The Shield of Achilles Essay Example for Free

The Shield of Achilles Essay The Shield of Achilles is a poem of nine stanzas where the author W.H.Auden has used an episode from the famous Homeric epic ‘Iliad’, as the name suggests. Achilles as we know was the greatest hero of the Trojan War and his shield as mentioned here has its reference in the book eighteen of the Iliad. There Thetis, the sea goddess and Achilles’ mother requests Hephaestus the divine blacksmith to make a shield for Achilles whose armor has been taken away by the Trojan hero Hector when he killed Patroclus to whom Achilles had lent it. Auden here has narrated the episode of the Iliad where this shield is in the making. Interestingly unlike the epical shield which was decorated by Hephaestus with stars and constellation, two beautiful towns full of people, scene of cultivation, a vineyard laden with grapes, herd of cattle, dancing girls and boys, the shield in question presents a scene of lifelessness, destruction and decadence of a moribund society of people. The poem starts with an unnamed woman and a man whom we later identify as Thetis and Hephaestus. She is looking over his shoulder to watch the shield which is being made there. Contrary to her expectations she finds the shield being decorated with barbed wire enclosures and bored officials, weary sentries, detached and dispassionate men folk, a weed-choked-field and a frustrated young boy who knows nothing about love being always exposed to murder and rape. In the poem whenever Thetis peers over the blacksmith’s shoulder hoping to see some beautiful decoration of natural beauty being embossed on the shield, some morbid spectacle is sure to greet her eyes. Finally when Hephaestus leaves after finishing the shield, Thetis is distraught to find a horrific picture which makes Achilles’ doom all the more evident. The poet has used a method of flashback to emphasize the deplorable condition of the modern human society. Whenever Thetis looks over ‘his shoulder’ Auden gives us a glimpse of the beauty of the past by mentioning what she expects to see and what gruesome sights unfold before her. The poem shows a contrast between the ancient world of real heroes and the modern world of debasement. The poet W. H. Auden thus uses the shield of Achilles as a subject but all the beautiful descriptions of Homer have been replaced to show the poet’s disgust with blankness and  shallowness of the modern society.

Great man and theory of leadership

Great man and theory of leadership   The main idea behind Great Man theory is that leaders cannot be made, for they are born leaders (Great Man Theory, Assumptions, n.d.). The supporters of the great man theory concentrated mainly on well known historical political and military leaders (Leadership Theories, The Great Man Theory,  ¶1). They also claimed that unexpected events, like for instance war, can also cause sudden rise of the leader, among which one could list Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, or even Adolf Hitler, who managed to gain support of the majority of the population. But even centuries earlier, humankind witnessed historical events used to support the concept of the great leader theory, like for instance Moses (Great Man Theory, Description, n.d), who was seen as the only one capable of freeing Israelites.   The leaders, who fall into the group of the great man, were perceived not only as heroic but also mythic, possessing specific traits (Leadership Theories, The Great Man Theory,  ¶2). On the other hand, because people posses different traits, it was impossible for the great man theory supporters to establish an universal model of the great man, characterized by common values and the same number of traits. Nevertheless, those who support Trait Theory believe that a set of universal traits of leaders can be established (Leadership Theories, Trait Theory,  ¶4), and people who make good leaders have the right ‘or sufficient combination of traits (Trait Leadership Theory, 12Manage, Assumptions of Trait Theory,  ¶3). Basically, if one can identify people to have the certain traits, the traits falling into the Trait Theory boundary, then leaders can be easily identified (Shead,  ¶1).   Clawthon (1996,  ¶5) writes that â€Å"fate or providence was a major determinant of the course of history, the contention that leaders are born, not made was widely accepted, not only by scholars, but by those attempting to influence the behavior of others†. According to him, the Great Man theory has been abounded due to the increased interest in the behavioral sciences, and to the claim that if not everyone, then many, can be trained to become leaders through enhancing their abilities, for â€Å"nurture is far more important than nature in determining who becomes a successful leader† (1996,  ¶6). One could say that one of the reason behind abounding The Great Man and Trait Theory was also the fact that instead to concentrate on effective leadership it looked into what possible could make a great leader. It fully focused on leader, omitting the importance of the followers (Leadership Theories, Weaknesses,  ¶1 ), who might look for a certain traits in their le aders and abound them if failed to find. Among those desired traits are honesty, inspiration, forward-looking, competency, and intelligence (Shead,  ¶6).

