“To Pluto” has two meanings. The first meaning connotates Pluto as the furthest discovered planet in our solar system (even though it was demoted in 2006 from “real planet” to “dwarf planet). As the furthest planet, Pluto symbolizes insatiable human ambition, especially towards space exploration and innately unobtainable things (space exploration, non-viviparous births, robot creation etc.). In maintaining this microcosmic view of human existence , earthly ambition is not necessarily precarious in itself; it becomes harmful when it bends natural Earth into submission, and makes it a tool to achieve innately impossible things. Thus, the first meaning of the title “To Pluto,” signifies the inherent overzealous ambitions of some contemporary …show more content…
In Greek mythology, Hades is the ruler of the underworld; a vast, barren, rocky realm where dead souls habit. Although Pluto has a slightly different character than Hades, I took liberties in melding their names and simplifying the meld into a loose characterization of the underworld. With this characterization, I unfortunately deluded the true Greek underworld even further by equating it with the Christian Hell, which is not necessarily just because not all souls in Hades are unvirtuous at death (Hades is the realm of all the dead, while Hell is the realm of dead sinners). Justifications aside, Pluto in my title represents the inevitable death of every human, and one’s eventual return to earth matter- which also represents the Greek name Pluton which has been anglicized to pluton, meaning deep, subsurface, solidified, igneous rock. So, when a human rots to bone in the earth (assuming a traditional burial), their bones will either decay completely, or become embedded deep into the Earth. Similarly, another meaning can also be contrived from the cremated ashes of a dead human: since plutonic rocks are igneous, formed from molten lava or fire, and cremated ashes are also created using fire, the two processes share similar roots, thus bundling man with nature once more (a bond that the hyper-ambitious or hubristic human attempts to …show more content…
Here, the climber is pleading to nature, as man normally does when in critical circumstances. Indeed, the anthropomorphism of nature is strange when one is clinging to earth as our climber is here. The next line is enjambed to read both independently as “the rocks are melting,” and “the rocks are melting my hands.” The former is hyperbolic in that it exaggerates the effects of human’s rape of nature (climate change). The latter represents the ensuing consequences stemming from human’s rape (the melting of hands-tools of creation- from the melting of earth, and a communal demise. More enjambment and hidden meaning. The line can be read: “like waxen liquid before me,” or “Before me the rocks are sediment inactive.” The former is obvious, while the latter is a bit deeper. By “sediment” I mean both sedimentary rocks (a conglomerated mass of loosed sediment combined by natural agents) and the sedentary nature of rocks when viewed by the average human. Most conceive of rocks as dusty, sedent pieces of earth while their activity is truly impressive (erosion, weathering, recession
Depending on the type of path that was created, it would largely influence the rate and distance to which the sediment was transported.
When an Etruscan person died, they would be cremated and would be seen as entering a new life. They would put the remains in a special urn called Etruscan hut urn (c. 800 B.C.E.), this urn was another ‘home’ for the afterlife.
Imagine working with radioactive materials in a secret camp, and the government not telling you that this material is harmful to your body. In the book Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters by Kate Brown, she takes her readers on a journey to expose what happened in the first two cities that started producing plutonium. Brown is an Associate Professor of History at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has won a handful of prizes, such as the American Historical Association’s George Louis Beer Prize for the Best Book in International European History, and was also a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. Brown wrote this book by looking through hundreds of archives and interviews with people,
"Sedimentary Rocks." Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
This means that crumbling is a result of dilapidation, which is caused by gradual decay. The deterioration that results is progressive: one stage of decay leads to the next until crumbling inevitably comes along. The second stanza contains four images of decay: “cobweb, rust, dust and borer in the axis.'; These images are combined with specific details which give them a deeper meaning. The dust is a “cuticle,'; which suggests that it is at the edges. The “cobwebs on the soul'; suggest spiritual deterioration (cobwebs symbolizing neglect). “Elemental'; rust means basic corrosion and corruption. the “borer in the axis'; represents something that eats a person from the inside out. In the third stanza, the word “ruin'; is perhaps the most suitable word for describing both physical and spiritual collapse. “Devil’s work'; speaks for itself--the devil is evil, ruin is evil. this poem can describe any type of ruin: personal, emotional, financial.
Projecting human body parts onto the sculpture makes a direct connection between the human body and “dust to dust”. When a human dies, the physical body is what goes back into the earth and is dealt with differently around the world. In many cultures around the world, the human body is handled differently once a person dies, but in the end it is returned to the earth either physically or spiritually, even in some cases. Even though, the title has distinct ties to a biblical quote, the idea of returning to the earth is a universal concept and allows a cross cultural understanding of the human condition and the physical form. The audio plays the sound of a baby crying that hints towards the beginning of life and later on a raspy voice says the phrase, “annihilation into pure evaporation”, which connects the concept of life and death.
