Ambition: Poem Analysis

The essence of ambition is the determination to achieve something; the texts presented define the something as an escape. Growing up in a rural town the future sought out is becoming a farmer, raising a large family, and going to church every Sunday. It is stale, stagnant, and predictable. People want to go beyond the norm, people’s ambition pushes them beyond the borders. The person one sees themselves becoming without changing is the push that forces our eyes down the road. It is the reason a single look back is all that is necessary. Ambition is a part of a person that determines the road they journey, it does not erase or change the events in the past; it simply paves the way for the future.

Bob Hicok’s poem dives into the life of …show more content…
He takes one last look back before moving forward to tackle the world. The road appears to be endless and a long endeavour for the young man. Symbolically this is significant to the truths of ambition, it can take one far in life, but it will never curve a road enough to leave the past behind. It is also important to note his glance back is not one of happiness, it almost appears to be a one last reflection before he wishes to never see his old home again. Ambition is a strong characteristic that can make one envision change and see a new tomorrow. The image illustrates the push ambition gives a person; but this ambition can never be enough to abolish the memories of the past. The road is paved for the young man in the illustration, but it is clearly not a way of abolishing the roads of the …show more content…
A person can become a CEO, conquer the world, and travel thousands of miles; but it will never be the result of erasing the person one stemmed from. Ambition is a strong quality that can bring opportunity in a life. Through the picture a man is seen to be giving his last glimpse of his past life before becoming something in his own eyes, this is different than the poem in that the man revisits his old life that has not forgotten him as the scrawny, young farmer’s boy. The picture is a preview of what is to come. The excerpts are very similar for their interpretations of ambition and the overall impact it has. Ambition has paved the way for two separate people, it has created change for them, and as well left behind a young individual who has not been forgotten. In my personal life I experienced the same fault as the picture and the poem, I thought my own achievements would erase my past, I was proved wrong by own actions of past that still existed in the minds of