Vocabulary 1

abase: Because of his haircut Jon got abased by the teacher in front of his class. He felt very sad.

ambiguous: Some people think Casear married Cleopatra for her power; others believe he was charmed by her beauty. His actual reasons are ambiguous.

aversion: Because he lives in Spain he has an aversion to winter and snow.

banal: Studyhall is boring and banal.

beguile: Sam beguiled his friend that he can borrow his skis.

cacophony: His younger brother is learning to play the drums, which creates a cacophony.

cleave: The testament of the died grandmother cleaved the family.

connive: The population connived the wrong decissions of their leader because of his popularity.

ebullient: The success of the team caused an ebullient emotion.

facade: After the death of his hamster he made up a facade of happiness.

gratuitous: The car ride to the city was gratuitous because we could have taken the train for free.

indefatigable: He was working in the garden for many hours in the rain which shows that he is an indefatigable worker.

linchpin: The student government is a lunchpin between teachers and students.

oblique: Because of his oblique writing style many readers think it is a book for children.

privation: World War two caused a privation of food and medicine in Germany and many other countries.

reveled: Theodore reveled in his new status as Big Man on campus.

sanguine: Everybody was sad except Samuel was smiling because of his sanguine character.

Anylisis

The poem has seven stanzas and each stanza has 2 verses. It is written by Malachi Black and at the end of each stanza you can find an enjambment. These enjambments cause that the reader reads the poem attentively and it is also like a little break after each stanza. The tone of the poem is very serious and descriptive what you can see at the precise description of the room. This room expresses a special place. You can see this, when the author uses the word “spare” to describe it. The mood of the poem is sad and thoughtfully. There is a climax in stanza six which starts with the words “but now”.

Sifting in the Afternoon

BY MALACHI BLACK

Some people might describe this room as spare:

a bedside table and an ashtray and an antique

chair; a mattress and a coffee mug;

an unwashed cotton blanket and a rug

my mother used to own. I used to have

a phone. I used to have another

room, a bigger broom, a wetter sponge.

I used to water my bouquet

of paper clips and empty pens, of things

I thought I’d want to say if given chance;

but now, to live, to sit somehow, to watch

a particle of thought dote on the dust

and dwindle in a little grid of shadow

on the sunset’s patchy rust seems like enough.

Poetry Oration

Drifting at Midday

BY MALACHI BLACK

Now I can see: even the trees

are tired: they are bones bent forward

in a skin of wind, leaning in

osteoporosis, reaching

for a little more than any

oxygen can give: when living

is in season, they can live;

but living is no reason

to continue: everything begins:

and everything is desperate

to extend: and everything is

insufficient in the end:

and everything is ending:

Now I can see: even the trees

Source: Poetry (September 2009).

Poetry Oration

So many
letters in my life I started
most of them I threw away.

So many
friendships shall last forever,
most of us will go astry.

So many
chances in my life,
ideas left unborn.
Will I wake up in the end -
realizing it's all gone?

No.
I see the sunlight breaking through the clouds,
see me standing there.
Seemed to me that all hope was lost, BUT
my eyes keep on shining,
my heart goes on beating
and I'll try again.

The main idea of the poem is about missed chances, a new beginning and even a change to something better. The mood of the poem is very desperate and sad, what you can see when the author lists the things which didn’t work. The poem has four stanzas and eighteen verses. In the last stanza you can find a change from a desperate mood to an optimistic and confident mood. This also marks the climax of the poem. In verse thirteen there is a metaphor when it says: “I see the sunlight breaking through the clouds.” It means that there is hope and the hopeless situation improves. You can find a rhetorical question in verse eleven which doesn’t require to be answered.

Poetry Oration

The poem “To the new year” is written by W. S. Merwin. The poem has two stanzas and 18 verses. In the first stanza you can read about the sun and how the sun appears and shines in the morning. The author describes how the sun rises in the morning what the sun shines. In verse eight there is a voice which is expressed by the dove. The dove with the voice is also a personification. In the second stanza the author writes about the things that happened in the past and about our hopes for the future.

Poem oration

To the New Year

                                                                                           BY W. S. MERWIN

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible