Metaphysical Conceit
Metaphysical Conceita highly ingenious kind of conceit widely used
by the metaphysical poets, who explored all areas of knowledge to
find, in the startlingly esoteric or the shockingly commonplace,
telling and unusual analogies for their ideas. Metaphysical conceits
often exploit verbal logic to the point of the grotesque and sometimes
achieve such extravagant turns on meaning that they become absurd
(e.g. Richard Crashaw's description of Mary Magdalene's eyes as "Two
walking baths; two weeping motions,/Portable and compendious oceans").
These conceits work best when the reader is given a perception of a
real but previously unsuspected similarity that is enlightening; then
they may speak to our minds and emotions with force. Examples of
potential metaphysical conceits->love is like an oil change; love is
like a postage stamp; love is like a pair of compasses; the soul of a
sinner is like a damaged pot. As you can see, the temptation to be
merely clever must be hard to resist, while the difficulty in making
such a conceit truly effective is quite considerable.
The Flea
1. Background: Étienne Pasquier and Catherine Desroches, 1579.
Pseudo-Ovidian flea poems in which the lover wishes to become a flea
in order to gain enhanced access to the beloved's charms; theme is
often bestialization of the lover by his own passion.
2. Plot is simple: a) speaker points to a flea that has jumped from
him to the woman and bites both; b) she has hunted down and caught the
flea; speaker tries to dissuade her from killing it; c) she disregards
his pleas and kills it. N.B. all the action occurs between the
stanzas. Elaboration: he has argued that their being bitten by the
flea is tantamount to ha...
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...en the most moronic of women-unless she were as desirous
of being convinced as the speaker is of convincing her-and this one is
far from moronic. She is clearly not bewildered or dazzled by these
arguments. The whole poem has the air of a little intellectual game
indulged in by these two, both of them knowing what the outcome will
be even if they don't quite know how the conclusion will be reached,
and both enjoying the game for its own sake, rather than that of a
serious attempt to lead someone astray. If the poem is read this way,
the fact that the argument is false, is pure sophistry, is at least
beside the point and can even become a strength-it is the interaction
between the participants that is central. Donne (also Spenser, see 28,
29, 75, 54) frequently uses argument as a form of love-play and posits
a woman who is an intellectual match for the man.
Kenneth Fearing's poem "Love, 20 cents the First Quarter Mile," expresses the wide range of emotions experienced in an argument. The poem depicts the all too familiar situation of a lover's quarrel in which the persona, whom we can assume is male, struggles to resolve an argument during a taxi ride. During his attempts to resolve the quarrel, the persona experiences a variety of emotions ranging from apologetic to accusatory to sarcastic to romantic. In this poem, the reader gains a personal insight into the conflicting and rapidly changing feelings of the persona.
b. He would categorize her as anal expulsive and claim that it is due to unresolved issues she had during her anal stage of life.
This paper will examine the reliability of George Berkeley’s metaphysical theory of Idealism. Berkeley’s Idealism holds that reality is made real by what the mind perceives and that what we perceive to be material is really a collection of immaterial sensations. Idealism is defined as the view “that only mental entities exist, so physical things exist only in the sense that they are perceived” (“Idealism”). Berkeley’s argument of Subjective Idealism is the view that reality consists of one’s mind and its ideas, while Objective Idealism says in addition, a supreme mind produces ideas in the physical world that do not depend on human minds to exist (Velasquez 146). Without Objective Idealism, one can undergo solipsism which is the belief that only one’s self and experiences of the world are real and everything else does not exist (“Solipsism”). Opposing Idealism is the metaphysical view of Materialism which holds that only physical things exist (“Materialism”). This paper will start by examining George Berkeley’s views of Subjective and Objective Idealism and how they apply to reality. Then, the critiques made and supported by Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes against both views of Idealism will be argued. However, these arguments fail to properly examine Berkeley’s Idealism, thus causing the critiques to be based upon misinformation. Although the criticisms pose potential flaws, Berkeley’s Idealism continues to be a major discussion in the metaphysical debate.
