Coming of Age on the New Jersey Shore Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coming of Age on the New Jersey Shore - Essay Example As the years passed, I became more aware of New York City just an hour away. Here was the greatest mix of diversity in the world, yet strangely troubled by a melting pot that was boiling over. I was safe in my small white-collar bedroom community, so close and yet so far away. I was dismayed that the life of security I led was taken for granted, while people on my doorstep were struggling with the issues of crime, drugs, and alienation. I became ever more interested in trying to find a way to help the world politically, economically, and socially. When 9/11 shook the planet it also rocked my world of safety and security. As I thought about the people who died in an attempt just to lead their daily lives, it drew me out of my complacency. The bravery of the rescue workers that lost their lives to save others would not be lost on me. Certainly there was something I could do with my future that could help prevent this tragedy from ever happening again. My experience with athletics had taught me that it aint over until its over. For me, my dedication to improving the conditions of the world around me had just begun. My parents instilled in me a sense of duty to the world around me. They would fulfill their duty to the world by their attention to charity and volunteer work. It was always just accepted that you would do something for the good of your community or mankind. It was this commitment to citizenship that urged me to seek a career where I could be of a benefit to the rest of the planet. Â  

Identify Current Thinking On Leadership

Identify Current Thinking On Leadership In the last few decade it has been found the relation between the effective leadership style and culture is very critical. For example, the multinational organization like Daimler Chrysler, IBM forces their HR and other department to recognize the culture limitation of the organization and the leadership style. A number of researchers have done their work on understanding the impact of culture on the leadership practices and vice versa (ea.,Gessner, Arnold, Mobley, 1999; Hofstede,1991;house, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, Gupta, (2004) Leslie Van Velsor,1998). International literature has been reviewed and the generalization of leadership theories being assessed by Dorfmen(2004) and chemers( 1997), both of them found out some mixed result, yet some behavioral like supportive leadership and transnational leadership style result similar across the culture. While the cultural consequences has been observed with directive leadership. From the last fifty years the thinking patterns about the leadership, whether in a board room or in communities has been heavily influenced by mode of heroic leadership. Traditionally the idea about the leadership was considered up to skills, qualities and behavior of individual who forces and influences other to take action and achieve the given task or common goal by using their position and power. But later on as the more studied and research on the topic has been done it has been found that this way of thinking is a mere part of leadership theory and it fail to explain the leadership as a process build by relationship that are dynamic, fluid and non-directive in nature. Leadership understanding is a unique process that requires to think very differently about the changes had taken place and how we work others individual and groups. To understand the Current leadership style and thinking it is necessary to understand the history about it. How it is developed or evolved. Unless by understanding them it is difficult to comment on their evaluation. This paper provides a brief summary of the different style leadership and their relation with cultural implication. A Brief History about Leadership Great Man theories: These theories are based on belief that leaders have some exceptional born qualities in them. Here the term man is used intentionally as it has been observed the leaders of primitive time are male whether from military, politics or king etc. these lead the next school of trait theories. Trait theories: This theory argues that leaders have some common trait among them. It can be said according this theory all leaders are having some common ingredient. Though this theory also fail to explain how the leader e.g. Margaret Thatcher or Winston Churchill with these characteristics fail to perform as a leader. While some despite having those trait became a successful leader. Behavioral theories: These theories are developed to explain the failure of Trait theory, the initial work to develop these theories has been started in 1940 to till 1960. These theories are based on leadership behavior rather than their trait. What leaders do rather than what the quality they have? Different style and pattern of behavior of leaders are analyzed and observed. This is one of the most interested area for practiced managers. (Arnold, Mobley, 1999; Hofstede,1991) Situational Leadership theories: This theory argues that different situation demand different type leadership style. Sometime it requires being autocratic, some time democratic some time participative. It recognizes the demand of situation and a leadership style has to be changed according to situation. It also suggests a different type of leadership style is required within the same organization at different level. Contingency Theory: It can be said it is the advancement of the Situational Leadership theory. Its focus on identifying the situational variable which predict the best suitable style of leadership style for the given situation. Transactional Theory: This theory emphasis the relation between the leader and the follower. It focuses on the mutual benefit and common interest. According to this theory, the leader commits something in return to his/her follower for favoring or following him or her. It is more or less give and take style, hence known as transactional theory as name suggest no bonding after the deliverable. Transformational Theory: The motto here is to change role of leadership by transformation, by motivation, by education, by emotion etc. New leadership theory Relates to Charismatic, Visionary, Transformational. In the 1980s, the new definition of a leader has been given by using the above word. Learning organizations and distributed leadership: All of the theories discussed above take an individualistic perspective of a leader, in current practices a new school of thought is becoming more popular known as dispersed leadership. This approach tells us to distribute leadership spread it across the organization, societies, geography, and politics. This approach sees leadership as a process that is diffused through the cultures, organization, societies rather than laying a few handful of people designated as leader. The locus has been shifted from developing a leader to developing leaderful organization or societies. It is evident from the above theory that none of the theory explains leadership comprehensively. The Distributed leadership practice fight with the idea of difficult time demand a transformational and charismatic leader. To satisfy this need there are a number of themes that are important for systematic analysis of leadership are context, perceived leadership, behavioral requirements, development methods and capabilities.