What I've Learned From This Project

photo by: Shabbir Siraj

This project has showed me a new and fun way to look at poetry. Making a blog and sharing my feelings and opinions with others was a good way to learn more about the poem and poetry in general. I was a little nervous at first doing the project because I felt like I did not know how to analyze the poem to find its meaning. It took me a while to figure out if I was going to do the poem “Where Children Live” by Naomi Shihab Nye because I had two others that I could not make up my mind about. I knew this was the poem because as soon as I read it I got a feeling inside of me that told me this was the one.
When I first read the poem I thought that it only talked about childhood and the good times that children had, not worrying about anything. When I looked at it closer and reread it, I found that the poem not only talked about children but also adults. The adults view the world in a completely different way than children do. Both of these lines explain her meaning “And the house takes on a new face, dignified” and “Grown-ups like swings, leafy plants, slow motion back and forth.”
I remembered how in class we broke down the poems, line by line, to figure out what words meant and to see if there was a double meaning. There was a double meaning in my poem in the lines “Till the heart found itself dressed in the coat with a hood” and “Now the heart never goes outside to find something to “do.” I was excited when I found out what the whole poem was talking about by me. All of the hard work that we had done in class paid off in the end. I never knew how much I had “grown up” or ever took the time to notice that I was ignoring my childhood side. This project and poem has made me realize all of the things that I have given up, which I am proud to say that I am going to change.

How I Relate to "Where Children Live" by Naomi Shihab Nye

photo by: Maryl


When I read the poem the images inside of my head were of children running barefooted in the grass playing with toys. It was getting dark outside and there were lightning bugs that the kids chased but the children still ran around playing, laughing, and shrieking with joy. Everything seemed so relaxed and peaceful. I can relate to this poem because I have smaller siblings that go outside to play with their friends almost every day of the week. Toys are found in
my yard and bikes on the porch. When I watch them it is like their lives are filled with adventure, curiosity, imagination and happiness, something I wish I could still do on a daily basis.
In the poem the poet describes how “to be a child again one would need to shed details.” This means that adults would have to leave their worries, stress, work and other things behind so that they can live like a child, carefree. Since I am constantly busy I do not have much time to go outside and be in the fresh air. I quit playing with dolls a long time ago because I was getting “too old” for them according to society. It was time to wear make-up and worry about my hair, clothes and looks. When I started middle school everything felt so different because it felt that all of my friends from elementary school were no longer the same. Everyone was “grown up.” Now that I entered high school all I worry about is homework, getting the assignments done and turning them in on time.
It makes me happy to hear other people having a fun time and not worrying about anything besides the moment they are living. This reminds me of all of the things I used to do when I was a kid which was climbing trees, playing tag and hide-and-seek, and many other types of games. Now that I look back I wish that I could relive everything that I ever did in my childhood because those were some of the most fun times in my life.

Historical Background

photo by: * Nina *

I cannot clearly remember the day that I started reading poetry but I think it was when I was really young. My mom used to sing nursery rhymes to me and I would sing along with her. I would always read Dr. Seuss books when I was in elementary school and I would love them because he would make up unfamiliar words that would rhyme. My favorite books by him were “Cat in the Hat,” “The Foot Book,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax.” When I was in the fifth grade I started writing poetry. I wrote a poem titled “Springtime” that was published in Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans and also in A Celebration of Young Americans. The last time I wrote a poem was last year for my English I class that described Black History Month.
Since then I have not written much poetry which I strongly regret because I love writing poetry. I like how each poem has their own way of saying what they need to say without just coming out and telling it directly. When I read poetry it causes me to have mental images that show me what is happening in the poem. I am going to try to start writing again because sometimes poetry inspires me to write my own poems and other times I have that inspiration inside of me to just write and get my feelings out. Even though I have not written poetry in a while I do hear it every day. Music is another big part in my life. I love hearing different types of music because each song has its own story behind it and the feelings and emotions that are put into it are just like poetry. The singer is like the poet who wants you to relate with them the meaning of the song or poem.
For me poetry has become from easy to confusing. Since poetry has been written for a long time all of the different words from different time periods are hard to understand but learning how to uncover the hidden meanings will also help me in other complicated poems.

What I've learned from "Where Children Live" by Naomi Shihab Nye

photo by: *Püppilottchen*
What I have learned from the poem “Where Children Live” is that the author shows how adults and children see the world differently. She uses many examples throughout the poem that show just that. “While the yard of a child is strewn with the corpses of bottle-rockets and whistles,” this line could relate to people when they die and how the body is left behind to remind us of the past, just like when children leave behind their toys, and such, it reminds adults of their childhood, carefree days. Adults are more concerned with “order and neatness” (pg.15) and material, unlike children who are concerned with their surroundings and not with the possessions.
Nye contrasts the children and adults in several ways. In the line “Now the heart never goes outside to find something to “do,” describe how adults always have to find something to do outside of the house unlike children who find much entertainment inside, everywhere. “Grown-ups like swings…slow motion back and forth” shows that adults like to take life calmly and slowly. Children like living life at a faster pace as described in the line “anything whizzing and spectacular, brilliantly short-lived.”
When we see children we automatically see happiness, adventure and imagination. In the line “Homes where children exude a pleasant rumpledness” describes the house as being untidy, just like a child would have it, that gives the home a comforting and cozy setting. She also describes the grass as being littered with balloons which adds a pleasant image and gives evidence that children play there. She also uses “the roots of the tiniest grasses curl toward one another like secret smiles” to add happiness. The roots could represent the secret world of a child and grass and smiles could symbolize friendship. The other emotions that are added to the poem are hope, sense of satisfaction, and joy.


http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:HdxGYjmNkaYJ:www.k12.wa.us/assessment/toolkits/AC282.pdf+where+children+live+by+naomi+shihab+nye+biography&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgneZ0UrGS2UzU6z5OIJgRjwxVzRt9oZkE3iTy-txdzHAMrstdldlwACDbv6MjaTBRlAUD77gdNhkYwTqhLR9hLTDT--HhRXkqc_mXQ1aujI2dYh-w-Jew-RoO1mpr2_CATkjCy&sig=AHIEtbSQrni2wPq4bK_RKDEUq11tz73m1w

Where Children Live- Naomi Shihab Nye

photo by: hamley

"Where Children Live" by Noami Shihab Nye
Homes where children exude a pleasant rumpledness ,
Like a bed made by a child, or a yard littered with balloons.
To be a child again one would need to shed details
Till the heart found itself dressed in the coat with a hood.
Now the heart never goes outside to find something to “do.”
And the house takes on a new face, dignified.
No lost shoes blooming under bushes.
No chipped trucks in the drive.
Grown-ups like swings, leafy plants, slow motion back and forth.
While the yard of a child is strewn with the corpses
Of bottle-rockets and whistles,
anything whizzing and spectacular, brilliantly short-lived.
Trees in children’s yards speak in clearer tongues.
Ants have more hope. Squirrels dance as well as hide.
The fence has a reason to be there, so children can go in and out.
Even when the children are at school, the yards glow
with the leftovers of their affection,
the roots of the tiniest grasses curl toward one another
like secret smiles.