I like the poet named Jane Taylor (23 September 1783 – 13 April 1824), was an English poet and novelist. Together with her sister, Ann Taylor, they composed the poem Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Although this was Taylor’s most famous piece of work, the poem was almost always uncredited,
"Its opening stanza persists as if it were folklore, the name of its creator almost entirely forgotten.” Quoted from the information on wikipedia. This was the part whereby it captured my attention totally, causing me to read deeper and soon know her more. Such a great masterpiece, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, which was as today used worldwide but she was uncredited and the authorship was generally forgotten.
Jane and Ann’s early work have often been confused of authorship as they were often published together. Ann Taylor's son, Josiah Gilbert, wrote in her biography, "two little poems–'My Mother,' and 'Twinkle, twinkle, little Star,' are perhaps, more frequently quoted than any; the first, a lyric of life, was by Ann, the second, of nature, by Jane; and they illustrate this difference between the sisters."
The sisters were born in an extensive literary family with their mother writing many works of advice and their father an engraver and later a dissenting minister. Such advantages may allow the sisters to be influenced with the art of poetry and to let them have the potential to become famous.
When Jane Taylor died of cancer at an age of 40 years old, her mind is still “teeming with unfulfilled projects.” A quote from wikipedia. She had certainly published many famous works but the authorship forgotten, she was still a renowned English poet and novelist worldwide, or at least in Enlgand. After about two centuries have passed after her composing of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, people from all over the world are still using the poem for kids. Well I can say that 2 centuries of wear and tear could not tear down the twinkling stars high up in the sky!


Below are the 3 poems i have found:

The Violet

Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head
As if to hide from view.
And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its colour bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower,
Instead of hiding there.

Yet thus it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed;
And there diffused a sweet perfume
,
Within the silent shade.

Then let me to the valley go
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.

The Village Green

On the cheerful village green,
Skirted round with houses small,
All the boys and girls are seen,
Playing there with hoop and ball.

Now they frolic hand in hand,
Making many a merry chain;
Then they form a warlike band,
Marching o'er the level plain.

Now ascends the worsted ball,
High it rises in the air,
Or against the cottage wall,
Up and down it bounces there.

Then the hoop, with even pace,
Runs before the merry throngs;
Joy is seen in every face,
Joy is heard in cheerful songs.

Rich array, and mansions proud,
Gilded toys, and costly fare,
Would not make the little crowd
Half so happy as they are.

Then, contented with my state,
Where true pleasure may be seen,
Let me envy not the great,
On a cheerful village green.

The Disappointment

In tears to her mother poor Harriet came,
Let us listen to hear what she says:
"O see, dear mamma, it is pouring with rain,
We cannot go out in the chaise.

"All the week I have long'd for this holiday so,
And fancied the minutes were hours;
And now that I'm dress'd and all ready to go,
Do look at those terrible showers! “

"I'm sorry, my dear, " her kind mother replied,
The rain disappoints us to-day;
But sorrow still more that you fret for a ride,
In such an extravagant way.

"These slight disappointments are sent to prepare
For what may hereafter befall;
For seasons of real disappointment and care,
Which commonly happen to all.

"For just like to-day with its holiday lost,
Is life and its comforts at best:
Our pleasures are blighted, our purposes cross'd,
To teach us it is not our rest.

"And when those distresses and crosses appear,
With which you may shortly be tried,
You'll wonder that ever you wasted a tear
On merely the loss of a ride.

"But though the world's pleasures are fleeting and vain,
Religion is lasting and true;
Real pleasure and peace in her paths you may gain,
Nor will disappointment ensue.”


Bibliography:
http://www.poemhunter.com/jane-taylor/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Taylor

Why do I like the poem?

I like the poem because I can see that the writer fit in a lot of descriptions about the objects and they all comes together to become a very descriptive and interesting poem to read. The author also uses some repetition of words to make the words capture the attention of readers. He even used some non-English words which also capture my attention as it is fresh and only some poems have non-English words. I think this poem is well-written and is also very descriptive.

The Bear-men of Qolqepunku
(or: the magical ice of Peru)

(Foreshadow)

High up in the Andes of Peru
The Ukukus wander on

Glacier, frost and snow

Dressed in furry clocks and masks
They trek to find the mountains ice

Of sacred healing powers

The Bear-men, they are called:
In the old language of the Quechua;

Guardians of the ice

They cut the ice in solid blocks
Carried on backs, down mountain paths,

To family, friends, and livestock

Ah! Sixteen-thousand feet high, comes
A pilgrimage Qoyllur Rit i' ?

