...Literature Through Time Literature depicts the morals of time it shift and morphs into less power in the divine and more faith in man. Stories began being written by monks and the clergy which in time turned into regular men with stores that focused on more secular matters. English literature fills up the gap between wars, between societal change, you can see time progressing, you can see our values and morals changing, you can see history passing by. In the beginning there was Bede, a philosopher, speaker of many languages, a man who looked around him and saw a world in peril that only God could save, a man full of faith. Time passes and we see Shakespeare, a genius, a man with a queen, a man who rallied against the common, Shakespeare was a man with deep loves and a strong voice. “The Story of Caedmon”, was written during a time when Christian religious dogma was primarily hagiography, “the telling of the life of virtuous men and women that represents what it means to be a good Christian.” These stories are used as a form of reflections on one’s life as to make it better in the future. Religious dogma needed to be made more accessible to the congregation which was widely illiterate, so the stories were written with easy points and then acted out so that the congregation would not only be awake and attentive, but so that these stories of morality and faith would really sink in. “Caedmon” is probably the earliest extant of Old English poetry, Bede tells about Caedmon, an...
Words: 1137 - Pages: 5
...I have drawn the conclusion that you the Count should not precede with the marriage plans. Further, I would advise you to cancel the wedding. Since, I met the Duke of Ferrara I have this feeling that he is not a good party for your daughter. As the duke and I stopped by his collection of individually commissioned art, he showed me the portrait of his late duchess. While discussing the portrait of the last duchess, he reveals himself as a domineering husband who regarded his beautiful wife as a mere object; he said that “I call that piece a wonder, now“. He refers not only the painting, as well, his wife as “the piece”, an object. Indeed, he values his wife as highly as any other piece of art. Nevertheless, he regards his wife as a “wonder, now” in the painting; as she was not much worth when she was a life. He described the portrait as “That’s my last duchess” that shows the presence of the feeling of possessing the duchess, whose sole mission was to please him. He also said that “She had a heart –how shall I say? – too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whatever she looked on, and her looks went everywhere’. I have the impression that the duchess was an enthusiastic and enchanting young woman who was full of life and charms. However, her husband misunderstands true nature of hers. “Sir, twas not her husband presence only called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek”. Regardless, the duchess effort to please her husband, he saw her action as a betrayal. He wanted...
Words: 664 - Pages: 3
...Nikki Vanessa V. Novales July 20, 2012 # 2012-42443 PI 10 E2-6R Rizal: Hidden Beneath The Surface A Reaction Paper On “Bayaning 3rd World” “Who is Rizal?” If you ask this question to any Filipino, they will most likely say, “He is our national hero” Or “He’s the person stamped on our 1-peso coin”. But is that all he really is? The movie “Bayaning 3rd World” is about two film makers trying to make a movie about Rizal. They found out, however, that this would not be an easy task, for their subject is a very complicated man. Rather than focusing on a single issue about Rizal, they decided to make a detective story about Rizal being the country’s national hero. They tackled several issues but focused mainly on Rizal’s retraction and Josephine Bracken. The movie was meant to be educational, but unlike most documentaries, “Bayaning 3rd World” is definitely not boring. The documentary was presented in a comical way, so that viewers of all ages would be able to understand it and grasp its meaning. I was confused at first because I didn’t know what the “Retraction Controversy” was and the two film makers started having these long conversations about it without explaining it to the viewers. But when I found out what it was all about, following the flow of the story became easy. Another controversy that arose was about Josephine Bracken, on whether she and Rizal were married or not. It was implied that if they were indeed married, then Rizal retracted...
Words: 993 - Pages: 4
...1590’s, to the fashion for sonnets, he moved closer to the cultural and literary dominance of the court’s taste—to the fashionable modes of Ovid, Petrarch, and Neoplatonism—and to the need for patronage. Although the power of the sonnets goes far beyond their sociocultural roots, Shakespeare nevertheless adopts the culturally inferior role of the petitioner for favor, and there is an undercurrent of social and economic powerlessness in the sonnets, especially when a rival poet seems likely to supplant the poet. In short, Shakespeare’s nondramatic poems grow out of and articulate the strains of the 1590’s, when, like many ambitious writers and intellectuals on the fringe of the court, Shakespeare clearly needed to find a language in which to speak—and that was, necessarily, given to him by the court. What he achieved within this shared framework, however, goes far beyond any other collection of poems in the age. Shakespeare’s occasional poems are unquestionably minor, interesting primarily because he wrote them; his sonnets, on the other hand, constitute perhaps the language’s greatest collection of lyrics. They are love lyrics, and...
Words: 4547 - Pages: 19
...This is probably one of the factors that influenced his writing style. Another factor that influenced him to start writing could have been tension between himself and John Allan. (Bio.com.). This was also his motive to leave the Allans’ house. Another reason Poe wrote the way he did was because his mother died from tuberculosis before he could come home from West Point Academy to see her alive one last time ("Edgar Allan Poe Museum”). Poe’s writing style was influenced by large amounts of death and loss in his...
