Shakespeare Sonnet Xvi

Filed under English essay, Essays by / found by TheGuru on 03/17/2010 at 11:01 am 11 comments
by abigham

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII
‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’
Shakespeare’s sonnet XVIII, also known as ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’, is one of Shakespeare’s most famous poems and although it can easily be read on its own, it forms part of a collection of 154 sonnets written between mid-1593 and mid-1599 and published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe (Seymour-Smith, 1963:3-4, 9). The collection of sonnets can be divided into two large sequences: Sonnets 1-126 which are written to a beautiful young man, and Sonnets 127-152, which address a ‘dark lady’ (Schoenfeldt, 2007:128). These sequences can again be divided into smaller and more specific sections but suffice it to say that Sonnet XVIII belongs in the first sequence of sonnets and was originally written to a young man, possibly William Herbert who was also the co-dedicatee of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays and who was 16 years Shakespeare’s junior (Schoenfeldt, 2007:126). Despite the intended homoeroticism of the poem[1], today in popular culture it has mainly been used to describe heterosexual love; as in the film Shakespeare in Love (1998) where Shakespeare composes the sonnet after having fallen in love with Viola de Lesseps. It is also used to woo the opposite sex in the film Dead Poets Society (1989) where the sonnet is read by Charlie Nuwanda Dalton to the girls he brings to one of the society’s secret meetings. Finally, and most recently, the sonnet is recited by Peter O’Toole’s character in the emotional bathroom scene in the film Venus (2006).
Shakespeare’s sonnets all share a similar pattern and the style has even been termed the ‘Shakespearean Sonnet’ (Cuddon, 1992:895). Sonnet XVIII is made up of 14 lines which are divided into three quatrains (four rhymed lines) and one couplet (two rhymed lines). It has the rhyming pattern ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Each line has ten syllables with five stresses which is termed ‘iambic pentameter’. Like all sonnets, it has one theme and one subject which on the surface appears to be the comparison of
the young man’s beauty to a summer day. Furthermore, it adheres to the rule of the sestet which states that the sestet, the last six lines following the octave, resolves the proposition made in the octave (Cuddon, 1992:861). In Shakespearean sonnets, and also in Sonnet XVIII, it can be argued that the couplet further concludes the claims made in the preceding three quatrains as well as revealing the ‘true’ topic of the sonnet; in this case immortality through art. To thoroughly analyse the sonnet it makes sense to look at each quatrain and the final couplet in detail.
The first quatrain commences by asking the young man, to whom the poem is dedicated; ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’ The question seems rhetorical and it appears that the poet already knows the answer to the analogy. Already, in the second line the answer is given as the poet concedes that the object of the sonnet is much lovelier than a summer day. He is milder or more evenly tempered, as even on summer days winds may blow (line 3)[2]. In line 4 Shakespeare uses the personification that summer holds a too short lease on the year; summer must end and give way to other seasons. Thus, in the first quatrain Shakespeare has given us two arguments as to why the young man’s beauty is superior to that of a summer day; he is lovelier and his beauty will be everlasting, metaphorically speaking.
In the second quatrain Shakespeare elaborates on the unpredictability of summer, such as the rough winds mentioned in line 3, by using the metaphor and personification ‘the eye of heaven’ (line 5) to describe the sun and how it sometimes shines too fiercely. In the following line the sun is personified with a ‘gold complexion’ (line 6) which can be dimmed, for example by overcast weather. Line 7 tells us that the beauty of summer wilts – as all beauty will over the course of time (line 8). This declaration serves to prepare us for the immortalisation of the young man in the third quatrain.
The third quatrain echoes the first quatrain of the sonnet by making use of the metaphor ‘eternal Summer’ (line 9) to explain how the young man’s beauty will never truly fade. The word ‘eternal’, here pertaining to the young man, marks the opposite of the ephemerality of summer as described in line 4. Furthermore, Shakespeare changes the meaning of summer from something capricious (in the first and second quatrain) to the more familiar notion of summer as something beautiful and vivacious
