Narrative Poem Research

A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story. Some examples of narrative poems are ballads, epics, and lays. I chose the poem, 'The Day Lady Died', by Frank O'Hara. The poem starts off with setting the scene (in New York, on a Friday in 1959) and very simple day-to-day tasks, with the narrator going to the bank, getting presents for his friends, etc. But the poem takes a turn as he enters the liquor store, and he sees a New York Post newspaper with 'her face' on it. The 'her' is referring to Billie Holiday, a singer who died that year, and the name of the poem is a play on a nickname: 'Lady Day'. O'Hara's style of writing is considered very 'detailed' and 'trivial'. In most of his poems, he writes in a way that is like a human mind thinks. The human mind thinks in details, taking in specific names and random thoughts. In this poem, there is a lot of names, such as Easthampton, 7:15, New World Writing, Miss Stillwagon, Verlaine, Bonnard, Park Lane, etc. Also, in between these details, there are also little commentaries that our minds tend to make on certain things. This is why in the poem, it starts off by listing off the trivial tasks of his daily life, and then, as he makes the extraordinary discovery of the death of Billie Holiday, the tone of the poem changes completely, and it focuses on how he feels: " and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of leaning on the john door in the 5 spot while she whispered a song along the keyboard to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing". This refers to the narrator's last memory of Billie Holiday, at possibly a jazz club with Holiday's accompanist, Mal Waldron. It is not a very long poem, and goes at quite a fast pace, as a human mind would. There is no rhyme scheme, and no particular number of syllables in each line. Also, there is no set number of lines in each stanza. Another thing worth noting is that there is hardly any punctuation; there does not seem to be any periods, and barely any commas, because as mentioned above, this poem is written like the human mind. The human mind does not stop, or pause, but instead, keeps going and thinking. There is no figure of speech and no imagery; in short, there is no descriptive language except at the very end, where it mentions: "she whispered the song along the keyboard", which is giving an image of of her singing as soft and delicate.

Extended Metaphor - Life is...

"In the rollar coaster of life, sometimes, we go too fast that we don't know we're on the downfall until we're actually on it, and we are too scared on the ride to realize that we actually enjoyed it."

This extended metaphor has two parts. The first part, 'we don't know we're on the downfall until we're acutally on it', shows that sometimes things can take you by surprise, because life is full of surprises, good or bad. The second part, 'we are too scared on the ride to realize that we actually enjoyed it', this shows that sometimes, when in the middle of the situation, we are thinking too much, and we don't actually enjoy the moment. For example, a lot of adults live to earn money for retirement so that they can enjoy it, however, after they retire, they realize that they are so busy working hard that they didn't get to enjoy life to its fullest. So basically, this metaphor is about 'surprises' and 'regets'.

Class Assignment - Quickwrite - Disrespect

Many situations rise in which disrespect cause conflict. Disrepect can be cause by things such as rascism, sexism, etc. Basically, it is usually caused by discrimination. A lot of the times, discrimination already exists, prior to the situation. For example, during the time of Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were being discriminated. They were forced to sit at the back of the bus, take different schools, etc. In their positions they probably feel sad, and mad, that they have to live in this situation. If I were put into similar situation, I would feel mad and offended. But at the same time, I would also feel embarrassed, because obviously, I've done something wrong that makes the other person feel like I deserve to be treated as less than the person I am. It is wrong to disrespect someone and make them feel like they are less than who they really are. 'Disrespecting' someone is like thinking you are higher than them in some way. That is both mean and offensive. But disrespect happens all over the world. That is why we should fight against discimination.

Imagery and Analysis - A Blessing

In 'A Blessing' by James Wright, he expresses his love and passion for ponies. It starts off with the setting, which is on a highway, 'just off Rochester, Minnesota', the time is at twilight, which 'bounds softly forth on the grass'. He looks at two Indian ponies, whose eyes are 'darken with kindness'. The ponies come welcome the speaker and his friend, as the speaker and his friend steps over the barbed wire into the pasture. 'They have been grazing, alone' implies that these horses were abandoned here, and probably do not have as much contact with humans. The horses are described to be happy that they are visited, and they 'ripple tensely, they can hardly contain the happiness that we have come'. It is also stated here that they love eachother. The speaker approaches the slenderer one, which is black and white, as the pony nuzzles his hand. The pony's mane 'fails wild on her forehead'. The speaker is moved by the 'light wind' to caress the pony's long ears. The speaker describes the feeling of the pony's ears to be as soft as the skin on a girl's wrist, which means it is delicate and soft. The last line is perhaps an indication that he suddenly bursts out of the trance and comes back to reality, where he realizes that if he were not as he is now, he would probably 'break into blossom', meaning be carried away even more by this trance. Perhaps he means that if he continued staying he would break into something more wonderful, and less sinister, then the human soul. This whole poem has a feeling of idleness, tranquility, and as if in trance.

Imagery from 'Starfish'

'The quartz and jasper sand'
'created terrariums with their bodies'
'adding sprigs of seaweed, seashells, white feathers, eel bones, miniature Mussels, a fish jaw'
'Thousands of baby stars'
'Surprised to find them soft, pliant, almost living in their attitudes'
'Form seascapes, geodesics'
'hundreds of thousands of flawless five-fingered specimens sprawled Along the beach as far as we could see, all massed together'
'so many splayed hands'
'the tide shovelled in'

Class Assignment - Quickwrite - A Blessing

When I close my eyes, and someone says the word 'nature', the first thing that comes to mind for me are fields. In Belgium, we lived in a house right by the fields. Everyday when I went home, I would either sit inside or on the fence, and look at the fields. The patches of green and yellow and orange overlap and roll on to eachother. Trees growed in four's and five's around the fields, and little houses poked out from random places. Belgium is known for its plains and flat geography. And I lived right beside it. Occasionally, I see rabbits chasing eachother and disappearing into invisible burrows. The image looked like it had been cut by half, one half the field, and one half the sky. The sky was the most vibrant blue, with white, fluffy clouds playing tag across the sky. In spring, the trees in our garden blossomed into different colors, while in autumn, everything turns brown, orange, and yellow, as leaves blow across the whole land. And in winter, everything was white. Whenever I think about this, I feel a strong sense of nostalgia. It makes me think back to the days when I could stare out the window, and my eyes could see far, far landscape. Now, when I look out my window, all I can see is the next building four meters away. I kind of feel trapped in a city, and  somehow, along with the city, my mind feels trapped, too. In Belgium, like what I see, my mind can go as far as it can. In general, thinking about this just makes me feel nostalgic and makes me reminisce my life in Belgium.

Class Assignment - Quickwrite - Turning Point

Perhaps the biggest turning point in my life was my decision to move to Belgium. 2 years ago, before the start of grade 7, our family moved to Belgium. Moving there changed my life completely. If I haven't moved there, I would be a lot dumber. This is because, in Belgium, my school was a lot bigger. There were people from 70 different countries, and through this oppurtunity, I got to learn and interact with a lot of different cultures. Also, since it is a large school, there was also a huge library. Every week, I would go to the library atleast twice. I got to read a lot of books, and a lot of classics. In our school, there is also a huge variety of different sports. I chose to concentrate on netball, and because of it, I learned to like basketball a lot, which led to me playing basketball now. Also, when I moved to Belgium, I thought the math levels between Taiwan and Belgium would be a big gap, so in the two years, I read ahead a lot of math stuff. Turns out, when I came back, it wasn't that bad, so my math was slightly advanced. If I hadn't moved to Belgium, I wouldn't have been able to learn about so many cultures, read so many books, be playing basketball now, and be slightly ahead in math. On the other hand, because the homework load in Belgium is much lighter, it took me some time to adjust to the situation in Taiwan. I think I would be a completely different person had I chose to stay in Taiwan.

Class Assignment - Quickwrite - Selfless Sacrifice

I remember once, when I had to make the choice between choosing to stay at a movie theater with a friend, or go home sooner. A couple of months ago, I was meeting up with some of my old friends from another city, who came to visit. We were at the movie theater, and when the movie ended, only me and one of the friends was left. She said she had to wait for her parents for about 45 minutes. At that point, it was pretty late at night, and my mother had set a curfew for me. I had to take the taxi home, because my mother was busy, and she told me to be at home by 10, which was about 20 minutes from that time. Since it was kind of late, I didn't think I should leave my friend alone, so I decided to wait with her. At that point, I was extremely tired, and wanted to go back home, and knew that if I didn't, I was sure to be scolded at home. But at the same time, I couldn't just leave her. So I decided to stay. We spent the 45 minutes huddled up in the cold, and chatted about old times. When I got home, sure enough, I got told off by my mother. But as I explained the situation to her, she softened up slightly. Looking back now, I thought that I had made the right decision. It is important not to leave your friends by themselves, especially so late at night. I think that making these kind of decisions, we need to weigh in the consequences, and decide which had a more risky and dangerous consequence. I'm glad I helped my friend, and I'm sure she would have helped me if I was in the same situation.

Universal Education

Universal education is available education for all children, at an affordable or no charge. Mostly, this involves education up to elementary and sometimes secondary school. Normally this is inforced by law. Universal education is important for all because with education, people get a chance at better jobs. Many poor country in the world now do not have many educated or literate men. Most children in these poor places rarely, or do not, go to school, and instead, has to work in order to bring another source of income to the family. A lot of the times, it is because the family can not afford to send the kid to school. However, what a lot of them do not understand is that, with education, there is fairly bigger chance of getting a better job, thus, better income. Universal education has not been entirely achieved yet. In many of the poorer countries, children do not get the most basic education, sometimes because there is no schooling provided there. The 8 Millenium Development Goals have stated, in its Goal 2, to 'achieve universal primary education' by 2015. The progress of this goal has been staggered depending on country. Some countries have achieved this, while some others haven't. Reaching this goal is hard, because it will require a lot of funding and man-power. There needs to be training programs for teachers, construction of school buildings, and a number of laws that should be enforced to protect education. Some of these laws should force children into school, because many parents have traditional thinking that as long as they have a person to help on the farm, they will be fine. So more than just the basic facilities and staff should be provided; the thinking of the older generation should also be changed. Moreover, many of these fundings should also be used to provide financial aid and scholarships to more disadvantaged and underprivilaged families. If this goal is achieved, it would improve a lot of many country's economic standings, and improve the next generation.