MA English I Sem OU Notes Final 2017-2018

MA ENGLISH, I Semester Material, OU, TU, SU, MU, PU Compiled by Dr Adi Ramesh
MA
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Osmania University
Palamuru University
Telangana University
Satavahana University
Mahatma Gandhi University
FIRST SEMESTER (CBCS)
Written & Compiled by

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU
Asst. Professor of English
Kakatiya Government Degree & PG College (KDC)
Hanamkonda
Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 1

MA ENGLISH LITERATURE
Semester-I
ST
1 Edition -2018
Compiled by
Dr. Adi Ramesh Babu
Asst. Professor of English
Kakatiya Government Degree & PG College (KDC)
Hanamkonda
Phone: 99590 26160 (WhatsApp only)
The author is available at adirameshan@gmail.com
In spite of many efforts taken to present the book without errors, some errors might have
crept in, so do not take any legal responsibility for such errors and omissions. If they are
brought to our notice, they will be corrected in the next editions.

MA (Previous) (2017-18)
Semester I
Paper I ENG 101 The English Language: History, Description and Practice (5 Credits)
Unit I
a) Indo-European Family of Languages and its Branches; Grimm’s Law
b) Descent of English: Important features of Old English—Spelling and Pronunciation,
Vocabulary
c) Middle English and Modern English: the Norman conquest, Major Changes in the English
Language during Middle English Period, The Rise of Standard English; General
Characteristics of Modern English
Unit II
a) Foreign Contribution to the Growth of Vocabulary: Influence of Greek, Latin, French and
German on the English language
b) Word Formation—Different Processes
c) Change of Meaning—Different Processes
Unit III
a) Structure of the English Noun Phrase
b) Structure of the English Verb Phrase
c) The Simple Sentence—its types, constituents and organization; Coordination and
Subordination—their semantic implications
Unit IV
a) Dialect: ‘The Standard’ Dialect; Idiolect; Register
b) Style; Jargon; Slang
c) British English and American English: Differences in Spelling and Pronunciation
Unit V
a) Functional Grammar: Transformations: Direct and Reported Speech (Use of Reporting
Verbs), Degrees of Comparison
b) Functional English-I: Introducing oneself and others, Asking questions and giving polite
replies, Complaining and Apologizing, Persuading people, Taking the initiative/Turn Taking
c) Functional English-II: Seeking permission, Inviting friends / colleagues, Complimenting,
Expressing sympathy, Telephone etiquette

MA (Previous)
Semester I
Paper II ENG 102 English Poetry (5 Credits)
Unit I Background
Renaissance-Reformation; Neo-Classicism; Fancy and Imagination; Pre-Raphaelites;
War Poetry; Modernism-Postmodernism
Unit II Geoffrey Chaucer The General Prologue To The Canterbury

Tales (Tran. Nevill Coghill) lines 1-42 (“When in April
… I therefore will begin”)
John Milton Paradise Lost (Bk I)
John Donne “A Valediction”, “The Canonization”,
Alexander Pope “The Rape of the Lock” (Canto I)
Unit III William Blake From Songs of Innocence

(“The Lamb”, “The Chimney Sweeper”)
From Songs of Experience
(“The Tyger”, “London”)
William Wordsworth “Tintern Abbey”, “Anecdote for Fathers”
P B Shelley “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark”
John Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode to a Nightingale”
Unit IV Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese

14 (“If thou must love me …”)
43 (“How do I love thee …”)
Alfred Lord Tennyson “Ulysses”, “The Sailor Boy”
Robert Browning “My Last Duchess”, “The Lost Leader”
Matthew Arnold “Self-Dependence”, “Dover Beach”
Unit V T S Eliot The Waste Land

Phillip Larkin “Best Society”, “Churchgoing”
Seamus Heaney “Digging”, “Alphabets”
Carol Ann Duffy “Originally”, “Havisham”

MA (Previous)
Semester I
Paper III ENG 103 English Drama (5 Credits)
Unit I Background
Origin and Development of British Drama (till the 17th Century); Tragedy; Comedy;
Restoration Drama; Theatre of the Absurd
Unit II Christopher Marlowe Doctor Faustus

William Shakespeare King Lear
William Shakespeare The Tempest
Unit III Aphra Behn The Rover (Part I)

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest
GB Shaw Saint Joan
Unit IV John Osborne Look Back in Anger

Caryl Churchill Top Girls
Tom Stoppard Indian Ink
Unit V One-act Plays

JM Synge “Riders to the Sea”
Harold Pinter “The Dumb Waiter”
Alan Ayckbourn “Mother Figure”

MA (Previous)
Semester I
Paper IV ENG 104 A English Language and Phonetics (4 Credits)
Unit I
a) Language as a System of Communication: Features of Human Communication, Differences
between Animal and Human Communication.
b) Verbal Communication: Formal vs Informal Communication, One way vs Two way
Communication.
c) Non-verbal Communication: Aspects relating to body language.
Unit II
a) Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics: Definition, Organs of Speech, Speech Mechanism (air-
stream mechanism)
b) Phonetic sounds vs Phonemic sounds; Classification of Phonemic Sounds IPA, Phonemic
transcription (word and sentence levels)
c) Description of Consonant sounds and Vowel Sounds
Unit III
a) Word Accent/Stress: Syllable, Syllabification, Primary and Secondary Stress, Rules of Word
Stress, Consonant clusters
b) Aspects of Connected Speech: Weak forms and Elision
c) Intonation: Tones of intonation and meaning making
Unit IV
a) Levels of Language Description – Phonology: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects
b) Morphology: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects
c) Syntax: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects

MA (Previous)
Semester I
Paper V ENG 105 A Modern Indian Literatu res in Translation (4 Credits)
Unit I Background
Concept of Sahitya; Indian Concept of Translation; Tradition-Modernity; Progressive
Writers Movement; Indian Dramatic Traditions; Dalit Aesthetics
Unit II Poetry
Jibanananda Das “Banalata Sen”, “Naked Solitary Hand”,
“This Earth”
Makhdoom Mohiuddin “The Heart of Silence”, “Prison”, “Darkness”
Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh “The Orang-Outang”, “The Void Within”,
“A Single Shooting Star”
Namdeo Dhasal “The Day She Was Gone”, “New Delhi, 1985”,
“On the way to the dargah”
Unit III Fiction

U R Ananthamurthy Samskara: A Rite For A Dead Man
Mahasweta Devi Mother of 1084
Bama Karukku
Unit IV Drama
Rabindranath Tagore Chandalika
Vijay Tendulkar Silence! The Court is in Session
Girish Karnad Hayavadana

Note
These notes are compiled by Dr. Adi Ramesh Babu for MA English Semester I (CBCS) of
all Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Universities. These notes are very much helpful to the
students for UGC NET / SET in English subject and M.Phil and Ph.D Entrance
examinations also.
Dr Adi Ramesh Babu is presently working as Assistant Professor, Department of English,

Kakatiya Government Degree and PG College (KDC), Hanamkonda, Kakatiya
University, Telangana State. He obtained his M.Phil and Ph.D degrees from Kakatiya
University, Warangal. He also did PGCTE and PGDTE from EFLU (Hyderabad). He has
published several articles and presented scholarly papers in national and international
seminars. He is one of the Editors of The Criterion: An Online International Journal;
International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies; Research
Scholar: An International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations; International Journal
on Studies in English Language and Literature.
The author is available at adirameshan@gmail.com

Page
Units Contents No
ENG 101: The English Language: History, Description and Practice
Unit-I: (a) Indo-European Family of Languages and its Branches 15

(b) Descent of English: Important features of Old English—Spelling and
Pronunciation, Vocabulary 18
(c) Middle English and Modern English: the Norman conquest, Major Changes in
the English Language during Middle English Period, The Rise of Standard
English; General Characteristics of Modern English 22
Unit-
II: (a) Foreign Contribution to the Growth of Vocabulary: Influence of Greek, Latin,
French and German on the English language 28
(b)Word Formation—Different Processes 30
(c) Change of Meaning—Different Processes 33
Unit-
III: (a) Structure of the English Noun Phrase 34
(b) Structure of the English Verb Phrase 36
(c) The Simple Sentence—its types, constituents and organization; Coordination

and Subordination—their semantic implications 38
Unit-
IV: (a) Dialect: ‘The Standard’ Dialect; Idiolect; Register 41
(b) Style; Jargon; Slang 41
(c) British English and American English: Differences in Spelling and
Pronunciation 42
Unit-
V: (a) Functional Grammar: Transformations: Direct and Reported Speech (Use of
Reporting Verbs), Degrees of Comparison 44
(b) Functional English-I: Introducing oneself and others, Asking questions and
giving polite replies, Complaining and Apologizing, Persuading people, Taking the
initiative/Turn Taking 51
(c) Functional English-II: Seeking permission, Inviting friends / colleagues,

Complimenting, Expressing sympathy, Telephone etiquette 53

ENG 102: English Poetry

Unit-I: Background 57
Renaissance 57
Reformation 58
Neo-Classicism 58
Fancy and Imagination 59
Pre-Raphaelites 60
War Poetry 60
Modernism-Postmodernism 61
Unit-
II: Geoffrey Chaucer: The General Prologue To The Canterbury 62
John Milton: Paradise Lost (Bk I) 64
John Donne: “A Valediction”, “The Canonization”, 66
Alexander Pope: “The Rape of the Lock” (Canto I) 70
Unit-
III: William Blake: From Songs of Innocence (“The Lamb”, “The Chimney Sweeper”)
From Songs of Experience (“The Tyger”, “London”) 72
William Wordsworth: Tintern Abbey, Anecdote for Fathers 77

P.B. Shelly: “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark” 84
John Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode to a Nightingale” 91

Unit-
IV: Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Sonnets from the Portuguese, 14 (“If thou must love
me”) 43 (“How do I love thee …”) 96
Alfred Lord Tennyson: “Ulysses”, “The Sailor Boy” 98
Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess”, “The Lost Leader” 102

Matthew Arnold: “Self-Dependence”, “Dover Beach” 105
Unit-
V: T S Eliot: The Waste Land 109
Phillip Larkin: “Best Society”, “Churchgoing” 111
Seamus Heaney: “Digging”, “Alphabets” 115
Carol Ann Duffy: “Originally”, “Havisham” 118

ENG 103: English Drama

Origin and Development of British Drama (till the 17th Century) 123
Tragedy 127
Comedy 128
Restoration Drama 129
Theatre of the Absurd 130
Unit-
II: Christopher Marlowe: Doctor Faustus 131
William Shakespeare: King Lear 134
William Shakespeare: The Tempest 136
Unit-
III: Aphra Behn: The Rover (Part I) 140
Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest 145
GB Shaw: Saint Joan 149
Unit-
IV: John Osborne: Look Back in Anger 153
Caryl Churchill: Top Girls 156
Tom Stoppard: Indian Ink 160
Unit-
V: JM Synge: “Riders to the Sea” 161
Harold Pinter: “The Dumb Waiter” 164
Alan Ayckbourn: “Mother Figure” 166
ENG 104 A: English Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Unit-I: (a) Language as a System of Communication: Features of Human Communication,

Differences between Animal and Human Communication 169
(b) Verbal Communication: Formal vs Informal Communication, One way vs Two
way Communication 172
(c) Non-verbal Communication: Aspects relating to body language. 174

Unit- (a) Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics: Definition, Organs of Speech, Speech
II: Mechanism (air-stream mechanism) 176
(b) Phonetic sounds vs Phonemic sounds; Classification of Phonemic Sounds IPA,

Phonemic transcription (word and sentence levels) 179
(c) Description of Consonant sounds and Vowel Sounds 181
Unit-
III: (a) Word Accent/Stress: Syllable, Syllabification, Primary and Secondary Stress,
Rules of Word Stress, Consonant clusters 188
(b) Aspects of Connected Speech: Weak forms and Elision 196

(c) Intonation: Tones of intonation and meaning making 197
Unit- (a) Levels of Language Description – Phonology: Definition, Scope and Other
IV: Aspects 202
(b) Morphology: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects 203
(c) Syntax: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects 204
ENG 105 A: Modern Indian Literatures in Translation

Concept of Sahitya 207
Indian Concept of Translation 207
Tradition-Modernity 210
Progressive Writers Movement 211
Indian Dramatic Traditions 212
Dalit Aesthetics 214
Unit-
II:
Poetry Jibanananda Das: “Banalata Sen”, “Naked Solitary Hand”,“This Earth” 216
Makhdoom Mohiuddin: “The Heart of Silence”, “Prison”, “Darkness” 219

Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh: “The Orang-Outang”, “The Void Within”, “A Single
Shooting Star” 221
Namdeo Dhasal: “The Day She Was Gone”, “New Delhi, 1985”,“On the way to
the dargah” 223
Unit-
III: U R Ananthamurthy: Samskara: A Rite For A Dead Man
Fiction 225
Mahasweta Devi: Mother of 1084 226
Bama: Karukku 229
Unit-
IV: Rabindranath Tagore: Chandalika
Drama 233
Vijay Tendulkar: Silence! The Court is in Session 235
Girish Karnad: Hayavadana 238
Model Papers 243

PAPER I
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
HISTORY, DESCRIPTION AND
PRACTICES


ENG 101: The English Language: History, Description and

Practice
Unit-I: (a) Indo-European Family of Languages and its Branches
The Indo-European languages have a large number of branches: Anatolian, Indo-Iranian,

Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian, Balto-Slavic and Albanian. This
branch of languages was predominant in the Asian portion of Turkey and some areas in
northern Syria. The most famous of these languages is Hittite.
The Indo-European languages are a family of related languages that today are widely
spoken in the Americas, Europe, and also Western and Southern Asia. Just as languages such
as Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are all descended from Latin, Indo-European
languages are believed to derive from a hypothetical language known as Proto-Indo-
European, which is no longer spoken.
It is highly probable that the earliest speakers of this language originally lived around
Ukraine and neighbouring regions in the Caucasus and Southern Russia, then spread to most
of the rest of Europe and later down into India. The earliest possible end of Proto-Indo-
European linguistic unity is believed to be around 3400 BCE.
Since the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language did not develop a writing system,
we have no physical evidence of it. The science of linguistics has been trying to reconstruct
the Proto-Indo-European language using several methods and, although an accurate
reconstruction of it seems impossible, we have today a general picture of what Proto-Indo-
European speakers had in common, both linguistically and culturally. In addition to the use of
comparative methods, there are studies based on the comparison of myths, laws, and social
institutions.
Branches of Indo-European Languages

The Indo-European languages have a large number of branches: Anatolian, Indo-Iranian,
Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Armenian, Tocharian, Balto-Slavic and Albanian.
Anatolian
This branch of languages was predominant in the Asian portion of Turkey and some areas in
northern Syria. The most famous of these languages is Hittite. In 1906 CE, a large amount of
Hittite finds were made on the site of Hattusas, the capital of the Hittite Kingdom, where
about 10,000 cuneiform tablets and various other fragments were found in the remains of a
royal archive. These texts date back to the mid to late second millennium BCE. Luvian,
Palaic, Lycian, and Lydian are other examples of families belonging to this group. All
languages of this branch are currently extinct. This branch has the oldest surviving evidence
of an Indo-European language, dated about 1800 BCE.

Indo-Iranian
This branch includes two sub-branches: Indic and Iranian. Today these languages are
predominant in India, Pakistan, Iran, and its vicinity and also in areas from the Black Sea to
western China.
Sanskrit, which belongs to the Indic sub-branch, is the best known among the early
languages of this branch; its oldest variety, Vedic Sanskrit, is preserved in the Vedas, a
collection of hymns and other religious texts of ancient India. Indic speakers entered into the
Indian subcontinent, coming from central Asia around 1500 BCE: In the Rig-Veda, the hymn
1.131 speaks about a legendary journey that may be considered a distant memory of this
migration.
Today, many Indic languages are spoken in India and Pakistan, such as Hindi-Urdu, Punjabi,
and Bengali. Iranian languages such as Farsi (modern Persian), Pashto, and Kurdish are
spoken in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
Greek
Rather than a branch of languages, Greek is a group of dialects: During more than 3000 years
of written history, Greek dialects never evolved into mutually incomprehensible languages.
Greek was predominant in the southern end of the Balkans, the Peloponnese peninsula, and
the Aegean Sea and its vicinity. The earliest surviving written evidence of a Greek language
is Mycenaean, the dialect of the Mycenaean civilization, mainly found on clay tablets and
ceramic vessels on the isle of Crete. Mycenaean did not have an alphabetic written system,
rather it had a syllabic script known as the Linear B script.
The most famous Greek poetry and prose written in Classical times were written in Attic:
Aristophanes, Aristotle, Euripides, and Plato are just a few examples of authors who wrote
in Attic.
Italic
This branch was predominant in the Italian peninsula. The Italic people were not natives of
Italy; they entered Italy crossing the Alps around 1000 BCE and gradually moved southward.
Latin, the most famous language in this group, was originally a relatively small local
language spoken by pastoral tribes living in small agricultural settlements in the centre of the
Italian peninsula. The first inscriptions in Latin appeared in the 7th century BCE and by the
6th century BCE it had spread significantly.
Rome was responsible for the growth of Latin in ancient times. Classical Latin is the form of
Latin used by the most famous works of Roman authors like Ovid, Cicero, Seneca, Pliny,
and Marcus Aurelius. Other languages of this branch are: Faliscan, Sabellic, Umbrian,
South Picene, and Oscan, all of them extinct.
Celtic
This branch contains two sub-branches: Continental Celtic and Insular Celtic. By about 600
BCE, Celtic-speaking tribes had spread from what today are southern Germany, Austria, and
Western Czech Republic in almost all directions, to France, Belgium, Spain, and the British
Isles, then by 400 BCE, they also moved southward into northern Italy and southeast into the
Balkans and even beyond. During the early 1st century BCE, Celtic-speaking tribes
dominated a very significant portion of Europe. On 50 BCE, Julius Caesar conquered Gaul
(ancient France) and Britain was also conquered about a century later by the emperor
Claudius. As a result, this large Celtic-speaking area was absorbed by Rome, Latin became
the dominant language, and the Continental Celtic languages eventually died out. The chief
Continental language was Gaulish.
Germanic
The Germanic branch is divided in three sub-branches: East Germanic, currently extinct;
North Germanic, containing Old Norse, the ancestor of all modern Scandinavian languages;
and West Germanic, containing Old English, Old Saxon, and Old High German.The earliest
evidence of Germanic-speaking people dates back to first half of the 1st millennium BCE,
and they lived in an area stretching from southern Scandinavia to the coast of the North Baltic
Sea. During prehistoric times, the Germanic speaking tribes came into contact with Finnic
speakers in the north and also with Balto-Slavic tribes in the east. As a result of this
interaction, the Germanic language borrowed several terms from Finnish and Balto-Slavic.
Armenian
The origin of the Armenian-speaking people is a topic still unresolved. It is probable that the
Armenians and the Phrygians belonged to the same migratory wave that entered Anatolia,
coming from the Balkans around the late 2nd millennium BCE. The Armenians settled in an
area around Lake Van, currently Turkey; this region belonged to the state of Urartu during the
early 1st millennium BCE. In the 8th century BCE, Urartu came under Assyrian control and
in the 7th century BCE, the Armenians took over the region. The Medes absorbed the region
soon after and Armenia became a vassal state. During the time of the Achaemenid Empire,
the region turned into a Persian satrap. The Persian domination had a strong linguistic impact
on Armenian, which mislead many scholars in the past to believe that Armenian actually
belonged to the Iranian group.
Tocharian
The history of the Tocharian-speaking people is still surrounded by mystery. We know that
they lived in the Taklamakan Desert, located in western China. Most of the Tocharian texts
left are translations from well-known Buddhist works, and all of these texts have been dated
between the 6th and the 8th centuries CE. None of these texts speak about the Tocharians
themselves.
Balto-Slavic
During the late Bronze Age, the Balts’ territory may have stretched from around western
Poland all the way across to the Ural Mountains. Afterwards, the Balts occupied a small
region along the Baltic Sea. Those in the northern part of the territory occupied by the Balts
were in close contact with Finnic tribes, whose language was not part of the Indo-European
language family: Finnic speakers borrowed a considerable amount of Baltic words, which
suggests that the Balts had an important cultural prestige in that area. Under the pressure of
Gothic and Slavic migrations, the territory of the Balts was reduced towards the 5th century
CE.

Albanian
Albanian is the last branch of Indo-European languages to appear in written form. There are
two hypotheses on the origin of Albanian. The first one says that Albanian is a modern
descendant of Illyrian, a language which was widely spoken in the region during classical
times. Since we know very little about Illyrian, this assertion can be neither denied nor
confirmed from a linguistic standpoint. From a historical and geographical perspective,
however, this assertion makes sense. Another hypotheses says that Albanian is a descendant
of Thracian, another lost language that was spoken farther east than Illyrian.
Grimm’s Law:
Grimm’s law (also known as the First Germanic Sound Shift or Rask’s rule) is a set of
statements named after Jacob Grimm describing the inherited Proto-Indo-European (PIE) stop
consonants as they developed in Proto-Germanic (the common ancestor of the Germanic
branch of the Indo-European family) in the 1st millennium BC. It establishes a set of regular
correspondences between early Germanic stops and fricatives and the stop
consonants of certain other centum Indo-European languages (Grimm used mostly Latin and
Greek for illustration).
b) Descent of English
Given the temporal changeability of language, it is tempting to say it evolves. There are
senses in which this is not controversial. We might say quite reasonably that languages evolve
from older and into newer ones. It is difficult to speak of evolution, however, without evoking
the specific case of biological evolution—which in the post-Darwinian era usually means
evolution by natural selection.
Many affinities between languages and organisms make metaphorical transfer appealing.
Indeed, like living systems, languages
Ø change over time;

Ø transmit information from generation to generation;
Ø give rise to new forms and go extinct;
Ø form internally-intelligible groups (e.g., English ≈ Homo sapiens) made up of unique
individuals (i.e., idiolects);
Ø are formed by variously-defined subsets divided by geography and other factors (e.g.,
dialects ≈ subspecies);
Important Features of Old English–Spelling, Pronunciation and

Vocabulary
Old English is the name given to the earliest recorded stage of the English language, up to
approximately 1150AD (when the Middle English period is generally taken to have begun). It
refers to the language as it was used in the long period of time from the coming of Germanic
invaders and settlers to Britain—in the period following the collapse of Roman Britain in the
early fifth century—up to the Norman Conquest of 1066, and beyond into the first century of

Norman rule in England. It is thus first and foremost the language of the people normally
referred to by historians as the Anglo-Saxons.
It is very difficult to say when Old English began, because this pushes us back beyond the
date of our earliest records for either Old English or any of its closest relatives (with the
exception of very occasional inscriptions and the evidence of words and names occurring in
Latin or in other languages). Everyone agrees in calling the language of our earliest extensive
sources found in contemporary copies ‘Old English’: these are Latin-English glossaries from
around the year 700. (Some other material was certainly composed before 700, but survives
only in later copies.) By this time Old English was already very distinct from its Germanic
sister languages (see below) as a result of many sound changes (i.e. changes in how certain
sounds were pronounced, chiefly when they occurred near to certain other sounds) and other
linguistic developments. In fact, most of the most important changes which we can trace
through our surviving Old English documents had already happened before this time. Some
of them were very probably well in progress or even complete before the time of the
settlement in England.
Some Latin-English glosses from one of our earliest sources (the Épinal Glossary):
1. anser goos (i.e. ‘goose’)

2. lepus, leporis hara (i.e. ‘hare’)
3. nimbus storm (i.e. ‘storm’)
4. olor suan (i.e. ‘swan’)
Some scholars distinguish the undocumented period before our earliest texts as ‘pre-Old
English’, while others are happy just to use the name ‘Old English’ for this period as well as
for the documented period. In practice, the dividing line is hazy. Most of our documentary
evidence for Old English comes from much later (late ninth century and onwards), and even
in the later period there is much that we do not know. In the earlier part of the documented
period, the gaps and uncertainties mean that we often know just as little about a certain topic
as we do for the preceding undocumented period.
If we trace its history back further, Old English belongs to the West Germanic branch of the
Germanic languages, along with Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German, and the various
dialects which later gave rise to Old Dutch. The major early representatives of the North
Germanic branch are Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian, Old Swedish, and Old Danish (although
the earliest extensive remains for all of these are much later than the earliest Old English
documents), while the only representative of the East Germanic branch for which extensive
remains survive is Gothic. Ultimately, all of these branches diverged from a single
hypothetical ancestor, (proto-) Germanic, which itself constitutes a branch of the larger Indo-
European language family. Other branches of Indo-European include Celtic, Italic (including
Latin and hence the Romance languages), Greek, Indo-Iranian (including Sanskrit and
Persian), Baltic, and Slavonic (these last two being regarded by many as a single branch,
Balto-Slavonic).
In fact, very many details of the pre-historic relationships between Old English and the other
Germanic languages are much debated and very controversial, which greatly complicates any
attempt to say when ‘Old English’ began.

Old English verbs

Verbs in Old English show an extensive range of inflections, reflecting distinctions of person
and number (e.g. first person singular, first person plural, etc.), tense (present or past), and
mood (indicative, subjunctive, or imperative); many other distinctions are realized by
periphrastic constructions with be v., worth v., will v., or shall v. as auxiliary in combination
with non-finite forms of the verb.
With the exception of some (mostly high frequency) irregular or anomalous verbs, Old
English verbs belong to one of two main groupings: strong verbs and weak verbs.
The strong verbs realize differences of tense by variation in the stem vowel. They are
assigned to seven main classes, according to the vowel variation shown. Thus RIDE v., a
Class I strong verb, shows the following vowel gradation in its “principal parts”, from which
all of its other inflections can be inferred:
1. infinitive: rīdan
2. past tense singular: rād
3. past tense plural: ridon
4. past participle: (ge)riden
Similarly, the Class III strong verb BIND v. shows the following principal parts:
1. infinitive: bindan
2. past tense singular: band (or bond)
3. past tense plural: bundon
4. past participle: (ge)bunde
The principal parts of the various classes can simply be memorized as fairly arbitrary sets
(with various subclasses and exceptions). To understand the causes of this variation we need
to go back to a much earlier system of vowel gradation called ablaut, which Germanic
inherited from Indo-European, and which Germanic made extensive use of in the strong verb
system.
Pronouncing Old English
Old English is a "dead" language. No one, not even the children of the most fanatical Anglo-
Saxonists (though some of us are working on it) grows up speaking Anglo-Saxon as a cradle
tongue. But it is nevertheless worth learning to pronounce the language, and not only so you
can impress people at cocktail parties. Reading Old English words and paradigms aloud can
help some students to memorize important information more easily. Also, Old English poetry
evolved as an oral medium: while people wrote down their favorite poems, they most likely
preferred to hear them read aloud. Finally, Old English poetry is particularly beautiful when
read aloud, as this passage from the beginning of Beowulf perhaps demonstrates.
Vowels
There are many relatively complicated charts that explain the pronunciation of Old English
vowels. You can find them in any basic Old English grammar book. But the power of new
information technology has suggested to us a better way to learn how to pronounce Old
English words: simply click on the hyperlinks below to hear the word in Old English.

Most editors use macrons (a horizontal bar over the top of a vowel) to indicate vowel length.
A "short" vowel is one without a macron. A long vowel is indicated by a macron. Macrons do
not appear in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts.
short a is pronounced like the Modern English "o" sound in "contact":manegum

long a is pronounced like the "a" sound in Modern English "father: þam
æ is pronounced like the "a" sound in Modern English "cat" or "bat":
fæder short e is pronounced like the "e" sound in Modern English "bet":
betra long e is pronounced to rhyme with Modern English "way": we
short i is pronounced like the "i" sound in Modern English "his": his
long i is pronounced like Modern English "ee" in "feed": rices
short o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "pond": ond
long o is pronounced like the "o" sound in Modern English "go":gedon
short u is pronounced like the "u" sound in Modern English "bull": ungelæredum
long u is pronounced like the "oo" sound in Modern English "school":sculan
short y is pronounced like the "i" sound in Modern English "will": wylle
long y is pronounced like the "oo" sound in Modern English "school," but with the lips
slightly pursed: gecyþnisse
Diphthongs
Diphthongs are combinations of two vowels. Modern English diphthongs include such
combinations as the "ea" in "beast," the "ie" in "convenient," and the "ei" in "weight."
Explanations of pronunciation of Old English diphthongs are notoriously confusing, so we
will simply rely on demonstrating the pronunciation of representative words. short e + a is
pronounced thus healf.
long e + a is pronounced thus þeawa.
short i + e is pronounced thus ahielde.
long i + e is pronounced thus stierde.
short e + o is pronounced thus eorþan.
long e + o is pronounced thus heofon.
Consonants
Most Old English consonants are pronounced the same way as their Modern English
equivalents. We give the exceptions below.
c can be pronounced either as a hard "c" sound, represented in Modern English by "k," or as
the sibilant that is represented in Modern English by "ch." Thus cyrran demonstrates the hard
"c," and ceosan demonstrates the sibilant. Some editors indicate the sibilant pronunciation of
"c" by putting a dot above the consonant.
g can also be pronounced two ways. Before certain vowels it is pronounced like the Modern
English "y" in the word "yes": gifu. When "g" is used before other vowels it is pronounced
the same as Modern English "g" in "golden": goda. Some editors indicate this voiced
pronunciation of "g" by putting a dot above the consonant.
h is never silent. It is pronounced with a bit of a throat-clearing sound, like the "ch" at the end
of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach": dryhten. "H" also is used in combination with the
"semi-vowels" "r," "l," and "w" in ways not familiar in Modern English: hlaford, hronræd,
hwæt.

Vocabulary
Many words that existed in Old English did not survive into Modern English. There are also
many words in Modern English that bear little or no resemblance in meaning to their Old
English etymons. Some linguists estimate that as much as 80 percent of the lexicon of Old
English was lost by the end of the Middle English period, including a large number of words
formed by compounding, e.g. bōchūs ('bookhouse', 'library'), yet we still retain the component
parts 'book' and 'house'. Certain categories of words seem to have been especially vulnerable.
Nearly all words relating to sexual intercourse and sexual organs were supplanted by words
of Latin or Ancient Greek origin. Many, if not most, of the words in Modern English that are
used in polite conversation to describe body parts and bodily functions are of Latin or Greek
origin. The words which were used in Old English for these same purposes are now mostly
either extinct or considered crude or vulgar, such as arse/ass.
C) Middle English - Grammar, Spelling, Pronunciation and

Vocabulary
Middle English developed out of Late Old English, seeing many dramatic changes in its
grammar, pronunciation and orthography. This includes the reduction (and eventual
elimination) of most grammatical cases, and the simplification of noun, adjective and verb
inflection.
Modern English
The early modern English period follows the Middle English period towards the end of the
fifteenth century and coincides closely with the Tudor (1485–1603) and Stuart (1603-1714)
dynasties. The battle of Bosworth (1485) marked the end of the long period of civil war
known as the Wars of the Roses and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty under Henry VII
(1485–1509), which brought a greater degree of stable centralized government to England.
Not long before, the introduction of the craft of printing in 1476 by William Caxton marked a
new departure in the dissemination of the written word.
The Norman Conquest

The Yee was a military invasion of England by William the Conqueror in 1066.
William was a Duke who ruled Normandy, now a region in France. He invaded England after
the death of King Edward the Confessor because he believed he had the most right to be King
of England. But King Harold II had himself crowned king instead. King Harold, with his
Saxon army, and Duke William fought at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. King
Harold was killed in the battle and his army left. On December 25, 1066 William was
crowned the new King of England.
The Norman conquest brought an important change in English history for a number of
reasons. The conquest linked England more closely with Continental Europe, and made
Scandinavian influence less important. It created one of the most powerful monarchies in
Europe. The conquest changed the English language and culture, and set the stage for rivalry
with France, which would continue (with breaks) until the 19th century.

England has never been successfully invaded since the Norman invasion nearly 1000 years
ago
Major Changes in the English during Middle English Period

The most important linguistic developments
Two very important linguistic developments characterize Middle English:
1. In grammar, English came to rely less on inflectional endings and more on word order to
convey grammatical information. (If we put this in more technical terms, it became less
‘synthetic’ and more ‘analytic’.) Change was gradual, and has different outcomes in different
regional varieties of Middle English, but the ultimate effects were huge: the grammar of
English c.1500 was radically different from that of Old English. Grammatical gender was lost
early in Middle English. The range of inflections, particularly in the noun, was reduced
drastically (partly as a result of reduction of vowels in unstressed final syllables), as was the
number of distinct paradigms: in most early Middle English texts most nouns have distinctive
forms only for singular vs. plural, genitive, and occasional traces of the old dative in forms
with final –e occurring after a preposition. In some other parts of the system some distinctions
were more persistent, but by late Middle English the range of endings and their use among
London writers shows relatively few differences from the sixteenth-century language of, for
example, Shakespeare: probably the most prominent morphological difference from
Shakespeare’s language is that verb plurals and infinitives still generally ended in –en (at
least in writing).
2. In vocabulary, English became much more heterogeneous, showing many borrowings

from French, Latin, and Scandinavian. Large-scale borrowing of new words often had serious
consequences for the meanings and the stylistic register of those words which survived from
Old English. Eventually, various new stylistic layers emerged in the lexicon, which could be
employed for a variety of different purposes.
One other factor marks out the bulk of our Middle English evidence from the bulk of our Old
English or early modern English evidence, although it is less directly a matter of change in
the language than in how it is represented in writing:
The surviving Middle English material is dominated by regional variation, and by (sometimes
extreme) variation in how the same underlying linguistic units are represented in writing.
This is not because people suddenly started using language in different ways in different
places in the Middle English period, but because the fairly standardized late Old English
literary variety broke down completely, and writing in English became fragmented, localized,
and to a large extent improvised.
Borrowing from early Scandinavian
The long succession of Viking Age raids, settlements, conquests, and political take-overs that
played such a large part in Anglo-Saxon history from the late-eighth century onwards
resulted in many speakers of varieties of early Scandinavian being found in Britain. In
particular, there were areas of significant Scandinavian settlement in the east and north east
of England (chiefly of speakers of East Norse varieties) and in the north west of England
(chiefly of speakers of West Norse varieties), as well as in parts of Scotland. We speak of
‘early Scandinavian’ in this context because we are dealing with the antecedent stage of the
later Scandinavian languages, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, etc.
Borrowing from Latin and/or French

The Latin component in the vocabulary of Old English was small, only amounting to a few
per cent of the total of surviving Old English words, and many (but by no means all) of these
words were doubtless of very rare occurrence, confined to very occasional use by scholars.
The securely identified pre-Conquest borrowings from French amount to barely a handful,
and even in very late, post-Conquest Old English not many more are recorded.
Pronunciation
Since our surviving Middle English evidence is so characterized by regional variation, it is

very difficult to summarize ‘typical’ Middle English pronunciation, just as it is difficult to
summarize ‘typical’ Middle English morphology, or grammar.
As a general rule of thumb, anyone entirely unfamiliar with Middle English who wants to be
able to pronounce Middle English word forms is better off trusting the Middle English
spelling, rather than making assumptions on the basis of the modern English pronunciation.
For example, the i in fīn ’fine’ represents a long monophthong similar to that in modern
English meet, while the e in mēten ’to meet’ represents a sound more similar to that in
modern English make (but a monophthong, not a diphthong).
The Rise of the Standard English
The early modern English period follows the Middle English period towards the end of the
fifteenth century and coincides closely with the Tudor (1485–1603) and Stuart (1603-1714)
dynasties.
Vocabulary expansion
The vocabulary of English expanded greatly during the early modern period. Writers were
well aware of this and argued about it. Some were in favour of loanwords to express new
concepts, especially from Latin. Others advocated the use of existing English words, or new
compounds of them, for this purpose. Others advocated the revival of obsolete words and the
adoption of regional dialect.
A notable supporter of the introduction of new words was the humanist and diplomat Sir
Thomas Elyot (c.1490–1546). Among now common words, he introduced participate v. in
five of the senses given in OED and persist v. in three. Among less popular words, he
introduced obtestation n. and pristinate adj. Elyot frequently explained his coinages: for
example his use of the words maturity(maturity n. 3: he was unaware that the word had
already been used in other senses in English) and modesty (modesty n. 1) in The Boke Named
the Gouernour (1531).

Grammar in early modern English
Nouns and adjectives

As in modern English, the only regular noun inflection was the -s ending of the genitive and
plural: irregular plurals were mostly the same as those that have survived into recent English.
The use of an apostrophe in the genitive singular was optional in the sixteenth century; it was
frequent in the seventeenth, but only became established around 1700. In the genitive plural
the apostrophe was not used in this period.
Pronouns and determiners

Personal pronouns. In the second person, by 1600 ye was a rare alternative to you; no case
distinction remained (in earlier English, ye was the subjective case and you the objective).
The use of you as a ‘polite’ form of address to a single person progressively encroached on
thou (originally the singular pronoun) until by 1600 thou (and its objective case thee) was
restricted to ‘affective’ (both positive and negative) uses (i.e. so as to be intimate or
disparaging).
Reflexive pronouns. The earlier use of the simple objective pronouns me, thee, us, and so on,
became restricted largely to poetic use during the period, as in this example from Milton’s
Paradise Lost: ‘Take to thee from among the Cherubim Thy choice of flaming Warriours’.
Forms in -self (which early had been restricted to emphatic use) now became the usual ones;
plurals—with -selves(replacing -self) after plural pronouns—made their appearance in the
early sixteenth century.
Relative pronouns. The relative pronoun that remained common (as it still is), but a number
of alternatives existed during the period. the which was inherited from Middle English but
became rare by the mid-seventeenth century. which could be used for both persons and things
but became rare for persons after 1611. who as a relative pronoun was rare in the fifteenth
century and gradually became commoner in the period. The use of the so-called ‘zero
relative’ (i.e. no pronoun at all) arose in Middle English but was rare in the sixteenth century.
Verbs
The present tense. The second person singular inflection -est naturally declined in importance
as the use of thou declined, giving rise to the current arrangement whereby in the present
tense only the third singular is marked and all other persons take the base form.
At the start of the period, the normal third person singular ending in standard southern
English was -eth. The form -(e)s, originally from Northern dialect, replaced -eth in most
kinds of use during the seventeenth century. A few common short forms, chiefly doth, hath,
continued often to be written, but it seems likely that these were merely graphic conventions.
Forming the past tense and past participle. The class of ‘strong’ verbs (those which indicate
tense by a vowel change and do not have a dental segment added) included a number of verbs
which are now only ‘weak’
Examples include: creep: crope, cropen; delve: dolve, dolven; help: holp, holpen; melt: molt,
molten; seethe: sod, sodden.
General Characteristics of Modern English

Modern English Period extends from the beginning of the 16th century to the present day.
This long period can be subdivided in to early Modern English period and later Modern
English period. The early period extends from 1601 to 1700 and the later from 1701 to the
present day.
The fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks and consequent spread of Greek
scholars in the continent, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the invention of the printing
press by Caxton in 1476, the discovery of America by Columbus had far-reaching effects and
shook the very foundation of Middle English.
By the End of the 16th century, it became universally accepted as the standard of the
language.
Entry of Greek and Italian Words.
With the Renaissance, a large number of Greek words began to enter the English vocabulary.
Greek began to be taught at Cambridge in about 1540. The Greek borrowings are usually
learned in nature. They became the main part of the disciplines like poetics, natural sciences
etc.
Besides many Italian words came in through Wyatt and Surrey. It is convenient to divide the
Modern English period into Tudor English and Modern English.
In Modern English, one finds numerous changes in sounds which became responsible for
changes in pronunciation. During the Old English period and Middle English period the
pronunciation of words was completely based on phonetics.
But ME is distinguished from OLD English and Middle English for its illogical system of
spelling and the frequent lack of correlation between the spelling of a word and its
pronunciation. For example, ‘sun’ and ‘son’ are pronounced almost without any variation in
sound.
But ME is distinguished from OLD English and Middle English for its illogical system of
spelling and the frequent lack of correlation between the spelling of a word and its
pronunciation. For example, ‘sun’ and ‘son’ are pronounced almost without any variation in
sound.
Similarly ‘U’ is pronounced quite differently in words such as ‘but’, ‘put’, ‘university’ etc. In
this context AC Bough remarks: “The situation is more confusing in the treatment of the
consonants.”
Another feature of Modern English is its most varied and vast treasure of words. Many people
and tongues came to England from time to time and left their indelible impact on the
language of the island. English being progressive and digestive continued to absorb so many
words from these people and their tongues.
Another characteristic of ME is its freedom from dry lexicography literal pedantry. It has
become now-a-days comparatively flexible and soft. In it, one part of speech can function for
other. Nouns are being used as adjectives as in ‘bus station’ and ‘boy friend’. In the same
way, verbs are employed as nouns as in ‘a wash’, ‘a cut’.

Conclusion –
To sum up, English has the brightest prospect for becoming an international language in near
future. In recent years ME has been influenced by American English. Therefore, it should be
prepared to undergo any changes in its spelling and pronunciation and grammar as may be
necessary to bridge the long felt gap of the entire world
(These notes are prepared and complied by Dr Adi Ramesh, KDC, Hanamkonda for the
examination purpose only, not to print in any book form. Some of these materials are
downloaded from internet for the benefit of the students.)

Unit-II
Foreign Contribution to the Growth of Vocabulary: Influence of

Greek, Latin, French and German on the English Language
While many words enter English as slang, not all do. Some words are adopted from other
languages; some are mixtures of existing words (portmanteau words), and some are new
creations made of roots from dead languages: e.g. thanatopsis. No matter the origin, though,
words rarely, if ever, are immediately accepted into the English language. Here is a list of the
most common foreign language influences in English, where other languages have
influenced or contributed words to English.
Ø Celtic words are almost absent, except for dialectal words, such as the Yan Tan
Tethera system of counting sheep. However, English syntax was influenced by Celtic
languages, starting from the Middle English; for example, the system of continuous
tenses(absent in other Germanic languages) was a cliché of similar Celtic phrasal
structures.
Ø French legal, military, and political terminology; words for the meat of an animal;
noble words; words referring to food — e.g., au gratin. Nearly 30% of English words
(in an 80,000 word dictionary) may be of French origin.
Ø Latin scientific and technical words, medical terminology, academic and legal
terminology. See also: Latin influence in English.
Ø Greek words: scientific and medical terminology (for instance -phobias and -ologies),
Christian theological terminology.
Ø Scandinavian languages such as Old Norse - words such as sky and troll or, more
recently, geysir.
Norman words:castle,cauldron,kennel,catch,caterare among Norman
wordsintroduced into English. The Norman language also introduced (or
reinforced) words of Norse origin such as mug.
Ø Dutch - There are many ways through which Dutch words have entered the English
language: via trade and navigation, such
as skipper (from schipper), freebooter (from vrijbuiter), keelhauling (from kielhalen);
via painting, such as landscape (from landschap), easel (from ezel), still life (from
stilleven); warfare, such as forlorn hope (from verloren hoop), beleaguer (from
beleger), to bicker (from bicken);
Ø Spanish - words relating to warfare and tactics, for instance flotilla and guerrilla; or
related to science and culture, whether created in Arabic, originated in
Amerindiancivilizations
(Cariban: cannibal, hurricane; Mescalero: apache; Nahuatl: tomato, coyote, chocolate
; Quechua: potato; Taíno: tobacco), or Iberian Romance
languages(aficionado, albino, alligator, cargo, cigar, embargo, guitar, jade, mesa, pa
ella, platinum, plaza, renegade, rodeo, salsa, savvy, sierra, siesta, tilde, tornado, vani
lla etc.). See also: List of English words of Spanish origin.
Italian - words relating to some music, piano,fortissimo. Or Italian culture, such
as piazza, pizza, gondola, balcony, fascism. The English word umbrella comes from
Italian ombrello. See also: List of English words of Italian origin.

Ø Indian - words relating to culture, originating from the colonial era. Many of these
words are of Persian origin rather than Hindi because Persian was the official
language of the Mughal courts.
e.g.: pyjamas, bungalow, verandah, jungle, curry, shampoo, khaki.
Ø German - Some influences from old German languages can be found in English, as
for example in "foreboding". Later words relating to World War I and World War
II found their way into the English language, words such
as blitz, Führer and Lebensraum; food terms, such
as bratwurst, hamburger and frankfurter; words related to psychology and
philosophy, such a gestalt, Übermensch and zeitgeist. From German origin are
also: wanderlust, schadenfreude, kaputt, kindergarten, autobahn, rucksack. See
also: List of German expressions in English.
Ø Hebrew and Yiddish - words used in religious contexts, like Sabbath, kosher,
hallelujah,
Ø and jubilee or words that have become slang like schmuck, shmooze, nosh, oy vey, and
schmutz.
Ø Arabic - Trade items such as borax, coffee, cotton, hashish, henna, mohair, muslin,
saffron; Islamic religious terms such as jihad and hadith; scientific vocabulary
borrowed into Latin in the 12th and 13th centuries (alcohol, alkali, algebra, azimuth,
cipher, nadir); plants or plant products originating in Tropical Asia and introduced to
medieval Europe through Arabic intermediation (camphor, jasmine, lacquer, lemon,
orange, sugar); Middle Eastern cuisine words (couscous, falafel, hummus, kebab,
tahini). See also: List of English words of Arabic origin.
Vocabulary
During the Norman occupation, about 10,000 French words were adopted into English, some
three-fourths of which are still in use today. This French vocabulary is found in every
domain, from government and law to art and literature - learn some. More than a third of all
English words are derived directly or indirectly from French, and it’s estimated that English
speakers who have never studied French already know 15,000 French words.
A computerized survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.)
[3]
was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) that
estimated the origin of English words as follows:
· French: 28.3%
· Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
· Germanic languages – inherited from Old English, from Proto-Germanic, or a more
recent borrowing from a Germanic language such as Old Norse; does not
include Germanic words borrowed from a Romance language, i.e., coming from the
Germanic element in French, Latin or other Romance languages: 25%
· Greek: 5.32%

b) Word Formation-Different Processes

Process of Word Formation
Word Formation Process
How new words are being formed in the language
The process consists of a combination of morphemes that are rule-governed (a new word is
formed)
PROCESSES WHERE NEW WORDS ARE FORMED
Major Word Formation Processes
(Processes that are formed frequently or commonly in the use of the English language)
2. Clipping
Clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its
parts (Marchand: 1969). Clippings are, also, known as "shortenings."Clipping mainly consists
of the following types:
1. Back clipping
2. Fore-clipping
3. Middle clipping
4. Complex clipping
2.1 Back clipping

Back clipping or apocopation is the most common type, in which the beginning is retained.
The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite.
Examples
ad (advertisement), cable (cablegram), doc (doctor), exam (examination), gas(gasoline),
math (mathematics), memo (memorandum), gym (gymnastics,
gymnasium) mutt (muttonhead), pub (public house), pop (popular concert), trad (traditional
jazz), fax (facsimile).
2.2. Fore-clipping
Fore-clipping or aphaeresis retains the final part.
Examples
phone (telephone),varsity (university), chute (parachute), coon (racoon), gator (alligator), pik
e (turnpike).
2.3. Middle clipping

In middle clipping or syncope, the middle of the word is retained. Examples are:
flu(influenza), tec (detective), polly (apollinaris), jams (pyjamas), shrink (head-shrinker).
2.4. Complex clipping

Clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often
remains intact. Examples are: cablegram (cable telegram), op art (optical art), org-
man(organization man), linocut (linoleum cut). Sometimes both halves of a compound are
clipped as in navicert (navigation certificate). In these cases it is difficult to know whether the
resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend, for the border between the
two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1993), the easiest way to draw the
distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds,
whereas those that take simple word stress are not.
3. Acronymy
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and IBM, that are formed
using the initial letters of words or word parts in a phrase or name. Acronyms and initialisms
are usually pronounced in a way that is distinct from that of the full forms for which they
stand: as the names of the individual letters (as in IBM), as a word (as in NATO), or as a
combination (as in IUPAC). Another term, alphabetism, is sometimes used to describe
abbreviations pronounced as the names of letters.
Examples :
Ø pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters:
FNMA: (Fannie Mae) Federal National Mortgage Association
laser: light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
scuba: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
4. Blending
A blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not
always, morphemes.
A blend is different from a portmanteau word in that a portmanteau refers strictly to a
blending of two function words, similar to a contraction.
4.1. Formation of blendings

Most blends are formed by one of the following methods:
1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other. For example, brunch is a
blend of breakfast and lunch. This is the most common method of blending.
2. The beginnings of two words are combined. For example, cyborg is a blend of cybernetic
and organism.
3. One complete word is combined with part of another word. For example, guesstimate is
a blend of guess and estimate.
4. Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds. For example, the
word Californication, from a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a blend of California and
fornication.
5. Multiple sounds from two component words are blended, while mostly preserving the
sounds' order. Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of blends. An example of
this is the word slithy, a blend of lithe and slimy. This method is difficult to achieve and is
considered a sign of Carroll's verbal wit.
5. Back-formation
Back-formation refers to the process of creating a new lexeme (less precisely, a new "word")
by removing actual or supposed affixes. The resulting neologism is called a back-formation.
Back-formations are shortened words created from longer words, thus back-formations may
be viewed as a sub-type of clipping.

For example, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin, and the verb resurrectwas then
backformed hundreds of years later from it by removing the -ion suffix.
5.1. Back-formation in the English language

Many words came into English by this route: Pease was once a mass noun but was
reinterpreted as a plural, leading to the back-formation pea. The noun statistic was likewise a
back-formation from the field of study statistics. In Britain the verb burgle came into use in
the 19th century as a back-formation from burglar (which can be compared to the North
America verb burglarize formed by suffixation).
6. Derivation
Derivation is used to form new words, as with happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or
determination from determine. A contrast is intended with the process of inflection, which
uses another kind of affix in order to form variants of the same word, as with
determine/determine-s/determin-ing/determin-ed.
A derivational suffix usually applies to words of one syntactic category and changes them
into words of another syntactic category. For example, the English derivational suffix -
lychanges adjectives into adverbs (slow → slowly).
Some examples of English derivational suffixes:
Ø adjective-to-noun: -ness (slow → slowness)

Ø adjective-to-verb: -ize (modern → modernize)
Ø noun-to-adjective: -al (recreation → recreational)
Ø noun-to-verb: -fy (glory → glorify)
Ø verb-to-adjective: -able (drink → drinkable)
Ø verb-to-noun: -ance (deliver → deliverance)
7. Borrowing
Borrowing is just taking a word from another language. The borrowed words are called loan
words. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one language from another
with little or no translation. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept
whereby it is the meaning or idiom that is borrowed rather than the lexical itemitself. The
word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort. Loanwords can also be called
"borrowings".
7.1. Loanwords in English

English has many loanwords. In 1973, a computerized survey of is about 80,000 words. Their
estimates for the origin of English words were as follows:
Ø French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%

Ø Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
Ø Germanic languages, including Old and Middle English: 25%
Ø Greek: 5.32%
Ø No etymology given or unknown: 4.03%
Ø Derived from proper names: 3.28%
Ø All other languages contributed less than 1%

8. Coinage
Coinage is the invention of totally new words. The typical process of coinage usually
involves the extension of a product name from a specific reference to a more general one. For
example, think of Kleenex, Xerox, and Kodak. These started as names of specific products,
but now they are used as the generic names for different brands of these types of products.
9. Compounding
A compound is a lexeme (a word) that consists of more than one other lexeme. An
endocentric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic
meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example,
the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is
understood as a house intended for a dog. Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part
of speech (word class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse. (Such compounds were
called karmadharaya in the Sanskrit tradition.)
N + N lipstick, teapot
A + N fast food, soft drink
V + N breakfast, sky-dive
N + V sunshine, babysit
N + A capital-intensive, waterproof
A + A deaf-mute, bitter-sweet
Both sets of words are characterized by the fact that none of the two members of the
compound seems in any sense more important than the other. They could be said to have two
semantic heads, none of them being subordinate to the other.
C) Change of Meaning – Different Processes

Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression or semantic drift) is the evolution
of word usage—usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from the
original usage. In diachronic (or historical) linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of
the meanings of a word.
There are a number of factors which contribute to meanings changing over time. One of the
rather interesting ones is called "semantic drift". Semantics is the study of the meaning of
word. ... Not because the words were the problem, but because our attitudes towards the
people thus named was negative.
A number of classification schemes have been suggested for semantic change. The most
widely accepted scheme in the English-speaking academic world.
Narrowing: Change from superordinate level to subordinate level. Forexample, skyline

formerly referred to any horizon, but now in the USA it has narrowed to a horizon
decorated by skyscrapers.
Ø Widening: There are many examples of specific brand names being used for the general
product, such as with Kleenex. Such uses are known as generonyms: see genericization.
Ø Metaphor: Change based on similarity of thing. For example, broadcast originally meant
"to cast seeds out"; with the advent of radio and television, the word was extended to
indicate the transmission of audio and video signals. Outside of agricultural circles, very
few use broadcast in the earlier sense
Ø Metonymy: Change based on nearness in space or time, e.g., jaw "cheek" "mandible".
Ø Synecdoche: Change based on whole-part relation. The convention of using capital cities
to represent countries or their governments is an example of this.
Ø Hyperbole: Change from weaker to stronger meaning, e.g., kill "torment" "slaughter"
Ø Meiosis: Change from stronger to weaker meaning, e.g., astound "strike with thunder"
"surprise strongly".
Ø Degeneration: e.g., knave "boy" → "servant" → "deceitful or despicable man".
Ø Elevation: e.g., knight "boy" → "nobleman".
Ø Metaphor: Change based on similarity between concepts, e.g., mouse "rodent" "computer
device".
Ø Metonymy: Change based on contiguity between concepts, e.g., horn "animal horn"
"musical instrument".
Ø Synecdoche: A type of metonymy involving a part to whole relationship, e.g. "hands"
from "all hands on deck" "bodies"
Ø Specialization of meaning: Downward shift in a taxonomy, e.g., corn "grain" "wheat"
(UK), → "maize" (US).
Ø Generalization of meaning: Upward shift in a taxonomy, e.g., hoover "Hoover vacuum
cleaner" "any type of vacuum cleaner".
Cohyponymic transfer: Horizontal shift in taxonomy, e.g., the confusionof mouse and
rat in some dialects.
Ø Antiphrasis: Change based on a contrastive aspect of the concepts, e.g., perfect lady in the
sense of "prostitute".
Unit-III:
a) Structure of the English Noun Phrase

Noun phrases are defined as phrases in which a noun functions as the head of the phrase.
1. Determiners
2. Adjective phrases
3. Prepositional phrases
4. Verb phrases
5. Adjective clauses
6. Noun clauses
7. Noun phrases

Noun Phrases
Noun phrase structure Verb phrase
(not part of
Pre- Post- Pre- Post- noun phrase)
determiner Determiner determiner modifier Head modifier
Buns are for sale.
The buns are for sale.
All the currant buns are for sale.
Not quite all the currant buns are for sale.
hot tasty
Not quite all the buns are for sale.
currant
hot tasty
Not quite all the buns on the table are for sale.
currant
hot tasty on show on

Not quite all the many currant buns the table are for sale.
fine hot tasty which I

Not quite all the very many currant buns cooked are for sale.
Adjective phrases
These are usually formed from an intensifier, followed by the head (an adjective, shown
underlined below). Examples include very happy, not too awkward, and cold enough. They
may also be formed from an adjective and a verb construction, such as easy to please, loath to
do it.
Adverb phrases
These are intensifying expressions formed from an intensifier (optional), followed by the
head (an adverb, shown underlined below), followed by a post-modifier (optional).
Examples would be: terribly slowly, very happily indeed, exceptionally carefully, completely
utterly dangerously, quite often and very soon.
Prepositional phrases (adverbials/adjectival)
These are formed from the head (a preposition, shown underlined in the examples), followed
by a noun phrase. Examples of prepositional phrases are in the teapot, on the toilet, and round
the bend.

