Virtual Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Virtual Learning - Essay Example Pursel and Bailey (2005) concentrate on how online computer games can add to the elearning forms and invigorate them. They investigate various assets exhibiting that there are two essential restrictions of internet learning. Students by and large need inspiration and they don't cooperate enough during their online courses. Pursel and Bailey (2005) recommend that so as to improve the elearning prospects new methodologies ought to be received by instructors. The new age forms data in an alternate manner in contrast with their folks', thusly strategies utilized in internet games must be remembered for the virtual learning. The writer's principle reason recorded as a hard copy the article is to offer an elective arrangement in beating the diminishing interest and estimation of courses directed on the web. Their endeavor presents inventive and encouraging model of the learning inside the virtual world. Instruction is an incredible resource which changes correspondence in a more elevated level. The advantages of good quality online instruction, anyway are not accessible to the urban areas of society. Pursel and Bailey (2005) give data just about the U.S. customers and don't allude to sources about the remainder of the world. Yajnik (2005) noticed that data innovation is such an integral asset, that can possibly make training accessible even to individuals in remote areas. The essential impediments absence of intelligence and inspiration deficiency that Pursel and Bailey (2005) must be identified with a particular layers from the general public and explanations made about the monetary status from the nation in questions. The speculations conveyed by Pursel and Bailey (2005) show restricted exploration scope. A hazardous issue is that most of the individuals who drop out of the online courses don't discover them sufficiently trying. It is of basic significance to underscore that Purse l and Bailey's (2005) proposition to join computer games methodologies into elearning is coordinated for the most part to fulfill the prerequisites of U.S. understudy crowd. In nations with creating economies understudies are happy to take part in a wide range of figuring out how to higher their instructive foundation. Yajnik (2005) recommends that the development in correspondence innovation in India broadens the gap between the individuals who approach and the individuals who don't. The principle assignment of elearning strategies isn't to expand the social hole presenting computer games system, yet to make it workable for immature nations to have similar chances. Executing computer games in the structure of online courses will make quick prohibition of specific clients. E-learning coaches might not have any desire to hazard data prohibition of their understudies by complex structure or exorbitant programming. Kenya's instruction serve, Professor George Saitoti (refered to in Ogodo, 2007) says that when incorporated into instructive framework the Internet Communication innovations have the abilities to improve the conveyance of training through separation learning, give access to all inclusive advanced libraries, offer manners by which colleges can internationally contend and offer enhancements i n scholastic organization (standard. 17). The elearning advances offer new manners by which the quality and viability of advanced education is conveyed. Anyway the manner by which elearning will be made useful relies upon the

Business Use of Media in Crisis Management

Business Use of Media in Crisis Management 1 †Introduction 2 †Why business ought to draw in with media during emergency? 3 †What methodologies are fruitful during emergency? 4 †Recent new stories 4.1 †Barilla Pasta 4.2 †Costa Concordia Cruise 5 †Conclusion REFERENCES: Reference index: 1 †Introduction Associations have consistently lived emergencies, some financial, others arrangements, progressively normal regulatory and inner, albeit a considerable lot of them without on the off chance that it knows. As of now, the speed with which data is sent and gotten and with the improvement of the media, a significant part of the consideration is centered around associations and their activities in light of the fact that the populace is seen as a basic piece of the social procedure that associations create. Emergencies are not simply issues or clashes that happen day by day in associations. Emergency is an occasion that includes disappointment, which produces general pain and influences connections. Happens unexpectedly compromising the authoritative picture, business and may bring about huge budgetary misfortunes. In this paper, it will be talked about why it is significant for business to draw in with the media during emergency. Next the procedures that are fruitful in advertising for organizations during such occasions will be investigated. At long last, two ongoing reports which fixated on emergency for various business will be remarked. 2 †Why business ought to connect with media during emergency A noteworthy danger to the business that can affect adversely if not controlled is viewed as emergency. The danger can have negative ramifications for the association, for the business and for the partners by and large. Three related dangers are made by the emergency: the security of the general population, the monetary misfortune, and notoriety harm. For instance, flight and mechanical mishaps can have genuine wounds and passings also. Money related misfortune can be made because of the activities break causing a lessening in the piece of the overall industry or due to the diminished in buy aim (Coombs, 2007). Dilenschneider (2000) expressed that all emergencies will influence the company’s notoriety somewhat. At the point when an organization faces an emergency, the administration need to do and say something to general society. This is called emergency reaction. For this situation the Public Relations (PR) has a significant obligation by helping the association to arrive at general society with its message. The reaction should be extremely fast, exact and reliable. As per Fearn-Banks (2011) an association needs to demonstrate to its client and to the overall population too that the negative picture isn't a reality. Subsequently, it is extremely significant that the business draw in with the media during an emergency as quickly as time permits. The media is the most ideal approach to arrive at a wide assortment of open and partners extremely quick. The message spread out rapidly and to a lot of individuals. Likely some non-targets will get the message; be that as it may, the most significant is the speed and reach of the message. As per Dolphin (1998) a decent message sent to the partners can make a chance to make the organization’s picture better. Indeed, even in a terrible calamity a decent message has a helpful impact. It is additionally significant for the business to draw in with the media since when an organization react to the partners about what happened it is a method of improve the corporate picture and make a relationship with them. The most ideal approach to clarify the emergency is utilizing the media commitment (Barton, 2001). In addition, the commitment with the media can show that the association is dependable and is attempting to do the best for the individuals who have been influenced. The message must be exact and predictable so as to improve the corporate picture. 