Friday, December 27, 2019
Robert Frost Biographical Profile of the Famous Poet
Robert Frost  even the sound of his name is folksy, rural: simple, New England, white farmhouse, red barn, stone walls. And that’s our vision of him, thin white hair blowing at JFK’s inauguration, reciting his poem â€Å"The Gift Outright.†(The weather was too blustery and frigid for him to read â€Å"Dedication,†which he had written specifically for the event, so he simply performed the only poem he had memorized. It was oddly fitting.) As usual, there’s some truth in the myth  and a lot of back story that makes Frost much more interesting  more poet, less icon Americana. Early Years Robert Lee Frost was born March 26, 1874 in San Francisco to Isabelle Moodie and William Prescott Frost, Jr. The Civil War had ended nine years previously, Walt Whitman was 55. Frost had deep US roots: his father was a descendant of a Devonshire Frost who sailed to New Hampshire in 1634. William Frost had been a teacher and then a journalist, was known as a drinker, a gambler and a harsh disciplinarian. He also dabbled in politics, for as long as his health allowed. He died of tuberculosis in 1885, when his son was 11. Youth and College Years After the death of his father, Robert, his mother and sister moved from California to eastern Massachusetts near his paternal grandparents. His mother joined the Swedenborgian church and had him baptized in it, but Frost left it as an adult. He grew up as a city boy and attended Dartmouth College in 1892, for just less than a semester. He went back home to teach and work at various jobs including factory work and newspaper delivery. First Publication and Marriage In 1894 Frost sold his first poem, â€Å"My Butterfly,†to The New York Independent for $15. It begins: â€Å"Thine emulous fond flowers are dead, too, / And the daft sun-assaulter, he / That frighted thee so oft, is fled or dead.†On the strength of this accomplishment, he asked Elinor Miriam White, his high school co-valedictorian, to marry him: she refused. She wanted to finish school before they married. Frost was sure that there was another man and made an excursion to the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. He came back later that year and asked Elinor again; this time she accepted. They married in December 1895. Farming, Expatriating The newlyweds taught school together until 1897, when Frost entered Harvard for two years. He did well, but left school to return home when his wife was expecting a second child. He never returned to college, never earned a degree. His grandfather bought a farm for the family in Derry, New Hampshire (you can still visit this farm). Frost spent nine years there, farming and writing  the poultry farming was not successful but the writing drove him on, and back to teaching for a couple more years. In 1912, the Frost gave up the farm, sailed to Glasgow, and later settled in Beaconsfield, outside London. Success in England Frost’s efforts to establish himself in England were immediately successful. In 1913 he published his first book, A Boy’s Will, followed a year later by North of Boston. It was in England that he met such poets as Rupert Brooke, T.E. Hulme and Robert Graves, and established his lifelong friendship with Ezra Pound, who helped to promote and publish his work. Pound was the first American to write a (favorable) review of Frost’s work. In England Frost also met Edward Thomas, a member of the group known as the Dymock poets; it was walks with Thomas that led to Frost’s beloved but â€Å"tricky†poem, â€Å"The Road Not Taken.†The Most Celebrated Poet in North America Frost returned to the U.S. in 1915 and, by the 1920s, he was the most celebrated poet in North America, winning four Pulitzer Prizes (still a record). He lived on a farm in Franconia, New Hampshire, and from there carried on a long career writing, teaching and lecturing. From 1916 to 1938, he taught at Amherst College, and from 1921 to 1963 he spent his summers teaching at the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference at Middlebury College, which he helped found. Middlebury still owns and maintains his farm as a National Historic site: it is now a museum and poetry conference center. Last Words Upon his death in Boston on January 29, 1963, Robert Frost was buried in the Old Bennington Cemetery, in Bennington, Vermont. He said, â€Å"I don’t go to church, but I look in the window.†It does say something about one’s beliefs to be buried behind a church, although the gravestone faces in the opposite direction. Frost was a man famous for contradictions, known as a cranky and egocentric personality – he once lit a wastebasket on fire on stage when the poet before him went on too long. His gravestone of Barre granite with hand-carved laurel leaves is inscribed, â€Å"I had a lover’s quarrel with the world Frost in the Poetry Sphere Even though he was first discovered in England and extolled by the archmodernist Ezra Pound, Robert Frost’s reputation as a poet has been that of the most conservative, traditional, formal verse-maker. This may be changing: Paul Muldoon claims Frost as â€Å"the greatest American poet of the 20th century,†and the New York Times has tried to resuscitate him as a proto-experimentalist: â€Å"Frost on the Edge,†by David Orr, February 4, 2007 in the Sunday Book Review. No matter. Frost is secure as our farmer/philosopher poet. Fun Facts Frost was actually born in San Francisco.He lived in California till he was 11 and then moved East  he grew up in cities in Massachusetts.Far from a hardscrabble farming apprenticeship, Frost attended Dartmouth and then Harvard. His grandfather bought him a farm when he was in his early 20s.When his attempt at chicken farming failed, he served a stint teaching at a private school and then he and his family moved to England.It was while he was in Europe that he was discovered by the US expat and Impresario of Modernism, Ezra Pound, who published him in Poetry. â€Å"Home is the place where, when you have to go there,They have to take you in....