Dreams

Author's Note: This is my figurative language essay on the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes. I picked it because, I can relate to it, and I know what he's talking about. I find his figurative language well worded, and easy to understand. 

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.

Figurative language is something you can find in every writing piece. It changes the meaning and the tone in a story. I think a story with more figurative language is harder to understand, but it makes the overall story better. Figurative language is found everywhere, and I thought it was used well in a poem by Langston Hughes, called Dreams. It’s not a long poem, but there is a lot of figurative language, and even more meaning.

In the first stanza, the poem reads, “Life is a broken winged bird, that cannot fly.” That’s a metaphor for saying if you don’t follow your dreams, and work for them, you will never succeed with your goals, and you will not be happy. If it’s really what you want, effort is huge. The tone this metaphor is displaying is hard work and having big dreams. If you never dream, your life will be the same each and every day.

While this excerpt is a metaphor, it also has personification. It is showing life as a bird. If it has broken wings, how is it expected to fly? If you don’t believe your dreams can be real, how can they come true? In the second stanza, it also displays personification, still using life as the comparison, but this time using “a barren field frozen with snow.” These lines show that Langston Hughes think that a life without dreams is a life without meaning. He is expressing that without dreams, nothing can happen, and with a barren field, nothing will ever grow.

I found this poem compelling because it can relate to all people. All people dream and all people have felt the pain of losing something you dreamed of. Another thing that made it compelling was the author’s use of great metaphors. I can read his metaphors, and see them. When I see the broken winged bird, I can make the comparison to chasing dreams.

Almost every poem has figurative language, but this one stood out to me because it was such a short poem but it had a lot of meaning.  The way the author went about his word choice was great, which made the meaning of the poem more understandable. This poem is probably my favorite poem, because my dreams are big, and it just gives me more confidence. You only get one shot at life, and if you really want your dreams and you don't get them, you will regret it later. The length of the poem doesn’t matter. It could be a 3 page poem or a three sentence poem, but all god poems have good figurative language. 

My Trip To Florida

Author's Note: This is my new predicting piece on my trip to Florida. These are my expectations for vacation in July.

All sacrifices have payoffs; this will be especially true on the morning of July nineteenth.  My dad and I will get up at three in the morning for the long and exhausting journey to the vacation state of Florida. Every year My dad and I go to visit my grandparents in Florida during mid March. Between the sun, food, and golfing I’m sure to expect an amazing vacation.


Perhaps best known for the sun Florida is the ideal state for vacationers especially like my dad and I. On a perfect day its 80 degrees with no clouds. You can bask in the sunlight while enjoying the warmth of tropical weather. Overall when when most people go on vacation they expect perfect weather; thats exactly what I desire on my vacation.


Weather can affect a lot of things though including activities you do outside. In fact one of my grandparents favorite activities is golfing, and since last summer it’s one of my favorite sports as well. Hopefully I get to go golfing twice but I wouldn’t be surprised if I only get to go once.


Most activities build up quite a bit of hunger, and golf is no exception. For some unknown reason my grandparents eat out almost every night of the week. Last year in Florida we ate out every night of the week except one; this year I expect exactly the same. Perhaps my favorite food while on vacation is pizza at a fancy Italian restaurant. It is probably the best pizza I’ve ever had, and I love to have it every time I can.


Florida is one of my favorite places to be in the world. Every time I go it’s a blast, and always it should be one of the highlights of my year.  My grandparents are amazing and are some of the most generous people ever for giving my dad and I this opportunity for a ton of fun.

Bullying

Autheor's Note: This is my again revised point of view piece. I am looking to score a nine or higher on point of view. I wrote this on the book Bullywell. 

Bullying. It happens every day. Every hour. Every minute. Some people are victims—Some are the people who start everything. Tyro Bergen likes to make peoples life miserable—especially young Bart Rangely who just lost his father in the attacks that happened at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The board of educators decided that they needed a kid like Bart in their school because he was as the newspapers called him “A Miracle Boy”. He was then, enrolled into Baileywell Preparatory Academy; Otherwise known as Bullywell. In the book Bullywell by Francine Prose it shows how Bart matures through being bullied and losing his father. It shows his triumphs and misery through being bullied in a middle school/high school. But, that is just how middle and high school both work. You will get bullied. You will get in trouble. You will have the time of your life. All of those things are normal in a teenagers life during that time period.  Some people however may push someone over the edge, and that is what happens at Bullywell.

