The Conclusion

My Freshman year in Mrs.Gilman's honors English has been great, especially this blog. I have had a lot of fun writing my heart out. This blog I believe has not only changed me as a writer but as a person as well. By far my favorite subject in English is the poetry section. Robert Frost is an amazing poet and I've had an awesome experience learning more about him and his life. My favorite poem that he wrote would have to be 'The Road Not Taken' in this poem one line says, "I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference" I envy this line because I know that there are not many people in this world that have a love for literature that I do. So I in fact took the road less traveled by and yes it has made all of the difference. Becoming more in tune with the deeper meanings of poetry is the best part of the process. I've enjoyed thinking about what I think the meaning is and figuring out what my peers have come up with as well. In comparison, I love talking about poetry and many people just see poetry as more words bunched up and scrambled on a piece of paper that you read in a rhythm. But, when I pick up a poem I like going after it and analyzing it until it cannot be thought of in any other way. My year at Olympia High school wouldn't have been this fun if it weren't for Mrs. Gilman. I will miss her dearly and I hope I see her next year. My experiences have been nothing but happiness. Thank you so much.

My most memorable had to be the last blog. I enjoyed this out of the whole year as well as any other project that had to do with poetry because I am so in the with poetry. But, I especially enjoyed the last blog because I could reflect on my great grandfathers death in a positive way. Also, he used to recite beautiful poetry to my sister and I so it let's me remember the good times that I was so fortunate to have with him. Not only that but poetry is one f the things in life that is simple yet complex and obvious yet meaningful. I will always appreciate poetry and the assignment that I spent enough time and thought to be put into it.

Reflecting on a Memorable Assignment

My great experience with poetry

My family has always been very religious and believe it or not there are plenty great examples of amazing poetry within religious views. When my great grandfather died in January of 2010 I had a really hard time coping with the fact that he is gone. But, the one thing that really made me feel a lot better about losing him was the poem that my grandmother showed me. My grandma said, " This poem helped me remember how he would want me to look at his passing." The poem went like this:
Safely Home (author unknown)
I am home in heaven, dear ones; Oh, so happy and so bright. There is perfect joy and beauty, in this everlasting light. All the pain and grief is over, every restless tossing passed. I am now at peace forever, safely home in heaven at last. Did you wonder I so calmly trod the valley of the shade? Oh, but jesus' love illumined every dark and fearful glade. And he came himself to meet me in the way so hard to tread; and with jesus' arm to lean on could I have one doubt or dread? Then you must not grieve so sorely, for I love you dearly still. Try to look beyond death's shadows; pray to trust our father's will. There is work still waiting for you, so you must not idly stand. Do it now while life remaineth; you shall rest in jesus' land. When that work is all completed, he will gently call you home. Oh, the rapture of that meeting; oh, the joy to see you come.

I read this poem over and over again and it helped me realize that he had lived a great life. But, poetry in general in my life to me is extraordinary. I love the feeling that you get when you read it and when you write something that has a deep meaning, something that's not just a bunch of words but something that has emotion and feeling. My past experiences with poetry have been nothing but the best. When I read poetry most of the ones I read have some kind of connection with my life somehow. Even if it related to today or five years ago. This is why I appreciate and have a strong love for poetry.

Conflict in Romeo and Juliet

Conflict is very common in the play of 'Romeo and Juliet'. Lately there is a lot of the conflict between the families. Because of the fact that Romeo killed Tybalt there has been more trouble for the relationship with Romeo and Juliet because they are married and yet they are banded from when see each other so romeo has to come with the night but now it's even harder for them because Romeo is now 'banished'. So, now there isn't only trouble with them but Paris is coming in between they're love and Paris is the man that the man that Juliet is forced to marry but we all know that they end up committing suicide together and Juliet lets Friar Lawrence know that she would rather die than marry Paris. On the topic of Friar Lawrence he continues to foreshadow the ending with every word that comes out of his mouth.

In my life there is always conflict no matter if it's being sick with allergies and having time away from school because of that. So, the only way that I relate is being away from something important that depends on how the rest of my life is going to go like Juliet having to be away from Romeo as someone that changes her life. Juliet depends on Romeo for how her life is going to be as I do with school but I have to do work as she has to cope with her family being left behind in her life later on.

It's Everywhere!

