The article I am reviewing today is the political disaster in Taiwan. It all started when a typhoon struck Taiwan. It was one of the worst hits that ever happened in Taiwan. However, the President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, failed to help the victims. The failure of rescuing the victims in time, the slow response towards this incident was the main reason that the people are now angry with him. Now, this problem has turned into a political one. The citizens were unhappy with him and votes had dropped drastically. Now, Ma Ying-jeou is trying to appease the anger of the people. Bodyguards had to step in to protect President Ma Ying-jeou from the very people he had come to comfort as he visited survivors of the typhoon that may have left more than 500 dead across central and southern Taiwan. Recently, he had bowed in front of many people to apologise to them. He said that the government could have done a better job and reacted faster, and he will take full responsibility as he is the President. Another reason why the people are angry is because of the Sichuan earthquake last year. They compared their President to China’s, and seeing that President Ma Ying-jeou had been much slower to respond compared to China’s. Initially, President Ma Ying-jeou had rejected foreign aid, and appeared arrogant when meeting survivors, and telling the British ITN television network that victims failed to take the initiative to evacuate.
On my dining table, I saw immediately that it was my favourite food. The meat was white and looks plain, but with the help of the skin, it was as if adding colour to it to make it brown and looks delicious. The smell is simply irresistible; it has a strong smell of the rice. And there was a soup beside it. The soup smells good, with the ingredients added into it. With the ginger and the vegetables, together with the meat and the sauce, makes it mouth-wateringly tasty. The tender of the meat, mixed with the sauce and the gravy, makes it so appetizing. As I took my first bite on the meat, and started to chew it, I knew at once that I would finish the whole plate. The meat was in my mouth, slowly breaking down, and I could not wait to take my second mouth. The meat was so soft, tender, and easy to dissolve in my mouth. Next, I took a spoon and took a spoonful of soup and drank it. It was so warm and it helped to bring the food in my mouth together down my gullet. The soup was so soothing and makes a perfect combination of the meal. Slowly, I ate the meal, savouring it and enjoyed the moment. The food was Chicken Rice.
The poet I am going to write about is Langston Hughes. The reason I chose him is because at that time, there was racism in the United States of America, and he could use his poets to bring out the problem of racism to the Americans.
Throughout his career, Hughes encountered mixed reactions to his work. Many black intellectuals denounced him for portraying unsophisticated aspects of lower-class life, claiming that his focus furthered the unfavorable image of African Americans. However, other critics have noted the uneven quality of his writing. Critics agree that Hughes is at his best when he depicts the everyday experiences of African Americans and that these depictions are often their best in his most simple and direct poetry.
Later in life, Hughes was criticized for failing to address controversial issues and to reflect the more militant fight for civil rights. However, later critics note that Hughes remained constant in his focus on the problems of racism and the failure of African Americans to realize the American Dream. Basically, throughout his career, he had been writing about the problem of racism and there were people who agreed and disagreed with him, but he didn’t give up but continued.
I have read some of his works and I think it really shows the crux of this racism problem that arises in America. At the same time, he also wrote some poets to encourage people to live on, like “Life is Fine”, where it tells how good life is. After I have researched and slightly understood about Langston Hughes, I think that he is patriotic but at the same time, hoped that America would change to a multi-racial country. All in all, I think that Langston Hughes’s poets are good.
Langston Hughes was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston (brother of John Mercer Langston, the first Black American to be elected to public office). He attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, where he began writing poetry in the eighth grade. Although his father once discouraged him from writing and sent him to study engineering, but because he liked writing so much, he dropped out of the degree course and continued to write poetry. His first published poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, was also one of his most famous, appearing in Brownie's Book. Two other examples of his poets are “I, too, sing America” and “Let America be America again”, where he writes that the present America is not what he wants.
Sources: http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/langston_hughes http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/hughes-langston
Although I seldom read poetries and don't really understand the poetry, I feel that the author has composed it quite smoothly and easier to understand. I find that the words are beautifully phrased, like “Grains of the golden sand--How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep”.
I think that the author has described his feelings through the sand, though I do not know how to explain his feelings. I also think that his poetry is quite practical, and its very much like reality, about losing dreams and hopes and the feelings.
All in all, I think that this poetry is well-written and I enjoyed reading it, although there are many parts of the poetry I don’t really understand and have to guess.
I think that the figurative language used in this poetry is good. Firstly, I would like to say about the figurative languages he used, like O God. This is a hyperbole statement. In a way, the author has described his feelings in an exaggerated manner. He describes that he feels sad that his hopes has flown away.
I also think that he used metaphors, like "I stand amid the roar of a surf-tormented shore". The author also describes his feelings that he feels like shouting to release his emotions, grief within him to feel better.
Lastly, I think that the symbolism he used is the sand. He feels that he is like the sand in the pitiless wave. That the sand crept through his hands into the sea and he cant even save one in the pitiless sea. I think thaat the author feels just like the sand.
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?