Lately, I've been thinking a lot about achievements in life. How do we gauge our achievements in life? How do we grade success or failure in our undertakings? Can success be measured by the amount of money one earns? Or, the amount of time one has? Or being able to pursue one's dreams and lives it? Priorities set by different individuals would certainly be distinct. As for me, I've chosen the latter. The dreams that I'm pursuing - to write the things I want to write and get people to read them! Being a journalist doesn't mean that I can write whatever I want and still get it published in the magazine. There are restrictions to it, such as the relevancy of the topics, the limitation of length (pages) and so on. That is why I'm submitting my articles here. I get to write about the things that interest me and get my articles ‘published' at the same time. What's more, I can even attract people to read them, while getting ideas from articles written by others who have interests alike. Who knows, perhaps I can turn this into a career that will give me the financial stability, satisfaction and freedom that I'm searching for!

I have always strived to push myself to new places, new unexplored territory of the mind.

Testing,reaching, grasping for what some may think are impossible goals.I desire to teach as well as write, to reach people in a way that grasps them and shakes them awake.

In my personal life, I am intensely private, even to the point of being called eccentric, strange as I am only 21. I open up to very few, through writing I feel I can open up more freely.I embraced the calling to write at an early age and have never lost the desire. I write as freely as breathing.

As far as what I write, Poetry is one of my greatest passions, I have never really tried to limit what I write, I have found it is best to leave all doors of exploration and expression open.

I try to let the writing flow as it will, as I am inspired so I write.

So long as I am able, I will write, I will express, I was told many times they'd likely have to pry my fingers from my writing utensils,if that is how it is meant to be, then so be it when the time comes. Others have been known to "blog till they drop" and to me I just as soon be writing as eating, both are equally essential to my life, to all who read this Thank you, and most especially to those who are my avid readers.

Take care and God Bless.

Analysis

Emily Dickinson is a poetess to be remembered. The lonely woman from Massachusetts spent most of her life being depressed inside of her home while writing some of the most beautiful poetry about the many details of the world. She's most known and famous for having been cooped up all the time inside her house, but still having a fantastic, wise, and detailed look at the world. Her complete set of poems delves into life, nature, love, and time. In her poem, “#1129”, she brilliantly uses her simple two stanzas and easy rhyme scheme to juxtapose truth, light, and lightning to symbolize enlightenment in society, but not without her trademark dash.

A very famous story in the realm of philosophy is by Plato in his book The Republic. The story was called “The Allegory Of The Cave” and it refers to and simplifies the idea of enlightenment. In the story, a man is chained to the inside of a cave with a few other individuals in front of a weak glowing fire that occasionally creates little shadow puppets on the wall. The people inside of the cave have always been chained down there and know nothing of what is outside the cave. The people in the cave have just been sitting against a wall looking at another wall with a fire behind it and sometimes they see shadow puppets made with the fire on the ceiling. All the people are trapped in the cave until the man breaks his chains and climbs up the hill to the outside world. His eyes take a long time to adjust to the sun's rays and it's too much of a painful shock to know that there was an entire world out there after being trapped inside the cave for so long. Emily Dickinson was using this story in her poem “#1129”.

Emily Dickinson's first lines in “#1129” deals with sugar coating the enlightenment from coming out of cave so they can handle it better, “Tell all the Truth, but tell it slant/ Success in Circuit lies“ (1-2). A Utopian society requires an enlightened public and an enlightened public requires the truth, but the truth is hard to handle. Emily is asking us to try to understand the truth in the world, but we sort of need to sugar coat it so it isn't so much of a painful experience for those who cannot swallow the fact that we have been lied to about what the world is really like. Slanting does not mean changing the truth it just means making it easier to understand and grasp, that way we'd have more success in creating a Utopian society if we were trying for one.

After the person leaves the cave and starts to taste and understand all that the real world has to offer they understand that the world is a beautiful place and life is so much more precious and wonderful than it was in the gloomy cave. This is written in the next few lines, “too bright for our infirm Delight, the Truths' superb surprise” (3-4). Infirm is defined as weak in body, so “our infirm Delight” means the pointless shadow puppets on the wall do not mean anything compared to the truthful, real, and beautiful pleasures of life outside the cave. Enlightenment is really just how life is better when you have a greater understanding of the world.

