Creative Poem Project: Cats

Cats:
https://youtu.be/3pjotYtmcUg

Revision of Poem Analysis: Cats

Rujian Zhou

English II IS

Ms. Guarino

5/26/2016

Small Poem Has Big World

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” says by Carl Sandburg. Poetry is a literary form that contains a lot of information in short forms and exists for thousands of years. Recently, I read an interesting poem “Cats” written by Charles Baudelaire that lively describes the nature of the cats. Through reading this poem “Cats”, I clearly see the image of cats who are noble, adorable and emotional just like humans, and I am amazed by the writer who magically describes these lively images of cats by thoughtful structures that use the simplest language to show the complexes meanings.

I chose this poem “Cats” because this poem shows exactly the cats in my mind, who behave like Kings and Queens - always think they are more nobility than everyone. The poem describes these natures of cats lively and makes readers have clear images of cats by describing their appearances and actions.

Firstly, the poem uses metaphor to compare cats with “prim scholar” and “perfervid lover” (Line 1, Cats) in the first stanza. These words state to readers the lively image of cats that their emotions are changing all the time. They are prim scholars sometimes, who are calm and quiet. But they are unstoppable crazy like perfervid lovers another time, who are very energetic and can run all over your house all the day. At the next stanza, the poem uses simile to compare cats with “partisans of carnal dalliance and science”(Line 5, Cats). This is kind of repetition of the first stanza, which both of them describe cats’ changing moods. But the poet repeated this in a smart way, that the poet changes the method of comparison from using metaphor to simile, and the poet also changed the words from “prim scholar and perfervid lover” (Line 1, Cats) to “partisans of carnal dalliance and science” (Line 5, Cats). This kind of repetition is clever because it does not directly respect the contains, but uses a deeper, clever way to rearrange it and highlight the cats’ emotion successfully. Readers only get this meaning after look deeper into the poem. Secondly, the poem describes cats by their actions. For example, the poem uses words like “sit”, “shudder”, “stretched” and “lies” (Line 4, 8, 12, Cats) describes the daily lives of cats - rest, play, and rest. These words emphasis cats’ nature are lazy, they can sit and shudder their fur everywhere. They lay down, they stretch a little sometimes, change a new way to lay, then sleep on the floor and continue their dream. The poem lively shows the daily lives of cats in just a few words, how amazing it is! In total, by these appearances and actions from cats, the poem successfully creates the image of the noble cats who always think they are the king and queens of the world.

But if this poem’ meaning is an ocean, these meanings are just the surface of the ocean. Poems are so mystic and unique because there have deeper meanings hiding inside of the poem. The deeper mean for this poem “Cats” is the love from the poet to the cats. After reading this poem, readers can know that how carefully the poet observed cats. It is not easy to describe cats’ natural by just using those few words, and it is even more difficult to generalize those words into 14 lines. The poet must spend a lot of time with cats, to observe their actions and appearances. In the poem, the poet described cats like “prim scholar”, “perfervid lover”, “carnal dalliance”, “science” and “sphinxes” (Line 1, 5, 10, Cats) which all clearly shows the nature of cats. These words are not a normal person can think about in a short time, these words only come to mind after long observation. Because of poet’s carefully observation of cats and the thoughtful language he used, I can see poet’s love toward cats, he or she must be an extremely cats lover. Furthermore, the poet considered cats as a wisdom creature in the poem. In the poet's mind, cats are just like people, who are in the equal position as us, and our true friends. This is why they can show their neutral in front of us without any concerns, just like our old friends. In total, this poem expressed that cats are people’s friends, and people should also love cats inside its words and meanings on the surface.

The lively and meaningful languages are not the only highlights of this poem. This poem also has a thoughtful form in terms of structure. The poem’s structures fit with its contains very well. At the beginning, the poem directly uses metaphor to describe cats, which gives readers a quick image of cats. Then uses the first stanza to give an example about cats, which helps to understand its contains. The second stanza uses the same way. For example, “If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.” (Line 8, Cats) This gives another example of cats that shows cats have very high native proudness in a fun way. Then the poem changes its structure at third and fourth stanzas. The first and second stanzas have four lines, but the third and fourth stanzas have only three lines. The poem gives a new impression to readers through doing this, and it also has new contains. There are comparisons which are more detailed in the third and fourth stanzas, such as “Giant sphinxes stretched in depth of solitude.”(Line 10, Cats) At last, the poem describes cats’ eyes like “Vague Starpoints”(Line 14, Cats) to end the poem. There is an old phrase says that “Eyes are the wind of soul”, so when cats’ souls like stars in the sky, their souls must be clear and beautiful. What an amazing ending for the poem!

