too long doesn?t allow

for someone to accomplish a lot of things. ?Staying Beautiful,? seeing

things, knowing things, combine to make what is known as life. Life should be

experiencing and seeing and learning. Staying underground and being a mole or a

worm doesn?t allow for learning. Nature accomplishes more then just a

beautiful background to a wonderful poem. Nature helps an author bring his or

her point across easier. ?As I Grew Older? uses lines four through six to

portray the theme of nature. ?In front of me, / Bright like a sun- / My

dream? The suns brings life, life brings happiness. A major step towards

helping the audiences understand what the author is saying is to use symbolism.

Referring the dream to the sun means that the dream was just as big and

beautiful as the sun. The dream of ?a better future, free from the shackles of

oppression and racism.? (Responding to Literature p. 383) Langston Hughes was

an African American writer so he would want to write about this type of dream,

and the sun was the best way he could describe it using nature. Lines one

through three in God?s World, ?O World, I cannot hold thee close enough! /

Thy winds, they wide gray skies! / Thy mists that roll and rise!? This poem

describes nature and how it can be enjoying. These lines describe nature so they

are a prefect example of how nature is used in poems. It?s showing how life

can be and how beautiful the world can be. Having to go see what is out there is

just saying that experiences are a part of life. The nature in ?For Poets?

symbolizes just about everything that we shouldn?t become. In lines four

through seven the poem mentions a mole, a root, a stone, and a worm, all

examples of the wrong thing to be. Al Young wanted everyone to realize they

should get out in the world. Using nature gives people an idea of what they

should be doing. Not becoming a worm or a root or a stone Finding similarities

in poems can always be helpful. Understanding what the author says in the poem

can be useful in everyday life. Here the authors are telling the audience to

enjoy life to the fullest. Evidence found in each poem suggests that getting out

and enjoying nature can be good for you. Finding happiness in life and nature

are great themes for all poets to write about, which these authors utilized this

to the fullest.