Haiku

Sunny coming spring,

Dandelion is smiling. 

hopes float in the air 

Fluffy seed grows high,

under the shining sun light

waving and singing

open the window

feel the transparent rain drops

chilly, also fresh 

poem ring out wild bells

Ring Out , Wild Bells 
Alfred Lord Tennyson

1
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,     A 8
The flying cloud, the frosty light;     B 8
The year is dying in the night;        B 8
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.   A 8
2
Ring out the old, ring in the new,     C 8
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:   C’’’’ 6
The year is going, let him go;        D 7
Ring out the false, ring in the true.  E 8
3
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,  A 8
For those that here we see no more,   B 8
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,  B 8
Ring in redress to all mankind.    A 8
4
Ring out a slowly dying cause,    C 8
And ancient forms of party strife;  D 8
Ring in the nobler modes of life,   D 8
With sweeter manners, purer laws.  C’’ 8
5
Ring out the want, the care the sin,  E 8
The faithless coldness of the times;  A 8
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,  A 8
But ring the fuller minstrel in.   E 8
6
Ring out false pride in place and blood,   B 8
The civic slander and the spite;  C 8
Ring in the love of truth and right, C 8
Ring in the common love of good.  B 8
7
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,  D 8
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; E 9
Ring out the thousand wars of old,  E 8
Ring in the thousand years of peace. D 8
8
Ring in the valiant man and free, A 8
The larger heart, the kindlier hand; B 8
Ring out the darkness of the land, B 8
Ring in the Christ that is to be. A 8

I have written down the numbers of syllables and the rhymes at the end of each line. Most of them have 8 syllables for each line, and the rhymes form of them is ABBA, except for Stanza Number 2 and 7. The numbers of syllables are not as strict as others. The poem mainly talks about the wild Christmas bell.  For the bell is one of the symbols of Christmas, it can take away the “old staff” and the “bad luck” of the past old year and bring us the “ new start” and “ good luck” of the coming new years, while it rings. This poem wants to tell us about the poet’s good wishes for the new year. And everyone should enjoy this great holiday at this time. The form of the poem is quite clear and strict, so when I read it I can feel the beats and the melody. Besides, this poem is very positive and happy, which is very suitable for the Christmas holiday, and people can express their wishes by reading this poem. It creates an atmosphere of happy Christmas and New Year successfully, and that is reason why I like it. It is quiet long, it is easy to understand and recite. When I read it, I can sort of see the images of the ringing wild bells. Such as the ringing golden bells are hanging outside everyone’s house, and the beautiful sound of them brings people joy and good luck. They are shining in the day and night, in the snow and wind. Families and friends are getting together, sharing their happiness and listening to the bells. The bells merge into people’s happy memories naturally, and becomes to an essential elements of the unforgettable Christmas. This image will float in my mind while I am reading this poem which makes me happy and appreciate.  

In-class writing about the poem

This Dog - Poem by Rabindranath Tagore

Every morning this dog, very attached to me,

Quietly keeps sitting near my seat

Till touching its head

I recognize its company.

This recognition gives it so much joy

Pure delight ripples through its entire body.

Among all dumb creatures

It is the only living being

That has seen the whole man

Beyond what is good or bad in him

It has seen

For his love it can sacrifice its life

It can love him too for the sake of love alone

For it is he who shows the way

To the vast world pulsating with life.

When I see its deep devotion

The offer of its whole being

I fail to understand

By its sheer instinct

What truth it has discovered in man.

By its silent anxious piteous looks

It cannot communicate what it understands

But it has succeeded in conveying to me

Among the whole creation

What is the true status of man. 

