Comparison of The Raven and The Erlking Essay Example for Free

Comparison of The Raven and The Erlking Essay In this essay, I am going to compare and contrast the two famous poems, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe and The Erlking by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Raven is a one hundred and eight line poem about a lonely man who is unstable after losing his wife and comes across a raven who only speaks the word, nevermore. The Erlking is a poem about a man in a small girls nightmare as he torments her but nobody else can see him. There are many similarities and differences between the two poems. Both poems have a gothic atmosphere and can be compared strongly in this way. However, both are of different lengths and differ fro9m each other. In this essay, I am going to discuss how the two poets create tension and suspense and make a conclusion after studying these poems. The first element I am going to compare and contrast is the storyline of the poem and the impression it is meant to have on its reader. I am going to start by analysing each poem individually and then make a small conclusion when I will see how they are similar and how they differ. I will be using this structure for each point I will discuss. I will start by analysing The Raven. The main principle of Edgar Allen Poes poem was to have a lasting effect on its reader. Shortly, before he wrote The Raven, Poes wife had been diagnosed with an illness. This illness was later the cause of her death soon after he had finalised is poem. It is said that this poem is his forecast of what was going to happen to his wife. This is, therefore, the reason why he chose a raven to be the main character, because it was thought to be the most evil bird. The Raven is meant to be a representation of Edgar Allen Poe reflecting his responses to the bad news of his wife. The Erlking is a very dark poem and starts by giving a notion that the boy is simply imagining the Erlking and is dying of a strange disease. However, the poem takes a sinister twist when the boy dies at the end of the poem. Goethe had many reasons of writing such a dark poem. Such a reason is that the night before he wrote the poem he saw a local farmer carrying a bundle. This turned out to be a man who was carrying his sick child to hospital. This was where the main inspiration for the storyline for the poem of the Erlking came from. Also in German mythology there is meant to be a spirit/ supernatural power that is meant to cause controversy and ruin the minds of children. These two factors were merged together to make the Erlking. They are both dark poems and want to create a mysterious mood for the reader. Both had an individual reason of why they were written but then their similarity grew because they had the same atmospheric impression. The second point I am going to examine is the linguistic techniques used by the poets. The Raven has a lot of alliteration and is used very frequently. Examples of this alliteration is:- While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Both are examples of alliteration but in different ways, one very simple and the other has more complexity. The first quote is just three consecutive words starting with the same letter. The second quotation, on the other hand, uses two words consecutively starting with the same letter. However, the third word is part of the alliteration. The un is not part of the alliteration but the second part is. Although this part of the word starts with a c, it is pronounced as the letter s. This is still part of the alliteration because this poem was obviously written to be read aloud. The Erlking is very different to the Raven, in this way, as it does not contain hardly any alliteration used for boosting the atmosphere. The Erlking does use a linguistic technique that the Raven does not use as much is repetition. An example of this is:- Dear father, oh father, and do you not see, This is a technique very similar to alliteration as it created the same type of tension and both are meant to be read fairly slowly. Later on in The Erlking, this repetition phrase is repeated, showing that there is internal repetition (with the word father) and also phrasal repetition. The third I am going to consider is the rhyming scheme of each of the poems. The Erlking has a different rhyming scheme to the Raven. The Erlkings rhyming scheme is a very common one but the one of the Raven is very peculiar. Many poems have the rhyming scheme the same as the Erlking because it is very basic. This rhyming scheme is:- 1. A 2. A 3. B 4. C An example of this rhyming scheme in the poem is:- 1. Who rides so late where winds blow wild? 2. It is the father grasping his child; 3. He holds the boy embraced in his arm 4. He clasps him snugly, he keeps him warm. The rhyming scheme of the Raven is very different and unusual, not many poems have the same rhyming scheme. This rhyming scheme is:- 1. AA 2. B 3. CC 4. CB 5. B 6. B An example of this rhyming scheme is:- 1. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 2. Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore- 3. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 4. As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door- 5. Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door. 6. Only this and nothing more. The two poems differ greatly in their rhyming schemes and have similarities. The Erlking has a very simple rhyming scheme with only two lines that rhyme out of the four. However, the Raven has a much more complex rhyming scheme with internal rhymes as well as end-of-line rhyming. The Ravens rhyme scheme, however, has an effect on how the poem is read. The Raven is a very gothic poem and this rhyme scheme changes the way the poem is read, especially when the enunciation is used. The Erlking is very different and is a lot easier to read, compared with the Raven. This could mean that the poem is meant for a younger audience because of the simplistic reading ability needed. The other issue I am going to study is the excess of patterning. The Raven uses this several times, however, the Erlking does not. Excess of patterning is when a sound is repeated in a line to give an emphasis of those particular words. An example of this in the Raven could be:- Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, This quotation from Poes poem gives emphasis on the description to make this highlighted when the poem is read. This could have been a good technique that could have been added to the Erlking poem to make a part of the poem more prominent. The final factor I am going to consider is the length of the poems. The Raven is considerably longer than the Erlking. The Raven being 108 lines long compared to the Erlking which is a mere 32 lines long. The length of the Raven allows Poe to go into a lot of depth in his descriptions. However, this style of writing does not suit the Erlking as well. The reason for this is that the Erlking is meant to leave questions unanswered and a sense of mystery. If it had gone into the depth that the Raven did in its length, this would have been taken away. Over all, I can see that both poems are very individual but still contain some similarities. Both poets had very different inspirations of why they wrote their poem but they still had a very similar atmosphere that was created. They also use different linguistic techniques, although they create a very parallel effect. I can see that Edgar Allen Poe uses many more techniques in his poem than Goethe does, this may be because the Raven is longer and may have more room to use more effect without over-doing them.

