Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets) Essay Example

Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets) Paper A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that rhyme in a particular pattern. William Shakespeare’s sonnets were the only non-dramatic poetry that he wrote. Shakespeare used sonnets within some of his plays, but his sonnets are best known as a series of one hundred and fifty-four poems. The series of one hundred and fifty-four poems tell a story about a young aristocrat and a mysterious mistress. Many people have analyzed and contemplated about the significance of these â€Å"lovers†. After analysis of the content of both the â€Å"young man† sonnets and the â€Å"dark lady sonnets†, it is clear that the poet, Shakespeare, has a great love for the young man and only lusts after his mistress. In order to fully understand the depth of emotion that Shakespeare (hereafter the poet) felt for the young man of his sonnets, one must be familiar with the story line of the first sub-sequence of the sonnets. When analyzing the content and depth of the poet’s love, the ambiguous nature of the poet’s relationship with the young man should also be considered. We will write a custom essay sample on Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets) specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Love and Lust in the Lyrics (Shakespeares Sonnets) specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Sonnets 1-126 are addressed to a salient young man: advising him, praising him, and nagging him. The first nineteen sonnets repeat the same message. They encourage the young man to settle down and have children. Because his youthful beauty will not last forever, the poet urges the man to procreate so that the young man’s unmatched beauty can live on in his children. Many of the early sonnets sing the approbation of the young man and express the poet’s love and emulation for him. Shakespeare used love in the context of a deep friendship, as read in the first four lines of sonnet 26: Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit, To thee I send this written ambassage To witness duty, not to show my wit; (see appendix P for whole sonnet) The mistress then seduces the poet’s friend and after he contends for her with the young man, the poet gives her up to the lord. In sonnet 42 (see appendix A) the poet confesses his alleged love for his mistress, however, he still lets her run away with his friend. This action poses two questions to the reader. If he loved her so much, why did he let her go? How deep was his love for the young man, that he let him have his mistress? Examining what type of relationship the poet has with the young man answers both questions. Interpreters on the subject of the poet’s sexuality can be divided into two groups. There are the few who find sexual attraction revealed toward the friend. Then there are the many that reassure themselves and readers that such an attraction is far from affirmed. For the purpose of this essay, a focus on the minority viewpoint will be examined. Sonnet 20 (see appendix B) shows just one example of sexual connotation that is present throughout the sonnets of the first sub-sequence. Sonnet 75 (see appendix C) is particularly dense with sexual innuendo. Here, to begin with, is the third quatrain: Sometime all full with feasting on your sight, And by and by clean starved for a look; Possessing or pursuing no delight Save what is had, or must from you be took. Here Shakespeare makes â€Å"delight† allude to sexual pleasure. Eric Partridge, author of Shakespeare’s Bawdy: a Literary and Psychological Essay and Comprehensive Glossary, records that â€Å"Shakespeare does these elsewhere, a typically including among the citations 36. 8 (see appendix D for whole sonnet) where the ‘sweet hours’ of ‘love’s delight’ consists of amorous play between the lovers† (Pequigney 38). Having the poet and the young man in a relationship that goes beyond friendship allows a reader of the sonnets to better understand the depth of the poet’s love for the young man. Of all the sonnets expressing the poet’s love for the young man, sonnet 116 is the most renowned. According to Freud, love is â€Å"the synthesis between the unsensual, heavenly love and sensual, earth love, of which the characteristics are: a lasting cathexis upon the sexual object, so that it may be loved in the passionless intervals between the gratification of erotic desire and it’s return, the phenomenon of sexual overvaluation, and a narcissistic relation to the subject’s ego† (Bloom 59-60). So the lover, the poet, treats the loved object, the young man, as he would himself. The loved object serves as a substitute for some unattained ideal. In the case of the sonnets, the ideal is love. Being in love allows the poet to have what he wants but could not acquire before and serves as a means of satisfying his self-love. Joseph Pequigney, author of Such is My Love: A Study of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, agrees with and elaborates on Freud. He writes, â€Å"All of these characteristics belong to the poet’s love for the friend. It is a love that pays handsome narcissistic dividends; it is advantageous also for the friend, who is praised for personal qualities that would likely pass unnoticed were the poet not under the spell of his beauty. † Pequigney goes on to touch on the antithesis of the poet’s love for the young man, his lust for his mistress the â€Å"dark lady†. Because the mistress offers no self-seeking advantages, she is â€Å"disesteemed with vice but never virtue ascribed to her† (Pequigney 157). The poet attacks and questions her physical attractiveness as the affair goes on and she arouses lust that comes and goes. Sonnets 127-154 are addressed to the â€Å"dark lady† (hereafter the mistress). Shakespeare’s relations to his mistress vacillate; sometimes sanguine, tender, teasing, or bitterly anger; yet it is a simpler relation than that with the young man. The poet does not have to justify her, as he had to justify the young man out of deep psychological need. The relation with her is for pleasure, passion, and infatuation. When the poet first begins too court the mistress, he employs unmistakable salacious humor, exhibits the combination of desire and disrespect that is the hallmark of lust in the second sub-sequence. His lack of jealously at the fact that she has two other men exhibits his lack of genuine love for his mistress. He does not look to get rid of his mistress’s other lovers; he simply asks that he is not gotten rid of either. As long as she grants him sexual favors as well, he will remain happy. She may be the opposite of celibate, but he does not mind, so long as he gets his share. The two have sexual relations, for the first time, in the period following sonnet 128 (see appendix F) and shortly before the opening of sonnet 129 (appendix G). Once desire for the woman has been satisfied, revulsion sets in. In his current frame of mind the poet delivers the monologue of sonnet 129, which anatomizes lust while dramatizing his struggle to come to terms with it. The experience is described as three successive phases: (1) carnal desire; (2) consummation; and (3) the aftermath (Ramsey 146). The vicious cycle continually repeats throughout part two. Immediately after sonnet 129 the poet goes back to gaily, gently teasing his mistress, shown in sonnet 130: I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go— My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet by heaven I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare. (see appendix H for whole sonnet) Later he goes back to anger and bitterness (131, appendix I) to a mixture of teasing and strong emotion (132, appendix J) back to hatred (133, appendix K). From there, he goes to witty obscenity, with shades of self-contempt and some hostility (135, appendix L) to delicate tenderness (143, appendix M) and back to anger (144, appendix N), to start the cycle all over again. Shakespeare ends the poems to the dark lady savagely and appropriately: For I have sworn thee fair: More perjured eye, To swear against the truth so foul a lie. (see appendix O for whole sonnet) The fury is the fury from his conscious wavering between supposed love and lust. It is not a pleasant way to end 154 love poems, but it is a great way. The story of Shakespeare’s sonnets clearly shows, through the content of the sonnets, how deeply he feels for his young friend and how he merely lusts after his mistress. The sacrifice that the poet made for the young man, by giving up his mistress to the man he loved, proves his great love for him. The poet’s reaction to the consummation of the relationship between his mistress and him characterizes his animal lust for her. Shakespeare justifies the young man; he blames the dark lady; he struggles with himself, blames himself, and then tries to justify himself to no avail.

