English Poem recitation : The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken 

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

-----

English Poem recitation : BOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS By Christina Rosetti

English Poem recitation :  This time a simple poem for my brother in Kindergarten.

BOATS SAIL ON THE RIVERS 
by Christina Rosetti

Boats sail on the rivers,
 And ships sail on the seas;
 But clouds that sail across the sky
 Are prettier far than these.

 There are bridges on the rivers,
 As pretty as you please;
 But the bow that bridges heaven,
 And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
 Is prettier far then these.

----

Most Popular  English Poem recitation on my blog - "I can not remember my mother" by Tagore

English Poem recitation : Those Winter Sundays By Robert Hayden

High school English poem recitation : Vacation time and its time to find a good English poem for recitation for next year at high school. Came across this beautiful poem "Those Winter Sundays" By Robert Hayden

Those Winter Sundays
by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?

-------
About Poet : Robert Hayden (4 August 1913 – 25 February 1980) was an American poet, essayist, educator.

English Poem recitation : "A March In The Ranks Hard-Prest" by Walt Whitman

High school English poem recitation : Time for the search for many of us to find a good English poem for recitation.Its competition time again in schools. I am gathering some of the English poems for school recitation here for all of you. And this time its for high school english poem recitation as I am in 8th Standard...Time flies.

While searching for the English poem for recitation I came to know about "Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest" in America. This is a program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance. Langston Ward, the Washington State Poetry Out Loud Champion, was named the National Champion at the National Finals held in Washington, DC on April 30, 2013. Here is the poem "A March In The Ranks Hard-Prest" by Walt Whitman which won the 1st prize for Mr Ward in the finals.

A March In The Ranks Hard-Prest
by Walt Whitman

A march in the ranks hard-prest, and the road unknown,
A route through a heavy wood with muffled steps in the darkness,
Our army foil'd with loss severe, and the sullen remnant retreating,
Till after midnight glimmer upon us the lights of a dim-lighted building,
We come to an open space in the woods, and halt by the dim-lighted
building,
'Tis a large old church at the crossing roads, now an impromptu hospital,
Entering but for a minute I see a sight beyond all the pictures and
poems ever made,
Shadows of deepest, deepest black, just lit by moving candles and lamps,
And by one great pitchy torch stationary with wild red flame and
clouds of smoke,
By these, crowds, groups of forms vaguely I see on the floor, some
in the pews laid down,
At my feet more distinctly a soldier, a mere lad, in danger of
bleeding to death, (he is shot in the abdomen,)
I stanch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily,)
Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o'er the scene fain to absorb it all,
Faces, varieties, postures beyond description, most in obscurity,
some of them dead,
Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether,
odor of blood,
The crowd, O the crowd of the bloody forms, the yard outside also fill'd,
Some on the bare ground, some on planks or stretchers, some in the
death-spasm sweating,
An occasional scream or cry, the doctor's shouted orders or calls,
The glisten of the little steel instruments catching the glint of
the torches,
These I resume as I chant, I see again the forms, I smell the odor,
Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my men, fall in;
But first I bend to the dying lad, his eyes open, a half-smile gives he
me,
Then the eyes close, calmly close, and I speed forth to the darkness,
Resuming, marching, ever in darkness marching, on in the ranks,
The unknown road still marching.

-------
You can listen to a good recitation of this poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYiJpfwzb0

About Poet : Walt Whitman (31 May 1819 - 26 March 1892 / New York / United States)
Walter "Walt" was an American poet, essayist and journalist. Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War.

English Poem recitation : "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman

Primary school english poem recitation : Lots of children in school start searching for a good English poem for recitation when the competition time arrives. I am gathering some of the English poems for school recitation here for all of you.
For the 7th standard English poem recitation competition when I was searching for a good poem I came across this touching poem by Walt Whitman , "O Captain! My Captain"...This poem is based on the death of American president Abraham Lincoln.

"O Captain! My Captain!"               
by Walt Whitman

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.


O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills; 10
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.


My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; 20
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

-------
You can listen to a good recitation of this poem @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Q6cs_9tkw

About Poet : Walt Whitman (31 May 1819 - 26 March 1892 / New York / United States)
Walter "Walt" was an American poet, essayist and journalist. Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War.

About Poem : Written on the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865, O Captain! My Captain! is one of the most famous poems by Walt Whitman.The "ship" spoken of is intended to represent the United States of America, while its "fearful trip" recalls the troubles of the American Civil War. The title role "Captain" is Lincoln himself.

The assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday,April 14, 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to a close.Lincoln was shot while watching the play Our American Cousin with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.He died early the next morning.Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated. The assassination was planned and carried out by the well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth.

