Poem Appreciation Essay

Laura Tong 8A Poem Appreciation Essay, Growing Up by Michelle Williams

Growing up by Michelle Williams is a poem about the hard years of teenage life.

Her poems covers the types of both physical and emotional pain teenagers have to

go through. I personally enjoyed this poem because it describes many problems

that I am going through as a teenager and that makes me feel like the poet

understands me well.

Pain is a constant theme in the poem. Williams used effective language

to highlight the emotional pain that teenagers go through " Those days when our

nerves feel/scrunched/against our hearts, and our hearts/are mashed into our

stomachs." These lines are exactly what I often feel right now in my teenage

years.

Uncertainty is another predominant theme in the poem. Williams uses alliteration

to describe the uncertainty and sensitivity teenagers feel. " Every well meaning

comment/is caressed with feelers". She also uses two words in the last stanza

“sure" and " unsure" to highlight teenagers feeling of certain and uncertain at the

same time.

The language in this poem very effectively created the mood and theme. 1.

Imagery is being used frequently to create images in the readers mind. " Straining

thinly against out bones/And setting our elbows at war/with our ribs". 2. Williams

used "we" or " our" in the poem and never used "I" or "me", and that made me feel

that the poet isn't excluding the readers of the poem, but she understands them

very well. 3. There was no rhyming in the poem and that made the poem sound like

the words really came out of the poets mind with emotion instead of just making it

up.

I enjoyed “Growing Up” for one reason. It effectively reflected the hard times I am

going through right now. This poem made me feel I am not the only one who is

unfortunate and going through adolescence, but nearly every single person have to

go through this.