The Village Blacksmith

The poem “The Village Blacksmith” was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem was first published in 1840. The main character is a blacksmith who lives in a small village.

This poem is a mix between a lyrical and narrative poem. The first three and the last two paragraphs are more like a lyrical poem, and don’t follow any kind of story. These paragraphs describe what the blacksmith’s work is like. Two of the paragraphs, the fifth and the sixth, are more like a narrative poem. They actually have some kind of story in them that describes the blacksmith’s feelings. The fourth paragraph though, is a mix between the other two kinds of paragraphs in the poem. It is lyrical, but it has a very small narrative element which is the children stopping on their way home from school to watch the blacksmith.

There are many characters in this poem, but not all of them are there physically. They include the blacksmith, his sons, his daughter, his wife, other children, and the narrator. For most of the poem the narrator is describing to the reader what the blacksmith’s life is like. But during the last paragraph the narrator thanks the blacksmith for what he has taught him.

The poet uses many rhymes along with easy and hard to rhyme words such as sinewy and brawny, and hard and rough. Most stanzas use the rhyme scheme a,b,c,b,d,b, and all of the stanzas are six lines long.

 The blacksmith has big rough hands, is very strong, and has long black hair. He works all day, all week, just to feed his family. But he doesn’t owe anybody any money. When he went to church. His daughter’s singing made him happy and sad, because it reminded him of his wife, who had died previously.

This poem is one of my favourites that I’ve read so far because it’s easy to understand and is interesting. I think that the meaning of the poem is that you can’t have a full happy life without any hard work.

A Book

The poem, “A Book” is a lyrical poem that was written by Emily Dickinson. The poet is the person speaking in the poem, and also is the person talking to the reader. The poet is telling him or her how books are an inexpensive way for people to travel to different places.

The poem only has one rhyme in modern English, “soul” and “toll”. But when the poem was written, “poetry” probably rhymed with “away”.  The poet tells the reader that books take you to faraway places in your head, without actually travelling there. She then goes on to describe how it barely costs any money to buy a book, and you don’t need anything else. Then she declares that people who are too poor to visit faraway lands can use a book to do so inexpensively.

The Boston Tea Party Version 2

Long ago, before the United States of America was founded, England put a tax on almost everything for the colonists, which naturally made them very angry. Then the English started to regret making all those taxes, so they removed it from everything but the tea. They kept the tea under tax to show that they still had authority over the colonists. The colonists were angry that they were being taxed for the tea, and wanted a say in the government. They thought they were being treated like slaves.

A ship full of tea approached the harbour, and the colonists agreed that the tea shouldn't reach land. Colonists dressed as Indians leaped aboard the ship with their weapons and tossed all 342 chests of tea into the ocean. This happened on the date the 16^th of December 1773.

The colonists were still dressed as Native Americans as they walked passed the house that Admiral Montague was staying at for the night. Montague demanded the colonists pay the taxes for the lost tea crates. The colonists told him to come out and they would give him payment for the taxes. But he made a wise decision and decided to let them not pay for the lost chests. The Boston Tea Party was a grand leap in the colonists becoming independent.

The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships V2

When Paris returned from a war, he was greeted with a crowd and was crowned prince of Troy by his father, the king. Later, Paris was sent by his father to a war with Tyre. On his way back to Troy, he traveled through Greece. The king of Greece, Menelaus, greeted them graciously.

Menelaus’ wife Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world. As soon as Paris saw her, he fell in love with her. Before, Paris had chosen Aphrodite as the most beautiful of goddesses, and as a reward for choosing her, she made Helen fall in love with Paris. Paris was very brave, and during the night, Paris and Helen snuck out of Menelaus’ palace and hurried to Troy.

The next day, when Menelaus found his wife missing, he was furious at Paris and Troy. He demanded his wife back or else he would declare war on Troy. But the Trojans refused to give Helen back to him. Menelaus then started attacking Troy, but with no success. Thus started the Trojan War.

Agamemnon, the king of the wealthy city Mycenæ was very powerful and organized. When he saw his brother Menelaus suffering a humiliating defeat from the Trojans, he called together all the armies of Greece. He promised all of them great rewards if they helped him defeat Troy and save his brother’s armies. Achilles and Odysseus were among the leaders of the Greek army.

One by one the allies of Troy were defeated by the powerful Greek army. But for nine years the Greek armies fought the city of Troy, but could not defeat it. During these nine years, heroes on both sides such as Achilles and Hector died in battle. But on the ninth year came THE PLAGUE. The plague killed more people then the Trojans ever did during the war. But then, Odysseus came up with a plan that would end the Trojan War once and for all.

The Trial of the Bow

Of all the men who tried to bend the bow, not one of them had yet succeeded. Now only two remained, Eurymachus and Antinoüs.

Earlier, when the Suitors were having breakfast Odysseus was given the same amount of food as everyone else. Ctesippus was angry because Odysseus was given the same amount of food as everyone else, so he threw a cow foot at Odysseus. Odysseus moved out of the way and the foot made a dent on the wall.

 Telemachus said, “If you had hit my guest with that, your father would have to prepare your funeral, not your wedding.”

Another suitor said, “It would be bad to do harm to Telemachus or his guest, because he has to choose one of us to marry his mother.”

“My mother can marry who she wants, but I won’t force her to leave this house” said Telemachus.

Everyone laughed, but it was not the laugh of people who were happy. Then one of the suitors said, “Take the stranger away, he makes the room seems dark when he is here.”

