Analysis Of Wordsworths Resolution And Independence English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Wordsworths Resolution And Independence English Literature Essay The poet establishes in the first two stanzas the mood of nature when he traveled on the moor. The tense can be confusing. Wordsworth begins in the simple past, but the past serves here the uses of the present in the sense of active recollection of emotion in present tranquility. The BUT at the beginning of stanza four introduces the contrast that exists between the joy of nature and the dejection of the poet. The time that he recalls was one of a rising sun, calm and bright, singing birds in the distant woods, the pleasant noise of waters in the air, the world teeming with all things that love the sun, the grass jeweled with rain-drops, the hare running is his glee. But the poets morning is one subjectivity of dejection; on this morning did fears and fancies come upon him profusely. In the midst of the sky-lark warbling in the sky, he likens himself unto the playful hare; even such a happy child of earth am I / even as these blissful creatures do I fare; / far from the world I walk, and from all careà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. This is the joyous side of his life. But, in the midst of the joy, he thinks of that other kind of day that might come to him, that day of solitude, pain of heart, distress, and poverty. In stanza 6 he recalls how his life has been as a summer, mood, how the sustenance of life in all its nourishing variations has come to him so gratuitously. But, then he thinks also of the possibility that it will not continue so for one who takes no practical thought for his own care and keep. The question is, how long will nature continue to give freely to one who does not with diligent responsibility harvest grain for the garner of future days: but how can He [ in this case the poet himself] expect that others should / Blind for him, sow for him, and at his call / Love him; who for himself will take no heed at all? the poet thinks of himself as poet, one endowed with his own privileged, joyous place in life, there comes to his mind the names of Thomas Chatteron and Robert Burns, poets in the English tradition that Wordsworth would admire. The association that he makes of himself with them is at one and the same time joyous and imminent: we poets in our use begin in gladness;/ but thereof come in the end despondency and madness. The universal joy of the poets life is contemplated in range of potential sorrow. The beginning of stanza 8 marks a turning point in the poem. From this juncture to the end, the poet will tell how he learned what we find in the title, resolution and independence, and he learns significantly from a wanderer, a man who has subsisted on the gathering of leeches, a man who is now a beggar. As the poet thinks his untoward thoughts about life and struggles with all their depressing suggestions, he meets in a lovely place beside a pool bare to the eye of heaven, a solitary man, the poet says the oldest man he seemed that ever wore grey hairs. The poet interprets his meeting with him to be verily a gift of Devine Grace. Stanza nine is Wordsworths long simile for the old solitary. The purpose of the simile is to describe the leech gatherer as alive but almost not alive. Wordsworth compares him to a huge stoneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦/ couched on the bald top of an eminence, and to a sea- beast crawled forth through using the sea beast as simile for the stone. The old man is virt ually one with the scene amidst which he sits; he has very nearly become one with nature: motionless as a cloud the old man stood, / that hearth not the loud winds when they callà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The encounter reveals to the poet a man of great age, bent double, feet and head / coming together in lifes pilgrimageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. He looks as if he might be made taut in his bent posture by the tight strain of some past suffering, rage, or sickness. The poet is picturing him as very nearly supernatural, at least somehow beyond the usual scope of human experience: he seemed to bear a more than human weightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. In stanzas 12- 15, the old man finally moves. The poet sees him stir the waters by which he stands and then looks with fixed scrutiny into the pond, which he conned , / as if he had been reading in a bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. The poet greets him, and the old man makes a gentle answer, in courteous speech which forth he slowly drewà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wordsworth uses the whole of stanza fourteen to describe his speech, lofty utterance, stately speech. In lines 88 and 89, the poet asks him what his occupation is, and suggests that the place in which he dwells may be too lonely for such a person as he. The old man identifies his work as leech- gathering; this is why he is in such a lonely place. He must, being old and poor, finds his subsistence here, though the work may be hazardous and wearisome. He depends on Gods Providence to help him find lodging. But in all, he can be sure that he gains an honest maintenance, however much he may have to roam from pond to pondà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ from m oor to moor. In lines106-119, the poets responses to the old leech-gatherer are told. While the old man had been answering his question about employment and placement in so lonely a setting, the poet becomes absorbed in the strange aspects of him who speaks. He loses the detail of answer the leech-gatherer is making; he cannot divide his words one from another. Lines 109-112 contain the essence of the poets articulation of his feelings. They should be read carefully and compared to other passages in Wordsworths poetry where he attempts to give voice to experience that is very close to mystical absorption. Observe here that the poet finds himself absorbed in the being of the solitary: And the whole body of the man did seem Like one whom I had met with in a dream; Or like a man from some far region sent, To give me human strength, by apt admonishment. But the poets dejection returns. He thinks again the heavy thoughts of fear, of resistant, recalcitrant, cold, pain, and labour, and all fleshly ills, and of those poets who have been mighty, but who have died in misery. He yearns to find some message of strength and hope in the leech-gathers words, so he asks again, how is it that you live, and what is it you do? In lines120-126, the leech-gatherer repeats the nature of his work, but he adds that whereas he once could gather the object of his industry easily, he now because of the growing scarcity of leeches must travel more extensively- still he perseveres. In lines127-133, the poet relates more of his private, unspoken response to the old Man. Against it happens that his mind wanders, as in stanza 16, while the leech-gatherer is answering his question. The poet pictures him as even more a solitary than he is in his present state; the poets imagination working on the figure before him makes of the wandering solitary very nearly a transcendent being, silent and eternal: In my minds eye (the poet affirms) I seemed to see him pace / About the weary moors continually, / wandering about alone and silently. The poet is troubled by his own imaginative responses to the Man before him, but not troubled in a bad sense. This is the ministry of fear that we find so often in Wordsworths work. In lines 134-140, the leech-gatherers resolution and independence is obvious to the poet in the way he moves from economically precarious condition to more cheerful utterances. The old Man before the poet is obviously a person of firm mind, however decrepit he might in appearance seem. He remains in the midst of whatever misfortune the society of man or isolation with the bare elements bearing him, a person of kind demeanor and stately bearing. The poet compares himself to the leech-gatherer and scorns himself for his dejection. He takes the old Man into his memory as an another point for future days and asks that God will help him to preserve what he has learnt: God, said I, be my help and stay secure; Ill think of the leech-gatherer on the lonely moor! As suggested in other places in this study, most of Wordsworths solitaries live as a part of the nature in which they move. There is the effect in this poem of the leech-gatherer going in and out of nature; the poet is for a time aware of him as a person confronting him face-to-face, but then he loses touch with him, as if he had blended back into the nature out of which he had momentarily stepped. One might profitably compare stanza sixteen, where Wordsworth speaks of the leech-gatherer as coming to him as if out of dream, which the Simplon Pass episode in Book Sixth of The Prelude. About line 600 of that book Wordsworth speaks of an imaginative experience in the following terms: in such strength of usurpation, when the light of sense Goes out, but with a flash that has revealed The invisible world, doth greatness make abode, There harboursà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . Wordsworths light of sense near to going out at least twice while he is talking to the leech-gatherer. One may also interestingly compare Wordsworths responses to the vision on Mount Snowdon in Book Fourteenth of The Prelude with his experiences while talking to the old Man he met on the moors. He certainly intends for the reader to be impressed with the leech-gatherers insistence on survival, survival that comes to him, we feel, to great degree because of a sheer act of will. Again, as with many of Wordsworths solitaries, courage is presented as with many of Wordsworths