...surrounds such final and daunting thought. Death slowly crept up to the living and successfully immortalized itself in the form of ink on paper. As the field of literature ironically gave life to such pieces concerning death, one literary piece stood out because of its distinct qualities. Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard exudes the exceptionality and the thought worth of a position in the canon of English Literature. Thomas Gray was born on 1716 in London, the only child out of eight who survived through adulthood. He studied in Eton College, where he met three of his most treasured friends: Horace Walpole, Thomas Ashton, and Richard West, all three of them coming from a wealthy family. After studying, he went on a Grand Tour of Europe, but had an unfortunate falling out with Walpole before the tour ended. Shortly after, the 24 year-old West died of tuberculosis (Koster.) These events were said to be the inspiration for the majority of Gray’s poems. After being a fellow for several universities for several years, Gray proceeded to live in Stoke Poges, where he stayed for the rest of his life until his death at the age of fifty-five. The Elegy The Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is considered as Gray’s magnum opus, written sometime around 1742 and finished in 1751. It was universally admired in his lifetime and has remained continuously the most popular of mid-eighteenth century English poems. Morris Golden describes the poem as: “… a beautiful technical...
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...Once upon a time in the distant, distant kingdom lived Black King and White Queen. The kingdom was in black and white, so everything has been just black, white and gray. To live in the kingdom was very sad, so over time, it left all residents, while the King and Queen did not stay in it all alone. One day, when the Black King and White Queen sitting on the porch of gray lock and wept with grief, they flew a magical Fairy. “Do not be sad,” Fairy said. ”I will help you make your kingdom color, and all the inhabitants in it will return again. And to live in it will be much brighter and more fun!“ “However, how can you help us?” asked the King and Queen. “A year later,” - said the Fairy. “You will have a son, Prince Lemon. And a year later, you will be born two daughters Twins: Princess Blueberry and Princess Raspberry. When they grow up, they will be able to share their colors with each other. And you can paint the sky and the earth and everything, even a rainbow”. The fairy waved her magic wand and flew away, dissolving in the air. A year later, the Black King and White Queen was actually born son - Prince Lemon. Task 1 Color the Prince Lemon with lemon color....
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...is cinematic WWE. We've got a heel turn, a babyface turn, backstabbing of friends, twists and surprises for the sake of twists and surprises, and Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson executing a double-knee gutbuster on someone. (If you smell...what the Rock...is cooking...). On the one hand, all of this is kind of awesome. On the other hand, this whole Furious thing is starting to feel like a gear is slipping, the carburetor is starting to fail, and the ideas are lacking. Maybe screenwriter Chris...
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...investment decisions. Many countries and the International Accounting Standards Board plan to implement or converge with the International Financial Reporting Standards with a goal of comparing uniformed financial statements across countries. Having uniform standards for accounting worldwide not only would make it easier to compare financial statements, but it will coordinate the free movement of debt and equity capital worldwide. (Mukoro & Ojeka, 2011) Hofstede defined culture as, “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another” (Gray, 1988). Hofstede went on to explain that “culture” is society at large or entire countries, while a “subculture” is used for a level of personal, professional, and organization. The amount of culture integration may vary from society to society, but most subcultures within a single society have similar characteristics (Gray, 1988). Hofstede identified four major types of societal/cultural characteristics. They are individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity (MacArthur, 2006). In an individualistic society, individuals are independent of one another and self-sufficient whereas in a collectivist society there is a higher association amongst members and there are strong unified cliques. People of high power distant societies tend to accept hierarchy without questioning authority, where in low power distance societies the perception is that...
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...Works that have stood the tests of time, such as canonical texts like Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, have proven themselves influential over and over again in every field of the arts. They have impacted and altered the course of history and set the bar for other great works of fiction and have even inspired other worlds entirely; moreover, Stevenson’s and Wilde’s work have had a conscious and subconscious effect upon such successful work as Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, and even Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s Batman which has a story that spans over decades. The dualities that appear in Stevenson’s and Wilde’s work pay tribute to mans’ opposing, and even conflicting, nature that rage inside them. On one hand you have the desire to be an outstanding moral citizen, while on the other you have the desire to give in to your more primal inclinations. In Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian, who heard his friend’s hedonistic world view, decides that beauty is the only aspect of life pursuing and wishes that his self-portrait would age instead of himself. After breaking the heart of his first love, he discovers that his wish has been granted. His portrait begins to age instead of him and also changes and alters itself based on the moral choices Dorian makes. When he leaves his first love, Dorian notices that there appears a sneer of cruelty on his portrait that wasn’t...
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...understanding of ourselves, thus transforming our own views on life, through self-discovery. The Robert Gray poem suite including ‘Journey: The North Coast’ and ‘The Meatworks’ as well as ‘Island Home’ by Tim Winton explores the view that discoveries of changed ideals and environments are transformative as they allow people to accept new values and attitudes. Gray uses descriptive language to invite the reader to broaden their perspective on the Australian landscapes he describes and consider the impact these landscapes have...
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... The Power and Destruction of Vain Pursuits in the Picture of Dorian Gray “In fact, despite his power of rationalization and the continuing influence of Henry. Dorian is increasingly disturbed by doubts about his moral freedom and stung by the pangs of the conscience that will not die” (Liebman 10). Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is centered upon the effects of liberty of the soul and degradation that results from it. If one chooses to always act on inner desires and passions, ignoring ethical values, one’s life will be destroyed by vain pursuits. Dorian Gray a wealthy young man has been challenged to “embark upon a hedonistic life, after having feared it for so long, developing every intellectual, aesthetic and sensual appetite to the utmost. Despite the look of his innocent beauty...”(Magill Book Reviews 1) Dorian becomes very vain with the pursuit to simply fulfill his desperate desires without looking into the ethical importance of his actions and thus becomes hopeless and defenceless to his own desires. When one becomes aware of the fear to venture in life, one will pursue to fulfill every incomplete/unfulfilled passion without limits. This in turn leads to an amoral representation of one’s life. For once in his life, Dorian Gray was inspired. He was woken up to a world of freedom. Lord Henry Wotton opened his eyes to a world of hedonism saying “You, Mr. Gray... with your rose-red youth... and ... boyhood ... you have had passions...
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...Tiffany Sudarma History of Photography II Anna Lovatt September 28, 2015 Martha Rosler’s Gender Perspective During the Age of War As a form of art, photography expresses documents, personal visions, and memories that can often define images as very powerful and iconic. In the series Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful (1967-72), Martha Rosler, an American artist specializing in video, performance, installation and photo-text about art and culture, compiles ten photomontages from different magazines in order to convey the controversial issue of war during the early second part of the 20th century. Rosler uses a variety of mediums, but her most recognizable medium is photomontages and photo-collage. Constructed during the peak of U.S. military engagement in Vietnam and an outgrowth of Rosler’s self involvement with anti-war activities, these photographs are a response to the artist’s “frustration with the images we saw in television and print media, even with anti-war flyers and posters. The images we saw were always very far away, in a place we couldn’t imagine.” Through her choice to use colored images, she assembles photos together from homemaking women’s magazine such as Life Magazine and images from war. She accentuates the dominance of domestic representation and intersects it between war imagery by juxtaposing in a brutal and sometimes incongruous way. Rosler’s montages reconnect the two sides of human experience: the war in Vietnam, and the everyday-life...
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...Kaushal Mr. Martin July 10, 2012 Character Analysis of Dorian Gray Dorian Gray was a handsome, innocent, lovely and wealthy young man, who has seen the world as a beautiful place. Later, he turns into an evil little creature who breaks people's heart, always seeking for pleasure, becomes vain, and only care about his looks. However, Dorian had couple strengths as in he was the most attractive and charming fellow in his town, also he was never afraid to speak his mind, "If Lord Henry Wotton goes I shall go too" (Wilde, 19) it shows that if Dorian wanted something to happen, he will mention it to you in person. Dorian's weaknesses were, he was really easy to influence; Lord Henry played a huge part influencing Dorian in many wrong ways, "Then he rose from the table, lit a cigarette..." Henry influenced the most innocent human being to smoke like him. Also he was impressionable, naive, and lustful. Dorian made plenty of choices, mostly the horrible ones. He made a choice to forget Sibyl Vane for rest of his life because she did not perform on stage at a level he was expecting from her, even when she begged him for a second chance "I will work so hard, and try to improve" (85) that choice ended up killing Sibyl Vane. He made a choice to make best friends with Lord Henry, which made him realize who he actually is as a person, but in a suffering way he would not want to find out. Lord Henry taught Dorian about the outside world, which he was totally unaware of. Also, Lord Henry was trying...
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...Throughout the semester, Professor Henderson has opened student’s minds to a plethora of short stories and videos, but two stories really struck out to me. The stories that challenged my thought process the most were Ernest Gaines’s short story, “The Sky is Gray,” and James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues.” “The Sky is Gray,” by Gaines, is a story around the theme of growing up too soon, from a young man’s perspective. The protagonist, James, is a young child who has to grow up too soon due to his father being away in World War II. James’s mother, Octavia, forces him to give up his childhood in order to help his family survive in the harsh world. On a cold and weary day, James accompanies his mother on a trip into town. While on this...
