This quote reminds me of Harry Potter (and I know that sounds cliche). It reminds me of Lavender Brown and the Malfoys. At first, I hated them. As I grew, I read the series again, and watched the movies again, and started to grow fonder of them, because I saw them in a different light. In a new perspective. Lavender had gone from an annoying, barely-a-gryffindor, clingy girl, to a strong, relatable, and sympathetic character. The Malfoys (especially Narcissa and Draco) had gone from a snobby, blood-status-loving, rude and evil family, to one that won my pity and care. Their motives and actions were understandable and almost acceptable because I was able to see them in a different way. I think that's what Mr.Keating meant. That that's why we have to change our perspectives. We have to think for ourselves and even though it looks weird or silly, we have to constantly look at things in a different way than the way we were told to. Mr.Keating's not saying to throw away all the rules; he's saying that we have to broaden our minds to truly understand.

"O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;O captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deck,You've fallen cold and dead.


My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my captain lies,Fallen cold and dead."

I believe that this poem has to do with death. A crew and their captain had just returned from a fearsome and trying voyage at sea successfully. The narrator is overjoyed to finally be home, and calls out to the captain. But alas, the captain has perished. He's dead. There's traces of blood, and his body is cold. Because the poem says "fallen", I feel as if the captain may have been murdered or had committed suicide. Of course, with poetry, it could also mean that he had lost himself on the journey and was lifeless in the terms of his personality. Although the crowd and the narrator were "exulting", and absolutely joyous with their return, there is a sense of sorrow because the captain was no longer with them.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

I absolutely love this quote. It's amazing, and I find that it rings true to the core. And it's context makes it infinitely more profound and meaningful. These boys are very uptight about school, and their study bones are rigid in place. But Mr. Keating is giving them a lesson through the quote. Sure, being a lawyer or an engineer is a great and respectable thing that society needs to function properly, but it's not really necessary for the human soul. For a person to really live, they need a little something more. Passion. Mr. Keating tells us that poetry is to be respected and lived, not for a reason like school, or simply "because it's cute." And as humans, we ought to know that. Everyone needs a little bit of passion in their lives, and they certainly need a way to express it.

This came out much more depressing as I wanted it to be. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be depressing at all, but it just ended up like that. My poem is about how everyone has choices they can make, especially

I believe that this poem has to do with emotions rather than physical seasons. To me, it seems like the poets is recounting a love story of his. He met a woman (presumably), and fell in love with her. The first verse talks about how his feelings were in full bloom. The green leaves in spring. By the second verse, the love has taken him completely, and has developed into a passion. The verse indicates passion and innocence by the colors red and white, and the beauty of his lover that he noticed from first sight. He has fallen head over heels in love with her. The third verse show us how his love is too immense to show with words, and how much it’s impossible to describe. But the last verse however, shows us how their love has broken apart. She has left him, and he wishes she would return. The “dove” in the poem is the lover. The first three verses talk about how she is beautiful and that her love and herself are golden. The last verse tells us how the dove is gone, and that the love or the woman is broken. She has been lost to him, and he wishes she would come back. 

I think that this poem had to do with the pressures of society. Especially if one lives in a city that has no ends to responsibilities you have to take on. The line where the children come in is where we get to see that he's remembering how children are free of such duties and responsibilities that weigh him down. He wants to be a child like that again. Similarly, the moon-bird represents him, I think. Where the moon-bird can go to rest his wings is a place where his worries are gone. He wants to go to a place where he has freedom to be what he wants to be, and do what he wants to do, instead of having to conform to society. 

My mom dropped my off at school
Just like she did every morning.
The smell of rain on the grass,
Droplets skittering to the ground,
I made my way to the fields
Where my friends stood every day.
This time wasn't just my friends.

A giant mob of children
Laughing
Jeering
Squealing
Pointing
At something on the damp ground.
A great big, thick as my thumb,
Long as my forearm (a bit less)
Huge and ginormous, earthworm.

My teacher walked towards us,
A long stick held in her right hand.
Kids parted like the Red Sea
Around Moses as she approached
And we stared and stared and stared.

Not even one word uttered,
She picked the worm up on her stick
Watched it slime all over it
Then chucked it over the fence
And into the neighbouring park.

Alliteration: When the beginning of two or more words have the same sound. E.g. many things/ like movies

Untitled Poem
If gloomy thoughts were rifle shots
my mind would be at
civil war.
-Anonymous

The Three Oddest Words 
When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.

When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.

When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no nonbeing can hold.
-Wislawa Szymborska

Love is More Thicker Than Forget
Love is more thicker than forget
More thinner than recall
More seldom than a wave is wet
More frequent than to fail

It is most mad and moonly
And less it shall unbe
Than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

Love is less always than to win
Less never than alive
Less bigger than the least begin
Less littler than forgive

Is is most sane and sunly
And more it cannot die
Than all the sky which only
Is higher than the sky
- E.E. Cummings

I actually really enjoy poetry, but I despised it until about the seventh or eighth grade. Poetry was drab to me, seeing as none of it really spoke or connected to me. When someone said "poetry", the first thing I would think of was those boring poems that we were required to learn in class. I never got to enjoy poetry in class, because we don't read it, we dissect and analyze and over think it. I also disliked poetry because if it's long, it's a bother to read. There's a certain rhythm to all poetry, and if the rhythm is slow but long, it's quite frankly annoying to have to read through. It gets frustrating because if you break the rhythm, you have to start reading it again from the beginning.

I'm rather fond poetry now, especially because I'm at the age where I can appreciate it. I love how poems can be brief but strong, and really meaningful to a person. Good poetry speaks to a person, and it becomes a piece of them. It's easier to relate yourself to a poem than a book too, because a poem is short and sweet. It's almost like the lazy but not lazy at all way to convey a message or feeling or idea. I like how poetry can be funny or sad or happy or mysterious, or all of those at once. I like how all the right words have been selected or picked out to give to the mood. Poetry is the perfect way to music and literature combined.