# On Beauty



## xlwoo (May 31, 2012)

I wrote this in imitation of the style of classcal essay. Hope everyone likes it.
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Beauty often dwells in youth.  At sight of a charming girl, everyone will exclaim,  "My eyes!   What a great beauty!"   The  male stares with a thrill of admiration; the female gazes with a sigh of envy.  Wherever she goes, she becomes the focus of the attention.  Men all yearn to win her heart; women all feel a regret  unable to stand in her shoes.  A glance or  a smile from her makes the stingy  empty his hoard of gold  and the coward  give up his life for her.  She enjoys her queenly  position in society,  proud of the  possession  of  such a beauty.   But the  merciless  Time dogs her steps, too.  Her beauty is worn out with the years. She begins to fade away and the hardship in life,  if any would befall her, will bring more wrinkles on her face.   Then men turn their backs on her politely with a bow;  women look at her with indifference. The younger generation is magnetized round another focus.  The old queen has to abdicate and leave the throne for a young one to occupy.   Only a photo or portrait can preserve her beauty in youth and no Time is capable of doing any injury to her preserved beauty but the preserver itself. 

Therefore, admire not the beauty without, but the beauty within.  Such a beauty will never  wither  though Time also plots to do it harm.  In the struggle against the adversities of life and the ruthlessness  of Time,  it grows  radiant, or even  dazzling, just like a rock in midstream  made  smooth and  glossy  by the current of both the stream and Time. Everyone, in spite of the age and sex, if aware of it, will sing its  praise either  openly in words and letters  or secretly  in mind. It lives as long as the possessor, or even much longer after her dust may be blended into a vase with the clay around it.  

The outward beauty can only be the object of admiration or envy  while the  inward  beauty,  besides being a theme of the ode,  can serve as an example to learn from, for the former is always  endowed by birth,  but the latter  by self-acquirement.  However, every  man  is free  to hold  his own  notion of what the beauty is and to choose whichever of the two beauties he prefers.  Only his love for his bride select should not degenerate with the shrunken beauty.


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## tinacrabapple (Jun 1, 2012)

This is like eating a sour apple on a perfect fall day.  I simply adore this!  It is well written, and I particularly love the classical style you have written it in.  It is an ode! And I hope you show it to your mother, so she knows she did something right when raising you.  What a way to keep an old girl's self-esteem up!  The ending, of course, is the cherry on the cake.  Any bride would be reassured by such an essay.  Well done!


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## Randyjoe (Jun 2, 2012)

Funny _and _true - I especially liked this bit: 





xlwoo said:


> Then men turn their backs on her politely with a bow


. I can just picture it!

When you say "classical essay" do you mean as if written in the early 20th century, or is there literally a classical style of writing essays?


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## newkidintown (Jun 2, 2012)

I'll be honest with you. I really thought this would be relatively easy to critique. I thought, "oh great, an imitation of a classical essay, isn't that just marvy".

But then I read it. Then I read it again. And again. _It's_ beautiful; both "without and within". The voice and style are lovely, and the theme, though an old one, seems totally new and even revolutionary. Needless to say, I loved it to pieces. 

I'm sorry this isn't much of a critique. As I said, I really couldn't find anything to critique.


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## xlwoo (Jun 3, 2012)

Thanks for you guys to take time to comment.  In the process of my learning English literature, I have read many novels and essays and poetry, both in old time and modern. I found that the style of writeing is different in the old time and in the modern one. What do you guys think?  I mean I imitated the old writing style.


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## Colin Palfrey (Jun 3, 2012)

I liked it as it was but I have suggestions which I'm hoping won't offend you.

I would suggest adding some depth to the essay in terms of personalized observations.  For instance, beauty is also relative to the feelings one has for the face they behold.  I have noticed in my life, that when I am in love I see the object of my affections far more favorably than they later deserve.  An example of this would be my relatively recent divorce.  Throughout the marriage I saw her (literally) as she was when we first met.  Only after separating did I suddenly see a shift, and and she aged and changed before my eyes.  I believe this to be an exaggerated effect, but a condition that many experience.  

Beauty is not just something that comes from the inside, or the outside, but is itself a creation of perception.


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## xlwoo (Jun 4, 2012)

YOu are right. I didn't think that way.  Recently I am considering a fact which is entirely concerning the concept of a beholder.  For a Chinese woman with a round flat face, some American men think she is pretty while most Chinese men think she is ugly. So why do some American men think she is pretty?  It may be the different judging standard.


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## Circle (Jun 5, 2012)

I enjoyed the piece xlwoo.  Thank you.  It coincidently came to my attention at a relevant time.

_...women all feel a regret unable to stand in her shoes

_I think there needs to be a comma after "regret".  There is no need for the "a" before "regret" either, however I don't think it is wrong.  But it would more likely be "feel a regret of being unable to stand in her shoes".  However given the tone and style of the article, if you were going to say that I would use, "feel the regret of being unable to stand in her shoes" since you have already introduced the idea of her being the object of admiration.

_She begins to fade away and the hardship in life, if any would befall her, will bring more wrinkles on her face

_I don't think "would" and "will" agree here.  I would write it: "She begings to fade away and the hardship in life, if any befalls her, brings more wrinkles to her face."
I am not sure about "would" here.  I myself need to double-check the usage of "would" and "should".


_The younger generation is magnetized round another focus

_I found this interesting.  "around" instead of "round" would usually be used....however, did you use "round" deliberately as a word used in classical British English literature? Since apparently "around" is more American according to the brief research I have done.

Thanks again for sharing this fantastic piece.


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## bazz cargo (Jun 5, 2012)

Hi Xlwoo,
I don't know where to start. There are a few grammar glitches but that could easily be down to the olde worlde style you adopted. It is neat and easy to read with a depth of morality that is quite refreshing.



> So why do some American men think she is pretty?  It may be the different judging standard.


 This is simple genetics. Strange genes are attractive. That is why there are so many cross cultural marriages. It is probably why there is so many wars.
Good stuff
Bazz


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## xlwoo (Jun 6, 2012)

About grammar: when I wrote this, I didn't think much of grammar. I just let the express of my idea flow along the riverbed of my English language knowledge. Can I use _WOULD_ here, meaning possible?


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## Circle (Jun 7, 2012)

I have looked up the usage and I am fairly sure that "would" is not correct here. I have looked it up in Collins Cobuild, English Usage. 
_She begins to fade away and the hardship in life, if any would befall her, will bring more wrinkles on her face._

Generally speaking you could say, “...any hardship in life would bring more wrinkles to her face.” However the key is you are already describing in present-continuous tense. You have already started the train of thought with, "But the merciless Time dogs her steps..." so it is already happening. "Would" is a tricky modal verb. It is used as an old fashioned polite request form: "I would like to read the papers if you would be so kind as to pass them to me...". It is used in a conditional sentence to mention something that could have, but did not happen. For example: "If he had realized, he would have run away.."


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## xlwoo (Jun 8, 2012)

you are right. thanks for telling me so.


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