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...Wants an Extravagant Lifestyle: Is Your Soul worth Losing to the Seven Deadly Sins Oscar Wilde’s fictional novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is about a young, charming man that is in conflict with the cultural anxieties of living an extravagant, seductive, moralistic, and self-confident life style along with two friends with similar conflicts. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel that reveals many aspects of cultural anxieties instilled in three characters. The cultural anxieties complicate the virtues of every character in the novel and lead each of their lives into the vices of their virtues. All the characters have the anxieties for living great lives. However, all their lives turn for the worse including death. Each character wants more or less than their role, place, and identity in society. The anxieties of the Late Victorian Era were “sexual restraints, low tolerance...
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...The Gray Area of Mike Brown Every day, African American males encounter a law enforcement officer; whether it is for formal contact or just a passing by moment. At the time of contact, each party has a decision to make based on experience, stereotypes and his or her own personal fear. These perceived thoughts are not always intentional, but is a direct reflection of the learned behavior that has become the muscle memory of their actions. At some point, the population must be willing to look beyond those things that limit or hinder the ability to see what is outside of the blinders that are being worn. With the case of Mike Brown, there were several documented opportunities that both parties could have benefited from, by having additional training and decision-making skills to prevent that fatal turn of events. There is a dire need for sensitivity training within law enforcement as it relates to cultural traditions, habits or tendencies. However, there is also a need for a re-identification of social standards and those things deemed acceptable socially within the African American community. As a law enforcement officer, the oath is taken to protect and serve the occupants of the communities that they are assigned. With that being said, there should be an onus on each oath taking officer to know the persons and tendencies of those that occupy those communities. Assumingly, knowing the best method of communication seems beneficial. Also knowing the cause and effect of certain...
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...methods of Seurat - Seurat’s atomization of motif and symbol -futile to depict nature as it is -encounter of the verticality of the plane -osilating between surface and depth -structurally on the left and chromatically to the right Lighthouse in West Kappele (1909) Molen (mill); Red Mill at Domburg Evolution 1910-11 -esoteric iconology -relationship between spirituality and abstract form -mondrian is thinking about how you can make paiting universal -discovers Cezzanian impact on cubism—turns around his painting and makes him pick up more abstract aspects Still Life with Gingerpot (1911) -still much naturalism -can still comprehend many objects that are depicted illusionistically -creates metrix of lines Still Life with Gingerpot II (1912) -linear squaring and organization of all of the elements in the field -the depicted sercice to the little service—becomes a lot more flat -Moves object closer to the picture plane Gray Tree 1911 -first proto-cubist paintings—shows a new approach that will reach a culmination within a year -1912- moves to Paris -where we can first see cubism directly and see its logic -changes the structure of painting Bloeiende...
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...a good job of preparing her for the future. The author believes that they’ve forced her in to thinking of a pleasant and fantasized world where nothing can go wrong. However, she will eventually have to understand that life is not so and has to face reality. The author understands that she has to “live with power and honour circumstance[s]”. Jenny’s heart is pure, and the author is afraid of how she will react when she is exposed to reality. She’s been penetrated with thoughts that life is perfect, and when mistakes are made, they are fixable. Some examples of tales that have been told to Jenny include: “birds speak the truth”, “beauty proves a royal mind”, and that “death is a small mistake, where [a] kiss revives”. At the end of his list of tales, he says “Jenny, we make just dreams out of our unjust lives”, which clearly means that we only make up fantasies to fulfill a bit of hope and happiness because we suffer through stressful lives. Overall, I assume that he doesn’t want Jenny to worry so much by telling her happy lies. Other than the main idea of how role models tend to make others not worry and be happy, I’ve noticed a lot of contrast within the story. An example is at the beginning of the poem; “Jenny, your mind commands kingdoms of black and white” meanwhile the author’s description of the “real” world is full of “gray...
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...From the Writer “Dorian Gray the Escape Artist” is the culmination of my work in my WR100 seminar, Fantasy at the Fin-de-Siècle. The final assignment was to create a research paper based on an interesting problem or paradox I had found in Oscar Wilde’s book, The Picture of Dorian Gray. For me, one of the book’s most fascinating elements was Dorian’s immature behavior; though he grows older, he never seems to “grow up.” At first, I investigated how my idea related to aestheticism and what Dorian’s immaturity showed about aestheticism; however, I could not find a solid way to prove my thesis. My greatest problem was being unsure of how writing a paper based on a research problem in The Picture of Dorian Gray constituted a researchable argument and not just a literary analysis. Hoping to gain a different perspective on the assignment, I met with fellow classmates to talk out my problem. It turned out that they were having the same issue with their essays, and through discussing my paper with them, I realized that my topic was too narrow to be easily supported by sources; the idea of Dorian growing older without growing up was interesting but could not easily be supported with sources outside the novel itself. With this in mind, I modified my thesis, claiming that though Dorian Gray demonstrates aesthetic behavior in The Picture of Dorian Gray, his fascination with artistic things serves less to pursue aestheticism and more to evade his dark past. In this manner, I argued,...
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