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Poetry With Aging Themes

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This solution assesses Donald Justice's "Men at Forty," Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Other," and William Butler Yeats, "Sailing to Byzantium." It also discusses how Justice, Simon, Cofer, and Yeats advance their themes on aging and identity through imagery.

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This posting examines poems about aging and identity. This solution assesses Donald Justice's "Men at Forty," Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Other," and William Butler Yeats, "Sailing to Byzantium." It also discusses how Justice, Simon, Cofer, and Yeats advance their themes on aging and identity through imagery.

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First, Justice's "Men at Forty," uses imagery to transport readers into the body and soul of an aging man. As a result, please note how we experience the effects of growing old with the speaker as he says, "At rest on a stair landing, they feel it." These lines use imagery to create a visual of an older man resting during his flight of stairs.

Justice advances the theme of aging with the affirmation or acceptance of the aging process. Please note how Justice also applies imagery when his speaker stands in front of mirror and remarks, "They rediscover the face of the boy as he practices tying his father's tie there in secret." Again, Justice aligns aging with an acceptance of morality as a natural process. He embodies the circle of life philosophy.

You might also want to comment about the door symbolism as Justice writes, "Learn to close softly, the doors to rooms they will not be Coming back to." Justice seems to associate death with the opening and closing of the doors.
He also implies that ...

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