Missouri Department of corrections rank among the highest in Research Paper

Missouri Department of corrections rank among the highest in recidivism - Research Paper Example By building cognitive skills the department has established the most effective intervention technique to address recidivism. The program aims at addressing issues such as decision making, successful relationships in the society and corrects thinking errors that result to criminal behaviors (Boehm, 2007). The cognitive behavioral program should target offenders’ attitude, anger, and beliefs. Peers, substance abuse, and they are more action oriented. These actions help the offender in replacing the negative actions and association with the new leant behaviors. A better prison education program is the most appropriate and recommended correction method for Missouri prison. The program should involve providing the inmates with education and skills that enable them to secure employment opportunities once they are out of prison. The state government should launch a program such as PERU (prison education revolutionary unit) that will ensure inmates acquire more skills in Automotive, Information Technology, Welding, Culinary Arts, and basic Engineering courses (Jackson & Lyons,  2007). The program will improve vocational education by availing highly trained, experienced, and skilled educationalists that will positively influence the lives of the prisoners. According to the studies by the University of Missouri, it was found that inmates who earned their General Educational Diploma Certificate (GED) in prison had a higher rate of getting employment and, consequently, less likely to repeated crime. The research showed a 33% decrease in the likel ihood of recidivism on the inmates who obtained a full-time job. Implementation of PERU will ensure that inmates acquire technical skills that will match the needs and preferences of the contemporary labor market and in a position to obtain employment. The PERU program will ominously improve prison vocational education and resolve the

Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations - Essay Example Include your personal definition of inclusion and diversity.  Describe what diversity encompasses, and explain the intersections of multiple forms of diversity in organizations. Diversity and inclusion is many things. In its most superficial definition, D&I is a legal mandate, a requirement for organizations to comply with, and which may open a firm to sanctions and penalties if found in violation of its provisions. However, diversity and inclusion should be more than mere compliance with a requirement. It should entail a change of heart and perspective. The core to D&I’s goals and aspirations is social reform, the eradication of barriers between perceived majority and minority groups which creates unjustified advantages for some and disadvantages for others on the basis of their affiliations. Diversity encompasses the treatment of people as people. Inclusion does not mean the elimination of difference so that all people are the same; it means treating people in the same man ner despite their differences, and even with the acknowledgement and celebration of these differences. Several of the readings in this course described diversity as a source of competitive advantage for organizations, where multifaceted skills and perspectives can be brought to the workplace in support of the company goals. While that is perfectly true, and companies should look to this advantage, it is not the essence of diversity and inclusion. Had it been, then D&I would have just been a means of taking advantage of people’s differences. In an organization, the application of diversity and inclusion may be so diffuse and ambiguous that it is difficult to notice at times whether an issue has D&I implications or not. For instance, assigning people to subsidiaries in certain geographical areas (specially for a multinational organization) on the basis of their ethnicity may be a sensible thing to do from the viewpoint of the organization, but it may be judgmental from the view point of the individual who may not want to be designated there. The very fact that makes people subjects of D&I also in a way reinforces differences among groups and works against their full inclusion. Discuss the impact of diversity on individual and organizational effectiveness.   Discuss some of the tools necessary to lead, direct, and build inclusive organizations. Diversity and inclusion is a source of strategic advantage for an organization; this has been mentioned in all the readings and finds no strong opposition in any of the opinions and reactions discussed in this forum. As to whether or not the advantage is properly optimized or explored is another matter. The inclusion of diverse people in an organization does not automatically ensure individual and organizational effectiveness. As has been voiced in this forum, some organizations merely pay lip service to D&I without imbibing the essence of it. As is true for all individuals, if the organization capably harmonizes p ersonal goals with organizational goals, then the creativity and industry possessed by the individuals in the workforce shall be engaged, and the benefits of diversity realized. Diversity in this case, however, need not be along racial, gender, cultural, or any category identified as being D&I. It may be the skills and knowledge possessed by individuals because of their education, personal interests,

Implications of Human Resource Department Becoming Strategic

