David Morrison
eNotes Educator
Achievements
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14992
Answers Posted
298
Answers Bonused
About
B.A. Law with extensive knowledge of and expertise in English Literature, History, and Philosophy.
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Recent Activity
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Answered a Question in History
The rallying cry of Renaissance humanism was "Ad fontes!" or "Back to the sources." Renaissance thinkers consciously returned to the treasures of classical learning for inspiration, seeing them as... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
When Odysseus finally returns home to Ithaca, he disguises himself as a withered old beggar. He enters his palace and there sees before him the suitors who have been eating him out of house and... -
Answered a Question in Great Expectations
Estella is very pretty but cruel. She treats Pip like the "common, laboring boy" she believes him to be. On his first visit to Satis House she is particularly unpleasant to the poor little chap,... -
Answered a Question in The New Colossus
"The New Colossus" is what's called a Petrarchan sonnet consisting of fourteen lines with a rhyme scheme of abbaabba in the octet, and cdcdcd in the sestet. In keeping with sonnets of this... -
Answered a Question in Herodotus
Prior to Herodotus, the writing of history was almost indistinguishable from the composition of myth and fable. As such, it was impossible to get an accurate account of historical events.... -
Answered a Question in The Constitutional Convention
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Founding Fathers' deliberations were held in total secrecy. The reason for this is that those attending the Convention did not want any information... -
Answered a Question in The Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 ended in defeat for the American Revolutionary forces. Yet, in time, it came to take on the appearance of a Pyrrhic victory for the British. Despite losing the... -
Answered a Question in The Rivals
The role of women in eighteenth century England is another important theme of The Rivals. At the time the play was written, women in polite society were regarded as mere objects, property to be... -
Answered a Question in Germinal
Like many intellectuals, Zola sees Marxism as a useful tool for analyzing capitalist society and its defects but less useful as a means of realizing concrete social change. In Germinal, Zola... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
The relationship between Odysseus and Penelope both reflects and, at the same time, transcends the cultural norms of the time. They are king and queen of Ithaca and have a very strong sense of... -
Answered a Question in Literature
Neoclassical poetry tended to be written in a much more elevated manner, using classical models such as epics, odes, and pastorals. The aesthetic approach of neoclassicism was descriptive, seeking... -
Answered a Question in Frindle
Frindle can be seen as teaching children how language develops and how it works. Ultimately, words in themselves mean nothing; meaning is derived from how they are used. We can look up a word... -
Answered a Question in Meeting at Night
In "Meeting At Night" Browning is seeking to convey the excitement and intensity of a clandestine love affair. He does this most effectively by making us wait for the much-anticipated... -
Answered a Question in Romeo and Juliet
Juliet is 13 years old. We know this because it is mentioned at several points in the play. For example, here is an exchange between Lady Capulet and the nurse: LADY CAPULET This is the... -
Answered a Question in John Locke
Locke was an empiricist philosopher. What this means is that he thought our knowledge of the world was ultimately derived through our senses. Empiricism is usually contrasted with rationalism,... -
Answered a Question in The Vicar of Wakefield
To a large extent, both Olivia and Sophia reflect the characteristics of their father. They are fundamentally kind, decent, and respectable people, but they have their faults and are prone to... -
Answered a Question in The New Deal
The Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, was one of a number of agencies set up by President Roosevelt under the New Deal to help tackle the chronic economic problems of the Great Depression. More... -
Answered a Question in Pride and Prejudice
Like any respectable matriarch of the time, Mrs. Bennet is keen to ensure that her daughters are married off as soon as possible to a "single man in possession of a good fortune." Her relationship... -
Answered a Question in Dante's Inferno
After Virgil and Dante enter through the gate of Hell, Dante is greatly perturbed by a hideous cacophony of screams, moans, and shrill, faint voices. He asks Virgil where these terrifying voices... -
Answered a Question in History
A number of ancient civilizations relied on the observation of celestial bodies. By plotting the alignment of the stars and other heavenly bodies, the ancients were able to organize their lives.... -
Answered a Question in Iliad
Homer's view of war is suitably ambiguous. He's unstinting in his praise for individual acts of courage and valor on both sides. But at the same time, we are left in no doubt that war is a terrible... -
Answered a Question in The Divine Comedy
One important similarity between the two books lies in their respective treatment of the Church. Both Dante and Chaucer were, as with most people at the time, devout Christians. Yet at the same... -
Answered a Question in Son of the Revolution
Son of the Revolution is not a novel, but it certainly reads like one. It is a fascinating, searing, and, at times, deeply tragic firsthand account of the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution in... -
Answered a Question in Birdsong
I would venture to suggest that birdsong is used as a title to provide a commentary on events in the book. Despite the appalling carnage and suffering of war, the world keeps on turning; the... -
Answered a Question in Good-bye, Mr. Chips
When Ralston suggests that Chips should retire, it's a total surprise. Chips has never liked Ralston. He feels that he's more of a hyper-efficient bureaucrat than a teacher, certainly not a molder... -
Answered a Question in Fire and Ice
One of the main strengths of the poem is its ambiguity, which is reflected in its suggestive anticlimax. Frost expertly sets us up to expect a firm answer to the question: how will the world end,... -
Answered a Question in Of Mice and Men
It's not entirely clear why Lennie would be described as "kind." He certainly has a gentle, child-like quality to him. But that's because he appears to have the mental age of a child, whereas... -
Answered a Question in The Canterbury Tales
It is instructive that the Pardoner is one of the last of the pilgrims introduced by Chaucer in the General Prologue. As the characters are introduced in a strict social hierarchy, we can tell... -
Answered a Question in We the Animals
The central motif of We The Animals is the depiction of children as animals. A secondary motif broadens the original one to include all humans in the story. In this particular "animal... -
Answered a Question in Long Day's Journey into Night
Most of the main characters in Long Day's Journey Into Night retain a ghost-like appearance in that they are haunted. The sad, faded world they inhabit is no longer occupied by flesh and blood... -
Answered a Question in A Little Cloud
Symbolism is used by Joyce to convey the general theme of "A Little Cloud" and the other stories in Dubliners: the restricted, provincial, suffocating nature of Irish life. The title of the... -
Answered a Question in The Prince
Machiavelli was a true child of the Renaissance. He was a thoroughgoing humanist who looked fondly to antiquity for models of learning, wisdom and statesmanship. The Prince stands as a... -
Answered a Question in The Masque of the Red Death
In the second paragraph of the story, Poe gives us a vivid description of the castellated abbey in which Prince Prospero and the other nobles hide from the devastating plague that stalks the land.... -
Answered a Question in The Odyssey
Odysseus is very much a product of his time and place. He is a great king and noble warrior who unhesitatingly subscribes to the dominant ethos of aristocratic Greek males. Yet he does so with a... -
Answered a Question in Literary Terms
In the early days of Greek drama there was only one actor on stage, playing all the different parts. The introduction of the chorus, then, was largely practical. It provided the audience with a... -
Answered a Question in The Tempest
Gonzalo is making a speech about what kind of world we'd have if he were in charge. It's a utopian vision; there'd be no war, riches, poverty, or any kind of laws. Humankind would be innocent and... -
Answered a Question in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Frederick Douglass has a deeper understanding of freedom than the simple manumission of slaves. Throughout the Narrative, Douglass links the formal freedom of slaves with a fuller,... -
Answered a Question in Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau believes that only a campaign of civil disobedience will be enough to defeat the evils of slavery. Thoreau was a radical individualist with a profound distrust of the collective will,... -
Answered a Question in History
The establishment of the Jamestown settlement was motivated primarily by economic factors. The early seventeenth century was a period of rapid imperial expansion by European powers, and the English... -
Answered a Question in A View From the Bridge
A View from the Bridge is largely concerned with the American immigrant experience. Arthur Miller, however, isn't simply making a point about immigration; he's also proffering wider... -
Answered a Question in Poetry
There are many similarities between "Tintern Abbey" and "Frost At Midnight." This is not particularly surprising, as Wordsworth and Coleridge were close friends and collaborators who shared a... -
Answered a Question in Dover Beach
Arnold is probably referring to an ancient battle recounted by the Greek historian Thucydides in which the Athenians fought Syracusans at night. In the context of the poem, however, there is a much... -
Answered a Question in Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Capitalism is undoubtedly an important background theme in Tess of the D'Urbervilles. This is not altogether surprising when one considers the wider cultural context in which the story was... -
Answered a Question in Jane Eyre
Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers are literary foils. Simply put, this means that they are characters who offer a contrast to each other. And the contrasts between the two men really couldn't be... -
Answered a Question in Kubla Khan
"Kubla Khan" is a fine example of romantic poetry. It embodies all the various themes one associates with that literary movement. It is a work of heightened imagination; its vision is dreamy... -
Answered a Question in History
Hobbes did not believe in monarchy by divine right for one simple reason: he was an atheist. He could not come right out and admit this, however, because it would have caused him serious trouble... -
Answered a Question in History
The differences are fundamental and relate to their respective understandings of what a social contract is for. Locke, like most social contract thinkers, looks upon the arrangement as a means of... -
Answered a Question in World War I
The Allied powers wanted to punish Germany for starting the war but thought little of the consequences that would follow from doing so. The German economy lay in ruins. Political and social chaos... -
Answered a Question in The Hollow Men
"The Hollow Men" emerges out of much the same social context as Eliot's earlier "Waste Land." The period following the First World War was a time of increasing social alienation as Western... -
Answered a Question in Leaves of Grass
"I Hear America Singing" is a hymn of praise to the American worker. At the time when it was written in 1860, the United States was experiencing a rapid rate of industrialization. More people...
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