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.