Lesson 13 Assignment 1

John O'Donohue Commented [RH1]: Thanks for introducing me to this

poet/poem! I really like it.
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Explanation
For context, I lived my entire life in Pakistan; however, due to a very sudden stage 4 cancer
diagnosis, I needed to shift to Canada for urgent medical care in 2021. I left my friends, family,
academics, and almost everything that ever brought me happiness behind. I chose the poem
"For a New Beginning" by John O’Donohue as it resonates perfectly with my journey to recovery
and my current mindset as well. The poem's first half perfectly represents how I felt as I went
through the harsher part of my treatment. My life had been completely on hold for nearly an
entire year during this part of it due to my symptoms. I could no longer study as the
chemotherapy had detrimentally affected my cognition. Further on, my body was not physically
doing wellalso suffering, causing me to be wheelchair-bound. The lack of friends and family,
aside from my mom, made me feel unfathomably desolate. The time difference and my state of
mind made communicating with any of them difficult. I longed to once again feel normal and be
able to continue with my life. It was extremely difficult to accept that I would no longer be able to
go back to the life I once had. My friends were graduating and moving on with their lives, and I
would never have the chance to do that with them again. I felt hopeless as I spent months in the
hospital in a bed with the same symptoms every day. The only source of hope I had were the
words of my doctors, which didn't seem very convincing at the time. I thought this was going to
be my life from now on and saw no way out. Despite all these symptoms and feelings, somehow
by God’s will, I was able to keep on going. Commented [RH2]: Or through your own strength!

The second half resonates with the sudden improvement that started to show when I went into
maintenance and what my current mindset is. I finally felt in control as my cognition improved,
and this allowed me to become much more positive. This positivity only further motivated me to
work on myself physically. This allowed me to finally walk again after months of being in a
wheelchair. Although my friends and family were far away, those feelings of desolation started
to fade, and I started to feel like a normal human again. I once again had dreams and goals,
which I was motivated to fulfil now more than ever. Going through cancer also helped me realize
the changes I needed to make to be a better person. Being able to start school again was a
blessing, as academics are very important to me, and I started with this ENG4U course. I
always wanted to be a doctor, but this journey inspired me to work towards being an oncologist. Commented [RH3]: Awesome!
I don’t know what God has planned for me, but I am willing to accept that and try my best to
move forward instead of wasting time.

To summarize, the two halves of the poem perfectly embody the comparison of the two stages
of my cancer.

Devices
To begin with, the imagery in the phrase "This beginning has been quietly forming" helps to
understand how the improvements that led me to the new beginning often went unnoticed. This
made me feel hopeless as I saw no way out. The visual imagery of "gray" promises helps to
describe how the promises made to me were not ones of hope. Instead, they only promised
more treatment, more desolation, and more misery. The metaphor "waves of turmoil" helps to
understand the intensity of my disturbance. The connotation of the word emptiness in "Feeling
the emptiness growing inside" helps to understand further how desolate I felt. The connotation
of the word "unfurl" yourself in the grace of the beginning helps me to relate to how I have
accepted what God has planned for me with grace. The consonance of the vowel sound "s"
adds to the softer tone of the poem: "It watched you play with the seduction of safety and the
gray promises that sameness whispered,". The second part of the poem becomes more uplifting
with euphonious phrases such as "courage kindled", "path of plentitude", and "unfurl yourself
into the grace of the beginning". This helps make the upbeat shift more evident as the poem
starts to become more hopeful and empowering. Commented [RH4]: Excellent.
Themes
One evident theme in the poem is the theme of journey, growth, and acceptance. Every
hardship you face as a person in your life causes you to grow. You can never remain the same
and you need to accept that to be at peace with it. Whether you want to channel your journey
and grow into something positive or negative is up to you.

“This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge”.

“You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning”.

Another theme present in the novel is desolation.

“For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Lastly, the novel poem has a theme of motivation and empowerment as it switches to its
second half.

“Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you”.

B)
After finding the poem, “For a New Beginning,” I decided to use a calmer voice for the reading
to match the themes. In the first half, I used a comparatively melancholic tone as it resonated
with the darker part of my journey, while in the second half, I used a more upbeat tone as the
poem became more empowering. I used a strong voice when saying specific words such as
“Unfurl” to show emphasis. I deliberately paused after the phrase “Still unable to leave what you
had outgrown” to further show emphasis. I also paused at the midpoint of the poem because the
tone and mood of the poem shifted. I did not record a video of my reading; however, if I was
going to, I would emote only using facial expressions as they would be enough to convey
emotions. I thought pictures and the background music would make the poem more true to my
interpretation of the poem. Yes, I did look for other readings of my poem to gain inspiration. The Commented [RH5]: Great job!
first reading by Caroline Oxford made me realize that an upbeat tone throughout would not
support the mood of the poem at all. A second reading by Dr. Richard Deming made me realize
a calmer voice is much more effective as it also calms the listener. Taking inspiration from a few
other readings, I tried to make my own reading as unique as possible.

C)
https://youtu.be/jJEHCpW6X5I

D)
I believe my oral skills have improved, particularly regarding my pacing and tone. This was my
first time reading a poem, so I lacked experience in these areas. However, I learned when
pauses are necessary and how to match the tone with the mood of the poem. The most
challenging aspect of this assignment was finding a suitable poem. Since it was my first time
really studying poetrythe first time I was doing poetry, I wasn’t aware of any poets or poems.
Furthermore, it was difficult to choose a poem that could accurately convey my feelings
throughout my treatment. The reading was also a task as I had never read a poem before and
did not have anybody to guide me. Next time, before an oral presentation, I would practice much
more and use the skills I improved during this reading. Yes, I believe reading the poem helped Commented [RH6]: You did great.
me better understand it. Changing my tone and pausing after certain words made me pay more
attention to those words, allowing me to comprehend their meaning better. As I changed my Commented [RH7]: Excellent.
tone, it helped me to better understand the shifting mood of the poem which helped me better
connect it.

Thanks for telling your story. Your strength/perseverance is quite inspiring.

Oh yeah, you did a great job on the assignment!

Rubric:
Speaking to Communicate: Level 4+
- communicate in a clear, coherent manner, using a structure and style effective for the purpose,
subject matter, and intended audience (expression and articulation, volume,
smoothness/accuracy, pacing, etc.) (2.3 & 2.5)

Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: Level 4+

- demonstrate insight into their strengths and weaknesses as listeners and speakers, and practise
the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after listening and speaking to improve
their oral communication skills (3.1)