Blog skin

Sorry about the long break. I've been slacking off. Anyway, I'm trying to fit my posts into a scrolling table cell but can't anyway cos I can't understand the endless lines of div tags and CSS so I can't work out where to put the table and /table tags.

Expect more from me soon (I hope!).

The Gift Outright

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land's
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were Englands, still colonials,
Possessing what we were still unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were witholding made us weak
Until we found it was ourselves
We were witholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found our salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realising westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

This is another poem by Robert Frost that is about the independance of America. I think it's a patriotic poem that may (or may not) apply to Singapore's independance too.

My favourite poet

My favourite poet is Robert Frost. His poems explored a lot of social and philosophical themes. He also wrote a poem on America's history. He lived a rural life in his childhood, and used his experiences to give a realistic depiction of rural life. His poems are often quoted and he also received four pulitzer prives for his poems.

I like his poems because of his good grasp of colloqiual language. Thus, even the not so well educated can enjoy his poems. However, even though he does not use complicated language, he can still write poems that are weaved with metaphors and other figurative language and philisophical and social themes. Also, he writes poems that are meaningful both at the "surface" level and when you take a look at the deeper meaning hidden in it. So, even if you do not understand his poems, they can still be a pleasure to read.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice

From what I have tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire

But if it had to perish twice

I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice

Is also great
And would suffice.

This poem is about what would be a better fate for our world? Love and desire, or hate and violence? Even though the poem is macabre in a way, it still seems peaceful at first because it does not contain any words that are "strong". Instead, most of the words are neutral, except for maybe hate (This is another thing I like about Frost's poems).

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods are these I think I know
His house is in the village though
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

This poem emphasises with many of us because the author stops in the woods and wants to rest. However, he has stuff to do (much like the situation I am in now TEEHEE). This is main reason why I like this poem. The other reason, albeit not so strong, is because it rhymes too!

The third poem I'm going to post is The Gift Outright but that's a bit long and since my source is a tattered copy of The Norton Anthology of Poetry I'll have to type the whole thing out so I'll post this first.

Sources:
My Dad
HOW TO READ A POEM by Burton Raffel
The Norton Anthology of Poetry by Alexander W. Allison, Herbet Barrows, Caesar R. Blake, Arthur J. Carr, Arthur M. Eastman, Hubert M. English, Jr.