How To Contribute To Diversity With Your Medical School Sample Essay

How To Contribute To Diversity With Your Medical School Sample EssayThe medical school sample essay is something that is considered a standard essay for a number of medical schools, even though many of the features will be different from each school. This feature typically asks a wide range of questions about the student's background and how those experiences have influenced their values, beliefs, and how they use those values to lead their life.Since so many students write this type of essay, it is important that every medical school has a policy on exactly what the essays should include. Medical schools often need to decide whether to require a written entry as part of the admissions process, so they are not surprised when they receive this type of essay.The first part of the medical school sample essay is the introduction. This part usually covers the student's major, the role that the school plays in the student's life, and how the student intends to use the school as a learning experience. Any relevant information about the student should be included in this section.There are a few other sections that are commonly required in an essay for a medical school. The most common one asked is the chapter or paragraph analysis. This is a general analysis of how the student sees the chapters of the essay, why it is important and how to utilize it. It also explains the student's beliefs about the chapter in relation to their values.The final section of this essay asks about any problems that the student may have with the social or work environment. Some students experience these problems during the interview process, but others do so once they are on campus. These may be negative feelings about the company they work for, or they may be the result of one bad day in the work environment.It is helpful for the essayist to consider the student's preferences for how they feel about certain topics in the essay. This allows the student to determine if they feel that they can fully discuss a particular topic, or if it is going to cause them trouble when they are in the work environment.When writing an essay, the student should ensure that they have a specific reason for writing the essay. If the purpose of the essay is to discuss the social or work environment, the information is more relevant and should be discussed there. If the essay is to address one's religious beliefs, then they should be addressed in a separate essay in addition to this one.Essays are only appropriate when they provide insight into the students' goals and motivations. They should not be submitted as applications for medical school. This form of the essay is not generally accepted by all medical schools, so you should check with your school to see what specific requirements are set for them.

