Matsuo Bashu's Haiku

Wrapping and dumplings in

bamboo leaves, with one finger she tidies her hair

Moonless nights...

A powerful wind embraces

the ancient cedars

A clear waterfall-------

into the ripple

fall green pine-needles

The suns way:

hollyhocks turn toward it

through all the rains of May

The summer grasses grow

Of might warriors splendid

Dreams the afterglow

Old pond:

Frog-jump-in

Water-sound
 A lightning gleam:

Into darkness travels

A nights-heron's scream

Fall of the night

Over the sea-the wild-duck voice

Shadowy and white

1. Haiku is a poem vividly written to demonstrate different human emotions. In your own
perception, what human emotions are suggested in the poem?

The poem or the haikus of Matsou Basho demonstrated human emotions like loneliness and
lightness.

2. In the poem, what idea does the writer portray by using season and nature?

The writer uses nature to demonstrate the creativity of nature and its connection to the
humans. Humans tend to lose theirselves in nature and find also their own way through
nature. For a writer, a writer experiences nature, feels the experience he had from within and
create a reaction in a poem. The writer also uses season because season and human emotions
are somewhat similar in so many ways. Like how it changes from time to time.

DAY'S END by Tu Fu
 Oxen and sheep were brought back down

Long ago, and bramble gates closed. Over

Mountains and rivers, far from my old garden,

A windswept moon rises into clear night.

Springs trickle down dark cliffs, and autumn

Dew fills ridgeline grasses. My hair seems

Whiter in lamplight. The flame flickers

Good fortune over and over -- and for what?

1. The writer of the poem "Day's End" has enriched it with figures of speech, identify each and
explain.

Personification. The writer used this figure of speech in the line "The flame flickers good
fortune over...". It is as if a flame is a human who flicks good fortune. Alliteration, it is the
repetition of of consonant sounds in the same line such as /f/ in "The flame flickers Good
fortune over and over"

2. Identify the tone employed by the writer.

The tone of the poem used by the writer is serious and sad at the same time. From the title
itself, "Day's End", the writer here, more like, emphasizes the end of life. The line "My hair
seems whiter in lamplight" depicts a clear sign of aging. It's sad because a person cannot
control the end of his fortune and no one can predict how or when life is going to end.

3. What human virtues are suggested?

The "Day's End" taught us to savor every second of our life and make our days end
meaningful and memorable. The human virtues it suggested is gratitude, contentment amd
acceptance. That as the flame flickers good fortune over and over, we should be grateful and
contented so that at the end of the last flick of good fortune, we will learn to accept how it
fades.

ON THE NATURE OF LOVE by Rabindranath Tagore

 The night is black and the forest has no end;

a million people thread it in a million ways.

We have trysts to keep in the darkness, but where

or with whom - of that we are unaware.

But we have this faith - that a lifetime's bliss

will appear any minute, with a smile upon its lips.

Scents, touches, sounds, snatches of songs

brush us, pass us, give us delightful shocks.

Then peradventure there's a flash of lightning:

whomever I see that instant I fall in love with.

I call that person and cry: `This life is blest!

for your sake such miles have I traversed!'

All those others who came close and moved off

in the darkness - I don't know if they exist or not.

1. Describe how the author of the poem sets the mood.

The author of this poem sets the mood by starting about the quest of finding his true love in
a world full of people doing the same and he made the readers curious from the first lines of
the poem as to whether he will find what he's been looking for or not.The mood in this poem
is hopeful and full of love and overwhelming emotions.

2. What idea of LOVE is suggested by the poet?

Love is found the least you expect it and when you find it, it's like your world stops from
spinning and your time stops from ticking and you only see yourself and your love moving.

3. Which part of the poem is similar with the following interpretation, "Love at first Sight"?.
Explain.

The last stanza of the poem is similar to "Love at first sight". When a person falls in love at
first sight, he does not notice his surroundings and all his sight will focus on the person he is
in love with to the point that he could not stop himself from staring at this person.

The Prophet

by Jubran Kahlil Jubran (Lebanon)

When love beckons to you, follow him,

 Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for
your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the
sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's
sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that
knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but
not all of your tears.
 Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your
course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your
lips.

1. Discuss the different kind of love in the poem “The Prophet”.

The different kinds of love in the poem "The Prophet" are self-love, which is the love that will
set you free from any doubts and show you more about yourself; Enduring love, the love that
gives you lesson out of the pain you experienced and the love that will make you mature
enough to understand love; and lastly, the unconditional love, the love from God, it
encompasses every love and this love is immeasurable.
2. What are the different conditions in loving and being loved?

The different conditions of loving and being loved are to melt as you feel the wonderful
feeling of being in love and being loved, to know that pain is part of love, to be wounded as
you love someone with all your heart, to bleed willingfully and joyfully, and to hurt someone
for an acceptable reason and to be hurt in return.

3. Find out some ironies in the poem. Give other figures of speech used in the poem.

These are some ironies in the poem "...pain of too much tenderness.", "..bleed willingfully
and joyfully". Other figures of speech are personification, alliteration, and simile.

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

 By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

 Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—

Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea—

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

1. To whom could be the prisoner be referring to when he said highborn kinsman?

The highborn kinsman probably refers to the relatives, family or anyone who is closely related
to Annabel Lee. Annabel Lee represents the author's true love who passed away.

2. What images does the speaker create be referring himself and Annabel Lee as children?
The images that the speaker create in referring himself and Annabel Lee as children are that
He and Annabel Lee loved each other since childhood and they have been together since their
early years.

3. What catgory would the poem fall into? Is it lyrical or narrative? Why?

The poem Annabel Lee falls into the lyrical category. This poem is intended to be recited or
sung. This poem is dedicated by the author to his beloved who passed away or who was taken
away from him.

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

 For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

1. What is the meaning of chance (line 7)?

The meaning of chance in "Under the bludgeonings of chance" is any circumstances in life or
any harmed by fate. The line 7, simply means that no matter how the speaker or the author of
the poem was beaten in life with many hardships and struggles, he remained unmoved and
no signs of defeat can be seen in him.

2. The word charged (line 14) has several meanings.What does the author intend to mean?
The author intends to mean the word charged in "How charged with punishments the scroll",
as a formal accussation or something that increases the punishments. So, the totality of the
line means that the author did not care what punishments one may bear from life.

3. Do you believe that you are the master of your fate (line 15)? Or do your genes, your
environment, or other factors place your fate outside of your control? Present your opinion in a
short essay.

I do believe that I am the master of my own fate and not the environment, the genes or other
factors. What I will become is the product of the process I am undergoing now. I am
responsible of my own destiny. I am the writer of my own story. It is me who determines what
my future will be by the way I see life and how I prepare myself to the realities.