Study question the Victorians poetry & prose Essay Example for Free

Study question the Victorians poetry prose Essay 1. What is the function of poetry for Mill? Of poets? What differences do you see between his ideal of poetry and the Romantic ideal? The function of poetry, according to Mill, is to act upon the emotions. It differs from prose or science in a sense that while these address beliefs, poetry is to feelings; that while the other two works by â€Å"convincing or persuading†, poetry works by â€Å"moving† emotions; and while the other two presents a â€Å"proposition to the understanding†, poetry â€Å"offers interesting objects of contemplation to the sensibilities. † Poetry should â€Å"paint the human soul truly. † There is not much difference in Mills function of poetry to Romantic ideals in the sense that both appeal to the emotion of the readers. 2. In the passage from his Autobiography, what does Mill become depressed/love his faith? What â€Å"saves† him? What is Mill’s critique of Utilitarian philosophy? Although Mill is a famous exponent of Utilitarianism, he has some objections or criticisms about it. His father was also an exponent of Utilitarianism and here lies his delemma. He took the oppurtunity to publish his criticisms, alongside with his defense, when an earlier work by Professor Sedgwick was published that assaulted utilitarian ethics, and which had given his father and other utilitarians much indignation. 3. What choice is the Lady of Shalott making when she leaves her tower? The Lady of Shalott decides to leave her isolation when she decided to leave her tower. All her life she lived in isolation, that although reapers hears her song, none had seen her and she couldnt look down fro her tower because of the curse if she did so. One time she exclaimed: â€Å"I am half-sick of the shadows. † Even though she resists looking down from her tower, she finally did when she heard Sir Lancelot sing and the curse is starting to manifest on her. Perhaps, at least at the time of death the Lady of Shalott does not wish to be alone but wish herself to be known to others, that she left the tower, labeled the boat she found â€Å"The Lady of Shalott,† and died crossing the river going to Camelot. 4. Is Ulysses’ decision to leave his home again (a) heroic or (b) escapist? Defend your answer. Ulysses decision to leave his home again is an escape to the life in his kingdom. There is nothing heroic in his new conquest, other than to â€Å"seek a newer world† or to â€Å"touch the Happy Isles. † In the beginning of the poem, Ulysses already suggest that there is little point in staying home and states that he â€Å"cannot rest from travel. † He believes that going back to sea again would yeild â€Å"some work of noble note† suggesting that travelling the seas offers a much simpler and fruitful life than staying home. 5. Explain how the setting and circumstances affect our reading of â€Å"My Last Duchess†? Is the narrator reliable? How do we know? The setting and circumstances in My Last Duchess leads the readers to speculate on the mysteries that encompasses the poem, speculatively from actual historical events. The tilte itself reveals that the speaker in the poem is a Duke whose last wife had died. The mention of â€Å"nine-hundred-years-old name† suggest that the Duke came from a long line of prominent and powerful family, and through the speaker we know that he is presenting to his audience his art collections suggesting that he is a lover of the arts. There is little error from the information if we take the popular belief that the speaker was Duke Alfonso II, who lived in the 16th century, to be true. Alfonso II came from the house of Este, whose earliest known member lived in the 10th century, which makes his name â€Å"six-hundred-years-old† at the time the duke lived, in contrast with the â€Å"nine-hundred-years-old name. † 6. According to Arnold what is the value of education in the humanities as opposed to just being educated in science or â€Å"practical† issues? Just being educated in science or practical issues, according to Arnold, has put the world in a state where nothing is certain. It has brought the â€Å"Sea of Faith† in melancholy as scince has challenged the precepts of religion. He hopes that with the confusion brought about by science, education in the humanities would cure the world of its lack of faith. Education in the humanities would, at least, keep the world its moral standards. 7. What does Arnold’s poem, â€Å"Dover Beach† suggest as an antidote to the loss of faith? Do you think the poem ends pessimistically or optimistically? In Dover Beach, Arnold suggest that faithfulness in love is the antidote to the loss of faith. His appeal: â€Å"Ah, love let us be true† suggests that his only hope on this uncertain world rests on the faithfulness of his love interest, probably his wife, to him. The poem still ends pessimistically since Arnold emphasizes on the confusion the world is currently at the time the poem was written.

French Lietenants Woman :: essays papers

French Lietenants Woman Existentialism, a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness, isolation and freedom upon and individual is a major theme in John Fowles’, The French Lieutenants Woman. Is our life ordained by the superior, or do we power our future? In chapter 13, Fowles interrupts the narration and notes the natural aspects of writing as a novelist, the freedom of the characters that he has created, and the time and structure o f the novel itself. Though awkward to incorporate the authors visions in their own literature, it is manipulated fiction, meta-fiction that is, which perhaps is a subject of major interest amongst the readers of The French Lieutenants Woman. At first, in chapter 13, it becomes evident that he himself, Fowles, is uncertain of his writings, â€Å"I do not know† he immediately confirms. By the third paragraph he has repeated the word â€Å"perhaps† five times, demonstrating Fowles puzzlement of whether he restrains his characters, or, they control him ? Fowles addresses on behalf of all novelists, and comments on the natural features of writing, that a novelist has no predetermined illustration from chapter one. Fowles also states, â€Å"We wish to create worlds as real as, but other than the world that is†(pg.81), which associates to how this novel is a classical Victorian one, but, from a a modern perception. Fowles tries to link the idea of a modern perspective with existentialism, that it is no longer like the pre-ordained Victorians, but the concept that his characters are free from authority. Although Fowles aims to attaining a point of focus in chapter 13, he repeatedly, violently and offensively comments on God and faith. He sates, that he â€Å"The novelist stands next to God†, which is an scarce feature amongst people in general, the suggestion of equating yourself to God. Not only does Fowles reveal this, but following that he concludes â€Å"He may not know all, yet he tries to pretend that he does,† which may well suggest also God â€Å"does not know all†. This comparison is again evident, â€Å"the novelist is still a God, since he createsà ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pg.82). In addition, Fowles does not understand that in much of his views, he is speaking on behalf of thousands of authors, which possibly will find his comments rather offending.

