Medieval Europe

Black Death, Feudalism, French Revolution, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Romanticism, Dark Ages, Francis I, Imperialism, Louis Xiv, Scientific Revolution, The Protestant Reformation, The Silk Road, Witch Craze, Spanish Armada, Vlad Tepes, Reformation, Muslim Empires, Genghis Khan, Ottoman Empire, Mongolia.

Major Sources For The Black Deaths

This book includes many primary sources and is even accompanied by an introduction analyzing and explaining the content. It focus on the political, cultural and social conditions at the time of the Black Death. This book is great for my topic as it provides many first hand accounts during the time of the plague. The … Read more

Analysis of "Mariana"

‘Mariana’ is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson which was published in 1830. This was an early stage of the Victorian era, a time when there was a plethora of social upheavals in England and Europe. As a composition, ‘Mariana’ is a beautiful yet ominous lyrical narrative, featuring themes of loneliness, isolation and rejection. It … Read more

Preserve and Pass It On: Comparing Tombs and Lais in Marie de France’s Laustic and Yonec

In both Yonec and Laustic, Marie de France describes tombs that house the unfulfilled love of her characters. The tombs function to preserve the physical bodies of a love that could not be fulfilled during the characters’ lives. In both lais, the tombs are overwhelmingly beautiful, ornate, and described in stunning detail, like a piece … Read more

The History of Imperialism in Africa

From the fifteenth century to the nineteenth century, only ten percent of Africa had been colonized by European powers. This ten percent of colonies were typically located on the coast of the continent in order to be used in the slave and ivory trade. The middle regions of Africa were largely left uncolonized by European … Read more

Francis I: His Reign and Accomplishments

Current day Paris is one of the grandest cities in the world, in 2012 it was the most visited country in the world, toured by 83 million. Paris, the capital of France, is the main attraction. France was not always the destination it is today, once, it was barely noticeable, a stepping stone on Caesar’s … Read more

Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale’ as a Revival of Marie de France’s ‘Lanval’

If one was asked to name the epitome of medieval English literature, it is very likely that the answer would be Geoffrey Chaucer. Indeed, this world-wide known poet has played a major role in the development of the English language thanks to his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, among many others. However, a genius seldom comes … Read more

“Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey”

Wordsworth’s pastoral poem “Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey” eloquently expresses the poet’s feelings of ambivalence regarding maturation, nature, and modern society. The poem is formatted in a distinct approach that serves to highlight the poet’s own conflicting emotions. Wordsworth initiates the composition by presenting himself as revisiting a beautiful and sprawling landscape … Read more

Enlightenment, French Revolution, and Napoleon test questions

Because of the Enlightenment, Western attitudes toward reform, faith, and reason became hopeful and interested in being included in the enlightenment because it was such a great evolution of philosophy and science. One of the major things that influenced the philosophes was the emergence of Natural Philosophy which was new ideas and methods of science … Read more

Analysis Of Animated Films Released In Disney’S Renaissance Era

They started regularising and incorporating songs into scenes. Songs drive the plot forward (Broadway centric music), Protagonist were more active in wanting achieve their goals. The Disney Formula (Introduction usually through song, setting the scene immerse the audience, Want Song, overlays what the protagonist wants, usually this is where we rout and fall for the … Read more

The Different Cultures in Africa, Mongolia, Japan, and the United States in Babies, a Film Documentary by Thomas Balmes

Throughout the documentary Babies, the audience is given an insight on four different cultures: Africa, Mongolia, Japan, and the United States. The film focuses on the development and cultural traditions of bearing and raising and infant. According to Piaget, this entire film is documenting the child’s sensorimotor stage of life. The sensorimotor stage is from … Read more

Forms of Psychoanalysis in Keats, Smith and Wordsworth

While oftentimes viewed as contributing to the development of Freudian psychoanalysis, the psychological discourse, and specifically that which deals with the unconscious (the part of the psyche which subjects are actively unaware), of Romantic poetry can also be seen as possessing various methods of its own for examining the psyche. Romanticism is frequently seen as … Read more

Political Cartoons on Imperialism

The political cartoon portrays the country that was the most aggressive to extend its authority over other nations. The huge character that probably is in a tailoring shop is a representation of the United States of America while the other characters who are angrily watching represent the nations that were against the imperialism of the … Read more

The Romanticism of Wordsworth and Shelley: A Poetry of the “Happiest Moments?”

