{"id":10517,"date":"2017-01-04T11:59:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T03:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/?p=10517"},"modified":"2018-09-19T22:51:26","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:51:26","slug":"teacher-diaries-miss-brenda-the-poem-i-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/2017\/01\/teacher-diaries-miss-brenda-the-poem-i-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Diaries: Miss Brenda – The Poem I Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, I want to share this poem with you \u2013 A Spell for Midnight<\/em> by Hal Summers, from One Hundred Years of Poetry for Children<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This poem consists of three stanzas. It has a repetitive pattern:
\n\u201cYesterday is\u2026
\nTomorrow is\u2026\u201d
\nwhich is easy to follow. It keeps contrasting \u2018yesterday\u2019 from \u2018tomorrow\u2019. Also, there is an A-B-C-B rhyme scheme which is easy to read.<\/p>\n

It looks like a simple poem but in fact it carries a deep meaning. What it tries to present is a gradual change of perspective towards the future \u2013 at the same time the author becomes more positive.<\/p>\n

In the first stanza, he is rather reserved. He is content with yesterday because he\u2019s already accepted what he has gone through. But we can feel his hesitation about tomorrow due to his fear and uncertainty of the unknown. It is absolutely understandable as I guess it applies to most of us. We are safe in our comfort zone when we feel like we have control over the known.<\/p>\n

However, he starts to alter in the second stanza. He goes from being bothered by his imaginary pressure in tomorrow to being more positive about the future. Yesterday still serves as his back up \u2013 one that he treasures. He has new hope for tomorrow \u2026 even an expectation of winning. What makes the poem even more encouraging is the last stanza, where he says that he is ready to make a leap to tomorrow. We can feel his urge to move to the future. He can\u2019t wait\u2026<\/p>\n

While reading this poem, can you visualise yourself walking through a tunnel which is full of darkness? It looks scary and you might be reluctant to make a move, but don\u2019t worry, can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Stay calm and keep walking and smiling! The brightness from tomorrow is waiting for us!<\/p>\n

A Spell for Midnight<\/span>
\nby Hal Summers<\/p>\n

Yesterday is safe,
\nTomorrow\u2019s full of danger,
\nYesterday\u2019s face I know,
\nTomorrow is a stranger.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow is a white sheet,
\nYesterday\u2019s a written,
\nTomorrow is for victory,
\nYesterday is beaten.<\/p>\n

Yesterday lies in a vault,
\nTomorrow\u2019s on the move,
\nYesterday\u2019s my money,
\nTomorrow is my love.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, I want to share this poem with you \u2013 A Spell for Midnight by Hal Summers, from One Hundred Years of Poetry for Children. This poem consists of three stanzas. It has a repetitive pattern: \u201cYesterday is\u2026 Tomorrow is\u2026\u201d which is easy to follow. It keeps contrasting \u2018yesterday\u2019 from \u2018tomorrow\u2019. Also, there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":10551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10517"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12377,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10517\/revisions\/12377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.i-learner.edu.hk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}