Renaissance history

â€Å"Renaissance is a term with a variety of meanings, but is used widely in discussion of European history. Renaissance originates from the Latin word â€Å"Rinascere† and refers to the act of being reborn. It is believed that during the time from about 1400AD to around 1600AD, Europe was reborn. Originally the term Renaissance only referred to the time when man rediscovered the knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans. However, modern historians have realized these rediscoveries were also crucial to the formation of modern culture. The term Renaissance is now used to indicate all the historical developments that have inspired the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern history. Thus, the term Renaissance has now taken on a more significant meaning: not only does the Renaissance mean the rebirth of knowledge, but also represents a step from the past and a leap towards the future. The Renaissance overlapped the end of a period in European history called the Middle Ages. During this time, the great accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans had been largely, though not entirely forgotten. With the ending of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance great cultural movement arose. Beginning in Italy, the new Renaissance spirit spread to England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and other countries. In Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries certain scholars and historians began to display a remarkable new historical self-consciousness. They believed their own time was a new age, at once sharply different from the barbaric darkness which was imagined had occurred in the centuries before. They grew to believe that there was more to be discovered about mankind and the world, than medieval people had known. The Italians are very eager to rediscover what clever Greeks and Romans had known in ancient times, as well as making their own intelligent attempts to understand the world. This renewed interest in the world and in mankind is called Humanism. Humanism was the most significant intellectual movement of the Renaissance. Humanism during the Renaissance received its name from one of the earliest concerns of the humanists: the need of a new education curriculum that would empathize a group of subjects known collectively as the ‘Studia Humanitatis† involving grammar, history, poetry, ethics, and rhetoric. However, this new education curriculum conflicted directly with the traditional education, which involved logic, science and physics, and often sharp clashes occured between the two educators. However, more was at stake than the content of education. The traditional education was intended chiefly to prepare students for careers in medicine, law, and above all theology. To Renaissance humanists this seemed too narrow, too abstract and too exclusively intellectual. They proposed a system of education that centred on the general responsibilities of citizenship and social leadership. Humanities essential contribution to the modern world is not found in its concern with ancient knowledge, but in its new attitude of flexibility and openness to all the possibilities in life. With people receiving education-involving leadership, they began to gain more confidants. More people began to reject ideas about science put forward by the ancient Greeks and began to search for the truth. They realized that the Greeks† ideas were often intelligent, but also often wrong. Many people still did not want the old ideas disapproved, and threatened scientists to stop having new ideas. However, this did not stop many brilliant scientific inventions being produced at this time. A great scientist of the Renaissance was the Polish student Nicolaus Copernicus who developed the theory that the earth was a moving planet. He is considered the founder of modern astronomy. In Copernicus† time, most astronomers accepted the theory the Greek astronomer Ptolemy had formulated nearly 1400 years earlier. Ptolemy stated that the Earth was the centre of the universe and motionless. He also stated that all the observed motions of the heavenly bodies were real and that those bodies moved in complicated patterns around the Earth. As the church supported Ptolemy theory no one dared to challenge it until Copernicus. Copernicus believed Ptolemy†s theory was too complicated. He decided that the simplest and most systematic explanation was that every planet, including the Earth, revolved around the sun. The Earth also had to spin around its axis once every day. Copernicus couldn†t prove his theory, but his explanation of heavenly motion was mathematically strong and was less complicated than Ptolemy†s theory. The later work of later scientists such as Galileo Galilei helped to prove that Copernicus† theory was correct. Galileo was a Florentine physicist, philosopher, and inventor, whose name became the chief emblem of Renaissance science and of ensuing technological revolution. In 1609, he heard that the rulers of Florence and Venice were searching for someone who could invent an instrument that made distant objects appear closer. Galileo set to work to construct one, and within a few days he had finished, naming it a telescope. During the winter, he turned his telescope to the sky with startling results. He announced that the moon surface was quite similar to earth†s – irregular and mountainous; the Milky Way was made up of a host of stars; and the planet Jupiter is accompanied by at least four satellites. The electrifying effects of these discoveries were amazing. They showed the human senses could be aided artificially to discover new truths about nature, something that neither philosophy nor theology had previous contended with. However, most importantly Ptolemy†s astronomical theory was impossible. Galileo had proven Copernicus theory correct. Galileo had great importance upon the history of ideas. The Renaissance produced many important people who invented or theorized very important advances in history. They all became strong symbols of revolt against the forces of authority, whilst the Renaissance flourished with the power of question. The Renaissance period provided modern culture with a variety of advances in technology, art, science and most importantly it gave mankind confidence. The ancient civilizations, in particular the Greeks and Romans, laid the foundations for civilizations and the Renaissance added the most important ingredient; the ability to ask why. It is appropriate to use the label ‘Rebirth† to describe European history in the 15th and 16th centuries.