I chose a short poem from Tagore. The reason why I chose this poem is because Tagore is my favorite poet and many of his projects are very beautiful and famous such as Stary Birds and Let Life Be Beautiful As Summer Flowers. But this poem is only a sweet dog which likes to stay with people. The object of the poem is very small but interesting, so I chose it. And the poet seems like to talk about the dog is pure and loyal, although it cannot express its thoughts, it can understand people and always accompany people. (I am not sure) 

Reflection of the Creative Project

                                                     Dolls of A Happy Family

      Six different characters which are designed by myself were painted on the surface of three blank wooden dolls. They are Ashmol and Kellyanne, Annie and Rex, Pobby and Dingan which are the main characters of the book Pobby and Dingan. Different couples of characters have different backgrounds, and of them have different deep meanings.  

     The characters on the biggest doll are Asmol and Kellyanne. They have golden hair, dark eyes, and even some nifty freckles. Ashmol wears an orange T-shirt which we can tell his open and vivacious personality by looking at it. There are some green leaves patterns behind and next to his shoulders, which symbolize that Ashmol is like leaves. He is positive and willing to face the sun, and he shows his enormous vitality. In the book, he tries his best to help his family solve problems. Compare with Kellyanne, he has longer life, so that is why the background of Kellyanne are roses----beautiful but fragile. On the biggest doll, Kellyanne is wearing a pink dress standing in front of the roses. She is pale and pretty just like those delicate and charming roses. Above Ashmol and Kellyanne’s heads, it is a night sky. The patterns on the sky are not stars but mysterious white circles which represent Kellyanne and Ashmol’s endless imagination because in the book Kellyanne and Ashmol are the two people who believe Pobby and Dingan so as those imaginary things are real.

     For the second doll, we painted Dad and Mom on it. Annie has blond straight hair and wears a deep purple skinny shirt. There are not many emotions on her face, and she looks strict. In my opinion, she is not that strong, and she always felt unhappy and homesick during that time period when her family was in a terrible situation. On the opposite side of the doll, we drew Rex. He has curly brown hair and wears a black suit. He has a face of vicissitudes that because he works in the mine and needs to do those heavy works everyday. We want people can see tired on his face. The background of Annie and Rex are the national flags of Australia and England which tells the nationalities of them. And we combine the two national flags together without separate also want to show that love can break the differences between country, culture and language (Australia English and British English have some differences). 

     The two important characters are on the smallest doll----Pobby and Dingan. Red and pastel blue are the colors that normal people will not use to color their hair. However, they are Pobby and Dingan’s hair colors which indicate that they are not normal people but imaginary friends of Kellyanne. The background of Pobby and Dingan has four colors: blue, yellow, green and pink with colorful butterflies on it. These four colors are light colors which can create an atmosphere of wonderland, and butterflies give people a common sense of fairies. All of those patterns show that Pobby and Dingan are not human. Besides, Pobby wears white and blue that means he is a pacifist. The reason why we painted them on the smallest doll is that we see the doll as a person, and the closer the thing to the inside, the closer to the spirit world. 

      The most important part of the project is a picture of the whole family sitting at the dinner table. The happy shows on everyone’s face, and we can feel the peaceful atmosphere at that moment. The whole family is united together. This picture is the shining memory which is like the core of the dolls so as the whole family. I learnt that family will always be the strongest support of a person, and the happy memories among the family members will become the bond of them which can make the love tighter and deeper. 

      I met many difficulties when I did the project such as the water color are very easy to stick on my fingers and when my finger with color press on the blank space of the doll, it becomes dirty. So it is very hard to deal with this problem. Besides, it is also difficult to draw pictures on the curly surface, and it always makes my finger ache if I spend a long time painting.  

