European Terrorism in the 1970’s and 1980’s Essay Example for Free

European Terrorism in the 1970’s and 1980’s Essay In a post World War II era, terrorism and covert terrorist actions became a major weapon against the governments of many European nations. In most cases, terrorism â€Å"had two purposes: to make life unendurable for the [country], and to ensure the active support of the population by executing traitors and collaborators . † Even more, â€Å"a great number [of terrorist incidents] are directed against American targets or are related to a spillover from the problems in the Middle East . † With that said, a close look will be taken to answer three questions regarding European terrorism in the 1970’s and 1980’s which include how the European governments confronted the threat, what methods the European governments took to deal with these terrorist groups, concluding with an analysis of what motivated the terrorists. To begin with, a look will first be taken into how the European governments confronted the threat of terrorism in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The terrorist violence â€Å"during the postwar era in Europe has been characterized primarily by a combination of attacks by terrorist cells and hate crimes by individuals or small gangs of people—many of them racist skin heads . † In order to confront the terrorist actions, the European governments, for the most part, sought to compromise with a form of â€Å"conflict resolution † instead of direct action and retaliation that the United States has become so fond of employing. At first, the ideaology was to react on the defensive, without direct reaction, as it was believed that the terrorists would soon become tired of their actions and protest and the nation could move on. However, by the early 1970’s public â€Å"outrage at terrorist attacks † fueled the need for governments to act decisively in order to remove and dissemble the threat. For the first time in history, pressure was placed upon the nations that harbored and supported the terrorists . Essentially, the methods in dealing with the terrorist groups were, in the beginning, to simply let the terrorists have their say, and to attempt to negotiate, if possible. However, as the public began to find out that the heinous crimes committed on their front yards was related to terrorist actions, the European governments were forced to take direct and decisive action against the terrorists. Their methods included allocating more funds for defense and counter-terrorist measures and intelligence and to â€Å"delegitimize terrorists, to get society to see them for what they are—criminals—and to use one of [their] most important tools, the rule of law, against them . † The main defense against terrorism became the effectiveness of counter-intelligence measures and an enlightened society who no longer viewed terrorists with the pity they once deserved. The motivations of the terrorists were, at one time, honorable—as they were fighting against oppression and they didn’t employ any violent acts. However, â€Å"it will be sufficient to define political terrorism as a tactic employed by non-state actors involving the threat or use of fear-inducing forms of violence in an attempt to attain certain political objectives . † This, essentially, is terrorism in its most basic form—violence to get a fear-based reaction. However, terrorism breaks down into a much deeper psychological philosophy in which â€Å"the label of ‘terrorists’ [applies] to certain peoples struggling, by the only means within their power, to win or regain the fundamental rights recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter . † By this definition, a terrorist can be any human being facing oppression of their basic, most fundamental human rights, and is not necessarily the racially profiled stereotype that modern society has been taught to believe. Even more, throughout â€Å"history there [have] been political, social and economic situations in which endlessly and unjustly oppressed groups or races had to exercise their right to violence, their right to resist oppression by every means available . † In seeking truth and justice in their nation or culture, many terrorists choose the violent way of expressing their need for honored human rights. Moreover, â€Å"the question was not one of defending crime and violence but rather one of accepting the fact that such behavior, no matter how repugnant it appeared, had a motivation that all lovers of justice, freedom and human dignity could understand, even if they disapproved of it . † Essentially, terrorism is, as the United States public has been led to believe after the events of 9/11, the most heinous action that a human being can take in order to harm another person or nation. However, in order to understand the motivations of the terrorist, it must be recalled, and inherently understood, that they are humans too. They might be facing oppression, or they might be members of a religious cult who believe that nations who flaunt their materialism need to be punished, but the essence of the terrorist is that they are motivated by the need to fight and stand up against oppression against any odds. Overall, terrorism and covert terrorist actions have become a major weapon against the governments of many European and Western nations. Terrorism was meant to highlight the oppression that a people felt against their country, however, in many cases, terrorism evolved into brutal murders and heinous crimes. From the analysis of the three questions regarding European terrorism in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which included how the European governments confronted the threat, what methods the European governments took to deal with these terrorist groups, followed by an analysis of what motivated the terrorists, a conclusion can be drawn as to the insidious motivations of the terrorists and the evolving methods that the European governments were forced to employ to keep pace with the evolving nature of the terrorist crimes. Bibliography. Aston, Clive C. A Contemporary Crisis: Political Hostage-Taking and the Experience ofWestern Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982. Crozier, Brian. The Rebels: A Study of Post-War Insurrections. Boston: Beacon Press, 1960. Martin, Gus. Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues. New York: Sage Publications, 2006. Oliverio, Annamarie. â€Å"US versus European Approaches to Terrorism: Size Really Does Matter. † Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. 2008. http://policing. oxfordjournals. org/ cgi/content/abstract/2/4/452 Schmid, Alex Peter and Ronald D. Crelinsten. Western Responses to Terrorism. London: Routledge, 1993.

Determination of Vitamin C Content in Foods

Determination of Vitamin C Content in Foods Zheng Xiao Introduction Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is an essential component of our diets. It is a good antioxidant, a key component that helps to prevent damage to proteins and deoxyribonucleic acids. In the food industry, vitamin C is added to increase the nutritional content of food products and also for preservative purposes. As the human body is unable to synthesise vitamin C, it would have to be consumed as part of our diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables for instance are common sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C is a labile compound and is easily degraded by enzymes and atmospheric oxygen. Its oxidation can be accelerated by excessive heat, light, and heavy metal cations (Pisoschi, Danet, Kalinowski, 2008). During the manufacturing process, some vitamin C would be lost. Thus, in fruit juice products, vitamin C level is commonly used as a gauge for quality. This prompts manufacturers to fortify their products with high levels of vitamin C to ensure that sufficient vitamin C is present in the product throughout the storage process. Due to the wide use of ascorbic acid in both food products and in the pharmaceutical industry, many analytical methods exist for the determination of ascorbic acid, including titrimetric, spectrophotometric and chromatographic methods, each with their advantages and disadvantages. An example of a titrant used is 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCIP), which will oxidise the ascorbic acid that is present in the sample. While titrimetric methods are simple to use, they are also known to overestimate the amount of ascorbic acid present due to the presence of oxidisable species other than ascorbic acid (Hernà ¡ndez, Lobo, Gonzà ¡lez, 2006). In addition, many interferences often occur with coloured samples (Arya, Mahajan, Jain, 2000). An example would be the masking of colour change at the end point of titration by highly coloured extracts from fruits and vegetables (Eitenmiller, Landen, Ye, 2007). Spectrophotometric methods work by determining the absorbance of vitamin C which is compared against standard concentrations. However, such methods are susceptible to possible interference due to absorbance exhibited by other components that is present in the sample matrix. Lastly, chromatographic methods are commonly used because of their simplicity, short analysis time and sensitivity (de Quirà ³s, Fernà ¡ndez-Arias, Là ³pez-Hernà ¡ndez, 2009). The sample is separated into its components based on their relative affinity with the mobile and stationary phase. Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) for instance is a very efficient method that is used in ascorbic acid analysis of fruits, vegetables and beverages. Ascorbic acid is relatively hydrophilic due to the presence of several hydroxyl groups. Thus, it has a higher affinity to the polar mobile phase than the non-polar stationary phase, allowing it to be separated from the other components in a sample. The retention time gives a qualitative analysis of the sample while the area under the peak allows for the quantitative determination of ascorbic acid content present. However, a major disadvantage of this method is its high cost compared to other conventional methods. The objective of this experiment is to determine the ascorbic acid content in commercial guava juice by RP-HPLC. Materials and Methods The product analysed was commercial guava juice. The experimental procedure was as stated in the laboratory manual, with the slight amendments as follows. The filtrate (2mL) from the centrifuged sample was diluted (1 part sample: 4 part acetic acid) with 2% acetic acid. Five sets of standard ascorbic acid solutions were prepared (40ppm, 80ppm, 120ppm, 160ppm and 200ppm for each set) using a stock solution (1000ppm ascorbic acid) and 2% acetic acid for dilution. The standard solutions were filtered using the 0.45 micron cellulose acetate syringe filter, beginning with the lowest concentration. The column used was a Phenomenex Ultrasphere 5u C18 column (1504.6mm) and the wavelength used was 254nm. Results and Discussion A calibration graph was plotted (Figure 1) using average peak area (Table A1 in appendix) for standard solutions versus their respective concentrations. For each standard solution, four duplicates were prepared. This