本文主要讲的是在人类与动植物之间是否存在着边界的范文。文章从诗歌“the cow on the killing day”进行略论略论，借用牛这一动物进行略论。从诗歌的语言、意境、写作背景以及牛的形象进行具体的分心，英语论文范文，最后也更好的论证了作者的观点。
There is no difference between humans and non-human beings. They are lives that we should respect. Treat them slightingly, killing them cruelly, eating their fresh callously is a big blasphemy, no matter to them, or to ourselves. All animal have emotion and feeling, they will feel hurt and sad when killed. Boundary is set by humans, they may not as clever as we are, but hope that we can treat all creatures equally, do not deprive their lives and life at random just fulfill our selfish desire. From old days to the present, mangy artists and writers fight for the right of animals, I feel the power of them, the power of words, the power of spirt, the power of minds. These powers can break the so called boundaries, realizing the truly freedom and equality.
The poetry, the cow on the killing day, is an impressive piece of work. The author, Les Murray, on the perspective of the cow, witnesses and experiences milking, feeding, and killing. It is a sad story, the keynote of the poetry is glow and sad, with a strong feeling of desperation. Human beings control their lives. When they are young, they have to bear the toughness came from milking. Humans control their life and death. When they are old and useless, they will be killed without hesitation. They need love, just like humans, but it’s hard for them to express in the farm. They want to have delicious food, but humans just want to feed them in case of their starvation.
On my perspective, the work want to express a message that cows desire sympathy, they are one of the creatures, just like human beings, and they will grow old and cannot work and make contribution like the young, but killing them for this reason is so cruel.
Health and illness, are a kind of description of status, its boundaries depends on individuals’ feeling, to a large extent. In the poetry, in the perspective of humans, the boundary between health and illness of a cow is whether it can be milked. But through the words of cow, although it is old with little milk, it still has passion for life, to have relationship with other bull. Disable people, just like animals, are treated with prejudice and discrimination, which may let them understand the feeling of animals easier. Like Sunaura Taylor, a painter in America, she devoted herself in the activist for disability and animal rights, herself a person cannot walk, strongly opposed the oppressive value system that declares some bodies normal, some bodies broken and some bodies food.[ Reference2, 20] It actually is the same in the way we treat animal healthy or ill. The definition is based on our interest and on the sacrifice of animal’s death. The deliberate difference treatment is a kind of discrimination. We won’t end one’s life because he/she cannot make contribution to the world, why farmers can kill the cow when she cannot provide enough milk?
The poetry use the contrary of the behavior of humans and the thoughts of cow to arise reader to think. As for animality, in my feeling, in the poetry, the boundary is chaotic, or not that specific in traditional definition. Maybe the author is against the idea that treating animals different from human beings. Like the word he used, such as ‘bull human’. Cows in the poetry have thoughts. Actually, the poetry is use cow as the first person to unfold the whole story. This way of statement is not strange, as Coetzee considers, humans can think their way into the nature of animals through poetic imagination.[ Reference2, 14] Besides, in our mind, we always regard animals as monsters, afraid of them, scaring that they will hurt us. Actually, it is our humans that are monsters, as Costello says, in our chosen metaphorics, it was they and not their victims who were the beasts. By treating fellow human beings, beings created in the image of God, like beasts, they had themselves become beasts.[ Reference2,15] Another marvelous idea is that the actual difference between humans and non-human animals is small and can be changed. It not as big as we thought. Like Deleuze and Guattari, emphasis on the continuities between the human and the non-human animal. They says that the self is only a threshold, a door, a becoming between two multiplicities. Each multiplicity is defined by a borderline functioning as Anomalous, but there is a string of borderlines, a continuous line of borderlines (fiber), following which the multiplicity changes.[ Reference2,23] This thought can be expressed clearly through the form of poetry and literacy.
The content of poetry sad and moving, and its structure is delicate and beautifulness. I will make some analysis from the part of style of the word and the strong rhythm sensation.
The author seems cross humans with cows, describing some scene of cows life, but analogy to humans. Especially in the last part of the poetry, which shock me deeply. The death of some old cows make other cows to whinge, they do not want to leave but dispersed by humans and dogs, the same thing happen on our humans as well when massacre take place, but the targets turn to be our humans, witness may stand in front of the body for a long time, afraid of their own destiny, may not cry but show fare in their eyes, and the left bodies is very likely eaten by other animals, such as eagle or dogs as well. This analogy appeared in Elizabeth Costello’s lecture as well. [ Reference2, 14]Due to their similarity, is not hard to make a conclusion that killing animals and meat-eating desensitizes humans to violence-it is a savage and intemperate habit, that it brings sickness and heaviness upon the body, [and] inclines the mind the more brutishly to bloodshed and destruction. [ Reference2, 5]
As Plutarch, an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, said that he could not understand why some people could eat flesh of other lives knowing their pathetic death, a such violent and nastiness thing.[ Reference2, 4] Plutarch used many ask statements to emphasize his point of view. What’s more, he also describe the bloody scene of the slaughter, how his sight could endure the blood of the slaughtered, flayed, and mangled bodies; how his smell could bear their scent; and how the very nastiness happened not to offend the taste, while it chewed the sores of others, and participated of the sap and juices of deadly wounds.[ Reference2, 4]The same as Les Murray did in the poetry-the cow on the killing day. Me shivers and falls down with the terrible, the blood of me, coming out behind an ear.
It works in the neck of me and the terrible floods out, swamped and frothy.[ Les Murray, the cows on killing day ] Besides, their word’s style is has something in common. Plutarch’s sensuous language of disgust[ Reference2, 10] can be seen from the poetry as well, besides the description of blood above, other places in the poetry also can arise strong emotion of reader, let them easier get into the mood of poetry, such as all me come running. It’s like the hot part of the sky that’s hard to look at, this that now happens behind wood in the raw yard.[ Les Murray, the cows on killing day ] The author makes the feeling more specific, let reader can imagine it and feel it.
The writer paint the picture with voice. Make the volume, the content, sufficient. Teats all tingling still from that dry toothless sucking by the chilly mouths that gasp loudly in in in, and never breathe out.[ Les Murray, the cows on killing day] Just as Plutarch did, adopting the voice of slaughtered animals to amplify the ’s sense of reproach.[ Reference2, 5] The three repeated ‘in’ make reader hold breathe, imaging the scene that the teats of cow are suck by mouths with stop. The feeling of cow’s hurt is stronger and the humiliation stronger as well. On another place, the tractor comes trotting in its grumble,[ Les Murray, the cows on killing day] the author make its locomotion has an emotion in it, it gives me an implication that the food is not good. The use of trot with grumble make the scene active and add more content in it.
If compare the style of poetry with Mason and Finelli’s style, they are different to a large degree, in my opinion. The style of Mason and Finelli is objective, they like to analysis problem from the side of science, with few personal emotions. Take this for an example. On genetic engineering,[ Reference2, 8] is way of beginning make their words persuasive, and Finelli himself is an active member in Animal Science,, but on other hand, it will make reader have difficulty to understand it and emotional impact. But the cows on killing day is quite an emotional one. At first, the poet take cow as the first person is an artistic processing, it is not true but let reader catch the feeling quickly. And the description is completed by many adjectives. Heavy urgent me; leaves me humped, straining, but light and peaceful; glistening leaf; carrion-stinking dog, et al. besides, some name of places emerge several times, but with different feeling. One me is still in the yard; in the bare yard; in the raw yard; in the peed yard, [ Les Murray, the cows on killing day]his description contains a lot of emotion, and you can chase it with the change of adjectives.
As it is a poetry, you cannot ignore its rhythm and rhyme. Just like other beautiful pieces, it is excellent in these two aspects.
Rhythm is the beauty of poetry, it makes the words alive and creative. Use the rhythm, we can control the speed of the thinking or the process of the story, in pursuit of a consistent of beauty and rhythm. The ups and downs, twists and turns, stretches the effect of art and the beauty. In my opinion, this poetry is Trochee. Since the poetry is telling a quite sad story, it is quite soft, with a tone that like an old lady recall her life, a gentle one. Sometimes it indicates the change of the story, make readers hearts in their mouths and get a feeling of anxious. Such as the oldest bull man is coming.[ Les Murray, the cows on killing day
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When it comes to rhyme, alliteration is quite obvious in this poetry. Many lines begin with all, me, the. Take this for an example, all me are standing on feed, all me have just been milked, again all me standing on feed, all me come running, all me make the roar. These sentences create a growing scene, you will imagine all the cow do the same thing and are given a shock. The author may want to imply their tragic destiny. Also, alliteration also create the rhythm of the poetry. Besides, it makes the poetry neat. It is also used to convey some strong feelings. Such as teats all tingling still. End rhyme is also used in this poetry. It make every sentence connected, and express a beauty of music. End rhyme makes the poetry have strong rhythm sensation. Out, light, cud, pats and yard, wood, feed. You can see the end rhyme in many lines. These treatment makes the poetry gorgeous, and help the author to convey his insight. It show the emphasis of the content and let the reader have empathy.
The cows on killing day, no matter on the description or the rhetorical device, is great and impressive. After reading it again and again, the feeling of sorrow and the humiliation takes up my mind for a long time. Our humans are too cruel and selfish. We should respect them as well. In addition, this poetry makes me realize the power of literacy, and strongly exhibit the view of the author, just as we have been taught, it can lead to social contagion, it can make people think more and influence their minds, to convey thoughts and ideas.
Many times, we are restricted by the rules and follow them without thinking. Many times, we just enjoy our harvest without noticing or ignoring the sacrifice of other things. Boundaries depend on your thought and it is you that determine the boundaries.
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