Free Essays on Abstract Art

Abstract Expressionism is a form of art (mainly painting) that developed after one of the most difficult periods in human history. This period began during the great depression in the 1930's and ended with the end of World War II in 1945. When the war ended, Germany, Italy and Japan had been defeated and much of Europe and Japan were in ruins. The human loss in the Nazi concentration camps had been exposed in all of its horror and the United States had dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, unleashing destructive power of an unprecedented nature. All of this, of course brought about a worldwide examination of basic human values and ethics and a period of dramatic change in art. Although both the Great Depression and World War II were great disasters, these events were important in forcing a number of the European avant-garde artists to flee Europe for the safety of the United States, where they influenced many younger American artists. It is difficult to know exactly how much this migration affected American art, but part of its impact was that for the first time, American artists became internationally recognized for their new vision and a new artistic vocabulary, all of which soon became known as Abstract Expressionism. These artists, like others earlier in the century, began to express their feelings and thoughts in abstract form. However, the difference here was that they expressed these abstract ideas and feelings with an energy that had never been seen before as they tried to find a means of putting their excitement, inner feelings and even torment into a concrete form. They also took artistic license to an extreme that had never been seen before; and in doing so, they redefined what could be considered art and artistic process.... Free Essays on Abstract Art Free Essays on Abstract Art Abstract Expressionism is a form of art (mainly painting) that developed after one of the most difficult periods in human history. This period began during the great depression in the 1930's and ended with the end of World War II in 1945. When the war ended, Germany, Italy and Japan had been defeated and much of Europe and Japan were in ruins. The human loss in the Nazi concentration camps had been exposed in all of its horror and the United States had dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, unleashing destructive power of an unprecedented nature. All of this, of course brought about a worldwide examination of basic human values and ethics and a period of dramatic change in art. Although both the Great Depression and World War II were great disasters, these events were important in forcing a number of the European avant-garde artists to flee Europe for the safety of the United States, where they influenced many younger American artists. It is difficult to know exactly how much this migration affected American art, but part of its impact was that for the first time, American artists became internationally recognized for their new vision and a new artistic vocabulary, all of which soon became known as Abstract Expressionism. These artists, like others earlier in the century, began to express their feelings and thoughts in abstract form. However, the difference here was that they expressed these abstract ideas and feelings with an energy that had never been seen before as they tried to find a means of putting their excitement, inner feelings and even torment into a concrete form. They also took artistic license to an extreme that had never been seen before; and in doing so, they redefined what could be considered art and artistic process....

Creating Delphi Components Dynamically (at run-time)

Creating Delphi Components Dynamically (at run-time) Most often when programming in Delphi you dont need to dynamically create a component. If you drop a component on a form, Delphi handles the component creation automatically when the form is created. This article will cover the correct way to programmatically create components at run-time. Dynamic Component Creation There are two ways to dynamically create components. One way is to make a form (or some other TComponent) the owner of the new component. This is a common practice when building composite components where a visual container creates and owns the subcomponents. Doing so will ensure that the newly-created component is destroyed when the owning component is destroyed. To create an instance (object) of a class, you call its Create method. The Create constructor is a class method, as opposed to virtually all other methods you’ll encounter in Delphi programming, which are object methods. For example, the TComponent declares the Create constructor as follows: constructor Create(AOwner: TComponent) ; virtual; Dynamic Creation with OwnersHeres an example of dynamic creation, where Self is a TComponent or TComponent descendant (e.g., an instance of a TForm): with TTimer.Create(Self) dobeginInterval : 1000;Enabled : False;OnTimer : MyTimerEventHandler;end; Dynamic Creation with an Explicit Call to FreeThe second way to create a component is to use nil as the owner. Note that if you do this, you must also explicitly free the object you create as soon as you no longer need it (or youll produce a memory leak). Heres an example of using nil as the owner: with TTable.Create(nil) dotryDataBaseName : MyAlias;TableName : MyTable;Open;Edit;FieldByName(Busy).AsBoolean : True;Post;finallyFree;end; Dynamic Creation and Object ReferencesIt is possible to enhance the two previous examples by assigning the result of the Create call to a variable local to the method or belonging to the class. This is often desirable when references to the component need to be used later, or when scoping problems potentially caused by With blocks need to be avoided. Heres the TTimer creation code from above, using a field variable as a reference to the instantiated TTimer object: FTimer : TTimer.Create(Self) ;with FTimer dobeginInterval : 1000;Enabled : False;OnTimer : MyInternalTimerEventHandler;end; In this example FTimer is a private field variable of the form or visual container (or whatever Self is). When accessing the FTimer variable from methods in this class, it is a very good idea to check to see if the reference is valid before using it. This is done using Delphis Assigned function: if Assigned(FTimer) then FTimer.Enabled : True; Dynamic Creation and Object References without OwnersA variation on this is to create the component with no owner, but maintain the reference for later destruction. The construction code for the TTimer would look like this: FTimer : TTimer.Create(nil) ;with FTimer dobegin...end; And the destruction code (presumably in the forms destructor) would look something like this: FTimer.Free;FTimer : nil;(*Or use FreeAndNil (FTimer) procedure, which frees an object reference and replaces the reference with nil.*) Setting the object reference to nil is critical when freeing objects. The call to Free first checks to see if the object reference is nil or not, and if it isnt, it calls the objects destructor Destroy. Dynamic Creation and Local Object References without Owners Heres the TTable creation code from above, using a local variable as a reference to the instantiated TTable object: localTable : TTable.Create(nil) ;trywith localTable dobeginDataBaseName : MyAlias;TableName : MyTable;end;...// Later, if we want to explicitly specify scope:localTable.Open;localTable.Edit;localTable.FieldByName(Busy).AsBoolean : True;localTable.Post;finallylocalTable.Free;localTable : nil;end; In the example above, localTable is a local variable declared in the same method containing this code. Note that after freeing any object, in general it is a very good idea to set the reference to nil. A Word of Warning IMPORTANT: Do not mix a call to Free with passing a valid owner to the constructor. All of the previous techniques will work and are valid, but the following should never occur in your code: with TTable.Create(self) dotry...finallyFree;end; The code example above introduces unnecessary performance hits, impacts memory slightly, and has the potential to introduce hard to find bugs. Find out why. Note: If a dynamically created component has an owner (specified by the AOwner parameter of the Create constructor), then that owner is responsible for destroying the component. Otherwise, you must explicitly call Free when you no longer need the component. Article originally written by Mark Miller A test program was created in Delphi to time the dynamic creation of 1000 components with varying initial component counts. The test program appears at the bottom of this page. The chart shows a set of results from the test program, comparing the time it takes to create components both with owners and without. Note that this is only a portion of the hit. A similar performance delay can be expected when destroying components. The time to dynamically create components with owners is 1200% to 107960% slower than that to create components without owners, depending on the number of components on the form and the component being created. The Test Program Warning: This test program does not track and free components that are created without owners. By not tracking and freeing these components, times measured for the dynamic creation code more accurately reflect the real time to dynamically create a component. Download Source Code Warning! If you want to dynamically instantiate a Delphi component and explicitly free it sometime later, always pass nil as the owner. Failure to do so can introduce unnecessary risk, as well as performance and code maintenance problems. Read the A warning on dynamically instantiating Delphi components article to learn more...

LSBM Research Project Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

LSBM Research Project Report - Assignment Example ..............................................6 Research resources†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..7 Implementation†¦...................................................................................................8 Data collection and analysis †¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9 Recommendation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.14 Report outline 1. Formulation of the research out line 2. Introduction and general background to (LSBM) 3. Identification of the research process 4. Body Identification off the student enrollment problems at (LSBM) Literature review of the possible reasons why (LSBM) has less students Writing a research proposal for the project Preparation of a timetable Matching resources to the different research questions Implementation of research Collection and recording of data Using the best evaluation techniques Interpretation and analysis of the data Recommendations 5. Conclusion Introduction I will begin this essay by looking at how the general plan and strategies of the marketing department is affecting the student population of the school. Being at the centre of London, and having a well financed marketing department, LSBM is expected to have the h ighest number of students who come seeking education in the school. However this is not always the case. Our main question in this essay is to find out if indeed there is a way that the plan and the general strategies of the marketing departments have influenced the student population of the school. What are some of the actions that the school can take to improve the student population in the school and to try to keep the existing students in the school. If there is a problem with the marketing department and their overall marketing strategies, what are some of the things that should be done to help improve their general performance to the school. Different methodologies have been used in this research to collect data and to find out how this data relates with the research question. Research process Marketing process, involves the systematic identification, collection distribution and analysis of data for the purpose of knowing the problem and coming up with a solution. The timing f or performing this research is perfect and we will use quantitative marketing research to come up with the general research methodology and strategy. The strategies that are used here are mostly quantitative since most of the data that we use here is numerical. Factors determining the research project There are lots of influential factors which determine the type of research project to be selected. The main influential factor however is the relevance of the topic of the research paper. A research paper with a more relevant topic has high chances of being selected as compared to a research paper whose topic is completely irrelevant. To know how relevant the topic of a research is, you need to look deeply into the issues which are discussed in the research proposal. If the issues are genuine, then the research qualifies to be chosen. In our case here the most influential factor that has led to the research proj

