Ramzi’s Academics in Eighth Grade

A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, i parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow:
You are not wrong who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf- tormented shore,
And i hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While i weep– while i weep!
O God! can i not grasp
them with tighter clasp?
O God! can i not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

 What I liked:

I really liked how he rhymed the last word of two sentences like:
“All that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?”
I also liked the second stanza talks about his dream and the descriptions are excellent such as:
“grains of the golden sand-
How few! Yet how they creep” it also shows that reader a very clear image of the location.
Another thing i like is how he used amazing vocabulary to helping him rhyme words such as brow and avow which showed that he didn’t just use the first word that came into him mind.

What I disliked:

I didn’t like how he didn’t follow the pattern of the last rhyming words. For example: stanza one, line three he rhymed words three times in a row and in stanza two, line seven he rhymed three times in a row again.
One thing i also disliked was how i couldn’t figure out what the first stanza meant over a long period of time.

Questions:

Some questions i have about this particular poem are:
- what does the first stanza mean
- what is the main message he wants the reader to get
- why did he choose to go in AA, BB ,CC pattern instead of AB, AB, CD, CD pattern
- why did you choose the location of a beach in the second stanza.

Figurative language:

Some figurative language he used was:
- Metaphor/ he is comparing a dream to a beach or a kiss through out the poem
- Simile/ there are no similes in this poem because it doesn’t contain the words like or as
- Personification/ some examples are : “grains of the golden sand- how few! Yet how they creep.” and “One from the pitiless wave” and ” O god! Can i not grasp”
- Repetition/ an example is : “While i weep-while i weep!”
- Consonance/ there are none of these i the poem
- Onomatopoeia/ a word that is onomatopoeia is ” avow”.
- Internal rhyme/ some of these words are: “Take this kiss upon the brow!” “Is but a dream within a dream”
- End rhyme/ this was repeated through out the entire poem. One example is: “And i hold within my hand” “Grains of the golden sand”
- Assonance/ an example on this is: “All that we see or seem”
- Alliteration/ an example on this is: “All that we see or seem”

Biography Summary:

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Both his parents had died before he was three. Is parents were famous actors. He then went to one of the best boarding school in the area and went to the University of Virginia. He was forced to leave school because he refused to pay his gambling debts. After school in 1827 he joins the United States army and attendant the United State Military Academy but had to leave because lack of financial support. He then wrote his first published poems in 1827 and his second published poems were in 1829. He then began to sell short stories. In 1835 he became editor of the Southern Literacy Messenger. Then in the next ten years he called himself a poet, a short story writer and an editor. He then married his 12 year old cousin in 1836 but after her death his depression led for his alcoholism worsened. He died on October 7, 1849 of acute congestion of the brain. Today Edgar Allan Poe is known as one of the first American writers who was able to become a major figure in literature.

Hello, my name is Ramzi. I am in grade 8 and I just turned thirteen a few months ago. I was born in Malaysia on November 6, 1993. I have been to only three countries which are Malaysia, China and the United States of America. I went to school in both China and Malaysia but not in U.S.A. From Kindergarden to grade six I was in ISB (International School of Beijing) while from Grade seven to now I have been in an International school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In Beijing, China I first started playing the trumpet for one year, American football in grade 5 and I started playing basketball from grade one in “Dribbling Dragons” till Grade three. I then kept playing basketball in my current school in 7th and 8th grade. Usually in China I woke up at 6 to get to school on time since it was quite far away. After school I ate some of the food my chief used to make which I use to think were nasty but after living in Malaysia I kind of miss his cooking. I’d then relax and maybe watch T.V. before doing my home work. After my home work was done I would play with my cat or watch T.V. My life right now hasn’t change much from Beijing except that when I got home from school I would do my home work first thing and get it out of my mind before eating, showering or relaxing.

I am the youngest out of seven people in my family. I have two older brothers, two older sisters, my mom, my dad and me. My brothers are working at the ages 25 and 22 in China and U.S., my sister are 15 and 20. One of my sisters is in collage in Europe while my other sister is here with me and my parents. My entire family is spread through out the in entire world. I get to meet all my brother and sisters altogether every year or so. I really miss them when they are gone but when they come back it is a lot of fun because we can talk about anything and we get points of views from adults, teenagers and kids. It is especially fun and funky when my brothers are present.

