Module I : Poetry:Some Key Concepts..... composed by K. J. Thomas

Basic Elements of Poetry

1.Prosody – Prosody means all the principles of poetry writing such as metre, rhythm, rhyme and stanza forms.

a. Metre : Metre is a Greek word meaning “metron” or measure. Metre means stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. Example: iambic (unstressed followed by stressed), trochaic (stressed followed by unstressed), anapestic, dactylic and spondee depending upon the number of feet. They are monometer (one feet), dimeter (two), trimester (three), tetrameter (four), pentameter (five), hexameter (six), heptameter (seven), Octameter (eight).

b. Rhythm: Rhythm is also a Greek word meaning “flowing”. This flowing is made possible by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllable. This flowing is possible in both verse and prose. According to Plato rhythm is the regular flow of verse. Rhythm is the actual sound that comes from a line of stressed and unstressed syllable in a line.

c. Rhyme: It is the similarity of sound at the end of every line. The structure of a syllable is represented as CVC which means the initial consonant or consonant cluster (C),  and V is the vowel sound and final C is the final consonant cluster.  CVC means (alliteration), (assonance) and (consonance).

There are three types of rhymes. They are Hard rhyme, Soft rhyme, and Internal rhyme.

Hard Rhyme: The final accented vowel and all following consonants or syllables are similar. Eg. Time, lime, crime, dime.

Soft Rhyme: Last consonant is the same but not the vowel Eg. Soft, waft.

Internal Rhyme: Rhyme is made in different words in the same line of the poem. Eg. After school, I take a dip in the pool, which is really on the wall.

2.  Alliteration. It is a Latin word meaning repeating and playing upon the same letter. Alliteration is a figure of speech and it is the repetition of an initial consonant or consonant cluster in stressed syllables.   Ex. She sells seashells by the seashore.     “Dull sublunary lovers’ love”  ( John Donne)

3. Assonance: Assonance is also a figure of speech widely used by poets. It is a Latin word “answering with the same sound”.  Assonance is made when two or more words repeat  the same vowel  sound but start with different consonant sounds.  Eg. “Men sell the wedding bells”.  “Whose soul is sense- cannot admit of absence” (John Donne).

4. Diction:  Diction means the vocabulary used by a writer. The diction used by a poet is quite different from the diction used by a novelist or a dramatist. Different kinds of vocabulary are used in different genres of poetry. For example the vocabulary used by a satirist poet like Alexander Pope or W. H. Auden is quite different from the vocabulary used by William Wordsworth who is a Romantic  poet. 

4.   Figures of Speech

      a. Simile :  A comparison between two different things indicated by the word ‘like’ or ‘as’

          Ex. “O my love’s like a red rose, red rose”   - (Robert Burns),

          ‘My dear, you are like a blue lotus to me’.

     b.  Metaphor: A comparison between two different things directly without the usage of ‘like’ or

          ‘as’.  Ex. You are my red rose.     ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women mere

          Players’     -( William Shakespeare)

     c.  Personification:  It is a figure of speech that ascribes human qualities to that which is

          non-human.    Ex. ‘Because I could not stop for Death –

                                           He kindly stopped for me’      - Emily Dickinson

         ‘Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust,

         Or Flattery sooth the dull cold ear of Death?        - Thomas Grey

   d.   Oxymoron: It is a figure of speech that brings together opposite or contradictory terms

         Ex. Sweet sorrow

Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate

O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

e. Metonymy: It is also a figure of speech. One thing is applied to another because of a recurrent

    relation in common experience   Ex. The crown or the scepter is used for the term ‘King’.

    Hollywood for film industry. Kolliwood for film industry in Tamilnadu. ‘ But now my oat proceeds,

    And listens to the Herald of the Sea’ – Lycidas ( John Milton)

f.  Synecdoche is also a figure of speech. It is similar to Metonymy.  A part of something need to

    signify the whole. Ex. We use the term ‘ten hands’ for ten workers.  A hundred sails for ships and

    two wheelers  for motor bike  and four wheelers for cars.

    “ This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to

    Dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I’m telling you.”  Here

    Flesh, feet, backs, shoulders and arms indicate human beings.

g.  Transferred Epithet is a figure of speech.  Here the adjective is transferred from the noun to

    another noun in the sentence.   Ex. I had a hot cup of tea.    John had a sleepless night.

    “The ploughman homeward plods his weary way”     (Thomas Gray – Elegy)

kjt/-25-03-2020

W. H. AUDEN ************** IN MEMORY OF W B YEATS

21.       

Write an essay on the following

1.       “In Memory of WB  Yeats” is not just about Yeats. It is about poetry and poets”. Discuss

2.       Discuss the elegiac elements in “In Memory of W B Yeats”

W H. Auden belongs to the post modern period of English literature. Like Alexander Pope of Neoclassical period, Auden too is a satirical poet. “In Memory of W B Yeats” is a glorious tribute to the great Irish poet by his disciple poet Auden. The poem is an elegy lamenting the irreparable loss of the Irish poet W B Yeats who died on 29^th January 1939 in a hospital in France. The poem has three parts and in the first part of the poem W.H. Auden introduces pathetic fallacy using extended metaphor begins with “He disappeared in the dead of winter” and says that the brooks were frozen, the airports were deserted and the wolves ran through the evergreen forests”. All the countries of Europe were restless because Hitler’s Germany attacked Poland and France and England supported Poland against Germany and it was the beginning of Second World War. The comparison is apt because all the parts of the dying poet rebelled and his mind was empty and the body rejected medicines and finally the poet became his admirers (breathed his last).  This is the elegiac convention practiced by all poets.

In the second section of the poem W.H. Auden describes the main features of the poetry of WB Yeats. The narrator says that the poet was  a man with all the weakness and frailties of a human being. He fell in love with many rich Irish ladies. Lady Gregory, the great Irish dramatist and Maud Gonne are some of his distinguished lady friends. W.B. Yeats with madly in love with his motherland Ireland and composed many patriotic poems to inspire the freedom struggle of Ireland. But his poetry could not reform Irish people nor brought freedom to Ireland. Instead, hundreds and thousands of Irish martyrs were created because British government gave them death punishment. Poetry is always born in isolated minds of the poets. No power on the earth can destroy  the sources of poetry. Many dictators tried to imprison poets, but poetry is emerged out of nothing shocking the megalomaniac dictators. 

In the final section of the elegy “In Memory of WB Yeats”, the narrator pays glorious tribute to the great poet of Ireland. He says “Irish vessel is emptied of its poetry”. Poets are prophets. W. H. Auden speaks about the outbreak of 2^nd World War. He says that the Europe is in spiritual darkness because all the countries bark against each other like mad dogs and the  intellectual community in all these nations are anxiously and helplessly waiting because people are blinded with hatred of their neighbor, leading to war. Therefore, W. H. Auden asks us to follow the poet because poetry always leads through the right path of life. In the Bible God cursed Adam and Eve to earn their daily bread and butter by hard work,  but the poets like WB Yeats converts the curse into a beautiful vineyard for human beings by singing of the failures and frailties of human life and fill human hearts with the spirit of love and peace. Although human life is a prison of difficulties and problems, poets teach us to praise each other and wipe out hatred and ill will.                                                 Kjt/-20-03-2020

ALEXANDER POPE ************* ESSAY ON MAN ( Epistle I, Section II )

20.             )

Write an essay on the following

1.       How does the poem ‘vindicate the ways of God to man?”

2.       The poem is a reflection on the reigning scientific thought of the day. Discuss

3.       Discuss Alexander Pope as a Neoclassical poet.

 “Essay on Man” is a neoclassical poem written by Alexander Pope one of the greatest of the Neoclassical poets in English literature. Neoclassical period began from 1660 and ended in 1798 and Romantic period began with the publication of “Lyrical Ballads” by William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge. Neoclassical period is also known as the Augustan period because the poets of this period tried to imitate the style of the ancient Greek and Roman writers like Homer and Virgil and others. The distinguished writers of Neoclassical period are Alexander Pope, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Daniel Defoe and others. This was also the period of the Enlightenment which gave importance to logic and reason.

“Essay on Man” is a philosophical poem. The theme of the poem is the justification of God’s ways to man. Neoclassical Age is marked by a spirit of rationalism and scientific temper. Isaac Newton was the greatest scientist of the period. Alexander Pope had great respect and admiration for  the great scientist. God has created every creature in perfect condition, giving them all the qualities they need. Man in his pride questions the ways of God. The universe is infinite and man’s knowledge is very limited. Many things we call wrong must be right because right and wrong depends on the way we look at things.

The proud horse does not know why man controls him from taking its own freedom or drives him over the plains. Similarly, the dull ox does not know why he is used to plough the land. Sometimes a creature becomes a victim and in another time he becomes a ruler. In the Bible we see the story of Joseph who was sold as a slave by his wicked brothers, but the same Joseph became the ruler of Egypt and his own brothers became beggars before Joseph. Man can understand these things only if he uses his reasoning power. We have no right to say man is imperfect or God is at fault. But we should understand that man is as perfect as God wanted him to be. Man is given limited knowledge to suit his place and position. He is given a particular place to live just as the fish is given a particular place to live.

The poem is written in the form of heroic couplet in which two lines written in iambic pentameter, ending with perfect rhymes. The defect of Neoclassical poetry is that too much logic and reason is applied by the poet leading to artificiality and worn out bombastic phrases and lifeless personifications which destroy the beauty and spontaneity of the poem. This is why William Wordsworth and S.T. Coleridge introduced “Lyrical Ballads” which opened a new era called Romanticism.                                                 Kjt/- 20-03-2020

BASSEY IKPI ********** HOMEWARD

19.  

Write an essay on the following

1.       Analyze “Homeward” as a lament on a diminished culture.

2.       The cultural divide and is complex emotional nuances are transacted effectively  by Ikpi through the genre of Spoken word poetry – Discuss

Bassey Ikpi’s poem “Homeward” is a Spoken word poem speaks about the pain of the narrator who is torn between the divided culture and nationalities. Ikpi was in Nigeria to  her Nigerian parents of black background. But in her childhood days she was taken to America just like an uprooted plant. The poem is about her divided nationalities of Nigeria and American dichotomy. Iron bird is the aero-plane that represents the modern life of the USA. The grandmother has not seen an aero-plane and she thinks it is an iron bird, because it flies like a bird.

 Although she was born in Nigeria, she was brought up in American soil imbibing the culture and civilization of the USA. But she wants to be  a Naija girl. Nigeria is her mother land and she wants to grow old and die in the  soil of Nigeria. But the American culture and language cannot be rejected by her. At the same time, she wants to eat Nigerian food items like chin-chin, fuufuu, gari and banana fried in palm oil.

 She prefers the frankness of Nigerian villagers to the hypocrisy of the modern American people. In Nigeria there is more love among family members and relatives than what is found in Western culture.  Western culture is  mechanical whereas Nigerian culture is more frank, sincere and warmth. They respect elders and old parents with love and mercy. In short the poem “Homeward” is a lament for diminished culture.        Kjt/-20-03-2020

JOAO CABRAL DE MELO NETO ********** LANDSCAPE OF THE CAPIBARIBE RIVER

18.     

Write an essay on the following

1.       Cabral’s poem is about environmental degradation. Discuss

2.       Cabral’s poem is as much about the river as it is about landscape. Substantiate

3.       To what extent can  “Landscape of the Cpibaribe River” be seen as a consciousness raising poem?

Joao Cabral De Melo  Neto is the most famous poet of Brazil. Cabral’s central image for the river is a dog. Rivers are the  mirrors of human culture and they are the cradles of civilization. But now rivers all over the world carry the burdens of human crime and deeds of destruction. Every where we see air pollution, sound pollution, soil pollution and water pollution. Capibaribe river in Brazil is no exception. Cabral cries about the environmental pollution of the Capibaribe river. The river is slowly and steadily dying for want of cleanliness and fresh flow of water. Once upon a time the river was the cradle of all varieties of fish, tortoise, octopus and other water creatures. But they are all dead and gone. Instead the river is full of silt, mud and rust and human wastes and night soil thrown into the river. The hospitals and factories discharge their effluents into  the river and the water is polluted. The poet if human beings continue to create  pollution and destructive activities, the Capibaribe River will be converted into a waste land with accumulation of silt, mud and mangroves and the riverscape becomes a dirty landscape.

The poem is built on a number of absences and presences. The river does not know the  pure  blue rain, the rose coloured fountain, the drinking water in the pitcher and the breeze on water. These images of pure water is absent. The poet now speaks about the things that the river knows. The river knows silt, mud, and  rust which pollute the river. As the river is stagnant because of flow of water is almost stopped, many mangroves are grown in  the river. The poet has employed many effective similes and metaphors. The river is smooth like the bulging belly of a pregnant dog. The sugar factories on the banks of the river is compared to huge trees dripping sugar into the river and  pollute the water flow. The river is almost stagnant and move slowly like an old man struggling to walk with a heavy burden on his back. 

In the end of the poem the poet asks the readers many questions. These questions are effective poetic techniques to make the readers aware of the cultural degradation of human beings all over the world. “These cultured families” neglect the flow and substance of the rivers and still engage in scientific, technical and literary activities while rivers are dying slowly everywhere. Once these rivers were enriched with pure water to drink and there were all kinds water creatures like fish and octopus and people carried water in pitchers from the river to drink, bath and clean house yards. At that time river water was glossy blue. Today the water turns to yellow and muddy colour. KJT/-20-03-2020.

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE *********** BE DRUNK

17.           

Write an essay on the following

1.       The poem as a celebration of life

2.       The poem as an indictment of modern life.

Charles Baudelaire is a great French poet whose magnum opus is “Flowers of Evil” an anthology of his poetry, which dealt with the two taboo topics like sex and lesbianism. As a child he had a strong fixation towards his mother. His father’s death gave him the opportunity to be close to his mother. But when his mother married again, he lost his motherly love and he was in atraumatic condition. But his stepfather’s death brought him back to his mother and he declares with pride: “I belong to you absolutely, an that I belong only to you”. Baudelaire won acclaim in the literary field on translating the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, the great American poet and novelist.

“Be Drunk” is a simple poem written by Charles Baudelaire is a celebration of life. The poet asks his readers to get drunk from anything they like – wine, poetry or virtue and makes sure that they are happy. The poet says that you have to be drunk which means get intoxicated with anything such as wine, poetry, music, art and literature or doing good things for the people around you. You have to be continually drunk so that you don’t feel the terrible burden of time.

In his poem “Be Drunk”, Charles Baudelaire gives us a new meaning of “drunk”. Usually drink means drink liquor and you will be intoxicated. But the poet gives a new meaning to “drunk” which means get intoxicated with anything in life. You may get intoxicated when you are indulged in too much music or poetry, literature, art or doing good things for the people and thereby do service to mankind. In short you should enjoy life to its maximum, so that you for get your slavery of life, its hard work and other terrible pains and burdens of time. Time is portrayed as the enemy of man. Time is a villain which makes you grow old and sick and finally you are killed.  The poet uses two metaphors in the poem. First is life which is intoxicated to escape from the terrible burdens of time. The second metaphor is Time which is shown as the enemy of man. Most people suffer sorrow and pain and lead life like a slave. They are the “‘martyred slaves of time”.     Kjt/- 20-03-2020

YEHUDA AMICHAI *********** ANNIVERSARIES OF WAR

16.      

Write an essay on the following

1.       “Anniversaries of War” uses personal memory and collective history – Comment

Yehuda Amichai is a great Jewish poet of Israel. He is Israel’s poet laureate. Although he was born in Germany, he fled to  Israel because of Nazi persecution. He fought in three wars but he is a pacifist. The poem is about  the narrator’s visit to Tel Gath, the birth place of Goliath who fought against David in the Old Testament of the Bible. The poet took his children to the mount of Tel Gath which is now a grave yard of thousands of soldiers who fought and killed in wars. Interestingly the narrator was also a soldier and fought many wars there. He brought his children there so that they should learn what he did and what he did not do. In old days he fought bravely,  but it was a foolish thing. Now he is thinking about the past and the present. He is now wiser than when he was a soldier.

Standing on the mount of Tel Gath, the poet describes the beauty of Nature. A light afternoon wind blows and some people are walking up the mount. In the power of the wind, people are bending down. Green grass, flowers and dandelions cover the ground. Together they all become a multitude of dandelions, the flower that represent love and peace.

Now the poet and his children are sitting on the mount of Tel Gath and enjoy the beauty of Nature. Then he thought of Shmuel He-Nagid, the great poet and scholar who was also a soldier like Yehuda Amichai.

The poem is a journey through time.  Yehuda Amichai fuses personal memory and collective history. The narrator is teaching his children history, war and the history of war. In war a soldier is judged by what he did and what he did not do. As the day moves forward, the poet thinks backward and falls into an optimistic mood. He thinks of the battles in the past and thinks of Shmeul Ha-Nagid who was a poet soldier just as Yehuda Amichai.                     Kjt/-20-03-2020

DIANE GLANCY *********** WITHOUT TITLE

15.          

Write an essay on the following

1.       Analyze the cultural loneliness experienced by the father and the appropriateness of the title of the poem.

Diane Glancy is a great American poet and feminist. It was Glancy who coined the new term “She-donism”. She strongly believes in the power of women and calls herself a feminist. This poem is a glorious tribute to her beloved father who happened to be a Native American(Cherokee Indian) but married to a modern Anglo-German woman who always hated the traditional outlook of her husband. Hunting buffalos and other wild animals was an integral part of the  Native American tribal culture. When a Native American makes his first kill, it is celebrated with great pomp and  colour because killing a wild animal for the first time is regarded as a coveted achievement among the Native American tribal. The Native Americans believed that buffalos had mysterious, magical and  sacred power and these animals were an integral part of the  American tribal. There is a spiritual relationship between these wild animals and the  tribal people of ancient America which is celebrated with many ceremonies and rituals.

The narrator recalls every day her father went out without buffalo, shaman (spiritual power) and bow and arrow to hunt as if he had them all. Even after marriage, her father thought of himself as a Native American hunter.  He worked in the stockyards where livestock is kept and sorted. He brought meat to his family every day. No one noticed his first hunting and killing the buffalo and no one sang the buffalo song because he was separated from his tribal and had come to city life and married a modern woman of Anglo-French decent. In the evenings when her father came back home deadly tired after a day’s work in the livestock yard, mother would be angry with him because he bought with him the horn and hides and the father is insulted in front of his children.

The narrator remembers that her father was very fond of the pictures of wild buffalos and other animals and painted his car with the pictures of these animals. The father of the poet is a Cherokee Indian, he loves animals and even on his cars the feet of animals are painted. The poem depicts the sorrow of an uprooted man who loves nature and animals. He has no title, no identity of his own.

The aerial of the car is compared to the string of the bow of the archer. The aerial of the car is also slim, strong and therefore the figure of speech is a simile.                Kjt/-20-03-2020

NAMDEO LAXMAN DHASAL *********** STONEMASONS, MY FATHER AND ME

14.      

Write an essay on the following

1.       Dhasal’s poem is a powerful indictment of a caste ridden society

2.       How does Dhasal juxtapose the past and the present in a society anxious to engender stereotypes?

Namdeo Laxman Dhasal is a revolutionary Marathi poet and Dalit activist. He and his Dalit  friends founded the Dalit Panthers Movement.  Dhasal’s residence was close to Kamathipura, India’s largest colony of sex workers and the Durga Devi Udyan which was the niche of transgenders. In his poetry, he employs violent, underbelly, Kamathipura dialect and expressions and critics called it “bastard language”.  His poetry comes from the underbelly of Bombay city. We see a world of pimps, smugglers, crooks, petty politicians, opium dens, brothels and huts of the poor. Namdeo Laxman Dhasal is an iconoclast who wants to destroy the old, rotten customs and conventions that fetter people. Dhasal’s poem “Stonemasons, My Father and Me” is a powerful indictment of a caste ridden society. Dhasal belongs to an untouchable, downtrodden caste namely Mahar and led a life of extreme poverty and humiliation.

 In the poem “Stonemasons, My Father and Me”, the poet says that people often romanticize the stonemasons who belong to the downtrodden class and are untouchables. They say that the stonemasons give stones dreams. The stonemasons give stones flowers and inseminate stones and mix blood with stones. The stones are shaped into beautiful young ladies  and handsome young men, beautiful flowers, buds and flower vases. The poet again says that the stonemasons inseminate stones which means different types of new statues and beautiful gardens, palaces and towers and castles are born out of these stones by the work of skillful masons. Sometimes great sculptors carved wonderful images out of  the stones by sleepless hard work for  years. For example the mythological story of Pygmalion who shaped the life size statue of Venus and finally fell in love with his own creation.

 But these glowing tributes are meaningless. These poor masons are denied all the privileges of the  society. They are so poor that they cannot live in their own good houses. They are ostracized and marginalized. They  don’t get decent wages.                                Kjt/-20-03-2020

LANGSTON HUGHES ************* MOTHER TO SON

13.  

Write an essay on the following

1.       “Mother to Son” is about the endurance of human spirit. Elaborate

Langston Hughes is the most important poet of the Harlem Renaissance (The New Negro Renaissance). He always aims at creating positive images of black life and identity. In this poem titled “Mother to Son” he tries to create the positive image of a black mother. The  poem is sub-titled as “Crystal Stair”. The Whites always said that the black woman was domineering, egotistic, a kind of spider woman. Langston Hughes through  this poem presents to us the kind hearted, hard working and lovable and full of understanding and sympathetic  black mother. The mother in the poem is full of energy and strength to overcome various hurdles of life.  The poem is written in the frame work of a dramatic monologue and the mother is the lone speaker and the son is a  silent listener. The mother tells her son that the path of the black race is full of struggle and pain but one must overcome these hurdles to succeed in life.

The black mother  tells her son that life has  not  been a crystal stair for her. It is full of tacks, nails and splinters in it. Boards are torn up and in  many places there were not even carpets spread. It was bare and empty ground. Crystal stair is very smooth and comfortable. For the whites, life is like a crystal stair, but for the blacks the stair is full of sharp rusted nails and the boards are broken in many  places and there were no carpets. The crystal stair is the metaphor for human life.

 Ever since her birth the black mother has been climbing up. On the stair case there were landings and turning corners and there were no lights on her path. In the light of her bitter experiences of life, she  warns him not to turn back and don’t sit down on the steps.  Don’t fall down and keep on climbing in spite of all the difficulties on the way. She tells him that she is still climbing with great struggle because life has not been a crystal stair for her. Difficulties and problems of life never disappointed her and even in her old age life is full of struggle  for her because she is born a black woman! She is not angry with any  one nor she curses nor makes complaints to anyone. She suffers her difficulties in silence. She advises her son  to follow her example in  life.

NAZIM HIKMET - SOME ADVICE TO THOSE WHO WILL SERVE TIME IN PRISON

12.   

Write an essay on the following:

1.       Discuss the poem as a defensive mechanism to survive the incarceration.

2.       Analyze Hikmet’s poem as a poem of protest

Nazim Hikmet is known as the first modern Turkish poet. But the Turkish government imprisoned him for long thirty odd years for his revolutionary communist ideas. But this imprisonment did not destroy his revolutionary spirit and he went on reading and writing literature in his prison life. He was the first Turkish poet to conquer the hearts of the common people.  Critics have compared him to Walt Whitman the great American poet.  As Ernest Hemingway declares in his famous novel “The Old Man and the Sea”, ‘man can be destroyed, but not defeated’.

In his poem “Some Advice to Those Who Will Serve Time in Prison” Hikmet offers various ways to  overcome the drudgery and hellish atmosphere of jail life. His advice is a defensive mechanisms for survival during his thirty odd years of imprisonment. It is a poem of protest.

Instead of hanging you to death, if you are put inside a prison for ten to fifteen years, you will be proud of it because you loved your  people and fought for their freedom, equality and brotherhood. But after the long imprisonment, when you come out into the free world, you will have many more years to lead a happy life. Then you will never say that it was better to be hanged to death than the imprisonment.

Inside the prison, you live but you have to face many difficulties. But in spite of all these, you must remember that life is very precious and even one day is very important for you because you are alive and every moment your enemy is defeated by your brave life inside the prison.  One part of you are so lonely like a stone at the bottom of a well. But the other part is very busy with the problems and issues of the world by reading and writing. Sometimes you shiver in the cold days in the prison. But you know that you are a man and you cannot be defeated.

