The Mosquito (poem) D. H. Lawrence DH Lawrence

 The Mosquito             (poem )           D. H. Lawrence

‘The Mosquito’ as a hilarious poem where DH Lawrence is at his playful best. The poem ‘The Mosquito’ is taken from DH Lawrence’s collection of poems titled “Birds, Beasts and Flowers”. It is written in free verse which adds the beauty and elegance of the poem. This poem is the best example for his effective visualization of the animal world. In the poem the speaker describes his meeting with a mosquito and he addresses the tiny creature as ‘Monsieur” which shows the poet’s respect for this silly creature. He considers man a humble member of this animal world. The poet uses such words as “phantom”, sorcerer, “Ghoul”, “heron”, “pointed fiend” and “Winged Victory” to describe the superhuman qualities of this “nothingness”, semi-transparent, frail animal called mosquito. The poet contemptuously calls the mosquito ‘a dull clot of air’.  The poet attributes many human and supernatural qualities to this small creature. Therefore the poem is a “pathetic fallacy”. Pathetic fallacy is a figure of speech which ascribes many human qualities and emotions to animals and inanimate objects in nature.

Mosquito is always considered as a hateful tiny creature that no one likes because it is a nuisance to us in our sleep. But in this poem, DH Lawrence raises this tiny, silly creature to the level of a superhuman being which has more capabilities than man. The theme of the poem is the conflict between Nature and Culture. The poet describes the movements of the mosquito and how the tiny creature uses his dirty magical power to put human mind on an anaesthesia and silently and skilfully sucks human blood which is a ‘forbidden liquor’ for the mosquito. In a playful manner the poet speaks about the action of the mosquito. Its centre of gravity is lifted upwards and settles on the poet’ hand. The mosquito stands on its high thin legs. The poet remembers a woman in Venice called the mosquito “Winged Victory”. On hearing it, the mosquito turns to its tail and smiles at the poet. The poet wonders why this tiny, semi-transparent creature is so wicked and cruel. It flies faster than heron and moves like a clot of air.

The poet calls mosquito a sorcerer because it can move around man silently and invisibly. He also calls it a winged Ghoul watching its victims reading their thoughts. He again calls it ‘a pointed fiend.’ He challenges the mosquito to play with him hide-and-seek game. The mosquito flies in circles and disappears when the poet tries to catch it. The blood is forbidden liquor for the mosquito because the mosquito stealthily sucks the poet’s blood by giving anaesthesia to the poet by means of its dirty magical power. The mosquito is under intoxication of the blood for some time in silence. Finally the mosquito flies away from the poet after sounding the bugle of victory. The mosquito disappears like a blood drop far away. There is a big stain on his hand where the mosquito has sucked his blood. DH Lawrence has composed this poem in free verse. Long lines describe the movements of the mosquito and the short lines show the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

1.Why does the narrator describe human blood as “forbidden liquor”? In the poem titled “The Mosquito”, the narrator plays ‘sly game of bluff’ It is a kind of hide and seek game. The mosquito tried to suck the blood of the narrator and the narrator tried his best to kill the mosquito. But the tiniest creature very skilfully evades his all attempts and finally sucks the narrator’s blood from his skull even without his knowledge and permission. After having sucked the blood, the mosquito sounded a bugle. It was a victory song of the mosquito. Thus the narrator is defeated by the mosquito in the sly game. But when the blood was sucked, the mosquito is intoxicated like a drunkard. This is why the narrator calls it ‘forbidden liquor”.                Kjt/-06-12-2018

I Know Why the Caged Sings - poem - Maya Angelou

I know Why the Caged Bird Sings                                                                     Maya Angelou

Dr.Maya Angelou, one of the greatest voices in contemporary literature, is an African-American poet, memoirist, educator, historian, best- selling author, actress, dramatist, civil rights activist, film maker, director and teacher. She won international recognition with the publication of ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’. This poem expresses the African American’s intense longing for freedom. Angelou uses the metaphor for a bird struggling to escape its cage as a central image throughout her autobiographical fiction. But in this poem the caged bird sings of freedom.  As a black woman she has encountered racial discrimination, segregation and domination. She is an optimist and the companion of Martin Luther King fighting for the Civil Rights movement in the USA and achieved what they dreamed.

Maya Angelou says that a free bird leaps on the back of the wind floats in the blue sky enjoying the pleasures of life. The free bird stands for the white people leading luxurious life and dreaming of new business fields and colonies in order to exploit the poor countries in the world to reap maxim profit.

 But a bird walks sadly in its narrow cage. The caged bird’s wings are clipped and its feet are chained up. So the bird opens his throat to sing of freedom. The caged bird stands for the Black people who live in misery, poverty and sorrow, waiting centuries for their God given birth rights such as equality, citizenship rights and freedom.

The caged bird sings with painful sound of the things unknown such as equality, liberty and fraternity. The caged bird never enjoyed freedom. The bird’s song is heard far way beyond the distant hills and valleys.

 The free bird enjoys the freedom and flies in the depth of the infinite blue sky thinking of new opportunities and planning to set up new colonies in order to reap more profits and pleasures of life.

But the caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.  The Black had been working hard as slaves for the white people for centuries. They built up modern cities in various parts of America, made railways, bridges, towers and skyscrapers, but still lives in the slums and ghettos. Everywhere they are rejected and unwanted because they see the boards ‘For whites only’ in the restaurants, buses and buildings. They have no opportunity for education or employment and live in poverty and sorrow. So the caged bird sings of things unknown to him and he sings of equality, liberty and fraternity.            Kjt/16-11-2018

                               

A Doll's House (play ) - Henrik Ibsen

A Doll’s House                                                                                               Henrik Ibsen

1. “A Doll’s House” fell like bomb into contemporary life” – Explain

2. How far Nora’s life a representation of social reality?

3. Justify the title of the play “A Doll’s House”

A Doll’s House is a realistic drama written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in the year 1879. His plays attacked the age-worn values of male dominated society. He discarded outmoded dramatic techniques such as soliloquies and monologues.  The theme of the play is individual freedom and emancipation of self.  Nora, the protagonist of the play is the wife of Torvald Helmer and they have been married for the last eight years and have three children.

