Life.

Goffman was born 11 June 1922, in Mannville, Alberta, Canada, to Max Goffman and Anne Goffman, née Averbach. He was from a family of Ukrainian Jews who had emigrated to Canada at the turn of the century. He had an older sibling, Frances Bay, who became an actress. The family moved to Dauphin, Manitoba, where his father operated a successful tailoring business.  From 1937 Goffman attended St. John's Technical High School in Winnipeg, where his family had moved that year. In 1939 he enrolled at the University of Manitoba, majoring in chemistry. He interrupted his studies and moved to Ottawa to work in the film industry for the National Film Board of Canada, established by John Grierson. Later he developed an interest in sociology. Also during this time, he met the renowned North American sociologist Dennis Wrong. Their meeting motivated Goffman to leave the University of Manitoba and enroll at the University of Toronto, where he studied under C. W. M. Hart and Ray Birdwhistell, graduating in 1945 with a BA in sociology and anthropology. Later he moved to the University of Chicago, where he received an MA (1949) and PhD (1953) in sociology. For his doctoral dissertation, from December 1949 to May 1951 he lived and collected ethnographic data on the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands. Goffman's dissertation, entitled "Communication Conduct in an Island Community" (1953), was completed under the supervision of W. Lloyd Warner, Donald Horton, and Anselm Strauss.  In 1952 Goffman married Angelica Choate; in 1953, their son Thomas was born. Angelica suffered from mental illness and died by suicide in 1964. Outside his academic career, Goffman was known for his interest, and relative success, in the stock market and gambling. At one point, in pursuit of his hobbies and ethnographic studies, he became a pit boss at a Las Vegas casino.  In 1981 Goffman married sociolinguist Gillian Sankoff. The following year, their daughter Alice was born. In 1982 Goffman died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 19 November, of stomach cancer. His daughter is also a sociologist.

Career.

The research Goffman did on Unst inspired him to write his first major work, "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" (1956). After graduating from the University of Chicago, in 1954–57 he was an assistant to the athletic director at the National Institute for Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Participant observation done there led to his essays on mental illness and total institutions which came to form his second book, "Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates" (1961).  In 1958 Goffman became a faculty member in the sociology department at the University of California, Berkeley, first as a visiting professor, then from 1962 as a full professor. In 1968 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, receiving the Benjamin Franklin Chair in Sociology and Anthropology, due largely to the efforts of Dell Hymes, a former colleague at Berkeley. In 1969 he became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1970 Goffman became a cofounder of the American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization and coauthored its Platform Statement. In 1971 he published "Relations in Public", in which he tied together many of his ideas about everyday life, seen from a sociological perspective. Another major book of his, "Frame Analysis", came out in 1974. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1977–78. In 1979, Goffman received the Cooley-Mead Award for Distinguished Scholarship, from the Section on Social Psychology of the American Sociological Association. He was elected the 73rd president of the American Sociological Association, serving in 1981–82, but was unable to deliver the presidential address in person due to progressing illness.  Posthumously, in 1983, Goffman received the Mead Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

Influence and legacy.

Goffman was influenced by Herbert Blumer, Émile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Everett Hughes, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, Talcott Parsons, Alfred Schütz, Georg Simmel and W. Lloyd Warner. Hughes was the "most influential of his teachers", according to Tom Burns. Gary Alan Fine and Philip Manning have said that Goffman never engaged in serious dialogue with other theorists, but his work has influenced and been discussed by numerous contemporary sociologists, including Anthony Giddens, Jürgen Habermas and Pierre Bourdieu.  Though Goffman is often associated with the symbolic interaction school of sociological thought, he did not see himself as a representative of it, and so Fine and Manning conclude that he "does not easily fit within a specific school of sociological thought". His ideas are also "difficult to reduce to a number of key themes"; his work can be broadly described as developing "a comparative, qualitative sociology that aimed to produce generalizations about human behavior".  Goffman made substantial advances in the study of face-to-face interaction, elaborated the "dramaturgical approach" to human interaction, and developed numerous concepts that have had a massive influence, particularly in the field of the micro-sociology of everyday life. Much of his work was about the organization of everyday behavior, a concept he termed "interaction order". He contributed to the sociological concept of framing (frame analysis), to game theory (the concept of strategic interaction), and to the study of interactions and linguistics. With regard to the latter, he argued that the activity of speaking must be seen as a social rather than a linguistic construct. From a methodological perspective, Goffman often employed qualitative approaches, specifically ethnography, most famously in his study of social aspects of mental illness, in particular the functioning of total institutions. Overall, his contributions are valued as an attempt to create a theory that bridges the agency-and-structure divide—for popularizing social constructionism, symbolic interaction, conversation analysis, ethnographic studies, and the study and importance of individual interactions. His influence extended far beyond sociology: for example, his work provided the assumptions of much current research in language and social interaction within the discipline of communication.  Goffman defined "impression management" as a person's attempts to present an acceptable image to those around them, verbally or nonverbally. This definition is based on Goffman's idea that people see themselves as others view them, so they attempt to see themselves as if they are outside looking in. Goffman was also dedicated to discovering the subtle ways humans present acceptable images by concealing information that may conflict with the images for a particular situation, such as concealing tattoos when applying for a job in which tattoos would be inappropriate, or hiding a bizarre obsession such as collecting/interacting with dolls, which society may see as abnormal.  Goffman broke from George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer in that while he did not reject the way people perceive themselves, he was more interested in the actual physical proximity or the "interaction order" that molds the self. In other words, Goffman believed that impression management can be achieved only if the audience is in sync with a person's self-perception. If the audience disagrees with the image someone is presenting then their self-presentation is interrupted. People present images of themselves based on how society thinks they should act in a particular situation. This decision how to act is based on the concept of definition of the situation. Definitions are all predetermined and people choose how they will act by choosing the proper behavior for the situation they are in. Goffman also draws from William Thomas for this concept. Thomas believed that people are born into a particular social class and that the definitions of the situations they will encounter have already been defined for them. For instance. when an individual from an upper-class background goes to a black-tie affair, the definition of the situation is that they must mind their manners and act according to their class.  In 2007 by "The Times Higher Education Guide" listed Goffman as the sixth most-cited author in the humanities and social sciences, behind Anthony Giddens and ahead of Habermas. His popularity with the general public has been attributed to his writing style, described as "sardonic, satiric, jokey", and as "ironic and self-consciously literary", and to its being more accessible than that of most academics. His style has also been influential in academia, and is credited with popularizing a less formal style in academic publications.  His students included Carol Brooks Gardner, Charles Goodwin, Marjorie Goodwin, John Lofland, Gary Marx, Harvey Sacks, Emanuel Schegloff, David Sudnow and Eviatar Zerubavel.  Despite his influence, according to Fine and Manning there are "remarkably few scholars who are continuing his work", nor has there been a "Goffman school"; thus his impact on social theory has been simultaneously "great and modest". Fine and Manning attribute the lack of subsequent Goffman-style research and writing to the nature of his style, which they consider very difficult to duplicate (even "mimic-proof"), and also to his subjects' not being widely valued in the social sciences. Of his style, Fine and Manning remark that he tends to be seen either as a scholar whose style is difficult to reproduce, and therefore daunting to those who might wish to emulate it, or as a scholar whose work was transitional, bridging the work of the Chicago school and that of contemporary sociologists, and thus of less interest to sociologists than the classics of either of those groups. Of his subjects, Fine and Manning observe that the topic of behavior in public places is often stigmatized as trivial and unworthy of serious scholarly attention.  Nonetheless, Fine and Manning note that Goffman is "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". Elliott and Turner see him as "a revered figure—an outlaw theorist who came to exemplify the best of the sociological imagination", and "perhaps the first postmodern sociological theorist".

Works.

Early works.

Goffman's early works consist of his graduate writings of 1949–53. His master's thesis was a survey of audience responses to a radio soap opera, "Big Sister". One of its most important elements was a critique of his research methodology—of experimental logic and of variable analysis. Other writings from the period include "Symbols of Class Status" (1951) and "On Cooling the Mark Out" (1952). His doctoral dissertation, "Communication Conduct in an Island Community" (1953), presented a model of communication strategies in face-to-face interaction, and focused on how everyday rituals affect public projections of self.

"Presentation of Self".

Goffman's "The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life" was published in 1956, with a revised edition in 1959. He had developed the book's core ideas from his doctoral dissertation. It was Goffman's first and most famous book, for which he received the American Sociological Association's 1961 MacIver Award.  Goffman describes the theatrical performances that occur in face-to-face interactions. He holds that when someone comes in contact with another person, he attempts to control or guide the impression the other person will form of him, by altering his own setting, appearance and manner. At the same time, the second person attempts to form an impression of, and obtain information about, the first person. Goffman also believes that participants in social interactions engage in certain practices to avoid embarrassing themselves or others. Society is not homogeneous; we must act differently in different settings. This recognition led Goffman to his dramaturgical analysis. He saw a connection between the kinds of "acts" that people put on in their daily lives and theatrical performances. In a social interaction, as in a theatrical performance, there is an onstage area where actors (people) appear before the audience; this is where positive self-concepts and desired impressions are offered. But there is also a backstage—a hidden, private area where people can be themselves and drop their societal roles and identities.

"Asylums".

