Month: January 2024

My husband has a rubber face

  • My husband has a rubber face,
    A subspecies of the human race.
    Some men have faces fixed and set;
    My husband’s face is not like that.
  • He imitates our politicians,
    Just like Rory Bremner can.
    Though he has no wig or hair piece,
    He can look like anyone
  • .Some nights I waken for I’m laughing
    While I am quite sound asleep.
    I am dreaming of his mobile features,
    Contorted to a different shape
  • .He is skilled at telling jokes.
    And he loves a good cartoon.
    If I am feeling flu type blueness
    he can get me up again
  • .He has a rather noble visage.
    He gets attention he abhors.
    In the bar on King’s Cross Station—
    I was asked was he a Lord!
  • He’s a Lord of Fun and Humour.
    He’s a Lord at Listening Well.
    He’s unique, but so are you,
    And all creatures that on earth do dwell

Why You Feel Sad When Sick – Right as Rain by UW Medicine

My photograph

https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/mind/mental-health/sad-when-sick#:~:text=It’s%20common%20to%20feel%20sad,sunlight%20or%20listening%20to%20music.

Learning to understand poetry

https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/your-voice/stories-poems/article/3059590/poetry-101-beginners-guide-understanding-and

Musicality is also important; things such as the rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables – often referred to as meter – as well as the rhyme scheme, the pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line of a poem. Unlike our everyday writing, poetry is artistic, expressive, and figurative.  

Katherine

The first thing you should do when given a poem is read its title carefully. The title should give you some ideas of the poem’s subject, tone, or genre. Write down your initial expectations and impressions based on the title, then make changes as you come back to the title during and after your analysis.

Ask yourself these questions as you go through a poem:

  1. What is the main theme of the poem?
  2. Who is the narrator, and to whom is the poem addressed?
  3. Are there any time indicators suggesting a time frame, or does it move back and forth between times?  
  4. Is it set in a specific place? If not, is there a sense of place?
  5. What images, emotions and/or messages is the narrator trying to convey? Do they correspond to or contradict with one another? What are the possible reasons for any juxtapositions?

This online learning tool teaches idioms with YouTube videos to help you master the English language like a native speaker

Word choice

Word choice can tell you a lot about a poem as well. The main theme of a poem is often presented by referring to the same subject in a number of different ways. Figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, personification, and symbols, are commonly used to draw analogies between two unrelated objects with shared characteristics for aesthetic purposes, as well as to highlight the specific features of, or provide readers with new insights on, a subject.

Consider the reasons for the poet’s choice of analogies by asking yourself what other possible alternatives could have been – but weren’t – used.

It’s also important to be sensitive to the choice of word forms, the subtle differences between words, and every possible meaning of a word. As well as word meanings, don’t that forget sound plays a crucial role in evoking or strengthening an emotion or a mood, too.    

Looking at the form of a poem

Sounds
Read the poem aloud and pay attention to the sound and rhythm of the words. Look out for meter patterns and rhyme schemes, as well as literary devices related to sounds, such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. Think about the effects they create, and whether they add to the poem’s meaning.

Recurring rhythms, rhymes or pronunciations often transform a poem into music. Moreover,  they can be seen as a form of repetition – similar to the simple repeating of a word or phrases – used to amplify or emphasise an idea or emotion, or develop a sense of urgency.

How to proofread your essays like a boss, with tips from a professional editor

Formal indicators suggesting shift(s) in perspective or voice within a poem
Changes in emotion, point of view, voice, or plot development are often marked by, or occur along with, changes to the form of the poem. For instance, shifts of subject and perspective can be illustrated through the division of stanzas, or abrupt changes in rhyme patterns. Take note of how the poem’s content and form reflect one another.

As you read more traditional poems, you’ll also notice many classic poetry forms present shifts in almost exactly the same place in every poem of its type. The breaking of classic poetry forms, or any formal patterns, are commonly used to signify breakthroughs, transformations, or a refusal to conform.

Think about the context of the poem 

It is not uncommon to find literary or historical references in poems. Pay attention to allusions to famous figures and important world events, and think about their roles, and how they are used: Do they support the narrator’s argument, or strengthen the poem’s emotions?

Another factor to consider is the historical and geographical context, such as the year and circumstances in which the poem was written. Think about the things you know about the poet, and the age and historical period when he/she wrote the poem.

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Nicola Chan

Nicola Chan is a former Young Post reporter. A firm believer in education and self-care, she has a strong interest in writing about teenage psychology and mental health. She’s also constantly on the hunt for stories about inspiring students and campus events. She has a master’s degree in Comparative Literature.

