« to college workshops, form poetry has become a thing of history, and only laziness can describe the inability of poets to be original without completely ...» Document abstract
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4 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
19/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
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SummaryIn a modern era of corporate tyranny and the disappearance of an independent creative market, the artistic longing for originality is often forgotten. Radio stations sell out to public opinion, Top-40 hits recycling the last generation of Top-40 hits, and the hand-published pages of timid literary endeavors little the back shelves of Barnes & Noble like corpses on the beaches of Normandy. Because the Danielle Steele’s and Dan Brown’s of the writing world bare the arms, an army of the greatest living plagiarists, tapping into to public domain and regurgitating their own themes in the hope of producing exactly what their audiences desire. A simple kind of art, a simple kind of intelligence. It seems that the human desire to be the first, to be an inventor instead of a recycler, has vanished within the boundaries of popular literature. Now, attempts to attain originality are born mostly of hybrid genres, poets desiring to angst unconfined by poetical limits and fictionists seeking to write of love with all the beauty and sound quality of Shakespeare. Modern poetry is almost absurd in a sense, the product of coffee houses and lesbians reading to their guitars. From published collections to college workshops, form poetry has become a thing of history, and only laziness can describe the inability of poets to be original without completely destroying the sanctity of poetical constraint, for it is a talent, a precarious balance between uninhibited thought and control. More importantly, it is a sacrifice. Interestingly enough, one of the forerunners of this so-called new-and-improved experimental poetry was also one of the most notable of modern formalists: E. E. Cummings. Known mostly for his abstract syntax and absurd punctuation, his love for the sonnet form is rarely remembered in comparison to his unrestrained free verse, and he “turned to [it] more often than to any other form” (Mason 313). In many ways, however, he was a master of balance between form and emotion. For being a formalist does not always mean that the thought must be altered in order to adhere to an austere code; instead, E. E. Cummings bent the rules of formalist poetry to compliment his ideas, as exemplified in his poem “twentyseven bums give a prostitute the once” from his 1923 collection, Tulips & Chimneys (Appendix A).
Table of Contents- In a modern era of corporate tyranny and the disappearance of an independent creative market, the artistic longing for originality is often forgotten.
- The sonnet form that Cummings adapts for 'twentyseven bums give a prostitute the once' is not strict
- While the poem is, for the most part, characteristic of the Petrarchan sonnet, it also embodies many of the sound devices seen across the spectrum of poetry.
- It is apparent that, while 'twentyseven bums give a prostitute the once' is in most ways a sonnet, it is still under the full control of Cummings himself.
- Probably the most popular technique used by Cummings is punctuation.
- Beyond a doubt, like one-forth of his entire repertoire, 'twentyseven bums give a prostitute the once over' is a sonnet, even if only realized by trained eyes.
« objects. A mime acts out a scene or emotion from its perspective resulting with an imitation different from the original. More specifically ...» Document abstract
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2 word format
Language : english
journalism
school essay
date published
22/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : General public
requested 1 times
SummaryTo a certain degree, the actions of individuals have an effect on their environment. However, our surroundings more dramatically influence our everyday experiences and shape our personalities. Two of the most popular cultural mediums, film and television, extend to mass audiences who eagerly absorb all the messages they have to offer, especially the appealing topics of social taboo and political controversy. John Fiske and Adorno examine both the obvious and subtle effects of visual media, providing some similar and other contrasting theories on its portrayal of reality. Fiske argues a theory that more accurately relates to modern times. Fiske depicts a visual media defined by content deliberately chosen by conscious directors that is manipulated into the message they wish the public to receive. After comparing viewpoints, one might appreciate the amusing coincidence of today’s most popular form of American television: Reality Television.
Table of Contents- To a certain degree, the actions of individuals have an effect on their environment.
- Adorno describes the art of a mime: the subject assimilates itself to its objects.
- TV programs such as The Real World have a 'fish-bowl' aura as practically addicted audiences monitor the progression of relationships between people confronting everyday conflicts.
- Both Fiske and Adorno disagree that our reality is reflected back to us through the mirror of television and explain that the product is more a distorted reflection.
- Living vicariously through actors in a fantasy world attracts many people, which can have both positive and negative influences on the audience.
- The messages Hollywood conveys are strong ones, summarized by actors' pearly whites, flawless skin, expensive clothes and luxurious sets that are noticeably more vivid and exciting.
