Sunday, March 14, 2010

Nature Sonnets - FIRST DRAFT - DUE Monday, March 21

Please write an essay that represents 30-40 minutes of your best ideas and writing on the following question.

How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?

This FIRST DRAFT MUST be complete BEFORE CLASS on Monday, 21 March. (This basically means by Sunday night.) If a student has not submitted a first draft TO THE BLOG on time, a grade of "zero" will be recorded for which there will be no make-up. Since we will need your first draft ON THE BLOG ON MONDAY, there will be no excuses, including absence or computer problems for it not being there. For this reason, you may want to make a point of finishing this homework sometime this week and letting me know in advance if you are having some problem.

81 comments:

  1. Nature Sonnets

    The poems “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng are at complete contrast to each other. Keats gives the reader a sense of nature still being very much alive, opening his poem with “Poetry of the earth is never dead”. Kim Cheng makes it clear that nature has “been laid waste”. Both poets develope their themes in the body of the poem.

    Keats introdues the poem by refering to birds, which are a great symbol of nature. What do they do when “faint with the hot sun”? “They hide in cooling trees.” The voice of nature will speak up, “a voice will run from hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead. Keats introduces the grasshopper to “:summer luxury”. The grasshopper plays and finally “he rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed”. The poet says that “the poetry of earth” never “ceases”- it never ends. Even on a “lone winter evening”, even when the “frost”- cold “wrought a silence”. The cricket’s song is heard warmly. Keats ends the poem by going back to the grasshopper “among some grassy hills”; he does this to prove that nature has no seasons.

    In contrast Boey Kim Cheng makes it understood that nature is practially dead, “smothered by the smog”. So much so that the “flowers are mute” and the “birds are few”. This is a vast difference compared to Keats poem were birds are lively. Kim Cheng refers to death again “in a sky slowing like a dying clock”. Proteus the Greek God of the sea has no hope of “rising from the sea” as they “have sunk” implying that it is no longer possible for him to “rise from the sea” as he is not only sunk but he has been “emtombed in the waste we dump”. Kim Cheng continues “Triton’s notes struggle to be free”, Triton is another great Greek God, he is messenger of the sea. His “notes struggle to be free” this may be refering to wisdom lost. “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale” refering to whale extiction. Kim Cheng may mention the Greek Gods to show that these Gods who have been around so long cannot survive this. Kim Cheng further emphazizes his point of nature’s death by saying “ Nature’s mighty heart is lying still”. He continues by saying “the wound widening in the sky” possibly refering to the hole in the ozone layer. He ends by saying “God is labouring to utter his last cry”- God is struggling to give us our last warning.


    The contrast in the poets’ approach is eviendnet throughout the two poems. The only similatitily is they botht deal with nature.


    Valentina Spiteri

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  2. FIRST XP

    How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?


    Both poems have very different views on nature “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” presents nature as being pleasant and happy, whereas “Report to Wordsworth” presents nature and a dying person.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” presents nature as a pleasant thing. That it is happy and loving “In summer luxury” The poem also show that nature will never die away “The poetry of earth is never dead” and “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” It tells us that it is full of life and even though it is lonely and extreme that there is still joy about nature and something loving and warm about it.


    “Report to Wordsworth” takes a different approach to nature. The poet blames us (humans) for destroying nature. The poet also presents nature as dead “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog” without nature there are no birds in the sky and no flowers around. The world will come to stop. The poet is sending the message that nature is very important “the flowers are mute, and the birds are few
    in a sky slowing like a dying clock.”. The poet says nature is dead “Nature's mighty heart is lying still” and because of that the world is a horrible place.


    It is quite interesting how both poems show the opposite

    ______________________________

    that was hard

    i spent an 1hr writing this

    and had trouble :'(
    *signs*

    im sorry its horrible

    :O

    but on the plus side

    FIRST COMMENT :)

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  3. In the poem “On the Grosshopper and The Cricket” by JOHN KEATS we can see that author wrote this poem to say that Nature can not die it will live forever. John Keats says that it doesn’t matter what season it is the music and the “poetry” of earth will be with us all the time. In the hot summer grasshopper takes the lead and in the cold winter we can hear cricket’s song. Poet believes that beauty of Nature never ends.

    In the poem “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng we can see his point of view about the Nature. He thinks that Nature changed and it’s not so beautiful, peaceful and environment clean as it was before. Boey Kim Cheng thinks that people “insatiate man” are “killing” our Nature. “You should be here. Nature has need of you” I think he believes that people will understand their mistakes and start care about the Nature again.

    These two sonnets are both about the Nature. However John Keats believes that our Nature always will be beautiful and peaceful as it is now. On another side Boey Kim Cheng believes that our Nature needs help because it’s already polluted and “destroyed” by people which don’t care about anything just themselves. We can see that “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” and "Report to Wordsworth" have absolutly differet thought about the Nature.

    Polina.

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  4. "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" both have the nature theme in them. In “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” you can tell straight away from the title as it has animals mentioned in the name.
    In “ The Grasshopper and the Cricket” it is very obvious that nature is a huge theme in this poem. In the first line we all ready have the word ‘ Earth ‘ and reading through out all the lines John Keats mentiones animals such as birds, grasshoppers and crickets, he mentions tree’s, weeds, meadows freshly mawn, hedges and grassy hills and he mentions seasons and the weather like summer, winter, frost and warmth. This poem has a deep meaning about the force of nature and how beautiful the earth is and with this poem we can tell that Keats loved the enviroment around him.
    In “Report to wordsworth” we can tell the poem is about nature when we read the line ‘You should be here, Nature has need of you’. Boey Kim Chung is basically talking about how humans are ruining nature and the enviroment around them including the land and sea. He talks about the god of the sea, and how even the gods are mad at humans for contaminating the precious land and sea we have. Boey Kim Chung seems to feel very strongly towards nature as does John Keats.
    So to summarize both poets John Keats and Boey Kim Chung have very passionate feelings towards nature, and both peoms tacal the topic of nature, but from different perspectives as one poem talks about the beauty of nature and the other talks about how humans destroy nature.

    Samantha :)

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  5. Well, "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", written by John Keats, and "Report To Wordsworth", by Boey Kim Cheng, present nature in two different ways, but the theme of nature is quite prominent. The two poems are almost complete opposites, seeing as how On The Grasshopper and the Cricket John shows how alive and great the world is, whereas in Report To Wordsworth, the earth is dying.

    In "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", nature is prominently shown with how he (John Keats) talks about animals, and other living organisms, and how they go about throughout the seasons. But it is mainly focused on the grasshopper and the cricket. Another way nature is shown is how he seems to describe the earth itself as poetry, how the nature of the earth is poetry. “The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;” this poem is clearly shown as being about nature itself, be it animals or the actual trees and ground, and perhaps about the beauty of the world. So, “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” deals with nature by going about it from a different perspective, and how it could be used differently. It deals with the theme ‘nature’ by showing how it is used as a home to many creatures, and how alive it is.

    “Report To Wordsworth” shows nature in a different view. Here, nature is being personified as a ‘she’. “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,” as shown here. But, unlike the other poem, it is being shown as nature DYING, rather than centering in on its beauty and poetic-ness; “The flowers are mute, and the birds are few in a sky slowing like a dying clock.” The picture it paints in my mind, for me, is the world in grayscale. Everything would be dark and gloomy, and basically I feel like if I even touch a blade of grass in that state it would crumble. This poem also has a hopeless tone to it, as “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk;” which shows that there is no hope for Proteus to rise from the sea. “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale,” that line shows both how whales are becoming extinct, and how helpless so many animals and creatures of the earth are as “insatiate man moves in for the kill.” In that way, the earth is defenseless, and helpless. Boey uses the greek gods in his poem , as Wordsworth did, to show how even gods could not survive what the earth is going through. “Nature’s mighty heart is lying still,” further proves how nature is, in fact, dying and how “the wound widening in the sky” is the result of pollution and things that we couldn’t bother to have prevented, that were very well preventable.

    “Report To Wordsworth” and “On The Grasshopper and the Cricket” deal with two very different things, but both of them contain a theme about nature. One of the differences is how one focuses on how alive and beautiful nature is, whereas the other focuses on how it is dying and how it will not continue to be that way if we do nothing about pollution and the other environmental problems at hand.

    -Tatiana T.

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  6. It took some time but here it is! By Anne-Mieke

    In both of the poems they have a lot of nature in it; they deal with the natures in a different way. The poem ‘report to wordsworth’ is written by Boey Kim cheng and the poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket' is ’written by John Keats.

    In the poem report to Wordsworth he describes the theme of nature in a way of bad environment and what happened to the nature. In the first sentences the poem tells about that we have to stop with making the world bad. For example we participate in the greenhouse effect. In the sentence ‘ the flowers are mute and the birds are few’ he says that the world is going to die there are almost no birds and ‘in a sky slowing like a dying clock’ he tells us again about that nature is ‘going to die’ also it says us about the environmental things what is going around these days in ‘ All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk; he is entombed in the waste we dump’ he is telling us that the god Proteus cant rise from the sea because he is entombed in the waste what we dumb, our waste. In the five next sentences it is about the gods who are dying and on the last sentences in the poem you see that the nature is stopping ‘as a Natures mighty heart is lying still’. He talks further with ‘ the wound widening in the sky’ he is maybe saying with that that there is coming an hole in the ozone layer and on the end he is saying that God wants us to say that this is his last warning.

    The second poem from ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ Is showing something different with the nature. It begins with ‘The poetry of earth is never dead’ while the other poem was saying that nature is dying. This poem is telling ‘when all the birds are faint with the hot sun’ they will do something about it and they will ‘hide in cooling trees’. And he is telling more when ‘the Grasshopper takes the lead’ ‘In summer luxury’ the luxury of the summer. And when is ‘tired out with fun’ he can ‘rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed’. In the next sentences it tells about the winter how it is, and when the ‘frost has wrought a silence’ ‘from the stove there shrills’ that there is something nice and happy about it ‘The crickets song, in warmth increasing ever’ and the last two sentences show that if it is a bit lonely or half lost, ‘the grasshopper among some grassy hills’. It is bringing back to the Grasshopper and that it is beautiful nature.

    So the two poems talk both about the nature but then in a different way. Report to Wordsworth is talking about how the nature dies and he is blaming us what we are doing against the nature that it is bad. Poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket it is about the things what happened in nature when it is to warm for the birds they are hiding in the trees who are cool(ing), So that one is more positive.

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  7. Nature Sonnets

    In class we have been studying the poems “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats , and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng. Both of these poems address the theme of Nature in different ways .
    ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ Keats talks about the birds who are boiling in the hot sun, and about the pace of nature, and he compares it to the pace of the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper is fast and likes to have fun. Then it goes on to talk about the calmness of nature and he then compares that to the Cricket. Keats talks about how the cricket hides in the warmth of a stove and sings his pleasant song. Keats also talks about the Poetry of the earth; there he might be talking about the rhythm of everything or how they all fit together to form maybe a sonnet or a symphony.
    ‘Report to Wordsworth’ Cheng talks about the dangers of Nature such as Global warming. Cheng refers to mother nature, “she has been laid waste”. Cheng talks about how humans have been destroying nature and how Mother Nature needs you (people in general) to wake up and smell the coffee. Cheng talks about how beautiful things are being killed off “the flowers are mute and the birds are few” . Cheng is addressing people talking about how the things we dump in the ocean are entombing Proteus, which means he is unable to rise from the sea. Cheng then goes on to say how the ocean is getting dirty and refers to the ocean by the god of the ocean, Triton. Cheng talks about how the newer generations have no care for poetry or piety and they certainly don’t care about nature.
    Both of these poems address nature in different ways. In Keats’ poem he addresses nature through the rhythm and method of it . Keats’ compares the faster ways of life and nature the grasshopper and the slower more methodical ways of life to the cricket. Cheng however addresses the damages that effect nature because of ignorant humans. Cheng talks about global warming and the more negative sides that some people tend to ignore. In both poem however the both address nature in one way or another.

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  8. First Draft: Nature Sonnets

    The sonnets "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng and "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats are both about nature. However, the authors show us very different views of nature.

    In the sonnet “Report to Wordsworth”, Boey Kim Cheng shows us clearly his opinion. He thinks that Nature is getting destroyed and is half-dead. Already in the first line “…Nature has need of you”, he shows us that there must be something wrong with ‘Nature’. Then he describes Nature as being ‘laid waste’ and ‘smothered by the smog’. With the clause ‘slowing like a dying clock’ he probably wants to say that with every day, Nature gets more and more destroyed. And hopes (to rescue Nature) ‘have sunk’ – so he says Nature’s situation is helpless. He mentions the gods Neptune, Proteus and Triton, all three of them are gods of the water and in this poem, all of them are being shown in a bad situation (eg. …helpless as a beached whale). He clearly blames humans for the destruction of nature. He says that ‘…man moves in for the kill’. He refers to Nature as already destroyed by saying that ‘Nature’s mighty heart is lying still’. He thinks that even God is giving us the very last warning,

    The other sonnet shows Nature in a very different view. The author writes in the first line, that the poetry of earth is never dead. We can already see, that he doesn’t think Nature is dying. He writes, that even if it is really hot and the birds hide from the sun, there is life in the grass and all around us. He tells us that the Grasshopper jumps ‘From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead’. He describes the grasshopper’s activity as something positive, using words like ‘in summer luxury’ and ‘fun’. Then he writes, that even if it’s really cold (on a lone winter evening), nature is still everywhere. Now he talks about a cricket, that sings and shrills. So all in all he says, that whatever time of the year it is, nature is never ‘dead’ or silent, there are always animals all around us that enjoy themselves.

    There is a very big contrast between those two sonnets. The first author thinks that Nature is dying, the second says that we might think that Nature is dead, but there is always Nature around us even if it’s really cold or really warm.

    Caroline (:

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  9. Nature Sonnets

    The two sonnets, Report to Wordsworth by Boey Kim Cheng and On the Grasshopper and Cricket by John Keats both deal with the theme of nature but in contrasting ways.

    Report to Wordsworth is about Boey Kim Cheng addressing Wordsworth (a famous English poet) about the state of the world we live in. He talks about many environmental issues which affect the modern world such as pollution when Boey writes “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog”. He also mentions about people disposing their rubbish in line 5 when he writes “he is entombed in the waste we dump”. Apart from mention of pollution there is reference to contamination when Kim Cheng talks about 'Trition's horns being chocked and his eyes being dazed.' I believe that Boey is trying to say that even the sea gods can't save man as they are stuck in the waste and choking. In the penultimate line 'O see the wound widening in the sky' this could be Boey talking about the ozone layer fading away due to impact on the planet as a result of what humans have been doing.

    In the line 'poetry and piety have begun to fail' Boey implies that neither poetry or religion (righteouness) can save man from what he has done.

    The poem posts a depressing and grim theme. It is based around what we have done to the world and that nature is suffering because of it. The gloomy images help to emphasise the impact of the meaning of the poem.

    On the Grasshopper and Cricket deals with nature in a different way. It talks about the beautiful side of nature, a time to celebrate and rejoice.

    There is reference of two seasons. The first 8 lines are about the summer. There is clear mention of the hot climate when Keats says 'When all the birds are faint with hot sun'. After this the birds ' And hide in cooling trees' to retreat from the heat. This is our first contact with actual nature in the sonnet. There is a general reference to the beauty of nature. There is a lot of mention of the scenery.

    In the second half of the sonnet, the poet talks about winter. This part doesn't mention nature as much as before. However, it is more implied such as 'when the frost has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills ...' At the end of this section, the temperature begins to rise which has an effect on the nature. In the end there is a mention of nature when he writes 'the grasshopper's among some grassy hills'.

    I think that Keats believes that the beauty of nature is never-ending no matter what weather.

    Even though both sonnets deal with the theme of nature in different ways. Both are very powerful in how they deliver their messages.

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  10. The two sonnets, On the Grasshopper and the cricket both talk about nature in two completely different ways.

    In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket, he shows the good sides of nature, the luxuries and thrills. He shows how the poetry of the earth is never ceasing. He talks about how there is drowsiness in the winter and fun in the summer, but always keeps a positive side to it.

    In Report to Wordsworth, he talks about how the earth and nature are dying. He talks about the sky slowing and how Neptune is helpless. He says that “Nature’s mighty heart is lying still” showing how nature is dying.

    Both poems discuss nature is two completely different ways, but in Keats time, no one knew that the earth was in fact dying. Keats keeps a nice light atmosphere talking about fun and luxuries of nature while Boey talks about how the earth and nature is dying.

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  11. Throughout the year we have studied the "Report to Wordsworth" poem which is written by Boey Kim Cheng and the the poem “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” which was written by John Keats. These two poems speak clearly about nature.

    "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" John Keats speaks mostly about birds who are in the sun, and about the general facts of nature. Then he compares it to the grasshopper

    where as, the poem 'Report to Wordsworth' the writer speaks about the danger facts of nature, for instance - global warming. It is mostly about how people of different parts of the world destroy mother nature and wants to make people realize that they are in need of doing something to this fact. It is the total opposite of the poem "Grasshopper and the Cricket".

    Both of these poems have strong ideas of mother nature and both poems are saying this in different ways.

    I believe it it very important to all of us, to realize what damage we are causing to the environment with the littlest things we do not even think of. It is important to understand that we are ruining our environment and are in need of getting to work on this fact. If to compare both poems, they have much in common as for instance - Nature. They both address the strongest points to us, readers, and are trying to send a message across to mind what we are doing to the environment without even noticing it. It is also important to know what the real mother nature is like to us and how much it should mean. I believe we are capable of changing the future if we do something about global warming which is slowly destroying our beautiful environment!

    Christina Lomakina

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  12. Nature Sonnets

    Both Poems deal with the term ‘Nature’ in a different way, On the Grasshopper deals with nature by saying how great it is within the earth, whereas in Wordsworth it is saying how all things on earth are “failing” and that the world is dying.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats starts off saying how the birds are flying around under the heat of the hot sun and becoming so tired and hot that they take shelter under “Cooling Trees” it then moves onto how a voice in the wind presumably runs “From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead” and then it finally goes onto saying how the Grasshopper will take the lead and it says how in the summers luxuries he is never done and when he is tired out he takes rest underneath some pleasant weed of the earth. The scenery then changes to the cold winter and how it brought silence to the summer’s heat but the Crickets song is bringing back that warmth with every song, and finally takes place upon the grassy hills.

    “Report to Wordsworth” By Boey Kim Cheng deals with nature in a very different way to Keats poem as it describes that Nature has need of us, and that Mother Nature is being smothered by all of our pollution, “The Flowers and mute and the Birds are few” this is saying that the flowers are not producing pollen and that the birds are slowly dying out. The next part of Kim’s poem is about the Norse Mythology of Proteus, Neptune, Triton and then God enters at the end; “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk” as he has been entombed in the waste that we have dumped into the beautiful sea, “Tritons notes struggle to be free” Triton is struggling to keep awake and alive cause of all the pollution that we are putting out. “Neptune Lies helpless as a beached whale” basically Neptune is no longer able to move from the sea, due to the pollution in the sea and out of it. This poem deals with nature but in the sense that we as humans are destroying it and everything else because of our bad habits.

    As I said before, both these poems tackle Nature in a different ways as Keats’ is about the luxuries of nature and how peaceful it is, but Kim’s is about how pollution is destroying all things that is nature and beyond like the gods.

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  13. FIRST DRAFT: NATURE SONNETS

    “On the grasshopper and the cricket” presents and deals with the theme of nature in several, beautiful ways. Keats gives references to how the animals and insects copes with nature like for example when ‘the birds hide in cooling trees’, ‘the cricket sings and rests beneath some grass’. They all show how the connection of nature and the animals habituating it is a system and that it will last forever on this earth. Sadly, this is not the case, but in this sonnet, Keats presents Nature’s beauties and wonder’s, other than what is happening to it currently and what horrible things we are doing to it opposing to “Report to Wordsworth”. But its definite main theme revolving nature is about the cricket during seasons of summer and winter. It tells how its song is everlasting, even during winter when there are ‘lone winter evenings’ and ‘when the frost has wrought a silence’ the grasshopper and cricket’s song will still be heard. It seems like Keats is trying to point out to the readers that the grasshopper and the cricket are representations of nature all in all. As I mentioned before, that Nature will surround us forever on Earth and will always be seen, heard of, and thought of in our environment.

    “Report to Wordsworth” presents and deals with the theme of nature by referring to the parts of nature that is being destroyed. It tells about what we are doing, what is happening, and the whole issue of Global warming and how we are decreasing our time, second by second, of having nature remaining on this earth. It revolves around the whole theme of selfish humans extracting innocent parts of nature for our own good, and then wasting it away. There are examples from the sonnet giving reference to what disastrous things we are doing to the Earth, which include ‘flowers going mute’, ‘smog’, ‘endangering birds’ etc. This whole sonnet is mainly about how the Earth is ticking away and we don’t have much left of Nature until it’s all gone. There is nothing we can do to stop global warming from happening, but we can keep it from happening sooner as well as making our last years on this Earth a comfortable and peaceful one with magnificent Nature surrounding us in every corner. Kim Cheng points out the ghastly actions we are pressuring and ruining nature with. But it’s main message is how we and Nature need help as it is all happening too fast and its slipping off of this Earth sooner than we thought. The message of “Report to Wordsworth” is The Call to the gods and spirits to give us some sort of miracle so that we can fix this Earth.

    The two sonnets “On the Grasshopper and the cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” both resemble two important issues of Nature that we need to keep focused on. It tells us what monstrous activities we are doing to the Earth and that we are in great need of help as Nature is dying in our very own bare hands. But on top of that we need to remember the parts of nature we have left and how beautiful and important it is to remain on this Earth. Nature is too miraculous and rare to ever be destroyed and wasted. Mother nature controls the earth and if we kill her, we kill our Earth and there will be no other way to get it back. We need nature and we need to put a stop to our horrid behavior, which we are exploiting on her. The sonnets give out very important messages, which we need to ponder about, analyze and make sense out of so that we will understand the writer’s full background of the poem. It is surely what Keats and Kim Cheng would of wanted us to do.

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  14. Both sonnets are about nature but have completely different meanings.


    In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket, it is optimistic and he is showing the happiness in nature. The grasshoppers singing songs and that earth's poetry will never end. Even though he talks about winter being a time of hardship it is still in a optimistic way because it is the way it is supposed to be.

    In Report to Wordsworth it is all very negative and hurts to read as you just realize what we are doing to our planet. He goes on about how even the Gods cannot help us and that earths heart is lying still so it is dying. It is very sad and it is all due to humans.

    One poem discusses about the happiness on the planet and the other about the sadness. either this is because Keats did not know in his time that they were destroying our planet. Both poems are striking as they both are very strong in their opinion so it is interesting to compare them and to see the difference in the way different people see things.

    Kimberly Merten

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  15. First Draft of Nature in the two Poems:

    Both “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” deal with the topic of nature, but they deal with it in very different ways, the first showing nature in its prime, and the second showing its deteriorating state.

