The Dark Hills Divide

Alexa and her dad take trip to Bridewell every year, for her father to do business/ work and for her to figure out how to get out of the huge stone wall that surrounds the city. The city is around 4 miles wide and about 20 miles long it also connects to two other cities. The wall was built by Warvold and his mysterious wife Renny to keep out dangerous monsters, so they thought. He had over 300 convicts build it in less than seven weeks. Alexa and her father are staying at the Renny Lodge (named after Renny Warvold). Alexa’s room has a small window that just looks over the wall. She brought a spyglass with her even though they are illegal. What do you think she’ll find?

The Dark Hills Divide

I have finished reading many books over the holidays but I have started reading the book the dark hills divide. It is book number one in the land of Elyon series. It is about a young girl who once for three weeks every year stays at this place called Bridewell with her father. This year she’s feeling rather adventures and she tries to find out what’s over the great stone wall that surrounds Bridewell. It was created about 30 years ago to keep the monsters from the forest away, well that’s what they thought. As the book goes on it starts to unravel why the wall was built and who the created it and who his mysterious my Renny Warvold was.

It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers

1. How does this poem make you feel? What emotions do you feel when you read it?

The emotions i got from this poem were sadness, regret, and defeat. The reason the poem made me feel this way was because i looked at the poem and tried to imagine myself as the poet. I believe while she was writing this peom she was feeling sadness at how many people are dying because they are fighting in the war and i also believe she felt sad because she knew about the vast numbers of the people dying. I think she was feeling regret because of how she could go on living a normal life, "While I was building neat castles in the sandbox" while the soldiers were fighting for their lives. I believe she feels regret because there is nothing she can do. She cannot stop the war and "Each time I hit a key on my electric typewriter, speaking of peaceful trees, another village explodes."

2. What is the poem about?

I believe the poem is about how a normal woman goes about her everyday life while out there in the war soldiers are fighting for their lives and she feels guilty that she cant do anything to stop it and she feels that everything she does affects the war, she feels this after reading the news paper about the Vietnam war.

3. List some of the descriptive words the poet uses and explain why they are effective.

Margaret has used some very literate describing words "passive eyes transmute" She could have just said my blank eyes change but by using these words she has described how she felt as well. She also used the word literate to refer to the fact that she could read and write but in a aristocratic way.

4. Why do you think the poet wrote this poem? What was he/she trying to achieve?

i think she was trying to show everyone what war is really like and also why you shouldn’t read newspapers as they fill your head with glory stories about war, such as Dulce Et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori.

5. Write the down your favourite line/lines from the poem. Explain why you picked them.

"Each time I hit a key
on my electric typewriter,
speaking of peaceful trees

another village explodes"

I like this stanza, it is the one that ends the poem and i believe it makes it go out with a bang. It is written in such strong language and it helps the poem flow. It is also very blunt and in your face that you don’t know what to do but accept it.

6. Did you like this poem?

Yes i liked the poem, this was because of the way it was written and how Margaret flowed the poem even though it did not rhyme. I also liked how strong the language was, it was very strong in some parts such as the last stanza. I also liked how she used similes.

7. Does the poem create an image in you head?

Yes the poem does, it creates images of piles of bloody bodies being bulldozed into pits while a little girl is making sandcastles at the beach, bombs being dropped on soldiers while a little girl is trying to land on the crakes on the sidewalk. it creates two different worlds of war and violence and peace and happiness, and its all going on in the same planet.

Spelling List

Boundary

Define: the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something

Sentence: I once read a book called walking the boundary.

Bracelet

Define: jewellery worn around the wrist for decoration

Sentence: I own several silver bracelets.

Brackets

Define: Brackets are punctuation marks used in pairs to set apart or interject text within other text

Sentence: my essay had several pairs of brackets included.

Brilliant

Define: of surpassing excellence

Sentence: The teacher said my homework was of a brilliant standard.

Broccoli

Define: plant with dense clusters of tight green flower buds

Sentence: My sister hates broccoli.

Browse

Define: to look through aimlessly

Sentence: I browsed the internet for a few hours yesterday.

Cafeteria

Define: a restaurant where you serve yourself and pay a cashier

Sentence: My school has a cafeteria and we eat there at lunch.

Calendar

Define: a system of timekeeping that defines the beginning and length and divisions of the year

Sentence: My birthday is on the 22 of may which is a Saturday in this years calendar.

Calories

Define: The calorie is a metric unit of energy

Sentence: by walking 3000 steps I burned off 300 calories.

Campaign

Define: political campaign: a race between candidates for elective office

Sentence: to be a class president you have to make a campaign.

Cancellation

Define: calling off some arrangement

Sentence: the hairdressers had had a cancellation so I could have my hair cut.

Capital

Define: A capital is the area of a country, province, region, or state, regarded as enjoying primary

status

Sentence: Canberra is the capital of Australia.

Carelessness

Define: lack of concern about the consequences of an action

Sentence: My carelessness caused me to slip over and hurt myself.

Carpenter

Define: a woodworker who makes or repairs wooden objects

Sentence: The carpenter fixed the sticking door in my room.

Cashier

Define: a person responsible for receiving payments for goods and services

Sentence: The cashier short changed me by $10.

Catalogue

Define: book or pamphlet containing an enumeration of things

Sentence: The shirt I wanted wasn’t in the catalogue.

Celebrated

Define: a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event

Sentence: My friend celebrated her 16^th birthday 2 days ago.

Challenge

Define: difficult

Sentence: hiking all day is going to be a challenge on camp.

Character

Define: a characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something

Sentence: My dog Paddington has a lot of character.

Chef

Define: a professional cook

Sentence: the chef cooked my sausages just right.

Wars lie

Dulce Et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori - Italian
It is a sweet and noble thing to die for one's country

War Haiku

Both sides think they're right, but both sides are wrong
Bloody bodies lay sprawled across the once peaceful battlefeilds
Horror and destruction when will it end
By Courtney Dawson