TWO POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND ONE OF ROBERT FROST

1.MY MISTRESS’S EYES ARE NOTHING…….

Introduction of the poet:

Shakespeare(1564-1616) is known more as a dramatist than as a poet,but he is also one of the greatest poets in English literature.The poetry of his verse dramas and his series of 154 sonnets make him a great poet.Shakespeare wrote those 154 sonnets mainly during 1592-1594 when the London theatres were closed due to the fear of spreading plague.The poems are addressed to a friend of the upper class(sonnets 1-126),to a “dark lady”(sonnets 127-154) or to a rival poet(like the present sonnet no.130).shakespeare took the traditional sonnet from that many English poets(and young men) had been writing in the form popularized by the Italian poet,Petrarch:but he developed this overused poetic form and adapted it to the present “English” or “Shakespearean” sonnet form.He did not give them titles but numbered them,like Petrarch.But he did not always address to the some imaginary,beautiful but cold and unwilling beloved.The beloved of Shakespeare is a real and not so amazingly beautiful but rather ‘dark’ and unique woman.Shakespeare also doesn’t limit his subject to the love of this lady:as if confident in his true love,the speaker also deals with other subjects of life,immortality,death,poetic fame,and so on.For instance,the present ‘sonnet 130’ is not only about love but also a satire on the artificial language of poetry(or rather sonnets of the time).

What is sonnet?

The sonnet is a poem in fourteen lines.Sonnets were originally love-poems addressed to an imaginary beloved by a poet.They are in two parts:the first part introduces and develops the argument,and the second part makes a conclusion,proposal or comment.They were originally written by using a particular kind of diction and metaphors for appreciating and courting a lady.Still followed and adapted for writing poems in many kinds of subjects themes,the sonnet has been one of the most common ‘forms’ in which poets have written their poems.The sonnet was originally a verse form developed by an Italian poet named Patriarch in the 14^th century.The English poets imitated it and Shakespeare later adapted it heavily in its subject and theme,its form,and in the devices of word-game,too.Now we have the English or Shakespearean form,besides the original Italian or Petriarchan form of the sonnet.

Explanation of the poem:

Note:Shakespeare did not divide his poem into stanzas;he didn’t even give them titles.But it is convenient to consider his sonnets in two parts(the first twelve lines and a couplet) or alternatively in four parts,by dividing the first part into three(three quatrains and a concluding couplet).Such division is however there in terms of rhyme-scheme,grammatical division into sentences,and logical division of the argument or the division of ideas on different bases.

Stanza 1:The speaker of the poem is a lover who is addressing an audience of one or more poets.He could also be talking to the reader as common people.He says that the eyes of his beloved are not like the sun.In the context of a poem that deals with the speaker’s beloved,and especially in a poem written in the sonnet from during the Elizabethan era,the reader easily understands that the speaker is ‘refusing’ to compare his beloved’s eyes with the common metaphor of the sun.We know that hundreds of poets and young men in those times have written sonnets using the common metaphors of the sun,coral,snow,rose,and the like.In that context,we feel that the speaker of the poem is writing a new kind of poem.In the second line,he adds that his beloved’s lips are not as red as the red coral.Again,the speaker is refusing to use another common metaphor of the time.In the third line,he says that her breasts are not white like the snow;and in the fourth line he adds that her hair is not like golden wires.But instead of saying it simply,he says it in a witty(clever argument)way.Instead of saying just that her breasts are not white,he makes a witty point that ‘we should not say that the snow is white if we can call her brown breasts white’!Similarly,he says that ‘if we can describe a lady’s hair as golden wires,black wires and not yellow,grow on his beloved’s head’!We fully realize only in the last two lines that the poet is being ironical about the use of the common metaphors of Elizabethan love sonnets.

Stanza 2:The second quatrain is based on speaker’s experience.He says that he has seen roses of several kinds:He has seen rough types of roses,red roses and white roses.But he honestly says that he doesn’t see any rose on her cheeks.He also adds that he has the experience of perfumes,but some perfumes are delightful in scent.Compared to the delight of some perfumes,he says that his beloved’s breath gives out a bad smell(reeks).If we observe the sentence structures again,we see that the speaker is not saying one idea per line,but he says two ideas in two pairs of lines.Again,in order to tell us his two experiences of the rose and the perfumes,he uses two different types of structures:”I have seen roses……but I don’t see roses in her cheeks” and “there is more delight in some perfumes than in her breath that smells.”Now the  expression have also become more critical.We feel that the speaker is pretending not to understand the poetic and metaphoric meanings of words in the sonnets written by the poets.In fact,no one says that there are real roses in the cheeks of a lady;of course,that is a poetic way of saying things.The tone of the poem is therefore one of a ‘simpleton’ who is so straightforward and unpoetic that he will reject anything that is not literally logical!Shakespeare has invented an appropriate persona in order to satirize the other poets who sacrificed originality and realism in the name of writing poems out of the readymade ‘formula’ of the sonnet.

Stanza 3:The third stanza continues to ‘refuse to compare’ the lady with common objects of comparison;but the stanza is based on the attitude of the speaker towards her.He says that he does love to hear her speaking,but he says that her voice is not so sweet as the music.Music has a far more pleasing sound.Then he ‘honestly’ tells us that he has never seen any goddess walk.He knows that his mistress walks on the ground,unlike the goddesses who are supposed to fly and walk in the air!This stanza also clearly suggests that the poet is refusing to use the traditional metaphors that falsely compare the poet’s beloved with the goddess in their style of walking(gait) and with the sound of music in their voices.Before these lines,the poet had been giving us the impression that he was depreciating(not appreciating) his beloved.We  were somewhat made to feel that he was saying that his beloved is ‘not’ beautiful or lovely.By the third stanza,he has come to express ‘love’ explicitly.So we are now confused about what he is trying to conclude.Stylistically,the variation in sentence structure,word-game and even tone is again equally striking in this stanza also.By this stanza,his expressions have become more explicit(open) and emphatic(strong).The last line is long and broken,and it slows down the pace of our reading,and stopping the easy flow of recitation.That also prepares us for the sudden twist and ironic revelation in the last two lines of the poem.

Stanza 4:Model answer

This concluding couplet gives the whole poem a twist by revealing an irony that is also the theme of the poem.The speaker here swears(in the name of heaven!) that his beloved is no less ‘rare’ than anyone’s beloved.He both manages to appreciate her and to depreciate the ‘fasle’ metaphors of other poets.

In the twelve lines preceding these lines,the poet has said that his beloved is ‘not’ like the beautiful images used in conventional love-poems.With these lines,he reveals that she is however not less beautiful and ‘rare’ than any of the beloveds(of other poets) who have been fooled by false and exaggerated metaphorical comparison.This is the criticism of the eight common metaphors that the speaker has refused to use in the first twelve lines of the poem:sun for her eyes,coral for her lips,snow for her breasts,golden wires for her hair;rose for her cheeks,perfume for her breath,music for her voice,and the gait of goddesses for her gait.Those common and outdated metaphors are here revealed as ‘false’  which means ‘unreal’ and artificial.This is,in general,the statement of the poem’s theme of irony and satire against the stale and hackneyed expressions and metaphors of the Elizabethan sonnets which were too common in Shakespeare’s time.

The use of swear-word ‘by heaven’ suggests that the speaker is rather annoyed with the ‘false metaphors’;but by the same token,he is also appearing honest,frank and intimate with the reader.He is also humble and tactful,as indicated by the words”I think”,which he seems to insert to make the effect of the swear-words not rude.”She” in the second line means ‘any’ she or the beloveds of any of the many poets who keep flattering them.The word belied is synonymous to ‘fooled’,which means that the beloveds of other poets were fooled by lies of false comparison.The present lover-poet is honest and realistic,yet still emotional.

2.WHEN ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL:

Introduction:”When icicles hang by the wall” is taken from the concluding chapter of Shakespeare’s Lover’s Labour’s Lost.This is the song in praise of winter season.Every season has its own importance.The spring season has the outdoor pleasures whereas the winter has indoors.Though the poet accepts the disadvantages of winter-its cold,muddy road,wind,the physical discomfort etc.,his justification for winter is positive.In the poem each stanza brings us indoor where we get maximum pleasure.Roasted crab hissing in the bowl,warm room,etc. are the indoor pleasures of the winter season.