Tyro’s Point of View- (Scene 1) I can’t believe this little kid just gets to come here for free, just because his dad died in those twin towers! And better yet I have to be his stupid “Big Brother”, what a trash school! This is outrageous! This is painful! This is agonizing! Oh boy, here he comes with his mother. Dressed all nice, probably the nicest clothes he has. That is an awful outfit. Now, I need to take this fake smile off and introduce myself to this worthless kid. (Scene 2) Oh, this kid is really dead now. Trashing my SUV! That is a brand new top of the line $60,000 Escalade and he just—ruins it like that! The concrete when through my windshield like a knife going through hot butter. The scratches from the keys seared through the metal that I adore so much! And he slashing my new tires! I am officially done with this kid!

Bart’s Mom’s Point of View- (Scene 1) Explaining to my son that his father and my husband are now splitting up is a harsh and painful truth that he needs to understand. He left me, for someone. Prettier. Smarter. YOUNGER. Then I am, I have to face the facts. Bart may be angry, shocked or confused. None of this is his fault. I just want him to know that I will always love him. (Scene 2) After everything that has happened recently, I think it is good that I am getting out of the house and looking at this new private school for Bart. I was astonished when we received news that Bart was getting a full scholarship to go there! I’ve always wanted him to go to the nicest school in the state and now he gets too! Of course—on some not so great terms. But, I am excited for my baby boy Bart to finally get the education he truly needs!

Nola’s Point of View- (Scene 1) Today, I met a boy named Bart. He visited me at the hospital. I’m in this place because of my terrible skin disease.  Apparently, Bart is doing time for his crime. The crime of trashing an Escalade. He struck out with the other two patients and now he met me. We talked, and talked, and talked! It was a very enjoyable time for me and I hope he visits again soon! (Scene 2) I’m really sick. I want to see Bart! Instead, I’m stuck in this terrible room with this tubes. I know my time is short, I read the doctors notes.  All I want is Bart. He is the only one in this world who truly understands me!

Being a teenager is tough already. Then losing a close family member, a close friend and being bullied can take a real mental and emotional toll on a kid’s life. All of the terror, horror, and torture that he is put through. We’ve all bullied someone. Calling them a name, pushing/shoving them, and anything you wouldn’t like someone to do to you, you would to them. You really don’t think your causing them pain but you are. Life lessons on this is to always treat people how you want to be treated and be a good person. In your life, you will meet good people and bad people. Bart met good and bad people. He changed his life because of Bullywell. No one should change because of bullies. You have to fight to keep yourself. You have love who you are. You have to be you. Bart learned valuable lessons from the school and everyone today learns lessons from school. However, sometimes it’s what to be more street smart than actually learning things in school.

Buried Treasure (Revised)

Author's Note: This is a creative ending to the story Buried Treasure. I am using this for my prediction piece. I added why I thought this ending was fitting to the story. I revised it to meet my goal to get an 8.5 or higher on predicting.

The golden hook laying on the floor next to him, the blacksmith stove heating up getting ready to melt down the pure gold pirate hook. The day had been filled with much more than the normal day, burying dead guys, stealing gold, you know, your normal day. Finally, the stove had warmed up, and he walked over to the stove getting ready to melt the last piece of what stood of Clarence.  He reaches down with his trembling hands to pick up the hook, but something doesn't feel right. He keeps remembering the same words that Clarence said before his last breath: "You best be burying me with my treasure." But that's not what Cody did. The shakiness of his hand was imbearable to the situation. He was about to melt the hook when his conscious took over.  It was almost like a feeling where you were sleep walking. He couldn't help himself. Running now, back to the remains of the dead body, he is running through the forest.  All is good until he hears the chop of the tree.  The tree starts timbering towards his helpless body. Surrounded by boulders, he tries to make a quick escape, but the tree had won, towering down onto his right hand.

I thought this ending was fitting to this story because of how nervous Cody was. Cody was a nervous person the whole story, and got even worse after he killed Clarence. He said in the story that he would burn him and everything about him, and the golden hook was the last thing standing in the way of his victory. He was nervous the whole story, so I thought that he would be a coward and not finish his goal. I also thought that he would try to run away from the truth.

Night Hoops Through Trent's Eyes

Author's Note: This is my revised point of view piece on a text, instead of the sports moment I did before. I did this to complete my goal to score a 9 or higher in point of view.

The point of view of a story really changes how the reader feels about certain things in a story. What if the point of view were to change and the outlook was completely different? Would the reader feel completely different about the story, or maybe not think of characters as highly? If the point of view of the story changed, and it was now told from Trent’s point of view instead of Nick’s, the reader would react completely different. In the book Night Hoops by Carl Deuker, the story is written with Nick as the narrator.

