Actual and Symbolic Barriers in Robert Frosts Mending Wall Essay

Actual and Symbolic Barriers in Robert Frosts Mending Wall The appearance of barriers, both literal and figurative, is significant to the narrative of Robert Frosts Mending Wall. The story in this piece revolves around a wall separating two men, their yards, and their lives. The wall is not only a physical boundary it also symbolizes the barriers between the two in other aspects of their lives.The most noticeable barrier in this work is obviously the wall dividing the yard. The reason for a wall between the trees is unknown to the narrator and the reader. The speaker unit questions the look at for the close in when he says, Before I built a wall Id ask to know/ What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was the likes of to give offense. These feelings are expressed also in lines 23 through 26. The wall is located between the neighbors pine grove and the speakers apple orchard. Is there a point in dividing these trees? Even though the narrator does not know the pur pose of the wall, he is always the one responsible for making sure it is desexualiseed every(prenominal) year. More than likely he unconsciously feels a need for the fence too. Perhaps it is a need for his privacy or maybe it is a need to have a connection with the outside world. In the lines Where they have not left one stone on a stone, / But they would have the hunt down out of hiding, the wall represents the barriers people put up so that their vulnerabilities and secrets can remain hidden. Once this wall is broken there is a need to mend it in order to keep others from seeing what is on the opposite side of the wall. There are other instances of the wall representing the need for separation between in the flesh(predicate) and private aspects of lives. In lines 16 though 20, ... ...need to keep the wall up in order to protect themselves from outsiders. At the same time though, the need for the religious rite of mending the fence is beyond their control. The narrator st ates, Something there is that doesnt love a wall...And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. (Lines 1-4) The choice to pass through the fence is available, and so is the choice to mend the wall each year. Both know that the fence will fall again and the next spring they will be reunited. As long as the literal wall exists there will be contact between the two men. However as long as the figurative barriers remain, the distance between them is further than any fence could separate them. Work CitedRobert Frost. Mending Wall. Making Literature Matter An Anthology for Readers and Writers. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. brand-new York Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. p106-107.

Civil Disobedience in Famous Literature Essay -- Plato Socrates Philos

Civil Disobedience in Famous LiteratureA society or a people cannot let a government slip away them blindly. With misrepresentation comes a whole new form of unjustness. The strong are the ones who do not give into demands placed upon them if they do not agree those who hold to conform to society those who stick to their beliefs, no matter the cost. In many cases, those people are the ones who practice civil disobedience. Martin Luther King, Henry Thoreau, Socrates All advocated that they should not be denied their freedom, and all were considered disobedient. The government rules itself not by appealing to mans sense, intellectual or moral, but only through his body, his senses. It is not armed with surpassing wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. (Thoreau) At a certain point, government does nothing but put fear upon its subjects, so that they would preferably obey the law than risk the consequence of not. Such an example in seen in Sophocles renowned play, Antig one. In the story, Ismene portrays the role of a submissive sister, whos obedience to law blinds he...

Good Times :: Media Television Shows Papers

Good TimesOriginally aired on CBS in 1974 as a spinoff of the sitcom Maude, Good Times was a Black situation comedy based on the everyday lives of a Black kale family during the height of the courteous rights movement (Deane, 2004). The cast starred Esther Rolles as the mother Florida Evans who first appeared as the maid in the video show Maude, John Amos as the father James Evans who starred in the hit miniseries Roots, comedian Jimmie Walker who contend the oldest son James Evans Jr. (JJ), Janet DuBois as neighbor and friend of the Evans family Willona Woods, Ralph Carter who played the youngest son Michael Evans, and Anderson Bern Nadette Stanis as daughter Thelma Evans (Deane, 2004).Good Times took place in the assimilated hybrid minstrelsy genre of Black sitcoms which means that it often had offensive conventional aspects present such as mammy and sambo characters, but these characteristics took place in a traditional white sitcom setting and often had references to the Bla ck civil rights movement that was taking place at the time. Originally created to show African Americans in a different more positive light, it gained popularity with Black and White audiences quickly and rated number seventeen for the 1973-1974 seasons (Ingram, 2004). As the show proceeded however, it began to drift away from its original purpose as the character JJs popularity began to grow. Often criticized for his similarities to buffoonish minstrel characters in premature television history, JJ was seen as doing a disservice to the show causing Esther Rolles and John Amos to leave. Attempting to continue the show and regain ratings, the shows producers centered episodes around the hijinks of JJ, but unfortunately the shows ratings continued to fall and the show was cancelled. This brings us to the question at hand. Was Good Times a show that portrayed Blacks in a positive carriage to the American public, or was it more of the nail in the coffin to the positive identity of B lack America?Positive AspectsGood Times was an interesting 1970s television comedy series that explored the life of a poor black family. This family was simply trying to get by and have a good life in the projects of Chicago. The Evans family was a family that faced real problems on the show and encountered many different situations which they had to overcome. When the show was debuted on February 1, 1974, the series starred John Amos and Esther Rolle as James and Maude (the parents) (Ingram).

Consciousness Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

ConsciousnessTo define such a universally experienced phenomena as intellect may be on the most superficial level rather unnecessary. Yet a more scientific, and at times philosophical, investigation into the phenomena demands some sort of confirmed description which supercedes any such common understanding. For our purposes the content of consciousness may be deemed those things of which wiz is aware and thus can report. Thinking, as well, and the higher-level mechanisms associated there in may also be components of this consciousness. While additionally an individuals conception that the way in which she experiences the world comes from more than just the neuronal activity of her brain can be understood as a contribution of said consciousness (2). In his Consciousness and Neuroscience, Francis Crick and Christof Koch searched for the active neuronal processes in ones head which correlate with consciousness. This well articulated investigation into the neuronal correlate of cons ciousness (NCC) utilizes the nature of the visual representation to explore what they hypothesize to be a basic common mechanism, or tote up of mechanisms, which may account for consciousness (1). Crick and Koch introduces the argument that to be aware of an object or event, the brain has to construct a multilevel, explicit, symbolic interpretation of factor of the visual scene. Certainly the neuronal activity resulting from the varied patterns of light falling on ones photoreceptors does not alone explain the extent of visual experiences which one may conceive. Indeed the impression of completeness of any given perception proves largely false. Rather, the vivid scene has been made-up by the brain, constructed out of aware... ...n perceives it. Web Sources1)Consciousness and Neurosceince http//www.klab.caltech.edu/koch/crick-koch-cc-97.html2)Scientific Studies of Consciousness http//www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/ psychology/cogsci/kcave/Psy115A/consciouc.%20html3)Notes and Suggestions t owards A Theory of Consciousness http//www.culture.com.au/brain_proj/hyp-cons.htm4)An Introduction to the Physiology of Ordinary Consciousness http//www.culture.com.au/brain_proj/physiol.htm5)Does Consciousness Exist? http//www.culture.com.au/brain_proj/vaidya.htm6)NEUROSCIENCE http//www.bakery.demon.co.uk/SPECIAL/02_00.html7)NEUROSCIENCE - Specific Brain Regions http//www.bakery.demon.co.uk/SPECIAL/02_14.html8)Serendip - Exploring the Consciousness Problem an actus reus occurred while processing this directive http//serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/consciousness/

Egyptian Mummification: It’s History, Purpose, and Process Essays

Egyptian Mummification Its History, Purpose, and ProcessThe history and tradition of Egypt is one of the most greatly studied and admired of each(prenominal) past world civilizations. The lure of the pyramids and the specter of the sphinx have led many archeologists to dedicate his/her life to unraveling the mysteries of ancient Egyptian culture. Arguably, the most captivating aspect of Egypts past is that of mummification. Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? What beliefs did the Egyptians have regarding the after life? What portion of the Egyptian civilization was mummified? What was the Book of the Dead? This is a mere take in of the questions that come to my mind when I think of ancient Egyptian culture. I hope to lay forth answers to these questions and many more in the following pages commit to the history and purpose behind Egyptian mummification.Mummification, with its long, storied history, has allowed archeologists to peer into the daily lives and beliefs of ancient Egyptian middle-class and royalty. The practice of mummification by the Egyptians seems to have started old before 3100 BC. However, lack of written evidence or significant physical proof from this Predynastic period is available to either confirm or deny this. virtuoso of the oldest surviving mummies is Ginger, currently stored at the British Museum. Ginger was buried in a shallow grave and wrapped only in light framework but due to the hot, dry desert he survived intact to discovery in the late 19th century (Andrews 5). Gingers name comes from the polish of his hair, fragments of which are still attached to his body. Evidence from his discovery supports the belief that even at this early age the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. Tools and pottery we... ...ould be very thankful to the Egyptian people for leaving us this gift, which paints for us such a clear picture of their legacy.Works CitedAldred, Cyril. The Egyptians. New York Thames and Hudson Inc., 1984.Andrews, Carol . Egyptian Mummies. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1984.Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Mummy A vade mecum of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology.2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1925.Casson, Lionel. Ancient Egypt. New York Time Incorporated, 1965.Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt Land of the Pharaohs. Alexandria Time-Life Books, 1992.El Mahdy, Christine. Mummies Myth and Magic. New York Thames and Hudson Inc., 1989.Montet, Pierre. Eternal Egypt. New York The New American program library of World Literature, Inc., 1964.Peck, William H. Splendors of Ancient Egypt. Ann Arbor University Lithoprinters, Inc.,1997.

Egyptian Mummification: It’s History, Purpose, and Process Essays

Egyptian Mummification Its History, Purpose, and ProcessThe history and tradition of Egypt is wholeness of the most greatly studied and admired of all past world cultivations. The lure of the pyramids and the specter of the sphinx have led many archeologists to dedicate his/her life to unraveling the mysteries of ancient Egyptian culture. Arguably, the most captivating aspect of Egypts past is that of mummification. Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead? What beliefs did the Egyptians have regarding the after life? What portion of the Egyptian civilization was mummified? What was the Book of the Dead? This is a mere sampling of the questions that come to my mind when I think of ancient Egyptian culture. I hope to lay out answers to these questions and many more in the following p suppurates dedicated to the history and purpose behind Egyptian mummification.Mummification, with its long, storied history, has allowed archeologists to peer into the daily lives and beliefs of ancien t Egyptian middle class and royalty. The practice of mummification by the Egyptians seems to have started sometime before 3100 BC. However, lack of written evidence or significant physical proof from this Predynastic period is gettable to either confirm or deny this. One of the oldest surviving mummies is Ginger, currently stored at the British Museum. Ginger was buried in a shallow profound and wrapped only in light cloth but due to the hot, dry desert he survived intact to discovery in the late nineteenth century (Andrews 5). Gingers name comes from the color of his hair, fragments of which are still attached to his body. Evidence from his discovery supports the belief that even at this early age the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. Tools and pottery we... ...ould be very thankful to the Egyptian people for leaving us this gift, which paints for us such a clear picture of their legacy. whole kit and caboodle CitedAldred, Cyril. The Egyptians. naked York Thames and Hudson I nc., 1984.Andrews, Carol. Egyptian Mummies. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1984.Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Mummy A Handbook of Egyptian Funerary Archaeology.2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1925.Casson, Lionel. Ancient Egypt. New York Time Incorporated, 1965.Editors of Time-Life Books. Egypt Land of the Pharaohs. Alexandria Time-Life Books, 1992.El Mahdy, Christine. Mummies Myth and Magic. New York Thames and Hudson Inc., 1989.Montet, Pierre. Eternal Egypt. New York The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 1964.Peck, William H. Splendors of Ancient Egypt. Ann Arbor University Lithoprinters, Inc.,1997.

Jane Austen Essay

MAHA DOSTMOHAMED Maha Dostmohamed Ms. Jalaluddin ENG3U1 September 16th, 2011 Behind the Success of Jane Austen In my stars I am above thee but be non afraid of splendour some are born great, some touch greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon em. (William Shakespeare). In this quote, William Shakespeare is talking about the contrary ways that one becomes great. To be born great, for role model, is parallel to someone born into a royal family, one who did not have to do anything to become great.To achieve greatness, one must do something great, such as winning a Nobel Prize. For one to have greatness thrust upon oneself evanesces when one does not pursue greatness however, it is greatness that comes to find them. Some of the greatest large number in the world did not take or receive credit or achieve fame for their greatness. Jane Austen is an example of this. Although Jane Austens books are widely cognize and loved, they initially failed to make her name world renown s ince they were originally published anonymously.Jane Austens or so famous saucy, pride and Prejudice was the biggest contributing factor in Janes journey to success since the book has enjoyed endless amounts of adoration from fans and is what gave Jane Austen the recognition she receives today as an established author. Jane Austen was a literary phenomenon due to her evoke portrayals of families of various classes, her comical renditions of the mercenary of people in the 18th century, and her original and refreshing take on ro gentlemance. MAHA DOSTMOHAMEDIt is arguable that a large percentage of Jane Austens success comes from her relatable, entertaining, and insightful portrayals of families of various classes. Firstly, Janes portrayals of families in superbia and Prejudice are relatable because they put emphasis on family aspects that occur in many different kinds of families and cultures. In her the book, Mrs. Bennet, the mother of the five Bennet sisters, is eager to have a ll of her daughters marry wealthy, suitable men. In modern day, this is comparable to an arranged marriage, a tradition that takes place in many families of different cultures and classes.Furthermore, Jane Austens portrayal of families also keeps her novels entertaining. The eccentric person of Mr. Bennet, for example, from Pride and Prejudice, adds comic relief to the novel because of the entertaining way he reacts to the actions of his married woman and daughters. When the news of Mr. Bingleys arrival to town comes, for instance, Mrs. Bennet is over-excited with the high hopes of marrying off one of her daughters, while Mr. Bennet finds that his wife is being silly, but agrees to meet with Mr. Bingley for the sake of his daughters anyway.Moreover, Jane Austens creations are insightful because she doesnt take the usual, too-familiar path of writing, but instead takes readers for a walk agglomerate a brand new, unfamiliar, yet interesting road. This is seen through the character E lizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and the way that this character fits into her family. Elizabeth is a charming, witty girl whose character in most stories would be the most loved in her family but in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows the upsetting but realistic truth of how many a time in families, the more attractive child is loved over the child with the better personality.In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeths sister Jane is loved by the family more than Elizabeth, and it is arguable that this strong adoration for Jane comes from the fact that Jane is the most well-favored of all the sisters. Finally, it is for MAHA DOSTMOHAMED all of these reasons that Jane Austens portrayals of families in Pride and Prejudice brought her success. Secondly, Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice brought her success because her comical renditions of the mercenary and ignorance of people in the 18th century were exhibited thoroughly in the book.One of the comical aspects of Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austens audacity with exhibiting the greed and mercenary of people in the 18th century, which was clearly seen through the characters of Mrs. Bennet and her neighbor, Lady Lucas. The way Mrs. Bennet and Lady Lucas are haunt with the idea of having their daughters marry into wealthy families clearly shows the mercenary of people in the 18th century. Jane Austen exposed the morals of people in the 18th century as she displayed their ability to make important decisions such as finding a suitor for their daughters.She showed how they make marriage decisions based on how much money a possible suitor has to his name versus more personal and redeeming qualities. Furthermore, this money-based life in the 18th century is further exhibited through the character of Mr. Darcy, who along with his sister, is known to be very proud of his wealth. Furthermore, their pride revolving around their money made the book more popular because it was relatable since everyone knows of someone whose a rrogance about their material items or money overpowers their more appealing qualities.In addition to that, the role money played in the lives of the characters also had an effect on their ignorance, another relatable subject. Mrs. Bennet is illiterate of the fact that instead of allowing her daughters to fall in love, she is only interested in finding husbands for her girls who have a stage set of money, which can not only be related to the idea of an arranged MAHA DOSTMOHAMED marriage, but also how parents pressure their children when making career choices. Parents want their kids to pursue careers in which they will make a lot of money, rather than doing something with their life that they enjoy.This can be related to the way Mrs. Bennet wants her daughters to marry into wealthy families, although she believes she is doing what is in best interest of her girls, the girls whitethorn or may not see it the same way. Finally, Jane Austens renditions of 18th century people made Prid e and Prejudice successful. Thirdly, Pride and Prejudice brought success to Jane Austen because of the original, refreshing spot she had on romance, which was shown through the relationship between the novels twain main characters, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.Firstly, the originality of this romance can be seen from the start of their relationship, from their head start impressions. The first impressions these two characters develop of each other are so important to the themes of this novel that Jane Austens original title for the book was First Impressions. What is original about their first impressions is the fact that the romantic story that Jane Austen is telling is not the usual, too-familiar story of love at first sight, but rather the story of how two people who at first loathed each other, could fall in love.This brought popularity to the novel and to Jane Austen because readers loved the way that Elizabeth and Darcy went from hating to loving each other. In addition to that, the fact that a man equivalent Mr. Darcy, a wealthy man with a vast amount of pride had the ability to fall in love with a girl like Elizabeth, rather than a girl more like her sister, Jane Bennet made readers fall in love with the story. In the novel, Elizabeth, although witty and lovable, is not the most beautiful of girls.In fact, when Mr. Darcy initially sees MAHA DOSTMOHAMED Elizabeth, he says that her appearance is nothing but tolerable, making it obvious that he sees her beauty miniscule when compared to that of her sister, Jane. The fact that Mr. Darcy acknowledges that Elizabeth is not the most beautiful of her sisters, knowing that if he had her he would not have the best, yet falls in love with her, is what readers fell in love with.Finally, Jane Austens novel Pride and Prejudice was a big factor regarding Jane Austens success because it highlighted Janes unique, original, and refreshing take on romance, which is a big eccentric of what made readers love her. In conclu sion, Jane Austen was a phenomenon and her success in writing is owed to her novel Pride and Prejudice which made readers fall in love with her interesting portrayals of families of various classes, her comical renditions of the mercenary and ignorance of people in the 18th century, and her original and refreshing take on romance.Jane Austens writings were comic, relatable, realistic, tasteful, refreshing, and original, all things that contributed to the rise in her success. Last of all, Jane Austen was a worldrenowned author whose creations have always been, and always will be, treasured and loved by many and most parts of the world for their excellence.

