Poetry Dedication projectBy: Alyssa Hoffmaster

Dedication page…

I would like to dedicate this this project to all of my best friends, not only are (most) of us graduating in a couple of weeks but we are all splitting off and doing our own things. I would like to dedicate this last project to you guys not only because I hope we stay together forever but because I wanted to do this one special thing…..I’m not trying to get sappy on you guys I swear!

I wrote each of you your own poem so sit back and enjoy!

This project is dedicated to: Chrissy, Dan, Cheyenne and Kayla

Poem#1 poem for Chrissy (Miss Shrimp )

We were once enemies, no making amends Then we connected, and then we were friends, Memories we share, lasting forever No more pain only laughter. One of us short, the other tall, We’re there for each other, even when we fall. We gather the courage through our ups and downs But that’s what we’re here for whether we smile or frown. We’re best friends forever, even though we’re going our

separate ways, But we’ll pray for each other and give God all the praise.

Intro to Poem #1 (Chrissy)

This poem is about my friendship with Chrissy. We started off hating each other; this poem starts off explaining our rough start and then ends with how we became such great friends. Even though she’s going off to college we’re still going to stay close. I wrote this poem to remember the memories and inside jokes we both had. We hang out all the time and I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when we can’t really do that anymore. And in the poem I wrote: One of us tall, the other short. I wrote that because we always make fun of Chrissy for being short. She’s the shortest friend I have and even though we’re always picking on her for it she loves it. This poem like all the rest show’s hidden emotions throughout the years of friendship. I will make other friends in life but I can honestly say that Chrissy may have been one of the first of my best friends starting all the way when we did soccer together. Looking back from when we were both younger till now is so crazy how much we’ve grown and became closer. I’m grateful for all my friends.

#2 poem for Dan (Dingo and the joker)

All throughout high school we connected as friends, We gossiped and talked and laughed to no end. Every week was special, getting closer to God. We had some great years and now that high school’s

over, I have great expectations and hopes that we become

closer. 10 years in the future I’ll look back and I’ll say, Look at him now, remember his goofball ways. You’re funny and smart and wise beyond years. Don’t forget about our times and hold our friendship

dear

Intro to poem #2 (Dan)

The second poem is all about my friendship with Dan. I’ve been friends with Dan for a bit over four years now; this poem explains him and our friendship well. The line in the poem where it says “remember his goofball ways” Well that pretty much sums him up. He’s not too serious much which is a good thing because whenever I have been sad or angry just one joke from him would cheer me up (even if his jokes were lame). I don’t know how he does it but he has something funny to say about everything. And when he wants to be serious he is. He has such a special relationship with God and I’m happy to be surrounded with friends that not only love being with me but with God as well. These four years have flown by. I still feel like that lame freshman that had no friends: p I could go with Dan with everything and vise versa. School is almost over for us and I will remember my best friends forever.

#3 Poem for Cheyenne (red haired beauty)

Our friendship’s newer and in that time we’ve been inseparable.

There’s no way out of drama for your that special. Your life is like a reality show, but that’s why we love

you, Your compassion and love has shown right through you. You’re never getting rid of me, no matter how far away

you move, Our sleepovers and shopping trips will always come and

go. Writing’s for both of us and yes we are different but… Our similarities are striking and we’ll always live in the

moment.

Intro to poem #3 (Cheyenne)

This third poem is all about my best friend Cheyenne. Her and I haven’t been friends as long as anybody else but I feel like I’ve been friends with her for forever. There’s no way out of drama for your that special. /Your life is like a reality show. When I wrote those lines I honestly wasn’t kidding. It seems that wherever Cheyenne goes drama is close behind her. I have never met anyone in my life with as many problems as this girl (no offense) but that’s why she has me and all her other friends to help her along the way. Cheyenne takes it and deals with it like a pro. Nothing EVER stands in her way. Like my other friends, Cheyenne has a very close friendship with God also. God is #1 in her life and comes before, boys, friends and anything else in her life. I wanted to write a poem that sums up each of my friends and our friendship. And even though I can’t get into detail while reading the poems it’s important to read between the lines, because that’s where all the information lies.

