The Girl and the Man, from Hills Like White Elephants. essays

The Girl and the Man, from Hills Like White Elephants. essays In Hills Like White Elephants the author begins with a description of the place where the story develops; a rural town in Spain, where the two main characters, a man and a girl, are seated at a restaurant drinking beer as they wait for a train. While seated in the table the girl notices distant hills on the other side of the town, and instantly says that they look like White Elephants. The mans unimpressed response along with the girls reaction triggered a tension between the parties that eventually would lead to one very delicate topic. The tension between them kept rising while they were drinking, which lead to the ordering of a few more beers, and eventually on the third drink, the man raises the subject of an operation hes encouraging the girl to have. As the conversation developed it became apparent that they were talking about an abortion. Offering his unconditional support and friendship to the girl, the man encouraged the girl to go ahead and do the operation as planned. She would ensure him that theyd go on as before accorded. The girl is rather inexperienced and new to the operation, which can also be applied to her maturity and boldness. Certainly the girl is unsure about having the operation; shes young, inexperience and naive about the abortion. She does not seem to know much about the consequences and risks of it, but still remains fairly aware of them. Though shes not completely sold on it the man keeps manipulating and convincing her about having it, saying that hes know lots of people who have done it and if she does not want to do it, she does not have to. In addition, she does not know if things will be the way they were before, and whether the man will still love her. All these show a lack of character and security from the girls side, since the only things she cares about are their romantic relationship, the m ...

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension

Writing Techniques To Improve Reading Comprehension Periodically, I watch episodes of the TV show â€Å"Numb3rs† on Netflix just to pretend that I’m a math genius. My friend and I have made an inside joke about one particular writing technique the show has used to help dull audience members like myself understand the math technique they are about to use. We mouth â€Å"It’s like†¦.† to each other whenever a character mentions some obscure math approach, and then we wait for the characters to launch into the illustration. Moving past the hilarity of that particular video on so many other levels, you can see how the writers of that show made the math geniuses spout off the math technique they were going to use and then follow immediately with a more understandable example the lay person could grasp. I appreciate these more understandable illustrations. How To Discover Awesome Writing Techniques That Will Improve Reading ComprehensionBranching Your Ideas The â€Å"what if† and â€Å"it’s like† writing techniques  are a kind of â€Å"branching† approach to both idea generation and reader understanding. Following an idea down a singular path is a way to get things done, but it’s not a way to generate future ideas or think creatively. For example, when I set out to write about content marketing game theory  for this blog (and was hopelessly out of my element, believe me), I decided to branch out in a couple of directions so that I could better understand the topic as a writer and, perhaps, better explain the topic to the reader. By branching my idea and asking â€Å"what if†, I managed to come up with two examples (â€Å"it’s like†) for readers. Only by branching and traveling down various paths to see where they might take me was I able to do this. Writers' block? Branch your ideas with 'what if' and 'it's like' #writing techniques.Some content marketers prefer to have one idea and shoot straight for the finish line; that’s perfectly acceptable. But others, like myself, enjoy the happy accidents that occur when you allow your ideas to branch. Don’t be afraid to branch out; you won’t be left out on a limb. (rimshot) Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: 5 Teaching Theories That Will Improve Your Educational Content Marketing How To Use The Best Content Types To Boost Reader Learning How To Communicate Effectively With Your Blog Readers To Keep Them Reading Using â€Å"What If† To Generate Ideas The â€Å"what if† writing technique is usually something used by fiction writers to help them develop characters and plot, but it can still be helpful in a slightly different version for content marketers. Let’s use that game theory post of mine as an example. As I researched the topic more and more, the idea of a tree came to mind. What if I approached this as if it were a tree?  I wondered. I was struggling to understand the topic in a way that allowed me to explain it, but the tree idea seemed to have promise. Then I set about to talk about matrices and competitors. What if I used â€Å"The Fugitive† as an example?  It was a popular movie and seemed to fit perfectly. There were a few other â€Å"what if† approaches that led to dead ends, but by the time I finished with these two, I understood much better what I wanted to say in the rest of the post. Here are a few â€Å"what if† approaches you could use when writing blog posts. You can see they are much more than just about finding ideas, but also about the order and structure of the actual post, too. What if (I): Put the conclusion at the beginning? Used a recent hit movie as the foundation for this post? Played the devil’s advocate until the final conclusion? Said the exact opposite of what is expected/I believe? What was true was not true? Used a different search engine/resource? Learned how it was done five years ago? My blog could speak for itself?What if you played the devil's advocate until the final conclusion of your post?Sometimes silly questions lead to fresh ways of thinking about a common thing, even if the answer to the question itself is irrelevant to the branch you ultimately end up on. The â€Å"what if† writing technique is definitely part of your brainstorming toolbox  when it comes to finding ideas. It helps you write beyond the typical boundary and find research you otherwise wouldn’t have considered looking for. Using â€Å"It’s Like† To Explain Ideas Using the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique will help you do three crucial things with your content: Understanding:  Obviously, the â€Å"it’s like† approach helps your reader understand an idea in a different way. It’s a classic method teachers use. Hook:  The â€Å"it’s like† technique can also grab your reader’s attention if you approach this method with a certain level of non-conformity and use comparisons the reader doesn’t expect. Convince:  When you’re selling a new idea or product that is unfamiliar to your audience, there’s a barrier you need to overcome. Using â€Å"it’s like† and explaining it as something familiar helps reduce that barrier  and make it easier for a reader to buy into what you have to say. But first: If there’s one thing you don’t want to do on social media, it’s misuse the words â€Å"metaphor† and â€Å"simile†; the grammar police will correct you. Metaphors simply make a comparison, while similes use the words â€Å"like† or â€Å"as† to compare things. For example: I tend to think of metaphors as all about making a strong statement with language (it’s not  like  something, it is  something), while similes are all about helping readers understand a bit more gently. Using â€Å"it’s like† is the simile approach to explanation, though you are taking it a bit further than a simple simile comparison most of the time. If you’re following the lead of the writers in the show â€Å"Numb3rs†, you are looking for an in-depth explanation that matches ounce for ounce the concept you want your reader to comprehend  in their own terms. You are looking for an analogy. Similes can spice up your copy and create a playful collection of words that pique a reader’s interest, but analogy is the true workhorse of the â€Å"it’s like† writing technique, a kind of extended version of a simile. When creating analogies, remember: Your audience matters.  Analogies work best when you use an example that your audience understands. I could use a variety of farming analogies that I know from growing up on a farm, but most of the readers of this blog aren’t farmers. That kind of analogy won’t help at all. Knowing what experiences your audience will identify with is crucial when choosing a simile or analogy. To make things better.  Not all complicated topics need an analogy; some just need to be clearly discussed. Analogies work best when a topic is so far out of the range of your audience, either through lack of knowledge or because they’ve never experienced it, that the only way to make the concept resonate is to repackage it with the familiar. Sometimes I write analogies and then eventually edit them out and the reader never sees them. Yet by writing that analogy, I helped myself understand the topic better and was able to explain it better without the addition of an analogy. To shed light on the larger concept.  Some topics are better served simply by breaking them down into bite-sized chunks than through analogy. You would better understand the process of changing the oil in a car if I explained the actual process step-by-step rather than me saying, â€Å"It’s like cleaning files off your hard drive.† Analogy is less useful in teaching step-by-step instruction (i.e. how to specifically change the oil in your car) and more useful in teaching the larger idea that those step-by-step instructions make sense in (i.e. you need to change the oil because your engine will be ruined if you don’t). That less is more.  Use one or two analogies, but don’t use too many more. Lots of analogies make things more confusing and actually dampen the power they might have if you used them more sparingly. Consider what you absolutely want your reader to take from your content, which topic is difficult or unfamiliar, and use your analogies for that. You don’t leave your audience with the analogy.  Once you’ve explained a concept through an analogy and your audience understands the underlying fundamentals, you should go back and reiterate what you wanted them to understand in the first place, drawing direct comparisons between the analogy again if needed, so they understand the actual topic and  the analogy. Recommended Posts  To Improve Reading Comprehension: Are You Making These 5 Assumptions About Your Audience? 4 Lessons From Psychology That Will Help You Grow Your Blog Analogies are all about helping your audience experience a moment of Gestalt, where they finally â€Å"get† the bigger picture of something that was confusing before. So, how do you find the perfect analogy? Figure out what the main point is.  Ask yourself what the most important thing is that you want your reader to understand about your topic. There is a lot they could understand, but what is the most important concept that you need them to take away in order to understand the rest of what you have to say? You could probably compare just about anything to everything, but you need to find something that gets a specific point across. Life is like a box of chocolate, is like a beach, is like an oyster, is like anything at all- but what is it you’re trying to say about life? Keep it mostly (but not too) familiar. As I mentioned above, your audience has to be familiar with the analogy you are about to use or they won’t understand it, either. However, by choosing or using a scenario that is slightly surprising, you’ll keep them interested in reading. We’re all pretty used to the â€Å"life is like a box of chocolates† saying by now, but when it first came out with the movie â€Å"Forrest Gump†, it was very novel and new. People wondered â€Å"how in the world could life be like candy?† and it made them read on. In the book Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, author Douglas Hofstadter referred to boring analogies as â€Å"banalogies.† Generally, the first analogy you come up with is not the one. Go nuts and think of two or three or ten or twenty, and then choose from your list. Turn the distasteful into something good.  A great analogy not only explains a concept to help your reader understand, but it can also help them understand something differently. An idea that isn’t appealing from one angle can, with the help of an analogy, look a lot better from a different angle. For example, I’ve gone on record  stating that I’m not much of a salesperson. A few years back, though, I was reading a book on selling art which used an analogy to help me see sales differently. Instead of it being an exchange of money for goods or services (which it is, technically, and which seems tawdry at times), the author illustrated how sales is also problem solving (for the customer), an exercise in creativity (finding a market that fits the product), and so on. Through analogy, I was able to see things from a different viewpoint. Maintain your desired focus.  Analogies can get out of control. If you use sailing as an analogy, for an example, remember what your main point is and keep to it. Avoid veering off into using every aspect of sailing- ropes! knots! wind! boom! tacking!- and stick to just the parts of the analogy that will sell your main point the best. An analogy isn’t an anecdote; it’s a highly persuasive tool that can make the unfamiliar into something familiar. Maintain focus if you want the tool to work. Don’t forget the visual.  Depending on the content you are creating (e.g. written vs. spoken), you may find a visual helpful as your analogy, or alongside your analogy. In the â€Å"Numb3rs† clip, the imagery of the boats helps illustrate what the actress is saying. We visual learners appreciate it! For Fun:Which of the following similes would you love to see expanded into analogy? Why do some stand out for you and not others? Which ones make you curious enough to keep reading? Which could be used to clarify a particular aspect of content marketing? Run with them in the comments if you’d like to take a crack at it.Content marketing is†¦ Like a box of old pencils. A  camera without film. Like a movie without credits. Like a buoy in the Pacific Ocean. What happens when polar bears meet penguins. Superman with an extra cape. Superman without a cape.

Budgeting and reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Budgeting and reporting - Essay Example With such dominance in prices and number of consultations it is a disappointment that the firm has lower net income than the competitor. The advisory scheme is underutilized by the clients of the firm. On average they use around 75% of all prepaid consultations, which is not an advantage for the firm. The firm would prefer to have clients use all 100% and pay extra hours with regular fees. However, it has to be balanced with the satisfaction of the clients that might be happy to prepay current levels. Overall the firm looks more inefficient in managing costs compared to the competitor. Appendix 2 also reveals that the competitor attracts more new enquiries and gives more consultations to new clients. This is a sign of strong growth (Chadwick, 1997), combined with the number of complaints it indicates that the competitor is better at attracting and retaining new clients, which might provide substantial future advantage in the business development. The worrying number is the number of successful claims for negligent advice. Each successful claim undermines the reputation of the firm and projects a negative image to prospective and existing clients. It can be a big driver for clients to switch to the competitor in the future as it is a strong indicator of the service quality. The decision of the production director to source cheaper material and to use lower grade labour is reflected in the variance analysis. Material price increased, however, the material usage gace adverse effect due to increased wastage. Overall, the material variance is negative 5100-7500=-2400$, which signals that the benefit of using cheaper material with higher waste is questionable. The same goes for the lower grade labour, which improved labour rate and worsened labour efficiency. It shows that number of hours spent by the lower grade labour is higher than

Organizational Behavior Analysis Proposal for McDonald's Essay

Organizational Behavior Analysis Proposal for McDonald's - Essay Example McDonald is not living up to its stated set of vision and values. The company allegedly uses unethical methods to make increased profits at the expense of customers’ health and social condition of the employees. McDonald has also been criticized for targeting children with their advertisements by exposing them to unhealthy eating habits. This has contributed to the high levels of obesity and other health complications. The company has also been accused of passing their French fries as vegetarian, whereas they add beef broth. The company has failed to provide nutrition information about its food products to the public. The company has also contributed to environmental degradation. An organization named People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has accused the company of using cruel means when slaughtering chicken (Derdak 107). The analysis also involves analyzing organizational factors that have an influence on individual behaviors. The big five personality trait can be used to analyze individuals within the organization. The big five personality traits include extraversion, which refers to a person who is talkative social and assertive. Agreeableness describes a cooperative, trustworthy and accomplished person. Conscientiousness refers to a person who is responsible, orderly, and dependable. Neuroticism describes a person who is anxious and is prone to depression and worries. Openness means a person is imaginative and independent minded. Personality in organization analysis refers to individual and group level performance. A personality trait such as cooperative or deviant behavior and performance affects the overall performance of an organization.

Wireless Communication Security Essay -- Research Paper Technology Pap

Wireless Communication Security Abstract In today’s society advances in technology are growing rapidly. Businesses and people are taking full advantage of the improving ways of transmitting data internally and externally. One of the mediums today in transmitting data is via wireless communication systems. It is obvious that this data will need to be secure for many reasons. These will be the questions I will pose in this paper. Will this be a secure means of transmitting data? How sure are we of the means of security that we have available to us as consumers of this technology? The answers to these questions will be in a form of an opinion that I will have developed myself. I am not qualified to give a determination. I hope one day with continuing my education and work experience I will develop that qualification. Introduction This research paper is on a very important topic (Wireless Communication Security). The security of wireless communication is becoming more critical in today’s society and its future as well. While the technology is rapidly growing, businesses and people are eager to embrace the technology and use it to become more competitive in the business world and even more convenient with daily use in the personal setting. The question concerning this fast growing technology will be the issue of security and the integrity of the data being transferred over these systems. In most cases, having this data seen by someone other than the client that it is intended for could be detrimental in both cases (professionally and personally). For example if you have certain financial account numbers that are exposed, this could result in catastrophic problems. If a business has some protected... ...y of 802.11 Retrieved June 22, 2003, From: Galileo, Computer and Information Systems Abstracts, http://neptune3.galib.uga.edu/cgi-bin/hompage.cgi d NASA Advanced Super Computing Division Category Development, Class public, Revision 3.0. 09-13-02 Retrieved on July 8, 2003 from: http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Networks/Projects/wireless/index.html William A. Arbaugh, YC Justin Wan, Naren Aar Shankar, 03-30-01 Your 802.11 wireless networks has no clothes University of Maryland Department of CSIS Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~waa/wireless.pdf Sultan Weatherspoon, Security (Intel)Intel Technology Journal Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://developer.inte.com/technology/itj/q2200/articles/art_5.htm Henry Norr, 2001, Security Fix for Wireless Retrieved July 8, 2003, From: http://sfgate.com/cgi_bin/article.cgi?file

Panasonic and Japans Changing Culture Essay

In Japan in 1918 Konosuke Matsushita founded Matsushita Electric a consumer electronics company which is known today as Panasonic. Panasonic has offices in 58 different countries and is regarded as one of the world’s largest electronics companies. (Panasonic, 2013) Panasonic alike many other Japanese companies was established on a Confucian value system. The Confucian value system consists of three main elements; reciprocal obligations, honesty and loyalty. These elements form a majority of traditional Japanese values. (Smits, 2010) Hofstede, even though his work has been criticised, recognised some significant aspects of Japanese culture. These aspects included high uncertainty avoidance, high masculinity and a swing towards collectivism. These aspects also contribute largely to traditional Japanese values. These values were represented in such policies as lifetime employment and generous retirement bonuses. (Hofstede, 2013) However cultures are dynamic, they change over time. The major shift in Japanese culture occurred during the 1990’s, which was mainly attributed to the change in perspective of the generation born after 1964. This change was evident in 1999 when Panasonic gave its new employees a decision between different employment packages. The first package gave the employees a large retirement bonus, subsidised housing and services and company social events. The second package gave the employees the same perks except instead of a retirement bonus a larger starting salary. The third package gave the employees an even larger still starting salary however none of the other benefits. In contradiction to traditional values 41% of new employees chose the second package. (Hill, 2011) This shows a move away from high uncertainty avoidance which was triggered by an increase in average wealth and a move towards individualism. The primary criticism of this generation was their lack of commitment to traditional Japanese values in comparison with their parents. One of the more perceptible changes was a switch from a collectivist culture to a more individual culture. (Hill, 2011) It has been theorised that there is a correlation between economic development and a shift towards an individualistic society. This theory correlates with the article which states that a cause for the shift is the fact that the generation born after 1964 grew up in an economically richer society. This shift also affected organisational loyalty in the form of people changing jobs with greater frequency than ever before. (Reiner, 1991) This shift in the paradigm of Japanese cultural values has an effect on traditional values. The ‘modernised’ value system in effect is polar opposite to traditional values which were achieved by a complete cultural shift. Which in turn insinuates that the further the culture evolves the less tradition is left in the value system, if trends current stay constant. This shift in cultural dynamics changes the undercurrents of doing business in Japan. A major change is going to be retention of employees. This is due to the switch from collectivism to individualism and the decrease in personal identification based on company strata in conjunction with decreased company loyalty. The implication of this is companies are going to have to build their HR departments and find ways to lower employee turnover to reduce training costs. However if trends continue the average worker is going to have an increased understanding of a wide range of markets due to numerous career changes whic h allow firms access to a greater number of ideas to cope with increasingly dynamic business conditions. If companies want to optimise the new cultural principles of lowered uncertainty avoidance and the shift towards individualism they are going to have to encourage new product development and add funding to research and development. (Reid, 1999) Panasonic have already identified this and moving towards a greater number of policies in this area. Panasonic have also identified the lack of traditional aspects in the business environment and have implemented policies such as; bonuses based on performance and the new employment package plans. (Hill, 2011) If uncertainty avoidance and individualism continue to increase to Western levels there may be an increase in start-up companies which would increase competition in the market and possibly decrease the market share of existing companies. These changes could also have been influenced by a greater presence of western culture within Japa nese society. However there could be the adverse effect of decreased productivity attributed to a decrease in the number of employees having a personal identification with the company, decreased loyalty as well as a move away from reciprocal obligation and towards entitlement. This also works in the opposite direction and companies may not feel loyalty or obligation to Japanese employees and instead off-shore operations to lower wage countries in order to increase margins. (Reid, 1999) Between 1986 and 1989 there was a rapid acceleration of asset prices in Japan. This also caused uncontrolled credit expansion and money supply in addition with overheated economic activity. Due to speculation and overconfidence of asset prices, the asset prices began to drop in 1991 and collapsed by 1992. The asset bubble collapse lasted for more than 10 years and was generally referred to as the lost decade for Japan. This also led to economic stagnation and as result of lower net income Japanese families decided to pay off debts which caused a deflation spiral. (The Economist, 2010) Since these events the Japanese economy has struggled to recover. Even though recent decisions by the Japanese government has caused the Nikkei to recover slightly it is currently roughly a third of the value it was in 1990. Currently the cash rate in Japan is 0% which means that changing monetary policy cannot increase GDP. This means that for Japan to obtain a substantial increase in GDP it has to increase its goods market. Japan has a debt to GDP ratio of 214% which is the highest in the world. (US CIA, 2013) Therefore an increase in consumption, investment or net exports is needed to advance Japans economy. Panasonic as well as a number of other companies have realised this and has moved to encourage individualism. Individualism encourages entrepreneurship which currently could boost the Japanese economy if successful new product development takes place. (Saito, 2000) The traditional Japanese culture was a benefit to Panasonic during the period of 1950 to 1980. A group orientated culture assisted with strong teamwork between employees allowing greater productivity within the workplace. Due to the element of reciprocal obligation in the Confucian value system policies such as lifetime employment and cheap housing were seen as gifts and in reciprocation of these gifts employees worked harder. Loyalty played a large part in building strong business performance, this is because employees would stay in a business for the entirety of their career so they were able it learn all aspects of the business and better manage it. This amongst other factors also lead to identification with the business by employees, instead of saying â€Å"I am a web developer† they would say â€Å"I am from Panasonic†. This identification encouraged employees to work harder so that their company would succeed. A high uncertainty avoidance allowed managers to only take a calculated risk when the needed to, which reduced the companies liabilities. (Strath, 1996) However even though the traditional Japanese culture was a benefit to Panasonic in the period of 1950 to 1980 it was a liability post 1989. Even though Confucian values encourage team work and other positive attributes it discourages individualism. During this time period due to the economic crisis in Japan Panasonic would if benefited more from an entrepreneurial drive towards new product development. A high uncertainty avoidance also meant that managers were not willing to take risks unless they knew what the outcome was going to be, due to the economic pressures and heightened pace of change within the business community managers were less likely to change things in an environment where the only way to survive is change. During this time period business was becoming more dynamic due to globalisation and increased competitors which meant that Panasonic needed to change its strategy, however managers did not know how to do this because they had only ever worked in the one company an d only knew one way of doing things. Panasonic alike other Japanese companies eventually had to lay people off and cut benefits due to economic conditions. These acts were seen as a dismissing employee’s loyalty and to a point betrayal due to the strong identification with the company which caused productivity changes. (Huffman, 1997) In the last financial year Panasonic recorded a loss of 754 billion dollars and forecasts a loss of 765 billion dollars next financial year. Even though there is no best culture for a business environment, Japanese companies including Panasonic are move towards integrating the current cultural changes into their practices in order to achieve greater efficiency and productivity. The question is will Japanese culture continue along its current trends or do an about face? (Panasonic, 2013) References Hill, Challes. 2011. Gobal Business Today. 7th Edition. McGraw-Hill. Pp 125-128 Hofstede, Greet. 2013. Japan – Geert Hofstede. [ONLINE] Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/japan.html. [Accessed 24 August 2013]. Huffman, James. 1997. Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities). Edition. Routledge. The Economist (US). 2010. Japan syndrome, the future of Japan. ISSN 0013-0613 Volume 397, Issue 8709, p. 18 Reiner, Thomas. 1991. Legacies and Ambiguities: Postwar Fiction and Culture in West Germany and Japan. 1 Edition. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. Panasonic. 2013. Annual Report. [ONLINE] Available at: http://panasonic.net/ir/annual/. [Accessed 26 August 2013]. Panasonic. 2013. Global Network – Panasonic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.panasonic.com/global/global-network.html. [Accessed 22 August 2013]. Reid, David. 1999. Changes in Japan’s Post-Bubble Business Environment: Implications for For eign-Afflilated Companies. Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 38-63 Saito, Mitsuo. 2000. The Japanese Economy (Economic Ideas Leading to the 21st Century). Edition. World Scientific Pub Co Inc. Smits, Gregory. 2010. Economic Thought in Early Modern Japan (Monies, Markets, and Finance in East Asia, 1600-1900). Edition. Brill Academic Pub. Strath, Bo. 1996. The Organization of Labour Markets: Modernity, Culture and Governance in Germany, Sweden, Britain and Japan (Routledge Explorations in Economic History). annotated edition Edition. Routledge. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 2013. The World Factbook, Public Debt. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html. [Accessed 22 August 2013].

