Philosophies in West-Running Brook and Meditation 17
No matter the elaborate chicanery afforded its disclosure or evasion, the subject of death relentlessly permeates the minds of men. Death and its cyclical, definitive nature connects all humans to one another. Robert Frost in "West-Running Brook" and John Donne in "Meditation 17" provoke a universal reexamination of the relationship between life and death. While both authors metaphorically represent this relationship, the former assumes a pessimistic approach by negating any correlation between the two, whereas the latter, voicing man’s dependence on G-d, optimistically surmises the crossover a restoration of our natural haven.
Frost utilizes "West-Running Brook" as a catalyst towards an insightful philosophy comparing human existence to a west-running brook. The westward direction of the brook informs the reader of the poem’s focus on death due to the inherent archetypal associations between death and the sunset, which occurs in the west. "Running" and a stylistically choppy sentence structure convey the poet’s belief in the rapid and ephemeral pace of life. Repetition of the phrase "runs away" ("it runs away, it seriously sadly runs away") serves as a constant reminder of this transient aspect of life while adding an element of despair and loneliness. "The Frostian consciousness normally resides in the time-space continuum, and finds it extremely difficult to move behind or beyond…while remaining drenched in skepticism(Hart 442)." "What all this comes to is a detachment which in its cultural context is a poetry of isolationism(Traschen 63)." Frost’s isolation accosts the reader who cannot help but to sympathize and possibly empathize with his situation. Frost’...
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Sherwood, Terry. Fulfilling the Circle: A Study of John Donne’s Thought. University of Toronto Press, 1984. 231.
Traschen, Isadore. "Robert Frost: Some Divisions in a Whole Man." The Yale Review. Vol. LV, No. 1. Autumn, 1965. 57-70.
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Affirmative action has been the topic of debate for many years. It has been controversial because it has been said to be a form of reverse discrimination. This paper will discuss the purpose behind affirmative action, as well as, its various strengths and weaknesses. Also, this paper will look at the following issues surrounding affirmative action such as the incompetency myth ( are companies hiring less qualified people?), the impact on employment (what has changed in the work place?), the impact on women (how have their lives changed?) and the impact on employment law (what documents back up affirmative action?). Lastly, a discussion of affirmative action on an international scale, and what international documents have to say about the topic. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light all the issues, and then make an educated statement of whether affirmative action is a worthwhile activity or if there is a better solution.
Lentricchia, Frank. Robert Frost: Modern Poetics and the Landscape of Self. Durham: Duke University Press. 1975. 103-107.
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost once said. As is made fairly obvious by this quote, Frost was an adroit thinker. It seems like he spent much of his life thinking about the little things. He often pondered the meaning and symbolism of things he found in nature. Many readers find Robert Frost’s poems to be straightforward, yet his work contains deeper layers of complexity beneath the surface. His poems are not what they seem to be at first glance. These deeper layers of complexity can be clearly seen in his poems “The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Birches”.
In the United States, Affirmative Action is a group of policy decisions that provide benefits or some special opportunities to members of underrepresented or underprivileged groups. These policies began in the United States and were aimed at creating an equal opportunity workforce but were also extended to college admissions. These policies were created in 1961 when President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925 where he wrote that all companies are to, "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." Today, in a country with fairly evolved race relations, Affirmative Action is a topic of hot debate. Many Americans believe that these policies of affirmative action have turned into reverse discrimination against Caucasian Americans, while other Americans believe that we still need these policies.
The theme of the play Hamlet can unmistakably be determined. Revenge, rage, and tragedy circulate throughout the play. Hamlet’s rage and revenge for his father’s death blinds him from rationality, and it drives him mad. Laertes sought revenge for his father’s death, and his main target was Hamlet. Finally, the dominos come to a standstill when Hamlet, Claudius, Laertes, and Gertrude pay the price of death. On page 151 of Brightest Heaven of Invention, there is a sentence that exudes the theme of Hamlet, “Violent revenge begets further violence.” Therefore, seeking revenge is never the answer to any
Life and death are two things that we as humans must all face. The road from one to the other, from life to death, is a long and at times, both joyous and painful one. Robert Frost’s poems are a prime example of these times and trials. The poems I chose for this paper highlight them, and with Frost’s allegory, they present a sort of silver lining to the string of dark and dreary words he’s pieced together for these poems. The depressing tone to the poems “Acquainted with the Night”, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening” could be attributed to the death of many of Frost’s family members, and how despite this he overcame it all, and at the end of his life, was a successful writer. These poems to not go into great explanation of the details of Frost’s life, however, I believe that they are representations of the things path that he’s walked, and how he viewed his actions and death in general.
Greiner, Donald J. Robert Frost: The Poet and His Critics. Chicago: American Library Association, 1974.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, revenge intertwines to bring about the deaths of most of the main characters. Hamlet’s course of revenge initiates the first fatality when Polonius gets caught spying on him and Gertrude (III. iv. 24-25). By pursuing revenge, Hamlet killing Polonius paves the way for more lives to be lost. Claudius sees the murder as an opportunity to eliminate Hamlet, because Laertes’s obsession with revenge leaves him vulnerable. Laertes’s and Hamlet’s revenge lead to the deaths of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and finally Hamlet (V. ii. 287-357). The revenge of each character ironically ended their own life. By acting upon revenge and having inimical intentions, the individuals brought fatalities that were unnecessary.
Robert Lee Frost was a famous American poet who was always acknowledged for his vivid and unique writing style, which contributed tremendously into him becoming one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Throughout his life, Frost has written many amazing poems but like the majority of poets at that time, many of his poems from his early writings went unnoticed. He was known for following a very well organized structure for his writing, a great example for this would be: “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, which are two of Frost’s greatest pieces as they bring to the table all of his writing characteristics, ranging from the dominant figurative language that makes the poem vivid, to his flexible idealistic
Greiner, Donald J. “Robert Frost.” The Twenties, 1917-1929. Ed. Brucolli, Matthew J. and Richard Layman. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1989. Print.
In the opening stanza, Frost describes coming to a point during a walk along a rural road that diverges into two separate, yet similar paths. The narrator finds that he ...
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Robert Frost is one of the worlds most renowned and beloved American poets whose work was enthused through the use of American colloquial speech, he wrote poems about rural life that captivated everyone’s mind. Frost was born in San Francisco on the 26th of March 1874, at the tender age of eleven after his father’s death the family moved to New England. Some of his most important poems include: “The Road Not Taken”, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”, and “Fire and Ice” are examples of ways Frost utilized nature to depict that he was indeed a contemplative human being. Frost employs the theme nature to determine his
In Williams Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, there are many themes. Revenge is the biggest theme in this play. The idea of Revenge plagues Hamlet and causes many tragic deaths in its wake. Hamlet who consumed by the need of revenge is the cause of all of the deaths in the play. The deaths that are directly caused by the sense of revenge is in order, Polonius, Ophellia, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet himself. Revenge is the downfall of all of the characters in the play. While there are many themes to this play, revenge is the key to what makes this play a tragedy.
“Frost, Robert.” Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of American Literature. Vol 2. Detroit: Gale, 2009. 569-573. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 March 2014.