Year, after year, after year.

The Bear-men-, silently watch
Their glacier, slowly disappear

As if in thin air!...

They've now decide to leave the ice
The magical ice of Peru, in place

As warming temperatures rise?

This is helping the Ice Cap
Evaporate, in the 21st Century-

Perhaps this is a whisper?

"Is this the world's end?"



This poem is by Mr, Dennis Siluk

"Guardians of the ice" (Personification)
In this case guardians were personified and the author used it to make it look important.

"Their glacier, slowly disappear
As if in thin air!... " (Hyperbole)
The author use hyperbole to make the phrase above look strong.

Who is your favourite/least favourite character in Village by the Sea? State your reasons.

In this case, I think that Hari is the main character and I liked him best. What are my reasons? It is simple. He works hard and even left his hometown and went to Bombay whereby he was totally new and unfit in his new environment. Even all the difficulties and setbacks he experienced through his progress of adapting to the new environment, he showed no sign of complain and he continued to do his best and did well in his job. As the story goes by towards the ending, Hari did make some money and he was able to support in the medical fees of his ill mother. Everything was back to normal in the end, his mother well away from the illness and his father who has turned over a new leaf. All's well that ends well !

Comment please.

Which part of Village by the Sea do you like best?

In my opinion, i guess that the part whereby the book informs us that Hari has reached Bombay and he was sort of left alone, or you can say it in an unpleasant way, isolated. That part of the book captured my attention the most and I regard it as the climax of the story. You may be asking, "Don't you think that the part whereby Hari's father turn over a new leaf is a more suitable climax?" Well I think that its not because Hari was left alone and he did not have a roof over his head at all at first! That is the part which kept my interest to continue reading what that village boy would do. This is only a short part of the whole book Vilaage by the Sea, but it is a so called "Attention Seeker".

Comment please.

Confessions of a gaming addict

Well, I hereby confessed that I am a gaming addict and I wish that my peers and even teachers could guide me along to reinforcing a strong mind to self control. I guess games are just too addictive, especially real-time war-based strategy games, thats my kind of enjoyment. I guess this will have to be put to a stop as it will affect my studies and even the relationship with my family members and peers as gaming will cause me to reject all requests to go out to play sporting activities with my friends. I will also be neglecting chat conversations with my family members and it will cause a communication probelm in within the family. I guess thats all I have to say, give me some advices please, thank you.

Is progress necessarily beneficial for society?

Of course progress is necessary for the beneficial of the society, as you can see, if a country does not have much significant progress, the people will have low education, low sanitation, crimes will crop up, and hence the government will encounter great difficulties in solving all these social problems. Even if the people were poor and they do not create crimes, the places where they live will also be rural and all of which surrounds their living environment will be natural. That means the government will want to improve the economy of the countries by using these lands and the people living there will protest. So I think that the people should be first educated by people from the cities before the government will want to upgrade the area they live. A progress can be beneficial to the society if it was progressed in a systematic and flawless way. Otherwise, that so called "progress" may just end up being a progress to create more trouble for the society.

Comment Please.

I rather be the city rat than the country rat.

I disagree with this statement "I rather be the city rat than the country rat" as I like to relax my mind and not focus all only on studies and work for it will be very stressful and can also cause health problems due to the stress. I will rather prefer to be "a rat who like to go to the city and back to the country" as I can take time off the work that should be done and let my stress out for a moment. This will also let me spend time with my family together and relax our minds together, as we will forget about work for a few days. Now we keep our minds free and distress all that had accumulated throughout those days where we worked hard.

Even still the life of a country rat is so relaxed and it feels as though you are in wonderland, I won't want to be devoted to the "country rat's style" as I think it would not be bright for my future. If I had the country rat's mindset, I believe that now I will only enjoy myself, with all the games and consoles as I could not afford to go overseas. Thats how I comprehend the country rat.

Now, a city rat isn't my type of enjoyment too. The environment will make us study and study, work and work, all day long and we will be all stressed up with things we need to do. Things like "How am I going to finish it?" "What will happen if I miss the deadline?" will always be on our mind and we will be piled up with a mountain high of stress. This isn't good for our health and I think that our brain needs an occasional rest to be able to go on better and stronger to take up more challenges.

In conclusion, I think that too much of something isn't good and so does too little of something. We need an adequate balance of things that will keep us going well in good proportion.

Please Comment :D