Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Reading Analysis 1

Flaws are a reality of this world, they exists in every person’s life. Imperfection is the common theme between John Milton’s “When I Consider How My Light is Spent,” William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun,” and Stacy Schiff’s “Know It All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise.” Each story mentions the blemishes and states how each one can be turned into a valuable feature. Neither the past, present, nor future will be perfect, but it is the beauty of the imperfections which are defining.

John Milton’s “When I Consider How My Light is Spent” is about the speaker who has a talent that God gave him, but he would rather have an unusable talent. He does not want to disappoint God, making ask for an ability he could not act on and would not be able to fail Him. The speaker believes his imperfections will dismiss him into the darkness. In the final lines of the poem, God tells the speaker to put his faith in Him. God intentionally gave the speaker flaws because they make him beautiful and unique.

In William Shakespeare’s poem the speaker names all of the physical imperfections his mistress has. He states each flaw bluntly without consideration to her feelings. The speaker talks about her as being so far from perfection, but in the last two lines in the poem he shows that not one of those flaws takes away from his love for her. The speaker is a realist and understands true love, loving one another’s imperfections.

Wikipedia is one of the most popular sites on the Internet; it has fourteen thousand hits every second. Any person is able to edit an article; however there are many different views on various subjects. Strong opinions create “edit wars” which causes many errors. Even though there are many imperfections, it is still an immensely popular website. The convenience and plethora of information outweigh the vandalism and obscenities of Wikipedia.

There is always a positive for every negative. In both poems the perfection comes from ten syllables in each line, but there are indentations making them imperfect. Wikipedia is perfect to bringing the world together, however lies exist in the articles. Imperfection will never disappear, therefore it shall be embraced.

No comments: