Teddy's English Journal

Isabelle Kerr dares to generalise the youth of today as “ASBO-wielding yobs” by the way in which they speak? The abbreviations created by the youth of today are far more impressive than any other in the past. Things such as, lol (laugh out loud), wuu2 (what you up to?) and smh (shake my head) give a true understanding of the types of abbreviations used by the youth today, these are just a few used and are truly intelligent in the way they are used. These 3 words can shorten the time it takes to send a text message which is very important as we live in the 21st century now and need ways to carry on improving the use of technology. they can even improve on the way we translate emotions over text messages as when an abbreviation of a word is used it symbolises that the person is happy and if these words are said in full it can suggest that the person is sad or even angry.

I understand that this type of language isn’t suitable for every situation, although nor is standard English. The so-called “slang” of today is simply a way of youth expressing themselves and in certain situations i.e job interviews I believe that many of the youth can change their language when a situation that demands it arises. Isabelle Kerr says twerking in a derogatory way. By this I can tell that she is very closed-minded and doesn’t understand that the people of the world keep on coming up with new words to keep in touch with their environment. For example, in the past there have been words such as salsa and tango that have been created to represent different forms of dance and this is exactly what we see here with the word ‘twerk’.

“The future of the English language looks bleak”. This obscene quote from Isabelle Kerr’s report is simply uneducated and has nothing to support it. There are many versions of English and the youth of today use many of them, I personally think that to be able to speak more than one version of the English language is a great achievement. Being able to speak and understand more than one form of English is really important especially for the future because, our society is becoming more multi cultural therefore bringing more than one form of English into the community.

The fact that Isabelle Kerr had the audacity to mention Shakespeare ‘turning in his grave’ is absolutely disgusting. By saying this she has implied that Shakespeare would be distraught with the so-called ‘linguistic calamities’ of today’s youth. Is Isabelle Kerr out of touch with history? Shakespeare created a substantial amount of slang words we still use today. It is vital that we realise this as the English language has always been evolving and this is something that makes the English language so impressive. To know that in 50 years time my fellow countryman could be speaking an entirely different form of language than now is a wonderful thought. To know that in 50 years time a new generation will take over and in the place of the old one will be a beautiful set of new and creative words, and you want to stop this? This cycle of language has gone on throughout our history. It is embedded in our genes to have the creativeness to speak completely new words. However, the gene seems to be missing from you, Isabelle Kerr.

Don’t you just hate it when you get stares from strangers on the street, stares as if to say you don’t belong here? When you’re walking down the street, happy and content, and you catch a stranger’s eye and they continue to stare at you almost like it’s a game of the last one standing. The cars and people pass by, buses and police cars continue to carry on with their jobs but nothing can stop the piercing stare connected to your eyes from a stranger across the road. The competition carries on, your afraid to back down as it will strip you of your dignity. Your blood is boiling now as you finally turn away to keep to your route home, you can feel the evil stare at the back of your head following you throughout the rest of the street.

The worst stares are those that come from the buses as you know that the stranger would never stare at you if they wasn’t in the safe haven of the big red bus. These stares are the ones that make me most frustrated. These stares make you wonder what there for… Do I have something on my face? Was I staring back? Am I walking funny? These are just a few things that come to mind when you come into the unwanted eye contact of another human being. Being stared at seems to almost be a sign of disrespect, as if the other person didn’t care about your feelings or if they just were staring to be rude.

The stares I can’t express my hatred for the them, it’s almost as if these stares can see deep into my soul sometimes I even think they can read my thoughts, they drive me crazy because I know the individual staring will always stay anonymous and I’d never ever know what they were staring at. Occasionally I have thought to myself, how would I know they were staring if I wasn’t staring back? So I thought long and hard about it and in the end I have realised I’m just as bad with this whole staring thing as the rest. I slowly start to piece together why this problem arises and I have come to the conclusion that if someone is staring at you first they will most likely turn away when you stare back, but if you stare first and they stare back their less likely to turn back around.

