Thursday, October 31, 2019
Advanced Accounting Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Advanced Accounting - Term Paper Example The above lists are not intended to be exhaustive. Further, an indication that an asset may be impaired may be indicated by the assetââ¬â¢s useful life, depreciation method, or residual value, which may need to be reviewed and adjusted. If goodwill relates to a cash-generating unit, the entity must consider impairment of the goodwill. IAS 36 provides for bottom-up and top-down tests for identifying impaired goodwill. If a CGU is being tested for impairment, and there is any goodwill in the financial statements relating to that CGU, a bottom-up test is performed. This requires the enterprise to determine whether the carrying amount of the goodwill can be allocated on a reasonable and consistent basis to the CGU under review. If such an allocation is possible (for example, if the goodwill relates entirely to an acquisition that is 100% included in the CGU), the portion of goodwill related to the CGU is simply included in the carrying amount of the CGU for impairment testing purposes . No further top-down test is required. If goodwill cannot be allocated to the CGU, the carrying amount of the CGU (excluding any allocation of goodwill) is compared to its recoverable amount to ensure that any impairment of the assets included in the CGU other than goodwill is identified. Since goodwill is not included in this assessment, a top-down test is then undertaken. This requires the enterprise to identify the smallest CGU under review and to which the amount of goodwill can be allocated on a reasonable and consistent basis.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
The Killer Angels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
The Killer Angels - Essay Example This book is based on the three days of the Gettysburg war starting from June 29th 1863 and ending on 3rd July 1863. This war from a historical viewpoint is seen as the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. It caused a huge loss to the Confederates, from which they never recovered. The battle of Gettysburg, fought on the Unions own territory, was the bloodiest war in the history of the American civil war. It resulted in the deaths of many soldiers on both sides, in fact, as many as 50000 were dead or were injured or went missing while fighting, during those three days. Shaara through this historical fiction tries to take us through those three days and tries to conjure a picture that describes the emotional conflicts that the generals and other officers on each side of the warring faction had to face as they put up a brave front and fought against friends and relatives. The southern concept of the Gettysburg war is very important as this war proved to be the turning point in the outcomes of the American civil war and is often referred to as the high tide of the Confederacy. Before this particular battle the southern army was faring well in most of the battle outcomes. It was this war which brought the Confederacy very, very close to gaining independence. General Lee, the commander in chief, was the chief inspiration for the Confederates and widely respected amongst all the southerners, carried on the battle right into the enemys territory and attacked them with his entire strength, to finish off the battle once and for all. He knew that if he could destroy the Union forces in their own territory it would be their end. This was the main concept of the battle of Gettysburg from a southern perspective. To achieve this General Lee was completely intent on going ahead and directly attacking the Union army instead of paying heed to Longstreet
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Relationship Between Music and Architecture
Relationship Between Music and Architecture CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Research Overview There have been some efforts that were made by a number of researcher vis-ÃÆ'à -vis looking at the parallels of architecture and music in terms of rhythm, harmony and the inherent ability to provoke emotional responses of each discipline; however, those researches have not covered all genres of music. One of the types of music that have not attracted a lot of architectural critics, cabaret music, has captured my interest. Given the limited research in the area, this study intends to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between cabaret music and architecture. Statement of the problem Towards the end of the 19th century, Romanticism reached its limits of expression. Consequently, diverse and experimental music forms began to emerge, which broke away from the mainstream of Romanticism. These included the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, and the surrealism of Erik Satie. The emphasis on irregular rhythms within Stravinskis The Riot of Spring caused its first audience to riot in 1913. These followed the experimentation in scales and rhythms of BartÃÆ'à ³k. In the performing arts, cabaret songs were intentionally naturalistic in language, theme while certain of its devices, such as the shadow play, were both decadent and symbolist in their use of light, colour and evocative suggestion. Simultaneously, in this period, architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier experimented with new approaches in composing architecture. Purpose and importance of the research This study is valuable in that it might contribute and add to the existing body of knowledge that has drawn out the parallels between architecture and music. Structure of the report The remaining of the report is organised into four chapters that will start from the known intersections between music and architecture to more specifically, the parallels between cabaret music and architecture. The report will then move to discuss the relationship between architecture and other related music disciplines like dance and Non-western musical. CHAPTER 2: INTERSECTIONS OF MUSIC AND ARCHITECTURE The Chapter focuses on analysing selected architectural work that has used music as design inspirations as a way of introducing the topic. Alberti, Palladio and the application of music in architectural design Historically music was thought of as a mathematical science. The idea of harmonies sprung from the process of division. A string that produced a certain tone could be divided along exact proportions to create a note that would resonate in harmony with the first note, creating an overlapping of tones that could be considered beautiful both aesthetically and mathematically. These ideas were developed by the ancient Greeks, but brought into importance during the Renaissance. It was during this time that architecture was thought of as an art that needed a mathematical and therefore scientific basis to be considered objectively. Palladio often looked to musical proportions as a means to achieve ideal proportions in his designs. Basic harmonies such as octaves and fifths were applied to room sizing in all three dimensions, and were also often overlooked to as ornamental guides. The Palladian practice of applying basic harmonic ideas to basic room proportions is a starting point with what can be achieved by translating tonal ideas into the practice of architecture. Renaissance thinkers placed importance on the translation of audible proportions to the visual arts partly because they viewed musical composition as a mathematical science whereas architecture was thought of as a liberal art. In an attempt to give architecture a system of design method, it had to be referenced to a mathematical framework. Leonardo Da Vinci once said that music and painting are sisters, and both are used to convey harmonies. According to him, music achieved this through the use of chords and painting through the use of proportions. Palladio noted within his illustration ideal proportions for room dimensions and other architectural devices. The numbers within the ratios are carefully chosen and are the result of his attempt to fulfill Vitruvian principles. The principle in question has to do with achieving an ideal design. The artists of the Renaissance believed that it was possible to obtain an absolute beauty by following the proportional principles found in nature. In the practice of architecture, this was achieved by allowing specific geometries to define certain forms. These forms then would act as modules that would define and govern the development of the entire structure. Palladio even stated that it was possible to achieve a harmonic building through the use of proportional principles and that it would be possible to explain and evaluate the success of the building using the terms of musical theory. Leone Battista Alberti had taken the music scale and noted that musical theory is important to the practice of architecture because the numbers that are responsible for pleasing harmonies also evoke delight from mans eyes and mind. Palladio took this idea and used this harmonic scale as a proportioning system in his buildings. He focused on the relationship found between four strings with lengths in a ratio of 6:8:9:12. When these strings were placed under equal amounts of tension and then vibrated they produced wavelengths of consonant tones, most importantly an octave, fourth and fifth. These proportions are noted in his plans published in the Quattro Libri. Le Corbusier and the Phillipss Pavilion The growth of subjective judgment slowly did away with the Renaissance search for an absolute beauty, but this did not stop the intersection of musical and architectural ideas. It did change them, leading to new investigations and ideas. Of particular importance is the work of Le Corbusier on the Phillipss Pavilion. He investigated both the translation of musical proportions to built form, but also the use of acoustics and sound to generate and convey a sense of space. In 1958, Phillips Company, a producer of electronic speakers, hired Le Corbusier to design and build a pavilion for the Brussels World Fair. The Phillips Companys goal was to show off the capabilities of their latest speakers and filled the pavilion with three hundreds of them. Le Corbusier proposed to give the Phillips Company an electronic poem with which to showcase their work. He worked with a team of Phillips engineers and two modern composers: Iannis Xenakis and Edgard Varase. Xenakiss role in the Phillips Pavilion was focused on the exterior shell of the building. His task focused on translating the sketches and abstract ideas of Le Corbusier (mainly dealing with geometry and proportions) into a buildable, architectural form. The end result, a curved, hyperbolic not only fulfills the mathematical ideals of Le Corbusier, but also evokes the glissandi of Xenakiss 1953-1954 composition Metastasis. Steven Holl and the Stretto House Steven Holl took the investigation of a more complex musical idea that of stretto, as a departure point for a house built in Texas. This project focused on using both the compositional and experiential qualities of a particular piece of music as a means to solve the architectural problems presented by the site and the client. The Stretto House, a project by Steven Holl located in Dallas, Texas exemplifies a modern approach to marrying the ideas of architecture and music. While there is more to the project than just this aspect the ideas of music played an important part in the development and implementation of the design. The name of the house comes from the musical term stretto. Stretto is most commonly used in the fugue and in this context it refers to the theme of the piece being repeated and overlapped by different voices. The decision to explore this musical idea as a mode of design occurs during the initial sketching phase. This phase explored some of the vernacular materials of Texan architecture, specifically metal roofs and concrete blocks. This combined with the need to create shade and producing this via overlapping led to the exploration of the overlapping that occurs in stretto. Holl narrowed the study of stretto to one particular piece of music, Bela Bartoks Music for strings, percussions and Celeste. The feature of this work is the distinct separation between heavy and light by carefully dividing the percussion and string sections. Holl literally took the basic composition of the music and composed his building in the same way. Bartoks work is divided into four movements and its most compelling feature is the aforementioned division of instruments into two models. Holl designed his structure to have four distinct spatial sections and focused the work on two distinct elements: masonry, which mimicked the heavy role of the percussion and curved metal, which played the light nature of the spring section. The result is an overlapping and intersection of several elements. The curved metal roofs overlap with the heavy masonry structure, referred to as spatial dams. The different planes of the building, roof, floor and wall, pull space from each other to continue the overlapping effect. The materials of the building follow suit, as do the actual design drawings. The orthogonal plan of the main house drawing stands in contrast to the curvilinear section while the drawings of the guest house reverse this pattern, mimicking the inversion found in Bartoks composition. This project was designed around a cohesive idea that can organize and guide the experiential qualities of the space. Holl notes that the concept that drives a design like the Stretto House disappears completely in the phenomena of the physical reality and yet intuitively the abundance of the idea may be felt. By combining the ideas of music and architecture Holl was able to create an analogue between the two practices. By treating music as something that has a materiality, one gained from its instrumentation, he was able to synthesize it with architecture through his use of light and space. The equation that Holl himself writes to explain this is material multiplied by sound and divided by time equals material multiplied by light and divided by space. The key to success of this lies in the distinction that both architecture and music have a material aspect, and this common factor allows parallels to be drawn. To summarize, the practice of architecture and the practice of music have intersected and impacted each other in a variety of ways throughout their histories. These instances can be divided into two distinct categories. The first category involves architecture taking proportional and compositional principles directly from musical theory. Palladios villas ?t into this category as many of the proportions that guided the design were taken from their eras understanding of music and the nature of sound. The second category involves architecture learning from the experiential qualities of music and trying to replicate them in built form. CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW Writer Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is famous for describing architecture as frozen music in the 19th century. Music and architecture also share similar experiential aspirations. Architectural historian Sir John Summerson notes in his essay The vision of J.M.Gandy that architecture is an art that is constantly attempting to realize in solid, stable form those effects which music is able to conjure up in an instant. He goes on to point out that music and architecture even use a similar vocabulary, specifically the use of mass, rhythm, texture and outline to achieve similar effects such as the colossal. It was Pythagoras who discovered that a vibrating string, stopped at its centre, produced the octave; at two thirds of its length the fifth, and at three quarters, the fourth. From this he developed the series of ratios that result in the twelve tone scale used in western music today. The ratio between the full length of the string and the length stopped, or the ratios between the lengths making different notes have their direct equivalents in the ratios between the sides of the rectangles that have made up much of western architecture in the intervening centuries. Numerous aspects of this relationship between the underlying ratios of music and architecture have been developed and discussed and in this chapter we shall consider the aspects of rhythm, improvisation and emotional response in the light of some of these discussions, and the architecture of Palladio, Le