William Butler Yeats The Great Irish Poet & Playwright

William Butler Yeats was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th-century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him. Childhood William Butler Yeats was born into a wealthy, artistic Anglo-Irish family in Dublin in 1865. His father, John Butler Yeats, was educated as an attorney but abandoned the law to become a well-known portrait painter. It was his father’s career as an artist that took the family to London for four years during Yeats’ boyhood. His mother, Susan Mary Pollexfen, was from Sligo, where Yeats spent summers in childhood and later made his home. It was she who introduced William to the Irish folktales which permeated his early poetry. When the family returned to Ireland, Yeats attended high school and later art school in Dublin. A Young Poet Yeats was always interested in mystical theories and images, the supernatural, the esoteric and the occult. As a young man, he studied the works of  William Blake and Emanuel Swedenborg and was a member of the Theosophical Society and Golden Dawn. But his early poetry was modeled on Shelley and Spenser (e.g., his first published poem, â€Å"The Isle of Statues,† in The Dublin University Review) and drew on Irish folklore and mythology (as in his first full-length collection, The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems, 1889). After his family returned to London in 1887, Yeats founded the Rhymer’s Club with Ernest Rhys. Maud Gonne In 1889 Yeats met Irish nationalist and actress Maud Gonne, the great love of his life. She was committed to the political struggle for Irish independence; he was devoted to the revival of Irish heritage and cultural identity—but through her influence, he did become involved in politics and joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He proposed to Maud several times, but she never consented and ended up marrying Major John MacBride, a Republican activist who was executed for his role in the 1916 Easter Rising. Yeats wrote many poems and several plays for Gonne—she earned great acclaim in his Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Irish Literary Revival and the Abbey Theatre With Lady Gregory and others, Yeats was a founder of the Irish Literary Theatre, which sought to revive Celtic dramatic literature. This project lasted only a couple of years, but Yeats was soon joined by J.M. Synge in the Irish National Theatre, which moved into its permanent home at the Abbey Theatre in 1904. Yeats served as its director for some time and to this day, it plays an active role in launching the careers of new Irish writers and playwrights. Ezra Pound In 1913, Yeats became acquainted with  Ezra Pound, an American poet 20 years his junior who had come to London to meet him, because he considered Yeats the only contemporary poet worth studying. Pound served as his secretary for several years, causing a ruckus when he sent several of Yeats’ poems to be published in Poetry magazine with his own edited changes and without Yeats’ approval. Pound also introduced Yeats to the Japanese Noh drama, on which he modeled several plays. Mysticism Marriage At 51, determined to marry and have children, Yeats finally gave up on Maud Gonne and proposed to Georgie Hyde-Lees, a woman half his age whom he knew from his esoteric explorations. In spite of the age difference and his long unrequited love for another, it turned out to be a successful marriage and they had two children. For many years, Yeats and his wife collaborated in a process of automatic writing, in which she contacted various spirit guides and with their help, Yeats constructed the philosophical theory of history contained in A Vision, published in 1925. Later Life Immediately after the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922, Yeats was appointed to its first Senate, where he served for two terms. In 1923 Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. It is generally agreed that he is one of a very few Nobel laureates who produced his best work after receiving the Prize. In the last years of his life, Yeats’ poems became more personal and his politics more conservative. He founded the Irish Academy of Letters in 1932 and continued to write quite prolifically. Yeats died in France in 1939; after World War II his body was moved to Drumcliffe, County Sligo.