Now Hikmet advises the prisoners not to do certain things when they are in jail. They should never wait for letters nor sing sad songs nor spend sleepless nights looking at the ceiling of the prison building. You may think they are good for you. But they are dangerous things and you should not do it. They may give you sad and dispirited thoughts.  Every morning you should shave your face and wash it properly and look at your face through mirror and enjoy the beauty and freshness of your face. You will feel happy and proud of your healthy body. Forget your age and think that you are always young and green and fresh. Comb your hair properly and kill all the lice in your hair. In the spring season, look at the sky at night and enjoy the beauty of the twinkling stars. Eat every piece of bread with relish and whenever you get chance, don’t forget to laugh, because laughing is the best medicine a man  gets in the prison life at free of cost.

When you go to prison the woman who loved you may reject you and go to another person. It is possible. But don’t worry about such silly things. It is like cutting off a green branch of a tree. The tree will grow fresh branches again.  Take it easy and don’t bother about such things. Don’t dream of roses and gardens inside a prison. Instead, dream of climbing to the top of mountains and travelling across the sea. These are the fitting dreams of a brave prisoner. Once again  I advise you to keep busy by reading and writing because they are the windows to the outer world. You can spend your time weaving and making mirrors. If you follow this time table strictly, you can survive in prison more than fifteen years as long as your jewel on the left side of your chest, I mean, your heart continues to beat properly with shining speed!                           Kjt/-20-03-2020

RAINER MARIA RILKE ------------- CHILDHOOD

11.               

Write an essay on the following

1.       The poem laments the passage of time. Discuss

2.       Describe the image of childhood that is portrayed in the poem

Rainer Maria Rilke was an Austro-German poet and philosopher. He had an unhappy childhood. His father compelled him to join a military boarding academy to become a military officer and he could not continue his military education and his parents were divorced.

The poem “Childhood” is taken from Rainer Maria Rilke’s book titled “The Book of Pictures”. In this poem Rilke speaks about two themes namely ‘loneliness’ and ‘passage of time’. The narrator had an unhappy childhood days. So he says that he had long childhood afternoons. Those days are completely vanished now because those were sad days. He had an unhappy childhood. His father compelled him to join a military boarding academy to become a military officer and he could not continue his military education and his parents were divorced.

The poem “childhood” laments the speedy passage of time. Although his childhood days were very happy for the narrator, its speedy disappearance makes him sad and bewildered. He is reminded of his lost childhood days when rain comes. The rainfall acts as catalyst and in its presence he remembers his unhappy childhood days, when he met lots and lots of people, reunions and many pictures of the  childhood days filled his heart.

 He feels like a lonely shepherd who is far away grazing his sheep and he has no companions to play with and talk and spend time in merry making. The poet is bewildered at his uncertain future and the speedy passage of time. As he grows up, he is like a long thread into the picture-sequence of life. He has to face life with all its hard realities and complexities. He does not know how to overcome these difficulties and problems of life. This is why he feels bewildered. Now when he turns back, his childhood days are completely disappeared. He does not know how it happened. There is a proverb “Time and tide waits for none”. The speaker laments the speedy passage of time.   Kjt/-20-03-2020

LEONARD COHEN -------- I AM YOUR MAN

10.        

Essay: 1. “I am Your Man” as the supreme expression of desperate love.

            2.Imagine you are the poet’s beloved. How would you respond to his pleas?

Leonard Cohen is a Canadian singer, song writer and poet. On finding poetry not financially rewarding, Cohen made up his mind to try songwriting and moved to the US 1966. His songs abound in themes of political and social justice.  He spent five years as a recluse at Mount Baldy Zen and became a Zen Buddhist monk.

“I am Your Man” is a romantic song that describes the passionate and desperate love of the man for his beloved lady love.  The song is written in free verse. The lover in the poem promises her that he is willing to take on any role for the sake of his beloved lady love.  The lover has made many promises to his beloved in the past, but could not keep up those promises. But goes on making promises over and again.  If she wants another kind of love, he will wear a mask for her. If she wants a partner, she should take his hand. If she is angry with him and she wants to beat him, he is ready accept all her punishments. The narrator tells her that he is still her man. If she wants him to be boxer, he is ready to take up that role and step into the ring  for  her.  If she wants a doctor, he will examine every  part of her body. If she wants a driver, he is ready to become a driver for her and she should get inside the car.

The narrator wants to have sex with her. He feels like a dog in heat. He says that the moon is very bright. A man never got a woman back to him by begging on his knees. But he would crawl to her and he will fall at her feet and he will praise her beauty. He would claw at her heart and he would tear at her sheet and he would request her to accept him as her lover. If she wants to sleep on the road, he will drive the car for her.

If I were his lady love, I would reject him, kick him out of my sight because I know that he wants me only to have sex with him. When his sexual desire is satisfied, he would kick me out just as a curry leaf. I am certain that he has no love for me. Pure love is spiritual and divine which  that dog does not have. He does not know how to respect a woman. I need a man  who is a real  lover whose heart is over-brimmed with spiritual love. The narrator confesses that he has given his lady love a lot of promises, but could not fulfill those promises because he has no love for her. He is like the cruel duke of Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess”.      KJT/- 26-03-2020

STANLEY KUNITZ -------- THE LAYERS

9

Essay: “The Layers” is all about transformations. Elucidate.

            2.Discuss the poem as a metaphor of the journey of  life

            3.”The Layers” celebrate the insight that man gains as he carries on with his life.