#4 poem for Kayla (Adventures for life)

What can I say; you’re just so different, Our love for books has what’s brought us together. I remember when we met, and you thought she was

better. For I was just shy and didn’t know any better. Our memories in that library has always made me laugh, Nobody found out and nobody gave a crap.

your love for ducks and Andes mints will always last forever.

Your moving away and I’m coming with you, So buy a big suitcase so I don’t have to miss you. Love you forever Your best friend Alyssa

Intro to poem #4 (Kayla)

My last dedicated poem is to you Kayla, geez where do I begin. Well let’s start at the beginning where the line in the poem goes like this: I remember when we met, and you thought she was better./For I was just shy and didn’t know any better. When I first met her she liked my sister better. Crazy right? I know! Who would like my sister better, I mean clearly… anyways, after that I didn’t see you for awhile until I saw you again at the library. I don’t even remember how many years ago that I met her but it was awhile. After that we would hang out at the library almost every day. The librarians treated us like family and we did crazy stuff there, like climb the bookshelves, fling rubber bands in the lights and pants the poor stuffed animals. Of course after she moved to Lancaster we couldn’t do that anymore but we still talked and hung out. Now she’s moving to Colorado and the last part of the poem is dedicated to her move and he plan to take me with her.

#5 The Final toast

We all belong, Bonded together as friends. Loving and helping each other. Being the person we’ve been molded

into. So here’s the final toast, raised to all

those alone, Bringing us together as one. So glasses up, for here’s the final toast

Intro to poem #5 (The Final Toast )

I wrote the poem “The Final Toast” I would like to say four years ago, I just had just finished listening to a song and I was immediately inspired to write this poem. I felt like it fit with the whole friendship theme I have going on. I really like this poem because it’s all about the end or the beginning. You can interpret this poem however you like. It could mean the end or the beginning of a friendship, of high school, or the end or beginning of life. And honestly as the author of the poem I have no idea what the poem really even means. For me it means all of those things. But what does it mean to the reader? Sometimes I like the mystery of the poem. Of what it could possibly mean. And most times I am completely wrong but it the mystery of it that makes it more interesting.

Poems from other poets #1 (A Birthday)

A Birthdayby Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water'd shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea; My heart is gladder than all these, Because my love is come to me. Raise me a daïs of silk and down; Hang it with vair and purple dyes; Carve it in doves and pomegranates, And peacocks with a hundred eyes; Work it in gold and silver grapes, In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys; Because the birthday of my life Is come, my love is come to me.

Explication for A Birthday

1-Title: A Birthday 2-Dramatic Situation: joy of being reborn, having a new life 3-Subject: birth/ birthdays- relationships- love and desire. 4-Images: My heart is like an apple tree/whose boughs arebent with thick –set fruit. Carve in it doves and pomegranates/ and peacocks with a hundred eyes 5-Tone: Happy and joyful/ having a “new life” 6-Structure: sonnet with 14 lines 7-Rhyme Scheme: a b b a a b b a and c d d e c e. 8-Title Symbolism: celebrating your birth 9-Theme: rebirth of one’s self, a whole new outlook in life 10-Diction: she speaker has found a love that she could not find anywhere else, she has been

reborn and is a new person. Christina Rossetti is the author of many poems but one that caught my eye was “A Birthday”

published in between 1830 -1894. I was researching this poem and came across a website where people could interpret this poem and it was really interesting to see how different everybody’s answers were, but for me this poem means being reborn as a Christian. Christina wrote about being in love and accepting the love of God into her life and being a new person, making it her un-official birthday. She wrote about “Because the birthday of my life/is come, my love is come to me. Which means her love has finally come. I picked this poem for my project because I know that this poem means something. To me, to my friends and I know that they all have felt this feeling of being reborn. Of becoming something new. Finding someone who loves you unconditionally.

I don’t think I picked this poem, I think this poem picked me. Hopefully this poem speaks to them , and shows as emotion as I had read from Christina Rosetti.

Poem #2 (Death)

Death by George Herbert   Death, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing, Nothing but bones, The sad effect of sadder groans: Thy mouth was open, but thou couldst not sing. For we considered thee as at some six Or ten years hence, After the loss of life and sense, Flesh being turned to dust, and bones to sticks. We looked on this side of thee, shooting short; Where we did find The shells of fledge souls left behind, Dry dust, which sheds no tears, but may exhort. But since our Saviour’s death did put some blood Into thy face ; Thou art grown fair and full of grace, Much in request, much sought for, as a good. For we do now behold thee gay and glad, As at doomsday; When souls shall wear their new array, And all thy bones with beauty shall be clad.

