La Belle Dame Sans Merci Essays - Gothic Fiction,

La Belle Dame Sans Merci John Keats is a great British poet. He has written many popular poems. La Belle Dame sans Merci is a ballad that was written in 1819. In this ballad, the knight is deceived by the woman he meets. He falls in love with this woman instantly and is convinced that she too is in love with him. The woman makes the knight fall for her by making herself beautiful. The woman deceives the knight into trusting her and then when she takes him to her cave, she breaks his heart by leaving him after the knight wakes up from a nightmare. The first stanza of this ballad describes the knight as being lonely in the wilderness. A Alone and palely loitering. @ The knight is alone and wandering around on his horse. A And no birds sing. @ In this sentence he describes his sadness because the singing of birds is associated with happiness and the birds are not singing. So haggard and so woe-begone? The squirrel=s granary is full, And the harvest=s done. In this quote the knight is troubled because everything is going as it is supposed to, the granary is full and the harvest is done. This is why the knight is also sad and roaming around on his horse. In the next stanza, the knight is described as exhausted in appearance and afflicted. "And on thy cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too." The colour of his skin is fading away, and he is dying. I met a lady in the meads Full beautiful - a faery=s child. Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild. In this stanza, the knight meets a woman in the meadows. He falls in love with her immediately. He describes her as being a small being with magic powers ( faery ). He makes a wreath of flowers to decorate her head and also he made her bracelets to show his love for her. He put the woman on his horse and watched her ride all day because the sight of her is so beautiful. She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew, And sure in language strange she said - A I love thee [emailprotected] The woman makes herself more enticing by giving him the Aroots of relish sweet, and honey wild, and manna [emailprotected] The woman wanted the knight to trust her more. The knight is convinced that the woman is also in love with him when she says A I love thee [emailprotected] When the knight describes the woman as being A a faery=s child @, he realizes that the woman has magical powers. She uses her magical powers to make the knight fall for her then she breaks his heart. The woman deceives the knight into trusting her. The woman doesn=t say what she means when she says A I love thee true @ because she says it in A language strange @. After, the woman took the knight into her enchanted cave where the woman cried. This is another way the woman is deceiving the knight. She is making the knight feel sorry for her. The knight comforts her with four kisses. The knight then trusts the woman enough to fall asleep. While the knight is sleeping, he describes a nightmare that he had. The kings and the princes are warning him of this woman. They tell him that he has been captured by this woman. AThey cried - La Belle Dame sans Merci Hath thee in [emailprotected] This quote says that the kings and princes are warning the knight that this woman is a beautiful woman without mercy. After he awakens from this nightmare, he fins himself alone on the hill side. This is why the knight is sad, alone and wandering. The woman sees the knight as a perfect victim because the knight is alone, sad and wandering aimlessly in this poem. The knight is sad because everything is going the way it is supposed to go. The squirrel's granary is full and the harvest is done. The woman uses her magical powers to deceive the knight. She is successful in making the knight fall for her. She makes herself more enticing by giving the relish, honey and manna dew to the knight. She takes the knight to her cave and puts him to sleep. When the knight wakes up from his nightmare, he sees that she has left

Continental Drift Essays

Continental Drift Essays Continental Drift Paper Continental Drift Paper First proposed by Alfred Wegener the meteorologist, the theory of continental drift supports the belief that the Earths continents once were a single land mass. This land mass, which was named Pangaea, broke up, and its various parts drifted away from one another.  Centuries ago, trips around the world from travellers showed out lines from every continent around the world. Later on, early mapmakers wondered why these continents fit together so well. Early geologist thought at first that the continents had started off in their places they laid in the present day. However, a meteorologist constructed a theory that would change the way people would look at the world. The Theory of Continental Drift is a theory that proves that the continents were once joined together making only one single landmass. This theory was proposed by a meteorologist by the name of Alfred Wegener. His theory states that the continents were once one and have drifted apart. Wegener named this land mass â€Å"Pangaea†, which translates â€Å"All Lands† Then he gathered evidence from around the world from landforms, fossils, and climate. He then gathered his evidence and put it in a book titled â€Å"The Origin of Continents and Oceans† which was published in 1915. But Wegener’s theory was rejected because he could not provide evidence on the force that moved the continents. The Earth has a magnetic field that causes a compass needle to always point toward the North magnetic pole, currently located near the rotation pole. The Earths magnetic field is what would be expected if there were a large bar magnet located at the centre of the Earth. The magnetic field is composed of lines of force. Initial studies of the how the position of the Earths magnetic pole varied with time were conducted in Europe. These studies showed that the magnetic pole had apparently moved through time. When similar measurements were made on rocks of various ages in North America, however, a different path of the magnetic pole was found. This either suggested that (1) the Earth has had more than one magnetic pole at various times in the past (not likely), or (2) that the different continents have moved relative to each other over time. Studies of ancient pole positions for other continents confirmed the latter hypothesis, and seemed to confirm the theory of Continental Drift. Exploration of the seafloor had been in progress at a slow but gradually accelerating pace during the nineteenth century and the first four decades of this century. There was a rapid increase in geological and geophysical exploration of the seafloor after the Second World War. Hess suggested in 1958 that seafloor too may be in motion and, in fact, it may be carrying the continents with it. It turns out that the theory of continental drift provides a simple and consistent explanation for these paleomagnetic results. Hess’s idea explained neatly why the drifting continents did not leave any scars on the seafloor. It also shifted the spotlight from the mechanism of continental drift that had bothered Wegener greatly. In time, Hess’s geopoetry became known as the seafloor spreading hypothesis. A fossil is any evidence of ancient life. In the beginning of the 20th Century, fossil evidence was also found to support continental drift. Identical fossilized plant and animal species have been found in many different places, on different continents. It seems hard to believe that such similar organisms would exist so far away from each other, or that they could have swam from one continent to another. It is more likely that these life forms once lived all together on a single continent, as shown in the following image. An example of this would be that in places like South America and Africa the same animal fossils have been found which could only have happened if they were originally joined. Palaeoclimatology is the study of changes in climate taken on the scale of the entire history of Earth. Parts of all the continents in the Southern Hemisphere were covered by glaciers in their geological past. Glaciers grind and smooth the rocks across which they move, and leave grooves where rocks that were caught in the ice grated over the bottom rocks. When the ancient scour marks on the continents in the Southern Hemisphere are studied, it appears as if the ancient glaciers were formed in the oceans and moved towards the land. But no glacier we know of functions in this way. Glaciers usually form in high-lying regions and then move slowly downwards in the direction of the oceans. However, if we could move the continents back to recreate Gondwana, all ancient glacier parts would fit neatly into one another without being separated by oceans.

William O'Douglas' (The Black Silence of Fear), Essay

William O'Douglas' (The Black Silence of Fear), - Essay Example In this enlightening document, he points out how intolerance and arrogance play major roles where the minorities are concerned, suppressing them still further into a corner of oblivion. However, O’Douglas believes that if a person has to fully understand and apprehend its meaning, he has to leave his own country and lose himself in the dark regions, and absorb himself in the trials and tribulations of other civilizations. He feels that after this is carried out and when the person comes back to his own country, he would definitely be shocked at the intolerance and arrogance exhibited by the leaders who hold public office, the press and the general attitude of the Americans towards their Asian counterparts. He would also understand that thoughts were becoming standardized, ideas limited, discussions narrowed because minds have become closed. According to O’Douglas, the very thought of it, is rather disturbing especially when one loves his country. He believes that the ph ilosophy of strength brought about through free speech, is being replaced with the philosophy of fear due to repression. The author takes the example of the Soviet society when Russia was ruled by Lenin. During that time ministers and officials were allowed to debate and come out with new ideas or criticism, but once a final decision was taken, there was no question whatsoever, of either disagreement or dissension. However, in the case of Stalin’s rule, the system of control remained totally under his custody and there was absolutely no question of free speech nor action. O’Douglas believes that America too is moving in the same direction and closely resembles the Soviet society because of the intolerance and arrogance it exhibits towards the developing and underdeveloped countries like Asia. He drives this point home when he says that the Asians identify the Americans not by freedom but by guns. Therefore, the fear mounts as the Soviet imperialism expands and while th e free world contracts without putting up a fight. Communism within the country is another manifestation of inherent fear among the people, as its glories are being magnified and exalted beyond all reality. Fanning the flames of fear are some irresponsible people, especially those at the helm of affairs. Suspicion has been substituted for the goodwill of people, while character assassination has become the norm of the day. Innocent acts now bear the stamp of disloyalty. In O’Douglas’ opinion, the days when we could bravely debate, challenge, question or present our thoughts, ideas or even solutions to problems are gone because no one is permitted to enjoy such freedom. The author once again points to Soviet Russia’s policy and strongly feels that America is closely following in its footsteps and therefore the resemblance between America and Russia becomes all the more evident. According to O’Douglas, orthodoxy has gained popularity due to the rising growt h of suspicion, because orthodoxy seems to be the safest bet that supports Communism. When suspicion mounts, there is no question of trust. This is the reason why there is competition for embracing orthodoxy because those who follow the path of unorthodoxy would always remain suspect. People who do not adhere to the military policy makers become suspect. All those who stand up and oppose are called ‘subversive’. People who are honest and truthful are suppressed and pushed aside. All these forces fan fear and encourage it to run rampant. Shedding light on our present way of thinking and reacting, O’