Middle Managers

Managers are the most important human resource in any organisation because they are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the organisational goals are achieved within the specific time through spending less financial resources. Both organisations and people need each other to further their different goals or objectives. Therefore if mutuality is missing, it makes no sense in trying to assemble a group and develop a cooperation because there is no common base on which to build. Therefore, for attainment of organisational effectiveness, human resource and especially the middle level managers is the most important asset that must be paid attention by the management.Management practices are employed by middle managers in order to enhance the effectiveness of any organization including learning institutions, and these management activities are planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The middle managers through the planning function is responsible in coming with a schedu le of business activities that will result to attainment of the set goals. The middle managers outline what to be done and the expected output from the employees.The organizing function of any organization has to deal with the issue of allocating the tasks to the employees respectively according to their competence. Resistance by the workers may be experienced if the allocating process used is viewed to be inappropriate and oppressing which always leads to poor organization performance. So middle managers have to convince the employees that everything will be okay and there interests will be taken care of.The leading/directing function of any organization is faced with the tasks of demonstrating to employees how to do various activities and also involves the employment of charismatic leaders in form of middle managers who can influence the employees towards positive attitude of performing their work and also capture the attention of the top management. The Controlling management pra ctice by the middle managers is responsible for monitoring the results of any undertakings and thus can make any corrections or adjustments if need to do so arise. (Maund, 2001)There are three levels of management in any organisation. The first level is the top level managers who include the senior managers and the executive officers and they are responsible for formation of organisational goals and objectives and they play an important role in decision making process. The second level is that of middle level managers who are responsible for ensuring that all the functional strategies from various departments are workable and can be achieved with certainty.This level of management is the most critical one in that both the lower and top management attracts attention regarding to various activities within the firm.   For example, the top management may exert pressure on them to achieve better results while the lower management may want them to reduce their level of supervision withi n the workplace. The third level is that of operational management or lower level managers who ensures that organisational activities are undertaken to achieve the set objectives or goals. . (Dale, 2001)How Middle Managers can meet their demandsAccording to the latest research, reports suggests that middle level managers have a discrete and decisive function in all organisations   particularly in the learning institutions and they do not only act as a medium between the top managers and the subordinates. Middle managers in many learning institutions in an effort to be effective and efficient in the workplace have the responsibility of balancing the ever competing demands of their roles brought about by conflicts from both the top management and the subordinates or the low level management. In order to attain the above objective this middle level managers have embarked on various critical roles in order to avoid any misunderstandings in the workplace and thus achieve the desired ou tput. Such roles include the following: (Fiddler, and Atton, 1999)Middle managers in learning institutions act as change agents within these organisations. Globalization has taken the centre stage almost in all sectors of the economy including learning institutions. There is increased interaction of people from different cultures, societies, and various backgrounds in undertaking various business activities with the aim of achieving their goals for example opening learning branches in other countries. Because of invention of advanced technology the world has increasingly become a village and as a result global business is the modern form of business in this 21st centuryBecause of globalization in relation to learning institutions there have been great disregard to national borders, governments have lower hand in controlling the flow of their economies and large companies including learning institutions are now not restricted to only one particular country as it was before. Middle le vel managers in learning institution have to cope with changes brought about by this aspect of globalization and they should brief the top management on decision making process. They also have the task of ensuring that the teachers in this institution are equipped with skills, expertise, and knowledge that can tap new knowledge from other people from different countries without hindering the learning process.Middle managers have the duty of being a strategist in order to cope with the increasing demands from both the top management and the low level management. This implies that they have the tasks of ensuring that the strategies formulated by the organisation are implemented and executed in a good way that will lead to achievement of goals. They should therefore have the ability to interpret direction from the top managers in to functional departmental strategies and policies that will avoid any conflicts in the organisation and those plans must be viable and supportive for the mis sion of the organisation. (Baker, 1999)In order to enhance this responsibility the middle level mangers must pay much attention  Ã‚   to formulation of workable strategies. A strategy may be defined as the calculated means by which the enterprise deploys its resources to accomplish its purpose and basic objectives under the most advantageous circumstances. Therefore the middle level mangers have the task of ensuring that the organisation   for example learning institution must be overall low cost effective system which will ensure good returns for example high performance through use of competent teachers and using of advanced technologies. So the work of middle managers is to ensure sourcing of competent teachers and application of approved high quality technologies e.g. the use of white boards.Middle level managers must also act at ethicists in any organisation in order to balance the competing demands brought about by the interactions with both top and low level managers. Thi s role implies that the middle managers especially those from learning institutions should develop a system that will help them sustain pressure from both top managers and subordinates in the process of promoting moral conduct within the organisation   that will foster good results. For example teachers will be motivated to lecture/teach and students too will be motivated to work hard and achieve their results.   