Visiting Getty Vila Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visiting Getty Vila - Essay Example To her right is an image of the man who seems to be placing something in the bowel held by the woman in her left hand. This woman is naked at the top and she is standing in an attractive stance. Her hair is plaited and her naked chest exposing her breasts is emblazoned with a necklace showing flowers. In the left corner of the plaque, it can also be seen that there are different ornaments placed on what looks like a round table. The vessels are of different shapes and they seem to represent different types of treasure. Upon closer analysis of the plaque, it can be seen that it is designed from an outdoor setting. It seems there is a large tree branch stretching from the upper left corner of the plaque through to the right. Again, I noticed that the child depicted in the portrait is holding a ball in his left hand. He is also standing on a rectangular box probably used to store different types of wealth. The bowel held by the women in her left hand is used to collect different types of treasure which will be stored in a safe place later on. To a larger extent, I believe this piece of art was superbly designed. During the ancient period, silver was used to design different types of treasure. This precious mineral was smelted and designed into different shapes depicting different types of artifacts. Even up to date, I believe that silver is still regarded as one of the most precious minerals found across the globe. It symbolizes wealth and the more silver one had in procession, the wealthier they are considered. In my own opinion, I think this piece of art is authentic in that even up to date, silver is still used to measure the level of wealth possessed by a certain individual or group. This plaque seemed to have been developed during ancient period when there were still little technological developments that could be used to smelt this mineral. It seems that the people who lived during this period were technologically advanced such that they

Consider the development Essay Example for Free

Consider the development Essay The word sonnet is the English translation of the Italian word sonetto, a little sound or song. A sonnet is a poem consisting of fourteen lines, ten syllables in English and Italian and generally twelve in French. There are three basic sonnet forms, the Petrarchan, which is an eight lined and a six lined (octave and sestet) sonnet with no rhyming couplet; the Spenserian, consisting of three quatrains and a couplet; finally the Shakespearian, consisting of three quatrains (four lines) and a couplet. There are different styles of sonnets all over the world. For example, France has its own unique structure that their sonneteers write in and the same with other countries. With all these different countries having different styles of writing that also means there are also different rhyming schemes. Reading sonnets is a great way of learning about different cultural aspects of life; for example during the seventeenth century the central theme of most sonnets was religion. During this time it gave people a great opportunity to learn about many different religions. The use of enjambment occurs in many sonnets. Enjambment is the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break The first sonneteer was Italian, his name was Francesco Petrarch. He was famous for a collection of Italian lyrics which include a long series of love poems. Petrarch wrote his poems about a lady called Laura, whom he met in a church. Laura became the central theme of his poetry. In total Petrarch wrote three hundred and sixty five sonnets. Petrarchs poems were meant to convey his love and devotion to the love of his life Laura. Sonnets moved to England in the sixteenth century. The seventeenth century saw the theme of sonnets change from love to religion. Donne is a good example of a sonneteer of religion. For two-hundred years a minute amount of sonnets were written. This was because they fell out of fashion. However during the nineteenth century sonneteers began to write about the theme of the natural world. William Wordsworth wrote poems such as Composed upon Westminster Bridge. War poetry became popular during the time of 1914-1918. This was because The First World War was happening at the time. War was on everybodys mind. The Poetry was read to the soldiers going off to war to motivate and encourage the soldiers to fight for their families and country. The poem Shall I Compare Thee written by William Shakespeare is about an unknown woman that Shakespeare compares to a summers day as summer is a picturesque time of year. The poem is written in the Shakespearian form. In the second line Shakespeare writes Thou art more lovely and more temperate This quotation informs the reader that although she cannot be compared to a summers day as she is more than the beauty of summer. Shakespeare writes Rough winds do shake the darling buds of Mai, this quotation is about the winds of summer; Shakespeare describes them as a type of rage. The woman could never be like summer as she is kind and caring. At the conclusion of the poem, (the rhyming couplet) Shakespeare writes So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. This quotation informs the reader that she may die. However she will stay alive through the poem. The poem Composed Upon Westminster Bridge written in 1802 by William Wordsworth is about Wordsworth love of natural world and the city of London. The first line of the sonnet reads Earth has not anything to show more fair. In this quotation Wordsworth is sitting on Westminster Bridge looking across the beautiful city of London and is besotted with the picturesque view and feels the world has nothing to compare to it. William Wordsworth writes All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. This quotation informs the reader of the beautiful sunrise and how it glitters across the city. Wordsworth writes The river glideth at his own sweet will. This quotation means that the Thames has many bends on its path through the city of London and has not got a straight journey like other rivers. Wordsworth metaphorically states that the river glides freely. This sonnet is very popular and was voted 24th most popular poem in 1998. The mood of the sonnet is uplifting. The poem Death be not proud written by John Donne is about Donnes personal interpretation of death. John Donne does not fear death; he does not see it as a bad aspect in life. Donne writes Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. This quotation informs the reader that some people may find death an awful, petrifying experience; however it is not, death is a new beginning. Donne writes Thourt slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men, and dost with poison, war and sickness dwell. This quotation informs the reader that in life bad things will happen such as diseases and devastation. The mood of this poem is low key and dark. Donne writes One short sleep past, we wake eternally. This quotation informs the reader that after death our souls go to heaven and we awake eternally. John Donne was born in 1572 and died in 1631 at the age of 59. During Donnes lifetime this would have been considered an old age to die. There was a short life expectancy during this period because of all the disease and drug taking. The poem Peace written by Rupert Brooke is a war poem and it appealed to readers in the First World War as it informs them why their loved ones died in battle. Brooke was a very popular sonneteer as his poems would get the soldiers pumped up and ready for the gruesome activity that is war. Brooke encouraged people to be patriotic, to fight for their country and beliefs. Brook writes Leave the sick hearts that honour could move. This quotation conveys the fact that there are masses of casualties in a war just as there were in World War One. The sonnet The Vanity of his Passion written by Petrarch is addressed to his love, Laura. However he feels unreciprocated love. This could be for two reasons. Laura only exists in his mind or she is out of his league and could never fall in love with him. The sonnet is written in the first person; this is because Petrarch is expressing his love to Laura (There is a direct address to the lady). Petrarch uses many abstract nouns in his writing; he uses two in the title, vanity and passion. The reason for Petrarch using several abstract nouns is that it reflects the abstract nature of his love. Petrarch writes Throughout my song, by hopes and vain griefs bed; this quotation means that Petrarch recognises that he was vain ever to believe that she might ever love him. When Petrarch was younger he thought he was in love; he now realises what it means to be in passion drowned; Petrarch writes That worldly pleasure is a passing dream. This quotation informs that the love is short and cant last. His love is like a dream. The mood of the poem is very desolate as Petrarch wants something he is unable to achieve. In conclusion the central sonnet theme has not changed in hundreds of years, many are still written today. As time has progressed different forms have been introduced such as the Spenserian and the Shakespearian. My favourite sonnet is Shall I compare thee because Shakespeare uses many descriptive language associated with summer and his mysterious woman, this shows the depth of his love for her.

Emily Dickinson on the Addictive Process Essay -- Emily Dickinson Auth

Emily Dickinson on the Addictive Process Awareness of Emily Dickinson has grown and deepened over the course of the twentieth century such that the "delightful" andplatitude-laden verses, as they were initially viewed, have provento be rich, often ironic, highly complex explorations of one poet'ssubjectivity. Dickinson's poetry today challenges us to confrontaspects of our own inner processes in relation to psychologicalpain, death, the world and possible -- though not undoubted --transcendence of it, and frustrated desire, to name just a few ofthe themes. The emergence of discourse on addictions, both tosubstances and to modes of behavior, gives us a framework in whichwe can newly assess one of Dickinson's poems, and even though thepoet's particular life circumstances -- involving the influence ofPuritanism, which would also affect Dickinson's contemporariesHerman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the limitations placed onwomen in nineteenth-century America in general, and EmilyDickinson's own self-limiting reclusive exist ence -- differ fromour late-twentieth-century circumstances, nonetheless Dickinson'spoetry presents the overall shape of the subjective process underlying addiction in such an abstract form, that the work inquestion speaks to us directly over a century later. The circumstances alluded to above brought the poet into a situation in which she was caught between the desire to communicate her reflections on life -- she sent poems as both letters and aesthetic objects with illustrations of a collage character to friends -- and the distrust of worldly success and fame proceeding from the Puritanical tradition embodied in the writings of the eighteenth-century preacher Jonathan Edwards. Whereas a later --and ma... ...mith, Barbara Herrnstein. Poetic Closure: A Study of HowPoems End. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1968. Turner, Clara Newman. "My Personal Acquaintance with Emily Dickinson" in Sewall, Richard B., The Life of EmilyDickinson vol. 1. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,1974. Van Wyck, William. "Emily Dickinson's Songs out of Sorrow." Personalist, 18, no.2 (Spring/April 1937), 183-89. Webster, Noah. A Dictionary of the English Language...inTwo Volumes. London: Black, Young, and Young, 1828. An American Dictionary of the EnglishLanguage...Revised and Enlarged by Chauncey Goodrich. Springfield: Merriam, 1855. Whicher, George Frisbie. "New England Poet" in Mornings at8:50. Northampton: The Hampshire Bookshop, 1950. This Was a Poet: A Critical Biography of EmilyDickinson. New York: Scribner's, 1938. Wolff, Cynthia Griffin. Emily Dickinson. New York:Knopf, 1986.

A Game of Thrones Chapter Thirteen

Tyrion The north went on forever. Tyrion Lannister knew the maps as well as anyone, but a fortnight on the wild track that passed for the kingsroad up here had brought home the lesson that the map was one thing and the land quite another. They had left Winterfell on the same day as the king, amidst all the commotion of the royal departure, riding out to the sound of men shouting and horses snorting, to the rattle of wagons and the groaning of the queen's huge wheelhouse, as a light snow flurried about them. The kingsroad was just beyond the sprawl of castle and town. There the banners and the wagons and the columns of knights and freeriders turned south, taking the tumult with them, while Tyrion turned north with Benjen Stark and his nephew. It had grown colder after that, and far more quiet. West of the road were flint hills, grey and rugged, with tall watchtowers on their stony summits. To the east the land was lower, the ground flattening to a rolling plain that stretched away as far as the eye could see. Stone bridges spanned swift, narrow rivers, while small farms spread in rings around holdfasts walled in wood and stone. The road was well trafficked, and at night for their comfort there were rude inns to be found. Three days ride from Winterfell, however, the farmland gave way to dense wood, and the kingsroad grew lonely. The flint hills rose higher and wilder with each passing mile, until by the fifth day they had turned into mountains, cold blue-grey giants with jagged promontories and snow on their shoulders. When the wind blew from the north, long plumes of ice crystals flew from the high peaks like banners. With the mountains a wall to the west, the road veered north by northeast through the wood, a forest of oak and evergreen and black brier that seemed older and darker than any Tyrion had ever seen. â€Å"The wolfswood,† Benjen Stark called it, and indeed their nights came alive with the howls of distant packs, and some not so distant. Jon Snow's albino direwolf pricked up his ears at the nightly howling, but never raised his own voice in reply. There was something very unsettling about that animal, Tyrion thought. There were eight in the party by then, not counting the wolf. Tyrion traveled with two of his own men, as befit a Lannister. Benjen Stark had only his bastard nephew and some fresh mounts for the Night's Watch, but at the edge of the wolfswood they stayed a night behind the wooden walls of a forest holdfast, and there joined up with another of the black brothers, one Yoren. Yoren was stooped and sinister, his features hidden behind a beard as black as his clothing, but he seemed as tough as an old root and as hard as stone. With him were a pair of ragged peasant boys from the Fingers. â€Å"Rapers,† Yoren said with a cold look at his charges. Tyrion understood. Life on the Wall was said to be hard, but no doubt it was preferable to castration. Five men, three boys, a direwolf, twenty horses, and a cage of ravens given over to Benjen Stark by Maester Luwin. No doubt they made a curious fellowship for the kingsroad, or any road. Tyrion noticed Jon Snow watching Yoren and his sullen companions, with an odd cast to his face that looked uncomfortably like dismay. Yoren had a twisted shoulder and a sour smell, his hair and beard were matted and greasy and full of lice, his clothing old, patched, and seldom washed. His two young recruits smelled even worse, and seemed as stupid as they were cruel. No doubt the boy had made the mistake of thinking that the Night's Watch was made up of men like his uncle. If so, Yoren and his companions were a rude awakening. Tyrion felt sorry for the boy. He had chosen a hard life . . . or perhaps he should say that a hard life had been chosen for him. He had rather less sympathy for the uncle. Benjen Stark seemed to share his brother's distaste for Lannisters, and he had not been pleased when Tyrion had told him of his intentions. â€Å"I warn you, Lannister, you'll find no inns at the Wall,† he had said, looking down on him. â€Å"No doubt you'll find some place to put me,† Tyrion had replied. â€Å"As you might have noticed, I'm small.