Chaucer’s Contribution to the Development of English Literary Tradition Essay

Chaucer is commonly hailed as â€Å"the father of English poetry† who in such works as his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, significantly contributed to the development of English as a literary language. The â€Å"General Prologue† to The Canterbury Tales has often been praised as â€Å"the most perfect poem in the English language. † The Canterbury Tales and his other notable works reflect Chaucer’s familiarity with French, English, Italian, and Latin literature, and demonstrate his consummate mastery of a variety of literary genres, styles, and techniques. His poems continue to draw the interest and praise of readers centuries after his death and are among the most acclaimed works of the English-speaking world. The originality of his language and style, the vivacity of his humor, and the depth of his understanding are continually cited as reasons for the permanence of his works. Chaucer’s decision to write in his country’s language, English, rather than in the was something of a risk, and a big break with learned tradition. The risk paid off. The Canterbury Tales were enormously popular because so many more manuscripts of the tales survive than of almost any other work of this time period. The Canterbury Tales were still going strong when the first printers made their way to England. William Caxton published the first printed version of The Canterbury Tales in 1476. One of the things that makes The Canterbury Tales so fun to read is the great detail with which the narrator describes each of the pilgrims. We learn, for example, that the cook has a pustule on his leg that very much resembles one of the desserts he cooks, or that the miller has a huge, pug nose. For many of his portraits, Chaucer is relying on a medieval tradition of â€Å"estates satire,† a collection of stereotypes about people based on what occupation they had or what social class they belonged to. Another medieval idea his portraits draw upon is â€Å"anticlericalism,† a tradition that got its start in reaction to a lot of abuses by clergy in the medieval church, but which basically became a collection of stereotypes about friars, monks, nuns, priests, and the like. Since The Canterbury Tales is a story about a storytelling competition, many of the questions it asks are about stories. As the pilgrims tell their stories, though, they turn out to be talking not just about fairytale people in far-off lands, but also about themselves and their society. This leads to a lot of conflict in a group of pilgrims formed by members of that same society. It is sometimes argued that the greatest contribution that this work made to English literature was in popularising the literary use of the vernacular, English, rather than French or Latin. English had, however, been used as a literary language for centuries before Chaucer’s life, and several of Chaucer’s contemporaries also wrote major literary works in English. It is unclear to what extent Chaucer was responsible for starting a trend rather than simply being part of it.

Smart People, Bad Grammar

Smart People, Bad Grammar Smart People, Bad Grammar Smart People, Bad Grammar By Daniel Scocco Stanley Bing, a novelist and columnist for Fortune magazine, recently published an enlightening – let alone hilarious – piece on his blog. Titled â€Å"When Smart People Use Bad Grammar,† the article describes the common confusion around the usage of the personal pronouns â€Å"I† and â€Å"me.† I’m sitting at a lounge last week in Los Angeles with a top business reporter. True, we’re drinking, but that doesn’t really explain what happens next. I’m conversing with him about something that doesn’t really concern you, and things get kind of confidential, and I ask for his promise that the matter will remain off the record. †Don’t worry,† says the reporter, a graduate of a fine college and probably a reputable journalism school. â€Å"That will just be between you and I.† And here is his explanation on the proper usage: For the record, and for those who even marginally care: this is really easy. The word â€Å"I† is used when the You in questions is the subject of a sentence. â€Å"I† does things. â€Å"I like that,† you say. You don’t say, â€Å"Me like that,† unless you are Tarzan. â€Å"Me† makes his appearance when things are done to You. â€Å"He really screwed me on that deal,† is both a common occurrence and correct usage. If you want to read more about this topic, we covered the issue on the article â€Å"Me, Myself, and I.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?36 Poetry Terms25 Idioms with Clean

3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation

3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation 3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation 3 Problems with Suspensive Hyphenation By Mark Nichol The grammatical convention known as suspensive hyphenation is employed when two or more adjacent and parallel phrasal adjectives, phrases that in tandem modify a noun that follows them, have a common element in the same position. Elision of one of the repeated words because it is clearly implicit is a common strategy, but misuse of suspensive hyphenation can complicate a sentence rather than simplify it, as the examples below demonstrate. (Each sentence is accompanied by a discussion and a solution.) 1. We help companies identify, manage, and resolve the business and technology related risks they face. This sentence contains two phrasal adjectives, â€Å"business related† and â€Å"technology related,† but because they share the second word, that word has been elided from the first phrase because it is implicit. However, because the phrasal adjectives precede the noun, they must be hyphenated, and a hyphen should follow business to clarify that an implicit word has been omitted: â€Å"We help companies identify, manage, and resolve the business- and technology-related risks they face.† 2. Most of these markets are little-known small- and midsize cities. Here, suspensive hyphenation has been erroneously introduced. Because small is not part of a phrasal adjective (the reference is to â€Å"small cities,† not â€Å"small-sized cities†), no hyphen should be attached to it: â€Å"Most of these markets are little-known small and midsize cities.† 3. The meeting was held to discuss risk-assessment and -management policies. Here, suspensive hyphenation is employed to elide the first word of a two-word phrasal adjective that has the same first word as an adjacent phrasal adjective. (Notice that in this case, the second instance of the first word has been omitted; compare this with omission of the first instance of a second word in common to two or more two-word phrasal adjectives.) The construction is technically correct but awkward and distracting, so it’s better to explicitly include the second instance of risk rather than elide it: â€Å"The meeting was held to discuss risk-assessment and risk-management policies.† Check out our latest YouTube video: How to Write a Reference Letter Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Using "a" and "an" Before WordsAwoken or Awakened?9 Forms of the Past Tense

President's Role in the Regulatory Process Article

President's Role in the Regulatory Process - Article Example In evaluating the role of the president in the regulatory process, there exist two sets of distinctions. The president is an advocate or rather the formulators of policies enacted by the congress (Himmelberg, 1994). The president execute theoretical establishment manned by the chief executive. In this regard, the president’s role is to provide a regulatory process that functions for the citizens and not against them. The process should be dedicated to improving citizens’ safety, health, the surroundings, and encouraging growth of economy and creating jobs to citizens. The president is responsible for providing guidance, assistance in planning and dispute resolution (Lubbers, 2006). During his term as the president of the U.S, President Reagan issued an executive order that aimed to carry out a cost benefit analysis of certain regulatory processes from agencies. This order ensured that agencies followed the desires of the coalitions that enacted the procedures. The procedures are eventually used to establish a decision-making environment for agencies in their daily operation. In my opinion, I think President Obama has impressed the best regulatory process in furthering administration goals. In this process, the president has employed recommendations that offer a harmonious relationship between the agencies and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the state. The president Obama has provided guidance on transparency and disclosure. He also encourages the public to take part in agency regulatory process. In president Obamas’s regulatory process, he allowed suggestion made on the function of the cost-benefit analysis of the economic laws. He applies a decentralization method of regulatory process in that it is not stakeholders only that are involved in the process but citizens also take part in the process and not . In conclusion, regulations are means with which agencies execute definite laws and general goals of the

On the Control People Have Over Their Behavior, Emotions, and Thoughts Essay

On the Control People Have Over Their Behavior, Emotions, and Thoughts - Essay Example If he is in control, just how much control does he have over these aspects of himself? This paper takes the position that we do not know what we are doing in most situations. We are not in control (Armstrong 22-38; Thurman 460-473; Stout 381-398). It is interesting how the different authors portray man. In a way their portrayal also defines what it means for man to be free, and just how free he is in reality. Armstrong, for one, notes that man is not totally free to be anything, because he is hardwired to look for God. He is a religious being as much as he is descended from apes and has that particular anatomy. There in that vision of man there seems to be already a defining and a limiting of what man can be. He is not free to be anything he wants to be. He must by his very nature act, think and feel in accordance with his wiring. That wiring includes looking for God. Thurman also seems to think the same way, in a sense. He says that in essence the ego or the individual is not in con trol of himself, because the ego is always in flux. He is a bundle of passing thoughts, feelings, and actions. Stout seems to say the same thing, in the language of trauma and the human brain. She is saying that trauma, for instance, can affect the way people perceive the world. Trauma changes the way the brain is wired. It is so that people are not in control of the way they react to things that remind them of traumatic events (Armstrong 22-38; Thurman 460-473; Stout 381-398). Discussion Reading Stout, for instance, we come face to face with just how vulnerable man is to trauma. Trauma can reshape the brain itself. With the brain reshaped, a person’s thoughts and feelings are affected. Of course with the thoughts affected and changed in profound ways, actions are likewise reshaped and affected. We see that man can be so affected by trauma as to be unaware that he is acting out of reason, for instance. It can be also that man can be unaware that he is acting out of a reaction to a past traumatic event. How much control does man have in this instance? Obviously man is not much in control. To be aware means to know that one’s actions are coming from a deep-rooted fear. People who experienced trauma sometimes do not know that. They are unconscious of the effect that fear and memory have on their feelings, thoughts and actions: â€Å" †¦ nor do we comprehend how swampy and vitality-sucking some of our memories really are†¦in the course of a lifetime such â€Å"protective† mental reactions acquire tremendous habit strength† (Stout 384).Stout’s point is that there is much in man that he is not even aware of. Those things that he is not aware of largely control him. Those things affect how he feels and how he thinks. Those things affect how he reacts to the world and to his life as that life unfolds. So to the question of whether man knows what he is doing in most situations, it seems the answer from Stout is no. I agree. An ordinary man cannot know what all of his hidden fears are. Sometimes even when he thinks he knows he does not really know why he acts the way he does. Sometimes I feel sad for no reason at all, after hearing an old song, for instance. It may be that deep in my memory there is something about the song that I associate with something sad or unpleasant. It may be even something that I was afraid of at some point that I associate with the song. It may be something traumatic that I cannot fully understand. Armstrong has a

