Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Cb Prepartions Essay Example for Free

Cb Prepartions Essay Social character traits have shown that inner and other-directed consumers may have different preferences in terms of promotional messages. Inner-directed people prefer advertisements that stress personal benefits while other-directed people seem to prefer advertisements that feature social acceptance. (a) HIGHLY DOGMATIC CUSTOMERS: It is a personality trait that measures the degree of rigidity (versus openness) that individuals display towards unfamiliar and towards information that is contrary to their own established beliefs. Dogmatism: general tendency to be open or closed to new ideas and innovations. A person who is high in dogmatism approaches the unfamiliar defensively while the person who is low in dogmatism will rarely consider unfamiliar or opposing beliefs. * more receptive is Ads for new products or services that contains an appeal from the authoritative figure. Marketer uses celebrities and experts to their new product advertising for making it easier for the potentially reluctant customers. * Highly dogmatic consumers are likely to respond favorably to a new product when the advertising message is presented in an authoritarian manner (e. g. celebrity endorsement or expert testimonials). * prefer traditional or established products rather than innovative ones. close minded towards unfamiliar and untoward information that is contrary to their own established beliefs * approach such information with considerable discomfort and uncertainty. promotional message most suitable would be endorsement or appeal from an authoritative figure. * New products need to be presented in an authoritative manner and that celebrities could be employed to reach dogmatic consumers who are more closed minded. For example: Colgate Dental Cream with Doctors and Experts endorsements. Anti-Polio Campaign featuring Amitabh and Sachin Tendulkar also useAuthoritative statements. The Cadbury’s brand took a beatng in sales after the worms were found in somepackets. Dogmatic Consumers stopped purchasing the Brand. Amitabh Bacchhanwas then used as Authority figure to reestablish Brand. b) Inner-directed consumers * tend to use their own values and standards in evaluating a new product * ads aimed at them should depict the attainment of personal achievement and satisfaction. ads that stress product features and benefits, which enable them to usetheir own values and standards in evaluating products * rely on their own inner values or standards in evaluating new products and are likely to be the consumer innovators. * other directed customers tend to look to others for guidance a s to what is appropriate or what is inappropriate. * be prefer ads that stress product features and personal benefits ( enabling them to use their own values and standards in evaluating products whereas the other * For example: Surf Ad showing Shabana Azmi saving two buckets of water is an example of the same. The latest from Surf Excel is currently running on television. This is the ad where many people are seen walking with two buckets full of water. They then pour it into a large reservoir. At this point none other than Shabana Azmi informs you what a great thing thissaving of water is for the country and implores you to use Surf Excel. * manufacturer of cameras who advertises to inner-directed consumers should stress the ability to take better pictures and the resulting personal satisfaction. c) Consumers with a high optimum stimulation level * more open to risk-taking, more likely to be innovative have a greater willingness to take risks, try products with many novel features, and shop in new retail outlets. * likely to respond favorably to promotional messages stressing more rather than less risk, novelty,or excitement. * to seek purchase related information and to accept new retail facilities. * For example: The exciting and exotic Vacation Campaign of Malasia-Truly Asia is position ing of  Airways to sell the Asian Adventures. These enjoy thinking. They are responsive to that part of Ad that is rich in Information. The individuals representing this group are adventurous and often related to entrepreneurial environments. The innovators run the risk that the innovation does not catch on, and thus subject themselves to a potential loss they must be prepared to absorb. Therefore innovators have to live with the uncertainty about the potentials of the technology, which can be viewed upon as the price to pay for being pioneers in a new field catalyzing the diffusion of new technologies. The early adopters are ready to adopt a new technology when they observe that other individuals has started adopting, and sees the potential for being some of the first adopters of a new and promising technology. These individuals are often a more integrated part of the local society than the innovators, and their adoptions are crucial for the technology to take off and get hold of the broad public. For the early adopters the uncertainties about the merits of the new technology are strongly diminished, and can therefore adopt the new technology without running the risk of buying a young and untested technology. This group accounts for about one third of the total number of adopters, and provide the link between the progressive early adopters and the more skeptical later adopters. In the latter half of the spectrum the late majority also represent about a third of the adopters. This group is skeptical to new innovations, and is not willing to adopt, until a lot of other people have adopted before them ensuring the success of the technology and possibly massive network effects. The last 16 % of the adopters, the laggards, often focus on traditional values and base their decisions on past events. They are suspicious of any new inventions to change the way life are traditionally lived, and must be 100 % certain that the technology will prevail before they are willing to adopt. From a consumers’ point of view it is essential to think about the decisions of future adopters when choosing what technology to go with. The decisions of previous adopters are on the other hand a know factor and plays a role for the decision also. So does the structure of the market, i. e. which technologies are available at the time of adoption, compared to potential superior technologies that could be available in the future. Recent findings indicate that there is a lack of willingness to wait by the early adopters. 11 This high priority of being among the very first users of a new technology is said to inflict negative externalities on the later adopters. These later adopters can be forced to adopt an inferior technology to make sure that they are compatible with the technologies of the early adopters, or they might be forced to give up compatibility to get a superior technology. That said the diffusion of new technologies is often strongly dependent on the choices of the early adopters.

