by Sanaa, (28 posts) on May 14th, 2012 May 9th, 1816
Dear Mr. Whitman,
I’m pleased to tell you that I very much enjoyed reading your work, and find we have many common interests. Recently, as a former student of medicine, I look for inspiration and ideas to help develop my career as a poet and fuel my passion for poetry. You sir, have just provided me so. I also found the differences in your writing as an American, and mine as an Englishman to be interesting. Your work is very impressive; not only in its structure, but also in the themes and ideas you’ve chosen to write about in your works such in “Leaves of Grass or “Songs of Myself.”
Your theme of consciousness I found to be the most intriguing. A person only as access to one conscious, their own, and as is evident in your poetry, you’ve told your stories based on the conscious or from first person point view. I find using the conscious to be the most revealing and personal method of relaying thoughts and feelings in poetry. Consciousness is a natural thing, and I believe you’ll agree with me when I say that it is also a thing that cannot be restrained or cultivated. I myself have considered writing more about the conscious, and hope to use your and past and future work for inspiration.
The significance of nature and natural occurrences is also very important to me, and I’m very glad to find that it’s important to you as well. I believe mankind (rich or poor) has become too absorbed within their daily routines and work, and has forgotten to take a moment, however brief, and admire the beautiful and pure natural surroundings that God has provided us with, even if the admiration for nature may not be to as much of an extent as you have demonstrated. Our love for nature is definitely something we have in common; I specifically discovered my love for nature and freedom during my walking tour of England. Although I have to admit, you are truly “THE lover of nature,” since I’ve never happened upon someone who appreciates nature as much as my fellow poets and myself or possibly even more.
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of your work I find is its “openness”. As you yourself said, “I will go to the bank by the wood, and become undisguised and naked; I am mad for it (nature) to be in contact with me.” However, I do have to bring up one concern of mine while reading your work. While writing about nature, didn’t you ever feel that your focus on human pleasure and sexual urges was a bit far-fetched? I admire your boldness and understand the reasoning behind “pleasure” being natural, but I know for certain that here in England, if I were to write too much about human urges, my readers would be displeased, and my credibility as a poet may even be lost. Nonetheless, I believe your “openness” will turn out to be a big step for literature’s future, whether it’s in the right or wrong direction I cannot really say.
I’m curious to know if the aim of expressing man’s exposed desires and urges is to make a political statement? It is not too common for me to come across a poet in our time and age who wishes to initiate political change specifically through those means. Despite the fact that I am not too familiar with politics and have chosen to not dabble within society’s political matters, I appreciate that you oppose being confined by our society’s rules and restrictions. This bring up another point of yours, equality. I agree, that in order to be truly free, we must accept every being as an equal individual, “for every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.” The concept of owning others for the purpose of waiting and attending to a person’s every need I find unfathomable. I assume I reached this conclusion based on the fact that I’ve never experienced working or living with people considered to be “beneath” me and find the aristocrats to be vain, but I wonder how you encountered your concept of equality? What was it that inspired you or when did you realize that this is a world where everyone should be accepted and live as an equal individual?
Once again, I had a lovely time reading your work and look forward to reading more of your work in the future and hearing any of your thoughts. Any advice you may have for me would also be greatly appreciated. Your work is very inspiring and I wish you good luck in your endeavors as a writer =)
Your Admirer and Fellow Poet,
John Keats
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by Ariel, (28 posts) on May 13th, 2012 12 May, 2012
Dear Mr Whitman,
I am one of your biggest admirers, “Song of Myself” in the “Leaves of Grass” was amazing, and I got new inspirations every time I read it. It feels fantastic to be able to write a letter to you. I am just an “ordinary” high school student that lives in the 21th century, but I guess you wouldn’t agree with me, everyone is extraordinary, right?
In the 21th century, we’ve categorised all the poems into different eras, you are considered to be the greatest Romantic poet in America. I found your poems show incredible imageries of nature. In the first section, I remembered clearly about the atmosphere of nature. “I am mad for it to be contact with me.” “Mad” what a strong adjective to use! The world now has been polluted so much I think I haven’t seen blue skies since 20thcentury. Therefore I could not relate to your passion at that time, however I feel the same enthusiasm when you said, “observing a spear of summer grass”. I can imagine myself lying on the ground, enjoying the sunshine, and “loafe” the whole day. That happiness is unforgettable and irreplaceable, only provided by the nature.
I also admire the way you interpret life and death. Most of the people agree it is lucky to be born, but not many of them think so for death as you do. Many of Goethe’s character even considered suicide. Faust in the tragic play “Faust” was the smartest man on the world, but one day he realised he could never fully understand the world, so pondered suicide. He ended up meeting Mephistopheles, then decided to make every second counts, therefore in his case, life is all about adventure. Remember in section 24, “A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books”. Sounds like wisdom doesn’t attract you more than nature, so does that mean you will support Faust’s idea? Live your life to its fulfil?
