With reference to Bourdieus theory of distinction and other relevant Essay - 2

With reference to Bourdieus theory of distinction and other relevant theorists on social class, give a detailed example of how a specific habitus shapes consumer behaviour - Essay Example In general, however, the individual consumer’s choice is constrained by their society through indirect and direct influences. One of the most salient influences of consumer behaviour regarding what they eat is social class. Bourdieu (2011: p32) takes particular interest in how food and culinary preferences factor into social distinction, which he refers to as the individual’s attempt to act in a specific way in order for members of their own class to accept them, as well as how social class tailors consumptive habits consciously to be different from other classes. Therefore, taste is not only affected by demand and supply, natural inclinations or mere preferences, or even considerations of functionality or economics, but results from an interplay of multiple, complex factors. Habitus, in the sociological context, is defined as the distinctive lifestyle of a people, which is demonstrated by adherence to routine daily life activities that define their affiliation in the social class order. Particularly, habitus pertains to natural behaviours instead of mere affectations, although Lantos (2015: p48) argues that behaviours should be influenced for a period of time prior to them becoming natural. Habitus is the natural way of doing or acting, to which the individual is predisposed to make specific choices and from which they could deviate in specific situations. Rather being a matter of compulsion or deliberation, the habitus involves choosing to do what, under normal conditions, seems reasonable and obvious. Social class, as well as associations with others in closed groups, is one of the fundamental factors involved in developing habitus. Therefore, although a common labour worker could develop tastes for caviar and Cristal, he is not likely to encounter th em during interactions within their specific social class and circles due to the fact that they are not available for this income level. Referencing Weber and Marx, Kopetz et al.

Literary Commentary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Literary Commentary - Essay Example But there is nothing inevitable about these outcomes. Such cycles of boom and bust in capitalist market economies are by no means laws of nature. To the contrary they are totally man made. They are specially designed and promulgated by the ruling elites of this country – the top one-tenth of the top one percent of the population. This narrow profit motive and lack of concern for the greater common good has accelerated the process of deterioration of environment. I am highly indignant about the nature of our economic system and the ethos of the political class that abets unjust practices. I am also restless to think of alternatives to the system, which we have tolerated and been complicit with for too long. As a symbol of my disillusionment with the both our lawmakers and business leaders, I have come to believe that the only meaningful change has to be propelled from below, meaning that they originate from the masses. Hence, I shall propose a novel change to our social norms w hich would greatly reduce the risk of economic and social crises in the future. I hereby propose that the youth of the country abstain from all sexual activity till the age of 25! I am sorry fellow students - I know how impossible a task this is for most of you! But being disciplined sexually during our teens and early adulthood will lead to great benefits for the economy, culture and beyond. I’ll explain how. At a time when the nation is going through economic slowdown, a measure of austerity needs to be followed. And there is nothing austere about activities like dating, romance and sex. In fact, these are luxuries even during a boom period for the economy, let alone during a crisis. For boys and young men, keeping their girlfriends happy and satisfied is a costly business. They have to take them out to dinners, to the cinema, buy them gifts periodically, etc, which consume valuable money. Usually, this money is not even theirs but of their parents, which makes it all the m ore objectionable. Another important loss is time. The amount of time young men spend in chatting with their girlfriends about apparently no particular topic is something the weak state of the economy cannot bear. Their time and energies can be better directed toward creative and constructive activities such as studying for exams, doing community work, or even yoga and meditation. The ‘savings’ in terms of money, energy and time that young men make is equally applicable to young women. Think of the multi-billion dollar beauty industry that promotes cosmetics, fashionable clothing, plastic surgery and other abominations. After all, the main reason young women dress up well and make themselves pretty is to attract the opposite sex. When all sexual activity under the age of 25 is outlawed, they would automatically lose incentive to waste valuable money on propping up their vanities. Diverting all this money into essential expenditures such as tuition fees will help extend quality education to more number of Americans. This will lead to the growth of social capital. This money could also be channeled into creating jobs in the manufacturing sector which has long lost out to foreign competition, thereby making ours a predominantly services industry. There is another

Musical theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Musical theatre - Essay Example Musical is the art of musical theater and it is a combination of dialogue and singing. Usually musical has several authors and they are rarely written by one script writer. The writing of the musical involves composer, lyricist and script. Every musical tends to be unique and specific. It tends to be remembered by the audience in the theatre. The melody in most cases inspires the authors to write a musical. It is apparent that aspiration is the main point in creating a masterpiece for musical theatre. Musical theatre sometimes adopts books and plays and reinterprets them in a new way. The Black Crook was the first theatre musical which adapted the modern principles of this genre. The musical lasted for five hours. And musical theatres became rather popular among people. Musical theatres created a new world full of mystery and admiration. Once visited musical theatre it is difficult to part with it. Musicals became like a fairy tales. (Kresner 1995) Nowadays musical theater became like a melody, which is being listened by everybody in the whole world. Foe many yeares theatre musica included popular music. For our parents and grandparents music theatre was something like musical channels on TV for younger generation. The older generation was inspired by musical theatre and such famous composers as Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers will be always remembered and honoured. But for young generation these composers are unknown. Some musical combine, for example, pop trends with classical tradition and libretto. As an example it is possible to mention musical Mama Mia, which is told to be the most entertaining modern musical. The lexicon of musical theatre was mentioned to be like a hybrid. (Lodge 2005) It is apparent that nowadays musical theatre is artistical and practical venue fot modern composers. Many of composers are aspired to write musicals, because they were brough uo with Porter, Kern and Rodgers. Randy Newman is also markable exmple of composer who tried to create modern pop musicals for musical theatres. Some admitted that musical theatre is like "smorgasbord", you can choose everything you like: singing, dancing, greatest hits and sad motives. Some people believe that musical is rather dissident form of theatre which referred to the theory of Brecht. (Kresner 1995) But it is necessary to observe the reaction of the audience of the musical theatre. The grown-ups sit stark in their sits and children look line they are burning fireworks. Everybody is impressed and full of admiration and delight. Musical theaters are really exciting and interesting. (Kresner 1995) The power of musical theatre was told to move people intuitively and emotionally to another world of songs and dances - to the wonderful fairy world. That power appealed to many people and they actually stuck to musical theatre. The people's love in the musical theatre is always storytelling, dancing and singing. In musical theatre people are always greatly attracted by gorgeous

Suicidal Risk Factors for Older Adults Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Suicidal Risk Factors for Older Adults - Essay Example 72). Even though variables within psychological, physical, and public domains have been related to completed suicide in older adults, â€Å"controlled studies are necessary to test hypothesized risk factors† (Stimming & Stimming, 1999, p. 98). Poor health as well as functional impairment raises risk, but their control seems to be mediated by dejection. Older adults who take their own lives are hardly ever stimulated by irritation or vengeance; rather, they usually just try to find the release in the form of death as an â€Å"escape from emotional and physical pain† (Ford, 2010, p. 22). Suicide in later life seldom seems to be a result of ambivalence or transmitted anger. It is argued that older adults are â€Å"less conflicted, more direct, and more aware of the reasons for ending their lives† (Ford, 2010, p. 23). Feelings of deficiency, insignificance and guiltiness, depression and misery are a few of the reasons why individuals with dejection come to believe that suicide is a practical solution. In addition, there are a number of factors that raise the risk for dejection among older adults, for instance, persistent disease, physical disability, loss, social seclusion, and failure of social functions and ties (Marcovitz, 2010). Recklessness and self-damage are both thought to be prognostic of suicide though this link has been more strongly developed with younger adults and adolescents. For example, one study, investigated attempted suicide between 17 and 65 year old members and found that â€Å"half had thought about it for 10 minutes or less before engaging in suicide-related behavior† (Leo, 2001, p. 32). Official suicide figures recognize older adults as a high-threat group. In 2010, it was noted that older adults consisted of 15 percent of the U.S. population, yet constitute 22 percent of its suicides. Among older people, there are between two

