Thursday, April 15, 2010

BARNACLE BOYS, POWER RANGERS, HANCOCK: What's so hard about poetry???

Congratulations, friends! You have just mastered 12 short poems from the Romantic era. The Romantics are still considered by many to be the most popular British poets of all time. Of course, it takes some work to conquer the style, and I have been impressed at how hard you have all worked to see what I see in "Ode to the West Wind" or "Endymion." Using the mystery sheet to practice using your poetry tools helped, I hope. What was your favorite poem? Which of the Romantics "spoke" to you? Was it the subject or the message? Which of the poet's tools was your ticket into understanding the poem? (Did you recognize the metaphor and identify with it? Or did the meter sound like a song and you found yourself remembering the phrases? etc etc)
Your mission for this blog is to decide on your favorite Romantic poem, rate it on a five-star scale, and then write 250 words explaining to your classmates why it was your favorite. The more specific your reasons, the stronger your comment.  My favorite?  Byron's "She Walks in Beauty,"of course. (see the sidebar at right)
You need to post a comment by 24 April 2010. Grammar and  mechanics count. Proofread, please.

http://bit.ly/99KBxl source of Anne Beatrix Horton image: She walked in beauty

58 comments:

  1. My favorite poem is endymion by keats. The message in the poem is a message of beauty. The 'beauty' in the message is not necessarily something beautiful, but its something happy, pure and beautiful on the inside too. The poem describes beauty as a sanctuary, no matter what bad and dark things happen "some shape of beauty moves away the pall from our dark spirits." The poem reads like a story in a song, and I like the word choice. In the line "of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways, made for our searching yes, in spite of all..." this excerpt seems to interpret as the darkness in the world is made so that we can see and experience happiness better and more vividly in our lives. The poem is short and sweet, so i would rate it a four out of five stars, but it is still enjoyable and relatable poem.

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  2. My favorite poem was ‘The World is Too Much With Us’ by William Wordsworth. The title is what first captured my attention. It clearly stated his opinion and the topic of the poem and made me interested in what he had to say about it. This topic was interesting to me because I also agree with Wordsworth that the world is too much with us. As I read through the poem, I agreed with what he had to say about people being too busy and not having enough time to stop and smell the roses. The rhyme scheme he used helped to carry the poem along and kept me going when I read it. His metaphors that humans are like sleeping flowers and how we give our hearts away also kept the poem flowing and kept me interested. His allusion to the Pagans also made me think about the poem. I would rate this poem as five stars. This is a much talked about topic and I think that Wordsworth addressed it very well. People are always so caught up in everyday life that they forget about the simple things like nature, the purest form of beauty, that the Romantics absolutely adored.

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  3. So, btruitt, are you saying it is a MODERN poem??
    (evil chuckle)

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  4. My favorite poem from the Romanic Era was Apostrophe to the Ocean by Lord Bryon. I really love this poem because it has such vivid imagery. When Bryon talks about the ocean, I can really feel the respect and love he has for the ocean, which I share the same feeling. When he writes about how the ocean can just swallow a fleet of ships without a second thought is so true. Just look at the Titanic, it was the pride of our innovations of mastering the ocean, yet the ocean took it down within hours. This is what first came to mind when I read this. It can make any human creation its toy and toss it around. The ocean is so powerful that it can take a person away in just knee-deep water. I really loved the allusions to the great empires of the past, which disappeared in time while the ocean is always there and constant, because it really showed how powerful the ocean is in human terms. The ocean does not just rule over us, but the land it self. This planet, that we live on, is 70% water, yet we know more about outer space than we know about the ocean. Lord Bryon’s Apostrophe to the Ocean truly shows how powerful and mystical the ocean is, and it deserves our respect. Another reason I liked this poem was the way he had the stanzas made to look like the waves in the ocean. This gives the poem actual physical flow that readers may not even feel consciously. I give this poem a four and a half stars out of fives stars.

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  5. My favorite poem was “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth. The title is what first caught my attention. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” sort of makes the poem sound like it will be sad, but it isn’t at all. As I read the poem I realized that he was enjoying the beautiful sight of the daffodils dancing in the breeze. The plot is very simple. As he was wandering alone he discovered the daffodils, which gave him pleasure and comfort. He was getting in touch with nature and responding to the beauty of it. I loved how he used personification and really made the daffodils and waves come to life. I was able to create a mental picture in my head. I especially enjoyed how Wordsworth had the waves dance along with the daffodils. The rippling of the waves did not outdo the daffodils. Also the rhyme scheme really helped the poem flow well for me. At the end of the poem he is sitting on his couch and thinking of how happy he was dancing with the daffodils. His heart filled with pleasure every time he thought about it and wished he was still there. This poem relaxed me and it helped me realize how beautiful nature really is. Our lives are so busy that we don’t stop to notice all of the wonderful things about nature. Maybe if we just wander as lonely as a cloud sometimes then we will be able to respond to nature’s beauty just as Wordsworth did. I rate this poem: ****.

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  6. MSutherland Power RangersApril 22, 2010 at 7:17 PM

    My favorite poem was "Apostrophe to the Ocean" by Lord Byron. I like this poem not only because it was the easiest for me to understand but it has a lot of imagery that really draws you in. I liked how Byron made the poem full of power and strength. I liked how he used the powerfullness of the ocean and storm with God. He also used onomatopoia. By using words like 'boom' and 'crash', it makes the poem more realistic while your reading it. These effects drew me into the poem because i felt as if i were seeing and hearing the ocean and the powerfull storm. Overall this was my favorite poem out of all the 12 we read because Byron used great imagery with the ocean and storm.

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  8. My favorite poem is "Daffodils" By William Wordsworth. I liked this poem the best because I thought it was the easiest to understand and I personally like daffodils a lot. I think the use of personification in this poem helps to create an image which gives you a better feel for that poem. The use of nature in this poem is nice because he not only talks about flowers he also talks about water, stars, and hills. Also, I think the "ABAB" rhyme scheme makes it flow when you read it. It isn't a struggle to say or read. I also liked this poem best because there were only a few vocab words that I needed to look up. "Daffodils" helped me to understand that simple things like some flowers on a hill can be just as beautiful as a sunset or the ocean. He really uses the Romantic writing skill of making the ordinary extraordinary.

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  9. My favorite was the "Bright Star" by John Keats. John Keats was a good poet I thought because he swept the woman he loved off her feet with the words of his poems. I liked that he talked about his feelings in such a good way. I think just trying to understand the way he was using his words was the key to understanding the poem. John Keats was a great poet because he used his feelings toward the love of his life and told her how he felt through his poems. This meant whenever he thought of the bright stars in the night he thought of the girl of his dreams.

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  10. SPurvis Power RangersApril 23, 2010 at 1:33 PM

    My favorite poem would have to be 'Apostrophe to the Ocean' by George Gordon Lord Byron. At first the title seemed a little strange to me, but as soon as I started reading along through the poem it became interesting. I feel that Byron had stated his opinion of the ocean. The ocean is very fierce for and example "sweeping ten thousand fleets." Ten thousand ships is a huge amount to demolish, but for the ocean it was a piece of cake. I agree with Byron that if man tries to mess with nature, nature always ends out on top. Man try to control the ocean, as the poem says, but it's too much for them to handle, its so unpredictable and a huge mass to cover. The rhyme scheme and meter was pretty difficult for me to understand. If I were to try and find a way to understand it I would have to think of it as a song or keep up with the rhythmic tone that was being displayed. This poem I caught on to very quickly because of Byron's ability of imagery. If I can connect to something, this case poetry it makes it easier to understand.
    I rate this poem: 4 stars, because it was easy to understand and memorize.

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  11. My favorite poem is bright star by john keats. I think in this poem he is describing the beauty of nature and how the bright star is watching over the earth as we look up at it. This poem caught my attention because of how short it was but it is also really deep and it covers alot in a small space. I actually like the poem more because it is smaller. The poem does not carry on or sound like a novel it is just short simple and to the point. John Keats talks alot about nature and that really caught my eye. I appreciate when poets connect other things with nature it really makes you think about how beautiful everything is and how we can sometimes take for granted the beauty that lies in our very own back yard. Many readers of this poem might think that Keats is talking about how we gaze up into the stars but actually I believe he is talking about how the stars are looking down at us. The universe is looking over us. If I were to rate this poem on a scale of one to five i would probably give it a three and thats pretty high considering what I would give some others.

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  12. My favorite poem was Apostrophe to the Ocean by Byron. The message in it was pure and simple yet complex at the same time. He also used many poetic techniques and a unique orangization to display the true meaning behind his poem. I love how he explains nature's power over us as if it is something greater then we could ever understand. He portrays the ocean as its own unique world that no one can intrude on . He says that we bring too much complexity and evil to the earth and we take for granite the simplest things such as the ocean.I agree, we are so caught up in our own lives we dont have time to become "part of the universe," and just relax. The shipwrecks are kind of his way of saying we take advantage of the beauty around us instead of just enjoying it. We often do forget about the companionship we share with nature in our hectic lives. There, Byron personifies the ocean as having the emotion of anger just like many human beings do. I like how he talks about the ocean as inviting and wanting to "play" and then the ocean begins to toss him around and has enough so he throws him out. He talks about the ocean as both beautiful yet destructive and i enjoyed reading that comparison. This type of comparison was often common among the Romantic poets because they saw everythign as having a deeper meaning. He then shows the oceans true power when it destroys the rock walls and buildings that man has created . It shows that mans interpretation of strength is no where near as strong as nature's. Nature bares a strength that no human could ever hold. I also love how he talks about the ocean in many forms such as calm, breeze, gale, or storm. This also helps to show the strength and the emotion of the ocean. But my absolute favorite part of all was in Byron's last stanza when he goes back to talking about his youth and how he always enjoyed the simplicity of things especially the ocean. Everything was beautiful to him, even the thrashing of the waves did not scare him because as a child you fear nothing and believe that nothing bad could ever happen to you. I love this poem and I love how he says he will always love the ocean because i myself share a great love for it. I enjoy the simplicity and the clamness or roughess of the waves. It fascinates me just as it fascinated Byron in his youth. Nature holds a beauty that is ever lasting and that i will always appreciate.

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  13. My favorite poem was Endymion by John Keats. Although it was my favorite, I would still only give it a 3 out of 5 stars rating. My reason for the low rating is that I really could not connect with any of the poems of the Romantic era, just because it was such a long time ago, in almost a whole different world. If I really had to choose though, Enendymion would be my favorite because in the poem, Keats talks about how a thing of beauty never fades or gets old. Which I think can still be true today. When I watch Megan Fox in Transformers, whether it's my first time watching her or 50th, I will always look at her as beautiful. That's about as deep as I can get on this blog though. I really had trouble with connecting with any of the poems but this one by Keats stood out the best to me. I think that, even though so much has changed since the time of the Romantics many beautiful things have stayed the same. The Romantics were big on nature so I am guessing this was more about the sun and flowers which have always been beautiful and always will be. At the same time, Megan Fox will always be pretty beautiful.

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  14. My favorite poem that we discussed was Kubla Khan. what made me like it so much was that Kubla Khan was related to Ghengis Khan an he was a ruthless warrior. I first understood this poem when i saw the picture of the dome in which the town where Kubla Khan lived wasa suppost to be a peaceful place. I would rate this poem a 3 out of 5 because even though that kubla khan was a cool guy, i just don't understand what the are saying. some of the metaphors and similies that i liked were when they called Xanadu a pleasure dome because to me it seemed like a peaceful place for Kubla Khan to live in. i believe the message of this poemis that we should all live in peaceful places.