was done to increase the accuracy of the calibration curve. The r2 value obtained (0.9984) was close to the ideal value 1, indicating a good linear correlation between the area under peak of interest and ascorbic acid concentration. This allows good estimates of ascorbic acid content to be made given the area under peak of interest for each sample. Table 1. Ascorbic acid concentration in samples prepared by Groups 10 to 18 Sample calculation for Group 11: Ascorbic acid concentration in diluted sample = = 116ppm Ascorbic acid concentration in original sample = 116ppm 5 = 581ppm = 58.1 mg / 100mL of juice Average ascorbic acid concentration in original sample = =58.0 mg / 100mL of juice The average retention time of the samples prepared by different groups was 2.557min (Table A3 in Appendix), which is highly similar to that of the ascorbic acid standard solutions was 2.559min (Table A2 in Appendix). This verifies that ascorbic acid was the component analysed. The average ascorbic acid concentration in the guava juice product determined experimentally was 58.0mg/100mL of juice. This was approximately 3.9 times higher than the amount indicated on the packaging (15mg/100mL). As mentioned earlier, As the expiration date is approached, ascorbic acid would be lost to different extents depending on the storage conditions (Kabasakalis, Siopidou, Moshatou, 2000). Manufacturers are known to add ascorbic acid to their products to improve their nutritional value and also to account for the ascorbic acid lost during the manufacturing and storage process (Ottaway, 2008). Since the experiment was conducted before the expiration date of the product (March 14, 2014), a higher ascorbic acid content would be expected. The original ascorbic acid concentration for group 14 was excluded from the calculation as it was almost double of other results and thus likely to be an outlier. A possible reason might be an error in dilution during the preparation of the sample. The other results were found to be precise with a low standard deviation (1.4) and a low coefficient of variation (2.5%). Conclusion The ascorbic acid content of commercial guava juice determined using RP-HPLC was 58.0mg/100mL of juice. References Arya, S. P., Mahajan, M., Jain, P. (2000). Non-spectrophotometric methods for the determination of Vitamin C. Analytica Chimica Acta, 417(1), 1-14. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(00)00909-0 de Quirà ³s, A. R.-B., Fernà ¡ndez-Arias, M., Là ³pez-Hernà ¡ndez, J. (2009). A screening method for the determination of ascorbic acid in fruit juices and soft drinks. Food Chemistry, 116(2), 509-512. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.03.013 Eitenmiller, R. R., Landen, W. O., Ye, L. (2007). Vitamin Analysis for the Health and Food Sciences, Second Edition: Taylor Francis. Hernà ¡ndez, Y., Lobo, M. G., Gonzà ¡lez, M. (2006). Determination of vitamin C in tropical fruits: A comparative evaluation of methods. Food Chemistry, 96(4), 654-664. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.04.012 Kabasakalis, V., Siopidou, D., Moshatou, E. (2000). Ascorbic acid content of commercial fruit juices and its rate of loss upon storage. Food Chemistry, 70(3), 325-328. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0308-8146(00)00093-5 Ottaway, P. B. (2008). Food Fortification and Supplementation: Technological, Safety and Regulatory Aspects: Elsevier Science. Pisoschi, A. M., Danet, A. F., Kalinowski, S. (2008). Ascorbic Acid Determination in Commercial Fruit Juice Samples by Cyclic Voltammetry. Journal of Automated Methods and Management in Chemistry, 2008. doi: 10.1155/2008/937651 Appendix Table A1. Area under peak of interest for standard solutions Average area under peak for 40ppm = = 2197282 Table A2. Retention Times for standard solutions Table A3. Retention Times for samples prepared by Groups 10 to 18

Singapore Banking and Finance Services Sector

Singapore Banking and Finance Services Sector Introduction What is the banking and finance services sector? Definition of banking and finance gives information of definition of banking and definition of finance. Finance means circulation of capital such as money and currency, or procurement and management of the capital, in connections with financing activities. Finance and banking service is Services and products provided to consumers and businesses by financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, consumer finance companies, and investment companies all of which comprise the financial services industry (InvestorWords, 2015). Two of both sectors are related to each other. What does this sector mean to the Singapore economy? Banking and Finance of Singapore economy is finance and banking services. In recent years, Asian countries are receiving attention from the world because they have an infinite of possibilities and capabilities such as enormous number of population, geographical position and abundant natural resources. Most of all, Singapore have grown up and developed rapidly. Since 1970’s, Singapore was called ‘four Asian dragons’ with several Asian countries, which are Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea because Singapore and those countries could become rapidly industrialized by cheap and plentiful labor and active export policy. Especially, Singapore have been developed by finance and banking services. Contribution of these sectors to the national economy Singapore economy could be developed by contributions of finance and banking services sector such as Job market and Financial Hub and attracting foreign direct investment and so on. Especially, the reasons of developing is that Singapore is a huge financial hub and attracting foreign direct investment. Early Singapore was limited land space and natural resources. To overcome those disadvantages, Singapore pursued trade liberalization. And to make the best use of a geographic benefit, this country intermediated trade. Therefore, Singapore is able to be a finance hub and attract foreign direct investment. Nowadays, Singapore is an international major financial trading hub to lift up its head in dealings of foreign exchange and the domain of asset management. Foreign-exchange market of Singapore is ranked top five in the world after London, New York, Zurich and Tokyo. And then, there is 110 number of foreign banks. The scale of asset management is about S$ 1trillion. Recently, Singapore is pushing forward a business of Islam finance. For attracting foreign direct investment, Singapore is a trade liberalization because there is a transport center by its conditions of a location. Because of using this benefit, there is total 5 container terminals and 45 berths. This container port processes one-fifth amount of international transhipment. Moreover, Singapore airport ‘Chang-I’ is connecting with 200 cities in 60 countries. There is 85 airlines. Second contribution is Job Market. According to improving Singapore’s finance and banking services, there is the number of foreign banks and businesses. It means that getting job in Singapore is able to be easy. And then, GDP per capita in Singapore also will increase. Below graph is GDP per capita in Singapore from 1960 to 2013. -GDP per capita of Singapore (GDP of Singapore, bln. Dollar, 1970-2013) According GDP per capita in Singapore line graph, the GDP per capita was rising steadily from 1970 to 2013. In 1960, the GDP per capita is only 925 USD. It is the lowest GDP per capita from 1970 to 2013, ranked 74th in the world. For example, the figure measured lower than GDP per capita of Indonesia (86 USD) and Malaysia (343 USD), which are Singapore’s neighbor countries, and then one of developing countries in the Asia currently. On the contrary, the highest GDP per capita was a near 54,649 USD in 2013. The measured value of GDP (54,649 USD) per capita is higher than some developed countries such as U.S.A (5126 USD) in about 6 times, Japan (2016 USD) in 2 times, and Germany (2712 USD) in 3 times. Generally, this graph is drawn by upward curve. (Kushnir, n,d) Challenges facing by this sector in the future Singapore economy has been improved by banking and finance services. However, the sector is able to face challenges such as dependency of global economy and other regional financial hub in the future. Singapore is the biggest Asia finance hub. Thus, economy of Singapore is exposed and influenced by global economic conditions. And then, it is shown by GDP of Singapore. GDP of Singapore, 1970 to 2013 (GDP per capita in Singapore, bln. Dollar, 1970-2013) The Above line graph illustrates GDP of Singapore from 1970 to 2013. Generally, GDP of Singapore draws upward curve. In 1970, GDP of Singapore was an estimation of 1.9 billion USD (United States Dollar). It is ranked 74th in the world. By 1980, the GDP slowly increased to about 12.08 billion USD. Moreover, after 1980, the GDP took a sharp increased