...Lowe, D.J Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Tears, Idle Tears,” On the Edge Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Tears, Idle Tears,” conveys the complex emotions of one whose life is steadily reaching its end and death is looming over him. He has come to that point in his life where he truly realizes his position. Death is no longer surreal as it once was; however, the speaker is still at peace because he has lived his life. His friends have all gone on and now his own time has arrived. This poem is a lamentation of that person as they are reminded of their past and “of the days that are no more”. The poem’s message is reinforced through Tennyson’s diction and similes, which create many parodies within the poem. However, theses parodies are the keys to the readers’ noticing and understanding the intricate thoughts of one so near to that final breathe. The poem begins with the speaker describing his tears as “idle” and being groundless. Tennyson is not saying that the tears are unmoving or that they are without cause. The speaker may not necessarily be able to admit to the exact reasoning behind the tears, but he knows what causes them to surface, “some divine despair”. Yet despair is not divine; divine means heavenly or celestial. Tennyson means that the focus is on something from above. However, the irony can truly be seen in the physical cause of the tears, “In looking on the happy-autumn fields.” The word autumn implies harvest, almost winter, which signifies an end to something light...
Words: 779 - Pages: 4
...humans the only species to shed tears of sorrow and joy? Tears are less important when you are alone because there is no one to witness them’ When it came to solving the riddle of the peacock's tail, Charles Darwin's powers of evolutionary deduction were second to none – the more extravagant their feathered displays, he reasoned, the greater their chances of attracting a peahen. But when he tried to account for the human propensity to weep, Darwin found himself at a loss. "We must look at weeping as an incidental result, as purposeless as the secretion of tears from a blow outside the eye," he wrote in 1872. In this Darwin was almost certainly wrong. In recent decades, scientists have offered several accounts of how the capacity for tears may have given early hominids an adaptive advantage. These range from the aquatic ape theory, according to which tears were an adaptation to saltwater living, to the notion that by blurring our vision tears may serve as a "white flag" to potential aggressors – a signal that the crier is incapable of harm. Then there are the straightforward biological theories, such as the claim that tears evolved to keep the eye moist and free of harmful bacteria. But perhaps the theory enjoying the widest currency at the moment is the notion that tears are a form of social signalling that evolved from mammalian distress calls – a clear visual signal in other words that someone is in pain or danger and needs help. "Tears are highly symbolic," says Ad Vingerhoets...
Words: 1002 - Pages: 5
...Running Head: Trails of Tears The Trails of Tears Deborah Horton February 23, 2015 The Trails of Tears was during the time when the Cherokee people from North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia were forcefully removed from their homeland during 1838-1839. They traveled by foot, horse, wagon and boat to Oklahoma. The Trails of Tears was known during the 1800’s. Priceless gold was discovered on the lands. The land consisted of millions of acres in Georgia, Tennessee and Carolina. In the early 1800’s and appeal was issued to remove the Cherokee from the lands of Georgia, but the appeal did not go through. After these efforts failed they tried to buy land. The Cherokee became one of the Five Civilized Tribes the others included the Seminoles, Chickasaw, Choctaw and the Creek. In the 1830”s the Cherokee agreed to surrender the territory in exchange for land which was considered Indian Territory. Most escaped to North Carolina and bought land. Somewhere forced west which they called the Trail of Tears. There were so many thousands of people and many died from hunger and disease. The Cherokee’s main source of food mainly came from agricultural. They grew their own beans, corn and squash they also ate cow, hogs etc. The Trails of Tears consisted of cultural differences between Native Americans and Americans which caused them to be move to the South. The Cherokee were people who lived on land that was valuable and had good resources and this...
Words: 364 - Pages: 2
...Art criticism on Tears by Man Ray The art work look as if it was a photograph of a woman face and cropping only for only her eyes. The picture is in black and white (reminds me of the film in black and white in the pass) and it looks realistic in term of facial proportion and shape as if it was a photograph yet it becomes unrealistic when I look at her teardrops because it does not look like water. More like marble (looks geometrical in shape) to me, which makes it the emphasis of the art piece. The artist also use contrast of color even though it is black and white piece, her eyes and the tear drops which are white stands out of the grey negative shape of her skin. Her black long eyelashes and the white part of the eye also gives a great contrast as it the complementary to each other, maybe this also an emphasis to the eyes. The artist focuses very on the eyes and tears so the size is abnormally large and the position of her face is place in the middle. There is a balance in the piece but it is asymmetrical, her eyes lie diagonally 45 degree across the canvas and the empty space on the forehead is balanced by the direction of the woman that gaze up so it balance up the work. From this art work. I think the want to give us the idea of the saying “eyes are the window of the soul” by emphasizing on a pair beautiful eyes. Her abnormally long eyelashes give the idea of being artificial because they looks fake and the tear drop that is impossibly have a circular shape teardrops...
Words: 639 - Pages: 3
...Trail of Tears At the beginning of the 1830’s about 100,000 Native Americans owned millions of acres of land throughout the southeast of the United States. These states were Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida, the Native Americans believed this land was the land their ancestors had, and their God had given to them. The southern Indians had plenty of land about twenty five million acres, virtually the entire inland south and were more numerous than the Northern Indian people. By the end of the decade very few Native Americans still remained in this land because the government forced them to leave their land because the white wanted their territory. White settles wanted Indian land because they wanted to grow cotton, and there was gold where the Cherokees inhabited. The Native Americans were forced to walk thousands of miles to Indian Territory, many of them died of diseases or hunger, and this is why it became known as the trail of tears. Most Native Americans belonged to the five tribes which were the: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Choctaw were the first to negotiate for their land with the federal government in 1830 they agreed to give up their property for western land. The government in the other hand had no experience in transporting large amount of people from state to state so on the journey to their new land many Native Americans died from exhaustion, exposure, malnutrition and disease while traveling. In 1828 Andrew...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Trail of Tears The book The Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle was published on September 22, 1988 by Anchor Books. The book has 424 pages. John Ehle, the author, has written over seventeen books. Most of his books deal with civil rights, the Cherokee Nation, French wine and cheese and Irish whiskey. This book specifically deals with the Cherokee Nation during around the 1790s to the 1840s. The book did not seem to really discuss the actual trail of tears but rather the Cherokees Nation rise and fall. However, the book seemed to focus on the more successful or richer Cherokees. Reflecting on the title, it is called the rise and fall of the Cherokee nation but Ehle only seems to cover the rise and fall of specific people and events. The Trail of Tears focuses mainly on Major Ridge and his family, specifically his son John Ridge and his nephews Elias Boudinot and Stand Waite and other missionaries who were sent to convert the Cherokees to Christianity. Major Ridge would not convert to Christianity but did accept some of the white ways for his family. The principal chief of the Cherokee was named John Ross who was believed by many to be in state of denial. Ross and his followers blame Ridge and his followers for selling the Cherokee out when they sign the Treaty of 1835 that puts the seal on the removal. . Major Ridge was born around 1771 and died on June 22, 1839. Ridge married Sehoya who was a mixed-blood Cherokee in 1792. Ridge could not...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...experiencing one first hand. Body – 1. First off I am going to start with some quick anatomy on the largest joint in your body .inside there are 4 ligaments that holds the bones together. ACL PCL MCL LCL you have your KNEE CAP and then your MENISCUS. The meniscus is a rubbery, C-shaped disc that cushions your knee. Each knee has two of them, one at the outer edge of the knee and one at the inner edge, they serve to spread and cushion the weight across the knee. A tear in the meniscus can either be bad or much worse depending on the location because the outside of the menisci has really good circulation but the inside has almost no circulation at all making this knee injury a very uncertain window to recover from, some can recover in a month, others like me can take over a year. In my case I have two tears, one in each of the menisci in my knee, one one the inside, one on the outside and I’m still recovering to this day. When something like this happens your treatment options can vary due to where the injury is, what kind of tear it is and how active you are. At first I chose to goto physical therapy instead of the surgery because maybe it wasn’t so bad. I would show up...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
...Trail of Tears California College San Diego HIS220 October 4, 2014 Will Palmer Trail of Tears Long before Amerigo Vespucci and other European explorers reached the New World, Native Americans successfully inhabited the land. There has been much debate as to how many people were here. It has been documented as high as 16 million to as low as under four million (Brinkley, 2008). The Europeans’ relationship with the Native Americans was that of give and take. Both taught each other techniques for cultivating crops, the introduction of domestic livestock and basic survival. The Europeans not only bought with them diseases that killed millions of Native Americans, but also their conviction that their own civilization was greatly superior to that of the natives (Brinkley, 2008). This discussion will include Andrew Jackson’s opinion and policy concerning Native Americans, white Americans’ opinion of Native Americans, the “Five Civilized Tribes,” and the Trail of Tears. Before becoming the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson had already made a name for himself in history. He was a lawyer, politician and judge, wealthy planter and merchant, and in 1801 received the appointment of the commander of the Tennessee militia. During the War of 1812, white settlers near the Spanish owned Florida border were under attack by the Creek Indians. According to Brinkley (2008), on March 27, 1814, in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson and his men retaliated and slaughtered...
Words: 993 - Pages: 4
...Sara Watson HIST 1301-325 Trail of Tears Major General Winfield Scott arrived May 8 to take command of the military operation of the removal of the Cherokee Indians. His May 10, 1838 address to the Cherokee people basically said that the president had sent him with an army to make them obey the Treaty of 1835 to move to the other side of the Mississippi. He says that they need to leave with haste but hopefully without disorder. Scott states that his troops are coming to help “assist” the Cherokees if they are refusing or not leaving fast enough. Scott really did want them to leave without having to shed any blood or have any resistance. Scott had told his troops to be kind to the Cherokees and compatible with their removal. His intentions were humane but the larger portion of his army was state levies unaccustomed to discipline and without his professional susceptibilities. Most of the Cherokee to be removed were inhabitants of Georgia and their apprehension was conducted by Georgia militia who had long as a matter of policy been habituated to dealing harshly with Indians. Cherokee were to be herded and confined while awaiting transportation west. There was little to no likelihood of attempted resistance. Within days nearly 17000 Cherokee had been crowded into the stockades. Sanitation measures were inadequate and many inmates sickened. Many lost any will to live and lost all glimmer of hope. In the first and second weeks of June 2 detachments of some 800 exiles...
Words: 653 - Pages: 3
...the United States of America and Native American Nations was full of tumultuous occurrences of ecocide, ethnocide and genocide. One of the most prevalent situations of their interactions was the Trail of Tears, which resulted in lasting effects on the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations. It was an act of genocide against the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations by the United States of America. Today, these Nations still feel the impact of this atrocious event and continue to tell stories of the horrific experiences that their people endured. The event stemmed out of the white settler expansion into the South during the early 19th century. White settlers wanted to acquire high yield land from Native American Nations for growing cotton. Native American people were standing in the way of progress for white settlers and the United States did not uphold their agreement with these nations. Thus these communities were forcefully removed to a distant and foreign land that resulted in the death of many of their...
Words: 807 - Pages: 4
...Lachrimae (or Lachrymae, literally "tears"). In this case the instrumental version was written first, as Lachrimae pavane in 1596, and lyrics were later added. It is believed that the text was written specifically for the music, and may have been written by Dowland himself. Lachrimae exists in over 100 manuscripts and printings in different arrangements for ensemble and solo. The Lachrimaes tend to be much more abstract than other music based on dance forms of the time, and do not completely follow the structure of the standard pavan in terms of length of phrases; they are also more contrapuntal. Instrumental versions by Dowland include Lachrimae for lute, Galliard to Lachrimae for lute and Lachrimae antiquae (1604) for consort. Dowland also published Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares (London, 1604), a collection of consort music which included a cycle of seven Lachrimae pavans based on the falling tear motif. Thomas Morley set the "Lachrimae Pauin" for the six instruments of a "broken consort" in his First Booke of Consort Lessons (London, 1599). Other composers have written pieces based on the work, including Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Thomas Tomkins, while John Danyel's Eyes, look no more pays clear homage to the piece, as does John Bennet's Weep, O Mine Eyes. In the 20th century, American composer and conductor Victoria Bond wrote "Old New Borrowed Blues (Variations on Flow my Tears)". Benjamin Britten quotes the incipit of Flow My Tears in his Lachrymae for Viola, a set...