In conclusion, for people who do not know poems, poems are like mystic puzzles which people can not ever solve them. But for people who understand poems, poems are the most precious treasure in the world. The poem “Cats” includes a lot of information in its short 14 lines. It is a mystic puzzle waiting for people to solve. After I solve this puzzle and understand its meaning, I am impressed by the poem’s thoughtful languages and his true love towards cats. Poems are amazing because they are not just as simple as they look like, poets improve the contains and use the best words which fit with the contains into those few lines of poems. Poems are like treasures with diamond and gold in the literature, they are waiting for people to search it and find the deeper meaning they have.

Hunter, Charles Baudelaire - Poem. "Cats Poem." Poemhunter.com. Poem Hunter, 
3 Jan. 2003. Web. 26 May 2016.

Revise Thesis

Through reading this poem “Cats”, I clearly see the cats who are noble, adorable and emotional just like humans, and I am amazed by the writer who magically describes these lively images of cats by thoughtful structures that fit into this poem.

Poem Analysis Peer Review

Rujian Zhou

5/23/2016

Peer Review For Yubin

Your poem analysis Hold Fast to Dreams is a thoughtful analysis, which shows her deep understanding about her poem “Dreams”. As the name shows, the poem is about encouraging people to keep chasing their dreams.

Firstly, you have a very attractive introduction. Especially the first sentence, also known as the hook of an article “Have you ever had a time when you just … and dark?”. This first sentence does not only show a question to attract readers but also connect the essay to the poem. In this way, the first paragraph goes better and better. There is a thesis statement about your understanding of the poem, a connection to your analysis paragraphs which follow the introduction, and the necessary information about your poem in the introduction. I always think to write an introduction which like this is very difficult, so I am very impressive by your introduction. In total, it is a well-done introduction that I, personally like it very much.

Then, you have two great understandings about the poem, one is about the surface meaning, and the other is about the deeper meaning of the poem. You separate these two meanings into two paragraph which helps readers to understand. In these two analysis paragraphs, there are examples of the used of poem methods in the poem, such as metaphor. As well as the detailed explanations from your own. I really like your example about the “eclipse”. Because of it, I can understand your ideas about keeping dreams. It is really good to have an example like this in the analysis paragraph, it not only show your deeply understanding of the poem but also let all the readers who read your analysis get to know your ideas. Great Jobs.

From the other hand, even though there are a lot of detailed analyses in the paper, I think there can be more analyses. Because your poem is not very long, so you can try to analysis it from sentence to sentence. This will provide your analysis more details as well as more words. The examples of the poems like “broken-winged bird”, “barren field” and “hold fast to dreams” are all support your analysis very much. So if there are more examples from the poem, your analysis will be more detailed, and believable.

More importantly, even though you have a great understanding of your poem’s meaning, you did not show your understanding of the structures, such as rhyme, repetition, and emotions in the poem. You have some of them in the essay, but they are not enough if you want to complete a better essay. In my opinion, the “meaning of the poem” parts of your essay is great, you only need to add some of your opinions about those structures in your poem, then your analysis part will be perfect.

In conclusion, this is a very well written and well-thought essay, you have done a great job so far. My advice to improve this essay is adding more information about the poem, and more analysis about the structures of the poem. Besides these, it is a very good essay that also help me improve myself. There are a lot of things I can learn from this essay, especially the introduction. I believe it will be a wonderful essay on Friday! :)

Spring Show Review

Rujian, Zhou

5/22/2016

Behind The Spotlights

To many people, the show on the stage is amazing. People admire the actors in front of the spotlights, but they do not how hard the actors and crews work for a show. The real show is always behind the spotlight.

We just finish our spring show Comedy Tonight this week. This time, I am no longer an audience who watch the show, I become one of the stage crew members in the show who control the lights. It is a magical experience to become one of the members in drama. I learn that there is nothing can be done in a second. I see this show from its beginning to the end. I and other crew members find the clothes and props for the show at first. Then with the help of Jack Jack, I know much more about the lights and the arts in the lights. Jack Jack is one of the people who love theater from their heart. I still remember Jack Jack, I and Mrs. Guarino worked in the black box until 10 o’clock in the evening. It is one of the best night for me, I feel so happy that I choose to do light in the theater!

During this two shows for all the members in school, I had been through a lot of things and I noticed many important things. Firstly, the first show at Friday was a nightmare for me. I was so nervous because it was my first show. So during that show, I made so many mistakes that I regret about them every time. Fortunately, the actors did a great job at the same time. Because I went through the show many times, I found out that actors forgot their words sometimes. But they are all talented that they all covered up each other when they forgot the lines. In this way, audiences would never know there was a mistake unless we tell them. I was impressive by all the actors as well as Mrs. Monahan’s quick responses to solve many accidents in the show. They saved the show many times in both two nights.