Dividend Policy Trends

Dividend Policy of Indian Corporate Firms An analytic thinking of Trends and Determinants Dr. Y. Subba Reddy1 The present select dig intos the dividend behavior of Indian corporate trustys over the catch 1990 two hundred1 and attempts to explain the observed behavior with the help of trade-off theory, and mansion hypothesis. analysis of dividend trends for a sizeable standard of stocks traded on the NSE and BSE indicate that the helpingage of companies stipendiary dividends has exasperated from 60. 5 percent in 1990 to 32. percent in 2001 and that solely a few squ atomic number 18s discombobulate agreeablely salaried the alike take aims of dividends. Further, dividend- throwing companies ar to a greater extent profitable, large in size and process doesnt seem to deter Indian firms from pay utmoster dividends. Analysis of function of metamorphoses in revenue enhancement regime on dividend behavior shows that the tradeoff or task-preference theory does no n appear to hold true in the Indian context. Test of signaling hypothesis reinforces the earlier come onings that dividend omissions conduct knowledge content ab aside sentence to come clams.However, analysis of other(a) non-extreme dividend events such as dividend declines and non-reductions shows that incumbent losses argon an important determinant of dividend reductions for firms with established rails eternise and that the incidence of dividend reduction is much more severe in the case of Indian firms comp atomic number 18d to that of firms traded on the NYSE. Further, dividend tacks appear to signal contemporaneous and lagged earnings military ope balancen rather than the future earnings performance. 1 Asst. Professor, Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Chennai.The views expressed and the approach suggested argon of the authors and non necessarily of NSE. 1. Introduction From the practitioners view time period, dividend policy1 of a firm has implications for investors, managers and lenders and other stakeholders. For investors, dividends whether decl bed today or accumulated and provided at a later date argon not only a heart of secureness income2, but in like manner an important input in valuation of a firm3. withal, managers flexibility to invest in projects is also dependent on the numerate of dividend that they ordure ffer to sh arholders as more dividends may mean fewer funds available for investment. Lenders may also seduce interest in the amount of dividend a firm decl ars, as more the dividend compensable less(prenominal) would be the amount available for servicing and redemption of their claims. However, in a perfect world as Modigliani and Miller (1961) bring forth shown, investors may be in antithetical about the amount of dividend as it has no bend on the shelter of a firm. Any investor can create a home make dividend if required or can invest the proceeds of a dividend payment in additional sha res as and when a connection makes dividend payment.Similarly, managers may be indifferent as funds would be available or could be raised with out any flotation be for all in all positive net present value projects. But in reality, dividends may matter, digressicularly in the context of differential tax treatment of dividends and great gains. Very often dividends are taxed at a heightser(prenominal) rate compared to great(p) gains. This implies that dividends may ware negative consequences for investors4. Similarly, cost of raising funds is not in epoch-making and may well lead to debase payout, particularly when positive net present value projects are available.Apart from flotation costs, information inst energy amongst managers and outside investors may also fork over implications for dividend policy. According to Myers and Majluf (1984), in the presence of information asymmetry and flotation costs, investment decisions made by managers are subject to the pecking diff erentiate of financing choices available. Managers prefer retained earnings to debt and debt to equity flotation to finance the available projects. Information asymmetry amidst agents (managers) and principals (outside shareholders) may also lead to agency cost (Jensen and Meckling, 1976).One of the mechanisms o reducing expropriation of outside f shareholders by agents is steep payout. High payout will result in reduction of free cash f wiped out(p) available to managers and this restricts the empire building efforts of managers. The presence of information asymmetry may a mean that managers need to signal their ability to lso generate high(prenominal)(prenominal) earnings in future with the help of high dividend payouts (Bhattacharya, 1979, John and Williams 1985, and Miller and Rock, 1985). However, the credibility of signals depends on the cost of signaling the cost macrocosm loss of monetary flexibility.High payout results in reduction of free cash flow when in fact the f irm needs more funds to affiance high offshoot opportunities. Rozeff (1994) models payout ratios as a function of three factors flotation costs of external funding, agency cost of outside ownership and financing constraints as a result of high operating and financial leverage5. To summarize, several theories puzzle been proposed in explaining why companies pay dividends6. While many earlier studies point out the tax-preference theory, more recent studies emphasize signaling and agency cost rationale of dividend payments.However, the dividend puzzle is yet unresolved and the words of Brealey (1992) poses the dividend policy decision as What is the deed of a switch in cash dividends, given the firms ceiling-budgeting and borrowing decisions? In other words, he looks at dividend policy in closing off and not as a by-product of other corporate financial decisions. 2 Lintner (1956) finds that firms pay rule-governed and predictable dividends to investors, where as the earnings o f corporate firms could be erratic. This implies that shareholders prefer smoothened dividend income. Bernstein (1998) observes that given the concocted earnings estimates provided by firms, the low dividend payout induces reinvestment risk and earnings risk for the investors. 4 Black (1976) notes that in the presence of taxes, investors prefer little dividends or no dividends at all. 5 According to Kalay (1982), in the absence of restraining covenants, shareholders can transfer wealth from bondholders by paying off dividend to themselves any by selling existing assets or by reducing investment or by using proceeds of a senior debt. 6 Baker, Powell and Veit (2002) visual modality different streams of research work on dividends. 2 Fischer Black (Black 1976) may well apply in todays context The harder we look at the dividend picture, the more it seems like a puzzle, with pieces that just dont fit together. One of the striking aspects that pick up been noticed in recent peaks is t he land dividend compensable by corporate firms in the US. Fama and French (2001) hit the records the issue of deject dividends give by corporate firms over the period 1973-1999 and the factors responsible for such a decline. They attribute the decline to changing firm characteristics of size, earnings and festering. However, it is to be seen whether the change owards lower dividends is a permanent feature or will there be reversal. A decline in dividends, according to Fama and French, could be due to lower transaction costs, ameliorate corporate governance mechanisms, and the increasing preference towards capital gains. 1. 1 Indian Scenario In the Indian context, a few studies sport analysed the dividend behavior of corporate firms. Mahapatra and Sahu (1993) find cash flow as a major determinant of dividend followed by net earnings. Bhat and Pandey (1994) undertake a survey of managers perceptions of dividend decision and find that managers perceive current earnings as t he most significant factor.Narasimhan and Asha (1997) observe that the uniform tax rate of 10 percent on dividend as proposed by the Indian union budget 1997-98, alters the demand of investors in upgrade of high payouts. Mohanty (1999) finds that firms, which issued allowance shares, fool either maintained the pre-bonus level or only decreased it marginally there by increasing the payout to shareholders. Narasimhan and Vijayalakshmi (2002) analyze the form of ownership structure on dividend payout and find no influence of insider ownership on dividend behavior of firms.However, it is still not clear as to what is the dividend payment mock up of firms in India and why do they initiate and omit dividend payments or reduce or increase dividend payments. Hence it is proposed to analyze the dividend payout of firms in India and analyze the dividend initiations and omissions and other changes in dividends and the signals that these events convey. Following Fama and French (2001), the present study also attempts to analyze the allude of profitability, size and growth on the dividend payout of firms. Similarly, following Healy and Palepu (1988) an attempt is made to analyze the signaling hypothesis, i. e. arnings information conveyed by dividend initiations and omissions. Since, initiations and omissions construe extreme dividend events, changes in dividends i. e. , increases and decreases and the information that they convey is also examined following DeAngelo, DeAngelo and Skinner (1992). There have been several changes in the tax regime in the last few age. The union budget 1997-98 made dividends taxable at t e contributes of company paying them and not in the hands of investors receiving them. h Similarly there have been changes in the capital gains tax and exemption of dividend income under Section 80 L of the Income taxation Act 1961.All these changes have implications for the dividend policy of corporate firms. According to tax-preference or trade-off theory, favorable dividends tax should lead to higher payouts. Hence it is proposed to analyze the impact of tax regimes on dividend policies of corporate firms. 1. 2 Objectives 1. To study the trends in the dividend payment pattern of Indian corporate firms 2. To analyze the impact of changes in dividend tax on the propensity to pay dividends 3. To analyze the influence of firm characteristics such as profitability, growth and size on the dividend payment pattern 4.To analyze the signaling hypothesis, specifically earnings information conveyed by dividend initiations and omissions and 5. To analyze the influence of loss on dividend reductions. 3 In other words, the present study focuses on an analysis of dividend trends and attempts to analyze the determinants of these trends with the help of trade-off or tax-preference theory and signaling hypothesis. There are other important determinants of dividend behavior such as transactions costs, which we will not analyze, in the present s tudy.In the next Section, we review the relevant literature, followed by a description of the entropybase employed and methodology adopted in Section 3. Dividend trends are discussed in Section 4, and the analysis of characteristics of dividend payers is presented in Section 5. Sections 6 and 7 deal with the signaling hypothesis first the case of dividend initiations and omissions and second dividend reductions. Section 8 summarizes the finding of study, points out limitations and concludes with directions for further research. 2. Review of Relevant LiteratureDeAngelo, DeAngelo and Skinner (1992) analyses the relationship between dividends and losses and the information conveyed by dividend changes about the earnings performance. They examine the dividend behaviour of 167 NYSE firms with at least one annual loss during 1980-95 and those of 440 firms with no losses during the same period, where all the firms had a ordered track record of ten or more yrs of positive earnings and div idends. They find that 50. 9% of 167 firms with at least one loss during 1980-95 reduced dividends, compared to 1% of 440 firms without losses.Their findings back up signaling hypothesis in that dividend changes improve the ability to predict future earnings performance. Glen et al. (1995) study the dividend policy of firms in emerging securities manufactures. They find that firms in these markets have a target dividend payout rate, but less concerned with volatility in dividends over time. They also find that shareholders and governments exert a great deal of influence on dividend policy and observe that dividends have little signaling content in these markets. Benartzi, Michaely, Thaler (1997) analyzes the issue of whether dividend changes signal the future or the past.For a savor of 7186 dividend announcements made by NYSE or AMEX firms during the period 1979-91, they find a lagged and contemporaneous relation between dividend changes and earnings. Their analysis also shows that in the dickens categorys following dividend increases, earnings changes are unrelated to the sign and order of magnitude of dividend changes. Bernsterin (1998) expresses concern over the decline in payout over a period of time in the US market. He observes that given the concocted earnings estimates provided by firms, the low dividend payout induces reinvestment risk and earnings risk for the investors.He asserts that try calculating the historical correlation between payout ratios in year t and earnings growth over t + 5. The correlation coefficient is positive and statistically significant 7. Fama and French (2001) analyze the issue of lower dividends compensable by corporate firms over the period 1973-1999 and the factors responsible for the decline. In particular they analyze whether the lower dividends were the effect of changing firm characteristics or lower propensity to pay on the part of firms.They observe that proportion of companies paying dividend has dropped fr om a peak of 66. 