Compare and Contrast Essay Poem vs. Song

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.

    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...