Edgar Allan Poe Essay Example for Free

Edgar Allan Poe Essay Although not originally well received, Edgar Allan Poe, became one of the most influential literary writers in American history. As a child, he wrote numerous poems, many which were later published. As a young adult he focused much of his attention on short fiction. He was credited with creating the detective story and known for his psychological and often violent thrillers. He is also known for his macabre themes and for having a fascination with death. Literary students should recognize these characteristics associated with Poes writings were shaped by many tragedies in his life, such as abandonment of his father, untimely deaths of his mother, brother, wife, and other loved ones, and the problems he faced with his adoptive father. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to New York where his father, David Poe, resumed his acting career. David soon quit acting and abandoned his family. He died a short time later (Harrison 22). Soon afterward, Edgars mother, Elizabeth, became ill and died (Nilsson). A young woman named Frances (also known as Fanny) and her husband, John Allan, took in Edgar. Soon thereafter, John, a tobacco trader, moved the family to England. There, Edgar began his first formal education. In 1820, when the tobacco market in London collapsed, the Allans returned to New York (Benfey; Nilsson). Edgar continued his education, excelling in Latin and French. During this time he was also in search of a maternal figure. Although fond of Fanny Allan, her poor health limited her ability to fulfill a motherly role. Edgar found a substitute in Mrs. Jane Stanard, a mother of one of his classmates. Unfortunately, she died a year later at age thirty-one (Nilsson). After her death, John Allan described Edgar as sulky and ill tempered to all the family (qtd. in Thompson). Mr. Allan felt insulted by Edgars behavior, especially when considering all he had done for Edgar. This was the beginning of the deterioration of the relationship between Edgar and John Allan that would provide conflict in Edgars life for many years to follow (Thompson). In 1826, Edgar attended the University of Virginia. He was an outstanding student and excelled in various languages, debating, writing, and athletics.  At age sixteen he fell in love with and became engaged to a girl named Elmira Royster. While away at college, he wrote her frequently but her father intercepted the letters (Thompson). Edgar was upset when he did not receive any replies. In addition to this disappointment, life at the school was chaotic and dangerous (Benfey). There were fights with students throwing bricks and bottles at professors and problems with students gambling. Edgar described one situation in a letter to John Allan in which he stated that one student was struck on the head with a large stone and in response he pulled a pistol. On another occasion he wrote about a student that bit another student, which Edgar described as, it is likely that pieces of flesh as large as my hand will be obliged to be cut out (Carlson). While away at school, Poe obtained large gambling debts and blamed John Allan for not providing proper financial support. When, Poe returned to Richmond during a school break, Allan reportedly broke off Poes engagement to Elmira (Carlson). He (Allan) then sent Edgar to work at his company instead of sending him back to school (Thompson). In 1827, Edgar and John Allans relationship completely fell apart. Poe wrote, Ive heard you say. . . that you have no affection for me (qtd. in Nilsson). Edgar moved out and while on the streets developed a problem with alcohol. Before long he obtained employment with a small newspaper and provided the printer with some of his early manuscripts. This resulted in a booklet entitled, Tamerlane and Other Poems. The main poem is a story about a warrior who returns home to find his childhood love has died and all his dreams gone. The writing was clearly influenced by Poes own plight in life and his failed relationship with Elmira Royster (Nilsson). Shortly thereafter, Poe lied about his age and used a fictitious name to enter the United States Army. In 1829, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest rank for a noncommissioned officer (Thompson). Meanwhile, Fanny Allan became seriously ill and died. Edgar arrived home after her burial. Feeling guilty for leaving Fanny, he wrote, I have had a fearful warning and have hardly ever known before what distress was (qtd. in Nilsson). After Fanny died, John Allan decided to forgive Edgar for their past problems and support his decision to leave the army to get into West  Point Military Academy (Nilsson). In April 1829, Edgar left the army, returned to Richmond, Virginia, and waited to be accepted as a cadet at West Point. During this time, John Allan became impatient and accused Edgar of being lazy. Their relationship became worse when Edgar requested financial assistance. As he waited for admittance, Edgar returned to Baltimore and continued writing poetry. There, a company named Hatch and Dunning printed his writing Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. This literature centers on the ideas associated with the concept of life after death and ideal love, an obvious reflection on Poes relationships with loved ones. In 1830, Edgar finally entered West Point. He climbed to the top rankings in his class. However, John Allan remarried a much younger woman and sent Edgar a letter stating he had no interest in further contact with him. This resulted in Edgars desire to leave West Point. When Allan did not assist Edgar with his plans to leave the academy, Edgar began to get into trouble. By January 1831, he had committed enough offenses that he was court-martialed and dismissed from the military. He left West Point in February and traveled to New York City before eventually returning to Baltimore (Thompson; Nilsson). While in Baltimore, he met many of his biological relatives for the first time. He also became very close with his brother, Henry. Unfortunately, Henry died six months later due to alcohol poisoning. After his brothers death, Edgar began to write seriously again. Hoping to earn more money, he changed from writing poetry to writing fiction. He wrote his first published story, The Dream, which encompassed much of Edgars past and was thought to have been inspired by his brothers death (Nilsson). In this writing, the narrator dreams that a person he killed has come back though an opening in the sky. As the terrifying character approaches, the narrator awakes. He also wrote a Gothic tale, Metzengerstein, about a feud between a count and a baron. The count eventually is burned in a fire and transforms into a horse. The baron captures the horse and when a fire breaks out in the barons castle the horse carries him into the fire. As the smoke rises upward, a figure of a horse becomes visible (Poes Tales 213-221). Next, Poe published four short stories all concerning the subject of surviving  death. In one story, A Decided Loss (later titled Loss of Breath), the narrator, lost his breath, got his skull crushed, was hanged, had his ears cut off by a coroner, gets cut up and is still alive although repeatedly killed (Nilsson). Edgar continued to have financial problems and in 1833 he moved in with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and his cousin Virginia (Thompson). In 1834, John Allan died. Although Allan was worth about three-quarters of a million dollars, Edgar received nothing (Nilsson). After Allans death, Edgar moved to Richmond and began work for Thomas Willis Whites new magazine, The Southern Literary Messenger. Edgar had fallen in love with Virginia and planned to have her and Maria reside with him in Richmond (Nilsson). Maria, however, intended for her and Virginia to move in with another relative, Neilson Poe (Thompson). Neilson had offered