Creating This Website - Dalia Saj
My name is Dalia Saj, and I just wanted to express why I made this website the way it was, and any other reasons to why the things on this website are here (other than the fact that it was for a project =P).
The Visual Layout:
First of all, the general layout of this website is a dark colored theme, and as it can be seen, it has a black background for every page. This theme was chosen because of Emily Dickinson's life. I would personally say that her life was a depressing one, one of solitude, despair, and anything that takes a smile off a face. Therefore, I felt that the black theme would go well with her life and her poems, along with the pictures. Also, many of the things that Emily wrote about in her work were about death, and many other not-so-happy aspects of life, such as being alone, having no hope, death, and so on. So, I thought that this black theme went with that mood well. In addition, the fonts that I chose were a variety, but they were all mainly fonts that looked like some type of handwriting. This was because Emily Dickinson was of course, a poet, and after her death, her family had found a lot of her work in hand-bound books, so that would have probably meant that Emily hand wrote her poems. Therefore, neat, cursive-looking, and printed fonts were what I used to make this website look friendly and have some significance to Emil'y life at the same time. This is how the physical layout of this website makes it unique to Emily Dickinson's life and poems.
Artwork/Photography:
Moreover, the photography and artwork that I chose to put on almost every part of this website had some significance with Emily's life and this website as a whole. To begin, I placed pictures as the headers of all of the pages on this website. This was for a nice layout of the website, but at the same time, they did apply to Emily's life. For instance, on the page with Emily's poetry, each of the pictures that I used in the headers had to do with a part of the poem that I had put on that page. Talking about her poetry, I also placed a separate picture along with the poem on each page as well. This was to further help readers visualize Emily's poems, and it was a sort of reminder of what the poem's theme was, or how the reader should feel when they read the poem. I felt like doing this would help visual learners, like myself, to interpret and embrace the poem better. That was how I found the pictures itself. I would read the poem once or twice, and then I would look up something that related to the poem, or something that stuck out to me. This was the main way that the photography and artwork in this website played a role in connecting with Emily's life.
Music:
As it was seen earlier, I did add a page with current music that related to Emily Dickinson's life. I chose the songs that I chose because of their words, some of the themes and points in them, and because of the way that I see the songs. The first song that came to my mind as I was thinking was "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry. This song talks about what a girl wanted to happen if she died, and it was evident through the song that she was young as well. I chose this song because I thought of some emotions that Emily could have felt in her younger years of poetry. This song had a perfect, sadly drawn, and meaningful mood, that I felt fit almost perfectly with the way I felt about Emily's life, and almost all of her poems. This was also because of the way that Emily saw beautiful details and inscribed them into her poems, such as in the poem "A Bird Came Down the Walk". The second song that I chose is called "Invisible" by Big Time Rush. I chose this song, because the guys in Big Time Rush were talking about how their girl was not invisible to them. Though there wasn't much of a love factor in Emily's life, I felt like this song could relate to her life, because of the way that Emily was "invisible" to the world. As I read many times, Emily lived a life of solitude and despair. I felt like if a comforting person for Emily was turned into a song, then this song would be that comforting person that Emily used to help write her poems and live her life. The next song that I chose is called "A Year Without Rain" by Selena Gomez. One verse that I could point out is
"My world is an empty place
Like I've been wandering the desert
For a thousand days".
This verse was one of the reasons that I even chose this song. I felt like if one verse described Emily's life, then I would chose this verse. I say this because of the fact that Emily's life was such a sad, solitary one. I felt like Emily had been in a desert, deprived of normal happiness that comes with socializing, having close friends that don't betray you, having a husband and children, and so on. So, "A Year Without Rain" sounded like a good way to connect with Emily's life. The last song that I chose is called "This is Real, This is Me" by Demi Lovato. This song is the song, out of the four that I chose, that is least like the other songs. This song is a completely different way to look at Emily Dickinson, because in this song, Demi talks about being her own person, a real, but confident person. I felt like this song was also a perfect song for Emily because of the independence that she had in her own life. Even through hard times, Emily always stayed strong and sane, and always had her own ways of looking at things. She was her own "real" person.
"This is real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now
Gonna let the light shine on me
Now I've found who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I wanna be
This is me
Do you know what it's like
To feel so in the dark
To dream about a life
Where you're the shining star
Even though it seems
Like it's too far away
I have to believe in myself
It's the only way"
These lyrics are just perfect, because it reminded me of how Emily was at first not a known poet, and had kept all of her work tucked away in her own world, but after her death, when her family found her poems, she was put in the light .I felt like she then had the "light shine on her" like in the song. This is why I chose "This is Real, This is Me."
In conclusion, the way that I made my website the way it was is because of how I felt Emily's work, current music, and photography described Emily, her work, her life, and anything about her feelings. Thinking back, I am glad that I could find these connections, because now, I am glad that I know about such an amazing poet that I can relate so much to. May there be many, many more influential poets like her in this world.