    In the “Grasshopper and the Cricket”, nature is seen as a great thing, and how it is flourishing in summertime, using such words as “Summer Luxury” and “the poetry of earth is ceasing never”. These show that nature is doing great, and will never cease to exist, and everything is cooperating with eachother (“the grasshopper! He takes the lead, in summer luxury—he has never done”). Animals are mentioned throughout the poem, even in the title, and the poem is about a grasshopper, and how he is coping with nature, and a cricket. The poem has a very cheery mood to it.

    On the other hand, “Report to Wordsworth” condradicts the Grasshopper and the Cricket, and states that nature is dying, and that we need to stop destroying nature, and stop misusing our powers (“You should be here, nature has need of you. She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog.”). also, the poem states that the gods are suffering, and that Poseidon is struggling to escape the horror, and Zeus is almost dead, which shows the extent of the problems, with him being an immortal god. This poem does not have a cheery mood, but a depressed mood, and shows that we really need to stop ruining our planet.
    There is conflict between both of these poems, as the poets have very different views. Boey Kim Chung believes that we need to avert our ways, and try to protect nature after what we have done to it, whereas John Keats shows that nature is doing fine, even flourishing, and all of life is doing well.

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  16. Nature Sonnets: First Draft

    Both the poems ‘Report to Wordsworth’ by Boey Kim Cheng and ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ by John Keats deal with nature in completely different ways. One is dealing with more along the line of happiness, and the other with sadness.

    The poem ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ is dealing with nature as though it is very pleasant as Keats uses word/phrases such as ‘summer luxury’ and that it is so pleasant, the grasshopper is tired out with fun. Also, when John Keats is talking about how the ‘poetry of earth’ is never dead in the first line, he might be referring to the wonders of nature, and how it all fits together so perfectly with the site and scenery of it. In this poem, there is basically a positive side to everything that he is mentioning, whether it was in the hot summer (the first part of the poem) or the cold winter (the last few lines of the poem).

    The poem ‘Report to Wordsworth’ is dealing with nature with more of a tragic scenery since Boey Kim Cheng starts it off as ‘You should be here, nature has need of you’. He is referring to it as though something had horribly gone wrong and nature is crying out for help. Also, on the 5th and 6th lines, he is mentioning how all hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk and that he is entombed in the waste we dump. I think in these lines, it relates to global warming and how we are ruining nature’s wonders, as if there was no hope for it. Also, he is mentioning that Neptune, a powerful god of the sea, is lying as helpless as a beached whale, as if he can no longer move around in the sea as of the pollution inside it that is being caused by us.

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  17. Nature Sonnets – First Draft

    The poems “On The Grasshopper and The Cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” are both based on Nature, although the poets write about nature in practically opposite views. One is based more on the beauties of nature while one is based more on the destruction of it.

    When we look at “On The Grasshopper and The Cricket”, it seems to be expressing nature in a way that is more peaceful and pleasing, and actually puts a smile and good thoughts into the reader’s head while they are reading it. This poem expresses the beauties of nature by using words and phrases such as “The poetry of earth is never dead”, which is how the poem starts. This already creates a pleasant mood for the reader. “...And hide in cooling trees” suggests that nature is good because trees are part of nature and they are helping the birds. “...in warmth increasing ever” suggests that the cricket’s song is warm and friendly, and “The grasshopper’s among some grassy hills” suggests nature is good because it is saying that it is grassy which is a good image in the readers head.

    “Report to Wordsworth”, on the other hand, expresses nature in a completely different aspect. The poet is telling the readers that humans are destroying it and getting in the way of its natural progress. Parts of the poem such as “She has been laid waste, smothered by the smog”, “The flowers are mute, and the birds are few, in a sky slowing like a dying clock” are the beginning of the poem and the poet is already describing how nature is becoming silent, slowing down, and basically dying. “...he is entombed in the waste we dump” explains how much waste we dump and how it is ruining nature again. “God is laboring to utter his last cry” is telling us that all the harm we are doing to the planet is actually overwhelming god himself and even he is struggling to survive in the damage we are causing.

    These two poems have the same subject; nature, but it is expressed in two completely different ways. In my opinion, I think that “Report to Wordsworth” is a more interesting poem, particularly because it gives out a message to humankind and how they are really making a big impact on the planet Earth.

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  19. I's sorry its late, but here it is, before class!

    Nature Sonnets

    The two sonnets are ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ by John Keats and ‘Report to Wordsworth’ by Boey Kim Cheng are two sonnets that are showing the spirit of nature in them. Report to Wordsworth mentions a lot about nature and how it is all around us and how it has need of somebody as it is dying and humans are destroying it, whilst John Keats’ On the Grasshopper and the Cricket shows how he is showing nature through poetry.

    ‘The poetry of earth is never dead:
    When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
    And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run’

    This shows how Keats is portraying poetry as part of earth, the poetry of earth. He is also showing nature through the birds, sun and trees. This really gives the reader that there is nature there. It also shows that nature will never die and that it is happy there.

    ‘You should be here, Nature has need of you.
    She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,
    the flowers are mute, and the birds are few’

    There are some lines from Report to Wordsworth and they do tell us a lot about this sonnet. Firstly I noticed that the writer is referring to somebody to come and save nature as ‘She has been laid waste’. It seems there is nothing anyone else can do but they need somebody to save the earth. He is also saying that ‘the flowers are mute’ which probably means that they are either colourless or are literally mute, but I don’t know how flowers could be mute, or are dead. He also mentions that the birds are very symbolic to nature.

    ‘From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
    That is the grasshopper'-s he takes the lead
    In summer luxury,- he has never done
    With his delights; for when tired out with fun’

    These lines are from the Grasshopper and the Cricket. They are showing us that there is lots of nature. The grasshopper is having fun and he is enjoying the nature so much that he is tired. It also shows us that it is summer which is a great season for nature. It also mentions luxury which must mean that it is very nice and beautiful. The first line shows that there is much nature in that place with lovely grasses and hedges.

    ‘as Nature's mighty heart is lying still.’

    This line from Report to Wordsworth shows how strong the missing of nature is, in the cense that he is saying that its heart is not moving. Its like it doesn’t care anymore. Its like it is saying that Nature has died.

    ‘All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea
    Have sunk; he is entombed in the waste
    we dump’

    These are also taken from Report to Wordsworth. These 3 lines mean a lot in this sonnet as it shows that Proteus a Greek god has been entombed in the waste we humans dump. It shows that we have destroyed all nature and there is no hope left. Not even the Greek gods can save Nature. All their hopes have sunk…

    ‘He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
    The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
    On a lone winter evening, when the frost
    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills’

    These 4 lines are from the Grasshopper and the Cricket that show that in the winter there is a silence and everything is cold, it is like the nature took a break. It shows though that nature is never ending and that nature will live forever unlike in Report to Wordsworth.

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  20. Part 2:

    ‘The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,

    The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.’

    These lines are taken From the Grasshopper and the Cricket and show that the grasshopper is warm and comfortable thanks to nature and that the grasshoppers move in the hills again. It shows that nature is everywhere.

    God is labouring to utter his last cry.’

    This is from Report to Wordsworth. Now I left this for last not only because it is the end of one of the sonnets but because it has a lot of meaning in it. This little line shows how desperate the people are and how GOD the GOD, maker of the world they live in is having to go down to the world and see what he will do with the mess the humans have made, ‘He is labouring to utter his last cry.’.

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  21. How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?

    Report to Wordsworth is wholly about nature and how we mistreat it; in fact just the very first line mentions Nature. This poem presents nature as a female person, personifying it with the word ‘she’ in the second line. By saying ‘Nature has need of you’ in the first line, Boey makes nature sound desperate considering nature is a huge force that the very world is based on and thrives off of, it certainly would take a lot to make it desperate. The picture that Boey continues to paint is not a pretty one, nature is cited as being ‘smothered by the smog’, smog being a man-made pollutant that is harmful to nature. Another powerful phrase is when Boey makes reference to the Greek gods and how in their previous natural splendor and power they were now ‘entombed in the waste we dump’, ’choke…dazed’ all very strong phrases and words with strong negative connotations.

    Boey deals with nature as a once strong and glorious thing that has since been weakened by the actions of man, even going as far as calling man insatiate. Boey strategically uses the last parts of the poem to deliver the message of a dying helpless nature with its ‘mighty heart lying still’, and ‘the wound widening in the sky’. Overall Report to Wordsworth does not present nature as a beautiful and wonderful property of the earth, not because he doesn’t think it isn’t beautiful or that it isn’t beautiful, but because the actions of man are affecting it adversely.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats presents a refreshingly different image of nature, one of joy and of ‘not having a care in the world’. The very first line is a direct contradiction to what Boey Kim Cheng was saying in his poem, ‘The poetry of Earth is never dead:’ shows that the poem believes that nature, the very basis of life and earth itself and which is here referred to as poetry, is never ceasing so it will always be alive.

    Keats describes nature in 'On the Grasshopper and the Cricket' as a beautiful and joyful experience. The insects enjoy the warmth and fun of the summer, seeking relief in thecool natural shade. Although the second part of the sonnet is less joyful, the nature is still alive and running just in a much colder environment. Overall Keats presents nature positively and with joy whereas Boey Kim Cheng focuses mainly on the destruction and attack on nature from humankind. They have two very different views.

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  22. How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?

    Both of these poems are of course about nature, but they deal with nature in two very different ways. I think that “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” is talking about how beautiful and immortal the nature is, and I believe that “Report to Wordsworth” is talking that the nature is dyeing right now, and that if we don’t try hard enough to save it, it will die.
    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” is really just explaining all the beauties of nature, it is talking about some natural beings such as shade, birds, flowers, sun, weather. John Keats is saying “The poetry of earth is ceasing never”, and I think that he refers to “poetry” as to the nature, so the poetry of earth is all the natural beauty of earth. He is mentioning that it is immortal, and immortality is very dramatic and strong thing to talk about in this poem. It is also well descriptive, not just easy, but it goes into deep kinds of meanings, so you have to read some lines many times in order to fully understand them.

    “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng is speaking about some global issues, such as the global warming for instance, and how dirty our world is now. “Smothered by the Smog” is probably speaking about all the waste people make, and how for instance humans just thow all the dirt away in the rivers, where other natural beings such as birds and flowers suffer and perish because of us, humans. He is speaking to another poet, he is addressing it to him, he is saying that even strong gods cannot resist on such force. It is a sad poem about nature, it is not saying that it is immortal, it is really saying that it is dyeing, which is definitely sad.

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  23. On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" both poems have a theme of nature in them. In “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” you can tell straight away from the title that it is about and includes animals.
    In “ The Grasshopper and the Cricket” nature is the main theme of the poem. In the first line the word ‘ Earth ‘is already used and as you continue reading John Keats mentions it again and again along with animals such as birds, grasshoppers and crickets and plants such as weeds, hedges and grassy hills and he also mentions seasons and the weather like summer, winter, frost and warmth. This poem goes deeply into the idea of nature and how beautiful and special the earth is and from this poem we can realize that the earth means a lot to Keats.
    In “Report to wordsworth” this poem is also about nature and its wonders, we can tell this from the first line which is ‘You should be here, Nature has need of you’. This poet is basically talking about how humans are ruining and destroying nature and the environment around them. He talks a lot about the gods of the sea and land, and how they are mad at humans for destroying and taking advantage of the precious land and sea we have. Boey Kim Chung feels very strongly towards nature as the other poet does too.
    So to summarize both poets have very passionate and moving feelings towards nature, and both poems are about the topic of nature, but from different perspectives because one talks about the beauty of nature and the other talks about how humans destroy and abuse nature.

