English Literature

This poem by Yeats tells about a certain mythological scene between Zeus, the head of all Gods in Greek mythology , and Leda, a mortal woman. It is first published in 1928 and uses  the A-B-A-B rhyming scheme all throughout the story.

 It is said that Zeus changed himself into a swan in order to seduce Leda, who, as a result of this brutality becomes the mother of Helen of Troy-the woman who is credited with starting the Trojan War. 

The idea of the poem is to simply express the destruction to destruction relation.

He also used words such as a sudden blow to represent Zeus’s overwhelming power and to relay that Leda was simply, with such force, attacked.

    Here, the speaker is questioning what exactly, if anything, that Leda took from this attack. In a way, this leaves Leda with the upper hand. "Did she put on his knowledge with his power/Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?" This statement questions what Leda might have gained from the attack. As a woman unable to fend off the overpowering nature of this attack, Leda had no say in the matter of this brutal rape. Yet the speaker seems to be questioning whether or not Leda left this scene a changed woman-perhaps even empowered?
At first, I was puzzled why the character Agamemnon appeared in the flow of this story. This poem really needs thorough research so you will fully appreciate its uniqueness and coherence.

I definitely admire the creativity of the poet on constructing this piece for in three stanzas only he already cited two of Greek mythology’s tragedies.

The Second Coming
    This piece by Yeats was written in 1919 and published in 1921 in his collection of poems Michael Robartes and the Dancer. It narrates a certain part of the Christian tradition, Armageddon. In here, the persona tells us such dark images to support and to serve as a description to this coming. This can be found in the last book of the bible, The Book of Revelation. It was said that Yeats came up with this due to the things he is presently seeing in his environment, war and destruction.

In here, he relates his visions of what this Second Coming will have its effect on the human race. He also included the Sphinx as supported by the lines A shape with lion body and the head of a man, for which in Greek mythology symbolizes bad luck and destruction.

There was no rhyming scheme in this piece instead he filled it with symbols which made it flowery giving it a very strong and dark tone. The gyre, however, served as the motif in this piece which implies that history is takes place in cycles.
    The last two lines of the first stanza are simply a commentary on the times.  Yeats says "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."  This also suggests a dissociation between the best, which Yeats identifies as head people, the intellectuals, and the worst, whom Yeats associates with the mob who are those who react with passionate intensity not with careful intellectual study and expression.

I somehow disagreed on how the author put up this piece. Although he has some points, but for me this is more on biblical and is fixed with supernatural beings. The people in this generation doesn’t see Apocalypse that way only. Destruction would be corruption, war among different countries due to racial discrimination, greed, religious differences, and the like.

An Irish Airman Forsees His Death


    This is written in 1918 and was published in the Macmillan edition of The Wild Swans at Coole in 1919.  It is in a first person point of view.  It contains 16 lines and uses chiasmus of ABCCBA and the ABAB as rhyming scheme.

    This was said to be one of Yeats’ reflective narrative on Major Robert Gregory who was the son of Yeats’ co-founder of Abbey Theater, Lady Augusta Gregory. Robert was a pilot and in the he was thinking of the reasons why he chose to fly. It tells that it wasn’t about responsibilities that drag him to do such but it was more of taking new heights in life. The word patriotism is somehow emitted in the flow of the concept. As we all know, aviators are supposed to have this “love for country” as their objective but on this piece it was more of boredom and suicide.

    The poem is a soliloquy or dramatic monologue in which a World War I Irish airman appears to display fearless equanimity and cold-sober honesty before his imminent death. Despite the airman’s happiness, bravery, and assertion of independent will, or specifically, his “lonely impulse of delight,” it is difficult to conclude what, in fact, Yeats is praising. The poem’s last line, “In balance with this life, this death,” is not clear. There are at least two interpretations possible of “this life”: one could be the airman’s life as a fighter pilot, and the other could be his wasted time away from war, including his projected wasted future as a live man.

The poem progresses into telling the reader the many reasons why he didn't do this for and ending it with the one reason that he did.

In the final four lines I think that he is stating that he did not see any reason to keep on living and that to die would not be a tragedy, but a way of equalizing his life with his death. Possibly his life was not filled with planned out things and just sudden impulses and he thought that he should die doing something of sudden impulse.
   
    Upon reading the poem, you may have this war image building up as you go upon stanza by stanza. At first you might have a different view on the poem but if you will have a look on its background you will understand fully its existence.

It is without a doubt that Daisy Buchanan and Mytle Wilson are the two women that largely shape the novel The Great Gatsby by F. ScottFitzgerald, it is but fitting  to give a clos analysis of the two. During the 1920’s women start making bold leaps and forays into roles that were unheard of (Donaldson, 1984 p.43). This is obviously what the novel wishes to highlight and chronicle. The basic similarity between them is their outward characters. Seemingly foolish, callous and shallow; however, upon closer scrutiny, they have separate intentions, drives and complex personalities. They both exhibit deeper substance. They both vie for the attention and love of Tom Buchanan. While Myrtle appears to be the more liberal as portrayed being the mistress of Tom, in effect, she is in fact very practical and looks for ways to enrich herself and make her life more prosperous. On the other hand, Daisy, though appearing to be the wronged woman, is in fact schemey, twisted and unremorseful (Pelzer, 2003 p.178). She casually and very craftily plans the ‘accident’ of Myrtle, she keeps with her the façade of being pure and blameless. Another paradox in the novel in fact, is the portrayal of the women. While they appear to be modern, liberal and bold, they actually fall into the age old categorization of women as scrabbling, bickering, superficial, ego-centric and scornful lots with their own agendas at the forefront. In fact, they fall within the stereotypical portrayal of women, as well as archetypal categorizations; the eve’s who tempt Adam into sin, and cause great chaos, without heed for the bigger effects of their actions, so as long as they heed their personal desires and come to achieve their secret passions and convictions. While the Great Gatsby supposedly portrays women in a more liberalized and brave fronts, it supports the view that in their desire to appear as the women of the age or century, all the more, they slip back and revert to the conventions and entrapments of the women’s age old psyche’s with their bickerings, schemings, plottings, and putting up of facades. It is an irony and a satisfying paradox that supports the age old mystery of a woman’s mind and heart filled with her secret desires.

While both are considered great American writers with brilliant works and sterling contributions to literature, they have voices that are in some ways, similar enough to strike at a common chord, and at the same time different enough to sound off their own unique look at certain subjects, style, attack, perspective and delivery. To even begin to understand the similarities and to even being to compare and contrast the work of the two great poets, it is very important to start with brief biographies of the two writers. After all, whatever the convictions of the writers are and how his life is a living testament to these convictions, will all bleed through and reflect through his or her words and works. After all, poems are, in one way or another, an extension and creation of, as well as a peek through the person that one who gave it life is; the proverbial ‘god’ or ‘goddess’ for that matter who breathed life unto them. As Dickinson herself puts it, a poem is the poets ‘epistle’ to the world, when she said “This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me, -- (Dickinson,1960)” To this, Faulkner replies, in the narrator’s voice regarding Miss Emily that ‘thus she passed from generation to generation--dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse (Faulkner,____).’
Short Biographies of Emily Dickinson and William Faulkner
    For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!” – (Dickinson, 1960)
    Emily’s full name is Emily Elizabeth Dickinson. She was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a family with a good status in life. Her religious upbringing and short stint at Mary Lyon,s Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, her immense taking to wearing pure white clothing, her reclusive lifestyle and her detached dealings with people earned her a reputation of being some sort of an eccentric. She did not develop personal friendships, but carried out a few correspondences with people. Some of the people who knew her had an idea that she was a poet but the majority of her works were only brought into public knowledge only after her death. She was such a prolific writer, but as ‘she was a private poet who wrote as indefatigably as some women cook or knit (Blackmur, 1937). When she died, her sister Lavinia discovered a huge collection of her poems. With much doubt as to her talents, it was not until the 19th and 20th century that she was finally considered a major American poet. On May 15, 1886 she succumbed to what her physician diagnosed as Bright’s Disease, and left an extensive collection of poems and correspondences. Her reclusive lifestyle shows through her poems, which mainly speaks of her deep entanglements and solitary commune with nature and the divine.

    William Faulkner on the other hand was born in New Albany,  Mississippi in 1897. After serving in the Canadian and British Royal Air Forces in World War I, he studied at the University of Mississippi, and then worked for a New York bookstore, and later for a newspaper in New Orleans. His work focused on the development and later decadence of the South. His brilliant works centered and always involved colored people and their interactions with their white counterparts. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for Literature and produced solid works of great acclaim such as ‘The Sound and The Fury (1929), Sanctuary (1931), Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom! (1936) Intruder in the Dust (1948), Requiem for a Nun (1951) and numerous other short stories, including “A Rose For Miss Emily.” He was a prolific writer who produced an extensive body of works. He died on July 6, 1962.
Analysis proper: literary form, Language, Tone, Metaphor, Voice, Narrative Structure,
Perspective, Theme and treatment of Subject and Interpretation.

    The poems are written in the first person, where the speaker is also the persona. This is the first major difference between the poem and the story. While the poet/persona/narrator in the poems speaks directly of and about her self, the narrator speaks in a limited third party perspective. The narrator did take on an omnipresent status, but only as much as someone who passes for a ‘community member,’ not seeing beyond the doors of Miss Emily’s house, which does more for foreshadowing and suspense building.

    The language usage in the poems and in the story is all very clear, almost straight forward, and very descriptive. The poems are spoken by a persona who had education, is very discerning and in good command of descriptive language. Same goes with the story. The poems even star with self description thus:
“I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose—(Dickinson, 1960)
-----
“I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb, (Dickinson, 1960)”
The short story narrator starts the tale with fairly the same descriptive penchant, thus:
“WHEN Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years. (Faulkner, 1950)

In fact, this descriptive quality is what propels the piece forward. With the persona in the poem cataloguing descriptive language such as: ‘fairer House than Prose—(Line 2),’ ‘Impregnable of Eye—(Line 6)’’ ‘an Everlasting Roof (Line 7),’ and ‘Of Visitors--the fairest—(Line 9).’ The same is true with the second poem where adjectives are dished out such as ‘Adjusted in the tomb (Line 2),’ ‘He questioned softly why I failed? (Line 5),’ and ‘Until the moss had reached our lips,(Line 11.) In the story, rich descriptive passages are also rife such as:
“It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street (Chapter 1).”
Then there is that expertise in describing Miss Emily in the later part:
“When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray, when it ceased turning (Chapter IV).”
It is needless to say how Faulkner’s description through the narrator in the last part of the story gave the final master stroke of this macabre story.

    The second literary technique in the story, where form is concerned is the Narrative structure. It is easily seen in the works that they all follow a certain linear narrative structure where the ‘narrative line’ follows a normal progression. While the story is basically a ‘flashback,’ or a back story, still, the narrative line follows a linear pattern. The first poem starts out with a general statement of how the persona ‘lived in the House of Possibility (Line1)’ and progresses with a comparison of her dwellings to that of ‘Prose’ (Line 2),’ it does culminate from an interior description of the self to stretch out towards receiving ‘Visitors--the fairest—(Line 9) to a grand vision of ‘spreading narrow hands (Line 11),’ to the very limits of gathering ‘Paradise (Line 12).’ Such structure is also used in the second poem from the point of the persona’s ‘dying for beauty (Line 1)’ to being scarcely ‘adjusted to the tomb (Line 2),’ to then being beside someone who claims ‘dying for truth (Line 7),’ to being ‘brethrens (Line 8),’ later developing ‘kinships into the night (Line 9),’ to talking ‘between the rooms (Line 10),’ until the ‘moss reached (their) lips (Line 11)’ to ‘cover their names.’

    The same linear structure is followed in the narratives, where we are told in a back story, by the narrator of the most significant events and the town folk’s encounter with the strange and aristocratic character that is Miss Emily. In a delicious tale rife with foreshadowing techniques we are treated to the unfolding events through the narrator that led to the discovery of the very mystery of the strange Miss Emily, and her house of dust and antiquity.

    The suspension of disbelief is also common in the works, as with the first poems personification and exaggerations, as to the persona that can dwell in a ‘House of possibilities (Line 1), with an ‘everlasting roof (Line 7) to receive ‘fairest visitors (Line 9) and gather Paradise ( Line 12) with the spreading of her ‘narrow hands (Line 11).’ The same is true with foreshadowing and suspension of disbelief with a persona in the second poem that just ‘died for beauty (Line 1),’ and yet can converse with another dead man. The same suspension of disbelief can be seen in the almost mythical existence, resilience, stubbornness and aristocracy of the main character Miss Emily in Faulkner’s story. There is the element of foreshadowing in the first reluctance of Miss Emily’s to burry her dead father. The same suspension is seen in how she holds sway over her Negro henchman and only companion, as well as the dawning knowledge of the crafty way Faulkner has planted back into the room the things that Miss Emily bought for Homer Barron, including the tarnished silver toilet things. There is also a dawning of that realization as to the true nature and secret of the house and Miss Emily with the almost abrupt and dropped account of what the minister saw when he came to speak with her, and why he vowed to never return to that house and never wanted to speak a word about anything he saw in that house. Such wonderful and delightful master crafting of the story is indeed laudable.

    Lastly, a non formalistic element that shows in both the poems and the story is the treatment of the subject of solitary women, as well as the element of the strange and macabre, as well as the treatment of death and mortality. In the first poem, we are treated to an almost goddess-like or deified woman. We see her living in a House of possibility, which can be interpreted as a magical and mystical house of abstraction. Her very character speaks of faerie-like characteristic, ad finally bolstered by the image of her gathering paradise. Same is true with the strange talking dead in the second poem. The same could also be said of the strong, almost malevolent and powerful character of Miss Emily, who can wave away any opposition and could stare down any troublesome authority.

    In the works, the theme of death is also seen as a pleasant experience; even romanticized. For the poems, death is seen as liberation from life’s seemingly prison-like quality. We see death as a place or state where a woman can form ‘brethren-ness’ and kinship as equals, with a man. The story shows death as a liberation, both for Miss Emily, from the pains of this world, and the sadness of solitariness and unrequited love; as well as from the town folks who are released from the pressure by the discovery of Miss Emily’s dark secrets. In the works, death is romantic and allegorical at the same time.

    Perhaps, what sets them apart is the perspective from which both writers have written their pieces. For Dickinson’s poem, it could be argued that she ‘wrote herself into the poem.’ Surely, an examination of her solitary, cloistered and reclusive life would support the theory of how, she is actually the very persona she writes of in the poems. As for Faulkner’s story, the narrator is an unnamed, undescribed and unspecified citizen of the town. Even the solitary figure of Miss Emily did not bother to live outside her self and involve her self when she can help it. She was non participative and was merely a sort of ‘spectacle,’ to be glanced at or talked about.

    To say the least, that both writers exhibited brilliance in their works is an understatement. Both writers have shown such talents and thus, their works remain an enduring example of literary greatness, and are sterling pieces for the period, and even until the present. The most beautiful quality of the works is in their ability to admit multiple interpretations, for people from different backgrounds and convictions. Everyone finds a piece for themselves in the poems and the stories. This universality is a quality that great literary geniuses are able execute breathtakingly and marvelously.

Mathew Arnold was an English poet and a cultural critic and worked as an inspector of schools. He was born in 1822 by Thomas Arnold, a renowned headmaster of Rugby school. He later passed in 1888 at a time when he was to meet his daughter. Arnold was a scholar in the Rugby school where he managed to win various scholarly prizes due to his English essay writings, Latin and English poetry. He was good in poetry in a way that at one time his poem “Cromwell” won the Newdigate prize (Faverty, 12). He was an undergraduate at Balliol where he attained a Second Class Honors in Classics. He taught at Rugby school before joining Oriel College in Oxford as a Fellow.

 In 1847, he became a private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, Lord President of the Privy Council. After four years, he was appointed the Inspector of Schools, a job that granted him the license to marry. Arnold could sometimes describe his work as an inspector as pure “drudgery” and at other times acknowledged the whole essence of it. He joined the career as an inspector at a time when the English education was at a critical stage of development and it was socially useful. His job involved traveling much through England while inspecting those schools which did not conform to the required standards. He was much involved in listening to the grievances of parents and children. Arnold formed the basis for the good work that was completed in the 19th century as well as that which was in progress (Iris, 16). However, he believed that the amount of work done was not adequate and that it needed to be brought into closer relation with the transition that was being experienced with the social and economic spheres.

The contribution made by Arnold on the English education in the nineteenth century is indispensable and Arnold can best be described as the fermenting agent, pioneer, illuminator and a creator of the “politics” of education. At the time of his appointment as an inspector of schools, he had no professional training and he had no desire to be involved in educational work. This was due to the fact that normal schools did not cater much about university graduates and the courses provided at post graduate level were things of the distant future. At one time, Arnold considered changing his position from inspector of schools to the post of Charity Commissionership but did not succeed. He was later promoted to be a senior inspector in 1870. He had the feeling that he was not being exposed to enough challenges. In fact, he regarded the kind of work as a routine and did not contribute much to the enlargement of his mind.

He had the desire to examine and argue on wider issues of educational thought but the system was not ready to give him a chance. Despite the fact that Miss Emily Bronte was displeased with him due to his nature of being foppery, he later became a necessity for a learner thought and fundamental reorganization of the education system. He brought intellectual aspirations into the education system (Whitridge, Arnold, 20). At one time when Arnold was mingling with the Chartists at the great mob in Trafalgar Square, he was much struck by the ability of the speakers. He was haunted by a sense of misgiving and he got so much concerned about the destiny of the English society prompting him to write to his sister Jane about revolution in England. He gave his own reflection about the English mental crisis where he cited that the tendency to triumph of the logical absolute reason as source of the mental crisis.

Arnold also perceived that the deep divisions that existed within the society were only to be healed through adequate education to the middle class who were in dire need of it. He gave an example of the fundamental cultural unity of the French where he cited that through the use of intelligence and common sense, the English society should have been in a position to overcome its problems (Connell, 32). Arnold believed that if one was in a capacity to find what ones nature was, what sphere each person or society has a talent in and if one resolves to follow that line intelligently, then unity can be achieved alongside the existing multitudinousness.

