Imagination and Creativity

The magic of creativity is at the heart of “On Turning Ten.” Even though the poem opens on a woeful note, the speaker’s childlike imagination is apparent in the similes and descriptive language used to communicate their feelings. They see their condition not merely as environmental — “the headaches I get from reading in bad light” (Line 4) — but as a viral infection of their very spirit, the thing that makes them who they are: “a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul” (Line 7). Throughout the poem, imagination is more than just a framing device for the larger ideas presented; it represents the stakes of the poem, a tangible commodity — in other words, something to lose.

The second stanza is in many ways an ode to this substance of the mind, with the speaker reminiscing on all they were once capable of. It would be easy...