ANNABEL LEE by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee; --And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.I was a child and She was a childIn this kingdom by the sea;But we loved with a love that was more than love --I and my Annabel Lee --With a love that the wing? seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, by nightchilling my beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her high-born kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulcherIn this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me: --
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud, chillingAnd killing my Annabel Lee.But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we --Of many far wiser than we --And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee: --For the Moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,In her sepulcher there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea.
ANNABEL

The other side of the hedge

The other side of the Hedge Plot and settings


The other side of the hedge plot and settings
Personally, I feel I am attached to this story. In a sense, my religious value seems to correspond with this plot. The story line of this story is a little simple because it sticks to analogical order. But even so, the transition from a life on earth to a life in Heaven fascinates readers. As for the setting, there are three parts: (a) struggle to achieve earthly goal, which is expressed in a race competition. (b) harsh and painful ordeal to get to Heaven, which is illustrated as going through the hedge while all the things are scraped and clothes are torn to pieces. (c) Life in Heaven after being purified in water just like being baptized, which is explained as being pulled out after falling into water by someone.
To get further understanding of this story, it is important to grasp the hidden meanings and symbols in the context.
First, the title of the story ‘the other side of the hedge’ seems to have some symbolic metaphor. Most readers may doubt with curiosity what the other side of the hedge means. The word ‘hedge’ is used as the border between two different world. So readers might well guess that there are two different spaces and activities occurring in and out between the hedge.
If the one side is a life on earth, then the other side is a life in Heaven. Then the hedge must be the gate or border to Heaven. Everyone cannot return once she goes through the hedge. Going through the border means to abandon the life on earth, which means death. Then why the narrator wants to go through the hedge? Because he was so tired and weary of the race and he wants to give up. As he slid off the land mark and lay to sit down, he breathed a puff of fresh air blown from the other side of the hedge and a glint of light through boughs and dead leaves caught his eyes. This is so amazing because the author is depicting the gesture of death symbolically.
As for pedometer, a small gadget which measures how far you have walked, it has also defining metaphor. If the race competition is a life journey where people struggle to go without no particular purpose, the pedometer may be the span of your life.
In the first setting, people are passing by, some jeering the narrator and others urging him to go on. But the narrator is too overburdened to walk on. Many people already dropped many things on the road because they are too heavy for the journey. Here there is a very instructive allegory that says those who carry small things can go on the journey more easily than those who carry too many things.
The story of his brother who spends his time singing and entertaining others and lags behind is also giving readers some moral lesson. He must be the person who sacrificed his life to help the poor and hapless. But the narrator didn’t realize it and says that he had lived more wisely than his brother because he is still carrying on the journey. The narrator was so contaminated in the earthly world that he couldn’t grasp the value of life on earth. So, later when he went through the hedge of death, he would have to experience the pain; his face was scratched by the thorn of the boughs, his clothes torn to pieces and his thing being scraped. These things must be the punishment for what he had done during his life time. And then he falls into the water which will purify him from all kinds of dirt and evils in his life time. His life will be revived as a new person after being baptized and pulled out by someone. He must be as new as a baby with a beautiful soul.
But, still in half conscious mind, he sees around, only to find that the new place seem to be no better than a prison because there is no exit. The pond that he fell in turned out to be a moat which goes from south to west with no end. Even though all the people are very happy and enjoying their lives singing and greeting, the narrator seems not to be satisfied. Even he seems to be ungrateful to the person who saved him. Is it dangerous to guess that a person who has an evil mind is not changed after being baptized? Or human beings are destined to be born incomplete nature of personality and are hard to improve?
In describing the scenery of the Heaven, we can guess the author’s view of the Heaven. Everyone may have different image of the Heaven when he dreams of his Heaven. The author’s Heaven seems to be modest but in good harmony in which people and nature mingle with each other. They are eager to help him and look very happy. There are no luxurious jewels and delicious food, either. It seems to make sense because those who came to the Heaven are all the people who have lived their lives without greed and vanity.
When it comes to the bridge, readers can infer that those who lived their sacrificial lives like his brother may come to Heaven through the bridge without going through the pain of the thorn. But I guess the author doesn’t mean that all the people can reach the Heaven regardless of their good or bad behavior during the life on earth. This short story seems to be based on Christian morality. So we can predict that Heaven might be reached by those who admire God and try to obey His Words.

Faculty members of Foreign language Gifted Institute

This is all the teachers who are teaching gifted students in 2008.

