Poetry and Drama - I

SYLLABUS
B.A., B.Sc.,
FIRST YEAR
PART II ENGLISH – Paper II Poetry
and Drama
(Applicable to the students who
joined the first year of the
degree course in July 2003 and
thereafter)
A. Poetry:
Text: Spectrum – Board of

Editors – OUP
The following selections are
prescribed :
1. Samuel
...Dejection,
Taylor
an ode
Coleridge
2. John ..Ode to
Keats Psyche
...from
3. Walt Pent-up
Whitman Aching
Rivers
...I would
4. Emily
not paint a
Dickinson
picture
5. Gerard
...God's
Manley
Grandeur
Hopkins
...from
6.
Gitanjali:
Rabindranath
Song
Tagore
Offerings
7. Robert ...Mending
Frost Wall
8. Wilfred ...Strange
Owen Meeting
...The
9. W.H.
Shield of
Auden
Achilles.
B. Drama :
Text: Pride of plays
Ed.K.G. Sheshadri
Anuradha Publishers.
Contents
Unit Text Author
POETRY
S.T.
1 Dejection : an Ode
Coleridge
2 Ode to Psyche John Keats
From Pent up Walt

3
Aching Rivers Whitman
I would not Paint a Emily

4
Picture Dickinson
G.M.
5 God'sGrandeur
Hopkins
6 Song Offerings Tagore's
Robert Lee
7 Mending wall
Frost
Wilfred
8 Strange Meeting
Owen
The Shield of W.H.

9
Achjlles Auden
DRAMA
D.1. The Bishop's Norman
Candlesticks Mckinnel
D.2. The Bear Anton
Checkhov
D.3. The Death Trap Saki
D.4. The Valiant Holworthy Hall
and Robert
Middtemass
D.5. The Monkey's W.W. Jacobs
Paw Dramatized
by Louis N.
Parker
D.6. The Best Laid Farrell Mitchell
Plans
D.7. The Trial of Mazie Hall
Billy Scott
POETRY
1. Dejection : an Ode
- S.T. Coleridge
1.1. Introduction : Author
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (S.T.
Coleridge) is described by Charles
Lamb as “Logician, Metaphysician
and the Bard”. He had a very disquiet
life which was made more tumultuous
by his own sensitive and uneven
temperament. He was bom on
October 21, 1772 in Ottery, St. Mary,
Devonshire.
Coleridge wrote very little, most of it
fragmentary. His reputation as a poet
rests on four to five poems composed

within a short period of six years like
“The Ancient Mariner”, “Christabel”,
“Kubla Khan”, “Frost at Midnight” etc.
His poems are classified as :
1. Personal Poems
2. Political poems and
3. Romantic poems.
Personal poems pay a touching
tribute to the days of hope and joy
experienced by the poet in the
company of Wordsworth. The poems
written during this phase gave him a
sense of belonging and a feeling of
personal security. During this period
only he had written the poem,
“Dejection: an ode” which expresses
the poet's sense of failure and

sterility and bewails the loss of
creative powers. Political poems talk
about Coleridge's interest in political
scenario of Europe and especially of
France, French Revolution and
England. Romantic poems give him
a reputation as a poet that rests on
three of his great romantic poems:
“The Ancient Mariner”, “Kubla Khan”,
and “Christabel” All the three evoke a
magical and mysterious mood.
Coleridge possesses an unusual gift
of evoking the mystery of things. He
is said to have the most vigorous
imagination among the romantic
poets. The major poems of Coleridge
have a strange dreamlike atmosphere
as dreams are no shadows; they are

the very substance of his life. He
fed on his dreams and vitalized them
in his poems. His love of the
supernatural led him to an
exploration of the middle ages, and
he was fascinated by the romances
and legends associated with them.
The essence of Coleridge's
romanticism lies in his artistic
treatment of the supernatural.
1.1.1. Introduction : Poem
Coleridge's attitude to nature as
depicted in the “Ode to Dejection” is
radically different from the attitude
he held earlier under the persuasive
influence of Wordsworth and his
sister Dorothy and expressed in such

poems as “The Aeolian Harp”
Coleridge was young and promising
but his creative potentialities were
muffled by an acute sense of
emotional insecurity felt by him. The
Wordsworths with their affection and
encouragement, stimulated his
creative imagination. He felt his inner
vitality being fructified and life
assumed some meaning for him. This
filled his heart with joy, which made
him perceive joy all around, and in
the company of Wordsworth, he came
to believe that the source of this joy
lay in nature. However, in his later
years due to estrangement from
Wordsworth and the influence of the
transcendental philosophy of
Germany, changed his attitude and
Nature ceased to be the physical
manifestation of a divine spirit
capable of exerting moral and
educative influence. It was reduced
into just a lifeless mass. As a
consequence of his misfortunes, a
stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief
has come to grip his mind and he
finds the beauty of nature utterly
incapable of raising the spirits.
Nature is beautiful as usual and he
has been gazing at its beauty for the
whole evening, but his inner spirits
have been left untouched :

Hints for Study
I see, not feel, how beautiful they
are!
He comes to the conclusion that the
fountains of the passion and the life
are within and it would be utterly
futile to hope that he could win them
from outward forms. Actually, in “The
Dejection : an ode” the triumph of
Coleridge as an artist consists not in
transcending the neurotic state but in
giving it an adequate verbal shape”.
This is stated in four phases.
1. He briefly, describes his neurotic
state in which his pre-occupation
with the grief in his heart renders
him incapable of experiencing

though he keeps gazing at them
for the whole evening. It is this
neurosis that has made him look
at Nature as ‘the cold inanimate
world”.
2. Next he elaborates his concept of
joy and further he describes how
he came to lose it.
3. Giving utterance to his emotions,
he tries to expel his viper
thoughts from his mind but fails,
for he still thinks of the wind as
a ‘Mad Lutanist’ making ‘Devils
yule’.
4. He is unable to transcend his
neurosis; but he succeeds in
giving it an adequate verbal
shape.
“Dejection : an Ode’, a verse letter
th
was first written on 4 April, 1802. It
was thoroughly revised and published
in the Morning Post on the fifth
October, 1802. Originally it was a
poem of 340 lines but the standard
text incorporating further revision,
consists of 139 lines and is divided
into eight stanzas. The ode was first
addressed to Sara Hutchinson, but in
a letter to his friend Poole, Coleridge
gave him the impression that it was
addressed to him. Later, he made
others believe that it was addressed
to Wordsworth.
Hints for Study
1. Coleridge wrote very little
2. He wrote personal, political
and romantic poems.
3. Personal poems - joy, hope,
despair, sad, melancholic.
4. Dejection-sad.
5. Attitude to nature.
6. Nature - divine - misfortunes
- neurotic state - incapable of
- experiencing beautiful things
- unable to transcend his
neurosis.
7. Dejection - a verse letter -
written in 1802.
Objectives
1. to introduce students to various
forms of poetry.
2. To understand the rise and fall of
the poetic powers of Coleridge.
3. To make the students appreciate
the poem.
Unit Structure
1.1. Introduction: Author
1.1.1. Introduction : Poem
1.1.2. Summary
1.1.3. Critical Evaluation
1.1.4. Paraphrase
1.1.5. Explanatory Notes

1.1.6. Paragraph Questions
1.1.7. Model Annotations
1.1.8. Answers to Check
Your Progress Questions
1.2. Summary:
In a tranquil night, a dull melancholic
breeze is producing mournful sounds.
The poet sees the old moon in the
lap of the new one which foretells
a furious storm. The poet also fears
that, the furious winds will also

disturb the peace of the night. The
sounds of rain and storm raise his
drooping spirits in the past. The poet
wishes that the wind could swell into
a storm and will awaken his dull pain.

The poet is taken hold of by a grief-
dull, drowsy, unimpassioned grief.
The poet is not able to express
himself in words, sighs or tears. He
has been vacantly gazing at the
western sky and its particular hue of
yellow green all through the peaceful
evening. He has been watching the
beauty of the floating clouds, the
stars gliding, the moon shining in
another cloudless part of the sky. But
he has not been able to feel this
beauty because of the grief that he
has felt in his mind. He has lost his
spirits and feels that even if he has
been watching these beautiful things,
his spirit could not be raised as
external forms of nature cannot

animate a person if the real sources
of life and vitality lying within his
heart have dried up.
Then the poet begins to address the
lady and by addressing the lady he
says that we receive from nature only
what we give it. The happy or
mournful spectacles that nature
appears to be presenting to us get
that peculiar colour from our moods.
Nature appears to the poor care-worn
people of the world as cold and
lifeless. If we want to see in Nature
something of higher worth, our own
soul must send forth a glory and
radiance to envelop its objects and a
potent voice to endure its sound and
sweetness. The source of this glory

and sweetness is joy. This joy is the
power giving principle and the power,
a beautiful one in itself, enables one
to create beautiful things. Only pure
people can experience the purest
form with noble thoughts and
feelings. The sweetness of natural
sounds and the brightness of natural
sights proceed from joy.
The poet had experienced this joy in
the past. This enabled him to make
light of his misfortunes. He had to
lose the joy when he was stormed
with wordly sorrows and cares. He
grieves for the cause of such a loss.
The fact is that it has caused decline
of the shaping spirit of the
imagination. In order to escape his

oppressive grief and to reduce the
sensitivity of his heart, he began to
indulge in abstract philosophy and
metaphysics. When it grew to be a
habit, his poetic faculties were
rendered ineffective.
Then the poet desires to dismiss the
depressing thoughts of his mind and
turns his attention to the storm
raging outside. The sound of the wind
strikes him like the prolonged scream
of agony emitted by a human being
constantly under torture. He thinks
that it would be much better if the
wind were to blow against a bare
rock, a tree blasted by lightning, a
pine-grove unvisited, or a lonely
house believed to be haunted by a

ghost. The wind seems to be
celebrating the devil's Christmas. He
takes wind as an actor who is capable
of producing all kinds of tragic
sounds. The sounds appear to be the
painful groans of a defeated,
retreating army. It also reminds the
poet of a touching story written by
Thomas Otway about a little girl who
has lost her way on a lonely moor.
The girl moans desperately in grief
and fear and she cries aloud hoping
that her cry would get the attention
of her mother.
The poet has no inclination to sleep.
He prays that the lady may rarely
experience such a sleeplessness. He
prays that sleep may visit her and let

the morning bring her a light heart,
gay imagination, and cheerful eyes.
The poem concludes with the prayer
that joy may raise her spirit and all
things that exist in the world are for
her and for her sake and that she
may be blessed with happiness and
joy.
1.3. Critical Evaluation
“Dejection : An ode” is a very sad,
melancholic poem. It may be
considered the agonized cry of a poet
who feels that he has lost his potent
voice before he could create. As the
poem was written in a state of great
mental torment the feelings were
intensified and aggravated.

The poem begins with the sad
realization that though the poet could
see the beautiful things he cannot
feel it. The poet has to look at all
beautiful things – a tranquil evening
with fleece like clouds leisurely
floating in a distant part of the sky,
the crescent moon, the phantom
light-vacantly. He has to cry
My genial spirits fail.,
And what can these
avail
To lift the smothering
weight from off my
breast?
He realizes that the joy within an
individual is a creative principle as

it colours the poet's thoughts and
feelings – life's effluence. There was
a time when he possessed the joy.
Then his creative powers were very
active. As he succumbed to his
afflictions, he lost his joy and his
inborn gift of the shaping spirit of
imagination. The fountains of his
poetic creativity dried up and he
could only produce the agonized
scream as that of the wind of the
moor. The loss is bewailed; but
actually Coleridge's poetic powers
were never fully sapped; they were
suspended; and if he would not bring
them to adequate realization, the
reasons will have to be sought
elsewhere.
1.4. Paraphrase
Well, if the poet who wrote the old
ballad of Sir Partrick Spence was
correct in the forecast of weather,
this night, will be disturbed by winds.
Look, the new moon is overspread
with a pale ghostly light. I can see
the old Moon in the lap of the new
one. It foretells a furious storm and
rain. This wind could immediately
swell into a storm and rain drops fall
pattering rapidly. The sounds of the
rain and the strom have raised my
drooping spirits and given my soul a
flight of imagination. I wish that even
now they could produce in me the

customary thrill and could awaken
this benumbing pain.
II
Mine is a grief that does not cause
any painful emotion. It is just blank
and dull. It is suppressed, drowsy,
unagitated kind of grief. O Lady, this
cheerless and listless mood! I have
been gazing at the western sky and
its peculiar hue of yellow green. I
am still gazing at the sky but how
vacant and blank that gaze is! The
clouds appear to be floating behind
or sometimes between the clouds.
When they are not covered by the
stars, they look bright; when they
are screened by them, their light

becomes dim, but even then they are
visible. The crescent moon is
perfectly still in a part of the sky
where there are neither clouds nor
stars. I can see all these objects of
nature looking so beautiful but, I do
not feel it.
III
I have lost my genial spirits. How
can I expect the beauty of natural
objects to lift from my heart the
overwhelming burden of my grief.
The real sources of passion and life
are within one's heart. Now they
have dried up. I cannot expect the
external forms to animate me.

IV
O Lady! we receive from Nature but
what we give. It is we who invest
it with joy or gloom. Nature appears
to be happy or mournful depending
on the type of mood we have. The
objects of nature are cold and
lifeless. The human soul must itself
send forth a sweet and powerful
voice which will endow the sounds of
nature with sweetness.
O pure of heart, you need not ask
me what this strong music in the soul
is, where it exists and what it does.
The source of this light or glory is
joy, my lady, which is granted only
to the pure of heart, in their purest

moments of life. Joy is at once life
and the thoughts and feelings which
arise from life. Joy is the power -
giving principle and the power itself.
Nature gives us the gift of a new
Earth and a new Heaven. The
sweetness of the sounds and the
brightness of the sights proceed from
this very joy. It is because of the joy
in our own hearts that we feel happy.
All the sweet melodies and pleasant
sights of nature are simply the echo
and reflection of this joy.
VI
There was a time when, the joy in
my heart enabled me to make light
of my sorrows and sufferings. That

was the time when hope grew around
me and I was able to derive pleasure
out of hopes that did not even belong
to me. But now I have been crushed
by earthly sorrows and cares. What
grieves me is that every fit of
depression renders ineffective my
inborn gift of the creative power of
imagination. I thought to change my
nature and conquer my excessive
sensitiveness. But my metaphysical
musing has grown to be a habit of my
soul. as a result of which my poetic
faculties have been incapacitated.
VII
O poisonous thoughts, you are like
the fearful dream of reality and you

have enveloped my mind. But now I
dismiss you. The sound produced by
the wind is like a prolonged scream
of agony. You wind, that are blowing
furiously outside, instead of playing
upon the lute you should blow
against a bare rock, a mountain lake,
a tree struck with lightning, a pine-
grow untouched ever by any
woodman, or a lonely house long
believed to be haunted by witches.
You wind, you are producing sounds
worse than the ones heard in winter.
You are making sounds as if you were
celebrating a devils’ Christmas
among them. You are an actor, adept
in producing all kinds of tragic
sounds. You are a mighty poet caught

in a spell of poetic frenzy. But now
those sounds are silenced and there
is a brief pause. Now another sound,
less intense and loud than the ones
produced by the retreating army can
be heard. This new sound is less
fearful and is even tempered with
a little delight. It is like the tender
story, written by Thomas Otway, of
a little girl who has lost her way on
a desolate moor not very far from
home. The little girl sometimes
moans low in grief and fear and
sometimes she screams loudly
hoping that her mother would hear
her cries and come to her rescue.

VIII
It is already midnight but I have no
inclination to sleep. May gentle sleep
descend upon her eyes with its
healing touch. May all the stars shine
brightly and silently above her
dwelling. May she get up from bed
with a light heart, with her
imagination gay and her eyes
cheerful! May joy raise her spirits and
sweeten her voice! May all living
creatures from one end of the world
to the other exist only for her! May
all things of the earth receive life
from the emanation of joy in her
soul! O simple-hearted and dear
Lady, may you be guided by heaven!
May you feel happy for ever and
ever!
1.5. Explanatory Notes
Motto: The motto is taken from the
Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence first
printed by Thomas Percy in his
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry in
1765. In the lines quoted here, the
speaker says that he has seen the
new Moon with the old Moon in her
arms and, that he is afraid, this sign
forebodes a deadly storm.
The poet sees the old Moon in the

lap of the new Moon, foretelling the
coming-on of rain and a squally blast.
He wishes the storm to below and
startle the dull pain in his heart.

1. Bard : the poet who wrote the
Ballad of Sir Patrick Spence,
2. Weather - wise : could predict the
changes in weather accurately;
3. Tranquil: calm and peaceful.
3-4. This night ...winds : this night
appearing to be so calm and
peaceful at this moment will not
pass without being disturbed by
fierce winds.
4. That ply a busier trade : winds
which are more active.
5. Ply: to work at steadily.
6. Which mould you cloud in lazy
flakes : winds which split the cloud
into small flakes leisurely floating
in the sky.
7. Dull sobbing draft: a very weak
current of air making a sobbing
sound.
8. Aeolian lute : a stringed musical
instrument upon which the wind is
playing.
6-7. “In Romantic poetry the Aeolian
lute is a standard symbol of the
poet's mind worked upon by
nature's inspiration (the wind), and
the lute moaning to the ‘sobbing
draft’, conveys to the reader a
mood of despair”. (Raymond
Wilson)
9. Which better far were mute :
moaning and taking by the dull
sobbing draft naturally suggests
despair and self- pity.
10. The New-moon winter-bright :
the new Moon as bright as in
winter.
11. Phantom light: pale or dim light;
ghostly light.
9-12 The moon has a peculiar place in
the poetic activity of Coleridge.
According to Bowra. Coleridge took
the moon as “a symbol of the
poet's power to transform the
material world into a world of
imagination”. Here, the moon
overspread with a phantom light
points to his dejection, a certain
chilling of his springs of poetry.
14. Squally blast: furiously raging
storm.
16. Slant night-shower : the shower
of rain falling at the time of night
driven in slanting lines by the
wind.
20. Might startle this dull pain :
might awaken this benumbing or
paralyzing pain. In the first stanza,

Coleridge, through a clever use of
image, has suggested the chilling
up of his poetic imagination. This
has driven him to dejection. There
is a very dull pain in his heart.
He longs for a violent storm that
could invigorate his mind and, at
least, get him out of his pitiable
condition.
II
The poet is not able to provide any
natural outlet of his stifled,
unimpassioned grief. He has been
gazing at the beautiful sights of
nature but he thinks he has lost the
capacity to feel that beauty.
21-22. In these two lines, the poet
describes the nature of his grief.
It is a suppressed, sleepy kind

of grief. It is unaroused, passive.
It does not cause any piercing
sensation in his heart. His grief
is related to the ‘dull pain’.
23-24 The poet has not been able to
express his grief in words, sighs
or tears. He is feeling a kind of
choking sensation.
25. O Lady : According to some
critics, his wife Sarah
Hutchinson. We also know that at
one stage, the expression read
‘O William’ meaning William
Wordsworth. After the poet's
estrangement with Wordsworth,
‘William’ was changed to ‘Lady’.
25-26. The sweet song of the throstle
has been trying to divert the
poet's attention to something
more pleasant. The poet,
however, has continuously been
in a sad and cheerless mood.