to remove them from the poverty they experienced with Edgar. Edgar was upset and threatened suicide if they left. He was devastated by the prospect of losing Virginia. After they left, Poe quit his job and returned to Baltimore. In September, he and Virginia obtained a marriage license and may have been privately married (Nilsson). Poe returned to work for White, and brought Virginia and Maria back to Richmond with him (Thompson). Poe advised White on articles, proofread for the magazine, and wrote some short stories. During this time his writings centered on gothic fiction. His writings were strongly influenced by, German romantic writers who gave the English Gothicism their own twists and, disregarding probability, greatly exaggerated elements of the horrible and the supernatural (Nilsson). Poe was especially fond of the kind of personal narration called tale of sensation where the persons are usually solitary victims of a life-threatening predicament, about to be executed, or about to have a fatal accident (Nilsson). One of his stories, Loss of Breath, clearly demonstrates these characteristics. Poe took over the official position as editor for the Messenger and turned the magazine into a popular and well-respected regional journal. In 1836, Poe was officially married to Virginia. Although steadily employed, after  the marriage Poe continued to incur debts. In the fall of 1836, his editorial qualities began to suffer. Alcohol abuse was suspected and White removed Poe as editor. Poe soon completely left the Messenger and moved briefly to New York before settling in Philadelphia. (Nilsson; Thompson). After almost three years of free-lance writing, Poe accepted a job as assistant editor for Burtons Gentlemans Magazine. There, he wrote ninety-eight book-reviews and produced large number of articles on other topics. He also wrote, The Fall of the House of Usher, one of his famous gothic horror stories. This is a complex story about a bother and sister (twins) from a cursed family who share a soul with the decaying mansion they reside in. Poe includes the idea of moral decay by hinting at incest, burial alive, and a return from the grave in this thriller about the forces of life and death (Poes Tales 128-144). He also wrote about William Wilson, a man that kills himself but does not die (Poes Tales 3-21). In June 1840, Poe left the magazine due to low pay and a desire to start his own magazine. Poe was unsuccessful with his own magazine and eventually accepted a position for $800 a year working for George Rex Graham who purchased Burtons Gentlemans Magazine and renamed it Grahams Ladys and Gentlemans Magazine. Poe conducted proofreading, wrote reviews, and sometimes engaged in editorial work. He also did some writing but was better known as a critic than as a poet during this period. In the April 1841 issue of Grahams, Poe published The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Nothing similar to this work had ever been published and it has been credited as the first modern detective story. In fact, this work influenced the evolution of stories and the future of movies ever since it was published. An example of how Poes stories influenced future writers include the use of private detectives in contrast to police detectives, the narrator whom is not the main detective in the story, and the analytic process of crime solving techniques. Poes work helped increase the circulation of Grahams from 5500 to 40,000. Though he was successful, he became bored with his position and resigned in July 1842 (Nilsson). Meanwhile, Virginia became very ill with tuberculosis. Her illness hit Poe  hard and he did everything possible to help ease her suffering. The influence of her illness can be seen in his writings of this time. Poe wrote Life in Death and The Masque of the Red Death while taking care of Virginia (Nilsson). Life in Death is about a painter and his sick wife. Ironically, as the painter completes his portrayal of his wife, she dies. The Masque of the Red Death is about a prince trying to save his diseased country from the figure called The Red Death (Poes Tales 201-207). This story was derived from Poes knowledge of both the bubonic plague and the Philadelphia cholera epidemic. As Virginias condition grew worse, Poe suffered and again turned to heavy alcohol consumption. During this time Poe published a few revisions of older poems as well as a few new ones. He also published The Pit and the Pendulum, a tale of a man tortured by the Spanish Inquisition (Poes Tales 221-234). He also worked on his crime and detection stories which include The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Black Cat, and The Tell-Tale Heart. The Mystery of Marie Roget is the first true detective story to try to solve a crime. The Tell-Tale Heart is a tale about the murder of an elderly man whose heart continues to beat as police question the narrator. The beating heart eventually drives the narrator to his confess his crime (Poes Tales 289-293). In The Black Cat, the narrator kills a cat but it keeps coming back to life. While again attempting to kill the cat, he slices his wifes head in two with a cleaver. He hides her corpse in a wall but the cats howls lead the police to the location of the body (Poes Tales 518-527). In November 1846, Poe published one of his best short stories, The Cask of Amontillado. This short story is similar to Poes other crime fiction however there is no confession by the perpetrator. The narrator completes his revenge by capitalizing on his opponents prideful nature and lures him into a catacomb where he is sealed inside. The narrator hints at a feeling of guilt but since the story is told as a reflection of the past, it is clear that no one else knows of the crime (Poes Tales 207-213). In January 1847, Virginia finally died from complications of tuberculosis. Although he was devastated, Poe continued to write and lecture. He also reportedly found romantic relationships with several women, including the  former Sarah Elmira Royster, his first love who since had been married. On October 7th, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe was found unconscious on a street in Baltimore. He died three days later in a local hospital (Nilsson; Thompson). His death has been attributed to alcoholism, however some researchers at the University Maryland Medical Center suspect he might have died from rabies (Shea). Edgar Allan Poe faced numerous obstacles during the course of his life. Although raised by a family with some wealth, Poe was always in a state of financial crisis. Among the relatives and friends of the Allans, Poe was an outsider and maintained a low socio-economic status. In addition, his losses include almost all the people who ever demonstrated any kind of love for him. An analysis of his writings reflects the psychological trauma that he obtained throughout his life. Although these problems kept Poe from immediate success, they had a profound effect on his style and the subject matter of his published works, which eventually made many of his writings popular in and out of the classroom today. Works Cited Benfey, Christopher. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. The New Republic 24 Feb. 1992. Carlson, Eric W. Edgar Allan Poe. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 74 American Short-Story Writers Before 1880. 1988 pp. 303-322. The Gale Group Harrison, James A. Life of Edgar Allan Poe New York: Haskell, 1970. Nilsson, Christoffer. Qrisses Edgar Allan Poe Pages 1996-1998. 29 Nov. 1999 Poes Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London: Dent, 1963 Shea, Christopher. Researcher Says Rabies, Not Alcoholism, May Have Killed Poe Chronicle of Higher Education Sept. 1996. 2 Dec. 1999 Thompson, G.R. Edgar Allan Poe. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 3. Antebellum Writers in New York and the South. 1979. pp. 249-297. The Gale Group Note: In addition, the following source was indirectly used: Edgar Allan Poe. Encarta 1999. CD-ROM. Redmond: Microsoft,1993-1998

