Favorite Walt Whitman Poem found on the internet

FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

ACING west from California's shores,

Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,

I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,

Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;

For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,

From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,

From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,

Long having wander'd since, round the earth having wander'd,

Now I face home again, very pleas'd and joyous,

(But where is what I started for so long ago? And why is it yet unfound?) 

 

This was my favorite poem because he was talking about traveling the world, but loving home more than ever when he returned. He spoke of all the different places he traveled and how when he stood on the west coast of California, he was more happy than ever to see his home and be back in America. I liked this because I think if I were ever a traveler I could really relate to this. I would have fun traveling and seeing the world, but would be happy to come back home and enjoy the freedoms we have here again. However, if it were an option one day to tour the world or take a vacation to Myrtle Beach or Disney World, I would take the vacation. 

Favorite Poem of Walt Whitman readings

My favorite poem out of the Walt Whitman poems we read was I Hear America Singing.
This is the poem:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
    Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
              and strong,
    The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
    The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off
              work,
    The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-
              hand singing on the steamboat deck,
    The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing
              as he stands,
    The woodcutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morn-
              ing, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
    The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
              or of the girl sewing or washing,
    Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
    The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
              fellows, robust, friendly,
    Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

This was my favorite poem because it described the pride and love that Americans have for our country. Also, at the time, all the people in the poem were considered people living the American dream, and I just really like how prideful the poem was.

Walt Whitman

Questions:
Who is/was Walt Whitman ?
What type of literature did he write?
Is he a realist or romanticist? Why?

Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets and is often referred to as the father of free verse, (a type of poetry.)
The type of literature he wrote was poetry, journalism, and essayist. However, he was one of the first poets to write in what is called free verse. This is the reason he is called the "father" of this style of literature. Leaves of Grass was a very famous, self-published poem.
Walt Whitman is a romanticist because he had originality over virtuosity, he had imagination over intellect and he had feeling over formality. Walt Whitman was a romanticist, but within romanticism he also developed and new form of it, mentioned earlier, free verse.

"When people succeed, it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success." Do you agree or disagree with the quotation?

I would agree and disagree at the same time with this quotation. I believe that hard work will get you many places you want to go, but at the same time how lucky you are getting there always helps. Preparation and hard work is what is going to get you to the opportunities you have in life, luck and people you know just always helps. However, nothing is replaceable with hard work.

A perfect example of this is high school sports.Hard work, hustle, great attitudes and dedication will all help you win and do the best you can, but luck is a big factor. The region a team is in during tournament time highly depends on the likeliness of going to state. In 2010 and 2009 the Canton South High School girls basketball team made it to the regional finals and regional semi-finals. Both times they lost to a private school called Hathaway Brown. Hathaway Brown ended up winning the state title both of those years, as they had done the year before also. Not only did they win, but they beat the first team they faced in the state semi-final by twenty-six points, they only beat Canton South by ten. Luck. Canton South just happened to be in the same region as the defending state champions. It doesn't mean that Hathaway Brown worked any harder, had any more determination, hustled any harder or had any different attitudes. Canton South by luck just happened to be in the same regional as them. My dad always says that it takes hard work, talent, and a lot of luck to win the state championship.

So I would say luck and hard work both determine success. I do believe whole-heartedly that each person or team should control what they can control, and that is how hard they work, everyday attitudes, determination, pride and the fight inside of them. That way, no matter what outcome, or how luck works that day, you can always say I did the best I possibly could and exerted the most effort possible.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.  ~Thomas Jefferson

Sophomore Year, so far

So far, I am really enjoying my sophomore year in high school. I really like the high school and enjoy it much more than the middle school. Something I think we should do more is have more pep rallies and fun school events like that. That's one thing I expected the high school would do that was not done. However, I do like the things like donut thursday and spirit weeks. The thing I have enjoyed most about high school so far is homecoming and getting to play high school sports.