Consider William Blakes presentation of love in the poem The Clod and the Pebble Essay Example for Free

Consider William Blakes presentation of love in the poem The Clod and the Pebble Essay (b) Paying close attention to language and form, write a critical appreciation of the following poem, considering William Blake’s presentation of love in the poem ‘The Clod and the Pebble’. The Clod and the Pebble Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hells despair. So sung a little Clod of Clay 5 Trodden with the cattles feet, But a Pebble of the brook Warbled out these metres meet: Love seeketh only self to please, To bind another to its delight, 10 Joys in anothers loss of ease, And builds a Hell in Heavens despite. The ostensible cuteness of the poem The Clod and the Pebble perhaps masks a more morbid and deeply cynical assessment of love by the poet William Blake. Initially, the contrast between the clod and the pebble’s speeches on love might encourage a positive response to the clod’s optimism about how love can rescue us from even the most hellish position. The pebble’s pessimism about love, on the other hand, is unpleasant and unsettling, but it’s also a more accurate reflection of the brutal nature of the world as it is depicted in the poem. Blake’s presentation of love, then, is ambivalent. While the ideal that love is able to overcome any circumstance is appealing, it might not be a realistic assessment in the context of the world’s cruelty. Blake’s personification of the clod and the pebble captures two very different human experiences. We are told that the clod is â€Å"trodden with the cattle’s feet.† With the word â€Å"trodden† Blake captures the experience of continual hardship, and being repeatedly downtrodden, subjugated and abused. There is also tactile imagery of weight and pressure from the â€Å"cattle’s feet,† restricting the clod and forcing it into a new shape. In this way, the clod is described as though it experiences human suffering. It makes us think about someone who has had to become flexible to fit the continual hardship of their circumstances reflected in the physical properties of a soft clod of clay. It is then pleasantly surprising that the clod sings about love in the most optimistic way. On the one hand, the clod’s optimism concerning love is deeply admirable, and the parallel structure used to present this speech alongside the pebble’s emphasises that optimism in the most appealing way. The clod states that love â€Å"builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair,† while the pebble states that it â€Å"builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.† The clod speaks from the context of a hellish existence that entails pain and suffering, and endows love with the capacity to transcend such an experience and create a heavenly existence of joy and happiness. The pebble, on the other hand, speaks from a comparatively heavenly existence and instead endows love with the capacity to corrupt that existence with the pain and suffering suggested by the word â€Å"Hell.† Our feeling that the clod is admirably optimistic ten evolves into a feeling that we too want and even believe that love will rescue and provide solace to this figure. Conversely, the parallel structure also helps to emphasise the pebble’s pessimism. The clod declares that â€Å"love seeketh not itself,† while the pebble answers that â€Å"love seeketh only self.† The phrases â€Å"not itself† and â€Å"only self† create a clear juxtaposition here of the two views of love. The first underscores it as essentially selfless, while the other underscores it as absolutely and solely selfish. Moreover, while the clod sings happily about how love â€Å"for another gives its ease† the pebble responds with how love â€Å"joys in another’s loss of ease.† The clods words suggest an action of willing self-sacrifice, while the pebbles words suggest a selfish acquisition that leaves another diminished. Of course, the pebble’s view means that there is no hope for the clod and that love in fact provides no Heaven. Furthemore, the pebble’s assessment of love is deeply cynical and ugly. It is, however, true to both its own experience and that of the clod. The clod is â€Å"trodden† upon while the pebble is â€Å"of the brook.† We imagine a gentle and tranquil existence within the soft current of a stream. Traditionally, however, rivers also symbolise a journey from innocence to worldliness. The water represents the experience that flows over us during life, leaving us more aware. This experience has left the pebble implacable. We imagine someone who has become hardened from experience and this is reflected in the physical properties of the pebble. Now the water is forced to bend around the pebble, just as the clod must bend around the feet of the cattle. This is a depiction of the world’s harshness and cruelty, and we cannot help but appreciate that it is the pebble’s assessment of love that more accurately reflects it. To conclude, perhaps the poem is as much about idealism and realism as it is about love. Love, after all, is subject to our tendency to be both idealistic and realistic. Ultimately though, it seems that the depiction of the world as harsh and brutal confirms a negative view of love as equally harsh and brutal. At the very least, the poem encourages us to be ambivalent of love and not suppose it to be a kind of saviour capable of transcending all.

