Thomas Stearns Eliot Essays (799 words) - Christian Poetry

Thomas Stearns Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot was born to a very distinguished New England family on September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Henry Ware, was a very successful businessman and his mother, Charlotte Stearns Eliot, was a poetess. His paternal grandfather established and presided over Washington University. While visiting Great Britain in 1915, World War I started and Eliot took up a permanent residency there. In 1927, he became a British citizen. While living in Britain, Eliot met and married Vivienne Haigh-Wood and at first everything was wonderful between them. Then he found out that Vivienne was very ill, both physically and mentally. In 1930, Vivienne had a mental breakdown and was confined to a mental hospital until her death in 1947. Her death was very hard on Eliot and he died on January 4, 1965. Most of Eliot's works were produced from the emotional difficulties from his marriage. Because of Eliot's economic status, he attended only the finest schools while growing up. He attended Smith Academy in St. Louis and Milton Academy in Massachusetts. In 1906, he started his freshman year at Harvard University studying philosophy and literature. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy in only three years. Eliot went on to study at the University of Oxford and also at the Sorbonne in Judice 2 Paris. At the Sorbonne, he found inspiration from writers such as Dante and Shakespeare and also from ancient literature, modern philosophy and Eastern mysticism. T. S. Eliot's first poem was The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock written in 1915. It is widely recognized as one of Eliot's most brilliant poems. J. C. C. Mays claims that, "It is one of his most approachable poems since it structurally takes fewer risks than some of his later poems. The tone of effort and futility of effort is central in Eliot's poems" (Mays 111). Another poem, The Waste Land was written in 1922 and it contrasts modern society with societies of the past. "The assumption of the mythical method is that our culture and language once had a pervasive meaningfulness which has been lost in our increasingly rational and discontinuous society, but by recovering the lost myth from within our culture, poets can restore mythic unity to literature" (Leavell 146). Eliot converted his religion to Anglo - Catholicism and in 1927, his poetry took on new spiritual meaning. Ash Wednesday was the first poem he wrote after his conversion. It was written in 1930. It is said that it traces the pattern of Eliot's spiritual progress. It strives to make connections between the earthly and the eternal, the word of man and the Word of God and the emphasis is on the struggle toward belief. "Eliot develops independently and begins immediately in all of his works. Ash Wednesday takes place in a world which is all meaningless, and yet is a plea directed toward the infinite, toward a realm that is ultimately unknowable" (Leavell 152). Judice 3 In the poem, A Song for Simeon, a man sees the Incarnation after his birth. After seeing this, the man wishes only for death because he feels now that he is free from sin. In this poem, Eliot used images of Jesus' life such as: the crucifixion, Roman soldiers, and Judas' betrayal of Jesus. I think Eliot used these images because of how important Jesus' life and death are to everyone in the Christian faith. "A Song for Simeon is an essentially interior monologue with the repetition of his prayer for peace, oblivion, and death" (Brooker 101). Other poems Eliot has written are: Portrait of a Lady (1915), Mr. Apollinax (1916), Sweeny Among the Nightingales (1918), and Four Quartets (1943) which he believed to be his greatest achievement. Eliot also wrote the play "Murder in the Cathedral" (1935). It was about the murder of Thomas Becket and was later turned into a film in 1952. Other plays written by Eliot are: "The Family Reunion" (1939), "The Cocktail Party" (1949), "The Confidential Clerk" (1953), and "The Elder Statesman" (1959). "Thomas Stearns Eliot has been considered by many to be the leading American poet of this century. His poem The Waste Land is a summation of the disillusion and fragmentation that was felt by so many people following the first World War. It contained many poetic techniques that changed the face of modern poetry" (Costa 96). Eliot is considered one of the greatest poets and equally one of the greatest critics to ever live even though many were put off by his personality. He received the

