Market failure and what government can do Essay

Market failure and what government can do - Essay Example Market failure is the failure of the market to yield efficient outcomes. Elaborating further, Stiglitz said that there are six situations in which markets are not efficient and these are referred to as market failures that provide a rationale for government activity.The six conditions in which markets fail to lead to efficient outcomes are those in which competition fails, situation in which public goods are involved, market situations in which there are externalities, situations in which markets are incomplete, situations in which information is imperfect, and situations in which there are macroeconomic disturbances (Stiglitz 2000, p. 77-85). For markets to lead to efficiency, markets must be perfectly competitive (Stiglitz 2000, p. 77). This means that there are no constraints for competition to prevail in the market. Examples of situations in which competition does not prevail are those involving monopolies and oligopolies. Monopolies are market situations in which there is only o ne seller while oligopolies are market situations in which there are only few sellers. Both monopolies and oligopolies can charge consumers prices that are higher than those which can prevail in perfectly competitive market settings.1 Public goods are those whose consumption is non-rival and non-excludable as opposed to private goods whose consumption are rival and excludable. Non-rival means consuming the good will not deprive others of the good. Road services or city lighting services, for example, are goods or services that are not deprived to others when an individual consume or use the good or service. They are also non-excludable in consumption because it is costly, feasible, or impractical to exclude others from consuming or using the good or service. In the literature of economics, economists usually use the term pure private goods and pure public goods to refer to pure cases but they recognize that there are goods in-between or public goods that have private goods character istics as well as private goods that have public goods characteristics. Sometimes, these goods are also referred to as mixed goods.2 Externalities refer to effects on third parties other than the consumer or producer of the product. For example, consumer may use gasoline but parties other than the producer or consumer of the product receive the pollution. Externalities can be positive or something good such as the benefits to the environments of a certain car that does not use fossil fuel or it can be negative like that in car that pollutes the environment. Economic literature holds that when markets are competitive, prices almost equals costs and goods are produced at costs. However, because of externalities, markets can lead to situations in which goods may be overproduced or under-produced, depending on their effects to society.3 Incomplete markets refer to situations in which although the cost of providing the good is less than what consumers are willing to pay, the good is not produced just the same (Stiglitz 2000, p. 81). The situation of incomplete markets implies that there are things missing in the market because otherwise the good or service would have been produced if there is nothing that is missing in the market (Stiglitz 2000, p. 81). Incomplete markets can emerge when complementary services are lacking, transaction costs are too high, and the like (Stiglitz 2000, p. 81-82). It is possible that incomplete markets are one of the least studied market situation in the academic literature. The literature on the topic does not seem many. Information asymmetry or imperfection in information is also another cause for market failure to happen. For example, borrowers can know their risks as borrowers but lenders may not know the risks of lending to the borrowers. In another scenario, investors want to invest but they do not know the potential returns and possible risks in investments and, thus, they are constrained from investing. Finally, many scholars i nterpret

Home Depots Nightmarish EXIT from China Assignment

Home Depots Nightmarish EXIT from China - Assignment Example Thirdly, Home Depot wanted to get rid of the distribution network by eliminating middlemen and leverage worldwide supplier network which was hard. Lastly, Home Depot had been suffering from declining profits and only the change of the business model for example e-commerce (Saporta). The Chinese consumers haggle too much when doing their shopping which is unfavorable to the retailer. Furthermore, they do not buy some of the products for instance garage tools because they hire someone to do it for them (Saporta). In addition, Chinese do not shop alone without assistance which required Home Depot to hire and train tradesmen to meet their desired standards. A safe exit strategy from a foreign market would be liquidation because there is no worry about change of control and no negotiations are involved (Cross). From the article, I derived that closing some of the retail slowly is a safe exit strategy. Selling the retail stores to a friendly buyer would also serve as a safe exit strategy because the buyer is known. Lastly, offering an Initial Public Offer (IPO) for it would increase the worth of the company

MIH 514 - Cross Cultural Health Perspectives (Mod 2 CBT) Essay

MIH 514 - Cross Cultural Health Perspectives (Mod 2 CBT) - Essay Example However, I feel this would do more harm than good. Although it is widely believed that English, being the most popular and frequently used language of most Americans and people of British origin, this by itself is not sufficient justification, by any stretch of imagination, to warrant an absolute and arbitrary enforcement to enforce this language on a member of a minority race, or a person with limited or no knowledge of this language. â€Å"Some employers impose restrictions against the use of a language other than English in their workplaces. Reasons given for the restrictions include: The use of a foreign language in a workplace is inappropriate; English has been made the official language of their state and safety and public relations require that only English be spoken.† (William, 1993, para.1). I believe that propagation of English language does not necessarily have to be made at the cost of denigrading other languages. Besides, placing any kind of imposition on the use or non-use of any language to propagate the usage of English, could be tantamount to Anglo mania, and needs to be unanimously condemned. The proposed rule is that they are going to vote on a policy that will require all employees to speak only English at all times in the work place. This is the culmination of events leading to increasing numbers of members of minority groups being hired by the organization and several complaints from employees and customers, which has caused a great deal of distress and anxieties to the majority members of the workforce. I am firmly of the view that an employment policy, or practice that applies to everyone, regardless of race, color, can be discriminatory, or illegal if any one of the following set of circumstances is envisaged: The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, (EEOC) is committed to prevent any kind of discrimination in the workplace arising, inter alia, due to