Words: 317 - Pages: 2
...Native Americans ( Cherokee) Randall Cartright Eth/125 January/29/2012 Don Yost Abstract Native Americans ( Cherokee) They have faced migration, and annexation. Consequences: Extermination ( almost), expulsion, and segregation. Trail of Tears How? How could a horror have come from such an innocent act? A child sells a trader a rock. But greed unrestricted fears no God. And it has an appetite that can never be satiated. It has been my fate to have been involved in, and an observer of a nation turning it’s back on all of it’s most noble principles. How you recover from that will be left to posterity and the great Judge of all to address. For me it started when I was a young man back in the Smokey Mountain region of Tennessee. I was selected to go with the great Chief Junaluska to fight with the United States soldiers against the Creek. The Creek nation had aligned themselves with the invading British. Who could have believed that such bravery would be repaid someday with such treachery? It was Chief Junalusk’s idea alone to capture the Creek’s canoes at the battle of Horse Shoe and cut of their only means of retreat. It was Chief Junaluska’s quick action that saved Andrew Jackson’s life. I heard Andrew Jackson say to Chief Junaluska:” As long as the sun shines and the grass grows, there will be friendship between us, and the feet of the Cherokee shall be toward the east.” How quickly would those words become a mockery to the...
Words: 1243 - Pages: 5
...Tears By: Mica “I can't do this anymore.” Robbie yelled out in frustration. Robbie thought that he was a pig because he couldn’t stop this uncontrollable eating. He started wearing big, baggy sweaters or sweatshirts over his pants to hide what he thought was a fat body. Everyone in School made fun of him and bullied him. Also, people were making false rumors about him. They constantly abuse Robbie both physically and emotionally. He was also pressured by studies. There was a massive amount of competition at entering a University. Everyone's goal was to get selected at a superb University and only a limited amount of students can attend. He studied night and day, just to ensure that he would be accepted at a University. Having bullies and the stress of education really struck him intensely. He felt discouraged on himself, along with him feeling isolated from anyone. His tears were falling down his cheeks. Every morning, every afternoon, and every night he looks in the mirror and thought to himself that he’s never good enough. Even in class, he wasn’t focused. He only thought about that he is alone in life and had no one to talk to. Slowly, his friends had become strangers to him. He suffered from depression, he went through...
Words: 570 - Pages: 3
...Invalid Tears “The Trail Where they Cried,” was the suitable name given to the devastating ten year journey, in which a certain people were forced to endure, at the expense of a separate people’s greed. This was greed that knew no limits, and would stop at nothing to prosper, even if it meant the annihilation of a complete race of people. This was the experience of the Native American tribe, the Cherokee. In the 1830s, the Indian Removal Act was passed, giving President Andrew Jackson the freedom to force the Cherokee to be exiled beyond the state of Mississippi. During that time the Cherokee nation was violently forced from their homes and made to leave behind the only life they had ever known. Stricken by harsh weather, sickness, and surrounded by death and sadness, the Cherokee people made the long march from Georgia to Oklahoma. The Cherokee Indians should not have been forced to leave their land, given the consideration that it was in complete violation of their political, constitutional, and natural rights. A significant way the Cherokee people were violated was politically. In the “Memorial of The Cherokee Nation,” the Cherokees wrote, “We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation. The treaties with us, and laws of the United States made in pursuance of treaties, guarantee our residence and our privileges, and secure us against intruders. Our only request is, that these treaties may...
Words: 1156 - Pages: 5
...The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Tribe November 16th, 2015 The Trail of Tears remains one of the worst human rights disaster in United States history. At the beginning of the 1830’s, more than ten thousand Cherokees were taken from their homes. They were forced by the United States government to leave their homelands because of the white settlers. They ended up in the future State of Oklahoma. By the end of the decade very few Native Americans remained in the Southern United States. However due to the horrid conditions, masses of them died due to starvation during relocation. It caused a large amount of stress among the Cherokee people. This difficult journey was known as the Trail of Tears. Migration from the original Cherokee nation began in the early 1800’s. Some Cherokees moved west on their own and settled in other areas of the country. A group known as the old settlers had voluntarily moved in 1817 to lands given to them in Arkansas. While there, they established a government. Later, however, they were forced to migrate to Indian Territory. They were not given an alternative if they “wanted” to move or not. It wasn’t up to them as far as decision making. The move was extremely difficult and treacherous. In 1835 the United States government used the Treaty of New Echota to justify the removal. Known as the Treaty Party, signed by approximately one hundred Cherokees, it relinquished all lands, and the promise of livestock, various precision tools, and other benefits...
Words: 489 - Pages: 2