Goffman is sometimes credited with having coined the term "total institution", though Fine and Manning note that he had heard it in lectures by Everett Hughes in reference to any institution in which people are treated alike and in which behavior is regulated. Regardless of whether Goffman coined the term, he popularized it with his 1961 book "Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates". The book has been described as "ethnography of the concept of the total institution". It was one of the first sociological examinations of the social situation of mental patients in psychiatric hospitals and a major contribution to understanding of social aspects of mental illness.  The book comprises four essays: "Characteristics of Total Institutions" (1957); "The Moral Career of the Mental Patient" (1959); "The Underlife of a Public Institution: A Study of Ways of Making Out in a Mental Hospital"; and "The Medical Model and Mental Hospitalization: Some Notes on the Vicissitudes of the Tinkering Trades". The first three focus on the experiences of patients; the last, on professional-client interactions. Goffman is mainly concerned with the details of psychiatric hospitalization and the nature and effects of the process he calls "institutionalization". He describes how institutionalization socializes people into the role of a good patient, someone "dull, harmless and inconspicuous"—a condition that in turn reinforces notions of chronicity in severe mental illness. Total institutions greatly affect people's interactions; yet even in such places, people find ways to redefine their roles and reclaim their identities.  "Asylums" has been credited with helping catalyze the reform of mental health systems in a number of countries, leading to reductions in the numbers of large mental hospitals and of the people locked up in them. It has also been influential in the anti-psychiatry movement.

"Behavior in Public Places".

In "Behavior in Public Places" (1963), Goffman again focuses on everyday public interactions. He draws distinctions between several types of public gatherings ("gatherings", "situations", "social occasions") and types of audiences (acquainted versus unacquainted).

"Stigma".

Goffman's book "Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity" (1963) examines how, to protect their identities when they depart from approved standards of behavior or appearance, people manage impressions of themselves, mainly through concealment. Stigma pertains to the shame a person may feel when he or she fails to meet other people's standards, and to the fear of being discredited—which causes the person not to reveal his or her shortcomings. Thus a person with a criminal record may simply withhold that information for fear of judgment by whomever that person happens to encounter.

"Interaction Ritual".

Goffman's "Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior" is a collection of six essays. The first four were originally published in the 1950s, the fifth in 1964, and the last was written for the collection. They include "On Face-work" (1955); "Embarrassment and Social Organization" (1956); "The Nature of Deference and Demeanor" (1956); "Alienation from Interaction" (1957); "Mental Symptoms and Public Order" (1964); and "Where the Action Is".  The first essay, "On Face-work", discusses the concept of face, which is the positive self-image an person holds when interacting with others. Goffman believes that face "as a sociological construct of interaction is neither inherent in nor a permanent aspect of the person". Once someone offers a positive self-image of him- or herself to others, they feel a need to maintain and live up to that image. Inconsistency in how a person projects him- or herself in society risks embarrassment and discredit. So people remain guarded to ensure that they do not show themselves to others in an unfavorable light.

"Strategic Interaction".

Goffman's book "Strategic Interaction" (1969) is his contribution to game theory. It discusses the compatibility of game theory with the legacy of the Chicago School of sociology and with the perspective of symbolic interactionism. It is one of his few works that clearly engage with that perspective. Goffman's view on game theory was shaped by the works of Thomas Schelling. Goffman presents reality as a form of game, and discusses its rules and the various moves that players can make (the "unwitting", the "naive", the "covering", the "uncovering", and the "counter-uncovering") while trying to get or hide an information.

"Frame Analysis".

"Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience" (1974) is Goffman's attempt to explain how conceptual frames – ways to organize experience – structure an individual's perception of society. This book is thus about the organization of experience rather than the organization of society. A frame is a set of concepts and theoretical perspectives that organize experiences and guide the actions of individuals, groups and societies. Frame analysis, then, is the study of the organization of social experience. To illustrate the concept of the frame, Goffman gives the example of a picture frame: a person uses the frame (which represents structure) to hold together his picture (which represents the content) of what he is experiencing in his life.  The most basic frames are called primary frameworks. A primary framework takes an individual's experience or an aspect of a scene that would originally be meaningless and makes it meaningful. One type of primary framework is a natural framework, which identifies situations in the natural world and is completely biophysical, with no human influences. The other type of framework is a social framework, which explains events and connects them to humans. An example of a natural framework is the weather, and an example of a social framework is a meteorologist who predicts the weather. Focusing on the social frameworks, Goffman seeks to "construct a general statement regarding the structure, or form, of experiences individuals have at any moment of their social life".  Goffman saw this book as his "magnum opus", but it was not as popular as his earlier works.

"The Frame Analyses of Talk".

In "Frame Analysis", Erving Goffman provides a platform for understanding and interpreting the interaction between individuals engaging speech communication. In the chapter "The Frame Analyses of Talk," the focus is put on how words are exchanged and what is being said, specifically in informal talk or conversation. The concept of framing is introduced through an exploration of why misunderstandings occur in these basic, everyday conversations. He argues that they are more errors in verbal framing than anything else. The types of frames Goffman is considering are discussed in previous sections of the book, "fabrications, keyings, frame breaks, misframing, and, of course, frame disputes." That a frame can assume so many forms is the basis of his analyses, "these framings are subject to a multitude of different transformations − the warrant for a frame analysis in the first place."  Goffman's key idea is that most conversation is simply a replaying of a strip – what he describes as a personal experience or event. When we talk with others, the speaker's goal is often always the same, to provide "evidence for the fairness or unfairness of his current situation and other grounds for sympathy, approval, exoneration, understanding, or amusement. And what his listeners are primarily obliged to do is to show some kind of audience appreciation." Essentially, through interaction, we are only looking to be heard, not inspire any kind of action but simply to know that someone listened and understood. This is why often a simple head nod or grunt is accepted as an appropriate response in conversation.  Goffman explains that the way a conversation is keyed is critical to understanding the intent behind many utterances in everyday speech. Key is probably best understood as the tone of the dialogue which can change numerous times during an interaction. Signaling a change in key is one way that framing often takes place, "special brackets will have to be introduced should he want to say something in a relatively serious way: "Kidding aside," "Now, I'm really serious about this," and other such tags become necessary as a means of momentarily down keying the flow of words."  Folklorist Richard Bauman builds heavily on Goffman's work, specifically on the idea of key, in his work pertaining to an analysis of the performance frame. Bauman details that a performance is dependent on it being properly keyed, without this, the display will not be successful. His work on performance analyses is deeply indebted to what Goffman establishes here in "Frame Analyses."  Context is one other element to framing that is essential. "The participants will be bound by norms of good manners: through frequency and length of turns at talk, through topics avoided, through circumspection in regard to references about self, through attention offered eagerly or begrudgingly-through all these means, rank and social relationship will be given their due." Certain things can and will be said in one scenario that would never be uttered in another. An awareness of these social framings is critical, just as is an awareness of the audience. Depending on who you're speaking with (a teacher, a child, a loved one, a friend, a pet, etc.) you will curve your speech to fit the frame of what your intended audience is expecting.  Goffman uses the metaphor of conversation being a stage play. A plays tone will shift throughout the performance due to the actions taken by the actors; this is similar to how a discussion is keyed – based on what either person says or does over the course of an interaction, the key will change accordingly. The parallels go further, though. Goffman also claims that a speaker details a drama more often than they provide information. They invite the listener to empathize and, as was explained above, they're often not meant to be stirred to take action, but rather to show appreciation; during a play this generally takes the form of applause.  Other similarities include engaging in the suspense the speaker is attempting to create. In both scenarios, you must put aside the knowledge that the performers know the outcome of the event being relayed and, in a sense, play along. This is integral to his stance as he explains "the argument that much of talk consists of replayings and that these make no sense unless some form of storyteller's suspense can be maintained shows the close relevance of frame-indeed, the close relevance of dramaturgy-for the organization of talk." Lastly, because the replaying of strips is not extemporaneous, but rather preformulated, it is yet another parallel between a stage production and conversation. All of these things work in concert to provide a foundation of how talk is framed.

"Gender Advertisements".

In Gender Advertisements, he writes about how gender is represented in the advertising we all engage with in our everyday lives. He explains relative size, feminine touch, function ranking, the family, the ritualization of subordination, and licensed withdraw. Relative size means that the women represented in advertisements are generally shown shorter or smaller in comparison to men. Feminine touch is when a woman touches a man or an object in a way that is very loose, and not gripping the object tightly. Function ranking represents a hierarchy in the images, by way that the man is shown in front and largest in front of women and children. The family is typically depicted in a way that gives the father and a son a close relationship, and the mother and a daughter a close relationship. The ritualization of subordination is when women are shown in a lower ranking or worth of an image, and they are smaller, underneath, and overall of lesser importance to men. Finally, licensed withdrawal is when a women is shown as not interested in the camera, or looking off into the distance with head and body cant. Goffman analyzes all of these topics in a very in-depth and easy to understand format.  In her 2001 work "Measuring Up: How Advertising Affects Self-Image", Vickie Rutledge Shields stated that the work was "unique at the time for employing a method now being labeled'semiotic content analysis'" and that it "[provided] the base for textual analyses... such as poststructuralist and psychoanalytic approaches". She also noted that feminist scholars like Jean Kilbourne "[built] their highly persuasive and widely circulated findings on the nature of gender in advertising on Goffman's original categories".

"Forms of Talk".

