Analyzing on Turning Ten by Billy Collins

What is Collins trying to say with this poem?

That turning ten years of age means your becoming a big boy. Meaning you cant have imaginary friends or the other things you use to have when your young. He also feels sick becuase he doesn't want to get closer to death.

How does he capture childhood and the process of growing up?

Because he talks about his imaginary friends and talks about his old bike. He brought up the fact that every time he turned a new age he was a different character.

What makes this poem effective?

The fact that it makes you think about the times when you were that age.

How does this fit into your own life experience?

Because when i was younger I went through alot of child hood characters, I watched alot of different cartoons growing up and always thought of myself as being the main character in each show. So I related perfectly because I went through the same stage. I always hung around older people so when I got older I started to not do the same things kids my age would  do. So I guess eliminating things from life as i got older relates me to him also.

Why The Earth Is Flat

The reason for why the earth is flat is because of gravity. When we travel across the world, we don’t travel up, around, over, and under the countries, as it would seem on the globe. The globe is our current model of the earth, but it in all actuality it’s not what it seems as far as its roundness. It is technically a flat line. All our lives we’ve been told that the earth is round, but recent research and experiments from NASA have proven that the world is actually indeed flat. If the earth were round then all the water shown on the globe would tip over into space. If the earth were to be round then when we travel we would end up going out into space instead of to our destination. Our ancestors have always believed that the earth was flat and we should continue to believe that. When we look at maps or navigation systems the directions are always shown in a straight line not in a round shape.