Writing Resources
The poems To Sir John Lade on His Coming of Age by Samuel Johnson and When I Was One and Twenty by A E Housman both reveal the youth s unwillingness to listen to a wise man's advice this leads to hardships later in life With an optimistic tone Housman's poem shows the young adult that hardships can be overcome unlike the derisive tone portrayed in Johnson s poem which has little sympathy and sees no hope for the twenty one year old However both poems use of figurative language structure and symbols tie in the overall message of overcoming difficulties in an adolescent's life Housman creates an optimistic tone through his connotative diction in his poem The speaker of this poem intends to give serious advice when it comes to the young person's heart The wise man avises Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away line 3 4 The overall message used here is that the heart is more precious that all the riches the man could have
