CHR Director Ranjith Keerthi Tennakoon states that the Sri Lankan higher education system was influenced by Buddhism which encourages critical thinking. The university Act No 16 of 1978 accepts the importance of academic freedom and the necessity to give lecturers and students the necessary space to think freely. However this freedom has been gradually taken away by the authorities in the last decade.
By
Ranjith Keerthi Tennakoon
(May 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) University student is essentially a person who is expected to question authority and to look at things rationally and critically. Therefore Centre for Human rights (CHR) believes that the decision taken by the government to give 'leadership training' to university entrants in military installations and by predominantly military personnel is a violation of accepted norms.
CHR Director Ranjith Keerthi Tennakoon states that the Sri Lankan higher education system was influenced by Buddhism which encourages critical thinking. The university Act No 16 of 1978 accepts the importance of academic freedom and the necessity to give lecturers and students the necessary space to think freely. However this freedom has been gradually taken away by the authorities in the last decade.
The decision taken to give this leadership training inside military camps is done against the will/consent of the majority of the students. This is a violation of Article 10 of the 1978 constitution 'freedom of thought, conscience and religion.' Also how this action is looked upon by students belonging to minorities, especially Tamils, should deeply ponder upon.
CHR in its previous reports and press releases spoke extensively about the gradual suppression of academic freedom in universities. Not only students, but also lecturers are victims of this and in the last few years many independent academics have left universities. The intolerance of authorities can also be shown in the way they are handling the university lecturers’ salary issue.
During his or her tenure at the university a student is trained to think rationally and critically. They are not expected to follow orders blindly. If that is what the government expects/wants, CHR condemns that decision as a continuation of government suppression of universities.
Sources: www.srilankaguardian.org/2011/.../military-training-to-university.htm-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Precis- A/L
Write the précis of the following passage.
A few years before he died, Sir John Kotelawela, a former prime minister of this country, was entertaining some friends to breakfast at his Kandawela home. The conversation turned to what he would do with the property which he had once said he would like to see converted into a children’s home modeled on the famous Dr. Barnardo’s homes. That thought, apparently, had been abandoned in his twilight years and he told his guests that the only institutions he could trust to look after his much-loved home was the army or the Catholic Church. In the event, the former military officer left the valuable property, now the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence Academy, to the military.
Sir, John having long served as a volunteer soldier, attaining the rank of colonel in service, but later promoted general at the end of his life, obviously valued the discipline imparted by the military, something that the government wants to ingrain in new entrants to the universities by the leadership training course that has already begun while a legal challenge to the measure is before the courts. We run an article today written by a retired military officer setting out the flavour of what the freshers will be exposed to; something those of our readers who have been to the annual cadet camps at Diyatalawa would relate to with nostalgia. We do not wish to identify with either those who support or oppose these measures beyond saying that if the notorious ragging that has often assumed caddish and unacceptable proportions in our universities can be brought to a halt by a training scheme such as that which is now underway, a useful purpose would surely have been served.
There is no escaping the fact that the universities have proved totally inept at stopping ragging for decades. Academics who are now agitating for substantial pay increases as well as succeeding university administrations must undoubtedly take a large share of the blame for that. Political forces, principally the JVP, which has long used the universities as a fertile recruiting ground for its cadres, have been accused – credibly we might add – of fomenting trouble on the campuses for its own purposes. However that be, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is on record saying that he will stop the ragging. The leadership training now being imparted may well help the freshers themselves to stand up to the raggers and resist ragging and it is to be hoped that the academic community would throw its weight with greater determination than before to help end what had become a totally unacceptable ``tradition’’ on the campuses - driving terror into the hearts of new students and their parents.
We were happy to last week run an outspoken and thought provoking article by Professor Savitri Gunasekera, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, where she was Professor of Law, about the creeping erosion of university autonomy over a long period, the blatant sycophancy of many academics and the willingness of the university administration and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to close their eyes to the violation of the University Act at the behest of the political establishment. The writer, who had herself served on the UGC, cited several examples including one particularly instance where a professor who had retired at age 65 and been reappointed (as may be lawfully done, though not as a permanent employee) had by cabinet decision communicated by the UGC to the University Council been permitted to continue as the Dean of a Faculty despite this being illegal. She has rightly refrained from naming the beneficiary because it is not the person but the principle that matters. The academic community is fully aware of the shameful way in which this whole business was conducted, a sad commentary on how many academics are willing to prostrate themselves before political authorities to earn their patronage. As she has succinctly put it, ``following orders seems to have replaced the concept of academic voice and participation in decision making on matters concerning the universities.’’
On the face of it, the demand for an unconscionable increase in emoluments by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) would appear unreasonable to most people. It is not only university dons who are underpaid in this country. There is so much that an economy like ours can afford to pay although the propensity of politicians to look after themselves breeds resentment across the board about others who are poorly served. It is also pertinent to say that if there has been no delivery on promises previously made, as has been alleged, the necessary corrective action must be taken. As in many other professions, academics do have privileges including sabbaticals, consultancies and other means of supplementing admittedly poor emoluments. We are aware of a few academics running lucrative `A’ level tuition classes attended by students seeking university entrance. But this does not justify paying them poorly. It must be admitted that those who take university teaching jobs are almost always the cream of their batches with postgraduate qualifications. It is not fair to say that lectures take up only a couple of hours a week and the rest of the time belong to the university teachers to do as they wish. Many teachers spend long hours preparing for their lectures though others do little more than repeat the previous year’s lecture notes.
It is unfortunate that the confrontation, which may have been defused at least somewhat with the president seeing FUTA, last week, has assumed present proportions. The same pressures that are now being applied, like resignation from `voluntary’ positions such as heads of department, have been used before as bargaining levers in salary negotiations. Some of these positions carry small allowances and as pointed out in the debate on this matter where it has been pointed out that doing these jobs enhances prospects of promotions up the academic ladder. Ideally, if the best people rather than `yes’ men and women are appointed as Vice Chancellors or members of the UGC, and such appointments are depoliticized, the academic community would be strengthened with good leadership. The universities and the UGC must be headed by those who command respect for their academic attainment and integrity. Those who endorse candidates at elections are not universally perceived as the best people for these jobs.
Sources: Sunday Island –Editorial-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
A few years before he died, Sir John Kotelawela, a former prime minister of this country, was entertaining some friends to breakfast at his Kandawela home. The conversation turned to what he would do with the property which he had once said he would like to see converted into a children’s home modeled on the famous Dr. Barnardo’s homes. That thought, apparently, had been abandoned in his twilight years and he told his guests that the only institutions he could trust to look after his much-loved home was the army or the Catholic Church. In the event, the former military officer left the valuable property, now the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence Academy, to the military.
Sir, John having long served as a volunteer soldier, attaining the rank of colonel in service, but later promoted general at the end of his life, obviously valued the discipline imparted by the military, something that the government wants to ingrain in new entrants to the universities by the leadership training course that has already begun while a legal challenge to the measure is before the courts. We run an article today written by a retired military officer setting out the flavour of what the freshers will be exposed to; something those of our readers who have been to the annual cadet camps at Diyatalawa would relate to with nostalgia. We do not wish to identify with either those who support or oppose these measures beyond saying that if the notorious ragging that has often assumed caddish and unacceptable proportions in our universities can be brought to a halt by a training scheme such as that which is now underway, a useful purpose would surely have been served.
There is no escaping the fact that the universities have proved totally inept at stopping ragging for decades. Academics who are now agitating for substantial pay increases as well as succeeding university administrations must undoubtedly take a large share of the blame for that. Political forces, principally the JVP, which has long used the universities as a fertile recruiting ground for its cadres, have been accused – credibly we might add – of fomenting trouble on the campuses for its own purposes. However that be, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is on record saying that he will stop the ragging. The leadership training now being imparted may well help the freshers themselves to stand up to the raggers and resist ragging and it is to be hoped that the academic community would throw its weight with greater determination than before to help end what had become a totally unacceptable ``tradition’’ on the campuses - driving terror into the hearts of new students and their parents.
We were happy to last week run an outspoken and thought provoking article by Professor Savitri Gunasekera, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, where she was Professor of Law, about the creeping erosion of university autonomy over a long period, the blatant sycophancy of many academics and the willingness of the university administration and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to close their eyes to the violation of the University Act at the behest of the political establishment. The writer, who had herself served on the UGC, cited several examples including one particularly instance where a professor who had retired at age 65 and been reappointed (as may be lawfully done, though not as a permanent employee) had by cabinet decision communicated by the UGC to the University Council been permitted to continue as the Dean of a Faculty despite this being illegal. She has rightly refrained from naming the beneficiary because it is not the person but the principle that matters. The academic community is fully aware of the shameful way in which this whole business was conducted, a sad commentary on how many academics are willing to prostrate themselves before political authorities to earn their patronage. As she has succinctly put it, ``following orders seems to have replaced the concept of academic voice and participation in decision making on matters concerning the universities.’’
On the face of it, the demand for an unconscionable increase in emoluments by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) would appear unreasonable to most people. It is not only university dons who are underpaid in this country. There is so much that an economy like ours can afford to pay although the propensity of politicians to look after themselves breeds resentment across the board about others who are poorly served. It is also pertinent to say that if there has been no delivery on promises previously made, as has been alleged, the necessary corrective action must be taken. As in many other professions, academics do have privileges including sabbaticals, consultancies and other means of supplementing admittedly poor emoluments. We are aware of a few academics running lucrative `A’ level tuition classes attended by students seeking university entrance. But this does not justify paying them poorly. It must be admitted that those who take university teaching jobs are almost always the cream of their batches with postgraduate qualifications. It is not fair to say that lectures take up only a couple of hours a week and the rest of the time belong to the university teachers to do as they wish. Many teachers spend long hours preparing for their lectures though others do little more than repeat the previous year’s lecture notes.
It is unfortunate that the confrontation, which may have been defused at least somewhat with the president seeing FUTA, last week, has assumed present proportions. The same pressures that are now being applied, like resignation from `voluntary’ positions such as heads of department, have been used before as bargaining levers in salary negotiations. Some of these positions carry small allowances and as pointed out in the debate on this matter where it has been pointed out that doing these jobs enhances prospects of promotions up the academic ladder. Ideally, if the best people rather than `yes’ men and women are appointed as Vice Chancellors or members of the UGC, and such appointments are depoliticized, the academic community would be strengthened with good leadership. The universities and the UGC must be headed by those who command respect for their academic attainment and integrity. Those who endorse candidates at elections are not universally perceived as the best people for these jobs.
Sources: Sunday Island –Editorial-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Reading Comprehension-A/L
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below.
A few years before he died, Sir John Kotelawela, a former prime minister of this country, was entertaining some friends to breakfast at his Kandawela home. The conversation turned to what he would do with the property which he had once said he would like to see converted into a children’s home modeled on the famous Dr. Barnardo’s homes. That thought, apparently, had been abandoned in his twilight years and he told his guests that the only institutions he could trust to look after his much-loved home was the army or the Catholic Church. In the event, the former military officer left the valuable property, now the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence Academy, to the military.
Sir, John having long served as a volunteer soldier, attaining the rank of colonel in service, but later promoted general at the end of his life, obviously valued the discipline imparted by the military, something that the government wants to ingrain in new entrants to the universities by the leadership training course that has already begun while a legal challenge to the measure is before the courts. We run an article today written by a retired military officer setting out the flavour of what the freshers will be exposed to; something those of our readers who have been to the annual cadet camps at Diyatalawa would relate to with nostalgia. We do not wish to identify with either those who support or oppose these measures beyond saying that if the notorious ragging that has often assumed caddish and unacceptable proportions in our universities can be brought to a halt by a training scheme such as that which is now underway, a useful purpose would surely have been served.
There is no escaping the fact that the universities have proved totally inept at stopping ragging for decades. Academics who are now agitating for substantial pay increases as well as succeeding university administrations must undoubtedly take a large share of the blame for that. Political forces, principally the JVP, which has long used the universities as a fertile recruiting ground for its cadres, have been accused – credibly we might add – of fomenting trouble on the campuses for its own purposes. However that be, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is on record saying that he will stop the ragging. The leadership training now being imparted may well help the freshers themselves to stand up to the raggers and resist ragging and it is to be hoped that the academic community would throw its weight with greater determination than before to help end what had become a totally unacceptable ``tradition’’ on the campuses - driving terror into the hearts of new students and their parents.
