IT Home Learning : Children In The Darkness

Children in the Darkness *

There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

~ Henry M Bechtold

***

The author, Henry M Bechtold was often in Vietnam which he felt was where he belongs to. The Vietnam War was raging at that time, and he witnessed the horrors of war. He was inspired to write this poem when he saw a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle while watching the news programme on TV. This happened on Christmas 2009.

The poem describes the situation of the children suffering in war. It also speaks of the privileges every child should or would have, in contrast to those who are missing out. Their future are bleak as they received little or no education, and also have to endure health problems (as shown in the previous poem, Rainbow Death), etc.

***

Point of view

The persona is anti-war and is concerned about the consequences of war on children.

Evidence :

"There are children in the darkness Who have not seen the light "

"Could we teach them how to read Could we teach them how to dance"

"Or will a war consume them Their body and their soul"

Elaboration :

The persona opposes to war due to the harm it could bring to children. Besides causing physical damage to the children, war also results in loss of privileges of what every children should have, such as education. Therefore, war could "consume" "their body and their soul".

Besides that, the poet also demonstrates a good understanding of the conditons of children during war. This is probably because of his previous involvement in the Vietnam War. The brutal treatment of children still etched vividly in his mind. He felt that they should receive proper education as well as the rights to freedom, instead of fighting and enduring the war at such a young age, otherwise their future would be in total darkness. They may either suffer severe wounds or health problems or having no essential skills to obtain employment in the future.

The poem draws sympathy for the children and serves as a reminder to the effects of war on children, who are ignored and neglected.

Situation and Setting

The children are trapped and "consumed" amidst the chaos of war. They are unable to escape from their predicament.

Evidence :

"There are children in the darkness Who have not seen the light"

"Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole"

"Back into the darkness From which there is no flight"

Elaboration :

The children experienced the tragedies of war; the violence and inhumanity of it. They are caught in it and had no means of escape, as they are neglected and cannot flee without the grown-up's help. Therefore, they are subjected to being tortured, inescapable.

The poem also states that "their life and blood be poured" "down some endless thirsty hole", indicating that men is still thirsty for war and glory, totally oblivious to the children's needs. This destroys their childhood, not having seen the "light", engulfed in "darkness from which there is no flight".

Language and Diction

The author is able to connect to the reader. Good use of literary devices and figurative language is used to convey his message. He also make use of contrast, repetition and rhetorical questions.

Evidence :

"Chalk and blackboards will not be To this door there is no key"

"Could we simply light a candle Could we give them half a chance"

"Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole"

"Back into the darkness From which there is no flight Back into the darkness Into which there shines no light"

Elaboration :

In the rhetorical questions in stanza 3 where the author emphasises that the children miss out a lot compared to their peers, "we" is used to make the readers feel connected. It also shows a contrast between children suffering in war and those who lead a normal life, thus evoking sympathy for them.

Furthermore, the "chalks" and "blackboard" symbolises education, for which "there is no key" to the "door", indicating that the children have no opportunities to be sufficiently educated. Personification is also used in the children's body and soul being "consumed by war", showing that war affects them in all aspects, both physically and mentally. The "endless thirsty hole" describes the war robbing the children of their rights.

In addition, The contrasting words such as "light" and "darkness" is used to highlight the children's condition, where the "light" symbolises the innocence of the children, which "shines no light" in the darkness and we could not "simply light a candle" to protect their innocence, as it is far too exposed to the brutality of war.

Personal response

This poem aims to convey the message of suffering children in war, raising awareness about the implications of war have on them. To me, I felt very fortunate not to be one of those children who have to endure the war besides sympathising with them. I think that we should appreciate what we have nowadays, as there are many children out there who do not have them. The impact of war on them certainly could not be removed. All in all, it is a very meaningful poem.