« Live and then speak of literature, not as the imitation, but the thing to imitate. I see the original, and I see myself, a watered-down copy of a copy of a copy ...» Document abstract
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1 word format
Language : english
literature
cover letters
date published
27/09/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 8 times
SummaryWhen I was a child, I told myself I would read every book ever written. In the two-floored, two-roomed library of my small New Hampshire town, I thought nothing could stop me from reading the world. Innocent naivety yes, but so much the foundation of who I am and why I find myself writing this open letter.
If I could only leave Emerson College with one lesson learned, it would be the utter importance of personal experience. There are too many movies about filmmakers, books about authors, and plays about producers. I have spent four years watching fellow students slave over their art, only to realize in the end they forgot to live the inspiration. The literature majors who believe too blindly in the imagination, imagining the fulfillment of their goals and nothing else. They are learning to be better teachers, they believe, but literature is only Frankenstein’s monster, built piecemeal from experiences understood only when the books placed back on the shelves. Live, I tell them. Live and then teach the world to the world, not its imitation. Live and then speak of literature, not as the imitation, but the thing to imitate.
If I could only leave Emerson College with one lesson learned, it would be the utter importance of personal experience. There are too many movies about filmmakers, books about authors, and plays about producers. I have spent four years watching fellow students slave over their art, only to realize in the end they forgot to live the inspiration. The literature majors who believe too blindly in the imagination, imagining the fulfillment of their goals and nothing else. They are learning to be better teachers, they believe, but literature is only Frankenstein’s monster, built piecemeal from experiences understood only when the books placed back on the shelves. Live, I tell them. Live and then teach the world to the world, not its imitation. Live and then speak of literature, not as the imitation, but the thing to imitate.
Table of Contents« during the early nineteenth century: these literary ballads were created "in imitation of the old anonymous folk ballad" ("Ballad"). The original folk ballad ...» Document abstract
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4 word format
Language : english
literature
school essay
date published
12/10/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 0 times
SummaryOne can wonder whether William Shakespeare’s sonnets would be memorized in every classroom across the Western world if they were anything other sonnets. So inseparable are the two ideas that they barely have separate identities: Shakespeare’s sonnets are accepted without question, and most analytical commentaries approach from the angle of content rather than form. His sonnets just are, and one rarely questions the “why” of his sonnets. Sadly, Emily Dickinson has been equally discriminated, passed off as a “genre” poet: as Shakespeare is the sonnet, Dickinson is the ballad. Yet such a generalization is destructively misleading. Dickinson is other forms as well; she is even poetic freedom. She is not defined so easily, and neither are her poems. And when she does use the ballad form, that very use must be explored as thoroughly as the meaning behind her words, for, to steal the cliché, there is a method to her madness.
Table of Contents- One can wonder whether William Shakespeare's sonnets would be memorized in every classroom across the Western world if they were anything other sonnets.
- However, even methods can be misinterpreted.
- Emily Dickinson still finds room for her individuality within the constrained space of the ballad stanzas.
- While using such grammatical characteristics allows Emily Dickinson to establish her individuality within the ballad form, she is not imposed to breaking with form when it benefits the emotion or image she is hoping to convey.
- This act of picking apart a poem, of finding kinks in the armor of form, are often important in discovering the motivations of the poet.
- There is an important distinction to be made between ballad forms and ballads themselves.
- Dickinson's journey in 'Because I Could Not Stop for Death' is fantastical, magical, beyond physical comprehension, much like the journeys of those epic heroes who were stronger and braver than any man or woman who came before.
« would sometimes be too closely associated with the original song, conjuring up the line between canonic passages and simply consistent imitation.^ This special ...» Document abstract
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7 word format
Language : english
arts and art history
summaries
date published
24/04/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 4 times
SummaryIn the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there was a flourishing of culture in the Netherlands with the rise of humanism and the patronage of the Dukes of Burgundy. With the advances in trade and commerce, there was also a general prosperity which contributed to the wealth of artistic endeavors. This extra capital the Netherlanders spent not only on domestic genre paintings for their walls, but also aural stimulation in the form of music. Visitors to Antwerp commented on the omnipresence of music, whether in processions, churches, or flowing out of windows to the pleasure of passersby on the street. Netherlandish music was not just important in the homes of the middle class, however, it was indispensable in the courts of nobles and kings, and Franco-Flemish composers of the time were sought after by rulers from the Pope to the Kings of France. Such composers as Guillaume Dufay, Josquin des Prez, Johannes Okeghem, and Orlando di Lasso were among those in Netherlandish school who were instrumental in the rise of choral polyphony; they were the indisputable leaders of the style in their time and contributed invaluably to the development of Western music.
Table of Contents- Introduction
- Roots of Polyphony
- Effects of the New Style
- The Main Representatives
- Guillaume Dufay
- Gilles Binchois
- Johannes Ockeghem
- Antoine Busnois
« He shows how this situation is against the original aim of the Founding Fathers that "the so-called American Empire is in fact a feeble imitation of the Roman ...» Document abstract
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4 word format
Language : english
political science
book review
date published
29/11/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 2 times
SummaryWar And The American Presidency was written by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who used to be an adviser for Adlai Stevenson’s campaign and a special assistant to President Kennedy . He participated in the founding of Americans for Democratic Action, “America's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization” . Schlesinger wrote many famous books about the American politics, including the much heralded work The Imperial Presidency (1973). War And The American Presidency was published in September 2004, two months before the presidential elections. As a liberal historian, it is not a surprise that Schlesinger disapproves with the so-called “Bush doctrine”, but as the author underlines it in the Foreword (p. XI), the “historical dimension” is essential to understanding current issues such as the war in Iraq.
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. first highlights a fact often forgotten: unilateralism is not a new foreign policy in America. George Washington already extolled the virtues of isolationism, which was limited to political relationships. According to Richard H. Rovere, isolationism is the old word standing for unilateralism (p. 3). The two World Wars and the Cold War created a need for collective security, but one can observe a resurgence of unilateralism today, an example being the distrust towards the United Nations (p. 17). Schlesinger is nevertheless convinced that unilateralism cannot work, and that it will fail in the future. The second major element of Bush’s policy is the “preventive war”, ending the traditional combination of containment and deterrence used since the beginning of the Cold War. The author clarifies the difference between “preemptive” and “preventive” war. The Bush administration claims that it applies the former, but a preemptive war answers a “direct, immediate, specific threat that must be crushed at one” (p. 23). Even the CIA declared that there was no imminent threat from Iraq, which leads Schlesinger to the conclusion that it is a preventive war, that is to say, a “potential, future, therefore speculative threat”. It was an easier target than the war on terrorism (p. 31). Thus, war “becomes a matter of presidential choice” (p. 21) and signals the renewal of the “imperial presidency”. This increase in executive powers can be a danger for democracy if it lasts. Then, the author analyzes the history of dissent in wartime through centuries. He notices that, even though Presidents have attempted to stop dissent with special acts, such as the Alien and Sedition Acts set by John Adams’ administration or the Espionage and Sedition Acts during Wilson’s presidency, criticism has always existed. He quotes the Copperheads of the Civil War, in other words “northern men with southern convictions” (p. 78). About recent history, he could have mentioned the numerous peace protests opposing the Vietnam War. He deplores that the debate preceding the Iraq War lacked quality (p. 81). Dealing with democracy, he also deplores that the Electoral College did not follow the popular choice four times in history and proposes a “bonus plan”: “to award the popular-vote winner a bonus of two electoral votes for each state and the District of Columbia” (p. 102). Additionally, he wonders whether democracy has a future during this new century of “religious fanaticism” (p. 116). Democracy will be confronted with many challenges during the twenty first century, but is able to remain thanks to its capacity of self-correction. Schlesinger concludes the book with the role of history in policymaking. History instructs what not to do rather than what to do, and one should be careful with historical analogy.
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. first highlights a fact often forgotten: unilateralism is not a new foreign policy in America. George Washington already extolled the virtues of isolationism, which was limited to political relationships. According to Richard H. Rovere, isolationism is the old word standing for unilateralism (p. 3). The two World Wars and the Cold War created a need for collective security, but one can observe a resurgence of unilateralism today, an example being the distrust towards the United Nations (p. 17). Schlesinger is nevertheless convinced that unilateralism cannot work, and that it will fail in the future. The second major element of Bush’s policy is the “preventive war”, ending the traditional combination of containment and deterrence used since the beginning of the Cold War. The author clarifies the difference between “preemptive” and “preventive” war. The Bush administration claims that it applies the former, but a preemptive war answers a “direct, immediate, specific threat that must be crushed at one” (p. 23). Even the CIA declared that there was no imminent threat from Iraq, which leads Schlesinger to the conclusion that it is a preventive war, that is to say, a “potential, future, therefore speculative threat”. It was an easier target than the war on terrorism (p. 31). Thus, war “becomes a matter of presidential choice” (p. 21) and signals the renewal of the “imperial presidency”. This increase in executive powers can be a danger for democracy if it lasts. Then, the author analyzes the history of dissent in wartime through centuries. He notices that, even though Presidents have attempted to stop dissent with special acts, such as the Alien and Sedition Acts set by John Adams’ administration or the Espionage and Sedition Acts during Wilson’s presidency, criticism has always existed. He quotes the Copperheads of the Civil War, in other words “northern men with southern convictions” (p. 78). About recent history, he could have mentioned the numerous peace protests opposing the Vietnam War. He deplores that the debate preceding the Iraq War lacked quality (p. 81). Dealing with democracy, he also deplores that the Electoral College did not follow the popular choice four times in history and proposes a “bonus plan”: “to award the popular-vote winner a bonus of two electoral votes for each state and the District of Columbia” (p. 102). Additionally, he wonders whether democracy has a future during this new century of “religious fanaticism” (p. 116). Democracy will be confronted with many challenges during the twenty first century, but is able to remain thanks to its capacity of self-correction. Schlesinger concludes the book with the role of history in policymaking. History instructs what not to do rather than what to do, and one should be careful with historical analogy.
