Disclaimer: I own nothing. Well, except for the poem … but I own no characters, no plot and nothing else related to Harry Potter or the Order of the Phoenix … if I did, I would be named J.K. Rowling.
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Harry Potter and the Poem of Emotions
By Allison Stolz
You treat me like a child
Too young to know the truth
I'm sick of waiting for an answer
Of why I'm kept under this roof.
This place where I'm not wanted
Where I really don't belong
And yet you still refuse to say
What's really going on
Your letters just confuse me
Never filled with any facts
Just warnings to take a little heed
And not do any foolish acts.
And how am I supposed to listen
When I haven't got a clue
Of why you keep me uninformed
Like you usually do.
I was one when I first faced the man
So many fear to name
And at the time you saw it right
To treat me just the same
So why is it that now you choose
To keep this a secret case
Never sharing any helpful facts
Of when I'll leave this place.
My friends aren't helping either
They say they'll see me soon
It drives me crazy just to know
I haven't seen them both since June
It seems that they know more than me
But I've been through much more
Why is it that they can know
What's happening in this war?
Haven't I proven myself worthy
Of handling such situations
But now all I'm ever told
Is to have a little patience.
At eleven years I figured out
That my life had been a fake
I came upon this magic world
And another look I had to take.
At school I found my one true place
And saved the stone from the evil side.
Defeating the dark lord once again
Leaving him to flee and hide
When I was twelve I saved the school
From a man who was so sure
That it was right to unleash a beast
To purge those who were not pure
When I was thirteen I was unafraid
Of a man who wished me dead
And he turned out quite differently
Than what the rumours said.
At fourteen I was chosen for
A great and noble deed
And though I wished for nothing such
I came out in the lead.
Through all of this and more
My actions tell as such
That even for a boy my age
I have suffered very much.
I've proven that I'm stronger now
Than how I was before
And if you would just let me help
I can give you so much more.
I wait each day and night
For the answer that I try to locate
Of when you'll come to rescue me
From my sad world of hate.
***
Explanation:
In the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry's emotions seem to be of a livid state. For a good portion of the beginning – and throughout the novel – Harry has to deal with high emotions. I thought that doing a poem on his confusion and anger seemed to best fit because it is a main concept that ties the story together. The first four books were based on Harry going through his school years and dealing with early adolescent problems - although his problems were a bit more complicated than most people encounter. After going through many of his traumatic experiences, Harry has finally had enough and all his pent up anger seems to unleash itself in various ways shown in the story. Firstly, Harry continues to wait for news of anything that may have happened in the wizarding world that includes he-who-must-not-be-named (Lord Voldemort.) It's basically a whole month of Harry being shutoff from the wizarding world and nobody seems interested on filling him in on what's been happening. This includes his two best friends, Hermione and Ron. Frustrated, confused, angry and desperate to find out more, I interpreted what I thought was going through Harry's mind. In the first verse, it explains how Harry feels that he's being treated like a child and nobody is giving him answers. He is stuck with his guardians (his aunt and uncle) - although he would rather leave - and wants to know why he's being ordered to stay there. The second verse is telling about the relationship between Harry and his aunt and uncle. In their eyes, Harry is a freak and doesn't belong in their neighbourhood, but they still give him a home to live in. In the third verse, it describes how Harry receives letters but is told to not do anything foolish. In the book Harry writes to his friends and demands to know what's going on but when they return his letter, they tell him that they will tell him soon enough. Also, Harry performs magic (which underage wizards are strictly prohibited to do) and is expelled from Hogwarts. He is enraged and decides to run away from home, when letters arrive from his best friends dad (Arthur Weasley) and his godfather (Sirius Black), which tell him to remain where he is and not do any foolish stuff. In the fourth verse and the last two lines, it implies that Harry is rarely kept informed. During the recent four books, Harry has had to figure things out on his own, and it is only until the denouement of the novel that he is filled in on things that he maybe should have known at the beginning. In the fifth verse, it tells that Harry was only one year old when he first came face to face with he-who-must-not-be-named (Lord Voldemort). Albus Dumbledore (Headmaster and the one Lord Voldemort ever feared) saw it fit to separate Harry from the wizarding world so he wouldn't grow up knowing he was famous, thus being able to live life as a normal boy like any other his age. In the eighth verse, Harry thinks that Hermione and Ron (his two best friends) know more about what's happening than he does. In the book he does actually state that he thinks they know more about what's going on. Verse eight also ties into verse nine, where Harry feels like he's done more in the past and deserves to know what's happening. In verse ten it just describes about when he found out he was a wizard, and in verse eleven it describes his heroic adventure at the end of the first novel (Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.) When Harry mulls over the idea that he's done more than his friends (see verse eight and nine) and goes over his past adventures. This is where verse's twelve, thirteen, and fourteen come into action. Twelve describes how he saved the school from Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort) who had released 'the horror from within' from the chamber of secrets. The horror – or the Basilisk – was to purge any students that Tom thought weren't worthy of studying magic (muggleborn students, or, children that came from a non magic family.) In thirteen, everyone thought that the notorious prisoner escapee, Sirius Black, was after Harry. Harry wasn't afraid of Black though, and in the end, Sirius turned out to be innocent than what he was accused of thirteen years previously. In Fourteen, Harry was placed into the Triwizard tournament as a fourth champion (regularly there are three competing champions from each school that compete in three separate tasks) although he was underage and hadn't even submitted himself in it. In the end, Harry won the tournament. I ended the poem with the line 'From my sad world of hate' because it seems that Harry is very hateful towards everything currently. I felt that once Harry was given some answers and taken away from the one place he least wanted to be, that he might have been a little happier and less resentful towards everyone around him.
Allison Stolz
English 10-1
Period 3