Concept definition by negation and affirmation 

Writers can lift their papers and analyses of a passage to a higher intellectual level by defining and wielding concepts. Many teachers create working definitions of concepts specific to their courses and / or specific to the text or topic they are teaching. However, even if this is not the case, some concepts which may be familiar to the student writer will not be familiar to readers of your paper, so taking the time to define a concept and then wield it in analysis adds clarity to your writing, meets the needs of the reader of your paper, and elevates the discourse of your writing.

If a writer uses keywords or concepts in the thesis statement, then they must be defined in the introductory paragraph before the thesis statement.

However, if a writer would rather avoid using key words or concepts in the thesis statement and would prefer to wield them in the body paragraphs, then the writer should define them in the body paragraphs in which the keyword or concept is employed.

           UNIT SIX: Definition :  Direct Teach with guided practice on exercises for Academic Integrity 

                                                          FOUR WAYS TO DEFINE A CONCEPT:

              1.  Definition by negation :  develop the meaning of the opposite of the word through illustrating the opposite through examples in the text or other texts, personal experience by description, and / or narration.

              2. Definition by affirmation:  develop the meaning of the word by illustrating it through illustrating it through examples in the text or other texts, personal experience by description, and / or narration.

            3.  Compare and Contrast of negative and affirmative:  developing the meaning of your word by stating how it does not share qualities of the opposite word and does possess qualities unique to the word being defined.  

(For example):   Whereas civilization suggests that man and all man-made constructions are central to man's existence, wilderness suggests that man is apart of a larger ecosystem in which the interconnections between natural processes flourish without the aid of man.

            4. Compare and Contrast your word with the similar word:  developing the meaning of your word by stating how it shares some of the qualities of the similar word and does not share some of the qualities of the similar word.

(For example):  Whereas the pastoral suggests a landscape of bucolic farms, quaint hamlets, and fields of flowers in bloom, wilderness conjures images of towering peaks, immense glaciers, thundering waterfalls, and undammed, violent rivers.

Writers can define a word or concept by negation and affirmation and use the affirmative definition in analysis. This can occur in multiple sentences or in one sentence as it is below:

(For example):   Whereas civilization suggests that man and all man-made constructions are central to man's existence, wilderness suggests that man is a part of a larger ecosystem in which the interconnections between natural processes flourish without the aid of man.

-commentary: Notice the compare and contrast construction in this sentence and how wilderness is defined by first defining the opposite of wilderness: civilization.

Of course, concepts do not have to be defined through negation and affirmation. Keywords can simply be defined through consulting the dictionary, creating a novel definition, and / or consulting class notes. Once this affirmative definition is established, the word can be used in subsequent sentences with confidence in the reader’s understanding of it.

Sample Concept Definitions in an Introductory Paragraph in bold:

Gus’s Path to Native Intelligence 

God turned to speak to me

(Don’t anybody laugh)

God found I wasn’t there—

At least not over half.” 

(lines 5-8) 

This passage from Robert Frost's “Not All There” is describing how the speaker is trying to find and talk to God but can’t find Him because the speaker is not fully developed or mature. God looks right back at him and tells him he’s also not there “at least not over half.” In the novel The River Why, by David James Duncan, Robert Frost’s poem perfectly describes our protagonist Gus. Gus’s whole life revolves around fishing. He decides to move away from home to focus solely on fishing, but his plan doesn’t go the way he thought. Instead of living in blissful solitude, Gus is miserable and plagued by an existential crisis and despairs that he will never develop faith in God. Like the speaker in Frost’s poem, Gus dismisses God before he has fully developed as a person. In Gus’s journey, there are three concepts that define the different stages of his journey toward becoming a fully developed, mature adult who has faith. Gus is a “non-native” early in the novel, a “native” when he falls in love with both Eddy and nature, and  a “natively intelligent” adult when he connects his love for others to his love for God. A “non- native” is “a person who views nature from an anthropocentric lens, who does not learn from nature nor the people within his or her community, and who is without faith in himself nor the world.” (Huss). A natives is a person “who becomes a member of the ecosystem and a key member of the human community and who learns from nature's perspective of the world as well as from other people's perspectives of the world.” (Huss). And a “natively intelligent” adult “has a grateful and optimistic perspective on family, faith, nature, society, and self.”(Huss). By addressing passages that trace Gus’s evolving views on mortality, self-love and love of others, and faithlessness and faith, this paper will trace Gus’s journey from non-native, to native, to natively intelligent adult in the novel The River Why.

-commentary: notice how the writer first defines “non-native,” “native,” and “native intelligence” before the embedded thesis and plan. This allows the writer to use these concepts confidently in the thesis, for the reader of the paper now knows what they mean. Alternatively, the writer could use euphemisms for these concepts in the embedded thesis and plan and wait to define the concepts of “non-native,” “native,” and “native intelligence” in the analysis paragraphs. 

Sample Concept Definitions in a Body Paragraph in bold:

To understand William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” as a poem that criticizes the excessive predation in the natural world, it is important to define both the Innocent and Experienced perspectives. The Innocent perspective is “a hopeful, reverent view of nature, humanity, and society as unified and balanced under a benevolent God.” (Huss). Conversely, the Experienced perspective portrays the natural and human worlds as “improvidental and imbalanced toward loss and hate,” and the Experienced perceiver sees these worlds through a “disillusioned, cynical, and irreverent” lens and becomes  resentful of an “unforgiving God.” (Huss).  In the poem “The Tyger,” Blake describes the  burning eyes of the tiger that can see better at night when it hunts. Before the moment in the passage below, Blake has described the tiger as having a brain fired in an industrial furnace and a “sinew(y) twisted heart.” When the speaker asks, “Did He smile on his work to see / Did he who made the lamb make thee?”, the reader is tasked with accessing the Innocent perspective developed in the William Blake poem “The Lamb”. (lines 13-14). In “The Lamb,” the reader is informed that God delighted in making the valleys and the streams to feed the lamb and the “bright” “woolly” “clothing” of the lamb to keep it warm. In other words, the lamb and implicity the reader are created and nurtured by God in ways it and the reader do not know nor appreciate. But in “The Tyger,” Blake questions why God favored predatory animals in His creation and why he put more creative energy into predation. The implied answer to the rhetorical question about God’s creation of the tiger: “Did He smile on his work to see / Did He who made the lamb make thee?” is yes. The Experienced perceiver focuses on the negative aspects in nature and is led to conclude that God delights in the imbalance toward predation, loss, and death in His creation.

