John Keats Letters

  

A Letter For You

11 October 1819

John Keats was born in Moorfields, London. His father, Thomas, worked in the Swan and Hoop Inn and Stables owned by his wife Frances’ father (Keats’ maternal grandfather). In 24, 1819 he met and fell in love with Fanny Brawn, his neighbour in Hampstead. Shortly afterwards he began to show the first signs of tuberculosis and after overseeing the publication of his final book of poetry, Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems, he left England for Italy,  arriving in Naples in late 1820. Then travelling on to Rome, where he died in 26 February 1821.

As I read Keat’s letters to Fanny Brawne, I realized that they were a very loving and romantic couple. The letters were full of romance. Keats's letters to Fanny Brawne are among the most well-known love letters ever written.  As next door neighbors, they exchanged numerous short notes, and occasionally more loving ones.  None of Fanny's letters to Keats survive.  From his, however, it seems he was often unsettled by her behavior and uncertain of her affection.  His illness brought them closer; when he left for Rome, they were engaged and deeply in love.

Shelley and Keats met in late 1816 via their common friend, Leigh Hunt.  Their occasional walks along Hampstead Heath resulted in Shelley advising Keats to not publish his early verse.  The advice was well-meant but understandably bothered Keats.  Later, when Shelley was a voluntarily send away in Italy, the two poets exchanged letters.  By this time, Keats's genius had matured and Shelley was a devoted and wholehearted admirer.  Keats's illness prompted an invitation from Shelley and his wife to stay with them in Italy; Keats declined, traveling instead with Joseph Severn as his attendant.  When Shelley drowned in 1822, a copy of Keats's workwas found in his pocket. 

Keats' poetry is not proposed to be merely a salve for the troubles of the world, something to cheer the reader when unhappy. He recognizes the role that poetry can make to the enhancement of human life and feels that he is ministering to physical needs just as much as if he had pursued his life as a physician. However the that ambivalence is evident in Keats' work reflects .  

Martin Luther King. Jr

“I have a dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most impressive speeches of all time. His speech was not only about equality for blacks and whites, but equality in general. He wanted his children, and the children of the world to live in a peace where there would be no segregation. He wanted not only tolerance but acceptance. He wanted racial equality for everyone, no matter their skin colour.

It is worthy of lengthy study as we can all learn speechwriting skills from King’s historic magnum opus. Much of the greatness of this speech is tied to its historical context, a topic which goes beyond the scope of this article.

Instead, there are five key lessons which we can focus in speechwriting that we can extract from Martin Luther King’s most famous speech.

1. Emphasize phrases by repeating at the beginning of sentences

Repetitions emphasize the pattern and increase the rhetorical effect. Furthermore, repetition makes these phrases more memorable and make King’s story more memorable.  “I have a dream” is repeated in eight successive sentences.

2. Repeat key “theme” words throughout your speech

Key “theme” words are repeated throughout the body of your speech. The most commonly used noun is freedom, which is used many times in the speech. This makes sense that freedom is one of the primary themes of the speech.

3. Utilize appropriate quotations or allusions

Executed explicitly (a direct quotation) or implicitly (allusion) are used tremendously in King’s speech. We can improve the credibility of our arguments by referring to the appropriate words of credible speakers in our speech.

4. Use specific examples to “ground” your arguments

A speech is greatly improved when we provide specific examples which illustrate our logical and perhaps theoretical arguments. One way that Martin Luther King Jr. accomplishes this is to make numerous geographic references throughout the speech. For example:- Mississippi, New York (paragraph 13)

5. Use metaphors to highlight contrasting concepts

Metaphors allow us to associate our speech concepts with concrete images and emotions. For example :-  “joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” (paragraph 2)

POETRY IN CLASSROOM

POETRY IN CLASSROOM

A poem can be a fun, short and interesting to share with children. There are many benefits in exposing children to a diverse selection of poetry at an early age. Introducing very young children to poetry exposes them to the sounds and rhythms of language stimulate interest in words and learning to read. Poetry celebrates the individual word, the sound of language, and the rhythm of language in a way that narrative does not.

On days when we just can’t get our class down to work, we attempt to have a poetry session. We can discuss ways to perform poems e.g. mime, song, dance or music. We can make the students to think of some ideas they could use to write poems.