†--â€Å"The Death of the Hired Man†â€Å"Something there is that doesn’t love a wall....†--â€Å" Mending Wall†​ â€Å"Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice....--â€Å" Fire and Ice†A Girl’s Garden Robert Frost (from Mountain Interval, 1920) A neighbor of mine in the village    Likes to tell how one springWhen she was a girl on the farm, she did    A childlike thing. One day she asked her father    To give her a garden plotTo plant and tend and reap herself,    And he said, â€Å"Why not?† In casting about for a corner    He thought of an idle bitOf walled-off ground where a shop had stood,    And he said, â€Å"Just it.†And he said, â€Å"That ought to make you    An ideal one-girl farm,And give you a chance to put some strength    On your slim-jim arm.†It was not enough of a garden,    Her father said, to plough;So she had to work it all by hand,    But she don’t mind now. She wheeled the dung in the wheelbarrow    Along a stretch of road;But she always ran away and left    Her not-nice load. And hid from anyone passing.    And then she begged the seed.She says she thinks she planted one    Of all things but weed. A hill each of potatoes,    Radishes, lettuce, peas,Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn,    And even fruit trees And yes, she has long mistrusted    That a cider apple treeIn bearing there to-day is hers,    Or at least may be. Her crop was a miscellany    When all was said and done,A little bit of everything,    A great deal of none. Now when she sees in the village    How village things go,Just when it seems to come in right,    She says, â€Å"I know! It’s as when I was a farmerâ€â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬     Oh, never by way of advice!And she never sins by telling the tale    To the same person twice.
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron and Shirley Jacksons...
Freedom is one of the many great qualities of life, but when it is taken away, life could turn out to be anything but great. Freedom to think, repent, and refuse should be incorporated in ones daily routine, but under an authoritarian dystopian society, these freedoms are only dreamt of. When society draws such attitudes and lifestyles upon its citizens, one adapts and accepts these requests, but not without a compromise. In Shirley Jackson’s masterpiece ‘The Lottery’ and Kurt Vonnegut’s exceptional story ‘Harrison Bergeron’, human life is so often sacrificed and withdrawn that is becomes a norm in society. Forcing people to agree with someone else’s ideology of harmony and success cannot be achieved without discarding the non-believers.†¦show more content†¦Therefore, because of the lottery being such a respectable tradition, it is strictly enforced to keep it original and antique. For instance, when Mr. Summers addresses the c rowd â€Å"All ready? Now I’ll read the names –heads of families firstâ€â€and the men come up to take a paper out of the box. Keep the paper folded in your hands without looking at it until everyone has had a turn, everything clear†(Jackson, 3)? This quote is a perfect example of the rules and regulations of the lottery, because even though the members of the village have heard this time and time again, Mr. Summers still repeats it. He repeats it because if he does not, the laws of the lottery will be broken which can bring about a bad harvest. Mr. Summers follows an elaborate system of rules for creating the slips of paper and making up the lists of families. When the lottery begins, he lays out a series of specific rules for the villagers, including who should draw slips of paper from the black box and when to open those papers. For generations and generations, these rules were always followed; to insure a good harvest, and follow tradition. The lotteryâ €™s unique rules lead up to the randomness of the murder at the end. Meanwhile in the short story Harrison Bergeron, the government admires an egalitarian point of view instead of traditional. The United States of America is run by the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers. Due to the 211th 212th and 213thShow MoreRelatedThe Lottery, And Kurt Vonnegut Jr.1203 Words  | 5 Pagesadhere firmly to the viewpoint of a specific character or characters. Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†are two good examples of third-person point of view stories. These two stories give the authors the liberty to influence their content and theme across to readers using third-person narration without being biased. The third-person point of view in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery demonstrates a remarkably unbiased narrator. The storyteller does notRead MoreAnalysis Of Shirley Jackson And Kurt Vonneguts The Lottery1788 Words  | 8 Pagesworld. Through the mid to late 1900s Shirley Jackson and Kurt Vonnegut published a number of fictional pieces in the United States. During this time, each addressed the existing struggle between the individual and society. Shirley Jackson’s â€Å"The Lottery†and Kurt Vonnegut’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†are two stories that depict the oppression an individual faces when pitted to society. Jackson’s piece in particular points to the danger of blind following, while Vonnegut’s work addresses the danger in totalRead MoreEssay on Using Fear to Control the Masses1099 Words  | 5 Pages1984, The Lottery, and Harrison Bergeron. The government in 1984 uses fear to control the masses. They set strict rules but leave a level of life completely unknown. The Party uses the people’s easygoing, trusting personalities to their advantages. In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, the government holds an annual meeting where names are drawn and someone is toned to death. Not knowing through the whole process who will be chosen is a way for the government to instill fear in the people. Shirley JacksonRead MoreAnalysis Of Shirley Jackson s The Lottery, And Kurt Vonnegut Jr. s Harrison Bergeron1604 Words  | 7 PagesA common theme of placing societal influences over personal values and beliefs can be found in Shirley Jackson’s, â€Å"The Lottery†, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†. These short stories describe situations in which the citizens allow the superiors to have full control, without thinking twice about the laws and traditions that require their submission. Both of these short stories are similar in theme, because each tells about a communit y that chooses to participate in cruel and inhumane traditionsRead MoreThe Lottery and Harrison Bergeron1100 Words  | 5 Pages The Lottery and Harrison Bergeron People with power in society often have the ability to influence the practice of certain traditions. These traditions can affect what a citizen is entitled to do. In todays day and age, life without basic freedoms and rights sounds unthinkable. However, in Shirley Jacksons â€Å"The Lottery†and Kurt Vonneguts â€Å"Harrison Bergeron†this is the reality. Old Man Warner and the Handicapper General show that people in positions of authority encourage outdated traditionsRead MoreMy Opinion On Teaching Style Essay1837 Words  | 8 Pagesmore than most people could hope to achieve in their lives, but you may as well learn from the best when learning. The second story that comes to mind is none other than Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. This short story, despite its length, is full of detail that allows the reader to construct an idea of what this world that Kurt Vonnegut has imagined in his head. The amazing thing about the settings of short stories is the limited space allowed for exposition. This means that all setting must be
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Protection of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd’s Assets †Free Samples
Question: Discuss about the Protection of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd.s Assets. Answer: Overview of the Revenue Cycle The revenue cycle is initiated by the receipt of a customers order via the companys website, email, or telephone; after which, a picking ticket is generated. Goods are then picked against the picking ticket and customers order and packed while generating a packing slip. Its after this step that the goods are ready for delivery and a sales order is generated. The delivery goes along with a bill of lading. Invoicing then proceeds after the shipment of goods to the customer and according to the shipment details after which the firm recognizes a liability for the goods sold on credit. From here on, the cash collection begins where the customer may pay in cash or bank and according to the terms of trade where a discount of 2% is offered for any payment made within three days. Amount received in cash is then deposited to the bank. While all this is happening, the shipping department also receives incoming deliveries from suppliers. Internal Control Weaknesses, their Impact, and Possible Solutions Internal controls weaknesses Impact of the weaknesses Possible solution Lack of segregation of duties: Use of the loading dock for both the outgoing shipment to customers as well as incoming deliveries. It increases the risk of fraud, intentional manipulation, unexpected error leading to loss of goods, and delays in delivery of goods to customers. Besides, it weakens other control procedures such as physical checks. The firm should implement different docks for receiving incoming deliveries and issuing outgoing shipment. This will enable a system of checks and balances where the two departments will check against each other and reduce the risk of fraud Placing of orders without the authenticating (supporting) documents Without legally binding source documents its impossible to defend a transaction. This has led to customers denying ordering and receiving goods since there exist no source documents to authenticate the orders. The firm should implement a system where there has to