Words: 556 - Pages: 3
...In the book The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger one of the most important symbols in the book is Allie’s baseball glove. The main character Holden is asked to write an English composition for his roommate Stradlater, he is told to write about anything descriptive. Holden decides to write the composition on his younger brother, Allie’s baseball glove. He give a brief description in the book, “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder's mitt. He was left handed. The thing that was descriptive about it though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. He wrote them on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up to bat. He's dead now” (43). Thinking of his brothers baseball mitt allows him to open up to the reader, and recall the memory of Allie’s death. Holden truly loved his younger brother, which gives...
Words: 452 - Pages: 2
...that this is how Poe died. Donnay found high traces of mercury (heavy metal) in Poe’s hair and skin. Donnay says that “He was likely exposed to in during the cholera epidemic of 1849 but it took a while to appear.” Poe’s doctor also prescribed calomel or mercury chloride which “if overused can be deadly”(H). More of Poe’s life and acquaintances needs to be done in order to understand the answers behind Poe’s death. The “enemy of Poe, Rufus Wilmot Griswold is a man that Poe did not like.” In one of Poe’s last letters to Rufus he writes that he is not happy with how Rufus critiqued one of Poe’s friends rudely. This promoted a rivalry between the two men (I). Assuming Poe was killed through mercury chloride more research should be done on the doctor who prescribed this unruly medication. If the doctor had given him to high a dose “this could cause hallucinations and in some cases death” (J). Lastly, Sarah Whiteman and Frances Sargent Osgood were known for exchanging romantic poems with Poe. This could explain why he died just ten days before Sarah Elmira's and Poes wedding (K). Further investigation must be done on Poe’s life and friends to learn Poes true cause of death. Since E.A.Poe official hospital death records have not been found we must do more research on Poe. With the new technology and advancements in the modern scientific field the cause of death will be found. We must learn Poe’s cause of death to learn what life was like in the mind and body of one of the greatest American...
Words: 632 - Pages: 3
...The life of Edgar allan changed a lot of things, but him more than anyone. The ultimate downfall of his life and early death was foreshadowed in his young childhood. On January 19, 1809, Edgar Poe was born to a professional actor and actress by the name of David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold. He was the second son that these two had, but it didn’t last long because David went on a trip to New York where he decided to desert his family when Poe was one year old. After two years Elizabeth gave birth to another daughter; however, after this birth Elizabeth fell very ill. She died later that year on December 8, 1811 at the age of 24 to Tuberculosis. Young Edgar was between the age of two and three at the time of her death. All of his siblings were...
Words: 1686 - Pages: 7
...country, irrespective of the country of his birth becomes his native land. Therefore, a 'foreign' or 'native' land is but only a relative term in the sense that one has to remain detached from his native land when one has to answer the call of duty. The Indian soldier and his comrades-in-arms including his British allies in the poem are good examples of such persons performing their duty in the alien land, Africa. Some of them are not fated to reach their own country but would die in another man's land. Nevertheless, the land on which they sacrifice their lives for a great and common cause, gets to be their home while the land that was their home now ceases to be the same. Their great action would bring its own reward though they would not know of it 'until the judgement after death.' Another salient theme of the poem is the doctrine of Karma. Through the selfless action of the Indian soldier and his likes in Africa, the philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita is echoed that - "To action alone has thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of actions be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction". T.S. Eliot says in the last line of the third stanza that wherever he dies bravely that soil is his. It occurs to the poet that the soldiers of different countries fighting for a common objective may not know the outcome of their strivings. Nevertheless, this possibility does not diminish the worth of their sacrifice. They become immortal as they are...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...Jinyang Sui UCOR 2100 Chapter 9 Abstract 2016/4/24 Abstract: Facing Death Thesis: “How did Jesus face and understand death when it closed in on him? Did he interpret his death in advance as the climax of his mission? Or did he experience panic and even succumb to the fear that ‘all might come to nothing’? We can glean some answers by taking matters in stages,” (147). I think this is the thesis because this chapter states how Jesus appear to have understood his death by exploring different “stages”. In each section, O’ Collins compares the differences in each Gospel and states his own points about each “state” in Jesus’ death. Methodology: Source: Mark, Luke, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Acts, the beatitude and the Lord’s Prayer, Paul, Exodus, Psalms, Wisdom, Maccabees, S. McKnight, R. Bauckham, Martin Hengel and M. Bockmuehl. Audience: In this chapter, O’Collins does not state what the audience is. It seems that the audience should be all religious followers. Argument and Summary of Main Points: What Jesus Said of Himself In this section, O’ Collins states that the Parable of the Vineyard and the Tenants (Mark 12”1-12) is the only parable in which Jesus spoke clearly about his own mission. In the parable, the vineyard owner is God, and the tenant farmers are the leaders of Israel, and the servants who try to collect the owner’s share in the produce are the prophets. However, the farmers mistreat these agents of the owner, and even kill some of them. Finally...
