Analysis Of Turning 10 By Billy Collins

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Webber p1 4/3/23 Nyssa Lowther Prompt 1 AP LIT essay pratice Growing up is not all happy and freeing as expressed by the speaker in the poem “turning 10” by Billy Collins. in this poem the speaker alludes to the reality of growing older and the emotions that follow as he hits double digits. These emotions are more than just sadness and sorrow than happiness and uplifting but a rather more complex emotion of an intertwining of the many feelings. The complex intertwined emotions are shown through the speaker's use in comparisons with aches experienced by children and the comparisons evolving into aches and sicknesses of an adult, as well as the steady loss of imagination with evolving maturity and a deeper experience of emotions not previously experienced in adolescents. …show more content…

The speaker claims “I'm coming down with something, something worse than any stomach ache or headaches…”(2-6) as the speaker continues with his comparisons they evolve into issues experienced by typically older ages like “ a kind of measles of the spirit, a mumps of the psyche, a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.”(5-7) The maturity of the sicknesses is alluding to the physical growth and maturity with literary maturity as the comparisons continue. children experience stomach aches and aches of the head. At the same time, as they evolve in age the illnesses become more severe and cause more of a struggle to rid of as stated by the speaker's use of measles,mumps,and chicken pox. In contrast , these illnesses are not limited to maturer ages they are more prominent in older