Electric circuit Essay Example for Free

Electric circuit Essay Every time a charged atom hits the net it loses some of its charge, therefore the longer the wire the larger the chance of the charged electrons colliding with the net and losing some of their charge therefore increasing the resistance. Width of wire: The width of a wire will affect the resistance because the wider a wire the more space in the net for the charged electrons to get through without colliding with the net and therefore decreasing the resistance. It is like letting a lot of water out of a small hole; it would go slowly, whereas with a bigger hole it flows out faster. Temperature of wire: The temperature of the wire would affect the resistance because as the wire gets hotter the net begins to vibrate because they are given more energy; this therefore makes it harder for the charged electrons to get through the net without colliding with it and causing resistance. Therefore the higher the temperature the higher the resistance. Material of wire: The material of a wire would affect it resistance because different materials have different resistivity because the have different nets. Some of the nets may have smaller holes that others and this would increase the resistance because there would be a larger chance of the atoms colliding. Similarly some materials may have larger nets, which would mean that there would be a lesser chance of the atoms colliding. The variable that I am going to change is going to be the resistance because I think it will be the easiest to change with the apparatus I have available to me and I think it will give fair results. Research So far I have taken a lot of information from my G. C. S. E.textbook but some of my work has come from the Internet. I used many different search engines but the two main engines, which I used, were www. ask. com and www. google. com and here is some of the information, which I got by using these engines: Resistance alloy data Material Nominal Resistivity Microhm. cm Maximum Operating Temp i C Density g/cm3 Nominal Temp Coeffic. of Resistance. This information was very useful because the type of wire I am going to use is Nickel Chrome and it has a lot of information on it and it tells me its resistivity. Prediction I predict that as the length increases the resistance will also increase in proportion to it. I think this because the longer the wire the longer the net of atoms and therefore the larger the chance of the electrons colliding with the net and losing some of their charge. Therefore if the length is doubled the resistance should also double, because the length of the wire has doubled therefore the amount of atoms will have doubled so the amount of collisions should double. When I draw a graph it should hopefully show that the length is directly proportional to the resistance. The diagram below should show this more clearly: Apparatus Meter rule to measure out the length of the wire. 1-meter length of nickel chrome wire to test its resistivity. Ohmmeter to measure the resistance of the wire. Crocodile clips to connect the ohmmeter to the wire. Wires to connect the ohmmeter to the crocodile clips. Masking tape to stick the wire to the ruler. Preliminary Work I did some tests to see what distance I needed to space my readings at and this is what I got: Length (mm) Resistance (ohms) My preliminary results have shown that altering the length by 10mm is too little because the resistance gain is too uneven, but if I change the length by too much i. e. 500mm the gap is too large. Therefore I am going to take my results every 50mm. I also found that the wires connecting the ohmmeter to the wire had a resistance of 0. 3mm so I will have to To make it a fair test I need to make sure that I keep all of the other variables the same. I will use the same wire every time and in I will use it again in my repeat experiment, so that the width and material of the wire will remain the same. The temperature of the wire will be very hard to keep constant because each time an electron collides with the net its energy change from electrical to heat therefore every time the atoms collide with the electrons the wire will heat up. Hopefully this will not affect my experiment too much because I am only going up to a meter in length therefore it should not heat up too much. Diagram My apparatus will be set up like so: Method 1. First I will gather up all the needed apparatus and set it up as above. 2. Then making sure that one of the crocodile clips is on exactly 0mm and that the other is on exactly 100mm I would take a reading. 3. Before I record the reading I would make sure that the ohmmeter had come to a complete stop and was not flashing. 4. I would the repeat this every 50mm until my I got to 1000mm making sure that the first crocodile clip was always on 0mm. 5. Then I would repeat the whole experiment making sure that I used the same wires so that the width and material of the wire were kept constant. 6. Whilst repeating the experiment I would make sure that I did it in the same place as before because if I repeated it next to a radiator the resistance would go up. Results Length Of Wire (mm) Results 1 (Ohms) Results 2 (Ohms) Average (1dp) (Ohms). Explanation Of Results My first set of results has an anomalous result, which is circled on the first graph. This could be because I did not wait for the ohmmeter to settle and I took the reading too quickly. My second and average set of results are good with no anomalous results and they show a definite relation between the resistance and the length of the wir they show that as the length goes up so does the resistance. In my prediction said that if the length doubles so should the resistance and my first set of results show that at a length of 250mm the resistance was 5. 2W and at a length of 500mm the resistance was 10. 1W which is very close to my predicted answer. Conclusion I think that my experiment went quite well because all my graphs had straight lines showing a strong relationship between the length and the resistance. But I could have improved this method in a couple of ways. For example I should have used pointers instead of crocodile clips because they are far more accurate, this is because they have a far smaller tip than crocodile clips and they would give a more accurate measurement of the wire. Also pointers would not have compressed the wire like crocodile clips. Crocodile clips have a spring in the to keep them shut and this could have compressed the wire therefore increasing the resistance. I also should have been more careful about making sure the wire was taught when I took the readings because if it was loose it would have been a longer length that the one I thought I was reading. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

The circumstances of the incident