solitaries, courage is presented as the capacity to endure. There is a notable difference, however, between the courage of Michael and the courage of the leech-gatherer; never being sure he will find them, as she has been to Michael, who, though his farm is eventually lost after his death to owners outside his family, can live the total of his years on land that has been made his been own. Michael draws continual sus tenance more from his own deep wells of unyielding fortitude. There is an obvious contrast also in this regard between the leech-gatherer and the Old Cumberland Beggar. The leech-gatherer accepts housing from those who will help him, but he does not have the regularity of affection and acts of kindness that the persons in the community of the Old Cumberland Beggar an area of nature in which he can live and die, in which he can make his home, Those who care for him are almost neighbors to him. The leech-gatherer is much more thrown on his own resources. It is in this that the poet learns his greatest lesson from him. There is in the encounter between the poet and the leech-gatherer the work of Providence. Wordsworth seems to say in the poem (and in the letter he wrote about the poet) that this old Man was sent to him for his own rehabilitation. This may seem in some ears to be very close to blaspheming the preciously human, that one human being would be so sacrified fro the instruction and welfare of another. But the rediscovery of stability and hope in the midst of dejection for the poet who writes the poem is certainly the direction of things from the early stanza of the poem, where the glory of the natural surroundings seem to be functioning expressly for the poets interesting. The hare that leaps joyfully through the first five stanza of the poem (mentioned three times in the five stanzas, in the second, third, and fifth) becomes in a way emblematic of the poets life. The hare is also a servant of the benignant Grace of God, bringing to the poet reminders that he is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦such a happ y child of earthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . There may be in the background the biblical records of Gods directly expressed mercy for man, even as incursions that cut with the particularity of biographical facts. But the leach- gatherer comes not so much in the mood and manner of historical encounter as he comes in the form of natures extension of herself, ministering through an agency that is close to being more a natural agency than a human one. With regard to the language of the poem, Wordsworth is working with a seven- line stanza or rhyme royal. The longer last line has the effect of slowing down the narrative and giving more time to the reader for consideration. Wordsworths highly conscious artistry can be seen in his careful use of similes that describe the old man of the poem. The stone and the sea- beast of stanza nine, and the cloud in stanza eleven convey a sense of life that is highly worthy of the word. On the subject of the language of the poem, one may question whether the diction that the poet attributes to the leach- gatherer is a selection of language really used by menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. In stanza fourteen, the old mans speech is described as choice words and measured phrase, above the reach / of ordinary menà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Wordsworth as a narrative poet has most of his characters as active, persons committed to action. He consistently draws his characters so that they are easily recognizable as human beings. They are usually three- dimensional characters that have definite features. For all of his shared identity with nature_ which is to a very great degree_ we still meet the leach- gatherer as man, not as thing. Stanza ten and eleven are examples of Wordsworths ability to create character in a relatively few lines; in this he shares a fame that is owned by only a few artists. The leach- gatherer is easily visualized, with his body bent double, propped, limbs, body, and pale face. / upon a long grey stuff of shaven woodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . such vivid character drawing is necessary to give the old man the action of personality that he has, an action essential to his being for the poet a model of resolution and independence. Wordsworths characters are real because we can think of them as human beings. Howev er heroic the leach- gatherer may be, his heroism does not take him beyond the limits of the human. We have in him no Achilles. His heroism is the kind that can be attained by human beings we know and meet. Generally Wordsworths characters are real because we can think of them as human beings. The leach- gatherer shares much more with Abraham than with Achilles. Sources: Barashc, F. The romantic Poets. Monarch press. New York: 1991. Hough, G. The Romantic Poets. 1964.

