For Poets By Al Young Essay

Everyone expresses themselves in their own way, whether it be through music, writing, painting, or any other form. When people choose to shield themselves from the surrounding population, they are forcing an injustice upon themselves. In the poem For Poets, the author, Al Young, explains that people need to be themselves and stop masking who they really are. Young conveys a theme of people being themselves through the use of imagery, symbolism, and figurative language. Imagery supports the author's theme about them expressing themselves. In the first stanza, Young tells the reader to “Stay beautiful” (Young Line 1) and then states: “Don’t turn into a mole or a worm or a root or a stone” (lines 3-6)

They barely see the sun and, metaphorically, express themselves. The worm and the root follow the same pattern as the mole, but the stone can be seen differently. Stones can be above or below ground, but they don’t have the ability to move by themselves. Because of this, it represents the reader not being able to move forward to allow themselves to express who they really are. After being told to stop hiding and to start expressing themselves, the author names things they can do to express themselves,”Breathe in trees / Knock out mountains / Commune with snakes” (lines 7-9). These metaphors (also hyperboles) are used to further the meaning of the theme by using extreme representations of ways people can express themselves. All of the examples given by the author are impossible to do, which is ironic because they should be able to do these things, since they are supposed to encourage the reader to express themselves. After the author talks about fighting to express feelings, another metaphor is mentioned, “Don’t forget to fly” (line 17). This metaphor compares being free to express themselves to being able to fly. Flying is seen as a form of freedom because there are little to no obstacles stopping the one flying and they can go anywhere. This relates to the theme because it can stand for someone finally breaking free to express themselves. Figures of speech are another great way the author helps the reader understand the strong theme of the