POETIC METER

Avicii- Wake me up

FEEL/ing/ my /WAY/ through /the/ DARK/ness (Dactylic trimeter)
GUID/ed/ by/ A/ beat/ing /HEART (Dactylic trimeter)
I/ can't/ TELL /where/ the /JOUR/ney will /END (Anapestic trimeter)
But /I/ KNOW/ where/ to/ START (Anapestic dimeter)

They/ TELL/ me/ I´M/ too /YOUNG/ to/ UN/der/STAND (Iambic pentameter) 
They/ SAY/ I'm /CAUGHT /up/ IN/ a /DREAM (Iambic tetrameter)
Well/ LIFE/ will /PASS/ me /BY/ if /I/ don´t/ O/pen /UP/ my /EYES (Iambic heptameter)
So /that's/ FINE /by/ ME (Iambic dimeter)

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE

THE TRICKY MICE

Once upon a time there was a cat pharaoh that was loved by all the people in Egypt. Dogs, cats, mice, and horses, they all loved him. Sometimes they used to bring him offerings like food, jewelry, and flowers. Every year, there was a day named the Pharaoh’s Day, it was the day every animal in Egypt came to huge pharaoh’s pyramid to spend all the day with him, and bring him any kind of presents, from small jewelry to huge sculptures.

      That year, the Pharaoh’s Day was coming and everything was getting ready for that day. Although the Pharaoh couldn’t everything by himself and he chose the mice to help him with the celebration. He chose the mice because there were a lot in Egypt, but the pharaoh didn’t know if he could trust on them but he had no other option. They started decorating big pyramid with different colors like blue, purple, and red. Then they continued by making a huge box for all the presents. The pharaoh was amazed by how fast the mice could work and get everything ready; they got everything twice as fast than last year. The only thing left was the food; the thing that the pharaoh was most scared of because mice loved to eat and he thought that they could eat all the food before the big day.

     The mice started cooking all the food, meat, and chicken prepared in so many different ways, also different kind of salads and for dessert they made a huge cake for the pharaoh. Once again, he was impressed by how fast they cooked everything and how delicious it looked, he couldn’t believe it. Therefore, he thought the food wasn’t going to be good, but he tried the salad. He said that it was the most delicious salad he had ever tried. Then, he tried the kitchen, and the meat, and he said again it was the most delicious meat and chicken he had ever tried. Finally, he tried the cake. He was surprised by how sweet and delicious it was, it was the most beautiful and delicious cake he had ever tried. So, he said everything is ready for the big day, my day.

     The celebration was about to start; the pharaoh was ready wearing lot of precious rocks and metals like gold, silver, rubies, and emeralds. He looked perfect for the situation and finally the guests started to arrive. The first to get to the celebration were the dogs. They came with lots of huge presents for the pharaoh because they were grateful things he had done like helping them to get water on the hot days. The pharaoh was happy as ever because of he presents and that all the dogs could have made it to the celebration. They all started saying hi to each other and hugging. Then, the horses arrived to the pyramid with big presents just like the dogs, they were so grateful because the pharaoh helped them getting food on the cold days. They started saying hi and hugging the dogs and the pharaoh. The pharaoh couldn’t be happier, and still the mice were missing. Finally, the mice arrived with huge presents just like the other animals, they said they were grateful for letting them prepare everything for the Pharaoh’s Day, they said it was an honor.

     As the celebration went on, it got better and better. They all started with the dinner and the horses and dogs were impressed by how good it was, they couldn’t believe how something could taste so delicious. After they finished with the dinner, they started dancing and talking, they were having so much fun until something unexpected happened.