Sports and Leisure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sports and Leisure - Essay Example There can be concerns among customers or local people over issues of, crime, violence, disorderliness, and general safety in and around leisure or leisure sports sites. Due to the combined efforts of organizations like, Institute of Sport and Leisure Management, The Fitness Industry Association, Sport England and The Institute of Sport and Recreation Management leisure and sports is considered to be a professional industry with highly trained, educated and conscientious individuals. With increase in the quality of professional standard employment in the sports and leisure industry is considered competitive, prestigious as well as fun oriented. This perception has contributed towards drawing in a lot of young people, and towards integration of sports and leisure as part of higher education. It has also lead to the creation of greater employment opportunity, with greater investment in the public sector by both local governmental and private players. Sports England has implemented various schemes for various project objectives successfully. PRIDE is concerned with establishing professionalism in the leisure industry, providing equal employment opportunity to blacks and ethnic minorities. Community Network Alliance is driven towards supporting new organizations within the "community sports network. Social Issues like equality and integration through sports; issues of racism in sport's scenario; social responsibility of Sports (by employing the youth's productively and reducing the rates of drug abuse, juvenile delinquents etc); unequal representation of gender in sports; leisure as a sort of splurge by a consumption driven society and it's environmental implication are some other contemporary and future issues in sports and leisure that have gained momentum. With growing competitiveness and professionalism as well as popularity there have been concerns over the issues of sports governance. An example of this can be found in the campaingn spear headed by an association of football supporters the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association (IMUSA) as well as its sister concern, shareholders United (SU),protesting against the projected takeover of Manchester United by BSkyB satellite television company. With increasing consciousness among the people about health and the benefits of exercise, individuals are displaying a proclivity towards fitness and health clubs. Regular exercise like running, leisure and hobby sports has increased. Fitness Industry Association (FIA) is one among the many group of lobbyist who are campaigning for the incorporation of USA type benefits for people joining health clubs. They base their logic on the fact that healthier people mean less spending by the national Health Services. Leisure includes a gamut of activities including sports, leisure trips and tours. Within the frame work of leisure, the direction of issues is multifarious including the analysis of the social and environmental impact of tourism. While conceding that tourism offers great employment avenues and is revenue generating industry there is increasing concerns about its effect on the eco-system and environment. Hence the move is towards sustainable development and eco-tourism. Many individuals and organization have

Big Man on Campus Essay Example for Free

Big Man on Campus Essay Without the philanthropic mind and the kindness of Leigh Anne and her husband, Sean, Michael Oher would have remained a timid dejected soul in an American ghetto. But it was not to be, as this huge child with a gentle soul, would be patiently coached to open up and in the ultimate process, astound not his community, but even rose to national fame. After a mere first practice in football, coaches came in platoons to offer him scholarships, with one of them labeling him the best in the nation† to which USA Today agreed. It took Leigh Anne’s legendary patience to cajole him to open up, and anyone would have easily given up—in the face of the tenacity with which the insecure big young boy evaded probing basic questions. The big boy feared even just showing anyone he was in pain, although he could cry like a child. I shall not delve on the story which everyone read. (Lewis: 3 online version) Surname 2 My piece will instead focus on Leigh Anne’s efforts to re-build the insecure, young, and athletically- endowed character, and in her effort to recover the boy’s trust in himself and society. Leigh Anne was a revelation to me on what educators ought to be to their students. An educator ideally should not give up too soon on exceptional cases of strange behavior or academic neglect. There could be deeper reasons why individuals act strange or in a manner that no one can immediately understand. Indeed Leigh Anne’s patience in monitoring Michel’s background, motivations, and psychological frame up was a model for the ideal or ultimate teacher. Leigh Anne also showed deep particular interest on behavioral motivations. An ordinary reaction to aberrant behavior could be acceptance of it as a given. Instead, Leigh Anne was motivated by a desire to learn the roots of the behavior and help â€Å"Big Michael† overcome it. Leigh Anne was not a cold psychology specialist treating a patient. She was a human being caring for another human being. Hers is an example even for psychologists. A discipline must humanize: it ought not to lose its human dimension. Educators cannot always end up like Leigh Anne who went all the way to adopt Michael, who found a family in her home. But the desire to build lives is the essence of what an educator should aspire for every student entrusted to him. Surname 3 Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy jointly probed and observed Michael’s every revelation of his past, or any bit of information that could lead them to understand the bigboy. They were rewarded not just with the revelation of his childlike character, but with having a new family member they loved like a son. As Leigh Anne put it, I loved him as if I birthed him. † (Lewis:4 online version). Work Cited Lewis, Michael. Big Man on Campus From the Readers Digest . Retrieved Dec. 15,2008 from: http://www. rd. com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/big-man-on-campus/article30250-3. html