Talking about other Romantic poets, usually they write about their personal romance, like Goethe and Keats. Many of Romantic poets experienced and understand the impossibility of happy love, and that’s their inspiration. Why didn’t you write anything about your personal love affairs? However, you wrote a lot about physical love – sex. Are you aware that it might bring uncomfortableness to the public? I’m not criticising you, I understand the reason of you using sexual reference, because it is a perfectly natural thing to do, even essential for us, but I did not expect anything more than one stanza about “Urge and urge and urge, Always the procreant urge of the world.” in any poetry. Have you ever thought it might be too undisguised for the literature at that time?
It would be very nice of you if I could see your reply; I still have a couple of questions for your poems. You are one of the most important poets of the American history. I truly appreciate your time for reading my letter, hope I could write you to again soon, if possible.
Warmest wishes
Ariel Ho
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by Aaron, (28 posts) on May 13th, 2012 When I first saw the title of this book, I thought that this was a fiction novel. The first thing that came to my mind was the movie “2012″. However, this book actually predicts what the world would be like in the year 2050. Have you ever thought about it before?
In this blog post, I would only give you brief summary of what this book talks about. However, the sole purpose of having this “Dear reading blog post” is to give you guys an idea or rather, a gist of this novel . If you want to know more, please don’t despair. I would go into that in my next “Dear reading blog post”.
In this post, I would like to bring to your attention about the things happening to our world. Have you ever considered, (especially my generation) what would happen to our world as the population continues to rocket sky high? Would there be enough food for the people? Would there be enough land for the whole of our population? Have you even thought about that? If you have not, I suggest you spend some time to ponder upon it.
The book “2050″ has been divided up into 4 global forces. They are demographic trends, natural resource demand, climate change and globalization. Today, I would focus more on the aspect of what our world is going into.
We all know that in this society of ours, birth rates have been increasing drastically. Right now, the world has a population of approximately 7 billion people. Just so you know, China is home to more than 1.2 billion people. That is equivalent to saying 1 out of every 5 people on this planet comes from China. My point is, right now when you are reading this post, this very minute, another baby is born. What would happen if our population continues to grow? Would are world still be the same or would it be disaster?
In 2008, at some point of the year, “the number of people living in urban areas grew to briefly match,……the number of people living in rural areas.” This is the first time in history that the number of people living in urban areas, outweigh the numbers living in the rural areas. More and more people are flocking to the cities as they would be able to find a better job to have a better life. An example of that is India. I am not trying to say that they should not do so. What I want to say is that with more and more people moving from rural areas to go work in urban areas, what would happen to our primary sector? Who is going to harvest the natural resources? Is everyone just going to rely on technology alone? Is that even possible? Without our primary sector, where are we going to get our food from?
Our population is increasing and in the long run, there would be a major problem. This problem would be one of the crisis of our time. There would be a shortage of land, shortage of food, etc. If we don’t start thinking about these problems right now and the solution to it, when are we going to?
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by Dawn, (28 posts) on May 11th, 2012 April 23, 1812
Dear Walt Whitman
I have been reading your poem, ‘Leaves of Grass’, in your ‘Song of Myself’.
I am especially interested in you concept of the men’s consciousness. ‘I CELEBRATE myself’ you wrote for the first line. ‘I loafe and invite my soul;’ As human beings, our own consciousness is so complex, but that’s the only thing we know. We cannot see other’s, but our own. You poem, unlike the ones of my time, is written more freely, without rules and rhymes. Just as your thought, which is unstrained and closer to the real world.
I really enjoy the way you write the nature. ‘The atmosphere is not a perfume…’ The great Nature, the sweetness of the nature written from your pen, has become something that can be tasted. ‘Undisguised and naked’ you enjoy the nature, and want to be part of it. Be naked and take off the unnecessary moral restrain and rules away from you; to enjoy the life, the air the breath of the tree, and all that is part of Nature.
However, out of the long, beautiful poem of yours, I favour part 6 the most. ‘Growing among black folks as among white; Kanuck,… I give them the same.’ Your poem has risen Romanticism a new level. All human being are equal. Although, the skin colour, the eyes, the appearance of ones are different from another, we ARE the same. All ade of the same components, and all need the same nutrient to grow. We were all born with innocence, naked and pure. (‘Song of Innocence’)
‘And now it see,s to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves’
Death.
