Organization and Key Performance Indicators Greenpeace

Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on global environmental issues. The NGO uses â€Å"none combative approaches and creative confrontations in its quests for green solutions and a peaceful future† (source: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/). Greenpeace strives at ensuring that the â€Å"Earth nurtures life in all its diversities† (source: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization and Key Performance Indicators: Greenpeace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As such, it aims at protecting biodiversity in all its forms, prevent pollution and abuses of the Earth’s natural resources, eliminate all nuclear threats, and enhance peace, global disarmament, and non-violence. Greenpeace Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relate to areas of Human Resources (HR), communications, and volunteer relations. In the HR department, KPIs include compensation, rewards, and benefit plans, recruitment, employee orientation, administrative tasks, employee relations, and level of engagement or satisfaction among employees and volunteers. Administrative duties including managing personnel files, update organizational charts, participation in employee meetings, review employees’ information for wrongful entries. Recruitment indicators covers areas of finding qualified staff, application forms have correct details, accurate posting of vacancies, and recruits go through all areas of pre-employment procedures. Employee orientation includes arrange for orientation trainings, educate new hires on organizational culture, and get information regarding wages, benefits, rewards, and payroll. KPIs also include induction and signing of codes of conduct, and monitoring of acceptable trainings.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF L earn More Compensation KPIs entail processing of payroll with no mistakes, check areas of overtime, account for paid leave days, and analyses of vacation benefits. In addition, there is also demonstration of knowledge of the organizational compensation policy, and motivational aims. Employees and volunteer relations cover areas of promotion of teamwork, management of conflict, responses from the HR department regarding queries, and both employees and volunteers willing to demonstrate a sense of cooperation and retention. In the area of volunteer relations, KPIs cover office assistances, hours of inputs in campaigns, number of copies translated from English to French, the number of volunteers involved in fundraising, campaigns, and volunteers that have completed their schedules successfully. Communication department KPIs includes public relations, advertisement, promotion, and e-promotions. SMART Goals for the Organization and the chosen departments We begin by identification of go als that are crucial for the success of the organization. Goals reflect the desired outcome Greenpeace wants to accomplish or achieve in the future. These goals are tactical in nature as they define short-term aims from specific organizational departments. They aim at motivating the staff and increase the level of commitment, offer guidance, and provide a platform for monitoring and measuring performance (Barton, 2000). Goal definition within an organization provides opportunities for conceptualization the way forward for the organization. Consequently, it enables responsible departments to develop and master the future direction of the organization. This is a means of assuring stakeholders that the organization will achieve its mission within a specific period. Scholars recommend that goals should meet some defined criteria that those responsible for their monitoring and measurement can use to gauge such goals (Barton, 2000). Most organizations have adopted the SMART approach to de fine and evaluate their goals. Goals must identify the mission and stakeholders of the organization. SMART goals help the organization identify appropriate KPIs for measuring achievements towards such goals. Identification of SMART goals in the organization helps the organization defines a path of serving its mission and creating value to various stakeholders involved. KPIs usually monitor and measure the organizational SMART goals identified in any department (Davis, 2009). In this context, the goals must demonstrate certain characteristics such as specific, quantifiable, attainable, reasonable, and timely.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization and Key Performance Indicators: Greenpeace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, we must apply SMART principle to any goal that relates to KPIs. We shall have SMART goals for the organization in HR, communications, and employees and volunteer engagement and satis faction rate. At the same time, there shall be three KPIs for the goals that we seek to improve. These goals take into account impacts of KPIs on every indicator, and abilities of both employees and volunteers to execute them successfully. Therefore, the organization has full control over the goals. In the HR department, we seek to look at HR department response to queries from employees and volunteers. We have noticed that the HR department takes longer than usually to respond to both volunteers and employees’ queries. Thus, we have identified SMART goal to monitor and measure performance for improvement purposes. We seek to increase the rate of responding to queries by the HR department from 72 hours to 24 hours between June 2012 and December 2012. This represents a 33 percent increment in the rate of response. In employee and volunteer engagement, we seek to know the overall level of both employees’ and volunteers’ satisfaction and engagement with the organiz ational work aspect of eliminating nuclear threats. Thus, the goal is to enhance the level of both employees’ and volunteers’ engagement in work aspect of eliminating nuclear threats from the current 10 percent to 25 percent by the end of the year 2012. This represents a 15 percent increment in six months. Greenpeace work aspects depend on communication. Thus, setting goals for communication is fundamental for success of the organizational mission. The goal is to enhance the use of social, and trendy media platform for campaigns in promoting the green future from the current 40 percent to 70 percent by the end of the year 2012. This reflects an increase of 30 percent in a period of six months. Increased Accountability Explanation of how Smart goals will enhance performance, transparency, and accountability including supporting strategies that demonstrate how to reach the goal The primary aims of organizational goals are to motivate employees and volunteers. Thus, goals should demonstrate ambition but not serve the purpose of demoralization. Goals for measuring performance must show elements of action e.g. increase, and highlight areas of time lines, rating, and quantities.