Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2011

Assignment:
This is a song, entitled Uncertainty by The Fray
Write a short paragraph of your own understanding of the song, in the form of a comment, in response to this post.


UNCERTAINTY

Uncertainty is killing me
And I'm certainly not asleep
Maybe I've gone far too deep
Maybe I'm just far too weak
And that's the last place I want to be the last place

And there is so much we dont know
So we love and we hope that it holds

Thousands were lost and maybe more
The question remains, "What is this for?"
Maybe it came unexpected
Maybe I'm left unprotected
And that's the last place I want to be the last place

And there is so much we dont know
So we love and we hope that it holds
And either we say or we show
So I'm going to fight for my own

I'm holding on until the last
I'm holding on until there's nothing left
I'm holding on until the last
I'm holding on until there's nothing left

Credit: www.lyricsmania.com
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This is an interesting video, posted on youtube.com for the poem, Mr. Nobody

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In this poem which is of unknown origin, it tells of the mischief in us when we were young ones. Afraid of punishment, we always refuse to admit anything whether of commission or of omission. So this poem tells about the character called Mr. Nobody who does not exist. He is just being mentioned as the fall guy and must take all the blame around the house as if he truly exists in every house.

Let us look at the poem again.There are four stanzas. Let us look at the kind of mischief done by Mr. Nobody .

In Stanza 1.
· He cracks plates.

In Stanza 2.
· He tears books.
· He does not close doors properly.
· He pulls off shirt buttons.
· He scatters pins.
· He never oils the door which squeaks.

In Stanza 3
· He puts damp wood upon the fire.
· He muddies and soils the carpets.
· He mislaid the newspapers.
· He also tosses the papers around.

In Stanza 4
· He leaves finger marks on the door.
· He leaves the blinds unclosed.
· He spills ink.
· He leaves his books lying all over.

He did most of these nasty things. He also failed in his responsibility to do some chores. These included not oiling the squeaky doors, leaving the blind unclosed that will fade the house curtains and leaving his boots everywhere in the house.

Interestingly, no one has ever seen Mr. Nobody. Yet he is described as a small and quiet person.
When we read this poem, we can reflect the childhood days where oftentimes we behave irresponsibly and like to point fingers at others. We have yet to grow up, take responsibilities and admit our mistakes or own up to our failings.

So, the moral of the story is that everyone must be responsible; for that truly will be a sign that you have grown up.

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Author Unknown

I know a funny little man,
As quiet as a mouse,
Who does the mischief that is done
In everybody's house!
There's no one ever sees his face,
And yet we all agree
That every plate we break was cracked
By Mr. Nobody

`Tis he who always tears our books,
Who leaves the door ajar,
He pulls the buttons from our shirts,
And scatters pine afar;
That squeaking door will always squeak,
For, prithee, don't you see,
We leave the oiling to be done
By Mr. Nobody

The finger marked upon the door
By none of us are made;
We never leave the blind unclosed,
To let the curtains fade.
The ink we never spill; the boots
That lying round you. See
Are not our boots they all belong
To Mr. Nobody.
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Synopsis

The poem is about the differences in the way of life of the older generation and the present generation. A grandchild is asking his grandparents how they lived before modern gadgets like air- conditioners and the telecommunications were invented. The grandparents say that they were ignorant of modern technology and so they lived without them. But, unlike the present generation, they did not have environmental and emotional problems like pollution and stress.

Setting:

Living room in a house
Present day

Themes:

Price of progress
Quality of life
Challenges in life
Greed and materialism
Different times and values

Moral Values:

We must appreciate what we have
Progress and development have advantage and disadvantages
What we have today may not be good for us, health-wise
We must not be greedy as greed can bring about destruction
We should care for the environment
We must not too money-minded or materialist
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by M.Shanmughalingam

Grand dad did you breathe
Before air cons were invented
Wasn't it hard staying
Alive without modern inventions
Gandma weren't you flustered
As you fluttered with paper fans
Could you communicate before
Faxes and long distance calls
Became basic necessities?
Grand child we lived
Before your age because
Of our ignorance,
We did not know
Pollution, stress, traffic jams
Destruction of forests, streams and hills
We feared God and nature
Now nature fears you and
Money is your new God

London
May 4, 1995
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Posted on Friday, December 23, 2011
SYNOPSIS OF THE POEM
The poem is about a woman who has been deceived to think that she was loved by a man with ‘quiet eyes’. She suffers for this and only learns on hindsight not to trust or give in to men who seek women only for pleasure. The poet gives an advice on being able to recognise what is true and what is not, when a person is truly friendly and when he is not. You may lose in the game of love and give your heart away, but knowing the truth of the situation will mean that you will not suffer any lasting losses.
UNDERSTANDING THE POEM [STANZA BY STANZA]
Stanza 1
The woman is taken up with his ‘quiet eyes’. The eyes mesmerise and beg her to ‘be nice’ to him and make him extremely happy, that is ‘render him paradise’. The poet uses a very long imagery of the eyes ‘breathing desolate sighs’ to enhance the effect of the eyes on the girl. The woman, being enamoured with those eyes, does not notice he is deceiving her. It would not be difficult to see through the man if the woman had her feet on the ground because the eyes have only the ‘thinnest ice’, easy to break through to learn the man’s true nature.
Stanza 2
Something has happened to the woman and she has learnt the truth about the man. The poet suggests that she has learnt the hard way that is she learns her lesson through bad experience. She has made a mistake of trusting the man because she has refused to listen to the advice not ‘to compromise’, that is, lower her standards or expectations in order to please a man who seduces women.
Stanza 3
The poet extends her friendly advice to women to understand what is meant by ‘nice’ what it means when men are ‘nice’ to you. When he is ‘nice’, friendly and pleasant to you, make sure that he is sincere and trustworthy and not because he has ulterior motive, that is he wants something from you in return. The poet further comments that love may be a gamble as suggested in ‘dice’, you take your chances with someone, you may find true love or you may not. The important issue here is that ultimately you have not lost anything because you have not compromised, you are not deceived.
THE POEM – LINE BY LINE
STANZA 1 MEANING BY LINE
He had such quiet eyes – His eyes were calm and quiet
She did not realise – She did not know
They were two pools of lies- His eyes were like two pools filled with lies
Layered with thinnest ice – Thinly veiled, like very thin ice
To her, those quiet eyes – To the woman, those calm and quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs – Looked very sad and desolate
Imploring her to be nice – The eyes were begging her to be nice to him
And to render him to paradise – And to give him happiness and bliss so that he would feel like he was in paradise (heaven)
STANZA 2 MEANING BY LINE
If only she’d been wise – The woman wished she had been wiser in her past actions
And had listened to the advice – And she had listened to the sound advice given to her by people who cared about her
Never to compromise – They had advised her not to give up her moral values or principles
With pleasure-seeking guys – When she was with men who wanted only pleasure and fun
She’d be free from the ‘hows and whys’ – If she had listened to them, she would not be haunted by questions of hows and whys and the difficult situation she was in.
STANZA 3 MEANING BY LINE
Now here’s a bit of advice – Let me give you a bit of advice
Be sure that nice really means nice – Make sure that the person you think is nice, is truly sincere and trustworthy
Then you’ll never be losing at dice – Then, you will not lose in a game of chance or a game of love where you can lose your heart to an undeserving man
Though you may lose your heart once or twice – Even if you should fall in love and lose your heart to love once or twice
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He had such quiet eyesShe did not realiseThey were two pools of liesLayered with thinnest iceTo her, those wuiet eyesWere breathing desolate sighsImploring her to be niceAnd to render him paradiseIf only she’d been wiseAnd had listened to the adviceNever to compromiseWith pleasure-seeking guysShe’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’Now here’s a bit of adviceBe sure that nice really niceThen you’ll never be losing at diceThough you lose your heart once or twice
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Literal meaning
A child is wondering about the natural happenings, asking why the grass is green (instead of the other colours) and why the wind is invisible.
He or she continues to ponder the person who teaches the birds to build nest and the trees stop growing.
He or she also wonders when the moon is in crescent shape, where the other part of the moon is.
He or she proceeds to question about the person who makes the stars shining and how the lightning flash about.
He or she keeps on asking who colours the rainbow and puts the clouds high in sky.
He or she cannot get the answers, thus, directs the questions to the other.
Lastly, the child wonders why father doesn’t tell him or her if he knows the answers.