Love can come at unexpected times, through current situations or through memories, and they will always have that permanent effect on us, just like a tattoo. Because of strange stanza breaks, unusual imagery, and elongated punctuation, the reader can determine the deeper meaning of the poem. The two-lined stanzas signify short-lived loves, and the stanza breaks depict the break-ups and passing of loved ones. The imagery of skulls and the metaphor that love is a tattoo shows that love never deteriorates. And lastly, the poem is only two sentences long, so this shows the fluidity and never ending power of love. Too often people take advantage of love, but what they aren’t aware of is that their experiences with each and every person they have loved tattoo their mind to make them into who they are, much like a tattoo permanently inks one’s skin to commemorate a
tries to make her prove this, and once he has weakened her whole defensive stand,
A rose is the ultimate yet simplest sign of love. Billions are sold on Valentine’s Day and countless numbers are sold to epitomize a lover’s feelings throughout the year. The delicate petals, harsh and unforgiving thorns, vivid and deep colors, all of the things associated with a rose go towards it being the best way to sum up a person’s love for another. The rose has often been associated with a sign of romance. The thought of romance is not as appreciated in today’s time period in comparison to, say, fifty years ago. With this in mind, we can examine how the love has changed in symbolism over the years using poetry and literature. “One Perfect Rose” by Dorothy Parker and “Cinderella’s Diary” by Ron Koertge both speak about the beauty and gratitude of being in love, Parker speaks more to the materialistic view of love that has been manifesting over the past century, especially in the American culture while Koertge gives a more humble and earnest viewpoint.
These two poems are meant to be a love letters written by a man to a
Epistemology is purposed with discovering and studying what knowledge is and how we can classify what we know, how we know it, and provide some type of framework for how we arrived at this conclusion. In the journey to identify what knowledge is the certainty principle was one of the first concepts that I learned that explained how we, as humans, consider ourselves to know something. The certainty concept suggests that knowledge requires evidence that is sufficient to rule out the possibility of error. This concept is exemplified in cases like The Gettier problem in the instance that we suppose (S) someone to know (P) a particular proposition. As Gettier established the Justified True Belief as a conceptual formula for knowledge, certainty can be understood with the proper perspective and background. The certainty principle explains that knowledge requires evidence to be “sufficient” to rule out the possibility of error. This means that what we determine to be acknowledged as “knowledge” must present justification in order to be accepted believed as knowledge. This is important because Skepticism doubts the validation of knowledge and how we come to any such conclusion of justifying what we “know” indubitably as knowledge. This is the overarching problem with skepticism. Instead of having a solid stance on how to define knowledge, skeptics simply doubt that a reason or proposition offered is correct and suppose it to be false or flawed in some manner. See the examples below as identifiers of the skeptic way of life.
Describe what evolutionary psychologists mean when they employ the term ‘theory of mind’. Use examples and research studies from Book 1, Chapter 2 to show why this theory is important in evolutionary psychology.
In the article The Mindset of a Champion Carol Dweck explains how important the mindset of an athlete is. Dweck goes into great detail about the differences of a growth and fixed mindset and how it influences athletes and students, Dweck mentions some of the characteristics of someone with a fixed mindset and she does the same with someone with a growth mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset typically sees their abilities as a fixed trait, they also believe that talent is a gift you either have it or you don’t, in the contrary someone with a growth mindset usually believes that people can cultivate their abilities. Dweck also mentions how sometimes a person can hold one mindset about intelligence and another about sports. The central psychological concept of this article is how your mindset affects your motivation to excel in your sport or school work. In the article Dweck discusses a few experimental studies, she was a part of, in the first experiment she indicates her hypothesis: students with a fixed mindset were more likely to cheat or give up. Independent variable: a group of students given a test in a new subject. Dependent Variable: a group of students given a test in a subject they enjoy. they found that those with a fixed mindset were more likely to say that if they did poorly on a test, even if it were in a new course they would most likely study less or even cheat on the next test. This example, provides great proof of Dweck’s definition of a fixed mindset.
On the other side, “Love Poem” is very different from the previous poem. This seven stanza poem is based on a man describing the imperfections of his lover. In this, the speaker uses stylistic devices, such as alliteration and personification to impact more on reader, for example as the speaker shows “your lipstick ginning on our coat,”(17) ...
Relationships between two people can have a strong bond and through poetry can have an everlasting life. The relationship can be between a mother and a child, a man and a woman, or of one person reaching out to their love. No matter what kind of relationship there is, the bond between the two people is shown through literary devices to enhance the romantic impression upon the reader. Through Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” Ben Jonson’s “To Celia,” and William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” relationships are viewed as a powerful bond, an everlasting love, and even a romantic hymn.
The Egocentric Predicament is a problem associated with our ideas and how we perceive the world. Locke believes all knowledge come from personal ideas; these ideas are based upon our perception of the world. However, if we only see the world based on our own ideas how can there be any external or objective world. This begs questions similar to; can I really know an objective world exists? If there is no external world do any other minds –or ideas- other than my own exist? How can we ever test reality if it is our own mental construction? Locke concludes that we do have some knowing in relation to the subjective and objective reality that they do exist, but that we do not have a clear idea between one and of the other.
...his comrade’s attack. She threw the dead man at the other’s legs, tripping him up, and struck while he was vulnerable.
She then grabbed him by the shirt and before he could free himself she turned around and tossed him at several trashcans at the end of the alleyway. He was flung almost effortlessly at the cans before impacting them and causing a loud clang as both cans lids tossed over and spewed garbage all over him.