Nobody ever said growing up was easy. Life is constantly creating new obstacles that children must find ways to overcome and grow from. Both “On Turning Ten” and “Owl Pellets” by Billy Collins and Ralph Fletcher use imagery and metaphors to demonstrate that growing up can be painful and comes with many new realizations. We can relate to these poems because we have all had these feelings at one time or another. The imagery in these two poems plays a large role in showing how growing up can be a difficult experience. Billy Collins uses phrases in “On Turning Ten” such as “measles of the spirit” and “mumps of the psyche” to give a negative connotation of turning ten. These illustrate how maturing can feel like an infectious disease no one wants.…show more content… “On Turning Ten” talks about what it was like being young in a poetic way. “You tell me it is too early to be looking back, but that is because you have forgotten the perfect simplicity of being one.” He illustrates gorgeously what it feels like to be young. Collins conveys the sadness of growing up by saying, “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.” This is a beautiful way of expressing the realization that his childhood is coming to an end. In contrast, “Owl Pellets” talks about being young through a specific incident. “You sit with Jon Fox, ignore me completely.” The pain of new experiences is fresh, and it reveals how we can get hurt so easily. They both demonstrate the angst of growing up but describe it in very different ways. The two poems “Owl Pellets” by Ralph Fletcher and “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins utilize literary devices such as imagery and metaphors to express what it feels like to be young. As both poems point out, the hurts we face in adolescence are very complex. These are poems about loss; loss of innocence, loss of love, and loss of