After the person exits the cave in the story and gains a greater understanding of life and has a feeling that he's better off out there, he decides that everyone is better off being outside the cave. He then goes back and tries to tell people of how wonderful it is outside, but only one person believes him and tries to leave the cave. When the other person tries leave the cave it's too much for him and he goes back inside. “As Lighting to the Children eased/ With explanation kind” (5-6). The other person that leaves the cave is not a child, but may be uneasy like one. The truth can be ugly and disturbing to those that didn't discover it on their own similar to a lightning bolt in the night waking a sleeping child. You absolutely do not try to scare a child more when they're already afraid, a sane person would try to calm the kid down with kindness, but still remember that children can handle just as much as anyone else.

The proverb “Children are our future” means that the way we raise our children today determines how our society will end up tomorrow. If we continue on our current path of raising unenlightened kids without the ability to think critically we will continue to see absolutely no improvement in society whatsoever. Children have the incredible ability to grasp huge issues in today's society, but the reason we never tell them anything important about the world is because we believe ourselves superior and we don't think they can handle it. We can improve and fix our society by simply being slowly blunt with the younger generations today. Hence the line, “As Lightning to the Children eased” (5). Lightning is scary at first, children will be afraid of what the world is really like at first, but eventually they can grow accustomed to the problems of today and see that no more come up in the future.

The last two lines are a message from the beautiful mind of Emily Dickinson that she wants to see something better, “The Truth must dazzle gradually/ Or every man be blind” (7-8). This major flaw of today will be the downfall of humankind for if people never learn to think, feel, and see at a very young ages, then “every man be blind” (8).

The point of view from this poem seems to be sort of a mix of first and third person perspectives. You can tell that this is one person talking to you, but they seem almost omniscient about life through the very small amount of two stanzas as if they were almost third person. “#1129” is an incredible poem for being so short. There's so much in so very few amount of words. Emily also leaves cool hints about the main points of her poem. All the most important words of the poem are capitalized

Poetry is about analyzing words on the deepest levels of poetic emotion to understand what the poet or poetess is trying to say without being boring and literal about it. Great poetry comes from any great piece of inspiration that the poet may feel during their life. Emily Dickinson obviously felt a lot of great things during her more probable frequent trips into self-discovery, life, love, nature, and time.

On September 19, 1982, a computer scientist, Professor Scott E.Fahlman from the Carnegie Mellon University of the United States proposed to use the symbols in the university's electronic bulletin board. This was due to that at that time, the electronic bulletin board did not make much difference from its classification as it only had one theme, and thus leading to the topic's content could not be distinguished easily. Therefore, he had insisted the use of a symbol of [:-)] to represent a joke or a decent material while a symbol of [:- ( ] to express matter that needs to deal seriously and immediately. In this way, the internet users could avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding and the misuse of grammar while delivering his or her ideas. Since then this symbol which is called Emoticon has been used extensively in almost all of the unofficial sites. Thereafter, it has become another writing style favoring by the computer fans of the American university.

Emoticon in general means the emotional (EMOTION) and the small logo (ICON) that are used to merge together to form a new word. Initially, it was called EMOTICON SMILEY and it was started to use by the computer users on 19 September, 1982. Originally, Emoticon was a secondary culture of writing style via electronic network but it was not so common in the writing texts. Nevertheless, the massive access of an internet, ordinary letter, mobile phone text message or SMS, electronic messenger, electronic mail (e-mail), or chat room has created a wide coverage of using it to express ideas, thinking and feeling of the users. In short, Emoticon has eventually become a writing style that was widely accepted by the community across the globe. Not soon after this, the community in the blog, forum, and discussion board have been able to use more interesting and attractive Emoticon to express their feelings. Nowadays, this Emoticon has turned into a relatively complicated form than its initial simple form with the aims to express more appearances of the unperceivable facial changes. For example, [=l:)=] is a symbol that represents the previous American president, Abraham Lincoln.