Poe’s The Black Cat and Hawthorn’s Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young

Poe’s "The Black Cat" and Hawthorn’s "Young Goodman Brown" In "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne analyzes the Puritans’ consciousness and the hidden wickedness of their nature. He takes a naà ¯ve Puritan man and takes him on a journey into the dark forest to meet an old man whom we presume, is the devil. As the naà ¯ve Puritan embarks on his journey, his wife "Faith" kisses him good bye. The Puritan has an overwhelming feeling of guilt as he is entering the forest to meet with the Devil. He realized what he is doing was forbidden and none of his forefathers or fellow Puritans would ever commit such a sin. During his meeting with the Devil his naà ¯vetà © dissolves. He sees Deacon Gookin, his old catechism teacher, and other upstanding members of the community, whom he looked up to and feared, dancing around the Devil’s fire. He is told that the Devil has helped his father and Grandfather in years past. His innocence is completely destroyed when he sees his own wife Faith dancing around the Devils circle . He screams in agony: "My faith is gone. There is no good on earth; and sin is but a ...

Celies Life and Hard Times. :: English Literature

Celie's Life and Hard Times. Alice Walker vividly portrays the sad but apparent reality of life in the black rural communities of America during the mid-twentieth century. It is a time when the impacts of slavery are still prevalent. The relationships within families - as reflected in the novel - also feel this impact. In search of a means to overcome their inferiority in a society dominated by whites, men usually have their womenfolk provide them with the feeling of importance that they desire (such as the practice of addressing their husbands as Mr.______). This attitude towards women is made obvious on the very first page, depicting Celie's perception of her stepfather, "He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't" (1). As Celie's life progresses, having given birth to two children - both of whom were taken away by her father - she is wed to Mr.______ unceremoniously. Pa, one the basis that she was too young, rejected the request for Nettie's hand in marriage to Mr.______. Instead he offers Celie, claiming she was the more viable candidate on the following grounds: She ugly. He say. But she ain't no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain't gonna make you feed it or clothe it. (9) Beginning from that day on Celie's life took an ever-downward sloping turn. She endures seeing Olivia with a new mother, the animosity of Harpo, taking care of Mr. ______'s children, and his abuse. Her relationship with Mr.______ is such that it could hardly be called a marriage. She was to do just as he said, without so much as uttering a word of disagreement. She no longer possesses a zeal for life: "My life stop when I left home . . ." (85). Each day is just another chore During this time Nettie had also experiences some trouble at home with Pa. After she realizes that to remain at home any longer would be a compromise to her safety she runs away to Mr.______'s home. There she is welcome since Mr.______ still thinks Nettie to be very attractive - but for a while only - as Nettie does not give in to his demands. When Mr.______ drives Nettie away, Celie experiences a loss so profound that it would take many years to undo the damage done. Up until that stage in Celie's life none had ever expressed any concern over herself. It was Nettie who ensured that Celie was literate, that Celie received an education, that Celie was not pushed around by

Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry Essay -- Poem Dickinson Poetry Biograph

