ISC 2023-24 ENGLISH LITERATURE

MUST KNOW CONTENT (CHAPTER-WISE)

SECTION A – DRAMA (THE TEMPEST)

ACT 3 SCENE 1:
• Continuation of Act 1 Scene 2 part 3, Prospero punishes Ferdinand to check his sincerity towards Miranda.
• First one-on-one meeting between Ferdinand and Miranda.
• Ferdinand becomes “patient log-man” to get a chance to express his love to Miranda.
• Symbolism: Love:- “dear mistress, precious creature, good friend”
Marriage: “kind event, companion, hands”
• Both the lovers propose each other and promise to marry.
• Miranda means Admirable.
• Prospero is happy for the love between Ferdinand and Miranda.
• This scene is important because this love story changes Prospero’s mind from punishment and revenge to forgiveness
and reconciliation.
• Themes: Love and Marriage, Prospero as playwright, Appearance vs. Reality.

ACT 3 SCENE 2:
• Continuation of Act 2 Scene 2. The THREE CONSPIRATORS (Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban) meet.
• Caliban reminds Stephano of taking revenge from his tyrant master Prospero by killing him.
• Stephano agrees to do so in greed of becoming the King of the island and marrying beautiful and virtuous Miranda.
• The three conspirators prepare the plan for killing Prospero.
• Ariel ventriloquizes (mimics/copies the voice of) Trinculo and creates confusion among the conspirators.
• Caliban suggests the timing & method of killing Prospero & advises to take the magic books away before murder.
• In the end, Ariel charms the three conspirators and they follow the harmonious music.
• Themes: Pursuit of lost power, Conspiracy and Murder, Greed and Ambition, Magic and Illusion.

ACT 3 SCENE 3:
• Continuation of Act 2 Scene 1. Banquet and Harpy scene.
• Alonso and his royal party are still searching for Ferdinand and are extremely tired.
• Gonzalo wants to rest and Alonso also decided to give up any hope of finding Ferdinand alive.
• Antonio and Sebestian are happy and decide to execute the pending plan to kill Alonso & Gonzalo that night.
• Strange shapes enter with a table full of food items. They invite Alonso and his team to eat and they disappear.
• All of them are surprised at this sight and Sebestian says he will now believe that Unicorns and Phoenix exist.
• Gonzalo calls those shapes as the residents of that island and tries to calm the royal party as they are scared too.
• As soon as they decide to eat the food, the HARPY (Ariel) enters and the food disappears from the table.
• Disappearing of food symbolises that the King Alonso and others are not fit for comforts as they are sinners.
• A Harpy is a mythological creature with upper body of a woman and wings and claws of a bird.
• Harpy recalls the sin of the THREE SINNERS (Alonso, Sebestian and Antonio) and announces their punishment.
• Alonso feels guilty and runs to save his son from drowning in the sea.
 • Themes: Magic and Illusion, Crime and Punishment, Magic and Illusion, Prospero as a playwright.

ACT 4 SCENE 1:
• Continuation of Act 3 Scene 1, Ferdinand has impressed Prospero so he is ready to marry his daughter to Ferdinand.
• Prospero, as a worried father warns Ferdinand to maintain the purity of their love until they both get married. If this is
not done, their marriage will be unsuccessful.
• Ferdinand promises to maintain the sanctity of their relationship till they get married. Prospero is convinced.
• Prospero asks Ariel to present a masque to bless the true lovers by showing them the power of his art.
• Ariel plays IRIS (Goddess of Rainbow, Juno’s messenger) , CERES (Goddess of Agriculture and Fertility) & JUNO
(wife of Jupiter, the Queen of Gods/Sky).
• Juno blesses the couple with Honour, Riches, Long life, Happy marriage, Happiness and Joy forever.
• Ceres blesses them with abundant crops, fertile groves and trees, absence of scarcity and a happy life.
• Prospero recalls Caliban’s conspiracy, stops the masque and plans to punish them with the help of Ariel.
• Prospero gives a speech to Ferdinand on Transience/Impermanence of Life.
• The hunting dog spirits Mountain, Silver, Fury and Tyrant chase out Caliban and his allies.
• Themes: Love & Marriage, Customs & Traditions, Magic & Illusion, Crime & Punishment

ACT 5 SCENE 1:
• Last act of the play and it leads to Happy Ending, like a typical Shakespearean play.
• Ariel informs Prospero about the poor and pitiable condition of the Royal party, Prospero decided to show mercy.
• Prospero is ready to forgive them only because they are feeling guilty and are repentant.
• Prospero gives a soliloquy wherein he announces the Renunciation (surrendering) of his magical powers.
• Prospero confronts the three sinners, reminds them of the sins but also declares to forgive them.
• Alonso returns the Dukedom of Milan to Prospero, says sorry and proposes the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand.
• Gonzalo is extremely happy and declares to record the moment in golden words on lasting pillars.
• Prospero promises to update Alonso about his past and also to take them back safely to Naples.
• Last task given to Ariel by Prospero for ensuring favourable winds, speedy and safe journey to join the Royal fleet.
• Themes: Repentance and Forgiveness, Renunciation and Reconciliation, Magic and Illusion, Marriage.

SECTION B – PROSE (ECHOES)

FRITZ
• Written by Satyajit Ray, published in collection named “Collected Short Stories”. First person narration by Shankar.
• Themes: Friendship, Superstition & Paranormal, Elusive power of memory, Childhood memories, Suspense & Fear.
• Characters: Shankar, Jayanto, Fritz. Setting: Bundi (Rajasthan)
• Fritz, a 12-inch long Swiss doll, given to Shankar at the age of 6 years by his uncle.
• Jayanto’s father worked in Archeological Department and lived at Circuit House in Bundi.
• Friendship between Jayanto and Fritz, Fritz’s death.
• Jayanto revisits Bundi and recalls his childhood and seems disturbed by the nostalgic memories of Fritz.
• Shankar decided to save his friend from madness by discovering the truth about Fritz.
• The story ends in suspense as after digging, near Deodar tree in the circuit House of Bundi, they find a human skeleton.
• Prepare the character sketch of both Shankar and Jayanto.
SHANKAR: Shankar is the story’s narrator. He works as a teacher and is around 37 years old. Shankar has been
planning a trip to Rajasthan with his childhood friend, Jayanto, for some time. Shankar agrees to visit Bundi with
Jayanto but is puzzled by his friend’s choice until Jayanto tells him he wants to see how modern Bundi compares to his
childhood memories. A devoted friend, he spends a lot of time listening to Jayanto share memories from his childhood
trips to Bundi, including the rather intriguing story of Fritz, a lifelike doll that Jayanto’s uncle had gotten him from
Switzerland. Shankar watches as his friend grows increasingly anxious throughout their trip and begins to worry that his
memories are depressing him. One night, Jayanto wakes up terrified because he feels something walk across his chest.
Shankar not only searches the room to find whatever it might have been, but he also tries to comfort his friend by telling
him it was either a cat or a dream. The next day, while they are visiting the famous fort, Shankar sees that Jayanto is
restless and agrees to go back to the circuit house with him even though he would rather stay at the fort. In the car, he
asks Jayanto what is wrong, and Jayanto says he believes it was Fritz who had walked across his chest. Though Shankar
finds this implausible, his concern for his friend motivates him to find a solution for his anxiety. He eventually
convinces Jayanto to have the gardener dig up Fritz’s burial spot, revealing a miniature human skeleton.