27-29. Throughout this peaceful and
pleasant evening, the poet has
been gazing at the western sky
and its peculiar tint of yellow
green.
30. With how blank an eyes : with
a perfectly vacant eye.
33. Those stars .... or between :
the stars appear to be floating
behind the clouds and sometimes
between the clouds.
34. Now sparkling ... always seen
: when the clouds do not cover
the stars, they appear to be
sparkling.
35. Crescent moon : the new moon
in the shape of an arc.
38. I see, not feel, how beautiful
they are: The poet is able to
see the beauty of nature but his

grief has rendered him incapable
of feeling it.
III
The natural cheerfulness of the poet
has forsaken him. The real sources of
passion and life are within and when
they have dried up, merely external
forms of beauty cannot raise his
spirits.
39. My genial spirits fail: I have
lost my natural cheerfulness.
42. Smothering weight: crushing
burden.
45-46. “I cannot hope to derive from
external Nature the life and

depth of emotion which have
their source in the soul”.
IV
The moods that we see in nature are
actually our own moods. Nature does
not have any life of its own. It
appears to be joyous or mournful
according to our being happy or sad.
47. O Lady : the poet again
addresses Sara Hutchinson.
49. Ours is ... shroud : whether
Nature appears to be happy or
mournful depends on whether we
are happy or sad.
51. That inanimate cold world :
that world of Nature consisting of

lifeless and senseless objects of
Nature.
52. The poor loveless ever-
anxious crowd : the wretched
human beings uncomforted by
the healing power of love and
inflicted with cares and worries.
50-57. We have already seen how the
poet believes that the mystic
colouring of one's inner life
animates every object of Nature.
This type of intuition that can
shape Nature is denied to the
‘poor loveless ever anxious
crowd’. This crowd is devoid of
love and joy. But Nature gets its
life from the beholder's own love
and joy. The loveliness of Nature
as well as the sweetness of its
sounds is bom within the soul
itself.
V
The source of light and glory that
can invest the Earth with loveliness
and sweetness is joy. This joy can be
experienced only by the pure in their
purest hour. This joy enables one to
see a new Earth and new Heaven.
59-63. In the previous stanza, the poet
had talked of ‘a fair, luminous
cloud and ‘a sweet and potent
voice’that must emanate from
on'e soul and envelop the whole
earth if one is to see something
‘of higher worth’ in Nature, that
would otherwise remain an
‘inanimate cold world’.
64-65. The poet wants to suggest that
the source of the Earth –
enveloping radiance and the
strong in the soul is joy. And this
joy is experienced only by the
pure in their purest hour.

67-70. Joy...the proud : Joy is the
power-giving principle and the
power itself which, uniting in
imagination.
74. All melodies the echoes of the
voice : whatever sweet melodies
we hear outside are the echoes
of the strong music in the soul.
73-75. We...light : we posses that joy
in our soul. All the delightful
sounds and sights that attract
our ears and eyes proceed from
it. This joy is the source of glory
and music in our soul.
The delightful scenes of Nature
are only the reflections of our
inner glory. This poet was once
capable of experiencing this joy.
But now he has lost it.
Coleridge has not explained the
nature of this joy but it is clear

that it is a creative principle
having moral implication. Nature
is just cold and inanimate. The
beauty we see in it actually
exists within our soul. The source
of this beauty is joy. So Joy is
a kind of creative principle. Only
the pure-hearted and virtuous
people like Sara can experience
n. The artist cannot create
anything in its absence.
VI
There was a time when the poet was
capable of experiencing this joy.
Then he was full of hope. He could
weave dreams of happiness. Now his
shaping spirit of imagination has
greatly declined. He took to abstract
philosophy and metaphysics but this
has stifled the poet in him.

77. Dallied with distress : played
with distress; made light of
sufferings.
76-79. There was ... of happiness :
the poet recalls the time when he
could experience joy.
82. Afflictions : sorrows and
misfortunes.
83. Nor care... mirth : I am not
much bothered that these
misfortunes rob me of my
happiness.
84-86. But oh ... imagination : what
grieves the poet is that each fit
of sorrow weakens his inborn gift
of imagination and renders it
ineffective.
87-91. “Coleridge says that his only
resource against his increasing
melancholy was deliberately to

divert his mind from his feelings
to cultivate a quiet mode of life,
and to immerse himself in deep
metaphysical studies, in the hope
of changing his nature and
conquering his excessive
sensitiveness’. (HoIIingworth)
92-93. My metaphysical tendencies
which were only a part of my
personality have affected my
whole personality. They have
become a habit with me and the
poet in me has been stifled.
VII
The poet dismisses his depressing
thoughts and turns his attention to
the various sounds being made by
the wind. The wind appears to be
screaming with agony. These sounds
appear to be similar to the ones

produced by a retreating army. He
feels that the wind is producing a
moaning sound like the one made by
a little girl who has lost her way. The
wind appears to the poet as an actor
adept in producting all kinds of tragic
sounds.
95. Reality's dark dream :
thoughts that bring to the
poet's mind the dark reality
and hence make life appear
like a frightening dream.
96-97. I turn ... unnoticed : the
poet dismisses his depressing
thoughts and turns his
attention to the wind that has
long been raging outside
unnoticed by him.
99. Lute : the Aeolian lute
mentioned in line 7.
Bare crag: a rock without any
overgrowth of trees or shrubs.
Mountain tairn : a small lake

100.
in the mountains.
Blasted tree : a tree struck
and burnt by lightning.
Pine-grove : a large group of
pine trees growing at one
place.
Whither woodman never

101.
climb : where a woodman
never dared to climb.
Clomb : the old past tense
of‘climb’.
102. Long held the witches’
home : believed for a long
time to be haunted by the
witches.
97-103. What a scream ... for thee
: when the poet turns his
attention to the wind raging
outside, he feels that it is
producing a loud scream of
agony prolonged by constant
torture.
104. Mad lutanist: a furious and
reckless musician playing upon
a lute.
Devils’yule : Christmas
weather, with wild revelry fit
for devils.
105.
Yule : the season or feast of
Christmas. The poet thinks
that the wind, the mad
lutanist, is producing sounds

as if it were celebrating
Devils’yule.
104-107 The poet address the wind as
a reckless musician and says
that in this month of showers,
of dark brown gardens, of
peeping flowers, of blossoms,
buds and tremulous leaves, it
is producing sounds worse
than the ones heard during the
bleak months of winter, as if
it were celebrating a devil's
Christmas. The sounds
produced by the wind remind
the poet of the devil's howling
and shrieking in maliciousjoy.
108. Thou Actor ... sounds : The
poet compares the wind to an
actor who can accurately
produce all kinds of tragic
sounds.
111-113. The wind is a mighty poet
caught in a spell of inspiration.
Coleridge wants to know what
this mighty poet is singing
about. The sounds produced
by the wind are similar to
those of an army of defeated
soldiers. As they retereat in
panic, they groan in pain and
shudder with cold.
120. Otway's self : the poet Otway
himself. Thomas Otway
(1652-85) was a dramatist,
noted for The Orphans and
Venice Preserved. Both the
plays were highly sentimental
and the pathetic plight of their
heroines drowned the
contemporary audiences in
tears.
117-125. The poet imagined that the
wind was telling him about a
retreating army. Then there
was pause. Now the poet

imagines another less fearful
tale. The sounds produced in
it are less intense and loud.
And there is a touch of delight
in them. The sounds being
produced by the wind now
remind the poet of a pathetic
story about a lost little girl
written by Thomas Otway. This
little girl lost her way on a
lonely moorland, not very far
from home. Sometimes she
cried in bitter grief and fear,
for she felt really lost, and
sometimes she cried aloud
hoping to attract the attention
of her mother.
VIII
The poem concludes with a prayer for
Sara. May gentle sleep visit her! Then
next morning, may she get up with

a light and cheerful heart! May she
experience joy!
127. Vigil: sleeplessness.
Full... seldom ... keep : the
poet prays that Sara may not
have such an experience of
sleeplessness.
129. But a mountain birth : This
has been taken for an allusion
to the mountains in travail
which will bring forth – a
mouse, i.e., nothing of
importance.
130-131. May all the stars shine brightly
but silently over her house as
if they were keeping a watch
over the sleeping earth.
136. Eddying : moving in a
whirelpool; moving in a
circular manner; here the
word is used to mean
expansion.
1.6. Paragraph Question:

1. Comment on the theme of the
poem “Dejection; an ode”.
2. How did Coleridge think about
his past?
3. Briefly comment on the
technique used to describe the
evening.
4. How did Coleridge describe his
own grief?
5. Comment on Coleridge's views
on Nature.
6. Write a note on ‘wind’ and ‘rain’
as presented in ‘Dejection: an
ode’;
1.7. Model Annotation

1. My genial spirits fail.
i. Fix the context.
Coleridge in ‘Dejection : an
ode' admits his inability to
create anything new.
ii. Who is referred to as ‘My’?
Coleridge is referred to as
‘My’.
iii. Give the meaning of the
word ‘spirits’.
‘Spirits’ means creative
powers of the poet.

2. I see, not feel, how beautiful
they are
i. Give the meaning
The poet is not able to feel
the beauty of nature though
he has been gazing at it for
long.
ii. Who is referred to as ‘I’?
Coleridge, the poet is
referred to.
iii. What is referred to as
‘beautiful’?.
Nature is referred to as
‘beautiful’
I. Check Your Progress Questions
1. The poet sees the ______
moon.
2. The furious ______ disturb
the _______ of the night.
3. The poet feels
__________
4. We receive from ________
only what we give it.
5. The source of glory and
sweetness is _________
6. The little girl has lost her
way on a lonely
_________
II. Fill in the blanks
1. ______ is a sad and
melancholic poem.
2. The poet can _______ the
beautiful things but he
cannot ______ it.

3. The joy within an _______
us a ________ principle
4. The loss is ________.
5. The poem talks about
________ poetic powers.
6. The old ballad of
________ was correct in
the forecast of _______
7. The wind and the sounds
of ram could ________this
benumbing _______.
III. Fill in the blanks
1. The poet has lost his
______ spirit.
2. _________ appears to be
happy.
3. Nature gives us the gift of
a new _______ and a new
_______.
4. The sound produced by the
______ is like a
prolonged.
5. _______wrote a story
related to a little girl.
6. The poet has the
inclination to ________
7. The motto is taken from
the Ballad of _______.
8. The Ballad of Sir Patrick
Spence was printed by
_______ in his _______ in
_______.
1.8. Answers to Check Your
Progress Questions
I. 1. Old
2. Wind, peace
3. grief
4. nature
5. Joy,
6. Moor
II. 1. Dejection : an Ode
2. See, feel
3. individual, creative
4. bewailed
5. Coleridge's
6. Sir Patrick Spence, Weather
7. awaken, pain.
III. 1. genial
2. Nature
3. Earth, Heaven
4. Wind, agony
5. Thomas Ottaway
6. Sleep
7. Sir Patrick Spence
8. Thomas Percy, Reliques of
Ancient Englsih Poetry,
1765.
2. Ode to Psyche
- John Keats
2.1. Introduction
John Keats (1795-1821) was the
son of a London livery stable keeper.
He was first apprentised to a
pharmacist and later to a surgeon. He
abandoned his medical ambition to
become a poet. He educated himself
from books and the companionship
of Leigh Hunt and other well-known
writers. His famous odes explore the
joy of imagination and beauty and
their ability to transmit life and
reality. His narrative poems display
a luxury of sensuous observation and
romantic human experience. Though

Keats suffered much from the early
loss of his father and mother and
brother, a first hand love-affair, lack
of home and need of money, his joy
in life was as intense as his suffering.
Keats died of consumption in Rome

rd
on 23 February 1821.
Keats was a man peculiarly sensitive
to all the pleasures and beauties. He
found an exquisite delight in fine
tastes, in graceful or noble forms, in
light, in colour, in sound, in physical

exertion. For him beauty was a joy
for ever. Keats, like all the great
poets of his time, belonged to the
Romantic school. He was also a
classicist in the sense that he had
much of the spirit of the old Greeks.

In the great odes Keats's own
philosophy of life finds its supreme
expression.
Objectives
1. to introduce the learners to ode
form
2. to make the students appreciate
the poem.
3. to introduce the students to the
myth of psyche.
Unit Structure
2.1. Introduction
2.2. The Ode
2.3. Ode to Psyche: Composition

2.4. The Legend of Psyche
2.5. Summary
2.6. Meanings for Difficult Words
and Phrases.
2.7. Critical Appreciation
2.8. Paragraph Question
2.9. Model Annotation Passage
2.10. Select Passages for
Annotations
Progress Questions
2.2. The Ode
The word ode in Greek simply means
‘song’ and was applied by the Greek
to any kind of poetic composition that
was written to be sung to music, from

a dirge to a drinking – song. Greek
odes were of two kinds –those
written for a single voice, such as the
lyrics of Sappo and Alcaeus (Seventh
Century B.C) and those written for
a group, of which the best examples
are the odes of Pindar (500 AC). The
former were regular and fairly simple
in metre and the latter highly
elaborate.
The great English writers of odes
before Keats were Spenser, Milton,
Dryden, Gray, Collins, and
Wordsworth. Among Keats's
contemporaries and successors in the
writing of odes the most
distinguished are Shelley, whose
“Skylark” and “West wind” are

written in regular stanzas;
Coleridge's “Dejection : an ode”,
Tennyson's “ode on the Death of the
Duke of Wellington” are some of the
best odes for study.
Keats's great odes are “To
Autumn”, Grecian urn”, “To a
Nightingale” “To Psyche” and “On
Melancholy”. These odes are
concerned with significant aesthetic
experiences.
2.3. Ode to Psyche : Composition
Keats is always remembered for his
Odes. Although he has left behind
a number of odes, his fame chiefly
rests on the six beautiful odes,

namely ‘To a Nightingale’, ‘To
Autumn’, ‘To Melancholy’ ‘To Psyche’,
‘To Grecian Urn’ and ‘To Indolence’.
In the odes Keats reached his own
full ripeness as a poet at last. He
presented himself as a poet and as a
human being who achieved identity.
He wanted to express his own inner
experience through his poetry with a
sense of speaking for all mankind.
These odes illuminate Keats's life. In
all these odes, he stood at a point
of perfect balance, confident in his
ability to meet the future, able to
contemplate his past with calm and
rejoicing in the beauty of the season,
the joy of an answered love, the
delight of a mastered craft.

‘Ode to Psyche’ exhibits his love for
the Greek legend of Psyche and
Cupid. The imagination of the poet
works wonder in this poem and
perhaps no poem contains so much
imagination as this single poem. It
was written towards the end of April
1819 and handed over to one of his
friends J.H. Reynolds. It was
published only after the death of J.H.
Reynolds in 1852. The poem was
originally intended to be a sonnet –
a short poem consisting of 14 lines.
Later he changed his mind and added
more lines to the originally planned
poem of 14 lines. The word ‘Ode’was
added to the original title ‘To Psyche’
and developed into a new ode form.

“Ode to Psyche” was the first of the
spring odes. It is wonderful in many
ways, and Keats worked hard at it.
He described the poem as “the first
and the only one with which I (Keats)
have taken even moderate pains”.
Psyche is borrowed from traditional
myth. Keats had been reading
Apuleius's story of Cupid and Psyche,
a tale of young love set in a magic
palace in an enchanted valley. Psyche
was also the goddess of the soul in
late classical legend.
Keats successfully employed it to
express his ideas about the maturing
of man's soul through suffering and
trials and its final perfection through
its association with Love. Thus the

poem deals with Psyche's love for
Cupid or the soul's of love.
This Ode was sent by Keats to George
and Georgiana Keats in America in
a letter of April 1819. Keats wrote :
“The following poem – the last I have
written – is the first and the only with
which I have taken even moderate
pains. I have for the most part dash'd
off my lines in a hurry. This I have
done leisurely. I think it reads the
more richly for it, and will, I hope,
encourage me to write other things in
even a more peaceable and healthy
spirit. You must recollect that Psyche
was not embodied as a goddess
before the time of Apuleius the
Platonist, who lived after the

Augustan age, and consequently the
Goddess was never worshipped or
sacrificed to with any of the ancient
fervour – and perhaps never thought
of in the old religion. I am more
orthodox than to let a heathen
Goddess be so neglected”.
2.4. The Legend of Psyche
The legend of Psyche was told by
Apuleius in The Golden Ass, of which
a beautiful translation was written by
Adlington, an Elizabethan. scholar.
Psyche was a king's daughter in
Greece, who by her beauty incurred
the jealousy of Aphrodite. Cupid was
dispatched by his mother to inspire
Psyche with love for some base

fellow, but fell in love with her
himself, and carried her to a beautiful
valley, where he visited her every
night under cover of the dark. At
length curiosity provoked Psyche to
light a lamp, when she recognized
the beauty of the God of Love. But
a drop of hot oil fell on Cupid's
shoulder: the god awoke in anger and
fled.
After many wanderings she fell into
Aphrodite's power and was kept as
her slave. A series of impossible talks
set her, but thanks to the aid of birds
and ants she performed them all.
Finally she was forgiven by
Aphrodite, reunited to Cupid, and
made an immortal. The fable typifies

the purification of the human soul by
passion and suffering.
In this Ode Keats addresses Psyche,
and asks to be forgiven for telling
her secrets even to herself. He has
had that day a vision, or dream, of
two fair creatures lying side by side
among flowers in a wood, and has
recognized in them Cupid and Psyche
(1). The next stanza (2) describes
the goddess and refers to the fact
that she was not made immortal till
the days of simple religious faith and
observance were gone by; hence she
has never been duly worshipped. He
offers himself as her worshipper. In
the last stanza. (3) this idea is
worked out in detail. Keats seems to

regard Psyche as the personification
of Beauty rather than of the human
soul. The story of Psyche may be best
told in the words of William Morris in
the ‘argument’ to ‘the story of Cupid
and Psyche’ in his Earthly Paradise :
‘Psyche, a king's daughter, by her
exceeding beauty caused the people
to forget Venus; therefore the
goddess would fain have destroyed
her: nevertheless she became the
bride of Love, yet in an unhappy
moment lost him by her own fault,
and wandering through the world
suffered many evils at the hands of
Venus, for whom she must
accomplish fearful tasks. But the
gods and all nature helped her, and

process of time she was re-united to
Love, forgiven by Venus, and made
immortal by the Father of gods and
men”.
The princess Psyche was beloved by
Cupid, the god of love, who,
nevertheless, forbade her to look
upon his face. However, overcome by
curiosity, one night she took a lamp
to see his countenance; her hand
trembled and a drop of burning oil fell
on his shoulder and awoke him. He at
once left her, and she wandered over
the whole world in search of him.
At last Jupiter took pity on her and
reunited her with him.

