Favourite Poet

My favourite poet is William Shakespeare. I chose William Shakespeare as he was widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. William Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry.

William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. Very little is known about his life, but by 1592 he was in London working as an actor and a dramatist. Between about 1590 and 1613, Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays and collaborated on several more. Many of these plays were very successful both at court and in the public playhouses. In 1613, Shakespeare retired from the theatre and returned to Stratford-upon-Avon. He died and was buried there in 1616.

Shakespeare wrote plays and poems. Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. His 17 comedies include A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Among his 10 history plays are Henry V and Richard III. The most famous among his 10 tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Shakespeare’s best-known poems are The Sonnets, first published in 1609.

The three poems that William Shakespeare wrote are Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece and A Lover's Complaint. He dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece to Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton.

Venus and Adonis:
An innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus

The Rape of Lucrece:
The virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin

A Lover's Complaint:
A young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor

Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime.

Resources:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/122
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare#Poems
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/basics.html

Figurative language

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Figurative laguage used:

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

And his tune is heard on the distant hill

And dares to claim the sky.

This poem differentiates between a free bird and a caged bird. A free bird has a lot of freedom but a caged bird does not. The first paragraph describes about the free bird. The second paragraph tells us that the caged bird has a miserable life as it cannot be like other birds. The other paragraphs shows that the bird longs to have freedom so it can do what other birds do, eat worms and ruling the sky but it seems impossible. It ends with the caged bird singing, singing for freedom. All in all, this is a sad poem.

Who is my least favourite character in Village by the Sea?

My least favourite character in Village by the Sea is Hari's father.

In the early stages of the book, Hari's father sleeps during the day and goes to the toddy shop at night. He does not do any work at all. He was a drunkard who drinks toddy. He is very irresponsible as he abandoned his responsibility of taking care of the family. Hari's father does not want to earn money but instead go to the toddy shop. In the end, Hari has to pay his debts. This made Hari lose hope on him.

Hari's mother is sick and cannot take care of the family. She needs medicine to get well but Hari does not have the money.

With nobody working, Hari is the only person who can support the family. All of these would not have happened if Hari's father had been more responsible. Although Hari's father turned over a new leaf, the harm he caused had been too much.

Therefore, I do not like Hari's father in Village by the Sea.

Newspaper Article

This is blog prompt number 4.

This article can be found at the Home section of today's Straits Times, page 2. This article is about a taxi driver, Mr Lim, who returned $26k to his passenger.

The taxi driver was about to grab a quick breakfst yesterday morning but he decided to give his car a wash. To his surprise, he found a black briefcase when he opened the rear door. Inside the briefcase were what Mr Lim thought to be importants, documents. Mr Lim did not know that there was actually about $26,000 in US dollars, Malysian ringgit, Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht in the briefcase.

Mr Lim reported this incident to ComfortDelGro without hesitation.

In the meantime, the owner of this bag, Mr Ibrahim, had reported his loss.

Now, the briefcase has been returned to Mr Ibrahim. He was delighted to retrieve his briefcase. He also praised Mr Lim for being an honest taxi driver.

This article tells us that we must be honest at all times. We must all be like Mr Lim, so Singapore will be a much better place to live in.

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

In my opinion, I like the part when Hari met the watchmender, Mr Panwallah. Mr Panwallah called Hari to come and sit beside him on the bench behind the counter in his shop. Mr Panwallah then asked him if he wanted to help and learn how to fix watches. Then, Hari became Mr Panwallah apprentice. I like this part as Hari was going to become a watchmender and a new journey awaits him.

It was then when Hari felt Mr Panwallah's kindness as Hari did not believe he would share his secrets with a him. Hari began to brighten up and look happy and alive. I like this part as Mr Panwallah was very kind to Hari even though he was a village boy. Hari became happier after becoming Mr Panwallah's apprentice. Hari was also grateful for Mr Panwallah's kindness.

All in all, Hari learnt a lot of new knowledge under Mr Panwallah's guidance.

Confessions of a Hwa Chong student

In my opinion, being a Hwa Chong student is sometimes stressful and sometimes fun. My EP3 which is squash has long training hours starting from 2.30pm and last till 5.30pm. I have to go for training on Tuesdays, Thursday and Friday. After training, I would reach home at 6.45pm if the traffic is smooth. As a result, when I reach home, I will have very little time to do my homework. In the end, I have to sleep late on those days.

Hwa Chong has many facilities such as the gym, swimming pool and many more. Sometimes I would go to the library and borrow some books to read and at the same time, enjoy the air-conditioning. Other times I would go to the computer lab and use the computer provided for us. I like these amenities.

In conclusion, I like being a Hwa Chong student.

I rather be the city rat than the country rat

Being the city rat would mean that we would be able to enjoy technology. This includes hand phones, MP3 players, computers and more. We can use these items to help us daily. For example, we can use our hand phones to communicate instead of finding the person which is quite tedious. Another example is that we can use electric fans to keep ourselves cool instead of using a paper fan. Technology is really useful to us.

However, there are some problems. Let me tell you what they are. A disadvantage is that there will be an excessive use of electricity and will harm the environment which in turn affects us too. Another disadvantage is that we cannot rely too much on technology as sometimes we need to do thing ourselves. For example, if we keep relying on calculators, sometimes we might be too lazy to calculate and instead we use our calculators to give us the answer. When this continues we will become very lazy.

Now let me tell you more about a country rat. Being a country rat means not being able to have better facilities and technology. However, they have very little or no worries as they lead a peaceful life.

In conclusion, I would choose to be a city rat as without technology, life would be boring and dull.