Goffman's book, "Forms of Talk" (1981), includes five essays: "Replies and Responses" (1976); "Response Cries" (1978); "Footing" (1979); "The Lecture" (1976); and "Radio Talk" (1981). Each essay addresses both verbal and non-verbal communication through a sociolinguistic model. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the study of talk. In the introduction, Goffman identifies three themes that recur throughout the text: "ritualization, participation framework, and embedding".  The first essay, "Replies and Responses", concerns "conversational dialogue" and the way people respond during a conversation, both verbally and non-verbally. The second essay, "Response Cries", considers the use of utterances and their social implications in different social contexts. Specifically, Goffman discusses "self-talk" (talking to no one in particular) and its role in social situations. Next, in "Footing", Goffman addresses the way that footing, or alignment, can shift during a conversation. The fourth essay, "The Lecture", originally an oral presentation, describes different types and methods of lecture. Lastly, in "Radio Talk", Goffman describes the types and forms of talk used in radio programming and the effect they have on listeners.

Positions.

In his career, Goffman worked at the:

Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociologist, social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth century". In 2007 "The Times Higher Education Guide" listed him as the sixth most-cited author of books in the humanities and social sciences, behind Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Anthony Giddens, and ahead of Jürgen Habermas.

Erving Goffman (11. června 1922, Mannville, Alberta, Kanada – 19. listopadu 1982, Filadelfie, Pensylvánie, USA) byl americký sociolog, antropolog, sociální psycholog kanadského původu. Představitel chicagské školy, myšlenkového proudu, který vznikl ve 20. letech 20. století. Předmětem jejího zkoumání byla sociologie města a kriminologie. Od 60. let 20. století patřil mezi nejvlivnější badatele v oblasti mikrosociologie. Uvedl do sociologické analýzy každodenního lidského jednání tzv. dramaturgickou perspektivu, pojmy jako role, scéna, zákulisí atd.


Etymology.

The name "Pinguicula" is derived from a term coined by Conrad Gesner, who in his 1561 work entitled "Horti Germaniae" commented on the glistening leaves: ""propter pinguia et tenera folia..."" (Latin "pinguis", "fat"). The common name "butterwort" reflects this characteristic.

Characteristics.

The majority of "Pinguicula" are perennial plants. The only known annuals are "P. sharpii", "P. takakii", "P. crenatiloba", and "P. pumila". All species form stemless rosettes.

Habitat.

Butterworts can be divided roughly into two main groups based on the climate in which they grow; each group is the further subdivided based on morphological characteristics. Although these groups are not cladistically supported by genetic studies, these groupings are nonetheless convenient for horticultural purposes. Tropical butterworts either form somewhat compact winter rosettes composed of fleshy leaves or retain carnivorous leaves year-round. They are typically located in regions where water is least seasonally plentiful and areas, as too damp soil conditions can lead to rotting. They are found in areas in which nitrogenous resources are known to be in low levels, infrequent or unavailable: due to acidic soil conditions. Temperate species often form tight buds (called hibernacula) composed of scale-like leaves during a winter dormancy period. During this time the roots (with the exception of "P. alpina") and carnivorous leaves wither. Temperate species flower when they form their summer rosettes while tropical species flower at each rosette change.  Many butterworts cycle between rosettes composed of carnivorous and non-carnivorous leaves as the seasons change, so these two ecological groupings can be further divided according to their ability to produce different leaves during their growing season. If the growth in the summer is different in size or shape to that in the early spring (for temperate species) or in the winter (tropical species), then plants are considered heterophyllous; whereas uniform growth identifies a homophyllous species.  This results in four groupings:

Roots.

The root system of "Pinguicula" species is relatively undeveloped. The thin, white roots serve mainly as an anchor for the plant and to absorb moisture (nutrients are absorbed through carnivory). In temperate species these roots wither (except in "P. alpina") when the hibernaculum is formed. In the few epiphytic species (such as "P. lignicola"), the roots form anchoring suction cups.

Leaves and carnivory.

The leaf blade of a butterwort is smooth, rigid, and succulent, usually bright green or pinkish in colour. Depending on species, the leaves are between 2 and 30 cm.(1-12") long. The leaf shape depends on the species, but is usually roughly obovate, spatulate, or linear. They can also appear yellow in color with a soft feel and a greasy consistency to the leaves.` Like all members of the family Lentibulariaceae, butterworts are carnivorous. The mechanistic actions that these plants use to lure and capture prey is through a means of sticky or adhesives substances that are produced by mucilage separated by glands located on the leaf’s surface. In order to catch and digest insects, the leaf of a butterwort uses two specialized glands which are scattered across the leaf surface (usually only on the upper surface, with the exception of "P. gigantea" and "P. longifolia ssp. longifolia"). One is termed a "peduncular gland", and consists of a few secretory cells on top of a single stalk cell. These cells produce a mucilaginous secretion which forms visible droplets across the leaf surface. This wet appearance probably helps lure prey in search of water (a similar phenomenon is observed in the sundews). The droplets secrete limited amounts of digestive enzymes, and serve mainly to entrap insects. On contact with an insect, the peduncular glands release additional mucilage from special reservoir cells located at the base of their stalks. The insect will begin to struggle, triggering more glands and encasing itself in mucilage. Some species can bend their leaf edges slightly by thigmotropism, bringing additional glands into contact with the trapped insect. The second type of gland found on butterwort leaves are "sessile glands" which lie flat on the leaf surface. Once the prey is entrapped by the peduncular glands and digestion begins, the initial flow of nitrogen triggers enzyme release by the sessile glands. These enzymes, which include amylase, esterase, phosphatase, protease, and ribonuclease break down the digestible components of the insect body. These fluids are then absorbed back into the leaf surface through cuticular holes, leaving only the chitin exoskeleton of the larger insects on the leaf surface.  The holes in the cuticle which allow for this digestive mechanism also pose a challenge for the plant, since they serve as breaks in the cuticle (waxy layer) that protects the plant from desiccation. As a result, most butterworts live in humid environments. Butterworts are usually only able to trap small insects and those with large wing surfaces. They can also digest pollen which lands on their leaf surface. The secretory system can only function a single time, so that a particular area of the leaf surface can only be used to digest insects once.

Flowers.

As with almost all carnivorous plants, the flowers of butterworts are held far above the rest of the plant by a long stalk, in order to reduce the probability of trapping potential pollinators. The single, long-lasting flowers are zygomorphic, with two lower lip petals characteristic of the bladderwort family, and a spur extending from the back of the flower. The calyx has five sepals, and the petals are arranged in a two-part lower lip and a three-part upper lip. Most butterwort flowers are blue, violet or white, often suffused with a yellow, greenish or reddish tint. "P. laueana" and the newly described "P. caryophyllacea" are unique in having a strikingly red flowers. Butterworts are often cultivated and hybridized primarily for their flowers.  The shape and colors of butterwort flowers are distinguishing characteristics which are used to divide the genus into subgenera and to distinguish individual species from one another.

Fruit and seed.

The round to egg-shaped seed capsules open when dry into two halves, exposing numerous small (0.5–1 mm), brown seeds. If moisture is present the silique closes, protecting the seed and opening again upon dryness to allow for wind dispersal. Many species have a net-like pattern on their seed surface to allow them to land on water surfaces without sinking, since many non-epiphytic butterworts grow near water sources. The haploid chromosome number of butterworts is either n = 8 or n = 11 (or a multiple thereof), depending on species. The exception is "P. lusitanica", whose chromosome count is n = 6.

Diet.

These species tend to feed on smaller insects, as larger insects can escape from the sticky gland they use to trap their prey. Therefore, their diet includes tiny springtails, midges, and aphids. They can also acquire nourishment from pollen and other plant parts that are high in protein, as other plants can become trapped on their leaves, thus, butterworts are both carnivorous and herbivorous plants. The diet consists of several species from the arthropod taxa, majority of their prey are insects that have wings and are able to fly. The luring, retaining, and seizing of prey is the first steps in the feeding procedure for carnivorous plants; the end result of the process is absorption and digestion of nutrients sourced from these food supplies. Pinguicula species do not select their prey, as they passively accumulate them through methods of sticky, adhesive leaves. However, they do have the ability of visual attraction of their colorful leaves, which will increase the likelihood of luring and capturing a specific taxa. Pinguicula capture their food source/ prey by means of the mucilaginous, sticky substances produced by their stalk glands on the top of their leaf. Therefore, the diet will range depending on the taxonomy and size of the prey due to the plant’s retention ability. These plants trap prey only under a certain size threshold as they are limited to capturing prey of a specific magnitude. These size limitations are known to be the main element influencing what prey sources this carnivorous plant can access Once the prey has become trapped in the peduncular glands, the sessile glands present will then produce enzymes needed to accomplish digestion and breaking down the digestible regions of the prey for their nutrients; taking in the fluids of the food source by means of cuticular holes present on the leaf’s surface.

Vegetative propagation.

As well as sexual reproduction by seed, many butterworts can reproduce asexually by vegetative reproduction. Many members of the genus form offshoots during or shortly after flowering ("e.g.", "P. vulgaris"), which grow into new genetically identical adults. A few other species form new offshoots using stolons ("e.g.", "P. calyptrata", "P. vallisneriifolia") while others form plantlets at the leaf margins ("e.g.", "P. heterophylla", "P. primuliflora").