Synonyms for Clothes

Synonyms for Clothes Synonyms for Clothes Synonyms for Clothes By Mark Nichol Words that refer collectively to one’s clothes have an origin in the sense of equipment or preparation; here are a dozen words available as alternatives to clothes. Apparel, ultimately derived from the Latin verb apparare, meaning â€Å"prepare,† started out in English as a verb but then came to be associated with clothing (as well as a ship’s rigging); apparatus is related. The origin of attire is the French word atirier, meaning â€Å"equip† or â€Å"prepare†; it, too, began as a verb. Clothes comes from the Old English plural of cloth. (When this sense became rare, cloth acquired a new plural: cloths.) Costume, from the Latin word consuetudinem, meaning â€Å"custom† or â€Å"habit† (costume and custom are cognate), was later associated with one’s style of dress. It is now mostly associated with clothing worn by performers or partygoers. Dress, which originally meant â€Å"prepare,† derives ultimately from the Latin term directus, meaning â€Å"direct† or â€Å"straight,† and later became a noun as well as a verb. The French term garnement, from the noun garner, meaning â€Å"adorn† or â€Å"provide† (also the source of garnish) was adopted into English as garment. Habiliments, from the Old French term abiller, meaning â€Å"equip† or â€Å"prepare,† originally referred to weaponry but came to pertain to characteristic attire, such as an outfit worn to identify a person’s occupation or tacitly prescribed clothing that is appropriate for a specific occasion, such as a formal-dress event. (Related words are able and ability, billet, habit, and habilitate.) Outfit originally meant to prepare and supply a sea expedition, then later became a noun referring to equipment and items required for such an undertaking by sea or by land and, by extension, to clothing. (It now also informally refers to a group of people.) The archaic word raiment derives from an Old French word areement, the noun form of the term areer, the origin of the English verb (and noun) array. Vestments comes ultimately from the Latin verb vestire, meaning â€Å"clothe,† by way of Old French; it’s related to vest. (Vestibule is unrelated, though the financial sense of vest, and the root word in invest and divest, are cognate, deriving from a sense of vestire that pertains to surrounding oneself with something figuratively as if putting on clothes.) Wardrobe, from the Old French word garderobe (and the dialectical variant warderobe), originally referred to a dressing room, then to one’s collection of clothing and later to a piece of furniture for storing clothing; the senses derive from the French warder, meaning â€Å"guard† or â€Å"keep,† and robe, which was directly borrowed into English to refer to a garment. The French form of the word has been used in English but is rare. (The connection between g and w in French words used in English is also seen, for example, in guarantee/warranty and Guillaume/William.) Wear, from an Old English term meaning â€Å"clothe† or â€Å"cover up† (and related to the ward in wardrobe), is generally used in combination to refer to a particular type of clothing, as in the terms sportswear and underwear. Slang terms for clothing include duds, garb, get-up, rags, rig, threads, and togs. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Apply to, Apply for, and Apply with8 Proofreading Tips And TechniquesRite, Write, Right, Wright