E.B. de Vito has found a way to express his thoughts about words through his poem “words”. Using selected words, he creates delightful images in our mind as we read them. Therefore, we can encourage our tech-saavy young generation to use computer words in poetry.  Start with simple Haiku, the Japanese poetry. Special days as Valentine ’s Day, mother’s, teacher’s day and father’s day can also bring some fun in poetry writing in teenagers. Offer them some humorous words to start off with.

Words

by E.B. de Vito

There are words that soothe

And tranquilize:

Slumbering, rainbows,

Butterflies.

There are words that tighten,

Words that roil:

Tension, turmoil,

Chaos, spoil.

There are words that shimmer,

That beguile:

Stars, ships, peacocks,

Firelight, smile.

And always, words

That make life full:

Love, laughter, home,

Peace, beautiful.

LEGENDS IN CLASSROOM

Legends are stories that have been made up and they are different from myths. Myths answer questions about how the natural world works, and are set in a time long-ago, before history was written. Meanwhile, legends are about people and their actions or deeds. The people lived in more recent times and are mentioned in history. The stories are told for a purpose and are based on facts, but they are not completely true. Either the person never really did what the story says, or the historical events were changed. The purpose was to make the story more interesting or convincing, or to teach a lesson, like knowing right from wrong. Examples of people in English legends are King Arthur, Robin Hood and Queen Boadicea. A man who may have been King Arthur is known to have lived in the 5th or 6th century. But the stories about the Knights of the Round Table and Merlin the Magician may not be true. The point of the story was that the knights and their king defended their people and helped them.      

Therefore, legends should be introduced in classroom with efficient and suitable strategies. Using legends to teach students is a way to get children interested and learning through fun stories. There are many legends that can be brought into class such as Robin Hood, Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We must engage our class with a good legend and use it as a platform to teach similes, metaphors, personification and more. For example:-

1st STEP

Firstly, students must be introduced to the definition of a legend. Explain that a legend is a story handed down from generation to generation and includes information about the past. They usually take place during a specific time in history and in a specific place; for example, Robin Hood is set in 12th-century England.

2^nd STEP

Next, read aloud a legend, such as Johnny Appleseed, to get children familiar with what a legend is. Teachers can discuss questions with the class such as what the legend tells you about the time period, what characters of the story were important, what parts of the legend makes it interesting to people.

3^rd STEP

Then, teachers should introduce vocabulary words that students are not familiar with, such as dwell, rogue, wrath and warily. Provide students with a student-friendly definition that they will understand. Have them record it in a vocabulary notebook.

            4^th STEP

After that, teachers should focus on figurative language that takes place in the story and point it out to the students as we go through the text, such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole and personification. Have the class record them in a notebook.

            5^th STEP

Finally, students can be taught to map the story using a graphic organizer. Have students to list the characters, setting the problem and the events that take place in chronological order.

CROSS BY LANGSTON HUGHES

James Langston Hughes [1902-1967] was born in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He is the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston the brother of John Mercer Langston. He is the first Black American to be elected to public office. He attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began writing poetry in the eighth grade. His father would discourage him from pursuing writing as a career, in favour of something 'more practical'. Langston's tuition fees to Columbia University were paid on the grounds that he studies engineering.

At first the poem “Cross” confused me but after about 2 times of reading, I understood exactly what was going on emotionally and culturally. I do believe he is talking about minority groups during his time. I also believe he is not only talking about where his parents and grandparents fit in. Thus, he also tries relating in to where he will fit in. He wants to know where he stands in life and where he is loved in aspect to the colour of his skin. As he says he is "neither white nor black." Furthermore, it talks about slavery, and a time period that African Americans did not have a say in any part of life at all. The speaker of this poem isn't happy about his heritage either. The speaker is angry and he identifies himself as being nobody. By the tone of the poem, I'd say that he was much closer to his mother than his father, because when he said "I'd take my curses back" it almost sounded like he was saying it out of fear instead of respect. However when he said rude things to his mother, it almost seems as though he didn't mean what he said, but at the same time he knew that his mother still loves him and would never leave him.

The poem shows that the poet lives with confusion of which race he can identify with. This is because being of a cross between two races he is neither white nor black. He is not accepted by blacks because he is white, and he is denied by whites because he is black. Through his adulthood and maturity he finally realizes that he can't blame his parents for who he is. He realizes that he can't hate his parents for his heritage and no matter what he does that's still that he is going to be. In the last stanza he is saying that his father died wealth and his mother died poor and in the last two sentences he asks where he is going to die being neither black nor white.