Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis

Muhammad Haji Salleh Poetry Analysis Wikipedia defined that self-identity is the mental and conceptual understanding and persistent regard that sentient beings hold for their own existence. In other words, it is the sum total of a beings knowledge and understanding of his or her self. Components of the self-concept include physical, psychological, and social attributes, which can be influenced by the individuals attitudes, habits, beliefs and ideas. These components and attributes can be condensed to the general concepts of self-image and the self-esteem. In our own culture and society, we are taught by our parents and the elderly to value or own culture and custom and must not feel that we are superior to others after we had accumulated a lot of new knolwedges and experiences. We should not turn our back to our own society, roots and land after we had been abroad but we should be proud of our own identity. This is what is lacking in most of us in our community. We tend to forget our roots and we are not proud of being part of a particular culture or race. In this research paper, I have choosen to analyze two masterpiece from our Malaysian writer.This study is based on Muhammad Haji Sallehs poems, which is si tenggang homecoming and the traveler .The overall aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the portrayal of the theme searching of self-identity. In this research paper, I will also include the two poems implications of using these two poems towards education. 2.0 Background of the author Muhammad Haji Salleh (1942- ) is a well-known Malaysian poet, critic, translator, editor and researcher. He is the sixth Malaysian Laureate. He was born on 26th March 1942 in Taping, Perak. Muhammad had most of his education in Malaysia; he received his early education at Bukit Mertajam High School and Malay College Kuala Kangsar. However, he did his teacher training at Lodge Teacher Training College in England. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Malaya (Singapore), Masters of Arts from the University of Malaya in 1970 and a Ph.D from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America in 1973. In 1977, he was a Professor under the Fullbright-Hays programme and taught at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA. He is a professor at the Department of Malay Letters in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and was once appointed as the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities as well as Head of Institute of Malay Language and Liter ature. Muhammad Haji Salleh is the only Malaysian poet who is studied in the Literature English programme. 3.0 The Authors Writing Career Muhammad Haji Salleh began writing poetry in 1963 when he was a student at the Malayan Teachers College, Brinsford Lodge, England. Muhammad started writing much earlier but only towards the late 1960s that he became well known in Malaysia. Muhammad has lived much of his life abroad in the United States while he is pursuing his studies and most of his poems are written in English. As his educational background was centered on Bahasa Malaysia and English language, he writes in both languages. Later, he devoted much of his time to write in Bahasa Malaysia. He often translated his own Malay poems and other local Malay poems into English. T.S.Eliot and W.H.Auden who he admired influenced the English poems that he wrote. The beauty of the language and the messages convey in the poems written by these two poets had inspired Muhammad Haji Salleh to write English poems. Muhammad Haji Salleh has received various awards for his works, both at national and international levels. Muhammad won the Asean Literary Award in Bangkok, Thailand. A Number of his poems won various prizes and in 1972, he was awarded the Asean Literary Award for his anthology of poems Perjalanan si Tenggang II, which was subsequently translated in English in 1979.He was made a National Laureate in 1991 and was awarded the Hadiah Sastera Kebangsaan in 1976, the Australian Cultural Award to Asian Artists in 1975 and the Asean Literary Award (Poetry) in 1977. Writing both in Bahasa Malaysia and English, Muhammad has devoted his life to the development of the Malaysian literary tradition. He is not only well known as a poet but also as a literary scholar. As a post-colonial poet and a professor of literature, Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity. In fact, the quest of identity is reflected in his poems especially in the outstanding collections of Poems of the Outsider (1973), The Travel Journals of Si Tenggang II (1979), Time and Its People (1978), Poems from the Malay Annals (1981) and Rowing Down Two Rivers (2000). 4.0 Background of The Poems: si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler Muhammad is known for his passionate quest for identity through his writings. It is very clear that his works explore the human condition and problems related to individuality and community life. These two poems: si tenggang homecoming and the traveler are able to portray Malay traditions, culture and beliefs because it deals with a universal theme, which are the issue of identity, selfhood and the essence of being oneself. Both of these poems reflect the poets concern for the Malay society and explore the human condition and problems related to identity. Muhammad consistently wrote about the theme of seeking for self-identity because he lived most of his life abroad and influenced by the western world, where he stayed there for many years but he never forgot that he belongs to the Malay society; his mother tongue is Malay which is the language of his native land. Although he writes in English but he still talks about the village life, the city and its people and the Malay society as a whole. That is why both of these poem generally consist of encourages criticisms or opinions that differ from the Malay culture. It is because traditional society generally does not encourage criticisms or opinions that differ from accepted beliefs or those, which have been taken to be a way of life. 5.0 Discussion on si tenggangs homecoming and the traveler. Si tenggangs homecoming poem consists of six stanzas. Upon closer study, it is a reflection of si tenggangs experiences as a traveler, who had been abroad for a while and returned to his homeland. The persona is telling the reader that in the process of discovering himself; he has not lost his sense of inheritance and roots. This can be seen through stanza 3, line 31-34,