Cultural Expectations for Women within America :: essays research papers

Cultural Expectations for Women within America Every year about a million immigrants come to America in hope to start a better life for their family. They leave with virtually nothing, just the clothes on their backs and a few, hard earned coins. As they start a new life here in the United States, most immigrants tend to notice the drastic differences that are present between their culture and Western society, particularly in the way women are supposed to talk and behave. In the excerpt from â€Å"Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts,† Maxine Hong Kingston addresses these hardships as a Chinese girl who is searching for her voice in America. During the excerpt, Kingston portrays fitting into these â€Å"cultural expectations† as absolutely necessary, as shown in the last paragraph in Page 10. She says things like â€Å"If you don’t talk†¦ then you can’t be a house wife.† Or â€Å"Don’t you ever want to be a cheerleader?† (Kingston 10) At the time of this scene, the narrator was so sure that the American way was the right way, that she bullies a younger student into changing. Alas the student never changes and the narrator falls sick for a year and a half because of her ill actions. However, plenty has changed since that time of the Korean War (1950’s.) Nowadays, these expectations of what is an American woman are changing. Compared to the 1950’s, women currently are holding much more power, and are viewed as a superior sex symbol. In the 1950’s, a woman’s life path was pretty clear cut, graduate from high school and find a good man while your ultimate goal is to start a family and maintain an orderly house. This is shown when Kingston says to the little girl â€Å"Some one has to marry you before you can become a housewife.† She says this as if becoming a housewife is a top priority for a woman. However presently, most women in America hold very respectable jobs and the role as housewife is slowly disappearing from American culture. Another example of modern day women showing strength is portrayed when the narrator’s mother goes on a cultural rampage and forces the narrator to go to the drug store and demand a piece of candy simply because the druggist missed the address of the house. This scene is shown in pages three, four, and five. By doing so the narrator comes off as poor and illogical.