3 †What procedures are effective during emergency? An incredible number of analysts have read open connection systems for business during emergency time so as to improve the organization’s picture. Because of this examination it was built up a rundown of notoriety fix systems. The individual who contribute more so as to decide the notoriety techniques were Benoit (1997). From an incredible diverse number of investigates which demonstrated an issue for notoriety methodologies, Benoit assess and join every one of them (Combs 2007). With crafted by Benoit and others, Coombs (2007) made a rundown of notorieties fix procedures coordinating all compositions. Coombs expressed that the notoriety fix technique can change as far as how to support the people in question and more than the association intrigue. The rundown of notoriety fix methodology is created with ten systems for emergency correspondence. Those systems were partitioned in essential and auxiliary emergency reaction methodologies. The essential has three primary subjects: Deny emergency reaction methodology, Diminish emergency reaction and Rebuild emergency reaction system. The optional has one fundamental theme: Bolstering emergency reaction systems. The table 1 underneath show the systems. Table 1: Crisis reaction techniques †Coombs (2007) So as to survey the reputational issue of an emergency, supervisors ought to follow a procedure situated in two stages. The first is to characterize the emergency type considering the way that the media and partners are portraying the emergency. Coombs and Holladay (2002) make a rundown of emergencies types as indicated by the danger every one offer. See the table 2 underneath. Table 2: Crisis types by emergency groups †Coombs and Holladay (2002) The subsequent one is to review the past notoriety and significant purpose of emergency history. If there should be an occurrence of the association had a negative notoriety previously, the danger can be upgraded. Notoriety is viewed as a significant resource for the organization and it is entirely significant and critical to ensure. An emergency can likely influence the notoriety with the negative verbal exchange and it will diminish buy goal. In any case, the notoriety procedures will help to lessen this likelihood (Coombs 2007). 4 †Recent new stories A few ongoing new stories which focused on an emergency for various organizations can be utilized for instance to feature the interchanges technique. Two late new stories will be broke down. The first is about the Barilla Pasta and its director, Guido Barilla, for his antigay remarks. The subsequent one is about the Costa Concordia Cruise and its skipper, Schettino, for don't follow the route framework causing a genuine mishap. 4.1 †Barilla Pasta The emergency began in September 2013. Having said that gay couples never will do publicizing efforts for Barilla, the leader of the Italian pasta producer, Guido Barilla, apologized through media. The declaration was made after the announcement had negative repercussions around the globe and netizens began a battle to blacklist the results of the brand on interpersonal organizations. The emergency kind of the activity taken by Guido Barilla can be named authoritative wrongdoing the board unfortunate behavior. Agreeing with the table 2 seen previously, this emergency type is viewed as a preventable bunch in light of the fact that in that circumstance the association realized that was making a wrong move. Obviously all the confusion could have been stayed away from if Barilla had not offered the expression to the Italian radio La Zanzara. Be that as it may, since an issue of this nature happens, there are methods of limiting the effect. The organization took an essential emergency reaction system. The remake emergency reaction, expression of remorse, was utilized to show that the association assumes the full liability and approach partners for pardoning. Barilla rushed to react to the emergency. The organization post public statements on their official site and a video conciliatory sentiment on organization Facebook page. The withdrawal and conciliatory sentiment from Barilla speak to key mentalities. It was fundamental that he said he was not surely known and recognize the error. These cases it is essential to acknowledge the mistake and improve the brand wouldn't like to leave an awful picture. The speed with which the message of the President of Barilla was posted on Twitter under 24 hours after his meeting with radio was another point where the organization made the best choice. Have picked Facebook and Twitter to control was additionally a hit from the organization. This is on the grounds that the message originally came to devotees of the brand, which were presumably inside the debate. Realizing where transferring withdrawal is fundamental. It must be coordinated to the correct individuals, since they take it to the individuals who despite everything don't know about the episode, will just stimulate the interest of those individuals to the reality. The director additionally met some unique LGBT associations to apologize by and by. When all is said in done, the emergency circumstance was very much constrained by the association. 4.2 †Costa Concordia Cruise In the time of 2012, the evening of January 13, a debacle happened with one of the Costa Concordia voyage transport in Italy. It hit a stone and began to sink with 3,206 travelers and 1,023 group ready. The commandant was Captain Schettino and the voyage should go around the Mediterranean ocean, including ports of Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma, Cagliara, and Palermo. They are not certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Captain has not followed the route framework. Notwithstanding, they guarantee that if this assignment was tailed it would show unmistakably the perilous that they were drawing closer. Schettino said â€Å"I need to assume liability for the way that I made a judgment blunder. This time I requested the turn too late.† Then, at 22:54 on that night, the commander provided the request to the team and travelers to desert the boat. This disaster was grouped, by the Costa Concordia Full Investigation Report, as an intense mishap with dead or missing of 32 individuals. Likewise increasingly 157 were harmed, and from this number 20 were admitted to the emergency clinic. Also toward the end they had complete loss of the boat. With respect of the characterization of the kind of this emergency, it tends to be said t

Oxygen Essay -- essays research papers

Oxygen      Oxygen, image O, lackluster, unscented, dull, marginally attractive vaporous component. On earth, oxygen is more bottomless than some other component. Oxygen was found in 1774 by the British physicist Joseph Priestley and, freely, by the Swedish scientific expert Carl Wilhelm Scheele; it was demonstrated to be an essential gas by the French scientific expert Antoine Laurent Lavoisier in his work of art probes burning.      Large measures of oxygen are utilized in high-temperature welding lights, in which a blend of oxygen and another gas creates a fire of a lot higher temperature than is gotten by consuming gases in air. Oxygen is controlled to patients whose breathing is disabled and furthermore to individuals in airplane flying at high heights, where the poor oxygen focus can't bolster ordinary breath. Oxygen-enhanced air is utilized in open-hearth heaters for steel produce.      Most of the oxygen delivered in the United States is utilized to make a blend of carbon monoxide and hydrogen called combination gas, utilized for the amalgamation of methanol and smelling salts. High-virtue oxygen is utilized additionally in the metal- creation ventures; in fluid structure it is critical as a force for guided rockets and rockets2.      I have picked the component "Oxygen" in light of the fact that without Oxygen, individuals would not have the option to live. Oxygen is likely the absolute most significant component...

Ikea business model free essay sample

Examine IKEAs plan of action and wellsprings of upper hand as portrayed for the situation. For what reason do you think it has been so sucsessfull in the fragmentated fuurniture industry? What do you concider to be IKEAs principle shortcomings? To address question one I will part the inquiry into three sections. Begining by examining IKEAs plan of action and wellsprings of upper hand. At that point goin on to adress why it has been so sucsessfull in the divided furniture industry. An at long last clarifying IKEAs primary shortcomings. IKEAs plan of action and wellsprings of upper hand Plan of action Being one of the biggest furniture organizations on the planet IKEA must do things right. By analising the contextual investigation we can see IKEAs procedures inside its plan of action which have made such a sucsessfull business. Ikea has an extremely extraordinary plan of action. It begins with how they plan there furniture items in the factorys to guarantee cash is spared at the most punctual stage with the sparing being given to the purchaser. For instance the furniture will be created considering the development and size so its efective for transportation pacaging and creation . IKEA comprehend that most of its clients will be cost consious yet are as yet anticipating a better than average norm and polished looks. They know the difficulties its clients face while shoping for furniture and egnolage clients tent to like a showroom to have the option to see the thing errect befor buying. They likewise like insignificant conveyance costs, this is the reason IKEA use flatpack pacaging for all its huge things which are prepared coming up for the client to bring home. IKEA uses a sharp shgowroom structure which practically fources the client to see all IKEAs various offices. This features everything on offer while the client strolls round subsequently they can see and conceivably get different things they had not origanally visited the shop for. Ikea keep an enormous volume of the equivalent articals so as to minimize expenses. Ikea additionally put a ton of energy into creating materials. They attempt to keep the cost low and earth well disposed again passing the investment funds on the client. In china they took adavantage of the plentiful materials in the nation and opened up their own plants handling the wood to cut bringing in costs. IKEA have extended from their home in sweden to more than 37 different nations chiefly in North america Asia Australier and Europe. No other contender has achived development along these lines. IKEAs interesting method of deals, creation and conveyance have implied its been globaly invited. IKEA has been made to adjust to meet the clients need s when entering various nations it generally rolls out the improvements to meet with nearby practices. Upper hand One of IKEAs fundamental crucial is to offer low costs to their clients. By reducing expenses however holding a well manufactored completed item they keep costs low and the client is glad and returnes. To minimize expenses they have decided to utilize level pack furniture alowing the client to take the furniture things home without requiring costly conveyance. IKEA offers great servies to it costermers to hold upper hand. By keeping up a decent client support notoriety they realize that clients feel great shoping there. From my own experience they are awesome with returnes and helping clients picked the correct things for their careful needs. This leads on IKEA having great brand picture which is a key upper hand. On the off chance that a client has been utilizing IKEA in their nation of origin and moves to another country there is a high possibility they will have the option to keep shoping with IKEA and will feel calm outfitting there new home . IKEA is known for high caliber with outstanding plan which binded with its great costs implies custermers remain upbeat. Kepping in the know regarding styles and changing styles when entering various markets far and wide empowers IKEA to hold upper hand anyware on the planet. A case of this is bigger beds when entering the USA. Inside the IKEA shops there is a huge variety of various items from restrooms to kitchens and all that you have to filll essentially every room. As a client it is a one stop search for furniture and homeware. While shoping at IKEA clients realize they are purchasing uptodate