Explication for poem #2 (Death)

    Title- Death Dramatic Situation: Speaker: George Herbert , addressee:anyone, Occasion: Death Subject: How he used to feel about death compared to how he sees it now. Images, After the loss of life and sense/Flesh being turned to dust, and bones to sticks.

Tone: somber, and then joyous Rhyme Scheme:Alternating rhyme: abba, cddc, effe, ghhg, ijji, kllk Title Symbolism: The title symbolizes what he thinks Death is, what he thinks death is like. Theme:dying, the somber mood of how death's effect is on people, then joyous because those who

accept Christ life a joyous life after death. Diction: the speaker leaves us with how death is for him, what his opinion on death is. Death was published in 1633 by George Herbert. All his poems are somehow about God and Christianity. When first reading Death the first couple of lines made it sound like the poem was about how sad death

is, Death, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing /Nothing but bones, The sad effect of sadder groans. But when getting to the second half of the poem you find out that the tone has completely changes and he then talks about how blessed death is. That dying is really a great thing because it means leaving this earth and living in eternity in Heaven. He talks about how great heaven is and how death shouldn’t be a sad thing..As at doomsday; When souls shall wear their new array,/ And all thy bones with beauty shall be clad. I picked this poem because all my poems had a happy tone to them, they were of good memories, and while this poem doesn’t exactly mean Death and sadness this poem does have some sadder tones to it. While most of my poems shared memories and said that we will be best friends forever, forever won’t last. Someday, whether it be when we are younger or older we will die and death will consume us and someday our choices will effect where we go and what we do.

Poem #3 (A farewell to Youth )

A Farewell To Youth Author: Alfred Austin Ere that I say farewell to youth, and take

The homely road that leads to life's decline,Let me be sure again I shall not pineTo taste the bliss you bid me to forsake:That Spring's returning raptures will not wakeToo late repentance for abjuring mine,Nor the old sweets I pledge me to resignBehind them leave the bitterness of ache.Yet is there nothing of one's generous primeTo bear me kindred company to the end,Some passionate longing, some belief sublime,Some wrong to right, some failure to befriend?Leave me but these, I care not where I wend,But down life's slope go hand-in-hand with Time.

Explication for poem #3 (A farewell to youth)

Alfred Austin was born on May 30 1835 and died on June 2 1913 Title- A Farewell To Youth Dramatic Situation: saying goodbye and welcoming his adult life Subject:His last goodbye to youth, entering into the world on his own Images: To taste the bliss you bid me to forsake-That springs's returning raptures will not wake- Tone:sad,and some regret but he's determined to face the future Structure:1 paragraph, 14 stanzas Rhyme Scheme:The poem does Rhyme and everything flows together. Title Symbolism:The title pretty much sums up what the title is about, saying goodbye to his

school Theme: Never complain about being young and never wish to be an adult Diction: bidding farewell to what he once had Alfred Austin wrote about saying goodbye and so the reason why I chose this poem was because

many of us who are graduating (including me) are going to be out on our on soon, In a way graduation is our way of saying farewell to our youth. Were saying goodbye to high school, were branching off to college, the army, or the work force. We're saying goodbye to our youth and entering the world of living on our own, living as adults. Making life decisions and choosing what we become in life. And I think this poem fits what's going to happen to all of eventually, sooner or later we all say goodbye to our youth for good. He pretty much sums up his youth in this one poem. And soon we will all have our own poem of our youth. I picked this poem because we are saying goodbye to our youth; we’re graduating in a week (heaven forbid) and leaving school. To me, that’s a big symbol for adulthood. For me turning 18 and graduating is the completion of our youth. Now we enter the real world where our parents aren’t guiding us along each moment of our lives. We now have the power to make our own decisions and go out own way.

Poem #4 (A Magic Moment to Remember)

A Magic Moment I remember Alexander Pushkin A magic moment I remember:

I raised my eyes and you were there,A fleeting vision, the quintessenceOf all that's beautiful and rare.