 Arnold had the point of view that experience is an important factor of life and the only way to achieve satisfaction in life was through discovering our own nature and live in accordance with what it has to offer. The lifelong task for Arnold was the quest for unity and advocate for state participation in Education. He associated the improved education for the middle class with the community integration.

During his tenure as a senior inspectorate, the year 1851 marked an era when the English history was much significant to the whole world including the contemporary Victorians. The period formed a blue print of the present day England. England was experiencing economic prosperity even during the economic crisis in 1857 which did not have impact on the unemployment levels. This period of prosperity in England was characterized by mobility of goods, people, capital and labor.

Also, during the same period, some Irish members of the Catholic Church were alienated leading to the formation of small training establishments and model schools. The courses offered in the model schools only lasted for a few months meaning that the students were for the better part of their time confined to acquiring mechanical technique than the monitorial system required. It was to many regarded as the first genuine training institution. The 1846 Minutes served to re-arouse the zeal to transform the education system (Arnold, 46). The governmental grants to educational societies were increased and also intensified party rivalries were on the increase. For instance, Richard Cobden had the idea that education was the main cause of his party to split. Conflict arose because the role of government in state education was still not defined. This led to the formation of a movement which aimed at combating the factory bill of 1843 where Sir James Graham had proposed for reorganizing of factory schools. The reorganization was to cater for diversities of religious beliefs and safeguard the conscience. The schoolmaster and majority of the managers were to be members of the established church.
 Another source of conflict was the religious issue. The Church of England was the religious denomination established by law which definitely gave it a considerable advantage over the other denominations. Under the 1846 minute, the Church of England received a great bulk of the government grant because it had so many activities compared to those of other National societies that were in existence.  The trend received a major boost reverse from the 1846 minute which led to an increase in the number of normal schools and an increase in the number of certified teachers. The minute remained one of the important features in the Inspectors reports for it had changed the tone of primary education throughout the country. The minute provided room for the untrained masters to train and improvement in a bid to improve their salaries and prove that they were best suited for the school keeping.

The new model system brought to an end the previous monitorial system. In the new system, the pupil-teachers who ere employed were to be in charge of their classes and it was a requirement that the teachers had prior experience. This marked a transformation from the previous mechanical course to one which was considered as significant in the modern English education. The influence of the inspectorate led to emergence of improved teachers, enthusiastic pupils and improved teaching methods as well as the text books (Lakshmi, 1899). In addition, it promoted a better understanding of what was previously taught under superficial and mechanical system. Arnold observed that the supervision of young monitors, pupil teachers and the superintendence by the masters had increased the rate of progress within the model schools.

Later during his tenure, a number of bills were introduced in parliament. The bills sought for the establishment of a national system that was based on the act of parliament. First, there was the Secular educational Bill by W.J Fox which sought that education should be supplied with local rates, education should be free and students should not be obliged to accept any religious instructions. The bill was defeated. The bill that was finally enacted was the Manchester and Salford Education Bill (Arnold, 1882). It sought for the free education for the poor inhabitants of Manchester and Salford, new and upcoming schools which required assistance via local rates were to read the Holy Scripture in the Authorized Version and the children were not required to learn a religious creed which the parents might object. This was seen as an attempt to bring up the youth in a religious manner and a new era where English education was to receive a major boost.

It is during this period when Arnold chaired the Inaugural Lecture of poetry at Oxford and he devoted himself to commit his professional life to secure that English education should be “adequate” for the time. By adequate, Arnold had the opinion that one must bear clarity of thought as it really is. One has to see to it that once a proposal has been thought of it should be implemented and assessed whether it is working out adequately. At this time and age, Arnold had the opinion that a sense of direction was needed and it was to be in poetry but he however cautioned that before it is used as the criticism of life, it had first to be adequately approved. Through his past experience as the inspector of schools, he was much devoted to become a critical force which would sketch true direction for future progress (Iris, 63). He was to indicate the developments necessary to secure education.

 In poetry, he was called the third great Victorian poet because he was keenly aware of his place in poetry. His nature of being exceptionally frank and just made his work to have scholarly attention in a way that some central aspects of the intellectual history in the nineteenth century can still be associated with his contributions. His career as a literary critic started in 1853 where he attempted to explain the extreme act of self censorship in poems. He also criticized the subject of most poems, clearness of arrangement, rigor of development and the simplicity of style. Arnold believed that poetry was superior to philosophy, science, and religion. He asserted that religion attaches its emotions to supposed facts which are slowly failing it. On the other hand, poetry attaches emotions to ideas which are infallible. He viewed science as incomplete without poetry and defines science to be the breather and the finer spirit of knowledge.

His criticism took a centre stage when he was appointed to the professorship of poetry at Oxford. His poems which were characterized by criticism were only met with mixed reviews but in the long run, his criticism was successful. He succeeded in introducing the methodology of literary criticism. He came up with new ideas of what poetry should and should not be. Arnold had to revolt against the moral ideas that were depicted in the poems that were in existence. He termed the poems which expressed indifference to moral ideas as also indifferent to life (Faverty, 66). At one time, Arnold went to the extent of censoring his own collection of poems on moral grounds. After asserting that poems should be judged by the levels of truth and seriousness in them, he moved over to social and political issues.

For Arnold, he was at the pragmatic middle ground which was more interested with fusing poetry with religion. According to him, the term God was just a term of eloquence and poetry and religion is morality touched with emotion. In his book called Literature and Dogma, he wrote that to shift from Christianity that relied on miracles to that which relied on natural truth is a great transition which can only be achieved by those who are attached to Christianity in a manner that they cannot part or deal with it.

Literary criticism led him to a general critique of the spirit of his age. At this time, he wrote the book culture and anarchy which had the aspect of humanists which was considered to be inconsistent with the expectations of his other critics. Arnold was also a journalism and a religious critic. He came up with the phrase “New journalism” which has defined the entire genre of newspaper history (Connell, 79). His religious beliefs were quite unusual given the time they were living in. Most of the scholars disagreed with his personal religious beliefs which were regarded as superstitious.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the contribution of Arnold towards literature is immense and indispensable. He introduced literary criticism in the poetry which has shaped poem to be what it is today. At the same time, he has induced a sense of morality in literature works and managed to influence some poets to focus on subjects which are of social benefit. Arnold has influenced others to be aware of contemporary literature which is based on the past and should contribute to the future and a firm tradition. Arnold urges the modern poets to seek guidance and inspiration from the great characters and themes of all times.

Emily Dickinson is one of the finest poets of the 19th century. She was something of a recluse, perhaps because of the problems that she had with her vision. Emily wrote for herself and her poems were a medium of expressing her inner most thoughts and feelings. Her poems were publicized only after she passed away in 1886. And it was only in the 1950s that her ‘Complete Poems’ a three volume edition were published. She was highly regarded by her contemporaries for her unique lucid style of writing. Even today, her poems are read widely by audiences. 

In her poem, ‘Because I could not stop death’ Dickinson personifies death as a courteous suitor who arrives at her doorstep in a carriage. The first line of the poem reflects how unexpected death can be and also the lack of control or power that people have over it. Death as she sees it ‘stopped for me’ (2) indicates that she may have been ill for a while before the start of her last journey. She refers to ‘immortality’ (4) and shows her belief in the after life and the fact that some part of her will always live on. Her use of verbs such as ‘stopped’ and ‘drove’ and adjectives like ‘kindly’ and ‘no haste’, add to the imagery of the poem and help the reader visualize the image and journey she portrays.

The second stanza of the poem Dickinson describes the process of dying ‘slowly’ and having to put away her labor and leisure and accept the journey that she had set off on. She describes Death as a beau who is civil. There is no better time for retrospection as when faced by death and this is also what she goes on to talk about.

They drive past a school, which is symbolic of childhood, where children strove to play in a ring. This is perhaps the phase of life that is most carefree and fun and yet children strive to play. Her mention of the ‘ring’ may be related to the popular game of ‘ring-a ring-roses’. It may also describe the living to be within the ‘ring’ of life, while she isn’t.

Thereafter the carriage bearing Death and Dickinson drives past fields of grazing grain (11). This is symbolic of the working years of life when people toil to make a living and a life. ‘We passed the setting sun’ brings her to the end of the day, which is also the end of her journey of life.

‘Or rather, he passed us;’ (13) is once again a reflection of the fact that she and people in general have no control over their death and end of life. That she is unprepared for death is described in the chill she feels as the warmth of life and the day comes to an end. She describes herself dressed in ‘gossamer’ and tulle tippet befitting a bride who is about to start a new journey and at the brink of a new beginning. Once again the reader is reminded of Dickinson’s belief in the after life.

The fifth stanza describes them stopping before a grave, perhaps her own. Now, the movement, activity and her journey through life that she describes in the previous stanzas stops, and she describes only the house, ‘the cornice but a mound’ (20).

Whilst the earlier stanzas use concrete terms of description in the last stanza she is more abstract and leaves the reader with several unanswered questions. She feels that it has been centuries since she died. And because she is joyous in her after life and so it feels like it has not even been a day. At this point she speaks of how she had first concluded that the horses of Death’s carriage were headed for eternity. Dickinson changes her tense from the past to the present and leaves the reader wondering if her journey to eternity has an end.

