A Formal Application

A detailed Summary of A Formal Application

Since the creation of man, certain primal urges have been imprinted into the human being's psyche. Out of many of those the instinct of death is included, probably stemming from the necessity of killing to obtain one's food. The instinct of death remains today and has been changed, adapted, suppressed and exemplified. In "A Formal Application" the ironic theory of applying death as a way of life is portrayed through a man's act of killing a bird. The poem flows through the practice, planning and execution of a common bird. The climax of the poem comes when he refers to his act of violence as an "Audubon Crucifix". Through various examples in history he validates this unnecessary crucifix. "A Formal Application" rejoins the human race by immortalizing the importance of death.

The structure of the poem is separated into three sections containing three stanza's each. There is no apparent rhyme scheme making it a free verse and prose piece. The setting is outside, most likely close to the speakers house, and surrounded by forest and wildlife. It takes place in the mid 1900's and probably in the spring-time. This piece is compiled of nine triplets separated into three sections. The first section

The authors insight is speckled throughout the last three stanzas. Initially, he states "I shall coordinate conditioned reflex". This is the first indication of his reasoning behind this blatant disregard of living things. By developing his learned trait of killing he now feels he has "qualified" as the Modern Man. The second stanza offers a grotesque description of the murder. Then the speaker confirms his infatuation with gaining superiority through death by naming this killing the "Audubon Crucifix". This name contains the word crucifix because, according to the popular belief, the only death that brought life to this earth was when Jesus Christ was crucified. Religious connotations are involved in the name because by justifying and validating his violent act he can feel like a "Modern Man". In the third stanza he goes even further in an attempt to relate his somewhat small scale kill to the few major slaughters of our history. First, with the word pious he again relates to religion by referring to his title as holy. Then he adds three examples of dramatic violence. The first of which is Arbeit Macht Frei, an ironic motto for the holocaust meaning work brings freedom. In the concentration camps prisoners were worked so brutaly, almost all of them died, therefore death beco

Some common words found in the essay are:
Formal Application, Audubon Crucifix, Jesus Christ, Macht Frei, Enloa Gay, Ambiguity Death, formal application, audubon crucifix, knife throwing, death life, instinct death, separated sections, application life, human race, death freedom, third stanza,

Approximate Word count = 873
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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A Formal Application

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