+Christmas Eve Essays - Temperature Control, Switches, Thermostat

+Christmas Eve Jenny Leigh Parker 12/16/98 It was Four o Clock P.M. on December the twenty fourth. The grandfather clock ticked away the hours. It seemed like three hours had gone by. Then, the clock said that it had only been fifteen minutes. I had to do something to help the time pass. I thought that a nice long nap would make the day go faster. My sister wanted to join me. I laid there listening to my sister snore , which made me so upset. How could she possibly fall asleep so fast, plus her obnoxious snoring kept me awake. Finally, I fell asleep, but only for about ten minutes. I woke up to the aroma of my moms famous banana cream pie. I heard the garage door open, and my dads rip roaring Bonneville pulled into the garage. I was so afraid. My dad has this phobia of having a cold house. (In his early years, the house he grew up in, only had one fireplace, and he slept on the other side of the house. He would wake up with icicle toes and be numb all over his body. He could see the air condensation appearing in front of him). After that, he has always had our house scorching hot. He usually has our house's thermostats to about ninety nine degrees. I'll bet I could roast an egg on top of my head. I had also just gotten it to the perfect temperature for the rest of the family. As I expected, the first thing he did when he walked in the door was head straight for the thermostats, and to turn those suckers up until they were ready to explode. My dad knows that I am the only one in the household that can adjust the temperature. So, there was no way I could ever get away with a stunt like that. The next thing I heard was the ceiling fans starting to turn. I have an upstairs bedroom, so, all the excess heat comes into my room. I was beginning to feel the heat creep upstairs. I knew I was a goner. I had a plan, I would step outside and sit in a snowbank for awhile, then inside, maybe the heat wouldn't bother me. I stepped outside. The coldness struck me like a thousand knives. The temperature was below zero. It was just about the right temperature to make my plan work. I was walking through snowflakes and the cold wind was blowing in my face. I plopped down in the white snow. I could feel that my body was soaked. I was extremely cold. I thought that for sure I was frostbitten through my toes. I was determined not to leave until I knew for sure I was freezing from top to bottom. I stepped inside, only to find that I was beginning to break into a sweat. My plan was unsuccessful. I went upstairs, changed out of my itchy, scratchy, turtleneck, fuzzy fluffy, sweater and corduroy slacks. Then, slipped into a sleeveless shirt and pair of denim shorts. That was the way to go as long I stayed in the house the rest of the night. After all the battles with heat, we had finally came to a mutual agreement. I stepped downstairs and first thing I smelled was the pine from our Christmas tree. That is the best smell. I love the outdoors. I then realized that it wasn't the tree I was smelling. It was my mom's pine scented candles that she had been burning. The family dinner was absolutely delicious. I love all the different smells from a home cooked meal. What delight that brings to me. It has been a tradition of mine for a couple of years, to wear myself out on Christmas Eve and do gymnastics. I ended up doing fifty cartwheels on each side. Seventy five back walkovers, twenty five front walkovers, and one hundred backhand springs. Keep in mind, I had just eaten a huge meal. I was ready to pass out. I felt so sick, out of breath and exhausted. I fell asleep pretty quick. Christmas season is my favorite time of the year because of all the different smells, feelings,