     The mice locked down the pharaoh in a room because they were trying to get the power of Egypt. The pharaoh didn’t know what to do so he started to yell the mice are evil they locked me down, help me! As soon as he yelled the other animals heard and tried to helped the pharaoh. The horses started fighting with the mice, because before mice didn’t used to be very small, and the dogs tried to find the pharaoh with their good sense of smell. The horses and mice had a tough encounter, but it was about to end because the dogs had just found the pharaoh. He got out of the room and screamed so loud that his voice could have been heard in all Egypt. He was really mad at the mice because he thought they were nice animals trying to help, but he realized they did all that to try to get the power of Egypt. After he realized that, he thought the mice should be punished. Therefore, he made all the mice in Egypt very small as punishment so they couldn’t do anything evil again. That’s why mice are very small now and cats are always chasing them. 

FLOOD STORIES

What are important similarities between the stories? They all talk about a god, a flood, and a man that was like the chosen one and got saved from the flood.

What are important differences between the stories? They are about different religions; therefore they talk about different gods, the causes of the flood are the same on two, but on the other two are different.

What are the gods like in the different stories? In two stories they were evil because the try to destroy humanity by just saying humans were evil, in the others they seemed nice because they helped the chosen one.

What is the importance of animals in the stories? Very important because they were supposed to survive with the chosen man so after the flood they could make the world just like it was before.

What was difficult to understand about the stories? The most difficult thing was the reading comprehension because of the English is written on, also the reason why the gods caused the floods.

Why do Utnapishtim, Noah, Deucalion, and Manu deserve to survive when other people will die in the floods? I think because they were man that had a good, honest and healthy life, and they believed in god.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of big standing stones set within earthworks. It was made between 2950 and 1600 B.C. in Sothern England. This was made so perfectly and with a high level of complexity that people started questioning how it was made and why. First of all, the stones that were used to make the Stonehenge weren’t from that place, they were brought from Wales, which is 130 miles away, and bringing the heavy stones must have been a really hard work. I think the most acceptable theory is that they came with the ocean stream all the way to England, then with the rivers stream they got closer and finally men took them to the place they wanted to. I think that they moved the heavy stones by lots of men pulling them, and probably they used tree trunks on flat surfaces to put the stones on top of them and move them faster. There other theories about this but I think they are too sophisticated for that time. Also, another problem was raising the stones. I think that this was solver by using the crib method because the ramp method would have taken a lot of space making it impossible to build. As well, shaping the stones was tough to do because they were big and they almost had exactly the same shape. Although I think this was done by using smaller stones until they almost the same shape. I know this would have taken long periods of time, but I think it’s the most acceptable theory. Finally, I think the reason they built it, was for the summer and winter solstice. Lots of bodies’ remains were found close to the Stonehenge, but I think that was the purpose, I think that those bodies that were buried there, were men that helped making the Stonehenge.

Music Styles

I'm coming Virginia - Frank Trumbauer And His Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJgfGK7jTho
The style of music is slow, and soft.
There are no voices in it, but the instruments playing in it are saxophone, cornet, trombone, clarinet, guitar, piano, and drums.
I think this song sounds a little bit hard to play, especially for the saxophone
I think this kind of music is for quiet listening, to relax.
This song was recorded in New York, in May 1927.
The intentions of the music-makers are to entertain people showing off his skills especially with the solo and expressing his feelings.

The Beatles - I Should Have Known Better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPvtDDxEV0
The style of music is slow, and soft but happy.
There are incredible voices in it, and The instruments playing in it are guitar, bass, harmonica, and drums.
I think this song sounds kind of easy to play since it has very common instruments.
I think this type of music could be for dancing since it’s a happy song.
Thissong was recorded in London, in 1964.
The intentions of the music-maker are that if you regret something you did and feel if you had given it more thought, you would not have done it, and it explains it with a situation with a girl.

Los Saicos – Demolicion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML-0M3e6Tk
The style of music is fast and loud.
There are voices in it, and the instruments playing in it are guitar and drums.
I think this song sounds kind of hard to play because it’s rock and it’s very loud and fast.
I think this kind of music could be for a big rock concert.
This song was recorded in 1965.
The intentions of the music-makers were to show his feelings, which sound like an anarchy and I read it’s based on surf, probably because when you are surfing you are free to do what you want.

