My Favorite Holiday

To me, my favorite holiday to celebrate is Christmas and there are many reasons why I like it so much. First off, Christmas is not only exciting but it is also important because it is a time where you can gather round and spend time with your family and have lots of conversation and reminisce the good times that were spent in the previous year. Spending time with family is one of the most important things because it creates healthy relationships. Usually when I get together with my family on Christmas, we sit down and have dinner and talk about different things, like what good things happened to us the past year or what things we plan on changing in the following year. This is a good thing because we are able to share different ideas and such. I think that it's the best feeling to be surrounded by the ones who mean the most to you on a Holiday like this because it doesn't happen that often where a family gets together and has dinner and has conversation. Another reason why Christmas is my favorite holiday is because I not only get to spend time with my family but I also get presents and the feeling of getting presents is almost the same as the feeling of being with your peers. Although it feels good to receive gifts, the feelings mutual when you go out and buy presents for family or friends because it shows that you care about them. Overall, there is no other holiday that beats Christmas because it is at the end of the year and it is a time of reminiscence of the good times that were spent that year   and where famalies can all gather round and spend time with each other

After Apple-Picking by Robert Frost

1.  My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples I didn't pick upon some bough. Bough- a main branch of a tree

But I am done with apple-picking now.

Essence of winter sleep is on the night,

The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

I got from looking through a pane of glass 

I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough

And held against the world of hoary grass. What is hoary grass? 

It melted, and I let it fall and break.

But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,

And I could tell

What form my dreaming was about to take.

Magnified apples appear and disappear, What are Magnified apples? Are they small?

Stem end and blossom end,

And every fleck of russet showing clear.

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,

It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin

The rumbling sound

Of load on load of apples coming in.

For I have had too much

Of apple-picking: I am overtired  It seems that the author is tired of apple-picking

Of the great harvest I myself desired.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch, He is implying that there many fruits

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

For all

That struck the earth,

No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble, 

Went surely to the cider-apple heap

As of no worth.

One can see what will trouble

This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is. 

Were he not gone,

The woodchuck could say whether it's like his

Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,

Or just some human sleep.

2. Annotations

• Stubble- the cut stalks of grain plants left sticking out of the ground after the grain is harvested 
• Pane- a single sheet of glass in a window or door

3.  The reason why I like this poem is because it is very deep when it talks about life. In the poem, the person is apple-picking and soon enough, he is tired of it but doesn't know if it is an end-of-the-day tired or something deeper, meaning that the person doesn't want to work anymore and wants to retire. Apple-picking is a metaphor for work in general and it is something that the person might not find interest in anymore. This poem appeals to me because it makes me think of life in the future, like will I ever get tired of working or will I keep going and make something of it. Personally, I am a hard worker and from reading this poem, I start to think more about working because when I go out into the world, I want to be known as a hard worker and not a slacker. 

4. 

• "This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is." - I like this line because this is when the person is not sure whether he is naturally tired or if he's just tired of working and thats something that really speaks to me
• "Of apple-picking: I am overtired" - is he really tired of apple-picking physically or just in general?
• "The scent of apples: I am drowsing off." - It seems that he is tired of smelling apples. This shows that he doesn't find interest in something that he's been doing for a while. 

What Defines an Archetype? What are some notable Heros of the 21st Century that compare to Beowulf?

In the story Beowulf, Beowulf, the main character of the story, is characterized as the hero because of the many qualities that he possesses. These qualities that he has are that he in noble, he is very powerful, so powerful that he cannot be stopped. He is also characterized as a hero because of the encounters that he has with the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a fire-breathing dragon because they were all evil and Beowulf had what it took to defeat them on his own. Three different qualities that a hero would possess around 700 are the quality of being very strong, being noble, and being humble. The hero needs to be a strong one with power in order to defeat all evil that stands in his/her way in order to save others or just themselves. They need to be noble because if a hero is noble, mainly to their supporters, they will keep that support because when someone is noble, they always do the right thing and makes it so it stays that way to make the people happy and feel safe and secure. Last but not least, hero’s need to be humble because if you’re a hero and you act all cocky, no body’s going to like you and no one finds interest in someone who is cocky and shows off. On the other hand, if the hero was humble people would respect them because even though they are saving many people by defeating many opponents they try and not show off. A text of the 21^st century that exploits the same characteristics as Beowulf is King Kong. The reason why King Kong exploits the same characteristics is because like Beowulf, King Kong fights off a bunch of opponents like dinosaurs to save Ann Darrow, played by Naomi. Also, King Kong and Beowulf are similar in another way and that is that they are both very strong and not really able to be stopped by anything or anyone.  One thoughtful comment on what we discussed in class is that there is more to a hero than you think you know because most people would think that a hero is just someone who is powerful and can fight off different opponents. Well Beowulf is a good example of this because not only does Beowulf fight off opponents is very powerful and strong, he is also a good swimmer and that is something that you don’t really hear about any hero. 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

1. Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow.   I like these two lines because it talks about stopping to view the beautiful snow.

My little horse must think it queer  <-- What does the speaker mean when he uses this word?

To stop without a farmhouse near   

Between the woods and frozen lake   

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   

To ask if there is some mistake.   

The only other sound’s the sweep   

Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   

But I have promises to keep,  I like this line because it is saying that the beauty of the snow can only be viewed for a certain amount of time then you have to get back to reality

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep.

2. The reason why I like this poem is because it talks about someone who enjoys beautiful scenes, in this case, the snow is the beautiful scene and there is someone who stops in the middle of the woods just to view its beauty. While viewing the snow, this person realizes that they have many miles to travel before they go to sleep. Hweat the whole point of this poem is that admiring and viewing natures beauty wont last forever because there are many other things that need to be done . Another reason why I like this poem is because it is by Robert Frost and he is a poet in which I admire most of his work. 

3.