Florentine Codex Translation

The Florentine Chronicle is an interestingly organized piece of work, in which Stefani mixes a chronicling of the presentation of the bubonic plague and its effects with the wider effects on Florentine society. Written in the late 1370s and 1380s, Stefani begins by describing some of the effects of the disease, and how it would alienate families from each other. He goes on to explain how the sick were abandoned in droves,

1. “The magical time of childhood stood still, and the pulse of the living earth pressed its mystery into my living blood” (1.1).

In the first two lines of the poem, Herrera communicates his theme via speaker and half-rhyme. In the speaker’s first appearance, it instantaneously remarks, “Let us celebrate the lives of all/as we reflect & pray & meditate on their brutal deaths” (Herrera, 5-6). The phrase “let us” establishes the speaker’s first-person, collective point of view. While the first stanza objectively lists the names of those injured and killed in recent atrocities, as though to pin blame onto the harmful individuals who caused their pain, the speaker’s collective perspective elucidates the fallacy of this perspective. By associating the whole of society, with the death of some citizenry, Herrera illustrates the all-penetrating nature of the pain caused by the disasters outlined in the poem’s first stanza. The dismal nature of these events does not simply imply the broken nature of a few people, but of society. Subsequently, when Herrera notes the healing practices of reflection, prayer, and meditation (6), he incorporates a half-rhyme between his initial statement, “Let us celebrate” (5), and the word meditate, the final in the list of three. Through his half-rhyme, Herrera suggests healing spiritual practices as a practice for embracing all of humanity as a unified whole, his ultimate solution to progress beyond society’s crossroads. Through these meaningful, beneficial practices, one can shift from having harmful, shallow perceptions and, by abandoning concepts, reach the reality of unity between people necessary for society to progress.

Heaney and Raffel’s translations are both phenomenal works of literature. Heaney, however, concentrates more on how poetic and similar the

The last sentence of the poem, ““There is still murder in your heart” (14), is a powerful claim that suggests that a routine consisting of prayer, communion, or hymn singing will not dissolve the sin of the heart. However, seeing this claim from a different standpoint, this can also suggest that this dull routine is convenient when it comes to preserving an appearance of purity and grace. There is an image in the middle of the poem, “light swords” (7), that possibly represents sharp members of the congregation trying to deceive the church authorities and God. Their comfort to the routine is remarkable because it does not really make a difference at the end; the only thing that truly matters is the masked life they are trying to keep hidden. Readers may consider the arguments presented in this poem as the truth reaching out to the contemporary church and its followers to improve their relationship with

The painting that is being analyzed in this paper is “We Came, We Saw, We Conquered.” Nancy

“I’ll be out of here and away from all you knaves for one time anyway, as not a month will pass before you’ll see whether I’m nobody or a somebody.” The story of Bianco Alfani reflected the nature of 14th century Florentine society where, as Alfani remarked, the election to public office could make or destroy a person. In late 14th century and early 15th century Florence, decreased population and expanding commerce provided a favorable environment for ambitious individuals. The real life examples of Buonaccorso Pitti and Gregorio Dati demonstrated the positive role of ambition in Florence. Pitti, a nobleman had an extremely successful career, partaking in military campaigns, holding public office in Florence and being an ambassador to

With the language being written in a colloquial style, it illustrates a more true and realistic approach while underlining the speaker’s statement to the Pope in a much stronger way. The choice of using words that solely relate to the native culture such as “isistawina” (27) and “matotsan” (42) demonstrate the effort the speaker is publicly displaying to maintain and uphold her customs. The use of no capitalization can relate to the idea that the poem is written in a vernacular language, but also provides evidence that the speaker does not believe the she or her culture, is better than another. It is not her objective to prove her culture should become more dominant, but to provide awareness of the past history and the impact caused from it. Communicating and expressing the poem with the heavy dialect not only signifies the importance of the speaker’s culture, as well adds humour and a sense of satire as a result of the improper diction.

As I first examined this work, I could not focus on just one portion of it. Although each part tells its story, there it one overall explanation. As usual, I am drawn to the center of this piece which would be a man sitting in an oval like throne. With a closer look, I look at this man and see a cross behind him, with angelic figures in the background. I conclude this important

First, it should be mentioned that the author divided the text into subtitles that guide a reader through reading. The fact that the author analyzes

After reading the Literal translation one might be fairly in touch with the poem and

Part one, consisting of eight chapters, starts from the understanding of the text. The response, the research, and the questions on the text is crucial

Love makes people become selfish, but it is also makes the world greater. In this poem, the world that the speaker lives and loves is not limited in “my North, my South, my East and West / my working week and my Sunday rest” (9-10), it spreads to “My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song (11). The poem’s imagery dominates most of the third stanza giving readers an image of a peaceful world in which everything is in order. However, the last sentence of the stanza is the decisive element. This element not only destroys the inner world of the speaker, but it also sends out the message that love or life is mortal.

It is human nature to interpret and reinterpret life and find meaning of one’s place in the world. Without such knowledge, or belief for that matter, any possibility of humanity is lost. Hence, humans are plagued with the necessity to interpret themselves and their connections to their surroundings—both human and physical. Because one’s connections and contexts for interpretation are endless in some sense, humans are inherently a divided self—the culmination of all given interpretations they make for themselves and interpretations from others. In addition, this totality of interpretations through the lens selves as being what is around you, it follows that poetic-rhetorical language is necessary in discussion of the divided self.

The poem has many different hidden meanings but they are all based around a common theme of faith.