from to 1997. However, from 1997 to 2004, the graph of GDP is generally decreasing by Asia economic crisis. The issue appeared from South Korea. Some of Asian countries tried to be capital decontrol. But without capital, the countries should take out a loan from IMF (International Monetary Fund). Thus, Singapore economy was also affected from Asia economic crisis. Eventually, most companies in Singapore ought to restructure with layoff, and is under threat of bankrupt. Nevertheless, once again, it steadily increased to the year 2013. In 2013, the GDP was about 297.94 billion USD. (Kushnir, n,d) According to GDP, after 2004, Singapore economy has been grown. However, from 1997 to 2004, had been decreasing because of Asia economic crisis in the period. It means that the same economic condition will be happened by global and regional economy in the future. Other challenge in Singapore is competitive from other regional financial hub. The number of Asian international financial centers (IFCs) such as Seoul in South Korea, Tokyo in Japan and Shanghai in China want to become international financial hub. Nowadays, the international financial centers of those cities are developing and making an effort, and then each cities are competitors of Singapore financial center. For example, one of the competitor, Seoul in South Korea, establish the Korea National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (KOPEC). In 2007, KOPEC had a convention of an international conference in Seoul with 3 Asian countries such financial centers (Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo and Singapore). Another microeconomic challenge is a ‘Shortage of skilled talent’. In Singapore, is already international financial hub, there is the number of business and banks are having competitions. If employees in organization have shortages of skill and talent, they would not survive in the rapidly changing world economic situation. For example, ‘Accounting and writing skills are crucial’, ‘International talent in High demand at money-center banks’, ‘Marketing types wanted’, ‘Days of easy hours long gone’ and then ‘MBA optional’. They should develop their own skills and talents, and then may follow the economic flow. (Hean Hoo, 2015) Strategic planning by this sector in the present and the future In Singapore’s finance and banking services sector, there is the number of competitors such as banks and businesses as well as financial centers from other Asian cities. Singapore should have strategic planning such as training and education, and global innovation. Training and Education Most of organizations should train and educate their employees for the rapidly changing world economic situation for employees’ effective, accurate and practical performance of tasks. After training and education, the employees would be more developed. One of way in effective training and education is E-learning by developed technology. When organizations open online lecture, the employees may get the organization’s training and education through their Smart-Phone and Tablet PC. This kind of training for adults looks helpful and effective for them that they can be able to learn all of the necessary things that they need in improving their skills and techniques. (Stephanie, 2014) Stress testing and risk management Stress testing for risk management is one of the useful method for identifying how a portfolio would be fair during a period of financial crisis. One of the most general used ways of stress testing is ‘The Monte Carlo’ simulation. Moreover, this simulation technique is also used to be aware of how several risks will influence an organization and industry. Before an economic a financial crisis, using the simulation is able to detect and predict future economic crisis with solutions. Therefore, countries and organizations ought to do stress testing and manage future risks. Conclusion How the MAS supports this sector? The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is a Singapore central bank, a kind of Singapore government department. MAS has authority of regulation and supervision of Singapore finance and banking, and then it issues money and drafts a law of financial and banking policy. This department focuses on exchange rate rather than interest rate otherwise other central banks. According to developing Singapore, Singapore is complicated by the number of bank works with finance, so the government established ‘Monetary