Smoking habits Essays

Smoking habits Essays Smoking habits Essay Smoking habits Essay College students are heavily targeted by the tobacco industry, which makes cigarettes readily available to them and easy to obtain. To help your college-bound teen resist the urge to take up tobacco use while at school, its important to recognize the smoking influences that college student’s face daily. These are the pressures that College student tends to smoke. Friends Many college students yearn for acceptance. After graduating high school, a new persona and group of friends may present themselves to a college student.If a student is looking for acceptance from a group that includes smokers, the student may try smoking to gain that acceptance. A study performed by the Harvard School of Public Health and published in a 2004 issue of Pediatrics found that 51 percent of the smokers studied called themselves social smokers while at school, meaning they only smoked when spending time with others. Partying College students are bound to enjoy partying and their new-found freedom w hen they reach the legal drinking age.Unfortunately, many people develop the habit of smoking when theyre drinking. The various parties and social events that most college students attend are accompanied by the pressure to try smoking along with the rest of the party-goers. The added freedom of being away from parents for the first time could lead to infrequent smoking at parties. Weight Loss The Freshman 15 is something that many new college students fear. Taking advantage of college food services and the freedom to eat more junk food can cause weight gain.A college student may believe that smoking cigarettes can curb the appetite and help her lose weight, notes KidsHealth. org, a division of the Nemours Foundation. Instead, smoking makes physical activity harder, so a student may be less likely to work out and, in turn, lose weight in unhealthy ways. Stress Some college students use cigarettes as a way to reduce stress, notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Student s may believe that smoking calms them during high-stress situations like the class workload, earning money while at school and social difficulties.While nicotine can give students a temporary calming effect, smoking can cause more stress when theyre trying to quit or when cigarettes are unavailable. Promotional Events The tobacco industry sees college students as legal new smokers, which is why it promotes heavily to those away at college. The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study notes that some events are sponsored by tobacco companies, and free cigarettes are often distributed at sponsored parties and bar events.The availability and desirability of sponsored tobacco parties makes it easy for a college student to begin smoking. Bibliography:Â   livestrong. com/article/237322-smoking-influences-on-college-students/#ixzz2cy31zJfp References Pediatrics, Oct. 2004: Social Smoking Among US College Students: Susan Moran, MD, MSCE, Henry Wechsler, PhD, Nancy A. Rigotti, MD CDC: College Health and Safety KidsHealth. org: Beating the Freshman 15 Harvard School of Public Health: US College Students Exposure to Tobacco Promotions: Prevalence and Association With Tobacco Use

Kaminski Surname Meaning and Origin

Kaminski Surname Meaning and Origin From the root kamien, meaning stone or rock, the popular Polish last name Kaminski means one who came from a rocky place, or was sometimes an occupational surname for a person who works with rock, such as a stone carver or someone who worked in a quarry. Alternatively, the Kaminski surname may be locational in origin, indicating that the person originally came from any one of dozens of Polish villages named Kamien (meaning rocky place), or from one of the various places named Kamin or  Kaminka in Ukraine, or  Kamionka in Poland.  Kaminsky is a common  anglicization of the KamiÅ„ski surname. Kaminski is among the 50 most common Polish surnames.   Surname Origin: Polish Alternate Surname Spellings:  KAMINSKY, KAMINSKY, KAMIENSKI, KAMIENSKI, KAMIENSKY, KAMIENSKY, KAMENSKI, KAMENSKY Where do People with the Surname KAMINSKI Live? According to WorldNames publicprofiler, individuals with the Kaminski last name are most commonly found in Poland, with the greatest concentration in the northeastern regions, including  Podlaskie,  Kujawsko-Pomorskie, and WarmiÅ„sko-Mazurskie. The Polish-specific surname distribution map on  moikrewni.pl calculates the population distribution of surnames down to the district level, finding Kaminski to be most common in Bydgoszcz, followed by  Starogard Gdanski,  Chojnice,  Bytow,  New TomyÅ›l,  Tarnowskie Mountains,  Torun,  Srem,  Tuchola  and  InowrocÅ‚aw. Famous People with the Surname KAMINSKI Marek KamiÅ„ski -  Polish polar explorer, author, entrepreneurJanusz Kaminski -  Academy Award-winning cinematographer and directorAvrom-Yitskhok Kaminski - Yiddish actor and theater directorHeinrich Kaminski - German composerHeinz Kaminski - German space researcher and chemical engineerAdolfo Kaminsky - French WWI resistance fighter and document forgerBohdan Kaminskà ½ - Czech poet and translator Genealogy Resources for the Surname KAMINSKI A Kaminsky Family GenealogyGenealogy research into an extended Kaminsky family, with information on over 8,000 different individuals. Kaminski Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Kaminski surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Kaminski surname query. FamilySearch - KAMINSKI GenealogyAccess over 370,000 million free historical records and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Kaminski surname and its variations on this free genealogy website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. KAMINSKI Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Kaminski surname and variations such as  Kaminsky, Kamenski, and Kamensky. DistantCousin.com - KAMINSKI Genealogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Kaminski. Looking for the meaning of a given name? Check out First Name Meanings Cant find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins. - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia.  Bergenfield, NJ:  Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hoffman, William F. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings.  Chicago:  Polish Genealogical Society, 1993. Rymut, Kazimierz. Nazwiska Polakow.  Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich - Wydawnictwo, 1991. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. Back to Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins

Alcoholic Abuse Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Alcoholic Abuse - Assignment Example to "hold their liquor" better than those without such history. Experts suggest some people may inherit a lack of those warning signals that ordinarily make people stop drinking. Research suggest this factor may contribute between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of alcoholism cases related to genetic factors. (alcoholism). Alcoholism in parents increase the risk for violent behaviour and abuse toward their children. Children of alcoholics tend to do worse academically than others. I will be using the Wisconsin Psychometric test as a measuring tool to test this hypothesis on my targeted sample of Children of alcoholic parents, against children of parents who are not alcoholics. I will be using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) for inputting my collected data, which will do the correlations, multicollinearity, and hypothesis. I will assess the incidence of depression, anxiety, stress, self-esteem and criminality, of those who are the off spring of alcoholic parents against those who are not. The kind of clear-cut model of the genetic sources of alcoholism perceived by the public and presented in the public tracts does not accurately reflect the state of knowledge in this area. No persuasive genetic mechanism has been proposed to account for accumulated data about alcoholic behaviour, social differences in alcoholism rates or the unfolding of the disease. Biological findings about the offspring of alcoholics have been inconsistent and grounds exist to challenge the notion of an enhanced genetic liability for alcoholism thathas been accepted wisdom for the last decade. Genuine attempts to forge data and theory into genetic models have been limited to men... Abrams and Niura ed (xx), Closing in on Addiction New Findings suggest a biochemical common ground, Social and Biological Theories in a combined Model, National Clearing House For Alcohol and Drug Information. Retrieved on line on March 4, 2006; from Niolon, Richard, Closing In on Addiction New Findings Suggest a Biochemical Common Ground, National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information Retrieved on line on March 2, 2006 from www.psychpage.com/problems/library/alcohol,html

Identify the artifacts produced on the images during CT scans.describe Essay

Identify the artifacts produced on the images during CT scans.describe the method used to reduce or remove these artifacts - Essay Example ion, movement of patients during the scanning process or presence of metals on the body, problems with the scanner or during the reconstruction process (Barrett & Keat, 2004). The various types of artifacts and the methods used for reducing their occurrence are discussed below. The most common physics-based artifact is beam hardening which is caused due to differential absorption of low and high energy photons of an x-ray beam as it passes through an object. Such beam hardening phenomena can give rise to cupping and streaking or dark band artifacts. Cupping artifacts arise when the x-rays passing through the middle portion of an object become hardened which causes a reduction in its attenuation rate resulting in an intense beam reaching the detector. Streaking is another common phenomenon where streaks or dark bands appear between two dense objects again due to the hardening effect. This is usually visualized in scans taken in bony regions (Barrett & Keat, 2004). The methods used to reduce artifacts due to beam hardening include filtration of low energy particles, calibration correction, and use of appropriate software algorithms to correct the hardening (Barrett & Keat, 2004; Huang, n.d; Petit et al, 2010). Presence of a heterogeneous tissue mix can result in a CT number that is an attenuation average of all tissue types which can in turn result in a partial volume artifact as bands or streaks. Presence of off-axis objects in the path of the x-ray beam can result in the appearance of shading artifacts in the scan image. Such artifacts can be avoided using thinner sections and image noise can be limited by combining thinner sections to form a thicker section (Barrett & Keat, 2004; Huang, n.d). This effect occurs in parts of the body where attenuation of the x-ray beam is greatest such as the shoulders and the hip. This results in low number of photons reaching the detector which causes noisy projections that are in turn magnified during the reconstruction

