William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is widely known as the greatest writer in history. His poems have spread all around the world. He is not just a poet but also a play writer. I found him very intriguing since he lived from 1564 to1616, yet his poems are able to reach today. Presently many people know about him, even I since young have heard about him. I wanted to find out why his works have been passed down for thousands of years. One interesting fact about him is he more comedies, which he had done in the earlier years, then tragedies, though they never really caught the spotlight. Who would have thought, William Shakespeare was a comedian. He is widely known for tragedies like Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. His poems are put into the play as lines for the actors. This is not really like other poets who only writes and be appreciated by others. William was able to be successful because the poems he wrote was accompanied by a play, which in my opinion would be far more interesting.

Here is a little information and back ground on William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare lived from 1564 to1616, a total of 52 years. It was a short life that influenced many as poets. Yet his poems still remain today. He has 38plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long narrative poems that have survived the test of time. His plays have been translated to each major language and they are performed more than any play writer. William was born and grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon in England. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway who bore him 3 children. He was most likely educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford. Most of his known work is from 1589 to 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories; however, at the end of the sixteen century to 1608, his writer was at his peak and started to write tragedies.

I feel that William Shakespeare writing style of being dramatic has made his plays and poems memorable to this day.Let's take Romeo and Juliet for example. That was a story about two people, Romeo and Juliet, not able to be together to the very end. Juliet had to marry a guy named Paris. As Juliet does not want to marry Paris and cannot marry Romeo, drank a potion to kill herself after realising the marriage was forward a day. After Romeo realised her death he came rushing to Juliet tomb, buying a fatal poison. He killed Paris and drank the poison and died by Juliet's body. However, for some reason, Juliet did not die and woke up. Seeing her loved one dead, she kissed him and then she took a dagger and stab herself to death. This storyline is overly dramatic but it is because of this very reason people like it. It is a love story with a tragic ending. It is sure memorable considering the unexpected storyline. William was able to keep the people with the drama with his writing style. All the other tragedies he wrote like Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear have been widely known. However, this is not really the case of his comedies. He had written more comedies than tragedies in his writing career, yet not many people know about them. Even I am not sure what comedy plays he wrote. That proves my point on dramatic plays or poems have a larger impact on the minds of the audience than other genres like comedies..

These are some poems from William Shakespeare in his famous plays.

This is a short poem in Hamlet

Marcellus to Horatio and Bernardo, after seeing the Ghost,
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,
The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

This is a short poem from Macbeth

The merciless Macdonwald—
Worthy to be a rebel, for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him—from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all's too weak;
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him...

This is a short poem in King Lear

King Lear, with the Fool, in a storm
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, an germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!

I hope you learn to appreciate these poems. There are more wonderful poems at this site below.

Reference:
http://www.poets.org/

Picture:

http://rohrbachlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/william-shakespeare2.jpg

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

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
all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

The poem i chose used many hyperbole. It is an exaggerated statement to put it simply. The hyperbole is "O God!". It is used repeatedly at the last end. Also "How few!" and " weep--while weep" All these are exaggerated statements . It is to show how the subject feels at that time. The writer use hyperbole to create a clearer image of which the subject feels. "Oh god!"Portray the subject as panicky and"weep--while weep shows how sad the person really is.

The poem also used personification. Personification is a technique that gives inanimate object in the poem human traits or characteristics. In the poem , personification is used on the sand. "How few! yet how they creep." Creep is used to describe how the sand disappears from his hand. It shows the sand slowly disappears and nothing the person could do. the sand takes on a human trait which is to move slowly or creep.One more example of personification is "pitiless wave". Pitiless wave describes the wave as cruel because it wash away the sand the subject loves. The wave takes a human form of having a trait which is cruel.There is another instance where an inanimate object gains and animal characteristics. It is "Yet if hope has flown away." Hope has taken a bird's trait which was to fly. It shows hope is flying out of grasp, meaning, quickly vanishing.

I like this poem because it is simple yet it shows helplessness of the subject even though he may be in a dream. There is very good used of hyperbole. It exaggerates the subjects feeling by using "Oh God!" to describe his helplessness and panic. His description is very well done using words like "Surf-tormented"shore and "pitiless wave.Personification is used effectively to bring out the traits of the inanimate objects. It is related well to the objects. It paints a very clear picture for the reader. The focus of the storyline is the writer panic of not able to save the sand . It is clear from the hyperbole to exaggerate the helplessness. The story flows very smoothly and rhythm very much. However, the description is the part of the poem that I like the most.