The Visual Layout:
First of all, the general layout of this website is a dark colored theme, and as it can be seen, it has a black background for every page. This theme was chosen because of Emily Dickinson's life. I would personally say that her life was a depressing one, one of solitude, despair, and anything that takes a smile off a face. Therefore, I felt that the black theme would go well with her life and her poems, along with the pictures. Also, many of the things that Emily wrote about in her work were about death, and many other not-so-happy aspects of life, such as being alone, having no hope, death, and so on. So, I thought that this black theme went with that mood well. In addition, the fonts that I chose were a variety, but they were all mainly fonts that looked like some type of handwriting. This was because Emily Dickinson was of course, a poet, and after her death, her family had found a lot of her work in hand-bound books, so that would have probably meant that Emily hand wrote her poems. Therefore, neat, cursive-looking, and printed fonts were what I used to make this website look friendly and have some significance to Emil'y life at the same time. This is how the physical layout of this website makes it unique to Emily Dickinson's life and poems.
Artwork/Photography:
Moreover, the photography and artwork that I chose to put on almost every part of this website had some significance with Emily's life and this website as a whole. To begin, I placed pictures as the headers of all of the pages on this website. This was for a nice layout of the website, but at the same time, they did apply to Emily's life. For instance, on the page with Emily's poetry, each of the pictures that I used in the headers had to do with a part of the poem that I had put on that page. Talking about her poetry, I also placed a separate picture along with the poem on each page as well. This was to further help readers visualize Emily's poems, and it was a sort of reminder of what the poem's theme was, or how the reader should feel when they read the poem. I felt like doing this would help visual learners, like myself, to interpret and embrace the poem better. That was how I found the pictures itself. I would read the poem once or twice, and then I would look up something that related to the poem, or something that stuck out to me. This was the main way that the photography and artwork in this website played a role in connecting with Emily's life.
Music:
As it was seen earlier, I did add a page with current music that related to Emily Dickinson's life. I chose the songs that I chose because of their words, some of the themes and points in them, and because of the way that I see the songs. The first song that came to my mind as I was thinking was "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry. This song talks about what a girl wanted to happen if she died, and it was evident through the song that she was young as well. I chose this song because I thought of some emotions that Emily could have felt in her younger years of poetry. This song had a perfect, sadly drawn, and meaningful mood, that I felt fit almost perfectly with the way I felt about Emily's life, and almost all of her poems. This was also because of the way that Emily saw beautiful details and inscribed them into her poems, such as in the poem "A Bird Came Down the Walk". The second song that I chose is called "Invisible" by Big Time Rush. I chose this song, because the guys in Big Time Rush were talking about how their girl was not invisible to them. Though there wasn't much of a love factor in Emily's life, I felt like this song could relate to her life, because of the way that Emily was "invisible" to the world. As I read many times, Emily lived a life of solitude and despair. I felt like if a comforting person for Emily was turned into a song, then this song would be that comforting person that Emily used to help write her poems and live her life. The next song that I chose is called "A Year Without Rain" by Selena Gomez. One verse that I could point out is
"My world is an empty place
Like I've been wandering the desert
For a thousand days".
This verse was one of the reasons that I even chose this song. I felt like if one verse described Emily's life, then I would chose this verse. I say this because of the fact that Emily's life was such a sad, solitary one. I felt like Emily had been in a desert, deprived of normal happiness that comes with socializing, having close friends that don't betray you, having a husband and children, and so on. So, "A Year Without Rain" sounded like a good way to connect with Emily's life. The last song that I chose is called "This is Real, This is Me" by Demi Lovato. This song is the song, out of the four that I chose, that is least like the other songs. This song is a completely different way to look at Emily Dickinson, because in this song, Demi talks about being her own person, a real, but confident person. I felt like this song was also a perfect song for Emily because of the independence that she had in her own life. Even through hard times, Emily always stayed strong and sane, and always had her own ways of looking at things. She was her own "real" person.
"This is real, this is me
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now
Gonna let the light shine on me
Now I've found who I am
There's no way to hold it in
No more hiding who I wanna be
This is me
Do you know what it's like
To feel so in the dark
To dream about a life
Where you're the shining star
Even though it seems
Like it's too far away
I have to believe in myself
It's the only way"
These lyrics are just perfect, because it reminded me of how Emily was at first not a known poet, and had kept all of her work tucked away in her own world, but after her death, when her family found her poems, she was put in the light .I felt like she then had the "light shine on her" like in the song. This is why I chose "This is Real, This is Me."
In conclusion, the way that I made my website the way it was is because of how I felt Emily's work, current music, and photography described Emily, her work, her life, and anything about her feelings. Thinking back, I am glad that I could find these connections, because now, I am glad that I know about such an amazing poet that I can relate so much to. May there be many, many more influential poets like her in this world.