Dear English HL of Grade 11: choose any one :
Here are your incentives to write with style:)
some music: ( click on the link) a song from my times
some image:
some poetry: ( click on the link) my favourite poem
Use your new found knowledge from Unit 2 and have the pleasure of being reflective and creative!Post your writing as a comment to this post.
Hadn't had a chance to do this for you in grade 11---do feel free to participate...have some fun!
Here are your incentives to write with style:)
some music: ( click on the link) a song from my times
some poetry: ( click on the link) my favourite poem
Use your new found knowledge from Unit 2 and have the pleasure of being reflective and creative!Post your writing as a comment to this post.
Dear English HL of Grade 12:
Hadn't had a chance to do this for you in grade 11---do feel free to participate...have some fun!
Ma'am, what's in Unit 2? Is it the course companion that we have?
ReplyDelete(I am not really sure whether this is the format which I am expected to write)
ReplyDeleteI felt I was so connected to the poem- stopping by the wood on a snowy evening by Robert Frost.
When I put myself in the shoes of the poet…..
I could conjure up the image of the beautiful scenery where I would love to stand for hours to just watch, hear and feel the nature. (I have loads of beautiful memories linked with snow)
I would be riding a horse, and I would command the horse to stop because it is so attractive. The horse that I am riding would think it is strange because I usually do not stop in the middle of the woods. I would always stop where there is a village or a town.
The thought that I have “promises to keep” would incite me to go on, because it is already getting dark and still I have “miles to go before I sleep”
I felt this was exactly what I feel being an IB student. There are moments where I just want to let go of everything and relax, do nothing and enjoy. Although I usually do not get led astrayed -I do home works and assignments given to me. But there are moments, moments of attractions that induce me to indulge in other things like watching movie, shopping, sleeping more than I suppose to, chatting with friends on phone for hours or even eating relentlessly (to my shame). These might look “lovely” but they are also “dark and deep”. I might be able to enjoy for a moment but I know how much of guilt and burden that would amass on me later on. Therefore I keep remind myself that I have “promises to keep”, like deadlines, and that I have “miles to go before I sleep”. This last repeated sentence could mean two things for me. First, a lot of studies to be done before I (literally) go to sleep, and second, things I have to accomplish in my life before I (figuratively) sleep- that is my death.
I was amazed how Frost’s poem about his thought process on his journey in snowy evening could incite me and help me relate the poem with my life as a student.
The poem also encourages me, because I now know I am not the only one who needs to let go of attractive things for things to be done.
Bora--it's a sensitive and well articulated response. I had read this poem first when I was grade 8 and did not have the faculties to perceive it beyond it's "nature" setting.But multiple readings thereafter have revealed points of refection that were never quite the same.
ReplyDeleteThat's the mystery and joy of poetry, it becomes your own and not just what the poet might have thought about when he/she wrote!
Discontent, lost in a spiral of self-loathing, Elena shimmied down the side of the pipe. Picking up the backpack she had dropped earlier down, she brushed a few flecks of snow of the surface of the plastic material. Hoisting it on her shoulders, she set out for the woods. Her feet trudged through the snow leaving a mess of footsteps behind her. She shivered, when she felt a cold draft of air hit her exposed midriff. She quickly pulled down her shirt that had been riding up underneath her black double breasted jacket. She felt more alone than ever in this moment, and she liked it. There was no one telling her what to do, what they expected from her. She was free, free from the chains that bound her. Knowing she would be driven to insanity if she stayed, being second best to the one that’s light burned so bright, when her flame in comparison was dim. She could never live up to expectation; she would never be able to. So she sought out the woods, where her destiny lay. Once a while back, she had snuck into out, and ran to the woods, just for some solace. Instead what she found was an old abandoned house. She had planned on using that as shelter for the night, till she could find something more permanent. She would never go back now; she just couldn’t deal with another day. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself any longer if she had let herself be degraded and put down by their words any longer. She was perfectly capable sustaining herself. She had a job, money saved up. She wouldn’t need them anymore. So she walked, past the tall evergreens, mounds of pure white snow and endless trees. She watched as the snowflakes fell from the sky, slowing cascading down from the dark abyss. She observed as the tiny snowflake fell on her hand melting away from her body heat.
ReplyDeleteStartled by the noise of trampling footsteps, she looked around her, before denoting it was only a deer. She cautiously walked further in the woods, trying to be aware of her surroundings. If it didn’t happen to be a deer, well then she was doomed. Doomed to ill an aided fate. She didn’t want to die, but she wouldn’t mind. Just not that way in particular. She looked at the trees around her mesmerized by the intense hues of green and the stark contrast of white snow that was gracing their leaves. She had been admiring the beauty around her so much that she didn’t even realize how pale she was getting. Hurrying her pace, she walked further into the woods.
After passing what seemed to be the millionth tree, she thought she was lost, still she saw the crescent shaped marking on the tree she had seen that day. She knew she was closer, and she couldn’t be more relieved. Though when she go there she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was nothing but snow there. Gray snow, muddled with ash. She picked up a glob of snow in her hand, watching as it slid through her fingers. The silent tears rolling down her face, falling into the snow, mascara tracked down her face. She looked back in the direction of her house, contemplating going back. Deciding against it, instead she decided to set up camp under a tree. With nothing but some money and a few pairs of clothes, she layered herself and lay down in the lush white snow. Staring at the onyx sky, she counted the stars, before finally closing her eyes. Not knowing that it would be her last time.