 Doll’s House is not only a realistic play but also a problem play. Ibsen in this play deals with a social problem.  It is the status of a woman in relation to her husband and home. Ibsen shows the pathetic situation of Nora being treated by her husband as mere doll or child who doesn’t know anything and she is called the squirrel, the skylark, doll, spendthrift etc. She is nothing but a doll for her husband.

When the curtain rises, Nora is seen on stage telling innocent lies in a child-like manner. Helmer treats her like an irresponsible child, a possession, anything except a woman. But underneath surface of Nora’s mind, there is lurking a strong protest against the male domination with its age old laws, religion and social customs, all trying to crush the individuality, freedom and dignity of woman. Her father, and later her husband, with the help of these social laws, tried to crush Nora with advises and advises.

 On many occasions Nora wanted to run away from her father to their maid servants. Both of them tried to keep “true realities of life” from her and made her ignorant of her reasonable rights and obligations. From the First Act onwards, the gradual growth of Nora is seen and it reaches its climax in the IIIrd Act when she goes out of Helmer’s home and children, slamming the door against the worn-out male-dominated ideas, laws and social customs.

Nora’s father committed forgery while working as a government employee. Torvald Helmer was appointed to examine the documents of Nora’s father. It was during this verification of the documents that Torvald met and fell in love with Nora and married her. Nora made supreme sacrifice in order to save the precious life of her husband. She borrowed money from Nils Krogstad for the medical treatment of her husband in Italy. When Helmer was seriously ill, doctors advised her to make a trip to Italy and stay there for his treatment..

 During this period, Nora’s father was on death-bed but she could not go to him. Not desiring to trouble her father at such a time for a loan and knowing fully well Helmer would never agree to take a loan himself, Nora secretly borrowed the loan without Helmer’s consent.

Nora signs her father’s name on the back of the promissory note (bond) made by Nils Krogstad. Nora put the date of signature as 2^nd of Ocober, whereas her father died on 29^th September.  This is the forgery Nora has committed in the bond.

When Nils Krogstad is sacked from his job at the bank by Torvald Helmer, he tries to blackmail Nora in order to get back the job in the bank. Nora tries her best to get back the job for Nil Krogstad, but fails. The job is given to Mrs.Linde.

Nora made many sacrifices in her life with Torvald Helmer. Whenever Nora is given money for household expenses, such as new dresses, home needs, Nora never spends more than half of it and bought simple, cheaper, but good quality things. She also did a lot of copying work. She locked up and sat writing every evening quite late at night. Thus she saved every penny and paid the loan in  installments.

In the concluding scene Nora questions the foolish male-dominated religious ideas, spiritual laws, the legal system and the social views about man-woman relationships. In the male-dominated society, laws are made by men for their own selfish interests. Nora has committed a forgery and she admits it and she is proud of it because she has committed the forgery for the love of her husband, to save his precious life. But her husband tells on her face that she has committed a crime, a sin and woman’s duty is to look after the needs of her husband and children. She has no duty to herself. Therefore Torvald Helmer accuses her of a cheat and she has no right to bring up her children, because she has committed a forgery.

Nils Krogstad is dismissed from the Savings Bank by Torvald as soon as he becomes the manager of the bank.  In retaliation, Krogstad writes a letter to Torvald Helmer revealing the forgery committed by his wife Nora. Torvald reads the letter and is angry with Nora and tells her that she is a cheat and dishonest and not fit for bringing up their three children. At that moment Nora finds the real face of Torvald because his masked face if fallen and she learns that he is a hypocrite and has no love for her. Meanwhile another letter comes from Nils Krogstad with the forged promissory note (bond) and canceling all revengeful action against Nora.

 This made Torvald happy and forgives Nora for her sin and tells her that she is once again his ‘skylark’, squirrel etc.’ But Nora tells him that she had expected a wonderful thing from Torvald that he would certainly take up the blame of the forgery on his shoulder and tell that world that he asked her to commit the forgery for him and therefore he was guilty one and not Nora. But the wonderful thing did not happen. So Nora goes out of Torvald’s home slamming the door against the male dominated social laws and customs.

The play “A Doll’s House” has dropped a bomb in the male-dominated society all over the world. Social life in the cities began to change fast ever since the publication of this play and woman has gradually attained equal social status with man in all field of life.

The role and character of Mrs.Linde

Mrs.Linde is the best friend of Nora who calls her pet name Christine. Christine comes to the to get a job and she meets Nora. Christine and Nils Krogstad are childhood friends and they fell in love with each other. But Christine had to look after her ailing mother and two younger brothers and she needed money for them. Being highly practical minded, Christine consented to marry a rich business man. Krogstad is  jilted by Christine and he gets married to another woman.

 But fate was cruel to her. Her mother died and the younger brothers ran away from her one by one. Soon her husband died and also his business ruined and Mrs.Linde becomes penniless and childless. A sense of loneliness seizes her and she finds life meaningless. So three years after the death of her husband, she has come down to city to meet her old friend Nora. She urgently wants a job to burry her loneliness and sorrow. Torvald Helmer gives Krogstad’s job in the bank to Nora’s friend. Now Nora tells her friend her dreadful secret to Christine and Christine promises to help Nora. She meets Krogstand and and both of them learned the truth that they are ‘shipwrecked’ man and woman. Krogstad is a widower and Christine is a widow.

 She is willing to marry and glad to look after Krogstad’s children. Thus Christine transformed Krogstand to a reformed character. Krogstand is thrilled with joy and promises to undo his mistake to Nora. He writes a letter to Torvald enclosing the forged bond and canceling all revengeful action against Nora. This made Torvald happy and tells Nora that she is once again his ‘skylark and ‘squirrel’ to him. Thus Mrs.Linde has played an important role in averting the crisis that faces the Helmer family.

The role and character of Krogstad

Krogstad is introduced in the Ist Act of the play “A Doll’s House” as a villain. According to Dr.Rank, the family friend of Torvald Helmer, Nils Krogstad is suffering from ‘a diseased moral character’. Krogstad is a lawyer and a widower with ‘several children’. His married life was very unhappy. Christine and Nils Krogstad are childhood friends and fell in love with eacher.

 But Krogstad is jilted by Christine and she married a rich business man and thus she became Mrs.Linde. This is why Krogstad married another woman and they had children. But Christine’s husband died and she is childless and penniless. By the time Krogstad also became a widower. Nora borrowed a huge amount from Krogstad for the medical treatment of her husband, but commited forgery by putting her father’s signature. The date of signature is 2^nd October whereas her father died as early as 29^th September.  Krogstad was dismissed from the Bank by Nora’s husband Torvald Helmer and the post was given to Nora’s friend Mrs.Linde who needed a job urgently to bury her loneliness and sorrow.

Krogstad comes to Nora and threatens her that if he does not get back the job in the bank, he will file a case in the court for forgery. Nora tries her best to persuade her husband not to dismiss Krogstad  from his post in the bank, but Torvald was adamant. Torvald tells Nora that while working in the Bank, Krogstad committed forgery and somehow he was excused from the punishment as the case was settled out of court. But he neither confessed his guilt nor underwent punishment.

This is why Torvald dismisses Krogstad.. As soon as he receives the dismissal order, Krogstad sends a letter to Torvald revealing the forgery committed by his wife. But Mrs. Linde helps Nora and she meets Krogstad. Mrs Linde is willing to marry Krogtad and is glad to look after his children.

 Krogstad is transformed into reformed character. The villain turns a hero and Nora and Torvald are saved from legal action and humiliation. Krogstad sends a letter to Torvald enclosing the forged bond, and canceling all revengeful acts against Nora.

Kjt/23-11-2018

Joychen (in the pages of my memory book ) Obituary - K. J. Thomas

Joychen in the pages of my memory book.                                   OBITUARY

My maiden meeting with Joychen was at his residence Ponga – in  Chennamkari village, long ago when we were young and handsome. Joychen was a typical Kuttanadan gentleman with a coconut grove as his own which yielded him enough coconuts every forty days adding to a landlord’s income, besides his earnings at Kochi as a smart tourist guide. His luxurious Kuttanadan menu consists of boiled tapioca, boiled rice, beef fry, fish curry, and a bottle of toddy once in a blue moon. He was happy. But his joyful days did not last long.

He was sober, no alcoholic drink no smoking, no boasting, no gossiping, andwas a perfect gentleman among us.  I never see him angry with anyone. He always kept his aristocracy and gentle behavior till his end.

But he made a blunder as all henpecked husbands do.  All his properties were transferred to his wife. I was very angry with my  father who brokered the land deal because I had foreseen the tragedy. One should not sell one’s inherited properties under any circumstances. It is like uprooting a huge family tree. It is one’s THARAVADU – which is his identity and family reputation. Once it is destroyed, it is destroyed forever. Yet Joychen  was unperturbed and calm. He was sadder but wiser. Once I asked Joychen about it., “ I love my wife and children more than myself. Let them do as they like”was his reply. Finally the Kuttanadan land-loard’s  long journey of life ended in the soil of a Roman Catholic cemetary of a remote hamlet somewhere in Kerala-Karnataka border in the most tragic manner.

Joychen had simple dreams. He loved Kochi, his dream city where he spent many years as a smart tourist guide. Joychen never bargained. So he was the favourite of  foreign tourists.

Grown up human beings are like grown up trees. Both are wilted away when  replanted in another soil. But new generation don’t know the woes of old people. Poor Joychen slowly died away in the soil of Karnataka where he was alienated, unwanted and a stranger, could not speak his mother-tongue, did not get idiappam, palappam, neyyappam and Ethakaappam,

 He escaped from his home at the remote Kannada village in the disguise of consulting a skin specialist and wandered through the streets of Kochi munching, and munching and  yet munching his tasty Keralite eatables in a nostalgic mood.

After a few days stay at Kochi he boards train to Bangalore only to come back to his beloved city after three months interval. I scribble these lines to express my tearful homage to my dear comrade, my Kuttanadan gentleman landlord whose departure is irreparable.     Kjt/05-10-2018

Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines ( Love poem ) Pablo Neruda

1. Examine the uniqueness of “Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines” as a confessional love poem.

Pablo Neruda is the great poet of Chile. He was a communist and a revolutionary poet. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. ‘Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines’ is one of the best love poems of Neruda. It is a monologue written in a confessional mood, lamenting the loss of love of a jilted lover. The lover thinks of the natural world, the night, the stars, the wind, the sky and everything that reminds him of his lost love. The night and the darkness match his sad mood. The lover confesses that tonight he is writing the saddest lines and thereby he is ritually killing his lady love with his pen which becomes his mighty sword!

The poet juxtaposes ‘tonight and the nights of the past when his lady love was with him. Tonight he is terribly alone. Now the night stands for his shattered love and the twinkling stars became blue and shiver in the distance. The narrator of the poem is a jilted lover whose girl friend has become another man’s wife/friend. This makes him very sad and is lamenting on the loss of his love. He admits that their love for each other became a failure on account of their mistakes. The fickleness of love is the major cause of his loss of love. But he cannot run away from the past which haunts him day and night like a nightmare. He says, ‘She loved me, sometimes and I loved her too’. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too’. This frank opinion of the narrator is the beauty of the love poem.

 All human beings and their words and deeds are imperfect which leads to failures and the poet admits this truth. When she was with him, they enjoyed every night and all nature supported their love. The night, the sky, the stars and the cool breeze welcomed the young couple. They thought their meetings would last forever but the inevitable came and they were separated. Still the narrator loves her and thankfully remembers the sweet joy that she has given him.

 He says, ‘Love is short, forgetting is so long’. Their love for each other was so sweet that the time flew away in a lightning speed. But the past love haunts him day and night like a nightmare. The narrator, like all human beings thought that she would be forever his lover and only his. It is a foolish idea. Nothing belongs to us. She has gone to another man. Now the narrator wants to escape from his past which is still haunting him day and night. Therefore he starts writing a poem which begins ‘The night is shattered and the blue stars shiver in the distance’

 In the poem he expresses his love, anguish, helplessness and the terrible loneliness. Thus he explains his love which is now dead and gone forever. His past love is shattered and shiver in the distance.  Night and stars are metaphors of his past love. The lines of his poem falls on his heart like dews on the meadows. He is certain that this poem is like a ritual killing of his love for her. Thus he can set himself free from the thought of her.

 ‘Tonight I can Write the Saddest Lines’ reaches universal level. Pablo Neruda gives us our love poem which we hug to our heart with great satisfaction and whisper every line of it in our solitude. This is genuine love poem meant for every human being who is born to love and be loved!                                            Kjt/-16-11-2018

The Laboratory: Ancien Regime                                                                     ROBERT BROWNING

1.       Why does the speaker call the laboratory the “devil’s smithy”? What is the motive behind her visit to that place?  The speaker of the dramatic monologue titled ‘The Laboratory: Ancien Regime’ written by Robert Browning is a danseuse. She has come to the laboratory of the old chemist to order for deadly poison. She is a revengeful woman who wants to kill the new girl friend of her husband. She calls the laboratory the “devil’s smithy” because the old chemist misuses his precious scientific knowledge to make poisons and weapons for destructive purpose. It is the work of a devil.

2.       Why does she say that the poison in the phial is sure to taste sweetly?  The narrator of the dramatic monologue is a famous danseuse who says that the poison in the phial is  sure to taste sweetly because its colour is bright blue which is very attractive. So she thinks that the poison is sure to taste sweetly.

3.       How does the woman propose to  kill Pauline and Elize? The woman narrator in the dramatic  monologue bears devilish character and that is why she has decided to murder her rivals Pauline and Elize. The famous danseuse will give Pauline a poisoned lozenge (sweet) and in thirty minutes she will be dead. As for Elize, the narrator will kill her with a pastille. When the pastille is lighted, the poisoned smoke will kill her.

4.       “She’s not little, no minion like me!” What makes the speaker pass such a comment on her rival? The narrator of the dramatic monologue is a revengeful woman who wants to  murder her rivals Pauline and Elize. Speaking about her arch rival, the narrator says that her husband’s girl friend is tall and beautiful but the narrator is not so charming and this is why her husband was entrapped by the girl friend.

5.       What intentions must have prompted the chemist to prepare the poison according to the speaker’s wish?There are only two main characters in the dramatic monologue titled ‘Laboratory’ written by Robert Browning. The narrator is the famous danseuse and the silent listener is the old chemist. Both are wicked characters. The old man is greedy for wealth and sex. He misuses his precious chemical technology for making poisonous weapons to kill people. He is prompted to prepare the poison to achieve two desires, wealth and sex with the danseuse. This is why she tells him in the end of the poem to gorge gold and jewels to his fill and if he wants, he can kiss her on her mouth indicating sex with her.

6.       ESSAY:  Comment on the character of the old chemist as the silent listener in ‘Laboratory’

OR  Discuss how Browning performs a psychological dissection of the woman’s character through his dramatic monologue ‘The Laboratory’

Robert Browning the great Victorian poet of English literature is the master of a new genre of poetry called ‘dramatic monologue’. His masterpiece is ‘ My Last Duchess”. Browning was followed by Alfred Lord Tennyson and others perfected this form. ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Tithonus’ are the best examples for Tennyson’s dramatic monologues. Dramatic monologues begin with certain urgency and a critical situation and there is only one narrator and other characters are silent listeners. When the narrator speaks, the readers get a clear picture of his/her character and also the qualities, merits and defects in their characters of the listeners

In ‘The Laboratory’, the narrator is a famous danseuse and she has come to the laboratory of an old chemist, while hundreds of people are waiting at the palace of the King to enjoy her dance performance!. The poem is an exploration of a vengeful woman’s psyche. She is betrayed by her husband because of her own wicked character. She is extremely possessive, selfish and cruel.

 But she is worried about making poison to kill her rivals. She orders the chemist to make poisonous tools to kill the girl friends of her husband. She may be a victim of unrequited love. But she has chosen the wrong path to settle her problem. Instead of going to church and pray, she came to ‘the devil’s smithy’ to make deadly poison to kill her rival.She says that her rival is stronger, taller and more beautiful than her. This is why her husband is entrapped by her seductive charm. She tells the old scientist to give her rival maximum pain and the pain of death must be reflected on her face and it is also a punishment for her husband that he would not forget the dying face of his new girlfriend. The narrator offers enough gold, wealth and even allows the old chemist to kiss her on his mouth indicating sex with him.

 As soon as the poisonous tools are ready, the narrator asks the chemist to remove her glass mask and shake off all the dust and chemicals her dress because she is in a hurry to go to the palace of the King to perform her dance. The narrator has been abundantly blessed by God by giving her dancing skill. But alas! This wicked woman is more interested in killing her rivals and punishing her husband. She has no moral values. She says the if she were the owner of the laboratory with all its chemical equipment and the chemist, she would have been the happiest person in the world!

The character of the listening chemist is stranger than the character of the narrator. Even in his old age, he is greedy for wealth and sexual pleasures is very interesting and confusing. He finds pleasure in making deadly poisons and thereby killing people by misusing his precious scientific knowledge. He is selfish and morally corrupted.

