Keshab Prasad Parajuli

C. English Class 11 (Notes)

The Selfish Giant- Oscar Wilde

Wilde was an Irish poet, novelist, and playwright, and he wrote this short story for children. It is about a giant who learnt an important lesson about love and sharing, and it holds different meanings for people of different ages. Children enjoy playing in a beautiful garden owned by the Giant, who returns after seven years and builds a wall around his garden to keep the children out. When spring arrives, the garden remains under the spell of winter. The Giant is delighted one day to see that the children have crept into the garden, causing the wintry weather to give a way to glorious spring. However, the cold weather remains in one portion of the garden, where a single solitary boy is unable to reach up and climb a nearby tree.

The Giant strides out into his garden to welcome the children back. However, at the end of the day, the Giant notices that the boy he helped up into the tree has disappeared. The Giant missed him but, he sees the boy in the garden one day. The Giant notices that the boy is wounded, and the boy tells him that they are the wounds of Love, and also tells that he will now take the Giant to Paradise because he let him play in his garden once. When the other children arrive to play, they find the Giant dead.

The garden in this Christian fairy tale symbolizes the Garden of Eden, while the Giant's banishing of the children from his garden echoes God's banishing of Adam and Eve for eating of the forbidden fruit. The little boy whom the Giant helps up into the tree is clearly symbolic of Jesus Christ, who was wounded when he was crucified.

The Oval Portrait -Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is an American writer best known for his poetry and short stories. This is the story of an artist who wants to make a painting of his young wife, but becomes so obsessed with it that he doesn't realize his wife is dying meanwhile. This is a short horror story about the relationship between art and life, through the narrator's encounter with the oval portrait of a young woman in a chateau (castle) in the Appennines (Italian mountain).

Padro the valet brings the injured narrator to an abandoned chateau. The apartment has rich but decaying decorations. The narrator finds a book on the pillow and that provides information about the paintings. The beautiful oval painting is of the painter's wife, who obeys her moody husband without any complain, but rather, continuing to smile for his portrait. The portrait had shut himself and his wife into the tower away from visitors so that he could place all his concentration on his work. When he finished the painting and realized the painting to be the Life itself, his wife had died.

The painter does not cause his wife's death because of hate or any negative emotions. Instead, his passion for his art simply overwhelms him to the paint where he can no longer see his wife except through the lens of his painting. Thus, the story associates art and creativity with decay, ultimately harmful as in this painter's search to immortalize his wife's image. The wife's fate acts as a criticism of the male domination of art.

God Sees the Truth but Waits- Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy is a Russian writer and a master of realistic fiction. He has achieved world renown as a moral and religious teacher. This story is about the false conviction and imprisonment of a man for a murder he did not commit, and it takes the form of a parable for forgiveness. The major character of this story is a merchant named Aksionov who ignores his wife's warning to go to Nizhy Fair, visits a fellow merchant. Semyonich kills that merchant on the following day, steals his money and keeps the knife into Aksionov's bag. The soldiers arrest Aksionov after finding the knife with blood stain. His wife visits him in jail and faints. Then Aksionov has the faith only upon God so that he transforms into a pious old man after over twenty-six years.

One day, Semyonich also arrives in the same jail of Aksionov, but Semyonich digs a tunnel under his sleeping shelf. Semyonich angrily offers Aksionov escape and threatens to kill him should he tell the authorities about the tunnel. Aksionov says Semyonich has already taken his life, and he shall do as God directs him. Later, Semyonich confesses of his crime and falls to Aksionov's knees and begs for forgiveness, promising to confess to the crimes so that Aksionov will go free. The old man replies that his life is already over and he has nowhere to go. The story ends with Semyonich confessing to the governor. By the time the officials arrange Aksionov's release, Aksionov has already died.

The Wish- Roald Dahl

Dahl is a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. This short, sharp, chilling story is about a young body's fantasy in which his carpet is alive with snakes and fire. Using imagery and metaphor, Dahl uses the character of a curiously imaginative young boy to help us reflect on the delicacy of our childhood innocence. This story goes inside the mind of a young child to explore his imagination, and explores the darker side of human nature. The main character pulls a scab painlessly off his knee and flings it away so that it lands on the carpet in the hall of his house. Here, the carpet represents a conflict, causing to suffer for wrong choice. It points out to the lesson that only the right decision and hard labor lead to the right path to fulfill our needs and desires.

The boy decides that the red squares of the carpet are red-hot lumps coals and the black squares snakes, whereas only the yellow squares are safe. According to his rule, the snakes will bite him, and burning coals will burn him, if he touches them. He makes up a story that if he can get to the front door walking only on the yellow parts, he will be rewarded with a puppy. While trying that out, he loses his balance and his hand falls on a black 'snake'. He cries out. Actually, this is a story about self-confidence overcoming fear. The scene before him as witnessed through his emotionally invested mind is vivid and suspenseful. This sinister story ends cryptically with his mother looking for him behind the house.

Civil Peace- Chinua Achebe

Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. This story is set in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War. It is about the effects of that war on the people, and the 'civil peace' that followed. Nigeria became an independent nation from the British colony in 1960 and this war began after seven years when the Igbo village tried to separate from Nigeria to form the independent Republic of Biafra. After enduring three years of bloody battles, the Igbo were forced to surrender in 1970. Biafrans suffered a severe famine due to the effect of war. Nearly a million people died of starvation.

Jonathan Iwegbu has survived the Nigerian Civil War so that he considers himself 'extraordinarily lucky'. He repairs his bicycle after returning home to the capital city of Enugu. To explain both his good and bad fortune to himself and others, he often repeats a phrase: 'Nothing puzzles God.' He uses his bicycle to start a taxi service and opening a bar for soldiers.

One day, after turning over rebel currency, Jonathan is given a reward of 20 pounds. That night, a group of thieves knocks on his door demanding money. Finding himself helpless, he gives that money to those thieves. The next morning, he and his family are back at work as the neighbors arrive. Sensing their confusion over his ability to toss off the situation of the night before, Jonathan explains that the reward money cannot compare to what he lost in the war. He chooses to focus on his work in the present rather than regret what has happened.

Two Little Soldiers - Guy de Maupassant

Maupassant is a popular 19th century French writer. This story is about a triangular love with a completely unexpected twist at the end. It shows the compatibility of friendship and romantic love with change, discontent, conflict, betrayal and jealousy.

Luc and Jean are two soldiers who habitually spend their free time on Sundays away from the barracks, out in the countryside. Eventually, their ritual comes to include a bit of innocent ogling of a young village girl who brings her cow out to pasture every week at the same time. As the weeks pass, the girl becomes the topic of conversation for these soldiers as they spend time at the barracks, and the three become fast friends. The girl begins to share their Sunday breakfast meal and appears to devote equal attention to the two recruits. Then, in an uncharacteristic move, Luc seeks leave on a Tuesday, and again the following Thursday. He borrows money from Jean on that day but offers no explanation for his behavior. Jean lends the money.

The following Sunday, when the girl appears with the cow, she immediately rushes up to Luc and they embrace ardently. Jean is hurt because he is left out and does not understand why the girl has suddenly turned all of her attention to Luc. Neither soldier speaks of the incident, but as they return to their barracks they stop momentarily on the bridge over the Seine. Jean leans over toward the water and then suddenly tumbles into the torrent. Luc can do nothing; he watches in anguish as his good friend drowns.

An Astrologer's Day - R.K. Narayan (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami)

Narayan is an Indian writer known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. Astrology is a form of fortune telling, originated in ancient Babylonia, and practiced in many cultures. This story is a thriller, suspense story describing a day in the life of an astrologer who makes his living by selling cosmic insights to gullible villagers, though he has no knowledge of the cosmos or actual spiritual understanding. The astrologer lays out all of his professional equipment, whereas the narrator notes that he cannot really tell the future. According to the narrator, the astrologer left his small village because he did not want to be an overworked farmer like all of his male ancestors.

One day, the astrologer starts to pack up at the end of the day, but a stranger accosts him, saying that he is not a real astrologer. The astrologer insists on a few incantations and thinks about the man’s situation. The astrologer then says that the man was left for dead after being pushed into a well. This turns out to be true. The stranger, amazed, asks when he should get his revenge on the person who assaulted him. The astrologer then calls his name—Guru Nayak—and says that the man he seeks vengeance against died four months ago.

The astrologer picks up his things and heads home. He is late, and his wife is angry at his tardiness. But then he hands her the large bag of coins that he procured from Nayak. She is thrilled by the good fortune. After a nice dinner, the astrologer confesses to his wife that long ago, when he was a teenager, he was the one who pushed Nayak down the well and left him to die.

Corona Says- Vishnu Singh Rai

Rai was educated in India, Nepal and the UK, and he is known as a poet of human emotions. This poem, written on the theme of the present world crisis Corona and its devastating impact on human life, is a subtle satire on man's conduct and attitude. It views COVID 19 as the byproduct of man's treatment to nature. According to him, human behaviors are responsible for the pandemic and suffering so far.

Since the title of the poem is clear, here we find Corona speaking to humans. It is evident that COVID 19 has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but the speaker denies the blame of wrongdoing upon human life and the world economy. According to Corona, it did not come alone but was brought by humans. This is the result of our irrational and irresponsible treatment toward nature. Humans consider themselves to be the sole owners of the entire earth, and neglecting the fact that the earth is a common habitat for all, they always use it according to their selfish wishes.

During the lockdown, when all human activity came to halt, nature regained its old appearance: blue skies, pollution-free atmosphere, etc. It also shows that we are responsible for calamities and misery. In this way, Corona wars that if we don't improve ourselves, more devastating pandemics will come, with more death and destruction. Not only that, but such behavior will eventually take us back to prehistoric times when people used to live in caves and had to hunt food.

A Red, Red Rose - Robert Burns

Burns is considered as the national poet of Scotland. He is best known as a pioneer of the Romantic Movement for his lyrical poetry. This poem is a lyrical ballad that describes the speaker's deep love for his beloved and promises that this love will last longer than human life. The beloved of the speaker is as beautiful as the red rose and as sweet as the music. With the help of the literary devices, the poet has sketched a very vivid and realistic picture of his profound love.

This poem explores the phenomenon of love, very artistically draws a picture of the poet's profound love. It comprises the narrator's attempt to express the depth of his love. Since its publication in 1794, it has gained a lot of popularity across the globe. The speaker compares his beloved with 'a red rose' and 'sweet melody' to intensify his deep feelings for her. He addresses her, proclaiming that his love will stay still until the seas dry up and the rocks melt with the sun because his beloved is so adorable. For some reason, he has to go far away from her, but he promises to return even if he has to travel thousands of miles to win her back. What enchants the reader is the metaphorical representation of love through natural phenomena.

Love and separation are the major themes given in this particular poem. The poem has layered them with using metaphors of natural objects. The poem is primarily concerned with the speaker's love for his significant lover. He adores her beauty and expresses his immeasurable love for her. His love is so deep-rooted that it will stay forever no matter what happens.

All the World's a Stage -William Shakespeare

With the words 'All the World's a Stage' begins the monologue by the character Melancholy Jaques of the play 'As You Like It' written by the English poet, dramatist and actor William Shakespeare. In this poem with the theme that a person is the ultimate loser in the game of life, Shakespeare has compared life with a stage. Every player plays seven roles during his life.

The first stage of a person's life is an infant, when he is helpless in his mother’s arms. In the second role, he is an innocent child innocent, and not willing to learn. For learning, he must lose his childish liberty. We may notice that man keeps on losing one quality and blessing while qualifying for another one. The third stage brings before us the lover who sings woeful ballads for his beloved. In the youthful age when man is full of energy and might, he does everything to please his beloved.

Soldier, the fourth stage arrives swiftly; here man seeks fame though it is temporary and short lived. Fifth role is of a middle aged man with round belly, and ability to understand justice. In sixth age (Pantalone- greediness and high in status), man becomes very weak. His voice is not clear due to loss of teeth. In the last stage, the condition of man becomes very miserable. Now he has lost all his relations, and realized that life is nothing except sheer loss for man though he may boast of the success and achievements.

Who are you, little i? - E.E. Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings is an American poet, painter, essayist, novelist, and playwright. His poem has unconventional use of capitalization, punctuation, spacing and structure. This poem describes a child looking out a window at the end of the day. It is about nature and the effect it has on the speaker. The speaker recalls a childhood moment closely connected with nature. Perhaps the speaker is the poet.

Although the poem starts with the question 'Who are you, little i?', it is not that the speaker is making an inquiry but, in fact, he is remembering his childhood days. Standing next to the window, he addresses himself in the form of his own inner child of 5 or 6 years. The parentheses in the second and sixth lines are the poet's technique to separate internal thoughts from external ones. Also, the small letter 'i' is used either for self-reflection or referring to himself as a child. The semicolon (;) between 'window and at' suggests two different locations as inside and outside the window such as the boy is inside the window and the sun is setting outside it.

The feelings cause him to recall how he used to enjoy the golden sunset in November when he was a child. Now his adulthood worries have suppressed all his joys and pleasures. He considers the day turning into the night as the gradual passage of time. He welcomes this as a beautiful way. It also reflects the child's excitement at the transformation of the day into night, or the poet's desire to see the end of his life where days refer to the life and night refers to death.

The Gift in Wartime - Tran Mong Tu

Tu moved to the US from Vietnam. She has first-hand experience of the Vietnam War, in which more than two million Vietnamese and fifty-seven thousand Americans died. In this poem, the poet addresses an absent person, who can neither listen nor understand what she is saying. This war poem written in a dramatic monologue form tells us the saddening, gloomy effects of war on the family members who have lost their near and dear ones. Here we find heart wrenching feelings of the speaker who has lost her husband in war.