The circumstances of the incident The circumstances of the incident The incident took place on Ward X during an early shift. During this shift, there were 30 patients on the ward, in four six bedded bays and six side rooms. During the early shift, Mrs J was seen on the ward round and was discharged by the medical team. Mrs J had had a laparascopic cholecystectomy five days previously, but had developed pneumonia in the postoperative period and therefore had been on the ward much longer than had been anticipated. Mrs J was a 58 year old semi-retired librarian with a history of hypertension treated with antihypertensive medication. During this morning shift, the staff nurse, Nurse M, looking after all the patients in Mrs Js bay, was asked to discharge Mrs J by the medical team, and Mrs J was very relieved, and called her daughter and son in law to pick her up ‘after lunch. Mrs J needed medications to take away (TTAs), and needed her discharge paperwork completing, and her community nurse needed to be informed to attend her at home the following day. Nurse M had two other patients to discharge that day, and had to provide care for three other patients, two of whom had had surgery the previous day. Nurse M carried out the medication round in her bay at 8 am and at 2pm. At four pm Mrs Js daughter approached me to ask why her mother had not been discharged yet. She was considerably distressed, as her mothers stay in hospital had been much longer than anticipated. The perceived delay in her discharge had upset the patient and her family. Nurse M stated that she had started the discharge but been too busy to complete it during her shift. She therefore handed over the discharge to the afternoon shift nurse, Nurse F. Mrs J was discharged at 6pm. The next day, her daughter telephoned the ward to complain that Mrs J was discharged without her anti-hypertensive medication. The actions taken As the ward manager, I spoke to the patients daughter and apologised for the discharge taking so long, and for the failure to provide essential medication to take home. I spoke to Mrs J and to the community nurse, Nurse P, in order to ascertain whether there had been any adverse effects on the patients condition. Mrs Js daughter had visited the GP the following morning and obtained a replacement prescription, and so Mrs J missed only one dose, and one delayed dose of her antihypertensive medication. No adverse impact had been identified. Following this incident, I reviewed the case notes of Mrs J, and all the patients in B Bay on Ward X, to ensure that there had been no other oversights or omissions. I reviewed the discharge documentation for the second patient discharged that day, Miss T, and found that all was in order. A review of the discharge notes for Mrs J showed that the TTA prescription had not included the antihypertensive medication. The staff involved Nurse M, a Band 5 nurse with 3 years experience. Nurse F, a Band 5 nurse who joined the ward 3 months previously. The ward manager, a Band 7 nurse. Nursing Assistant L, a trained HCA with eight years experience on this ward. The patients involved Mrs J, a patient recovery from healthcare associated pneumonia after a laparascopic cholecystecomy. Five other patients in B Bay on Ward X: Mrs T, Miss S, Mrs L, and Ms K. Other important aspects and considerations that you consider necessary The ward was full that day, and there was one member of staff missing for part of the morning shift, due to sickness. The omission in the medication order can be localised to the Senior House Officer who signed the TTA request, but Nurse M should also have identified that the medication was missing, either at the time of completing the form. Nurse F should have identified the omission when she checked the medication with the patient at the time of discharge. Both nurses were questioned and given a verbal reprimand. B) Essay As a ward manager, observing the behaviours of staff working together within a ward team, I have often noticed that the discharges which are ordered at the time of the ward round early in the morning are often not completed until the evening, even when the discharge is relatively uncomplicated. I have also noticed that this reflects other aspects of care, where staff do not seem to be working particularly quickly or efficiently. In this situation, the behaviours of staff seemed to indicate on first analysis that staff were overworked and that this omission occurred because of pressure on staff. However, this author also identified other issues which were contributing to the situation. The first was that I noticed how staff had fallen into particular behavioural patterns during the early shift, which meant that they often left discharges to be completed by the afternoon staff. It seemed that certain staff tended to fall into this pattern, and to fall into particular routines in which they slowed down at certain times during the shift. I noted as well that there were a particular sub group of nursing staff that behaved like this, and that there was a divide between some staff and those who supported them, such as the HCAs. For example, Nurse M and HCA L did not seem to work well together, and I noted that Nurse M had addressed this by simply not delegating too much to the HCA. This situation seems to indicate that not only is good management and leadership needed in order to address what seems to be an issue of staff behaviours, but also good leadership in relation to team working, warranting an analysis and examination of team working. It became apparent that as the ward manager I would need to use the position of team leader to destabilise the ingrained patterns of work behaviour and break up old alliances which might be impeding effective teamworking. The conclusion reached was that this was not simply a case of finding fault with Nurse M and Nurse F, but deconstructing the circumstances that had led to this mistake. The fault in this situation is diffused amongst all of those involved. This included a potential that it was my own leadership at fault in this situation, requiring me to bear some of the responsibility for this occurrence. Leadership within nursing requires a complex set of skills and attributes, and the ability to manifest a strong nursing leadership role. However, it is challenging because of the nature of the work, which can change rapidly at any point in time, and the nature of staff relationships and behaviours, which can involve complex interactions and inter-dependencies. Fostering effective teamworking in this situation, and leading a team towards better ways of working, is likely to be very challenging even when circumstances are good, but in a position where the team is one staff member short, it could be argued that this makes it all the more challenging. A manager needs to understand the whole theory and practice of teamworking within organisational contexts, and also understand how they can, in their own leadership role, support effective team working and improve care standards, whilst at the same time supporting staff dealing with a heavy and complex workload. All nurses must manage themselves and their own workloads, and must develop self-awareness of their own traits, strengths and developmental needs. This author has spent some time reflecting on their own capabilities, and has identified their own strengths, such as the ability to carry out routine tasks swiftly, and to prioritise care and workloads for better patient care and more efficient management of tasks and demands. Another personal strength is the ability to take a wider view and to consider a range of factors affecting workload, and team working, including skill mix and different personalities and how well staff work together. The academic field of organisational studies has long been concerned with leadership, theoretically and practically. It is a multifaceted concept and has been considered from a variety of perspectives, including an applied perspective with specific reference to nursing. There tends to be a polarisation of theoretical perspectives, in which some believe that some people are destined to be leaders because of pre-existing or innate abilities or proclivities, traits which make them ‘natural leaders; and some theorists posit that leadership is comprised of a set of skills and applied knowledge that can be acquired and used by anyone trained in them (Day, 2000, p 5810.) Thus some would argue that the people possessing ‘natural leadership skills and abilities would be the best leaders, while others continue to assert that there is no difference and that a person given the right training and development could be a good leader (Green, 2003, p 27). There is merit in both perspectiv es, in that a natural leader who has had training could be argued to be potentially better than one who has no