 But we must admit the amazing power of his chemical knowledge! With the help of his poisonous tools, one can easily murder any number of people in complete safety. Thus the chemist helps criminals to commit crime without evidence or proof!  The old chemist makes poisonous earring, casket, signet, fan mount filigree basket, lozenge, pastille and sweet drinks.

Kjt/-27^th October 2018.

Three poems - Telephone Conversation, When we two Parted and Longing

Telephone Conversation                                                                                   Wole Soyinka

Wole Soyinka is a renowned African novelist and poet.  Soyinka was the first African to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.  “Telephone Conversation” is a simple and amusing poem.  As the title suggests, it is a conversation over ‘phone between an African and a white lady who is the owner of the apartment in London.  The narrator is looking for a rented apartment in London

. In this poem, the poet is able to portray the hypocrisy and cold inhumanity of the white lady who rejects the African only because he is ‘black’. Thus the poem is a strong satire on racial prejudice.

The speaker of the poem is an African. He is well educated, cultured and willing to pay the rent demanded by the landlady. At first the white English land lady is very happy that a tenant has come to stay in her apartment. The location of the building is not good. But the African is not worried about it. For him, the rent is reasonable and the landlady promises that she is living at another place. Therefore the Nigerian is also very glad to get such an apartment in London City.

 But he has a big problem. His skin is black. So he is afraid whether the white lady likes him or not. Suppose he travels all the way from Nigeria to London, and if the landlady does not like him, it is sheer waste of time and money. So the speaker has decided to confess his identity.

 The flora and fauna in Nature have different colours. The sky is blue, the rose is red, the oak is black, the crow is black, orange is yellow, there are black dogs and cows and here the colours are blessing and beautiful. Nature is blessed with all the colours given by God. But man hates man if his skin is not white. So the African confesses to the white lady that he is an African. It is a rude shock to the white lady as if “African” is a criminal or dirty animal. There is a prolong silence. This silence hurts the African. He is insulted. Humanity is insulted. After some time she asks politely ‘how dark he is’?  She enquires whether he is light black.

She does not say that she does not want an African as his tenant. Instead she asks again and  whether he is dark or very light. She wants to know how dark he is! The speaker uses two terms such as plain or milk chocolate to describe his dark skin.  He tells her that he is “West African sepia in his passport”.  Again there is a long silence because she is worried about his dark skin.  Her words were compared to stinking or polluted air because her words are poisonous. She is a hypocrite.

Now the African knows that he will not get the apartment, because the landlady does not want a black man as her tenant.  So the African tells her that the colour of his face is dark brown (brunette), but unfortunately certain parts of his body are very dark. The palm and sole of his feet are semi dark. But the bottom is raven black because of friction by sitting and requests her to see it by herself personally. At that moment the white lady knows that she is insulted by the African and she angrily puts the ‘receiver on the thunderclap. Thus the poem proves that it is the white people who believe in the colour prejudice are always insulted. The colour prejudice boomerangs upon the white people themselves!

Comment on the use of satire, irony, sarcasm, imagery and pun in this poem

“Telephone Conversation” is a vehement attack on racial discrimination. The poet uses various poetic devices such as satire, irony, sarcasm, imagery, pun, alliteration and assonance have been used to bring home to the reader the hypocrisy and racial discrimination of the white landlady. “Location indifferent”, Nothing remained but self-confession”, “Caught I was foully” are all used in ironical tone. The speaker very politely tells the English landlady over phone that he hated a wasted journey- he was an African is irony because he speaks that he is an African is like a crime. There is also pun here because African means a criminal. “Plain or milk chocolate” is also a pun. “Silence for spectroscopic flight of fancy” is an example for double alliteration of ‘s’ and ‘f’. The satirical poem reaches its climax with the words ‘wouldn’t you rather see for yourself?” shows the irony in judging people based on the colour of their skin.   

                         

When We Two Parted                                                                  Lord Byron

‘When We Two Parted’ is a famous love poem written by Lord Byron, who is a great English poet and satirist. This love poem belongs to ‘break up’ or ‘missing you’ love poem. Lord Byron was one of the great Romantic poets in English literature. In this poem ‘When We Two Parted’ the narrator tells us how he was jilted by the infidelity of his beloved.

The narrator of the poem is a man who loves his dear one in secret. But she has deceived him and the narrator suffers mental conflict of love and hatred for his lady love. The narrator still loves her in silence. He says that when they two parted in silence and tears, she gave him the parting kiss, he felt her cheek pale and grew cold. It shows her guilty conscience. But the narrator did not understand it. Later people talked to him about her and only then did he realize that she has betrayed him. It was like a death-knell for him. But she is still his darling and he cannot forget her love. Thus the narrator suffers severe mental pain because he is divided between his intense love and hate for her. In silence he grieves because she can easily forget her deception and he cannot. Still he loves her and he says that if he should meet her after long years, he will certainly greet her with silence and tears.

Questions 1.   “Truly that hour foretold

                        Sorrow to this! – That hour foretold what?  Why the speaker is sad?

             

                   2.  “In secret we met:

                      In silence I grieve”  Who is the speaker and what is the reason for his grief?

    3.”They name thee before me,

        A knell to mine year;” – Explain

Longing                                                                                                         Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold is a great poet and critic in English literature. His poem “Longing” is a typical love poem expressing the lover’s intense longing for the presence of his beloved. With the fire of love burning in his heart, the lover asks her to come to him in his dreams at night so that he can wipe out all his worries and miseries of day time.

“Longing” is one of the best lyric poems written by Matthew Arnold and the theme revolves round an ardent lover’s dream about his beloved. The true note of the poem is sadness. It is pensive melancholy essentially romantic in origin. In this short poem, the speaker gives expression to the passionate longing of his heart.

