Parker Verhoeff
Mr. H. Salsich
9th grade English
15 September 2008
In The Heart:
A Comparison between Two Quotes
What does German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, have in common with Helen Keller? Well both of them have some of the most intriguing quotes. Rilke talks about keeping your questions in your heart and Keller states that the most important things are found in the heart. In other words, the most vital and/or beautiful things, lie inside yourself.
Don’t let go of your most cherished fixations, considering that you won’t have anything to live for after words. Rilke explains, “I would like to beg you […] to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart.”, he wants you to keep these questions, no matter how long it may take to get the answers. Keller states, “The best and most beautiful things in life […] are felt in the heart.” e.g. the questions that Rilke was talking about. You must persist on keeping them because you don’t want the answers now. You want to, “live the questions”, first, so you can, “live everything”. If you find out the answers now, you might not even understand them, however, most importantly, there’s no point to life anymore. The questions are meant to be answered with age. When you do wait, and the answers come, you will acquire a much deserved result, which will be far greater then obtaining them prematurely. You will understand the answers, they will make perfect sense. They will become, “The best and most beautiful things”, in your heart. All of which, will- in the end- make your life worth living.
I agree with Keller entirely: the greatest, most breath-taking and important things in life are, “felt in the heart”. Rilke explains to have patience with them. Let the key things, e.g. questions, be, “unresolved”, for now. Rilke also says, “[..] love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language.”, so you can decipher and study them, which requires love and dedication. On the other hand, “Don’t search for the answers,” Rilke exclaims, “which could not be given to you now”, because you would not be able to find them anyway. Let the questions linger there in your heart. As Keller said, “[they] are felt in the heart.”, you just have to feel them, they, “cannot be seen [or] touched”, so don’t worry or fret. The questions won’t go anywhere. You have to have trust in yourself that, “someday far in the future”, you will have attained those answers. Rilke finally states, “You will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
It’s admirable that Keller and Rilke can teach us about exceptional values on how to live our life. Just feel and keep the beautiful questions, fixations and ideas in your heart. Just, “live everything”, Rilke tells us, and in time you’ll find the answers to everything.
Key
------ = loose sentence
----- = F.A.S.T word
3 comments:
Parker this is a very well written essay. The way you added little bits of the quotes was awsome. I only noticed two problems, In the sentence "you might not even understand them, however most importantly, there’s no point to life anymore." you might want to make the however most importantly more clear by adding "and". Also instead of writing 'you' you wrote 'u'. Once you fix that this essay will be a "humdinger!"
WAY TO GO!
I like your fast words they were very fresh and apt. In the 2nd body paragraph when you say the quote, i dont think you need to use the [...]. i also noticed the "u" i didnt see any more but you should look over the essay again just to make sure. Good Job Parker!
Parker- got to hand it to you, that was an AWESOME essay. I especially loved your topic sentences. Everyone of them just got me HOOKED. Things too change- maybe spread out your fast words more. And maybe expand the concluding paragraph. But either way, this was a good read.
Post a Comment