International Business and Trade. WTO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Business and Trade. WTO - Essay Example The widest application of the protectionist movement is in the incubation of new industries which by themselves cannot survive the harsh realities if the competitive market, the idea being the protection will be withdrawn once the company is established (Iowa State university, n.d.). This concept is however extended in modern times and as captured by the events of the case study evolved to be proactive rather than reactive, where we see that the European Countries, namely France, Germany, Spain and Great Britain formed an alliance whose sole purpose was to gather enough capital to birth and sustain an aircraft manufacturing business with enough resources to effectively compete with the hitherto world monopoly of US based Boeing, the result of which was the birth of Airbus (Holmes, 2004). Given its current market strength, Boeing was enjoying vast economies of scale thus posing a significant barrier to entry to any interested private firm, and in the absence of competitive forces, concentrated more in research and development rather than marketing, and thus when they interfered with this monopoly power, the European governments eroded Boeing's potential returns from its investment, thus interfering with the market mechanism, and hence the first issue/conflict of the study. The second issue has to do with the governments' support of private enterprise, especially as it relates to the struggle that exists between one side trying to eliminate while the other struggles to sustain a major world monopoly. As mentioned above the aircraft industry is extensively capital intensive, and whatever labour is involved is highly skilled and specialized, as evidenced by the investments in Research and Development by both sides of the conflict presented in the study. The world authority on trade, the World Trade Organization clearly prohibits the support of private enterprise by governments and other public entities. Differences in terms of reference is also a major issue that has been highlighted in the case study. The Americans do not consider the massive government contracts that were awarded to Boeing as any form of government support, that is they argue that they did not interfere with the market but rather only participated in it, in a willing buyer willing seller fashion. This is of course in sharp contrast with the Europeans' initial direct capital investment into Airbus, let alone the continuing capital inflows into the company for continuing research and development in the form of very soft loans. The effect of governments' activities on both sides is basically the same, essentially to strengthen the respective aircraft manufacturers, therefore the argument lies in channels through which support was availed, rather than whether it was actually availed or not. The relation of the above activities to protectionism is where we find on one side a government being the largest and most lucrative domestic customer to the company, thereby not only preventing any foreign competition in the domestic market, but also propelling it into world dominance (fulfilling the mercantilist view of what protectionism is all about) and preventing other foreign nations from producing the same product and

American Sign Language Essay Example for Free

American Sign Language Essay For years psychologists have debated and tried to find out how our individual behaviour is gained- are we born with it or do we gain it through experience? Many psychologists have tried to find ways in which they can measure if our behaviour is learnt or inherited but these psychologists have encountered problems while doing so.  One problem that psychologists have when investigating whether behaviour is learned or inherited is actually finding a task that can be given to all of the different participants. Psychologists carrying out an experiment to find out about behaviour usually have participants which are different in some way, for example different sexes, different cultures, different levels of intelligence. Deregowski conducted a cross cultural experiment to see if people from different cultures perceive pictures the same. He found that the African children spent a lot of time looking at the pen and paper as they had never before seen or used them in their life. The same task has to be given to all of the participants as the same dependant variable is being measured and this is a big problem as it decreases the reliability of the results. Another problem is that it is very difficult to separate genetics and our experience as we begin learning from the moment we are born. This makes it hard to find a task that can measure just the intelligence we are born with because as long as we are on this planet, we are constantly learning new things that make us more intelligent. Gould carried out an experiment to measure peoples native intellectual ability (the intelligence we are a born with which is unaffected by culture and educational opportunities). The experiment clearly didnt measure native intellectual ability, as you needed to know about American culture to answer the questions. Even thought the experiment was biased and favoured Americans, it is still a good example of how difficult it is to measure our native intellectual ability because Goulds aim for the experiment was to measure this but this obviously proved to be very difficult. Other psychologists have tried to measure the intellectual ability we are born with but many have began to question whether we can ever make a task that measures our native intellectual ability. The only way we come very close to separating our learned and inherited ability is if we separate two identical twins at birth and put them into different environments. We could put one into an environment where a very minimal amount of behaviour is learnt from experience. For example we could put the twin into an empty room with no contact with the outside world and hardly any human contact (somewhat like a prison). The other twin can lead a normal life by going to school, interacting with other people etc. We can then observe the two twins in later life and if their behaviour is very similar or the same, it proves that behaviour is inherited. If the twin who lived in the outside world is more developed that the twin who was shut away from the world, it would prove that our behaviour is gained through experience. This is the only ideal way to investigate whether behaviour is learned or inherited but is this method ethical? Gardner Gardner wanted to see whether a chimpanzee could communicate in American Sign Language and the only way they could investigate their aim was to treat a chimpanzee like a human and take it out of its natural habitat. They proved that a chimpanzee could communicate in ASL but the experiment was criticised by many people who thought it was unethical.