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These goals are relevant to departments and are specific in terms of areas of focus. This approach attempts to align goals with specific departments and in turn the organizational mission. For instance, Greenpeace aims at increasing the level of employees and volunteers’ involvement in achieving the goal of eliminating threats of nuclear activities by 15 percent within six months. Time and end periods enable employees and volunteers to know when they should achieve their goals. Thus, employees and volunteers no longer see such goals as suggestions but real. The department should measure goals and performance using job appraisal processes. The specific nature of goals enables easy evaluation of the achievements against set targets. Studies show that a yearly performance review tends to have low levels of effectiveness due to longer durations. This explains why we set Greenpeace goals within six months. This reduces possibilities of referring to goals when appraisal period appr oaches. Short-term goals enable employees and volunteers focus on their activities of the day and avoid distraction to achieve both individual and departmental goals. Goals also promote accountability and engage employees and volunteers in productive activities for the organization. Greenpeace goals are SMART. This is one approach of enhancing accountability in measurement and performance. Employees and volunteers must set SMART goals for their respective departments. The department must capture all SMART elements in every goal that it aims to measure. Departments must identify specific areas such as time, quantities, rates, and names of indicators so as to reduce complexities associated with defining goals. In fact, employees, departmental heads, and volunteers should give the name of the goal, its detailed description, milestones, means of gauging outcomes, commencing date, and date when it is due. The department must set priorities for attainment of its goals. In cases where ther e are competing priorities, the department must identify the most crucial goal for its success. Consequently, it must focus its resources and effort in order to attain such goals. For instance, Greenpeace communication department must prioritize popular and emerging social media so that it can reach that segment of populations instead of relying on print communications. Both employees and volunteers must comprehend the value of each goal and levels of competency they require. Prioritization enhances decision-making in cases of scarce resources. The department should also create a means of reminding employees and volunteers about goals and their components such as due dates and milestones achieved and gaps. This improves transparency and accountability. SMART goals tend to align both the workforce and organizational goals in order to achieve organizational mission. Most studies have demonstrated that, employees who understand how their daily inputs contribute to the overall mission o f the organization are more accountable than their counterparts who lack such knowledge. Therefore, for improved performance, accountability, and transparency, employees and volunteers must understand that their individual contributions do matter to the organization. The department should communicate to its workforce through setting goals at slightly higher levels and then distribute the targets to the workforce. The idea of distribution enables every staff conceptualizes how an individual’s efforts are necessary for Greenpeace to achieve its overall goals. It also enables every staff track his or her achievements and current status. This enhances a sense of accountability in the department. Accountability, transparency, and performance go together. People tend to perform tasks best when there is a supervisor or when they can easily identify effects of their contributions in an organization. Therefore, the department should provide tools to enable its workforce monitor and co mmunicate their progress. The organization can implement technological innovation that can assist employees monitor their progress through employees’ portal or in the organizational intranet. Such applications provide summaries of what an individual should deliver, time, and the gaps left. This provides opportunities for employees and volunteers to keep their team leaders up-to-date with their performance statuses. Managers can have unlimited access to their direct reports performances. At the same time, the executives can also access such reports and can also send their feedback to individuals who directly contribute to organizational goals. Such levels of monitoring enhance accountability, transparency and improve performance among employees. Likewise, the management can redirect resource to areas that need attention so as to enable everyone account for their performances. How the planning process and establishment of SMART goals and increased accountability among employees will lead to a better employee (and volunteer) retention and increased employee morale Performance management using SMART goals to enhance both employees and volunteers morale and retention is not an easy task. Thus, several skills and training are necessary among