by equating the young man’s beauty to an ‘eternal summer’. Shakespeare’s confidence in the young man’s endurance is solidified in lines 10 and 11 by the use of anaphora (Cuddon, 1992:40); ‘Nor loose possession…’ (line 10) and ‘Nor shall Death…’ (line 11). In line 11 Death is personified by being given the ability to brag – or in actual fact Death will not be able to brag about claiming the young man as Shakespeare has rendered him immortal via this sonnet (line 12). Line 12 serves as a mirror between two parallels as it divides four anaphoric lines; line 10 and 11 as explained above and line 13 and 14 of the couplet (‘So long as men…’ (line 13) and ‘So long lives this…’ (line 14)). Finally, line 12 signals a change in the poem’s form from quatrains to a couplet and leads us to the poem’s .
The couplet repeats Shakespeare’s wish, as expressed in line 12, to preserve the young man in literature. As long as there will be readers of the sonnet (line 13), their appreciation will keep the sonnet ‘alive’, which in turn will ensure the immortality of the young man (line 14). Thus, the sonnet itself becomes personified as something which can give life to something else; in this case the object of the poet’s affection. The subject of immortality through art was popular during the [3] and Sonnet XVIII beautifully illustrates this notion.
What is unusual about Sonnet XVIII is Shakespeare’s critique of nature in the first and second quatrain. Although he gives another meaning to summer in the third quatrain, it appears more like it is the young man’s beauty which enriches the concept of ‘eternal summer’ rather than the other way around. In , Shakespeare is invoking the man versus nature debate. He is criticising nature’s unpredictability and volatile changes while praising the young man’s perpetual beauty. The young man is everything nature is not. At the time of Shakespeare’s writing, and to a great extent also today, women were seen as belonging to ‘nature’ while men represented the world of ‘culture’. Thus, the man versus nature debate could be argued to actually represent a male/female dichotomy. Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII could be read as a rationalisation for his homoerotic emotions; women are unpredictable, moody (‘rough windes’(line 3), ‘Sometime too hot’ (line 5) and ‘often is his gold complexion dimm’d’ (line 6)) and mortal (‘lease hath all too short a date’ (line 4)). The young man is exactly the opposite; uncomplicated beauty immortalized through the world of
culture. Furthermore, the male/female dichotomy can thus be determined a culture/nature dispute which leads to Shakespeare’s main argument in Sonnet XVIII; culture and art are immortal and ever-lasting while nature is ephemeral and ever-changing. The use of Sonnet XVIII in popular culture and in academic reading and writing today, more than 400 years since it was originally published, shows us that Shakespeare’s promise of immortality through art has indeed been kept.
Bibliography:
Cuddon, J.A. (1992), Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Penguin, London
Donne, John, (2006), Selected Poems, Penguin, London
Lennard, John (2005), The Poetry Handbook, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Schoenfeldt, Michael (2007), ‘The Sonnets’ in Patrick Cheney’s (ed) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s Poetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Seymour-Smith, Martin (1963), Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Heinemann, London
Unknown author, http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/xviiicomm.htm, accessed September 10, 2009
Films:
Shakespeare in Love (1998) – Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Directed by John Madden, Released by Universal Pictures
Dead Poets Society (1989) – Written by Tom Schulman, Directed by Peter Weir, Released by Touchstone Picture
Venus (2006) – Written by Hanif Kureishi, Directed by Roger Michell, Released by Free Range Films
———————–
[1] ‘Intended homoeroticism’ may be too strong a term. It could be a platonic love, although other sonnets in the collection (e.g. Sonnet XX and Sonnet CXLIV) point in the direction of same-sex desire.
[2] According to the Elizabethan calendar Maie (May) ended only a few days before midsummer (Seymour-Smith, 1963:123).
[3] John Donne’s The Canonization is another great example of achieving immortality through art (Donne, 2006:9)

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’
Shakespeare’s sonnet XVIII, also known as ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’, is one of Shakespeare’s most famous poems and although it can easily be read on its own, it forms part of a collection of 154 sonnets written between mid-1593 and mid-1599 and published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe (Seymour-Smith, 1963:3-4, 9). The collection of sonnets can be divided into two large sequences: Sonnets 1-126 which are written to a beautiful young man, and Sonnets 127-152, which address a ‘dark lady’ (Schoenfeldt, 2007:128). These sequences can again be divided into smaller and more specific sections but suffice it to say that Sonnet XVIII belongs in the first sequence of sonnets and was originally written to a young man, possibly William Herbert who was also the co-dedicatee of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays and who was 16 years Shakespeare’s junior (Schoenfeldt, 2007:126). Despite the intended homoeroticism of the poem[1], today in popular culture it has mainly been used to describe heterosexual love; as in the film Shakespeare in Love (1998) where Shakespeare composes the sonnet after having fallen in love with Viola de Lesseps. It is also used to woo the opposite sex in the film Dead Poets Society (1989) where the sonnet is read by Charlie Nuwanda Dalton to the girls he brings to one of the society’s secret meetings. Finally, and most recently, the sonnet is recited by Peter O’Toole’s character in the emotional bathroom scene in the film Venus (2006).      Shakespeare’s sonnets all share a similar pattern and the style has even been termed the ‘Shakespearean Sonnet’ (Cuddon, 1992:895). Sonnet XVIII is made up of 14 lines which are divided into three quatrains (four rhymed lines) and one couplet (two rhymed lines). It has the rhyming pattern ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Each line has ten syllables with five stresses which is termed ‘iambic pentameter’. Like all sonnets, it has one theme and one subject which on the surface appears to be the comparison of
the young man’s beauty to a summer day. Furthermore, it adheres to the rule of the sestet which states that the sestet, the last six lines following the octave, resolves the proposition made in the octave (Cuddon, 1992:861). In Shakespearean sonnets, and also in Sonnet XVIII, it can be argued that the couplet further concludes the claims made in the preceding three quatrains as well as revealing the ‘true’ topic of the sonnet; in this case immortality through art. To thoroughly analyse the sonnet it makes sense to look at each quatrain and the final couplet in detail.      The first quatrain commences by asking the young man, to whom the poem is dedicated; ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?’ The question seems rhetorical and it appears that the poet already knows the answer to the analogy. Already, in the second line the answer is given as the poet concedes that the object of the sonnet is much lovelier than a summer day. He is milder or more evenly tempered, as even on summer days winds may blow (line 3)[2]. In line 4 Shakespeare uses the personification that summer holds a too short lease on the year; summer must end and give way to other seasons. Thus, in the first quatrain Shakespeare has given us two arguments as to why the young man’s beauty is superior to that of a summer day; he is lovelier and his beauty will be everlasting, metaphorically speaking. In the second quatrain Shakespeare elaborates on the unpredictability of summer, such as the rough winds mentioned in line 3, by using the metaphor and personification ‘the eye of heaven’ (line 5) to describe the sun and how it sometimes shines too fiercely. In the following line the sun is personified with a ‘gold complexion’ (line 6) which can be dimmed, for example by overcast weather. Line 7 tells us that the beauty of summer wilts – as all beauty will over the course of time (line 8). This declaration serves to prepare us for the immortalisation of the young man in the third quatrain. The third quatrain echoes the first quatrain of the sonnet by making use of the metaphor ‘eternal Summer’ (line 9) to explain how the young man’s beauty will never truly fade. The word ‘eternal’, here pertaining to the young man, marks the opposite of the ephemerality of summer as described in line 4. Furthermore, Shakespeare changes the meaning of summer from something capricious (in the first and second quatrain) to the more familiar notion of summer as something beautiful and vivacious
by equating the young man’s beauty to an ‘eternal summer’. Shakespeare’s confidence in the young man’s endurance is solidified in lines 10 and 11 by the use of anaphora (Cuddon, 1992:40); ‘Nor loose possession…’ (line 10) and ‘Nor shall Death…’ (line 11). In line 11 Death is personified by being given the ability to brag – or in actual fact Death will not be able to brag about claiming the young man as Shakespeare has rendered him immortal via this sonnet (line 12). Line 12 serves as a mirror between two parallels as it divides four anaphoric lines; line 10 and 11 as explained above and line 13 and 14 of the couplet (‘So long as men…’ (line 13) and ‘So long lives this…’ (line 14)). Finally, line 12 signals a change in the poem’s form from quatrains to a couplet and leads us to the poem’s .      The couplet repeats Shakespeare’s wish, as expressed in line 12, to preserve the young man in literature. As long as there will be readers of the sonnet (line 13), their appreciation will keep the sonnet ‘alive’, which in turn will ensure the immortality of the young man (line 14). Thus, the sonnet itself becomes personified as something which can give life to something else; in this case the object of the poet’s affection. The subject of immortality through art was popular during the [3] and Sonnet XVIII beautifully illustrates this notion.      What is unusual about Sonnet XVIII is Shakespeare’s critique of nature in the first and second quatrain. Although he gives another meaning to summer in the third quatrain, it appears more like it is the young man’s beauty which enriches the concept of ‘eternal summer’ rather than the other way around. In , Shakespeare is invoking the man versus nature debate. He is criticising nature’s unpredictability and volatile changes while praising the young man’s perpetual beauty. The young man is everything nature is not. At the time of Shakespeare’s writing, and to a great extent also today, women were seen as belonging to ‘nature’ while men represented the world of ‘culture’. Thus, the man versus nature debate could be argued to actually represent a male/female dichotomy. Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII could be read as a rationalisation for his homoerotic emotions; women are unpredictable, moody (‘rough windes’(line 3), ‘Sometime too hot’ (line 5) and ‘often is his gold complexion dimm’d’ (line 6)) and mortal (‘lease hath all too short a date’ (line 4)). The young man is exactly the opposite; uncomplicated beauty immortalized through the world of
culture. Furthermore, the male/female dichotomy can thus be determined a culture/nature dispute which leads to Shakespeare’s main argument in Sonnet XVIII; culture and art are immortal and ever-lasting while nature is ephemeral and ever-changing. The use of Sonnet XVIII in popular culture and in academic reading and writing today, more than 400 years since it was originally published, shows us that Shakespeare’s promise of immortality through art has indeed been kept.
Bibliography:
Cuddon, J.A. (1992), Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Penguin, London
Donne, John, (2006), Selected Poems, Penguin, London
Lennard, John (2005), The Poetry Handbook, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Schoenfeldt, Michael (2007), ‘The Sonnets’ in Patrick Cheney’s (ed) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s Poetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Seymour-Smith, Martin (1963), Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Heinemann, London
Unknown author, http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/xviiicomm.htm, accessed September 10, 2009
Films:
Shakespeare in Love (1998) – Written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Directed by John Madden, Released by Universal Pictures
Dead Poets Society (1989) – Written by Tom Schulman, Directed by Peter Weir, Released by Touchstone Picture
Venus (2006) – Written by Hanif Kureishi, Directed by Roger Michell, Released by Free Range Films
———————–[1] ‘Intended homoeroticism’ may be too strong a term. It could be a platonic love, although other sonnets in the collection (e.g. Sonnet XX and Sonnet CXLIV) point in the direction of same-sex desire.[2] According to the Elizabethan calendar Maie (May) ended only a few days before midsummer (Seymour-Smith, 1963:123).[3] John Donne’s The Canonization is another great example of achieving immortality through art (Donne, 2006:9)

