NATURE, natural, and the group of words derived from them, or allied to them in etymology, have at all times filled a great pl
NATURE, natural, and the group of words derived from them, or allied to them in etymology, have at all times filled a great place in the thoughts and taken a strong hold on the feelings of mankind. That they should have done so is not surprising, when we consider what the words, in their primitive and most obvious signification, represent; but it is unfortunate that a set of terms which play so great a part in moral and metaphysical speculation, should have acquired many meanings different from the primary one, yet sufficiently allied to it to admit of confusion. The words have thus become entangled in so many foreign associations, mostly of a very powerful and tenacious character, that they have come to excite, and to be the symbols of, feelings which their original meaning will by no means justify; and which have made them one of the most copious sources of false taste, false philosophy, false morality, and even bad law. The most important application of the Socratic Elenchus, as exhibited and improved by Plato, consists in dissecting large abstractions of this description; fixing down. to a precise definition the meaning which as popularly used they merely shadow forth, and questioning and testing the common maxims and opinions in which they bear a part. It is to be regretted that among the instructive specimens of this kind of investigation which Plato has left, and to
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), English poet, critic, and philosopher, who was a leader of the Romantic movement.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834), English poet, critic, and philosopher, who was a leader of the Romantic movement. I II DEVELOPMENT Coleridge was born in Ottery St Mary, Devon, on October 21, 1772, the son of a vicar. From 1791 until 1794 he studied classics at Jesus College, Cambridge University, and became interested in French revolutionary politics. His heavy drinking and debauchery incurred massive debts which he attempted to clear by entering the army for a brief period. Eventually, his brother paid for him to be discharged on a plea of insanity. At university he absorbed political and theological ideas then considered radical, especially those of Unitarianism. He left Cambridge without a degree and joined his university friend, the poet Robert Southey in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a Utopian society in Pennsylvania. Based on the ideas of William Godwin, this new society was dubbed "Pantisocracy". In 1795 the two friends married sisters, Sara and Edith Fricker. Not only did Coleridge's marriage to Sara proved extremely unhappy, but he also became estranged from Southey, who departed for Portugal that same year. Coleridge remained in England to write and lecture, editing a radical Christian journal, The Watchman, from his new home in Clevedon. In 1796 he published Poems on Various Subjects, which included "The Eolian Harp" and his "Monody on the Death of
Compare and Contrast The Concept of Nature in the Works of Karl Marx and Ralph Waldo Emerson
Compare and Contrast The Concept of Nature in the Works of Karl Marx and Ralph Waldo Emerson Introduction Given the salience of current debates in the philosophy of social theory concerning the necessity or impossibility of grand narratives, or universalising theory, and the utility or dis-utility of the post-structural, relativist approach, I find it surprising that no one has yet stumbled upon the idea of comparing the works of Karl Marx and Ralph Waldo Emerson, the former the producer of the most influential grand-narrative in recent world political and economic history, and the later one of the more forceful exponents of experiential truth as elaborated upon by Nietzsche, and of historical relativism as practised by Foucault. A comparison of the work of these two individuals is justifiable on more grounds than their respective contributions to the development of contemporary sociological thought. Both witnessed the modern age, what appears to many "as the culminating point of human development... announc[ing] the secret of human history, hitherto concealed from the eyes of its participants," (Kumar, 81) but both witnessed it from very different perspectives. Both men were also deeply concerned to "capture" the concept of nature: Marx wrote his PhD thesis on the concept ( entitled "The Difference between Democritus' and Epicurus' Philosophy of Nature") , and one of
The Project Paper - The short story.
The Project Paper (A) The short story . Define short story A short story is a form more realistic than the tale and is of modern origin. The writer usually presents the main events in greater fullness. Fine writers of short stories are skilled in rendering a scene (which is a vivid or dramatic moment described in enough detail to create the illusion that the reader is practically there. The writers try to show rather than simply to tell. A short story is more than just a sequence of happenings. A finely wrought short story has the richness and conciseness of an excellent lyric poem. Spontaneous and natural as the finished story may seem, the writer has written it so artfully that there is meaning in even seemingly casual speeches and apparently trivial details. Some literary short story tell of an epiphany. Other short stories tell of a character initiated into experience or maturity. The short story is of more recent origin. According to the Dictionary Literary Terms written by Dr Rosli Talif, a short story is a brief functional NARRATIVE in PROSE that has a more formal structure than the TALE< from which it originates. Although short stories possess all the attributes of Fiction, such as PLOT, SETTING, CHARACTERIZATION, THEME, TONE, and POINT OF VIEW, what distinguishes it from the other forms of fiction i.e. NOVEL and NOVELLAA is that it is shorter in length
Precarious Magic
?????????????? Nikki R. Quintanar Romanticism to Modernism Neil Arditi ~ Summer 2002 The Romantic Age was roughly defined by the years 1798-1832. In England, those writers generally categorized as Romantic were; William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron. The ideals embraced by Romanticism rebelled against the prevalent ideas of neo-classicism. These Romantic ideals "contained a new awareness of nature and the natural world, emphasized the need for spontaneity in thought and action, and attached considerable importance to natural genius exhibited through imagination." 1 Imagination, to The Romantics was man's capability to both perceive and create. They "embodied a more liberated and subjective expression of passion, pathos, and personal feelings in their work."2 In this liberated awareness, "there existed an occult relationship between man and nature, man and man, and man and beast, and any combination thereof. This relationship was a spirit of oneness and beauty manifest in the many yet emanating from the One."3 The Romantics sought a profound spiritual grasp of the truth. They embraced the belief that the ultimate nature of Reality resides within each and every sentient being. In this paper I will focus on the widespread use of opium in England during the Romantic Age. Opium use was
Amine Werther's attitudes to nature. Is any development discernible? You may also wish to refer to Goethe's poetry of the same period.
