The Life Of Edgar Allan Poe s Life - 994 Words

The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was born January 9th ,1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He experienced death at a very early age. By the time he was three both of his parents were dead. He then got placed with foster parents John and Frances Allan. John Allan was a very wealthy man and sent Edgar to all the best boarding schools. After finishing school Edgar attended the University of Virginia. He was great in school, but unfortunately, he had to leave due to his many gambling debts. He then enlisted in the United States Army under the name Edgar A. Perry, in 1827. He did well in pretty much everything he attempted including the Army. He eventually became sergeant major. After leaving the Army, Poe was eventually the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia. He lived in Richmond with his Aunt and younger cousin Virginia. He married Virginia in 1836. She died eleven years later from Tuberculosis. After her death, Poe s struggled with alcohol and depression has worsened.It was during this time that he began to write and publish The Raven and Eureka. The raven seemed to depict Edgar and his late wife in some way. The poem talks about a lover mourning the loss of his love. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore— For the rare and radiantShow MoreRelatedAn Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s Life1497 Words   |  6 Pageswith an Author Framework Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, on January 19th, 1809 and was best known as a writer of dark poetry and short stories. Poe had an interesting and somewhat tragic upbringing , he was orphaned as a young child and then raised by an affluent couple called John and Frances Allan from Richmond, Virginia. Poe spent 5 years in England as a young child and studied different languages , however his universityRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Life And Experiences2032 Words   |  9 Pages Edgar Allan Poe: For Better Or Worse All great writers write about what they know and experience. It may be on purpose or subconscious, but it can be seen in their writing with such things as places, people, and ideals. With the great Edgar Allan Poe, it is clear that he continually wrote about his life and experiences. Edgar Allan Poe’s issues with alcoholism, the loss of loved ones, and issues with himself can be seen in his characters and themes throughout his writing. Poe had issues with alcoholismRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Life1308 Words   |  6 PagesPoe was born on January 19, 1809. Poe was born into a family that was high respected and very public, so Poe was destined to have a public career (Dameron and Jacobs). When Poe was two, his parents died (â€Å"Edgar Allan Poe†) and his remaining family was split up into three different foster parents/homes. His oldest brother, William, lived with Poe’s grandfather from his father’s side of the family. Poe’s youngest sibling, Rosalie, lived with William Mackenzie. Poe went with John Allan whose wife wasRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Life1092 Words   |  5 Pages Edgar Allan Poe lived in a constant state of struggle and misfortune. Poe was raised with no father, while his mother suffered from tuberculosis for the first three years of his life. Following the death of his mother, a young Poe moved into the house of John and Frances Allan. In his lifetime, Poe attended the Un iversity of Virginia for one semester, The United States Military Academy at West Point and enlisted in the military under an alias of â€Å"Edgar A. Perry.† (Ober, 1960) After constantly beingRead MoreThe Life Of Edgar Allan Poe s Life Of Despair900 Words   |  4 PagesA Life of Despair: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents, David and Elizabeth Arnold Poe, both were actors. David Poe, who died shortly after, abandoned the family before Poe was two years old, leaving his mother alone with the three kids. Not too long after, Poe watched as his mother slowly died of Tuberculosis, while coughing up blood. Unfortunately for Poe, this was just the beginning of a life full of despair. Though he was neverRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s `` Rough Early Life ``1108 Words   |  5 PagesFebruary 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Have you ever wondered the reasons behind why some horror stories are so sinister? Have you ever read a horror story and told yourself that it would not happen in real life? Have your ever thought that you had a rough life growing up? Poe did not live to see his name really get the big praise it does now for his horror. Most of Poe’s life was filled with death of loved one’s and sadness which made him turn to writing poems and short stories. Edgar Allan Poe’s rough earlyRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Life And The Way1453 Words   |  6 Pagesperson that I choose to write about is Edgar Allan Poe. I choose Edgar Allan Poe because he is widely acknowledgeable as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator when it comes to the science fiction category. The reason I picked Poe is because I like the way he writes and how it’s kind of spooky and mysterious his poems and short stories The time period Edgar Allan Poe lived in affected his life and the way he wrote literature. When Poe first started out he was living as America’sRead MoreAnalysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s Life1954 Words   |  8 PagesThroughout the many works that Edgar Allan Poe has written in his lifetime, whether the work is a poem, novel, analysis, or critique, Poe has incorporated many reoccurring themes that define him as a writer. A theme that has brought much criticism upon Poe is his Classicist aspect of writing. Poe was very clear and detailed when he wrote in prose. This way of writing proved him to be somewhat of a rebel and veered off the beaten path when it comes to form. In Poe’s time the Gothic style was notRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Life Filled With Sorrow And Pain892 Words   |  4 PagesThesis: Edgar Allan Poe led a life filled with sorrow and pain. His works tend to reflect his lifestyle by incorporating darker elements in the usage of his characters. Edgar Allan Poe was born January 19, 1809 to two actors, David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe. He was born in Boston. Before he was three years old, his father abandoned him, his brother (William Poe), and his sister (Rosalie Poe). Shortly after this, his mother died, leaving the three children orphaned. Poe moved to BostonRead MoreAn Analysis Of Edgar Allan Poe s The Black Cat 1650 Words   |  7 PagesBrittany White Mrs. Bey English 1101 1 April 2015 A Day in the Life Edgar Allan Poe is a very talked about writer. He has a dark, mysterious, gothic writing style. Poe was a troubled man that struggled in a lot of different areas in his life. It is believed that all of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories were connected to his tragic life events. â€Å"The Black Cat† is one of Edgar’s well-known short stories. It is about a man that endured a series of tragic events. This man was very feminine and his lack

Bias Against Transgender Individuals And Crime - 865 Words

Topic: Bias against transgender individuals and crime related to transgendered individuals. 1) Fischer, G. J. (1997). Gender effects on individual verdicts and on mock jury verdicts in a simulated acquaintance rape trial. Sex Roles, 36, 491-501. The article conducted research to determine if the number of guilty verdicts would increase as a function of number of women on the jury, at least once women were majority. In order to test this hypothesis they gathered some college student’s volunteers and created a mock jury. There were a total of 76 mock juries, 426 women and 398 men. The students were White (85%), with 4% Asian, 3.2% Black, 3.2% Hispanic, and 4% â€Å"Other. Even though all of the juries were college students 96% were single and 37% have are either in or have been in a sexual relationship before. After conducting the mock juries it was found that the more women on the jury resulted into more guilty verdicts 86% of the women and 66% of the men. However, guilty verdicts didn’t increase significantly until the jury was overwhelmed by the female gende r (i.e., 10 women to 2 men) or if the jury was all female. This article can very useful to our research project because it examines the juries gender impact on the decision making of a rape case. Although it doesn’t target transgender people specifically it does outline that men are less likely to vote guilty for a rape case. This can be compared to the violent crimes against transgender people. If men are so desensitizedShow MoreRelatedThe Murder Of Gwen Amber Rose Araujo1562 Words   |  7 PagesProfessor at Bridgewater State University, states that crimes are committed for numerous reasons. However, when dealing with bias crime, also known as hate crime, the motivation stems from â€Å"prejudice or hostile† behavior that is â€Å"triggered by his or her perception of the victim’s ethnicity, race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or gender† (Tupin-Petrosino, 2015, p. 2). When one thinks of a gender-based crime, many individua ls concluded the crime’s victim is most likely a womanRead MoreGender Identification : An Exploration Of The Transgender Group1625 Words   |  7 PagesGender Identification: An Exploration of the Transgender Group and Their Relationship in Society Gender identification and expression of transgender individuals has become controversial in America because of lack of knowledge and societal acculturation of this group. As society continues to connect gender identity with sexual identity, those who identify as transgender are forced to conform to the cultural norms of society or choose not to openly portray their gender expression. Although the mediaRead MoreHate Crime Essay1268 Words   |  6 PagesIn the United States, hate crimes have been the longest of many crimes that are committed. What is a hate crime? A hate crime is a criminal offense that is committed against an individual, a group, or a property, largely due to their; race, gender, sexuality, religious, and the list goes on and on. A hate crime is the act of aggression that goes against the individual, group, or society. Examples include; assault and battery, vandalism, and threats. Hate crimes are the most damaging, they attackRead MoreI Call A Hate Crime1165 Words   |  5 PagesOften times when individuals do not understand another person’s lifestyle, it causes anger. The anger is strong enough for one to want to do harm to a person or group of people. This is what I call a hate crime. The reasoning I chose this social problem is for the fact that hate crimes have been going on for many years, and now it seems as if it has became an even bigger problem generally because this behavior is happening more frequently than before and difficult to prevent. Hate crimes is one of theRead MoreLesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender1675 Words   |  7 PagesLesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community because they face multiple levels of victimization, and it is hard for this group to adjust to society once they have identified themselves as being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. In 2013, law enforcement agencies had reported 5,928 hate crime incidents, 20.8 percent were motivated by sexual orientation, and 60.6 percent were i dentified as gay male-targeted bias. Gay males is one of the main targets to a hate crime, only because the offenderRead MoreEssay On Matthew Shepard Hate Crime1189 Words   |  5 PagesShepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The purpose of this act was to â€Å"provide Federal assistance to States, local jurisdictions, and Indian tribes to prosecute hate crimes† (Kennedy, 2009 p.1). Assistance other than financial assistance, in general, at the request of State, local or, tribal law enforcement agency, the Attorney General may provide technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other form of assistance in the criminal investigation or prosecution of any crime that , constitutes a crime of violence;Read MoreTransgender Conformity Essay example1171 Words   |  5 PagesIn the words of Ellen Wittlinger regarding transgender â€Å"...you can only lie about who you are for so long without going crazy† (â€Å"GoodReads†). It is a shame that society would force a person to hide their identity but many have concealed themselves in order to conform into social norms. One group that has been socially marginalized and forced to hide their true selves are the transgender community. The definition of transgender is â€Å"Appearing as, wishing to be considered as, or having undergone surgeryRead MorePsychological Effects Of Hate Crimes1335 Words   |  6 PagesMany issues impacted by hate crimes can be informed by psychological research. For example, are hate crimes more harmful than other kinds of crime? Why do people commit hate crimes? What can be done to prevent or lessen the impact of hate and bias-motivated crimes? Social scientific research is beginning to yield information on the nature of crimes committed because of real or perceived differences in race, religion, ethnicity or national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender. CurrentRead MoreHate Crime Protection for Gays and Lesbians685 Words   |  3 Pagesand lesbians deserve equ al protection against the hate crimes that happen in the world. Arent we told as young children and also throughout life to treat others as we would want to be treated? So why are some decimated against based on sexual preference? The statistics show the percentages of the hate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. The violence that they are pitted against, due to peoples discrimination against them, in life. And I will also mentionRead MoreThe Transgender Community Is An Integral Part Of The Lgbt Community1364 Words   |  6 PagesThe transgender community is an integral part of the LGBT community, although there are slight differences. The purpose of this paper is to bring to highlight such differences and discrimination that the transgender community faces. The Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines being transgender as â€Å"of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gende r identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person s sex at birth.† Typically

The convention governing the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Free Essays

string(275) " such uncertainties up front, by insisting that if these current â€Å"best perceptions† are in error, the trend in catches set over the longer term must be such that the Procedure self-corrects before there is any substantial risk that the resource could be damaged\." President Clinton, when announcing his decision last October to delay the implementation of sanctions on Norway following that country’s recommencement of commercial whaling, stated the United States’ strong commitment to science- based international solutions to global conservation problems. The convention governing the International Whaling Commission (IWC) states similarly that its â€Å"regulations with respect to the conservation and utilization of whale resources †¦ shall be based on scientific findings†. But the practice differs greatly from the principle. We will write a custom essay sample on The convention governing the International Whaling Commission (IWC) or any similar topic only for you Order Now The IWC took a decision in 1982 to impose a global moratorium on all commercial whaling at a time of growing scientific evidence that the Antarctic minke whale population, at least, could certainly sustain a limited harvest. Whaling countries, angered by this decision which they considered to be without scientific justification, hit back later in the 80’s by making use of a provision in the IWC Convention which allowed them to issue permits to their nationals to catch some whales for the purpose of scientific research – research is conducted as a part of these â€Å"scientific† whaling operations, but is that their primary purpose? Most recently there is the proposal for a whale sanctuary throughout the Southern Ocean – a transparent attempt to prevent the resumption of whaling on the 3/4 million strong Antarctic minke population for reasons which have nothing to do with