Your Verse Project
O Me! O Life!
By Walt Whitman
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here — that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Answer these questions:
Excerpt from “Dead Poet’s Society” (Spoken by Robin Williams)
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
Consider this:
O Me! O Life!
By Walt Whitman
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here — that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Answer these questions:
- What
is Whitman questioning?
- What
is Whitman saying about human life and in particular, YOUR life?
Excerpt from “Dead Poet’s Society” (Spoken by Robin Williams)
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
Consider this:
- What is
your “verse”? What will your
contribution to the world and in particular our society be?
The Last Lecture Essay
“I asked myself: ‘What do I, alone, truly have to offer?’
And then, there in that waiting room, I suddenly knew exactly what it was. It came to me in a flash: Whatever my accomplishments, all of the things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child … and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them. My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all the dreams – from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky – that defined my forty-six years of life. Sitting there, I knew that despite my cancer, I truly believed I was a lucky man because I had lived out these dreams. And I had lived out my dreams, in great measure, because of things I was taught by all sorts of extraordinary people along the way. If I was able to tell my story with the passion I felt, my lecture might help others find a path to fulfilling their own dreams.” (10)
Assignment: In an essay, discuss Pausch’s quote. Using evidence and examples from the text, explain how The Last Lecture can help others “find a path to fulfilling their own dreams.”
And then, there in that waiting room, I suddenly knew exactly what it was. It came to me in a flash: Whatever my accomplishments, all of the things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child … and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them. My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all the dreams – from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky – that defined my forty-six years of life. Sitting there, I knew that despite my cancer, I truly believed I was a lucky man because I had lived out these dreams. And I had lived out my dreams, in great measure, because of things I was taught by all sorts of extraordinary people along the way. If I was able to tell my story with the passion I felt, my lecture might help others find a path to fulfilling their own dreams.” (10)
- Randy Pausch, The
Last Lecture
Assignment: In an essay, discuss Pausch’s quote. Using evidence and examples from the text, explain how The Last Lecture can help others “find a path to fulfilling their own dreams.”
QSR
Q.S.R. GUIDELINES
(QUALITY, STYLE, RESPONSIBILITY)
- Spelling,
punctuation, and grammar are perfect!
- All
writing is in 3rd person. No
use of “I” “we” “You”. Use of “they” is
acceptable as long as there is a specific reference to who “they” is referring
to in the sentence.
- Be
careful of being repetitive. Try to use a different word. I see students repeating the same word 4-5
times in the same paragraph.
- Always
double space when typing and make sure your font is Times New Roman or Arial
and 12 point font.
- Choose
words carefully! Be convincing and
persuasive! Many times I will present a
writing assignment in the form of a question where I am asking you to pick a
side or a position. Your job is to convince me that you are correct.
- Do
not use contractions or abbreviations.
Write all of them out. There will
be very few exceptions to this rule. One
in particular that I can think of is Mr. will be accepted for Mister.
- Length
is unimportant. You can say what needs
to be written briefly or in a much longer form.
It just depends on how convincing and persuasive you are.
- You
should look for flow and continuity in your writing. Does one paragraph logically follow one
another? I should not have to read
something in the 3rd paragraph and have to think about going back to
the second one to re-read it. In another
words, what you wrote in the 3rd paragraph does not make sense based
on something you wrote in the second. Be
specific in word choice and do not sound vague.
Get to the point and prove it with what is written and how it is
accomplished.
- Write
out all numbers under 100 except dates like March 18, 1949.
10.
Please use formal
language. No slang will be
accepted. For example, use police
instead of cops.
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