The progressed we have done

Last Firday we only designed 2 characters---Kellyanne and Ashmol. Now we have finished designing the six characters, and we used pencil draw them on the dolls. And we have almost finished coloring the biggest doll with Ashmol and Kellyanne on it. We still needed to draw a picture of the whole family on a piece of paper and write some sentences on the back of it, in order to put it inside the doll. Besides, we need to color other 2 dolls which have Dad and Mom and Pobby and Dingan on them. 

proposal

Proposal of creative project:
Yichen and me want to make a project together which has something to do with painting. I suggested to paint the characters on blank Matryoshka dolls, each doll paints two characters. I think that will be a great idea because draw pictures on the Matryoshka dolls would be a lovely way to show our work. And Yichen suggested to put a long piece of paper inside the dolls and draw some important plots on it. I think it is a very fancy idea, too. And it will surprise people. 
So: 
1. We have already bought the blank Matryoshka dolls on Amazon, and it will be shipped to school on 12th April. ( I once thought that we can make the ceramic dolls by ourselves, but then we realized that it will waste too much time, and we won’t finish the project on time. Then I gave up.)
2. We will design the cartoon style characters by ourselves not copy from the internet, but I will search for some cartoons and learn how to draw them. There are six characters in total, Ashmol, Kellyanne, Pobby, Dingan, Dad and mom. The important thing for this part is that I need to zoom those characters characteristics, so that we can recognize who is who, but it is very hard to draw. 
3. Then we will use watercolor to color the dolls. Actually I have no idea where can we borrow the watercolor. ( Maybe I think I should at least two groups of Matryoshka dolls because we will probably make some mistakes while we are painting)
4. We will use color pencils to draw the long paper with plots. We will discuss together to choose 3~4 plots that we think are the most important and link them together on one piece of paper. The plots we are going to choose are: Kellyanne plays with Pobby and Dingan. Their fence are setting on fire; Annie sits on the bed watching old photos; Ashmol goes down to the mine and finds Pobby and Dingan by himself during the midnight; All of the people in the town come to join Pobby and Dingan's funeral. The thing is that piece of paper would be very tiny, so that it is also hard to draw.

Finally, I want sort of improve my art skills, and I have this chance to create my own cartoon characters. So that It also can improve my imagination. 

The meaning of the quote

Explain the meaning of this quote: "The secret of an opal's color lies not in its substance but in its absences." What does it mean to the characters in the novel and how does it relate to the plot? What do you think the opal symbolizes for the family and especially for Ashmol? Why is it important that it contains many colors and why are the absences important?

     This sentence is at the beginning of the book written by Australian Geographic, and it is really hard to answer because It does not show its meaning directly. The "secret"."opal's color","substance" and "absences” all have deeper meanings. In this sentence, the word secret means that the most important thing or the truly meaning. Then we can rewrite this sentence into “The most important part of an opal's color is in its absences not in its substance.” Opal is the core of the book, and it is the big background which surround the characters. Rex's dream was finding the opal. Opals are real to him. Ashmol likes those beautiful stones too. And there is even a big valuable opal on one of Kellyanne's imaginary friend Dingan's bellybutton. And this family is kind of be gathered together in Australia because of opal. Besides, at the beginning of the book, I remember that there is a plot about a teacher said to Ashmol, opals are magical and there are sprits in them. This plot creates a magical atmosphere for the opal, and let readers curious about how mystery the opals are. And in this book, opal also symbolizes dream, which is the support of people and like the guide light leads people walk straight towards their goals.

      Then I am going to talk about the substance and the absences in the sentence. I think the substance means the things that people can see and really exists, which symbolizes Ashmol's family members. They have different personalities and all of them are nice and sweet, so do the substance colors which are different and colorful. The absences means the things which we cannot see and maybe they do not exist at all, that symbolize Pobby and Dingan. They are imaginary friends of Kellyanne. They are invisible, and we cannot tell whether they are real exist or not actually. If you believe, they are exist; if you do not, they are not. But they brought huge influences to Ashmol's family, especially to Ashmol. They change Ashmol from punching air to show that he does not believe those imaginary things to a mature boy who can carry a heart with hope to find them in the deep mine during the midnight. They are Kellyanne’s imaginary friends, but they can change Ashmol and make him become more hopeful, positive and enthusiastic to face everything. They are like a gift. That is why they are really powerful and important. 