5 percent in 1978 to 20. 8 percent in 1999. They attribute this decline to the changing characteristics of firms The decline in the incidence of dividend payers is in part due to an increasing tilt of publicly traded firms toward the characteristics small size, low earnings, and high growth of firms that typically have never remunerative dividends8. Baker, Veit and Powell (2001) study the factors that have a bearing on dividend policy decisions of corporate firms traded on the Nasdaq. The tudy, based on a sampling survey (1999) response of 188 firms out of a total of 630 firms that compensable dividends in separately quarter of calendar years 1996 and 1997, finds that the following four factors have a significant impact on the dividend decision pattern of past dividends, stability 7 8 Bernstein (1998), pp. 1. Fama and French (2001), p. 79 4 of earnings, and the level of current and future expected earnings. The study also finds statistically significant differ ences in the importance that managers attach to dividend policy in different industries such as financial versus non-financial firms.Ramacharran (2001) analyzes the variation in dividend yield for 21 emerging markets (including India) for the period 1992-99. His macroeconomic approach using country risk data finds leaven for pecking order hypothesis lower dividends are paying when higher growth is expected. The study also finds that political risk factors have no significant impact on dividend payments of firms in emerging markets. Lee and Ryan (2002) analyze the dividend signaling-hypothesis and the issue of direction of causality between earnings and dividends whether earnings cause dividends or vice versa.For a sample of 133 dividend initiations and 165 dividend omissions, they find that dividend payment is influenced by recent performance of earnings, and free cash flows. They also find certify of positive (negative) earnings growth forego dividend initiations (omissions). 2. 1 Previous Indian Studies Kevin (1992) analyzes the dividend distribution pattern of 650 non-financial companies which closed their accounts between September 1983 and August 1984 and net sales income of one crore rupees or more. He finds evidence for a sticky dividend policy and concludes that a change in profitability is of minor importance.Mahapatra and Sahu (1993) analyze the determinants of dividend policy using the models developed by Lintner (1956), Darling (1957) and Brittain (1966) for a sample of 90 companies for the period 1977-78 1988-89. They find that cash flow is a major determinant of dividend followed by net earnings. Further, their analysis shows that past dividend and not past earnings is a significant factor in influencing the dividend decision of firms. Bhat and Pandey (1994) study the managers perceptions of dividend decision for a sample of 425 Indian companies for the period 1986-87 to 1990-91.They find that on an second-rate profit-making Indian compani es have distributed about one-third of their net earnings and that the comely dividend payout ratio is 43. 6 percent. They also find that the bonnie dividend payout ratio is 54 percent for the sample of both profitmaking and loss-making companies and the norm dividend rate is in the stray of 14. 3 percent to 19. 2 percent. They also observe variation in dividend policy of different industries. Further, a survey of these 425 companies has been attempted. How ever, only 31 questionnaires have been received and of these they find 28 amenable for further analysis.Their analysis of the respondents shows that managers perceive current earnings as the most significant factor influencing their dividend decision followed by patterns of past dividends. They also find two other variables increasing equity base and expected future earnings to have significant influence. However, they find industry to have the least influence on the dividend, which has been contrary to the expectations. Mish ra and Narender (1996) analyze the dividend policies of 39 state-owned enterprises (SoE) in India for the period 1984-85 to 1993-94.The find that earnings per share (EPS) is a major factor in deterdigging the dividend payout of SoEs. Narasimhan and Asha (1997) discuss the impact of dividend tax on dividend policy of firms. They observe that the uniform tax rate of 10 percent on dividend as proposed by the Indian union budget 1997-98, alters the demand of investors in favor of high payouts rather than low payouts as the capital gains are taxed at 20 percent in the said period. Mohanty (1999) analyzes the dividend behavior of more than 200 firms for a period of over 15 years.He finds that in most bonus issue cases firms have either maintained the pre-bonus level or only decreased it marginally there by increasing the payout to shareholders. The study also finds that firms that declared bonus during 1982-1991 showed higher returns to their shareholders compared to firms which did not i ssue bonus shares but maintained a steady dividend growth. He finds evidence for a reversal of this trend in the 1992- 5 1996 period. He attributes such a reversal in trend to the changed strategy of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and their reluctance to issue bonus shares.Narasimhan and Vijayalakshmi (2002) analyze the influence of ownership structure on dividend payout of 186 manufacturing firms. Regression analysis shows that promoters holding as of September 2001 has no influence on average dividend payout for the period 1997-2001. 3. Database and Methodology 3. 1 Database Dividend payment pattern of all companies that are listed for trading on one of the two major exchanges namely National Stock permute (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during the period 1989-1990 to 2000-2001 (we refer each year henceforth with the end year i. e. for 2000-2001 to 2001) are employed for analysis. The data has been sourced from Prowess database of the Centre for monitor Indian Economy ( CMIE). For the purpose of this study, only final cash dividends are considered and stock repurchases and stock dividends are not considered. Unlike the firms in developed countries that pay quarterly dividends, Indian companies typically pay only one dividend during a year. A few firms do pay interim dividends, however, data regarding these are not readily accessible and it is extremely difficult to get such data for a reasonable number of years.Further, stock repurchases have been permitted only recently and only about a hundred companies have bought back their stocks so far. Hence, in the present study stock repurchases are not considered for analysis. Stock price data for the prior year of dividend announcement are also taken from the Prowess database. 3. 2 Methodology for Analysis of Trends To analyze the trends in dividend payment pattern, number of companies paying dividend as percentage of total firms, average dividend paid, dividend per share, payout ratio, and dividend yiel d are computed for the period 1990 to 2001.Dividend per share (DPS) is calculated as DPS j ,t = Dividend j ,t EQCap j ,t Where, DPSj,t refers to dividend per share for company j in year t Dividend j,t refers to amount of dividend paid by company j in year t and EQCap j,t refers to paid -up equity capital for firm j in year t. faithfulness capital is employed instead of the usual number of outstanding shares in the denominator as it facilitates comparison of rupee dividend paid per share by removing the impact of different face or par values. Dividend payout ratio (PR) is computed as PR jt = Dividend j , t PAT j ,tWhere, PR j,t is dividend payout ratio, Dividend j,t refers to amount of dividend paid by company j in year t and PATj,t refers to net profit or profit after tax for firm j in year t. Dividend Yield (DY) is computed as 6 DY jt = DPS j ,t Price j ,t ? 1 t Where, DYjt refers to dividend yield for firm j in year t, DPSjt refers to dividend per share for firm j in year , and P ricej,t-1 is closing price of previous year for firm j. Further, the entire sample is categorized into payers and non-payers to examine the trends in dividends crosswise different subgroups.Payers are those firms that have paid dividend in the current year, where as nonpayers have not paid dividend in the current year. Payers are further classified into regular payers, initiators and current payers. unbroken payers are those firms that have paid dividend regularly without ever skipping the payments. Initiators on the other hand refers to those firms with a maiden dividend, where as current payers are those firms who are neither regular payers nor initiators. Non-payers are further categorized into never paid, designer payers and current non-payers.never paid firms are those that have never paid even a single dividend, where as former payers are those firms which at some previous point had paid dividends. up-to-date non-payers are those firms which are recently listed and that the y are neither former-payers nor are in the never paid category in any of the previous years. 3. 3 Influence of Tax Regime Change Test of Trade-off Theory Paired samples t-test has been employed to analyze the influence of changes in dividend tax during 199798 on the dividend propensity of Indian corporate firms.According to the tradeoff theory, corporate firms pay more dividends when the dividend tax is low compared to that of capital gains tax. The tax regime ushered in during 1997-98, whereby dividends are taxed at source at a uniform rate of 10%, has tilted the balance in favor of dividends. Changes in dividends are captured with the help of two measures dividend per share and dividend payout percentage. For this purpose total dividend per share and average dividend payout percentage during the previous tax regime, i. e. the incidence of dividend tax is on the investors are compared with that of changed tax regime where dividend taxes are payable by corporate firms at a flat rat e of 10%. The period 1994-95 to 1996-97 constitutes the first sub-period and the period 1998-99 to 2000-01 constitutes the second period. The following hypotheses are tried and true using opposite samples t-test (i) Null hypothesis of no differences between the total dividend per share between the two periods and (ii) Null hypothesis of no difference between the average percentage payout between the two periods.Further, changes in the propensity of regular payers and changes in the payment pattern between 1996-97 and 1998-99 as a result of change in tax regime are also tested. 3. 4 Characteristics of Payers and Non-Payers Consistent with Fama and French, logit regression coefficients are estimated to analyze the influence of firm characteristics on the dividend payment pattern, for each year t during 1990-2001. The dependent variable assumes a value of 0 when the firm pays no dividend and assumes a value of 1 when pays a dividend.The explanatory variables are Et/At is profitabilit y measured as the ratio of aggregate earnings onwards interest to aggregate assets dAt/At, is growth rate of assets Vt/At is market-to-book ratio i. e. , the ratio of the aggregate market value to the aggregate book value of assets and the NSEPt is the percent of firms with the same or lower market capitalization. Coefficients are computed for each of the year 7 and the aggregate coefficients and associated t values are analyzed to infer the influence o profitability, f growth and size. 3. Test of Signalling Hypothesis Case of Dividend Initiations and Omissions For this part of the analysis, a firm is classified as initiator if it has paid dividend in the current year but has not paid dividends for the preceding 3 years. Similarly a firm is categorized as omission firm, if the firm has not currently paid dividend but has paid dividend in the preceding three years. To analyze signaling hypothesis, consistent with Healey and Palepu, earnings patterns of firms initiating and omitting dividend for 3 years before the year of event and 3 years after event are examined.To aggregate results across firms, earnings changes in these years are expressed as a percentage of the previous years closing stock price, PJ. The standardized change in earnings for firm j in year t, is defines as ? E j ,t = E j ,t ? E j ,t ? 