In the pursuit of writing, it is important to attain and maintain effective means of communication so as to completely convey a specific message towards readers. In particular, it may be most appropriate to evaluate a specific piece of literature or passage in terms of how strategies such as cause and effect, descriptive detail, and narration are successfully applied. Therefore, in order to gain further understanding and appreciation regarding the proper use of such strategies in effectively sending a message to readers, an analysis of how cause and effect, descriptive detail, and narration are used in Alice Walker’s My Daughter Smokes is conducted.

    As aforementioned, among the strategies to be assessed is the use of cause and effect, which has been applied throughout My Daughter Smokes in effectively letting the readers know of the long term health repercussions of smoking. In particular, Walker directly stated the following, pertaining to her father; “My father died from "the poor man's friend," pneumonia, one hard winter when his bronchitis and emphysema had left him low. I doubt he had much lung left at all, after coughing for so many years” (n.d. par.13). Evidently, such a line implies the fact that from smoking, which is represented by the fact that her father was constantly coughing, one’s health would be severely compromised up to the point where in battles against fatal diseases would become futile. In effect, the reader immediately and easily understands the point that smoking most definitely causes health problems and in effect kills and individual, which of course attains a more serious and concerning effect if loved ones are considered.

    Other messages that require further and deeper explanations may need another strategy, and in such situations descriptive detail comes into mind. In My Daughter Smokes, descriptive detail is used to effectively convey the imagery of how addicted her daughter is to smoking. To quote, Walker writes; “My daughter smokes. While she is doing her homework her feet on the bench in front of her and her calculator clicking out answers to her algebra problems. I am looking at the half-empty package of Camels tossed carelessly close at hand. Camels. I pick them up, take them into the kitchen, where the light is better, and study them-they're filtered, for which I am grateful.” (n.d. par.1). Due to such details, it becomes apparent to the reader that smoking has indeed become a part of the everyday life of her daughter, as implied by the fact that her daughter smokes even during her studies. As a result, a depressing message is emphasized, pertaining to feeling of individuals that has loved ones who are addicted to smoking.

    In contrast to the use of cause and effect and descriptive detail, narrations on the other hand are most effective in portraying a message of gradual progression throughout time, which has been utilized throughout the story in relation to how her father’s condition has worsened through the years. Specifically, narration has been applied throughout the following lines; “Perhaps it was unnoticeable at first. A little hacking in the morning as he lit his first cigarette upon getting out of bed. By the time I was my daughter's age, his breath was a wheeze, embarrassing to hear; he could not climb stairs without resting every third or fourth step. It was not unusual for him to cough for an hour.” (n.d. par.5). Readers would of course immediately get the meaning of such lines, as the narration is so clear and effective in emphasizing the capability of such an addiction in slowly killing off an individual. In the same manner, once more, a message regarding her despair is emphasized.

From the lines discussed, it becomes evident that the central thought regarding the unconstructive nature of smoking has been effectively established. The reason for such is that the use of strategies allows for explanations, details, and messages to be made more effective in certain scenarios. Therefore, in order to effectively communicate with readers, appropriately choosing as to which strategy to apply, either cause and effect, descriptive detail, or narration, in relation to a specific message to be conveyed is necessary.

Core American values are those that identify Americans from the rest of the people in the world. However, most of these values will over time shift from applying to just Americans and apply to the whole world. For instance, Americans believe that they can go to any lengths to save their fellow Americans. This is something that might change in this century as this value will change from caring for the fellow Americans and care for everyone in the world.

This value goes hand in hand with liberty, the pursuit of happiness, justice, common good, equality, popular sovereignty, checks and balances, federalism and freedom of religion. These values which were initially observed only by the Americans must change. These values must be for the people, of the people and by the people. It is necessary that every person in the whole world embrace integrity, altruism, honesty, justice, compassion and truthfulness. There is a norm standard that human beings will only discover and develop through living together. (Larue, 2000)

With the current global issues that the world is facing such as global warming and global economic recession the core American values are going to change so that they can accommodate some of these issues. There is a need for the whole world to be united so that they can be able to deal with global warming and save the world. American will have to interact with all the other communities in the world so that they can be able to fight these problems which seem to affect the whole world.

Initially, core American values were also known to distinguish Americans from the rest of the people in the world. With the development in technology in the world, people are now moving from one area to the other in search of better life. This has made a lot of people from all the other parts of the world to migrate to United States. When these people move in there, they interact with Americans and they happen to share their culture and their values. In addition, Americans also migrate to other places of the world and they adopt the culture and values of the people in the place they move to. This will mean that after sometime, most of the core American values will be assimilated or absorbed into other people’s culture.

True American believes that they must fight for their country or for their fellow Americans. This is a value that will have to change for the good of everyone in the whole world. For instance with the current issue of global warming, it may be difficult for one to only fight for their countries. We understand that one of the main reasons for global warming is the current industrial emissions. Therefore it will not be right for an American to fight for their countries to continue emitting polluting gases. There is a need for the whole world to come together and get solutions to this problem irrespective of the culture.

In the recent years, there have been a number of reforms in the United States, among them the healthcare reform and the housing programs which have taken place a couple of weeks ago. This directly affects the core American values as health is a crucial issue and therefore this is would mean changes in these values. This comes hand in hand with the effect of the world economic recession which would mean that some people will have to lose their job and therefore poverty may be difficult to eradicate.

Americans must be ready to embrace the global survival values. This is the only way that they will be able to live in a world that is free from all the destructive activities such as terrorism, criminal activities and violence. This way, they will be able to assist each other and ensure that these vices have been eliminated from the society. (Larue, 2000)
Some of these American values are already changing. For instance, in the past, it would be unheard of for America to have a black president. Currently, the president of the United States is Barrack Obama how happens to have some African blood. This is something that would not have happened in the previous years but it is not changing. This is a clear indication of how the American values are slowly changing to encompass the change that is already in the world.

In conclusion, it is clear that the American core values may remain but there are some changes that are likely to take place in this 21st century which are aimed at making the world a better place to live in.  Some of the changes are already taking place for instance with the current leadership in the United States and the current activities that are taking place to save the environment. As there are development and civilization in the whole world, so are the other vices which destroy the world. Therefore there is a need for people to unite so that they can be able to cope with the changing world. There is a need for all the people to live as a global family rather than living in separate entities. The only way to achieve this is by having a common ground which can only be achieve if people are united by similar values.

Significant bedrock of the principle of human rights is the fact that each and every human being was born free with equal rights and dignity. Persecution and discrimination of human beings based on ethnicity and race are violations that are very clear going against this fundamental principle. Discrimination based on race can assume several forms, from the institutional discrimination and severe discrimination to other forms that are covert whereby certain ethnic and racial groups are barred from enjoying similar cultural, political, civil, economic and social rights as other classes of people in the same society. US has for a long time championed for the respect of human rights, thus the vice of discrimination taking place in US is a major impediment to the fight against racial discrimination (GLSEN Inc., 2009).

Combating racial, ethnic or prejudice hatred 
Perceptions concerning the minorities that they are weak and inferior are usually planted in the minds of people from the majority group in their early stages of development. They are made to believe such perceptions by their parents, teachers and the society in which they grow in. In order to reduce or eliminate hatred and prejudice arising from racism, it is very important for such perceptions to be prevented from being planted in the minds of the young people. The older generation must play a big role in ensuring that they do not talk about the negatives of the minorities especially in the presence of their children. If such a move is successful, then people will grow up without such allegations and they will thus not learn how to practice discrimination against the minorities. Benefits arising from such a move will take quite some time before they are realized hence constant awareness should be raised every now and then in order to ensure that the minds of the young people are not polluted with hatred which will only divide them along race lines (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).

Racism involves a set of actions or beliefs that perceives an individual or a class of people to be inferior as compared to another individual or a class of people, due to their appearance physically, such as their skin color. These are perceptions that are fed in the minds of people and they usually have a lot of negative impacts on the individuals or group of people being considered to be inferior. One of the ways through which, prejudices against the minority is by reversing such unfounded perceptions. This can be done through increased awareness that all people are the same and those simple differences such as height or skin color cannot be sufficient reasons for making some people to be treated as less equals as the others and thus oppressed and exploited (Grobman, 1990).

All employers in US should be encouraged to adopt various measures that will be useful in the fight against minority discrimination in the workplaces. They should ensure that in all recruitment processes, the minorities are considered so that they can be economically empowered like the other people in the American society. The employers should discourage any form of discrimination in the workplaces, especially discrimination based on race and ethnicity. In order to discourage various forms of discrimination in the workplace, the employers should create a mechanism through which such matters should be addressed and various actions taken against perpetrators of discrimination so that others with similar intentions to be deterred from acting in a similar manner (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).

