Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example for Free

Edgar Allan Poe Essay Edgar Allan Poe, those who are familiar with that famous name always allow a chill to run down their spines when they hear it. Poe has always been known for his dramatic and eerie writing style that has entertained readers for centuries. Of course we, as the reader, believe it is simply his brillance that sends a cold shudder through our bodies as we curl up on the couch with The Raven or The Masque of the Red Death, but there is still something more that we can attribute to his writing style. The techniques Poe used in his many stories are what created the fantastic sensation of acutally being a part of the story. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss the chilling techniques this legendary figure, Edgar Allan Poe, used to rope in his reader into the horrible, grotesque, and disturbing world of Prince Pospero and the age of The Red Death. Poe provided us with three major techniques to lead us through this disquieting and disconcerting world that is the reality of Prince Prospero, Poe provided us with, setting, tone, and props. Simply using these three sutble yet powerful techniques, Poe has created an imaginative and mind-boggling universe. First of all, Poe introduced us with surreal, but profound imagery to paint the landscape and life of Prince Prospero and his friends. Setting, one of the most dominant techniques in this short story, can be find around every corner of Prince Prosperos dark maze. Poe described seven rooms that connected to each other in a sick and twisted maze. In order to leave this maze you had to walk through all seven rooms which ranged from color to color and when you finally reached the end you found yourself inside a room, closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. This obviously represented the room of the red death and the eventual downfall all the masqueraders would certainly meet.

The Discovery of Toumai †An Old Hominid :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Discovery of Toumai – An Old Hominid Introduction: The current idea of the evolution of humans is about to make a huge turnabout. The cranium, a jaw fragment, and several teeth of a hominid (a primitive human) were found in the Djurab Desert. The fossils are thought to be, amazingly, between 6 and 7 millions years old. The authorities in Chad have nicknamed the cranium â€Å"Toumai†, which means, â€Å"hope of life† in the Goran language (Walton). Where was it found? The fossils were found in the Djurab Desert in Northern Chad, Central Africa. Of the four areas in the Chad basin, the remains were found in the oldest locality, TM 266 (Toros – Menalla). The remains are well preserved and the cranium is almost complete, considering the difficult detection of fossil layers and the constant sand blowing winds. The cranium has been designated TM 266-01-060-1 (Wood). Only two other hominid fossils have been found in Chad. The first, which was found in 1961, turned out to be a modern human skull that had become so eroded that is looked like an australopith (an early form of hominids). The second set of remains was found in 1995. This hominid was a real australopith and was named Australopithecus bahrelghazali (Wood). But because of where the fossils were found, scientists had to think of another way to date the bones. Absolute – isotope-based – dating methods cannot be applied to the fossil layers at Toros – Menalla because there are no ash layers to provide the necessary argon and potassium. Nor are the sediments suitable for magnetism-based dating methods. Instead, the team matched the rich vertebrate fossil record at TM 266, consisting of examples of 44 different groups, with the equivalent record from sites in East Africa that have absolute dates. The best matches are with two sites in Kenya: The Lukeino Formation of the Tugen Hills (which dates to about 6 million years ago) and the Nawata Formation at Lothagam (5.3-7.4 million years). The upshot is a reliable age estimate of about 6-7 million years for the Toros – Menalla fossils (Wood). How it is different? For over a century and a half, it was believed that humans and African apes are more closely related than humans and orangutans.

Human body Essay

A trip to the cinemas or even to the local bookstore will reveal the present generation’s fascination with the folkloric undead. This fascination, however, is not a new one as most of the present â€Å"lovable† undead characters are actually just old characters that have been given a make-over. From the charismatic vampires of Anne Rice in her Vampire Chronicles series to the morbid and gruesome zombies in the films, the folkloric undead have taken on a new shape from the early 19th century. Perhaps, the change can be attributed to a more imaginative set of authors and writers but then again much of this change can also be attributed to the developments in science and medicine which have allowed for a deeper understanding of the human body and the undead who feast on them. The vampires that Anne Rice creates are more seemingly human than they are vampire. This personification allows the reader to identify with the characters. As Anne Rice carefully describes every sinew and vein that runs down the potential victim’s neck, the reader feels as if he or she were the one taking that fatal bite. Dracula and Frankenstein have also been given more human sides as we see in the movies. The tale of love and revenge has no application to things which are not human. This is something that these writers and directors have realized. In order to capture the attention of the audience, one must be able to personify these characters and give them feelings and even appearances that can be mistaken for human beings. While arguably Frankenstein may be far from being human in the sense of the word, his feelings of revenge and even loyalty at times is too human to be mistaken for anything else. By employing the literary device such as personification and developing an understanding of the human body, today’s writers have evolved the genre from the simplistic undead of the earlier century.

Is Democracy Throughout The United States Working

Is Democracy in the United States working? Many citizens feel that it is not working, or at the least, it is not working as it was originally intended. Parker J. Palmer in his book, Healing the Heart of Democracy, states that American democracy would fail if generation after generation of citizens did not develop what he refers to as â€Å"habits of the heart† that democracy requires. According to him, this is deeply ingrained patterns of receiving , interpreting , and responding to experiences that involve our intellects, emotions, self-images, and concepts of meaning and purpose—habits that form the inward and invisible infrastructure of democracy (Palmer, 2011). Many citizens today feel that the American dream is a myth. They feel that even though they may work hard, they will never be able to afford a house and send their children to college, and even if they get a college education, they will never get a good job. Some feel that there are two Americas today where citizens are divided sharply and extremely by ideology, by money and by political power. In our politics you see various opinion polls, where the citizenry feels that lobbyists have too much power, taxes should be raised on the rich, and that there should be more control of corporations. Some polls have expressed that citizens would like to see the tax system fixed. But Congress does not enact any of those concerns. This has led the public to feel that Congress listen more to the wealthy and affluentShow MoreRelatedDemocracy And The United States Government882 Words   |  4 PagesThe United States Government is defined in many different ways. The most common that we hear a re the forms of democracy and republic. Although very similar, these are very loose terms when it comes to categorizing our government. 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