REFLECTIONS ON THE FAIR FOX OF BOSTON

Fair Fox, full of grief
sailed away from the Boston shore
she wept,oh my!
For hours and hours, oh my!
Weeping!Oh her grief,
It is a leaking faucet
It is like a pouring shower, and her ship begins to sink down.
She is sinking!
But, the wind carries her tears away,
The breeze is cool and relaxing
The Fair Fox is happy
The boat is now afloat,
and her grief gown gone
Oh my!

This is a poem which my teacher wanted us to learn the techniques used in poems


How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Figurative language is almost used throughout the poem. The five basic techniques of figurative language which are used in the poem are Hyperbole, Personification,Metaphor, Simile and Symbolism

What is hyperbole. It is simply an exaggerated statement. It invokes emotion and an image to the poem or the reader. In the poem, the hyperbole are "oh my!', "hours and hours" and "Weeping!Oh her grief" The writer used this to create an overly grievous emphasis on the fox's grief and the sadness to fully express her grief to the reader. It relates the emotion of the poem to the reader

What is personification? It is a technique that gives an inanimate object human traits and characteristics. In the poem, personification was not used on the fox, rather it was only used once. It was "wind carries" The wind gained human traits by being able to "carry" the fox's tears. I believe in some poems, the objects in the story are not always human. I feel that the writer used personification to make the reader feel that the figure is more realistic by having much similarity to humans

What is metaphor and simile.This two techniques are very similar. They both have the same purpose but use different words. They compare seemingly unrelated subjects with or without the use of the word like, as or than. That is the difference of metaphor and simile. A simile uses the words like, as or than while metaphor doesn't. In the poem,"it is a leaking faucet" is a metaphor as there are the words "it is". The simile in the poem is on the next line "It is like a pouring shower" It is a simile because the word like is present. They both relate to her grief. The writer used these techniques to create a clearer image in the reader's mind. By relating an object we know to the fox's grief, we can clearer understand the fox's feelings and can picture the image.

What is Symbolism? It is used as a representative figure to carry additional meaning. In the poem, the "boat" is the symbol.It represents the fox's grief Why? The boat and her grief act accordingly together. When the fox is crying, the boat started to sink. When she is happy the boat stays afloat to the end.The writer used to give more meaning to an object which usually hidden from the reader

I like this poem because it is simple but a very good example of the five techniques of figurative language. It not only effectively used the five techniques but used it at the right moment. The poem flows very smoothly though it does not rhythm much. The focus of the poem which is the fox, grief is very clear. The use of the five techniques really bring out the sadness. The overly exaggerated "oh my!" relates the emotions to the reader. Especially the "leaking faucet" and the"pouring shower" really described her tears to such extent. The one of the techniques used that I never expected was the symbolism. I never thought that the boat represents her grief. The writer must have thought through a lot to relate the boat sinking to the fox grief. Though it is a simple storyline, it is the description of the tears and sadness by using the five techniques that impressed me the most.

How do you know who your friends are?

How do you know who are your true friends? Firstly, there are many types of friends around you. There are the type of friends that live off you, taking advantage of your intellect for their gain, type of friends that mingle around you because you are popular or rich or friends that truly like you for the way you are and are not hesitant to criticise your every movement. So which type are the best. Of course, the ones that criticise you are your true friends that are invaluable to you. They are the ones that will not harm you. They are the ones that like you for who you are. The most importantly, they help you in times of need.

All the other types of friends are not your true friends and should not keep them as your friends. They are the ones that use you to get what they want. They could be bad enough to lie in wait for an opportunity to harm or back stab you so they can surpass you due to their jealousy. It could be quite dangerous to have them around you. In reality, especially the wealthy kinds are prone to having this type of "untrue" friends. Many of them mix with the rich person, befriending him or her for his or her money. So usually the rich person has many friends. They sole purpose is to get their riches from them. They lie in wait for the opportunity and strike like a tiger on the prowl, very vicious and ruthless. They caused the rich person their downfall, and could even make him bankrupt. If they do not cause your downfall, these type of friends will also not help you when you are down and out. They will start to avoid you and pretend not to even recognise you. They will not spare an effort to give you and start to despise you. They would forget all the good times where you help them. That is in the working world, most of the time. So you must be wary of the friends you make and how to avoid these 'untrue" friends.

To this question, how to know who your friends are? You cannot really do much. You must see if this friendship can withstand the test of time. You must see if this friendship can tide over all obstacles. In a lifetime, setbacks are inevitable. These are the opportunities to see who your true friends. They help you, comfort you and encourage you to make a comeback. By then, most or all the "untrue" friends would have fled out of your sight. These setbacks could be a blessing in disguise. It repels the evil and attracts the good. Most cases, these setbacks strengthen the friendship.

Another way to see who are your true friends are is to listen to what they say. True friends are the ones that criticise your actions while the "untrue” ones usually praise you and let you heard what you want to hear. And most of the time, we listen to the "untrue “ones and hate your true friends that advise you for your good because we think that the ones that are" nice" to us are our true friends. This is a misconception. Those friends praise you so they can get closer to you so as to reach their goals which most likely harm you in some way. In contrast, we accept them while we turn away our true friends. To find out who is your real friend, you must listen to their words and not get carried away by their sweet talk. The ones that criticise you for your own good are your friends. You need to take note of words from your friends to see the evil intentions and good intentions. Though this could be quite hard to differentiate, this is one of the few ways to know who your true friends are.

When we have friends, it is not about the quantity of friends but it is the quality of these friends. Out of the huge number of friends you may have, own a few can be considered true friends. Though the numbers are small, you only need these few true friends. All the others are dangerous to keep them by your side. However, to know your true friends is a long and tough journey. You may even need a few setbacks to finally know who they are. No matter how hard it takes to find true friends, one thing is for sure, they are worth it.

What is happiness?

What is happiness? It is something all people wish to obtain. However, true happiness is very difficult to get. Some try all their lives to get it but they never will. Each person has their own definition of happiness. Some say that wealth can bring to them true happiness while others feel that having your family members. I feel that happiness will come when you are contended with what you have now.

Nowadays, people are more materialistic. They have the wrong idea about happiness. They thought that having a lot of money can bring them happiness by giving themselves more luxury to their life. Yes, you can say you would be happy but I feel this is only temporary. This type of happiness will not last forever. Money is not everything, it has its limitations. When the money runs out, that is when the short-term happiness ends. Also, money is used to hide the loneliness and unhappiness of some people. How do people get rich? Sometimes, they sacrifice a lot to get it. They could have severed ties with family members, break bonds with friends as they betrayed them to get rich and did many unscrupulous things to reach their goal. They have the wrong mindset that money can bring them true happiness. However, this is not so. Having to live with little or no family and friends is not happiness. It brings loneliness to the person who thought money can solve everything only to use money to escape from his unhappiness.

Yes, it is true that we still need money to get happiness but money that can help you to carry on living is enough to keep you happy. You just need to be contended with what you have. True happiness comes from your family and friends. They are the ones that take care of you, they are the ones that help you and most of all they are the ones that accompany you through good times and bad times. They stand by you through thick and thin. To have someone to love you, you will never be lonely. These people are important to you as they support and spur you on. To have their accompaniment is better than any luxury money can buy. Unlike the happiness that derives from money, this happiness last you a lifetime. Though one by one these people may slip away from you, the happy memories you spend with them will keep you happy as long as you live. Some people may have little or no family and friends but with that few true friends and caring family members, you just need to be contended with them as you will still be happy.

Although not all people will agree on my opinion on happiness, one thing is certain, happiness is something you must pursue. True happiness will not easy. You have to fight for it. No matter what kind of happiness you want, whatever money or family members, we need to work hard for the happiness we yearn for. We work hard to support our family, we work hard to earn money so we can enjoy the fruits of our labours. Do not let setbacks ruin your happiness. Although not everyone can be successful in finding their happiness, you should be contented with the things around you. Appreciate them and you too can be happy.

If many people think something is true, is it true?

If many people think something is true, is it true? Another question is if many people think something is right, is it right? These are two questions that really made me racked my brain for a while. Well, what i feel is that there is no correct answer to these questions.It can go both ways. If many people think something is right or true, it could be true or right or it could be the other way around. Let me tell you why it could be right or true. Firstly, man's judgement cannot be that way off. If a lot of people thinks is true, there must be a reason or evidence.Like when in a hawker centre, there is a huge mass of people queuing at the chicken rice stall. The stall must be good,people will think like this. Also, there is another chicken rice stall like not far away from the queue and the business is very bad. So why when two stall selling the same thing, one stall gets the business. The food sold at the first stall must be good or at least not bad for a stall in the hawker centre. People judgement cannot be that bad until they are blinded completely. However, there are times where people are so blinded that their judgement are easily swayed.