predisposition to leadership, and that there may be some people who are not suited to leadership roles who should not aspire to be leaders. However, suggesting that leadership is something which can be learned is a much more egalitarian viewpoint, which could be positive, but could result in people being placed in positions of ‘official leadership against their own preference, when their true strengths lie elsewhere. In relation to the situation described in the report in part A, this author would argue that not only did the team require more directive leadership at this time, but that such leadership should be visible, tangible, and strong enough to ‘lead the team towards more collaborative and supportive working practice (Bishop, 2009). The literature shows that clear lines of command are important, but clear, strong leadership is more than simply exercising control over people, it is a more bilateral approach which engages leader and team in managing work in such a way that it improves patient care (Clegg, 2000, p 31). However, Grint (2005, p 1467) also shows that in order for leaders to be effective, they must be able to motivate others to follow them and to go in the direction they have indicated. Thus leadership is more than simply guiding people, it is about engaging with them and making them ‘want to follow the lead. Thus it is possible to see that authority does not locate an individual as a leader on its own; the ‘followers must accept and support that leader as well (Grint, 2005 p 1467). In this case, however, the leadership activities must be very much directed at leading a diverse team of disparate individuals with a range of personalities, skills, and experience, as well as differing roles and responsibilities. Breakdowns in interprofessional working and communication are common within healthcare settings (Sutcliffe et al, 2004, p 196). However, organisational theories argue that there are typical types of roles that individuals assume within teams, and the seminal theory here is Belbins (1993 p 57) team roles theory. This theory is useful because it allows the leader to ‘manage individual team members and motivate the team more effectively through understanding their team roles (Belbin, 1993 p 57; Johansen, 2003, online). Anything which enhances team working is likely to improve communication, enhance team and individual worker efficiency and effectiveness, and improve nurses satisfaction with their working lives, contributing to better practice standards ( Amos et al, 2005 p 10; Clegg, 2000 p 31; Dimeglio, 2005 p 110), and this author would also argue that exploring how to manage a team more effectively would help them to contribute to their own professional development (Bandura, 1994 p 71). Thus, an effective leader could look at the eight defined roles which are said to occur within organisational or workplace teams, some of which may be fulfilled or enacted by more than one person at a time, just as one person may enact more than one role at once (Belbin, 1993 p 57-59). Effective teams ideally demonstrate that members enact all the roles defined (Johansen, 2003, 0nline). Belbin (1993 p 57-59) describes these as: the calm, confident chairman, objective but unemotional, generally infallible; the impatient shaper, coercive, unafraid of confrontation, directive and apt to destabilise the status quo; the problem-solving plant, an imaginative highly intellectual and creative individualist who may not be a good team player; the informativ e and enthusiastic resource investigator, good at communicating, who can find their motivation flagging; the analytical and evaluative monitor evaluator, who can be perceptive but cynical; the reliable company worker, who plods along and reaches goals but can display a degree of rigidity and inflexibility; the mediating team worker who tends to be both a communication hub and coordinator, using effective social skills to propel the team along; and the conscientious and deadline-conscious completer-finisher (Johansen, 2003, online). This author would argue, however, that the team leader could occupy one or more of these roles, but if they have a manager, may not be viewed by others to be a member of the team, per se, and so not included in the ‘inventory of team members. Thus there may be a flaw in this theory, because there is no specification of how a manager would necessarily fit in to this team. Team leadership in this context, however, is complicated by the nature of healthcare practice in which teams are comprised of multiple professionals and occupational groups (Cockburn, 2004 p 66), and thus a nurse manager of a ward has to be able to be a leader across different professions and disciplines and may need to display different leadership behaviours in order to achieve this (Murphy, 2005, p 128). One way in which a ward manager might lead in this manner is through quality management activities (Sale, 2005), and the use and promotion of evidence for practice, a process which requires multiprofessional input (McLaren et al, 2002 p 444). But in this case, the issues which have proved most challenging relate to the ways in which team members manage their workloads, and perhaps also the ways in which different professionals within the team communicate with each other. The manager must lead the team towards a new way of functioning effectively, by ensuring all members are functioning appropriately and fulfilling their different roles (Amos et al, 2005 p 10). This author would argue that within the greater quality agenda, the common goals of quality assurance should act as a common driving force for better teamworking (Martin, 2003). In this instance, the ward manager will be working to encourage better multidisciplinary team (McFadzean, 1998), but this does not mean that they have the authority to discipline some members of the team, such as the medical staff, and here, historical divides between the professions may impede the process of team building (Hartley, 2002, p 178). In this situation, Nurse M and Nurse F should both have felt able to ask for assistance if they were busy, and should have checked the TTA prescription, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the SHO who wrote the prescription. Legally, however, all are accountable. But the ward manager, as team leader, would lead by example by accepting the shared accountability of this omission (Sheldon and Parker, 1997, p 8). Thus the nurses should be supported to accept this shared responsibility, but at the same time should be supported to examine their practice and see where it could be improved, such as looking at how they could improve delegation skills so that basic tasks are more effectively delegated and advanced nursing responsibilities are better met (Curtis and Nichol, 2004, p 26), and how they can improve interprofessional communication (Kenny, 2002). This author would argue that nurses in the ward setting are all required to develop leadership skills, as an extension of their professional role, and this equates to the concept of distributed leadership (Harris and Spillane, 2008, p 31), and within this model, leaders are developed, supported and empowered, at every point on the scale of organisational hierarchy. Therefore, in this situation, the ward manager would need to understand who acts as what within the team roles inventory (Belbin, 1993), and also support leadership skills to emerge amongst staff at every level. The HCA described in this scenario, for example, exerts significant influence, and these leadership attributes could be harnessed to improve team working, rather than destabilise the hierarchy. The role of the manager as team leader in this scenario is clearly also to provide feedback and evaluation to the team, and to explore the consequences of these circumstances in a way that should prevent it from occurring again (London et al, 1999, p 5). Providing feedback in an empowering manner can improve performance within the team (London et al, 1999, p 5), and therefore, evidence from available research would suggest that effective leadership would achieve this through multiple approaches. Research suggests that optimal team performance and quality of care requires good leadership (Beech, 2002 p 35; Green, 2003 p 27). This seems to require what Murphy (2005 p 128), describes as charismatic, transformational leadership, in which â€Å"charismatic transformational leaders espouse intellectual stimulation and individual consideration to empower staff and enhance patient care. Nurse managers that develop and foster transformational leadership can surmount oppressive traditions and confidently navigate a complex and rapidly changing health care environment.