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Crow Lake review by Blondie Reads

A slow burn, but --as a result-- all the more able to affect readers.
Crow Lake (Mary Lawson) to me had a similar feel to The Girls. At least in terms of kids taking car of each other in a somber yet communal Canadian envronment. It concerns four kids whose parents are killed in a car accident. The two older boys, Matt and Luke, end up providing for and taking care of the family, which is rounded out by the narrator, Kate, and, Bo, the littlest girl.
Wrapped up in this story is the idea of self-sacrifice versus selfish giving. Selfish giving. what? Well, hang on with me and I'll explain. Just before the accident, Luke has won a scholarship to teaching college, something that everyone (the wider family, the neighbors) agrees he should take advantage of. But in the hierarchy (or should I even say) stereotyping of this particular family, Matt is considered the one with the real intellect. Luke, well aware of this and also the oldest, decides he will sacrifice his scholarship and get working so he can support the family and keep the house and make room for Matt to get a scholarship and attend university. Selfish giving. With this sacrifice Luke does not have to endure the pressure of being the family's Hope for Higher Learning. That's a lot of pressure.
Matt, of course, being equally giving, can't stand this but he accepts it only to have to give up his university place for another reason (which you will find out). When he does this, the side effect is that the girls are even more likely to enjoy a formal education, particularly our intrepid narrator, who used to go to the ponds with Matt and learn homegrown marine biology lessons.
And yet Kate cannot forgive Matt, though he is clearly the sibling to which she is closest. Often happens that way I guess. Strong emotions are strong emotions, and the strength of them does not change even as they flip from good to corrosive.
But what is masterful on the part of the author, I think, is that for so many pages I read along with Kate, and agreed with her and agreed with her until...very subtly, I began to think that maybe she was unfair and narrow-minded and too strict, and perhaps not even half the person that her brother is, intellect aside. And perhaps the kind of person you are does not have only to do with your intelligence...
And my heart grew two sizes that day.
I'm only half kidding. It's a wonderful narrative shift when you start to get an idea that maybe a little sister's view of things is narrow, and certainly doesn't take into account other good things in life besides formal education. Things like, families staying together and surviving. She was right about Matt: he's pretty smart, and I would add: he is certainly not dead yet. For all that his education has been self-directed, it's not a bad one. And it can continue throughout his life.
Thank you, Mary Lawson. This was a worthy book. And it reminded me of the Boxcar Children, one of the best children's book series ever. Have you guys read this series? Find it. That and now Crow Lake (though devised for distinct audiences) are valuable reminders that children are not just children. They are young and often intelligent people, with amazing powers not only to adapt but to take on incredible responsibility.

Crow Lake

April 18, 2007

BOOKS: Crow Lake, Mary Lawson (2002)
Kate Morrison is a zoologist, teaching at a university in Toronto, a full day's drive from her childhood home in northern Ontario. She's invited home for her nephew's 18th birthday party, an invitation which stirs mixed feelings. As Kate narrates the events of the year when she was seven, we learn the history of the Morrison siblings.Kate's parents were killed in a car crash that year, and she and her younger sister, Bo, were left in the care of their older brothers, Luke and Matt; at 19 and 17, the boys were barely old enough to take care of themselves, much less of two small children. Everyone's plans were changed by that car crash, and Crow Lake is principally concerned with the slow revelation of how those plans were changed, how the siblings resent one another for those changes, and how they've spent the last twenty years misunderstanding one another's motives and feelings.And I do mean slow. This is a book where very little happens, and it takes forever for it not to happen. It's also a book in which the narrator and author withhold information from us, encouraging us to misunderstand things just as badly as the characters do.Yet there is much to admire here. Lawson's characters, even the supporting ones, are vivid and fully realized. I was particularly fond of Mrs. Stanovich, the most aggressively helpful of the neighbor ladies; she is part of Lawson's perfect understanding of the occasionally oppressive nature of small-town community. The relationships among the Morrison siblings are convincing, and Kate's hero-worship of big brother Matt feels precisely right.But in the end, whatever surprises are to be found in the story derive from Kate's willfully not telling us everything she knows, and omitting crucial details at key points along the way. I found it a frustrating reading experience, and when it was over, I thought that a more straightforward, direct narration could have boiled the whole thing down into a really fine short story. I certainly look forward to Lawson's next book, but I hope it doesn't work so hard to generate phony suspense.

Museum of Gaya

Museum of Gaya. We felt very happy not only because we could see our old relics and remains but also we could take a cool rest , escaping from scorching heat.

Clay Arc.

We had fun making something great with clay. While making them, we could forget everything, our mind flying into deep wonderland.

Field Trip for Gited Students.

We had an exciting summer camp. At the final day, we went field trip to Clay Arc, museum of Gaya, Old tombs, etc. These are our pictures.

My Classmate in Canada

This is my classmate' blog. She is teaching ESL(English As a Second Language) in Canada.