1 Pj Where Ej,t are earnings per share before extraordinary items and discontinued operations9 for firm j in year t. The null hypotheses of average earnings changes are nada is tested with the help of Dunnetts C (Post Hoc) test. Analysis pertaining to initiations and omissions only cover a particular sample of extreme events and excludes firms not having a dividend track record of less than 3 years.In order to cover other dividend events like dividend reductions and increases in the following we arrive at yet another sample. 3. 6 Test of signalize Hypothesis Case of Dividend Reductions To analyze the relationship between dividends and losses a sample is draw n with firms having consistent profitability and dividend track records during 1990 1995 and who have earnings and dividend information for the period 1996 2001. The importance of annual losses on dividend reductions and annual dividend omissions has been analyzed with the help of logit analysis.The dependent variable equals zero if a firm has maintained or change magnitude its dividend per share and is equal to one if the firm announced a reduction in dividend per share. The loss dummy assumes a value of one if the firm reports a loss for the year under study and zero otherwise. The level of net income and changes in net income are standardized with the previous years net worth for each firm. For firms in loss sample, the initial loss year constitutes the event year where as for non-loss firms, the initial year of earnings decline constitutes the event year.Similarly to examine the influence of past and future levels of earnings logit analysis has been employed on the subset for event years 1997 and 1998. The dependent variable equals zero if a firm has maintained or increase its dividend per share and is equal to one if the firm announced a reduction in dividend per share. The explanatory variables are earnings in 1 year before the event (t-1), 2 years preceding the event (t-2), current earnings (t), earnings in the year following the event year (t+1), earnings in 2 years following the event (t+2).Similarly, mean difference in earnings over t 2 through t+2 years is also examined with the help of Dunnetts C test. This analysis would be useful in determining whether dividend changes are impacted by contemporaneous or lagged or expected earnings performance. 9 In the Indian context an approximate value for this is derived from other income. 8 4. Trends in Dividends and Influence of Changes in Tax Regime bonnie profit after tax (PAT) has increased from Rs. 4. 68 crore in 1990 to Rs. 6. 11 crore in 2000 and Rs. 9. 36 crore in 2001 (Table 4. 1).However, there have been several fluctuations in average PAT reflecting the changes in Indian economy. In the early phases of economic reform, many firms had to restructure as the economy was opened up and structural adjustments were undertaken resulting in a reduction in PAT. The subsequent pick up in the mid -90s has seen an increase in average PAT. The late 1990s, which marked a significant decline in economic activity, have had their impact on PAT of firms. 4. 1 fair Dividend pay Despite fluctuations in PAT, the average aggregate dividend payments have steadily increased from Rs. . 99 crore in 1990 to Rs. 2. 93 crore in 2000 and Rs. 4. 19 crore in 2001. Further, compared to PAT the dividend payments have exhibited a smooth trend implying that dividend smoothening is occurring in the Indian context ( condition 4. 1). Table 4. 1 Trend in Dividends and PAT During 1990-2001 socio-economic class Number of Firms 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Common Firms 1707 2184 25 05 3097 4020 5115 5600 5855 5980 6248 6225 4766 871 Average Dividend Rs. Crore 0. 99 0. 98 1. 11 1. 11 1. 27 1. 56 1. 85 2. 05 2. 26 2. 9 2. 93 4. 19 SD of Average SD of Dividend PAT PAT Rs. Crore Rs. Crore Rs. Crore 3. 92 4. 68 48. 45 3. 79 4. 05 37. 88 4. 54 4. 19 40. 45 4. 85 3. 06 46. 76 6. 19 4. 15 51. 41 8. 42 6. 96 57. 55 10. 80 7. 19 62. 92 13. 91 6. 38 65. 65 17. 18 5. 69 103. 52 22. 14 5. 09 88. 19 26. 46 6. 11 103. 54 44. 71 9. 36 134. 39 Number of firms paid dividend during the study period have shown an up trend till 1995 and have move subsequently (Appendix Figure 4. 1), where as the percentage of companies paying dividends has declined from 60. percent in 1990 to 32. 1 percent in 2001 (Table 4. 2 and Figure 4. 2). This is consistent with the trend observed in the US market (Fama and French 2001). The fact that percentage of companies paying dividends have declined whereas the average dividend paid has increased implies tha t companies which have been paying dividend have paid higher amounts in recent years. quantity non-payers have steadily increased from 1990 to 2000 before declining slightly in 2001 (Appendix Table A4. 1 and Figures A4. 2 and A4. 3).Firms, which have never paid dividend, represent a significant proportion through out the sample period constituting more than 50% from 1991 to 2001 continuously. The number of firms, which at some previous time paid dividend, have increased overtime and reached almost 50% of non-payers in 2001. Figure 4. 1 9 Trend in Average Dividends, and PAT During 1990-2001 Average Dividend Average PAT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Rs. Crores Year Table 4. 2 Trend in Dividend Payments During 1990-2001 Year Paid Dividend No. 033 1272 1533 1823 2333 2775 2723 2386 2101 2007 1988 1531 % 60. 50 58. 20 61. 20 58. 90 58. 00 54. 30 48. 60 40. 80 35. 10 32. 10 31. 90 32. 10 Not Paid Dividend No. 674 912 972 1274 1687 2340 2877 3469 3879 4241 4237 3235 % 39. 50 41. 80 38. 80 41. 10 42. 00 45. 70 51. 40 59. 20 64. 90 67. 90 68. 10 67. 90 core Number of Firms 1707 2184 2505 3097 4020 5115 5600 5855 5980 6248 6225 4766 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total number of firms paying dividend has increased up to 1995 and has registered sustained decline there after (Table 4. , Appendix Figures A4. 4 and A4. 5). Mirroring these trends firms, which have paid dividends regularly, peaked in 1995 and recorded declines thereafter. Initiators have shown a steady decline from 1991 and have fallen to 5% in 2001. Average dividend paid by payers has increased steadily from Rs. 1. 69 crore in 1991 to Rs. 9. 16 crore in 2000 and Rs. 13. 05 crore in 2001 (Figure 4. 3, Appendix Table A4. 2). Regular payers are more in number and have paid higher average dividend compared to that of current payers and initiators (Appendix Figures A4. 6 and A4. 7). underway payers have paid higher dividend compared to initiators except in the year 2001. The number of initiators have increased up to the year 1995 and have shown a decline thereafter, where as current payers have steadily increased in number up to 2000. 10 Figure 4. 2 Dividend Behaviour of Indian Corporate Firms During 1990 2001 (in %) 80% 70% 60% % Non-Payers % Payers % of Firms 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Year Figure 4. 3 Comparision of Average Dividend Paid During 1991 2001 by Payer Group Initiator accredited Payers Regular Payers Total Payers 20 15 10 5 0Rs. Crore 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Year A comparison of index and non-index firms shows that the former group of companies on average has paid more dividend than the latter group (Table A4. 3 and A4. 4). Similarly, it is observed that companies, which constitute favourite market indices such as Sensex and Nifty paid more dividends compared to companies in the broad market indices such as BSE 100, CNX Mid-Cap, BSE 200, CNX 500, and BSE 500. These contemplations are on the expected lines as higher dividend payme nt is one of the important criteria for inclusion of stocks into indices.A study of number of companies paying dividend also reveals that a significantly larger proportion of index firms have paid dividend compared to non-index firms. 29 out of 30 Sensex firms and 49 out of 50 Nifty firms have paid dividend in 2001, the exception being Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd. (TELCO). Analysis of industry-wise average dividend paid shows that in the early 1990s, firms in the change industry have paid more dividends followed by mining firms and electricity firms (Table 4. 3).However, by the end of 2000 and 2001 firms in the electricity industry have paid more dividend followed by mining and diversified companies. It has also been observed that textile companies have continued to pay low amounts on an average throughout the sample period where as firms in the financial services industry have improved their average dividend payments over the sample period. The recent h growth fi rms in the computer igh 11 hardware and software segments, which are part of the machinery industry, have generally shown lower dividend payments.In sum, the number of firms paying dividend during the study period have shown an up trend till 1995 and have fallen subsequently. Further, compared to PAT the dividend payments have exhibited a smooth trend implying that dividend smoothening is occurring in the Indian context. Regular payers are more in number and have paid higher average dividend compared to that of current payers and initiators. Of the nonpayers, former payers are growing in numbers. Index firms appear to pay higher dividends compared to that of non-index firms. Further, smaller indices appear to have higher average dividend compared t that of o larger indices.Industry trends indicate that firms in the electricity, mining and diversified industries have paid more dividend where as textile companies have paid less dividends. Firms in the machinery industry which include s computer hardware and software segments have shown lower dividends. Table 4. 3 INDUSTRY Average Dividend Paid During 1990-2001 Industry-wise (in Rs. Crore) 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 1. 09 3. 56 1. 28 . 67 . 88 . 70 . 80 2. 57 . 39 . 50 1. 02 . 48 1. 25 . 96 3. 88 1. 14 1. 39 . 97 . 65 . 90 2. 79 . 51 . 62 . 76 . 47 1. 17 1. 05 4. 24 1. 19 1. 47 . 98 . 72 1. 37 2. 97 . 72 . 70 . 86 . 47 1. 0 . 97 5. 11 2. 26 1. 38 . 89 . 73 1. 36 3. 57 . 62 . 64 . 92 . 53 1. 06 1. 08 6. 14 5. 85 1. 49 . 94 . 83 1. 72 2. 87 . 73 . 63 1. 01 . 72 1. 39 1. 38 1. 57 1. 69 1. 92 7. 72 10. 13 10. 99 12. 86 9. 54 13. 08 18. 31 17. 37 2. 10 2. 46 2. 72 3. 16 1. 02 . 80 . 90 1. 12 . 99 1. 11 1. 13 1. 20 2. 20 2. 39 2. 14 1. 80 2. 94 8. 87 17. 44 22. 23 . 70 . 75 . 57 . 35 . 85 1. 18 1. 00 . 86 1. 07 1. 18 1. 23 1. 34 . 86 . 82 . 58 . 51 2. 02 2. 83 3. 58 3. 18 1. 68 17. 17 26. 33 3. 20 1. 13 1. 34 1. 40 21. 99 . 56 . 90 1. 34 . 48 2. 95 2. 41 22. 76 27. 24 4. 25 1. 34 1. 58 1. 7 2 26. 31 . 58 1. 12 1. 42 . 56 3. 44 2001 Firms 2. 46 29. 55 48. 7 5. 29 1. 89 2. 11 3. 08 35. 36 1. 05 1. 51 4. 07 . 56 3. 03 1138 184 58 1097 745 1065 555 81 324 296 1264 750 225 Chemicals and Plastics Diversified electrical energy Financial function Food and Beverages Machinery Metals and Metal merchandise exploit Misc. Manufacturing Non-Metallic Mineral Pro Other Services Textiles Transport Equipment 4. 2 Dividend Per Share Average dividend per share (DPS) has increased from 14 paisa in 1990 to 26 paisa in 2000 and 15 paisa in 2001 (Table 4. 4, Figure 4. 4). An analysis of distribution of firms shows that 39 percent have paid nil DPS in 1990 and the percentage has increased to 67. 7 in 2001 (Table 4. ). theatrical role of firms in the average class i. e. , DPS in the clip of Rs. 0 to Rs. 0. 25 have declined from a high of 45. 9 in 1990 to 18. 5 in 2001. This implies that the increased average DPS over the latter period has mainly been due to a few firms paying larger DPS. F irms in chemicals and plastics industry have steadily improved their DPS from 14 paisa in 1990 to 27 paisa in 2000 and 25 paisa in 2001 (Table 4. 6). Where as textiles firms have shown a decline in DPS from 13 paisa in 1990 to 6 paisa in 2001. Machinery firms have paid a steady 12 to 14 paisa except for the years 1996 and 1997 when they paid marginally more.An analysis of index and non-index firms DPS shows that index firms on an average paid more DPS than non-index firms (Table A4. 14). Similarly, narrow indices have high average DPS than broad indices. 12 Table 4. 4 Average Dividend Per Share (DPS) During 1990-2001 (in Rs. ) Year Number lower limit Maximum of Firms DPS DPS 1990 1694 0 12. 71 1991 2153 0 10. 58 1992 2468 0 15. 58 1993 3028 0 51. 2 1994 3953 0 57. 5 1995 5032 0 135. 33 1996 5536 0 174. 67 1997 5801 0 222 1998 5911 0 350. 33 1999 6176 0 249. 75 2000 6167 0 266. 38 2001 4734 0 61. 5 Common 866 Firms10 Average DPS 0. 1406 0. 1385 0. 1427 0. 1514 0. 1582 0. 803 0. 2158 0. 198 0. 2337 0. 2544 0. 2571 0. 1538 Std. Deviation 0. 3455 0. 3009 0. 3568 1. 0025 1. 2983 2. 3543 3. 3243 3. 4834 5. 8833 4. 8938 4. 4156 1. 2899 Average DPS (1% trimmed) by all payers have increased from 21 paisa in 1991 to 31 paisa in 2000 and 29 paisa in 2001 (Figure 4. 5). Of the payers, regular payers have consistently paid more dividend per share compared to other payers. Similarly initiators have always paid lower dividend per share compared to current payers. Figure 4. 