In the book, Nick sees everything as a good thing, because he is a sophomore on the varsity basketball team, and life is going good. He doesn’t realize what happens in other people’s lives, and thinks they are all like him. When he realizes Trent, another main character, doesn’t have as good a life as him, his parents and brother always getting into trouble, he automatically thought that Trent was a bad kid. That wasn’t the case. If the story was written in Trent’s point of view, he would be a kid going for the same thing as Nick, a spot on the varsity roster.

Trent is not a bad kid, he gets misunderstood a lot. He is a god kid in a bad family. His brother already had a criminal record, and his dad was in jail. His mom was barely home, and life was tough. He was alone with his brother a lot of the time, and his brother would make him do terrible things with him sometimes, an that just got Trent a bad reputation.

At the end of the story, Trent becomes good friends with Nick through varsity basketball, and they hang out a lot of the time, which keeps Trent away from his house and away from his past. He was ready to start over, and get a new, better reputation. If this was written as Trent, he would’ve been that nice guy the whole time, and over the course of the book, he would try to convince people that that was the real Trent.

The point of view of a story can really change the outlook of the reader about certain things. Maybe the original narrator missed something, and their side is completely different. The reader would feel completely different about those characters. The reader will get a lot of different feelings if you change the character’s point of view.

One Call Can Change A Season

Author's Note: This is a piece that I wrote about a botched coin flip that cost the Steelers the game on Thanksgiving Day. I wrote this from not the Lions point of view, but from the Steelers point of view. 

Have you ever had a moment when you are in a game and a call doesn’t go your way, and it changes the whole game? Or if something happens that gives the opposing team momentum and you can’t come back? This happens, sadly, a lot in sports. There are prime examples of this, and in big games, which is even tougher to comprehend. Thanksgiving Day football game, everything is going good. A tough, smash mouth game that went into overtime.  It all came down to the coin toss. The Steelers were away so they got to pick heads or tails, and they chose tails. The coin goes up in the air, and then falls hardly to the turf. It finally stops moving, and it is clearly tails…so we thought. The referee called it heads when everyone standing right there and all the fans watching on television, knew the real call. The Lions had ”won” the coin toss, and elected to receive. In a sudden death game, the first team to score in overtime wins. The Lions marched straight down the field and scored. The game was over and Detroit went home happy. The Steelers, had a different feeling, a feeling that they had the game stolen from them. 

In the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room, there was a lot of despair and sadness in the air. They felt like they should’ve won, should’ve had a chance to at least touch the ball in overtime. After all, they did win the coin toss. The locker room was completely silent, except for the clanking of the helmets and pads getting put into their lockers. They fought all the way up until the end, and it’s a shame that they had to lose like this. That was going to be a long trip home, and it didn’t help that everyone was infuriated.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Lions were in their locker room partying, and all riled up. They felt a little guilt though, knowing that they probably should’ve lost, and the roles would’ve changed. You can’t change it now, so why not party with your teammates? A win is a win.

There have been some horrific calls in sports. Some not as bad as others, but all bad calls are bad calls. In a close game, those calls could cost a team their chances for that whole year. You never know what could happen to your season, so protect it the best you can.

Fighting Ground vs. The Patriot

The Patriot and the Fighting Ground

In the Fighting Ground, a boy named Jonathan decides to run away and serve in the Revolutionary War. Jonathan was bullied since he could remember, and decided he was no good, so he had nothing better to do the join the war. Jonathan wanted to become a hero, and  he thought he could do that. Some events in the book could relate to the movie The Patriot.

In the movie The Patriot, it takes you through the story of the Militia and how they went about war. They made a huge impact on the war, and helped the Americans gain their freedom. A hard part about that is leaving your family. In both cases, in Jonathan’s and in Benjamin and his friends’ case, they both left their family to serve in the Revolutionary War. Family might be the toughest thing about war. You never get to see them, and the time you leave may be the last time you have eye contact with them.  With Jonathan, it was a little different. He was only thirteen, and his parents didn’t want him to go. It would be almost throwing his life away, only being thirteen, the only fighting he had ever done was with his parents. Benjamin, Martin was leaving behind all of his kids, and they didn’t want him to go. They begged him to stay, but he needed to help his country, and fight for their freedom in their future.

Family and running away are huge, but fear is another similarity. If I was going into warfare, I would be scared to death. Leaving my family, and at such a young age, Jonathan is a brave kid. A lot of fear must go through a persons mind in the war. They have to look around and keep their head on a swivel because you never know who could be around you. That is scary to think about. The way people go about things in the war is amazing to me, knowing what could be on their mind.

The people in the war give up so much so we can have freedom. They gave up their lives at home and left their family behind. The war calls for a lot of fear and heart break, but they all come out heroes, no matter what happens.