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  24. The sonnets: The Grasshopper and the Cricket both talk about nature in different ways.
    In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket The poet has shown the positive side of nature and talks about the calm pleasant things and compairs the summer and winter. He keeps the poem happy and positive. He says “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” I think he is implying that nature is poetry and that it will always be pleasant
    In Report to Wordsworth, he talks about nature and earth dying and that we need to act now to save the world from our problems and from pollution. The poet says “Smothered by the Smog this is referring to pollution and the industrialization of humans it is not so much a negative poem but he is addressing the negative aspects of nature and what is happening.

    Both the poems are discussing nature but in very different ways. Keats is talking about the light and pleasant things where Boey is talking about the world dying and the end of nature.

    Nathan

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  25. Both Sonnets are about nature.

    The Grasshopper and the Cricket have a happy atmoshpere. The poem is about how nature is relaxed and calm and that the animals in it like the Grasshopper's, Crickets, birds and so on just enjoy the warm sun of spring.

    Report to Wordsworth has a sad atmosphere and he tlaks about the world dying away because of human activities and we need to do something now to save it or else it will die. He is trying to get through to the readers by expressing his opinions thorough the negative asspects in his poem.

    Boey is not happy with the way we are treating are planet and Keats seems to be happy with it. maybe because in his time he didnt know that we are destroying our planet and was just enjoying a nice day.

    Mike Cini

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  26. Dylan's Constructive Criticism of Valentina

    I thought that your essay was well written and in depth, especially with your analysis of Boey Kim Cheng's references to the Greek Gods and you clear identification of the contrast between the two poems.

    However I also thought that you used too many quotes, sure quotes are very useful in an essay, but I think you had too many quotes too close together which made it a little difficult to actually figure out what you were saying rather than the poet. The latter was not such a problem with 'Report to Wordsworth" but "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" seemed to focus on the poem and its lines rather than how it presented nature.

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  27. mine constructive critism for max.

    Max you did it well, you organised it well and we know where you are talking about...

    but i think what you need to look better at is that you need to split the two poems because you get a bit confused when you jump from the 'report to wordsworth' to 'Grasshopper and the Cricket' ;)

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  28. Okay just picking the first 3:

    Evita: Good description, you have some clear ideas but you could have elaborated more. You choose good quotes but there more you could have choose especially for "Report to Wordsworth". The conclusion definitely needs more and don't forget that full stop!

    Polina: You have good clear ideas but you need an introduction as without one your ideas seem scattered and confused. You have quoted indirectly but you didn't use quotation marks. Most of the conclusion should have been an introduction as you say they are different and stop there so it would have been more adequate as an introduction.

    Sam: The ideas and quotes you used are very good. You need to use quotation marks and paragraphs. Your story needed an adequate introduction as without one it was difficult to follow and understand.

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  29. my constructive critism for mike ;)
    (u had to do it for three people rite??i did it for two xD)

    what worked was that it was really nice to see that you first began to talk about the poems and than what maybe the writers thought! I really liked that.

    what maybe can be better that you when you read through the poems that you can see more things to write about and that maybe you can go more deeply in it!!! ;)

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  30. Ryan's Criticism; James

    Very good understanding of both poems, you described them in a short way but it was easily followed.

    Although it needs to be a tad bit longer, you need to emphasize on certain points in both poems aswell as explain certain points ^_^

    Dylan

    Very good in explaining how both poems have a different aspect of 'Nature' in them, also very good use of your quotes and how u explained them.

    Needs intro and conclusion ;] but apart from that you could elaborate more on the gods in wordsworth and show how even they cannot save the earth due to the pollution.

    Sara

    Very good paragraphs on both Keats' and Boey's Poems they were easy to follow and got right to the point. and your conclusion also further elaborated on what both poems meant.

    at some places it was hard to follow, so before your Keats' paragraph put an intro to make sure that people understand you before you jump right into it and finally if i saw correctly, use a tad bit more quotes it realleh helps ;]

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  31. Rosie

    What works: The summary is very good. You included a lot of points from each poem. You didn't ramble on.

    Suggestions: Maybe add a few more quotes. Go more in depth when talking about the theme of nature in the poems. Give more detail.

    Onur

    What works: There is a good amount of detail for On the Grasshopper and Cricket. You used a lot of quotation. I like the introduction.

    Suggestions: explain further about the quotations in Report to Wordsworth. Try adding more to your summary. Lengthen your bit on Report to Wordsworth.

    Christina

    What works: Your summary is very good. It provides a lot of detail and opinion. There is a lot of good vocabulary used.

    Suggestions: Lengthen your paragraphs about the poems. Include more quotes. Be more accurate when putting down info (basically I'm talking about your introduction, but that is just being pedantic, it just sounds like your saying we've studied the poems since September :P). Put some opinion into the paragraphs about the poems.

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  32. My Constructive Criticism for Evita

    It wasn't horrible :P (nor was it the first comment :O) I think you did well to see the contrast in the two poems. I think you could have mentioned a the talk about the Gods in Report to Wordsworth as they were significant in the poem.

    You made good use of quotes in your essay and you identified the key points :)

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  33. Criticism

    Luke: I feel that you went into great description about the different quotes that you used on both of the poems. You used effective quotes, that worked well. You covered both topics well, discussing the different themes.

    I think that you should have had the second poem as one paragraph, instead of many smaller paragraphs, making it harder to compare against the first one. You could have also gone into as much depth in the second one as the first one. You could have concluded it a bit better, stating the intentions of the two poets, and how they achieved it.

    James: You did discuss the intentions of both poems, and how they differ. You also concluded your work very well, summing up both poems, and giving a good comparison to both.

    I think that you could have made it quite a bit longer, and put in more description. You could have used more quotes, and described the poems better, even giving a better comparison, ending the question even better.

    Ryan: you started your question off well, giving a good introduction. You went into great description to describe the points of the poems, and used good quotes from both poems. You also ended with a good conclusion.

    You used good examples from the poems, but you could have used a few more, and totally described both poems. You did get a little bit repepitive, and maybe into a bit too much detail on the different parts of the poems, and not doing as much of a comparison.

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  34. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!


    CAROLINE

    Your essay had all the needed key points like quotes from the poets, an intro and a conclusion and you definitely summarized the 2 poems subject of nature clearly for the reader. Also very good use of vocabulary :)

    There wasn't much you had to improve on. Maybe when you mention authors, you could use instead, perhaps the last name of the poets, or just the 'poet'. But i don't know if that matters much. You could elaborate a bit more on the conclusion, but otherwise it was written beautifully :D

    TOBY

    You put in beautiful description that sounded clear and reasonable to the reader. I especially liked how you opened the essay with a question. That can be very effective with essays. You as well used an even amount of quotes and explained them thoroughly.

    The content of your poem was great, but it would be good if you could of separated it more easily so the reader understood what paragraph was specifically about what. A conclusion would also work good to summarize the 2 poems and their differences :))

    SIRI

    You definitely stuck to the key points of this essay by explaining some of the lines in the poems and relating them to the subject of nature. You as well had the poem nicely organized with an intro and a conclusion and the actual content thoroughly discussed.

    There isn't much for me to suggest. Maybe that you shouldn't add in the first sentence how we have been working these in class. I heard from Mr. M that we shouldn't do that in any of our essays but instead kind of go straight to the point (i think :S) As well in your paragraph of the grasshopper and the cricket you could of added more quotes. But i shouldn't really talk, i didn't add much quotes at all in my essay :S

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  35. Rosie <3 :

    +
    I like how Rosie incorporates the ideas , they are simple but good, about how each poem includes these ideas about Nature. She uses good details about “Report to Wordsworth”. Her conclusion helps us see why she thought the poets incorporated the theme of nature and how they’re perspective’s are very different.

    -
    Although her ideas are good they are simple and she didn’t really go into a lot of depth , maybe that could be looked at. Rosie might want to revisit her depth especially on ‘The Grasshopper and the Cricket” as her depth in “Report to Wordsworth” is good but on the first poem she seems rather vague.

    However , I enjoyed reading her essay and I thought it was a good first draft.


    Andrew : ) :
    +
    Andrew definitely knew what he was talking about when he wrote this. The essay is well written and he goes into a good amount of detail.He gives his opinion in the conclusion which helps present his thoughts further.

    -
    Even though he has incorporated some opinion in the conclusion , it doesn’t seem that he has really told us what he was thinking. Andrew seems to be stating facts more then developing his ideas further. He also forgot a few capitals ; ) but overall it was a good peice.

    Evita <3 :
    +
    Evita had good idea about what she wanted to say in her essay. She presents good ideas for both poems and notices how the poets are in conflict. She includes quite a bit of quotes which help the reader get a good idea about what parts of the poem she is talking about and what she means.

    -
    Evita doesn’t really have a conclusion. This means she doesn’t really have a spot to expand her opinions and her ideas. The essay is kind of short but it doesn’t really matter because she does have a good number of points, maybe just add a few more. Rosie <3 :

    +
    I like how Rosie incorperates the ideas , they are simple but good, about how each poem includes these ideas about Nature. She uses good details about “Report to Wordsworth”. Her conclusion helps us see why she thought the poets incorperated the theme of nature and how they’re perspective’s are very different.

    -
    Although her ideas are good they are simple and she didn’t really go into a lot of depth , maybe that could be looked at. Rosie might want to revisit her depth especially on ‘The Grasshopper and the Cricket” as her depth in “Report to Wordsworth” is good but on the first poem she seems rather vague.

    However , I enjoyed reading her essay and I thought it was a good first draft.


    Andrew : ) :
    +
    Andrew definitly knew what he was talking about when he wrote this. The essay is well written and he goes into a good amount of detail.He gives his opinion in the conclusion which helps present his thoughts further.

    -
    Even though he has incorperated some opinion in the conclusion , it doesn’t seem that he has really told us what he was thinking. Andrew seems to be stating facts more then developing his ideas further. He also forgot a few capitals ; ) but overall it was a good peice.

    Evita <3 :
    +
    Evita had good idea about what she wanted to say in her essay. She presents good ideas for both poems and notices how the poets are in conflict. She includes quite a bit of quotes which help the reader get a good idea about what parts of the poem she is talking about and what she means.

    -
    Evita doesn’t really have a conclusion. This means she doesn’t really have a spot to expand her opinions and her ideas. The essay is kind of short but it doesn’t really matter because she does have a good number of points, maybe just add a few more.

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  36. Mike -

    Suggestions:
    You could've gone into more detail about the atmospheres of each poem and the difference.
    Works:
    I liked how you explained everything very well and gave a bright imagine for both of the poems and paragraphs.

    Luke -

    suggestions:
    put the second paragraph as the first paragraph because then it makes more sence rather than what you have right now.

    works:
    It is very well written and easy to understand even though you are Bri-ishhhh :) it is very organized (topic after topic etc.)

    James -

    suggestions:
    You could have used more quotes from the poems to give it a little bit more detail and feeling to your essay.

    works:
    How you discussed the ideas of both poems and how they are different from each other. You also constructed your work well which shows the smoothness of each paragraph.

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  37. Constructive Criticism

    Evelina:
    I liked that you showed us a lot of your own thoughts ("I think that...") and ideas. You also showed right from the beginning what the main difference between the poems was. The way you wrote was easy to understand.
    What I would suggest is, to make some more references to the poems. So we know where for example there is mentioned 'immortality' in the poem. I would suggest you to write a bit more about the "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" poem.

    Toby:
    I liked that you wrote a question at the beginning of the essay. And also it was good that you wrote the difference of the poems very clearly and right at the beginning. And i really liked the idea that you had about the gods.
    You should have written a bit more about both poems. Just write a bit about for example some lines from the poems and the mood of the poem, and how those are different.

