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On Turning Ten By Billy Collins Essay

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The poem “On turning ten” by Billy Collin reflects on the speaker giving up on his childhood and imagination of the world, it shows the pain and discomfort of going into a dreadful teenage stage. The author uses metaphors comparing the 10th birthday as dreadful, creative imagery, and symbolic of the 10th birthday. Billy Collins used these devices to show the idea of coming of age consequently losing his innocence, he uses his creativity to present this, like a child’s mind.
The author uses imagery to show the whimsical fantasy of his childhood. He said, "Universe in my sneakers" (25) or "I could make myself invisible by drinking a glass of milk." (15). His description makes it sound very magical. We understand you cannot fit the universe …show more content…

But the tenth birthday was atrocious; this was frightening to him. "Something worse than my stomach ache" (3 Coll.) This shows him comparing his birthday to a stomachache. The birthday is something in the sentence. It was terrible. He also exclaims, "a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul." (7). This description is very disturbing. When thought of as chicken pox, it is something disliked, especially using the word disfiguring. When this is used to compare to the 10th birthday, it can show the speaker’s attitude towards it to be scared, nervous, and unwanted. He is still young, and yet it is a painful heartache to mature. He is still in the child stage, but it is also time to give up the imagination he had before. When his other birthday is "prince", "chicken pox" does not sound so well. This can show what happens at coming of age. His attitude shows how he feels about his age; it is the loss of innocence because he lost his imagination in the world. He has to mature to fit in and for others to …show more content…

It shows the symbolic meaning of the number 10. It is a double-digit number, the first one on a person's birthday to be double-digit, and conversely, it conveys a complex meaning. It symbolized the change in a person's life because we haven’t gone through a change. Before this age, "If you cut me, I would shine (30), and now "I skin my knee, I bleed." It shows the symbolic meaning of the change. He believed he shone; he was special, even when they knew that blood doesn’t shine. o But at 10, it just bleeds. His description is fascinating because it can contrast the birthdays and show how his mindset has changed because of a birthday. The number 10 shows a change in the speaker because of their coming of age; his maturing shows his thoughts becoming different, which is ordinarily how he feels physically, which was heartache. Every stage will create differences; nevertheless, this is what his 10th birthday meant to

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