Monday, August 5, 2019

Economics Of The Music Industry Economics Essay

Economics Of The Music Industry Economics Essay The Industry has reacted very badly to the consumption of CD sales. Many people blame the decline of CD sales on illegal file sharing and downloads but also to be considered is the way that CDs have been distributed and marketed over the last few years. Some of the reasons could include non competitive pricing of CDs, reduced number of shops stocking them and some of the major labels unwillingness to experiment with other form of entertainment industry such as video games and DVDs which hold a considerable force on the industry.  [1]  The competition from other media such as the gaming industry has also affected CD sales. EA (Electronic Arts) is incorporating music and cinema experiences into the games themselves  [2]  . Piracy through CD burning has affected the sales badly unlike other industries such as the software and gaming industry which is forever updating itself. The CD has been around for over 20 years now and the music industry has not been so fast to keep reinventing itself and has fallen behind in the technology race. Whilst Physical sales are falling there has been an increase of ticket sales at concerts and festivals and revenues have grown. In 2009 a report was released by the Performing Rights Society showing the retail value of recorded music fell 6% whilst live revenues grew 13%.  [3]  David Kusek describes this as a good thing for the industry as only 4 percent of records ever sold enough copies to break even.  [4]  The result in the increase of demand for live music could be down to the record industries obsession with marketing and huge profit margins and has gradually become detached from its artists and consumers. Where as generally live music promoters and agents have always been closer to the artists and their audiences  [5]   The relationship between artist, consumer and label is changing due to technology and the internet and this has affected the way in which music can be distributed. The relationship between the artist and label can be difficult. Music labels sometimes edit the artwork or the title of a song, much to the frustration of the artist. The artists have turned to the Internet and the role of labels is becoming increasingly diminished, as artists are able to freely distribute their own material through file sharing, web radio, and other peer to peer services, for little or no cost.  [6]  Bigger artists have ended their contracts. Radioheads problems with their label in 2007 ended with them releasing their album on their own and subsequently released as a pay what you want sales model as an online download.  [7]   The relationship has also changed between artists and consumers. Through the internet fans are now a lot closer to the favourite artists. For example, Tom Delonge, an American Rock musician created a website called Modlife.com which allows uses to connect to bands, artists and personalities using live video broadcasts, text messaging, video blogs, mobile updating and twitter feeds.  [8]   The digital transformation has had a huge impact in the way artist merchandise is sold. The internet can now be use to sell merchandise directly marketed towards the fans. Before the internet, merchandising was selling hats and shirts to a long queue of fans at a venue, but now products are directly related to current fashions and culture. For example Grindstore.com specifically directs is merchandise towards fans of rock music and states it is able to offer the most comprehensive range of male and female music merchandise from all over the world  [9]  Grindstore features clothing from bands such as Greenday, Metalica, Slipknot and Motorhead all in one place. Other similar companies such as the American based Hottopic.com are a multi million dollar company showing revenue over twelve months ending July 31, 2009 was $768,200,000, a 4.52% increase from the previous year.  [10]  This just proves the power of music merchandising and direct marketing using the internet. For the music industry it is a hard task safeguarding existing sources of income and finding ways of developing new ways of income. One solution to safeguarding the future of music industrys income is through a change in the way which music is licensed. One way might be through a small fee that allows users to freely download all music. This could be through a tax which is payable on media products such as mp3 players, Ipods etc or through a blanket licence similar to that of the British Broadcasting Cooperation which is charged to all United Kingdom households, companies and organisations using any type of equipment that can receive and play music. These possibilities could be created by the record companies or part government intervention. I think this will be one of the best ways to create a source of income as it is becoming increasingly harder to police the web for illegal downloads. Another possibility in creating a new source of income is to become more precise in which the PRS collects royalties through the advances of the internet by creating a framework. Currently royalties collected from restaurants for example rely upon human estimations and averages and no consideration is made for the diversity of music played in different types of venues. The use of digital technology could help this to be more accurate. To conclude, I have discussed how the UK music industry has reacted to current changes in consumption and distribution with specific analysis to how the industry has reacted badly to the decline in CD sales but the consumption of live music has increased. I have shown how direct marketing and merchandising by companies like grindstore.com is creating big profits for the music industry through the use of the internet. Through the changing relationships between artist, label and consumer I have shown how music distribution is changing and how due websites such as modlife.com fans are ever closer to their artists. Finally I have demonstrated ways in which the music industry can safeguard their revenues such as a blanket licence or by creating new ways in which royalties are collected.