science. This has been accompanied by the unedifying spectacle of Western nations and â€Å"conservation† (or, more accurately, â€Å"preservationist†) groups desperately searching for some plausible surrogate scientific rationale with which to attempt to justify the proposal. These other reasons are discussed elsewhere in this volume. My brief is to address aspects of President Clinton’s expressed concern at â€Å"the absence of a credible, agreed management and monitoring regime that would ensure that commercial whaling is kept within a science-based limit†. SUSTAINABLE UTILISATION Obviously such limits should be consistent with â€Å"sustainable utilisation† – but exactly what does that mean? The most ready analogy is that of a pensioner whose sole asset is a capital sum invested in a bank. Sustainable utilisation for him means living off the annual interest without dipping into the capital. In other words, harvesting only the natural annual growth of a population, without depleting it to a low level where this growth is greatly reduced. THE IWC’S NEW MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE In the 1970’s, in response to mounting public criticism following the substantial depletion of many whale populations by whaling conducted under its aegis, the IWC introduced the so-called â€Å"New Management Procedure† (NMP). The underlying principles were fine – essentially to get whale populations to and keep them at reasonably high proportions of their size before exploitation started, by ensuring that catch limits set did not exceed sustainable levels. But the NMP proved unworkable in practice. Why? Not because there was anything wrong with the concept, but because the NMP didn’t go far enough. It failed to specify how the â€Å"annual interest† (i.e. the sustainable catch level from a whale stock) was to be calculated, what data needed to be collected to do this, and how to take account of uncertainties. CALCULATING SUSTAINABLE YIELD LEVELS So how can sustainable yield levels be calculated? For the pensioner, the process is simple: to evaluate how much interest will become available annually, ask the bank teller how much capital is in his account and what the interest rate is, and then just multiply the two together. So why isn’t fisheries management equally easy? – because the teller is unco- operative. All he will tell you, and only once a year, is how much you have in your account, which he can get wrong by typically 20%. And he certainly won’t tell you directly what the interest rate is. How do we then get the information needed to be able to perform this key multiplication to calculate the sustainable yield for whale populations? For the capital component, sighting surveys are conducted from research vessels to determine the numbers of whales. By the standards normally attainable in fisheries research, the results obtained are good (error margins of typically 20%). The difficult component is the interest rate. Basically some (careful) exploitation is needed before this can be evaluated, because the calculation requires the information from a series of sighting surveys on how the size of the population changes in response to this harvesting. THE FUNDAMENTAL RISK-REWARD TRADE-OFF The bottom line then is that some trade-off is inevitable. If such initial harvests are kept too low, the potential productivity of the resource remains undiscovered. But if these catches are set too large, there is a high risk that unintended heavy depletion may occur before this is realised and corrective action can be taken. The goal of a risk-free harvesting strategy is unattainable, for exactly the same reason that no car or aircraft can ever be made completely â€Å"safe†. Risk can be reduced (though never eliminated), but only at the expense of higher costs – or correspondingly, lesser rewards in the form of smaller catches in resource utilisation terms. WHERE DOES THE COMPUTER COME IN? The role of the computer is to calculate the sizes of the anticipated trade-offs between risk and reward when harvesting whale populations. This is the basic function of the computer simulation trials used to test the IWC Scientific Committee’s proposed â€Å"Revised Management Procedure† (RMP). Quantitative information about these trade-offs allows a sensible choice to be made between the extremes of rapid extinction of the resource under unsustainable catch levels, and complete protection which forbids any harvesting ever. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A â€Å"MANAGEMENT PROCEDURE† AND THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO FISHERIES MANAGEMENT? How does such a â€Å"Management Procedure† approach differ from the usual methods used to regulate fisheries? There catch limits are calculated according to the current â€Å"best perceptions† of the status and productivity of the resource. But it is then not entirely clear how the answer obtained should be adjusted to take the inevitable uncertainties in these perceptions into account – in other words, how to make proper allowance for risk. In contrast, the â€Å"Management Procedure† approach puts such uncertainties up front, by insisting that if these current â€Å"best perceptions† are in error, the trend in catches set over the longer term must be such that the Procedure self-corrects before there is any substantial risk that the resource could be damaged. You read "The convention governing the International Whaling Commission (IWC)" in category "Papers" For example, it has been suggested that global climatic change could result in a change in the environment which is deleterious for whale stocks. The RMP has already been tested to ensure that catch limits for whales would be adjusted downwards appropriately should this occur. Why are such Procedures needed for whales in particular? Whales are long-lived animals and their populations can at best grow at only a few percent per annum. Thus even relatively low levels of catch, if continued, can lead to problems unless there is adequate monitoring and an option for adjusting catch limits. In other words, the risk involved in harvesting whale populations can be evaluated sensibly only for a Procedure which is to be consistently applied for a number of decades. Thus, as in sport, a Management Procedure involves all the parties concerned agreeing the rules before the game is played (and sticking to them during it!). IS THIS APPROACH BEING USED SUCCESSFULLY ELSEWHERE? This approach is not entirely new in fisheries. Iceland has been applying it in the management of its capelin fishery. Arising out of the IWC’s initiative for whales, South Africa has now come to base catch limit decisions for its major fisheries for hake, sardine and anchovy on the approach. WHAT SORT OF CATCH REGIME FOR WHALES WOULD RESULT UNDER THE RMP? As far as catch limits for whales under the IWC Scientific Committee’s proposed RMP are concerned, these would initially be set at annual levels of about 0.5% of current population sizes. That would apply to stocks of species not greatly depleted by past whaling activities, such as many of the world’s minke whale populations. For stocks still markedly depleted such as the blue and fin whales of the Antarctic, this percentage would be considerably less – indeed zero for those and many other stocks for a number of decades yet. In addition, there would be provisions to ensure that catches are widely spread, rather than concentrated in a few small regions. This is necessary to provide safeguards against uncertainties in knowledge about the positions of the boundaries between stocks. The annual percentage take could be increased over time, but this would be permitted only provided the results from the monitoring population trends over time by sightings surveys suggest that such larger levels of catch are sustainable. However, if the survey series stops, catches are phased out quite rapidly. TO WHAT LEVEL OF RISK DOES THE RMP CORRESPOND? What risks would be involved in the application of the RMP to whale stocks? Broadly speaking, there would be no more than a 5% chance, even under the worst set of circumstances or misconceptions likely, that catches (other than perhaps ones of a negligible size) would be taken from a population reduced to more than 10% below its most productive level. (This is the so-called 54% â€Å"protection level† – an abundance 54% of that before any harvesting took place.) And populations would need to be reduced to well below that level before any real concerns about possible extinction might arise. HOW DOES THIS LEVEL OF RISK COMPARE TO THAT ACCEPTED IN HARVESTING OTHER OF THE WORLD’S MARINE RESOURCES? If this criterion (no more than a 5% chance that the population is below 54% of its pre-exploitation size for harvesting to be allowed) were applied to the rest of the world’s fisheries, nearly all would have to be closed immediately. Off the northeast coast of the US and off western Europe, for example, harvesting continues from cod stocks which are below not just 50% of their pristine levels, but arguably less than as little as 10%. Even when allowing for biological differences between whales and fish, the low levels of risk some nations demand be met for harvesting the former, are totally inconsistent with the much higher levels which they are prepared to accept for exploiting their own stocks of the latter. ABORIGINAL WHALING ON THE BOWHEAD WHALE OFF ALASKA President Clinton’s statement made reference to the aboriginal whaling on bowheads in which native Alaskans engage. Some years ago, there was justifiable concern that these activities were putting this population at risk. However, the US has commendably invested considerable research effort towards addressing this problem, with results which show that there can now be no serious scientific reservations that current levels of catch place the population under any real threat. Yet, were the RMP to be applied in this case, it is so risk averse that an immediate cessation of these whaling activities would be required. THE NMFS REVIEW OF THE RMP Recently, the US National Marine Fisheries Service commissioned an independent review of the RMP by a panel of seven North American scientists. Their brief to assimilate and comment upon seven years of work by the IWC Scientific Committee (without having had any prior involvement therein) in the short space of five days was a daunting one. The panel concluded that the RMP as it stood could be used safely for a period of at most 20 years, but also recommended that some further computer simulation trials be carried out. However, it seems to me that all the specific extra trials which they recommend have effectively already been carried out and considered by the IWC’s Scientific Committee. It is unclear from the panel’s written report whether they were unaware of this, or did actually have some reservations about what had been done, which their report fails to elaborate. Obviously the panel should clarify this ambiguity expeditiously to the IWC’s Scientific Committe e. NORWAY’S RESUMPTION