departmental managers. Training is necessary to enable managers feel confident about tasks before them. This is useful in cases where some management team may be newly promoted. According to MacMillan, managers must â€Å"understand human behavior, how to motivate, how to develop, provide coaching, and handle conflict† (MacMillan, 2012). Managers play significant roles in observing and managing the prevailing circumstances, offer motivation, and manage issues that may interfere with implementation of SMART goals. Enhancing morale and motivation implies that managers must understand individual differences of the workforce such as abilities, experiences, and support needed. Thus, preparing managers for planning, impl ementation of SMART goals, evaluation, and provisions of feedback will lead to goal achievements, employee motivation, and retention. The organization should also link â€Å"SMART goals, performance with rewards and recognition† (MacMillan, 2012). Performance management should be fair, transparent, and equitable so that employees can believe in the process. Rewards, benefits, and compensation should be consistent throughout the organization. Consistency ensures that there is transparency and accountability and in turn enhances employees’ satisfaction with the goals and job. Organizations that link their â€Å"compensation procedures with performance must be critical of this issue† (MacMillan, 2012). The organization should have consistent and fair compensation policy across all departments. Thus, any deviation may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced morale and motivation among employees. How the overall plan will better enable the organization to fulfill its mis sion A better implementation of SMART goals for achieving Greenpeace mission of green and peaceful future starts with performance planning. SMART goals are the basis for performance planning. SMART goals have actionable plan that will guide both employees and volunteers work towards achievements of the organization overall mission. Achieving the mission through SMART goals should be a collaborative process among management teams, employees, and volunteers. Every target element must have a clear description and realistic expectation. Planning processes must identify both long-term and short goals that work towards achievement of organizational mission. At the same time, there should be clear implementation strategy on how each department shall attain its objectives. Every department must prioritize its goals. There should also be a clear and detailed method of evaluation. Greenpeace must also identify factors that may hinder it from achieving its SMART goals. Organization should offe r training, motivation, and mentoring to overcome any issues that concern employees or volunteers such as behavior, attitude, skills, or knowledge. The departments must carry out regular monitoring, assessment, and solve issues that may hinder SMART goals for achieving organization mission. There can also be changes in direction, reallocation of resources, and training during implementation stages. Communications and feedback are crucial during these stages so as to enhance continuous improvement of the team. Mission aim should be an ongoing process in the organization. Processes of planning, setting SMART goals, performance planning, monitoring, feedback, and continuous training are mandatory for achieving the mission of the organization. These processes also provide opportunities for the organization to identify any gaps that may affect progresses. There should be full participation of all members of the organization so that teamwork can deliver the mission. References Barton, R. (2000). Organizational Goal Setting and Planning. Murray, KY: Murray State University. Davis, J. (2009). Managing and Achieving Organizational Goals. New York, NY: American Management Association. MacMillan, A. (2012). Importance of Performance Management Process Best Practices To Optimize Monitoring Performance Work Reviews/Feedback and Goal Management. Raising the Bar on Performance Management Process, 1, 1- 6. 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Louisiana Purchase essays

Louisiana Purchase essays When Thomas Jefferson became president of the United States in 1801, he dreamed of sending an expedition to explore the little-known territory west of the Mississippi river. Between 1783 and 1792 Jefferson has encouraged plans for three expeditions. All three expeditions failed. In January, 1803, he asked Congress for $2,500 to pay for an expedition that might journey as far as the Pacific Ocean. The request was approval and kept secret because most of the region to be explored still belonged to France. This vast area, lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, was called Louisiana in honor of Louis XIV of France. When President Jefferson learned of the Treaty of San Ildefonso, between Napoleon and Spanish rulers, which gave Louisiana back to the French, he was very worried. On October 15, 1802, the King of Spain finally gave the order transferring Louisiana to France, but the Spanish governor in New Orleans didnt know of this order. The following day he suddenly withdrew the right of deposit. This was the right given to American shippers that allowed them to leave their goods at New Orleans while awaiting transfer onto ocean going vessels. Many people felt threatened over this and thought that we should go in and take Louisiana by force. Jefferson Ordered Robert R. Livingston, the American minister to France, to explore the possibility of purchasing New Orleans and a section of West Florida near the mouth of the Mississippi. In March, 1803, James Monroe went to Paris as a special envoy. Congress had given him the power to offer Napoleon up to $10,000,000 for New Orleans and a tract of land on the Gulf of Mexico. Monroe did not arrive in Paris until April 12. By then Napoleon had decided to give up his plans for a New World empire. He needed all of his ships for his planned invasion of England. His treasury was nearly empty-and he wanted to prevent the United States ...

