The sublime Kant & Burke Essay Example for Free

The sublime Kant Burke Essay In Neil Hertz’s essay, The Notion of Blockage in the Literature of the Sublime, Neil uses the work of William Wordsworth to makes a connection to the very distinguished and particular notion of the mathematical sublime by Immanuel Kant. The mathematical sublime is the perception that reason has this superiority over imagination because reason and logic is boundless whereas imagination is limited to what we have personally experienced through our senses. When in the presence of something that embodies the overwhelming magnitude of an idea that we cannot comprehend at first glance (the sublime), Kant believes that reason has the upper hand over the senses. By means of reasoning, we as individuals can determine that there is some claim to final totality. When this reasoning comes face to face with an agent of the sublime, our logic is able to understand the failure of our ability to grasp the enormity of something so thought shattering that it eventually leads to the realization that our reason is more reliable than our senses. The sensory faculty bases its understanding on empirical evidence and in this case would have no influence over our train of thought because we have never experienced anything quite like the sublime. Kant labels this as the blockage and associates it with a negative feeling, this feeling of displeasure stems from the fact that in order to grasp the concept of the sublime the individual must realize that their previous cognitive limits were not developed enough. Hertz has a different idea about the result of experiencing the mathematical sublime, he believes that it brings us pleasure by means of displeasure but the pleasure and power of overcoming our imagination’s shortcomings bring us a greater satisfaction than we could have experienced without this knowledge. Hertz then applies several excerpts from book 7 of Wordsworth’s The 1805 Prelude. Wordsworth’s literary works reinforce Hertz’s position upon the sublime and his concept of blockage. Before he begins analyzing the literary works, Hertz lays down the foundation of the sublime and states, with the use of Weiskels argument that â€Å"The cause of the sublime is the aggrandizement of reason at the expense of imaginative apprehension of reality and at the expense of reality. †(Hertz, 51) After attaining this level of consciousness is it easier to assess the effect of the sublime and how it creates a new insight by means of comprehending that the sublime consists of structure and disagreement. Kant voices a very similar idea as Weiskel just a couple sentences later, â€Å"the very moment in which the mind turns within and performs its identification with reason. †(Hertz, 51) He uses this notion of blockage in relation to Wordsworth’s poems, and how we have difficulty in grasping the concept before we recognize and understand the sublime and how it unites the mind when it is filled with such a grand sensation. Unto myself, The face of every one That passes by me is a mystery! Thus have I looked, nor ceased to look, oppressed By thoughts of what and whither, when and how. All laws of acting, thinking, speaking man Went from me, neither knowing me nor known. (Hertz, 58) Wordsworth is making reference to the publication and how everyone is the same but different at the same time, whilst making allusions to the sensory approach and how he does not understand the incident to its furthest degree. He is stuck on the mathematically sublime until he advances in his text analysis and stumbles upon the blind beggar. Or emblem of the utmost that we know Both of ourselves and of the universe, And on the shape of this unmoving man, His fixed face and sightless eyes, I looked, As if admonished from another world.

Woodchucks Poem Essay -- essays research papers

â€Å"Eliminating the Pest† In the poem â€Å"Woodchucks† by Maxine Kumin, the speaker is in her garden and is annoyed with some woodchucks that are eating and destroying the produce in the garden. The speaker in turn tries to remove the woodchucks by using humane gas to kill them and when that is unsuccessful, she resorts to more violent means. This poem uses the annoying woodchucks to signify the Jewish people during the Holocaust by the Nazi Party.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the first stanza of the poem, the speaker clearly identifies that some woodchucks are annoying her. To solve this problem, the speaker uses gas as a way to eliminate the pests quickly and painlessly much like the Nazis tried to eradicate the Jews from their presence. Gassing the woodchucks is an easy way to remove the pests because using gas does not involve looking at the victims as they are put to death. This is also why the Nazis used the gassing methods to kill the Jews. After time this method was not as widely used due to the resilience of the woodchucks and Jews. Thus, this led the killers to use more ruthless techniques.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second stanza and third stanza tell how the woodchucks continue to destroy the garden because the cyanide gas was not successful. The speaker tells about the woodchucks taking over the vegetable patch and beheading the carrots. This drives the speaker crazy, therefore taking the violence to another level. The speaker pulls out a gun and puts the ...

Langston Hughes and Leonardo Da Vinci Essay

My paper is about Langston Hughes and Leonardo Da Vinci and how they have an effect on their readers and their positive aspects on life. Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452 in a town named Vinci in Italy. He was a renaissance painter and he painted realistically, he used light and dark colors in his paintings. In his paintings he painted figures without outlining them. He used a style called â€Å"chiaroscuro† and he used light and shadow to give his pictures a 3-D effect. He painted different types of moods in his paintings. Leonardo Da Vinci most famous painting was the Mona Lisa painting. He started the painting in the year 1503. The painting was thought to be a woman name Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant name Francesco Del Giocondo. They also said the reason for her smile was because she was pregnant. During the 1485 to 1490 Leonardo da Vinci was a renaissance painter. The duke from his time kept him busy painting pictures and sculpting and designing elaborate court festivals. He started to study things like nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, etc. In this time period most of his studies contained advanced weapons such as a tank and other war vehicles. Between 1490 and 1495 he developed a study in meticulously illustrated notebooks. His worked covered four main themes such as paintings, architecture, the elements of mechanics, and human anatomy. There was an invasion by French and Ludovico Sforza and that left Leonardo to search for a new patron. For the next 16 years Leonardo worked and traveled through Italy for a number of employers. Leonardo was important because he came up with ideas of inventions like flying machines and underwater breathing devices. He also was specialized in fields like arts math science. He was an inventor, artist, and scientist who studied nature of the renaissance. His most famous painting the Mona Lisa made him very famous and it was one of the best paintings in his time. His geographical background didn’t really influence his work. It was mostly nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, and etc. He used nature in his art and things that he found interesting to him he would use it and put it in his paintings. For example his Mona Lisa painting was inspired by a female that he knew. One of his famous paintings was â€Å"The Last Supper†. The painting was started on 1508 and was done in the year 1549. This painting got a lot of recognition when it was painted. It was a picture of Jesus with his twelve apostles eating. This is a very famous painting it is used throughout the world and it is held in churches which symbolizes â€Å"The Last Supper.† The last painting I’m going to talk about is â€Å"the Virgin of the Rocks†. This painting was also recognized as a very famous painting. It was started in 1483 and finished in 1486. The painting shows a picture of angels playing a musical instrument which is believed to have been part of the composition that was set into altarpieces. Langston Hughes was an African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance. He was born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri and died on May 22, 1967. He was one of the creators of the new literary art form called Jazz poetry. His poetry and books showed the lives of the working class blacks in America and there struggles. One of his main points was Race, Hughes tried to get across to the people and show them that Black is beautiful, fearless, and strong. He was a black writer during the time blackness wasn’t accepted. In his work he confronted racial stereotypes through poetry and his books. All Hughes wanted was for his readers to read his work and start to feel good about themselves and the color of their skin and to know that they are strong and full with courage. I think the main part about race Hughes wanted to get across in his work is that Black Is Beautiful. Another point he was trying to get across in his work is Social Class. Social Class meaning the way blacks were living compared to the way Caucasians were living during the Harlem renaissance. In Hughes’s books he wanted to show or get across the real lives of blacks in the lower class. Most of his poetry and stories showed the lives of the working class blacks in America, and there struggle. Hughes his self-protested with blacks of the lower class social conditions to show that he to understand the struggle and hard times they are going through. They began to call Hughes a people’s poet, because how he helped the people through his writers work and hands on work in the community. The last point his work was based upon was equality. He always felt that no matter what race you are that we all should be treated equal. He believed that chances that a Caucasian person should get another ethnicity should get the same opportunity. He feels if everyone is treated equal that the world would be a better place. These are the three points that Langston was trying to get across in his readings. He talked about race, social class and, equality. He mainly focused on them three points in his writings so he could send his message to his readers who read his poems. Both Langston Hughes and Leonardo da Vinci were renaissance men. They both were very famous poets during their time and still are being talked about throughout the world. They both gave a good aspect on life and both of their work was positive towards their readers. Langston Hughes talked about how all people should be treated the same no matter what race you are. Leonardo Da Vinci drew painting such as the â€Å"The Last Supper† which is a painting of when Jesus had the last supper with his twelve disciples and he announces that one of them betrayed him. References Biography Leonardo Da Vinci. (1996). Bio True story .Retrieved from www.biography .com Biography Langston Hughes. (1996). Bio True story. Retrieved from www.biography.com

Solar Radiation and the Earths Albedo

Nearly all of the energy arriving on planet Earth and driving the various weather events, oceanic currents, and distribution of ecosystems originates with the sun. This intense solar radiation as it is known in physical geography originates in the sun’s core and is eventually sent to Earth after convection (the vertical movement of energy) forces it away from the sun’s core. It takes approximately eight minutes for solar radiation to reach the Earth after leaving the sun’s surface. Once this solar radiation arrives on Earth, its energy is distributed unevenly across the globe by latitude. As this radiation enters the Earth’s atmosphere it hits near the equator and develops an energy surplus. Because less direct solar radiation arrives at the poles, they, in turn, develop an energy deficit. To keep energy balanced on the Earth’s surface, the excess energy from the equatorial regions flows toward the poles in a cycle so energy will be balanced across the globe. This cycle is called the Earth-Atmosphere energy balance. Solar Radiation Pathways Once the Earth’s atmosphere receives shortwave solar radiation, the energy is referred to as insolation. This insolation is the energy input responsible for moving the various Earth-atmosphere systems like the energy balance described above but also weather events, oceanic currents, and other Earth cycles. Insolation can be direct or diffuse. Direct radiation is solar radiation received by the Earth’s surface and/or atmosphere that has not been altered by atmospheric scattering. Diffused radiation is solar radiation that has been modified by scattering. Scattering itself is one of five pathways solar radiation can take when entering the atmosphere. It occurs when insolation is deflected and/or redirected upon entering the atmosphere by dust, gas, ice, and water vapor present there. If the energy waves have a shorter wavelength, they are scattered more than those with longer wavelengths. Scattering and how it reacts with wavelength size are responsible for many things we see in the atmosphere such as the sky’s blue color and white clouds. Transmission is another solar radiation pathway. It occurs when both shortwave and longwave energy pass through the atmosphere and water instead of scattering when interacting with gases and other particles in the atmosphere. Refraction can also occur when solar radiation enters the atmosphere. This pathway happens when energy moves from one type of space to another, such as from air into water. As the energy moves from these spaces, it changes its speed and direction when reacting with the particles present there. The shift in direction often causes the energy to bend and release the various light colors within it, similar to what happens as light passes through a crystal or prism. Absorption is the fourth type of solar radiation pathway and is the conversion of energy from one form into another. For example, when solar radiation is absorbed by water, its energy shifts to the water and raises its temperature. This is common of all-absorbing surfaces from a tree’s leaf to asphalt. The final solar radiation pathway is a reflection. This is when a portion of energy bounces directly back to space without being absorbed, refracted, transmitted, or scattered. An important term to remember when studying solar radiation and reflection is albedo. Albedo Albedo is defined as the reflective quality of a surface. It is expressed as a percentage of reflected insolation to incoming insolation and zero percent is total absorption while 100% is the total reflection. In terms of visible colors, darker colors have a lower albedo, that is, they absorb more insolation, and lighter colors have a high albedo, or higher rates of reflection. For example, snow reflects 85-90% of insolation, whereas asphalt reflects only 5-10%. The angle of the sun also impacts albedo value and lower sun angles create greater reflection because the energy coming from a low sun angle is not as strong as that arriving from a high sun angle. Additionally, smooth surfaces have a higher albedo while rough surfaces reduce it. Like solar radiation in general, albedo values also vary across the globe with latitude but Earth’s average albedo is around 31%. For surfaces between the tropics (23.5Â °N to 23.5Â °S) the average albedo is 19-38%. At the poles, it can be as high as 80% in some areas. This is a result of the lower sun angle present at the poles but also the higher presence of fresh snow, ice, and smooth open water- all areas prone to high levels of reflectivity. Albedo, Solar Radiation, and Humans Today, albedo is a major concern for humans worldwide. As industrial activities increase air pollution, the atmosphere itself is becoming more reflective because there are more aerosols to reflect insolation. In addition, the low albedo of the world’s largest cities sometimes creates urban heat islands which impacts both city planning and energy consumption. Solar radiation is also finding its place in new plans for renewable energy- most notably solar panels for electricity and black tubes for heating water. These items’ dark colors have low albedos and therefore absorb nearly all of the solar radiation striking them, making them efficient tools for harnessing the sun’s power worldwide. Regardless of the sun’s efficiency in electricity generation though, the study of solar radiation and albedo is essential to the understanding of Earth’s weather cycles, ocean currents, and locations of different ecosystems.