George Herberts Imagery Essay

Ashley Adams Instructor: Adam Helmintoller English section 241-40 16 November 2011 George Herbert’s Imagery The poem â€Å"Easter wings† by George Herbert is a poem that contains deep imagery which is shown not only in his words but also his visual structure. Herbert chooses the structure of a pair of wings for many different reasons. He also gives his poem a lot of imagery which should help the reader gain a different perspective to the poem. The poem explains Herbert’s desires to fly with Jesus after his resurrection. Herbert put himself deliberately in the poem by commonly using â€Å"I† and â€Å"me†. Herbert then addresses the audience in the first line with â€Å"Lord†, meaning Jesus Christ. Yet the confusion is of where the poem starts since it is split in two parts but having to be read sideways. This could be used to invoke visions of both wings, meaning that instead of looking at one large poem there is actually two smaller poems instead. Lord, who createth man in wealth and store† is the beginning of this poem, helping to immediately establish the audience in the first word (Greenblatt 1609). It also reveals the poem as a type of prayer towards God. Herbert uses the â€Å"winged† look in his poem to more or less catch the readers eye an relate to the imagery Herbert uses in the poem with his words. The beginning of the poem describes the fall of men from â€Å"wealth† into the â€Å"decaying† of life from sinful nature, â€Å"Lord, who createst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more Till he became Most poor:† the structure of the first few lines parallel the content, by having the lines â€Å"decaying† in length but also the imagery â€Å"decaying† with the fall of mankind (Greenblatt 1609). Herbert wanted his audience to see the parallelism between the shape and the actual meaning of the poem. Herbert wanted the reader to find the true meaning of the poem by connecting it with the shape. In the second part of the two poems is turning in emotion and finishing with the poet taking â€Å"flight† and completing the second wing: â€Å"With thee O let me rise As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. † This stanza is rich in imagery (Greenblatt 1609). It seems like the second part of the first poem â€Å"beats its wing† against the decline of the first part in the first poem, showing how the â€Å"fall† of man â€Å"furthered the flight† in Herbert as it created the way for the crucifixion of Jesus. It was this action which redeemed man so they could have fellowship with God again. While in the first part you see Herbert using he and the word man, where as in the second part the poem becomes more personal to Herbert when he uses me. This part of the poem could be meant as the personal prayer to God thanking him for the death of his son and our salvation. Also of note is the use of â€Å"larks, harmoniously† to give a beautiful, resonate feel to the poem; opposite to that of words like â€Å"decaying† and â€Å"most poor† used in the first stanza. The first three lines of the second stanza, â€Å"With thee/ O let me rise/ As larks, harmoniously† tells us Herbert wants to be with Jesus during the resurrection (Greenblatt 1609). Herbert then uses the word harmoniously suggesting a group of voices and a group of people. And since Herbert is insinuating harmounisly as a group which is most commonly seen as three, this would support the idea of the trinity. The trinity which is specifically the trinity of Jesus as father, son, and Holy Spirit which Herbert wanted to relate to in his poem. If you look more closely to the second