Diary

Literature, and poetry in particular, is often met with mixed feelings by teenagers. Sometimes, they think it's an old-fashioned form of writing which doesn't have a lot in common with their lives. To challenge that misconception, we have faced students with poems written by some of the best English poets of all time, and we have challenged the students to find a connection between themselves and the poems. We have done this by identifying the themes in each poem, and then, by linking them to current aspects of people's lives. 

The students were then required to produce a piece of writing based on or inspired by the classic poem of their choice. 

The following diary was written by Javier Martín, Ángela Menéndez, Bárbara Recio and Alexandra de Witte.

September 1st

Dear Diary,

I’ve just returned from my holidays in Iceland, it’s good to be back home. I still needed time to disconnect, so I went to the bar. Everything seemed to be as usual but then I met Ezra. I’ve never clicked with someone as I did with him. We have so many things in common! We spent over an hour talking about how much we both love literature. We kissed and then…

Sepetmber 9th

Dear Diary,

Today was the first day of school, my senior year begins. You won’t believe what happened! I was entering my literature class when I saw there was a new teacher. Everyone was so excited about him, but for me it couldn’t be worse…It was him! He was also pretty surprised. We stared awkwardly at each other for about a minute, but then we had to act as if nothing had happened. It was quite an intense day…

September 16th

Dear Diary,

It has been a week since the first day of school and Ezra hasn’t talked to me yet. When we are in class he doesn’t even look at me! I don’t know if it is because I don’t matter to him or because we have to pretend we don’t know each other. I can’t stand this situation anymore. I’ve decided to talk to him face to face tomorrow.

September 20th

Dear Diary,

I’ve been so busy lately I forgot to tell you what happened the other day after I finally talked to Ezra. We came to the most logical solution, leave things like they should be: a relationship only as a teacher with his student. I was a little sad because I really liked him, but I had hope things were going to get better. It looks like my hope became true because today he asked me to get together after school with the excuse of talking about my work.

October 20th

Dear Diary,

I know I have been absent for a whole month but my head has been somewhere else. I feel like in cloud nine, I couldn’t be happier. It’s been two weeks since Ezra and I started dating. I hope everything stays as good as it is.

November 15th

Dear Diary;

We’ve been dating for over a month and a half. Things are more serious now, but it’s been difficult hiding it from my friends and family. This has become quite the problem because we can barely go out of his apartment. Although today it was different as it is my birthday! He took me to a fancy restaurant. Everything was going great until my friends showed up. I’m sure this is going to change our situation from now on, but I still don’t know how to face it, especially the issue concerning my friends.

November 18th

Dear Diary,

I am very upset, because it has been my first big fight with Ezra, and I’m not sure if we will be able to get over it. Everything was because of this stupid privacy. After my friends saw us in the restaurant, we discussed the possibility of telling them. I was really looking forward to sharing it with them, as they are my main support, and I was getting tired of keeping it all to myself. But when I proposed it to him, he lost his temper to the point when he started to scare me. I didn’t have the intention of accepting it, as it was a problem that really concerned me, so I stood up against him. The argument got out of control. I don’t have much hope of solving things between us. I wish none of this had ever happened.

December 24th,

Dear Diary,

Today is Christmas Eve, but I cannot focus on the good spirit of this holiday, as it has been more than a month since I broke up with Ezra and I last talked to him. It has been a very difficult time for me and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get over him 100%. The most annoying and upsetting thing of all, is that I can’t talk to anyone about it, all because of the stupid extra privacy. But at least I was able to express my feelings writing this poem inspired by my experience in this relationship.

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow—
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me—
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met—
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.