Reality in Wallace Stevens’ The Man with the Blue Guitar Essay

Reality in Wallace Stevens’ The Man with the Blue Guitar For Wallace Stevens, reality is an abstraction with many perspective possibilities. As a poet, Stevens struggles to create original perspectives of reality. Wallace Stevens creates a new, modern reality in his poetry. Actually, Stevens decreates reality in his poetry. In The Necessary Angel, Stevens paraphrases Simone Weil’s coinage of decreation as the change from created to uncreated or from created to nothingness. Stevens then defines modern reality as, â€Å"a reality of decreation, in which our revelations are not the revelations of belief, but the precious portents of our own powers†(750). Stevens relates, through poetry, a destruction of traditional reality leading to a realization that the meaning of a poem is not truth, always recognizing that the poem is the poets perception of reality. This perception of reality is based on experience, historical context, and poetic skill, among others. â€Å"The Man with the Blue Guitar† is a long poem that al lows Stevens to change perspectives and create abstract realities. Parataxis in such a long poem allows for the decreation of reality and the relation of imagination. In his book, The long poems of Wallace Stevens: An interpretive study, Rajeev S. Patke describes varied progression within â€Å"The Man with the Blue Guitar† as â€Å"an indefinite improvisatory series. In such a series the unitary sections lose their independent status as poems, and their masks and metaphors become stages in the continual play of metamorphosis which is the true life of Stevens’s poetry†(241). Imbedded in Patke’s description of â€Å"the true life of Stevens’s poetry†, is the parataxis that a sectioned poem provides. Each movement from section t... ...ique and presentation of Stevens’s concepts may be confusing and/or contradicting, but the overall presentation allows for the full realization of different perceptions and their comparison and contrast all lead back to Stevens’s purpose for poetry. This purpose being to relate experience while recognizing that each experience/perception/reality/dream is unique and insightful. In a long poem with many sections, an overall theme or fiction may not be attainable or seen as contradictory. The value of this poem lies in the realization and acknowledgment of different perspectives, and the acceptance an evolving world. Work Cited Patke, Rajeev. The Long Poems of Wallace Stevens: An interpretive study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985. Stevens, Wallace. Collected Poetry and Prose. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1997.

Aphrodite

The beginning of the Trojan War all started with three goddesses: Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera and the Judgement of Paris. These three goddesses are very important in greek mythology. Aphrodite being the goddess of sexual love and beauty. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, courage, and law and Justice. Hera is the wife of Zeus and the goddess of marriage and woman. It all began at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited and was angered by this.She arrived at he wedding anyway, bringing a golden apple that was labeled to the fairest one'. Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera all thought themselves to be the fairest one and all thought that they had claim to the apple. They asked Zeus to Judge who was fairest, but not wanting to declare a favorite, he sent them to Paris. Paris was a troJan mortal that had recently offered a golden crown to any bull that could beat his champion bull, so Ares had turned himself into a bull defeating the champion.Paris gave the c rown to Ares with no hesitation, and because of that honesty was why he was hosen by Zeus to Judge Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Ida and then met up with Paris on the Mount of Ida. After the goddesses undresses for Paris to reveal their beauty he could still not decide. The three candidates decided to use their powers and bribe him, each offering great things. Hera offered to make him leader of Europe and Asia, Athena offered to give him great skill in battle and wisdom, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world.Paris chose Aphrodite and gave her the apple. Aphrodite gave Paris Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Helen was married to the Greek king Menelaus. The Greeks trying to get Helen back from Troy is the root cause of the Trojan War. Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera had major roles throughout the Trojan War. Aphrodite was on the Trojans side, but Athena and Hera were on the side of the Greeks . During the war Aphrodite is seen aiding and helping Paris and the Trojans while Athena and Hera helped the Greeks. There are many examples of Aphrodite helping the Trojans throughout the war.One example is when Menelaus challenged Paris to a duel. Paris did not duel with him at first, but when his brother Hector makes fun of him for being a coward he decides to fight. In their duel, Menelaus gets Paris by him helmet and begins to drag him. Aphrodite, being an ally to the Trojan side, helps Paris by breaking the strap to his helmet so that he is released from Menelaus. Menelaus then tries to put his spear through Paris, but Aphrodite takes Paris away and puts him in his room. Aphrodite then disguised herself as an old man and brought Helen to Paris.Another example of Aphrodite in he Trojan War is when she intervened in a battle to save her son, Aeneas. He was also an ally to the Trojans who was almost killed by Diomedes, a greek hero. When Aphrodite intervened Diomedes attacked her with his spear, hitting her wrist. Because of her wound she drops Aeneas, but he's rescued by another ally god, Apollo. Aphrodite then goes to her brother Ares to borrow his chariot to take her to matters of war to Ares and Athena, the god and goddess of war. Since Athena was the goddess of war she was pretty involved in the Trojan War and was present at any battles.In the war she was allies with the Greeks. She played a big role in the Trojan War when it came to the Trojan Horse. Odysseus came up with a plan, some say with the aid of Athena, to build a wooden horse to sneak into Troy. An inscription was on the horse that said â€Å"For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena†. Athena also helped and protected the Greek warrior Diomedes a lot. Diomedes was the only one to wound an Olympian Immortal, which was Aphrodite. Throughout the war Athena helps him by blessing his armor and giving him orders.

Nature Vs. Nurture By Francis Galton - 1448 Words

â€Å"You inherit your environment just as much as your genes.† (Rich, 2015) In 1869, the phrase â€Å"nature vs. nurture was coined by an English polymath named Francis Galton. There are two sides to this debate, each with their own pros and con’s. Nature is the side that argues that the DNA and genotype humans are born with determines who they are and what personality and traits they will have throughout their lifetime. Whereas the nurture side of the debate argues that humans are born with sponges as minds, and through interactions and experiences while we grow, the knowledge and understanding of life is gained and this is how our personalities are sculpted. Many people have studied this debate through multiple schools of thoughts; each with their own arguments to which side they believe prevails. Yet, to this day, there is no proof to say which side of the debate if correct. Based on the psychological, sociological, and epigenetic schools of though, it can be valid ated that when it comes to the nature vs. nurture debate, nurture will always prevail and remain most relevant. The basic assumption of psychologists in correlation to nurture is that the mind is a â€Å"blank slate, or tabula rasa† (Locke, 1689) during infancy, and continues to absorb new information as the environment changes with the child. There are multiple disciplines within the psychological school of thought that become very relevant when studying nurture. For starters, cognitive psychology states that mentalShow MoreRelatedCharles Darwin s Theory Of Behavior Genetics970 Words   |  4 PagesEarly Genetics One of the first people to study heritability was Sir Francis Galton. He was inspired by his cousin, Charles Darwin. His research was based around how certain genes were either passed down, or influenced. 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