The other role middle managers have to embark on is the responsibility of being a team player in the organisation or in the workplace. (Klagge, 1998)This implies that the middle managers must show commitment and support cooperation among the top management, low level management or the subordinates and themselves. For these middle managers to maximize the concept of teamwork in the organisation then they should emphasize on formation of groups within the workplace.A group can be defined as social unit which people interacts face to face when working. If an organisation e mphasises group work then it is more likely that good results will be achieved. Sometimes some kind of work require teamwork participation in order to achieve goals, so managers should encourage group decisions too because they bound to succeed unlike individual decisions. With the concept of teamwork for example the subordinates will be motivated when they work together with the subordinates e.g. head teachers working together with teachers in trying to achieve good learning process.The other role that will help balance the competing demands in an organisation is that of being the mentor of employees especially the subordinates.   Leading by example for example engaging in groups with the subordinates and demonstrating what the subordinates are supposed to do. Also to get admiration from both the employees and the top management they should act as top manager’s advocate to subordinates as well as being subordinate supporter to top level managers.Another useful role that wi ll balance the competing demands is that of middle managers embracing the concept of being tacticians. This means that middle managers have to understand the organisational environment e.g. internal and external factors that may cause conflicts within the organisation. The main aspect of being tactician is that of middle managers encouraging collective decision making thus parties involved in carrying out duties will be motivated to work because they were part of the decisions arrived. (Fiddler, and Atton, 1999)Advice to Middle ManagersFor these level of managers to be effective and efficient in the organisation   and more so to be able to balance the competing demands they need to be committed in their roles and especially being change agents in the learning institutions. Proper communication is essential to any organisation or group effectiveness and learning institutions are not exceptional. Research indicates that poor communication is probably the most frequently cited source of interpersonal conflicts. It is only through transmitting meaning from one person to another that ideas and messages can be conveyed.Communication can play the following functions; controlling employee’s behaviour, motivating the workforce, provides a release for emotional expression of feelings and performs the role of facilitating decision making in organisation. Proper channels of communication should be put in place in learning institution and this will help the organisation to attain their set goals for example teachers reporting to their head teachers then the head teachers to senior managers then to the executive arm respectively if there have been a problem to be solved. (Edmondson, Bohmer and Pisano, 2001)Leadership is another concept that middle level managers should emphasize on. Without proper leadership, organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency cannot be achieved and bad leadership in an organisation may cause poor results and thus lack of attainment of objectives.   It should also be noted that not all managers are leaders and not all leaders are managers. Leaders can emerge from within a group as well as by formal appointments to lead a group. A good leadership style should be adopted in an organisation and especially in the learning institutions.This implies the way in which the functions of middle managers with particular regard to the concept of leadership are carried out. Styles like autocratic style of leadership should be discouraged as this does not give the opportunity subordinates in decision making and only top managers are responsible to do so. Learning institutions should prefer the use of democratic style of leadership whereby the focus of power is more with the group as a whole and not in the top managers and there is greater interaction in the group. The middle managers of learning institutions should practice laissez faire style of leadership in that the employees especially the subordinates are left to choo se groups for themselves and make their own decisions that will help them achieve the organisational goals. (Azzar, 2001)The middle managers’ impact on control mechanisms in any organization is great and immeasurable.   It is therefore important that managers look for convenient, cost-conscious and appreciated ways of control mechanisms in order to build a dynamic, committed and, a motivated workforce that will result in better productivity and profitability of the organization thus enhancing effectiveness and efficiency of the organizationConclusion:For middle level managers to meet the demands of top management as well as that of subordinates they should fully define their roles to avoid conflicts that may arise in the course of work. They should also use proper leadership and good communication skills in order to achieve the organisational effectiveness. Middle level managers has a greater need to understand organisational   behaviour in order to achieve the organisati onal   effectiveness and particularly in learning institutions and much attention should be directed to people, structure, technology and the environment.Organisational   effectiveness can only be achieved if the middle management is be able to incorporate good leadership, motivation, a well defined organisational   structure, forming group dynamics and setting up good structures for communicating in the workplace. The organisations should also be flexible in the sense that they should be ready to cope with change without affecting their productivity.References:Ardts, J. (2002): Developing people in line with corporate needs. Human Resource Management International.Azzar.J. (2001): The Heart of School Leadership-Educational LeadershipBaker, D. (1999): Strategic Human Resource Management-Performance, alignment, and management. Librarian Career Development.Bhindi, N. (2003): Practicing creative leadership- Pipedream or possibility? The Practicing AdministratorDale, M. (2001): Th e Art of HRD: Developing Management Skills  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   , Vol. 3, New DelhiCrest Publishing HouseEdmondson, A. Bohmer, R. and Pisano, G. (2001): Speeding up team learning. Harvard Business Review.Farson, R. and Keyes, R. (2002): The Failure-tolerant leader. The Innovative EnterpriseFiddler, B. and Atton, T. (1999): Dealing with poor performance and range of solutions in poor performing staff in schools and how to manage them. London and New York, RoutledgeKlagge, J. (1998): The Empowerment Squeeze-Views from the Middle Management Position. Journal of management development, 17(8)Maund, L. (2001): An Introduction to Human to Human Resource Management: Theoryand Practice: Macmillan, Palgrave