JAYANTO: Jayanto is the story’s protagonist. He works in the editorial department of a newspaper and is about 37
years old. Friends describe him as emotional. Jayanto has been planning a trip to Rajasthan with his childhood
friend, Shankar, for some time. Though there are more popular destinations in the region, Jayanto convinces Shankar to
go to Bundi. He admits on the train ride up that he had visited Bundi as a child and wants to see how it compares to his
memories of it. After they arrive, Jayanto is anxious and withdrawn, and he tells Shankar that this trip is challenging his
childhood perceptions of the place. Eventually, he tells Shankar the story of Fritz, a lifelike doll that one of his uncles
had brought him from Switzerland. Jayanto had a lot of toys as a child but loved this doll the most. He would spend
hours playing with it and talking to it and became so obsessed that his parents even warned him not to overdo it. When
Shankar asks what happened to the doll, Jayanto tells him that he had brought it with him to Bundi and that it was
destroyed by two stray dogs. That night, after telling the story, Jayanto is awakened by the sensation that something had
walked across his chest. Though Shankar attempts to comfort him, he is barely able to sleep afterward. The next day he
is obviously unwell, and he tells Shankar that he believes it was Fritz who had come in their room the night before.
Jayanto concedes to Shankar’s suggestion to dig up Fritz’s burial spot, but when they do, instead of the doll they find a
miniature human skeleton.

FRITZ: The doll Fritz symbolizes Jayanto’s painful and unresolved past. While revisiting Bundi as an adult, Jayanto
slowly unearths memories from his childhood visits there. Jayanto is at first unable to recall the details about Fritz’s
identity (he first recalls only the deodar tree and then relates it to something about “a European”). Eventually, however,
he shares the story of Fritz’s tragic final days in Bundi: he was plucked up by two stray dogs and ultimately destroyed in
a game of tug-of-war. It soon becomes clear that this memory haunts Jayanto: later that night, Jayanto is awoken by a
strange sensation on his chest and believes that Fritz visited him while he slept. Jayanto becomes increasingly anxious
the following day, and a concerned Shankar hopes to rid him of his anxiety by digging up Fritz’s old burial spot. Yet
instead of the doll, they find a doll-sized human skeleton, a strange and unexpected turn of events that suggests there is
more to Fritz’s story than perhaps even Jayanto is aware of. The doll thus becomes a symbol for mysterious and
 unresolved aspects of Jayanto’s childhood. Though one may attempt to bury it, just as Jayanto literally buries his doll,
the past never really dies and will likely haunt those who refuse to confront it.

QUALITY
• Written by John Galsworthy, written in 1912 is about German brothers – Gessler brothers. Setting: West End, London.
• First published in “The Inn of Tranquility: Studies and Essays”, First person narration by an unknown narrator.
• Themes: Commitment & Passion towards one’s work, Quality & Craftsmanship, Tradition & Orthodox beliefs,
Hardships of Traditional craftsmen, Ill effects of Industrialisation and lack of Adaptability.
• The ending of the story is quite sad. There’s a sense of loss and grief. And that is what the author wants the readers to
feel for those true craftsmen like the Gessler brothers who value quality.
• Prepare the character sketch of Gessler Brothers.
GESSLER BROTHER:
Mr. Gessler in Galsworthy’s short story “Quality” is traditional German shoemaker who values quality of the shoes he
makes. He is the younger of the two Gessler Brothers and is the protagonist of the story. Mr. Gessler, a little, short-statured
man with “his yellow crinkly face, and crinkly reddish hair and beard, his guttural and one-toned voice” is described as “as if
made from leather”. This kind of physical description of the man is not without purpose though. The words “as if made of
leather” indicate that Mr. Gessler is “stiff and slow of purpose” like leather. He is as dependable as the quality of leather he
uses to make his shoes, though he is slow in execution. Moreover, Mr. Gessler’s ideal of being a perfectionist was reflected in
his gray-blue eyes which, the narrator comments “had in them the simple gravity of one secretly possessed by the Ideal”. As
a hard-working shoemaker tirelessly making boots since his youth, Mr. Gessler’s mission in life seemed to make quality
shoes as per the demands of his customers.

