Kates Post

Kate Scott

English 09

Mr. Salsich

May 6, 2009

Goodbyes:

An Essay about Two Poems and My Life

      What is parting?  Some people relate it to death and others don’t know yet.  Emily Dickinson and, Naomi Shihab Nye both have had times when they have needed to part and comprehend the word very well.  

In Emily Dickinson’s nameless poem she talks about parting from life.  The poet talks about how life is “so huge” and that parting is “so hopeless to conceive”.  She is saying we need to take our time and have time to enjoy life before parting happens. If you rush, you may never have time to have fun, and then your life will close. Emily Dickinson then talks about the last closing in life, death.  Ms. Dickinson states, “Parting is all we know of heaven, / And all we need for hell.”  CM:  She is trying to tell you that there is a place for you in heaven but first you have to go through hell.

     Use it, learn it, marry it, wear it, strap it to you back, are all ways the poem "Adios" by Naomi Shihab Nye describes parting (supposed to be underlined)(PERIODIC SENTENCE). At one point in her poem she talks about how you should depart. She says that you should “rise out of sight when your work is finished.”  Ms. Nye doesn’t think people should be “known” for lingering. At the end of the poem Ms. Nye talks about understanding goodbyes. We should not try to define the word goodbye, we should let “the word explain[…] itself”.  “Later” when we have used the word over and over we will start to realize what it means. Once we know what goodbye means, then we will know when to say goodbye.

When the two poets talk about the word goodbye, I start to think about how I don’t know the word well. At the end of this year I will have to learn what it means. I will be leaving 21 people whom I love and will not see for a long time.  Not only will I have to say goodbye to the friends I have grown up with, but I will also have to say goodbye to Pine Point. The teachers have helped me grow and have pointed me in the right direction through out my 12 years at Pine Point. Saying goodbye to these people who have helped me in so many ways will be very hard. I am hoping that the goodbyes I will give in June will help me in September.  When I leave next year for a new school I will have to say goodbye to my family. I will still talk to them everyday, but not being able to see them all the time will be a distressing (FAST) goodbye. I will be saying goodbye, to my friends, to my family, to my teachers, and to my school(LOOSE SENTENCE).  In the upcoming months I am sure that I will start to understand the word goodbye.    

Emily Dickinson and Naomi Shihab Nye understand the meaning of and ending or a goodbye.  I hope that I will soon know what it means too.  I will be using it a lot, and I hope that it will help me grasp the meaning of the word even better.