· They may be called adverbials since their usual function is to qualify a verb in the
same way as an adverb does. You can test this by replacing a given prepositional
phrase with an adverb - for example: Fred swam in the river and Fred swam swiftly.
Both of these are grammatically standard forms.
· They may also function as adjectives: the pirate with the wooden leg.
Pronoun phrases
These are restricted to a small number of constructions, and are sometimes regarded as a
minor type of noun phrase. They are formed from a head (a pronoun, shown in bold below)
with a pre- or postmodifier. Examples would be: Silly me! You there! she herself, we all,
nearly everyone, and such relative clause types as those who knew Fred.
Verb phrases
These are quite simple syntactically, although the verb in them may contain important
grammatical information, such as tense, number, active or passive voice and so on. (All of
these are explained above in the section on word categories). One or more auxiliaries may
precede the head (a verb participle, shown in bold below). Examples would be: has died, may
have gone, might have been listening. You may be puzzled by the simplicity of these models.
Don't be. In order to explain the more complex function of verbs in the predicates of
sentences (what they say about their subject), we use the structural model of the clause.
In linguistics, a verb phrase (VP) is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and its
dependents—objects, complements and other modifiers—but not always including the
subject. Thus in the sentence A fat man put the money quickly in the box, the words put the
money quickly in the box are a verb phrase; it consists of the verb put and its dependents, but
not the subject a fat man. A verb phrase is similar to what is considered a predicate in more
traditional grammars.
Verb phrases generally are divided among two types: finite, of which the head of the phrase
is a finite verb; and nonfinite, where the head is a nonfinite verb, such as an infinitive,
participle or gerund. Phrase structure grammars acknowledge both types,
but dependency grammars treat the subject as just another verbal dependent, and they do not
recognize the finite verbal phrase constituent. Understanding verb phrase analysis depends
upon knowing which theory obtains in context.
In phrase structure grammars such as generative grammar, the verb phrase is one headed by a
verb. It may be composed of only a single verb, but typically it consists of combinations of
main and auxiliary verbs, plus optional specifies, complements (not including subject
complements), and adjuncts.
For example:
Yankee batters hit the ball well enough to win their first World Series since 2000.
Mary saw the man through the window.

David gave Mary a book.
The first example contains the long verb phrase hit the ball well enough to win their first
World Series since 2000; the second is a verb phrase composed of the main verb saw, the
complement phrase the man (a noun phrase), and the adjunct phrase through the window (a
prepositional phrase). The third example presents three elements, the main verb gave, the
noun Mary, and the noun phrase a book, all which comprise the verb phrase. Note, the verb
phrase described here corresponds to the predicate of traditional grammar.
Current views vary on whether all languages have a verb phrase; some schools of generative
grammar (such as Principles and Parameters) hold that all languages have a verb phrase,
while others (such as Lexical Functional Grammar) take the view that at least some
languages lack a verb phrase constituent, including those languages with a very free word
order (the so-called non-configurational languages, such as Japanese, Hungarian, or
Australian aboriginal languages), and some languages with a default VSO order (several
Celtic and Oceanic languages).
Phrase structure grammars view both finite and nonfinite verb phrases as constituent phrases
and, consequently, do not draw any key distinction between them. Dependency grammars
(described below) are much different in this regard.
While phrase structure grammars (constituency grammars) acknowledge both finite and non-
finite VPs as constituents (complete subtrees), dependency grammars reject the former. That
is, dependency grammars acknowledge only non-finite VPs as constituents; finite VPs do not
qualify as constituents in dependency grammars.
For example:
John has finished the work. – Finite VP in bold John
has finished the work. – Non-finite VP in bold
Since has finished the work contains the finite verb has, it is a finite VP, and since finished
the work contains the non-finite verb finished but lacks a finite verb, it is a non-finite VP.
Similar examples:
They do not want to try that. – Finite VP in bold

They do not want to try that. – One non-finite VP in bold
They do not want to try that. – Another non-finite VP in bold
These examples illustrate well that many clauses can contain more than one non-finite VP,
but they generally contain only one finite VP. Starting with Lucien Tesnière 1959,
[1]
dependency grammars challenge the validity of the initial binary division of the clause into
subject (NP) and predicate (VP), which means they reject the notion that the second half of
this binary division, i.e. the finite VP, is a constituent. They do, however, readily
acknowledge the existence of non-finite VPs as constituents. The two competing views of
verb phrases are visible in the following trees:

The constituency tree on the left shows the finite VP has finished the work as a constituent,
since it corresponds to a complete subtree. The dependency tree on the right, in contrast, does
not acknowledge a finite VP constituent, since there is no complete subtree there that
corresponds to has finished the work. Note that the analyses agree concerning the non-finite
VP finished the work; both see it as a constituent (complete subtree).
c) The Simple Sentence—its types, Constituents and Organization

English Sentence Structure
The following statements are true about sentences in English:

A new sentence begins with a capital letter.
He obtained his degree.
A sentence ends with punctuation (a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point).

A sentence contains a subject that is only given once.

Pawan he obtained his degree.
A sentence contains a verb or a verb phrase.

A sentence follows Subject + Verb + Object word order.

He (subject) obtained (verb) his degree (object).
A sentence must have a complete idea that stands alone. This is also called an independent
clause.
Independent clause: An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. It contains a

subject and a verb and is a complete idea.
I like spaghetti.
He reads many books.
Dependent clause: A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must be attached to an

independent clause to become complete. This is also known as a subordinate clause.
Although I like spaghetti,…
Because he reads many books,…
Subject: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that does an action. Determine the subject
in a sentence by asking the question “Who or what?” I like spaghetti.
Verb: Expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. Determine the verb
in a sentence by asking the question “What was the action or what happened?” I like
spaghetti.
The movie is good. (The be verb is also sometimes referred to as a copula or a linking verb. It
links the subject, in this case the movie, to the complement or the predicate of the sentence,
in this case, good.)
Object: A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that receives the action. Determine the
object in a sentence by asking the question “The subject did what?” or “To whom?/For
whom?”
Praveen likes chicken.

Divya reads many books.
Prepositional Phrase: A phrase that begins with a preposition (i.e., in, at for, behind, until,
after, of, during) and modifies a word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase answers one of
many questions. Here are a few examples: “Where? When? In what way?”
Eg: Praveen likes chicken for dinner.

Divya reads many books in the library.
Simple Sentences
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and
modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause.
Eg: Jagruthi is a clever student.
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. These two independent
clauses can be combined with a command a coordinating conjunction or with a semicolon.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold; comma or semicolon = pink, regular font;
coordinating conjunction = green, underlined
Here are a few examples:

She completed her literature review, and she created her reference list.
He organized his sources by theme; then, he updated his reference list.
They studied APA rules for many hours, but they realized there was still much to learn.
Using some compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.
Complex Sentences
A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and at least one dependent
clause. Dependent clauses can refer to the subject (who, which) the sequence/time (since,
while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause.
If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, note the comma after this clause. If, on the
other hand, the sentence begins with an independent clause, there is not a comma separating
the two clauses.
Here are a few examples:
Although she completed her literature review, she still needed to work on her methods
section.
Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.
Because he organized his sources by theme, it was easier for his readers to follow.
Note the comma in this sentence because it begins with a dependent clause.
They studied APA rules for many hours as they were so interesting.
Note that there is no comma in this sentence because it begins with an independent clause.
Using some complex sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety.
Coordination and Subordination and their Semantic Implications

Join the two independent clauses to make a compound sentence. Use one of the coordinating
conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet). Remember to use a comma before the connecting
word.
He enjoys walking through the country. He often goes backpacking on his vacations.
He often watched TV when there were only reruns. She preferred to read instead.
I didn’t know which job I wanted. I decided to wait to decide.
Join the two independent clauses to make a complex sentence. Use one of the subordinating
conjunctions (after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, if only, rather
than, since, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whereas, wherever, whether, which, and
while). Remember to use a comma if the subordinating conjunction comes at the beginning of
the sentence.
I stayed up all night studying for my Algebra exam. I was so tired all day today.
Jerry and Elaine always go to movies together. They don’t go to movies together when Jerry
is dating someone.
Mad Season is a great band. They only put out one album.

Unit IV
a) Dialect: The Standard’ Dialect; Idiolect; Register

Dialect
It refers to a variety of a language that can signal the speaker’s regional or social background.
Dialect is a variety of language which differs grammatically, phonologically and lexically
from other varieties, and which is associated with a particular social class or status group.
Examples: Australian dialect, Indian dialect.
Idiolect
Idiolect is an individual’s distinctive and unique use of language, including speech. This
unique usage encompasses vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
Idiolect is the variety of language unique to an individual. This differs from a dialect, a
common set of linguistic characteristics shared among some group of people.
Language varieties: Variety is a specific set of ‘linguistic items’ or ‘human speech patterns’
(presumably sounds, words, grammatical features, etc.) which we can connect with some
external factor apparently, a geographical area or a social group. Examples: Canadian
English, London English, Standard English.
Register
A register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social

setting • Registers can simply be described as variations of the language according to its use,
while the dialect as a language variation based on users registers on this concept is not limited
to the choice of words (such as the notion registers in the traditional theory) but also includes
the choice of the use of text structure, and texture. Example: English journalist
b) Style: Jargon; Slang
Style: It relates to the typical ways in which one or more people do a particular thing. •
Examples : - Formal - Informal
Jargon: specific vocabulary associated with a group, mostly professional, e.g. doctors,
lawyers, linguists, or with a hobby/interest
Jargon examples (army jargon: jam, ejecta)
Where does slang fit in? (army slang: chicken colonel/full colonel, John Wayne/militarily
exemplary)

Slang:
A type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are
more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or
group of people.
"grass is slang for marijuana"
synonyms: informal language, colloquialisms, idioms, patois, argot, cant, dialect; More
c) British English and American English: Differences in Spelling

and Pronunciation
Many of the differences between American and British English date back to a time when
spelling standards had not yet developed. For instance, some spellings seen as "American"
today were once commonly used in Britain and some spellings seen as "British" were once
commonly used in the United States. A "British standard" began to emerge following the
1755 publication of Samuel Johnson‘s A Dictionary of the English Language, and an
"American standard" started following the work of Noah Webster and in particular his An
American Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1828.
Differences in Spelling
Not only do the three types of English sound different, but they are also spelled differently. In
some ways, the spelling reflects the difference in pronunciation. For instance, Americans use
the world airplane to refer to a flying mode of transportation. In Great Britain, the word is
aeroplane, and it is pronounced with an audible “o” sound. Another common difference in
spelling is aluminium, which is the UK spelling, and aluminum, the US spelling. Again, the
difference shows the difference in pronunciation of the two words. In this instance the
Australian spelling is the same as the UK spelling.
Similarly, the endings -re and -re are different between the different English dialects. In
America you will go to the theater or fitness center, whereas in Britain you will visit the
theatre or fitness centre. Again, Australian English follows the British pattern.
There are other common spelling differences as well. For instance, in American English,
words that sound as though they end with an -ize will always end in an -ize. However, in UK
English, they typically end in ise (i.e. realize, realise). Also, British English often doubles
consonants when adding a suffix when American English does not, such as in the world
traveller.
Spelling
Br E Am E
colour color
favourite favorite
honour honor
vigour vigor
analyse analyze
criticise criticize
memorise memorize
enrolment enrollment
fulfil fulfill
skilful skillful
centre center
metre meter
Pronunciation
The most significant differences between British and American English are in their
pronunciations, their vocabularies, and their spelling. There are grammatical differences, too,
but these are less important and harder to describe, so we will pass over them for today.
British English and American sound noticeably different. The most obvious difference is the
way the letter r is pronounced. In British English, when r comes after a vowel in the same
syllable (as in car, hard, or market), the r is not pronounced. In American English the r is
pronounced. To hear some good examples of this difference, click on this link and watch the
YouTube video.
Pronunciation between the three types of English is very dissimilar. In American English the
“r” at the end of the word almost always affects its pronunciation, whereas in Australian and
British English the “r” is often silent. Also, the emphasis placed on the syllables of the word
varies from British, Australian, and American English. In Britain, the world adult has the
emphasis on the first syllable, whereas in America it is placed on the second half of the word.
Australian English is unique in the fact that many words have sounds that are eliminated.
Instead of saying good day, the Australian speaker says g’day. The main pronunciation
difference between the three, however, is the pronunciation of the vowel sounds.
(These notes are prepared and complied by Dr Adi Ramesh, GDC, Hanamkonda for the
Material is available at Sri Laxmi Xerox (Ajay), College Road, Hanamkonda (Ph:
9676614715)

Unit V
A) Functional Grammar (Transformations)
Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct speech: The actual words spoken by a person.

They are put within quotation marks.
Eg: She said, “I am well.”
Indirect speech: It is also called ‘Reported speech’

The meaning of speaker’s words.
Eg: She said that she was well.

Note: Short form of Direct speech is D.S. and Short form of Indirect speech is I.D.S.
She said, “I like sweets” (D.S)

verb verb
Said = Reporting verb
Like= Reported verb
Rules:
When thereporting verbis in the Simple Present tense or Present Continuous tense
orPresent Perfect tense or Simple Future tense, no change of tense is necessary in the
reported verb.
Eg: 1. He is saying , “ I am late”. (D.S.)
He is saying that he is late. (I.D.S)
2. He says, “I like ice-cream.” (D.S)
He says that he likes ice-cream. (I.D.S)
Ø When the reporting verb is in any of the past tenses , the tense of the reported verbs change in
the following manner.
Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Simple Present Simple Past
Present Continuous Past Continuous
Present Perfect Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous
Simple Past Past Perfect
Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous
Will would
Shall should
Can could
May might
Past Continuous ` Past Perfect Continuous

Ø Words expressing nearness in time or place are generally changed into words
expressing distance.
D.S I.D.S.
here there
this that
these those
now then
to day that day
to night that night
tomorrow the next day/ the following day
next week the following week
yester day the day before / the previous day
last week the previous week
ten years ago before ten years
ten days back ten days before
must had to
here by there by
ago before
that that
those those
hence thence
Ø When a universal truth is stated, tense does not change.
Eg: The teacher said, “The earth moves round the sun.”
The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.
Ø Remember these conjunctions when you change D.S. into I.D.S.

S. No. Type of sentence conjunctions
(1) Declarative / Assertive sentence that
(2) Interrogative sentence
(a) wh - question “wh” word
(b) Non - wh question if / whether
(yes / no type )
(3) Imperative sentence
(a) Negative not to
(b) positive to
(4) Exclamatory sentence that
Note: Do not use inverted commas in ‘Indirect speech.’
Declarative Sentences
Eg:(1) He said, “I am unwell.” (D.S.)
He said that he was unwell. (I.D.S.)
(2) She said, “I have passed the exam.” (D.S.)
She said that she had passed the exam. (I.D.S.)
(3) He said to me “I am going to Delhi. “ (D.S.)
He told me that he was going to Delhi. (I.D.S.)
(4) She said to me, “I am happy.” (D.S.)
She told me that she was happy. (I.D.S.)

Note: Verbs used in clauses expressing improbable or impossible condition remain
unchanged.
She said, “If I won the election, I would become a minister.” (D.S.)
She said that if she won the election, she would become a minister.” (I.D.S.)
He said, “If I had reached the stadium, I would have met Ringa Ringa.”(D.S.)
He said that if he had reached the stadium, he would have met Ringa Ringa.” (I.D.S.)
Ø Present Continuous used as a future form becomes would be + present participle, not
Past Continuous tense.
He said, “I am seeing the doctor tomorrow.” (D.S.)

He said that he would be seeing the doctor the next day. (I.D.S.)
Ø Simple Past or Past Continuous tense in adverb clauses of time do not usually change
into the corresponding past tense.
Potti said, ‘When I was crossing the road, I saw Chitti.” (D.S.)
Potti said that when she was crossing the road, she saw Chitti.” (I.D.S.)
Ø Unreal Past Tense after wish/ it is time remains unchanged.

She said, “I wish I were a princess.” (D.S.)
She said that she wished she were a princess. (I.D.S.)
Ramu said, “It is time I went to bed.” (D.S.)
Ramu said that it was time he went to bed. (I.D.S.)
Interrogative Sentences ( Yes / No type )
Sub + asked / enquired + object + if / whether + sub + verb +object.

1. He said, “Did you go to the class?” (D.S.)
He asked if I had gone to the class. (I.D.S.)
2. She said, “Will you come.”? (D.S.)
She asked if I would come. (I.D.S.)
3. He said, “Can you help me?” I said, ‘yes.” (D.S.)
He asked me if I could help him and I said that I could. (I.D.S.)
4. I said, ‘”will you go home?” She said, “no.’ (D.S.)
I asked her whether she would go home and she replied that she would not. (I.D.S.)
“Wh” type questions
Subject + asked / enquired + object + “wh” word + subject + verb +object.

(1) He said, “When will the show commence?” (D.S.)
He asked when the show would commence. (I.D.S.)
(2) She said to me, “where have you gone?” (D.S.)
She asked me where I had gone. (I.D.S.)

Imperative Sentences
Subject + requested / ordered / advised / commanded + to + verb + object.

1) He said, “Help me” (D.S.)
He requested to help him. (I.D.S.)
2) The principal said to the boys, “Work hard.” (D.S.)
The principal advised the boys to work hard. (I.D.S.)
Imperative with ‘had better’
Ø An imperative with better/ had better expressing advice is turned into indirect speech
like an ordinary imperative.
Eg. 1. He said, “You better/ had better see a doctor.” (D.S)
He advised me to see a doctor. (I.D.S)
2. She said, “You must take some exercise every day.” (D.S)
She advised me to take some exercise every day. (I.D.S)
Note: Reporting verb is changed as advised.
Imperative with ‘Question tag’

Ø A question tag at the end of an imperative is left out when the sentence is converted
into reported speech.
Eg: “Close the door, will you?” I said to him. (D.S)
I asked/ requested him to shut the door. (Question tag left out) (I.D.S)
Imperative with ‘Let’

Eg. I said, “Let’s sing together.’ (D.S)
I proposed / suggested that we should sing together. (I.D.S)
Exclamatory Sentences
Subject + exclaimed / wondered + that + subject + verb + object.
1) I said, “How sad he is!” (D.S)
I exclaimed that he was very sad. (I.D.S)
2) “How beautiful Sunitha is!” said Naga (D.S)
Naga exclaimed that Sunitha was very beautiful. (I.D.S)

Degrees of Comparison
There are three degrees of Comparison. They are

(1) Positive Degree (PD)
(2) Comparative Degree (CD)
(3) Superlative Degree (SD)
Ø If the comparison is between two persons or two things, the positive degree
or comparative degree is used.
Ø If more than two things or two persons are compared, the superlative degree is also used.
Formation of Comparative & Superlative
Most adjectives or adverbs of ‘one’ syllable and some of more than one, form the
comparative by adding ‘er’ and the superlative by adding ‘est’ to the positive.
P.D C.D S.D

tall taller tallest
sweet sweeter sweetest
short shorter shortest
soon sooner soonest
strong stronger strongest
long longer longest
rich richer richest
poor poorer poorest
hard harder hardest
clever cleverer cleverest
bold bolder boldest
kind kinder kindest
young younger youngest
great greater greatest
soft softer softest
For the adjectives ending in ‘e’ only ‘r’ and ‘st’ are added.
brave braver bravest
fine finer finest
wise wiser wisest
noble nobler noblest
able abler ablest
large larger largest
pure purer purest
When the positive ends in ‘y’, preceded by a consonant, we change the ‘y’ into ‘i’ before
adding ‘er, est’
happy happier happiest

easy easier easiest

heavy heavier heaviest

healthy healthier healthiest
merry merrier merriest
wealthy wealthier wealthiest
Exception:
shy shyer shyest
gay gayer gayest
grey greyer greyest
Ø For the adjectives ending in a single consonant, the last letter is doubled and ‘er / est’ is
added.
big bigger biggest

red redder reddest
hot hotter hottest
thin thinner thinnest
sad sadder saddest
fat fatter fattest
Ø Adjectives of two syllables and more than two syllables, ‘more /most’ is put in front.
P. D. C.D. S.D
awful more awful most awful
careful more careful most careful
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
splendid more splendid most splendid
difficult more difficult most difficult
industrious more industrious most industrious
courageous more courageous most courageous
learned more learned most learned
proper more proper most proper
forward more forward most forward
backward more backward most backward
popular more popular most popular
useful more useful most useful
needful more needful most needful
interesting more interesting most interesting
Irregular Comparisons
P.D C.D S.D
good /well better best
bad /ill /evil worse worst
much, many more most
little less, lesser least
few fewer fewest
old (for people &things) older oldest
old(for people only) elder eldest

far(for distance) farther farthest
far(something additional) further furthest
late (next and time) later latest
late (second and place) latter last
near nearer nearest
out outer utmost
Ø The Latin comparatives ‘superior, inferior, senior, junior, prior, anterior, posterior’ are
followed by the preposition ‘to’
Rule-1
P.D C.D S.D
not + so/as+adj/ adv+as adj/adv + than ----------
1. Raju is not so clever as Ravi. (P.D )

Ravi is cleverer than Raju. (C.D)
2. Sitha is not so tall as Githa. (P.D )
Githa is taller than Sitha. (C.D)
Rule-2
P.D C.D S.D

as+adj/ adv+as not+ adj/adv + than ----------
1. I am as tall as she. (P.D)

She is not taller than I. (C.D)
2. Samatha is as clever as Kittu. (P.D)
Kittu is not cleverer than Samatha. (C.D)
Rule-3
P.D C.D S.D

no other …. so +adj/ adv+as adj/adv + than + any other the + adj/ adv+ singular
+ singular noun noun
1. No other place in India is so beautiful as Kashmir. (P.D)

Kashmir is more beautiful than any other place in India. (C.D)
Kashmir is the most beautiful place in India. (S.D)
Rule-4
P.D C.D S.D

very few …..so +adj/ adj/adv + than + many/ one of the + adj/ adv
adv+as most other
1: Very few kings were as great as Ashoka. ( P.D)

Ashoka was greater than many other kings. (C.D)
Ashoka was one of the greatest kings. (S.D)

2: Very few cities of India are so big as Mumbai. (P.D)
Mumbai is bigger than many other cities of India. (C.D)
Mumbai is one of the biggest cities of India. (S.D)
b) Functional English-I
1. A dialogue normally has two or more exchanges.

2. If an utterance in a dialogue is short, it is easier for the listener to comprehend it.
3. Since a dialogue pertains to the spoken language, it can be informal and can make use of
informal and colloquial language.
4. The speakers must apply current socio-linguistic norms while speaking.
5. The vocabulary that speakers use must be very simple. Even the grammatical
constructions must be simple.
As discussed above, language has many functions such as greeting, introducing, inviting,
making requests/ suggestions, asking for permission/advice, expressing sympathy/gratitude,
apologising, complaining, asking for clarification/information, describing people/
things/objects, congratulating etc. Look at the following pieces of conversation and see how
we can perform these functions by making use of language.
Introducing
1. Introducing oneself -------- Good morning. I am --------
2. Excuse me. I am -----------
3. Introducing others ------------ This is Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms -------- (informal)
4. Please meet Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms -------- (informal)
5. Meet my friend/sister/brother/uncle/nephew ----------- (informal)
6. Let me introduce ------------- (formal)
7. May I introduce -------------- (formal)
Asking questions and giving polite replies
Asking for Permission:

1. Could I.... please?
2. Can I go out, please?
3. May I open the window, please?
4. Please, can I have a look at your photo album?
5. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ....
6. Do you mind if I smoke?
7. Would you mind if I ask you something?
8. Is it okay if I sit here?
9. Is it alright if I ....
10. Would it be alright if I borrow your mobile Phone?

Accepting invitation
1. Thank you very much -----------
2. With pleasure ------------
3. We’d be delighted to
4. Thank you and it’s really very kind of you ---------------
Declining invitation
1. Thank you very much, but ---------------
2. Thank you, but, I am very sorry to --------------
3. I wish I could , but ----------------
4. That’s very kind of you, but --------------
Asking for Permission:

A. Good morning, sir.
B. Good morning, Mr. Thupel.
A. Sir, may I leave the college early today? I’ve been suffering from fever.
B. Yes, you may go.
A. Thank you, sir.
Asking for an opinion:

What do you think?
What is your opinion?
Do you agree?
Complaining and Apologizing

1. I’m sorry.
2. I’m so/ very/ awfully/ terribly/ sorry for/ about …..
3. Excuse me….
4. Sorry, my fault….
5. Please accept my apology for….
6. It was foolish/ silly/ careless/ stupid of me…..
7. I feel bad about ….
8. I am so awfully / terribly sorry…
9. I’m extremely sorry for ….
10. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for ….
11. I must apologize.
Persuading people
Ø encourage
to suggest that someone does something that you believe would be good
Ø persuade
to make someone agree to do something by giving them reasons why they should
Ø convince
to persuade someone to do something
Ø motivate
to make someone feel determined to do something or enthusiastic about doing it

Taking the initiative/Turn Taking
Ø The Turn-taking component contains the main content of the utterance and is built
from various unit types (Turn-Construction Units, or TCUs). The end of a TCU is a
point where the turn may end and a new speaker may begin, known as a transition-
relevant point or TRP.
Ø The Turn allocation component comprises techniques that select the next speaker.
There are two types of techniques: those where the current speaker selects the next
speaker, and those where the next speaker selects themself.
Ø Rules govern turn construction and give options to designate the next turn-taker in
such a way as to minimize gaps and overlap. Once a Transition Relevance Place is
reached, the following rules are applied in order:
Ø The current speaker selects the next speaker and transfers the turn to them; or
Ø One of the non-speakers self-selects, with the first person to speak claiming the next
turn; or
Ø No one self-selects, and the current speaker continues until the next TRP or the
conversation ends
Unit-III
Functional English-II:
Seeking Permission
1. Could I.... please?
2. Can I go out, please?
3. May I open the window, please?
4. Please, can I have a look at your photo album?
5. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ....
Inviting someone
1. I would like to invite you to ----------- (informal)
2. I am extremely delighted to invite you ---------- (informal)
3. I am pleased to invite you to -------------- (informal)
4. Why don’t you ------------- (informal)
5. It gives me immense pleasure to invite you to ------------ (formal)
6. We shall be pleased if you could attend ------------- (formal)
Complimenting
A: You look really nice today.
B: Thank you. I just got this outfit the other day.
A: Really, where did you get it?
B: I got it from Macy's.
A: It's really nice.
B: Thanks again. You look nice today, too.
A: Thank you. I just got these shoes today.

B: Really? What kind of shoes are they?
A: These are called All Star Chuck Taylors.
B: I really like those. How much did they cost?
A: They were about forty dollars.
B: I think I'm going to go buy myself a pair.
Expressing Sympathy
1. I’m sorry.
2. I’m sorry to learn that ….
3. I’m upset.
4. It’s terrible.
5. I am sorry that the news made everyone upset.
6. I could not believe it when I heard that ….
7. I can’t find the words to express my feelings.
Mobile (Telephone) Etiquette

Cell phones are great—they keep us in touch with friends and family. They can be life savers
in an emergency. But they can also be annoying if not used thoughtfully. One should mobile
for emergency and in necessary time. Learn to use the phone’s features like silent ring,
vibrate and voice mail to handle the times when the phone would be bothering others if it
rang and we answered it.
1. Be in control of one’s phone.

