What is the syntax used in the poem "Barbie Doll" by Marge Piercy?

Syntax refers to sentence structure, and a typical, grammatically correct sentence contains at least a subject (noun) and a predicate (verb or verbal phrase). Writers might take some license with this typical structure, the expected syntax, in order to emphasize something, to get us to look at something in a new way, or to create a sense of irony. In "Barbie Doll," typical syntax is manipulated this way in a few places.
Firstly, it is typical, when one describes a series of items, to include commas between each item and then the word "and" before the last item: for example, "I went to school, to my friend's house, and then home." However, the first stanza employs a device called polysyndeton, where all commas are omitted and replaced with the word "and" each time:

This girlchild was born as usual and presented dolls that did pee-pee and miniature GE stoves and irons and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.

This repetition of the word "and" draws attention to the length of the list itself, as well as the items in it, because the syntax is somewhat unexpected. The repetition makes it seem as though the list is compounded—it snowballs and seems like more than it otherwise would have if the syntax were typical. This little girl was presented with so many proofs of what would be expected of her in life: that she be a mother, that she cook and clean and take care of the house, and that she look really pretty and put together as she does it all. The atypical syntax draws our attention to the way society does this: from a very early age, little girls are already being told what their sphere ought to be, how they ought to act and dress and look.
Secondly, the atypical syntax in the final stanza registers the central irony of the poem.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, a turned-up putty nose, dressed in a pink and white nightie. Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said. Consummation at last.To every woman a happy ending.

It took "offer[ing]" up her nose and legs, her authentic self, for this woman to be accepted by society. She was declared unattractive and therefore of less value, and so she did what she could to change this. It resulted in her death, but society might say it was worth it—now she looks pretty. When the speaker says, "Consummation at last. / To every woman a happy ending," both sentences deviate from the typical syntax. These short sentences ensure we understand the irony: a beautiful dead woman is still more valued that a living ugly one. It is more important to be beautiful than to be intelligent, strong, healthy, or alive.

What is the style used in "Eating Poetry" by Mark Strand?

Regarding the style of "Eating Poetry," one could classify it according to the genre of poetry, the movement, or the mood and tone. All of these are ways of addressing the "style" of a given poem.
The genre of this poem is free verse. Free verse does not conform to any specifically defined number of lines or a rhythmic/metrical arrangement of words. A poet using free verse can use any combination of line length, stanzas, or rhythms that he or she desires. In this poem, the author writes in three-line stanzas. The lines don't follow a prescribed rhythm like iambic or dactylic but, rather, follow the rhythms of natural speech. There are a few rhymes in the poem, notably in the last two stanzas, but there is no rhyme scheme carried out in the poem.
The movement the poem most closely adheres to is Modernist. Modernist poems favor the rhythms of natural speech over set rhythmic patterns. They also favor erratic rhyming patterns or no rhyme at all. Modernism began in the first decades of the twentieth century and continued on. This poem, while somewhat bizarre, is relatively straightforward and unambiguous, so it is not best classified in the Post-Modernist style. A Post-Modernist approach would be highly subjective, leaving more doubt as to the poem's interpretation, and it would use less structure in its punctuation and syntax than this poem does.
Finally, this poem uses hyperbolic and facetious humor. Although the speaker is obviously passionate about poetry, he treats his subject more flippantly than seriously. He uses funny exaggerations about his mouth dripping with ink and himself turning into a dog-like thing after reading poetry. The portrayal of the librarian as irate, unhappy, obtuse, and fearful of the speaker's love for poetry is satirical. The librarian is a foil for the speaker. Her disapproval of the speaker's voracious appetite for poetry serves to emphasize his passion. The way the poet expresses his thoughts about consuming poetry is funny and flippant.
One could describe the style of this poem as humorous Modernist free verse.

Was Julius Caesar ambitious?