-commentary: notice how the writer first defines the Innocent perspective and then defines the Experienced perspective by using the starter: 

(insert opposite of word to define) is defined as ______________________. Conversely, (insert word to define) is defined as_____________________. 

Once these concepts are defined, the writer wields them in analysis with confidence that the reader of the paper grasps their meaning.

“CONCEPT DEFINITION” STARTERS:

DEFINITION BY AFFIRMATION:

- (insert word to define) is a key concept to understand this text. (Insert word to define) is _______________________________.

-Any reader of this (insert name of text) must first understand the concept of (insert word to define). (Insert word to define) is _____________________.

DEFINITION BY NEGATION AND AFFIRMATION STARTERS:

-Whereas (insert opposite of word to define) is defined as ______________________, (insert word to define) is _____________________________________________________.

- (insert opposite of word to define) is defined as ______________________; conversely, (insert word to define) is defined as____________________________________________________.

WRITING INVITATION

TOPICS FOR DEFINITION:

VIRTUES v VICES: "It is by our reasoning excess and deficiency are characteristics of vice and the mean is a characteristic of virtue."  -Aristotle

Below, the virtue is on bold and the vice of deficiency is on the left and the vice in excess 

is on the right. A definition of the virtue is provided below the triad.

    Excessively Selfless------- Charity ------- Greed 

      Diligence v Sloth

      Patience v Impatience

     Kindness v Enmity

     Humility v Hubris

     Courage v Cowardice

    Justice v Injustice

     Honesty v Deceit

     Mercy v Callousness

     Love v Hate

-Aristotle

CONCEPT DEFINITION OUTLINE GUIDE

for papers with multiple concepts

I. TITLE:

     A.  INTRODUCTION

        1.  OPENER:

        2.  BRIDGE:

        3.  DEFINE TERMS: (if needed for thesis) 

        4.  EMBEDDED PLAN AND THESIS:  

      B. Body Paragraph One:  Definition by Negation

 1.   Opposing Word / Concept or similar word / concept:  personal experience? current event? literary example? historical example?

C. Body Paragraph Two: Definition by Affirmation

        1.   Word / Concept:  personal experience? current event? literary example? historical example?

            D.  3rd body paragraph: Definition by Affirmation

    1.   Word / Concept:  personal experience? current event? literary example? historical example?

. . .

      F.  Conclusion

                 1.   Transition from last example to overall definition 

                 2.  Value of concept

                  3.  Return to language and / or idea of the opener:

Logan Lindstrom

Phil Huss

Writing Across The Curriculum

May 6, 2019

A School of Fish: What it Means to be a Cutthroat

Think of where do you feel most comfortable. For some people, it’s their childhood home. For others, it’s a beach, a lake, or the mountains. For me, it's the Sun Valley Community School. This feeling of comfort, serenity, and acceptance stems from many aspects of the school itself, but more than that, it comes from the people. A student of the Sun Valley Community School can be referred to as a Cutthroat, like the school’s mascot: the cutthroat trout. This being said, there is more to being a Cutthroat than just attending the school. There is a common set of characteristics that define a Cutthroat. Being a Cutthroat means acting in ways which are helpful and kind-hearted, engaging with your community, and confidently accepting challenges in both the outdoors and a classroom setting.   

In order to understand what a Cutthroat is, it is important to understand what it is not. The opposite of being a Community School (CS) Cutthroat is being cutthroat in the traditional sense. Merriam Webster defines cutthroat as, “marked by unprincipled practices: ruthless” (“Merriam Webster”). This does not define a Community School Cutthroat. Given the nature of the close-knit school community, fostered through countless outdoor trips, small classes, and small-town atmosphere, there is no room for competition. Students must be supportive of each other because, in two weeks, one will be belaying the next on a hard rock climbing route or carrying their coat down from the top of a ski race. Students don’t compete with each other because from the start of their CS experience, they learn they must treat everyone with respect. Every Cutthroat helps their peers because they must cooperate with one another in order to succeed academically and on the outdoor trips; there is no room to be ruthless. Moral principles guide CS Cutthroats, shaping the helpful, kindhearted character of a Sun Valley Community School Cutthroat.

So what are these principles that guide a Cutthroat? Being a Cutthroat means you’re a part of a team, community, family, and school. It means being loyal, trustworthy, empowering, and engaged. You care for those around you. I have been at this school for eight years and coming from New Jersey as a second grader was terrifying. I thought my parents were insane when they told me we were moving to Idaho, a state I had never been to and had barely heard of. Now, I realize that that decision affected my life in the best way possible. My teachers and peers at Community School have helped me grow into the person that I am now, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Everyone at the school supports each other in every way possible. There is no school I’d rather attend, and no community I’d rather be a part of. 

One of the most unique things about being a Cutthroat is all the outdoor experience you get. Going on outdoor trips with your classmates and teacher brings you even closer together. Whether in the desert of southern Utah or in a snow cave north of Ketchum, Cutthroats are often pushed out of their comfort zones. This is where true growth and learning begins. “Not all classrooms have walls" is one of our mantras. This is true, but only for Cutthroats.  The k-12 Outdoor Program teaches you a whole new set of skills. It also helps you develop as a person, helping one develop leadership, independence, trust, and a love for the outdoors. Being a Cutthroat means being social, self-reliant, helpful, and compassionate. 

In addition to the saying “Not all classrooms have walls," the Community School mission states, “From our campus to the wilderness, our mission is to inspire students to think critically, engage confidently, embrace challenges, and lead impactful, purposeful lives.” I believe this helps show what a Cutthroat is because it shows what our teachers help us to achieve. We strive to be the best versions of ourselves and to live our most fulfilling lives. Our mission statement shows what it technically means to be a Cutthroat; however, there is much more than just that. Being a Cutthroat means being confident, courageous, and kind. 

As proven above, a Sun Valley Community School Cutthroat can be defined in a myriad of ways.  Being a Cutthroat means acting in ways which are helpful and kind-hearted, engaging with your community, and confidently accepting challenges in both the outdoors and a classroom setting. I have been a Cutthroat for eight years and it has shaped my life in unbelievable ways. Being a part of the Cutthroat family and community is a huge privilege. I believe this is important because I think everyone should want to be a Cutthroat. More people should be able to call The Sun Valley Community School the place they feel the most comfortable. 

WORKS CITED

“Merriam Webster Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cutthroat?utm_campaign=sd&utm_mediu m=serp&utm_source=jsonld   Last Accessed:

February 27, 201

WILLIAM BLAKE:

INNOCENCE, EXPERIENCE, ORGANIZED INNOCENCE

William Blake (1757-1827) was the first Romantic poet and painter and believed that significant change in societal institutions: government, church, education cannot occur until and unless man alters his perception.

