Common curtesy has us saying “Thanks” to the point that we may have lost the intentions associated with the response. W.S. Merwin sums up this anomaly in his poem “Thanks”, saying “with nobody listening we are saying thank you” (Merwin 29). We say thanks for so many meaningless things that it no longer carry’s the true intent of the speaker. Instead it is a response to acknowledge the receiver rather than giving true thanks. This repetition allows for questions regarding what are we truly thankful for, and how we make this known to the receiver. Carl Dennis, in his poem, “Thanksgiving Letter From Harry”, struggles with this question. Not seeing himself thankful for all the negative atrocities around him, he tries to find something he …show more content…
Merwin’s reflection in the poem allows the reader to find the simple examples becoming mundane and less than hearty. “Listen/with the night falling we are saying thank you” (Merwin 1-2) which portrays the relation at the beginning of the poem with more meaning then near the end, “with the animals dying around us/our lost feelings we are saying thank you” (Merwin 22-23). Merwin is giving way to the pretense of extending thanks to things. Just because we utter thanks in truth we may not be thankful for the occurrence for which we have acknowledged. By now the speaker is just saying the words without the intended feeling of gratitude being …show more content…
The speaker is reaching for something with meaning that he can stand up to while providing a few unusual comparisons, “And I’m thankful my TV set is still broken” (Dennis 7). He sees no point in wasting his time saying he is thankful for the norms around him.
Instead the speaker continues to elaborate moving beyond being thankful and finding a new direction to continue his letter of thanks without overdoing the sentiment. He turns to his teaching and stories where being thankful may have a greater significance than the mundane things interpreted by Merwin. “This month I’d like to believe I’ve widened/My students’ choice of vocation, through the odds” (Dennis 1415), changing the directions from thankfulness to his dedication to teaching.
While comparing these two poems, it became apparent that while both intended to be centered upon giving thanks, they shared some disconnect with the true meaning of the word. While Merwin’s reader may find themselves following a pattern of disconnect on why even giving unheeded thanks was necessary, Dennis found a way to create a story within to follow a path beyond a mere thanks. Each in their own way acknowledge that without feeling saying “thanks” is yet one more way we play to the
This story if a little fish that stole a larger fish’s hat is not your ordinary children’s book, and definetly does not have a happy ending. Throughout the book the little fish continues to inform the reader that he is safe and that the big fish will not take his hat back. Towards the end of the book the little fish disappears into a forest if underwater plants letting the reader know he will not be found. But we as the reader see it differently when the big fish swims away with his hat. This ending is interesting because depending on the age of the child can be taken differently. A young child will most likely think that the fish just took the hat while older children may jump to the conclusion that the big fish ate the little fish. The illustrations on the book tie the whole story together. The choice of dark colors keeps the message and story constant throughout the book. What I liked about the book the most is the combination of the language used and the illustrations. Without either one of these the book would be completely different. The language is simple and straight to the point allowing the children to understand what is happening. And the images are very detailed and paint the picture for what is happening in the story. These combination of these two are what a child needs to read to keep their brains working and becoming intellectually better.
It is hard to believe that there is anyone on the planet that hasn't heard of the story "A Christmas Carol". Although it isn't hard to believe that people do not realize that there are differences between movies and novels. In this case, that fits right into that subject. Here are some of the differences between the movie and the novel.
Gratitude is one of the positive emotions shown from research and clinical trials to enhance the general well being of human beings. Gratitude is defined by Emmons (2004) as “a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift, whether the gift be a tangible benefit from a specific other or a moment of peaceful bliss evoked by natural beauty. Emmons and McCullough also see gratitude as an attitude, a habit, a personality trait and a way of handling difficult situations response (Emmons & Stern, 2013).
When I recognize the state of gratitude in which my heart is enveloped, I immediately embrace the Grace of God! I would never know true gratitude if it were not for God’s grace.
In Life without Chiefs Marvin Harris demonstrates human evolution from egalitarian existence to present day capitalist structure. He states that for 98% of human existence, our ancestors lived in small foraging communities (Harris, 2009). Where everyone knew each other and people gave things knowing when they needed something those same people would reciprocate. They lived in an egalitarian society where everyone is equal and had the same rights and opportunities. An interesting aspect of our ancestors was they didn’t say “thank you” to the giver, and it wasn’t because they didn’t appreciate it, but that same person who was the giver one day could be the receiver the next. To them “saying ‘thank you’ is very rude. It suggest, first that one has calculated the amount of a gift, and second, that one did not expect the donor to be so generous” (Harris, 274). And again the reason they do this is because everyone is equal, no matter who provides the goods it is evenly distributed so that no one is superior or think they that authority over the band. Harris gives an example from our previo...
In summation, the poem “There But for the Grace,” creates a list of situations that separated the survivor and victims of the holocaust. She uses form, sound devices, and language in this poem to communicate the message that there’s more to luck and chance than just lotteries and raffles. Sometimes it can be the difference between life and death.
The whole poem is about an event of a mother who takes her children to a park. While at the park, she runs into a man that she used to have feelings for and they begin to discuss how their lives have changed and the speaker’s children. The conversation between the two is short and is suggested by the statement, “But for the grace of god…” that the man thanks god that he is not involved with the hustle and bustle of being involved in the woman’s life. As the conversation ends and the man exits the park the woman states, “They have eaten me alive”. This statement gives the reader a greater understanding of what the woman goes through and what she has given up when she
There are many more ways of showing gratitude and that you can see how hard someone is working such as, nominating them for a staff award for, for example, best worker, so they can be recognised throughout the entire organisation for their hard work, determination and loyalty to the organisation. I have not yet been nominated for any awards, however within my work for my team I always receive praise and thank you for helping them with work and/ or doing some of their work for them to help clear back log as fast as possible. In my team to make sure each and every team member is treated with respect, equality and courtesy everyone's opinion is accepted, we also hold regular team meetings to address certain things that people have done well that
When people have gratitude it makes ths country a better place. The people of this country could be caring, or helpful, and our country suffers from the selfish people in it. Gratitude makes a person an American, because they show respect to each and every person they meet and will meet in the future. They have the caring ways to help their friends, and family out at anytime. Gratitude is a trait that should be in any American citizen, because it shows the people of this country that it could be a better place if people would start treating others with kindness. The truth is, as I was growing up, I didn’t see much kindness in the world. People were treating others lousy, worthless, and, horrid. If more people had gratitude ther would be less murders, more love, and so much more faith in the world. Today we see people die, and are used to it. We hear about attacks and absolutely do nothing for the people that need it. Obviously, we need to find more of this stuff called
Thanksgiving is a time where we can really evaluate ourselves and be thankful for what God has given us. “The Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving” by Edgar Albert Guest is a poem that makes me ponder about giving thanks and relates to the Bible.
My journey of the process started with the PPI “Expressing Gratitude”. The task instructed to write down five things one is thankful for, each day, for a week. Wooh, Froh & Gerahty (2010) defined gratitude as a habit of noticing and being aw...
Certainly not. We cannot be grateful for violence, war, oppression, or exploitation. On the personal level, we cannot be grateful for the loss of a friend, for unfaithfulness, for bereavement. But I didn't say we can be grateful for everything. I meant that we can be grateful in every given moment for the opportunity. We can be grateful for having shelter, education, and food. We can also be grateful for being alive. There are so many more opportunities to be grateful we just don't notice. Gratitude can change our world in immensely important ways. If you're grateful, you're not fearful, and if you're not fearful, you're not violent. If you're grateful, you act out of a sense of enough or satisfy and not of a sense of scarcity. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the differences between people, and you are respectful to everybody, and that changes this power pyramid under which we live.(Steindl-Rast, TED.). If we're all grateful, the world will be a living heaven. All world where everyone is happy full with gratitude. There will be no violence, no war, and no depression. A world that's peaceful and full of happiness to show for our next
...s thank you to others makes them incredibly happy. We also must express gratitude for ordinary things such as a beautiful blue sky during the daytime or sparkling stars at night. Get in the habit of finding at least 10 things to be grateful for each day to increase your happiness level.
Moreover, searching for the different mechanics in each of these poems makes it easier for the reader to analysis and interpret them. To begin, in “The World is Too Much with Us” the way the punctuation is fit into the poem is different since there are many semicolons between each line and one period suggesting that the poem is actually one long sentence. Then I believe the speaker to be someone who acknowledges that he too has lost connection with nature since he’s been preoccupied with other things in the world. This is proven throughout the whole poem since he talks in first person using the word “I.” The tone of this poem is angry, frustrated, and dissatisfied because of how the world has changed. The rhyme scheme is also another appealing mechanic here too since Wordsworth only uses fou...
Wordsworth and Hopkins both present the reader with a poem conveying the theme of nature. Nature in its variety be it from something as simple as streaked or multicolored skies, long fields and valleys, to things more complex like animals, are all gifts we take for granted. Some never realize the truth of what they are missing by keeping themselves indoors fixating on the loneliness and vacancy of their lives and not on what beauty currently surrounds them. Others tend to relate themselves more to the fact that these lovely gifts are from God and should be praised because of the way his gifts have uplifted our human spirit. Each writer gives us their own ideals as how to find and appreciate nature’s true gifts.