Summary and Interpretation of poem:Winter is a very cold season.The dripping water freezes and hangs on the wall.The shepherd named Dick blows his nail to make them warm and tom brings firewood in to warm the room.The herdsman brings the milk in bucket which is already frozen.The blood in body is about to  freeze and is very painful.The road outside is all dirty and muddy because of rain.At night the owl sings a very happy song To-who,To-whit.Joan(perhaps cook) turns the pot on its side which is all greasy.The wind is blowing outside.When the preacher starts preaching,it can’t be heard because of  cough.The birds sit to hatch their eggs on the snow.Marian’s nose is red and face looks rough.In the kitchen the crabs are being roasted which produce hissing sound.The owl also sings happy song in its own way.

3.STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING-ROBERT LEE FROST

Introduction to the poet:Robert Lee Frost(1874-1963) is a famous modern American poet who is known for his simple poems which have deeper level of meaning.He was influenced by the British Romantic poets in his early days,but he later was to become the most originally ’American’ poet of his time.He became a farmer-and-poet and wrote poems about local scenes,local people and their life,especially of his home state of New England.His poetry was first popularized in England,and he also lived in London for some time;but he returned to his place and became a ‘lonely’ poet who disagreed with any poetic movements like imagism,symbolism,or any ‘gang’ of –isms.He highlights the values of the rural American life,and also universal human values like sympathy,discipline,good reason and imagination.His saying that “poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom” has become a popular proverb.The present poem is a typical Frost poem which describes a romantic evening scene where the speaker wants to stay and enjoy,but he has to go ahead in his journey.But if we read carefully,we see that this literal journey is an allegory of the life journey also.At an even deeper level,the journey is also hinted as a spiritual journey of the religious journeyman in which one must not be tempted by wayside pleasures.There can be many other levels of its symbolic meaning,even psychological meaning and meaning in terms of modernity,if we go on.But if we generalize,the theme of the poem is a philosophy about life:time doesn’t stop and we must go ahead for we all have our own responsibilities and visions,desires and ambitions,whatever the mode and profession of our life.

Introduction to the poem:

The speaker is probably a farmer returning home from far away.He is riding his horse.It is getting rather late.He has come to a place where there is very beautiful scenery.He stops the horse and looks around,enjoying.There is a lake on one side and a small forest on the other side.The snow is falling like a soft cotton(downy).The lake is almost frozen.It is now very dark.It is quiet,and there is only the sound of the wind on the flakes of snow.Because the traveler stops the horse in an unusual place,where there is no house nearby,the horse shakes its head,in a manner of asking if there is some mistake.Then the traveler becomes conscious that he has a long way to go before he gets home to sleep.”The woods are lovely,dark and deep”,but he has promises to keep.We do not know whether the promises were made with someone,or they are his own commitments,but anyway he cannot stop there:he must go.In a way,the poem is unique like its composer Robert Frost,who is one of the most original modern American Poets.

Explanation of the poem:

Stanza 1:The speaker comes across small woods on his way and thinks that he seems to know whose woods they are;the house of the owner is in the village.He also thinks that the owner of these woods will not see him stopping there as he is stopping his horse to watch the snowfall in the beautiful woods.This stanza is basically ‘romantic’.It creates a beautiful setting,a romantic kind of image,The image of the snowfall in the woods is not only a romantic picture of the beauty of nature but also a background for the romantic feeling in the mind of the traveler as well as the reader.It arouses a strong desire to stay on and enjoy the place.The mention of the owner of the woods,the fact that his house is in the village,and that he will not see the speaker enjoying his woods can also be explained in the romantic sense.Those who really own or have beautiful things do not know its value or enjoy it as much as people who lack it.And it is really ‘romantic’ or pleasurable to those who don’t have it.Even if we interpret the stanza in the allegorical sense of ‘life journey’,the first stanza is still basically romantic,because it gives us the suggestion of some pleasurable part of our life,like childhood or youth,where we want to stay forever,though we know we must go ahead.

Stanza 2:The second stanza is also as simple and apparently romantic as the first.But here,the horse which makes a reaction like a human being seems to be more symbolic than real.The speaker is stopping his horse and still enjoying the beauty of the scene  between the woods and frozen lake,and in the ‘darkest evening of the year’.This stanza has deeper meanings.The horse could be the symbol of our consciousness,and it on the basis of this point that critics have made psychological and philosophical interpretations of the poem.Psychologically,our unconsciousness and subconsciousness always attract us towards pleasure and irresponsibility,but our consciousness brings us to the right track.In the third and fourth of this stanza also,there is a hint of the religious level of meaning of the poem.The speaker says that it is “the darkest evening of the year”.The word ‘darkest’ hints that the poem is not only romantic,because darkness is not ideal for romantic feelings.The darkness here must be taken as something negative.It could be the darkness of ignorance or evil that the religious journeyman must cross in order to reach his destination.Similarly,the ‘frozen’ lake is also something that is not really pleasurable;it is a cold and dangerous thig that only ‘looks’ beautiful.In the religious as well as the philosophical sense,one must recognize and avoid the dangers of false appearances and false pleasures in life.Even in the ordinary sense,there are many pleasurable and attractive things in life that do not really benefit us in the long run.We must leave them behind and go ahead.

Stanza 3:The third stanza does not have much new information or thematic material.The horse shakes its bell to ask whether there is some mistake,and the traveler hears another sound of gentle wind on cotton-like flakes of the snow.The horse is the symbol of consciousness and sense of responsibility that balances us between dream and reality,between what we wish and what we can,and so on.The mention of the wind as “easy” suggests that to stay there among the woods is easy.This is related to the theme of ‘responsibility’, commitment (promises),and righteousness.But we see in the last line of this stanza that the ‘easy’ is not actually what it appears,because the cold and dangerous snow that has begun to pile up is only seen “downy”,which means ‘like down’ or like soft cotton or some other material for making pillow or mattress.The easy and comfortable looking snow is not actually comfortable,but only deceptive.So,in every way,the apparently beautiful place and situation is not actually so,in many ways.

Stanza 4:In the last stanza,the speaker once again describes the woods:”The woods are lovely,dark and deep” in an American kind of language,emphasizing the romantic theme of pleasure.But the last three lines introduce a twist to the whole poem:the speaker tells us that though the woods are pleasing,he must go,because he has to keep his promises.He says that he has to go miles before he sleeps.These last lines are the final clues about more meanings in the poems. 

Symbolically,academic,journey of personal success of some kind,and so on.Everyone wants to take rest,stop and enjoy at a place or time that is pleasing,or even return!But that is not possible.Stopping by actual woods may be possible,just for some time,in the literal sense; but in every other way it is not possible or even desirable.We can’t stop in the life-journey;we mustn’t be lured by wayside temptations in our academic and professional journeys;and our journey of psychological consciousness also shakes us into the same reality stopping the journey for the shake of desire is either not possible or not permissible.

Allegory/Symbolism in the poem:

                      

                      The poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a poem which has more than one symbolic meanings,beneath its simple surface-meaning as a romantic poem.In one sense,it is a poem that symbolizes the journey of life.In another,the journey in the poem is also  the symbol of religious journey.Besides,there are also many other possibilities of  interpretations of the poem as allegorically significant in terms of psychology and the philosophy of life in general.

                        

                      The journey in the poem can,first of all,be taken as an allegory of life,or life journey.As in  the journey of life,the speaker,who represents any human being,is pleased by something on the way.He stops in joy,but soon he becomes conscious that he must go ahead.Time doesn’t stop or wait,and we cannot actually stop in the course of life also.

                        The journey in the poem is,in another sense,a religious or spiritual journey.According to most religions,and especially  Christianity,the religious journeyman must not be attracted by the pleasures of the journey but set his mind to the goal and go persistently on.The speaker of the poem is an Everyman who is almost tempted by wayside attractions.

                        

                         Psychologically,the poem is an allegory of our mind’s working.When the subconscious,the dreams and wishes pull us towards the socially and morally unacceptable or the fantastic,our consciousness brings us into the right track.Philosophically,the poem means that we have our convictions,commitments,promises,ambitions and responsibilities that push us ahead when we try to linger or forget our goals.As students,as professionals,and as human beings with a meaningful way of life,we all have “promises to keep”.