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  15. My favorite poem was "Bright Star" by John Keats. I think one of the major reasons why i like it so much is because you have no idea what the poem is going to be about from just looking at the title. When i saw the words 'Bright Star' i was expecting yet another poem about how beautiful the night sky is, or even an allusion poem connected to Jesus. But in some aspects me first guess wasn't all too far from what the real message of the poem was (which was really a love poem depicting the simplistic beauty of his love through a star). Also Keats' use of imagery completely awed me. His one line saying "And watching, with eternal lids apart, like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite" painted a picture in my head so clearly that i just had to draw a picture when i got home. That line brought a sense of calm to me and easily helped me see Keats in the position of the quiet angel watching over his love. It's without a doubt that i rate this poem with a five. Not only does it take you to another place in your mind (serving as an escape that most Romantics wanted to achieve) but i find that i have almost unconsciously remembered it.

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  16. My favorite of the Romantic poems is The World is too Much With Us. This poem really speaks to me in the sense that I understand what Wordsworth is saying. The poem is about how people live their life totally isolated from nature when we should really be living in harmony with the world. People have always been in a fast paced society where no one slows down or takes a walk in the park just for fun. Everything now has to be done for a reason, not many people live spontaneously and take a drive in the car to anywhere just to enjoy the world. Wordsworth uses many allusions, including references to different sea god’s and other religions. This allusions bring to point across that the sea is beautiful if you stop and enjoy it. He also uses alliteration to emphasize “Great God.” Wordsworth uses this to show that God created such a wonderful and amazing place for us to live and not many people really appreciate this gift. He says that if we don’t see nature, we might as well live in an ugly land, or one that doesn’t have the power of nature. I would give this poem a five out of five because most people are able to understand the message of living in tune with nature. In our current materialistic world, we need to stop and enjoy the beauty of nature.

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  17. My favorite poem was “Bright Star” by John Keats. When I first read the title of this poem I knew it would be one with a deep meaning to something I could relate to. When you’re eyes read the title “Bright Star”, you know right away that the remainder of them poem will contain extreme and emotional ideas and views. The message in this poem deals with love and how some things are unchanging. This sonnet shows Keats desire to be with his lover for eternity. The theme is brought up many times in the story. Keats uses earth and a bright star to show his want to be unchanged and immortal. The rhyme scheme used lures you to keep reading and stay interested in the poem. I would have to give this poem four and a half out of five stars. The meaning behind this rating is that it was by far my favorite poem we read in this unit, yet I don’t think any of the poems deserve a perfect five out of five score. They were all solid poems but I have yet to read one that completely blows me away.

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  18. I didnt really like any of the poems at all. They are all confusing and hard to read. I can never tell if they are talking about nature or a person. Also their forms of writing make no sense to me. The only one that made any sense to me at all was Apostrophe to the Ocean. In this poem after someone explained it to me I could then tell that the writer is talking about the ocean and its destructive power. This is my favorite because it is the easiest to read and because I like how he talks about the different thinks the ocean has control over. It talks about how the ocean decides wars. It also says how it sends those who travel in vain to their watery graves. It also talks about the oceans beauty which I agree with. The subject of this poem is what spoke to me. The tool that the writer used that helped me understand the poem was not writing in a language only a english teacher can read. He wrote it so that normal people could kind of understand it. A metaphor I found in this poem was that the author was treating the ocean like a god that controls everything in the sea. It controls who lives and dies. It also says that the ocean controls who it lets pass through and who is destroys bc of their bad intentions. So this is my favorite of the poems and why its my favorite.

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  19. asparco power rangersApril 24, 2010 at 12:38 PM

    My favorite poem was "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon, Lord Byron. This poem was my favorite because is talks about his love for his cousin and the fact that he recognizes her beauty. He compares her to everything that could be beautiful such as the sky and the ocean. He describes her dark wavy hair and describes her as being the best anyone could get. Anyone would be lucky to have this girl because she is peaceful. Her love is innocent and pure. This part of the Romantics is what I loved because he compares a woman to nature and the beauty that involves it. Byron captures the part of nature that is beautiful and compares it to what is in everyday life. This is the part of the Romantics that anyone can relate too.

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  20. I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, By William Wordsworth. Out of the 12 poems we've read in class, this has to be the one that caught my attention the most. Not being a big fan of poetry, I have to say this could be on my previously non-existent list of favorite poems. The meaning of the poem is what really captured my attention. The imagery that Wordsworth used was a huge help to me and i could easily put those words into a picture. The speaker describes the beauty of nature, particularly daffodils. The speaker notes that the beauty of the daffodils was so captivating that it outdid the lake beside it. The personification of the daffodils "dancing and tossing there heads in a crowd, a host" helped me to understand the relationship between man and nature and the love that the speaker has for both. This poem also has a connection with remembering things and nature. The speaker said whenever he got bored or pensive he would think back to those daffodils to make him happier. The ways in which Wordsworth chose to write this had a rythmic, almost musical effect that kept me interested and left me wanting to understand that particular poem better. I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud was a very enjoyable poem to read as it captured the poets experiences and imagination. I rate this poem ***** stars.

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  21. The first poem that came to mind for this blog was "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth. This poem stuck with me the most when reading it mostly because I could easily understand what the writer was saying, unlike most poetry. My favorite part about this poem is the imagery used. You can picture everything the writer describes. An example is how he first describes how the daffodils line the shore like the stars in the Milky Way. He also describes how the daffodils and waves danced. I can relate to this because I love dancing and associate it with happiness. Every time I read this poem I get a picture in my head of thousands of beautiful daffodils by a lake and can't help but feel happy, just like the writer is. He loves the picture in his head of these daffodils so much that whenever he’s feeling down he thinks of them and is happy again. I admire the topic of the poem about appreciating the beauty of nature which most people don’t do these days. Most people are too caught up in their busy lives to notice a beautiful flower. Wordsworth makes you realize that if you simply stop for a second to look you could really find something meaningful in nature. My favorite thing to do is run outside on a trail and just admiring everything in nature around me. This is what I thought of when I read “I wandered Lonely as a Cloud”. I relate to the feeling of peace you get when you just stop and enjoy nature. All the Romantics emphasized this topic, but I think Wordsworth did it the best with this poem.

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  22. My favorite poem was the beautiful poem “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. This is my favorite poem because it signifies a man’s love for a woman. However, is kind of weird that he’s talking about his cousin. She is described by being compared to nature and everything that is beautiful about it. It talks about her innocent love and peaceful ways about herself. Out of five stars I would rate this as a four. It is a great poem and everything about it describes a woman and her beauty. What makes this poem good is Lord Byron’s comparison of how beautiful she is to nature and his own perception of life.

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  23. I believe that the best poem that we read from the Romantic Period is “The World is too much with Us” by William Wordsworth. It is all about preserving nature and respecting it. During this day in age, we have become so caught up in ourselves and in materialism. This poem should be used today to let people know that we need to change our perspective and priorities. In social justice, we learn that one of the causes of this unjust world is materialism. We need to live simply to achieve peace and justice. The world is becoming too much with us. We are killing every natural beauty that has come our way. Everyone is just going and going and we never stop to see the true beauty or importance in the things. We need to slow down and realize that we are harming the gifts that we were given and that if we won’t change our ways, we will destroy everything. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours” We take things for granted and never appreciate anything. I would give this poem a rating of five stars. It truly is one of the best poems of that era. Lessons that big, that can be carried over centuries are obviously special pieces of work. The poem isn’t twenty pages long and in words that not even a scholar can understand, it is stated in simple language and is short and sweet. It gets the message across in a way that anyone, no matter what year can comprehend. I believe that people are selfish and that we do take things for granted, especially nature. We really need to stop and smell the flowers and enjoy the beauty in the simple things.

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  24. The best poem, I believe we read was “Apostrophe to the Ocean.” I rate this poem 5 out of 5. Byron spoke to me the most with using fear but yet idealization at the same time. I didn’t always get all the metaphors separately but I did understand the whole poem all together. The best stanza in this poem is the 4th stanza. This stanza is all about how we cant defend ourselves against the ocean. These two lines speak so much to me from stanza 4, “Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake, And monarchs tremble in their capitals.” This is saying that even the strongest nations and the best governments can’t stand up to the mighty ocean. Nothing can stand up to the ocean so we are just in the way. The ocean can do anything at anytime against us. We don’t think that the ocean can just destroy us or hurt us in a way because we don’t think like that but in reality nature really can be a huge factor in our lives. Nature was very important to the Romantics and through this poem you can understand why. This poem is saying we should be afraid of the ocean because it can do much damage on us, for example the tsunami in India, but it is so powerful that we should understand the concept of how strong and powerful the ocean/nature really can be. This poem changed my perspective of the ocean and studying the Romantics changed my whole out look on nature. Nature can be very powerful and the ocean can be fearful but still be wonderful.

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  25. my favorite poem was Endymion by John Keats. On a five star scale i would give this poem a four. I like this poem because of the message and the way the meter carries that message. It is about beauty and how it will last forever and not fade like most things do. Also it says it provides us with a safe place, a place to find comfort in. I really like the message in this poem and how its about an everlasting beauty. What really encourages the message is the rhyme scheme. It really carries the poem along. It makes the poem great. And the meter is good for the poem too, because it guides each line such as: A THING of beauty is a joy for ever:
    Its loveliness increases; it will never...
    From this poem I really see why Keats is such a well known twentieth century author.

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  26. My favorite poem is Tyger by Blake. What caught my attention in this poem was the title and the rhyme scheme. The reason the title caught my eye was because it was spelled differently then the normal english version. The rhyme scheme caught my attention because it is a,b,a,b. The rhyme scheme is very catchy and while reading it, it makes you want to keep going. Another reason I like this poem is because it talks about the maker of the tyger, and where is was made and if it was the same maker of the lamb. Blake uses repetion which catches the attention of readers. This poem clearly shows that the Romantic authors wrote about nature and animals living in nature. Overall I liked this poem a lot and I feel like more people like this poem because it also resembles a lullaby, and it very easy to read.

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  27. My favorite poem that we did in class was "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" we did in class. I chose these poems was because, i love nature and animals and this poem really tells how strong how both of the animals are. Normally when you think of a tiger you think of a strong cat that will most likely eat you if you just stand there. But in Blake's perspective the Tyger is a gentle animal but can also be fierce when it needs to be. Tigers were never my favorite animal, but after reading this poem they have come very close to being my favorite. Lambs are also very calming and gentle animals, but they too can be protective of their families and themselves. Blake's uses many different ways to explain the lamb, and i agree with everyone of them because it helps me understand just what the lamb is like that he is writing about.The Romantics always say write about love and nature and that is exactly what these poems are written about. They just have animals as topics and this to compare to. I love reading poems by Romantic poets, and Blake just does an awesome job and embodying what all the writters are talking about when the write their peoms. So those poems are my favorite because they both body the Romantic Era perfectly, and they are well written.

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  28. My favorite of these 12 poems is the poem "The Tyger" by William Blake. I liked this poem because to me it was some what of a simple poem. Even thought it was simple it still made you think about the meaning of the poem. In this poem the author is asking the tyger who was his creator. He asks of whose hand was he made. He asks why he was created and was his creator happy with what he had made. The author also asks if the tyger was created by the same being as the lamb. I like this poem because it goes along with the lamb. The lamb and the tyger represent to differences in the world. The tyger represents evil and the lamb represents good. Blake describes the tyger as beautiful creature but also as a scary creature that could be very violent and dangerous. One of the parts that I liked best in this poem is that it is full of unanswered questions that make you think. You can make up your own opinion and answer the questions in any way that you want. I would rate this poem around 4 out of 5 stars. I liked this poem above all the others because I understood this one the best out of all of the which is why it stuck out to me as my favorite.

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  29. My favorite poem that we read was 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud', by Wordsworth. I like this poem because its main message is talking about the beauty of nature. He describes a field of daffodils, and how he can't help but be happy in a place like that, it puts his mind at ease. This poem shows how we should all be thankful for the beautiful nature we have and how we should take advantage of it. A lot of people do not take in the beauty that God gave us, we should all be thankful for this gift. I think it is very interesting in the way he used similes and personification when explaining the daffodils, this made me want to keep reading and see what else they reminded him of. When I read this poem I have a clear picture of the scene because the way he describes it is really easy to understand. When he says, “Ten thousand saw I at a glance,tossing their heads in sprightly dance,” you can clearly picture a field of daffodils moving together with the wind. I rate this a five star poem because Wordswroth does a great job describing the beauty of nature. It makes me appreciate the nature that we have because some day there might not be any left.

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  30. My favorite poem that we as a class had read was “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. This poem made me believe that there are still times of pure being. Just the first sentence of this poem can evade your mind with its natural romantic beauties. Bryon had a way of so deeply portraying his cousins beautiful fair skin and “like the night” dark brown hair that truly gives the essence of how magnificently this poem rests on the mind of my conciseness. This poem was so deeply romantic in its ways of giving such features a world of their own. How innocence can be looked at as a powerful unseen to the eye yet seen with the heart eminence. You can see how the contrast of this her physical qualities meet to make a beautiful display of different colors and shades. How we all long to be that innocent pure soul in which we see in the younger generations. We hope that nothing of this cruel world will ever evade a beauty such as Bryon’s cousin. Nothing in this world had corrupted her or her beauty yet. The serene qualities of Byron’s cousin made me smile because for that night on which inspired Bryon to write this poem, nothing could possibly trouble her, all was good.

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  31. My favorite poem was Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. I am giving this poem a rating of five stars. I gave this poem such a high rating is because even though its message seems very concrete, you can interpret it in different ways. In the poem, Shelley is describing a statue of "Ozymandias", which was another name for Ramesses the Great, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The way I see it, this poem can be seen in two different ways. The poet talks about how the statue of Ozymandias, that was once so important, is now crumbling into pieces. The poet relays that the words "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" are engraved on the pedestal of the statue. This poem indirectly points out how ironic that statement actually is. A statue of a pharaoh, who was once so strong and powerful, is now deteriorating into nothing. The poem shows you that nothing like power or wealth can last forever. The reason that this poem is my favorite is because there is not just one finite way of looking at it. There is also a more pessimistic approach to the poem. This statue is something that people were forced to work on for much of their lives. The life work of people are now falling apart no longer important. You can look at this as, no matter what you do, it won't matter in the end. This poem is so interesting to me because it makes you think about something that seems so concrete in different ways.

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  32. My favorite poem from the romantic period is “The Lamb.” I love the style of this poem and how it is written. The repetition of the poem creates a lyrical form, meaning it sounds like a song. The poem is about children asking the lamb how it was made and where it comes from. This poem is all about innocence- relating the innocence of the lamb to the innocence of the children. This poem reminds me of how children are so innocent and curious, by how they ask the lamb all those questions. This poem particularly speaks to me because I have 2 younger brothers and I love little children. I love every quality about them and how they act. They love everyone and judge no one. They make you have this feeling of generosity towards them. The children and the lamb have a “tender” voice. Children are so sweet, just as a lamb is. The children are an example of all humans though, because we are all curious and wondering the questions of who truly made creation and how it was made. In a way, the lamb represents Jesus. The way that the lamb is so gentle, kind, and patient resembles the acts of Jesus. The lamb does not get annoyed and frustrated with the children, just as Jesus wouldn’t. Jesus understands the curiosity that humans have, just as the lamb does. I like the religious, nature, and moral background in this poem. It seems a little bit different than all the others.

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  33. dmccabe barnacle boysApril 24, 2010 at 8:08 PM

    My favorite poem of the poems we looked at from the Romantic era was Bright Star by John Keats. Of all the Romantics, John Keats was the one who “spoke” to me. It wasn’t really his message that helped to make his poems better. It was more the subjects in his poem that made it easier to understand. The tool that the poet used that was my ticket to understanding the poem was the metaphors. The poem was written with a lot of creativity so it wasn’t so boring like I thought a lot of the others were. It had a good rhyme scheme too, so that helped it to be an easy read. Also, I thought it was easier to understand than the other poems, which is another reason why it was my favorite. To rate this poem, I would give it 4 stars.

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  34. My favorite poem was, “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth. This poem criticizes people for being too wrapped up in the material things in life and not fully appreciating nature. The rhyme scheme helped with the flow of the poem and made it easier to read. His allusions to the pagan gods helped strengthen his opinion. This poem spoke to me because I feel the same way about nature. People today are too worried about getting the coolest new gadgets or having the nicest cars, but you could get the same happiness and joy just by watching the sunset or waves crashing on a beach. Sometimes people overlook the beauty and wonder of nature even when it is right in front of them. When Wordsworth says, “For this, for everything, we are out of tune;” it seems like he is saying we are not as in touch with nature as humans used to be. About a hundred years ago people relied on nature for everything but today we do not realize how important nature really is to us and our survival. I think that Wordsworth did a great job explaining the problem of our obsession with materialistic things and the need for nature’s appreciation. Hopefully when others read this poem they too will realize the importance and wonder of nature just as I did. On a scale of one to five, this poem definitely deserves a five.

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  35. My favorite poem out of the 12 that we read is Endymion by John Keats. The message of this poem is beauty and how it lasts forever not only on the outside but internal beauty as well. Some of the poets tools that helped me understand the poem better were the language and metaphors that were used in the poem. This was one of the easiest poems to understand for me which is the reason why it is my favorite one. I would rate this poem at about 3 and a half stars. I don’t really like English poetry so this is a good rating to me. Basically it was easy to read, easy to fallow, and easy to understand, well easier than any of the other poems. In the beginning of the poem, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increase; It will never Pass into nothingness;” These lines are easier for me to understand than most other poems. My English translation for these lines would be that beauty never leaves a person; it stays with that person forever. The beauty on the outside might fade however the beauty in the inside never fades and always remains. The subject and the message of the poem really made it a lot more clearly for me which in turn helped me to understand it much better. If all English poetry was as easy to understand as John Keats Endymion than I would like it a lot more and wouldn’t mind reading it.

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  36. akenney barnacleboysApril 24, 2010 at 9:19 PM

    My favorite poem was most definitely “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by Williams Wordsworth. I would give it four stars, not five because no poem is perfect! This poem is simple, and the message is blissful. Wordsworth shows his adoration for nature throughout this poem. He paints a whimsical picture for the reader of what he sees in nature. I, being a woman of simple pleasures in life, am refreshed by a poem like this. I like that the concept is not lengthy and complicated, it is simply Wordsworth and nature. He is alone, but he is okay with it. He is alone experiencing the gifts that have been left on earth for us. Which I can relate to; I always cherish alone time where you are enlightened of the simpler things in life. I like that the poem’s layout is structured but free. Given, this is a quality of many romantic poetry, but I think that the “free structure” is shown beautifully in this particular poem. Wordsworth scores again with “I wandered lonely as a cloud” and I give it a solid **** stars… maybe even ****.5.

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  37. My favorite poem was Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley. I am giving this poem a rating of five stars. I gave this poem such a high rating is because even though its message seems very concrete, you can interpret it in different ways. In the poem, Shelley is describing a statue of "Ozymandias", which was another name for Ramesses the Great, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The way I see it, this poem can be seen in two different ways. The poet talks about how the statue of Ozymandias, that was once so important, is now crumbling into pieces. The poet relays that the words "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" are engraved on the pedestal of the statue. This poem indirectly points out how ironic that statement actually is. A statue of a pharaoh, who was once so strong and powerful, is now deteriorating into nothing. The poem shows you that nothing like power or wealth can last forever. The reason that this poem is my favorite is because there is not just one finite way of looking at it. There is also a more pessimistic approach to the poem. This statue is something that people were forced to work on for much of their lives. The life work of people are now falling apart no longer important. You can look at this as, no matter what you do, it won't matter in the end. This poem is so interesting to me because it makes you think about something that seems so concrete in different ways.

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  38. My favorite poem was "She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon, Lord Byron. I enjoyed this poem because it describes beauty as it should be, natural. Nowadays, people are dying their hair, piling on makeup, changing their skin color, and covering up every flaw they think they have. No one truely embraces the way they look, or the flaws they have, instead, they try to change them. I interpreted this poem so well because of the metaphors used to compare beauty to nature. Beauty, like nature, can be flawed or flawless, whichever, it should be embraced and left the way it is. The rhyme scheme is ababab, cdcdcd, efefef, which made it flow almost like a song. I really enjoyed this poem mostly because i can relate, i think nature is a beautiful thing, and we're apart of nature, so we should accept what we've been given. I rate this poem *****

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  39. My favorite poem was the Apostrophe to the Ocean by Byron. This was my favorite poem because it shows how strong the force of nature can actually be. I like the idea of knowing that the natural beauty around us can have a certain power over us. I like the metaphors and similes he uses to exemplify the power of the oceans. This poem really showed me a different perspective to take on the ocean. I may not have ever really thought about the strength of the waters without reading this poem. I appreciated how Byron described the ocean in the beginning as how humanity truly views it. As each verse goes by Byron builds up each layer of the oceans strength. I rate this poem a five star. Byron took something as simple as the ocean, something that we may not always take the time to look at is beauty, and he described the force the ocean can have over us.

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  40. jp bb
    The poem I loved the most of all the poems we read was Apostrophe to the Ocean by Byron.I loved this poem because I could simply pick out the figurative lanuguage and antedate the poem with the mystery sheet. Byron used his love of nature to describe the ocean and his love for it more than man. He describes the ocean as more powerful than man. The thing I love about this poem is the way Byron talks about himself as a boy and how he would play in the ocean.Byron’s allusions of the ocean made the poem so much more powerful and showed the actual power over humans.Through this poem Bryon exemplified his passion and emotions towards nature. Byron's use of metaphors truly stood out. I rate this poem 5 out of 5 because Byron spoke of a true romantic with his love of nature. This poem talks about the fear of the ocean but the love and admiration of it at the same time. “And send'st him, shivering in thy playful spray And howling, to his Gods, where haply lies
    His petty hope in some near port or bay,
    And dashest him again to earth: - there let him lay,” this line truly stood out to me. To me the meaning is that the waves are so powerful in the ocean and a person in the ocean can easily be overpowered and controlled by the ocean. This poem talks a lot about how the ocean controls many aspects of nature. I have such a love for the ocean so this poem really caught my eye.

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  41. My favorite poem was The Lamb, by William Blake. One a rate scale of one to five, I would rate it a four. The author Blake spoke to me even though most of his poems are short and simple they still have many meanings in them. Being that they were short and simple made it my favorite. To me the best poems are the ones that are short, simple, easy to read, but also has a meaning to it. This poem reminded me of a children’s story with the innocent lamb as the main character. What made the poem so easy were the many literary devices that Blake used. The extended metaphor of the poem was that children and lambs are similar both innocent and gentle. Blake expressed this throughout the poem by giving the lamb human characteristics making it the listener and the child the speaker. For an example blake uses the words “meek” and “mild” which mean gentle and innocence, which are associated with children and lambs. Blake used repetition in the poem a lot, for example in lines one and nine he repeated the line “Little Lamb, who made thee?” and in lines eleven and twelve he repeated “Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,”. Blake also used symbolism; the symbol of the lamb represents The Lamb of God in Christianity. Another literary device was that the entire poem was an apostrophe.

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  42. My favorite was the "Bright Star" by John Keats. John Keats was a good poet I thought because he swept the woman he loved off her feet with the words of his poems. I liked that he talked about his feelings in such a good way. I think just trying to understand the way he was using his words was the key to understanding the poem. John Keats was a great poet because he used his feelings toward the love of his life and told her how he felt through his poems. This meant whenever he thought of the bright stars in the night he thought of the girl of his dreams.

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  43. aleeds power rangersApril 26, 2010 at 10:04 AM

    My favorite poem was 'She Walks in Beauty' by Byron. I really understood this poem, which is why i liked it more. It was clear for me to translate and i liked and enjoyed the message that the poem was sending. On a five star rating i would give this poem four stars. Byron was describing the beauty of this girl and i thought that the words he used and the one he described her were amazing. This poem emphasizes the natural beauty that a women has. It is explaining as being pure and just beautiful. I think its a good poem because there are not many 'pure' and 'natural beauty' left around and this shows that there are women out there like that. The rhyme scheme of this poem makes it easier to understand and more fun to read. This is my favorite poem from our unit.

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  44. sennis power rangersApril 26, 2010 at 2:31 PM

    My favorite poem that we read was "She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron. When I first read this poem I did not understand what any of the lines meant, however after we broke it down by stanzas in class I understood the poem much better. I like the ababab rhyme scheme that is used because the poem seems to flow better with it. I think that it is pretty cool how he was inspired to write so much about this woman and her beauty. This poem is also very good because it is easy to relate to because everyone has something or someone in their life that they consider beautiuful. I also liked that he admired this woman not only for her physical beauty but also for her inner beauty. Byron also liked her for her innocence. This is shown in the line "A heart whose love is innocent." I think he meant she is innocent because she has not yet been exposed to the cruelties of the world and has also not yet become jaded like many adults are. The only thing that i did not like that much was the fact that it was hard to understand at first because of words like climes and tress but after i knew what they meant, the poem was alot easier to read. Overall I would give this poem 4 out of 5 stars. I also liked how the rhyme scheme was consistent all the way through and you didn't have to change how a word would normally be pronounced to make it rhyme.

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  45. My favorite romantic poem that we studied in class was Tyger by William Blake. I would rate this poem as a 4 out of 5. I like how it describes the beauty and power of the tiger but at the same time the fear it gives us. It symbolizes the power and beauty of nature and its creator. I also like how it talks about God or whoever Blake thinks created the tiger and how this being created a balance of fear and beauty in one creature. That is why I like this romantic poem

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  46. My favorite poem we read was definitely “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. This is the poem I chose to memorize for the poem out loud project we did earlier on in the year. I went through tons of poems and this one just really caught my eye. When I memorized it I thought it was about his infatuation of his lovers’ beauty, but I learned in class it was actually based on his young cousin. It was actually not sexual at all, although it could be portrayed that way at first. He really is just describing how wonderful her innocence is and how it gives her a beautiful air to her. Byron makes is very clear that as the night goes on, she becomes more beautiful to him. Her cheeks are naturally tinted, which usually only rich woman were able to have pink cheeks. But, she was not rich. She had darker skin from working out in the field. He almost made it seem like she was just blessed to have such beauty. He speaks so fondly of her which I find really nice because she is not only a woman, who were thought and spoken down to at the time, but she was younger and not as wise as he was. I definitely rate the poem with five stars.

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  47. My favorite poem from the romantic period was a poem written by Byron. The poem that Byron wrote was "Apostrophe To The Ocean". I thought Byron did an absolutely amazing job on the poem. He talked about how the ocean is so peaceful, but yet dangerous. He explained how the ocean was very powerful yet beautiful. I like poems that describe nature as more than just a beautiful thing to look at. Nature has so much meaning behind the beautifulness. In the way byron described the ocean's power was that the ocean would help decide war, naval wars. When people were at seas fighting, storms from the ocean could destroy ships and people helping to decide the outcomes of wars. I love how something can be so pretty to look at, but also have so much meaning and power behind it. On a five star scale I will give the poem a three and a half. Considering I thought the other poems were not that good I will only give the poem a three and a half. Believe me I thought the poem was really good, but when you compare it to other poems that I did not really like then there might be other poems out there that I would rather enjoy reading. The poem was by far the most interesting of the poems to read because it kept me drawn in. When I read a poem, and it makes me wander off into space, then I feel like the poem is not that good. Apostrophe to the Ocean was definitly the best poem in the romantic period that we read.

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  48. My favorite poem was Bright Star by Keats. I liked it because I understood what was going on and it was a very strong, romantic poem. I like the way Keats writes which is very different from the poets we read. His poem meant more to me then the others because it was more about a real live person that he cared a lot for and not about the beautiful mystery of nature. I also like the flow of the poem with his use of meter (iambic pentameter-Italien poem). I like his message in it too that he could not live without that other person; he cares more about love than life itself. he also used alliteration (ex: still stedfast still), allusion (ex: Eremite), and oxymorons (ex: sweet unrest). When we were reading this poem in class, this one really stood out to me and was my favorite.

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  49. lhendron power rangersApril 27, 2010 at 9:32 AM

    My favorite poem would have to be "She Walks in Beauty" I like this poem because it is easy to relate to. It is saying that nature is beautiful, but it also has flaws. It does not lead you into the "beauty is perfection" type image that most people associate beauty with. That is why this poem is the favorite one we have done throughout the unit. It gives you a different view on the word beautiful that you don't look at instead of the perfect image of beauty shown on tv, he is referring to natural beauty.

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  50. KWalsh power rangersApril 27, 2010 at 9:37 AM

    My favorite poem was 'She Walks in Beauty' by George Gordon, Lord Byron. This poem describes the beauty in women. It shows that beauty is natural and in your heart. The poem tells us that beauty is not only external, but internal. We do not need to look like the celebs we see on television, we are all beautiful in our own ways. He is saying that beauty is pure and innocent. You do not need to be anything that you are already not. This poem describes her spiritual, physical and beauty of the mind. The poem was fun to read and easy to understand. It was by far my favorite poem for this unit.