2.5. Summary
The thought of the Ode develops as
follows:
Stanzas 1 and 2. The poet's vision of
Cupid and Psyche, lying side by side
amid beautiful flowers in a forest.
Stanza 3. “Latest bom” of the
goddesses, Psyche was never
worshipped.
Stanza 4. Therefore the poet will
worship her.
Stanza 5. His worship will be by
means of his poetry.
The lateness of Psyche is emphasized
as much as her loveliness. Keats

feels that he is creating the worship
of a goddess unworshipped in
classical times. Typical of Keats is
the melancholy tone which can be
detected in his enjoyment.
The poem gives some of the best
examples of Keats's unerring creation
of hyphen-words “soft-conched ear”,
“cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed”,
and “dark-cluster'sd trees and wild –
ridged mountains”.
In the lines
‘Mid hush'd, cool-
rooted flowers
fragrant-eyed,
Blue, silver-white, and
budded Tyrian,
we see and smell the flowers and
sense stillness of the air around them
and the coolness of the moist earth in
which they grow.
The student of Milton will be
reminded of Lycidas in 1.2 and the
Ode on the Morning of Christ's
Nativity in II. 32-35, repeated in II.
46-49. Stanzas and rhyme-scheme
are alike irregular, and a number of
the lines do not rhyme.
2.6. Meanings for Difficult words

and Phrases
1. tuneless number : metrical, not
musical, harmony.
2. by sweet... dear : an obvious
reminiscence of Lycidas, 6, “bitter
constraint and sad occasion dear”.
4. soft-conched : one of Keats's
exquisite compound words. It cannot
be rendered in plain prose, but calls
up a perfect image of the soft and
shell - shaped ear of the goddess. A
conch is a sea –shell.
5. with awakan'd eyes : this phrase
refers, of course, to the writer, not
to Psyche.
7. thoughtlessly : “in a careless,
dreamy mood”.
12. roof: originally written fan. It is
curious that Keats should have
thrown away the rhyme.
13. trambled : “set trembling” by the
wind.
14. ‘mid ... fragrant – eyed : every
beauty that flowers have – scent,
form, stillness, coolness, colouring –
is summed up in this and the next
line.
15. blue ... Tyrian : originally written
“blue, freckle-pink, and budded
Syrian”. Tyrian or Syrian would
equally convey the ideas of the
purple dye obtained from
Mediterranean shell-fish and
exported from Tyre, a city which
formed part of the Syrian empire.
16. bedded grass : “the grass of which
they had made a bed”.
17. bade adieu : cf. 18.23. There are in
the present Ode several echoes or
anticipations or other Odes.
20. at tender ... aurorean love : “when
young Love should open their
eyelids, like ‘the opening eyelids of

the mom” (cf. Lycidas, 26). Aurora
is the goddess of dawn.
25. Olympus : a lofty range of
mountains in Thessaly. In early
Greek mythology the gods were held
to live on the peaks of the range
itself; later, however, they were
relegated to the vault of heaven, to
which the name of their old home
was then transferred.
hierarchy : “divine government.” For
the reason why Psyche is called
latest - born of the gods and
goddesses see Introduction;
26. Phoebe : an epithet of Diana, the
moon-goddess. sapphire region'd
star : the planet Venus, shining in
the sapphire blue of the summer
evening sky. Venus is often known
as the mom-star.
30. delicious moan : cf. ‘tears of perfect
moan; in Milton's epitaph on the
Marchioness of Winchester.
32. no voice, no lute, etc : from this
point to the end of the verse there
are repeated echoes of the
nineteenth stanza of Milton's Hymn
on the Morning of Christ's Nativity: -
The oracles are
dumb,
No voice or hideous
hum
Runs through the arched roof in
words deceiving.
Apollo from his
shrine
Can no more divine
With hollow shriek the steep of
Delphos leaving
No nightly trance or breathed spell
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from
the prophetic cell.

Not only in the main thought and
in the references to an “oracle” and
to a “pale-mouth'd prophet,” but still
more markedly in the cadence of the
lines and the wail - there is no other
word for it - of the iterated, stressed,
long vowels, Keats's stanza recalls
Milton's.
34. Shrine : “oracle,” see note on 1. 3.
38. when holy ... the. fire : a reference
to the nature – workship of the
Romans : every element had its
patron deity. It has been said of
Keats himself that “he never saw
an oak-tree without beholding the
Dryad”.
41. lucent fans : “shining wings”.

42. faint Olympians : the gods are called
faint because the days of their rule
are gone by. By the epithet Keats
makes us realize the passing of the
generations : “the old order
changeth, giving place to new”.
52. where branched thoughts ... wind
: in these lines and in the rest of
the stanzas Keats develops in detail
his fantastic metaphor. His mind is
the forest, full of the varied beauty
of nature and myth; his thoughts
are the pine trees, in the midst of
which he will build a fane or temple
dedicated to the worship of Psyche;
the flowers are apparently his
verses, tended by “the gardener
Fancy”, and the rose-clad temple of
poetry is to be prepared and thrown
open for the entrance of Psyche.
Probably by the “fane” he means the
ode, which with this beautiful
imagery he brings to a close.

54. far... by steep : Ruskin observes
that “Keats, as is his way, puts
nearly all that may be said of the
pine into one verse, though they are
only figurative pines of which he is
speaking ... (men) must not leave
unread, in considering the influence
of trees upon the human soul, that
marvelous Ode to Psyche”Keats
draws here upon what he had seen
himself, for in a letter to Tom Keats
written from Keswick in June 1818
he had described the fail of London
thus : “it oozed out from a cleft in
perpendicular rocks, all fledged with
ash and other beautiful trees”.
57. moss-lain : “couched upon moss”.
Dryads : Dryads and Hamasdryads
were the same.
61. buds, and bells, and stars : i.e.,
flower-buds, and blossoms that open
into bells and stars.

63. who breeding ... the same : the
gardener in an ordinary garden can
produce, by grafting and so on, new
varieties : but his skill is small
compared with the creative fertility
of the poet, whose flowers of verse
are never twice alike.
66. a casement... Love in : window
2.7. Critical Appreciation:
‘The Ode to Psyche’ consists of 67
lines which can be divided into five
irregular stanzas. The poet actually

does not know if he is in a state
between sleep and wakefulness. He
says that while wandering
thoughtlessly he was surprised to see
two fair creatures

“Couched side by side
in deepest grass,
beneath the
whispering roof”
The girl passionately loved by Cupid;
the goddess who was never
worshipped or sacrificed to with any
of the ancient fervour and perhaps
never thought of in the old religion,
the personification of mind or soul –
all these remain somewhat discreate
in the poem. The opening scene of
the two lovers on the grass seems
tenuously related to the poem.
The poet expresses his regret over
the neglect of this goddess Psyche
by the Greeks who did not build any

temple for her. Psyche was thus
deprived of the worship and honour
that were her due.
He says that he will save Psyche from
the neglect that she has suffered and
will supply the want of incense, song,
music priest, temple, grove and so
on. He sees the goddess in his
imagination, and requests her to
allow him to be her worshipper. He,
in fact, wants to build a temple for
her in the land of imagination.
He gives details of the mental
landscape where the temple of
Psyche is to be built. In this land of
the mind, winds will blow, streams
will flow, birds will chirp, bees will

hum and fairies will be lulled to sleep.
The temple will be full of soft delight
for the goddess.
The poem ends with the hint of the
union of Psyche and Cupid which will
give birth to happiness. It deals with
his favourite themes related to the
maturing of human soul through pain
and suffering. The poet has employed
various symbols to explore his
themes in this poem. Psyche is the
human soul which can be perfected
through suffering. Thus Psyche seeks
to restore human values in the face
of growing materialism and attempts
to give Love back to the Soul.

2.8. Paragraph Question
1. What is the theme of the poem
‘Psyche'?
‘The Ode to Psyche’ is a poem
about Love. It tells us about the
importance of human life on
earth. When the human soul is
deprived of love, it undergoes
pain and suffering. The poem, in
fact, deals with Psyche's love for
Cupid or the soul's love of Love.
In showing the love-affair of
Cupid and Psyche, the poet
implies his own love for Fanny
Brawne also. The poet actually
intends to construct for Psyche a
temple in his heart. The process
of soul – making through pain

and suffering forms the theme of
the ‘Ode to Psyche’.
“Yes, 1 will be thy priest, and
build a fane
In some untrodden region of my
mind”
i. From which poem is this passage
taken?
This passage is taken from
Keats's ‘Ode to Psyche’.
ii. Who is the ‘I’ referred to here?
The poet Keats is referred to
here.
iii. For whom does the poet want to
be a priest?
He wants to be a priest of
goddess Psyche.
2.10. Select passages for

Annotations
1. Their arms embraced, and their
pinions too
Their lips touch'd not but had not
bade adieu.
i. What is the title of the
poem?
ii. Who is the Poet?
iii. Whose arms are embraced?
2. ‘No voice, no lute, no pipe, no
incense sweet
From chain – swung censer
teeming
No shrine, no grove, no oracle,
no heat
Of pale – mouthed prophet
dreaming’.
i. Where do you find these
lines?
ii. Who is the poet?
iii. Who is deprived of all the
honour mentioned in the
passage?
Fill in the blanks
1. John Keats was first
apprenticed to a ________
and later to a _______
2. Keats died of _______ in
________ on ________.
3. Keats belonged to
_________ school.
4. The word ‘Ode’ in Greek
means ________
5. Name some of the writers
of odes in English.
6. Name some of the odes of
Shelley.
7. Name some of the Keats'
Odes.
II. Fill in the blanks:
1. “Ode to Psyche” exhibits
his love for the Greek
legend of _______ and
________
2. ‘Ode to Psyche’ was
intended to be a
_________
3. Keats had been reading
_________ story of
Psyche and cupior.
4. The Ode was sent to
________ and ________
5. The Legend of Psyche was
told by Apuleius in
________
6. Psyche incurred the
jealousy of _________
7. _________ was forgiven
by Aphrodite
8. Psyche was beloved by
__________
III. Fill in the blanks:
1. “The Ode to Psyche”
consists of _______ lines.
2. It is divided into ________
irregular _______
3. A _______ is to be built
for Psyche.
4. The poet sees the goddess
in his ______
5. The poem ends with the
print of the ______ of
_______ and Cupid.
6. The poem is about
________
Progress Questions
I. 1. Pharmacist, surgeon
rd
2. Consumption, Rome, 23
February 1821
3. Romantic
4. Song
5. Sponser, Milton, Dryden,
Gray, Wordsworth
6. Skylark, Westwind
7. To Autumn, Grecian urn, To
a Nightingale, To Psyche, on
melancholy.
II. 1. Psyche, Cupid
2. Sonnet
3. Apuleius’
4. George, Georgiana Keats

5. The Golden Ass
6. Aphrodite
7. Psyche
8. Cupid
III. 1. 67
2. five, stanzas
3. temple
4. imagination
5. Union, Psyche, Cupid
6. Love
3. From Pent-up Aching
Rivers
-Walt Whitman
(Give Me the Splendid

Silent Sun)
3.1. Introduction
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was bom
in Newyork and brought up in
Brooklyn. Leaving school at the age
of eleven, he made a living by doing
odd jobs. He worked as a painter,
school teacher, office clerk, reporter

and editor. But none of his jobs gave
him any fulfilment until he was
blossomed into a poet. His collection
of poems ‘The Leaves of grass’
earned him a reputation as a Major
American Bard and it created a

universal and democratic
consciousness among the Americans.
He was acknowledged as the poet of
Democracy and America.
The poems devoted to engaging the
newly created New World personality
in a real hero and now –nineteenth
century America – constitute the
central section of Leaves of Grass.
There are three clusters and one
single long poem that may be
grouped :
National Crisis
Drum – Taps
Memories of President Lincoln
Rehabilitation and adjustment

“By Blue Ontario's Shore”
Autumn Rivulets.
Objective
1. to appreciate the poem
2. to understand the message
Unit Structure
3.1. Introduction
3.2. The Poem

and Expressions
3.4. Summary
3.5. Paragraph Questions
Annotation
3.7. Answer to Check Your
Progress Questions
In the prescribed poem which is also
known by another title “Give Me the
Splendid Silent Sun” Whitman praises
both the serene life of countryside
and the active life of the city too. He
is attracted so much by the endless
and noisy chorus of Manhattan that it
becomes part of his own self. When
he turns towards Nature, it is the
rustic life that comes before him first.
The ‘unmow'd grass, ‘The juicy
autumnal fruits’ and ‘The fresh corn’
remain indispensable. The rural
domestic life and the throbbing urban
life are like his two eyes that have of
course only one sight.

and Expressions :
dazzling - bright – light
unmow'd grass - uncleared grass
land above sea-

plateaus -
level
arbor - shady place
chief health of
primal sanities -
man
trample - walk on, stamp
timothy - a type of grass
interminable
- endless eyes
eyes
3.4. Summary
Whitman's poem “from Pent up
Aching Rivers” is in praise of both
the urban and country life. Whitman
seems therefore unique in supporting
both the ways of life. Although he has
yearning for leading an undisturbed
life in a village far away from the
madding crowd and far away from
cities, he cannot remain there for
ever as he belongs to one of the
cities of America. The first stanza of
the poem presents his different
wishes in a remote village. He likes
to enjoy “the perfectly quiet nights
on high plateaus west of Mississippi,
looking up at the stars”.

He wants to trod on the ‘unmow'd
grass’. He has a strange wish too. He
wants to marry ‘a sweet – breath'd
woman who will never tire him. He
desires to have ‘a perfect child’. The
wishes of the poet rise slowly to the
level of obsession and he keeps on
repeating them like a parrot. He says
“give me solitude,
give me
Nature, give me again
O Nature
Your primal sanities”.
After praising the rural domestic life
in the first stanza, he starts glorifying
his unforgettable life in cities too.
Although he is tired of the strife in

cities. his heart still loves the
phantoms of faces there.
The poet says,
‘ Let me see new ones
everyday–
let me hold new ones
by the
hand every day'
give me such shows –
give me
the streets of
Manhattan!’
He is always thrilled to listen to the
trumpets and drums while the
soldiers march on the streets. The
sights of the theatre, bar room, and
huge hotel never tire him. He loves

to watch people endless streaming,
with strong voices, passions and
pageants. He takes pride in
announcing to the world as follows :
“Manhattan faces and eyes
forever for me!”
Whitman loves men, women and
even lovers who stroll on the big
streets of Manhattan. As the poet
says,
“give me interminable
eyes –
give me women –
give me comrades and
lovers
by the thousand !
‘Let me see new ones

everyday –
let me hold new ones
by the
hand every day’
give me such shows –
give me
the streets of
Manhattan !”
The love of Manhattan, in fact,
overtakes his love of rural life. It
has become part and parcel of his
life. Although he wants to trod on
the grassy earth in a countryside,
his heart remains with Manhattan for
ever.
3.5. Paragraph Questions
1. How does the poet describe the
beauty of rural domestic life
through the poem ‘Pent up
Aching Rivers’.
2. How does Whitman describe the
beauty Manhatten?

Annotation.
1. Give me solitude, give me
Nature, give me again,
O Nature your primal sanities!
i. Who is the poet?
Walt Whitman is the poet.
ii. What is the name of the
poem?
‘Pent up Aching Rivers’ is the
Poem.
iii. What do you mean by the
words ‘Primal Sanities’?
Chief health of mind is the
meaning.
2. ‘Manhattan faces and eyes
forever for me’
i. Name the poet?
Walt Whitman is the poet.
ii. What is the name of the
poem?
‘Pent up Aching Rivers’ is the
Poem.
iii. Give the meaning of this
sentence.
The poet has developed a
strong liking for city life.
Fill in the blanks
1. Walt Whitman was born in
________
2. Whitman published a
collection of poems under
the title ________
3. Whitman presents the
________ life of country
side
4. Whitman is attracted by
the noisy chorus of
_________
5. The rural domestic life and
the throbbing urban life
are like his two

1. Whitman praises both the
________and ________
life.
2. He wants to ________ on
the unmoved ______
3. He desires to have a
perfect ________
4. He is tired of the
________ in the cities.
5. He loves the city _______

Progress Questions
I. 1. New York
2. The Leaves of Grass
3. Serene, active
4. Manhattan
5. eyes.
II. 1. Urban, Country
2. troad, grass
3. child
4. strife
5. Manhattan
4. I would not Paint a
Picture
- Emily Dickinson
4.1. Introduction
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was
born on December 10, 1830 in a
small American town called Amherst.
She was educated at home. She had
been writing poems in solitude. At
her death, Emily Dickinson left over
a thousand unpublished poems. Only
a few friends knew she had written
them. Many were more ideas for
poems jotted on whatever scrap of
paper came to hand.

Objectives
1. to appreciate the poem
2. to understand its content and
theme.
3. to make the learners understand
that death ends everything
Unit Structure
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Emily Dickinson's Poems
4.3. Explanatory Notes
4.4. Summary of the Poem
4.5. Critical Summary

Progress Questions
4.2. Emily Dickinson's Poems
All Miss. Dickinson's poems are short,
broken for the most part into four
line stanzas; all have an
unmistakable personal stamp. They
are as compressed as a telegram.
They are like oracular messages but
witty and jaunty at times. She is
preoccupied with death as the
gateway to the next existence. She
speaks again and again of isolation in
this world.
The poems of Emily Dickinson are
a continual appeal to experience

motivated by an arrogant passion for
truth. But her chief truthfulness lay
in her insistence on discovering the
facts of her inner experiences. She
was not only fully alive to the
phenomena of her own
consciousness, but described and
distinguished the states and motions
of her soul with great accuracy.
It is possible to see the greatest part
of Miss. Dickinson's poetry as on
effort to cope with her sense of
privation. There were in her life three
major privations :
1. She was deprived of an orthodox
and steady religious faith
2. She was deprived of love

3. She was deprived of literary
recognition.
One way in which Miss. Dickinson
tried to cope with her sense of
privation was to assert repeatedly
the paradox that privation is more
plentiful than plenty, that to
renounce is to possess the more. Her
poetry continually proclaims that to
lose or forego what we deserve is to
some how to gain. We may say that
this central paradox of her thought
is a rationalization of her neurotic
plight, but we can better add that it
is a discovery of something about the
soul. Miss. Dickinson appears in her
poetry to have been very sensitive

person. She is equally sensitive to
pain and suffering.
Emily Dickinson had no formal theory
of poetics, but she had a constant
idea of the manner in which the poet
is inspired. Uncontrolled, the poetic
possession leads into the sheer
nonsense of automatic writing and
Dickinson had no more success than
any other artist has ever had in
expressing every creative impulse.
4.3. Explanatory Notes:

I would not - she (Emily) does not want
paint to paint a picture or a
poem.
I'd rather be - she wants to be an object
the one of art; One also refers to
God, the omnipotent.
Its bright - art is considered an
impossibility impossible one; may be
life.
delicious - beautiful
wonder how - the painter has to feel the
the finges picture-but the implication
feel is that the fingers cannot
feel the art.
Celestial - heavenly.
Torment - severe physical or mental
suffering
Sumptuous - looking expensive and
splendid
Despair - the state of having lost
all hopes.
Cornet - a brass musical
instrument
Ceilings - roof
Ether - air like
Pontoon - any of several boats or
hollow metal structures
joined together to support
a temporary road over a
river.
Enamoured - fond or delighted
revere - to feel deep respect or
admiration.
Dower - dowry or treasure given;
here it literally refers to
the bounty or treasure.

The poem is narrated in first person
narrative. The poetess herself
subjects her in narrating her own
desires. So ‘I’ is used.
I would not paint a picture as I want
to be the part and parcel of that
very art. The picture is an impossible
one as it makes the poetess feel
delicious. I wonder how could the
finger feel such a rare, celestial star

to make such a severe physical or
mental suffering which would result
in despair.
I would not sound like comet, a brass
musical instrument as I want to be

one with the world of music, softly
raised to heaven and be out of this
world through villages of ecstasy. I
would endure myself a balloon but
I would rather be a lip of metal to
bridge the gap as pier to my Pontoon.
I would never wish to be a poet. It's
fine if I own my ear. The license to be
a poet may be a delight, content, of
respect. It is an awful privilege. If I
fill my art with boots of melody which
could stun myself what would be the
richs that I could inherit.
The poem “I would not Paint a
Picture” is written in first person

narrative. In this poem, the poetess
herself subjects her desire to be a
painter, singer and a poet.
Ultimately, the poem relates its
author with other fine arts.
Emily Dickinson never wants to be a
painter as she wants to merge herself
with the world of painting as painting
is closely related to the world of
poetry. Poem itself is a mute picture
or speaking picture. She wonders
how could her finger feel that ecstasy
while making a picture and stir to
make such a severe physical or
mental suffering. The end is despair
as art in an artist may fail.

Dickinson never desires to be a
singer like a musical instrument,
Cornet; rather she wants to be one
with the world of music and softly
be raised to the ceilings through the
villages like an ethereal thing. She
desires to have ecstasy by making
herself a balloon. She also wishes to
be a lip of metal which can bring forth
new numbers in plenty to bridge the
gap as a pier to her Pontoon.
Dickinson has never wished to be a
poet as she wanted to save her ear.
She knows that the license to be a
poet is a delight. However, she is
content that it could give her some
respect. It is an awful privilege. In
the end of the poem she boldly

asserts that if she fills all her poetry
with bolts of melody which could thrill
herself what would be the richer or
treasure than she could inherit.
Thus the poem talks about the
possibilities of being a painter, singer
and poet. It shows her confrontation
with her profession. She is not able
to realize her own existence and
cherish the very idea of being a poet.

a. I would not talk, like comets.
1. Fix the context.
This line is taken from Emily
Dickinson's
poem, “I would not paint – a
picture”
2. Who is referred to as ‘I’?
The poet or Emily Dickinson
is referred to.
3. What is the meaning of the
word Comet?
Comet is a brass musical
instrument.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Emily Dickinson was born
in ______
2. Dickinson's poems are
______
3. Her poems are
compressed as a
________
4. Dickinson is preoccupied
with ________
5. She was deprived of
_______
1. The poem is narrated in
________ person
narrated.
2. I would not paint a ______
3. I would not sound like a
________
4. I would never wish to be a
________
5. The poetess subjects
herself to be a
_______and a ________.
6. Poem itself is a ________
picture.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Amherst
2. short
3. telegram
4. death
5. love
II. 1. first
2. picture
3. Cornet
4. poet
5. Painter, signer, poet
6. mute
5. God's Grandeur
- G.M. Hopkins
5.1. Introduction
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89)
was a Jesuit priest who took to
writing poetry. Although his poems
center on religious themes, they are
raptures at the beauty and splendour
of Nature. He is very much reckoned
with the modem poets, thanks to his
innovative techniques and aesthetic
theory. ‘God's Grande ur’,a sonnet by
Hopkins is a protest against man's
materialistic aspect of the world. Yet
the poet has not lost his hope on
mankind as it is well protected by

the Holy Ghost that broods over the
‘bent' world as a dove.
Objectives
1. to make the learners understand
the poem
2. to make them appreciate the
poem
3. to understand God's grandeur
and splendour
Unit Structure
5.1. Introduction
5.2. God of Hopkins
5.3. The Poem
5.4. Summary
5.6. Meaning of Difficult Words
and Phrases
5.8. Model Passage for
Annotation
Progress Questions
5.2. God of Hopkins
Nature and glory in nature must be
grasped by reaching to nature's

qualities and self hoods. The god of
Gerard Manley Hopkins is not inside
nature – ‘he is under the world's
splendour and wonder’ – but one
thing he does; through the nature he

has made, he passes the voltage of
the current of his love his grandeur.
It is impossible to read Hopkins
without being aware of his strong
preference for words of native, old
English origin, often more common
Latinate words. Many are
monosyllables; many more
compounds : together they give
much of both the power and the
rootedness, what he called the
‘keepings’ of his poetry. The
monosyllabus are often verbs :
Generations have
trod, have trod, have
trod;
And all is seared with
trade; bleared,
smeared with toil.,
And wears man's
smudge and share
man's smell: the soil
Is bare now nor can
foot feel, being shod.
5.3. The Poem
The sonnet ‘God's Grandeur’ was
written by Hopkins in February,
1877. This sonnet is a protest against
the materialism of the age. Till the
time God continues to brood over it
there is hope for the world. God's
glory is going to burst out like the
shine of the gold tinsel.

5.4. Summary
The world is full of the glory of God,
This glory will burst out like the foil
of gold. It gathers greatness like the
oil crushed from olives. It achieves
magnificent proportions after human
ego has been crushed under religious
disciplines. Just as oil becomes useful
only when crushed out of seeds, man
partkes of God's glory only after
religious devotion.
Generations of men have trodden the
same path without recognizing God's
power to punish them. Everything in
this world has been made ugly by
crass materialism, by commercial
activity, and by human toil for

monetary ends. The world bears
man's smudge and smells of man's
ugliness.
Despite man's activities leading to
the destruction of the beauties of
nature, it remains fresh and
undestroyed. Although the sun
moves to the western horizon and the
earth is plunged in darkness, yet the
sun is set to rise again the next day.
Likewise there will be a renewal of
nature. From darkness would come
light; from winter, spring. In nature
there is a never drying source of
freshness, which envelopes the world
in spring. The Holy Ghost broods over
the ‘bent’ world and this brings forth
renewed life. The Holy Ghost looks

after mankind with the same
protective care as a dove looks after
its brood.
‘God's Grandeur’ is one of the
loveliest poems of G.H. Hopkins. The
poem is permeated with the glory
and grandeur of God. The poet begins
by saying that nature has been made
ugly by the industrialization of the
age. Everything has become seared

and corrupted.
Generations have
trod, have trod, have
trod;
And all is seared with

trade; bleared,
smeared with toil;
And wears man's
smudge and shares
man's smell
The poet, laments the indifference of
people to the beauties of nature that
lie round. Hopkins feels certain that
the grandeur of God will sill shine
forth. Man had tried to kill nature but
it will rejuvenate itself because the
spirit of the Holy Ghost lies over it:
The poem states its meaning with
severe precision and hence the
development of the thought becomes
slightly difficult. For ceaseless,
untiring effort the poet uses the

structure “have trod” and repeats it
thrice in the same line. The Holy
Ghost bending over the world and
thus proving God's grandeur
connects it with the opening
statement – “The world is charged
with the grandeur of God”. The poet,
being confident of the grandeur of
God, is sure that “nature is never
spent”. He sees natural beauty being
seared, blurred and smudged by the
footfall of man, but the poet never
becomes despondent. He is aware of
the wings of the Holy Spirit spreading
over the earth so that the ‘dearest
freshness’ of nature will be revived.
The theological element of the poem
is insignificant. The conviction of the

poem transcends any particular
doctrinal belief. And everything is
bound in typical Hopkinsian
language. It is very sinewy, strong,
personal, and inventive, the internal
rhymes in ‘seared’ and ‘bleard’ and
‘smeared’ are very happy indeed. The
rhymes suggest richness and
plenitude. The poem comprises some
very individual and very personal
poetry.
5.6. Meanings of Difficult Words

and Phrases:
Line The world is full of the grandeur
1. of God.
Line This grandeur of God will shine
2. forth like the foil made of gold,

Shook foil – metal foil... which
is beaten to make thin foil.
Hopkins said : “I mean foil in
the sense of leaf or tinsel, and
no other word whatever will give
the effect I want. Shaken gold
foil gives off broad glares like
sheet lightning and also a sort of
fork lightning owing to its zigzag
dints and creasings and network
of small many – cornered
facets”.
Lines The ooze of oil crushed – When
3-4. olives are crushed they give oil.
Likewise the poet suggests that
human ego improves under
religious crushing
Line reck his rod – pay attention to
4. the punishing power of God.
Line The poet says that unmindful of
5. divinity, people have followed
the same way.

Line seared with trade – withered
6. because of the application of the
heat of trade, bleared – blinded;
smeared – covered with dust
etc.
Line And wears man's smudge –
7. the nature wears the marks of
man's corruption and pollution.
Shares man's smell – Man –
made machinery and its foul
smell have corrupted nature.
Line The soil is bare now – The
8. growth of nature has been
arrested. nor can foot feel, being
shod – Because man is wearing
shoes he is unable to feel the
softness of the soil.
Line Deep down the earth the same
10. freshness still persists.
Line The poet says that the sun goes
11-12. down through the western

horizon and the world is plunged
into darkness, yet the next day
also dawns. Likewise nature also
refreshes itself.
Line Holy Ghost – one of the Trinity.
13.
Lines The nature is renewed because of
13-14. the presence of the Holy Ghost.
Here Hopkins compares the Holy
Ghost to a dove. Just as the dove
broods over her young ones, the
Holy Ghost gives a protective
covering to the earth. So the
world is full of the grandeur of
God.
The poet objects to the
industrialization of the world without
caring even a little about the

spiritualism. But he has full faith in
the greatness of God. Hopkins is
certain that the grandeur of God will
ever shine inspite of man's lust for
money. Man has tried to kill Nature,
but it will rejuvenate itself, because
the spirit of the Holy Ghost lies over
it. The world is full of the glory of
god and it will shine like the foil of
gold. As oil is crushed from olives,
man grows in religious devotion when
his ego is crushed by discipline. But
generations of men have trodden the
same path without realizing God and
His greatness. Everything in the
world has been made ugly as man
starts calculating in terms of
monetary ends. The world, therefore

smells his ugliness drowning the
fragrance of Nature.
Although the sun sets in the western
horizon, plunging the whole world in
darkness it will certainly rise in the
East the next day. Likewise, there
will be a renewal of Nature and from
darkness will come light and from
Winter Spring. The Holy Ghost, the
poet is sure, broods over the ‘bent’
world and this brings forth new life.
God's Grandeur opens with an
explosive metaphor expressing the
immanence of God. The poet's
awareness of created beauty as a
reflection of God is so intense that

he cannot understand why it is not
obvious to all men.
The next quatrain sets in contrast
man's use of nature, his failure to
recognize it as news and praise and
grandeur of God, his failure to use
created things to pursue his own end.
The lines are also summary of the
particular sins of the nineteenth
century.
Then the sestet rounds out the

contrast by stressing the constant
renewal and renascence of natural
beauty. God continues to express
himself in the world.
This is not a mixture of mere fanciful
images but a recognition of clearest

freshness deep down things – more
than a cold intellectual perception
that by his Presence, Essence and
Power. God is in all things. It is an
experience. It is flushed by the
intuition that the world brings to the
sensitive heart, a message loaded
with divine love. There St. Ignatius
urges man to look on the created
world about him as an effort of God
to communicate His love to man, as a
vision of God's love.
Hopkins was experiencing the
physical universe and a bond
between God and man, as a message
from the Divine Goodness, as ‘news,
word, expression’of the Eternal lover
is emphasized.
Annotation :
1. It will flame out, like shining
from shook foil,
It gathers to a greatness, like the
ooze of oil crushed.
i. From which poem is the
passage taken?
It is taken from the poem
“God's Grandeur” by
Hopkins.
ii. What do you think will flame
out like shining foil?
The world will flame out like
shining foil.
iii. What makes world gather to
a greatness?
When the ego of the man
is crushed like oil seeds, it
gathers to a greatness.
2. Because the Holy Ghost over the
bent
world broods with warm breast
and with ah! Bright wings.
i. Where do you find these
lines?
We find these lines in the
poem ‘God's Grandeur’
ii. Name the poet.
Hopkins is the poet.
iii. What do you mean by Holy
Ghost?
The third person of the
Trinity
iv. With what bird is the Holy
Ghost compared?
It is compared with the
brooding dove.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Hopkins is a ________
priest.
2. His poems centre on
_______ themes
3. “God's Grandeur” is a
________
4. The Sonnet is a protest
against the _______ of the
age.
5. The world is fall of glory of
_______
6. The Holy Ghost broods
over the _______
7. The poem is _________ in
nature.
1. Hopkins has full _______
in _______.
2. Man calculates in terms of
______ends.
3. The name of the saint is
_______
4. Man has to communicate
to_________
5. Physical _________is a
bond between ________
and _________
Progress Questions
I. 1. Jesuit
2. religious
3. Sonnet
4. materialism
5. God
6. bent
7. theological
II. 1. faith, God
2. monetary
3. St. Ignatius
4. God
5. Universe, Man, God.

6. Song Offerings
(From Tagore's Gitanjali)
6.1. Introduction
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was
born in Calcutta on May 7,1861.
Tagore's greatness as a poet was
recognized by the west when he
published an English rendering of
some of his Bengali poems under the
title ‘Gitanjali’. These verses with
their deep mysticism and delicate
lyrical loveliness took the world by
storm. He was awarded Nobel Prize
for the collection of songs called
‘Gitanjali’.
Objective
1. to read and understand the poem
2. to understand the theme – God-
man relationship
Unit Structure
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Tagore and His Poems

Annotation
Annotation
Progress Questions
6.2. Tagore and His Poems
Tagore is a humanitarian to the core.
Love of man, passion for Nature and
yearning for God can be found in all
his poems. He seeks contact with the
Divinity by union through love of
Mankind.
His poems ring with his intense
longing for union with the Divine. He
considers himself as the beloved of
God and his heart is in anquish when

he is separated from him. Then
comes the fulfilment of the desire
and the ecstasy of joy when he meets
his Creator. The yearning of the
beloved is beautifully expressed in
the form of poems.

The poet sings as God wills him to do
so. It is only under divine inspiration
that he can sing. When inspired in
this way, his heart breaks with pride
and joy, and tears (of joy) pour out
of his eyes. In such moments of
inspiration, his soul is one with the
divine and he stands face to face
with God. Thus the passage gives an
account of the mystic bliss that
illuminates his being as he sings of
God.
There is much that is discordant,
ugly, foul and wicked in the human
soul but music purifies the soul of the
wickedness. The discordant elements
are reduced to harmony, and peace
descends on the human soul. Thus

music has an ennobling and uplifting
effect on the human soul; mystic
bliss results when one devotes one's
talents to the work ship of God. In
such moments the human soul rises
high to become one with God, its
Maker.
The human soul is likened to a bird
with its wings out – spread, flying
across the sea of eternity in its
efforts to reach the divine. The poet
knows that God takes pleasure in his
song, for harmony of discordant
notes is the basis of a song, and such
harmony is also the basis of God's
creation. A musician brings order out
of disorder, just as God Himself
imposed law and order on chaos -

a welter of warring elements – and
in this way creation took place. This
creation is the music of God. That
is why it is only through music that
the poet can reach Him. It is only
through music that the human soul
can become one with the divine. It
is a mystic experience which only
inspired singers can have.
Even in moments of such mystic
inspiration, he does not hope to have
a full glimpse of Him. He only hopes
to touch His feet with the out-spread
wings of his . soul. Thus the image of
the bird is continued in these lines.
However, intoxicated with the
ecstatic joy, resulting from his
inspired singing, he forgets that he is

the servant of God and not His equal.
God is his lord and master, but in
such moments of mystic ecstasy he
begins to feel that he is the equal
and friend of God, instead of being a
mere humble devotee.
The poet thinks that he sings because
God wills him to do so. He
harmoniously sings because he is
divinely inspired. Under divine
inspiration his heart puffs up with joy
and pride, and tears of ecstasy well
up in his eyes, In such moments of
ecstasy he stands face to face with
his Maker.
All the discordant, ugly, evil and
wicked forces which envelop human

soul transform into the harmony of
sweet music which ennobles and
elevates human soul. Peace and
harmony begin to inspire it.
Forgetting his physical existence the
poet is lost in meditation and prayer.
His soul endeavours to reach the
Infinite like a joyously singing bird.
The poet knows that God is pleased
with his singing. He knows that only
as a singer he can realize Him. A
great musician creates order out of
disorder, and thus, he is endowed
with Good-like vision and quality.
God created the universe out of a
welter of chaos and confusion. The
beautiful creation is Almighty's
music. Similarly a gifted musician or

a poet dissolves jarring notes into the
harmony of sweet music and creates
beauty and joy,
The poet says with the great humility
that even in moments of mystic
inspiration he cannot enjoy the full
view of God. He only hopes to touch
His feet with edge of the outspread
wings of his bird-like soul.
Intoxicated with the rapture of
singing the poet forgets that he is

the humble devotee of God and not
his friend and equal. He calls Him his
friend and not Lord and Master.
i. The poet uses a telling and vivid
image in this lyric. The human

soul is compared to a bird and
the sea is likened to the infinite.
ii. This lyric reveals Tagore's love
for music. He was a great singer
too.
The poet prays to God, to drive out
spiritual poverty from his heart and
to give him the strength to bear with
equanimity both joys and sorrows.
He prays to fill his heart with love
and sympathy for the service of the
poor and to give him strength never
to disown the poor and never to
surrender before the offensive
behaviour of the rich and the
arrogant; God will give him the
strength to remain calm and
undisturbed by the petty activities,

“the din and dust”, of daily life. He
will give him the strength to
surrender himself joyously and
lovingly to His will and service. This
lyric reveals the poet's unshakable
faith in God.
The poet expresses his faith in the
reincarnation of the soul after the
death of the body, as well as his faith
in the oneness of all, in the total
identity of Man, God and Nature.
God is Omnipresent. He is one and
indivisible. He expresses Himself in
myriad shapes and forms. Every form
of life and every object of nature is
an expression of the divine.

Man is afraid of death, for death
means the departure of the soul to
some unknown, unfamiliar place from
the present world which is known and
familiar. The poet says nothing is
new and familiar. God is everywhere
and everything is an expression of
the divine. Thus the old is present
in the new. God is always our
companion in whatever world, and in
whatever shape, the soul may be
reborn. Human life, is endless, and
one manifestation of life is linked up
with another through ties of love. The
constant renewal of the old is a sign
of the pleasure of God in the act of
creation. The old is being constantly
renewed and the process is eternal.

Man's fear of the unknown and the
unfamiliar arises from his ignorance
of the real nature of the Divine. Once
man grasps the basic fact that all
forms of life are so many different
manifestations of the same Divine,
the Supreme, then nothing will
appear new and unfamiliar to him,
and all his fears will vanish. The
poet's prayer is that he may never
lose the bliss which results from a
realization of the eternal truth that
it is the one God, who manifests
Himself in the myriad shapes and
forms of the phenomenal world.
This poem is a direct expression of
Tagore's pantheism. It expresses his
faith in the reincarnation of the soul

and in the fundamental unity and
oneness underlying the variegated
visible phenomena. God reveals
Himself both in Nature and Man.
God is present everywhere. All
mankind is one. He expresses Himself
in various shapes and forms. The
commonest things in nature and
human life are symbols of Eternity.
The One Inseparable and Changeless
dwells in the hearts of all. Being
children of one Creator all men are
friends and brothers, and not
strangers. Distance of time and place
is meaningless in such close
relationship. It is the Divine that has
brought the distance near and has
made a brother of the stranger.