 Discuss Stanley Kunitz is a great American poet. His childhood was traumatic with his father’s death, penury, his mother’s marriage and the death of his step father. His father had committed suicide on being bankrupt six weeks before his birth. Stanley worked as a butcher’s assistant. Human life is an accumulation of many different experiences that a person acquired in his different stages of life. Therefore “The Layers” is a metaphor of human life.

Stanley Kunitz’ famous poem “The Layers” is about the journey of human life. “Live in the layers, not on the litter” is the theme of the poem. It is written in free verse in a single stanza. Life is full of pains and sorrows and joys with troubles and hurdles on the path of  life. One must go  through these layers of life. The narrator says that he has walked through many stages of life. He lived and worked for others and on some stages of  life he lived and worked for himself. He has acquired all his friends with love and affection. But all these phases of life gave him a lot of experiences, bitter and sweet. These experiences have enriched his life and greatly transformed him into a different person. Therefore he is not what he was many years ago. He is not an young man today. He is getting old. But his basic principles of  life have not been changed.

The narrator sees the milestones of his life getting reduced toward the horizon. Experiences have transformed him and he has become a better person with wisdom to face life with all its problems and uncertainties. Many of intimate friends have passed away and the narrator is getting  lonely and old. Past memories often make him sad and the  memory of his friends bitterly stings his face. But he knows well that “one should not live on the litter but live in the layers”. Litter means the dustbin of old memories. One should live in the layers because life is a bundle of layers or changes. Change is essential for the progress of life. Human life is a long journey and we have to pass through many changes.

Whenever the narrator faces difficulties and problems, a heavenly voice guides him through the right path of life. The voice tells him “Live in the layers, not on the litter”. The heavenly voice tells him to go forward with hope and optimism. And he is still carrying on life with his changes.   KJT/- 25-03-2020

ROBERT BROWNING ----------- MY LAST DUCHESS

8.                            

Write an essay on the following

1.       Discuss the poem as a dramatic monologue

2.       Attempt a character sketch of the duke and the duchess

3.       Discuss the element of irony in the poem

Robert Browning was a great poet of the Victorian age of English literature. His poem titled “My Last Duchess” is a typical dramatic monologue. The narrator of the poem is the Duke of Ferrara, in Italy. He speaks to his guest who has come to the Duke with a proposal for a new marriage. The Duke of Ferrara pulls the curtain apart and shows the painting on the wall. He says that his dead wife looks alive on  the wonderful painting. The painting  was done by a famous painter named Fra Pandolf worked hard a day and now the Duchess is alive on the painting. There is an element of irony in the poem. The Duke narrates the “wrong doings” of his Duchess to the messenger of the Count. But the ‘wrong doings” are the virtues or good qualities of the Duchess.

From the talk of the Duke, we can easily learn his wicked character and strange notions. The Duke is highly suspicious about the beauty and chastity of his dead wife.  Everyone in the palace praised the last duchess because she loved and respected every courtier, talked and smiled at them. But the Duke did not like the social qualities of the queen. He was arrogant, selfish and cruel and treated his wife as a slave of him.

The significance of the title refers to two words ‘my’ and ‘last”. The Duke says that the dead wife is his own private property and “last duchess” means that the Duke is eagerly waiting for a new wife and the new wife should not repeat  the “mistakes” committed by his last Duchess. If his new wife repeats the mistakes, she will also face death in the same manner as his last duchess is the warning given in the title.

In his talk with the messenger of the Count who brings the marriage proposal, the Duke says that the last duchess could be easily pleased by all people in the palace and even Fra Pandolf was pleased with the social friendliness of the duchess. While doing the painting Fra Pandolf praised lavishly the glamour of the Duchess and this is why the face and eyes of the queen are made more beautiful and passionate.  The queen was very generous and kind hearted to everyone and talked to  every servant with a smiling compassionate face. This act of the queen infuriated the duke. But he  did not warn her because the duke thought that his warning or advice to  her is below his status. He is egoistic. He wants his wife show respect and love only to him. He always treated her as his slave and private possession  But day by day, the queen’s popularity continued to increase and this shocked the cruel Duke. He secretly ordered his spies to murder her and it was done and all smiles stopped together.

The poem “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning speaks about the cruelties suffered by the women of England in the Victorian age. Every woman was a slave of men in the patriarchal society. Women had no freedom or equality and no rights and privileges. She could not even ride on horse back or mules back. They were not allowed to travel. This unfortunate duchess was kind hearted and generous woman to everyone. For her virtues, she had to suffer untimely death by the murderers.

The poem also tells us of the dowry system that existed in England at that time. The Duke demands a huge amount as dowry from the father of the new bride.

DYLAN THOMAS ---------- DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

7.               

Essay:

1.       “Do not go gentle into that good night” is one of the finest villanelles in English literature – Comment.