However, what happens if they think the same thing about me? what if all this time I was staring first? This is the most important thing to keep in mind to balance situations out. I could have been very naiive all this time only just realizing now, that I was staring at these people first. I always seem to get stares from people when I’m in a bad mood. could this be because they care for me or are they just worried for themselves? keeping an eye on me to make sure I don’t do anything anti social or dangerous. 

Past:

It was a sunny morning back in April 2008, the smell of fresh grass somehow lingered through the mazes of brick and stone. Riding on my bike through this urban jungle the cool breeze of the wind is refreshing, and yet I still ride my bike oblivious to the cold, sinister slum that surrounds me. As I ride through between the high-rises the familiar smell of Gilfords bakery caresses my nose. This part of the journey is my favorite. The smell of freshly baked hot crossed buns and sweet bread fill the air around me. As i’m riding through this estate I try to perfect the tricks I’ve been practicing for months, this is my only time for freedom. I can hear the faint sounds of cars that travel past me to my right and the ongoing hiss coming from the wheels of my bike. Finally I reach the long ramp, this was my second favorite part of my journey. As I pedal down this ramp the wind runs through my hair as if I had just walked into a storm. My heart beats like a drum every time I travel down this steep ramp just like a soldier going to war. I reach the bottom, the next estate is the one in which my school belongs to but before I can get there I’ve got an ocean of cars to cross. I can hear whaling sirens and the coarse sound of multiple horns. Although these sirens and police cars are ever-present I still lay oblivious to what they are there for, they just whiz by whilst I stay sat on my bike.

Present:

As I walk through this urban jungle in the cloudy night sky, I can see many tattoo’s on the battered blocks of lost souls. Walking through the maze of estates somehow gives me a false sense of security, the stained yellow lamps that light up the foreign writings on the walls and the everlasting smell of wet concrete always bring back memories from childhood. I now realize that as I walk through this estate I am walking through a graveyard, many sons died and many mums cried due to the senseless crime in this unforgiving community. For many years I have walked these paths but they are no longer the same, the screams of children that have suffered are still echoing through these blocks like ghosts, they linger around leaving only a shivered spine behind. The steady pitter patter of rain on my jackets hood makes it seem as if I’m sheltered away from everything, as if it’s a natural reaction to ignore the pain and suffering that has taken place throughout the lives who have lived here. The bleak staircases scattered with blood and needles only lit up by a single flickering light gasping for its last breaths would scare many, but intrigues me as it is a constant reminder of the place I once was and where I still could be.

Introduction

In this essay I will be displaying how Rudyard Kipling, Shakespeare and Shelley use three different techniques to symbolise fate in these poems and plays. I start off by looking at how these 3 poets use Iambic meter to symbolise fate, I then go on to look at how personification relates to fate in these three pieces of writing, this is important, as to understand why and how the poets use this language technique will help to understand why they use it to symbolise fate. Finally I go on to speak about language structure and why the poets use it to help them display fate, by making this clear hopefully I should be able to fully make the reader understand how these 3 techniques are used to symbolise fate in all 3 poems.

Iambic pentameter

In the poem Ozymandias, we can see that Shelly uses iambic meter that runs thought the piece of writing to express fate. By identifying this we can see that the beat doesn’t break and carries on as if it is a heartbeat, this is important because the only time a heartbeat stops is when that person is dead and the only time the iambic pentameter stops in the poem is at the very end when there is no more words.Therefore by using this information we can tell that the iambic pentameter that runs thought the poem symbolizes death and death is certain for everyone hereby linking to fate. An example of Iambic pentameter linking to fate in the poem Ozymandias would be “boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away” By identifying this quote i can tell that the author was using these words to tell us about the once powerful king and the fact that he is no longer powerful, we can tell this as the poet uses the words “boundless and bare” this tells us the once powerful “king of kings” is now broken and no longer existent therefore linking to fate as even a very powerful king can’t escape the fate that is set for everyone and that is death.

The use of iambic pentameter By Rudyard Kipling in the poem a song in a storm, tells us, the reader, that the poet was thinking about the way the song would be sung, if sung properly it should sound like an old war song used to help spur on warriors before battle,this poem was wrote in the time of world war one, and this is important as these songs were played just before battle or during battle as many soldiers lost there lives. When songs such as these were sung, a lot of soldiers were reminded on there almost certain fate that awaits them and this is how iambic pentameter relates to fate in the poem ‘A song in a storm’.