We were happy to last week run an outspoken and thought provoking article by Professor Savitri Gunasekera, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, where she was Professor of Law, about the creeping erosion of university autonomy over a long period, the blatant sycophancy of many academics and the willingness of the university administration and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to close their eyes to the violation of the University Act at the behest of the political establishment. The writer, who had herself served on the UGC, cited several examples including one particularly instance where a professor who had retired at age 65 and been reappointed (as may be lawfully done, though not as a permanent employee) had by cabinet decision communicated by the UGC to the University Council been permitted to continue as the Dean of a Faculty despite this being illegal. She has rightly refrained from naming the beneficiary because it is not the person but the principle that matters. The academic community is fully aware of the shameful way in which this whole business was conducted, a sad commentary on how many academics are willing to prostrate themselves before political authorities to earn their patronage. As she has succinctly put it, ``following orders seems to have replaced the concept of academic voice and participation in decision making on matters concerning the universities.’’
On the face of it, the demand for an unconscionable increase in emoluments by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) would appear unreasonable to most people. It is not only university dons who are underpaid in this country. There is so much that an economy like ours can afford to pay although the propensity of politicians to look after themselves breeds resentment across the board about others who are poorly served. It is also pertinent to say that if there has been no delivery on promises previously made, as has been alleged, the necessary corrective action must be taken. As in many other professions, academics do have privileges including sabbaticals, consultancies and other means of supplementing admittedly poor emoluments. We are aware of a few academics running lucrative `A’ level tuition classes attended by students seeking university entrance. But this does not justify paying them poorly. It must be admitted that those who take university teaching jobs are almost always the cream of their batches with postgraduate qualifications. It is not fair to say that lectures take up only a couple of hours a week and the rest of the time belong to the university teachers to do as they wish. Many teachers spend long hours preparing for their lectures though others do little more than repeat the previous year’s lecture notes.
It is unfortunate that the confrontation, which may have been defused at least somewhat with the president seeing FUTA, last week, has assumed present proportions. The same pressures that are now being applied, like resignation from `voluntary’ positions such as heads of department, have been used before as bargaining levers in salary negotiations. Some of these positions carry small allowances and as pointed out in the debate on this matter where it has been pointed out that doing these jobs enhances prospects of promotions up the academic ladder. Ideally, if the best people rather than `yes’ men and women are appointed as Vice Chancellors or members of the UGC, and such appointments are depoliticized, the academic community would be strengthened with good leadership. The universities and the UGC must be headed by those who command respect for their academic attainment and integrity. Those who endorse candidates at elections are not universally perceived as the best people for these jobs.
1.What does the writer try to tell the readers about Sir John Kotelawela?
2.How do you observe his character?
3.What does the writer tell about ragging in universities?
4.What does Professor Savitri Gunasekera reveal through her article to the newspaper?
5.What is her attitude towards the academics of the universities?
Sources: Sunday Island –Editorial-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
A few years before he died, Sir John Kotelawela, a former prime minister of this country, was entertaining some friends to breakfast at his Kandawela home. The conversation turned to what he would do with the property which he had once said he would like to see converted into a children’s home modeled on the famous Dr. Barnardo’s homes. That thought, apparently, had been abandoned in his twilight years and he told his guests that the only institutions he could trust to look after his much-loved home was the army or the Catholic Church. In the event, the former military officer left the valuable property, now the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence Academy, to the military.
Sir, John having long served as a volunteer soldier, attaining the rank of colonel in service, but later promoted general at the end of his life, obviously valued the discipline imparted by the military, something that the government wants to ingrain in new entrants to the universities by the leadership training course that has already begun while a legal challenge to the measure is before the courts. We run an article today written by a retired military officer setting out the flavour of what the freshers will be exposed to; something those of our readers who have been to the annual cadet camps at Diyatalawa would relate to with nostalgia. We do not wish to identify with either those who support or oppose these measures beyond saying that if the notorious ragging that has often assumed caddish and unacceptable proportions in our universities can be brought to a halt by a training scheme such as that which is now underway, a useful purpose would surely have been served.
There is no escaping the fact that the universities have proved totally inept at stopping ragging for decades. Academics who are now agitating for substantial pay increases as well as succeeding university administrations must undoubtedly take a large share of the blame for that. Political forces, principally the JVP, which has long used the universities as a fertile recruiting ground for its cadres, have been accused – credibly we might add – of fomenting trouble on the campuses for its own purposes. However that be, Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake is on record saying that he will stop the ragging. The leadership training now being imparted may well help the freshers themselves to stand up to the raggers and resist ragging and it is to be hoped that the academic community would throw its weight with greater determination than before to help end what had become a totally unacceptable ``tradition’’ on the campuses - driving terror into the hearts of new students and their parents.
We were happy to last week run an outspoken and thought provoking article by Professor Savitri Gunasekera, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo, where she was Professor of Law, about the creeping erosion of university autonomy over a long period, the blatant sycophancy of many academics and the willingness of the university administration and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to close their eyes to the violation of the University Act at the behest of the political establishment. The writer, who had herself served on the UGC, cited several examples including one particularly instance where a professor who had retired at age 65 and been reappointed (as may be lawfully done, though not as a permanent employee) had by cabinet decision communicated by the UGC to the University Council been permitted to continue as the Dean of a Faculty despite this being illegal. She has rightly refrained from naming the beneficiary because it is not the person but the principle that matters. The academic community is fully aware of the shameful way in which this whole business was conducted, a sad commentary on how many academics are willing to prostrate themselves before political authorities to earn their patronage. As she has succinctly put it, ``following orders seems to have replaced the concept of academic voice and participation in decision making on matters concerning the universities.’’
On the face of it, the demand for an unconscionable increase in emoluments by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) would appear unreasonable to most people. It is not only university dons who are underpaid in this country. There is so much that an economy like ours can afford to pay although the propensity of politicians to look after themselves breeds resentment across the board about others who are poorly served. It is also pertinent to say that if there has been no delivery on promises previously made, as has been alleged, the necessary corrective action must be taken. As in many other professions, academics do have privileges including sabbaticals, consultancies and other means of supplementing admittedly poor emoluments. We are aware of a few academics running lucrative `A’ level tuition classes attended by students seeking university entrance. But this does not justify paying them poorly. It must be admitted that those who take university teaching jobs are almost always the cream of their batches with postgraduate qualifications. It is not fair to say that lectures take up only a couple of hours a week and the rest of the time belong to the university teachers to do as they wish. Many teachers spend long hours preparing for their lectures though others do little more than repeat the previous year’s lecture notes.
It is unfortunate that the confrontation, which may have been defused at least somewhat with the president seeing FUTA, last week, has assumed present proportions. The same pressures that are now being applied, like resignation from `voluntary’ positions such as heads of department, have been used before as bargaining levers in salary negotiations. Some of these positions carry small allowances and as pointed out in the debate on this matter where it has been pointed out that doing these jobs enhances prospects of promotions up the academic ladder. Ideally, if the best people rather than `yes’ men and women are appointed as Vice Chancellors or members of the UGC, and such appointments are depoliticized, the academic community would be strengthened with good leadership. The universities and the UGC must be headed by those who command respect for their academic attainment and integrity. Those who endorse candidates at elections are not universally perceived as the best people for these jobs.
1.What does the writer try to tell the readers about Sir John Kotelawela?
2.How do you observe his character?
3.What does the writer tell about ragging in universities?
4.What does Professor Savitri Gunasekera reveal through her article to the newspaper?
5.What is her attitude towards the academics of the universities?
Sources: Sunday Island –Editorial-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
James Joyce
James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish novelist, noted for his experimental use of language in such works as Ulysses (1922) and Finnegan’s Wake (1939). Joyce's technical innovations in the art of the novel include an extensive use of interior monologue; he used a complex network of symbolic parallels drawn from the mythology, history, and literature, and created a unique language of invented words, puns, and allusions.
James Joyce was born in Dublin, on February 2, 1882, as the son of John Stanislaus Joyce, an impoverished gentleman, who had failed in a distillery business and tried all kinds of professions, including politics and tax collecting. Joyce's mother, Mary Jane Murray, was ten years younger than her husband. She was an accomplished pianist, whose life was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. In spite of their poverty, the family struggled to maintain a solid middle-class facade.
From the age of six Joyce, was educated by Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College, at Clane, and then at Belvedere College in Dublin (1893-97). In 1898 he entered the University College, Dublin. Joyce's first publication was an essay on Ibsen's play When We Dead Awaken. It appeared in the Fortnightly Review in 1900. At this time he also began writing lyric poems.
After graduation in 1902 the twenty-year-old Joyce went to Paris, where he worked as a journalist, teacher and in other occupations under difficult financial conditions. He spent a year in France, returning when a telegram arrived saying his mother was dying. Not long after her death, Joyce was traveling again. He left Dublin in 1904 with Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid who he married in 1931.
Joyce published Dubliners in 1914, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1916, a play Exiles in 1918 and Ulysses in 1922. In 1907 Joyce had published a collection of poems, Chamber Music.
At the outset of the First World War, Joyce moved with his family to Zürich. In Zürich Joyce started to develop the early chapters of Ulysses, which was first published in France because of censorship troubles in the Great Britain and the United States, where the book became legally available only in 1933. In March 1923 Joyce started in Paris his second major work, Finnegan’s Wake, suffering at the same time chronic eye troubles caused by glaucoma. The first segment of the novel appeared in Ford Maddox Ford's transatlantic review in April 1924, as part of what Joyce called Work in Progress. The final version was published in 1939.
Some critics considered the work a masterpiece, though many readers found it incomprehensible. After the fall of France in WWII, Joyce returned to Zürich, where he died on January 13, 1941, still disappointed with the reception of Finnegan’s Wake.
Sources: www.online-literature.com/james_joyce-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
James Joyce was born in Dublin, on February 2, 1882, as the son of John Stanislaus Joyce, an impoverished gentleman, who had failed in a distillery business and tried all kinds of professions, including politics and tax collecting. Joyce's mother, Mary Jane Murray, was ten years younger than her husband. She was an accomplished pianist, whose life was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. In spite of their poverty, the family struggled to maintain a solid middle-class facade.
From the age of six Joyce, was educated by Jesuits at Clongowes Wood College, at Clane, and then at Belvedere College in Dublin (1893-97). In 1898 he entered the University College, Dublin. Joyce's first publication was an essay on Ibsen's play When We Dead Awaken. It appeared in the Fortnightly Review in 1900. At this time he also began writing lyric poems.
After graduation in 1902 the twenty-year-old Joyce went to Paris, where he worked as a journalist, teacher and in other occupations under difficult financial conditions. He spent a year in France, returning when a telegram arrived saying his mother was dying. Not long after her death, Joyce was traveling again. He left Dublin in 1904 with Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid who he married in 1931.
Joyce published Dubliners in 1914, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1916, a play Exiles in 1918 and Ulysses in 1922. In 1907 Joyce had published a collection of poems, Chamber Music.
At the outset of the First World War, Joyce moved with his family to Zürich. In Zürich Joyce started to develop the early chapters of Ulysses, which was first published in France because of censorship troubles in the Great Britain and the United States, where the book became legally available only in 1933. In March 1923 Joyce started in Paris his second major work, Finnegan’s Wake, suffering at the same time chronic eye troubles caused by glaucoma. The first segment of the novel appeared in Ford Maddox Ford's transatlantic review in April 1924, as part of what Joyce called Work in Progress. The final version was published in 1939.
Some critics considered the work a masterpiece, though many readers found it incomprehensible. After the fall of France in WWII, Joyce returned to Zürich, where he died on January 13, 1941, still disappointed with the reception of Finnegan’s Wake.
Sources: www.online-literature.com/james_joyce-29.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Remembrance- Emily Bronte
Cold in the earth -- and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?
Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!
Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.
But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)
Emily Brontë was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her one novel Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature. Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire, the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was a rector, and it was in these surroundings that their literary talent flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and her brother Branwell created imaginary lands (Gondal, Angria, Gaaldine), which featured in stories they wrote. Few of Emily's work from this period survive except for poems spoken by characters.
In 1837, Emily commenced work as a governess at Law Hill, near Halifax. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended college in Brussels.
It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1845. Owing to the prejudices on female writers, all three used male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell".
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Like her sisters, Emily's constitution had been weakened by their harsh life at home and at school. She died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, having caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September.
Analysis
Remembrance by Emily Bronte is an elegy and contains a lot of negative imagery. The poem has a string link with nature and has lots of information about nature. This is probably due to Emily's background as a child, where she was fascinated by nature and enjoyed her own company rather than that of others and it was here when she was alone, she learned to appreciate nature. Examples of Emily's knowledge of nature can be seen strongly in the second verse in particular as she makes lots of references such as 'Over the mountains', 'that northern shore' and 'where heath and fern leaves cover'. There are many other examples in the poem, but many I talk about later on in the essay. The poem is about a person losing a loved one and her feeling towards the loved one now the person’s gone. The losing of a loved one is...
...wording of thee at the end of the lines tells the reader that it is a person in the earth; it makes it sound more personal. 'Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave' Far, far removed is about the body and the repetition and isolation of far add emphasis on how alone and out of the way the body is. Cold is again a negative image and is repeated from the opening line and therefore has a deeper effect on the reader. The following line 'Have I forgot my love, to love thee' is ironic, she's asking the question have I forgot my love, but obviously hasn't since she is talking about it. Emily uses personification in the final line of the opening verse with 'Severed at last by times all severing wave?' It is relating to the death of the loved one. Also it ends with a question mark yet there is no obvious question in the line. I do not understand the reason for this being here. 'Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover' This relates to Emily as she likes to be alone and she feels best when alone, but when she is with people maybe she feels intimidated or scared so she won’t seem normal and this is what she meant when she wrote 'when alone do my thoughts no longer hover' she can only act normal when alone. The second and third verse both contains images of angels. 'Resting their wings' and 'spirit' are both strong religious images. These are significant because they show the reader she had a religious understanding which she got form from her background with her father being a priest. Other words with religious significance in Remembrance include 'Faithful' which relates to any religion means being loyal to the subject. Emily was faithful to her loved one and is still faithful to the spirit of the loved one. Heaven is another religious word in Remembrance, but it has a different meaning to Emily. Heaven is the habitat for God and his angels, but Emily's heaven is in her dreams and thoughts and is most likely to be Gondal. Heaven is probably the habitat for her and the loved one. Remembrance also has a lot of water imagery, which is quite a common theme in Emily Bronte’s poems. 'Stars' is another Bronte poem with strong water imagery. 'Stars' had negative water imagery with words such as sank and sea, which related to drowning. In remembrance, we have strong water images with words such as wave, shore, tide and drinking. Then possibly snow, melted and tears could be seen as images of water as well. Midway through Remembrance Emily wrote two lines both starting with 'All my life's bliss'. One line ends with life and the other ends with death, but both lines have a sad depressing meaning. 'All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given' means all the happiness her dear life was given 'All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.' This means that all her life’s happiness is in the grave with the loved one. I felt these lines were very powerful and the repletion put a lot of emphasis on the sadness and created a very downbeat tone. That verse was the most powerful of the whole poem. It began by suggesting no person has filled the void left by the loved one 'No later light has lightened up my heaven/No second morn has ever shone for me.' The lines are very similar lightened up my heaven is a strong image of happiness and then shone for me is a happy image, but they are at different ends of the scale. Later in the poem, the negative mood and imagery continue with words such as despair, powerless and destroy. All these words are powerful and have an effect. 'But when the days of the golden dreams had perished/and even despair was powerless to destroy/Then did I learn how the existence could be cherished/strengthened and fed without the aid of joy.' I understand this verse to mean that once she realized that the loved one wasn't coming back she carried on her life like normal, but could never be fully satisfied with her life. The verse that follows uses a variety of interesting words. She used useless to personify passion. She has described one of man's strongest emotions as useless which is quite a powerful statement to make. This helps the reader understand her pain. In the line after she personifies her soul to pursue her which is an odd statement to make and also she describes her soul as young, which gives it the image of being innocent and as the soul is part of the person it makes the person writing the poem/character in the poem seem young and innocent. Earlier in the poem we had heaven and angels now we have a contrast with the word burning, a negative image, which is often referred to as an image of hell. The final word I fought was interesting in the verse was tomb. Throughout the poem there had been many references to tombs, graves and brown hills (image of a shallow grave). These are all close to the earth and represent being close or as one with nature, being in the ground like they have been eaten up by the earth and taken back by nature. The final verse of Remembrance the reader is told how painful it is to remember the lost loved one 'Dare not indulge in memory's ...
Activity
How does Emily Bronte declare her faith towards her husband even if he is dead in her poem, Remembrance?
D.N. Aloysius
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?
Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!
Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.
But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)
Emily Brontë was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her one novel Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature. Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire, the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was a rector, and it was in these surroundings that their literary talent flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and her brother Branwell created imaginary lands (Gondal, Angria, Gaaldine), which featured in stories they wrote. Few of Emily's work from this period survive except for poems spoken by characters.
In 1837, Emily commenced work as a governess at Law Hill, near Halifax. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended college in Brussels.
It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1845. Owing to the prejudices on female writers, all three used male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell".
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Like her sisters, Emily's constitution had been weakened by their harsh life at home and at school. She died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, having caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September.
Analysis
Remembrance by Emily Bronte is an elegy and contains a lot of negative imagery. The poem has a string link with nature and has lots of information about nature. This is probably due to Emily's background as a child, where she was fascinated by nature and enjoyed her own company rather than that of others and it was here when she was alone, she learned to appreciate nature. Examples of Emily's knowledge of nature can be seen strongly in the second verse in particular as she makes lots of references such as 'Over the mountains', 'that northern shore' and 'where heath and fern leaves cover'. There are many other examples in the poem, but many I talk about later on in the essay. The poem is about a person losing a loved one and her feeling towards the loved one now the person’s gone. The losing of a loved one is...
...wording of thee at the end of the lines tells the reader that it is a person in the earth; it makes it sound more personal. 'Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave' Far, far removed is about the body and the repetition and isolation of far add emphasis on how alone and out of the way the body is. Cold is again a negative image and is repeated from the opening line and therefore has a deeper effect on the reader. The following line 'Have I forgot my love, to love thee' is ironic, she's asking the question have I forgot my love, but obviously hasn't since she is talking about it. Emily uses personification in the final line of the opening verse with 'Severed at last by times all severing wave?' It is relating to the death of the loved one. Also it ends with a question mark yet there is no obvious question in the line. I do not understand the reason for this being here. 'Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover' This relates to Emily as she likes to be alone and she feels best when alone, but when she is with people maybe she feels intimidated or scared so she won’t seem normal and this is what she meant when she wrote 'when alone do my thoughts no longer hover' she can only act normal when alone. The second and third verse both contains images of angels. 'Resting their wings' and 'spirit' are both strong religious images. These are significant because they show the reader she had a religious understanding which she got form from her background with her father being a priest. Other words with religious significance in Remembrance include 'Faithful' which relates to any religion means being loyal to the subject. Emily was faithful to her loved one and is still faithful to the spirit of the loved one. Heaven is another religious word in Remembrance, but it has a different meaning to Emily. Heaven is the habitat for God and his angels, but Emily's heaven is in her dreams and thoughts and is most likely to be Gondal. Heaven is probably the habitat for her and the loved one. Remembrance also has a lot of water imagery, which is quite a common theme in Emily Bronte’s poems. 'Stars' is another Bronte poem with strong water imagery. 'Stars' had negative water imagery with words such as sank and sea, which related to drowning. In remembrance, we have strong water images with words such as wave, shore, tide and drinking. Then possibly snow, melted and tears could be seen as images of water as well. Midway through Remembrance Emily wrote two lines both starting with 'All my life's bliss'. One line ends with life and the other ends with death, but both lines have a sad depressing meaning. 'All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given' means all the happiness her dear life was given 'All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.' This means that all her life’s happiness is in the grave with the loved one. I felt these lines were very powerful and the repletion put a lot of emphasis on the sadness and created a very downbeat tone. That verse was the most powerful of the whole poem. It began by suggesting no person has filled the void left by the loved one 'No later light has lightened up my heaven/No second morn has ever shone for me.' The lines are very similar lightened up my heaven is a strong image of happiness and then shone for me is a happy image, but they are at different ends of the scale. Later in the poem, the negative mood and imagery continue with words such as despair, powerless and destroy. All these words are powerful and have an effect. 'But when the days of the golden dreams had perished/and even despair was powerless to destroy/Then did I learn how the existence could be cherished/strengthened and fed without the aid of joy.' I understand this verse to mean that once she realized that the loved one wasn't coming back she carried on her life like normal, but could never be fully satisfied with her life. The verse that follows uses a variety of interesting words. She used useless to personify passion. She has described one of man's strongest emotions as useless which is quite a powerful statement to make. This helps the reader understand her pain. In the line after she personifies her soul to pursue her which is an odd statement to make and also she describes her soul as young, which gives it the image of being innocent and as the soul is part of the person it makes the person writing the poem/character in the poem seem young and innocent. Earlier in the poem we had heaven and angels now we have a contrast with the word burning, a negative image, which is often referred to as an image of hell. The final word I fought was interesting in the verse was tomb. Throughout the poem there had been many references to tombs, graves and brown hills (image of a shallow grave). These are all close to the earth and represent being close or as one with nature, being in the ground like they have been eaten up by the earth and taken back by nature. The final verse of Remembrance the reader is told how painful it is to remember the lost loved one 'Dare not indulge in memory's ...
Activity
How does Emily Bronte declare her faith towards her husband even if he is dead in her poem, Remembrance?
D.N. Aloysius
The Boarding House- By James Joyce
The Boarding House is one of the short stories out of James Joyce's collection of Dubliners. In the work, Mrs. Mooney is a wife of an abusive butcher. Experiencing an unsuccessful marriage, she directs her
attention to the boarding house and keeps a close eye on the men interacting with Polly, her daughter and keeps her away from inferior men. She allows intimacy to develop between Polly and Mr. Doran. She
then accused him of "taking advantage of Polly's youth and inexperience" and demands reparation. Mt Doran's fear of a sullied reputation forces him to accept the marriage. The three principal characters in The Boarding House are all constrained by social conventions. They all lack the power to govern
their own lives. Mrs. Mooney marries a drunken husband who "fights with her in the presence of customers" (pg.53) and ruins the business "by buying bad meat." (pg.53) In face of such tormenting marriage, she is motivated by the instincts for survival to earn a living by the boarding house to support herself and her children. Her ultimate goal is to avert her daughter, Polly, ending up an old maid like her but to "get her daughter off her hands" (pg.56) and confirm that her daughter is provided with financial security. It is the concept of materialism existed in Dublin which further heightens class distinction. Mrs.
Mooney set criterion for Polly's partner in which he must be presentable and with stable income. As for Mr. Doran, he is obviously the victim and being manipulated throughout the affair. He was being seduced by Mrs. Mooney's daughter and lured into having sex with her daughter. Society puts extra pressure on Mr. Doran and forces him to accept the reparation proposed by Mrs. Mooney. His promising social position makes him fail to neither with stand publicity nor risk the loss of his job as "a great catholic wine-merchant." (pg.56) Moreover, the church also weighs heavily upon his decision, constantly reminding him of the sin he has committed.
Not only are Mrs. Mooney and Mr. Doran's lives being determined by
religious aspects and social conventions, Polly also face the same fate. Her life is pretty much predestined. She is a puppet being controlled and spied by her protective mother. She sends Polly "to be a typist in a corn factor's office," (pg.54) hoping that she will be wedded by some well off boss. However, her mission fails. Therefore, she takes Polly to the boarding house, "giving her the run of the young man" (pg.54) and she weeds out candidates who do not mean business. These three principal characters are typical prototype of the people under the society of Dublin.
It is ironic to end with the prospect of marriage as the scenario
seems like a perfect setup for a comedy. However, there is nothing to be comic about as Mr. Doran is trapped inside Dublin society with mixed feelings and the bond between Mr. Doran and Polly are
superficial, lacking solid affection towards each other. Besides, in the first place, Mr. Doran is not eager to marry but to remain free. "Once you are married you are done for." (pg.57) Mr. Doran marries
Polly due to false consciousness, he is convinced that he has sinned for making Polly pregnant and he will be guilty if Polly put an end to her life. The image of "mist" elucidates Mr. Doran's obscured vision and
inability to critically analyze his situation and carry out introspection. When he attempts to shave, a mist gathers on his glasses so that he has to take them off and polish them with his pocket handkerchief." Besides, when he is going down the stairs to converse with Mrs. Mooney, "his glasses become so dimmed with moisture" again that "he has to take them off and polish them." All these images is a premonition of his downfall and reflect how short sighted he is not to observe the leverages being applied by astute
Mrs. Mooney. Comparatively, Mrs. Mooney is unambiguous about her vision. She has explicit target to achieve and is aware of the affair escalating between Mr. Doran and her daughter though there is no "open complicity" and verbalization between them. Her decisive and imposing character is insinuates through her surveying of herself in the pier- glass, providing her with reliable images. "The decisive expression of her great florid face" (pg.56) signifies that "she is sure she will win." (pg.55) All in all, The Boarding House is about how Mrs. Mooney 's life is governed by the power of materialism and how she traps Mr. Doran into a dilemma and treats him as a means to get her daughter off her hands. She is focusing on her own interest and neglecting the feelings of Mr. Doran and her daughter, which is a typical product of the society of Dublin.
Sources: www.123helpme.com/view.asp
D.N. Aloysius
attention to the boarding house and keeps a close eye on the men interacting with Polly, her daughter and keeps her away from inferior men. She allows intimacy to develop between Polly and Mr. Doran. She
then accused him of "taking advantage of Polly's youth and inexperience" and demands reparation. Mt Doran's fear of a sullied reputation forces him to accept the marriage. The three principal characters in The Boarding House are all constrained by social conventions. They all lack the power to govern
their own lives. Mrs. Mooney marries a drunken husband who "fights with her in the presence of customers" (pg.53) and ruins the business "by buying bad meat." (pg.53) In face of such tormenting marriage, she is motivated by the instincts for survival to earn a living by the boarding house to support herself and her children. Her ultimate goal is to avert her daughter, Polly, ending up an old maid like her but to "get her daughter off her hands" (pg.56) and confirm that her daughter is provided with financial security. It is the concept of materialism existed in Dublin which further heightens class distinction. Mrs.