4 Average Dividend Per Share (DPS) During 1990-2001 Average DPS (in Rs. ) Average DPS 0. 30 0. 25 0. 20 0. 15 0. 10 0. 05 0. 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Year An analysis of recurrence of dividend per share group shows that two firms have consistently paid dividend in the range of 25 to 50 paisa per share for all the 12 years, where as 18 firms have paid up to 25 paisa (Appendix Table A4. 6 and A4. 7). An analysis of dividend reductions by firms shows that only five companies namely Mahindra Sintered Pr oducts Ltd, Otis Elevator Co. (India), Bharat Electronics, Amritlal Chemaux, and Carborundum Universal have consistently paid higher dividend per share out of a 330 firms that paid dividends in all years of the sample period (Appendix Table A4. ). 43 firms registered a single instance of dividend per share reduction, where as 68 firms lowered twice, 82 firms lowered thrice etc. On the whole average DPS has shown a steady growth except in the year 2001. Regular payers have consistently paid more dividend per share compared to other payers, where as initiators have always paid 5 common firms are lost on account of abstracted information on number of outstanding stocks and hence there is difference in the number of common firms from that of Table 4. 1. 10 13 lower dividend per share. Analysis also shows that only a few firms have consistently paid same levels of dividend.Index firms on an average paid more DPS than non-index firms. Similarly, narrow indices have high average DPS than broad indices (Appendix table A4. 8). Firms in chemicals and plastics industry have steadily improved their DPS, where as textiles firms have shown a decline in the study period. Machinery firms have paid a steady DPS. Figure 4. 5 1% emasculated Dividend Per Share by Payer Type Current Payers Initiators Regular Payers Total 0. 35 0. 3 DPS (in Rs. ) 0. 25 0. 2 0. 15 0. 1 0. 05 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Year Table 4. 5 Distribution of Firms in terms of Dividend Per Share During 1990 2001 DPS Rs. Rs. 0 0. 25 Rs. 0. 25 0. 50 Rs. 0. 50 0. 75 Rs. 0. 75 1 Rs. 1 2 Rs. 2 5 Rs. 5 Percentage of Companies in Year 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 39 41 37. 9 39. 9 41. 1 44. 9 50. 8 58. 9 64. 5 67. 5 67. 8 67. 7 45. 9 43. 1 46. 2 46. 9 45 42. 3 35. 8 27. 5 22. 2 19. 5 18. 6 18. 5 13. 5 13. 7 13. 7 11. 2 12. 1 10. 6 10. 4 9. 8 8. 7 7. 6 7. 4 7. 8 0. 9 1. 3 1. 4 0. 9 0. 7 1. 1 1. 5 2. 3 2. 8 2. 5 2. 6 2. 7 0. 4 0. 5 0. 4 0. 7 0. 8 0. 4 0. 6 0. 6 0. 6 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 0. 2 0. 3 0. 3 0. 2 0. 2 0. 3 0. 4 0. 6 1 1. 1 1. 4 1. 4 0. 1 0. 1 0 0. 1 0. 1 0. 2 0. 2 0. 1 0. 0. 3 0. 6 0. 4 0. 1 0 0 0. 2 0. 1 0. 1 0. 2 0. 2 0. 2 0. 3 0. 4 0. 3 Table 4. 6 Industry-wise Dividend Per Share (DPS) During 1990-2001 (in Rs. ) INDUSTRY Chemicals and Plastics Diversified Electricity Financial Services Food and Beverages Machineray Metals and Metal Product Mining Misc. Manufacturing Non-Metallic Mineral Pro Other Services Textiles Transport Equipment 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 FIRMS . 14 . 15 . 14 . 12 . 17 . 15 . 12 . 17 . 17 . 18 . 27 . 25 1138 . 19 . 21 . 26 . 20 . 20 . 19 . 21 . 22 . 21 . 22 . 27 . 21 184 . 13 . 10 . 11 . 11 . 11 . 10 . 12 . 9 . 10 . 10 . 13 . 10 58 . 08 . 11 . 13 . 34 . 24 . 21 . 28 . 12 . 15 . 14 . 19 . 18 1097 . 20 . 20 . 18 . 23 . 31 . 47 . 49 . 58 . 85 . 21 . 16 . 13 745 . 12 . 13 . 14 . 14 . 13 . 13 . 17 . 19 . 12 . 14 . 14 . 14 1065 . 13 . 11 . 11 . 09 . 10 . 10 . 12 . 09 . 07 . 06 . 07 . 07 555 . 05 . 07 . 06 . 07 . 09 . 06 . 07 . 08 . 13 . 10 . 11 . 09 81 . 12 . 12 . 14 . 10 . 11 . 10 . 10 . 15 . 06 . 16 . 21 . 30 324 . 10 . 11 . 11 . 09 . 09 . 09 . 10 . 08 . 08 . 07 . 09 . 09 296 . 17 . 15 . 17 . 15 . 13 . 24 . 38 . 28 . 42 . 88 . 73 . 12 1264 . 13 . 14 . 13 . 11 . 12 . 09 . 08 . 06 . 06 . 05 . 07 . 06 750 . 2 . 12 . 12 . 12 . 13 . 13 . 15 . 18 . 16 . 15 . 21 . 17 225 14 4. 3 Dividend Payout proportionality An analysis of average percentage dividend payout (PR) during 1990 2001 shows a volatile trend (Table 4. 7 and Figure 4. 6). Percentage PR increased from 27. 39 in 1990 to 32. 95 in 1997 and then showed a declining trend till 2000 before reaching the peak average percentage PR of 40. 53 in 2001. However, 1% trimmed average percentage PR showed a more stalls pattern of around 24 percent PR up to 1997 and then has shown a declining trend before eventually reaching 16. 81 percent in 2001 (Appendix Table A4. ). Table 4. 7 Average Percentage Payout During 1990 2001 Year 199 0 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 No. of Average Std. Firms % Payout Deviation 1382 1714 2022 2533 3156 3770 4042 4258 4335 4503 4383 3387 27. 39 25. 19 27. 54 27. 98 28. 19 25. 88 27. 44 32. 95 31. 39 22. 82 21. 6 40. 53 37. 77 41. 04 48. 31 37. 83 61. 96 38. 06 88. 12 139. 85 453. 37 120. 19 67. 49 1196. 96 1% weakened Average % Payout 24. 98 23. 11 24. 25 25. 72 24. 92 23. 84 23. 99 23. 91 18. 64 16. 98 17. 47 16. 81 1% Trimmed No. of Firms 1369 1697 2002 2508 3125 3733 4002 4216 4292 4458 4340 3354An analysis of distribution of firms by dividend payout percentage shows that as high as 26 percent of firms in 1990 and 56. 6 percent in 2001 have paid out nothing (Table 4. 8 and Appendix, Figure A4. 6). However, more than 10 percent firms have paid dividend in excess of 75 percent of their net profits. An analysis of dividend payout recurrence shows that very few firms have maintained the same payout for a longer period of time (Appendix Table A4. 10 and A4. 11). For instance, only one firm Hindustan Lever Limited has paid out a dividend in the range of 50 to 75% of its net profit for entire sample period.Similarly another firm Maharashtra Scooters Limited maintained a dividend payout in the range of 10 to 20% for 11 of the 12-year sample period. Similarly, Kinetic Engineering Ltd. , Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. , and Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. have paid out in the range of 10 20% for 10 of the 12-year sample period. Figure 4. 6 Average % Payout During 1990-2001 Average % Payout 50 40 30 20 10 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 1% Trimmed Average % Payout Average Payout % Year 15 An analysis of industry-wise DPO shows a declining trend across all industries during the sample period (Table 4. ). Diversified firms, which have a DPO in excess of 25 percent in 1990, have less than 14 percent in 2001. Firms in metals and metal products industry have registered a high degree fall in DPO from 22. 84 percent in 1990 to 8. 74 percent in 2001. T able 4. 8 Distribution of Firms Payout Percentage During 1990 2001 Dividend Payout % 0 0 10 10 20 20 30 30 40 40 50 50 75 75 100 100 200 200 Firms % of Firms 1990 1991 26 6. 9 14. 5 16. 5 12. 6 8. 2 10. 1 3. 5 1. 2 0. 4 1382 1992 1993 28. 9 7. 2 11. 9 13. 5 12. 3 9. 5 10. 5 4. 6 1. 3 0. 4 2533 1994 26. 6 8 14. 3 15 12. 7. 7 10. 2 4. 5 0. 9 0. 3 3156 1995 26. 7 6. 6 15. 6 16. 7 12. 5 8. 7 8. 6 3. 4 0. 9 0. 3 3770 1996 33. 3 5. 5 13. 6 13. 7 10. 8 7. 3 8. 6 5. 4 1. 4 0. 4 4042 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 45. 4 52. 8 57 55. 8 56. 6 3. 1 3. 4 3. 4 3. 8 3. 8 7. 9 7. 6 6. 7 6. 6 7. 6 10. 9 9. 8 8. 2 8. 9 7. 9 8. 5 7. 5 6. 9 6. 7 6. 9 6. 4 5. 4 5. 2 5. 4 4. 8 9. 1 7. 8 6. 7 6. 5 7. 1 5. 2 3. 2 3. 9 4. 2 3. 2 2. 1 1. 6 1. 3 1. 5 1. 5 1. 3 1 0. 7 0. 7 0. 7 4258 4335 4503 4383 3387 26. 5 25. 3 9. 3 9. 2 14. 1 13. 9 17. 2 16. 1 12. 6 13. 3 7. 1 8. 8 9 8. 9 2. 9 2. 7 0. 9 1. 4 0. 2 0. 4 1714 2022 Table 4. 9Industry-wise Dividend Payout During 1990 2001 (in %) INDUSTRY Chemicals and Plas tics Diversified Electricity Financial Services Food and Beverages Machineray Metals and Metal Product Mining Misc. Manufacturing Non-Metallic Mineral Pro Other Services Textiles Transport Equipment 1990 23. 92 25. 28 17. 98 23. 28 24. 47 23. 93 22. 84 10. 28 18. 10 19. 71 20. 01 16. 83 19. 31 1991 20. 38 20. 95 16. 21 27. 01 23. 15 20. 36 21. 47 7. 29 18. 08 17. 75 21. 15 15. 98 19. 96 1992 21. 51 22. 78 14. 15 28. 50 24. 19 22. 87 19. 86 12. 28 15. 69 16. 95 19. 25 17. 26 21. 61 1993 23. 38 25. 48 13. 37 32. 11 22. 4 23. 42 20. 65 9. 56 17. 18 16. 27 19. 84 20. 98 21. 29 1994 20. 14 22. 74 12. 48 29. 87 20. 40 23. 67 20. 92 14. 04 17. 87 14. 78 21. 15 20. 54 23. 26 1995 21. 88 23. 23 16. 98 27. 25 17. 01 22. 07 19. 76 12. 10 18. 91 14. 92 19. 60 19. 20 20. 99 1996 20. 53 21. 61 12. 70 31. 74 17. 23 20. 83 18. 82 16. 58 17. 81 13. 87 19. 34 17. 30 19. 69 1997 18. 37 23. 27 16. 32 29. 19 16. 14 19. 45 16. 78 14. 65 15. 55 13. 62 17. 43 13. 84 22. 46 1998 14. 76 19. 34 10. 42 16. 12 12. 73 16. 28 12. 56 11. 50 9. 84 10. 78 14. 00 11. 29 20. 96 1999 13. 84 17. 41 9. 35 14. 82 12. 67 15. 36 9. 37 9. 87 12. 8 9. 66 12. 27 7. 99 18. 74 2000 14. 18 17. 52 12. 68 16. 21 12. 80 15. 24 9. 16 11. 98 12. 59 8. 93 12. 85 9. 04 20. 18 2001 13. 71 13. 59 13. 08 14. 30 10. 22 15. 15 8. 74 11. 76 15. 09 11. 29 12. 54 8. 02 17. 29 Total payers have registered an increase in payout from 31. 25% in 1991 to a peak of 43. 02% in 1997 and finally paid out 37. 64% in 2001 (Figure 4. 7 and Appendix Table 4. 12). Of the payers, regular payers have consistently paid higher payout compared to that of current payers. Further, initiators have shown higher fluctuations in their payout compared to that of regular payers.In sum, average percentage PR showed a more still pattern up to 1997 and then has shown a declining trend. Analysis of dividend payout recurrence shows that very few firms have maintained the same payout for a longer period of time. Industry-wise DPO shows a declining trend across all industries during the sample period. Of the payers, regular payers have consistently paid higher payout compared to that of current payers. Further, initiators have shown higher fluctuations in their payout compared to that of regular payers. 16 Figure 4. 7 1% Trimmed Dividend Payout % by Payer Type Current Payers Regular Payers 50Initiators Total Payers % Payout 45 40 35 30 25 20 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Year 4. 4 Dividend Yield Average dividend yield for all companies during the period 1991 to 2001 has declined from 1. 73% in 1991 to . 55 in 1993 before finally recovering to 1. 61 in 1998 and again falling marginally to 1. 24% in 2001 (Table 4. 10 and Figure 4. 8). On the whole the dividend yield is range parachute in the region of 0. 5% to 1. 73%. The reason for the fall in 1993 could be due to high increases in market capitalizations of a number of stocks in the face or irregularities in the stock market in 1992.Analysis of dividend yield by type of payer shows that initiators have always paid higher levels of dividend yield compared to that of current payers and regular payers (Figure 4. 9, and Appendix Table A4. 23). Similarly current payers have paid higher dividend yield compared to that of regular payers. Dividend yields of initiators have declined from 6% in 1991 to 1. 51% in 1993 before recovering and reaching an all time high of 10% in 1998. Compared to this current payers yielded about 5% in 1992 before falling to 1. 81 in 1993 and have subsequently recovered and reached all time high of 8. 2% in 2000. On the other hand regular payers started with a yield of close to 5% but have fallen to a low of 1. 5 in 1993 before reaching an all time high of 7. 76% in 2000. Table 4. 10 1% Upper Trimmed Dividend Yield (%)During 1991 2001 Year Mean median(prenominal) SD Firms 1991 1. 73 . 0 2. 74 1452 1992 1. 66 . 0 2. 57 1603 1993 0. 55 . 0 0. 94 1989 1994 1. 68 . 0 3. 02 2559 1995 1. 44 . 0 2. 85 3481 1996 1. 01 . 0 1. 88 4214 1997 1. 46 . 0 2. 99 4864 1998 1. 61 . 0 3. 80 5049 1999 1. 44 . 0 3. 86 5235 2000 1. 43 . 0 3. 96 5182 2001 1. 24 . 0 3. 15 4097 Note Median values are considered only up to 1 decimal.However, there are non-zero values. On the whole dividend yield of aggregate payers shows a significant increase from 1991 to 2001. 17 Average dividend yield has differed from industry to industry (Table 4. 11). Diversified firms, followed by firms in electricity, food and beverages and textiles industries paid higher dividend yields in 1991 while financial services and mining firms paid the lowest. By 2001 diversified firms and electricity continue to pay higher dividend yields where firms in transport industry have improved their dividend yields by 2001.However, food and beverages and textile firms recorded lowered their dividend yield by 2001, where as firms in financial services, and mining have improved their dividend yields. Figure 4. 8 1% Upper Trimmed Dividend Yield During 1991 2001 2. 0 1. 8 1. 6 1. 4 1. 2 1. 0 0. 8 0. 6 0. 4 0. 2 0. 0 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Average (%) Year Figure 4. 9 1% Upper Trimmed Dividend Yield by Payer Type Current Payer 12 Initiator Regular Payer Total Average (%) 10 8 6 4 2 0 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Year On the whole the dividend yield is range bound during the study period.Analysis of dividend yield by type of payer shows that initiators have always paid higher levels of dividend yield compared to that of current payers and regular payers. Diversified firms and firms in the electricity industry have paid higher dividend yields during the study period. 