Comparrasion of Ozmandiaze and the Ruin essays

Comparrasion of Ozmandiaze and the Ruin essays Mans Creation Cannot Last Forever. In about 450 B.C., the city of Olympia where the first Olympic games were held in 776 B.C. built a temple to honor the god Zeus. Many considered the Doric-style temple too simple, so a lavish 40-foot statue of Zeus was commissioned for the inside. Wealthy Greeks decided to move the statue to a palace in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). Their effort prolonged its life, as fire later devastated the Olympia temple. However, the new location couldn't keep Zeus eternally safe: a severe fire destroyed the statue in A.D. 462. All that remains in Olympia are the temple's fallen columns and the foundation of the building. It is peculiar that the amazing creations of man cannot last forever; the same idea can be observed by comparing the setting, plot and irony in the poems The Ruin and Ozymandias. By examining the setting of both poems, one can perceive the idea that man-made inventions cannot last forever. The setting of The Ruin is in an old Roman city, where the wielders once built a huge city intending it to last forever, but now all that remains are Broken blocks... (41). People of the Roman city thought that their mighty kingdom, well built walls, bright buildings, and mead halls would last forever, but there is a force called wierds that does not allows mans creations to exist forever. In the same manner, the setting of Ozymandias is also related to the theme that mans creations cannot last forever. The setting concerns an ancient Egyptian desert, where Ozymandias once created his huge statue (artifact) thinking that it would last forever. However, the only object that remains consists of Two vast and trunk less legs of stone (2). Ozymandias created his huge statue to show the world how much power he had, without understanding the destructive power...

Tropic of Cancer - Overview and Geography

Tropic of Cancer - Overview and Geography The Tropic of Cancer is a line of latitude circling the Earth at approximately 23.5Â ° north of the equator. It is the northernmost point on Earth where the suns rays can appear directly overhead at local noon. It is also one of the five major degree measures or circles of latitude dividing the Earth (the others are the Tropic of Capricorn, the equator, the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle). The Tropic of Cancer is significant to Earths geography because, in addition to being the northernmost point where the suns rays are directly overhead, it also marks the northern boundary of tropics, which is the region that extends from the equator north to the Tropic of Cancer and south to the Tropic of Capricorn. Some of the Earths largest countries and/or cities are at or near the Tropic of Cancer. For example, the line passes through United States state of Hawaii, portions of Central America, northern Africa, and the Sahara Desert and is near Kolkata, India. It should also be noted that because of the greater amount of land in the Northern Hemisphere, the Tropic of Cancer passes through more cities than the equivalent Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. Naming of the Tropic of Cancer At the June or summer solstice (around June 21) when the Tropic of Cancer was named, the sun was pointed in the direction of the constellation Cancer, thus giving the new line of latitude the name the Tropic of Cancer. However, because this name was assigned over 2,000 years ago, the sun is no longer in the constellation Cancer. It is instead located in the constellation Taurus today. For most references though, it is easiest to understand the Tropic of Cancer with its latitudinal location of 23.5Â °N. Significance of the Tropic of Cancer In addition to being used to divide the Earth into different parts for navigation and marking the northern boundary of the tropics, the Tropic of Cancer is also significant to the Earths amount of solar insolation and the creation of seasons. Solar insolation is the amount of incoming solar radiation on the Earth. It varies over the Earths surface based on the amount of direct sunlight hitting the equator and tropics and spreads north or south from there. Solar insolation is most at the subsolar point (the point on Earth that is directly beneath the Sun and where the rays hit at 90 degrees to the surface) which migrates annually between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn because of the Earths axial tilt. When the subsolar point is at the Tropic of Cancer, it is during the June solstice and this is when the northern hemisphere receives the most solar insolation. During the June solstice, because the amount of solar insolation is greatest at the Tropic of Cancer, the areas north of the tropic in the northern hemisphere also receive the most solar energy which keeps it warmest and creates summer. In addition, this is also when the areas at latitudes higher than the Arctic Circle receive 24 hours of daylight and no darkness. By contrast, the Antarctic Circle receives 24 hours of darkness and lower latitudes have their winter season because of low solar insolation, less solar energy and lower temperatures. Click here to see a simple map showing the location of the Tropic of Cancer. Reference Wikipedia. (13 June 2010). Tropic of Cancer - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer