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Abandoned Tomb
I sit forgotten and alone, overlooking where we once stood
In the spot where you left me where our love was in bloom
Its a view I think I’ll see much longer than I should
I stand here as if I were an abandoned tomb
I echo inside with the words we used to share
I am held together still by the bonds we made
But I am being overgrown by the weeds of despair
And there are cracks forming in the foundation we laid
I stand a victim to the elements of time
Unable to move or to defend myself from what will come
Only left with the feelings I use to write this rhyme
And when I’m finished here there will be none
Soft winds sometimes whistle through me still
And I swear I can hear your voice calling to me
But I know that it’s just a dreams shuddering from the kill
Of those last few thoughts of what we thought we could be
Left to stand watch and yet fall apart as the years pass away
I stand forever in the spot where you took your love from me
Left here with only yesterdays and this is where I’ll stay
I am the abandoned tomb of what we had and what could be
By: Carpaythya
How can you relate this poem to Jonathan and Mina’s life at the moment? How does it express how she is feeling? Does she still feel as connected to Jonathan as she did when they were first together? How does Mina relate to the tomb in the poem and Jonathan to whom she is referring to?
Kiss Of Life
Your skin,
once perfect,
once a pale sweep
of unbroken desert dunes,
has felt my kiss
and now it cries -
ruby tears are welling up,
are slowly sliding
down your throat,
glistening, delicious
tears of joy,
of life
of your awakening
I am always moved
when I thus watch
the sorrow of the body,
expressed, released,
out in the open now
for all to see -
and it was always there,
and not to know that
is the deepest
of illusions.
Now close your eyes.
Give up your yesterdays
and your tomorrows -
all those are gone,
will never be
and you and me
will take a journey
new and bright,
into the night
a dawn of radiance
awaits.
-Anonymous
Do you think that this poem describes Lucy and Dracula? Is this how Dracula would describe Lucy, her beauty and how he felt about the time he spent with her? What can you decipher the literal meaning of this poem to be, and what can you conclude about it relating to Lucy’s death?
-Kianat Zamir
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April 5th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Uh, wow. That is a ton of information! Are you trying to kill me?! It is so hard to read!!
Okay,here it goes. To answer your first question of your first poem, I think it shows how they seem to not be as close as they once were. Though he cannot recall the events that happened to him in Transylvania, Jonathan has experienced more horrors than Mina has at the moment, putting him into a second category of state of mind. He is different now that he has witnessed true horror.
To answer your second question, the poem is describing how lonely Mina feels now that Jonathan has a problem separating himself from unremembered terror. When the mind is distressed, it makes an effort to forget the object of distress. Of course, this is not true for some people. Others can not get the object of distress out of their minds. While his brain tries to contradict his self-inflicted memory loss, Jonathan can not feel the same now can he. There’s to much mental stress.
To answer the third question definitely not. She can not feel the love of which there used to be because their love is not the same.
Your fourth question, I believe is pretty much answered it in this whole spiel.
Now on to the next poem’s questions. To answer your first question I think this poem could be an accurate description of how Lucy and Dracula feel for each other. But we cannot know this for sure because we do not know how the Count feels about Lucy. I suppose this could also answer your second question. We do not know hos Dracula thinks of Lucy and so I cannot answer properly. Though there are two choices of how he does feel. The first is what you think, that there is love between the two and he honestly cares for her. The other option is that he views her as a willing food source and nothing more. It must be easier to bespell someone who has already been bespelled once before.
I believe that the poem is saying goodbye and hello in the same breath. It is a good poem to relate to the ‘living dead’ as it describes how one changes for the better. In this story, being a vampire has many benefits, yet they all end when one figures out that the benefits are negated by the losses.
Well, there is my response.
-Jenni Kantor
April 5th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Kianat, it seems like you’re sucking up to Mr. Shank by writing all of this.
For question number 1, the story never mentions any strain in their relationship. It seems like you are guessing that there is a problem. However, there is definitely a connection with the poem. The poem describes the loneliness that Mina feels from being away from Jonathan. The ending of the poem doesn’t seem to match up with the story, because it says that their love was taken away. No where in the story is anything like this mentioned. It seems like there’s a lot of guesswork here. I don’t like to make these presumptions unless there’s strong information that they are true. Mina just misses Jonathan very much.
I have to strongly disagree with the implied thoughts that Lucy and Dracula have feelings for each other. This is even more guessing! I looked up the name Dracula and found out that it is the Romanian word for “devil” or “demon”. As far as we know, the only time that Lucy and Dracula met was when Dracula bit Lucy. Dracula needs to drink blood. He did NOT do this out of love! Dracula is not a Casanova! He is evil! Do you remember how Jonathan described Dracula when he found Dracula sleeping in the coffin? He said there was a look of pure hatred upon his face. I looked up even more information on vampires and I have a feeling some of it might come from later chapters in this book. However, the information says that vampires are not actually the soul of the person. Therefore, they do not love or feel any affection for each other. Once Lucy was a vampire, Dracula could not use her as a food source, because she also needed to hunt.
There’s my response. I couldn’t really answer them the way you wanted to because in my mind, they don’t seem like your questions follow the storyline.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Brandon, I don’t see how Mr. Shank likes you, if he even likes you…You act like this is such a pain and everyone sucks up, but you like doing this…??
I think that the first song represents that they used to be close, but he has been through so much horror and destruction that they cannot be anymore. Their love has gotten to a point in which it can’t be fixed.
Left to stand watch and yet fall apart as the years pass away
I stand forever in the spot where you took your love from me
Left here with only yesterdays and this is where I’ll stay
I am the abandoned tomb of what we had and what could be
- That can be summed up to what Mina is feeling. She feels like there is nothing she can do. It is out of her hands. She felt like he was lost forever and then he came back, but is just as lost as he was when he was gone. She is the same, but he has changed. Their love has changed, and she cannot love him the same way she used to because he is not the same person.
The next poem, I agree with Jenny. It is very hard to tell how Dracula feels, so we don’t really know if he likes what he’s doing, or he just does it for food. He keeps going to her so maybe he does like it? I think that it can accurately describe their connection because Lucy may like when Dracula comes. I also agree with Brandon though. Kianat, you are making false asumptions. We can not know if Lucy loves Dracula; honestly I think it’s far fetched. It is a good question though, it creates disscusion.
-dblack
April 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Mr. Shank, this is not a post that you’re supposed to grade. See above for the one that should be graded.
Dan, I’ll have to diagree with you. I really don’t like doing this. Now I do exaggerate a lot of the time.
Anyway, Kianat, you make everyone else look like they did a bad job on their posts! Sorry if I seemed kind of mean above. I wanted to try to start a debate. Didn’t seem to work… Everyone, if you’re on argue with me!!!
April 7th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
It’s ok Brandon, I’m sorry for what i said, i was harsh.
By the way, Thanks for the compliment!
-Kianat