Corbusier, Schindler and Holl. Rhythm Many architects have developed theories of proportion with which to govern and explain their work. These have generated in their turn a significant body of critical analysis and comment. Palladio, like Alberti a century earlier, expounded theories which took up and developed those first proposed by Vitruvius in the 7th Century BC. These were particularly attractive to the spirit of the Renaissance. To the minds of the men of the Renaissance musical consonances were the audible tests of a universal harmony which had a binding force for all the arts. In the 1930s R M Schindler, developed the ideas of module used by Frank Lloyd Wright in his Usonian houses. Here not only the architectural plans, but also the concrete floor slabs were inscribed with grids derived from the sizes of the materials to be used. Schindler took this pragmatic idea and incorporated it into a system of proportion which he described as Reference Frames in Space. The appreciation of this relationship between the mathematics of the ratios and proportions that underlie both music and architecture is of course a purely intellectual exercise. The analogy with music simply amounts to the transference of an established convention in one art to the purposes of another It does not help explain or evaluate the emotional responses that these media can evoke, which is a factor of how the underlying principles are used and manipulated to create the final work. Stretto, the musical term for the overlapping of subjects, and the only strict rule in the formation of fugues, provided Steven Holl with the basis to explore the relationship beyond this intellectual analogy in his Stretto House. The house is directly inspired by Music for Percussion, Strings and Celesta by BÃÆ'à ©la BartÃÆ'à ³k, in which stretto is used extensively. It is a choice which is particularly apposite as the chief feature of his [BartÃÆ'à ³ks] chromatic technique is obedience to the Golden Section in every element. Improvisation In music improvisation is the impromptu or in the moment creation and performance of music as well as spontaneous response to other musicians. It is distinct from untutored or casual composition, in that it requires discipline and a rigorous understanding of the forms and rules in order to be sufficiently coherent to evoke an emotional response. improvisation is a performative (sic) act and depends on instrumental technique, improvisation is a skill. Because the creation of a work of architecture requires rigorous planning and control of all its elements, improvisation is not usually associated with it. The usual view is that architecture cannot be impromptu, it must be planned, detailed and explained thoroughly if all those involved in its production are to collaborate effectively. In his BBC Proms lecture in 2002 Daniel Libeskind confirmed that it is difficult to have improvisation in architecture ââ¬Å" to have rotating players, to have players interpret. He suggested, however, that if the spatiality and materiality is open, then the public can form its own operation on the building. This being, perhaps, the closest that architecture can come to improvisation. Certainly the villas of Palladio, with the proportions of their components controlled by a strict series of ratios, and their spaces assembled according to harmonic sequences, must be considered as careful exercises in composition rather than improvisations. Le Corbusiers villas too are compositions which follow a set of rules governing their proportions; Le Modulor. Within these cool, intellectual compositions, however, there are elements which are freer in form and which play off against, and highlight, the orthogonal correctness of the remainder. Coming finally to Schindler, Sarnitz observes that as his work evolved the great importance attached to proportion in his early work gradually receded; he never repeats the complexity of the Lovell Beach House. This move away from strict adherence to the system of proportion that he himself developed, to more lyrical or spiritual values, is directly analogous to that of a musician who has learnt the disciplines of his instrument and the rules of music to the highest level but feels able to express himself more fully and coherently through improvisation. Schindler, having developed and established his competence in his early work, chose to follow this route after recognising the limitations that a purely intellectual approach can bring to a potentially lyrical art. Most of the buildings which Corbusier and his followers offer us as machines to live in are crude contraptions to serve a purpose. Mere instruments of production can never serve as a frame for life. Emotional response The emotional impact of both music and architecture is generated not by the intellectual understanding and appreciation of the ratios and proportions that govern the relationships of their parts and overall composition. It is a response produced by the composer or architect or improviser by manipulating the material multiplied by sound divided by time and the material multiplied by light and divided by space which Holl proposes as the equivalent formulae for the creation of music and architecture respectively. The power of the piece to move the listener or viewer is in direct ratio to the skill of the creator. Both music and architecture are immediate rather than mediate forms of communication. That is they do not require the intermediation of language. They affect the listener and viewer respectively, of all backgrounds and languages, directly with no need for translation or interpretation. They also both have a physical element to their means of communication. Music can recall the serenity and grandeur of a seascape; so also, says Viollet, [le Duc] can architecture when it has occasion to give us long, unbroken, horizontal lines. Then he compares the emotional effect of a low broad crypt with that of a soaring knave; he notes the physical reactions of a man in these two settings, And both directly affect the emotions and understanding. The very same numbers that cause sounds to have that concinnitas [a certain harmony] pleasing to the ears, can also fill the eyes and mind with wondrous delight. The cool but powerful emotional response generated by the composed serenity and authority of Palladios villas is not simply the result of the principles of proportion that govern the elements of the elevations, but also the extension of these principles to the way that the spaces and volumes are arranged. the systematic linking of one room to the other by harmonic proportions was the fundamental novelty of Palladios architecture, At the other end of the architectural scale, Holls fugue in the Stretto House generates a similar response in the viewer to that, which stretto in music evokes in the listener, namely excitement, acceleration, fuller realization, a certain indescribable ecstasy with the sensation of heightened simultaneity. Another aspect of emotional impact, which may be more mundane but is nevertheless worthy of consideration, is the cumulative effect of the music and architecture that surrounds us as distinct from the impact of a particular work. Emily Thompson posits the importance that advances in sound engineering made to the aural perception of life in the early years of the century, giving rise to the phenomenon that is sometimes referred to as the soundtrack of our life. The idea of a parallel stage set of our lives has been hinted at by author Will Self, if Brutalism is heavy metal, then what was Modernism, Schoenbergs dodecaphony? Clearly the Little Englander Palladian nostalgia of the Prince of Wales, the Quinlan Terry partnership, and even Barratt Homes, is of a piece with light classical music: Viennese waltzes, frozen in red brick, Chapter 4: Improvisation after the Renaissance and after Modernism In the earlier chapter I have established that improvisation in architecture can be considered as the departure of a skilled practitioner from the rules he has mastered in order to express himself more fully or to give coherent expression to new or developing ideas. Albertis De Re Aedificatoria (written about 1450) may be seen as the theoretical foundation for the