On Turning Ten Analysis

In the the poem, On Turning Ten by Billy Collins, and in the book, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, there are similarities and differences between both texts and their main characters, mainly the boy for the poem and Mr. Halloway. Mr. Halloway was 40 when Will, his son, was born. He felt like he was too old to have a child. The boy in On Turning Ten is growing up and he remembers how life was when he was a little boy. For example, what he got for Christmas and his birthday, what he was for Halloween, and his imaginary friends. These two pieces of text similar because of their views on their young age.
In the poem, “On Turning Ten,” the main character is a 10 year old boy, while in Something Wicked This Way Comes one of the main

In the book, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, one of the many main characters, Charles Halloway, wishes that he was younger again, like his son, Will. However, in the poem, “On Turning Ten,” the boy is looking at his past, but doesn’t say it to anyone, just thinks to himself, how he wish he could go back in time. Along the way, the poem draws on saying lines like “Back then it never fell so solemnly against the side of my tree house, and my bicycle never leaned against the garage as it does today, all the dark blue speed drained out of it.” and “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers. It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number.” These are both plain and clear examples of death of innocence. The boy is saying goodbye and leaving his “childish” things behind. This theme is also shared between Something Wicked This Way Comes as well. Found throughout the book, it mostly is Jim or Will and their “innocence” ideas of life then “killed” by Charles. As the poem states, “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself as I walk through the universe in my sneakers. It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number.” Although the book says the same message, it says it in a different way. As the book states, on chapter 27 page 131, “You know what I hate most of all, Will? Not being able to run any more, like you.” Another quote from the book is “It was always a surprise-that old man, his work, his name.” The two texts both show the message of growing older. In the book, Something Wicked This Way Comes, one of the many main characters, Charles Halloway, wishes that he was younger again, like his son, Will. However, in the poem, “On Turning Ten,” the boy is looking at his past, but doesn’t say it to anyone, just thinks to himself, how he