IT Home Learning : Rainbow Death

Rainbow Death **

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

~~~

This poem is written by Hubert Wilson who was a soldier involved in the Vietnam War together with his four brothers serving in the USAF Security Service. He started having health problems, being sent to a contaminated environment. His health deteriorated and even no physicians has diagnosed the illness. Fortunately it did not affect his brain thus he followed his late father's footsteps and turned to writing.

The "Rainbow Death" in the poem refers to a herbicide and defoliant contaminated with TCDD( Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin) and is used by the US military during the war, also known as Agent Orange. Approximately 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to it, causing the deaths and disabilities of 400,000 people and also birth defects in 500,000 newborns.

Among the "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used. Agents Purple, Pink and Green were produced at that time too, and are also mentioned in the poem.

Therefore, it can be seen that the poem speaks of a modern day ingredient warfare which has resulted in appalling deaths and sufferings. Not only the intended victims (the Vietnamese) but also those who used or came into contact with the deadly weapon were affected. Even after the war has ended, the people there are still suffering up to today. In this poem, the author is trying to show the consequences of war especially the effects on people during and after the war. The horror of modern warfare is also brought up too. It also serve as a reminder on how huge improvements in technology has also lead to weapons of war nowadays to be more destructive than ever to mankind.

IT Home Learning : Is Maycomb a good place to live in?

Since logical and kinesthetic which are the two highest scores for my Multiple Intelligence test are unavailable, I shall be choosing Intrapersonal(a) and Visual/Spatial(b).

Intrapersonal (a)

Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? Explain.

---

Atticus Finch is a central character in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. He is a lawyer and resident of Maycomb County, Alabama, and the father of Jem and Scout.

I would like to befriend Atticus as he is the most upright character in the novel. Of all his traits, I admire his bravery the most. He displayed moral courage throughout the story instead of bravado. One example would be when he defended Tom Robinson although aware that he would be looked down upon. To be in the minority and remain there because of your beliefs is a courageous act. He also put a lot of effort in the case despite knowing right from the start that it is a lost case. Below is a quote from Atticus :

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. " - Atticus

Besides that, he is humble. He is revealed to be an expert marksman, but had chosen to keep this fact hidden from his children so that they would not in any way think of him as a man of violence. He was once the best shot but quit shooting because he felt he had an unfair advantage over others. This caused Jem and Scout to think that their father "can't do anything". It wasn't until when Atticus killed a mad dog with a shot then the children realised it. He is different from other fathers who "show off" a lot.

Most importantly, he understands, in the sense he is able to know the way other people feels. Although many looked down on him for defending Tom Robinson, he did not retaliate. Furthermore, he is able to emphatise with Mrs Dubose for attempting to "die clean" without morphine despite the fact that she critisized him a lot. He even praised her that "she was the bravest person I ever knew". Here's another quote from Atticus :

"If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." -Atticus

Due to these attributes, I would choose to make friends with him.

---

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Spatial/Visual(b)

Design an obituary for Mrs Dubose.

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You can open on the picture in a new tab

and zoom in

to get a better view.

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Links :

Atticus Finch - Wikipedia

Atticus Finch Quotes

Pic Source : Atticus Finch

Pic Souce : Mrs Dubose

IT Home Learning : Learning profile - Multiple Intelligence test

For the first task of LA IT home learning, we were required to take a questionnaire to find out our learning profile which is on multiple intelligence. Multiple intelligence refers to the several independent forms of human intelligence that exist (taken from http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861631837/multiple_intelligences.html), consisting of :-

• linguistic (word smart) 11
• logical (number smart) 19
• interpersonal (people smart) 13
• intrapersonal (myself smart) 11
• musical (music smart) 15
• visual/spatial (picture smart) 14
• naturalistic (nature smart) 13
• kinesthetic (body smart) 19

(The numbers in red refers to my scores over 25 in the various aspects.)

As can be seen, logical and kinesthetic are the best, followed by musical, then visual, interpersonal and naturalistic, with linguistic and intrapersonal being the lowest. The test is mostly accurate for me. While I am inclined towards maths and sports, I find it difficult to express myself most of the time, especially in English.