      In Pobby and Dingan, the main idea is that dream should be protected because they are valuable and important. 

      In my opinion, dreams can be separated in to two different types, one is your goals which is achievable and touchable, like opals, they are beautiful stones that Rex wants to get; one is your imagination, which is much more creative, and they are not real and even might not exist, like Pobby and Dingan, Kellyanne's imaginary friends. They are far from our real life, but they are still meaningful and important to people's certain period of lifetime. However, as I just mention, Pobby and Dingan are the absences of opal's colors. They are important and mystery and what the lies are telling. They are the other form of dreams which contains more of our hope and impossible, for it has endless possibility. No one could tell how they look like and why people have those ridiculous imaginations. But they are the truly meaning of a dream. 

     

     

list 3 ways that the ending of the film is different from the ending of the book

1. In the book, it says Kellyanne died and was burried with P&D, but in the film, she does not.

2. In the film, the director of the funeral gives Dingan's bellybutton back to Ashmol, but in the book, he does not.

3. In the book, there are thousands of people attend the P&D's funeral, but in the film, there are just about one hundred.

Quiz

2. What connection does Asmol make between the land covered with seawater and Pobby and Dingan? Why is that important to the story?

Answer:

" I felt a shiver go down my spine just thinking about how strange this was, that a sea was once here where now there is nothing but dry land. And suddenly I thought how maybe if this amazing thing was true it was just possible Pobby and Dingan were true too."

Ashmol thought if this extremely change which was the land he was step on was changed from sea could happen, so that nothing will be impossible. That means Pobby and Dingan have some chances to be real too. ( Analyze: what Ashmol saw was the land, and he did not see the sea so do everybody because no one can live thousands of years, but people still know and believe that the sea was truly exist here thousand years ago. That means the thing which you cannot see by your own eyes still possibly exist.) 

* This was Ashmol's mental activities, which clearly shows that at this moment, he converted his mind and believed that maybe Pobby and Dingan were truly exist because of the scenery he saw and what his dad told him. It shows the big change of Ashmol from strongly believe that P&D were fake to try to think about maybe they are real. This big change pushed the plot move forward. It lay the foundition of Ashmol found Dingan's big opal bellybutton and Pobby and Dingan's died bodies. 

5. In the very end of the novel, Ashmol talks about what it’s like to “believe in something which is hard to see. Or to keep looking for something that’s totally hard to find.” Discuss the importance of imagination and dreams in this novel. Why are they so important even if they cannot be seen. Consider what dreams Rex, the father, and Annie, the mother, have in the story. Consider, also, the dream that Ashmol has. How do those "unseen" dreams connect to Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan?

                  

         (Mine : Rex)

Answer:

All of Ashmol’s family members have dream.

Kellyanne's dream is "her imaginary friends Pobby and Dingan.

Rex's dream is: finding tons of valuble opals by himself and becoming to a succeful millinair, so that        everybody will admire him and no one will tease him and his family anymore.

Kellyanne is the youngest member of this family, and she is not that mature, so her dream is the most childish and objectivise which is P&D. But it is still equally with everybody else dream. It is important to her and effect her a lot. So that it is meaningful. 

*What is dream? in my opinion, dream is like something you strongly believe no matter what other people say, and it can cheer you up and has good effects on you. Dream is the shore of a person during a certain period of his\her lifetime. 

 Of course, dream is invisble and untouchble because it is on the profound level of your sprite. However, it is important for everyone. Because of dream, Rex could still stay at this tough mining area and keep finding opal when other miners set his fence on fire and called him rat. Just because he strongly believes his dream that he can find opal. That's true his dream might be ridiclous to somebody, and he might face many difficulties and troubles, but it is close and touchable and really exist to him.

 Because of P&D which is Kellyanne’s dream, she could have her own friendship and have a happy childhood. It weighed the same as Rex's dream. So dream so be protected.

Dreamis powerful. Because of it people have goals, and it can make you face your tomorrow much more positively.