Authority of Singapore Act’ in January, 1991. (Monetary Authority of Singapore, 2014) What is the outlook for the future of this sector in Singapore? Nowadays, Singapore is one of the most developed countries in the world, as well as in Asia because of the finance and banking services. Through the GDP and the GDP per capita from 1970 to 2013, the graphs are illustrated that it has increased and grown up in the future. In the end, Singapore finance and banking services will be more by several contributions. However, Singapore will also face several challenges in the future, so the country should have strategic planning of the sector, and predict and manage future risks. References InvestorWords (2015) InvestorWords. Availanle at: http://www.investorwords.com/19080/financial_services.html [Accessed 15 May 2015]. Kushnir, I. (n.d) World macroeconomic research, 1970-2013. Available at: http://kushnirs.org/macroeconomics/gdp/gdp_singapore.html [Accessed 15 May 2015]. Kushnir, I. (n.d) GDP of Singapore, bln. Dollar, 1970-2013. Available at: http://kushnirs.org/macroeconomics/gdp/gdp_singapore.html [Accessed 16 May 2015] Kushnir, I. (n.d) GDP per capita in Singapore, bln. Dollar, 1970-2013. Available at: http://kushnirs.org/macroeconomics/gdp/gdp_singapore.html [Accessed 16 May 2015]. Hean Hoo, W. (2015) Economics Policy and the Global Environment LECTURE SLIDES. Kaplan/Dublin: Veritas. Stephanie, R. (2014) ‘Workplace Training and Education: Effective Methods for Training Adults’, Human Resources Blog, 17 Feburary. Available at: http://tribehr.com/blog/workplace-training-and-education-effective-methods-for-training-adults [Accessed 18 May 2015]. Monetary Authority of Singapore. (2014). Monetary Authority of Singapore. Available at: http://www.mas.gov.sg/about-mas/overview.aspx [Accessed 17 May 2015].

e.e. cummings You shall above all things be glad and young Essay

e.e. cummings' You shall above all things be glad and young E.E. Cummings' "You shall above all things be glad and young" is a poem written for a man in love. It is a praise of the joys that love can bring men and women, yet also a warning of what can go wrong if you let your mind get in the way. This poem jumps from three different shifts in the tone of the speaker. In the first and second stanza Cummings is telling the reader the beauty of love. The third and forth stanzas are informing the reader to be careful with letting thoughts fog the innocence of their feelings. And finally, the couplet to end the poem implores you to go out and live life with the same naivete that you should pursue love with. you shall above all things be glad and young by e. e. cummings you shall above all things be glad and young For if you're young, whatever life you wear it will become you;and if you are glad whatever's living will yourself become. Girlboys may nothing more than boygirls need: i can entirely her only love whose any mystery makes every man's flesh put space on; and his mind take off time that you should ever think, may god forbid and (in his mercy) your true lover spare: for that way knowledge lies, the foetal grave called progress, and negation's dead undoom. I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance Here, Cummings speech act is a command. He is telling you that before you do anything else in life, you should be glad and young. By using the word glad, Cummings is saying to be happy. If you do nothing else, smile. And by young, Cummings may not be telling you to be physically young, which is an impossible feat in the first place, but rather, be youthful.... ...progressed its innocence towards knowledge, and by that, you have set your love towards its end. The couplet to end Cummings poem, only sustains in greater detail, his feelings for innocence in love. Yet, the couplet changes from innocence in love to bringing the same attitude towards life. To summarize the lines, Cummmings is saying, no matter how great and immense the stars are, they still just sit there. And although there is great simplicity in an everyday songbird, to sing like them is more precious and fulfilling than all the stars in the sky. Cummings is asserting that we should take notes from a birdà ­s innocence. Do what makes you feel good. Do not worry yourself with how your mind feels, follow your heart. In lesser words, Cummings is taking notes form Whitman. He is telling the reader to live their life with vigor. Sing, don't just let life pass you by.