Effect of the media, TV advertising and commercials to individual, Essay

Effect of the media, TV advertising and commercials to individual, families and to society - Essay Example This essay "Effect of the media, TV advertising and commercials to individual, families and to society" outlines the changes that media and advertisement industry has brought to our society. To improve the body image, teenagers go fasting getting into unhealthy cycle of malnutrition, anemia and become an open field for attacking diseases. At the same time, young men devote their focus on a well-built, athletic body to make their mark in the female arena, and in the world at large. Both these pressures hardly give the youngsters any time for their intellectual or educational development. All advertised images of men and women are full of perfectly shaped bodies, drooled over by the lesser fortunate mortals. The average viewer watches 400 to 600 advertisements every day and this enormous amount of messaging can create a permanent mindset. Fatty foods are shown with awfully thin bodies triggering off a confused and strange eating tendency among the really younger sets. Acceptance of violence, almost expecting it, is another tendency that is unhappily growing among viewers. Children are becoming more and more bloodthirsty. Recent media story about a TV game where the little viewer had to blow up President Kennedy’s head was an ultimate example of the horrifying intellectual bankruptcy. Children know all names in the TV game world, but cannot recognize the next-door kid, as they hardly play in the open. Perhaps a positive and encouraging, almost ethical approach is necessary for TV to make the right impact on viewers.

The Use of Technology in Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Use of Technology in Finance - Essay Example Stricter more stringent rules required firms to change their reporting processes, enabling more transparency. The resultant strict rules enacted necessitated firms to adopt modern accounting practices that could only be employed through innovative technology interfaces. The integration of automated or technological applications although costly in terms of resources and time has proven to be an effective control measure for the authorities while simultaneously assisting corporate leaders manage their internal systems. Other benefits of using technology in finance have been the development of enhanced marketing, communication, research and transaction technologies by organizations. Technology has been described as the application of individual, logical or material approach to resolve an impasse that leads to enhanced efficiency. It has been credited with improvement of business operations in firms including: administration, communications (from postal letters to email, mobile phones, telecast etc.), trading (online trading or ecommerce), automated production line technology, and research facilities among others.The need for embracing advanced technology by corporations was highlighted by the tighter regulations enacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in conformity with compliance rules relating to requirements regarding evaluation of internal control over financial reporting and management certification requirements mandatory to amendments under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that were adopted on June 5, 2003, pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Companies needed advanced technology to detect undesired movement in inconsisten cies, automated reporting, upholding customer assets, violations etc., hence avert bad practices while enhancing the companies efficiency (WS&TStaff, 2005). Corporate governance encompasses the compliance to rules or procedures, traditions, edicts,

Written Report for Professor in Chem Department (new gas-phase ion Essay

Written Report for Professor in Chem Department (new gas-phase ion chemistry and mass spectrometric ) - Essay Example In 1999, she received an outstanding Graduate award of Lanzhou University and consequently the same award at the Chinese Academy in 2002. In 2012 at Purdue University, she received a Research foundation faculty international grant. Finally, for her mastery in mass spectrometry, the American society honored her with Mass Spectrometry Research Award (Chem.purdue.edu). On joining Purdue, professor Yu had little information with the use of instrumentation, but quickly she gained mastery of the sophisticated apparatus. Professor Xia, a daughter of high-school chemistry teacher developed her interest in chemistry early life and was further influenced by her father. Her enthusiasm is evident in several interviews whereby she states that she always aspired to be a chemistry researcher and the PdD training proved a genuine pathway to success. She further acknowledges that she always wanted to be a researcher and chemistry Purdue chemistry program is very reputable. (Chem.purdue.edu). Professor Yu’s research focal point is on generating new ways for analyzing carbohydrates and proteins using mass spectrometry and new gas-phase ion chemistry. This bio-analysis process aims to utilize radical reactions as an approach to exploring radical ion chemistry. Her interest and that of the group is to develop tools for bio-molecular structural clarification through instrumentation, bio-radical chemistry and MS method of development. Through instrumentation, Xia and group develop mass spectrometry systems for executing bimolecular reactions in both a linear trap and plume sections of nano-electrospray source. These ranges of apparatus enable research transition from the radical attack study of biomolecules to the analytical study (Chem.purdue.edu). In terms of bio-radical chemistry, radical ions can be formed in the gas phase on principle of radical reactions.