One will always fear death. For the normal convention, death means the end. But death in your poems, has become a continuous of a new life. You poem has made life be infinitem broader, and more extraordinary. I heard that you’ve joined the volunteer work in the army as a helper in the hospital. Death was every where in the hospital. In front of the death we are all the same. Wealth, poverty, tall, short, appearance, there’s no different. ‘They are alive and well somewhere; The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.’ There are more things after death, that death is part of the life. While there are death, there would be lives, the lives that was carried on because of the death. Lives are formed because there are deaths. We are part of the world now, and we will be part of life in the future. Our flesh, hair, bone would be part of the grass one day, after the long future(seems to). Our death would live on with the alives. ‘All goes onward and outward nothing collapses.’ ‘And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.’ Death is not something to be afraid of but to be respect of. It’s part of our life. The moment we were born we are sure that one day we would die. Death’s Natural, as you say.
Cheers, and enjoy life
William Blake
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by Alissa Yap, (22 posts) on May 11th, 2012 Dear Mister Walt Whitman,
Recently in class we read your poem “Song of Myself”. I really enjoyed reading it. I like your reference to nature, and how you expressed that everyone is equal .In your poem you showed traits of Romanticism, for example individualism; which is shown from the title “Song of Myself”. In our poem you mention numerous reference to the organic world, telling how everything that is natural is something good. From your poem you expressed passion with “A few light kisses, a few enhancing reaching around the arms”. From “Song of Myself” , there was a line that says “I give them the same, I receive them the same” which shows that you believe in equality. Reading “Songs of Myself”i now understand that there are various types of equality; not only different status, but also with gender, age, sexualities and nationalities, they all should be treated equally.Personality what i liked best about “Song of Myself” is your opinion of death, you said that death is natural, therefor believe that is was a good thing. You ask said that even after someone die, they will still be “alive and well somewhere” so death is not really the end of your life. It made me change my perspective of dying. I liked how you are so positive about everything including death itself. I believe that if everyone though of it that way, death would not be something that bring sorrow.
In “Song of Myself you said that “for every atom belonging to me, as good as belong to you”.This made me think about Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was born in a family of aristocrats, but he always believe that everyone should be equal. Percy wasted to bless the peasants by sharing them some of this wealth. Although the difference between you and Percy Bysshe Shelley is the Percy was born in a aristocrat family so he might not agree with your view of nudism being a good thing.Your poem “Song of Myself” also remind me of a American Transcendentalist call Henry David Thoreau., on of the theme of his work was nature and the wilderness.. I believe that since both of you wrote a lot about nature, that is you were to ever meet you would have a lot in common. Although i believe that Coloreidge would bot agree with you, since during his time they were just starting Romanticism , especially the part where you mention in “Song of Myself” that you wanted to “go to the bark of the wood and become undisguised and naked”. Being a noble I believe that Coloreidge would not have done that.
Speaking of nudism being a part of nature, a few decades ago there was a group of peace lover, we called them the “hippies”, they too believe in being one with nature , they would grow their hair out, and sometimes walk around naked because, just as you mention in in your poem, it’s natural. But that was a few decades ago, not people still do not like the idea of going out on the street naked, although sometimes during strikes you would be able to see people protesting naked.Although I believe that it would still take some time before topple accept the idea that being naked is good, because it’s part of nature.
After reading “Song of Myself” it made me want to read the rest of you poetry in “Leaves of Grass”. I hope they are as good as “Song of Myself”
Sincerely,
Alissa Yap
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by Gerald, (25 posts) on May 11th, 2012 Dear Mr. Whitman,
Hi, Mr. Whitman, how are you doing? I am a student from 21st century. I don’t know if you can believe this, but the current generation has changed noticeably to the world you are living in. In our English class, we are focusing on different literature in Romantic era. At the present time we are working on what Romanticism might be by looking at various Romantic poets and relate their pieces of poetry to Romanticism, the Naturism. It is a fortunate that we are given such a chance to read through your writings and I have to say the poetry you wrote has impressed me. I cannot deny that.
As a reader in 21st century, the idea of Romanticism is the topic that I am not quite familiar with. Unlike the notion of Romanticism, numerous people in this generation including myself are living a busy life. These two are contrary to each other. New technology is improving to make better products for saving our time. People are living busy life; we spend our time on working, on meeting friends, but not so much time on observing green grass and consider about what the life is all about, whereas people in Romantic era, practiced the basic Romantic themes. Very few of us are rejecting the technology and modernized society, and living as simple as possible. I admit that living a ‘hurried’ life is tragic, but this is the reality. Or maybe due to the sudden development in our technology, it is just not able to be within the nature. This may be the reason why I prefer literature in Romanticism; it is possible for me to relax while I read them.