Carlos Montoya – Farruca
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv2Fyjk0GGM
The style of music I find very interesting because most of the time is fast and loud, but in some parts it gets slow and soft.
There are no voices in it, and the only instrument playing in it is the guitar.
I think this song sounds hard to play because the man makes all these fast movements with his hands that it looks that you need to have a lot of skill.
I think this type of music is for dancing, especially flamenco.
This song was recorded in 1950, probably in Spain.
The intentions of the music-maker are to show his skills through a good flamenco song, and that’s probably how he felt when he did it.

Varèse - Ionisation - Boulez, Ensemble InterContemporain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TStutMsLX2s
The style of music starts really slow and soft, but as the song goes on it gets faster and louder.
There are no voices in it, but the instruments playing in it are piano, toms, some kind of xylophone, bongos, claves, and drums.
I think this music sounds easy to play since they the instruments look kind of simple.
I think this type of music is for a big orchestra concert.
This music was recorded in 1977.
The intentions of the music-maker are probably to show his feelings through something relating to nature because to me it sounded like the woods or the jungle.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

The Spanish Civil War had started on July 18^th, 1936, when some Sergeants under the control of Francisco Franco had power of one third of the country. An important factor was the negligence of the government accepting the situation and the possession of guns among civilians. Also, Spain was in a state of possible anarchy. The British were afraid of the influence possibly developed by the Communists in a country that was very important in business for them.  On September 29^th, Franco was put in charge of the government, and by October, 1^st, he was calling himself as head of the state. His ambitions were clear. 20,000 died in a massacre ordered to execute by Franco.  Then, the battle for obtaining the heart of Spain began. The Nationalists army moved northwest and southwest Spain, and in half month all the towns within 15 miles were under their control. The insurgents were brave, but their inexperience cost then plenty soldiers and territory.  Dolores, also called La Pasionaria, inspired the people of Madrid to keep fighting. She also said “It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees”, “They shall not pass!” to keep inspiring the Madrileños and resist in war. The Republican Madrileños transformed their beloved city into a fortress. The next ten days, Germans and Italians were dropping bombs on Madrid, but even that wasn’t enough to end with the will of the Madrileños. They kept resisting, even kids helped in the war by building barricades in the streets. Also, women helped, they grabbed guns and helped the resistance. For the next 4 months, Madrid became the objective in the battle. On June 19^th, Bilbao fell and the Basque language was prohibited.  The nationalists tried to break into Madrid, but they just couldn’t with the tenacious Madrileños defending it. By this time, the Nationalists had two thirds of the country, and it looked that Franco was starting to win the war. The Republicans needed a spectacular achievement to gain moral encouragement. On January 17^th, 1938, The Republican line finally broke, but the fight kept on going for one more month. The Nationalists army was still being covered by the German airplanes. La Pasionaria said that the Republicans did well, they could go home proudly, and they were legends. On January 1939, Barcelona was in possession of Franco and the Republicans shared the graveyard with some Nationalists. By April 1^st, 1939, the Civil War was won by Franco.

WARTIME LETTER

Dear Natalie,

It has been one week since I left home and I already miss you. I have no idea how much time is going to take for the War to end. We arrived at the trench yesterday and the situation here it’s horrible. As soon as I got here I could smell the horrible smell of dead bodies, smelly soldiers, gas, and smoke. Everyone says I’ll get used to the smell, and I hope so, otherwise I’ll die. Las night was horrible, I was trying to sleep, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Also, I couldn’t sleep because of the constant booming and banging from both sides and I sleep in a very uncomfortable bunk. I have to admit that I’m scared, random bullets firing at us, bombs exploding, every day there are men dying. Every day we are climbing the trenches to attack the enemies’ trenches hoping that I don’t get killed. I’ll always have you in my heart just wait for me to get back.

I love you,
Alan