SUblime Songs :: essays research papers

40 oz. to Freedom '89 Vision 100 Wieght of Collie Weed =5446 (That's My Number) Adult Books Ain't No Prophet =All You Need Babylon Stone =Badfish Ball & Chain The Ballad of Johnny Butt =Big Salty Tears =Boss D.J. Brand New Day =Burritos =Caress Me Down Chica Mi Tipo Chick On My Tip =Cisco Kid Crazy Fools D.J.'s Daccau Cabana The Dance Can't Go On (Without the D.J.) =Date Rape Dr. Woo Doin' Time Doin' Time (Acapella) Doin' Time (Bradley Version) Doin' Time (Eerie Splendor Remix) Doin' Time (Instrumental) Doin' Time (Marshall Arts Remix) Doin' Time (Pharcyde Acapella Remix) =Doin' Time (Snoop Dogg Remix) Doin' Time (Uptown Dub) Doin' Time (Wyclef Instrumental Remix) =Doin' Time (Wyclef Remix) Don't Push Don't Push (Original) Don't Push (Robbin' Remix) Drunk Drivin' Dub Medly II (From Sinsemilla '86 - '96) Ebin Eireen Eye of Fatima =Falling Idols Fighting Blindly Foreman Freestyle =Free Loop Dub Freestyle (From Sinsemilla '86 - '96) =Freeway Time in L.A. County Jail =Garden Grove Get Ready =Get Out! =Greatest Hits Greatest Hits Extended Ground Zero Guava Jelly Had a DAT Hope =I Don't Care Too Much For Reggae Dub I Don't Pay Attention I Love My Dog It's Who You Know Jailhouse Judge Not KRS-One Legal Dub =Let's Go Get Stoned =Lincoln Highway Dub Little District =Live at E's Loser Lou Dog Went to the Moon Make a Decision ('89 Vision New Version) =Mary Minor Threat =New Realization =New Song New Thrash One Cup of Coffee Paddle Out Pass Me the Lazerbeam =Pawn Shop Pay to Cum Perfect World =Pool Shark =Q-Ball =Raleigh Soliloquy Pt. I =Raleigh Soliloquy Pt. II =Raleigh Soliloquy Pt. III Redemption Song Right Back =Rivers of Babylon Romantic Girl =Romeo Roots of Creation =S.T.P. (Secret Tweeker Pad) =Same in the End Same in the End (Extra Take) =Santeria =Saw Red =Saw Red (Acoustic) Saw Red Bandelero Scarlet Begonias Seed Slow Ride =Smoke Two Joints

Compared Writing Styles of Rowlandson, Bradford, and Byrd

The writing styles of Rowlandson and Bradford are very similar, while Byrd's writing style is different from the other two. Rowlandson's journal is a narraritive of her captivity, and Bradfords journal is a narrative of his journey to and arrival at his destination in the New World. Byrd's journal was was written as a satire, to essentially make fun of Rowlandson and Bradford's religious views. Mary Rowlandson kept the journal of her captivity to inform future generations of her experiences while being held captive and used as a slave by the Indians whom kidnapped her and her children. Rowlandon's main purpose in this passage is to show how her experiences revealed Gods purpose. Throughout the passagee Rowlandson makes reference to how God helped her through this difficult time. She was very stong in her religion and her views on her faith in God. In the passage Rowlandson expressses her gratefulness that her belief in God kept her from committing suicide. â€Å"I cannot but take notice of the wondrful mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible. The above quote is one of the many times she makes regerence to how appreciative she is of God in her tine of trouble. As Rowlandon writes, she uses multiple strategies throughout her passage. On one many being allegory. Rowlandon uses allegories by placing biblical quotations to give symbolic meaning to her experiences. William Bradford's writing techniques and purpose are very similar to that of Rowlandson. Bradford writes about his voyage to the New World and experiences that take place once they reached land. Just like Rowlandon, Bradfords writing is to inform future generations of his experiences in the New World. Bradford give account of his voyage to the New World on the Mayflower, landding in the New world, and the hardships that he battled throughout it all. Bradford, much like Rowlandon, talked about how grateful he was for God to provide fot him and bring hin through his trials,. â€Å"But it pleased God before they came half seas over†¦. † In many instances, such as the above, Bradford gave God credit, and was very appreciative of it. William Byrd, unlike Bradford and Rowlandon, did not write a captivity nattatiive, but instead just kept an account of events. He did not give God credit for everything, but instead, used satire to make fun of Rowlandon and Bradford. Byrd was not saying that God meant nothing and he did not believe in him, but he did not constantly credit him with everything. As it is implied, Rowlandson and Bradford have very similar writing techniques, while Byrd had a different style than the other two.

Essay about The Hazards of Ocean Pollution - 803 Words

The Hazards of Ocean Pollution Basic Facts Ocean Pollution is a serious issue in todays global politics. The delicate balance of Earths ecosystem is put in jeopardy when the ocean is not clean. Problem evolving from ocean pollution directly harm marine life and indirectly affect human health and the Earths many valuable resources. Ocean Pollution is a Broad term that encpompasses any and all foregin matter that directly or indirectly makes its way into the ocean. This includes everything from the extreme: oil spills, Toxic Waste dumping and industrial dumping-- to the small scael: human activities and basic carelessness. Because the oceans and all other water bodies are invariably, somehow connected, and because they account for†¦show more content†¦in 1983, MARPOL or the Marine Pollution Clean up Act was put into effect. MARPOL greatly helped in reducing accidental and operational oil discharges, in fact, they were responsible for a 60% reduction in 1980s oceanic oil pollution. One of their main requirments was the installation and use of oil pollution prevention equipment on tanks and ships. They also instituted prohibitions on discharges within certain distances of land. Big Spills are usually caused by ship wrecks and carrier leakage. Routine Maintenence of these carriers and takns accounts for some of the pollution as it results in discharge leakage. 363 million of the gallons is runoff pollution from land drillingthat leaks into nearby water bodies, as well as Industrial and individual waste. Air Pollution also accounts for oceanic oil pollution as industrial and transportational exhaust in the form of hydrocarbons are washed by rain onto the ocean. Offshore drilling leakes directly into the ocean. Lastly, natural seeps for eroding rocks and natural resources also account for 62 million gallons of the pollution. It is important to note that Anthropogenic causes have increased the natural leakage of oil by more than 10 times! 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