Employers should enact several policies and rules aimed at protecting the minority while working for them either directly or indirectly as agents. In order to make people from the minority groups be well appreciated in their workplaces, the employers should ensure that there are certain positive attributes of the minority groups that are applied in the organization. By doing so, other employees would have the tendency of associating the people from the minority groups with the attributes. Employers in the United States should also hold several forums and workshops in their organizations aimed at educating the employees on the negative impacts associated with discrimination at workplace (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).
School life represents a very important experience in the life of anyone who has gone through the education system. It is a place where young people have a great opportunity of interacting with one another regardless of the group one originates from. The life of an individual in school has a great impact on his or her entire life. Various perceptions that are learnt from schools are very hard to delete from the mind of such a person. Schools can therefore be a very effective instrument in reducing the hatred that results from racism. Students should be taught about the negative effects of the vice and discouraged from perpetrating it when at school or in the society (Spencer, 1998).

School administration should ensure that no student is denied admission to any school in the United States on the grounds of race from which he or she comes from. In fact, a balance should be created in school’s admission that should ensure that all school admissions represented the entire of the American population. Incidences of students from a particular race attending a certain school should be discouraged. By making schools to have students from various races found in the country will greatly assist in ensuring that the Americans learn how to live with one another at a tender age and thus when the students eventually join the society, they will continue with the virtues they have learnt in school. The school administrations should also hold several forums in which the students are taught about the demerits of discrimination and discouraged from practicing any form of discrimination against their fellow students. Cultural practices of various races in America should be taught either formally or informally in the schools so as to increase the knowledge of the students concerning the cultures and practices of other people. This will make the student to learn how to appreciate people from other races and respect them (Spencer, 1998).

Since racists behaviors and prejudices emanates from racists beliefs and attitudes, that can be altered at the personal level that is, in the hearts and minds of individuals. In order for this to be achieved, the US government, the civil society, churches, non governmental organizations and other stakeholders within the American society should join hands and address the underlying issues that bring about discrimination. They should aim at changing the perceptions of the society concerning the minority. The individual beliefs and attitudes are also held by the society since the society is made up of individuals. All the stakeholders should use such tactics as altering depictions of racist minorities throughout the US media; they can also increase public education on the effects of discrimination and prejudice. People in the country should be discouraged in talking in a manner that demeans a certain race. Certain behaviors such as jokes and the application of stereotypes and also racial discrimination and racist violence should be shunned (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).

The individuals that are racists are simply the product of a society that promotes the vice in one way or another. In order to change such a society, there is need for both political and legal change to be pursued. Politically, the interests of the minority should be well addressed and this can be done through increasing the political representation of the groups facing discrimination. Laws that are aimed at protecting the rights of the minority should be enacted so that anyone violating these rights to be dealt with by the law. The minorities themselves have also a role to play in ending prejudice and discrimination against them. They should ensure that they are in the forefront in the campaign against oppression, prejudice and discrimination along racial lines (Grobman, 1990).

The United States as a nation should consider taking an affirmative action that will greatly assist in reducing or even better eliminating racism and prejudice against the minorities completely. A program or a policy should be adopted that should be aimed at promoting access to employment and education for the minorities within the US borders. The motivation for the policies of affirmative action should be intended at redressing the effects that have been as a result of racial discrimination in the past. The affirmative action should encourage all the public institutions in US such as police forces, hospitals and universities to embrace more representation of all the races in the country. This will greatly assist the minorities who are considered to be inferior to prove to the other races that indeed they can be equally useful as people from the majority races (GLSEN Inc., 2009).

Programs for affirmative action may comprise of targeted efforts of recruitment, preferential treatment to be accorded to the applicants from races that have in the past been disadvantaged, in fact in some situations, quotas should be applied. The idea of affirmative action is in fact not new in the US as it has been practiced for quite some time by some American employers and universities and they have made a great difference as a result of the inclusion of the minorities thus attracting diversity in the workplaces and in the universities. However, while giving the minorities preference, the institutions should ensure that merit is also followed in order to prevent a scenario in which less qualified people from the minority groups are given chances to serve at various capacities in the US only to fail in discharging their duties because they are actually not qualified. Such a move would in fact be detrimental to the overall objective of the affirmative action since instead of eliminating the perception that the minorities are inferior, it would actually cement the perception and thus fuel discrimination against such minorities (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.). 

Significant progress has been made in the fight against minority discrimination in the American society. However, a lot still needs to be done since the vice is still being practiced in the American society. There is need for an affirmative action to be taken in virtually all sectors in US so as to bring an end to this vice. By completely eradicating the vice in the American society, the fundamental principle of human rights, which states that each and every human being born free with equal rights and dignity, will be fulfilled.

Everyday around the world people always find a reason to protest about an issue that they care about. It can be personal like the daughter protesting against a new curfew rule set by her parents, a community issue like the opening of a big store that threatens the existence of independent ones within the town, to something global like protesting against nuclear testing. According to Soren Kierkegaard, loud and violent protests will not bring the results that will change things so it is better to accept things as they come and make no fuss about what happens next.

    A protest, more often than not, is made against an action or decision of a higher and more powerful authority for his subordinates to obey. It also usually fails because the one protesting is the lower and less powerful to begin with. Sometimes authorities or companies that are the focus of protests listen and give in to pressure from protesters especially if the protest starts involving violence, famous personalities or more powerful authorities.  The latter are rare occurrences, however. People seldom have time for violence and personalities are much too busy. And the powerful usually take the side of their fellows. Furthermore, most people prefer actual action and not time-wasting shows of protests. The authority may also give in just to stop an existing show of protest, but later on renege against the agreement. The powerful, in one way or another, will always find a way to control and do what they want.

    It is better, as Kierkegaard says, to accept things as they come; to simply adjust to situations as they happen instead of forever fighting against them. It is better to adapt and change yourself rather than stand rigidly upon your ground because you do not like what you are being told to do. It takes less energy to adjust than to protest. It also makes for a more peaceful world.

The article entitled “On Imagism” by Amy Lowell, which is also referred to as the Imagist Manifesto, sets up and explains the major principles of Imagist poetry. One of the positive points of the manifesto is the principle that requires the use of simple language and exact words. As Lowell writes, “The language of common speech means a diction which carefully excludes inversions, and the clichés of the old poetic jargon […]” (Lowell, 1917). The logical continuation of this guideline is “To produce poetry that is hard and clear, never blurred nor indefinite” (Lowell, 1917). On the one hand, this style allows expressing one’s thoughts in a clear and concise way which makes the verse understandable and helps the reader concentrate on the central image the author depicts. On the other hand, the clichés, metaphors and vague words are the important tools of creating the mood of the poem. For instance, such expressions as “battlemented clouds” and “mountainous seas” Lowell warns against are the keys to the understanding of the author’s feelings and sensations associated with the specific experience or image. Due to the fact that I believe that ambiguity is an integral part of poetry and always contains a challenge or an interesting puzzle for the reader to solve, my attitude towards these principles is controversial.

I also like the Imagists’ acceptance of free rhymes, as the necessity of rhyming in the “traditional” way  (so that similar sounds are repeated) might make the author’s language poorer, as certain words have no general rhymes. Therefore, this principle is associated with greater freedom of poetic expression. In addition, it is recommended that poets be inventive and create new rhymes as opposed to those which “merely echo old moods […]” (Lowell, 1917). Thus, this principle encourages authors to construct new emotional contexts in their verses and put forth new concepts. Due to the fact that innovation is a part of progress and development, I particularly like this idea.

One of the examples of the application of these principles is Amy Lowell’s poem “In a Garden”. The speaker describes the atmosphere of the garden and fantasizes that she could see her beloved bathing in the swimming-pool.  “In a Garden” is a clear and well-crafted and structured presentation of this single image,  so the reader can assume the principle of exact presentation is put into practice. In particular, the author provides a comprehensive description of the sensations associated with the atmosphere of the garden: “The water fills the garden with its rushing,/In the midst of the quiet of close-clipped lawns” (Lowell, lines 6-7); “Damp smell the ferns in tunnels of stone, /Where trickle and plash the fountains, /Marble fountains, yellowed with much water” (Lowell, lines 8-10). Each word of the poem contributes to the presentation and the reader can “see” and “hear” what is happening in the garden and inhale the smell of the ferns. The presentation is rich, and it needs to be noted that the poetess uses simple and clear language with no subtexts, allusions or symbols. Instead, Lowell focuses on the physical aspects of the place rather than on the emotions, thoughts or reminiscence associated with the garden.

Besides, in the second part of the verse, the author integrates the image of her beloved into her description of the garden, and the reader still can easily visualize a white figure of a man (or a woman) bathing in the silver water under the moon: “And I wished for night and you./I wanted to see you in the swimming-pool,/ White and shining in the silver-flecked water” (Lowell, lines 16-18). Importantly, although the setting is a bit different (in the first part of the poem the garden is presented at a daytime), the author brings back the familiar characteristics of this garden which include the presence of the swimming pool and the water. As one can conclude, the poem complies with the principles set up by Lowell, as it is hard and clear and allows the reader to imagine and even “experience” what the poetess is writing about. Interestingly, each stanza ends with a reference to the water, which is probably the central image or the essence of the presentation. The first stanza informs that water “fills the garden with its rushing” (Lowell, line 7), in the second it is stated that the fountains are yellowed with water, the third describes the movement of the water: “It falls, the water; / And the air is throbbing with it./ With its gurgling and running./With its leaping, and deep, cool murmur” (Lowell, lines 12-15). The last contains the following description: “Night, and the water, and you in your whiteness, bathing!” (Lowell, line 22). In addition, the author uses free rhyme, as “It is true that modern subjects, modern habits of mind, seem to find more satisfactory expression in vers libre and “polyphonic prose” than in metrical verse” (Lowell, 1917).

