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THE CORONET

Andrew Marvell Coronet - Crown Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) is an English poet and satirist, one of the metaphysical poets. He was born in Winestead, Yorkshire, and educated at the University of Cambridge. While tutor to the daughter of Lord Thomas Fairfax, he wrote the well-known lyric works The Garden , To His Coy Mistress , The Definition of Love , and Bermudas . Marvell's works often weigh conflicting values, such as introspection (self-examination) versus action, or nature versus society. As assistant to John Milton (who was serving as Latin secretary for the common wealth) from 1657 to 1659, he wrote many poems in praise of the lord protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, notably "Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland”, considered by some to be one of the great political poems. From 1659 until his death, Marvell served in Parliament; his letters to constituents reveal much about his times. Marvell's prose satire, little read today, was once...

THE TELL - TALE HEART

Edgar Allan Poe The Tell -Tale Heart   is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in  1843 . It is told by an unnamed narrator. The story presents murderous act done by a boy and confessions done later. Poe describe that our heart cannot really hide the inner reality. Despite desire of secrecy, our heart reveals what there is. The narrator of this story claims that he is not mad as he could hear things in the heaven, earth and hell. To justify him saint, he confesses dangerous crime he has committed. The narrator and the old man used to live together; they had very good relationship. The boy used to love the man very much. The old man also used to treat him well. The only thing that irritated the boy was the eye of him. The narrator could not stand the sight of the old man's pale, filmy blue eye. The narrator claims that he was so afraid of the eye, which reminds him of a vulture's that he decided to kill the man so he would no longer ha...

THE RELIC

John Donne and Metaphysical Poetry What Does Metaphysical Mean? The word 'meta' means 'after,' so the literal translation of 'metaphysical' is 'after the physical.' Basically, metaphysics deals with questions that can't be explained by science. It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way. Here are some common metaphysical questions: Does God exist? Is there a difference between the way things appear to us and the way they really are? Essentially, what is the difference between reality and perception? Is everything that happens already predetermined? If so, then is free choice non-existent? Is consciousness limited to the brain? Metaphysics can cover a broad range of topics from religious to consciousness; however, all the questions about metaphysics ponder the nature of reality. And of course, there is no one correct answer to any of these questions. Metaphysics is about exploration and philosophy, ...

A CHILD IS BORN

Germaine Greer This essay is an extract from the book Sex and Destiny written by a feminist writer Germaine Greer. In this essay, she presents a comparison between the parent-child relationship in the rich West and the traditional East. She shows the differences between a traditional society and a modern society in matters of pregnancy, child birth and child rearing. She tends to consider the matrimonial practices of the traditional societies as having greater advantages than those of western attitudes. Her main opinion is that in the traditional societies the people who surround a pregnant woman make her feel good and lessen her mental pain. The traditional behaviors are responsible to increase her sense of security. However, in modern western societies, a pregnant woman is not cared like this. Since the people in the modern western society don’t believe much on different rites, traditions and superstitions, the pregnant woman is not attended by her husband and relatives. S...

THE CHILDREN WHO WAIT

Marsha Traugot The Children Who Wait is an essay written by Marsha Traugot . In this essay, she suggests reasons for a new trend in adoption in America. Now a wider verity of families can open their house to children who in the past would have been labeled unadaptable. In the beginning of her essay she quotes an advertisement related to an example of a  5 1 / 2   years old black homeless girl named Tammy who is suffering from fatal alcohol syndrome which can stop her intellectual growth at any time.  She is a handicapped black girl and she is beyond infancy. After giving her description Traugot carries out the history about adoption. Twenty years ago or until about 1960 the process of adoption was strict. If a child was not white that would not adopted. Adoption was done only of the child that was infant and healthy. A family having older siblings could not also take a child in adoption. Similarly, only middle or upper class childless white couples could adopt ...

NOT MARBLE NOR THE GILDED MONUMENTS

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Elizabethan age was full of writers of songs and lyrics. Many other forms of verse were attempted such as the epic romance, the pastoral, the verse, tale, the elegy, the sonnet and the satire. The important song writers of the age of Elizabeth are—Christopher Marlowe, Drayton, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Edward Spenser. William Shakespeare is most widely quoted author in history, and his plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist. He has written 154 sonnets in English. The sonnets of Shakespeare were published in 1609. Shakespearean sonnet has three stanzas of four lines and in the end a couplet. Its rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, falling in love can have painful emotional and physical consequences. The first 126 Sonnets are apparently addressed to a handsome young nobleman, presumably the author’s patron (supporter). The next 28 sonnets are written to a “dark lady”, whom t...