Opening Statements/Thesis Paragraphs

Opening Statements/Thesis Paragraphs

2010 Form B Poetry Prompt

1. In Samuel Johnson's "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and A.E. Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty", we are given two views and two forms of advice that help us understand the way both authors viewed their coming of age and arepresented through different poetic techniques.

2. The two poems "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming Age" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty" both have rhyming words every other sentence while both have different lengths while reading each one.

3. Coming of age is an important theme that is shown in both poems "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty" with the help of poetic techniques to convey its message.

4. Both Samuel Johnson and A. E. Housman discuss the importance of the coming of age. It is self realization and a way to help those who are about to be at said age. They both stress vital thought provoking ideas with romance, leaving the so called "mothers nest", adulthood. Housman's poem reiterates and commemorates Johnson's poem.

5. In both poems, "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and "When I Was One-and- Twenty," there are two different tones talking about the same subject: coming of age and not caring about anything.

6. The two poems "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and "When I Was One-and-Twenty", address the age of adulthood: twenty-one. In these poems, they both convey a message or advice that they would like to share with someone that is at that age. However, their advice is different. In "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age", Johnson gives very general advice and does not really add much emotion to his words. Whereas, Housman in "When I Was One-and-Twenty" shares more of a personal experience and incorporates his own personal advice into his work.

7. "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age", written by Samuel Johnson, and "When I Was One-and-Twenty", written by A.E. Housman, use the first person point of view to give advice, both experienced but have different focuses.

8. Samuel Johnson's "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and A.E Housman's "When I was One-and-Twenty" are two poems that talk about the joy of being 21. They depict the age where you are no longer a minor, but now an adult. They are both alike in aspect, but different in wording.

9. In both Samuel Johnson's "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and A. E. Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty" the authors utilize various techniques of poetry such as pathos, symbolism, and ambiguity to allow the reader to understand their point of views.

10. In both of the poems we see the author talk about adulthood, but each author has their own interpretation of adulthood. Samuel Johnson gives advice on trying to be a rebel. A.E Housman gives advice on not falling in love and making the wrong decisions.

11. The poems, "To Sir John Lade on His Coming of Age" and "When I was One-and-Twenty," make similar points by elaborating on the concept of age and differ in tone when the experiences were described.

12. In Samuel Johnson and A.E. Housman's poem about the age twenty one, there are various similarities and differences within the poems, which is exemplified through the point of view and tone of the author.

13. The poem by Samuel Johnson called "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" is fairly similar to A.E. Housman's poem "When I was One-and-Twenty." Johnson's poem seems to more directed toward giving advice about what it is like to be twenty one. Housman's poem, however, is said in the first person almost like a reflection of his years as being twenty one.

14. Samuel Johnson's "To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and A.E. Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty" recount on the experiences of youth at the age of twenty-one. Johnson tells the reader of a life filled with folly and fun, while Housman warns against the consequences of living such a life. While both poems capture the spirit of youth, different messages are conveyed. The similarities and differences help create a relationship between the two poems.

15. Samuel Johnson's 1780—entirely immoral and forceful—"To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age" and A.E. Housman's—personal—1896 "When I Was One-and-Twenty" are two differing poems for a young man coming to the age of twenty-one that depicts opposing sides of living and coming to the age of adulthood.

RELEASED SAMPLES

16.Coming of age at last, and finally in the position to be able to exert oneself as an adult of the world, one can be overly confident from lack of experience. Both Johnson’s “To Sir John Lade, on His Coming of Age” and Housman’s “When I was On-and-Twenty” deal with this headstrong yet delicate time in a young man’s life which is full of the optimism and enthusiasm of youth and unaware of the true sorrows or follies of the real world. Through use of irony, imagery and contrast, both poems effectively describe the dangers that may follow from the headstrong confidence of young adulthood, while one expresses caution from a friend, and the other shows a regretful account of the young man past twenty one.

It is significant that the perspective of the speaker is different for each poem. Johnson’s congratulatory poem (in the traditional abab rhyming scheme and structure oft used for occasional poems) is from an elder man’s point of view, giving advice to the young man who has come of age. However, on the outset, his is not the traditional counsel of “woes of willful waste” or the advise that the wise man gives in Housman’s poem…

17. While the age of adulthood varies from culture to culture, twenty-one has in American and Great Britain been the traditional age to enter the adult world of money, work, and serious relationships. One’s twenty-first birthday is a momentous occasion to be celebrated. The two poems however take conflicting attitudes toward this event. “To Sir John Lade, on His coming of Age” gives its subject advice on enjoying his newfound freedom. Conversely “When I Was One-and-Twenty” laments foolishly ignoring an elder’s advice. This contrast gives the poems their conflicting tones on the same subject, carefree and rueful, respectively, while both offering advice.

“When I Was One-and-Twenty” uses repetitive comparisons to emphasize the advice that the heart is more valuable than any riches, and is often paid for with pain…

18. “In the poem’s, “To Sire JoHn, on his Comming of Age”, by, Samuel Johnson, and “When I was one-and-twenty”, by A.E. HouseMan, a young Man had just turned twenty-one. the Ideas of Both poems are similar to that of Being a Man and taking on the world, But they also contrast eachother.

“lavish of your grandsire’s guineas” (Johnson), “Give crowns and pounds and guineas” (Housman) are both telling the twenty-one year old man to give money and riches, help the world, show who you are now…