To Mr. Gessler, shoe-making was not a mere profession, but a sacred vocation, an art of which he was a passionate artist.
Once the narrator had asked him whether his work of shoe-making was awfully hard. Gessler answered with a smile.
Gessler’s passion for shoe-making is evident from the fact that he performed all the activities himself like working on the
leather, taking measurements and stitching the shoes. The narrator also says that when he had to leave his work to attend to the
customers, he appeared as if he had been awakened from some dream of shoes or like an owl, who felt surprised in daylight. In
fact, it was his passion for his work that he continued his efforts to maintain excellence in his work despite all the hardships,
including the death of his elder brother.

Mr. Gessler was a perfectionist. That is why he used to make shoes only on order, according to the needs of individual
customers. He was against mass production. He made sure that the shoes he made were not only durable but also comfortable.
He would take longer time rather than delivering sub-par quality shoes. Quality was more important than quantity to Gessler
brothers. Gessler had a command over his work. He was so well-versed in his vocation that he could tell whether the shoes
were made by him or somebody else by simply looking at them. Moreover, he could understand where the shoe might be
hurting the wearer by just looking at them. When the narrator once went to the Gesslers’ shop wearing a shoe bought from
another large firm, Gessler simply pressed the shoe on the place where it was not quite comfortable.

STORY OF AN HOUR
• Written by Kate Chopin in 1894, is about the tragic events that happened with Mrs. Louise Mallard in an hour one day.
• Third person narration by an unknown narrator.
• Themes: Forbidden Joy of Independence, Oppressiveness of Marriage, Unpredictable nature of Fate.
• Symbolisms:
Heart trouble: represents unhappy married life and lack of freedom
Open window: represents Freedom and Opportunity in upcoming future
Sky with Blue patches: represents Hope
The sounds and smell: represent Joy, happiness and new life.
 • Characters: Louise Mallard (protagonist), Josephine (sister), Bentley Mallard (husband), Richards (Husband’s friend)
Mrs. Mallard: A woman troubled by a heart condition who is told that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died in a train
accident. Due to her heart problem, she is not supposed to become overly excited, but—unlike how other women of the
time period might react—she responds to this bad news with intense, wild grief. However, as she is grieving alone in
her room for her husband, with whom she had shared a good marriage, Louise soon finds herself overjoyed at the
prospect of the independence of widowhood, at the prospect of never again being dependent on a husband or in any way
influenced, explicitly or implicitly, to do anything other than exactly what she wants to do. As she savors this newfound
freedom she is flooded by joy, a joy that is snuffed out when she dies of a heart attack upon seeing her husband, who
had in fact not been in the accident at all, walk through the front door. Her death suggests the actual impossibility of the
sort of freedom she had briefly imagined.

JOSEPHINE: The sister of Louise Mallard. Aware of Louise’s heart troubles, she breaks the news of Brently’s death to
Louise using a calm demeanor. She actively worries about her sister’s health and tries to protect her from herself.
Whereas Louise is a women who, in her moment of grief, sees how society entraps and controls women, Josephine is
more traditional and shows no such insight. In fact, her character seems to show how both men and women of society
control and entrap other women.

