Robert Penn Warren Essays - Guggenheim Fellows, Robert Penn Warren

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren, born in Guthrie, Kentucky in 1905, was one of the twentieth century's most eminent American writers. He was a distinguished novelist and poet, literary critic, essayist, short story writer, and coeditor of numerous textbooks. He also a founding editor of The Southern Review, a journal of literary criticism and political thought. The primary influences on Robert Warren's career as a poet were probably his Kentucky boyhood, and his relationships with his father and his maternal grandfather. As a boy, Warren spent many hours on his grandfather's farm, absorbing stories of the Civil War and the local tobacco wars between growers and wholesalers, the subject of his first novel, Night Riders. His grandfather, Thomas Gabriel Penn, had been a calvary officer in the Civil War and was well-read in both military history and poetry, which he sometimes recited for Robert. Robert's father was a banker who had once had aspirations to become a lawyer and a poet. Because of economic troubles, and his responsibility for a family of half-brothers and sisters when his father died, Robert Franklin Warren forsook his literary ambitions and devoted himself to more lucrative businesses. Robert Warren did not always have ambitions to become a writer, in fact, one of his earlier dreams was to become an adventurer on the high seas. This fantasy might have indeed come about, for his father intended to get him an appointment to Annapolis, had it not been for a childhood accident in which he lost sight in one of his eyes. Warren was an outstanding student but there were also many books at home, and he savored reading. His father at one time aspired to be a poet. His grandfather Penn, with whom he spent much time when he was young, was an exceptional storyteller and greatly influenced young Red. But both of these men whom he loved had in some sense failed to achieve. By contrast, Warren was determined to achieve, to be successful. During his college years at Vanderbilt, the sense of being physically maimed, as well as the fear sympathetic blindness in his remaining good eye became almost unbearable. At Vanderbilt University he met Allen Tate, John Crowe Ransom, Donald Davidson, and others interested in poetry. As part of The Fugitives, a private group that met off campus, he delved deeply into poetry, and his first poems were published in their short-lived quarterly. Warren had a remarkable capacity for friendship, and he was in touch with these men all of their lives. For years Tate was "first critic" of his poetry. After graduating from Vanderbilt in 1925, he took a Master's Degree from the University of California at Berkley. After visiting Yale University, he moved to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, where he wrote his first book: John Brown: The Making of a Martyr in 1929. "Red" Warren, as he was known to his friends, married Emma Brescia in 1930, a marriage which ended in divorce 20 years later. In the last several years of that period, Warren was penned with depression and a lack of new material. His period of dissolution did not end until his second marriage to Eleanor Clark in 1952. Warren received many honors including a Pulitzer Prize for the fiction All the King's Men, 1946: This novel illustrating a powerful Southern governor resembling the Louisiana politician Huey P. Long. . He also produced his complex World Enough and Time, based on the Kentucky hanging of Jeremiah Beauchamp for murder in 1826. The research he done for this book was done at the Library of Congress during the time he was Poetry Consultant there. In this research, he uncovered the sorbid tale of Lilburne Lewis, Thomas Jefferson's nephew, who chopped a young slave girl to pieces with a meat ax. Robert struggled to convert the account of the murder into a long dramatic poem, which was to emerge at last in 1953 as Brother to Dragons: A Tale in verse and Voices, one of the most distinctive long poems in American literature. Warren's marriage to Eleanor and the births of their two children, Rosanna and Gabriel, brought new life into his writing. After the Pulitzer Prize-winning Promises: Poems 1954-1956, dedicated to his children, Warren produced several

Romanticism in Frankenstein Essays

Romanticism in Frankenstein Essays Romanticism in Frankenstein Essay Romanticism in Frankenstein Essay Essay Topic: Frankenstein Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein is heavily influenced by romantic themes that present themselves throughout the text. Pressures brought on by the industrial revolution set in motion many significant changes to civilization at that time and created the movement know as romanticism. These social and political issues of the time in which the story was written played a large part in the overall subject matter. Environmental changes brought on by large populations congregating in cities with unhealthy living conditions along with the destruction of natural habitat led to disenchantment with the modern age. People began to revere nature and viewed it as the zenith of existence, whereas previously establishments such as religion or government were seen as the pinnacles of society. Victor signifies the views prevalent during the industrial revolution on life, wherein he sees only value of what he is to create, and does not take into consideration the unnatural implications. He is obsessed with accumulating knowledge of natural philosophy and lives a life isolated and alone as he grapples with the intricacies of his endeavor. But that is only so he can use it to surpass the boundaries of the natural world. He views life with a purely scientific perspective, which is counter intuitive to romantic principles. This leads to all of the sorrow which he experiences throughout the tale and is a lesson on the dangers of such values. The explorer Walton, whom Victor is attempting to dissuade from attempts at surpassing human limits, is himself on an expedition to try and conquer nature. Although he too will find that he is unable to triumph over the limitations God has set forth. The very monster Victor creates is a representation of romantic ideology early in the story, being able to live peacefully in nature and revel in all that he observes. But the monster soon regresses into a dark, gothic creature based on his interactions with human kind and the harsh treatment and situations he is exposed to. The monster eventually vows a vendetta on all of mankind and is representative of the harm that can come about through the creation of such an unnatural thing. The natural surroundings of the characters often plays a large role in their state of mind and overall mental well being. Victor uses the picturesque landscape of the mountains to try and escape the agony in which he is living following the murder of his brother and execution of his falsely accused iller. The monster relates to Victor many of his experiences while living in the wilderness with awe and pleasure. The proclamation that the monster makes about living in the wilds of South America with no one but his female counterpart shows that all he needs or desires can be found outside of civilized society. Shelley ultimately has a distaste of all things that are not in accord with the natural workings of our world and this view is apparent throughout her story Frankenstein. It appears that she places far more value on inter-personal relationships than on the pursuit of absolute knowledge.

Appositives and Descriptions

Appositives and Descriptions Appositives and Descriptions Appositives and Descriptions By Mark Nichol Writers easily confuse an appositive (a descriptive word or phrase that is equivalent to a person, place, or thing that is named) with a phrase that simply describes a person, place, or thing named, or create confusion by incorrectly wording or punctuating an appositive or a description. The following sentences demonstrate various types of such errors. 1. My name is John Smith, product manager for Global Tetrahedron. This construction creates the impression that â€Å"product manager for Global Tetrahedron† is part of John Smith’s name. That part of the sentence must be made distinct from the main clause as the basis of a separate independent clause (â€Å"My name is John Smith, and I am product manager for Global Tetrahedron†) or the subject must be reworded so that the sentence generically identifies John Smith rather than specifying what supposedly constitutes his name (â€Å"I am John Smith, product manager for Global Tetrahedron†). 2. Jane Jones, president of World Wide Widgets announced that the company will consolidate its product line. The phrase â€Å"president of World Wide Widgets† is an appositive of â€Å"Jane Jones† (Jane Jones is the president of World Wide Widgets, and the president of World Wide Widgets is Jane Jones), so one must be set off parenthetically from the other: â€Å"Jane Jones, president of World Wide Widgets, announced that the company will consolidate its product line.† 3. Jeb Bush’s presence in the race and his fund-raising potential werent enough to dissuade fellow Floridian, Senator Marco Rubio, and more than a dozen other Republicans from entering the race. Inclusion of a comma between a descriptive phrase and the noun or noun phrase it describes, as shown here, is a rampant uncorrected error that encourages even more writers to make the mistake. The problem is the resemblance of a simple descriptive phrase such as â€Å"fellow Floridian† to an appositive phrase such as â€Å"a fellow Floridian,† which is parenthetical and therefore expendable without sacrificing comprehension or completeness. However, â€Å"Fellow Floridian† cannot be excised from the sentence, nor can â€Å"Senator Marco Rubio,† which has been treated as an optional parenthetical. To resolve the problem, delete the parenthetical commas (but also delete Senator, which competes with â€Å"fellow Floridian† as a descriptor) or simply insert a before â€Å"fellow Floridian† (and retain Senator): â€Å"Jeb Bush’s presence in the race and his fund-raising potential werent enough to dissuade fellow Floridian Marco Rubio and more than a dozen other Republicans from entering the race† or â€Å"Jeb Bush’s presence in the race and his fund-raising potential werent enough to dissuade a fellow Floridian, Senator Marco Rubio, and more than a dozen other Republicans from entering the race.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowTaser or Tazer? Tazing or Tasering?List of 50 Compliments and Nice Things to Say!