Man is afraid of death because he
will have to leave his accustomed
dwelling place for some unknown and
unfamiliar destination. But he
realizes that there is no difference
between the old and the new,
between this life and the life beyond
because the Divine is his constant
and never-failing companion in
whatever shape he (the soul) is born.
The divine process of the renewal of
the old is eternal and it reveals his
joy in the act of creation.
The poet feels satisfied and happy
that his songs led him from door to
door, and with them he has felt about
him searching and touching his
world. It was his songs that taught

him all the lessons he ever learnt;
they showed him secret paths, they
brought before his sight many a star
on the horizon of his heart. They
guided him all the day long to the
mysteries of the country of pleasure
and pain, and at last, to what palace
gate have they brought him in the
evening at the end of my journey?
The poet says that all his life he has
sought the Divine, his Maker, through
his songs. He has used them in the
service of his Maker. Whatever he
has learnt, and whatever experience,
of pleasure or of pain, he has
acquired, has been acquired through
his songs. It is through them he has
acquired many pearls of wisdom. It is

through them that he has seen into
the heart of things.
The poet hopes that at last his songs
would lead him to the gates of the
palace of the Divine which is his
destination, and which will be the end
of his journey. The poet hopes to
have a mystic reunion with God
through his songs.
Tagore's “Song Offerings” is a
collection of free verse translated
from his Bengali poems. The poet
feels very proud when he is ordered
to sing devotional songs at the feet
of Almighty God. When he looks at

the feet of God, all his sufferings
naturally melt into a happy bird that
starts spreading wings across the
sea. Tagore as a poet conies very
near to the feet of God and he,
forgetting himself as an ordinary
man, starts calling Him his friend
although the fact remains that He is
only his Lord.
In poem XXXVI the poet prays
fervently for the well being of his
self. He wants God to make him rich
in his heart, so that he may be able
to bear both joys and sorrows lightly.
He has not forgotten the humanity
when he prays for his own self. The
poet does not want to be frightened
by the mighty rich, nor does he want

to ignore the poor. He prays to God
to give him enough strength to raise
his mind above the daily trifles. At
last he wants all his strength to be
surrendered to God as He is his
Master.
In another song, Tagore says that he
has been very close to all the people
due to his nearness to God. It is
God who has blessed him to become
brother of the whole humanity and
friend of all the people.
Tagore as a faithful follower of God
is ready to go anywhere if He leads
his way. He considers birth and death
the same and he has the firm faith
that He and He alone is the only

companion of his endless life. When a
man understands his Creator, he will
never become alien to anyone in the
world.
Tagore as a poet rightly feels that
he is known to the whole world only
through his songs. It is again his
songs that taught him all the lessons
he ever learnt, and showed him the
secret path to attain God. It is his
devotional songs that guide him all
the day to the eternal world. His
songs have made him remain
disinterested and love the whole
mankind.
Model Passage for Annotation :
1. Drunk with the joy of singing
I forget myself and call thee
Friend who art my Lord.

i. From which poem is this line
taken?
It is taken from the poem
Gitanjali, “Song Offerings”
by Tagore.
ii. Who is ‘thee’ referred to?
It is God who is referred to.
iii. Is God his friend or Lord?
God is only his Lord, but
forgetting himself he calls
Him friend.
6.5. Select passages for

Annotation
2. Give me the strength never to
disown the poor or bend my

knees before insolent might.
3. It was they who led me from
door to door.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Tagore was bom in ______
2. Gitanjali is the _______
rendering of ________
poems
3. Tagore was awarded
______ prize for ‘Gitanjali’
4. Tagore is a ________
5. His poems ring with his
intense longing for union
with the ______
6. The human soul is likened
to a ________
7. God is ________and
______
8. The poet knows that
________ is pleased with
his _______
9. The poet sings to God to
drive out ________
poverty.
II. Fill in the blanks :
1. Man is afraid of ______
2. ________ is our
companion
3. Man fears of the
__________
4. Tagore's poems are
expressions of ________
5. The divine process of
renewal of the _________
is ________
6. The poet longs to have a
______ union
with________
III. Fill in the blanks :
1. ‘Song offerings’ is a
_________ verse.
2. He prays to ________
3. God blessed _________
4. Tagore is a faithful
follower of _______
5. It is his ________ songs
that guide him.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Calcutta
2. English, Bengali
3. Nobel
4. humanitarian
5. Divine
6. bird
7. lord, master
8. God, singing
9. spiritual.
II. 1. death
2. God
3. unknown
4. pantheism
5. old, eternal
6. mystic, God
III. 1. free
2. God
3. him
4. God
5. devotional
7. Mending wall
- Robert Lee Frost
7.1. Introduction
Frost's poems are the direct outcome
of his rich experience. They are
astonishingly simple; so simple that
even the average reader can grasp
the meaning at the very first reading.
Though one may miss the inner
significane, he may need explications
provided by critics to understand the
poem in all details. Frost had the
knack of observing everything keenly
and speculating deeply on everything
observed. He could make humble
things exciting. His poem is never
a mere transcript of actuality. Every

object through deep meditation is
sublimated and made to have far
–reaching significance. Sight and
insight, fact and fancy, observation
and meditation, experience and
intuition, wisdom and whimsy – these
go into his process of verse making.
It is poetry rising out of deep
personal experience of life,
expressing profoundly – felt emotions
and realized thoughts. It is, as he
called it locative art (as opposed to
abstract or cosmopolitan art). It is
art rooted in a place, the place being
the country side of New England.

Objective
1. to make the learners read and
appreciate the poem
2. to make the learners
comprehend the poem.
Unit Structure
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Frost and Poetry
7.3. Summary
and Phrases
Annotation
7.7. Model Paragraph Questions

Progress Questions
7.2. Frost and Poetry
Frost believed that form and content
are both important in poetry. A good
poem is one where the two are
inextricably fused. He, therefore,
refused to agree with his great
contemporaries that poetry should be
liberated from form. But we should
also recognize that Frost made
completely new use of the old forms
he chose to use, such as the ballad,
the sonnet, the ode and dramatic
poems in blank verse.

Quite frequently, he used the
technique of understatement. It is
said that this tone of understatement
was learnt by Frost from his New
England neighbours with their innate
simplicity and natural wisdom. This
has made people think that Frost's
philosophy is of the cracker – barrel
variety. It may be homely philosophy
close to the earth, but it is
wholesome and profound with the
wisdom of generations behind it.
Another common device used by
Frost is repetition. It may be
repetition of ideas, or of rhythms or
of certain keywords and phrases. The
effect of such repetitions is
cumulative. At times, a whole phrase

is repeated like the refrain of folk
songs. At other times a word
repeated calls our attention to
different points of view of different
significances. Frost's poems are,
therefore, the result of careful art
and great skill.
7.3. Summary
The poem ‘Mending Wall’ exists in
the tension created by two opposing
attitudes – one traditional and
orthodox and another liberal and.
modern. The wall has always been
a traditional symbol of division. The
poem has a humble start – mending
a boundary wall – but moves on into
the larger sphere of reference. We

are led to contemplate on the
correctness of dividing the world by
erecting boundaries – in the forms
of geographical barriers, political
consideration, orthodox social
customs and attitudes. Can whole
mankind be one great family or
should we erect dividing walls
between neighbours?
The poem starts with the statement
that there is something that does not
love a wall. The poet is broad -
minded to realize that division is
unnatural. The gaps in the stone wall
that divide his plot from his
neighbour's are not man – made
gaps. Hunters sometimes dig into the
wall to drive out hiding rabbits, but

the gaps now found in the spring
season do not appear to be such
“artificial” ones. Nobody seems to
know when the gaps were made.
Nature herself seems to be against
the idea of creating artificial barriers
between man and man. Indeed there
seems to be something in nature that
does not love a dividing wall.
The poet and his neighbour agree to
mend the wall – to close the gaps on
a particular day. But as they proceed
with the work the poet is haunted
by certain doubts. He wants to know
why there should be a wall at all
between his plot and that of his
neighbour. If there are cows, perhaps
a wall is necessary, but both of them

do not own any cattle. His plot has
apple trees and his neighbour's plot
has only pine trees. Nature herself
has clearly emphasized this
difference. None can imagine that his
apple trees will one day stray into his
neighbours plot, and eat the cones
under the pines. Hence what is the
need for an artificial barrier, like a
stone wall? His neighbour cannot
understand this kind of logical
reasoning, because he is steeped in
traditional narrowness of outlook. He
justifies his action by saying that
good fences make good neighbours.
The poet wants to know, before he
mends the wall, the meaning of his

action. By building the wall what is he
trying to “keep in or keep out”?
His neighbour is not troubled by any
such thought. He calmly continues
his labour. He carries a stone in each
hand and moves towards the wall in
the shade of trees. He appears to
the poet as an old savage carrying
stone – weapons and moving in the
darkness of not only the trees, but
also of the mind. The neighbour is
secure in his faith that “good fences
make good neighbours”.
Frost, here, seems to be against the
idea of division – political, social etc.,
- but at the sametime he does not
seem to be totally against it. His

point of lamentation seems to be that
men erect barriers even when there
is no justification; walls exist even
where they are not necessary. Frost
implies that tradition and blind
custom still hold sway over the
people and it is not an easy task to
convert such people to a broader and
a generous attitude. Men are divided
today by outmoded beliefs, attitudes,
and practices in religion, politics and
social intercourse. A careful scrutiny
will reveal that such lumber is quite
unnecessary. An attempt has to be
made towards integration.

and Phrases
Mending: repairing.
Line Something; i.e., some natural

1.
or supernatural force that does
not love a wall; i.e., that
damages and breaks down walls.
Line the frozen ground-swell: The

2.
reference is to the unsettling
effect of heavy frost suggesting
an earthquake.
Line spills sun : throws down the

3.
upper stones in the wall.
Boulders – stones
gaps – abreast : fairly wide

Line
4. gaps,
Where they yelping dogs. In
Line
7-9. order to deprive rabbits of hiding
places hunters break down wall.
Line No one... heard them made :

10.
This suggests a supernatural
cause for the gaps in the wall.
Line I let... know : The poet sent

12.
information to his neighbour
about the broken boundary wall.
Line the line: i.e., the border line

13.
between the two estates.
Line loaves : i.e., of the size of bread

17.
loaves. Balls : i.e., round and
spherical pieces.
Line wear : hurt the surface of their

21.
fingers, bruise them and crack
the skin.
Line It comes more : The poet's point
22.
is that no wall is needed between
him and his neighbour. So
building it is useless as playing a
game.
Line He is ... orchard : Pine trees

24.
grow in the neighbour's estate,
and the poet is cultivating a
garden of apple trees.
Line Good fences ... neighbours : This

27.
is the central theme of the poem.
Line they : i.e., the fences.

30.
Line Isn't .... Are cows? : Fences help

30-31.
to prevent quarrels between
neighbours where they own
cows, which may wander from
one estate to another and cause
damage.
Line no cows : i.e., no cause of
31.
quarrelling which can be
removed by fences.
Line Something ... a wall : The

36.
opening line of the poem is
repeated.
“Elves” : fairies, tiny
supernatural beings with magical
powers which are exercised
either for helping or hurting
men.
Line an old-stone savage : a savage

40.
of the old stone – age.
Line in darkness ... trees : the point

41-42.
is that neighbour's mind is in
darkness.
Line He says again : The neighbour,

45.
in spite of his mental ‘darkness’is
given the last word.

Annotation
1. He is all pine and I am apple
orchard
2. Before I built a wall I'd ask to
know. What I was walling in or
walling out.
3. I see him there
Bring a stone grasped firmly by
the top
In each hand, like an old-stone
savage armed.
4. He only says, “good fences make
good neighbours”.
He says again, “good fences make
good neighbours”.
1. Fix the context.
This passage is taken from the
poem ‘Mending Wall’ by Robert
Frost.
2. Who says so?
The poet's neighbour says so.
3. Explain this passage
The poet's neighbour wants a
wall to be built between his
house and poet's. Good fences
according to him, will make them
both live at peace.

7.7. Model Paragraph Questions
1. Discuss the appropriateness of
the title of the poem. ‘Mending
Wall”.
2. Is ‘Mending Wall’ a poem of
conflicting ideologies? Discuss.
3. The relevance of the poem
‘Mending Wall’in modem times.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Frost's poems are the
direct outcome of hi
_______
2. Frost believed the
________ and _______
one is important in a
poem.
3. Frost made completely
________ use of
________forms.
4. Frost used the technique
of _______
5. Frost's philosophy is of the
_______ variety.
1. The wall has been a
traditional symbol
of______
2. They mend a _________
wall
3. _______ sometimes dig in
the wall.
4. The _______ and the
_________ agree to mend
the _______
5. Good _______make good
_______.

Progress Questions
I. 1. experience
2. form, content,
3. new, old
4. understatement
5. cracker-barrel
II. 1. division
2. boundary
3. Hunters
4. poet, neighbour, wall

5. fences, neighbours
8. Strange Meeting
(Wilfred Owen)
8.1. Introduction
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) is
regarded as one of the best war
poets. A man who has personally
witnessed the horrors of war, he has
written a number of poems against
it. He fairly quickly became the best
known poet of the war and his work
was an influence upon poets of the
1930's, by its toughness and
unpleasantness and its experiments
with half – rhyme and onomatopoeia.
He is a descriptive poet and a
concrete one; but the words are
chosen also for their immediate

emotional effect. His verse is mostly
straight forward.
‘Strange Meeting' is a famous poem
that condemns war. The poet brings
out the futility of war in the form of
a conversation between two soldiers
who meet in hell after their death.
Objective
1. to understand and appreciate the
poem
2. to understand the horror in the
poem.
Unit Structure
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Meaning for difficult words
and expressions
8.4. Model Passages for
Annotation
Progress Questions
8.2. Meanings for difficult words

and expressions
Tunnel - an underground passage
Scooped - dug
grained - pulled out
glee - joy
boil bloody - grow violent

break ranks - stop fighting
trek from
- move backwards
progress
citadel - fortress
cess - tax
- wounded with the

jabbed
bayonet
- turned the thrust of the

parried
bayonet
The first part of the poem portrays
the real nature of hell wherein two
soldiers, after their death, meet. The
path to the hell lies through a

profound tunnel. The poet, after
reaching the murky place, is shocked
to find dead bodies strewn
everywhere. He does not know
whether they are actually dead or
merely lost in thought. As he is
intensely probing the dead bodies,
a man suddenly gets up and starts
conversing with the poet.
The man confesses that he has
wasted his whole life on earth by
indulging in romance. Now he feels
that hell is not as bad as it is made
out to be. He was surrendering
himself before a woman who had
actually enslaved him with her long
hair and beautiful eyes. Although
people laughed at him, he was not

in a position to understand his folly.
The strange speaker says that man
will never learn lessons from history.
Although war is but self-destructive,
man goes on waging wars and
praising them also. He, instead of
marching forward, moves only
backward when he indulges in
unnecessary wars. He feels that the
wheel of progress always gets struck
by the drops of blood. He therefore
wants to wash them with water lying
in deep untainted wells. While the
majority of men ‘boiled bloody’, the
speaker retained his ‘mastery’ and
‘mystery’.
He rightly feels that it is better to die
for peace than for war which inflicts

death like a heavy tax. Although he
was killed by the poet, he does not
consider him his enemy. They remain
close friends. The killer and the killed
find fault only with the war and not
among themselves.

Annotation
1. I went hunting wild
After wildest beauty in the world
which lies not calm in eyes or
braided hair
i. Identify the speaker.
The speaker is the stranger
whom the poet meets in hell.
ii. What was the speaker doing
while alive?
He was running after
beautiful women.
iii. Does he regret his folly?
Yes. It is a confession.
2. Coverage was mine and I had
mystery
Wisdom was mine and I had
mastery.
i. In which poem do you come
across these lines?
We come across these lines
in the poem ‘Strange
meeting’
ii. Name the poet.
Wilfred Owen is the poet.
iii. What does the speaker
have?
He has courage, wisdom and
a divine intuition that war is
an evil.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Wilfred Owen is a
_________poet.
2. “Strange Meeting”
condemns ______
3. It is written in the form
of _________ between
________ soldiers who
meet in _______after
their_______
4. The path to hell lies
through a profound
________
5. It is better to die for
________
6. The _________ and the
_________ only find fault
with the war.

Progress Questions
I. 1. War
2. War
3. Conversation, two, hell,
death
4. tunnel
5. peace
6. killer, killed.
9. The Shield of Achilles
(W.H. Auden)
9.1. Introduction
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York
in 1907. A revolutionary to start with,
Auden later compromised himself
with the existing situation. His later
poems are more concerned with
religious and philosophical matters.
He is anti-romantic in outlook. He is
a poet of wide and various gifts.
Objective
1. to make the learners read the
poem and understand it.
2. to make them appreciate the
poem
3. to understand the content and
theme.
Unit Structure
9.1. Introduction
9.2. Auden's Title
and Expressions
9.3.1 to 9.3.9 - Stanza's 1 to
9 (Meanings)
9.4.1. Introduction
9.4.2. Use of Mythical
Technique
9.5. Critical Analysis

Annotations
Progress Questions
9.2. Auden's Title
‘The Shield of Achilles’ is the title
poem in the volume of poems,
published in 1955. The
meaninglessness of a life without a
faith is presented in these poems.

and Expressions
9.3.1. Stanza 1
She – That is, the mother of Achilles,
according to Greek mythology.

Achilles was one of the Greek heroes
of the Trojan War.
Over his shoulder – at the long of
shield of Achilles which was hung
over his shoulder. This shield was
specially made for him by
Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the
gods. The shield is a symbol of art,
art which mirrors the culture and
conditions of life which prevail at
some particular time.
For wines and......untamed seas –
the shield of Achilles was well –
decorated with beautiful scenes and
sights carved upon it. In this way
the shield mirrored Greek culture and
way of life.
Vines and Olive trees – They
constitute the engraving, on the
shield of Achilles.
And ship......sea – beautiful Greek
ship sailing across wild, stormy seas
which had not yet been ‘tamed’or
subdued by mechanical power.
On the shining metal – the shining
surface of a shield made by some
modem blacksmith.
An artificial wilderness – The
reference is to the contemporary
waste land in which life is artificial,
and people are spiritually dead. It is
all a spiritual desolation, and life is
unnatural, empty and hollow.

And a sky like lead – this symbolizes
the ugliness and murkiness of the
contemporary urban – industrial
civilization.
9.3.2. Stanza 2
Without a feature – One uniform
scene of decay and desolation,
without any change or redeeming
traits.
Bare – without any vegetation;
totally desolate
No sign of neighbourhood – in a
modern city man is lonely even
in crowd.
Unintelligible multitude – The
masses unable to communicate

their emotions, their suffering,
their spiritual loneliness.
A million boots in line – millions
of soldiers. Men are like dumb-
driven cattle in the modern age.
Without expression – their faces
are blank, and not expressive of
their emotions.
A pain without a
feature......Waiting for a sign –
the entire stanza is symbolic of
spiritual desolation and deadness
of the modem age.
9.3.3. Stanza 3
Out of the air......as the place –
dictators or military commanders
speak to the people.

Only the voice is heard, and the
face is not seen.
Dry and level – emotionless, and
uniformly the same; nor changed
with passion.
No one was ......... discussed –
personal touch is entirely
lacking. The people must obey,
and ask no questions.
To grief – to their death.
9.3.4. Stanza 4
Ritual pieties – scenes of
religious rites and ceremonies
engraved on the shield.
Heifers – Cows.
Libation – distribution of sweets
after a religious ceremony.

The shining metal – the modem
shield.
Flickering forege-light-the dim
light in the workshop of modem
blacksmith.
9.3.5. Stanza 5
Barbed Wire......spot – the
carving was of a field enclosed
by wire. It was the concentration
camp in which prisoners of war
are kept.
As three pale figures ...............
in the ground – They were the
enemies captured in the war.
They were tied to the three
stakes and shot dead. The

passage is thus a mockery of the
crucification of Christ.
9.3.6. Stanza 6
The mass and majority of the
world – the three soldiers who
were shot dead were flatered by
their generals and rulers and
were called the noblest and most
majestic of men.
Lay in the hands of others – were
entirely helpless.
Their shame...... could wish –
they suffered the worst possible
disgrace.
9.3.7. Stanza 7
For athletes at their games-on
the shield of Achilles were
engraved scenes from the world
of games and sports, scenes of
healthy, manly exercises.
Moving their sweet ...........to
music - scenes of dancing, with
beautiful feet moving in rhythmic
harmony.
But a weed – chocked field –
it symbolizes the spiritual
desolation of the modem age.
9.3.8. Stanza 8
Rugged Urchin - not any
handsome athlete, but a boy in
tatters, shabby and awkward.

