Poetry Analysis

"Tears"

By Linda Neff

love laughter and tears (page 28)

Linda Neff is a wife, mother and high-school teacher in Guelph Ontario, Canada. Her book love laughter and tears was published in July 2003 and it contained a series of poems.

      The poem topics included:

• Love and Friendship
• Grief and Suffering
• Mirth and Milestones
• Life Lessons

The majority of her poems mention Jesus and God. The poem I chose was about pain and relief from pain, this is clear when she writes;

"Hope for tomorrow,

Tears of relief,

Tears of pain,

Peace comes after

Drought, like rain,"

In the line "Peace comes after" it is clear that she is trying to portray that after all the pain and sorrow, happiness and relief comes after. 

Two more lines that prove this point are, 

"Flowing in a new direction,

Pain is a watershed place."

The word watershed means that there is an important transition between two phases, in this case the two phases would be pain and relief from pain. This poem caught my attention because it is short, sweet and once I read it I understood it right away. It really captures hope that after pain, there is peace and happiness.

Age Limit on Voting

In my opinion, the age for voting should be lowered to sixteen. A couple of years ago, there wasn't much information on the parties and candidates that really interested teens. Now, it is all over the news and in schools and we have student votes that prepare us for the voting process. On Youtube, there are ads on the candidates and what they want to change. 

Another point is the fact that sixteen/seventeen-year-olds are able to drive at the age of sixteen which could potentially cause people to lose lives. I've always thought that sixteen is really young to drive, but I don't feel that way about voting. Also, not all sixteen/seventeen-year-old's care about voting, therefore not all of them will do it. A lot of parents and teachers do a good job of letting students know about politics and what the right decisions are. 

Sixteen/seventeen-year-old's are more educated and trustworthy when it comes to voting.

The short video called "The Adaptable Mind" was shown and sparked a discussion about the five traits we will need to be successful in the future. The five traits are:

• Curiosity
• Creativity
• Initiative 
• Multi-disciplinary thinking
• Empathy

In my opinion, I think I have Creativity, Curiosity and Empathy.

Creativity- I have creativity because I take Writer's Craft, art and drama in school. Also, outside of school I am creative because I write and do art. In subjects in class I can sometimes think of creative ways to execute plans and presentations. Creative ideas seem to flow really well with me, getting it down on paper is a different story.

Curiosity- I have curiosity because I tend to ask a lot of questions. When things are happening in my friends lives, I always ask about it. In other cases, when we are learning new things in class that interests me, I always ask questions, either in my head or out loud.

Empathy- A lot of other people, as well as myself feel empathy. When one of my friends or family members achieve something big and positive in their life, I am happy for him/her. Same goes for when something tragic happens, I feel sympathy for them. Empathy is a common feeling for a lot of people.