There she lay, covered in a blanket of snow. Her porcelain skin and long blonde hair. Her limp figure lay dead in the snow, watched by all the others. Elena’s parents, wept with sorrowful silence, staring at their daughter. If they only knew.
Bravo Sam---your images are visual and evocative. You have taken the point from Frost's poem and evolved from it---THAT is critical thinking in Eng Lit HL!
ReplyDeleteI chose to write on the poem by Robert frost – THE ROAD NOT TAKEN. I first read this poem in the 9th grade and this has been one of my favourite poems ever since.
ReplyDeleteThe poem is about the speaker standing in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both these ways are equally worn and the speaker chooses one telling that he would take the other one some other time. This poem consists of four stanzas with a rhyme scheme of ABAAB where the rhymes are strict with the notable exception of the last line.
The poem is so interesting not only because of the imagination but because of the truth in the poem. Both these roads are equally used and it is a dilemma everyone faces innumerable times in their lives. Even though at first reading one may not immediately recognize the beauty of the poem as it is but as one goes deeper one can immediately connect to the dilemma which is the central theme of the poem. The poem does not demand or advice to take the road less travelled, the poems focus is way more complicated than that. According to the poet there is no less travelled road.
The ironic tone of this poem is inescapable, “I shall be telling this with a sigh: Somewhere ages and ages hence”. The speaker anticipates his own future insincerity and his need in life. In fact he predicts that his future self would betray this moment of way as if it were inevitable. This realisation is rather ironic. It seems as though the poem gets memorized without actually reading it because of the perfection in form and content. What adds to the poems beauty is the clever use of simple words which leave a deep thought in one’s heart and makes us think what we have done with our life and which decision is right or wrong.
This is also a poem infused with anticipation of remorse. Even as he makes a choice because he doesn’t want to stand in the words forever, the poet knows that he would have second thoughts about it later in life or the very least he would wonder what is irrevocably lost. But the nature of this poem is that there is no right or wrong path, it is the choice of the person and the will to face the consequences of his or her decision, moments that mark the passing of life.
Robert Frost was an early twentieth century regarded for his lifelike depictions as he has done in this poem where he explains the lives dilemma of whether to be a trail blazer or a person who follows a person’s path. That is a choice one has to make and Frosts style of writing makes us feel connected and help us find the true path of life.
The link to the song you gave me inspired to write a lyric of my own,a rather small one though :) PS It's a bit SAD
ReplyDeleteI peer into my soul
See nothing but a large black hole,
See the world around me fall apart,
From this beautiful place i depart.
Pages from the past i burn,
Memories i had buried return.
Its harder than ever for me to contemplate,
Everything around me crashes as i silently spectate.
I leave this place reminiscing the past,
Nothing good EVER lasts,
I now search for a new story to tell,
Still sane after being put through hell.
As I try to curb the demons inside me,
I also hope to set myself free.
Free from the past,
Free from my sins
Free from everything that has ever been.
Life maybe over-rated,
But the need to live isn't.
Remember me for the times i made you smile,
For the memories we shared together,
I'll be with you forever.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGood...strong ---a bit sentimental but who says young men cant be emotionally sensitive?
DeleteAlmost all of the stuff i write is this melancholic and sentimental ha
DeleteThis is on Akhila's behalf: I tried writing a poem based on the picture. This is my first time..so I don't think i did that of a great job
ReplyDeletebut, i tried.
sorry, if it's really bad!
They hated us,
disgusted by us,
never loved or cared for us,
never thought about our feelings,
always stayed away,
always disgusted
But, you, my love, were different
always cared for me,
always loved me
soothed me in pain,
tendered me in difficulty
raptured me with love
You, my darling, are different
different from your kind
and better than them
I will never forget your love
towards me and my race.
I will always remember you
and love you till my last breath.
Akhila...thank you for sharing the depth that you have and which would have remained unknown to us! Write more my dear:)
ReplyDeleteI made a mistake about the topics ma'am so after looking at the picture and the song I wrote this....
ReplyDeleteMY ENEMY
Life was going well
Everything was fine,
I had all i could ask for
But one day i met my enemy
It broke me down inside
Tore me apart till i asked for mercy
An inner voice replied
Faith is the only way i could
Destroy my enemy I did all i could
To break apart my enemy
But still i lost
To my enemy
The past beckoned me
I looked back in my life
To see what i had done wrong
To bring back my enemy
Who changed my whole life
For the worst
I never realised what caused my enemy
To take the advantage away from me
I fought and i fought
Against my enemy
Who always got the better of me
I wanted to shut him down forever
By having the answer to the problem Which brought back my enemy
I wanted to know why
After life went so well
My enemy made it the worst
And my enemy was me
Lalit Jhabakh
Lalith ...THIS is good...was a bit confused by the other so was wary of commenting:)
DeleteWow 11th graders are doing amazing
ReplyDeleteAren't they just? good to see some active effort from some if not ALL yet!
Deletewell well well..... grade 11 is way better than us, but they do have a long way to go :) reading their creativity inspired me. hope u guys do really good in english A HL. U have a really good mentor so utilize the opportunities to the full potential :). good luck batch of 2014
ReplyDelete