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Conflicting Perspectives Speech

Filed under English essay, Essays by / found by TheGuru on 03/17/2010 at 7:37 am 8 comments
by  fpsmanager
Conflicting Perspectives
History and conflict are synonymous.
Conflicts can come in many forms, usually political, and can have various representations.
Composers of texts use conflicting perspectives to assert their own perspective on the issue and pursue their own agenda. Conflicting perspectives on the War on Terror are reflected in George Bush’s address to the people of Fort Bragg and the opposing views of Senator Byrd’s comments on the issue in a feature article titled, I Hope We May Find the Courage….
Brutus’s inclusive language in, *“If any, speak; for him have I offended. … I pause for a reply.” represents his perspective and attempts to justify his actions. He questions the opposition to his perspective; “If any, speak; for him have I offended.” Between each repetition he reinstates his own perspective through cumulative listing. The repetition diminishes the of “if any…” and the cumulative listing produces a more perspective. Strong use of these rhetorical techniques suggests of Shakespeare’s intent to make Brutus’s speech more . Brutus’s remarks are supported through the citizens’ response; “Caesar’s better partsShall be crown’d in Brutus.”* showing their insights into the issue.
In addition the composers have chosen suitable textual forms to represent their texts effectively. Using a speech allows Bush to address a large audience formally. A speech is also very direct where themain focus of attention is the words of the speech. By using a feature article, Byrd’s text has a formal but engaging appeal and as a feature article it has an image of truthfulness. Therefore, both composers have chosen appropriate textual forms to persuade their audience.
We can see similarities between the ways in which the composers present their perspectives through the use of rhetorical devices and textual forms to appeal to the audiences’ sense of judgement and their emotions. The conflicting perspectives presented in political situations can induce varied and provocative responses from the audience depending on how the argument is presented.

Conflicting Perspectives  History and conflict are synonymous.     Conflicts can come in many forms, usually political, and can have various representations.   Composers of texts use conflicting perspectives to assert their own perspective on the issue and pursue their own agenda. Conflicting perspectives on the War on Terror are reflected in George Bush’s address to the people of Fort Bragg and the opposing views of Senator Byrd’s comments on the issue in a feature article titled, I Hope We May Find the Courage….  Brutus’s inclusive language in, *“If any, speak; for him have I offended. … I pause for a reply.” represents his perspective and attempts to justify his actions. He questions the opposition to his perspective; “If any, speak; for him have I offended.” Between each repetition he reinstates his own perspective through cumulative listing. The repetition diminishes the of “if any…” and the cumulative listing produces a more perspective. Strong use of these rhetorical techniques suggests of Shakespeare’s intent to make Brutus’s speech more . Brutus’s remarks are supported through the citizens’ response; “Caesar’s better partsShall be crown’d in Brutus.”* showing their insights into the issue.
In addition the composers have chosen suitable textual forms to represent their texts effectively. Using a speech allows Bush to address a large audience formally. A speech is also very direct where themain focus of attention is the words of the speech. By using a feature article, Byrd’s text has a formal but engaging appeal and as a feature article it has an image of truthfulness. Therefore, both composers have chosen appropriate textual forms to persuade their audience.
We can see similarities between the ways in which the composers present their perspectives through the use of rhetorical devices and textual forms to appeal to the audiences’ sense of judgement and their emotions. The conflicting perspectives presented in political situations can induce varied and provocative responses from the audience depending on how the argument is presented.


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Essay Cold War Histiry Essay Essay Writijg Free Essays Essaays English Essay Riting Esssay Writing Sample Writing Essys Persuasive Essaay Topics

Filed under 5-paragraph Essay, Admission Essay by / found by TheGuru on 02/10/2010 at 1:30 pm no comments

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Student Essay: In Search: Pilgrimage in Piers Plowman – June Blanks

Filed under English essay, Essays by / found by TheGuru on 02/04/2010 at 7:04 am no comments

Passus VIII of William Langland’s Piers Plowman presents a search–which becomes a journey within the journey of the entire text. Here the narrator, Will, describes an inner pilgrimage–one that takes its shape in a religious context, but plays itself out through everyday life and the notion of self. The medieval traditional notion of pilgrimage involves the physical journey to a religious shrine as a means of obtaining, through journey and arrival, a revelation of religious and sacred integrity. The connotations of pilgrimage, however, stretch far beyond the actual physical act–a pilgrimage is “the physical symbol of [an] eternal goal” (Davidson and Dunn-Wood 13). The expanse of pilgrimage in medieval terms also envelops the understanding that “within or alongside this spiritual journey…was an intellectual journey as well, a quest against error and folly for truth and wisdom, which ultimately amounted to the knowledge of God” (Bowman 5). But pilgrimage goes even beyond that, in that it requires an absolute journey into the self with the goal of discovering that which gives the individual a context in which to exist.

