"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, AND that has made all the difference" The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

DREAMING IN ENGLISH. Are you dreaming in English yet?

WELCOME!!! This is a bit of a challenge for me!!! This blog is intended for all audiences. I hope you enjoy and get the most of it!!!

Here you might find resources to help you navigate the muddy waters of English. The humble aim of this blog is just to keep you in touch with different types of English and different aspects of the English culture , to increase your curiosity about English through many different fields.

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Are you dreaming in English yet? por BE se encuentra bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Unported.

jueves, 24 de noviembre de 2011

AMERICAN POETRY.

We are going to focus on 2 important contemporary American poets: ROBERT FROST and  CARL SANDBURG.

  ROBERT FROST
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.  He is considered one of the founders of the modern American poetry because he expressed in a simple philosophical way different feelings about every day life. He was awarded several Pulitzer Prizes.
Here you´ve go  2 popular poems by him.
In this year you will have your first contact with English Literature and we will work with different writers, poets.
We are going to work with pronunciation, rhythm and try to anlayse a little bit the following poems.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here                     
To watch his woods fill up with snow.          

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake                      
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

 Do you understand the poem? Here we have some reflections about nature.
- What is nature for you?
- What feelings does the poet have about nature?  It seems that he id drawn by an hipnotic spell but Is he positive or negative about Nature?
- Here we don´t have the typcial Romantic version of some romantic poets
- Do you understand the last stanza?  What did he want to do? What prevents him from that?


 THE ROAD LESS TAKEN



Some times we have to make choices in life. It is not possible that one can choose one way and decide to turn back for the other. All  the choices we make are going to affect our future.
It seems both roads are "eaqually laying", they are pretty much the same, that´s why the decision sometimes is so difficult to make... because depending on what you choose you may have regrets...


 CARL AUGUST SANDBURG
  (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was a writer and  editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. He was  called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."



  This poem may be a  bit difficult to understand because it has lots of new vocabulary for you. So let´s focus on general ideas and once more on  rhythm and pronunciation.
Have you got a favourite city? Could your write a poem or a short text about what your city , or your favourite place makes you feel?
This poem is an Ode to Chicago, city where the poet lived, and it shows the industrial moment the city was going through. It shows some social realism. The poem also celebrates his pride in his nation, and its people

To finish here you a have a shorter poem by Sandburg too.
What is Happiness about? What is happiness for you?

HAPPINESS

I ASKED the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell
     me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of
     thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though
     I was trying to fool with them
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along
     the Desplaines river
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with
     their women and children and a keg of beer and an
     accordion

16 comentarios:

Ramón LLoret dijo...
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Ramón LLoret dijo...
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Ramón LLoret dijo...
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Ramón LLoret dijo...

Yes me I understand the poem because there are words I understand easily.

For me nature is the plants, animals, humans etc; is the that are natural.

For the poet nature is the same like me thing that are natural such us snow, rain, plants, animals, humans. The nature is all the earth except the non-living things.

He drawn a positive spell of nature.

Yes more less I think is the easiest of all the stanzas.

Adrian Barreno dijo...

Adrian Barreno Sanchez 1ºESO A :

- What is nature for you?

Nature for me is the
representation of life in the
Earth formed without the
intervention of human beings.

- What feelings does the poet have
about nature? It seems that he is
drawn by an
hipnotic spell but Is he positive
or negative about Nature?

He loved nature and appreciante
it, he has a posotive thought
about nature.

- Here we don´t have the typcial
Romantic version
of some romantic poets

This poem was inspired in a
natural, emotional and
artistic feeling of Robrt Fost.

- Do you understand the last
stanza? What did he
want to do? What prevents him
from that?

He wanted to keep looking at the
lovely, dark and
deep woods, but he needed to keep
a promise, so he
continued walking.

gonzaatleti99 dijo...

Hi, I´m Gonzalo and these are my results.
I understand almost everithing in the poem.Maybe,the only thing in which I have doubts is the last stanza.
I like nature but I think that sometimes is beatiful and sometimes is harmful and dangerous.
I think the that the writer tries to say that nature is strange . Maybe, this make it beautiful.
I think that the poet tries to say is that you have to follow the "road of life" even it´s full of "obstacles and stones" that can be a distraction for us.

@pablo99 dijo...

Hello, I’m Pablo here are the results of the poem’s questionary:

 

-Do you understand the poem?

Yes I do, I think it’s easy to understand

 

-What is nature for you?

For me nature is the interior beauty of the planet Earth.

 

What feelings does the poet have about nature? It seems that he ‘d drawn by an hypnotic spell but Is he positive or negative about nature?

He feels good, he feels like if the nature is the better thing in the world. He is positive.

 

-Do you understand the last stanza? What did he want to do? What prevents him from that?

I don’t understand very much the last stanza but I think he has seen the better thing on the world and he wants to tell to the entire world but he promise not to do it. What prevents not to do it’s that he was tired.   

 

Alejandra dijo...

This are the answers to the poem of Alejandra:

I understand the poem because the vocabulary is not new for me except one or two words.
For me nature is our mother because it gives us all we need to live and is very interesting and beautiful.
The poet likes nature, he wants to stay there and kill himself because once you see that beautiful place you can die in peace. He is positive about nature because he likes to see the beautiful place where he is and also he understands the no verbal language of his horse so he is interested about it.
I like more this poem than the ones that are constantly talking about love.
I understand the last stanza. He wants to kill himself but he has promised to solve other problems before he die.