The advent of the internet as well as the emergence of the global culture undoubtedly has turned the daily oral language into a symbolic expression in the writing form. Now, this Emoticon is no longer regarded as a ridiculous writing style, but it has become an important way for people to communicate with each other with ease which help avoid the linguistic or grammatical errors which might sometimes create misunderstandings, uncertainties and doubts among the people.

In Japanese, this Emoticon is called kaomoji, animae emoticon or verticon (Both “kao” and “moji” mean “face” and “word” respectively in Japanese). In the writing form, the asterisks (*) represents the eye, the underscore ( _ ) represents the mouth, while the parentheses (or brackets) represents the outline of the face. Besides that, Emoticon is also used to indicate animals, things and many other things surround us. Here are some examples I found:

Facial Expressions

• (*_*) a normal facial expression
• (<_>) sad
• (@_@) confusing
• (`_^) winking
• (;_;) crying
• (^o^) singing or laughing
• (╥_─) annoyed and frustrated
• `(•.°)~ crazy
• 〈（＿　＿）〉 apologize with a bow
• （￣口￣） helpless
  （＃－.－） embarrassing
  （─.─||） helpless
• ┐（─__─）┌ embarrassing
  ≡￣﹏￣≡ embarrassing and helpless
  Animals
• (‧‧nnn caterpillar
• (0^◇^0)/ sparrow
• (=^ ^=) cat
• /(*w*) rabbit
• ≡[。。]≡ crab
• ( ¯(∞)¯ ) pig
• (:≡ jellyfish
• <□:≡ squid
• <｀▽′> tiger
• "@ or @/" snail
• (:◎)≡ octopus
• ((( ●<　 cockroach
• (。。)～ or (: )～ tadpole
• ∑^)/ crow
• (=^ω^=) fox
• =' т "= Lion or cat
• (OvO) Owl

Others

• ♀（￣▽￣）／ Good girl
• ♂（￣▽￣）／　　 Good boy
• ( $ _ $ ) money minded
• <(￣ c￣)y_ξ smoking
• （～￣∆￣～） be a fool
• ■D" a cup of coffee
• ε==3 bone
• <*)>> >=< fish bone
• (●-●) sunglasses
• ――<-<-<@ rose flower
• 8＜ a pair of scissors

In the age of the internet, network based Emoticon is no longer a trademark of computer experts, any internet users may create his or her own Emoticons as long as these symbols are lively, creative and widely used. For example, there is a more complicated symbol called ORZ which often appears in the writing form as follow:

• Orz　 big head
• orz　 small head
• ○|￣|_ magnifying version
• ORZ two hands are supporting by the floor
• XXXXX Or2 rising up
• 囧 have a facial expression
• OTL change the shape
• STO change the side

Horizontal style Emoticon is the earliest mode of expression in the writing form. It is western style in its nature as it is more often used by the westerners as compared to other nations. Here are some symbolic representations found in writing form.

Common expressions

• :- ) smiling
• :- P holding out the tongue
• :- / doubt
• :- ( unhappy
• :- D happy
• :- C unhappy
• 8- ) A smiling from a person who is wearing a pair of spectacles
• xc== vomiting
• (p_-) searching

Not only have the westerners used Emoticon for their writing purpose, Asian people also have made used of the so-called vertical style Emoticon in all sorts of applications particularly in the mobile phone which is said to be far more popular than Europe. This Emoticon is different from the conventional Emoticon as they are mostly viewed vertically. This was mainly originated from the Japanese animation (or manga in Japanese). The facial expression is easier to understand and you need no necessary to have to turn your head 90 degree to understand its meaning. Here are some examples:

• (๑￫ܫ￩)
• (｡・`ω´･)
• (・(ｪ)・)
• (σ｀・д･)σ
• (oﾟωﾟo)
• < (o_o<)
• (>o_o)>
• ^(o_o^)
• (^o_o)^
• (^o_o)>
• <(o_o^)
• (>^_^
• (>O_o)>

The Japanese Emoticon is enriched with the anime drawing style with many expressions shown using the eyes, and it is always shortened by taking out its parentheses. Thus, (^_^) will become ^_^, but sometimes it is abbreviated as ^^. Very often, the use of the longer underscore which represents mouth will carry the stronger emoticon's feeling and meaning. Here are some symbolic representations found in writing form.