Psychology-Interview Profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psychology-Interview Profile - Essay Example Tell me about yourself. Paulo Antonio: I’m Paulo Antonio, 31 years old and a graduate of BA Psychology. I may be getting married this year to my girlfriend of three years. I have two younger siblings; my brother is a marketing agent while my sister is a nurse. My mother works as a company consultant, and my dad is a businessman. He left us when I was in college, and he has another family now; we see each other every now and then. I’m usually optimistic, and I take a time out from work and other stressors when I feel that it gets hard to breathe, figuratively. C.I.: How does a person’s race, gender, or ethnicity contribute to his personality and attitudes? P.A.: Well, race, gender, or ethnicity always contribute to an individual’s wholeness. They do not necessarily solely ground the person’s attitudes and personality, but they do play their parts, especially when you consider the society. Take for example, gender. Although the present times are more open to equal gender roles, it cannot be denied that there are still several stereotypes that men are more dominant, and women, let’s say, are more emotional. Another, race. I am a Hispanic, and you are an African-American. We have different cultures and backgrounds that mold our personalities, making us who we are today. Usually Hispanic families have two parents in the household, but look at us, we have a single parent since years ago. That, for example, has changed how I act and perceive things, specifically in line with family values. C.I.: Personally speaking, what is the strongest influence on your attitudes? P.A.: As mentioned, I tend to have a positive attitude. I think my mother has influenced me a lot. She is a really strong woman. She has taught me, both directly and indirectly, that every problem that comes is accompanied by a hidden solution you have to uncover yourself so you can learn things in life that cannot be found in books. She sees light in little things , and she is very spiritual, which I believe has helped her a lot in her struggles. Observing her, and watching her, I believe that my optimism is something I owe her for passing on to me. C.I.: Do you self-monitor, or look back at yourself, with regard to your attitudes? How so? P.A.: Of course, I think everyone basically does. Although I am generally optimistic, there are times when I feel like the world is on my shoulders, and I fall back to being negative. Being a Psychology major has helped me, though. It’s now easier to detect when I’m being too hard on myself, so I snap out of those morbid thoughts. Sometimes I see myself implementing a â€Å"self-cognitive behavioral therapy!† *laughs* C.I.: Good for you. They say a man’s personality sums up his characteristics from different aspects. What experiences most contributed to the development of your personality? P.A.: I think it was when dad left us. Although I was in college already, my siblings were young, then. And taking into consideration our usually conservative culture, I felt ashamed that we had to go through such experience. Our relatives back home had strong family bonds and generally stayed with traditional gender roles. It seemed like everything had to change quickly. Mom had to find a better-paying job, and I felt the urge to stand as the man of the house. My thinking changed, and I was emotionally vulnerable but I had to learn how to deal with it. Dad leaving was a blessing in disguise - I learned how to take care of myself and my family better. C.I.: Have you taken the Myers-Briggs test? How

Explorer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Explorer - Essay Example Little did we know that this peculiar personality of his could be a problem solver and even a life-saver. This happened when we went hiking. We used to do an overnight hiking and do camp outs in the forest. We already know the routine of what to bring during a camping. The tent, blankets, insect repeller, even first aid kit were almost always ready for us to bring as a logistical support. For food, we bring ready to open canned goods because of its convenience. Except this once instance where one of my brilliant cousin did the grocery and chose to buy canned goods which does not have the automatic opener (the protruding level like thing that we just have to pull to open the can). Now we are the camping site, miles away from home and in a middle of a night, starving and we are presented with a problem: how can we eat our canned goods when there is no opener. No one also brought a can opener because we are used to the idea that canned goods has its own opener. It was a problem solving situation. Our uncle threw the problem to us for us to find a solution. The solutions that were presented ranged from anecdotal to ridiculous to irritating. A cousin proposed that we skip the dinner for the night as a means to fast. I was hungry and so are other cousins so nobody agreed with his idea. Another bright idea from a cousin who could put us all in danger was putting the canned goods in fire hoping that the heat inside will open the can itself. We are worried however that it might explode or we might just render the food inedible by setting the can on fire. Another idea that was suggested was to smash the can so that it will open. For sure it will open only that we also cannot eat its contents. Until Jim made his typical smirk which we already know he is into something. He brought out his fork and put it on the lid of the canned good (it was spam, I think). Then Mark get it, he immediately jump out of seat and used

riane eisler :: essays research papers

Riane Eisler Riane Eisler lives a lifestyle based on eco-feminism. She believes that we all live in a sexual and social equality and harmony in nature. In her book The Chalice and the Blade, she states ‘that for a millennia...prehistoric societies worshipped the goddess of nature and spirituality, our Great Mother, the giver of life and creator of all.' The societies that believed in this one creator were structured and peaceful, much like the societies we are trying to create in today's world. The ancient cultures did not treat earth as an object for ‘exploitation and domination' and believed in gender equality and respected women for their feminie values and life-giving gifts. Approximately 3,500 years ago, there were many different groups of civilization around the world. Within these different groups women held important positions such as priestesses and craftspeople. They were not male dominant and tended to be quite peaceful. Eisler mentions the Gaia hypothesis in her article stating that ‘in essence it is a scientific update of the belief system of Goddess-worshipping prehistoric societies'. Gaia is the Greek name for Earth and this hypothesis belief is that the Great Mother gives us all life and life's necessities. When Archaeology was just beginning scholars found evidence of societies where men were not superior to women, therefor they assumed that men had been inferior to the woman. This opinion was not based on evidence, but what Eisler called ‘the dominator society world view'. These Goddess worshipping societies believed that spirituality and nature were one. In Minoan, Egyptian, Sumerian and various other ancient cultures, women became priestesses and served the Goddess. These cultures all gave their Goddesses

