The difference of mood when a poem is put into a song

Author's note:  This piece is about two poems "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Field Below" and the difference on how you feel when it is put into a song.

The author's purpose of "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell was about how you don’t know what you've got till it's gone.  Also the poem was about nature and it is being taken away for buildings and roads.  The tone of this poem was depressed and sad.  The mood was sad and sympathetic.  The author's purpose of "The Field Below" by Regina Spektor was about you don’t know what you've got till it's gone as well.  Also this poem was about nature as well.  I feel that these poem were very similar in these areas.  The tone of "The Field Below" was sad.  The mood was homesick and again sympathetic.  These poems were very similar.

I feel that when "Big Yellow Taxi" was sung it was very up beat giving the listener confused if they really listened to the lyrics.  Once you listened to the song the tone was not sad anymore so the mood was not sympathetic.  So the music really changed once it was sung.  In "The Field Below" the music really fit the lyrics.  How it was sung was slow and nice.  You really did feel sympathetic.  I feel that "The Field Below" was sung a lot better with following the lyrics.        

Were free blacks really free in the North

Author's note:   This is a research essay on were the free blacks really free in the North.  I have 4 websites I used for this essay.  

 During the 1700-1800's there was a problem with the blacks and the whites.  The problems was that blacks had no rights, although some states in the North let blacks vote, marry whites, file law suits, and sit on juries, but blacks rarely filed law suits because whites majority didn't allow it.  Although blacks had these rights there were many more rights they did not have, I think that free blacks were not free enough for many reasons. 

In some states in the North blacks could vote but women had not rights in the political field.  Anything blacks cold do they had to be segregated from whites.   Blacks could not pay taxes, or perform taxes.  Also they could not marry white’s child, nurse whites, drink, and blacks could not dine with whites.  To me laws like these are silly the only reason for this is because of skin color, it just does not seem right.  Although in the North blacks began to get few rights but it’s better than nothing.  Blacks started to have the right to speak in public.  This was a great step in the right directions for the black. 

Although blacks were beginning to have few political rights, their prosperity rights had barely started.  In the North there were very few churches for blacks.  But if blacks had a church it was their favorite place to be.  The reason for this was they had no boundaries.  They could speak out and do almost anything they could not do in public.  The only thing that was bad about these churches were that they had to be segregated no whites could go to this church.  As well as being able to go to an all black church blacks could also own land and a house.                    

            Lastly, black’s social freedom, this was the worst out of all three of these topics.  A black person could not go anywhere a white person went.  Also blacks could not associate with a white if this were to happen you could get arrested.  The rules and laws about blacks and whites were ridicules.  I mean talk about favoritism. 

            With all of this is mind I think that blacks were not free enough.  Although some states in the north blacks were free they had many more restrictions whites did not have.  How would you like to be a black person at this time and not be able to talk to a white person just because of your skin color?  I do not this was right at all.  So in all I think that blacks were not free enough during the 1700-1800’s.          

Your hip, delightful Ipod

Author's note: This is a parity that I did with Sarah that is a spin off "This is Just to say".  Ours about an ipod.

I have borrowed

Your ipod

That was in

Your room

And which

You were most likely

Going to take on your trip

To Mexico

Excuse me

The music was delightful

So hip

And so new

Katniss, Katniss you're so brave

Author's note: This is a parody that I did with Sarah about our book "The Hungry Games".  And it based off the song "Twinkle Twinkle little star".

Katniss Katniss you’re so brave

How I wonder how you’ll do

Up above the others in trees

Like a hovercraft in the sky

Katniss Katniss you’re so brave

Like a tiger catching his prey

This parody is about the novel "The Hunger Games", the person speaking this or singing it would be Prim and everyone at home watching the games they would say this parody every time they saw Katniss on the screen.  They are saying she is so brave to volunteer for her sister.  They also are wondering if she will win the hunger games.  Katniss sleeps in trees for protection at night.  And the game makers watch over then tributes in their  hovercrafts.  Also Katniss is as careful and sneaky as a tiger when she is getting food.  The audience is Katniss although she can not here them.  The tone of this parody is bravery.  The mood of this parody is questioning.                

What does "Mother to Son" Mean to you?

Author's note: This is a short response to "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, about what this poem means to me.

Have you ever had someone tell you don't give up?  In the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes this is exactly what this poems meaning is.  A metaphor in this poem was "Life for me ain't been no crystal stairs".  To me this means life will never just be a fairytale, there will be some hardships.  The tone that I think that Hughes was trying to get across was really want the metaphor means to me.  Life will never be a fairytale there will always be a hardship you have to jump through.  The mood of the poem to me is, if something does not go exactly how you thought it would go it will be alright.  You just have to get through it and you do not have to go through it on your own.   This story to me is a very great lesson to everyone.

Retelling for "The Gorgeous Game"

Author's Note: This is a retelling piece for "The Gorgeous Game".

Olivia Peters enters a literary contest,  if she wins Olivia gets to work and write a book with a priest and novelist, Mark D. Brendan.   Olivia was ecstatic when she found out that she won.  After a while Olivia finds out that he is stalking her, Mr. Brendan wrote a book about Olivia and their time together.  Expect at the end of Mr. Brendan Olivia and Mr. Brendan get married.  Olivia is very over whelmed with this and needs help, Olivia finds the courage the ask for help and she gets it from her mother, friends and the church.  This book starts slow but by the time you are in the middle of the book you will not be able to put it down.      

Katniss Everdeen

Author' Note: This short response is about the main character, Katiniss Everdeen in the story The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

 Katniss is a 16 year old girl from District 12.  Her hair is as dark as night, and is in a braid that is as neat as a maid, and is as  long as a horses tail. Her aim is as if she was a professional, which comes in handy because she has to kill wild animals in order to keep her family alive and food on the table. 

Katniss is like a mother bear to her little sister, in other words she does all she can to keep her little sister, Prim safe.  When their father died in a tragic mining accident her mother checked out of life.  Now more than ever ,Katniss is being a mother bear,  she had to try to raise Prim by herself and keep them all alive and safe.  In order to keep her family alive, they need food, so  Katniss had to take what her father taught her with hunting and put it to the test.  As Katniss fights to get wild animals, she learned a few things on the way.  Katniss is as quick as a tiger, as sneaky as a mouse, and can kill almost anything with her bow and arrow.  This helps her when she volunteered as tribute in the  hunger games.  Since Katniss has to leave for the hunger games she is terribly worried about her family especially with getting food on the table.  Since they don’t have the mother bear around to get their food. She has to believe that Prim can do the job.       

Katniss

Author's note: This short responses is the characteristics of Katniss the main character in the "Hunger Games" and her roles in her family before she had to go. 

  In the "Hunger Games" by Susanne Collins Katniss a 16 year old girl in district 12.  She has long dark hair that she wears in a braid often.  She has great aim, which comes in handy because she has to kill game in order to keep her family alive and food on the table. 

Katniss does all she can to keep her little sister Prim safe.  When her father dyed in a mining accident her mother checked out of life so Katniss was trying to rise Prim by herself and keep them all alive.  In order to keep them her family alive they need food so Katniss had to take what her father taught her with hunting and put it to the test.  As Katniss fights to get game, she learned a few things on the way.  This helps her with the hunger games.  Since Katniss has to leave for the hunger games she is trebly worried about her family especially with getting food on the table.