Do not stand at my grave and weep

Poetry Analyze -
Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

This poem has an end rhyme between every two sentences. The poem is end-stopped. It uses metaphor through out the whole poem. It is written as first person, as she is the person passed away telling the people alive not be cry.

Some says this poem is written for a friend's child when her friend died, but this theory has not been confirmed. First is describes the death using grave as the symbol, and using weeping to symbol the sadness. It tells people that she is not there as an introduction and a hook by making people think she is not died. It then describes how she is a part of the nature. In the middle 'Of beautiful birds in circling flight,' gives a short rest from the 'I am...' and continues on. At the end, 'I am in each lovely thing' summarizes all the descriptions of she as a part of nature. And it repeats again the introduction 'Do not stand at my grave and cry', and then give the resolution,answer or explanation to the introduction. 'I am not there. I do not die' answers why she isn't there, because she does not die, she become a part of the nature around people alive, where her spirit lives on.

The Book of Lost Things

 

It is really hard for me to tell which is my favorite genre or book, I read a great range of books, if say only English literature, I read quite a bit of drama and fantasy. I think even I read drama a bit more, I’ll say my favorite genre is fantasy. Some of my favorites in this genre are ‘ The Changeover’ by Margaret Mahy, ‘The Never Ending Story’ by Michael Ende,  ‘ The Stolen Child’ by Keith Donohue, ‘Ink heart’ by Cornelia Funke (Germen).

My favorite book in this genre is ‘ The Book of Lost Things’ by John Connolly. The setting is in England. There a boy, David, lost his dearest mother and his father decide to remarry. And following up with a new born brother, who takes all the attentions from his parents. David is jealous and lost. And at the point, he hears his mother’s voice from somewhere, and he follows the voice through a tree whole into the world of lost things to find his mother. On the journey, David slowly realize that his mother is not coming back.

The journey leads him to the king, where he discover the king is his uncle who had disappeared with his sister. A evil soul told him to sacrifice his sister and he would become the king, and he did so. So his sister’s heart is eaten by the evil soul and the king himself fell into regret. The book which is said to be magical turns out to be the king’s own diary. And now the soul needs a new life, it wants David to sacrifice his brother’s life. But David has seen what happened to the old king and he understood it has to ended.

At the end, he lives withstand the lost of the life and comes back to the lost world at the end of his life. ‘ For a man’s lifetime was but a moment in that place, and every man dreams his own heaven. And, in the darkness, David closed his eyes as all that was lost was found again.’ The great ending is the best of story.

John Connolly. The book of lost things. Taipei: Rye Field Publications,2007.

• Genre: Fantasy
• Source: Bookshop
• Rating: 5
• Read: Whole book

Maus

The setting of the story Maus is in Poland during the second world war. The story is told by an American born Jew interviewing his father, who is a survivor. The story starts before the war and ends with his father found his mother after the war. The story has shown in the extreme conditions, how the strongest people survives.

The medium of graphic novel gives the story layers of expression. The images and the narrative could go at the same time. And the  design of the characters can also shows another aspect. This medium gives  the author many ways of expressing.

Art Spiegelman. Naus. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.

• Genre: Graphic novel
• Source: Senior library
• Rating: 5
• Read: Whole

Why California Is Still America’s Future

During the economic crisis, the California had got into a serious fiscal problem. I remember I’ve watched a TV program of tourist guide in California, and Arnold Schwarzengger said ‘Come for business, Now!’. People know the state of California is in a serious trouble, so the cover of the Time magazine, really hook my attention.

The opening is that people started to wonder about the situation of California. Some headlines like ‘Meltdown on the ocean’, ‘California’s wipeout economy’ and ‘Will California become America's first failed state’ come out, it said. Then it points out the advantages we still have got to show that we won’t fail. The article tells the Californian to dream on!

Despite Its Woes, California's Dream Still Lives

“The end of California? Dream On!”. Time. Michael Grunwald: Time Inc, 2009

Time.com

• Genre: Society
• Source: Book store
• Rating: 4
• Read: Whole Article

Vocabulary

• Obituary –An article about somebody’s life and achievements, that is printed in a newspaper soon after they have died
• Aggressive –Angry, and behaving in a threatening way; ready to attack

The Study Skills Handbook

This book is related to the Area Of Interaction (AOL), approaches to learning. It starts with the five strategies for learning, Creative, Reflective, Effective, Active and Motivated which can be used in our school environment. Then, it shows some skills which we use everyday, including group working, research, e-learning, writing, projects and revision. It organizes the skills people use, ways on improving and resources you have got for you to make progress. It has also got a website with study tips, downloads and advice which could be a good start for making your own strategies.

Skills4study.com

Stella Cottrell. The Study Skills Handbook. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

• Genre: Education
• Source: Bookstore
• Rating: 4
• Read: Whole

Vocabulary

• Interpret –To decide that something has a particular meaning and to understand it in this way
• Interactively –That involves people working together and having influence on each other

Death By Scrabble

The story start with the husband and wife playing the scrabble. Though the game, you could find out both of them are full of hate. They playing the game against each other, trying to make up the worse thing for each other. As they find out the scrabble could make the word come truth, they try to make the worse things happen. This story shows how they people hate. The story is written with the husband’s view. He has thought and tried a lot to make the worse happen, but at the and he’s killed by the word “Death”.

Death By Scrabble

Charlie Fish. Death by scrabble.

• Genre: Short Story
• Source: East of the web.com
• Rating: 3
• Read: Whole article

Vocabulary

• Murderous –Intending or likely to murder
• Proportionate –Increasing or decreasing in size, amount or degree according to changes in something

Health Care Speech

Back in 1995, the year I was born, Taiwan formed the first health care system. Not much people opposed at that time, people thought it would be a benefit, but now we could see it has become a disaster. The government took over the whole health care system. Everybody has to pay for it annually, and will get a card. Every time you go see a doctor, you show the card and pay much less than it should have been. In Taiwan, you only need to pay about $200 for a doctor, which is about $40 Singaporean dollars. The problem is that lots of people use it even they don’t need it that much, and doctors give too much treatment those are not necessary. This ceased a deficit about 2.77 billions Singaporean dollars.

Now the U.S is discussing about reforming the health care system. Different than what have happened in Taiwan, people have got all different views about the reform. For improving the life quality, this could be an important step, but I think it would be hard. On this turning point, there people would be facing some different problems than they have had, and thoughts would be challenged.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/09/obama-health-care-speech_n_281265.html

Barack Obama. Washington, 2009.

• Genre: Speech
• Source: The Huffington Post
• Rating: 3
• Read: All

Vocabulary

• Deficit –The amount by which money spent or owed is greater than money earned in a particular period of time
• Preexist –To exist from an earlier time