This piece is taken from Book 2 of J.S. Bach's Forty-Eight Preludes and Fugues (also known as The Well-Tempered Clavier). A prelude could take almost any form, the only conditions being that it should be in the same key as the fugue and form a suitable preparation of the listener's ear and...

Playwright Arthur Miller wrote the tragic play "Death of a Salesman", and in the story, the main character supports the qualities of a modern tragic hero. According to Arthur Miller's ideas and theories of the characteristics of a tragic character, Willy Loman is a tragic character. T...

The meager image depicted by Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" projects an illustration of society that stresses submission to authority and the ultimate compliance to tradition. The story offers an ironic look at Chinese history, culture and social life. Lu Xun battles the idea that socie...

The Quintessential Composers Try this. Play for someone a random selection of classical music and ask him or her to identify a given piece. Now do the same with Joy to the World by Johann Sebastian Bach, The Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus by George Frederic Handel, and The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Ama...

Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura Dante Alighieri's Beatrice and Francesco Petrarca's Laura influenced the lives and writings of these two great authors. Francesco Petrarca, better known to the literary world as Petrarch, met the woman who would become the driving force b...

Mozart was one of the greatest composers who ever lived, and yet, he did not realize financial success during his life. Today, that would be nearly impossible. Mozart's life was very different from the world of today. The general setting was quite opulent. He often performed in palaces and mansi...

On my first day in English class I came in right before the door shut. As I hurried to find a place to sit I noticed a free seat in front of the class. I took my seat and listened to the professor start class. The class started like any other class. The professor gave us a brief overview of the cla...

After review of both Poe's short-story, The Fall of the House of Usher, and the video production of its similar screenplay, it wouldn't take a genius to determine the obvious differences. In fact, it certainly doesn't take a genius to make a difference comparison as I have made the f...

In the Meno, Plato justifies the possibility for one's mind to uncover knowledge. Knowing one can obtain knowledge motivates the mind to gain more knowledge. Plato explains the theory of recollection by first questioning what virtue is, then demonstrating the process through the questioning of...