re-establishment of classical order and proportion in the Renaissance. A century or so later Palladios Quattro Libri (published in 1570), re stated these classical rules, and his buildings followed them strictly. At the same time, however, other architects were interpreting these established rules with varying degrees of freedom. In his two villas on the Capitoline Hill in Rome Michaelangelo took the conventional Corinthian order, enlarged it and ran it through two stories; something that the Romans had never done. Vignola, in his Castello Farnese at Caprarola, designed an entablature that, [I]s a departure from the strict grammar of the antique ââ¬Å" a departure in the direction of inventive modelling, of designing a faÃÆ'à §ade as a pattern in light and shade, a pattern through which runs a play of meaning rather than any precise series of statements. Giulio Romano was even freer in his interpretation of the rules of antiquity. His Palazzo del Te, with its affected dilapidation and dropped stones in the entablature and his Cortile della Cavallerizza with its extravagant rustication and twisted Doric finds its equivalent in the developing mannerism of the music of the time. In the late 16th century, as the Renaissance era closes, an extremely manneristic style develops. In secular music, especially in the madrigal, there was a trend towards complexity and even extreme chromaticism (as exemplified in madrigals of Luzzaschi, Marenzio, and Gesualdo). Chromaticism in particular is an essential characteristic of the mannerist style at this time. It demonstrates a departure from the rules regulating the fundamental ratios underlying musical theory which is directly equivalent to that executed by Romano upon the rules of classical architecture as restated by Alberti and Palladio. The Pythagorean tone, with a ratio of 9:8, consists of a minor and a major semi-tone; But only the minor semitone can be used in actual music. For this reason, progressions between Bb ââ¬Å" B natural or F ââ¬Å" F#, or any other equivalent intervals, are forbidden. When the chromatic madrigal begins to abound in such progressions, it raises a flurry of controversy. The relationship between mannerism in architecture and in music may be illustrated by comparing the use of chromaticism by Guesaldo with Romanos use of rustication in the Palazzo del TÃÆ'à ¨. On the one hand, Guesaldos madrigals are, full of unresolved dissonances, illogical modulations, and chromatic progressions. These are used to powerful effect to create, disruptive and restless changes of mood, so that the end result is rather like eavesdropping on some unresolvable, private agony. On the other, Romanos use of rustication gives the impression that, Everything is a bit uneasy, a bit wrong. It also [R]ecalls ruins [and] ancient buildings left half-finished. But it has great power and this is very largely because of the dramatic use of rustication. Just as Schindler developed a more improvisational style in his later works as he became disillusioned or cynical about the ethos of the Machine Age,[38] so Le Corbusier may also be considered to have undergone a major shift following the Second World War. This is exemplified by the chapel at Ronchamp, the monastery at La Tourette and the Courts of Justice at Chandigarh, all of which may be considered to be improvisational, with regard to the strict principles of Le Modulor. Charles Jencks observes that this perceived change in direction was seen to condone a new turn for modern architecture. He lists a range of diverse range of architectural movements that drew inspiration from Le Corbusiers later works. CHAPTER 5: CABARET MUSIC and MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE Architecture and cabaret music are closely affiliated, not least because both focus on creating unique atmospheres for a variety of purposes. During the early to mid twentieth century American architecture and cabaret were born out of and represented similar cultural concerns. This chapter considers some of the ways in which architecture and cabaret interact and how cabaret uses principles of architecture, such as the utilisation of space, the division of stage space, the distinction between public and private space, and the use of synthesis in design. Examples of Modern architectural designs, including those of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, built during the thirties and forties will be considered with the aim of identifying shared cultural affiliation between cabaret music and architecture during the mid twentieth century. Cabaret ââ¬Å" the trend of combining music, dance, comedy, and theatre in a public place ââ¬Å" was first established in France in 1881. Throughout both world wars and the Great Depression in America, Cabaret afforded a means of relaxation and the opportunity to celebrate, through shared performance, a variety of cultures, talents and tastes. Monmartre, in France, is recognised as the place where buildings were first constructed specifically for cabaret performance. The Moulin Rouge was built in Pigalle in 1889. At the time, the traditional Monmartre windmills were being pulled down at an alarming rate, which accounts for the construction of the large red windmill on the roof of the Moulin Rouge. The turn-of-the-century interior of Moulin rouge expresses the late Victorian Romantic sensibility, just before the introduction of the Modernist Art Nouveau movement. Elegantly and richly decorated, the cabaret setting was described in 1952 as possessing an atmosphere of tawdry luxury [. .] much like that of a bordello. At the time this would have befitted the styles of music which it was built to stage. Artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec recorded in paint various scenes from this early era of cabaret, such as music-hall singers, women dancers, and women preparing themselves to take to the stage. The flamboyance of early cabaret and the suggestiveness of dances, such as the can-can, paved the way for a relationship between the architectural setting and the music. In the late Victorian era, when more sensual forms of entertainment tended only to be considered as an underground activity, cabaret legitimised more diverse forms of theatre, music and dance, allowing men and women to mingle freely in a public space specifically designed for that purpose. At the time of the popularisation of Cabaret, the pursuit of pleasure had become a popular activity. During the twentieth century new dance halls were erected throughout Europe and in America in order to accommodate the rising popularity of the sociable and edgy form of cabaret entertainment. Cabaret music traditionally involves singing and orchestra, and American cabaret stars included artists such as Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, and Bette Midler. However, as an art form cabaret declined in popularity during the sixties due to the rising popularity of alternative forms of music, such as rock. Due to the glamour of its beginnings the architectural setting of cabaret traditionally retained elements of luxury, wealth, and flamboyance. On the relationship between Romanticism ââ¬Å" which the late-Victorian introduction of cabaret was celebrating ââ¬Å" and the poetic sensibility, Geoffrey Scott observes that Romanticism may be said to consist in a high development of poetic sensibility t owards the remote, in that it idealises the distant, both of time and place and identifies beauty with strangeness. The elaborate dÃÆ'à ©cor of cabaret stages, often including plush red or plum coloured velvet, idealise the sensual and were designed to encourage maximum comfort, pleasure and enjoyment of the entertainment. The designs of traditional cabaret stages were such that the audience area was only minimally lit, with the main focus being on the stage. In Modernist architecture there is suggestion that the culture of cabaret at least crossed over into and was in part incorporated into design. With the introduction of jazz and Broadway style music, cabaret became recognised as being seedier than during the years of its Victorian beginnings. We can explore the parallels between the responses of the two arts to the exigencies of the time by looking at three of