Linguistic and logical intelligence are definitely essential for schoolwork, and visual intelligence is helpful in a more efficient learning. Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence would help in knowing oneself's abilities and limits to a larger extent and also work better in a team. In the meantime, we should not neglect our naturalistic, musical and kinesthetic intelligence.

Term 1 Week 7 & 8 : Me

What with Chinese New Year, cross country meet, tests, tests and tests, I ended up not blogging for quite some weeks. As all of you know, the first day of CNY is on 14^th February (Sunday). Hence, we have a five-and-a-half day break lasting from Friday afternoon to Wednesday. During this period, I got to attend two celebrations and go back to my hometown.

On 12^th February (Friday), our school held a CNY concert in the morning. We went to Kah Kee Hall after flag-raising for the concert. Frankly, the concert was quite a failure - it was SO BORING! Almost every one was chatting amongst themselves, playing and even sleeping (or maybe just drooping their heads)! Furthermore, with thousands of students packed into the hall, it was pretty cramped and hot and stuffy. Within minutes, lots of us were sweating profusely. The performances include a lion dance (where the 'lions' just jumped about in situ due to limited space), music played by the Chinese string orchestra, CNY songs sang by some teachers, etc. The concert ended at around 11am and we have the afternoon off where we are supposed to 'return to our respective primary schools to pay a visit to our primary school teachers', which is not the case for me.

In the evening of the same day, the boarding school organised a celebration too at the dining hall. It is mainly for those who are unable to return to their hometown as a 'substitute' for the reunion dinner. There, we got to enjoy 'tossing yusheng' and steamboat. We witness many performances such as dance, songs sang by the boarding school council, etc. We have a lucky draw where prizes include stuffed tigers, vouchers, etc. The celebration ended at 8pm and we went back and (most of us)packed up our luggage for returning home the next day.

As I mentioned, I went back to Kuala Lumpur by bus at CNY eve, and then to my hometown at a kampung (village) near Kampar (a town south to Ipoh) the following day. We paid a Chinese New Year call to our grandparents, relatives and friends and receiving angpaus in return. The second day of CNY is very much the same, except we got treated to a movie by our friends. We went to Ipoh for the movie, which was entitled Little Big Soldier (大兵小将) . It was a Chinese movie featuring Jackie Chan and Wang Leehom. The movie was both humorous and moving. On the third day, my father drove me back to Singapore for school the next day.

Have you noticed that Valentine's Day falls on the same day as the first day of CNY? You can visit this my post on Valentine's Day.

Personally, I felt that the CNY break is too short. We only got to visit a few of our relatives in the two days. On the other hand, they have a one week break in Malaysia, allowing them sufficient time to celebrate CNY more 'completely'. Therefore, I hoped that the school will give us a longer CNY break next year.

After CNY comes the dreaded test period, which is also unarguably the busiest time of the term. Starting from 19^thFebruary (Friday) to 27^thFebruary (also Friday), we have a least one test every day except for the weekends and the 24^th (due to cross country meet). During this period, even the laziest could be seen clutching books or notes. It was certainly stressful, and every one let out an audible sigh of relief after the last test has ended.

Amidst the test period, we have the annual cross country meet on Wednesday. Having cancelled last year because of H1N1, this year's is the first for us sec 2s. With the High School Council's tiger mascot (signifying our school's co-values of J-TIGER-R), Top 20 songs countdown (voted by the student body), and running the school flag together with the various levels, the council have significantly added a different touch to the event. Besides that, there's a group of torch relay runners who passed the torch to one another on the school track and finally to Dr Hon, our headmaster, for the lighting up. It was funny when the fire extinguished when it was almost passed to Dr Hon, and a teacher hurriedly lit it up again. The torch relay idea was indeed a special way to start the event.

The competitive runners who were representing their classes started first, followed by the mass run by every one except for the organizers and others such as some members of SJAB, NCC, etc. Some teachers also participated in the event. I was part of the sec 2 mass run, the last to start. I decided to sprint at the start to 'get a taste of what leading feels like'. I got the wish but found it quite pressurizing since I had to run hard in order to keep the lead, and soon I gave up to let others took the lead. The 4km run around the school campus was tedious, especially slopes which took a lot of effort to run. Drinks were provided halfway during the run and I took one gratefully, for I felt like dying of thirst due to the hot weather and the tiring run. I run every few hundred metres, then stopped to walk and took a sip of water for a while, then run again. A hundred metres before the finishing point, I sprinted again and surpassed a few others. I was happy to receive a "Top 50" key chain in exchange for my effort.