Writer's choice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 35

Writer's choice - Essay Example This is because material misrepresentation of the facts of a product has a potential effect of making the customers to make decisions to purchase the product, something that would not have happened had the facts been set right. Misrepresentation of information to customers is both an ethical issue as well as a tort that can attract civil liability (CCAB, 2011). The ethical issue arises as the company’s president is only driven by greed desires to keep up with the external competition that the company faces. That is why he is keen on deliberating changing the estimated life of the company’s principal product, non-biodegradable plastic cartons, from 8 years to 12 years. He wants to do this to improve the profitability of the company while not putting the needs of the customers in mind. A potential ethical situation that can happen when dealing with bad debts is when the unethical accountants modify the financial registers of a company and scheme the numbers so as to generate a fabricated picture that the company is making profits (CCAB, 2011). This can arise if the accountant in custody of the company’s financial statements and balance sheets is under unwarranted pressure and tension from the management who want to record a success of the company. This pressure makes the accountants to provide deceitful reports of the proceeds, possessions and liabilities of the company. This type of a fraud is responsible for short-term remunerations for the company’s but it can also lead to the ruin of the company once it is discovered by the relevant authorities (CCAB,

(a research proposal ) Employee satisfaction and firm performance Essay

(a research proposal ) Employee satisfaction and firm performance - Essay Example e are many studies, articles and research devoted to customer satisfaction, but the writings, theories and strategies related to employee satisfaction with job are few. The ideas that employee satisfaction is related to productivity in the same degree as customer satisfaction, appeared at the beginning of 90s, and it was confirmed in the practice and experience of various companies. The number of studies devoted to this problem constantly grows. The authors of the article, mentioned above, provided a scheme, defined as â€Å"the service profit chain†. (p. 15) This scheme included all necessary element of achieving success and prosperity for the company. These authors investigated experience of various companies from different branches of industry, and made important conclusions. They insisted that the correlation of employee and customer satisfaction with the profit directly influence company’s performance. The results of the study provided a basis for new patterns of managing success in business. The methods they observed, concentrate on the effect of employee job satisfaction and performance on â€Å"the value of products and services delivered so that managers can build customer satisfaction, loyalty and assess the corresponding impact on profitability and growth.† (p. 17) The authors add that â€Å"...the lifetime value of a loyal customer can be astronomical, especially when referrals are added to the economics of customer retention and repeat purchases of related products.† (p.17) The authors note: "Putting employees and customers in the spotlight is common to Quality programs. As anyone working in support of Quality knows, Quality doesn’t just happen. Those running a company must be fully committed to it. In the case of the companies under discussion, their CEOs and top managers exhibited a special kind of leadership. â€Å"CEOs of exemplary service companies emphasize the importance of each employee and customer. For these CEOs, the focus on customers and

Show how Hardy responds to the death of his wife Essay Example for Free

Show how Hardy responds to the death of his wife Essay In the years after the death of his wife, Emma, in 1912, the main subject of Hardys poems was his wife and how he missed her and grieved her death. In his poems during this period he uses a lot of euphemism, so that he never actually tells the reader his wife has died. However, the strong sense of sadness and regret he feels comes through in every poem. The first poem Hardy wrote after the death of Emma was The Going in December 1912. This poem has a highly regular rhythm and rhyme, with the important words often rhyming at the end of the lines to draw attention to them. The title of the poem is a euphemism for death, and he continues with these throughout the poem, using phrases such as vanishing, close your term here and where I could not follow. This poem is written as if Hardy is addressing Emma. In the first stanza, Hardy addresses and questions his dead wife, and gives a sense of what seems like anger and irritation towards her, that she gave him no hint that she was going to die. He suggest she was indifferent and didnt care about leaving him, and this shows how he is grieving and maybe not thinking straight. He emphases her swift, quick death as she left with wing of swallow but this imagery also suggests her beauty in his eyes and how much he will miss her. Now he regrets he cannot follow her and he knows he will not gain one glimpse of her ever anon. The start of the second stanza reiterates how he did not know that Emma was going to die and again he shows his regret that he could never bid good-bye. His use of soft sounds indicates his wish that he could give the softest call to say goodbye to her properly, and this is reinforced by his use of alliteration in the soft, wishful sounds of utter a wish for a word, while. These soft sounds are then quickly replaced by the harsh reality of the situation, as Hardy sees morning harden upon the wall. The rest of the stanza is concentrated on how much her death has affected him and more precisely how he did not know that it