Thus, the theory presented in the Imagist Manifesto in general works, as the poem is composed is accordance with the corresponding principles. The author managed to construct a well-structured and clear presentation with non-conventional rhymes and without vague generalities, so “In a Garden” is a successful example of Imagist poetry. However, it is difficult to identify the emotional mood and the poetess’s (or speaker’s personality) in the poem, and the work greatly resembles shots from a film with natural imagery. “In a Garden” is simple, clear and understandable, but it touches merely the senses of the reader, providing enough visual, auditory and olfactory messages, without communicating emotions and feelings, because the emotional component is “excluded” or replaced with descriptions of the physical environment. I admit that appreciation of nature is an important direction of poetry, but the natural imagery often serves as a source of symbols leading to the author’s own ideas, feelings and experiences. The reader can learn from them or draw valuable conclusions, whereas the Imagist poem rather belongs to the category of “art for art’s sake”.  However, Imagism greatly influenced modern poetry, as it broadened the range of forms and instruments which can be used in poetry and inspired poets to find spontaneous and unexpected images which describe our daily life.

Although at first glance, Robert Browning’s monologue My Last Duchess seems the story of a deep love articulated by the speaker, Duke of Ferrera, of the woman on a painting, Browning’s use of literary elements in the poem reveals differently and reinforces themes of jealousy, power, self-predominance and control, including Marxist and feminist readings into a story that culminates with the demise of a former wife.  In his search for a new consort, the Duke manifests indirectly in flowery speech to a messenger of the Count of Tyrol, his contempt for his late wife and presents his defense as to why her death, whether by his hand or not, is justified. Literary devices such as speaker, setting and situation, images, figurative language, rhythm and meter, and rhyme enhance the description of the Duke’s true nature, social circumstances, and the nature of injustice done upon his wife.

Speaker
    In the poem, the Duke of Ferrera is the only speaker, although there is the presence of a “silent listener” in the room (Everett, 2002). The manner in which the Duke directly addresses the silent listener (us) demonstrates the “master-subject” treatment that is expected when an aristocrat speaks to an individual unequal in social status. The Duke’s aristocratic and authoritarian air also surfaces in the direct and curt manner that he addresses the messenger,  in line 47, “Will’t please you rise?” (line 47) and in lines 53 and 54, “Nay, we'll go / Together down, sir.” Everett (2002) opines that although the poem involves a conversation, the source of information is the Duke alone, hence its one-sidedness. This is in itself a representation of the Duke’s arrogance and self-love.  Browning’s choice in using the dramatic monologue is fitting because it exposes the Duke’s love for self-indulgence and power as well as his controlling nature. Succeeding lines tell us more about the Duke’s jealously, possessiveness and domineering personality. He is disgusted of his wife’s innocence, bright disposition, and vivid personality.
  
Setting
 Unlike most lyric poems, My Last Duchess has a definite geographical setting. The monologue takes place in a private art gallery in the aristocratic abode of the Duke of Ferrera in Renaissance Italy sometime in the mid-16th century, a favored setting that is used in many of Browning’s work (Black, 1937; Yacobi, 2000). Allingham (2003) considers the choice important in order to properly depict the “courtesy, dignity, artistic taste, and essential cruelty of a Renaissance autocrat.” More importantly, the poem’s setting places the reader in a more comfortable position to understand not merely the historical circumstances that surround the monologue, but its social underpinnings. Through Browning’s descriptions, the reader is made to understand that during this time and place, society was governed by clear-cut social structures, norms, mores and stereotypes, particularly those that govern the women of this era. The Duke’s contempt for the Last Duchess was because of the latter’s unconventional disposition, where instead of being the private wife expected of her, she was more of  a “public Duchess” (Allingham, 2003). The Duchess’ lively disposition, bright personality, and friendly and buoyant nature was in contradiction to society’s stereotypical view of women as passive, docile beings whose business should be limited to powdering their noses and keeping quiet in affairs that concern only the men. There is a feminist reading in Browning’s poem as to how Victorian era society was characterized by a persistent male effort to restrain and dictate upon female sexuality.

Imagery
To make a clearer depiction of the character of the Duke and his opinion and treatment of his late wife, Browning effectively made use of Renaissance images (Black, 1937). The most apparent symbol used is the portrait of the late Duchess, painted on the wall by artist Frà Pandolf. The poem only tells the reader that the painting captures the Duchess’ bright personality and her love for life – a depiction that has distressed the Duke when her wife was still alive. But the painting itself and how it came to be tells us more about the Duke’s personality. The painting is brilliantly done, and personified the Duchess as a person with “depth and passion” but the painting is kept hidden under a curtain so that the Duke may choose who can view it, “none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I,” (line 10). Another image used by Browning in the poem is the bronze sculpture of “Neptune Taming a Seahorse”  which the Duke reveals was made specifically for him by Claus of Insbruck. Allingham (2003) treats this statue as a “psychological projection of the Duke himself as both enjoy dominating what is beautiful, delicate, feminine, and natural.” The Duke thinks of himself as the god of the sea, Neptune, controlling all his subjects, including the harmless and delicate seahorse which can be considered a representation of the Duchess. The Duke is no doubt a connoisseur of art but reading deeper into the poem, we learn that the pieces he collects are more importantly, used to display his wealth, dominance, and power. From a Marxist perspective, commodification is reinforced in the images Browning used. The scarcer and desirable the commodity, the higher the value. How the Duke transformed his wife into a painting and the fact that the painting was done by an artist Frà Pandolf,  in which the Duke only has access, turned his wife into a valuable commodity in death.

Figurative speech
Browning used figurative language in order to portray the Duke’s resentment of his wife as well as his aristocratic arrogance. In describing his late wife to the messenger, the Duke uses euphemism to prove that his wife was a flirtatious woman, or, in his words, “too soon made glad,” which in the modern-day conversation would mean a woman easily pleased or coaxed. In several lines, the Duke argues unilaterally in front of the messenger the many ways that his late wife has dishonored her. He uses figurative language all throughout the poem to illustrate just how flirtatious his late wife was. For example, when the Duke said that “her looks went everywhere,” he meant that the Duchess’ loose way with her friendships with other men was a shameful act. The Duke’s arguments centralized on the smiles of the Duchess. He is attempting to form an opinion on the messenger, in deliberately vague words, that his late wife had affairs with other men (Allingham, 2003). Upon her death, he is able to keep the Duchess’ smiling portrait behind a curtain for him to control. The picture of arrogance that eventually forms in the mind of the reader is strengthened when the Duke uses figures of speech such as “stooping” and his “nine-hundred-years-old-name.” The former is used by the Duke in order to describe a deed that is beyond his social status, as in conversation or his manner of addressing questions. For instance, he considers it inappropriate to address his wife about her indecent behavior because it would be a form of “stooping.” The latter reflects his high sense of self-importance, alluding that his late wife should consider it an honor to take his aristocratic name.  The Duke also uses paradox to present himself as a humble aristocrat who is often at a loss for words.  When he claims his “lack in speech” (line 36), the Duke was displaying his conceit and self-righteousness. He also indirectly gives the reader the idea that he murdered his wife out of intense jealousy from what he perceived as his wife’s infidelity (smiles), so that in the end, “he gave orders, all smiles stopped” (lines 45-56).
 
Rhythm and meter
Browning used the iambic pentameter for My Last Duchess. This iambic pentameter is illustrated clearly in the first two lines of the poem: “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ Looking as if she were alive. I call” (lines 1-2). This choice reinforces the conversational tone of the poem. In this manner, the reader feels the rhetorical power of the Duke as if he was the one addressing.
 
Rhyme
Browning uses a rhyme scheme following the formalized AA BB format. This reinforces the Duke’s personality as a proper, aristocratic, and controlling individual who wields a substantial amount of power. Moreover, it dramatizes the Duke’s contemptuous discourse and effectively presents him as a hurt and abused husband with a long laundry list of complaints against his late wife. The rhyme choice also strengthens the Duke’s self-righteous personality and brilliantly contrasts with his ironic claim of his lack of “skill in speech.” Davis et al. (2000) suggests that Browning’s use of enjambed lines reinforces the picture of the Duke restraining himself as he recounts his memory of his late wife. The enjambed lines illustrate the effort that the Duke is exerting as he presents his arguments to the messenger. When recalling his dead wife, the running lines reflect that the Duke is extremely uneasy about the subject (Davis et al., 2000). Further, Browning’s use of caesuras allays the suspicion on the reader of the Duke’s hesitation, probably out of the guilt for commanding the murder of his wife .

    In the novel Autobiography of my mother by Jamaica Kincaid, Xuela is seen to embrace her sexuality as her weapon of seduction to achieve power, self-control and sexual pleasure. In the novel, sex is used as tool for gaining pleasure and psychological satisfaction more than even life of a fetus that she carried as a surrogate mother to a white family. Consequently, the extent of colonialism and racism power over a slave are satirical illustrated in Xuela’s power over her body.                                                  
Her female sexual protagonist is first seen when she seduces Monsieur LaBatte a married man, though with permission from his barren wife who longs to have a child and hopes that the relationship would produce a child. Xuela confessed of the calm and pacifying pleasure she felt while having sex with the married man, "through all parts of my body that ached I relived the deep pleasure I had just experienced" (Kincaid 72). Moreover, after losing her virginity she is able to demonstrate an extraordinary state of calmness and self-control after Monsieur LaBatte aggressive tribulation when she concluded that, “I had only lost consciousness and I picked up where I had left off in my ache of pleasure" (Kincaid 72). Evidently, from the statement Xuela who was a mere teenager of fifteen years; outstandingly explored her body and sexuality to achieve pleasure for her own sake. The power of the young girl can be felt in the expression of her sexual feeling and her tactics to overpower a white man who was then supposed to be a lord over a black girl; thus illustrating that she was indeed in touch with herself, her sexuality and had the power over her feelings and overcomes the sexual urge after being satisfied by literally picking up her conscious self. This incident clearly illustrates how she uses sex as source of pleasure and gratification while at the same time displaying the desperate White man’s need for a child.                                                
Incidentally, Xuela aborted the couple’s child for three main reasons. Firstly, she was supposed to derive sexual pleasure from her sexual encounters and not a child. Furthermore a child and motherhood meant that her power over sex could be imprisoned in motherly-care thus she could end up losing that egocentric sexual controlling power she perceived to have in seducing men. Secondly, she insists that she had power over her body and was therefore beyond the white dominance and colonialism that was quite rampant. Her power is further displayed and enhanced in her when she realizes that the white couple is in deep agony and dire need of a child. Consequently she capitalizes on the desperate family for us to see her power over sexuality, “I had carried my own life in my own hands” (Kincaid 83). The self proclaimed love for her body is in her personality as a source of comfort. Thirdly, Xuela who had a feminist approach to life dictates that her refusal to bear motherhood was realistic and time bound within her sphere of power and life since she never wanted her child to suffer in the hands of a step mother as she recalled how a step mother nearly poisoned her; so she attributes abortion as a right to be excised over her body, “women can, and should, have exclusive right over their own body, whether it is deriving pleasure from sex or refusing the biological faculty of womanhood.” Lastly, Xuela never wanted to have a child out of a racial and oppressive fatherhood.
       
Nevertheless, Xuela’s notion about life misguides her into seeking more sexual gratification experiences out of loneliness and power to see if she was to be love. This is so because she subscribed to the idea that all people who loved and she could love had died, "I felt I did not want to belong to anyone, that since the one person I would have consented to own me had never lived to do so, I did not want anyone to belong to me" (Kincaid 112). That is the reason why she aborted, and went into a loveless marriage and quickly dislodged herself since in that closed life she could not feel her power over her sexuality. Reflectively Xuela seems to define the power over sexuality as the ability to experience and have sex orgasms with different men in order to feel that she is in control. Though a conclusion can be made about her psychological materialistic self; her father is described by her as being too vain and unrealistic attendant to the empire business since he was a policeman whom she vehemently hated, “My father’s skin was the color of corruption: copper, gold, ore” (Kincaid 181)”. Perceptively, Xuela and pursuits are therefore closely relating to the socio-psychological environment of her life. She had to transcend colonialism and racism the way she conceived it and thus she achieves that by hurting many lives who wanted to sexual take advantage of her during her life.                                                                                                                       
Moreover, the social stigma associated with Xuela’s failure to conform to motherhood, limited temptress and sexual subjugation while gripping to authenticate her sexual power can be said to be a chief characteristic of her paternal background that she discredits while generally accepting the recognition of her true self identity as an African with a different touch of understanding:
    This account of my life has been an account of my mother’s life as much as it has been an     account of mine, and even so, again it is an account of the life of the children I did not     have, as it is their account of me. In me is the voice I never heard, the face I never saw,     the being I came from. In me are the voices that should have come out of me, the faces I     never allowed to form, the eyes I never allowed to see me. This account is an account of     the person who was never allowed to be and an account of the person I did not allow     myself to become. (Kaidman 228)
The end of the novel elucidated the transcending egocentric belief that Xuela hold about her life in regard to understanding her true character and circumstances that forced her to live like that; though she reflectively disapproves of the promiscuous actions and is in dire need of love that she contrary beliefs died at her birth with her mother. Thus she generally accepts to be worthless as, “Since I do not matter, I do not long to matter, but I matter anyway.” Therefore her sexual pursuits seem to be the most advanced channel of power to assert her personality. The social society discredited her all the time to the extent of being branded evil and other unnamable names, “my memory, ability to retain the tiniest detail...regarded as unusual that my teacher said I was evil...pointing to the fact that my mother was of the Carib people” (Kaidman 16). With the death of her mother and the uncaring father, the  inception of her life was horrid and “I came to feel that for my whole life I had been standing on a precipice, that my loss had made me vulnerable, hard, and helpless” (Kaidman 4); as a result Xuela’s perspective about morality and marriage is distorted by the society.                               
Conclusively, Xuela has been depicted by Kaidman as a professional power hunter who gains all her aspirations at heart while disposing the empirical colonialism and paternal racism. Consequently in the aftermath of racism and colonialism Xuela does not fail but in tranquility takes her stand on her values as not to bring forth another soul to undergo the same tribulations as her own life-thus affirming her total control of her sexuality as a source of power and satisfaction in her lonely and discriminated life.    

    A deeper study on the nature of graffiti would make anyone see that it is something that should not just be reduced as merely a series of random lines and colors written or imprinted on a wall or surface. They should also not be regarded only as something nonsense. They would not be written on the walls for no purpose.  Graffiti and tags are a form of art because they both make use of creativity to deliver a message. The role of graffiti writing in the members of different gangs and crews is really very significant because it aids their communication, their expression, and their beliefs.

    Although graffiti painting have been regarded as a form of vandalism, it could also be regarded as a reflection of popular literature. The development and continued proliferation of graffiti and tags have a big connection to literacy trends of today.  According to Street (1995),  literacy “is a social construction of reality embedded in collective practice in specific social situations” (176). Literacy can also be defined as the sense of being educated and having knowledge about the world. Graffiti writing is a significant part of the literacy trend of the young adolescents from the oppressed sectors of the society. But graffiti writing is also an important consideration of possessing education on the streets, an alternative means of learning practice.

    The people involved in graffiti writing and tagging, the crews and gangs, are promoters of a unique kind of literature. “There is a considerable literature on graffiti and inscription on different surfaces that draws our attention to the cultural  meanings of literacy well beyond questions of skill and decoding” (Street and Lefstein 23). How graffiti becomes a part of popular literature is a reality that should be given attention to. For many adolescents, especially from the marginalized group of the society, graffiti writing and tagging had been a significant part of their way of expression, their way of literature, and their way of life.

Graffiti vs. Tags
    In simple terms, graffiti can be “defined simply as unsanctioned writing on public spaces” (Moje 208). They usually contain threats addressed either to rivals gangs or to people who try to steal authority in their territories, but delivered in a creative way. Tags on the other hand are usually simple one liners which contain identification and considered more artistic versions of graffiti which “are not used to claim territory but to advertise” (Moje 210). Tags are usually self-expressive identifications of taggers.

    Graffiti and tags are etched and marked on random public of places. Most of the time, these forms of expression are illegally placed so they become seen as contributors to the defacing of different public properties. “Graffiti are inscriptions or drawing written on walls, sidewalks, and the like” (Aguilar 16).  The remarkable form of graffiti and tags demand attention from people, not only because they are uniquely placed or publicly exposed, but also because of the curious nature of the images and texts. Graffiti and tags are used without the adequate permission of authorities which result to their unlawfulness, contributing also to the recognition they get from the public.

    By simply observing graffiti, the markings on the streets are indecipherable for ordinary people. Gangs have their own set of jargon words and way of writing. In reality, graffiti are “systematically encoded expressions of identity, attempts to make meaning, or statements of resistance to dominant power structures” (Moje 208). Graffiti and tags are tools used by many individuals and groups, mostly adolescents, to communicate a certain message to other people.

    Moje noted the distinction between tags and graffiti. “Taggers write for a statement and for artwork and a sign of respect. Graffiti is to mark where you come from like gangs and what they claim as their turf” (211). Graffiti from gangs are territorial in nature  while taggers  “are not driven by the context of protecting neighborhood space or themselves through the development of a reputation” (Phillips 312). Tagging is not something that needs to be taught formally, rather it something that can be simply picked up. Tags also change and does not remain constant all through out. “Everybody has their own style. Nobody tags the same” (Smith and Whitmore 56).

    But despite whatever difference the two have, in essence tags and graffiti come from gangs and crews who make use of them to convey their messages to a bigger audience. Graffiti writing and tagging are also both expressions of one individual who is shaped by the community he belongs to.

Developments on Graffiti and Tagging
     The people who are engaged to tagging or are part of gang doing graffiti are usually from the marginalized sectors of the population. They are the people who usually do not have enough educational opportunities or formal schooling does not become integrated to their system. “Art in the form of graffiti  originated in the late 1960s, but graffiti in term of public and unsolicited markings has been around for ever” (Tucker par. 4). Historically, experts say that graffiti had already been present in the form of wall paintings on the houses of the earliest people. Some people believe that “it represents man's desire and need for communication, and the history of this type of communication dates back to one of the first communicative acts—drawing” (Tucker par. 4). Over the thousands of years that passed, the need to communicate through by drawing on public places by people, especially those who are unheard in the society, remains a reality.

      In the 1960s to 1980s, graffiti continued to become prominently present, especially in New York City. This coincided with the introduction of subway cars in the city. Issues on the defacing of these public properties signified a negative mark with graffiti artists and taggers. The process of creating graffiti and tags have evolved over the years. The difference is reflected on the materials used, on the style, and on the purpose of these graffiti artists. Creating graffiti and tags have become faster and easier with the innovations introduced by the developments of the world. “Felt tip pens are used inside and on small areas, aerosol spray cans are used outside and on large areas” (Blume 137). The limitations of graffiti writing have been reduced, making the delivery of message easier for the artists to create more innovative forms of graffiti.

    The purpose on why graffiti and tags are done is different for anyone. “For some it is to get back at a world that has long oppressed them and to rebel against the society they consider so corrupt and unjust” while “for others it is purely for the pleasure of creation, for the art form” (Tucker par. 57). Most of the members of gangs and crews come from the population deprived of having a stand in the society. Their writings become their voice and their attempt to reclaim their place. Because of these facts, it is not hard to imagine why creating graffiti and tags have become an important means of communication, especially for people who have become more attached to the streets than on any educational institution.

    “Like all literacy conventions in a community, tags have certain features that help readers construct meaning” (Smith and Whitmore 54). Tags and graffiti art have evolved together with time, developing a more solid reason for their usage and proliferation. They have become like open essays published on a wall that tells a story about the writer and what the writers stand for.

    The evolution of graffiti writing can be attributed to a lot of factors. A number of circumstances in history can be attributed to what molded the linguistic or artistic characteristics of graffiti and tags. “For example, with hip-hop, the content of graffiti is subsumed by its own artistic elaboration—one can hardly read the names of hip-hop writers for all the arrows, colors, and cryptic styles” (Phillips 39). This is just one of the many other events of the society where graffiti are interwoven with. The character of graffiti writing is shaped with other factors of popular culture, contributing to its influential impact to the society.

Role in Literature
    Graffiti and tags have important significance to the literature of their time because they reflect the kind of literacy trend that develop in their communities. The population that is mostly engaged in these practices range in the ages of teenage years to young adults. As graffiti and tags become the most effective means of promoting an artistic side or delivering a particular message of the group, their value as literature for the gangs and crews become more pronounced.  “Adolescents engage in purposeful literate practices that express commonly held values, using culturally recognized forms” (Aguilar 3). Sensible graffiti art and tags prove that lack of quality education do not necessarily translate to ignorance. In fact, graffiti and tags “integrate alphabetic and iconic representational forms in systematic ways” (Moje 209). The graffiti art can have important messages or convey deeper realities of life, and their packaging as something written on public and unauthorized places may be the important factor for their point to be heard.

    “In underground colloquialism, graffiti artists are called writers” (Tadai 11). A common graffiti usually contain an identification of its author. It can be a codename or a nickname plus the location or street name of the perpetrator. Like a form of literature, this serves as the author's identification or the by line of the story. This shows how graffiti artists and taggers, even if they are regarded promoters of vandalism, are actually writers in their own sense.

    Also, one graffiti artist writes for his whole gang or crew for they are representatives of each other. They may not promote the traditional methods of storytelling, but they adhere to the purpose of literature to deliver a story. “Graffiti writers translate their inherited world in fragments, often wherever fresh architectural mediums become accessible, aiming to reach no one and everyone in particular” (Tadai 10). This purpose make the graffiti and tags more reaching and influential to popular literature. Nowadays graffiti are not restricted to the streets because art galleries usually pick the theme more often already. After all, the idea of graffiti is fresh and unusual. But the real graffiti, the one made out of loyalty to particular groups and gangs, are able to maintain their essential nature.

    Gang graffiti are usually addressed to their rival gangs, telling them to keep out of their territories and stay out of their business. The story gang rivalry is reflected on the graffiti posted by the one group. This kind of event reflect the society we have today, which is not very different from the history especially during the years when conquering countries and protecting territories are still important businesses of the world. The simple attempt of one gang to protect their territorial grounds may not be written in history books, but the graffiti they create make it a temporarily written account posted on the wall for the public to see.

    Graffiti and tags take literacy outside its formal setting. This has been the evolution of what literature could be. “Graffiti writers combine elements of language and art to create variable impacts in a variety of circumstances” (Phillips 39). Although the markings on the walls may be coded and hard to decipher, they are still capable of reflecting what is timely and possible. The graffiti and tags become important temporary documents which can  be resupplied again, as long as graffiti writers continue to impart the nature of their communities.

    Graffiti and tags have established themselves as literate practices “used to claim a space and a voice in dominant society and to express oneself or one's group identity to others who share that identity” (Moje 209). What graffiti artists and tagging crews cannot express to the world because of the limitations of their status in the society, they deliver in their own terms through writing it publicly. Graffiti and tags have become their way of “writing themselves to the world”  (Moje 211). They serve not only as tools of communication and learning, but also as avenues for expression and sharing of personal opinions. Having a voice, an outlet to speak up and protect their group is one of the aims of every gangs and crews. The usual themes of graffiti are that they serve as advertisements of one's community, reaffirmation of the pride and loyalty as being a part of the group, and protective defenses for their own safety.

An expression of Popular Culture
    The significance of tags and graffiti in the society is usually given less attention. Maybe its because these acts are most of the time regarded as nuisances in the society. Making graffiti and tags on walls of public places is indeed illegal and prohibited by the law because they disrupt the supposed image of the community. But tags and graffiti “serve as tools for transforming thought and experience in the lives of marginalized youth” (Moje 211). Graffiti and tags give adolescents more freedom to write and think however they want. In nourishing talent and interest in the art, especially in literature, the importance of freedom for creative thinking is very important. It tests just how far does the artistry, imagination, and opinion of a person can go. Graffiti can be considered tools for educating and encouraging interest in art and literature.

    Tags and graffiti also reflect what is popular and the current concern of everyone. Trends are usually derived from what is prominent and always seen and heard. Promotion and selling of ideas to the public is a lucrative business today.  “Graffiti writers, on the other hand, put up their own advertisements only for the cost of the paint they use and the risk they take” (Phillips 31).

    Because graffiti and tags have a very tried and tested effective way of attracting attention, they are also very influential in dictating what would be the trend of the time. People engage on painting the streets also get their ideas and issues from the streets. As  many studies about graffiti gangs prove, the orientation of life that the members of these gangs comes also from where they stay most of the time. They usually just build on this and place it in their creations. They advertise themselves and their ideas effectively.

    Modern art had embraced the nature of graffiti art. Many forms of graffiti are not limited to the streets anymore. It can be compared to how hip-hop had influenced graffiti writing, the modernities and different treatment of graffiti may also contribute immensely again to what would be the culture of the future. As we can see today, graffiti are becoming more and more artistic in nature and more accepted by the people.  Today's graffiti had already been significantly important to the popular literature. It can be assumed in the future that graffiti would continue to evolve, innovate, and influence while still maintaining its role in the streets.

    The proliferation and developments of graffiti writing are very evident in today's time. These graffiti artists who have evolved into speakers and influential contributors to popular literature. Graffiti writing have innovated along with the passing of time and yet it maintained its original purpose in the streets, which is to promote and protect the loyalty to one's community. Although the art of graffiti have moved on and penetrated other venues, the continued occurrence of graffiti painting in the streets solidify the original purpose of the project.

    Graffiti writing is one of the literary practices of the adolescents who are part of gangs and crews. This form of literature is one of the most important learning experience for every child growing up in the marginalized population. This kind of education which is learned firsthand on the streets has a lot of unique qualities that makes it something that should be given attention to. Graffiti writing had influenced what could be adopted and recommended for the future of the educational system. It has also helped shaped what would be the image of popular literature today.

    Graffiti writing had promoted a new kind of literacy, one that can be learned from the streets. The popularity of graffiti and tags as a form of artistic expression helped liberate oppressed individuals to have a chance to voice out their opinions and let their art be recognized as a potential literacy practice. Although, the negative implications of gangs and crews will continue to remain. The issues related to their violent behaviors and activities would continue to haunt them as the society would take a long time understanding the freedom for marginalized individuals. Also, this controversial form of art will continue to still be regarded as vandalism in the future because the most popular canvas of graffiti will remain to be properties that should not be ruined. And lastly, conservative educators would take a long time to accept that graffiti writing has an impact to literacy trends. But for graffiti writing, with its continuous growth and evolution, to emerge the way it is now, it will also continue to be a reflection of popular culture and contribute consistently on the nature of literacy.