Postmodern Poetry - Confessional Poets Essay -- essays research papers

Postmodern Poetry - Confessional Poets With World War II finally over and a chapter in history written, the next chapter is about to begin. The twentieth century brings with it a new literary movement called postmodern, where poetry is "breaking from modernism" and taking on a whole new style Within postmodern poetry emerge confessional poets whom remove the mask that has masked poetry from previous generations and their writings become autobiographical in nature detailing their life's most intense personal experiences, therefore becoming the focus of their work. Considered to be the "mainstream of postmodern poetry" confessional poetry did not hit its peak until the late twentieth century. Confessional poetry is in direct contrast to the poetry of William Butler Yeats. Yeats poetry, Romantic in nature, depended on symbols and images to convey his themes. Confessional poetry is very direct and conveys the inner most feelings of the post modern poets. The twentieth century brought forth many confessional and post confessional poets who appeared to be embarking on unmarked territory. Confessional poets Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roehtke and post confessional poet Adreinne Rich all dealt with taboo subjects. Their life held an intensity of personal experience that became the focus of their work. Confessional poetry does not simply touch upon emotion. Confessional poetry allows emotion or looks at emotion through an examining eye rather to drive poems, permeating each poem with an air of necessity, the necessity of conv eying and aiming to understand emotion through confession. Postmodern poet, Robert Lowell's poetry really captures the true essence of confessional poetry by sharing his own raw emotions with the reader. The mask that once was placed upon the influence of the symbolist, Eliot and Pound, Lowell removes. The speaker of his poems is unequivocally himself. Lowell does not spare himself in his poetry. In his poem "Man and Wife" he deals directly with his own marriage. The reader gets grotesque glimpses into his marital life. He begins "Tamed by Miltown, we lie on mother's bed." And later tells how "All night I have held your hand,/ as if you had/ a fourth time faced the kingdom of the mad-/ its hackney... ...bsp;The thing itself and not the myth. Diving deep into the inner most recesses of her self, exploring the wreck of her own life, Rich feels compelled to map the geography of her self. Rich declares in a forward to her poems "with the failure of patriarchal politics" and "to be a woman at this time" is to know extraordinary forms of anger, joy, and impatience, love and hope. Poetry, words on paper, are necessary but not enough; we need to touch the living who share†¦ our determination that the sexual myths underlying the human condition can and shall be †¦ changed. Rich's work is personal, intimate and confessional. Confessional and post confessional poets clearly chose to write about subjects that were taboo. That took their private lives and deep inner thoughts and made them public. Confessional poets took the baton from the moderns such as Yeat's and Eliot and took poetry to another whole level. They opened up their heart, mind and feelings to a society that was able to relate.

Moral Living Synoptic Question Essay

In this essay it is my intention to examine the theme of moral living within the Old Testament and the Celtic Church. Morality refers to ethical issues. It is the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. It is a system of ideas of right and wrong conduct. There are two interlinked themes of religious morality and social morality under moral living. The foundation of moral living within the Old Testament is the Sinai Covenant. Whereas, the basis of morality in Celtic Church is Saint Patrick; his moral base was always routed in his scriptural beliefs. Moses, for example, made a covenant with Yahweh on Mount Sinai, the principles from which are the foundation for the Judah Christian faith today, where he received the Ethical Decalogue (10 Commandments). As Drane states, â€Å"the commands were essentially moral requirements. Honesty, truth and justice were more important to Yahweh than the performance of religious rites.† Love of God and Love of Neighbour were the two commandments at the core of the Ethical Decalogue. The first three commandments central religious morality however, the last seven focus on Love of Neighbour and Social Morality. Winward states, â€Å"no man could be in a right relationship with God who was not in a right relationship with his fellow men.† The people of Israel had an obligation as the chosen people to obey the Ethical Decalogue. Abraham was called by God to give up his polytheistic ways. God promised Abraham that he would never give up on him. As Heinsch states, â€Å"he had to journey to a foreign land alone trusting in God’s guidance.† If Abraham fulfilled this request God promised him three things, Great Nation, Land (which was Canaan) and Protection. At this time, Abraham worshipped the popular moon god, â€Å"sin† and was to break with idolatry and become monotheistic. Epstein stated that, â€Å"Abraham turned to the service of the one and only God whom he recognised as the creator of heaven and earth.† Abraham’s love of the one true God and his change from idolatry reflects similarities with Saint Patrick. Patrick arrived in Ireland to a pagan country. The people of Ireland were idolaters in that they worshipped as many as 400 gods, with the main god being the Dagda (the father). The Celts held such things as the sun, trees, groves, water and birds to be sacred. Joyce states that they had the tendency to â€Å"find the divine in all of created nature.† Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland to transform the pagan people to monotheism. He wanted them to worship and love the one true God. Patrick adopted pagan practice to Christian tradition, for example, he changed the worship of the â€Å"sun† to the â€Å"son.† Patrick wanted the people to become monks and virgins for Christ. He advocated that true worship of God required to be newly baptised (converted from paganism to Christianity.) Patrick wanted the people to convert freely; they were never forced as the decision to become a Christian had to come from the heart. When Patrick left a place he made sure he left a building (church) to be used for communal worship. Like the Old Testament prophets, Patrick expected his ordained to be good role models to the people. Unfortunately in the Old Testament the religious leaders did not always do this. Ezekiel, for example, was to inform the people that God was going to hold the religious leaders responsible as they had led the people astray instead of encouraging them to worship only Yahweh. God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the leaders, â€Å"shepherds have been feeding themselves, should not, you the shepherds feed the sheep.† In tandem with this, the prophet Elijah also had to deal with the people of Israel’s idolatry. He was aware that there was a lack of steadfast love due to the people worshipping both Yahweh and Baal (god of fertility.) Elijah challenged the people about this saying, â€Å"how long will you go limping with two different opinions?† The people needed to stop worshipping both Yahweh and Baal and were to only worship the one true God, Yahweh. Elijah had little sympathy for the people worshipping both Gods. He challenged King Ahab to a contest on Mount Carmel between Yahweh and Baal to determine who the true God is. Elijah had a great victory as Yahweh won, usually this would be celebrated but instead, Elijah went to Mount Horeb as he knew the people’s change of heart of Yahweh as the one true God was temporary and this was not good enough. True love of God was required. In line with this, Patrick also challenged the pagan people’s ways through their worship of Dagda and Lugh. It took a long time for the pagan people to convert to truly worshipping one God. Paganism continued to exist alongside early Christianity 100 years after Patrick. Amos spoke out about social injustices, he stated, â€Å"let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.† Amos spoke about respect for marriage, something which King David lacked. He had an affair with Bathsheba and committed the sins of lust, adultery and murder. He was punished for this as Yahweh was to â€Å"raise up evil against you out of your own house.† David’s son died as a result of his sins. Similarly, Patrick also showed a respect for life. He spoke out about injustices such as slavery and condemnation of wealth in his letter to Coroticus. Patrick respected women and this was reflected in the Letter to Coroticus. In L19 Patrick expresses his concern for women. The women were taken as captives, to be distributed â€Å"as prizes.† Patrick makes it clear that the fate of Coroticus and his men is to be â€Å"lorded over† for all eternity by those whom they regarded to be â€Å"barbarian Irish.† In L4, Patrick also speaks up against murder and slavery – he grieves for those captured and killed and calls the perpetrators themselves â€Å"captives of Satan† the punishment met out to them will be â€Å"external life in hell.† To conclude, Christianity is now one of the leading world religions and therefore the mission of both the prophets and Patrick was successful. There will always be a call for people to repent and convert to Christianity with a return to a moral life.