4. 5 Summary of Analysis of Dividend Trends The number of firms paying dividend during the study period has shown an up trend till 1995 and has fallen subsequently. Average DPS on the other hand has shown a steady growth e xcept for year 2001. Average percentage PR showed a more stable pattern up to 1997 and then has shown a declining trend.Dividend yield measure is range bound. 18 Analysis also shows that only a few firms have consistently paid same levels of dividend. Analysis of dividend payout recurrence shows that very few firms have maintained the same payout for a longer period of time. Of the payers, regular payers have consistently paid higher payout as well as higher average dividend compared to that of current payers. Iinitiators have always paid higher levels of dividend yield compared to that of current payers and regular payers. Further, narrower indices appear to have higher dividends compared to that of broader indices.Industry trends indicate that firms in the electricity, mining and diversified industries have paid higher dividends where as textile companies have paid less dividends. Firms in the machinery industry which includes computer hardware and software segments have shown lower dividends. Table 4. 11 Average Dividend Yield (%) Industry-Wise During 1991 2001 Industry Chemicals and Plastics Diversified Electricity Financial Services Food and Bevera ges Machinery Metals and Metal Product Mining Misc. Manufacturing Non-Metallic Mineral Products Other Services Textiles Transport Equipment 1991 1. 79 2. 97 2. 27 0. 2 2. 18 1. 66 1. 76 0. 11 1. 41 1. 4 1. 18 2. 06 1. 53 Average 1% Upper Trimmed Dividend Yield in Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1. 92 0. 55 1. 68 1. 39 0. 99 1. 55 1. 91 1. 82 2. 49 0. 8 2. 64 1. 56 1. 3 2. 16 2. 44 2. 12 1. 31 0. 69 1. 49 1. 04 1. 14 1. 07 0. 93 0. 85 0. 9 0. 41 2. 28 1. 98 1. 45 1. 87 1. 29 1. 05 2. 06 0. 58 1. 4 0. 92 0. 7 1. 21 1. 63 1. 38 1. 55 0. 61 1. 8 1. 57 1. 07 1. 54 1. 87 1. 7 1. 81 0. 53 1. 62 1. 71 1. 15 1. 43 1. 33 1. 22 0. 05 0. 01 0. 02 0. 21 0. 52 0. 45 0. 56 1. 12 0. 98 0. 33 1. 51 1. 32 0. 89 1. 18 1. 35 1. 74 1. 55 0. 49 1. 15 1. 02 0. 86 1. 08 1. 36 1. 46 1. 37 0. 5 1. 33 1. 3 0. 81 1. 23 1. 33 0. 97 1. 8 0. 62 2. 08 1. 2 1 1. 41 1. 74 1. 48 1. 48 0. 55 1. 61 1. 36 1. 22 1. 97 2. 42 2. 24 2000 1. 66 2. 99 1. 47 1. 33 1. 12 1. 32 1. 29 0. 58 1. 34 1. 66 1. 05 1. 65 2. 76 2001 1. 35 2. 11 1. 99 1. 03 1. 06 1. 01 1. 2 0. 81 1. 29 1. 43 0. 98 1. 6 2. 04 4. 6 Changes in Tax Regime and Dividend Propensity Analysis of influence of change in tax regime on dividend propensity shows that total dividend per share has come down from an average of Rs. 0. 84 to Rs. 0. 71, where as average payout percentage has increased from 33. 33% to 51. 05% (Table 4. 12). Mimicking the trends for total firms, regular payers have registered lower DPS and higher payout percentage.As opposed to these changes over sub-periods of 3 years before and after the change in tax regime, one year changes show that DPS has more or less remained at the same level, where as payout percentage has come down from 1997 to 1999. However, paired samples t-test shows that these differences are not statistically significant, except in the case of payout percentage from 1997 to 1999 (Table 4. 13). In sum, it can be inferred from the present study that tax regime changes have not really influenced the dividend behavior of Indian corporate firms and that the tradeoff theory does not hold true in the Indian context. 9 Average Dividends onwards and After the Tax Regime Change Variable Total DPS (in Total Firms Rs) Regular Payers Total DPS (in Rs. ) Immediate DPS (in Rs. ) eld Average Total Firms Payout % Average Regular Payers Payout % Immediate Payout % Years Sample After Before After Before 1999 1997 After Before After Before 1999 1997 Mean . 71 . 84 1. 55 1. 72 . 22 . 22 51. 05 33. 33 60. 53 38. 07 27. 78 35. 87 N 2597 2597 765 765 4848 4848 1217 1217 1000 1000 2987 2987 SE Correlation . 17 . 519 . 24 . 27 . 241 . 71 . 06 . 426 . 05 19. 19 . 015 1. 43 23. 35 . 008 1. 68 2. 65 . 072 2. 87 Sig. .000 . 000 . 000 . 610 . 795 . 00 Table 4. 12 Influence of Change in Tax Regime on Dividend Propensity Paired Samples T-test Difference SE After Before Total Firms -. 13 . 21 Total DPS Regular Payers -. 17 . 70 (in Rs. ) Immediate Years . 01 . 06 Total Firms 17. 72 19. 23 Average 22. 46 23. 39 Payout % Regular Payers Immediate Years -8. 09 3. 76 t -. 62 -. 24 . 11 . 92 . 96 -2. 15 df 2596 764 4847 1216 999 2986 Sig. .536 . 810 . 909 . 357 . 337 . 032 Table 4. 13 5. Characteristics of Dividend Payers and Non-Payers 5. 1 Profitability Payers on an average have more than twice the payoff on assets compared to that of non-payers (Table 5. 1).This finding is consistent with Fama and French (2001). Of the payers Initiators appear to have on an average higher payoff on assets compared to current payers and regular payers, though their payoffs on assets have shown considerable fluctuations. Current payers and regular payers have similar levels of payoff on assets. Of the non-payers, former payers appear to have higher payoff on assets compared to firms, which never paid dividends. Never paid in turn appears to higher payoff on assets compared to current non-payers. An analysis of EPS of payers and non-payers shows that the former have on an average higher EPS compared to the latter.The difference in magnitude is also quite substantial compared to that of payoff on assets. Of the payers, regular payers have consistently higher EPS compared to that of the other two groups of payers. EPS of current payers and initiators has shown considerable fluctuations over the sample period. Initiators have higher average EPS in the early part of 1990s and last few years of 1990s, where as in the intervening years their EPS has shown a decline. Current payers on the other hand shown an opposite trend compared to that of initiators.All the non-payer groups have shown considerable fluctuations in EPS during the sample period and on average registered a decline in EPS from 1990 to 2001. An analysis of common stock earnings to book equity 20 shows that on an average payers have dominated non-payers as the former firms registered 24% in 1991 and 15% in 2001 to 4% and 6% by the latter in the similar years. Of the payers, initiators have higher common stock earnings t o book equity compared to that of regular payers and current payers. Regular payers and current payers have similar equity earnings to book equity.However there is a sluggish decline in earnings to book equity from 1991 to 2001. Of the non-payer firms, never paid firms appear to have higher equity earnings to book equity compared to current non-payers and former payers. The difference between payers and non-payers is larger in terms of stock earnings to book equity compared to payoff on firms assets. These findings are consistent with Fama and French. To sum up it can be concluded that profitability has positive influence on the dividend payment of a corporate firm. Dividend payers are more profitable compared to non-payers.Further, corporate firms in general and non-dividend payers in particular have become less profitable. 5. 2 Growth or Investment Opportunities An analysis of growth of assets shows that payers on an average have higher growth compared to that of non-payers. Paye rs have grown at percentages of 29. 03 in 1991, 23. 69 in 2000 and 10. 82 in 2001 compared to 18. 65, 4. 12 and 1. 86 in the corresponding years for non-payers. Of the payers initiators appear to have higher growth percentage compared to that of regular payers. Initiators have grown at percentages of 29. 87 in 1991, 49. 13 in 2000 and 57. 54 in 2001 compared to 28. 2, 23. 59 and 6. 78 in the corresponding years for regular payers. Regular payers in turn appear to have higher growth compared to that of current payers. Of the non-payers, never paid have on an average lower growth in assets compared to former payers and current payers. These findings are not consistent with Fama and French where they find never paid firms to have higher growth in assets compared to that of other non-payer and payer groups. Similar trends are observed with regard to growth opportunities as measured by R&D investment to total assets. Payers appear to have higher growth opportunities compared to non-payer s.Of the payers, regular payers have higher growth opportunities compared to initiators and current payers. Of the non-payers, never paid appears to have lower growth opportunities compared to current non-payers. However the percentage growth opportunities for payers as well as for non-payers are intimately low as the payers on an average have 0. 02% in 1991 and 0. 27% in 2001 compared to 0. 003% and 0. 0447% in the corresponding years for non-payers. An analysis of aggregate market value to book value of assets shows that payers and non-payers do not differ significantly.However, there are differences with in the payer and non-payer groups. For instance, initiators appear to have higher market value to book value compared to regular and current payers, where as in non-payer group, former payers appear to be dominated by both never paid and current non-payers. On the whole in the Indian context higher growth and growth opportunities have not resulted in lower dividend payments by c orporate firms. This finding contradicts the findings of Fama and French, whereby they fight back that growth opportunities are an important reason for reduced dividend payments by firms. . 3 Size Dividend payers appear to be much larger in size compared to that of non-payers. This observation is consistent with Fama and French (2001). Average size as measured by assets of payers averaged Rs. 104. 4 crore in 1991 and Rs. 1413. 43 in 2001 compared to that of Rs. 56. 92 and Rs. 181. 20 in the corresponding years for non-payers. 21 Of the payers, regular payers have higher assets compared to that of current payers. Current payers in turn have higher assets compared to initiators. Similarly, regular payers have grown an average asset base of Rs. 112 crore in 1991 to Rs. 711 crore in 2001 compared to Rs. 54. 71 crore and Rs. 581. 48 core for initiators and Rs. 47. 11 crore in 1992 and Rs. 654. 9 crore for current payers. Of the non-payers, former payers appear to have higher assets comp ared to current never paid who in turn have higher asset base compared to current non-payers. Asset base of former payers has grown from Rs. 90. 14 crore in 1991 to Rs. 239. 2 crore in 2001 while in the corresponding period never paid have grown from Rs. 51. 69 crore to Rs. 80. 57 crore. However, current non-payers have registered a decline in their asset base from Rs. 3. 5 crore to Rs. 18. 73 crore during the same period. An analysis of indebtedness of firms s hows that non-payers appear to have higher levels of long-run borrowings to assets compared to that of payers. Of the non-payers, never paid appears to have higher longterm borrowings to assets compared to former payers, who in turn appear to have higher levels compared to current non-payers. Of the payers, regular payers appear to have higher long-term borrowings to assets compared to current payers. Current payers in turn have higher levels compared to initiators.On the whole, the size of assets of firms have gone up durin g the period 1990 2001 and that increased assets seems to have been financed through long-term borrowing implying pecking order of preference for funds. Table 5. 1 Characteristics of Dividend Payers and Non-Payers Year 1991 1992 1993 Average % Payoff on Assets Current Payers 11. 20 12. 23 Initiators 9. 79 15. 15 12. 57 Regular Payers 11. 69 12. 03 12. 00 Total Payers 11. 44 12. 32 12. 07 Current Non-Payers 6. 58 5. 16 3. 69 Former Payers 10. 24 7. 41 6. 23 Never Paid 4. 44 6. 71 5. 29 Total Non-Payers 5. 49 6. 68 5. 29 Average 1% Trimmed EPS Current Payers 3. 0 4. 83 Initiators 7. 05 7. 47 5. 49 Regular Payers 14. 11 12. 79 9. 07 Total Payers 13. 20 11. 97 8. 46 Current Non-Payers -1. 61 -1. 18 -0. 49 Former Payers 0. 71 -2. 72 -3. 45 Never Paid 0. 07 1. 41 -0. 88 Total Non-Payers 0. 04 0. 49 -1. 41 Average Common Stock Earnings to Book Equity % Current Payers 21 18 Initiators 29 39 27 Regular Payers 22 20 19 Total Payers 24 24 21 Current Non-Payers -15 -7 -41 Former Payers 8 -27 5 8 Never Paid 14 23 47 Total Non-Payers 4 13 23 Average % Growth (Assets) Current Payers 46. 25 27. 29 Initiators 29. 87 92. 24 66. 77 Regular Payers 28. 92 62. 44 32. 20 Total Payers 29. 03 63. 66 33. 0 Current Non-Payers 16. 13 2. 34 26. 55 1994 12. 67 15. 19 12. 24 12. 58 3. 16 5. 37 4. 91 4. 79 7. 30 4. 53 9. 37 8. 67 -0. 35 -1. 64 -0. 62 -0. 81 23 32 21 24 13 72 14 21 27. 95 50. 41 36. 31 36. 17 46. 48 1995 13. 99 13. 66 12. 21 12. 56 1. 99 5. 94 5. 73 5. 41 6. 95 3. 98 8. 90 8. 15 0. 28 0. 51 0. 59 0. 54 20 26 22 23 4 -65 10 -3 1996 12. 27 11. 25 12. 02 11. 99 3. 67 9. 06 3. 89 5. 61