† One did not say no to the queen's brother, of course, so that had settled the matter, but Stark had not been happy. â€Å"You will not like the ride, I promise you that,† he'd said curtly, and since the moment they set out, he had done all he could to live up to that promise. By the end of the first week, Tyrion's thighs were raw from hard riding, his legs were cramping badly, and he was chilled to the bone. He did not complain. He was damned if he would give Benjen Stark that satisfaction. He took a small revenge in the matter of his riding fur, a tattered bearskin, old and musty-smelling. Stark had offered it to him in an excess of Night's Watch gallantry, no doubt expecting him to graciously decline. Tyrion had accepted with a smile. He had brought his warmest clothing with him when they rode out of Winterfell, and soon discovered that it was nowhere near warm enough. It was cold up here, and growing colder. The nights were well below freezing now, and when the wind blew it was like a knife cutting right through his warmest woolens. By now Stark was no doubt regretting his chivalrous impulse. Perhaps he had learned a lesson. The Lannisters never declined, graciously or otherwise. The Lannisters took what was offered. Farms and holdfasts grew scarcer and smaller as they pressed northward, ever deeper into the darkness of the wolfswood, until finally there were no more roofs to shelter under, and they were thrown back on their own resources. Tyrion was never much use in making a camp or breaking one. Too small, too hobbled, too in-the-way. So while Stark and Yoren and the other men erected rude shelters, tended the horses, and built a fire, it became his custom to take his fur and a wineskin and go off by himself to read. On the eighteenth night of their journey, the wine was a rare sweet amber from the Summer Isles that he had brought all the way north from Casterly Rock, and the book a rumination on the history and properties of dragons. With Lord Eddard Stark's permission, Tyrion had borrowed a few rare volumes from the Winterfell library and packed them for the ride north. He found a comfortable spot just beyond the noise of the camp, beside a swift-running stream with waters clear and cold as ice. A grotesquely ancient oak provided shelter from the biting wind. Tyrion curled up in his fur with his back against the trunk, took a sip of the wine, and began to read about the properties of dragonbone. Dragonbone is black because of its high iron content, the book told him. It is strong as steel, yet lighter and far more flexible, and of course utterly impervious to fire. Dragonbone bows are greatly prized by the Dothraki, and small wonder. An archer so armed can outrange any wooden bow. Tyrion had a morbid fascination with dragons. When he had first come to King's Landing for his sister's wedding to Robert Baratheon, he had made it a point to seek out the dragon skulls that had hung on the walls of Targaryen's throne room. King Robert had replaced them with banners and tapestries, but Tyrion had persisted until he found the skulls in the dank cellar where they had been stored. He had expected to find them impressive, perhaps even frightening. He had not thought to find them beautiful. Yet they were. As black as onyx, polished smooth, so the bone seemed to shimmer in the light of his torch. They liked the fire, he sensed. He'd thrust the torch into the mouth of one of the larger skulls and made the shadows leap and dance on the wall behind him. The teeth were long, curving knives of black diamond. The flame of the torch was nothing to them; they had bathed in the heat of far greater fires. When he had moved away, Tyrion could have sworn that the beast's empty eye sockets had watched him go. There were nineteen skulls. The oldest was more than three thousand years old; the youngest a mere century and a half. The most recent were also the smallest; a matched pair no bigger than mastiff's skulls, and oddly misshapen, all that remained of the last two hatchlings born on Dragonstone. They were the last of the Targaryen dragons, perhaps the last dragons anywhere, and they had not lived very long. From there the skulls ranged upward in size to the three great monsters of song and story, the dragons that Aegon Targaryen and his sisters had unleashed on the Seven Kingdoms of old. The singers had given them the names of gods: Balerion, Meraxes, Vhaghar. Tyrion had stood between their gaping jaws, wordless and awed. You could have ridden a horse down Vhaghar's gullet, although you would not have ridden it out again. Meraxes was even bigger. And the greatest of them, Balerion, the Black Dread, could have swallowed an aurochs whole, or even one of the hairy mammoths said to roam the cold wastes beyond the Port of Ibben. Tyrion stood in that dank cellar for a long time, staring at Balerion's huge, empty-eyed skull until his torch burned low, trying to grasp the size of the living animal, to imagine how it must have looked when it spread its great black wings and swept across the skies, breathing fire. His own remote ancestor, King Loren of the Rock, had tried to stand against the fire when he joined with King Mern of the Reach to oppose the Targaryen conquest. That was close on three hundred years ago, when the Seven Kingdoms were kingdoms, and not mere provinces of a greater realm. Between them, the Two Kings had six hundred banners flying, five thousand mounted