THE SINGING LESSON

• Written by Katherine Mansfield, published in collection “The Garden Party and Other Stories”.
• Third person narration by unknown narrator. Published in 1920.
• Themes: Hope vs. Despair, Music, Ageing, Societal pressure for Marriage.
• Characters: Miss Meadows aka Meady (Protagonist), Basil (fiancé), Mary Beazley and Monica (students), Head
mistress and Science mistress.
• Miss Meadows taught music in an all girls school at an unknown location. Season: Winter
• Contrast in story: Sad mood in beginning vs. happy mood at the end.
• Music period reflects on the internal feelings and emotions of Miss Meadows.
• Character Sketch:
MISS MEADOWS: Miss Meadows is a thirty-year-old singing teacher at a girls’ school who is engaged to
marry Basil. She arrives at school on the day of the story feeling despair because Basil has left a note breaking their
engagement. Miss Meadows seems to be a sensitive person who can feel a great connection to both the weather and
music, but she also responds to her unhappiness by becoming cruel to others, spreading her despair to the students. For
instance, her sadness causes her to ignore her favorite student, Mary Beazley, and even dictates her choice of songs for
her students to sing. As Miss Meadows becomes increasingly emotional about the end of her relationship with Basil,
though, her memories of the actual relationship makes it clear that she is sadder about being single at thirty than she is
about losing Basil himself. When Miss Meadows later gets a casual, chatty telegram from Basil saying that she should
ignore the break-up letter and that he has bought a hat-stand for their future home, Miss Meadows is not angry at him
for thinking so little of her emotions. Instead, she is overwhelmed with joy—a joy that, as with her sadness, seems more
motivated by the prospect of avoiding becoming an unmarried spinster than it is about actually being married to Basil.
BASIL: Basil is Miss Meadows’s fiancé. At the start of the story, he has sent Miss Meadows a letter breaking off their
engagement because, while he “loves her as much as he could love any woman” the idea of marriage “fills him with—”
and he has written the word “disgust,” crossed it out, and written in “regret.” Miss Meadows believes that his failure to
fully remove the word “disgust” shows how little he cares about her, underscoring his general disregard for her feelings.
A reader from Mansfield’s time would see many hints in the story that Basil is gay and is marrying Miss Meadows to
cover this up. He is vain about his appearance and overly concerned with furniture, which were stereotypes for gay men
in the early 20th century. Furthermore, when he proposes to Miss Meadows (rather dispassionately), he touches the end
of her ostrich feather boa rather than touching Miss Meadows herself. Their engagement surprises Miss Meadows
herself and the people at her school, because he is twenty-five and handsome, where she is thirty, which would have
been considered old for a single woman. While both he and Miss Meadows seem to be marrying one another primarily
to live up to the expectations of their communities rather than out of love, Basil is quite cruel to Miss Meadows,
seeming not to consider her feelings at all when he leaves her a cold note ending their engagement, and then sending a
casual, lighthearted telegram renewing their engagement without ever apologizing for—or even acknowledging—the
pain he has caused. That he takes Miss Meadows for granted and doesn’t seem all that committed to their engagement
suggests rough times ahead.

SCIENCE MISTRESS: The Science Mistress is another teacher at the school where Miss Meadows works. She is pale
with honey-colored hair and has a sweet manner that Miss Meadows believes is insincere. She and Miss Meadows have
a conversation about the chilly autumn weather at the beginning of the story that Miss Meadows interprets as a hostile
and smug inquisition about Miss Meadows’s emotional state. When Miss Meadows remembers getting engaged
to Basil, she particularly recalls the Science Mistress being surprised that a handsome young man like Basil would want
to marry Miss Meadows. When Miss Meadows imagines it becoming known at the school that Basil has broken off their
engagement, she particularly dreads having the Science Mistress know what has happened. She believes it would be
better to quit her job and disappear entirely rather than face whatever judgment the Science Mistress and the girls would
have for her once it is known that her engagement is broken. While Miss Meadows paints the Science Mistress as being
cruel, judgmental, and insincere, Mansfield never confirms that Miss Meadows’s impression of the woman is
accurate—it’s possible that the science teacher is perfectly nice and Miss Meadows is projecting her fears.

MISS WYATT: Miss Wyatt is the headmistress at the school where Miss Meadows teaches. She is likely an older
woman, as she wears glasses and often has difficulty getting them untangled from the lace of her clothing.
When Basil sends Miss Meadows a telegram at work to renew their engagement, Miss Meadows goes to Miss Wyatt to
collect the telegram. Mansfield describes Miss Wyatt as being very kind with Miss Meadows at first, seeming to expect
that the telegram will contain bad news. Once she discovers that the telegram contains good news, Miss Wyatt is
annoyed and tells Miss Meadows that she can only receive telegrams at work in an emergency. Mansfield subtly
suggests that Miss Wyatt might have relished Miss Meadows receiving bad news, and her reprimand of Miss Meadows
might come from a place of bitterness, since Miss Meadows emphasized the note was from her fiancé. In this era, it was
rare for women to keep a teaching job after marriage, so the fact that Miss Wyatt has been promoted to headmistress of
the school and still goes by “Miss” suggests that she is likely older than Miss Meadows, and still unmarried, the very
condition that Miss Meadows fears. As Mary Beazley echoes a younger version of Miss Meadows, Miss Wyatt appears
to show a possible future for Miss Meadows if she stays in her job and does not marry. Miss Wyatt may have a higher-
ranking job within the school, but she is a bitter person that is only shown taking joy in the possibility of other people’s
pain.
B. WORDSWORTH
• Written by V.S. Naipaul in 1959 a first person narration by the young African boy. Collection name: Miguel Street
• It is a coming-of-age story reflecting on the friendship between Wordsworth and the young boy. Setting: Trinidad
• Characters: young boy (narrator), B. Wordsworth (the poet), Boy’s mother
• Themes: Friendship, Love for Nature, Despair, Illusion, Identity and Escapism.
• At the end of the story, it’s safe to conclude that Wordsworth had been living inside an illusionary bubble which was
created by him in hope to build an image of him which is drastically different from the real him. But in his last moments
he seemed to have accepted the reality by revealing that he wasn’t famous.
• Wordsworth’s character, though a bit peculiar, is quite relatable. There’s a constant internal struggle in him. He seems
to be fighting with his old true self to become something he wishes to be. This identity crisis has become rather
common.
• Symbolisms:
Trees: symbolise many life-giving qualities, also represented by B. Wordsworth.
The stars and the pin symbolise a sense of world’s deep mystery.
• Character Sketch: Although B. Wordsworth is associated with the beggars who come to the boy’s house on a regular
basis, he is soon established as an educated man with a vibrant imagination and delicate feelings. Although he makes a
half-hearted effort to sell the boy a poem upon first meeting him, he is much more interested in simply observing the
world around him and appreciating the beauty and wonder of this world. His interest in insects, in the stars, and
greenery all reflect the same. His imaginative way of engaging with the world is likewise reflected in his interest in
poetry. Although at the end of the story he disavows actually being a poet, his words, actions, and manner of guiding the
boy into a deeper awareness of reality suggest that he is a poet in a more nuanced sense. B. Wordsworth is at the same
time a man without a clearly established social identity. There is no sense of a past that attaches to him (he also
disavows the story he told the boy about a wife and child who died), no sense of a clear social identity in the present,
and no sense of a future. He presumably dies alone, without family or friends at his side. If he largely functions in the
story as a guide who initiates the boy into a poetic way of seeing the world, he is also an ephemeral figure, so much so
that the boy wonders at the end of the story if he ever actually existed.

SECTION C – POETRY (REVERIE)

THE DARKLING THRUSH

• a poem by the English poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. Written in December 1900.
• Deals with death of the Century, Decay of Western Civilization, Possible Rebirth of Religious Faith.
• Themes: Despair &Isolation, Death of the Century, Nature, Hope.
• Symbolisms: Frost: Uncertainty and Death, Thrush symbolises Hope and Joy
Eye of the Day is metaphor for Sun,
Lyre symbolises cultural achievements of Western Civilisation
Broken Lyre symbolises decay of Western Civilisation and absence of music i.e. Joy & Happiness
Fire symbolises Human resilience during hostile world, Warmth and Security in cold
Ancient pulse (seed) of germ & birth symbolises renewal and rebirth
Blessed Hope symbolises Christian hope or resurrection & life after death.
 • Literary devices used: Enjambment, Caesura, Alliteration, Simile,
Assonance, Consonance, Personification, Metaphor, Hyperbole

• Rhyme Scheme and Structure: “The Darkling Thrush” is a ballad. In keeping with the conventions of that form, it is
written in eight-line stanzas, also called octaves. Each octave features alternating lines is rhymed ABABCDCD.
• Setting: “The Darkling Thrush” is set in a winter landscape, most likely England at the turn of the twentieth century.
The poet, Thomas Hardy, spent his life in England and wrote this poem there in the winter of 1900.