Impacts of Electronic Media Essay

Nowadays, the terms â€Å"communication systems† are explicitly used to mean electronic communication systems. Because, Electronic communication systems has grabbed the Lion’s share of our regular means of communication. Radio, Digital TV, Mobile, Internet has made our life faster & easier & this never ending process is just always on its way to improvement. The Internet is the most dramatic and widespread application of electronics and communication technology of recent years. We can’t even think of a day without social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Google has become our best friend to find out the things we are looking for. Tutorials of YouTube are available anytime, anywhere for learning anything within a very short time that we don’t know. All of those that have been mentioned so far can be categorized as blessings of electronic communication systems. There are many reasons why the Internet is controversial. The problem with the Internet is the fact that anyone can access just about anything they want to from it. The thing is right now cyber-space has no real laws that limit the actual access we have on the internet. For example, pornography is a big issue because children are accessing adult content so easily without anyone having to know about it. Another issue is that there is so much obscenity and violence that goes on inside online chat rooms, and the most frightening part about it is that it is so easy for someone to trick another person with their age and get you to meet up with them. So, taking all of these into count, censorship of electronic communication systems is a necessity of time. Censorship means the change in the access status of material or materials, made by a governing authority or its representatives.  Such changes include: exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes. Censorship of communication systems may include the examination and blocking of books, periodicals, plays, films, television and radio programs, news reports, and other communication media that is shown to, or available, to the public. Media censorship is sometimes put into place because content is immoral or obscene, heretical or blasphemous, seditious or treasonable, or injurious to the national security. It is supposedly is used for the protection of the family and the state. Additionally some religious groups, opposed to the violence shown in different types of media, say censorship works. However, still more that believe in civil rights believe that it is an unnecessary violation of the right to freedom of speech for all humans. Censorship of the media for children is necessary, but should not be handled by government or other groups. Instead it should be directed and controlled by parents with or without children. If the government were to bring censorship, adults would not see the programs, news, reports etc in their area or around the world. For this to be avoided, the government must leave censorship to parents. To facilitate parent’s exercise of viewing censorship for their children, proper measures should be undertaken accordingly. Censorship is the keystone of the public’s apparent outcry against the electronic media. Even though there are millions and millions of viewers in all over the world that watch the networks can and should the networks be responsible for what they put on the air? Yes, they really should have some sort of morals as to the nature of the content and at what time the program airs as well. Children at a vulnerable age should not be exposed to violent acts. Because, it will affect the child’s behavior and mental growth. In a 1970, study at Pennsylvania State University, psychologist Aletha Huston showed cartoons of fists fighting superheroes to one group of four year old and nonviolent cartoons to another group. The children of the study were comprised of children that were aggressive in nature. The study found that the group that was shone the violent cartoons were more apt to hit and throw things. While the kids who watched the nonviolent cartoons remained relatively calm and docile. It was concluded that children that watch violent cartoons are more apt to commit crimes when they are adults, such as spousal abuse and drunk driving. Children might think it is okay to rob a bank, shoot someone or commit other violent crimes against another person. Also as the child grows older, he begins to believe that revenge through violence, as demonstrated on such shows as New York Undercover and NYPD Blue where people get revenge by breaking other peoples’ noses, shooting them or committing hit and runs, is okay. In other words, a false impression of reality is formed for children. We have found out that cartoons are the most violent programming found to date in television today. Between the ages of two and twelve, the average amount of television watched is approximately 25 hours per week. Most of these 25 hours are comprised of cartoons. Cartoons like Tom and Jerry, where they either get hurt or blown up, and never die and always get back together, without a scratch. Again, this promotes a false sense of reality. Nowadays, there are products out, such as the â€Å"V box†. This box is programmable by a parent to block out certain channels at certain times so that the child will not be exposed to violence on television at certain times of the day. On the other hand, networks should not be responsible for what they air. On the other hand, networks should not be responsible for what they air. In their business, the network with the highest ratings wins. Which in turn means more capital for the network. Why would a parent use television as both a babysitter and an educational outlet? Television is for entertainment purposes only. Much of the information from today’s television programming is purely fictional. And if people decide to imitate what they see on television, then so be it. Everyone in this society has the right to either lay down in the middle of a highway and die or not to or live a happy and prosperous life as demonstrated after teenager saw the movie The Program. Why should it be the responsibility of the network to change all of its programming because one person decided to do a stupid act? According to a survey conducted by Aletha Huston in 1970, she stated that all violent nature from children is linked to television. But a major flaw was found. Leonard Eron of University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research stated that, â€Å"no one is saying that all violence is inspired by television and not all homes have a moral compass. † As long as there are individuals that want networks to be responsible, should networks also restrict what they put on the air? â€Å"Long ago jurists decided free speech did not protect the right to shout fire in a crowded theater. A small child could mistakenly turn on the television and watch shows such as MTV’s Beavis and Butthead and imitate what they see. One perfect example is after watching Beavis and Butthead, Austin Meissner, a five year old, decided to take a lighter from his mother’s dresser and decided to set his house on fire. By doing this, he unwittingly killed his sister, who was only two. Austin’s mother demanded that the show be taken off the air. After watching these shows most young children cannot discern what is real and what is make believe and start to imitate what they have een. Doctor Prothrow-Stith of Harvard School of Public health stated that â€Å"I’ve come to see that more and more we use the media to teach children that violence is a way of life. We also present violence not just as a natural thing, as funny and entertaining. Children begin to learn this lesson from their first cartoons and superheroes, before moving on to the high tech-violence of action movies for adults. By the time they are teenager using violence to resolve conflict seems very natural to them. Having a thorough discussion on that side, we can never neglect the positive side of electronic communication systems specially it’s impact in the day-to-day life of students. Internet is the biggest source of all aspects. Internet covers the world happenings every day. Internet includes a variety of current issues and developments about the world. One of the benefits is internet gives lots of information to us. Students could even use the internet as a replacement of textbooks and reference books as it contains an endless source of knowledge. Students can also check the latest scientific knowledge and research. Scientist nowadays have been experimenting and discovering a lot of intriguing and new things. This type of stream is very suitable for students who are interested to further their studies in science stream. Furthermore, internet facilitate students to enter universities. This is because students can register through some of the website according to the universities of their choice. Besides, internet also contain various type of social sites. We can get new friends and even meet our old friends through these social sites. Moreover, by interacting and chatting with pen pals from overseas, we can strengthen the relations between foreign countries thus enlighten us to a better community. Last but not least, internet help us to keep abreast on latest issues and developments. Students and teenagers can understand the causes and solutions based on the headlines given. This will make them aware of the danger that lurk that can cause a lot of bad effects to the environment and surroundings. In a nutshell, Electronic means of communication supposed to be very beneficial to people of all spheres if they use it wisely and effectively.

Similarities Between Structuralism And Deconstructionism

Structuralism and Deconstruction Formalism and Deconstructionism may be hard to understand at first, but they provide unique and interesting insight into literary criticism. They help readers to dig much farther than surface level and learn things that could not be learned without a formalist or deconstructionist mindset. Although there are some texts that are better understood with other theories, in the long run structuralism and deconstruction are very important even if some people consider them to be outdated. As Oscar Wilde says, the author creates the art, but the critic â€Å"translates† it into meaning which is what is beautiful. (Bressler, xi) Such as is true, Structuralism and Deconstructionism help the world to read for more than†¦show more content†¦Somebody in prison might have made one really bad choice, maybe even on accident, but they are now working hard to make the best decisions and are sometime more kind than drivers with road rage. On the other ha nd, many people may make lots of bad choices, and choose to be beyond rude to others always, but they aren’t doing anything illegal. Deconstructionism could see the two as binary opposites and show that they aren’t all that different. As discussed in class, deconstruction is like a puzzle trying to figure out where each piece might fit beyond their original place. Such is like life where everyone is trying to figure out where they belong. This brings deconstruction back to â€Å"Dracula† because maybe Dracula is misunderstood and just because his life situations are different, doesn’t make him better than the other characters or the other characters better than him. Although â€Å"Dracula† is fiction, the circumstances and topics in the story are very real and deconstruction helps break them down and find the deeper meaning. Formalism on the other hand, is almost like a close reading of a text, but focusing solely on the language present in the text. It avoids any outside elements about the author and similar subjects that in other theories, are brought in to further the study of the literature. In formalism, outside information is irrelevant. In other words, â€Å"The proper study of literature†¦is literature itself.† (Bressler, 49) Poems are one of the best pieces ofShow MoreRelated20th Century Philosophy1064 Words   |  5 Pagesemphasis on selected problems as well as figures in German idealism (Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Marx) and recent continental philosophy (Heidegger, Habermas, Lukacs). He is continuing to explore the epistemology of German idealism as well as the relation between philosophy and politics. His most recent work concerns a new theory of knowledge as intrinsically historical. Tom Rockmore believes that there are approximately three tendencies that govern the 20th Century‘s philosophy dispute. These three tendenciesRead MoreSeminar: Literary Theory Applied to H.P. Lovecraft-Notably â€Å"the Beast in the Cave†6821 Words   |  28 Pagesauthors of our century.† In the following paper, I will explore his earliest work, â€Å"The Beast in the Cave,† a story written when he was around fifteen years old. I will explore its meanings and context through the lenses of reader response, deconstructionism, new historicism, and psychoanalytic analysis. Through these lenses of literary theory I hope to derive further meaning and understanding of this favored story as well as dismiss some criticism that has been leveled against H.P. Lovecraft.