Distribution.

Butterworts are distributed throughout the northern hemisphere (map). The greatest concentration of species, however, is in humid mountainous regions of Central America (including Mexico) and South America, where populations can be found as far south as Tierra del Fuego. Australia is the only continent without any native butterworts.  Butterworts probably originated in Central America, as this is the center of "Pinguicula" diversity – roughly 50% of butterwort species are found here.  The great majority of individual "Pinguicula" species have a very limited distribution. The two butterwort species with the widest distribution - "P. alpina" and "P. vulgaris" - are found throughout much of Europe and North America. Other species found in North America include "P. caerulea", "P. ionantha", "P. lutea", "P. macroceras", "P. planifolia", "P. primuliflora", "P. pumila", and "P. villosa".

Habitat.

In general, butterworts grow in nutrient-poor, alkaline soils. Some species have adapted to other soil types, such as acidic peat bogs (ex. "P. vulgaris", "P. calyptrata", "P. lusitanica"), soils composed of pure gypsum ("P. gypsicola" and other Mexican species), or even vertical rock walls ("P. ramosa", "P. vallisneriifolia", and most of the Mexican species). A few species are epiphytes ("P. casabitoana", "P. hemiepiphytica", "P. lignicola"). Many of the Mexican species commonly grow on mossy banks, rock, and roadsides in oak-pine forests. "Pinguicula macroceras ssp. nortensis" has even been observed growing on hanging dead grasses. "P. lutea" grows in pine flatwoods. Other species, such as "P. vulgaris", grow in fens. Each of these environments is nutrient-poor, allowing butterworts to escape competition from other canopy-forming species, particularly grasses and sedges.  Butterworts need habitats that are almost constantly moist or wet, at least during their carnivorous growth stage. Many Mexican species lose their carnivorous leaves, and sprout succulent leaves, or die back to onion-like "bulbs" to survive the winter drought, at which point they can survive in bone-dry conditions. The moisture they need for growing can be supplied by either a high groundwater table, or by high humidity or high precipitation. Unlike many other carnivorous plants that require sunny locations, many butterworts thrive in part-sun or even shady conditions.

Conservation status.

The environmental threats faced by various "Pinguicula" species depend on their location and on how widespread their distribution is. Most endangered are the species which are endemic to small areas, such as "P. ramosa", "P. casabitoana", and "P. fiorii". These populations are threatened primarily by habitat destruction. Wetland destruction has threatened several US species. Most of these are federally listed as either threatened or endangered, and "P. ionantha" is listed on CITES appendix I, giving it additional protection.

Botanical history.

The first mention of butterworts in botanical literature is an entry entitled ("lard herb") by Vitus Auslasser in his 1479 work on medicinal herbs entitled "Macer de Herbarium". The name is still used for butterworts in Tirol, Austria.  In 1583, Clusius already distinguished between two forms in his "Historia stirpium rariorum per Pannoniam, Austriam": a blue-flowered form ("P. vulgaris") and a white-flowered form ("Pinguicula alpina"). Linnaeus added "P. villosa" and "P. lusitanica" when he published his "Species Plantarum" in 1753. The number of known species rose sharply with the exploration of the new continents in the 19th century; by 1844, 32 species were known.  It was only in the late 19th century that the carnivory of this genus began to be studied in detail. In a letter to Asa Gray dated June 3, 1874, Charles Darwin mentioned his early observations of the butterwort's digestive process and insectivorous nature. (See Gray Herbarium of Harvard University (103)). Darwin studied these plants extensively. S. J. Casper's large 1966 monograph of the genus included 46 species, a number which has almost doubled since then. Many exciting discoveries have been made in recent years, especially in Mexico. Another important development in the history of butterworts is the formation of the International Pinguicula Study Group, an organization dedicated to furthering the knowledge of this genus and promoting its popularity in cultivation, in the 1990s.

Uses.

Butterworts are widely cultivated by carnivorous plant enthusiasts. The temperate species and many of the Mexican butterworts are relatively easy to grow and have therefore gained relative popularity. Two of the most widely grown plants are the hybrid cultivars "Pinguicula" × 'Sethos' and "Pinguicula" × 'Weser'. Both are crosses of "Pinguicula ehlersiae" and "Pinguicula moranensis", and are employed by commercial orchid nurseries to combat pests.  Butterworts also produce a strong bactericide which prevents insects from rotting while they are being digested. According to Linnaeus, this property has long been known by northern Europeans, who applied butterwort leaves to the sores of cattle to promote healing. Additionally, butterwort leaves were used to curdle milk and form a buttermilk-like fermented milk product called (Sweden) and (Norway).

Classification.

"Pinguicula" belong to the Bladderwort family (Lentibulariaceae), along with "Utricularia" and "Genlisea". Siegfried Jost Casper systematically divided them into three subgenera with 15 sections.  A detailed study of the phylogenetics of butterworts by Cieslak "et al." (2005) found that all of the currently accepted subgenera and many of the sections were polyphyletic. The diagram below gives a more accurate representation of the correct cladogram. Polyphyletic sections are marked with an <nowiki>*</nowiki>.

References.

Much of the content of this article comes from (retrieved March 29, 2009).

Pinguicula, commonly known as the butterworts, is a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. They use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environment. Of the roughly 80 currently known species, 13 are native to Europe, 9 to North America, and some to northern Asia. The largest number of species is in South and Central America.

Tučnice ("Pinguicula") je rod rostlin z čeledi bublinatkovité ("Lentibulariaceae"). Zástupci tučnic patří mezi masožravé rostliny. Lapací orgány tučnic jsou jedny z nejjednodušších mezi masožravými rostlinami - tučnice mají plochu listů pokrytou malými tentakulemi s kapičkou travicího enzymu, na který se droboučký hmyz nalepí. Podobně jako mnoho rosnatek mají některé tučnice schopnost při chycení kořisti list mírně ohnout a zvýšit tak asimilační plochu. Také zvyšují produkci trávicí tekutiny v místě dráždění. V Česku se přirozeně můžeme setkat s tučnicí obecnou ("P. vulgaris") a tučnicí českou ("P. bohemica"), která je českým endemitem.


Life and career.

Early life.

Rossini was born in 1792 in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy that was then part of the Papal States. He was the only child of Giuseppe Rossini, a trumpeter and horn player, and his wife Anna, "née" Guidarini, a seamstress by trade, daughter of a baker. Giuseppe Rossini was charming but impetuous and feckless; the burden of supporting the family and raising the child fell mainly on Anna, with some help from her mother and mother-in-law. Stendhal, who published a colourful biography of Rossini in 1824, wrote:  Giuseppe was imprisoned at least twice: first in 1790 for insubordination to local authorities in a dispute about his employment as town trumpeter; and in 1799 and 1800 for republican activism and support of the troops of Napoleon against the Pope's Austrian backers. In 1798, when Rossini was aged six, his mother began a career as a professional singer in comic opera, and for a little over a decade was a considerable success in cities including Trieste and Bologna, before her untrained voice began to fail.  In 1802 the family moved to Lugo, near Ravenna, where Rossini

First operas: 1810–1815.

Rossini's first opera to be staged was "La cambiale di matrimonio", a one-act comedy, given at the small Teatro San Moisè in November 1810. The piece was a great success, and Rossini received what then seemed to him a considerable sum: "forty "scudi" – an amount I had never seen brought together". He later described the San Moisè as an ideal theatre for a young composer learning his craft – "everything tended to facilitate the début of a novice composer": it had no chorus, and a small company of principals; its main repertoire consisted of one-act comic operas ("farse"), staged with modest scenery and minimal rehearsal. Rossini followed the success of his first piece with three more "farse" for the house: "L'inganno felice" (1812), "La scala di seta" (1812), and "Il signor Bruschino" (1813).  Rossini maintained his links with Bologna, where in 1811 he had a success directing Haydn's "The Seasons",

Naples and "Il barbiere": 1815–1820.

The musical establishment of Naples was not immediately welcoming to Rossini, who was seen as an intruder into its cherished operatic traditions. The city had once been the operatic capital of Europe; the memory of Cimarosa was revered and Paisiello was still living, but there were no local composers of any stature to follow them, and Rossini quickly won the public and critics round. Rossini's first work for the San Carlo, "Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra" was a dramma per musica in two acts, in which he reused substantial sections of his earlier works, unfamiliar

Vienna and London: 1820–1824.

By the early 1820s Rossini was beginning to tire of Naples. The failure of his operatic tragedy "Ermione" the previous year convinced him that he and the Neapolitan audiences had had enough of each other. An insurrection in Naples against the monarchy, though quickly crushed, unsettled Rossini; when Barbaia signed a contract to take the company to Vienna, Rossini was glad to join them, but did not reveal to Barbaia that he had no intention of returning to Naples afterwards. He travelled with Colbran, in March 1822, breaking their journey at Bologna, where they were married in the presence of his parents in a small

Paris and final operas: 1824–1829.