Mooney set criterion for Polly's partner in which he must be presentable and with stable income. As for Mr. Doran, he is obviously the victim and being manipulated throughout the affair. He was being seduced by Mrs. Mooney's daughter and lured into having sex with her daughter. Society puts extra pressure on Mr. Doran and forces him to accept the reparation proposed by Mrs. Mooney. His promising social position makes him fail to neither with stand publicity nor risk the loss of his job as "a great catholic wine-merchant." (pg.56) Moreover, the church also weighs heavily upon his decision, constantly reminding him of the sin he has committed.
Not only are Mrs. Mooney and Mr. Doran's lives being determined by
religious aspects and social conventions, Polly also face the same fate. Her life is pretty much predestined. She is a puppet being controlled and spied by her protective mother. She sends Polly "to be a typist in a corn factor's office," (pg.54) hoping that she will be wedded by some well off boss. However, her mission fails. Therefore, she takes Polly to the boarding house, "giving her the run of the young man" (pg.54) and she weeds out candidates who do not mean business. These three principal characters are typical prototype of the people under the society of Dublin.
It is ironic to end with the prospect of marriage as the scenario
seems like a perfect setup for a comedy. However, there is nothing to be comic about as Mr. Doran is trapped inside Dublin society with mixed feelings and the bond between Mr. Doran and Polly are
superficial, lacking solid affection towards each other. Besides, in the first place, Mr. Doran is not eager to marry but to remain free. "Once you are married you are done for." (pg.57) Mr. Doran marries
Polly due to false consciousness, he is convinced that he has sinned for making Polly pregnant and he will be guilty if Polly put an end to her life. The image of "mist" elucidates Mr. Doran's obscured vision and
inability to critically analyze his situation and carry out introspection. When he attempts to shave, a mist gathers on his glasses so that he has to take them off and polish them with his pocket handkerchief." Besides, when he is going down the stairs to converse with Mrs. Mooney, "his glasses become so dimmed with moisture" again that "he has to take them off and polish them." All these images is a premonition of his downfall and reflect how short sighted he is not to observe the leverages being applied by astute
Mrs. Mooney. Comparatively, Mrs. Mooney is unambiguous about her vision. She has explicit target to achieve and is aware of the affair escalating between Mr. Doran and her daughter though there is no "open complicity" and verbalization between them. Her decisive and imposing character is insinuates through her surveying of herself in the pier- glass, providing her with reliable images. "The decisive expression of her great florid face" (pg.56) signifies that "she is sure she will win." (pg.55) All in all, The Boarding House is about how Mrs. Mooney 's life is governed by the power of materialism and how she traps Mr. Doran into a dilemma and treats him as a means to get her daughter off her hands. She is focusing on her own interest and neglecting the feelings of Mr. Doran and her daughter, which is a typical product of the society of Dublin.
Sources: www.123helpme.com/view.asp
D.N. Aloysius
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Communication Skills- ICT 3210- Rajarata University of Sri Lanka- Faculty of Applied Sciences
Introduction to Communication Skills
Faculty of Applied Sciences- Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and unambiguously.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you convey do not necessarily reflect your own, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals – both personally and professionally.
In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.
In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle with this, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and stands in the way of career progression.
Getting your message across is paramount to progressing. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.
Communications Skills – The Importance of Removing Barriers
Communication barriers can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which consists of sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and context – see the diagram below) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.
To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of these barriers at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications.
You can find out which barriers your communications tend to stuck at by taking our How Good Are Your Communication Skills? Self-test. But, in summary, here's some more information about each stage of the communication process:
Source
As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why you're communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be confident that the information you're communicating is useful and accurate.
Message
The message is the information that you want to communicate.
Encoding
This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, and missing information.) A key part of this knows your audience: Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood.
Channel
Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written including letters, emails, memos and reports.
Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it's not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while you'll quickly cause problems if you criticize someone strongly by email.
Decoding
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving, for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesn't have enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver
Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these before delivering your message, and act appropriately.
Feedback
Your audience will provide you with feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message. You should pay close attention to this feedback, as it is the only thing that allows you to be confident that your audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a second time.
Context
The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (i.e. corporate culture, international cultures, etc.).
Removing Barriers at All These Stages
To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down the barriers that exist in each of these stages of the communication process.
Let's begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language can also confuse the message.
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful of the demands on other people's time, especially in today's ultra-busy society.
Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audience's culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in this country and even abroad.
Sources: www.mindtools.com › Communication Skills-23.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Faculty of Applied Sciences- Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and unambiguously.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you convey do not necessarily reflect your own, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals – both personally and professionally.
In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.
In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle with this, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and stands in the way of career progression.
Getting your message across is paramount to progressing. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.
Communications Skills – The Importance of Removing Barriers
Communication barriers can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which consists of sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and context – see the diagram below) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.
To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of these barriers at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications.
You can find out which barriers your communications tend to stuck at by taking our How Good Are Your Communication Skills? Self-test. But, in summary, here's some more information about each stage of the communication process:
Source
As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why you're communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be confident that the information you're communicating is useful and accurate.
Message
The message is the information that you want to communicate.
Encoding
This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, and missing information.) A key part of this knows your audience: Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood.
Channel
Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written including letters, emails, memos and reports.
Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it's not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while you'll quickly cause problems if you criticize someone strongly by email.
Decoding
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving, for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesn't have enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver
Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these before delivering your message, and act appropriately.
Feedback
Your audience will provide you with feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message. You should pay close attention to this feedback, as it is the only thing that allows you to be confident that your audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a second time.
Context
The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (i.e. corporate culture, international cultures, etc.).
Removing Barriers at All These Stages
To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down the barriers that exist in each of these stages of the communication process.
Let's begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language can also confuse the message.
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful of the demands on other people's time, especially in today's ultra-busy society.
Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audience's culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in this country and even abroad.
Sources: www.mindtools.com › Communication Skills-23.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Communication Skills- ICT 3210-24.05.2011
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Introduction to Communication Skills
Faculty of Applied Sciences- Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and unambiguously.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you convey do not necessarily reflect your own, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals – both personally and professionally.
In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.
In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle with this, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and stands in the way of career progression.
Getting your message across is paramount to progressing. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.
Communications Skills – The Importance of Removing Barriers
Communication barriers can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which consists of sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and context – see the diagram below) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.
To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of these barriers at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications.
You can find out which barriers your communications tend to stuck at by taking our How Good Are Your Communication Skills? Self-test. But, in summary, here's some more information about each stage of the communication process:
Source
As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why you're communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be confident that the information you're communicating is useful and accurate.
Message
The message is the information that you want to communicate.
Encoding
This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, and missing information.) A key part of this knows your audience: Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood.
Channel
Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written including letters, emails, memos and reports.
Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it's not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while you'll quickly cause problems if you criticize someone strongly by email.
Decoding
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving, for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesn't have enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver
Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these before delivering your message, and act appropriately.
Feedback
Your audience will provide you with feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message. You should pay close attention to this feedback, as it is the only thing that allows you to be confident that your audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a second time.
Context
The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (i.e. corporate culture, international cultures, etc.).
Removing Barriers at All These Stages
To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down the barriers that exist in each of these stages of the communication process.
Let's begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language can also confuse the message.
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful of the demands on other people's time, especially in today's ultra-busy society.
Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audience's culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in this country and even abroad.
Sources: www.mindtools.com › Communication Skills-23.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Introduction to Communication Skills
Faculty of Applied Sciences- Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and unambiguously.
Doing this involves effort from both the sender of the message and the receiver. And it's a process that can be fraught with error, with messages often misinterpreted by the recipient. When this isn't detected, it can cause tremendous confusion, wasted effort and missed opportunity.
In fact, communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.
By successfully getting your message across, you convey your thoughts and ideas effectively. When not successful, the thoughts and ideas that you convey do not necessarily reflect your own, causing a communications breakdown and creating roadblocks that stand in the way of your goals – both personally and professionally.
In a recent survey of recruiters from companies with more than 50,000 employees, communication skills were cited as the single more important decisive factor in choosing managers. The survey, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Business School, points out that communication skills, including written and oral presentations, as well as an ability to work with others, are the main factor contributing to job success.
In spite of the increasing importance placed on communication skills, many individuals continue to struggle with this, unable to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively – whether in verbal or written format. This inability makes it nearly impossible for them to compete effectively in the workplace, and stands in the way of career progression.
Getting your message across is paramount to progressing. To do this, you must understand what your message is, what audience you are sending it to, and how it will be perceived. You must also weigh-in the circumstances surrounding your communications, such as situational and cultural context.
Communications Skills – The Importance of Removing Barriers
Communication barriers can pop-up at every stage of the communication process (which consists of sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and context – see the diagram below) and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.
To be an effective communicator and to get your point across without misunderstanding and confusion, your goal should be to lessen the frequency of these barriers at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications.
You can find out which barriers your communications tend to stuck at by taking our How Good Are Your Communication Skills? Self-test. But, in summary, here's some more information about each stage of the communication process:
Source
As the source of the message, you need to be clear about why you're communicating, and what you want to communicate. You also need to be confident that the information you're communicating is useful and accurate.
Message
The message is the information that you want to communicate.
Encoding
This is the process of transferring the information you want to communicate into a form that can be sent and correctly decoded at the other end. Your success in encoding depends partly on your ability to convey information clearly and simply, but also on your ability to anticipate and eliminate sources of confusion (for example, cultural issues, mistaken assumptions, and missing information.) A key part of this knows your audience: Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood.
Channel
Messages are conveyed through channels, with verbal including face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing; and written including letters, emails, memos and reports.
Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, it's not particularly effective to give a long list of directions verbally, while you'll quickly cause problems if you criticize someone strongly by email.
Decoding
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding (involving, for example, taking the time to read a message carefully, or listen actively to it.) Just as confusion can arise from errors in encoding, it can also arise from decoding errors. This is particularly the case if the decoder doesn't have enough knowledge to understand the message.
Receiver
Your message is delivered to individual members of your audience. No doubt, you have in mind the actions or reactions you hope your message will get from this audience. Keep in mind, though, that each of these individuals enters into the communication process with ideas and feelings that will undoubtedly influence their understanding of your message, and their response. To be a successful communicator, you should consider these before delivering your message, and act appropriately.
Feedback
Your audience will provide you with feedback, verbal and nonverbal reactions to your communicated message. You should pay close attention to this feedback, as it is the only thing that allows you to be confident that your audience has understood your message. If you find that there has been a misunderstanding, at least you have the opportunity to send the message a second time.
Context
The situation in which your message is delivered is the context. This may include the surrounding environment or broader culture (i.e. corporate culture, international cultures, etc.).
Removing Barriers at All These Stages
To deliver your messages effectively, you must commit to breaking down the barriers that exist in each of these stages of the communication process.
Let's begin with the message itself. If your message is too lengthy, disorganized, or contains errors, you can expect the message to be misunderstood and misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body language can also confuse the message.
Barriers in context tend to stem from senders offering too much information too fast. When in doubt here, less is oftentimes more. It is best to be mindful of the demands on other people's time, especially in today's ultra-busy society.
Once you understand this, you need to work to understand your audience's culture, making sure you can converse and deliver your message to people of different backgrounds and cultures within your own organization, in this country and even abroad.
Sources: www.mindtools.com › Communication Skills-23.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Othello
William Shakespeare (1564-16160
The play opens with Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, a high-ranking soldier, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had previously asked her father for her hand in marriage. Iago is upset with Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago is also upset because he believes that Othello slept with his wife Emilia. Iago's argument against Cassio is that he is a scholarly tactician with no real battle experience from which he can draw strategy; in contrast, Iago has practical battle skills. By emphasizing Roderigo's failed bid for Desdemona, and his own dissatisfaction with serving under Othello, Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Before Brabantio reaches Othello, news arrives in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio arrives and accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft, but Othello defends himself successfully before an assembly that includes the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsman Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators, explaining that Desdemona became enamored of him for the stories he told of his early life, not because of any witchcraft he might have used. The senate is satisfied, but the broken Brabantio leaves with a word of warning: "Look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father, and may thee!" By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Emilia as Desdemona's attendant.
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration. Iago schemes to use Cassio to ruin Othello and takes the opportunity of Othello's absence at the celebration to persuade Roderigo to engage Cassio in a fight. He achieves this by getting Cassio drunk on wine after Cassio's own admission that he cannot hold his drink. The brawl greatly alarms the citizenry, and Othello is forced to quell the disturbance. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance, and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught, but Iago persuades him to importune Desdemona to act as an intermediary between himself and Othello, and persuade her husband to reinstate him.
