“Starting Over” is a free verse poem by Tatum that portrays the regrets one has when surrendering to the rules and expectations people create for others in society. It also leads to one wanting to find a purpose in life and straying away from what society tells them to be.

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The whole poem is formed of one stanza that consists of 26 verses and the rhyming pattern is “aabb.” The rhyming pattern allows the poem to be ready smoothly and to connect thoughts together in an entertaining way.  The character in the poem starts off expressing how the years are going by yet he or she has still yet found a purpose in life. The person later describes that they had been following the rules of society and want to stray from that behavior which is illustrated in the lines, “I’ve been basing my life upon what others think,” and “Free from the rules I followed as a child.”  If a person has been living their life through imitating an image that society has created for them, they have never yet discovered who they are yet as a person. Self-discovery is essential in finding a purpose in life, as one’s purpose is not just picked for them, but created by them for themselves. The person in the poems I also in a situation where they are unable to voice their opinion which they have led him or her to the experience that keeping their thoughts inside can not make them go away, only make the problem more complicated as you are suffering not only because you can not live your life the way you want, but also because you are trying to find a solution to a problem that you feel you can’t voice your opinion towards.

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I feel this poet does a good job in exploring the theme of individual versus society and expressing how difficult it is for one to be content with their life when they are created by society instead of themselves. This leads to them not being able to know themselves or be able to create a purpose for themselves. They are pleasing others, not themselves, and it is important that they make themselves happy as they are the ones living with themselves and experiencing the feelings. I feel that a person realizing that he or she is not being true to themselves when abiding to how society wants them to act is the first and most important step to amending one’s life and finding who they are. The process of analyzing what it is they do not like about their lives, allows them to reflect and discover who they are as a person and what their values and beliefs are and the actions they need to take in order to make themselves happier.