Wordsworth said that ‘poetry is passion, it is the history or science of feeling’. In conjunction with Shelley’s quote, this is a bold statement to make. Not only does Wordsworth name poetry as the ‘science’ of emotion –creating an authorial sense of logic –but also as the ‘history’ of feeling. This suggests that poetry has … Read more

Life in the medieval times

Throughout the medieval time period intellectual life suffered greatly, and it is visible in how the people lived. During what was once “The dark ages” (now medieval times) there was much despair and poverty, and money was unevenly balanced between lower classes and higher classes. Due to this, life of the lower classes were incredibly … Read more

Renaissance Games

People around the world love to have fun. Over the years games have been invented to entertain people. Many of the inventions and ideas made for entertainment have been put into the category of games. Games have been even been took part in long ago in the past. In the Renaissance many unique sports and … Read more

Victorian, Romantic and Modernist Literature: Style as Cultural Commentary

Tony Harrison’s “A Cold Coming,” William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and George Orwell’s 1984 each display distinct sensibilities that reflect the time from which they emerged. Modernist manifestos differentiate the Modernist movement from previous ones through its self-conscious examination of literature’s purpose in the cultural landscape, … Read more

The History of Henrician Reformation

Introduction The Henrician Reformation is a phenomenon that followed the Europe Reformation and Protestant Reformation. This led to the severing in the relationships between England and Rome. The purpose of this article is to highlight the most decisive feature of the Henrician reformation. In addition, the article outlines the reasons giving this feature being considered … Read more

The Great Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan, Mongol Emperor from 1167 to 1227, birth name Temujin, succeeded his father Yekusia, the chief of the Mongol tribe. Genghis Khan became famous for his well-organized army, twice the size of any other empire in history, with dictatorship abilities that were so powerful that it lasted a century after his death. Mongols were … Read more

emotion ideas in romantic periods

In modern parlance, the word ‘romantic’ is often and understandably used with a positive connotation. A romantic individual is most often recalled with fondness, if also with pity. The faults of such a person might be limited to mere naivete: “He was a hopeless romantic; he just wasn’t meant for this cruel world.” However, it … Read more

Feudalism in Middle Ages

Feudalism was the way of life for people in the Middle Ages. Some people, like the royalty and nobles, supported and liked feudalism. Others, like serfs and slaves, did not enjoy feudalism. Everybody in society was involved with feudalism. Some parts of society were involved more than others. The Middle Ages or medieval times are … Read more

Analyzing Romanticism in Pushkin’s ;The Shot;

A theme that is immediately apparent in Pushkin’s The Shot is “the noble man with a romanticized view of life”. This theme was common during the Romantic Era, the period in which Pushkin wrote, but is important for more than historical reasons; in many ways, such “romanticization” guides the entire experience of reading Pushkin’s storyline. … Read more

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway: How Francis’s Personality Shifted

In the short story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, the main character Francis undergoes a drastic shift in personality between the beginning and end of the story, transforming from a coward to a courageous individual. Various perspectives on personality exist to explain this phenomenon, such as the type perspective, the trait perspective, and … Read more

Analyais of a Passage in The Prelude

In the stichic passage from William Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem The Prelude, the speaker, who represents Wordsworth himself, encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. The passage is a bildungsroman in verse, a coming-of-age poem that chronicles the psychological growth of the speaker. In the passage, Wordsworth deals with two separate streams of consciousness—one former and … Read more

How the dark ages started and developed in Europe

The Dark Ages In the fifth century, the barbarians took advantage of the Roman Empire’s peak of vulnerability and weakness and plundered one region after another until they completely took over. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a serious decline in culture, education and in the economy, known as the Dark Ages.The … Read more

Isolation and the Sublime in Rousseau and Wordsworth

In their article entitled “Me,” Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royale assert that “Literature, like art more generally, has always been concerned with aspects of what can be called the… ‘not me’ or other,” (Bennett 129-130). Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Confessions and William Wordsworth in his The Two-Part Prelude expound upon this issue of isolation from … Read more

Analyzing Romanticism in Pushkin’s ;The Shot;

A theme that is immediately apparent in Pushkin’s The Shot is “the noble man with a romanticized view of life”. This theme was common during the Romantic Era, the period in which Pushkin wrote, but is important for more than historical reasons; in many ways, such “romanticization” guides the entire experience of reading Pushkin’s storyline. … Read more

An Apparition in William Wordsworth’s “The Thorn”

Despite being published in 1798, William Wordsworth’s “The Thorn” gracefully tackles many topics still controversial today in the 21st century. Themes such as pregnancy out of wedlock, murder, abortion, and ghosts are presented and addressed. Wordsworth uses detailed scenery as well as character ambiguity to cause the reader to believe that Martha Ray is merely … Read more

The Wordsworthian Child: A Symbol for Romantic Idealism in “We Are Seven” and “Intimations of Immortality”

The turn of the 19th century was a morbid, dark time period: death was a common visitor, as plagues and diseases diminished the children, and the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars diminished the overall population. In response to such loss, humans became relegated to a number in a new, practical system of population management, as … Read more

How the dark ages started and developed in Europe

The Dark Ages In the fifth century, the barbarians took advantage of the Roman Empire’s peak of vulnerability and weakness and plundered one region after another until they completely took over. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a serious decline in culture, education and in the economy, known as the Dark Ages.The … Read more

‘Daffodils’ and ‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge’ Analysis

William Wordsworth himself once said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Wordsworth, like most romantic poets, had a strong attitude towards the rebellion against the industrial revolution and strove to revert back to the “bliss” of nature. He believed that by returning to nature, mankind would become unrestricted by the constraints imposed upon … Read more