FOUR SHORT LOVE STORIES

1.A PAINFUL CASE-JAMES JOYCE,IRELAND(1882-1941)

SUMMARY:This story is psychological.James Joyce presents a tragic and painful event in the life of Mrs.Sinico.Mrs.Sinico is a married young woman who has a daughter and her husband works as a captain on the sea.She has been living lonely life since she got married before many years.Her husband is out of the house and lives on the sea most of the time.The daughter is also busy practicing music.Mrs.Sinico loves and plays music.She has nobody to express her love,emotion,feelings and to  share her private life.On the other hand,Mr.Duffy is a moral person who is a scholar.He is a cashier of a bank.His principle is that any type of bond is a problem.One day,he sees a charming lady in Rotunda.He likes her very much.He again sees her in a concert.When he meets her the third time,he talks to her and they agree to meet again and again.Mr.Duffy goes to her home,they sit,talk,dine together and they share different ideas.One day, when they are sitting together,Mrs.Sinico becomes emotional,catches hand of Mr.Duffy and presses his hand against her face.Mr.Duffy becomes angry and he breaks his friendship with Mrs.Sinico.The next day he gets his presents back.After four years he hears the death of Mrs.Sinico in the rail road accident.Mrs.Sinico actually wants to die because her feelings,emotions and passions are not understood and fulfilled.Her life becomes dull and she is killed when she tries to cross the railway line.In the end,Mr.Duffy regrets and he hates his moral principle.

2.THE LADY WITH A DOG-ANTON CHEKHOV

Summary:Dmitritch Gurov had been at Yalta,a sea-side town,for two weeks.So he took interest in a new-comer,Anna Sergeyevna known as a lady with a dog.

Gurov was under forty.He had a daughter and two sons.His wife seemed half as old as he.She was well-read.He was unfaithful to her.So he said that women were bad.He called them “the inferior race.”He felt uneasy in the society of men and was free in the company of women.

One evening Gurov talked to Anna while he was dining in the gardens.They talked about the weather and about each other.He was from Moscow and she from S-.Her husband might come to fetch her there.He found something heart-breaking about her.

After a week of their introduction,they went to the pier in the evening.The steamer arrived a bit late.Anna looked for someone whom she knew.When she saw none,she looked happy.Then he went to her hotel with her.

After a while she said that it was wrong and that she was very much sorry for the thing she had done.She felt like a sinner.After some time she came back to normal.Early in the morning they drove to Oreanda and sat on a bench watching the sea.It was a very pleasant scene.They came back to their hotels.After this they would meet at twelve o’clock and lunched and dined together.She complained that he did not love her in the least,and that he thought of her just as a common woman.

They were expecting her husband to come,but a letter came from him and she was in a hurry to go.Gurov went to the station with her by coach.At the station she said that they were separating forever and wished his happiness.The train moved off and suddenly he felt that everything was over.

Gurov went home in Moscow in winter.The snow began to fall and everything looked white and fresh.Little by little he became absorbed in Moscow life.Reading newspapers,going to the club,arranging parties and playing cards were part of his life there.He imagined that he would forget Anna in a month or two.But everything concerning her was very clear in his mind as if he had parted with her only the day before.He remembered how they had passed a brief period at Yalta.She came into his memory so frequently.He felt as if she was looking at him.He did not take any interest in his Moscow life.He could not tell this thing to his wife or any fellow worker.He could not sleep all night.

In the holidays in December he went to S- to look for Anna.He told his wife that he was going to Petersburg to do something for his friend.He reached S- and stayed at a hotel.

From the hotel porter he got the necessary information about Anna’s husband.Von Diderits,her husband,was a rich man and everyone in the town knew him.His house was not far from hotel.Gurov  could not go there directly,nor could he send her any letter.So he was waiting for a chance to see her.He passed the time walking along the street in front of her house.

He saw a poster.”The Geisha”was to be performed for the first time.Thinking  that  Anna would not miss the first show,he went to the theatre.As expected,Anna came into the theatre with her husband.During the first interval when her husband went out to smoke,he went to her.She was frightened and went out of the hall.He followed her and when they were alone she asked him to go immediately.She added that she had been thinking of him all the time,and that she could not forget him.But she promised that she would meet him in Moscow.

Anna,started to come to Moscow to see him once in two or three months,telling her husband that she would consult a doctor there.In Moscow she stayed at Bazaar hotel and sent for Gurov.Nobody knew anything about their meeting.

When Gurov went into her room,she could not speak.She was crying.She was sorry for the kind of life they were passing.They were forced to meet secretly.They had to hide themselves from people.She loved him so deeply that she could not think of their separation.He too felt that he was in love with someone for the first time in his life.

They loved each other like husband and wife,like tender friends.They were like a pair of birds of passage,caught and forced to live in different cages.They forgave each other for their past and present mistakes,and felt that this life of theirs had changed them both.

Then they spent a long time taking each other’s advice.They talked of how to live in the same town meeting each other frequently and openly.It seemed as if they would find the solution soon to begin a new and splendid life.It was also clear to them that they had still a long way to go.The most complicated and difficult part of their journey was just beginning.

FOUR LEVELS:

1.LITERAL COMPREHENSION:A forty year old lady-killer named Gurov met a young lady with a dog named Anna at Yalta.They passed some time happily.She went home when she got her husband’s letter.At the railway station she said that they would never see each other and wished his happiness.Gurov,after spending normal life in Moscow,felt that he could not forget Anna.Her memory haunted him all the time.During the winter holidays,he went to S- to see Anna.When they met at the theatre,she said that she could not forget him although she wanted to.She promised to come to Moscow to see him.Then she started to visit him once in every two or three months.Now they were in real love.They felt that fate itself had meant them for one another.But they were forced to live separately and meet secretly.They discussed how they could live in the same town and see each other frequently without being afraid of others.To live such a new life,they had to go a long way.The most difficult part of their journey was just beginning.

2.INTERPRETATION:This story may be trying to tell us that a person realizes the value of real unselfish love when he grows older.When people are young,many of them think that love is equivalent to passion.They feel that they should enjoy life when they are still young.But,when they realize that love is not passion,but more than that,their passionate love is transformed into eternal love.Gurov and Anna,who were pleased with their passionate love in the beginning,later were trying to make their love long lasting and free from social blames.

3.CRITICAL THINKING:The concept of love as adopted by Gurov and Anna might be acceptable to the modern Western readers.But we people in the East have different opinion of love.Although some people here may follow such practices,yet our society does not tolerate these.Are both Gurov and Anna faithful to their spouses?Is such unlawful passionate relation acceptable in our society?If such characters exist,shouldn’t we punish them?Why do they go unpunished?Is the storyteller right in doing so?

4.ASSIMILATION:Keeping aside my moral conscience for a moment,I read the story and enjoyed it a lot.I knew what is love.I identified myself with them and learned how difficult it is to pass time without the one we love.I learned that we are all born for love;it is the principle of existence and its only end.True unselfish love is the real beginning of life.

3.LOOK AT A TEACUP-PATRICIA HAMPL

Summary:Patricia Hampl is alone in her home.She is drinking tea.The tea cup is on the table.She looks at the tea cup.She closely looks at the structure,design and the decorations of the tea cup.Then she remembers her mother because the tea cup was given to her by her mother.Her mother had bought the tea cup in 1939 when the second world war began.1939 was important to her mother because it was the year when she got married.But 1939 was important to Hampl because it was the year the second world war began.The mother’s and the daughter’s interests were different.Her mother only liked to talk about family life.But Hampl liked to explore human history.Her mother was simple,ordinary housewife,but Hampl is an intellectual who always wants to question human history.Hampl is also interested in passion and she looks at things critically and thoughtfully.She wants to devote all her time in work,in studying history.She does not want to marry and bear children.Her mother lived during the world war,but she does not want to talk about the war,she only remembers her wedding that year.Hampl always wants to hear about the war,about the time her mother lived because that is all history.But her mother is too old and her memory is very poor.Moreover,she does not want to talk about the war.But her mother often likes to talk about the family.She never tells anythings completely.She starts talking and all of a sudden she changes the topic.So,it is difficult to understand what she really means.Her mother has nothing to tell about things she likes to listen to.But Hampl always requests her mother to tell her anything she could remember.She wants to collect all the details of her talks and fragmented memoirs and join them together to understand history.But her mother does not like to talk about history of the world,she is interested in her present day life.

                   Hampl does not want to forget history,she tries to fight history,confront it.She also refuges traditions like marrying and bearing children.But her mother wants to forget history and live in the present time,according to modern way of life.Hampl cannot forget history because it is full of injustices and cruelties.The second world war killed many people belonging to her gender.She is not happy with the war because many innocent lives were lost.But her mother,who lived during the war,does not care about this.She only remembers her marriage.

                    And now,sitting alone in her house and looking at the tea cup Hampl suddenly feels as if her mother gave her the tea cup in answer to her questions about history.She looked at the tea cup very closely and discovered that it had many things to tell about history,particularly the second world war.She compares the objects or structures in the cup with things and events of the time around the second world war.How does she do this?

                The tea cup is a piece of history.She says,”The cup is a detail,a small unchanted finger from the mid-century bon-fire.”She means to say that the tea cup is an object of history which originated during the second world war.She compares the tea cup with the face of her mother.The cup is light,delicate but also definite.It is as refined as a face.It is then,palest watergreen imaginable and in certain lights,it is just something not white.The cup is shiny and there are thin band of gold around the edges of cup and saucer.A band of gold in the inner circle is worn away and it looks dulled and blurred.The outside of the cup has no other decoration.But the inside of the cup has very meaningful features.There are flowers falling in separate bloosoms,some fallen faster and each flower is different.The flowers do not seem to be pasted on the surface,they really appear to be caught in motion.The flowers do not create any pattern like her mother’s memoirs do not make any complete story.Each flower has different colour.But the flowers are so dim that none of them look real.They are like replica of memory itself.For Hampl history is also as dim and blurred as the decoration in the inner part of the cup.The cup,history and her mother’s memory are similar in many ways.The cup’s features are not clear.History is not clear to her.Her mother’s memoirs are not clear to her.The cup is dim.History is also dim.Her mother’s memory is dim.But Hampl tries to find meanings even in the dim and pale cup,like she tries to collect details of history by listening to her mother or by requesting her to tell about her past.By examining the cup closely she discovers that the cup has something to tell her about history.The falling flowers catch her attention.She associates the falling flowers with many things that fell during the time of second world war.In 1939 many things fell like the flowers in the cup.Brides,who married that year,fell on bed(slept) with men(husbands) for the first time.Bodies fell(died) in war.Bombs fell on people.Countries fell(defeated) in war.In this way falling flowers in the teacup help Hampl to connote other important ‘fallings’ in history together.In this way even an small object takes her to the past.She cannot stop thinking about the past.Everywhere,even in the most insignificant things she faces history.

4.THE DEMON LOVER-ELIZABETH BOWEN

                    The Demon Lover and Other stories by Elizabeth Bowen was first published in Britain in 1945.In 1946,collection was published in the United States under the title Ivy Gripped The Steps and Other Stories.Without exception,reviewers greeted it enthusiastically,praising it for what was described in the New Yorker as “a completely successful explanation of what war did to the mind and spirit of English people.”Today,”The Demon Lover” is probably the most anthologized of Bowen’s short stories,and critics claim that it reflects some of Bowen’s greatest strengths as a writer.

                   Bowen was inspired to write “The Demon lover”during World War II,after having experienced the Blitz,or aerial bombardment,of London by the Germans during 1940-41.Remembering the effects of World War I,people in London were overwhelmed by the events of World War II.Bowen’s story,then,attempted to sum up the “war on top of war” sentiment which prevailed in post-Blitz London.

                 In “The Demon Lover” the main character, Mrs.Drover, confuses World War II with world war I.Returning home to collect some personal belongings during the aftermath of a recent bombing,she thinks of her long-dead fiancé to the point where the reader does not know if this is a ghost story or simply a story of one character’s neurotic mental state.

PLOT:

Mrs.Kathleen Drover has returned to London from her house in the country in order to pick up some things from the house that she and her husband abandoned because of the bombing of London by the Germans during 1940-41.It is a humid day in late August when she goes back to her mostly deserted street.

When she enters the house,she sees all of the telltale stains and dust left when she and her family moved out.The house has some cracks in it because of the bombing,and she wants to check on it.As she is passing her hall table,she notices a letter addressed to her-a strange sight,considering that the caretaker did not know of her return and that her house is boarded up and all of her mail has been forwarded to the country address.But she picks up the letter and takes it upstairs to her bedroom to read it,just moments before rain begins to fall.

The letter’s author promises her that nothing has changed except for the time that has passed.He tells her that it is their anniversary and mentions a time for their meeting,of which she has no memory.Strangest of all,the letter is signed “K”,her own initial.When she checks the date on the letter and finds that it is for that day,she suddenly feels strangely apprehensive.She looks at herself in the mirror,noting how thin she has become from food rationing,and we are told that,despite a facial twitch and worried mood,she always looks calm.

As the clock strikes six,she thinks back to twenty-five years earlier,in 1916,when her young soldier-lover said goodbye for the last time.She remembers his promise to be with her and the way he cruelly pressed her hand against his uniform breast buttons.She remembers the relief she felt when she could run in and tell her mother and sister that he was gone,the isolation she felt because of his promise,and following his supposed death in World War I,the long years before anyone was again interested in her.She has the sense of being watched,a feeling that is reinforced when the letter-writer suggests that he saw her leaving London.

Mrs.Drover is becoming increasingly nervous.The house sounds hollow,and she wonders how the letter got in.The more she thinks about it,the more fearful she becomes.As she gets up and locks her bedroom door,she thinks about how she needs to get away from the house and this impending meeting.She decides to collect the things that she wants to take with her and to call a taxi,forgetting that the phone service has been disconnected.

She thinks about her soldier-lover again,remembering everything but his appearance,and realizes that she will not recognize him.She then unlocks her door and listens at the top of the stairs.She feels a draft,as if someone has left the basement through a door or window.

The rain has finally stopped.She decides to carefully leave her house and rush to the local taxi stand.She hurries because she does not want to hear the clock strike seven,in case that is the hour for the mysterious meeting.The story ends when she arrives at the taxi stand and she notices that the taxi seems to be waiting for her.After entering the taxi,Mrs.Drover knocks on the glass behind the driver to get his attention.When their eyes meet,she screams and the driver speeds off,”accelerating without mercy.”This conclusion has been the focus of much speculation-some critics argue that the driver of the taxi is Mrs.Drover’s long-lost lover,while others claim that the episode of anxiety she experiences is due to the stress of the war.

TWO LOVE POEMS

1.TO HIS COY MISTRESS-ANDREW MARVELL,ENGLAND(1621-1678)

SUMMARY:

               In this dramatic poem,the English poet Andrew Marvell presents the speaker’s physical love and sexual desire(lust) for his beloved.The speaker tries his best to convince his mistress to involve into sexual relationship.However,the beloved feels very shy and makes no response.

             The speaker says that if he had enough time and limitless space he would praise the beauty and sweetness of his beloved for ages.He would adore(praise) her eyes and forehead for a hundred years and her each breast for two hundred years.He would  admire the rest of the organs for thirty thousands years.She would wander by the side of Ganges of India collecting rubies and he would complain by the tides of Humber of England.He would love her ten years before the flood and she would refuse till the conversion of the Jews.

                 But the speaker says that time is limited and life is short.He always hears time’s winged chariot coming near.He tells his love that her beauty will not be fresh forever.When she enters into grave,her beauty,virginity,pride,honour etc. will turn into dust.He says that his desires,lust will be also ashes.According to him,she will not hear the echoes of his song in the grave and there,no one will go to embrace her.

                  Finally,the speaker persuades his beloved to make love while they are at the prime of youth,desires and energy.Thus,according to him,they should surpass time as the bird of prey attacks its victim.They should mix their strength and sweetness and they should enjoy present moment fully.The speaker says that life is brief and death is inevitable.Time is chewing everybody slowly.So,he tries to woo his mistress to surpass time and death by making love or by involving into love game at the present.

2. PIANO-DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE,ENGLAND(1885-1930)      

                This is a nostalgic poem.It is composed by a famous English Poet,D.H.Lawrence.This poem is about the poet’s pain of remembrance and pain of growing up.It conveys a tension between the speaker’s desire to be a man and his desire to return to his childhood.

              

               Softly is the evening,a woman is playing piano and singing to the poet.But this song and music of piano takes the poet to the bygone days.The poet  forgets his present maturity and finds himself as a small child sitting under piano on the lap of his mother who smiles and sings.

                                           

               Though the poet tries to control himself,the music of piano betrays him back.His heart weeps when he remembers those Sunday evenings when as a child he used to sit on the lap of his mother in a cosy parlour listening to her hymns.

                                            

                So,now it is useless for the woman to play piano passionately to woo the poet.The present manhood of the poet is cast down in the flood of remembrance.He is lost in the childhood days and weeps like a child for the past.       

ANTON CHEKHOV’S DRAMA:SWAN SONG

SUMMARY:   

                   A swan-song is the last thing produced or performed by an artist for the public.This one-act play of Chekhov is a swan-song for the central character,Svetlovidov.”A swan-song” is a powerful character study of a stage actor, Svetlovidov who has been in the theatre more than forty years.This play represents Svetlovidov last performance on the stage.He has already climbed many peaks of success and achievements in his long acting career.However,his present condition is pitiable.He is ummarried,lonely,old,neglected and frustrated.He has spent forty-five years in the stage acting career with great skills and masterful performance just to meet his old lonely and unhealthy life of failure.He says,”I am helpless.”These remarks best represent the despair(sadness) and failure of Svetlovidov in his old age.

A wonderful,charming and rich woman falls in love with Svetlovidov when he is at the peak of his success.Svetlovidov also loves her and he wants to marry the beautiful young woman to settle happy married life.However,the charming lady asks Svetlovidov to quit his acting career if he wants to marry her.She says,”Leave the stage.”She could love an actor but not be an actor’s wife.She loves Svetlovidov  for his acting but refuses to marry him.This is because acting is regarded to be the profession of low social prestige.The response and attitude of the wonderful woman represents the attitude of upper and middle class society.In a quite desperate(sad) tone ,Svetlovidov says,”I saw then that there was no such thing as holy art,that it was all wild talk and falsity that I was a slave,a plaything….I am an alien(stranger) to them,to them I am so much dirt,almost a prostitute,to please their vanity they will seek my acquaintance,but not one of them would design to marry his sister or daughter to me.I don’t believe in them.”This shows that the artists or stage actors are taken nothing more than the entertainers.They are given no social respect and prestige at all.The actors are praised highly for their skillful performance but they are considered less respectable to be considered for the marital and other intimate relationships.

In this one-act play,Anton Chekhov presents his keen observation of the human vanities and weaknesses.He creates the enduring pictures of the absurdities of life and speech in the masterful portrayal of Svetlovidov.The empty stage represents a great absurdity.Svetlovidov’s appearance on the stage with empty theatre represents the final performance of his acting career.He says that society looks upon him as “plaything for other people’s pastime.”He realizes the absurdity of the world and consoles himself by talking about the universal strength and death-defying power of art and acting.He overcomes his grief which shows that art finally triumphs over personal tragedy.In the end of the play,Nikita cries bitterly at the empty and heart-felt claim of Svetlovidov for act.Nikita cries because Nikita understands the absurdity both in the speech and life of svetlovidov.

FOUR LEVELS:

1.Literal comprehension:Svetlovidov,an old stage actor drunkenly enters the stage of a darkened and deserted theatre.For the first time in his life,he has drunk heavily and fallen asleep in the dressing room of the theatre.He has drunk to forget the emptiness,meaninglessness and bitter experience of his life.The audience and the other artists have already gone home.Svetlovidov comes upstage and begins to lament over his past and the present neglected,lonely and miserable condition.Nikita,a promptor comes to the stage and shows deep sympathy and respect to Svetlovidov.Such a great artist has no home,family,relatives and nobody to care him.He has already given his more than 45 years to the stage performing masterful and skillful role-play.He has devoted himself since long ago for the entertainment of the public and for the upliftment of art and theatre.But now he has met emptiness,hatred,frustration and meaninglessness.He says,”I am helpless.”This remark best represents the despair and failure of Svetlovidov in his old age.Svetlovidov is now in the Swan-song stage of his life and art.He recalls a lost love,sorrowfully reflects upon his unremarkable career and doubts his talent and the choices he made.He remembers his past triumphs,his service in the army and what a dashing young fellow once he was!He now feels lonely,unloved and unappreciated.He recalls a marriage proposal he made once to a beautiful woman,and her response that she would only marry him if he gave up acting.He laments the direction his life has taken and his declining health and talent.Finally,Svetlovidov admits that he is too old,tired,lonely,unhealthy and insignificant.He is like a melting icicles whose ‘song is sung’.The play ends with such a great hero’s acceptance of his old age,decline and meaninglessness.

2.Interpretation:A swan song is the last thing produced or performed by an artist for the public.This one-act play of Chekhov is a swan-song for the central character,Svetlovidov.”a Swan-song” is a powerful character study of a stage actor,Svetlovidov who has been in the theatre more than forty years.This play represents Svetlovidov’s last performance on the stage.He has already climbed many peaks of success and achievements in his long acting career.However,his present condition is pitiable.He is unmarried,lonely,old,neglected and frustrated.He has spent forty-five years in the stage acting career with great skills and masterful performance just to meet his old lonely and unhealthy life of failure.He says,”I am helpless.”These remarks best represent the despair and failure of Svetlovidov in his old age.

                                        

                  In this one-act play,Anton Chekhov presents his keen observation of the human vanities and weaknesses.He creates the enduring pictures of the absurdities of life and speech in the masterful portrayal of Svetlovidov.The empty stage represents a great absurdity.Svetlovidov’s appearance on the stage with empty theatre represents the final performance of his acting career.He says that society looks upon him as “plaything for other people’s past time.”He realizes the absurdity of the world and consoles himself by talking about the universal strength and death-defying power of art and acting.He overcomes his grief which shows that art finally triumphs over personal tragedy.In the end of the play,Nikita cries bitterly at the empty and heart-felt claim of Svetlovidov for art.Nikita cries because she understands the absurdity both in the speech and life of Svetlovidov.

3.Critical Thinking:This one-act play presents a powerful character study of a stage actor,Svetlovidov.Here,Chekhov realistically presents his keen observation of human vanities and weaknesses.He creates the enduring pictures of the absurdities of life and speech in the masterful portrayal of Svetlovidov.However,some ideas of this play are a bit less convincing.How is it possible that such a great and famous actor has no home,family and nobody to care him in his old age?If personal tragedy doesn’t affect art and artists,why does Svetlovidov lament over personal tragedy?

4.Assimilation:I am very much affected from this one-act play.Before reading it,I thought that the artists,stage actors are great,famous,happy and honorable people.But now,I have realized how such ornaments of society are looked down upon by the society and government.While reading this play,I burst into tears by seeing the pitiable condition of such a great artist.

First English detective novel:THE MOONSTONE

Introduction:Life of Wilkie Collins

               William Wilkie Collins was born in 1824,the son of William Collins,a painter and member of the Royal Academy.He was named after his father and his godfather,Sir David Wilkie,a distinguished Scottish painter.Collins’s upbringing was comfortably middle-class,but his education somewhat unconventional:his parents believed travel to be as important as schooling,and took him away from school in 1836 to tour the Continent for almost two years.Wilkie found the experience enjoyable but unsettling,and when he finally left school at the age of seventeen,he had little inclination toward a career.For a time he dabbled in commerce,and in 1846 began to study law.His main interest,however,was writing:his first book,a biography of his father,was published in 1848,and his first novel,Antonina,in 1850.

          

                 In the following year he met Charles Dickens(1812-70):it was to be the start of a long and fruitful friendship,extending to 1870,the year of dicken’s death.The year they met,Dickens was editor of Household Words,a magazine which,typically for the mid-nineteenth century,published novels in serial installments.It was through Collins’s association with Dickens that the publication of several of his novels,including The Moonstone,was arranged.In 1856 Collins joined the staff of Household Words,and in the same year travelled with Dickens to Paris.There,in a little bookstall,he discovered an account of certain famous French crimes,Recucil des causes celebres,on which he drew for the plots of some of his novels.Of these,the most famous is The Woman in White(1860),which was published serially in All the Year Round,the magazine Dickens founded after a quarrel with his publishers brought Household Words to an end.

                   

                   It was roughly at this time-in about 1859-that Collins formed a relationship with caroline Graves,a woman of whom little is now known.She and Collins lived together for some years,but never married.In 1868,she left him to marry a man named Joseph Clow,but returned to Collins in the early seventies and remained his mistress until his death in 1889.While estranged from Caroline,Collins entered into a liaison with another young woman,Martha Rudd,who bore him three illegitimate children.Little is known of her ,either,for Collins took pains to conceal his two irregular relationship from all but his most intimate friends.

                       

                      In 1862 Collins developed a condition known in the nineteenth century as rheumatic gout,which caused him great pain in his legs,feet and eyes.To alleviate the pain began to take opium,usually in the form of laudanum.As time passed,his dependence on the drug increased;it was particularly great as episodes of The Moonstone began to appear in All the Year round in 1868,for only two weeks after the first installment,with the discovery that his mother was dying,Collin’s illness became especially acute.He was so unwell for some months that he was unable to write and had to dictate portions of his novel to a secretary.At first he engaged a young man to take dictation,but he and a number of others hired subsequently found Collins’s cries of pain so distressing that they were obliged to leave.Finally he found a young woman able to disregard his suffering,who successfully recorded a number of The Moonstone’s  installment.In order to sleep at night,Collins took larger and larger doses of laudanum,and completed the last part of the novel largely under its influence.’When it was finished,’he told a friend  ,’I was not only pleased and astonished at the finale,but did not recognize it as my own.’Franklin Blake,a semi-autobiographical character in the novel,similarly acts under the influence of opium without remembering what he did.The horrors of addiction,as described by another character,Ezra Jennings,were no doubt known to Collins at first hand.