The stage is set for journey in the opening line of the passus by Will, who says, “Thus robed in russet I roamed about/ A whole summer season searching for Do-Well.” The establishment of Do-Well as the goal creates the context through which this particular pilgrimage must be understood. And it must also be understood that Will does not know what (or who) Do-Well is: “And I asked very frequently of folk that I met/ If anyone knew where Do-Well made his home”; he knows only that he feels that he should search for such an existing concept (Passus VIII, L 3 – 4). Do-Well is understood in four parts. Do-Well encompasses Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best and counteracts Do-Evil. Do-Well is the inclination to keep from sin; it is the natural of the individual to protect the soul from sin in order to obtain salvation. Langland relays this through the metaphor of an individual’s to a boat rocking at sea:

Let a man be brought in a boat amid a broad expanse of water:
The wind and the water and the wobbling of the boat
Will make the man many a time fall and stand.
For though he stands ever so stiffly, he stumbles from the motion,
And yet he is safe and sound, and so it behooves him be,
For if he doesn’t arise right away and reach for the helm,
The wind and the water will overwhelm the boat.
Then the man’s life would be lost through his laziness alone.
(Passus VIII L 29 – 36)

Do-Well is the voice inside the mind that tells the individual to stand and keep balanced in the boat as a means of survival; it is the conscience, which relays the differentiation of right and wrong and is a guide toward righteousness rather than sin–the “free will” provided by God in the form of intuition. The counterpart of Do-Well is Do-Evil, a voice of temptation, of the “Fiend and the flesh and the false world” (Passus VIII L 42). The search for Do-Well, thus symbolizes a spiritual journey toward God. This journey toward righteousness is then broken into three parts—Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best. The three are described in a hierarchy, which emphasizes particular levels of attainment, to which Langland relates their religious order to medieval social order. Do-Well is defined in terms of fundamental actions:

Whoever is meek of his mouth, mild of his speech,
True of his tongue and of his two hands,
And through his labor or his land earns his livelihood,
Trustworthy of his tail-end, takes only what is his,
And is not drunken or disdainful, Do-Well is with him.
(Passus VIII L 80 – 84)

This groundwork for the path to salvation is one of conscience. The attributes of one who does well represent an awareness of righteousness and of a sense of belonging to something much larger than the self. At the same time, the self is the sole vessel through which righteousness can be obtained. Do-Well is the image of God on a human scale; it is a manifestation of God in human terms–the initial connection to God. The notion that the journey does not end with Do-Well is presented contextually with the of Do-Better, who “does the same, but he does much more” (Passus VIII, L 85). Do-Better is the manifestation of Christliness in human action: “He’s lowly as a lamb, lovely of speech” (Passus VIII L 86). As a messenger of the words of God, he says, “You wise ones, allow the unwise to live with you/ And with glad will do them good, for so God commands,” (Passus VIII L 94 – 95). Whereas Do-Well is about the fundamental handling of the personal self, Do-Better moves beyond the awareness of belonging to something larger than the self and he reaches out an extra hand to a level of engagemen: “While he has anything of his own, he helps out where there’s need” (Passus VIII L 87). Do-Best holds the image of man, Christ, and God:

Do-Best is above both and bears a bishop’s crozier
That has a hook at one end to hold men in good lives.
A spike is on that staff to shove down the wicked
That lie in wait devising villainy with which to vex Do-Well.
And as Do-Well and Do-Better decided between them,
They have crowned one to be king and keep watch over them all
(Passus VIII L 96 – 101)

Do-Best’s possession of a bishop’s crozier signifies a of governance: “In the church of the New Testament the duties of the bishop were to care for the flock of God” (Davis 97). The crozier is fashioned in the form of a shepherd’s staff. The image of Do-Best as a shepherd integrates the presence of Jesus, who was not only a shepherd, but was also the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29). But Do-Best does not reach his height taking on the image of Jesus; he reaches his height in the image of the king. Do-Best is an earthy manifestation of God, “the King of kings and Lord of lords” (Timothy 6:15). The continuation of Do-Well into Do-Better and Do-Best is key in the understanding of Will’s goal. This is the relation of the sacred to the living–the connection being a more intensive look at pilgrimage and how it shapes the daily life of humankind in the medieval ages. That Will’s search begins only as one for Do-Well signifies the continual nature and the intensity of pilgrimage. The full understanding of Do-Well as the goal of the search reveals what Mary Carruthers calls the poem “cast in terms of search for Saint Truth”—truth–“the ultimate reality, God” (Carruthers 10; Donaldson 258).

