Depending on how you view life will influence how you feel about the city you live in.
People who live an honest life and see the glass half full will be more hopeful about tragedies.
People who do not live an honest life and see the glass half empty will be more disparaging
during tragedies. An optimist will also look at tragedy as a time of rebuilding where a pessimist
will look at the same tragedy as life as we know it over. In this essay I will describe the view
of London from Dyden's Annus Mirabilis and Pepys' Diary, I will discuss what each excerpt
have in common and what differs with regards to the representation of the Great Fire of 1666, I
will display each author's attitude toward the city, the nation and its people and finally showcase
which writer is more optimistic of the city's future.
By the very first line in Annus Mirabilis you can see that the author viewed the city
before the fire as a great city that has made a turn for the worst "Yet London, empress of the
northern clime, By an high fate thou greatly didst expire" (2085, 1-2). Dryden felt the city had
claimed too much fame and possibly too much sin. This poem is remnant of the story from the
bible of Sodom and Gomorrah because those cities were destined to be destroyed by God for
the people of the cities sinful nature. Dryden must have believed London needed to suffer the
same fate, but instead of being completely destroyed and gone forever London is not entirely
burned and is rebuilt better than it was before "Great as the world's, which at the death of time
Must fall, and rise a nobler frame by fire" (2085, 3-4).
Looking into how Pepys feels about London it is a bit more difficult to decipher because
he is writing...
... middle of paper ...
...d this will
keep him from having the sky come crashing down if everything does not turn out as he believes
it will.
In this essay, I have described the view of London from Dyden's Annus Mirabilis and
Pepys' Diary. I have also discussed what each excerpt has in common and what differs with
regards to the representation of the Great Fire of 1666. I have depicted each author's attitude
toward the city, the nation and its people and finally showcased Dryden as the more optimistic
writer with regards to the city's future. Remembering to look at the positive side of things when
there is a tragedy is sometimes what makes us resilient enough to rise out of the ashes and
rebuild. Every place on earth experiences tragedy and it is not the tragedy that defines people,
but it is the actions they take afterwards that stakes claim in who they really are.
The City of Dreadful Delight starts with some cultural analysis of the historical background that helped to produce the social landscape of Victorian London. In discussing the transformation of London, Walkowitz argues for seeing more than merely a shift from one type of city to another but rather a conflicted layering of elite male spectatorship, the “scientific” social reform, and W. T. Stead's New Journalism. Here Walkowitz investigates the “Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon.” The “Maiden Tribute” consisted of a series of articles, authored by Stead and presented in the penny press, which exposed the sale of girls into prostitution. According to Walkowitz, these stories relied on the new scientific methods of social investigation, but the...
It has been said that the grass is always greener on the other side. Being excited about the newness and challenges of a new place may not enable it to stay green for a lifetime, but the new place is a great place to spend the next four years. So even though I lived my whole high school life in one city where there were no actual problems, it still was time for me to move where there were new experiences.
Rose, J. K. (1997, November 8). The city beautiful movement. University of Virginia. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/citybeautiful/city.html
The reader gets a vivid image of a huge industrial city built in “valleys huge of Tartarus”(4). This reference to Tartarus is saying that the city is virtually in a hell-like area. The image of hell is further exemplified by the line “A flaming terrible and bright”(12), which conjures up thoughts of fire and heat. The reference to hell and flames adds to the theme because it brings to light the idea of destruction and nature burning away. Similar to what happens when there is a forest fire. The fire is not just coming out of nowhere though, it is coming “from out a thousand furnace doors”(16), which furthers the idea of industrialization. There are no longer humans in this city which is evident because when talking about the beings in the city Lampman wrote “They are not flesh, they are not bone,/ They see not with the human eye”(33-34). This part of the poem is important because if there are no more humans left it is easy to assume that the only driving force of these “Flit figures that with clanking hands”(31) is work. They work to make the city bigger and to build more than they already
Close your eyes and sit back in your recliner. Let the cool breeze refresh you as you relax in your hardwood floored den and sip your English tea. Now picture London. What kind of an image comes to mind? Perhaps the sophisticated languages of its inhabitants or just the aura of properness that encompasses typical visions of the great city of London. I am not writing to deny the eloquence of London, I am instead writing to challenge the notion of sophistication that many of us hold true to London. Could a city of such brilliance and royalty ever fester with the day to day problems that we witness daily in our own country? I argue, yes.