Discrimination in Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Discrimination in Marketing - Assignment Example Therefore, Reynolds’ implementation of a cigarette marketing campaign for the African-American population is adversely a discriminatory approach in marketing since the other races in the country may have intended to use menthol cigarettes over the non-menthol ones. The following is an analytical approach to establish the controversy of discrimination in marketing cigarettes in the uptown market segment. Critically, it is indicated that the African-American cigarette smoking population contains a relevantly higher ratio of menthol cigarette smokers compared to the other races in the country. Emphasizing on Reynolds’ information concerning the demographic variability of menthol cigarette smokers in the uptown market edge, the norm is that there exists discrimination in the established marketing approach despite the fact that the cigarettes sell for 70% of the black population. Researches assert that the white population together with other American races, influences 30% of the total market sales outcomes. This is a clear indication of the existence of marketing discrimination in the uptown market segment (p. 1). Arguably, Reynolds set an ideal platform to reveal the existence of discrimination in the uptown market segment. Based on the fact that most of the advertising, pricing, and promotion approaches of menthol cigarettes is redirected to the African-American population, it is evident that marketers in the segment often engage in discrimination. The intentions of precise marketing approaches are born to yielding profitable market segments over competitors. Further, it is knowledgeable to marketers that users of a certain commodity perceive belongingness after being associated with the marketing and promotion practices. Therefore, Reynolds concern in marketing cigarettes for the uptown market cigarette smokers and precisely the black population is a critical approach

Art Gallery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art Gallery - Essay Example I was particularly impressed by his sculptures His sculptures are fascinating as they are made either from exotic wood or an assortment or stone pieces. The use of oxidized paint gives it a metallic copper finish as though the sculpture was done by an tribe in Africa or it came from an ancient people from an Aztec pyramid. The carving is done in such a way that the viewer sees what he want. There is a combination of modern with ancient. The chosen piece "Shrine" was displayed as a major piece in a the corner of one of the rooms. The lighting was excellent so as to show the effect of the oxidized finish. combines modern with ancient. I have to note that I did not mark the year it was done and I could not find it on internet. The cross on the top of the piece show his technique as a modern graphic designer. It is pretty and really gives no other indication until you start to think of the symbolism of the piece. As you take your eyes and start looking down you see the cross as a means of joining two pieces of wood or two people. It is quite common in both African and local culture in Latin American culture to have two people joined together in wood in the form of a statue. His technique is modern as the viewer needs to look awhile as to see the purpose of the Shrine. It is a shrine to the couple. It is a shrine to man and woman. There is no differentiation to the man and the woman. This is also another modern technique. Is the cross a protection of God? This is just an idea. The use of oxidization shows that the unification of man and wife is an ancient custom and will continue to last. This piece can be interpreted as just a piece of wood with a pretty form. In any other context it would have been interesting to take different statutes from different cultures to compare the same subject, then the viewer would have seen the meaning given to the Shrine. I chose this piece because it took work to figure out

The Time Essay Example for Free

The Time Essay What is the most horrible of institutions that ever entered human lives? Anyone, by the perceived notion of institutions might start listing education, family, marriage, state, religion etc. But, if we think once, all these institutions have something in common. They are all time framed, time – bound, and submit us to conformity, which is again fitting itself into the framework of larger time that is life time. So, I would say, it is time that is the major institution that changed the face of our lives. Not only ours, but of course of the whole human society, be it in any part of the world. If you are someone like Plato, you would say, there is no such thing like time that is making life hard for us. Instead, it is the idea of time that is responsible for all the commotion. Well, I do agree with such people and say, â€Å"The Clock is the culprit†, and enquire how this dire consequence happened to us. Unfortunately, to track how this at all happened, we should still rely on time, gazing back at the past, so that our arguments would make some sense. By this, we could say that, time is eternal to our lives. It neither has a beginning nor ending. The entire creation moves on according to a time pattern. Time is one of those many necessary evils that happened to us. Tracing back to history, we don’t have any evidence to suggest when the word ‘time’ derived or established semantically, but the word ‘clock’ is derived from the Latin word ‘clocca’ which means ‘bell’ or French word ‘cloche’, which again means the same. We were introduced to clocks only in the 14th century. It is in this period that people were familiarized with devices like sun dial, clepsydra or water clocks etc. Mechanical, tower and quartz clocks, with gears, wheels and weights attached to them were invented somewhere