OF COMMERCIAL WHALING Norway has, of course, resumed commercial whaling on minke whales. This it is legally entitled to do, since it lodged an objection to the IWC’s 1982 moratorium decision. I understand that the annual catch limit set by the Norwegians for their overall operation is within the limit which the RMP would specify, so that there are no scientific grounds to query that decision. However, I understand also that the areal distribution of the catches permitted by Norway is not in accord with the provisions of the RMP, and I believe that legitimate questions can be directed at Norway on this point. Of course, such a deviation from the RMP does not necessarily mean that any real danger to the resource will eventuate. But if Norway does wish to depart from the RMP’s provisions, I believe that it has some scientific obligation to present the results of computer simulation trials to the IWC’s Scientific Committee to demonstrate that such deviations as they might plan do indeed not involve undue long term risk. THE POTENTIAL EFFECT OF INCREASED CONSUMPTION BY GROWING MARINE MAMMAL POPULATIONS ON COMMERCIAL FISH RESOURCES What of the concerns often expressed that increasing marine mammal populations will consume more fish and thus put fishing industries at risk? The counter argument often made is that there is no scientific proof that this is so. But equally, there is no scientific proof that it isn’t. The scientific methods which have been used in the past to address this question have been crude, and there has been a justifiable argument that basing management decisions (such as a marine mammal cull, for example) upon their results would be premature. Marine science can never, by its nature, prove something without some residual doubt. But methods are being improved, and cases may soon arise where the preponderance of indications that growing numbers of marine mammals will impact fisheries is so strong, that hard decisions will have to be faced to avoid the chance that important industries are put at risk. For example, growing fur seal herds off southern Africa are now more than 2 million strong. Their consumption of commercial species equates to the total catch by all the fishing industries in the area, and their continued growth may constitute a threat to the region’s most valuable fishery for hake. IN CONCLUSION To conclude, let me return to President Clinton’s concern for science-based limits, and credible management and monitoring for potential commercial whaling. From the scientific side, the RMP has been more thoroughly researched and tested than any comparable marine resource management system worldwide. Its own requirement for regular sighting surveys, as well as the regular review process associated with its implementation for any species and region, ensures adequate monitoring. It is so risk averse that the only real scientific basis for questioning its immediate implementation is that it is so conservative that it will waste much of a potential harvest. If the United States fails to endorse the RMP, is there any way that the US could then avoid the judgement of complete hypocrisy, unless it immediately suspended not only the aboriginal whaling by Alaskans, but indeed closed every one of the country’s fisheries? How to cite The convention governing the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Papers

Drayton 61 Structure free essay sample

There are many different ways to approach the structure of a poem, a piece of fiction, a play. In what follows I’m going to make some suggestions about the structure of Michael Drayton’s poem beginning â€Å"Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part,† a sonnet from his collection titled Idea, first published in 1593. It’s important for you to understand that there are many valuable and illuminating ways to talk about this poem’s structure, not any one, single, right way. That’s why I’m writing suggestions, not prescriptions. When I say â€Å"the structure† of Drayton’s poem, I mean not only how it’s put together but also the way it works. Learning how something is put together shows us what the parts are. Learning how those â€Å"put-together† parts work shows us the thing in action. And a short lyric poem like Drayton’s (any work of literature that we’re reading, for that matter) is a thing in action, a dynamic process. We will write a custom essay sample on Drayton 61 Structure or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Here is Drayton’s poem. Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part; Nay, I have done, you get no more of me, And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart That thus so cleanly I myself can free;4 Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows, And when we meet at any time again, Be it not seen in either of our brows That we one jot of love retain. 8 Now at the last gasp of love’s latest breath, When, his pulse failing, passion speechless lies, When faith is kneeling by his bed of death, And innocence is closing up his eyes, 12 Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, From death to life thou mightst him yet recover. Well, what are the parts of this poem? Words in lines. Specifically, words in lines which usually add up to ten syllables each. Words put together so that they make a rhythm as we say them, a sort of di-da di-da di-da di-da di-da rhythm, with emphasis usually on the â€Å"da† syllable, like this: And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart or this: And when we meet at any time again. And the poem is made up of lines whose end words rhyme (that is, chime together) in a certain pattern throughout the poem, like this: part / me / heart / free(abab)lines 1-4 vows /again / brows / retain (cdcd)lines 5-8 breath / lies / death / eyes (efef)lines 9-12 over / recover(gg)lines 13-14 This pattern creates groups of lines (they have technical English-teacher terms), which go together because their end-word rhymes link them together: lines 1-4=first quatrain lines 5-8=second quatrain  lines 9-12=third quatrain lines 13-14=final couplet The words in this poem are also organized grammatically, in several ways: sentencesthe first (a cumulative sentence—check out the term in a handbook or do a Google search) consisting of the poem’s first and second quatrains and the second (a periodic sentence) consisting of the third quatrain and the final couplet; clausesa bunch; notice, for e xample, the first line of the poem Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part— a subordinate clause followed by a main clause in a combination showing a cause-and-effect relationship;  verbs—significant mood shifts within the poem (another technical English-teacher term—verbs come in â€Å"moods,† namely the indicative, subjunctive, or imperative, which, if you can’t recognize, you’d better get a grammar/composition handbook), with the imperative and indicative dominating the first eight lines and the indicative and subjunctive the last six (note especially â€Å"wouldst† and â€Å"mightst† in ll. 13-14); subjects—all personal pronouns in the first eight lines (â€Å"us,† â€Å"I,† â€Å"you,† â€Å"we†), nouns in the next four (â€Å"passion,† â€Å"faith,† â€Å"innocence†), and a return to pronouns in the final couplet (â€Å"thou,† â€Å"all†); adverbs expressing time—â€Å"when† X 4, â€Å"Now† X 2, â€Å"again,† and â€Å"yet†; adjectives—there are very few: why Well, despite the fact that GRAMMAR IS REALITY, we probably should get off the grammar wagon for the time being. There are other ways to look at how words in a poem are organized. Consider the way they get sounded when you read them. Listen carefully as you say the first two quatrains of the poem: Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part; Nay, I have done, you get no more of me, And I am glad, yea glad with all my heart That thus so cleanly I myself can free;4 Shake hands forever, cancel all our vows, And when we meet at any time again, Be it not seen in either of our brows That we one jot of love retain. 8 I’m hearing a lot of one-syllable words. The first three lines consist entirely of one-syllable words, and there are only seven two-syllable words in all of the eight lines. I’m also hearing a kind of clipped, short way of speaking in these lines. Partly this is due to (ALERT-ALERT: another technical term) alliteration, as in the hard â€Å"c† sounds—come, kiss, cleanly, can, Shake, cancel—and â€Å"t† sounds—let, part, get, heart, That, meet, time, it, not, That, jot, retain. Now listen to the way you’re sounding the words in the third quatrain: Now at the last gasp of love’s latest breath, When, his pulse failing, passion speechless lies, When faith is kneeling by his bed of death, And innocence is closing up his eyes 12 I’m hearing a lot more two- and even a three-syllable word now, especially in ll. 10-12. Also, I’m more aware of a kind of â€Å"breathiness† than I was when saying the first eight lines. Partly this is due to the fact that I’m saying words here that require more breath than one-syllable words. There’s another reason for the â€Å"breathiness,† and, yup, there’s a technical term for this, too, but let’s skip over it and listen to what’s causing this â€Å"breathiness. † What do you notice when you say these words: gasp, breath, pulse, failing, passion, faith, bed, death? Feel a little puff of breath coming out of your mouth, a kind of â€Å"uh,† after you say the initial consonant of the word? That’s what I’m getting. I think there’s another reason I’m feeling this â€Å"breathiness,† a reason not related to the sounds of words but to what they’re saying. The speaker in this poem is painting a picture in the third quatrain by using images. LOOK OUT (another technical term): â€Å"imagery† or â€Å"images† can refer to literal, descriptive pictures in a piece of writing, as well as to figurative language like (technical alert) similes, metaphors, personifications, etc. , or to both. In the present case, the speaker’s imagery is both literal and figurative. S/he’s creating a deathbed scene: there’s a â€Å"last gasp of . . . breath,† a â€Å"pulse failing,† a â€Å"bed of death,† even the â€Å"closing up† of the dying person’s eyes by an attendant. All this is vivid, literal imagery. But who’s dying? Someone named â€Å"love. † Who else is present in the scene? Persons named â€Å"passion,† â€Å"faith,† and â€Å"innocence† (in some printed versions of the poem these names are capitalized). These â€Å"persons† are abstract nouns that are being given the characteristics of humans—hence the term personification. So I’m getting both literal and figurative images, a double-whammy deathbed scene that strongly conveys the idea of the dying person’s final expiration. How does the imagery of the end of the poem compare with imagery at the beginning of the poem? I can’t see any figurative language at all in the first two quatrains, except for â€Å"you get no more of me† in l. 2, which suggests the idea of possession in a love relationship, and â€Å"Be it not seen in either of our brows† in l. 7, a (you got