Implications of Human Resource Department Becoming Strategic The human resource management is a coherent and much strategic way of managing companys highly valued assets, who the people working in an organization and either individual or collectively ensure the attainment of the organizational goals and objectives. The terminology human resource management and human resource have taken over the place of personnel management, as an explanation of the procedures involved in the management of people in any organization. HRM simply implies to the process of employing individuals, develop their abilities, using them, maintaining them and make their compensation. Through research, a number of articles have been produced proposing certain HR activities that are much linked to strategies of businesses. Furthermore, recent studies have started looking at determinants of human resource practice from the strategic point of view, (Beaumont, 1991). The Role of theory in SHRM Since SHRM exist in an applied nature, it is much significant that the field uses theoretical models that provide room for prediction and understanding the impacts of HR activities in the functioning of a company. It is just till recent that, that the most inadequacies of SHRM, was the lack of theoretical basis that is much strong, that allows the viewing of HRM functioning in larger companies. According to Zedeck and Cisco, (1984), the matters of HRM are part of a system that is much open, and research lacks theories, unless put under broader organizations contexts. Concerning the SHRM dependant variables, it has been stated that, it will be very significant to develop articulated personnel theory that draws from the human resource management. This field instead of having theories, it is characterized by descriptive typologies in place of good theories. The writings in the field of SHRM are just concerned with real advices of empirical data. The SHRM is described as plethora of stat ements since the field lacks proper theories, (Hill Jones, 1998). Though there has been an explicit proposed connection between business strategies and the practices of HR, strategic intent has been viewed as being one determinant of such like practices. Some theoretical models leave out business strategy as a HR practice determinant. By concentrating on determinants that are not as an effect of proactive decision making, it has been argued that SHRM has to look into political and institutional determinants of the HR activities, to the extent of predicting and understanding decision processes of SHRM. The coordination of slate of HR deeds towards some strategic ending has been hindered by the political and institutional forces. Strategic theories of HRM From the time of strategic introduction in the management field, industrial companies strategists have mainly dependent on single frame work of SWOT analysis. The main assistance to the strategy, literature has been centred on portions of these competitive advantages models. It has been argued that SHRM entails two key functions, namely; management of competence and management of behaviours. Competence management entails factors that companies does not ensure its employees have needed skills in execution of some strategies. This take into consideration negotiations with external workers for the attraction, selection, retention and the usage of employees with required skills, knowledge and capabilities for the execution of the strategic business plan. Competence acquisition refers to the practices like selection that ensure organizations employees have the much competence required. Competence utilization involves activities that use latent skills that in the previous strategy had been seen unnecessary. Retention of competence on the other hand refers to the strategies that aim at the retention various competences in the company via the reduction of turnover and continuous training. Lastly, displacement of competence entails practices that target the removal of competencies that are seen not to be necessary for the companys strategy, (Charles Jones, 1998). Management of behaviour on its side, once employees with needed skills and competence are brought in the organization, they work collectively or individually to ensure that they are giving support to the strategy of the organization. Behavioural control on its part entails practices like performance appraisal and systems of pay that looks forward in controlling behaviours of workers, to ensure that they are in line with companys goals. Strategies of coordinating behaviours entail appraisal and organizational development practices that coordinates behaviours across employees to support the strategy of the organization, (Fombrun, Tichy, Devanna, 1984). Snells model of control theory model emphasizes on the importance of coordinating various HRM practices. On the other hand, it explicitly recognizes the imperfect nature of making decisions in SHRM because of bounded uncertainties. Other models assume that environmental and strategic competencies and the real competencies and behavioural responsibility are much important in achieving the strategy. Good HRM activities that elicit such like competencies and behaviours are exactly known in this model. In cybernetic sense, control theory is a dynamic model of continuous environmental monitoring and internal alterations. The HRM activities and adjustments that correspond, these activities whenever outcome tends to move away from the desired system. The agency cost theory model has been connected to the human resources through bureaucratic costs concept. These costs are transaction costs that that are mostly associated with human resource management in a given hierarchy. In this, the HRM activities allow the measurement of contributions that are unique. They also provide enough rewards for personal performances. The agency theory has been used in explaining determinants of things like systems of compensation, (Peter John, 2003). Due to the fact that transaction cost model has been used in strategic management literature, it is now also possible to apply theoretical framework in finding a relation between strategy and SRHM. It might look intuitive that strategy of a company can have an impact on the work nature. To the level that work nature changes, to either have more or less uncertainties. The types of HRM systems are important to monitoring inputs, manners, and even the output changes. This framework provides theoretical foundation for looking at the reasons that makes different strategic decisions giving rise to different HRM activities, (Porter, 1985). Academic Theory Over the last 20 years, empirical studies have been done to find the connection between the HRH and the performances of the organization. Strategic human resource entails three strands of work; Best fit, Best practice and Resource Based. The idea of best practice suggests that the adoption of some best practices in Human Resource management results in better organizations performances. It has been argued by (Pfeffer, 1994) that there exist seven best practices that can be used to attain competitive advantage through individuals and profit building by placing people first. They include employment security, selective hiring, information sharing, intensive training, self-management teams, high pay and reduction of status differentially. Best practice is to be implemented in bundles hence difficult to identify which is the best, as shown by (Elwood et al 1996). Research has shown that best fit argues that HRM improves performance where there exist close vertical fit between HRM practices and the strategies of the company. This enhances coherency between HR people processes and the external market. There are many theories on the nature of this vertical integration. Lifestyle models explain that the policies and practices of HR can be mapped on the on the stage of organizations development. The competitive advantage model, takes the views of porter about the strategic choice and places arrange of HR practices onto the firms choice of the competitive strategies. The configuration model provides a sophisticated approach which advocates for close examination of the firms strategy so that appropriate HR practices and policies can be determined. On the other hand, this method assumes that organization strategies can be identified- many firms exist in a state of development and flux, (Legge, 1989). Recent studies have shown that resource based view forms the foundation of modern human resource management. It concentrates on the internal resources of an organization and how they usually contribute to the competitive advantage. The uniqueness of such resources is preferred to homogeneity. The HRM has the central responsibility of to develop human resources that are rare, valuable, effectively organized and difficult to copy and or substitute. Generally the HRM theory explains that that, the objective of human resource management to assist organizations meet their strategic goals by maintaining and attracting employees on top of effectively managing them. HRM ensures a fit between the firms employees management and overall firms strategic direction, as concluded by (Elwood et al 1996). Strategic Human Resource Evaluation Over the years, companies have realized that workers are needed to be looked upon as competitive advantage. As an impact, the HR department is developing from carrying out simple administrative issues, to being strategic partners. The department has been given the responsibility of ensuring that company objectives have been attained. This development needs new methods of defining and assessing the successes of HR development. It is not sufficient to measure it basing on traditional operational methods of internal efficiency. Due to this, the department of HR, need to value of their strategic participations (Angel, Elizabeth, 2003). Years back, HR department used to measure their achievements by looking at how busy they were, the number of employees recruited or even interviewed among other things. This measure depicted HR practices as being administrative functions required to execute practices t5hat are related to personnel. This HR functioning conception has really changed as companies have started realizing the potential competitiveness of their employees. A large number of organizations are putting in much effort in designing practices of HR that give room for the development of the strategic value of their employees. This approach that is on the way coming, SHRM, calls for the expansion of HR role that involves strategic on top of administrative functions. To change the centred HR also needs the development of new methods of defining and assessing the Hr duties, (Porter, 1985). The modern functions of HR, includes four major complimentary duties. The first role is excellence in administrative work; this role is much significant due to its immediate way of participating in to the efficiency of the organization, and usually helps in building the credibility that is much needed in assuming other influential roles. Secondly; the duty of HR, professionals have to know that employees are champions in all the ways. By recognizing the value of committed, and motivated, the HR has to play his or her critical roles of advocating employees. The department of HR is supposed to be the voice of employees in management discussions, on top of which, the department has initiate programs that airs issues and employee concerns and issues. The two additional roles that modern departments of human resource management are these concerned with the strategic partner, and an agent of change. Since the department is a strategic partner, it calls for continuous evaluation of the alignment between modern practices of HR and the business goals of the organization. It also calls for continuous effort in designing policies and activities that ensures that this alignment is maximized. The professionals in HR have to assist in determining the current culture of the company. Also the structure has to change towards the direction that supports strategy of the company. At the same time, the department of human resource needs to play the main role in management and implementation such like changes that have been established. By assessing potential sources, of resistance to these changes and the collaboration with line managers in ensuring that they overcome these hindrances. The roles that were mentioned earlier, about administrative expertise and champions of employees, are considered day-to-day and operational nature. On the other