The formation and objectives of the IFAC

The formation and objectives of the IFAC IFAC the (international federation of accountants) is a non governmental and a global organization for accountancy professional, formed in 1977 in Munich -Germany at the 11th world congress of accountants. Currently there are 164member bodies in 125 countries and jurisdictions, representing over 2.5 million accountants. Source: Q FINANCE The complex world of international auditing regulation. Objectives of IFAC The main functions of IFAC are to guard the interest of the public by developing international standards, promoting international convergence and contributing to the development of the accountancy profession worldwide. Source 16th Jan 2008.Allen Blewitt, ACCAs chief executive, goes head to head with Ian Ball, IFACs chief executive, in a wide-ranging discussion of IFACs work and the added value it offers both to its members and to accountancy professionals worldwide .What does IFAC actually do for me ? (http://www.accaglobal.com/members/publications/accounting_business/archive/2008/january/3059282). Formation of IFAC From a very long period of time, it was believed that accountancy showcased itself as an international profession, but it was only during the early 1960s that initiatives regarding the international standardization in accounting and auditing practices bechanced. In the year 1962, the 8th global congress conducted in New York conceptualized the idea of setting the international standards that would govern the accounting and auditing practices worldwide. However during the year 1967 in order to examine the needs of accounting profession, the 9th global congress constituted the international working party and to report back to the next international congress held in Sydney (1972). In the 1972 congress an International Co-ordination committee for accounting profession (ICCAP) was formed, following the report of the international working party. Apparently the ICCAP had also been given the remit to recommend changes for widening its work, but opinions continued to be divided, at times there were discussions about the expansion of ICCAP to become an INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS. Thus after due consideration the final report of ICCAP declared the proposed constitution of IFAC. Source THE FORMATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS by Prof Christopher Humphrey, Manchester Business School, England and Anne Loft, Lund University, Sweden. (http://www.ifac.org/download/ifac_history_article_2-2007.pdf ) Setting Standards, Making History: The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), 1977-2007 by Prof Christopher Humphrey, Manchester Business School, England and Anne Loft, Lund University, Sweden. Transparency and alliance with member bodies is the main aim with which the organizational structure of IFAC has been designed. The IFAC council consists of 15 National representatives (a president, deputy president and 2 vice presidents).The main objectives of the IFAC council and the board is to look after the overall governance and the management of the organization. The council and the committee members are country representatives (if there are two or more member bodies in the country they will be collectively represented by the appointed national representative). Source http://www.ifac.org/About/2009-annual-report/ifac/structure/index2.html PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY IFAC INFLUENCING THE FINANCIAL REPORTING /AUDITING PRACTICES WORLDWIDE Introduction to the general standard setting initiative taken by IFAC Development, promotion and enforcement of globally recognized standards are the only fundamental way to protect public interest. The above mentioned criteria are also the only means to ensure the prospect of information upon which investors and other stakeholders rely on. The International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), International Ethics standards board for accountants (IESBA), International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) are collectively referred to as the public interest activity committee and they follow a rigorous process in a transparent, efficient and effective manner that supports the development of high quality standards in the public interest. These independent standard setting boards have consultative advisory groups which include public member and the publics perspective. Another initiative taken by IFAC with regard to the standard setting process is the Compliance program established by the IFAC board that evaluates the quality of the IFAC members and associates as to whether they use the best possible criteria to initiate a standard. The Compliance Advisory Panel (CAP) oversees the implementation and operation of the IFACs compliance program. IFAC initiates standard setting boards not only highlighting to the professional accountants (Professional Accountants in a Business committee) and public interests but also several initiatives have been taken to address the issue of the small and medium business and the developing nations. Such as the formation of Small and Medium practice committee that ensures standards produced are applicable to Small and medium practices (SMPs) and Small and medium entities (SMEs).The Developing Nations Committee which oversees the interest of the developing nations and the Transnational Audit Committee that deals with the needs of the members of Forum of Firms(FoF). BACKGROUND ON THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS (Pg 4- 6)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦web.ifac.org/media//d/international/background-information-on-t.pdf

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Virginia Woolfs Orlando and the Relationship between Virginia and Vita

Virginia Woolf's Orlando and the Relationship between Virginia and Vita It has been said the novel Orlando is the longest love-letter ever written; a celebration of the bond between women. The relationship between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West is well documented and known to have been intimate. That Virginia was passionate and giddy about her relationship with Vita is also known and displayed in Orlando. But Orlando also offers a rare intimate glimpse into the mind of Virginia Woolf. An unselfconscious work, it reveals her mind, talent at play. Orlando offers rich insights into her mind while keeping the rich prose that embodies her other great works. The novel demonstrates several of Virginia's obsessions, the focus here on gender and sexuality. While presumptuous to assume an author's life directly through her work, Virginia herself writes about this inevitable link in Orlando: "In short, every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works, yet we require critics to explain the one and biographers to expound the other" (Orlando 209). A good author usually writes what she knows; considering the background of this novel, the reader may draw parallels between Virginia's life, her relationship with Vita and the writing of Orlando. Who is Orlando? The common interpretation is Orlando is Vita. The book is dedicated to her and pictures of Vita are interspersed throughout the book. Vita herself was said to tell Virginia that she fell in love with herself after reading the novel. Vita's mother was more acetic: "You have written some beautiful phrases in Orlando but probably you do not realise how cruel you have been. And the person who inspired the book ... ...nergy of her relationship with Vita is apparent in the novel. She was to wrestle her demons in other books (To the Lighthouse as an example) in Orlando she celebrated. But in Virginia's hands, even satire has its serious moments. "I am writing Orlando half in mock style very clear and plain, so that people will understand every word. But the balance between truth and fantasy must be careful" (Dairy 117). And now years later, critics are still trying to view in-between the truth and fiction and the enigma of Virginia Woolf. Works Cited Bond, Alma Halbert, Phd. Who Killed Virginia Woolf - a Psychobiography. Human Sciences Press, Inc.:New York, NY 1989. Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.:New York, NY 1996. Woolf, Virginia. A Writer's Diary. The Hogarth Press:London 1953 Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Harcourt Brace & Company:New York 1956.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Machiavelli’s Principals and NAFTA :: Outsourcing, Offshoring, Free Trade

"Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn how not to be virtuous, and to make use of this or not according to his need." 1 Thus wrote Niccolà ² Machiavelli almost five hundred years ago in his handbook to the Prince Lorenzo De’ Medici. Whether Machiavelli wrote these words in a desperate attempt to win a position as advisor or whether he hoped in truth to trap the prince with false advice we can only guess from afar. Yet his book offers both advice and food for thought for today. In the last chapter of the book he offered a dream for a new Italian Moses, someone to free Italy from foreign control. Whether this was Machiavelli’s passionate dream or simply bait for the prince, we are now embarking on what may well be the opposite: the selling out of our own country to foreigners in the dream of one unified North America. It is exactly what Prime Minister John A. Macdonald called "veiled treason" in 1891. 2 If you, Mr Mulroney, are to continue in thi s decision Machiavelli’s principals of heartlessness and purpose may be invaluable. Machiavelli warns when a principality invites a new ruler in, expecting to improve their situation they will likely be disappointed and then rebel against the ruler. In Machiavelli’s time this would have meant a full and bloody rebellion, but think how much easier it is now! The people have only to vote at the election, and do not need to remind you that in the most recent election you had only 43% of the vote. The majority of the people are against you, and this is dangerous. What is it you promise the people, and can you provide? You need not fear giving your word lightly, and I doubt anyone today truly expects you to keep all your promises. Yet still there must be something for you to offer in the end. "The common people are always impressed by appearances and results. In this way there are only common people, and there is no room for the few when the many are supported by the state." (101) The immediate problem with NAFTA, as I see it, is a shift in the tax burden from the manufacturers to the people. Retired judge Marjorie Montgomery Bowker has suggested that by 1998, when NAFTA will be fully implemented our lost revenues will be 24 billion.

Friday, August 2, 2019

Love from a Romantic Perspective in the Poems Essay

â€Å"Romantic† – this word holds many different connotations and brings to mind a collection of different images. It can be â€Å"fanciful, impractical, unrealistic†; it can be â€Å"ardent, passionate, fervent†; and it can be â€Å"imaginary, fictitious, or fabulous†. According to the dictionary, â€Å"romantic† is an adjective characterized by a preoccupation with love, or by the idealizing of love or one’s beloved. In the three poems I have chosen – â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds† by William Shakespeare, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† by John Keats and â€Å"Piano† by D.H. Lawrence, the poets use a variety of linguistic and literary devices, as well as explore different themes and imagery, to present love from a â€Å"romantic† perspective. The â€Å"romance† portrayed in the three poems may be distinct to each other, but is without a doubt something that idealizes love, that elevates the subject of love onto a pedestal. The poems â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?† by William Shakespeare, â€Å"First Love† by John Clare and â€Å"Remember† by Christina Rossetti also depict love in a romantic light. I will examine exactly how the poets do it – how the poets ingeniously present love from a romantic perspective in their poems. Firstly, â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds† – also known as Sonnet 116 – is one of the most famous in William Shakespeare’s collection of sonnets. It demonstrates the glory and invincibility of love, and is a poem addressed to a mysterious â€Å"Fair Youth†. The sonnet proposes the idea that true love will always persevere, regardless of any obstacles or troubles that may come. Shakespeare employs various literary and linguistic devices to present love from a romantic perspective and portray it in a divine light. Shakespeare uses metaphors and imagery to idealize love, presenting the subject romantically. The lines â€Å"It is an ever-fixed mark / That looks on tempests and is never shaken† and â€Å"the star to every wandering bark† portray love as a permanent guide, something unwavering and definite that will always be there. The idea that love is a guiding star has been used in countless poems by many different poets, but Shakespeare puts a unique emphasis on this imagery. The main metaphor of the sonnet is that love is like the North Star, which never changes position in the night sky – it has been a stable point used for navigation for centuries, and by using such a comparison, Shakespeare portrays love as the star that shepherds people through life. The â€Å"tempests† that trouble the seas are a metaphor for the obstacles that relationships may have to face, and the â€Å"wandering bark† personifies the lost ship, as if it has a purpose and is looking for something. â€Å"Wandering bark† is also a metaphor for a lover being led, by love, out of the boisterous sea of life. Through the use of nautical imagery, Shakespeare presents love from a romantic perspective by creating a vivid scene of a ship lost in the turbulence of a stormy sea, with a serene, unmoving star as a guide above. The poet also explores the themes of time, age and death to glorify love, hence presenting it romantically. Elizabethan readers of Shakespeare’s sonnets are familiar with the Grim Reaper, the icon of European culture in the medieval period when many died every day due to the Black Plague. The Grim Reaper is a horrifying character who bears a scythe, skeletal and macabre. However, in Sonnet 116, Shakespeare expresses that the Grim Reaper can actually be defeated by love – again depicting the intrepidity of it. â€Å"Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks / Within his bending sickle’s compass come:† personifies love and time, claiming that Love will not succumb to Time. â€Å"Sickle’s compass come† uses the plosive sound of â€Å"k† to mimic the harsh sounds of a death rattle – it is onomatopoeic. In the lines â€Å"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, / But bears it out even to the edge of doom.†, the â€Å"his† refers to Time, and Shakespeare is emphasizing the prowess of love by showing that Time has no effect or control over it. This lifts â€Å"love† onto a pedestal and portrays it in a romantic light. Similarly, Shakespeare also employs the themes of time and eternity to glorify love in another one of his most famous poems – Sonnet 18, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?†. In this sonnet, the speaker compares a â€Å"beloved† to a summer’s day, and says that the beloved’s eternal summer will never fade, that the beloved would be kept alive forever by the poem. Once again, Shakespeare personifies death, this time as the one who oversees a â€Å"shade† – Shakespeare writes that the beloved will conquer all and will not be swept into this sickly light of Death. Thirdly, Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter and rhythm also elevates the subject of love and presents it from a romantic perspective. The sonnet manages to have a consistent rhythm, yet seem conversational; it is able to be formal and planned, but casual and spontaneous at the same time. This is achieved through Shakespeare’s ingenious use of rhythm and pacing. The iambic pentameter becomes very obvious after the third line, â€Å"Which alters when it alteration finds†, thus creating a consistent pacing. However, the poet uses dramatic exclamations to break up the rhythm, making the speaker seem more human than a machine – an example would be, â€Å"O no! It is an ever fixed mark†. The metaphors and imagery used all weave a sophisticated sonnet, but the actual language is very simple, making the sonnet easy to read and the claims well-illustrated. The closing two lines, â€Å"If this be error and upon me proved, / I never writ, nor no man ever loved.†, is a rhyming couplet that is full of impact. The couplet again immortalizes love and praises it with glory, an epitome of presenting love from a romantic perspective. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is one of the most famous poems that immortalizes love. I think it definitely successfully presents love from a romantic perspective, using a variety of devices. Even after dissecting the poem and analyzing each of the aspects respectively, I am still overwhelmed by the general sense of romance that comes through, instead of being focused on the mechanics and functions of words and phrases. I feel that the â€Å"romantic† sense in Sonnet 116 is that of an idealization of love, and Shakespeare crafts it beautifully. The second poem I will investigate is â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci†, a ballad written by John Keats in 1819. It is a poem that also presents love from a romantic perspective, though in a different way. In this poem, the â€Å"romance† that is portrayed is passionate and fictitious – something akin to a magical myth. The title of the ballad translates to â€Å"The Beautiful Lady Without Pity†. John Keats had taken inspiration and the title from the early fifteenth century French poem by Alain Chartier, though the narratives of the two poems are different. John Keats chose this phrase to use as the title of his ballad to highlight the storyline of a seductive woman who tempts a man of honour from the real world and abandons him with unfulfilled dreams, drained of life. The theme of dangerous and unrequited love is explored in the poem. John Keats is well known for being one of the most prominent poets of the Romantic era, and â€Å"La Belle Same Sans Merc i† is one of his most famous poems. John Keats plays with floral imagery to present love from a romantic perspective. Flowers are beautiful and delicate things that are often given as gifts and expressions of love and romance – and by using flowers as symbols for different meanings in the poem, Keats portrays love in a romantic light. In line 9, the speaker says to the knight, â€Å"I see a lily on thy brow† – lilies are pale white and are often associated with death in the Western culture, and this is a metaphor expressing that the knight looks sickly and deathly pale. Another obvious use of floral imagery to romanticize love is seen in lines 11-12, â€Å"And on thy cheeks a fading rose / Fast withereth too.† Roses are often associated with love in the Western culture, and the knight’s rose â€Å"fading and withering† holds connotations of the ending of a romantic relationship. However, the rose, like the lily, is also describing the knight’s complexion – the colour is fading from his cheeks. In these two lines, Keats cleverly employs the rose as a symbol for both the knight’s pale face and waning love. Lastly, in lines 17-18, the knight makes a garland and bracelets out of flowers for the faery’s child. Flowers hold connotations of beauty, love and life, and the knight adorns the woman with them – Keats uses the flowers as a symbol to show the intensity of the knight’s love for her. Another image that is repeatedly explored in the poem is â€Å"paleness†, and this paints love in a romantic sense as it highlights the melancholic and dramatically destructive aspects of love. In the beginning of the poem, in line 2, the paleness is already established by the speaker – â€Å"Alone and palely loitering†. This line has the alliteration of the consonance â€Å"l†, and this creates a musical sound that emphasizes the phrase, especially drawing the readers’ attention to the rarity of using â€Å"pale† as an adverb – â€Å"palely†. An internal rhyme is also created, as â€Å"palely† rhymes with â€Å"ail thee† from line 1 – again, this highlights the phrase and enhances the â€Å"paleness† of the knight, underlining the romantic melancholy of the knight. In the lines 37-38, the word â€Å"pale† is used three times in just two lines. When the knight is describing his dream, he speaks of â€Å"pale kings† and â€Å"pale warriors†, who were all â€Å"death pale† – the images painted in the readers’ minds are drained of colour and life, and the â€Å"paleness† is now explicitly associated with death. Lastly, in the lines 37-40, â€Å"pale† is repeated to accentuate the similarities between the word and the words â€Å"all†, â€Å"belle†, and â€Å"thrall†. The consonance creates a connection between all the words when they are read aloud, and makes the readers think whether the â€Å"belle dame† could’ve been the cause of the â€Å"paleness† of â€Å"all† the knights, warriors and princes she had in â€Å"thrall†. This clever manipulation of â€Å"paleness† reinforces the sense of a â€Å"story† in the ballad and enriches the romance within, presenting love from a romantic perspective. In addition, John Keats utilizes the â€Å"lyrical† sense of the ballad format to elevate the romance in the poem. â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† has the typical features of a ballad, and when read aloud, it is similar to a folk song. The words have a continuous, uniform rhythm that sets an underlying beat, and the literary devices employed – such as alliteration and rhymes – create a harmonious sound. The ballad also has a â€Å"circular structure† – it begins and ends similarly, with â€Å"The sedge has wither’d from the lake, / And no birds sing.† as the ending of the first stanza, and â€Å"Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake, / And no bird sing.† for the last stanza. This seems to make â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† appear more like a song than just a plain poem. Because of this musical sense that is added to the poem, John Keats puts the subject of his poem – love – onto a pedest al and portrays it romantically, akin to a love song. Lastly, the imagery of dew and water is used to intensify the danger of women in the poem, and this in turn portrays love in a fatal sense, rivetingly romantic. Women were often associated with water in medieval romances, and John Keats used this tradition in his medieval folk ballad. This symbolic tradition is a metaphor for men who become weakened after contact with dangerous women. A reference to water is already used in the beginning of the poem – in line 3, the speaker identifies death and â€Å"wither’d† with water – â€Å"The sedge has wither’d from the lake†. A lake does not flow like a river or a spring; it is stagnant and void of life. This already creates an ominous mood that hangs over the rest of the poem, and emphasizes the catastrophe that love has done to the knight. In line 10, the unnamed speaker says that the knight’s face has â€Å"anguish moist and fever dew† – the knight is sweating from a fever. This again demonstrates that the knight is physically ill from love, and also makes the reader wonder where he caught the fever. The readers seem to find the answer later on, when â€Å"dew† is repeated – the faery’s child fed the knight â€Å"manna dew† in line 26. â€Å"Manna† is heavenly food – but it was not originally food that is eaten as â€Å"dew†. John Keats wrote that the manna was in liquid state to add to the continuous metaphors used throughout the whole ballad. John Keats seems to hint that women are gentle and soft like water, but when men came into contact with them, they could suddenly become rash and vicious. Women are dangerous and unpredictable like water. This metaphor makes love seem thrillingly romantic; exhilarating – it delineates love in a romantic light. Another poem that echoes this idea of men becoming weakened by women and love is â€Å"First Love† by John Clare. This poem is about the poet’s first and seemingly unrequited love. John Clare uses the imagery of â€Å"deathly paleness† to show the destruction of love, too – he writes, â€Å"My face turned pale as deathly pale†. Clare also explores the aspect of becoming physically ill from dangerous love, just like Keats’s portrayal of love in â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci†. Clare writes, â€Å"And blood burnt round my heart†, claiming that he was in physical pain – similarly, John Keats writes that the knight has an actual fever from his deleterious love. When I was comparing the poems, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† and â€Å"First Love†, I was surprised and very intrigued by the similarities between them. Both poems seem to draw out the most fatal features of love, describing it as something that would drain men of life. I am engaged by the way they depict the thrilling qualities of love with corresponding images, and it is fascinating to see that the poets have chosen to portray love in a romantically dangerous light after analyzing the idealized â€Å"true love† in Shakespeare’s sonnets. The third poem I am going to analyze is â€Å"Piano† by D.H Lawrence. The love portrayed here is not that of a romantic relationship between a man and a woman, but that of a relationship between Lawrence and his mother. The poet begins the poem with an enchanting evening, where music brings back memories of his beloved mother – he then borrows the idyllic atmosphere of the evening to describe his reminiscence, hence presenting love from a romantic perspective. Even though the poem does not depict a relationship of â€Å"romance†, it does render love in a nostalgic and sentimental sense. â€Å"Piano† is a poem where the single speaker is listening to a woman sing to him, and the music brings him back to dwell in the memories of his childhood. The speaker remembers fondly of the times when his mother sang to him whilst playing the piano. In the end of the poem, the memory of the past overwhelms the present. As a man, the speaker should be more enraptured by the passionate singing of the woman, but his memory conquers his manhood as he loses control of his emotions. The speaker remembers his mother’s singing with tears on his face – he becomes a child again. The first line of the poem already creates an overall romantic atmosphere. â€Å"Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me†. The word â€Å"softly† casts a gentle and tender tone to the following lines. The diction of the word â€Å"dusk† holds connotations of a peaceful warmth, an enigmatic and mysterious twilight, painting an image of a soothing glow in the minds of the readers. This first line sets the mood of the poem and creates a romantic background for the remaining lines of the poem to be based upon. The use of romantic atmosphere is also demonstrated in the description of the climax of the singer rising to a crescendo – â€Å"So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour / With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour†. The language is powerful and passionate. The memories of the speaker’s childhood also create a warm and secure ambience that forms a lingering feeling of romance. In the final line, â€Å"Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.†, the diction of â€Å"flood† and â€Å"weep† craft a romantically melancholic atmosphere. Likewise, in the poem â€Å"Remember† by Christina Rossetti, an atmosphere of romantic melancholy is also explored to present love from a romantic perspective. The poem depicts a somber aspect of love by featuring the theme of death, and glorifies love by making it seem beyond death’s darkness. D.H. Lawrence also uses sibilance and assonance to portray love in a romantic perspective. The repetition of the â€Å"s† sounds in the opening line intensifies the feelings of romance as well as intimacy. Furthermore, assonance is used in the first two lines of the last stanza – â€Å"So now†¦clamour†¦glamour†¦Ã¢â‚¬  – the long â€Å"o† sounds depict the musical climax of the singer’s performance in a romantic sense. Sibilance is again used in the line â€Å"smiles as she sings†, and the repeated â€Å"i† sounds in the line create the facial effects of a smile when read aloud. This intensifies the romantic feeling of the poem as it emphasizes the speaker’s mother smiling and singing, and brings to mind images of affection and tenderness. Tone and language are also employed to present love in a romantic perspective. The language used can be called conversational, and is definitely very intimate. It is that of a narrative, as if the speaker is telling a very personal story. By starting the poem with â€Å"Softly†, the poet creates a romantic longing for the past, as the word has a semantic field of tender fondness. The warmth in the tone when the speaker is describing the childhood scenes also creates romantically nostalgic images in the minds of readers. In the fourth line of the first stanza, â€Å"And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings†, the repetition of the plosive â€Å"p† highlights the rhythm of the piano, as well as the intimacy between the son and the mother. Additionally, other techniques that are used to present love from a romantic perspective include repetition and metaphors. â€Å"Piano† is repeated in each stanza, making the image consistent through the whole poem – the piano then becomes a romantic symbol for the speaker’s love for his mother. The word â€Å"tinkling† in the second stanza can be seen as a repetition of the â€Å"tingling† in the first stanza, and this use of onomatopoeia creates a pleasant sound when read aloud, adding to the sentimental mood of the poem. â€Å"Weeps† is used in both the second stanza and the last stanza, and the repetition accentuates the speaker’s need and longing for his mother that seems romantically sad. In the poem, the poet also uses â€Å"vista† as a metaphor for â€Å"memory† – a vista is a beautiful view seen through a long and narrow opening, and this creates a bewitching image in the readers’ minds of scenes fr om a childhood spread out across a landscape. Similarly, the poet also writes, â€Å"the flood of remembrance† – in the diction of â€Å"flood†, the writer creates an image of an unstoppable overwhelming of emotions, and it is this uncontainable quality that adds to the romantic nostalgia. Metonymy is also used – â€Å"feet† represent the speaker’s mother. The scenes created in the readers’ minds seem to feature a faceless mother, focusing on the â€Å"child sitting under the piano†¦pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings†. The mother’s face is not described – the only feature of the mother that the readers envision is her feet and her smile. This adds a romantic quality to the poem as it puts the world in a small child’s perspective, and gives a somewhat enigmatic aura to the mother and also expresses the fractured, dreamlike qualities of a memory. The â€Å"small, poised feet† of the mother portray her in a gentle and delicate light, and intensifies the overall romantic perspective of motherly love in the poem. In conclusion, the three poems – â€Å"Let me not to the marriage of true minds†, â€Å"La Belle Dame Sans Merci† and â€Å"Piano† – all display a variety of different techniques to present love from a romantic perspective. All three poets use literary and linguistic devices such as metaphors, sibilance, assonance and more. The three poems accent love with romance, whether it is a conventional man-woman relationship or mother-son relationship. The term â€Å"romantic† is explored by each of the poets: William Shakespeare immortalizes true love and makes it seem perfect and omnipotent; John Keats adds a vital, riveting quality to love and D.H. Lawrence examines the subject through a lens of nostalgia. After analyzing these three poems, I realized that the human experience of love has moved poets, throughout the centuries, to express the nature of love romantically. Love is depicted as fanciful, dreamy, impractical; invincible, passionate, immortal. Poets have a desire to eternalize the subject of their poems – whether it is their beloved, or love itself. It is as William Shakespeare writes in Sonnet 18, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?† – â€Å"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.† I agree with Shakespeare – as long as there are people alive to read poems, the nature of love that William Shakespeare, John Keats and D.H. Lawrence tried to present from a romantic perspective will live on forever.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Differences Between Capitalism And Marxism

In the wake of the current – and unprecedented – economic recession being felt not only across the United States but also the world over, it merits noting that the once-sound structures of modern economies are, more and more, being placed under the lenses of theoretical review and scrutiny. Concretely, there are those who seek to inquire – notwithstanding the risks of proffering politically unwelcome ideas about the current crisis – whether or not the world’s unqualified embrace of the principles of Capitalism has reached its limits, if not has finally backfired.Anthony Faiola for instance contends that the American â€Å"hands-off† – read: deregulated – style of handling its market economy is the sufficient explanation to the range of its present economic problems (2008, p. A01). Faiola’s review, more than anything else, should invite people to seriously question the structure of modern economies which has been in place for the longest time.In view of such felt need, what this paper attempts to do is to bring into the fore the contrasting themes of Capitalism and Marxist Socialism, in the hope of gleaning from such juxtaposition certain insights as to which economic structure best addresses the present crisis haunting the affairs of world economies in the present and in the near future. Differences between