His most famous books of poetry The Songs of Innocence (1789) and The Songs of Experience (1794) are about to disparate perspectives of the world, of nature, of humans, of God, and of society.  He labeled these perspectives “the two contrary states of the human soul” through which we all pass.  He lamented that most adults go to their grave within and of the experienced perspective. 

The poems in the innocent perspective evoke a hopeful, reverent view of nature, humans, and society as unified, coherent, and balanced and closely influenced by a beneficent and benevolent God.

The poems in the experienced perspective evoke an irreverent, cynical, disillusioned view of nature, humans, and society as imbalanced toward destruction, self-destruction, and evil- all influenced by a vindictive and unforgiving God.

While the poems in the Songs of Experience have more energy complexity and force, William Blake did not favor one view over another.  Rather, he hoped that readers would understand the construction and self-ironic deconstruction of both perspectives through both the poems themselves and the “call and response” relationship between the companion poems in both texts.  For example, “The Divine Image” Song of Innocence celebrates mercy, pity, peace , and love as embodying the virtue’s of God while “The Human Abstract” Song of Experience laments that pity and mercy would not exist without inequalities, injustice, and despair.  Both perspectives have their merits but Blake wanted you to travel panoramically through both perspectives to what he refers to as “organized innocence.”

“Organized innocence” is a perspective that sees, values and hopes to establish or re-establish the innocent perspective of unity, coherence, and benevolence through the lens of the irreverent, experienced perspective.  It does not ignore the failings of humans and their institutions, nor the destructive powers of nature and nature’s God, but seeks to avoid any contribution to human and societal failings and from dwelling too long on the seeming imperfections in nature and God.  It is an innocent vision of a child informed by the wisdom of an adult.  In this perspective of organized innocence, there is a harmonizing of adults, children, nature, and God that results in actions that contribute to the development of the innocent or organized innocent perspective in self and others.

The best examples of “organized innocence” in the poems themselves is the “nurse’s perspective” of the children playing at dusk in the “Nurse’s Song,” yet, more importantly, Blake wanted the perspective of organized innocence to rest within the perspective of the reader after” traveling” through both the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. 

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:

1800:  50,000 prostitutes in London  5% of the population

1802: CHILD LABOR ACT:  limited work for children under 12 to 12 and 1/2 hours a day with two hours for meals and education.  This law was poorly enforced.

Children were forced to sit alone in mine shafts for twelve hours a day to make sure a mineshaft door remained open.

Average life span of chimney sweepers is 23 due to cancer of scrotum contracted by cleaning chimneys with no clothes on.  Many sweepers developed deformed limbs from the tight spaces in which they spent hours. 

Sweep masters lit fires at bottom of chimneys. Promised plum pudding at the top, or beat uncooperative little sweepers.  It took sixth months of sweeping for children to develop hardened calluses on knees and elbows and hands, so they were driven hard in the first six months. 

1817:  Parliament required chimney sweeps to go to church on Sundays and masters found this to be an unacceptable for they had to then bathe and clothe the children in clean clothes. 

1827  William Blake is buried in a dissenter’s cemetery in Burnhill Fields. London.

Nurse's Song

by William Blake.

When the voices of children are heard on the green,

And laughing is heard on the hill,

My heart is at rest within my breast,

And everything else is still.

"Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,

And the dews of night arise;

Come, come, leave off play, and let us away,

Till the morning appears in the skies."

"No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,

And we cannot go to sleep;

Besides, in the sky the little birds fly,

And the hills are all covered with sheep."

"Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,

And then go home to bed."

The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laughed,

And all the hills echoed.

William Blake : Ah! Sunflower

    Ah! sunflower, weary of time,

    Who countest the steps of the sun,

    Seeking after that sweet golden clime

    Where the traveler’s journey is done;

    Where the youth pined away with desire,

    And the pale virgin shrouded in snow,

    Arise from their graves and aspire;

    Where my sunflower wishes to go.

-William Blake

“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”

“Without Contraries there is no Progression”

“Prisons are Built with the stones of Law, Brothels with Bricks of Religion”

“Alexander Pope’s God presided over a monstrous universe in which all the apparent evils were necessarily for the best (“partial evil serves a Universal Good…not understood”)…that all suffering was deserved punishment,”  but William Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” and the Songs of Experience reject that his God could / would / should preside over  this “monstrous universe.”

William Blake believed that significant change cannot occur “by step by step improvements in man or his institutions within the existing order or by violent conversion to a new form of the present institutional thinking; rather, Blake believed that significant change can only occur through radical regeneration of each person’s own power to imagine” and perceive.  (Johnson and Grant xxiv)

“As a Man is, so he sees…As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers”

William Blake poems

Songs of Innocence and Experience

MOTTO TO THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE

The Good are attracted by Men's Perceptions

And Think not for themselves

Till Experience teaches them to catch

And to cage the Fairies and Elves

And the Knave begins to snarl

And the Hypocrite to Howl

And all his good Friends shew their private ends

And the Eagle is known from the Owl.

Definition Paper:

Sample Definition Essay Excerpt

(starters are in bold)

Romanticism:  The Individual, Nature and Spirit

“Man should be content with as few points (as the spider) to tip

with the fine Web of his Soul, and weave a tapestry empyrean

full of symbols for his spiritual eye, of softness for his spiritual touch, of space for his wandering, of distinctness for his luxury… every germ of spirit sucking the sap from the ethereal mould every human might become great… let us not go hurrying like a honey bee, buzzing here and there impatiently from knowledge of what is to be arrived at, but let us open our leaves like a flower and be passive and receptive…”

   -John Keats, “Diligent Indolence”: The Perfectibility of Man;

Letter to John Hamilton Reynolds (http: //fmweb.communityschool.org/Engl/web_disc/index2.html May 12, 2005)

This excerpt from one of John Keats’s letter captures the Romantic quest for being more present in he moment.  The Romantic era (1798-1832) was a time of change, reform, and revolution.  Not only were there huge revolutions in social, economic, and political developments, but poetry and literature were changing as well.  Romantic poems began to focus more on the individual, as well as topics such as returning to innocence, sublimity in nature, and the potential of the human mind.  As John Keats explains in his letter above, man should let his mind become more “passive and receptive” to the knowledge around him.  One should question and take time to experience the world.  Another Romantic poet Percy Shelley states that the goal of Romantic poets is to “(l)ift the veil of familiarity which obscures us from the wonder of our being.”  (http: //fmweb.communityschool.org/Engl/web_disc/index2.html May 12, 2005)   Many Romantic poets, painters, and writers questioned the previous Neoclassical principals of reason, reform and restraint by conveying their vividly different ideas through various forms of expression.  This rejection of Neoclassical beliefs led to William Blake’s questioning of the beneficent intentions of the Creator, William Wordsworth’s belief of becoming closer to God through nature, John Keats’s view of focusing on the positive aspects of live, and Lord Byron’s prophecy of the world ending in his poem “Darkness.” Exploring the poems of these Romantic poets, and connecting their ideas to modern texts and movies helps us understand the Romantic period and restore a more imaginative, emotional and meaningful approach to our lives.