My hobbies are playing basketball, baseball, football and basically every other sports. I also enjoy playing outside with my bike or just to walk. I love how when I jog or bike you get exercise and at the same time have the pleasure of looking at all the beautiful sights. Playing with my cat is another hobby of mine. My cat (clawdine) is like a part of my family so I care about her a lot as if she was one of my sisters. Another hobby of mine that I just love is cooking. I don’t know why but I love to try new things and experiment with foods and other spices. I can make quite a few dishes and I am learning a lot more from my mom. Last but lot least is that I love playing with electronically gadgets like my phone, Xbox, T.V., computer, and DVD player. I can’t image a life without these things, I use these appliances every day usually when ever I can’t go out when it’s raining or if I’m board and to lazy to go out.

I feel though that my favorite sport would have to be basketball. I have loved this game since I have first played it and since my brothers and sisters thought it to me. I enjoy how you have to use both your legs and arms in this game and how much focus you need. My favorite actor is Will Smith for sure. I mainly feel that he is my favorite actor because he reminds me of my brothers and how funny my brothers and Will Smith are. I love all the movies he’s in. I also like Jim Carry, Adam Sandler and Vin Diesel. I like listening to all types of music whether it is fast or slow, jazz or rock. When listening to music I don’t take the time to see who the artist is I just sit back and listen to the beat and rhythm of the song. I especially like the artist Akon, Simple plan, Black Eye Peas and Foo Fighters.

When I grow up I want to be an engineer because I love creating new models of buildings and roads. I feel that I would be good for this type of jobs because I love doing projects and using my hands to create a masterpiece. I also want to be an engineer because I enjoy math and science which is useful in engineering. Projects have always been an exciting part of my school work especially if the involves models or creative thinking.

An issue that can change the entire world that I find interesting is pollution around the world. I am most concerned about this because pollution comes in many ways like cars and factories. Pollution can also cause the O-Zone layer to break apart along with destroying people’s health. I feel that this is a major issue because if some how a lot of people started using electric cars there would still be pollution from factories and other vehicles. So pollution is an issue that is going to be impossible to cure if we all don’t act now, especially when there are more babies in the world making more cars for people and construction for roads and houses. Pollution is also a difficult issue to solve because there will be no way for factories to just stop working or for all vehicles to turn to scrap metal.

I don’t think my opinions are stupid and others do; so it is better to keep them to myself.

Dear Anne Frank,

I know how you feel because some times my opinion aren’t talking into play but, I feel that it is still not right to keep all you ideas, feelings and thoughts all bottled up. So I have to disagree with you 100%. I feel this is so because even though my ideas are not put to use often I still believe that you must keep sharing your thoughts because if you don’t you will never learner and progress through out your life. I feel that adults don’t take us seriously because to them we are and will always still be the baby of the family which is wrong and mistaken. The best thing to do is to act like a sensible and mature adult so they might start taking you as an independent person with your great ideas because if you want to be treated like an adult you have to act like an adult. In addition I think that adults don’t really listen to your statements is because from time to time they think they know the best because they’re the oldest and this maybe true because since they have experienced more years of mistakes they learn lots more from them then you or I will ever learn right now. Another factor that might be a great help to get adults to listen to you is to be confident in your idea and want to share it to the world, you should also back up your ideas with reasons and facts because if you know that there good quality questions and believe it, others then will start to also.  It may not be the brightest idea but you still would have expressed yourself. I know that kids have a trouble time at asking questions sometimes because their afraid of what people might say in return weather it’s good or bad but the best way to learn is to learn form others and their opinions of your questions or statements. People may not agree with your ideas but, because very body has there right to their own opinion so remember, even if your listeners say or act like your question is stupid don’t let what others say put you down because if you believe in their bad comments then you will start believing it soon enough. The quote you have said above can also be related to people our age too. People have different perceptions of life either it being the greatest thing that has ever happened or the worst thing in the world with stress and home work but really it’s right in between it because today could be a great day while tomorrow it becomes a bad day so all I can say really is to make the most of it and the only way to do that other then trying to do dangerous stunts is to share ideas, get your dreams across everyone and by sending your ideas to new places. So as a conclusion I would just like to say to Anne Frank to never give up on your thoughts and ideas because that is what makes you, well you!!!

Your friend,

Ramzi