items with new inavotive styles. A huge client base with varieties of items to suit diverse value ranges permits IKEA to apeal to wide varietly of clients. Why has IKEA been so sucsessfull in the divided furniture industry? I accept a mix of IKEAS one of a kind plan of action which alows it to have broken in to a substansial measure of diverce markets alowes the business to develop and adjust without any problem. IKEAs primary shortcomings The flatpack furniture has been recorded as an upper hand yet it is additionally a shortcoming. Certain purchaser gatherings may discover building their bought furniture to much hastle and want to purchase an instant piece. Altho IKEA is in more than 37 nations it just has 301 stores which is a relitivly modest quantity. This can mean clients are to far away to make a trip to IKEA particularly in spots, for example, China where not as manny individuals own vehicles. The store format has some critisism particularly in the USA where the clients didnt need to need to stroll around the labyrinth like showroom and mentioned shorcuts to the checkout. The sweedish configuration doesn't apeal to different markets. Contrasts, for example, size and style should have been changed which cost cash. In the USA they thought the bloom jars were drinking cups. The publicizing they use could be better there is next to no TV adverts or online adverts which could be used. Altho the furniture is slick it isn't worked to endure forever which can put a few clients off. Qusetion 2 With utilization of relevent globalization and internetionalisation models dissect and evaluatwe IKEAs internationalization stetegy. What do you concider to be the key oppertunities and dangers confronting IKEA toward the finish of the contextual analysis? Inside my response to this inquiry I am going to break the primary inquiry into three sections. Initially posting the relevent worldwide and internationalization models. Also Analising IKEAs internationalization srtategy. Thirdly analising the oppertunities and dangers confronting IKEA. Relevent worldwide and internationalization models Heckscherâ€Ohlin model Uses the nations most copious materials to deliver items. For instance Bamboo in china to make furniture. The most bounteous material is the principle material utilized when making the item. They at that point send out the completed item therefor setting aside cash and continuing the nearby economy. Ikea fit into this model as they use the ubundant material they anyway dont send out from china they sell inside the nation. In different areas they have had ton redistribute the manufactoring. In europe they utilize modest manufactoring plants in eastern europe. This would be on the grounds that altho Sweeden had trees and timberlands its work charges and general manufactoring costs are higher compelling IKEA to re-appropriate to set aside cash. Linder speculation (Staffan Burenstam Linder, 1961) Linder accepted the more comparable are the interest structures of nations the more they will exchange with each other. Further, universal exchange will at present happen between two nations having indistinguishable inclinations and factor blessings. Be that as it may, the items will be somewhat specific to make upper hand between the two countries. For instance IKEA originating from Sweden having a lot of indistinguishable inclinations from the remainder of Europe or USA requiring bigger beds/purchasing bloom container to drink from. IKEAs internationalization system IKEA have utilized a natural development way to deal with worldwide development. They have not utilized mergers with littler business or purchased out different organizations. They have become because of an expansion in client base. They how anyway willingly volunteered to move to various overall areas where they would not have had a current customerbase and effectivly began without any preparation. Individuals in china would not have run over an IKEA store except if they had ventured out to an alternate mainland. So publicizing and advancement would have been without any preparation. They have utilized parts of both these models to internationalize there brand. IKEA aslo has a diversifying office which helps its globalization. As the franchisor IKEA has the accompanying principle undertakings: To grow IKEAs buiness through diversifying while at the same time holding the IKEA idea being its, valuing, inderdiduality in its store structure and its style. To break into any worldwide market ikea have experienced broad statistical surveying for instance when entering Switzerland they did broad research yet it shows up they didnt accomplish such a great deal in America. To analise how the furniture monster broke into various worldwide markets I have utilized fundamental instances of America and China. These two totally different areas gave IKEA various difficulties to survive. USA The organization at first attempted to reproduce its current plan of action and items in the US however before long discovered It needed to modify its items dependent on nearby needs. American clients, for example, requested greater beds and greater storerooms. IKEA needed to make various changes to its showcasing procedure in the US. The most radical change was conceivably to need to change the store design to accomidate to the Americans who mentioned easy routes to the checkout. China Befor astblishing themselves in China IKEA comprehended Chinese lofts were little Customers required utilitarian, measured arrangements. The organization made slight adjustments to its furniture to address neighborhood issues. The store designs mirrored the run of the mill sizes of lofts and furthermore incorporated a gallery settling the issue of high import burdens in China. Oppertunities and dangers confronting IKEA Oppertunities IKEA has various oppertunities right off the bat following the sucsess of their worldwide extension further venture into creating economies, for example, India. IKEA could likewise exp

Ludwig Van Beethoven and Mozart

