Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson

Rainbow Death America did not foresee Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri! Expecting others to pay a high price. Now thinking twice? Toll on the innocent and unborn. Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn. Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead. All the deceit continues to spread. Nefariously America led astray - Generations untold WILL pay - Execrable effects of agent orange spray! Hubert Wilson

5 10

Point	Evidence	Elaboration
Point of view	Poet fought in the Vietnam war Has come into contact with and experienced the effects of Agent Orange, used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare programme in the Vietnam war Rendered immobile by the effects of Agent Orange “Nefariously America led astray”	The persona is a soldier in the Vietnam war The persona understands the full implications of Agent Orange on people Having experienced the painful effects of Agent Orange himself, the persona is bitter about the Vietnam and Agent Orange, when show itself most clearly when the persona states that his own country the U.S.A. is “nefarious[ly]” Reliable speaker
Situation and setting	“Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!” Punctuation marks of poem “WILL pay”	The events of the poem took place in Vietnam as Agent Orange is used only during the Vietnam War. Ethical conflict of the use chemical warfare Tension is created through negative words such as “WILL pay”, “nefariously” and the increased use of exclamation marks by the end of the poem Conflict unresolved, symbolises the effects (birth defects, death, disability) of Agent Orange people still suffer today even though the chemical itself has not been used for decades.
Language / diction	Negative words used: “nefariously”, “execrable” Exclamation marks used “potpourri”	Portrays a negative image of Agent Orange and war Shows the furiousness of the persona when he witnessed the effects of Agent Orange Ironic as “potpourri” means a jar full of fragrant flowers that allow people to enjoy their fragrance but in here it means the chemicals that kill people
Personal response	NIL	Mostly a very direct and straightforward poem Easy to understand Conveys message effectively within just two stanzas

Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M. Bechtold

“Children in the Darkness” is a poem written by Henry M. Bechtold. He lives in Beautiful Bucks County, in south eastern Pennsylvania of the United States of America (U.S.A.). He was drafted as a soldier to Vietnam at 1967 and 1968. Since then, he has made several trips to Vietnam as “my soul lives in Vietnam”.

Just before Christmas in 2009, Henry Bechtold made a trip to Vietnam. He was in his hotel room in Saigon trying to write a poem about the abused girls who work in the park. At first he found it difficult to write anything meaningful. He got his inspiration when he looked at the TV when the news broadcast on. In the background of the news broadcast was a small boy with a helmet and rifle. The poem just “flowed out” of his mind.

Below is an analysis of the poem:

Point	Evidence	Elaboration
Point of View: · Point of view of poet himself · Anti-war · A social point of view: dealing with the social consequences of war on children	· Understanding the situation of children stuck in the middle of a war · “Or will a war consume them”	· The whole poem talks about children suffering in a war · Show an understanding of the crisis children face in war, e.g. no education · The poet it himself was involved in the Vietnam war · Thus, the poem can be said to be written in the point of view of the poet himself. · The poet argues in his poem that war will, destroy, or “consume”, children · The children’s freedom of having an education. · “Chalk and blackboards will not be” in times of war.
Situation and Setting: · Children affected by war · Children are “consumed” silently in the midst of the chaos of a war · No education for children · inescapable	· “Who have not seen the light” · “Or will a war consume them” · “Could we teach them how to read / Could we teach them how to dance” · “From this life they can not flee” · “Chalk and blackboards will not be / To this door there is no key”	· Children who “have not seen the light” have never experienced anything but the tragedies of war · All the children understand is the situation in a war, where men fight till their death and the dark side of humanity: violence. · People are so engrossed in the war that they neglect the children’s need · An education for those children “will not be”, they could not run away from the situation at hand. · Destroys the children’s childhood.
Language and Diction: · Tries to connect t with the reader · Extensive use of juxtaposition/contrasts · Use of metaphor	· “Could we” · “darkness” and “light” · “endless thirsty hole”	· Use of “we” instead of “I” makes the reader feel connected, that he too could play a part in improving those children’s lives. · Used to compare the children’s lives to other children who had a “proper” childhood. “Light” symbolises the innocence of childhood · “Thirsty hole” used to describe the war, which destroy the children’s childhood
Personal Response: · Conveys the message of abused children · Brings awareness	· “Or will a war consume them” · “From this life they can not flee”	· Although the poem in itself has not much literature value, but it is a very meaningful poem.

References:

· http://asialife.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/historians-of-ho-chi-minh-city-part-3-return-to-the-scene/

· http://www.henrybechtold.freewebspace.com/index.html

· http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

Pollution

I finished all my tests for this term. At first, I felt giddy with joy, as always.
But, after a while, you would find yourself feeling very bored as you suddenly have nothing to do with all the free time.
Feeling bored today, I went to YouTube and watched National Geographic.
I was struck by how bad pollution is in Earth now.
Pollution is the trigger button for almost all environmental problems such as global warming. Yet, though many of us are aware of the issue, we act as though we are oblivious and unaware of the matter. People still throw rubbish everywhere despite heavy fines implemented, factories still release poisonous chemicals into rivers despite many warnings, and trees are cut down ruthlessly regardless of the implications of doing so.
Take for example, global warming as one of the consequences of pollution. Global warming may be a short word, but its implications are huge. With increasing temperatures, weather would become more violent as Earth tries to balance out the increasing heat on Earth. Properties will be destroyed, lives will be taken away.
One could really see how serious pollution is now when one see that even scientists decide that we will move to other planets one day.
I hope you enjoy the show!

IT home learning

Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain.
I would want to be friends with Atticus Finch.
I would want to be friends with Atticus Finch as he was a democratic person. He treated everybody with due respect, regardless of the person's skin colour, race, or religion, and opposed towards prejudice towards the blacks. I think this is important as it shows that Atticus Finch treated people fairly and judged people only according to their deeds I would not not want a person who treated people or me unfairly. Furthermore, with an unfair person as a friend, my image would be potrayed as if I was an unfair person too.
I would want to be friends with Atticus Finch as he was also a polite and friendly person. He always greeted Mrs. Dubose when coming back from work. Despite Mrs Dubose constant insults towards Atticus, Atticus never retorted Mrs Dubose and remained gracious the whole time. This shows that Atticus was a friendly and polite person. I find it much easier to talk to a polite and friendly person compared to a rude and bad tempered person. Friendships between me and and Atticus would last long. Hence, I would want to be friends with Atticus Finch.
Atticus Finch was also determined to admire the good while understanding and forgiving the bad. Atticus Once told Scout that a person has both good and bad qualities, and that she had to step into a person's shoes to understand the person. Atticus shows he was an understanding person here. I would like to be friends with Atticus as I wished for a friend that would understand that I have bad qualities and forgive my bad qualities.
In conclusion, I would like to be friends with Atticus.

IT home learning

Design an obituary for Mrs. Dubose

Reading

I love reading.
I love reading, not just any types of books, but in particular Chinese and English novels.
Many would ask, novels are novels, why the need to categorise it to Chinese and English in particular?
People who never read any of the two languages of novels will never understand the difference between the two.
I feel that it is important to understand the cultures behind the two languages, namely the western culture and the Chinese culture because it helps the understanding of the novels when reading them.
I prefer reading thrillers when reading English novels. I like the cracking paced action, the adrenalin rush, the ruthless turn of events, but I would never read a Chinese thriller fiction. One of the features of western culture is its focus on science and technology. The west was the first to invent computers, steam power, telephone… That is the reason why I like reading English thriller fiction. The story would often be filled with exciting and surprising facts, together with the action, it would make an enjoyable read for me.
But when reading Chinese novels, I prefer reading the family drama genre. The Chinese are peace loving people. When we looked at China’s history, rarely does China had the notion to invade other countries(except during the Spring and Autumn period and the warring states period, when China was divided into many independent states, which eventually got conquered by the Qin state, forming the Qin dynasty); conflicts that happen are usually internal conflicts. The Chinese are often too engrossed in their affairs to bother about war. The Chinese lists filial piety as the most important value that all Chinese should uphold, showing that the Chinese are peace loving and does not like causing arguments. That is always why I like to read about the family drama genre when reading Chinese novels. I like to see the characters when they struggle through life with conflicting values that they learn such as the need to be the universal, the same with others as compared the currently promoted value of being unique and having one own way of thinking.
Reading is enjoyable, yet one should know how choose the correct types of books when reading.

Multiple Intelligence test

If you have not done your learning profile/ style assessment last year, please go to the following link to find out more about your learning profile/ style. http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/questions/choose_lang.cfm Post your learning profile on your blog and write in no less than 100 words the implications or what you feel about the Multiple Intelligence test.

Learning Profile Result (Highest to lowest)
1. Intrapersonal
2. Linguistic/logical
3. Naturalistic
4. Visual /Spatial/Naturalistic
5. Kinaestheic
6. Musical/Interpersonal
The Multiple Intelligence test gave me much insight on my learning style. Hence, I will be better informed and will be able plan my learning activities better according to my learning style.
I would be able know what are my weaknesses and strength. My strength, such as “intrapersonal”, can be used when studying for tests and exams; my weaknesses, such as musical and interpersonal, should be spent time on developing, so that I will be a multi-sided intelligent person.
According to http://www.mypersonality.info/multiple-intelligences/intrapersonal/, an intrapersonal person is:
· Introverted
· Prefers working alone
· Philosophical
· Self-aware
· Perfectionist
· Often think of self employment
· Enjoys journaling
· Intuitive
· Independent
· Spends time thinking and reflecting
· Likes learning about self
Based on this report, I will:
· Study alone. I enjoy working alone. I will not do well studying in a team as I do not like to socialize.
· Continue to spend some time a day thinking and reflecting. Reflecting on past events allows me to evaluate my performance on those events. Based on my performance, I can then decide on the amount of practice I need to improve or at least maintain my standard of my performance.
Musical /interpersonal being my weakness, I will avoid learning styles involving musicality and interpersonal as I will not be able work well with it.
I hope with this information, I will be able to study better.

Stress

I was checking on the test booking website for any coming tests when the webpage finally got downloaded.
What I found got me cry in despair.
I had a week crammed full of tests, averaging on about 2 tests a day, with the dreaded history test included in it.
That was a week ago, and I must say, it was an “enlightening” experience.
Stress is often part and parcel of student life. Everybody needs a little stress to get things done well. But sometimes, stress can be overwhelming and unhealthy.
Therefore, how should we reduce stress? I think below are some of the main ways to reduce stress:
i) Consult a teacher/friend/counsellor when you feel stressed. Do not keep all your stress/worries in your mind. You need to vent out your frustration. Do not be afraid of other people knowing your personal affairs. If you do not trust your friend, find another reliable friend.
ii) Get a hobby. Do not just think about studying the whole time. Take up a hobby, and do it as a relaxation activity for yourself. You would be surprised how effective this solution is!
iii) Do not always think about past disappointments or failures. Think about how you can improve on your work in the future instead. Be optimistic, not pessimistic. You will just give yourself unnecessary stress.
iv) Understand that there are some things in this world that we cannot control. Do not feel sad over your lousy test marks if you had a fever when you were taking the test.
I hope by providing you these tips, your stress can be reduced and your life would be more enjoyable.

The Coming Together Of People

Today's society has seen many cases of racial tensions/clashes, fighting among people. What causes such events? Some say it is the disunity of people, the racial differences of people. Are such reasons really the causes of such events? Take, for example, the recent hot debate in Malaysia about the usage of the word “Allah”. Just because of this hot, even maybe violent, debate, racial tensions between the Muslims and Christians has been escalating. Some even went as far as burning churches.
Such events really are saddening, but I believe, no matter how bad racial tensions get, or how much people fight about things, there is always a deep compassion within a person for others around, even of it is his enemy, people just do not seem to realise such abilities of theirs.
The 2010 Haiti Earthquake which happened at 12th January 2010 is a very good example. The Haiti Earthquake was a 7.0 magnitude Earthquake and struck near Léogâne, approximately 25km west of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake has resulted in an estimated 200, 000 casualties.
Faced with serious casualties and huge losses in terms of the destruction of the buildings due to the earthquake, Haiti was in a dire situation. But, Haiti was not to face the situation all alone. Many countries responded to the earthquake with appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams. This goes to show that every person has a compassion for others deep in their hearts, and people always unite together in the event of a disaster.
Remember the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake? It was an undersea megathrust earthquake which epicentre was off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake triggered waves of tsunamis which spread across the whole Indian Ocean and affected countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.
Similar to the Haiti earthquake, many countries responded by providing humanitarian aid to the badly affected countries.
Is not this all proves to a human’s compassion for others? Every person has a compassion hidden within him/her. After all, we are all human, and by right should be united to promote a better tomorrow for the next generation, not fighting among ourselves. If so, is not it logical for us to stop all these fights about racial rights, power and various issues?

B.B.

