Day: January 12, 2015

Transformation

January 12, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Transformation
Hawk Roosting
Ted Hughes
1960

ARES, God of War, Bloodshed and Violence. This is what they used to call me and this is my story, my story of how I lost all I have ever loved and became the God of the Underworld and Regret, Hades.

I was perched up high in the trees, taking the form of a hawk, eyes closed and tasting the sweet, fresh air thinking to myself the scent of blood in the air will make this a perfect night. This is where the tall trees came into play, I inspected the surface of the Earth looking for my next victim. My claws clung on to the cold, rough bark and with each passing minute my grip intensified, so much in fact I was able to reshape the rough bark giving it a smoother feel than before. I grew restless by the minute, unable to find a victim from where I was perched. Hence, the reason I took flight. Flying high above the trees as to not be detected, after all it was hunting season. I would not have wanted to be shot down whilst in mortal form.

Just as I began to lose hope in finding my next victim, almost instantly, I spotted a woman washing out the stains from what appeared to be a wash cloth. I circled, waiting and then… Opportunity came calling. I swooped down and slashed at the woman’s throat, she shrieked in a high pitch that forced a crack into the windows in her house. A young boy, who appeared no older than 12, came running outside to investigate the noise. He burst out through the main door, I panicked and swiped at his throat. He tried to scream but the air escaped through the gap I had created, he stumbled towards his home but dropped, losing his strength, clawing at the door hoping he will attract the attention of someone in the house. I flew off into the darkness proud of the fact that blood had been spilt that night.

I returned to my human form and spent the rest of the night, before returning to Olympus, in an Inn. I went straight to the room that had been allocated to me and lay in the pathetic excuse of a bed that they had provided. My eyelids grew heavier by the minute and before I knew it I was asleep. I dreamt about the child I had murdered that night, this has never happened before, but instead of me killing him, the child manages to catch me and squashes my head to a pulp. I woke up as soon as this happened, breathless and covered in sweat. This is the first murder I have committed where I have felt regret. I thought back to all those times I had killed someone just for the sake of it and the thoughts gave me an unimaginable rage that was directed towards myself. I was filled with regret and a dark force came over me that knocked me down to the fiery depths of hell.

I tried to escape but it was useless I was forced to spend the rest of my eternal life in the underworld,as the God of the underworld and the God of Regret. Everyday I see the victims that died by my hand, blade, claws, talons, whatever form I may have taken. I am afraid to beg forgiveness to avoid seeming weak.

My name is Hades and this… is my story.

Bare Vexed

January 12, 2015 / / 1 Comment

Bare Vexed

Dear Elizabeth Kerr

Whilst I was reading your article on the modern day slang, towards the end of the
article one thing stood out like a sore thumb. The sentence “Shakespeare will be turning in his
grave.” I could not help but think to myself, he was the innovator of slang why would this cause
him disturbance? Shakespeare’s plays contained over 2200 words that the people of his time
had never heard. These included foreign words, modified existing words and nouns turned into
verbs.
Swagger: Henry V, Act II, Scene IV/A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene I

“An’t please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered with me last night.” – Williams
“What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, so near the cradle of the fairy queen?” – Puck

You may be surprised to see the word “Swagger” in one of Shakespeare’s plays but as a member of the youth I thank William Shakespeare for such a “Sick” word. The definition of the word itself could be used as a noun or a verb for example – Verb: walk or behave in a very confident and arrogant or self-important way. “He swaggered along the corridor.”
Noun- a very confident and arrogant or self-important gait or manner.

“They strolled around the camp with an exaggerated swagger”

Today to the youth it’s urban definition has been tweaked, not by a lot though. To us, the youth,
it also includes the way a person dresses for example “His swag is on point.”
In my opinion i believe that the slang words bring out the creativity in a person. After all, every
word in the English language, or any language for that matter, would have had to be made up at some point and to people at the time would also have found this word strange and it would have taken them time to adjust. Same principle applies to everyone else, including me, it took me quite a while to adjust to the slang term “ahlie” which is a way of agreeing with someones statement. For example: “You are such a neek” said Simeon to David. “Ahlie.” Jed said agreeingly.

Isabella also states that these slang terms come and go and uses the term “Groovy” along with the rhetorical question “After all, when was the last time you heard someone describe something as “groovy”? I agree with this statement and I will use the word “Skeen” to back up my reason for agreeing. “Skeen” was a term used for when someone said something either vain or a blatant lie. For example: “I’m dating a Victoria Secret model”

“Skeen!”

Just like “Groovy” it’s a term that vanished just as quick as it arrived. “Skeen” was very popular when i was in year 6, i am now in year 11, and not only was it used in context to the conversation but also used to annoy people. The more blatant the lie, the more you would prolong the word, it went from “Skeen” to “SKEEEEEEEEEN” to “Skn” in less than a year before become another forgotten trend. In conclusion I stand in favour of the young people and their use of modern slang as a way of expression and creativity. I believe they are following in the footsteps of W. Shakespeare himself. Coming up with these trendy words that spread across the 4 corners of the globe requires a lot of creativity that every single young person has the power to unlock, they just need a spark to light them up, Mr William Shakespeare is that spark. Shakespeare will be looking down from heaven, or up from hell, and smiling proud that he was The Innovator of Slang.