Biography of Theodore Roethke Essay Example for Free

Biography of Theodore Roethke Essay Theodore Huebner Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Otto Roethke and Helen Huebner, who, along with an uncle owned a local greenhouse. As a child, he spent much time in the greenhouse observing nature. Roethke grew up in Saginaw, attending Aurthur Hill High School, where he gave a speech on the Junior Red Cross that was published in twenty six different languages. In 1923 his father died of cancer, an event that would forever shape his creative and artistic outlooks. From 1925 to 1929 Roethke attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating magna cum laude. Despite his family’s wish that he pursue a legal career, he quit law school after one semester. From there he spent 1929 to 1931, taking graduate courses at the University of Michigan and later the Harvard Graduate School. There he met and worked with fellow poet Robert Hillyer. When the Great Depression hit Roethke had no choice but to leave Harvard. He began to teach at Lafayette College, and stayed there from 1931 to 1935. It was here where Roethke began his first book, Open House. At Lafayette he met Stanley Kunitz, who later in life, became a great support and friend. By the end of 1935 Roethke was teaching at Michigan State College at Lansing. His career there, however, did not last long. Roethke was hospitalized for what would prove to be a bout of mental illness, which would prove to be reoccurring. However the depression, as Roethke found, was useful for writing, as it allowed him to explore a different mindset. By the time he was teaching at Michigan State Roethke’s reputation as a poet had been established. In 1936 he moved his teaching career to Pennsylvania State University, where he taught seven years. During his time there he was published in such prestigious journals as Poetry, the New Republic, the Saturday Review, and Sewanee Review. His first volume of verse, Open House, was finally published and released in 1941. Open House was favorably reviewed in the New Yorke, the Saturday Review, the Kenyon Review, and the Atlantic; W. H. Auden called it completely successful. His first work shows the influence of poetic models such as John Donne, William Blake, LÃ ©onie Adams, Louise Bogan, Emily Dickinson, Rolfe Humphries, Stanley Kunitz, and Elinor Wylie, writers whose verse had shaped the poets early imagination andstyle. In 1942 Harvard asked Roethke to deliver on of their prestigious Morris Gray lectures. Then in 1943 he left Penn State to teach at Bennington College, where he met Kenneth Burke, whom he collaborated with. The second volume of Roethkes career, The Lost Son and Other Poems was published in 1948 and included the. greenhouse poems. Roethke described the glasshouse, in An American Poet Introduces Himself and His Poems in a BBC broadcast, on the 30th of July 1953, as both heaven and hell. It was a universe, several worlds, which, even as a child, one worried about, and struggled to keep alive. He penned Open Letter in 1950, and explored eroticism and sexuality with I Need, I Need, Give Way, Ye Gates, Sensibility! O La!, and O Lull Me, Lull Me. He later wrote Praise to the End! in 1951 while at Washington University, and a telling Yale Review essay, How to Write Like Somebody Else in 1959. Roethke was awarded Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950, the Poetry magazine Levinson Prize in 1951, and major grants from the Ford Foundation and the National Institute of Arts and Letters the year after. In 1953 Roethke married Beatrice OConnell, whom he had met during his earlier at Bennington. The two spent the following spring honeymooning at W. H. Audens villa at off the coast of Italy. There Roethke began editing the galley proofs for The Waking: Poems 1933-1953 which was published later that same year, and won the Pulitzer Prize the next year. It included major works such as Elegy for Jane and Four for Sir John Davies, which was modeled on Daviess metaphysical poem Orchestra. During 1955 and 1956 the Roethke and his new wife traveled Europe, on a Fulbright grant. The following year he published a collection of works that included forty-three new poems entitled Words for the Wind, winning the Bollingen Prize, the National Book Award, the Edna St. Vincent Millay Prize, the Longview Foundation Award, and the Pacific Northwest Writers Award for it. The new poems included his famous I Knew a Woman, and Dying Man. Roethke began a series of reading tours in New York and Europe, underwritten by another Ford Foundationgrant. While visiting with friends at Bainbridge Island in 1963, Washington, Roethke suffered a fatal heart attack. During the last years of his life be had composed the sixty-one new poems that were published posthumously in The Far Field in 1964which received the National Book Awardand in The Collected Poems in 1966.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

