The poem ‘At Seventeen” by Janis Ian and the song “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera are both similar yet very different in many ways. One of the two authors expresses themself very different from the other. One of the poems is written in a very negative point of view and the other is meant to be encouraging and positive.
The poem “At Seventeen” is very negative and sad. During the poem it talks about a girl who never really felt like she fit in, she imagines herself in a different world and imagines her being in a relationship. She compares the divisions between people who can find love she talks about the rich and how they marry young for money and then she talks of the girl in hand me downs who says “pity please the one who serve.” Referring to the people who serve others just to feel wanted and popular they try to be “ideal” and follow societies “rules.” In this poem Janis shares that she did not get any valentines or she was never chosen to be on people’s sides for basketball and was picked last, everybody experiences this feeling at one point or another in their life. It doesn’t feel very nice and you feel useless and unwanted. She explains that dreams were all they gave for free in the past to ugly girls like her. In the end she goes back to imagining and she says that she cheats herself at solitaire and by this she means that because she tells herself that she is ugly she will eventually start to believe it, and that is just like cheating on yourself.
The Term Paper on Eastern Europe Poem War People
A Glimpse into Sorrow The countries of Eastern Europe have long endured chaos and destruction. Many of the countries in that area were devastated by war. Poland, an excellent example, rests between Germany and Russia. During World War II both those countries invaded Poland, leaving many of its cities in ruins. In modern times the Soviet Union has shattered. However, this liberation has come ...
In the song “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera it is a lot more positive. It says “every day is so wonderful.” Which is really optimistic but then after that it continues “Then suddenly it’s hard to breathe” and it remains being negative for the rest of the stanza. During the song it repeatedly says “you are beautiful in every single way” and continues to increase the amount of positive things to encourage the listener. This is a strategy used to build confidence and encourage the listener and it makes them feel good about themselves. Christina sings “words can’t bring you down.” Multiple times, by that she means that people can say some really nasty things to make you feel bad about yourself, but no matter what you have to try and ignore them and keep your head high.
The song at seventeen is different from the song beautiful because at seventeen is negative, depressing, gloomy, and pessimistic. The message and the theme of the song is that, not is all it seems at seventeen, and the theme is loneliness and sadness. Also the background music of at seventeen is slow and sounds kind of like a type of elevator music which makes the listener feel really somber. The song beautiful is more positive because it is meant to be encouraging, the objective of the song is to try to help people stay strong. The background music in this song is upbeat and sounds more like pop what makes it have a much happier mood. The theme of this song could be described as reassurance, faith, and confidence.
In conclusion the poems are both kind of like complete opposites. One is meant to encourage and is positive telling the listener that they are beautiful and not to worry about what others think, although the other talks of her lonely life and how she really doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t seem to quite fit in with the whole “high school scene.”
Compare and Contrast
Writing Assignment
“At Seventeen and Beautiful”
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013