2. Speak softly.
3. We should turn off our phones if it will be interrupting a conversation or activity.
4. One should observe his language, especially when others can overhear him.
5. Avoid talking about personal or confidential topics in a public place.
6. If it must be on and it could bother others, use the silent ring mode
7. Don’t make calls in a library, temple, church etc
8. Don’t text during class or a meeting at the job.
9. Private info can be forwarded, so don’t text it.
10. NEVER drive and use the phone at the same time.

PAPER-II
ENGLISH POETRY


Unit-I
Background
Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the
late 15th to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is
usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century.
The Renaissance Period: 1550–1660
In a tradition of literature remarkable for its exacting and brilliant achievements, the
Elizabethan and early Stuart periods have been said to represent the most brilliant century of
all. (The reign of Elizabeth I began in 1558 and ended with her death in 1603; she was
succeeded by the Stuart king James VI of Scotland, who took the title James I of England as
well. English literature of his reign as James I, from 1603 to 1625, is properly called
Jacobean.) These years produced a gallery of authors of genius, some of whom have never
been surpassed, and conferred on scores of lesser talents the enviable ability to write with
fluency, imagination, and verve. From one point of view, this sudden renaissance looks
radiant, confident, heroic—and belated, but all the more dazzling for its belatedness. Yet,
from another point of view, this was a time of unusually traumatic strain, in which English
society underwent massive disruptions that transformed it on every front and decisively
affected the life of every individual. In the brief, intense moment in which England
assimilated the European Renaissance, the circumstances that made the assimilation possible
were already disintegrating and calling into question the newly won certainties, as well as the
older truths that they were dislodging. This doubleness, of new possibilities and new doubts
simultaneously apprehended, gives the literature its unrivaled intensity.
The third complicating factor was the race to catch up with Continental developments in arts
and philosophy. Humanism’s effect, however, was modified by the simultaneous impact of
the flourishing Continental cultures, particularly the Italian. Repeatedly, crucial innovations
in English letters developed resources originating from Italy—such as the sonnet of Petrarch,
the epic of Ludovico Ariosto, the pastoral of Jacopo Sannazzaro, the canzone, and blank
verse—and values imported with these forms were in competition with the humanists’ ethical
preoccupations. Social ideals of wit, many-sidedness, and sprezzatura (accomplishment
mixed with unaffectedness) were imbibed from Baldassare Castiglione’s Il cortegiano,
translated as The Courtyer by Sir Thomas Hoby in 1561, and Elizabethan court poetry is
steeped in Castiglione’s aristocratic Neoplatonism, his notions of universal proportion, and
the love of beauty as the path to virtue. Equally significant was the welcome afforded to
Niccolò Machiavelli, whose lessons were vilified publicly and absorbed in private. The
Prince, written in 1513, was unavailable in English until 1640, but as early as the 1580s
Gabriel Harvey, a friend of the poet Edmund Spenser, can be found enthusiastically hailing
its author as the apostle of modern pragmatism. “We are much beholden to Machiavel and
others,” said Francis Bacon, “that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.”
Cutting across all of these was the persistence of popular habits of thought and expression.
Both humanism and Puritanism set themselves against vulgar ignorance and folk tradition,
but, fortunately, neither could remain aloof for long from the robustness of popular taste. Sir
Philip Sidney, in England’s first Neoclassical literary treatise, The Defence of

Poesie (written c.1578–83, published 1595), candidly admitted that “the old song [i.e., ballad]
of Percy and Douglas” would move his heart “more than with a trumpet,” and his Arcadia
(final version published in 1593) is a representative instance of the fruitful cross-fertilization
of genres in this period—the contamination of aristocratic pastoral with popular tale, the lyric
with the ballad, comedy with romance, tragedy with satire, and poetry with prose. The
language, too, was undergoing a rapid expansion that all classes contributed to and benefited
from, sophisticated literature borrowing without shame the idioms of colloquial speech.
An allusion in Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1606–07) to heaven peeping “through the blanket of

the dark” would become a “problem” only later, when, for instance, Samuel Johnson
complained in 1751 that such words provoked laughter rather than awe.
Reformation
A 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the
establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches. The English Reformation was a
series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England broke away from
the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
Neo-classicism
Neoclassical literature was written between 1660 and 1798. This time period is broken down
into three parts: the Restoration period, the Augustan period, and the Age of Johnson. Writers
of the Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the Romans and Greeks. The English
Neoclassical movement, predicated upon and derived from both classical and contemporary
French models, (see Boileau's L'Art Poetique (1674) and Pope's "Essay on Criticism" (1711)
as critical statements of Neoclassical principles) embodied a group of attitudes toward art and
human existence—ideals of order, logic, restraint, accuracy, "correctness," "restraint,"
decorum, and so on, which would enable the practitioners of various arts to imitate or
reproduce the structures and themes of Greek or Roman originals. Though its origins were
much earlier (the Elizabethan Ben Jonson, for example, was as indebted to the Roman poet
Horace as Alexander Pope would later be), Neoclassicism dominated English literature from
the Restoration in 1660 until the end of the eighteenth
century, when the publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Wordsworth and Coleridge
marked the full emergence of Romanticism.
For the sake of convenience the Neoclassic period can be divided into three relatively
coherent parts: the Restoration Age (1660-1700), in which Milton, Bunyan, and Dryden were
the dominant influences; the Augustan Age (1700-1750), in which Pope was the central
poetic figure, while Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were presiding over the
sophistication of the novel; and the Age of Johnson(1750-1798), which, while it was
dominated and characterized by the mind and personality of the inimitable Dr. Samuel
Johnson, whose sympathies were with the fading Augustan past, saw the beginnings of a new
understanding and appreciation of the work of Shakespeare, the development, by Sterne and
others, of the novel of sensibility, and the emergence of the Gothic school — attitudes which,
in the context of the development of a cult of Nature, the influence of German romantic
thought, religious tendencies like the rise of Methodism, and political events like the
American and French revolutions — established the intellectual and emotional foundations of
English Romanticism.
Some popular types of Nio-classical literature included:

1. Parody
2. Essays
3. Satire
4. Letters
5. Fables
6. Melodrama, and
7. Rhyming with couplets
Fancy and Imagination

According to Coleridge, Imagination has two forms; primary and secondary. Primary
imagination is merely the power of receiving impressions of the external world through the
senses, the power of perceiving the objects of sense, both in their parts and as a whole. It is a
spontaneous act of the mind; the human mind receives impressions and sensations from the
outside world, unconsciously and involuntarily, imposes some sort of order on those
impressions, reduces them to shape and size, so that the mind is able to form a clear image of
the outside world. In this way clear and coherent perception becomes possible.
The primary imagination is universal, it is possessed by all. The secondary imagination may
be possessed by others also, but it is the peculiar and typical trait of the artist. It is the
secondary imagination which makes artistic creation possible. Secondary imagination is more
active and conscious; it requires an effort of the will, volition and conscious effort. It works
upon its raw material that are the sensations and impressions supplied to it by the primary
imagination. By an effort of the will and the intellect the secondary imagination selects and
orders the raw material and re-shapes and re-models it into objects of beauty. It is
‘esemplastic’, i.e. “a shaping and modifying power”. Its ‘plastic stress’ re-shapes objects of
the external world and steeps them with a glory and dream that never was on sea and land. It
is an active agent which, “dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to create”.
This secondary imagination is at the root of all poetic activity. It is the power which
harmonizes and reconciles opposites. Coleridge calls it a magical, synthetic power. This
unifying power is best seen in the fact that it synthesizes or fuses the various faculties of the
soul – perception, intellect, will, emotion – and fuses the internal with the external, the
subjective with the objective, the human mind with external nature, the spiritual with the
physical. Through this unifying power nature is colored by the soul of the poet, and soul of
the poet is steeped in nature. ‘The identity’ which the poet discovers in man and nature results
from the synthesizing activity of the secondary imagination.
The primary and secondary imaginations do not differ from each other in kind. The
difference between them is one of degree. The secondary imagination is more active, more a

result of volition, more conscious and more voluntary than the primary one. The primary
imagination is universal while the secondary is a peculiar privilege enjoyed by the artist.
Imagination and fancy, however, differs in kind. Fancy is not a creative power at all. It only
combines what is perceives into beautiful shapes, but like the imagination it does not fuse and
unify. The difference between the two is the same as the difference between a mechanical
mixture and a chemical compound. In a mechanical mixture a number of ingredients are
brought together. They are mixed up, but they do not lose their individual properties. In a
chemical compound, the different ingredients combine to form something new. The different
ingredients no longer exist as separate identities. They lose their respective properties and
fuse together to cerate something new and entirely different. A compound is an act of
creation; while a mixture is merely a bringing together of a number of separate elements.
Thus imagination creates new shapes and forms of beauty by fusing and unifying the
different impressions it receive from the external world. Fancy is not creative. It is a kind of
memory; it randomly brings together images, and even when brought together, they continue
to retain their separate and individual properties. They receive no coloring or modification
from the mind. It is merely mechanical juxtaposition and not a chemical fusion.
Pre-Raphaelites
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group
of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John
Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were joined by William
Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form
the seven-member "brotherhood". Their principles were shared by other artists, including
Marie Spartali Stillman and Ford Madox Brown.
A later, medievalising strain inspired by Rossetti included Edward Burne-Jones and extended
into the twentieth century with artists such as John William Waterhouse.
The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered the mechanistic
approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. Its
members believed the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had
been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name "Pre-
Raphaelite".
War Poetry
A war poet is a poet who participates in a war and writes about his experiences, or a non-
combatant who write poems about war. While the term is applied especially to those who
served during World War I, it is documented as early as 1848, in reference to German
revolutionarypoet, Georg Herwegh and is now applied to a poet writing about any war.
However, Tennyson wrote probably one of the most famous war poems of the nineteenth
century, and another non-combatant, Thomas Hardy, wrote love war poetry.

Modernism and Post-modernism
As a literary movement, modernism flourished in Europe and America in the 1920’s and
1930’s. Modernist writers experimented with forms, devices and styles. They made use of the
psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung. Their works reflected a sense of loss,
disillusionment and even despair; writers like T.S.Eliot and James Joyce saw a fragmented
world, but hoped that fragmentation could be countered through their works.
Modernism Modernism Modernism experimented with a number of literary endeavors and

styles. Modernist works are often called Avant-garde (i.e. advance-guard). The modernist
writers regarded themselves as alienated from the established order. Their purpose in writing
was to shock the sensibilities of the conventional reader so as to lead him in the march ahead.
‘Modern’ and ‘modernist’ are not synonymous. The former term broadly refers to that which
is contemporary or pertains to the present.
Postmodernism refers to certain radically experimental works in literature and art. It is

distinguished from modernism in that it is a term applied to the literature and art after the
Second World War, especially in the wake of the experience of Nazi totalitarianism and mass
extermination of the Jews.
The postmodernists like the modernists, experiment with new literary devices, forms and
styles. Their themes are similar to those of the modernists. They too view art and literature as
a potentially integrating restorative force. Postmodernism can be seen to define itself against
modernism.

Unit –II
The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
-Geoffrey Chaucer
The General Prologue is the first part of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
The frame story of the poem, as set out in the 858 lines of Middle English which make up the
General Prologue, is of a religious pilgrimage. The narrator, Geoffrey Chaucer, is in The
Tabard Inn in Southwark, where he meets a group of "sundry folk" who are all on the way to
Canterbury, the site of the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. Thomas Beckett is said to be a
martyr within the Christian faith who has the power of "healing" those who have found
themselves to be of a sinful nature.
The setting is April, and the prologue starts by singing the praises of that month whose rains
and warm western wind restore life and fertility to the earth and its inhabitants. The setting
arguably takes place in April being that travel conditions are not up for travel in real life
during this time. This abundance of life, the narrator says, prompts people to go on
pilgrimages; in England, the goal of such pilgrimages is the shrine of Thomas Becket. The
narrator falls in with a group of pilgrims, and the largest part of the prologue is taken up by a
description of them; Chaucer seeks to describe their 'condition', their 'array', and their social
'degree.' According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1, "The narrator,
in fact, seems to be expressing chiefly admiration and praise at the superlative skills and
accomplishments of this particular group, even such dubious ones as the Friar's begging
techniques or the Manciple's success in cheating the learned lawyers who employ him"
Chaucer arguably points out the virtues and vices of each of the pilgrims as described within
the work.
The pilgrims include a knight, his son a squire, the knight's yeoman, a prioress accompanied
by a second nun and the nun's priest, a monk, a friar, a merchant, a clerk, a sergeant of law, a
franklin, a haberdasher, a carpenter, a weaver, a dyer, a tapestry weaver, a cook, a shipman, a
doctor of physic, a wife of Bath, a parson, his brother a plowman, a miller, a manciple, a
reeve, a summoner, a pardoner, the host (a man called Harry Bailly), and a portrait of
Chaucer himself. At the end of the section, the Host proposes the story-telling contest: each
pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whoever
tells the best story, with "the best sentence and moost solaas" (line 798) is to be given a free
meal
The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He
describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around
this time of year, the narrator says, people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage.
Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more
choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury
Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need. The
narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in
Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered. The

travelers were a diverse group who, like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They
happily agreed to let him join them. That night, the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up
early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before continuing the tale, the narrator
declares his intent to list and describe each of the members of the group.
The invocation of spring with which the General Prologue begins is lengthy and formal
compared to the language of the rest of the Prologue. The first lines situate the story in a
particular time and place, but the speaker does this in cosmic and cyclical terms, celebrating
the vitality and richness of spring. This approach gives the opening lines a dreamy, timeless,
unfocused quality, and it is therefore surprising when the narrator reveals that he’s going to
describe a pilgrimage that he himself took rather than telling a love story. A pilgrimage is a
religious journey undertaken for penance and grace. As pilgrimages went, Canterbury was not
a very difficult destination for an English person to reach. It was, therefore, very popular in
fourteenth-century England, as the narrator mentions. Pilgrims traveled to visit the remains of
Saint Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 by knights of
King Henry II. Soon after his death, he became the most popular saint in England. The
pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales should not be thought of as an entirely solemn occasion,
because it also offered the pilgrims an opportunity to abandon work and take a vacation.
In line 20, the narrator abandons his unfocused, all-knowing point of view, identifying
himself as an actual person for the first time by inserting the first person—“I”—as he relates
how he met the group of pilgrims while staying at the Tabard Inn. He emphasizes that this
group, which he encountered by accident, was itself formed quite by chance (25–26). He then
shifts into the first-person plural, referring to the pilgrims as “we” beginning in line 29,
asserting his status as a member of the group.
The narrator ends the introductory portion of his prologue by noting that he has “tyme and
space” to tell his narrative. His comments underscore the fact that he is writing some time
after the events of his story, and that he is describing the characters from memory. He has
spoken and met with these people, but he has waited a certain length of time before sitting
down and describing them. His intention to describe each pilgrim as he or she seemed to him
is also important, for it emphasizes that his descriptions are not only subject to his memory
but are also shaped by his individual perceptions and opinions regarding each of the
characters. He positions himself as a mediator between two groups: the group of pilgrims, of
which he was a member, and us, the audience, whom the narrator explicitly addresses as
“you” in lines 34 and 38.
On the other hand, the narrator’s declaration that he will tell us about the “condicioun,”
“degree,” and “array” (dress) of each of the pilgrims suggests that his portraits will be based
on objective facts as well as his own opinions. He spends considerable time characterizing the
group members according to their social positions. The pilgrims represent a diverse cross
section of fourteenth-century English society. Medieval social theory divided society into
three broad classes, called “estates”: the military, the clergy, and the laity. (The nobility, not
represented in the General Prologue, traditionally derives its title and privileges from military
duties and service, so it is considered part of the military estate.) In the portraits that we will
see in the rest of the General Prologue, the Knight and Squire represent the military estate.
The clergy is represented by the Prioress (and her nun and three priests), the Monk, the Friar,
and the Parson. The other characters, from the wealthy Franklin to the poor Plowman, are the
members of the laity. These lay characters can be further subdivided into landowners (the
Franklin), professionals (the Clerk, the Man of Law, the Guildsmen, the Physician, and the
Shipman), laborers (the Cook and the Plowman), stewards (the Miller, the Manciple, and the
Reeve), and church officers (the Summoner and the Pardoner). As we will see, Chaucer’s
descriptions of the various characters and their social roles reveal the influence of the
medieval genre of estates satire.
Paradise Lost (Book I)
-John Milton
Main Characters
Satan - Head of the rebellious angels who have just fallen from Heaven. As the poem’s
antagonist, Satan is the originator of sin—the first to be ungrateful for God the Father’s
blessings. He embarks on a mission to Earth that eventually leads to the fall of Adam and
Eve, but also worsens his eternal punishment. His character changes throughout the poem.
Satan often appears to speak rationally and persuasively, but later in the poem we see the
inconsistency and irrationality of his thoughts. He can assume any form, adopting both
glorious and humble shapes.
Adam - The first human, the father of our race, and, along with his wife Eve, the caretaker of
the Garden of Eden. Adam is grateful and obedient to God, but falls from grace when Eve
convinces him to join her in the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
Eve - The first woman and the mother of mankind. Eve was made from a rib taken from
Adam’s side. Because she was made from Adam and for Adam, she is subservient to him.
She is also weaker than Adam, so Satan focuses his powers of temptation on her. He succeeds
in getting her to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree despite God’s command.
God the Father - One part of the Christian Trinity. God the Father creates the world by
means of God the Son, creating Adam and Eve last. He foresees the fall of mankind through
them. He does not prevent their fall, in order to preserve their free will, but he does allow his
Son to atone for their sins.
God the Son - Jesus Christ, the second part of the Trinity. He delivers the fatal blow to
Satan’s forces, sending them down into Hell, before the creation of Earth. When the fall of
man is predicted, He offers himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of mankind, so that God
the Father can be both just and merciful.
Devils, Inhabiting Hell
Beelzebub - Satan’s second-in-command. Beelzebub discusses with Satan their options after
being cast into Hell, and at the debate suggests that they investigate the newly created Earth.
He and Satan embody perverted reason, since they are both eloquent and rational but use
their talents for wholly corrupt ends.
Belial - One of the principal devils in Hell. Belial argues against further war with Heaven, but he
does so because he is an embodiment of sloth and inactivity, not for any good reason. His

eloquence and learning is great, and he is able to persuade many of the devils with his faulty
reasoning.
Mammon - A devil known in the Bible as the epitome of wealth. Mammon always walks
hunched over, as if he is searching the ground for valuables. In the debate among the devils,
he argues against war, seeing no profit to be gained from it. He believes Hell can be improved
by mining the gems and minerals they find there.
Mulciber - The devil who builds Pandemonium, Satan’s palace in Hell. Mulciber’s character
is based on a Greek mythological figure known for being a poor architect, but in Milton’s
poem he is one of the most productive and skilled devils in Hell.
Moloch - A rash, irrational, and murderous devil. Moloch argues in Pandemonium that the
devils should engage in another full war against God and his servant angels.
Sin - Satan’s daughter, who sprang full-formed from Satan’s head when he was still in
Heaven. Sin has the shape of a woman above the waist, that of a serpent below, and her
middle is ringed about with Hell Hounds, who periodically burrow into her womb and gnaw
her entrails. She guards the gates of Hell.
Death - Satan’s son by his daughter, Sin. Death in turn rapes his mother, begetting the mass
of beasts that torment her lower half. The relations between Death, Sin, and Satan mimic
horribly those of the Holy Trinity.
Angels, Inhabiting Heaven and Earth
Gabriel - One of the archangels of Heaven, who acts as a guard at the Garden of Eden.
Gabriel confronts Satan after his angels find Satan whispering to Eve in the Garden.
Raphael - One of the archangels in Heaven, who acts as one of God’s messengers. Raphael
informs Adam of Satan’s plot to seduce them into sin, and also narrates the story of the fallen
angels, as well as the fall of Satan.
Uriel - An angel who guards the planet earth. Uriel is the angel whom Satan tricks when he is
disguised as a cherub. Uriel, as a good angel and guardian, tries to correct his error by making
the other angels aware of Satan’s presence.
Abdiel - An angel who at first considers joining Satan in rebellion but argues against Satan
and the rebel angels and returns to God. His character demonstrates the power of repentance.
Book-1
Milton opens Paradise Lost by formally declaring his poem’s subject: humankind’s first act
of disobedience toward God, and the consequences that followed from it. The act is Adam
and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, as told in Genesis, the first
book of the Bible. In the first line, Milton refers to the outcome of Adam and Eve’s sin as the
“fruit” of the forbidden tree, punning on the actual apple and the figurative fruits of their
actions. Milton asserts that this original sin brought death to human beings for the first time,

causing us to lose our home in paradise until Jesus comes to restore humankind to its former
position of purity.
Milton’s speaker invokes the muse, a mystical source of poetic inspiration, to sing about these
subjects through him, but he makes it clear that he refers to a different muse from the muses
who traditionally inspired classical poets by specifying that his muse inspired Moses to
receive the Ten Commandments and write Genesis. Milton’s muse is the Holy Spirit, which
inspired the Christian Bible, not one of the nine classical muses who reside on Mount Helicon
—the “Aonian mount” of I.15 . He says that his poem, like his muse, will fly above those of
the Classical poets and accomplish things never attempted before, because his source of
inspiration is greater than theirs. Then he invokes the Holy Spirit, asking it to fill him with
knowledge of the beginning of the world, because the Holy Spirit was the active force in
creating the universe.
Milton’s speaker announces that he wants to be inspired with this sacred knowledge because
he wants to show his fellow man that the fall of humankind into sin and death was part of
God’s greater plan, and that God’s plan is justified.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
-John Donne
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
The breath goes now, and some say, No:
So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.
Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.
Dull sublunary lovers' love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.
But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.
And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.
Summary
The speaker explains that he is forced to spend time apart from his lover, but before he
leaves, he tells her that their farewell should not be the occasion for mourning and sorrow. In
the same way that virtuous men die mildly and without complaint, he says, so they should
leave without “tear-floods” and “sigh-tempests,” for to publicly announce their feelings in
such a way would profane their love. The speaker says that when the earth moves, it brings
“harms and fears,” but when the spheres experience “trepidation,” though the impact is
greater, it is also innocent. The love of “dull sublunary lovers” cannot survive separation, but
it removes that which constitutes the love itself; but the love he shares with his beloved is so
refined and “Inter-assured of the mind” that they need not worry about missing “eyes, lips,
and hands.”
Though he must go, their souls are still one, and, therefore, they are not enduring a breach,
they are experiencing an “expansion”; in the same way that gold can be stretched by beating
it “to aery thinness,” the soul they share will simply stretch to take in all the space between
them. If their souls are separate, he says, they are like the feet of a compass: His lover’s soul
is the fixed foot in the center, and his is the foot that moves around it. The firmness of the
center foot makes the circle that the outer foot draws perfect: “Thy firmness makes my circle
just, / And makes me end, where I begun.”
Commentary
“A Valediction: forbidding Mourning” is one of Donne’s most famous and simplest poems
and also probably his most direct statement of his ideal of spiritual love. For all his erotic
carnality in poems, such as “The Flea,” Donne professed a devotion to a kind of spiritual love
that transcended the merely physical. Here, anticipating a physical separation from his
beloved, he invokes the nature of that spiritual love to ward off the “tear-floods” and “sigh-
tempests” that might otherwise attend on their farewell. The poem is essentially a sequence of
metaphors and comparisons, each describing a way of looking at their separation that will
help them to avoid the mourning forbidden by the poem’s title.
First, the speaker says that their farewell should be as mild as the uncomplaining deaths of
virtuous men, for to weep would be “profanation of our joys.” Next, the speaker compares
harmful “Moving of th’ earth” to innocent “trepidation of the spheres,” equating the first with
“dull sublunary lovers’ love” and the second with their love, “Inter-assured of the mind.”
Like the rumbling earth, the dull sublunary (sublunary meaning literally beneath the moon
and also subject to the moon) lovers are all physical, unable to experience separation without
losing the sensation that comprises and sustains their love. But the spiritual lovers “Care less,
eyes, lips, and hands to miss,” because, like the trepidation (vibration) of the spheres (the
concentric globes that surrounded the earth in ancient astronomy), their love is not wholly
physical. Also, like the trepidation of the spheres, their movement will not have the harmful
consequences of an earthquake.
The speaker then declares that, since the lovers’ two souls are one, his departure will simply
expand the area of their unified soul, rather than cause a rift between them. If, however, their
souls are “two” instead of “one”, they are as the feet of a drafter’s compass, connected, with
the center foot fixing the orbit of the outer foot and helping it to describe a perfect circle. The
compass (the instrument used for drawing circles) is one of Donne’s most famous metaphors,
and it is the perfect image to encapsulate the values of Donne’s spiritual love, which is
balanced, symmetrical, intellectual, serious, and beautiful in its polished simplicity.
Like many of Donne’s love poems (including “The Sun Rising” and “The Canonization”), “A
Valediction: forbidding Mourning” creates a dichotomy between the common love of the
everyday world and the uncommon love of the speaker. Here, the speaker claims that to tell
“the laity,” or the common people, of his love would be to profane its sacred nature, and he is
clearly contemptuous of the dull sublunary love of other lovers. The effect of this dichotomy
is to create a kind of emotional aristocracy that is similar in form to the political aristocracy
with which Donne has had painfully bad luck throughout his life and which he commented
upon in poems, such as “The Canonization”: This emotional aristocracy is similar in form to
the political one but utterly opposed to it in spirit.
The Canonization
-John Donne
For God's sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,
With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Take you a course, get you a place,
Observe his honor, or his grace,
Or the king's real, or his stampèd face
Contemplate; what you will, approve,
So you will let me love.
Alas, alas, who's injured by my love?

What merchant's ships have my sighs drowned?
Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?

When did my colds a forward spring remove?

When did the heats which my veins fill
Add one more to the plaguy bill?
Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
Litigious men, which quarrels move,
Though she and I do love.
Call us what you will, we are made such by love;

Call her one, me another fly,
We're tapers too, and at our own cost die,
And we in us find the eagle and the dove.
The phœnix riddle hath more wit
By us; we two being one, are it.
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit.
We die and rise the same, and prove
Mysterious by this love.
We can die by it, if not live by love,

And if unfit for tombs and hearse
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse;
And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
We'll build in sonnets pretty rooms;
As well a well-wrought urn becomes
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs,
And by these hymns, all shall approve
Us canonized for Love.
And thus invoke us: "You, whom reverend love

Made one another's hermitage;
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage;
Who did the whole world's soul contract, and drove
Into the glasses of your eyes
(So made such mirrors, and such
spies, That they did all to you epitomize)
Countries, towns, courts: beg from above
A pattern of your love!"
Summary
The speaker asks his addressee to be quiet, and let him love. If the addressee cannot hold his
tongue, the speaker tells him to criticize him for other shortcomings (other than his tendency
to love): his palsy, his gout, his “five grey hairs,” or his ruined fortune. He admonishes the
addressee to look to his own mind and his own wealth and to think of his position and copy
the other nobles (“Observe his Honour, or his Grace, / Or the King’s real, or his stamped face
/ Contemplate.”) The speaker does not care what the addressee says or does, as long as he lets
him love.