Gwendolyn Brooks Essay -- essays research papers

Gwendolyn Brooks- A Critical Analysis of Her Work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The poem The Bean Eaters (see the included poems) is a fine example of all three of these key elements. First and foremost is the use of ordinary speech. For instance the lines They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair / Dinner is a casual affair. Each of these words are easily understandable. Though plain speech, each word is used more differently and more intensely than in ordinary discourse. Old yellow pair resounds with more meaning than old couple. â€Å"Yellow† implies faded or old; â€Å"Pair† is more compassionate than â€Å"couple†, suggesting more of a connection than just a matchup. Though easily readable, the first line sets a tone of tenderness. Dinner is a casual affair is also a unique statement. Though five plain words, each is used effectively to create an irony which is maintained for the rest of the stanza. â€Å"Dinner† and â€Å"affair† imply more formal situations, but yet are described as â€Å"casual.â €  This vague irony is further developed in the next two lines, Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, / Tin flatware. Chipware is Brooks’s own term, which originates from flatware. â€Å"Dinnerware† implies wealth and elegance, while chipware implies aged dishes used by the poor. Yet, chipware also calls up the dignity of dinnerware. The â€Å"plain and creaking wood† or table reinforces a sense of poverty. Consistent with the preceding images, â€Å"Tin flatware† implies cheapness because of tin, but also refinement from â€Å"flatware.† Each word is used to add or ... ...eal Cool† are crisp words that impart the almost punchy style of the seven characters’ speech. This use of sound is again seen in the lines â€Å"Your sky may burn with light, / While mine, at the same moment, / Spreads beautiful to darkness.† The description of the sky burning with light personifies the blazing of the sun; and the spreading of the darkness creates an even more powerful mental image. A careful inspection of each of these poems also reveals that no words are used that do not contribute to the meaning of the poem. â€Å"We Real Cool† acquires a powerful meaning through the employment of only thirty-two words. â€Å"Corners on the curving sky also is quite brief, but still very powerful, and it only contains fourteen lines.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is important to not that the direction of Brooks’s literary career shifted dramatically in the late 1960’s. While attending a black writers’ conference she was struck by the passion of the young poets. Before this happened, she had regarded herself as essentially a universalist, who happened to be black. After the conference, she shifted from writing about her poems about black people and life to writing for the black population. Gwendolyn Brooks Essay -- essays research papers Gwendolyn Brooks- A Critical Analysis of Her Work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The poem The Bean Eaters (see the included poems) is a fine example of all three of these key elements. First and foremost is the use of ordinary speech. For instance the lines They eat beans mostly, this old yellow pair / Dinner is a casual affair. Each of these words are easily understandable. Though plain speech, each word is used more differently and more intensely than in ordinary discourse. Old yellow pair resounds with more meaning than old couple. â€Å"Yellow† implies faded or old; â€Å"Pair† is more compassionate than â€Å"couple†, suggesting more of a connection than just a matchup. Though easily readable, the first line sets a tone of tenderness. Dinner is a casual affair is also a unique statement. Though five plain words, each is used effectively to create an irony which is maintained for the rest of the stanza. â€Å"Dinner† and â€Å"affair† imply more formal situations, but yet are described as â€Å"casual.â €  This vague irony is further developed in the next two lines, Plain chipware on a plain and creaking wood, / Tin flatware. Chipware is Brooks’s own term, which originates from flatware. â€Å"Dinnerware† implies wealth and elegance, while chipware implies aged dishes used by the poor. Yet, chipware also calls up the dignity of dinnerware. The â€Å"plain and creaking wood† or table reinforces a sense of poverty. Consistent with the preceding images, â€Å"Tin flatware† implies cheapness because of tin, but also refinement from â€Å"flatware.† Each word is used to add or ... ...eal Cool† are crisp words that impart the almost punchy style of the seven characters’ speech. This use of sound is again seen in the lines â€Å"Your sky may burn with light, / While mine, at the same moment, / Spreads beautiful to darkness.† The description of the sky burning with light personifies the blazing of the sun; and the spreading of the darkness creates an even more powerful mental image. A careful inspection of each of these poems also reveals that no words are used that do not contribute to the meaning of the poem. â€Å"We Real Cool† acquires a powerful meaning through the employment of only thirty-two words. â€Å"Corners on the curving sky also is quite brief, but still very powerful, and it only contains fourteen lines.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is important to not that the direction of Brooks’s literary career shifted dramatically in the late 1960’s. While attending a black writers’ conference she was struck by the passion of the young poets. Before this happened, she had regarded herself as essentially a universalist, who happened to be black. After the conference, she shifted from writing about her poems about black people and life to writing for the black population.

