Three Things I Learned From Reading Fireside Poetry

Over the past couple of weeks, our class has focused on Fireside Poetry. We have read works from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and heard poems from many others. With each poem, we read or heard, our minds opened up and we started to understand the meanings behind the poems. We even tried making our own Fireside Poems, and while doing so realized how hard it is to write one.

All of the poems had such an eloquent feel to them, they made you think about life. I learned that you have to live life like there is no tomorrow, you should go for your dreams, and that you don't have to listen to the people who

put you down. In a lot of the poems, the meanings were about living life, forgetting about the past and focusing on the present and the future. To me, this is important, lots of times I find myself dwelling on the past, these poems helped me realize that I need to stop.

Another lesson the Fireside Poems have taught me is that I should pursue my dreams. I should make my life worth living for, because if I don't then how will I be remembered? Now I don't mean that in an egotistical way, I don't care if lots of people remember my name, as long as I am alive in the memory of my family. What better way is there to be remembered by your family than as the one who had a dream and achieved it? Pursuing your dreams is also something that creates joy and happiness in your life. You're doing what you want, and even if it's not much, if it makes you happy why not do it?

The last important lesson I learned was that you don't always have to listen to what people say. Especially if what they're saying is crushing your dreams, or hurting you. I learned that there will always be obstacles in my life and people that will try to stop me from doing what I want to do and that these are the types of things I should ignore and overcome. On the other hand, there are times when what people are telling you is the truth and something you should listen to because these people have your best interest at heart. You should use discernment to figure out who means well.

Fireside Poetry is a great example of living literature, even though the poems were written over a century ago, you can still relate to them. They grow and adapt and have room for interpretation, that is why I loved reading them, and why the lessons I learned from them and will continue to learn from them will hopefully stay with me, forever.