The speaker asks rhetorically, “Who’s injured by my love?” He says that his sighs have not
drowned ships, his tears have not flooded land, his colds have not chilled spring, and the heat
of his veins has not added to the list of those killed by the plague. Soldiers still find wars and
lawyers still find litigious men, regardless of the emotions of the speaker and his lover.
The speaker tells his addressee to “Call us what you will,” for it is love that makes them so.
He says that the addressee can “Call her one, me another fly,” and that they are also like
candles (“tapers”), which burn by feeding upon their own selves (“and at our own cost die”).
In each other, the lovers find the eagle and the dove, and together (“we two being one”) they
illuminate the riddle of the phoenix, for they “die and rise the same,” just as the phoenix does
—though unlike the phoenix, it is love that slays and resurrects them.
Commentary
This complicated poem, spoken ostensibly to someone who disapproves of the speaker’s love
affair, is written in the voice of a world-wise, sardonic courtier who is nevertheless utterly
caught up in his love. The poem simultaneously parodies old notions of love and coins
elaborate new ones, eventually concluding that even if the love affair is impossible in the real
world, it can become legendary through poetry, and the speaker and his lover will be like
saints to later generations of lovers. (Hence the title: “The Canonization” refers to the process
by which people are inducted into the canon of saints).
The Rape of the Lock
-Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock opens with a brief letter from Pope to the poem's real-life subject,
Arabella ("Belle") Fermor. In the letter, he explains why he wrote the poem in the first place,
the circumstances that led him to publish it, and why he dedicates it to Arabella.
Canto 1
Summary
The Rape of the Lock begins with a passage outlining the subject of the poem and invoking
the aid of the muse. Then the sun (“Sol”) appears to initiate the leisurely morning routines of
a wealthy household. Lapdogs shake themselves awake, bells begin to ring, and although it is
already noon, Belinda still sleeps. She has been dreaming, and we learn that the dream has
been sent by “her guardian Sylph,” Ariel. The dream is of a handsome youth who tells her
that she is protected by “unnumber’d Spirits”—an army of supernatural beings who once
lived on earth as human women. The youth explains that they are the invisible guardians of
women’s chastity, although the credit is usually mistakenly given to “Honour” rather than to
their divine stewardship. Of these Spirits, one particular group—the Sylphs, who dwell in the
air—serve as Belinda’s personal guardians; they are devoted, lover-like, to any woman that
“rejects mankind,” and they understand and reward the vanities of an elegant and frivolous
lady like Belinda. Ariel, the chief of all Belinda’s puckish protectors, warns her in this dream
that “some dread event” is going to befall her that day, though he can tell her nothing more
specific than that she should “beware of Man!” Then Belinda awakes, to the licking tongue of
her lapdog, Shock. Upon the delivery of a billet-doux, or love-letter, she forgets all about the
dream. She then proceeds to her dressing table and goes through an elaborate ritual of
dressing, in which her own image in the mirror is described as a “heavenly image,” a
“goddess.” The Sylphs, unseen, assist their charge as she prepares herself for the day’s
activities.

Unit-III
The Lamb (From Songs of Innocence)
-William Blake
Furthermore, many poems in Songs of Innocence have corresponding paradoxes, or
contrasting ideas, in the other works. The paradox for 'The Lamb' is titled 'The Tyger'. The
second poem is the other, darker side to the same coin. In the poem, the tiger is described as a
cunning, cold and heartless animal.
The Lamb”
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life & bid thee feed.
By the stream & o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing wooly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Summary
The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child,
asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner
of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.” In the next stanza, the speaker attempts
a riddling answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who “calls himself a
Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends
with the child bestowing a blessing on the lamb.
Commentary
The poem is a child’s song, in the form of a question and answer. The first stanza is rural and
descriptive, while the second focuses on abstract spiritual matters and contains explanation
and analogy. The child’s question is both naive and profound. The question (“who made
thee?”) is a simple one, and yet the child is also tapping into the deep and timeless questions
that all human beings have, about their own origins and the nature of creation. The poem’s

apostrophic form contributes to the effect of naiveté, since the situation of a child talking to
an animal is a believable one, and not simply a literary contrivance. Yet by answering his
own question, the child converts it into a rhetorical one, thus counteracting the initial
spontaneous sense of the poem. The answer is presented as a puzzle or riddle, and even
though it is an easy one—child’s play—this also contributes to an underlying sense of ironic
knowingness or artifice in the poem. The child’s answer, however, reveals his confidence in
his simple Christian faith and his innocent acceptance of its teachings.
The lamb of course symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb underscores
the Christian values of gentleness, meekness, and peace. The image of the child is also
associated with Jesus: in the Gospel, Jesus displays a special solicitude for children, and the
Bible’s depiction of Jesus in his childhood shows him as guileless and vulnerable. These are
also the characteristics from which the child-speaker approaches the ideas of nature and of
God. This poem, like many of the Songs of Innocence, accepts what Blake saw as the more
positive aspects of conventional Christian belief. But it does not provide a completely
adequate doctrine, because it fails to account for the presence of suffering and evil in the
world. The pendant (or companion) poem to this one, found in the Songs of Experience, is
“The Tyger”; taken together, the two poems give a perspective on religion that includes the
good and clear as well as the terrible and inscrutable. These poems complement each other to
produce a fuller account than either offers independently. They offer a good instance of how
Blake himself stands somewhere outside the perspectives of innocence and experience he
projects.
The Chimney Sweeper (From Songs of Innocence)

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That
curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said, "Hush,
Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, You
know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
And so he was quiet, & that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,
And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.
Summary
The speaker of this poem is a small boy who was sold into the chimney-sweeping business
when his mother died. He recounts the story of a fellow chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, who
cried when his hair was shaved to prevent vermin and soot from infesting it. The speaker
comforts Tom, who falls asleep and has a dream or vision of several chimney sweepers all
locked in black coffins. An angel arrives with a special key that opens the locks on the
coffins and sets the children free. The newly freed children run through a green field and
wash themselves in a river, coming out clean and white in the bright sun. The angel tells Tom
that if he is a good boy, he will have this paradise for his own. When Tom awakens, he and
the speaker gather their tools and head out to work, somewhat comforted that their lives will
one day improve.
The Tyger (From Songs of Experience)

Songs of Innocence and of Experience Summary and Analysis of "The Tyger" In this
counterpart poem to “The Lamb” in Songs of Innocence, Blake offers another view of God
through His creation. Whereas the lamb implied God's tenderness and mercy, the tiger
suggests His ferocity and power.
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Summary
The poem begins with the speaker asking a fearsome tiger what kind of divine being could
have created it: “What immortal hand or eye/ Could frame they fearful symmetry?” Each
subsequent stanza contains further questions, all of which refine this first one. From what part
of the cosmos could the tiger’s fiery eyes have come, and who would have dared to handle
that fire? What sort of physical presence, and what kind of dark craftsmanship, would have
been required to “twist the sinews” of the tiger’s heart? The speaker wonders how, once that
horrible heart “began to beat,” its creator would have had the courage to continue the job.
Comparing the creator to a blacksmith, he ponders about the anvil and the furnace that the
project would have required and the smith who could have wielded them. And when the job
was done, the speaker wonders, how would the creator have felt? “Did he smile his work to
see?” Could this possibly be the same being who made the lamb?
Commentary
The opening question enacts what will be the single dramatic gesture of the poem, and each
subsequent stanza elaborates on this conception. Blake is building on the conventional idea
that nature, like a work of art, must in some way contain a reflection of its creator. The tiger
is strikingly beautiful yet also horrific in its capacity for violence. What kind of a God, then,
could or would design such a terrifying beast as the tiger? In more general terms, what does
the undeniable existence of evil and violence in the world tell us about the nature of God, and
what does it mean to live in a world where a being can at once contain both beauty and
horror?
The tiger initially appears as a strikingly sensuous image. However, as the poem progresses,
it takes on a symbolic character, and comes to embody the spiritual and moral problem the
poem explores: perfectly beautiful and yet perfectly destructive, Blake’s tiger becomes the
symbolic center for an investigation into the presence of evil in the world. Since the tiger’s
remarkable nature exists both in physical and moral terms, the speaker’s questions about its
origin must also encompass both physical and moral dimensions. The poem’s series of
questions repeatedly ask what sort of physical creative capacity the “fearful symmetry” of the
tiger bespeaks; assumedly only a very strong and powerful being could be capable of such a
creation.
London (From Songs of Experience)

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every black’ning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
Summary
The speaker wanders through the streets of London and comments on his observations. He
sees despair in the faces of the people he meets and hears fear and repression in their voices.
The woeful cry of the chimney-sweeper stands as a chastisement to the Church, and the blood
of a soldier stains the outer walls of the monarch’s residence. The nighttime holds nothing
more promising: the cursing of prostitutes corrupts the newborn infant and sullies the
“Marriage hearse.”
The poem has four quatrains, with alternate lines rhyming. Repetition is the most striking
formal feature of the poem, and it serves to emphasize the prevalence of the horrors the
speaker describes.
The opening image of wandering, the focus on sound, and the images of stains in this poem’s
first lines recall the Introduction to Songs of Innocence, but with a twist; we are now quite far
from the piping, pastoral bard of the earlier poem: we are in the city. The poem’s title denotes
a specific geographic space, not the archetypal locales in which many of the other Songs are
set. Everything in this urban space—even the natural River Thames—submits to being
“charter’d,” a term which combines mapping and legalism. Blake’s repetition of this word
(which he then tops with two repetitions of “mark” in the next two lines) reinforces the sense
of stricture the speaker feels upon entering the city. It is as if language itself, the poet’s
medium, experiences a hemming-in, a restriction of resources. Blake’s repetition, thudding
and oppressive, reflects the suffocating atmosphere of the city. But words also undergo
transformation within this repetition: thus “mark,” between the third and fourth lines, changes
from a verb to a pair of nouns—from an act of observation which leaves some room for
imaginative elaboration, to an indelible imprint, branding the people’s bodies regardless of
the speaker’s actions.
Ironically, the speaker’s “meeting” with these marks represents the experience closest to a
human encounter that the poem will offer the speaker. All the speaker’s subjects—men,
infants, chimney-sweeper, soldier, harlot—are known only through the traces they leave
behind: the ubiquitous cries, the blood on the palace walls. Signs of human suffering abound,
but a complete human form—the human form that Blake has used repeatedly in the Songs to
personify and render natural phenomena—is lacking. In the third stanza the cry of the
chimney-sweep and the sigh of the soldier metamorphose (almost mystically) into soot on
church walls and blood on palace walls—but we never see the chimney-sweep or the soldier
themselves. Likewise, institutions of power—the clergy, the government—are rendered by

synecdoche, by mention of the places in which they reside. Indeed, it is crucial to Blake’s
commentary that neither the city’s victims nor their oppressors ever appear in body: Blake
does not simply blame a set of institutions or a system of enslavement for the city’s woes;
rather, the victims help to make their own “mind-forg’d manacles,” more powerful than
material chains could ever be.
The poem climaxes at the moment when the cycle of misery recommences, in the form of a
new human being starting life: a baby is born into poverty, to a cursing, prostitute mother.
Sexual and marital union—the place of possible regeneration and rebirth—are tainted by the
blight of venereal disease. Thus Blake’s final image is the “Marriage hearse,” a vehicle in
which love and desire combine with death and destruction.
Tintern Abbey
-William Wordsworth
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye
during a Tour. July 13, 1798
Five years have past; five summers, with the length

Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are
clad in one green hue, and lose themselves 'Mid
groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit's cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.
These beauteous forms,

Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:—feelings too
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,
To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,—
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
If this
Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft—
In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart—
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,
O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro' the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,

With many recognitions dim and faint,
And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
The picture of the mind revives again:
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years. And so I dare to hope,
Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
Wherever nature led: more like a man
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then

(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
To me was all in all.—I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
Nor perchance,
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
Suffer my genial spirits to decay:
For thou art with me here upon the banks
Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,
My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch
The language of my former heart, and read
My former pleasures in the shooting lights
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while

May I behold in thee what I was once,
My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon
Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance—
If I should be where I no more can hear
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Of past existence—wilt thou then forget
That on the banks of this delightful stream
We stood together; and that I, so long
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
Unwearied in that service: rather say
With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal
Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!
The full title of this poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on
Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798.”
Summary
The full title of this poem is “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on
Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13, 1798 .” It opens with the speaker’s
declaration that five years have passed since he last visited this location, encountered its
tranquil, rustic scenery, and heard the murmuring waters of the river. He recites the objects he
sees again, and describes their effect upon him: the “steep and lofty cliffs” impress upon him
“thoughts of more deep seclusion”; he leans against the dark sycamore tree and looks at the
cottage-grounds and the orchard trees, whose fruit is still unripe. He sees the “wreaths of
smoke” rising up from cottage chimneys between the trees, and imagines that they might rise
from “vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,” or from the cave of a hermit in the deep
forest.
The speaker then describes how his memory of these “beauteous forms” has worked upon
him in his absence from them: when he was alone, or in crowded towns and cities, they
provided him with “sensations sweet, / Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart.” The
memory of the woods and cottages offered “tranquil restoration” to his mind, and even
affected him when he was not aware of the memory, influencing his deeds of kindness and
love. He further credits the memory of the scene with offering him access to that mental and
spiritual state in which the burden of the world is lightened, in which he becomes a “living
soul” with a view into “the life of things.” The speaker then says that his belief that the
memory of the woods has affected him so strongly may be “vain”—but if it is, he has still
turned to the memory often in times of “fretful stir.”
Even in the present moment, the memory of his past experiences in these surroundings floats
over his present view of them, and he feels bittersweet joy in reviving them. He thinks
happily, too, that his present experience will provide many happy memories for future years.
The speaker acknowledges that he is different now from how he was in those long-ago times,
when, as a boy, he “bounded o’er the mountains” and through the streams. In those days, he
says, nature made up his whole world: waterfalls, mountains, and woods gave shape to his
passions, his appetites, and his love. That time is now past, he says, but he does not mourn it,
for though he cannot resume his old relationship with nature, he has been amply compensated
by a new set of more mature gifts; for instance, he can now “look on nature, not as in the hour
/ Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes / The still, sad music of humanity.” And he can
now sense the presence of something far more subtle, powerful, and fundamental in the light of
the setting suns, the ocean, the air itself, and even in the mind of man; this energy seems to him
“a motion and a spirit that impels / All thinking thoughts.... / And rolls through all things.” For
that reason, he says, he still loves nature, still loves mountains and pastures and woods, for they
anchor his purest thoughts and guard the heart and soul of his “moral being.”
The speaker says that even if he did not feel this way or understand these things, he would
still be in good spirits on this day, for he is in the company of his “dear, dear (d) Sister,” who
is also his “dear, dear Friend,” and in whose voice and manner he observes his former self,
and beholds “what I was once.” He offers a prayer to nature that he might continue to do so
for a little while, knowing, as he says, that “Nature never did betray / The heart that loved
her,” but leads rather “from joy to joy.” Nature’s power over the mind that seeks her out is
such that it renders that mind impervious to “evil tongues,” “rash judgments,” and “the sneers
of selfish men,” instilling instead a “cheerful faith” that the world is full of blessings. The
speaker then encourages the moon to shine upon his sister, and the wind to blow against her,
and he says to her that in later years, when she is sad or fearful, the memory of this
experience will help to heal her.

Anecdote for Fathers
-William Wordsworth
I have a boy of five years old;

His face is fair and fresh to see;
His limbs are cast in beauty’s mould,
And dearly he loves me.
One morn we strolled on our dry walk,

Our quiet home all full in view,
And held such intermitted talk
As we are wont to do.
My thoughts on former pleasures ran;
I thought of Kilve’s delightful shore,
Our pleasant home when spring began,
A long, long year before.
A day it was when I could bear

Some fond regrets to entertain;
With so much happiness to spare,
I could not feel a pain.
The green earth echoed to the feet

Of lambs that bounded through the glade,
From shade to sunshine, and as fleet
From sunshine back to shade.
Birds warbled round me -- and each trace

of inward sadness had its charm;
Kilve, thought I, was a favored place,
And so is Liswyn farm.
My boy beside me tripped, so slim

And graceful in his rustic dress!
And, as we talked, I questioned him,
In very idleness.
Now tell me, had you rather be,

I said, and took him by the arm,
On Kilve’s smooth shore, by the green sea,
Or here at Liswyn farm?
In careless mood he looked at me,

While still I held him by the arm,
And said, At Kilve I’d rather be

Than here at Liswyn farm.
Now, little Edward, say why so:

My little Edward, tell me why.
I cannot tell, I do not know.
Why, this is strange, said I;
For, here are woods, hills smooth and warm:

There surely must some reason be
Why you would change sweet Liswyn farm
For Kilve by the green sea.
At this, my boy hung down his head,

He blushed with shame, nor made reply;
And three times to the child I said,
Why, Edward, tell me why?
His head he raised—there was in sight,

It caught his eye, he saw it plain
Upon the house-top, glittering bright,
A broad and gilded vane.
Then did the boy his tongue unlock,

And eased his mind with this reply:
At Kilve there was no weather-cock;
And that’s the reason why.
O dearest, dearest boy! my heart

For better lore would seldom yearn,
Could I but teach the hundredth part
Of what from thee I learn.
Summary:
The poem describes a conversation between father and son. The poem was written in
conversational style. The poem begins with the father describing his son in a way that shows
the father’s love feelings toward his son. (And dearly he loves me) the father is also aware of
the affection that the son carries for him. After that, the father start describing the
surroundings and the conversation he has with his son. The father remembers Kilve’s shore,
which used to be their home. However, the memories did not make the father sad quickly he
returns to being mesmerized by the beauty of Liswyn farm their current resident, which
shows the father preference for Liswyn over Kilve’s shore. The father questions his sons
about his favorite place (Now tell me had you rather be), (On Kilve’s smooth shore, by the
green sea, or here at liswyn farm) the child’s answer is the opposite of the father’s likings, so
the father questions his son five times, demanding a realistic objective answer from a child.
By doing so the father forgets the innocence and simplicity of children and how they like
things “just because” without trying to analyze their feelings. The child tries to please his
father and comes up with a reason for his preference for Kilve’s shore over liswyn farm (At
Kilve there was no weather-; And that is the reason why). After his child’s replay, the father
realizes that he is taking away his son’s innocence and perfect youthfulness as shown in the
beginning: (face is fair and fresh to see; his limbs are cast in beauty’s mould) in an attempt to
teach him to be more sophisticated and worldly. Now the father is being taught by his own
child, (of what from thee I learn)
Ode to the West Wind

-P.B. Shelly
I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!
II
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion,
Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread

On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge

Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night

Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere

Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!
III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull'd by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,

And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers

So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below

The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,

And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!
IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chain'd and bow'd

One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like wither'd leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Summary
The speaker invokes the “wild West Wind” of autumn, which scatters the dead leaves and
spreads seeds so that they may be nurtured by the spring, and asks that the wind, a “destroyer
and preserver,” hear him. The speaker calls the wind the “dirge / Of the dying year,” and
describes how it stirs up violent storms, and again implores it to hear him. The speaker says
that the wind stirs the Mediterranean from “his summer dreams,” and cleaves the Atlantic
into choppy chasms, making the “sapless foliage” of the ocean tremble, and asks for a third
time that it hear him.
The speaker says that if he were a dead leaf that the wind could bear, or a cloud it could
carry, or a wave it could push, or even if he were, as a boy, “the comrade” of the wind’s
“wandering over heaven,” then he would never have needed to pray to the wind and invoke
its powers. He pleads with the wind to lift him “as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!”—for though he is
like the wind at heart, untamable and proud—he is now chained and bowed with the weight
of his hours upon the earth.
The speaker asks the wind to “make me thy lyre,” to be his own Spirit, and to drive his
thoughts across the universe, “like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth.” He asks the
wind, by the incantation of this verse, to scatter his words among mankind, to be the “trumpet
of a prophecy.” Speaking both in regard to the season and in regard to the effect upon
mankind that he hopes his words to have, the speaker asks: “If winter comes, can spring be
far behind?”
Form
Each of the seven parts of “Ode to the West Wind” contains five stanzas—four three-line
stanzas and a two-line couplet, all metered in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme in each
part follows a pattern known as terza rima, the three-line rhyme scheme employed by Dante
in his Divine Comedy. In the three-line terza rima stanza, the first and third lines rhyme, and
the middle line does not; then the end sound of that middle line is employed as the rhyme for
the first and third lines in the next stanza. The final couplet rhymes with the middle line of the
last three-line stanza. Thus each of the seven parts of “Ode to the West Wind” follows this
scheme: ABA BCB CDC DED EE.

Ode to Skylark
-P.B. Shelly
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
In the golden lightning

Of the sunken sun,
O'er which clouds are bright'ning,
Thou dost float and run;
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The pale purple even

Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of Heaven,
In the broad day-light
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight,
Keen as are the arrows

Of that silver sphere,
Whose intense lamp narrows
In the white dawn clear
Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there.
All the earth and air

With thy voice is loud,
As, when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and Heaven is overflow'd.
What thou art we know not;

What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody.
Like a Poet hidden

In the light of thought,

Singing hymns unbidden,

Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not:
Like a high-born maiden

In a palace-tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower:
Like a glow-worm golden

In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its a{:e}real hue
Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view:
Like a rose embower'd

In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflower'd,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-winged thieves:
Sound of vernal showers

On the twinkling grass,
Rain-awaken'd flowers,
All that ever was
Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
Teach us, Sprite or Bird,

What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
Chorus Hymeneal,
Or triumphal chant,
Match'd with thine would be all
But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
What objects are the fountains

Of thy happy strain?
What fields, or waves, or mountains?
What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?
With thy clear keen joyance

Languor cannot be:
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee:

Thou lovest: but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.
Waking or asleep,
Thou of death must deem
Things more true and deep
Than we mortals dream,
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?
We look before and after,

And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
Yet if we could scorn

Hate, and pride, and fear;
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.
Better than all measures

Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!
Teach me half the gladness

That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.
Summary
The persona extols the virtues of the skylark, a bird that soars and sings high in the air. It flies
too high to see, but it can be heard, making it like a spirit, or a maiden in a tower, or a glow-
worm hidden in the grass, or the scent of a rose. The skylark’s song is better than the sound of
rain and better than human poetry. What is the subject of the bird’s song, so free of the pains
of love? Perhaps it sings because it knows that the alternative is death. The bird does not have
the same longings and cares that interfere with human happiness. Yet, it is these things that
help us appreciate the pure beauty of the birdsong; perhaps the skylark’s song could become
the persona’s muse.

Analysis
The speaker seems a bit jealous of the freedom of the skylark, which travels where it pleases.
It doesn’t matter when or where—whether it is dusk (“the sunken sun”) or morning (“the
silver sphere” refers to the morning star)—the speaker feels that the skylark is always flying
high above. Even if we do not see it, or even hear it, “we feel it is there.”
The speaker admits to not knowing whether the bird is happy, however, or from where it
receives its joy. He puts five stanzas in the middle of the poem in metaphors, comparing the
skylark to other living objects in nature (poets, a maiden, worms, and roses), which express
love, pain, and sorrow. None of them, however, has the expressive ability of the singing bird.
The poet hopes to learn about the realm of spirit from the bird, plainly asking to teach him
how it manages to continue on with its “rapture so divine” without ever wavering in pain or
sorrow. Even the happiest of human songs, like a wedding song (“Chorus hymeneal”), does
not compare to the song of a skylark.
The song of the skylark, rather than the skylark itself, is what holds all the power. It is the
song that can have the “light of thought” of “the poet,” the “soothing love” of the maiden,
invisible existence as the “glow-worm golden,” and the aura of “a rose.” It is this power to
awaken so many different parts in nature, and make them aware to the human mind, that
Shelley wants to “be taught.”
Eventually, the speaker seems to come to terms with the idea that in some ways, ignorance
can be bliss. Yet, this makes the skylark’s joy inhuman. “We look before and after, and pine
for what is not,” but a bird lives in the moment. Nevertheless, recognizing the beauty in the
simple brain of this skylark, the speaker would be happy to know only “half its gladness,”
seeking the ability to inspire others the way he was inspired by the bird.
This poem goes hand-in-hand with “Ode to the West Wind” in that Shelley uses objects in
nature as a catalyst for both inspiration and introspection as to what his own purpose is as
poet. Immediately referring to the skylark as a “blithe spirit” makes the bird a supernatural
object Shelley is doting upon. As he watches the bird climb higher and higher into the sky, he
begins to employ natural metaphors commonly found in religion and mythology to describe
the aesthetic beauty and poetic devotion he has for this “unbodied joy.”
The bird continues its upward flight until it is no longer visible, turning its song into climatic-
like events in nature: “like a cloud of fire,” “like the golden lightning,” “like a star in
heaven,” and “keen as the arrows from the morning star.” These metaphoric elements help
create the myth and power of the skylark, and represent it as a kind of celestial being.
“What thou art we know not; What is most like thee?” is Shelley showing his vulnerability as
a poet and his jealousy of the blithe ignorance of the bird. Setting up the closing stanzas,
where he admits to wanting only “half of its gladness,” the redirection of the poem into the
mind of the poet rather than a description of its subject reflects the struggle Shelley has with
the intellectual side of experience. Like Keats’ nightingale, Shelley’s skylark is a window
into the poet’s understanding of the relationship between sadness and joy, experience and
knowledge, and his desire to only be under the influence of joy and knowledge, even though
he knows that is not possible. Finally, beyond recognizing the difference between himself and

the glorious song of the skylark, Shelley keeps the hope that someday his words will be heard
and heeded the way he is listening to and being inspired by his avian muse.
The fifteenth stanza, the question stanza, marks the beginning of Shelley’s separation of the
“mortal” from the “spiritual.” Asking questions creates room for the poet to provide answers.
The answer he comes up with is that we, unlike the song of the skylark, are “mortals” capable
of “dreaming” sweet melodies. It is not good enough to have unreflective joy, and thus even
our “sincerest laughter” is often accompanied with “our saddest thought,” yet this is the
reality we must acknowledge
Ode on a Grecian Urn
-John Keats
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of
thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
Summary
In the first stanza, the speaker stands before an ancient Grecian urn and addresses it. He is
preoccupied with its depiction of pictures frozen in time. It is the “still unravish’d bride of
quietness,” the “foster-child of silence and slow time.” He also describes the urn as a
“historian” that can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn and asks
what legend they depict and from where they come. He looks at a picture that seems to depict
a group of men pursuing a group of women and wonders what their story could be: “What
mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? / What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?”
In the second stanza, the speaker looks at another picture on the urn, this time of a young man
playing a pipe, lying with his lover beneath a glade of trees. The speaker says that the piper’s
“unheard” melodies are sweeter than mortal melodies because they are unaffected by time.
He tells the youth that, though he can never kiss his lover because he is frozen in time, he
should not grieve, because her beauty will never fade. In the third stanza, he looks at the trees
surrounding the lovers and feels happy that they will never shed their leaves. He is happy for
the piper because his songs will be “for ever new,” and happy that the love of the boy and the
girl will last forever, unlike mortal love, which lapses into “breathing human passion” and
eventually vanishes, leaving behind only a “burning forehead, and a parching tongue.”
In the fourth stanza, the speaker examines another picture on the urn, this one of a group of
villagers leading a heifer to be sacrificed. He wonders where they are going (“To what green
altar, O mysterious priest...”) and from where they have come. He imagines their little town,
empty of all its citizens, and tells it that its streets will “for evermore” be silent, for those who
have left it, frozen on the urn, will never return. In the final stanza, the speaker again
addresses the urn itself, saying that it, like Eternity, “doth tease us out of thought.” He thinks
that when his generation is long dead, the urn will remain, telling future generations its

enigmatic lesson: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” The speaker says that that is the only thing
the urn knows and the only thing it needs to know.
Ode to a Nightingale
-John Keats
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My
sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,

Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown

Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,

Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?

