Do you remember your first love? How did you feel at night, unable to sleep due to the unbalanced ratio of infatuation-induced adrenaline to your blood? The feeling of the pedal vibrating against the soles of your feet as you start up your clunky first car? The years between thirteen and nineteen are full of acne, first loves, crowds at school, and first tastes of freedom. The concerns and passions during this period of life are well expressed through tone, perspective, and myriad literary devices in Tony Hoagland's “History of Desire” and Audre Lorde's “Hanging Fire.” Although these two poems share the same themes, Hoagland's reflects on this time, while Lorde's is still entangled in these adolescent struggles. Both poems are without rhyme scheme and have informal structures, which intentionally or not, fit very well with the frenetically changing mood. of the adolescent years. For example, the formal structure of the villanelles and the iambic rhythm are left out because they are organized and premeditated, which are two adjectives that do not describe the typical adolescent life. If these years could be transformed into paper and ink, they would look like “History of Desire” and “Hanging Fire”; they're messy enough to show angst and clean enough to show hope for adulthood. This is why these poems are both grouped into stanzas. "Story of Desire" is grouped into ten four-line stanzas, followed by a final couplet. "Hanging Fire" consists of three verses; eleven, twelve and twelve lines respectively. Both "History of Desire" and "Hanging Fire" reflect on previous loves and describe being seventeen and fourteen. Therefore these qualities are purposely included to convey the distracted and unconstructed life of a t...... middle of paper ......the realities of Tony Hoagland's “History of Desire” and Tony Hoagland's “Hanging Fire” Audre Lorde are compared and contrasted. Although these two poets have very different tones and other idiosyncrasies, they share the same theme of young love and adolescent struggles. Works Cited1. "Audre Lorde (1934-1992)." Literary criticism of the twentieth century. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. vol. 173. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2006. 36-148. Literary criticism online. Storm. . November 14, 20112. “Audre Lorde (1934-).” Contemporary literary criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler, Laurie DiMauro and Sean R. Pollock. vol. 71. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. 230-264. Literary criticism online. Storm. . November 16 2011