Poetry Critique

Spirits Of The Dead
By: Edgar A. Poe

Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.

The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.
The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

(http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/poe/spirits.html)

I chose this poem because I really like the way Poe writes. Not because he writes about death and sarrow and whatnot, but because of the mood that his writing is able to set. He creates a vivid image and makes the reader share the feeling he is writing about. The title definitely fits with the idea of the poem and sets the mood for the work.
A personification he uses is,"The night, though clear, shall frown." The phrase describes the scene and conveys an underlying emotion to the reader. An example of a metaphor would be, "From thy spirit shall they pass No more, like dew-drop from the grass." He uses this to compare the presents of spirits to an everyday occurance such as dew drops on grass. It helps the reader better understand and connect with the feeling he is writing about.
The tone of this, like many of Poe's poems, is eerie, dark and mistifying. He succeedes in doing this by using rather dark metaphors and the idea of being among the dead.

I've got the straight edge

Starting today me and a friend of mine have decided to start living the straight edge lifestyle. For those who don' know, "straight edge" is not smoking, drinking or using recreational drugs. The reason we have decided to go this way is because of our dissatisfaction with the mindset of people here at EHS. There is definitely no shortage of people saying "get high, get high" and after doing so, we realized that its pathetic. People doing whatever it takes to get ahold of booze or drugs for the weekend is just sad. Sickening really. If they could take a step back and look at themselves and listen to what they are saying, they might think different. But the attitude we're noticing is people just do the things they do just to either gain acceptance or for some cheap thrill. Its just stupid.


"I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and fuck my head
Hang out with the living dead
Snort white shit up my nose
Pass out at the shows
I don't even think about speed
That's something I just don't need
I've got the straight edge
I'm a person just like you
But I've got better things to do
Than sit around and smoke dope'
Cause I know I can cope
Laugh at the thought of eating ludes
Laugh at the thought of sniffing glue
Always gonna keep in touch
Never want to use a crutch
I've got the straight edge"
- Ian Mackaye

Possible narrative titles

1. "The Alamo"
2. "A Chage of Scenery"
3. "Face to Face"

Metallica: Death Magnetic

On Friday, September 12th, the heavy metal band, Metallica, released their latest studio album: Death Magnetic. At first glance the album can seem a tad cheesy in their attempts to use a "metal" album name/cover art. But after listening to it couple times through it is their best work in a while. Metallica have not release any new meterial since June of 2003's "St. Anger." This album, although creative, was a large let-down due to the lengthy songs, awkward tuning, and a complete lack of guitar solos. Death Magnetic brings Metallica back to their former glory with speed, agressive lyrics and the revival of Kirk Hammet's soloing. Even though the shortest song on the record clocks in at just over 5 minutes, the song's steady tempos and impressive guitar work keep the listener ingaged for hours.

Narrative Passage

Here is my conclusion: "I think this memory sticks in my mind because being in an environment where people interacted freely and were very easy going kind of made me feel at home. Even though at first I felt out of place, by the end of the night, I felt at home."

-I feel I could use some work on summing up my experience. As of now the ending kind of repeats itself and sounds rather cliche. I am trying to come up with another way of saying I felt at home/ comfortable.
Ideas?

Discovery

Some things I could blog about:

Music (metal/punk)
Movies
Egypt
Concerts
Friends
Local concerts
Dreams
Poetry
Vacations
Things I like
Things I hate
My brothers
School
Drums
My band(s) (Hospital Bombs/Cryptogram)
Careers
Futurama
Resturants
Fast food
How I am invisible to small children
Pilgrim Drycleaners
Fears
ect.