( Dorfmen, 2004;chemers, 1997) Context: A leadership cannot be discussed in isolation it has some external environment some extraneous and variable factor. By considering this factor, a leadership style has to be evolved or developed. For example, the requirement of a government office job is quite different from those required private sector jobs. Alternatively, the requirement for a job academician or researcher the qualities might be different which required for a sales job. Perceived Need: A lot of researches in 1960s suggest that the context lead to the need. However from the late 1940s there has been a technical and social aspect to analysis of organization hence it is not surprising to see that some researchers argument over the ideological aspect to the perceived need for leadership. For example Top management do not buy the idea that people follow them because they have authorityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they like to feel that they lead because they have the quality to lead (Miller and Form 1964) By putting aside the need of the top manager whether social or psychological and going by the perspective of stakeholders and other staff, the perceived leadership requirement for the situation depend upon the expectation of the individual and group involved as well as from the reality of situation too. It has been found the expectation of people and group themselves be a reflection of the existing belief, culture, and norms. For example leading a service centre is different from leading a audit team. The group members expectation from the leader is different in both the group due the culture, knowledge, belief and practice both the group follow. Hence affect the effective leadership style. Behavioral Requirements and competencies The leaders require having some behavioral requirement and competencies. Many models have been suggested to define these requirement and competencies. Though these three are common among them. Cognitive: Drawing the big picture and making direction to modify it. Making change happen: This quality talk about motivational skills and get the work done from the subordinate Inter-organizational: To work with the college and partner and create a healthy environment Current Thinking Transformational Leadership (TL) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) are the most popular views in the current moment. Though it cannot be suggested that they are right because they are popular rather they are right because indeed a lot of research and scholars work has been done on both the views and they explain the leadership up to a great extent in current scenario. (Miller and Forum 1964) Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is more than transaction leadership. Anderson, TD(1992) talk transforming leadership is about vision, planning, communication and creative action which has a positive and motivating effect on the group and individual under a clear set of values and beliefs, to accomplish a desired measureable goals. This transforming moves similarly impact on the personal development and the productivity or corporation. It can be said the heart of transformational leadership is inspiring vision. The transformational leaders motivate people to achieve beyond expectation for the interest of group, corporation, and society on the verse of personal interest. TL makes a positive impact on morality, empowerment and motivation of an individual and group. (Routledge, 2006; Transformational Leadership; pg 34-38) The main characteristics of a TL is discussed by various leaders is highlighted below. Charismatic: Charismatic is a metaphor like a role model whom other follow and strive to emulate those characters who align the other people around a common goal and purpose. Inspirational: This word talks about the leadership quality, which provides the meaning and optimism about the common goal and its attainability. Intellectually Stimulating: This quality of the leader encourage the follower to develop a leader within them and verify the basic assumption involved in a project and consider the problem from a unique and new perspectives. Individually considerate: This quality of leader explain how leader work in a team, work with their follower , find out their need, figured out their self interest and develop their potential and how to enhance their expectations. A study conducted by Tom Peters found that TL leaders in the public sector where they took off their interest from the financial, management issue and government out target have had to go. On the other hand it can be said great characters are likely to have great weaknesses too, which lead to hamper their position, their colleagues, their followers and their organizations too. Although the above stanza portray the negative image of a transactional leader, but it cant be generalized because in the last decade it has been observed TL has moved beyond the Great Leader to distributed leadership and has been became a more balanced towards recognizing the importance of good management. Here the emphasis is given on the result, the process, the practices and a continuous learning environment for an individual and the for the group too. (John Storey Michael Fullan; Leading a cultural change) Emotional Intelligence (EI) Daniel Goleman has researched and written about the term a lot. According to him this term and its application to leadership behaviors to neuroscience in a manner that correlate human thinking and feeling and explain how our right brain concurs over the left. Hence to be a emotionally intelligent leader it is prerequisite to be self aware and self managed. The term given to this awareness is personal competences. Goleman found in his research that people with high EI score are more successful than the people who have lower EI. The Youngsters who were low on Emotional intelligence were prone to criminology. Hence Goleman has proved EI is a consideration of leadership. The social completeness the most critical for a leader comes from the development of the persona competences. These talk about social awareness and relationship management. A set of competencies lead to emotional intelligence. These skill set give the power the of understanding the persons ability, control and monitor his