Analysis of “Nuances of a Theme by Williams”

Analysis of â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† The title of Wallace Stevens’ poem â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† implies that he intends to comment on, possibly celebrate, and almost certainly explore the potential distinctions and variations available in the poem by William Carlos Williams titled â€Å"El Hombre.† Stevens includes â€Å"El Hombre,† in its entirety minus the title, in the opening four lines of his poem with the implication (again based on the, at worst, neutral title of Stevens’ poem as well as the seemingly tributary inclusion of â€Å"El Hombre†) that his re-workings and explorations of his colleague’s piece will maintain its essence and, presumably, not bear it much, if any, antipathy. The title, however, proves to be misleading and Stevens’ subsequent lines appear to be less of a nuanced exploration of Williams’ poem than a criticism of what he sees as its faults: namely the sentimentality, anthropomorphizing, and romantic detachedness of t he narrator that is present especially in the first two lines. It is particularly the first stanza of Williams’ poem that Stevens takes issue with and he does so, at least in part, by way of its second stanza. Stevens attaches himself to two phrases, â€Å"shine alone† (3) and â€Å"lend no part† (4), that bookend the second stanza of Williams’ poem and uses them as his access points to the poem. He quotes the two phrases directly, elevating them to the opening words of both of his subsequent stanzas, though in doing so he also very purposefully changes their meaning. The first line of Stevens’ composition, â€Å"Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze† (5) seems, appropriately, to satisfy the expectations of the title while also being characteristic of Stevens’ playful perspectivist aesthetic tendencies (reminiscent, perhaps, of â€Å"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird†); beginning with the two-word phrase taken directly from Williams’ piece, Stevens’ proceeds to stretch it into a richer, more textured imperative description of the same â€Å"ancient star† (2) addressed in Williams’ poem. Nonetheless, the succeeding two lines that make up the rest of Stevens’ first stanza diverge from mere variation into what seems to be an invective response to the opening lines of Williams’ poem: â€Å"It’s a strange courage/you give me, ancient star† (1-2). Stevens appears to be concerned with the fact that Williams sort of anthropomorphizes the star, which seems to be the rising sun, and instills it with the ability to give courage. He says of the sun that it must shine like something that â€Å"reflects neither [his] face nor any inner part/of [his] being† (6-7) and, ultimately, â€Å"like fire, that mirrors nothing† (7). Stevens’ deliberate dissociation with the sun (as a stand-in for nature) reflects his belief that one should apprehend nature without embellishing it; that the things of nature should not be used as means to access the triumphs or despairs of humanity. Where in Stevens’ â€Å"The Snowman† it is only with â€Å"a mind of winter† (1) that one can hear â€Å"the sound of the land† (10) without being distracted by â€Å"any misery in the sound of the wind† (8), so must Williams’ sun, in Stevens’ conception, mirror â€Å"nothing that is not there† (The Snowman, 15) if it is to be truly apprehended. With the entirety of Stevens’ first stanza in mind, the variations in his first line (that continues and concludes in the third with â€Å"shine like fire†) read less playfully and more like a slow, deliberate distancing from the humanness of the word â€Å"alone.† For â€Å"alone† is rarely used to describe the state of an inanimate object by itself, which wouldn’t require the recognition of being outside of a society of similar objects since society is limited to animate creatures. So Stevens re-forms the description as â€Å"nakedly.† That first step, though, is only a small step away from animation since it evokes the idea of being without clothes. But the adverb â€Å"nakedly† is, in fact, more commonly used to describe the nature of concepts or ideas, as in â€Å"plainly† or â€Å"blatantly,† and less the physical state of one’s dress. With the second transformation, â€Å"like bronze,† however, the le ss subtle split with animation begins. With â€Å"like bronze† Stevens has reformulated an idea of the sun as merely resembling something. Though it is a man-made something, which, therefore, maintains an inevitable if convoluted connection to the human realm. So, Stevens’ necessarily searches for one more angle, â€Å"like fire,† and the split with humanity is complete; the sun is reduced to something natural, independent of human existence, but, more importantly, it is reduced to precisely what it is. The sun is precisely something that in Stevens’ view should â€Å"lend no part to any humanity that suffuses/[the sun] in its own light† (8-9) as Williams does. For like Stevens declares in his later poem â€Å"Things of August†: â€Å"The rich earth, of its own self made rich,/Fertile of its own leaves† (51-52), so must the shining sun, of its own self shine. It appears that Stevens’ wishes to forget all human history of sun worship and mythology and relish the sun as it is perceived in the moment, in the present, by an individual person. Yet, in communicating his point, Stevens’ says that the sun should â€Å"be not chimera of the morning† (10). â€Å"Chimera† carries the meaning of â€Å"illusion† or â€Å"daydream† as if warning against being tricked into seeing the sun as more than it is, or as something that it is not. But â€Å"chimera† also carries the connotation of the mythical creature that was made of various animal parts and had an intelligence. So in this moment, while Stevens’ argument is ostensibly sustained, he undermines it slightly by constructing it around such a contradictory notion, even if only as a means to negate it. The final three lines of the poem continue in this vein of ridding the sun of any ancient residual meaning. He ironically says the star should â€Å"Be not an intelligence/Like a widow’s bird/Or and old horse† (12-15). These comparisons are ironic simply because Stevens would not grant intelligence to a bird or horse, but he knows that they are often thought of that way. A lonely widow gives more meaning and power to her avian companion and a farmer may attribute wisdom to a horse that has weathered much. Stevens slyly insults the romantic sentimentality of Williams’ poem by putting it on the same level as the foolish and uneducated figures suggested in his closing lines. It seems that Stevens sees Williams’ poem as weak and sentimental. Stevens’ poem is an exercise of his mind on Williams’ theme, enacted to deliberately and systematically gain control over the emotional preoccupations of the poem. I would suppose that, ultimately, Williams would not only have appreciated the criticisms of Stevens, but also would have agreed with them. I feel as though â€Å"El Hombre† is, at least on a basic level, an immature poem of Williams that would not have fit into his later, more distinctly formulated views.

Sales planning and operations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sales planning and operations - Essay Example Sales can be stated as the lifeblood of a business.Earning sustained profitability is the basic aim of conducting sales activities in an organisation. In order to boost up the sales of LPPT Cola in the market, the corporation needs to identify the target market for their offered products. Subsequently, after recognising premium target consumer segment of the products which can facilitate to increase the sales of the company in the long run, the organization needs to make a comprehensive market analysis to recognise the specific requirement trends of the customers from the offered product (Treace, 2013). In the following step, LPPT Cola needs to make an outline of their sales plan. The company needs to study its targeted market thoroughly and consequently it needs to analyse the sales objectives as well as the requirement of manpower to reach the end-users (IILM, n.d.). As a Sales Director, there is a need to have a directional plan in place for the entire sales team at the outset. Mo reover, a contingency plan also needs to be prepared so that any untoward scenario in terms of unavailability of a sales team member is handled efficiently. At the same time, if the Sales Director of LPPT Cola finds it to be necessary, he can even interact with the concerned authorities of the same industry, which will help him to advise the marketing manager to sketch a detailed structure of the plan (The Sales Management Association, 2013). After the determination of the targeted market and sketching the sales plan, the next process will be the creating a network or connectivity. To make the consumers aware of the products of LPPT Cola, at the initial stage, the organization can take the aid of strategies such as telemarketing, e-mailing and door-to-door selling among others. In terms of pricing of the products, it is essential to prepare a competitive pricing to mitigate the threat of substitute products. With regard to the sales force, LPPT Cola needs to inculcate the strategy o f planning, coordination, controlling and motivating to ensure that customers are offered with best possible service. This strategy can ensure a sustained profitability from sales activities in the long run (Kundu, n.d). Structure of the Sales Department Learning Outcome (b) Business objectives are the aims, purposes and goals of the business. The significant role of business is to achieve its goals. The main objective of the business is to maximize its profitability. Operating business cannot have only one objective because a company needs to meet the demands of different stakeholders such as employees, consumers, creditors and shareholders among others. In terms of the stages or processes involved in an organisational sales strategy, it can be said that the primary facets involve: Preparing sales objectives Studying sales market environment Recognising the various alternatives available Assessing the alternatives and selecting the best possible one for the organisation Preparing s ales budget and forecast Formulating sales plan and gaining approval of the management Executing the sales plan with the help of appropriate human resource allocation Making an evaluation and review of the sales plan Source: (Trehan & Trehan, n.d.) There are four basic sales strategies such as account targeting, sales channel, selling and relationship, the categorization of these accounts within a targeted market for incorporating strategic approaches in the sales, through accounting groups or accounting. An organized selling procedure for each accounting targeting, sales channel, relationship and selling strategy develops effective and efficient selling procedure which is a significant in

Media-Mix Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Media-Mix - Case Study Example Another advertising objective is encouraging the customers' recall of past satisfaction. Tapping familiar celebrities and making them do several commercials for the product would somehow make the audience believe that these are loyal and satisfied customers which further influences them into thinking that they, too, are satisfied with the products that they purchase from Victoria's Secret. However, most of the company's advertisements are for the purposes of modifying and reinforcing their target market's attitude towards their product. This is reflected on the controversial themes of their promotional materials. The issues thrown against the ads alone could show the audience how different the product is and how bold and daring one can seem by wearing that brand (Frisby, 2000). Promotion is a company's way of reaching out to a target market or audience to communicate a certain message. To be able to transmit the message and tow a large number of consumers to buy a product, a company or manufacturer should have the most effective and appropriate promotional strategies and techniques. Victoria's Secret, as a brand and a company, has had several critics regarding the advertisement of their products. Effective as they may be, some print or broadcast advertisements roused both negative and positive reactions from supporters and detractors. Some ads just do not work for a certain part of the audience. No matter how minor this part is, it is still a vital share of the consumers. Therefore, it is also helpful to experiment with the different types of media and combine the different advertising strategies. Since this company's target market include women, specifically those who go for the fashionable and sexy lingerie and underwear, advertisements include endorsers who exhibit qualities that most women want to have. For instance, some of the print ads show sexy supermodels- the ones with physiques that young ladies work hard for. Another is selling at a particular area where customers are said to abound. In the case of Victoria's Secret, this may include schools or recreational areas where girls often hang out. This and other broadcast advertisements do not only help promote and sell the product but also extend the company's public relations and help the company expand their business. In terms of keeping guest inflow in their website, the company has used one effective strategy. Using the site as a way to get the latest info about the products and having a live simulcast of a certain event over the internet greatly support the company's promotional agenda and sales and profit in general. Evaluation As mentioned earlier, advertisements do not always suit an audience's taste and are important factors in controlling a company's sales. If a certain market finds the advertisement appealing, the product's brand or company would easily stick to their minds. An informative advertisement would stimulate curiosity among the audience and lead them to check out the product. If the advertisement is persuasive enough, then more consumers would eventually buy and support the items that that company manufactures. There are different types of media to choose from when trying to promote a certain brand or product. The