Christina Rossetti Essays

Christina Rossetti Essays Christina Rossetti Paper Christina Rossetti Paper Essay Topic: Christina Rossetti Poems Christina Rossetti was born in London, England on the 5th December 1830. She was of Italian origin, although she never visited Italy and spent her whole life in England. Her father, before moving to England, worked as composer Rossinis librettist. In England he taught and worked as a Dante scholar, marrying the much younger Frances Polidori. Polidori gave birth to the famous painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1828 and two years later to Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti was a devout Anglican who never married, although she was engaged twice. There is a sexist assumption that something is solemn about women who never marry. She died in 1894. Gabriel was said to be the more famous of the Rossetti children, but Christina made her fair share of famous poems including Goblin Market probably the most famous. Her poem, L.E.L. (whose heart was breaking for a little love) is one of her less famous poems, but is still written in her distinctive style. As the title suggests, the following is an analysis of the poem and an overall view of to what extent the poem can be called depressing. The title of the poem begins with the letters L.E.L. which are the initials of another poet of the same era Letitia E. Landon, who lived between the years of 1802-1838 she died very young, by committing suicide, after being forced into marriage. She had a very depressing and hard, short life and Rossetti has decided to include this in her poem. The reason that she put the initials in the title instead of the whole name is not totally known. It could be because she thought it would be wrong to tell of whom she was writing of, but wanted to hint to the readers of who it was. It could be just to create a sense of mystery right at the beginning of the poem. The title as a whole L.E.L. whose heart was breaking for a little love Almost appears like an epitaph of a gravestone which sets the mood straight away as a depressing one. Especially the latter part of the title which suggests that she died before she ever got to find love and whether that could be linked to her death would make it even more of a tragedy. The rhyme scheme of the poem is an interesting one. It is a-b-a-b-c-c-c. The quatrain part of the verse (a-b-a-b) tells us of L.E.L.s thoughts and feelings. I laugh, I sport and jest and my heart is breaking for a little love. The triplet part of the verse (c-c-c) tells us of the happiness of spring and all living things having a good time. When the quatrain and triplet are juxtaposed it shows the contrast between the depression of her feelings to the positive images of spring and thus making out that everybody and everything is having a good time, but she is not. The nineteenth century was time when people thought that life was just a show or play and everyone would just play out their parts. We can see images of playacting throughout the poem, which portray that it was written in the nineteenth century. Who play the pleasant parts and I deck myself with silks and jewelry. The first of these quotes sounds like it is said with a sneer as if jealous that other people have been enrolled with the pleasant parts and she is stuck with the lonely, depressing role. The latter of these quotes is the first part of a longer quote that follows the same pattern. It shows how she tries to hide her sad feelings, and she puts on a show to people to make-out that nothing is wrong and she is happy. There are images of isolation in the poem that emphasise her depression, and that she is closed off from the rest of the world. Mine own heart that dwells alone. The contrast of I and they I plume myself, they praise my rustling show. Also, in the first verse, there is a depressed, isolated mood created from the contrast of her public life, Downstairs I laugh, to her private life where she feels lonely, my solitary room above. The line running after that is turn my face in silence so we can see the sibilance of solitary, face and silence which creates a soft but, more importantly, sad mood to the poem. There is a line that is, save a few small differences like tense, constant for each verse. It is the fourth line my heart is breaking for a little love which is also included in the title of the poem and repeated six times in the poem. This repetition, and the alliteration of little love, greatly emphasises her loneliness and her desire some sort of love or care in her life. The little creates an even bigger sense of pity, because she isnt even asking to be loved to a great extent. She just wants a little love, someone who shows the least bit of care for her. The use of three, or tripling, is a device used a lot in the poem. I laugh, I sport and jest. And springtime wakes and clothes and feeds the use of three is a link to the bible, and in those days religion was a big thing. It somewhat suggests that her misery is Gods will, and it is just a small part of his great plan that is humanity. The first verse begins with a good start, I laugh, but there is a sense of doubt straight away with the But at the start of the second line. It gives an edge to the poem, because we know it is a sign of contrast, which will lead into the depression of the poem. The happiness of spring then contrasts her feelings and creates a sense of irony. The next verse shows her complete lack of self-esteem woes me and her isolation from the happy spring I feel no spring, while spring is wellnigh blown. This all adds to the depressing atmosphere. The third verse shows more images of isolation all love, are loved, save only I and contrasted to the onomatopoeia of whirr which is a reflection to the sounds of summer. Verse four includes yet more isolation with the contrast of I and they as explained earlier. The I plume myself is also a reference to nature which is ironic as she feels further from nature as possible in this poem, yet describes her actions in the way of a bird. The fifth verse is where more positive lexis starts to appear in the quatrain. Perhaps some saints in glory guess the truth. This is where she longingly hopes that some angel can recognise her sadness and empathise with it by taking her to a better place. There is still a sense of doubt in the word perhaps. The poem so far has seemed an extremely depressing one but in the final verse all negative lexis is changed to positive. The hope that an angel is watching has become a certainty. Yet saith a saint: take patience for thy scathe.' It is also repeated to emphasise that it is a definite certainty. The oxymoron true life is born of death tells us of how the real better life doesnt begin until death has come. The verse is all about life on earth being preparation for something better. The quote when new spring builds new heaven and clean new earth. is a reference to the part spring has played in the poem, and that this new spring is about more than just nature. This last line is the only one to break the pattern of the ten syllable iamtic pentametre that is used in the rest of the poem, and thus symbolising the change in the mood. I think that calling this poem depressing is a fair statement. I would not call it totally depressing because all this womans sadness is taken care of when she dies and her new life is a very happy one. The whole poem, save the last verse, has been about how she is isolated from everything and how sad everything is. For this it could be called depressing, but the last verse totally flips the poem around and ends with happiness. Therefore, this poem can only be called depressing to a certain extent.