or her emotion efficient and effectively and to read the others and then manage and influence the other emotional state (Caurdon, 1999; Goleman, 1998). Goleman explain it within five dimensions. The following are the set behavioral attributes of the each area. Self- awareness the key stone of emotional intelligence, it is the ability of any individual to recognize the feeling of him or her and is to make an actual self- assessment and self-confidence. Self- Management is the art of controlling the disruptive emotions and to controls the impulses. Keep maintain the standards of honesty and integrity, be comfortable with the novel approaches and ideas and take the responsibility of somebody else performance. Motivation is the ability of a leader to influence the other people to outperform or facilitate towards the common goal. It consists of achievement, commitment, initiative, and optimism. Empathy word describes how a leader involved in the feelings, perspectives, concern and needs of the other. How a leader understands the problem of follower and rectifies them. Social Skills are basic to emotional intelligence. They include the persona of a leader his ability to get the desirable response from the others by communicating or presenting his or her viewpoint in a manner that is to be accepted by individuals and societies, inspire the individual and groups, nurturing the relationship, and working towards the common goal by creating group synergy. Past decade we have seen many leaders having great EI got succeeded in their life. Though it has been a topic of debate among emotional and intelligence which quality is more important for a leader. It can be said these two qualities are not complementary for a leader rather than these are supplementary quality. These work together, because an emotional leader has to be intelligent too or an intelligent leader has to be emotionally intelligent too. Culture Culture can be defined as knowledge, belief, idea and behavior, shared attitude, values, goal, and practices, custom and ritual performed by any individual and group or societies. The meaning of culture has been changed with the passage of time and from context to context. In early eighteenth and nineteenth century in Europe culture is considered as the improvement in cultivation, in the same way it had various definition with time to time. These points can be said about the culture. (John Story and Michel Fullan) A phenomenon wave, which surround us Culture itself tells us how it is evolved and helps us to understand its creation, development, manipulation and management. A leadership cannot be defined in isolation without considering the cultural. To understand and an organization or society it is imperative to understand its culture. Culture is a combination of customs and rights. Good managers must know and understand the customs and rights. Each organization has their own set of belief and standard referred as culture. As an outsider approach to any organization he needs to understand the culture at first of the organization or society. It Consist of the language, customs, traditions, standards and values, published and publicly announced values, philosophy, rules in organization, group interaction, thinking pattern, paradigms and shared knowledge for socialization and symbols meanings. Leader must adopt and suit their style according to situation and culture in which they operate. For example what works in china may or may not be likely to work in Canada or France. One can be effective in Canada by humiliating the departmental store employee but thats not guarantee that it will be applicable to Japan and India. As different individual needs different treatment based upon their culture. If humiliated employee leave the organization hence it creates more difficulties for a leader as he need to hire another one train him hours and to tell him process and systems and it will take some time for the employee to get acquainted with the new organization. National Culture affects the leadership style due to that a leader cannot choose their style at their own wish. There are some societal constraints over that. For example in Korea a leader is expected to be caring about their follower while in the Arab a leader is who shows kindness and generosity without being asked is considered by other Arab as week. In Japan leaders are expected to be humble and participative in common forum. Consisting with the contingency approach, a leader need to adjust their working style according to the aspect the organization, industry and culture in which they operate. For example a manipulative or altercative style is compatible with high power distance, like Russia, Spain, Far East, Latin Countries and Spain. While a participative style is most likely to be associated with culture with low distance like Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Power distance ranking is a good indicator of employee willingness to accept of participative or autocratic leadership. (Globe Project) Conclusion No theory or model is able to explain and provide a satisfactory explanation of leadership. Indeed there is no common consensus on the meaning or definition of leadership among all theory and scholars in first place. Most of the theory is extension or improved version of the pervious theory or partial explanation of leadership within itself. Many theories are based on personal or even limited, biased research referring to particular philosophical or ideological points of view. As a researcher get the answer of the question as he or she asks. As per Yukis wide-ranging review of the leadership literature in 1989 most of the theories are conceptually weak and lack in strong empirical support. Numbers of empirical studies on leadership has been done but the result are most of the time are contradictory or inconclusive. A related shortcoming of the current leadership is the separation of tracks like cognitive, emotional, spirituality and behavioral aspects. None of the theories and model has been reviews except servant leadership theory address the spiritual element of peoples life. Some theory is superficial like research by the industrial society in 1996. Though its debatable whether leadership affects the culture or culture affect the leadership, as both are interrelated they cannot run in isolation of each other. A leader cannot be successful if he does not follow the culture norms. Or if the leader is so much powerful then he can spoil the culture and create a new society or culture. But history has proved even the government, king and leader who autocratic and tries to implement their ideas and thought without understanding the demand of society or culture fail to perform. Hence it is very imperative to be any leader to align their leadership style with the culture of particular society and what the time demand.