Reducing Gases Emitted from Car Engines Essay Example for Free

Reducing Gases Emitted from Car Engines Essay The automobile industry has become one of the leading pollutants in most urban centers today. The emission of various gases from million of vehicles in roads has contributed to major global problem. Personal cars have emerged as the most notorious ones for this problem especially when they are moving at slow speeds or idling in traffic jams. This is the time when this man made gadgets produces the maximum emissions to the atmosphere with every body around that traffic absorbing the poison. Gasoline and diesel fuels combustion produces a mixture of hydrocarbons mainly carbon atoms, hydrogen as well as oxygen. The hydrocarbons are emitted as fragments of molecules of fuels which are burned partially. They do reactions with nitrogen oxides and in sunlight’s presence to create ground level ozone which becomes a main part of smog. This Ozone is harmful to human health as well as being toxic and sometimes causes cancer. Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) is produced in conditions of high pressure and temperature in the engine. Some nitrogen and oxygen atoms form nitrogen oxides after the reaction. NOX also contribute to creation of ozone as well as acidic rains which are harmful to the environment. NO2 which is much more potential than carbon dioxide as a green house gas is produced in the engine by catalytic conversion of heavy nitrogen gases in car exhausts systems. It contributes up about 7. 2 percent of gases responsible for global warming. Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless and poisonous gas is emitted from car engines after incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon-based fuels. It comprises of one atom of carbon and one oxygen atom interlinked together. Jeff Cohen asserts that, these results from having too low air-to fuel ratios in the car engine during the starting process of the car or when the car is not tuned on in the proper way. 1 This also takes place in higher altitudes in which case the amount of oxygen available for burning the fuel is greatly lowered. Transportation sources especially personal cars contributes to about two thirds of carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide has been perceived as complete combustion product but of late it has been seen as a pollutant since it is a green house gas which traps the heat from the earth resulting to global warming. Of late, Bio-diesel has come up as one of the main renewable fuels and a provider of good opportunity for getting fossil fuel alternatives that assist in reducing emission of these green gases. It is capable of creating good blends in different ratios with diesel either fresh or the used up oil. This implies that Bio-diesel when used either completely or partially with diesel fuel in deferent vehicle engines brings about some economical, environmental as well as social merits. On the other hand, while Bio-diesel contributes to these changes, it also has some challenges on the uncontrolled substances which comprises of carbonyl compounds that are released in the process of emitting the combusted bio-diesels or bio-diesel and diesel blends. Since the fuels are quite different from the normal diesel fuels, they can change the injection as well as ignition processes. Due to this, the emission of green house gases such as CO, CO2, and NOX are greatly affected. This research aims at evaluating the effects of bio-diesel on combustion of diesel fuels as well as their emissions and control in order to obtain a picture of the opportunities and challenges provided by the bio-diesel fuels. 1. Jeff, C. Does Idling Your Car Hurt Gas mileage? Solve Your Problem. com, 2007, retrieved 28 May 2009, http://www. solveyourproblem. com/save-money-on-gas/idling-car-gas-mileage. shtml. Problem statement Most the current car engines are designed to use diesel fuel which is notorious for emitting green house gases. Other engines which employ diesel and bio-diesel mixture have not indicated the most appropriate ratio of mixing the fuels and the optimum speed and rack to emit the least amount of these gases to the atmosphere. The research therefore seeks to obtain the best ration of mixing diesel with bio-diesel or waste oil and the best rack to emit the least amount of gases to the atmosphere. Theses Statement Obtaining the most appropriate ratio of mixing fuels for car engines would assist in reducing the amount of green house emitted from these cars. This would help to aviate the global challenges imposed by the foresaid problem. Objectives Main Objective The main aim of the research is to reduce the amount of green house gases emitted from car diesel engines. Specific objectives These include obtaining the best ratio of mixing several fuels; either diesel with bio-diesel, diesel with waste oil or bio-diesel with waste oil or the best engine speed and rack for this. Scope of the research The research would investigate the most appropriate ratio of mixing different fuels but it has some limitations of financial resources and time. Literature Review There is much concern all over the globe to reduce the emission of green house gases by 10% in the near future. Much emphasis has been on emissions of these gases from transportation fuels. In 2005, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi came up with a passenger car engine that operated on bio-diesel fuel. This was developed from modifications of the traditional Indica diesel engine that was made some few years ago. The engine used 10 per cent of bio-diesel fuel mixed with diesel to operate the engine. This development, however experiences some significant challenges in that it would take a lot of duration for any manufacture to come up with fully developed bio-diesel engine cars. In March 2009, United Environment and Energy LLC chemists came up with fixed-bed reactor design that was considered energy-efficient and high through in put continuous flow. It was perceived as cost-effective for production of algae oil bio-diesel. This was termed as the first economical approach in production of bio-diesel from algae oil. Although, the design has been able to reduce cost by 40% it did not reduce the emission of green house gases to an effective percentage. Tsinghua University researchers in China in May 2009 tried to use sugarcane juice as a good feedstock indented for production of bio-diesel if utilized to give support to alga Chlorella protothecoides through the process of heterotrophic fermentation. This produced oil content of about 53. 0% by weight of dry cell. In May 2009, Iowa State University Researchers presented a proposal on dissolution of waste polystyrene (PS) in bio-diesel. This aimed at making the bio-diesel for consumption in motor vehicles more so in diesel engines as an approach to recover energy from the waste plastic. The researchers pointed out that the use of polystyrene-bio-diesel blends would lead to increase in engine power thus reduced emissions of green house gases. This still intents increase polystyrene concentrations with 5% as per the study. To help reduce the emissions of green house gases, Tom Harkin and some US senators, in June 2009 proposed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt inclusion of in direct land use change effects as contributor to life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions in rule making indented for carrying out updated Renewable Fuels Standard that demands all bio-fuels to meet some defined life-cycle green house gas emission reduction targets prior to qualification. This research intents to come up with a more convenient approach of reducing the gases emitted from motor car diesel engines by obtaining the most optimum ratio of mixing bio-diesel, waste oil and diesel in car engine at the optimum engine speed. Research Methodology The research is conducted by experimenting the amount of green gases released from a diesel engine when diesel, bio-diesel, and waste oil are used at different to obtain different engine torques while the engine is increases from initial speed of 1500 rpm to 3200 rpm. The three fuels are used either purely or mixed with each other at different ratios while the rack is either maintained at 50% or at 100%. The amount of gases emitted for each condition is recorded in a table. The calves for the different gases emitted obtained at different speeds and racks are then plotted in several graphs. This is used to obtain the best fuel mixture and optimum speed and rack which release the least amount of gases to the atmosphere.

