Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Robert Frost's Poems
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost's Poems
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Favourite Poet: Robert Frost
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life — 'It goes on' " -- Robert Frost. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California to journalist William Prescott Frost, Jr. and Isabelle Moodie.
Frost grew up in the city, and published his first poem in his high school's magazine. He attended Dartmouth College long enough to be accepted into the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Frost returned home to teach and to work at various jobs including delivering newspapers and factory labor. He did not enjoy these jobs at all, feeling his true calling as a poet.
In 1894 he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly: An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894 edition of the New York Independent) for fifteen dollars.
Later, in 1912, Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, living first in Glasgow before settling in Beaconsfield outside London. His first book of poetry, A Boy's Will, was published the next year. In England he made some important acquaintances, including Edward Thomas (a member of the group known as the Dymock Poets), T.E. Hulme, and Ezra Pound.
As World War I began, Frost returned to America in 1915. He bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing.
Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961. Some two years later, on January 29, 1963, he died, in Boston, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His epitaph reads, "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."
Robert Frost was a great poet but his personal life was constantly plagued with loss and grief. His father died of tuberculosis in 1885, when Frost was 11, leaving the family with just $8. Frost's mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.
Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliot (1896–1904, died of cholera), daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983), son Carol (1902–1940, committed suicide), daughter Irma (1903–1967), daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth), and daughter Elinor Bettina (died three days after birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938.
Frost's poems are sometimes said to present pessimistic and menacing undertones which often are either unrecognized or unanalyzed behind a sometimes charmingly familiar and rural façade.
Frost grew up in the city, and published his first poem in his high school's magazine. He attended Dartmouth College long enough to be accepted into the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Frost returned home to teach and to work at various jobs including delivering newspapers and factory labor. He did not enjoy these jobs at all, feeling his true calling as a poet.
In 1894 he sold his first poem, "My Butterfly: An Elegy" (published in the November 8, 1894 edition of the New York Independent) for fifteen dollars.
Later, in 1912, Frost sailed with his family to Great Britain, living first in Glasgow before settling in Beaconsfield outside London. His first book of poetry, A Boy's Will, was published the next year. In England he made some important acquaintances, including Edward Thomas (a member of the group known as the Dymock Poets), T.E. Hulme, and Ezra Pound.
As World War I began, Frost returned to America in 1915. He bought a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, where he launched a career of writing, teaching, and lecturing.
Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961. Some two years later, on January 29, 1963, he died, in Boston, of complications from prostate surgery. He was buried at the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington, Vermont. His epitaph reads, "I had a lover's quarrel with the world."
Robert Frost was a great poet but his personal life was constantly plagued with loss and grief. His father died of tuberculosis in 1885, when Frost was 11, leaving the family with just $8. Frost's mother died of cancer in 1900. In 1920, Frost had to commit his younger sister, Jeanie, to a mental hospital, where she died nine years later. Mental illness apparently ran in Frost's family, as both he and his mother suffered from depression, and his daughter Irma was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. Frost's wife, Elinor, also experienced bouts of depression.
Elinor and Robert Frost had six children: son Elliot (1896–1904, died of cholera), daughter Lesley Frost Ballantine (1899–1983), son Carol (1902–1940, committed suicide), daughter Irma (1903–1967), daughter Marjorie (1905–1934, died as a result of puerperal fever after childbirth), and daughter Elinor Bettina (died three days after birth in 1907). Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. Frost's wife, who had heart problems throughout her life, developed breast cancer in 1937, and died of heart failure in 1938.
Frost's poems are sometimes said to present pessimistic and menacing undertones which often are either unrecognized or unanalyzed behind a sometimes charmingly familiar and rural façade.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Figurative Language in Poems: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
I like this poem because it teaches us that we should not give up easily when faced with any difficulty, including and especialy death. Dylan Thomas wrote this poem for his father when he was on his deathbed. He and his father never got along well and were always quarrelling or fighting. However, when his father was about to die, Dylan Thomas wrote this poem as encouragement for his father, telling him to stay strong and fight the illness he was going through. i especially like the part where he writes, "Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray". It shows that he actually cares for his father despite all their past quarrels, so much so that he does not care if his father is cursing or blessing him but just wants a sign that he can still do something.