part of the poem it’s obvious that it’s just a continuous to the first part while addressing the same audience in the first part. As the first stanza spoke of the â€Å"fall† of man into sin, the third stanza becomes more personal to the poet: â€Å"My tender age in sorrow did begin: And still with sicknesses and shame Though didst so punish sin, That I became Most thin†, once again, this part decreases every line like that of the first (Greenblatt 1609). Following the beginning of the second part Herbert explains him not being innocent of sin with the comment of him being â€Å"most thin†. This ending should give the reader a feel of loss and unfinished ending. Ideally, our virtues and wisdom should grow with age; Herbert reveals that this is not necessarily the case. With the passing of time, the poet expresses that his only gain was that of guilt and sin. It is also somewhat impossible to live life without sin. Again the poet picks up from where he left off and begins the next stanza with words of rejuvenation. However, this stanza adds an element of connection: â€Å"With thee let me combine, And feel this day thy victory; For, if I imp my wing on thine, Affliction shall advance the flight in me† (Greenblatt 1609). Herbert then states his want for salvation to â€Å"combine† with Jesus and be grafted onto his wings. This would suggest he doesn’t want to be only â€Å"with† Jesus but grafted â€Å"onto† Jesus, which a much closer relationship would be made. Herbert did this appropriately to show how the course of man’s action, led to the affliction and fall of man. It is difficult to see how negatives such as â€Å"affliction† and â€Å"fall† could lead to glory but it is this resistance, much like that of a wing beating against the resistance of gravity and air, that furthers not only the flight of the poet but also that of mankind. apricotpie) After analyzing Herbert’s poem, the winged imagery can be seen throughout, and the reasoning for the shape and imagery. Herbert wanted to show people of his time and from then on many truths in the poem. . Not only does the shape and imagery have a great effect on the reader, but the emotional swing s and shifting play many â€Å"tricks† on the reader as we go through Herbert’s poem. Also Herbert’s original presentation is most unusual and confronts the reader with an awkward dilemma. In order to access the words of his poem the page must be turned sideways. This turning of the page could be Herbert’s way of changing our point of view. How man’s decline because of sin was defeated by the actions of the cross. So the point of Herbert’s work â€Å"Easter Wings† May not actually be understood with maybe just one reading but with multiple readings. . But Herbert did show us that using shape and imagery throughout his poem that many different meanings and points can be made within one poem. . He also helped us to understand his view of right and wrong, Herbert used imagery throughout his poem to give us a sense into his life and his value system. In doing so he gave the readers of his poems a chance to find all of the truths and meanings in his poem. Lastly in Herbert’s poem he wants us to be grateful of the gift that God has given to us, by allowing his only son to die for the salvation of our sins to wash us clean with grace, it is this action which allows all of mankind, and not just Herbert, to be grafted into Jesus’ wing to â€Å"further the flight† in us all. Herbert’s ideas all together try to make a positive feedback onto the reader, beginning with wanting to return with less sin and trying to â€Å"fly† with Jesus towards salvation.