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. As it happens, Cassio is having a relationship of sorts with Bianca, a prostitute. Desdemona drops the handkerchief that was Othello's first gift to Desdemona and which he has stated holds great significance to him in the context of their relationship. Iago asks Emilia to steal it. Emilia, unaware of what Iago plans to do with the handkerchief, steals it. Iago plants it in Cassio's lodgings as evidence of Cassio and Desdemona's affair. After he has planted the handkerchief, Iago tells Othello to stand apart and watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him about the handkerchief. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, but very quietly mentions her name so that Othello believes they are still talking about Desdemona when Cassio is really speaking of Bianca. Bianca, on discovering the handkerchief, chastises Cassio, accusing him of giving her a second-hand gift which he received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona. Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and Iago is "asked" to kill Cassio as a duty to their intimacy. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life a misery, hitting her in front of her family. Desdemona laments her suffering, remembering the fate of her mother's maid, who was forsaken by her lover.
Roderigo complains that he has received nothing for his efforts and threatens to abandon his pursuit of Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio instead, because Cassio has just been appointed in Othello's place, and—Iago argues—if Cassio lives to take office, Othello and Desdemona will leave Cyprus, thwarting Roderigo's plans to win Desdemona. Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. They fight and both are wounded. Cassio's leg is cut from behind by Iago who manages to hide his identity as perpetrator. Passers-by arrive to help; Iago joins them, pretending to help Cassio. Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop him from confessing, and accuses Bianca of conspiracy to kill Cassio.
In the night, Othello confronts Desdemona, and then kills her by smothering her in bed, before Emilia arrives. At Emilia's distress, Othello tries to explain himself, justifying his actions by accusing Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The Governor arrives, with Iago and others, and Emilia begins to explain the situation. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what Iago has done; she exposes him, whereupon Iago kills her. Othello, realizing Desdemona's innocence, attacks Iago but does not kill him, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain. Lodovico, a Venetian nobleman, apprehends both Iago and Othello, but Othello commits suicide with a sword before they can take him into custody. At the end, it can be assumed, Iago is taken off to be tortured and possibly executed.
Sources: www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/Themeidx.htm-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
The play opens with Roderigo, a rich and dissolute gentleman, complaining to Iago, a high-ranking soldier, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. He is upset by this development because he loves Desdemona and had previously asked her father for her hand in marriage. Iago is upset with Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago is also upset because he believes that Othello slept with his wife Emilia. Iago's argument against Cassio is that he is a scholarly tactician with no real battle experience from which he can draw strategy; in contrast, Iago has practical battle skills. By emphasizing Roderigo's failed bid for Desdemona, and his own dissatisfaction with serving under Othello, Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio, Desdemona's father, and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Before Brabantio reaches Othello, news arrives in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio arrives and accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft, but Othello defends himself successfully before an assembly that includes the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsman Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators, explaining that Desdemona became enamored of him for the stories he told of his early life, not because of any witchcraft he might have used. The senate is satisfied, but the broken Brabantio leaves with a word of warning: "Look to her Moor, if thou hast eyes to see, she has deceived her father, and may thee!" By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Emilia as Desdemona's attendant.
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration. Iago schemes to use Cassio to ruin Othello and takes the opportunity of Othello's absence at the celebration to persuade Roderigo to engage Cassio in a fight. He achieves this by getting Cassio drunk on wine after Cassio's own admission that he cannot hold his drink. The brawl greatly alarms the citizenry, and Othello is forced to quell the disturbance. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance, and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught, but Iago persuades him to importune Desdemona to act as an intermediary between himself and Othello, and persuade her husband to reinstate him.
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. As it happens, Cassio is having a relationship of sorts with Bianca, a prostitute. Desdemona drops the handkerchief that was Othello's first gift to Desdemona and which he has stated holds great significance to him in the context of their relationship. Iago asks Emilia to steal it. Emilia, unaware of what Iago plans to do with the handkerchief, steals it. Iago plants it in Cassio's lodgings as evidence of Cassio and Desdemona's affair. After he has planted the handkerchief, Iago tells Othello to stand apart and watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him about the handkerchief. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, but very quietly mentions her name so that Othello believes they are still talking about Desdemona when Cassio is really speaking of Bianca. Bianca, on discovering the handkerchief, chastises Cassio, accusing him of giving her a second-hand gift which he received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona. Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and Iago is "asked" to kill Cassio as a duty to their intimacy. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life a misery, hitting her in front of her family. Desdemona laments her suffering, remembering the fate of her mother's maid, who was forsaken by her lover.
Roderigo complains that he has received nothing for his efforts and threatens to abandon his pursuit of Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio instead, because Cassio has just been appointed in Othello's place, and—Iago argues—if Cassio lives to take office, Othello and Desdemona will leave Cyprus, thwarting Roderigo's plans to win Desdemona. Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. They fight and both are wounded. Cassio's leg is cut from behind by Iago who manages to hide his identity as perpetrator. Passers-by arrive to help; Iago joins them, pretending to help Cassio. Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop him from confessing, and accuses Bianca of conspiracy to kill Cassio.
In the night, Othello confronts Desdemona, and then kills her by smothering her in bed, before Emilia arrives. At Emilia's distress, Othello tries to explain himself, justifying his actions by accusing Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The Governor arrives, with Iago and others, and Emilia begins to explain the situation. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what Iago has done; she exposes him, whereupon Iago kills her. Othello, realizing Desdemona's innocence, attacks Iago but does not kill him, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain. Lodovico, a Venetian nobleman, apprehends both Iago and Othello, but Othello commits suicide with a sword before they can take him into custody. At the end, it can be assumed, Iago is taken off to be tortured and possibly executed.
Sources: www.shakespeare-navigators.com/othello/Themeidx.htm-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lip's red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
In some perfumes there is more delight
Than the breath with which my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
Music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
This is a sonnet. All sonnets consist of fourteen verses. Also, each verse has ten syllables. The stress pattern is weak, strong, weak, and strong. Each pattern of weak and strong syllables gives us a foot, so we can say that each verse has five feet. This sonnet is therefore in iambic pentameter.
The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is as follows: a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. The last two verses rhyme, which is typical of the Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is highly regular as is the case with this one.
In this sonnet Shakespeare compares his mistress' eyes to the sun. He makes the case that her eyes are very different from the sun. Though the sun is beautiful and glowing, it has little in common with his mistress' eyes. Though they may be beautiful, reality is that they can't be compared to the sun.
Likewise, other parts of nature are very different from parts of his mistress. For example, coral has a very different shade of red from his mistress' lips and no roses are present in his mistress' cheeks. This differs from the words of some men who claim that their women have the light of the sun in their eyes, coral lips and rosy cheeks. Shakespeare expresses that though men might make these comparisons, they aren't accurate, at least not when he gazes upon his mistress. When he speaks of perfume, he notes that at times her breath reeks. Many perfumes have a sweeter fragrance.
Shakespeare expresses the reality that one's breath isn't always perfect and one doesn't always look spectacular. Over time the attraction that brings people too closer can wane. In fact, physical attraction isn't constant nor stable. For this reason, a couple needs much more to remain together.
Though the sonnet may appear to be negative, it has positive words towards the end. It clarifies that although reality can be quite different from our dreams and desires, or that relationships have their ups and downs, he knows that his love for his mistress is intense. He describes it as rare and makes it clear that he doesn't need to make false comparisons about her to know that in his heart he has tremendous love for her. Some men may utter false words, but he doesn't need to because he accepts her as she is and is truly in love with her.
In Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun", he explains that he can't make false comparisons about his mistress. He's been with her a long time and knows her well. Though her eyes are nothing like the sun, it is of no consequence because he knows that his love for her is rare. He prefers to show his love for her through his actions rather than through false words.
Sources: www.helium.com › ... › Literature › William Shakespeare-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Coral is far more red than her lip's red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,
If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
In some perfumes there is more delight
Than the breath with which my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know,
Music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
This is a sonnet. All sonnets consist of fourteen verses. Also, each verse has ten syllables. The stress pattern is weak, strong, weak, and strong. Each pattern of weak and strong syllables gives us a foot, so we can say that each verse has five feet. This sonnet is therefore in iambic pentameter.
The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is as follows: a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. The last two verses rhyme, which is typical of the Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is highly regular as is the case with this one.
In this sonnet Shakespeare compares his mistress' eyes to the sun. He makes the case that her eyes are very different from the sun. Though the sun is beautiful and glowing, it has little in common with his mistress' eyes. Though they may be beautiful, reality is that they can't be compared to the sun.
Likewise, other parts of nature are very different from parts of his mistress. For example, coral has a very different shade of red from his mistress' lips and no roses are present in his mistress' cheeks. This differs from the words of some men who claim that their women have the light of the sun in their eyes, coral lips and rosy cheeks. Shakespeare expresses that though men might make these comparisons, they aren't accurate, at least not when he gazes upon his mistress. When he speaks of perfume, he notes that at times her breath reeks. Many perfumes have a sweeter fragrance.
Shakespeare expresses the reality that one's breath isn't always perfect and one doesn't always look spectacular. Over time the attraction that brings people too closer can wane. In fact, physical attraction isn't constant nor stable. For this reason, a couple needs much more to remain together.
Though the sonnet may appear to be negative, it has positive words towards the end. It clarifies that although reality can be quite different from our dreams and desires, or that relationships have their ups and downs, he knows that his love for his mistress is intense. He describes it as rare and makes it clear that he doesn't need to make false comparisons about her to know that in his heart he has tremendous love for her. Some men may utter false words, but he doesn't need to because he accepts her as she is and is truly in love with her.
In Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun", he explains that he can't make false comparisons about his mistress. He's been with her a long time and knows her well. Though her eyes are nothing like the sun, it is of no consequence because he knows that his love for her is rare. He prefers to show his love for her through his actions rather than through false words.
Sources: www.helium.com › ... › Literature › William Shakespeare-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Great Expectations- Summary
Pip is an orphan living on the Kent marshes with his abusive sister and her husband, Joe Gargery, the village blacksmith. While exploring in the churchyard near the tombstones of his parents, Pip is accosted by an escaped convict. The convict scares Pip into stealing food for him, as well as a metal file to saw off the convict's leg iron. Returning with these the next morning, Pip discovers a second escaped convict, an enemy of the first one. Shortly afterward, both convicts are recaptured while fighting each other.
Pip's pompous Uncle Pumblechook arranges for Pip to go to the house of a wealthy reclusive woman, Miss Havisham, to play with her adopted daughter, Estella. The house is a strange nightmare-world. Miss Havisham's fiancé jilted her on her wedding day and she still wears her old wedding gown, although she's now elderly and wheel-chair-bound. The house has been left as it was on her wedding day and even the old wedding cake is still on the table. Estella is beautiful but haughty and tells Pip that he is coarse and common. Pip is immediately attracted to Estella in spite of how she and Miss Havisham treat him. Although the visits are emotionally painful and demeaning, Pip continues to go there for several months to play with Estella and to wheel Miss Havisham around. He also meets her toady relatives who want her money and hate Pip. Pip does earn a kiss from Estella when he beats one of the relatives, the Pale Young Gentleman, in a fistfight. Pip tries to better himself to win Estella's admiration by working harder with his friend, Biddy, at night school. Biddy's grandmother runs the night school.
After a number of months, Miss Havisham pays for Pip's blacksmithing apprenticeship with Joe. Pip had looked forward to that for years, but now that he has seen "genteel" life, he views the forge as a death sentence. However, he hides his feelings from Joe and performs his duties. During this time, he encounters a strange man at the Jolly Bargemen, a local pub. The man has the file that Pip stole for the convict years before. The man gives Pip two one-pound notes. Pip continues to visit Miss Havisham on his birthday and on one of these occasions, his leaving work early instigates a fistfight between Joe and Joe's assistant, Dolge Orlick. Orlick resents Pip and hates Pip's abusive sister. On his way home from that visit, Pip finds out his sister was almost murdered and is now mentally crippled. Biddy comes to live with them to help out. Pip is attracted to her even though she is not educated and polished like Estella.
One evening, a powerful London lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, visits Pip and Joe and informs them that Pip has "great expectations." Pip is overjoyed and assumes the windfall is from Miss Havisham, who wants to prepare him for Estella. He gets a new suit of clothes and is amazed at how differently he is treated by Mr. Trabb, the tailor, and by Uncle Pumblechook. When Pip gets Trabb's shop boy in trouble for not treating Pip with respect, he realizes how money changes things. He has a conversation with Biddy and asks her to work on "improving" Joe. Pip accuses her of being jealous of him when she suggests Joe does not need improving. By the end of the week, Pip is on his way to London to become a gentleman.