Typical Day Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Typical Day - Essay Example The flow of different people makes the place lively with different culture, something I have always anticipated for. Texas, my residential place, is dominated by Americans, hence sounds monotonous. On my visit to the city, I was amazed by the kind of infrastructure that was present and which was much better from the ones that are existence in my current state. The immigration procedures that I experienced in New York were all legal and streamlined compared to those of Texas. Secondly, New York City exerts great impact on the businesses, money issues, media issues, fashion and design, art, research and technology, education and entertainment. These sectors seem to be far ahead of what Texas contains and I enjoyed the high quality facilities. The experience was fascinating to me with the advancement of these entire infrastructures, talk of the subway among others. The third impact was the pride of being in the city that holds the United Nations HQ, which means that all the services needed from the UN offices, can easily be obtained while in the city. The city also acts as an important center for international diplomacy and has made it to be described as the international centre for capital and cultural capital of the word. With the imagination that I could easily access these offices brought my career dreams close to reality. The city comprises of a mixture of many different culture from all over the word due to its immigration rules (Dunford et al.). The feeling of experiencing the cultural diversity made the city unique to me and ideal with different clothing styles, different foods from different parts of the world and one can hardly miss anything while in the city unlike what is in Texas. Still on the culture issue, I had the privilege to interact with people of different dialects. There are estimated 800 languages spoken in the City of New York City, which makes it one of the cities with diverse languages in the world. In Texas, there are high levels

Energy expenditure, intake and balance Essay Example for Free

Energy expenditure, intake and balance Essay Food is a source of energy intake as it contains carbohydrates; there main function is to store energy in the muscles. Carbs are a macronutrient and come in two different forms, simple which are foods like chocolate and sweets these release energy quickly, the other form is complex which are foods like pasta and rice they release energy slower so are better to keep energy for a sustained period of time. There are certain factors that affect energy intake for instance what gender you are affects how much energy you need, a male’s guideline daily amount is 2500 calories where as a female’s is only 2000 calories. Exercise is a form of energy expenditure; it uses up the energy that has been stored in the muscles and causes the body to lose fluids through sweat. There are also factors that affect energy expenditure such as basal metabolism; this is the amount of energy expended when at rest, the higher the metabolism the more calories you burn meaning that certain people will have to replace more energy than others. Climate is another factor that affects expenditure this is because people in hotter climates lose more energy through sweat than people in cooler climates. (200-300 words) Task 2 [M1] Explain why different nutrients have a differing effect on an individual’s energy intake. Different nutrients have a differing effect on an individual’s intake because each nutrient releases a unique amount of energy and also the speed the energy is released varies for each one. For instance the macronutrient carbohydrates are the body’s main source of energy intake therefore they release the most energy, but even carbohydrates are split in to two groups when determining the speed the energy is released. The two groups are simple carbs and complex carbs, simple carbs are foods like chocolate and sweets their energy release is very quick giving you a short sharp burst of energy but cannot be sustained for a long period of time. On the other hand complex carbs which are found in bread, rice and potatoes release the energy slowly over a longer period of time at a more consistent rate. When talking about other nutrients that release some kind of energy there are only two others, these are fats and protein, fats are like simple carbs releasing only small amounts of energy in quick bursts but their main function for the body is to protect vital organs and provide insulation. Protein is a last resort for energy intake as the energy has to be taken away from the muscles; this is only in rare cases where there are no carbs or fats in the body. (200 words) Task 3 [P4] Describe the following terms: Body Composition: Body Composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone and muscle in human bodies. Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness. Two people of equal height and body weight may look completely different from each other because they have a different body composition. Fat Free Mass: Fat Free Mass is comprised of the components that have no fat in the human body. It can refer to any body tissue that does not contain fat; these include skeletal muscle, bone and water. (50 words) Lean Body Mass: Lean body mass is the mass of the body minus the fat (lipid). Some methods of working this out require specialised equipment such as hydrostatic weighing or DEXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). Others are very simple such as skin callipers and bioelectrical impedance. (50 words) Task 4 [P4] Describe the following methods of measuring percentage body fat: Skinfold Analysis- This is a method of measuring body fat percentage by taking measurements of fat at 4 different points of the body using a set of skin callipers, they are taking at the bicep, tricep, waist and subscapular (shoulder blade) doing this finds out your fat layer thickness. These measurements are then converted into body fat percentage using an equation; a male should have around 15% body fat whereas a female should have 20-25% due to them having breasts etc. (100 words) Bioelectrical Impedance- Bioelectrical impedance measures the resistance of body tissues to the flow