Reebok: Advertising and Terry Tate

R â€Å"Reebok† case questions 1. How could viral marketing be used to complement or replace traditional media in this case? In this case, Reebok created â€Å"buzz† to attract the potential customers since its markets changed and its target consumers moved their attention away from the traditional media. Therefore, Reebok moved its advertising resource away from magazines and newspapers to online and mobile platform. Moreover, Reebok also advertised at sporting events, such as in NBA basketball games.The ultimate goal of Reebok creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to the potential customers and that the programs may have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals in their communications with others in a short period of time. 2. Evaluate the Terry Tate commercials. Did they increase recognition of the Reebok brand and significantly help build brand equity? Explain. Terry Tate was first aired in 2 003 at the Superbowl. Terry Tate is an American Football player who has been hired by an office firm to administer punishment to those breaking any of the companies’ rules.The way he administers the punishment is by tackling the perpetrators around the office environment. The story in Terry Tate commercial is about the office drama, and the humor in the ad was fairly conveyed to the target audience – Gen Xers between the ages of 25 and 40. The shots of the Terry Tate commercial performs more usual office tasks like making presentations and celebrating a fellow employee’s birthday to show that Terry is fitting in the office environment. Therefore, Terry Tate commercial may successfully create the resonance among its target audiences in the similar office scenes and moments.Reebok found that even though there were great amount viewers of its Terry Tate Super Bowl, its sales and market share did not increase at all. The main reason of this less successful result is   in that Reebok brand was not sufficiently mentioned in the ads. Most of the audiences memorized the Terry Tate character and this office comedy, but few of them recognized that this commercial was created by Reebok. Obviously, Reebok would not successfully  build the strong connection between the Terry Tate commercial video with its brand awareness in consumers’ minds.To sum up, this program did not assist Reebok in earning brand recognition and brand equity since the idea from Reebok did not generate more money from its products, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known name is better than products with less well-known names. 3. Was the central message effective? Was it memorable? Did it generate sufficient levels of positive attitudes towards the brand? Explain. 4. Is this type of communication capable of capturing the attention and influencing Gen X consumers? Explain why or why not.This type of communication is able to capture the attention and influenc e Gen X consumers. In this case, this commercial was an instant hit, flying across the Internet for months as the hottest office comedy joke to hit the air since Office Space. The humor in the ad that resonated so clearly with its target audience, mostly Gen Xers between the age of 25 and 40, was not necessarily attributed to the devastating blows which Tate delivered with the greatest of ease, but rather the office vignettes which transpired before Tate moved in for the kill.Clearly, Gen X consumers were fascinated by Terry Tate and they wanted to know more about him. 5. Recommend a possible viral marketing campaign for Reebok in today’s environment. Great idea!!! I love this one, too. This idea will attract the target audiences and make them involved in â€Å"Me and my Reebok† activity. Traveling and photographing are both the hot issues among GEN Xers. Combining these two factors for the marketing campaign is suitable and it will be appealing to them.

Analysis of a work of art with a contemporary advertisement Essay

Analysis of a work of art with a contemporary advertisement - Essay Example Initially, these pieces had been applied to communicate on the ethical values or offer a reflection required within the society. Art has been evolved to represent ideology based on selling an idea to a market. This provision has been included in advertising with the created pieces holding powerful visual messages to the consumer. Art styles are applied in advertising, in the contemporary society, to highlight the message under consideration to give a piece meaning. With advertising, the key method applied to sell brand identity, and product description, art has emerged as a powerful communication tool within the contemporary society. An added provision within the art has been the application of advanced mediums to strengthen the image quality and buffer message reliance. The modern technology has produced advanced paints and mediums to be included in advertising that relate to the artistic style that had been developed. Pop art has been adversely used in advertising since the inventi on in Britain in the year 1955. Pop art was a movement of art that found the origin in Britain in the 1950s and the trend spread to the US who modifies the definition of style, to fit the pieces that had been established (Gibbons 53). Pop artists challenged the principal conception of the known artistic movements to present ideologies that would popularize a piece. The style incorporated existing forms and to those created in the artist’s mind to give the shape of the layout. The style developed on the movement known as abstract expressionism to explore the provision issued by the artist. The style is characterized with the provision that is accorded in utilizing a combination of shapes and images with found material incorporated within a piece. This provision has linked the movement to Dadaism utilizing highly expressive images. The style behind the creation of a pop artwork involves the application of famous images

US Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

US Government - Essay Example However, there are a lot of controversies related with the establishment of ICC. These controversies have created a complex political nature of International lawsuits which eventually has created attentions for remedy (Carroll 21). The U.S government and the Israelis were reluctant to sign the agreement meant to ratify the development of the international criminal court. This is because the two states feared that the ICC would be a threat to their internal situations. For instance, they feared that their soldiers would be prosecuted due to war crimes. In addition, other state also saw ICC as a threat due to the introduction of hybrid procedures. However, all these political issues led to complexity in handling international trials (Carroll 21). The International criminal court carries out proceedings that are faced with a lot of problems. The first one is that their trials are long and expensive. However, as a global community we should solve this problem through application of Guilty pleas. These are the admission of blameworthiness by an individual accused of a crime. In most cases a prosecutor in the international criminal court can be allowed to play a part in plea bargain. In this case, the prosecutor will agree to reduce punishment or charges in return with guilty plea. This guilty plea is important because it helps in avoiding complicated, expensive and lengthy trials. In addition, the international criminal court will avoid consuming resources and will help in handling a sizable caseload and dealing swiftly with complex cases (Carroll 23). The second problem is that the International Criminal Court fails to recognize the basic rights of the accused individuals. In order to solve this problem, the set of procedures used in the ICC should include the basic rights of the accused individuals (Carroll 22). These rights include presumption of innocence, the right to know the evidence used by the prosecutor, the right to remain silent, the