† However, leaders such as this will continue to struggle with the hierarchies and inherited culture and traditions of the professions (Murphy 2005 p 128). But it is through such activities that proactive nurse leaders mould the future of nursing itself, and contribute significantly to the quality agenda (Shirey, 2006, p 256). Thus the leader in this scenario needs to re-educate the team, and act as a role model fo r the team to develop their own leadership capabilities (Cummings et al, 2008, p 240). It would appear that in this situation, the risk involved was avoided by luck rather than judgement, and it is imperative that the ward manager addresses the behaviours and habits which have led to the omission concerned. However, it would not be enough to simply discipline those concerned, because multiple factors have affected this occurrence, and the staff involved will have to continue to deal with these factors in the daily working lives. Therefore, leadership will lead, guide and empower staff to be able to better address their work roles whilst managing the competing demands on their time and attention, through better self management, better communication, better team working, and with clear, motivational guidance from a true leader.

A Dictatorial Education :: Free Essays Online

A Dictatorial Education My secondary schooling was quite similar to some of the insights in Jonathan Kozol's The Night is Dark and I am Far From Home. I attended Cardinal Spellman High School, a Catholic secondary school in the Bronx, NY. Spellman required girls to wear a uniform skirt and boys to wear beige or blue pants with a tie and a white shirt. A blue school sweater was worn by all and boys were required to be clean shaven everyday for school- uniformity was obviously essential to my education. The teaching ethic at Spellman was one of the teacher exerting supreme authority over their students. Students were not encouraged to express their own opinions or feelings but were taught rather to accept the teacher or textbook's opinions as gospel. Once while interpreting a poem I was told that my interpretation was false because it was contrary to my teacher's. I did not understand why or how there could be only one interpretation of a particular poem. Extreme authority over students also extended outside of the classroom. Teachers were not willing to listen to reasons why a student was late but rather assumed that the cause of their lateness was because of some activity which broke school regulations. After feeling sick one morning I decided to go to the nurse before going to homeroom. As a result I was marked absent eventhough I was obviously present. When I explained the situation to my dean I was told that eventhough I was having an asthma attack that I should have first gone up the flight of stairs to my homeroom, asked permission to go to the nurse, get a pass, and then finally go to the nurse. I could not believe my dean when she told me this and when I asked why I was threatened with another day of JUG if I did not calm down. JUG, (Justice Under God), ithe Catholic school version of detention. Throughout my schooling students were poisoned with the notion that if they decided to put forth an opinion or did not shave one day for class that they should be punished harshly under God. What happened to the gentle, loving and forgiving God that I learned about in sixth period religion class? Is using the name of God in such a fashion positive reinforcement of his loving nature which we are drilled with every day for four years?

God Chosen Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  God’s chosen examples. When God calls you must answer, my Baptist preacher bellows from his pulpit. Everyone has a purpose on this earth, but God has chosen a special few to help him carry out his divine plan, he continues. Countless Sunday mornings I spent listening to my pastor preaching about man’s encounters with God. He explains the significance of the encounters to the people of antiquity and he even relates the encounters to our every day lives. If one has met with God and seen His glory he is truly blessed. My pastor is correct no man has walked away from an encounter with God without being blessed, or the experience altering his life. Each divine experience occurs under very different circumstances, but all of them end with man having a better understanding of his purpose on this earth. The character could wrestle with the Lord and demand a blessing, like Jacob, or like Moses he could have been drawn to God by his own curiosity. The Lord came to Elijah when he was at the lowest point of his life and he wanted nothing more than to die, and He blessed him. Isaiah volunteered to help God to teach to the people of Israel, and the Lord blessed Isaiah for his enthusiasm. Job’s encounter with God is a combination of each of the above experiences. His experience exemplifies the individual relationship with God. The encounters with God may appear to be similar and indeed they do have common elements, but there is an important difference in the way God selects each character to fulfill his mission. In the early encounters, God selects the individuals. He calls and they answer. Towards the end the accounts however, the characters go in search for God’s blessing, unlike their early counterparts they demand or challenge God and their enthusiasm is rewarded. The different episodes show the gradual change between God and humanity. Throughout the accounts in the Bible God has loses favor with man, and this loss of favor is due chiefly to man’s failure to obey God ’s laws. God’s selection of His chosen people reflects clearly God’s love for the early patriarchs. God did love the later characters, but towards the end of the accounts God loses a tremendous amount of faith in humanity. Nonetheless the God does bless all whom He encounters, and His presence to each character help... ...ion of how an individual could find favor in God. The answer was even if one has nothing and can not stand on your own have faith in God and He will prevail. Job’s story gave individuals hope, because even if God was angry with the group one might be saved if he lived right and had faith. The story summed up the tenacious attitude of Jacob, the curiosity of Moses, the downtrodden sprit of Elijah and the humility of Isaiah. The story of Job was an every man story, because it combined tenants, which all men could relate to their lives. God blesses all everyone who recognizes and accepts His power. From Job’s story humanity is given guidelines to follow in order to be blessed by God. Jacob and Moses’ stories demonstrate God’s earlier position on the condition of humanity, and later character’s stories depict how the relationship disappears over time. After the story of Isaiah, man feels abandoned and all hope seems lost. However, the prophecy of the Messiah by of Isaiah and Job rejuvenates the hope of continuity for humanity. A promise, which was given to man a long time ago, but due to his disobedience over time man, has lost the essential tenants to uphold his end of the bargain.

Pollution Essay: Effects of Global Warming :: Climate Change

An issue that has been stirring up controversy all over the news and in the current presidential debate is global warming. The effects have been seen all over the world and global warming is quickly becoming a major topic of concern. Global warming is the increase of the earth’s temperature. When the earth’s temperature increases, we have a climate change. When this climate change occurs, so do the changes in the sea level, rainfall, wildlife, and this obviously affects humans. (Globalwarming) It is caused by the release of carbon dioxide also known as Co2. Carbon dioxide is released by the use of man made fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and naturals gasses. Co2 traps heat inside the earth’s atmosphere that would usually be in outer space, which causes the Greenhouse Effect. As the earth’s surface heats it becomes too warm to live in and many people, animals and plants will suffer. (EPA) The earth’s temperature naturally changes over the years, but over the last half of century, the record high temperatures drastically increased. Scientists have even warned us that in the last ten years we have had record high temperatures, which means the average temperatures in the United States could increase up to nine degrees. (NDRC) A major result of global warming that I have noticed by living in Florida is that it is making the hurricanes stronger and more treacherous. Every year, Florida gets hit by hurricanes and tropical storms, but during the last five years the damages have really increased. There has been lots of damage done to my home and neighborhood. As a resident of Florida, I have to take more precautions when these storms hit, because I never know how strong they can become. We have had our roof blown off, flood damage and trees falling over in our home. Global warming makes the ocean water warmer, which makes the storms much more powerful. They can easily jump from a category 2 to a category 4 storm. Again, there has been lots of damage done to my home and my neighborhood. (NDRC) Another frightening effect of Global warming is the rising of the sea levels. Scientists have discovered that this could eventually lead to coastal flooding. Areas in the United States that could be heavily affected are all of the eastern sea board, areas of Gulf of Mexico, and almost all of Florida.

Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas

With reference to the poems of Antonio Machado, Juan Ramin Jiminez, and Federico Garcia Lorca studied in the course, discuss the uses of poetry and the ways in which the three writers exploit this medium Poetry is a vast genre of literature that is used to express emotions, feelings and ideas. Every writer has different reasons for expressing their ideas through this medium. Antonio Machado, Juan Ramin Jiminez and Federico Garcia Lorca were all Spanish poets who lived around the same era. Does this mean their uses of poetry were the same? Did they write poems for the same reasons? In order to discuss how they have used poetry it is necessary to understand their poems in more detail. At first glance it seems that Antonio Machado explores nature and the beauty of it in his poetry. In his poem Crepisculo Machado describes a nature scene. Although he doesn't use the first person, it is clear from the content that the poem is implicitly about him. He has therefore, used nature to mirror himself. The cold images of stone and marble in the poem, like the statue of Cupid, communicate a lack of expression on the poet's part. With Cupid having connotations of love and with the statue being constructed from stone it is possible to say that Machado finds it difficult to express love. Antonio Machado, in this respect, has exploited the medium, with nature as a main theme, to reflect himself to the reader. In displaying his lack of love through poetry, he is able to get across exactly what he wants to say by emphasising aspects with repetition, rhyme and other stylistic features. Writing his feelings in prose, for Machado, would not have had the same effect. Another example of Machado using nature to describe himself is in his poem A Un Olmo Seco. He fears that his life is near to its end like that of the tree and he only has hope left. Here, Machado is using poetry to express anxiety and concern about the ending of his life. The descriptions which he writes about the tree are descriptions of how he sees himself in relation to life in general. In this way, he is using poetry to put across his worries and to tell people about how he sees himself in comparison to nature. Machado's poem El Limonero, however, is not, on the surface, a description about nature but a search for something. The poet tries to recall an innocent childhood illusion in which he attempted to pick up some fruit out of some water and then discovered that it was merely a reflection. Machado communicates the difficulty in finding the illusion he remembers from childhood, with a contrast between heart and mind -he knows he won't find it again but he still has hopes. This can be related to A Un Olmo Seco when he hopes for another ‘milagro de primavera'1 (miracle of spring). Poetry has been employed by Antonio Machado to illustrate his despondency on aging and on realising that things aren't what they used to be. El Limonero describes how the happiness and simplicity of being a child can never be regained. Poetry is a good way of expressing deep feelings and emotions because it can be adapted in ways that prose cannot. The letter form and use of the informal second person of the poem A Josi Mario Palacio tells the reader that this is a poem written to a friend. Machado is asking his friend whether spring has arrived and mentions typical spring-time occurrences. He introduces a third party with the use of â€Å"su† and it is later revealed that the poet is talking about the death of his wife. After reading A Josi Mario Palacio it could be said that the hopelessness he feels in A Un Olmo Seco is because of the death of his wife and the anxieties about his own life. Machado has used poetry to project grief out of himself onto nature without showing self pity. In writing this, he may have been able to come to terms with his emotions. For Machado, poetry is used to say things that he feels cannot be expressed in another way. Poetry and can be used when prose and normal word patterns are unable to put across the idea or feeling in the desired way. Unlike Machado, however, Jiminez uses poetry to illustrate his outlook on the mysteries of life. His poem El Nombre is directed to the intelligence and the brain. Jiminez feels the necessity to write something and asks his intelligence for the name of things. Poetry is being used by Jiminez to communicate