Small eyes

• (　・ˍ・)　(・ˍ・*)　（p・_q）　(〃・ｏ・〃)　(*^・_・) 　(。・ˍ・。) 　(*・０・)　(・ε・●)
• (｡･ω･)　(。・д・。)　(・∀・)　（／ˍ・、）　(・□・、*)　(・－・。)　(・▽・。)　(・_・。)
  
• (・O・。)　(ノ△・。)　(＠・ˍ・)　(*・・*)　人(・ε・；) 　(・ o ・)　(・ェ・o)　(′・∀・『)

When something or someone gets into one's eyes

• (* ￣ー￣)　(￣ー￣〃)　(＠￣ー￣＠)　(* ￣︿￣)　(*￣∇￣*)　<(ˍ ˍ*)> (￣(●●)￣)
• (￣・・￣)　(ー∀ー)　(￣ｏ￣)　(￣、￣)　(*￣△￣*)　(￣へ￣)　(￣□￣)　(￣～￣；)
• (。-ˍ-。 )　(￣ε￣；)　(￣┬￣；)　(￣∀￣)　(ノへ￣、)　(*￣ro￣) (ー人ー)　(*￣ｍ￣)

Japanese style small eyes

• (′▽`〃)　(　′ｏ`)　(′ェ`)　(′ε` )　(=′ー`) 　( ′θ`)　(′○` )　( ′－`)　(′∀`=)
  
• (*′▽`)　(*′ノ0`)　( ′ロ` )　(′～`；）　(′　︿　`)　(*′∇`*) 　(′ｍ`）　(′0ノ`*)
  
• (＠。ε。＠) 　(=′∇`=） 　(●′ω`●) 　(′～`●)　(′へ`、 )　(〃′o`)　(　；′⌒`)

Japanese style big eyes

• (ΘΘ)　(Θ～Θ〃)　(ΘｏΘ)　(ΘェΘ)　(Θ∀Θ＃)　(ΘдΘ；)　(Θ皿Θメ)　(ΘーΘ*) (Θ０Θ●)
• (Θ▽Θ)　(ΘεΘ◎)　(Θ◇Θ。)　(ΘへΘ)　(ΘˍΘ＝)　(Θ、Θ)　(Θ△Θ＠) (Θ３Θ)

Japanese style rounded eyes

• (°ー°〃)　(＃°Д°) 　(。□。) 　(*。∀。) 　(*。∇^*)　(* ^ー。) (＠。ー。　＠)　(。∇^☆)
• (ｏ。◇。) 　(　。 ▽ 。) 　(＃。ε。＃) 　(。∇^d)　(。・。；)　(。皿。メ)　(* 。 ３ ^)
• (〃。 ｏ 。〃) 　( °◇ °)　(　。⊿。) 　(°□°；)　(　ロ)。　。　(。Д。 ；)　(*。ノO。)
• (；　。。)
  

A puppy's mouth

• (-ω- )　(+ω+)　(*ω* )　( ^ω^)　(;ω;)　(。ω。)　(『ω′)　(・ω・=)　(￣ω￣) (〃ω〃)
• (≧ω≦)　(。・ω・)　(=・ω・=)　( ＞ω＜)　(′・ω・`)　(/ω＼)　(/ω・＼) (/・ω・＼)
• (ΘωΘ)　(ΦωΦ)
  

A pair of sadden eyes

• (ＵＵ＊)　(ｕｕ〃)　(ｕｏｕ〃)　(Ｕ３Ｕ*)　(●Ｕ_Ｕ●)　(ｕ～ｕ=) (＠Ｕ▽Ｕ＠)　(ＵAＵ＊)
• (Ｕ△Ｕ●)　(ｕДｕ〃)　(Ｕ◇Ｕ◎)　(○ｕAｕ○) (ｕ▽ｕ＃)　(＠Ｕ～Ｕ＠)　(ｕ△ｕ＊)
• (ｕ◇ｕ〃)　(ＵДＵ◎)　(＝ｕ３ｕ＝) (ｕ_ｕ＃)　(ＵｏＵ＊)

Closing eyes

• (><)　(;><)　(>_<)　(>.<)　(>o<)　（＞▽＜）　(＞Ｏ＜)　(o>▽<)　(>◇< ) 　(>▽<)
• (;>△<) ( >з<)　(o>ェ<)　(＞д＜)　(>皿<)　(>_<、)　(/_＜。)　(>。；)　(>。ヘ)
• (ノ_<)　(＞。☆)　(>y<;)
  

The combination of Japanese's Emoticon or kaomoji (face and word) can be created from the basic form of ˙﹏˙ to a form of (˙﹏˙）which is more human in nature. Here are some of the basic forms of kaomoji.

Small eyes

• ˙ˍ˙　˙０˙　˙︿˙　˙ε ˙　˙ 3˙　˙ω˙　˙﹏˙　˙∆˙

Big eyes

• ⊙ˍ⊙　⊙０⊙　⊙︿⊙　￣ε ￣　￣ 3￣　⊙ω⊙　⊙﹏⊙　⊙∆⊙

Smiling eyes

• ∩ˍ∩　∩０∩　∩︿∩　∩ε ∩　∩ 3∩　∩ω∩　∩﹏∩　∩∆∩

Sadden eyes

• ∪ˍ∪　∪０∪　∪︿∪　∪ε ∪　∪ 3∪　∪ω∪　∪﹏∪　∪∆∪

Angry eyes

• ˋˍˊ　ˋ０ˊ　ˋ︿ˊ　ˋε ˊ　ˋ 3ˊ　ˋωˊ　ˋ﹏ˊ　ˋ∆ˊ

Unhappy eyes

• ˇˍˇ　ˇ０ˇ　ˇ︿ˇ　ˇε ˇ　ˇ 3ˇ　ˇωˇ　ˇ﹏ˇ　ˇ∆ˇ

Closing eyes

• ＞ˍ＜　＞０＜　＞︿＜　＞ε ＜　＞ 3＜　＞ω＜　＞﹏＜　＞∆＜

Alien's eyes

• ●ˍ●　●０●　●︿●　●ε ●　● 3●　●ω●　●﹏●　●∆●

Clown's eyes

• ＋ˍ＋　＋０＋　＋︿＋　＋ε ＋　＋ 3＋　＋ω＋　＋﹏＋　＋∆＋

In view of its importance in the writing form particularly in online-chat, ordinary letter, e-mail and text message, the mobile phone companies have included their products with a number of commonly used Emoticons to facilitate the use of typing text messages. Even Google Talk allows the messenger users to use Emoticons to express their feelings while chatting so that the communication becomes more lively and interesting. The notable feature of Google Talk is that the typing of horizontal style Emoticon can be inverted gradually 90 degree to turn into a vertical style Emoticon making the conversation more enjoyable and fun. Here are some common uses of Emoticons:

• :-?? I don't know.
• %-( I'm not listening.
• %%- Good luck!
• **== flag
• (~~) pumpkin
• ~O) coffee
• =:) bug
• *-:) idea
• 8-X skull
• >-) alien
• :-L frustrated
• [-O< I'm praying.
• :-" I'm whistling.
• :)>- a sign of peace
• [-X I feel ashamed on you.
• :D/ I'm dancing.
• >:/ I'll bring it forward.
• ;)) hee, hee
• ^:)^ It's not worth.
• :-j Oh, please go on.
• (*) star
• (%) yin yang
• $-) money's eyes

In view of the nations, racial and cultural background differences, the use of various symbols in the writing form represent different meanings. While doing researches on this topic, I came to realize that the kaomoji of Japan and other Asian countries have an extremely richer expression and vocabulary than any western countries that I have encountered so far. Its creativity and range of the facial expressions that appear in the writing form is extremely wonderful. Here are some examples:

• d^_^b I'm listening to music.
• (？o？) Oh?
• ( *>.<* ) ~@ It's sour…..!
• (-_-) zZZZ/ (z_z) I'm asleep.
• (°_°) I'm concerned/ I'm nervous/ I'm shocked.
• |-| I'm bored.
• (^.^) / (*_*) I'm amazed.
• (^L^) / (^(^) I'm happy.
• W(`0`)W I'm roaring in anger.
• (>_<) / (>_>) / (<_<) / (c_c) I feel pain/ I'm facing a failure.
• (^_-)db(-_^) I promise.
• T_T My tears are falling down continuously from my eyes. (It symbolizes sadness.)
• (^o^)/ Wow, I'm happy! (It symbolizes happiness.)
• *(^o^)/* I'm a cheerful leader.
• (._.) I'm depressed and down.
• (e_e) I'm rolling my eyes.
• ; eg. (^_^;) I'm embarrassed. (with a condition of sweating)
• o(^_-)O I feel encouraging.
• (@_@) I'm feeling dizzy. (Some nations note this symbol as “I'm confusing.” )
• (p_-) I'm digging for the truth/ I'm searching. (It symbolizes someone is looking through a magnifying glass.)
• (=^.^=) In a Japanese society, it is a question of “Am I cute?” (It signifies a cat or “nekko” in Japanese.)
• (-.-)y- I'm considering for a cigarette break.
• (^_^)a I'm scratching my head.
• (^o) (/o^)/ I'm dancing with a joy.
• ＜（￣︶￣）＞ I'm satisfied and contented!
• ＜（￣︶￣）／ I'm satisfied and agree with you. (It signifies that I'm holding out my hand to show an agreement)
• ＜（＠￣︶￣＠）＞ I'm satisfied but feeling a bit shame.
• (＞﹏＜) I don't want, please! (Sometimes it means “I'm in pain”)
• （＃￣▽￣＃） I'm ashamed.
• （︶︿︶） I'm unhappy!
• //_o I've a hair brushed over one eye.
• m(_ _)m Please forgive me! (Sometimes it may signify “I'm apologized to you with a bow.)
• (‧_‧？) What's the matter?
• ( T___T ) Why like this?
• (≥◊≤) I'm touching.
• {(-_-)} I've headphones put on.
• …… ( > < ) / Wow, it's emerging!
• (＞﹏＜) No!
  ( © o © ) I'm shocked and panicked!
• ( ¯ □ ¯ ) My brain is blank.
• ( 3__3 ) I've just awoken!
• (￣∆￣)" I feel cold.
• ＼（￣︶￣）／ Hug me, please!
• ｂ（￣▽￣）ｄ Marvelous!
• (→_→) I doubt.
• Σ( ° ∆ °|||)︴　 I'm panicked.
• (￣.￣) I've nothing to say.
• ⊂( ﾟ ヮﾟ)⊃ Hug me, please!
• （￣︶￣）↑　　 Let's depart now!
• （￣∆￣）～■□～（￣∆￣）　 Cheers!
• []~(￣∆￣)~* Cheers!
• (ｂ_ｄ) I'm wearing a pair of spectacles.
• ( ＠^^＠) 　 Don't you feel ashamed?
• ~(￣∆￣)~(￣∆￣)~ I'm extremely excited!
• ~（￣∆￣）~ I'm in a happy mood.
• ○（＊￣︶￣＊）○ I'm full and sleep well.
• (○.○).•◦˙°˚ I'm thinking of you.
• (￣o￣) . z Z　 I'm sleepy.
• 〒∆〒　　　　 My luck is bad!
• <(￣ ﹌ ￣)@m It's just because of you.
• (￣ε(#￣) I was slapped.
• (￣.￣)+ I've discovered something.
• <(￣︶￣)> []~(￣∆￣)~* (￣﹏￣) (￣ˇ￣) I'm satisfied and excited.
• ――――――(˙<>˙)/―――――― Let's fly away!
• (@[]@!!) ㄟ(>∆<)ㄏ(￣ε(#￣) Σ( ° ∆ °|||)︴ I'm shocking!
• (/"≡ _ ≡)/~┴┴ （#－.－） (╬￣皿￣)凸 I'm unhappy and angry.
• (￣.￣) (￣< ￣)> (～o￣∆￣)～o ~。。。(~￣∆￣)~[] I'm ridiculous and helpless.
• ＜（￣︶￣）＞＜（￣︶￣）＞＜（￣︶￣）＞ When we're together!

Emoticon is a clever way of the users to express their feelings and emotions. If the user types “I'm feeling happy,” it could not 100% catch the reader's attention to figure out his or her feeling, but by adding the Emoticon at the end of the sentence, the sentence will look more attractive, lively and eye-catching. Here are some examples of the sentences.

• I'm feeling happy :)
• I'm feeling sad :(
• I'm laughing :-D
• I'm laugh' so hard that I don't notice that a 5-legged spider is hanging from my lip :-D*
• I'm not sure which long-distance company to choose :-|
• I'm winking ;-)
• I can still smile though I've lost one eyeball .-)
• I couldn't understand why nobody wants to talk to me :V:-|
• I'm smiling :- )
• I doubt :- /
• I'm unhappy :- C
• I'm vomiting xc==
• I'm searching (p_-)
• Don't buy this ^:)^

The pen is a deadly weapon. It can expose hypocrisy, it can reveal one's heart, it can rip open a man's heart with one glance. The pen can open up wisdom from within, can bring forth new understanding from yourself even. Talking to yourself doesn't cut it, nothing does. The writing tool, pure expression of self, can open doors which otherwise is closed. The pencil can open one's imagination, and fill one with wonder.

The words on a page define who you are, as a writer. Your very being is exposed to all. Your identity is laid bare, for all to see. An author, a pen is his tool to create art, his masterpiece. He makes a series of words on pages, creating a world of creativity, of passion, of life and all in it. Your soul is spread wide on a table, for people to read, and study, your meanings and your beliefs. Your goals, hopes, dreams, are all found on paper. Your eyes are the window to your soul, but your words are your soul revealed.

Say what you mean, and don't say anything if you don't believe it.

I believe if you have the guts to say it, you should have the guts to write it. You think of something, believe it, than share that information with the world. You owe it to yourself, at least as much to the world.

1. lyric
2. narrative
3. dramatic

Even though lyrical poetry by far is the most common type of poetry I can honestly say that it is also a personal favorite.

I've learned that reading and writing poetry must all play hand in hand. To get the true understanding of poetry, it is important to feel what is written. Emotions and past experiences play a vital role in a poet's writings. Reflections of the past and present also contribute to a poet's outcome. Poetry is a passion, a love much greater than life itself. A poem isn't always clear or affects a certain reader as it would another. But a true poet comes from within, illustrating feelings or ideas and searching for other souls that grasp an understanding.

There are many talented poets that have taken advantage of this commonly misunderstood literature. Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, William Shakespeare and E.A. Poe are just a few of the most talented poets from past to present. Each made history with the writings of their personal expressions and experiences of love, joy, pain, struggle and fears. Being a poet has many advantages. At that present time, that very moment, that very second, every feeling and emotion is sincere. Every idea and every thought is an original.

Because of this one on one feeling, the tendency of being secluded on a desert island suddenly becomes a reality. Poetry indeed is a true form of art and with rhythm and sound; the elements are just like music. A written expression best describes a personal poem. A hobby that is found to be most enjoyable when time allows peace and serenity. It is then where an inner voice speaks to your mind that flows through a pen onto paper. Personal feelings are now enjoyed once you've read what has been written. This is the make up of a true poet and that is what I am. Please follow me as I give you a glimpse of my chemistry.

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales are classic examples of great poems. Beowulf is another.

Poems often express the writer's innermost feelings be it love, anger, faith, dislike and others.

The popularity of poem hinges on the fact that it is often evokes great emotions or deep thoughts. Poems are truly creative way of expressing oneself in few chosen words to generate the maximum effect.