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The Pursuit Of Wisdom In Elizabeth Alexander's Poem 'Nineteen'

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The Pursuit of Wisdom in Elizabeth Alexander’s Poem “Nineteen” “The most valuable lessons aren’t taught. They’re experienced”. Indeed, experiences act as sculptors of one’s personality through psychological transformations. For each evolving being, they play a significant role in refining the individual’s future thoughts and behavior. Experiences provide us with empirical evidence that supports the lessons Life teaches us. In her poem “Nineteen”, Elizabeth Alexander suggests that psychological transformations are continuously triggered by our curiosity of differences, our desire of learning from others and our pursuit of maturity. The author shares her reflection on one of her past summer experience to give advice to the readers about the …show more content…

Indeed, “Nineteen” explores the sexual relationship between two contrasting lovers, mainly due to their significant age difference, since the persona is called “the baby” (4), while her partner is already a father. At different moments of their respective lifetime, one at the end of youth and the other in middle adulthood, the two lovers need each other. This gap between them supports Alexander’s idea of the human curiosity towards everyone’s differences, which brings us to learn from others. In addition to the age gap, the veteran and the persona greatly differ in terms of experience. The nineteen-year-old girl has never left her parents’ house as she lives her “first summer away from home” (9), whereas her partner has physical and psychological “scar[s]” (17) from the Vietnam war, in the “jungle” (18). This contrast between the two individuals’ origin shows the influence one has on the other in their relationship. They mutually help each other getting over their respective difficult reality by using their opposite characteristics. They are curious about discovering the other’s reality, as the girl wants to become an adult through a relationship with a war veteran and the man needs a hint of innocence. Having sex with a younger woman is therefore his solution to bury his scary souvenirs. In short, this complementary relationship implies that one’s psychological evolution comes from both his/her positive and negative

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Essay Outline (5%) 1. (Introduction) a) Thesis statement: In her poem “Nineteen”, in which she remembers about one summer, Elizabeth Alexander mentions the need for continuous psychological transformations, which are triggered by the curiosity of differences and the desire of learning from others. b) Plan of development: Through the use of symbolism, tone and contrast, Alexander puts the emphasis on the coming-of-age of the persona, which is significant regarding her personal growth. 2.

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