I pray to mute despair and anguish,To vain pursuits the world esteems,Long did I near your soothing accents,Long did your features haunt my dreams.

Time passed. A rebel storm-blast scatteredThe reveries that once were mineAnd I forgot your soothing accents,Your features gracefully divine.

In dark days of enforced retirementI gazed upon grey skies aboveWith no ideals to inspire me,No one to cry for, live for, love.

Then came a moment of renaissance,I looked up - you again are there,A fleeting vision, the quintessenceOf all that`s beautiful and rare.

Explication #4 (A Magic to Remember) part 1

The Russian author of "A Magic Moment I remember" writes a heartfelt poem about love at first sight. He fell in love with a girl one night and he writes about how beautiful she is and how he had never met anyone like her before, then after the first four lines, the poem get’s sadder and you feel his anguish as he talks about losing her, not a day that he wouldn’t be thinking about her (Long did I near your soothing accents/Long did your features haunt my dreams) He missed her and his despair for her was evident in this poem. As time went by he began forgetting about her, he forgot her beauty and that accent of hers that he loved so dearly. He had no more inspiration; no more reason to live, (In dark days of enforced retirement/ No one to cry for, live for, love.) He doesn’t know what to do anymore but he finds her again, they have met again and his love for her has returned, he finds her beauty and grace even more alluring as he continues to fall in love with her all over again. So in my opinion Alexander had written a poem about falling in love at first sight. The magic moment where he saw her for the first time. I mainly picked this poem because of the beautiful love story that surrounds this poem.

Explication #4( A Magic Moment to remember) part 2

The poet expresses so clearly his love for someone and yet he’s in despair because he thinks he’s lost her. This poem is not about being friends, it’s not about sharing memories or making new ones but it’s an emotion that we can all feel while reading this poem. There’s no right or wrong poem, there’s no emotion greater than love, whether it’s for a significant other, friends, family or pets. Love is in all of us and love is what keeps us together.

My Favorite quote about Love…

One of the most frustrating words in the human language as far as I can tell, is love. So much meaning attached to this one little word. People use it about freely, using it to describe their attachments to possessions, pets, vacation destinations and favorite foods. In the same breath they have applied this word to the person they considered most important in their life. Isn't that insulting? Shouldnt there be some other term to describe deeper emotion?

-Alexandra Adornetto Author of Halo

Poem #5 (The Road Not Taken)

The Road Not Taken By Robert FrostTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

Explication #5 (A Road Not Taken)

Title: The Road not taken 2. Dramatic Situation: Speaker- a young or middle aged man or woman3. Subject: The speaker is at a fork in the road where he must decide which path to take. He decides to take the road less traveled since he is unable to decipher where either road leads. Images, Figures of Speech, Literary Devices: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"- very photographic, anyone can create this image in their head "grassy and wanted wear"- picturesquely describes that the road is not often used "way leads on to way"- repetition, creates a flowing, unstoppable movement to mirror the pace of life

5. Tone: He’s deciding between the future of each road, regretful because he realizes that he will never have the chance to know where the other road would have taken him. 6. Structure: Four stanzas of five lines each. 7. Rhyme Scheme: ABAAB CDCCD... 8. Title: It celebrates the wisdom of choosing the road not often taken. 9. Theme: One must choose their own path in life to be truly happy, not the one which the world thinks is acceptable.

10. Diction: Simple, concrete, picturesque, natural and easily understood.   The Road not taken is about a young man/or woman who has to make a big decision in life. Deciding on one

path or the other, deciding which one he or she thinks will be the better choice for him and his future. Of course of the paths is the correct one but he has no idea which one and he feels that If he doesn’t take the right path he’ll miss out on what the other one is like. Kind of like our own lives. We’re so caught up in what everyone thinks about us, how we look, how we talk, what music we listen to that we don’t stop to think about what we want.

This poem made its way into my project because it’s all about the decision making. We don’t know where life will go but we have to try to choose the right path that we think will make the biggest impact, regardless of what everyone else in the world things.

Bibliography page

Adornetto, Alexander (2011)” Halo” Halo, January 6 2012

Net poets. ‘classic poems’ [online] http://www.netpoets.com/classic/ May 7,2012

Every poet ‘The Road Not Taken’ [online] http://everypoet.com/ may 23, 2012