In some cases,if many people think it is true or right, it could be false or wrong. The people that just agrees with the majority, are afraid of being rejected. They want to be in the "in" group and not the outcrop. They are afraid to raise their opinions as people could laugh at them for their ideas that are different. They are scared to be rejected and afraid of the embarrassment they would face so they decide they are wrong all the time and choose to agree with the majority to avoid unnecessary trouble and embarrassment. Also there is another scenario that the people are so lazy that they do not give their opinions and just copy people ideas and agree with them. It would cause them less hassle and trouble.

There was one novel I read this year. It is about a village that cruelly stoned people to death that won the "lottery".They did it to sacrifice for their religious belief. Apparently, everyone went ahead with the "lottery" because everyone else was doing it. Many people were thinking of abolish this custom but they were afraid of being rejected,of being the outcrop. Actually many hated the "lottery" but none was willing to stand up and shout out their opinions. It just needed that spark to start the rebellion but none came because they did not want to be out of the ordinary. This resulted in many innocent lives to be lost. This is a disastrous consequence of not having your opinions and voicing them out.Though in this modern society, this would not happened . However something resembling this could arise on a smaller scale but causing as much damage.

Also, many influential people have the power of swaying the majority vote or agreement. Many people tend to side the powerful people in this society because since they have power, they are right. Whatever they say is true. People blindly follow the leaders without opinions. The powerful icons could use propaganda to make the others think something is true or what they are going to do is right when it is completely against the morals. For example in World War 2, Adoff Hitler managed to rally almost whole of Germany to conquer the world. Everyone wanted to fight though they knew many innocent lives will be lost. This is consequence of the people not able to think for themselves and what is best for them. They were blinded by the leader's words as they thought whatever he said was true. This was how the war started.

We should not follow others blindly because everyone is doing it or because a person with higher status says it is right. Everyone has the conscience to know what is right from wrong. We also have a brain to think for ourselves so we should use it. If we follow others because you are afraid to voice out opinions, you will become lazy and reliant on others. When you are left behind, you will be unable to stand up for yourself. In the end, the ones to suffer is the ones that have diamonds in their mouths and refuse to voice opinions. We need not to be afraid people would reject you. You just need that spark. If you voice out your opinions, the odds are that someone will agree with you.

What is Beauty?

Beauty can be classified into two categories, inner beauty and outer beauty. Both types have their advantages and both are important. Outer beauty is only scraping the tip of the true meaning of beauty. Outer beauty is the appearance of the person like whether he or she has combed his hair or showered. It is a beauty that everyone normally noticed and like.It is only on the surface.Outer beauty can be easily obtain from all the cosmeti cs and facial treatment. Sometimes outer beauty could deceived others into thinking that the person is someone you could trust when in reality is the person you cannot trust.Inner beauty is the true beauty that everyone should strive to obtain.Actually, inner beauty cannot be obtain, rather it should come from your heart. A person with a kind heart is what I called beautiful. A person who helps others and donates to charity from the bottom of his heart is really a true beauty. Donations also may not be much but it is the thought that counts.


So which one is more important? I would choose inner beauty instead of outer beauty though both are important. Outer beauty is important as it gives people a good impression. First impression is very important as it reflects much on your personality. It could get you a job so many people use make-up to touch up on their appearance.However,sometimes people used them to hide their true intentions and true appearance. Outer beauty is used as a cover-up for their cold,heartless heart and devious plots. It is all hidden behind the pretty face. In many cases, many rich men married pretty women and it turns out that the bride was not what she seemed to be and cheated his money and ran away. It can go both ways. These people may be pretty but they are not beautiful in my opinion. Some could look good but is so stingy that they do not donate a cent to charity though they are filthy rich. If a person with an not so pretty appearance and with no money is willing to donate like a dollar to charity ever week or so she is beautiful. That is inner beauty, to go out of the way to help others because it is right.She or he does not expect any thing in return.Though not as pretty as others, she is certainly more beautiful at heart. Inner beauty helps others while outer beauty usually helps only yourself. You could say inner beauty is generous while outer beauty is selfish.


To be truly beautiful is not easy. It is not about looks, it is not about wealth, it is also not about status. It is about the kind heart which could reach out to touch and warm others by helping the needy. That is true beauty.