In London, Pip meets with Jaggers and his clerk, Mr. Wemmick. Wemmick brings Pip to the apartment of Herbert Pocket, who, Pip discovers, is the Pale Young Gentleman he fought at Miss Havisham's. Pip is to study with Herbert's father, Mr. Matthew Pocket, to learn how to be a gentleman. Pip and Herbert become good friends and Herbert nicknames Pip, Handel. Pip spends part of his time with Herbert and part of his time with the Pocket family. Also living at the Pocket's family home are two other "gentlemen students," Startop and Bentley Drummle. Drummle and Pip do not get along, especially later, when Drummle becomes involved with Estella.
Pip is embarrassed when Joe visits him in London with a message from Miss Havisham and cannot wait for Joe to leave. When Pip returns home to see Miss Havisham, he avoids Joe's forge. Miss Havisham informs Pip he is to accompany Estella to London where she will live with a wealthy society woman. Pip is convinced Miss Havisham intends Estella for him. In London, he spends his time visiting with Estella, spending too much money with Herbert, and joining a group of useless rich men called the Finches. He also makes friends with Jaggers' clerk, Wemmick, and realizes that the stiff legal clerk has a different, kinder personality at home. Pip also realizes that he is harming Herbert financially with their debts, and with Wemmick's help, secretly arranges to set Herbert up in business with a merchant named Clarriker.
During this time, Pip's sister dies. He returns for her funeral and is remorseful over his abandonment of Joe and Biddy. He promises he will visit more often and is angry when Biddy implies that she does not believe him.
On a stormy evening back in London, Pip's world changes dramatically with the arrival of a ragged stranger whom Pip realizes is the convict from the marshes years ago. The convict, whose name is Magwitch, had been sent to Australia and was to never return to England under penalty of death. The convict made a fortune in Australia and has risked death to return and tell Pip that he is the source of Pip's expectations. Pip is disgusted and devastated, something Magwitch, in his happiness to see his "gentleman," does not notice. Pip now knows that Miss Havisham has not been preparing him for Estella, and that with his money coming from a convict he can never have Estella. He also realizes he deserted Joe for a convict's money.
Magwitch explains to Pip that he has come to give him his full inheritance as thanks for his help on the marshes years before. He tells Pip about the other convict, a man named Compeyson. Pip later learns from Herbert that Compeyson was the same man who broke Miss Havisham's heart. Pip decides he will take no more of Magwitch's money. However, he feels responsible for the danger the man is in and will find a way to get him safely out of the country.
Pip is crushed to hear that Bentley Drummle is to marry Estella. Pip visits with her and Miss Havisham and pleads with her not to do this. He professes his deep love, which she cannot fathom, and tells her that he would be happy if she married another as long as it was not Drummle. During this conversation, Estella and Miss Havisham have an argument that shows she cannot love Miss Havisham, either. Miss Havisham realizes the depth of the damage she has done and is heartbroken.
Returning to London, Pip learns from Wemmick that Compeyson is watching Magwitch. Herbert and Pip hide Magwitch and devise an escape plan. Pip also gets an anonymous note to come to the marshes where someone has information about Magwitch. He returns home and visits Miss Havisham before going to the marshes. She begs his forgiveness and agrees to Pip's request to help fund Herbert Pocket's new business. Pip starts to leave then returns to see Miss Havisham's dress on fire. He saves her but she is very ill afterward. He goes to the marshes, where he is captured by Orlick, who intends to kill him. Rescue comes from Herbert and Startop who had followed him from London. Trabb's shop boy led them to the marshes.
They return to London and carry out their escape plan with Magwitch, but Compeyson has informed the authorities and they are caught. Compeyson and Magwitch struggle and fall into the river. Compeyson drowns and Magwitch is hurt, then imprisoned and sentenced to die. Pip by now has figured out Magwitch is Estella's father. He visits and cares for Magwitch until the man dies in prison. Afterward, Pip attends Wemmick's wedding. Pip also gets very sick and is himself arrested for not paying his debts. Joe comes and nurses Pip back to health and tells him Miss Havisham has died, leaving a large amount of money to Mr. Matthew Pocket. Before returning to his forge, Joe also pays off Pip's debt. Pip goes home, intending to make amends with Joe and marry Biddy. He arrives just in time to celebrate Joe and Biddy's wedding. Pip leaves shortly afterward for eleven years in Cairo, working with Herbert in his business. When he returns, he visits with Joe and Biddy and meets their son, little Pip. He also meets with Estella. She is a widow now after years in an abusive marriage to Drummle. She and Pip part, but the implication is that this time they will be together.
Sources: www.cliffsnotes.com/.../LitNote/Great-Expectations.id-118.html-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Pip's pompous Uncle Pumblechook arranges for Pip to go to the house of a wealthy reclusive woman, Miss Havisham, to play with her adopted daughter, Estella. The house is a strange nightmare-world. Miss Havisham's fiancé jilted her on her wedding day and she still wears her old wedding gown, although she's now elderly and wheel-chair-bound. The house has been left as it was on her wedding day and even the old wedding cake is still on the table. Estella is beautiful but haughty and tells Pip that he is coarse and common. Pip is immediately attracted to Estella in spite of how she and Miss Havisham treat him. Although the visits are emotionally painful and demeaning, Pip continues to go there for several months to play with Estella and to wheel Miss Havisham around. He also meets her toady relatives who want her money and hate Pip. Pip does earn a kiss from Estella when he beats one of the relatives, the Pale Young Gentleman, in a fistfight. Pip tries to better himself to win Estella's admiration by working harder with his friend, Biddy, at night school. Biddy's grandmother runs the night school.
After a number of months, Miss Havisham pays for Pip's blacksmithing apprenticeship with Joe. Pip had looked forward to that for years, but now that he has seen "genteel" life, he views the forge as a death sentence. However, he hides his feelings from Joe and performs his duties. During this time, he encounters a strange man at the Jolly Bargemen, a local pub. The man has the file that Pip stole for the convict years before. The man gives Pip two one-pound notes. Pip continues to visit Miss Havisham on his birthday and on one of these occasions, his leaving work early instigates a fistfight between Joe and Joe's assistant, Dolge Orlick. Orlick resents Pip and hates Pip's abusive sister. On his way home from that visit, Pip finds out his sister was almost murdered and is now mentally crippled. Biddy comes to live with them to help out. Pip is attracted to her even though she is not educated and polished like Estella.
One evening, a powerful London lawyer, Mr. Jaggers, visits Pip and Joe and informs them that Pip has "great expectations." Pip is overjoyed and assumes the windfall is from Miss Havisham, who wants to prepare him for Estella. He gets a new suit of clothes and is amazed at how differently he is treated by Mr. Trabb, the tailor, and by Uncle Pumblechook. When Pip gets Trabb's shop boy in trouble for not treating Pip with respect, he realizes how money changes things. He has a conversation with Biddy and asks her to work on "improving" Joe. Pip accuses her of being jealous of him when she suggests Joe does not need improving. By the end of the week, Pip is on his way to London to become a gentleman.
In London, Pip meets with Jaggers and his clerk, Mr. Wemmick. Wemmick brings Pip to the apartment of Herbert Pocket, who, Pip discovers, is the Pale Young Gentleman he fought at Miss Havisham's. Pip is to study with Herbert's father, Mr. Matthew Pocket, to learn how to be a gentleman. Pip and Herbert become good friends and Herbert nicknames Pip, Handel. Pip spends part of his time with Herbert and part of his time with the Pocket family. Also living at the Pocket's family home are two other "gentlemen students," Startop and Bentley Drummle. Drummle and Pip do not get along, especially later, when Drummle becomes involved with Estella.
Pip is embarrassed when Joe visits him in London with a message from Miss Havisham and cannot wait for Joe to leave. When Pip returns home to see Miss Havisham, he avoids Joe's forge. Miss Havisham informs Pip he is to accompany Estella to London where she will live with a wealthy society woman. Pip is convinced Miss Havisham intends Estella for him. In London, he spends his time visiting with Estella, spending too much money with Herbert, and joining a group of useless rich men called the Finches. He also makes friends with Jaggers' clerk, Wemmick, and realizes that the stiff legal clerk has a different, kinder personality at home. Pip also realizes that he is harming Herbert financially with their debts, and with Wemmick's help, secretly arranges to set Herbert up in business with a merchant named Clarriker.
During this time, Pip's sister dies. He returns for her funeral and is remorseful over his abandonment of Joe and Biddy. He promises he will visit more often and is angry when Biddy implies that she does not believe him.
On a stormy evening back in London, Pip's world changes dramatically with the arrival of a ragged stranger whom Pip realizes is the convict from the marshes years ago. The convict, whose name is Magwitch, had been sent to Australia and was to never return to England under penalty of death. The convict made a fortune in Australia and has risked death to return and tell Pip that he is the source of Pip's expectations. Pip is disgusted and devastated, something Magwitch, in his happiness to see his "gentleman," does not notice. Pip now knows that Miss Havisham has not been preparing him for Estella, and that with his money coming from a convict he can never have Estella. He also realizes he deserted Joe for a convict's money.
Magwitch explains to Pip that he has come to give him his full inheritance as thanks for his help on the marshes years before. He tells Pip about the other convict, a man named Compeyson. Pip later learns from Herbert that Compeyson was the same man who broke Miss Havisham's heart. Pip decides he will take no more of Magwitch's money. However, he feels responsible for the danger the man is in and will find a way to get him safely out of the country.
Pip is crushed to hear that Bentley Drummle is to marry Estella. Pip visits with her and Miss Havisham and pleads with her not to do this. He professes his deep love, which she cannot fathom, and tells her that he would be happy if she married another as long as it was not Drummle. During this conversation, Estella and Miss Havisham have an argument that shows she cannot love Miss Havisham, either. Miss Havisham realizes the depth of the damage she has done and is heartbroken.
Returning to London, Pip learns from Wemmick that Compeyson is watching Magwitch. Herbert and Pip hide Magwitch and devise an escape plan. Pip also gets an anonymous note to come to the marshes where someone has information about Magwitch. He returns home and visits Miss Havisham before going to the marshes. She begs his forgiveness and agrees to Pip's request to help fund Herbert Pocket's new business. Pip starts to leave then returns to see Miss Havisham's dress on fire. He saves her but she is very ill afterward. He goes to the marshes, where he is captured by Orlick, who intends to kill him. Rescue comes from Herbert and Startop who had followed him from London. Trabb's shop boy led them to the marshes.
They return to London and carry out their escape plan with Magwitch, but Compeyson has informed the authorities and they are caught. Compeyson and Magwitch struggle and fall into the river. Compeyson drowns and Magwitch is hurt, then imprisoned and sentenced to die. Pip by now has figured out Magwitch is Estella's father. He visits and cares for Magwitch until the man dies in prison. Afterward, Pip attends Wemmick's wedding. Pip also gets very sick and is himself arrested for not paying his debts. Joe comes and nurses Pip back to health and tells him Miss Havisham has died, leaving a large amount of money to Mr. Matthew Pocket. Before returning to his forge, Joe also pays off Pip's debt. Pip goes home, intending to make amends with Joe and marry Biddy. He arrives just in time to celebrate Joe and Biddy's wedding. Pip leaves shortly afterward for eleven years in Cairo, working with Herbert in his business. When he returns, he visits with Joe and Biddy and meets their son, little Pip. He also meets with Estella. She is a widow now after years in an abusive marriage to Drummle. She and Pip part, but the implication is that this time they will be together.
Sources: www.cliffsnotes.com/.../LitNote/Great-Expectations.id-118.html-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Essays-A/L
Read the following essay for several times and learn new words. After that, write about it.
As computers are being used more and more in education, there will be soon no role for teachers in the classroom.
There is no doubt that education and the learning process has changed since the introduction of computers. The search for information has become easier and amusing, and connectivity has expedited the data availability. Though experts have made computers more intelligent, they have not yet become a substitute of the human interaction in the learning process. In my opinion; what can be expected, is a change of the teachers’ role, but not their disappearance from the classroom.
Nobody can argue that the acquisition of knowledge is more fun and easier with computers. The mere activity of touching and exploring this device constitutes an enjoyable task for a kid. This, accompanied with the relaxing attitude and software interactivity, usually conduce to a better grasping of new knowledge. At a higher educational level; the availability of digital books, simulator and other academic materials, provide the student with an ever accessible source of information, that otherwise would not be at hand.
But, besides the increasing complexity and behavior of intelligent software, which is usually embedded in the academic digital material, the need of human interaction in the learning process will always be present, at least in the foreseeable future. There is the necessity for a human being to be able to determine what the specific needs of each individual are. The expertise of a teacher in how to explain and adapt complex concepts to different individuals can hardly be mimicked by a computer, no matter how sophisticated its software is.
