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Literary analysis everyday use
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Violence and death are all around us in our society today. Whether it is seen on the television in the news, in a film, or read about in the newspaper, the descriptiveness of these incidents is absolutely horrifying. The punishment of such crimes that we read about today are simply minute compared to the events that occurred during the fifteenth century. In the poem “La Ballade des pendus” written by François Villon, the gruesome description of the images are far from ordinary, but serves it’s purpose brilliantly.
In his poem Villon writes of men who were hung, still hanging out in a courtyard and describes what happens to their bodies once they are dead. His word choice in this poem makes the reality of what occurred back then that much more ghastly and repugnant. The punishments given today are much less severe and when they are written about in a newspaper, the incident is not described quite in the way that François Villon chose to write in his poem.
I feel that if Villon had used a different method of describing the events such as being metaphorical instead of straight-forward, the poem would not have the same effect on its audience. Although when I first read this poem I did not like it because I thought it was absolutely disgusting, after reading it several times I realized that with out the disgusting details the poem would not be the same. The words that he uses simply speak out in a way that makes the reader either love it or despise it, I feel that is what makes this poem so interesting.
I believe that François Villon did an excellent job writing this poem and if today’s stories were just as graphic or possibly a little bit less than that of Villon, it would be a lot more interesting to read.
The Return of Martin Guerre, written by Natalie Zemon Davis, is the tale of a court case that takes place in sixteenth century France. Martin Guerre is a peasant who deserted his wife and family for many years. While Martin Guerre is gone, a man named Arnaud du Tilh arrives at Martin’s village and claims to be Martin Guerre. Bertrande, who is Guerre’s wife, Guerre’s sisters, and many of the villagers, accepts the imposter. After almost three years of being happily married, Bertrande takes the fraud to court under pressure of Pierre Guerre, her stepfather and Guerre’s brother. Arnaud du Tilh is almost declared innocent, but the real Martin Guerre appears in the courthouse. Throughout this tale, many factors of the peasant life are highlighted. The author gives a very effective and detailed insight to a peasant’s life during the time of Martin Guerre. Davis does a successful job of portraying the peasant lifestyle in sixteenth century France by accentuating the social, cultural, and judicial factors of everyday peasant life.
Very different from traditional writings of the past was the new flourish of troubadour poetry. Troubadour poetry, derived of courtly romances, focused on the idea of unrequited love. “A young man of the knightly class loved a lady”, most often, “the lady was married to the young man’s lord”. The courtly lover would compose highly lyrical and erotic poems in honor of his lady, and the troubadour was filled with rapture even at the slightest kindness that the lady might offer him.3 This new literary artifice provides us clues to the cultural changes that took place in medieval Europe during this time.
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of revenge on the outside, but when on the inside, it is something deeper. His stories are dark and sometimes, like in “The Cask of Amontillado,” deadly. Poe’s main focus in “The Cask of Amontillado” is revenge, but if examined more closely, the irony that is present foreshadows the end result for Fortunato. In “The Cask of Amontillado” the Montresor is planning to seek revenge on Fortunato for “the thousand injuries.” The revenge results in the live burial of Fortunato, the actual reasoning is left a mystery, but this story goes to prove that things that one does can always come back ...
Death, despair, and revenge, these three words form a treacherous triangle to any reader who dare enter the mind of Edgar Allen Poe. In many of his works these expressions seem to form a reoccurring theme. Comparing the works "The Mask of the Red Death" and "The Cask of Amontillado", we will discuss these themes while analyzing the method behind Poe’s madness.
Why do we become happy, sad, mad, or upset? Why are some days good while others are bad? We smile, cry, laugh, frown and this is a continuous cycle throughout life. Individuals describe depression as a state of sadness and confusion that humans face, but in reality depression impacts much more than one’s mood or behavior. I strongly believe depression is a mental health disorder, one in which people of society need to take more serious. I have been struggling with depression for quite a few years, as well as, witnessing close family members and friends who also face the daily challenges depression brings alone. It is hard to read the news headlines, of the traumatic stories of suicide. These individuals cannot handle the overwhelming problems and stress life. Often, they have no one to explain how valuable life is, ways to help them through difficult situations, or most importantly, getting individuals professional counseling. In most cases it is not that others do not want to help those in need, but that they are unaware of what actions to take in order to provide that help. I plan to become a counselor, so I can be educated on the different emotional, physical, and social problems individuals deal with. The questions I propose are valuable for me to research, so I can inform society the importance of understanding depression. What are the different types of depression? How can depression affect an individual's appetite, sleep pattern, and health conditions? When is therapy counseling and medication needed for treating depression? What are the main experiences individuals face that trigger depression? How are ages affected by depression? What are coping skills for depression? I believe the information I gain from these sources wi...
Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen is a collection of poems with all sorts of different themes and content, Baudelaire had consistently used a form which enhances the poem’s content, though had he used a more traditional form at the time, these poems may have not be as powerful and gotten popular. An example of Baudelaire’s form that went away from traditional forms of poetry, is seen through the poem, “The Firing Range and the Graveyard,” a free-form poem that seems to have no structure and seemly similar to a short story, for the poem is rather clever with the form. The nature of this writing seems simple to some, but to indulge and dig deeper into the poem, one may see more than they wanted to; a journey of a character who goes to a graveyard hears voices, but the poem is more than a first time reader would ever think of. Digging into the poem, one can realize the symbolism of things and interpret what their ideals come from this poem, for this poem’s seemingly straightforward way of writing, brings a whole lot more than just a man going to the firing range and a graveyard. The poem is enhanced through a certain word choice, the way the poem is structured and themed, using 4 stanzas, and the narrative way of writing.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
Workplace bullying is defined as any as any type of repetitive abuse in which the victim of the bullying behaviour suffers verbal abuse, threats, humiliating or intimidating behaviours, or behaviours that interfere with his or her job performance and are meant to place at risk the health and safety of the victim (Murray, 2009). Bullying can take many forms, some blatant, others more subtle. Researchers ha...
Major Depressive Disorder, according to Coon, is a mood disorder in which the person has suffered one or more intense episodes of depression. Major Depressive Disorder falls under mood disorders subtopic depressive disorders (Coon 2013). “Psychologist have come to realize that mood disorders (major disturbances in emotion) are among the most serious of all psychological conditions. In any given year, roughly 9.5 percent of the U.S. population suffers from a mood disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011a)” (Coon 2013). I was one of the 9.5 percent. I have decided to write on this topic because I want to understand what causes it. I have been depressed before without medication or counseling and I wanted to know why do you get depressed and how does it impact you. This essay will talk about disorder information, disorder triggers, research on depression, treatment for depression, and theorist’s experiments for Major Depression Disorder.
Depression is a serious mental health illness which affects an individuals’ mind, body and mood. It is a chronic and lifelong health condition (NICE, 2006) thought to be caused by a number of biological factors including neurotransmitter disturbances in the brain and an element of genetic vulnerability; these are often in addition to psychosocial factors such as the occurrence of undesirable life events, limited social network options, poor self esteem and the occurrence of any adverse life events during a persons’ lifetime (Bernstein, 2006). Depression can have an impact on a persons’ ability to do many things including working, engaging with others, participating fully in family life or maintaining relationships, and it can also impact on a person...
Accordingly, Poe is well responsive to this psychological trait of the human brain. Likewise, Poe employs the perception of perversity and remorse in “The Cask of Amontillado.” The reason of burying Fortunato is not only vengeance, but also a robust reaction that is described in “The Black Cat”. There is a passionate yearning in Montresor to hurt Fortunato even if he has not made any harm to him. Although Montresor asserts that he has been injured several times by Fortunato, he cannot defy calling him “respected, admired, beloved,” admitting his “good nature,” and also calling him “noble” (Little 212). These expressions confirmed that Fortunato is a good quality person and the expression “injuries” used in the first phase of the story is simply a hyperbole that Montresor’s psyche has fabricated. Furthermore, wickedness does not come unaccompanied, but it carries itself a sense of remorse. Even if Montresor reflects himself as the diplomat of his family for deafening down rivals, he suffers remorse while walling up Fortunato. Consequently, Poe’s clasp of unreasonableness and culpability of the human mind is
Downplaying bullying, saying things like “He was just joking around”, and “Don’t take things so seriously” can have serious repercussions. Some people are more fragile than others and react to this type of treatment with anger or violence. On the other hand, there are managers who rule with an iron hand and sometimes this pressure can cause an employee to crack.
Depression is sometimes mistaken as the typical sad feeling all humans get once in a while. However, the distinct difference between depression and those typical sad feelings are that depression is long-term whereas feeling sad is short-term. Depression is a mental illness that should be taken seriously as this illness can affect the individual emotionally and physically, and impair the daily life. So what is it that causes depression? This is the big question psychologists try to answer through research but their explanations do not explain how those who face one of those factors, only a few are able to avoid developing depression. Everyone thinks and behaves differently, but there are specific personal factors such as one’s negative personalities, chronic illnesses, and substance abuse that causes each individual to respond in a similar and certain way, thus causing them to be prone to developing a depressive disorder. Low self-esteem and negative personality styles can cause depression due to its negative influences on the individual’s mind. Chronic illnesses triggers depression due to its biological and psychological effects. Lastly, substance abuse affects an individual’s mood, personal life, and health causing vulnerability to developing depression.
The Vicario brothers in Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Esteban Trueba of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits are prime examples of vengeance not being sweet relief, but instead a bitter burden. Even if it is meant to protect personal morals and values, the act of escalating the anger into violence will never satisfy. The keen understandings of the Chronicle of a Death Foretold’s narrator and Alba give hope for the future to not be rot by the illogical thought that revenge is sweet because in reality, it eventually turns bitter.
“The rape of the lock” is a satiric poem which treats a trivial subject, with the sophisticated language and heroic style of the classical epic. Pope addresses a variety of ideas ...