Did God Create The World or was it Created by Chance?

Many atheists argue that religious believers have blind faith ,but does it not take blind faith to believe that DNA and cells were created by chance. The DNA is too complicated to have just been created by chance. Think of the dictionary, if I told someone that I thought the dictionary was created by chance over billions of years ago you would think I was insane. Remember the second law of Thermodynamics- High Complexity equals low Entropy and Low Complexity equals high entropy. This means the more complex something is the more organised it will be. So in the beginning there was low complexity so must have meant high entropy or chaos, well then how was the earth created with such low complexity and such little apparent chaos. Also how does a DNA get created by chance if it comes from nothing. Years ago microscopes were useless and when you looked at a cell you would just see a blob. It could be easy to think that this blob came by accident. Which leads me to my second point how can something be created from nothing. In the beginning there was nothing and now according to many scientists there is everything. By everything I mean the earth and the universe. In living cells the catalysts are enzymes. In the 1980s there was another kind of enzyme found, this was the RNA molecule. The RNA molecule (which is also a carrier of genetic information and a catalyst) or ribozyme sped up the making of the basic DNA and protein. But even including this assuming a ribosome is 300 nucleotides long and every nucleotide has 4 types of different nucleotides on it the calculation would 4^300 which is a number far too great to have taken even 13 billion years to do let alone 4. 54 billion years. Other people besides creationist do not believe the Big Bang. Some people who want to deny God might say the ‘Intelligent Design Theory’ which states cells need a designer they are far too complex to have happened randomly. Think of it this way ‘Darwin’s Black Box’ which is a microscopic machine which was created to move the little flagellum a little bit took many years to create and was very complex it should be even harder to make everything else in the bacterium and to say it was created by chance would be preposterous. Opponents to Intelligent Theory Design hypothesise that there is a cluster of universes; more than our own observable universe. If our universe were one instance in a population of failed universes, then the fact that ours is fine-tuned for life would not be surprising. If this was true though and there were an infinite amount of universes then that means anything is possible. For example in one universe there could be an actual Easter Bunny living with an actual Father Christmas. So if this multiverse theory were to be true and there were many other parallel universes then that would leave an even bigger problem. Where are they? How do we know we are the ‘perfect’ planet. If this universe is fine-tuned and that is the reason why we are 19. 6 million kilometres from the sun or why gravity is not a little bit greater so the stars don’t become red-dwarfs. If they were red-dwarfs they would have been too cold to support life-bearing planets. All the rest of the planets are unfit for human life and this shows how unique the earth is which I believe must have taken a creator. Time is the creator of all things Well this is how it works we think to ourselves nothing is impossible, so the impossible become probable. The probable then becomes certain and the certain becomes reality. Spontaneous Generation is the theory that life came from inorganic materials but was proven wrong by Louis Pasteur. He wrote that you would need a parent cell to create another cell, it cannot just be formed just like that. Anyone who does believe in spontaneous generation have been deluded by their own poorly conducted experiments. Atheist prefer to hear that life came from inorganic substances instead of a creator or miracle. This makes sense because atheists believe that the universe just ‘popped’ into existence. One minute nothing, next minute everything. The earth also had to have been find tuned from the moments of its inception for it to be able to sustain life. And nothing was living in the beginning so there couldn’t have been any parent cell. This is thought of as Abiogenesis which the process by which living organisms are created from non-living things. This is obviously not true because there are no living things on earth that have come from non-living things. Why does science not know where the birds and butterflies migrate to? Why is we need maps and aids to help us fly our planes? How come a butterfly can fly to someplace it wants to get without any aid? Insects are very far down the evolutionary time scales. How does the most highly evolved life forms not have the capabilities of a simple butterfly. There are many things in nature we cannot replicate or improve upon. Things in nature are said to be the product of chance and time. Well what is time? How much does it weigh? What does it consist of? Time is not a thing. Time is a non-being. So you can add time to help you figure out the Big Bang Theory but in the end what existed first ,time or matter? Can time exist without matter? Things in nature are just too beautiful to be the outcome of a giant, random, nonsensical implosion. So according to atheists, if we leave chance and time to do its work on our computers ,will they just become the most high-flying, amazing piece of kits ever? NO, of course not. Birds can do all sorts of things,fly upside down, land on a thin piece of wire. Why can’t an aeroplane manoeuvre as well as a bird. If the bird just came by chance surely we could come with something much better than that. In 1953 Stanley Miller passed a spark through a chosen mixture of gases. What he found changed science forever. The gasses formed amino-acids. Amino acids which are the main ingredients in proteins. Proteins are what make up most of our body. In truth amino acids do link up together to form proteins but that is like saying bricks will come together to form a house . You would be missing important parts of the house like a door and a bathroom. This is the same for proteins ,they are far too complex to have been created just using amino acids. Some people also believe that there was a special protein which assembled itself by chance in a prebiotic environment. Prebiotic is the general term to refer to chemicals that induce the growth or activity of micro-organisms. Double Thinkers are also another sort of theory. It is the belief that God helped start evolution and the world. To Double Think actually means the acceptance of contrary opinions or beliefs at the same time, especially as a result of political indoctrination. In conclusion everything can’t start from one point of inception full of nothing. The Multiverse Theory is too extreme and crazy. To say that there are billions of other universes where something impossible in this universe is possible in another ,is too farcical to even consider. If we still believe in the Big Bang Theory then why is it still a theory and where does all the starting matter come from? ‘Our minds work in real time, which begins at the Big Bang and will end, if there is a Big Crunch – which seems unlikely, now, from the latest data showing accelerating expansion. Consciousness would come to an end at a singularity. ’-Stephen Hawking.

Brief Biography of Sharpshooter Annie Oakley

Blessed with a natural talent for sharp-shooting, Annie Oakley proved herself dominant in a sport that was long considered a mans domain. Oakley was a gifted entertainer as well; her performances with Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show brought international fame, making her one of the most celebrated female performers of her time. Annie Oakleys unique and adventurous life has inspired numerous books and films as well as a popular musical. Annie Oakley was born Phoebe Ann Moses on August 13, 1860 in rural Darke County, Ohio, the fifth daughter of Jacob and Susan Moses. The Moses family had moved to Ohio from Pennsylvania after their business—a small inn—had burned to the ground in 1855. The family lived in a one-room log cabin, surviving on game they caught and crops they grew. Another daughter and a son were born after Phoebe. Annie, as Phoebe was called, was a tomboy who preferred spending time outdoors with her father over household chores and playing with dolls. When Annie was only five, her father died of pneumonia after being caught in a blizzard. Susan Moses struggled to keep her family fed. Annie supplemented their food supply with squirrels and birds that she trapped. At the age of eight, Annie began sneaking out with her fathers old rifle to practice shooting in the woods. She quickly became skilled at killing prey with one shot. By the time Annie was ten, her mother could no longer support the children. Some were sent to neighbors farms; Annie was sent to work at the county poor house. Soon afterward, a family hired her as live-in help in exchange for wages as well as room and board. But the family, who Annie later described as wolves, treated Annie as a slave. They refused to pay her wages and beat her, leaving scars on her back for life. After nearly two years, Annie was able to escape to the nearest train station. A generous stranger paid her train fare home. Annie was reunited with her mother, but only briefly. Because of her dire financial situation, Susan Moses was forced to send Annie back to the county poor house. Making a Living Annie worked at the county poor house for three more years; she then returned to her mothers home at the age of 15. Annie could now resume her favorite pastime—hunting. Some of the game she shot was used to feed her family, but the surplus was sold to general stores and restaurants. Many