That vacancy - the weed -
chocked field, the contemporary
waste land.
A bird flew......stone - this is
symbolic of the cruelty and
brutality of the modern age.
That girls are ...... a third -
symbolic of the sex and violence
so characteristic of the modern
age.
Him - the rugged urchin,
symbolic of the contemporary
waste lander.
Of any world ...... another wept-
the noble world of the past when
people were truthful and
sympathetic.
9.3.9. Stanza 9
Armourer - the maker of armour,
the black smith.
Hephaestus – the blacksmith of
the gods, symbolic of artists in
the past, as well as in the
present.
That is – the goddess who in
Greek mythology was supposed
to be the mother of Achilles.
Here she stands for the
audience.
9.4.1. Introduction
“The Shield of Achilles” is the title
poem in the volume of poems

entitled, The Shield of Achilles,
published in 1955. The lyric is divided
into three parts, and each part
consists of three stanzas. Thus there
are nine stanzas in all.
9.4.2. Use of Mythical Technique
In this lyric Auden has used the
mythical technique to make his
comment on the modern condition.
The mythical method consists in
juxtaposing the past and the present.
The past is contrasted with the
present. The shield symbolizes art,
image of the human condition. In the
shield of art Hephaestus (the artist)
shows Thatis (the audience), not the
classical city, but the plain of modem

life on which multitudes are ordered
about by totalitarian rulers.
That is, the mother of Achilles, in
Greek mythology, looks at the shield
hung over the shoulders of her son.
The shield of Achilles was made by
Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the
god. On it the artist had carved
beautiful scenes depicting orchards,
well – governed cities with marble
statues and calm seas with beautiful
ship sailing on them. But quite
different scenes are carved by the
artist on a modern shield. There are
scenes depicting the artificial and
desolate life of the contemporary
waste land. It depicts a vast plain,
desolate, bleak and barren, without

anything to eat, or a place for rest
and shelter. This is the modern waste
land, full of crowds, who like dumb –
driven cattle are unable to think for
themselves, and mechanically carry
out the dictates of their leaders and
rulers. They are men all hollow
within. Their rulers have no personal
contacts with them. They speak to
them in an impersonal voice, over the
radio, prove by statistics that their
cause is just, and so persuade them
to go to the war in which they are
sure to be killed. It is a terrible
indictment of dictators of today in
their ‘wooing poses’. The beautiful
world of the past has been
juxtaposed with the desolate and

bleak modem age, and in this way
its hollowness has been commented
upon.
In the second, part, it is the religious
decay and desolation in the modem
age that is commented upon. On the
Homeric shield, were carved scenes
of religious ritual, showing cows
decorated with flowers, and wine and
food being served in celebration of
some ceremony. But on the modem
shield are carved big concentration
camps where pale prisoners of war
are tied to the stake, and brutally
shot dead. In the past also there was
much cruelty. Christ was crucified,
but the crucification was necessary
for the regeneration and redemption

of mankind. But the mass-killings in
the modern age carry no such
significance. They are merely a
measure of the spiritual degeneration
of the contemporary waste landers.
In the third part on the Homeric
shield were carved pictures of
Athletes busy in their games, and
men and women dancing rhythmically
and sweetly. On the modem shield,
there are no dancing floors or
playgrounds but only‘weed-choked’
fields. There are no sportsmen but
only ‘rugged urchin’ callously
throwing stones at birds, or girls
being raped, or boys quarrelling
among themselves and knifing each
other. Life is brutal and beastly,

entirely lacking in sympathy, love
and friendship which characterized
the life in the past. War and violence
has always been there, but violence
in the past was not soul – less or
brutal as it is to–day. In the past
there were heroic warriors, like
Achilles, fighting for their religion, for
their country, or for their beloveds;
today there arc only
“rugged–urchins, and senseless
violence. The contemporary scene
terrifies Thatis, and the lyric ends as
she goes away crying dismay.
9.5. An Evaluation
The lyric ‘The Shield of Achilles’ is
divided into three parts and each part

consists of three stanzas. It is a fine
lyrical poem in which the poet puts
the classical myth of Achilles and his
shield to bring out the contrast
between the heroic past and unheroic
present. It is a carefully balanced and
well – integrated poem in which
Auden has tried to bring out the
whole ages of history within the
compass of a lyric. Thatis’
observation of her son's shield
presents the horrors of a world
without faith.
The image of ‘an unintelligible
multitude’ marching column by
column in a cloud of dust portrays
the negative aspects of the horrors
of a world without redemption. He in

fact contrasts the ideas of harmony
and humane community with moral
blindness and militarism. The last
stanza, however, changes the pattern
to give a twist at the end. The shining
metal of the shield, symbol of death
is replaced by the shining breasts of
Thatis, a symbol of beauty and life.
The concluding stanza of the poem
stresses the despair of Thatis and
the inevitability of the death of her
warrior son. Hephaestus who
designed such a shield for Achilles at
last nobbles away. Auden seems to
convey to the readers that making a
shield like that of the classical myth
was unnecessary in view of the
inevitable death of man, though he

may be as brave and strong as
Achilles himself. For, we are aware of
the fact that even the mighty Achilles
would not live long. Thatis too goes
away crying with dismay. The poet
sums up the poem with his idea that
even the great Achilles, who would
slay others, will be slain by someone
else. War is destructive and no one
can escape falling a victim to it. John
Fuller writes : “The shield of
Achilles” by contrast, puts the post-
war scene into just the kind of
oblique and dramatically archetypal
context that brings out both its full
horror and its religious meaning.
Thatis looks for the classical virtues
on her son's shield. She works for

order and good government but finds
only its negative image – a spiritless
totalitarianism. She looks for
religion, but finds only a military
execution parodying the crucifixion.
She works for art and finds only an
aimless violence. Thatis's dismay is
counterbalanced by the fated
shortness of Achilles life, so that
Hephaesto's provision of such a
shield seems significantly like the
Christian God's provision of man's
free-will as though the landscape of
evil were a necessary condition for
redemption.
Annotation
1. Column by column in a cloud of
dust
They marched away enduring a
belief
Whose logic brought them,
somewhere else, to grief
i. Write the name of the poem
& poet.
The Shield of Achilles is
the poem written by W.H.
Auden
ii. What happened to marchers
at the end?
They all marched to the
Valley of Death.
iii. Does the poet criticize war?
How?
He points out that war is
self-destructive. It makes
people mad and they kill one
another.
2. As three pale figures were led
forth and bound
To three posts driven upright in
the ground.
i. Who is the poet?
W.H. Auden is the poet.
ii. What is the title of the
poem?
“The Shield of Achilles”
iii. What does ‘three posts’ refer
to?
It refers to crucifixion scene.
The poet wants to convey
that religion has no place in
the modern society which is
crumbling with war.
3. Moving their sweet limbs
Quick, quick to music
But there on the shining shield
His hands had set no dancing –
floor
But a weed-choked field.
i. What is name of the poem?
“The Shield of Achilles”
ii. What is name of the poet?
W.H. Auden
iii. How does he contrast the old
shield with the modem?

Men and women are seen
dancing rhythmically in the
shield. On the Modern shield,
on the other hand, there are
no dance floors, but only
‘weed-choked field’.
iv. What does it symbolize?
It symbolizes the spiritual
desolation of the modern
age.
Fill in the blanks:
1. Auden Was bom in
________ in _________
2. His later poems are
concerned with _______
and ________ matters

3. “The Shield of Achilles”
was published in ______.
4. The meaninglessness of a
________ is presented in
the poem.
1. “The shield of Achilles” is a
______
2. The mythical method
consists in juxtaposing the
________ and the
_______
3. The shield symbolizes
________
4. ________shows_____ not
the classical __________

but the plain of _______
life.
5. _______is the mother of
Achilles
6. The shield of Achilles was
made by _______
7. The second part deals with
________decay.
8. ________was crucified.
9. On the Homeric shield
were carved pictures of
_______
10. The contemporary scene
terrifies ________
III. Fill in the blanks:
1. The lyric is divided into
_______parts.
2. Thatis’ observation of her
son's shield presents the
_________ of a world
without __________
3. The shining metal of the
shield is a symbol of
_______
4. The poem concludes with
the _______ of Thatis.

Progress Questions
I. 1. York, 1907
2. religious, philosophical
3. 1955
4. Life
II. 1. lyric
2. past, present
3. art
4. Hephaestus
5. Thatis
6. Hephaestus
7. religious
8. Christ
9. Athletes
10. Thatis
III. 1. 3
2. horrors, faith
3. death
4. beauty, life
5. despair
DRAMA
D.1. The Bishop's

Candlesticks
(Norman Mckinnel)
D.1.1. Introduction
Norman Mckinnel, an actor himself
has written a number of one-act
plays and short stories. The plot of
this one-actor has actually been
taken from the opening chapters of
Victor Hugo's great classic ‘Les
Miserables’. It shows how a convict
gets himself completely changed,
thanks to the selfless love showered
on him by a bishop. The character of
the bishop is clearly contrasted not
only with the convict.

Objectives
story
2. to make them understand the
theme and its propose
Unit Structure
D.1.1. Introduction
D.1.2. Summary
D.1.3. Notes and Meanings
D.1.4. Model Annotations
D.1.5. Select Passages for
Annotation
D.1.6. Paragraph Questions
D.1.7. Model Answer for
Paragraph Questions
D.1.8. Answers to Check Your
Progress Questions
D.1.2. Summary
The bishop is a lover of humanity. He
likes the downtrodden so much that
he helps them even by selling his own
possessions. He visits their houses
braving cold and stormy weather to
comfort them. A man, who has
dedicated his life to salvage the
sinners, he is highly respected and
loved by all the people around. He is
not at all disturbed or annoyed, when
the convict threatens to kill him or
decamps with his candlesticks. For,
he being a holyman, is readily willing
to mortify his body to gratify the soul

of the desperadoes. persome, his
sister is an antithesis to the bishop.
She is like every ordinary woman who
is concerned more with the material
needs of her life. She cannot stand
the sudden disappearance from the
kitchen of the salt cellers which her
brother has sold out to help a poor
woman pay her debts.
One night a convict enters his room
stealthily and brandishing his long
knife, forces the bishop to provide
him food. He appears to be
ravenously hungry as he has got no
food for three days. He looks more a
beast than a man. The stony prison
walls have made his heart stony too.
He eats voraciously like a wild beast.

Having been in the prison hulks for
ten long years, he has forgotten even
his name and is conscious of only his
number 15, 729 by which he is called
out. The bishop is not at all perturbed
at his rude behaviour, but only feels
sorry for his miserable life.
The convict has a pathetic past to
reveal to the bishop. Like Jean
Valjean of Victor Hugo's great classic
Les Miserables, he stole bread for his
dying wife. He was sentenced to ten
years in the prison hulks. He lost his
wife, he lost his happiness and he
lost everything in life. The prison, it
seems has erased not only his name,
but his conscience too. Instead of
refining him, it has damned his soul

for ever. So he does not hesitate to
steal once again when he sees the
silver candlesticks of the bishop who
has been very sympathetic and kind
to him. But the bishop feels happy
in his happiness. He thinks that the
candlesticks are very much useful
only to the convict rather than to a
bishop.
After sometime, enter a sergeant and
three gendarmes with the convict
bound. They want to verify if the
candlesticks, the convict carries with
him, are stolen from the bishop's
house. Persome, the bishop's sister
is very happy to get the candlesticks
back. But the bishop loves the sinner
more than the things that have

tempted him to sin. He does not want
to send the convict once again to the
hell. So he informs the sergeant that
the candlesticks are gifted only by
him to his ‘friend’. He even allows
him to escape through the woods at
the back of his cottage. He hopes
against hope that the convict will
turn a new leaf in his life and his soul
be redeemed one day or other.
D.1.3. Notes and Meanings

rebuke - scold.
- a French title given to

Vlonseigneur
bishops like ‘My Lords’.
chatter - to talk idly

nin com
- an idiot, good for nothing
poop
salt – cellar - a small container of salt
comforter - a woolen muffler
scamp - a worthless fellow
audacity - foolish courage
entrails - bowels
minx - wanton girl
- quietly, without being

stealthily
seen
vermin - insects
hulks - old ships used as prisons
chain-mate - fellow prisoners

collaring - seizing
defiance - aggressiveness
- going in a stealthy
slinking
manner
mon dieu - my god.
D.1.4. Model Annotations

1. That was when I was a man. No
I'm not a man, now I'm a
number.
a. From which play is this
passage taken?
This passage is taken from
the play ‘The Bishop's
candlesticks' by Norman
Mckinnel.
b. Identify the speaker.
The convict who has escaped
from the prison is the
speaker.
c. Who he is he talking to?
He is talking to the Bishop.
d. What is he talking about
here?
He is talking here about his
horrible experiences inside
the prison which actually has
turned him brutish. He is not
recognized as a human being
at all but a number – a mere
lifeless number.
2. He has more need of them than
I. My mother would have wished
it so had she been here’.

i. Who says this?
The Bishop says this to his
sister.
ii. Who has more need?
The convict has more need.
iii. What does the word ‘them’
refer to?
‘Them’ refers to
candlesticks.
iv. What do you understand
about the speaker from this
passage?
The Bishop is kind-hearted
and a selfless lover of
humanity. His love does not
discriminate people. He
loves even a beast like
convict more than himself.

Annotation
You have your soul to lose, my
son; it is of more value than my
heart.
O god! They took away my name,
they took away my soul, and
they gave me a devil in its place.
Yes it is a pity. They were
beautiful; but still, dear, one can
eat salt out of China just as well.
But – but I don't understand;
this gentleman is my very good
friend,
Always remember, my son, that
this poor body is the Temple of
the Living God.
D.1.6. Paragraph Questions.

1. Give a brief character sketch of
the Bishop.
2. Why was the convict sentenced
to ten years in the prison hulks?
3. How is Persome contrasted with
her brother?
4. What do we learn about the
convict?
D.1.7. Model Answer for

Paragraph questions
Give a brief character sketch of the
convict.
The story of the convict is so pathetic
that we cannot help feeling pity on
him. For, he is the one who has been
wronged by the society. He steals
bread only to save his ailing wife.
But he is thrown inside the teeth of
prison nearly for ten long years. Now
he is a mere number and a beast.
It is the love of the Bishop that
redeems his soul. The Bishop allows
him escape from the hold of the
police, but he is sure that the convict
cannot escape from his love.
Fill In the blanks:
1. Mckinnel is also an
_______
2. The plot is taken from
_______
3. The _______showered a
selfless love on a ______
4. The convict had no food to
eat for _______days.
5. The convict stole ______
for his wife.
6. The bishop allowed the
________ to escape
through the _______

Progress Questions
I. 1. actor
2. Les Miserable
3. bishop, convict
4. three
5. bread
6. convict, woods
D.2. The Bear
(Anton Checkhov)
D.2.1. Introduction
Anton Chekhov, the great Russian
writer was bom in the year I860.
Although he began learning medicine
at first, he took to writing later. One

th
of the great writers of 19 century
Chekhov is always remembered for
his short stories and plays which of
course portray the lives of innocent
peasants and the middle-class.
The one-act play ‘The Bear’ unmasks
two characters - one an attractive
widow who pretends to be in deep
mourning for the death of her
husband and a middle - aged land

owner who looks boorish. Their
falsity is vanished into thin air when
they fall in love. Their quarrel, it
seems, is nothing but a smoke screen
to hide their real nature.
Objectives
story
2. to make them comprehend the
training and the theme.
Unit Structure
D.2.1. Introduction
D.2.2. Summary
D.2.3. Glossary
Annotation
D.2.5. Model Annotation
D.2.6. Select Paragraph
Questions
D.2.7. Model Answer
Progress Questions
D.2.2. Summary
The play ‘The Bear’ by Anton
Chekhov is a comedy of manners.

Here we find a widow, who makes so
much fuss about her love on her dead
husband, suddenly falling headlong
in love with another man whom she
has never met before. Popova is the

unfortunate widow. She buries
herself within the four walls of her
house and refuses to stir out after
the death of her husband Nikolai
Mihailovich. She makes a vow never
to take off the mourning till she goes
to her grave, although her dead
husband was mean, harsh and
unfaithful to her. She instructs her
servants to give ‘Toby’ an extra bag
of Oats as the horse was very much
loved by her husband. Louka, the
faithful servant of Popova, wants his
young mistress to be well disposed
towards the outside world which is
brimming with life.
One day, Smirnov, a middle aged
land owner enters her house

demanding twelve hundred roubles
which her dead husband owes him.
But Popova is in such “a state of
mind” that she does not feel like
talking to a stranger. Infuriated at
the callous attitude of Popova,
Smirnov starts behaving rudely to
the widow. He is boorish, noisy and
uncouth. He resolves not to leave her
house until he is paid. Popova, rudely
shaken calls him ‘an ill-mannered
bear’, a brute and a monster’. He
is in her opinion, as clumsy as the
animal bear itself unrelenting end
violent. Smirnov too is equally
vociferous in accusing her. He, infact,
unmasks her ‘mourning – mania’ by
pointing out that she has not

forgotten to powder her face while
mourning her dead husband.
Both of them decide to settle the
issue by a duel. Smirnov surprisingly,
undergoes introspection and starts
wondering her bravado. He
interestingly goes soft and feels like
a devoted lover. He, while teaching
her how to use pistol, proposes to
her. He confesses that he has gone
off his head, like a fool. Although
Popova takes a dislike to Smirnov at
first, now accepts him. Both of them
are seen embracing, when Looka
enters the room with workmen.
Popova now with downcast eyes asks
her men not to give any oats to Toby

– the horse, very much loved by her
dead husband.
Checkhov, through the play, conveys
to the readers that people must not
be judged by their appearance. It is
true that Popova's hatred towards
the stranger is not as genuine as her
love towards her husband. She does
not love Nikolai, but loves only love.
She is showy and dubious. When she
is confronted with Smirnov, all her
dubious grief vanishes and she
becomes a normal woman.
D.2.3. Glossary
Promenading - walking for pleasure
- beggar with leprosy

Lazarus
(Luke 19)
liveries - Uniforms for servants
Toby and
- Names of horses
Giant
shoved - pushed roughly
ponders - reflects
excise - person in charge of
officer collecting taxes
awful row - terrible quarrel
- one who is weak and

milksop
timid
lout - ill-mannered person
- a person who chatters a

magpie
lot
pandering - gratifying a vulgar desire
blubber - weep noisily
- woodcock in white, an
white snipe
impossibility
Tamar - a Russian name for a girl
spite - hurt
boor - insensitive person
- freedom from
impurity
punishment
brazen - shameless
soppy - sentimental.
Annotation
1. My love will only fade away when
my poor heart stops beating.
2. When at last I got here, forty
miles from home, and hoping to
be paid my money, I'm treated to
a “state of mind”!
3. I'd rather sit on a barrel of
gunpowder than talk to a woman.
4. You'd be more likely to meet a
cat with horns or white snipe
than a constant woman!
5. He was the breath of my life, I
worshipped him as if I were a
pagan and he my god.

6. You've buried yourself alive, yet
you haven't forgotten to powder
your face!
7. You're a boor! An ill-mannered
bear! A brute! A monster!
8. Madame jevous prie .... I am so
happy to know that you're not
paying me any money.
9. I've had enough of it! Black eyes,
passionate eyes, red lips,
dimpled cheeks, moon light
whisperings, bated breath-
Madam, I won't give you two
pence for all the lot of it.
10. The devil take it – you can hang
me head downwards on that nail
there if a woman is capable of

loving any living thing apart from
a lap-dog!
You've buried yourself alive, yet, you
haven't forgotten to powder your
face!
1. Where does this passage occur?
This passage occurs in the one-
act play ‘The Bear’ written by
Anton Chekhov.
2. Who is the speaker?
Smirnov, the middle-aged
landowner is the speaker.
3. To whom is it spoken?
To Popova, the young widow.

4. Why does the speaker criticize
her so?
Because, Smirnov feels that she
is not true to herself. Inspite of
her black dress and ‘state of
mind’ she has not forgotten to
powder her face to look pretty.