My first semester

My first semester was both sweet and sour. It has not been easy to overcome all obstacles in this fruitful yet painful semester. A lot have change since the beginning of the year , either for the better or the worse.Number of hardships faced are doubled in the hectic lifestyle of a secondary school student. Having to deal with homework, heavy responsibilities, projects and in the end having to sacrifice sleep have not been easy.Though getting used to the tiredness, I hope the day of the heavy burden on my shoulders will be lifted. However, things had not been always bad.I had made new friends in my new school and I had a new CCA.Best of all, the facilities in the school are amazing. This makes boring lessons become interesting,especially during PE lessons.There are many ups and downs in this phase of life. One moment you could be praised by the teacher for doing well in the test but next thing you know, you are being scolded by another teacher for not doing homework to her expectations. This roller-coaster ride is the journey which we all have to experience.

I not very enjoyable thing that occurred to me is that I became the chairman of the class. It is not that I hate the job but it really make me worry a lot. With the heavy responsibility on my shoulder, I have to be on my toes to solve and avoid disaster, especially when the class is noisy, the chairman is responsible to keep the class quiet.I do not know why but my class became very noisy.They just love to talk and are very playful. Though having a monitor, He is also unable to control the class like me and I think he had given up trying to keep the class quiet. Anyway, it is always the chairman fault if something goes wrong.When a teacher steps into a class that is very noisy, the first thing they would say is" Who is the chairman?" Then, I would raise my hand and get lectured that is is my duty to keep the class quiet. No matter how I try, my voice will be overpowered by the class.Also,i had to collect things for the class like magazine and letters. Sometimes, the school gives very specific destination to collect the items or to return them. One of the places is"T204" a number given to a specific room. I am certainly not able to know where the destination is so I have to run around finding it, in fear of being late and get another scolding.

Although it is tough being a chairman, it could be enjoyable too. There is one incident that i remembered . As the chairman, I had to stay back to decorate the classroom with the other CMC.Although we did not do a great job and not all of our classmates like it but we got praised by our teacher for all the hard work we had put in.Our heart and sweat were put into the decoration though it may seemed easy. We too were proud of ourselves and we were satisfied with the decoration. Being a chairman gave me opportunities to help the class and gain experience of leadership. It is tiring but a fruitful experience.

One change that I dislike is the workload. I never imagine that this amount of work was even possible. The workload from term one had increased significantly when term two arrived. No matter how I slogged and worked, the homework just pile on top of each other, never stopping. It just keep increasing. In the past, I could do my very best to complete each and every piece of work so it was usually well done as the amount of work is little. Now, it is a race against time to complete the pile of work so the effort is spread out and so some work are done in a hurry. Even though, I tried hard to cope with the homework, I could never finished them before 10pm.I have to sacrifice an hour or more of my sleep time to finish the work. my usually sleeping time is at 11.30pm and the time I need to rise is at 5.45am so the time i rest is only little more than 6 hours.This is a change I need to get used to as when i get older, more such challenges awaits.

It may seem my secondary school life is horrible, it actually is quite enjoyable and fun.Many events like camps are organised for the secondary 1. I went to a camp during the March holidays.Despite the exhaustion, I made new friends and tightened the bond between existing friends. We had much fun doing the team-building exercises and ate and slept like never before.My CCA which is tough yet fun at the same time. It is the sport I like, tennis. My coach is quite sociable and my teammates are fun to hang with. We have to do much physical training which is very difficult to complete but in the training, we have many races to see who can run the fastest who could skip some physical training. We have a game( like other racket sports) called " King". It is basically a game that if a player could earn points by beating other players and become the king of the court . After becoming the king,other challengers will come and try to betroth you.To earn points, you must win the challenger when you are the king.The person with the most points do not need to do any physical training while others suffer the training.

After the whole term of working hard, studying hard and playing hard, the fruit of my labour had ripened. The results of our test were out,and I did fairly well. I was very satisfied with them and I am proud of myself for working so hard for the past few months. I am glad that all of them did not go to waste.

Though the road so far had been considerably smooth compared to the later years,I cannot be be overconfident and let pride overwhelm me. As the saying goes" a pride comes before a fall". I must remain humble and work equally hard or harder to maintain those marks. I also must improve on my time management. If I had better of that ,I could rest more and you better time to complete the work. Furthermore, I need to train harder for my CCA. Half the year has passed with half a year to go before the competition. I have set a goal for myself to be able to win a match in the competition.

The semester had gone and passed. I have to moving forward. I anxiously wait for the next term to arrive to see what road awaits ahead.