When people read Andrew Hudgins’ poem “Seventeen,” they are taken into a story that is both scary and deep. It is like a rite of passage or an initiation. The poem does a great job of combining themes of becoming a man, facing the harsh realities of life, and growing up. Significant events or hard times often mark the transition from boyhood to manhood. The main character of this poem meets the hurt dog, a key part of this change.
What should a boy do when he sees a badly hurt dog? That’s what the poem is about. He has to think about what is right and wrong. The boy’s decision to end the dog’s pain, even though it was hard, was a turning point on his way to becoming an adult. This frightening act shows that the boy is facing the truths of life and death, pain and compassion, responsibility, and the need to make tough choices (Hudgins, 1951). The boy grows into an adult through this and starts making decisions that aren’t always easy and usually end badly.
“Seventeen” is also an elegy because it laments the loss of both the dog and the pure joy of childhood. From the glossary, we know that an elegy is a sad poem that often mourns the death of a loved one. This reading of the poem makes me sad because it shows how the boy has lost his trust and belief that life is always fair and just (Hudgins, 1951). What he has to do is very bad, and it makes me think of how complex and complicated adult life can be.
At the end of the poem, all of these parts work together powerfully and movingly. The boy has changed in a way that can’t be undone. Life has become more difficult for him as he has grown up. He also takes on the duties that come with being an adult. For the boy to come to terms with having lost his childhood innocence and learning new things about the world around him, he has to go through these changes.
Work Cited
Hudgins, A. (1951). Seventeen.