Walt Whitman Essays (1652 words) - Brooklyn Eagle, Mystics

Walt Whitman In parting with traditional poetic formalities, Walt Whitman alleviated a burden that impeded his ability to achieve full poetic expression. To Whitman, the strict boundaries that formal meter, structure, and rhyme imposed set limits on his stylistic freedom. This is not to say that these limits prevented Whitman from conveying his themes. Rather, they presented a contradiction to which Whitman refused to conform. In Whitman's eyes, to meet these formal guidelines one would also have to sacrifice the ability to express qualities and passion of living men. Thus, Whitman contested traditional poetic protocol because it added a layer of superficiality that concerned itself with creating perfect rhythmical, metrical, and structural poetry. It was this end that bothered Whitman, for he believed that each word in a poem should serve only one purpose: "to harmonize with the name, nature, and drift of the poem". To understand exactly what characteristics of traditional poetic rules posed such problems for Whitman, we must establish a working definition of what this means. Traditional poetic rules are those determined through the history of British poetry . This statement in itself leaves much latitude for interpretation. For the sake of comparison, generalizations must be made. First of all, traditional British poetry adhered to a specific meter, a common example being the iambic foot (unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). Whatever the chosen meter, these patterns were more or less consistent throughout the course of the poem. Similarly, in a traditional British poem, it was desired that each of the lines have the same amount of feet (for example the Shakespearean sonnet written in iambic pentameter, meaning five feet or iambs). Along these same lines, traditional poets valued a concise and logical structure. This meant that stanzas consisted of a predetermined amount of lines or that the poem had a predetermined amount of stanzas. Augmenting this formal structure were predetermined rhyme schemes (such as ?abab cdcd efef gg' in Shakespearean sonnets). Based on the above, we can describe traditional poetic etiquette as adhering to the suggested formal patterns predetermined by the tradition of British poetry. Just in reaching the above conclusion, a problem arises that all poets, not just Whitman, face when trying to conform to this style. This problem is that all of these rules are cumbersome. It is difficult for a poet to convey the theme of a poem when he or she is concerned with whether or not each word fits into a designated formal pattern. Yet, some would argue that this is what makes poetry such an elegant art form. Surely, Whitman recognized the genius found in Shakespeare's sonnets and other constitutive examples of traditional British poetry. However, whether or not Whitman recognized the genius of great traditional British poets, is inconsequential. What did matter was whether or not Whitman felt that this style was appropriate for him. The answer is no. Whitman found problems not simply with the fact that clinging to the traditional style might be burdensome (surely this would not have been an insurmountable task for Whitman), but his main issue with traditional style concerned the ornamental effect of formal regularity: "In future Leaves of Grass. Be more severe with the final revisions of the poem, nothing will do, not one word or sentence that is not perfectly clear-- with positive purpose-- harmony with the name, nature, drift of the poem. Also, no ornaments, especially no ornamental adjectives, unless they have come molten hot, and imperiously prove themselves. No ornamental similes at all?not one; perfect transparent clearness, sanity, and health are wanted?that is the divine style?O of it can be attained." In the above quote we see the essence of Whitman's ideology towards the ?divine style' and to what standards his poetry should be held. Thus, Whitman proposed that the formalities of traditional poetry resulted in the true nature of the poem being lost to a kind of superficial elegance. To Whitman, evidence of this postulate could be found in the general idea of what was considered a standard theme in these ornamental poems. These themes often seemed as removed from the everyday reader as the decorative language and structure with which they were presented. Whitman found the quality of romanticism in previous literary distasteful because the everyday reader could not identify with the theme as it applied to his or her own life. Nor could the reader relate to the characters, which tended to be one-dimensional (an infallible hero, an evil villain, or a helpless maiden). This last consequence led Whitman to rebel against tradition. Whitman sought not to cloud