In Shakespeare's classic play, Julius Caesar is portrayed as a shrewd politician who is clearly egotistical and domineering. Despite being a self-centered narcissist, Caesar's ambition remains ambiguous, which emphasizes Brutus's internal struggle to join the conspirators or reject their proposal. Brutus's decision to join the conspirators relies solely on his belief that Julius Caesar is ambitious. In act two, scene one, Brutus voices his concerns regarding Caesar's ambition in a moving soliloquy, where he likens Caesar to a "serpent's egg," which will become dangerous after it hatches. Despite Brutus's belief that Caesar is ambitious and motivated to become emperor, there is no clear evidence that unquestionably proves that Caesar is ambitious.
In act one, scene two, Casca informs Brutus and Cassius that Caesar reluctantly pushed the crown away when Mark Antony offered it to him in public. Although Casca tells them that Caesar "was very loath to lay his fingers off it," one cannot trust his opinion as solid proof that Caesar desired to be crowned king.
However, one cannot deny the fact that Caesar is an egotistical, self-centered man. He constantly refers to himself in the third-person, says that he is more dangerous than danger itself, and compares himself to the North Star. He also dismisses the soothsayer's warnings, rejects his wife's advice not to go to the Capitol, and exercises his authority by refusing to restore Publius Cimber's citizenship.
Despite his confidence, narcissistic personality, and domineering nature, one cannot definitively prove that Julius Caesar was ambitious, which is what makes his assassination and Brutus's participation dramatic and intriguing.

Shakespeare downplays Caesar's ambition right up until the moment he is attacked by the conspirators. In the first two acts of the play Caesar is offstage much more than he is on. When onstage, he is portrayed as a sort of portly politician who is acting democratic, friendly, cordial, and humble in order to make as many friends as possible among the patricians and to make a favorable impression on the plebeians. Shakespeare evidently intended to have Caesar show his true self just before he is assassinated, which would contribute to the dramatic impact of that bloody scene and would prove to the audience that the conspirators might have been justified in plotting his death. The fact that Caesar knows he is going to be made king has gone to his head. He disregards his wife Calpurnia's pleas to stay at home, the warnings of the Soothsayer to "Beware the Ides of March," and all the supernatural omens that seem to have been sent as warnings. He also insults all the petitioners surrounding him, getting them to grovel and then expressing his contempt for their groveling. Perhaps he feels that his coronation is all but certain and now he can stop being so cordial and democratic. Just before he is stabbed to death, he makes his most revealing speech:
I could be well moved, if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me;
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks;
They are all fire and every one doth shine;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place.
So in the world, 'tis furnish'd well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,
Unshaked of motion; and that I am he,
Let me a little show it, even in this;
That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd,
And constant do remain to keep him so.
And when Cinna starts to remonstrate, Caesar says,
Hence! Wilt thou life up Olympus?
Then they all close on him with swords and daggers. Though we know it was planned beforehand, it still almost seems as if Caesar provoked them into doing it.
When Caesar says "If I could pray to move," he seems to be implying that he does not believe in prayer, possibly that he is above prayer because of his distinction. He cannot pray to the gods because he secretly feels like he is a god. This conviction is further implied when he says, "Hence! Wilt thou lift up Olympus?" The summit of Mount Olympus was the home of the gods, and Caesar evidently imagined himself up there among them, drinking nectar and eating ambrosia. Caesar is so ambitious that he won't be satisfied with being a mere king. The next step up what Brutus called "young ambition's ladder" is to become a god. That would not have been hard to achieve in ancient Roman times. The Senate could declare a person to be a god and order everyone in the empire to worship him or her as such. Caesar's successor Octavius Augustus became a god by Senate decree, as did Caligula. Augustus Caesar's fiendish wife Livia was declared a goddess posthumously on the orders of Emperor Claudius. Julius Caesar himself was also made a god posthumously by public acclamation.
So perhaps even Cassius and Brutus did not fully comprehend how ambitious Julius Caesar actually was. When Antony makes his famous funeral address, he does not seem to deny Caesar's ambition because it was all too obvious. Antony may not have realized that his good friend's ambition went beyond being a mere mortal.

What is the content, context, subject, and audience for the Res Gesta Divi Augusti?

The text is an account that the Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned 31 BCE to 14 CE, wrote near the end of his life. The title phrase, which translates as the "achievements of the deified Augustus," is the inscription that appears on his tomb.


The autobiography covers Augustus' career from his early days and growth, spanning his successful campaigns of conquest, and revealing his attitudes toward the Roman people and his place in history. Writing in third person, he begins by saying that Augustus "placed the whole world under the sovereignty of the Roman people."


Augustus repeatedly says how he turned down honors and positions of greater power, refusing



any power offered me which was contrary to the traditions of our ancestors.



