Poem “A Young Man’s Thoughts” Essay Example

2 The student's Journey in life is full of difficulty, as suggested by Winds' and 'hill'. It also suggests the student's determination as persistence is needed to navigate a winding, uphill road. The student's life is aimed at achieving a specific goal or assumptive achievement, in this case the improvement of non-white education.

Line 3-4 The student takes only his memories on the winding road for comfort. The memories are clearly important to the speaker which emphasizes the importance of the human aspects of the protest rather than the political (see synopsis).

Line 5 The student realizes the heartache and grief his death will bring to his mother. Line 6 The student longs for a time when his life was simpler, and for the social presence of his friends. This shows the student to possess strong interpersonal bonds. Line 7 The student recollects a simple instance with friends. This further emphasizes that the student is merely a normal young man. Line 8 In remembrance the student asks only that he be mourned with a song. This may suggest that he wishes his friends and family not to grieve for long over his passing.

Line 9 The women who is to sing for him (assumed his mother) has downturn eyes. This could either be seen as a way to hide her grief or as a sign of submission to the oppressor (the apartheid government). Line 10 The student would also have an old man (assumed his father) to grieve by means of the song. Line 11 The man has a 'broken brow. This may suggest physical scarring but may also suggest that it is furrowed from

emotion. This may be from the grief of the student's death or from the years of oppression suffered under apartheid.

The student asks others to sing for him which may suggest that he is already dead, as he cannot sing for himself. Line 13 The student describes the end of his life (sunset') as red. Red has connotations of anger, passion, blood and violence, all of which detail the occurrences during the protest. 'Drenched' suggests his complete hopelessness of escape from the violence and bloodshed. It also adds to the image of blood and suggests a large number of death.