Online assesment 3: Analysing poems

The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’at
My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me

Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment

When my eyes were actually closed

This poem has been organised into a mixture of single lines, couplets, triplets, quatrains and is a free verse poem without any rhythm or rhymes. No alliteration and imagery has been used. Exaggeration has been used in the form of the whiteness of the author's shoes, making his shoes seem like they are very white and clean. Personification too has been used when the author wrote that crows tried to interrupt them when they were singing the national anthem.

Online assesment 2: My favourite poet

James Mercer Langston Hughes, born on February 1, 1902 was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist(a journalist who writes for publication in a series). He is my favourite poet as I find that he is an extremely talented person. He written so many poems such as Montage of a Dream Deferred, One-Way ticket and The Weary Blues. He has also written many books, both fiction and non-fiction such as Not without Laughter and Famous American Negroes. He has even written plays! I also dug up a recording of an interview with him. In that interview, he talks with Studs Terkel about a few different topics, mainly the blues. In one incident, he actually wrote a blues on a blank Western Union telegram for his program later right on the spot! He did not have any time to think about it, albiet a few seconds, but still managed that feat! Such talents are scarce in the world. Sadly, Langston Hughes died on 22 May, 1967 due to complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostrate cancer.

Hughes gained white-collar employment in 1925 as a personal assistant to the historian Carter G.Woodson at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Hughes quit to work as a busboy in a hotel as he did not like the time constraint that limited his writing. While working as a busboy, Hughes met the poet Vachel Lindsay who was impressed with the poems Hughes showed him. Lindsay then publicized his discovery of a new black poet. By this time, Hughes' earlier work had already been published in magazines and was about to be collected into his first book of poetry. This may be how he rose to fame.

However, it is believed that Hughes was a homosexual and included homosexual codes in many of his poems, similar in manner to Walt Whitman, whose work Hughes cited as another influence on his poetry. Arnold Rampersad, the primary biographer of Hughes, determined that Hughes exhibited a preference for other African-American men in his work and life.This love of black men is evidenced in a number of reported unpublished poems to a black male lover.

Here are some poems from Lanston Hughes

The Negro speaks of rivers
I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I danced in the Nile when I was old
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Dream deferred
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Dinner Guest: Me
I know I amThe Negro Problem
Being wined and dined,
Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To Probe in polite way
The why and wherewithalOf darkness U.S.A.
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gentlyOver fraises du bois,
"I'm so ashamed of being white.

"The lobster is delicious,
The wine divine,
And center of attention
At the damask table, mine.
To be a Problem onPark Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.








Recording of interview: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=28870
Biological information, The Negro speaks of rivers poem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes#Death
Dream deferred poem:http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dream-deferred/
Dinner Guest:Me poem :http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dinner-guest-me/

Online assesment 1: Messy Room

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!

I like this poem as it is quite a funny poem. The person in the poem sees a room and is disgusted a the horrible state that it is in. What he does not know is that he had been criticising his own room! When he realises it, his reaction is huge. I also like the way he describes the state of the room, such as saying that there was underwear hanging on the lamp, as well as a smelly and old sock stuck on the wall. Personally, I find this very humorous and that is why I like this poem.

In my opinion, the hyperbole in this poem is the phrase"Oh, dear" in the last sentence. I feel that it exaggerates the shock and dismay of the author when he realises it is his room. I feel that the poet chose to use this form of figurative language as in the poem, he had been criticising the state of that room and making it sound so bad. However, he has no clue that it is actually his room and I think the author wants to show the shock and dismay of the person when he realises it is his room. That is why the author chose to use this form of figurative language.

As I look back at my first semester.....

My first semester as a secondary one student is over. It has been a fruitful experience for me. There were many ups and downs from this experience but I have to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
To me, one of the best things that occured was that I got into my first-choice EP3(CCA), waterpolo. I was competitive swimmer before I came into Hwa Chong( I was not fast enough to go nationals though ) and as there was no more time for me to continue it, I was worried that I would get out of shape. However, I learned that Hwa Chong had waterpolo/swimming EP3 and did not hesitate to go for the trials and was pleased that I did well in it( according to Samuel and Marcus ). When it was time to select the EP3 of your choice, I put it on the top of my list without hesitation. However, I was worried that I would not get in as I heard that most people do not get into their first-choice EP3. Fortunately, when the posting was out, I was on cloud nine when I found out that I had joined the Hwa Chong waterpolo family.
Another of the things that I liked was the fact that I got to follow the C division waterpolo team to all of their matches! As we were two short of a full team, the two secondary one students who had use DSA to come here, Marcus and Samuel, both from my class were roped in. However, two reserves were needed and I was lucky enough to be one of them! Hence, I went to the matches with them, warmed up and practised with the team while waiting for the match to start. The other reserve, Zexel( who was my primary school classmate ) and me also played the role of ball boy whenever the ball went out. It was really fortunate for us as at times, the weather would be windy and cold and at other times, dry and hot. Hence, jumping into the pool was very refreshing.
As for my academics, I am pleased to say that my test marks this term had improved from last term. My Infocomm studies got an unexpected 82 marks, an A1, my history I managed a 13( over 20 marks ) from an 11 last term, which if converted to a hundred marks, was quite a few grades. My geography too managed a C5, 17.5 over 30 from 15 last term, though I lost quite a few marks due to imcomplete answers only. My chinese too improved to 54 over 100( not very good but a significant improvement from last term's 40 over 80 which is about 50 over 100. My maths, one of my weakest subjects, managed a pass for the test. my science also scored 29.5 over 40, missing out on an A1 by just half a mark. But the best of all was my Language Arts( english and literature combined ) which scored A1 for both the narrative writing test( 23 over 30 ) and for the literature test on Animal farm by George Orwell( 21 over 25 ).
However, there were bad things too. In my first semester as a Hwa Chong student, my grades were not very good. My Language Arts scored only a B3 and for my maths, I failed all but the first test, which was a relatively simple one.
Moving on from the good and bad things, there were many interesting things too. I found out that in Hwa Chong, it is actually compulsary to create a blog! The blog would be graded though so you had to post meaningful posts.

Friends

To me, there are many types of friends. However, the best type is still friends who are true to you. There are people who if you are rich, famous or have rich and famous relatives, do their best to get in your good books. These are the people who will desert you in times of trouble such as when you are in financial trouble should you lose your fortune and leave you to struggle on your own.

True friends are people who truly care for you and will always stand by you, no matter what difficulty any of you are facing. These are the people who will take time to understand your problems and do what it takes just to help you.

When we choose our friends, we must not only look at their physical values, be it their looks, their wealth or their social status but more importantly, we must look at their hearts.