"Dover Beach" is one of the representative poem of Arnold. He tries to show the lack of faith and certitude in a world which is materially expanding wide. It begins with an objective description of the ebb and flow of the wave in the sea. He recalls Sophocles who used to hear same kind of song tuned into human misery. He comes to the present and says that human misery due to lack of faith has not decreased but increased many-fold.
In the past, the sea of faith had encircled the earth and there was no melancholy, no sadness and no misery. But there is no more sea of faith now. Therefore, the world has become more like dream world and their is neither love nor joy, nor light, nor certitude etc. Everywhere there is confusion, struggles and fights among each other. Man is like a soldier fighting with an unknown enemy in the darkness, without any purpose of fighting. The only compensation in such a situation is "love". So he request his lover to be true to one another.
The poem can be divided into two parts. On the first part he talks of the resounding of waves on the pebbled beach. It is just the background which later leads to real consequence. In the later part he expresses his deep feeling about the real situation in the world that is changing rapidly with the growth of science and technology. The world has changed to be strangely unreal. It has many varieties in it, it has become more beautiful and fresher but it lacks all positive virtues like love, faith, peace, certitude etc.
"Lady Clare" is a narrative poem that deals with the theme of love. It embodies a dramatic way of precaution where action unfolds through dialogue and characters are recognized through what they say. The dramatic presentation is concerned with the theme of pure and unselfish love. It shows how lovers can rise above social and economic status and are able to remain faithful and honest to each other.
Lord Ronald love Lady Clare and she also love him equally. They were about to get married. She believed that he loved her true worth rather than her birth or land. In the mean time she was informed by an old nurse named Alice that she was not Lady Clare but her own daughter. After the death of the daughter of an old Earl, she placed her daughter in her place. Lady Clare was now sure that Lord Ronald would not marry her. In spite of nurse's advice, she went to Ronald in a dress of typical village girl and told her everything about her origin that she knew from Alice. After Ronald came to know the reality about his beloved, he declared that he would marry her even if she was not his cousin and she was poor.
This poem thus presents face of real love irrespective of social and economic status. Love is something different which has nothing to do with the birth or origin and social status of either partner. It is holy thing that binds two souls in such a way that it is impossible to unbind them.
It is a ballad written in simple language. the dramatic structure of the poem is appropriate to unfold the truth mostly through the dialogue of the characters and their action.
"She was a Phantom of Delight" is a portrait of William Wordsworth's wife, Mary Hutchinson. He shows how the perception goes on changing from first sight to marriage. It presents a very clear picture of changing perception in different situation and different times. In the first sight he finds her exceptionally beautiful just sent from heaven to delight him. Her presence is monetary but remains in his mind in such a way that he can not help remembering her. In her absence also he is haunted, startled and waylaid by her angelic and delightful image.
The relationship grows stronger and they become nearer to each other and he studies her household motions and every step in family life. She is a perfect woman in family life with the countenance full of sweet promises. She is a moderate woman for the transient sorrows, love, kisses and tears. She is neither too good nor too bad, rather she is practical woman, pleasant companion and a perfect housewife.
Finally she is very intellectual and moral being who is capable of guiding him. She is very conscious in every step of life with the firm reason, temperate will, endurance, foresight. strength and skill. Her quality is like that of the angel of god, all virtuous, to direct and guide him to move forward.
Thus, beginning with a distant view that offers an illusion, he closes up to a more realistic and spiritual view of life. The linear movement from the first sight to her encouraging and inspiring quality shows that he is a perfect woman created by the creator with grand design.
Posted by
anjila
| Posted in
Poetry
| Posted on
8:15 AM
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" is a Shakespearean sonnet that develops one dominant idea. Shakespeare compares a lady with a beautiful summer day in this poem. He finds her beautiful and immortal like his own sonnet. This poem has three quatrains and a couplet. It follows the rhyming pattern abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The poet develops the ideas in the three quatrains and the conclusion of the poem is embedded in a couplet.
The poet compares a lady, probably his beloved, to a summer's day which is all pleasant. The summer's day is lovely and pleasant but she is more than that. The poet also accepts the transience of pleasure and beauty of the natural things and season. The buds of May are not free of wind's touch. Similarly summer's lease is very short.
The sun is sometimes very hot and its golden complexion becomes dim. The beauty of every beautiful thing decreases and is ultimately spoiled naturally or accidentally. But the external summer's beauty he finds in her beauty will never disappear nor will she lose the beauty she has. The death will not be proud of taking her because she has been immortalized in the lines of his verse. She may die physically, but her beauty will remain alive in the lines of verse.
As long as the human race remain on earth and people can read lines of the poems, she will be remembered and will be immortal. Thus, the main concern of the poem is immortalizing beauty through the work of art, especially poem.
Posted by
anjila
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Literature
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Poetry
| Posted on
7:52 AM
"To The Moon" is very short and interesting poem. It is a one sentenced poem that describes the moon in detail. The moon is the symbol of mother Goddess and it is believed that she imparts the peace and prosperity to the people of the world. But the poet evaluates the moon from different angles. He finds the moon joyless that does not find anything constant on the earth. The moon has her own course and she is always in motion. She is alone in the sky amongst the stars which are not the moons. The moon is changing like the joyless eyes that finds no constant object. Everything in this universe is inconstant and is separate entity. Everyone, though among friends, is alone and wandering here and there and of course is in quest of constancy.
The moon is personified in the poem. He finds that the moon is not energetic but pale due to weariness of climbing up the heaven and looking down the earth continuously. The journey of the moon is endless and it is certain that it is a repetitive journey and there is no progress or forward movement. On the other hand the moon has the pang of being changed continuously. The moon is alone in the sky because the stars are of low origin, nobility and birth. Nothing equals to the moon on the sky. She is noble and elegantly born but she is also not perfect. She is in quest of constancy.
So, presenting the problem of the moon, the poet is telling us that nothing is constant and perfect in itself but is always in process of becoming something different
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anjila
| Posted in
Literature
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Story
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Summary
| Posted on
6:46 AM
In the harbour people are busy playing, drinking and selling fruits, etc. A death ship sailed to that place. The boatman anchored that ship with a rope. There was a corpse covered with the colorful silk cloth. No one was interested in that dead body. The boatman showed a great two-storied house on the left of the sea and they took the corpse to the door of that house. A small boy opened the door and they all entered. The door was shut. Flock of doves was delighted to fly around the house as if their food was inside. A woman on the boat gave some grains and the doves ate happily.
A gentleman came to the harbour and looked around gloomily. He knocked at the door. The boys opened the door and they welcomed him warmly. The boatman came there and led him to the first floor. The bearers were setting the candles on the head of the dead body. They lighted the candles but it did not give more light. The corpse looked like a hunter. The gentleman went near the corpse and put his hand on his forehead. he knelt down and started praying. All the bearers were sent out. The dead body opened the eyes suddenly and asked him who he was. The gentleman said that he was Burgomaster of Riva. The dead body said that he was hunter Gracchus. He had fallen down in the Black Forest of Germany long ago when he was hunting there. He had been dead since then. The ship missed the way and they were there. He struggled to climb the steps up to go to the heaven but all in vain. When he reached the door of the other world, he was awakened by the light and found himself on the boat. The wife of the boatman offered him the same wine. He stayed there on the wooden bed covered with a dirty shroud. His beard and hair were tied together. He heard the water hitting his ship.
The terrible fete came after his death. he was brought to a wrong place. He had performed his duty of hunter responsively before his death. It was not a fault, not a sin. No one helped him. The thought of helping him became a kind of illness that had to be cured by taking to bed. Therefore he did not ask for help in the end. Burgomaster asked him how he would stay with them in Riva. He answered that he knew nothing. The ship had last rudder and it was driven by the wind that blew in the undermost region of death.
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anjila
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Literature
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Story
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Summary
| Posted on
6:17 AM
There was no patient to doctor except Olson, who had asked him to visit his sick daughter to treat her. When he reached the patient's house, the sick child's mother welcomed him to the kitchen where the sick child was on the lap of her father. The father tried to get up to greet the doctor, who let him sit down comfortably. The doctor took of his overcoat and looked around. The parents looked at him distrustfully.
The sick child looked at the doctor with her eyes wide open to show her protest but did not move at all. She was an attractive and strong child. Now she was breathing rapidly. The doctor knew that she had high fever for three days. There were many sick persons around. The doctor asked if she had a sore throat. The parents replied together that she had not. There were many students suffering from diphtheria in her school. He called her to open her mouth to inspect her but she did not obey him. The mother assured that he would not hurt her. The doctor however, did not like the mother's expression. The sick child nearly clawed the doctor's eyes. His glasses dropped to the kitchen floor, Mathilda's parents were ashamed. They spoke the words of apology. The mother shook the sick child by her arm. The doctor now broke in. He said that he was to examine her throat anyway. Therefore, either the child had to open her mouth or he would have to open it for her.
