Austin Mitchell
10/19/10
Period 2: Lang arts
Mark twain reflection essay
Reflections
In Life on the Mississippi , by Mark Twain, the main message is the way you look at something may not be what it is. Of course when you learn to look at it like a pilot not a passenger you may lose the beauty in the river.
In poem #1 , Forgotten Language by Shell Silverstein, the message is as you grow up you may lose the sense of wonder and awe you had as a child. This ties into Mark Twain's message because they both mean that as your idea of something grows and matures you may lose something that you may find dear. As he says in his memoir "I had lost something that could never be restored to me while I lived".
In poem #2, When I heard the learn’d astronomer by Walt Whitman, the main message is when you try to explain why something beautiful happens you may lose the beauty itself. As Mark Twain learns the meaning behind the beautiful sunsets and majestic ripples in the water he found that the beauty was slowly replaced by fear and anxiety of hidden dangers. He said the ripples became "most hideous to a pilot's eye". This is the same message as Mark Twain's memoir.
Poem #3, After English Class author anonymous, talks about how over complicating and over analyzing something of beauty, in this case a poem by Robert Frost, ruins your appreciation for the beautiful thing. This relates to Life on the Mississippi because as Mark Twain analyzes the meaning of the beautiful sights on the Mississippi River they lose their beauty.
All of these writings share the same basic message which is the more you learn about something the less beautiful and majestic it becomes. But, though you may lose your sense of wonder, you have gained knowledge and insight which might save your life. Mark Twain summed it up best when he said "All of the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat".