Jill Bolte Taylor

The Equilibrium of the Natural World and of Man It is beyond the shadow of a doubt that in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the natural world has a great deal of power. This is obvious and is seen many times throughout the story, occasions where the natural world dominating man. There is a very clear give and take relationship between the spirits of nature and the physical world. Any action from man will warrant a consequence from nature. The Rime of the…

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley fulfills many elements of being both a gothic and romantic text. Romanticism is the idea that the power of one’s spirit, soul, instinct and emotion are more important and powerful than the science and limits of human nature. Victor Frankenstein himself is a highly romantic character and dreams of breaking the boundaries of rationality and using his knowledge to go beyond them. This novel is passionate and evokes the imagination, but it also focuses mainly…

The nineteenth century Romantic Movement was viewed as a challenge to the Rationalism Movement of the Enlightenment period. Throughout the nineteenth century, Romanticism is seen through the ideas of philosophers, through artists and their works, and through poems and novels of the era. The characteristics of Romanticism include a power of nature and the supernatural world, the emphasis on emotion and intuition, the embracing of the value of the individual, as well as the rejection of the…

In the play, Friar John has been sent to Mantua to inform Romeo of Juliet's phony suicide. He is unsuccessful in getting the message to Romeo due to being quarantined because he has been "in a house / Where the infectious pestilence did reign [. . .]" (Shakespeare 5.2). In the movie, the message from Friar Lawrence to Romeo is sent through a delivery service called "poste haste." The message is "blown away in the dust-laden wind" (Downing 5). In both the play and the movie, Balthasar goes to…

Men are always represented in the relation to the divine hierarchy which is the physical world and the world of animals but they are never represented in isolation. It becomes easier to understand the actions of Lear with the almost constant references to nature, once the concept of correspondence between man’s nature and the natural world is understood in terms of legitimizing the social order. In King Lear, the tragedy shown in the play is when Lear tries attempting to overthrow the ‘natural’…

“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” a poem that describes a mariner and his crew struggling to sail through ice and other weather conditions, when they encounter an albatross which they take as a sign from god which they let lead them through the horrible conditions. But their fortune ends when the greedy mariner takes advantage of the albatross and shoots it down for him to have to himself. The crew has mixed thoughts of the killing of the albatross but the crew dies over time and they place a curse…

Religious Criticism on Romantic Period Poetry Religion in the Romantic period was significantly affected by the French Revolution, as were most parts of social and political life. Catholicism was on the rise and becoming the mainstream religion. However, many opposing perspectives and rebellious attacks were being made on the establishment of organized religion (Betros). Religious diversity is reflected throughout the written works of this period among numerous poets, and this increased…

During the late 18th century a movement started up known as Romanticism. This movement “emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional”(Britannia). Romanticism was a major contrast from the Neoclassical era before it. Romanticism also led the way to future counterculture movements we see throughout history as the rejection of the normal first started by the Romantics. We see Romanticism at work in poetry such as William…

Common Core: Standardizing Inadequacy In John Taylor Gatto’s essay “Dumbing Us Down: Weapons Of Mass Instruction,” John argues that the current liberal state of the education system is in need of public reform and recognition. John explains that our current education system is structured to discourage self-discovery by cramming mind-numbing busy work down student’s throats, stifling creativity. John expounds the current education system is creating a quiet lower and middle class that keeps busy…

Tragic love stories have fascinated humans since ancient times. They conquered the hearts of many and opened the ways for more love stories. Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – to October 1400) is one of the most famous English authors of the middle ages. Chaucer is considered the father of English literature and thrilled the mass with his literary works. His most famous works include the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. Yet, again a tragic love story that is still widely popular in the 21st…