IT was a chilly November afternoon. I had just consummated an unusually hearty dinner, of which the dyspeptic truffe formed not the least important item, and was sitting alone in the dining-room, with my feet upon the fender, and at my elbow a small table which I had rolled up to the fire, and upon which were some apologies for dessert, with some miscellaneous bottles of wine, spirit and liqueur. In the morning I had been reading Glover's "Leonidas," Wilkie's "Epigoniad," Lamartine's "Pilgrimage," Barlow's "Columbiad," Tuckermann's "Sicily," and Griswold's "Curiosities" ; I am willing to confess, therefore, that I now felt a little stupid. I made effort to arouse myself by aid of frequent Lafitte, and, all failing, I betook myself to a stray
The Great Fire of London, as documented by Samuel Pepys and other writers, began on the early morning of Sunday, September 2nd 1666 when a fire erupted at Pudding Lane in Thomas Farriner’s bakery (Dailey and Tomedi 43). Farriner, who was the king’s baker, went to fetch a candle some time close to midnight. While going to get the candle, Farriner observed that his oven was not lit and that there were no embers. However, two hours later Farriner and his family awoke feeling “almost choked with smoked” (Shields 80). Farriner quickly dashed over to the top of the stairs and found flames making their way up from the shop below. According to Farriner, the fire was not in the proximity of his over nor the pile of wood close to his house (Shields 81). However this and the actual cause of the fire in the house are debatable due to Farriner possibly attempting to remove any blame placed on him from the fire by lying in his testimony of the in...
Sunday September 2, 1666 at 2 a.m. was the day when the fire began (Cowie, 59). It had all began in a baker’s house due to a spark that was “left” in one of his ovens. ‘”, all that was needed was a spark. This was provided at the house of Thomas Farynor, the King’s baker in Pudding Lane…”’ (“London’s Burning: The Great Fire”, 1). In this area was known as a poor area and it was also very dirty. All the houses were made out of wood, which fed the fire and it started to spread. The baker’s house was the first house to burn down and that is also where the first tragedy took place. The wind was strong during this time and as it blew it would push the fire and help it spread through the city. The people started waking up due to the smell of the smoke and they tried to put the fire out as fast as they could. The fire fighters even tired to stop the fire but it was to big for one truck to handle. One of the residents ran to the Mayors house to warm him of what was happening. When told of what was happening, “…the L...
The age-old question has plagued many, “Should I live in a city or should I live in the country?”. There are many advantages and disadvantages to choosing a lifestyle in either setting, and careful examination of all aspects is needed to make the perfect decision for you.
So at last I had come to the capital. It was a strange way to come to it, after such a roundabout journey. If I had come to it fresh from my upriver town it would have seemed immense, rich, a capital. But after Europe, and with London still close to me, it seemed flimsy in spite of its size, an echo of Europe, and like make-believe, at the end of all that forest. (247)
There are numerous differences between living in a small town or a big city. Small towns and big cities each have their unique advantages and disadvantages. Where a person grows up plays an integral part in shaping their personality. And, sometimes a person’s personality can have a great impact on their preference of where to live. Preferring a small town or big city is a very individual matter. Different people have different reasons for favoring one over the other. Personally, and admitting that my views are shaped by my personal experiences, I believe the advantages of growing up in a small town – as long as that small town is in reasonably close proximity to a decent sized city.
How does the city I am currently living in differ from the city I am moving to?
Centuries could pass, and not many changes could be easily perceived by the common man, as those changes came gradually. Yet those changes can be readily discerned when looking at England as a whole, not looking at parts of history individually. The alterations of life, when looked at from a certain literary viewpoint, can be explained when one looks at the different periods in English literature, seeing the depictions of a certain era through writings that unintentionally convey great varieties in the mentality and lifestyles of the people who lived during that time. From war and violence to the more genteel inclinations of love and peace, English literature has evolved throughout the centuries, most especially if one considers the differences between the Old English, Renaissance and Romantic periods.
Where I live is one of the greatest neighborhoods in the city to live in; however it does have its draw backs. Importantly it has nearly everything a resident might want, beautiful picturesque scenery, proximity to shopping, and many of the cultural centers. Nevertheless the roads can be some of the most congested in town, and the streets are not safe to walk late at night.