Greed and Power in Macbeth Essay

Macbeth’s ambition is the sole cause of the whole tragedy. Do you agree? From reading the novel Macbeth it is evident that Macbeth’s ambition is one of the sole causes of the whole tragedy but not the only sole cause. Though he has thought about murdering Duncan, his only motive for murdering Duncan is â€Å"vaulting ambition† which shows that without the persuasions of his wife the whole tragedy would have never happened. Lady Macbeth often seems to control Macbeth by manipulating him or by direct order. Her plans work with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections and questioning his manhood when he hesitates to murder, until he feels he has to commit murder to prove himself. It is her deep-seated ambition, rather than her husband’s that ultimately propels the plot of the play by goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. The Witches prophecy is also a sole cause in the tragedy because it fuels Macbeth’s ambition and gives him an overwhelming desire for power. We first hear of Macbeth as a brave and capable warrior (from the Bloody Captain). However after meeting with the witches we can see that he has consuming ambition and a tendency to self-doubt. This is shown after he is prophesised to be King by the Three Witches. The prediction that he is going to be King brings him great joy but also inner turmoil as he imagines himself killing Duncan. Macbeth’s ambition is powerful and he does not need any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wife’s powerful taunts and persuasions. Before he kills Duncan, Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts the crime. It takes Lady Macbeth’s steely sense of purpose to push him into the deed. However desperate he is for that crown he would not have murdered Duncan. This suggests that unlike Lady Macbeth, he has a conscience. And this comes to trouble him along with uncontrollable guilt after murdering Duncan. Lady Macbeth is stronger, more ruthless and more ambitious than her husband. After reading the letter sent to her by Macbeth she is already plotting Duncan’s murder. She is convinced that he is too moral to commit the murder, saying that he is â€Å"too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness†. .At one point she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself. Even her husband implies that she is a masculine soul inhabiting a female body. Although she appears to hold herself together after the murder and steadies her husband’s nerves immediately after the rime has been perpetrated, saying â€Å"what’s done, is done. † and merely trying to treat Macbeth’s guilty hallucinations with the blandest possible palliative. Afterwards however she begins a slow slide into madness. As she sleepwalks she mutters, as if to Macbeth, â€Å"What’s done cannot be undone†. Just as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. Sh e has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the guilt truly gets to her she commits suicide showing her inability to deal with their past crimes The Three Witches lurk like dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. Their mischief is a combination of two things- their supernatural powers and their ability to understand the weakness of their targets—they play upon Macbeth’s ambition like puppeteers. Despite the absurdity of their â€Å"eye of newt and toe of frog† recipes, they are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being immensely powerful and extremely wicked. The prediction (if it is a prediction) they tell Macbeth compels him to ponder on killing his King. Macbeth kills many thinking that he is invincible because the witches said that Macbeth can’t be killed unless that man is born of a woman. When Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane, Macbeth knows that he is going to be killed. The Witches prophecy, along with Lady Macbeth’s ruthlessness and ambition are the causes for the tragedy. Macbeth shows us that too much ambition and thirst for power will lead to your ultimate destruction.

Hugh’s character Essay

The final story, which Hugh tells, incorporates the many criticisms of Hugh’s character. He covers up his own failings and inadequacies as a defence mechanism and reiterates this by saying to Owen, ‘to remember everything is a form of madness. ‘ This story is almost a turning point of Hugh’s character and for the audience’s interruption of his character. Hugh is no longer a two dimensional caricature but a real character with human attributes, hence why we can be critical and admirable towards him. After all, Hugh is a self-educated man with a vast depth of knowledge of the Classics, speaking four languages, that we know of, Greek, Latin, Gaelic and English; nearly all of which he would have to have taught himself. He seems to be driven to share his knowledge. By teaching the Classics in his environment of rural poverty, himself a picture of poor ragged countryman, we must appreciate his drive and ability. Hugh also formed the ‘Hedge School’ well as far as we know. He is attempting to educate the locals and one almost feels that he has taken the school from the hedge lines into the barn and still as an old man in his early sixties he has the ambition to move onward and upward to a new position at the new national school. He is clearly a figure in the local community who is looked up and respected by his peers and students alike. In addition, Yolland has a great deal of respect for him, calling him † an astute man. ‘ Yolland almost has more respect for Hugh than Owen does because Owen continues to be critical of him and Yolland repeats, ‘But so astute,’ almost placing Hugh on a pedestal. In addition, as an audience you have to respect his ability to cope with his situation, his wife has died and his sons are without a mother. It is easy to be critical of Hugh but you have to admire his ability to cope with the hard reality of the times he is living in even if that means trying to erase the past. After all he did live in an age of hand to mouth existence and he almost blocks out the reality of these hardships. His survival mechanism is a natural and human instinct. We cannot really blame him for wanting to live in an unrealistic world of Greek myth and Latin past. Neither can you chastise his drinking. His lifestyle and the stress of his situation is what drives him to drink and you cannot really fault him for that. All of these small but simple gestures that Friel incorporates into Hugh’s character are what make us as an audience have admiration for him. Friel does not create a stereotypical character, but a ‘fully-rounded’ individual with human qualities, it is these qualities, which allow us as an audience to both admire and criticise his character.

The Cost of Fighting for Social Justice and the Common Good

What is the cost of fighting for social justice and the common good? When a person decides to set about on the journey of pursuing the good life they will face many challenges and obstacles. The good life is making decisions and executing actions that in the end will make an individual happy. But it is also satisfying a purpose in life. One cannot attain a good life throughout their lifetime if they did not serve a purpose. Moreover, increasing the happiness of others and society as a whole is another purpose in life. The goal will come with much fulfillment, but also with an unavoidable cost. The costs of the good life are limitation. These costs may be financially, physically, morally, or even psychologically. If one were supposed to achieve a purpose, they would not be able to do everything they want to do in life. They are restricted in the time received and in what journey they decide to take. Therefore, the price is unlimited freedom. In order for a person to pursue a good lif e, he or she cannot have unlimited freedom, they should be focused and strong-minded in their rationale to better others and society as a whole. As seen in A Letter from Birmingham Jail and Hobson’s choice, we are each striving to achieve social justice and the common good; however, achieving this often means sacrificing individual comfort and giving up close relationships with people who surround us. These sacrifices incline to disturb valid efforts in obtaining what we are fighting for. ThisShow MoreRelatedThe Fight for Social Justice Essay892 Words   |  4 Pagesbeen proven that often, the fight for social justice and the common good comes at a great cost to those involved. 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