Shakespeare uses iambic meter throughout the whole of Romeo and Juliet and by looking at it carefully, helps us to identify how Shakespeare used it to symbolise fate. By using iambic pentameter we can see that he wants us to feel like the play is continuous and he uses iambic pentameter to relate to fate by making it seem like it’s a continues beat and seen as it is a story about tragedy and love it makes sense that the beat was made to symbolise a heart beat and when the play stops so does the iambic pentameter. also a heartbeat only stops when someone’s life is finished and death is inevitable and part of fate.

Structure:

Song in the Sea – the repetitive structure of the stanzas, like the repetition of the waves at sea – beyond the control of the sailors (reflecting their inability to control their fate)

The play Romeo and Juliet have many figurative language features techniques that are used to create a descriptive tragic story. One of the most potent language features in this poem was the use of the prologue foreshadowing in which before the play starts the poet, Shakespeare, tells us what’s going to happen and how the play is going to end in both Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. We can tell this by using the quote “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” that Shakespeare tells us that the two will die during this poem by taking their own lives, this symbolises fate as its something set in their destiny that they can’t change.

In the poem Ozymandias we can see many figurative language effects that gives the reader a sense of the time and place in which this poem was set. The poem displays fate by using language structure we can tell this as in the volta it switches from present to past by doing this we can see the way that not even the most powerful king isn’t immortal. Ozymandias was once a very powerful king by saying “my name is Ozymandias, king of kings” but earlier we can see in the poem that the statue of the once great ruler was now wrecked we can tell this by the quote “half sunk, a shattered visage lies” therefore displaying fate by implying that nobody is immortal and death is inevitable.

The poem ‘A song in a storm’ uses various different language features. One language feature that is quite obvious in the way it displays fate would be the use of repeated stanzas. By repeating stanzas it symbolises the repetition of waves and the sea is out of the sailors control which shows us their inability to control their own fate. A quote that shows this would be “The abiding oceans fight” telling us directly that the oceans are out of control and the sailors can’t do anything about it.

Metaphor

Ozymandias doesn’t seem to have many metaphors as the poet Shelly decides to use language structure to display fate more than any other technique. A quote taken from Shelly’s Ozymandias shows clearly the use of language technique and structure “Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, ”  Using this type of language we can tell that he wants the reader to get an idea of the environment that the poem was set in. This poem was written in the time of the 18th century and this was an important time. In this era, Art and history were very important in this time. Reflecting back on this poem we can see that it links in with the themes from the era of the 18th century.

In Romeo and Juliet we can see that Shakespeare uses language structure to emphasis certain characters authority and importance. By analysis quotes we can see how this has an effect on the characters position, here is one quote it sais “O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day? Right glad I am he was not at this fray.” By using this quote we can tell Shakespeare uses rhyme to make sure the reader knows that lady Montague is known as an important character. The use of many question marks in this quote shows us that Lady Montague has authority and is impatient this is important in the play as it separates the major characters from the minor characters. A quote that symbolises fate in Romeo and Juliet would be “But He, that hath the steerage of my course, Direct my sail!” This is a very powerful quote as it directly links to fate. By saying “steerage of my course” and “direct my sail” By analysing these quotes we can tell that Shakespeare wants us to recognise that Romeo is allowing god to take control of his life even though it is bound to end in his death, this in its self is a reference to fate.

In the poem A song in a storm Language structure is important this is because it’s a song. I believe that if sung as if it’s a song, this is the way the poet intended it to be spoken, this is because it adds depth to the meaning on the poem and makes the poem atmospheric. In this quote “Be well assured that on our side The abiding oceans fight, Though headlong wind and heaping tide Make us their sport to-night.” We can see that the poet Rudyard Kipling Uses rhyme in this quote to emphasises on the importance of the sound of the song. By using the language structure we can tell that Rudyard Kipling uses it to symbolise fate by making it a song, this is because a song has a start and an end similarly to life, And death is everyone’s fate. Therefore making the poem into the form of a song symbolises fate.