My essay is on my love of poetry and how writing has helped me to grow as a person... I have been working on this essay for weeks and the school I want to submit it to has a deadline for this October 1st! Please give VERY descriptive feedback as to what specifically I should change, perhaps some areas I could omit and make more concise. Specifically, I am having a very hard time with the ending of my essay. I think right now, the ending sounds very weak and could be MUCH stronger and more powerful, but I don't know how to make it leave an impact... Also, any suggestions for a stronger title would be appreciated!!! Thank you for your input!!!! :)
A Poet's Quest
"Say cheese!" The flash of the camera blinded my squinting eyes as I shifted awkwardly, trying
to conjure up a smile. Standing on the curb outside Seattle's Key Arena, I was one of 1,500
identically dressed teenagers in a cap and long, forest green gown. Ever since my first day of
high school, I had eagerly anticipated my graduation as the one milestone moment that would
mark my initiation into life as an 'adult.'
But as I stood there having walked the stage and received my diploma, I found myself anxious,
nostalgic, and at a loss of words as to why.
It is a writer's task to communicate the indescribable. As a poet, writing is how I capture life
and seek to find myself. Pablo Neruda once said, "Someday, somewhere- anywhere, unfailingly,
you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life."
Sometimes, the use of a pen and paper is the only way I can truly speak my mind. Unlike
Pablo Neruda, I have yet to live the hour in which I have completely discovered myself. But on
that day, I felt a time both one of the happiest and most bittersweet I had ever known.
My graduation marked the end of my childhood as I knew it and I had begun a new season.
Looking back, I know now that the sorrow I had felt emanated not from a desire to
relive those days, but rather from a sudden consciousness that time is fleeting and I have but one
life to live.
Like life, poetry is a journey of both experiences and recollections. It is a process of taking
reality and merging it into a style of expression that allows passion to flow in its purest form.
Here, my mind and soul converge to share knowledge gained and move to translate my thoughts
into a universal language.
The process of writing poetry has challenged me. As a growing poet, I am continually taught to value
new-found knowledge with a childlike faith. I learn to take my experiences - joy, laughter, pleasures,
and pain and share my unique perspective on life with others. It is when my pen meets the paper
that my mind finds its words and like an infant with no familiarity with the world, I begin to truly
learn. Persistence and revision are the poet's lessons from life. Through these teachers, I have
been imparted with patience and self-discipline. I have learned to relinquish my fear of exposure
and vulnerability. When I share my poetry, I share more than just words. I am passing my
emotions and heart into the hands of another, and as a result growing from their wisdom and
guidance.
I suppose you can say that words are shaping me. Now, I feel no worry or need for guarantee. I am
living to enjoy the unexpected, unwritten poetry in life. It does not matter to me that right now I do not
understand it all.
For I know that "Someday, somewhere, unfailingly" I will live the hour in which I will find myself.
A Poet's Quest
"Say cheese!" The flash of the camera blinded my squinting eyes as I shifted awkwardly, trying
to conjure up a smile. Standing on the curb outside Seattle's Key Arena, I was one of 1,500
identically dressed teenagers in a cap and long, forest green gown. Ever since my first day of
high school, I had eagerly anticipated my graduation as the one milestone moment that would
mark my initiation into life as an 'adult.'
But as I stood there having walked the stage and received my diploma, I found myself anxious,
nostalgic, and at a loss of words as to why.
It is a writer's task to communicate the indescribable. As a poet, writing is how I capture life
and seek to find myself. Pablo Neruda once said, "Someday, somewhere- anywhere, unfailingly,
you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life."
Sometimes, the use of a pen and paper is the only way I can truly speak my mind. Unlike
Pablo Neruda, I have yet to live the hour in which I have completely discovered myself. But on
that day, I felt a time both one of the happiest and most bittersweet I had ever known.
My graduation marked the end of my childhood as I knew it and I had begun a new season.
Looking back, I know now that the sorrow I had felt emanated not from a desire to
relive those days, but rather from a sudden consciousness that time is fleeting and I have but one
life to live.
Like life, poetry is a journey of both experiences and recollections. It is a process of taking
reality and merging it into a style of expression that allows passion to flow in its purest form.
Here, my mind and soul converge to share knowledge gained and move to translate my thoughts
into a universal language.
The process of writing poetry has challenged me. As a growing poet, I am continually taught to value
new-found knowledge with a childlike faith. I learn to take my experiences - joy, laughter, pleasures,
and pain and share my unique perspective on life with others. It is when my pen meets the paper
that my mind finds its words and like an infant with no familiarity with the world, I begin to truly
learn. Persistence and revision are the poet's lessons from life. Through these teachers, I have
been imparted with patience and self-discipline. I have learned to relinquish my fear of exposure
and vulnerability. When I share my poetry, I share more than just words. I am passing my
emotions and heart into the hands of another, and as a result growing from their wisdom and
guidance.
I suppose you can say that words are shaping me. Now, I feel no worry or need for guarantee. I am
living to enjoy the unexpected, unwritten poetry in life. It does not matter to me that right now I do not
understand it all.
For I know that "Someday, somewhere, unfailingly" I will live the hour in which I will find myself.