exist physical source documents such as orders, delivery notes, and bills of lading. Such documents are legally binding and make it impossible for customers to deny deliveries made. Delivering goods without an invoice. That is, generating an invoice after shipment. Customers receiving the goods without the delivery note and invoices have led to them denying receiving the goods later which has led to most of the credit sales being written off as uncollectible All deliveries should be accompanied by both the delivery note and an invoice. The invoice should be generated after the packing according to the packing slip and before delivery. Upon receipt of the goods, the customer should sign both the delivery note and the invoice which immediately creates a legally binding liability. Lack of physical controls; Failure to take stock counts for two years Failure to take stock counts have led to the loss of goods witnessed in the firm due to possible fraud and theft by the employees, failed deliveries, and delivery of the incorrect amount. The stock is a very sensitive item must be well guarded (Mary, 2017). The firm should institute a policy where physical stock counts happen on a monthly basis or after a fortnight after which stock, suppliers, and shipping details should be reconciled to check against any loss of stock. Making all sales on credit with no precise credit sale policy Credit terms increase the risk of bad debts. The firm should consider selling some of the items on a cash basis or instituting a policy where a certain percentage of the invoice amount is paid either on order or delivery. Overview of the Ransomware Attack Described by F-Secures' (a cybersecurity company) Chief Research Officer, Mikko Hypponen, as the biggest ransomware outbreak in history, the malware locked computers thus preventing access and demanded ransom from the victim if they were to gain back the access to the computers. The malware which spread to several computers across the world owed to a self-replicating software which took advantage of the vulnerabilities/weaknesses and bugs in the older version of Microsoft Windows and organizations using such widows found themselves the greatest victims (Moore and David, 2017). The most affected organizations were hospitals, large firms, and government agencies. The cyber extortionist duped their potential victims into opening the malware purportedly attached in their spam email as either orders or invoices. Several firms yielded to the trick and the extortionists' ransom demands although it remains unclear on how many firms did so. Appropriate Controls to protect the Firm from a Potential Ransomware Attack. Application controls Validity checks Configurable controls Such controls are defined at the system generation point Completeness and validity checks They check data being entered for validity and completeness (Moore and David, 2017) Authentication controls These controls provide an application system authentication mechanism Input controls They serve to ensure that data integrity feeds into the system only from upstream sources. Forensic controls They ensure scientifically correct data General controls Backup and recovery procedures To ensure the firms operation run continuously Integrity checks Checking that email and other data come from secure sources Encryption Coding of the firms data to ensure they are unreadable by other sources Physical access controls To prevent unauthorized access to both the hardware and software including emails Virus and malware scanning Scanning the computers for malware which might cause loss of data Firewall security To protect the firms internet and data from external threats In-depth white-listing and blacklisting Blocks unknown and unwanted applications and installation of apps from unknown sources Compliance with internal IT policies Such policies may limit usage of application not supported by data loss prevention Conclusion and Recommendations The internal control weaknesses of Motherboards and More Pty Ltd pose a huge risk of fraud and massive loss of revenue for the firm. As such, it is necessary to implement several internal controls to safeguard the firm's assets and deter fraud in the firm. Besides, given the alarming rise of cyber-attacks on organizations, it is advisable for the firm to implement several applications and general controls to prevent loss and corruption of its data in future. References Mary, A. (2017). Impact of effective internal controls in the management of Mother and Child Hospital Akure, Ondo State, Journal of Finance and Accounting 5 (1): 61-73 Moore, T., and David, P. (2017). Special Issue: Strategic Dimensions of Offensive Cyber Operations, Journal of Cybersecurity 3(1): 2057-2093
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Whiteman by Tony D’Souza A review Essay Example