Summary
The speaker opens with a declaration of his own heartache. He feels numb, as though he had
taken a drug only a moment ago. He is addressing a nightingale he hears singing somewhere
in the forest and says that his “drowsy numbness” is not from envy of the nightingale’s
happiness, but rather from sharing it too completely; he is “too happy” that the nightingale
sings the music of summer from amid some unseen plot of green trees and shadows.
In the second stanza, the speaker longs for the oblivion of alcohol, expressing his wish for
wine, “a draught of vintage,” that would taste like the country and like peasant dances, and let
him “leave the world unseen” and disappear into the dim forest with the nightingale. In the
third stanza, he explains his desire to fade away, saying he would like to forget the troubles
the nightingale has never known: “the weariness, the fever, and the fret” of human life, with
its consciousness that everything is mortal and nothing lasts. Youth “grows pale, and spectre-
thin, and dies,” and “beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes.”
In the fourth stanza, the speaker tells the nightingale to fly away, and he will follow, not
through alcohol (“Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards”), but through poetry, which will
give him “viewless wings.” He says he is already with the nightingale and describes the forest
glade, where even the moonlight is hidden by the trees, except the light that breaks through
when the breezes blow the branches. In the fifth stanza, the speaker says that he cannot see
the flowers in the glade, but can guess them “in embalmed darkness”: white hawthorne,
eglantine, violets, and the musk-rose, “the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.” In the
sixth stanza, the speaker listens in the dark to the nightingale, saying that he has often been
“half in love” with the idea of dying and called Death soft names in many rhymes.
Surrounded by the nightingale’s song, the speaker thinks that the idea of death seems richer
than ever, and he longs to “cease upon the midnight with no pain” while the nightingale pours
its soul ecstatically forth. If he were to die, the nightingale would continue to sing, he says,
but he would “have ears in vain” and be no longer able to hear.
In the seventh stanza, the speaker tells the nightingale that it is immortal, that it was not “born
for death.” He says that the voice he hears singing has always been heard, by ancient
emperors and clowns, by homesick Ruth; he even says the song has often charmed open
magic windows looking out over “the foam / Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.” In the
eighth stanza, the word forlorn tolls like a bell to restore the speaker from his preoccupation
with the nightingale and back into himself. As the nightingale flies farther away from him, he
laments that his imagination has failed him and says that he can no longer recall whether the
nightingale’s music was “a vision, or a waking dream.” Now that the music is gone, the
speaker cannot recall whether he himself is awake or asleep.

Unit IV
If thou must love me…. (No.14) from Sonnets from Portuguese
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning did not title the forty-four individual poems in the Sonnets from
the Portuguese; however, the first phase of the first line of Sonnet 14, “If thou must love
me,” serves as a kind of title. As such, it indicates immediately that the sonnet will be framed
as an argument, using an “ifthen” structure. Moreover, the word “must” hints that the poem
will be more complex than a straightforward question about whether the lover being
addressed indeed loves the poem’s speaker.
The sonnet begins with the poet talking directly to her lover. She says to him that if he must
love her, he should love her only for the sake of love and for no other reason. She says “only”
to emphasize that feeling to the utmost. She says not to love her for the cheer of her smile,
nor for beauty or the singular nature of her countenance. He should not love her for her voice
or for what she says, nor for a special frame of mind that “falls in well” with his. Do not love
me for any of these reasons, she tells him, because they could all change over time—or his
perceptions of them could change—and the love they have may therefore wither. She adds,
do not love her because she needs to be loved and relies on the comfort and support he
provides her. She says, love her for “love’s sake.” Love her because of love and because of
the eternal quality of love on earth.
Taken out of the context of the other sonnets in Sonnets from the Portuguese, the idea of
loving for only the idea of love itself seems to be confusingly circular. Yet the reader does
come away with a strong sense of the fear of loss that underlies the poem. Barrett Browning
married the dashing but somewhat footloose Robert Browning in 1846; for doing so, her
father disowned her—for the rest of his life, he would not even communicate with his
daughter. Furthermore, her brother had died in a boating accident in 1840. It is
understandable that she would yearn for permanence and would worry about the loss of
Browning’s love after the losses and separations in her life.
What comes to mind immediately when reading Sonnet 14, “If thou must love me,” is the
point of view. Sonnets are traditionally given to a perspective of the poet addressing another
person, a “you.” The point of view is first-person singular, but its direction is entirely pointed
at the other person—in this case, as in many, a lover. The reader is left out; that is, the
speaker does not speak for the reader’s emotions in particular, nor does the reader, in
particular, feel something in common with the “you.” Instead, one watches the psychological
and emotional action unfold as one would watch a drama unfold. In Sonnets from the
Portuguese, the drama is contained in a series or a sequence of sonnets that tells of the
relationship between a man and a woman from the woman’s point of view.
Sonnet sequences had traditionally been written by men, who placed their beloveds on a
pedestal. The sonnets written by fourteenth century Italian poet Petrarch to Laura epitomize
these works. Here the situation is reversed, and a reading of the entire sequence allows the
reader to consider this issue more fully. The point of view is one to another, woman to man—

and the reader is simply the audience, watching. The effect is to present the actors in their
emotional pitches.
The principal device of the poem is the contrast between reasons people fall in love, stay in
love, or fall out of love with the utmost reason for being in love—love itself. Barrett
Browning arranges the poem in a structure that emphasizes this contrast. For example, the
poem’s frame is marked by the repetition of the phrase, “for love’s sake.” When one reads the
phrase the second time, in the penultimate line of the poem, it is backed up by the argument
Barrett Browning has made to her lover—an argument that readers have bought into by virtue
of their role in the audience. The argument is, in a nutshell, that earthly desires for such things
as beauty and lack of conflict should not override the eternal nature of love. She pleads with
her lover to love her because love is eternal—hence, their love will be eternal.
How do I love thee…. (No.43) from Sonnets from Portuguese
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" is one of the most famous love poems in the
English language. Because it's so famous, many readers mistakenly attribute the poem to that
master sonneteer, William Shakespeare. However, "How do I love thee?" was written
centuries after Shakespeare – in fact, it's only been around for a little over 150 years.
Prominent Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning first published the poem in 1850.
The poem was part of a sonnet sequence called Sonnets from the Portuguese. The title of the
sequence is intentionally misleading; Barrett Browning implied to her readers that these were
sonnets originally written by someone else in Portuguese and that she had translated them,
whereas in reality they were her own original compositions in English. ("My little
Portuguese" was actually an affectionate nickname that Elizabeth's husband used for her in
private.) The sequence is comprised of 44 sonnets, with "How do I love thee?" appearing in
the striking position of number 43, or second-to-last, making it an important part of the
climax.
Most critics agree that Barrett Browning wrote the sonnets, not as an abstract literary
exercise, but as a personal declaration of love to her husband, Robert Browning (who was
also an important Victorian poet). Perhaps the intimate origin of the sonnets is what led
Barrett Browning to create an imaginary foreign origin for them. But whatever the original
motives behind their composition and presentation, many of the sonnets immediately became
famous, establishing Barrett Browning as an important poet through the 19th and 20th
centuries. Phrases from Barrett Browning's sonnets, especially "How do I love thee?," have
entered everyday conversation, becoming standard figures of speech even for people who
have never read her poetry.
We'll be honest here: sometimes it can be hard to care about a sonnet, especially a really
abstract one like this that isn't necessarily about specific people, places, or things. But there
are a few reasons you should care about this poem. One of them is the same reason that you
should care about shoelaces, cell phone towers, the President of the United States, and
marshmallows: they're important parts of our world, pretty much everyone knows about
them, and they have a major impact on things around you. OK, maybe marshmallows don't
have too major an impact (unless you're watching Ghostbusters), but you see what we mean.
Both this poem itself – "How do I love thee?" – and its subject, love, are important parts of
the world, stuff everybody else knows about, and you should probably know about it, too.
There's a more specific reason you should care about this poem, too. If you've ever had a
crush on someone, fallen head-over-heels for a girl, or felt a warm fuzzy affection for a guy,
then you've probably wondered how exactly this whole "love" thing works. After all, we all
know that people fall in love and out of love, but how does it work while you're in it? What
kinds of love are there, and how and when do they happen? And what if you love someone in
many different, conflicting ways? These are eternal human questions, and they're the
questions Barrett Browning asks – and tries to answer – with this sonnet.
Ulysses
-Alfred Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,—
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off,
and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Summary:
Ulysses (Odysseus) declares that there is little point in his staying home “by this still hearth”
with his old wife, doling out rewards and punishments for the unnamed masses who live in
his kingdom.
Still speaking to himself he proclaims that he “cannot rest from travel” but feels compelled to
live to the fullest and swallow every last drop of life. He has enjoyed all his experiences as a
sailor who travels the seas, and he considers himself a symbol for everyone who wanders and
roams the earth. His travels have exposed him to many different types of people and ways of
living. They have also exposed him to the “delight of battle” while fighting the Trojan War
with his men. Ulysses declares that his travels and encounters have shaped who he is: “I am a
part of all that I have met,” he asserts. And it is only when he is traveling that the “margin” of
the globe that he has not yet traversed shrink and fade, and cease to goad him.
Ulysses declares that it is boring to stay in one place, and that to remain stationary is to rust
rather than to shine; to stay in one place is to pretend that all there is to life is the simple act
of breathing, whereas he knows that in fact life contains much novelty, and he longs to
encounter this. His spirit yearns constantly for new experiences that will broaden his
horizons; he wishes “to follow knowledge like a sinking star” and forever grow in wisdom
and in learning.
Ulysses now speaks to an unidentified audience concerning his son Telemachus, who will act
as his successor while the great hero resumes his travels: he says, “This is my son, mine own
Telemachus, to whom I leave the scepter and the isle.” He speaks highly but also
patronizingly of his son’s capabilities as a ruler, praising his prudence, dedication, and
devotion to the gods. Telemachus will do his work of governing the island while Ulysses will
do his work of traveling the seas: “He works his work, I mine.”
In the final stanza, Ulysses addresses the mariners with whom he has worked, traveled, and
weathered life’s storms over many years. He declares that although he and they are old, they
still have the potential to do something noble and honorable before “the long day wanes.” He
encourages them to make use of their old age because “It’s not too late to seek a newer
world.” He declares that his goal is to sail onward “beyond the sunset” until his death.
Perhaps, he suggests, they may even reach the “Happy Isles,” or the paradise of perpetual
summer described in Greek mythology where great heroes like the warrior Achilles were
believed to have been taken after their deaths. Although Ulysses and his mariners are not as
strong as they were in youth, they are “strong in will” and are sustained by their resolve to
push onward relentlessly: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The Sailor Boy
-Alfred Lord Tennyson

He rose at dawn and fired with hope,
Shot o’er the seething harbor-bar,
And reach’d the ship and caught the rope,
And whistled to the morning star.
And while he whistled long and loud

He heard a fierce mermaiden cry,
‘O boy, tho’ thou are young and proud,
I see the place where thou wilt lie.
‘The sands and yeasty surges mix

In cave s about the dreary bay,
And on thy ribs the limpet sticks,
And in thy heart the scrawl shall play.’
‘Fool,’ he answer’d , ‘death is sure

To those that stay and those that roam,
But I will nevermore endure
To sit with empty hands at home.
‘My mother clings about my neck,

My sisters crying, :”Stay for shame;”
My father raves of death and wreck,-
They are all to blame, they are all to blame.
‘God help me! save I take my part

Of danger on the roaring sea,
A devil rises in my heart,
Far worse than any death to me.’
Summary
While Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “The Sailor Boy” is considered to be fictional, largely
because of its involvement of fantastical elements, I believe the poem is rooted in the
struggles Tennyson experienced in his childhood and adolescence, giving the fictional some
non-fiction influences. The Sailor Boy recounts the story of a boy running away from home,
and setting off to sea on his own. While some claim that the boy does this due to boredom or
longing for adventure, looking at the piece from a more non-fictional perspective, the boy’s
motivation can be interpreted as a need to escape due to a feeling of helplessness in his own
home.
Tennyson was born the fourth of twelve children, and lived in England during the 1800s.
Much of his family was plagued by mental illness, including his father, who was an abusive
alcoholic, as well as several of his siblings. Every one of his siblings had a mental breakdown
at some point in his or her life, some leading to drug use, and one to hospitalisation(“Lord”).
Being raised in such a household would create stress, uncertainty, and a feeling of
helplessness in one’s own life. These types of feelings are portrayed throughout “The Sailor
Boy,” and I believe are a reflection of Tennyson’s adolescent emotions. The poem was
published in 1861, making him 52 at the time of its publication, which would make the poem
a reminiscent expression of Tennyson’s decision to leave home at age 18. While Tennyson
did not leave to become a sailor, he did leave to face the challenges of the outside world on
his own, much like the speaker of the poem.
The speaker, like Tennyson, feels he has no control over his own life, and is helpless to stop
the misfortunes that plague his family. This drives his need to escape home, as is evidenced
by the lines, “But I will never more endure/ To sit with empty hands at home” (Tennyson 15-
16). His hands represent action, or an ability to do something for others- as in the phrase “to
lend a helping hand.” He feels there is nothing he can do for those at home, that he is useless
in helping his family. Tennyson chose the word “endure,” meaning “to undergo (as a
hardship) especially without giving in”(“Endure”). Doing nothing is not simply an
unfortunate effect of his boring life; it is a hardship- something he must endure. He must sit
and watch his family fall apart, time and time again, helpless to stop it. This helplessness, in
part, convinces the speaker he must leave his home and go out to sea, or in Tennyson’s case
to the outside world. He must seek a place where he has a say in what happens in his life, and
where he is not doomed “to sit with empty hands” (Tennyson 16). This evidences a more
non-fictional view of the poem, and shows it may, in fact, be based more in fact than in
fiction.
My Last Duchess
-Robert Browning
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech—which I have not—to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—
E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
Summary
This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who
lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is entertaining
an emissary who has come to negotiate the Duke’s marriage (he has recently been widowed)
to the daughter of another powerful family. As he shows the visitor through his palace, he
stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young and lovely girl. The Duke
begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself. His musings
give way to a diatribe on her disgraceful behavior: he claims she flirted with everyone and
did not appreciate his “gift of a nine-hundred-years- old name.” As his monologue continues,
the reader realizes with ever-more chilling certainty that the Duke in fact caused the
Duchess’s early demise: when her behavior escalated, “[he] gave commands; / Then all
smiles stopped together.” Having made this disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at
hand: arranging for another marriage, with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary
walk leave the painting behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection.
The Lost Leader
-Robert Browning
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat—
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,
Lost all the others she lets us devote;
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
So much was theirs who so little allowed:
How all our copper had gone for his service!
Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud!
We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him,
Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,
Learned his great language, caught his clear accents,
Made him our pattern to live and to die!
Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us,
Burns, Shelley, were with us,—they watch from their graves!
He alone breaks from the van and the freemen,
—He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves!
We shall march prospering,—not thro' his presence;

Songs may inspirit us,—not from his lyre;
Deeds will be done,—while he boasts his quiescence,
Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire:
Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more,
One task more declined, one more footpath untrod,
One more devils'-triumph and sorrow for angels,
One wrong more to man, one more insult to God!
Life's night begins: let him never come back to us!
There would be doubt, hesitation and pain,
Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight,
Never glad confident morning again!
Best fight on well, for we taught him—strike gallantly,
Menace our heart ere we master his own;
Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us,
Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne!
Summary:
The Lost Leader is a poem full of anger and disappointment at a once esteemed person who
has betrayed his friends. The poem refers to Browning’s disgust at Wordsworth’s desertion of
the ‘liberal cause’. While the poem is thought to directly refer to Wordsworth, the title is left
ambiguous and therefore could be related to any leader who has ‘deserted’ the cause. 'The
Lost Leader' later became the title of a book written all about the life of Wordsworth.
The critic Robert Lynd writes: (Browning thought) ‘that Wordsworth was a turncoat, a
renegade—a poet who began as the champion of liberty and ended as its enemy. This is the
general view, and it seems to me to be unassailable.’
Browning always made it clear that the poem was based on Wordsworth, but stopped short of
saying that it was directly addressed to Wordsworth himself, instead saying that the portrait
was "purposely disguised a little, used in short as an artist uses a model, retaining certain
characteristic traits, and discarding the rest"
It is useful to compare the Leader in Browning's poem with Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost.
Though we are detached from the Leader, the poem is not written from his point of view, we
are encouraged to sympathise with the speaker and regret the loss of the man who was once
great.
Self-Dependence
-Matthew Arnold
Weary of myself, and sick of asking

What I am, and what I ought to be,
At this vessel's prow I stand, which bears me
Forwards, forwards, o'er the starlit sea.
And a look of passionate desire

O'er the sea and to the stars I send:
"Ye who from my childhood up have calm'd me,
Calm me, ah, compose me to the end!
"Ah, once more," I cried, "ye stars, ye waters,

On my heart your mighty charm renew;
Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you,
Feel my soul becoming vast like you!"
From the intense, clear, star-sown vault of heaven,

Over the lit sea's unquiet way,
In the rustling night-air came the answer:
"Wouldst thou be as these are? Live as they.
"Unaffrighted by the silence round them,

Undistracted by the sights they see,
These demand not that the things without them
Yield them love, amusement, sympathy.
"And with joy the stars perform their shining,

And the sea its long moon-silver'd roll;
For self-poised they live, nor pine with noting
All the fever of some differing soul.
"Bounded by themselves, and unregardful

In what state God's other works may be,
In their own tasks all their powers pouring,
These attain the mighty life you see."
O air-born voice! long since, severely clear,

A cry like thine in mine own heart I hear:
"Resolve to be thyself; and know that he,
Who finds himself, loses his misery!"
Summary
The term ‘modern’ as used by Arnold about his own writing needs examining, especially
since many readers have come to see him as the most modern of the Victorians. It is defined
by Arnold in “On the Modern Element in Literature,” his first lecture as professor of poetry at
Oxford in 1857. This lecture, the first to be delivered from that chair in English, marked
Arnold’s transition from poet to social as well as literary critic. Stating that the great need of a
modern age is an “intellectual deliverance,” Arnold found the characteristic features of such a
deliverance to be a preoccupation with the arts of peace, the growth of a tolerant spirit, the
capacity for refined pursuits, the formation of taste, and above all, the intellectual maturity to
“observe facts with a critical spirit” and “to judge by the rule of reason.” This prescription,
which he found supremely fulfilled in Athens of the fifth century B.C., is of course an
idealized one when applied to any age, as is obvious when Arnold writes that Athens was “a
nation the meanest citizen of which could follow with comprehension the profoundly
thoughtful speeches of Pericles.”
There is a great deal to be said about self-reliance, a key feature of the modern world. People
should have inner resources they can rely on – as well as outer ones. But these resources are
all acquired by social processes. A small child must grow up in a supportive environment –
one that is emotionally supportive. Without this kind of protection for its young they will
become emotionally deficient – as Arnold was. They will have no inner resources, which he
was not aware of – or outer resources either – as he was keenly aware of. The modern world
had reached its limit and could not go on – which he was aware of too, but had a poor
understanding of.
Dover Beach
-Matthew Arnold
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves drawback, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles long ago

Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith

Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.
Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Summary:
One night, the speaker of "Dover Beach" sits with a woman inside a house, looking out over
the English Channel near the town of Dover. They see the lights on the coast of France just
twenty miles away, and the sea is quiet and calm.
When the light over in France suddenly extinguishes, the speaker focuses on the English side,
which remains tranquil. He trades visual imagery for aural imagery, describing the "grating
roar" of the pebbles being pulled out by the waves. He finishes the first stanza by calling the
music of the world an "eternal note of sadness."
The next stanza flashes back to ancient Greece, where Sophocles heard this same sound on
the Aegean Sea, and was inspired by it to write his plays about human misery.
Stanza three introduces the poem's main metaphor, with: "The Sea of Faith/Was once, too, at
the full, and round earth's shore." The phrase suggests that faith is fading from society like the
tide is from the shore. The speaker laments this decline of faith through melancholy diction.
In the final stanza, the speaker directly addresses his beloved who sits next to him, asking that
they always be true to one another and to the world that is laid out before them. He warns,
however, that the world's beauty is only an illusion, since it is in fact a battlefield full of
people fighting in absolute darkness.
Unit – V
The Wasteland
-T. S Eliot
Section I: “The Burial of the Dead
The first section of The Waste Land takes its title from a line in the Anglican burial service. It
is made up of four vignettes, each seemingly from the perspective of a different speaker. The
first is an autobiographical snippet from the childhood of an aristocratic woman, in which she
recalls sledding and claims that she is German, not Russian (this would be important if the
woman is meant to be a member of the recently defeated Austrian imperial family). The
woman mixes a meditation on the seasons with remarks on the barren state of her current
existence (“I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter”). The second section is a
prophetic, apocalyptic invitation to journey into a desert waste, where the speaker will show
the reader “something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you /
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / [He] will show you fear in a handful of dust”
(Evelyn Waugh took the title for one of his best-known novels from these lines). The almost
threatening prophetic tone is mixed with childhood reminiscences about a “hyacinth girl” and
a nihilistic epiphany the speaker has after an encounter with her. These recollections are
filtered through quotations from Wagner’s operatic version of Tristan und Isolde, an
Arthurian tale of adultery and loss. The third episode in this section describes an imaginative
tarot reading, in which some of the cards Eliot includes in the reading are not part of an actual
tarot deck. The final episode of the section is the most surreal. The speaker walks through a
London populated by ghosts of the dead. He confronts a figure with whom he once fought in
a battle that seems to conflate the clashes of World War I with the Punic Wars between Rome
and Carthage (both futile and excessively destructive wars). The speaker asks the ghostly
figure, Stetson, about the fate of a corpse planted in his garden. The episode concludes with a
famous line from the preface to Baudelaire’s Fleurs du Mal (an important collection of
Symbolist poetry), accusing the reader of sharing in the poet’s sins.
Section II: “A Game of Chess”
This section takes its title from two plays by the early 17th-century playwright Thomas
Middleton, in one of which the moves in a game of chess denote stages in a seduction. This
section focuses on two opposing scenes, one of high society and one of the lower classes. The
first half of the section portrays a wealthy, highly groomed woman surrounded by exquisite
furnishings. As she waits for a lover, her neurotic thoughts become frantic, meaningless cries.
Her day culminates with plans for an excursion and a game of chess. The second part of this
section shifts to a London barroom, where two women discuss a third woman. Between the
bartender’s repeated calls of “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME” (the bar is closing for the
night) one of the women recounts a conversation with their friend Lil, whose husband has just
been discharged from the army. She has chided Lil over her failure to get herself some false
teeth, telling her that her husband will seek out the company of other women if she doesn’t
improve her appearance. Lil claims that the cause of her ravaged looks is the medication she
took to induce an abortion; having nearly died giving birth to her fifth child, she had refused
to have another, but her husband “won’t leave [her] alone.” The women leave the bar to a
chorus of “good night(s)” reminiscent of Ophelia’s farewell speech in Hamlet.
Section III: “The Fire Sermon”
The title of this, the longest section of The Waste Land, is taken from a sermon given by
Buddha in which he encourages his followers to give up earthly passion (symbolized by fire)
and seek freedom from earthly things. A turn away from the earthly does indeed take place in
this section, as a series of increasingly debased sexual encounters concludes with a river-song
and a religious incantation. The section opens with a desolate riverside scene: Rats and
garbage surround the speaker, who is fishing and “musing on the king my brother’s wreck.”
The river-song begins in this section, with the refrain from Spenser’s Prothalamion: “Sweet
Thames, run softly till I end my song.” A snippet from a vulgar soldier’s ballad follows, then
a reference back to Philomela (see the previous section). The speaker is then propositioned by
Mr. Eugenides, the one-eyed merchant of Madame Sosostris’s tarot pack. Eugenides invites
the speaker to go with him to a hotel known as a meeting place for homosexual trysts.
The speaker then proclaims himself to be Tiresias, a figure from classical mythology who has
both male and female features (“Old man with wrinkled female breasts”) and is blind but can
“see” into the future. Tiresias/the speaker observes a young typist, at home for tea, who
awaits her lover, a dull and slightly arrogant clerk. The woman allows the clerk to have his
way with her, and he leaves victorious. Tiresias, who has “foresuffered all,” watches the
whole thing. After her lover’s departure, the typist thinks only that she’s glad the encounter is
done and over.
Tiresias, thus, becomes an important model for modern existence. Neither man nor woman,
and blind yet able to see with ultimate clarity, he is an individual who does not hope or act.
He has, like Prufrock, “seen it all,” but, unlike Prufrock, he sees no possibility for action.
Whereas Prufrock is paralyzed by his neuroses, Tiresias is held motionless by ennui and
pragmatism. He is not quite able to escape earthly things, though, for he is forced to sit and
watch the sordid deeds of mortals; like the Sibyl in the poem’s epigraph, he would like to die
but cannot. The brief interlude following the typist’s tryst may offer an alternative to escape,
by describing a warm, everyday scene of work and companionship; however, the interlude is
brief, and Eliot once again tosses us into a world of sex and strife. Tiresias disappears, to be
replaced by St. Augustine at the end of the section. Eliot claims in his footnote to have
deliberately conflated Augustine and the Buddha, as the representatives of Eastern and
Western asceticism. Both seem, in the lines Eliot quotes, to be unable to transcend the world
on their own: Augustine must call on God to “pluck [him] out,” while Buddha can only repeat
the word “burning,” unable to break free of its monotonous fascination. The poem’s next
section, which will relate the story of a death without resurrection, exposes the absurdity of
these two figures’ faith in external higher powers. That this section ends with only the single
word “burning,” isolated on the page, reveals the futility of all of man’s struggles.
Section IV: “Death by Water”
The shortest section of the poem, “Death by Water” describes a man, Phlebas the Phoenician,
who has died, apparently by drowning. In death he has forgotten his worldly cares as the
creatures of the sea have picked his body apart. The narrator asks his reader to consider
Phlebas and recall his or her own mortality.
The major point of this short section is to rebut ideas of renewal and regeneration. Phlebas
just dies; that’s it. Like Stetson’s corpse in the first section, Phlebas’s body yields nothing
more than products of decay. However, the section’s meaning is far from flat; indeed, its
ironic layering is twofold. First, this section fulfills one of the prophecies of Madame
Sosostris in the poem’s first section: “Fear death by water,” she says, after pulling the card of
the Drowned Sailor. Second, this section, in its language and form, mimics other literary
forms (parables, biblical stories, etc.) that are normally rich in meaning. These two features
suggest that something of great significance lies here. In reality, though, the only lesson that
Phlebas offers is that the physical reality of death and decay triumphs over all. Phlebas is not
resurrected or transfigured. Eliot further emphasizes Phlebas’s dried-up antiquity and
irrelevance by placing this section in the distant past (by making Phlebas a Phoenician).
Section V: “What the Thunder Said”
The final section of The Waste Land is dramatic in both its imagery and its events. The first
half of the section builds to an apocalyptic climax, as suffering people become “hooded
hordes swarming” and the “unreal” cities of Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria, Vienna, and
London are destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again. A decaying chapel is described, which
suggests the chapel in the legend of the Holy Grail. Atop the chapel, a cock crows, and the
rains come, relieving the drought and bringing life back to the land. Curiously, no heroic
figure has appeared to claim the Grail; the renewal has come seemingly at random,
gratuitously.
The scene then shifts to the Ganges, half a world away from Europe, where thunder rumbles.
Eliot draws on the traditional interpretation of “what the thunder says,” as taken from the
Upanishads (Hindu fables). According to these fables, the thunder “gives,” “sympathizes,”
and “controls” through its “speech”; Eliot launches into a meditation on each of these aspects
of the thunder’s power. The meditations seem to bring about some sort of reconciliation, as a
Fisher King-type figure is shown sitting on the shore preparing to put his lands in order, a
sign of his imminent death or at least abdication. The poem ends with a series of disparate
fragments from a children’s song, from Dante, and from Elizabethan drama, leading up to a
final chant of “Shantih shantih shantih”—the traditional ending to an Upanishad. Eliot, in his
notes to the poem, translates this chant as “the peace which passeth understanding,” the
expression of ultimate resignation.
Best Society
-Philip Larkin
When I was a child, I thought,
Casually, that solitude
Never needed to be sought.
Something everybody had,
Like nakedness, it lay at hand,

Not specially right or specially wrong,
A plentiful and obvious thing
Not at all hard to understand.
Then, after twenty, it became

At once more difficult to get
And more desired - though all the same
More undesirable; for what
You are alone has, to achieve
The rank of fact, to be expressed
In terms of others, or it's just
A compensating make-believe.
Much better stay in company!
To love you must have someone else,

Giving requires a legatee,
Good neighbours need whole parishfuls
Of folk to do it on - in short,
Our virtues are all social; if,
Deprived of solitude, you chafe,
It's clear you're not the virtuous sort.
Viciously, then, I lock my door.

The gas-fire breathes. The wind outside
Ushers in evening rain. Once more
Uncontradicting solitude
Supports me on its giant palm;
And like a sea-anemone
Or simple snail, there cautiously
Unfolds, emerges, what I am.
Church going
-Philip Larkin
Once I am sure there's nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence,
Move forward, run my hand around the font.

From where I stand, the roof looks almost new-
Cleaned or restored? Someone would know: I don't.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
"Here endeth" much more loudly than I'd meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.
Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,

And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate, and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?
Or, after dark, will dubious women come

To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,
A shape less recognizable each week,

A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,
Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt

Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation - marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these - for whom was built
This special shell? For, though I've no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;
A serious house on serious earth it is,

In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.
Summary:
‘Church Going’ is one of Philip Larkin’s best-loved poems. It appeared in his second full
collection of poetry, The Less Deceived (1955). In this post, we’d like to offer some notes
towards an analysis of ‘Church Going’, which can be read here.
The title, ‘Church Going’, is not hyphenated, to allow for a secondary meaning to be
glimpsed – or, in fact, a tertiary meaning, since ‘Church Going’ is itself already carrying a
double meaning. It immediately suggests going to church as an act of worship, but Larkin is
not a ‘church-goer’ in that sense: he visits the churches (something, he tells us, he ‘often’
does) for other reasons, and is not himself a believer or worshipper. But ‘Church Going’ also
glimmers with another meaning: the idea that the church, as institution, is ‘going’ or fading
from view. (Larkin’s titles often centre on such goings: see ‘Going’ and, indeed, ‘Going,
Going’, as well as his ‘Poetry of Departures’.)
Then we come to the first line: ‘Once I am sure there’s nothing going on’. ‘Going’ again, this
time in the popular idiom ‘going on’. Of course, Larkin means ‘once I’m sure I’m not
interrupting a service or ceremony’, but his choice of words invites, again, the idea that there
is nothing going on inside the church these days: nothing of any great moment or significance
anyway. Note the proliferation of references to endings in the poem: the altar is referred to,
untechnically, as ‘the holy end’ of the church, while the snippet of biblical verse which
Larkin recites, louder than he’d intended to, is, tellingly, ‘Here endeth’ (as in ‘Here endeth
the lesson’, though the lopping off of the final two
words homes in on the idea of something coming to an end). Larkin confides that he ‘always
end[s] much at a loss’ when visiting churches. Throughout, there is a sense of the churches
falling further into disuse, of something coming to an end.
Indeed, once he has briefly explored the church, Larkin begins to meditate on the future of the
church, and whether it will continue to have significance. Will ‘dubious women’ who are
fond of superstition (perhaps with ‘Gypsy’ blood?) bring their children to touch a stone of the
church as a good omen? Or people come to pick herbs and ‘simples’ from the churchyard in
an attempt to cure cancer? Who will be the very last person to visit the church – a‘ruin-
bibber’, one who likes to go in search of old antiques? Or someone who retains a fondness for
the ceremony and trappings of Christianity (Christmas, and the like), but harbours no
religious belief? Or will it be someone like Larkin himself, who values churches because they
were once a distillation of some of the most important aspects of our lives: birth
(Christenings), marriage (weddings), and death (funerals).
Larkin then ends by praising the church as a ‘serious house’ built on ‘serious earth’ (i.e. the
graveyard, hallowed ground), as a place that takes our natural compulsions and ‘robes’ them
in religious ceremony. For Larkin, this quality alone ensures that churches will continue to
exercise a fascination and importance for some people, especially those who find themselves
seized by a surprising urge to make themselves more ‘serious’ and contemplative. And
churches, Larkin concludes, are fine places to cultivate wisdom, not least because they
remind us that our time on Earth is short (as the many gravestones around the church make
plain).
‘Church Going’ is about something that is fading from view, something that Larkin sees as
carrying value and significance, even though he rejects the literal truth of Christianity. He
nevertheless sees the importance of cultural rituals and traditions as giving a shape and
momentousness to the ‘rites of passage’ in our lives. In the last analysis, ‘Church Going’ is
perhaps the greatest Christian poem written by a non-Christian, and a fine, if measured, paean
to the continued worth of churches in secular times. As he says elsewhere of something else,
‘Let it always be there.’
Digging
-Seamus Heaney
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window, a clean rasping sound

When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds

Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade.

Just like his old man.
My grandfather cut more turf in a day

Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
Summary
‘Digging’ appeared in Seamus Heaney’s first collection, Death of a Naturalist, in 1966. Like
a number of the sonnets by Tony Harrison – who was born two years before Heaney –
‘Digging’ is about a poet-son’s relationship with his father and the sense that the working-
class son, by choosing the vocation of the poet (but then who chooses it? It chooses them, we
might say), is adopting a path very different from his father’s, and his father’s before him.
You can read ‘Digging’ here; in this post we offer our analysis of the poem’s meaning,
language, and effects.
In summary, ‘Digging’ sees Heaney reflecting on his father, who used to dig potato drills
(shallow furrows in fields, into which the potato seeds can be planted) but now struggles to
dig flowerbeds in his garden. The poet’s grandfather, he recollects, used to dig peat. And now
he, the son and grandson, does not dig the earth at all – instead, he writes, with his ‘squat pen’
in his hand rather than a spade. And yet, Heaney concludes, he can use the pen to perform a
different sort of ‘digging’ from that practised by his father and grandfather: he can use his pen
to ‘dig’ into his past, the lives of his father and grandfather, and of Ireland more widely.
The poem’s structure is significant not least in the fact that it almost goes full-circle: Heaney
begins with the pen in his hand, ‘snug as a gun’ – a suggestive simile, especially given the
complementarity of ‘snug’ and the word it spells when reversed, ‘guns’. A gun is a weapon
associated with ‘manly’ ideas of war (however misguidedly); a spade is associated with
honest manual labour, such as that performed by the poet’s father and grandfather. But the
pen is, by comparison, no weapon – yes, as the proverb has it, the pen is mightier than the
sword (or the gun or the spade). Yet Heaney rejects this phrase at the end of the poem,
replacing the formation ‘snug as a gun’ with a simple declarative sentence, which, unlike the
opening of the poem, is set apart on its own line, inviting a pause (and giving us pause for
thought?) before he decides, ‘I’ll dig with it.’ The final three words in this four-word
declaration of semi-independence proclaim themselves in blunt and direct monosyllables,
each one using the flat ‘i’ sound to suggest a no-nonsense approach to the art of writing
poetry that will enable Heaney to remain true to his origins. The pen goes from being ‘snug’
(albeit dangerously so, like a gun) to being a tool or implement comparable in hearty
usefulness and labour to the spades used by his father and forefathers.
But given that the subject of ‘Digging’ is comparing the art of writing poetry with working
with the earth, it is the poem’s ultimate triumph that it provides such a vivid and technically
effective description of potato-digging through deft deployment of the tools of Heaney’s
trade: alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia. Consider the satisfying sounds of the ‘squelch
and slap’, the sound of the words when spoken, as a way of bringing to life the noise of the
soggy peat as his grandfather dug into the earth, or the harsh no-nonsense alliteration of ‘curt
cuts’, or the pun that we can softly unearth within ‘living roots’, suggesting Heaney’s roots in
his family of hardy diggers. We might even say that ‘Digging’ is not merely about becoming
a poet in order to delve into one’s own history: the poem itself enacts such an act of delving.
‘Digging’ is a poem that repays close analysis because of such local effects. It’s one of
Seamus Heaney’s first great triumphs as a poet and is one of his finest achievements.
Alphabets
-Seamus Heaney
A shadow his father makes with joined hands

And thumbs and fingers nibbles on the wall
Like a rabbit’s head. He understands
He will understand more when he goes to school.
There he draws smoke with chalk the whole first

week, Then draws the forked stick that they call a Y.
This is writing. A swan’s neck and swan’s back Make
the 2 he can see now as well as say.
Two rafters and a cross-tie on the slate

Are the letter some call ah, some call ay.
There are charts, there are headlines, there is a right
Way to hold the pen and a wrong way.
First it is ‘copying out,’ and then ‘English,’

Marked correct with a little leaning hoe.
Smells of inkwells rise in the classroom hush.
A globe in the window tilts like a coloured O.
Summary
It seems to be an autobiographical poem tracing Heaney’s life from childhood to adulthood

with regards to education, especially language and orthography.
I – his childhood, learning how to write

II – his teenage years in secondary school – appreciates the beauty of the language
III – as an adult literary scholar, he uses the language in illuminating ways
Ø The letter O (and the globe) is a reoccurring symbol

Ø Symbolises Heaney’s view of reality
Ø The earth and the universe
Ø First, the childlike ‘coloured O’ which reminds him of the globe
Ø Second, the ‘wooden O’ which could be a lecture theatre or the Globe theatre
Ø “The risen aqueous singular lucent O” which represents how in adulthood he fully
realizes the beauty and complexity of the world in which he lives
Ø It is described as an ovum, all that he had sprung from
Ø He progresses from the farming life to the academic life
Ø “All gone” – shift from farming to education
Ø The 3 people to whom he alludes, Constantine, Marsilio Ficino and the astronaut, all
made changes in their lives, and never looked back
Ø It gave them a new way of seeing the world, and they did not wish to return to the old
way that was so inferior
Ø Shift to first person from third person in the last stanza creates tension, and also
cyclical nature
Ø He is reminiscing on his childhood
Ø He first learns the alphabet
Ø Draws smoke with chalk, shadow figures with hands
Ø Recognises letters by relating them to objects
Ø “swan’s neck and back” – 2; “forked stick” – Y; “Two rafters and a cross tie” – A;
“leaning hoe” – a tick
Ø From Latin to Ogham (Irish script)
Ø He appreciates the beauty of the education and the language and the alphabet
Ø Describes letters as ‘trees’; ‘orchards in full bloom’; and ‘briars coiled in ditched’
Ø He still associates letters to his environment
Ø After some time, he becomes an adult
Ø A scholar, a poet, a lecturer
Ø Shows maturity and mastery of the English language – alluding to Shakespeare and
Graves, master playwright and poet, respectively
Ø Instead of associating letters with objects, he now associates FARMING objects with
letters
Ø “Bales and sheaves” as lambdas; potato pits as deltas; lucky horseshoe as omega
Ø This reinforces how academia has supplanted farming in his life
Ø The revelations of Constantine, Ficino and the astronaut show how once you have
been shown a better way of doing things, you stick with it
Ø Education changes his view of the world, just as Constantine’s Labarum, Ficino’s
hanging of the globe and the astronaut’s extra-terrestrial image of the Earth in all its
glory from space
Originality
-Carol Ann Duffy

We came from our own country in a red room
which fell through the fields, our mother singing
our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.
My brothers cried, one of them bawling, Home,
Home, as the miles rushed back to the city,

the street, the house, the vacant rooms
where we didn’t live any more. I stared
at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.
All childhood is an emigration. Some are slow, leaving

you standing, resigned, up an avenue where no one you
know stays. Others are sudden. Your accent wrong.
Corners, which seem familiar, leading to unimagined
pebble-dashed estates, big boys eating worms and
shouting words you don’t understand. My parents’
anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head. I want our
own country, I said.
But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,

and, seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only
a skelf of shame. I remember my tongue
shedding its skin like a snake, my voice
in the classroom sounding just like the rest. Do I only think
I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the
right place? Now, Where do you come from?
strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.
Summary:
In this autobiographical poem, Duffy considers and explores the sense of isolation and
confusion she felt as a child when her family moved from the Gorbals in Glasgow to
England.
She describes both the literal details of the journey and the move as well as the deeper,
metaphorical journey that she and her family experienced as a result of this decision.
As the title suggests, she considers to what extent our identity is shaped and defined not only
by our environment but by changes in dialect and culture.
The initial catalyst for the poem, the memories of the move and her gradual assimilation into
her new home, provokes a bigger, more philosophical meditation on the subject of childhood
itself.
Perhaps the most significant line in the poem comes at the start of stanza two when she
asserts that All childhood is an emigration, revealing clearly the universal truth that the
process of growing up is always synonymous with change
Havisham
-Carol Ann Duffy

Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it so hard
I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,
ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.
Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days

in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this
to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.

Some nights better, the lost body over me,
my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear
then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s
hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting in

my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding cake. Give
me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.
Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.
Summary:
This poem comes from the collection Mean Time, published in 1993. It is thought that it
provided the inspiration for Duffy’s first themed collection of poetry The World’s Wife
(1999). In the collection she considers the often neglected women behind some of the most
iconic male figures from history, literature and legend.
The speaker of this dramatic monologue is the fictional Miss Havisham from Charles
Dickens' Great Expectations.
Jilted by her lover, Miss Havisham spends the rest of her life decaying in her wedding dress
amid the remnants of her wedding breakfast, grooming her beautiful niece Estella to exact
revenge on all men.
Duffy has said that she titled the poem Havisham rather than Miss Havisham to separate the
character from Dicken’s version – this is Duffy’s creation.
Other interpretations of the title are possible:

Ø the removal of Miss also removes reference to the character’s gender – it could be
argued she no longer feels a woman
Ø jilted on her wedding day she is in limbo – somewhere between a Miss and a Mrs, she
is not actually either and has lost her role in life
PAPER –III
English Drama
Unit 1
Background
th
Origin and Development of British Drama (till the 17 Century)
The origin of the drama is deep-rooted in the religious predispositions of mankind. Same is
the case not only with English drama, but with dramas of other nations as well. The ancient
Greek and Roman dramas were mostly concerned with religious ceremonials of people. It
was the religious elements that resulted in the development of drama. As most of the Bible
was written into Latin, common people could not understand its meanings. That’s why the
clergy tried to find out some new methods of teaching and expounding the teachings of Bible
to the common people. For this purpose, they developed a new method, wherein the stories of
the Gospel were explained through the living pictures. The performers acted out the story in a
dumb show.
Mysteries and Miracle Plays
In the next stage, the actors spoke as well as acted their parts. Special plays were written by
the clerics, at first in Latin and later in the vernacular French. These early plays were known
as Mysteries or Miracles. The very word Mystery shows its ecclesiastical origin, since the
word comes from the French Mystere derived from ministere, because the clergy, the
ministerium or ministry ecclesiae, themselves took part in these plays. In England the term
Miracle is used indiscriminately for any kind of religion play, but the strictly speaking the
term Mystery is applied to the stories taken from the Scriptures narrative, while Miracles are
plays dealing with incidents in the lives of Saints and Martyrs.
Secular and Religious Origin of Drama
The history of drama is deeply rooted in lay and religious annals of history. It may be well at
this point to sketch the main lines of development, before dealing in greater detail with the
early plays that merged gradually into Elizabethan drama. Pausing them to consider the lines
of development shown by the drama from Plantagenet times down to the era of Elizabeth, we
find certain distinctive stages, whilst underlying the entire movement is a twofold appeal. The
drama appeals to two instincts deeply rooted: i. The craving for amusement ii. The desire for
improvement. This twofold appeal accounts for the complex origin of the drama, and enables
us to differentiate the lay from the sacred element.
Drama as Entertainment
Regarding the lay element and the craving for amusement, we note that in the Middle Ages,
the juggler, the tumbler and jester ministered to the needs of the time. They are found in the
twelfth century, and Langland tells us how gaily and unblushingly they flourished in the
fourteenth century, though the serious-minded, wished to restrain them to a modest hilarity.
Much of it was very primitive fooling, but there were dialogues and repartees of which
fragments only have survived. The Middle Ages solely needed a Pepys. Of these entertainers,
the jester was the best. He lived by his wits in a very literal manner, disgrace and death
following upon an unsuccessful sally, and he survived into Shakespeare’s day, though fallen
then from his high state to play the fool between the acts of a play. What he had been at this
zenith we may judge from the picture of Touchstone, of Feste, and the Fool in Lear. Such
debates as The Owl and Nightingale influenced the development of the drama; for before
Chaucer’s time some of these were turned into story.
Importance of the Pageants
The most important entertainments of the Middle Ages, however, were supplied by the
Pageants and the May Games, and by the Mysteries and Miracles of the Church. Roughly
speaking, we may say that the Juggling and Clowning heralded the coming of Farce and
Comedy, the Pageants anticipated the Historical Drama, while in the May Games we have a
foretaste of the Masques and Pastoral Plays so popular in Elizabethan times.
The Morality Plays
The third stage is the rise of Morality Plays. The Mystery and Miracle Paly gave rise to the
Morality and Interlude. In the Miracle and Mystery plays, serious and comic elements were
interwoven. Now they part; the Morality presenting the serious and the Interlude the higher
side of things. The Morality was frankly didactic. The characters typified certain qualities
e.g., Sin, Grace, Repentance. The Interlude aimed merely at amusement. Everyman and Four
P’s of Heywood are best examples in this regard.
Moralities began to be acted in the reign of Henry VI and like the miracle plays continued to
flourish until the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign. The morality, as we have said, is a drama in
which the characters are allegorical, symbolical, or abstract. The main purpose of the play is
didactic. The allegorical characters to be found in some of the earlier Miracle plays owe their
importance to religious sources. They are not essential to the story. One of the earliest
morality plays was The Castle of Perseverance, a drama of the old faith. The spiritual
progress of mankind from the day of his birth to the Day of Judgment is set forth in this
drama.
The Interludes
The Interludes dealing with the Old Faith gave place to others that set forth the teaching of
Reformation, e.g. Hyche Scorner, Lusty Taventres, New Custom etc. Others concerned the
New Learning, Nature of the Four Elements, The Trial of Treasure etc.
Emergence of Modern Drama
The Moralities with their allegorical characters led to greater attention being paid to the plot,
whilst gradually the abstract personification began to emerge into real people with individual
idiosyncrasies. The Moralities, like the Miracles, were adapted to the audience. Comic scenes
were introduced to relieve the seriousness of these medieval “problem” plays. The Vice, a
character peculiar to the Morality, was allowed to enter between the scenes and amuse the
people with a character. A number of plays exist in which the transition stages of the Morality
can be plainly discerned. Comedy and Morality in Town Tiler and his Wife, Tragedy
and Morality in King Canbyses and Apius and Virginia, History and Morality in Bales’s King
Johan.
The period known as the English Renaissance, approximately 1500—1660, saw a flowering
of the drama and all the arts. The two candidates for the earliest comedy in English Nicholas
Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1552) and the anonymous Gammer Gurton's Needle (c.
1566), belong to the 16th century.
During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and then James I (1603–25), in the late 16th and
early 17th century, a London-centred culture, that was both courtly and popular, produced
great poetry and drama. The English playwrights were intrigued by Italian model: a
conspicuous community of Italian actors had settled in London. The linguist and
lexicographer John Florio (1553–1625), whose father was Italian, was a royal language tutor
at the Court of James I, and a possible friend of and influence on William Shakespeare, had
brought much of the Italian language and culture to England. He was also the translator of
Montaigne into English. The earliest Elizabethan plays includes Gorboduc (1561) by
Sackville and Norton and Thomas Kyd's (1558–94) revenge tragedy The Spanish Tragedy
(1592), that influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet.
William Shakespeare stands out in this period as a poet and playwright as yet unsurpassed.
Shakespeare was not a man of letters by profession, and probably had only some grammar
school education. He was neither a lawyer, nor an aristocrat as the "university wits" that had
monopolised the English stage when he started writing. But he was very gifted and incredibly
versatile, and he surpassed "professionals" as Robert Greene who mocked this "shake-scene"
of low origins. He was himself an actor and deeply involved in the running of the theatre
company that performed his plays. Most playwrights at this time tended to specialise in,
either histories, or comedies, or tragedies. but Shakespeare is remarkable in that he produced
all three types. His 38 plays include tragedies, comedies, and histories. In addition, he wrote
his so-called "problem plays", or "bitter comedies", that includes, amongst others, Measure
for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, A Winter's Tale and All's Well that Ends Well.
His early classical and Italianate comedies, like A Comedy of Errors, containing tight double
plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of
his greatest comedies, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like
It, and Twelfth Night. After the lyrical Richard II, written almost entirely in verse,
Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, Henry IV, parts 1
and 2, and Henry V. This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, and
Julius Caesar, based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives,
which introduced a new kind of drama.
Though most of his plays met with success, it was in his later years, that Shakespeare wrote
what have been considered his greatest plays: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony
and Cleopatra. In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and
completed three more major plays: Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, as well as
the collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are
graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the
forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving
plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, probably with John Fletcher.
Other important playwrights of this period include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker,
John Fletcher Francis Beaumont, Ben Jonson, and John Webster.
Other important figures in Elizabethan theatre include Christopher Marlowe (1564– 1593),
Thomas Dekker (c. 1572 –1632), John Fletcher (1579–1625) and Francis Beaumont (1584–
1616). Marlowe (1564–1593) was born only a few weeks before Shakespeare and must have
known him. Marlowe's subject matter is different from Shakespeare's as it focuses more on
the moral drama of the renaissance man than any other thing. Marlowe was fascinated and
terrified by the new frontiers opened by modern science. Drawing on German lore, he
introduced the story of Faust to England in his play Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), a scientist and
magician who is obsessed by the thirst of knowledge and the desire to push man's
technological power to its limits. At the end of a twenty-four years' covenant with the devil he
has to surrender his soul to him. Beaumont and Fletcher are less-known, but they may have
helped Shakespeare write some of his best dramas, and were popular at the time. One of
Beaumont and Fletcher's chief merits was that of realising how feudalism and chivalry had
turned into snobbery and make-believe and that new social classes were on the rise.
Beaumont's comedy, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607), satirises the rising middle class
and especially of those nouveaux riches who pretend to dictate literary taste without knowing
much literature at all.
Ben Jonson (1572/3-1637) is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The
[12]
Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair. He was also often engaged to write courtly masques,
ornate plays where the actors wore masks. Ben Jonson's aesthetics have roots in the Middle
Ages as his characters are based on the theory of humours. However, the stock types of Latin
literature were an equal influence. Jonson therefore tends to create types or caricatures.
However, in his best work, characters are "so vitally rendered as to take on a being that
[14]
transcends the type". He is a master of style, and a brilliant satirist. Jonson's famous
comedy Volpone (1605 or 1606) shows how a group of scammers are fooled by a top con-
artist, vice being punished by vice, virtue meting out its reward. Others who followed
Jonson's style include Beaumont and Fletcher, whose comedy, The Knight of the Burning
Pestle (c. 1607–08), satirizes the rising middle class and especially of those nouveaux riches
who pretend to dictate literary taste without knowing much about literature at all. In the story,
a grocer and his wife wrangle with the professional actors to have their illiterate son play a
leading role in the play.
A popular style of theatre during Jacobean times was the revenge play, which had been
popularised earlier in the Elizabethan era by Thomas Kyd (1558–94), and then subsequently
developed by John Webster (1578–1632) in the 17th century. Webster's major plays, The
White Devil (c. 1609 – 1612) and The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1612/13), are macabre, disturbing
works. Webster has received a reputation for being the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatist
with the most unsparingly dark vision of human nature. Webster's tragedies present a horrific
vision of mankind and in his poem "Whispers of Immortality," T. S. Eliot memorably says,
that Webster always saw "the skull beneath the skin". While Webster's drama was generally
dismissed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there has been "a strong revival of
interest" in the 20th century.
Other revenge tragedies include The Changeling written by Thomas Middleton and William
Rowley, The Atheist's Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur, first published in 1611, Christopher
Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois by George Chapman, The
Malcontent (c. 1603) of John Marston and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. Besides
Hamlet, other plays of Shakespeare's with at least some revenge elements, are Titus
Andronicus, Julius Caesar and Macbeth.
George Chapman (?1559-?1634) was a successful playwright who produced comedies (his
collaboration on Eastward Hoe led to his brief imprisonment in 1605 as it offended the King
with its anti-Scottish sentiment), tragedies (most notably Bussy D'Ambois) and court masques
(The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn), but who is now
remembered chiefly for his translation in 1616 of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry, a closet drama written by Elizabeth
Tanfield Cary (1585–1639) and first published in 1613, was the first original play in English
known to have been written by a woman.
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying
catharsis or pleasure in audiences. While many cultures have developed forms that provoke
this paradoxical response, the term tragedy often refers to a specific tradition of drama that
has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western
civilization. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been
used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity and historical continuity— "the Greeks
and the Elizabethans, in one cultural form; Hellenes and Christians, in a common activity," as
Raymond Williams puts it.
Revenge Tragedy
A style of drama, popular in England during the late 16th and 17th centuries, in which the
basic plot was a quest for vengeance and which typically featured scenes of carnage and
mutilation. Examples of the genre include Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (1592) and
John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (1623). The revenge tragedy, or revenge play, is a
dramatic genre in which the protagonist seeks revenge for an imagined or actual injury. The
term, revenge tragedy, was first introduced in 1900 by A.H. Thorndike to label a class of
plays written in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras (circa 1580s to 1620s).
Shakespearean Tragedy
A Shakespearean tragedy is defined as a play written by William Shakespeare that tells
the story of a seemingly heroic figure whose major character flaw causes the story to end
with his tragic downfall. Shakespeare wrote 10 plays that are classified as “Shakespearean
tragedies,” including "Hamlet" and "Macbeth."
The 08 plays generally classified as tragedy are as follows:
1. Antony and Cleopatra.
2. Coriolanus.
3. Hamlet.
4. Julius Caesar.
5. King Lear.
6. Macbeth.
7. Othello.
8. Romeo and Juliet.
Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its
tone, mostly having a cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over
unpleasant circumstance by creating comic effects, resulting in a happy or successful
conclusion.
Thus, the purpose of comedy is to amuse the audience. Comedy has multiple sub-genres
depending upon the source of the humor, context in which an author delivers dialogues, and
delivery methods, which include farce, satire, and burlesque. Tragedy is opposite to comedy,
as tragedy deals with sorrowful and tragic events in a story.
Types of Comedy
There are five types of comedy in literature:
Romantic Comedy
Romantic comedy involves a theme of love leading to a happy conclusion. We find romantic
comedy in Shakespearean plays and some Elizabethan contemporaries. These plays are
concerned with idealized love affairs. It is a fact that true love never runs smoothly; however,
love overcomes difficulties and ends in a happy union.
Comedy of Humors
Ben Johnson is the first dramatist who conceived and popularized this dramatic genre during
the late sixteenth century. The term humor derives from the Latin word humor, which means
“liquid.” It comes from a theory that the human body has four liquids, or humors, which
include phelgm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile. It explains that, when human beings have
a balance of these humors in their bodies, they remain healthy.
Comedy of Manners
This form of dramatic genre deals with intrigues and relations of ladies and gentlemen living
in a sophisticated society. This form relies upon high comedy, derived from sparkle and wit
of dialogues, violations of social traditions, and good manners, by nonsense characters like
jealous husbands, wives, and foppish dandies. We find its use in Restoration dramatists,
particularly in the works of Wycherley and Congreve.
Sentimental Comedy
Sentimental drama contains both comedy and sentimental tragedy. It appears in literary
circles due to reaction of the middle class against obscenity and indecency of Restoration
Comedy of Manners. This form, which incorporates scenes with extreme emotions evoking
excessive pity, gained popularity among the middle class audiences in the eighteenth century.
Tragicomedy
This dramatic genre contains both tragic and comedic elements. It blends both elements to
lighten the overall mood of the play. Often, tragicomedy is a serious play that ends happily.
Restoration Drama
FROM 1642 onward for eighteen years, the theaters of England remained nominally closed.
There was of course evasion of the law; but whatever performances were offered had to be
given in secrecy, before small companies in private houses, or in taverns located three or four
miles out of town. No actor or spectator was safe, especially during the early days of the
Puritan rule. Least of all was there any inspiration for dramatists. In 1660 the Stuart dynasty
was restored to the throne of England. Charles II, the king, had been in France during the
greater part of the Protectorate, together with many of the royalist party, all of whom were
familiar with Paris and its fashions. Thus it was natural, upon the return of the court, that
French influence should be felt, particularly in the theater. In August, 1660, Charles issued
patents for two companies of players, and performances immediately began. Certain writers,
in the field before the civil war, survived the period of theatrical eclipse, and now had their
chance. Among these were Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, who were quickly
provided with fine playhouses.
Persistence of Elizabethan Plays
With this influx of foreign drama, there was still a steady production of the masterpieces of
the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. The diarist Samuel Pepys, an ardent lover of the
theater, relates that during the first three years after the opening of the playhouses he saw
Othello, Henry IV, A Midsummer Night's Dream, two plays by Ben Jonson, and others by
Beaumont, Fletcher, Middleton, Shirley, and Massinger. It must have been about this time
that the practice of "improving" Shakespeare was begun, and his plays were often altered so
as to be almost beyond recognition. From the time of the Restoration actors and managers,
also dramatists, were good royalists; and new pieces, or refurbished old ones, were likely to
acquire a political slant. The Puritans were satirized, the monarch and his wishes were
flattered, and the royal order thoroughly supported by the people of the stage.
Nature of Restoration Comedy
In almost every important respect, Restoration drama was far inferior to the Elizabethan.
Where the earlier playwrights created powerful and original characters, the Restoration
writers were content to portray repeatedly a few artificial types; where the former were
imaginative, the latter were clever and ingenious. The Elizabethan dramatists were steeped in
poetry, the later ones in the sophistication of the fashionable world. The drama of Wycherley
and Congreve was the reflection of a small section of life, and it was like life in the same
sense that the mirage is like the oasis. It had polish, an edge, a perfection in its own field; but
both its perfection and its naughtiness now seem unreal. Millamant and Mirabell, in
Congreve's Way of the World, are among the most charming of these Watteau figures.
The Plain Dealer of Wycherley was an English version of The Misanthrope of Molière; and
there are many admirable qualities in the French play which are lacking in the English. The
Double Dealer recalls scenes from The Learned Ladies (Les femmes savantes); and Mr.
Bluffe, in The Old Bachelor, is none other than our old friend Miles Gloriosus, who has
traveled through Latin, Italian and French comedy.
Women Playwrights
Soon after the Restoration women began to appear as writers of drama. Mrs. Aphra Behn
(1640-1689) was one of the first and most industrious of English women playwrights. Her
family name was Amis (some writers say Johnson). As the wife of a wealthy Dutch merchant
she lived for some time in Surinam (British Guiana). Her novel, Oroonooko, furnished
Southerne with the plot for a play of the same name.
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a post–World War II designation for particular play of
absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as
well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work focused
largely on the idea of existentialism and expressed what happens when human existence has
no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction
and argument gives way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion,
silence.
Critic Martin Esslin coined the term in his 1962 essay "Theatre of the Absurd." He related
these plays based on a broad theme of the Absurd, similar to the way Albert Camus uses the
term in his 1942 essay, The Myth of Sisyphus The Absurd in these plays takes the form of
man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and/or man as a puppet controlled or
menaced by invisible outside forces. This style of writing was first popularized by the 1953
Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot. Though the term is applied to a wide range of
plays, some characteristics coincide in many of the plays: broad comedy, often similar to
vaudeville, mixed with horrific or tragic images; characters caught in hopeless situations
forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and
nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism
and the concept of the "well-made play". These plays were shaped by the political turmoil,
scientific breakthrough, and social upheaval going on in the world around the playwrights
during these times.
(These notes are prepared and complied by Dr Adi Ramesh, KDC, Hanamkonda for
the examination purpose only, not to print in any book form. Some of these materials
are downloaded from internet for the benefit of the students.)
Unit –II
Dr Faustus
-Christopher Marlowe
Characters
Faustus - The protagonist. Faustus is a brilliant sixteenth-century scholar from Wittenberg,