Comparing Grimms The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel :: Childrens Literature Essays

Comparing Grimms' The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel In Germany, fairy tales were a part of day-to-day life and "the Germans have repeatedly used fairy tales to explain the world to themselves" (Zipes 75). In fact, Kinder-und Hausmà ¤rchen was indeed in nearly every household in Germany. These fairy tales written by the Grimm Brothers are known for being "German fairy tales." So what makes these tales so Germanic and others tales not? How do Grimms' "German tales" compare to others? Through evaluating two works by the Grimms, The Brave Little Tailor and Aschenputtel, we will answer these questions. The characteristics that the Grimm fairy tales possess do seem to be quite Germanic. The German people are usually very stubborn, more violent than not, and very sarcastic. In The Brave Little Tailor, the cat carries the characteristics of a typical German. He has gone and collected partridges for the King and returned with gold for his master. He then tells his master that this gold will not make them content, that they will need more to be happy. How stubborn of the cat to be so greedy in nature. This tale begins with the death of the miller and ends with the death of the king. Although not giving gruesome details of the death, this continues to have a feeling of violence. The last trait is that of sarcasm. The cat is trying to fend for his life against being made into a pair gloves while the narrators, the Grimms, make fun of a cat being able to talk and walk like a human. This seems to be a serious part of the story, however, the Brothers make it light hearted by contri buting sarcastic humor. In Aschenputtel, there is not one character that possesses all the Germanic traits. The stepmother demonstrates being stubborn when she continuously finds chores for Cinderella to do. First she puts only one bowl of lentils in the ashes and the next time she uses two bowls. When Cinderella achieves both tasks with time remaining. The sarcasm is very light in this tale but is shown through the repetition of the pecking of the birds. It is also shown when the pigeons sing songs that rhyme. Aschenputtel is a very violent tale. It begins, like The Brave Little Tailor, with the death of Cinderella's mother.

Literary elements in the bluest eye Essay

In 1970, Toni Morrison published an intense novel, The Bluest Eye, to show the world the effects that internal racism had on African American families during the 1940s. The novel begins during the month of autumn, a time of confusion, contempt, and corruption in the life of the young narrator, Claudia. In the course of this portion of the story, Morrison eloquently portrays the potential effectiveness of literature through her master use of literary elements. Setting, mood, tone, and imagery are among the most prominent elements used to convey the harshness of the character’s lives in this rather contentious plot. During the course of autumn, Morrison takes the reader through the numerous settings in the lives of the novel’s characters, including the McTeer home, the Breedlove Apartment, and the whorehouse directly above the apartment. All of which are located in Lorain, Ohio. The McTeer house, home to Mr. and Mrs. McTeer, Claudia, Frieda, and, for some time, Pecola, is conveyed to be a somewhat adequate living space for the family; however, it is by no means comfortable. Claudia describes the space as being old, cold, green, peopled by roaches and mice; yet, this dwelling was a white man’s mansion compared to the retched condition of the Breedlove apartment. Hidden in the frame of an abandoned store, resided the equally abandoned bodies of Pecola, Pauline, and Cholly Breedlove. The building was a mirror of the very lives of its occupants; both were virtually invisible to the outside world, bland in adornment, and scarred by the effects of their pasts. Seemingly out of place, directly above the Breedlove apartment lies the livelier home of the neighborhood whores, China, Poland, and Mrs. Marie. This location was Pecola’s escape, the one place she could forget her life in the apartment and enjoy the companionship of people who cared about her. The settings of the characters as described in the beginning of Morrison’s novel are essential to understanding their fundamental nature as human beings. In addition to the severe descriptions of her novel’s setting, Morrison reveals the character’s innermost beings with an evident mood of embitterment within the first portion of, The Bluest Eye. It is a mood most powerfully conveyed through Pecola’s utter contempt toward the white race. It first made apparent to the reader when Pecola arrives to the McTeer home and drinks milk from the Shirley Temple cup. Drinking all three quarts of the family’s supply of milk, Pecola cannot seem to get enough of to drink. Or, is it that she continues to drink the white goodness in hopes of changing her chocolate skin into the beautiful fair complexion of the young child star featured on the cup? Claudia reveals her resentment toward little Temple when she sneeringly drifts into jealous thoughts about the golden-locked girl dancing with her dearest Bojangles. The reader encounters this same attitude in Claudia as she dismembers a toy doll in an effort to figure out what the blue-eyed beauty attained that made it so loveable. During autumn, Morrison portrays a corrupting mood of pure bitterness toward the white population through the attitudes of the novel’s characters. Along with a revelation of the characters’ dispositions through the setting and mood of her novel, Toni Morrison enables the reader to gain a better grasp on the true meaning of her work by the colloquial and cynical tone of the plot. Morrison often uses vernacular that is common to the characters in the novel, so that the reader can relate to the novel’s situations on a more personal level, which gives the story an idiomatic tone. The novel reflects a cynical tone by the way that the characters, most especially the Breedloves, adopt the world’s opinion of their inherent ugliness onto themselves. When Pecola looks at herself in the mirror, she can see her dark deep-set eyes and bushy eyebrows; yet, she fails to notice her high cheekbones and voluptuous lips. Marked by this cynical assumption, the characters lives are eternally condemned to carry the burdens of a self-imposed conjecture. Morrison gives the plot a colloquial and cynical tone, with the intention of conveying the true essence of the novel. Imagery is another enlightening literary device implemented by Morrison. Claudia’s puking incident in the opening of the novel is the first crude picture the reader is given of the realities of the McTeer’s lives. Though it is quite the gruesome portrait, Morrison successfully gets the message of the family’s harsh situation across early in the novel. Imagery can also be found in the repetitive descriptions of the blonde haired, blue-eyed white population. Morrison’s exaggerated reflections of Pecola’s appearance shows the reader that the characters were so consumed with their lack of self-worth that they are blinded from the truth. The use of imagery in the novel shows the extent to which the African American race suffers with internal racism during the course of autumn. The Bluest Eye draws a horrific, yet realistic picture of the mark that internal racism left on America in the 1940s. Morrison effectively portrays this portrait by the use of various literary elements. The most frequently and prominently used in her novel are setting, mood, tone, and imagery.

Emily Dickinson’s “A Certain Slant of Light” Analysis Essay Essay

In her poem, There’s a certain Slant of light, Emily Dickinson uses metaphors and imagery to convey the feeling of solemnity and despair at winter’s twilight. The slanted light that she sees, is a metaphor for her battle with depression. Anyone who is familiar with Dickinson’s background will have a better understanding of what she is trying to say in this poem. Dickinson was known as a recluse and spent most of her life isolated from the outside world. The few people that she did come in contact with over the years are said to have had a major impact on her poetry. Although, her main muse of her work seems to be despair and internal conflict. What’s interesting about the poem is that Dickinson uses metaphors to describe depression, as well as religion. It is clear that the poet intends to highlight the light in the afternoon with its heaviness and solemnity. The time of year that the poet is describing is winter, while the time of day is twilight, or the afternoon, as said in the poem. Often times, and how I’ve interpreted it, the season, plus the time of day can be considered a metaphor for death. In Dickinson’s, There’s a certain Slant of light, she used a metered rhyming scheme that follows the pattern of ABCB. Since the poem uses rhyming, it’s closed form. There are four stanzas that almost have a hymn-like rhythm. It’s unclear if that was intentional or not due the religious metaphors within the stanzas. Dickinson used trochaic and iambic meters through out the poem. She also used stressed and unstressed syllables. The opening line of the poem, states the title and at the same time, introduces what the poem is essentially about. The poet goes on to say that the winter light, which slants in through the windows, weighs upon the speakers soul like â€Å"the Heft of Cathedral tunes.