of a small electrical signal. The proportion of body fat can be calculated due to the current flowing through the parts of the body that are made up of mostly of water such as blood, urine and muscle this is not possible through bone, fat and air. By doing this it is possible to work out how much body fat the person has by combining the bioelectric impendence measurement with factors such as gender, age, height, weight, and fitness level. (100 words) Hydro densitometry- Hydro densitometry (which is also known as hydrostatic weighing) is weighing someone while they are in water, it is considered to be the most accurate form of measuring body fat. A very large tank of water is used for this test, firstly a comparison is made between the underwater weight and the dry weight of a person. Due to fat being less dense than the other tissues in the body, it floats more easily. The more fat a person has on their body, the greater the difference between the dry and wet weights. While this method of measuring is very accurate and considered the best way of measuring body fat, not many people use this method because the equipment and test is highly expensive. (100 words) Task 5 [M2] When comparing skin fold callipers and hydrodensitometry both have their advantages and disadvantages for measuring body composition. The cost of callipers is much less than hydrodensitometry, callipers costing around  £15- £20 whereas hydrodensitometry can cost anything up to  £400. The training needed to use the callipers correctly and accurately takes a minimum of 1000 tries but can be performed by anyone; on the other hand hydrodensitometry needs a qualified scientist to use the equipment correctly. Again skin callipers hold the advantage over hydrodensitometry when comparing the speed of measurement. Hydrodensitometry can vary from an hour to three hours due to travel time, changing time, time in pool and time for the results to be calculated. While callipers take only 5 to 10 minutes to get the results. Callipers are much easier to carry out in a field setting as the measurements can be taken anywhere, whereas hydrodensitometry testing has to be done in a specialist room with all the expensive equipment. The one advantage hydrodensitometry holds over skin callipers is the level of accuracy of the results. Callipers results are still very accurate but do not have the same precision of hydrodensitometry results, you also have to take in account human error as this could affect them and this isn’t possible in hydrodensitometry as computers conclude the results. (250 words) Task 6 [D1] How can knowledge of an athlete’s energy intake and expenditure and monitoring of their body composition be used by a coach/support team to aid an individual’s development with respect to sports performance? Knowledge of an athlete’s energy intake and expenditure and monitoring of their body composition can be used in many ways by a coach to aid an individual’s sport performance. If a coach knows exactly what body fat percentage his athlete has he can determine whether he thinks that is a suitable level for the sport his athlete participates in. For example if a coach of a sumo wrestler sees his athlete has low body fat percentage he can put him on a high calorie diet to give him a better chance of matching his opponent, on the other hand if a coach of a marathon runner sees his athlete has a higher body fat percentage that he’s competitors he can put him on a specialised diet and make him do more intense workouts. Looking at a player’s energy intake can also help out the coach in trying to improve his athlete; he can work out whether his athlete is getting enough energy in his diet and whether it has a suitable energy release time. For instance a sprinter may be eating complex carbs like bread and pasta before a race which wouldn’t be suitable as they release energy slowly, the coach can see this and change it to some simple carbs like chocolate as they release energy In a quick short burst which is much more suitable for a 10 second race. Finally a coach can take into consideration whether his athlete is expending his energy suitably, for example if a football player is going on a 5 mile run before a match the coach can suggest that he reduces the distance as he is wasting energy which he should be saving. Expending too much energy in training can also lead to the risk of injury and fatigue so the coach can keep his training at a suitable level for the athlete he is training. Fruit and veg should take up around 33% of your diet; they contain the micronutrient vitamins and minerals, the role of vitamins is to help maintain a healthy immune system to fight off illness and infection, whereas minerals are needed for body functions such as hair growth and to keep bones strong. Starchy foods such as bread, rice and potatoes should also take up around 33% of your diet; they contain the macronutrient carbohydrates which are required to store energy in the muscles for physical activity. Milk and dairy foods such as cream and cheese should take up around 15% of your diet and contain the mineral calcium which is key for maintaining strong bones and teeth. Non-dairy sources of protein such as meats and fish should make up around 15% of your diet these are rich in protein which is needed for the growth and repair of muscles. Red meats such as beef and lamb also provide the body with iron which helps prevent anaemia. Fats and sugars such as chocolate and sweets should only take up 8% of your diet as consuming to many can lead to health problems. They do however provide the body with insulation and an alternate energy source to carbohydrates.

