16 – Jacob Granville

16 years old

And years to come

I grasp how reality is turning cold

And time is on the run.

Life is a journey,

Takes you up and down,

Consumes your energy,

And brings you back around.

Years ahead,

A while to go.

Not looking at past tread

Take a chance, one more free-throw.

Savour good days

As some can be short, or ceaseless, but sweet

The Sun sets in quick phase

Don’t dissolve in defeat.

Analysis

In the poem, “16”, Jacob Granville depicts how life is very short and not any of it should be taken for granted or wasted from the time you are young to the day you die. He encourages people to go out and spend every minute of life having fun and don’t be afraid to try new things. Although this narrative poem is pretty straightforward and understandable, it has a meaningful insight to life. The tone of this poem is relatively sad noticing how life has gone by so quick, but it’s also spoken in an inspirational tone.

Many literary devices are used in this poem to make the reader have more of an emotional attachment which helps each individual relate. Some of which include: metaphors, personification, similes, and an abundance of alliteration. Along with all this, there is a definite rhyme scheme going ‘abab cdcd efef ghghg’. He reminds people of our society of just how, “reality is turning cold” by every passing day. The imagery in this metaphor defines how every day is becoming history and people just don’t take advantage of all the things they can do with their lives. The first stanza is all about how life flies by quickly and with few memories. 16 is a significant number because that is the age in which many responsibilities are catching on, kids start to become adults, and get jobs. As soon as they realize this, they look back at their lives and wish they would’ve done more as a kid even if there was nothing more they could do. The second stanza reflects on the struggles and memories life has in store for us. The purpose of this message is to point out the fact that problems have been all throughout time and will keep coming so don’t let them hold you back from living life to the fullest. The third quatrain discusses how to look forward to your future rather than look back into the rough patches of your past. Jacob advises people to, “Take a chance, one more free-throw” in this stanza. This line represents how instead of being scared of trying something new, “take a chance” and don’t always be worried about the outcome. The forth stanza illustrates, with many uses of alliteration, to make memories of all the good times in life and don’t let stress and fear overcome them. Another meaning is when some days are short some are “ceaseless, but sweet”. ‘Ceaseless’ has a denotation of being unending, which is paradoxical to the idea of a short day, but it can also have a connotative meaning in this poem. Unceasing is a word that means the same thing but rather more negative. ‘Ceaseless’ is used to describe the unending good days rather than meaning long lasting bad days. Along with alliteration throughout the last stanza, there is also a strong use of consonance with the ‘s’ sound.