hand, the duties of strategic partners and agents of changes, stands in for the developing strategic dimensions of the duties of HR. in a similar fashion, the duties of administrative expertise, and the deal of strategic partner with the operations, whilst the champions of employee and agents of change duties concentrates on individuals, (Angel, Elizabeth, 2003). This turn that is taking place in strategic HR functions, makes one to have expectations of observing trends that are parallel in the manner in which the department of HR evaluates its own performances. On the other hand, traditional measures, indicates the degree of operation efficiency, the effects of specific programs of HR, on the strategic objectives of the firm have to be assessed too. This new changes are based on deliverable individuals not on variables that are dabbles. The Department Of HR Challenges in Becoming Strategic Partners Avoiding strategic plans on top of Shelf, though many strategies have been written, only a few have been acted upon. There have been the creation of many visions, but only a few have been realized. Comparing the missions that have been expounded, but only a percentage has been executed. Becoming a member of strategic partner, have a meaning that explains the turning strategic statements into a set of companies action. The process of overcoming SPOTS challenge, calls for professions in HR to forces issues of an organization into strategic discussions, before deciding on the issues that are strategies. The department of HR is supposed to facilitate diagnosis of the organization, which in brief explains on how aligned strategies of business are to the culture of the organization, (Humanresourcesdegreeonline, 2010). Another challenge is the creation of a balanced scorecard. The idea of balanced scorecard has been in existence for long time; however, its application is the one that has been made popular. A scorecard that is much balanced centres on serving many stakeholders, and can be total index in assessing the executive. Conclusion The implications of the human resource department becoming strategic clearly show that there is a change from personnel management to HRM. The implications of department show that the utilization of human resource at different times has played an important role making the department to become strategic. The aspects of human resource management have been designed in a way that it concurs with the needs of surrounding in which changes to SHRM. The basic aspects of SHRM, is rooted on assumption that the human resource strategy can in one way or the other assist in attaining business strategies but also vindicated by it, (Nadeem, 2009). This concepts validity rely on the extent at which it is assumed that individuals create added value, and as a result, there is need for them to be handled as a resource that is much strategic. SHRM is real only when translated into theoretical models and then implemented through personnel strategies. Human resource department needs a shift towards a macr o-point of view, to apply to the broader part of the organization. In fact, there need to be commitments on high quality in the company, which then will become more productive in the firm. Basing on the same point, a stronger leadership group is needed in the department for the exploration of both human and non-human resources.

How Video Games Help Society Essay -- Technology, Video games

â€Å"Lets play a money making game!† -The Legend of Zelda. Video Games are revolutionizing society. They have changed for the better, transitioning from mindless wastes of time, to useful tools of learning, video games are revolutionizing, and are becoming smarter, more complex, and healthier. Video games are not just simple, mindless forms of entertainment anymore; they can now teach, inspire, and provide the player with life skills, or the knowledge needed to start a successful career. Many games companies like Electronic Arts (EA) are changing the content of their games. The successful game franchise by EA, â€Å"The Sims† has developed games like â€Å"The Sims 2: Open for Business.† The focus of this game is to start a small business in a virtual world, and virtually run it. Video games have now even become a course in college. "Now games are a legitimate academic subject, with many university courses around the world offering degrees in video game design and development. And many game designers and researchers are seeing how games influence cognitive and other skills (par 2)." Students now have the option of exploring a career in gaming, which is very profitable in todays market. James Paul Gee, a video game programmer for Nintendo, explains what goes t hrough the mind of someone playing "Pikmin." " As Gee writes, the game requires a great deal of focus, critical thinking, multitasking, and problem solving to succeed. Players must manage teams of characters, assign them tasks appropriate to their behavior patterns, guide them to work together smoothly, and strategist how to optimize resources such as virtual food. Yet, even a 6-year-old can play it. Imagine, teaching a first-grader pretty complex, real-time, problem-laden resource manage... ...to "IEWTPT Tactical Questioning." (par. 6)"These repurposed video games can potentially save lives. The air force has been using video games to train pilots for a few years now. "A military or commercial flight simulator need not have perfect visual detail, but it had better mimic the behavior of the real vehicle, Haseltine says, "because lives are at stake." (par. 13)" Instead of letting a beginning pilot get in a $13,000,000 plane and waching him crash it, they can now get in a fake one and safely cruse around in a virtual world. The Military is using video games to save lives and train their recruits. Although parents may not view games as a tool like a book, they are slowly Changing and will soon be reputable sources of knowledge, and will most defiantly benefit society. So †Pick A Box, its contents will help you on your way.†-Toad, Super Mario Bros. 3.

Diana Ecks Essay

Diana Eck’s writings in Darsan: Seeing the Devine Image in India address many of the key elements of the Hindu culture and traditions. Much of her writing deals with the visual aspect of the religion, and how it is more about the spirituality rather than the actual image itself. Within each chapter she hit on other major details within in the Hinduism. However this essay will discuss the specific concepts such as pilgrimage to certain sites, importance of the visual aspect, and how the construction is a religious discipline in itself. Diana Eck’s essay begins with the discussion of how Hinduism is a visual religion. Numerous times she explains how sight was a major aspect in worship and Darsan. In this section she goes on to explain that the very phrase of the Hindu religion is seeing is knowing. The whole point of the darsan aspect is to see and be seen by the god, goddess or diate that lives in the shine. Furthermore the eyes play a key role in the worship of gods. Through the eyes on can gain blessings of the divine. However to get to the dwelling places of these gods is not always a simple trip to a local shrine. She begins to discuss the pilgrimages or journeys of many people in order to achieve darsan at a specific place. During this portion of the essay she talks about the journeys and dedication that many of the Hindu followers partake in. not only do people traveling for gods but also living religious figures. For example Ghandi was perhaps the most exalted living Hindu figure. Thousands would travel just to get a glimpse of him passing in an attempt to achieve darsan. Towards the end of her passage she explains the importance of the construction of the images, and how each one was a religious discipline in itself. Later on in the passage she begins to explain how the construction of a temple becomes part of the cosmos; and in its construction the entire universe is rearranged. The very ground plan is a geometrical map of their cosmos with the sacred image at its center. Many of the temples are models of sacred mountains said to be the dwelling places of the gods, and diates. In a larger sense the temple are said to be images themselves. The construction of the temple gives evidence to this. Eck explains that from the beginning of the construction to the end is a ritual. My thoughts on the passage were that the author had extensive knowledge on the Hindu art forms along with its culture and myths. Her organization made it so each topic led to one another, and also goes into detail on almost every topic discussed. On the other hand I found one of her weaknesses was that the information got repetitive and made it difficult to focus throughout some of the paragraphs. A clear point however was the comparisons between Christianity’s god and the Hindu gods. Many times she compares the two saying a person that practices the Hindu religion could not comprehend the idea of one almighty invisible god, and that it would also be difficult for us to understand the importance of vision being a main part of the Hindu religion. This book has also shown me that each and every design has a specific importance to the religion itself. Before I assumed most of it had to be meaningless decoration, and that gods with more than eye actually serve a purpose for in achieving darsan. I had always assumed that it was just decoration or something completely different from its actual purpose. In this essay I have given a brief summary of some the major points in Diana Eck’s book Darsan: Seeing the Devine Image. These points include importance of the visual aspects of Hinduism, the ritual practice before during and after in constructing a hindu monument, and what the purpose of the pilgrimage is. I also have given a person opinion on the author strengths and weaknesses, prior stereo types and some comparisons that can be found within the book. Overall I found the book to be helpful in the fact that it gave specific reasons for many of the decorations and practices in the Hindu religion.

The Influence of the Renaissance on English Literature

Introduction: It is difficult to date or define the Renaissance. Etymologically the term, which was first used in England only as late as the nineteenth century, means' â€Å"re-birth†. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance implies that re-awakening of learning which came to Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Renaissance was not only an English but a European phenomenon; and basically considered, it signalised a thorough substitution of the medieval habits of thought by new attitudes. The dawn of the Renaissance came first to Italy and a little later to France. To England it came much later, roughly about the beginning of the sixteenth century. As we have said at the outset, it is difficult to date the Renaissance; however, it may be mentioned that in Italy the impact of Greek learning was first felt when after the Turkish conquest of Constantinople the Greek scholars fled and took refuge in Italy carrying with them a vast treasure of ancient Greek literature in manuscript. The study of this literature fired the soul and imagination of the Italy of that time and created a new kind of intellectual and aesthetic culture quite different from that of the Middle Ages. The light of the Renaissance came very slowly to the isolated island of England, so that when it did come in all its brilliance in the sixteenth century, the Renaissance in Italy had already become a spent force. It is difficult to define the Renaissance, but its broad implications in England do not defy discussion. Michelet exaggeratedly calls the Renaissance â€Å"discovery by mankind of himself and of the world. This is, indeed, too sweeping. More correctly we can say that the following are the implications of the Renaissance in England : (a) First, the Renaissance meant the death of mediaeval scholasticism which had for long been keeping human thought in bondage. The schoolmen got themselves entangled in useless controversies and tried to apply the principles of Aristotelean . philosophy t o the doctrines of Christianity, thus giving birth to a vast literature characterised by polemics, casuistry, and sophistry which did not advance man in any way. b) Secondly, it signalised a revolt against spiritual authority-the authority of the Pope. The Reformation, though not part of the revival of learning, was yet a companion movement in England. This defiance of spiritual authority went hand in hand with that of intellectual authority. Renaissance intellectuals distinguished themselves by their flagrant anti-authoritarianism. (c) Thirdly, the Renaissance implied a greater perception of beauty and polish in the Greek and Latin scholars. This beauty and this polish were sought by Renaissance men of letters to be incorporated in their native literature. Further, it meant the birth of a kind of imitative tendency implied in the term â€Å"classicism. † (d) Lastly, the Renaissance marked a change from the theocentric to the homocentric conception of the universe. Human life, pursuits, and even body came to be glorified. â€Å"Human life†, as G. H. Mair observes, â€Å"which the mediaeval Church had taught them [the people] to regard but as a threshold and stepping-stone to eternity, acquired suddenly a new momentousness and value. . The â€Å"otherworldliness† gave place to â€Å"this-worldliness†. Human values came to be recognised as permanent values, and they were sought to be enriched and illumined by the heritage of antiquity. This bred a new kind of paganism and marked the rise of humanism as also, by implication, materialism. Let us now consider the impact of the Renaissance on the va rious departments of English literature. Non-creative Literature: Naturally enough, the first impact of the Renaissance in England was registered by the universities, being the repositories of all learning. Some English scholars, becoming aware of the revival of learning in Italy, went to that country to benefit by it and to examine personally the manuscripts brought there by the fleeing Greek scholars of Constantinople. Prominent among these scholars were William Grocyn (14467-1519), Thomas Linacre (1460-1524), and John Colet (14677-1519). After returning from Italy they organised the teaching of Greek in Oxford. They were such learned and reputed scholars of Greek that Erasmus came all the way from Holland to learn Greek from them. Apart from scholars, the impact of the Renaissance is also; in a measure, to be seen on the work of the educationists of the age. Sir Thomas Elyot (14907-1546) wrote the Governour (1531) which is a treatise on moral philosophy modelled on Italian works and full of the spirit of Roman antiquity. Other educationists were Sir John Cheke (1514-57), Sir Thomas Wilson (1525-81), and Sir Roger Ascham (1515-68). Out of all the educationists the last named is the most important, on account of his Scholemaster published two years after his death. Therein he puts forward his views on the teaching of the classics. His own style is too obviously based upon the ancient Roman writers. â€Å"By turns†, remarks Legouis, â€Å"he imitates Cicero's periods and Seneca's nervous conciseness†. In addition to these well-known educationists must be mentioned the sizable number of now obscure ones—†those many unacknowledged, unknown guides who, in school and University, were teaching men to admire and imitate the masterpieces of antiquity† (Legouis). Prose: The most important prose writers who exhibit well the influence of the Renaissance on English prose are Erasmus, Sir Thomas More, Lyly, and Sidney. The first named was a Dutchman who, as we have already said, came to Oxford to learn Greek. His chief work was The Praise of Folly which is the English translation of his most important work-written in England. It is, according to Tucker Brook, â€Å"the best expression in literature of the attack that the Oxford reformers were making upon the medieval system. † Erasmus wrote this work in 1510 at the house of his friend Sir Thomas More who was executed at the bidding of Henry VIII for his refusal to give up his allegiance to the ‘ Pope. More's famous prose romance Utopia was, in the words of Legouis, â€Å"true prologue to the Renaissance. † It was the first book written by an Englishman which achieved European fame; but it was written in Latin (1516) and only later (1555) was translated into English. Curiously enough, the next work by an English man again to acquire European fame-Bacon's Novum Organwn-was also written originally in Latin. The word â€Å"Utopiaâ €  is from Greek â€Å"ou topos† meaning â€Å"no place†. More's Utopia is an imaginary island which is the habitat of an ideal republic. By the picture of the ideal state is implied a kind of social criticism of contemporary England. More's indebtedness to Plato's Republic is quite obvious. However, More seems also to be indebted to the then recent discoveries of the explorers and navigators-like Columbus and Vasco da Gama who were mostly of Spanish and Portuguese nationalities. In Utopia, More discredits mediaevalism in all its implications and exalts the ancient Greek culture. Legouis observes about this work : â€Å"The Utopians are in revolt against the spirit of chivalry : they hate warfare and despise soldiers. Communism is the law of the land; all are workers for only a limited number of hours. Life should be pleasant for all; asceticism is condemned. More relies on the goodness of human nature, and intones a hymn to the glory of the senses which reveal nature's wonders. In Utopia all religions are authorized, and tolerance is the law. Scholasticism is scoffed at, and Greek philosophy preferred to that of Rome. From one end to the other of the book More reverses medieval beliefs. † More's Utopia created a new genre in which can be classed such works as Bacon's The New Atlantis (1626), Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872), W. H. Mallock's The New Republic (1877), Richard Jefferies' After London (1885), W. H. Hudson's The Crystal Age (1887), William Morris† News from Nowhere, and H. G. Well's A Modern Utopia (1905). Passing on to the prose writers of the Elizabethan age-the age of the flowering of the Renaissance-we find them markedly influenced both in their style and thought-content by the revival of the antique classical learning. Sidney in Arcadia, Lyly in Euphues, and Hooker in The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity write an English which is away from the language of common speech, and is either too heavily laden—as in the case of Sidney and Lyly-with bits of classical finery, or modelled on Latin syntax, as in the case of Hooker. Cicero ? eemed to these writers a verv obvious and respectable model. Bacon, however, in his sententiousness and cogency comes near Tacitus and turns away from the prolixity, diffuseness, and ornamentation associated with Ciceronian prose. Further, in his own career and his Essays, Bacon stands as a representative of the materialistic, Machiavellian facet of the Renaissance, particularly of Renaissance Italy. He combines in himself the dispassionate pursuit of truth and the keen desire for material advance. Poetry: Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42) and the Earl of Surrey (15177-47) were pioneers of the new poetry in England. After Chaucer the spirit of English poetry had slumbered for upward of a century. The change in pronunciation in the fifteenth century had created a lot of confusion in prosody which in the practice of such important poets as Lydgate and Skelton had been reduced to a mockery. â€Å"The revival†, as Legoius says, â€Å"was an uphill task; verse had to be drawn from the languor to which it had sunk in Stephen Hawes, and from the disorder in which a Skelton had plunged it; all had to e done anew†. It was Wyatt and Surrey who came forward to do it. As Mair puts it, it is with â€Å"these two courtiers that the modern English poetry begins. † Though they wrote much earlier, it was only in 1557, a year before Elizabeth's coronation, that their work was published in Tottel's Miscellany which is, according to G. H. Mair, â€Å"one of the landmarks of English literatu re. † Of the two, Wyatt had travelled extensively in Italy and France and had come under the spell of Italian Renaissance. It must be remembered that the work of Wyatt and Surrey does not reflect the impact of the Rome of antiquity alone,. but also that of modern Italy. So far as versification is concerned, Wyatt and Surrey imported into England various new Italian metrical patterns. Moreover, they