Comparing 'The Art Of Drowning And Ozymandias'

"Life is a dream walking. Death is going home." - Chinese proverb. If life was supposed to be easy, everyone would go through the days knowing the answers to their lives. Nothing would be an unexpected surprise to people, but that is not the case. Instead, we attempt to plan out every day and learn to expect the unexpected. A person can try to plan the best future for him or herself, but when it comes down to it, it is ultimately not in his or her hands. Whether a person is rich or poor, beautiful or hideous, popular or lonely, powerful or shy, that is who he or she is and he or she is wonderful. Life is worth living no matter which “category” one falls under. But is that all there is to it? Is life just simply one’s ego? People spend their entire life trying to get on the right track to life, but what about when that is all taken away. Questioning the value of a person’s life when he or she is living versus when he or she
After reading both poems, one can clearly see the opinion both authors have on a person when they are trying to make something out of themselves, and their opinions on if it truly counts when he or she is alive or dead. When a person passes away, the characteristics and pressure that society put on him or her go away, just like the oxygen did. A dead person turns into a name in the wind that will soon be forgotten. No matter how a person spent their time on Earth, it is no longer relevant when he or she dies. As introduced before, the two poems, “The Art of Drowning” and “Ozymandias” were written by two outstanding authors. Billy Collins, born on March 22, 1941 in New York City graduated from the University of California, Riverside. He later joined the faculty of Lehman College of the City University of New York and began earning strong critical acclaim for his