The first stanza opens with speaker offering roses and a wedding gown in her husband’s grave. In the second stanza, he gives the speaker medals, silver stars, and a badge. In the third stanza, the speaker offers him her youth. The fourth stanza reveals that her husband gives her the smell of blood. For the speaker her husband’s offerings are insignificant to her. In the fifth stanza, the speaker gives him clouds of summer. She sacrifices her cold winters and springs. In the sixth stanza, it is mentioned that her husband remains unmoved by these offerings. In return he gives the speaker lips with no smile, arms without tenderness and eyes with no sight as he is dead.

In the final stanza, the speaker deeply apologizes to her husband about her complain regarding his offerings. She promises to meet him in their next life. She will keep the shrapnel as a token, which will help them know and recognize each other in next life. When we analyze the different images, we feel how lonely and helpless she feels after he has gone.

Sharing Tradition - Frank LaPena

LaPena was a professor of art and former director of Native American Studies at California State University. He was quite interested in the arts and traditions of Native Americans. This essay is about passing on culture and values from generation to generation through oral tradition. According to the author, the oral tradition refers to a form of art of human communication where knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved and transmitted orally. This transmission is made through speech or song, folktales, ballads, chants, etc. Oral tradition helps to maintain the values of the culture.

The task of sharing tradition through oral means seems easy to talk and write but it is quite hard to practice. Here, both the elders and young people play a very vital role to maintain and preserve the values of the culture. The role of elders (as speakers) and young people (or followers as listeners) is very important. The knowledge of elders related to cultures, traditions, religions, and values must be listened and followed properly. After the death of senior members, juniors have to fill up their places being responsible, even at sharing tradition to maintain, preserve, or promote cultures and values in their community. This is also a tribute to the former generation, keeping them alive or immortal.

Tradition keeps on moving ahead properly if we are aware of our culture. The lifestyle of elders, their concepts related to life, belief, religion, culture, values etc. made them capable to acquire the ideal position or identity in their lifetime. They kept on sharing their tradition orally for the welfare of humanity, showing the righteous paths to survive ahead. Oral tradition is the educational tool for understanding this natural world. It is the proper way to secure cultural treasures from the past.

How to Live Before You Die -Steve Jobs

Steve was an American business magnate, industrial designer, investor and media proprietor. He was the chairperson, chief executive officer (CEO), and co-founder of Apple Inc. and one of the pioneers of microcomputer technology. This speech adopts a tripartite structure and uses autobiographical anecdotes to communicate a message of resilience and personal integrity. This inspiring speech was delivered at Stanford University 2005 commencement address.

Steve dropped out of Reed College and took calligraphy class. Ten years later when designing the first Macintosh computer he used this knowledge and skills to design the first computer. Much of what he stumbled into by following his curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. He started Apple with a friend in his parents’ garage when he was 20. As Apple grew, his visions of the future of Apple began to diverge and he got fired by the Board of Directors. He felt rejected, but slowly he began to realize that he still was in love with the work he did. Then he started a company named NeXT, and then Pixar, which turned out to be the most successful animation studio in the world. Ironically Apple bought NeXT, and that is how Steve returned to Apple.

He is inspired by the quote “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” Steve’s talk is very inspiring to think differently, stay hungry (eager), try innovations, and be ready to step out of comfort zone. It’s important that we don’t forget in our everyday life to follow our passions and that we take the time to often look back at our life to make sure that we do what we love.

What I Require from Life- John Burdon Sanderson Haldane

Haldane is a British-Indian scientist as well as a professed socialist, Marxist, atheist and humanist, who became a naturalized Indian citizen. This essay in simple and lucid language reflects socialistic convictions demanding democratic activities in work places. Haldane begins his essay by saying that he has to accept the universe as it is. He cannot require the impossible. He then sets out a few of the things which he personally wants out of life: interesting work, good health, friendship, and freedom. In the second part of the essay, he relates his personal requirements to his hopes for the rest of humanity, assuming himself to be a fairly typical specimen. For instance, he assumes other people also want to work and says that he is against capitalism because, in times of economic depression, it inevitably leads to unemployment.

Haldane's style is typically straightforward and vigorous. As a science popularize, he is accustomed to writing about complex matters in a way that any reader can understand. Here, when writing on a nontechnical subject, he retains this simplicity, with short, forceful, declarative sentences and clear explanations. His subject at first appears to be personal and his mode of writing descriptive. However, in the second part of his essay, it becomes clear that he is putting forward a political argument. Freedom, for instance, is not merely a personal preference of Haldane's but a universal requirement. This means that society should be structured in such a way as to maximize freedom for everyone. His viewpoint is that of a social critic, setting forth a general program of the principles that should underlie a civilized society.

What is Poverty? – Jo Goodwin Parker

Parker is an American writer to give the vivid description of the society and social life. This essay reveals in graphic detail of the hard choices she was forced to make an ever-losing battle to preserve the health of her three children. This essay is a realistic account of the shame, humiliation and outrage of being poor. She stresses on the point that poverty is more than a picture in a newspaper. It is the stench, the squalor (dirty and unpleasant) and the ugliness of living without hope. She defines poverty as,

• getting up every morning from a dirty mattress
• living in a never-ending smell
• being tired due to poor diet and no medical treatment
• being unable to work leaving children uncared
• looking much older without proper body care
• staying up all night in winter or summer
• asking and waiting for help
• remembering the past
• looking into a dark future and insecurity

The essayist wants the society to remain silent if it cannot help the poor. The really poor people have inferiority complex due to the economic factor. She uses metaphor e.g. acid, chisel etc. to explain and redefine poverty so that the abstract ideas can easily be understood.

Scientific Research is a Token of Humankind's Survival' - Vladimir Keilis-Borok

Vladimir is a Russian mathematical geophysicist and seismologist. In this essay, he says about his profession as a scientist and views that science is the humankinds' indispensable guardian and caretaker. He has presented the importance of science and its inventions for the welfare of humankind. There is discussion about how scientists across the globe rise above their national identities to find solutions for common problems of nations, although scientists get low earnings comparatively. According to the writer, science is an exciting adventure where the major reward comes from the discovery itself, following honors and promotions.

Sharing about his experience during the cold war, the writer says that during 1960, while he was doing his research of seismic waves in capital city Moscow, he was summoned by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The President showed him a letter from Geneva in relation to a meeting about nuclear weapons. America, Russia and England as the three nuclear powers were willing to come to an agreement putting a ban on the new nuclear weapons test. The technical experts were to solve the problem of detecting any of such underground testing. It is the only science that could differentiate between the tremors caused by nuclear explosions and natural earthquakes.

Knowledge of basic science always supports people of different sectors. Scientific research is a token of humankind's survival. Science should be used humanly without any bad intentions. It is science that can give us new sources of energy, new mineral deposits, and efficient defense from terrorism. The hope of science for the survival of mankind has larger significance.

Trifles- Susan Glaspell

Glaspell is an American playwright, novelist, journalist and actress. Her works typically explore contemporary social issues, such as gender, ethics, and dissent, while featuring deep, sympathetic characters. Her first play 'Trifles' is based on the murder trial she has covered as a young reporter. It revolves around murder investigation providing a perspective about the status of women in contemporary American society reflecting the male mentality as the dominant gender. 'Trifles' chronicles the day after Mrs. Wright is arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband. Although Mrs. Wright never appears onstage, the audience learns about her from the perspective of her neighbors and their reactions to items they find inside the Wrights' home.

This play begins with two women and three men walking into the Wright’s farmhouse that is now abandoned. Everywhere you look, there is unfinished business. A loaf of bread and dirty dishes are over the counter. It is obvious that someone hurriedly left the place or was unexpectedly taken from the place. An investigation is to begin on the murder of John Wright apparently through strangulation with a rope. The primary suspect of this horrendous crime is his wife. Sheriff Peters, the county attorney, and Mr. Hale, a nearby farmer, are the ones in charge of the investigation. They ransack the house for any clues. However, the real investigators turn out to be Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale.

The male investigators constantly poke fun at the women for showing too much concern for feminine things, such as Mrs. Wright’s incomplete quilt. These ladies came across a pet canary owned by Mrs. Wright. Its wrung neck led them to the uncovering of the mystery. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale immediately knew that the cruel Mr. Wright broke the Canary’s neck. What’s more, they also discovered that after many years of emotional abuse and neglect, Mrs. Wright retaliated on her husband. She had decided to offer him a taste of his own bitter medicine by doing unto him what he did to her pet canary.

The play culminates with the ladies concealing the canary from the male investigators. This effectively denied them evidence of motive needed to prosecute Mrs. Wright. Eventually, the events leave a lot of questions about justice for women and the oppressed. This play makes one ponder on the points including the role of women, domestic abuse, women's rights, exploitation, symbols, irony, suspense, conflict, and gender differences.

A Sunny Morning- Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero

This one-act play is a light romantic comedy written by two Spanish dramatists, popularly known as the Golden Boys of the Madrid theatre. It narrates the reunion of two ex-lovers in their seventies meeting at a park on a sunny morning in Madrid. According to the drama, they were passionate lovers in their youth, but torn apart by the cruelty of fate.

When the play begins, we find the old lady named Dona Laura entering the park with her maid named Petra. She sits down on a bench and starts feeding breadcrumbs to the birds. Next is Don Gonzalo entering the park with his servant Juanito, and he grumbles about the people's act of taking others' seat. He keeps looking for a bench but can't find one for him. He scares away the birds and annoys Dona Laura. He shares her bench but she refers to him as an ill-natured man. Don Gonzalo starts reading his book. They keep on using pinching words against each other. Don Gonzalo takes out his snuffbox and they both take the snuff and sneeze three times. They establish a friendly relationship after that.

Don Gonzalo starts reading out loud, and then Dona Laura joins. They even talk about their eyesight. They talk about various cities, places, travel and people they have met and things they have done. They realize that they are former lovers but both of them hide their identities and start telling their stories with fake identities, even of their own deaths. Actually, Dona Laura was Laura Llorente and called 'The Silver Maiden' who married two years after Don Gonzalo ran off with a ballet dancer. Finally, they make a plan to come back and meet the next day if it is a sunny morning. They join their servants and leave.

In conclusion, they know that both of them had held the other in high esteem and both of them had fallen deeply in love. That is why, when they realize that they are the same old lovers of Maricela, they are shocked to realize how much both of them had changed. They do not disclose their identity but tell terrible lies to conceal it.

Refund - Fritz Karinthy

Hungarian satirical writer Fritz writes about a man who goes back to his former school and demands a refund of the fees he had paid eighteen years ago, claiming that he had learnt nothing useful at school and he is now good-for-nothing. The play 'Refund' brings out the extraordinary sense of parody, word play, as it is full of humor which deals with an unusually absurd situation.

Wasserkopf unexpectedly arrives at his old school and demands a refund of tuition fees. The Principal asks him to wait and calls an immediate meeting of the teachers. They discuss the matter seriously and decide to take his examination. Wasserkopf faces all the teachers one-by-one. He calls them loafers to irritate them. He calls them by rude names and gives silly answers, but the teachers accept his answers positively. He is given excellent in patriarchal manners, gentlemanliness, courtesy, physical culture, alertness, perseverance, logic and ambition.

He faces History master at first with a very simple question "How long did the 'Thirty years' War last?" He answers wrongly as 'Seven meters'. Next, the Physics master asks about optical illusions. In reply, Wasserkopf calls the master an ass, but that is accepted as the correct answer. The Geography master asks him to say the same name of the capital of the German province of Brunswick. Wasserkopf answers that the answer is "Same' and the masters claim it as right answer.

Optional English Class 11

Historical Survey of English Language and Literature

The earliest English literature was oral, in the forms of songs, tales, and legends.

Old English language has the link with Christianization of the Pagan English tribes, influenced by Roman culture and language.

Old English literature (spoken from about 450 to 1066 BC) is also known as Anglo-Saxon after the Germanic tribes- Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. It consists of epic poetry, songs, sermons, translations of the Bible, different chronicles, and riddles. E.g. Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Deor etc.

Features of Old English Literature:

1. Pagan origin- influence of the location and ancient context

2. Religious influence- E.g. Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, Daniel, Christ and Satan, etc.

3. Anonymous origin- Caedmon, Cynewulf, Aelfric, King Alfred, and others appear later.

4. Imitative quality- translated, adapted from Latin

5. Heroic theme- battles, conflict, torture, etc. faced by victorious hero

6. Diverse subject matter- religion, Chronicles of King Alfred, rustic life of the people, narratives etc.

Development of different genres in Anglo-Saxon Period:

1. Poetry- Mostly, the shepherds used to create and recite pastoral poems. Beowulf is an example of heroic epic, glorifying a real or imaginary hero and trying to teach the values of bravery and generosity.

The greatest old English poem is Beowulf of the 7th century. This first English epic consists of about three thousand lines telling the story of the adventures of a brave hero named Beowulf. Hrothgar is the king of the Danes and Beowulf comes from Southern Sweden (Geatland) to help him in trouble. Hrothgar’s great hall, Heorot is visited at night by a terrible creature, Grendel, which lives in a lake and comes to kill and eat Hrothgar’s men. Some unknown poet wrote the tales of wars and deeds of bravery of Beowulf who frees the land of the Danes from Grendel. In revenge, the monster’s mother attacks again but, Beowulf follows her to her den and kills her there. Then, he becomes the king of the Geats and rules for half a century. He has to defend his country against a fire-breathing dragon. He kills the animal but is fatally wounded in the fight and dies. The poem ends with a sorrowful description of Beowulf’s funeral fire.

