Dilemma

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “dilemma” can be defined as “an argument presenting two or more equally conclusive alternatives against an opponent”.  To me it is a complex problem involving multiple solutions, thus making it difficult to resolve. The first time I read the article, it didn’t strike to me as such a huge deal that Western poets were struggling with the ideals of romantic consciousness and I wondered why Diamond had used “dilemma” rather than a simpler term such as “challenge” or “problem”. After rereading it a few more times, I realized that the “dilemma” that the dilemma encountered is not just about the inability for Western poets to  capture the main romantic consciousness, but also the complexity of what beauty is. Diamond previously stated that “beauty is ethnocentric”, meaning that it is different to different cultures. Further along he describes the various aspects that can be attributed to beauty such as exaggerated features, or suppressed features, harmony and disharmonies, etc. All these different features make up what beauty is, however this does not mean that beauty itself has a certain standard, or “form” as Plato would have once said. What I mean by this is that beauty has certain qualities that appeal to us, but it does not have a certain essence or image that pops into your head when someone says “beauty”, as is the case with more ground objects like a table or a home. This complexity is what the “dilemma” refers to in the overall text.