Juanquir dijo...
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
Juanquir dijo...

Hello I´am Raul.D and this is the answers of the poem.

-Yes, but is a bit difficult to understand, because the poet uses some complicated words.

-Nature for me it´s all that is not artificial for example, the environment, the living things and the Earth.

-The poet likes a lot nature, because he lives in a place where there are woods.

-This poet doesn´t writte romantic poems, he writtes realistic descriptions of rural life.

-Yes, he want to visit other woods but he thinks he will die.

Sandra dijo...

ANSWERS & QUESTIONS OF THE WORKSHEED. Sandra Acosta
(AMERICAN POETRY).

1.-What is nature for you? Nature for me is a different world, because you can live with all the animals , plants ... you don't need to take the car to go shopping because the nature have all the things that we need to survive, and the most important thing is that the nature don't have pollution.

2.-What feelings does the poet have
about nature?Is seems that he is drawn an hispnotic spell but is he positive or negative about Nature?

The poet have more negative feelings than positive feelings about Nature,he is not negative not positive because he said good things about nature and things that he don't like of Nature, but maybe he is positive about nature because nature is so pretty and interesting.

3.-Here we don't have the typical Romantic Version of some romantic poets.
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
The woods are lovely,dark and deep.



4.-Do you understand the last stanza?What did he want to do?
What prevents him from that?
Yes, i understand the last stanza.
He want to save the trees and forest, because little by little they are dissapearing, but he prevents him from that because he is so far away, miles and miles before he die(sleep).

Daniel Díez :) dijo...

Hello I am Daniel Díez, these are my answers for the questionary :

-Yes, I really understood it but there are some difficult words that I didn't understood.

-For me, nature is our life, without nature life won't exist.

-He have more negative feelings than positive but he loves nature.
He thinks that nature is interesting and so beautiful.

-No, it talks more about nature. He is very positive.

-Yes, I understood it. He wants to kill himself but some things that he have to do prevents him from killing himself.

Nicky dijo...

Hi, good day, :P
MY ANSWER BY :Nicole De Olazával
Yes, I understand the poem and I felt that when I began to read the poem, I felt more near of nature and more inspired.
-what is nature for you?
For my nature is like a poem, is a sweet melody of piano, the silence of nature is a beautiful song. The nature is so clean, and so beautiful, is like a very pretty woman and all the women, have jealous of She. And the men try won her love, but she cannot love these men, because they have an impure heart, not like the sun. She fell in love with the sun, since she saw his bright heart.
When the people saw that the nature and the sun were happy, the people were furious, the men of the sun, and the women of the nature. The people began to pollute the nature, like revenge, without a reason. This is for my nature a beautiful woman and we are taking revenge with her, without a reason. We are polluted the nature, every day she is more ugly, for our fault.
-What feelings does the poet have about nature? It seems that he is drawn by a hypnotic spell but is the positive or negative about nature?
The poet thought that nature is a pacific and beautiful place for fall into eternal sleep, the poet could feel the silence and he could feel that was the opportunity for fall into eternal sleep. He thought if he fell in eternal sleep, he would have the opportunity of live in the nature, in the rest of his other life.
He was drawn by a hypnotic spell of the nature I think it is positive and negative. Positive, because he could saw the beautiful of nature and no all the people can see that, only you can see if you have a pure heart. And negative, because he wanted saw all the beautiful things that you cannot see in others places, except that nature.
-Here we don`t have the typical Romantic version of some romantic poets.
Yes, I know, but I prefer poems of love.
-Do you understand the last stanza? What prevents him from that? What prevents him from that?
Yes, I understand the last stanza, he wanted to live and wanted to keep his promises.
He wanted to do a lot of things until of die.

MARIA BLANCO dijo...

María Blanco

Hi, I'm María and these are the answers for the questions about the poem.

-Yes, I understand the poem because is very easy and has a lots of words that I know. I also understand it becuse when I read a book there are parts that are more or less the same as in the poem.

-For me Nature is all the things that are not made by the human hand, and it could be living things or not and also us. I think that Nature is also all the things that are arround us because they come from Nature.

-I think that the poet likes the woods ,because they are pacific and beautiful but also are something dangerous. He doesn't gives a positive feeling about Nature, because he thinks that they are dark and deep, but he also thinks that they are lovely.

-Yes but I prefer romantic poets. They make us to feel better and you can feel happy when you read them. With this poem, you can't feel so happy and a strange feeling of sad is what you feel.

-Yes, I think that is the stanza that I better understand. I also think that the poet whant to suicide but he has promises to keep, a long journey to do and he has to return home.

sonny dijo...

Sonia

Yes i understand the poem because i understad almost all the words.

For me nature is a peaceful place, but it is also a very dangerous place.

He doesn´t have a good feeling about nature.

Yes i understand the last stanza,because it easy to understand . He wants to kill himself , he prevents to do it a promise .

Isabela dijo...

Izabela Bommersbach

-What is nature for you?
For me the nature is a lovely place with peace.

-What feelings does the poet have about nature?
That the nature is perfect and a very nice place.

-Here we don´t have the typical Romantic version of some romantic poets.
Yes,I prefer this poem becouse I thing that this poem help us more and we understand it better than the romantic poems.

-Do you understand the last stanza?What did he do?What prevents him from that?
I dont understand very much the last stanza but I thing that he want to say that the nature is a very lovely place and that he has promises and he will go with the promises till the end of his life.