An Interpretation of Dudley Randall's To the Mercy Killers In order to appreciate a poem properly, care must be taken to analyze and understand many different facets of the work. Poems are often very complex and require a great deal of thought in order to arrive at the intended meaning. At the very least, three particular items of information must be uncovered during the reading of poetry. An experienced reader of poetry will always determine the identity of the speaker, the occasion of the speech, and the central idea of the poem.
In Dudley Randall's "To the Mercy Killers," the speaker is human. The sex of the speaker cannot be definitely proven. The probability that the speaker is a man is very high due to the graphic use of the
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The very first word of the poem suggests otherwise. The speaker says, "If ever mercy move you murder me, I pray you, kindly killers, let me live" (Randall 875). The word If implies that the situation is not currently under consideration by those being addressed. The addressees are, of course, doctors of medicine. The speaker is expressing his own desire should he ever find himself in such a predicament. Regardless of the hopelessness of his recovery, the speaker emphatically prefers to not be mercifully murdered. In line fourteen, he clearly states, "do not put out my life. Let me still glow" (Randall 875).
The final item of information that the reader of the poem must determine is the central idea that the poet is trying to convey. The central idea of "To the Mercy Killers" is very powerful and unsettling. The poem illustrates that life, no matter how frail and useless, is still life. The speaker says, "Even though I be a clot, an aching clench, a stub, a stump, a butt, a scab, a knob, a screaming pain, a putrefying stench, still let me live, so long as life shall throb" (Randall 875). The sheer definitiveness and power of these carefully chosen words illustrate an unwavering desire to be allowed a chance to fight for life, no matter how futile. The doctor may see his or her decision to end the life of another mercifully. Chances are the patient does not see it
Construct a close reading of this poem that demonstrates your awareness of the poet’s body of work.
It is the responsibility of those in healthcare to promote wellness, health and quality of live. Yet from early on the concept of promoting life has existed. The Hippocratic oaths states that, “I will not give poison to anybody when asked to do so.” This is a clear statement against euthanasia. The Hippocratic oath interestingly, also does not allow for the use of abortive agents, showing the concern for the sanctity of life. It does also go on to say that I will not put the knife to any patient, which could be interpreted as assisted suicide or pagan practice of cutting and blood letting. As a surgeon today I would take a more liberal stance on this later statement of this part of the oath which is often omitted from modern reading of the oath, as we now are able to cure disease by the use of the knife. Some would also argue the use of poison to treat, such as chemotherapeutic agents which are also acceptable. Pushing this to the extreme, some may say that much of this oath is no longer applicable and euthanasia also falls under a new area of enlightenment. However, most Doctors to believe that it is their job to relieve pain and suffering and cure when possible and this can be obtained without the use of euthanasia. Hospice care is readily available. Patient can establish living wills in order to make their decision known. Patients have a right to refuse treatment and this include, nutrition and hydration. Refusal of these will will result in datth in less than one week. Patient can be kep comfortable without promoting active death and
What if you were innocent, but people couldn't see past your race and called you "guilty" for something you didn't do? This is one of the problems in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy. To Kill a Mockingbird is about a girl named Scout, who is growing up during The Great Depression. Just Mercy is about an upstart lawyer that deals with racial discrimination in the court system. Both To Kill a Mockingbird and Just Mercy correlate with each other, are significant today, and can be tied back to racial profiling.
Plot is defined as, "the authors arrangement of incidents in a story it is the organizing principle that controls the controls the order of events (Meyer,64)." The element of plot is heavily relied on in the short story, "The Killings" by Andre Dubus. The plot which is completely made inside the imagination of an author (Meyer,64), gives the audience important insight to people, places, and events in the story (Meyer,64) . "The Killings" provides a somewhat conventional plot pattern, where the character is confronted with a problem and is then led into a climax, which late leads to the resolution of the story (Meyer,65). The conventional plot is easy to follow and serves as a basis for movies and other
Segregation and discrimination both happen to African Americans in Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. They are viewed as less, like they show be treated differently. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the town of Maycomb took Bob Ewell's word over Tom Robinson's because he was of a different race. Bryan Stevenson mentions that many young African Americans go to prison because they did something bad, but this then affects these children for the rest of their lives. Many African Americans are still affected today by the justice system and how they are treated by other people. Racial injustice has been a huge part of history and both, Just Mercy and To Kill a Mockingbird talk about racial injustice, that is still happening today.