Modernismo in Spanish-american Poetry of the 20th Century

Modernismo in Spanish-american Poetry of the 20th Century Abstract This research analyses Spanish modernismo in Spanish-American poetry. The paper investigates in depth the impact of Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones, the most influential modernista poets of the twentieth century, on the development and spread of modernismo in Spain. The received results demonstrate that Spanish modernismo was new for Latin America and differed much from European Modernism. Due to the spread of nationalism, modernista poets experienced rejection and criticism from the members of Spanish society that regarded their literary works as the imitation of European poetry. However, Lugones and Dario opposed the existing restrictions and implemented new forms of poetic expression. In this regard, some findings of this research are consistent with the previous studies, while other results provide new valid data to the issue of Spanish modernismo in the twentieth century.   Ã‚  Ã‚   1 Statement of the problem Spanish modernismo is considered by some researchers and critics to represent a real revolution in Spanish-American literature of the twentieth century. The fact is that by the end of the nineteenth century the poetry of Latin America began to decease, thus innovations had to be implemented to revive it. Modernismo was new for Latin America, and the poets who greatly affected the formation of this movement were Leopoldo Lugones and Ruben Dario, as they were the first persons who implemented European poetic traditions into their writings, transforming the linguistic basis of poetry. However, this viewpoint is sometimes challenged by literary scholars who make attempts to eliminate the impact of modernismo on Spanish-American poetry. Gwen Kirkpatrick suggests that such a biased vision is explained by the fact that â€Å"many discussions of modernismo are stereotypically describing a ‘rubenismo’, the hackneyed copies of Ruben Dario’s style , while forgetting the movement’s audacity and its sweeping display of subject matter and styles†1. The conducted researches aggravate the issue by drawing a parallel between Spanish modernismo and European modernism. As a result, they provide ambiguous and invalid findings in regard to modernismo in Spanish-American poetry, instead of clarifying various aspects of the twentieth-century Hispanic literature. 2 Introduction Spanish modernismo as a crucial literary trend of twentieth century Hispanic poetry was initiated by Leopoldo Lugones and Ruben Dario and achieved its peak in the years of 1888-1915. It had the major impact on Spanish poetry, but also affected other literary genres, such as short stories and novels. Modernismo appeared as a successful combination of the Symbolist and the French Parnassian literary movements and was especially widespread in Argentina, Mexico and Cuba2. Modernismo in Spain reflects various social and economic changes of the late nineteenth – early twentieth centuries. It is mainly characterized by the substitution of the former structural and thematic components for new elements that include experiments with meter and rhyme and the utilization of such themes as landscape and eroticism. Thus, modernismo possesses three principal features: 1) novelty in rhyme and meter; 2) new appreciation of poetry’s role and 3) increase in subject themes. Social changes influenced the poets’ understanding of their roles and made them adhere to the literary traditions of such European poets and writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire and Whitman. Latin America differed from other European countries because of the fact that it made constant attempts to maintain the principles of national identity. As a result, Spanish literature used to adhere to conventional values, and any withdrawal from these particular traditions was regarded as a real danger to the issues of nationality. Modernist poets such as Dario and Lugones were usually considered as escapist s and Spanish-American poetry – as the imitation of foreign ways of expression. In view of these complex social and cultural restrictions, the rise of modernismo in Spain signified the elimination of the older stereotypes and the establishment of new models for poetry. The beginning of the twentieth century was also characterized by the spread of sciences and industries that contributed much to the formation of a rationalistic vision on life and universe. However, due to the existing restrictions, modernista poets of that period could only unite European values with traditional ideals in their literary works. In this regard, modernismo in Spain collided with more complexities than Modernism in other countries. These complexities resulted in the fact that Spanish poetry of the earlier twentieth century revealed much ambiguity and inconsistency. Various attempts of Spanish poets to utilise modernista elements in their works were regarded as the imitation of European literary sources, and modernismo in whole – as the trend of dependence. However, recent criticism on Hispanic poetry of the twentieth century challenged this viewpoint, providing valid data to prove the uniqueness and importance of Spanish modernismo. The themes and innovations of modernismo gave rise to many aesthetic and cultural tendencies of Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century. The aim of the research is two-fold: 1) to analyse how modernismo represented a revolution in Spanish-American poetry in the 20th century; 2) to evaluate the importance of Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones in the formation of modernismo. The paper is divided into sections. Chapter 1 provides a statement of the problem that uncovers the principal thesis of the dissertation. Chapter 2 conducts a general overview of modernismo through social and historical contexts. Chapter 3 observes the critical works that are written on the issue of Spanish modernismo. Chapter 4 discusses the theoretical tools that are applied for the analysis. Chapter 5 evaluates in detail the impact of Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones on modernismo and the way they changed Spanish-American poetry. Chapter 6 provides a summarization of the received results, while Chapter 7 demonstrates the limitations of the research and gives the suggestions for further analysis of Spanish modernismo. 