Mirror, Courage, The Explorer, And Frederick Douglass

Well How is That For Courage?

(An Analysis on the Message of Courage From the Poems Mirror, Courage, The Explorer, and Frederick Douglass) “If there is one quality that sparks change, it’s courage.” (Baird). Above all that is one thing all people must have. If a friend or family member has cancer, they have to have courage to get through all of the pain. Many authors have pointed out that courage is something that every human needs. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert haden are all examples of poets who have taken the challenge to write on this topic, and all of them have succeeded. The message of courage can be found in the poems Mirror, Courage, The Explorer, and Frederick Douglass. Up first with the message of courage is Sylvia Plath’s Mirror. This poem explores courage through the face of a mirror. The poem says that there has to be courage in growing old. Plath says is best in her poem saying “...and it is to me an old woman/rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.” (Line 18). In this line, Plath shows the terror of getting old for some people. Simply put, this line shows that there is no getting

Take for example what Frederick douglass went through. “As a child he experienced neglect and cruelty…” (Dictionary of American Biography). This quote shows how he was treated even as a child. "I was kept almost in a state of nudity; no shoes, no stockings, no jacket, no trousers; nothing but coarse sackcloth or two-linen, made into a sort of shirt, reaching down to my knees," (Contemporary Black Biography) Even still he is treated as a “thing”, a piece of property. Through all of this, he had to have courage. Hayde, who wrote Frederick Douglass was also black and looked up to him greatly. So greatly that he felt he needed to write a poem in his memory. Through everything Frederick Douglass went through, it is only necessary that someone white about