chaucer :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Geoffrey Chaucer   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The greatest poet of the Middle English period was the son of a wealthy wine-merchant of powerful connections. As a boy he was a page to the Countess of Ulster, and later was employed as a valet in the Royal household. In 1359, serving with the English army in France, he was taken prisoner and King Edward III subscribed  £16 upon the payment of his ransom. Thereafter he spent many years in the service of his king. In 1372-3 he was sent to Genoa on a commercial mission; in 1374 he was appointed Comptroller of the Customs for the Port of London; in 1385 he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Kent; and in 1386 he was elected Member of Parliament. His last years were spent at Greenwich, where he died in 1400. He was the first poet to be buried in what is now known as Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Chaucer's public career must have greatly enriched his observation and his stock of ideas. In Italy, he found himself in the midst of the flourishing Renaissance. Thus, he developed into a pre-Renaissance writer addressing a medieval English audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His works are conventionally divided into three chronological groups; his French period (to 1372), his Italian period (1372-1385) and his English period (1385-1400). In his French period, he wrote The Book of the Duchess and translated a large fragment of Le Roman de la Rose,by Guillaumi de Lorris and Jean de Meung. In his Italian period, when Chaucer exhibits the influence of the great Italian writers, namely Boccaccio, he wrote The House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls, Troilus and Criseyde and The Legend of Good Women.

Cicero: on Friendship Analysis Essay

Aristotle once said, â€Å"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.† There are many things that go into the process of friendship. Some people deal with friendship one way while others deal with it in another way. Cicero had a lot to say about the different aspects of friendship in his time, but how would he view modern friendship? Some friendships Cicero may not be proud of; like the common relationships that are forced on in a classroom or work place and the lack of allowing nature to take control and make the friendships that are meant to happen. However, Cicero would be happy with the way the higher level friendships have developed in virtue and value. Cicero dwelled on the fact that friendship must have common factors. Friends should share â€Å"the greatest agreement of desires and interests and opinions (Cicero, 7).† Modern friendship has turned into something that makes â€Å"common people† feel like they have to be friends. For example, in the classroom or workplace it is encouraged to make friends with everyone that you are involved with daily. Does building a friendship based on common surroundings make a good one? Cicero would say no. He would say that friendship has to be built on something more than just a desire for common interests like a job. It must agree on things that build a relationship such as these desires, interests, and opinions. There is no way that Cicero would be happy with the encouragement to build false relationship only on the grounds that someone works in the same place as someone else. He is not saying that you need to be enemies with these people because he knows the importance of common friendship. He knows that if you were to take friendship out of the world then â€Å"no home or city could stand, (and) no farms would stay in cultivation (Cicero, 9).† There is nothing wrong with a temporary friendship but he says, â€Å"If mutual advantage is what stitches friendship together, those friendships would dissolve whenever that condition changed; but since the nature of things cannot be changed, true friendship will last forever (Cicero, 12).† The condition that may change in common, modern relationships is the job or the class that you have made those friends in. You can still make good friends within the workplace or classroom, but the friendship cannot solely rely on the fact that the friends have the same surroundings. Human nature is what makes people want to have friendships. This is one of the main things that Cicero continuously touched on in his book. â€Å"†¦Friendship arises from nature as such, rather than from some neediness: from application of the mind, along with a kind of love, rather than from thinking about how much advantage the relationship might bring (Cicero, 11).†Cicero would be very disappointed in how many relationships are built for the need of a person instead of letting nature take control of the friendship. There are a lot of corrupt and wrong friendships in today’s society that Cicero would look down on. The fact that one person uses another person for their own will is not the kind of relationship that Cicero was wanting people to build. He brings up the nature of human beings a lot in this text because people take advantage of other people and he knew that. â€Å"†¦ Friendship is not something we are led to by the expectation of making a profit; we think it worth seeking because the whole enjoyment of it consists in the love itself (Cicero, 12).† The love and nature of friendship go hand in hand when building relationships because without love for that person there is no need for a friendship to be kept. The friendship should happen naturally. Unlike in today’s world, friends were found to feel wanted. Now the person with the most friends is considered the best because of their popularity; however, that should not be the case. It is better to have three great friends than a thousand false ones. Friendship must be formed by nature. â€Å"†¦ That feeling of love and affectionate goodwill come naturally into existence, once there has been a recognition of goodness (Cicero, 12).† This nature founded by goodness, virtue, and value are what really builds a solid friendship that Cicero would be very proud of. Higher levels of friendship are the ones that hold strong for years. Cicero would be ecstatic to see that the virtue and value of friendship has grown since his time. Once you get passed the lower levels of friendship such as the common relationships and the lack of control nature has on friendships you can see that. Virtue and value are the greatest aspect that friendship has today and did have back then. Friends are there for each other when they are going through the good and bad times. â€Å"Friendship makes good times yet more splendid, and takes some weight off of unfavorable times, by sharing them (Cicero, 9).† Without friendship there would be no point in living. Cicero realizes that friends are what get people through their day to day lives. â€Å"†¦Everything that exists and moves in the universe is brought together by friendship†¦ (Cicero, 9)† There is no love without friendship, no teams without friendship, no jobs, and no country without friendship because friendship is what makes everything work. Cicero would be very happy with the way people value friendship today. A good, modern friendship is hard to come by in today’s society with everyone wanting something from someone else. Cicero knew all about what made friendship work. The world has changed the way friendship is viewed. Cicero would love to see that the virtue and value of friendship has developed. â€Å"Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.† Albert Camus said that about what he thought a friend should be within the friendship; not lead, not follow, just to walk beside him. It takes a long time and a lot of work to build a solid friendship but, according to Cicero, once you have it is the greatest treasure of all.

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay - 2253 Words

Pay to Play More than 460,000 student athletes compete in the NCAA alone, many of which are D1 athletes and participate in one the major sports (NCAA). With college athletics on the rise for popularity, March Madness basketball tournament generates more than $1 billion each year in ad revenue (Green). The last audited number for revenue released by the NCAA reported was a yearly revenue of $871.6 million (NCAA). Many think with all the money floating around these athletes should be paid in some way, others argue otherwise (Debate). There is strong controversy whether college athletes should be compensated other than scholarships. Many people believe that college athletes should be paid. One person that strongly believes so is Ed O’Bannon. Ed O’Bannon a former UCLA Men’s Basketball player and was one the first to sue NCAA in 2009 for using his name and image in video games (Breslow). Others followed after him ranging from football to even some baseball players asking for thei r share. In 2016 finally the players that had been in NCAA basketball video games or football in the past decade were paid a settlement on average of $1000 dollars (ESPN). The lawsuit also brought an end to EA sports making college games in 2013(ESPN). Sizeable profits in large part is the reason why many believe these athletes should get paid. Some profits came from video games others from TV deals. ESPN employs over 8,000 worldwide (ESPN). On average a TV subscriber to ESPN is paying $6.04 in 2014Show MoreRelatedShould College Athletes Be Paid?1578 Words   |  7 PagesAshay Mehta Nou Per 8 Should College Athletes Be Paid? One of the hottest debates in the sports industry is if college athletes should be paid. If you want to pay these athletes, how would the college determine the dollar amount that should be paid? Should the basketball team make more than the football team? Should the the soccer team be paid as well? Cheerleading? Chess team? Should everyone on the team get a salary? What if your college is good at football and your basketball team is awfulRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1398 Words   |  6 Pagesbelieve that college athletes at the highest performing schools are better treated than others. Although they do not get paid, they do receive some benefits for being athletes that other students would not get. One advantage for playing a sport is access to scholarships that some schools reserve for their athletes. Depending on the school and the athlete’s performance, money towards tuition is often given. Only some schools are willing to grant â€Å"full-ride† scholar ships for certain athletes. AccordingRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1289 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the years college sports have been about the love of the game, filled with adrenaline moments. However, the following question still remains: Should college athletes get paid to play sports in college? Seemingly, this debate has been endless, yet the questions have gone unanswered. The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) plays a vital role in this debate. The NCAA is a billion dollar industry, but yet sees that the athlete should get paid for their hard work and dedicationRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1334 Words   |  6 Pagesrising to the surface is â€Å"Should college athletes be paid?†. This has become a burning question. The NCAA is a multibillion-dollar industry, that makes millions, if not billions, in revenue. Yet it’s still maintains the non-profit status meaning that the industry is not set on making a profit and none of the revenue that is made is distributed to its members, managers, or officers. While most players who play in college sports are under a scholarship, that pays for the college tuition, books, and housingRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1364 Words   |  6 PagesHave you paid attention to all of the news that has been surfacing about collegiate sports lately? It is a big topic now days in the world of sports on weather college athletes should be getting paid to play sports. College athletics have gained great popularity of the past few decades, and have brought schools lots of revenue. A lot of college athletes think they should be getting paid for their services they do for their school. College sports like basketball and football generate over six billionRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1130 Words   |  5 PagesWhat college athlete would not want to be paid to play the sport that he or she loves? The real question is, though, should college athletes be paid fo r their roles in a college’s athletics? They are many points to each side of this recent controversial topic, which is why this has been made into such a hot debate in the past couple of years. As of right now, these athletes are not getting paid, but many of them truly believe that they should. Others believe that they already are being paid throughRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?986 Words   |  4 PagesPaying the College Athlete The college athlete has steadily grown in popularity in the United States over the span of the past decades. Monetarily speaking, this increased publicity has been extremely beneficial for National Athletic Association (NCAA) and all the colleges involved in athletics which has sparked the dispute of whether or not the athlete should be paid for their hard work and dedication on the field and to their school or if the athletic scholarship is more than enough. College athletesRead MoreShould College Athletes Be Paid?1239 Words   |  5 PagesLindsey Simmerman Speech 102 T/Th 1:00-2:15 October 25, 2016 Should college athletes be paid to play? Specific Purpose: To persuade the class to agree with my stance on paying college athletes to play sports Thesis: College football is the hours players spend practicing and performing, the number of injuries the players face, and the persona these athletes must portray every day all the while watching their schools, coaches, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) get all the compensationRead MoreCollege Athletes Should Be Paid1254 Words   |  6 PagesSome college athletic departments are as wealthy as professional sports teams. The NCAA has an average annual revenue of $10.6 billion dollars. College athletes should be paid because of the amount of revenue that they bring to their college. Each individual college should pay its athletes based on how much revenue they bring to the college in which they attend. The colleges that win their Division title, their Conference title, or the National championship, give bonuses to the Head coach of thatRead MoreCollege Athletes Should Not Be Paid1558 Words   |  7 Pagesstudent-athletes participate in a variety of different s ports, and currently they do not receive paychecks for their performances. College athletics have attained an extensive popularity increase among Americans over the past few decades. This has resulted into increased revenues for the National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] and the participating colleges, which has fuelled the debate of whether or not college athletes should collect an income. College athletes should not be paid to play