Essay on James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

know the feeling one can have when one hears a beautiful song that brings joy to ones heart, stand in a field of flowers that excites ones eyes, or admire a face that is visually pleasing. The controversial issue that surrounds beauty is that some believe that true beauty is defined by someone’s outer appearance, while others believe it is something that is experiences through a person’s character. Beauty is defined as the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the sense or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. The secret of beauty has been a quest of humans for centuries. It has been determined that women and some men spend up to one third of their income on products and procedures that enhance their looks. People spend way too much time looking in the mirror, scrutinizing, worrying, fretting, and wishing people could change something about themselves. People dream of looking like the girl at work because she has great hair, or the girl people meet at a party because she is skinny, with the perfect nose. This happens because people are constantly on social media. A pretty face is not a complete definition of beauty, nor is the quality of one being kind and compassionate. To contain beauty, someone or something does not have to be physically beautiful. Beauty is everywhere. Take a simple flower.

Well, firstly… What is beauty? By Oxford dictionary’s definition, beauty is defined by the “combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic

A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these “lovers”. After analysis of the content of both the “young man” sonnets and the “dark lady sonnets”, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress.

Beauty is constantly changing to fit every person, every situation, every possible rendition that could ever be thought of. Yes, the girl with legs that go for miles is a pleasant thing to look at, but once she opens her mouth her face seems less important. How is that beauty if she brings nothing but ugly into the world? No one considers the so called "loner" at the back of the classroom, who at best would be rated a four, beautiful, though every night they are up talking their friend out of suicide because the blonde told them they are meaningless. Building others up while you feel like you are falling, is beautiful. Lipstick and eyeliner is not

In 2010 Billy Collins writes Sonnet, a piece of literary work I consider to be the antihero of sonnets. Collins ironically follows neither the constructs of a Shakespearean nor Petrarchan Sonnet throughout. He also creatively breathes new life into a strict art form while rejecting the historical rules a sonnet must follow in this work. Upon further review of Sonnet, it becomes clear that this deliberate rule breaking is a skilled nod & side-step to historic norms and a promotion of a new age of creativity in the making of a sonnet.

Made up of three quatrains and couplet in iambic pentameter, Sonnet 1 contains the common thread of encouraging procreation, however each has a small topic shift that defines the tone of the quatrain. The first quatrain is an axiom, ending with the line “His tender heir might bear his own memory” signifying to the reader the speaker’s purpose behind their argument. By structuring the sonnet this way Shakespeare uses a structure that is similar to some persuasive arguments in real life. The rhyme scheme also helps to reflect this as Shakespeare uses the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme to draw the reader’s attention to word that strengthen the speaker’s argument. An example of this is the rhyme between ‘’spring’’ and ‘’niggarding’’ in the third quatrain.

The paper starts with multiple definitions of what beauty is defined as and moves to what the experience of beauty is.

This essay will address how Shakespeare and Rossetti engage with the sonnet form, through Rossetti’s “A Sonnet” and Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 52”. Both poets arguably subvert the traditional Petrarchan sonnet genre, though in different ways. Rossetti’s ‘A Sonnet’ explores the sonnet as an art form rather than as a means of currency, as sonnets were seen to be at the time, and how if treated as a commodity, the value of a sonnet is diminished. Similarly, Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 52’ explores the connection between frequency and worth. However, ‘Sonnet 52’ adheres more closely to traditional sonnet form, as the prevalent theme is romance, and the idealisation of the “fair youth”. In contrast to Shakespeare’s adherence to the traditional romantic focus of sonnets, Rossetti subverts the genre by using “The Sonnet” as a metatextual device to explore his ideas around the form of a sonnet itself.

Mapping a Conversation on the Standardization of Beauty Many people in this world have their own definition of what beauty is. Beauty can come from inside or the outside. To me, beauty is not only something that pleases the eyes. Beauty is a quality that pleases or delights the senses or mind from one’s own perspective. Unfortunately, society makes it nearly impossible to see our own beauty.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is a phrase commonly used in today 's society to make a politically correct assessment of our judgement of beauty. The popularity of this quote has helped convinced the general public that it is an universally truthful statement. This statement suggests that, the perception of beauty is based on an individuals subjective judgement rather than an any empirical justifications. If the majority of the worlds population believes this statement to be true, then why is beauty treated as if it is universal? When we analyze beauty campaigns, it is evident that major corporations are capitalizing on the predominate Euro American standard of beauty. Ad after Ad our minds are bombarded with notions of a hierarchical beauty standard. These ads function as representations of societies cultural values and thus help promote an unattainable standard beauty. This prompts the question of why does our theorization of aesthetic judgement not coordinate with how an individual makes judgements on beauty in the real world? One notion is that society has adopted the theory of eighteenth century philosopher Immanuel Kant 's judgement of taste. In Kant 's book Critique of the Power of Judgement he lays the foundations for the belief that our judgement of beauty has both subjective and objective properties. He supports his theory by claiming that our judgement of beauty is dependent on four main factors quality, necessity, universality, and purposiveness. In

James Joyce was a prolific Irish writer who wrote about Ireland and the troubles the people of Ireland faced. According to the Volume Library Encyclopedia, with Ireland being about 94 % Roman Catholic, religion is a motif brought forth prominently in Joyce's works. In Dubliners, his book of short stories as well as his supposed autobiography, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce shows religious turmoil and indecision through his characters. Stephen Dedalus, the main character in the journal-like story of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, goes through an internal turmoil of his own throughout the entire book on how he would view religion. He shows certain extremities of

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.

What is beauty? How do we decide who is attractive and who is not? Society is full of information telling us what is beautiful, but what fact is that information based on? The topic of beauty has been studied, analyzed and controversial for centuries. We all know the feeling you can have when you hear a beautiful song that brings joy to your heart, stand in a field of flowers that excites your eyes, or admire a face that is visually pleasing. As human beings, we are all drawn to beauty, but what is it that makes something beautiful? The controversial issue that surrounds beauty is that some believe that true beauty is defined by someone’s outer appearance, while others believe it is something that is experienced through a person’s

His soul had arisen from the grave of boyhood, spurning her grave-clothes. Yes! Yes! Yes! He would create proudly out of the freedom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore, a living thing, new and soaring and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus defines beauty and the artist's comprehension of his/her own art. Stephen uses his esthetic theory with theories borrowed from St. Thomas Aquinas and Plato. The discourse can be broken down into three main sections: 1) A definitions of beauty and art. 2) The apprehension and qualifications of beauty. 3) The artist's view of his/her own work. I will explain how the first two sections of his esthetic theory relate to Stephen. Furthermore, I will argue that in the last section, Joyce is speaking of Stephen Dedalus and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as his art.