around the medieval period (5th – 15th century) in Europe. Be it towards human development or mechanization, this invention is of course a giant leap in the history of mankind. But, these clocks had the facility of ticking only once in an hour, that is there were no minutes and seconds hands at that time. As a solution to this problem and avoid the accuracy and precision constraint of his experiments, Galileo, a physicist, observed the chandeliers in the church and tried to devise a similar device, but he failed to do so. Later, with the aid of Galileo’s works and further research to his credit, Huygens, a Dutch astronomer, devised the first successful pendulum clock. But, theseclocks too had a problem. They used to tick several times a second, making life even more miserable. Later, William Clement, an English clock maker devised pendulum clocks whose least measure was a second. These clocks were well appreciated and came to be known as â€Å"the grandfather’s clocks† in the history. The aftermath of this was known to be the period of scientific development where the pendulums were replaced by atomic vibrations. The clocks which we use today with seconds, minutes and hours hands are called the atomic clocks and were invented by Dr. L. Essen. Until 1840’s, the clocks we used consisted of external batteries. Meanwhile, people undertook research to avoid this problem of batteries losing life as they were exposed to harsh weather conditions which show their impact on this life – boosting device, battery. It was much later in 1906 that we started using internal batteries. The first portable time piece (such as time turner, wrist watch etc. ) ever was devised by a German, Peter Hele, the pioneer of human plethora and obviously the first one who deserves death penalty because without him, we would have left time at home and walked freely into the outer world, and would have lived peacefully. Coming to philosophy, renowned philosophers argue that time is a mental construct but nobody ever says how to get rid of it. Moreover, they propose alternative theories on time. Though these don’t solve the problem, they give us a ground to work on it, as it is believed that sticking with a problem for a longer time (time again! ) will give us possible scope to analyze it and would hopefully lead us to the solution. They provide us a pretty good set of facts such as time is one – dimensional, unidirectional, irreversible and hence precious, it is not cyclic but linear (as Stephen Hawking said), etc. There are also competing theories in philosophy which tries to present different perspectives, viewpoints regarding time. The Presentists argue that only the present is the only real thing. The Growing – block theorists argue that both present and past are real, but not future, that is I’m eating an ice cream and dinosaurs had once existed are real, but not certainly my death. Who knows? I might be that one mortal being on earth who doesn’t meet death. The Block – universe theorists or the Eternalists argue that the past, present and future are subjective and are mere mental constructs, just like time. But, as it is denying the tenet of time, and as it is deemed to be tense less, eternalism was considered illogical. We even have this distinctversion called there are different types of time namely, Public time (the time which runs on clocks), Biological time (the circadian rhythms which are regulated by sunlight and darkness), and the Psychological or the Phenomenological time (this is nothing different from public time and moreover, it is only how we use the public time). This psychological time is once again known to be a mental construct, subjective, and immeasurable. For example, psychological time passes when we are happy and drags when we are sad. The psychological time cannot be measured with any devise whereas the public time is a basic time that can be measured by the clock, which is devised for the very purpose. Psychological time helps us to understand human thought processes whereas the public time does not understand or analyze anything. It is merely a platform for the consequences that the psychological time should think of. Talking about the flow of time, there are two opposing theories namely the Myth – Flow theory and the Theory of Objective Reality. The former strengthens the rampant argument that the notion of time is a myth and it is our mental construct whereas the latter contradictorily tells us that time is mind – independent reality, which it clarifies by saying that though we die, time is eternal and it always exists in this universe, thus justifying its objective reality. It is certainly due to this concept of time flow that cognitive psychologists were also interested in the time. They were interested in knowing our experience of time flow and our ability to place events as per chronology. Neuroscientists, at a point of time, were also interested in time and suggested that your brain waits about 80 milliseconds for all the relevant input to come in before you experience a â€Å"now†. Neuroscientists and psychologists have investigated whether they can speed up our minds relative to physical time. If so, we might become mentally more productive, and get more high quality decision making done per fixed amount of physical time, and learn more per minute. Several avenues have been explored: using cocaine, amphetamines and other drugs, undergoing extreme experiences such as jumping backwards off a tall tower with bungee cords attached to one’s ankles, and trying different forms of meditation. So far, none of these avenues have led to success productivity-wise. Time is no doubt the central theme of modern life. Every single day, from dawn to dusk, we plan our day, or at least think of our day as per a time schedule. We get up inthe morning and enter into the inevitable business of time keeping and this burden becomes even more when we attach meaning to a whole jargon of words like once upon a time, past, present, future, yesterday, today, tomorrow, day after tomorrow, the next hour, within ten minutes, one second etc. I think it is because of fear of this time and the time constraint that we are taking our life so seriously, the whole world became so competitive in the pursuit of virtue and racing towards an unknown fortune, whose existence is still a matter of potential questionnaire. Human beings are so subjective that we cannot conduct a Meta – subjective analysis of their subjectivity. But, millions and billions of members of the human race are curbed off their creativity and were forced to fit into an artificial pitcher called the time – box, where, since centuries, people were supposed to do what they were expected to and that to within a fixed time – frame, and a lot of value is attached to time. At least once in life, let us take up this unique or peculiar experiment of putting this time outside human lives. Can we live at least a day without looking at our watch, mobile, or desktop without knowing what the time is? Can we lead our life succumbing just to gut feeling and nothing else? Time is said to be a free – force which does not wait for anyone. Then, why the hell do we bother about time, when it does not wait for us? Can’t we be little egoistic concentrating on self – emphasis rather than time – emphasis? This might sound a kind of utopian and something that never happens in this 21st century. If at all we still feel like attempting this, we must follow Rousseau, who just went off into the woods to lead his life calm and quiet, away from the hue and cry of the main – frame of society which is suffering from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) of time ticking lives. Despite the cons it has, time has pros too. As Ovid says, â€Å"Time is the best medicine. † It is known to heal the wounds which reason cannot. Time is a wise counselor which gives us a healing touch. It reminds us to act and of course act wisely. It is the sole controller of our emotion and experience. To conclude, time is all in the mind and so it is up to us, our mindset and attitude as of how to get on with it, and we must thank the Temporal Logic (time based logic that is responsible for the functioning of any language) for which we attribute our whole understanding of this issue, and of course the rather creepy World.

Cancer Ward The Old Doctor Essay -- essays research papers

Cancer Ward: â€Å"The Old Doctor†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this chapter Ludmila goes to visit her former mentor Dr. Oreshchenkov. He lives in a nice home and it is filled with things of the past and who he is. Ludmila has realized that she has cancer. However, she is not willing to except her own intuition and goes to Oreshchenkov to be sure and even to be told that â€Å"it’s nothing serious†. While she is there she has a small sense of release and calm. Later the two of them get in to a discussion over the need for the â€Å"family- doctor†. These scenes have deeper meaning than just the literal sense. This chapter can be interpreted by using Dante’s â€Å"Four Levels of Interpretation†. The first level of interpretation is the literal. This level focuses on what literally happened in the story. The second level of interpretation is the allegorical. This level is concerned with the meaning hidden beneath the words in the literal sense. It tells of the nature of man and what we do in certain situations. The third level is the moral level. It is the message behind the story. This level teaches us a lesson that we should use in our lives. The fourth and final level is the anagogical level. This is the level that is the sense beyond. It is not only literally true but shows a truth of greater glory and truth of the spirit. Dante used the example:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"...in the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Judea was made holy and free. [7] For even though   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the literal truth of this passage is clear, what it means   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   spiritually is no less true, that in the departure of the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   soul from sin, it is made holy and free.† [8] The doctor lives in a better-than-average home in a nice neighborhood. It is full of things from his past and is well maintained. He has an old Grand piano and there are many books on the shelves. Some of these books were recently acquired by Oreshchenkov from a fellow doctor. This doctor had just retired and became a bee-keeper. He did not enjoy being a doctor and now he was free of it. He could now do what he really wanted and was... ...hich occupied them, which they believe was central to their lives, and by which they were known to others. The meaning of existence was to preserve unspoiled, undisturbed and undistorted the image of eternity with which each person is born.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (P 432) The doctor sees the people of his past, not as their accomplishments, but who they really are. He sees that they are so preoccupied with the things they are doing that they think that that is all they are and that is how other people saw them. They become objects of their work and activity and loose who they are. The doctor sees that the purpose of life is to remain true to yourself. Don’t allow yourself to distort what you really are. See yourself as a person. If you do that you will continually keep your soul pure. If you live your life a human being your soul will remain unspoiled and will last for eternity. To live a human being you must be and treat everyone as a beloved creation of God for your entire life. That is â€Å"the truest of all tests† for a man.

