18 September 2008
Teddy Purnell
Mr. Salsich
Room 2
The Journey of Life
An essay relating a Quote and “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Of all the quotes in the hall at Pine Point School, “The Journey is the reward” related best to the poem by Rilke. Both the poem and the quote are not quite clear the first time they are read. If you read it just once, you will not fully understand it, and thus, will not benefit from its true meaning. When I first read the quote, “the journey is the reward”, I thought, “that makes absolutely no sense at all.” Then I repeated the quote a few times in my head, and then it occurred to me that maybe it meant you get more out of a hike than you do looking for treasure. If you're on a hike, you don't usually expect to find anything, and so if you do find something, you'll get more joy out of finding that one, little, minuscule thing than if you expect to find something great, and you don't find anything whatsoever.
I realized that both the quote and the poem talk about a “journey” and “reward” of some kind. In the poem, the journey is living the questions. “Live the questions now. Perhaps then someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” The rewards are the answers to the questions, which you must “live your way into”. In the quote, the journey is the reward and the reward is the journey. They are both the same. It is simple, and yet, on a deeper level, perplexing. The poem and the quote relate to each other, they are different, and so they are alike.
In both the poem and the quote send the same message, “slow down, everything will come to you in the end.” In the quote, the message is sent by an example-yours. You're so focused on finding the true meaning as fast as you can, that you may have overlooked it without noticing the quote is simple at a glance, but you must carefully search for the meaning of it. As for the poem, Rilke tells us, “Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.” You have to be patient when it comes to life, never try to speed through life, but live life to its fullest. Let the answers come to you. One message expressed through two different styles.
Whether this is the message that Rilke and the person who said the quote wanted to send, that I do not know. All I know is that this is the message that they sent to me. I have already learned that they are right, we need to take our time, and do things carefully. Just the experience of writing this-the first essay of the year-proves to me that, ”The journey is the reward”.
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
--Chinese Proverb, “The Journey is the Reward”
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tristan's Essay
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 02
22 September, 2008
A Lifelong Funk
Analyzing an Analytical Essay on Sonny’s Blues
Everyone gets the blues. Some people can cope with this sadness better than others, some cannot, and even more people cannot even think of dealing with their blues, and instead let sadness consume, and become them. This particular essay deals with Sonny, and his blues. Ms. Goldman wrote a very informative essay, James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”: a Message in Music, which examines Sonny’s Blues, and what it means.
Goldman’s essay starts off examining Baldwin’s writing style, and a very brief overview of main points in Sonny’s Blues. Goldman goes on to state that the very beginning of Sonny’s Blues sets foundations on which the two main characters’ relationship is built. As Goldman states, “Yet this rude discovery [of Sonny’s drug addiction] sounds the initial note in these two brothers’ growing closeness.” (Goldman, 1) this quote illustrates the kicking-off of the brothers’ newfound relationship, and demonstrates how very distant they really are. After hearing of Sonny, the narrator continues to take proverbial “steps” towards Sonny, such as when he starts to understand the boys he teaches. Goldman continues to make connections and relationships, as she further explains the story, and how the two main characters both draw closer together and grow apart. As Goldman quotes directly from a frustrated Sonny in Sonny’s Blues, “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.” To which Ms. Goldman boldly comments, “Because he has no one to communicate with, the piano becomes his only source of expression.”(2) To one, this may seem like something to pull the two brothers apart, but as the story progresses, it just becomes another brick in the stonework of their relationship. However, after this Goldman says that Sonny running away was just a way that the other characters reached him. Goldman now relays that once the narrator feels sympathetic with Sonny, and listens to his music, all of his suffering is thrown into perspective. The brothers now apparently forge a newfound relationship, spawned partially by them both witnessing a street revival meeting. Directly after this meeting, Sonny invites the narrator to a concert where, through music, Sonny conveys all the suffering, pain, and emotion he has encountered along his dark and dangerous path to becoming an excellent musician. Through this music, the main character sees how nobody listens, how he should listen, and how Sonny listens. After this Baldwin leaves the story, with no more bumps in Sonny’s life, and the masonry of the brothers’ relationship solid and sound.
Goldman does an excellent job analyzing Sonny’s Blues, relating to the reader what things mean, how they are used, and she never takes anything said at face value. One thing in which Goldman truly excelled at was taking simple comments, annotations, and anecdotes, and elaborating to show what they may or may not signify. As an example, in the first section of the story, when the narrator has just discovered Sonny’s arrest, and the void between them, Goldman comments on a boy whistling, saying, “[he was] the young man who makes himself heard and transcends the disenchantment, the darkness with his song.” Regardless of if this was actually a reference to later on in the story, Goldman made an excellent connection. Although it may be hard to take anything in Sonny’s Blues at face value due to the lack of direct statements, Goldman does an excellent job of analyzing every bit of Sonny’s Blues. During the second movement, in which Sonny comes back home from prison, the simplicity of Sonny’s discomfort at the dinner table is thrown into an intricate fabric work of reasons as to why he is uncomfortable, which all seem obvious once explained. Later on, at the start of the fourth movement, the death of the narrator’s daughter, which is not exactly a simple event, with much emotion from the main character, is cast into even more complexity, as Goldman simply explains how this helped the narrator feel more for Sonny. Goldman doesn’t just elaborate on events in the story themselves, but she even puts them to more use, as she finds meaning for everything. At the very end of the story, after the climax, Goldman has a short section on what Sonny’s blues did for his brother. In this section, Goldman displays how the music summed up, and gave meaning to both of their lives, and even relates Sonny’s blues to the rest of us, and the suffering we feel.
After reading Goldman’s essay, some may feel the blues, but no matter what your way of dealing with the blues may be, Goldman’s essay does have many useful messages contained within it. Goldman’s essay does focus mainly on sad patches of life, with barely any moments of happiness, but regardless, I think she greatly explains and elaborates upon the story of Sonny and his blues. Sonny’s Blues is a very meaningful story, packed with emotion, and pain, it throws light into many cold, hard, dark corners of our lives, which we may have left neglected for a long time, perhaps because of the pain or sorrow. I think James Baldwin and Suzy Goldman helped to throw light into those corners, and better all who read their works and their knowledge of personal relationships.
Kyle's Second Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
19 September 2008
TS: Suzy Bernstein Goldman is a very observant writer, who makes a lot of favorable and meaningful connections easy to follow, because of her organization skills in writing. SD: She had a lot of points that she made that were to my liking and she was very well organized when explaining these points. CM: She explains that the story is one of communication between brothers and the language is the music that Sonny plays, she says this at the beginning and, much like our introduction and closing, she states it again at the end. CM: Furthermore she says that “when the narrator finally hears his brother’s sorrow in his music, [he] hears, that is, Sonny’s Blues.” (Goldman).
TS: In addition to making some meaningful point Ms. Goldman broke the story up into sections like the layers of brick and stone of a colossal edifice. SD: She made her essay around the four sections she has created to summarize Sonny’s Blues more thoroughly. CM: Ms. Goldman made a connection between the seemingly normal word “safe” to a quote that Sonny’s father had used to explain that “no place was safe”, which, in turn brought me to the part in the book about Sonny’s past, the only part when Sonny’s father is mentioned. CM: This example showed me how perceptive she must have been when reading the book to take such a simple word and make a “thundering crescendo” (Goldman) of connections from it. SD: The sections she made were easy to follow because she had a clear beginning and end point. CM: She used words that practically shouted beginning and end to the reader. CM: She thrust forth the beginning of a movement by simply saying “the second movement” or “the third movement.” CS: Finally I thought that Ms. Goldman’s essay was a simple display of organization and uncluttered thoughts put on a piece of paper.
TS: My foremost thought of Ms. Goldman’s essay was that it consists of many things that I like including fast words, superb connections, and good points, but to vary my analysis I will explain one thing I liked and one thing I disliked. SD: One thing that I loved was how Ms. Goldman says “but these blues belong to all of us, for they symbolize the darkness which surrounds all those who fail to listen to and remain unheard by their fellow man.” (Goldman). CM: She makes an awesome connection from Sonny’s music to the rest of mankind which was, I think, one of the best parts of her essay. CM: We all need to listen and be heard by others if we continue to ignore each other or hold back our own voices the state that our race is in will not improve; we won’t advance to bigger and better things. SD: One thing that I disliked was contradictory to the simple structure of the essay. CM: In one sentence she uses the word “awkward” to relate to the attitude that the narrator was using when Sonny came to live with his him again. CM: I thought that a college professor should have had more words at her disposal, maybe words like gauche, inelegant, stilted, etc. CS: Compared to all the spectacular things I saw in this essay I would have to say that the word “awkward” was a very simple mistake on Sarah Brandt’s “mistake meter.”
TS: Ms. Goldman did a very good job being observant and perceptive and combining those skills into her writing. SD: I loved many of the things she pointed out and it was easy to follow what she was saying because of how neat she was while explaining them. CM: She summarized the story of a struggle between brothers and how they were brought together by music quite beautifully. CM: I enjoyed Ms. Goldman’s thoughts very much and thought that she made a very powerful essay to be praised by everyone who reads it.
Works Cited
Goldman, Suzy. “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: A Message in Music,” in Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 8, no. 3, fall, 1974, pp. 231-3
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
19 September 2008
TS: Suzy Bernstein Goldman is a very observant writer, who makes a lot of favorable and meaningful connections easy to follow, because of her organization skills in writing. SD: She had a lot of points that she made that were to my liking and she was very well organized when explaining these points. CM: She explains that the story is one of communication between brothers and the language is the music that Sonny plays, she says this at the beginning and, much like our introduction and closing, she states it again at the end. CM: Furthermore she says that “when the narrator finally hears his brother’s sorrow in his music, [he] hears, that is, Sonny’s Blues.” (Goldman).
TS: In addition to making some meaningful point Ms. Goldman broke the story up into sections like the layers of brick and stone of a colossal edifice. SD: She made her essay around the four sections she has created to summarize Sonny’s Blues more thoroughly. CM: Ms. Goldman made a connection between the seemingly normal word “safe” to a quote that Sonny’s father had used to explain that “no place was safe”, which, in turn brought me to the part in the book about Sonny’s past, the only part when Sonny’s father is mentioned. CM: This example showed me how perceptive she must have been when reading the book to take such a simple word and make a “thundering crescendo” (Goldman) of connections from it. SD: The sections she made were easy to follow because she had a clear beginning and end point. CM: She used words that practically shouted beginning and end to the reader. CM: She thrust forth the beginning of a movement by simply saying “the second movement” or “the third movement.” CS: Finally I thought that Ms. Goldman’s essay was a simple display of organization and uncluttered thoughts put on a piece of paper.
TS: My foremost thought of Ms. Goldman’s essay was that it consists of many things that I like including fast words, superb connections, and good points, but to vary my analysis I will explain one thing I liked and one thing I disliked. SD: One thing that I loved was how Ms. Goldman says “but these blues belong to all of us, for they symbolize the darkness which surrounds all those who fail to listen to and remain unheard by their fellow man.” (Goldman). CM: She makes an awesome connection from Sonny’s music to the rest of mankind which was, I think, one of the best parts of her essay. CM: We all need to listen and be heard by others if we continue to ignore each other or hold back our own voices the state that our race is in will not improve; we won’t advance to bigger and better things. SD: One thing that I disliked was contradictory to the simple structure of the essay. CM: In one sentence she uses the word “awkward” to relate to the attitude that the narrator was using when Sonny came to live with his him again. CM: I thought that a college professor should have had more words at her disposal, maybe words like gauche, inelegant, stilted, etc. CS: Compared to all the spectacular things I saw in this essay I would have to say that the word “awkward” was a very simple mistake on Sarah Brandt’s “mistake meter.”
TS: Ms. Goldman did a very good job being observant and perceptive and combining those skills into her writing. SD: I loved many of the things she pointed out and it was easy to follow what she was saying because of how neat she was while explaining them. CM: She summarized the story of a struggle between brothers and how they were brought together by music quite beautifully. CM: I enjoyed Ms. Goldman’s thoughts very much and thought that she made a very powerful essay to be praised by everyone who reads it.
Works Cited
Goldman, Suzy. “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: A Message in Music,” in Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 8, no. 3, fall, 1974, pp. 231-3
Ty's essay 2nd post i hope =)
Ty LeVarge
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
22 September 2008
The essay by Mrs. Goldman is a very formal and sophisticated essay filled with more details than the story gave originally. She seems to also have taken quite an interest in the story since she knows a lot about the story and gives some background information stated in her essay. Based on Mrs. Goldman’s essay, I would say that she is a great essay writer and a great professor as well. I also realized that she uses lots of FAST words in her essay which enhanced her essay even farther.
I have analyzed her essay and found out an unbelievable amount of literary terms ranging from FAST words to loose sentences to great introductions of sentences. She has started her paragraphs and also sentences in an intriguing way that interests me. One interesting fact was that when she was summarizing the story, she mentioned each major part as a “movement” which puzzles me because it is something that we don’t see in most essays very often. In the beginning of her essay, she tells most of the background information like the year it was published and also gives details about them. Mrs. Goldman also mentions many specific and interesting additional details about almost every part of the story that she mentions during her essay. During her summary of the different parts of the story, I have realized that she adds additional details than the story may give sometimes. I have also realized that she gives great FAST words such as “profundity” and “surrogate” which are two great examples of the many that are spread around in her essay. Mrs. Goldman presents a lot of great details within her essay and shares a lot of really great points as well.
My personal thoughts about the essay would be along the lines of a great essay but more specifically, that it has good organization and great summary details. My thoughts about the summaries that Mrs. Goldman came up with were some great ideas. Main thought that I thought up of was that she discusses the summary is almost as if you were reading the story only a more formal version of it. She also has added a lot of details but has dispersed them evenly so it doesn’t ruin the essay which is a good strategy to balance out your essay. I also think that Mrs. Goldman’s organization is critical and was very well done. She doesn’t jump around on different subjects randomly; instead, she keeps everything in line and doesn’t let anything go out of place. She also does not mention anything off topic anywhere in her essay at all. All together, Mrs. Goldman has produced a wonderful essay and with great organization and detail.
The essay by Mrs. Goldman is a version of the story from the reader’s view and how most thoughts from the reader would be almost the same material. Mrs. Goldman is probably a professor that is a great teacher that her students would deserve. She writes very formally and must have learned a lot from her teachers and is hopefully teaching her students the same thing. In my opinion, Mrs. Goldman is worthy of the name professor and should feel honored to pass on her teachings.
Works cited
Goldman, Suzy. "James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': A Message in Music," in Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 8, no. 3, fall, 1974, pp. 231-3
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
22 September 2008
The essay by Mrs. Goldman is a very formal and sophisticated essay filled with more details than the story gave originally. She seems to also have taken quite an interest in the story since she knows a lot about the story and gives some background information stated in her essay. Based on Mrs. Goldman’s essay, I would say that she is a great essay writer and a great professor as well. I also realized that she uses lots of FAST words in her essay which enhanced her essay even farther.
I have analyzed her essay and found out an unbelievable amount of literary terms ranging from FAST words to loose sentences to great introductions of sentences. She has started her paragraphs and also sentences in an intriguing way that interests me. One interesting fact was that when she was summarizing the story, she mentioned each major part as a “movement” which puzzles me because it is something that we don’t see in most essays very often. In the beginning of her essay, she tells most of the background information like the year it was published and also gives details about them. Mrs. Goldman also mentions many specific and interesting additional details about almost every part of the story that she mentions during her essay. During her summary of the different parts of the story, I have realized that she adds additional details than the story may give sometimes. I have also realized that she gives great FAST words such as “profundity” and “surrogate” which are two great examples of the many that are spread around in her essay. Mrs. Goldman presents a lot of great details within her essay and shares a lot of really great points as well.
My personal thoughts about the essay would be along the lines of a great essay but more specifically, that it has good organization and great summary details. My thoughts about the summaries that Mrs. Goldman came up with were some great ideas. Main thought that I thought up of was that she discusses the summary is almost as if you were reading the story only a more formal version of it. She also has added a lot of details but has dispersed them evenly so it doesn’t ruin the essay which is a good strategy to balance out your essay. I also think that Mrs. Goldman’s organization is critical and was very well done. She doesn’t jump around on different subjects randomly; instead, she keeps everything in line and doesn’t let anything go out of place. She also does not mention anything off topic anywhere in her essay at all. All together, Mrs. Goldman has produced a wonderful essay and with great organization and detail.
The essay by Mrs. Goldman is a version of the story from the reader’s view and how most thoughts from the reader would be almost the same material. Mrs. Goldman is probably a professor that is a great teacher that her students would deserve. She writes very formally and must have learned a lot from her teachers and is hopefully teaching her students the same thing. In my opinion, Mrs. Goldman is worthy of the name professor and should feel honored to pass on her teachings.
Works cited
Goldman, Suzy. "James Baldwin's 'Sonny's Blues': A Message in Music," in Negro American Literature Forum, Vol. 8, no. 3, fall, 1974, pp. 231-3
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Teddy's (Invisabloid's) ESSAY
Purnell 1
Teddy Purnell
Mr. Salsich
Room 2
20 September 2008
An Essay About James Baldwin's “Sonny's Blues”: A Message in Music by Suzy Bernstein Goldman
Throughout her essay, Goldman makes many phenomenal points and uses many superb words. For example, ”immediately the narrator encounters another surrogate brother in Sonny's old friend...”. Goldman stresses the fact that in his music, is Sonny's life. This is what Goldman writes about for the greater portion of her essay.
In her essay, Goldman writes about “the musicality of “Sonny's Blues”. Goldman writes about the thoughts that other characters have about Sonny's music. “Sonny's fingers filled the air with life, his life”. This is when the narrator realizes that Sonny “needs” to be a musician. Goldman also writes about how James Baldwin writes. “Musical terms along with words like “hear” and “listen” give the title a double meaning.” In other words, Baldwin used things related to music to help you “hear” Sonny's Blues. That is what the majority of the essay is about.
I think that Goldman just wanted to summarize all the most important parts of Sonny's Blues. Although most of the important parts were covered, I think that Goldman should have included the part where Baldwin talked about Sonny's family, because that explains more about why he was peddling heroine-to feed his family. If he was peddling heroine just to make a few bucks, that would be more serious, and it would seem like Sonny was an all out bad person. “You goddam fool, what do want to go and join the army for?””I just told you, to get out of Harlem.” The fact that Sonny wanted to join the army or navy is also important, because it shows that he really hates being in Harlem, and will do anything to get out. I don't agree with him about joining the army just to get out of Harlem, but this is an important part of the story nonetheless. If Goldman had included these parts of the story along with about one or two others, and maybe taken out a few things, the essay would have all the essential sections of the story.
Overall, it was a very redemptive essay. This is one of the best essays I've read. Goldman's usage of words and the depth of her writing made this essay great. It isn't perfect, but then, nothing ever is.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Ty's Essay Yay! 2nd Essay post!
The not too different quote relationship
An Essay based on the relationship between a quote
By the German poet Rilke and a quote by N. Mandela
By Ty LeVarge
An interesting relationship of two quotes, seemingly based on two different objectives, is not too different after taking a second look. The quote that I had chosen to pick was, “Education Is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” by Nelson Mandela in which I had to compare to a quote by the German poet Rilke. This was a quote that struck me like a bolt of lightning and made me think deeply about all of the possible meanings that could be similar to the quote by Rilke and I decided that the quote by Mandela had properties that are parallel to the Rilke quote. I was able to uncover a significant meaning which was that Rilke is telling the young poet to wait for the answers to his questions to come to him on their own and that time is the best way to answer all questions. This is what I think the main theme that Rilke is trying to describe to the young poet and what he should do when he has questions that he feels need to be answered.
The quote by Mandela is one that would stick out of the crowd and would really glow in the dark when read. The main theme that Mandela is saying in this short quote is that education is a powerful weapon that can be reached and used at your fingertips. Education could be used to make you be successful in life to make you have a good job to have a good family and to have a good home. It can also be used to know about something more than others and you could also be a star in game shows too. Another superb meaning is really in the quote itself, and that is that Education has the possibility to change the world and how the human race behaves. Education can aid you in making a great invention that could, for example, make objects hover and go at the speed of light. Your knowledge could also be used to change the way things look such as change the color of an object in seconds or even make it invisible. Lastly, education would make you smarter than some other people in some different situations such as your education in writing poems may make your poem be in the top five in a poem writing contest. A person that has had education but not as good as yours may not be as smart as you but they could still make changes to the world. However, because you have had a better education you have the possibility to impact the world in a much larger degree. The main point of the quote by Mandela is that everyone can change the world but the ones with more powerful education will make a bigger impact on the world.
The quote by Rilke has a meaning to it which is to wait for answers to come for the questions that are beyond your reach because eventually in time the answers will come. Rilke’s hidden meaning, to let all questions wait until the time is right for the answers to appear, has its own meanings as well. Rilke is saying that there is no need to rush the answers that cannot be found right off the bat but to wait until they find you. The answers that cannot be found can only be discovered through patience and time only then would the answers be seen. Sometimes I think that waiting is the best way to answer difficult questions and that may be what Rilke is trying to say to the poet. Sometimes the answers would just come randomly later and much easier and would make you think, “Oh now I remember the answer to that question!” Also, you may want to seek out the answers for that question after the initial wondering of the question which would make you want to wait to see if any other possibilities that could arise. It is also possible that another point that Rilke is trying to say is that the young poet may understand his questions more if he was to wait a while to come up with the answer. For example, say that when you were 14 years old, you wondered what cavemen looked like back in the prehistoric age, and you pondered the question for hours but couldn’t find out the answer. Then, after years of high school and college you are able to view an approximate animation of what cavemen looked like back then and since you studied them, you now understand all about them rather than back when you didn’t know much about them. All of Rilke’s meanings all have some form of importance that holds his quote together and keeps it solid to be able to understand all concepts in the quote.
Rilke’s quote and Mandela’s quote are not that different if you were to think about them side by side they are not as different as you think just by looking at their main points. I would almost think of the quotes as brothers that are very much alike and are almost describing the same point. One example would be that Mandela’s quote about education seems to tie in with Rilke’s quote because Education is about understanding a subject whereas you would understand a question by learning about it and waiting for the final result or answer to finally reach you. This is a good example of how these two quotes would relate to each other and also goes to show that an answer will reveal itself if you are patient. Mainly what I think these quotes mean is tat it is wise to wait and learn about your question before attempting to figure out the answer.
An Essay based on the relationship between a quote
By the German poet Rilke and a quote by N. Mandela
By Ty LeVarge
An interesting relationship of two quotes, seemingly based on two different objectives, is not too different after taking a second look. The quote that I had chosen to pick was, “Education Is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” by Nelson Mandela in which I had to compare to a quote by the German poet Rilke. This was a quote that struck me like a bolt of lightning and made me think deeply about all of the possible meanings that could be similar to the quote by Rilke and I decided that the quote by Mandela had properties that are parallel to the Rilke quote. I was able to uncover a significant meaning which was that Rilke is telling the young poet to wait for the answers to his questions to come to him on their own and that time is the best way to answer all questions. This is what I think the main theme that Rilke is trying to describe to the young poet and what he should do when he has questions that he feels need to be answered.
The quote by Mandela is one that would stick out of the crowd and would really glow in the dark when read. The main theme that Mandela is saying in this short quote is that education is a powerful weapon that can be reached and used at your fingertips. Education could be used to make you be successful in life to make you have a good job to have a good family and to have a good home. It can also be used to know about something more than others and you could also be a star in game shows too. Another superb meaning is really in the quote itself, and that is that Education has the possibility to change the world and how the human race behaves. Education can aid you in making a great invention that could, for example, make objects hover and go at the speed of light. Your knowledge could also be used to change the way things look such as change the color of an object in seconds or even make it invisible. Lastly, education would make you smarter than some other people in some different situations such as your education in writing poems may make your poem be in the top five in a poem writing contest. A person that has had education but not as good as yours may not be as smart as you but they could still make changes to the world. However, because you have had a better education you have the possibility to impact the world in a much larger degree. The main point of the quote by Mandela is that everyone can change the world but the ones with more powerful education will make a bigger impact on the world.
The quote by Rilke has a meaning to it which is to wait for answers to come for the questions that are beyond your reach because eventually in time the answers will come. Rilke’s hidden meaning, to let all questions wait until the time is right for the answers to appear, has its own meanings as well. Rilke is saying that there is no need to rush the answers that cannot be found right off the bat but to wait until they find you. The answers that cannot be found can only be discovered through patience and time only then would the answers be seen. Sometimes I think that waiting is the best way to answer difficult questions and that may be what Rilke is trying to say to the poet. Sometimes the answers would just come randomly later and much easier and would make you think, “Oh now I remember the answer to that question!” Also, you may want to seek out the answers for that question after the initial wondering of the question which would make you want to wait to see if any other possibilities that could arise. It is also possible that another point that Rilke is trying to say is that the young poet may understand his questions more if he was to wait a while to come up with the answer. For example, say that when you were 14 years old, you wondered what cavemen looked like back in the prehistoric age, and you pondered the question for hours but couldn’t find out the answer. Then, after years of high school and college you are able to view an approximate animation of what cavemen looked like back then and since you studied them, you now understand all about them rather than back when you didn’t know much about them. All of Rilke’s meanings all have some form of importance that holds his quote together and keeps it solid to be able to understand all concepts in the quote.
Rilke’s quote and Mandela’s quote are not that different if you were to think about them side by side they are not as different as you think just by looking at their main points. I would almost think of the quotes as brothers that are very much alike and are almost describing the same point. One example would be that Mandela’s quote about education seems to tie in with Rilke’s quote because Education is about understanding a subject whereas you would understand a question by learning about it and waiting for the final result or answer to finally reach you. This is a good example of how these two quotes would relate to each other and also goes to show that an answer will reveal itself if you are patient. Mainly what I think these quotes mean is tat it is wise to wait and learn about your question before attempting to figure out the answer.
Tristan Yerkes
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
16 September, 2008
You Are So Young
A Comparison Between Two Quotes
These two quotes are, at the same time, very different, and very similar. In fact, if these two quotes are compared, the reader may be astounded how both quotes can have such different and similar meanings at the same time. This difference, and similarity comes from the subject of both quotes, the “best and beautiful things in life”, and the “answers”. These two things are easily confused, because to some, the best and beautiful things in life can be the same things as their answers, for some, the best things in life have nothing to do with their answers, and yet for some, life’s best things and their own answers are sometimes the same, and sometimes completely different. Life's best things and life's answers can be obtained, but perhaps not at the same time.
Even though answers and life’s best things are obtained, both aren’t always obtainable at a young age. In Rainer Maria Rilke’s quote, answers are easily interpretable as personal answers to personal questions. However, in Helen Keller’s quote, “the best and beautiful things in life” are a little harder to interpret. From Keller's quote, one could interpret the best things in life as the most basic and most enjoyable, non-physical things: love, security, acceptance, and some sort of home. Many of us are born with the best things in life, and some of us are not. For those born without life’s best things, it becomes a priority to achieve them. However, no one is born with the answers to life’s questions, or everyone’s first words would be, “Now what?” The most human things about life’s questions and answers is that we figure them out in time, and get to live with the questions until we live them, and find the answers
Helen Keller’s “best things” and Rainer Maria Rilke’s “answers” may be completely different in some aspects, but in others, they are very much the same. Both the best things in life and life’s answers are acquired somehow. One obtains them in different ways and at different times. Other than that, they are similar: both are important to one’s life, both are, in a way, reasons to live, and both can be related (e.g. you need love to figure out why people love.) Answers and best things in life can even sometimes be the same thing.
Even though the answers to life and life’s best things are sometimes the same, they should never be grouped together due to their irregular differences. It can be said, however different life’s best things and life’s answers are, both are somehow found during a lifetime. In conclusion, these different but similar quotes are thought-provoking and could spark many good essays about them.