Dells Direct Business Model Essay -- essays research papers

Subject: Dell’s Direct Business Model   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Will Dell’s direct business model continue to provide a competitive advantage as fellow competitors Compaq, IBM, and HP emulate Dell’s direct model? Dell’s direct business model bypasses the dealer in the supply chain and sells computers directly to customers, building each to order. Dell does not manufacture the computer components; they merely assemble computers based on components that are available in the market. Dell’s use of technology and information to blur the traditional boundaries between suppliers, manufactures, and users is named virtual integration. To achieve the advantages of an integrated company, Dell treats suppliers and service providers as if they were inside the company. Their systems are linked in real time to Dell’s system and their employees participate in design teams and product launches. Dell measures inventory velocity which is defined as the reciprocal of the average amount of time a product spends in inventory. Accumulating inventory is the fast moving PC computer industry is very risky due to the fact that many components quickly become outdated. In 1998 Compaq, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard all announced plans to mimic portions of Dell’s direct business model, with various build to order plans. All have had difficulty in making the transition. These companies are moving towards a target inventory level of four weeks, conversely, Dell maintains just eight days of invento...

Compare how each writer uses language to present his views of London Essay

For many centuries London has been a vast, complex place. Many have described it as the capital of the world, however there are many different views. Some would agree that London is a wonderful place where everyone lives in happiness and peace whereas other would point out that those kind of people are delirious and that it is the dirtiest most corrupt place in England. Two such views were expressed by two poets William Wordsworth in his poem named â€Å"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, 3rd September 1802† and the more political writer William Blake with his poem entitled â€Å"London†. The questions is, ‘Do both poets use language effectively to express their contradictory opinions on London?’ One difference between the two poems is the way each uses enjambrement. Blake’s poem has short, snappy lines perhaps to indicate a kind of overall lethargy among the people while Wordsworth’s poem has long lines which flow into each other to create a smooth and relaxed mood – possibly also to symbolise how he viewed the river of London. One of the interesting aspects of Wordsworth’s and Blake’s poems is their separate ways of describing the river, Wordsworth thinks of it as gliding ‘at his own sweet will’ whereas Blake refers to it as the ‘Charter’d Thames’. Wordsworth sees the river as free and sweet. By using ‘his’, he is personifying the river as if it has a choice. He enhances this by using ‘own sweet will’. Blake calls it Chartered, indicating the complete opposite of Wordsworth’s opinion. Chartered means organised and generally bent to man’s will and this is how Blake sees it. He further develops his opinion by calling it the Thames, calling it by it’s man made name. Blake sees the river as being twisted by man and disliked because of that. Blake and Wordsworth set two very different scenes, Wordsworth uses phrases such as ‘bright and glistening in the smokeless air’ and ‘The beauty of the morning; silent, bare’ to set a scene of calm glistening beauty, to set a scene of a kind of fairy-tale wonderland. Wordsworth shows the reader how the surroundings make him feel by commenting ‘Ne’er I saw, never felt, a calm so deep!’ this gives a further direct calming effect on the reader. Blake, on the other hand, uses the word ‘streets’ twice in context with ‘midnight’ and ‘Charter’d’. His repetition on the word streets is to insinuate that there are streets upon streets, creating a monotonous sameness to everything, his repetition on ‘Charter’d’ strengthens his view of unnaturalness in London. An intriguing observation is that both poets talk of glamorous and gracious buildings, but the context they are mentioned in changes their whole meaning. Wordsworth describes them as being ‘Open unto the fields and to the sky;’ indicating a certain freeness and naturalness, he is saying that buildings can be natural if natural is synonymous with good, as Blake’s man made is synonymous with bad. Blake uses ‘Palace’ with ‘blood’ and ‘Church’ with ‘black’ning’, he is indicating that the people of the Church have gone against it’s morals and the people of the Palace are sending soldiers to their death