the distinguishing qualities of cabaret music and architecture. The popular appeal of cabaret Cabaret deals with emotional or sentimental themes that easily evoke strong responses, rather than intellectual concepts that require esoteric knowledge to be fully appreciated. Frank Lloyd Wrights Usonian homes, built during the 1930s and 1940s, embody the cultural concerns and ideals of the Modern era, and reflect the complexities associated with the Great Depression of the thirties. During this time, many American families looked to cabaret and its music as the solution, albeit temporary, to the stresses of the quotidian drudge associated with the same economic, social and political forces. Usonian houses were intended to deal with the day to day living requirements of the average American family. A large living room for family life, with a big fireplace in It, a triplicate bathroom with sections for the man, the wife and the children and enough space for dressing rooms, closets and perhaps a couch in each, and airy bedrooms, all with easy access to a garden. A significant aspect of popular appeal is the recognition afforded to the performer; the phenomenon of stars. In this regard Wright, at this time, was actively marketing himself as the possessor of a unique, truly American architectural vision, and promoting his reputation as one of the great architects of the century. Variations in cabaret Cabaret offers variety. The subjects of its songs and dances range from tragedy to comedy and its forms from ballad to blues to jazz. It was popular for certain shows to be given to a select audience ââ¬Å" part of the growing consumer culture in which greater emphasis was to be placed on the needs of the patron. In a similar way that cabaret performances were customised, Wright designed buildings with specific elements for patrons. Scholars have already drawn parallels between the designs of Lloyd Wright and music. For example, as expressed by Brooks Pfeiffer and Nordland, Wrights unit system was as an intrinsic part of the organic process of design and construction: just as the warp is discipline for a woven textile, and as the scale and notes are disciplines for the composer of music, so Wright used the unit system as a discipline for design. The modular unit system, based on rectangular and square units, unified and simplified the construction process, and involved the repetition of components such as doors and windows, with an emphasis on geometric pattern and symmetry. Wrights designs were remarkable for their unification of different component parts and ideas, whi
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Outsider By Albert Camus V :: essays research papers
The Priest(Kafka vs Camus) The Outsider, written by Albert Camus, and The Trial, written by Franz Kafka, are two books that have been critically acclaimed since the time that they were published. There are critics that claim that The Outsider is a dull book, and is not even a read-worthy book. Other people claim that it shows us how society actually acts upon people who do not want to be like the rest of society. The Trial falls under the same kind of criticism; but both books, although written by different writers in a different à ©poque, fall under the same kind of genre: Imprisoned Lives. In both The Outsider and The Trial there are many people who influence the protagonists in a positive and in a negative way, but none of those characters are as important as the priest. The priest, being of the same profession in both books and trying to accomplish the same kind of tasks, have a totally different effect on the two protagonists. In The Outsider the priest changes the whole attitude that Meursault has to li fe, whereas in The Trial the priest tells Joseph K. how his life actually is. "Why do you refuse to see me?" This question was asked by the priest and was meant for Meursault. Normally, if a person is convicted to death, he will see a priest before the sentence is executed. Meursault did not do that. He profusely refused to see the priest and why should he? He "did not believe in god." Meursault did not care, as he did not care if his mother died, or if someone proposed marriage to him. This of course went totally against the rules and ethics of society, which cannot permit such kind of behaviour. But why does Camà ºs characterize Meursault like that? Why did he create such kind of an outsider to society? Camà ºs created such an outsider because he wanted to show people how life actually is. Society does not accept people who do not bend the truth a little and lie. Society wants to make life as easy as can be, making up lies so that everything can run smoothly because truth can hurt sometimes, and Camà ºs knows that. Camà ºs implements the priest not just as another character in the novel, but as a person who wants to tell Meursault how society expects him to behave. Meursault did not want to know how he has to act to make the society happy, as a matter of fact, the priest was "beginning to annoy" him.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
In ââ¬ÅA Rose for Emily,ââ¬Â William Faulkner
In ââ¬Å"A Rose for Emily,â⬠William Faulkner explores what encourages and what happens due to insanity. Emily Griersonââ¬â¢s life is narrated through, we can assume, a member of the community to which she belongedââ¬â ââ¬Å"belongedââ¬Å" is usedà because she is already deceased at the beginning of the short story. Faulkner avoids telling the story chronologically and instead tells us about Emilyââ¬â¢s past in a way similar to the way the human mind worksââ¬âa series of memories all jumbled up.Emily, we find out, lived a life under an overly controlling fatherââ¬âshe practically had no social life to speak of. Her father was basically the only person in her life so it is not surprisingââ¬âalthough shockingââ¬âthat she clings to him even after he dies. Upon his death, she goes out in the town and defies the set rules of society by seeing a man under her status. Fraternizing with this man, Homer Barron, may have had a positive impact on her life; h owever, Homer is ââ¬Å"not a marrying manâ⬠(29), which turns out to be absolutely devastating for Emily. Emily, we can conclude from her fatherââ¬â¢s death, does not deal well with strife.The heartbreak is too much for her and causes her madness to lash out. Emilyââ¬â¢s yearning for someone to love combined with her insanity leads her to commit deeds that a sane person would never do such as killing a man, leaving the decaying body in her house, lying next to the corpse, and perhaps even committing acts of necrophilia. Looking at Emilyââ¬â¢s story, it is quite frightening to think of the extent of damage that madness can compel people to inflict. It is very probable that Emily did not realize how horrific her actions were.à Truth to tell William Faulknerââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å" A Rose for Emilyâ⬠is an incredibly fascinating story about a woman who practiced necrophilia. The story is about a woman who poison's her boyfriend and keeps his body in a bed in her upstairs room for decades. No one ever exits or enters her old house except for her negro manservant.And what is necrophilia, exactly and how do we prove by using the text ofà ââ¬Å" A Rose for Emilyâ⬠à that indeed, Emily Grierson was a necrophiliac? Necrophilia for Mirriam-Webster would mean, ââ¬Å"obsession with an usually erotic interest à in corpses or erotic interest in the stimulation by corpsesâ⬠. à Medical dictionaries would define ââ¬Å"necrophilismâ⬠to be , ââ¬Å"1. A morbid fondness for being in the presence of dead bodies,à andà 2. The impulse to have sexual contact, or the act of such contact, with a dead body, usually of males with female corpses.â⬠Necrophilia can best be described as sexual arousal stimulated by a dead body. The stimulation can be either in the form of fantasies or actual physical sexual contact with the corpse.à Legends with necrophilic themes are common throughout history and the concept of sexual interference wit h the dead has been known and abhorred since the ancient Egyptians, as noted by Herodotus:ââ¬Å"When the wife of a distinguished man dies, or any woman who happens to be beautiful or well known, her body is not given to the embalmers immediately, but only after the lapse of three or four days. This is a precautionary measure to prevent the embalmers from violating her corpse, a thing which is actually said to have happened in the case of a woman who had just died.