3 Review of the literature Various critical works are written on the issue of modernismo in Spain, providing rather contradictory findings. Cathy Jrade considers that modernista poets regarded the world as â€Å"a system of correspondences†3. Thus, they were in search of the ways to uncover the concealed truth about Latin America and the universe in whole. Some critical works on Spanish modernismo are aimed at analyzing modernista poetry through social contexts, including Noà © Jitriks Contradicciones del modernismo, Franà §oise Perus Literatura y sociedad en Amà ©rica Latina and Angel Ramas Rubà ©n Darà ­o y el modernismo4. According to Ricardo Gullon, â€Å"What is called modernismo is not thing of school nor of form, but of attitude†¦ That is the modernismo: a great movement of enthusiasm and freedom towards the beauty†5. Discussing Spanish modernismo and the poets who contributed to the formation of this movement, Gwen Kirpatrick points at Leopoldo Lugones as â€Å"a true precursor of what might be called the dissonant trend in Spanish American poetry†6. The researcher considers that Lugones greatly influenced other poets of the subsequent generations by rejecting the traditional poetic norms and implementing new modernista elements. Lugones’ legacy is especially obvious in the works of Cà ©sar Vallejo, Alfonsina Storni and Ramà ³n Là ³pez Velarde. Octavio Paz points at the fact that Lugones’ and Dario’s poetry is the beginning of â€Å"all experiences and experiments of modern poetry in the Spanish language†7. However, Paz also differentiates between Lugones and Dario; although he regards Dario as the initiator of modernismo, it is â€Å"Leopoldo Lugones who really initiates the second modernista revolution†8. On the other hand, some researchers criticize Lugones’ poetry and his impact on Spanish-American literature. For instance, Roberto F. Giusti claims, â€Å"What is Lugones’ literary personality? It is a difficult question to answer due to the simple fact that he lacks one†9. Amado Nervo contradicts this viewpoint by pointing at powerful aspect of Lugones’ poetry, especially Las montaà ±as del oro. Although Nervo acknowledges the impact of fo reign thinking on the works of Lugones, he nevertheless identifies many individualistic features of this modernista poet. As Nervo puts it, â€Å"Lugones’ personality is powerful, the most powerful in our America†¦ The outside influences, the variety of reminiscences, the trivial and intimate suggestions of sages, poets, anti artists clash in his soul with his own and diverse ideas†10. However, Ezequiel Martà ­nez Estrada suggests that Lugones’ poetry lacks real sincerity, he considers that â€Å"We see him [Lugones] change and contradict himself, but we never see him express himself with absolute sincerity†11. The different perception of Lugones’ poetry can be explained by the changes within Spanish society that shaped people’s understanding of poetry throughout the twentieth century. According to Manuel Pedro Gonzalez, those poets who directly succeeded Leopoldo Lugones greatly admired the poet’s excessive language and powerfu l verse12, but later generations of Spanish poets failed to rightfully perceive Lugones’ innovations, although they also borrowed some elements of his poetry. In view of such contradictory criticism on the issue of Spanish modernismo, the following analysis makes an attempt to solve this controversy and demonstrate a considerable impact of Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones on Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century.   Ã‚   4 Research methodology The research utilises two theoretical research methods – a qualitative method and a discourse analytical approach. These methods provide an opportunity to investigate the issue of Spanish modernismo through various perspectives. The qualitative method is applied to the research to observe different views on the discussed issue, while the discourse analytical approach is aimed at analyzing cultural and social contexts that contributed much to the formation of modernismo in Latin-America. The discourse analytical approach explains the reasons for regarding Spanish modernismo as a revolution in Spanish-American poetry and the qualitative method interprets literary works of modernista poets. According to Ricoeur, â€Å"interpretation†¦ is the work of thought which consists in deciphering the hidden meaning in the apparent meaning, in unfolding the levels of meaning implied in the literal meaning†13. As appropriate methods for investigation, the q ualitative method and the discourse analytical approach demonstrate Spanish poetic traditions and the ways modernismo implemented new poetic forms.     Ã‚   5 Discussion 5.1. Background In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Spanish-American poetry experienced its prosperity due to the occurred historical and political events. However, gradually the poetry of Latin America exhausted its potentialities and reflected only illusionary visions of reality. At the end of the nineteenth century Spanish-American poetry almost completely rejected the poetic traditions of Romanticism, because it was impossible to adhere to these traditions in view of quick changes in values and modernization of life in many places of Latin America. As Octavio Paz rightfully points out, â€Å"Modernity is our style for a century. It’s the universal style. To want to be modern seems crazy: we are condemned to be modern, since we are prohibited from the past and the future†14. It was in that period when some Latin American cities began to inherit European ideals on culture, science and art. As Kirkpatrick puts it, â€Å"New immigration, varying degrees of industrialization, and labor-oriented social movements changed the maps of Spanish American cities in the early twentieth century†15. Thus, Spanish-American poets began to gradually reject the romantic representation of reality, instead revealing their interest in certain objects such as the female body and machines. Leopoldo Lugones was one of the first poets that applied to these themes in some of his poetic works, like Las montaà ±as del oro. Overall, modernista poets demonstrated great obsession with the principles of modernity and made constant attempts to increase the role of a poet in Spanish society. They withdrew from their participation in political affairs, instead transforming writing into a profession. In view of various innovations modernismo was aimed at creating a novel reality and styles of expression. According to