Questions
1. Justify the title “The Bear”
2. Give a brief summary of the,
quarrel between Smirnov and
Popova.
3. Describe how Smirnov and
Popova fell in love with each
other.
D.2.7. Model Answer:
1. Sketch the character of Popova.
Popova is a split personality. She
wants to love and be loved like
any other woman. But she tries
to hide her real self by wearing
a mask. She is unmasked by the
bold and frank Smirnov the
moment he proposes to her. She,
in fact, falls in love with the idea
of love rather than Nikolai, her
dead husband. The more she
boasts of her love, the more we
understand, she is superficial.
She even adores the horse Toby,
which was the favourite of her
dead husband. But the moment
she has chosen Smirnov as her

lover, she asks her servants not
to take care of Toby. Chekhov's
Popova, of course, proves the
wise words of Shakespeare that
‘Frailty thy name is woman’.
Fill In the blanks:
1. Chekov is a _______
writer
2. The widow pretends to be
________ for the death of
her ________
3. The landlord books
like_______
4. The Play, ‘The Bear’, is a
comedy of _________
5. The widow's name is

6. Her husband's name
is________
7. ________ demands twelve
hundred ___________
8. In the end, the widow
becomes a normal
_________

Progress Questions
I. 1. Russian
2. mourning, husband
3. boorish
4. manners
5. Popova
6. Nikolai Mihailorich
7. Smirnov, roubles
8. woman.
D.3. The Death Trap
(Saki)
D.3.1. Introduction
‘Saki’ is the pen name of Hector Hugh
Munro who was born in Burma in
1870. Starting his career as a
political satirist, Saki wrote a number
of novels, plays and short stories.
Many of his stories like that of O.
Henry have an unexepected twist at

th
the end. He died on 14 November
1916.
Objectives
story
story and appreciate the theme
Unit Structure
D.3.1. Introduction
D.3.2. Summary
D.3.3. Glossary
Annotation
Questions
D.3.7. Model Paragraph Question
Progress Questions
D.3.2. Summary
‘The Death Trap’unravels to the
readers the mystery of the death trap
carefully laid by the dying prince, to
kill his enemies. The readers, in fact,
have the sense of satisfaction as the
play has poetic justice at the end.
The play ‘The Death Trap’ shows
how a man, helpless will tend to act
when he is on the verge of death.
Prince Dimitri is the last king of his

clan. Despite being young, he is
surrounded by enemies who are hell
bent on murdering him and bringing
Prince Karl, a rival claimant, to the
throne. They are waiting for the
marching out of the Andrieff regiment

from the capital. The prince himself
is aware of the design of his enemies.
He feels he can never escape from
them. Dr. Stronetz is the only faithful
friend of the Prince. He gains
admission into the room of his friend
on the pretext of examining his
health. To his great shock, he finds
out that the prince is suffering from
a fatal malady and he cannot survive
beyond six days. So the enemies of
the prince do not lay hands on him
and leave him to have natural death.
The prince who feels very happy to
have escaped death, thanks to his
physician friend, is later filled with
despair when he comes to know that
the words of his friend are but true.

A youngman of seventeen, he is
brimming over with high spirits and
wants to enjoy life with all its
fascinating beauty. He cannot be
considered a coward as he hates
death. The doctor comes forward to
help him. He hands over to him a
phial of poison to drink so that the
prince can take his own life before
being murdered.
The prince is not prepared to die a
lonely death. He wants his enemies
too die with him. So he mixes poison
in the drinks and shares with the
conspirators. To his great satisfaction
they all fall dead one by one right
before his eyes. They all are caught
in the death trap of the dying prince.

He breathes his last as a man fully
satisfied.
D.3.3. Glossary
scabbard - sheath for a sword
finger of
- divine will
heaven
nonplussed - perplexed, confused
spoofed - deceived
malady - disease
- clasps hands to show

wrings
distress
phial - small bottle
staggers - totters,
reels - rocks unsteadily
- acted in advance to
forestalled
prevent something
sparsely - thinly scattered
goblet - drinking cup

Annotation
1. Oh, I know this is our great
chance, still I wish the boy could
be cleared out of our path by
finger of Heaven rather than by
our hands.
2. My sword has gone to be reset,
my revolver is being cleaned, my
hunting Knife – has been mislaid.

3. Life is so horribly facinating
when one is young and I've
tested so little of it yet
4. I have made my examination. My
duty is a cruel one .... I cannot
give him six days to live.
5. Spoofed them! Ye gods, that was
an idea, Stronetz!
6. I had seen men who were
stricken with a mortal disease
look like that
7. That would have been better
than this “to-be-left-till-called-
for” business.
8. I am a monarch. I won't be kept
waiting by death. Give me that
little bottle.
9. Long life to Prince Karl!
Gentlemen of the Kranitzki
Guards, drink to your future
sovereign.
10. That is true, because you will
never serve another prince.
Observe I drink fair!
‘That is true, because you will never
serve another Prince. Observe, I
drink fair!’
1. Where does this passage occur?
This passage occurs in Saki's
one-act play ‘The Death Trap’

2. Who is the speaker?
Prince Dimitri, sovereign of an
East European Principality is the
speaker.
3. What is the irony of this
passage?
The prince knows very well that
his enemies who have been
poisoned by him will have no
opportunity to serve other
princes. But his enemies take his
words in a normal sense until
they fall down dead.

Questions
1. Justify the title ‘The Death Trap’.
2. What is the role of Dr. Stronetz
in the play
3. How does Prince Dimitri trap the
conspirators in the end?
4. Sketch the character of Dimitri.
D.3.7. Model Paragraph

Question
Justify the title “The Death Trap”
The title of the play ‘The Death Trap’
focuses the theme of the play
–Revenge. Dimitri, although very
young is destined to die young as he
is inflicted with an incurable disease.
To make the matters worse, he is
surrounded by his enemies too who
are sure to kill him. As he is sure of
his own death, he does not hesitate
to lay a trap to kill all his enemies.
He, hiding his animosity offers them

a drink for the health of their leader.
His enemies without knowing the fact
that it is poisoned, drink and die one
by one. Thus the title justifies the
plot of the play.
Fill In the blanks:
1. Saki is the pen name of
_______
2. Saki was bom in ________
3. Saki started his career as
a ________
4. The death trap is laid by
the dying _________to kill
his ________
5. Prince _________is the
last King.
6. The enemies want to bring
back
7. _______ is the only
faithful friend at the
Prince.
8. The Prince mixed _______
in the drink.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Hecto Hugh Munro
2. Burma
3. Political satirist
4. Prince, enemies
5. Dimitri
6. Prince Karl
7. Dr. Stronetz,
8. Poison.
D.4. The Valiant
(Holworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass)
D.4.1. Introduction
It is a very popular one-act play
staged more than 5000 times. The
title of the play is from the famous
lines of Shakespeare's ‘Julius
Caesar’.
‘Cowards die many
times before their
death
The valiant never
taste of death but
once”.
The theme of the play actually causes
the readers’ wonder and reverence.

Dyke, the prisoner does not fear the
consequences of his self-imposed
introspection. He keeps his real
identity to his heart till his death.
But the readers are able to identify
him through the lines of poems he
recites.
Objectives
1. to make the readers learn the
story
2. to make them understand its

theme
Unit Structure
D.4.1. Introduction
D.4.2. Summary
D.4.3. Glossary
D.4.4. Passages for Annotation
D.4.7. Model Answer
Progress Questions
D.4.2. Summary
The play ‘The Valiant’ reveals the
pathetic story of a young prisoner

who wants to remain unidentified till
his end. Even the warden who has
moved with many hardcore criminals
inside the prison is perplexed at the
adamant nature of the boy. He, with
Father Daly tries all his best to make

James Dyke, the prisoner, confess his
past life. The mystery is unraveled at
the end when he is confronted with a
girl who meets him in the prison.
Dyke is a prisoner awaiting his death.
He has been sentenced to death as
he has murdered a man who
according to Dyke deserves death. As
he has nothing to grudge against the
law of the land, he is prepared to
meet his Creator soon. The warden
makes arrangement to have Dyke in
his own room so that the prisoner
may feel relaxed. He shows him
thousands of letters he is receiving
everyday, inquiring the identity of
the prisoner.
Although Dyke receives Liberty Bonds
worth 2500 dollars for his fabricated
autobiography in a magazine, he has
no mind to claim the sum, as he does
not know what to do with the money.
A girl by name Josephine Paris
meanwhile travelling more than 1000
miles from Ohio meets him in the
prison to verify if Dyke is her own
brother Joe, lost eight years ago. She
comes alone as her mother is sick.
Although she has faint memories of
her brother, she hopes against hope
that she can recall common things
both of them have shared years ago.
Her brother, in her opinion, is so
much interested in Shakespearean
plays that he can quote a number of

lines from them. Whenever she feels
sleepy, he bids her good bye with the
lines from Romeo and Juliet.
But Dyke, on meeting Josephine
informs her that he has no interest in
poetry, neither does he have a sister
at all. He says that he has acquainted
with a boy by name Joseph Anthony
Paris who died a brave man at Vimy
Ridge while trying to save a fellow
soldier. Now the girl, on hearing the
incident at the battle field narrated
by a fellow soldier feels very proud of
her brother. She is very much happy
to know that her brother is not a
murderer, but a martyr. Dyke hands
over to the girl the Liberty Bonds and
requests her to wear a golden star in

memory of her dead brother. Before
she leaves the place he asks her to
recall the lines of poetry, her brother
used to recite. He echoes every word
of the poem long after the girl has
left the prison.
‘Sleep dwell upon
thine eyes
Peace in thy breast
I would I were sleep
and Peace, so
sweet to rest!’
Now the readers are able to
understand that Dyke is none other
than her own brother. It is true, as
he says, ‘The Valiant never taste of
death.... But once’.

D.4.3. Glossary
string-tie - narrow tie
necktie party - hanging
blue devils - depression
fortitude - strength
forboding - ominous
awful Dutch - serious trouble
reprieve - remission of sentence
flat-footed - positively
ponders - reflects
frisked - searched thoroughly
snugly - comfortably
reticence - being reserved
plucky - brave
grimace - contortion of the face
insouciant - indifferent
tardily - slowly
D.4.4. Passages for Annotation

1. He intends to die as a man of
mystery to us. Sometimes I
wonder if he isn't just as much of

a mystery to himself.
2. He pleaded guilty all right, but he
doesn't act guilty.

3. Then... as man to man ... and
this is your last chance ... who
are you?
4. And his soul tonight seems as
dark and forboding to me as a
haunted house would seem to
the small boys down in
Weathersfield.
5. You're not going to execute a
name ... you're going to execute
a man
6. ... Why, I'm still not sorry and
Pm not afraid, because Pm quite
with the other fellow ... the law
is quite with me, and its all
balanced on the books.

7. This boy never heard of
Shakespeare ... much less
learned him.
8. Tell her its from a man who was
at Vimy Ridge and saw your
brother die.
9. “Sleep dwell upon thine eyes
peace in thy breast;
I would I were sleep and peace,
so
sweet to rest”.
10. “Cowards die many times before
their death;
The Valiants never taste of death
but once”.
This boy never heard of Shakespeare
... much less learned him.
1. Who speaks these words?
The warden of the prison, in the
play ‘The Valiant’ speaks these
words to the girl who has come
there to make an inquiry of her
lost brother.
2. Who is the ‘boy’ referred to here?
Dyke is the boy referred to here
3. Is the speaker correct?
No the speaker is incorrect. The
boy actually can recite the words
from Shakespeare's plays.

4. What do you know of
Shakespeare?
He is the greatest playwright of
Elizabethan time, read and
enjoyed by people all over the
world.

1. Sketch the character of Warden
Holt
2. Describe the interview between
Josephine Paris and James Dyke.
3. Justify the title of the play.
D.4.7. Model Answer
Justify the title of the play

The title of the play is taken from the
famous lines of Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar.
“Cowards die many
times before their
death;
The Valiants never
taste of death but -
once”.
The hero of the play is awaiting his
death. Although many people try

their best to bring out the secret from
his heart, he is tight lipped and
remains unidentified till the end. He
faces death with a smiling face after
bidding farewell to his own sister. But
he is very careful not to reveal his

identity to her. He lets her feel that
her brother is a martyr and not at all
a murderer like Dyke. It is only after
he recites words from Shakespeare's
plays, the readers are able to identify
him. Thus the title ‘Valiant’ suits the
hero as he remains valiant till his
death.
Fill In the blanks:
1. The title, ‘The Valiant’ is
from Shakespeare's
______
2. _________ is the prisoner
3. The boy has an _________
nature
4. Father's name is _______

5. Dyke is sentenced to
________ as he has
_________ a man.
6. Dyke receives _______
worth ________ dollars.
7. ________ meets him in
the prison.
8. Josephine Paris is
from_______
9. Josephine Anthony Paris
died a brave man
at_______
10. ________is Josephine's
brother.
Progress Questions
I. 1. Julius Caesar
2. Dyke
3. adamant
4. Daly,
5. death, murdered
6. Liberty Bonds,
7. Josephin Paris
8. Ohio
9. Vimy Ridge
10. Dyke
D.5. The Monkey's Paw
W.W. Jacobs
Dramatized by Louis N. Parker
D.5.1. Introduction
W.W. Jacobs was a famous writer of
tales of the sea and most of his
stories center round supernatural
phenomena and oriental mysticism.
The eerie atmosphere is sustained till
the end of the play. The incidents
that encircle the characters, although
unnatural are made to look natural.
The dead monkey's paw which
deserves little or no attention
becomes a dominating force, ruining
completely the peaceful life of the old
couple.
Objectives
1. to introduce short stories to
learners
2. to make the learners read and
understand the short story.
Unit Structure
D.5.1. Introduction
D.5.2. Summary
D.5.3. Glossary
Annotation
Questions
D.5.7. Model Answer

Progress Questions
D.5.2. Summary
The play-wright, in fact, introduces
the oriental supernatural ism into the
threshold of the west. Mr and Mrs
White, the old couple have a peaceful
life with their only son until they
come across a monkey's paw. It is
handed over to them by a colonel
who had been to the East. The paw,
claims the colonel, is notorious for
fulfilling three wishes of three men
and it will look quite natural too. The
paw has surprisingly been spelled by
a ‘fakir’ to show that everyone's life

has been destined beforehand and
there is no escape from that.
The colonel says that the third wish
of the first claimant was but death.
The colonel himself was the second
claimant and he no longer wants to
possess the paw now. He, in fact,
throws the mummied paw into fire.
But to their ill luck, it is retrieved
by Mr. White who wants to test his
luck with it. Disposing the colonel
by giving him money, the old man
becomes the sole owner of the paw
now.
The first wish of Mr. White the third
owner is quite simple. He wishes to
have 200 pounds to clear the debt on

his house. To his horror, he feels the
paw twisting in his hand like a snake
while wishing. As there is no instant
effect to the wish the family members
of Mr. White consider it a hoax. They
do not attach any importance to the
magical effect of the paw. But to their
horror, they are informed that
Herbert, their only son gets killed in
an accident in the company. They
receive 200 pounds as compensation
for the loss of their son.
The rudely shaken couple now realize
the evil spell of the paw which in fact
has caused the death of their only
son. The mother frantically wants to
see her son alive. She, therefore,
forces her husband to make use of

the second wish to get her son back.
The old man taking the sinister paw
in his hand makes the second wish
of seeing his son back alive. There is
immediately a knock at the door and
the ghost of Herbert is trying to enter
their house.
The knocking steadily increases as
the mother tries to open the door.
Realising the unnatural and eerie
atmosphere created by his second
wish, Mr. White now wishes to end
the game, he started foolishly. Now
before the ghost enters the house,
he wishes his son dead once again.
The paw therefore has fulfilled all its
three wishes. The three claimants of
the paw have been thoroughly

deceived as Macbeth is deceived by
the witches.
D.5.3. Glossary
alcove - recess in a room
ruffled - disordered
lemme - let me
addle -confuse
bog - marsh
yarn - long story
marm - madam
- drink made of rum and

grog
water
puddle - a small muddy pool
- shot made without taking

pot-shot
careful aim
- a heavy wheel to regulate

fly wheel
machinery
- an ascetic – a ‘sanyasi’
fakir
who begs for food
ladle out - distribute
shirty - annoyed
- chopped meat cooked in a

sausage
cylindrical casing
dotty - foolish
abstractedly - preoccupied
drearily - in a dull manner

wrenches - tears away
cowering - crouching in fear
tugging - pulling hard.

Annotation
1. He put a spell on it and made it
so that three people could each
have three wishes.
2. And he wanted to show that fate
ruled people. That everything
was cut and dried from the
beginning, you might say.
3. It would all happen so natural,
you might think it a coincidence
if so disposed.
4. Let it bum! Let the infernal thing
burn!
5. It moved! As I wished, it twisted
in my hand like a snake.
6. Wish to be an emperor, Father,
to begin with. Then you cannot
be hen – pecked.
7. Sounds like the Arabian Nights.
Don't you think you might wish
me four pair o'hands?
8. He was telling his mates a story.
Something that had happened
here last night. He was laughing
and wasn't noticing and ... and
... the machinery caught his ...
9. Herbert! Herbert! My boy! Wait!
your mother's opening to you!
Ah! It's moving.
10. I wish him dead and at peace.

I wish him dead and at peace.
1. Who says this?
Mr. White, the father, says this.
This has been the third wish of
the father who has lost his only
son in an accident.
2. Who is the person the speaker
wants to die?
It is actually the ghost of
Herbert, son of Mr. White to be
at peace.
3. Fix the context
This sentence has been taken
from the play ‘The Monkey's
Paw’ by W.W. Jacobs.

Questions
1. Sketch the character of Mr.
White.
2. How does the playwright build
the atmosphere of suspense and
horror in ‘The Monkey's Paw’.
3. The part played by the Monkey's
Paw.
D.5.7. Model Answer
How does the playwright build the
atmosphere of suspense and horror
in the ‘monkey's Paw’?

The title of the play itself sounds
awful and the incidents narrated send
cold shivers down the readers’ back.
The play actually centers round a
mummied paw of a monkey which
has already cast evil spell on two
people –one, yearned for his own
death and the other was forced to
fling the paw into fire. The third
victim Mr. Whiteman loses his only
son as he lays his hand on the evil
one. The dry paw, in fact, wriggles
like snake when Mr. White wishes for
200 pounds. He gains 200 pounds
by losing his son in an accident. His
second wish makes his dead son
knock at his door and therefore he
hurries to wish once again. Thus the

atmosphere of suspense and horror is
sustained till the end of the play.
Fill In the blanks:
1. The monkey's paw ruins
the peaceful life of the
________ couple
2. The monkey's paw is
notorious for fulfilling
______wishes of _______
men.
3. The paw is spelt as
________
4. The third wish is _______
5. Mr. White's first wish is
_______pounds.
6. Mr. And Mrs. White's son,
_______is killed in an
accident and they get
_______ pounds.
7. The second wish is to see
their ______alive.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Old
2. three, three
3. fakir
4. death
5. 200
6. Herbert, 200
7. son
D.6. The Best Laid Plans
(Farrell Mitchell)
D.6.1. Introduction
Farrell Mitchell, an English master in
a country school, has borrowed the
title ‘The Best Laid Plans’ from Robert
Bums’ poem ‘To the Mouse’.
‘The best laid schemes
o'mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley”.
Objectives
story
story and its theme

Unit Structure
D.6.1. Introduction
D.6.2. Summary
D.6.3. Glossary
Annotation
Questions
D.6.7. Model Answer
Progress Questions
D.6.2. Summary
The play shows how the two burglars
Jack and Bill scheme to steal the

diamonds from the house of a
richman and at last how they are,
inspite of their best laid plans,
outwitted. All of them are arrested as
one of their companions pretending
to be a cop fails to wear the type
of shoes normally worn by the
policemen.
This is a play that shows how the best
laid plans of a burglar end in failure,
thanks to a careless error committed
by his accomplice. Jack is the thief
for all waters. He is well calculative
and accurate in action although he is
nabbed by the “police” many times.
But he is at last arrested by the real
detectives from Scotland yard, as his

police friend has neglected to wear
the regulation boots.
One day Jack with his friend Bill,
plans to thieve the house of Spender
– a millionaire. They enter the house
when Spender and his friend Wood go
for an outing. The richman carefully
hides his box of diamonds worth
about 65000 pounds in a place and
keeps the key under the rug. But the
burglars are very easily in possession
of the ‘sparklers’ as they open the
box without much difficulty.
Unexpectedly Spender and his friend
return home much earlier. They
stand aghast at the terrible sight of
their diamonds being robbed.

Immediately they decide to call the
police.
Jack, the thief, looking unruffled
requests Wood to open the screen
to see if it is raining. Not satisfied,
he asks Wood for the second time
also to verify if it is raining. For,
he has a strange story to tell them
that a soothsayer has assured him of
his safety when there is no rain. He,
therefore will have no fear of arrest
when it is dry. Unexpectedly, there
comes a policeman to find out if the
inmates have any problem. On seeing
the two burglers, he rightly identifies
them as Jack and Bill, the notorious
thieves and prepares to take them
handcuffed.
As the three men begin stepping out
of the house, they are stopped by
the detectives of Scotland yard and
their well laid plan fails to click. The
policeman who comes to arrest the
burglars is none otherthan their own
companion Cuthbert. Jack, it seems,
is so clever to have Cuthbert always
stand by if there is any problem for
him. As he is arrested by the fake
police beforehand, he cannot be
arrested by the real police despite
being caught red-handed. But his
plan fails to succeed as his
‘policeman’ on that day is unmindful
of his shoes. He has chosen to wear
light-soled shoes, as they will be of

great help while burgling, instead of
regulation boots worn by cops.
Wood is very much surprised to know
how he has been made use of by the
thief. When Wood opens the windows
twice to see if it is training, it is
actually a signal to the standby
policeman to enter the house. The
burglar has at last been outsmarted
by Spender and Wood and thrown
into prison.
D.6.3. Glossary
dawdle - delay
crib - box
sparklers - diamonds
old bean - old chap
flatties - slang for ‘policeman’
yard - Scotland yard
in apple-pie
- in perfect order
order
coast is
- there is no danger
clear
dilly-dallied - wasted time
out of joint - dislocated
bobbies - British Policemen
copped - caught
choky - slang for ‘prison’

get your
- get angry
wool off
windy - nervous
beak - slang for ‘magistrate’
What about - why not have a little
a spot drink?
- drink taken before going

night cap
to bed
wheeze - plan
- a police van for

Black Maria
transporting prisoners

Annotation
1. I plan everything down to the
least thing; then when I'm sure

everything's in apple-pie order, I
do the job.
2. I'll let them know one day when
I write my life-story.
3. You'll have plenty of time to
write it when you go to prison.
4. There's no doubt about it. It's as
dry as a bone.
5. She said I'd never be caught as
long as it was a dry night.
6. Our policeman are so marvelous!
It's the first time I've ever known
one to be on the spot when he
was wanted.
7. That's all right, officer. As a
matter of fact, you've just come-
in time.
8. Thank you sir, And how, if you
don't mind, I'll get along with
these two. The sergeant will be
at the telephone-box and he'll
get the Black Maria to come and
pick them up.
9. No Policeman on duty would ever
dare to come out in light-soled
shoes like that.
10. You actually got me to signal to
your friend for you!
“You actually got me to signal
to your friend for You!”
i. Identify the speaker

‘Wood, the friend of Spender,
says these words.
ii. To whom it is spoken?
It is addressed to Jack the
burglar.
iii. Who is the friend?
Cuthbert, the imposter is the
friend.
iv. What is the signal?
Opening the window twice is the
signal.

Questions
1. Describe all the arrangements
made by Jack for the burglary at
the house of Spender.

2. How did the best laid plans of
Jack miscarry?
3. Comment on the role of window
and shoes in ‘The Best Laid
Plan’
D.6.7. Model Answer
How did the best laid plan of Jack
miscarry?
Jack a burglar always executes his
missions precisely. He always keeps
a standby – a ‘policeman’ to rescue
him if he is caught. Although he is
caught red-handed while stealing the
diamonds of Spender he is not ruffled
at all. He cleverly requests Wood to
open the windows twice to see if it

is raining with a fabricated story of
soothsayer to convince him. The
‘police’ after getting the necessary
signal enters the house and arrests
Jack and his companion. While taking
them out they ate waylaid by the
real policemen from Scotland yard.
The only mistake committed by the
‘policeman’ is wearing a light-soled
shoes instead of regulation boots
worn by genuine cops. Thus the well
laid plan of Jack fails to click.
I. Check Your Progress Question
Fill in the blanks :
1. The title “The Best Laid
Plans” is borrowed from
______ poem ________.

2. The two burglars _______
and Bill scheme to steal
the ________
3. They are arrested
by_______police.
4. They plan to thieve a
house of_______
5. The burglar is outsmarted
by __________ and
_______.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Bums’, “To The Mouse”
2. Jack, Bill, diamonds
3. Scotland Yard
4. Spender, Wood
5. Spender, Wood
D.7. The Trial of Billy Scott
(Mazie Hall)
D.7.1. Introduction
Mazie Hall's one – act play ‘The Trial
of Billy Scott’ is a hilarious comedy
on English – speaking people. The
playwright presents the story in the
form of court proceedings. It has all
the features of a regular court – trial.
Billy Scott is accused of using
singular verb with a plural subject.
The judge after listening carefully to
the arguments of both the sides
sentences Billy Scott, the accused,
to one year's hard labour in a junior
high school. The arguments of the
Prosecuting Attorney are relevant

even today as there are a number of
Billy Scotts living with us spoiling the
language. The judgement, of course,
suits many such Billy Scotts.
Objectives
story
2. to make them understand its
theme and content.
Unit Structure
D.7.1. Introduction
D.7.2. Summary
D.7.3. Glossary
Annotation
Questions
D.7.7. Model Answer
Progress Questions
D.7.2. Summary
Mazie Hall ridicules the way the
language English is spoken by many

people without bothering about the
damage caused. The playwright
perhaps intends to convey to the
readers that it is the native speakers
who have maimed the language more

than the foreigners. They least care
the grammar or structural pattern of
sentences.
Billy Scott actually is not an
individual to be accused; he is a type.
The playwright correctly takes him to
the court and makes him listen to the
mistakes he has committed so far –
breaking verbs, fracturing pronouns
and murdering phrases. Although the
defence attorney tries all his best to
convince the jury that verb is always
changing and unreliable, the Judge
is fully convinced that Billy Scott is
a person to be punished. He is
therefore ordered to undergo one
year's hard work in a Junior High
School.
D.7.3. Glossary
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called you
- here abused
names
swell - slang for ‘good’
darned - slang for ‘damned’
conjugations - different forms of a verb
erroneous - wrong
sifting - analyzing
in recess - period of break in work
- wooden hammer used by
gavel the judge to knock on the
table to bring order.

Annotations
1. Bill Scott, you are accused of
using a singular verb with a
plural subject.
2. If this man, and others who
might be encouraged by his
example, should be allowed to go
unchecked you would soon find
the very streets of our fair city
filled with broken verbs,
fractured pronouns and
murdered phrases!
3. He has always abused me. He
never considered my tenses, nor
my voice. He never cared
whether I agreed with the

subject. He threw me around,
and this is result.
4. Ladies and gentlemen of the
jury-this man has admitted that
he is unreliable, changeable and
thoroughly irritating.
5. He says everything is ‘swell’.
‘That's a well pie’. ‘We had a
swell game’. ‘He is a swell guy’
and ‘I saw a swell ship’.
6. He'd say, T been to the store’or
‘He done his lessons in school’.
7. Do your verbs always agree with
their subjects? And what of your
tenses? Do you always use the
proper auxiliary with your
participles?
8. This is a crime against
Washington, against Patrick
Henry, against our early history.
9. No, Ladies and gentlemen, I tell
you no one can learn all the
peculiarities of this fellow, verb!
“I sentence you to one year's hard
work in Junior High School”.
1. Fix the context.
This sentence has been taken
from the play ‘The Trial of Billy
Scott’ by Mazie Hall.
2. Who speaks these words?
The jury gives his judgement
thus.
3. Against whom is this judgement
delivered?
It is delivered against Billy Scott
as he is found guilty of using
singular verb with a plural noun.
4. Why is he asked to undergo
hardwork in Junior High School?
He is ordered to undergo one
year's hardwork in Junior High
School to learn grammar once
again thoroughly.

Questions
1. Write in your own words the
arguments of the prosecuting
Attorney and the Defence
Attorney.
2. Bring out the sense of humour in
the play.
D.7.7. Model Answer
Humour in the play
The very idea of prosecuting the man
who spoils the language is both
humorous and novel. Billy Scott has
committed a crime although not
against the humanity, certainly
against the language – his mother
tongue. He therefore deserves

punishment. It is dictatorial if he is
punished without fair trial. There are
witnesses too – the people who are
affected by him. The judge after
listening to the arguments of both

the sides comes to the conclusion
that he must be sent once again to
a junior school to learn English from
the beginning. This is the correct
judgement awarded to the culprit and
this judgement awaits many Billy
Scotts among us.
I. Check Your Progress Question
Fill in the blanks:
1. “The Trial of Billy Scott” is
a ___________
2. Billy Scott is accused of
using ________ verb with
a __________ subject
3. Scott is sentenced to
________ gem's hard

labour in a _________
school.
4. Hall ridicules the way
_________is spoken by
all.
5. The ___________ tries to
convince the judge.

Progress Questions
I. 1. Comedy
2. singular, plural
3. One, Junior
4. English
5. attorney
(7 pages)
October 2008
7060/3R1
Paper – I – PROSE, EXTENSIVE
READER, GRAMMAR AND
COMPOSITION
(For those who joined in July 2003
and afterwards)
Maximum: 100
Time: Three Hours
Marks
SECTION – A (50 marks)
PROSE
1. a. Answer ONE of the following
questions in about 250
words: (20)
i. How does Abbas succeed
in arousing the
confidence of his
readers through the
story “The Refugee”?
ii. What reasons does Sir
John Squire give for
destroying books?
iii. Give an account of
Gangarin's space flight.
b. Answer any TWO of the
following questions in about
100 words:
(2x5 = 10)
i. In what way is Nepal am
example for the world?

ii. Describe the second
meeting between
Toynbee and Nehru.
iii. What has civilization
done to man?
iv. What made Anderson
furious at night?
v. What are Huxley's
impressions on
traveling?
c. Choose any FOUR of the
given passage and answer
the questions given below
each:
(4x5 = 20)
i. In this drawing-room in
a house in London, I was

witnessing an exhibition
of Mahatma Gandhi's
spirit.
1. What is the title of
the lesson?
2. Give the name of
the author.
3. Who is the “I”?
4. Who was exhibiting
Mahatma Gandhi's
spirit?
ii. She had, I presume,
read of how Garfield,
Lincoln and other
Americans rise from
poverty to fame and
greatness
1. Name the lesson
2. Who is the author?
3. Who is the “she”?
4. Who is the Lincoln?
5. What did the author
read?
iii. But it is not always easy
to destroy books. They
may not have as many
lives as cat but they
certainly die hard, and it
is sometimes difficult to
find a scaffold for them?
1. What is the title of
the lesson?

3. What does “they”
refer to?
4. How does the author
get rid of books?
5. Does the author feel
sorry for throwing
books?
iv. The world today runs to
science as a lobster runs
to claws or a pelican to a
beak.
1. What is the name of
the lesson?
3. Explain the meaning
of “lobster runs into

claws” and “pelican
to a beak”.
4. What is the analogy
here?
5. Explain the
passage.
v. Whatever happened to
Paul on that journey of
his to Damascus, it was
a very personal
experience.
1. What is title of the
lesson?
3. Who is Paul?
4. Where is Damascus?
5. What happened to
Paul?
vi. Negotiations therefore
had to be reopened the
pair Achilles had to be
called and at ten
minutes to three the
match began upon
twelve a side basics.
1. What is the name of
the lesson?
3. Who as Achilles?
4. Who was to play the
match?
5. Why did some
players desert their
team?
SECTION – B (20 marks)
(EXTENSIVE READERS)
2. Answer FOUR of the following
questions in about 100 words
each:
a. What were the events at
school?
b. Why did the old man reject

Nene?
c. What was the plan of Bill and
Sam?
d. What was Mona Marianna?

e. Narrate Gerard's experience
with the yak.
f. How does the novelists
describe Tess?
g. How does Alex Harass Tess
after her father's death?
SECTION – C (30 marks)
(GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION )
(4 x 1/ 2 = 2)
3. a. i. Fill in the blanks with

suitable articles:
After much
contemplation,
__________ author
came up with
___________ idea. He
decided to sack
__________ books and
throw them into
__________ river.
ii. Supply the correct tense
forms of the verbs given
in parentheses:
(6 x 1=6)
1. My father ________
(go) to China in
1962.
2. The learners
________(be) in
the library
yesterday.
3. Usha
________(appoint)
to do clerical work.
4. Ram ________(be)
busy since morning.
5. The old man
________(meet)
me a week ago.
6. If you
________(arrest)
him, you will be
promoted.
iii. Use the following pairs
of words in sentences of
your own bringing out
their meaning: (2×1=2)
1. Prize – Praise.
2. Confident –
Confidant
iv. Give the synonyms of
the underline words:
(2 x 1=2)
1. He endured the ill
treatment
2. His strange
behaviour was
observed be me.
v. Give the antonyms of
the underline words:
(2 x 1=2)
1. He was confident of
success.
2. His criticism was
explicit.
vi. Supply the correct
prefixes for the following
words: (2 x 1=2)
1. agree
2. caution
vii. Supply the correct
suffixes for the following
words: (2 x 1=2)
1. move
2. care
(f) He has more need of
them than I. My mother
would have wished it so had
she bear here.
i. Who is the author?
ii. Name the title of the
play.
iii. Who is the speaker?
iv. Who has more need?
v. What does the word
“them” refer to?
(7 pages)
October 2008
7061/3R2
Paper – II – POETRY AND DRAMA - I
(For those who joined in July 2003
and after)
Maximum: 100
Time: Three Hours
Marks
SECTION – A
Poetry (50 marks)
1. Answer ONE of the following
questions in about 250 words:
(20)
a. How does cloridge express
his depressed thoughts in
“Dejection: An Ode”?
b. How does Whitman praise
both the serene life of

country side and the active
life of the city?
c. Write an essay on Anden's
“The Shield of Achliles”
2. Answer any TWO of the following
(2 x 5 = 10)
a. How does Owen describe the
real nature of hell?
b. How does Hopkins lament
people's indifference to the
branty of nature?
c. Write a short note on the
theme of Dickinson's “I
would not paint a picture?
d. Analyse the theme of “Ode
to Psyche”.
3. Choose any FOUR of the
following passages and answer
the questions given below each:
(4 x 5 = 20)
a. Yes, I will be thy priest and
build a fare
In some untrodden region of
my mind.
ii. Name the poem.
iii. Who is referred to as
“I”?
iv. For whom does the poet
want to be a priest?
v. What does he want to do
b. Give me solitude, give me,

Nature, give me again
O nature, your primal
sanities.
i. Name the author.
poem?
iii. Whom does “me” refer
to?
iv. What do you mean by
“primal sanities”?
v. What does the speaker
praise?
c. I would not talk, like comets
poem?
iii. Who is referred to as
“I”?
iv. What is a comet?
v. Does the poet have the
desire to be a singer?
d. He is all pine and I am apple
orchard.
i. Name the author.
ii. What is the tile of the
poem?
iii. Whom does “he” refer
to?
iv. What doe the speaker
say?
v. What does the other
person say?
e. I went hunting wild
After wildest beauty in the
world.
Which lies not calm in eyes
or braided hair.
i. Who is the poet?
ii. Name the poem.
iii. Identify the speaker.
iv. What was the speaker
doing when he was
alive?
v. Does he regret his folly?
f. As three place figures were
led forth and bound
To three posts driven upright
in the ground.
i. Name the post
poem?
iii. What does the phrase
“three posts” mean?
iv. What does the poet want
to say?
v. Does the poet criticize
war?
SECTION B
DRAMA – (50 marks)
4. Answer ONE of the following
(20)
a. Sketch the character of the
Bishop
b. How is The Bear a comedy of
manners?
c. Write an essay on the theme
of The Valiant.
5. Answer any TWO of the following
questions in about 100 words
each:
(2x5 = 10)
a. What is the role of Dr.
Stonetz in the play The

Death Trap?
b. What does Dyke the

Josephine?
c. How does the playwright
build the atmosphere of
suspense in The Monkv's
Paw?
d. How is the burglar
outsmarted by spender and
wood?
6. Choose any FOUR of the
following passages and answer
the questions given below each:
(4x5= 20)
a. You actually got me to signal
to your friend for you
ii. Name the title of the-
play.
iv. To whom is its spoken?
v. Who is the friend?

b. He put a spell on it and made
it so that three people could
each have three wishes.
play?
iii. What does “it” refer to?
iv. Who has got “it”?
v. Who has given “it”?
c. He intends to die as a man of
mystery to us
play?
iii. Who intents to dies as a
man of mystery?
iv. Where he is?

v. Does he confess his past
life?
d. That is true, because you will
never serve another prince,
observe, I drink fair.
i. Name the author.
play?
iv. Where is he?
v. What is the irony of the
passage?
e. You're a bour! An ill-
mannered bear! A brute! A
monster!

ii. Name the title of the
play.
iv. Who is the addressee?
v. What does the
addressee want the
other person do?
(viii) Supply the correct
prepositions in the blanks:
(2x1=2)
Outside it was cold __________
snow covered everywhere. He
took the young man _________
the little walk up the road.
(b)Write a letter to your
friend giving him an account

of the foreign country you
have visited recently (5)
(c) Read the given passage
and answer the questions
given below:
(5x1 =5)
Nehru enjoyed reading and
writing books are much as
he enjoyed fighting political
and social evils. In him, the
scientist and the humanist
were held in perfect balance.
He always aimed at
nourishing the total man. As
a scientist, he refused to
believe in benevolent power.
He affirmed his faith in life

and the beauty of nature. He
always adored children.
a. What did Nehru enjoy?
b. What were held in
perfect balance in
Nehru?
c. What was his aim?
d. What did he affirm?
e. Whom did he adore?

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SYLLABUS

PART II ENGLISH – Paper II Poetry

(Applicable to the students who

joined the first year of the

degree course in July 2003 and

Text: Spectrum – Board of

The following selections are

Text: Pride of plays

Unit Text Author

2 Ode to Psyche John Keats

From Pent up Walt

I would not Paint a Emily

6 Song Offerings Tagore's

The Shield of W.H.

D.1. The Bishop's Norman

D.2. The Bear Anton

D.4. The Valiant Holworthy Hall

D.5. The Monkey's W.W. Jacobs

D.6. The Best Laid Farrell Mitchell

D.7. The Trial of Mazie Hall

1.1. Introduction : Author

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (S.T.

Coleridge) is described by Charles

Lamb as “Logician, Metaphysician

and the Bard”. He had a very disquiet

life which was made more tumultuous

by his own sensitive and uneven

temperament. He was bom on

October 21, 1772 in Ottery, St. Mary,

Coleridge wrote very little, most of it

fragmentary. His reputation as a poet

rests on four to five poems composed

“The Ancient Mariner”, “Christabel”,

“Kubla Khan”, “Frost at Midnight” etc.

His poems are classified as :

2. Political poems and

Personal poems pay a touching

tribute to the days of hope and joy

experienced by the poet in the

company of Wordsworth. The poems

written during this phase gave him a

sense of belonging and a feeling of

personal security. During this period

only he had written the poem,

“Dejection: an ode” which expresses

the poet's sense of failure and

creative powers. Political poems talk

about Coleridge's interest in political

scenario of Europe and especially of

France, French Revolution and

England. Romantic poems give him

a reputation as a poet that rests on

three of his great romantic poems:

“The Ancient Mariner”, “Kubla Khan”,

and “Christabel” All the three evoke a

magical and mysterious mood.

Coleridge possesses an unusual gift

of evoking the mystery of things. He

is said to have the most vigorous

imagination among the romantic

poets. The major poems of Coleridge

have a strange dreamlike atmosphere

as dreams are no shadows; they are