Extended Metaphor in Literature

Extended Metaphor in Literature An extended metaphor is a common literary device used as a comparison between two, unlike things that are commonly used in descriptive prose or poetry. Sometimes, it is just a sentence or two, or sometimes it can be even longer, lasting a paragraph or more. This literary term is also known as a conceit or a mega-metaphor. An extended metaphor is sometimes confused with allegory. The various elements or  images  in an extended metaphor may fit together or complement one another in different ways. Allegory Versus Extended Metaphor Allegory is often described as an extended metaphor, but this description only works if extended refers to the linguistic expression while metaphor refers to the conceptual structure. For example, Peter Crisp, English professor for the Chinese University of Hong Kong, claims that Extended metaphor... is different from allegory because it contains language that relates directly to both the  source and target. Literary Construct Only Extended metaphors  are a literary construct as opposed to an ordinary-language  metaphor. Extended metaphors are used consciously and sustained throughout a text or discourse. Unlike ordinary-language metaphors, they are not a one-off use of a description usually made out of necessity to get a point across. According to some language experts, extended metaphors are the exclusive property of literary texts, although this is not conclusive because of the use of  sustained metaphors in advertising. Examples of Extended Metaphors The best way to understand the concept of an extended metaphor is to see it in use. Authors and poets from all over the world, from all genres, and many time periods, have used or likely will use an extended metaphor in one way or another. Dean Koontz, Seize the NightBobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently, I was in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants dancing and clowns cartwheeling and tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent, go buy some popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down.Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemans UnionIt never takes longer than a few minutes, when they get together, for everyone to revert to the state of nature, like a party marooned by a shipwreck. That’s what a family is. Also the storm at sea, the ship, and the unknown shore. And the hats and the whiskey stills that you make out of bamboo and coconuts. And the fire that you light to keep away the beasts.Emily Dickinson, Hope Is the Thing With FeathersHope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune- without the words,And never stops at all,And sweetest in the gale is heard;And sore must be the stormThat could abash the little birdThat kept so many warm.Ive heard it in the chillest land,And on the strangest sea;Yet, never, in extremity,It asked a crumb of me. Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin DroodWhosoever has observed that sedate and clerical bird, the rook, may perhaps have noticed that when he wings his way homeward towards nightfall, in a sedate and clerical company, two rooks will suddenly detach themselves from the rest, will retrace their flight for some distance, and will there poise and linger; conveying to mere men the fancy that it is of some occult importance to the body politic, that this artful couple should pretend to have renounced connection with it.Similarly, service being over in the old Cathedral with the square tower, and the choir scuffling out again, and divers venerable persons of rook-like aspect dispersing, two of these latter retrace their steps, and walk together in the echoing Close.Henry James, The AmbassadorsUnless she hid herself altogether she could show but as one of these, an illustration of his domiciled and indeed of his confirmed condition. And the consciousness of all this in her charming eyes w as so clear and fine that as she thus publicly drew him into her boat she produced in him such a silent agitation as he was not to fail afterwards to denounce as pusillanimous. Ah dont be so charming to me!- for it makes us intimate, and after all what is between us when Ive been so tremendously on my guard and have seen you but half a dozen times? He recognized once more the perverse law that so inveterately governed his poor personal aspects: it would be exactly like the way things always turned out for him that he should affect Mrs. Pocock and Waymarsh as launched in a relation in which he had really never been launched at all. They were at this very moment- they could only be- attributing to him the full license of it, and all by the operation of her own tone with him; whereas his sole license had been to cling with intensity to the brink, not to dip so much as a toe into the flood. But the flicker of his fear on this occasion was not, as may be added, to repeat itself; it spran g up, for its moment, only to die down and then go out forever. To meet his fellow visitors invocation and, with Sarahs brilliant eyes on him, answer, was quite sufficiently to step into her boat. During the rest of the time her visit lasted he felt himself proceed to each of the proper offices, successively, for helping to keep the adventurous skiff afloat. It rocked beneath him, but he settled himself in his place. He took up an oar and, since he was to have the credit of pulling, pulled. Will Ferrell (Actor/Comedian), Commencement Address at Harvard University in 2003I graduated from the University of Life. All right? I received a degree from the School of Hard Knocks. And our colors were black and blue, baby. I had office hours with the Dean of Bloody Noses. All right? I borrowed my class notes from Professor Knuckle Sandwich and his teaching assistant, Ms. Fat Lip Thon Nyun. That’s the kind of school I went to for real, okay?

Journal Entries Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Journal Entries - Assignment Example I do not like the way the drugs make me feel. Although my mother ensured that I took my medicine at the stated time, I felt sick to the stomach but I did not expel them. I had a healthy meal as prescribed by my doctor; the vegetarian lasagna was just great. Sometimes after taking the medication, I had a slight headache. I could not log onto my computer to obsess over their lives. Moreover, I got the sleep that I had missed for days. I admit I had a good night rest. Taking lithium and Clozapine makes me feel nauseated, drowsy, and fatigued. Furthermore, I have been taking a lot of naps, and I miss using my computer, I can only use it for a limited time span as I have blurred vision. Also, I cannot get outside as my eyes are sensitive to the sun. However, I am taking my treatment plan as positively as ever. I am still happy, and I do understand why I am still taking this medication, but I have to. I woke up at dawn for a run, to get rid of the excess vigor. My doctor advised me that exercising is great, that is why I choose to go for a run. After the run, I took my medication and had a nap. So far, I have been watching what I eat- no junk food for me. I can admit that I feel great and cannot wait for the next day to reach do that I could do the same. However, I have a desire to quench my thirst now and then; my water bottle has been my faithful

