The two poems I will be comparing and contrasting are Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Speech to the young, speech to the progress toward,” and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask.” I find that the poems are similar, in that they deal with human nature and tendencies. But they contrast in how they choose overcome the problems at hand. I will explore each poem’s views on human behavior and how the humans deal with emotions, according to the author. The focus. In Gwendolyn Brooks poem, the title “Speech to the young, speech to the progress toward,” we see a sort of A-typical person trying to succeed. But along the way, they face obstacles and people that would discourage, hinder or even completely stop them. This poem is a declaration over naysayers.
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It puts the negative people in their place. They are not ready to move on in life, but life is about motion and those who stagnate, never become great. The people who don 't strive for their goals each day, end up complacent and comfortable. Then when they see others breaking free of convention, they get scared of being left behind. They get comfortable with mediocrity, they don 't strive to achieve and anyone around them that does, frightens …show more content…
I like to think that they are similar in their descriptions of human emotion and tendencies. When I think about these two poems, I think about the fact that there are people out there who are in large amounts of monetary debt. They are living pay check to pay check, paying the minimum amount due for everything, living truly above their means and not saving for the future. They do this simply to “keep up with the Joneses” they are your friends and neighbors and they act like “life is good.” But sadly on the inside they are like Dunbar states “we smile, but, O great Christ, our cries, to thee from tortured souls arise.” Its stressful on a persons soul to deal with these matters. But I believe it can all be avoided. We all wear “masks” and we compare our progress to someone else’s. Truth be told, their life might not be as spectacular as they claim. On top of that, everyone “edits” their life to make it sound
It puts the negative people in their place. They are not ready to move on in life, but life is about motion and those who stagnate, never become great. The people who don 't strive for their goals each day, end up complacent and comfortable. Then when they see others breaking free of convention, they get scared of being left behind. They get comfortable with mediocrity, they don 't strive to achieve and anyone around them that does, frightens …show more content…
I like to think that they are similar in their descriptions of human emotion and tendencies. When I think about these two poems, I think about the fact that there are people out there who are in large amounts of monetary debt. They are living pay check to pay check, paying the minimum amount due for everything, living truly above their means and not saving for the future. They do this simply to “keep up with the Joneses” they are your friends and neighbors and they act like “life is good.” But sadly on the inside they are like Dunbar states “we smile, but, O great Christ, our cries, to thee from tortured souls arise.” Its stressful on a persons soul to deal with these matters. But I believe it can all be avoided. We all wear “masks” and we compare our progress to someone else’s. Truth be told, their life might not be as spectacular as they claim. On top of that, everyone “edits” their life to make it sound