A New High Speed Rail Link For Britain Engineering Essay

A New High Speed Rail Link For Britain Engineering Essay Recently travel by rail has increased with many lines struggling to cope with the demand. The West Coast mainline which can be seen as one of the most important rail lines in Britain will reach capacity by 2020 according to the Transport Politic and has also seen investments of around  £13 billion already (www.thetransportpolitic.com, 2009). One of the popular modes of travelling long distance within Britain is short haul flights; however air travel is neither efficient in terms of energy nor is it environmentally friendly. As the U.K has pledged to lower carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050 (www.treehugger.com, 2009) Britain needs more sustainable forms of transport. With the need to increase capacity on the rail lines, especially from London to the North, along with the environmental and sustainability factors the question that arises is, would it be more be beneficial to upgrade the existing link between the north and London or to implement a new high speed rail link? An Atkins report commissioned by the Dft alternatives to the high speed rail titled High Speed 2 Strategic Alternatives Study (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010) outlines rail upgrades as an alternative. Firstly trains could be lengthened to allow for more passenger, however this does not tackle any reduction on journey times and station platforms may not be able to accommodate longer trains. Secondly an investment on the infrastructure to enhance the capacity of the West Coast Mainline would cost around  £3.6 billion (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010). This would see the operation of an extra four to five trains per hour reducing journey times to Birmingham and Manchester by 12 minutes and 6.5 minutes respectively (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010). This alternative would not have many adverse effects on the environment as it does not affect the Chiltern Area of Natural Beauty, where the high speed network would, it would however be disruptive to passengers. The third alternative detailed in the report would be to in vest on the Chiltern line along with the previous alternative which would allow three trains per hour to the West Midlands on the Chiltern line at a cost of  £12.5 billion without reduction on journey times and an adverse environmental effect on the Chiltern AONB. Adding onto this would be the fourth alternative with further work on the Chiltern Line between London and the West Midlands to improve journey times at a cost of  £15.1 billion (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010). This could see a single stop service to the West Midlands in 64 minutes (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010). This would have the same environmental effects on the Chiltern AONB and also be disruptive to passengers. The last alternative would be to include further work on the infrastructure on the Chiltern Line to take it up as far as Stratford as an alternative to the northern stretch on the West Coast Main Line. This would cost approximately  £19.6 billion(www.dft.gov.uk, 2010), but may prove to challenging, and result in a small frequency on services, without any certain demand for these services. This alternative would be the most environmentally damaging not only for just the Chiltern AONB and would cause disruption to passengers. All the alternatives in upgrades to the existing network seem to be costly, have an adverse effect on the environment and disruption to services already in place which outweigh the benefits in terms capacity generated and reduction of journey times. For many of the alternatives there is no impact on the journey times, which would be seen as defeating the objective of upgrading the existing network. A publication by the Institution of Civil Engineers titled unblocking the potential of rail states that Flights currently account for 93% of business trips between Scotland and London. Research shows passengers will only consider changing from air to rail if the journey time is under three hours only possible on land with a high speed rail route. (www.ice.org.uk, 2010). Over the years Britain has seen to fall behind its European neighbours in developing high speed rail networks. France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all developed high speed rail networks. In particular Spain have in place a high speed rail network between Madrid and Barcelona which reaches speeds of 220mph, which allows the journey of 410 miles to be completed in 2 and a half hours (www.treehugger.com, 2010). Spain is a good example as they have a similar route from Madrid to Seville where more than 80% of travellers on that route prefer to travel by train (www.treehugger.com, 2010). The article Spains high speed service challenges the airlines on www.treehugger.com, 2010 also describes the services as In terms of comfort and convenience the operators are not skimping either. Each train features a conference room, upgraded cooling and air conditioning, internet access and a restaurant car and passengers are refunded their entire fare if the train is more than 5 minutes late (www.tr eehugger.com, 2010). However since 2009 the government have set up a new organisation. High speed 2 Ltd (HS2 Ltd) which is outlying proposals and reports on a new north-south high speed rail network. Recently the transport secretary published the report for new high speed rail network which could see work start around 2017 at the earliest (BBC News, 2010) Figures from The Transport Politic show that the project would cost  £34 billion and include 1500 miles of track, accommodating