Analysis Of Wordsworths Resolution And Independence English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Wordsworths Resolution And Independence English Literature Essay The poet establishes in the first two stanzas the mood of nature when he traveled on the moor. The tense can be confusing. Wordsworth begins in the simple past, but the past serves here the uses of the present in the sense of active recollection of emotion in present tranquility. The BUT at the beginning of stanza four introduces the contrast that exists between the joy of nature and the dejection of the poet. The time that he recalls was one of a rising sun, calm and bright, singing birds in the distant woods, the pleasant noise of waters in the air, the world teeming with all things that love the sun, the grass jeweled with rain-drops, the hare running is his glee. But the poets morning is one subjectivity of dejection; on this morning did fears and fancies come upon him profusely. In the midst of the sky-lark warbling in the sky, he likens himself unto the playful hare; even such a happy child of earth am I / even as these blissful creatures do I fare; / far from the world I walk, and from all careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. This is the joyous side of his life. But, in the midst of the joy, he thinks of that other kind of day that might come to him, that day of solitude, pain of heart, distress, and poverty. In stanza 6 he recalls how his life has been as a summer, mood, how the sustenance of life in all its nourishing variations has come to him so gratuitously. But, then he thinks also of the possibility that it will not continue so for one who takes no practical thought for his own care and keep. The question is, how long will nature continue to give freely to one who does not with diligent responsibility harvest grain for the garner of future days: but how can He [ in this case the poet himself] expect that others should / Blind for him, sow for him, and at his call / Love him; who for himself will take no heed at all? the poet thinks of himself as poet, one endowed with his own privileged, joyous place in life, there comes to his mind the names of Thomas Chatteron and Robert Burns, poets in the English tradition that Wordsworth would admire. The association that he makes of himself with them is at one and the same time joyous and imminent: we poets in our use begin in gladness;/ but thereof come in the end despondency and madness. The universal joy of the poets life is contemplated in range of potential sorrow. The beginning of stanza 8 marks a turning point in the poem. From this juncture to the end, the poet will tell how he learned what we find in the title, resolution and independence, and he learns significantly from a wanderer, a man who has subsisted on the gathering of leeches, a man who is now a beggar. As the poet thinks his untoward thoughts about life and struggles with all their depressing suggestions, he meets in a lovely place beside a pool bare to the eye of heaven, a solitary man, the poet says the oldest man he seemed that ever wore grey hairs. The poet interprets his meeting with him to be verily a gift of Devine Grace. Stanza nine is Wordsworths long simile for the old solitary. The purpose of the simile is to describe the leech gatherer as alive but almost not alive. Wordsworth compares him to a huge stoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦/ couched on the bald top of an eminence, and to a sea- beast crawled forth through using the sea beast as simile for the stone. The old man is virt ually one with the scene amidst which he sits; he has very nearly become one with nature: motionless as a cloud the old man stood, / that hearth not the loud winds when they callà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The encounter reveals to the poet a man of great age, bent double, feet and head / coming together in lifes pilgrimageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. He looks as if he might be made taut in his bent posture by the tight strain of some past suffering, rage, or sickness. The poet is picturing him as very nearly supernatural, at least somehow beyond the usual scope of human experience: he seemed to bear a more than human weightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. In stanzas 12- 15, the old man finally moves. The poet sees him stir the waters by which he stands and then looks with fixed scrutiny into the pond, which he conned , / as if he had been reading in a bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The poet greets him, and the old man makes a gentle answer, in courteous speech which forth he slowly drewà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wordsworth uses the whole of stanza fourteen to describe his speech, lofty utterance, stately speech. In lines 88 and 89, the poet asks him what his occupation is, and suggests that the place in which he dwells may be too lonely for such a person as he. The old man identifies his work as leech- gathering; this is why he is in such a lonely place. He must, being old and poor, finds his subsistence here, though the work may be hazardous and wearisome. He depends on Gods Providence to help him find lodging. But in all, he can be sure that he gains an honest maintenance, however much he may have to roam from pond to pondà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ from m oor to moor. In lines106-119, the poets responses to the old leech-gatherer are told. While the old man had been answering his question about employment and placement in so lonely a setting, the poet becomes absorbed in the strange aspects of him who speaks. He loses the detail of answer the leech-gatherer is making; he cannot divide his words one from another. Lines 109-112 contain the essence of the poets articulation of his feelings. They should be read carefully and compared to other passages in Wordsworths poetry where he attempts to give voice to experience that is very close to mystical absorption. Observe here that the poet finds himself absorbed in the being of the solitary: And the whole body of the man did seem Like one whom I had met with in a dream; Or like a man from some far region sent, To give me human strength, by apt admonishment. But the poets dejection returns. He thinks again the heavy thoughts of fear, of resistant, recalcitrant, cold, pain, and labour, and all fleshly ills, and of those poets who have been mighty, but who have died in misery. He yearns to find some message of strength and hope in the leech-gathers words, so he asks again, how is it that you live, and what is it you do? In lines120-126, the leech-gatherer repeats the nature of his work, but he adds that whereas he once could gather the object of his industry easily, he now because of the growing scarcity of leeches must travel more extensively- still he perseveres. In lines127-133, the poet relates more of his private, unspoken response to the old Man. Against it happens that his mind wanders, as in stanza 16, while the leech-gatherer is answering his question. The poet pictures him as even more a solitary than he is in his present state; the poets imagination working on the figure before him makes of the wandering solitary very nearly a transcendent being, silent and eternal: In my minds eye (the poet affirms) I seemed to see him pace / About the weary moors continually, / wandering about alone and silently. The poet is troubled by his own imaginative responses to the Man before him, but not troubled in a bad sense. This is the ministry of fear that we find so often in Wordsworths work. In lines 134-140, the leech-gatherers resolution and independence is obvious to the poet in the way he moves from economically precarious condition to more cheerful utterances. The old Man before the poet is obviously a person of firm mind, however decrepit he might in appearance seem. He remains in the midst of whatever misfortune the society of man or isolation with the bare elements bearing him, a person of kind demeanor and stately bearing. The poet compares himself to the leech-gatherer and scorns himself for his dejection. He takes the old Man into his memory as an another point for future days and asks that God will help him to preserve what he has learnt: God, said I, be my help and stay secure; Ill think of the leech-gatherer on the lonely moor! As suggested in other places in this study, most of Wordsworths solitaries live as a part of the nature in which they move. There is the effect in this poem of the leech-gatherer going in and out of nature; the poet is for a time aware of him as a person confronting him face-to-face, but then he loses touch with him, as if he had blended back into the nature out of which he had momentarily stepped. One might profitably compare stanza sixteen, where Wordsworth speaks of the leech-gatherer as coming to him as if out of dream, which the Simplon Pass episode in Book Sixth of The Prelude. About line 600 of that book Wordsworth speaks of an imaginative experience in the following terms: in such strength of usurpation, when the light of sense Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed The invisible world, doth greatness make abode, There harboursà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Wordsworths light of sense near to going out at least twice while he is talking to the leech-gatherer. One may also interestingly compare Wordsworths responses to the vision on Mount Snowdon in Book Fourteenth of The Prelude with his experiences while talking to the old Man he met on the moors. He certainly intends for the reader to be impressed with the leech-gatherers insistence on survival, survival that comes to him, we feel, to great degree because of a sheer act of will. Again, as with many of Wordsworths solitaries, courage is presented as with many of Wordsworths solitaries, courage is presented as the capacity to endure. There is a notable difference, however, between the courage of Michael and the courage of the leech-gatherer; never being sure he will find them, as she has been to Michael, who, though his farm is eventually lost after his death to owners outside his family, can live the total of his years on land that has been made his been own. Michael draws continual sus tenance more from his own deep wells of unyielding fortitude. There is an obvious contrast also in this regard between the leech-gatherer and the Old Cumberland Beggar. The leech-gatherer accepts housing from those who will help him, but he does not have the regularity of affection and acts of kindness that the persons in the community of the Old Cumberland Beggar an area of nature in which he can live and die, in which he can make his home, Those who care for him are almost neighbors to him. The leech-gatherer is much more thrown on his own resources. It is in this that the poet learns his greatest lesson from him. There is in the encounter between the poet and the leech-gatherer the work of Providence. Wordsworth seems to say in the poem (and in the letter he wrote about the poet) that this old Man was sent to him for his own rehabilitation. This may seem in some ears to be very close to blaspheming the preciously human, that one human being would be so sacrified fro the instruction and welfare of another. But the rediscovery of stability and hope in the midst of dejection for the poet who writes the poem is certainly the direction of things from the early stanza of the poem, where the glory of the natural surroundings seem to be functioning expressly for the poets interesting. The hare that leaps joyfully through the first five stanza of the poem (mentioned three times in the five stanzas, in the second, third, and fifth) becomes in a way emblematic of the poets life. The hare is also a servant of the benignant Grace of God, bringing to the poet reminders that he is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦such a happ y child of earthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . There may be in the background the biblical records of Gods directly expressed mercy for man, even as incursions that cut with the particularity of biographical facts. But the leach- gatherer comes not so much in the mood and manner of historical encounter as he comes in the form of natures extension of herself, ministering through an agency that is close to being more a natural agency than a human one. With regard to the language of the poem, Wordsworth is working with a seven- line stanza or rhyme royal. The longer last line has the effect of slowing down the narrative and giving more time to the reader for consideration. Wordsworths highly conscious artistry can be seen in his careful use of similes that describe the old man of the poem. The stone and the sea- beast of stanza nine, and the cloud in stanza eleven convey a sense of life that is highly worthy of the word. On the subject of the language of the poem, one may question whether the diction that the poet attributes to the leach- gatherer is a selection of language really used by menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. In stanza fourteen, the old mans speech is described as choice words and measured phrase, above the reach / of ordinary menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wordsworth as a narrative poet has most of his characters as active, persons committed to action. He consistently draws his characters so that they are easily recognizable as human beings. They are usually three- dimensional characters that have definite features. For all of his shared identity with nature_ which is to a very great degree_ we still meet the leach- gatherer as man, not as thing. Stanza ten and eleven are examples of Wordsworths ability to create character in a relatively few lines; in this he shares a fame that is owned by only a few artists. The leach- gatherer is easily visualized, with his body bent double, propped, limbs, body, and pale face. / upon a long grey stuff of shaven woodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . such vivid character drawing is necessary to give the old man the action of personality that he has, an action essential to his being for the poet a model of resolution and independence. Wordsworths characters are real because we can think of them as human beings. Howev er heroic the leach- gatherer may be, his heroism does not take him beyond the limits of the human. We have in him no Achilles. His heroism is the kind that can be attained by human beings we know and meet. Generally Wordsworths characters are real because we can think of them as human beings. The leach- gatherer shares much more with Abraham than with Achilles. Sources: Barashc, F. The romantic Poets. Monarch press. New York: 1991. Hough, G. The Romantic Poets. 1964.