Assignment One Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assignment One - Coursework Example It will make it a lot easier to achieve. I have done O and A levels in September 1999 and my subjects are Arabic, Arabic Literature, English language, History, Art, Geography. I have also done some courses as General Principle of English Law, Procedural Law Completed Virgin Atlantic/GBTA level 1 and level 2 FARES & TICKETING and GALILEO. With attaining degrees in HR, I also need to start working professionally. I already have worked in different human resources areas as volunteer and part time worker. For next five years, I have set some goals for myself to achieve: I need to improve my general knowledge about people and their behavioral psychology. It is because I am pursuing a career in Human Resource and for that I need to have an extensive knowledge about different people, their cultures, political views etc. For this purpose, I need to attend seminars, training courses to meet new people, meet professionals in the field to develop my knowledge. I also need to read books on a regular basis, apart from my course material to have an advanced learning of the subject. I need to be adaptive to new environment and people. For an HR professional, being adaptive is very important as HR professionals are key drivers in bringing change in the organization and they have to meet and manage people from diverse background. This I will learn when I move out of my home country to a new place for my university degree. Moving to a new country will give me a chance to meet people from diverse background and know them better. I need to work on my creative side. I need to develop skills for thinking out of the box and lead to innovation. For this purpose I have to go through a lot of brain storming exercises everyday to develop lateral thinking in myself. I researched through a lot of text and website in order to set my educational and career goals. I used Nova Scotia Government Career Development Plan 2006-07 guide to see

Fight Club by Jack Palahniuk :: Movie Film Fight Club Jack Palahniuk Essays

Fight Club by Jack Palahniuk â€Å"You are not your job. You are not how much you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your khakis. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. What happens first is you can’t sleep. What happens then is there’s a gun in your mouth. And what happens next is you meet Tyler Durden. Let me tell you about Tyler. He had a plan. In Tyler we trusted. Tyler says the things you own, end up owning you. It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything. Fight Club represents that kind of freedom. First rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club. Second rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club. Tyler says self-improvement is masturbation. Tyler says self-destruction might be the answer.† The novel Fight Club, by Jack Palahniuk was published in 1996 and released as a motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in October of 1999. Both the novel and motion picture proved to be very successful in their release to the public for one simple reason: Fight Club is a reflection of the suffering experienced by the ‘Generation X’ male who feels trapped in a world of the grey-collar (or service) working-class, a world filled with materialism and distractions, a group of men raised in single-parent families often devoid of a male role-model, and a world where there is no great cause for the average North American male to fight for. Whether consciously, or subconsciously, the average ‘Generation X’ male of modern society can relate to and understand Fight Club, which makes both the novel and motion picture such an important proclamation regarding the state of our modern culture. In Fight Club, we meet our main character who comes to us without a name. He can be referred to as ‘Jack’ but his name is not important. He comes to us without a name because he represents ‘any man’, any one of those ‘Generation X’ males living in our society at present. Jack is a thirty-year old man employed as a recall coordinator for a major automobile company. He lives in a condo that is furnished with all the comforts of modern society, namely mass-produced furnishings that can be found in the homes of millions across North America. Jack owns a car and has obtained a respectable wardrobe for himself over the course of time.