An Inconvenient Truth: People Who Questioned Al Gore’s Motive Essay

Many people questioned Al Gore’s motives for making the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. They wondered whether he created it because he truly cared about the effects global warming would have on the earth or if he just wanted to make himself seem like a better presidential candidate than his opponents. Throughout the documentary Gore presented many facts and statistics that supported his concern, which created the logos for his argument. He also treated the documentary as more of a lecture or presentation for his audience which gave him the credibility that he needed to create the ethos throughout the film. Finally, he used his own personal experiences to appeal to the audience’s feelings and emotions, creating the pathos. In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore wants to reach a large audience, particularly nonscientists, to stress the urgency in responding to global warming. Gore uses multiple examples of logos throughout his documentary when sharing statistics and facts that he came upon. One way he presented these facts was with graphs that showed the increase in temperature over the years due to the carbon dioxide levels in the air. The graphs showed a dramatic increase in the levels from previous years which were frightening to see. Knowing the actual levels and how fast they changed made the audience see how dangerous this problem could become if we keep ignoring the issue of global warming. Another way that Gore portrayed logos was through photos of the earth and how it has changed over the years due to global warming. The photos gave a visual example to the audience of how extreme the effects are.

Disposing Nuclear Waste in Ocean Trenches

It seems to be a perennial suggestion: lets put our most hazardous wastes into the deepest sea trenches. There, they will be drawn down into the Earths mantle well away from children and other living things. Usually, people are referring to high-level nuclear waste, which can be dangerous for thousands of years. This is why the design for the proposed waste facility at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, is so incredibly stringent. The concept is relatively sound. Just put your barrels of waste in a trench - well dig a hole first, just to be tidy about it - and down they inexorably go, never to bring harm to humanity again. At 1600 degrees Fahrenheit, the upper mantle isnt hot enough to alter the uranium and make it nonradioactive. In fact, its not even hot enough to melt the zirconium coating that surrounds the uranium. But the purpose isnt to destroy the uranium, its to use plate tectonics to take the uranium hundreds of kilometers into the Earths depths where it can naturally decay.   Its an interesting idea, but is it plausible?   Ocean Trenches and Subduction Deep-sea trenches are areas where one plate dives beneath another (the process of subduction) to be swallowed up by the Earths hot mantle. The descending plates extend down hundreds of kilometers where they are not the least bit of a threat. It isnt completely clear whether the plates disappear by being thoroughly mixed with mantle rocks. They may persist there and become recycled through the plate-tectonic mill, but that wouldnt happen for many millions of years.   A geologist might point out that subduction is not really secure. At relatively shallow levels, subducting plates become chemically altered, releasing a slurry of serpentine minerals that eventually erupt in large mud volcanoes on the seafloor. Imagine those spewing plutonium into the sea! Fortunately, by that time, the plutonium would have long since decayed away. Why It Wont Work Even the fastest subduction is very slow - geologically slow. The fastest-subducting location in the world today is the Peru-Chile Trench, running along the west side of South America. There, the Nazca plate is plunging beneath the South America plate at around 7-8 centimeters (or approximately 3 inches) per year. It goes down at about a 30-degree angle. So if we put a barrel of nuclear waste in the Peru-Chile Trench (never mind that its in Chilean national waters), in a hundred years it will move 8 meters - as far away as your next-door neighbor. Not exactly an efficient means of transport.   High-level uranium decays to its normal, pre-mined radioactive state within  1,000-10,000 years.  In 10,000 years, those waste barrels would have moved, at maximum, just .8 kilometers (half a mile). They would also lie only a few hundred meters deep - remember that every other subduction zone is slower than this. After all of that time, they could still be easily dug up by whatever future civilization cares to retrieve them. After all, have we left the Pyramids alone? Even if future generations left the waste alone, the seawater and seafloor life would not, and the odds are good that the barrels would corrode and be breached. Ignoring geology, lets consider the logistics of containing, transporting and disposing of thousands of barrels each year. Multiply the amount of waste (which will surely grow) by the odds of shipwreck, human accidents, piracy and people cutting corners. Then estimate the costs of doing everything right, every time. A few decades ago, when the space program was new, people often speculated that we could launch nuclear waste into space, maybe into the sun. After a few rocket explosions, nobody says that any more: the cosmic incineration model is infeasible. The tectonic burial model, unfortunately, isnt any better. Edited by Brooks Mitchell