would affect him so much. The assonance in the gloomy sounds of unmoved, unknowing reflects his mood at this point, and again the rhyme draws attention to the important words in the poem unknowing..great going that he did not know how much her death would grieve him. The third stanza, like the first, starts with a question aimed towards Emma. He asks her why she makes him leave the house and why he sees visions of her. Again, there is a sense of irritation as if it is her fault for causing him this suffering. Hardy says that he imagines seeing her again and maybe that he is seeing hallucinations of her as he tells Emma., I think for a breath it is you I see. He tells us that then he realises it is not her, and becomes bitter and upset once again. The rhyming of darkening darkness.yawning blankness emphasises to the reader the huge emptiness he feels now that his wife is dead, and how her memory is already gradually fading away from him, in the same way as the visions he experiences do as he gets closer. The exclamation mark at the end of the stanza makes it seem as if he is shouting in frustration, at how much the experience sickens me!. In the fourth stanza, Hardy changes into the past tense, and the poem becomes more cheerful as he remembers the time the two of them spent together. There is a large amount of imagery used in this stanza, which Hardy uses to show the beauty of his wife, and the strength of their relationship. The red-veined rocks symbolise the passion and love he felt for Emma. He says she was the swan-necked one, a statement of her beauty and he describes her riding along the beetling Beeny Crest with him, maybe a sign they were happy and free to do what they wanted to, and how this contrasts to his feelings now. In the last line of this stanza, Hardy changes his language from me and you to us, which shows how their relationship grew stronger and they grew to love each other and be together more in the good times when life unrolled us its very best. Again, the fifth stanza starts with a question, but this time the impression is given that Hardy is talking to himself, and not addressing Emma. This stanza tells us how later on in their relationship Hardy and Emma did not speak. Hardy shows a huge amount of regret and sadness in this stanza, that he did not talk to her properly and that their relationship got weaker before she died. He then moves back to happier memories of the distant past, and describes them together in bright spring weather: a pathetic fallacy whereby the weather shows the mood at that time. In the final stanza of this poem Hardy appears to give up all hope and becomes resigned to the situation. He adopts a very conversational tone and uses caesura to show that he is talking, using colloquialisms such as well, well!. In the last lines of the poem Hardy feels as if he will sink down soon into despair. These lines are directed at Emma, as he again tells her, but this time in stronger terms, that he did not know how her swift fleeingwould undo me so. He uses pause between the caesuras to increase the impact of each short statement. In The Haunter, Hardy writes the poem as if it was his dead wife talking to him. He imagines Emma can see him and feel his emotions as a means of consoling himself. However, the main emotions which come out of this poem are Hardys guilt and regret and, although he adopts his wifes voice, it is his emotions which come through strongly in the poem. He appears to be haunted by memories, which may be the reason for the title of the poem. Alternatively, it could be that he sees his wife as a ghost haunting him. Each stanza has the same words rhyming at the end of every second line; know.go.do.thereto. These are important as they show Hardys mains hopes about his wife; that she knows everything hes doing and thinking, but the go shows he knows she has gone for ever and there is nothing he can do to go there and be with her. The poem opens with irony as Emma says he does not think I haunt here nightly, when he is writing the poem. This shows Hardy hopes she is there with him, but that he just cant see her; but in reality he probably knows she is not really there and it is just wishful thinking. This line also starts the theme which continues throughout the stanza: that Emma is always there with him. The repetition of hover and hover reinforces this point. Hardy is creating ideas which he hopes his wife would have about him, as a way of comforting himself. Hardys feelings of guilt and regret come through strongly in the second stanza. He did not do many of the things he should when he had the chance and this is shown by the repetition of when I could in the first two lines of this stanza. Emma says how she would like to join his journeys, which shows Hardy feels guilty that he didnt let her go with him when he went away, and now blames himself that they didnt spend enough time together. The voice of his wife tells us that he misses me more than he used to do which means he didnt realise how much he needed her when she was alive but now he knows that he did and he misses her even more. Emma is described as a faithful phantom, which suggests that she was loyal to him, and maybe that he was not as faithful to her. The alliteration is soft to suggest the kindness and beauty of Emma. In stanza three, there is a large amount of imagery, as Emma tells us how she likes to accompany him to places. There is a strong sense of night time in the opening of this stanza, as dreamers, shy hares and night rooks are mentioned. Emma tells us she follows Hardy into old aisles, which show Hardy is still thinking about the past, which is all to him, because he is reminiscing the happy times when Emma was alive and with him, and he now thinks he will not get that happiness back. However, although she is his shade suggesting she is like his shadow and always with him she is always lacking the power to call to him. We get the sense