Emily Dickinson and Her Poetry Emily Dickinson is one of the great visionary poets of nineteenth century America. In her lifetime, she composed more poems than most modern Americans will even read in their lifetimes. Dickinson is still praised today, and she continues to be taught in schools, read for pleasure, and studied for research and criticism. Since she stayed inside her house for most of her life, and many of her poems were not discovered until after her death, Dickinson was uninvolved in the publication process of her poetry. This means that every Dickinson poem in print today is just a guess—an assumption of what the author wanted on the page. As a result, Dickinson maintains an aura of mystery as a writer. However, this mystery is often overshadowed by a more prevalent notion of Dickinson as an eccentric recluse or a madwoman. Of course, it is difficult to give one label to Dickinson and expect that label to summarize her entire life. Certainly she was a complex woman who could not accurately be described with one sentence or phrase. Her poems are unique and quite interestingly composed—just looking at them on the page is pleasurable—and it may very well prove useful to examine the author when reading her poems. Understanding Dickinson may lead to a better interpretation of the poems, a better appreciation of her life’s work. What is not useful, however, is reading her poems while looking back at the one sentence summary of Dickinson’s life. The notion of the author has often been disputed when it comes to critical literary studies. The argument centers around one basic question: Should the author be considered when looking at a text? There are numerous reasons given as to why the author is important or why the ... .... Rutgers University Libraries. 19 Apr. 2005 . Keller, Lynn. â€Å"An Interview with Susan Howe.† Contemporary Literature 36.1 (1995): 1 34. Oates, Joyce Carol, ed. The Essential Dickinson. New York: Harper Collins, 1996. Winhusen, Steven. â€Å"Emily Dickinson and Schizotypy.† The Emily Dickinson Journal 13.1 (2004): 77-96. Works Consulted Green, Fiona. â€Å"Plainly on the Other Side: Susan Howe’s Recovery.† Contemporary Literature 42.1 (2001): 78-101. Ickstadt, Heinz. â€Å"Emily Dickinson’s Place in Literary History; or, the Public Function of a Private Poet.† The Emily Dickinson Journal 10.1 (2001): 55-68. Ma, Ming-Qian. â€Å"Poetry as History Revised: Susan Howe’s ‘Scattering as Behavior Toward Risk.’† American Literary History 6.4 (1994): 716-37. Miller, Cristanne. â€Å"Whose Dickinson?† American Literary History 12.1 (2000): 230-53.

Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s on the Road

In Jack Kerouac’s novel, On The Road, main protagonist Dean Moriarty symbolizes an â€Å"almost† immortal flame of youth that embodies the rebellious generation of uncertainty that describes 1950s Beat culture. Desirable of everything at the same time, from his numerable fixations with drugs, his incalculable romantic entanglements with women, or his superficial preoccupation to be seen as an intellectual, we get to know Dean's liberating and pioneering personality as the â€Å"Holy Goof† as well as an apparent figure of Beat culture.Though it is not until a series of passages at the commencement of the novel that the â€Å"crucifixion† of Dean Moriarty's youth takes place, forcing upon him a revelation; forcing him to relinquish his naive, rebellious ways into a life of real uncertainties and real problems. In one of these passages, at what first seems to be a light hearted conversation between Dean and Sal in a restaurant bathroom, soon evidently becomes a foreshadowing of Dean's diminishing youth: â€Å"We were both exhausted and dirty†¦I was at a urinal blocking Dean's way†¦ and said to Dean, â€Å"Dig this trick. â€Å"Yes, man,† he said, washing his hands at the sink, â€Å"it’s a very good trick but awful on your kidneys because you’re getting a little older now every time you do this eventually years