In ‘The Song of Myself’, which I particularly admired, I find the quotation pretty interesting: “I loafe and invite my Soul, I lean and loafe at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass.” This quotation has forced me to think about the term ‘Soul’, which I felt comforts in it. It gave me the impression of the soul not as supernatural exists, but in terms of the exits that we are absolutely familiar with.
Furthermore, in one of your poems, I noticed that the term ‘I’ is used for quite many times. Also I have realized that ‘I’ is not individual ‘I’, but ‘I’ as universal ‘I’. However I thought in that era, lots of poets have believed in individualism, I don’t really see why you used ‘I’ to refer to universal ‘I’.
Majority excerpts from ‘Leaves of Grass’ are about the way to live a life, yet several of them is dealing with life and death. Since the title of your poetry book is named ‘Leaves of Grass’, I begin to wonder how the blades of grass has got to do with your poetry. Not so much time passed after that moment, I could come out with an idea of life cycle. The idea of life cycle as green grasses represents youth and as they turn into brownish color, they suggest the older age and weakness of human beings. Then the ‘death’ follows. It would be a pleasure if I can understand the reasoning why you liked using grass in your poetry and how the blades of grass refer to your emotions.
While learning some Romantic poets, I noticed most of them have experienced misery in their childhoods, and they have influenced hugely on their later works. Here is my second question, ‘Is there any experience in your childhood that has affected your previous poetry?’
It was great experience to know about you and your poetry. I really appreciate for your time to read my letter. Thank you for writing such great poems that have told us lots of things.
With best regards,
Robert. H
11 May 2012
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by Diana Kim, (21 posts) on May 11th, 2012 May 2012
Dear Walt Whitman,
I am a student who has been reading your piece of work-‘Leaves of Grass’. It is a very great pleasure to me to write a letter to you thus, I appreciate your wonderful poetry with all of my heart. While I was reading, I was very impressed by your vivid image of nature.
I admire your poem in various aspects because I felt really comfortable since you have used nature as a main feature and also at the same time raising other ideas and themes. At the beginning of your poem, it says: “I CELEBRATE myself; And what I assume; For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.” This quotation I read made me to think deeply than the other phrases in the poem. Because of the word ‘atom’ and ‘belonging to me and to you’. I wondered what it meant but at last I realized that it is actually representing equality. There are a lot of quotes indicating the naturalism: “I will go to the bank by the wood, and become undisguised and naked.” It displays that being natural is a positive action to be taken. Lastly, I have got deepest feeling towards this quote: “ And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier” First time reading this, I was quite surprised at the fact that such a negative action to you seems natural and described positively.
Regardless of all of those above, I have one thing confused about. I believe that at your times, the literature was deeply connected to the political situations. Therefore, I was looking more of war, conflictions, dissension and critical aspects to public. However, in your poetry every view is relatively positive and I wonder whether if you also think that those negative actions also a natural occurrence and optimistic. Throughout the whole poem, your poem indicates a few themes such as Individualism, humans as natural beings, freedom and organic world.
As I have been reading this poem, I thought it would be nice to recommend this poem to Beethoven. Since this poem is optimistic, I consider that it could have gave Beethoven a hope earlier in his composition. I found that Beethoven had a misery life and this poem would gave him more inspiration when composing music and make him feel more relieved from all his negative thoughts.
Here are some questions I wonder after read your poem!! There are a lot of vivid imagery used in your poem, and I wonderwhere you get those inspirations from and why would you use nature as the theme since in that era a lot of writers were influenced by politics at that time. But, despite you wrote a completely different- an optimistic poem.
Although there was various things that I was confused about, but still it is a remarkable poem that raised me some questions. I want to appreciate again for letting readers to learn more about you, your poem and literature.
Sincerely,
Diana Kim
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by Aurora, (27 posts) on May 10th, 2012 Dear Mister Walt Whitman January 29th, 1799
I have recently read your poem Songs of myself and I felt like I needed to write you a letter about it, because this poem really gave me a lot of opinions I want to share with you.
You are dragging things way too far Walt Whitman! When I write poetry I do not write like this. For example, in my book that I recently published with William Wordsworth, William and myself do write about things like nature, passion and equality. But it is a disgrace how you put dirt all over the modern poets’ name like this! For instance, when you write in the first part of Songs of myself, “I will go to the bank by the wood and get undisguised and naked.” First of all, this is highly inappropriate! You do not write these kinds of things in poetry that is for everybody to read. Second of all, you are a big name in modern literature. Think of the massive influence you can have on people. What if this becomes the new trend? Running out to the forest, getting naked! You could start a whole new movement of nudism, and I think most people would agree with me when I say we don’t want that to happen in our society.
Moreover, I would like to comment on the way you are talking about and describing death in your poem, and make it clear that I strongly disagree. While I do respect your opinion, I want to say that I think it is very unrealistic and naive that death can be a good thing! You are talking about disappearing forever, stopping to breathe and never seeing the ones you love ever again! Will you please explain to me how that can possibly be a good thing
Furthermore, I want to give you a friendly suggestion and complement you because I do feel like I have been very critical towards you, and I apologize. I just really felt the need to express my thoughts to you. Well, my suggestion to you is to include some more supernatural elements in your poetry. It attracts readers! Additionally, it is good to be open, but not too open about things. There is a line, learn where it is, because you have crossed it. Finally, I want to complement you on the way you talk about equality, it really inspired me. Especially the part where you say; “For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you.”
Good luck on your future career as a poet,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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by Aaron, (28 posts) on May 10th, 2012 Dear Walt Whitman,
This is my first time writing to you and thus, before I get to the main point, I would first introduce myself. My name is Jack and I am just like any other ordinary fourteen-year-old kid living on a tiny island somewhere in Asia. Just so you know, I am writing to you from the 21th century. I do not know how, but I am sure or rather, I hope that this letter would be able to go back in time. I do not want to bore you and so, I would now begin.
You will really be please to hear that your poem from the 19th century is still very popular in the 21th century. It surprises me that right now in the 21th century, the modern era, many people who are not as Romantic as the people back in the romantic period still appreciate poems on Romanticism. Just last week, I read a poem, which was said to be one of your best. That poem is “Song of Myself”. There are no words in the dictionary that is able to describe my feelings on how much I enjoyed it. The poem is just so beautiful. “Song of Myself” was extremely successful in transporting me into a whole new world. A world is so pure and white.
In “Song of Myself”, I really like the way you said that everyone is equal. The phrase “For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you” tells me that everybody is a part of each other. The next thing I really enjoyed and appreciate was the way you conveyed the message of “natural”. You used words and phrases such as “naked”, “A few light kisses” and “Always the procreant urge of the world”. The similar connections between these words and phrases are sexual love. There is a tinge of sexual connotation to it. Some people view sexual love as disgusting but they fail to see the fact that sex itself is natural. The fact that sex is natural allows me to relate back that all of us are human beings. All of us come from our mother’s womb and that to me is very natural.
In this modern society of mine, the 21th century, everything moves at a very fast pace. There is no time and space to find solitude. The saying “Time and tide waits for no man” is very true in the place I leave in. If one does not move fast enough, then the world for that person would collapse as moving fast if very essential. In this society I am living in, we have been thought that life is a race and if you don’t run fast, you would be trampled on. Once people overtake you, it is all over. Everything moves so fast so much so that sometimes we become lost in our world. Sometimes we even forget our very own existence! What do you think about this? Is this a bad thing? Should we, as natural beings find some peace to appreciate the world we are living in? I have so many questions for you but that is all I will ask. A letter cannot have endless of questions for it would never end. There must be a head and there must be a tail.
Your poem brings me back to Earth and I really want to thank you for that. Have you ever heard of William Blake? He is a very unique person. Not only does he write fabulous poems, he also does paintings to portray the message of his poems. He is influenced by gothic art. Just by looking at his paintings, one would be able to understand the inner meanings. One would be able to feel all kinds of emotions running through their veins.
By reading your poems, I am able to see the happenings taking place in my head. By looking at William Blake’s paintings, I am able to hear the poem ringing though my ears. It really amazes me how much poems and paintings when put together, gives you the ultimate of emotions. These emotions can only be felt but can never be explained.
I really want to thank you for taking time off to read this letter. I know you are a very busy person and I really appreciate it. I will continue reading your great works and will definitely write to you some time again.
Best Regards,
Jack.S
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by David, (24 posts) on May 10th, 2012 November 7th 1810
Dear Mr. Whitman,
This is William writing. You may not remember, but we have met before at the 1806 poetry convention in Paris, four years ago. I was the man who asked you whether or not you had ever thought about converting to another form of creative expression.
Despite this, I am writing this letter to you as a fan, of your latest work: ‘Song Of Myself’. Which I thought was a great read. Given I was captivated throughout your poem, Even with this being the case, like any man I have some questions about your newest poem.
The first question: ‘Are you religious, of have you ever been related to somebody that is?’ Strange question right? Well this question eventuated to me while I was reading the first section of your poem, where you comment about your ‘soul’ and about how everybody should become equal. Two very religious topics, I might say. Despite this if this isn’t the case and there are exterior motives behind your choice, I would like to know.
The second question: ‘I’ve noticed in your poem you include lots of sexual references. Are you trying to make a political statement, or are their other reason for writing them down?’ Don’t mistake me fore being anti-romanticist, as even in my poetry I might include one of two sexual references, but I would never dedicate a whole chapter of my poem to writing about ‘the birds and the bees’.