As computers are becoming a common tool for teaching, teachers should be more aware of their role as guides in the acquisition of knowledge rather than transmitters of facts. They have to be open minded to the changes that are taking place, keep updated and serve as a problem solvers in the learning process, thus allowing students to discover the fact for themselves.
To summarize, in my personal view, teachers play and will play an important role in the classroom, especially at the primary level. No matter how complex computers become, there will be no replacement for the human interaction, but in the way how this interaction takes place.
D.N. Aloysius
As computers are being used more and more in education, there will be soon no role for teachers in the classroom.
There is no doubt that education and the learning process has changed since the introduction of computers. The search for information has become easier and amusing, and connectivity has expedited the data availability. Though experts have made computers more intelligent, they have not yet become a substitute of the human interaction in the learning process. In my opinion; what can be expected, is a change of the teachers’ role, but not their disappearance from the classroom.
Nobody can argue that the acquisition of knowledge is more fun and easier with computers. The mere activity of touching and exploring this device constitutes an enjoyable task for a kid. This, accompanied with the relaxing attitude and software interactivity, usually conduce to a better grasping of new knowledge. At a higher educational level; the availability of digital books, simulator and other academic materials, provide the student with an ever accessible source of information, that otherwise would not be at hand.
But, besides the increasing complexity and behavior of intelligent software, which is usually embedded in the academic digital material, the need of human interaction in the learning process will always be present, at least in the foreseeable future. There is the necessity for a human being to be able to determine what the specific needs of each individual are. The expertise of a teacher in how to explain and adapt complex concepts to different individuals can hardly be mimicked by a computer, no matter how sophisticated its software is.
As computers are becoming a common tool for teaching, teachers should be more aware of their role as guides in the acquisition of knowledge rather than transmitters of facts. They have to be open minded to the changes that are taking place, keep updated and serve as a problem solvers in the learning process, thus allowing students to discover the fact for themselves.
To summarize, in my personal view, teachers play and will play an important role in the classroom, especially at the primary level. No matter how complex computers become, there will be no replacement for the human interaction, but in the way how this interaction takes place.
D.N. Aloysius
Othello
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Major Themes
Appearance vs. reality
Especially relevant to the issue of Iago's character; for although he is called "honest" by almost everyone in the play, he is treacherous, deceitful, and manipulative. Also applies to Desdemona, as Othello believes that she is deceitful and impure, although she is really blameless and innocent.
Race
Race is an extremely important theme; it has a great amount of influence on how people regard Othello‹for those who distrust black people merely on looks never like Othello, like Iago. Race also determines how Othello perceives himself as a rough outsider, though he is nothing of the sort. Othello's race sets him apart, and makes him very self-conscious; it makes him work hard and look carefully after his reputation, so he is regarded as equal to the white people that surround him.
Pride
Especially important with regards to Othello; Othello is defensively proud of himself and his achievements, and especially proud of the honorable appearance he presents. The allegations of Desdemona's affair hurt his pride even more than they inflame his vanity and jealousy; he wants to appear powerful, accomplished, and moral at every possible instance, and when this is almost denied to him, his wounded pride becomes especially powerful.
Magic
Usually has something to do with Othello's heritage. Othello is charged with using magic to woo Desdemona, merely because he is black, and therefore, "pagan." Yet, Othello does have real magic, in the words he uses and the stories he tells. Magic also reappears when Desdemona's handkerchief cannot be found; Othello has too much trust in the symbolism and charm of the handkerchief, which is why the object is so significant to him.
Order vs. chaos
As Othello begins to abandon reason and language, chaos takes over. His world begins to be ruled by chaotic emotions and very shady allegations, with order pushed to one side. This chaos rushes him into tragedy, and once Othello has sunk into it, he is unable to stop his fate from taking him over.
Self-knowledge
Othello's lack of self-knowledge makes him easy prey for Iago. Once Iago inflames Othello's jealousy and gets the darker aspects of Othello's nature into action, there is nothing Othello can do to stop it, since he cannot even admit that he has these darker traits.
Honesty
Although the word "honest" is usually used in an ironic way throughout the text, most characters in the play go through a crisis of learning who and who not to trust. Most of them, unfortunately, trust in Iago's honesty; this leads to the downfall of many characters, as this trust in Iago's "honesty" became a crucial contributor to their undoing.
Misrepresentation
This also allows Iago to gain trust and manipulate other people; misrepresentation means that Iago is able to appear to be "honest," in order to deceive and misdirect people. Othello also misrepresents himself, as being simple and plain-spoken; this is not for deceptive effect, but also is used to present an image of himself which is not exactly the truth.
Good vs. Evil
Though there is much gray area between these two, Iago's battle against Othello and Cassio certainly counts as an embodiment of this theme. Iago and his evil battle to corrupt and turn the flawed natures of other characters, and he does succeed to some extent. By the end of the play, neither has won, as Desdemona and Emilia are both dead, and Iago revealed and punished.
Sources: www.gradesaver.com/othello/study-guide/major-themes-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Major Themes
Appearance vs. reality
Especially relevant to the issue of Iago's character; for although he is called "honest" by almost everyone in the play, he is treacherous, deceitful, and manipulative. Also applies to Desdemona, as Othello believes that she is deceitful and impure, although she is really blameless and innocent.
Race
Race is an extremely important theme; it has a great amount of influence on how people regard Othello‹for those who distrust black people merely on looks never like Othello, like Iago. Race also determines how Othello perceives himself as a rough outsider, though he is nothing of the sort. Othello's race sets him apart, and makes him very self-conscious; it makes him work hard and look carefully after his reputation, so he is regarded as equal to the white people that surround him.
Pride
Especially important with regards to Othello; Othello is defensively proud of himself and his achievements, and especially proud of the honorable appearance he presents. The allegations of Desdemona's affair hurt his pride even more than they inflame his vanity and jealousy; he wants to appear powerful, accomplished, and moral at every possible instance, and when this is almost denied to him, his wounded pride becomes especially powerful.
Magic
Usually has something to do with Othello's heritage. Othello is charged with using magic to woo Desdemona, merely because he is black, and therefore, "pagan." Yet, Othello does have real magic, in the words he uses and the stories he tells. Magic also reappears when Desdemona's handkerchief cannot be found; Othello has too much trust in the symbolism and charm of the handkerchief, which is why the object is so significant to him.
Order vs. chaos
As Othello begins to abandon reason and language, chaos takes over. His world begins to be ruled by chaotic emotions and very shady allegations, with order pushed to one side. This chaos rushes him into tragedy, and once Othello has sunk into it, he is unable to stop his fate from taking him over.
Self-knowledge
Othello's lack of self-knowledge makes him easy prey for Iago. Once Iago inflames Othello's jealousy and gets the darker aspects of Othello's nature into action, there is nothing Othello can do to stop it, since he cannot even admit that he has these darker traits.
Honesty
Although the word "honest" is usually used in an ironic way throughout the text, most characters in the play go through a crisis of learning who and who not to trust. Most of them, unfortunately, trust in Iago's honesty; this leads to the downfall of many characters, as this trust in Iago's "honesty" became a crucial contributor to their undoing.
Misrepresentation
This also allows Iago to gain trust and manipulate other people; misrepresentation means that Iago is able to appear to be "honest," in order to deceive and misdirect people. Othello also misrepresents himself, as being simple and plain-spoken; this is not for deceptive effect, but also is used to present an image of himself which is not exactly the truth.
Good vs. Evil
Though there is much gray area between these two, Iago's battle against Othello and Cassio certainly counts as an embodiment of this theme. Iago and his evil battle to corrupt and turn the flawed natures of other characters, and he does succeed to some extent. By the end of the play, neither has won, as Desdemona and Emilia are both dead, and Iago revealed and punished.
Sources: www.gradesaver.com/othello/study-guide/major-themes-05.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
Essays -A/L
Read the following news item and write an essay on Impact of Unauthorized Constructions on the People.
Unauthorized constructions and land grabbing in the Bambalapitiya Govt. Flats Housing Scheme have been resorted to by certain residents under the very nose of the housing authorities.
In fact, such unauthorized constructions and land grabbing could not have been possible without the connivance and support of some corrupt officials, which will be proved if a probe is held.
Certain residents have constructed illegal extensions to their housing units, in front and behind, encroaching on common (State) land and even covering common drains, demolishing or shifting stairways behind, removing fire exits, changing housing plans without the approval of the NHDA, UDA and the CMC, which is mandatory. Fortresses like enclosures have been erected enclosing common land thereby causing great inconvenience to the residents of the upper floors, adjoining land has been illegally annexed by fencing or putting up six foot walls to be used as personal car parks or partying grounds. Monopolizing of common land by a few is unfair by the vast majority, when in fact; the entitlement is only three feet from the boundary wall of the housing unit of the ground floor residents.
Why no action was taken by the Condominium Management Authority against the unauthorized constructions and land grabbing is surprising when Act provides for taking action even on information or telephone call. That looks fishy. However, recently the unauthorized construction by a resident of Block I was demolished (the only unauthorized construction demolished in the history of the housing scheme) when other monstrous looking unauthorized constructions in the same block, the Block behind and the Blocks on either side of the approach road leading to Block I, have been left alone especially when those illegal constructions were built long before and complaints were lodged with the Condominium Management Authority. That is nothing but discrimination and favoritism which has led to resentment among the residents.
D.N. Aloysius
Unauthorized constructions and land grabbing in the Bambalapitiya Govt. Flats Housing Scheme have been resorted to by certain residents under the very nose of the housing authorities.
In fact, such unauthorized constructions and land grabbing could not have been possible without the connivance and support of some corrupt officials, which will be proved if a probe is held.
Certain residents have constructed illegal extensions to their housing units, in front and behind, encroaching on common (State) land and even covering common drains, demolishing or shifting stairways behind, removing fire exits, changing housing plans without the approval of the NHDA, UDA and the CMC, which is mandatory. Fortresses like enclosures have been erected enclosing common land thereby causing great inconvenience to the residents of the upper floors, adjoining land has been illegally annexed by fencing or putting up six foot walls to be used as personal car parks or partying grounds. Monopolizing of common land by a few is unfair by the vast majority, when in fact; the entitlement is only three feet from the boundary wall of the housing unit of the ground floor residents.
Why no action was taken by the Condominium Management Authority against the unauthorized constructions and land grabbing is surprising when Act provides for taking action even on information or telephone call. That looks fishy. However, recently the unauthorized construction by a resident of Block I was demolished (the only unauthorized construction demolished in the history of the housing scheme) when other monstrous looking unauthorized constructions in the same block, the Block behind and the Blocks on either side of the approach road leading to Block I, have been left alone especially when those illegal constructions were built long before and complaints were lodged with the Condominium Management Authority. That is nothing but discrimination and favoritism which has led to resentment among the residents.
D.N. Aloysius
Remembrance -Emily Bronte
Cold in the earth -- and the deep snow piled above thee,
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?
Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!
Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.
But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)
Emily Brontë was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her one novel Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature. Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire, the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was a rector, and it was in these surroundings that their literary talent flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and her brother Branwell created imaginary lands (Gondal, Angria, Gaaldine), which featured in stories they wrote. Few of Emily's work from this period survives except for poems spoken by characters.
In 1837, Emily commenced work as a governess at Law Hill, near Halifax. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended college in Brussels.
It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1845. Owing to the prejudices on female writers, all three used male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell".
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Like her sisters, Emily's constitution had been weakened by their harsh life at home and at school. She died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, having caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September.
Analysis
Remembrance by Emily Bronte is an elegy and contains a lot of negative imagery. The poem has a string link with nature and has lots of information about nature. This is probably due to Emily's background as a child, where she was fascinated by nature and enjoyed her own company rather than that of others and it was here when she was alone, she learned to appreciate nature. Examples of Emily's knowledge of nature can be seen strongly in the second verse in particular as she makes lots of references such as 'Over the mountains', 'that northern shore' and 'where heath and fern leaves cover'. There are many other examples in the poem, but many I talk about later on in the essay. The poem is about a person losing a loved one and her feeling towards the loved one now the persons gone. The losing of a loved one is...
