1. Savannah Block
Pre-College English
Hour 2
9-19-08
Most Beautiful Youth Who Is So Far Away
Egyptian poets would agree that in the present day time, their beautiful messages about love
could never as popular as a Nickleback tune. However, there was a time when "The Most Beautiful
Youth" reigned over any "acid rock" song, way before smash hits such as "So Far Way" could have
been comprehended. With this difference in time comes differences in the outlook of life and love, not
to mention the difference in format of poem and song. The time and schematics differences are
evident, yet both the author and songwriter are attempting to convey a message about the most popular
topic all time: Love.
For example, in the Egyptian poem Most Beautiful Youth Who Ever Happened, the title,
although beautiful, is somewhat wordy. This phrase also seems to pop up only as the opening line.
Nickleback's So Far Away the title is sung three times - not including the echo - and does not only show
up at the beginning of the song. Such a song formation is very popular these days; the title either being
apart of the chorus or quite possibly not in the song at all. To note another difference, carefully
scrutinize the first verse of the modern day song. "This time, this place / Misused, mistakes / Too long,
too late / Who was I to make you wait" (Kroeger). When creating a pop song, it is very popular to
follow the "AABB" rhyming scheme, or any rhyming scheme for that matter. For the Egyptian poem
Most Beautiful Youth, the first line reads, "Most beautiful youth who ever happened / I want to take
your house as housekeeper / we are arm in arm / and love of you goes round and round” (36). Such
resplendent words, yet they do not follow any type of rhyming scheme. The differences do not
continue through the message of both poem and song, for their messages are closely related.
To quote from the Egyptian poem Most Beautiful Youth Who Ever Happened, "I say to my heart

2. within me in prayer / if far away from me is my lover tonight / then I am like someone already in the
grave / are you not indeed well-being and life” (36). This second verse clearly depicts his heart being
torn in half for his love is not near him and he is lonely. Nickleback's So Far Away equivalent would
be,"You know...That I loved you, I have loved you all along / and I miss you, been far away for far too
long / I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go / Stop breathing if I don't see you
anymore" (Kroeger). Nickleback and this Egyptian poem are both describing of a situation where their
lovers are long gone, and it's tearing each writer to shreds. Both authors need this other person in their
life; they cannot go one by themselves, and they reiterate this common predicament.
Even though there is a big possibility that the Nickleback hit surpasses this Ancient Egyptian
poem, they only do so by what the majority of the people enjoy these days. Since the time frame now
focuses on media messages such as war or sex, it is very easy for us to forget where our deep moral
roots came from. Yet, with messages revolving around amour, the only difficulty people will encounter
is sifting through the numerous examples of this very abundant literary theme.

3. Works Cited
Kroeger, Chad. "So Far Away." All The Right Reasons. Major, 2005.
"Most Beautiful Girl Who Ever Lived." Prentice Hall Literature. New Jersey: Pearson Education,
2004.