Recitation of Poem : Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Tagore

I came across this famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore while searching for the poems for my 7th standard English poetry recitation competition.This is may be good for 4, 5 & 6 standards also.


Where The Mind Is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Rabindranath Tagore

More poems @ Poem Hunter

I came across this famous poem by PB Shelly while searching for the poems for my 6th standard English poetry recitation competition. Maya Brown won the first prize by reciting this poem in her school , Woodbridge Senior High School during 2010. You can listen and view her beautiful recitation of the poem here.

Recitation of Poem :  Ozymandias by PB Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land                    
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".

Percy Bysshe Shelley (4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron.He is most famous for such classic anthology verse works as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of Anarchy, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language.

Speech on “Advertisements are misleading”

Now we have more practical works part of the new way of studying at school. I need to give a speech next week. Here is what I have prepared.

Respected teacher and my dear friends,

Advertisements have become part and parcel of our life. I am sure many of us here love watching ads during commercial break. But do you know most of the ads shown are misleading. The false advertisements have great influence mainly on children who demands many things from parents. But they do not know that it may be very harmful for their health.

For example we see so many ads on TV about skin creams and no one clearly refers that for which skin it is suitable and for which skin it’s allergic. One such creams claim to make you fair within 7 days of application. Do you believe this?  No for we know genes in the body decides fairness of the skin.

 Also the face creams children often demand are for men not for children. Applying these creams will ultimately destroy their natural skins, as the children’s skin is very soft.

So we should all be aware of these ads and should not buy any product by seeing the ad only. Also as a good and responsible customer we should know about the product completely and clarify that it would not affect us in bad way and then buy the product.

Stephen Leacock once said that Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. I think that some advertisement companies are arresting our human intelligence way beyond our comfort levels.

Recitation of Poem : I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

 Classes started. I thought of getting ready with my poem selections for this year little early. Here comes the first...by Mary Angelou, one of the most visible female American poets of this era.

I know why the caged bird sings
by Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

---------------------------------

Maya Angelou (born 1928) is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly acclaimed, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her first seventeen years. It brought her international recognition, and was nominated for a National Book Award. She has been awarded over 30 honorary degrees and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her 1971 volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie.
Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.

Synonym Finder & Antonym Finder

 Part of my English grammer learnings we need to find out synonyms and antonyms. Following sites are pretty useful

• Synonym Finder (Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings)
• Antonym Finder  (Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. )
  

Recitation of Poem : Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Christmas holidays over and back to school. Competitions are back and some of the english poems for recitation competitions for you my friends. These are part of my shorlists.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

by Robert Frost

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.
My little horse must think it queer
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,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Recitation of Poem - The Lake Isle of Innisfree - W B Yeats

This is another poem which I liked. I am adding this to the shortlist for my 5th standard English Poem recitation. The Lake Isle of Innisfree - William Butler Yeats.

You can access the audio of the poem recitation by the poet from the following link. The Lake Isle of Innisfree recitation by W B Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Written by William Butler Yeats

I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Recitation of Poem - My Shadow by R L Stevenson

I am preparing for the 5th standard English poetry recitation competition. I am planning to select few poems and finalise one in coming weeks.My Sharow by Stevenson is a beautiful little poem.

My Shadow
Written by Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward, you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed

Recitation of Poem - Daffodils by Wordsworth

Daffodils by William Wordsworth is a beautiful and fameous poem. I recited this poem in the English recitation competition in my school (during my 3rd standard days).

Daffodils - a poem by by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

My first Novel - The Chocolate Palace and the three Girls

This is my first Novel...
The Chocolate Palace and  the three Girls
Children from a primary school went for a picnic to a resort in  a forest. Their teacher tell a story about the resort castle and a chocolate palace in the forest nearby. Three girls decide to go in search of the palace and meet the princess...

Thanks to my teacher...this novel is part of a project work at school.

Read more ... (Click the View Full screen link at the top right corner of story window ...next to 18...)


The Chocolate Palace and the three Girls -

English Poem recitation : "I can not remember my mother" by Tagore

Primary school english poem recitation : Lots of children in primary school start searching for a good english poem for recitation when the competition time arrives. I am gathering some of the primary school recitation poems here for all of you.
For the 4th standard English poem recitation competition when I was searching for a good poem I came across this touching poem by Rabindranath Tagore , "I can not remember my mother "

I Can not Remember My Mother

I cannot remember my mother

only sometimes in the midst of my play

a tune seems to hover over my playthings,

the tune of some song that she used to

hum while rocking my cradle.