2.       Discuss the critical observation that “Dylan Thomas has great mastery in handling varying moods”.

Dylan Thomas is a famous Welsh poet and is regarded as a typical Romantic poet. His poem titled “Do not go gentle into  that good night” is one of the finest villanelles in English literature. It is a nineteen-line pastoral lyric poem. The occasion for writing this poem is a shocking news that the poet heard of his beloved father who was dying of  cancer. This sad news pained the poet very badly and he wanted to read out this poem to his daddy, but failed. He could complete this poem only after the death of his beloved father. In the poem Dylan Thomas says that life and death are twins and go together till the end of a person. Night is the  metaphor of death. The poet tells the old people to fight death till the last breath. They should not welcome death , but resist it and resist the dark. Do not go gentle into that good night means don’t blindly obey death but fight violently against the good night (death). Thomas asks his father to resist death by his strong will power and thereby delay death. We cannot avoid death, because it is our birth right and inevitable for every creature born in this  world.

The wise people know well that death is  inevitable and comes at the end of life. They neither said nor did anything to shock the world. So they should not go gentle into that good night which is death. They should always fight against death.

Now Dylan Thomas advises good people to fight against death. Good  people always welcome death with peace and happiness. But they must know that if they fight against death even in old age, they can do a lot of good things which will benefit the life of many people in the world. So they should continue to resist the dark till the last breath.

Courageous people did a lot of heroic things and enjoyed life to its full but learned very late that death is at last coming to them. But be brave and fight death till the last moment. Please don’t go to death in silence and peace but resist the darkness till the last breath.

The great thinkers and serious minded people will come to know that the death is the end of their life. But they must know that even blind people will get good position and pleasure in life and get full of light and happiness. Therefore serious people should not accept death in silence and peace but fight death till the end.

Finally, Dylan Thomas speaks to his dying father. The narrator imagines that his father has reached the top of the mountain of life with bag-full of burdens on his aged shoulders. The son begs his beloved father to hand over him the burden  of blessings, curses and gift of his passionate emotions.

He also makes a prayer to his father to continue to fight against death till his last breath. The death is compared to  the golden light of the setting sun. After the golden light comes pitch darkness.

KJT/- 18-03-2020

P. B. SHELLEY ........... ODE TO A SKYLARK

6.               

Essay

1.       Discuss “Ode to a Skylark” a Romantic poem

2.       How does the skylark become a metaphor for poetic inspiration?

3.       The poem is a search for the ideal, the elusive and the transcendent –  Elucidate

P.B. Shelley’s Romantic poem titled “Ode to a Skylark” is addressed to a bird – skylark. The bird is famous for its sweet music as well as its flight in the deep blue sky. Most often the bird is invisible and the poet listens the sweet music which overflows the sky and the earth, as it seems to the poet. The poet is amazed at the “unpremeditated” poetic art of the bird and  imagines that it is not an ordinary bird, but a heavenly bird or heavenly spirit.

“Ode to a Skylark” is a typical Romantic poem. All romantic characteristics are blended in the poem. Every line of the poem abounds in emotional and imaginative qualities. The skylark is the central metaphor of the poem. The bird represents the great power of Nature on man’s activities. The  poet is amazed at the ‘unpremeditated poetic art of the bird’. The bird sings naturally while it flies higher and higher to the depth of the blue sky. When human poets make a lot of hard labour by re-correcting  every line hundreds of times. In spite of these repeated corrections they are far from perfection, because human beings are the victims of illness, dangers and death. Wedding songs and victory songs are the best of human made music because they give us pleasure. But even these songs are empty sounds in comparison with the  song of the skylark.

 Another important feature of the poem is the colourful imaginations and comparisons through which the  poet is praising the beauty of Nature.

 The poem is a search for the ideal, the elusive and the transcendent. We can see many transcendental elements in “Ode to a Skylark”.  Transcendental elements refer to spiritual elements. The poet treats the bird as a heavenly spirit because of its wonderful ‘unpremeditated poetic art’. The bird is self-reliant and full of self confidence because the bird is deathless and makes people happy with  its melodious music. The bird does not depend on anyone for its joy. On the other hand the bird is born to give pleasure to others with its natural skill in  music. In short the skylark is the true representative of Nature. The skylark is an ideal bird of Nature, full of self confident and self reliant like Nature.

The skylark is compared to a poet hidden, but people hear his poetic songs. Similarly the narrator listens to  the wonderful music of the bird, but the bird is invisible. The skylark is like a beautiful princess imprisoned in the palace tower and the young girl sings her love songs to  comfort herself. The song is overflowing the sky and  the earth. Another comparison is that the skylark is like a golden glow-worm among the flowers and bushes in the valley, but we feel the presence of  the glow-worm by its golden light.  Like a rose flower hidden by its own leaves, the skylark is invisible but the poet enjoys its music which overflows every where.  Shelley says that the most beautiful sight and sound of the earth are the music of the rainfall on the twinkling grass and the rain awakened flowers. But the music of the skylark surpasses all these earthly sights and sounds.

Finally the poet requests the skylark to teach the narrator and other human poets the secrets of the ‘unpremeditated poetic art’ and the great joy of the bird, so that he can also sing melodiously and the world will listen to him, as  the poet is now listening to the music of the skylark.  Kjt/- 12-03-2020