1st Body Paragraph

The main theme in this poem is discovery. In the first stanza everything seems to revolve around discovering. From “the child’s first step” to “the first time you rode a bike.” In this stanza Ms. Sexton was very good at getting her point across about how growing up is all about discovering yourself and the world that surrounds you. As for looking at this poem as a whole, you can see that the poem is based around the concept of discovering but in many different ways. Obviously, she mentions how growing up forces you to try new things, but also growing up in age is a new discovery. She talks about the younger years in the first two stanzas and then gradually switches to the middle ages and eventually ends the poem with the thought of dying gracefully. Finally, Ms. Sexton talks about discovering within different people. In the second stanza she talks about friends and how they can help you in the toughest of times. She seems to be pointing out that even if you didn’t think they would help you, they would because they did it out of the pure goodness of their heart and that is something you have discovered. Discovery has played a key role in this poem, especially since you are walking through the stages of life. Ms. Sexton got her point across very accurately and discovery as a theme makes perfect sense.