The 15 Minutes of Fame Summative is a Summative that focused on compare and contrasts of poems through annotations and variations of TIEAs, as well as ourselves learning to express ourselves through writing our own inspirational poems.

Treasure of Life Annotation:

Still I Rise Annotation:

Treasure of Life TIEA:
In “The Treasure of Life”, author Olive Walters tries to answer the question of life, it’s meaning and how love, friendship and hardship are part of it all through contrasts of the ups and downs of the journey. The author contrasted 2 important things of life, one about the hardships and setbacks of life while the other is about learning to embrace ourselves with the love & friendship from others.

“With many a setback
We’ll find hard to bear
It’s true love and friendship
That will help us care.” (9-12)

Walters show us the ups and downs of life in the evidence, and uses the structure for each stanza of the poem. This technique ends on a positive note, which makes us feel uplifting after reading it but with some awareness of the bad as well. There’s also the contrast of how love and true friendship is what that would truly make the negative setbacks bearable. This shows that setbacks would eventually occur, but without friends & family, it’d be impossible to get through it.

Still I Rise TIEA:
In “Still I Rise”, author Maya Angelou mocks and challenges racists and sexists in the 1950s and 1960s through similes on how, no matter what happens, she and others would rise above them. The author constantly uses the confidence and even laughter when reading her poems in order to mock & laugh at how pitiful her enemies are, and that no matter how hard they try to degrade her, she will still rise about them.

“Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own background.” (17-20)

Angelou rebutted and goes after the bigotry that existed about 70-80 years ago through showing her self confidence and carelessness in her enemies thoughts. She often uses similes to describe her being able to rise above them, and how grand she acts as a reaction to her enemies’ pitiful actions to bring her down. The author not only repeated this for many times, she also made it the main theme of the poem, on how others can rise up against others ‘like air’ even as the hate towards them remains strong. She also often uses the structure of starting with how her enemies want her to break & be defeated before ending on a triumph note and how she still remains undefeated – sometimes all within a paragraph but sometimes throughout many.

Compare TIEEA:
In both poems “The Treasure of Life” by Olive Walters and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, the topic about the obstacles and hardships of life comes up, whether it’s about the bigotry of others or the feeling of loneliness without friends. The first poem, “The Treasure of Life”, gives an overview on the ups and downs of life, and how without love and friendship from others, our hearts will strain like plants without sunlight. The second one, “Still I Rise”, author Maya Angelou mocks and challenges the racists and sexists of the 1950s and 60s, and often expresses herself throughout the person with confidence that she would still be able to rise above all no matter how hard her enemies tries to break her.

“With many a setback
We’ll hand to bear
It’s love and true friendship
That will help us care.” (Walters, 9-12)

“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.” (Angelou, 21-24)

As you see in the 2 poems, both authors talk about the hardness and bigotry one may encounter in life, although Angelou was much more direct on the people she talks about what Walters was much more vague about the kind of people. Both of them also uses similar poetic structures – stating with something a bit negative but ending on a positive note. This technique makes the readers feel good after reading the poem rather than depression but also makes the readers aware of the people they may meet in life. While both poems are a bit different, their common attributes often leave readers with hope and motivation.

Contrast – TIEIEA
While both poems, “The Treasure of Life” by Olive Walters and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou set to inspire others, the ‘motivations’ or reasons, the author had to write the poem, are really different — on set to explain the important things in one’s life, the other in response to the bigotry of racism and sexism that existed in the 60s-70s years ago, and even today.
“The Treasure of Life” by Olive Walters focused on how life is a journey of love, friendship, and eventual hardship that, when everything is ultimately fulfilled, gives peace to one’s mind.

“Life is a journey
A journey of time
Where a heart needs another
To give it a shine

We’re all on a journey
With two paths to take
One that is right
And the one that can break” (Walters, 1-8)

In the second poem, “Still I Rise”, you’d discover that the reason for the poem’s existence is really different, as it focuses on rising above racists and sexists of the 1950s and 60s, no matter how much they disrespect others like the author herself, with contempt.

“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.” (Angelou, 1-4)

Although both poems are set to inspire, the 2 are heavily different poems. The morning of life and sexism and racism are 2 different topics, and the way the authors handled was really different as well.While Angelou mocks her enemies with confidence on their pitifulness, Walters talks about life and the ups * downs in a much more peaceful manner. Both are also about the ups & downs of life, except that Walters was much more vague about the obstacles and Angelou was more straightforward to her enemies and almost feels like an attack at times.

Inspirational Poem:
Affection everlastingly craved; misery undesired
Yet love weakens while pain strengthens
Pain is secretly loved
Because it reminds you that the joy you felt was real

Pain is like your guardian at your peak,
Your nemesis at your weak
It eats you awau slowly, bit by bit
But safeguards you when conquered

When agony explodes within you,
Throughout your veins
In every fall, every blunder, every suffering
Is a blessing in disguise sprouting within you –
Like a shield of armor

Love may weaken, pain may strengthen,
But…
Pain makes you save the things you love

Slides:

Hope Imagery Flipgrid:

Hope Imagery Poem:
My dreams look like a world with unlimited possibilities, where anything, even the most unlikely things, is possible
My dreams taste like the greatest food in the world, where that one bite alone makes life worth living
My dreams smells like fresh, clean air that clears your head and concentrate on life like never before
My dreams sound like a party, where everyone is connected through life and enjoyment
My dreams feels like a mist of air, so wonderful and mind-boggling…but gone with a wave of hand
My dream is a mountain, one where anyone can reach but only through hard work and experience