Thursday, September 14, 2017

Back to School (and all its glory!)

I've been meaning to post since school has started, but I have not yet carved out the time.  However, I did want to share with you some of the efforts of my students' current learning and work.  Junior Honors students have been studying Transcendentalism and literature associated with this era (think: Emerson and Thoreau).  But they have also taken time to consider how these ideas are still present in today's society.  In doing so, they created poems that were reflective of:

1.  The style of another Transcendental poet
2.  Transcendental ideals


Here is a brief selection of their creations:

I don’t want to be you
I only want to be me
So what if I have attitude
Your influence too strong, I have to flee
They say the best cure is solitude

So off I go to find myself
To the wonderful world of loneliness
To find out what I’m all about
To find myself my own new route

I see it now so clear as day
What I am and where I’ll stay
To be who I am, is all I want
To create myself, my own font




Sometimes all i need
When i'm feeling kinda down
Is to let my brain feed
On the trees that are nice and brown

All alone in the forest
No one to be seen
There is no room for tourists
I don't want to be mean

Do what you want
Or else it will haunt
Don't let your memes
Be your dreams








The endless Chase is draining
Miles ahead of me and slowly fading
Overtime the Gap is slowly decreasing
This long Pursuit is not yet pleasing

Grinding and Pushing to the end
Traveling with just me and my friend
Overtime the Gap is slowly decreasing
This long Pursuit is not yet pleasing

So many obstacles forming all around Me
Distractions Stopping me from what I should be
Overtime the gap is slowly decreasing
This long Pursuit is not yet pleasing









I go through every day
With my own struggles
But sometimes I think I should say
That I should change

Instead of staying inside
I should explore nature
Take more bike rides
And enjoy solitude

Sometimes I think I’m glued to my phone
Indeed it is true
It’s not too late to atone
And enjoy the world






Alone, attuning myself with nature,
Suddenly I happen upon an astral being:
A projection of myself.
I asked him to teach me,

But he already had.


Do you recognize any of these poets?  Any thoughts on their messages and the language they used to achieve them?