                       By 1870,the year of Dickens’s death,Collins’s dependence on opium was complete.By 1875,he was drinking a wine glass of laudanum every evening before retiring,an amount that would have been lethal to anyone who had not built up resistance to its effects.The Woman in White(1860) was written prior to his addiction and The Moonstone(1868) in its early stages.These are his greatest novels;the ones written afterwards show a marked decline in quality directly ascribable to opium.Collins died in 1889;though he is mentioned in various memoirs.His life has been most fully recorded by Kenneth Robinson In Wilkie Collins:biography(1951),and by Nuel Pharr Davis in The Life of Wilkie Collins(1956).

SUMMARIES OF THE NOVEL THE MOONSTONE

                       The novel opens in India in 1799 with an account of the Moonstone,a sacred Hindu diamond guarded by three Brahmin priests.During the British attack on Seringapatam,Colonel Herncastle murders the guardians and steals the diamond.

                      In his will Herncastle leaves the diamond to his niece,Rachel Verinder,with instructions that it is to be presented to her next birthday.Shortly after the Colonel’s death in 1848,Rachel’s cousin, Franklin blake,is given the task of delivering the diamod to her at the Verinders’ house in Yorkshire.Blake gives her the Moonstone as instructed,but is concerned that three Indians who have earlier visited the house will attempt to steal it.At the dinner held on the evening of Rachel’s birthday,there is a dispute between Blake and the local doctor,Mr.Candy,over the practice of medicine and Blake’s refusal to take drugs to help him sleep.Afterwards,the Indians appear and perform a juggling act for the guests;Mr.Murthwaite,a traveler who knows India well,tells blake that jugglers are Brahmins in disguise.The following morning the Moonstone is missing.

   

                     The local police are asked to investigate,but are so incompetent that Blake arranges for a London detective,Sergeant Cuff,to take over the case.Cuff establishes that the thief must have a mark of paint on the garment he or she was wearing when the crime was committed.Although he fails to discover the garment,Cuff concludes that Rachel has hidden the Moonstone and intends to sell it with the help of Rosanna Spearman,a servant formerly imprisoned for theft.But Rosanna kills herself for unrequited love of Blake,and Rachel denies having the diamond;Cuff is dismissed with the case still unsolved,having refused blake’s offer of marriage,Rachel goes to London;blake goes abroad.

       

                 Shortly afterwards,another of rachel’s cousins,Godfrey Ablewhite,is attacked and searched by three Indians.A money-lender named Luker is also attacked and a receipt stolen from him stating that Luker has deposited a valuable gem at his bank.Though it appears that the gem is the Moonstone and Godfrey the thief,Rachel declares that she knows Godfrey to be innocent.Later she agrees to marry him,but breaks the engagement after learning that he is chiefly interested in her money.

           

                   In the spring of 1849 Blake returns to England from the continent.Rachel refuses to see him,and he resolves to find out who stole the moonstone.He returns to Yorkshire to find a letter written by Rosanna before her death,directing him to a secret hiding-place.Here he discovers his own nightgown with a mark of paint on it,and another letter from Rosanna explaining that for love of him she has hidden the evidence of his guilt.Blake cannot believe that he stole the Moonstone.He confronts Rachel and learns that she saw him take it.Hoping to find an explanation for his unremembered actions,he decides to interview each of the birthday guests in turn.Mr.Candy,the doctor,has been ill and has lost his memory,but his assistant,Ezra Jennings,provides Blake with some valuable help.Jennings has kept a record of Mr.Candy’s delirium which reveals that the doctor secretly drugged Blake on the evening of the birthday dinner to prove to him that drugs would indeed help him to sleep.Now convinced that he took the Moonstone in an opium-induced trance,Blake still has no proof of his moral innocence.Jennings suggests an experiment:the conditions preceding the dinner will be duplicated,and Blake drugged again;witness will then observe his behaviour.

                    

                   The experiment is carried out,watched by Jennings,Rachel and a Lawyer,Mr.Bruff.Blake takes the mock diamond used in the experiment,but drops it on the floor and falls asleep shortly afterwards.He is seen to be innocent and is reconciled with Rachel,but the Moonstone is still missing;the only hope of finding it now lies in watching Luker.On returning to London,blake finds that Luker has gone to his bank,possibly to withdraw the Moonstone from the vault.Acting quickly,Blake and Mr.Bruff arrange for him to be followed when he emerges;in the event,Luker seems to pass something to several people,including a dark-skinned sailor who is seen to take lodgings in Lower Thames Street.The sailor is evidently intending to leave for Rotterdam on the following day.Blake and Sergeant Cuff(who has rejoined the case)hurry to the lodging-house,but find on arrival that the Moonstone is gone,and that the sailor has been murdered.The sailor turns out to be Godfrey Ablewhite in disguise.

                          

                    It is later discovered that Godfrey,in urgent need of a large sum of money,saw Blake pick up the Moonstone in Rachel’s room,and took it away from him.The Indians escape;Mr.Murthwaite later reports from India that he has seen the Moonstone restored to its sacred shrine.

RUDYARD KIPLING’S KIM:A NOVEL

              Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay on 30^th December,1865 and educated in Devonshire ,England.Kipling and his sister trixie were only two children of their Irish parents.Their father John Lockwood was professor of Architectural Sculpture at the school of Art in Bombay.Mother was Alice Macdonald Kipling.In their early childhood,they had been sent with the Hollow-way couple.They had bitter experiences of childhood in these people’s company.However,endurance of the fortune given by these strangers had enshaped kipling’s life well-disciplined,timid and hard.

            

               Kipling’s parents were Methodists and so there was much biblical influence on the children.As Kipling and his sister had earlier living of childhood in India,they had fluent Hindi language.

                The finest of his works,successful full-length novel is Kim that gave him much reputation in India as well as abroad was published in 1901.It proved to be a perfect masterpiece with theme set in Indian cultural,social,political and economical life.This was the book for which he had labored for several years,and as this longing was fulfilled,he came immediately along forefront literacy figures.Secular and religious ideology,real plausible characters,humane dealing and love,tripartite structure,real beautiful landscapes of mountains and crowded plains,dramatized narration,symbols,imagery and religious allusions all are profound basical features of this literary masterpiece of Rudyard Kipling.

Theme of the novel ‘KIM’

               In the background of the novel,imperialism can be seen as theme .The novel is ‘a master work of imperialism…….a rich and absolutely fascinating,but nevertheless profoundly embarrassing novel.’Kipling himself was an Imperialist,and Kim embodies attitudes towards British rule in India which these days are wholly unacceptable and unpalatable.Kipling believed it was right and proper for Britain to own India and rule its people,and the possibility that this position might be questionable never seems to have crossed his mind.At the time Kipling was writing there was a considerable ferment of revolt among Indians against British rule,and yet at points in Kim when he could have acknowledged this Kipling dismisses it.This is particularly apparent when he has an old soldier comment on the Great Mutiny of 1857,dismissing it as madness-‘A madness ate into all the army, and they turned against their officers.’ In this and  many other ways,Kipling’s imperialist attitudes dominate the novel.

                          

                 On the surface of the novel,we can see other themes as well-religious as well as secular.From secular point of view,Kipling’s Kim recounts the story of young person’s growth to maturity.Through a series of adventures in India,the young Irish orphan Kim develops an understanding of himself and his world.The book also depicts the full religious development of an old man,a Buddhist lama.The close relationship between Kim and the Lama shows how a young person’s growth can be influenced by the wisdom of an older person.Meanwhile,Kim is also an adventure story with an exciting plot involving spies and war,mystery and intrigue.

                       

                 For religious point of view,the ideal of equality and unity of men echoes across several motifs in ‘Kim’,the novel,most notably through the Buddhist teaching of Teshoo Lama.He tells Kim,”To those who follow the way there is neither black nor white,Hind not Bhotiyal.We be all souls seeking to escape.”This ideal of equality and unity of men transcends the stringest caste,on class,distinctions of the predominantly Hindu society that Kim has known.The Lama carries with him a diagram called ‘the wheel of life’,which is a symbolic representation of the Buddhist doctrine that all lives are equally bound in the cycle of life and that all souls seek release from this cycle by attaining Enlightenment.The numerous references to the wheel of life throughout the novel serve to reinforce the message of equality and unity.

