A Critical Analysis on William Blake Essay Example for Free

A Critical Analysis on William Blake Essay As romanticism flourished in Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in European culture one of the figures that stood foremost was William Blake. A poet, an engraver-putting it simply, an artist, many have raised an eyebrow with his lifestyle and works. Being a lyric poet, a visionary and even a mystic at times people have come to doubt his state of mind, whether or not he truly was an artist or simply insane. Wordsworth, for example, commented that there is no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in his madness which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott and John Ruskin similarly felt that Blakes work was diseased and wild, even if his mind was great and wise(Dover,1998). Looking into Blake’s background, we find that he lived an impoverished life in what we could say, was almost absolute seclusion. His interest in outside ideas rested on being able to refute them. Blake’s seclusion was not simply limited to isolation from other beings, it was also an isolation of the mind; which has lead to many great works which differ in style. Blake’s writings have ranged from lyrical such as his Auguries of Innocence (Erdman and Bloom, 1965) as seen: To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour. through highly elaborate apocalyptic and visionary . He purposely wrote in the manner of the Hebrew prophets and apocalyptic writers. See more: how to write a critical analysis essay step by step He envisioned his works as expressions of prophecy, following in the footsteps (or, more precisely stepping into the shoes) of Elijah and Milton. In fact, he clearly believed himself to be the living embodiment of the spirit of Milton (Gastfield, 2007). On other occasions, Blake’s way of writing shifted to a highly speculative and paradoxical view which is very much evident in his The marriage of Heaven and Hell (Erdman and Bloom, 1965) where he writes: If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. This also particularly expressed his rebellion against the established values during this era. Blake accepted nothing and had a yearning so deep, for all that is intangible and unbounded to man under the dominion of God, matter, and reason (Kazin,1997). He was a man who had all the divergence of human existence in his hands, and he never forgot that it is the role of man to be able to find a solution for them. Although his contemporaries may have thought him as insane and having a diseased mind, William Blake was far ahead of his time being a visionary. A non conformist who embraced radical thinking, his works have influenced the lives of a great number of people, even being acclaimed by the underground movement. Having such great talent, and having so many ideas go through his mind, his works were merely an expression of the world that he lived in. A mind which privileged imagination over reason; and believed that ideal forms should be created not by which our eyes allow us to see but by that which our mind allows us to see. It is indeed only through the mind of a genius that such great works could be produced. REFERENCES Dover, Richard. â€Å"William Blake and English Poetry† Willaim Blake: A Helpfile 21October 1998 North East Wales Institute, K. 12 September 2007 http://www. newi. ac. uk/rdover/blake/index. htm Erdman, David and Bloom, Harold. The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. Berkley: UC Press, 1965 Gastfield, Gail. â€Å"William Blake† The William Blake Page, 2007, The William Blake Page 12 September 2007 http://www. gailgastfield. com/Blake. html Kazin, Alfred. â€Å"AN INTRODUCTION TO WILLIAM BLAKE† 4 July 2007. Multi Media Library. 12 September 2007 http://www. multimedialibrary. com/Articles/kazin/alfredblake. asp

What was Montesquieu?s aim in writing The Spirit of the Laws? Essay

‘I ask a favour that I fear will not be granted; it is that one not judge by a moment’s reading the work of twenty years, that one approve or condemn the book as a whole and not some few sentences. If one wants to seek the design of the author, one can find it only in the design of the work.’ (Montesquieu 1989: preface) The Spirit of the Laws took Montesquieu twenty years to write and was first published in Geneva in 1748. It was distributed freely, without the hindrance of censorship and deemed and instant success, despite negative feedback from friends to whom the manuscript was shown. After two years and twenty-two impressions made across Europe many critics arose of his work, however this merely added to the fame of the author. Despite his critics, Montesquieu knew he had created a worthy and original work of political theory expressed by the phrase of his last preface ‘an offspring made without a mother’. (Montesquieu 1989: preface) This suggests that Montesquieu intended to create a distinctive political theory which was unlike any of his predecessors. Although he quotes famous predecessors such as Plato and Aristotle, he treats them as sources of information rather than philosophical fundamentals. The Spirit of the Laws was Montesquieu’s last work and undeniably over the course of twenty years he implemented what Judith Shklar suggests as ‘his entire intellectual capital as a judge, scientist, novelist, historian, and traveller...’ (Shklar 1987: 67) It is his work ...

Labeling and Discrimination Essay

Theory is the criminal process. It is the way people and actions are defined as criminal. The one definite thing that all â€Å"criminals† share is the negative social reaction as being labeled as ‘bad†. Law-abiding society often shuns the offender causing them to be stigmatized and stereotyped. The negative label applied to an offender often shapes their self-image and often leads them to live up to their newfound identity by committing acts that are more criminal. Edwin Lemert described this as being secondary deviance caused by primary deviance. The self-concept identifies two major theoretical perspectives. The first concept being that deviant labeling may subsequently influence deviance by altering a person’s self-worth. The role of self-dynamics and symbolic reaction amplifies negative expectations of society. The second concept focuses on social structure aspects of exclusion of offender’s by blocked access to structural opportunities. Matsudo, 1992) This ultimately becomes discrimination for people labeled by society as â€Å"criminals†. â€Å"Felon† is a label that is given to ex-offenders by society that confirms the degrading status that accompanies conviction. This is labeling. An offender is discriminated against because society views them as being â€Å"bad†. In short, a â€Å"felon† is a legal outlaw and social outcast. Not all the good that a person may have done previously suddenly matte rs and society assumes that there is nothing but despicable traits left in this person’s character. Their integrity is lost forever. Society assumes that â€Å"felons† cannot change and it becomes a struggle to be given a second chance to prove that people can, and do change, if the will to do so is there coupled with the tools needed to achieve a crime free life are also. The stigma attached to â€Å"felons† is so great that most opportunities for education, employment, and housing are not easy to obtain. These opportunities (tools) are often blocked because the offender has a criminal conviction. If society wants a lower crime rate then it seems that these opportunities should be available to individuals in this category. In order to rehabilitate individuals there must be a way for them to raise their self-image and seek out a crime free life. A sense of self-pride and achievement for many offenders could be the turning point in life needed for them. In turn, the crime rate would decrease. (Bodwitch, 1993, Freeman, 1991, Hagan, 1991, Link, 1982, Sullivan, 1989) These peoples are no less human or equal than any other except that they have made a mistake. Our society has somehow decided it to be acceptable to treat this group of people, and there are more than two million in the United States, as outcasts, undeserving of housing, employment, or education. Society has decided that â€Å"felons† should not only serve the sentence given as punishment for their crime, they should be punished for the rest of their lives. This seems very unfair and cruel. In my opinion, we as a nation should be not be discriminating against this group of people, but instead should be giving them equal opportunity to be educated so that they can obtain employment to support themselves and their families. They should have the same opportunity to live in adequate housing just as the rest of society does. This would be a step in the right direction to help increase the self- image that has been shattered by labeling and possibly deter any behavior by responding to this labeling by continued criminal activity as a means of defense, adaptation, or by attacking back at society. (Bernberg) Education is the first step to rehabilitating an offender. Many offenders do not even have a high school education. Some cannot read or write. In order to obtain gainful employment sufficient to support one’s self or a family, they must have at least a basic education. If not, some form of crime will be used to compensate for the lack of income provided by employment. In order to be employed by any company you must have a high school diploma or a GED certificate. Denying education is a form of discrimination to suppress a group of people from gainful employment. Employment is one of the hardest things for an offender to obtain. Employment applications ask for any convictions to be listed. If an offense is not listed on the application, it can be a reason for termination. Anyone that does choose not to disclose their convictions runs the risk of losing benefits from years of employment such as their retirement benefits and/or medical coverage. More often than not, if an offense is listed on the application it will be a disqualifying factor for consideration of the position. Even if the offense does not disqualify the applicant the mere fact that there are so many people looking for work that the applicant without any previous convictions will probably be placed ahead on the qualifying list for employment. Most employers view a â€Å"felon† just as the rest of society does. They do not want a person of this character working for them because they may view them as being dishonest, or they might even be frightened of the â€Å"felon†. This practice of asking for convictions on employment applications is also a form of discrimination. It greatly reduces the possibility of gainful employment for â€Å"criminals† by asking for this information. The past convictions of a person does not have any bearing on whether or not they are the best qualified applicant for the position offered by a company. If any person is denied employment and has no way to support himself or his family, that person will ultimately turn to some form of crime in order to do so. The offender will adapt and live up to societies expectations of them. If this type of discrimination stops, there is a possibility that more offenders will conform to the expectations of society and rehabilitate into productive citizens, thus, decreasing crime in our communities. Another area of discrimination for offenders is the housing market. Society does not want anyone with a â€Å"criminal† past living in their community among them. An offender can have a conviction that is over twenty years old and still be denied housing in many communities such as mobile home parks, apartment complexes s, private rentals, and even from some home loans. Some communities will not allow anyone with any type of criminal history to live there. A person could have had their offenses dismissed by the court and still be denied because of the accusation alone. Many of the government programs offered to help low-income people are not available to anyone with a felony. A â€Å"felon† is automatically disqualified from receiving any help from government programs. Offender’s often end up living in communities that are offered by â€Å"slum lords† in areas that have a bigger crime rate than in other areas. This practice of discrimination could lead to offenders falling back into committing criminal acts because other criminals surround them, thus, reinforcing a negative self-image possibly leading to a return to criminal activities. If society continues to accept the criminology theory it will continue to cause social problems for both the community and the offender†. Labeling is a stepping stone in the development of criminal careers. †(Benrburg) This social problem ruins people’s lives and creates a pattern of recidivism. The goal of society should be to try to find ways to decrease crime, not condone p ractices that will potentially increase crime. Everyone deserves a second chance in life to correct the mistakes that have made. If society was as quick to give a second chance, as it is to label and condemn someone for their mistakes, we could possibly rehabilitate a good number of offenders into productive citizens. Our nation could even possibly decrease the crime rate at the same time. None of the other practices of the criminal justice system seems to be working very well, maybe an approach of removing the barriers blocking education, employment, and housing might make a positive difference.

The Social Problems Of The Students - 1382 Words

The Participants For the purpose of this assignment I interviewed three people, inquiring them on their perceptions of modern social problems. In order for them to remain anonymous I will use first and last initials as identification. First I spoke with PH. PH is a 45-year-old male who identifies as male and White. He went to a four-year institution and holds a BS degree and lives in the southeastern part of the United States. Next I interviewed GT. GT is also a male who identifies as male and White. He is 56 years old and lives in the New England area. He attended graduate school where he earned a PhD. He is the son of first generation Italian immigrants. Lastly I spoke with JH. As a high school student, JH plays on sports teams and is active within her school. She is a Florida resident, 16 years old, female, and identifies as female and White. She has aspirations of attending a four-year university and has not yet been officially employed. While all three of those interviewed identify as White and have a gender identity that aligns with their sexuality, I believe that differences in age, education, childhood, and geographic location provide enough diversity to allow for differing viewpoints and concerns to be expressed. I respect all of the individuals that I spoke with and believe that the information they provided is reliable and should be examined. Identifying the Social Problem I will address the social problems discussed with each person in order ofShow MoreRelatedStudent Debt Is A Significant Social Problem Essay1297 Words   |  6 PagesExamining Student Debt When we think about college and a college education, it seems as though our first initial thought is the student loans and debt that can result in achieving a college degree. Looking back, student debt has risen drastically and has made it extremely stressful for students and families. 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