Nicole Caillaux April 7, 2011 Music Appreciation Prof. Caballero One of the most musically capable, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart started at a youthful age and went at a youthful age. Mozart was extraordinarily skilled; his music is as yet heard and played the world over today. Amadeus a film depicted on Mozarts life through the eyes of a desirous opponent Antonio Salieri has a few realities just as fiction to it. Amadeus was an entirely praiseworthy film depicting Mozarts life. In spite of the fact that it had numerous realities there are some fiction minutes in the movie.Amadeus portrayed the connection among Mozart and Salieri as an envious competition, when really they were very well disposed and both valued the others work. In the film Salieri is a lot more established than Mozart when really Mozart was more established than Salieri. The film starts with Salieri blaming himself for killing Mozart and is taken to a psychological establishment. The real reason for Mozarts passing was an ailment not that he was harmed by Salieri. Mozart had six youngsters, however just two made it into adulthood.In the film Amadeus Mozart just had one kid. At the point when Mozart died his better half Constanze was absent at his memorial service since she excessively was sick, in spite of the fact that in the film she was available with their child. Diminish Shaffer the author of Amadeus worked admirably in representing Mozarts life; the film was loaded with dramatization and jealousy. Mozart was a phenomenal performer who will never be overlooked. Mozart composed numerous commendable pieces, I have picked Symphony No. 25 and Piano Concerto No. 21. Ensemble No. 5 the principal development has a light beat, while still now and again sounding dull. The piece all in all emits an exceptionally blustery and full inclination. The elements go all through from uproarious to delicate and back to boisterous. By and large the piece is allegro with just the subsequent development being moderat ely slow and even. With respect to the Piano Concerto No. 21 it starts unobtrusively with a walk then the rhythm starts to light up and a melodious song initiates after, the soloist starts to play quickly, at that point the ensemble joins again.The piece overall is allegro, with the subsequent development being moderately slow and even like orchestra No. 25. Ensemble No. 25 and Piano Concerto No. 21 are totally different, while one sounds dim and blustery the other is more brilliant and lively. Albeit both are exceptionally well known pieces, Symphony No. 25 was highlighted in the opening of Amadeus; the two pieces show Mozarts ability and flashy demeanor. He is a genuine virtuoso.

In Defense of the Amateur Review

In Defense of the Amateur Review Author Anne Rice recently caused some controversy (again) on the Amazon message boards by suggesting the company reward quality reviews to help to set an example for reviewers just starting out. In a sense Amazon already does this with upvoting and downvoting reviews, but Rice is proposing more substantive, monetary rewards. Rices post focuses specifically on negative reviews: Well written negative reviews, are, I think, rare on Amazon. But they do appear and I think reviewers who take the time to explain well and fairly why they are giving a negative review or a positive one should be rewarded. (Of course, that raises the question of whos going to decide which reviews are fair and helpful. Would Rice like it to be the authors?) Rices post sparked debate because many believe paid-for reviews wouldnt be as objective or fair as unpaid reviews. People could spam the system with fake reviews for cash. But the fact is, this is already happening on Amazon and other websites, only not the way Rice envisions it. To the surprise of no one, the dispute surrounding reviews on both Goodreads and Amazon is all about money: theres a belief, whether true or not, that online reviews can make or break book sales. So much marketing focus is placed on reviews that some self-published authors are willing to pay for fake reviews by the hundreds, and even pay people to purchase their books in order to get onto Amazons Top 50 or Top 100 lists (John Locke admitted to doing just that last year, even going to far as to recommend it as a marketing tactic). On sites like Fiverr, authors can pay $5 for someone to buy and review their books on Amazon. And even though these reviews arent what anyone would call objective, they probably do meet the qualifications of a good book review as defined by Rice in her Amazon post. In a deliciously snarky essay from 1936 titled, In Defense of the Novel, George Orwell lambasted the worthiness of professional reviews: Incidentally, it would be a good thing if more novel reviewing were done by amateurs. A man who is not a practised writer but has just read a book which has deeply impressed him is more likely to tell you what it is about than a competent but bored professional. That is why American reviews, for all their stupidity, are better than English ones; they are more amateurish, that is to say, more serious. Orwells argument was that amateur reviews would lead to people taking novels more seriously because the criticism would be harsh, honest, and disregard books that were tripe, giving the truly good books a chance to be noticed. And the Internets has actually borne that theory out, especially in genre fiction like romance. As Dear Author has argued, before the arrival of blogs and online amateur reviews, the only places to get romance novel reviews were industry magazines, which no one took seriously because all the reviews were positive. Then reviews by romance readers on Amazon, Goodreads, and book blogs broke that paradigm with reviews that ranged from harsh and snarky to love fests. Now critical response and commentary is the norm when it comes to romance novels, and romance has gained more respect and attention in mainstream media. Thats not to say professional reviews and criticism dont have their place (Im not going to write myself out of a job or anything), but without other voices chiming in they can turn into an echo chamber (especially considering most reviewers for publications like the New York Review of Books are white males). Readers who simply want to express their opinions, however trolly or inarticulate, about the books they read have a right to do so. Silencing or shuffling aside such voices in favor of quality reviews might be good for one book or one author, but bad for books in general. The reality is that peoples opinions are often unreasonable. So someone rated a book one star even though theyve never read it. Who cares? Not the authors fans. Its worth giving readers some credit that theyre able to figure out which reviews are good and which are bad for themselves, just as they can figure out which books are good and bad on their own. There are places for professional, industry reviews; but if books really want to thrive and stay relevant, there also needs to be sites where readers can discuss books freely without authors and others in the publishing industry peering over their shoulders or pulling puppet strings. Thats how Amazon and Goodreads reviews became so influential to begin with.

