The Heroes of Childhood (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas McGrath
- First Published: 1947
- Type of Work: Elegy
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Children, Communism or communists, Revolutionaries, Revolutions, Death or dying, Heroes or heroism, Cowboys or cowgirls, Westerns, Outlaws
The Poem
An “elegy” at one time indicated a poem of mourning for an admired member of the nobility or for a deceased loved one. Though this meaning sometimes still holds, the term is now applied to virtually any verse meditation on loss. “The Heroes of Childhood” is a modern folk elegy which romantically laments, not a particular human death, but the death of childhood and the illusions of youth. Written in five five-line stanzas, the poem’s end rhyme and regular metrics contribute to its innocent, songlike quality. That quality reinforces the poem’s very...
[The entire page is 1389 words long]
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