Connections from Whitman

I can relate to both of the first two stanzas in There Was a Child Went Forth.  When I was a young boy, I received a Pokemon video game.  I spent countless hours wasting away my time with that game, and others in the series.  It became a big part of me for "a cycle of years".  On the weekends I would play the same game (video games, outdoor games, made-up games) for hours, whichever one I decided after waking up.  I also was fixated on a few aspects of nature as a young child.  I would listen to birds sing for hours and wonder how and why they did it.  I used to go mountain biking with my dad at Rock Cut a few times a month.  There are a few spots there that fascinated me and I could not understand why things are the way they are.  Back then it was all a mystery, yet it was wonderful.  

Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry-In The Garden

In The Garden has many personifications and shows two sides to nature.  The poem starts out a bird being personified.  The bird eats a worm raw, referring to humans doing things "raw".  The bird is polite to the beetle, showing that humans are nice to some things/people (beetle) and mean to others (worm).  When the bird glances around nervously it shows the anxiety that humans can have.  It also shows how nature can be a scary and dangerous place.  The poem portrays that nature can be both beautiful and dangerous.

Affirmations of Life

     Life is all about having a positive attitude.  Bad things are going to happen no matter what, but how we react to those things is what matters.  Dwelling on the negatives is a big waste of time.  We must take the good out of each and every situation.  Suppose you get in a car accident.  The first reaction would be anger and sadness, but maybe it happened for a reason.  Maybe it happened so that an accident far worse would not happen in the future.  It isn't easy to take the positives out of everything, but everyone should try and hard as they can to.  The way to deal with negative situations is to make the most of the situations.

The Truth about Nature

     I honestly have never had a major connection to nature.  I have enjoyed aspects of nature and felt small connections, but never anything lasting.  When this happens, I try and make it something major, but it just falls out of my mind a while later.  I am not very much into nature.  I am more of a city boy; I'd rather be in the big city rather than taking a walk in the park.  However, I enjoy the occasional visit to nature.  I just don't have the attention span to consistently spend long amounts of time out with nature.  I'm sure that as I grow older, I will begin to appreciate nature more.  I hope that my major connection will come soon.