Poetry Crossover Short Answer

“On Turning Ten”“Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”

IDEA

Textual Evidence◦ Textual Evidence◦ Literal Meaning◦ Conceptual Meaning

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1 Idea 2 examples of textual evidence

Crossover I.T.

How are the speakers’ attitudes towards life in “On Turning Ten” and “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” different? Use textual evidence from both selections to support your answer.

Question

In “On Turning Ten,” the speaker is sad about life. In “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,” the speaker is not scared of life.

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The speakers’ attitudes are different. The one in “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” is not scared. The one in “On Turning Ten” is sad but overall, okay.

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Sometimes a person’s age can affect their attitude towards life. For example, the speaker in “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” sounds like a little girl, and this might explain why she says “[b]ad dogs barking loud” and “[b]ig ghosts” don’t scare her. She has a naïve attitude and sounds too immature to understand that she needs to fear certain things. The speaker in “On Turning Ten” sounds older and has a depressing, yet realistic attitude towards life. When he says, “If you cut me, I could shine…[b]ut now…I bleed,” he is showing that as he ages, he is forced to face the harsh reality of life.

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People of different ages have different attitudes towards life. For example, the speaker in “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” sounds like a naïve, little girl, who is trying to convince herself to not be scared. The repetition of the refrain “Life doesn’t frighten me at all,” is proof that she doesn’t want to have a fearful attitude towards life. The speaker in

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