Back in the Playground Blues Essay Example

Back in the Playground Blues Essay Example Back in the Playground Blues Paper Back in the Playground Blues Paper Essay Topic: poem The poem Back in the Playground Blues written by Adrian Mitchell is about a boy remembering about the time that he was at the playground. The poem is written in first person, and the I of the poem is completely scared of the playground. He remembered the time which he was there and of how much he suffered. He felt as if he was trapped in the big playground compared to his size, left unprotected by their parents from the rulers of the Killing ground, and hoping that he wouldnt be the one chosen by them to make fun of. The I also criticizes that the rulers of the Killing ground always found a reason to pick on someone, be it because of physical appearance, religion or beliefs. He also mentions that someone from the playground, probably the principal says It prepares them for Life, and that in his opinion this had already been the worst place in his life. I imagine that the incident takes place in a poor community, because the children do not look as if they were mimed and a rich parent probably wouldnt trust the principal when she said that it prepares them for life. He also comments on the walls of the playground and says that it was broken and dusty, as if no one was taking care of the playground. The fact that he gives the impression that all the kids hated the Killing Ground also suggests that it takes place on a poor community because if it was on a rich one the kids would probably complain to their parents and their parents would get in contact with the principal or staff responsible. Language and structure add a great deal to the understanding of the poem. On the first section he repeats the first two lines, probably to call the readers attention to it. He also soon after saying how small the boy was says how large and wide the playground was, maybe suggesting that the boy felt impotent regarding the enormous playground around him. On the second section the poet also repeats the first two lines, also to emphasize it but maybe also to show a sense of how these facts were appearing back in the boys mind and as if he was thinking about it at the moment. He also wrote the name give by the children to the playground with capital letters The Killing Ground, to emphasize in the word Killing, to show how much the children were scared and hated the playground. This name is very ironical because Killing is the opposite of Play, and that the kids were having a horrible time whilst their parents thought that they were playing and having fun. On the third section he writes got a mother and a father, theyre one thousand years away, meaning that the kids can only ask for help for their parents, but they are far away from them and there is no way of reaching them. He then writes the rulers on The Killing Ground are coming out to play, to give the impression of how these rulers, probably older or stronger kids, were feared by the other kids, and that when they appeared they hoped they would pick someone else to play with. It is interesting the irony in the word play used in the sense of bullying, as if the rulers were using the younger kids as a doll or another object and doing whatever they wanted with it. The fourth section is my favorite part of the poem, due to its extreme irony. The boy is saying that the rulers chose anyone to pick on, and that they do it for any reason at all, and the way the poet writes this it looks as a nursery rhyme, which usually are of happy and fun things, which isnt this case. On the fifth section the poet is showing the cruelty of the rulers, by saying that they sometimes get a beetle and torture them, by tearing off all its legs one by one, leaving the beetle with its back on the floor, but a beetle cant beg for mercy as the other kids, so it isnt half as fun. This is making a comparison of how the kids went through the same situation as the beetle, and that this was more fun for the rulers, because unlike beetles, children can beg for mercy. On the last section the poet describes the sound of the principal or teacher of the playground as having and iceberg sound, meaning that the person was very cold and didnt have any feelings towards the kids which were being bullied. He ends the poem by saying that the principal says that the playground prepares them for live, whilst the boy thinks that this preparation has been the worst thing of his life. The poet shows how a child views a playground, and how scared they were of the older kids. This is a very typical example, and happens in most playgrounds and kindergartens around the world. Maybe not as cruel as the poets example, but quite bad. It also shows how the childs mind is taken over by their imagination and fear. It is also a critic to how the system of playgrounds work, and of how the parents send them there thinking that they are playing and having a good time whilst what is happening is exactly the opposite.

How to Improve and Retain Your German Fluency

How to Improve and Retain Your German Fluency Here are some suggestions to help you with your goal to improve your German.   Surround yourself in German:Label your home, your workplace with German words. And dont label with nouns only. Do colours, verbs (such as à ¶ffnen /open and schließen /close on a door), adjectives (e.g. rauh/rough, weich/soft on different textures).Paste the conjugation of verbs you have difficulties with on your bathroom mirror.Change the settings on your computer to German.Have a German site as your homepage.Learn at least one German word a day: More if you can retain them. Then practice it on someone that day or write it in a sentence, so that it becomes part of your spoken vocabulary and not just your comprehension vocabulary.Write in German every day: Keep a journal or diary, get an e pen-pal or join the one-on-one classes on our forum. Write your to-do lists in German.Read in German every day: Read, read, read!Subscribe to a German newspaper/magazine, a German-American newspaper or read German magazines/newspapers online.Use a German cookbook.Read childrens books. They expo se you to basic vocabulary, dont have much jargon and often use repetition. As your vocabulary increases, try older childrens/youth books.Read dual-language books. They give you the satisfaction of reading more advanced classic books. Listen to German every day: Challenge yourself to watch a German podcast, show etc. or listen to German music every day.Find a German buddy: If there are no Germans near where you live, pair up with someone else who is learning German and commit yourselves to speaking only German with each other.Practice wherever you go: Though limited in a non-German speaking country, with some creativity, you can get some daily German practice. Every little bit helps.Become involved in your local German club: Also try the universitys Kaffeeklatsch, the Goethe-Institute. Depending where you live, you may have the opportunity to attend German festivities, German film screenings, book clubs etc. If no such thing exists in your community, why not create your own German club? Even just a simple evening of German board games with two or three people will enrich your German learning experience.Take a German course: Check out your community college, university or language schools for courses. Study for a German proficiency test this year. Study/Work in Germany: Many German organizations and institutions offer scholarships or grants for a study abroad experience.Most important resolution to always keep: Believe that you can and will learn German.