Cynewulf's four poems- Juliana, The Fates of The Apostle, Christ, and Elene

Genesis A has little more than old history taken from the Bible but Genesis B has description of God’s punishment of Satan. Exodus describes how the Israelites left Egypt. Christ and Satan deals with events in Christ’s life. The Dream of The Rood is one of the best poems of the period. It is about Christ's cross. It is said that an angel appeared to Caedmon in a dream and told him to sing God’s praise. The Battle of Maldon is a poem about the battle against the Danes during the last decade of the 10th century. Andreas, Guthlac, Deor’s Complaint, The Husband’s Message, The Wanderer, The Wife’s Complaint, etc. are some other old English poems.

2. Prose- There were some legal documents (oldest laws of the 7th century) written in verse with the style of prose. King Alfred of Wessex translated several Latin books into Old English. One of the most important of these works was the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation by a monk known as the Venerable Bede. Another monk named Aelfric wrote a series of homilies (short moral/religious essays) and Lives of Saints. From about 892 to 1154, a number of authors contributed to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of current events in England. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the first important prose-work in English literature. Aelfric wrote mainly religious prose such as Homilies and Lives of Saints.

Note: Although it cannot be understood without special training of the old script, Old English language had strong verbs and use of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in their oral and written practice. Basic use of present and past tenses could be found. The writers started the use of metaphors. Actually Beowulf gives an interesting picture of life in those old days. They had a hard life on land and sea. Major focus of poetry was alliteration (words beginning with the same sound). A plain statement has been changed into something more colorful.

Middle English Literature

After the Norman Conquest (William, duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold in the battle of Hastings) in 1066, there was great change in English literature. The French language was used as the language of the upper class, courts, schools, and literature. Anglo-Norman Period had French-dialect and Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) rose in the second half of the fourteenth century as the greatest poet of the Middle English Literature. Chaucer is also called the father of English poetry as it is much easier to read his poems than the earlier poems. He is best remembered for “The Canterbury Tales”. He was born in a merchant family in London and was appointed to the service of Duke of Clarence and later on went to foreign countries in diplomatic missions.

Chaucer was a well-educated man with knowledge of Latin, French and Italian languages. He visited different places and people and established himself as a highly sophisticated intellectual writer who incorporated into his poetry the major philosophical and artistic concerns of his age. Medieval mind was related to the religion and collective ideas. Medieval period is also called dark Christian Age.

During the Middle Age, people often went on pilgrimages to visit the shrines and cathedrals dedicated to the memory of Christian saints. In England, the most popular of these pleasant holiday excursions was to be the tomb of Saint Thomas Backet in Canterbury, 55 miles southeast of London. The saint had been murdered there before the high alter in 1170. A good place for pilgrims to spend the first night was at Tabard Inn, across the Thames from London in Southwark.

The Canterbury Tales has altogether about 17000 lines. To pass the time on the difficult journey, Harry Bailly, host of the Tabard Inn suggests that each pilgrim shall tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and tow on the return trip. Chaucer planned to present 31 pilgrims in this story and they were chosen from all the classes of the society, of both sexes, and of all the ranks. The company of characters include a knight and his young son, a squire (country gentleman), the knight’s servant (Yeoman), a Prioress (head of a nunnery), priests, a monk, a friar (religious member), a merchant, a clerk of Oxford, a lawyer, a weaver, a dyer, a cook, a sailor, a doctor of physics, Alice, the wife of Bath, a poor parson (Parish priest) and his brother, a plowman, a miller etc. Chaucer wanted to write more than a hundred stories but unfortunately, he had finished only twenty and half-finished only two.

The knight’s tale is a long classical romance whereas the miller’s tale is about a carpenter, the reeve’s about a miller and the cook’s about an idle apprentice (person learning craft). The lawyer tells the virtue story of a daughter of a Roman Emperor and the elegant (stylish) Prioress tells a miracle tale about a choir (singer) boy who continued to sing after he had been murdered. The monk begins a series of short stories about men who fell from high estate to the depths of misery. One of the most enjoyable characters, for example, is the wife of Bath, who introduces her story with a long and very funny prologue (introduction). She has had five husbands, one after another. Her story is a charming fairy tale about one of King Arthur’s knights who was required to find out within a year what it is that woman desire that most. An ugly old witch gives him the answer (i.e. to rule) but only on his agreement to marry her. At the marriage she becomes young again. The merchant tells the bitter tale of a young wife who deceived her old, blind husband. The squire begins a courtly romance about a princess who had a magic ring that enabled her to understand the language of birds.

The pilgrims approach Canterbury on the fourth day. There is no description of return journey. Many critics believe this one-way pilgrimage as a journey of human life to heaven. Love, marriage and domestic harmony are the most common themes in the tales.

Of Chaucer’s other poems, the most important are Troylus and Cryseyde and The Legend of Good Women. John Gower was a contemporary writer of Chaucer. He was a moralist and he has written Speculum Meditantis, Vox Clamantis and Confessio Amantis. William Langland wrote a poem “The Vision of Piers the Plowman” which provides a glimpse of English life during the 1300’s. It describes the sorrows of the poor. The characters in the poem are not as real as Chaucer’s. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells of the adventures of one of King Arthur's knights in a struggle against an enemy with magic powers as well as great strength and cunning. Pearl is the name of the poet's daughter, who died at the age of two; but he is comforted when, in a dream, he sees her in heaven. Patience is the story of Jonah, who was thrown into the sea and carried to heaven by a sea creature.

An important Middle English prose work, Morte D’Arthur, was written by Sir Thomas Malory. Many tales gathered round Arthur and his knights. One of the main subjects was the search for the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. Another subject was Arthur’s battle against his enemies, including the Romans. Professor of Oxford, John Wyclif translated the Bible and popularized it.

The first English plays told religious stories and were performed in or near the churches. The sources of the story of such miracle or mystery plays were folk stories and the Bible. Especially they were acted to make the people know about the dignity of God and religion. Miracle Plays were in four main groups, according to the city where they were acted: Chester, Coventry, York and Wakefield. They were acted by people of the town on a kind of stage on wheels called pageant. This was moved to different parts of the town. Although the Miracles were serious and religious in intention, English comedy was born in them.

Morality Plays of Middle Period include the characters that were personified with different human virtues and qualities like beauty, strength, love, peace etc. The plays presented moral truths in a new and effective way. One of the best known 15th century moralities is Everyman. It is the story of the end of Everyman’s life. When Everyman has to go to face Death, his friends (Beauty, Knowledge and Strength) leave him but only Good Deeds goes with him.

Interludes were played between the acts of long Moralities, perhaps in the middle of meals. They were short plays which introduced the real characters. They were humorous, including very good songs and were acted at feasts and festivals to entertain in courts, churches, colleges or rich men’s houses. Some of the famous interludes are The Four P’s, Joham Johan, The World and The Child etc. These plays were written with the mixture of prose and poetry.

Features of Middle English Literature:

1. Use of rhyme in poetry- Ending two or more verse lines with the same sounds

2. Religious influence- Most of the prose writing had religious influence.

3. The emergence of antireligious tone in writing- Some writers like John Wycliffe

4. Beginning of the dramas- e.g. morality, miracle and interludes

5. Printed texts- After the invention of Caxton's printing press in 1476, books were cheaper.

Note: Sir Thomas More was the first person to write of a 'utopia', a word used to describe a perfect imaginary world. Richard Rolle wrote 'The Form of Perfect Living' which is full of religious teachings. John Wycliffe, a priest, attacked many of the religious ideas of his time. He translated Bible in English for the common people. After he was dead and buried, his bones were dug up again and thrown into the River Avon. Sir Thomas Malory, a violent poet, wrote Morte D'Arthur (Death of Arthur). Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur falls in love with Lancelot. Their affair is results into Arthur's death. It also contains Arthur's search for the cup, known as The Holy Grail, used by the Christ at the Last Supper.

Renaissance

Renaissance (a French word meaning rebirth, revival or re-awakening) is the name commonly applied to the period of European history following the middle ages. It is usually said to have begun in Italy in the late 14th century and to have continued, both in Italy and other countries of Western Europe. This development in arts of painting, sculpture, architecture and literature reached to England in the 16th century and did not have its flowering until the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. John Milton is described as the last great Renaissance poet.

The reign of Henry VI (1422-1471) was marked as the barren age in the history of English literature.

(Henry VI- Edward IV- Edward V- Richard III- Henry VII- Henry VIII- Edward VI- Mary I- Philip- Elizabeth I- James I- Charles I- Cromwell- Charles II- James II- Mary II- William III- Anne- George I- George II- George III- George IV- William IV- Victoria- Edward VII- George V- Edward VIII- George VI- Elizabeth II)

Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) - intermittent struggle between England and France

Wars of Roses (1455-1487) - for control of the throne of England between red and white roses

The English Reformation took place in 16th century (Tudor Period) when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

Features of Renaissance literature:

1. Revival of learning- After the political stability, a trend of reading ancient texts and culture started in the educated circle. They learnt even from the Greek literature and culture.

2. Spirit of romance- The romantic quest was for the remote, the wonderful and the beautiful.

3. Religious tolerance- Both the Catholics and the Protestants (advocated by Martin Luther, a German professor) started working together.

4. The age of revival of drama- Dramas shifted from a religious tone to everyday activities.

5. Age of social stability and development- Establishing towns, offering employment, and welfare to the needy, changed the societies.

6. Age of rapid development of prose- Prose reached to its finest position in this period.

7. Age of nationalism- The patriotic feeling of the English people could be seen in this period.

Elizabethan Age: The term Elizabethan is often used loosely to refer to the late 16th and the early 17th centuries. This was a time of rapid development in English commerce, maritime power and nationalistic feelings. It was a great age of English literature- the age of Sir Philip Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson and many other extraordinary writers of prose and of dramatic, lyric and narrative poetry. Sir Thomas Wyatt first brought the sonnet (14 line poem) to England whereas Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey wrote the first blank verse in English.

Edmund Spenser- This Elizabethan poet wrote “The Shepherd’s Calendar”. It was poetry in 12 books, one for each month of the year. The poems are unequal. Poems for April and November are good. They take the form of discussions between shepherds and therefore pastorals. There are various subjects such as praise of Queen Elizabeth, discussion about religion, the sad death of a girl and so on. Spenser’s greatest work was “The Faerie Queene” planned in 12 books but wrote in little more than 6. The Queene is either Queen Elizabeth or Glory as a person. There are 12 knights representing different virtues and King Arthur is gentlemanliness. Spenser expressed joy of his own marriage in a book called Epithalamion.

Francis Bacon- The father of the English essay, Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, essayist, jurist and statesman of the Elizabethan Age. His prose is important. His “Essays” especially are popular, for the short, sharp and effective sentences as well as distinct style. Some of the best-known sayings in English come from his books. For example;

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.

All colors will agree in the dark.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice.

He wrote A History of Henry VII, The Advancement of Learning, The New Atlantis etc. The Advancement of Learning considers the different ways of advancing knowledge and divisions of knowledge, such as poetry and history. The New Atlantis contains social ideas in the form of a story of a journey to an imaginary island, Bensalem, in the Pacific Ocean. He wrote several other books in English and Latin.

Ben Jonson- Ben Jonson is the father of English literary criticism. His critical ideas appear elsewhere. Timber or Discoveries by the dramatist Jonson, is a collection of notes and ideas on various subjects. Until he wrote this book, nothing had appeared to make clear the true work of a critic, his aims and limitations. Jonson says that a critic ought to judge a work as a whole, and that the critic himself must have some poetic abilities.

Christopher Marlowe- The first great dramatist of the time was Christopher Marlowe. His first tragedy, Tamburlaine the Great is in two parts. The first part deals with the rise to power of Tamburlaine, a shepherd and a robber. His terrible ambition drives him ever onwards to more power and more cruelty. His armies conquer Bajazet, ruler of Turkey, whom Tamburlaine takes from place to place in a cage, like a wild animal. In the second part, Tamburlaine is pulled to Babylon in a carriage. It is drawn by two kings, whom he whips and curses when they do not go fast enough. When they get tired, they are taken away to be hanged, then other two spare kings have to pull the carriage. Tamburlaine drives on to Babylon, and on arrival gives orders for all the people there to be drowned. His life is violent in other ways. He cuts an arm to show his son that a wound is unimportant. He shouts for a map and cries, “let me see how much is left for me to conquer the entire world.”

Marlowe’s “The Jew of Malta” is again often violent. In it, the governor of Malta taxes the Jews there, but Barabas, a rich Jew, refuses to pay. His money and house are therefore taken from him and in revenge he begins a life of violence. He poisons his own daughter, Abigial, and causes her lover to die too. He helps the Turks when they attack Malta, and so they make him governor; but he decides to kill all the Turkish officers. He arranges that the floor of a big room can be made to fall suddenly, and then invites them to a meal in it. As the secret is revealed, he himself is thrown down below the floor into a vessel of boiling water.

Another play named Dr. Faustus is based on the well known story of a man who sold his soul to the devil so as to have power and the riches in the life. In “Edward the Second” Marlowe deals with English history. Certainly, his writing set an example for other dramatists in the great Elizabethan age. Marlowe was killed in a quarrel at a Thames-side inn before he was thirty years of age.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616 AD) - Though the greatest dramatist, Shakespeare is equally famous for his sonnets. National poet of England or Bard (poet) of Avon, who wrote about 38 plays, and 154 sonnets, was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had 3 children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, and writer. He retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later.