Ezra Pound Essay

The Young Genius: Ezra Pound’s influenced poetry on Benito Mussolini and the Fascist movement, time of his stay in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and the concept of Imagism. â€Å"If a nation’s literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.† (Ezra Pound Quotes) Ezra Pound was not a man of many words, but he certainly did have a knack for turning simple words into something beautiful. Pounds’ poetry was influenced by his fascination with Benito Mussolini and the Fascist movement, the time of his stay in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and the concept of Imagism. It is safe to say that Ezra Pound did not live a boring life growing up. He was born on October 30, 1885 in Hailey, Idaho. However, he was brought up in Wyncote, Philadelphia. At the small age of 12, Pound’s father, Hoomer Loomis Pound, sent him to military school. His father’s occupation was an assistant assayer at the U.S. Mint. Pound was the only child from his father, Hoomer Loomis Pound, and his mother, Mary Parker Wadsworth Weston. The family was your average, middle-class family. His mother, was more of a traditional woman. â€Å"A family that has respect for tradition,† were the words that often came out of her mouth. (Ezra (Weston Loomis) Pound Biography) In the year 1905, Pound received a bachelor degree of philosophy from Hamilton College and a master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1906. After he graduated in 1907, his first teaching gig was teaching Spanish and French at a small Presbyterian college in Indiana. He was shortly fired from that occupation, due to the accused charges of seducing a young woman. Pound was never found guilty. One of the main influences in Ezra Pound’s poetry was Benito Mussolini and the Fascism beliefs. The whole interest and fascination began around 1924, when Pound left England and went to Italy with his second wife Olga Rudge. He left England because he believed they were responsible for the usury and international capitalism for the war. â€Å"Mussolini seemed to have clever ideas about economics than Major Douglass did.† (74. Wilhelm, James J.) Pound was so fixated on Mussolini that he eventually met him in Rome at January 30, 1933 in the Palazzo Venezie. (Ezra Pound – Pound, Politics, Poetry) Furthermore, Pound created a name for him in the Fascist world and eventually made a regular address on the Italian State Radio, approved by the Italian government, because he was such an advocate for Benito Mussolini and his fascist views. Because of his incredible favor towards Mussolini, people back in the United States viewed him as a traitor  and were saying he was fraternizing with the enemy. â€Å"If a man isn’t willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he’s no good.† (Treason, Fascism, and Anti-Semitism) People thought that Pound went insane and he was arrested for treason and was sent to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital of Mental Health. I believe, that this is an expressive poem about his feelings living in England or the United States. He was so happy in Italy and was living such a â€Å"colorful† life that every other way of life just appeared â€Å"dull† to him. â€Å"And the days are not full enough† And the days are not full enough And the nights are not full enough And life slips by like a field mouse Not shaking the grass. (Pound, Ezra) Ezra Pound In this poem, Ezra Pound used diction, tone, and euphony. Diction shined through in the chosen phrase, â€Å"not full enough†. Although he only used that twice in the poem, that phrase had a very powerful effect on the readers’ mood of the poem. He gave the poem a dull and melancholy vibe for the poem. Although the Pound’s attitude is not directly stated in this poem, the depressing tone is as noticeable as a white elephant in the room. Last but not least is the use of elegy. Despite the part of elegy relating to death, elegy is used in this poem because it is a very solemn themed poem. In my opinion, this â€Å"man† Pound is talking about is intended to be viewed as England or the United States. This â€Å"ideal† man that he speaks of, who has order about him, meant to be viewed as Italy/Benito Mussolini. â€Å"Canto 13† If a man have not order within him He cannot spread order about him; And if a man have not order within him His family will not act with due order; And if the prince have not order within him He cannot put order in his dominions. (Lines 46-51) In the previous excerpt of Canto 13, the three literacy terms refrain; anaphora and a hint of didactic poetry are involved. The word and phrase order appear in every line of the excerpt. It is repeated to not only get the meaning across, but to make a significant indent in the readers’ mind while reading the poem. The hint of didactic poetry is shown in this poem, I believe, because Pound is telling the reader without order you cannot do a few things such as spread order about him, family will not act, and one cannot put order in his dominions. In a way, that is teaching the pros of â€Å"order.† From this poem I can infer that Ezra Pound is stating that whether or not he is ruled by an imperialistic power: everyday is going to be the same, for everybody. The last line â€Å"Imperial power is? And to us what is it?† means that no matter government is enforced, their everyday life is not going to change. â€Å"Cantos XLIX: For The Seven Lakes† Sun up; work Sundown; to rest Dig well and drink of the water Dig field; eat of the grain Imperial power is? And to us what is it? The fourth; the dimension of stillness. And the power over wild beasts. (Lines 42-48) In this excerpt of a free versed poem, the mood is shown to be this sort of â€Å"depressed† or â€Å"given up on life† type of attitude. Also used in this poem are diction and caesura. Caesura is a natural pause in the middle of a line, sometimes coinciding with punctuation (Quizlet). The short and curt choice of words really gives off the frustrated aura of the poem. And caesura shines through with the use of the semi-colons after every first verse in the line of that stanza. The second influence of Ezra Pound’s poetry and writings had to do with his stay in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. When Pound was arrested and put in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital he was deemed mentally insane after being convicted of treason. While Pound was in the hospital, he wrote most of his poetry. For example, the series of 120 sections of Cantos were written mostly in the hospital. Furthermore, after being analyzed, his poems and writing were said to be from a â€Å"sane persons mind.† ( Not being a very talkative man out of the hospital, his lack of social skills really showed through while in the hospital; he was not a very warm and fuzzy man. While still in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Pound was awarded the Bollingen Award by the Library of Congress for his Pisan Cantos (1948). About 10 years later in 1958, his fellow writers and fans released him due to the campaign. I really liked this excerpt of the poem â€Å"Before Sleep† because I feel that it really described how Ezra Pound was feeling in his room at the hospital. He must have had a good amount of time to think and analyze everything going on around him. â€Å"Before Sleep† The lateral vibrations caress me, They leap and caress me, They work pathetically in my favour, They seek my financial good. (Lines 1-4) Obviously from the title of the poem, we can infer that the theme of the poem is about the period of time before one falls asleep. However, any knowledgeable reader can infer that without the title. The imagery used in this poem is absolutely marvelous. When I read the excerpt, I really envision the vibrations becoming one and interacting with the body. That is also an excellent use of personification. Vibrations obviously cannot â€Å"caress† and â€Å"leap† across ones body. In my opinion, Ezra Pound is explaining through the character Kung that being cooped up in the hospital is doing him no good, that he is not himself. â€Å"Without ones’ freedom (character) one cannot get far in life (play on that instrument or execute the music)† (Poems by Ezra Pound) â€Å"Canto 13† And Kung said, â€Å"Without character you will â€Å"Be unable to play on that instrument â€Å"Or to execute the music fit for the Odes. â€Å"The blossoms of the apricot â€Å"Blow from the east to the west, â€Å"And I have tried to keep them from falling.† (Lines 80-85) This excerpt from â€Å"Canto 13† has two hidden literacy terms incorporated in its writing. The terms symbolism and didactic poetry are noticeable and relate to each other. Symbolism is used to symbolize the word â€Å"character† with ones freedom and the phrase â€Å"unable to play on that instrument† is used to symbolize the ability to use and control that freedom. This is where didactic poetry comes into play, having freedom and being able to control it is teaching. The third influence that had a major part in Ezra Pounds’ poetry is Imagism. It is safe to say that Ezra Pounds’ most noted contribution to poetry was the founding and involvement of Imagism. Imagism: a literary movement launched by British and American poets early in the 20th century that advocated the use of free verse, common speech patterns, and clear concrete images as a reaction to Victorian sentimentalism. (Imagism: Definition from Answers.com) â€Å"We believe that the individuality of a poet may often be better expressed in free verse than in conventional forms. In poetry, a new cadence means a new idea.† (Imagists’ Quotes). That quote is derived from Ezra Pound and his fellow poets who had a large effect on the Imagism period. One of the other poets was Amy Lowell. In 1912, Pound founded the Imagist School with T.E. Hulme and F.S. Flint and Helda Doolittle. This poem is one of my favorites because it is so direct and honest. Not only is it honest but also it is so forward and really makes me gain more respect for Ezra Pound. This poem is influenced by Imagism because one of the main topics in Imagism is to advocate the use of free verse and this poem is the epitome of free verse.