Capital punishment is an act of executing, killing, or putting one to death for committing hideous crimes. In the state of Georgia, crimes such as treason, murder, and aircraft high jacking, can cause conviction of the death penalty. Race, wrongful convictions, and the costs of executions are some of the controversial issues surrounding capital punishment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Race plays an important role when determining the death penalty. In a study conducted by the General Accounting Office found that 82% of the population who murdered Caucasians is more likely to be convicted than those who murdered African Americans. Since 1976 there have been several interracial murders in the United States. The number of white defendants vs. black victims has represented 12 executions in the U.S. since 1976. However, there have been 192 executions of black defendants vs. white victims in the United States, which is more than quadrupled in number. The current U.S. death row population by race includes 1,457 (42%) African Americans, 353 (10%) Hispanics, 1, 580 (45.5%) Caucasians and 81 (2.3%) accounts for other races.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the General Accounting office, the United States can not prevent accidental executions of innocent people. This is primarily due to wrongful identification of defendants in many cases. Crimes are often solved with the most convenient suspect rather right or wrong, which also leads to wrongful death of innocent people. Additionally, many convicts are blamed merely because they â€Å"fit† the description of the intended suspect, which leads to erroneous convictions. Within the last century, recent studies show that more than four-hundred innocent people have been convicted of crimes caused by others. Twenty-three of the four-hundred blameless people were put to death. The death penalty has been reinstated and there have been 96 men and women found innocent minutes before their execution. This is an unjustifiable mistake that can not be corrected due to irreplaceable circumstances with life. Once life has ended, it will never be replaced.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It costs taxpayers twice as much to execute an inmate than to incarcerate him/her for life. The study mentioned above states the death penalty costs 48% more than the costs of a court trial in which the prosecutors seek life imprisonment for the defendant.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These are outrageous figures that utilize taxpayer’s dollars uselessly. The same study shows that each case ranges from 1-1.25 million dollars than the average murder case without parole.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some people insist that the death penalty be utilized as a preventive measure against crime.

Circumcision in South African Males vs Phillipino Males Essay

Compare and contrast the attitudes, beliefs and perspectives around a specific health issue amongst two different population groups, and consider the implications of this for clinical or community practice. Introduction A controversial health issue around the world is male circumcision. Male circumcision is the removal of part of or the entire foreskin on the penis and is a controversial topic in many countries and across many different religions. In this essay the beliefs, attitudes and perspectives of South African men will be compared those of Filipino men about medical male circumcision and traditional male circumcision. Traditional circumcisions are usually performed outside of formal medical settings by providers who have a special training but are not health care professionals. Medical circumcision alternatively is performed by a medical professional in a medical setting. According to the world health organisation (WHO), 30% of men worldwide have been circumcised, mostly in developing countries where it takes place for religious and cultural reasons (World Health Organisation [WHO], 2007a). Male circumcision is an important issue, especially in South Africa and the Philippines, as third world countries as it can be uses as a partial preventative measure against HIV infection. Description of population groups The two population groups I chose were South African men and Filipino men. I chose South African men as one of my population groups because while studying circumcision I noticed there was a lot of literature on the topic in relation to South Africa and surrounding nations and the effects it has on preventing HIV transmission. I found this population group interesting because in South Africa even though there is clear benefits in reducing HIV transmission and great publicity around the benefits only 35% of men were circumcised (WHO, 2007a). Furthermore in researching this topic I discovered multiple reasons why men chose to get circumcised, one reason was purely so they weren’t uncircumcised witch I found strange. This was the case in the Philippines, where 90% of all men are circumcised, and most saying there reason for being circumcised was so they weren’t uncircumcised (Lee, 2006). I found this reasoning interesting and decided to explore this culture for my second population group. If circumcision can reduce the chances of transmitting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as reduce penile cancer it is important to understand different cultures beliefs and attitudes toward the procedure to encourage circumcision within the culture. It is also good to understand why some cultures have such high rate of circumcision compared to other cultures and countries as it may help develop strategies to promote circumcision countries with lower rates. South Africa In South Africa 57. 2% of circumcised men had traditional circumcisions and 42. 8% were medically circumcised (Connolly, Simbayi, Shanmugam, & Nqeketo, 2008). Amongst this circumcised population, the majority of the medically circumcised men were white (97. 8%) or Indian (92. 8%), compared with traditional circumcision which was mostly Black South Africans (Connolly et al. , 2008). In South Africa, more specifically within the Black South African community circumcision is done for religious and cultural reasons (Peltzer & Kanta, 2009). It is seen as a ritual that marks the passage from boyhood to manhood for the adolescent. The process usually requires boys to spend about a month in induction camps in seclusion away from women and outsiders. If they fail there initiation into man hood they are believed to be stuck as a boy for the rest of their life. The ritual is considered by the community as a sacred custom (Peltzer & Kanta, 2009). Traditionally this ritual involved traditional circumcisions and traditional initiation, however more recently some communities have allowed medical circumcision followed by traditional initiation into manhood. However there is a hostile relationship between men who were traditionally circumcised and men who were medically circumcised. While most men acknowledge medical circumcision is safer and know the benefits it has in helping prevent HIV and sexually transmitted disease, they fear that they will be ridiculed by peers and stigmatised as â€Å"cowards† and not viewed as â€Å"real men† for having the procedure done under anaesthesia (Peltzer & Kanta, 2009, p. 91). They believe that the pain makes the boys courageous, strong men and is a passage into manhood, where they can have a wife and kids. Philippines On the other hand, in the Philippines very few men are circumcised for religious or cultural reasons. Boys are usually circumcised between the ages of five and eighteen with most being circumcised between ten and fourteen (Lee, 2006). Most boys report being circumcised just so they are not uncircumcised, to avoid teasing and stigma in the community. Many Filipino men believe women prefer circumcised males, and therefor to be masculine and have a wife and children it is preferable to be circumcised. Similar to South African beliefs Filipino boys become circumcised because they do not want to be seen as â€Å"cowards† for not having the courage to go through the pain and anxiety associated with the process (Lee, 2006, p. 228). Filipino men also report getting circumcised because it was their parent’s orders or they were threatened with a beating if they chose not to or because it was just normal for a boy his age to and his friends were getting it done. Many men report being nervous for the procedure but excited to achieve the man hood they have anticipated. Most of the Filipino men submit to this social culture because they want to be seen as masculine and not as a coward. It is a social phenomenon, propelled by individuals need to conform and gain acceptance through this procedure by acquiring a range of masculine related traits and opportunities (Lee, 2006). Comparison of population groups While the two countries have different religions and cultural views, the striking similarity between the two population groups is that they both view the practice of circumcision and the pain and anxiety associated with this process as empowering to the men. Fulfilment of this ritual enhances psycho-social health because it frees them of ridicule and stigma as a â€Å"coward† (Lee, 2006, p. 228). Being circumcised means men from both cultures are considered masculine and therefore allows them to carry out tasks that are believed to be masculine such as having a family. However circumcision in South Africa is seen as a rite of passage and a sacred ritual that allows boys to become me and usually occurs later in life around the age of seventeen to twenty-one but even as late as twenty-six (Mavundla, Netswera, Bottoman, & Toth, 2009). Whereas, in the Philippines the procedure is more of a social trend, done because everyone else is getting it performed. It is also performed much earlier, most commonly between the age of ten and fourteen in the Philippines. South Africa have a more spiritual and deeper reasoning for having the procedure done, men display a deeper more conscious reasoning for having the procedure compared to Filipino men, who tend to follow the social trend (Mavundla et al. , 2009). With so many Filipino men circumcised (90%) the social trend hold strong and the even with new information about risks and benefits the majority continue to get the procedure done (Lee, 2009), while in South Africa with more information coming out more people are opting for medical circumcision with over 130 000 medical circumcisions being performed in 2010 (WHO, 2011). There is a growing trend in South Africa to have medical circumcision, whereas in the Philippines the process in considered outside the general realm of medicine and therefore is not performed in medical settings. While they have different culture and beliefs, and go about performing the procedure differently there main motive to be masculine is common amongst both population groups. Conclusion The advantages associated with being circumcised show great potential to help lower the rates of HIV and sexually transmitted disease in South Africa if more men are circumcised. The cultural transition into manhood is a barrier to overcome as medical circumcision is believed to interfere with this process. If however medical circumcision became more of a social norm as it is viewed in the Philippines, more boys would be inclined to have the procedure to fit in with the rest of the community.  The social normality of the process seems to have a greater influence on boy’s preference then cultural or religious reasons, as 90% of Filipino men are circumcised compared to 35% of South African men (Lee, 2006; WHO, 2007a). Guidelines South Africa: * Conducting community based education and information sessions on the health risks and problems associated with traditional circumcision, and how allowing medical circumcision followed by traditional initiation can reduce these risks. Train more male nurses who can perform the circumcision since most nurses in South Africa are female and boys going through initiation are not allowed contact with women because if they see women during this time they fail there initiation into man hood. * Understand the community’s rationale for the ritual circumcision and work with the community to find alternative solutions together, and trying to help reduce the stigma associated with men being medically circumcised with alternative ays to prove their strength. Philippines: * Developing circumcision clinics throughout the Philippines where boys can have the procedure performed in proper hygienic conditions. * Giving boys information about the risks and benefits of the procedure so they can more meaningfully decide to have to procedure done * Explain the procedure, and offer pain medication so that boy don’t have to feel so nervous about what is happening and have a better understanding of what going to happen.

Analysis Of Emiliano Zapata s Leadership During The...

Section A: Plan of Investigation The question asked in order to conduct this investigation is: Was Emiliano Zapata’s leadership during the Mexican Revolution more significant than Francisco Villa’s Leadership during the Mexican Revolution? This question is important because it helps understand which leader made the most significant contribution during this war. The scope of this investigation is to consider and evaluate the actions of Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution, which took place all over Mexico in the years 1910 through 1920. The method of this study is simply based on providing and discussing various sources such as Emiliano Zapata: Revolution betrayal in Mexico by S. Brunk and Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution composed by Manuel Plana that specifically narrate the actions taken by each leader in their respective campaigns during the Mexican Revolution. Section B: Summary of Evidence Francisco Villa in the Mexican Revolution Villa was the most popular leader of the Mexican Revolution; he based his command in the state of Chihuahua, in which he built an immense and efficient â€Å"military machine†. (Plana, 2002, p. 33) He became a colonel in the Insurgents army in 1911. (Anderson, 2000, p. 6) Villa led an army of revolutionaries into defeating federal forces in Ciudad Juarez and took control on the city. (Anderson, 2000, p. 6) Villa took control of the state of Chihuahua, soon forced Porfirio Diaz to resign from hisShow MoreRelatedEu, Nafta, Asean12786 Words   |  52 Pagesthe Council | Herman Van Rompuy(EPP) |   -   | President of the Commission | Josà © Manuel Barroso(EPP) |   -   | Speaker of the Parliament | Martin Schulz  (Samp;D) |   -   | Presidency of the Council of the Union | Demetris Christofias(Cyprus) |   -   | High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy | Catherine Ashton  (Samp;D) | Legislature | Legislature of the EU |   -   | Upper house | Council of the EU |   -   | Lower house | European Parliament | Establishment |