Rossini's new, and highly remunerative, contract with the French government was negotiated under Louis XVIII, who died in September 1824, soon after Rossini's arrival in Paris. It had been agreed that the composer would produce one grand opera for the Académie Royale de Musique and either an "opera buffa" or an "opera semiseria" for the Théâtre-Italien. He was also to help run the latter theatre and revise one of his earlier works for revival there. The death of the king and the accession of Charles X changed Rossini's plans, and his first new work for Paris was "Il viaggio a Reims", an operatic entertainment given in June 1825 to celebrate Charles's coronation. It was Rossini's last opera with an Italian libretto. He permitted only four performances of the piece, intending to reuse the best of the music in a less ephemeral opera. About half the score of "Le comte Ory" (1828) is from the earlier work.  Colbran's enforced retirement put a strain on the Rossinis' marriage, leaving her unoccupied while he continued to be the centre of musical

Early retirement: 1830–1855.

"Guillaume Tell" was well received. The orchestra and singers gathered outside Rossini's house after the premiere and performed the rousing finale to the second act in his honour. The newspaper "Le Globe" commented that a new era of music had begun. Gaetano Donizetti remarked that the first and last acts of the opera were written by Rossini, but the middle act was written by God. The work was an undoubted success, without being a smash hit; the public took some time in getting to grips with it, and some singers found it too demanding. It nonetheless was produced abroad within months of the premiere, and there was no suspicion that it would be the composer's last opera. Jointly with "Semiramide", "Guillaume Tell" is Rossini's longest opera, at three hours and forty-five minutes, and the effort of composing it left him exhausted. Although within a year he was planning an operatic treatment of the Faust story,

Sins of old age: 1855–1868.

Gossett observes that although an account of Rossini's life between 1830 and 1855 makes depressing reading, it is "no exaggeration to say that, in Paris, Rossini returned to life". He recovered his health and "joie de vivre". Once settled in Paris he maintained two homes: a flat in the rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, a smart central area, and a neo-classical villa built for him in Passy, a commune now absorbed into the city, but then semi-rural. He and his wife established a salon that became internationally famous. The

Music.

"The Code Rossini".

The writer Julian Budden, noting the formulas adopted early on by Rossini in his career and consistently followed by him thereafter as regards overtures, arias, structures and ensembles, has called them "the Code Rossini" in a reference to the Code Napoléon, the legal system established by the French Emperor. Rossini's overall style may indeed have been influenced more directly by the French: the historian John Rosselli suggests that French rule in Italy at the start of the 19th century meant that "music had taken on new military qualities of attack, noise and speed – to be heard in Rossini." Rossini's approach to opera was inevitably tempered by changing tastes and audience demands. The formal "classicist" libretti of Metastasio which had underpinned late 18th century "opera seria" were replaced by subjects more to the taste of the age of Romanticism, with stories demanding stronger characterisation and quicker action; a jobbing composer needed to meet these demands or fail. Rossini's strategies met this reality. A

Early works.

With extremely few exceptions, all Rossini's compositions before the "Péchés de vieillesse" of his retirement involve the human voice. His very first surviving work (apart from a single song) is however a set of string sonatas for two violins, cello and double-bass, written at the age of 12, when he had barely begun instruction in composition. Tuneful and engaging, they indicate how remote the talented child was from the influence of the advances in musical form evolved by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven; the accent is on cantabile melody, colour, variation and virtuosity rather than transformational development. These qualities

Italy, 1813–1823.

The great success in Venice of the premieres of both "Tancredi" and the comic opera "L'italiana in Algeri" within a few weeks of each other (6 February 1813 and 22 May 1813 respectively) set the seal on Rossini's reputation as the rising opera composer of his generation. From the end of 1813 to mid-1814 he was in Milan creating two new operas for La Scala, "Aureliano in Palmira" and "Il Turco in Italia". Arsace in "Aureliano" was sung by the "castrato" Giambattista Velluti; this was the last opera role Rossini wrote for a "castrato" singer as the norm became to use contralto voices – another sign of change in operatic taste.

France, 1824–1829.

Already in 1818, Meyerbeer had heard rumours that Rossini was seeking a lucrative appointment at the Paris Opéra – "Should [his proposals] be accepted, he will go to the French capital, and we will perhaps experience curious things." Some six years were to pass before this prophecy came true.  In 1824 Rossini, under a contract with the French government, became director of the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, where he introduced Meyerbeer's opera "Il crociato in Egitto", and for which he wrote "Il

Withdrawal, 1830–1868.

Rossini's contract required him to provide five new works for the Opéra over 10 years. After the première of "Tell" he was already considering some opera subjects, including Goethe's "Faust", but the only significant works he completed before abandoning Paris in 1836 were the Stabat Mater, written for a private commission in 1831 (later completed and published in 1841), and the collection of salon vocal music "Soirées musicales" published in 1835. Living in Bologna, he occupied himself teaching singing at the Liceo Musicale, and also created a "pasticcio" of "Tell", "Rodolfo di Sterlinga", for the benefit of the singer Nikolay Ivanov, for which Giuseppe Verdi provided some new arias. Continuing demand in Paris resulted in the productions of a "new" French version of "Otello" in 1844 (with which Rossini was not involved) and a "new" opera "Robert Bruce" for which Rossini cooperated with Louis Niedermeyer and others to recast music for "La donna del lago" and others of his works which were little-known in Paris to fit a new libretto. The success of both of these was qualified, to

Influence and legacy.

The popularity of Rossini's melodies led many contemporary virtuosi to create piano transcriptions or fantasies based on them. Examples include Sigismond Thalberg's fantasy on themes from "Moïse", the sets of variations on "Non più mesta" from "La Cenerentola" by Henri Herz, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Hünten, Anton Diabelli and Friedrich Burgmüller, and Liszt's transcriptions of the "William Tell" overture (1838) and the "Soirées musicales".  The continuing popularity of his comic operas (and the decline in staging his "opere serie"), the overthrow of the singing and staging styles of his period, and the emerging concept of the composer as "creative artist" rather than craftsman, diminished and distorted Rossini's place in music history even though the forms of Italian opera continued up to the period of verismo to be indebted to his innovations. Rossini's status amongst his contemporary Italian composers is indicated by the "Messa per Rossini", a project initiated by Verdi within a few days of Rossini's death, which he and a dozen other composers created in collaboration.  If Rossini's principal legacy to Italian opera was in vocal forms and dramatic structure for serious opera, his legacy to French opera was to provide a bridge from opera buffa to the development of "opéra comique" (and thence, via Jacques Offenbach's "opéras bouffes" to the genre of operetta). "Opéras comiques" showing a debt to Rossini's style include François-Adrien Boieldieu's "La dame blanche" (1825) and Daniel Auber's "Fra Diavolo" (1830), as well as works by Ferdinand Hérold, Adolphe Adam and Fromental Halévy. Critical of Rossini's style was Hector Berlioz, who wrote of his "melodic cynicism, his contempt for dramatic and good sense, his endless repetition of a single form of cadence, his eternal puerile crescendo and his brutal bass drum".  It was perhaps inevitable that the formidable reputation which Rossini had built in his lifetime would fade thereafter. In 1886, less than twenty years after the composer's death, Bernard Shaw wrote: "The once universal Rossini, whose "Semiramide" appeared to our greener grandfathers a Ninevesque wonder, came at last to be no longer looked upon as a serious musician." In an 1877 review of "Il barbiere", he noted that Adelina Patti sang as an encore in the lesson scene "Home, Sweet Home" but that "the opera proved so intolerably wearisome that some of her audience had already displayed their appreciation of the sentiment of the ballad in the most practical way."  In the early 20th century Rossini received tributes from both Ottorino Respighi, who had orchestrated excerpts from the "Péchés de viellesse" both in his ballet "la boutique fantasque" (1918) and in his 1925 suite "Rossiniana", and from Benjamin Britten, who adapted music by Rossini for two suites, "Soirées musicales" (Op. 9) in 1936 and "Matinées musicales" (Op. 24) in 1941. Richard Osborne singles out the three-volume biography of Rossini by Giuseppe Radiciotti (1927–1929) as an important turning-point towards positive appreciation, which may also have been assisted by the trend of neoclassicism in music. A firm re-evaluation of Rossini's significance began only later in the 20th century in the light of study, and the creation of critical editions, of his works. A prime mover in these developments was the "Fondazione G. Rossini" which was created by the city of Pesaro in 1940 using the funds which had been left to the city by the composer. Since 1980 the "Fondazione" has supported the annual Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.  In the 21st century, the Rossini repertoire of opera houses around the world remains dominated by "Il barbiere", "La Cenerentola" being the second most popular. Several other operas are regularly produced, including "Le comte Ory", "La donna del lago", "La gazza ladra", "Guillaume Tell", "L'italiana in Algeri", "La scala di seta", "Il turco in Italia" and "Il viaggio a Reims". Other Rossini pieces in the current international repertory, given from time to time, include "Adina", "Armida", "Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra", "Ermione", "Mosé in Egitto" and "Tancredi". The Rossini in Wildbad festival specialises in producing the rarer works. The Operabase performance-listing website records 2,319 performances of 532 productions of Rossini operas in 255 venues across the world in the three years 2017–2019. All of Rossini's operas have been recorded.

Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.

Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, někdy i Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29. února 1792 Pesaro, Itálie – 13. listopadu 1868 Passy, Francie) byl italský hudební skladatel, který je známý především díky svým operním dílům, v tomto žánru ustanovil nové standardy. Složil také mnoho písní, několik komorních a klavírních skladeb a psal také duchovní hudbu.


History.

In 1864, Peter Waage and Cato Guldberg pioneered the development of chemical kinetics by formulating the law of mass action, which states that the speed of a chemical reaction is proportional to the quantity of the reacting substances.  Van 't Hoff studied chemical dynamics and in 1884 published his famous "Études de dynamique chimique". In 1901 he was awarded by the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions". After van 't Hoff, chemical kinetics deals with the experimental determination of reaction rates from which rate laws and rate constants are derived. Relatively simple rate laws exist for zero order reactions (for which reaction rates are independent of concentration), first order reactions, and second order reactions, and can be derived for others. Elementary reactions follow the law of mass action, but the rate law of stepwise reactions has to be derived by combining the rate laws of the various elementary steps, and can become rather complex. In consecutive reactions, the rate-determining step often determines the kinetics. In consecutive first order reactions, a steady state approximation can simplify the rate law. The activation energy for a reaction is experimentally determined through the Arrhenius equation and the Eyring equation. The main factors that influence the reaction rate include: the physical state of the reactants, the concentrations of the reactants, the temperature at which the reaction occurs, and whether or not any catalysts are present in the reaction.  Gorban and Yablonsky have suggested that the history of chemical dynamics can be divided into three eras. The first is the van 't Hoff wave searching for the general laws of chemical reactions and relating kinetics to thermodynamics. The second may be called the Semenov--Hinshelwood wave with emphasis on reaction mechanisms, especially for chain reactions. The third is associated with Aris and the detailed mathematical description of chemical reaction networks.

Factors affecting reaction rate.

Nature of the reactants.

The reaction rate varies depending upon what substances are reacting. Acid/base reactions, the formation of salts, and ion exchange are usually fast reactions. When covalent bond formation takes place between the molecules and when large molecules are formed, the reactions tend to be slower.  The nature and strength of bonds in reactant molecules greatly influence the rate of their transformation into products.

Physical state.

The physical state (solid, liquid, or gas) of a reactant is also an important factor of the rate of change. When reactants are in the same phase, as in aqueous solution, thermal motion brings them into contact. However, when they are in separate phases, the reaction is limited to the interface between the reactants. Reaction can occur only at their area of contact; in the case of a liquid and a gas, at the surface of the liquid. Vigorous shaking and stirring may be needed to bring the reaction to completion. This means that the more finely divided a solid or liquid reactant the greater its surface area per unit volume and the more contact it with the other reactant, thus the faster the reaction. To make an analogy, for example, when one starts a fire, one uses wood chips and small branches — one does not start with large logs right away. In organic chemistry, on water reactions are the exception to the rule that homogeneous reactions take place faster than heterogeneous reactions ( are those reactions in which solute and solvent not mix properly)

Surface area of solid state.

In a solid, only those particles that are at the surface can be involved in a reaction. Crushing a solid into smaller parts means that more particles are present at the surface, and the frequency of collisions between these and reactant particles increases, and so reaction occurs more rapidly. For example, Sherbet (powder) is a mixture of very fine powder of malic acid (a weak organic acid) and sodium hydrogen carbonate. On contact with the saliva in the mouth, these chemicals quickly dissolve and react, releasing carbon dioxide and providing for the fizzy sensation. Also, fireworks manufacturers modify the surface area of solid reactants to control the rate at which the fuels in fireworks are oxidised, using this to create diverse effects. For example, finely divided aluminium confined in a shell explodes violently. If larger pieces of aluminium are used, the reaction is slower and sparks are seen as pieces of burning metal are ejected.

Concentration.

The reactions are due to collisions of reactant species. The frequency with which the molecules or ions collide depends upon their concentrations. The more crowded the molecules are, the more likely they are to collide and react with one another. Thus, an increase in the concentrations of the reactants will usually result in the corresponding increase in the reaction rate, while a decrease in the concentrations will usually have a reverse effect. For example, combustion will occur more rapidly in pure oxygen than in air (21% oxygen).  The rate equation shows the detailed dependence of the reaction rate on the concentrations of reactants and other species present. The mathematical forms depend on the reaction mechanism. The actual rate equation for a given reaction is determined experimentally and provides information about the reaction mechanism. The mathematical expression of the rate equation is often given by Here formula_2 is the reaction rate constant, formula_3 is the molar concentration of reactant "i" and formula_4 is the partial order of reaction for this reactant. The partial order for a reactant can only be determined experimentally and is often not indicated by its stoichiometric coefficient.

Temperature.

Temperature usually has a major effect on the rate of a chemical reaction. Molecules at a higher temperature have more thermal energy. Although collision frequency is greater at higher temperatures, this alone contributes only a very small proportion to the increase in rate of reaction. Much more important is the fact that the proportion of reactant molecules with sufficient energy to react (energy greater than activation energy: "E" > "E") is significantly higher and is explained in detail by the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution of molecular energies.  The effect of temperature on the reaction rate constant usually obeys the Arrhenius equation formula_5, where A is the pre-exponential factor or A-factor, E is the activation energy, R is the molar gas constant and T is the absolute temperature.  At a given temperature, the chemical rate of a reaction depends on the value of the A-factor, the magnitude of the activation energy, and the concentrations of the reactants. Usually, rapid reactions require relatively small activation energies.  The 'rule of thumb' that the rate of chemical reactions doubles for every 10 °C temperature rise is a common misconception. This may have been generalized from the special case of biological systems, where the "α" (temperature coefficient) is often between 1.5 and 2.5.  The kinetics of rapid reactions can be studied with the temperature jump method. This involves using a sharp rise in temperature and observing the relaxation time of the return to equilibrium. A particularly useful form of temperature jump apparatus is a shock tube, which can rapidly increase a gas's temperature by more than 1000 degrees.

Catalysts.

A catalyst is a substance that alters the rate of a chemical reaction but it remains chemically unchanged afterwards. The catalyst increases the rate of the reaction by providing a new reaction mechanism to occur with in a lower activation energy. In autocatalysis a reaction product is itself a catalyst for that reaction leading to positive feedback. Proteins that act as catalysts in biochemical reactions are called enzymes. Michaelis–Menten kinetics describe the rate of enzyme mediated reactions. A catalyst does not affect the position of the equilibrium, as the catalyst speeds up the backward and forward reactions equally.  In certain organic molecules, specific substituents can have an influence on reaction rate in neighbouring group participation.

Pressure.

Increasing the pressure in a gaseous reaction will increase the number of collisions between reactants, increasing the rate of reaction. This is because the activity of a gas is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas. This is similar to the effect of increasing the concentration of a solution.  In addition to this straightforward mass-action effect, the rate coefficients themselves can change due to pressure. The rate coefficients and products of many high-temperature gas-phase reactions change if an inert gas is added to the mixture; variations on this effect are called fall-off and chemical activation. These phenomena are due to exothermic or endothermic reactions occurring faster than heat transfer, causing the reacting molecules to have non-thermal energy distributions (non-Boltzmann distribution). Increasing the pressure increases the heat transfer rate between the reacting molecules and the rest of the system, reducing this effect.  Condensed-phase rate coefficients can also be affected by pressure, although rather high pressures are required for a measurable effect because ions and molecules are not very compressible. This effect is often studied using diamond anvils.  A reaction's kinetics can also be studied with a pressure jump approach. This involves making fast changes in pressure and observing the relaxation time of the return to equilibrium.

Absorption of light.

The activation energy for a chemical reaction can be provided when one reactant molecule absorbs light of suitable wavelength and is promoted to an excited state. The study of reactions initiated by light is photochemistry, one prominent example being photosynthesis.

Experimental methods.

The experimental determination of reaction rates involves measuring how the concentrations of reactants or products change over time. For example, the concentration of a reactant can be measured by spectrophotometry at a wavelength where no other reactant or product in the system absorbs light.  For reactions which take at least several minutes, it is possible to start the observations after the reactants have been mixed at the temperature of interest.

Fast reactions.

For faster reactions, the time required to mix the reactants and bring them to a specified temperature may be comparable or longer than the half-life of the reaction. Special methods to start fast reactions without slow mixing step include

Equilibrium.

While chemical kinetics is concerned with the rate of a chemical reaction, thermodynamics determines the extent to which reactions occur. In a reversible reaction, chemical equilibrium is reached when the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are equal (the principle of dynamic equilibrium) and the concentrations of the reactants and products no longer change. This is demonstrated by, for example, the Haber–Bosch process for combining nitrogen and hydrogen to produce ammonia. Chemical clock reactions such as the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction demonstrate that component concentrations can oscillate for a long time before finally attaining the equilibrium.

Free energy.

In general terms, the free energy change (ΔG) of a reaction determines whether a chemical change will take place, but kinetics describes how fast the reaction is. A reaction can be very exothermic and have a very positive entropy change but will not happen in practice if the reaction is too slow. If a reactant can produce two products, the thermodynamically most stable one will form in general, except in special circumstances when the reaction is said to be under kinetic reaction control. The Curtin–Hammett principle applies when determining the product ratio for two reactants interconverting rapidly, each going to a distinct product. It is possible to make predictions about reaction rate constants for a reaction from free-energy relationships.  The kinetic isotope effect is the difference in the rate of a chemical reaction when an atom in one of the reactants is replaced by one of its isotopes.  Chemical kinetics provides information on residence time and heat transfer in a chemical reactor in chemical engineering and the molar mass distribution in polymer chemistry. It is also provides information in corrosion engineering.

Applications and models.

