Prospects By Anthony Hecht Analysis

Anthony Evan Hecht was born in 1923 in New York City. He attended Bard college where he decided to be a poet. Unfortunately, his parents did not approve of the idea of him becoming a poet. In 1944, his final year of college, he was drafted for World War II and sent to Europe. While he was fighting in the war he experienced a series of hardships and memories that he would never forget. After the war he continued his studies in Ohio at Kenyon College, and then received his masters degree at Columbia University. Furthermore, Hecht was a very successful poet and received a series of prizes though his career for his poetry. One prize Hect received in 1968 was the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He won this prize for his second work that he published, The Hard Hours, in this piece of work he first addressed his experiences in WWII. While writing Hard Hours the memories from the war drove him insane and led him to a nervous breakdown. During the time period of his nervous breakdown he stayed at a hospital for three months but continued to write poetry and receive awards. In addition to that, in his final years he at the University of Rochester,Smith College, Bard, Harvard Georgetown, and Yale. Hecht then passed away October 20, 2004 and was buried at Bard College.
The poem Prospects by Anthony Hecht is about leaving one’s home in search of a better life. Hecht must of has several motives for writing this poem because of what he has experienced in his lifetime. One motive Hecht could of had writing this poem is admiration for the people that had to flee their homes in search of a new life during the war. During World War II many people left their homes with not one resource, not knowing the hardships they were going to encounter, in search of a better life. These people dreamed of the new life and follow them no matter the hardships they encounter which Hech admired and motivated him to write this