â⬠The symptoms of necrophilia are as follows: necrophilia are the presence, over a period of at least six months, of recurrent and intense urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving corpses which are either acted upon or have been markedly distressing. And the manifestations are said to be characterized by the following data. There is a broad spectrum of necrophilic behaviors, ranging from fantasies alone to murder for the sake à of procuring a dead body. à Faulknerââ¬â¢s Emily did commit murder in order t o haveà a dead manââ¬â¢s body to sleep beside with, ââ¬Å" I want arsenic,â⬠(28) Emily tells the druggist in Faulknerââ¬â¢s story. That she is about to commit murder is only implied, and the truth is seen towards the end of the narrative.Experts have subcategorized the paraphilia according to where it falls on that spectrum. ââ¬Å"Necrophilic fantasiesâ⬠of corpses, never acted upon, still fall within the scope of necrophilia and some authors have categorized this as a ââ¬Å"neurotic equivalentâ⬠to necrophilia. ââ¬Å" Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.â⬠(31) In this quote, the readers can deduce that, at the very least, Emily had lain beside the dead body of Homer Barron.ââ¬Å"Pseudonecrophiliaâ⬠describes isolated incidents where the sexual contact with the corpse may happen without pre-existing fantasies or desire to have sexual contact with the body. Even in its truest form, necrophilia can be quite varied, ranging from simply being in the presence of a corpse to kissing, fondling or performing sexual intercourse or cunnilingus on the body. The presence of other paraphilias or personality disorders, however, can manifest in more grotesque or sadistic elements such as mutilation of the corpse, drinking the blood or urine, or homicide (ââ¬Å"necrophilic homicideâ⬠or ââ¬Å"necrosadismâ⬠).The latter is the most disturbing end of the spectrum. Although assumed rare, many have argued that necrophilia may be more prevalent than statistics imply, given that the act would be carried out in secret with a victim unable to complain and given the length of time which the paraphilia has been recognized. à à But if Emily had used arsenic to poison and murder Homer, then she could not have been capable of performing an act of necrophilic homicide, for, how many times can you poison an already deceased and poisoned man?Although the act of murder itself may generate the subsequent sexual frenzy, research has determined an alarming rate of homicide in order to obtain a body for subsequent sexual violation. Rosman and Resnickà int their study, ââ¬Å"Necrophilia: An analysis of 122 cases involving necrophilic acts and fantasiesâ⬠found that 42% of their study sample of necrophiles had murdered in order to obtain a body.Researchers have determined, however, that sadism itself is not usually an intrinsic characteristic of true necrophilia. (74) In all cases, there is undoubtedly sexual preference for a corpse rather than a living woman. à And this is what makes William Faulknerââ¬â¢s Emily, unique. In the plot is a reversal of the symptoms manifestà that is ââ¬Å"usualâ⬠in the cases of necrophilia. Emily, is a woman, who preferred the company and sexual ââ¬Å"comfortâ⬠of a dea d man.When no other act of cruelty ââ¬â cutting into pieces etc., ââ¬â is practiced on the corpse, it is probable that the lifeless condition itself, forms the stimulus for the perverse individual. Homer Barron, as implied in the story, was maybe going to flee Emily, hence she resorted to murder by poison, ââ¬Å"à When she had first begun to be seen with Homer Barron, we had said, ââ¬Å" She will marry him.â⬠à Then we said, ââ¬Å" She will persuade him yet,â⬠à à because Homerà himself had remarked- he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks Club- that he was not a marrying man. (29)Kraft-Ebingà states in his, ââ¬Å"Psychopathia sexualisâ⬠à It is possible that the corpse ââ¬â a human form absolutely without will ââ¬â satisfies an abnormal desire, in that the object of desire is seen to be capable of absolute subjugation, without possibility of resistance (89).What happened after the incident of the poisoning can only be guessed at, but in this telling of the life of Emily Grierson there is proof, that Emily as able to ââ¬Å"persuadeâ⬠ââ¬âââ¬Å" herâ⬠Homer Barron, only that he was not someone hard to persuade, he was already dead, after all, ââ¬Å" The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill this room with pervading dust.A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the manââ¬â¢s toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured. Among them lay a tie, as if they had just been removed, which, lifted, left upon the surface a pale crescent in the dust.â⬠(30)Most individuals have been reported to be heterosexual. This was not a sick and twisted scenario meant to be feasted on by literary critic s who work with queer gender theory, Emily was not gay, Homer could have been, but, ââ¬Å" Upon a chair hung the suit, carefully folded; beneath it the two mute shoes and the discarded socks. The man himself lay in bed. (30)â⬠à ââ¬âyes, Homer was a man, he was Emilyââ¬â¢s man.As with the other paraphilias, necrophilia often occurs in conjunction with other paraphilias. Again, readers can only make intelligent inferences as to how, just exactly, did the things of Homer( made of silver ) get to become so tarnished, if by air corrosion alone? Could it be that at some point or the other, Emily infused them with fluids from her body, through acts that are too ââ¬Å" horrifyingâ⬠to speak of in this paper, but you get the picture.The individual should be assessed for associated psychopathology and treated accordingly. Treatment for necrophilia would be similar to that prescribed for most paraphilias: cognitive therapy, use of sex-drive reducing medications, assistanc e with improving social and sexual relations, etc. Sadly, Emily could not have been treated, she had chosen to isolation after her crime, ââ¬Å" Now and then, we would see her at a window for a moment, as the men did that night when they sprinkled lime , but for almost six months, she did not appear on the streets. (29) For that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six and seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china painting (29).In conclusions then, there really is enough evidence in the text that Emily Grierson [ of William Faulkner ] had managed to make herself the necrophilic lover of Mr. Homer Barron.à And so , the world can only offer, ââ¬Å" a roseâ⬠for Emily, for she can no longer answer for her gruesome acts, not that she ever could.WORKS CITED:Cole, Isaac, ed. ââ¬Å" The Life and à Works of Herodotus.â⬠à à New Land Press: London, 1990.Faulkner, William. ââ¬Å"A Rose for Emily.â⬠Literatu re: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama Interactive Edition. Eds. Kennedy, X.J and Gioia Dana. United States: Pearson Longman. 2005. 29 ââ¬â 36.Krafft-Ebing, R. von. ââ¬Å" Psychopathia sexualis.â⬠New York: Stein & Day, 1986, (Original work published in 1886)Rosman, J. & Resnick, P. ââ¬Å"Necrophilia: An analysis of 122 cases involving necrophilic acts and fantasiesâ⬠. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law,1989.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Books obsolete Essay