    Sara:
    I really liked your essay. It was very descriptive and well written. I love your writing style. The last paragraph had a lot of good ideas.
    Probably an introduction would have been good. Or just a sentence at the beginning to start the essay with. Otherwise: great! :)

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  38. Valentina


    I liked how you used quotes from the peom.There is potential.I also like how you asked questions in the begining.

    I felt you could try harder though. Maybe you could have broken it up into more paragraphs because it was a long read. Also even though you quoted you didn't explain the quotes but instead you used them, which seemed as though you didn't know what they ment. However it is a good first draft.

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  39. James :)

    I really liked yours. It was straight to the point. I really like how even though it was short you managed to capture how it showed nature.

    Maybe you could elaborate and quote a bit more.

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  40. KALEAN X)

    WOW! I LIKED IT. Especially the way you analysed the poems and presented your ideas.
    :)
    Maybe a little bit more examples could be put in.

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  41. Luke:
    I liked how you analysed a lot on your examples, comparing it with others. It was also great the way you described some of the sceneries.
    Maybe you could improve by going into greater depth when you are analyzing the poems.

    Ryan:
    I liked the way you went into great detail when you were talking about 'Report to Wordsworth' and the way you analyzed the sceneries.
    Personally, I didn't find anything wrong with what you wrote, but you could have gone into a bit more detail when you were talking about 'On the Grasshopper and the Cricket'.

    Onur:
    I liked the way you included personal thoughts in what you were writing about both of the poems. It was also good the way you analyzed them and included detail about what some lines/phrases actually mean.
    I thought it was great and that there wasn't anything that you really need to improve. But, you could go into a little more detail when you are anaylzing the poems.

    By Kalean Grade 9A

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  42. Rosie
    -I liked the way you went straight to the point in describing what you thought the poem was it about, it was easy to follow and easy to understand. The only thing I’d suggest is paragraphing your essay with spaces so it would have been easier to read instead of one huge chunk :) !

    Evita
    - You expressed your feelings and thoughts about the poem really well! It was very easy to understand and follow and easy to understand what you were talking about, you went into good detail and I think it was a very good effort for a first draft; I don’t have any critism for you at all and think this would be good as a final draft :)

    Mike

    - You explained your ideas and thoughts very well, but I think you could have tried harder and gone into more detail and maybe some references to the poems themselves and I think you could have added quite a lot more as it was very short, but easy to read :)

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  43. Onur.
    +
    I liked the way you expressed your mood into the way you wrote your first draft.
    You also quoted a lot, this made the review read better and this is very helpful, so people know about what line your referencing to.
    You grouped the poems together well.
    -
    Your first draft is… really good and I’m honestly not too sure what is wrong with it.
    You could maybe give a better explanation on your quotes.
    Work on your summary more.

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  44. Sara

    You explained the poems very well, and went into a lot of detail about each one of them. Even from your ending you cover both of them well .

    At a few points I saw you jumped around a bit and it was hard to follow, and if you use a few subheadings they will help and finally there were not many quotes, so if u use more quotes it will help.

    Onur:
    You went into a lot of detail which helped cover the poems, you also used a lot of quotations which is really good, and also the way you wrote it, it worked really well.

    A large suggestion would be to explain further the quotations you used from the poem Report to Wordsworth. Also try adding more to your summary at the end to conclude the essay and also Lengthen the part about Report to Wordsworth by including more detail and information.

    Mike:

    You did explain the poems quite well and used a small amount of description. You also gave a really nice and bright imagine for both of the poems.
    You could have gone into more detail about the atmosphere and detail and meaning of each poem and the difference between them. Also using quotations really helps show the reader where you are and what you are describing.

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  45. James

    I think you could have used more quotes in your paragrpahs to back up your points, and gone into more dpeth in your analysis. However you managed to make a clear differentaition between the two poems and I liked how you pointed out John Keats Era.

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  46. Max Micallef AttardMarch 23, 2010 at 2:43 AM

    YBOT
    Toby I really liked your ideas of what you put in your First Draft. It shows that you actually worked on it. You commented on the poem pretty well and you content was amazing. I think though that you could have used some more idealism and description. It is still very good and you have worked hard on it. You could have already Toby: I liked the fact that you wrote the question at the beginning of the essay. You could have written a bit more though, but it was still good.

    SAMEJ
    You did a very good job on your poem, it was long and descriptive but there were some points that could have been a bit more elaborated on. You could have used a few more quotes from the poems to give it a little bit more detail and feeling to your essay. You discussed both poems very well and did a good JOB :P

    ARAS
    Sara very well written, I loved it, it was very descriptive and different. The thing you could have improved was the amount of writing and the amounts of quotes. IT was really good and you did a great job. Keep up the good work!!!!

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  47. Evittaaa :D
    +
    I like the way you used lots of quotes and explained them well.
    You put a lot of emoticon into it.
    I also found this easy to read and understand.
    -
    Your conclusion could be way longer and more descriptive.
    Its also a little bit short but if you added some more details or description into it im sure it will be longer.

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  48. YBOT
    Toby I really liked your ideas of what you put in your First Draft. It shows that you actually worked on it. You commented on the poem pretty well and you content was amazing. I think though that you could have used some more idealism and description. It is still very good and you have worked hard on it. You could have already Toby: I liked the fact that you wrote the question at the beginning of the essay. You could have written a bit more though, but it was still good.

    SAMEJ
    You did a very good job on your poem, it was long and descriptive but there were some points that could have been a bit more elaborated on. You could have used a few more quotes from the poems to give it a little bit more detail and feeling to your essay. You discussed both poems very well and did a good JOB :P

    ARAS
    Sara very well written, I loved it, it was very descriptive and different. The thing you could have improved was the amount of writing and the amounts of quotes. IT was really good and you did a great job. Keep up the good work!!!!


    MAXXX

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  49. Constructive criticism.
    Toby
    What I like:
    I really enjoyed that you started off as including a rhetorical question, and how you went on after that. I also like that you went and said that they are completely opposite right in the beginning. Your comment is also very easy to read. And I also like that you have shown how you, in particular understand the poem.
    What can be improved:
    Even though the language was easy to understand, I would insert a little bit more paragraphs, like a free space between the paragraphing. This would make your paragraphs separate and easier to focus on. I would also use more quotations, like when you refer to something, write what line it is in. I would also use more effective language to be honest.

    Andrew:
    What I like:
    I really liked that you used a lot of quotations. I also like that your use of language is a bit harder than the rest of the people’s, but it is still easy to read. I also liked that you have free spacing between your paragraphs.
    What can be improved:
    I think everything is good, but to write something just use more of your own opinion and thoughts.

    Christina:
    What I like:
    I like that you have used a lot of your opinion, you wrote about the nature and damage we are causing. I also liked that you have got easy to read language, and clearly separated paragraphs.
    What can be improved:
    I think that you should talk about the poems much more, use quotation and write how you understand the poem.

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  50. Sara
    +
    I liked it. You described everything clear with details so it was easy to read and understand.
    -
    Maybe you could use more quotes.

    Rosie
    +
    I like your conclusion its very well written. You put a lot of information in it which is good.
    -
    I think you should separate your paragraphs it will make it easier to read.

    Evelina
    +
    Your first draft is really good. You have beginning and conclusion. I liked how you put your personal opinion.
    -
    You could put more quotes and add more description in your draft.

    Polina

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  51. Mike
    +
    You explained your ideas well.
    You clearly understand the poems.
    It’s easy to read.
    -
    It’s short; you could add more to make it longer.
    You should quote in it so it’s easier to reference to the poem.
    There’s also spelling mistakes ;)

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  52. Mike:
    It's easy to understand your ideas, and you show a good understanding of the poems.
    Suggestions: Perhaps you could add quotes to link your ideas to the poems.

    EVITA-CHAN :
    I liked your use of quotations, and how you fit them in to go well with your ideas. You also gave a clear understanding of what you thought.
    Suggestions: Perhaps add a little more detail or thoughts to the conclusion.

    Kalean:
    I liked the way you analyzed the poems, and stated your thoughts clearly. I also thought you had some very good ideas.
    Suggestions: Maybe adding more quotes to link your ideas and the poems together?

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  53. my last constructive critism
    evita: You did it really well I liked it how you described it and how you put the poem together well done! :)
    what you maybe do better was more description about the poems when you have that you can put more quotes! ;)

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  54. DYLAN-

    You have a very good understanding of the poems. You explained all of your points very well and covered lots of information. You also quoted and explained the poems in a way that let me understand what you were saying.

    If you had added an introduction and also, especially, a conclusion it would have given you the ability to summarize your work and emphasize a few points in a much better way.

    POLINA-

    Your essay is short, yet it conveys the general ideas of the two poems using quotes and explaining them very well.

    I don't know what the IGCSE expect, but maybe you could make your essay a little bit longer, going through even more lines.

    ANDREW-

    You also have a very good understanding of the two poems. You quoted very well and were able to get all of your points across in a clear and organised manner

    You could have mentioned the time difference in the two poems. On the Grasshopper and the Cricket was written in the 18th century while Report to Wordsworth was written in the 1950s, when there was some understanding of what was happening to our planet.

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  55. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  56. Constructive Criticism
    ____________________________________________

    I'm going to write about the first three.
    ____________________________________________

    Valentina

    What works: I like how you went into depth and used quotes from the poem in your essay. I also like how you included an introduction and a conclusion.

    Suggestions: You could have made the conclusion longer by including a personal response.
    ____________________________________________

    Evita

    What works Your essay is really good overall and I like how you made it funny so it is more interesting to read.

    Suggestions You could have made only one introduction and one conclusion by combining them because the structure may be confusing to some people if you don't.
    ____________________________________________

    Polina

    What works: I like how you use very descriptive words to explain what you mean. because it helps whoever is reading it to understand it better and get a better picture in their head.

    Suggestions: You could have used more quotes from the poems and explained different parts of them. Also, you could have included an introduction and a personal response at the end.

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  57. criticism

    Evita

    You expressed your feelings and thoughts about the poem quite well. It was easy to understand and follow what you were talking about, you went into good detail and I think it good was for a first draft; I don’t have any critism for you and im pretty sure you would get an A in this for your final draft


    Sara
    I liked your essay. It was very descriptive. I like your type of writing style. The last paragraph had a few good ideas.
    suggestion-
    an introduction would have been good. Or just a sentence at the beginning to start the essay.but it was good.

    James

    I think you should have used more quotes in your paragraphs to back up your points.B you seemed to show the difference between the two poems and I liked the way you pointed out John Keats Era.

    bye mike :]

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  58. great i have only 1 criticism to work with :P

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  59. Evita:

    Evita your work is good :)
    you clearly said that one was happy and one was sad.
    i would go more into detail about why you think it is happy or sad
    maybe use qoutes.

    James:
    James yours is good.
    You used a lot of interesting words and explained you views well.
    still i would add some quotes so you can emphasize your point more.

    Nathan:
    i thought it was really good.
    you used quotes which is really good.
    it is a bit short so maybe you could elaborate on your opinions just as enforcement.

    Kimberly Merten

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  60. FINAL DRAFT!!!


    Both sonnets are about nature but have completely different meanings.


    In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket, it is optimistic and he is showing the happiness in nature. The grasshoppers singing songs and that earth's poetry will never end. Even though he talks about winter being a time of hardship it is still in a optimistic way because it is the way it is supposed to be.

    In Report to Wordsworth it is all very negative and hurts to read as you just realize what we are doing to our planet. He goes on about how even the Gods cannot help us and that earths heart is lying still so it is dying. It is very sad and it is all due to humans.

