Analyzing poems

SCHOOL
Holidays are out and over
Like the sand between my toes and fingers.
Now it's time to go back
To the deathtrap known as school.

Make new friends
Break school rules
And use our very own money to spend
On the food they sell there.

The teachers are like creatures,
And murderers who kill you
By giving homework
Out of the blue

Friends is someone we treasure,
For our friendship is a gift.
And make the world we live in,
A better and happier place

---

The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’
My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something
At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem
It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays
I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts
The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another
Seven to the power of five is unreasonable
On Chinese New Year Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo
The capital of Singapore is Singapore
My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper
In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me
Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment
When my eyes were actually closed

The poet is reminiscing about the times, both good and bad, he had in Secondary School. His badge, which probably meant a lot to him, gave him hope to do stuff. Then, when black crows tried to interrupt the National Anthem, he was relating the fun times he had in Secondary School. "The Malay chauffeurs who wait for my schoolmates sit on the car park kerb telling jokes to one another" probably states the close bond between schoolmates. At the last few lines, when his "best friend did a heroic thing once shaded all A’s" for the exam papers and the photograph with the poet's eyes closed indicates the joyful and wonderful times he had.

Famous Poets(Edgar Allan Poe)

Edgar Allen Poe had actually led a very tough life! He had been criticized by
many people. However, his poems are not at all half bad! They have many figurative lanuage in it, and also rhyming words. The works of Edgar Allen Poe cannot stand to be a comedy triumph, because his pieces of work are too powerful to be even close to funny. Thus, I feel that his poems are very

impactful and outstanding. Besides this, there is a "real" emotion in it and
one could almost feel it. In addition, the use of figurative language makes

them fun to read!

BIOGRAPHY

Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, January 19, 1809, and after a tempestuous life of forty years, he died in the city of Baltimore, October 7, 1849.

In 1829 he published "Al Aaraaf, and Minor Poems." "This work," says his biographer, Mr. Stoddard, "was not a remarkable production for a young gentleman of twenty." Poe was ashamed of the volume.

After his stormy school life, he returned to Richmond, where he was kindly received by Mr. Allen. There, he took up literature as a profession and created lots of new and famous poems.

Poe has been severely critisized by many writers for his wild and stormy life, but we notice that Ingram and some other prominent authors claim that he has been willfully slandered and that many of the charges brought against him are not true. His ungovernable temper and high spirit led him into disputes with his friends, hence he was not enabled to hold any one position for a great length of time. He had faults in personal life, but his ungovernable passions are sleeping, while the sad strains of "The Raven," the clear and harmonious tones of "The Bells," and the powerful images of his fancy live made him one of the world's most famous poets.

Some of his poems...

Alone

From childhood's hour

I have not been

As others were;

I have not seen

As others saw;

I could not bring

My passions from a common spring.

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow; I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone;

And all I loved, I loved alone.

Then- in my childhood, in the dawn

Of a most stormy life- was drawn

From every depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still:

From the torrent, or the fountain,

From the red cliff of the mountain,

From the sun that round me rolled

In its autumn tint of gold,

From the lightning in the sky

As it passed me flying by,

From the thunder and the storm,

And the cloud that took the form

(When the rest of Heaven was blue)

Of a demon in my view.

Song
I SAW thee on thy bridal day -

When a burning blush came o'er thee,

Though happiness around thee lay,

The world all love before thee:

And in thine eye a kindling light

(Whatever it might be)
Was all on Earth my aching sight

Of Loveliness could see.

That blush, perhaps, was maiden shame -

As such it well may pass -

Though its glow hath raised a fiercer flame

In the breast of him, alas!

Who saw thee on that bridal day,

When that deep blush would come o'er thee,

Though happiness around thee lay,

The world all love before thee.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow--

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand--

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep--while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

References:http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/

Poem(HOME LEARNING)

Absences, by Donald Justice
It's snowing this afternoon and there are no flowers.
There is only this sound of falling, quiet and remote,
Like the memory of scales descending the white keys
Of a childhood piano--outside the window, palms!
And the heavy head of the cereus, inclining,
Soon to let down its white or yellow-white.
These poor snow-flowers in a heap,
Is the memory of a white dress cast down . . .
So much has fallen.
And I, who have listened for a step
All afternoon, hear it now, but already falling away,
Already in memory.
And the terrible scales descending
On the silent piano; the snow; and the absent flowers abounding.

---

Hyperbole, metaphor and simile is used in this poem.

HYPERBOLE---It means that the poem is told in an overexaggerate manner. In this case, the absence is told in that manner. For example, the "only this sound of falling, quiet and remote", "poor snow-flowers in a heap", "already falling away, already in memory". This overexaggerate the fact that it was snowing and there were no flowers left. The poet chose this because it leaves the reader with a greater impact as compared to the unexaggerated one.

METAPHOR---It means taking two things seemingly unrelated and combine them together. In this poem, white dress and snow-flowers are combined together, "these poor snow flowers in a heap, is the memory of a white dress cast down." The poet chose this as it will stir up more interest in the reader, and would continue to read on or leave him with a good impression.

SIMILE---It has the same meaning as metaphor, but only uses "like, as or when". Here, an example would be "There is only this sound of falling, quiet and remote, Like the memory of scales descending the white keys of a childhood piano."The poet chose this because it will make the poem more meaningful and interesting, and the reader might inevitably imagine those things in his mind.

---

I like this poem because it describes the absence very impactful, as if it's like the end of the world. It also uses some metaphors and similes, thus the poem is quite interesting. It is also fairly easy to understand the poem, for the poet does not use bombastic words or describe things that I have never heard of before. Even though he uses hyperbole, he did not "over-hyperbole" it, such that it became too unrealistic or something out of the world. So, I feel that this is a very good poem as the poet used a seemingly usual thing and turned it to a masterpiece!

~106 words

Micro-fiction 2

A boy is making his passport.
"What your name?"
"Erm... I don't know."
"Come on! You gotta know your name!"
"I don't have one."
"Everyone's got a name!"
"Tomas."
"Good."
"Tsk."Irritated, he continues. "Maybe tomboy, tomgirl, atom, or even atomic!"
"Okay... Which one do you want to put on your passport?"
"Mmm... atomic tomborl."

~55 words

Reflection of Term 2

Blogging was more fun in term 2 than term 1. There are more interesting things to talk like WeRead, Microfiction etc. I always liked blogging homework for it not only relaxes your mind, there is always a stretch of time for me to do it! In addition, you will get ace. Hope more will come...

~55 words

Red Storm Rising(review)

The story is a war thriller. It is about a conventional ground war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Clancy suggests that several conventional ideas about a ground conflict between modern armies are wrong. For example, he proposes that munitions expenditures would be far higher than projected; that combat helicopters like the AH-64 Apache and the Mi-24 Hind are not as powerful as expected.
The story moves around in rotation, probably about different scenarios being played out in the build up to and aftermath of a Soviet pre emptive strike against NATO forces in the European theatre and naval forces in the North Atlantic.
The story is told in a more descriptive way than in dialog form. In addition, the fighting scenes are brilliantly described and there are lots of military jargons in the story, which Clacy did go to some lengths to explain. Thus, this book is a good read for all, except maybe for those who do not like wars. Even so, page turning from beginning to end is recommended.