From the beginning of time paper books have been the soul means of historical documentation and the recording of stories, as to be passed down through the generations. With the new technology know as kindles, e-books, etc. the needs of paper books has drastically decreased. When it comes to storage, convenience, and quality, e-books will be giving paper books a run for their money. Here are the pros and cons of tablets vs. paper books and what might be more preferred in the later years to come. All readers know how much space books take up. They are under the bed, in the drawers of dressers, shelves filled to the brim with all kinds of stories waiting to be read. The inconvenience of needing a place to store all the books is the tricking situation. Unless the house has multiple floors with to many rooms to count, all these books are consuming valuable space. Without a personal librarian, finding certain books could be a lot harder then say having it on your tablet, looking up the name and its there in less then five seconds. This brings up the issue of finding certain books to buy through the e-book system. Not all books are available electronically, only the ââ¬Å"popularâ⬠, newer books have come out as e-books. A reader cannot browse e-book store like a half-price-books, and none of the books will cost less then ten dollars. For those customers who enjoy clearance books, e-books will not go over smoothly if printed books stop being produced. Another aspect though, how convenient is it to order the book and as soon as its paid for you can start reading? No need to leave the house! On a rainy day this would not be argued against. Even renting a book is more convenient because there will be no lines to wait in or over due books, because one could not get to the library after work. Another point is lending a book to a friend, are one going to lend his or hers three hundred dollar tablet to someone who may have it for n amount of days? Books are meant for sharing information, and for opening other peopleââ¬â¢s eyes to different concepts. Children, as an example, like picture books being read aloud to them before bedtime, sure there colored tablets now a days but what if the picture isà spread across two pages? The entire allusion would not make sense without the whole imagery meant to explain what may be happening. Printed books can be read outside on a sunny day, maybe while floating in a pool. True, books are not waterproof but they are not electronics either. Highlighting, side notes, comments can be made; research is easier with a printed book. Flipping through pages, having several books open when doing research is more productive. With e-books one must go page by page to find information of only one book at a time. They get a glare when reading outdoors even when cloudy, and would never dream of having them by water. Even though e-books are said to be more portable then books, what is the difference if only one book is being brought? Yes, the e-book may be lighter but printed books are not necessarily heavy. Then come the issue of textbooks, which are usually heavy, but have many examples for the text they contain. Without the picture there to show you a visual, how does the rader know they are getting all the fundamental learning agents? Eyestrain is proven to be more common when involving computers then print on paper. In a dark room it is better to have a book light shining on the page then a screen bright with words on it. ââ¬Å"Eyestrain occurs when your eyes get tired from intense use, such as driving a car for extended periods, reading or working at a computerâ⬠(mayoclinic. com). Reading it a lit room from print is a lot better then reading from a screen. One the other hand when it comes to reading the small print can be just as annoying. The e-book can make the text bigger for who may have bad eyesight. No magnifying glasses necessary for e-book users. When looking at the evolution of technology, certain products become outdated very quickly. As electronics become more advanced and are consistently being updated it may not be best to buy e-books because sooner or later the programs will only be met for the newest and most advanced technology out there. E-books have already been rapidly changing with the new things you can use them for. Tablets are now not only use for reading but for games, browsing the web, navigation, itââ¬â¢s becoming a bigger version of a smartphone without the calling aspect involved in it. So individuals will not just be buying it for reading purposes, which will end up as a minuscule ââ¬Å"perkâ⬠of buying a tablet. However, all technology is not meant to last forever, they do have an expiration date in a sense, because the producers want individuals to buy another one when its eventually stops working as well as it did once. With printed books, as long as the owner maintains the condition of the item, could last many more years then a tablet. At the end of the day, the question of books becoming obsolete due to the creation of electronic books is not likely. Sure, e-books are useful and handy to have but, will never surpass the simplicity of reading a printed book. Paper books are more reliable then computer files; they do not ââ¬Å"crashâ⬠and loose information. E-book tablets are becoming less and less meant for buying books and more used for entertainment purposes. As long as there are the individuals that enjoys holding the book in their hands, paper books will never cease to exist.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Sonnet 130 Essay Example
Sonnet 130 Essay Example Sonnet 130 Paper Sonnet 130 Paper Essay Topic: Cymbeline Poetry William Shakespeares Sonnets is a collection of 154 sonnets published in the early 17th century towards the end of the Renaissance period. It was addressed to two distinct audiences in mind. The first 126 sonnets are written to a young man while Sonnets 127 to 154 are addressed to a dark lady. Emotional conflicts are covered in depth as a main theme in these sonnets and this essay will examine Sonnet 130, a parody of courtly love in light of the context in which it was based. The sonnet form evolved during the high Italian Middle Ages, most famously in the vernacular lyrics of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374). The form of a book sized collection of sonnets was a familiar lyric genre at the end of the Renaissance (late 16th century). French and Italian poets favored the Italian sonnet form two groups of four lines, or quatrains (always rhymed a-b-b-a a-b-b-a), followed by two groups of three lines, or tercets (variously rhymed c-c-d e-e-d or c-c-d e-d-e). This condensed five rhyme palette (a-e) creates a sonorous music in the vowel rich Romance languages. However, in English, the scheme can sound contrived and monotonous, particularly in a series of sonnets on the same theme. Thus, Shakespeare followed the more idiomatic rhyme scheme which interlaces a rhyming pair of couplets to make a quatrain. Overall, it is presented as three differently rhymed quatrains and a concluding couplet. This is can be seen in Figure 1: Sonnet 130 My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head I have seen roses, damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks, And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks I love to hear her speak, yet will I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. Figure1 : Sonnet 130, Shake-speares Sonnets, A.D1607 The Shakespearean sonnet affords two additional rhyme endings (a-g, 7 in all) so that each rhyme is heard only once. This enlarges the range of rhyme sounds and words the poet can use and allows the poet to combine the sonnet lines in rhetorically more complex ways. Sonnet 130 is the only Shakespearean sonnet which models a form of poetry called the blazon, popular in the 16th century used to describe heraldry. It presents a detailed summary of all of the main features and colors of an illustration. A typical blazon of a person would start with the hair and work downward, focusing on eyes, ears, lips, neck, bosom and so on. Shakespeares Sonnet 130 is interesting because it works by inverting the traditions of the blazon form and the conventions of Petrarchan love poetry which idealized the description of the female body. All the twelve lines do not praise or idealize the beauty of the physical features of his lover, but on the contrary, criticize her physical features by revealing the shortcomings in them by contrasting her physical features with their respective idealised poetic versions. The emphasis on criticism is strengthened with the use of iambic pentameter. For example, my MIS/tress EYES/ are NO/thing LIKE/ the SUN/ highlights the key words that Shakespeare would like to stress when read with this beat and word stress. This provides the reader with an auditory tempo that draws out the essence of the embedded message, which seeks to convey that miss eyes no like sun in a concise form. A close reading of the sonnet reveals Shakespeares skill in crafting a precise sonnet within structural confines of an octet, a sestet and a pair of rhyming couplets. The first eight lines, the octet, are written in a way that a cursory glance at the words would give the reader a misreading of the intended meaning. The choice of words employed by Shakespeare are that which are common in the lexical field of words used for Partrachan love poetry that glorify a lovers external appearances to a level of almost goddess-like beauty. Words like eyes, sun, red, lips, roses, cheeks and delight are chosen by Shakespeare to describe the dark lady. This witty choice of words may be misread by the reader who is flippant in the reading of the text, without noting how such words are used for contrast rather than description. It shows the possibility that at first glance, a woman may be perceived as possessing such beautiful traits. Similarly, love is deceptive at first but is revealed over time to be humanely imperfect, unlike its initial goddess-like image. This theme is carried on in the sonnet, embedded in the play of words to emphasize how human love is fla wed but still very much beautiful. A key element in Sonnet 130 that appeals to me as a reader is the historical information gleaned from a close reading. In the tropical waters in Asia, coral vary in colour and texture. However, the coral referenced in line two, Coral is far more red, than her lips red place this poem in a specific geographical region of the Red Sea and Mediterranean, providing the reader a cultural context in which it is read and enhancing the element of verisimilitude. In a modern context, this species of Red Coral is common. However it was rare in Shakespeares time and prized as a precious stone, being used as a decorative item in homes. Shakespeare effectively uses sarcasm and contrast to parody how a Partrarchan sonnet was usually written. Line threes If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun (grayish-brown) is a countermand to extravagant claims by other poets of white, snowy skin when they describe womens bosoms. The imagery of breasts being dark-coloured is a deliberate portrayal to provoke the readers into contrasting their mental image of how an idealized lover should look like since breasts were often compared to pearl or ivory in Elizabethan poetry depicting fair-skinned western women. In line four, an example of misreading can be extracted. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head should be read in the context of a renaissance setting. Then, metal wires had not been invented and the wires cited refer to the ribbons, jewelry and embroidery woven into womens hair as adornment. Wire does not refer to an industrial object but a sign of beauty. Hence, the purpose of this last line in the first quartrain is to symbolize the distinction of black as a colour and as a symbol of darkness. This is supported in sonnet 127, where black and beauty is paired in several lines to hint to the reader that this lady he is writing to may be a dark-skinned woman or that their relationship is dark and complicated. It was part of the courtly tradition of love to declare that the goddess whom one adored had virtually no human qualities. But no such roses see I in her cheeks gives an illustration of a beauty literally portrayed according to the extravagant conceits of the time. And in some perfumes is there more delight provides an insight into the traditional world of sonnets where the beloveds breath smelled sweeter than all perfumes. All her qualities were divine. This can be seen in Cymbeline, one of Shakespeares later plays (A.D 1609-10), where Iachimo describes Imogen, whom he hopes to seduce. How dearly they dot! Tis her breathing that perfumes the chamber thus. In line eight, than in the breath that from my mistress reeks, reeks stems from the original meaning of to emit smoke. This is common in the Scottish expression long may your lang (chimney) reek. Shakespeares choice of words is precise in juxtaposing breath and reeks, eliciting a sharp response from the reader to shun this person for her seemingly bad breath. This expression is effective in depicting a contrasting imagery between the idealized mistress and this woman whom Shakespeare paints as a antithesis to the Partrarchan ideals of beauty. However, the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany at the beginning of the third quatrain. This marks the volta (turn), in which Shakespeare salvages the readers perception of this lady by putting it into context of his commitment to love her despite her seemingly abundant physical flaws. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound The introduction of this declaration underscores Shakespeares commitment in listening to his lovers voice despite the knowledge that music might sound better. Such a juxtaposition of sounds provide the reader an understanding that in reality, the notion of a lovers voice being melodious and soothing is all in the perception of the hearer. It does not affect the commitment expressed in a relationship grounded in honesty and qualities that transcend superficial lust and physical attraction. The next line, I grant I never saw a goddess go is positioned as a response to the common description of lovers being non-mortal such that even their walk is different from mortals. This can be cross-referenced to Shakespeares poem on Venus and Adonis, during Aeneas encounter with Venus in Virgils Aeneid vera incessu patuit dea (by her gait she was revealed as a true goddess). Here, Shakespeare presents to the reader a woman who defies romanticized, literary conventions of beauty as he boldly declares that My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground My beloved is human, a goddess with earthly feet Here, he asserts that divine comparisons are not relevant, for his beloved is beautiful without being a goddess. This concept of ascribing earthly features to ones lover was a radical move by Shakespeare that served to construct a humane quality instead of superficially elevating her to the unrealistic level of goddess or what we know today as supermodels. Shakespeare invests the ending couplet with special significance. It characterizes the musings of the three quatrains in a sardonic, detached or aphoristic voice, standing in some way aloof from the more turbulent and heartfelt outpouring of the quatrains. And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare. The couplet provides an evaluation of how he judges the standard of his love. Rare is used by Shakespeare to ascribe superb and precious quality. It is used in later plays by Shakespeare, as in the famous description of Cleopatra floating on her barge, which is put in the mouth of Domitius, Agrippa exclaims, To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, And what they undid did. AGRIPPA O, rare for Antony! The phrase belied with false compare reinforces the point that he has taken measures to extol her honestly and not accede to the use of superficial descriptions. Despite not being a goddess his beloved may be as rare to him as if she were Cleopatra. This sums up the feelings of the poet toward his lover of great admiration and the high esteem in which he holds her. A pun on the word compeer is also expressed in false compare. Compeer hints that she is comparable to him, equal in status and regard. This equality in their relationship reveals how Shakespeare esteems her to be his equal, someone whom he can confide in and relate to. In conclusion, study of the syntax, choice of words and allusions to contemporary events in Shakespeares sonnets suggests that the sonnets addressed to the sensual woman (the dark lady sonnets) echo passages in Loves Labours Lost, written in 1594 and revised in 1597. Overall, the emotional conflicts the sonnets describe seem to date from throughout the 1590s, when Shakespeare was in his 30s. Because all the poems were likely revised right up to the time of the quartos publication in the summer of 1609, the completed cycle stands as the evolving testimony, perfected in Shakespeares maturity in defining beauty.
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