Figurative Language in Poems: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
This poem is a villanelle as the last lines of each staza ("Rage, rage against the dying of the light" and "Do not go gentle into that good night") alternating is a characteristic of a villanelle.
The words "good night", "close of day" and "dying of the light" are all metaphors of death. The poet has chosen these words as they sound as if the person is dying peacefully. All the above phrases give the reader the impression that the person is dying slowly with the "light" "fading".
The words "blaze like meteors and be gay" are a simile of happiness. Earlier on in the stanza, the poet talks about grave men who are about to die who realise that they have been living a life of sadness and know that that they should be living a life of hapiness.
The words "good night", "close of day" and "dying of the light" are all metaphors of death. The poet has chosen these words as they sound as if the person is dying peacefully. All the above phrases give the reader the impression that the person is dying slowly with the "light" "fading".
The words "blaze like meteors and be gay" are a simile of happiness. Earlier on in the stanza, the poet talks about grave men who are about to die who realise that they have been living a life of sadness and know that that they should be living a life of hapiness.
Figurative Language in Poems: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Bloom's Taxonomy Book Review Questions: What lesson did you learn from the story?
On regrets, Morrie said, "What do regrets show? Unfufilled lives, disatisfied lives."
"This culture doesn't encourage you to think about choices until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks-we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all that I want? Is something missing?"
What I have learnt from this is that we should use the feeling of regret slightly differently. Instead of saying, "I should have done this when I was younger," Say, "Let me go and do this, I may have mised it before, but I'm not going to miss it again." Let it serve as an encouragement to you. Make your regrets your new purpose in life, to finish what you didn't do before.
"This culture doesn't encourage you to think about choices until you're about to die. We're so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks-we're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don't get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all that I want? Is something missing?"
What I have learnt from this is that we should use the feeling of regret slightly differently. Instead of saying, "I should have done this when I was younger," Say, "Let me go and do this, I may have mised it before, but I'm not going to miss it again." Let it serve as an encouragement to you. Make your regrets your new purpose in life, to finish what you didn't do before.
Bloom's Taxonomy Book Review Questions: What lesson did you learn from the story?
Book Read: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
I have learnt many lesons from reading this book. No doubt it may look like a simple book, being very thin, but it has taught me, and it will teach you, many things about the way we should perceive life and how we should be living our lives. We have now the pleasure of reading the teachings of Mitch's teacher, Morrie Schwartz, despite his illness. Just for you to know, Morrie suffers from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the same disease that Stephen Hawking suffers from and this story is a true story.
This book covers a great many topics, but I will cover those which I think are relevant and those which have impacted me in some way.
I would focus on feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, family, emotions, money and forgiveness.
On feeling sorry for yourself, in the book, Mitch asked Morrie if he felt sorry for himself, having an incurable disease that would kill him very soon. Morrie's reply was, "Sometimes in the mornings, that's when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move-and mourn what I've lost. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On all the people who are coming to see me. On all the stories I'm going to hear. " Then he goes on to say, "I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that's all. " What I learnt from this is that we should not dwell in self-pity, looking at ourselves and thinking, "Look at me now, I don't have this, I don't have that." That isn't the right way to think. Instead, we should look more at the good things we still have in life, the people around us, our family, our friends.
I have learnt many lesons from reading this book. No doubt it may look like a simple book, being very thin, but it has taught me, and it will teach you, many things about the way we should perceive life and how we should be living our lives. We have now the pleasure of reading the teachings of Mitch's teacher, Morrie Schwartz, despite his illness. Just for you to know, Morrie suffers from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the same disease that Stephen Hawking suffers from and this story is a true story.
This book covers a great many topics, but I will cover those which I think are relevant and those which have impacted me in some way.
I would focus on feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, family, emotions, money and forgiveness.
On feeling sorry for yourself, in the book, Mitch asked Morrie if he felt sorry for himself, having an incurable disease that would kill him very soon. Morrie's reply was, "Sometimes in the mornings, that's when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands-whatever I can still move-and mourn what I've lost. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On all the people who are coming to see me. On all the stories I'm going to hear. " Then he goes on to say, "I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that's all. " What I learnt from this is that we should not dwell in self-pity, looking at ourselves and thinking, "Look at me now, I don't have this, I don't have that." That isn't the right way to think. Instead, we should look more at the good things we still have in life, the people around us, our family, our friends.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
How do you know who your friends are?
The answer to this question depends on when this question is asked and how well the person being asked knows his friends.
For example, if you were to ask a 4-year old child this question, a possible response would be, "Those who play with me are my friends". But if you were to ask an adult this question, his or her reply might even be to ask you which friend you are referring to.
Thus it is only good that we treat all our friends equally at first, and not go with who we feel, and completely sure, is a good person. Instead we should observe their behaviour, their mannerism. Only after we have done that can we be more sure of who our friends are.
Many people, due to crimes of theft, end up in trouble. But what is the cause of all this trouble? It is, in some cases, due to the fact that they did not assess their friends and ended up in bad company. Following that they are coerced to join them in various offences and when they finally get into trouble, the ones who run first are he ones they called friends in the beginning. After that you see them in jail regretting their actions and their choice of friends.
To conclude, isn't it better to first judge your friends and know who your real friends are, rather than get into trouble later. After all, friends are the most important people after family.
For example, if you were to ask a 4-year old child this question, a possible response would be, "Those who play with me are my friends". But if you were to ask an adult this question, his or her reply might even be to ask you which friend you are referring to.
Thus it is only good that we treat all our friends equally at first, and not go with who we feel, and completely sure, is a good person. Instead we should observe their behaviour, their mannerism. Only after we have done that can we be more sure of who our friends are.
Many people, due to crimes of theft, end up in trouble. But what is the cause of all this trouble? It is, in some cases, due to the fact that they did not assess their friends and ended up in bad company. Following that they are coerced to join them in various offences and when they finally get into trouble, the ones who run first are he ones they called friends in the beginning. After that you see them in jail regretting their actions and their choice of friends.
To conclude, isn't it better to first judge your friends and know who your real friends are, rather than get into trouble later. After all, friends are the most important people after family.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Is it your duty to give to charity?
By definition, in the United States, charity, or a charitable organisation is an organisation that is organised and operated for purposes that are beneficial to the public interest. And duty the moral commitment that results in action, and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition. When someone recognises a duty, that person commits himself or herself to the cause involved without considering the self-interested courses of actions that may have been relevant previously. This is not to suggest that living a life of duty precludes one from the best sort of life, but duty does involve some sacrifice of immediate self-interest.
So if it is our duty to give to charity, it means that we recognise that we have to give to whatever organisation because we have made a commitment. But when we give to charity, does it involve some sarifice of self-interest? No, it does not, and surely giving some money for a worthy cause cannot be a sacrifice of self-interest.
Therefore, it cannot be our duty to give to charity. Instead, I would say that it is very good that one gives to charity as that money may have helped some child pay his or her medical or school fees, or may have helped an elderly person find his or her next meal. Whatever it is, that money of yours is not wasted.
However, giving to charity is not duty as we give to charity out of our own free will. If someone from an organisation approaches us and askes for a donation, if we choose to donate, that is good, definitely, but if we do not, that does not mean we are bad either. The decision to give is made solely by ourselves. Do not get me wrong, I am not against charity but if it is our duty to give, everytime a person approaches us for a donation, we MUST give, if not, we would be perceived as bad or irresponsible people as we did not do our duty, and that cannot be the case.
So if it is our duty to give to charity, it means that we recognise that we have to give to whatever organisation because we have made a commitment. But when we give to charity, does it involve some sarifice of self-interest? No, it does not, and surely giving some money for a worthy cause cannot be a sacrifice of self-interest.
Therefore, it cannot be our duty to give to charity. Instead, I would say that it is very good that one gives to charity as that money may have helped some child pay his or her medical or school fees, or may have helped an elderly person find his or her next meal. Whatever it is, that money of yours is not wasted.
However, giving to charity is not duty as we give to charity out of our own free will. If someone from an organisation approaches us and askes for a donation, if we choose to donate, that is good, definitely, but if we do not, that does not mean we are bad either. The decision to give is made solely by ourselves. Do not get me wrong, I am not against charity but if it is our duty to give, everytime a person approaches us for a donation, we MUST give, if not, we would be perceived as bad or irresponsible people as we did not do our duty, and that cannot be the case.
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