The mathematical models that describe chemical reaction kinetics provide chemists and chemical engineers with tools to better understand and describe chemical processes such as food decomposition, microorganism growth, stratospheric ozone decomposition, and the chemistry of biological systems. These models can also be used in the design or modification of chemical reactors to optimize product yield, more efficiently separate products, and eliminate environmentally harmful by-products. When performing catalytic cracking of heavy hydrocarbons into gasoline and light gas, for example, kinetic models can be used to find the temperature and pressure at which the highest yield of heavy hydrocarbons into gasoline will occur.  Chemical Kinetics is frequently validated and explored through modeling in specialized packages as a function of ordinary differential equation-solving (ODE-solving) and curve-fitting.

Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is to be contrasted with thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in which a process occurs but in itself tells nothing about its rate. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how experimental conditions influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition states, as well as the construction of mathematical models that also can describe the characteristics of a chemical reaction.

Chemická kinetika studuje rychlost chemických reakcí. Analýzou vlivů, které tuto rychlost ovlivňují, podává informace o reakčním mechanismu a tranzitním stavu chemické reakce.


Biography.

Rokossovsky was born in Warsaw, then part of Congress Poland under Russian rule. His family had moved to Warsaw following the appointment of his father as the inspector of the Warsaw Railways. The Rokossovsky family were members of the Polish nobility (of the Oksza coat of arms), and over generations had produced many cavalry officers. However, Konstantin's father, Ksawery Wojciech Rokossowski, was a railway official in the Russian Empire and his Belarusian-born mother Antonina Ovsyannikova was a teacher (born in Telekhany near Pinsk). Orphaned at 14, Rokossovsky earned a living by working in a stocking factory.  In 1911, he became an apprentice stonemason. Much later in his life, the government of People's Republic of Poland used this fact for propaganda, claiming that Rokossovsky had helped to build Warsaw's Poniatowski Bridge. Rokossovsky's patronymic "Ksaverovich" was Russified on his enlistment into the Russian Army at the start of the First World War to " Konstantinovich", which would be easier to pronounce in the 5th Kargopol Dragoon Regiment where he volunteered to serve.

Early military career.

On joining the Kargopolsky 5th Dragoon Regiment, Rokossovsky soon showed himself a talented soldier and leader; he ended the war with the rank of a junior non-commissioned officer, serving in the cavalry throughout the war. He was wounded twice during the war and awarded the Cross of St George. In 1917, he joined the Bolshevik Party and soon thereafter, entered the ranks of the Red Army.  During the Russian Civil War he commanded a cavalry squadron of the Kargopolsky Red Guards Cavalry Detachment in the campaigns against the White Guard armies of Aleksandr Kolchak in the Urals

Great Purge, trial, torture and rehabilitation.

Rokossovsky held senior commands until August 1937 when he became caught up in Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and accused of being a spy. His association with the cutting edge methods of Marshal Tukhachevsky may have been the cause of his conflict with more traditional officers such as Semyon Budenny, who still favoured cavalry tactics over Tukhachevsky's mass armour theories, but few historians believe that the purge of the Red Army was solely a dispute over policy, and most attribute the purges to political and military rivalries as well.  Some officers were merely swept up on suspicion due to past associations; in Rokossovky's case his association with the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army and the intrigues surrounding Marshal Vasily Blyukher, who was arrested shortly after Rokossovsky and who died in prison without confessing, may have been enough to trigger his arrest. Rokossovsky, however, survived.

World War II.

Konstantin Rokossovsky's place in history as a military leader was established in the war known among Soviets as the Great Patriotic War, that began with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. He rose from being a disgraced officer and former prisoner charged with treason, through the rank of Major General, to become a Marshal of the Soviet Union, who was finally put in charge of the victory parade in Moscow at the conclusion of the war in 1945. He played a major role in almost every strategically important operation that eventually led to Soviet victory over Germany during World War II.

1941: Operation Barbarossa; Dubno, Smolensk and Moscow.

Battle of Dubno.

When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941 Rokossovsky was serving as the commander of the 9th Mechanized Corps with the 35th and 20th Tank Divisions, and the 131st Motorized Division under his command.  He was immediately engaged in the early tank battles that raged around the Lutsk-Dubno-Brody triangle, also known as the Battle of Brody — an early Soviet counter-attack that was the most significant Soviet tank operation of the early stages of operation Barbarossa.  The battle involved a large scale attack involving five Mechanized Corps aimed at penetrating the German line in the direction of Lublin based on a plan developed before hostilities commenced. Orders for the attack from Zhukov were met with little enthusiasm from the Southwestern Front staff that wanted to maintain a

Battle of Smolensk.

While Rokossovsky and his fellow Mechanized Corps commanders of the 5th and 6th Army had been interdicting Army Group South's advance in Ukraine, complete disorder and panic gripped the Soviet forces in Byelorussia, where the disabling impact of poor organization, logistics and communications were exponentially greater. The Red Army collapsed under the well coordinated attack of Field Marshal von Bock's Army Group Center. Within seventeen days, during the Battle of Białystok–Minsk three quarters of D.G. Pavlov's Western Front was put out of action; dispersed, captured or killed. Of its initial complement of 625,000 soldiers 290,000 were taken prisoner and 1,500 guns and 2,500 tanks were captured or destroyed. By 30 June the Germans had reached the approaches of the Dnepr river bend where the river departs from its east–west flow, and heads south. The way was open to the strategically important city of Smolensk, where Marshal Simon Timoshenko was reassembling the shattered Western Front on a new defense line. The Battle of Smolensk commenced on 10 July when Army Group Center began advancing on a broad front to the north and south banks of the Dnepr river, just beyond the bend where it begins its southward flow.  The 9th Army attacked north-east toward Veliki Luki. The 3rd Panzer Group under General Hermann Hoth struck east at Vitebsk and then attacked along the land bridge that separates the West Dvina and Dnepr rivers with the aim of enveloping Smolensk from the north. Heinz Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group pushed

Battle of Moscow.

In September 1941 Stalin personally appointed Rokossovsky to the command of 16th Army. He was ordered to defend the approaches to Moscow, and was now under the direct command of General Georgy Zhukov, his former subordinate. The 16th Army (later renamed the 11th Guards Army) played a key role in the Battle of Moscow when it was deployed along the main axis of the German advance along the Volokolamsk Highway that was a central junction of the bitter fighting during the German winter offensive of 1941 (Operation Typhoon), as well as the subsequent Soviet counter-attack of 1941–42.  On

1942: Operation Fall Blau.

In March 1942 Rokossovsky was badly injured by a shell splinter. It was widely rumored that Valentina Serova was a mistress of Rokossovsky during this time. While it's true that Serova, working as a hospital volunteer, met Rokossovski several times while he was recovering from his wound, it is not acknowledged they were lovers. Evidence for their close relationship was found in the accounts of frontline soldiers.  Rokossovski also had another mistress at this time, Dr. Lt. Galina Talanova, with whom he had a daughter in 1945. After two months in a Moscow hospital Rokossovsky was reunited briefly with the 16th Army.

1943: Kursk.

After the victory at Stalingrad the Russian forces advanced to a position that created a bulge 150 km deep and 250 km wide into the German line, around the city of Kursk. This subsequently became known as the Kursk Salient. Rokossovsky command was moved to the north of the salient and was re-designated as a new front, which was twinned with the Voronezh Front, holding the south approaches.  In February 1943 Rokossovsky wrote in his diary: "I'm appointed commander of the Central Front. It means that Stalin has entrusted me to play the key part in the summer Kursk campaign."  Both the Red Army and the Wehrmacht prepared to make a decisive offensive in the summer of 1943 at Kursk. The Germans planned to drive two thrusts one through each flank of the salient and unite them at Kursk in order to cut off substantial Soviet forces, recover from the strategic loss at Stalingrad, and curtail further Russian advance. The Russians, alert to the coming attack put their offensive plans aside and prepared for defense in depth with mass antitank

1944: Operation Bagration & Warsaw Uprising.

A famous incident is consistently reported from various sources in slightly different versions that during the planning in 1944 of Operation Bagration, Rokossovsky disagreed with Stalin, who demanded in accordance with Soviet war practice a single break-through of the German frontline. Rokossovsky held firm in his argument for two points of break-through. Stalin ordered Rokossovsky to "go and think it over" three times, but every time he returned and gave the same answer "two break-throughs, comrade Stalin, two break-throughs". After the third time Stalin remained silent, but walked over to Rokossovsky and put a hand on his shoulder. A tense moment followed as the whole room waited for Stalin to rip the epaulette from Rokossovsky's shoulder; instead, Stalin said "Your confidence speaks for your sound judgement", and ordered the attack to go forward according to Rokossovsky's plan. The battle was successful and Rokossovsky's reputation was assured.

Postwar.