gave English poetry a new sense of grace, dignity, delicacy, and harmony which was found by them lacking iil the works of Chaucer and the Chaucerians alike. Further, they Were highly influenced by the love poetry of Petrarch and they did their best to imitate it. Petrarch's love poetry is of the courtly kind, in which the pining lover is shown as a â€Å"servant† of his mistress with his heart tempest-tossed by her neglect and his mood varying according to her absence or presence. There is much of idealism, if not downright artificiality, in this kind of love poetry. It goes to the credit of Wyatt to have introduced the sonnet into English literature, and of Surrey to have first written blank verse. Both the sonnet and blank verse were later to be practised by a vast number of the best English poets. According to David Daiches. Wyatt's sonnets represent one of the most interesting movements toward metrical discipline to be found in English literary history. † Though in his sonnets he did not employ regular iambic pentameters yet he created a sense of discipline among the poets of his times who had forgotten the lesson and example of Chaucer and, like Skelton, were writing â€Å"ragged† and â€Å"jagged† lines which jarred so unpleasantly upon the ear. As Tillyard puts it, Wyatt â€Å"let the Renaissance into English verse† by importing Italian and French patterns of sentiment as well as versification. He wrote in all thirty-two sonnets out of which seventeen are adaptations of Petrarch. Most of them (twenty-eight) have the rhyme-scheme of Petarch's sonnets; that is, each has the octave a bbaabba and twenty-six out of these twenty-eight have the c d d c e e sestet. Only in the last three he comes near what is called the Shakespearean formula, that is, three quatrains and a couplet. In the thirtieth sonnet he exactly produced it; this sonnet rhymes a b a b, a b a b, a b a b, c c. Surrey wrote about fifteen or sixteen sonnets out of which ten use the Shakespearean formula which was. to enjoy the greatest popularity among the sonneteers of the sixteenth century. Surrey's work is characterised by . exquisite grace and tenderness which we find missing from that of Wyatt. Moreover, he is a better craftsman and gives greater harmony to his poetry. Surrey employed blank verse in his translation of the fourth book of The Aeneid, the work which was first translated into English verse by Gavin Douglas a generation earlier, but in heroic couplets. Drama: The revival of ancient classical learning scored its first clear impact on English drama in the middle of the sixteenth century. Previous to this impact there had been a pretty vigorous native tradition of drama, particularly comedy. This tradition had its origin in the liturgical drama and had progressed through the miracle and the mystery, and later the morality, to the interlude. John Heywood had written quite a few vigorous interludes, but they were altogether different in tone, spirit, and purpose from the Greek and Roman drama of antiquity. The first English regular tragedy Gorboduc (written by Sackville and Norton, and first acted in 1562) and comedy Ralph Roister Doister (written about 1550 by Nicholas Udall) were very much imitations of classical tragedy and comedy. It is interesting to note that English dramatists came not under the spell of the ancient Greek dramatists â€Å"(Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the tragedy writers, and Aristophanes, the comedy writer) but the Roman dramatists (Seneca, the tragedy writer, and Plautus and. Terence! the comedv writers). It was indeed unfortunate, as Greek drama is vastly superior to Roman drama. Gpfboduc is a s'avish imitation of Senecan tragedy and has all its features without much of its life. Like Senecan tragedy it has revenge as the tragic —otive, has most of its important incidents (mostly murders) narrated on the -stage by messengers, has much of rhetoric and verbose declamation, has a ghost among its dramatis personae, and so forth. ‘. â€Å". is indeed a good instance of the â€Å"blood and thunder† kind' of tragedy. Ralph Roister Doister is modelled upon Plautus and Terence. It is based on the stupid endeavours of the hero for winning the love of a married woman. There is the cunning, merry slave-Matthew Merrygreek-a descendant of the Plautine slave who serves as the motive power which keeps the play going. Later on, the â€Å"University Wits† struck a note of independence in their dramatic work. They refused to copy Roman drama as slavishly as the writers of Gorboduc and Roister Doister. Even so, their plays are not free from the impact of the Renaissance; rather they show it as amply, though not in the same way. In their imagination they were all fired by the new literature which showed them new dimensions of human capability. They were humanists through and through. All of them—Lyly, Greene, Peele, Nashe, Lodge, Marlowe, and Kyd-show in their dramatic work not, of course, a slavish tendency to ape the ancients but a chemical action of Renaissance learning on the native genius fired by the enthusiasm of discovery and aspiration so typical of the Elizabethan age. In this respect Marlowe stands in the fore-front of the University Wits. Rightly has he been called â€Å"the true child of the Renaissance†.