The Devil and Daniel Webster Essay Example For Students

The Devil and Daniel Webster Essay The play The Devil and Daniel Webster was written by Stephen Vincent Bent in 1938. Stephen Vincent Bent was born in 1898 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His education came from Yale University and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The Devil and Daniel Webster has a wide array of characters, each with a distinguished personality, yet an overall temperment that would be fitting of a New England community. The main character is Jabez Stone, a wealthy New England statesman whose possition was the state senator of New Hampshire. He had started out as a farmer though, but moved up in life and, when he was about thirty years of age, married the fair woman, Mary Stone- who was in her early twenties. The fiddler, though not incredibly important, was a key character in that he provided foreshadowing. We will write a custom essay on The Devil and Daniel Webster specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now When he said, But the very devils got into that fiddle of mine., he was forshadowing the coming of the devil to disturb the merriments. A very key character in this play is the devil himself, which took the name of Scratch (for that was what he was called in New England communities). He had come to steal the soul of Jabez Stone, claiming that he had a right to Jabez because of a legal contract. Last- but most certainly not least in this story- is the great Governor of New Hampshire, loved by all, Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was not only the governor, but an excelent orator. He had a way of using words to pursued the opinion of others, sometimes by conveying feelings or emotion. The play starts out in the ornate home of Jabez and Mary Stone, right after their wedding has taken place. The Fiddler, who sat upon a Cider Barrel, played a tune on the Fiddle, and all of the guests danced to it. Basically, it was a wedding reception. At first, there was nothing more than small talk going on, but by using even this smalltalk, Bent very accurately described the lifestyles of the New England residents. As the play progressed, political favor of the day was expressed as Daniel Webster arived, associating himself with Jabez Stone. One man cried out, Vote the Whig ticket! and another, Hurray for Daniel Webster! Of course, political disfavor was also shown, as Scratch (the devil) portreyed himself as a lawyer from Boston, implying that the political party from Boston was disfavored. Later on, after some forshadowing by both Jabez and Mary, it is learned that Jabez had sold his soul to the devil. He had done this because of the dessolite land he had to farm, it was entirely baren, and had an abundance of large stones there. In return, the devil brought him prosperity- for a time. Jabez had become state senator, married a wonderful woman, and had friends in high places. But it did not last forever. A small climax- more like a turning point- occurred when Scratch had driven all the guests away from fear. He then left for a short time, preparing to come back at a later time to reclaim his prize. Daniel Webster, however, felt confidant that he could defeat Scratch in a fair trial and/or debate. As it turned out, both happened. When Scratch came back, they had a trial- a trial with a biased jury of the undead. A great oratory debate soon followed between Scratch and Daniel Webster. It was a fierce debate, though it did remain civil. Webster used his cunning intellect against Scratch, but in every case, either Scratch would refute his claim, or the judge at this trial, Judge Hawthorne of the Salem Witch Trials, would over-rule Daniel Webster- no matter how logical he had been. For instance, when Daniel Webster claimed that Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince., the devil replied that he was no foreigner with when t he first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on her deck. Such a trial was impossible to win, until Daniel Webster used his words to bring back memories of the undead jury- of when they had been alive and human. He appealed to them, one by one, and slowly changed the sway of the biased jury of the undead. In the end, the verdict was not guilty, and old Scratch was finally flung out the door. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this play by Stephen Vincent Bent, and I would recommend reading it.

Renato Poggioli The Concept of a Movement The Theory of the Avant

The subtleties of language are not lost on Renato Poggioli. In his mind, â€Å"language is our greatest historical revealer† [p. 17].Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Renato Poggioli: The Concept of a Movement: The Theory of the Avant-Garde specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Concept of a Movement is the chapter that Poggioli devotes to defining avant garde art. Herein, the author details a crucial distinction between the avant garde and other historical periods of artistic practice, not only in terms of old versus new, but also how the artists named their practice. Artists that align themselves to a school, in Poggioli’s mind, comprise an altogether different breed than those that identify with a movement. Most significantly, how the artists thought about their practice, for Poggioli, reveals their category. Art that derives from a school owes its origin to some form of official endorsement or aff irmation, which it requires as a necessary element of its creation. School art must be sanctioned, and depends more or less on historical as well as mainstream acceptance. For Poggioli, â€Å"the school notion presupposes a master and a method, the criterion of tradition, and the principle of authority† [p. 20]. Conversely, â€Å"the followers of a movement always work in terms of an end immanent in the movement itself† [p. 20]. Said end need not be sanctioned, accepted, affirmed, valued, or even understood, by those outside the movement. Where the school presupposes disciples consecrated to a transcendent end, Poggioli believes, the movement holds multiple paths for multiple participants who may or may not arrive in the same location [p. 20]. Art based in the school form also has a qualitatively different energy than that which originates as part of a movement. â€Å"The school [art] is preeminently static and classical, while the movement is essentially dynamic and romantic† [p.20]. Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Innovation remains muted in the school, since it carries the weight of historical precedence, and its proponents produce work in a somewhat limited field, hamstrung by the need for permission. Movements, on the other hand, remain free of precedent, thus, its participants remain free to germinate and generate based on the present moment and their own experience. Poggioli also points to the conceptual difference between the two camps, with an emphasis on diverging views in the artists’ understanding of culture. The school is inconceivable outside the humanistic ideal, the idea of culture as a thesaurus. The movement, instead, conceives of culture not as increment but as creation – or, at least, as a center of activity and energy [p. 20]. This distinction in thought bears scrutiny. Particularly, Poggioliâ €™s use of the term â€Å"thesaurus† to describe culture produces a lightning rod [p. 20]. Essentially, artists belonging to a school will always be creating synonyms of the work of their forbearers, in Poggioli’s mind; thus, the work looks backward, and endlessly repeats, reinvents, and rehashes. Artists in the school therefore do not experience time in the present moment, but continually live and create in the past. Artists who adhere to a movement, on the other hand, not only live in the present moment, but understand culture as a social agreement, one that is constantly in flux. Culture endlessly transforms according to individual epoch and contemporary events. Thus, these artists create work that reflects their own selves in their own times, times that always change. Therefore the artists of a movement, and their artistic products, more closely resemble the actual experience of life and art: dynamic, fluid, and live. Poggioli moves on to discuss the differenc e in purpose between reviews of work that comes from the school and those that emanate from the movement.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Renato Poggioli: The Concept of a Movement: The Theory of the Avant-Garde specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The school does not aim to discuss; it intends only to teach [p. 24]. [T]he school prefers to create new variants of traditional poetics and rhetoric, normative or didactic simply by nature [p. 25]. Reviews of avant garde work, conversely, engage in the vital task of affirm[ing] in words the uniqueness, particularity, or exceptionality of its own theoretical and practical achievements. [Avant garde reviews and reviewers] more faithfully bear witness to divergence and exception: they operate in closer proximity to the sources of the work, closer to the creative process and the experimental phases [p. 25]. Ostensibly, Poggioli challenges avant garde reviews and reviewers to disseminate the conceptual framework of the movement, and become artists themselves in the process. For Poggioli, the avant garde movement breaks down into four discrete aspects or moments: activism, antagonism, nihilism, and agonism [p. 25-26]. Activism refers to the movement’s propensity to take shape and agitate for no other end than its own self, out of the sheer joy of dynamism, a taste for action, a sportive enthusiasm, and the emotional fascination of adventure [p. 26]. Antagonism names the movement’s tendency to rail against something, be it the school, tradition, or authority [p. 26]. Nihilism labels the urge of the movement to indulge in wholesale destruction, and advocate a cultural fire sale of sorts. Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Agonism, finally, describes the element of the movement that produces artistic martyrs, participants who â€Å"accept self-ruin as an obscure or unknown sacrifice to the success of future movements† [p. 26]. Poggioli delineates further within the four aspects to attach activism and antagonism to rational pursuits, and nihilism and agonism to the irrational. The avant garde, as defined by Poggioli, exists as a social force, as well as an artistic one. It differs from the art formed by a school in that it seeks to live in the present moment, and express itself to the public from a shared psychological, physical, and emotional space, indicative of a particular time, culture, and zeitgeist. The avant garde movement hunts large scale engagement and involvement, both from its members as well as the public, and creates its own end. The school, on the other hand, seeks to teach, and wishes only to reveal its teachings to a select group of converts who will in turn learn, and eventua lly continue the tradition and teach. Art from a school therefore can remain isolated from the public, and may or may not choose to engage with it. Reference List Poggioli, Renato. 1968. The Concept of a Movement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. This essay on Renato Poggioli: The Concept of a Movement: The Theory of the Avant-Garde was written and submitted by user Maia H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.