His earliest work is probably seen in certain historical plays. As the play “Richard II” begins, King Richard exiles his cousin Bolingbroke from England and seizes his property. Later Bolingbroke returns with a force to England but Richard gives up his crown without a fight. Bolingbroke orders to put Richard in prison.

The first of the Shakespearean comedies was probably “A Comedy of Errors”. Its plot depends on the likeness of twins and the likeness of their twin servants, with the resulting confusions. Both of the identical twin brothers named Antipholus have twin servants named Dromio. The twins of each set were separated at birth and neither twin knows where his brother is living. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers. When they are together, a series of mistaken identities and comical mix-ups develops before they are reunited.

In the play called “The Merchant of Venice”, a merchant named Antonio borrows money from Shylock to help his friend Bassanio, who wants to marry Portia. Shylock agrees to lend the money only on the condition that, if it is not repaid at the right time, Antonio shall pay a pound of his flesh. Unfortunately, Antonio cannot pay the money and the case is taken to court. Suddenly Portia dressed as a lawyer, appears in court. She claims that Shylock may have Antonio’s flesh but not a drop of blood because there was nothing about blood in the agreement. This saves Antonio.

“As You Like It” is a pastoral comedy. It is the story of a good Duke named Frederick living in the Forest of Arden because his evil brother (Frederick Junior) has driven him out of his country. The Duke’s daughter Rosalind has been permitted to remain at court because she is the closest friend and cousin of Frederick’s only child Celia. Orlando, a young gentleman of the kingdom who has fallen in love at first sight of Rosalind, is forced to flee his home after being persecuted by his older brother, Oliver. Frederick becomes angry and banishes Rosalind from court. Rosalind and Celia also leave the court of Celia’s father and take refuse in Arden. Rosalind marries Orlando who loves her much and Orlando’s brother marries Celia. The news that Rosalind’s father, Frederick has been restored to his dukedom completes the comedy’s happy ending.

“Much Ado About Nothing” (Ado = Argument) is a well-balanced comedy with good speeches. It is about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a "merry war"; they both talk a mile a minute and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. While Benedick teases Claudio, Benedick swears that he will never get married. The misunderstanding is quickly resolved and Claudio wins Hero's hand in marriage.

“Twelfth Night” has been called the perfection of English comedy. In this play, Viola and Sebastian, who are twins, become separated during a shipwreck. Viola finds oneself alone in the country of Illyria. She disguises herself as Cesaria and enters the service of Duke Orsino. The whole play is alive with humor and action. When Sebastian appears, Viola reveals her identity and the confusion is resolved. Orsino marries Viola and Sebastian marries Olivia.

Sonnets - A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines that develops one dominant idea. It is usually written in iambic pentameter (five feet of unstressed-stressed stress of syllables). Generally, there are three kinds of sonnets:

1. Italian (Petrarchan, after Italian poet Petrarch) Sonnet has an octave (2 quatrains: first eight lines- form the proposition) and a sestet (2 tercets: last six lines- propose a resolution) with the rhyme scheme abbaabbacdecde. For example-

When I consider how my light is spent (a)
 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)
 And that one talent which is death to hide, (b)
 Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)
 My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)
 "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b)
 I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a)
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)
 Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d)
 Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d)
 They also serve who only stand and wait." (e) (Sonnet 19 by John Milton)

2. English (Shakespearean) sonnet has three quatrains (4-line stanzas) and a couplet (2-line stanza). It follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. The idea is developed in the three quatrains and the conclusion is imbedded in the couplet. For example-

Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)
Admit impediments, love is not love (b)*
Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)
Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)*
O no, it is an ever fixèd mark (c)**
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)***
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c)**
Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)***
Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)
Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)*
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)
But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)*

If this be error and upon me proved, (g)*

I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)* (Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare)

3. Irregular sonnet has no fixed rhyming scheme. For example-

Or doesn’t. Or does a dozen times

in quick succession, hop scotching along

without regard for lines. This short of breath,

I could be a slave climbing the steep stone steps

of Machu Picchu, a boulder on my shoulder,

a coca leaf between my cheek and gum.

I tell myself to breathe deeply, breathe

deeply, then imagine I’m flat on my back

in a drifting canoe under a cloudless sky.

But all the while my poor heart’s break dancing

for coins on the corner of Bourbon and Toulouse.

I can’t catch a break, a breath. My heart’s

a faithless valentine, there’s no love lost.

But we’re bound together, whatever the cost. (A-Fib by Daryl Jones)

Note:

Meter is the recurrence, in regular units, of a prominent feature in the sequence of speech-sounds of a language. Compositions written in meter are also known as verse.

The meter is determined by the pattern of stronger and weaker stresses on the syllables composing the words in the verse-line; the stronger is called the “stressed” syllable and all the weaker ones “unstressed” syllables.

A foot is the combination of a strong stress and the associated weak stress or stresses which make up the recurrent metric unit of a line. Four Standard Feet are:

1. Iambic (unstressed + stressed or US) 2. Anapestic (UUS)

3. Trochaic (SU) 4. Dactylic (SUU)

A metric line is named according to the number of feet composing it.

1. Monometer: one foot 2. Dimeter: two feet 3. Trimeter: three feet

4. Tetrameter: four feet 5. Pentameter: five feet 6. Hexameter: six feet

7. Heptameter: seven feet 8. Octameter: eight feet

Elizabethan Age as the Age of Drama:

Queen Elizabeth ruled from 1558 to 1603 but the great Elizabethan Literary Age is not considered as beginning until 1579. The chief literary glory of this age was its drama. The first regular English Comedy was Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall. Then appeared another comedy: “Grammar Gurton’s Needle”. Lyly’s prose comedy “Campaspe” and play “Endimion” are better. The first regular English tragedy was Gorboduc in blank verse. “The Spanish Tragedy” is some ways like Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The first great dramatist of the Elizabethan Age was Christopher Marlowe. His first tragedy “Tamburlaine the Great” is in two parts. It is written in the splendid blank verse. The first part deals with the rise to power of Tamburlaine and more cruelty. In the second part, Tamburlaine is pulled to Babylon in a carriage, drawn by two kings. His life is violent. In Marlowe’s “Jew of Malta”, the governor taxes the Jews but Barabas refuses to pay. “Dr. Faustus” is based on the story of a man who sold his soul to the devil for power.

The greatest Elizabethan playwright was William Shakespeare. No other English author has equaled his brilliant verse and characterizations. He wrote world famous tragedies, comedies and romances as well as histories. Some of them were Richard the Second, Henry the Sixth, Romeo and Juliet, A Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello.

A great dramatist who followed Shakespeare was Benjamin Jonson. His work is more learned and less inspired than Shakespeare’s. His best known play is “Every Man in His Humor”. In this play Kitely, a merchant has a pretty wife and his humor is jealousy. He suspects a young man Knowell, of having ideas about the pretty wife.

Another dramatist John Webster depended a lot on violence, revenge, murder etc. There were some other dramatists as well. They all contributed to build up Elizabethan Age as the Age of Drama.

Romeo and Juliet:

It is the first of Shakespeare’s great tragedies. The plot of this story of pure and tragic love is known in all parts of the civilized world. The lovers are from Verona in Italy and their families are enemies. Romeo was from Montague and Juliet from Capulet family. Romeo and his friends are uninvited guests at a masked ball given by the Capulet. At the ball, he meets Juliet and they fall in love. They marry secretly. Romeo’s friend was killed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt so in revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt. Juliet’s father forces her to marry with someone else. To allow Juliet to escape from her father’s demand, Friar Laurence gives Juliet a drug that puts her into a deathlike sleep for 42 hours. Romeo hears that Juliet is dead and hurries to the tomb where she has been placed. There he takes poison and dies by her side. Juliet awakens to find her husband dead and stabs herself. This tragedy shows that the deaths are necessary for the lovers who can’t find way out of their hopeless situation.

Roman Tragedies:

1. Julius Caesar - The play takes place in ancient Rome and concerns events before and after the assassination of the Roman ruler, Julius Caesar. The hero is Brutus, who joins Cassius and the other conspirators in the plan to kill Caesar. They believe that he wants to make himself the king but he believes Rome’s safety requires Caesar’s death. Before a large crowd of Roman citizens, Mark Antony makes his great speech over the body of Caesar. He leads an army that defeats the forces of the plotters at the Battle of Philippi. At the end of the battle, Brutus commits suicide.

2. Antony and Cleopatra- Its main subject is Antony’s love for the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra. Antony rules the Roman Empire. He had married Octavia, the sister of Octavius Caesar. When Antony was going back to Egypt from Rome, Octavius follows and defeats Antony at Alexandria. Cleopatra is shocked by his death and so, she takes her own life by allowing a snake to bite her.

3. Coriolanus- It is another Roman tragedy that concerns the life and death of Caius Marcius Coriolanus, a proud Roman commander who leads his armies against the Volscians (people of Corioli). On his return to Rome, he wishes to become consul (ruler) but his pride makes it impossible. He is driven from Rome for insulting the people. Then he comes back with a Volsican army to attack his own city. There he meets his wife and mother and withdraws his troops. The Volsicans then kill him for failing in his duty to them.

Four Great Tragedies of Shakespeare:

1. In Hamlet, Prince Hamlet of Denmark deeply mourns the recent death of his father. His mother marries his uncle, Claudius, who has become king. The ghost of Hamlet’s dead father appears to Hamlet and tells him he was murdered by Claudius and demands Hamlet take revenge. Hamlet thinks too much, and hesitates. The king’s violent reaction to the play based on something like the murder of his father, assures Hamlet that the king was guilty of the crime. But he rejects a chance to kill Claudius while he is on his knees in prayer. Polonius, the king’s advisor was killed instead and Hamlet was exiled to England for that crime. Hamlet’s lover Ophelia had gone mad after his father Polonius’ death. Returning Denmark, Hamlet finds Ophelia dead. Her brother tries to kill Hamlet. Hamlet’s mother accidently drinks from a cup of poisoned wine Claudius had prepared for Hamlet. Although dying from his wound in a fencing match, Hamlet kills Claudius.

2. The main plot of King Lear concerns an aged king of ancient Britain. He prepares to divide his kingdom among his three daughters- Regan, Goneril and Cordelia. At first, he was rude to Cordelia but other two wicked daughters throw him out of his home and treated so badly that he goes mad and dies. Goneril poisons Regan in a bitter quarrel over a man they both love and then kills oneself. King Lear’s weakness is his openness to flattery ignoring true love.

3. Macbeth is another tragedy set in Scotland. Three old witches tell Macbeth that he will receive high honors and then become king. After the first part of their prophecy comes true, Macbeth begins to think the second part may also come true. Encouraged by Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan, a guest in his castle and seizes the throne of Scotland. Then Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain escape to England. The witches had also predicted that Banquo’s descendents would be kings of Scotland. So Macbeth’s men kill Banquo but his son also escapes. Lady Macbeth dies suffering from psychological torture. Malcolm brings an army and kills Macbeth, and becomes the king. This way over-ambition takes Macbeth’s life.

4. Othello is the story of a brave Moorish (North African) Commander in Cyprus who has a beautiful wife, Desdemona. Othello’s villainous assistant is Iago who has seen Cassio, Othello’s lieutenant, raised in rank above him. Iago tries to make Othello believe that Cassio and Desdemona are lovers. Othello too easily believes this and kills Desdemona. After the Moor learns he has been tricked he stabs himself and dies. Actually Othello has no fatal weakness but he suffers jealousy coming in his noble mind from evil suggestions.

Shakespearean Romances:

1. Cymbeline, King of Britain, angrily exiles the poor Posthumous who marries the king’s daughter Imogen. Iachimo bets Posthumous that Imogen is not virtuous. Then Iachimo tries to make love to her. He fails but tricks Posthumous in believing that Imogen let him do so. Posthumous orders his wife killed, but she escapes. After many adventures, Imogen and Posthumous are happily reunited.

2. The Winter’s Tale has Leontes, King of Sicilia who becomes uncontrollably jealous of his faithful wife Hermione. He has her imprisoned and orders that their newborn daughter, Perdita be abandoned in some isolated place. Later he realizes that he has no cause for jealousy. Perdita was saved by an old shepherd. She grows into a lovely young girl and wins the love of Florizel, prince of Bohemia. But Florizel’s father angrily disapproves of their romance and the couple flee to Leontes’ court for protection. There Leontes discovers that Perdita is his daughter.

3. In the Tempest, Prospero, the wrongfully exiled Duke of Milan lives on an enchanted island with his beautiful daughter, Miranda. The mischievous spirit Ariel and the monster Caliban serve Prospero, who is a skilled magician. Using magic, he creates a tempest that causes a ship carrying his enemies to be wrecked on the island. The ship also carries the young prince Ferdinand. With his magic, Prospero brings Miranda and Ferdinand together and upsets plots laid against him by his enemies.

Note: Blank Verse is poetry written in unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. It has been more frequently and variously used than any other types of versification. The Earl of Surrey introduced blank verse, which was used by John Milton for his epic “Paradise Lost”. It has been adopted by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning and TS Eliot like famous literary writers. For an example, the great blank verse composed by John Milton in Paradise Lost describes the hell in this way-

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great furnace flamed-yet from those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible

Served only to discover sights of woe

Blank verse is also not written in stanza form. Instead, the poem is developed in verse paragraphs that vary in length. It is therefore, a flexible form of expression that gives the poet a chance to many variations within the metrical pattern. Because of such flexibility, it is especially appropriate for narrative and dramatic poetry. Blank verse should not be confused as the free verse or open form verse which has no definite meter or regular metrical form. We should remember that blank verse is metrically regular.