Even as he judged himself a generous ruler, he was aware of playing a unique role as a world conqueror and anticipated his positive commemoration. As the text was inscribed on his mausoleum, he intended it to reach all of Rome (or at least those who were literate).

In what way is the poem "The Darkling Thrush" an attempt by the poet to search for meaning in the world?

The speaker of the poem is worried about the dawning of a new era. He's comfortable with all the old certainties of the 19th century, and he doesn't feel particularly enthusiastic about what lies ahead. The song of the darkling thrush acts as a reminder of what he's about to lose—yet it also stands as a potential source of hope that may fortify the speaker during his difficult transition from one century to the next.
The speaker ends the poem by candidly confessing that he was unaware of the blessed hope held out by the thrush's song. This would appear to suggest that he is throughly pessimistic about the future, believing in his heart of hearts that the new era will denude his life of all meaning, that it will undermine all those things that have given his life some sense of purpose and direction. That being the case, he will have to construct meaning for himself, as people are wont to do in times of personal crisis. Any such meaning will doubtless be constructed out of the sweetness of the thrush's song, and all the joys and beauties of nature it represents.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44325/the-darkling-thrush

The speaker's state of mind in this poem is described as "fervourless," or lacking in any kind of enthusiasm for the world around him. He sees the wintry world around him as reflective of this state of mind: it seems to him "shrunken," and Hardy makes an allusion to the anxiety that struck at the turn of the twentieth century when he refers to seeing "the Century's corpse" in the lay of the land. He is clearly feeling uneasy, unsure of himself and the world around him, and is seeking some hope when all he can hear is a "death-lament."
The voice of the thrush, then, goes some way towards providing this for him. Its "joy illimited" is very different to what the speaker is feeling. Indeed, he notes that there is "little cause for carolings" in the world he sees; he cannot understand what the bird is experiencing that he is not. And yet, the song of this thrush does give the speaker "some blessed Hope." While he himself is still "unaware" of what that hope might be, the song of the bird seems to spread some happiness into the desolate landscape and gives the speaker a shred of hope to cling to: he may not be able to see the cause of the thrush's happiness, but he does believe that it is there somewhere in the world.

In what ways are Night and the excerpt from Farewell to Manzanar most similar?

Night and Farewell to Manzanar are overall similar in the way they convey the experience of minority groups during the second world war. However, they differ in the central aspect of extermination versus concentration.
The excerpt in question tells of the forced removal of the Japanese people from Terminal Island near Long Beach, into Boyle Heights, and eventually to the Manzanar camp in the California Desert. The removal of the people from their homes to a ghetto and from the ghetto to a camp is similar to how Night describes the forced relocation of the Jews from Hungary to Germany.
This part of the excerpt describes their relocation:

There was a lot of talk about internment, or moving inland, or something like that in store for all Japanese Americans. I remember my brothers sitting around the table talking very intently about what we were going to do, and how we would keep the family together.” (Farewell to Manzanar, chapter 3)

Night has a similar section:

We were ready to wait as long as necessary. The courtyard turned into something like an antechamber to an operating room. We stood, waiting for the door to open. Neighbors, hearing the rumors, had joined us. We stared at our watches. Time had slowed down. What was the meaning of such a long session? "I have a bad feeling," said my mother. (Night, section 1)

In both sections, there is a similar pattern of movement among the people. In Manzanar, the family sits around and discusses rumors of how things are going to be handled. They don’t know what is in store, and they are planning for the future. Similarly, the community in Night is discussing the rumors of their deportation. Both sections show us how the process of removing people from society was similar, and how those being sent to camps dealt with the uncertainty around the situation.
While both sections share similarities, once the stories reach the camps, there is a distinct difference in how people are treated. It should be noted that Manzanar was a concentration camp (meant to keep people in one place) while Auschwitz was a death camp (meant to kill the Jewish population of Europe).

What are some quotes that show Reverend Hale's change in character in The Crucible?

When Hale first arrives in Salem, he is full of confidence in himself, in his experience, and in his abilities. Hale has been called in as a witchcraft expert of sorts, and he approaches his task with passion, logic, and learning. He truly believes that Satan is real and witchcraft can be identified in the same way that a doctor would diagnose an illness and provide a cure. Hale even shows up with books to help him identify the extent of the witchcraft in Salem.

Hale, setting down his books: They must be; they are weighted with authority.
Parris, a little scared: Well, you do come prepared!
Hale: We shall need hard study if it comes to tracking down the Old Boy.

Hale further stresses his scientific approach with the following quote.

We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone.

As Hale continues his investigation, he becomes less and less confident in whether or not Satan is at work. He begins to see the possibility of hysteria influencing the proceedings, and Hale eventually gets to a point where he genuinely believes that he, the court, and the town have been duped and have been sentencing entirely innocent people to die.
Hale eventually becomes so confident the court proceedings are in error that he denounces the entire proceedings and quits the court.

I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!

Hale will finally return in the final act, and he is a completely changed person. He is a broken man that now realizes that he contributed to the hysteria that resulted in so many deaths, and he openly admits it.

Why, it is all simple. I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. His sarcasm collapses. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!

At the beginning of the play, Reverend Hale firmly believes in his knowledge of the dark arts, Satan, and witchcraft. He is excited at the opportunity of discovering a witch in Salem and genuinely believes that he can help the community. He expresses his confidence by telling John Proctor,

Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone. (Miller, 36)

Reverend Hale is naïve and does not understand the influence of mass hysteria on a community.
In act two, Reverend Hale visits Proctor's home to do some investigating on his own. He still supports the corrupt court but is beginning to have some suspicions. After quizzing John's knowledge of the Ten Commandments, Hale is still reluctant to completely dismiss the presence of witchcraft and tells John,

Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small. (Miller, 67)

In act three, John Proctor challenges the corrupt court and forces Mary Warren to testify that she was lying during the proceedings along with Abigail and the others. John then confesses to having an affair with Abigail, and Elizabeth lies on her husband's behalf without knowing that he sacrificed his reputation. After Danforth has Elizabeth removed from court, Reverend Hale says,

Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more—private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the beginning, this man has struck me true. (Miller, 114)

John Proctor is then arrested, and Reverend Hale denounces the proceedings and quits the corrupt court. Overall, Reverend Hale transforms from a confident supporter of Salem's court to a firm, outspoken opponent of the witch trials.

Mr. Hale is invited to Salem as an expert on witchcraft and Miller says in act one that “he feels himself allied with the best minds of Europe—kings, philosophers, scientists, and ecclesiasts of all churches.” This is a somewhat unorthodox attitude for a New England Puritan, but it shows Hale’s confidence. When Parris remarks how heavy his books are, Hale replies rather priggishly: “They must be; they are weighted with authority.”
In act two, Hale seems much more hesitant. He comes to the Proctor House to satisfy himself as to Elizabeth’s innocence or guilt but responds indecisively to her arrest, telling John: “God help me, I cannot judge her guilty or innocent—I know not.” When John calls him a coward, he does not object. This is in sharp contrast to his attitude to Tituba and Betty in the first act.
By the end of the play, Hale no longer has any confidence in his vocation. He says that if John Proctor is killed, he will count himself the murderer and says with heavy sarcasm: “I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves.” Hale thus progresses from confident authority to doubt to a conviction of his own guilt and implication in an iniquitous process over the course of the play.

Reverend Hale moves from a confidence in his goals and methods to disillusion with the courts and even guilt over his own complicity.
Arriving in Salem is the scholarly cleric that Miller describes as an "eager-eyed intellectual . . . loaded down with half a dozen heavy books." As a witchcraft specialist, he was proud that his "unique knowledge has at last been publicly called for." When he zealously dives into the investigation, he asks leading questions and seems determined to find witches. He asks Tituba to implicate others:

When the Devil comes to you does he ever come with another person?

Hale has at least heard of some townspeople, such as Rebecca Nurse and her "good works." More than the sheer number of accused and the fever pitch of the indictments, it is the identity of specific accused persons, especially Rebecca, that starts his reconsidering.
When Hale realizes that for Judge Danforth, guilty is a predetermined verdict and he doesn't listen to testimony, his real crisis of faith begins. And when he sees that the girls are manipulating the confessions to protect themselves, he speaks out for John Proctor:


Private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the beginning this man has struck me true. By my oath to Heaven, I believe him now . . . .

By then it is too late. Hale tries to backpedal to save himself and his own reputation, but both are gone.
https://archive.org/stream/TheCrucibleFullText/The+Crucible+full+text_djvu.txt