Passus VIII serves as a metaphorical journey that reveals the necessity of the pilgrimage as an individual essence that must be experienced and embodied in order to be integrated into the life of the one in search. The idea of pilgrimage can be embodied in words, but the heart of the pilgrimage can only be obtained through individual journey. Will comes upon two Friars in his journey who relate to him the story of the rocking boat when he asks them where Do-Well dwells. Will recognizes the Friars as “men of great intelligence,” acknowledging their authority and their potential to act as guides and instruments of enlightenment, like road signs marking the path of pilgrimage (Passus VIII L 9). The authority of the Friars is key to this segment of his journey, for they validate the religious framework. Will, playing the unknowing narrator, does not see how Do-Well can be where the Friars say—“He dwells among us, / And always has” (Passus VIII L 18 – 19). Will challenges the Friars’ revelation because he has been searching for Do-Well outside of himself and not within himself. He has not come to realize that his journey has already begun and is well under way. He is like a traveler who has undertaken a journey but does not recognize the path that he travels and thus looks for a landmark, like Do-Well, to mark his progress as being in the right direction. The Friars open a new door for Will and allow him to continue his pilgrimage through the allegory of the boat “likened to the body” as a “means of discovering invisible and ineffable truth through images and analogies of visible things” (Passus VIII L 41; Carruthers 10). The Friars relate the presence of Do-Well and Do-Evil within each person’s mind, but Will claims that he does not fully understand: “I have no natural knowledge… to understand your words” (Passus VIII L 57). In saying that he has no “natural knowledge,” Will establishes the terms of his pilgrimage. In his state of search, he has not yet obtained “experiential knowledge—whether interiorly or exteriorly derived,” which, at that point, defines the new perspective of his pilgrimage (Donaldson 254). The words of the Friars are just that—words. Words are not experience and cannot be internalized as such. “Ancient and medieval views of language begin with the premise that words are signs,” but they are not the essence of what they say, they only derive from it (Carruthers 12). The “cognitive value of language,” is in the allegory and must be interpreted through a context of the language of the life of man, not only the words of man (15). In De doctrine christiana, Augustine distinguishes between the word and experience:

Thus in this mortal life, wandering from God, if we wish to return to our native country where we can be blessed we should use this world…so that the “invisible things” of God “being understood by the things that are made” [Rom. 1:20] may be seen, that is, so that by means of corporal and temporal things we may comprehend the eternal and spiritual.
(Augustine I. 4. 4.)

Will acknowledges this medieval doctrine and hones his understanding of search. He says to the Friars, “I have no natural knowledge…to understand your words, / But if I may live and go on looking, I shall learn better” (Passus VIII L 57 – 58). The Friars have told Will of the landmark–Do-Well–but Will reasons that he must see it for himself to know that the pilgrimage is valid. This is the undertaking of experience: pilgrimage is life and life is the process of search.

With an understanding of pilgrimage, Will comes to dream. The dream is woven into the pilgrimage, providing an alternative method of exploration. He has resumed his search for Do-Well after his departure from the Friars:“Thus I faired far and wide trying to find Do-Well”–when the sound of birds sends him into sleep (Passus VIII 63). The dream can be seen as an element of Augustine’s “this world,” serving as an element of connection to the Otherworld. Langland immediately confirms this notion in the transition from waking life to dream state, with the use of birds as the agents of metamorphosis:

The merry melody of birds made me abide,
And on a lea under a linden I lay down a while
To learn the lays the lovely fowls made.
Mirth of their mouths made me go to sleep.
The most marvelous dream came to me then
(Passus VIII 64 – 68)

The symbol of the bird is key to the context of the dream: “The flight of birds leads them, naturally, to serve as symbols of the links between heaven and earth” (Chevalier and Gheerbrant 86). The movement into dream is portrayed as a lesson of “the lays the lovely fowls made”– the sounds of the birds marking the first appearance of the divine language of dream, as birds are messengers of a heavenly order.

That Will arrives at the dream alone and speaks of it in first person narrative–“as I went by a wood, walking alone”–reveals the personal nature of the dream and the personal nature of the interpretation and relay as provided by Will (Passus VIII 63). Dream visions are to be perceived “in the light of one’s own psychological, aesthetic, and philosophical frame of reference” (Knapp 5). Here dreams are clearly a vehicle to connect the individual to a higher order. The human body is an able vessel for the translation of divine order into a worldly manifest and tangible language. Dreams are to be taken as a whole on a scale much larger than the individual; they are to be understood “as eternal and universal frescos” (6). As the Friars have told Will that God, as Do-Well, “dwells among us, and always has,” the dream presents itself as a parallel to understanding the inner nature of the pilgrimage and the body as the instrument of pilgrimage that already possesses the qualities necessary for the journey.

The vernacular of the dream reinforces the notions of self and the connection to divine order. The personal nature of the dream in the context of the religious is emphasized in that the man who appears and speaks to Will is a paradigm of Will himself: “A large man who looked to me much like myself/ Came and called me by my Christian name” (Passus VIII 70 — 71). This context creates the parallel between Will as a man of the worldly realm and his dream counterpart, Thought, as a spiritual guide. The dream is representative of a spiritual journey because by calling Will by his Christian name, Thought establishes a context of religion in the address. As the Friars shaped a sense of authority in their shared wisdom, the dream assumes an authority of the religious order as well.

Will and Thought are clearly two parts of the same. Will is symbolically speaking with himself–a journey or pilgrimage of the inner order. This experience is like that of the mirror: “The symbol of the divine intellect reflecting manifestation and creating it as such in its own image” (Chevalier and Gheerbrant 658). Thought, as a character, is the manifestation of the exercise of the mind. Will is having an interaction with his mind. This process is a sign of his progress in coming to understand that pilgrimage of the outer order is merely a tangible manifestation of inner pilgrimage, a pilgrimage that may be taken in sections, but is ultimately to be understood as an extensive process throughout time.