Examine Werther's attitudes to nature. Is any development discernible? You may also wish to refer to Goethe's poetry of the same period. Goethe wrote his novel "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" in the spring of 1774 and a revised edition was published in 1787. The period in which the novel was written is one in of high sensitivity or "Empfindsamkeit" and there was an emphasis on the self, or the ego. The form of the novel, not just its content, illustrates these trends in 18th Century thinking as we get a close insight into Werther's emotions and attitudes through his letters to Wilhelm. Werther, the protagonist, is a highly sensitive young man who is led by his heart rather than rational judgement. He is a slave to his moods and we can see that nature is one element that greatly affects how he feels. Werther's changing attitudes towards nature reflect his emotional state - sometimes we see nature as a source of joy, peace and relaxation, at other times one of torment and hatred. There exists, therefore, strong connections between Werther's emotional state, his attitude to nature and his beliefs, specifically his perception and worshipping of God. Werther's takes a pantheist outlook on religion. This belief, which was also held to some extent by the author, is the theory that God is manifested in all living things, making a close link between God and His creation. It is a
Smith, Charlotte (Turner) 4 May 1749 - 28 October 1806.
Smith, Charlotte (Turner) 4 May 1749 - 28 October 1806 British poet and novelist who never wrote a "Gothic" work. So what's she doing here? Simple: she helped invent the Gothic, in large part due to the influence of her works on Ann Radcliffe. (She also helped invent Romanticism and William Wordsworth, and never gets much credit for that, either.) She did this by bringing to the sentimental novel-extremely popular in her day-a sophisticated aesthetic sense (informed by her deep interest in landscape and painting) that included a thorough knowledge of the sublime and the picturesque. Setting important episodes and characters in both sublime and picturesque landscapes, Smith heightened the emotional and aesthetic register of her works, thus bringing them in line with-and/or helping to create, actually-the emerging intellectual and cultural currents of Romanticism. There are "Gothic" elements in only a few of Smith's early works, for by her own admission she was uninterested in literary sensationalism and in the supernatural; adverse financial circumstances (a profligate and irresponsible husband, largely) led her to novel-writing in the first place (she preferred poetry), and the success of her first novel, Emmeline (1788), showed her that sales could be positively affected by the inclusion of the sorts of dramatic scenes she was writing. But her own interest in political
Explore the Relationship Between Literature and Politics In the Work of Romantic Authors.
EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERATURE AND POLITICS IN THE WORK OF ROMANTIC AUTHORS. Much of the writing of the Romantic period was intrinsically bound up with the politics of the time. First and second generation writers commented on and reacted to the political events which were occurring in the world especially in France, America and Britain. It was an age of political upheaval, which had witnessed insurrection in both France and America during the French Revolution and the American War of Independence, revolt in Ireland and riots in Britain, a time when 'all the romantic poets found themselves carried along on movements of social change'.1 This essay will discuss the relationship between literature and politics through the works of William Wordsworth, a first generation poet and two second generation poets, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Each of these poets shared a political awareness and expressed their political views through their poetry. Nowadays people tend to think of Wordsworth as a nature poet or autobiographical poet, but he also wrote poetry which voiced his political thinking. Wordsworth, who was born in 1770 first became involved with politics while on a visit to France at the beginning of the French Revolution. His experiences in France caused him to become committed to the republican cause and he brought these sympathies for the oppressed
Is there any contradiction between what has been described as Emily Dickinson’s ‘miniaturism’ (most of her poems have less than 30 lines) and the themes she deals with?
EXTENSION AGREED BY ROBERT GRANT "Is there any contradiction between what has been described as Emily Dickinson's 'miniaturism' (most of her poems have less than 30 lines) and the themes she deals with?" By Jamie Ellis, jpe1 (Keynes) Wednesday 13th November, 2002 For: "Nineteenth Century American Literature" - EN557; Essay one Seminar Leader - Dr. Robert Grant Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) was writing in the pioneering heyday of the 'Great American Short Story'. Although her device was poetry, Dickinson certainly subscribed to the idea of 'less is more', and her aphoristic work often had that similitude of a parable or proverb, sometimes in its content; more often in style. She largely deals with very profound themes, which could be collectively described as 'soul-searching' in an eloquent and evocative way, and the brevity in much of her work far underestimates the content with which she was dealing. Mark Twain advised any writer to "Eschew Surplusage." Adages aside, Emily Dickinson was certainly not verbose, and, at times, it is almost as though words lay in the way of her path to significance. Some of Emily Dickinson's work could almost be described as a code of conduct to live by; inherent in its advice and often rich in maxim. Indeed, the second poem in the selection in the Norton Anthology1, 'Success is counted sweetest', is an example of her economic use of
Analysis of The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner
Analysis of The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner Jack Turner's The Abstract Wild is a complex argument that discusses many issues and ultimately defends the wild in all of its forms. He opens the novel with a narrative story about a time when he explored the Maze in Utah and stumbled across ancient pictographs. Turner tells this story to describe what a truly wild and unmediated experience is. The ideas of the aura, magic, and wildness that places contain is introduced in this story. Turner had a spiritual connection with the pictographs because of the power, beauty, and awe that they created within him upon their first mysterious contact. Turner ruined this unmediated experience by taking photographs of the pictographs and talking about them to several people. His second visit to the pictographs was extremely different- he had removed the wild connection with the ancient mural and himself by publicizing and talking about them. This is Turner's main point within the first chapter. He believes that when we take a wild place and photograph it, talk about it, advertise it, make maps of it, and place it in a national park that we ruin the magic, the aura, and the wildness of that place. Nature magazines, photographs, and films all contribute to the removal of our wild experience with nature. It is the difference between visiting the Grand Canyon after you