Metaphysical Poets and John Donne: Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of existence, truth and knowledge. Metaphysical poets represent the school of poets who are influenced by John Donne and who employ similar poetic procedures and imagery (mental pictures) both in secular and religious poetry. Metaphysical poets have produced works in 1600’s with a combination of emotion and intellectual originality. They wrote verse generally less beautiful and less musical but they were showing clever tricks of style and unusual images to attract attention. These poets mixed strong feelings with reason, and the mixture is strange.

John Donne is the greatest metaphysical poet, a lawyer and also a priest. He was scholarly and had a keen, logical mind but he was also deeply emotional. These qualities are evident in his poems and sermons (prayers). He wrote poetry on a variety of subjects and used many different genres. His early satires and elegies (death poems) follow classical models but they also have a distinctly modern flavor. He wrote many good things but no perfect poem.

Songs and Sonnets is the best work of Donne. His major love poems include The Canonization and The Extasie. Later he turned to writing religious poetry. He produced a superb series of Holy Sonnets, including “Death is not Proud” and “Batter my Heart”, “Three Person’d God”. He also wrote meditative poem and hymns.

Donne’s language is dramatic, witty and sometimes shocking. He used a variety of imagery and based his rhythms on everyday speech. At times, the complexity of his thought makes his meaning difficult to understand, but his poems always unfold in a logical way. He had a genius for creating extended poetic metaphors called conceits. In the metaphysical conceit, the poet developed a lengthy, complex image to express precisely his view of a person, object or feeling.

Jacobean Age: The reign of James I (in Latin “Jacobus”) followed that of Queen Elizabeth. It was the time of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies and of major writings by other notable poets and playwrights including John Donne, Ben Jonson, Michael Drayton, etc.

Caroline Age: The reign of Charles I (in Latin “Carolus”) was the time of English Civil War fought between the supporters of the king (known as Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament (known as Roundheads, from their custom of wearing their hair cut short). John Milton began his writing during this period. Associated with the court were the Cavalier Poets, writers of witty and polished lyrics of courtship and gallantry (courage, bravery, heroism). The group included Richard Lovelace, Sir John Suckling and Thomas Carew.

The Commonwealth Period, also known as the Puritan Interregnum, extends from the end of the Civil War (1642-1646) and the execution of Charles I in 1649 to the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy under Charles II in 1660. In this period, England was ruled by Parliament under the Puritan Leader Oliver Cromwell. His death in 1658 marked the dissolution of the Commonwealth. The Puritans closed the public theatres in September 1642, not only on moral and religious grounds, but also to prevent public assemblies, so that the dramas almost disappeared.

John Milton (1608-1674): Milton was the greatest English writer of the Mid-1600s. His career as a writer may be divided into three periods. In the first period, short poems were written. Some of them were the ode (poem addressed to a person or celebrating an event): “On Shakespeare”, “L’Allegro” (the happy man), “Il Penseroso” (the thoughtful man), “On Time”, etc. L’Allegro describes the joys of life in the country in spring but Il Penseroso is set in the autumn. Lycidas was a sorrowful pastoral elegy for Milton’s fellow student at Christ’s College, Edward King.

During his second period, Milton devoted to the writing of the prose. In the first group, Milton attacked the institution of bishops and argued in favor of extending the spirit of the English Reformation. In the second phase he concerned to social and political aspects. His most famous prose work “Areopagitica” is an appeal for freedom of the press; in which he demands “the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” In “Of Education”, Milton supported an education combining classical instruction, to prepare the student for government service, with religious training. The third phase of pamphlets includes those Milton wrote to justify the execution of Charles I. In the final group, Milton gave suggestions for government reform.

The English Civil War was followed by the second civil war (1648-1651). During these years, Milton worked hard, supported Cromwell, and became a minister as well but his eyesight began to fail, and by 1651 he was totally blind. He became unpopular when Charles II was made king but it was from this time onwards that he wrote his three greatest works- Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.

Paradise Lost is considered to be the greatest long poem of early modern English Literature. It is in 12 books. It retells the Biblical story of the creation and the fall of Adam and Eve against the background of Satan’s rebellion against God and removal from heaven. Satan is a character with real motivation and desires, but who is led in the wrong direction by excessive pride and belief in his own power over God’s. The books describe Satan’s expulsion from heaven and the war of the angels, the burning of hell and the creation of Satan’s offering, Sin and Death; and conclude with the sorrowful departure of Adam and Eve from Paradise. Paradise Regained is a four-book brief-epic written like Paradise Lost in blank verse. Samson Agonistes tells the Biblical story of Samson in the style of Greek tragic drama.

Restoration Period:

This period takes its name from the restoration of the Stuart line. The theatres came back to vigorous life after the revocation of the ban placed on them. John Dryden was the major poet and critic, as well as one of the major dramatists. Other poets were the satirists Samuel Butler and the Earl of Rochester. The philosopher John Locke and the first English woman to earn her living by her pen, Aphra Behn also come at this age.

The restoration period is known especially for the comedy of manners and the heroic drama. The comedy of manners satirized upper-class society in witty prose. It originated largely in the plays of George Etherege. Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh followed. The heroic play flourished from about 1660 to 1680.

Features of the Restoration Period:

1. French influence- Many English writers revised the rule, copying the French trends.

2. Formalism- The writings focused on closed reasoning and short-cut natural expressions.

3. New tendencies- e.g. realities, preciseness, and elegance of appearance

4. Age of reason- logical sequence, argumentative thoughts, and reason-based ideas

5. Realism- directness and simplicity in place of romantic, fancy exaggerations

6. Reflection of urban civilization- Standard of writing had to reflect aristocratic class.

7. New style of prose writing- Comedy of manners by Dryden, and diary writing by S. Peppy.

Notes:

Allegory- An allegory is a narrative in which the agents and actions are arranged to make coherent (logical) sense on the literal or primary level of signification. In historical and political allegories, the characters and actions are represented historical personages and events whereas in the allegory of ideas, the central device is the personification of abstract entities such as virtues, states of mind, modes of life, and types of character.

Comedy- In the most common literary application, a comedy is a fictional work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to interest and amuse us. We are made to feel confident that no great disaster will occur, and usually the action turns out happily for the chief characters. Within the very broad spectrum of dramatic comedy, the following types are frequently distinguished:

1. Romantic comedy: Such comedy represents a love affair that involves a beautiful and engaging heroine (sometimes disguised as a man); the course of this love does not run smooth, yet overcomes all difficulties to end in a happy union.
2. Satiric comedy: Such comedy ridicules (laughs at) political policies or philosophical doctrines (principles), or else attacks deviations from the social order by making ridiculous the violators of its standards of morals or manners.
3. Comedy of manners: The English Comedy of Manners was early exemplified by Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado about Nothing, and was given a high polish in Restoration Comedy.
4. Farce is a type of comedy designed to provoke the audience to simple, hearty laughter – belly laughs in the parlance (manners of speaking) of the theatre. To do so it commonly employs highly exaggerated or caricatured types of characters; puts them into improbable and ludicrous (absurd) situations.
5. Comedy of humour was developed by Ben Jonson as in his play “Every Man in His Humour”. Here, each of the major characters has a preponderant (more) humour that gives him a characteristic distortion (alteration) or eccentricity (strangeness) of disposition (temper/outlook).

Epic- In its strict sense, the term epic or heroic poem is applied to a work that meets at least the following criteria: it is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told in a formal and elevated (promoted) style, and centred on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or the human race.

Fiction- In an inclusive sense, fiction is any literary narrative, whether in prose or verse, which is invented instead of being an account of events that in fact happened. In a narrower sense, however, fiction denotes only narratives that are written in prose (the novel and short story), and sometimes is used simply as a synonym for the novel.

Simile and Metaphor- A weak comparison between two distinctly different things is explicitly indicated by the word “like” or “as”. A simple example is Robert Burns “O my love’s like a red, red rose”. In a metaphor, a word or expression that in literal usage denotes one kind of thing is applied to a distinctly different kind of thing, without asserting a comparison. For example, if Burns had said “O my love is a red, red rose” he would have uttered, technically speaking, a metaphor instead of a simile.

Imagery- This term is one of the most common in criticism, and one of the most variable in meaning. Its applications range all the way from the “mental pictures” which, it is sometimes claimed, are experienced by the reader of a poem, to the totality of the components which make up a poem. Image is a picture made out of words and a poem may itself be an image composed from a multiplicity of images.

Irony - In Greek comedy the character called the eiron was a dissembler, who characteristically spoke in understatement and deliberately pretended to be less intelligent than he was. In most of the modern critical uses of the term irony, there remains the root sense of dissembling or hiding what is actually the case, not, however, in order to deceive, but to achieve special rhetorical or artistic effects. The ironic statement usually involves the explicit expression of one attitude or evaluation, but with indications in the overall speech-situation that the speaker intends a very different, and often opposite, attitude or evaluation.

Lyric - In the most common use of the term, a lyric is any fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or process of perception, thought, and feeling. In some current usages, lyric still retains the sense of a poem written to be set to music; the hymn, for example is a lyric on a religious subject that is intended to be sung.

John Dryden became the outstanding literary figure of the Restoration after Milton. He shifted his support from the Puritans to the restored monarchy. The plays were written in heroic couplets, a form of meter perfected by Dryden. In these the men were splendidly brave, and the women wonderfully beautiful. It dealt with the conflict between love and honor. Such dramas seem absurd (ridiculous) today, but they were popular in their time.

One of Dryden’s best heroic plays is The Conquest of Granada. In addition to the usual loud language, the play contains some good lyrics. Another of his better heroic plays is Aurengzebe, which is based on a struggle for empire in India. In most of Dryden’s plays, fine speeches and poor ones may follow each other in an astonishing way. He seems to have been unable to see his own faults.

Dryden’s first comedy is Marriage-a-la-Mode, in bad blank verse. His well-known play, All in Love is also in blank verse. It is based on Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. His great satire “Absalom and Achitophel” uses a Bible story as a basis on which to attack politicians. Another satire “MacFlecknoe” attacks a rival poet, Shadwell.

Comedy of Manners

A new kind of comedy appeared at the end of 17th century. This comedy of manners is hard and bright, witty and heartless. It was introduced by Sir George Etherege. Generally, comedy of manners satirized upper-class society in witty prose. The most common characters included the old woman trying to appear young, and the jealous old man married to a young wife.

The Man of Mode by Etherege gives a picture of the immoral manners of the society of the day, but has no proper plot. The form of comedy of manners was perfected in the dramas of William Congreve. His first comedy, The Old Bachelor is about an old fellow who pretends to hate women, but marries a bad one. The Double Dealer is concerned with angry lovers, and Love for Love is funnier and contains clever speeches and interesting but foolish characters.

John Locke was an English philosopher. His writings have influenced political science and philosophy. His prose was clear, earnest (serious) and without ornament. His “Essay on the Human Understanding” is one of the most important works of English philosophy. It gave a new direction to thought, not only in England but in other countries of Europe. It describes his theory of how the mind functions in learning about the world. He argued against the doctrine of innate ideas, which stated that ideas were part of the mind at birth and not learned or acquired later from outside sources. Locke claimed that all ideas were placed in the mind by experience.

Age of Reason

The 18th century is often called The Age of Reason. Order was important in men’s thoughts, and the comfortable town was usually preferred to the wild mountains. The heroic couplet is well suited to verse based on reasoning, but it must not be thought that there was no other sort of poetry. A return to thoughts about nature and more lyrical subjects began early.

The period in English literature from 1700 to about 1745 is called the Augustan Age, after the name given to the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. During his reign from 27 BC to 14 AD, Latin literature reached its height. English authors tried to imitate or recapture many of the philosophic and literary ideals of the writers of that period. Like the ancient Romans, they believed that life and literature should be guided by reason and common sense. They strove for balance and harmony in their writings. The Augustan Age of English literature is also known as the neoclassical period. The 18th century has also been called the Age of Enlightenment.

Alexander Pope was a follower of Dryden in verse. He used the couplet as a smooth but steely tool. His health was bad, and he thought of life as a long illness. He wrote his “Essay on Criticism” at his youth and it contains important quotations such as-

• A little learning is a dangerous thing.
• True wit is nature to advantage dressed

What oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.

Pope’s delightful poem “The Rape of the Lock” by name is about the light subject of the stealing of the hair, and treats it as important. Lord Petre had cut off some hair from Miss Arabella Fermor’s head and the two families had quarreled violently. Pope tried to end the quarrel by writing his heroic poem, describing the event in detail; but he only made the quarrel worse.

Pope also translated the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer. In his satire “The Dunciad” an attack on dullness, he laughs at poor poets who are writing for their bread – a cruel thing to do. His later poem, The Essay on Man shows that he knew little philosophy, but the verse has the usual polish. He wrote four moral essays: the first about the characters of men and the second about the characters of women and the last two about the proper use of riches.

Age of Sensibility

Period from 1744 to 1785 is also known as the Age of Johnson. There was Samuel Johnson and his literary and intellectual circle. These authors represented neoclassicism and stressed on the emergence of new cultural attitudes, theories of literature, and types of poetry.

Dr. Samuel Johnson was always poor and therefore had to do all kinds of literary work, even if he did not like it. His famous Dictionary appeared in 1755 and went into five editions in his own life. He was a kind of literary ruler, giving judgments on books and authors like a god. Late in life he wrote his Lives of the Poets with decision and clear expression.

His own writings are less important than what he said, and a record of his conversations has fortunately been preserved for us in the Life of Johnson by his friend James Boswell. This is the greatest biography in English. Johnson’s Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia is a kind of novel; at least it has a story. But there are many essays on various subjects. Rasselas, his sister Nekayah, and the philosopher Imlac go to Egypt to study because Rasselas is tired of the easy life in Abyssinia. Johnson wrote the book in one week to pay for his mother’s funeral.

Graveyard/Churchyard School of Poets

During the latter half of the 18th century, a group of poets who turned away from the bright tea-table chose death for their subject. They are sometimes known as the churchyard school of poets. Edward Young was one of them. His Night Thoughts, written in good blank verse, was at one time very popular. Its subjects are life, death, the future world and God. It is unequal, dark, sad and filled with strange imaginations.

Robert Blair was another of this school. In his poem The Grave, he begs the dead to come back and tell us something about the grave. Thomas Gray, in his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, describes his thoughts as he looks at the graves of country people buried near the church. He wonders what they might have done in the world if they had had better opportunities; but they did not go out into the great cities. His ode The Bard is addressed to King Edward I, who put all the Welsh poets to death. He curses Edward and his entire race.

William Blake was a poet and an artist (engraver and a painter). A self-taught man, he wrote poetry which he himself painted and illustrated. As a mystic and visionary, he expressed himself in simple language so that readers could feel the depth of common everyday things. He illustrated the works of Young, Blair, Gray and others. Much of his poetry has hidden meanings that are hard to understand. He did not believe in the reality of matter, or in the power of earthly rulers, or in punishment after death. His best known works include Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The second is darker and heavier than the first; but it does contain some good poems. Fallen from a state of innocence to a state of experience, man must attempt to rise to a state of higher innocence according to the poet. His poem “The Tiger” is quite famous. It is taken from The Songs of Experience. The tiger itself is a symbol for the fierce forces in the soul that are necessary to break the bonds of experience. The tiger also stands for a divine spirit that will not be subdued (defeated) by restrictions, but will arise against established rules and conventions.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College. He was a bitter satirist among the 18th century prose writers. He defended the ancient and condemned the modern in “The Battle of the Books”. His “Tale of a Tub” attacked religious ideas. Swift’s most famous satire “Gulliver’s Travels” is popular with the young, who usually read the Gulliver’s voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Lilliputians represent the littleness of human affairs. “Modest Proposal” is a master piece of irony. It is a great satire on the British people and authorities of the contemporary time. In this way Swift centers on society, religion, humanity etc. as subjects. His aim to write satires was to wash the world rather than to entertain it. He hated the animal like men. So, he is regarded as the Prince of English Satire.

Robert Burns was born in Scotland. The son of a poor farmer, Burns became Scotland’s national poet. At his father’s death, he continued farming in partnership with his brother. Bad crops and an unfortunate love affair with a mason’s daughter made him resolve to immigrate to Jamaica. This plan was, however, overthrown by the sensational success of his poems. Having ruined his health by his association with the hard-drinking gentry of the district, he died of a rheumatic fever at the age of 37. Anyway the lyrics of this Scottish farmer became famous. He wrote hundreds of songs and lyrics, and among them Mary Morrison, John Anderson and The Banks of Doon are famous. His love-songs include Oh My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose. He had deep understanding of animals and love for them. Even a mouse brought a gentle poem from his pen.

One more 18th century poet is worth our special notice: William Cowper’s verse shows the beginning of the swing away from the formal classical style of Pope toward simpler, more natural expression which we shall see in Wordsworth and Coleridge. That is, he wrote simple poems about nature and rural domestic life. These poems became forerunners of the works of the English romantic poets of the early 1800’s. Cowper’s major work was a 5000-line poem called The Task. This long ramble (strolling) poem was written in blank verse. It describes familiar rural sights and events – for example, a team of horses travelling through a snowstorm, the arrival of the mail, and the countryside in the evening. The poem shows Cowper’s love of the country and his distaste for city life.

Romanticism (William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Romanticism is a style in the fine arts and literature. It emphasizes passion rather than reason, and imagination and intuition rather than logic. Romantics view nature as a living spirit and stress freedom for the individual.

Wordsworth believed that harmony with nature is the source of all goodness and truth. He was educated at Grammar School, Cambridge. He published “The Lyrical Ballads” together with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This work is considered as the manifesto of Romanticism because it is only instruction on how and why to write new kind of romantic literature. It has said that anything can be the subject matter of poetry and common people’s language should be the language of literature. City life is just artificial life but country life is real.

“The Prelude” is an autobiography which consists of fourteen books. The poet describes his experiences clearly and laboriously which is very good and unique in English literature. The Excursion, in nine parts, is actually based on Wordsworth’s love for nature. His great poems have their own place and importance.

Wordsworth and Coleridge are often known, with Southey, as the Lake Poets, because they liked the lake districts in the north-west of England and lived in it. Wordsworth was a poet of nature, and had the special ability to throw a charm over the ordinary things. Coleridge, on the other hand, could make mysterious events acceptable to a reader’s mind.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is one of the finest and the best poems of Coleridge. An old sailor describes some strange misfortunes that happened to his ship. It was in the ice of the South Pole when he shot a great bird; for this crime a curse fell on the ship. The wind failed, the water supply ended, and all the other sailors died of thirst. At last the mariner, seeing God’s creatures in the moonlight blesses them. This breaks the curse and he is able to return home.

Christabel is in two parts. In the story, the spirit of mother of Christabel comes as a good angel. There is evil spirit named Geraldine that works as a good person but the natural power saves the good person from evil. Kubla Khan is a dream copy. Once when Coleridge was staying in Devon, he fell asleep while reading in “Purchas his Pilgrims” about Kubla Khan’s great building in Xanadu. On waking, he knew that he had dreamed several hundred poetic lines on the subject, and he began at once to write them down. The poem ways there was a great building, a palace with a great wall.

Features of the Romantic Period:

1. Use of simple language- representing the expressions of general public, rustic setting

2. Love of nature- enjoyed being on the lap of nature, praised the organic flavor

3. High level of emotion and imagination- creative productions adding value to expressions

4. Sense of nationalism- high regard for national culture, unity and patriotism

5. Revolt against realism- emerged as the literature of public

6. Spontaneity- Message was more important than structure. Free and open styles

7. Influence of subjective trend- Writing for pleasure instead of writing for purpose

8. Romantic enthusiasm- passion and zeal for sense of love and joy

9. The age of poetry- in the leadership of great poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley

Percy Byshey Shelley was a greater poet of good family. He was rich but restless. His first wife got suicide. Shelley also had a tragic death. He struggled against the causes of human misery and against accepted religions. He saw goodness in the whole of nature and he wanted all men to be free.

His first important poem “Alastor or The Spirit of Solitude” represents the travel of the traveler, who is Shelley himself, in search of beauty, peace and good. He tries to know the secret of life but he feels tired and dies. “The Revolt of Islam” is the revolt of Islam people against the tyranny. It includes Shelley’s idea to lead the human society to good manner and civilization. “The Cenci” is a shocking but honest tragedy. “Prometheus Unbound” is another play dealing with the human struggle against the power of false gods. “Adonais” is one of his best poems, as an elegy on the death of Keats. One of his finest sonnets, Ozymandias, expresses the uselessness and shortness of all earthly power.

Shelley loved the wild wind, but John Keats loved beauty and rest. A friend in 1813 gave him Spenser’s Faerie Queene to read, and this awoke his poetic powers. He studied the poets and he studied nature too. He could write lines in Wordsworth’s manner, but with more music, such lines as “A little noiseless noise among the leaves.”

His early poem Endymion, in four books, is based on old ideas: the old gods, the love of the moon-goddess for a shepherd, Venus and Adonis etc. It was violently criticized, but he did not lose faith in himself. In his creation “Lamia”, a snake is changed into a beautiful girl. Isabella, daughter of a proud family was in the same book. Lorenzo falls in love with Isabella, and her brothers kill him. She finds his buried body and puts his head in a flower pot. Her brothers notice that she spends a lot of time with this pot, and they steal it. When they find the head in it, they feel guilty and escape. The Eve of Saint Agnes is based on the idea that on that night girls may see their lovers in dreams.

Hyperion was never finished. Hyperion is the old sun-god. The young Apollo, god of music and poetry and the sun, is introduced, but there the poem ends. The same effects may be found in his Ode on a Grecian Urn (a vessel made by the ancient Greeks). Other great odes written at the same time are To a Nightingale and To Autumn. He wrote more than twenty sonnets. He wrote poetry of rich detail and accused Shelley of using language which was too thin. Keats also wrote a good ballad, La Belle Dame Sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy), in which a knight dreams of his lady, but wakes alone on a cold hillside, where no birds sing.

George Gordon, Lord Byron was a romantic figure, but his poetry was much influenced by the classical form of Pope. Byron dressed splendidly, went to fight for the freedom of Greece, satirized many sides of English life, and hated all false and insincere talk. He died of fever at Missolonghi in western Greece, but his body was brought home to England for burial.

Byron’s poetry, though powerful, lacks the finest poetic imagination. His words mean only what they say, and have no further magic. Though he was influenced by the 18th century, his satires lack Pope’s polished perfection and command of words. His verse possesses neither Wordsworth’s power of suggestion, nor Coleridge’s mystery; but, except when he wrote carelessly, it is often strong and beautiful.

Childe Harold written in the Spenserian stanza tells the story of a man who goes off to travel far and wide because he is disgusted with life’s foolish pleasures. The man is, in fact, Lord Byron. The different places that he visits give the poet an opportunity to describe what once happened in them. In The Giaour (The Christian), a slave is thrown into the sea by her master. In revenge her lover kills the master. The Bride of Abydos is a tragic love story. The Corsair and Lara both in heroic couplets are stories of love, fighting and death.

Victorian Period

Much writing of this period dealt with or reflected the pressing social, economic, religious and intellectual issues and problems of that era. Among the notable writers were Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Matthew Arnold, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas hardy and Samuel Butler. Queen Victoria was praised by all because she was successful to balance the social, economic and political situation of England.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

The early poems of Tennyson were much criticized for being a bit immature in philosophy. His “Poems, Chiefly Lyrical” contains many poems. He wrote another famous poem called “In Memoriam” which made him known among many great writers. It is an elegy to mourn the death of Arthur Hallam. Many people prefer his “The Idylls of the King”. Tennyson had become a very careful artist, choosing each word and its exact place with close attention. He used many metres and made experiments with new ones. “Ulysses” expresses in fine lines the leader’s decision to sail.

The best of Tennyson’s plays is Becket on the subject of the quarrel between King Henry II and Thomas a Backet, who was murdered at Canterbury in 1170. Tennyson’s influence in his own time was immense.

Robert Browning

Byron and Shelley were the teachers of Browning. For him, the intellect was more important than music. He wrote “Pauline” when he was only twenty one. This poem is monologue addressed by Pauline. He tried writing plays without much success. “Sordello” is his most difficult poem. One of his successful dramatic poems is “Pippa passes”. In this, a girl wanders through the town singing and her song influences people who hear it. “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” described the removal of rats from a city by a musician whose music leads them away. There is some difficulty when he goes for his agreed pay and so he leads the children away. Browning wrote “Man and Woman” which was devoted to Mrs. Browning. In this work, he has presented the human character.

Jane Austen wrote during the period of the French revolution. She was a great artist in fiction. She wrote limited works but very valuable and important. Her novels had pictures of society life. She expressed the women’s problems and issues through her lively characters. Her “Sense and Sensibility” is satirical in tone. Sense is more powerful than sensibility. “Pride and Prejudice” is considered as the finest novel of Austen. It is comedy of romance. “Emma” is another best production of Austen. It is a great work of irony in English literature. It shows the situation is not under the control of person and person is guided by his/her life situation. It is story of English women of the contemporary age.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Georgina Rossetti

In 1848, a group of English artists, including Dante Rossetti, organized the “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”. Their aim was to replace the reigning academic style of painting by a return to the truthfulness, simplicity and spirit of devotion which they attributed to Italian painting before the time of Raphael (1483-1520). The ideals of this group of painters were taken over by a literary movement which included Dante Rossetti and his sister Christina Rossetti. They adopted the originality of perception of the art, freshness of creation as a painting and freedom of writing in their poetry. They preferred art for life’s sake so that the poems of Dante Rossetti have been criticized as belonging to the “Fleshly School” of poetry. He wrote about the nature with his eye on it, but he did not feel it in his bones as Wordsworth did, he studied it.

Christina Rossetti wrote mostly sad and religious poems and poems for the young. Among her best productions are her excellent sonnets on unhappy love.

Matthew Arnold wrote a poem on the school, Rugby Chapel. Arnold was weighed down by the problems of his time, and much of his work is sad. Thyrsis is a lament for his friend. The Scholar Gipsy tells of an Oxford man who joins a band of gypsies and wanders with them. There are good descriptions of the country, but Arnold’s anxieties appear once more. He was unable to find rest, and greatly admired Wordsworth’s calmness. He made a fine collection of Wordsworth’s poetry; his sad Memorial Verses are a lament for that poet’s death, and or the deaths of other poets at home and abroad.

Arnold wrote a critical sonnet on Shakespeare, whom he praised too much. One of his other poems, Empedocles on Etna, has been highly praised, perhaps because it is not altogether sad.

Charles Dickens was fond of books and devoted to study. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English novelists. He began with “Pickwick”. It is a serial publication in which each chapter was accompanied by cartoon so that it could be a good seller. “Oliver Twist” was also written in serial form. It is the study of crime and villainy side of humanity. Historical novels “Barnaby Rudge” and “A Tale of Two Cities” are a story of the French Revolution and of events in London at the same time. “A Christmas Carol (song)” is the story of a bad character who improves his behavior after a ghost tells him the manner of his death. “Hard Times” is set in industrial surroundings. “David Copperfield” is based on Dicken’s own life. “Nicholas Nickleby” is the tale of a boy who is left poor on his father’s death.