The poet calls his lady love to come to him in his dream at night so that all his sufferings and sorrow and pain will be vanished and he will be refreshed again. He considers her an angel from a heavenly place and her charming smile relaxes him and relieved him from all miseries of day time. Throughout the day he has been waiting with a burning desire for her presence in his dream at night.

 Now he wants his dream to be converted to reality. He wants her real presence and combs his hair and to kiss him passionately and asks him “My love, why are you suffering?”

 The poem ends with the ardent longing of the speaker that his dream girl must be real to him and gives him spiritual comfort.                                                                                                                            Kjt/02-12-2018

Laboratory - Poem (dramatic monologue ) Robert Browning

1.       Why does the speaker call the laboratory the “devil’s smithy”? What is the motive behind her visit to that place?  The speaker of the dramatic monologue titled ‘The Laboratory: Ancien Regime’ written by Robert Browning is a danseuse. She has come to the laboratory of the old chemist to order for deadly poison. She is a revengeful woman who wants to kill the new girl friend of her husband. She calls the laboratory the “devil’s smithy” because the old chemist misuses his precious scientific knowledge to make poisons and weapons for destructive purpose. It is the work of a devil.

2.       Why does she say that the poison in the phial is sure to taste sweetly?  The narrator of the dramatic monologue is a famous danseuse who says that the poison in the phial is  sure to taste sweetly because its colour is bright blue which is very attractive. So she thinks that the poison is sure to taste sweetly.

3.       How does the woman propose to  kill Pauline and Elize? The woman narrator in the dramatic  monologue bears devilish character and that is why she has decided to murder her rivals Pauline and Elize. The famous danseuse will give Pauline a poisoned lozenge (sweet) and in thirty minutes she will be dead. As for Elize, the narrator will kill her with a pastille. When the pastille is lighted, the poisoned smoke will kill her.

4.       “She’s not little, no minion like me!” What makes the speaker pass such a comment on her rival? The narrator of the dramatic monologue is a revengeful woman who wants to  murder her rivals Pauline and Elize. Speaking about her arch rival, the narrator says that her husband’s girl friend is tall and beautiful but the narrator is not so charming and this is why her husband was entrapped by the girl friend.

5.       What intentions must have prompted the chemist to prepare the poison according to the speaker’s wish? There are only two main characters in the dramatic monologue titled ‘Laboratory’ written by Robert Browning. The narrator is the famous danseuse and the silent listener is the old chemist. Both are wicked characters. The old man is greedy for wealth and sex. He misuses his precious chemical technology for making poisonous weapons to kill people. He is prompted to prepare the poison to achieve two desires, wealth and sex with the danseuse. This is why she tells him in the end of the poem to gorge gold and jewels to his fill and if he wants, he can kiss her on her mouth indicating sex with her.

6.       ESSAY:  Comment on the character of the old chemist as the silent listener in ‘Laboratory’

OR         Discuss how Browning performs a psychological dissection of the woman’s character through his dramatic monologue ‘The Laboratory’

Robert Browning the great Victorian poet of English literature is the master of a new genre of poetry called ‘dramatic monologue’. His masterpiece is ‘ My Last Duchess”. Browning was followed by Alfred Lord Tennyson and others perfected this form. ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Tithonus’ are the best examples for Tennyson’s dramatic monologues. Dramatic monologues begin with certain urgency and a critical situation and there is only one narrator and other characters are silent listeners. When the narrator speaks, the readers get a clear picture of his/her character and also the qualities, merits and defects in their characters of the listeners

In ‘The Laboratory’, the narrator is a famous danseuse and she has come to the laboratory of an old chemist, while hundreds of people are waiting at the palace of the King to enjoy her dance performance! . The poem is an exploration of a vengeful woman’s psyche. She is betrayed by her husband because of her own wicked character. She is extremely possessive, selfish and cruel.

 But she is worried about making poison to kill her rivals. She orders the chemist to make poisonous tools to kill the girl friends of her husband. She may be a victim of unrequited love. But she has chosen the wrong path to settle her problem. Instead of going to church and pray, she came to ‘the devil’s smithy’ to make deadly poison to kill her rival. She says that her rival is stronger, taller and more beautiful than her. This is why her husband is entrapped by her seductive charm. She tells the old scientist to give her rival maximum pain and the pain of death must be reflected on her face and it is also a punishment for her husband that he would not forget the dying face of his new girlfriend. The narrator offers enough gold, wealth and even allows the old chemist to kiss her on his mouth indicating sex with him.

 As soon as the poisonous tools are ready, the narrator asks the chemist to remove her glass mask and shake off all the dust and chemicals her dress because she is in a hurry to go to the palace of the King to perform her dance. The narrator has been abundantly blessed by God by giving her dancing skill. But alas! This wicked woman is more interested in killing her rivals and punishing her husband. She has no moral values. She says the if she were the owner of the laboratory with all its chemical equipment and the chemist, she would have been the happiest person in the world!

The character of the listening chemist is stranger than the character of the narrator. Even in his old age, he is greedy for wealth and sexual pleasures is very interesting and confusing. He finds pleasure in making deadly poisons and thereby killing people by misusing his precious scientific knowledge. He is selfish and morally corrupted.

 But we must admit the amazing power of his chemical knowledge! With the help of his poisonous tools, one can easily murder any number of people in complete safety. Thus the chemist helps criminals to commit crime without evidence or proof!  The old chemist makes poisonous earring, casket, signet, fan mount filigree basket, lozenge, pastille and sweet drinks.

SELF HELP IS THE BEST HELP (Essay ) K. J. Thomas

As soon as school or college education is over, young men and women run after Government or private jobs, more particularly for ‘white collar jobs’. They go on writing and writing various PSC interviews and attending many coaching centers in order to  get a job of a petty clerk in any office whether it is in Kasargode or Kanyakumari because they live in ‘comfort zone’ and avoid risks. But how many of them get jobs? Do they get jobs to their satisfaction? No, not at all. The truth is that ninety percent of these job seekers end in great disappointment and tension due to the dullness in their jobs. They work only for the monthly salary because they have no satisfaction in their works.