The death penalty generates compassion for the criminal. Society generally does not hold criminals in high regards. Society feels disgusted by the repulsive acts that these individuals perpetrate and feel sympathetic towards the victims. The death penalty manages to transfer the sympathy from the victim to the offender. An example of how sympathy can shift from the victim(s) to the offender can be found in the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Williams was an original member of the Crips street gang which had a notorious reputation for committing robberies, assaults and murders. Williams was convicted of murdering four people. The evidence against him during the trial was absolutely overwhelming. It was said that as his victims lay dying
For years, politicians have been passionately debating the subject of the capital punishment, which has only served to create more divisions within our society. It is an extremely sensitive subject, and one that inspires strong emotions in both directions. Like abortion, gun laws, and the war on terrorism, capital punishment is an issue on which everyone is never likely to agree.
symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide
Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
Just to continue to let the illness spread through the body and kill many functioning organs that could save another person’s life. Having the practice of the aid to the patience death does not replace end-of-life care; patients still can die in their own homes or receive hospice care instead of hospital care, (Barone, 2014). If the terminally ill patient is an organ donor they could save one or more of the many people on the list of waiting for an organ, if they choose to go through with the aid of their death because it would save these vital organs in time before they are weakened or even stop functioning all together, (Messerli, 2012). The terminally ill know their fate that was chosen for them, helping someone survive when they know they cannot gives a piece of them that will continue living although they are
Patients are not even trying anymore they are refusing life saving medical treatment. Patients can be in so much pain that they will sometimes have to be sedated so they become unconscious (Karlamangla 3). People are no longer fighting for their life they are doing what is easy. The patients are in a lot of pain that they sometimes aren't in the right state of mind. "Once a patient picks up the drugs then the patient can take them home and use them when ever they please, when the patient dies there is no recall of the drug by the pharmacy so it will be uncertain what killed them or where the drugs ended up" (Sathya 4). The patients are under so much pain that they will do anything to make it go away physicians know this. The physicians job is to help their patients not end their life. "Doctors shouldn’t harm patients but specifically forbids providing poison to kill someone" (Karlamangla 1). Physicians are doing their jobs but they are taking the easy way to end the pain and suffering. Critics of assisted suicide clam that some patients are refusing treatment, some patients are vulnerable, and physicians are not doing their
In poems it is essential to be a creative writer. From exposing deep thoughts to giving humorous jokes throughout the sentence. As a Human being, we may have difficult times in understanding what is trying to be said. We may agree or disagree depending our viewpoints on life. One of my Favorite poems is “The Ballad of Sue Ellen Westerfield” By Robert Hayden. The type of poem that has some history and confusion. When getting the audience confused, it makes them want to know more and reread the whole passage again. Robert’s poem was a fresh new opening that brought an old dimension, his creativity to open the minds of others and look back to the past.
Even though, mercy killing helps the victim to overcome the never ending pain to reach the death bed but in the modern world is no longer valid. Most of the developed nations find medicine to reduce or heal the soul taking pain. In the advanced medical world following the conventional way to killing the person is merely a murder.
Don’t expect to find any information while you are reading the poetry, because most of the time, poetry are using the aesthetic of language to pour the writer’s feeling or experienced. Different with the general information which we expect, poetry has an information of its theme which depend on the title. In poetry there are some information which written to give the meaning and information of the poetry itself which is called as essay poetry. The content of the essay poetry should not be presented in a factual, but it still presents an element of poetic language, because. Essays poetry are also included in this type of fiction. In my opinion, the criteria that are expected to appear in the poetry of this essay is a communicative language, in which the beauty of the language is not only seen from a play on words, the use of rhyme, figure of speech, and other elements are widely used in poetry in general, but also viewed from the side clarity of meaning, especially for the readers. Achievement of poetry essay is to be understood by the general public. Expectations are caused by a number of great poetry that is only understood by the authors themselves, or at least by a fellow poet. While people with a variety of other background much less understand