customers specifically requested Annie’s game because she shot so cleanly (through the head), which eliminated the problem of having to clean buckshot out of the meat. With money coming in regularly, Annie helped her mother pay off the mortgage on their house. For the rest of her life, Annie Oakley made her living with a gun. By the 1870s, target shooting had become a popular sport in the United States. Spectators attended competitions in which shooters fired at live birds, glass balls, or clay disks. Trick shooting, also popular, was usually performed in theaters and involved the risky practice of shooting items out of a colleagues hand or off the top of their head. In rural areas such as where Annie lived, game-shooting competitions were a common form of entertainment. Annie participated in some local turkey shoots but was eventually banned because she always won. Annie entered a pigeon-shooting match in 1881 against a single opponent, unaware that soon her life would change forever. Butler and Oakley Annies opponent in the match was Frank Butler, a sharp-shooter in the circus. He made the 80-mile trek from Cincinnati to rural Greenville, Ohio in the hopes of winning the $100 prize. Frank had been told only that he would be up against a local crack shot. Assuming that his competitor would be a farm boy, Frank was shocked to see the petite, attractive 20-year old Annie Moses. He was even more surprised that she beat him in the match. Frank, ten years older than Annie, was captivated by the quiet young woman. He returned to his tour and the two corresponded by mail for several months. They were married sometime in 1882, but the exact date has never been verified. Once married, Annie traveled with Frank on tour. One evening, Franks partner became ill and Annie took over for him at an indoor theater shoot. The audience loved watching the five-foot-tall woman who easily and expertly handled a heavy rifle. Annie and Frank became partners on the touring circuit, billed as Butler and Oakley. It is not known why Annie picked the name Oakley; possibly it came from the name of a neighborhood in Cincinnati. Annie Meets Sitting Bull Following a performance in St. Paul, Minnesota in March 1894, Annie met Sitting Bull who had been in the audience. The Lakota Sioux Indian chief was infamous as the warrior who had led his men into battle at Little Bighorn at Custers Last Stand in 1876. Although officially a prisoner of the U.S. government, Sitting Bull was allowed to travel and make appearances for money. Once reviled as a savage, he had become the object of fascination. Sitting Bull was impressed by Annies shooting skills, which included shooting the cork off a bottle and hitting the cigar her husband held in his mouth. When the chief met Annie, he reportedly asked if he could adopt her as his daughter. The adoption was not official, but the two became lifelong friends. It was Sitting Bull who bestowed upon Annie the Lakota name Watanya Cicilia, or Little Sure Shot. Buffalo Bill Cody and The Wild West Show In December 1884, Annie and Frank traveled with the circus to New Orleans. An unusually rainy winter forced the circus to close down until summer, leaving Annie and Frank in need of jobs. They approached Buffalo Bill Cody, whose Wild West Show (a combination of rodeo acts and western skits) was also in town. At first, Cody turned them down because he already had several shooting acts and most of them were more famous than Oakley and Butler. In March of 1885, Cody decided to give Annie a chance after his star shooter, world champion Adam Bogardus, quit the show. Cody would hire Annie on a trial basis following an audition in Louisville, Kentucky. Codys business manager arrived early at the park where Annie was practicing prior to the audition. He watched her from afar and was so impressed, he signed her on even before Cody showed up. Annie soon became a featured performer in a solo act. Frank, well aware that Annie was the star in the family, stepped aside and took on a managerial role in her career. Annie dazzled the audience, shooting with speed and precision at moving targets, often while riding a horse. For one of her most impressive stunts, Annie fired backward over her shoulder, using only a table knife to view the reflection of her target. In what became a trademark move, Annie skipped offstage at the end of each performance, ending with a little kick in the air. In 1885, Annies friend Sitting Bull joined the Wild West Show. He would stay one year. The Wild West Tours England In spring of 1887, the Wild West performers—along with horses, buffalo, and elk—set sail for London, England to participate in the celebration of Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee (the fiftieth anniversary of her coronation). The show was immensely popular, prompting even the reclusive queen to attend a special performance. Over a six-month period, the Wild West Show drew more than 2.5 million