knights, and ten times as many freeriders and men-at-arms. Aegon Dragonlord had perhaps a fifth that number, the chroniclers said, and most of those were conscripts from the ranks of the last king he had slain, their loyalties uncertain. The hosts met on the broad plains of the Reach, amidst golden fields of wheat ripe for harvest. When the Two Kings charged, the Targaryen army shivered and shattered and began to run. For a few moments, the chroniclers wrote, the conquest was at an end . . . but only for those few moments, before Aegon Targaryen and his sisters joined the battle. It was the only time that Vhaghar, Meraxes, and Balerion were all unleashed at once. The singers called it the Field of Fire. Near four thousand men had burned that day, among them King Mern of the Reach. King Loren had escaped, and lived long enough to surrender, pledge his fealty to the Targaryens, and beget a son, for which Tyrion was duly grateful. â€Å"Why do you read so much?† Tyrion looked up at the sound of the voice. Jon Snow was standing a few feet away, regarding him curiously. He closed the book on a finger and said, â€Å"Look at me and tell me what you see.† The boy looked at him suspiciously. â€Å"Is this some kind of trick? I see you. Tyrion Lannister.† Tyrion sighed. â€Å"You are remarkably polite for a bastard, Snow. What you see is a dwarf. You are what, twelve?† â€Å"Fourteen,† the boy said. â€Å"Fourteen, and you're taller than I will ever be. My legs are short and twisted, and I walk with difficulty. I require a special saddle to keep from falling off my horse. A saddle of my own design, you may be interested to know. It was either that or ride a pony. My arms are strong enough, but again, too short. I will never make a swordsman. Had I been born a peasant, they might have left me out to die, or sold me to some slaver's grotesquerie. Alas, I was born a Lannister of Casterly Rock, and the grotesqueries are all the poorer. Things are expected of me. My father was the Hand of the King for twenty years. My brother later killed that very same king, as it turns out, but life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king and my repulsive nephew will be king after him. I must do my part for the honor of my House, wouldn't you agree? Yet how? Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large eno ugh for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind . . . and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.† Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. â€Å"That's why I read so much, Jon Snow.† The boy absorbed that all in silence. He had the Stark face if not the name: long, solemn, guarded, a face that gave nothing away. Whoever his mother had been, she had left little of herself in her son. â€Å"What are you reading about?† he asked. â€Å"Dragons,† Tyrion told him. â€Å"What good is that? There are no more dragons,† the boy said with the easy certainty of youth. â€Å"So they say,† Tyrion replied. â€Å"Sad, isn't it? When I was your age, used to dream of having a dragon of my own.† â€Å"You did?† the boy said suspiciously. Perhaps he thought Tyrion was making fun of him. â€Å"Oh, yes. Even a stunted, twisted, ugly little boy can look down over the world when he's seated on a dragon's back.† Tyrion pushed the bearskin aside and climbed to his feet. â€Å"I used to start fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock and stare at the flames for hours, pretending they were dragonfire. Sometimes I'd imagine my father burning. At other times, my sister.† Jon Snow was staring at him, a look equal parts horror and fascination. Tyrion guffawed. â€Å"Don't look at me that way, bastard. I know your secret. You've dreamt the same kind of dreams.† â€Å"No,† Jon Snow said, horrified. â€Å"I wouldn't . . . â€Å" â€Å"No? Never?† Tyrion raised an eyebrow. â€Å"Well, no doubt the Starks have been terribly good to you. I'm certain Lady Stark treats you as if you were one of her own. And your brother Robb, he's always been kind, and why not? He gets Winterfell and you get the Wall. And your father . . . he must have good reasons for packing you off to the Night's Watch . . . â€Å" â€Å"Stop it,† Jon Snow said, his face dark with anger. â€Å"The Night's Watch is a noble calling!† Tyrion laughed. â€Å"You're too smart to believe that. The Night's Watch is a midden heap for all the misfits of the realm. I've seen you looking at Yoren and his boys. Those are your new brothers, Jon Snow, how do you like them? Sullen peasants, debtors, poachers, rapers, thieves, and bastards like you all wind up on the Wall, watching for grumkins and snarks and all the other monsters your wet nurse warned you about. The good part is there are no grumkins or snarks, so it's scarcely dangerous work. The bad part is you freeze your balls off, but since you're not allowed to breed anyway, I don't suppose that matters.