of misery in your old age, awful kidney miseries for the days when you sits in the parks. † It made me mad. â€Å"Who’s old? I’m not much older than you are! † â€Å"I wasn’t saying that, man! †Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ah,† I said, â€Å"you’re always making cracks about my age. I'm no old fag, you don't have to warn me about my kidneys†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦I said to cap my anger, â€Å"And I don’t want to hear any more of it. And suddenly Dean’s eye grew tearful and he got up and left†¦Dean stood outside the restaurant for exactly five minutesâ₠¬ ¦ â€Å"Well,† I said, â€Å"what were you doing out there? †¦Go ahead tell me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I was crying,† said Dean. â€Å"Ah hell, you never cry. † â€Å"You say that? Why do you think I don’t cry? † â€Å"You don’t die enough to cry. † Every one of these things I said was a knife at myself. Everything I had ever secretly held against my brother was coming out†¦ (Kerouac 215)Here, for the first time and only time in the novel, do we see the hero, Dean, reach his threshold, and break down to cry. It is a symbolic point in the novel in that we are witnessing Dean beginning to change; we see his â€Å"eternal flame† begin to wither away. When Sal says, â€Å"You don't die enough to cry† he is basically telling Dean he does not experience true life. A life that is filled with lows and highs, easts and wests, positives and negatives; a life that isn't always â€Å"Ah! Whee! † (Kerouac 119) moments in which until this point Dean's life as we know it had evolved around.Opposed to the Dean we know in the beginning of the novel, â€Å"mad to live, mad to talk† and would â€Å"never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Kerouac 291), we now see a growing sense of distress and misfortune through this passage. We can even detect a sense of maturity through Dean's actions. He has hit rock bottom, his body gives up and he allows himself to cry. While Sal, previously inspired by Dean’s unknowing nature, is for the first time realizing all of his time spent searching for life has in actuality been time spent running toward death with Dean as to escape his own life.All this time, Sal has been desiring to be with Dean, craving his eternal madness, and it isn't until now that he realizes by following Dean, he's been ignoring reality and altering the way in which he experiences the world. Dean's crying scene is the death of his youth and the birt h of this novel's martyr. This passage embodies the not-so-immortal flame of youth that defined both Sal and Dean's generation. It is here, through Dean's â€Å"martyrdom† that we see Dean begin to accept life as a â€Å"risen hero† of the road, his old philosophies and ways of life serving no longer an inspiration for those lost, or soon to be lost.Upon finishing this novel, I concluded that this passage's reference to Dean's immortality is also manifested in the book's ending in that there is no true closure to this novel. There is no closure to the ideas, beliefs, or the â€Å"eternal flame† that Dean represents. An open ending to his life and what happens to Dean Moriarty allows him to remain immortal. Even through Sal's dialogue at the very end, we are left with the sense that Sal will eternally be thinking of him as he walks away â€Å"across the land. † The book itself, much like Dean's character, has embodied the uncertainty of what ies ahead, and has manifested Dean's personality into the story itself. Sal's description at the end of the novel of a star in the distance becoming less bright as its â€Å"sheds across the night† sky represents the eternal legacy of Dean Moriarty becoming less bright and the diminishment of his naive and rebellious youth. This image of the shedding star, along with the novel's absence of a resolution, resonates with his entire philosophy and way of life, a life of spontaneity, a life of never knowing your future – and loving it.