Because the Romantic age was so vastly different from the Neoclassical time period, it is important to first understand the ideas from this era.  The Neoclassical world was ordered; it was full of equations and scientific explanations for everything.  Alexander Pope’s “Essay on Man,” embodies the very essence of neoclassic ideas.  As he attempts to “vindicate the ways of God to man,” Pope explains how evil serves a larger good, and warns the reader not to question the ways of God.  He writes:

Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree

Of blindness, weakness, Heav’n bestows on thee.

Submit.—In this, or any other sphere,

Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:

Safe in the hand of one disposing pow’r,

Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee:

All chance, direction, which thou canst not see:

All discord, harmony, not understood:

All partial evil, universal good:

And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,

One truth is clear, whatever is is right.

(lines 283-294)

This passage is the end of Pope’s long didactic poem “Essay on Man” in which he explains why man has great powers and does not have others.  In this particular excerpt Pope surmises that God created the world in a state of perfection.  He urges the reader to “submit,” and not to question what is “unknown” and “not understood.”  In Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia, the character Septimus Hodge, a tutor to the young genius Thomasina Cloverly, has a similar idea as Pope.  Responding to Thomasina’s statement that everything in nature has a mathematical equation, Septimus states, “(h)e has mastery of equations which lead into infinities where we cannot follow.” (Stoppard 37).  Septimus, like Pope, believes that one should not question God.  He thinks that nature can be mathematically defined, but that man should not try to explain what is unknown to him.  Both Septimus and Pope believe that God did not mean for man to observe, study, or even question the ways of the world.  As Pope says, “(w)hatever is is right.”

Similar to many Romantics, Thomasina refuses to accept Pope’s ideas and concepts about God.  She turns away from Neoclassical thought and questions Newton’s third law of motion while observing that she cannot un-stir jam from her pudding.  Conversing with Septimus about her idea, she hypothesizes:

Thomasina: When you stir your rice pudding, Septimus, the spoonful of jam spreads itself round making red trails like the picture of a meteor in my astronomical atlas.  But if you stir backward, the jam will not come together again.  Indeed, the pudding does not notice and continues to turn pink just as before.  Do you think this odd?

Septimus:  No.

Thomasina: Well, I do.  You cannot stir things apart.

(Stoppard 5)

At this moment in the play, the reader has learned that Septimus-the tutor- is a Neoclassical thinker who believes the world is ordered by the greatest mathematician and physicist-God. The reader has also discovered that Thomasina is a young, precocious and irreverent thinker, so she emerges as a Romantic.  In this passage, Thomasina is questioning the great Neoclassical scientist-Isaac Newton.  Newton’s third law of motion states, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  (http://www.communityschool.org May 12, 2005) Thomasina believes that she should be able to stir the jam back into itself, which is the equal and opposite reaction of stirring the jam into the pudding.  This is significant because Thomasina is beginning to turn to the Romantic way of questioning the world.  

Similar to Thomasina’s questioning of science, the rejection of Neoclassical ideas also led to a turning point in poetry and literature.  Romantic poetry became an expression of feelings and emotion. Poet William Blake rejected all of the ideals of Pope and, as Thomasina did, questioned the intentions of God.   Below is William Blake’s painting “The Ancient of Days”:

(http: //fmweb.communityschool.org/Engl/web_disc/index2.html May 12, 2005)

In this painting Blake depicts God triangulating as God is making the world.  This implies that God did create the world with perfection, as he is using this mathematical tool to construct flawlessly.  Pope believed that we should accept the world as it is while Blake did not.  Blake’s painting is ironic and mocks the concept of a perfect God.   Blake demonstrates this through his companion poems, “Chimney Sweeper I,” and “Chimney Sweeper II.”  Blake categorized his poems as  “Songs of Innocence,” or “Songs of Experience.”  “Chimney Sweeper I” is a song of innocence and relays the message that if one prays to God and has faith, they will be happy, bless and will go to heaven.  Blake tells the story of little Tom Dacre, using hauntingly vivid imagery, yet simple language.  He writes:

…Thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins, and set them all free

…And the angel said to Tom, if he’d be a good boy,

He’d have God for his father, and never want joy.

…Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm:

So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm,

(lines 11-14, 19-20, 23-4)

In this poem the reader has been overwhelmed by the sordid life of the chimney sweepers.  This excerpt-at least at face value- communicates the message that although life is hard, the afterlife will be better.  Although this poem communicates a basic, straightforward, good message, it has underlying irony that makes it plain to see that Blake is mocking God.  It is ironic that God would allow children to pain, suffering and eventually death in “coffins of black” in order tone day  go to heaven.  The poem “Chimney Sweeper II” is a song of experience.  Describing how the parents of a young boy force him to become a chimneysweeper so that he will cherish heaven and God Blake writes:

‘Where are thy father and mother? Say!’ –

They are both gone up to the church to pray.

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

‘…And are gone to praise God and His priest and king,

Who made up a heaven of our misery.’

(lines: 3-4, 7-8, 11-12)

At this point in the poem we encounter a boy alone.  This poem sends the message that one must be miserable in order to want a better place.  The boy’s parents clothed him in “clothes of death;” this implies that his job as a chimney sweeper will ultimately be his death. However, why should this poor boy be made miserable in order to appreciate goodness?  This irreverent questioning is significant because it captures the Romantic desire to reject the orthodox belief that all is right with the world and the Romantic desire to understand the world by one’s own perceptions, questions, and beliefs...

STUDENT MODEL PAPER #2:

Romanticism:

A Quest to Find the Intangible Beauty of Nature

Imagine a fisherman, standing at the edge of a lake. This man could jump into the water a thousand times, splashing and sputtering, and never see a single fish. However, fishing is a far more methodological sport than that. Paradoxically, a skilled fisherman does not search for fish. Rather, he looks for the faint impact of the fish. He looks for the shadows on the surface, the faint ripples in the water. And therein lies Romanticism. Romanticism is a quest for the soul, much like fishing is the quest for fish. But what makes these ideologies unique is not their goals, but rather their methods. Rather than try to quantify the soul, Romantics searched simply for its reverberations, the intangible beauty of nature that they could only comprehend as an echo of some indefinable spirit.