Capitalism and Marxism Capitalism is catchall term which pertains to the conduct of market economies marked by adherence to the laws of free trade and private operation.Under such scheme, private individuals act as the primary controllers of the prices of goods and services within a given economy; albeit, such control is confirmed by laws that stipulate the parameters and range of the conduct of free trade. Capitalism is thus a principle of economic affairs. And any country can adapt such principles according to its exigencies and needs, depending on which expression of Capitalist approach would benefit the people in the process.For as long as an economy subscribes to the fundamental affirmation of a private citizen’s right to freely conduct the nature, type and scope of his or her business affairs, such structure must be deemed an expression of Capitalism. Key to understanding Capitalism, as indeed any type of market economy, lies in identifying the locus of control being exercised between the private citizens on the one hand and the State regulators on the other hand. In a Capitalist economic structure, the locus of control leans towards the side of the private citizens.This is because private citizens have a right to dictate on the forces of the market economy according to their desire – e. g. , they can decide outright on the amount of the goods and services which they want to produce, inasmuch as they can demand the correlative prices which shall be exacted in view of the volume of their production. Conversely, the State does not enjoy significant latitud e in determining the prices of goods and services under the Capitalist model.While they can frame limits in respect to fair trade, it nevertheless cannot directly interfere with the more intricate details of a market economy, such as those that pertain to the determination of prices and volumes of goods. In a manner of speaking therefore, any market economy which operates under the banner of Capitalist foundation appears to operate a world of its own. Samuelson and Nordhaus, in evaluating the merits of Adam’s Smiths The Wealth of the Nations, have this to say:But of all his (Smith’s) contributions to economic analysis, the boldest was his recognition that the market mechanism is a self-regulating natural order that the price system organizes the behavior of people and does so in an automatic fashion without central direction. (Samuelson & Nordhaus, 1989, p. 824). In other words, most Capitalist economies operate under the a scheme where private individuals are free to take in as much as they want, so long as their efforts and resources permit. By way of contrast, the Marxist economic model – which too often is called Socialism – takes cue from Marx’s criticisms of unregulated Capitalism.It should be pointed out however that Marx’s critical take of Capitalism stems largely from his embrace of socialist ideologies. Early on in life, germinal seeds of anti-Capitalist leanings have already peppered much of Marx’s writings. Chief to his contentions lies in his belief that human persons are creatures necessarily called towards greater societal function. Says Marx: â€Å"man’s nature makes it possible for him to reach his fulfillment only by working for the perfection and welfare of his society† (as qtd.in Giddens 1).This is his basic ethical principle; i. e. , that persons are measured by how well they contribute to the wellbeing of society. And by putting higher premium than most on the welfare of the s ociety over the capricious desires of the individuals, Marx had therefore set the record straight about his stance on economics. According to Marx, the most viable way by which the world can ensure communal progress lies in the adoption of the communist ideals.This entails implementing a radical form of socialism – i. e., where private control is supplanted by State bureaucracy, where the right to own is overtaken by the State’s prerogative to allocate resources, as indeed where individual welfare is taken secondary only to the welfare of the majority (Samuelson & Nordhaus, 1989, p. 833). Marx further believes that this type of socialism must give way to Communism, where not only all productive individuals are considered as rightful citizens of a country, but all people – including those â€Å"which do not exist for a political economy† such as beggars, thieves, the unemployed and the underprivileged – are made to share the fruits of the economy (G iddens 10).By Way of Conclusion: A Path that Treads in Between Having presented thus the theories of Capitalism and the socialist ethics of Marx, it behooves us to therefore inquire – now that most Capitalist economies are at the brink of recession, if not already in a state of recession, which economic paradigm best represents the solution to our problem: Capitalism or Communism? I believe that the answer lies in how well our world governments are able to integrate the reasoned premises of Capitalism with the moderate truths espoused by Communism.Put in simpler terms, I believe that there is a wisdom that lays in taking both theories in moderation. On the one hand, the world needs to acknowledge that an unregulated type of Capitalism is bad for the country. This is what, in part, Fiola has in article contended. The extremely liberal conduct of economics, so much so that world governments are left in no position to regulate much of the affairs of a market economy, would end u p wholly unmanageable in the long run.The recent turn of events is a witness to this. The fact that many private companies are seeking for bailout only goes to show that government intervention is needed, not only in times when privately-owned companies are at the brink of collapse, but also in times when it is expansive and prolific. In this way, world governments can check whether the principles of free trade are translated into beneficial returns for all citizens.On the other hand, it is certainly not wise to adopt, in its entirety, the principles of Communism. Surely, governments cannot take over all private ownerships in a manner being radical and swift. Given that the operation of market economy is fueled by free trade, any hostile takeover would spell doom for all the constituents of a given country. Instead, world governments must learn that liberal trade does not give private citizens full and inviolable right to determine all the forces of a given economy.What this present economic turmoil teaches is summed in the idea that leaving private citizens to conduct all areas of the economy by themselves cannot serve the best interest of the society. Thus, there are reasons to think that what is needed right now is to correct the extremely liberal principles of Capitalism, by giving world governments greater latitude to regulate free trade in a manner that serves greater interests well.