More over the number of job vacancies in either public sector or private sector is dwindling day by day. Political parties blame each other for the rising unemployment problems. It is the habit of opposition parties in the state or Central government to accuse the ruling party of betraying the youngsters by promising them employment and denied opportunities. But as long as the reign of modern technology goes on, unemployment problem ought to increase as all modern technological methods are based on labor saving devices. It means all the productive, creative and skilled works are being done by the machines. This leads to unemployment and the consequent poverty and disappointment among the people. No government can help us if we don’t help ourselves by starting our own business ventures. We cannot expect ready made employment opportunities in offices and factories. It is not the mistake of the governments, but the mistake of our modern technology.

Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation had foreseen the present situation and said  that mass production by gigantic labor saving machines cannot solve India’s unemployment problem and  poverty. Instead, India’s economic progress depends on small scale village industries which can provide employment to all people. This is called ‘production by masses’.

 Let’s examine the twenty five years of the industrial progress of the nations including the rich as well as the Third world countries, of which India is one.  Every scientific and technological progress makes the rich, richer and the poor, poorer. Wealth is being accumulated in the pockets of the rich, whereas the poor is being unemployed and live in poverty and misery. This is because, everywhere gigantic labour saving machines are applied for work and all the skilled, productive and useful works are done by the machines. Even in agricultural field, the old farmer and his plough and the team of oxen are replaced by, gigantic machines such as tractors, tillers, ploughing, sowing, seedling, weeding, harvesting and winnowing machines have been introduced, eliminating working class from all fields of work.

In such a situation, can we go back  to  the old ways of farming and black smith’s shop? Is it possible? No, of course not possible. Life is like a river. It cannot flow back. Similarly, science and technology must go forward, but we have to reinvent our machines and redesign its applicability with the help of modern scientific and technological experiences to give more and more employment opportunities to our people, who are at present unemployed.

 Thomas Aquinas, the great Italian scholar and philosopher said that human beings are born to enjoy work with  his/her own skillful hands and clever brain. Human beings want to do creative, productive and skillful work which gives him/her  immense pleasure. But now this work is the privilege of gigantic, labour savings  machines.

Therefore ‘self help’ is the best help the youngsters can do in the modern age. we have to make small and elegant machines and tools to work with. Every one should be his/her own employer and start his/her small business enterprises. People have already started such enterprises. In cities, housewives and men cultivate vegetables, paddy and fruits on the terrace of their buildings and houses. A research scholar says that in five cents of land, one can cultivate enough vegetables and fruits worth Rs. five lakhs a year. These vegetables and fruits have great demand in the market as they are cultivated with organic farming system avoiding chemicals.

  What you have to do is to change your outlook on employment, and choose your own work according to your education, taste, capacity, age, local space and availability of raw materials.  Secondly you must get good training in the skilled work. You have to throw away the ‘comfort zone’ attitude and accept ‘risk zone’ as your guide to work and the benefit is that you are your own ‘boss’ and employer. Self help leads to the path of self- reliance and self- pride.

 There are many agencies, Central Government, state government and private organizations conduct training centres and workshops for young men and women and you will get perfect training and supervision from these agencies to start your own ventures. There are many a number of avenues of work such as agriculture, horticulture, fish farming, gardening, marketing, designing textile fabrication  automobile workshop, hotel management, travel and tourism, mobile phone repairing and so on.

 Now a days many graduates and post graduates dream to get employed as a clerk or officer in any branches of the Federal Bank Limited. But do you know how this bank was started? It was the humble beginning of late Kulangara Paulo Hormis ( K.P. Hormis) a native of Mookannoor near Angamaly who was a lawyer by profession,  but was a failure in the law court and decided to start self help. He was not disappointed, but worked hard in another field. He ran a shop at Aluva many years ago. It was a one roomed gold pawn shop and the board says “ Loan will be paid on the security of gold”. In course of time, when more and more customers came to him and his gold pawn business thrived, his enterprise grew up to one of  the most famous scheduled banks of India known as ‘The Federal Bank Limited’ spreading out thousands of branches all over India and abroad, giving employment to lakhs of graduates and post graduate men and women. The present headquarters of the Federal Bank is situated where Hormis had started his gold pawn shop.  K. P. Hormis has proved beyond doubt that self help is the best help a man can provide to others around him.

 If our principal Mr. Prabhakaran, after his education, had gone to work as a clerk in any government department, Nalanda College would not have been materialized and remained a dream. Instead of seeking a white collar job in any office, he worked hard starting with a humble tuition center in a rented room,  gradually developed  into a premier college teaching thousands of students and giving employment to hundreds of graduates and post graduate teachers. He teaches us the beauty of self help.

  Now our Government of India introduces various loan schemes for a young graduate or under graduate or post graduate who want to start their own enterprises. Loan schemes such as Prime Minister’s Kousal Vikas Yojana, Prime Minister’s Ujjal Yojana, Prime Minister’s Employment generation Yojana and so on and besides various nationalized banks in India have many generous loan schemes to help young entrepreneurs.                                                                                                     Kjt/-09-02-2019

Birches poem Robert Lee Frost

1.       What do ice storms do to the birches? During winter season ice storms lash on birch trees and snow scales fall and deposit on the branches of birch trees. As a result the branches of the birches bend to left right.