the difficulties in language and expression. He describes the complexity in communicating a feeling to a reader. Like the poems of Machado, Jiminez has used poetry to overcome the difficulties of conveying an idea. irboles Hombres, nevertheless, is written in the form of a traditional ballad. The subject of this poem is the impermanence of human life. It is a story about a man who goes into a wood and hears the trees talking. They talk about him and think he's a tree too. Jiminez is describing the brevity of human life in comparison to the seemed permanence of nature; he is saying how human life is temporary. The trees existed before, and will exist after his life. Jiminez has, in this sense, used poetry to communicate his views about human existence in comparison to nature, which has existed since the beginning of time. Jiminez can be described as a mystic poet despite him being agnostic. In some ways he uses language poetically to develop the idea of a mystic God. This can be seen in the poem Soy Animal de Fondo. Jiminez explores the connection between material and immaterial. For example, feelings of warmth from the sun are not material even though the sun itself is. The poem, like El Nombre, recalls a search but this time it is for God. There is a progression throughout the poem to the realisation that God was there all along. Poetry, here, is used to explain that life is beyond material even though people only realise it when they are taken away from the material world. Jiminez has made use of poetry to recall the search about the unknown consciousness that the material world hides. The poetry of Jiminez is about subjects related to his life and it has been said that ‘vida y poesia son una y la misma cosa'2 (life and poetry are one and the same thing) for Jiminez. This indicates that he uses poetry, like Machado, to reflect himself and his personality. In the case of Federico Garcia Lorca, poetry is often applied to express feelings of marginalisation within society. Being homosexual Lorca was subject to persecution for not conforming to the expectations of the society in which he lived. In his ballads Lorca uses gypsies to express the exclusion he felt during his life. Gypsies were, like Lorca, considered to be outsiders and they too were not respected. In his ballad Romance de la Luna, Luna Lorca explores a scene about a gypsy boy who is ill and feels persecuted by the moon. He explains the interpretation of the death of a child from an uncivilised and unscientific mind. The gypsies can accept that the moon was the cause of death, because to their minds it is plausible. Civilised society cannot accept this idea and so gypsies, like Lorca were labelled as outsiders. With poetry Lorca can express the ostracism he felt without making a direct statement. Poetry works better than prose in this respect because Lorca can make use of imagery and symbolism to convey his idea. Another gypsy ballad written by Lorca is Preciosa y el Aire. The wind tries to abduct a gypsy girl, who is playing a tambourine. The wind represents the sexual impulse of nature and Preciosa sees it as a threat. Her primitive impulse tells her she is in danger but when she goes into the civilised world, i. e. the English consul's house, her experience is oppressed. Poetry has been used here to show the sense of exclusion that Lorca feels exists in society for those who step out of the norm. He is telling his readers about the feelings of persecution that existed in his life through the form of another equally mistreated figure in society. Romance Sonimbulo is again from Lorca's book Romancero Gitano (Gypsy Ballads) and is about an injured man seeking refuge at a gypsy dwelling. A gypsy girl has been waiting for him for so long that she's given up and killed herself. Lorca has used surrealism within his poetry by placing words in a non realist order. This form is used to describe the difference between the civilised, realist life and the somewhat surreal, gypsy life. There is also a reoccurrence of the colour green. Green has positive and, especially in Spain, negative connotations. For example green can signify nature and life but also rotten fruit. In Spain it can also indicate sexual perversion, in the case of ‘un hombre verde' meaning ‘a dirty old man'. The repetition of green could be said to be telling the reader about Lorca's ‘own libidinal tendency towards the forbidden fruit'3; this meaning his homosexuality. From all 3 poems it can be said that: Sexuality (†¦ is the subjective nub (†¦ ) where the violent context of ostracism and persecution (†¦ ) may be seen as a projection of the poet's inner anxiety. 4 Lorca has used language and poetry in his work, not only to express marginalisation, but also to show how his sexuality is perceived by society. From his judgment homosexuality is perceived as verde. All three poets and their work can be related and linked to each other. They all use poetry for personal reasons and convey their individual ideas through it. They use many devices within their poems to help put across meaning, for example, with the use of nature and gypsies. For writers, poetry is a tool to be exploited because there are no rules. Poets can make up the rules of what they write and in this can add to the affect that the poems have on a reader. Machado, Jiminez and Lorca have exploited poetry to their own means and used it for individual reasons. They have all used nature, in some way, to help their poetry have the desired effect or meaning. Lorca uses a more traditional form of poetry, the ballad, as it would have been very familiar to readers and so would be able to convey the exact idea that he wanted. The main and most common use of poetry between all three poets is the need to express a feeling, whether it is anxiety, absence or an opinion. In writing their poems, the poets have reflected themselves and revealed their outlooks on life. They have used this medium as a language tool to convey exactly their feelings, opinions and beliefs; the sort of ideas where prose will not suffice. Poetry is used by writers like Machado, Jiminez and Lorca because it can get across a meaning and can appeal to emotions in ways that other literature forms cannot. Imagery and symbolism are a big part of poetry and help writers put across detailed ideas. It is difficult to get across a subtle and implicit meaning with the use of prose and this is a reason why some of the poets have used this medium. Furthermore, poetry is an art that can communicate the beauty of ideas, scenes and thoughts and it has the power to describe a subject or tell a story effectively. For Machado, Jiminez and Lorca poetry is simply a way of escaping the normality and mundane routine of everyday life as they express their ideas through this medium.