She did not move at all. She began to breathe faster. Then the fight began. The doctor said that if the parents took the responsibility, he would not examine her throat. The father then tried his best to open her mouth but could not do it. The doctor told her to put her in his lap and hold her wrists. Then the child began to scream. She said that they were killing her. The doctor grasped the child's head with his left hand and pressed the instrument between her teeth. He tried his best to examine the throat but he could not. The child broke his instrument instead. The doctor then asked for some kind of spoon to open her mouth, which was already bleeding. Her tongue was cut so she shrieked hysterically. The doctor was also furious. He could have torn the child apart. but he had social duty to perform. He had to protect that child. Therefore, he finally used his force to examine the throat. He discovered that she had a sore throat for three days and struggling hard to keep her secret. Now she was truly furious and began to attack. She had only been defensive before. She tried to get off her father's lap and fly at the doctor while her eyes were full of tears of defeat.
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anjila
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Literature
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Story
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Summary
| Posted on
5:36 AM
To Bobolink , for Her Spirit presents the real picture of the deeds and dedication of the autograph seekers in American city, New York. In America and abroad also young people especially the fan of movie stars have set a tradition. They spend a lot of time waiting for their favourite movie stars outside the club, restaurant or pub house etc. They gather at the clubs and discuss about the individuals life and career of the movie stars. This play focuses on how some young people spend their time waiting on the movie stars. How do they undergo the extreme hardship watching and waiting at entrances of clubs and restaurants.
The play is about the group of old and young admirer of film stars. Bobolink and Nellie are experienced and senior autograph collectors. Other two boys Renaldo and Frits, and a pairs of girls Gretchen and Annemarie are quite young and inexperienced. They are waiting for Perry Como outside the gate of 21 clubs. The play presents their futile attempt of autograph hunters.
Bobolink and Nellie have collected a good deal of autographs while others are just learning the art. Young group cannot distinguish the film stars from common people and just go asking for their autograph. They have classified the autograph seekers into two categories, stuck up and not stuck up. They have the opinion that the great actors and actresses like Lana Turner, Tyrone Power etc. etc. are not stuck up. Renaldo and Frits approached two couples suspecting them to be the same movie stars but Bobolink and Nellie maintained their dignity. Bobolink declared that she had no time to waste for anybody who might be famous in future. Till the end of the play they are waiting for their celebrity.
Appropriate references to people and places in the dialogue and stage directions serve to create the atmosphere of glamour which fascinates the young people. In spite of the domination of the senior, the junior's hope and enthusiasms are irrepressible. They remind us that we should have devotion and belief in our work. Every person in every society has the object of admiration. An athelete, a guru, a leader, etc may provoke our intense admiration. Identifying ourselves with him enables us to fulfill our wish through a kind of day dream. The only difference is that some people are able to give due importance to our responsibilities despite such vain dreams.
Posted by
anjila
| Posted in
Biography
,
Literature
| Posted on
1:30 AM
John Milton is ranked very high in the history of English literature. He was man of having pure life. He is the second great poet after Shakespeare. He was a great learned man. He was also a heavy reader. Due to his heavy study, he his eye sight completely. To prove this, one of his note books contains pieces of writing taken from 80 famous writers- Greek, Latin, English, French, Italian, etc. At the same time, he was studying music.
Milton's work are basically divided into three parts. Firstly, he wrote his short poems such as L'Allegro (the happy man), IL Penseroso (the thoughtful man) . They are his political autobiography and other beautiful poems are Comus, Arcades, Lycidas(long pastoral elegy on death of a college friend). Secondly, he wrote mainly prose. Milton's prose works are bascically concerned with church's affairs, divorce and freedom. So they are not so interesting. Areopagitica is one such prose works of Milton. It is a speech for liberty of unlicensed printing (page 55). It deals with Milton's sincere belief in the importance of freedom of writing and the speech.
Lastly he wrote great poems: Paradise Lost, an epic in 12 books on the fall of man. It is great book of his life. It can be compared with almost all great epics of the classical and post classical. It contains hundreds of remarkable thoughts put into musical verse. Paradise Lost covers the whole universe including heaven and hell.
His another poem is Paradise Regained. It is a miniature epic in four books on the redemption(freedom) through Christ and his Samson Agonistes is a tragedy on the Greek model on the biblical episode. It describes Sampson's soul. In this way John Milton contributed too much in the field of literature. He is unique and great literary figure. He completely dedicated his life to encrich English literature by producing great works.
