My favourite poet

My favourite poet is none other than Williams Wordsworth. His poems are full of figurativelanguage and they appeal very much to me. Some of his poems are : Resolution and independence, I wandered lonely as a cloud and london 1802.

Born on 7th april, 1770, was the secong among his other 4 siblings. He was very close with his sister, who was a poet too. Wordsworth's father, although rarely present, did teach him poetry, in addition to allowing his son to rely on his father's library. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine. That year, he also began attending college, and received his degree in 1791. He returned to Hawkshead(village in england) for his first two summer holidays, and often spent later holidays on walking tours, visiting places famous for the beauty of their landscape. In November 1791, Wordsworth visited France and became enthralled with the Republican movement. He fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their child, Caroline. Because of lack of money, returned alone to England the following year

Wordsworth received an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1838 from Durham University, and the same honor from Oxford University the next year. He also became the Poet Laureate(poet appointed by government and compose poems for special occasions). When his daughter, Dora, died in 1847, his production of poetry came to a standstill.


Refences:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth#The_Poet_Laureate_and_other_honors
-http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/william_wordsworth/poems

Day 1 - IT Lesson 1: Figurative Language

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The author has used figurative language to write his poem. Here is how i feel he used them:

• Hyperbole: "A poet could not be but gay, In such a jocund company!" We can tell that the poet is elated as he exaggerated on his happy mood by adding an exclamation mark and he used words like gay and jocund instead of happy which expresses his feelings.
• Personification: The poet used many personifications:

1. "When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze." The poet described the daffodils as fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
2. "Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance."The poet describes the star by writing that many of them glanced at him while tossing their heads, changing the stars to a human.
3. "The waves beside them danced, but they Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee"The poet described the waves as dancing.
   
4. He, a cloud, personifies himself gazing and ''my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.''

• Symbolism: "Ten thousand saw I at a glance," The poet used a large number(ten thousand) of stars as a contrast of his loneliness.

Why do i like this poem?
The poem describes a lonely cloud wandering alone. It shows a large contrast between the cloud and other things around it. Unlike other poems, this one has a lot of personification used. Therefore, i like this poem.

H1N1

As you all should know, the H1N1 virus (influenza A) has been spreading very swiftly for the past weeks. Our country has about 450 confirmed cases of this new virus. People were afraid that this virus will mutate and cause much more harm to us. Although it might not seem as harmful as the quite recent dengue fever, there have already been death cases and hence, the goverment has taken measures to fight the virus, we should play a part too.

My school has stopped for an extra week after the holidays and we have e-learning at home. Also, even when I return to school for CCA, I have to take my temperature before enteing the school. Some activities have also been cancelled as a precaution. The govenment had initially thought of xtending the school holidays for all schools but only some schools have the 'luxury' of an extended one. People who return from affected countries also have to quaratine themselves for 7 days.

Many measures have been taken , but we should also play apart in stopping this virus. We should have a hygine lifestyle and try to avoid crowded places. If only everyone were to do this, we will be able to put a stop to this virus.

Is progress necessarily benificial for society?

In my opinion, progress is definitely not necessarily benificial for society. Although it might benifit society, it is not necessary.

For example, vehicles that emit harmful gases were built to convenince people. However, this change is not necessary. In the past, people use horses as means of transport which does not harm the earth. If people from the past can live life without this progress, why can't we?

Another reason why t is not necessarily benificial is that it has harm other innocent victms. When factories are built, forest are burnt to make way for it. Animals living there will lose their homes and have nowhere to live. People living near by will get affected by the haze around. Tal buildings are also built by clearing land. Farmers will lose their jobs and there will be less food produce. So we humans put chemicals into chickens so that they can reproduce faster, which is bad for our health.

Our society is already damaged so harshly, do we still have to let it continue? Therefore, i feel that progress is not necessarily benificial for our society.

Which part of Village By The Sea do you like best?

I like the part where Hari first arrived in Bombay. When he first arrive, he was lost and helpless. Subsequently, after a futile effort in finding the De Silva family, Hari found some help from a night watchman. Before he got help, he met a coconut seller who gave a insparational speech. That is my favourite part when Hari first arrived in Bombay.

Hari went to Bombay with the procession and on the way, he met this coconut seller. Hari told the coconut seller the reason he went to Bombay and the coconut seller had some negative comments.