Fathers and Father Figures in Women’s Confessional Poetry - Literature Essay Samples

In his preface to Lyrical Ballads,William Wordsworth describes good poetry as being â€Å"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings† (6). The style of confessional poetry seems especially fitting to this description; to think that confessional poets merely transcribe powerful emotions onto paper is, however, a misconception. This paper attempts to examine the field and themes of confessional poetry, focusing on the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Sharon Olds. A common theme in the works of these women appears to be the subject of (incestuous) fathers and father figures; by analyzing their works relevant to this study and placing them in the context of previous research this paper seeks to explore and explain this motif from an angle of social oppression. Confessional poetry, a writing style that emerged in the United States in the late 1950 ´s, can be described as â€Å"the poetry of the personal or ‘I’†; it deals with highly personal subject matter that would ordinarily be kept out of the public domain. Themes like depression, suicide, mental trauma and abuse, which weren’t traditionally openly featured in poetry before, are discussed from an angle of private experience and emotion. As well as dealing with taboo or shocking subject matter, confessional poetry reduces the literary distance between the author and the narrator of the poem; as the term confessional suggests, the poems seem to be a direct translation of the author’s feelings and experiences on to paper. However, it should not be assumed that confessional poems are simply the poet’s confession of his personal problems and complications; according to Zane, the poems should be seen â€Å"as a means of defamiliarizing the reader an d the reader’s conventional assumptions about the domestic† (261). It is questionable whether confessional poetry can be called (partly) autobiographical; Uroff claims the narrator of Robert Lowell’s confessional poetry is not a literal but a â€Å"literary self† (105), which nonetheless mimics Lowell’s own person to a significant degree. Zane adds: â€Å"Much of Plaths work is autobiographical, but that does not necessarily mean that she is the speaker of each poem, and that the feelings and events are true to her own life† (260). Khalifel argues for a broader view of the influence of the life story of the poet on the works; he claims experiences not only influence the narrative, but create â€Å"an aesthetic identity in the poems, which are rooted in real life† (iii). The confessional poets were not merely transcribing their emotions; craft, form and construction are highly important. â€Å"Poetic form serves as a vehicle for previo usly tabooed content rather than . . . an organic extension of content† (Parini 52). Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton are two major names associated with confessional poetry. Both were students of Robert Lowell, for whom the term confessional poetry has been coined (Uroff 104), and admitted their writing was influenced by his works (Poets.org). Controversial, private topics are addressed in their works; Plath’s â€Å"Lady Lazarus† and Sexton’s â€Å"Sylvia’s Death† openly discuss suicide, Plath’s â€Å"Daddy† and Sexton’s â€Å"Daddy Warbucks† both use Nazi imagery whilst dealing with father figures. Sharon Olds is a contemporary poet and has denied the confessional label in several interviews. She disagrees with the definition of the term, explaining: â€Å"I believe that a confession is a telling, publicly or privately, of a wrong that one has done, which one regrets. And the confession is a way of trying to get to the other side and change one’s nature . . . I would use the phrase apparently person al poetry for the kind of poetry that I think people are referring to as confessional. Apparently personal because how do we really know? We don’t† (Blossom 31). Apart from challenging the name, then, Olds does not deny the concept that underlies it; her apparently personal poetry deals with taboo subjects—her poem â€Å"The Victims†, for example, discusses divorce and scorn for a father—and reduces the literary distance between narrator and author, suggesting that, whether she agrees with the choice of words of not, Olds can be read as a confessional poet. Since the poetry of all three of these women is—at least partially—confessional, their poetry is bound to deal with similar topics in the broad sense. Remarkable is the fact that Plath, Sexton and Olds all wrote poems about fathers or father figures, as well as ascribing incestuous tendencies to these characters. Swiontkowski argues the â€Å"incestuous Daddy figure† in the poetry of these women â€Å"is not identical to the biological fathers of these four women. This Daddy is a shared archetype, a symbolic embodiment of one form of communal experience† (iii). This poetic figure symbolises far greater (social) experiences precisely because he does not