Table of Contents- Unilateralism is not a new foreign policy in America
- The content of the book is highly guided by the political context: the presidential elections of 2004
- Schlesinger's style is simple, and sentences quite short, allowing him to appear to a popular audience
« Coomaraswamy notes that in the Natyasastra, "Art is an imitation of that perfect durable and resonant wood and then metal, clay was the original material for ...» Document abstract
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5 word format
Language : english
arts and art history
school essay
date published
04/11/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 1 times
SummaryConcerning the use of musical rhythm as a sadhana, a path to liberation, one preliminary distinction to make is between the tantric means of rasa and the yogic means of bhakti; The mythological tradition inherited by Hindustani music distinguishes between gana (music for pleasure) and gandharva (music for devotional ritual). While the former does not accrue to the performer the spiritual merit (adrsta) of ritual offering, it does create the occasion for the rasa that is explained by the tantra of Abhinavagupta to be a means to the ‘taste of the divine’ (brahmasvada).
Table of Contents- The Indian Aesthetic tradition was canonized by the Natyasastra, dating from the 7th century C.E.. Its author, Bharatamuni, begins this text with an interior myth to authenticate his writings:
- In the Hindustani genealogy of celestial music, Lord Brahma himself is born from the Nada, primordial sound.
- The musical traditions of India are noteworthy as inheritors of canonical texts that guide their theory, practice, and performance.
- Gandharva-Sangeet is defined in the Natyasastra as 'the embodiment of tone, rhythmic cycle, and verbal structure.
- The music of the tabla is construed in terms of language. In the Natyasastra, a chapter on Avanaddha instruments details the aksaras (syllables) and their corresponding hand positions (mudras).
- The musical range of the tabla is due, as the Natyasastra describes, to the range of distinct pitches available and to the combination of the tones of the tabla's two drums.
- The differentiation of time in Hindustani music progresses in a hierarchy from pulse, to count, to grouping, to tala, and then to a theka.
- One symbolic relationship between cosmic time and musical tala is found in the Puranic cosmology of the world-ages, which describes 'cycles of manifestation that devolve through time.
- The mythological leader of the Gandharvas is Tumburu, 'a great devotee of Siva.?
« 7, 8) is also original. and particularly the study of nudes, was the keystone of his teaching contrasting with the long-lasting tradition of imitation of the ...» Document abstract
$8.95
9 word format
Language : english
arts and art history
presentation
date published
14/12/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 1 times
SummaryXu Beihong (1895-1953) was a native of Yixing in Jiangsu Province. His father, from whom he learned painting in his childhood, was also a painter. At the age of 20, Xu went to Shanghai to sell his paintings. In 1918, at the invitation of Cai Yuanpei, he went to Peking University to work as an instructor at the Painting Research Society and started to learn Western artistic skills there. The next year, as many of his counterparts, he went to Europe to study Western art: he arrived in Paris then moved to Berlin and Belgium.
Back in China a decade later, he provided his own synthesis of Eastern and Western arts based on Western classical realist painting so as to regenerate Chinese painting. As that time as nowadays, people tend to see him as the pioneer of Chinese realist painting: does he really deserve this title or is it rather a simplification?
Back in China a decade later, he provided his own synthesis of Eastern and Western arts based on Western classical realist painting so as to regenerate Chinese painting. As that time as nowadays, people tend to see him as the pioneer of Chinese realist painting: does he really deserve this title or is it rather a simplification?
Table of Contents- Xu Beihong's times were particularly favourable to a reform of Chinese painting towards more realism
- The revolutionary synthesis of Xu Beihong
- If Xu Beihong can be recognized as the pioneer of Chinese realistic painting, it is probably due to his career as an Academician and Theorist
« along two dimensions: (1) the intensive margin (R&D leads to improved understanding of existing problems) and the (2) extensive margin (original formulation of ...» Document abstract
$9.95
260 word format
Language : english
economics
theses
date published
27/07/2006
review : not yet assessed
level : Expert
requested 33 times
SummaryFor several reasons, knowledge cannot be treated like any other commodity. One of these reasons is the nonrivalrous nature of knowledge, which means that one person’s use of certain knowledge does not diminish another person’s use of the same knowledge (at the same time). This important property of knowledge is used in several early models of R&D-based growth1,
e.g. Romer (1990), Grossman and Helpman (1991), and Aghion and Howitt (1992). In these models this property leads to a scale effect, which boils down to larger economies growing faster than smaller economies (with the measure of size suitably defined (cf. Backus, Kehoe and Kehoe 1992)).
In an influential paper, Jones (1995a) pointed out that growth with scale effects, as predicted
by the early models of R&D-based growth, is inconsistent with empirical facts. Over the last
40 years the OECD countries have experienced a tremendous rise in the number of people involved in R&D activities whereas the growth rates of per-capita income have shown no corresponding increase. This is a puzzling observation and has led to new models of R&D- based growth that did not incorporate scale effects e.g. Jones (1995b), Smulders and van de Klundert (1995), Young (1998), Li (2000), and Peretto and Smulders (2002).
Generally, however, these models suffer from the ‘Solow critique’; Solow (1994) criticizes
(some) growth theorists because they “… often just insert favorable assumptions in an unearned way; and then when they put in their thumb and pull out the vary plum they have inserted, there is a tendency to think that something has been proved.” (p. 53). In the models
of growth without scale effects the prediction of a scale effects in growth of the early models
of R&D-based growth is removed by limiting the extent of the spillovers associated with knowledge’s nonrivalrousness, but often the much-needed (micro-)economic foundation for
the crucial assumption in these models regarding the extent of knowledge spillovers - and the
mechanism limiting their extent - is lacking. Assuming that knowledge is rivalrous (not nonrivalrous) to limit spillovers and dispose of the scale effects prediction of the early models
of R&D-based growth simply does not shed much light on the issue of growth without scale effects however.
provide background information regarding, amongst others, work discussed in the main text, data used in figures, etc.
e.g. Romer (1990), Grossman and Helpman (1991), and Aghion and Howitt (1992). In these models this property leads to a scale effect, which boils down to larger economies growing faster than smaller economies (with the measure of size suitably defined (cf. Backus, Kehoe and Kehoe 1992)).
In an influential paper, Jones (1995a) pointed out that growth with scale effects, as predicted
by the early models of R&D-based growth, is inconsistent with empirical facts. Over the last
40 years the OECD countries have experienced a tremendous rise in the number of people involved in R&D activities whereas the growth rates of per-capita income have shown no corresponding increase. This is a puzzling observation and has led to new models of R&D- based growth that did not incorporate scale effects e.g. Jones (1995b), Smulders and van de Klundert (1995), Young (1998), Li (2000), and Peretto and Smulders (2002).
Generally, however, these models suffer from the ‘Solow critique’; Solow (1994) criticizes
(some) growth theorists because they “… often just insert favorable assumptions in an unearned way; and then when they put in their thumb and pull out the vary plum they have inserted, there is a tendency to think that something has been proved.” (p. 53). In the models
of growth without scale effects the prediction of a scale effects in growth of the early models
of R&D-based growth is removed by limiting the extent of the spillovers associated with knowledge’s nonrivalrousness, but often the much-needed (micro-)economic foundation for
the crucial assumption in these models regarding the extent of knowledge spillovers - and the
mechanism limiting their extent - is lacking. Assuming that knowledge is rivalrous (not nonrivalrous) to limit spillovers and dispose of the scale effects prediction of the early models
of R&D-based growth simply does not shed much light on the issue of growth without scale effects however.
provide background information regarding, amongst others, work discussed in the main text, data used in figures, etc.
Table of Contents- Grouth and scale effects
- Knowledge, R&D and spilovers, at the firm
- Grouth without scale effects and structural
- Measurement issues in the study of R&D-based
- The product life cycle, demand
1
knowledge network
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