My Ode to Poe

Since seventh grade, Edgar Allan Poe has been my favorite short story writer. In seventh grade, I read "The Tell-Tale Heart" for the first time and it was amazing! I'm not a huge horror story person, but Poe makes horror interesting to me. During my Sophomore year, I read "The Fall of the House of Usher" and I learned the concept of doppelgänger. Since then, I have encountered doppelgänger in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Also, I read "To Helen" my Sophomore year and instantly loved it. I loved the poem so much that I recited it my Junior year in English class for Poetry Out Loud. Poe's creative way of writing intrigues me and I always feel compelled to look deeper into the story to figure out the character's motive and dissect their personality. I will always recommend Poe to anyone who loves a good scare and wants to read something interesting. Long live Poe!

To Converge or Not to Coverge

As part of a poetry essay, I was required to pick a poem to write an explication on. I decided to not go with Poe, Wordsworth, or Shakespeare, but to go with someone that I have never heard of before. I chose Thomas Hardy and it seems like I made the write choice. The poem I picked is called "The Convergence of the Twain." Upon reading it the first time, I immediately connected to the poem. I don't want to insult your intelligence here, but the poem is written about the Titanic for those of you who don't know. I have had some rotten luck with poems and it felt good to finally pick a great one! I started my TPCASTT (Title, paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shifts, Title, and Theme) and dove right into the nitty gritty stuff. That's right, the literary devices! It was like a playground for an English teacher because I found rhyme, point of view, symbolism, diction, details, figurative language, imagery, allusions, personification, use of the senses, alliteration, hubris, attitude, tone, and theme. Yeah, you better pinch yourself because you're not dreaming! I guess I picked a great poem because now I have lots of information and a five page paper to write. I rock! In case you haven't noticed, I have a lot of self-confidence, but confidence is key!