The third and final question; ‘do you live by the principles that you have talked about in your poem?’ Not saying you couldn’t, I just stating that in your poem you comment about going to the woods and becoming ‘undisguised and naked’. Not that there is anything wrong with nudism, but isn’t this course of action too exaggerated for what the population of today can do? Just walk into the local woods and strip? Forgetting this, another principle you talk about in your poem is about how you think death is good. Does this mean you eat meat, given its natural for the predator to eat the prey?
Well that’s all I have for now. Talk later, ohh also I am publishing a new poetry book with Coleridge soon, I hope that you may find time to read it, your opinion is important.
Cheers,
William
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by (Jolly) Nga Wan, (24 posts) on May 7th, 2012 There must be a balance in good and evil. Just like the balance between day and night, there will be one in our mind and soul. For example, if the world had only ‘good’, then what is left to compare that ‘good’ to? If there is no comparison, then how are we certain that ‘good’ is ‘good’? Also, even if the society is ‘good’, there is always the ‘bad’ in people’s mind and souls. Examples are ‘greed’, ‘jealousy’, ‘lust’, ‘envy’, ‘heresy’, ‘hatred’, ‘gluttony’. There is no such thing as a throughly ‘good’ society, nor a throughly bad society. There is no such thing as perfect, as things can become better or worse the next second. If the world only contained ‘bad’, then why do they continue? Surely, if everyone’s soul contained ‘bad’, wouldn’t they start grabbing, killing, murdering, stealing, and seeking revenge? People would kill each other continuously and then the society would collapse because of the chaos. Why doesn’t it collapse then? It is because there are people who are weaker and those who are stronger will take advantage. The weaker ones cannot do anything and therefore can only hope and wait that they would stop. ‘Hope’ is a factor in ‘good’, and now we can see no matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ the society could be, there is always a balance. Just like Yin and Yang concept, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are interdependent in the natural world and they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites only exist in relation to each other. If one vanishes, the balance would be lost. There are opposites that are interdependent like female and male(female were ‘Yin’, male were ‘Yang’), cold and hot, fire and water, earth and air, dark and light.
This picture here shows Yin and Yang. Yin, or 阴, meaning ‘dark’ or ‘shadow’ in Mandarin Chinese, represented on the diagram as the black twirl. The surface meaning of Yin represents nighttime, with the white circle illustrating the Moon. Its deeper meaning is that it represents the ‘dark force’ or ‘evil spirit’ in the society or in ones soul. Yang, or 阳, meaning ‘light’ or ‘joyful’ in Mandarin Chinese, represented on the diagram as the white twirl. The surface meaning of Yang represents daytime, with the black circle illustrating the Sun. Its deeper meaning is that it represents the ‘light force’ or ‘good spirit’ in the society or in ones soul.
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by (Jolly) Nga Wan, (24 posts) on May 7th, 2012 This book is non-fiction and written by Tel Aviv University’s professor Dan Maoz, aimed to provide a guide for advanced science undergraduates.
I personally find it hard yet interesting to read. I could understand the information most of the time, though sometimes it’s about “log” or “sin”, and we haven’t learnt that in Mathematics yet.
I like the fact that the author covers the most important physics in a lot of detail but at the same time, capture our curiosity within the subject. It has quite a wide range covered, from cosmological physics to formulas calculating the total energy mass. My favourite part of the book was the questions at the end of each chapter. It not only lets one practice the fresh learnt knowledge, but also proves once again that astrophysics can be used in real life situations.
The book contains images and diagrams that help explain concepts. For example, there was a diagram of a human eye, with the light ray entering and leaving the eye, next to it was another diagram of a telescope and this also shows a light ray entering and leaving the telescope. It then explains, in words, their similarities and differences. From the diagram I could see that the telescope had more lenses and reflected the light ray back and forth.
I recommend this book to people who enjoy astrophysics and know a fair amount about simple optics, blackbody curves, a bit of quantum mechanics, and some more of classical orbital mechanics. Maybe the physics teacher?
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by Alissa Yap, (22 posts) on May 6th, 2012 Joe Simpson sand Simon Yates had set off to climb the west face of Siula Grande, it started off well but as they descend Joe slipped off and ice cliff and end up with a broken leg. In order to get Joe down, Simon use a rope to tie himself to Joe, slowly lowering him down, although the plan was working at first, at a point there was a cliff in front of Joe, but due to the darkness on the mountain he accidently lower Joe toward the cliff, causing Joe to be dangling from a cliff. When Joe was dangling off the cliff there were only two choices for Simon, to hold on the rope, eventually causing the death of both of them, or to cut the rope, which would kill Joe but would save himself.