What Romanticism was trying to define may be intangible, and perhaps Romanticism itself is too abstract a concept to be truly put into words, but one way we can look at Romanticism is not as a frame of mind, but rather as a historic movement. In its essence, Romanticism was a counterculture movement. Not the 60’s counterculture, with hippies, and peace and the overwhelming feeling of directionlessness, but rather it was an intellectual revolution against the emerging culture of the enlightenment. The enlightenment was, ironically, also an intellectual revolution. However it was a revolution against the oppressive nature of the church. A weakening religious influence in Europe led to an explosion in arts, music, and most of all the sciences. The evolution of critical thought and a priority on empirical evidence was ushered in, and the way we understood the natural world was vastly reshaped by the irrefutable logic of the scientific method. This analytical, methodical view of the world was exactly what Romanticism was not. Towards the end of the 18th century, Romanticism emerged as an alternative to a scientific mindset. Romantics argued that you could not quantify the beauty of the world, and instead of trying to understand the world, they tried to look for the innocence and purity it contained. They saw man’s increasing reliance on machines, and so returned to nature to find the power that man had lost. They observed the beauty that the natural world contained, both in life and in death, and tried to convey this understanding through their artistic and literary work. Most famously they demonstrated this through poems.

One of these famous Romantic poets was William Blake. A master of poetic simplicity, Blake was also a troubled man, having hallucinations from a young age, and described by his critics as being insane. However, Blake was an inspired Romantic, who truly had an ‘eye’ for the spirit, conjuring up powerful images that left readers forced to question themselves. One poem of his that really brought forth the intangible beauty of nature, specifically in its rawness, was “The Tyger”. In the first two lines of the third stanza, Blake paints a particularly detailed image, writing, “And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart?” Blake is describing the sinewy muscles of the tiger’s shoulder, and how, in the raw power of just the tiger’s shoulder, he can almost see straight through to the tiger’s heart to it’s essence. Blake also speaks on the idea of observing the tigers essence in the first two lines of the second stanza, in which he says, “In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes?”. Again, Blake is talking about looking through the tiger straight to it’s soul. The fire burning in the tiger’s eyes metaphorically represents the raw passion of the tiger, the inexplicable power of nature that makes it so unique, so worth of our attention. Wherever he looks on this tiger, this ferocious beast, whether it be something as seemingly unimportant as a shoulder, to something as steeped in mystery as the tigers eyes, Blake is trying to convey to us the unimaginable, the overwhelming, and in the process dawns on some intangible “It” that makes the tiger so fantastic yet so daunting, the raw essence that some would define as soul.

This quest for the soul is what defines Romanticism. However it is a quest that was rarely, if ever, successful. Some Romantics caught glimpses of the soul, saw traces of it in the world around them, but too often they were so obsessed with this search for spirit that they lost sight of why they were looking. A perfect example of this is “Lines Written in Early Spring” by William Wordsworth. In this poem, Wordsworth is simply trying to capture the beauty of a garden. However he falls into the all too common philosophical trap of trying far too hard to see a simple reality. It is a perfect example of how easy it is to fall into the analytical mindset that is so ubiquitous in our culture. There is one couplet in particular which demonstrates this folly perfectly. In the first two lines of the fourth stanza, Wordsworth writes, “The birds around me hopped and played/ Their thoughts I cannot measure:-” In the first line, he comes incredibly close to glimpsing the simplistic beauty of this garden. When he describes how these birds, symbols of freedom and innocence, are simply hopping around without a care, he starts to understand the immeasurable spirit that is flowing through this garden. However he once again falls into the empirical trap of trying to understand the simplistic beauty. He tries to measure their thoughts, to put the motivation behind their mindless hopping into something quantifiable. And in that moment, the beauty crumbles in his hands. And it is clear that he realizes his mistake. As soon as he realizes his mistake, he stops. He breaks out of his metrical pattern, and ends the line one iamb short. He desperately struggles to get that power back, to once again find the power of nature, but he falls short. He came close but he lost it, by choosing not to focus on the simple grace of the garden, but rather about, in his own words, “What man has made of man.”. This poem is not about a garden. It is about his critique of man, and by extension, himself. Because he believes that man has lost the power to see the inherent beauty found in nature, and because of this he prevents himself from seeing it, coming so close but failing at the last minute. He is undoubtedly Romantic, it is clear that he truly wants to look for the natural soul, but in this poem he falls short.

The echos of some intangible soul are practically invisible, but that did not stop Romantics. The rationality of their quest was not something they could consider, because as soon as one rationalizes such a journey, the fundamental value that is pushing one towards that journey, a belief in the indefinability of the world, that value is lost. So the Romantics pushed forward in their quest, and a few of them, particularly one man in particular, managed to grasp some sliver of the soul. This man was John Keats. John Keats was a second generation Romantic whose work was as much influenced by his love of nature as it was by his manic depression. Constantly struggling with deep, negative emotions himself, he was a master at finding the beauty in the interplay of light and dark, the inherent potential of sadness to hold something beautiful. He pioneered this unique style, so much so that he had his own literary term named after him, “Negative Capability”. His defining poem, one that truly captured the meaning of Romanticism, was his masterpiece, “Ode to Autumn”. By focusing on the unique image of Autumn, a transitional season, Keats set himself up perfectly to talk about negative capability, and how the soul can most often be glimpsed between the light and the dark. One line which really brings out this idea of Autumn as a sort of crossroads is line 22, in which Keats states, “Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours”. One could go on for hours just about the symbolic meaning of the word “oozing”, but looking at it as it fits within the context of autumn, one can find within it the true meaning of Romanticism. In this quote, the universal “Thou” that represents, in my mind, the perfect Romantic, is simply watching the time go by. He is seeing reality “ooze” around him, but he is not interfering, he is not trying to quantify, rather he is simply watching. And in doing so he is privy to a moment. A shift. This ideal Romantic gets to experience “the last oozings”. Whether you are speaking of a day, a season, a life, the last of anything is special. For there to be the last oozings of anything, something must be changing, transitioning, moving on. In sitting for hours just to experience the time drip by, one is privy to the true inherent beauty of nature. One finds themselves at a crux, a crossroads, a bittersweet mix between happiness and depression in which one can see straight past logic, straight past quantifiable reason, and directly into the soul of this wild, uncontrollable, intangible thing we call nature.