The underworld is a place of departed souls, imagined as being under the earth. This means that Hades has to
Through portrayal of the Stikine Icecap as both terrifying and beautiful, Krakauer’s ambivalence towards his journey is revealed. Upon looking at the aerial photograph of the Devil’s Thumb, Krakauer describes it as “particularly sinister” (135) and “dark” (153). By personifying the mountain as evil, Krakauer’s fear intensifies because the mountain is hard to climb and there is an underlying metaphysical danger. Furthermore the mountain’s tangible “blade-like” (135) summit ridges indicate the mountain is hazardous, dangerous, and capable of killing climbers like a knife. During the second ascend, Krakauer crosses a " Gothic cathedral" (152). Krakauer is uncertain of what to make of the Alaskan scenery. At times, he views the mountain as ...
Aeneis's first contact with a soul in the purgatory of the Underworld is Palinurus, who died after falling from one of Aeneis's ships. Aeneis is at the mouth of the river that flows through hell with his guide the goddess Diephobe and Charon the ferryman. Palinurus is waiting to be ferried to his place in the Underworld, so he can begin his thousand-year purge. He pleads with Aeneis's party to take him along, but Deiphobe scolds him: "Shalt thou, unburied, see the Stygian flood, / The Furies stream, or reach the bank unbid?" (107). In Vergil's Underworld one must have had a proper burial to gain a position. This serves as a warning to Romans to give their deceased a proper funeral, less they remain in hell longer.
The corpse mutilated and eaten by carrion-birds and by dogs" (Sophocles). Herein lies the dilemma; in Greek culture, the spirit of a body that is not buried by sundown on the day that it died cannot find rest but is doomed to walk the earth.
Line 4 also features the personification of oil in which Noonuccal calls it ‘black blood’. Blood is something that escapes our body whenever we are wounded on the skin, so Noonuccal mentions this in an attempt to bring forth the point that mining is causing wounds on the earth’s surface and miners are extracting oil which is the equivalent of blood for the earth. The personifying of the earth when looked at deeply also reveals that Noonuccal has written the poem in a way that mentions that the earth has a heart. This heart experiences feelings and emotions. In the case of the poem this feelings are of sadness and remorse as the miners mine into the surface.
Pluto Shits on the Universe is a strong and defiant poem that expresses the rejection of rules, rules placed upon others by those who cannot even begin to control them. After being discredited as a planet for her uncharted and chaotic movements, Pluto reacts. She expresses her freedom from the rules of documented science, from our sense of time, from our titles and competition. This poem has tones of defiance, confidence and independence created through its syntax, diction, and repetition.
Indeed, most of the problem is that there is no formal definition of a planet. Furthermore, it is very difficult to invent one that would allow the solar system to contain all nine planets. I suggest that for an object to be classified as a planet, it must embody three characteristics. It must be in orbit around a star (thus removing the larger satellites from contention), it must be too small to generate heat by nuclear fusion (so dwarf stars are excluded) and it must be massive enough to have collapsed to a more or less spherical shape (which excludes comets, and most of the asteroids). These criteria would admit a few of the larger asteroids and probably some of the Kuiper belt objects as well, but adding a requirement for a planet to have a minimum diameter of 1,000 km would remove the larger asteroids from contention while retaining Pluto.
In addition to its moons, Pluto has a core, geology, seasons, and an atmosphere. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). According to Stern, “I can’t think of a single distinguishing characteristic that would set apart Pluto and other things that you’d call a planet, other than its size. So I like to say, ‘a Chihuahua is still a dog.’” Also from Discovery Education the text states, “Other astronomers have noted that their colleagues sometimes call Jupiter a giant planet. Why can’t Pluto be called a dwarf planet without being downgraded from planet status?” Another fact stated from Discovery Education was, “about 90% of the planets known to astronomers are outside Earth’s solar system. Some of these extra-solar planets do not fit the IAU’s definition of a planet. Yet IAU astronomers still refer to them as planets.” USA Today stated, “The debate among Gingerich, Williams and Dimitar Sasselov, director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, took place Sept. 18 with scientists, teachers and civilians watching. Two of the three, Gingerich and Sasselov, said Pluto should be a planet. A vote among audience members agreed.” Another statement mentioned by USA Today was, “Harvard science historian Owen Gingerich, who chairs the IAU planet definition committee, argued at a forum last month that "a planet is a culturally defined word that changes over time," and that Pluto is a planet.” Finally from CNN they interviewed Alan Stern, a member of NASA, who said, “We're just learning that a lot of planets are small planets, and we didn't know that before” and “Fact is, in planetary science, objects such as Pluto and the other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt are considered planets and called planets in everyday discourse in scientific