Poet

The poet of my choice would be William Shakespeare.

The reason for my choice is of his astounding acheivements and his wonderful poems and plays.
A interesting fact about him, is that through his poems and plays, he invented thousands of words, often the combination or contorting of Latin, French and native roots. The impressive addition of English, which is according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes words such as : arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy, stillborn, watchdog, and zany.

Thesis:
It was said that French Meres cited that William Shakespeare was "honey-tongued" for his plays and poems in 1598. My thesis is that in most of his plays or his poems, there are alway some lines which will make someone feel good.

Biography:
William Shakespreare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. He was educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford, where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At the age of 18, he was married and had 2 daughters. He went shortly after 1585 to London to begin his acting career. But due to the plague, the theaters in London were often closed between June 1592 and April 1594. During that period, Shakespeare probably had some income from his patron, Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first two poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594). The fomer was a long narrative poem depicting the rejection of Venus by Adonis, his death, and the consequent disappearance of beauty from the world. In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's company of actors, the most popular of the companies acting at Court. In 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain's Men that would form a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse: the Globe, which became the most famous theater of its time. With his share of the income from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to purchase New Place, his home in Stratford. While Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. Shakespeare's sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601, though not published until 1609. Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in Stratford. He drew up his will in January of 1616, which included his famous bequest to his wife of his "second best bed." He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later at Stratford Church.

Three of the poems written by William Shakespeare:
.Macbeth, Act I, Scene II [The merciless Macdonwald]
.Venus and Adonis [But, lo! from forth a copse]
.Three Songs

Source:
poet.org
wikipedia.org

This is the poem I chose:

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Figurative Language in this poem:
1)And there the sun burns crimson bright- Personification - The author wanted to show how the sun was like during that period.
2)And there the moon-bird rests from his flight- Personification - The author is saying that the moon has disappeared from the sky.
3)To cool in the peppermint wind- Metaphor - The author wants to show that the wind then was cooling like peppermint.
4)the smoke blows black- Personification - The author wants to show how serious was the smoke.
5)And the dark street winds and bends- Personification- The author is showing how long the road seems to be.
6)We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow- Personification- The author is saying how the journey will be.
7)And watch where the chalk-white arrows go- Symbolism- The author is telling us the direction that is followed.

What I like about this poem is that it is short, simple and clear. It is easy to understand yet it is able to give a deep meaning.

I am very sorry!

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. I even forgot to do the blog prompts for the June holidays. I know I am in a lot of trouble, but I did not post on this blog because lately my time has been limited and the internet access at home is poor. Another reason was that I only found my homework for the holidays at the third week. This was because I placed my homework in my cabinet to save space on the first week. After a while, I forgotten where I placed them. Until the third week, I could not do my homework at all. During the third week, I finally found them while cleaning up my room. So please forgive me if I did not do the blog prompts.