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  51. n castaneda
    my favorite poem was "i wandered lonely as a cloud" by William wordsworth. i give it a five out of five because it really grabbed my attention and because it was easiest to understand for me. anylyzinf poetry can be hard sometimes when you dont get at first what the author is talking about but with this poem i understood that he was making us feel as if we were a cloud floating hundreds of feet above the sky. Alsoin this poem william does a great job of allowing you to come up with your own images in your head and the feeling in this poem can be picked up easily when he compares the hundreds of daffodils to the vast endless amount of stars in the open sky " Continuous as the stars that shine
    And twinkle on the milky way," but along with all what william really does best in this poem is he describes and really captures the close relationship that nature has with man by comparing himself to a cloud rather then to everyday society.

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  52. My favorite poem from the romantic period was "Apostrophe to the Ocean" by Byron. I liked it because it was about the ocean, my favorite thing. Also, it was the easiest to understand. He used so much imagery and described everything so vividly that I could almost see the picture when I was reading the poem. He pointed out that the ocean is so beautiful, yet so dangerous. The ocean could be so peaceful, yet so rough. When reading it, I think he tried to point out there is ups and downs and good and bad in everything, even in nature.

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  53. If I had to choose a favorite poet, which I do, I would choose Keats, which I am. My favorite poem by him is "Bright Star." I love this poem because I adore romance and anything that has to do with falling in love. The fact that Keats would not, no, could not live without Fanny brought me to a surreal and pleasant state of mind. This is because I felt that I can (or maybe could is a better word) relate to the sensation he was feeling about her. He loved her to earths ends and I would be blessed if I could ever find a man to love me with that much intensity. The poem was short and easy for me to follow, and because the rhyme scheme was easy, I caught on to it quickly and was able to remember it. I would give this poem a 4 1/2 star rating. That half star was lost only because of the fact that I didn't 100% feel his love for her. I didn’t feel the strength of his love as much as I knew he wanted to portray. And I think that if he incorporated more of her into it (maybe a specific moment in the time they knew eachother), other than explaining why he himself needed her, I would of felt it stronger. But never the less it is an amazing poem and he is an amazing man for being able to break the “manly toughness” most guys seem to have and admit his love.

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  54. My favorite romantic poem is "Bright Star" by John Keats. I like how he described nature and how deeply he described it without making the actual poem into a book. The reason I liked this poem is because i am really fascinated by the universe, and the way he described the stars looking down at us made me want to go to space even more. I would defiantly give this poem a 4 out of 5 star rating. I like that he was basically hinting that he loved her, it is a love poem but not one of those sappy love poems.

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  55. I admire Shakespeare, but I love Elie Wiesel. Wiesel was a Jew during the Holocaust and was imprisoned in many camps. Because he was one of the few survivors, he felt it his obligation to speak for everyone who suffered, but above all to ensure that an event like the Holocaust would never happen again. Elie Wiesel was brave enough to recount his horrific memories of his experience in the Holocaust, and to not suppress them as some others may have wanted to in order to survive the horror. His courage to face frightening memories is admirable and shows his courage to spread his message to avoid repeating history. Although the accounts are unfathomable to many of us, he found it necessary for the world to hear his and others’ experiences and to vow to never let people forget. Wiesel’s descriptions are graphic, but also eloquent and direct in his writing style. He is also skilled at conveying emotional starkness. I often feel that Wiesel had a way of almost forgiving the Nazi’s for their unforgiveable actions against the Jews. He shows maturity and compassion where many would seek revenge. I feel like he had an Amish-like approach of forgiving those whom did him wrong, while not necessarily forgetting what happened. Wiesel is able to give you the emotional tour of actually being there and experiencing everything alongside with him. He conveys the complexity of the Holocaust itself, and all of its horror. I also appreciate the great difficulty in which he must have gone through to recollect from his memory and to write to the depths he did in his memoir, Night remembering specific details or feelings he had. He is a very inspiring writer to read because he always had hope in the face of adversity and when death was always imminent. His books have been published in many different languages, as it resonates with many around the world. In fact, he is still educating people about the Holocaust, which occurred over fifty years ago. Some people even deny it ever happened or that it still could happen. Such events like genocide and massacres in Africa and other countries are just the events that Wiesel wish to never happen again and that are unacceptable after our world has come to a much better understanding of humanity.

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  56. Eventhough i wasn't there to read john keats, i still think he's my favorite poet out of the ones i've read. I loved "bright star" even though we didn't read it in class. I love keats because he speaks of his heart. when you read his poems you can picture what he was feeling when he wrote it himself. If i were to rate it i would give it a 4 out of 5 because it is hard to read and understand. I love the way that we can relate to him eventhough he lived so long ago.

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  57. My favorite poem was "Apostrophe to the Ocean" by Lord Byron. I like this poem not only because it was the easiest for me to understand but it has a lot of imagery that really draws you in. I liked how Byron made the poem full of power and strength. I liked how he used the powerfullness of the ocean and storm with God. He also used onomatopoia. By using words like 'boom' and 'crash', it makes the poem more realistic while your reading it. These effects drew me into the poem because i felt as if i were seeing and hearing the ocean and the powerfull storm. Overall this was my favorite poem out of all the 12 we read because Byron used great imagery with the ocean and storm.

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  58. kmaguire (powerrangers)May 26, 2010 at 5:11 PM

    My favorite Romantic poem is “The World is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth. I would give this poem five stars out of five stars. This poem spoke out to me because I felt that it is still relevant in today’s culture. People can become so blind to the simple, beautiful things in life and everyone is too busy to “stop and smell the roses.” Wordsworth says in the poem that if we can’t admire the nature that is around us then we might as well live in an unattractive land without the beauty of nature. Also, Wordsworth talks about God in the poem and he implies that it is our “Great God” that formed this magnificent world for us and that we should respect it. Another reason that I liked this poem the best was because of the way it was written. The rhyme scheme and the allusions kept me interested. I enjoyed this poem because it really made me stop and think about how beautiful nature really is and how blessed we are to be surrounded by it.

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