The Tree of Memories and Futures

Its the day before Christmas and I still have lots to do. I plug in the lights and our tree comes to life. I lose track of time as I gaze at that tree, looking at all the ornaments, I smile for this brings back many memories.

The white clay stars which were molded years ago. My mother and I made them. There are little wooden men, made for cracking nuts. They hang from a branch now, the paint on them starting to chip. The lights on the tree, gleam off the pieces of tin. Lots of designs on those pieces of tin, from socks, to Santa and Angles. All these remind me of my family, and how much I care for them. I would not be the person I am today, were it not for my family.

The smell of evergreen makes me look up. Look! The bells, many colors and many sizes all hanging from golden string. The star at the top, lit in all its glory. The bells make me think, of something I once heard. That bells ring to remind you of those gone. I think of all the people who I miss, those who passed, and those that were taken. A tear rises to my eye as I smile and reminisce the good times I have experienced with them, and how much more I with I had.

As I gaze around, taking in all the sights and memories, my eye catches a new addition. From a very good friend, who's memories are both good and bad, she gave me a little drum set, hanging from some twine. The bass and the snare sitting together, and the hi-hat at the edge, the little cymbals actually clang when I tap them. Friends and friendship mean a lot to me, and even though they don't always help, friends are there to make the effort. I care and they care. Seems like a fair agreement.

As my eyes continue through the tree I decide to look down. There under this thin Douglas Fur sit the gifts wrapped and bagged. The ribbons and the paper, both tissue and wrapping, makes me wonder whats inside. I think of what is to come, am I really still so young? Life is finite and I still have so much to do, my future within my grasp. I make a vow, there at that tree, before the new years come. I must make more of my life, with experiences and pleasures of all sizes. I think about collage, I think about a wife, I think about my possible career, is movies really my dream? I still have so much to do and I wont let things keep me down when I know they should not. No more sitting and dreaming, its time to take action.

I snap back to reality as my dog licks my hand, the slime and coldness makes me shudder as I laugh and pat her head. I look back at the tree one last time, full of memories and futures. "What will the new year bring?" I ask myself, only time will tell. Then again, its the day before Christmas, and I still have lots to do.

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The poem starts out being very gloomy, he seams sad or lonely. Then he thinks of a field of daffodils and is instantly cheered up be the amazing appearance of his vision. “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, until he sees a field of daffodils, “When all at once I saw a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils.” The cloud is representing his gloomy, sad feeling in the beginning, the flowers representing joy because they are full of color. He is imagining this beautiful field of flowers which is cheering him up from his sadness. William Wordsworth did a very nice job in capturing the image of the field of flowers and making us imagine it. Wordsworth writes this poem to show us how powerful nature can be and how it can change our mood if we take a break and enjoy it. At the very end of the poem he says: "For oft, when on my coach I lie In vacant or pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude And then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils" This make me think that this whole field of flowers is a vision that is being used to distract him and help lighten his mood. This poem shows the true power of the imagination and nature.

I chose to read and explore the blog, A young persons view on Williams Wordsworth, from the period 4 class. The writers of this blog are; Reed Martin, Megan Nelson, Kody Oldham and Cameron Gray. Their topic is about Williams Wordsworth as well, and it was interesting to learn more and see new perspectives on his work. A Young Persons view on Williams Wordsworth, consists of poems analysis's that I quite enjoyed reading.

Here is the blog: A Young Persons view on William Wordsworth

Their blog is set up nice and easy to read. When I looked at the blog to write this review, there was two posts, so my blog review will be about one of the analysis of the poems. I liked reading the analysis of the poems because I haven't read those poems by Williams Wordsworth and it was interesting to see how another person interpreted his writing. The poem analysis about Andrew Jones, struck me as very interesting. I like how Reed explains the poem, and portrays what Wordsworth is telling us throughout the poem. He tells the story that happens in the poem that is intriguing and pulls me in. Then he begins to talk about the type of person Andrew Jones is, and why people judge him by something cruel that he did. My favorite part of Reeds explanation is when he says "There is always an Andrew Jones in the world, or society we put ourselves in." Because we all know someone who we judge by something they have done or that we have done ourselves, and have been judged because of it. This happens a lot especially in high school, and especially between teenage girls. This quote makes it easy for me to see what Wordsworth is explaining through this poem. Reed then ends his analysis by relating the poem to a particular time in his life. By doing that, he sets up a nice image in my head of what Wordsworth is really trying to explain and get across in this poem.