I cannot remember my mother

but when in the early autumn morning

the smell of the shiuli flowers floats in the air

the scent of the morning service in the temple

comes to me as the scent of my mother.

I cannot remember my mother

only when from my bedroom window I send

my eyes into the blue of the distant sky,

I feel that the stillness of

my mother's gaze on my face

has spread all over the sky.

By Rabindranath Tagore from Sishu Bholanath

Rabindranath Tagore, popularly known as Gurudev (1861 (1941) was a Bengali poet, dramatist and novelist. Tagore won the Nobel Prize for literature for his work, Gitanjali. He founded the Shanthiniketan to promote Indian Culture, Art and Music. Tagore lost his mother when he was a child.
This poem I cannot remember my mother is about a child who does not remember his dead mother. But the child perhaps carries some associations of the mother’s image in his mind.

Aeroplane and Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, invented the modern aeroplane. They are responsible for the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on 17 December 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

The brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of "three axis-control", which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method became standard and remains standard on fixed wing aircraft of all kinds.

The Wrights spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight. They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver. They believed that they could use this technique to obtain roll control by warping, or changing the shape, of a portion of the wing.

The Wrights combined their wing-warping control concept and the structural design of the Chanute-Herring glider in their first aircraft, a biplane kite with a 5-foot wingspan, built in July 1899.

1899 Wright kite
The Wrights combined their wing-warping control concept and the structural design of the Chanute-Herring glider in their first aircraft, a biplane kite with a 5-foot wingspan, built in July 1899.

1900 Wright glider
The 1900 glider was the Wrights' first piloted aircraft. First flight-tested at Kitty Hawk in the fall of that year, it incorporated the wire-braced biplane structure and wing-warping control system they developed with their 1899 kite.
1902 Wright glider

Compared to their previous gliders, the Wrights' 1902 glider had a much thinner airfoil and longer and narrower wings, which their wind tunnel tests had shown to be more efficient. To improve lateral control, they added a fixed vertical rudder to the rear of the glider. They retained the reliable forward elevator for pitch control but made it elliptical in shape.

1903 Wright Flyer




The 1903 Wright Flyer made four flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, the best covering 852 feet in 59 seconds. It was the first heavier-than-air, powered aircraft to make a sustained, controlled flight with a pilot aboard.
The Wrights used their proven canard biplane configuration which was rooted in their initial 1899 kite design. Key to the Flyer's success was its three-axis control system, which featured wing-warping for lateral balance, a moveable rudder, and an elevator for pitch control.

The right wing was four inches longer than the left to compensate for the engine being heavier than and mounted to the right of the pilot. The wings were rigged with a slight droop to reduce the effects of crosswinds.

Recitation of Poem - Time by Valeri Bloom

Valeri bloom has written a simple poem about time. I recited this poem in the English recitation competition in my school.

You can access the recitation of the poem by the poet here

Time
Time's a bird, which leaves its footprints
At the corner of your eyes.
Time's a jockey, racing horses,
The sun and moon across the skies.
Time's a thief, stealing your beauty,
Leaving you with tears and sighs.
But if you waste time trying to catch him,
Time's a bird and time just flies.

by Valeri bloom

English to Hindi dictionary

Find out the Hindi meaning for an English word. This is becoming pretty common exercise part of my Hindi learning.I was trying out different online dictionaries for this. This English to Hindi dictionary is really useful. Type the English word in the the search area and select the English word option below and click on search. You will get Hindi meaning for the English words you typed.

2008 Olympics

29th Summer Olympics opened in Beijing, China on Aug 8^th, 2008. An audience of 91,000 people packed in to the Olympic National Stadium in Beijing, China, to watch an entertainment program including 30,000 fireworks and more than two hours of music at the opening ceremonies. China's opening ceremonies are reported to be the largest and most expensive of any in Olympic history.

The National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest for its unique design, came alive with excitement on the hot summer night. There were 2,008 drummers, to match this Olympic year on the calendar, rocking the stadium. Nearly two hours of music, specially composed for the event, filled the air. Twenty fairies fell from the night sky, or so it seemed as acrobats on wires descended into the stadium. A group of 56 children gathered around the Chinese flag.

World leaders gathered to enjoy the spectacle, including United States President George W. Bush, who became the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics held in a foreign country.

The thrilling opening ceremonies were a great start for the Games. And the timing of the ceremony itself, which began at 8 p.m. on 8/8/08, is considered good luck in China, where eight is the luckiest number.

The opening ceremonies kicked off 17 days of Olympic events, stretching straight through to the closing ceremonies on August 24. More than 10,000 athletes from 205 countries are gearing up to compete at the top of their game.