As one of the most prominent Soviet military commanders of the Second World War, Rokossovsky was present at the Victory Parade in Red Square in Moscow in 1945, riding on a black stallion next to Marshal Georgy Zhukov.  After the end of the war Rokossovsky remained in command of Soviet forces in Poland (Northern Group of Forces). Fully four years later, in October 1949 with the establishment of the government under Bolesław Bierut in Poland, Rokossovsky, on Stalin's orders, became the Polish Minister of National Defense, with the additional title of Marshal of Poland. Together with Rokossovsky, several thousand Soviet officers were placed in charge of almost all Polish military units, either as commanding officers or as advisors.  In 1952 he became Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Poland. Although Rokossovsky was Polish by ancestry, he had not lived in Poland for 35 years and most Poles regarded him as a Russian and Soviet emissary in the country. As Rokossovsky himself bitterly put it: "In Russia, they say I'm a Pole, in Poland they call me Russian". Rokossovsky played a key role in the regime's suppression of an independent Poland through stalinization and sovietization in general, and in the Polish Army in particular. As the "de facto" supreme commander of the Polish Army, he introduced various methods for the suppression of anti-Soviet activity, real or imagined. Among the most notorious were the "labour battalions" of the army, to which all able-bodied men found "socially or politically insecure" or guilty of having their families abroad were drafted. It is estimated that roughly 200,000 men were forced to work in these labour camps in hazardous conditions, often in quarries, coal mines, and uranium mines, and 1,000 died in their first days of "labour", while tens of thousands became crippled. Other groups targeted by these repressive measures were former soldiers of the pre-war Polish Army as well as the wartime underground Home Army.  In the June 1956 Poznań protests against local working conditions and living standards, as well as the Soviet occupation of Poland, Rokossovsky approved an order to send in military units. As a result of this over 10,000 soldiers and 360 tanks crushed the protesters, and at least 74 civilians were killed.  In the wake of the Poznan riots and the "rehabilitation" of the formerly imprisoned communist reformer Władysław Gomułka in 1956, Rokossovsky went to Moscow in a failed attempt to convince Nikita Khrushchev to use force against the Polish state. However, Gomułka managed to negotiate with the Soviets, and on the new Polish First Secretary's insistence Rokossovsky was forced to leave Poland. He returned to the Soviet Union, which restored his Soviet ranks and honours; and in July 1957, following the removal from office of Defence Minister Zhukov, Nikita Khrushchev appointed him Deputy Minister of Defence and Commander of the Transcaucasian Military District. In 1958 he became chief inspector of the Ministry of Defence, a post he held until his retirement in April 1962.  He died in August 1968, aged 71. His ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis on Red Square.

Konstantin Konstantinovich (Xaverevich) Rokossovsky (; 21 December 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish officer who became Marshal of the Soviet Union, Marshal of Poland, and served as Poland's Defence Minister from 1949 until his removal in 1956 during the Polish October. He was among the most prominent Red Army commanders of World War II.

Konstantin Konstantinovič Rokossovskij, také Konstantin Rokossovský (, ; – 3. srpna 1968) byl sovětský a polský maršál a polský ministr obrany.


Life.

Anacreon was born in around 582 BC at Teos, an Ionian city on the coast of Asia Minor. The name and identity of his father is a matter of dispute, with different authorities naming four possibilities: Scythianus, Eumelus, Parthenius, or Aristocritus.  It is likely that Anacreon fled into exile with most of his fellow-townsmen who sailed to Thrace when their homeland was attacked by the Persians. There they founded a colony at Abdera, rather than remaining behind to surrender their city to Harpagus, one of Cyrus the Great's generals. Cyrus was, at the time (545 BC), besieging the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Anacreon seems to have taken part in the fighting, in which, by his own admission, he did not distinguish himself.  From Thrace he travelled to the court of Polycrates of Samos. He is said to have been a tutor of Polycrates; that he enjoyed the tyrant's confidence is based on Herodotus, who observes that the poet was sitting in the royal chamber when an audience was given to the Persian herald. In return for his favour and protection, Anacreon wrote many complimentary odes about his patron. Like his fellow-lyric poet, Horace, who was one of his great admirers, and in many respects a kindred spirit, Anacreon seems to have been made for the society of courts.  John Addison, writing in 1735, relates a story told by Stobaeus about Anacreon. Having received a treasure of five gold talents from Polycrates, Anacreon couldn't sleep for two nights in a row. He then returned it to his patron, saying: "However considerable the sum might be, it's not an equal price for the trouble of keeping it".  On the death of Polycrates, Hipparchus, who was then in power at Athens and inherited the literary tastes of his father Peisistratus, sent a special embassy to fetch the popular poet to Athens in a galley of fifty oars. In Athens he became acquainted with the poet Simonides, and other members of the brilliant circle which had gathered around Hipparchus. When this circle was broken up by the assassination of Hipparchus, Anacreon seems to have returned to his native town of Teos, where, according to a metrical epitaph ascribed to his friend Simonides, he died and was buried.  According to others, before returning to Teos, he accompanied Simonides to the court of Echecrates, a Thessalian dynast of the house of the Aleuadae. Lucian mentions Anacreon amongst his instances of the longevity of eminent men, as having completed eighty-five years. If an anecdote given by Pliny the Elder is correct, he was choked at last by a grape-stone, but the story has an air of mythical adaptation to the poet's habits, which makes it more likely to be apocryphal.  For a long time, Anacreon was popular in Athens, where his statue was to be seen on the Acropolis, together with that of his friend Xanthippus, the father of Pericles. On several coins from Teos he is represented holding a lyre in his hand, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing. A marble statue found in 1835 in the Sabine district, and now in the Galleria Borghese, is said to represent Anacreon.

Poetry.

Poetic form and style.

Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre. Anacreon's verses were primarily in the form of monody rather than for a chorus.  In keeping with Greek poetic tradition, his poetry relied on meter for its construction. Metrical poetry is a particularly rhythmic form, deriving its structure from patterns of phonetic features within and between the lines of verse. The phonetic patterning in Anacreon's poetry, like all the Greek poetry of the day, is found in the structured alternation of "long" and "short" vowel sounds. The Ionic dialect also had a tonal aspect to it that lends a natural melodic quality to the recitation. Anacreon's meters include the anacreonteus.  The Greek language is particularly well suited to this metrical style of poetry but the sound of the verses does not easily transfer to English. As a consequence, translators have historically tended to substitute rhyme, stress rhythms, stanzaic patterning and other devices for the style of the originals, with the primary, sometimes only, connection to the Greek verses being the subject matter. More recent translators have tended to attempt a more spare translation which, though losing the sound of the originals, may be more true to their flavor. A sample of a translation in the English rhyming tradition is included below.

Themes and subjects of Anacreon's poetry.

Anacreon's poetry touched on universal themes of love, infatuation, disappointment, revelry, parties, festivals, and the observations of everyday people and life. It is the subject matter of Anacreon's poetry that helped to keep it familiar and enjoyable to generations of readers and listeners. His widespread popularity inspired countless imitators, which also kept his name alive.  Anacreon had a reputation as a composer of hymns, as well as of those bacchanalian and amatory lyrics which are commonly associated with his name. Two short hymns to Artemis and Dionysus, consisting of eight and eleven lines respectively, stand first amongst his few undisputed remains, as printed by recent editors. But hymns, especially when addressed to such deities as Aphrodite, Eros and Dionysus, are not so very unlike what we call "Anacreontic" poetry as to make the contrast of style as great as the word might seem to imply. The tone of Anacreon's lyric effusions has probably led to an unjust estimate, by both ancients and moderns, of the poet's personal character. The "triple worship" of the Muses, Wine and Love, ascribed to him as his religion in an old Greek epigram, may have been as purely professional in the two last cases as in the first, and his private character on such points was probably neither much better nor worse than that of his contemporaries. Athenaeus remarks acutely that he seems at least to have been sober when he wrote. His character was an issue, because, according to Pausanias, his statue on the Acropolis of Athens depicts him as drunk. He himself strongly repudiates, as Horace does, the brutal characteristics of intoxication as fit only for barbarians and Scythians.  Of the five books of lyrical pieces by Anacreon which the "Suda" and Athenaeus mention as extant in their time, only the merest fragments exist today, collected from the citations of later writers.  A collection of poems by numerous, anonymous imitators was long believed to be the works of Anacreon himself. Known as the "Anacreontea", it was preserved in a 10th-century manuscript which also included the "Palatine Anthology". The poems themselves appear to have been composed over a long period of time, from the time of Alexander the Great until the time that paganism gave way in the Roman Empire. They reflect the light hearted elegance of much of Anacreon's genuine works although they were not written in the same Ionic Greek dialect that Anacreon used. They also display literary references and styles more common to the time of their actual composition.

A translated poem.

Typical of most efforts at translation, this 19th-century one by Walter Headlam takes the subject matter of Anacreon's verses and works them into a rhyming style typical of the English poetry written in Headlam's day. The subject of the poem still remains: Anacreon complaining that a young woman, whom he compares to a Thracian filly, doesn't recognize his amatory skills.

Anacreon (; ; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early lyric poetry, it was composed to be sung or recited to the accompaniment of music, usually the lyre. Anacreon's poetry touched on universal themes of love, infatuation, disappointment, revelry, parties, festivals and the observations of everyday people and life.

Anakreón z Teu byl antický řecký básník poloviny 6. století př. n. l. Působil na dvorech tyranů. Pocházel z města Teos v Iónii. Rodiště opustil po ovládnutí oblasti Iónie Perskou říší a účastnil se kolonizace v Thrákii. Byl dvorním básníkem tyranů řeckých městských států. Působil u dvora Polykratova na ostrově Samos. Dále i u dvora tyrana Hipparcha, syna Peisistratova, v Athénách, kde vešel do lidové slovesnosti jako piják a milovník, což dokládají zobrazení na keramice. Zemřel v 84 či 85 letech ve své vlasti.