After the first show, I felt so bad to all of the people in the show because of my mistakes. Even though Mrs. Guarino, Mrs. Monahan, and Jack Jack’s words made me feel better, I still could not control myself to think about the play all the time. At the second day, I decided I would do everything I can to make the second show better. So I came to the Black Box, check the light’s cues again and again until I remembered them all. Even though I remembered them, I checked the light’s cues during the shows again and again, because I did not want to make mistakes again. After all, Saturday's show was better than Friday. I did my best as I could in that show, and I had a good result that I wanted.

In conclusion, it is really hard to make a perfect show, there are actors, crews, lights and sounds that need to control all the time. I think these two shows both has something good and something that need to improve. But after all, all the members of the show brought true happy to all the audiences. For me, the show is not only the part on the stage, but behind all the spotlights. Thank to all the people in this show!

Poem Analysis

Rujian Zhou

English II IS

Ms. Guarino

5/19/2016

Small Poem Has Big World

Poetry is a literary form that exists for thousands of years. For people who do not know poems, they are like mystic puzzles which they can not ever solve them. But for people who understand poems, they are the most beautiful girls in the world. One of the most beautiful, graceful and meaningful forms of literature in the world is  poetry, which contains a lot of deep meanings in just a few words. Reading and understanding a poem is an adventure for people, and people can see a big literary world through the small poems during this adventure.

Recently, I read an interesting poem, which is Cats which written by Charles Baudelaire. I chose this poem because I like cats because they are adorable, and this poem shows exactly the cats in my mind, who are like Kings and Queens - always think they are better than everyone. In details, the poem describes the cats in their appearances and actions.

Firstly, the poem uses metaphor to compare cats with “prim scholar” and “perfervid lover”. This shows readers the image of cats that they like  prim scholars sometimes and they are like outgoing lovers sometimes, which demonstrates the emotion of cats is always changing to the readers. At the next stanza, the poem uses simile to compare cats with “partisans of carnal dalliance and science”. It just changes to another way to describe cats’ play fast and loose. This kind of repetition is amazing because it does not directly respect the contains, but uses a deeper, more thoughtful way to rearrange it. Readers like me only got its meaning after we looked deeper into the poem.

Secondly, the poem describes cats by their actions. Words like “sit”, “shudder”, “stretched” and “lies” describes the daily of cats - rest, play and rest. Cats are lazy, they sit and shudder their fur everywhere. They rest, sometimes they stretched a little, change a new way to rest, then lay on the floor and continues their dream. The poem shows exactly what are cats in just a few words, how amazing it is! In total, by these appearances and actions from cats, the poem successfully create the image of the noble cats who always think they are the king and queens of the world.

But these are only a small tip of the poem’s meaning. The poem is so successful and unique are not only because the beautiful words they have but also because they contain deeper meanings besides the surface meanings that are directly shown by words. The deeper mean of the poem is the love from the poet to the cats. From the poem, readers can know that how carefully the poet observers cats. It is not easy to describe cats’ natural by just using words, and it is even more difficult to generalize those words into a little poem. The poet must spend a lot of time with cats, to see their actions and appearances. In the poem, the poet describes cats like “prim scholar”, “perfervid lover”, “carnal dalliance”, “science” and “sphinxes”, which all clearly shows the nature of cats. Those words are not the normal person can think about, they only come to mind after long observation. Because of those, I can see poet’s love toward cats, he or she must be an extremely cats lover. Furthermore, the poet considers cats as a wisdom creature in the poem. In the poet's mind, cats are just like people. Cats are in the equal position as human beings, and they are our true friends. This is why they can show their neutral in front of us without any concerns, just like our old friends. In total, this poem expresses that cats are people’s friends, people should also love cats.

The beautiful and detail of literature are not the only highlight of this poem. This poem also has a thoughtful form in terms of structure. The poem’s structure fit with its contains very well. At the begin, the poem directly uses metaphor to describe cats, which gives readers a quick image of cats. Then uses the first stanza to give reader example, which helps to understand its contains. The second stanza uses the same way. It gives another example that cats has very high native proudness in a fun way. Then the poem changes its formats at third and fourth stanzas. The first and second stanzas have four lines, but the third and fourth stanzas have three lines only. It gives a new impression to readers by doing this, and it also has new contains. There are comparisons which are more detailed in the third and fourth stanzas, such as “Giant sphinxes stretched in depth of solitude.” At last, the poem describes cats’ eyes like “Vague Starpoints” to end the poem. People says that “Eyes are the wind of soul”, so when cats’ souls like stars in the sky, their souls must be clear and beautiful. It is the best ending for this poem.

In conclusion, this poem includes a lot of information in it. It is a mystic puzzle waiting for people to solve. After I understand it, I am impressed by the poem’s thoughtful languages that contain such great amount of information in just 14 lines. Poems are amazing because they are not just as simple as similize a large contains, poems improve the contains and use the best words which fit with the contains into these short lines of words. Poems are like a diamond in the literature, it is always attracting people to search it.

Recitation of Poem Cats

https://youtu.be/d4VDo_i07cU