                            

                  One more thematic idea can be attached here-self-identity and self-renunciation.After meeting of the two –Kim and the Lama at Lahore,the plot develops two strands which run in parallel,and to a large extent overlap.One strand concerns Kim’s discipleship to the lama in search of self-identity,and other concerns with the Lama ,who is an abbot in his own country,and now,in old age,on a Buddhist quest,following ‘The Way’ to free himself from the ‘Wheel of things’,and merge his soul with the great soul(of Lord Buddha).He is looking for the ‘River of the Arrow’,a river which legend has it,sprang from an arrow shot by Buddha.Anyone who bathes in this river shall be cleansed of ‘all taint and speckle of sin’.In short,the Lama is in search of self-renunciation.  

  Story of the novel KIM

             

                   Kim(Kimball O’Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier(Sahib).He earns his living by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore.He occasionally works for his friend,Mahubub Ali,a horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service.

                   

                     One day,he befriends a Tibetan Lama who is on a quest to free himself from the wheel of life.Kim becomes his chela,or deciple,and accompanies him on his journey.On the way,Kim accidentally learns about parts of the great game and is recruited by the British to carry a message to the British commander in Umballa.Kim’s trip with the Lama along the Grand Trunk Road is the first great adventure in the novel.by chance,Kim’s father regimental chaplain identifies him by his Masonic certificate,which he wears around his neck and Kim is sent to a top English school in Lucknow,but he keeps in touch with both the Lama and his secret service connections.He is trained in espionage(the game of looking at a tray full of mixed objects and nothing which have been added or taken away is still used for training spies and is still called “Kim’s Game”)

                      

                      After three years of schooling,Kim is given a government appointment so that he can begin his role in the Great Game.Before this appointment begins,however,he is granted time to take a much-deserved break.Kim rejoins the Lama and,at the behest of Kim’s superior the Babu,they make a trip to the Himalayas.Here the espionage and spiritual threads of the story collide,with the Lama unwittingly falling into conflict with Russian intelligence agents.Kim obtains maps,papers,and other important items from the Russians-who were working to undermine British control of the region.Babu befriends the Russians under cover,acting as a guide and thus ensuring that they do not recover the lost items.Kim,porters and villagers all come to the aid of the lama.

                           

                         The Lama realizes that he has gone astray.His search for the River of the Arrow should be taking place in the plains,not on the mountains,and he orders the porters to take them back.Here Kim and the Lama are nursed to health,Kim delivers the Russian intel documents to Babu,a concerned Mahbub Ali comes to check on Kim,and the Lama finds his river and achieves Enlightenment.The reader is left to decide whether Kim will henceforth follow the materialistic road of the Great Game,or the spiritual way of Tibetan Buddhism,or a combination thereof.Kim himself has to say:”I am not a Sahib.I am thy chela.”                          

Training of Kim for secret service  

                        Kim was often guided by Mahbub Ali for secret services.Kim was usually sent on mission to follow some people and collect informations about them.By chance Kim was acquainted with the regiment which sent him to St.Xavier’s school,Lucknow,for training of survey.In holidays,he liked to play game on the road.In his first holiday,he fleed from the school and disguised himself as a beggar.In his disguise,he travelled upto Delhi.He met Mahbub at Umballa in disguise of a beggar sitting at the footpath.Mahbub,then,sent him to Simla to live with Lurgan Sahib.Lurgan Sahib was also member of the Indian survey department.He learnt there all kinds of tricks,medicine’s uses,magics and religious books.He left the place and surveyed as a member of the survey helping other member in the train’s compartment.He had gone to Simla two times for the training.Then,Mahbub took him to Bikaner,to prepare a survey report of the desertland.He was introduced with Hurree Babu at Simla who took him under his service to play the Great Game.The boy who was playing minor games on the road came to play the Great Game.He was successful in his Game.He was admired everywhere.

Lama’s quest

                      The Lama was looking for annihilation of the self.For this same purpose he had visited India.Orphan boy Kim was in search of identity of the self.Kim’s search was completed after finding his father’s regiment at Umballa.The Lama’s quest was still not completed.Kim was going to play the Great Game.Kim and the Lama went to the Kulu woman’s house again.Hurree Babu was already there in disguise of a doctor.As the Lama was feeling unwell,the Bengali Babu advised him to go up the hills and mountains.He would get fresh air for his good health.Besides,the Lama had not found the Holy River yet.He believed that his quest would be fulfilled in the mountains.They climbed the mountains of Mossoorie.The Bengali Babu was in lead carrying an umbrella.This umbrella was a signal for Kim.The Bengali Babu made friendship with the Russian and the Frenchman who were supposed to have the secret letters of the king.These people were climbing down.There were many coolies with them.They were carrying the foreigners’ kiltas.On the way they encountered with kim and the Lama.The Lama had spread his paper on the ground.The lama began to explain the Foreigners about the Wheel of Life.

                      

                            The Russian desired to buy the paper.The Lama was not ready to sell it.The Russian seized the chart forcefully.There was a shot of revolver from the Frenchman.The scene was different.The Russian stroke the Lama on his face.The Lama fell by a stream.Kim also fired a shot.The foreigners ran for life.The coolies were frightened.They carried away the kiltas.Playing a trick of making a spell for their relief from a curse of the Lama,Kim got the red kilta.He took out  the letters.They came back to Kulu woman’s house.

                         

                              The Lama realized that all this happened because of his own fault.The temptation towards his selfish desires had gone all this disaster.He stayed starving for two days and two nights.He sat in meditation.He inquires into “the cause of things”.Upon the second night he felt that his soul went free.It drew near to the Great soul.He saw all places and all kinds of things in contemplation.He knew that the soul had passed beyond the illusion of time and space and of things.After a long time,his soul returned.A voice came and asked him to look  at the world.He looked upon the world,and found that the River of Arrow was at his feet.He was able to free himself from the Wheel of things through the meditation.He received the River by spiritual perception. 

Kim as a colonial novel

                     Kipling with his sister had earlier living of childhood in India.So they had fluent Hindi Language.English language and the Biblical instincts were parental gifts to them.Bombay was Kipling’s birthplace.By travelling and writing reports for the magazine,he experienced wide range of social,cultural and political Indian life.He had abundant knowledge and material for themes of his different books.He has written with remarkable experience of adventure and open-air life.His stories deal with India,the army,the navy,the jungle and its beasts.

                     

                                The total setting of the novel is of his beloved country India,among his own people and in great and beautiful land.This novel treats the biggest reality in India which is composite of different kinds of people and religions with fine setting of cold mountains and hot plains.Kipling deals with a vivid picture of the Indian culture and life as well as landscape.Gentle innocent country folks,vague and urchin town people and friendly fakirs,saddhus and jealous priests are Indian characters.In fresh holy air of Banaras,and splendid sights and horizon of Kedarnath and Badrinath one would gain much delight.In such lands there was fear of interruption of the Russian empiricism.Surveymen,or detective agents,of British empire worked hard,even with risk of their lives,to stop this interruption.The Great Game played by Kim and assisted by the surveymen is to stop the interruption.Besides,white police riding and travelling along the Grand Trunk Road,others helping the surveymen in their works are also effective to signify the domination of British empire.This novel was written in 1901 when India was still a colony.It is reason of true portrait of India in the novel.

Political Drama: The Apple Cart

                                 George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on 26^th july,1856.He was an Irishman,son of George Carr Shaw.His father was the youngest son in the family of thirteen children.His father was a minor officer in the Dublin law court.Mother was an Irish landowner.His father was drunkard and couldn’t earn enough money for the family.Carr Shaw had three children:one son and two daughters.Bernard Shaw  learnt music from mother who was a good singer and musician.He himself became a clerk and cashier in a land agent’s office.

At the age of 73,Bernard Shaw wrote The Apple Cart,and its first performance was at the Polish theatre,Warsaw in june,1929.Being a bag of stage tricks,shaw has subtitled it ‘A Political Extravaganza’.There is hardly any plot in it.Shaw has made up the deficiency of the story by introducing two interesting and exciting incidents the interlude and interruption of true American Ambassador in the scene.Both these incidents are wholly irrelevant in the play.