Gordon Brotherston, the modernista poets, such as Ruben Dario, Manuel Machado, L eopoldo Lugones, rejected the material obsession that emerged as a result of industrial and scientific achievements, instead revealing true moral and cultural values16. As Paz puts it, â€Å"it has been said that modernismo was an evasion of the American reality. It would be truer to say that it was a flight from the local present reality†¦ in search of a universal reality, the only true reality†17. Spanish modernista poets reveal an idealistic treatment of poetry, paying a particular attention to the innovations of poetic forms and themes. The values of these poets appeared in contrast with the existing social norms and were reflected in their poetry. Modernismo represented a real revolution in Spanish-American poetry, because it was aimed at destroying the isolation of Latin America and at creating a novel discourse that could uncover the concealed truth about social and political situation of the country. However, the spread of modernismo was different in various part of Latin America. In particular, in Buenos Aires and Santiago of Chile, the South regions, modernismo was developed in a fast way, while in the area of Hispanic Carribean the process was considerably slow. In general, modernista poets were in search of the ways to create a language that would reflect social and spiritual discourse, making them closer to European poets. In this regard, the language of modernista poets is ambiguous. Applying to the qualitative approach it is possible to reveal this ambiguity, because this method provides an opportunity to rightfully interpret the controversial literary texts. According to Taylor, â€Å"Interpretation†¦ is an attempt to make clear, to make sense of an object of study. It aims to bring to light an underlying coherence or sense†18. Thus, on the one hand, the language of modernista poets appears as a visionary tool that uncovers reality changed as a result of various scientific innovations, while, on the other hand, it shapes national identity. Due to the fact that these two aspects are closely connected with each other, modernismo manages not only to reveal reality, but also to change the political and social courses established in Latin America. As Gonzalez puts it, modernismo introduces various aspects of modernity and alters Spanish poetry in whole19. According to Ricardo Gullon, â€Å"t he modernist writer is in first term modern man, and as so he becomes aware of himself as a citizen and believes in the possibility of the political and social reform†20. Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones were the first poets to reflect social modernity and the negative consequences of scientific innovations in their literary works. In their modernista poems they made attempts to combine national identity with foreign features. The following sections provide a more detailed discussion of Lugones’ and Dario’s impact on the formation of Spanish modernismo.   5.2. Ruben Dario as the initiator of Spanish modernismo At the end of the nineteenth century Ruben Dario (1867-1916) implemented the concept of modernismo to reflect a new period in Spanish-American poetry. Dario identified modernismo as the trend that corresponded with the essence of his time, when modernity began to influence various aspects of reality. Although Dario is regarded as a nationalistic poet, he is individual in his poetry, bringing up both social and national issues. Ruben Dario rejects the traditional elements of poetry by changing the conventional norms of verse and by introducing smooth rhythms into his poetic works. Simultaneously, Dario challenges and criticizes the reality that is presented in many literary works of Spanish-American literature of the nineteenth century. Through his poetry Dario rises against the materialization of Spanish life and against the wrong scientific ideals that prevailed in Latin America in that period of time. He also maintains individualism and independence, eternity and dream world; Dario is especially obsessed with beauty, demonstrating that beauty can be found in many displays. He moves beyond traditional portrayal of beauty, paying a particular attention to females’ sexuality as one of the principal images of beauty. For instance, in his poem Rhymes Dario claims, â€Å"Out on the sea a swift boat rowing, / rowing: the lover with his beloved, / flying to the land of dreams. / In the sunset light and the million glints / that flashed on the sea, those streaming oars / seemed made of burnished gold†21. This simple verse reveals the beauty of nature and the beauty of a loving couple; nature seems to correspond with their feelings – it is bright and clear, tender and light. However, by the end of the poem nature is changed, as Dario expresses uncertainty as to the future of these lovers: â€Å"Their fate? I do not know. I remember / that after a pallid twilight, the sky / darkened and the sea grew rough†22. Thus, nature conveys despair of Dario and the inability of lovers to change anything. Similar to nature that is exposed to constant changes, love also has the beginning and the end. This modernista poet pays much attention to language and he is in constant search of perfecting it. Musicality of Dario’s poetry and his exotic images inspire other Spanish poets, despite the fact that Dario is more interested in words than in the expressed meaning. Dario’s poetic language acquires power and symbolism; he gives new meaning to simple words and forms his unique rhetorical lexicon that reflects the spirit of Hellenism and Versailles. Applying to various poetic experiments, Dario increases the amount of metrical forms, either transforming classical forms or creating new ones. Dario’s first literary work Azul (1888) reveals musicality and sensuality of his sonnets. It was a real break in Spanish-American poetry due to the fact that Dario managed to substitute a complicated poetic verse of Spanish poets for a simplified and expressive form. In this collection Ruben Dario masterfully combines the symbols taken from ancient literary sources with his own symbols. Some of Dario’s symbols are the swan that symbolizes eroticism and chastity or centaur that embodies both human and animal features. In this regard, modernismo depends on various influences and literary trends; it manages to combine vulgarity and delicacy, reality and illusion, beauty and violence, extremes and simplicity. Ruben Dario’s modernista poetry