The Tempest
The Tempest 'The Tempest' was Shakespeare's last major play and is partly based on a true story about a ship called 'The Seaventure' which set sail for America in 1609. However, the ship was blown off course by a storm and ended up in Bermuda. This was the time when people were just beginning to explore the world and Bermuda was thought to be inhabited by spirits, demons and monsters. Shakespeare used the disaster of 'The Seaventure' as a starting point for his play and incorporated the beliefs of the people in his play. 'The Tempest' explores the 17th Century myths and colonisation. Caliban is a character in the play and resembles both of these ideas, he represents the new ethnic groups, with his mother being a witch and worshipping a Patagonian God, which also resembles new religion. Caliban also represents the way natives were treated; he is treated badly throughout the play. This represents the way natives were treated by the conquering. Westerners. This essay will explore how Shakespeare presents Caliban and whether he is merely just a savage or whether he is a noble savage. One way in which Caliban shows he may be just a savage is through his poor response to education. He tells Miranda that his only "profit" from his learning is that he "know(s) how to curse." Caliban sees no useful point in an education. This contrasts to the 'civilised' idea that an education is an
The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried James Oberhofer English 101 D Mr. B. Moon 22-OCT-04 O'Connor remarks "The Things They Carried" is a short story that is written "as an experience not an abstraction" and that "the meaning has been embodied in it". These quotations are truly pure in description and interpretation of the short story as the reader, must look beyond the crude physical properties of the objects and actions chronicled and focus more upon their hidden meanings and messages. O'Brien uses the physical characteristics of weight to make an impact upon the reader to relate with the men. In emphasizing the soldier's everyday burden, the reader can easily relate to the situation in general. As the story progresses, the main attention of the story transfers from a physical sense of weight to an emotional sense of burden. It is through this shift that "the meaning is truly embodied in the story". This shift shall be focused on and elaborated in this essay. The men in the story carried many things upon their shoulders. Primarily, each man was assigned to carry the basic necessities of life, which was standard operating procedure. These basic necessities included objects such as bandages, knives, dog tags and uniforms. In saying this, all of the men were somewhat created equal in the fact that they were all ordered to carry the standard issued equipment assigned to them. They all
The Tradition Of War Poetry
The Tradition Of War Poetry By comparing and contrasting a selection of war poems consider the ways in which attitudes to war have been explored and expressed. When considering poetry written post 1900 concentrate on a selection of poems written by Wilfred Owen. Humans have turned to poetry in many different instances as a way of expressing them selves, using the best combination of words, in the best order to express exactly how they are feeling at that moment. Poetry is one of the most powerful means of communication that uses words very sparingly, and often defines the era in which the poet lived and died. I think that is why many poems are written about war, as anyone who was involved in that experience would obviously have strong views and opinions about their encounters, which they would wish to express. This essay will explore the tradition of war poetry. I will be doing this by looking at a variety of poems from different wars and then exploring the ways in which attitudes have been explored and expressed. An early expression of war poetry is to be found in an extract from the play Henry V by William Shakespeare, before the final attack on Harfleur. The situation in the poem is that Henry V is trying to rouse his troops before battle by making war sound exciting and noble. I think the purpose of the poem was to inspire his troops and to give them courage when
VOTES FOR WOMEN
Daffodils/ I wandered lonely as a cloud - By William Wordsworth. I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. I will be speaking to you all about the poetic techniques in the poem Daffodils or as it is also called - I wandered lonely as a cloud. The poem is by a very successful author William Wordsworth . The title, 'Daffodils' is a simple word that reminds us about the arrival of the spring season, when the field is full of daffodils. Daffodils are yellow flowers, having an amazing shape and beautiful fragrance. A bunch of daffodils symbolize the joys and happiness of life. The theme of the
Was there much change in warfare on the Western front between the end of 1914 and March 1918?
GCSE COURSEWORK - AO 2 Following the battle of the Marne and the race to the Sea a trench line was set up from Switzerland to the North Sea. This trench line was in place by the end of 1914. In March 1918 the Germans launched a major attack under the code name "Operation Michael". Was there much change in warfare on the Western front between the end of 1914 and March 1918? Explain your answer. The period of World War One was a time of great change. Transformations occurred in many fields of life, but in other ways many things stayed the same. Technology was greatly improved upon during the course of the war. Aeroplanes, tanks, artillery, gas and machine guns were all created or significantly improved upon. Possibly the biggest advance of these was that of aircraft. Blacks sent over from British colonised Africa were amazed by them, calling them "Steam engines of the air". The plane had only been created eleven years earlier by the Wright brothers and, at the beginning of the war, was still temperamental and deemed of limited use by Commanders. The early machines were weak and fragile and none of the great powers possessed a significant amount of them. They were first used as reconnaissance planes because they were unable to inflict enough damage to major enemy targets to change the course of a battle or campaign. During the war, air power made huge technological
"...we will always learn more about human life and human personality from novels than from scientific psychology." (Noam Chomsky). To what extent would you agree?
"...we will always learn more about human life and human personality from novels than from scientific psychology." (Noam Chomsky). To what extent would you agree? Everyday we, as human beings learn something new about ourselves. Especially through the advances in critical thinking and intellectual thought in psychology and literature. Noam Chomsky is undoubtedly an expert in this subject, a former Professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and intellectual in the areas of psychology, politics and philosophy of language. Chomsky's naturalistic study's of language has affected the philosophy of language and mind, by influencing other intellectuals. We use knowledge and psychology to learn about human life and human personality. When approaching a statement concerning human psychology and literature, matters of human knowledge, human life and human personality arise. Both novels and scientific psychology allows us to understand and analyze human perception, emotion, reason and language. However there is ambiguity in the quote, as it assumes that humans will always learn new things. But will we achieve full knowledge and understanding of our humanity? Whether it is through novels or psychology? Human life and personality can be described as humanity in this context as it makes up what our lives are centered on, the ways of knowing. A novel is defined
What is the importance of the land in Twentieth Century Irish Poetry?
What is the importance of the land in Twentieth Century Irish Poetry? Land in the Twentieth Century was very important to the Irish nation, and this is portrayed through the works of certain pieces of poetry, written by native countrymen Thomas Kinsella and Seamus Heaney. The poem 'Wormwood' is expressed by Thomas Kinsella in a powerful and descriptive manner where the reader can experience the deepest thoughts of the writer, in his or her own way. The reader feels a sense of involvement as Kinsella sets the scene in the dank woods: "In a thicket, among wet trees, stunned, minutely Shuddering, hearing a wooden echo escape." Kinsella informs us of a tree, which he is in fact bewildered by. How he has never come across a tree like this before. It has a certain grace and elegance due to its individuality. The sheer size of the tree he finds mesmerizing, and describing the slenderness of how the tree appears to the naked eye: "The two trees in their infinitesimal dance of growth Have turned completely about one another, their join A slowly twisted scar..." Then Kinsella's dreams are shattered, as a kind of axe breaks the bond between these two trees. As this axe shatters the tree it also shatters the dreams of Kinsella: "A wooden stroke: Iron sinks in the gasping core. I will dream it again." Wormwood was one of Kinsella's poems which he wrote during the twentieth
Venus and Adonis
The poem opens with a description of Adonis's physical beauty, "rose-cheeked", this clashes with the accepted norms of a love sonnet. Traditionally a sonnet would be praising a woman's beauty rather than the other way round. Venus says he is "sweet above compare, stain to all nymphs" and " more white and red than doves or roses are". What is notable about this is Shakespeare's reference to Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella as Sidney often uses the colours red and white to refer to female beauty "Marble mix'd red and white do interlace". One interpretation could be that he deliberately means to perhaps use it to signify a blushing innocent. I think it is vital to realise that Shakespeare did model his poem on earlier adaptations of Ovid's Metamorphoses for instance Thomas Lodge's Scillaes Metamorphosis which was the first Elizabethan erotic minor epics based on Ovid. Adonis appears to be an unconventional male, not strong and aggressive, rather he is sweet and delicate. He constitutes the characteristics of a woman in love by being effeminate, he is "more lovely than a man". Adonis blushes, revealing his apparent sexual innocence which in turn makes him more sexually desirable to Venus. An interesting parallel is with the story of Narcissus and Echo. Narcissus avoided sexuality, like Adonis and eventually dies as he cannot leave his reflection. Is this Shakespeare
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, born 1893, was a British poet during the First World War, He wrote poetry from an early age and was inspired by religion. In 1913 he went to France to teach English and on returning he decided to enlist in the army to fight in the World War. He entered the war in 1917 and fought in the battle of the Somme but was hospitalized for shell shock and met Siegfreid Sassoon (a poet) and his works were in harmony with Owen's concerns. In the poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' the soldiers are marching hopelessly and desperately back to their 'distant rest'. The men are positioned amongst the bombardment of German flares and shells dropping as they suffer a gas attack. Owen describes the men's panicking as one of the men fails to put on his gas mask in time. Owen uses this incident to challenge the suffering in the war. Shown in ; "Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired outstripped five-nines that dropped behind" The opening of 'Dulce et decorum est' instantly brings an image of tired soldiers; "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge," The men are no longer fit and full of enthusiasm instead Owen describes a group of men which have been broken down by excruciating pain and mental trauma, they have become 'old beggars' and coughing 'hags'. The exhaustion, which the men
Wilfred Owen
In October 1917 Wilfred Owen wrote to his mother from Craiglockhart, "Here is a gas poem, done yesterday........the famous Latin tag (from Horace, Odes) means of course it is sweet and meet to die for one's country. Sweet! and decorous!" While the earliest surviving draft is dated 8th October 1917, a few months later, at Scarborough or Ripon, he revised it. The title is ironic. The intention was not so much to induce pity as to shock, especially civilians at home who believed war was noble and glorious. It comprises four unequal stanzas, the first two in sonnet form, the last two looser in structure. Stanza 1 sets the scene. The soldiers are limping back from the Front, an appalling picture expressed through simile and metaphor. Such is the men's wretched condition that they can be compared to old beggars, hags (ugly old women). Yet they were young! Barely awake from lack of sleep, their once smart uniforms resembling sacks, they cannot walk straight as their blood-caked feet try to negotiate the mud. "Blood-shod" seems a dehumanising image- we think of horses shod not men. Physically and mentally they are crushed. Owen uses words that set up ripples of meaning beyond the literal and exploit ambiguity. "Distant rest" - what kind of rest? For some the permanent kind? "Coughing" finds an echo later in the poem, while gas shells dropping softly suggests a menace stealthy and
