Iambic Dimeter

When you combine two iambic feet, (ba-booms) you can create poetry in iambic dimeter.  These poems are relatively rare, but are extremely effective for a short observational poem.

NOTE: sometimes the rhythm is more ba-ba-boom [unstressed-unstressed stressed] This is called an anapaestic foot and can be used in place of a strict iambic beat. I have highlighted the anapaests in red. Don’t be a timid poet who is afraid of messing with rhythm; be a confident poet who recognizes the power of rhythm and meter in poetry and make it work for you, not against you.

Music in my Life By Elliot J

“Music Makes the People Come Together”

-Madonna

Music in my life

Music has been a part of Human culture for thousands of years, it is one of the few things that, no matter your background or where you are from, you know and are familiar with. Music has been a part of my life for as long as I remember, (I can guarantee that it’ll be the same for my classmates) but music in my life has mostly been a way to release stress or to pass time. I normally listen to music during study halls, while I’m cooking, or when I feel like it, and it’s been this way for awhile. But songs have a deeper purpose, and this happened upon me while I was traveling through the Sahara desert in Morocco. I spent an afternoon with a group of nomads, and, although nearly six years have passed since that day, I remember the music. All of the humming, singing and dancing, with people who only had a few tents, shocked me. I had always though of people in extreme poverty in Africa as being the sad-looking people asking fro donations that we see in the media. But instead they sang and smiled at us, and had us sit down for tea, even though having tea was a very rare and expensive occasion for them. I think of the singing and dancing when I see the dozens of tea bags that we have in our cabinet. Which is more than the nomads had in a years supply, and we could buy it in an instant. So in conclusion music in my life has been a way to bridge culture gaps and connect with others. So when I think of music, I think of  Aïcha by Khaled, and warm tea in a tent.

Elliot J

Why I chose The Chimney Sweeper

“When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!" So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”

-William Blake

The Chimney Sweeper is the poem I chose for WW Fenn this year, and I chose it for one primary reason; the reality of the boys who sweeper chimneys. It was a real profession that was prevalent in most cities in Europe from the 14-1800s. It was a terrible job that usually only boys that lived on the streets did. It was not very high paying, but very good money for the boys. But even so, it ad serious health risk, lung cancer and other diseases often killed the boys in their twenties. So, in order to help understand this dead profession, I decided to do The Chimney Sweeper this year.

Metacognition

We have all made a film based in some way or another on the classics that we read. But that’s pretty much the only thing the movie’s have in common. In reality we all had very different movies. Some were being filmed real time, and others were recorded with images and clips over them. Connor and I made a recording, and put images over it. This was both a curse and a blessing, because other than our interview, we had the best audio in the class, but we had a very boring visual representation. So in my opinion, we could have done wat John and Jack did, and put clips from the various movie’s of the classics we spoke about. In the end, I was happy with my movie, but thought it could have been better.