a total of 34 tunnels and 138 bridges. Whilst 8 new stations would be built and the procurement of 73 high speed trains. If put in place the new north-south link would see an annual ridership of 43.7 journeys. (www.thetransportpolitic.com, 2009). Figure 1 in the appendix shows the proposed line and reduction in journey times. The transport secretary Lord Adonis in a speech about the high speed rail stated additional transport capacity would be needed from the 2020s between our major cities, starting with London to the west midlands, Britains two largest conurbations . . .high speed rail could be the most efficient and sustainable way to provide more capacity between these conurbations. (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010). Lord Adonis summarised the development as an initial high speed network linking London to Birmingham then onto Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds with high speed trains through to Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh, which would result in a Y shaped network capable of carrying trains upto 250mph. Figures 2-4 in the appendix show some comparisons of high speed rail compared to classic rail. The benefits of high speed rail as described by Lord Adonis on the Dft website (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010) are an increase of rail capacity by a third on the West Coast Mainline, not only because of the track but also due to the length of high speed trains and the adapted stations along with segregation from other rail traffic. The speech also describes the upgrade of existing rail lines yielding less than half the extra capacity for more money and disruption than it would do to implement a high speed network. A new high speed network could see pressure on capacity on the West Coast Mainline released for other services on the network. In terms of saving time on journeys, the time between the London and the west midlands would be between 30 to 50 minutes depending on the station used, whereas places such as Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield would be bought to within 75 minutes of London and places further north such as Edinburgh and Glasgow to around three and a half hours. High speed trains are stated as a sustainable way forward (www.dft.gov.uk, 2010) by Lord Adonis, going on to say that they emit less carbon then other modes such as car or airplane per passenger mile, with the low impact of a new high speed rail network on local areas than that of a new motorway. Weighing up the benefits to the costs, HS2 assessed that the project will yield  £2 for every  £1 spent with the first part of the line up to the West Midlands costing between  £15 and  £17 billion. Along with these benefits, other factors must be taken into consideration. The high speed trains are said to reach 400km/h or 250mph. which would make them the fastest trains in the world, we however need to observe the fact that a train travelling at 360km/h requires 50% more energy than that of a train travelling at 300km/h (www.cpre.org.uk, 2010), going faster could be a cost to the environment. On the topic of environment the high speed network will, similarly to many of the alternatives, cut through the Chiltern AONB where extensive tunnelling will be required as high speed trains need to travel in straight a line as possible. High speed trains will generate a new form of travel, where freed up traffic via existing rail and air travel may be taken up by new demand which could in turn add to carbon emission. For high speed rail to be part of a sustainable future, policys should be produced to keep demand and traffic down on other modes such as increasing air fares and making it more expensive to travel by car. In conclusion high speed rail travel looks more attractive compared to an upgrade of the existing network. Many of the alternative upgrades mentioned have little effect for a big price. The cost of the fifth alternative up grade matches that of the cost of a new high speed line from London to the West Midlands, where you would have significantly reduced journey times and no disruption to existing services. Environmentally both upgrading and building a new high speed line have adverse effects. For the same amount of effect on the environment you could have a new faster rail network, which could be a small price to pay for a network with greater outcomes and a project which would contribute to the economy and create jobs. In terms of carbon emissions and efficiency figure 5 in the appendix shows high speed rail is the most efficient in terms of passenger km carried by unit of energy than other forms. However it should be taken into consideration the past in terms of development of rail lines. Where plans to upgrade existing lines have been postponed by Lord Adonis due to lack of finances and what may be a coincidence of the government introducing these plans just before a major election. On the lines of finance the project cost a substantial amount, especially with the current debt of the country. This cost may be passed on as increased rail fares, fares which currently some of the population regard as expensive. The new and improved service may not be attractive to some unless it is heavily subsidised. Overall a new high speed rail link from London to the North would be beneficial, looking at our European neighbours we can see that high speed rail can be a success and the plans tick all the boxes in terms of journey time reduction and being able to compete with other modes such as short haul air travel and helping in the reduction on carbon emmissions. High speed rail can be an improvement if it does not drag funds and infrastructure investment away from other areas and is affordable to use.