for unworthy reasons. Blake and Wordsworth set two very different scenes, Wordsworth uses phrases such as ‘bright and glistening in the smokeless air’ and ‘The beauty of the morning; silent, bare’ to set a scene of calm glistening beauty, to set a scene of a kind of fairy-tale wonderland. Wordsworth shows the reader how the surroundings make him feel by commenting ‘Ne’er I saw, never felt, a calm so deep!’ this gives a further direct calming effect on the reader. Blake, on the other hand, uses the word ‘streets’ twice in context with ‘midnight’ and ‘Charter’d’. His repetition on the word streets is to insinuate that there are streets upon streets, creating a monotonous sameness to everything, his repetition on ‘Charter’d’ strengthens his view of unnaturalness in London. Both writers enhance their scenery by hinting at colours to set a more vivid picture. ‘Blood’, ‘midnight’, ‘black’ning’, are all words used by Blake, suggestions of the colour red and black which create a gloomy surrounding. Red (blood) as in anger and black to suggest darkness, sorrowfulness and endlessness. Wordsworth suggests colour with a more subtle method using ‘Never did the sun more beautifully steep’ he hints at gold and blinding white colours, and also at cool shade coming from the buildings. Wordsworth’s rhyme scheme is planned out as a love sonnet (a b b a a b b a c d c d c d), whereas Blake repetitive and simple rhyme scheme ( a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b a b). Wordsworth rhyme scheme is writing a love sonnet about London whereas Blake’s rhyme scheme evokes a boring repetitiveness yet again synonymous with how Blake views London. The final difference mentioned in this essay is that whereby Blake mentions quite a few different groups of people such as ‘Harlot’, ‘Soldier’, ‘Chimney Sweep’, ‘Infant’ – all unfortunate groups bar the infant which is mentioned in an unfortunate context repetitively – Wordsworth mentions no people but instead personifies the river (‘The river glideth at his own sweet will’), the city (‘This city now doth like a garment wear’, ‘The very houses seem asleep!’) and the sun (‘In his first Splendour’). Wordsworth, whilst making it evident that there is no one around but himself, is saying the city, the river and the sun are all entities of which he has just met and thinks highly of them. In conclusion, both poets are high-quality writers who know how to use language effectively to enhance their views. Although Blake is a deeper, darker and more political writer and his poem seems to be the better of the two, Wordsworth poem does have complexity going to a slightly deeper level than Blake’s but it seems naive and idealistic. Blake uses simple rhyme schemes and repetition to develop his opinion but Wordsworth uses a more complex rhyme scheme whilst subtly personifying parts of the city. With that said, both artists were good at what they did and both can use language to successfully articulate their attitudes toward London.

Epistemic Dilemma: Hume Versus Descartes Essay

While Descartes believes that knowledge can be gained by reason alone, Hume’s Empiricism suggests that we can only gain knowledge from the experiences of perceptions, which he called â€Å"Impressions.† Rationalists use skepticism to find the most clear and distinct truths and build their foundations from there. Ultimately, Descartes states there are 3 substances that exist- God, mind and body. From doubt and confusion, Descartes finds clarity. Empiricists on the other hand, reject rationalism suggesting knowledge that can not be traced back to an impression from the outside world does not have any meaning. Hume also believes that there is no causality in the world, therefore we can never gain knowledge from events that we have witnessed in the past or the future. Unlike Descartes, how starts in skepticism and ends in clarity, Hume starts with a strong view of how our minds collect raw sense data and ends in skepticism. I argue that Hume’s philosophy is more practical because it relies on the senses. Both philosophies were born from the rise of the Scientific Revolution. According to Descartes, to gain true knowledge, you must first doubt everything. When you reach the point at which you cannot doubt anymore, you achieve the foundation of knowledge. When you doubt everything, you realize that the only thing you cannot doubt is that you are a doubting thing; therefore you must exist in some way. From there, you can reason that there is a more perfect being that exists because you are not perfect if you doubt, and you have an idea what a perfect being is. This perfect being is God. God is also a good being because  Descartes calls these truths, these clear and distinct perceptions. From reason alone, we can affirm the existence of God, Mind and the Body.