it) metonymy or figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole (brow for face). But for these exceptions, I can take more or less literally everything the speaker is saying. S/he and her/his partner are going to kiss and separate—that’s all that can be done. The speaker is finished with the partner, and s/he’s glad that s/he can make this separation so neatly. It’s simply a case of shaking hands goodbye, freeing each other of any obligation created by what the lovers might have said in the past (â€Å"I swear I’ll love you forever,† â€Å"There’ll never be another person in my life,† â€Å"You’re the center of my world,† etc. ), and making sure that, whenever they meet in the future, no bystander will be able to detect the slightest trace of their former love. I think it’s time to start asking how these put-together parts work in action, that is, to see what dynamic process is operating in the poem. If the structure of this poem is a dynamic process, then you ought to be able to see changes, differences, shifts, as you move through the poem. In fact, if you compare the beginning of the poem with the end, you can see major shifts. I’ve already noted some—for example, the change in verb moods from imperative and indicative in the first eight lines to indicative and subjunctive in the last six. Then there’s the difference in the sounds the words make and the style of speaking you can hear, from the direct, concise, controlled tone of ll. 1-8 to the breathy, drawn out speech of the last part of the poem, where the speaker creates a vivid picture of Love at the point of death. How do these grammatical and tonal differences work together to reinforce the changes you can hear as the speaker confronts his/her soon-to-be-ex partner? In the first part of the poem the speaker is giving orders to his/her partner, using imperative verbs (â€Å"come let us kiss and part,† â€Å"Shake hands,† â€Å"cancel,† â€Å"be it not seen†) and making statements s/he intends the partner to take as true and literal, using indicative verbs (â€Å"there’s no help,† â€Å"I have done,† â€Å"you get,† â€Å"I am glad,† â€Å"I .  can free†). Then there’s the alliteration of hard â€Å"c† and â€Å"t† sounds and the dominance of one-syllable words, creating a sense of directness. It’s almost as if the speaker is trying to maintain emotional contr ol of the situation, as if s/he needed to suppress feelings of regret over the breakup. You can even see this in the use of â€Å"you† in l. 2, a formal style of address in early modern English. (In a similar situation, why would you formally address your soon-to-be-ex? ) There is also an effort at matter-of-factness here, evident in the avoidance of figurative language. All this is accomplished in a cumulative sentence, where you get the main message at the beginning (we know we’re breaking up, so let’s get on with it). In the last part of the poem the speaker is painting a vivid picture of Love at the point of death, surrounded by mourning figures (those personifications) attending at the bedside, and maybe, if s/he were willing, the speaker’s partner. Note that indicative verbs are used in ll. 10-12 (in the subordinate â€Å"when† clauses), then subjunctive verbs in the final couplet (â€Å"if thou wouldst† and â€Å"mightst .. recover†). The important thing to know about the subjunctive mood here is that it expresses an action that might take place, not one that does take place. Note also that in this final couplet the speaker addresses his/her partner by using the informal, intimate form â€Å"thou† instead of the formal â€Å"you. † In addition to the figurative language and significant gr ammatical differences between the beginning of the poem and this part, you now get longer words and the breathiness I noted. It’s as if the speaker is encouraging his/her partner to imagine, to see, to feel what the death of their love is going to be like, complete with mourners and last gasps. This invitation to participate is clearly intended to have an emotional impact on the partner. The speaker is also feeling some emotion, I think. You can see this in something I haven’t spoken of before. It’s the shift from a regular di-da di-da rhythm in the first part of the poem to some pretty strong, off-beat rhythms in the last six lines. Look, for instance, at the beats in ll. 9-10 or l. 13. Something different is going on here, not the regular di-da di-da amble you’ve gotten used to. Why this shift? I think it may have to do with the emotion the speaker is starting to feel as s/he describes the deathbed scene. S/he is getting near the end of the poem, and if anything is going to happen other than shaking hands and saying goodbye, it had better happen soon. I’m sensing that emotions are getting much more noticeable. S/he even makes his/her partner the central figure, on whom love’s life or death depends: Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, From death to life thou mightst him yet recover. All this happens in a periodic sentence, where you get the main message at the end, here in the final couplet (it’s up to you dear, if you want to bring love back . . . ) Well, I could go on, but I won’t—not for much longer, anyway. I’ve been trying to show you that the closer you look at a piece of literature, the more things happen. Drayton’s poem—any good poem—is super dynamic. However, you can’t capture this dynamic quality just by taking a photograph or making a list of the poem’s parts. You’ve got to experience the dynamic quality of the poem in order to know its structure.