Thought reiterates what the Friars had before told Will–“Do-Well…and Do-Better and Do-Best the third/ Are three fair virtues and are not far to find”–and he moves to explain how Will’s goal is one of inner order (Passus VIII 78 – 79). Thought serves as an intermediary between man and God–God in the form of Wit. Wit is the God-given trait of reason, intuition, or natural inclination. The Friars speak of Wit as being partnered with “free will” and the character(istic) of Do-Well that give man the instinct to turn his body “about like a boat in the water,” rather than fall to the sin of the waves (Passus VIII 53, 47).

The dream of Passus VIII is a device of intellectual journey toward an understanding of intuition. The dream examines the interconnectedness of the self, society, and the divine. Dream allows the author to explore another level of understanding, one that brings man on a level with the divine and that can incorporate societal/worldly concerns into the picture: “The dream makes possible perceptions which, while anchored in the dreamer’s spiritual self, are also moral, social, and political” (Brown 36). The dream state allows an escape from the expectations and limitations of tangibility; it separates the realm of the dream from rationality. The time of Langland marked a literary movement toward dream as a device, when dreams were “to become material for and essential to the creative process. The dream enabled writers and painters to enter into a world in which deeper perceptions could be experienced and a whole new range of feelings and sensations could be known” (Knapp 16).

Langland uses the dream as a vehicle for the ability to address an issue, as “dreams are viewed as reflections of the tensions of man’s daily activities, his longings, desires, needs, and aggressions–those he is either unable or unwilling to express during his waking hours” (Knapp 10). The significance of the dream as pilgrimage is spoken of later: “Sleeping I had grace/ To learn what Do-Well is, but waking, never” (Passus XI L 408 –409). This statement reveals that, symbolically, the dream signifies that the journey into the self is the only true way to find Do-Well or the truth of God.

The relevance of this dream culminates in the of Will to (his) Wit. It is only when Will connects with his wit that he will have the ability to understand and integrate the will of God—the strength to “stand and steer [his] soul” (Passus VIII 46). Will’s search for Do-Well is progressing and he is given wisdom by Thought, who says, “Unless Wit can tell you [how Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do-Best do among the people]…where those three live, otherwise no one knows that is now alive” (Passus VIII L 114 – 116). Wit is the act of recognizing the path, integrating its components, and taking conscious measures toward obtaining the enlightenment manifest in the goal of the pilgrimage. The journey must take place within oneself, as a search for the human connection to God.

The will of God must be reached through pilgrimage of which dream in Piers Plowman is only a part. The search is on the level of divine connection, seen when Thought says, “Otherwise no one knows that is now alive.” Thought refers here to Jesus, the son of God. The essence of the pilgrimage is to obtain what is perhaps unobtainable, yet it remains the goal and has throughout time. Langland unveils this universal struggle:

Therefore by color nor by clergy you’ll never come to know [God],
Neither through words nor works, but through will alone,
And no clerk knows that, nor creature on earth
But Piers the Plowman, Petrus id est Chritus (Peter that is Christ).
(Passus XV 209 – 212)

The ultimate pilgrimage of man has been an attempt to rectify the Fall, through a journey toward an attainment of oneness with God, salvation, “a Promised Land or Paradise Lost” (Chevalier and Gheerbrant 754). Will, the narrator, is a universal character in search of his connection to God.


Works Cited

Augustine. De Doctrina Christiana.

Bowman. Itinerarium: The Idea of Journey. Salzburg, 1983.

Brown, Peter, ed. Reading Dreams: The Interpretations of Dreams from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Oxford University      Press.

Carruthers, Mary. The Search for Saint Truth. Northwestern University Press, 1973.

Chadwick, D. Social Life in the days of Piers Plowman. New York: Russel & Russel, 1969.

Chevalier, Jean and Alain Gheerbrant. The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. Penguin Books, 1996.

Davidson, Linda Kay and Maryjane Dunn-Wood. Pilgrimages in the Middle Ages: A Research Guide. New York:      Garland Publishing Company, 1993.

Davis, J.D. A Dictionary of the Bible. Michigan: Baker Book House, 1924.

Hagan, Susan K. Allegorical Remembrance. University of Georgia Press, 1990.

Hieatt, Constance B. The Realism of Dream Visions: The Poetic Exploitation of the Dream-Experience in Chaucer and      his Contemporaries Mouton & Co. 1967.

Holy Bible. Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990.

Kirk, Elizabeth D. The Dream Thought of Piers Plowman. Yale: Yale University Press, 1972.

Knapp, Bettina L. Dream and Image. New York: Whitston, 1977.

Langland, William. Piers Plowman. Trans. E. Talbot Donaldson. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990.

Sargent-Baur, Barbara N. Journeys Toward God: Pilgrimage and Crusade. Michigan: Medieval Institute      Publications, 1992.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060621173900/http://athena.english.vt.edu/~exlibris/essays02/Blanks.html

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Homework Help for High School English Papers

Filed under English essay, Essays by / found by TheGuru on 12/09/2009 at 1:30 pm no comments

High school English and history classes often require written or reports. While different types of , such as expository and research , have different requirements, there are some general guidelines that will help with any essay. Here are a few tips for parents who need to help their children with high school .