“Won’t be long now. I’ll not last till morning…won’t see the sun either. I hope Simon doesn’t die, that’s hard… he shouldn’t have to die for me ”
I think this quote is important for the situation they were in, because Simon did eventually cut the rope. Joe on the other believe that he would not be ale to survive, and that Simon should not die because of his mistake so he support Simon’s decision of cutting the rope, but Simon does not know that due to the fact that they were unable to communicate, when Simon did cut the rope he believe that he had killed Joe, not knowing that Joe did survive despite falling off. I look forward
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by Ariel, (28 posts) on May 6th, 2012 DEAR reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
“While Grace was in school, I had driven by Beck’s house. The driveway was empty and the windows were dark; I hadn’t the heart to go inside and see how long it had been unoccupied. Without Beck to enforce the pack’s safety, who was supposed to keep Jack in line?
An unwelcome sense of responsibility was starting to pinch at the back of my throat. Beck had a mobile phone, but I couldn’t remember the number, no matter how long I riffled through my memories. I pressed my face against the pillow and prayed that Jack wouldn’t bite anyone, because if he became a problem, I didn’t think I was strong enough to do what would have to be done. ” – End of chapter
Sam spoke this chapter, in the human form. He recalled his memory about his experience after being bite. From this, we can conclude that werewolves were humans before; therefore another man named Jack, who was bitten by the pack, might have turned into a werewolf already. Beck was the leader of the ‘pack’, the wolves’ leader. He took care of Sam after he escaped his house, as well as all other newcomers. However this time, he disappeared, the house he owned wasn’t open for werewolves anymore, so Jack was in danger every second. All the clues that shows Beck’s absence, made Sam more worried about Jack’s future, and the whole Mercy Falls’ future.
The ending of this chapter made us wonder what will he have to do if Jack became a problem, since he said “angry people didn’t make good werewolves”, does that mean Jack would just go around and bite people? Then what will he have to do? A werewolf bit Grace a long time ago, will that have an affect on Grace? What will happened between Sam and Grace?
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by Diana Kim, (21 posts) on May 6th, 2012 The book I am reading now is ‘speak’ by Laurie Hales Anderson. This book is about a teenage girl and her relationships with friends. There is a misunderstanding between her and her friends, but she is not trying to speak the truth and solve this confusing relationship with friends.
So far, I have read quarter of this book and it has explained about the school and the treatments from the teachers and friends. From the beginning, the main character of this book has never spoke to her friends and teachers when they asked questions to her, so it had made me wonder why doesn’t she speak and tell her friends the truth and solve the problem. I found this book very interesting because this is the story that we can find in daily life like friendships. Hence, teenagers would be interested reading this because it creates sympathy.
It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.
I felt this quote in the beginning of the story very impressive, because I sometimes feel the same as this character as well. Often there is some case that situation get worse when we speak more about it. And I doubt if this is one of the reason why she refuse to speak.
Through now, the book is exciting (getting to the part where the problem has happened) and I am looking foward to finish this book soon !!!
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by Dawn, (28 posts) on May 4th, 2012 I am currently reading the Holy Bible. Surprisingly, the language in the bible is much easier than I thought it would have been. I choose to read this book because a lot of books have elements from the bible. Therefore, it makes me really curious that what is written in the bible, and how it inspires people.
I am now reading the Genesis, which is the very beginning of the bible. I am really interested in the concept of the Garden Eden and the Tree of Life.
The fruit on the Tree of Life is forbidden to eat, because it has the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
‘but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’
The God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the tree. I am really curious why the God doesn’t let Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. Knowledge is the most important thing the human being has. Because of the knowledge, us human stand out from the other creatures. However, as God has mentioned, the knowledge are both ‘good and evil’.
Before Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they were innocent, ‘they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.’ Without knowledge, we would not know what is right and what is wrong. From this, I also learnt that, knowledge is a powerful thing. If you use it in the right way, it would help the others; if not, our own power would bring disaster to ourselves.
I really enjoy reading the Holy Bible.
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by Aurora, (27 posts) on May 4th, 2012 I just recently finished reading the first Harry Potter book, and I have read it many times. However, this was the first time I read a Harry Potter book in English. It was very interesting to see how the book is different in English from how it is in Norwegian, and to read the book exactly how it was originally written. I really don’t know what it is about Harry Potter that makes it so good, and that makes me like it so much. I just never get tired of reading it over again. I absolutely love J.K Rowling’s style of writing, and it’s when I read the book again I see how well it actually is written. How everything links up, and how small details affects the whole story in later books. Even things from the first book link up to and affect things in book 7! She is truly an amazing author!
I think most of you know what Harry Potter is about, but in case you don’t I will explain. The book is about Harry Potter, a boy who has lost both of his parents in what he thinks is a car accident. Therefore, he has to live with his aunt and uncle in the muggleworld, having no idea that the reason his parents died was because of the powerful and evil Lord Voldemort. The book is about Harry discovering that he is everything but normal, he is actually a wizard with a place reserved for him at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
I recommend all of those who yet have not read Harry Potter to read it. It is a book that appeal to both boys and girls and to all age groups. If you like the fantasy genre this definitely a book for you!
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by Sanaa, (28 posts) on May 2nd, 2012 I had never even heard the term “Romanticism” until recently, but surprisingly it turned out not to be a completely alien concept. Now after learning a lot about it thanks to Mr. Macknight, handouts, a podcast, and a wonderful presentations, I think of Romanticism as kind of being divided into two parts. One side is like the political, rebellious, individualistic ideas, and the other side is all about nature, freedom, beauty, etc. I’m not too familiar with the political aspect of Romanticism, but from what I’ve learned, I do find the natural side of Romanticism to be pretty interesting.
While researching for the Romanticism presentation, specifically about John Keats, I kept coming across beauty, nature, etc. I was really impressed by the fact that he could write about nature in such an idealistic way. Reading Keats poetry and other Romantic work, I saw another side of nature. Instead of a tree just being a tree or a bush just being a bush, Romantics describe nature in a way that I find imaginary or even “otherworldly.” But then again, all of nature being described does actually exist in reality, just that it’s not always seen from that point of view. I especially felt that way when reading John Keats’s poem “Beautiful Lady Without Pity” (the translated name).
Also, I think Romantic ideas are relevant to today; it’s just that it isn’t normally referred to as Romanticism. Nature, freedom, and individualism are pretty familiar ideas, it’s just that I had no idea there was a time where writing, painting, or speaking about those ideas was actually unheard of. It’s really hard to imagine artists (such as writers, painters, etc.) only creating work within the rules of Neo-Classism. I think that defeats the purpose of art, since isn’t it supposed to be all about expressing yourself?
I think I enjoyed learning about Romanticism, because not only was it an eye-opener that at one point way back in history there wasn’t a concept of intuition and emotion over reason; but also it’s interesting how “evolved” Romanticism vs. Neo-Classism can be seen today (for example, the hippie vs. the businessman), which also makes it easier to understand.
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by Alissa Yap, (22 posts) on May 2nd, 2012 For the past weeks we had been learning more about Romanticism. We were paired off to do some research on how our chosen Romantic influence the later generations.
During the time spent on research I learnt a lot more about the Romantics. One of the things that I particularly notice Romantics like Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s work are influenced from their childhood.
Mary Shelley ‘s father was a political philosopher, which impact her works, she believe the key to improve society was politic. Mary’s mother also has a big impact on her works, her mother was a feminist, although her mother passed away when Mary Shelley was just 11 days old, Mary was able to learn more about her mother through though her journal. Her mother’s journal it impact her; she believe that female should be treated equally as men, this belief broke the tradition of that era where in society a men’s status is higher than a women.
For Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was born in aristocrat family, although unlike his family he wants to help people with lower class. His family did not approve his thinking on helping the less fortunate; they wanted him to follow the ways of traditional aristocracy. Percy was also a vegetarian, he believe that even animals should be treated equally.
Our group was the first to present, our Romantic were Mary Shelley,Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge .During the presentation, I spoke too fast which cause difficulties for the audience. I think that I have made it clearer for the audience, especially which part of the information was important and how it had impacted the works of the writers. The second pair that present talk about the French Romantics and American Transcendentalist. The second pair did a great job, their presentation on the French Romantics and American Transcendentalist was well organize and the information on was clear, which is something that I think we could definitely improve form for our future presentation.
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by Dawn, (28 posts) on May 2nd, 2012 The Romanticism is the period of time that is full of natural, amazing, yet unrealistic dreams.
William Blake, who was the father figure of the romanticism, the pre-romanticism. While he was alive, he wrote a lot of poetries, in very simple form with comprehensive words. He’s regarded as the most important people during the romanticism period, and influenced a lot of romantic poets after him. However, William Blake wasn’t famous nor rich when he was alive. He had given his entire life for art and literature, but he’s suffering from living.
From looking at William Blake’s life style, it makes me wondering that does the value of art and literature worth to let someone to put in their entire life?
I like William Blake’s poems very much. He’s poems are easy to understand, for the surface. However, it really make started to think about the deeper meaning behind the words.
I think, although the style of writings are different from time to time, the questions the writers or the poets are focusing on is the way we live, and the purpose of living.
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Important Dates May 26: Miles Davis born in 1926.
June 2: Thomas Hardy born in 1840.
June 20: Jean Moulin born in 1899. |
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