Halleys Comet arrives Essay Example for Free

Halleys Comet arrives Essay The poem begins with Good evening, little visitor, in this first line two things are brought to our attention. First, Good evening is a very formal greeting, it implies a great deal of respect and shows us the poets opinion of the comet as a thing that should be revered and appreciated. Second, the words little visitor present a slightly different opinion of the comet, one of smallness and insignificance, in fact, its almost diminishing, but still retaining the same fondness we found in the first half of the line. These contrasting ideas of importance and insignificance are maintained throughout the remainder of the poem. Still very near the beginning of the poem another significant line can be found: But whod have thought youd be so shy, the significance of this line lies partly in the beginning But whod have thought this establishes the idea that the shyness is unexpected, the world was expecting a fantastic display but have yet to see it. Also with the introduction of contracted words whod and yould which are the beginning of a far less formal and more relaxed style of writing. The informality is associated with the theme of insignificance, almost as if the comet, being nothing more than, a dirty undense snowball is not deserving of such respect. Also, the subject of shyness, also an important theme, is first brought to light in this line. Furthermore, here it becomes noticeable that the poem is divided into a few distinguishable parts the first of which is Abrahams physical description of the comet in the sky. Continuing from the theme of modesty and the comets description is a statement of the worlds presumption of the comets behaviour; that it would streak through, flashing that famous double tail, / autographing the prophetic sky. These actions are not dissimilar to the behaviour you would expect from a celebrity, because to the people of the world the comet is a celebrity, it has been on the news, theyve heard of its awesome mysteries and, above all, they have been expecting its return for years. However, this is not what they actually discover. Instead, they find it has done an elusive Garbo act the use of Garbo is strikingly apt as she was an incredibly famous and beautiful actress who was widely known and held in great regard by most of the world at the time, but she also shunned the spotlight and the attention she gained from her career, she rarely made public appearances and therefore developed a great air of mystery, rather like Halleys Comet. Equally, the use of prophetic is meaningful as the notion of prophecy becomes very important it the latter parts of the poem. The second section of the poem deals with the effect of modern science on the comet. It returns to notion of shyness, and, more specifically, the reason for it. The reason being that people know too much, that modern technology and science have stripped the comet of its ancient awesome mysteries and revealed that it is, in fact, nothing more than a dirty undense snowball () that only shines because the sun / lends it a bit of common light during this phrase Halleys Comet is no-longer personified, it is no-longer directly addressed as you but, instead, is referred to as it, this implies that that the poet is paraphrasing somebody elses opinion of the comet and, while these facts are true, they do not, in Abrahams opinion, retract from the importance he gives the comet in the opening line, he feels that these revelations combined with the comets new subtlety, as it hides among our city lights, only serve to make it more moving. This transition between the worlds opinion of the comet and Abrahams opinion of the comet is marked by the line I like it, in a way. What is also significant about this line is that it marks a definitive change in the style of writing Abrahams is now using very informal language which not only serves to re-engage the reader but also allows for a clear division between his own point of view and the rest of the worlds. Essentially, Abrahams is saying that the comet has lost its majesty due to our technological advancements, such as the city lights which make the comet seem inconspicuous. However, this leaves the reader curious as Abrahams has not explained why this makes the comet important. During the next part of the poem Abrahams discusses how he believes the comets journey to be one that requires a heroic effort, how it is only barely making its orbit by the skin of its momentum. We should applaud like mad he writes that you make it again on time. This sentence reiterates that the comet is barely managing to arrive at Earth, and as the poet believes we should be applauding the comet for this achievement shows that, in his opinion, the fact that the comet returns is incredible when the vast distances it crosses on its long, lonely orbit are taken into account. Youve shed the scary Nostradamus mask says Abrahams, meaning that through our scientific discoveries the comet is no-longer a symbol of anything as it used to be, can no-longer move the likes of the old Wise Men, King Harold and Mark Twain as we do not believe it to be prophetic anymore. Instead, he likens the comet to some private rare Aunt Maud, the generic distant relative that nobody really knows but will occaisionally drop by merely to show herself and check our face. The casual dropping by in this sentence continues the theme of insignificance surrounding the comet, that its visits are no more important than those of a friend we see every day. This idea is re-enforced in the line No more fortune-teller, dearest Aunt, though the word dearest shows that this guise of the comet is far more friendly than scary Nostradamus. However the use of the word private is also noteworthy, it demonstrates that while the comet is not important to the world at large it is still important on a personal level, this is the clear message of the poem, because as Aunt Maud arrives she gives she gives us her gift, allowing that we achieve a stroke of prophecy. Meaning that the comet is prophetic of itself returning and it is one of the few things that we can predict. Continuing with this idea he closes the poem by saying We thank you, little comforter: / that the dark potent emptiness ahead / contains one probable smear of light firstly, in this sentence Abrahams returns to the use of we showing that he speaks for the entire globe as he says this giving a lot of weight to the next lines of the poem. Secondly, use of little comforter mirrors the little visitor at the beginning of the poem, drawing more attention to these lines but also mirroring the feeling on fondness that we saw at the beginning of the poem. The comet is not seen as a foreteller of great events as it used to be. It has shed its scary Nostradamus mask and is not prophetic of human events anymore, but it is prophetic of its own return and in doing so fulfils its own prophecy, an this is the important message of the poem; that despite all we have done to damage the comets image, it is, perhaps, more important than ever as because of our advances in technology we cannot possibly conceive what the world will be like the next time Halleys Comet arrives, but the one thing we can be sure of is that it will.

I Don’t Know What I Want to Do, but I Know that it has Nothing to Do wi

I Don’t Know What I Want to Do, but I Know that it has Nothing to Do with Medical School Ihave had three majors since I have been in college. Chemistry was my entering major, which I kept all of one semester. The one I kept the longest is math, which I had for three semesters. Now I am an anthropology major. This is my first semester with this major. In fact, I haven’t officially changed the major yet. In order to understand where I am in my life now, you must realize where I have been. In high school I was in the National Honors Society, I took AP classes, and was completely controlled by my family. They had put the idea in my head that money made people happy. I had to make a lot of it. I was pushed to decide what I wanted to do with my life early. To my family the obvious choice was for me to be a doctor. I went with it. All I wanted was for them to approve of me. My senior year I was taking AP physics and a chemistry course. I decided I liked chemistry, there was my major. It really didn’t matter what it was, I was pre-med., any science would do. Science? What was I thinking? I got to college and realized chemistry was not for me. I hated lab, the professors, for the most part, were mean, and I just didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. The slight separation that I had from my family made me realize I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew that it was not medical school. Then came the freak out. What am I going to do with myself? Professional student sounded good to me. All I needed was something I could get good grades in without trying. Obviously math, since I never had to study for a math class in my life. I wasn’t just good at math, I WAS math. So I changed my major, thinking it was the best move ever. It... ...es, I want to travel, and I hate the nine to five lifestyle. My plan is to get my Ph.D. in archaeology and then become a college professor. I will dig in the summer and maybe teach a few field schools later on. Being a teacher is something I would like to do too. Now that I am in college I realize the best teachers are the ones that are a little bit crazy. I think that is so fitting for me. One of my professors now, Elise Brenner, is my idol. She is an archaeologist and a college professor. I learn so much in her class because she doesn’t do a straight lecture format, and she makes class enjoyable and memorable. I want to be to someone what she is to me, a role model. I may not have everything figured out yet, but I am on my way. I might not be rich a famous, but I will be happy. Someday you can visit me in my apartment in the city. That is, if I’m not in Africa. I Don’t Know What I Want to Do, but I Know that it has Nothing to Do wi I Don’t Know What I Want to Do, but I Know that it has Nothing to Do with Medical School Ihave had three majors since I have been in college. Chemistry was my entering major, which I kept all of one semester. The one I kept the longest is math, which I had for three semesters. Now I am an anthropology major. This is my first semester with this major. In fact, I haven’t officially changed the major yet. In order to understand where I am in my life now, you must realize where I have been. In high school I was in the National Honors Society, I took AP classes, and was completely controlled by my family. They had put the idea in my head that money made people happy. I had to make a lot of it. I was pushed to decide what I wanted to do with my life early. To my family the obvious choice was for me to be a doctor. I went with it. All I wanted was for them to approve of me. My senior year I was taking AP physics and a chemistry course. I decided I liked chemistry, there was my major. It really didn’t matter what it was, I was pre-med., any science would do. Science? What was I thinking? I got to college and realized chemistry was not for me. I hated lab, the professors, for the most part, were mean, and I just didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. The slight separation that I had from my family made me realize I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew that it was not medical school. Then came the freak out. What am I going to do with myself? Professional student sounded good to me. All I needed was something I could get good grades in without trying. Obviously math, since I never had to study for a math class in my life. I wasn’t just good at math, I WAS math. So I changed my major, thinking it was the best move ever. It... ...es, I want to travel, and I hate the nine to five lifestyle. My plan is to get my Ph.D. in archaeology and then become a college professor. I will dig in the summer and maybe teach a few field schools later on. Being a teacher is something I would like to do too. Now that I am in college I realize the best teachers are the ones that are a little bit crazy. I think that is so fitting for me. One of my professors now, Elise Brenner, is my idol. She is an archaeologist and a college professor. I learn so much in her class because she doesn’t do a straight lecture format, and she makes class enjoyable and memorable. I want to be to someone what she is to me, a role model. I may not have everything figured out yet, but I am on my way. I might not be rich a famous, but I will be happy. Someday you can visit me in my apartment in the city. That is, if I’m not in Africa.

Education was only for young people Essay

In the past people thought that education was only for young people. Now, it is believed that education is for a person’s whole life. Do you agree? State with you own experience and specific details. Education is an indispensable part in a person’s life. It illuminates human knowledge and culture, improving the development of science and technology. Education is not only for young people, it should be proceeding in people’s whole life. Children begin to receive education at an early age in the kindergarten, where they could learn some basic knowledge about our nature and acquire some living skills. When they go to primary schools and secondary schools, they study mathematics, language, physics and other subjects, which are fundamental and essential for their further study and education. When they go to university, they can study the subjects which they are interested in, making preparation for their future career. University is a place where most learned people carry out research and study. There students have seas of knowledge and skills to learn. But university education is not the terminal of a person’s study life. For one reason, our society is developing at an amazing speed along with the improvement of science and technology. If people stop studying after graduation from university, they can not keep abreast with the steps of social development and easy to be eliminated in the fierce competition. Take the development of IT as an example. The dazzling information technologies come to the fore every day. If a person does not learn the latest knowledge, they would not be able to develop new technology and products. Therefore, a person should learn new knowledge for the whole life. As the saying goes, â€Å"Never too late to learn†. To fit in with the development of society, a person must study during his or her whole life. Otherwise, he or she will lag far behind the others.

Analysis Of The Movie The Dream - 801 Words

The Perpetual Pursuers chose to discuss the film The Help because we wanted to dig deeper into the issues the film explored. Upon reviewing the film and doing further research, our group found that this film painted an inaccurate picture of what life was like for African Americans in the 1960s. The Help looks at the relationship between an African American housekeeper and a white child. The story was written by author Kathryn Stockett and she wrote The Help (originally a book) based off her own relationship with her housekeeper, noting that she longed for the relationship with her even after her death (More Than a Maid). After the writing of The Help, many people reached out to Stockett, claiming that she’d written their stories for them. Examples of African American housekeeper in the 60s being mistreated by the white families they worked for is prevalent. In the article presented in this paragraph, one woman states that when the family she worked for decided she shouldn’t be able to use the bathroom indoors anymore and that she â€Å"would just have to use it outside,† she explained that she politely asked for her paycheck and stated she’d be on her way. The movie shed light on the fact that although this was a work of fiction, this was a reali ty for many African Americans in the 1960s working during the Civil Rights movement working towards equality and respect. Historians on ‘The Help’: Vanessa May and Rebecca Sharpless Respond, discusses the controversy that surroundedShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Movie The American Dream 754 Words   |  4 Pages Nyreel Powell Ms. Jones American Literature 1 June 2015 The American dream in A Raisin in the Sun Have you ever had a dream and it didn’t come how you wanted it to be? Have you ever had accomplishments that you wanted to achieve but people were getting in the way of them? 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