Words: 1527 - Pages: 7
...October 7, 1949, will forever remain the day of great unknowns because this day was the last day of Edgar Allen Poe's existence. On that night of October 3rd in Baltimore, Maryland, something happened to Poe, something that ultimately led to his demise. There are numerous mysteries surrounding one of the greatest writers of our times death, no one knows the true story but will all facts that have risen his death comes a little more clearer and clearer. Many say that it was drugs that killed Poe, others say it was from an assault believe on the evening of October 3rd Poe went to bar after a day of festering over the thoughts of the death of his love (Virginia), his health, and his financial woes, and began to drink heavily. After a couple hours...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...His preference for short literary works shows it’s obvious he did not “gamble” like the rest of his fellow writers, such as his innovation of connecting art and environment. Recent critics have focused on his literary method; Poe has tackled the problem of a pieces of work relying so heavily on risque elements. Poe is known as “The Father of the Macabre,” as he is a “skilled craftsman of grotesque tales and romantic fantasies,” (shaping many into one). However, Poe was more than a horror story and poem writer, in fact his oeuvre includes editor, literary critic, satirist, hoaxer, mystery writer, pioneer in the Sci-Fi (science-fiction) genre, poet, and playwright. Poe created an “aesthetic theory, setting the basis to American scepticism through the first person narrative, “ (shaping many into one). Poes’ had a connection to the American culture and improved upon American literature through his philosophy of composition, celebrating a liaison between artistic autonomy and productivity, mainly prose fiction. he also believes that “the power of words expresses the concept of endless productivity,” (poe...
Words: 866 - Pages: 4
...105). The plot is Holden’s quest for sympathy for his physical condition and for a place of peaceful refuge. Holden is denied this sympathy and refuge, therefore he breaks down (Alsen 7). In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden’s three important rejections lead to his breakdown. The blonde girl, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce are three of the many important rejections in the novel. The blonde girl rejects Holden, and this is the beginning of his breakdown. The blonde girl is sitting next to Holden in the Lavender Room at the hotel he is staying at in New York. Holden buys her a drink because he thinks that she is good looking. Holden also asks her to dance. While they were dancing she exclaims, “I and my girl friends saw Peter Lorre last night. The movie actor. In person. He was buyin’ newspaper. He’s cute” (Salinger 71). The blonde girl is obviously looking for movie stars, not conversation. Holden calls her a moron and calls it a dumb remark. He is obviously annoyed and upset. Therefore, he feels as if he has been rejected. The fact that she isn’t interested in him depresses Holden so much that he makes up an excuse so he can leave. Seng explains, “He would prefer a world that is honest, sincere, simple” (Seng 106). Holden doesn’t think the blonde has these qualities. He can’t take it anymore. He sais: “If somebody, some girl in an awful-looking hat for instance, comes all the way to New York- from Seattle, Washington for god’s sake-...
Words: 1081 - Pages: 5
...In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye and Barbara Gowdy's The White Bone, both authors present the issue of corrupted youth in similar ways; through some days of their main characters Holden and Mud. Salinger and Gowdy tell the stories of youth suffering from the loss of their innocence in similar ways but both uniquely saddening. In the novels the main characters are forced to mature far too early in their lives, causing loss of innocence and harm to their older selves. Sadly, Holden and Mud endure the absence of parents, the expectation that they engage in sexual activity and the death of loved ones at such young ages. Throughout the novels, both Holden and Mud do not have the support of their parents which is a major part of a child’s development.. Holden is such a wild kid his parents are unsure of how to deal with his issues as a result Holden is sent and kicked out of four boarding schools. He believes he can get out of punishment by moving; “I’ll be away...Colorado on this ranch.” (Salinger, 166). When a parent is never around during a child's youth, the child must attempt to raise themselves and lose the ability to be childish. Holden plans to get out of the bad decisions he made because of lack of good parental figures by doing something he deems as mature. Another choice Holden seems to think is mature is his smoking habits, even when he does not really want to smoke he does just to smoke.When Holden can’t sleep he drinks or he smokes; “It tasted lousy… two packs...
Words: 1077 - Pages: 5
... Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the Catcher in the Rye as a teen struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily connect him to a typical teenager today. The book was written many years ago, however, it is still relevant today. Holden's actions and thoughts are those that most teenagers can relate with. The desire to be independent and the confusion about “finding oneself” are issues that almost all teens face. Even though it seems the advancement of technology has “connected” us to people like never before, it has actually created a sense of loneliness rather than connectedness. Throughout the whole book, Holden is surrounded by people, yet he always feels “sad” and “lonesome.” “The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I felt like giving somebody a buzz. I left my bags right outside the booth so that I could watch them, but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My brother D.B. was in Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe goes to bed around nine o'clock-so I couldn't call her up. She wouldn't've cared if I'd woke her up, but the trouble was, she wouldn't've been the one that answered the phone. My parents would be the ones. So that was out. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz, and find out when Jane's vacation started, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, it was pretty late to call up. Then I thought of calling this girl I used to go around with quite frequently...
Words: 733 - Pages: 3