Iraq War Essay

The American government took the controversial decision of waging a war against Iraq. The circumstances and the motives of the American government indicate that the war on Iraq was unwarranted and cannot be justified although the American government has put forward a few reasons for waging this war. The logic and evidence does not support such contentions by the American government. The American government has failed to justify its unilateral decision of declaring war against Iraq. In the year 2002, the American President revealed his plan of attacking the Iraqi regime as it was thought that Iraq was in the process of emerging as the greatest threat to the American security. This decision was apparently taken on the basis of the intelligence information that the US government obtained concerning Iraq’s nuclear program. However, it is interesting to note that this intelligence information was kept secret until 2002. The major reason for this war was the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center in the year 2001. Obviously, this attack had left Americans at a state of shock as the successful terrorist attack demonstrated to the whole world that American security is at stake and that American military and intelligence power is not that efficient. (Powers 1) The knee jerk reaction resulted in the decision to chalk out the proper plans to prevent the future attacks of the American territory. However, it is interesting to note that the American government could not obtain even the simple majority of the members of the UN Security Council. This clearly indicates that the United Nations did not wholeheartedly support the Iraqi venture initiated by the American government. The close allies such as France and Germany could not be convinced of the need for this war project as these countries felt that there was no need for any fresh attack on the Iraqi territory as after 1991 this region was left in almost depleted state. The President was able to only convince the United States Congress as the members of the Congress did not question the necessity of a war on Iraq. The Congress members did not even participate in the debate regarding the Iraqi war. This shows that the American government could not convince the world leaders that Iraq was up to some fresh mischief in the form of the production of armaments having the capacity to destroy the world population. These details indicate that the American government has been alienated by other important powers which have not accepted the evidence presented by America that Iraq was emerging as another center of terrorist activities. (Powers 2) The main argument of the proponents of war was that Saddam Hussein possessed various dangerous weapons such as nuclear arsenals and chemical weapons which could have been used to destroy the enemy countries. The proponents of war asserted that the past history of Saddam showed that he was an aggressor. Their another contention is that Saddam Hussein had connections with the Islamic terrorist organizations and the leaders such as Osama bin Laden who had played an important role in the WTC attack. (Mearsheimer and Walt 1) These are the three reasons given by war supporters to justify the US aggression on Iraq. However, the proponents of war are not able to prove that Hussein really possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The UN inspections did not reveal that Iraq actually possessed or had the potential of building huge base of WMD which could have been used for destructive purposes. The War mongers were aware of the fact that their action would lead to huge expenses to the American treasury and that this war would result in the alienation of America in the world politics. Even then they insisted that war was inevitable as one could not afford to ignore the possession of nuclear arsenals in the hands of the Iraqi leadership. In reality, the US had the power to contain the alleged Iraqi aggression. The argument that war was inevitable rests on the faulty logic. The war supporters are not able to come up with substantial proof to suggest that Saddam had seriously pursued the plan of destroying his enemy countries. (Mearsheimer and Walt 4) However, in this context one should remember that after the Gulf war the allied forces had obtained entry into Iraq and they had used their energy to reduce the military power of Iraq. The Gulf war debacle was sufficient to deplete the Iraqi resources. Perhaps the American government needed to make a strong statement against Islamic terrorists after the September 11 attack. This resulted in the declaration of war on Iraq. This can be considered as the face saving attempt made by the American government. The newspapers have reported information from CIA documents which contradicted the statements made by the President Bush who asserted that Iraq was trying to produce nuclear arsenals as the Iraqi officials had approached South Africa to obtain materials needed for producing nuclear weapons. However, CIA expressed doubt regarding this report that Iraq was trying to obtain nuclear weapon materials from South Africa. Another contention of the President was that the Iraqi officials refused entry of the weapon inspectors into Iraqi regions. However, there are evidences which refute this allegation. In reality, as the newspapers reported, the Iraqi government had offered their cooperation with the weapon inspectors. There is also evidence to suggest that even before the beginning of war the American government obtained the information that Iraq did not approach South Africa to obtain nuclear weapon materials. This shows that the Bush administration had deliberately misinterpreted the intelligence reports in order to obtain the support of the Congress members for this war. In spite of these contradictions Bush has defended his action of invading Iraq without any major reason. (Priest and Milbank A01) There are evidences to state that the US decision to attack Iraq has backfired and it has not contributed to the improvement of the US image in the international political arena. The Iraq venture has resulted in the protest by the governments and people belonging to different nations in the world which did not find any necessity for this war. (Martin 3) The main reason for this protest against the war is that this war was unjust. The extreme action taken by the US forces against the innocent Iraqi civilians has come under public criticism. This shows the world public opinion has not supported the idea of the US led campaign against Iraq. This war has enraged the Muslim nations and this may contribute to increase in the activities of the Muslim terrorist organizations leading to the loss of lives in different parts of the world. There is no evidence to state that the US government obtained the support of the majority of the Americans for this war. The Iraq war has contributed to the creation negative image of Bush not only in the world politics but also in the US. In this sense, this war has not benefited the US people. Instead of increasing the security of Americans, this war has increased the possibility of terrorist attack on the innocent American population. (Martin 4) Works Cited Bracknell, Major Rob. â€Å"Euro-bashing as Good Sport†. Naval War College Review. 58. 2, (2005): 139-142. Available at https://www.brookings.edu/