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Thoughts on Reading

The reading experience has been exciting and boring at the same time, although overall the book is honestly in my top ten for sure of what I have read before. I enjoyed this novel because of all of the mysterious characters and humorous ones as well.

Photo Comparison

In my mind I know this story might be a little bit different to 'Great Expectations' but the story of the orphan 'Annie' has very similar aspects to Pip's views. Annie's story has to do with her trying to find her parents. But then, she realizes that they passed away, exactly like Pip except that he already knew his parents were dead and he was not an orphan (but close to it). Pip ended up getting a generous amount of money from his 'benefactor'. Now, in Annie's case she got adopted by Mr. Warbucks and became wealthier that way. I thought that these two stories were similar but only in the foundation piece of the novels. Furthermore, Annie and Pip have both experienced things that are alike as well. For example, Annie has an orphan mother that runs the orphanage that treats her very wrongly and Pip has his sister Mrs. Joe that acts the same way towards him. With that, Pip has restrictions as well as Annie. For example, when Annie went out trying to escape the orphanage and Pip would stay at the graveyard too late and they both got reprimanded for going somewhere for so long without permission.

Photo Relation

In choosing this picture I figured that in the beginning of the second stage, Pip changes his attitude not only towards Joe but everyone else in book as well. The money on the tree reminds me of the fact that as soon as Pip gets his currency from his benefactor everything changes for him and he thinks of the world differently and expects everyone to understand his ungrateful remarks and actions just because he is a 'gentleman'. Also, the glow that the tree gives off protrays the content feelings that Pip had with being a gentleman without realizing after a while that he was not paying enough attention to his friends and family away from London.

Group Essay Collaboration

When I was writing my paragraph I found myself going back to redo so many different sections because of the following. I had issues with the commentary, the introducing the quote, and the thesis involvement. Now, the commentary was difficult because it seemed easier to just write it out as the summary type of layout. But the quote intro was interesting because you not only have to introduce the quote but you also have to embed the quote as well. Also, the thesis had to be connected to each part in at least one way so we had match every body's paragraphs to connect with each others as well as the thesis. The one thing that i did not see too much of was the problem of embedded quotes.What would be a good way to remind myself to steer clear of these issues? Do you have any solutions for me?

Second Stage

There are many comparisons in the book Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. But, one of the main ideas has to do with the themes that come up within the characters. For example, when Pip describes Wemmick's mouth as a postal return. Pip also elaborates on this idea in the second stage by describing the fact that when Wemmick is at his home he does not seem as serious and postal-like but as they walked back to Jagger's office Wemmick got more and more serious as they went. Also, there are consistently new characters entering into the story. For example, when Uncle Pumblechook was a new character he brought to the reader's attention that not only Mrs. Joe treats Pip badly but the rest of the well known family friends and family (adults). now, Pip has made a change for the worst in the past few chapters. In the beginning of the story he was the innocent victim that had everyone against him. But, now that he has come into a generous amount of money everyone that ever treated him differently now acts as if he was always known and loved.

?Passage?

Some of the pieces of this novel didn't make very much sense. But when we talked to everyone in class than it was a lot easier to understand. The section of the novel that I was having issues on was when the first convict was talking to pip. Because it switched quickly from the second convict running, to randomly having a conversation with the first convict apparently about the second. So, the confusion was based on which convict was talking at which time.But now it makes a lot more sense and I went over the passage again to completely understand it and I am not confused about the section at all anymore.

Dishonesty

In the book I have been able to look at the concepts of marriage, morals, and education in a completely different way. For example, Wilde shows satire towards marriage int he way of looking at the meaning of marriage to people in real life and twisting and turning it into an opposite meaning. Because, in life you often hear others opinions but the main one is that love should be cherished and that you should be loyal to your spouse. But, Wilde contradicts himself and portrays the feeling that anyone who is married is not supposed to be loyal and woman and men should not enjoy their spouses company but find another woman or man to spend time with. He also shows satire with social classes.

Nowadays, the people that have hard-working jobs are well known and liked as well as wealthy. But, in Wilde's book he makes it perfectly clear that people do not work for there wealth they are inherited to them and that the work done by the wealthy consists of smoking and eating cucumber sandwiches. Now doctors are known as heroic and smart. And Wilde explains them as if they were just as bad as the last servant he saw the day before. I have to admit I do like the structure and difference this book has in comparison to many other books that I have read before.