Persona(Speaker)
-a naive child
Point of view
-First person (‘I’ Wonder)

Setting
-Day to night, outdoor

Theme
-Curiosity
-The Power of Creator

Structure
-6 stanzas (6 couplets)
Rhyme Scheme
-regular (aa bb cc dd ee)
Tone
-questioning, curiosity
Mood
-reflective

Language
-simple, Wh-words/questions
Imagery
-nature (grass, wind, bird, moon, stars, lightning, rainbow, clouds)
Poetic Devices
-Personification ("trees...take a rest")
-Alliteration ("grass is green", "birds to build")

Moral Values
-We should be observant and sensitive to out surroundings
-We should always cultivate a sense of wonder in our heart
-We should appreciate and take care of the nature created by our Creator

#Bite Eng's Review
Reading through the poem, the questions are those common questions asked by most children. These questions are identical to our questions that we asked when we were child. For example, "Why the sky and sea are blue?", "Why I can smell it but can't touch it?", "Why we grow taller each day", "Can I pluck the shining star?", "Why the sky is bright during daytime and yet dark at night?", etc. Most children are curious in nature. Adults might find their questions naive and funny. However, the sense of wonder is essential as the motivation to drive them to seek for the answer. With the questions in mind, their curiosity urges them on finding the solution. Thus, they are those scientists-to-be, doctors-to-be, geologists-to-be, astronomers-to-be, teachers-to-be, etc. Thus, the message here is to cultivate the sense of wonder in our children's heart and avoid killing their interest to know about their surroundings.

Reading the questions posed, effort is made to answer the questions:

I wonder why the grass is green, (The grass has chlorophyll which is green pigment.)
And why the wind is never seen? (The wind is moving air [gas] which cannot be seen.)

Who taught the birds to build a nest,
And told the trees to take a rest? (Our creator of nature did that.)

And when the moon is not quite round,
Where can the missing bit be found?
(We have Phases of moon. As the moon circles the Earth, its shape seems to change depending on the sunlight.)

Who lights the stars, when they blow out,
And makes the lightning flash about? (Again, our creator of nature did that.)

Who paints the rainbow in the sky,
And hangs the fluffy clouds so high?
(These are the art of work done by our creator of nature.)

Why is it now, do you suppose,
That Dad won’t tell me if he knows?
(Our Father..Almighty Lord would want us to be self-aware and able to appreciate his hard work.)

The message is that Our Father (The Creator) is almighty. We, as human being, are naive to understand the hard work done by Him. Instead of asking Him for answers for our doubts, we are obliged to carry on our mission to seek and gain the borderless knowledge and message conveyed by Our Father. Our Father may not give the whole knowledge directly, but He will guide us. One day, we will be enlightened with His knowledge for us.

credit: biteenglish.blogspot.com
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I wonder why the grass is green,
And why the wind is never seen?

Who taught the birds to build a nest,
And told the trees to take a rest?

O, when the moon is not quite round,
Where can the missing bit be found?

Who lights the stars, when they blow out,
And makes the lightning flash about?

Who paints the rainbow in the sky,
And hangs the fluffy clouds so high?

Why is it now, do you suppose,
That Dad won’t tell me, if he knows?
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