A wrinkle in time.

A Wrinkle in Time is a book about the battle between good and evil and the ultimate triumph of love. Every character is clearly identified with either good or evil: the "good" characters include Meg, her family, Calvin, the Mrs. W's, Aunt Beast, and the Happy Medium; the "evil" characters include IT, The Dark Thing, and the Man with the Red Eyes. In the absence of any ambiguities or shades of gray, the book's central conflict is clearly and starkly dramatized so that readers of all ages can understand its themes and its message.

Many of the book's central messages are contained in the lessons of life that Meg must learn in order to successfully complete her quest. First, she must learn to overcome her desire for conformity and appreciate her own uniqueness as an individual. In the beginning of the book, Meg feels awkward and out of place at her high school. She is involved in frequent fights with her peers and is sent to the principal's office for her misbehavior. Meg tells her mother that she hates being so different and wishes she could just pretend she was like everyone else. This wish comes terribly true in the form of Camazotz, with its rows of identical houses and identical human beings; the planet is a parody of her extreme desire for conformity. Only after she recognizes the evil of this planet does she appreciate the value of being an individual. Outside of this specific plotline, the book also more generally celebrates human creativity and individuality, hailing as heroes the greatest creative geniuses in the arts and sciences, including Einstein, Bach, da Vinci, and Shakespeare.

Another important lesson that Meg must learn is that she cannot know everything. In the beginning of the book, Meg insists that nothing remain unexplained or unquantified. For example, when she meets Calvin, she immediately asks her mother what she thinks of him; she wants an instant and definitive answer. Her mother urges her to be patient, but Meg cannot wait for opinions to form gradually. Meg wants to comprehend everything around her all at once. However, in the course of her travels, she slowly comes to appreciate her mother's words of wisdom: "Just because we don't understand doesn't mean an explanation doesn't exist." She can accept that the musical dance of the creatures on Uriel is beautiful even though she cannot speak their language; she can accept that the Black Thing is evil even though she does not really understand what it is. When she ultimately confronts IT on her return visit to Camazotz, she can at last appreciate the dangers of a mind bent on total understanding, on definitive and authoritative explanations: such a mind becomes robot-like, mechanical, and unfeeling. Meg's rejection of IT is thus also a rejection of the need for total understanding of the world around her.

Yet another theme of the book and an important lesson for Meg is the inadequacy of words. Author L'Engle transports her characters to several other planets on which communication takes place through some means other than language. Mrs. Who explains that it is very difficult for her to verbalize her thoughts, and thus she usually resorts to quotation; Aunt Beast tells Meg that "it is not easy at all to put things the way your mind shapes them." The beasts normally communicate through their tentacles, just like the creatures on Uriel make music by moving their great wings. Charles Wallace can communicate with Meg by reading her mind. L'Engle thus demonstrates that verbal speech is not the only way in which we can share our thoughts and feelings. Meg learns this lesson in her rescue of Charles Wallace: she ultimately triumphs over IT not through eloquent pleas or persuasive rhetoric, but through the sheer power of a love too great for words.

The triumph of love is one of several allusions in the novel to Christian theology. Jesus is the first figure cited by Mrs. Whatsit as a fighter against the Dark Thing. Indeed, the whole imagery of light vs. darkness is traced back to the New Testament by Mrs. Who in her fondness for quotation: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." In addition, Mrs. Whatsit translates the musical dance of the creatures on Uriel into the Biblical words of the prophet Isaiah, and Mrs. Who's second gift to Meg is an excerpt from St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. Yet the characters are never identified as Christians, nor do they engage in any ritualistic religious behavior. Rather, the book refers to Christianity only at the theological or philosophical level; and while the struggle between good and evil forces in the world is a central aspect of Christian theology, it is also universal in its scope. Thus while L'Engle makes explicit references to the New Testament, she uses these references merely as a jumping-off point to explore larger, more universal themes.

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
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?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

i think he is referring to this world as only a dream, maybe because he has lost someone who is important to him in just a wink of an eye just like waking up after a short dream. that everything is temporary and someday we will wake up and we'll gonna face the reality which is the life after death.

This poem is about the true nature of the human existance. We are created from God\'s dream and we are dreaming ourselves. There is no matter-none- only the illusion of solidness. He is sad that he cannot save us and therefore, himself from this illusion and all the pain and suffering resulting from our own ignornance.

LA of my sec i term 1 till now.