people to the London appearance alone; thousands more attended in cities outside of London. Annie was adored by the British public, who found her modest demeanor charming. She was showered with gifts—and even proposals—and was the guest of honor at parties and balls. True to her homespun values, Annie refused to wear ball gowns, preferring instead her homemade dresses. Leaving the Show In the meantime, Annies relationship with Cody was becoming increasingly strained, in part because Cody had hired Lillian Smith, a teenaged female sharpshooter. Without giving any explanation, Frank and Annie quit the Wild West Show and returned to New York in December 1887. Annie made a living by competing in shooting competitions, then later joined a newly-formed wild west show, the Pawnee Bill Show. The show was a scaled-down version of Codys show, but Frank and Annie werent happy there. They negotiated a deal with Cody to return to the Wild West Show, which no longer included Annies rival Lillian Smith. Cody’s show returned to Europe in 1889, this time for a three-year tour of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. During this trip, Annie was troubled by the poverty she saw in each country. It was the beginning of her lifelong commitment to donating money to charities and orphanages. Settling Down After years of living out of trunks, Frank and Annie were ready to settle down in a real home during the shows off-season (November through mid-March). They built a house in Nutley, New Jersey and moved into it in December 1893. The couple never had children, but it is unknown whether or not this was by choice. During the winter months, Frank and Annie took vacations in the southern states, where they usually did a lot of hunting. In 1894 Annie was invited by inventor Thomas Edison of nearby West Orange, New Jersey, to be filmed on his new invention, the kinetoscope (a forerunner of the movie camera). The brief film shows Annie Oakley expertly shooting out glass balls mounted on a board, then hitting coins thrown up in the air by her husband. In October 1901, as the Wild West train cars traveled through rural Virginia, troupe members were awakened by a sudden, violent crash. Their train had been hit head-on by another train. Miraculously, none of the people were killed, but about 100 of the shows horses died on impact. Annies hair turned white following the accident, reportedly from the shock. Annie and Frank decided it was time to leave the show. Scandal for Annie Oakley Annie and Frank found work after leaving the Wild West show. Annie, sporting a brown wig to cover her white hair, starred in a play written just for her. The Western Girl played in New Jersey and was well-received but never made it to Broadway. Frank became a salesman for an ammunition company. They were content in their new lives. Everything changed on August 11, 1903, when the Chicago Examiner printed a scandalous story about Annie. According to the story, Annie Oakley had been arrested for stealing to support a cocaine habit. Within days, the story had spread to other newspapers around the country. It was, in fact, a case of mistaken identity. The woman arrested was a performer who had gone by the stage name Any Oakley in a burlesque Wild West show. Anyone familiar with the real Annie Oakley knew that the stories were false, but Annie couldnt let it go. Her reputation had been tarnished. Annie demanded that each and every newspaper print a retraction; some of them did. But that wasnt enough. For the next six years, Annie testified at one trial after another as she sued 55 newspapers for libel. In the end, she won about $800,000, less than she had paid in legal expenses. The entire experience aged Annie greatly, but she felt vindicated. Final Years Annie and Frank kept busy, traveling together to advertise for Franks employer, a cartridge company. Annie participated in exhibitions and shooting tournaments and received offers to join several western shows. She re-entered show business in 1911, joining the Young Buffalo Wild West Show. Even in her 50s, Annie could still draw a crowd. She finally retired from show business for good in 1913. Annie and Frank bought a house in Maryland and spent winters in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where Annie gave free shooting lessons to local women. She also donated her time to raising funds for various charities and hospitals. In November 1922, Annie and Frank were involved in a car accident in which the car flipped over, landing on Annie and fracturing her hip and ankle. She never fully recovered from her injuries, which compelled her to use a cane and a leg brace. In 1924, Annie was diagnosed with pernicious anemia and became increasingly weak and frail. She died on November 3, 1926, at the age of 66. Some have suggested that Annie died from lead poisoning after years of handling lead bullets. Frank Butler, who had also been in poor health, died 18 days later.