The coconut seller felt that it is best to be free and independent. He also said," Take my advice and keep clear from the government." It is clear that he was trying to desuade Hari from going to the procesion. He advised Hari to be independent instead of being spoon-fed by the government. The coconut seller advised Hari on this as he felt that the government only takes advantage of the people. Moreover, the coconut seller also was independent since young when his parents "threw him out ...earn my own living". Hence, he felt that independence is of much importance. Hari also felt that his speech was "wise, strong and admirable". After his speech, Hari was inspired and felt that he had to do something else instead of following the others to the procession.

This speech has also left me with a great impression. I learnt that we should not always depend on the help of others. Only if we fall will we know how to stand back up again. Being dependent will give you more courage to go through difficult times on your own. Therefore, we shouldlearn to "Be a man, be independent."

I rather be a city rat than the country rat

For this statement, i decide to sit on the fence as each side has its own disadvantages. Here are the reasons that led to my dcision:

If i were a country rat:

• As a country rat, there will be very little or no technology at all. Imagine live without technology entertainment, we can only use hand-made toys like five stones as sources of entertainment. Also, without technology, we will have problems communicating as we will not have phones like what we experience in the city. The only way of communicating will be a verbal face-to-face communication.
• For a country rat, due to the lack of resources, people could only live in short houses unlike the towering buildings we commonly see in the city. This migth result in a lack of homes as more people occupy the same amount of space compared to the city.
• Unlike the city, a country rat will have less facilities. We will not have schools and other necessary facilities perhaps due to the low-educated government which will lead to a low literacy level for the country. The government will also not be well-educated which will result in a cycle.

As a city rat:

• The air in the city will be very polluted, due to the harmful gases emited from cars. It is also polluted because of incosiderate smokers and the burning of wastes. The burning down of trees (deforestation) also add up to the harmful air we breath in.
• It is mostly quite warm in the city due to too much technology, leading to globalwarming. For example, in the past, people use ccarriages as means of transportation but now, people use cars for transportation. Such unefficient change swill only bring more harm to earth and not benifit us in the long run.
• Due to the fact that we have communication tools such as th internet, people in the city usually have lack of face-to-face communication, resulting in poor relationship. Also, with such uncertain means of communication, people get cheated by these means of communications too.

Therefore, with the points stated, i am neutral against this statement.

My favourite/ least favourite character in "Village by The Sea"

My favourite chracter in this touching novel is Jagu. Hari was brought to the restaurant to work for Jagu by the watchman. Jagu accepted Hari despite knowing that Hari might be a burden to him as he had to pay him for working. He even gave Hari food to eat instead of forcing him to find his own food. He also took in two other homeless children out of kindness. Futhermore, Jagu allowed the three helpless children to stay in the shop during night time. The considerate Jagu brought Hari back to his house when he was ill, despite knowing that it will anger his wife. At his house, Jagu also gave Hari some food, although he had insufficient food for his family. When fiercely questioned by his wife why he brought "one more to be fed" (pg189), Jagu threatened her that he would go "to the toddy shop and have a drink instead of this rotten food you prepare for me". This caused much complication but Jagu still insisted on getting Hari some medicine. Jagu, together with Mr Panwallah, bought him a bus ticket and gave him advices like "don't let anyone see you have so much money with you" ( pg219). Jagu has a heart of gold. He went to great lengths to aid Hari in many various ways despite putting himself into much inconvenience. He willingly helped Hari but did not really benifited much. I really respect such people, who do such selfless acts. If only the world would follow Jagu's ways, our society would be a much better place.

Holidays

The school holidays are finally here! After another long term of hard work, a long-awaited break has finally arrived. Of course, there is much more to be expected in the next terms. In this long break, i still have to actively participate in my CCA activities. Such a big commitment for my CCA has occassionally brought me some inconvenience. Unexpectedly, the band camp is cancelled due to the H1N1 flu, which just "arrived" in Singapore. I believe many other activities has been affected due to this virus.
Other than the holidays, I also received my results. Well, i did quite OK for it. I got ninth in class, same as some others. I would like to thank Yong Rui for helping the class soooooo much to bring our grades up. I would also like to congratulate Xiao Qi for topping the class! And, I would also like to congratulate the rest of 1o3 for making such a great improvement.