Prewriting

The first step in writing a quality paper is to methodically plan the structure and content based on the specific requirements. Although many view prewriting as an unnecessary and tedious step in the , it is the foundation of a well-organized, high-scoring paper.

To help facilitate the prewriting process, explain your thoughts out loud to a friend, family member, or just in front of a mirror. Organization and formality are unimportant at this point; just get the creative juices flowing and ask questions frequently to refine your thoughts on the topic.

Next, construct an outline that organizes and prioritizes the ideas and points that were developed earlier. When building an outline, keep in mind that the final paper must include an that sketches out the points to follow, and a that ties everything together. Between these two paragraphs, the supporting paragraphs should begin with the strongest point, and include a paragraph that deals with possible objections and other points of view. Include transition words when starting new paragraphs that help the ideas flow together.

Support

The most common mistake that high school make when writing and is the failure to provide concrete support. For each of the main ideas developed in prewriting, include concrete, specific examples that directly support these ideas. For example, a research paper needs specific quotes from references, while an essay on The Scarlet Letter needs to include specific examples from the plot that backup the point being made.

If you don’t provide specific examples to support your main ideas, the paper will seem weak and lackluster. Even if the points you make are relevant and original, without specific support, they will be no more than unfounded assertions.

Common Pitfalls

Although different classes and have different guidelines, the mistakes made when writing them are often the same:

  • Contractions
    • Although used in everyday speech, contractions shouldnever be used in a high school paper. An easy way to avoid this problem is to search for apostrophes using your word processor once the paper is written. Any apostrophe that is not used in a possessive (Mom’s, Bill’s, the child’s, etc.), should be changed.
  • First and Second Person
    • When writing a high school paper, it is unnecessary and incorrect for the author to refer to him or herself, or the reader. First and second person pronouns (I, we, you, etc.) should be removed.

Final Draft

For many , especially those who struggle with paper writing, editing is just one more frustrating and loathsome step in the . Read your paper aloud to a friend or classmate. Most common grammar mistakes and organizational problems can be identified much more easily when heard rather than read. http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org/articles/Homework_Help_for_High_School_English_Papers.html

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English essay

Filed under English essay, Essays by / found by TheGuru on 11/24/2009 at 2:49 pm no comments

English Essay refers to written in English or on English literature. Since English is the most common language used in many colleges, writing a good paper is an important skill that you should develop early in your academic career. can be written include a wide range of topics such as management, marketing, IT, philosophy, science, technology and many more (read more how to write an essay, an academic and history essay).

There are many types of and these include argumentative, research, literature, criticism, etc. The different types of speak of the way the paper tackles the topic. While a research paper provides details of the research conducted for a subject, a critical essay criticize an idea or a topic. Writing such requires detailed planning and above all a very good knowledge of English. You need to define the scope and objective and be sure of the message you wish to convey. Once the main theme and the subject have been defined, then the table of contents can be framed.

The English essay table of contents with different headings is very important as it gives shape to your paper and defines the scope. The paper should have an abstract or that tells readers about what would be covered. You should also give appropriate headings that will make the main body of the paper. The headlines should be carefully framed so that a group of sub titles can be placed under them. Having a caption followed by just a couple of sentences as the content is bad writing. Once these elements are outlined, you can put down the appropriate content in the form of arguments, research, analysis, discussion and so on. Sources such as books, journals, online resources and others can be used for research. Always remember to cite these sources as per different citation styles such as MLA, Harvard, APA, Chicago and others.

We have a team of professional writers with English as the native language. We can customize the document as per the class in which the studies such as undergraduate, Master’s or PhD. While written for an undergraduate may have some amount of cited sources, a doctoral thesis is expected to show evidence of original research conducted in the field or lab. We also provide Literature and criticism about books and journals. Our services do not limit to only writing a summary and critique a published work but also it is applied to certain themes of selected publications. Our writers can analyze articles printed in reputed journals and books and provide an analysis of the articles and how they relate about what other authors have written regarding a subject.

We have provided English on a wide range of subjects and research areas for from UK and US colleges. Our team of writers has adequate working, teaching and writing experience in various subjects and what we create earns good grades. Some of the writers have Masters and Doctorate degrees and have served in colleges and multinational companies. Our strict adherence to deadlines and high quality of writing makes us the best in this field.

The English essay table of contents with different headings is very important as it gives shape to your paper and defines the scope. The paper should have an abstract or that tells readers about what would be covered. You should also give appropriate headings that will make the main body of the paper. The headings should be carefully framed so that a group of sub themes can be placed in them. Having a heading followed by just a couple of sentences as the content is bad writing. Once these elements are framed you can begin putting in the appropriate content in the form of arguments, research, analysis, discussion and so on. Sources such as books, journals, online resources and others can be used for research. Always remember to cite these sources as per different citation styles such as MLA, Harvard, APA, Chicago and others.

http://www.essaycapital.com/english_essay.htm

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