Whiteman by Tony D’Souza: A review Essay Tony D’Souza is one of the fresh young writers to have emerged in the American literary scene in the last decade. Born to an Indian father and an American Caucasian mother, his mixed racial identity makes a subtle appearance in his works. In his much acclaimed novel Whiteman, for example, the protagonist Jack Diaz, who is an American, leaves to Africa on a humanitarian mission. Ivory Coast is the place of his deputation and the constant Islamic sectarian conflicts of the country provides the backdrop for his stay there. He is part of a team of American volunteers, who take up this difficult challenge so as to help Ivory Coast lift itself out of poverty and backwardness. Not only has he to contend with the mindset of primitive people steeped in orthodoxy, but also survive regular outbreaks of epidemic diseases in the region. For example, some of his colleagues are set back by malarial infections. But much to his frustration and surprise, it is he who ends up a changed man toward the end of the novel. Written in accessible prose and a simple narrative style, some of the important themes in the novel are moral relativity, role of religion in social organization and the rigidity of cultural norms and customs. This essay will argue that the author’s attempt to ‘unravel the mystery of Africa’ is its most pronounced theme. The chaotic political situation in Ivory Coast provides plenty of material for D’Souza to explore the human condition in the region. The civilians of the African country seemingly take a nonchalant attitude to the grave internal political tensions in the region. This might be difficult for the Western reader (to whom the novel is addressed) to comprehend. But in the stagnant Third World country as Ivory Coast, such a mindset is not unusual. As Tony D’Souza poetically notes in one of the passages, the region has seen political and military conflicts of every sort, including â€Å"bloody coups and bloodless coups and attempted coups and aborted coups and averted coups and rumored coups†. This reality is juxtaposed against the primary mission of his NGO, namely to â€Å"change the world†. How impossible an objective this idea is will be revealed during the course of the novel. We will write a custom essay sample on Whiteman by Tony D’Souza: A review specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Whiteman by Tony D’Souza: A review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Whiteman by Tony D’Souza: A review specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The established social norms and customs in his place of work is both a source of fascination and despair for Diaz. The society is largely organized as per tribal traditions. So what Diaz experiences in his interactions with the locals is unlike what he had seen in his native country. The exotic elements in this far-off culture fascinate them due to their novelty. But Diaz also knows that tradition has provided a misplaced sense of complacency to the people of Ivory Coast. He believes that they can emancipate themselves by looking beyond their own history and culture. But this project is easier to conceive than to execute. As one reads the novel it becomes increasingly clear that it is Diaz who is changed by his environment and not the other way around. While his failure to accomplish his grand mission of â€Å"change the world†is no surprise, the fact that the local society and politics leave a profound effect on his personality is interesting. This outcome is an aspe ct of the theme of ‘mystery of Africa’ that they novel essays into. At places in the novel, Jack Diaz is at a loss to comprehend the seeming madness of strife and conflict that his hosts were participants in. The Islamic sectarian violence of Ivory Coast has an immediacy and relevance in the post 9/11 context. Even funding for the Potable Water project that Jack is working on dries up in the anti-Islamic posturing of the post 9/11 political climate. This is tragic, for so many babies and children die in Ivory Coast as a result of contaminated water and resultant fatal infections. Though, Jack is on a humanitarian project, he is human too. This is revealed in his numerous affairs with local black women – some of whom are married and others prostitutes. This weakness on part of Jack is further testimony to the theme of the mysterious Africa, in that it shows how his rationality and initial benign intent gets consumed by the lure of exoticism. Jack’s tendency to digress from his mission is a metaphor for the power of Africa to brush aside rationality for more instinctual actions and motives. In other words, Jack Diaz’ initial proclamation that he is in Ivory Coast to â€Å"change the world†comes back to ridicule him, for he ends up assimilated the very instincts and behaviour that he was once critical of. In sum, Whiteman is a fascinating novel by Tony D’Souza that is at once full of exoticism and insight. It is a statement on the power of tradition and instinct over progress and rationality. Jack Diaz’s failure to accomplish his mission and his assimilation into the backward-looking culture of Ivory Coast is a strong testament to the mystical and mysterious qualities of Africa that often escape reason and commonsense. The reader should be careful not to take it as a license for instinctual and irrational behavior. But instead take it as a warning for the dangers posed by this path. For example, the most obvious danger posed by Diaz’ reckless sexual behavior is unwanted pregnancies and abortions. This outcome is in clear contradiction to his original motivation for visiting Ivory Coast, namely, to save black babies for endemics. Reference: D’Souza, Tony, Whiteman, published by Portobello in 2006, 288pp.
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