Research Study on Organizational Commitment Essay

IntroductionOrganizational commitment is an organizational member’s psychological connection or feeling of belongingness to the organization CITATION Edu15 l 1033 (Educational Portal). This commitment to an organization creates a feeling of passionate affection within a stakeholder of an organization, creating a desire for that / those individual(s) to do anything necessary for the organization to succeed. Organizational commitment is an indispensably huge role that determines whether a stakeholder will remain at the organization willingly, if given a choice. This is a determinant as to whether this individual will produce at the top of his skill index to ensure that the organization moves much closer, or in the direction of its goals. According to the three- component model (TCM), the organizational commitment is made up of three unique components. These are affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. Affective commitment encompasses the love for your career or job. This happens when one has a strong feeling of emotional attachment to their organization or company, and zealously works to promote the interests of that organization. These people have internalized the organization’s values, vision and goals, and have a sincere feeling of wanting to work for the organization for a longer period CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This happens when the employee is happy at their workplace. There are factors that will normally contribute to this affection. Some of the reasons include freedom of thought and innovation, appreciably good salary, better employee terms among other things that could make employees feel that they are important and are valued by their employer. Whatever these reasons are, this affection is imperative to the organizational success. Hypothesis: Employees who are treated in a respectful manner in an ethics based organization are more likely to be happier than employees that belong to a profit oriented organization. Continuous commitment is an express fear of loss. This kind of commitment comes by when employees measures up the advantages and disadvantages of being at the organization compared to their exit CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This comes as a result of a realization that staying at your current position in your company has better terms or benefits than leaving the company. For instance, if one wanted to move from one company or organization, they will not only consider monetary benefits, but a number of other parameters. These parameters include employee terms of welfare, available position of responsibility within the new organization, among other benefits one stands to lose or gain. Another reason could be completely unrelated to profession; one could be attached to their friends at the organization, that moving from the organization is a risk of breaking these bonds. The relentlessness of the continuance commitment increases with advancement of age and professional responsibi lity. Those who are so advanced in both of these factors will feel a certain kind of inertial force that hardly allows them to leave. Hypothesis: People who have successively progressed up the ladder within an organization, and / or age feel the severity of continuance commitment the most. Normative Commitment is the sense of obligation that one feels for an organization. Some people feel that it is the right thing to do, for them to belong to the organization they do belong to. This sense of belongingness occurs even when one is not happy with their position. They are often held back from pursuing even better opportunities CITATION Min151 l 1033 (Mind Tools). This feeling could arise from an array of reasons. A great example is a son working at their father’s firm, He will get a kind of virtual family pressure to weigh the burdens of the organization in order to make it successful. Even if there existed better opportunities, this son will turn them down for the sake of keeping their parents happy. Another scenario that could occur is when a wife works for an organization within a region. The job she does could only be offered by only her current company within the whole region or even country. Due to her domestic responsibilities, she cannot leave to pursue her career interests in another region of the country. This sense of obligation could drain the company of energy because normally, there is no zeal to work, but one will only perform at an average. Hypothesis: more married people will tend to work for a certain firm on a normative commitment basis than the single professionals. All the above forms of commitment are segments of organizational employee response due to certain organizational behaviors. The underlying fact is that employees have their personal needs, and will tend to place these interests first. When these interests are well provided for, the employees will automatically feel appreciated and will tend to happily offer service to the organization. As it has been stressed before, happy employees make more productive and successful companies CITATION And14 l 1033 (Oswald, Proto, & Sgroi, 2014). On a practical scale, companies like Google have benefited from employee first approach. The company has invested a lot in employee support and satisfaction while allowing for imagination, creativity and innovation CITATION Kel14 l 1033 (Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, 2014). Some companies have got it right while others are yet to get it right. We carried a research into the various aspects that contribute to this phenomenon of organizational commitment. We use different techniques to measure or research into different Organizational behavior, including self-reporting scales, behavioral observation and organizational records analysis such as performance appraisal forms, time card data, absenteeism rates, productivity indices In this research, we use the self-reporting scales. Self-report study involves use of questionnaires, surveys or polls that let respondents respond to questions in a manner the respondents choose. This kind of survey is focused on extracting information from participants about their attitudes, feelings and beliefs on certain topics. It could be a form of interview, provision of answers to open and closed questions, rating scales, fixed choice questions among others. Reliability on these methods is dependent upon their consistence in providing similar results if used repeatedly in similar circumstances. Validity of the response is also a matter of concern. Especially for questionnaires, respondents may or may not give accurate or sincere answers to certain questions depending on the parameters provided. For example, Anonymous questionnaires or response forms are more likely to produce valid answers. In this survey, we carried a survey in which we asked various questions related to the hypotheses stated in within this document. We adopted the anonymous response questionnaire system to enhance validity of our research. We asked them to rate different departments, work conditions and parameters. The respondents were to respond to questions regarding the hypotheses. They were requested to rate the questions on four guided answers: Strongly agree, Agree, strongly disagree, and agree. Our respondents were 30 employees of different organizations. Results             We set ourselves to find out the validity of three hypotheses regarding the tenets of organizational commitment. These hypotheses stated as follow: Hypothesis 1: Employees who feel appreciated are happy and are more likely to be affectively committed to an organization Hypothesis 2: older employees and those who get promoted are likely to stay within an organization out of continuance commitment Hypothesis 3: most married people are normatively committed to organizations. The validity of our hypotheses had some concurrence with our respondents. However, what the survey disqualified is the sense of promotion as a determining factor to employee continuance commitment. Instead, the people who got promoted in organizations were the productive cream of the organization. This means that they felt a conviction to work for the organization. Such people were comfortably placed within the category of affective commitment. Conclusion             The survey conducted was successfully concluded and in our finding, hypothesis 1 was completely valid as most people agreed with it. Hypothesis 2 produced mixed reactions. Most agreed that older people were committed to the organization due to continuance commitment. Hypothesis 3 was completely valid as most people agreed with this hypothesis. All respondents had their reasons, as evident on their additional comments, including fear of family strain and divorce for the third hypothesis. References BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Educational Portal. (n.d.). Organizational Commitment: Definition, Theory & Types. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Educational Portal: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/organizational-commitment-definition-theory-types.html Mind Tools. (n.d.). The Three Component Model of Commitment. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from Mind Tools: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/three-component-model-commitment.htm Oswald, A. J., Proto, E., & Sgroi, a. D. (2014, february 10). Happiness and Productivity. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/eproto/workingpapers/happinessproductivity.pdf Parkes-Harrison-Warwick, K. (2014, March 21). Google is right: We work better when we’re happy. Retrieved jaanuary 28, 2015, from futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org/work-better-happy/ Source document