Evelyn’s Blog: https://literaturetalk.home.blog/2020/09/24/beauty-is-destructive/comment-page-1/?unapproved=49&moderation-hash=1289ae4c60fbf1e1e509c3eac50a8d14#comment-49

Hi Evelyn,
Wow, this is a very powerful piece. I completely resonate with your understanding of our modern world. We are becoming a world that is blind and it is truly sad. I love how you were true to yourself and your emotions, I think Yeats himself would respect this honesty. An eye opening statement for me was: “Many beautiful females self-destruct as they try to figure out ways to use their beauty”. ‘Beauty’ has always been and remains a driving force in society which I agree needs to change. I love that your piece is straightforward and blunt, it really allows you to delve right into the eye opening facts. I think to strengthen this post perhaps you could engage with quotes from Yeats poem a little more and potentially make the blog a little longer. Other than that, you have done a great job and I will certainly be thinking about this more from now on.

Teannie’s Blog: https://teannie.home.blog/2020/10/14/write-a-paragraph-that-continues-this-sentence-by-james-joyce-and-express-your-own-hopes-for-your-life/comment-page-1/?unapproved=52&moderation-hash=75f2b9efe7c4091d3a5bac52c82b1d27#comment-52

Hi Teannie,
I love this blog post! I think it would have to be one of the most inspirational blogs i have read whilst reviewing. I love how you are true to yourself and your emotions in this blog, I think it allows all readers to gain a true sense of who you are. I really resonate with your future endeavours for your students as I feel the exact same way. I think if you pass this sense of wisdom onto your students, you will make an incredible teacher! I love how you also capture that little bit of James Joyce in there too. You managed to bring your blog back to the class work while also writing from your perspective and I find that kind of hard to achieve! So you have done a great job in doing that. I think to strengthen this blog maybe you could read it out loud to yourself to make sure all the sentences flow. As well as this, as you make reference to Joyce, maybe you could have added a little but more of that intrinsic voice that you had been using through the rest of your blog. otherwise I honestly think this is an awesome blog and you are going to make an awesome teacher in the future!

Grace Mokdassi’s Blog: https://s00218159.home.blog/2020/08/21/an-extraordinary-ordinary-moment/

There is something about your piece that holds great resonance with me Grace. I was automatically drawn to the title. It’s a quirky yet extremely fitting one that encapsulates your whole blog. I think what I love most about your blog though is the way in which you have perfectly captured that feeling of being above it all, I can really feel the height in your work, both physically and metaphorically.

You have great imagery in there such as “God’s greatest creatures leap from the ocean”. I love how you have captured this moment but also would have liked to have read something about the flora as i’m sure there was lots of it! Perhaps describing in depth your surroundings in this paragraph could take us even more into bush with you!

I love when you wrote “that moment, standing on the brim of the land, the peak of our lives, means nothing to the world and everything to me”. Alike the title, I think your choice of contrasts from ‘nothing’ to ‘everything’ is effective in grasping how significant this moment truly was for you. I too adore hiking and sometimes don’t have the words to describe that sense of achievement and happiness that washes over me as I look out into the beauty of nature but you have done that here! It kind of made me delve even further and ponder those big cosmological questions. It’s awesome that you have been able to do that through your writing!

Anna Castagnella’s blog: https://literaturewithanna.art.blog/2020/08/10/golden/comment-page-1/#comment-73

Hey Anna,

Wow! You have really captured the true essence of the bliss that nature provides. As well as this I believe you have perfectly stylised the poem to align with Hopkins poetry while also keeping your own flare. I think what really affirms your own flare in this poem is the techniques you use such as alliteration; “beezs buzz” or “trees…twirl”. This makes your poetry sing and draws me into the moment with you as I am able to focus on these finer elements. I also love how you have made a connection between the nature and yourself by mentioning parts of the body and then adding the photo of yourself embracing nature. This to me was a nice touch as it gives the poem even more meaning to not only yourself but me as the reader.

I think another great touch was the small explanation you gave at the start stating how your poem is aligned with Hopkins work. I liked this because it allowed me to go into the poem and already know its connection to Hopkins so I could then focus on the poems relation to you.

All in all, I really like this poem and think you have done a great job!