Matthew Arnold’s “Culture and Anarchy”

A lot of ledger entrys to literary studies, including the one provided by Nnning , concentrate on what Collini (2000)2 calls the Blessed Trinity of literary studies poem, drama and novel. According to Collini, this receive dominated the Anglo-Ameri discharge literary study from the 1930s to at least the early 1970s. He states Under this regime, the obstinate mixed-mode texts of the dainty probeist and moralists did not fare considerably..Nevertheless, non-fictional types of texts are the virtually common in e trulyday life. Were would humanity be without news news reports, manuals, hypertexts, and all the some other pieces of non-fictional prose which are, according to Collini a nearly limitless category?It is the the most red category, and the category most compose in. Writers are mostly engaged in non-fictional prose. There are millions of ledgerists and scientists right away not to speak of all the bureaucrats in the administrations of nearly every enterprise or g ever yplacenment, who write trillions of letters, reports and presentations every day. Non-fictional prose is worth more attention.This paper is come to with a piece of non-fictional prose. Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold. In order to deliver a sufficient synopsis, at that place will be a chapter on the designer first, to get an impression of how to understand the utterances. This includes a brief summary of the most important texts that were published by Matthew Arnold before Culture and Anarchy. Afterwards, there will be a chapter on text types, to clarify which category of text the work belongs to. At last, there will be the analysis of, as an application of the conjecture from the chapter before, with respect to the current scientific state of interpretation of Culture and Anarchy.1. Matthew Arnold BenchmarksMatthew Arnold lived from 1822 to 1888. He was an geneary-school-inspector from 1851-86. He wrote poems until he was thirty3 . The most popular one is DoverNnning, Ve ra. An introduction to the study of English and Ameri net literature. Barcelona et al. Klett, 2007Collini, Stefan. From Non-Fiction Prose to Cultural Criticism Genre and Disciplinarity in Victorian Studies. pp. 13-28. John, Juliet (ed. and introd.) Jenkins, Alice (ed. and introd.) and Sutherland, John (foreword) Rethinking Victorian Culture. Basingstoke, England Macmillan, 2000. xvi, 244 pp Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, p 488Beach, where he imagine the struggling of his generation with religion and progress and finds a relief in love as a reliable fix-point in life. His poems became so popular, that he was elect the (foremost honorary) abide of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University, where he was obliged to hold public lectures three generation a course of study. He was the first unordained holder of the post and spoke English instead of Latin.In 1861 he held a lecture on translating homer, that was published as a book later. E.K. Brown (258) detects a dogmatic ele ment in that essay, when Arnold asserts, that Homer is the most important poetical monument existing and prophesies that he will be read more and more in the future. In the same year, 1861, Arnold published The Popular Education in France, on his own expense. In the Introduction he makes an ominous statement about society as a whole, that was later republished under the title Democracy.The next publication in book-form was Essays on Criticism5 , where he developed a regularity called disinterestedness (dis- = not, inter- = between, esse= to be). It was not considered to be very helpful by scientists. Chhibbar6 states that it was fragmented, chaotic, and uncentered. (164), but Caufield7 suggests, that the lack of consistency was compensated by a habit of keeping in touch with the concrete and a put for implicit definition.Arnold described himself as a mere solitary wanderer in search of the get away, who speaks an artless, unstudied, every-day, familiar language. (ibid., footnot e 2). Having said this, his method can as well be called empirical and inductive. Arnold also pleaded that the mere application of principles was tautological, could not provide a sense of creative activity. (38) and that it would sincerely restoration a lot of logic to build a machine but the idea to build a machine came from intuition (ix).The subsequent book, Culture and Anarchy, was go on in the tradition of Essays in Criticism, insofar as it was primarily a collection of essays published in a magazine before. According to Collini (1993, 276), Arnold was involved in an almost continuous series of overlapping Brown, A.K. The Strategy of Disinterestedness. pp 251-262. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay. Darmstadt, 1975.Arnold, Matthew Essays on Criticism.Chhibbar, Sudershan. Victorian perspectives on democracy a study of selected literary documents 1832 1867, Dissertation, 1980Caufield, James W. Most deliver from Personality Arnolds Touchstones of Ethics, Cambridge Quarte rly (2009) 38 (4) 307-327. Collini, Stefan. Arnold. pp. 195-326.Thomas, Keith (ed.) Victorian Thinkers. Past Masters. Oxford, 1993. vii, 428 pp.controversies, which started around the time of Democracy.Arnold retrieved from social criticism, when three of his children died in a short date of time. He started to focus on religion and got a lot of appreciation for that. Later, he declined beseeming professor at Oxford again, as well as becoming Director of a University.According to the Oxford Companion of English Literature Arnold was the leading critic of his time. His contemporaries must have had a polar view. According to Caufield , Arnold had been a cast out until the endof the 2nd world war. He was seen as a frivolous dandy, logical light-weight, stupid weakling, incoherent click or intellectual dandy (237), whose airy dogmatism was ambitious, vague and perverse (244), and could only serve to impress young ladies or old women (243).His style was deemed as an almost feminine concreteness of mind that rarely rose above the simplistic level of anecdotal narrative (242). According to Caufield, Arnold reproduced the Utilitarian versus Romantic polarity and concludes that Arnold appears to be figure of late Romanticism, whose contemporaries claimed that his arguments lacked the logical and moral toughness demanded by the disciplines of political economy and felicific calculus (cf. Bentham). . The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography confirms that In much of Arnolds poetry one sees the disconsolate Romantic trying to turn himself into the resolute stoic. (489).2. How to Analyse an Essay2.2 Patterns of OrganisationMiller distinguishes 6 patterns of organisation for the information in an essay illustration, comparison & contrast, definition, voice and classification, process, and causal analysis. Illustration means giving causas. Comparisons and contrasts are used to make things clearer, show the positive side of something or to find a general principle. A definition is the explanation of vague and ambiguous words.A lump definition puts the term in a general class and then differentiates it from the other members of that class. An extended definition is used to explain an uncommon term which is new or abstract. A Differentiation is showing what is not part of the definition. A division is the separation into groups, and a classification is the placement of units into these groups. A process is a sequence of actions and mathematical processs, which has no focus on the story. A causal analysis consist of necessary, contributory and sufficient causes.2.3 Dierent Types of EssaysThere are different kinds of distinctions possible to differentiate between certain types of essays. On the level of topic, the author can use the a narration, description, exposition or argumentation. On the level of style, there are more or less formal essays to distinguish.2.3.1 Narration, Description, Exposition, ArgumentationMiller (168 n.) explains that the narration has a clear time sequence, can use dialogues and a varying point of view, whereas a description is a sensory diction (ibid.). It can ether stay detached from the narration, be (objective/factual) or include personal feelings and opinions of the narrator (subjective/personal). An exposition is the explainSvaglic, Martin J. Classical Rhetoric and Victorian Prose. pp 230-250. Weber, Horst (ed.) Der Englische Essay, Darmstadt, 1975. Nation of informations and/or ideas, and an argumentation proposes (366) of a point of view.In this view Culture and Anarchy clearly is an argumentation.2.3.2 The Informal, Formal and Periodical EssayFreiburg15 distinguishes three types (Muster) of essays which developed successively in history the informal essay, the formal essay and the annual essay. The archetype of essay was invented by Michel de Montaigne. He thought that the writer had to be able to unfold his thoughts without constrains. Form, topic and stylistic devices were kept open. Th ematically, reading often was the scratch line point of de Montaignes thoughts, which were explicated, quasi live, in his essays. So they have hardly a structure, are hot airal and associative.According to Mace-Tessler Bacon called himself an imitator of de Montaigne(15), but he channelizeed the focus from personal inquiry (ibid.) to social and philosophical topics. According to Freiburg, the essays of Bacon had a clear intention and target group, and were indite in tradition of the Speculum Magistratis. Therefore, the tone was kept noetic and Bacon underlined his educatedness or cited other authorities to be accepted as an advisor.The rational tone was achieved by the use of definitions and a dialectical logic. The stylistic devices used were comparisons, parables and metaphors. They served for illustration. To late the memorisation of theconclusions, aphorisms and maxims were employed.The aim of the formal essay is the transmission of lessons. The annual essay was invented by people like Daniel Defoe in the beginning of the newspaper. It was dominant in the Victorian and fin-de-sicle period. There was an increasing readership, achieved by the cheapness of periodicals and there was a growth in reading public because of elementary education and the overall growth of the centre-class.Mace-Tessler adds, that the periodical essay is considered as one aspect in the development of journalism. Freiburg describes it as a mixed form of informal and formal essay. The essays where published in magazines and journals. Topics were taken from everyday life in the newly established middle class. They were read silently at the breakfast table, or aloud at the coffee-house. There was a high variety of genericdevices letters, reports, poems and even fictional narrations are being subsumed under this category. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is one example. It was published in All the year round, a periodical owned by Charles Dickens.The focus of the periodical essay l ied less on what was said, than on how it was said. There was a shift away from subject-matter, towards an examination of the authors attitude towards a subject. The result was an almost conspirational and familiarly (cf. Mace-Tessler) tone. The periodical essay had to have a certain predictability because the journal or magazine had to be sold. However, a variety of structures, styles and essay types were needed to sustain the readers interest and attention.This variety had to follow some predictable patterns. In general, there was a tendency toimitate what has been before which formed the style of the periodical essay (Mace-Tessler, 11). Drescher (228 n.) makes an over-all distinction between free essay, formal essay and mix-form essay.This coincides with to Freiburgs informal, formal and periodical distinction. Drescher states, like suggested by Mace-Tessler, that the style of the periodical essay was foremost coined by the magazine which published it.He analysed 221 periodical e ssays in two Irish fin-de-sicle-magazines (The mirror and The Lounger) and he omitted the use of a categorization by topic, tone or style in favour of four canonic structures.The running(a), linear, tangential and inherent structure. The additive structure is characterised by the fact that the parts of the text are not interrelated. They dont depend on each other and have different topics. In the linear structure, each part of the essay relates directly to the other, as well as to the topic, but there is no interrelation between the texts. The discursive structure has a progressive arrangement of the single texts.The episodes have a causal relation, each text leads to the other and each unit references to the topic. In an integral structure, the parts of the particular essay develop their own structure, and the sense-level stays directly connected to the topic. Mace-Tessler distinguishes rhetorical, simple, unified, associated, unrelated and incomplete essays in his analysis of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator.3. Analysis3.1 Type of EssayCulture and Anarchy was written as a rhetorical essay, published first in the periodical Cornhill Magazine over a period of almost a year. The Introduction was written at last and the particular chapters argument on a different basis of information because they were written in different periods. According to Chhibbar, there had been sound changes and tensions (197) at the time of the accruement of Culture and Anarchy. According to Altick17 , all but the first part, Sweetness and Light, were written as reaction to the critiques. The structure of the whole text must be called linear, in the terminology of Drescher.3.2 Diegetic LevelAs seen above, Arnold was publishing from different perspectives. Campbell18 states that the movement between the roles of school inspector, government official (as an expert), Oxford Professor of Poetry, critic and polemical diarist required the adjustment in the style and content. This shifting between different voices was especially present in the critical writing that used irony, imitation and spoof to undermine the views of formed personages. He sometimes even used a foreigners point of view to criticize his countrymen. Campbell suggests to read his criticism more like fiction.3.3 rhetorical ModeBecause periodical essays were read aloud in the coffee houses authors often made use of rhetorical elements. According to Svaglic (234), the Rhetoric by Aristotle had long been a basic text of the litterae humaniores program at Oxford. Thus it must have been known by Matthew Arnold. Brown even calls him a practised rhetorician (259). Svaglic describes the three modes of rhetoric by Aristotle, who distinguished between the deliberative/hortatory, the forensic/judicial mode, and the epideictic/ceremonial mode.The deliberative/hortatory mode is the persuasion of view-points, the forensic/judicial mode is concerned with guilt and innocence, and the epideictic/ceremon ial mode is used for the praise of great men and deeds. Brown states that all great Victorian prose writers were practising every mode of rhetoric at one time or another, but the most popular was the deliberative/hortatory mode (233).Arnold announces that he is a man without a philosophy (94) and speaks of a simple unsystematic way which best suits both my taste and my powers (5), and continuous We having no coherent philosophy, must not let ourselves philosophise. (Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 201). This plain-dealing (Altick, 82) enables him to anatomise the failures of the middle class by being a representative man (ibid.) of it.3.4 Use of IronyAccording to Altick, the irony of Culture and Anarchy often lies in the fact that the professed respect is proforma and misdirected, or, what starts as epideictic rhetoric is negated by deflationary techniques (128). Due to the fact that Culture and Anarchy was written in pieces (linear structure), the use of beautiful is ambiguous. Wilhe m von Humboldt is described as one of the most beautiful and perfect souls (140), which is supposed to be actually meant that way, for example. But on the other hand, there is, what Altick (132) calls ironic praise the touching and beautiful words (61) of the overzealous anti-Catholic Mr. Murphy saying I will carry out my lectures if they walk over my body as a dead corpse, which is definitely neither touching nor beautiful.Interesting is one of the most equivocal words in Arnolds argumentative vocabulary. For example, the provoke speakers (74), he heard during the Reform Debates in the hall of Commons. One is later described as perfection, the other as excess. Excess is not interesting. Another example is this very interesting operation (223), for the attempt to legalise the marriage of a man with his deceased wifes sister. It was illegal in Britain, but how often does such a fortune happen? There were much more important problems to be solved at that time at least from Arnold s point of view. The absurdity of this interesting operation is emphasised in the aftermath of the text by repetition.3.5 Use of RepetitionsThe phrase deceased wifes sister gets repeat nine times in Culture and Anarchy. This rhetorical method of Arnold attempts to humiliate the opponent. This is also acknowledged by Collini, who states by mercilessly repeating the least happy phrasesover and over again, he drowns his opponent in a sea of comic associations. (216).Sometimes repetition only serves in substitution for a sufficient vocabulary, like in square thought, real beautiy real sweetness and real light. (49) or to show similarities like the half-sized, half-fed half-clothed children without health, without home, without hope (245). This similarities all hint to one point the lack of a sufficient policy. As a polemical journalist (vid. infr. Campbell), Arnold tries to persuade (deliberative rhetoric). One big part of this early type of propaganda is the attempt for coinage by profligate repetition of newly defined terms.3.6 Denitions, Comparisons and ContrastsCulture is the best which has been thought and said in the world (ix). This is thereby nearly equal to religion. Religion says The kingdom of God is inside you and culture, in a like direction places human perfection in an internal condition, distinguished from animality. (13). An attribute of culture is right reason as well as best self . The really blessed thing is to like what right reason ordains (68).But for us, who believe in right reason, in the province and possibility of extricating and elevating our best self, in the progress of humanity towards perfection, we support them in repressing anarchy and disorder because without order there can be no society, and without society there can be no human perfection.The chasm of without and society serves the rhetorical effect. Anarchy is more or less defined as doing as one likes. The natural instinct of the ordinary man towards liberty is the reby degenerated into an anarchical tendency (59), caused by liberty. This doing as one likes is juxtaposed with sweetness and light (differentiation).According to the Oxford English Dictionary19 Sweetness and Light is a quotation from Jonathan Swift and means the noblest characteristics of humanity. His definition of sweetness and light is juxtaposed with fire and strength, his own coinage, repeated twelve times. Sweetness and light are right reason, best self and culture but sometimes this must be protected by the forces of fire and strength. State is defined as the nation in itscollective and corporate character(66). This is based on the best self and becomes the subject field right reason (93). Culture and Anarchy is full of juxtapositions.According to Miller, Signalling words for comparisons and contrast are are in contrast (1 time), on the other hand(14 times),on the contrary (3 times) and however(28 times) or transition words like likewise (3 times), similarly (2 times sim ilar) and in a like manner (manner 21 times). On the level of content, the most obvious contrasts are between the bad examples like the liberals Roebuck and Bright, the Alderman of London and Mr. Murphy as well as the writers of the Times, the Saturday come off and the Daily Telegraph, who are compared with the with the good examples of Bishop Wilson, Duke Wellington and St. Augustine.3.7 DialoguesAs mentioned above by Freiburg, its not uncommon to use a dialogue in an essay. The following one can be found in the introduction to Culture and Anarchy where Arnold reports his conversation with a Nonconformist I said, that seemed a pity. A pity? cried he not at all (xxxiv)3.8 MetaphorsOne can always find thousands of metaphors in every text. But the poetic language of the late Romanticist Arnold, used on a nearly Utilitarian topic makes a very picturesque use of metaphors. Arnold describes himself as delivered from the Bondage of Bentham (46), to implicates that he has liberated hims elf from a philosophy which holds the enemies of culture captive. (Altick, 124).4. ConclusionThis paper has shown that non-fictional prose needs to be investigated by literary studies. It has shown the importance of the essay in the Victorian and fin-de-sicle period in his parallelism to the development of the periodicals and with it the journalism. This might give a hint for the future, on how to analyse hypertexts like bloggs, which can also be read as more or less formal essays.Culture and Anarchy is an example of polemical rhetoric. It was written by a poet of late Romanticism and is thus not well-structured, but very effective. In the words of Caufield (325) Arnold the poet knows that stained glass and plainchant will sooner quicken hearts than scholastic disquisitions and cosmological proofs.