The place of Thomas Hardy is always high in English literature. He was the creator of philosophical novel. In his novels, nature plays an important part. His novels are mostly pictures of human beings struggling against fate or chance. “Far from the Madding Crowd” is the story of selfish and patient love. Another sad story of love affairs and jealousy is “The Return of the Native”. In “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, Michael sells his wife and children for a few pounds. Later he realizes the mistake and works hard and becomes the mayor. “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” is a tale of a poor girl. Hardy’s last novel “Jude the Obscure” is extremely miserable. His novels of romance include “A Pair of Blue Eyes” and “The Trumpet Major”. He wrote nearly a thousand shorter poems, and a long drama in verse. His poetry does not suggest that life is a bitter tragedy, he knows that life is hard, but also that man has the strength to bear its hardness and go on living.

There was great confidence in British society, culture and political organization in the 19th century. The writers of the 20th century could not share this confidence. The changes in beliefs and political ideas were influenced strongly by the events of the World War I and by the events across the world that led to the disappearance of the British Empire. Anyway 20th century is marked as the age of novels, though the novels had made all round development during the Victorian Age. The 20th Century modern novelists gave special emphasis on the artistic form of novel, rejecting morality. They dealt with problems of life and society and express the social reality. Sex and human emotions are other characters of modern novels. Psychological stream of consciousness was also developed by some novelists. Science and Detective Fictions also were initiated at this age.

DH Lawrence was a novelist who wrote much about love and sex. He felt it was the novelist’s job to show how an individual’s view of his own personality was often affected by conventions of language, family and religion and to show how people and their relationships were always changing. He took the form of the traditional novel and made it wider and deeper. Much of “Sons and Lovers” is taken from his own early life. He shows how the daily life of his characters influences them. “The Rainbow” tells the story of a family through three couples of different ages. “Women in Love” shows two couples trying to understand the true meaning of love and to work towards a real closeness of souls.

James Joyce was a leader in fiction of the 20th century novels. “The Dead” is his most notable fiction in which a husband is shocked out of his self-satisfaction by discovering his wife’s love for a dead man she knew many years before. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” presents Joyce himself as a young man in the character of his hero, Stephen Dedalus, who is formed by the powerful forces of Irish national, political and religious feelings. Stephen also appears as a character in “Ulysses” which is created in a completely new style of writing. “Ulysses” has no real plot. The novel is funny, touching and often satirical. “Finnegan’s Wake” takes one step further the new type of language which Joyce was starting to create in Ulysses.

Virginia Woolf was a great female writer of the 20th century. She was also a follower of stream of consciousness technique after Joyce. “Mrs. Dalloway” gives a description of one day in June 1923 as it was experienced by Mrs. Dalloway and other characters. “To the Lighthouse” begins by presenting a family on holiday in Scotland. The novel presents two kinds of truth- truth of facts that can be proved and truth that lies below the facts. “Orlando” is a fantasy based on Victoria’s life. It presents a main character who begins as a man in the 16th century and ends as a woman in 1928, still only thirty six years old.

Sir Walter Scott

The Lay of the Last Minstrel, in irregular stanzas, is based on an old Scottish story and includes some good ballads. Another verse tale of love and fighting, Marmion includes a description of Flodden Field, a battle between Scots and English in 1513. The Lay of the Lake is also based on fighting and love; and The Lord of the Isles tells in verse the story of Robert Bruce.

Scott soon discovered that he could not write poetry as good as Byron’s and so he turned away from it; but as a historical novelist he has no rival. He read the older novelists, and began to write Waverley in 1805. For the next eighteen years he wrote novel after novel. In 1826, he lost all his money through the business failure of his publisher and printer. He sat down to pay the immense debt by writing, but died before he could do so. In spite of that, his books brought in enough money after his death to pay the last pound.

Scott is rather difficult to read, especially in those places where his characters speak dialect. Though the stories are good, the books are long for the modern reader. His hard work and his knowledge of history continually astonish the reader; yet the love interest in the stories often lacks depth, and his heroes and the heroines are weak when compared with the violent scenes in which they live. Scott’s style is sometimes heavy and much influenced by the old and flowery ways of speech. But he loved people, as Chaucer and Shakespeare did, and he could tell stories well.

As the poet’s wife, Mary Shelley is remembered now chiefly as the writer of a famous novel of terror, Frankenstein. It was published in the year that saw Northanger Abbey, a satire on this sort of novel. Frankenstein was begun as a ghost story; but Mrs. Shelley finally made her character, the Genevan student Frankenstein, collect bones, build a human being, and give it life. Everyone hates it for its ugliness, and it is lonely and fierce. It murders Frankenstein’s brother and his wife. Frankenstein follows it to the far north and is himself killed by it. The creature then disappears. It has remained the pattern of machine-men, and the book may well be considered as the first attempt at science fiction, a form of literature very common in modern world. Mrs. Shelley also wrote The Last Man, the story of the slow destruction by disease of every member (except one) of the human race.

Letter of Christopher Columbus: On His First Voyage to America, 1492

Columbus was born in Italy and served the Spanish King Ferdinand II in his career as a navigator. Although many groups like Vikings had already been to the Americas much earlier, Columbus has been called the discoverer of the New World. The present letter is one of the early writings of Columbus in which he describes new people of the New World. The letter shows how mesmerized (hypnotized) he was because of the unpolluted and unmediated (not communicated) environment of the newly discovered islands.

Columbus aims to demonstrate that he has taken possession of these new lands for his King. This is highlighted by the subsequent renaming of various islands. Columbus also intends to reassure all that the lands are fertile and rich with gold. Columbus argues that the inhabitants are inherently timid people. In addition to this, Columbus observes that his crew members and other sailors take advantage of the natives’ naivety and kind-heartedness. In his opinion this taking advantage is wrong and he goes on to forbid his men from dealing unfairly with the natives.

This letter is addressed to the monarchs in Spain as his voyage had been financed by the monarchy. From the statements made by Columbus, it can safely be assumed that there were other voyages to the Indies before his. These voyages brought home tales of violent tribes and inhospitable lands. Columbus refutes these claims and says that his voyage was a victory. He also insists that the stories told about the lands were baseless and mostly lies.

Throughout his expedition, Columbus seeks to convert the natives to his Christian faith demonstrating that he regards the natives’ religion as inferior and based on error. The letter was mainly aimed at highlighting the success of his voyage. Columbus envisions another voyage and asserts that the newfound land contains treasures for Spain and a lot of people to be converted to the holy faith of Christianity.

Of Studies- Francis Bacon

Known as a Renaissance man, Francis Bacon is an English philosopher, lawyer, statesman, scientist and man of letters. He is known as the father of English essays. He emulated the tradition of writing essays from French writer Montaigne. His essays are written in the aphoristic (brief statement of a scientific principle) style and they are short, sharp and full of wisdom. 'Of Studies' is a short and witty essay. Bacon shows how study matters in a man's life. Every sentence of this essay reads like a quotation.

For Bacon, the study is always related to the application of knowledge in practical life. At the beginning of his essay, Bacon describes the three main purposes of study including delight, decoration and ability. The author has the notion that only learned and well-read men can execute plans effectively, manage their daily affairs with expertise and lead a healthy and stable life. He further states that reading makes a full man; conference leads to a ready man while writing makes an exact-man.

He also condemns the act of studying from books solely without learning from nature around. At the same time, it asserts the benefits of studies by considering this act as a medicine for the defects of the human mind and the source of enhancing one’s wit. For Bacon, some books are only meant to be tasted; others are there to swallow while some books are meant for chewing and digesting properly. Therefore, the readers must choose wisely before studying any book to enhance their knowledge about the world around.

Bacon concludes his essay by suggesting that studies assist an individual in removing the defects of their mind as every problem of the human mind carries special importance for the individual and the world.

A Piece of Chalk -Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Chesterton is an English critic, poet, short story writer and essayist. In this anecdotic essay, we have the theme of desire, prudence, resilience, happiness, independence and ingenuity. Chesterton wishes to walk out on the fields and do some drawing. The only problem is that he has no brown paper and he has to ask his landlady for it. He sees it pointless to draw the landscape and is much more interested in drawing other things. Things that he thinks are more valuable and are more realistic to his needs. When he has no white chalk, he breaks pieces of rock and begins to draw the sky.

What is also interesting is how determined Chesterton is to not paint a landscape like the masters who have come before him. It takes a person a while to understand what has been drawn. Without a landscape the drawing may look no more like doodles and ever the perfection Chesterton draws the sky white by using the pieces of rock. He knows he has no choice but to do so but the abundance of the white rock around him in the field is ideal for his purposes. Giving his drawing the shape it needs and hopefully a fuller explanation to those who view the drawing. So happy is Chesterton after he finishes sketching a whole day sitting on a hill of southern England. He may have started out without a piece of white chalk but the end is different. Through his ingenuity and resilience Chesterton has managed to finish his drawing. A drawing the he himself is proud of and one expects that others will be proud of too. Last sentence of the essay brings him wisdom that the entire hill is made up of chalk.

An Encounter with a Dog -Padma Prasad Devkota

Devkota is a Nepalese essayist who has contributed to literary creation bilingually. This is a narrative/argumentative essay in which the essayist expresses his resentments not towards the dog which bit him but towards the owner who looked indifferent at the behavior of the dog. He is furious at the owner for not showing any realization or guilt when his guest was bitten by his dog. Some people find pleasure in humiliating others or putting others down. We can't stop them so that, if it bothers you, walk away to avoid or ignore such persons. Such abusive people just believe in manipulation to cause their victim to act almost as if they are under a spell, making them do things they ordinarily would not.

The essay begins with the writer's expression of pride of achievements of his father who is the Great Poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota. He includes the incident of his father replying the Raja of Salyan that he was in the habit of reading the lines of his books in his dreams. Later the writer got an appointment with the one of the five grandsons of the Raja of Salyan. During the same visit, a black dog bit him. He wondered why, knowing the dog so well, Mr. Shah did not leash it properly or lock it up in the kennel before receiving him into his compound. He writes that he had finally learnt a lesson the hard way. He realizes that he should have known that human beings always disappoint us by their pretensions at superiority. The rereading of 'Pleasure in Humiliation' is a great part indeed.

The Silk Road in World History by Alfred J. Andrea

Andrea from USA has visited China multiple times to make research on the Silk Road, a trans-Eurasian network of trade routes connecting different parts of Asia and Europe, which flourished from roughly 100 BCE (Before the Common Era) to around 1450 AD. This essay is his research article, which has been edited to suit the classroom purpose. Everyone takes for granted that globalization is a recent phenomenon but it started with the operation of the Silk Road, transporting goods and ideas between the two great civilizations of Rome and China. Silk went westward, and wools, gold, and silver went east. China also received Christianity and Buddhism via this link.

The German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen coined the words Silk Road in 1877. The Silk Roads were the multiple caravan tracts of about 6,400 km between imperial Rome and Han China along which the precious commodity of silk traveled. Sir Aurel Stein, Sir Leonard Woolley and others contributed in the phase of discovering and recovering the treasures of the Silk Road. For merchants, pilgrims, missionaries, soldiers, diplomats, and others using these routes, the Buddhist cave-shrines were places of rest, and exposures to Dunhuang's rich multi-culture environment. The Diamond Sutra is supposed to be the world's oldest-known, intact printed book. There is the wealth of Silk Road art and records scattered about in museums and libraries in Europe, Asia, and America.

The second phase of institutionalizing the Silk Road began in the initiation of UNESCO in 1988 creating a ten-year multidisciplinary project titled 'Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue'. International Dunhuang Project (IDP- 1994) has taken on the mission to publish information and images of all manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artifacts. Likewise the Silkroad Foundation has been furthering Silk Road studies, in addition to sponsoring seminars and scholarly expeditions and archaeological surveys.

Getting in Touch with Aliens -Stephen William hawking

Hawking is an English theoretical physicist whose theory of exploding black holes drew upon both relativity theory and quantum mechanics. In the present essay, he analyzes the possibility of getting in touch with extraterrestrial beings (the aliens). As a scientist, he discards some possibilities and suggests that only radio waves might lead human beings to get in touch with aliens if they really exist. Unfortunately, SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has failed to find a single, sure peep from the skies. He writes about the possibility that the aliens may use pictures or even mathematics to communicate, but even a simple 'Hello?' and its response 'Zork?' would take twenty centuries!

‘The idea that we are alone in the universe seems to me completely implausible and arrogant,’ he said. ‘Considering the number of planets and stars that we know exist, it’s extremely unlikely that we are the only form of evolved life'. He also teamed up with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner for a series of projects focused on finding alien life – one of which could lead us to explore another star system for the first time. The Star-shot Initiative envisages sending tiny light-propelled robot spacecraft on a 20-year voyage to the Alpha Centauri star system. Hawking said that such a mission might be our only chance of survival – saying in 2017 that that soaring population and demands for energy will turn the world into a sizzling ball of fire by 2600. His Breakthrough Star-shot project could be the first step on the way. ‘I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers,’ he said. ‘I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space.’

Our House is on Fire -Greta Thunberg

Greta is a Swedish environment activist who worked to address the problem of climate change, founding a movement known as Fridays for Future (also called School Strike for Climate) in 2018. This sixteen-year-old girl has sparked a worldwide student movement and she is demanding action from world leaders in response to global warming. This particular text is a speech she delivered at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in 2019. She was inspired by her teacher explaining to her class that our climate is changing- the earth is getting warmer, the polar ice caps are melting, and life on earth is threatened. So she went on strike, skipping school every Friday to sit outside of the Swedish Parliament building with a sign that read “School Strike for Climate.”

Greta is speaking to audiences of world leaders at important meetings putting forward the finding of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) that we are already late for undoing our mistakes such as reduction of our CO2 emissions. She charges all political movements and even the media as failing to create broad public awareness, but she is optimistic about solving the climate crisis. According to her, we can create transformational action that will safeguard the living conditions for future generations. Understanding of our rapidly disappearing carbon budget should and must become our new global currency. The bigger our carbon footprint, the bigger is our moral duty. She wants us all to act wisely.

She is leading the conversation on climate change and sparking worldwide conversation on how to save our planet. Greta is showing everyone that even the smallest person can make a big difference, and this picture book informs and inspires young readers who are beginning to learn about the world around them.

Why I Write -Joan Didion

Didion is an American novelist and essayist. This is an argumentative essay in which the title is borrowed from George Orwell. Orwell has listed sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose as four motives for writing. In her entire essay, Didion tries to build up a rationale for why someone has to write. She describes the way she writes by using some images in her mind, and wants us to understand how writing works for her. A person does not have to be “good” or “bad” at writing. Everyone has their own way of ideas, words and emotions which makes every piece of writing unique. When she writes her novel, she does not use the sequence of time or character.

Her way of writing is by her own imagination. When she starts to write she goes off by the pictures in her mind and goes from there. We can assume that she is a visual learner. I now know that a person has to find their own way to write their words. Writers just have to put their effort into the piece of writing and go all into it.

The overall purpose for this essay is just to show readers that each and every one of us have our own kind of way to start writing something. Not everybody has to be intelligent in order to be a writer. She just wants us to be passionate about our ideas, thoughts and words. Actually, Didion's writing is powerful in several ways: aesthetically, journalistically, psychologically, morally, and politically. She can also be read as an existentialist.

Pandemic and After -Govinda Raj Bhattarai

Bhattarai is a Nepalese novelist, essayist, literary critic, linguist, and translation expert. This essay is the writer's perception of nature towards the confrontation between human civilizations and the natural world. His optimism is that despite so many crises, humanity will always turn out to be victorious. He states that COVID 19 has caused the greatest loss of life and disturbed our psychology since the devastation of World War II. Though he has included about the corona viruses, he states that such information are not yet enough to determine how easily this virus spreads. Then he concludes COVID 19 as something of a wild card in terms of how far it will spread and how many deaths it will cause.

The word 'pandemic' is derived from Greek where the prefix 'pan' stands for 'all' and 'demos' stands for 'people'. Corona viruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. A 'novel' corona virus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. It seems to be transmitted mainly via respiratory droplets when people sneeze, cough, or exhale.

This pandemic has already begun to change the world by changing the human imagination. It had diverted the track of current civilization and of course, challenged the nature of education system. Already some new terms have been introduced such as quarantine, lockdown, isolation, tracking, hotspot, disinfectant, including many abbreviations such as RDT, PCR, VTM, PEP, etc. The essayist calls us to be prepared for a major turning point in world history.

The World's Desire -EV Lucas

Lucas is a versatile and prolific British author, well-known for his gentle satire and humor. This essay is written on Charlie Chaplin, the most popular comic actor in the age of the silent movie. It starts with the event when Charlie refused a large sum of money offered for signing an agreement in New York. He was the funniest man on earth, who works hard for the days and nights to maintain the standard of his performance. Nevertheless, Charlie seldom wins, he remains a victim of circumstances, although nothing can discourage or deter him. His very essence is resiliency under difficulties and challenges.

Charlie became worldwide icon through his screen persona, The Tramp, and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, and encompassed both adoration and controversy. His childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. He went to America at the age of 19 and he was one of the best-known figures in the world by the age of 29. The Kid, A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times, and Great Dictator are some of his films. The 1940s were a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin, who was forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland till his death.

There is no doubt that Charlie is funny. He brought back the admirable form of humor in a variety of ways. His films are characterized by slapstick combined with pathos, typified with the Tramp's struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. His final home in Switzerland has been converted into a museum named 'Chaplin's World'.

Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day? - William Shakespeare

It is known that Shakespeare was an actor and dramatist by 1592. He has written 37 plays. He wrote a total of 154 sonnets; the first 126 addressed to his beloved young friend WH (William Herbert or Henry Wriothesley). Shakespearean sonnets contain three quatrains and one couplet with rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. His sonnets praise the beauty of nature and natural beings. The theme of this sonnet is the permanence and supremacy of love. The poet gives an assurance of poetic immortality, love and friendship.

This sonnet claims that WH is more beautiful than the summer’s day and is also as immortal as Shakespeare’s sonnet. The poet thinks that his love is incomparable. In summer, the stormy winds weaken the charming rosebuds and the health and happiness are short-lived. Even the sun rays are often dim and the beauty of every beautiful thing decreases naturally. But the charm of the poet’s love will never decline. Death will never enjoy its victory over his friend because the poet’s verse will remain immortal. His friend may die physically, but his intellectual and spiritual beauty shall remain in the eternal poem.

In this poem, the idea is developed in the three quatrains and the conclusion is imbedded in the couplet. The poet concludes with the truth that art can really immortalize people. Time and death can’t wipe out one’s existence forever. There is rhetorical question in the first line, and that is asked merely for the effect rather than expecting any answer. The use of 'eye of heaven' in reference to 'sun' is metonymy, where one word or phrase is substituted for another. Likewise the repeated word 'And' at the beginning of verse lines is called anaphora, and the repeated term 'more' with two intervening words is called diacope.

The Flea- John Donne

Donne is a famous Elizabethan and Renaissance poet born in London. He is one of the leading members of the metaphysical school of poetry. He used complex thought, paradoxes, diverse imagery, and conceits in his poetry. He is also criticized for his harsh tone and rigid expression. The present poem is about a youth persuading his beloved using different tactics. The fusion of the three lives in a flea is a great image he used in the poem.

The speaker uses the occasion of a flea hopping from himself to a young lady as an excuse to argue that the two of them should make love. Since in the flea their blood is mixed together, he says that they have already been made as one in the body of the flea. Besides, the flea pricked her and got what it wanted without having to woo her. The flea’s bite and mingling of their bloods is not considered a sin, so why should their love-making?

In the second stanza the speaker attempts to prevent the woman from killing the flea. He argues that since the flea contains the “life” of both herself and the speaker, she would be guilty both of suicide and a triple homicide in killing it. The woman in question is obviously not convinced, for in the third stanza she has killed the flea with a fingernail. The speaker then turns this around to point out that, although the flea which contained portions of their lives, is dead, neither of them is the weaker for it. If this commingling of bodily fluids can leave no lasting effect, then why does she hesitate to join with him in sexual intimacy? After all, her honor will be equally undiminished.

Five Haikus- Matsuo Basho

Basho is the son of a low-rank samurai from Japan. He learned haikai no renga, a form of cooperative poetry with 5-7-5 mora format, which is now known as haiku, that gives a pictorial image of the situation or person. Basically, it is used to reflect the existing problems with contrastive images. The haikus by Basho give a clear picture of the situation. The first line exposes the situation, the second line shows the contrastive scene and the third line tries to sum it up with bizarre situation.

In Basho's Death Poem, the body fails but the thoughts persist wandering through the lonely withered lands. The haiku titled 'By the Old Temple' seems like Senryu for treating human nature in an ironic or satiric vein, but its 5-3-5 unit sounds come from the English translation. The man threshing paddy is indifferent to beauty of flower. 'I'm a Wanderer' strangely associates winter rain with a traveler. 'The Butterfly' has pleasant smell from the orchid. Likewise, 'The Whole Family' refers to the O-Bon festival, a commemoration of the dead. Autumn is the time of declining Yang- of the waning of life and things aging.

Basho aspired to reflect his real environment and emotions in his hokku. Following the Zen philosophy he studied, Basho attempted to compress the meaning of the world into the simple pattern of his poetry, disclosing hidden hopes in small things and showing the interdependence of all objects. One term frequently used to describe Basho's poetry is sabi, which means the love of the old, the faded, and the unobtrusive, a quality found in the verse.

On the Grasshopper and the Cricket - John Keats

Keats is an English poet prominent in the second generation of Romantic poets, whose verse is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous appeal. Also in this romantic poem, the poet enjoys the natural beauty and joys of singing by both the insects even in the extreme difficulties of the seasons. This is a fine piece of Petrarchan sonnet.

The poet symbolizes the grasshopper as hot summer and the cricket as a very cold winter. The grasshopper sings tirelessly during the summer flying from the hedge, whereas the cricket sings through the stones during the winter. During the hot season, all the singing birds are tired and take rest under the shady branches of trees, but even if they don't sing, the song of the nature goes on. A grasshopper carries on the duty of praising the everlasting beauty of nature, and proves it a fun-loving and cheerful creature, never done with his eternal joy and delights. Likewise, there is utter silence on the frosty winter days but the earth has its own way of expressing pleasure and joys. The song of a cricket can be heard which breaks this silence, and expresses warmth and love.

Thus, we can say that the grasshopper and cricket, two tiny insects, perform a big responsibility. They carry on with nature's continuous and everlasting music irrespective of the extreme climates. The poet has thus personified them in this symbolic poem, teaching us that we should be joyful and pleasant no matter what are the situations in our life. With this attitude, we can easily overcome all the obstacles in life.

Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Tennyson is the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets, and often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age of poetry. In the given poem, the narrator lets the lady show her reaction towards her husband's death in the war. She is silent until she reaches to the corpse, but the tranquility breaks abruptly by the tempest of her tears, and she expresses her reaction.

The third-person narrative allows the reader to see the widow's reaction from an outside perspective. The reader, therefore, identifies with the rest of the crowd of gathered people and experiences the same concern for the widow. The last stanza reveals that she is also a mother, who would have to raise the child alone.

In the beginning, the woman's grief is so overwhelming, she cannot even cry. Her friends believed that if she did not grieve, the pain she refused to let out would eventually kill her. As in many instances of death, the bystanders praised the dead man, but no amount of reminiscence seemed to bring tears to the widow's eyes. One of her friend shows her the face of her late husband, hoping that this will help the woman to break out of her state of shock. Actually she has been paralyzed with fear at the thought of her poor child. It was not until she saw the child's nurse set the child upon her knee that she burst forth in uncontrollable tears.

This is Just to Say- William Carlos Williams

The notable American poet and writer of the 20th century, Williams is famous for his style of presenting the simple things in a crafty way. The present poem 'This is Just to Say' is an example of a casual poem without proper rhyme, rhythm, punctuation, or metrical composition. Through this poem, Williams tries to experiment with the day to day conversations as poem. This three stanza poem narrated in first-person is separated into sets of four lines, or quatrains. There are two instances of capitalization though. The 'I' at the beginning of line one and 'Forgive' in the first line of the last stanza.

Without any formal beginning, the poet says that he has eaten the plums from the fridge. The short lines or halting speech pattern suggests about an apology for eating those plums saved by the wife for breakfast. The line breaks of this free verse are systematically scattered throughout the short narrative and all the words are arranged for the greatest impact.

Breakfast is a rich image. It shows that the time is that of the morning and his wife might not be in the kitchen. When he saw the plums and thought about what they'd taste like, he couldn't resist. His apology in the first line is quickly followed up by three excuses. The plums 'were delicious' and were 'so sweet' and 'so cold'. He hopes that his apology and the reasoning he provided with be enough to make his listener forgive him. The final lines also depict human nature. We know that we do the wrong things in spite of knowing well that it is wrong and the simple reason we give is that we could not control ourselves. The lines, in a deeper sense, can refer to the story of Adam and Eve.

United Fruit Co. - Pablo Neruda

Neruda is the famous Chilean poet and diplomat. His poem 'United Fruit Co.' is the real name of an American imperial company for banana trade in the Middle American countries. Linking with Biblical myth, Neruda shows the superiority complex of the American company and their domination and discrimination in various economic activities to the people in their colonies. Neruda seems to be familiar with the avant-garde (ultramodern) and some have even pointed to Surrealism in his work. Nonetheless, whatever else might have played a hand, Neruda offered a strong opinion and commented and contrasted in inimitable ways.

United Fruit Co. is a descriptive narrative of the impact of a multinational cooperation on Central America. It goes into depth on how the United Fruit Company had been blessed with something but has used it to curse the people. It can be seen as providing social commentary on an ongoing situation at that time. However, the poem may also have proved to serve as a warning to Neruda’s Chilean government. It must have told them to be weary of the promise of hope from multinational co-operations. Even in the wider scope, it must have also warned his South American peers of what has happen to Central America. As aforementioned Neruda never saw himself being loyal to a specific school of poetry, his work spanned many schools and periods of poetry. United Fruit Co. was published in the book Canto General which Neruda completed while exile. Persuaded by political occurrences such as his leftist affiliations, he attempts to break out of the elitism of Spanish poetry and create a contemporary political commentary. For this reason, it is seen as a post modernistic work.

In Memory of WB Yeats -WH Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden is a famous 20th century British poet, and playwright. He experimented with different forms of poetry and was successful in most of them. This poem exposes the imaginary life after death and the human condition. With powerful images and themes, Auden describes the events of Yeats' life and death. Different images are used in the poem.

Auden uses an exacting tone and direct language to depict the events around Yeats' death. The first part of the poem addresses the last days of Yeats' life and what it was like right after he died. Auden speaks on the loss and how it impacted the world. The second section is directed, through a second person speaker, to Yeats himself. While the third is an elegy meant to sum up that which was spoken about previously but also make new statements about what poetry can do for humankind.