My favourite poet

My favourite poet of all time is Alfred Austin. Alfred Austin (May 30, 1835 – June 2, 1913) was an English poet, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Tennyson.Alfred was born in Headingley, near Leeds, on 30 May 1835. His father, Joseph Austin, was a merchant in Leeds; his mother, a sister of Joseph Locke, M.P. for Honiton. Austin was educated at Stonyhurst College (Clitheroe, Lancashire), and University of London, from which he graduated in 1853. He became a barrister in 1857 before leaving law to concentrate on literature. Politically conservative, Austin edited National Review for several years, and wrote leading articles for The Standard. On Tennyson's death in 1892 it was felt that none of the then living poets, except Algernon Charles Swinburne or William Morris, who were outside consideration on other grounds, was of sufficient distinction to succeed to the laurel crown, and for several years no new poet-laureate was nominated. In the interval the claims of one writer and another were assessed, but eventually, in 1896, Austin was appointed to the post after Morris had declined the post. Austin died of unknown causes in Ashford, Kent, England.

The reason I like him is because he said some very meaningful quotes. A few of his quotes are:"Tears are the summer showers to the soul.", "Public opinion is no more than this: what people think that other people think.". I feel that all these quotes are very true, thus I like him very much. Here are esome of the poems that he wrote
Love's Blindness
The Haymakers’ Song
At His Grave
Bilbiography
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/alfred_austin/poems/22221
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Austin

Figurative language

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

1) "O God! can I not save"- the poet shows the sadness of the persona by using hyperbole.

2) "I stand amid the roar"- personification is used in this phrase as the poet is giving the waves the human trait of roaring.

3) "One from the pitiless wave"- symbolism is used in this phrase to show that the persona's tears are as pitiless as those waves.

4) "While I weep--while I weep"- the poet shows the sadness of the persona by using hyperbole.

I like this poem because it uses a lot of figurative language. It is not only a good poem but it also actually tells us that our life might just be nothing but a dream within a dream. It also uses figurative speech to show the persona's emotions to us clearly. This poem is not only meaningful and interesting but also allows me to understand figuratuive language better thus i like this poem very much.

My own blog prompt

Qns: Imagine you are a government official sent to a rural village to convince them to switch to energy efficient lighting. Write a speech of about 300 words that will be addessed to the villagers at a village meeting.

Ans: Good morning ladies and gantlemen,
I am a government official who has been sent to your village to convince you people to switch to energy efficient lighting. Of course you have never heard of energy afficient lightings, but fret not as I will be telling you all about it in just a short while.

So, I am sure you have heard of light bulbs right? The ones that you use to light up your house? Remember now? Yes that. However, the ones that you are using are not energy efficient. Oh, you have not heard of energy efficient? Basically, it is something that saves energy. And also at the same time, also save money! Isn't it like killing two birds with one stone? Well as a matter of fact, 3 to be precise as you are also saving the earth at the same time. Why do I save so? Because the earth is running out of fuel which is what is used to generate a light bulb. Thus with energy efficient light bulbs, you are saving the environment! What do you think? Would you like to change to an energy efficient light bulb?

What did you say? Oh, the price you mean. Of course it would be cheaper than a normal light bulb, of course! Alright hope you think about what I have just said and I hope you would consider changing into an energy efficient light bulb.

Is progress necessarily beneficial for society? Comment. [You can cite evidence from VBTS to support your arguement]

Firstly, I have two points of view of this statement. One, it is necessary for a society to progress if not they will always be stuck at the same spot and might not be able to break through to discover new things. However, on second thought, if a society progresses too fast, the people might not be able to adapt to the sudden changes. Thus I feel that this statement can both be right and yet also wrong at the same time.

Now, I will be telling you why change is nessary for a society to progress. For example in the book Village by the sea, people fish for a living. However have they ever thought that one day the fishes will all get caught and the people who fish will not have any more source of revenue? Thus they must progress in order to survive. Which is also why I say that progress is necessary for a society if not they shall die and perish under the harsh reality's of life.

Next, I will be telling you about what will happen if a society progresses too fast. I will also be citing evidences from Village by the sea to prove my point. Firstly, like in Thul, if people are uneducated, and factories are built, the people will still never get a job as they will not know how to operate the machines in the factories. As a result, the people in Thul will have no source of revenue as their fishes will run out.

In conclusion, I feel that this statement is partially correct.

I rather be the city rat than the country rat. Comment.

I feel that this statement is partially incorrect as it is not always better to be a modern than to be traditional. For example, a modern person will not be able to feel the beauty of nature as they would be too engrossed in playing with their gadgets to even notice the nature surrounding them. What's more some of this gadgets may even be a harm to them! Like if you play too much of such things, they may cause you to lose your eyesight. Although these are some of the disadvantages, there are also advantages. Like if you want to search for something, you can just go online to websites like google or wikipedia to find your answers. As simple as that!
Whereas for a more traditional person, they would have more difficulty searching for knowledge than the modern people. However, they would be able to embrace the beauty of nature more easily as they do not have modern gadgets to distract them. Thus I rest my case by concluding that I neither agree nor disagree with that sentence.

Which part of village by the sea do you like best? State your reasons.

The part that I like most in village by the sea is the part where Hari's Father decides to turn over a new leaf and quit drinking. That was also the part where he stayed in the hospital just to take care of Hari's Mother who was ill. It is very heart warming to see that a person can change so drastically just for the sake of his wife.
During that period of time, Lila gave him some money from time to time for his meals and he never even once used it to buy toddy. This shows that he is very persevered in trying to quit drinking. This also shows that he has already turned over a new leaf. I feel that this part is very heart warming, thus it is the part that I like best in village by the sea.

Who is your favourite/ least favourite character in village by the sea? State your reasons.

In this post, I will not only be posting about my favourite character but instead I will be posting on both my favourite and least favourite character.

First, I will be writing about my favourite character. My favourite character in the story is Hari. Why so? I will be elaborating on that in the later parts of the post. Firstly, I feel that he is both pitiful and yet admirable. Pitiful because he is like a young boy trying to cope with the harsh realities of life. And admirable because he was able to make it through such hardship and even get a job with a steady income. He also has a lot of qualities that we must learn from, like perseverance. He never gives in to anything no matter how hard life gets and instead tries to salvage the situation by doing everything he could in his power to support his dysfunctional family.

Next, I will be talking about my least favourtie character, who is none other than the watchman of the factory. Firstly, I feel that he is very arrogant and boastful. He boasts about how rich the people in Bombay are and that the food they eat are far better than those in Thul. He also looks down on the villagers in Thul and thinks that they are useless pumpkin heads. He also feels that all of the village men are drunkards and good for nothing. His arrogance is the main reason why he is my least favourite character.