Once upon a time the lord Buddha was born as a little parrot. Unfortunately, the forest , in which he used to live was caught by a horrifying fire, Creatures of that forest found their lives in danger. They were trapped in the burning fire. But the little Parrot escaped from the forest and went to the direction of a river. As the matter of fact he was very sympathetic with the fellow creatures that were unable to escape. All of a sudden he thought of going to river and bringing water to put out the blazing fire. After all he constantly kept on going to the river and bringing about some drops of water on his wings. In course of time, he himself got injured. However, his attempt was constant. At that time, some of the devas (gods) were floating overhead in their clouds place of ivory and gold. They happened to look down. And they saw the little Parrot flying among the flames. They started laughing at the meaningless efforts of the little Parrot. But one of those gods turned into a golden eagle and went to the little Parrot. He suggested him not to make such insignificant attempts because his own life could be lost. The Parrot grew angry and replied that he didn't need suggestion rather he wanted some sort of corporation. The golden eagle got ready to help him so he began to weep. Stream after stream of sparkling tears poured from his eyes. Wave upon wave, they washed down like cooling rain upon the fire, upon the forest, upon the animals and upon the little parrot himself. Finally the lives of those suffered animals and birds were restored and peace and happiness was established. All of them rejoiced and the Parrot got the colorful feathers.
Posted by
anjila
| Posted in
Literal Comprehension
| Posted on
1:12 AM
During the penitential prayers, the Rabbi, a religious mentor, disappears from the public sight. All the Jews guess that he might have gone up in the heaven. When he is noticed with the other gurus during the holy prayers, he seems very busy with the arrangements for good care and food for all those attending prayers.
Once, during the holy prayers, one of the Litvaks laughs away the existing opinions on the cause of the Rabbi missing away in public and declares that the Rabbi is not be able to ascend the heaven before his death. One day, as being very curious about the Rabbi's whereabouts, the Litvak tries to track down the places where Rabbi stays on the Friday morning. The Litvak walk quietly into the Rabbi's room and hides himself under the bed. The Litvak passes the night sleepless and keeps awake till the next morning. As soon as it is morning, he hears the Rabbi complaining for an hour about the Israelite's sorrows and miseries. Kept unseen from the notice of the Rabbi, the Litvak sees the latter leaving the house with an axe held in hand and leading to jungle. There, the Rabbi is seen cutting down a tree and making a bundle of the logs. With the bundle of wood, the Rabbi moves into the house of a sick old woman of the Jewish race and tries to persuade her to buy logs. As the poor lady denies to buy the logs for having no money with her, the Rabbi assures her of God's help and urges her to buy the wood on credit. When the woman agrees to follow his words, the Rabbi senses out her actual situation and does the job himself in the shabby and ill-furnished room of the woman. The Litvak is deeply impressed by the Rabbi's commitment to help out the poor woman and decide to be his true follower. After all the Litvak declares that it is not other but the Rabbi, himself, who deserves to attain a secure place if not higher than the heaven.
Posted by
anjila
| Posted in
Culture
,
Literature
| Posted on
6:11 PM
Literature can help learners to develop their understanding of other cultures, awareness of 'difference' and to develop the tolerance and understanding. At the same time literary texts can deal with universal themes such as love, war and loss that are not always covered in the sanitized world of coursebooks.
Exposure to multicultural literature can help all of us to understand that there are many different ways to live and many different views on what is important on our lives. While reading about characters from a culture other than our own, we learn that often cultures have more similarities than differences. They are exposed to human themes such as honesty, justice, and love for family that go beyond culture. Such exposure can contribute to greater understanding of our own culture as well as the cultures of others in our country and around the world. Literature is the mirror of the society. It studies human nature. We see human nature through tragedy and romance, joy and sorrow, in acceptance and denial, and in moments of heroism and in moment of fear.
Next literature from other cultures offers teachers and students a powerful resource for learning. Although it can be difficult to locate foreign literature, the benefits of using these books are significant. Foreign literature can open up the world to native readers, creating new understanding and appreciation for other cultures. This literature is also a natural way to teach across curriculum, connecting good literature to history, geography, politics, or science. Moreover, foreign literature is often demanding to read, appealing to other adolescents for whom much of literature may not be challenging enough. The field of literature is enriched by works from other countries.