Lantern making + провидение-A silver lining

As I have mentioned in the previous post, we were required to make a lantern for the competition and also for ACE points. It was paired work. After buying the materials (refer to the previous post), we started making the lantern last Saturday. Here are the materials needed for the lantern :-

1. 1 1.5 litre mineral water bottle (preferably squared for cutting purposes)
2. 1 0.5 litre mineral water bottle (optional)
3. Decoration(s) for the bottom of the lantern (mine looks like the one on the right).
4. Red colour papers, red packets, or any other red colour materials
5. Lots and lots of tapes!
6. Rubber bands or strings

You will be needing scissors and a razor-blade.

~ Cut off the first quarter portion of the 1.5 mineral water bottle using a razor-blade.

~ Next, divide the mineral water bottle in eighths and cut vertically from the top 1/5 to the bottom 1/5.

~ After that, tape red colour papers or red packets on the inner side of the bottle. You can paste it in any form you like. For me, I had written some calligraphy too. It took up a lot of time and effort.

~ Decorate the outer top and bottom parts of the lantern too.

~ Since what I used for filling the bottle are red packets which are white on the other side, the lantern looks strange as you can see white parts through the slits of the bottle. Thus, I racked my brains and thought of an idea. I cut off the top 1/4 of the 0.5 litre mineral bottle and wrapped it with red colour paper and glued it to the bottom of the bigger mineral water. In this way, the insides of the lantern will still be red as can be seen in the picture.

~ Then, make a kind of hook for hanging up the lantern by using rubber bands or strings, whichever u prefer.

~ Lastly, tape the decorations to the bottom of the lantern, and you are done!

After taking 2 days (approximately 4 hours+) of making the lantern, we finally finished and submit it. Overall, we are quite satisfied with the lantern which we had made ourselves. Our lantern not as good as those you see in the market, however it is a product of our hard effort.

***

On Saturday, we went to a concert entitled провидение - A silver lining (провидение means providence in Russian). It is a combined concert featuring our school's string orchestra, Belilios Public School Symphony Orchestra (Hong Kong) and Beijing Military Music and Arts Academy.

This main objective is to raise funds for the school's needy pupils fund.

It is also part of the Sec 2's Arts Enrichment Programme, hence it was initially made compulsory for us. However, there was an overflowing of seats as the Cheng Yi Auditorium could only host about 500 people. Therefore, we were allowed to refund for the tickets which cost $4 for HCI students (subsidized 50%) and $8 for others. I decided to attend the concert anyway. The concert begins at 7.00pm.

The highlights of the night includes :

• The Four Seasons : Summer (L'Estate) by Antonio Vivaldi (played by HCI String Orchestra)
• Overture to La gazza ladra ("The Thieving Magpie") (played by Belilios Public School Symphony Orchestra)
• The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto (played by Belilios Public School Symphony Orchestra and one solo erhu-ist)
• Symphony no.5 in E minor Op. 64 by Pytr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (also the climax, played by all)

All the songs were brilliantly played. They were marvellous, completely flawless. It can be seen that the performers were talented and had spent much effort for the performance. After that, each school sent one representative to conduct a short piece of music. First, it was the Beijing Military School followed by the Belilios Public School . Lastly, it was our school's turn. We were given a pleasant surprise by hearing our school song played. Only then it occurred to us that they were playing the three school songs respectively.

Towards the end of the concert, a speech was given. A total of approximately $70,000 was collected (including donations) of which $50,000 was singly donated by a parent who wished to remain anonymous! $50k! Just think of the things you can buy or do with the enormous sum of money. The speaker heartily thanked the parent and also declared the concert a success. We went back at around 10pm wearily. Nonetheless, it was a fruitful session and I looked forward to attending more concerts of these kind.

***

Now it's time again for football results! Liverpool held Wolverhampton to a disappointing draw but won 2-0 against Bolton. They were now just one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham. Following the victory, Liverpool has extended their unbeaten run in the league to six matches and looks promising in the challenge for the top four places.

Links :

Liverpool vs Wolverhampton

Liverpool vs Bolton

I shall stop here as I have to revise for my Maths test tomorrow. Bye!

18/01/10 ~ 24/01/10 : Football and Me

Time has passed fairly quickly and before I knew it, it is the start of Term 1 Week 4 already. In this post, I shall share with you happenings of the previous week. Before that, I am sad to announce that Liverpool draw 1-1 with Stoke City, further dampening their hopes of reaching the fourth place. Both sides played scrappily but Liverpool managed to take the lead through Kygriakos. However, Stoke levelled in the 90th minute and cause Liverpool to let another valuable 2 points slipped. Visit this link for further information.

During PE lesson on Wednesday, we were required to run 2.4km or 6 rounds on the school tracks as practice for the NAPFA test. It was very tiring but I managed to run continuously without stopping and finished the run under 12 minutes. It was my first time to be able to maintain running throughout. According to the PE teacher, I am able to get an A/Gold for that timing. I came in 3^rd in my class, but that was because several of my classmates who were in track and field were not taking this seriously, else they would be sure to finish before me. This Wednesday, we were going to run 3km, and the next, 4km to train us for our jogathon race. I am not too sure about looking forward to PE lessons which I have always anticipated. Besides that, I have acquired a pain in my calves and was unable to play football for a few days. The pain subsided soon and I resume playing football after that.

On Thursday, there was a fire drill during study time. On other days, I would be glad of it as the study time would be cut down . However, my workload was high on that day with many deadlines to be meet on Friday and 30 precious minutes of my time was wasted. As a result, it was half past one when I finally went to sleep and woke up quite late in the morning. I had a hurried breakfast and fortunately managed to reach school on time (I raced all the way to the terraces). I decided not to leave things undone until the last minute but get them done as soon as possible to avoid this kind of scenario from happening again.

CCA orientation continues on Friday. I played with some secondary 1s who were interested in joining the CCA (Chinese Chess) to find our their standard. Although those who went for orientation that day was unsatisfactory, this batch of sec 1s were promising. We have 2 former champions in their primary school days and whose standard are even higher that mine. We were also happy to include a PRC scholar who is quite a good match for our Team A. This boosted our strength significantly and raise the competitiveness of the club. I will be facing tougher competition and have to work harder to keep my place in the school team.

On Saturday, I went out with my friend to buy the materials needed for the lantern-making competition. I have decided to make one just like this. We walked a few hundred metres to Coronation Plaza and managed to buy everything except the 2 litres mineral water bottle. After that, we took bus to Bukit Timah Plaza and bought files needed for school at the Popular bookstore there. We went back at around 5pm and I went for football.

The next day, I went out again to buy some type of colour paper required for decorating our cluster, take passport-sized photos of myself (I had completely forgotten about it on Saturday), and to have another attempt at buying the mineral water bottle. My roommate accompanied me this time; his only objective was to buy the colour paper. We went to Coronation again, by bus this time, and located the bottle after a thorough search at the NTUC supermarket there, and took the photos, and have bubble tea while waiting for the photos to process. After collecting my photos, we went to Bukit Timah Plaza (again) and walked around and around the mall searching for the colour paper, but we were unsuccessful. I estimated the distance we walked in the mall is equivalent to the distance from the boarding school to BTP. We took a bus back and was tired out. Although so, I went for football (again) after receiving a sms of invitation from my friend. I felt that we must cherish every second on the football court as there will be lesser opportunities for us to play as the exam neared.

On 20^thJan (Wed), Liverpool got their challenge for a Champions League spot back on track with a 2-0 victory over Tottenham. Although without stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, Liverpool outplayed their rivals and deserved the win. Dirk Kuyt scored both goals in the 6^th and 90^th(pen) respectively. Hence, he was awarded "Man of the Match" deservedly. I shall not elaborate more on the match but here's the link for the live commentary.

The 4th round of FA Cup has taken place over the weekends. You can visit this website for the scores.

That's all for today. Bye and wait for my next post!

Start of a new beginnning

Hi all! It has been long time since I have last blogged, which is about 6 months ago. Since we are required to keep a blog this year too, I shall reactivate this blog and be more active in it. It would be similar to last year - besides school assignments, I shall post about myself and Liverpool too.

The holidays ended before we knew it, and soon it is the start of another academic year. It is a new year, new hopes, new plans, new initiatives, a whole new beginning.

Wish all of you the best of luck in the new year!

IT Home Learning Lesson 3

The Son is in Secondary School by Affran Sa’at

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me

Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment

When my eyes were actually closed

***
Respond to the following threads.

Discussion threads:

1. What are the poet’s thoughts? What were his feelings as he think back on these ?
2. Think back on our days in Primary School. Do you share the same sentiments? What were your memories of those days? Write a poem of no less than 4 stanzas.

1. I think the poet is missing his old school life. He missed the lessons. This can be seen from "Seven to the power of five is unreasonable" and "The capital of Singapore is Singapore" which he learn from lessons. He also described his school life in a humorous way.

2.

Flashback starts,

As my mind travelled,

To my old primary school days.

Happiness, sorrow,

Surprise, anxiety,

Any emotions that can be named,

I went through in my primary days.

Homework, homework and more homework,

Exams were teachers’ favourite word.

Teachers’ word is law,

Whenever we disobey,

Or when results were bad,

Canes come raining down on our hands.

But looking back,

I found that I missed,

My old primary school days,

My old primary school friends,

The fun we have together.

My old primary school teachers,

Whose teachings could never be forgotten,

As they make me into what I am today.

Now,

I wished I had a time machine,

I wished I could turn back the time,

I will be more obedient to my teachers,

I will be better to my friends,

I will study harder for exams,

But it’s too late.

***

Please comment :)

IT Home Learning Lesson 2

Choose a poet by going online to a couple of the internet sites such as Poets.org ( Academy of American Poets website) or American Poetry Online. Blog on your favourite poet. Your entry should be approximately 400 words.

The most popular historical poet in 2008, James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, dramatist, and even a short story writer. He was also a black, who were discriminated in his days.

It was his poems that intrigued me a lot; they are meaningful and left me deep in thought. For instance, the poem Life is Fine leads me to ponder that life is actually good if we think it the right way. I also like the way he stood out for his fellow black American through poem like I, Too, Sing America and Let America Be America Again. Some of his poem rhymes well, such as The Weary Blues.

Langston Hughes was born on 1 February 1902 in Joplin, Missouri to James Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie Mercer Langsten. (His name is a mix of his parents'!) Both parents were mixed race, as Langston Hughes was of African American, European American and Native American descent. Parents divorced, he was raised by his grandmother in Kansas, and moved to Lincoln, Illinois. He started writing poetry there. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and another at Columbia University. All these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, seaman, etc. and moved to Washington D.C. in 1924 Langston Hughes's first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

22 May 1967 was the fateful day. Langston Hughes died at the age of 65, from complications after abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in the middle of the foyer leading to the auditorium named for him within the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

The following are some poems by Langston Hughes :

The Negro Speaks of Rivers (also Hughes's signature poem)

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I danced in the Nile when I was old

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Life Is Fine (My favourite!)

I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love--

But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry--

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Outside sources : Wikipedia - Langston Hughes Poets.org - Langston Hughes

IT Home Learning Lesson 1

Life Is Fine by Langston Hughes

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

1. How are the figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language?

Hyperbole is used in the poem, as the word "die" stressed the author's distress and tired of living. He"hollered" and "cried" which indicates that the water is extremely cold and the building is supremely high in an exaggerated manner. The metaphor in the poem is "I stood there and I hollered! I stood there and I cried!". "Fine as wine" is the simile in the poem, while the symbolism is the river and the building.

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

I like Life Is Fine because it is meaningful. The author intends to commit suicide but in vain, but is it because of the coldness of the river and the height of the building? In my opinion, when someone wants to jump down, he or she would choose the highest building to do it, since the person has already decided to commit suicude, no matter what happened will change his decision. However, in this poem, the author is still aware of cold, and height which shows that there is a still a thirst for life in him. After that, he found out that life is fine. From this poem, I understand that we will encounter a lot of difficulties and setbacks in our life. We may feel distressed and give up and lost the will to live on, but it gives us power to stand up again. There has to be reason for everything that happens to us or in our life. Thus, we should think positively. As we live longer, we understand failure and success, life and death. We will found out that life is fine, sooner or later.