It has been nearly three terms and i have reflected greatly on the things i have learned so far.
Time goes by really quickly, how i wished i could turn it back. I have improved on my comprehension skills, scoring a relatively high mark for it. I have been desperately trying to improve on my summary, but my efforts were in vain, as i have deproved in it. i feel that i can improve in it if i work even harder next term.

I also feel that poetry is very interesting with all its many traits. The poetry writers all receive my respect as i look though their masterpieces, and identify what message they are trying to tell us about, especially those that can have two or more meanings.

I think that the 'pass the ball' technique is effective if everyone is using it correctly and seriously,
not treating it as an opportunity to sabotage another classmate.

I feel that the class lectures are interesting and through this, i have developed a very strong friendship with nicholas who also appreciates literature.

Snapshotland

It shows that in this world, everything is peaceful, no troubles, no worry's, just like a dream world, this shows that the writer is imagining this, but then he transform it into a another style of poetry:

Snapshotland

In Snapshotland everyone is happy all the time.

It is the Promised Land where people sit with flasks of tea

on smooth sand by a flat sea and smile and smile and smile.

The sun shines all day long and every day in Kodachrome

or sepia on sand boys and sandgirls who never

stop smiling from the time they first appear, with buckets,

in crisp, gingham pinafores and bonnets on the sea-shore.

Lovers stay in love forever; married couples never

grow tired of each other; everything is always just right.

The dolphins know exactly when to leap into the air

and stay there for the permanent delight of passengers

aboard the pleasure-boat which never passes out of sight.

Nobody in Snapshotland grows old unless they want to,

judging by the way they go on smiling so, in deck-chairs,

on the beach, or in old-fashioned gardens with lavender

and grandchildren here and there - and no one dies, ever.

Even if they don't appear later, the people are still

always there, smiling through the lavender and dolphins

and the buckets full of pebbles on the same sea-shore.

By

Sylvia Kantaris

This is beautifully done, with class and skill and a touch of unseen poetry.

I like how the way the writer presents her idea---in a very well elaborated way.

The last stanza tells us that this poem is not based on real facts.

"Even if they don't appear later, the people are still

always there, smiling through the lavender and dolphins

and the buckets full of pebbles on the same sea-shore."

It also talks of immortality, as shown in the second last stanza:-

Nobody in Snapshotland grows old unless they want to,

judging by the way they go on smiling so, in deck-chairs,

on the beach, or in old-fashioned gardens with lavender

and grandchildren here and there - and no one dies, ever.

This is a children poem, yet done so well that even an adult would gape and be mystified by it.

evacuee by isobel thrilling

A case stood in the hall
outlining the weight
of fear,
her doll felt cold,
she knew then
it had always been dead.
She left it
on the pillow,
heir to the wall-paper
roses and wolly-dog.

Shadows clung
to her clothes at the door,
light struck bone.
She walked unshaded
down streets,
climbed a train and watched
the receding
lamps of platform faces.

The lady was kind,
wove stories
with tinsel thread;
but the texture of her voice was strange,
her mouth
seemed painted on wax;
the smile ran red.

i feel pity for the evacuee. Her case "outlin(es) the weight of fear", showing that she is carrying her fears to her new home. Her doll, probably a source of utmost comfort to a seven-year-old, "felt cold" to her as "it has always been dead." Even the doll is of no comfort to her as she leaves it along with the "wall-paper roses and woolly dog", things that she cannot bring with her to her new home. She "walked unshaded down streets", with no one accompanying her on her new journey. There is no mention of any of her family members in the first two stanzas, hence the reader does not know if she has any kin, hence we know that she is lonely. Her loneliness is further emphasized as she has to be evacuated to another part of the country due to the war, to stay with people she has never met, hence the sense of unfamilarity makes her even more lonely.

Thus this is the message the writer is trying to convey: That the evacuee is going to a new place and feels very lonely and could only turn to the doll for comfort

Limerick

There was once a young man from Wimbledon ,
who liked drinking wine,
one day he found a huge container of wine that was fine,
so he drank and drank until he was trembled on.

Life

Life is a candle with a bright shining light,
it burns brightly and and divinely,
with thousands of bright prospects,
waiting to be used,
but slowly,
the light goes dim,
the shine it once had was gone,
it dances and flickers,
and it dies down,
and now there is nothing to do but to take this pile of useless wax,
and throw it into the trash,
such is life.