Three Varieties of Bathtubs
Past, present and future are the simplest ways in which humans perceive time. We recognize the past through our memories and our recall of events that already have happened. When looking into the future, we can only look at where we are now in order to guess what our fate might be in the future. Or else we only have our dreams and goals that we look forward to one- day accomplishing. When viewing the present, however, everything around us is not an idea or memory in our head, but a reality that we use our senses to see, feel, touch, smell or hear. We are using our body's functions to live and take in what is around us at the moment. When "living in the present" (as one would say to someone who is constantly aware of the moment and what is around them), there is less chance to miss what's in front of us rather than always looking behind or too far ahead. Jeffrey Harrison, in his poem "Bathtubs, Three Varieties," seems to feel the same way about living in the here and the now.
The three varieties of bathtubs Harrison writes about were separated into three stanzas according to their design and their purpose now, in the present. In the first stanza of the poem Harrison describes an old- fashioned bathtub, one that was raised off the floor by porcelain animal paws that extended off each corner. The particular bathtubs that he was describing were no longer serving their intended purpose, but rather were outside in a yard like an old car that was once one's hotrod, now scrap metal. These bathtubs, retired from their original purpose, now just sat through the seasons and let outside forces such as the weather and changes in other living things like the walnut tree carry on without regard to their presence. In the description of these bathtubs, Harrison shows something that although is still here, is part of the past and really does not have a life of its own anymore except just lying underneath the walnut tree. This is very much like a person whose thoughts are caught up in the past, because they, too, are still trying to live something that is over and then lose purpose in the present. Harrison also relates these bathtubs twice to sheep, which are commonly viewed as animals that follow each other, never really having a choice or idea of their own.
In Katherine Anne Porter’s, “The Future Is Now,” the author develops her argument through the use of rhetorical devices, as well as varying points of view, which greatly help emphasize her argument. In the second paragraph she notices a siren going off outside her home, she then starts to wonder about all the different things the siren could represent. As she considers all the possibilities she notices a man across the street who is consumed by a table he is carefully building. She fails to understand how a person can be so absorbed by something that they fail to notice something so alarming surrounding them. The primary argument the author is trying to make is that it is more important to exist and cherish life rather than always worry about
The author is faced with the struggle of coming to terms with his homosexuality, which parallels the “internal” struggle of the form of the poem. The opening sentence of the poem, “In the hall of mirrors nobody speaks,” (Cole 1) sets the gloomy tone through the author’s use of imagery to create before the reader a silent dark hallway with mirrors. The other attribute that describes the bath, “An ember smolders before hollowed cheeks,” (2) ...
What is human nature? In almost every century someone has asked this question to try and find the answer. Each individual had a specific way of debating the matter. One specific author, Robert Louis Stevenson, described the duality of human nature in his book, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The poem conveys the notion of “present” through the motifs of time and stillness: “There is another time within time / still… / without past or future / only alive / like the old man on the bench / indivisible identical perpetual,” says the speaker near the end of the poem (Paz 6). The “another time within time” that is “identical,” which the title of the poem, “Identical Time,” alludes to, is “still” and “identical” because it is “without past or future,” the transient states of the conventional perception of time. Instead, this other time is the present (since it is what’s other than the past and future), and it is by virtue of its stillness - the expression of aliveness in the poem - “alive.” Furthermore, the speaker, in regard to the present, reflects, “Perhaps time doesn’t pass / images of time pass / and if the hours do not come back / presences come back” (Paz 5). He thinks that the time that “doesn’t pass,” the present, is, in fact, the real and true time which always “come[s] back” to him and is always with him, while the common perceptions of passing time are “images,” fabrications by the minds of others that “do not come back” and are out of their control. Hence, to be alive means, in the poem, to live in the present, that which is alive, real, and controllable. Indeed, the old man’s aliveness stems from the fact he lives in the present,
Exploring the duality of memory; how we perceive the past, learning about the duality of the present; how we are constantly between the expectation of the future and past experience, as well as coming to the realization of the duality of life and death; how we are always living and dying at the same time. We are constantly in a state of suspension between dual experiences, whether they be life and death, love and loss, hot and cold, fast and slow, close and far, or past and future. There is no differentiating between them as they are all interconnected and depend on each other for their own existence. There would not be one without the other and we cannot appreciate the good without the bad. Life comes with infinite possibilities and even more ways to experience them, so we must take it all in with acceptance and appreciate the suspension act of life while we
“ We perceive events in time as being present, and those are the only events which we actually perceive. And all other events which, by memory or by inference, we believe to be real, we regard as present, past, or future. Thus the events of time are observed by us form an A-series.”
The present moment encompasses a minuscule amount of experiences compared to the past experiences and future anticipations. On this issue Tatarkiewicz says, “Our consciousness is seldom taken up entirely by the present, we are equally, or even more absorbed by out imagination and memory, by anticipation and recollection” (Tatarkiewicz 195). Because we think more about our past and future compared to the present, the past and future weigh heavier on our general satisfaction. Further, the present moment may seem that it is the source of happiness, but upon further examination it becomes clear that those feelings were derived from either the past or future. In interesting example of this provided by Tatarkiewicz when he describes intellectual activity as being satisfying. He claims that although you may feel happy when you are doing the work, it is actually the anticipation of the completed work that is driving that feeling of satisfaction. Therefore, he is not truly the present work providing the happiness, but it is the anticipation of the future that drives one’s current
One way which we speak, experience and conceive of time is that time is something that flows or passes from the future to the present and from the present to the past. When viewed in this way, events which are present have a special existential status. Whatever may be the case with regard to the reality or unreality of events in the future and the past, events that are in the present exist with a capital 'E'. It can then be postulated that it is the 'present' or 'now' that shifts to even later times. If events in time (or moments of time) are conceived in terms of past, present and future, or by means of the tenses, then they form what McTaggart called the A-series (from which the A-theory of time is derived). This type of change is commonly referred to as 'temporal becoming', and gives rise to well known perplexities concerning both what does the shifting and the type of shift involved, which we will discuss later.
The habitant, within this poem, is able to personify his home because he is aware of its identity and characteristics. This is demonstrated when he explains that by looking on the outside “through some aperture” he has the ability to see all that the machine is. The habitant can view the machine as a person, where “it sleeps, it weeps… it laughs”. He is able to see the machine for what it really is, he adopts a view and understanding that is much more complex than what other’s would adopt. By learning about the situation, and familiarizing yourself with it, you can see the truth.
“the past is gone, it is already de-termin(at)ed; it cannot be changed. The future, by contrast, is open, uncertain and indeterminate. What can change about the past is its meaning, which is subject to reinterpretations, anchored in intentions and expectation towards the
Suddendorf, T. & Corballis, M.C. (2007) The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? [On-line] Available from: http://www.memorylab.org/Files/Corballis_MTT_BBS_2007.pdf, [accessed 5th May 2011].
Hughes emphasizes his message consistently throughout this poem, weaving in the most important line in the middle and end of the poem. He is representing his people. African Americans have waited and been abused by society, and this deepened and weathered their souls over time, just as a river would become deepened and weathered. Hughes’ soul, the collective soul of African Americans, has become “deep like the rivers” (5). This simile speaks that the rivers are part of the body, and contribute to this immortality that Hughes is so desperate to achieve for his people. Rivers are the earthly symbols of eternity: deep, constant, mystifying.
The ability to stay in the present is a virtue. Most people are always living either in the past or in the future. So they are either worrying about the past, worrying about the past pains, the past results, the past failures, past relationships, past struggles or they are ruminating about the future fears, the future impossibilities, the future achievements, future possibilities. Worrying about the past or future would not benefit as you are putting yourself in a position of disadvantage. This is because thinking about the past losses or failures cannot change what has happened and ruminate about the future is not going to make that dream possible. I am going home.
Life is constantly throwing curveballs. They come from every angle, at differing speeds and all make diverse, lasting impacts. Yet, no matter how many are thrown in our direction, one may never be able to know when or from where the next is coming. Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher, once said that “Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forward.” Meaning that, much like the curveballs, there is no way to understand what life will throw at us in the future, yet we must learn based on the experiences that have occurred in our past. For instance, when one becomes aware of the fact that a curveball is in their near future, and is ready to throw them off course, there is no time to think of what steps to take in order to get out of harm’s way. One must act solely on instinct, while simultaneously thinking through the process. We must then continue to think it over after the ac...