How can I write a critical summary about the poem 'The Vagabond' by Robert Louis Stevenson?Please help me write my summary about the poem.

In a critical summary you must crtique the poem as you summarise it. So, always always start with the title and how it tells about the theme and how it's relevant,briefly, to the life of the poet.

Move through the poem a couple of lines at a time, noting how the poet uses form, structure, technique,assonance,alliteration,rhyme, rhythm and all the other devices you have been taught about so far.

Make sure you know the exact definition of the word 'vagabond.' Some people think it means ruffian, but here Stevenson is using to mean nomadic traveller, or in old-fashioned words 'tramp' or in America the less polite 'bum!'

Summarise the 'storyline' or action and how it is helped by the poet's use of the above techniques. The repetition and rhythm makes this poem more like the beginning of a song.

There is no need to summarise the poem on here, it is quite a simple poem, but come back here for more help if you get stuck on that.

Use the poet's bio to give you insights into his message and meaning in the poem.

How did the American educational system change to prepare children for their adult roles in the new industrial economy?

In the late 1800s, the American educational system started to split in a way into two separate systems.  One of these was aimed at producing the managerial types that would be needed for all the big new companies.  The other was aimed at producing the workers.

The number of public schools and the number of students attending them boomed during this time.  There were about 800 public high schools in the country in 1880 and 6,000 at the turn of the century.

These public schools started out as college prep schools, but many of them, especially in poorer areas, became much more focused on providing vocational education.

How would you summarize "The Wide Window" by Lemony Snicket?

The Wide Window is the next book after The Reptile Room. The children-- Violet, Klaus and Sunny--are going to meet Aunt Josephine. She's not an actual relative but says she'll take them.

Aunt Josephine has numerous strange fears, such as, doorknobs, realtors and Lake Lachrymose. Lachrymose means sorrowful. (Her husband died there.) She loves grammar and corrects the grammar of the children. Grammar titles fill her library.When the children first arrive there, they meet Captain Sham, who the children quickly recognize as Count Olaf.

Aunt Josephine is charmed by him .She realizes he is bad but that night the children notice that a suicide note there, written by Aunt Josephine. In addition,the wide window in the library is broken. So they think she jumped.

The note has a message--the Baudelaires are to be left to Captain Sham. The children soon realise Aunt Josephine is not dead. She  faked it. There is a secret message in the suicide note.They try quickly to decipher the note because a storm is coming.The storm crashes into Josephine's house which makes it fall in the lake.

The Baudelaires try to locate Aunt Josephine so they don't end up with Count Olaf.

What is the meaning of Uncle Oscar's statement to Paul's mother at the end of the story?

In The Rocking- Horse Winner by D. H. Lawrence, Uncle Oscar's statement of, "My God, Hester, you're eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he's best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking-horse to find a winner," spoken to Paul's mother is rather harsh considering her son just died. However, the statement is a good torque back to the beginning of the story. At the start of the story, there is a description of Hester, and the view she has of herself as a mother.

It is noted that she attractive and grew up with many advantages that would ensure her a good life. Yet she marries for love and fails to be made happy by it or the children she gives birth to and raises. She does not love her children as a mother should. This is why she over compensates by exaggerating her affections for her children. This tactic works in fooling others but fails to settle her misgivings. She is cold and since she can not love her children, it is doubtful that she can love anyone.

Hester's son Paul is lucky and Hester is not. Paul also has the ability to be loved which his mother does not have. Even though, he dies at the end of the story, he is the real winner. He does not let the coldness of his mother influence the amount of sensitivity he has towards others or hinder his abilities. The mother may have money from winning the races but she loses a son.

In Act 3 Scene 3, how is Othello manipulated by Iago?

Othello "divorces" Desdemona in this scene and effectively "marries" Iago by the end of it.

Iago's web of treachery has taken over three of Othello's "senses": hearing, sight, and language.  Like Oedipus, Othello is deaf, dumb, and blind to the truth.

First, Iago appeals to Othello's ear by planting how Desdemona and Cassio have be cheating on him behind his back.  This riles Othello's jealousy, and the "green-eyed monster" takes over Othello's emotions, limiting his use of reason and language.

Next, Iago gives Othello "ocular proof" of Desdemona's betrayal by linking the handkerchief with Cassio.  The handkerchief, once a symbol of Desdemona's love, now becomes one of betrayal.  Iago has managed to let everyone get their hands on the handkerchief; it goes from Othello to Desdemona to Emilia to Iago to Cassio to Biancha.  It travels from a virgin to a "whore."  When Biancha brings in the magic hanky, Othello resolves to kill both Cassio and Desdemona.

Finally, Iago reduces Othello to a trance-induced "horned beast" who utters monosyllabic nonsense.  The once-mighty Othello of Act I, who argued so well against Brabantio, who used words instead of violence, whose speech was filled with wondrous pathos, now sounds like Brabantio from Act I:

Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!

O, blood, blood, blood!

I'll tear her all to pieces.

O monstrous! monstrous!

Iago proves that he who controls language controls people.  Iago has Othello by the strings, and he schemes to have his puppet strangle Desdemona in bed, which should be reserved for eros (physical love); instead, it will be a place of theros (death).

What is the subject matter in the short story "The Masque of the Red Death"? Does it mean the same as theme in story?I am confused about subject...

The previous posters covered the concept with regards to this specific short story, so I will discuss in general. Subject matter is what the story is about. Plot can fall under this category, as can motifs (ideas or concepts which are present throughout a work of literature). Motifs are often confused with themes today, even in academia. However, a theme is a universal message about life or human nature implied by a text. One way to distinguish between theme & subject matter is to first ask "What is this piece about?" Then you will know the subject matter. For example, in "The Masque of the Red Death", we have a story about a devastating plague, & its effects on a seemingly immune group. Once you have determined this, ask yourself, "What does this text say about the subject matter?" Then you will know the theme. Again, in "The Masque of the Red Death", Poe is suggesting that we as humans cannot escape our ultimate fate. A good way to judge if you're accurately stating theme is to make sure it's always a complete sentence. Otherwise, it cannot be a theme.

What is the theme of the poem?

The theme is expansion, growth and the hope that life will improve and become refined over time.

The narrator describes a nautilus, the "ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sail the unshadowed main." It is a strange creature, indeed, that year after year, builds its home, chamber after chamber, in a spiral of mathematical perfection. ("Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil").

The inner creature eventually outgrows a chamber only to move, circle-like, into the next, more spacious chamber ("Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new").

In the end, the narrator sees the life of the nautilus as a hidden message of human life, to ever build "more stately mansions" for the soul to inhabit, so that, at life's end it may be ready and worthy to inhabit heaven above.

Coincidentally, just last week I took a picture of a painted nautilus in a shop window. See the first link below.