What Is the Meaning of Globalization in Sociology

Globalization, according to sociologists, is an ongoing process that involves interconnected changes in the economic, cultural, social, and political spheres of society. As a process, it involves the ever-increasing integration of these aspects between nations, regions, communities, and even seemingly isolated places. In terms of the economy, globalization refers to the expansion of capitalism  to include all places around the world into one globally integrated economic system. Culturally, it refers to the global spread and integration of ideas, values, norms, behaviors, and ways of life. Politically, it refers to the development of forms of governance that operate at the global scale, whose policies and rules cooperative nations  are expected to  abide. These three core aspects of globalization are fueled by technological development, the global integration of communication technologies, and the global distribution of media. The History of Our Global Economy Some sociologists, like William I. Robinson, frame globalization as a process that began with the creation  of the capitalist economy, which formed connections between distant regions of the world as far back as the Middle Ages. In fact, Robinson has argued that because a capitalist economy is premised on growth and expansion, a globalized economy is the inevitable result of capitalism. From the earliest phases of capitalism onward, European colonial and imperial powers, and later  U.S. imperialism, created global economic, political, cultural, and social connections around the world. But despite this, up until the mid-20th century, the world economy was actually a compilation of competing and cooperating national economies. Trade was international rather than global. From the mid-20th century on, the process of globalization intensified and quickened as national trade, production, and finance regulations were dismantled, and international economic and political agreements were forged in order to produce a global economy premised on the â€Å"free† movement of money and corporations. The Creation of Global Forms of Governance The globalization of the world international economy and of the political culture  and structures was led by wealthy, powerful nations made rich by colonialism and imperialism, including the U.S., Britain, and many Western European nations. From the mid-twentieth century on, leaders of these nations created new global forms of governance that set the rules for cooperation within the new global economy. These include the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Group of Twenty, the World Economic Forum, and OPEC, among others. Cultural Aspects of Globalization The process of globalization also involves the spread and diffusion of ideologies (values, ideas, norms, beliefs, and expectations) that foster, justify, and provide legitimacy for economic and political globalization. History has shown that these are not neutral processes and that it is ideologies from dominant nations that fuel and frame economic and political globalization. Generally speaking, it is these that are spread around the world, becoming normal and taken for granted. The process of cultural globalization happens through the distribution and consumption of media, consumer goods, and the Western consumer lifestyle. It is also fueled by globally integrated communication systems like social media, disproportionate media coverage of the world’s elite and their lifestyles, the movement of people from the global north  around the world via business and leisure travel, and the expectations of these travelers that host  societies will provide amenities and experiences that reflect their own cultural norms. Because of the dominance of Western and Northern cultural, economic, and political ideologies in shaping globalization, some refer to the dominant form of it as â€Å"globalization from above.† This phrase refers to the top-down model of globalization that is directed by the world’s elite. In contrast, the â€Å"alter-globalization† movement, composed of many of the world’s poor, working poor, and activists, advocates for a truly democratic approach to globalization known as â€Å"globalization from below.† Structured this way, the ongoing process of globalization would reflect the values of the world’s majority, rather than those of its elite minority.