Imaginative Freedom of Birches
In "Birches" (Mountain Interval, 1916) Frost begins to probe the power of his redemptive imagination as it moves from its playful phase toward the brink of dangerous transcendence. The movement into transcendence is a movement into a realm of radical imaginative freedom where (because redemption has succeeded too well) all possibilities of engagement with the common realities of experience are dissolved. In its moderation, a redemptive consciousness motivates union between selves as we have seen in "The Generations of Men," or in any number of Frost's love poems. But in its extreme forms, redemptive consciousness can become self-defeating as it presses the imaginative man into deepest isolation.
"Birches" begins by evoking its core image against the background of a darkly wooded landscape:
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay
As ice storms do.
The pliable, malleable quality of the birch tree captures the poet's attention and kicks off his meditation. Perhaps young boys don't bend birches down to stay, but swing them they do and thus bend them momentarily. Those "straighter, darker trees," like the trees of "Into My Own" that "scarcely show the breeze," stand ominously free from human manipulation, menacing in their irresponsiveness to acts of the will. The malleability of the birches is not total, however, and the poet is forced to admit this fact into the presence of his desire, like it or not. The ultimate shape of mature birch trees is the work of objective natural force, not human activity. Yet after conceding the boundaries of imagination's subjective world, the poet seems not to have constricted himself but to have been released.
Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow crust--
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
Fascinated as he is by the show of loveliness before him, and admiring as be is of nature as it performs the potter's art, cracking and crazing the enamel of ice coating on the birch trees, it is not finally the thing itself (the ice-coated trees) that interests the poet but the strange association be is tempted to make: "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
In the second stanza the poet describes the tree as thin, dry and insecure. Insecurity is a human nature that has been used to describe a
Snow Falling on Cedars, a novel by David Guterson, is a post World War II drama set in 1954 on the island of San Piedro in Washington State. The story’s focal point is the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, who is accused of killing a fellow islander, Carl Heine, Jr., supposedly because of an old family feud over land. Although the trial is the main focus of the story, Guterson takes the reader back in time through flashbacks to tell a story of forbidden love involving two young islanders, Ishmael Chambers and Hatsue Imada (Kabuo’s future wife). At the time of their romance, interracial relationships were considered strictly taboo because of racial bias. It is through both this love story and Guterson’s remarkable use of setting and imagery that the reader is informed as to why racial prejudice is so high on the island of San Piedro at the time of the trial and why Kabuo is not merely on trial for Carl’s murder, but also for the color of his skin.
“Trees of the Arctic Circle” and “Heat” depict nature as having its faults such as the trees being a disappointment in Purdy’s case and the weather being too intensely hot in Lampman’s case but by the end of each poem find clarity is almost essential not only physically but internally. The two works give nature characteristic views as well as personification that differ from 20th century modernist works to impressionist ideals upon nature. Both poems bring out realizations in ones self within coming to terms with shifting out of the negative to a positive and demonstrating that nature is always capable bring out
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
In The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger feels scared rather than secretive, when she has to keep her family’s secret
and provide three short quotes from this poem and one quote from “Birches.” I will also
Tens of millions of people have been diagnosed with Autism worldwide, effecting both genders, all races, ethnicities and people from all socioeconomic classes. In 2010 a Surveillance Summary was conducted in the United States, where it identified that one in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). It has been recognised within this study that Autism has a higher likelihood to be identified in males, where one in 42 are diagnosed, than females, where one in 189 are diagnosed.
As the prevalence of Autism continues to grow rapidly, it is proven fact that Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States. “On March 27, 2014, this surveillance study identified one in sixty-eight children (one in forty-two boys and one in one-hundred eighty-nine girls) as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).” (DSM-IV, 2000). Eight-hundred thousand people younger than eighteen years are on record as having Autism Spectrum Disorder in the United States. Most children display abnormalities within the first year of life; although most are diagnosed with Autism between the ages of two and three. Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have Autism. However, females with the disorder are more feasible to exhibit serious mental retardation. There are “approximately seventy-five percent of children with Autism are mentally handicapped; meaning their IQ ranges from thirty-five to fifty. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV, 2000) research suggests that only a small percentage of individuals with Autistic Disorder go on as adults to live and work independently.” ( DSM-IV, 2000)
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that severely impacts socialization, communication, and may even cause obsessive or repetitive behaviors. Autism delays the brain's normal development, and is also correlated with a milder form of the syndrome known as a pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-N OS). Since it was first identified in 1943, there has been increasing rate in new diagnoses each year. Muhle, Trenracoste, and Rapin (2004) found that the rate of diagnosis for Autism has risen 556% between the years of 1991 and 1997. Many feel that this increase is due to a shifting of diagnostic criteria, or newer defining characteristics of the syndrome. The expansion of the diagnostic criteria also indirectly relates to the increase of services provided for Autistic children, therefore increasing the shift. Because of this increase of diagnoses, more awareness has been brought to pediatricians, further increasing the rate in which Autism is diagnosed ("Autism," 2010). Glasson et al. (2004) found that the frequency in which the disorder is diagnosed has risen to almost 60 per 10000 people. Another factor in the increase of the diagnosis of Autism is that children are being diagnosed at a much earlier age. Parents are identifying problematic behaviors earlier in a child's life, sometimes as early as 8 months of age (Bristol-Power & Spinella 1999).
In the United States, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that between 1 in 80 and 1 in 240, for an average of 1 in 110 children have an autism spectrum disorder, “ASD” (Nirv, Shah 2011). According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, up to six out of every 1,000 children may be diagnosed with some form of autism. In addition, boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism. This means that as many as 1.5 million Americans today are believed to have some form of autism. Unfortunately, the numbers appear to be increasing rapidly. Autism is a disability that frequently appears during the first three years of life. It is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain and impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction and communication skills (Bee & Boyd, 2009). It is the most prevalent developmental disorder to date. Autism is one of five disorders coming under the umbrella of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), a category of neurological disorders characterized by "severe and pervasive impairment in several areas of development," including social interaction and communications skills (Zager, 2006). The etiology of autism is a topic of controversial debate, while researchers strive to achieve a common objective. The goal is to identify the cause of autism to understand the complex interplay between environment and gene regulation (NCBI, 2009). Although individuals with autism have existed for many centuries it was not recognized and labeled until mid 20th century. Therefore, early detection, intervention and an individual educational plan are essentials for the progress of ASD.
“When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.” Childhood is represented when the branches swing Frost thinks there is a boy swinging on them. Adulthood is represented by straighter darker trees because darker is a reference to older trees just by the nature of the color as compared to a birch tree which is white or light in color. “But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice storms do. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning. After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel....
...ed by many scholars as his best work. It is through his awareness of the merit, the definitive disconnectedness, of nature and man that is most viewable in this poem. Throughout this essay, Frosts messages of innocence, evil, and design by deific intrusion reverberate true to his own personal standpoint of man and nature. It is in this, that Frost expresses the ideology of a benign deity.
There were two rumors in the experiment conducted for the rumor assignment. Both rumors were very different in context but both proved the same thing in the end. Rumor number one was first told to the first individual who was standing outside of the classroom with three other students. Person one listened as the professor said the rumor, and then they had to remember it, and tell the next person (person two) outside the classroom this rumor. The central theme of rumor one was there were two men on the subway who started arguing while many people watched near by.