    One poem discusses about the happiness on the planet and the other about the sadness. either this is because Keats did not know in his time that they were destroying our planet. Both poems are striking as they both are very strong in their opinion so it is interesting to compare them and to see the difference in the way different people see things.

    Kimberly Merten

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  61. I had no Constructive Critism so thankyou all ;)
    FINAL DRAFT!

    In both of the poems they have a lot of nature in it; they deal with the natures in a different way. The poem ‘report to wordsworth’ is written by Boey Kim cheng and the poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket' is ’written by John Keats.

    In the poem report to Wordsworth he describes the theme of nature in a way of bad environment and what happened to the nature. In the first sentences the poem tells about that we have to stop with making the world bad. For example we participate in the greenhouse effect. In the sentence ‘ the flowers are mute and the birds are few’ he says that the world is going to die there are almost no birds and ‘in a sky slowing like a dying clock’ he tells us again about that nature is ‘going to die’ also it says us about the environmental things what is going around these days in ‘ All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk; he is entombed in the waste we dump’ he is telling us that the god Proteus cant rise from the sea because he is entombed in the waste what we dumb, our waste. In the five next sentences it is about the gods who are dying and on the last sentences in the poem you see that the nature is stopping ‘as a Natures mighty heart is lying still’. He talks further with ‘ the wound widening in the sky’ he is maybe saying with that that there is coming an hole in the ozone layer and on the end he is saying that God wants us to say that this is his last warning.

    The second poem from ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ Is showing something different with the nature. It begins with ‘The poetry of earth is never dead’ while the other poem was saying that nature is dying. This poem is telling ‘when all the birds are faint with the hot sun’ they will do something about it and they will ‘hide in cooling trees’. And he is telling more when ‘the Grasshopper takes the lead’ ‘In summer luxury’ the luxury of the summer. And when is ‘tired out with fun’ he can ‘rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed’. In the next sentences it tells about the winter how it is, and when the ‘frost has wrought a silence’ ‘from the stove there shrills’ that there is something nice and happy about it ‘The crickets song, in warmth increasing ever’ and the last two sentences show that if it is a bit lonely or half lost, ‘the grasshopper among some grassy hills’. It is bringing back to the Grasshopper and that it is beautiful nature.

    So the two poems talk both about the nature but then in a different way. Report to Wordsworth is talking about how the nature dies and he is blaming us what we are doing against the nature that it is bad. Poem ‘on the grasshopper and cricket it is about the things what happened in nature when it is to warm for the birds they are hiding in the trees who are cool(ing), So that one is more positive.

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  62. FINAL DRAFT: Nature Sonnets

    “On the grasshopper and the cricket” by John Keats and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng are two beautifully written sonnets with one similar theme: Nature. However, these two poems express this theme in very different ways. 


    
“On the grasshopper and the cricket” presents and deals with the theme of nature in several, peaceful ways. Keats gives references to how the animals and insects cope with nature like for example when ‘the birds hide in cooling trees’, ‘the cricket sings and rests beneath some grass”. They all show how the connection of nature and the animals habituating it is a system and that it will last forever on this earth. Sadly, this is not the case. But in this sonnet, Keats presents Nature’s beauties and wonders, other than what is happening to it in the present and what horrible things we are doing to it as portrayed in “Report to Wordsworth”. But its definite main theme revolving nature is about the cricket during seasons of summer and winter. In the last four lines it includes how winter is cold and dark, mentioning “The frost has wrought a silence” expressing how quiet it is. But in the next line it says, “From the stove there shrills the cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever”. This tells how its song is everlasting, even during winter when there are ‘lone winter evenings’ the grasshopper and cricket’s song will still be heard. It seems like Keats is trying to point out to the readers that the grasshopper and the cricket are representations of nature all in all. As I mentioned before, Keats indicates that Nature will surround us forever on Earth and will always be seen, heard of, and thought of in our environment. 



    “Report to Wordsworth” presents and deals with the theme of nature by referring to the parts of nature that is being destroyed. It tells of what we are doing, what is happening and the whole issue of global warming. It reminds us how we are decreasing our time, second by second, of having nature remaining on this earth. The sonnet revolves around the whole theme of selfish humans extracting innocent parts of nature for our own good, and above that, wasting it away. There are examples from the sonnet giving reference to what disastrous things we are doing to the Earth and the causes of it, which include ‘flowers going mute’, ‘smog’, ‘endangering birds’ etc. This whole sonnet is mainly about how the Earth is ticking away and we don’t have much left of Nature until it is all gone. This is conveyed in line 4; “In a sky slowing like a dying clock” stating how the sky is, through time, collapsing and becoming intoxicated by all the greenhouse gases let out. There is nothing we can do to stop global warming from happening, but we can keep it from happening sooner as well as making our last years on this Earth a comfortable and peaceful one with the magnificent Nature surrounding us in every corner. Cheng points out the ghastly actions we are pressuring and ruining nature with. This is shown in one line; “and Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale while insatiate man moves in for the kill”. This sonnet as well adds the nature of the Greek gods Proteus, Triton and Neptune; "All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk" telling the reader how Proteus will never come out of the sea because of what we have done, "Triton's notes struggle to be free" expressing how Triton feels captivated from the horrors we've put on this Earth so that he cannot speak out in any way. These two quotes show the reader how these gods are as well being affected by our monstrous actions. Nonetheless, “Report to Wordsworth’s” main message is how Nature and we need help as everything is happening with rapid increase. Cheng implies how Nature is slipping off of this Earth sooner than we thought. That said, the message of “Report to Wordsworth” is The Call to the gods and spirits to give us some sort of miracle that can help us fix our precious Earth.

    (to be continued on next post..)

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  63. (...continued)

    The two sonnets “On the Grasshopper and the cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” both resemble two important issues of Nature that we need to keep focused on. It puts one to mind of what gruesome activities we are doing to the Earth as well telling how we are in great need of help as Nature is dying in our very own bare hands. But on top of that we need to remember the parts of nature we have left and how beautiful and important it is to remain on this Earth. Nature is too miraculous and rare to ever be destroyed and further on wasted. Mother Nature controls the earth and if we kill her, we kill our Earth and there will be no other way to get her back. We need nature and we need to put a stop to our horrid behavior, which we are exploiting on her. The sonnets give out very important messages, which we need to ponder about, analyze and make sense out of so that we will understand the writer’s full background of the poem. It is surely what Keats and Cheng would have wanted us to do.

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  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  65. FINAL DRAFT

    Well, "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", written by John Keats, and "Report To Wordsworth", by Boey Kim Cheng, present nature in two different ways, but the theme of nature is quite prominent. The two poems are almost complete opposites, seeing as how On The Grasshopper and the Cricket John shows how alive and great the world is, whereas in Report To Wordsworth, the earth is dying.

    In "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket", nature is prominently shown with how he (John Keats) talks about animals, and other living organisms, and how they go about throughout the seasons. But it is mainly focused on the grasshopper and the cricket. Another way nature is shown is how he seems to describe the earth itself as poetry, how the nature of the earth is poetry. “The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;” this poem is clearly shown as being about nature itself, be it animals or the actual trees and ground, and perhaps about the beauty of the world. So, “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” deals with nature by going about it from a different perspective, and how it could be used differently. It deals with the theme ‘nature’ by showing how it is used as a home to many creatures, and how alive it is.

    “Report To Wordsworth” shows nature in a different view. Here, nature is being personified as a ‘she’. “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog,” as shown here. But, unlike the other poem, it is being shown as nature DYING, rather than centering in on its beauty and poetic-ness; “The flowers are mute, and the birds are few in a sky slowing like a dying clock.” The picture it paints in my mind, for me, is the world in grayscale. Everything would be dark and gloomy, and basically I feel like if I even touch a blade of grass in that state it would crumble. This poem also has a hopeless tone to it, as “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk;” which shows that there is no hope for Proteus to rise from the sea. “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale,” that line shows both how whales are becoming extinct, and how helpless so many animals and creatures of the earth are as “insatiate man moves in for the kill.” In that way, the earth is defenseless, and helpless. Boey uses the greek gods in his poem , as Wordsworth did, to show how even gods could not survive what the earth is going through. “Nature’s mighty heart is lying still,” further proves how nature is, in fact, dying and how “the wound widening in the sky” is the result of pollution and things that we couldn’t bother to have prevented, that were very well preventable.

    “Report To Wordsworth” and “On The Grasshopper and the Cricket” deal with two very different things, but both of them contain a theme about nature. One of the differences is how one focuses on how alive and beautiful nature is, whereas the other focuses on how it is dying and how it will not continue to be that way if we do nothing about pollution and the other environmental problems at hand. But also considering that the difference between the time written is quite large, seeing as "On The Grasshopper and the Cricket" was written in the 18th Century, whereas Report To Wordsworth was written in the 1950s. Many things would have changed from the time in between.

    -Tatiana T

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  66. Nature Sonnets

    Both Poems deal with the term ‘Nature’ in a different way, On the Grasshopper deals with nature by saying how great it is within the earth, whereas in Wordsworth it is saying how all things on earth are “failing” and that the world is dying.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats starts off saying how the birds are flying around under the heat of the hot sun and becoming so tired and hot that they take shelter under “Cooling Trees” it then moves onto how a voice in the wind presumably runs “From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead” and then it finally goes onto saying how the Grasshopper will take the lead and it then says how in the summers luxuries he is never done and when he is tired out he takes rest underneath some pleasant weed of the earth which presumably is a referring to the ‘weeds’ of the garden “rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.” The scenery then changes to the cold winter as “On a lone winter evening” states and how it brought silence to the summer’s heat “when the frost, Has wrought a silence” but now the Crickets song is bringing back that warmth to the earth and nature around it with every song, and finally takes place upon the grassy hills “The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever, The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.”

    “Report to Wordsworth” By Boey Kim Cheng deals with nature in a very different way to Keats poem as it describes that Nature has need of us, and that Mother Nature is being smothered by all of our pollution, “The Flowers and mute and the Birds are few” this is saying that the flowers are not producing pollen and that the birds are slowly dying out. The next part of Kim’s poem is about the Norse Mythology of Proteus, Neptune, Triton and then God enters at the end; “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk” as he has been entombed in the waste that we have dumped into the beautiful sea, “Tritons notes struggle to be free” Triton is struggling to keep awake and alive cause of all the pollution that we are putting out. “Neptune Lies helpless as a beached whale” basically Neptune is no longer able to move from the sea, due to the pollution in the sea and out of it. Towards the end Boey says that “Nature’s Mighty Heart is lying still” and he is referring to that nature is being destroyed from the core and it’s ‘heart’ is ceasing to function. This poem deals with nature but in the sense that we as humans are destroying it and everything else because of our bad habits.

    As I said before, both these poems tackle Nature in a different ways as Keats’ is about the luxuries of nature and how peaceful it is, but Kim’s is about how pollution is destroying all things that is nature and beyond like the gods, and keeps on repeating it throughout the poem and it is effective in my opinion.

    バカ

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  67. Final Draft.

    "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" both have many ideas and thought’s about nature in them, making Nature the obvious theme straight away. In “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” you can tell that nature is a very big part as it mentions animals and seasons, You cannot really notice straight off in ‘ Report to Wordsworth’ but once you read through you notice that the poem is talking about nature aswell.

    “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” was written by John Keats. In this poem it is very obvious that nature the main theme. In the first line we all ready have the word ‘Earth‘ showing us that John Keats is interested in the eart, and its nature. As y ou read through all the lines John Keats mentions animals such as birds, grasshoppers and crickets, he mentions tree’s, weeds, meadows that are freshly mown, hedges and grassy hills and he mentions seasons and the weather like summer, winter, frost and warmth. He describes all aspects of nature, mother earth and animals. This poem has a deep meaning about the force of nature and how beautiful the earth is and with this poem we can tell that Keats has deep feelings for the environment, animals and nature that suround him.

    “Report to Wordsworth” was written by Boey Kim Chung. We can tell the poem is about nature when we read the line ‘You should be here, Nature has need of you’ as it obviously says Nature in it, but at first you cannot really tell that the poet is talking about nature. Boey Kim Chung is basically talking about how humans are ruining nature and the environment around them including the land and sea, he talks about how selfish we as we are taking our beautiful land and spoiling it without a thought, he makes human’s out to be heartless aswell. He also talks about the god of the sea, and how even the gods are mad at humans for contaminating the precious land and sea that we have. Boey Kim Chung seems to feel very strongly towards nature as does John Keats, but in different ways.

    So to summarize both poets John Keats and Boey Kim Chung have very passionate feelings towards nature and both poems takal the topic of nature, but from different perspectives as “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” talks about how wonderful and beautiful nature really is and “Report to Wordsworth” talks about how humans destroy and take the beauty of nature for granted.

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  68. Throughout the year we have studied the "Report to Wordsworth" poem which is written by Boey Kim Cheng and the the poem “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” which was written by John Keats. These two poems speak clearly about nature expressing each and one of their beauties they have and disasters. They are both very different from eachother, but very smilar aswell. As, one poem speaks about its positive sides and the other poem speaks about it's negatives. Both writers were meant to send a strong message across to readers - which they have achieved great success in.


    "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" John Keats speaks mostly about birds who are in the sun, and about the general facts of nature. Then he compares it to the grasshopper and then uses other similar things to compare it to. I believe there is no rhyme in any of these lines and don't consider it as a proper poem.


    where as, the poem 'Report to Wordsworth' the writer speaks about the danger facts of nature, for instance - global warming. It is mostly about how people of different parts of the world destroy mother nature and wants to make people realize that they are in need of doing something to this fact. It is the total opposite of the poem "Grasshopper and the Cricket".


    Both of these poems have strong ideas of mother nature and both poems are saying this in different ways. There is no rhyme in both poems and their way of writing and expressing it's beauty is different from the poems that rhyme as it is harder for the writer to come up with words what would mean and be understandable to the reader.


    I believe it it very important to all of us, to realize what damage we are causing to the environment with the littlest things we do not even think of. It is important to understand that we are ruining our environment and are in need of getting to work on this fact. If to compare both poems, they have much in common as for instance - Nature. They both address the strongest points to us, readers, and are trying to send a message across to mind what we are doing to the environment without even noticing it. It is also important to know what the real mother nature is like to us and how much it should mean. I believe we are capable of changing the future if we do something about global warming which is slowly destroying our beautiful environment!

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  69. The two sonnets, On the Grasshopper and the cricket both talk about nature in two completely different ways but they were talking in two different eras where what we knew about nature and what was happening with it had changed.

    In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket he starts out saying “The Poetry of earth is never dead”. By this he means that the earth will last forever and that it and nature will always be beautiful. He talks about how the birds “hide in cooling trees” keeping up his image of nature. In the next line he says “from hedge to hedge about the new-moan mead” which is bringing up a nice image or nature even more, talking about hedges and meads. He goes on to saying “In summer luxury, - he has never done” mentioning these luxuries of nature in the summer. He then says “With his delights, when tired out with fun” talking about how the Grasshopper is having fun in the summer and is starting to tire and then says “He rests at ease under some pleasant weed” talking about the weed and it being pleasant. He is still building this image of nature being fun and care free. He then changes the mood greatly to a colder, wintery feel. He says “on a lone winter evening, when the frost has wrought a silence” which shows how the winter has taken over the summer and that the winter seems to be more lonely. He later talks about the “drowsiness half lost” adding to this wintery feeling. Keats is always showing the nice points of nature and how it will last forever. Even though he goes to the wintery feel in the end he changes it showing that nature is still always present by saying “the grasshopper’s among some grassy hills” mentioning nature, which is obviously still present in winter. This being said, Keats wrote this poem in the 18th century which was before anyone knew what was happening to the earth, almost before we started destroying it.

    Report to Wordsworth was written in the 1950s where we had an idea of what we were doing to our earth. Report to Wordsworth is a poem telling William Wordsworth that he is needed as the world is being destroyed. It starts out by saying “You should be here, nature has need of you” telling Wordsworth that he should be here as the world is dying. He talks about someone being laid to waste and being smothered by the smog and how the “flowers are mute and the birds are few” and how the “sky is slowing like a dying clock” all showing how the earth is dying or at least starting to die. He talks about gods like Proteus, Neptune and Triton. He says that “All hope of Proteus rising from the sea, has sunk”, how “Neptune is as helpless as a beached whale” and how Tritons notes, which are meant to save the world are struggling to be free. He means that if the gods were in this state, then the world must be in trouble. He talks about how “Insatiate man moves in for the kill” which shows how man just goes for everything nature has. He says that “Poetry and piety have begun to fail” showing that the world no longer has the poetry that Keats talks about and is starting to lack in its piety. He then makes it even more dramatic by saying that “Nature’s heart is lying still” which obviously means that it’s dying.

    Both poems talk about nature in a very interesting way. In On the Grasshopper and the Cricket Keats talks about how the earth and nature is good and how it will never die. On the other hand in Report to Wordsworth, which was written much later, he talks about how the earth is dying and there is no hope to save it. Boey’s poem has a much stronger impact on the reader but Keats still gets his message accoss.

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  70. FINAL DRAFT !

    In this essay I'm going to analyze and compare two nature sonnets "On the Grasshopper and The Cricket" by John Keats and "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng. They are beautifully written sonnets about nature. However, they convey different ideas.

    In the poem "On the Grasshopper and The Cricket" by John Keats we can see that the main idea of this poem is that poetry about nature can not die it will live forever. The author begins the poem by saying "The poetry of earth is never dead". Also later in the poem he says that "The poetry of earth is ceasing never". John Keats says that it doesn't matter what season it is the music and the "poetry of earth" will be with us all the time. The author describes amazing things that happen during different seasons. In the summer when "the hot sun" shines, grasshopper "takes the lead". In the cold winter "when the frost" comes, we can hear cricket's warm song "from the stove there shrills". Poet believes that beauty of Nature never ends. You can feel that the author really loves nature by the way he talks about the grasshopper and the cricket. John Keats uses personification when he describes those insects and what they do. For example, grasshopper "he takes the lead", "tired out with fun", "rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed." Also he shows that the cricket is singing a song.

    In the poem "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng we can also see author's attitude towards nature. Unlike Keats who believed that nature is eternally beautiful, Kim Cheng thinks that Nature changed and it's not so beautiful and peaceful. The environment is not as clean as it was before. The flowers and birds are "Smothered by the smog". Boey Kim Cheng also uses the personification "the flowers are mute" this shows that they are silent. He also uses the comparison on birds that they are "slowing like a dying clock". Nature "has been laid waste. Boey Kim Cheng thinks that "all hopes" to repair nature "have sunk" help will come from nowhere because all hopes are "entombed in the waste we dump". Boey Kim Cheng thinks that people "insatiate man" are "killing" our Nature. "You should be here. Nature has need of you" with this sentence poet shows that nature is in bad condition and needs help. I think he believes that people will understand their mistakes and start care about the Nature again.

    These two sonnets are both devoted to the theme of nature.. John Keats on one hand believes that our Nature always will be beautiful and peaceful as it is now. Boey Kim Cheng on the other hand believes that our Nature needs help because it's already polluted and "destroyed" by people which don't care about anything except themselves. We can see that "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" express absolutely different ideas about the Nature.


    Polina

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  71. Final Draft of Nature in the two Poems:

    Both “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” and “Report to Wordsworth” deal with the topic of nature, but they deal with it in very different ways, the first showing nature in its prime, and the second showing its deteriorating state.

    In the “Grasshopper and the Cricket”, nature is seen as a great thing, and how it is flourishing in summertime, using such words as “Summer Luxury” and “the poetry of earth is ceasing never”. These show that nature is doing great, and will never cease to exist, and everything is cooperating with each other (“the grasshopper! He takes the lead, in summer luxury—he has never done”). Animals are mentioned throughout the poem, even in the title, and the poem is about a grasshopper, and how he is coping with nature, and a cricket. The poem has a very cheery mood to it. The poem was written in 1884, and this shows in the poem, as none of todays problems with nature seem to be evident, and allseems fine. This is because recently, we have become more aware of what we are doing, and so in that time, there wouldn’t have been as much to worry about.

    On the other hand, “Report to Wordsworth” contradicts the Grasshopper and the Cricket, and states that nature is dying, and that we need to stop destroying nature, and stop misusing our powers (“You should be here, nature has need of you. She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog.”). Also, the poem states that the gods are suffering, and that Poseidon is struggling to escape the horror, and Zeus is almost dead, which shows the extent of the problems, with him being an immortal god. This poem does not have a cheery mood, but a depressed mood, and shows that we really need to stop ruining our planet. This poem was written in recent years, and shows what has become of our planet, and i think that Boey is implying that we should avert our ways, and try to get rid of these problems, and bring nature back into its full glory.

    There is conflict between both of these poems, as the poets have very different views. Boey Kim Chung believes that we need to avert our ways, and try to protect nature after what we have done to it, as he is aware of the problems we now have with nature, whereas John Keats shows that nature is doing fine, even flourishing, and all of life is doing well, as Keats and the world did not know of the problems that would engulf nature in the future, and so he writes about how nature is doing great.

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  72. How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?
    Well, to start off with, what is nature? What does it mean to you?
    For me nature is something necessary, nature is our planet, and without such nature it would not be as enjoying to stay here. Nature is something beautiful, and I don’t think you can put everything under one thing, nature. There is soil, oceans, seas, forests, deserts, sky, rain, snow, sun, everything is part of nature. Birds and rainbow and mammals are also nature, and we, humans are part of it too. We have got to be thankful for what w get from it, it would be impossible to live without nature beings. This is what I would speak of if I would write about nature.

    Both of these poems are of course about nature, but they deal with nature in two very different ways. I think that “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” is talking about how beautiful and immortal the nature is, and I believe that “Report to Wordsworth” is talking that the nature is dyeing right now, and that if we don’t try hard enough to save it, it will die.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” is really just explaining all the beauties of nature, it is talking about some natural beings such as shade, birds, flowers, sun, weather. John Keats is saying “The poetry of earth is ceasing never”, and I think that he refers to “poetry” as to the nature, so the poetry of earth is all the natural beauty of earth. He is mentioning that it is immortal, and immortality is very dramatic and strong thing to talk about in this poem. It is also well descriptive, not just easy, but it goes into deep kinds of meanings, so you have to read some lines many times in order to fully understand them. I think that the author of this poem took such a positive side, he is very enthusiastic and optimistic. He says “in summer luxury” saying how rich the nature is. He also used other positive lines such as “grassy hills” meaning that there is enough food for animals, “cooling trees” meaning that you won’t faint because of the heat attack. “pleasant weed” also makes this poem very nice, relaxing, enthusiastic and good in general.