Plot of the drama

                                     Shaw’s play ‘The Apple Cart’(1929) not only combines the realm of political satire and futuristic visions but is still amazingly topical and accurate in its predictions(shaw has placed the drama in a removed time-forty years in the future).The plot primarily exists as a framework for Shaw’s satire.In the first half we meet two of the king’s secretaries who introduce the general setup of the play.Then follows a long interview between the king of England,Magnus and the Labour leader,Mr.Boanerges.The first half culminates(develops)in a stormy meeting of the king,prime minister and cabinet during which the prime minister gives the king the ultimatum to remain as king with no power whatsoever,without even a veto,or else the cabinet will resign in mass.At the centre of the play is an extended interview between the king and his ambitious mistress Orinthia,a model of everything a ruler should not be,no matter how alluring(attracting).After this,the play parallels the first half with the introduction of Jemina,the king’s United States wishes to rejoin the Commonwealth.This part is certainly an amazingly imaginary interesting prediction.The second half culminates in another stormy cabinet meeting during which the king answers the ultimatum with one of his own,declaring his own abdication from kingship and forming a political party and taking participation in the election so that he can win and form a cabinet under his primeministership.The king’s ultimatum is so forceful in nature that the cabinet,particularly Proteus,the Prime minister withdraws the ultimatum.Thus,the play ends without any particular result,except the resolution of the political crisis between the king and the cabinet.

Significance of the title ‘The Apple Cart’

                                     George  Bernard Shaw has taken the title ‘The Apple Cart’ to signify the condition of the government under a certain leader,or rather a strong man.’The Apple Cart’ consists of a driver and lots of apples being carried on the cart.The cabinet of ministers functions the same role of the Apple Cart.In the play,there is a tussle between the king and the prime minister(Proteus) as well as other ministers.It is to decide who will drive the ApplenCart(government)-king Magnus or the prime minister Proteus.Both of them are stronger in their position. King Magnus is rather wise and clever than PM Proteus.It is true that if two men are on the same horse riding,only one is allowed to sit on the front.But the question arise who will sit on the front?In case of resignation from any one of them,it may upset the cart.The title itself is remarkable for political significance.Proteus plans the ‘Ace of trumps’,i.e. the threat of abdication.In fact,both of them know that they have to keep on driving the cart anyway.Shaw,in his preface,has said for the background of the play.One of his friends,who was an engineer,proposed to transport all the breakages in cheap price if the government assented.The government,instead of giving the tender of the work to him,passed the tender of other person at expensive price.This company was The Breakages Limited.Therefore,Shaw suggests here by the Apple Cart that in a democratic system the government is simply a cart which is used by the prime minister in benefits of own interests.There is no interest of running the cart wisely and with honour of the nation.The cart is full of demagogues(politicians) who humbug the public and all the time they try to upset the cart.   

             Characterization: 

1.King Magnus:The king Magnus is a wise man.His wisdom is perceived throughout the play.There has been crisis after crises,but he has been able to tackle all of them actually.The king is well known for his tactics.The new minister Mr.Boanerges has heard about him,but yet he is highly persuaded by the cordial approach.The king is the most prominent character in the play.He is most dominant and magnificent character.He has been described to be the tallish studious looking gentleman of 45 or thereabouts.His etiquette manner is very skeptical.Boanerges says that the ceremony cuts no ice with him.Yet he is deceived.The king has the upper hand.The king has good experience of politics.He has strong insight and better foresight.For him,a king or any official is only an India rubber stamp,but not wholly ,because he or she is a living soul too.So this theory breaks down in every real emergency.He knows that everybody flatters the king,and often he is made a scapegoat and puppet.Though a king has less power than a republican,his position is secure.He is quite clever to impress the new minister by introducing him with the princess.That’s the popular tactics known to the ministers,too.They laugh when they hear about the introduction .Proteus says that the king is as artful as the very devil.He is a superior player in the cards game(i.e. politics).Magnus has been exercising the constitutional right of royal veto too.But it becomes a crisis from the cabinet side.He believes that the royal veto is essential for check of any danger,but that is opposed by the ministers.Magnus shows the corruption that often happens in offices,but others ignore.They wish to make the king totally dumb and disabled by the means of ultimatum.The king,very skillfully and diplomatically,diverts the case to the parliamentary decision whether they will approve of cabinet government or monarchical government.He persuades the ministers that certainly he will lose the favor.He speaks splendidly to convince them advantages and disadvantages of different political systems as well as human attitudes.He plays with the affairs of Orinthia just like a young lover,but never lets her have upper hand.He proves his strong devotion to his married queen though she may be a cabbage,not rose,in opinion of Orinthia.He loves his nation with true soul that we can see when he refuses to shift the throne to Dublin.He has victory over the crisis,not by greater astuteness,but because he has the ace of trumps in his hand and knows when to play it.The king stands for royal dignity,respectability and tactics.

2.The Prime minister proteus:Proteus is a fool and very aggressive personality in the play.He has been subdued by the corruptive attitudes of the ministers.As all the ministers are indulged in unacceptable and disgustive manners of tempers,bullyings,sneerings,swearing,kickings and vulgar other activities,the prime minister is seen as useless horse-tamer.No any horses are in his command.He is over ambitious for power.That’s why Proteus and Boanerges argue sometimes for power.He is conscious of the king’s tactics,and tries to overcome him.He often threatens for resignation,and tries to hold the situation in his favour.Crisis, ultimatum and bitter and sometimes unreasonable arguments are brought ahead to reduce the king’s power to the India rubber stamp.Magnus flatters him,and makes him believe that he is really superior.Proteus often becomes the subject of hysterics.He holds his claim that there mst be restriction in the king’s side.He loses no opportunity of disparaging the throne’once for all’.His counter article in newspaper usually brings a crisis against the king.

Proteus has over confidence and as he has defeated all other parties and while the country was run by the king,he wants to bring the king into his confidence.But he has no right sense of right decision in right time.He is proved as democratic humbug,not responsible to the king,the public or the kingdom.Solution of the crisis is not brought out in the hall,but walking out in tempers and having private discussion.Private meeting and talk with king Magnus  in the second act of the play brings up the resolution.The king and the prime minister’s privacy is scandalous.Magnus believes that Proteus is clever fellow and he is to beat him,but it would give him no satisfaction to beat him.This statement reveals Proteus’s true nature.There is cynical tone that he is really very foolish.He is responsible for going to upset the Apple Cart.Finally,he is easily defeated.The game turns in favour of the tactful king.The same threat of resignation,arc of trumps applied by Proteus is used by the king in turn.Proteus realizes that the king is able to make a treachery in the scene,and therefore,he surrenders himself.He tears out the ultimation and quits the meeting.

 Also face the election rather than staying as weak and dumb king.He also surrenders himself helplessly.

The king’s response to the cabinet’s ultimatum as revealed in the Apple Cart

The ultimatum contains three conditions:

1.The king should not make any speeches

2.The king should not talk about the veto power anymore

3.The king should not give any articles to the newspaper or he should not run the paper from behind the palace.

                                         This ultimatum is given by the cabinet to make the king merely a puppet.When the king realizes that they are determined and insist on the ultimatum,he talks to the prime minister in private.Then he comes back to address the cabinet frankly that he is a human being.He is a king,not a puppet,and the king must work unlike the puppet.The cabinet should consider their own situation where they will be without the king.The king himself has only two options-either he should abdicate or accept the conditions and become a puppet in their hands.He is obliged to decide the same day.Most of the things that he spends are to convince the cabinet that their position is stronger than the king.He convinces them that their success is certain if they insist.The king encourages their excitement and when they are going to lose their patience,he surrenders.He asks time until five o’clock to consider his decision.Policy behind this speech and time is only to prepare the situation favourable to him.He uses his skill for the card that the prime minister has already applied.That’s why he does not alert them with any hints that he is going to play their own trick.After lengthening the time for decision,he finally brings them into unexpected confusion by the declaration of the abdication.He uses the same conventional treat-tit for tat,and he is successful too.

 Humorous argument between Sempronius and Pamphilius on the death of Sempronius’s father    

                     The beginning conversation between Sempronius and Pamphilius is very humorous and ironic as well.Sempronius’s father was a naturalist.He attended and arranged many ceremonies.He had arranged the last two coronations.He was behind the scenes with all royal people.Though he was behind,he believed they were all real.His father died of solitude.He could’t bear to be alone for a moment.It was his death to him.It so happened that he swam to an uninhabited island after the yatch(boat)struck a reef.He was alone in the island,no one to play cards with and no church to go to.Pamphilius recites a poem in praise about nature of uninhabited island.But,says Sempronius,nature to him meant nakedness and nakedness only disgusted him.He relates the argument with politics.They say that where there is nothing the king loses his rights.Where there is nothing a man loses his reason and dies.So his father died.Very humorously Pamphilius adds that in that palace that “when the king’s letters are not ready……a secretary loses his job”.Overall meaning of this conversation is that a king must have people and kingdom for rule.A man must have people and place around him for his reason and survival.