introduces many elements into Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century. In particular, in many poems of Blue Dario applies to the theme of escapism, that is, he escapes reality and involves his readers into the dream world. Dario’s escapism is refined and full of classical illusions. In response to various scientific inventions and reason, Dario creates poems that are closely connected with nature and passions. Although the poet usually depicts such negative feelings as sadness, disappointment, ennui and despondency, they are so expressive that they evoke powerful emotions. In the poem Melancholy Ruben Da rio states, â€Å"Brother, you that have light, please give me light / I am like a blind man. I grope about in the dark. / I am lost among the tempests, lost among torments, blinded / by fantasies, and driven mad my music. / That is my curse. To dream†23. Another element of Dario’s poetry that is widely adopted by all modernista poets is the tension between love and sexuality. In his later collection of poetry Songs of Life and Hope (1905), Dario brings up more profound issues of a man and universe, life and death, utilizing irony and bitterness. This is especially obvious in such poems as The Fatal Thing and Youth, Divine Treasure. In this regard, Dario and other modernista poets are often accused of inspiring anarchy in the country, but in reality Dario contributes to the creation of a certain ideological structure in Spanish-American poetry that is closely connected with culture. Applying to classical allusions and cultural images, Dario implicitly demonstrates his cultural tastes. Thus, Jean Franco suggests that â€Å"modernismo comes to imply not only a literary renewal under the influence of France but a certain exaltation of taste†24. In some of his poetic collections, including Songs of Life and Hope, Ruben Dario demonstrates his obsession with classical symbols and the images created by Dante in his epic poem. Dario is in constant search of combining these images with the aesthetic values of modernismo, the poetry with the whole universe. In other poems Dario, similar to Lugones, draws a parallel between natural phenomena and humans’ emotions; for instance, in the poem Nightfall in the Tropics Dario portrays nature through emotions: â€Å"Bitter and sonorous rises / The complaint from out the deeps, / And the wave the wind surprises / Weeps. / Viols there amid the gloaming / Hail the sun that dies, / And the white spray in its foaming / ‘Misere’ sighs†25. This verse reveals Dario’s experiments with language and form; and, according to Kirkpatrick, it is in these â€Å"experiments, ironies, discordance, and ambiguities, later poets will find the legacy from which they will construct new poetic languages†26. In this regard, Leopoldo Lugones borrows some modernista elements from the poetry of Dario, but he also implements many new elements of modernism o.  Ã‚      5.3. The influence of Leopoldo Lugones on Spanish-American poetry Although Leopoldo Lugones’ earlier poetic works are characterized by the adherence to romantic ideals, he gradually rejects these elements, bringing up the issues and values that are closely connected with modernismo. Despite the fact that Lugones’ patriotic tunes and concise rhyme are not the explicit features of modernismo, his changes in themes and the depiction of certain ideologies through poetry demonstrate the poet’s important role in the transformation of Spanish-American poetry of the twentieth century27. According to Kirkpatrick, simultaneously combining some genres and moving from one extreme to another in his poetic works, â€Å"Lugones dramatizes the conflict between modernismo’s formalism and the shift into the twentieth century’s more private sense of poetic language†28. Similar to Dario, Lugones maintains the idea of language perfection, but he regards language as a tool that should be refined. Lugones considers that poetic language should be as much expressive as possible, but â€Å"by directing attention to language as a technical instrument, Lugones initiates a dissonant trend in modern Spanish-American poetry†29. With the help of expressive language Lugones manages to combine various elements in his poems, such as ironical eroticism and the portrayal of landscape, colloquial speech and unromantic scenes. Lugones takes his images from outward things, depicting the changed urban and rural scenery of Spain. Simultaneously, Lugones’ modernista elements reflect his obsession with French literary poetic traditions; however, â€Å"Lugones discounts the American setting as being too primitive to allow for the development of a complex and refined expression†30. Although in his early poems Lugones only implicitly reveals modernista elements, he intensifies them in his later poetry. This especially regards Las montaà ±as del oro (1898), where Lugones makes an attempt to combine rather contradictory elements through an allegorical form. It is in this poetic collection that Lugones introduces such innovations as enormous excesses, undisguised exaggeration and bizarre humour that are utilise d in his later poems. Introducing various thematic opposites in Las montaà ±as del oro, Lugones manages to achieve integrity of expression. The structure of the book resembles Dante’s poems, revealing that Lugones applies to some classical allusions in his poetry. This is especially obvious in the following words: â€Å"I was alone / between my thoughts and eternity. I was / crossing with Dantesque steps the night†31. In the poem Metempsicosis Leopoldo Lugones combines the powerful images of landscape and animal features to reveal the opposites between two elements: â€Å"An evil moon was loosing itself – with its yellow skeleton face / in distances of dream and problem; / and there was a sea, but it was an eternal sea, / asleep in a suffocating silence / like a sick, fantastic animal†32. Metempsicosis is followed by other poems, such as A Histeria, Rosas del Calvario, Oda a la Desnudez, Antifonas, Nebulosa Thule and others that are full of erotic images and the theme of darkness. In his female images Leopoldo Lugones combines both calm beauty of a woman and fierce portrayal of femme fatale. Applying to such conventional symbols of female images as moon, apples, flowers, breast and others, Lugones demonstrates that these images are beautiful, but they embody darkness and destruction. As a result, Lugones’ female images reflect the desire for possession and desecration: â€Å"I want a golden crown to encircle / your heart†¦ and I want you to triumph, naked like a host, in the ideal Easter ceremony of my pleasures†33. Similar to Dario, Lugones’ sexual images are usually connected with various religious images and Greek mythology, the feature that is characteristic to modernismo. However, Lugones’ images are more turbulent and definite, like in the poem A Histeria: â€Å"And so your embrace was like the knot of a noose, / and like glacial floes were your lips, / and bitter wires were my tendons, / and so the enormous stallion was a black wind†34. Thus, Lugones draws a parallel between violence and females’ sexuality; this connection is evident in Los Celos del Sacerdote: â€Å"desired crucifix of the weddings / and the triumphant grace of your waist. / like an amphora filled with magnolias, / and the impenetrable iris of your sex, / iris fool of blood and anguish†35. In another poem Oceanida Lugones applies to specific sexual images of Vista that symbolize eroticism and beauty. Some poems of Lugones’ poetic collection Las montaà ±as del oro reflect the sadomasochistic components that constitute one of the most important themes of Lugones’ poetry. In particular, the poet combines the images of violence and punishment with the images of females’ sensuality: â€Å"I shall praise the affection of your embrace, / just as the lecherous ascetic in his battles pulls tight the hairshirt around his kidneys†36. The images of sexuality and violence are repeated several tines throughout the poems, thus repetition is one of the most crucial poetic tools of Lugones. These repetitions, mainly taken from Poe’s literary style, provide Lugones with an opportunity to move from one extreme to another, maintaining the necessary integrity of expression. For instance, in the poem Oda a la Desnudez Lugones constantly repeats the word ‘nakedness’: â€Å"Look at the nakedness of the stars; / the noble nakedness of the savage panthers of Nepal, the pure flesh / of the newborn; your divine nakedness which shines like a lamp†37. Leopoldo Lugones implicitly brings up the tensions between nature and scientific discoveries, between reason and myths, between people and environment. In this regard, Lugones is similar to Ruben Dario who criticizes science and material obsession of his era in his modernista poems. Lugones combines ancient elements with new discoveries of the nineteenth century, evaluating both positive and negative sides of the present. Thus, according to the discourse analytical approach, Lugones’ and Dario’s poetic language is closely connected with the components of social and political contexts38. The poem Hymn to the Moon from Lugones’ Sentimental Lunario reflects French adoptions and is characterized by irony and new metric form. The poem The Cicadas from The Book of the Landscapes is belonged to one of the most modernista poems of Leopoldo Lugones; applying to daily images, the poet portrays them through ironical vision. However, one of the best modernista poetic collections of Leopoldo Lugones is certainly Los crepà ºsculos del jardà ­n (1905), where the poet intensifies sexual and erotic elements. In this collection Lugones not only utilises many modernista structures and symbols, but he also implicitly criticizes modernismo’s technicality. As Lugones constantly experiments with his poetry, he implements new elements taken from different literary movements and classical literary sources; thus he manages to observe both strong and weak sides of modernismo. Exaggeration appears the principal tool of expression in Los crepà ºsculos del jardà ­n; as Kirkpatrick puts it, Lugones â€Å"exaggerates certain themes by extending their development too far, or points out certain techniques by explicitly commenting on their use within the poems themselves†39. Thus, the poet creates not one swan in his poems, but several swans; portraying the image of a woman, he does not restrict himself to some features, instead he describes every aspect of her appearance, even the colour of her clothes. Although Leopoldo Lugones initiates the second wave of modernismo in Latin America, he moves away from it in his later poetic works, because he feels that he has already researched this new area and continues to experiment with other literary trends40. Utilising all modernista elements in his Los crepà ºculos del jardà ­n, he begins to study the archetypal elements of Jules’ Laforgue’s poems. However, Lugones’ later withdrawal from modernismo does not minimize his crucial role in the formation of modernismo. As Kirkpatrick rightfully claims, â€Å"Although Ruben Dario is the undisputed master of the movement, many later poets have found the complex, sometimes troubling, poetic experiments of Leopoldo Lugones to signal openings for a renewed poetic practice†41. The fact is that Lugones’ constant changes of forms and styles, turbulent eroticism and the portrayal of common life attracted attention of many Spanish-American poets. Tensions and ambiguity that are slightly seen in the works of other modernista poets are considerably intensified in Lugones’ poetry42. 5.4. The Legacy of Modernismo Ruben Dario and Leopoldo Lugones as the major contributors to the formation of Spanish modernismo left a considerable legacy to other poets who began to utilise modernista elements of Lugones and Dario in their poetic works. Some of these poets are Ramà ³n Là ³pez Velarde, Cà ©sar Vallejo, Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, Alfonsina Storni, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Federico Garcis Lorca, Pablo Neruda and Vicente Huidobro. Their poetry is characterized by expressiveness and freedom, perfection of language and search of new forms, classic allusions and new themes, simplicity of syntax and musicality of words, free verse and powerful visual images. For instance, in his poetic works Ramà ³n Là ³pez Velarde follows Leopoldo Lugones, combining the elements of eroticism with various prosaic elements. Other modernista poets also utilise prosaic components in their poetry, including Baldomero Fernà ¡ndez Moreno and Enrique Banchs. These poets implicitly appl y to Lugones’ method to create opposites; however, they differ from Lugones, using simple colloquial language. Besides, the tone of their poems is quiet in contrast to excessive and exaggerated tone of Lugones. Julio Herrera y Reissig, another modernista poet, greatly resembles Lugones in his representation of sexuality and