Joseph Stalin foreign policies

Joseph Stalin foreign policies Introduction Joseph Stalin was born in the year 1879 in Georgia and was an influential politician in Soviet State from the year 1922 until he died in 1953 (Imdb.com).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Joseph Stalin foreign policies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During this time, Stalin served â€Å"as the first general secretary of the communist party of the Soviet union’s central committee† (Imdb.com) and he managed to consolidate more authority and power in his governance until he become dominant over all other political groups within this party. As a result of his outstanding policies, Stalin geared the soviet State towards achieving major transformation and the country become a â€Å"great industrial power† causing swift economical changes to occur (Imdb.com). Stalin’s policies Foreign policies are combined strategies which a State or a country designs and pursues in order to safeguar d its concerns and interests within the international arena (Foreignpolicy.com). As such, Joseph Stalin had developed specific policies in order to ensure that Soviet Union was successful in many areas primarily in national security. Throughout his reign, Stalin took necessary measures to develop strategies which enabled him maintain power while on the other hand safeguarding the interest of his country (Foreignpolicy.com). Joseph Stalin was obsessed with power and for this reason he wanted to be in a position where he can command and control everything; he therefore developed different strategies such as policies to maintain political power, policies to enable Soviet State acquire economically stability so that the country could become superior over its enemies and policies to safeguard the interest of the nation (Foreignpolicy.com). Discussion Foremost, when Joseph Stalin came into power, he formulated policies which would enable him stay in power for a long time by eliminating al l the people who worked in the previous administration while replacing this group of employees with his own people and friends (Histclo.com). Thereafter, Stalin also initiated a revolutionary wave which would see the Soviet Union acquire higher level of economical stability driven by the industrialization process (Histclo.com). During this industrialization process, there were major developments in the Soviet state and the government was fully able to control all sectors of the country including the most important sectors such as the treasury department because of Stalin hold on power. This firm control was necessary for Stalin’s administration because it enabled the government to direct funds in developing capable and strong military defense that Stalin needed to advance his military policy that was meant to be both defensive and aggressive (Imdb.com). Additionally, as a result of the high level of industrialization, the Soviet Union became self sufficient and very developed in terms of military power as the country was generating sophisticated and high standard military weapons to further its foreign military policy.Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Stalin also strengthened the country’s army in other ways through quality training of the country’s Red army which was intended to function as preemptive and preparative strategies in case of conflict outbreak between itself and its German neighbors or other countries such as Japan (Imdb.com). Just before the outbreak of Second World War, Stalin had established a policy to increase the number of military officers and by the year 1939 he had made sure that the population of army in the country had increased tremendously; in fact about 1.9 million of the population was army officers (Britannica.com). This ensured that the state was fully prepared to preempt any military attack especially form the Germans (Britannica.com). In this regard it is good to understand that just before the year 1930, Stalin had not developed a good foreign policy for his country, but since he was an ambitious person, Stalin did everything within his power to prepare his country for any eventuality of war which ultimately occurred. As a commanding leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin also developed several foreign strategies aimed at protecting the interests of the Soviet State apart from the military end (Britannica.com). Towards this end, Stalin established several strategies that ensured his country become recognized as an aggressive power. He then advanced a policy to protect the land of the Soviet State which was the basis of the countries saying that stated â€Å"we do not want a single foot of foreign territory, but we will not surrender a single inch of our territory either† (Histclo.com) in which he was quoted saying during one of his many speeches to his people (Histclo.com). This particular policy was adopted by Stalin just few months before the outbreak of World War II (Britannica.com). After this policy, Stalin desire to protect his country made him develop a much better foreign policy that was reconciliatory in nature which enabled Soviet Union to pursue open dialogues with most of the neighboring countries in order to build good relationship with these countries so that they could become allies in case of an outbreak in war (Foreignpolicy.com). Therefore during this time, Stalin developed policies that were both defensive and reconciliatory by strengthening the military while at the same time pursuing a policy that intended to befriend its neighboring countries. Indeed, Stalin developed about four major foreign policies which served as effective instrument of promoting strong military and good relationship with its neighbors. The first was to build up a good business relationship with all neighbor countries so that Soviet Union could win their trus t by engaging with them in trade. The second strategy was to avoid any form of conflict or argument between Soviet Union and the neighboring countries so as to maintain strong bonds of friendship (Foreignpolicy.com).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Joseph Stalin foreign policies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The third policy was to create a strong Red army and navy in order to facilitate reinforcement of the military force and also enable the defense mechanism to be ready to handle attackers from every side at any given time. Lastly Stalin developed another policy of creating good relationship with all foreigners living in his country whilst also ensuring good international bonds were maintained with its allies (Foreignpolicy.com). It is clear that, Joseph Stalin was a strategist and through his scheming he also ensured that treaties of all the above agreements that furthered the country’s policies were si gned by the neighboring countries as a mark of commitment to these goals. Stalin also created foreign policies that addressed other countries policies that were being made by its enemies such as Poland and German; because he responded to this by pursuing policies that intended to make allies from its friendly countries. Pros and cons of Joseph Stalin During the period when Joseph Stalin was in authority, the Soviet Union experienced major transformations such as industrialization, economical development and good military defense which are among the most positive achievements of Commander Joseph Stalin as discussed below during his reign (Foreignpolicy.com). Since Stalin was an ambitious person, he did everything within his power to ensure that the Soviet Union would become a superior state. Therefore, during his reign, Stalin developed a strong team in his government that helped in facilitating urbanization of the Soviet Union to become more industrialized than ever before (Histclo. com). This is because Stalin was very determined to make the Soviet Union acquire higher level of industrialization despite the internal pressure which was opposing his initiatives. Stalin sold much of the agricultural products all over the land so that he could be able to acquire funds that would facilitate his government in supporting this project. This is no doubt one of the many achievements that Joseph Stalin achieved because of the great desire to have his country become much superior as well; this is one of his greatest achievements (Histclo.com). In addition, Joseph Stalin enabled the country to acquire economical stability due to the major developments that he facilitated in the industrial sector. Because of the higher level of industrialization acquired by the Soviet State, the country was able to be of economical influence over other neighboring countries in the region (Foreignpolicy.com). Furthermore, Stalin also was able to develop a strong and capable military defense which he invested heavily in order to safeguard the interest of the Soviet State. During this period, Stalin invested heavily in strengthening the Red army in every front such as by increasing training for the navy and airborne officers. Besides this, Stalin also advocated for increase in the number of army soldiers in order to ensure that the country was ready to face its enemies during war outbreak which had by then became imminent (Histclo.com).Advertising Looking for essay on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Despite of all these achievements, Joseph Stalin as a leader of the Soviet Union also negatively affected the country because of his foreign policies as well as his internal policies and his great ambitions to acquire more power. While trying to develop an industrialized State, Stalin had to sell a lot of agricultural products such as wheat from the farmers which eventually caused a great famine and consequently caused a mass death of Soviets citizens due to lack of enough food in the country (Foreignpolicy.com). Furthermore, while imposing his policies, Stalin violated the right and freedom to religion by abolishing all religious activities across the nation (Foreignpolicy.com). Britannica.com. â€Å"Joseph Stalin (prime minister of Union of Soviet.† Web.. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Stalin Foreignpolicy.com. â€Å"Stalin statue in Virginia a huge bust†. 2010. Web. Histclo.com â€Å"Biography : Joseph Stalin, 2009†. Web. https://www.histclo.com /bio/s/bio-stalin.html Imdb.com. â€Å"Biography for Joseph Stalin†. 1998. Web. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821672/bio Stel.ru. â€Å"Joseph Stalin Biography, 2004†. Web.