Blog Summary

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Senior project progress

I'd say I'm doing pretty well on the progress of my senior project. I mean I do wish I had some more songs than I have right now, but there are some days when I have nothing in my mind and then there are other days when I have lots of ideas and lyrics running through my brain. I do have 3 songs so far for my album. I'm going to try and go for about 10. Well here's a sneak peak of one song I just wrote to my best friends. 

    "Our Own Song"

It always comes out so typical 

"Friends forever" sounds so dull

There's cards and songs full of words 

All of which we've always heard

There's really simplicity in the fact

Most of which words can lack 

So I'll try and keep it simple and let it be

I'll do my best to truly make you see

How you're the anchor to my boat

I'm your gloves and you're my coat 

You're the brilliant shine to my ruby 

I'm your Shaggy and you're my Scooby 

So Oh how how can not see

You have helped shape this person within me 

Those times when we would cry

Or laugh till we'd die 

Who will be there to tell let me know

That they'll be there through my highs and my lows?

And promise me no matter the miles

You will be there through all my trials 

 

Repeat chorus 

Don't go singin' all those songs

Or saying things that don't belong

Just keep it easy 

Keep it breezy

Because a friendship like ours is our own little song 

Groupthink

Well I'm not necessarily in a complete group. It's more like I'm doing 3 poems and one other person is doing one with me while another person is doing 2 with me. So I'm doing one by myself. One person did their gridlock for one of them so we discussed a lot on the connotation of The Tide Rises the Tide falls because we were all a little confused over that one.

Gridlock- A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Title (of poem means)	If what we think is real is a dream and what is a dream is actually real.
Paraphrase (parts of the poem)	"And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave?" He is describing how few grains of sand there are in his hand yet it seems like there is an endless amount of them and he cannot hold every single one.
Connotation (of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values)	"O God! can I not save one from the pitiless wave?" He means not literally "save" the grains of sand from a wave. He means can he hold every single grain of sand before the water washes it away.
Attitude (What is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?)	The attitude is pondering and questioning.
Shift (At first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift: identify the shifts and explain them)	The big shift is between the two stanzas. The first is describing the sweetness of being in a dream within a dream while the second is describing the horror and frustration the author seems to have trying to tell what is real or not.
Title Revisited (Any new insights on meaning or significance of title?)	It's hard to tell a dream from reality.
Theme	No matter how hard we try to hold on to something or someone we love, they eventually start slipping through our fingers.

Gridlock- The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Titleof poem means	Literally means....a road not taken before. Probably a road that has leaves and branches all on it, no foot prints or anything
Paraphraseparts of the Poem	"And sorry I could not travel both, And be one traveler, long I stood" Means that the traveler wishes he could take both paths but he is only one person so he has to choose which one he wants to take.
Connotationof some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values
AttitudeWhat is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?	The character, the traveler, seems confused as well as adventurous. I also felt confused at first but then optomistic. The whole decision making issue is confusing to people. It's hard to make decisions.
ShiftAt first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift: identify the shifts and explain them	"And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." There's the shift...in the beginning the traveler describes how the one of the paths looks "safe" and how one looks "less traveled" making it seem like he would obviously take the "safe" one. BUT! He decides to take it another day and follow the one "less traveled". He took a risk and it "made all the difference."
Title revisitedAny new insights on meaning or significance of title?	The title basically describes taking risks. Taking a road for instance that you have never traveled. Be adventurous!
Theme Sometimes it's nice to make risky decisions and be adventurous. You never know where they might lead.

Gridlock- The Tide Rises the Tide Falls by Longfellow

Titleof poem means	The tide comes then the tide goes away again
Paraphraseparts of the Poem	As the tide is rising and falling, the sun is going down and the beach-goer leaves the beach. It's night time and it's dark. The sea wipes away the footprints from the day. The sun comes back up and everything awakens but the traveller doesn't return to the beach. All the while, the tide is rising and falling.
Connotationof some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values	The ocean is a metaphor for the sun rising and setting and time going on. Te repitition of the title proves that. The waves are setting everything back to new, signifying a new day
AttitudeWhat is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?	The author is melancholy. He is admiring of the sea's ability to be unknowing of time or events.
ShiftAt first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift: identify the shifts and explain them	The shift is after the second stanza and before the third. We go from nighttime and peaceful to daylight and awakenings.
Title revisitedAny new insights on meaning or significance of title?	The title signifies the continuity of the tide rising and the tide falling.
ThemeLife goes on.

Seventh Reading

I picked the poem The Tide Rises the Tide Falls by Longfellow to repeat seven times. It was interesting because we sang this in choir about two years ago so I already knew the poem. I did have to look a few times at the words because I had forgotten some, but eventually I got the rise and fall of the poem. After about the fourth time I felt like I got it down. Before I did this excerise I went into it already knowing and loving this poem. It made this a whole lot easier to repeat over and over again. And I'm still not sick of it! After every single time I thought about the poem as a whole as well as individual lines. I, as the blog said, meditated on it. The poem is so soothing to the ears that I loved repeating it seven times.