...wording of thee at the end of the lines tells the reader that it is a person in the earth; it makes it sound more personal. 'Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave' Far, far removed is about the body and the repetition and isolation of far add emphasis on how alone and out of the way the body is. Cold is again a negative image and is repeated from the opening line and therefore has a deeper effect on the reader. The following line 'Have I forgot my love, to love thee' is ironic, she's asking the question have I forgot my love, but obviously hasn't since she is talking about it. Emily uses personification in the final line of the opening verse with 'Severed at last by times all severing wave?' It is relating to the death of the loved one. Also it ends with a question mark yet there is no obvious question in the line. I do not understand the reason for this being here. 'Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover' This relates to Emily as she likes to be alone and she feels best when alone, but when she is with people maybe she feels intimidated or scared so she won’t seem normal and this is what she meant when she wrote 'when alone do my thoughts no longer hover' she can only act normal when alone. The second and third verse both contains images of angels. 'Resting their wings' and 'spirit' are both strong religious images. These are significant because they show the reader she had a religious understanding which she got form from her background with her father being a priest. Other words with religious significance in Remembrance include 'Faithful' which relates to any religion means being loyal to the subject. Emily was faithful to her loved one and is still faithful to the spirit of the loved one. Heaven is another religious word in Remembrance, but it has a different meaning to Emily. Heaven is the habitat for God and his angels, but Emily's heaven is in her dreams and thoughts and is most likely to be Gondal. Heaven is probably the habitat for her and the loved one. Remembrance also has a lot of water imagery, which is quite a common theme in Emily Bronte’s poems. 'Stars' is another Bronte poem with strong water imagery. 'Stars' had negative water imagery with words such as sank and sea, which related to drowning. In remembrance, we have strong water images with words such as wave, shore, tide and drinking. Then possibly snow, melted and tears could be seen as images of water as well. Midway through Remembrance Emily wrote two lines both starting with 'All my life's bliss'. One line ends with life and the other ends with death, but both lines have a sad depressing meaning. 'All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given' means all the happiness her dear life was given 'All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.' This means that all her life’s happiness is in the grave with the loved one. I felt these lines were very powerful and the repletion put a lot of emphasis on the sadness and created a very downbeat tone. That verse was the most powerful of the whole poem. It began by suggesting no person has filled the void left by the loved one 'No later light has lightened up my heaven/No second morn has ever shone for me.' The lines are very similar lightened up my heaven is a strong image of happiness and then shone for me is a happy image, but they are at different ends of the scale. Later in the poem, the negative mood and imagery continue with words such as despair, powerless and destroy. All these words are powerful and have an effect. 'But when the days of the golden dreams had perished/and even despair was powerless to destroy/Then did I learn how the existence could be cherished/strengthened and fed without the aid of joy.' I understand this verse to mean that once she realized that the loved one wasn't coming back she carried on her life like normal, but could never be fully satisfied with her life. The verse that follows uses a variety of interesting words. She used useless to personify passion. She has described one of man's strongest emotions as useless which is quite a powerful statement to make. This helps the reader understand her pain. In the line after she personifies her soul to pursue her which is an odd statement to make and also she describes her soul as young, which gives it the image of being innocent and as the soul is part of the person it makes the person writing the poem/character in the poem seem young and innocent. Earlier in the poem we had heaven and angels now we have a contrast with the word burning, a negative image, which is often referred to as an image of hell. The final word I fought was interesting in the verse was tomb. Throughout the poem there had been many references to tombs, graves and brown hills (image of a shallow grave). These are all close to the earth and represent being close or as one with nature, being in the ground like they have been eaten up by the earth and taken back by nature. The final verse of Remembrance the reader is told how painful it is to remember the lost loved one 'Dare not indulge in memory's ...
Activity
How does Emily Bronte declare her faith towards her husband even if he is dead in her poem, Remembrance?
D.N. Aloysius
Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave!
Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
Resting their wings where heath and fern leaves cover
Thy noble heart forever, ever more?
Cold in the earth -- and fifteen wild Decembers,
From those brown hills, have melted into spring;
Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
After such years of change and suffering!
Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.
But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion --
Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?
Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)
Emily Brontë was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her one novel Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature. Emily was born at Thornton in Yorkshire, the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. In 1820, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was a rector, and it was in these surroundings that their literary talent flourished. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and her brother Branwell created imaginary lands (Gondal, Angria, Gaaldine), which featured in stories they wrote. Few of Emily's work from this period survives except for poems spoken by characters.
In 1837, Emily commenced work as a governess at Law Hill, near Halifax. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended college in Brussels.
It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by her family that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1845. Owing to the prejudices on female writers, all three used male pseudonyms, Emily's being "Ellis Bell".
She subsequently published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic.
Like her sisters, Emily's constitution had been weakened by their harsh life at home and at school. She died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, having caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September.
Analysis
Remembrance by Emily Bronte is an elegy and contains a lot of negative imagery. The poem has a string link with nature and has lots of information about nature. This is probably due to Emily's background as a child, where she was fascinated by nature and enjoyed her own company rather than that of others and it was here when she was alone, she learned to appreciate nature. Examples of Emily's knowledge of nature can be seen strongly in the second verse in particular as she makes lots of references such as 'Over the mountains', 'that northern shore' and 'where heath and fern leaves cover'. There are many other examples in the poem, but many I talk about later on in the essay. The poem is about a person losing a loved one and her feeling towards the loved one now the persons gone. The losing of a loved one is...
...wording of thee at the end of the lines tells the reader that it is a person in the earth; it makes it sound more personal. 'Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave' Far, far removed is about the body and the repetition and isolation of far add emphasis on how alone and out of the way the body is. Cold is again a negative image and is repeated from the opening line and therefore has a deeper effect on the reader. The following line 'Have I forgot my love, to love thee' is ironic, she's asking the question have I forgot my love, but obviously hasn't since she is talking about it. Emily uses personification in the final line of the opening verse with 'Severed at last by times all severing wave?' It is relating to the death of the loved one. Also it ends with a question mark yet there is no obvious question in the line. I do not understand the reason for this being here. 'Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover' This relates to Emily as she likes to be alone and she feels best when alone, but when she is with people maybe she feels intimidated or scared so she won’t seem normal and this is what she meant when she wrote 'when alone do my thoughts no longer hover' she can only act normal when alone. The second and third verse both contains images of angels. 'Resting their wings' and 'spirit' are both strong religious images. These are significant because they show the reader she had a religious understanding which she got form from her background with her father being a priest. Other words with religious significance in Remembrance include 'Faithful' which relates to any religion means being loyal to the subject. Emily was faithful to her loved one and is still faithful to the spirit of the loved one. Heaven is another religious word in Remembrance, but it has a different meaning to Emily. Heaven is the habitat for God and his angels, but Emily's heaven is in her dreams and thoughts and is most likely to be Gondal. Heaven is probably the habitat for her and the loved one. Remembrance also has a lot of water imagery, which is quite a common theme in Emily Bronte’s poems. 'Stars' is another Bronte poem with strong water imagery. 'Stars' had negative water imagery with words such as sank and sea, which related to drowning. In remembrance, we have strong water images with words such as wave, shore, tide and drinking. Then possibly snow, melted and tears could be seen as images of water as well. Midway through Remembrance Emily wrote two lines both starting with 'All my life's bliss'. One line ends with life and the other ends with death, but both lines have a sad depressing meaning. 'All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given' means all the happiness her dear life was given 'All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.' This means that all her life’s happiness is in the grave with the loved one. I felt these lines were very powerful and the repletion put a lot of emphasis on the sadness and created a very downbeat tone. That verse was the most powerful of the whole poem. It began by suggesting no person has filled the void left by the loved one 'No later light has lightened up my heaven/No second morn has ever shone for me.' The lines are very similar lightened up my heaven is a strong image of happiness and then shone for me is a happy image, but they are at different ends of the scale. Later in the poem, the negative mood and imagery continue with words such as despair, powerless and destroy. All these words are powerful and have an effect. 'But when the days of the golden dreams had perished/and even despair was powerless to destroy/Then did I learn how the existence could be cherished/strengthened and fed without the aid of joy.' I understand this verse to mean that once she realized that the loved one wasn't coming back she carried on her life like normal, but could never be fully satisfied with her life. The verse that follows uses a variety of interesting words. She used useless to personify passion. She has described one of man's strongest emotions as useless which is quite a powerful statement to make. This helps the reader understand her pain. In the line after she personifies her soul to pursue her which is an odd statement to make and also she describes her soul as young, which gives it the image of being innocent and as the soul is part of the person it makes the person writing the poem/character in the poem seem young and innocent. Earlier in the poem we had heaven and angels now we have a contrast with the word burning, a negative image, which is often referred to as an image of hell. The final word I fought was interesting in the verse was tomb. Throughout the poem there had been many references to tombs, graves and brown hills (image of a shallow grave). These are all close to the earth and represent being close or as one with nature, being in the ground like they have been eaten up by the earth and taken back by nature. The final verse of Remembrance the reader is told how painful it is to remember the lost loved one 'Dare not indulge in memory's ...
Activity
How does Emily Bronte declare her faith towards her husband even if he is dead in her poem, Remembrance?
D.N. Aloysius
Précis
As serious academic writers, you will have to read and remember large amounts of prose and poetry along with scientific and social-studies articles as well. In many of your college courses, you are probably able to memorize facts and key statements with relative ease, but in English courses and others which also require close, critical reading, you are asked to go a step further, i.e., to present the informing argument of, let's say, an article and to reproduce the logical development of the argument in as cogent a form as possible in your own words. In order to demonstrate that you have assimilated the central argument and proof of another scholar's critical interpretation, you must be able to summarize and even compose a précis of an argument.
A summary or a précis is not a personal interpretation of a work or an expression of your opinion of the idea; it is, rather, an exact replica in miniature of the work, often reduced to one-quarter to one-fifth of its size, in which you express the complete argument.
What actually happens when you write a précis? First, you must understand the complete work so that you can abstract the central argument and express it cogently and completely. Next, you must develop the argument exactly as the writer has presented it. The key word here is assimilation. When you read the material, it is probable that you will understand only those parts, which have associations within your own experience.
How you actually go about writing a précis depends largely on your ability to restate the writer's central ideas after you have assimilated them in your own mind.
Here are the rules of the game:
1. Read the article many times most carefully.
2. Write a précis of the article in which you state the entire argument
and present the logical progression or the development of the argument.
3. Reduce the article to one-third of its original length
and omit nothing from the essential argument. This is, in reality,
the key to the whole enterprise.
4. Type the précis and begin with your abstraction of the central, inform-
ing idea of the article. Having understood and written the central idea,
present the essential argument in as cogent manner as possible.
Once you have assimilated the article through the illustrations
and examples the writer uses to make his/her abstract ideas concrete,
you do not have to include these in your précis.
5. Here is a central rule:
Do not copy a single sentence from the article. You may use
key words and phrases only when you are expressing ideas which are
technically precise or when you feel comfortable using the writer's
own words, i.e., you understand exactly he or she means, and there
is really no better way to express the concept.
Finally, in order to complete this assignment, you will have to read the work most carefully, ask questions about the work repeatedly, and reach into your own experiences so that you can shape most cogently the writer's concepts.
This assignment is not easy. When you have completed it well, you will never forget the argument, the examples, and the development of the article. More than likely you will also be learning that, when you write research papers and other critical papers, your ability to write the précis is central to the basics of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and other key, higher order thinking skills absolutely required for your success in college and in the profession or career you have chosen when you graduate.
Sources: onestar.texas.net/~mseifert/precis1302.html -21.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
dnaloysius.blogspot.com
aloysiusrjt@gmail.com
A summary or a précis is not a personal interpretation of a work or an expression of your opinion of the idea; it is, rather, an exact replica in miniature of the work, often reduced to one-quarter to one-fifth of its size, in which you express the complete argument.
What actually happens when you write a précis? First, you must understand the complete work so that you can abstract the central argument and express it cogently and completely. Next, you must develop the argument exactly as the writer has presented it. The key word here is assimilation. When you read the material, it is probable that you will understand only those parts, which have associations within your own experience.
How you actually go about writing a précis depends largely on your ability to restate the writer's central ideas after you have assimilated them in your own mind.
Here are the rules of the game:
1. Read the article many times most carefully.
2. Write a précis of the article in which you state the entire argument
and present the logical progression or the development of the argument.
3. Reduce the article to one-third of its original length
and omit nothing from the essential argument. This is, in reality,
the key to the whole enterprise.
4. Type the précis and begin with your abstraction of the central, inform-
ing idea of the article. Having understood and written the central idea,
present the essential argument in as cogent manner as possible.
Once you have assimilated the article through the illustrations
and examples the writer uses to make his/her abstract ideas concrete,
you do not have to include these in your précis.
5. Here is a central rule:
Do not copy a single sentence from the article. You may use
key words and phrases only when you are expressing ideas which are
technically precise or when you feel comfortable using the writer's
own words, i.e., you understand exactly he or she means, and there
is really no better way to express the concept.
Finally, in order to complete this assignment, you will have to read the work most carefully, ask questions about the work repeatedly, and reach into your own experiences so that you can shape most cogently the writer's concepts.
This assignment is not easy. When you have completed it well, you will never forget the argument, the examples, and the development of the article. More than likely you will also be learning that, when you write research papers and other critical papers, your ability to write the précis is central to the basics of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and other key, higher order thinking skills absolutely required for your success in college and in the profession or career you have chosen when you graduate.
Sources: onestar.texas.net/~mseifert/precis1302.html -21.05.2011
D.N. Aloysius
dnaloysius.blogspot.com
aloysiusrjt@gmail.com
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