This is a great blog to read, if you like learning about William Wordsworth poetry, and hearing another view on his poems : Andrew Jones and Perfect Women. This blog provides a clear understanding of the two poems and how you can relate them to life today. There are two biographies of the blog writer themselves, which gives a good insight as to why they are writing about William Wordsworth.

DESIDERIA


by: William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

SURPRISED by joy -- impatient as the Wind
I turned to share the transport -- O! with whom
But Thee, deep buried in the silent tomb,
That spot which no vicissitude can find?
Love, faithful love, recall'd thee to my mind--
But how could I forget thee? Through what power,
Even for the least division of an hour,
Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss? -- That thought's return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore,
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore.

A short but simple poem. Like all poetry you must read it multiple times to find some meaning to it. That being said, again like all poetry, there is more than one possible meaning. To find the meaning, I had to break it down. So lets break it down and find said meaning.

Winter Break

I have longed for this break since the first day of school. The wonderful two and a half week break from the awful, dreaded school. Sitting in class, “only 30 more minutes until Winter break!” my friend yells. Smells of fresh-baked cookies, Christmas trees, popcorn buckets, and home-made recipes start to dance around my nose. Finally. The clock strikes 2:30, free at last! No more homework, no more stressful nights, no more projects to procrastinate on, no more papers to write, no more Wordswork, no more spell check. All there is to do is to enjoy a holiday break and stuff our faces with an amount of food we didn’t think was possible to go into our bodies.
Oh wait. Silly, Silly, Silly, Me.
Did I forget we were assigned a blog project over the break? All those school requirements, I thought we were free from, are still here? Does this mean days will be spent on writing a reading response which is worth too much of a percentage of my grade? Oh! and I must have forgotten about the giant soccer tournament I’m going to five days after Christmas. Does this mean eating healthy all break? Having soccer practice twice a week, on Christmas Eve’s Eve? Going on runs, and making sure none of my relatives get me sick?
Now look where I am. My laptop and English papers surround my bed, where I sit in the center. Dayquil and Kleenex are my best friends, because of course, my good deed of babysitting my two-year old sick cousin back-fired on me. The worries and stressful nights of finishing this school project fill my head, Again! Oh! and the sweet smells of fresh-baked cookies, Fresh pine, home-made recipes, and popcorn buckets are non-tangible, due to a stuffy nose.
Merry Christmas.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

This slightly creepy, but interesting video, is a poem about Daffodils. After researching some articles and re-reading the poem several times, I have come to learn that Wordsworth wrote this poem about the time when he was walking through a field of Daffodils with his sister, Dorothy. In this poem the first line says "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (which is also the alternate title for this poem) this line is false though, because he was in fact with his sister. This is proven because in Dorothy's journal, she writes about this walk with her brother. She also mentions how the Daffodils are dancing and how they seem to be laughing in the wind. Wordsworth includes these lines in his poem (stanza 2, line 6; stanza 4, line 6.) They were walking next to the waterside, and that's why Wordsworth says "besides the lake.." and "The waves besides them danced." Wordsworth may start out the poem with, "I wandered lonely as a cloud" because he wants to set up an image in the readers head. Wordsworth is known for using a lot of imagery and seeing beauty in a different way then most people, especially in the times that he wrote the poem. He is setting up this beautiful scene for the readers to have in their mind of the Daffodils that Wordsworth him self saw. There may or may not be a deeper meaning to this poem, as I see it, this is a poem about beauty and the way Wordsworth describes this scene is unique to any other poet. This is why he was such a popular poet and how Romanticism started. Lets look up the definition for Romanticism...

romanticism(ro·man·ti·cism)
Promanticism:/rōˈmantəˌsizəm, rə-, roʊˈmæn(t)əˌsɪzəm/
noun
1 (often Romanticism)a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.

Look at the last part of the definition, "emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity and the primacy of an individual" Wordsworth included all these definitions in his poem. He was inspired by the field of Daffodils to write the poem, and he writes the poem in a way so the reader can see what Wordsworth himself saw of the Daffodils in the field by the waterside.

Wordsworth loved Daffodils and their beauty. This could be the reason that when his beloved daughter died, he made a garden full of beautiful Daffodils in her name. The garden was called Dora's Fields. It seems as if he wanted his daughter that he loved so dearly, to be remembered by something as beauteous as herself.

William Wordsworth was the second of five children born on April 7th, 1770. His father, Sir John Lowther, made fair money which enabled his family to have a higher-standard living style. Wordsworth and his family lived in Cockermouth, a west Cumbrian town. Possibly because of his fathers absence, young Wordsworth became off-put and estranged from other children and people (with the exception of one of his sisters.) His parents then sent him, at six years of age, to live with his grandparents in the northern Cumbrian town of Penrith. There he attended a local school. His grandparents were said to be mean authority figures, and they did not help the emotional development of Wordsworth at all. Soon after this, Wordsworth mother died in 1778. This affected Wordsworth, and his emotional status as well. He became even more off-put and preferred to be alone most of the time. Due to his mothers death, Sir John Lowther could not take care of the rest of the kids any longer, and sent them off to live with several other people. After the year of his mothers death, Wordswoth was sent to a grammar school in the town of Hawkshead, close to Windermere. Him and his brothers were boarded with a couple in their sixties, and Wordsworth sister was sent to live with foster parents, away from the rest of her family. Then, in 1783, Sir John Lowther died. This affected Wordsworth of course, and his emotional state was made even worse. With his father and mothers death, his sister (the only person he was close to) moved away, switched around from several house holds, it is no surprise that Wordsworth graduated from Cambridge University, in October 1787, with having no academic goals or an idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He was in emotional distress. This could lead to the sudden idea, for Wordsworth to take a walking tour of France and Switzerland, in the year, 1790. Wordsworth was greatly impressed and inspired by the scenery and the politics of the emerging French Republican cause, which he later writes about in sections of The Prelude. After returning back to London, to attend meetings to support the French Republican movement, he then went to France, where he stayed in Paris for a little while. There, he fell in love with a women by the name of, Annette Vallon. Her parents did not approve of Wordsworth, and tried to ban their daughter from seeing him. But, shortly after Wordsworth returned to England, Annette gave birth to their daughter, Caroline, on December 15th, 1792. Wordsworth lived on the coastal line of London, in hope to return to his newly born daughter and the love of his life. But, this journey was not possible, due to the war between the two countries. Two years later in 1794, Wordsworth was reunited with his sister. The decided to live together in a cottage called "Racedown", where they could pay through the proceeds, from the small legacy left to William by Raisley Calvert (a sick friend of Wordsworth that he took care of until his friends death.) Samuel Coleridge became a regular visitor and a close friend to William Wordsworth. Here the two close friends wrote the famous, Lyrical Ballads. He later stayed with the Huthinson family, along with his sister and Coleridge. They lived on a farm near Stock-On-Tees. Wordsworth was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country side, and he knew he wanted to live in such a place as soon as possible. After his short stay as the farm, he rented a cottage again (Dove Cottage) with his sister. Mary Hutchinson became a big part of Wordsworth life, and before they got married, he decided to go to France and visit Annette and Caroline (in the summer of 1802.) Their visit was noted as friendly and they parted on good terms. After this, Mary and William got married. They had three children, and moved around several times. One of the house caused two of the youngest children to die. Their final home was Rydal Mount, where they moved in 1813. Wordsworth writings had gain some recognition, and he begun to make some money off of them. He continued his writings and popular poems came out such as; The Excursion, The White Doe of Rylstone, Peter Bell and Benjamin the Waggoner. His sister became seriously ill in 1829, not just physically but mentally as well. For the rest of her life she was required constant care and attention. His good friend Coleridge died in 1859, but the two had parted, in 1812, along with Mary years later, due to Wordsworth drug abuse and erratic behavior. In 1843 his beloved daughter Dora died. It was heard that Wordsworth spent that last years of his life wandering the countryside and taking care of his garden (which was named after his daughter, "Dora's Fields".) He died on April 23, 1850. Suffering from the common cold. Williams Wordsworth opened up a whole new era of poetry. His views on nature and the rural countryside made his writings unique and popular. He inspired poets and painters all over the world, and even still to this day.

The two websites I used for this biography:
Website number one
Website number two

The Thorn By Williams Wordsworth