BIRCHES
• Robert Frost wrote "Birches" between 1913 and 1914, eventually publishing it in The Atlantic Monthly's August issue in
1915. The poem was later included in Frost's third collection of poetry, Mountain Interval.
• 59 lines, Blank Verse (rhyme scheme).
• Themes: Revisiting Childhood, Nature, Hardships of Adulthood, Joy of Childhood.
• Symbolisms: Swinging from Birch trees: hat symbolizes the youthful ability to find joy and excitement.
Crystal shells symbolise the decline of faith and religious beliefs.
• Literary devices: Alliteration, Consonance, Assonance, Metaphor, Personification,
Juxtaposition (Contrast), Sibilance, Simile, Repetition
• Setting: The poem takes place in a birch-filled forest during winter. The birches are bent, stooping toward the snowy
ground due to the weight of the ice encasing their limbs. It's also fair to say that these woods are in a relatively remote
area, since the boy the speaker imagines lives "too far from town" to join a local baseball team. More specifically, the
poem likely takes place somewhere in New England. After all, birch trees tend to grow in northern areas, and Robert
Frost himself lived in New England and used to swing from birches as a child.

THE DOLPHINS
• "The Dolphins," by Carol Ann Duffy, is told from the perspective of dolphins living in captivity.
• "The Dolphins" was published in Duffy's first full poetry collection, Standing Female Nude, in 1985.
• Themes: Confinement, Exploitation by Man, Despair and Sorrow, Humanity vs. Nature, Ecological Conservation.
• Symbolisms:
The disappearing moon symbolises the loss of the dolphins' connection to the natural world that was once their home.
The man symbolises domination of humans over the natural world.
• Literary devices: Anthropomorphism, Anaphora, Repetition, Simile, Alliteration.
• Rhyme Scheme & Form: "The Dolphins" can be considered a kind of dramatic monologue, a poem it is told from the
point of view of dolphins. The poem contains 24 lines of free verse arranged in four sestets, or six-line stanzas.
• Setting: The poem takes place inside a "pool," presumably in a marine mammal park, where captive dolphins live and
perform for a human audience.

DOVER BEACH
• the most celebrated poem by Matthew Arnold, a writer and educator of the Victorian era.
• A dramatic monologue written in 1851 and published in 1867 in the volume entitled “New Poems”.
• Themes: Loss of Faith in Religion, Beauty of Nature, Alienation, Love as the last retort.
• Symbolisms: The sea: level of faith in people; Darkling plain: Uncertainty; turbid ebb & flow: Human miseries
 • Poetic Devices: Alliteration, Imagery (Visual and Aural), Anaphora, Assonance, Allusion, Consonance,
Metaphor, Simile.

• Setting: Dover beach, in the city of Dover, southeastern coast of England. Near English channel

JOHN BROWN
• It is an anti-war poem written by American songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan in October 1962.
• It is a Blank Verse poem with 12 verses
• Themes: False sense of Bravado, Glorification of War, Futility (uselessness) of War
Horrors of War (Money loss, manpower loss and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
• Two contrasting attitudes in the poem: Glory of War vs. Horrors of War.
• Literary Devices: Alliteration, Consonance, Irony, Metaphor, Anaphora, Imagery, Paradox (contrast).
• Remember the difference between John’s condition when he left for war and after he returned from the war.