    “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng is speaking about some global issues, such as the global warming for instance, and how dirty our world is now. “Smothered by the Smog” is probably speaking about all the waste people make, and how for instance humans just thow all the dirt away in the rivers, where other natural beings such as birds and flowers suffer and perish because of us, humans. He is speaking to another poet, he is addressing it to him, he is saying that even strong gods cannot resist on such force. It is a sad poem about nature, it is not saying that it is immortal, it is really saying that it is dyeing, which is definitely sad.
    Boey took a negative aspect of today’s life, he is such a pessimist, he is saying that there is nothing you can do to stop the destruction of nature, “All hopes…have sunk”, and “his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed”. Even though I would at first think that there is no hope, I think there is because he asking Wordsworth to come now, so maybe he wants to see Wordsworth as a savior of earth, it is in the first line “You should be here, Nature has need of you”. Boey also looks up to nature and I think it is because he thinks how great it is even though it is dyeing, also he write it from a capital letter which is interesting.

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  73. Nature Sonnets

    After reading and comparing the two poems , “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats , and “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng. I noticed that both of these poems address the theme of Nature in different ways.


    ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ Keats talks about the birds who are boiling in the hot sun, and about the pace of nature, and he compares it to the pace of the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper is fast and likes to have fun. “With his delights; for when tired out of fun” Then it goes on to talk about the calmness of nature and he then compares that to the Cricket. “Has a wrought silence, from the stove there shrills The Cricket’s song” Keats talks about how the cricket hides in the warmth of a stove and sings his pleasant song. Keats also talks about the Poetry of the earth; there he might be talking about the rhythm of everything or how they all fit together to form maybe a sonnet or a symphony.


    ‘Report to Wordsworth’ Cheng talks about the dangers of Nature such as Global warming. Cheng refers to mother nature, “she has been laid waste”. Cheng talks about how humans have been destroying nature and how Mother Nature needs you (people in general) to wake up and smell the coffee. Cheng talks about how beautiful things are being killed off “the flowers are mute and the birds are few” . Cheng is addressing people talking about how the things we dump in the ocean are entombing Proteus, which means he is unable to rise from the sea. Cheng then goes on to say how the ocean is getting dirty and refers to the ocean by the god of the ocean, Triton. Cheng talks about how the newer generations have no care for poetry or piety and they certainly don’t care about nature.


    Both of these poems address nature in different ways. In Keats’ poem he addresses nature through the rhythm and method of it . Keats’ compares the faster ways of life and nature the grasshopper and the slower more methodical ways of life to the cricket. Cheng however addresses the damages that effect nature because of ignorant humans. Cheng talks about global warming and the more negative sides that some people tend to ignore. In both poem however the both address nature in one way or another.

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  74. How do the two sonnets "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" and "Report to Wordsworth" present and deal with the theme of nature?





    Both poems have very different views on nature. “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” presents nature as being pleasant and happy, whereas “Report to Wordsworth” presents nature as dying person.

    “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” presents nature as a pleasant thing. The poem deals with nature by grouping it with poetry “The poetry of earth is never dead:” you could replace the poetry in the quote with nature and it would still make sense and tie in with the poem. Nature has been depicted as an art. It has been described using positive words such as “luxury” and “pleasant” That it is happy and loving “In summer luxury”.

    The poem also shows that nature will never die away “The poetry of earth is never dead” and “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” it tells us that it is full of life and even though it is lonely and extreme that there is still joy about nature and something loving and warm about it. The poem shows that nature in summer time is the kingdom of the grasshopper “That is the grasshopper's he takes the lead” it shows that, summer is the season of nature and the grasshopper excels in. The season (summer) of nature is so fun that the grasshopper gets tired and when he is tired he rests in the shade under a “pleasant”(delightful) weed.

    The last two lines “And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, The grasshopper’s among some grassy hills”. tells us that even in winter when your mind is confused you think that the crickets song is the sound of the grasshopper’s on grassy hills, which presents nature as a clear memory that is so wonderful you think you can hear it even in the dead of winter when it seems like it has died.

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  75. “Report to Wordsworth” takes a different approach to nature. The poet blames us (humans) for destroying nature. The poet personifies nature giving it a gender for example “she” which could also mean that nature was delicate and weak to begin with because in those times women were seen as fragile. The poet then presents nature as dead “She has been laid waste. Smothered by the smog” without nature there are no birds in the sky and no flowers around. The world will come to stop. The poet is sending the message that nature is very important “the flowers are mute, and the birds are few in a sky slowing like a dying clock”.

    The poet ties nature to the sea by first personifying it, then linking nature with different gods of the sea “Proteus” , “Triton”, and “Neptune”. These gods were said to be very powerful gods , so in the poem when “All hopes of Proteus rising from the sea have sunk ;he is entombed in the waste we dump” , “Triton's notes struggle to be free, his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed” and “Neptune lies helpless as a beached whale “ it really makes an impact because the poet is stating that nature cannot be saved from its dying state, for there is no chance of Proteus rising from the sea, he is stuck in our waste , Triton cannot be heard, he is chocking on fumes and Neptune is as helpless as a beached whale which is quite helpless and useless.


    The poet then indicates that we have dealt badly with nature by killing her “insatiate man moves in for the kill”. The poet then ties in poetry and holy-ness into the poem “Poetry and piety have begun to fail,” saying even holy art cannot bear the situation of nature and is dying. The poet finally comes to the conclusion that nature is dead “Nature's mighty heart is lying still” and because of that the world is a horrible place.



    Nature dying has opened up the sky and it is spreading like and infection and it even reaches God “O see the wound widening in the sky, God is laboring to utter his last cry.” even he is in pain because nature has died. The poet has shown that nature presents the battery of the world and without it everything will slowly die and rot away it also shows that we knew this situation was going to come around where nature would die we just made it come sooner and faster .

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  76. It is quite interesting how both poems show the opposite. One is quite positive about the situation of nature showing that it’s after effect is so memorable and impacting that we even think we can hear it when it is asleep in winter. Whereas the other is quite negative and tells us we might as well commit suicide because the world is coming to an end now that nature is dead. Both poems show what Nature is capable of doing to the world “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” shows that even when it has gone to sleep we are under the illusion we can hear it and “Report to Wordsworth” depicts nature and being the key of the world once it is gone the world will shut down and be a useless and miserable place.



    By EVITA OTIGBAH

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  77. FINAL DRAFT

    The sonnets "Report to Wordsworth" by Boey Kim Cheng and "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket" by John Keats are both about nature. However, the authors show us very different views of nature.

    In the sonnet “Report to Wordsworth”, Boey Kim Cheng shows us clearly his opinion. He thinks that Nature is getting destroyed and is half-dead. Already in the first line “…Nature has need of you”, he shows us that there must be something wrong with ‘Nature’. Then he describes Nature as being ‘laid waste’ and ‘smothered by the smog’. With the clause ‘slowing like a dying clock’ he probably wants to say that with every day, Nature gets more and more destroyed. And hopes (to rescue Nature) ‘have sunk’ – so he says Nature’s situation is helpless. He mentions the gods Neptune, Proteus and Triton, all three of them are gods of the water and in this poem, all of them are being shown in a bad situation (eg. …helpless as a beached whale). He clearly blames humans for the destruction of nature. He says that ‘…man moves in for the kill’. He refers to Nature as already destroyed by saying that ‘Nature’s mighty heart is lying still’. He thinks that even God is very desperate about the situation.

    The other sonnet shows Nature in a very different view. The author writes in the first line, that the poetry of earth is never dead. We can already see, that he doesn’t think Nature is dying. He writes, that even if it is really hot and the birds hide from the sun, there is life in the grass and all around us. He tells us that the Grasshopper jumps ‘From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead’. He describes the grasshopper’s activity as something positive, using words like ‘in summer luxury’ and ‘fun’. Then he writes, that even if it’s really cold (on a lone winter evening), nature is still everywhere. Now he talks about a cricket, that sings and shrills. So all in all he says, that whatever time of the year it is, nature is never ‘dead’ or silent, there are always animals all around us that enjoy themselves.

    There is a very big contrast between those two sonnets. The first author thinks that Nature is dying, the second says that Nature will never die. He probably wants to say, that we might think that Nature is dead, but there is always Nature around us even if it’s really cold or really warm.
    However, there are also some similarities in the poems. Both of them are about Nature and both poets seem to like or even love nature. One of them shows the beauties of Nature (On the Grasshopper and The Cricket) and the other poet shows the bad things that happen to Nature (Report to Wordsworth). But the poets make it obvious that they both want the best for nature.

    Caroline (:

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  78. The sonnets: “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” and the “Report to Wordsworth” both address the ideas and themes of nature, but they do this in a very different way, showing the expression and ideas of the poets.

    In “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” the poet has shown the positive side of nature and talks about the calm pleasant things and compares the summer and winter. He keeps the poem happy and positive “tried out with fun” this is a good example of how light the mood of the poem is. The poet says “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” I think he is implying that nature is poetry and that it will always be pleasant. He uses the idea of comparing a Grasshopper to the calmness of the world. Everything in this poem is positive like here “pleasant weed” a weed is usually seen as an unwanted plant but here it has been described as a pleasant thing and gives that idea that everything in nature is wanted.

    In “Report to Wordsworth”, Boey talks about nature and earth dying. He is trying to give an important message in his poem, that we need to act now to save the world from our problems and from pollution “Nature has need of you” this is interesting as it is getting the attention of the audience of the poem and saying that you are needed to mend the problems that Boey has indentify in the world. The poet says “Smothered by the Smog” this is referring to pollution and the industrialization of humans. The words “entombed in the waste we dump” we can relate this to dumping of rubbish and litter, Boey has indentified these issues a very long time before people understood them as problems. Another interesting bit is “his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed” I think this is referring to people and the effects of pollution on them. It is not so much a negative poem but he is addressing the negative aspects of human effect on nature and what is happening.

    Both the poems are exploring the ideas of nature but from completely different slants. As Keats has focused on the light and pleasant things that please the audience of the poem and make them feel happy. Where Boey has taken a darker route and focused on the down fall of the dying world and the end of nature his poem is raising awareness of the problem and informing people of his concerns in the form a meaningful poem.
    Nathan Back

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  79. The sonnets: “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” and the “Report to Wordsworth” both address the ideas and themes of nature, but they do this in a very different way, showing the expression and ideas of the poets.

    In “The Grasshopper and the Cricket” the poet has shown the positive side of nature and talks about the calm pleasant things and compares the summer and winter. He keeps the poem happy and positive “tried out with fun” this is a good example of how light the mood of the poem is. The poet says “The poetry of earth is ceasing never” I think he is implying that nature is poetry and that it will always be pleasant. He uses the idea of comparing a Grasshopper to the calmness of the world. Everything in this poem is positive like here “pleasant weed” a weed is usually seen as an unwanted plant but here it has been described as a pleasant thing and gives that idea that everything in nature is wanted.

    In “Report to Wordsworth”, Boey talks about nature and earth dying. He is trying to give an important message in his poem, that we need to act now to save the world from our problems and from pollution “Nature has need of you” this is interesting as it is getting the attention of the audience of the poem and saying that you are needed to mend the problems that Boey has indentify in the world. The poet says “Smothered by the Smog” this is referring to pollution and the industrialization of humans. The words “entombed in the waste we dump” we can relate this to dumping of rubbish and litter, Boey has indentified these issues a very long time before people understood them as problems. Another interesting bit is “his famous horns are choked, his eyes are dazed” I think this is referring to people and the effects of pollution on them. It is not so much a negative poem but he is addressing the negative aspects of human effect on nature and what is happening.

    Both the poems are exploring the ideas of nature but from completely different slants. As Keats has focused on the light and pleasant things that please the audience of the poem and make them feel happy. Where Boey has taken a darker route and focused on the down fall of the dying world and the end of nature his poem is raising awareness of the problem and informing people of his concerns in the form a meaningful poem.
    Nathan Back

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  80. Opps dubble post could you please remove the extra post.

    Nathan

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