The best and beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.
- Helen Keller
Kyle's Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
16 September 2008
Inside is where it Counts:
A comparison between a Poem and a Quote.
TS: Rainer Maria Rilke and Hellen Keller’s thoughts are very much the same and that’s why I used Ms. Keller’s quote to relate to Mr. Rilke’s poem. SD: There have been a few ways that I’ve found these two pieces of writing connecting to each other. CM: They both connect by the comparable meaning of their words. CM: They also both connect by how they have been applied in life and how they even have the same number of sections to elucidate different points.
TS: Mr. Wilke’s poem has two passages that I have found to connect with Ms. Keller’s quote quite beautifully including a song by a famous pop star, Christina Aguilera. SD: “Don’t search for answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.” Says Mr. Rilke in his poem and surprisingly Ms. Keller’s quote does a very good job in summarizing this passage in very few words, she says “The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.” CM: My interpretation of this is that Ms. Keller meant that you shouldn’t look for the important answers because they’re inside your heart, they’re inside you, they will always be inside you and when you look into yourself you’ll find them. CM: In the song “The Voice Within.” by Christina Aguilera, she sings “When there’s no one else, look inside yourself, like your oldest friend, just trust the voice within.” once again this reminds us that sometimes you can’t get the answers from people around you and you have to look inside yourself for the answers. CM: There are many instances in life like marriage, when people can’t really ask for advice from someone else in the end the final decision is up to them. SD: Sometimes though, the answers aren’t always clear like Mr. Rilke explains “You are so young and I would like to beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.” so we have to just live with them, and learn to love them, and accept that we don’t fully understand them. CM: Ms. Keller’s quote also confirms this because she states that “The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen.” Even though these answers may not be the best and most beautiful things in life that certainly doesn’t mean they’re not hard to find. CM: Also just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there you just have to wait until the time is right for it to reveal itself. CS: Ms. Keller’s quote connects so well with Mr. Rilke’s poem because they both had similar confidence that what was inside a person was what was pure and may help them to understand why what’s inside them is so important.
TS: The poem and quote also relate to each other through me in a way. SD: In a way Mr. Rilke could be talking to me or someone my age because he uses the phrase “in your youth”, which indirectly involves me, and also even the poem’s name, Letters to a Young Poet, the word young is in the title. CM: I also have applied what Ms. Keller has said in my life when lacrosse season came around last year. CM: Some people close to me started to pressure me into trying out for lacrosse, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it and I already knew that I was fond of gymnastics so I asked myself, which one do I want to do? CM: I decided that I wanted to try out for gymnastics and I was proud that I made the decision myself and ended up loving the benefits of choosing what I wanted. SD: Both the poem and quote are also split into two main parts. CM: First Ms. Keller says what cannot happen to the “best and most beautiful things in life” For example she says they “cannot be seen, not touched” and then she explains what can happen to them “they can be felt in the heart”. CM: In addition to that Mr. Rilke also has this structure in his poem, first he talks about the young poet he’s referring to and trying to give some helpful advice to, and then he explains what could happen if you follow his advice. CS: Mr. Rilke’s poem and Ms. Keller’s quote relate even more than the similar meanings they share, they have been prepared in a similar way and they both have been used in someone else’s life.
TS: I feel that Mr. Rilke and Ms. Keller area very analogous pair. SD: It’s easy to find similarities between these two people’s way of thinking. CM: They have the same beliefs about things from inside you and how to solve answers by looking inside yourself. CM: They are both connected by more ways than just their thoughts.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Welcome
Hello!!! We are four ninth grade english students from Pine Point school and we have created this blog for our Collaboration Project. So basically our project is that we have to relate our own lives, two books that we are going to read,two of the weekly poems, one of Shakespeare's passages, and all of our essays to our english theme of the year, which is Designs, Patterns, and Motifs and put it on this blog so please wish us luck.
Sincerely
Kyle, Tristan, Ty, and Teddy
Sincerely
Kyle, Tristan, Ty, and Teddy
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