Australian Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Australian Media - Essay Example One would be hard-pressed to visit any Australian home and not find a magazine of some kind. Moreover, magazines, like other print media, appeal more to the intellect than to the senses and emotions of their audiences. Magazines became volatile commodities with the advent of television but were able to sustain their territory because they were not as transient as the broadcast media. They are more permanent than newspapers, with a longer readership span; and magazines remain in readers' homes for weeks, months, and sometimes even years. Since the beginning of magazines in Australia, those with the highest circulation have been aimed at female audiences. The editors announced they would no longer depend on advertising for economic support; instead, they solicited private donations. Magazines have been responsible for the dissemination and proliferation of information to masses of people. As the first national medium, magazines have been at the forefront of the transmission of ideas, information, and attitudes from person to person, city to city, state to state, country to country, and continent to continent. Magazines appear in many forms and formats. Magazines have been so successful in their attempts to communicate with the masses that other media have often emulated them. Newspapers have become more like magazines in marketing methods, writing style, and format (Lester 75). Every year for the past decade there has been the creation of television programs promoted as newsmagazine shows. Still women's earnings are rising compared with men's, a fact that helps make women a consumer group of vital interest to the mass media. In addition, many women who do not work outside the home exercise a considerable voice in making purchases. For years advertisers have recognized the buying power of women consumers and targeted messages to them via the mass media. The movement of women into the labor market has enhanced advertiser interest in reaching a female audience (Biagi 38). This situation stems from the fact that traditional news values represent conflict, controversy, power struggles, political battles, and changes in the status quo--all elements linked to the masculine domination of society. Women, as a group, have not been key players in the political, economic, and military developments that make headlines. Women's activities traditionally have been seen as unworthy of prominent news coverage, either on the front pages of important newspapers or on nightly network newscasts. Women's news general ly has fitted into the "soft news" category of entertainment or feature material (Lester 71). The rankings of newspapers on coverage of women in the Women, Men and Media study underscored this point. Apart from their relative absence in the news, the images of women in other areas of mass communications have come under attack. Researchers consistently have found the portrayal of women in advertisements at stereotypical levels. These facts explain entertainment nature of contemporary magazines aimed to bring pleasure and delight instead of education and informing functions (Biagi 35). Since the future can only be understood in terms of the past, it may be instructive to quickly note the history of women's efforts to influence media content. Feminists have been trying for one hundred years to attack the pervasive stereotypes used in media portrayals of women as

Translation review 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Translation review 5 - Essay Example A collective noun is a noun, which denotes a group of entities, and can be distinguished "from other nouns by a distinct patter of number contrast." It is therefore a single collective entity. It usually allows a flexible choice of pronoun as this can be either singular or plural depending on the perception of individuality within the group. As far as translation is concerned, the choice reflects a nuance in meaning relating to gender. English not only has a wider range of collective nouns than Arabic, it also "gives the speaker many such choices to express his attitude to the content of his message". And, as with translation in general, there are variations in the scope of meaning of words between languages. In Arabic, collective nouns "can be treated as singular depending on their form, and they can be treated as plural depending on their meaning" such as in sa’ara and sa’aru’ respectively. So pluralization of collectives is possible in both languages though the range of collectives is greater in English. Using examples of collective nouns, this study tests a group of 20 college students in backtranslating and presents the results with analysis. The hypothesis is that "testees are going to use the item group as the equivalent for most of the collective nouns of English." The findings showed that "most of the students faced problems in finding the exact equivalents for some of the nouns." The grammatical mistakes showed that "Arabic is richer in its grammatical system than English." The article addresses an issue in translation theory that has hitherto received little attention. It makes a thorough exploration of the issue of backtranslating by means of a test on sets of collective nouns. The number of testees is not much of an issue because in back translating we are concerned not with the quantity but the quality of the translation and the semantic precision. The topic is a good illustration of some of the difficulties of translating