† Organs, with their multiple pipes, strike ears and fill Cathedrals with a sound that often leaves you with a feeling of unwelcome solemnity and grandiosity. This can leave listeners with an overwhelming feeling that lays heavy in their being. The image of winter, as well as the organ music, adds gloom to the poem. There’s a sense of anguish that the speaker is feeling and you believe that a certain slant of light might connote hope, but not even sunshine on a winter afternoon could bring happiness into the speaker’s life. Winter itself is a symbol of death and decay, opposed to summer, which is characterized by sunshine and joy. Like the Cathedral tunes, the light reminds her of desolation. The feeling of despair is transported into an auditory feeling, which is where the organs come in. The word â€Å"heft† has two meanings, weight and significance. It can refer to the cathedral tunes, and also the speaker being weighed down by despair. In the second stanza, the light oppresses her soul; it gives her a â€Å"Heavenly Hurt.† The experience of slanted light is a metaphor for ideas and how it feels to experience depression. This kind of heavenly hurt leaves no scar behind, but it creates an internal difference that brings a change in demeanor. The phrase â€Å"Heavenly Hurt† brings together a feeling of elation and the reality of what the speaker is feeling. The alliteration of this phrase is used as an emphasis. In the third stanza, the first two lines are, â€Å"None may teach it – Any – ‘Tis the Seal Despair -† This is saying that no one is able to teach us what death feels like. We can prepare for it, in the sense of what we believe will come after, but the actual physical and mental feeling is unknown. Death is very unpredictable in the way that we don’t know how our lives will end, but it’s on everyone’s mind. In the line, An imperial affliction, Sent us of the Air – (11-12) the speaker has made a connection with the winter light, the â€Å"Heavenly Hurt†, and the feeling of internal difference and despair. In Dickinson’s poem, an imperial affliction is a metaphor for an all-encompassing despair that comes from the air. Whenever we have a strong emotion, like happiness, we tend to see the world around us in a brighter light and over all it makes us feel joyful. If we’re feeling down, like the speaker of this poe m, we see the world as how we feel inside; things look unpleasant, and grey and dismal. We’re unable to see a ray of hope that is coming through the window in the form of sunshine. In the fourth stanza, when death, or â€Å"it† as the speaker calls it, comes everything listens. When someone dies, those still on this earth sometimes experience stillness in nature, as if the world is on hold and listening to us. In Dickinson’s poem the stillness comes from the slant of light, and the landscape and shadows listen and figuratively hold their breath. The landscape and shadows are personified in this stanza. The capitalization of â€Å"Landscape† and â€Å"Shadows† gives the impression that the speaker is referring to someone she knows. The mood here changes quite a bit compared to the first three stanzas of this poem. You get a sense of anticipation instead of despair, and the oppression that the speaker has felt has lifted and now she’s feeling light and maybe some what alluring. In the final two lines of the poem, the poet uses sort of a morbid imagery. â€Å"When it goes, ‘tis like the Distance, On the look of Death.† (15-16) Dead people have a distant look to them since the life in their being is gone somewhere else. We also see the exit of winter light at the end of the day in the same distant way we might see some deaths. Death is mysterious to those on earth, just as the sunset in the heart of winter is. The day is blanketed in shadows due to the sun’s proximity to earth during this season, and as it sets, it’s a gradual process, that sometimes leaves the world at a standstill, much like death. The dash at the end serves as emphasis that a period wouldn’t leave behind. As readers, we’re left with no definitive answers in regards to the light or the speaker’s internal despair. Dickinson almost made this intentional in a way that the reader might feel an equal despair or oppression at the outcome of the poem, or the â€Å"light† might leave us with a feeling of enlightenment and hope. At the end of this poem, we’re left with a feeling of despair, that Dickinson almost made intentional in order for the reader to better understand how the speaker feels as the light breaks through the windows on winter afternoons. Emily Dickinson’s use of imagery and metaphors highlights her battle with depression and isolation. There’s a certain Slant of light (about 1861) Emily Dickinson There’s a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons – That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes – Heavenly Hurt, it gives us – We can find no scar, But internal Difference, Where the Meanings, are – None may teach it – Any – ‘Tis the Seal Dispair – An imperial affliction Sent us of the Air – When it comes, the Landscape listens – Shadows – hold their breath – When it goes, ‘tis like the Distance On the look of Death – Works Cited Page Kennedy, X. J.. An introduction to poetry. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. Print.