In our modern world, this value of nature is all too often lost. We in this valley are more privy than most, being at the edge of it all, but in many parts of the world nature is not even a factor in one’s daily consciousness. How strange is it that we, as living breathing creatures have made it our goal to put as much distance between ourselves and any other form of life. Why is it that we feel necessary to suffocate the ground in pavement, to put cement between ourselves and the sky. With our distance from the natural and our reliance on an analytical mindset, we are the exact peoples the Romantics were rebelling against. The Romantics witnessed a shift in culture, and struggled to hold on to something we were all too rapidly moving away from, something that we have now, in our polished world of the future, all but lost. Our critical, analytical mindset of the world is not something to be taken lightly. It has propelled human civilization farther than we ever should have been able to go. No beautiful place is beyond our grasp anymore. We have propelled ourselves to the moon. The Moon. There has been an unreachable, almost godlike glowing orb inspiring our people for thousands of years and we have built a ship full of rocket fuel and gone there. But what the Romantics taught us, what they tried to teach the world, is not that science is wrong, or that progress is evil, but simply that on our journey forward we should stop once in a while. We should glance out of the corner of our eye, look through the slit of a door. As we push ourselves forward into the future, we should learn a lesson from the Romantics and not give up our quest for the intangible, for the undefinable, for the unknown. We should watch the sky at twilight, smell the air at the edge of a forest, and just maybe, if we tilt our heads just right, we may be able to catch a glimpse at that indefinable beauty some would call the soul.

William Blake poems

Songs of Innocence and Experience

MOTTO TO THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE

The Good are attracted by Men's Perceptions

And Think not for themselves

Till Experience teaches them to catch

And to cage the Fairies and Elves

And the Knave begins to snarl

And the Hypocrite to Howl

And all his good Friends shew their private ends

And the Eagle is known from the Owl.

THE BLOSSOM

Merry, merry sparrow!

Under leaves so green

A happy blossom

Sees you, swift as arrow,

Seek your cradle narrow,

Near my bosom.

Pretty, pretty robin!

Under leaves so green

A happy blossom

Hears you sobbing, sobbing,

Pretty, pretty robin,

Near my bosom.

Songs of Innocence

Songs of Innocence:

INFANT JOY

'I have no name;

I am but two days old.'

What shall I call thee?

'I happy am,

Joy is my name.'

Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!

Sweet joy, but two days old.

Sweet joy I call thee:

Thou dost smile,

I sing the while;

Sweet joy befall thee! 

Songs of Innocence:

HOLY THURSDAY

'Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,

The children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green:

Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,

Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.

O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!

Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.

The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,

Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,

Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:

Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

Questions:

1. How do you know that the "innocent faces" are those of chimney sweepers?

2. Who are the "wise guardians of the poor"?

3. Why should we "cherish pity"?

4. How does the poem suggest that these men are devils and not angels and thus mock its own sincerity?

Songs of Innocence:

The Echoing Green 

The sun does arise,

And make happy the skies;

The merry bells ring

To welcome the Spring;

The skylark and thrush,

The birds of the bush,

Sing louder around

To the bells' cheerful sound;

While our sports shall be seen

On the echoing green.

Old John, with white hair,

Does laugh away care,

Sitting under the oak,

Among the old folk.

They laugh at our play,

And soon they all say,

'Such, such were the joys

When we all--girls and boys -

In our youth-time were seen

On the echoing green.'

Till the little ones, weary,

No more can be merry:

The sun does descend,

And our sports have an end.

Round the laps of their mothers

Many sisters and brothers,

Like birds in their nest,

Are ready for rest,

And sport no more seen

On the darkening green.

Questions:

1. Is this an idyllic vision of innocence, purity, and love?

2. How is it important that the poem rises and sets in this poem and the "play" ends?

3. Why juxtapose the young and the elderly?

The Lamb

Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice! 

         Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

         Little Lamb I'll tell thee!

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb: 

He is meek & he is mild, 

He became a little child: 

I a child & thou a lamb, 

We are called by his name.

         Little Lamb God bless thee. 

         Little Lamb God bless thee.

Songs of Innocence:

THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry 'Weep! weep! weep! weep!'

So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved; so I said,

'Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.'

And so he was quiet, and that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! -

That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins, and set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind:

And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke, and we rose in the dark,

And got with our bags and our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm:

So, if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Questions:

1. How do you know that the child is sold into commercial bondage by the father with the approval of the Church?

2. What do the sordid chimneys become in the poem? How is this critical of the loss of self in an industrial world?

3. Why is the city contrasted with "a green plain"?

4. Why is Tom Dacre happy and warm in the cold?

5. How does this poem implode and mock its own sincerity?

THE DIVINE IMAGE

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

   All pray in their distress,

And to these virtues of delight

   Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

   Is God our Father dear;

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

   Is man, His child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart;

   Pity, a human face;

And Love, the human form divine:

   And Peace the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,

   That prays in his distress,

Prays to the human form divine:

   Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,

   In heathen, Turk, or Jew.

Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell,

   There God is dwelling too.

Questions:

1. How are Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love able to achieve Pope's balance of the human mind?

2. Why must we love the human form, the turk, the jew?

3. How does this poem mock its own sincerity?

To the Evening Star

by William Blake

Thou fair-haired angel of the evening,

Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light

Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown

Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawest the

Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew

On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes

In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on

The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,

And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon, 

Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,

And the lion glares through the dun forest.

The fleeces of our flocks are covered with

Thy sacred dew; protect them with thine influence.

"To the Evening Star" by William Blake, from Selected Poems. © Oxford University Press, 1996. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

William Blake (1757-1827)

Songs of Experience

INFANT SORROW

My mother groaned, my father wept:

Into the dangerous world I leapt,

Helpless, naked, piping loud,

Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my father's hands,

Striving against my swaddling bands,

Bound and weary, I thought best

To sulk upon my mother's breast.

Questions:

1. Obviously a companion poem to "Infant Joy," how does this poem show the negative side of being born?

2. Since we know Satan entered into Eden first as a mist, "hidden in a cloud," what does this poem say about the origin of evil in this "fiend" of a baby?

3. How does the baby express his despair?

The Tyger

              1Tyger! Tyger! burning bright 

              2In the forests of the night, 

              3What immortal hand or eye 

              4Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

              5In what distant deeps or skies 

              6Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 

              7On what wings dare he aspire? 

              8What the hand dare seize the fire?

              9And what shoulder, and what art, 

            10Could twist the sinews of thy heart, 

            11And when thy heart began to beat, 

            12What dread hand? and what dread feet?

            13What the hammer? what the chain? 