2.       “They click upon themselves/ As the breeze rises, and turn many coloured” – explain: 

 These lines are quoted from Robert Lee Frost’s famous poem titled ‘Birches’. Frost says that good poem always begins in delight and ends in wisdom. It is true of ‘Birches’. During the winter season, ice storms deposit ice on the branches of birch trees. When wind blows, the branches click upon themselves and the ice accumulation is cracked and in the warm sunlight the ice begin to flow down like a cascade. It is a wonderful sight that ice flow down just as broken glass pieces flow down and rainbow colours appear. You may think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

3.       What are the bent birches compared to? In his poem ‘Birches’ written by Robert Frost, the speaker compares the bent birches to girls who stand on hands and knees and throw hair over their heads to dry in the sunlight. In short birch trees look like girls with a lot of long hair.

4.       “Truth broke in with all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm”  What is the matter-of-fact truth?  This line is quoted from Robert Lee Frost’s famous poem titled ‘Birches’. The speaker says that the matter of fact truth is the ice storm that bent the birches to left and right. But the poet prefers fancy to fact or imagination to reality. He imagines that a boy has been swinging on the birches for a long time and that is why the birches are bending to left and right. He wants to break the truth about ice storm.

5.       What is the advantage of birch swinging over many other forms of sport? In his poem ‘Birches’ the speaker says that birch swinging has many advantages over other forms of sport. First of all, a boy alone can play the game of birch swinging. Secondly, he can play this game throughout the year in spite of heavy rain, storm, winter, summer or autumn seasons. Finally, it is a spiritual game and less expensive.  It has no adverse effects. It is a solitary pastime.

6.       How does the poet picturize the joyous abandon of the birch swinger? The poet in his poem ‘Birches’ narrates the experience of the village boy who has been swinging on the birches every morning and evening when he goes out with his father’s cows for grazing on the meadow and the boy is climbing to the top branches with great care. It is like reaching heaven for spiritual joy. Finally, he comes down to the earth after getting the spiritual joy.

7.       What is there to learn to be an expert at birch swinging? Robert Frost in his poem ‘Birches’ says that one has to learn many things to become expert at birch swinging. When the boy climbs to the top branches by riding, he must take great care to keep his balance just as filling a tea cup to the brim and over the brim. When he reaches the utmost top branch, he must dip its top and fling outward at a lightning speed.

8.       ‘So was I once myself a swinger of birches” What is the mood reflected in this line? In his poem ‘Birches’ the speaker says these words in a nostalgic mood. Once upon a time, when the poet was a boy, he used to ride on the birch trees.

9.       What does the speaker wish to do when “weary of considerations”? The speaker of the poem ‘Birches’ says that when he is tired of many worries, difficulties and problems of life, he goes back to his boyhood days in imagination and swings on the birch trees and reach heaven to get spiritual energy from God and comes back to the earth again to resume his  life with renewed and refreshed energy. He knows well that life is like a pathless wood where there is  spiritual darkness and you suffer pain, sorrow and humiliations from every side.

10.   “May no fate willfully misunderstand me” What is the likely misunderstanding? In his poem ‘Birches’ the speaker prays to God that he wishes to go to heaven by swinging on birch trees and allow him to come back to the earth to resume his life again with fresh spiritual energy. But the speaker feels that God or Fate may misunderstand him  and give him death so that he will for ever live in heaven. He does not want to stay in heaven for ever. Earth is the best place for love and life. There is an allusion to Homer’s Iliad where the first part of Achilles’s prayer was consented by Jove and Patroclus was allowed to recapture the ships from the Greeks. But Jove did not consent to the second request, namely the safe return of Patroclus. He was killed by Hector in the war.

11.   ‘One could do worse than be a swinger of birches” – Explain

 In concluding the poem ‘Birches’, the narrator speaks about the various advantages of birch swinging. First of all, a boy alone can play the game of birch swinging. Secondly, he can play this game throughout the year in spite of heavy rain, storm, winter, summer or autumn seasons. Finally, it is a spiritual game and less expensive.  It has no adverse effects. It is a solitary pastime.

ESSAY    “A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom”  Discuss with reference to ‘Birches’

Robert Lee Frost is better known  as the ‘Wordsworth of  America’, because these two poets  find delights in the spiritual  beauty Nature. Both of them wrote poems in the day today language of the rustics. Both of  them believed in the simplicity of rustic life and situations.

Robert Frost’s poems in delight and ends in wisdom. ‘Birches’ is the best example for  this.

The poem begins with delightful description of the wonderful flow of ice particles from the top branches in every tree. The poet knows well that ice storms make  the birch trees bending to left and right. During the winter season, snow flakes begin to fall and is deposited in the branches of the trees and for a long time the deposit is being accumulated and the branches fall down to the earth. They are looked like  the girls on hands and knees throwing their long hair over their heads to dry in the sun. After some time when the sunlight becomes warm, the ice begins to melt down from all the branches. Rainbow colours appear and it is a wonderful cascade. You may think the inner dome of heaven had fallen on the earth!

 His poems take the reader as the main character and the most familiar situations in Nature are introduced. The poem swings between reality and imagination. We all know that ice storms make birches bending to left and right. But the poet prefers to swing on the wings of poesy. Therefore he says that a village boy has been swinging on the birches and thus the birches are arching in the woods!. The boy is far away from the town and does not know any games. So he himself finds a game. It is the riding on birches and thus the branches are made flexible and bent down to  the earth. The boy learns various tricks and becomes an expert swinger  of birches.  Another familiar day today situation is filling the teacup to the brim and even above the brim. Such a subtle care is taken by the boy while climbing from the  lower branch to the top most branch of  the tree and reaches heavenly bliss!

 In the second part of  the poem we get wisdom. Life is like  a pathless  wood where one faces spiritual darkness, and he is tired of worries, humiliations, daily difficulties. In such a situation, many people take shelter in liquor, smoking, and other immoral activities. But the poet once again goes back to his boyhood days in imagination and becomes a swinger of birches. By climbing the birch trees, the narrator reaches heaven to get spiritual power. But he does not want to stay in heaven. He wants to  come back to the earth and begin life again with fresh energy and spiritual power. Earth is the best place for love and life.     Kjt/- 26^th October 2018