Human Genetic Engineering Research: Where to draw the line

Abstract Human genetic engineering is the manipulation of an individual's genotype with the goal of choosing the phenotype (Singers 1). This has already been a very controversial issue when it has been done on animals, but tampering with humans takes this issue to a whole different level. It holds the promise of curing genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis and improving the immunity of people to viruses (Conner 4). However, it also opens up a whole new world where the laws of nature can be broken.Parents can choose to change the gender of their baby; they can choose to change their appearance, and they can even choose to change the mental faculties of their baby like memory and intelligence (Sanded 1). This seems like something out of a science fiction movie but with our rapidly increasing technology, it is definitely more than a possibility. The genetic engineering of humans can be the greatest thing to ever happen to us, however, such power can lead to corruption and cause us to re gress as beings. Are we trying to make the world a better place for each other or are we Just making the world more superficial or should I say artificial?That's the main question that is asked as the intriguing issue of human genetic engineering is further evaluated. Human Genetic Engineering: Where to Draw the Line Perfection is something that human beings really haven't been able to relate to very well, but thanks to our rapidly advancing technology, that could all change. Human genetic engineering may be the breakthrough we need to tear down the walls that keep us from being perfect. However, there are many questions that need to be answered and things that need to be considered before we attempt to break through the walls.For instance, what if those walls are there for a reason? What if those walls aren't supposed to be torn down? Maybe they are there to protect us from perfection or perhaps protect perfection from us. A disease-free world sounds good to everyone but what about a world where parents can actually design their own child? What if not only the sex of the baby could be chosen by parents but also the hair color, eye color, intelligence, and even their talents (Sanded 1)? This is the path that human genetic engineering is leading us to; however, our main concern should be where that path will end.Human genetic engineering should be used only to cure diseases or other disabilities and not to the extent where we start treating human life like a computer game. We all should strive to be perfect but we should also have a certain level of respect for life and the lessons it teaches us. Otherwise our quest for perfection will only lead us into destruction. Jacqueline Vaughn Sister's article Assistance and Treatment is about the struggle disabled people go through to fit into society. They are stereotyped as pitiful and pathetic and they are often discriminated against (Sweeter 3).There seems to be a prevailing belief in our society where people who ar e â€Å"in need of charity are thought to be incapable of living the same life as others† (Sweeter 3). Because of these beliefs and stereotypes, the progress to fully include the handicapped in American life made even more difficult (Sweeter 3). The disabled are a minority group and they have fought hard to be recognized as one, however, there's no doubt that if every handicap had a choice they would choose not to be handicapped whether they were being treated equally or not.No one would miss being blind or being deaf. That's why Sweeter, who is raising awareness for the discrimination of handicapped, would agree with the argument that the use of genetic engineering should be limited to curing diseases and disabilities. The cruelty shown towards the handicapped is the exact reason why we shouldn't allow parents to design their children. It will Just leave us with more inequality because our human nature tends not to show humility and respect for those who are less advantaged than us.Jack Donnelley article The Concept of Human Rights explains how humans can have rights naturally. Human rights are supposed to be equal rights (Donnelly 2). Therefore every human being has the same rights (Donnelly 2), but how does this work when relating to children. On one episode of the Steve Wilkes show, there was a transgender man who was upset about being born a woman because his parents decided to go through with a gender selection operation despite being told that he would have more male hormones than female hormones.So this man felt that his rights were violated even though he was still unborn and he's right. You can't force any human to go through a completely unnecessary procedure, so why would the rules change if they're your own kid? Are kids not human too? Parents are supposed to make decisions for the better of their children but this was Just an act of selfishness. Donnelly would agree with the argument that genetic engineering shouldn't be allowed to the ext ent that parents can design their own kids for that very reason. It's unethical, irresponsible, and potentially harmful to the child.Melvin Sooner's article Genetic Enhancement Should Be Left to Personal Choice is about why human genetic engineering should be a personal choice like getting breast implants or taking steroids (Conner 3). He argues that â€Å"there's no intrinsic preference between inserting genes and inserting steroids† (Conner 2). People are always finding ways to enhance life and this is Just another way to do it. He does agree, however, that â€Å"the weightiest moral problem in the quest for perfection is that, it increases inequality' but that doesn't mean we shouldn't complete the quest (Conner 7).Antibiotics at one point were being used irresponsibly, but â€Å"the ethical path is not to stop using them but to use them more Judiciously' (Conner 7). Conner would disagree with the argument that human genetic engineering shouldn't be allowed to the extent that parents can design their babies because he takes a very liberal approach on this issue. The problem with his argument is that he fails to understand that the quest for perfection involves eliminating inequality, not increasing it.If we are increasing inequality, all we're doing is backtracking on the progress we've made as human beings and that's not what we want. Michael Sandal's article Genetically Designing Babies is Unethical explains why human genetic engineering shouldn't be allowed at all. He argues that â€Å"changing our nature to fit the world rather than the other way around is an ethical defeat† and an attack on our freedom (Sanded 6). He looks back at the dark history of eugenics and how it was the driving force behind the Nazi holocaust (Sanded 1).It was done to eliminate all of whom the Nazis considered as undesirables. Sanded argues that in the same way, â€Å"the successful would be even more likely than they are now to see themselves as self-made and self-sufficient, and those at the bottom of society would be seen not as disadvantaged, but simply as unfit† (Sanded 6). Sanded would disagree with the argument that human genetic engineering should be allowed to a certain extent because he is against the whole idea of genetic engineering. What he fails to realize in his argument is that as human beings, we have an obligation to improve our lives.If we can have a cure for the flu or for bronchitis, why not have a cure for blindness, ATA Cash disease, or any other sickness or disability that doctors can do nothing about? Human genetic engineering should only be allowed for use in the medical field to cure diseases and disabilities and not to the point where human life becomes a game. Genetic engineering is a scientific concern, but without boundaries t becomes a moral concern. Life is the most sacred thing anyone can have and it needs to be approached with caution and respect.It is also a great teacher and one of the main lesso ns it tries to teach us is humility. Humility involves accepting others for who they are and plays a key role when it comes to our relationships. When you think about what really matters in life, family and relationships with others tend to come up first which is really no coincidence. The purpose of life seems to be to lift up those around us and genetically designing babies will do the exact opposite of that. Parents who would choose to do this are doing it for cynical and selfish purposes.They are taking the child's freedom away so they can satisfy their own desires and out of those desires will come corruption. That's why a line needs to be drawn about to what extent human genetic engineering can be used. With great power comes great responsibility, so this is something we really can't afford to play around with. If genetic engineering to cure diseases becomes almost accessible as the flu shot, we will be that much closer on our quest to perfection. One day we will get through t hat all, but it's going to take one brick at a time.