People often drop names to assure the achievement of whatever goal it is they are trying to achieve. This tactic works especially well in business, but it can also work in argument. Names of influential people have influential affects. “I know Don Corleone,” would certainly have gotten nearly anything done in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Both Simone de Beauvoir and Niccolò Machiavelli used the names of well-known people to add a sense of importance and truth to what it was they were saying. Their choice of names is very similar. They both chose fabled heroes, past and present political figures and fictional powers to help their work gain value. However, they differ in a subtle way. The names are used much like a recipe uses measurements: one part politics to two parts fiction. This ratio adds a different tone to each argument, which also helps to get the author’s, de Beauvoir or Machiavelli’s, point across.
In de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, there are many references made to true, verifiable sources. Granted that she makes use of nearly all possible spectrums of existence in terms of beings she chooses to cite, there is an underlying tone of definite truth in her work. She cites these people in packs and lists, using context to categorize her groups. “Some isolated individuals – Sappho [c. 610-c. 580 b.c.], Christine de Pisan [1364-1431], Mary Wollstonecraft [1759-1997], Olympe de Gouges [1748-1793] – have protested against the harshness of their destiny,” (de Beauvoir). “Joan of Arc (1412-1431), Mme Jeanne-Marie Roland (1759-1793), Flora Tristan (1803-1844)…Figures important for their political or revolutionary activity,” (Jacobus: footnote, p 179). In the first case, we see a list of four sure-fire sources, all of whom “protested against the harshness of their destiny.” We find out later in the work that these four people were all authors. In the second case, we see true-life people, all of whom were some how politically involved. De Beauvoir hits us with a rapid-fire bombardment of undeniable truths. When she uses a fictitious character, however, it is usually alone. “The suicide of Lucretia has had value only as a symbol,” (de Beauvoir). Here we see a not-so verifiable citation. It is alone in the text, an island surrounded by a sea of de Beauvoir’s own words. This name is by itself.
Formalistic and Dialogic Analysis of The Descent of Odin
Formalistic and Dialogic Analysis of The Descent of Odin
Poems are more that words on a piece of paper, it is a grand “play” with different “characters” strewn onto the pages. “The Descent of Odin” is a poem with a story with a rich vein of conversation embedded into it. By using the formalistic and dialogic method, I plan on showing you these jewels that I found while reading this poem.
The first voice that is found in the poem is the voice of the Narrator. When using the Dialogical Method, the reader notices that the voice is obviously an older person. Now, when the poem is turned to Formalistic, see how the point of view of the Narrator is like a mediator at the beginning at the poem. There he is looking out during the vocal transitions between Odin and the Prophetess, then relays it back to the reader (HCAL, Dialogics pg 349,P.O.V. pg. 87, Voice: pg, 89). His speech is very sensual and symbolic, which adds to the darkness of the poem. The first example of this is the beginning of the poem where you can read it (HCAL pg 85). Up rose the king of men with speed, And saddled straight his coal-black steed; Down the yawning steep he rode, That leads to Hela’s drear abode (“The Descent of Odin”, Lines 1-4). Look the wording that he uses for the color of the steed: coal-black, the slope of the steep. It causes the reader to take another glance at the poem to visualize what is going on with their mind and imagine that they are there watching “The king of men” ride his horse to Hela’s abode. The second example is found in the second paragraph. Right against the eastern gate, By the moss-grown pile he sate; Where long of yore to sleep was laid the dust of the prophetic maid (“Odin”, lines 17-20).
Now we take a glance at the voice of Odin, the mighty god of war. Fix onto the lines of Odin when he first speaks. His voice is not induced with flowery language; instead it is very plain with even tones. The voice of Odin causes the reader to be pulled back to earth (HCAL pg 87). The voice seems to say, “Look at me, listen to me!” Now look at how he converses with the Prophetess: Yet a while my call obey; Prophetess awake, and say.