represent an objective historical account but is created out of a subjective, emotional subconscience. In one of Plath’s most famous poems, â€Å"Daddy†, she uses Nazi imagery and terms to describe her experiences and relationship with her deceased father, as well as her husband, who takes on the role of a father figure. She paints a harsh picture by comparing her ‘Daddy’ with a â€Å"black shoe/In which I have lived like a foot†, suggesting he has constrained her, â€Å"Barely daring to breathe or Achoo†. Several critics have implied the foot should be seen as a phallic symbol which suggests her incestuous desire. The fear of her father extends beyond his character: â€Å"I thought every German was you./And the language obscene/An engine, an engine/Chuffing me off like a Jew†. This extending of characteristics becomes more significant in the tenth and thirteenth stanza, where the focus shifts from ‘Daddy’ to a new abusive father figure: â€Å"Every woman adores a Fascist,/The boot in the face, the brute/Brute heart of a br ute like you/. . . I made a model of you,/A man in black with a Meinkampf look/And a love of the rack and the screw./And I said I do, I do†. Marrying a man she compares to her father has a strong connection to Freud’s Oedipus complex, again implying an incestuous tone. The tone of this poem is increasingly dark and full of anger; interestingly, before composing â€Å"Daddy†, Plath wrote another poem seemingly addressed to her father, which describes her loss in a different tone. â€Å"The Colossus† projects the father as an enormous statue, which has fallen to ruin; the poem opens with the line â€Å"I shall never get you put together entirely†, conveying her hopelessness at reconstructing (the memory of) him. The statue cannot speak comprehensively: â€Å"Mule-bray, pig-grunt and bawdy cackles/Proceed from your great lips.†. Even thirty years have not been enough â€Å"To dredge the silt from your throat.† By projecting the image of h er father on such a humongous structure, she seems to acknowledge his power and the place he still holds in her mind; however, she struggles to piece together the memory of him and stresses his incapability to add anything to her life by muting him. The shift in tone between these two poems is explained by Khalifeh by claiming that â€Å"Plath‘s literary relationship with her father changed after her husband‘s betrayal. Following this crucial event, Plath started to attack the father instead of being submissive to him† (276). Anne Sexton’s â€Å"’Daddy’ Warbucks† seems to address a father figure, in the fashion of a rich sugar daddy who has fought in the war. Annie, the narrator of the poem, is orphaned, filling the empty space of the father with a ‘Daddy’, of which she â€Å"knew your money/would save me†. Sexton uses words with sexual connotations to talk about his money: â€Å"because youve got the bucks, the bucks, the bucks./You let me touch them, fondle the green faces/lick at their numbers and it lets you be/my Daddy! Daddy! †. The seemingly incestuous tone continues more explicitly in the second stanza, where Sexton writes â€Å"And all the men out there were never to come./Never, like a deluge, to swim over my breasts/and lay their lamps in my insides./No. No./Just me and my Daddy/and his tempestuous bucks†. Like Plath, Sexton uses a Nazi reference: â€Å"I died,/swallowing the Nazi-Jap animal†. The narrator does not judge her ‘Daddy’, but seems entirely compliant with their relationship. In â€Å"How We Danced†, Sexton suggests incest in her description of dancing with her father. The dance starts innocently, â€Å"and we danced, Father, we orbited./We moved like angels washing themselves.†, but near the end of the poem this image is corrupted: â€Å"You danced with me never saying a word./Instead the serpent spoke as you held me close./The serpent, that mocker, woke up and pressed against me†. The serpent here is a clear phallic symbol; her father’s erection turns the dance from an expression of an endearing moment between father and daughter to a shocking snapshot of incestuous tendencies. Sharon Olds’ tone towards her father seems relatively uncorrupted at the start of â€Å"Looking at My Father†. His character is judged, but apparently all this does not matter for the narrator, who enjoys looking at her father: â€Å"I do not think I am deceived about him,/I know about the drinking, I know he’s a tease,/obsessive, rigid, selfish, sentimental,/but I could look at my father all day/and not get enough†. The poem goes on to describe in detail the features of her father’s face. At the end of the poem, however, the incest motif surfaces: â€Å"I know he is not perfect but my/body thinks his body is perfect†, followed by â€Å"What I know I know, what my/body knows it knows, it likes to/slip the leash of my mind and go and/look at him, like an animal/looking at water, then going to it and/drinking until it has had its fill and can/lie down and sleep.†. The narrator does not condemn her father, but rather seems to consent will ingly. In â€Å"Late Poem to My Father†, Sexton mediates between the alcoholic father to whom she says â€Å"even at 30 and 40 you set the/oily medicine to your lips/every night, the poison to help you/drop down unconscious† and his former self, a boy of seven: â€Å"helpless, smart, there were things the man/did near you, and he was your father,/the mould by which you were made†, suggesting a sense of understanding if not forgiveness for what he’s become. Whenever she thinks of what her father as an adult did to her and her family, she remembers â€Å"that/child being formed in front of the fire†, whom Sexton suggests has been hurt: the bones of his soul broken, â€Å"the small/tendons that hold the heart in place/snapped†. The poem ends with the lines â€Å"When I love you now,/I like to think I am giving my love/Directly to that boy in the fiery room,/As if it could reach him in time.†. The title of this poem suggests the forgivene ss has come too late. As the passages above illustrate, the ways in which Plath, Sexton and Olds write about fathers and father figures share certain characteristics, such as the use of the incest motif and in some cases an aggressive, dark tone. Poems such as Olds’ â€Å"Looking at My Father† and Sexton’s â€Å"‘Daddy’ Warbucks† show a submissive or compliant narrator, whereas Plath’s â€Å"Daddy† and Olds’ â€Å"How We Danced† seem to condemn the father and his actions. A forgiving tone can be read in Olds’ â€Å"Late Poem to My Father†. According to Swiontowsky, all three women relate incest to â€Å"social responsibility[,] . . . social power and often to affluence†(14). In â€Å"‘Daddy’ Warbucks†, the father figure ensures Annie’s compliance through his wealth, in â€Å"Daddy† the father is compared to a Nazi and his daughter is depicted as a Jew. â€Å"In both cases, male auth orities benefit socially and psychologically from conflict and from victimizing others, and women benefit secondarily only to the extent that they comply with the male authorities, their social Daddies† (Swiontowsky 14). This sense of (forced) submission to a Daddy can be interpreted as an umbrella metaphor for women’s lives in a patriarchal society; incest becomes a symbol for the daily, lifelong repression by male authoritative figures. In this sense, Plath’s â€Å"Daddy† can be seen as a break from oppression, especially when considering her mentioning killing this father figure, and the content of the last line: â€Å"Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through†. In all poems thus far mentioned, the Daddy exerts control over the speaker of the poem in one way or another; physically and/or mentally, the narrators are at Daddy’s mercy. The use of an incestuous father figure to demonstrate, discuss and even oppose social oppression of wome n is a device used by Plath, Sexton and Olds in these confessional poems; this controversial, arguably shocking way of addressing and emphasizing personal experiences and issues seems typical for confessional poetry, and these three women demonstrate that the style goes far beyond recording personal experiences and emotions. Works Cited â€Å"A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry.† Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Oct. 2016. Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. Print. Blossom, Laurel. Sharon Olds. Poets Writers Magazine 21.5 (1993): 30-32. PW.org. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. Freud, Sigmund. The interpretation of dreams. Trans. James Strachey. Charleston: CreateSpace, 2016. Print. Olds, Sharon. â€Å"Late Poem to my Father†. The Gold Cell. New York: Random House, 1962. 40. Poetry Foundation. Web. 23 Oct. 2016. 40 . â€Å"Looking at my father†. The Gold Cell. New York: Random House, 2011. 31-32. Poetry Foundation. Web. 23 Oct. 2016. Parini, Jay, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford: Oxford, 2004. Web. 29 Oct. 2016. , ed. The Columbia History of American Poetry. New York: Columbia, 1993. Web. 25 Oct. 2016 Plath, Sylvia. â€Å"Daddy†. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 626-29. Print. . â€Å"The Colossus†. The Colossus. New York: Random House, 1962. Poetry Foundation. Web. 23 Oct. 2016. Sexton, Anne. â€Å"How We Danced†. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012. 560-561. Print. . â€Å"Daddy Warbucks†. The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton. Wilmington: Mariner, 1999. 54- 55. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. Swiontkowski, Gale. Preface: Some Cautions and Many Thanks. Imagining Incest: Sexton, Plath, Rich, and Olds on Life with Daddy. By Swiontkowski. Selinsgrive: Susquehanna University Press, 2003. 9-15. Web. 3 Oct. 2016 Uroff, M.D. â€Å"Sylvia Plath and Confessional Poetry: A Reconsideration† The Iowa Review 8.1 (1977): 104-15. Web. 28 Oct. 2016. Wordsworth, William. Preface. Lyrical Ballads. By Wordsworth. London: Longman, 1992. Print. Zane, Lauren. â€Å"Defamiliarization in the Domestic Poetry of Sylvia Plath†. Scholarworks. Web. Oct 29 2016.