Men’s Spiritual Vacuity and Inefficacy in Eliot’s Poem The Hollow Men

The Hollow Men by Eliot is a widely read poem which is structured of five sections. These sections deal with a group of hollow men unable to communicate with one another, a hollow man who is afraid to look at others directly, the barren land where they cannot fulfill their desire, their unwillingness to look at others and to be looked at by them,and finally a nursery rhyme which they can’t recite completely respectively. They are unable to think, create, respond and act because of the shadow that falls in between them.This article primarily explores men’s spiritual vacuity and inefficacy in this poem. It is an episodic free verse poem which reflects the poet’s pessimistic vision towards the human life and the present world. The poet presents the men as effigies which lack human efficiency and the world as a dead cactus land lacking the spring of blooms and joys. It reflects the conditions and contexts of modern men through divergent allusions. Men feel helpless and lonely despite being in a group, find no senses and meanings in spite of their assertions, realize their inefficiency and inability despite their sound health and certificates, feel unfortunate and miserable in spite of their material advancement and wealth, and find death in their lives despite being alive.

Parent Verbalizations and Toddler Responses With Touchscreen Tablet Nursery Rhyme Apps

OBJECTIVES In some studies, parents and toddlers verbalize less when engaging with a tablet versus a print book. More needs to be known regarding child contributions to specific parent verbalizations. We examined parent-toddler contingent interactions with tablet applications versus print books, as well as moderators of these associations. METHODS We conducted a laboratory-based, within-subjects counterbalanced study of 72 parent-toddler dyads engaging with a nursery rhyme application (with enhanced + autonarration [E+A] and enhanced formats) and print book. We coded parent verbalizations (eg, dialogic, nondialogic) and proportions of child responses to these in 5-second epochs. Poisson regressions were used to analyze within-subjects variance by tablet or print format. We tested effect modification by child emotion regulation and home media practices. RESULTS Children responded more to parent overall (print 0.38; E+A 0.31, P = .04; enhanced 0.11, P = .01), dialogic (print 0.21; E+A 0.13, P = .04; enhanced 0.1, P = .02), and nondialogic (print 0.45; E+A 0.27, P < .001; enhanced 0.32, P < .001) verbalizations during print book versus tablet. Stronger child emotion regulation, greater frequency of co-viewing, and instructive practices moderated associations such that differences between conditions were no longer significant for some parent verbalizations and child responses. CONCLUSIONS Parent-toddler reciprocal verbal interactions occurred less frequently with tablet versus print book use. Child emotion regulation and parent home media practices moderated some of these associations. Pediatricians may wish to promote co-viewing and instructive media practices but may also consider that child emotion regulation may determine response to interactive tablet design.

Research on Improvisation in the Course of Piano and Nursery Rhyme Playing and Singing in Preschool Education Major

Nowadays, the training goals of the preschool education major are constantly expanding with the society's deep understanding of early childhood education, and the requirements for students' various skills and professionalism have been improved. Among them, piano improvisation is the teaching content of the course of piano and nursery rhyme playing and singing in this major, and it is also an ability of great practical significance. Therefore, teachers should actively explore the value of piano improvisation ability, reflect on the problems in the current teaching situation, and find ways to optimize the teaching effect, which are very helpful to future teaching practice.

Sleep, Little Baby: The Calming Effects of Prenatal Speech Exposure on Newborns’ Sleep and Heartrate

In a pilot study, 34 fetuses were stimulated daily with a maternal spoken nursery rhyme from week 34 of gestation onward and re-exposed two and five weeks after birth to this familiar, as well as to an unfamiliar rhyme, both spoken with the maternal and an unfamiliar female voice. During auditory stimulation, newborns were continuously monitored with polysomnography using video-monitored hdEEG. Afterward, changes in sleep–wake-state proportions during familiar and unfamiliar voice stimulation were analyzed. Our preliminary results demonstrate a general calming effect of auditory stimulation exclusively in infants who were prenatally “familiarized” with a spoken nursery rhyme, as evidenced by less waking states, more time spent in quiet (deep) sleep, and lower heartrates. A stimulation naïve group, on the other hand, demonstrated no such effects. Stimulus-specific effects related to the familiarity of the prenatally replayed voice or rhyme were not evident in newborns. Together, these results suggest “fetal learning” at a basic level and point to a familiarization with auditory stimuli prior to birth, which is evident in the first weeks of life in behavioral states and heartrate physiology of the newborn.

KATE ROMANO (b. 1971)Who Killed Cock Robin? (1999)

This chapter discusses a miniature cycle by Kate Romano. In Who Killed Cock Robin? Romano sets the six verses of a much-loved nursery rhyme with consummate flair, writing for soprano with innate understanding and an acute ear for timbre. In addition, the composer makes particularly astute use of the upper register’s natural flexibility. The words prove an ideal vehicle for imaginative expansion and embellishment: oft-repeated words suggest witty simulations of bird calls, in a dazzling range of figurations. Contrast is supplied by legato writing, especially in the second and fifth stanzas. It is only in the last verse that the lowest note occurs—the highest comes amongst the smoothly sliding lines of the fifth verse. Piano parts, skilfully tailored to each vocal setting, are nimble and varied, often exploiting higher resonances to complement the voice.

Rhyming in the Context of the Phonological Awareness of Pre-School Children

Rhyming is one of the basic skills associated with phonological awareness. This paper aims to introduce theoretical starting points and the results of research into children’s rhyming in the context of phonological awareness. The text explains theoretical circumstances pertaining to the theme and defines key concepts. The main part of the paper includes the results of the research of pre-school children in Slovakia. There were 866 respondents (children) of 4 to 7 years of age. The subject of the research was the rhyming skills of children, which was tested in three independent areas: completing the rhyme in a nursery-rhyme, awareness of rhymes, and the production of rhymes.

Nursery rhyme can help curb spread of common infections in children

Using songs may help school children to remember proper hand washing steps says new study