B.B. was a short story written by Chaim Batok. The story was about a child, B.B., whose parents disagree on the issue on having another child after B.B. The mother wished to have a child while the father did not want to bear the responsibility of a new child after their second child, Timmy, died. It was an interesting story.

I can infer that B.B. studied biology the night before Mr. Geissen went absent. This can be seen from the topics which she is studying. She was studying cells and genes. Such topics only appear in biology, thus we could say that B.B. was studying biology. Since Mr. Geissen was the person supposed to give B.B. an exam on the topics she was studying on, Mr. Geissen must be B.B. biology teacher.

B.B. thought that Timmy dry and chapped lips were inherited from Tinny's mother as Timmy's mother lips were also similar in feel. This can be showed when she thought about Timmy's lips when her mother kissed her on the cheeks. B.B. might have thought that it might be her mother's gene that caused Timmy's death as Timmy had the same lips as his mother when he was seriouly ill, although this thought go unspoken among the family.

B.B.'s mother cried in the night when she found out B.B.'s father did not call back the day he went to his trip to New York. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy the next day. She was probably worried about B.B.'s father or realised that her husband had decided to leave her and B.B. This can be seen from the fact that she asked B.B. whether her husband had called back during breakfast with B.B. She even asked B.B. that question when B.B. came to visit her in the hospital, and B.B. found her crying when B.B. went back to the room. Therefore, we can say that B.B.'s mother cried after knowing that her husband did not call back. Her crying was probably about her husband.

When B.B.'s father told B.B. not to tell B.B.'s mother that he had wanted to play professional football after college, B.B. might have thought that keeping secrets was normal, even great. She somehow felt it was good to keep secrets that time, proving that she thought it was normal keep secrets.

Lotteries

People were flooding in and out of the lottery, their faces lighten up, expectation in their faces. In their hands were small pieces of paper, with numbers written on it. They would soon grab a newspaper as soon as they could to look at the newspaper columns announcing the results of races and draws. In every of those gamblers' mind was the hope to strike the lottery, to live the rest of their lives with only the money they won as its sum was so huge, to buy a bangalow, to spend the money won for luxurious activities, or anything that they could think to use the money for.

Indeed, such scenes are not vague to the minds of people nowadays. Everybody knows how a lottery looks like. Inevitably, many people are attracted to gambling, to the prospect of striking a fortune. But, time and time again they lost their gamble, lost their money they bet on, giving it again and again to the lottery owner. But, today, even after people found how disastrous the consequences of addiction to gambling were, we still see people flooding at lotteries.

Why is this so? The answer is not difficult to find: after gamblers lost money on gambling, they would want to get back the money lost, to get back what was originally theirs. They believed that if they strike a fortune on gambling, the money they won back would be able to make up for the money they lost, so they keep going back to the lottery, even after losing many times. Their spirits were not dampened by the prospect that they may not win a single gamble even if they gambled for their whole lives. They do not just hope to strike the lottery one day but they expect they would strike it immediately.

Nowadays, many people are addicted to gambling. Addiction to gambling is almost the same to addiction to drugs, addiction to video games, or addiction to smoking. The only significant differences between these things are that the things people are addicted to are different. Addiction brings terrible consequences, including family and marital problems.

I have interviewed my father for his point of view on lotteries. He mantained that as long as lotteries are gambled moderately and you do not get addicted to it, it is alright to gamble once in a while. Everyone hopes to strike a fortune, to be rich, that is all too natural and acceptable. Even I, for one, wish to be rich, like many people out there. Some people hope to achieve this by gambling once in a while, hoping that maybe they will be rich, though it is a distant possibility. It is natural for people to have dreams, but people who are not addicted to gambling understand that it is very unlikely to strike a lottery, but the only practical way to achieve dreams like becoming rich is to do it the hard way. For example, if you want to be rich, you have to study hard. Obtaining excellent academic results will flourish your career prospects, so that you will be able to acquire a job with a large salary. With a large salary, you will become rich. People addicted to gambling, on the other hand, believe in making fortune in just a mere night, which is unpractical, I will say.

My father was not a compulsive gambler, but he buys lottery once in a while.

"The dream spurs you on and give you hope that you can be a millionaire,"My father had said, after being asked why he still buys lotteries once in a while.

I, for one, oppose to gambling vehemently. Why buy lottery when you know you have a very slim chance of striking the lottery? You are wasting your money, just giving your money to the lottery owner in exchange with a vague and unlikely hope of striking the lottery. Furthermore, if you continue to gamble so much, you may be in debt for borrowing money from others. The situation would be unimaginable if the gambler happens to lose his bet and have no money to pay his debt.

Not only this, gambling will also cause family/marital problems. In reference to a video in youtube, an increasing number of women are also becoming addicted to gambling. Melanie Morgan almost ruined her marriage just because of gambling. She left her infant child to babysitters while going to gamble. This shows how distructive gambling can be. She admits, that just 1 bet, would be able to make her go back to her gambling habits. This shows that gambling is very addictive.

Before anyone wants to refute my stand on gambling, I leave you one question to ponder on: why would anyone want to open a lottery if he or she has to provide money to people, but not getting money from the people to make profits?

Robert Frost

Robert Lee Frost's personal life was full of grief and sadness. He had six children: Elliot, Lesley, Carol, Irma, Marjorie and Elinor Bettina. It might seem that he is blessed with many children, but most of his children died due to various reasons, only Lesley and Irma outlived their own father. Though his life was plagued with grief, he was famous due to his well-written poems, some of the bests works which were “After Apple-Picking”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Home Burial” and “Mending Wall”. It was highly unusual for a person whose life was filled with grief to be able to have written so many interesting poems, therefore it intrigued me to find more about Robert Frost. I would say that Robert Frost was a strong person, as he was able to be a successful poet although many unhappy events happened in his personal life. In the next few paragraphs, I will be writing about Robert Frost's background and historical content.

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California, United States on March 26, 1874 to William Prescott Frost (father, journalist and teacher) and Isabelle Moodie (mother, teacher). At early age, he was already exposed to the world of reading and books due to his parents' occupation as teachers, studying works of literature of famous poets and writers such as William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth.

Robert Frost's father William Frost gambled and drank, which left the family at a dire state in terms of financial state. In 5th of May1885, William Frost father died of contracting tuberculosis, leaving the family with only an outraging sum of $8. Isabelle, Robert and Robert's sister took a train to Lawrence, Massachusetts where William Frost was born, to honour William Frost's wish to be buried there. It was here he developed his liking of outdoors, nature and countryside. This eventually led to his realistic depictions of rural life in his poems, which he was often highly regarded for it. Many of his works employs rural life in New England to reflect complex social and philosophical themes.

Robert Frost enrolled in Lawrence High School, and after graduating got into Dartmouth College. He soon became bored with campus life, so he took a series of jobs, including teaching and working in a mill, in the mean time continuing to write poetry.

Robert Frost married Elinor Miriam White, who became one of the major inspirations in his poetry. After marrying, he enrolled in Harvard University, but never got his degree due to illness.

He went to work in a farm with his family in Derry, New Hampshire, but he proved to unsuccessful in farming after 9 years of farming. He went back to the field of education, first teaching in Pinkerton Academy, then at New Hampshire Normal School.

He went to England in 1912, where he wrote one of his best poems. When World War I started, he went back to America and launched a career of poetry, teaching and lecturing.

These are some of his many poems:

"Out, Out—" by Robert Frost

The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside them in her apron
To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man's work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.

A Line-storm Song by Robert Frost

The line-storm clouds fly tattered and swift,
The road is forlorn all day,
Where a myriad snowy quartz stones lift,
And the hoof-prints vanish away.
The roadside flowers, too wet for the bee,
Expend their bloom in vain.
Come over the hills and far with me,
And be my love in the rain.

The birds have less to say for themselves
In the wood-world’s torn despair
Than now these numberless years the elves,
Although they are no less there:
All song of the woods is crushed like some
Wild, easily shattered rose.
Come, be my love in the wet woods; come,
Where the boughs rain when it blows.

There is the gale to urge behind
And bruit our singing down,
And the shallow waters aflutter with wind
From which to gather your gown.
What matter if we go clear to the west,
And come not through dry-shod?
For wilding brooch shall wet your breast
The rain-fresh goldenrod.

Oh, never this whelming east wind swells
But it seems like the sea’s return
To the ancient lands where it left the shells
Before the age of the fern;
And it seems like the time when after doubt
Our love came back amain.
Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.

After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

I have used other websites for reference for this posting. These are the list of websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
• http://www.online-literature.com/frost/
• http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/192
• http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19976
• http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19446
• http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19975
• http://www.photofrenzy.ca/Robert%20Frost.jpg

Figurative Language

Messy Room by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

His underwear is hanging on the lamp.

His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,

And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.