that, although Hardy is trying to believe his wife is near him, he is upset and frustrated that he can and will never talk to her. In the final stanza of this poem, Hardy is trying to cheer himself up, as this is what he thinks his wife would want. The reader is told that if Hardy but sigh, Emma goes straight to his side. This shows that when Hardy is upset, he thinks of Emma to try to console himself. Hardy tries to make himself feel better by thinking that Emma would want him to be in gloom no longer. This show he wants to be happier but he cannot so now he has to think Emma wants him to be happier as well. The Voice, also written in December 1912, is a much more eerie and less rhythmical poem than the first two. However, although there is less rhythm and structure to the poem, it still has a strong and continual rhyme. The title of the poem indicates that now Hardy can now hear Emmas voice and the poem is written in the first person, as Hardy reveals his feelings and memories. As The Voice opens, Hardy shows us his grief and sadness as he describes his wife as woman much missed. The sounds alliterate to draw attention to their importance right at the start of the poem, as this will be a continual theme throughout. The words call to me, call to me are repeated at the end of the first line and this give the impression that although she is calling to him, like an echo to show how her voice is fading away from Hardy, along with his memories of her. This repetition also gives the impression that Emma is insistent to reach Hardy and will not give up. Hardy informs us that Emma tells him she is not the same as she was when she changed from the one that was all to Hardy. Hardy believes Emma is saying to him that she is not now as she was when Hardy changed and maybe stopped loving her, but she is the same as she was when they were in love. This shows that this is how Hardy remembers Emma, when their day was fair and their life was better than when they started to split apart. In the last line, Hardy changes from using you and me to our to show that now he is thinking of them together and happy. Hardy then looks back to the past and his memories of his wife, and imagines a perfect image of her in his head. He sees the memory very clearly and includes a lot of detail to show this. He can remember her even to the original air-blue gown, which is a pleasant and cheerful colour, showing the mood in the memory. It is one specific memory he is thinking about and, as he sees it more clearly, Hardy becomes exited and shows this through the caesura of yes and the exclamation mark at the end of the line, as if he is becoming louder and more energised. The transition between stanzas is a change between Hardys happiness in the past and his grief now. The sounds change from joyous to heavy, as does the mood of the poem. The whole stanza is a question, asking if it is really Emma talking or just the wind that Hardy can hear, although the reader will know that Hardy knows the answer to his own question. The listlessness of the breeze is a pathetic fallacy of Hardys mood, and the words such as listlessness and wet mead are onomatopoeic as they are heavy and sound tired, as if now he knows that his wife is fading away from him. Hardy tells Emma she is being dissolved and dying away from him. This suggests he has realised her voice is not real and just in his mind and she will be heard no more again. The lines in the last stanza of the poem are shorter than those in other stanzas. This gives the impression that the poem is fading away on the page, as Emma is ebbing away from Hardys memories. This stanza shows Hardy is now resigned to the fact that he is never going to hear her voice again and does not really make sense, maybe showing Hardys tiredness. The pathetic fallacy of leaves around me falling gives an impression of things dying and coming to an end and the unpleasant assonance used in the wind oozing thin through the thorn gives and unpleasant feel to the end of the poem. This stanza shows that Hardy feels he cannot move on because of his memories and the woman calling. This last line completes the eerie sense given in the poem and relates back to the start of the poem, giving the sense that what has happened in this poem keeps on happening to Hardy, and there is nothing he can do to stop it. Beeny Cliff has a strong rhythm and strong rhyme, using the same sounds at the end of each line of each stanza. Beeny Cliff was a special place for Hardy and Emma that they visited together. O at the start of the poem indicates Hardys happiness and excitement as he reminisces about him and Emma. The first line is full of description and imagery, and the opal and the sapphire suggest preciousness and beauty a description of the sea in the poem, but a description of his wife in Hardys mind. Hardys description of Emma is almost angelic as she is described as the woman riding high above with bright hair flapping free. The alliteration is an onomatopoeia of the wind and the high wind suggests high spirits between Hardy and Emma. Hardy also states that he loved Emma and she loyally loved him, suggesting that, although they both loved each other, she was more faithful than he was. Hardy knows this and is therefore now regretting that he did not make the most of his time with her when she was alive. In the next stanza Hardy concentrates on how when they were together, nothing or no one could touch them. Hardy tells us that birds were plained below them and seemed far away, to show they were only concentrating on each other and nothing else could distract them. The waves are shown to be what could be a big distraction by the onomatopoeic sibilance of engrossed in saying their ceaseless babbling say, but Hardy and Emma were engrossed in each other thereby showing how close they were at this point in time. They laughed light-heartedly aloft which reinforces their high spirits and again suggests their height above everything else happening. Pathetic fallacy is also used to show the mood on that clear-sunned March day. This pathetic fallacy continues throughout the third stanza, as Hardy uses it to show that the mood is changing. A little cloud cloaked them and there was an irised rain, which shows that this trip to Beeny Cliff is like their relationship. These small changes in weather show there are some bad times in the relationship between them, but it is never enough to force them apart and these blips are just a dull disfeatured stain, the same as the cloud is on the landscape. However, although the sun burst out again, the cloud was an indication to them that foreshadowed worse things to come, as now purples prinked the main. The at the start of the fourth stanza indicates to the reader that Hardy is going from the past into the present. Hardy tells us that old Beeny is still in all its chasmal beauty. The use of old shows familiarity and Hardy is showing that he is in a familiar place to contrast his unfamiliar emotions. In addition, this line shows that, although a lot has happened to him, the things and landscape around him are still the same as they used to be; huge and gaping but still beautiful. Hardy asks himself with a sense of wistfulness if she and I [Hardy] could not go there again and repeat the sweet things said in that March. He does not use we, which shows he feels they will never be together again and, although he asks the question, he knows he cannot see her again. The caesura of Nay. at the start of the concluding stanza shows Hardy coming back to reality, and answering his own question. He repeats that Beeny has the same chasmal beauty but this time it is a wild weird western shore. This tells us that things around him have stayed the same, but Hardy sees them differently now in a worse light, as this is the effect his wifes death has had on him. Hardy says the woman is nowelsewhere; the pauses are showing he doesnt want to say Emma is dead, and he is thinking of a euphemism. She nor knows nor cares for Beeny and has moved on, but Hardy has not and is still stuck in the past. The end of the poem is very final, as if Hardy has eventually made up his mind; that she will see it nevermore. In At Castle Boterel, written in March 1913, Hardy again remembers him and his wife together in happier times. Again, a strong sense of rhyme and rhythm appears throughout the poem. Most of the poem is a euphemism for Hardys thoughts, memories, feelings and emotions as he is writing. The poem opens in the present as Hardy gives a description of himself driving through the drizzle in a wagonette to the junction. This suggests he will have to make a decision as to which path he should take, as he does in life to decide whether to move on from thinking about Emma. He looks behind at the fading byway; a euphemism for him looking back into the past. His memories show him with a girlish form Emma in a chaise in dry March weather. Although he is looking into the past, he writes in the present tense, to show how involved he is in his own memory and how he wants it to be real and actually happening. The contrast between the wagonette, a heavy, large vehicle, in which he is driving in the present and the chaise, a small, light vehicle, which he was driving in in the past, is a reference to the happiness he felt then, and the gloom that hangs over him now that Emma is dead. The contrasting pathetic fallacies drizzle and dry March weather further reinforce this point. Hardy describes himself and Emma as we throughout the stanza, which indicates their togetherness. Hardy goes on to tell us that it matters not much what he and Emma talked about on that journey, and he also states it doesnt matter to what it led. This is strange as it surely led to Hardy and Emma falling in love and getting married and he is now saying that this didnt matter. He continues the point by saying what it led to is something life cannot be balked of, so love is an inevitable part of life. He tells us that it cannot be stopped until something happens so that hope is dead, and feeling fled. This is maybe a sign that Hardy is starting to recover from the death of his wife, and has maybe realised he could have done nothing to stop it. Hardy reveals how much he treasured the moments he had with his wife, by telling us that there was never a time of such quality, since or before, in that hills story. He asks this as a question as if he is challenging anyone to disagree with his view, as he is right. The fact that Hardy thinks that this moment is the most important ever to happen on the hill, though it has been climbedby thousands more tells the reader that he is now extremely focused on himself and his wife, and cannot think of anything or anyone else but her, showing that the impression he gave in the previous stanza was false. In the next stanza, Hardy states that their passing has been recorded in the colour and cast of the primeval rocks and will now be for always. He feels that although their passing, and therefore their relationship, is only transitory in Earths long order, so only happened for a short time, they have helped to change things happening on the Earth. He thinks these changes will be left behind after he is gone she has gone already. This is a happy moment for Hardy as he thinks about the impact Emma and he had and this is shown through his pause in the middle of the last line, as he reflects on what he is saying. In the penultimate stanza, Hardy comes back into the present and reflects that Times unflinching rigour has taken his wife, and it cannot be stopped, so there is no way of going back once an event has passed. All that is left for him to see is one phantom figure, there is nothing real remaining, only his memories. He feels as if he has left Emma behind and is being forced further and further away from her; she is disappearing into the distance. Hardy reverts to the