Then Penelope took down the bow of Odysseus and brought it to them. She said, “Whoever can hit the target that Telemachus sets up the best, I will marry.” Telemachus set up the target and wanted to go first, but Odysseus signed to him not to do it. First up was Leiodes. He was the strongest, but he wasn't used to working with his hands. He said, “I can’t bend the bow, and I am afraid that it will make many people sad today.”

Then Antinoüs said, “Don’t say things like that! Go get some fat from the kitchen, and rub on the string to make it soft.” They rubbed the fat on it and tried again.

Now, Eurymachus was warming the bow at the fire, then he tried to bend it, but he couldn’t. “I am not mournful for not marrying Penelope,” he said, “I am sad because I am weaker than the great Odysseus!”

Antinoüs said, “Don’t give up, this is the holy day of Aphetor, and he isn't happy that we are doing this, let’s try again tomorrow.”

But Odysseus said, “Let me try, I want to see if I still have the strength that I did when I was young.”

All the suitors were angry that he would even think of bending it, but Telemachus said, “It is my bow, and I can choose if the stranger can use it or not. Go to your room mother, and take your maids with you, this is for the men to decide.”

Penelope left, and Telemachus told the nurse to keep Penelope in her room no matter what. He gave the bow to Odysseus, and Odysseus felt it to see if it had been damaged. After he found that it wasn't hurt, he twanged the string, and then he shot an arrow and hit the target.

“Come, Telemachus,” he said, “There is still another feast to be had today.” Telemachus stood at Odysseus’ side with a spear.

Rapunzel

Once there was a man and a woman who lived next to an enchantress. They really wanted a child, and they were going to have one soon. They also had a small window facing the enchantress’ garden, which was the most beautiful garden in the world.

One day, the woman wanted some of the rampion that was in the enchantress’ garden. She wanted it so bad; she told her husband that if she didn't eat some of it, she would certainly die. He husband didn’t want her to die, so that night he climbed over the wall, and took some. Then, his wife made some into a salad.

The next day though, she wanted it three times as much as before. So her husband climbed over the wall, but he found the enchantress on the other side!

“How dare you steal something from my garden!” she yelled.

He replied, “I only did it because I had to, my wife needs some, or she will die.”

“You can take whatever you want,” she answered,” if you give me your child. I will take care of it like a mother.”

He quickly agreed, and took the rampion back to his house. When their child was born, the enchantress appeared, named the child Rapunzel, and took her away.

Once Rapunzel reached the age of twelve, the enchantress shut her up in a tall tower with no door and no way to get down. When the enchantress wanted to get up, she called out, “Let down your hair, Rapunzel.” Then, Rapunzel let down her hair, which had never been cut. It reached nine-hundred inches down, far enough for the enchantress to grab on and climb up. The only fun thing for Rapunzel to do was to sing in her free time.

After a couple years, the prince started riding through the forest where the tower was. When he heard Rapunzel sing, he wanted to see her very much. He followed the sound of her voice, and he found that the noise was coming from the tower. Every day he rode to the forest to hear Rapunzel’s singing.

When he heard the enchantress coming, he hid behind a tree and saw how she climbed up the tower. So when the enchantress left, he called out, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.” Rapunzel let her hair out the window, and was surprised to see the prince instead of the enchantress. She was a little bit scared first, because she had never seen a boy before, but they became friends quickly. When the prince asked her if he could marry her, she said yes. But Rapunzel couldn’t climb down on her own hair, so every time the prince came he would bring a spool of silk with him, then she could spin it into a ladder so she could climb down.

But one day, Rapunzel made a mistake by asking the enchantress, “Why is it harder for me to lift you up than the prince?”

“You evil child!” the enchantress said, “I thought I had separated you from the entire world, and now you have tricked me!”

The enchantress cut off Rapunzel’s hair and brought her to a desert. When the prince came and told Rapunzel to let down her hair, the enchantress let down Rapunzel’s hair. The prince climbed up, but found the enchantress instead of Rapunzel.

“You would have found your beloved, but she is no longer here!” said the enchantress.

The prince jumped off of the tower so he wouldn't be killed, but he landed in thorns, which blinded him. He wandered through the forest for a couple of years, and then he found the desert where Rapunzel lived. When Rapunzel saw him, she wept over him, and some of the tears fell on his eyes, which let his eyes see again. Then the prince led them to his kingdom, where they lived together happily ever after.

The Boston Tea Party

Long ago, the English made the Americans pay a tax for almost everything. But when the Americans started to get angry, the English decided to remove all the taxes, except for the tax on tea. The Americans were still angry. They yelled, “We don’t care about the few dollars of taxes we have to pay, we care about how we are being treated, England! You’re treating us as slaves by deciding to tax us without any of us having a say about it!”

So when a ship stuffed full of tea crates was arriving at Boston, the Americans decided that the tea would never be brought ashore. When the ship landed, an Indian war-cry was heard. The Indians ran up, brandishing their weapons and boarding the ship, while the frightened sailors just stood back watching. The Indians came out of the hold struggling under the weight of the tea crates. Then, they tossed them into the ocean.

The Indians lined up and then everyone found that the Indians were actually men from Boston. On the way back, they passed the house that Admiral Montague was staying at for the night. He decided that the Americans didn't need to pay the tax for the tea anymore. The Americans took one big step towards liberty.