            14In what furnace was thy brain? 

            15What the anvil? what dread grasp 

            16Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

            17When the stars threw down their spears, 

            18And water'd heaven with their tears, 

            19Did he smile his work to see? 

            20Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

            21Tyger! Tyger! burning bright 

            22In the forests of the night, 

            23What immortal hand or eye, 

            24Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Questions:

1. How does this poem question the imbalance of God's world toward destruction, evil, death?

2. Could the tiger serve a purpose and the lamb serve a purpose unknown to man?

3. How does Blake express his fear of the industrial revolution?

4. How does the "fearful symmetry" in the tiger dominate the innocence in the lamb?

THE GARDEN OF LOVE

I laid me down upon a bank, 

   Where Love lay sleeping; 

I heard among the rushes dank 

   Weeping, weeping.

Then I went to the heath and the wild, 

   To the thistles and thorns of the waste; 

And they told me how they were beguiled, 

   Driven out, and compelled to the chaste.

I went to the Garden of Love,

   And saw what I never had seen;

A Chapel was built in the midst,

   Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,

   And 'Thou shalt not' writ over the door;

So I turned to the Garden of Love

   That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,

   And tombstones where flowers should be;

And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,

   And binding with briars my joys and desires.

Questions:

1. What has supplanted the garden?

2. What is also lost beyond nature?

3. Why does the speaker fear "Thou shalt not" and why does he juxtapose it to his once innocent state in nature?

4. Is Blake advocating the reader to explore "joys and desires" even if they violate the 10 Commandments?

THE SICK ROSE

O rose, thou art sick!

    The invisible worm,

That flies in the night,

    In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed

    Of crimson joy,

And his dark secret love

    Does thy life destroy. 

Songs of Experience:

THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER

A little black thing among the snow,

Crying! 'weep! weep!' in notes of woe!

'Where are thy father and mother? Say!' -

'They are both gone up to the church to pray.

'Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smiled among the winter's snow,

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

'And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God and His priest and king,

Who made up a heaven of our misery.'

Questions:

1. According to the chimney sweep boy, why did they dress the boy in "clothes of death"?

2, Why do the parents want their child to be miserable? (Why does God want us to be miserable?)

3. How is Heaven "made up" and what is Heaven;s connection to our Misery?

4. How is this poem critical of strict religion?

Songs of Experience:

THE HUMAN ABSTRACT

Pity would be no more

If we did not make somebody poor,

And Mercy no more could be

If all were as happy as we.

And mutual fear brings Peace,

Till the selfish loves increase;

Then Cruelty knits a snare,

And spreads his baits with care.

He sits down with holy fears,

And waters the ground with tears;

Then Humility takes its root

Underneath his foot.

Soon spreads the dismal shade

Of Mystery over his head,

And the caterpillar and fly

Feed on the Mystery.

And it bears the fruit of Deceit,

Ruddy and sweet to eat,

And the raven his nest has made

In its thickest shade.

The gods of the earth and sea

Sought through nature to find this tree,

But their search was all in vain:

There grows one in the human Brain.

Questions:

1. This poems is a response to the Innocent poem "The Divine Image." How are "Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / Humility" developed from flawed pretenses?

2. When the speaker claims that the Tree of Deceit which leads to false "Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / Humility" "grows ...in the human Brain," what is saying about the origins of evil?

Songs of Experience:

HOLY THURSDAY II

Is this a holy thing to see

   In a rich and fruitful land, -

Babes reduced to misery,

   Fed with cold and usurous hand?

Is that trembling cry a song?

   Can it be a song of joy?

And so many children poor?

   It is a land of poverty!

And their sun does never shine,

   And their fields are bleak and bare,

And their ways are filled with thorns,

   It is eternal winter there.

For where'er the sun does shine,

   And where'er the rain does fall,

Babe can never hunger there,

   Nor poverty the mind appall.

Questions:

1. Compare this poem to the first "Holy Thursday" in the Songs of Innocence: How are they similar?

2. Is the "eternal winter" and despair expressed in the first "Holy Thursday" in the Songs of Innocence?

Songs of Experience:

THE FLY

Little Fly,

Thy summer's play

My thoughtless hand

Has brushed away.

Am not I

A fly like thee?

Or art not thou

A man like me?

For I dance,

And drink, and sing,

Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life

And strength and breath,

And the want

Of thought is death;

Then am I

A happy fly.

If I live,

Or if I die.

Questions:

1. Why does the speaker find that he is like the fly?

2. What does the speaker seem to be saying about death and chance?

3. Is death the great equalizer of man and beast?

4. According to the poem, what is the definition of not living?

5. How is the man like the fly in life and in death?

Songs of Experience:

A POISON TREE

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears

Night and morning with my tears,

And I sunned it with smiles

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright,

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine, -

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning, glad, I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Questions:

1. What does the poem say about unexpressed anger and the potential for evil in humans?

2. What is the allusion to the Garden of Eden story / Paradise Lost? how does it help your understanding of the poem?

Songs of Experience:

LONDON

I wander through each chartered street,

   Near where the chartered Thames does flow,

A mark in every face I meet,

   Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,

   In every infant's cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

   The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry

   Every blackening church appals,

And the hapless soldier's sigh

   Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear

   How the youthful harlot's curse

Blasts the new-born infant's tear,

   And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.

Questions:

1. What are the details of this "Experience" poem that develop postlapsarian punishments?

2. What are " mind-forged manacles" and who creates them?

3. What do the "chimney-sweeper's cry," "blackening church" 

"hapless soldier's sigh" youthful harlot's curse" and "marriage hearse" symbolize?

William Blake (1757-1827)

Songs of Experience

The Clod and the Pebble

              "Love seeketh not itself to please, 

              Nor for itself hath any care, 

              But for another gives its ease, 

        And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair." 

So sung a little Clod of Clay 

              Trodden with the cattle's feet, 

              But a Pebble of the brook 

              Warbled out these metres meet: 

"Love seeketh only self to please, 

            To bind another to its delight, 

            Joys in another's loss of ease, 

      And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

Questions:

1. What is more durable: a clod of clay or a pebble?

2. What does love do according to the clod?

3. What does Love do according to the pebble?

4. A contentio is an argument in a poem in which two contradictory ideas are stated but the argument remains unresolved?

How is this poem a contentio?

5. How does this poem suggest that man is controlled by "the two contrary states of the human soul"? 

WRITING INVITATION #2

TOPICS FOR DEFINITION AND COMPARE AND CONTRAST:

• 1. Republican vs. Democrat

  2. Democratic Republic vs. Dictatorship

  3. Communism vs. Capitalism

  4. Socialism vs. Capitalism

  5. Public School (Wood River) v Private School (Community School)

   Your Generation v Your Parents' Generation

• 1. 20th Century v 21st Century

  2. President Obama v President Trump

  3. Environmentalist v Industrialist

  4. Faith v Faithless

  5. Reverent v Irreverent

  6. Hope v Despair

  7. Optimism v Pessimism

  8. Hero v Villain (coward)

  9. Wilderness v Civilization

  10. Wild v Tame

  11. Natural v Artificial

  12. Beautiful v Ugly or  Attractive v Repulsive

  13. Good v Evil

  14. Moral v Immoral

  15. True v False

  16. Wise v Foolish

  17. Strong v Weak

  18. Fortunate v Unfortunate

  19. Help v Hinder

  20. Mature v Immature

  21. Real v Fake

  22. Success v Failure

  23. Grief v Joy

  24. Perseverance v Apathy

  25. Academic Intelligence v Social Intelligence

  26. Innocence v Experience

        12 VIRTUES v 12 VICES

     Chastity v Lust / Recklessness

     Temperance v Gluttony

     Charity v Greed

      Dilgence v Sloth

      Patience v Wrath

     Kindness v Enmity

     Humility v Hubris

     Courage v Cowardice

    Justice v Injustice

     Honesty v Deceit

     Mercy v Callousness

     Love v Hate

12 VIRTUES AND 24 VICES:

7 CHRISTIAN VIRTUES AND 5 GREEK VIRTUES

"It is by our reasoning excess and deficiency are characteristics of vice and the mean is a characteristic of virtue."  

-Aristotle

In this Compare and Contrast Paper Definition Paper, students will define a word or concept or virtue through a variety of writing patterns:  

-develop a narrative or description that illustrates your word

-definition by negation :  develop the meaning of the opposite of the word through illustrating the opposite through examples from your studies in English, History, or personal experience by description, and / or narration

-definition by affirmation:  develop the meaning of the word by illustrating it through examples from your studies in English, History, or personal experience by description, and / or narration

-contrast your word with the opposite word:  developing the meaning of the word by stating how it does not share any of the qualities of its opposite 

-develop the meaning of a similar word:  develop the meaning of a similar word through illustrating it through examples from your studies in English, History, or personal experience by description, and / or narration

-compare and contrast your word with the similar word:  developing the meaning of your word by stating how it shares some of the qualities of the similar word and does not share some of the qualities of the similar word

OUTLINE GUIDE:

I.  TITLE

    A.  INTRODUCTION

            1.  Opener:  question, directive, narrative, or quote

            2.  Bridge

            3.  Embedded Plan and Thesis (definition).

     B.  FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH

          1.  Definition by negation :  illustrative example or narrative / description of opposite

      C.  SECOND BODY PARAGRAPH

            1. Definition by affirmation:  illustrative example, testimony, or narrative / description of word

       D.  THIRD BODY PARAGRAPH

            1.  Develop contrasts between opposing words and examples:   (X and Y can refer to the words or the 

                 examples)

                   -Despite the fact that X believes __________________, Y believes ____________________.

-Even though X and Y believe that __________________, Y qualifies this belief by                                 ____________.

        -Whereas X contends that ___________________, Y contends that __________________________.

        -Unlike X, Y ______________________________.

        E.  FOURTH BODY PARAGRAPH

            1.  Develop the meaning of a similar word:  illustrative example or narrative / description of word

         F.  FIFTH BODY PARAGRAPH

           1.  Compare your word with the similar word:  (review the synonyms)  (X and Y can refer to the words or 

                 the examples)

-Similar to the way in which X ________________, Y ________________.

-As X concludes that ______________________, Y concludes that________________________.

-Similarly, __________________________________________.

-In the same way that X ________________________, Y ___________________.

-Both X and Y agree that __________________________________.

2. Contrast your word with the similar word:    (X and Y can refer to the words or the examples)

                      -Despite the fact that X believes __________________, Y believes ____________________.

-Even though X and Y believe that __________________, Y qualifies this belief by                                 ____________.

        -Whereas X contends that ___________________, Y contends that __________________________.

        -Unlike X, Y ______________________________.

       H.  CONCLUSION

             1.  Transition from last paragraph to definition of word

             2.  React to why defining his word precisely matters

             3.  Return the language or idea in the opener

SAMPLE OUTLINE:

I.  TITLE:  "WILDERNESS: A WORKING DEFINITION"

    A.  INTRODUCTION

            1.  Opener:  "Wilderness:  a place where intact...

            2.  Bridge:  Gary Snyder's definition of wilderness frames the wild as a place to be celebrated for its intrinsic 

                               ability to flourish without the help of man.

            3.  Embedded Plan and Thesis (definition):  By reviewing how civilization creates a false view that man dominates the world, how wilderness reminds us that we are a small part of a larger ecosystem, how nature is a term that includes wilderness but is not necessarily wild, wilderness will become a place and an idea we should all value even if we never experience it.

     B.  FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH

          1.  Definition by negation :  illustrative example or narrative / description of opposite:  CIVILIZATION

      C.  SECOND BODY PARAGRAPH

            1. Definition by affirmation:  illustrative example, testimony, or narrative / description of word

       D.  THIRD BODY PARAGRAPH

            1.  Develop contrasts between opposing words and examples:   (X and Y can refer to the words or the 

                 examples)

        -Whereas civilization contends that man and all manmade constructions are central to man's             

existence, wilderness contends that man is apart of a larger ecosystem in which the interconnections

         between natural processes flourish without the aid of man.

        E.  FOURTH BODY PARAGRAPH

            1.  Develop the meaning of a similar word:  NATURE

         F.  FIFTH BODY PARAGRAPH

           1.  Compare your word with the similar word:  (review the synonyms)  (X and Y can refer to the words or 

                 the examples)

-Similar X ________________, Y ________________.

-As X is defined by ______________________, Y is also defined by ________________________.

-Similarly, X and Y __________________________________________.

-In the same way that X ________________________, Y ___________________.

-Both X and Y share __________________________________.

2. Contrast your word with the similar word:    (X and Y can refer to the words or the examples)

                      -Despite the fact that X and Y share __________________, Y contends ____________________.

-Even though X and Y have __________________, Y qualifies this by                                             ____________.

        -Whereas X contends that ___________________, Y contends that __________________________.

        -Unlike X, Y ______________________________.

       H.  CONCLUSION

             1.  Transition from last paragraph to definition of word

             2.  React to why defining his word precisely matters

             3.  Return the language or idea in the opener