use of I in the final stanza. He looks back and sees the figure shrinking, shrinking. This repetition is like an echo fading away; to show that, although he is still having the memories, they are fading away and he will never get them back. He finishes with a great sense of finality; that he is now seeing her for the very last time. He says his sand is sinking, this reference to an hourglass meaning his time is nearly up, and he believes that he will soon die as well. The ending is very powerful and final, as Hardy states that he shall traverse old loves domain Never again. His use of old suggests a familiarity; that he has revisited his memories too often, and now wants to move on. The caesura gives the statement a sense of finality so that it stands out as the main fact to come from this poem, that he now has accepted he cannot go back to Emma, and will not let his memories and grief overcome him. The Phantom Horsewoman is written in the voice of a person observing the behaviour of Hardy, in the first person. There is a very regular and repetitive rhyming pattern throughout every stanza, which suggests that Hardys life has become repetitive, as all he does is think about his wife. Now Hardy himself knows he needs to move on but he shows this through an observer. The whole of the first stanza is a euphemism for Hardys thoughts and feelings and how he, Hardy, describes himself as queer which shows he knows the behaviour he is experiencing is not normal to him. He is described as a man I know to show that it is not Hardy talking, but someone describing his ways. Hardy is portrayed as being in a careworn craze, which tells us that the emotions he is feeling have worn him down and are maybe even driving him mad. The next few lines suggest Hardy is looking back but what he sees is unclear. This is shown as he looks at the sands, suggesting time as this is a reference to an hourglass, but there is a seaward haze so his memories are indistinct and vague. The use of moveless hands in reference to a clock show time stands still when he looks into the past. When he turns to go Hardy pauses showing his regret to leave and regret to move back into the present. The use of rhyme in this stanza draws attention to the connected and important ideas: stands, sands and hands show the idea of time in reference to an hourglass and a clock and the impression that it stands still when Hardy looks back to the past; craze, haze and gaze are also connected, as they show how Hardy is looking back but is unsure what to make of what he remembers. The stanza ends with the question of what he sees when he gazes so? The second stanza answers the question posed at the end of the first. There is a strong and clear contrast between the haze and indistinctness in the present as shown in stanza I and the clarity and deep description used in stanza II, looking back into Hardys memories of the past. This point is reinforced as we are told what he sees is more clear than today. The description used has a happy and joyous tone because his memories are warm, real and keen. Hardy sets a pleasant scene using a rhythmical tone, as if suggesting the rhythm of the sea. This shows that Hardys memories of the past are happier and he would much rather be living in the past than in his life now. The sibilance of the sweet soft scene implies the softness of his past life and points to the sound and rhythm of the sea, as does the description of that briny green. The end of the stanza tells us that he sees in his memories a phantom of his own figuring; he is remembering the past but he knows it is not real now, no matter how much he wants it to be. Hardy then tells us that of this vision they might say more because there is more to him than a man looking at the sea. He sees his wife not only there but he sees her everywhere and all the time as shown by day, night. His memories are vivid and bright as if they were drawn rose-bright on the air and they are all consuming to him as if he is almost haunted by them. At the end of the stanza, Hardy pauses, as if to think, before reiterating the same point again that he has to carry this vision, to make this point clear to the reader. At the start of the final stanza, Hardy describes what this vision is. He tells us he sees a girl-ghost-rider, using a compound word to describe exactly what he sees in his visions. The sounds in the alliteration are happy and soft when Hardy describes Emma, and contrast the harsh sounds Hardy uses to describe himself; toil-tried. Hardy also tells us that although he withers daily, and is always getting older, time touches her not and she is always the same in his thoughts and memories of her. She still rides gaily in his rapt thought, which shows that his memories of her are when she was happy and free, and that he cannot think of anything else but her. The harsh sounds in the alliteration of shagged and shaly drag him back to reality and back to the sea, which is the idea the whole poem revolves around. The last line of the poem shows that Hardys lasting memory of Emma will be a happy one; Emma is singing to the swing of the tide, and that the sea will always be in his memories of her, as it was a special place for them. In conclusion, we can see clearly how Hardy attitude and response to the death of Emma changed over time through his poems. At first he is grieving and mourning her, and wishes he could bring her back; he thinks it is his fault that she has died and regrets that their relationship was not as happy as it had been and he wishes he had had a chance to say goodbye to her. However, he stops being so overcome by guilt and regret and focuses more on his memories of himself and Emma in happier times such as on Beeny Cliff. The main devices Hardy repeatedly uses are writing the poems sometimes not using himself as the first person and euphemism in place of saying what has actually happened, especially when referring to Emmas death.