His workbook is wedged in the window,

His sweater's been thrown on the floor.

His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,

And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.

His books are all jammed in the closet,

His vest has been left in the hall.

A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,

And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

Donald or Robert or Willie or--

Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,

I knew it looked familiar!

1. How is figurative language used in the poem? Give specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is, and why the poet chose to use this figurative language.

Hypervole has been used in this poem. The sentence "Whoever room this is should be ashamed" is exaggerated. The poet chose to use this figurative language to invoke emotion and image, giving the reader a clue of how messy the room is.

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

I like this poem because it is funny. The author found a room very messy, and illustrated how messy it was, with maybe a bit of exaggeration. Then, he questioned whose room it is, and when being told that was his room, only then did he realise that room was really his room, which is hilarious as people always recognise their own rooms. The author not realising that was his own room shows to some extent how messy the room was as it might be that the room was so messy that even its own owner could not recognise it at first. I find the figurative language the author use very useful for writing essays and poetry.

Ending of The Village by the Sea (10 years later)

Outside the house, rain was falling, making a rymthic sound on the roof. Hari always enjoyed listening to the rain, which looked like a veil of white cloth outside, obscuring or blurring everything outside.

Hari was in his son's room, supervising his son doing his homework. Only the scraping sound of his son's pencil could be heard. His son was talented in his studies, often representing his school to take part in various external competitions. Often, his son came back triumphantly with a prize, a smile of victory on his face.

"Can't I just rest now? It's already 9p.m." Hari's son blurted, hopeful, wishing that Hari would permit him to stop revising his homework.

"But Ali, you know you have an exam coming," Hari said, concern in his eyes. But when he saw the pleading expression in his son's eyes, he sighed.

"All right, you may rest now," Hari said. Ali squealed in delight, leaving his study table unkept and went to the living room to watch television.

Addiction to watching television. This had become the main issues nowadays about children. But, Hari had managed to stop Ali from watching too much television effectively. But, from time to time, he would allow Ali to watch television, unlike other parents, who totally restricted their children from watching television. He believed that having some entertainment occasionally was healthy. He often told his son of his childhood life, told him how fortunate he was to be able to have a good education, how fortunate he was to be able to watch television, how fortunate he was to be able to watch travel in car, how fortunate he was to be able to live in a large house.He often encouraged his son to read more rather than watching television, as it was far more beneficial.

There was a knock on the door, and the head of Hari's wife appeared from behind the door.

"Honey, dear, you want some coffee?" Hari's wife asked tenderly.

"Alright," Hari said, grateful for the kindness given out to him.

This wife of Hari, self sufficient, intelligent, had graduated from the University of Mancester, with a degree on accounting. Currently, she worked in a bank as an accountant, with a very satisfying wage. She provided the family with an economic source.

"The wheel turns and turns and turns, it never stops and stand still," Hari remembered what Mr. Panwallah said, and it proved to be true. The factories, houses, shopping malls, shops and apartments had been built in Thul, changing it from a quiet village to a bustling town by the sea. Many people moved into the new town, and settled there. The town now was very noisy, unlike when it was still a fishing village. the noise of horns and engines blared during the day. Smoke emitted from the factories rose into the once bright blue sky. Now, the sky was often gray and dark, not even a single ray of light penetrating the thick dark clouds. The factories also released waste water into the sea. Those toxic and sickly waste water dyed the sea into an array of colours, making marine life there extinct.

"Have you prepared for tomorrow's trip?" Hari mumbled, sipping his cup of coffee.

"Yes, I have prepared," Hari's wife replied.

Hari thought of the trip he and his family would be taking tomorrow to visit his parents. He felt excited, and imagined that when he arrived there he saw both of his parents, their face lined and hair graying, sitting comfortably on the sofa watching television. How excited his parents would be when they saw Hari and his family! They would come out of the house and hug Hari, cuddle Hari's son, greet Hari's wife. He had gave the house to his parents and bought a new one to live in when his wife married him. He still remembered their wedding. His parents had been there, his mother in tears, celebrating the marriage of him and his wife.

Hari also imagined Lila there, wearing a colourful sari, chatting enthusiatically with her tall and handsome husband. Her husband was a rich merchant, and since Lila's marriage with her husband her life had been carefree.

Lightnng flashed outside the pitch-black sky, and the sound of thunder broke Hari's train of thought. He went to bed early, dreaming about his son's bright future.