† â€Å"Stop it!† the boy screamed. He took a step forward, his hands coiling into fists, close to tears. Suddenly, absurdly, Tyrion felt guilty. He took a step forward, intending to give the boy a reassuring pat on the shoulder or mutter some word of apology. He never saw the wolf, where it was or how it came at him. One moment he was walking toward Snow and the next he was flat on his back on the hard rocky ground, the book spinning away from him as he fell, the breath going out of him at the sudden impact, his mouth full of dirt and blood and rotting leaves. As he tried to get up, his back spasmed painfully. He must have wrenched it in the fall. He ground his teeth in frustration, grabbed a root, and pulled himself back to a sitting position. â€Å"Help me,† he said to the boy, reaching up a hand. And suddenly the wolf was between them. He did not growl. The damned thing never made a sound. He only looked at him with those bright red eyes, and showed him his teeth, and that was more than enough. Tyrion sagged back to the ground with a grunt. â€Å"Don't help me, then. I'll sit right here until you leave.† Jon Snow stroked Ghost's thick white fur, smiling now. â€Å"Ask me nicely.† Tyrion Lannister felt the anger coiling inside him, and crushed it out with a will. It was not the first time in his life he had been humiliated, and it would not be the last. Perhaps he even deserved this. â€Å"I should be very grateful for your kind assistance, Jon,† he said mildly. â€Å"Down, Ghost,† the boy said. The direwolf sat on his haunches. Those red eyes never left Tyrion. Jon came around behind him, slid his hands under his arms, and lifted him easily to his feet. Then he picked up the book and handed it back. â€Å"Why did he attack me?† Tyrion asked with a sidelong glance at the direwolf. He wiped blood and dirt from his mouth with the back of his hand. â€Å"Maybe he thought you were a grumkin.† Tyrion glanced at him sharply. Then he laughed, a raw snort of amusement that came bursting out through his nose entirely without his permission. â€Å"Oh, gods,† he said, choking on his laughter and shaking his head, â€Å"I suppose I do rather look like a grumkin. What does he do to snarks?† â€Å"You don't want to know.† Jon picked up the wineskin and handed it to Tyrion. Tyrion pulled out the stopper, tilted his head, and squeezed a long stream into his mouth. The wine was cool fire as it trickled down his throat and warmed his belly. He held out the skin to Jon Snow. â€Å"Want some?† The boy took the skin and tried a cautious swallow. â€Å"It's true, isn't it?† he said when he was done. â€Å"What you said about the Night's Watch.† Tyrion nodded. Jon Snow set his mouth in a grim line. â€Å"If that's what it is, that's what it is.† Tyrion grinned at him. â€Å"That's good, bastard. Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.† â€Å"Most men,† the boy said. â€Å"But not you.† â€Å"No,† Tyrion admitted, â€Å"not me. I seldom even dream of dragons anymore. There are no dragons.† He scooped up the fallen bearskin. â€Å"Come, we had better return to camp before your uncle calls the banners.† The walk was short, but the ground was rough underfoot and his legs were cramping badly by the time they got back. Jon Snow offered a hand to help him over a thick tangle of roots, but Tyrion shook him off. He would make his own way, as he had all his life. Still, the camp was a welcome sight. The shelters had been thrown up against the tumbledown wall of a long-abandoned holdfast, a shield against the wind. The horses had been fed and a fire had been laid. Yoren sat on a stone, skinning a squirrel. The savory smell of stew filled Tyrion's nostrils. He dragged himself over to where his man Morrec was tending the stewpot. Wordlessly, Morrec handed him the ladle. Tyrion tasted and handed it back. â€Å"More pepper,† he said. Benjen Stark emerged from the shelter he shared with his nephew. â€Å"There you are. Jon, damn it, don't go off like that by yourself. I thought the Others had gotten you.† â€Å"It was the grumkins,† Tyrion told him, laughing. Jon Snow smiled. Stark shot a baffled look at Yoren. The old man grunted, shrugged, and went back to his bloody work. The squirrel gave some body to the stew, and they ate it with black bread and hard cheese that night around their fire. Tyrion shared around his skin of wine until even Yoren grew mellow. One by one the company drifted off to their shelters and to sleep, all but Jon Snow, who had drawn the night's first watch. Tyrion was the last to retire, as always. As he stepped into the shelter his men had built for him, he paused and looked back at Jon Snow. The boy stood near the fire, his face still and hard, looking deep into the flames. Tyrion Lannister smiled sadly and went to bed.