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The first thing you should do when given a poem is read its title carefully. The title should give you some ideas of the poem’s subject, tone, or genre. Write down your initial expectations and impressions based on the title, then make changes as you come back to the title during and after your analysis.

Ask yourself these questions as you go through a poem:

  1. What is the main theme of the poem?
  2. Who is the narrator, and to whom is the poem addressed?
  3. Are there any time indicators suggesting a time frame, or does it move back and forth between times?  
  4. Is it set in a specific place? If not, is there a sense of place?
  5. What images, emotions and/or messages is the narrator trying to convey? Do they correspond to or contradict with one another? What are the possible reasons for any juxtapositions?

This online learning tool teaches idioms with YouTube videos to help you master the English language like a native speaker

Word choice

Word choice can tell you a lot about a poem as well. The main theme of a poem is often presented by referring to the same subject in a number of different ways. Figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, personification, and symbols, are commonly used to draw analogies between two unrelated objects with shared characteristics for aesthetic purposes, as well as to highlight the specific features of, or provide readers with new insights on, a subject.

Consider the reasons for the poet’s choice of analogies by asking yourself what other possible alternatives could have been – but weren’t – used.

It’s also important to be sensitive to the choice of word forms, the subtle differences between words, and every possible meaning of a word. As well as word meanings, don’t that forget sound plays a crucial role in evoking or strengthening an emotion or a mood, too.    

Looking at the form of a poem

Sounds
Read the poem aloud and pay attention to the sound and rhythm of the words. Look out for meter patterns and rhyme schemes, as well as literary devices related to sounds, such as alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. Think about the effects they create, and whether they add to the poem’s meaning.

Recurring rhythms, rhymes or pronunciations often transform a poem into music. Moreover,  they can be seen as a form of repetition – similar to the simple repeating of a word or phrases – used to amplify or emphasise an idea or emotion, or develop a sense of urgency.

How to proofread your essays like a boss, with tips from a professional editor

Formal indicators suggesting shift(s) in perspective or voice within a poem
Changes in emotion, point of view, voice, or plot development are often marked by, or occur along with, changes to the form of the poem. For instance, shifts of subject and perspective can be illustrated through the division of stanzas, or abrupt changes in rhyme patterns. Take note of how the poem’s content and form reflect one another.

As you read more traditional poems, you’ll also notice many classic poetry forms present shifts in almost exactly the same place in every poem of its type. The breaking of classic poetry forms, or any formal patterns, are commonly used to signify breakthroughs, transformations, or a refusal to conform.

Think about the context of the poem 

It is not uncommon to find literary or historical references in poems. Pay attention to allusions to famous figures and important world events, and think about their roles, and how they are used: Do they support the narrator’s argument, or strengthen the poem’s emotions?

Another factor to consider is the historical and geographical context, such as the year and circumstances in which the poem was written. Think about the things you know about the poet, and the age and historical period when he/she wrote the poem.

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter

Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inboxSubmit

By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy

Comment

Nicola Chan

Nicola Chan is a former Young Post reporter. A firm believer in education and self-care, she has a strong interest in writing about teenage psychology and mental health. She’s also constantly on the hunt for stories about inspiring students and campus events. She has a master’s degree in Comparative Literature.

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Get updates sent directly to your inboxSubmit

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The present moment’s gravity and Grace

The sparrows sing as if to draw me to
The present moment’s gravity and grace
Our contemplation of life’s nature new

What other attitude is worthwhile now
That I no longer see your loving face?
The sparrows sing as if to greet me too

Eden is still here, we miss the clues
We miss the ardent touch, the lost embrace
Our contemplation of the world renews

On my face, the tears are jeweled dew
In my body, I feel held, enclosed
The sparrows sing as if to greet me too

Now the blackbird sings as if on cue
Inside my swollen heart, I feel its grace
Contemplation of life’s nature new

I saw your soul in your transparent face.
And crisscrossed lines from struggle left their trace
The sparrows sing as if to draw us to
The contemplation of the wildness true,

From Lancashire dialect to Latin

By are my sister I believe

From Lancashire dialect to Latin

Die, et ideo breviter allocking
Killin quod suus ‘vicis ut nunc dicimus
Ah, ah non shud et chodchod proposuerunt; sed oh
Opus, quod cuius effrenae libidini, invenient te ard

s ill i mammy tibi cito et moriar
A causa enim conteret: et ligabis
Allocking me sentire ill meks
Nonne mater iure testamentum facere?
Ego autem totum tuom est allooan Pyk
Impensis est weear vulgares AMBULO
Allooan sum, mi humiliavit uxorem
Allocking suus scelus ah scitote intelligentes

Ubi mi daddy quod suus ” ‘sit pipe
Ubi est Pater iaccam plena fumigant putas?
Illi volo, mi mam s alloooan
Vos, ed responsis horrent divum er gemitus

Ubi mi cat, et ubi canis mi
Ubi iscatur, rhoncus ea pallio, si frigus?
Factum ‘putas veteres pannos et antiqua aduncum per’ T vestimento
Eeh, Deus non potest repleti sunt ira?

Deus enim non omnes allooan
Numquam allocks, qui est lapis
Ut ‘quare omnes nos homines ut irata

Sed videtur ah’ve inferos et certus sum
Nil, yooman manebunt.

Humour and poetry

img_20190510_163949https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/04/humor-and-poetry

Extract:

In 1993, I took a left turn one day out of my MFA program and found myself at the National Poetry Slam in San Francisco. There I discovered several poets who were funny for the sake of being funny. Particularly Hal Sirowitz from New York (“don’t stick your arm out the window, mother said” and Matt Cook from Milwaukee (“it was easy to write the Great American Novel, back when there were only five American novels”) Both poets initially delighted me and confounded me: There are no similes, a voice in my head said. What would Tom Lux (my first teacher) say? the voice continued. Despite my resistance, I believe those poets gave me a kind of permission to explore humor a little more vigorously in my second book, The Forgiveness Parade (1998), for “I thought the word loin and the word lion were the same thing. I thought celibate was a kind of fish”. Perhaps in that book there were places where I was too vigorous in my pursuit: looking back there are a few poems that are just a little too jokey somehow, a little one-dimensional.

I am becoming aware of how some humor can set a roadblock for the poetic speaker, making it impossible for the speaker to get back to a serious place. And how some other (less frequent) uses of humor can leave that door open. I want to leave that door open

A dark wood

OIn the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear!
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

Breslau 1941: clandestine photos tell of the Holocaust’s upheaval and terror

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/27/breslau-1941-clandestine-photos-tell-of-the-holocausts-upheaval-and-terror?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

My heart was in my mouth all day which made it difficult to eat

My heart was in my mouth [so I had to eat suck it all day which gave my thumb a rest]
My heart sank [ to the bottom of the pond in Barrow Bridge]
I fell head over heels in love with a cat.[That’s why I had no children as inter-species marriage is not yet allowed but soon it will be here]
I could not swallow his excuse as my mouth was full of chocolate buttons I had torn off my uniform..well they looked like chocolate]
That is hard to digest.[So may I please spit it out?]
I spat him out [but he came back as he was on an elastic rope]

I was wondering if new phrases come into existence now and I don’t recall any.Is it because we are no longer so involved in creating our language or because there are experts in academia who study it.At one time ordinary people made buildings etc and m ust have developed skills in geometry etc from a practical point of view.And it was they who invented writing and numbers etc not people in Universities who do not create but analayse and criticise and study signs and connections.
So has the rise of experts made us stupider than people were in the past?Is it poets who invent new idioms?

My eyes nearly leaped out of my head when he passed by…
Luckily I had put superglue down the sides of them at breakfast time.
My hands grasped the nettle and I almost threw the flowers at his head.Then he said:
You are the hoover of my soul.
Walls have fears,you know.
A rolling brick gathers no floss.
I patted him on the wreck and we parted with no acrimony and no real money either.What is acrimony?
I’m a pharisee and ‘i’m ok.Jewish by right and a whirling prayer.
I can’t live without hue or colour
Tint me this day.oh Lord.
Does God sell salt on the internet.He has a Lot.Sorry Lot’s wife.Does it clatter?

They  move with ease the body, say the Mass

Feelings need geometry to form
Not to spill like water  from dropped glass
Feelings   running wild may do great harm

Yet inhibition,tense lacks any charm
Love and hate  need ritual,compass
Feelings need geometry to form

Ballerinas, skaters   melt their bones
They  move with ease the body, say the Mass
Feelings   running wild may do great harm

Will power  out of place  can cause alarm
Create tensions,  acts  so evil,crass
Feelings  by geometry inform

Restraint and sculpting, waiting  through impasse
Like  Jesus gives up all upon his Cross
Feelings   running wild may do great harm

 

Here we find the rhythm and the task
We feel the rawness; feel  the  utter risk
Feelings need geometry  and form
Feelings  like wild bulls   can do us   harm

 

‘I knew nothing’: the Warsaw ghetto boy who found his family at 83

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/27/i-knew-nothing-the-warsaw-ghetto-boy-who-found-his-family-at-83-holocaust-survivor?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Descendants of Holocaust survivors explain why they are replicating Auschwitz tattoos on their own bodies

https://theconversation.com/descendants-of-holocaust-survivors-explain-why-they-are-replicating-auschwitz-tattoos-on-their-own-bodies-206821

The inner sea will comfort me

Inside my shell, I dream of pearls,
Caterpillars, snails with whorls.
I dream contented, all enwrapped
With reverie and dream, I’m lapped.
The inner seas will comfort me,
While gods allow my eyes to see

Oh, sweeter than confectionery
Is my worn old dictionary.
The words whirl round and fall to shape
The sentences, which my world drape.
This furnishing is rich and strange
Yet magically self-arranged.

Oh, sweeter than the love of man
Is reading works of poets long gone;
And feeling deeply their dark tides,
Upon which our boats may glide.
The sea infinite we float on
Is the same warm sea that ancients swam.

Sweeter still is this spring air
And the blossom spreading fair.
We’ll drown ourselves in deep green fields
To the gods of poetry yield.
We’ll rise again and spring up tall
To grow more rich until we fall.

Sweet it is to live and die
And to write my poetry
Touch me with your ardent souls
My mind and yours shall all be whole

Why it’s time to get a new notebook: ‘To grab at life, tug at the details and hold on’

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/25/why-its-time-to-get-a-new-notebook-to-grab-at-life-tug-at-the-details-and-hold-on?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Evensong

Evensong

Evensong evokes another state
A world of beauty, peace and mental calm
Where all is still and thoughts do not gyrate

The breath slows down and evil does not mate
Indeed it flees before the holy psalms
Evensong evokes another state

In the quiet, we each can, happy, wait
Assured by songs of good, of healing balm
Where all is still and thoughts do not gyrate

Soothing rhythms will help the mind create;
To bear the emptiness unfilled and do no harm.
Evensong evokes this cultured state

Frantic notes of music irritate
And minimise all goodness and all warmth
Let all be still and let thought emigrate

Let us lowly creatures slowly learn
To love each other as we take our turn
Evensong evokes another state
There all is calm and thoughts are sweet as fate

I am a CD

Digital art by author

I’m a loud speaker
Are you really? I’m a gramophone needle

Can you speak?
If I couldn’t I wouldn’t be able to answer

Your clothes are very gay
No, your eyes are too sharp

Can you turn up my hem?
That’s a change from looking at your etchings

Where is the button off my shirt?
It can’t speak or phone

Is public speaking easy?
Nothing public is easy.
Even silence.

What is the agenda?
We didn’t do Greek at my school.

Why is weird right? Should it not be wierd?
It used to be wyrd before the Normans
That’s a relief

How to spot a liar: 10 essential tells – from random laughter to copycat gestures

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/24/how-to-spot-a-liar-10-essential-tells-from-random-laughter-to-copycat-gestures?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

The churchyard wall

The bricks of the old wall while crumbling live
Five hundred years of history passed them by
While plants grew in the cracks below, above

Apart from people, this is what I love
That ancient structures stand and do not die
The bricks of this old wall while crumbling live

A little beauty will do well enough
This cheers my heart and lifts my spirits high
Wild flowers grow in cracks below, above

We fill our minds and homes with shop bought stuff
Gaze on bricks and cracks, what will we spy?
The bricks of this old wall while crumbling live

Like old complexions, older bricks are rough
The Vicar cannot smooth them though they try
Holes for plants inscribe these cracks with love

From generations past, ghosts wander. shy.
Looking for their graves, they whisper,sigh
The bricks of the old wall still crumbling live
Tenacious weeds shall wave below, above

NYTimes: I Used to Insist I Didn’t Get Angry. Not Anymore.

My cats

I Used to Insist I Didn’t Get Angry. Not Anymore. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/magazine/i-used-to-insist-i-didnt-get-angry-not-anymore.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Requiems need scores

0
Posted on January 22, 2019
Snow clouds hang like canopies forlorn,
Tinged with grey from lack of proper care,
While from the Channel sing the dread foghorns

Sailors in the night long for new dawn
Fear boats of refugees may still sail there
Snow clouds hang like canopies well torn

A dinghy holds the Saviour lately born
There is no space on earth safe from great fear
F rom the Channel sigh the families drowned

From maternal’ space, Jesu is torn
His father holds his arms around those dear
Snow clouds hang, are lacy wings no more

The hearts of British ” natives” have turned sour
Into Jesu’s side we thrust our spears
Tune the channel.Requiems need scores

All lives now, and all of time is here
Do not mistake the song of silent choirs.
Snow clouds hang like canopies forlorn,
While in the Channel, reckless are the horns

Everyone should heed my music teacher’s advice: ‘When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me’

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/18/everyone-should-heed-my-music-teachers-advice-when-you-assume-you-make-an-ass-out-of-you-and-me?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other