Germany, whose ambition for knowledge, wealth, and worldly might makes him willing to
pay the ultimate price—his soul—to Lucifer in exchange for supernatural powers.
Mephastophilis - A devil whom Faustus summons with his initial magical experiments.
Mephastophilis’s motivations are ambiguous: on the one hand, his oft-expressed goal is to
catch Faustus’s soul and carry it off to hell; on the other hand, he actively attempts to
dissuade Faustus from making a deal with Lucifer by warning him about the horrors of hell.
Mephastophilis is ultimately as tragic a figure as Faustus, with his moving, regretful accounts
of what the devils have lost in their eternal separation from God and his repeated reflections
on the pain that comes with damnation.
Chorus - A character who stands outside the story, providing narration and commentary. The
Chorus was customary in Greek tragedy.
Old Man - An enigmatic figure who appears in the final scene. The old man urges Faustus to
repent and to ask God for mercy. He seems to replace the good and evil angels, who, in the
first scene, try to influence Faustus’s behavior.
Good Angel - A spirit that urges Faustus to repent for his pact with Lucifer and return to
God. Along with the old man and the bad angel, the good angel represents, in many ways,
Faustus’s conscience and divided will between good and evil.
Evil Angel - A spirit that serves as the counterpart to the good angel and provides Faustus
with reasons not to repent for sins against God. The evil angel represents the evil half of
Faustus’s conscience.
Lucifer - The prince of devils, the ruler of hell, and Mephastophilis’s master.
Wagner - Faustus’s servant. Wagner uses his master’s books to learn how to summon devils
and work magic.
Clown - A clown who becomes Wagner’s servant. The clown’s antics provide comic relief;
he is a ridiculous character, and his absurd behavior initially contrasts with Faustus’s
grandeur. As the play goes on, though, Faustus’s behavior comes to resemble that of the
clown.
Robin - An ostler, or innkeeper, who, like the clown, provides a comic contrast to Faustus.
Robin and his friend Rafe learn some basic conjuring, demonstrating that even the least
scholarly can possess skill in magic. Marlowe includes Robin and Rafe to illustrate Faustus’s
degradation as he submits to simple trickery such as theirs.
Rafe - An ostler, and a friend of Robin. Rafe appears as Dick (Robin’s friend and a clown) in
B-text editions of Doctor Faustus.
Valdes and Cornelius - Two friends of Faustus, both magicians, who teach him the art of
black magic.
Horse-courser - A horse-trader who buys a horse from Faustus, which vanishes after the
horse-courser rides it into the water, leading him to seek revenge.
The Scholars - Faustus’s colleagues at the University of Wittenberg. Loyal to Faustus, the
scholars appear at the beginning and end of the play to express dismay at the turn Faustus’s
studies have taken, to marvel at his achievements, and then to hear his agonized confession of
his pact with Lucifer.
The pope - The head of the Roman Catholic Church and a powerful political figure in the
Europe of Faustus’s day. The pope serves as both a source of amusement for the play’s
Protestant audience and a symbol of the religious faith that Faustus has rejected.
Emperor Charles V - The most powerful monarch in Europe, whose court Faustus visits.
Knight - A German nobleman at the emperor’s court. The knight is skeptical of Faustus’s
power, and Faustus makes antlers sprout from his head to teach him a lesson. The knight is
further developed and known as Benvolio in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus; Benvolio
seeks revenge on Faustus and plans to murder him.
Bruno - A candidate for the papacy, supported by the emperor. Bruno is captured by the
pope and freed by Faustus. Bruno appears only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.
Duke of Vanholt - A German nobleman whom Faustus visits.
Martino and Frederick - Friends of Benvolio who reluctantly join his attempt to kill
Faustus. Martino and Frederick appear only in B-text versions of Doctor Faustus.
Plot:
Doctor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of
traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he
wants to learn to practice magic. His friends Valdes and Cornelius instruct him in the black
arts, and he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil.
Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return
to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of
service from Mephastophilis. Meanwhile, Wagner, Faustus’s servant, has picked up some
magical ability and uses it to press a clown named Robin into his service.
Mephastophilis returns to Faustus with word that Lucifer has accepted Faustus’s offer.
Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul; in
the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it with his blood. As soon as he does so, the
words “Homo fuge,” Latin for “O man, fly,” appear branded on his arm. Faustus again has
second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells
to learn. Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world,
refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts
yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in
personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is
impressed enough to quiet his doubts.
Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He
goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He
disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this
incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as he goes.
Eventually, he is invited to the court of the German emperor, Charles V (the enemy of the
pope), who asks Faustus to allow him to see Alexander the Great, the famed fourth-century
b.c. Macedonian king and conqueror. Faustus conjures up an image of Alexander, and
Charles is suitably impressed. A knight scoffs at Faustus’s powers, and Faustus chastises him
by making antlers sprout from his head. Furious, the knight vows revenge.
Meanwhile, Robin, Wagner’s clown, has picked up some magic on his own, and with his
fellow stablehand, Rafe, he undergoes a number of comic misadventures. At one point, he
manages to summon Mephastophilis, who threatens to turn Robin and Rafe into animals (or
perhaps even does transform them; the text isn’t clear) to punish them for their foolishness.
Faustus then goes on with his travels, playing a trick on a horse-courser along the way.
Faustus sells him a horse that turns into a heap of straw when ridden into a river. Eventually,
Faustus is invited to the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where he performs various feats. The
horse-courser shows up there, along with Robin, a man named Dick (Rafe in the A text), and
various others who have fallen victim to Faustus’s trickery. But Faustus casts spells on them
and sends them on their way, to the amusement of the duke and duchess.
As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his
impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the
ancient world, and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges
Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims
rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his
pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the
expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for
mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell.
In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him.
King Lear
-William Shakespeare
King Lear - The aging king of Britain and the protagonist of the play. Lear is used to
enjoying absolute power and to being flattered, and he does not respond well to being
contradicted or challenged.
Cordelia - Lear’s youngest daughter, disowned by her father for refusing to flatter him.
Cordelia is held in extremely high regard by all of the good characters in the play—the king
of France marries her for her virtue alone, overlooking her lack of dowry.
Goneril - Lear’s ruthless oldest daughter and the wife of the duke of Albany. Goneril is
jealous, treacherous, and amoral. Shakespeare’s audience would have been particularly
shocked at Goneril’s aggressiveness, a quality that it would not have expected in a female
character. She challenges Lear’s authority, boldly initiates an affair with Edmund, and wrests
military power away from her husband.
Regan - Lear’s middle daughter and the wife of the duke of Cornwall. Regan is as ruthless as
Goneril and as aggressive in all the same ways. In fact, it is difficult to think of any quality
that distinguishes her from her sister. When they are not egging each other on to further acts
of cruelty, they jealously compete for the same man, Edmund.
Gloucester - A nobleman loyal to King Lear whose rank, earl, is below that of duke. The
first thing we learn about Gloucester is that he is an adulterer, having fathered a bastard son,
Edmund. His fate is in many ways parallel to that of Lear: he misjudges which of his children
to trust.
Edgar - Gloucester’s older, legitimate son. Edgar plays many different roles, starting out as a
gullible fool easily tricked by his brother, then assuming a disguise as a mad beggar to evade
his father’s men, then carrying his impersonation further to aid Lear and Gloucester, and
finally appearing as an armored champion to avenge his brother’s treason. Edgar’s propensity
for disguises and impersonations makes it difficult to characterize him effectively.
Edmund - Gloucester’s younger, illegitimate son. Edmund resents his status as a bastard and
schemes to usurp Gloucester’s title and possessions from Edgar. He is a formidable character,
succeeding in almost all of his schemes and wreaking destruction upon virtually all of the
other characters.
Kent - A nobleman of the same rank as Gloucester who is loyal to King Lear. Kent spends
most of the play disguised as a peasant, calling himself “Caius,” so that he can continue to
serve Lear even after Lear banishes him. He is extremely loyal, but he gets himself into
trouble throughout the play by being extremely blunt and outspoken.
Albany - The husband of Lear’s daughter Goneril. Albany is good at heart, and he eventually
denounces and opposes the cruelty of Goneril, Regan, and Cornwall. Yet he is indecisive and
lacks foresight, realizing the evil of his allies quite late in the play.
Cornwall - The husband of Lear’s daughter Regan. Unlike Albany, Cornwall is domineering,
cruel, and violent, and he works with his wife and sister-in-law Goneril to persecute Lear and
Gloucester.
Fool - Lear’s jester, who uses double-talk and seemingly frivolous songs to give Lear
important advice.
Plot:
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom
evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking
each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give
their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains
silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into
a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still
wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her
father’s blessing.
Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to
undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved
daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to
wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal
nobleman in disguise.
Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His
illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to
kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a
crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he heads out onto the heath.
When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he
decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him
helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside.
He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has
also been brought.
In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her
father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril,
whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund
conspire to kill Albany.
The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange
trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and
the English, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured.
In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of
Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when
her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless
execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar,
and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
The Tempest
-William Shakespeare
Characters:
Prospero - The play’s protagonist, and father of Miranda. Twelve years before the events of
the play, Prospero was the duke of Milan. His brother, Antonio, in concert with Alonso, king
of Naples, usurped him, forcing him to flee in a boat with his daughter.
Miranda - The daughter of Prospero, Miranda was brought to the island at an early age and
has never seen any men other than her father and Caliban, though she dimly remembers being
cared for by female servants as an infant.
Ariel - Prospero’s spirit helper. Ariel is referred to throughout this SparkNote and in most
criticism as “he,” but his gender and physical form are ambiguous. Rescued by Prospero from
a long imprisonment at the hands of the witch Sycorax, Ariel is Prospero’s servant until
Prospero decides to release him. He is mischievous and ubiquitous, able to traverse the length
of the island in an instant and to change shapes at will. He carries out virtually every task that
Prospero needs accomplished in the play.
Caliban - Another of Prospero’s servants. Caliban, the son of the now-deceased witch
Sycorax, acquainted Prospero with the island when Prospero arrived. Caliban believes that
the island rightfully belongs to him and has been stolen by Prospero.
Ferdinand - Son and heir of Alonso. Ferdinand seems in some ways to be as pure and naïve
as Miranda. He falls in love with her upon first sight and happily submits to servitude in
order to win her father’s approval.
Alonso - King of Naples and father of Ferdinand. Alonso aided Antonio in unseating
Prospero as Duke of Milan twelve years before. As he appears in the play, however, he is
acutely aware of the consequences of all his actions.
Antonio - Prospero’s brother. Antonio quickly demonstrates that he is power-hungry and
foolish. In Act II, scene i, he persuades Sebastian to kill the sleeping Alonso.
Sebastian - Alonso’s brother. Like Antonio, he is both aggressive and cowardly. He is easily
persuaded to kill his brother in Act II, scene i, and he initiates the ridiculous story about lions
when Gonzalo catches him with his sword drawn.
Gonzalo - An old, honest lord, Gonzalo helped Prospero and Miranda to escape after
Antonio usurped Prospero’s title.
Trinculo & Stephano - Trinculo, a jester, and Stephano, a drunken butler, are two minor
members of the shipwrecked party. They provide a comic foil to the other, more powerful
pairs of Prospero and Alonso and Antonio and Sebastian.
Boatswain - Appearing only in the first and last scenes, the Boatswain is vigorously good-
natured. He seems competent and almost cheerful in the shipwreck scene, demanding
practical help rather than weeping and praying.
Plot:
A storm strikes a ship carrying Alonso, Ferdinand, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Stephano,
and Trinculo, who are on their way to Italy after coming from the wedding of Alonso’s
daughter, Claribel, to the prince of Tunis in Africa. The royal party and the other mariners,
with the exception of the unflappable Boatswain, begin to fear for their lives. Lightning
cracks, and the mariners cry that the ship has been hit. Everyone prepares to sink.
The next scene begins much more quietly. Miranda and Prospero stand on the shore of their
island, looking out to sea at the recent shipwreck. Miranda asks her father to do anything he
can to help the poor souls in the ship. Prospero assures her that everything is all right and
then informs her that it is time she learned more about herself and her past. He reveals to her
that he orchestrated the shipwreck and tells her the lengthy story of her past, a story he has
often started to tell her before but never finished. The story goes that Prospero was the Duke
of Milan until his brother Antonio, conspiring with Alonso, the King of Naples, usurped his
position. Kidnapped and left to die on a raft at sea, Prospero and his daughter survive because
Gonzalo leaves them supplies and Prospero’s books, which are the source of his magic and
power. Prospero and his daughter arrived on the island where they remain now and have been
for twelve years. Only now, Prospero says, has Fortune at last sent his enemies his way, and
he has raised the tempest in order to make things right with them once and for all.
After telling this story, Prospero charms Miranda to sleep and then calls forth his familiar
spirit Ariel, his chief magical agent. Prospero and Ariel’s discussion reveals that Ariel
brought the tempest upon the ship and set fire to the mast. He then made sure that everyone
got safely to the island, though they are now separated from each other into small groups.
Ariel, who is a captive servant to Prospero, reminds his master that he has promised Ariel
freedom a year early if he performs tasks such as these without complaint. Prospero chastises
Ariel for protesting and reminds him of the horrible fate from which he was rescued. Before
Prospero came to the island, a witch named Sycorax imprisoned Ariel in a tree. Sycorax died,
leaving Ariel trapped until Prospero arrived and freed him. After Ariel assures Prospero that
he knows his place, Prospero orders Ariel to take the shape of a sea nymph and make himself
invisible to all but Prospero.
Miranda awakens from her sleep, and she and Prospero go to visit Caliban, Prospero’s servant
and the son of the dead Sycorax. Caliban curses Prospero, and Prospero and Miranda berate
him for being ungrateful for what they have given and taught him. Prospero sends Caliban to
fetch firewood. Ariel, invisible, enters playing music and leading in the awed Ferdinand.
Miranda and Ferdinand are immediately smitten with each other. He is the only man Miranda
has ever seen, besides Caliban and her father. Prospero is happy to see that his plan for his
daughter’s future marriage is working, but decides that he must upset things temporarily in
order to prevent their relationship from developing too quickly. He accuses Ferdinand of
merely pretending to be the Prince of Naples and threatens him with imprisonment. When
Ferdinand draws his sword, Prospero charms him and leads him off to prison, ignoring
Miranda’s cries for mercy. He then sends Ariel on another mysterious mission.
On another part of the island, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and other miscellaneous
lords give thanks for their safety but worry about the fate of Ferdinand. Alonso says that he
wishes he never had married his daughter to the prince of Tunis because if he had not made
this journey, his son would still be alive. Gonzalo tries to maintain high spirits by discussing
the beauty of the island, but his remarks are undercut by the sarcastic sourness of Antonio and
Sebastian. Ariel appears, invisible, and plays music that puts all but Sebastian and Antonio to
sleep. These two then begin to discuss the possible advantages of killing their sleeping
companions. Antonio persuades Sebastian that the latter will become ruler of Naples if they
kill Alonso. Claribel, who would be the next heir if Ferdinand were indeed dead, is too far
away to be able to claim her right. Sebastian is convinced, and the two are about to stab the
sleeping men when Ariel causes Gonzalo to wake with a shout. Everyone wakes up, and
Antonio and Sebastian concoct a ridiculous story about having drawn their swords to protect
the king from lions. Ariel goes back to Prospero while Alonso and his party continue to
search for Ferdinand.
Caliban, meanwhile, is hauling wood for Prospero when he sees Trinculo and thinks he is a
spirit sent by Prospero to torment him. He lies down and hides under his cloak. A storm is
brewing, and Trinculo, curious about but undeterred by Caliban’s strange appearance and
smell, crawls under the cloak with him. Stephano, drunk and singing, comes along and
stumbles upon the bizarre spectacle of Caliban and Trinculo huddled under the cloak.
Caliban, hearing the singing, cries out that he will work faster so long as the “spirits” leave
him alone. Stephano decides that this monster requires liquor and attempts to get Caliban to
drink. Trinculo recognizes his friend Stephano and calls out to him. Soon the three are sitting
up together and drinking. Caliban quickly becomes an enthusiastic drinker, and begins to
sing.
Prospero puts Ferdinand to work hauling wood. Ferdinand finds his labor pleasant because it
is for Miranda’s sake. Miranda, thinking that her father is asleep, tells Ferdinand to take a
break. The two flirt with one another. Miranda proposes marriage, and Ferdinand accepts.
Prospero has been on stage most of the time, unseen, and he is pleased with this development.
Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban are now drunk and raucous and are made all the more so by
Ariel, who comes to them invisibly and provokes them to fight with one another by
impersonating their voices and taunting them. Caliban grows more and more fervent in his
boasts that he knows how to kill Prospero. He even tells Stephano that he can bring him to
where Prospero is sleeping. He proposes that they kill Prospero, take his daughter, and set
Stephano up as king of the island. Stephano thinks this a good plan, and the three prepare to
set off to find Prospero. They are distracted, however, by the sound of music that Ariel plays
on his flute and tabor-drum, and they decide to follow this music before executing their plot.
Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio grow weary from traveling and pause to rest.
Antonio and Sebastian secretly plot to take advantage of Alonso and Gonzalo’s exhaustion,
deciding to kill them in the evening. Prospero, probably on the balcony of the stage and
invisible to the men, causes a banquet to be set out by strangely shaped spirits. As the men
prepare to eat, Ariel appears like a harpy and causes the banquet to vanish. He then accuses
the men of supplanting Prospero and says that it was for this sin that Alonso’s son, Ferdinand,
has been taken. He vanishes, leaving Alonso feeling vexed and guilty.
Prospero now softens toward Ferdinand and welcomes him into his family as the soon-to-be-
husband of Miranda. He sternly reminds Ferdinand, however, that Miranda’s “virgin-knot”
(IV.i.15) is not to be broken until the wedding has been officially solemnized. Prospero then
asks Ariel to call forth some spirits to perform a masque for Ferdinand and Miranda. The
spirits assume the shapes of Ceres, Juno, and Iris and perform a short masque celebrating the
rites of marriage and the bounty of the earth. A dance of reapers and nymphs follows but is
interrupted when Prospero suddenly remembers that he still must stop the plot against his life.
He sends the spirits away and asks Ariel about Trinculo, Stephano, and Caliban. Ariel tells
his master of the three men’s drunken plans. He also tells how he led the men with his music
through prickly grass and briars and finally into a filthy pond near Prospero’s cell. Ariel and
Prospero then set a trap by hanging beautiful clothing in Prospero’s cell. Stephano, Trinculo,
and Caliban enter looking for Prospero and, finding the beautiful clothing, decide to steal it.
They are immediately set upon by a pack of spirits in the shape of dogs and hounds, driven
on by Prospero and Ariel.
Prospero uses Ariel to bring Alonso and the others before him. He then sends Ariel to bring
the Boatswain and the mariners from where they sleep on the wrecked ship. Prospero
confronts Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian with their treachery, but tells them that he forgives
them. Alonso tells him of having lost Ferdinand in the tempest and Prospero says that he
recently lost his own daughter. Clarifying his meaning, he draws aside a curtain to reveal
Ferdinand and Miranda playing chess. Alonso and his companions are amazed by the miracle
of Ferdinand’s survival, and Miranda is stunned by the sight of people unlike any she has
seen before. Ferdinand tells his father about his marriage.
Ariel returns with the Boatswain and mariners. The Boatswain tells a story of having been
awakened from a sleep that had apparently lasted since the tempest. At Prospero’s bidding,
Ariel releases Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano, who then enter wearing their stolen clothing.
Prospero and Alonso command them to return it and to clean up Prospero’s cell. Prospero
invites Alonso and the others to stay for the night so that he can tell them the tale of his life in
the past twelve years. After this, the group plans to return to Italy. Prospero, restored to his
dukedom, will retire to Milan. Prospero gives Ariel one final task—to make sure the seas are
calm for the return voyage—before setting him free. Finally, Prospero delivers an epilogue to
the audience, asking them to forgive him for his wrongdoing and set him free by applauding.
Unit-IV
The Rover (Part-I)
-Aphra Behn
Characters
Angellica Bianca
Angellica is a famous courtesan in Spain. She is the mistress of a once-powerful, deceased
Spanish general, and she has returned to Naples to put herself up for sale. Her monthly fee is
1,000 Spanish crowns, and her primary potential suitors are Don Pedro and Don Antonio.
Angellica is a beautiful woman, who, we are led to believe, would have no problem securing
the monthly fee for which she has put herself on the market. Don Pedro and Don Antonio
both agree to pay the sum, however Angellica falls in love with Willmore, to whom she
promises her heart. When she discovers that Willmore has not been true to her, she confronts
him with a pistol, and threatens to kill him with it.
Colonel Belvile
Belvile is an English colonel who is madly in love with Florinda, a Spanish noblewoman that
he met at a siege in Pamplona, where he protected her from danger. He is a generally calm
and level-headed man prepared to do nearly anything to be with Florinda. He is sad at the
beginning of the play because his prospects of marrying Florinda are grim; he is a poor
foreigner competing with a wealthy friend of the family for Florinda’s hand in marriage.
However, Belvile remains loyal to Florinda throughout the entirety of the play, and
eventually marries her against the wishes of her brother, Pedro (however, Belvile eventually
secures his blessing). Florinda is deeply in love with Belvile
Blunt
Blunt is a foolish English country gentleman who gets duped by Lucetta, a Spanish whore.
Initially, Blunt is the most well-off financially of all the Englishmen (Belvile, Frederick,
Willmore); by the end of the play he has lost all of his possessions, right down to his
underwear. Throughout the play, Blunt makes obvious the fact that he is an outsider with his
attention-grabbing behavior-- he eventually suffers the consequences of this behavior, as he is
preyed upon by a practiced tease and thief. It becomes apparent throughout the course of the
play that Blunt is a naive and shortsighted character with irrational motives and cruel
intentions.
Callis
Callis is the governess of Florinda and Hellena. Charged with the oversight of the noble
sisters, Callis must make sure that the young ladies stay out of trouble. She is easily
convinced to let both Hellena and Florinda attend the Carnival, however, and is easily
manipulated later on in the play when Valeria successfully locks her in a chest to keep her
from preventing the marriage of Florinda and Belvile.
Don Antonio
Don Antonio is the Viceroy’s son. He is a wealthy and young Spaniard who is good friends
with Don Pedro, and has been selected by Pedro as a prospective husband for his sister,
Florinda. Despite agreeing to marry Flroinda, however, Don Antonio is strongly attracted to
Angellica Bianca and makes an effort to purchase the reputed courtesan.
Don Pedro
Don Pedro, brother of Florinda and Hellena, is a noble Spaniard and friend of Don Antonio.
He is a very controlling brother, set on marrying Florinda to his friend, Antonio, and ensuring
that Hellena enters the nunnery. Don Pedro spends much of his time chasing after his two
sisters, who continually disobey and evade him. When he is not checking up on his sisters, he
puts his energy toward acquiring Angellica Bianca, in whom he takes a notable interest.
Initially opposed to either of his sisters marrying Englishmen, he eventually gives in to both
of their decisions, granting them his blessing.
Florinda
Florinda, sister of Hellena and Don Pedro, is a Spanish noblewoman who has been ordered by
her father to marry Don Vincentio, a wealthy, old Spanish man. She is outspoken and
stubborn, and refuses outright to marry Don Vincentio, whom she hates. Florinda also refuses
to marry Don Antonio, the good friend of her brother, Pedro. She is madly in love with
Colonel Belvile, an Englishman whom she met in Pamplona, and resolves to marry no one
else but him. Florinda is a confident, independent, and stubborn woman. Though not as
outspoken as her sister, Hellena, she is nevertheless a very determined woman.
Frederick
Frederick is an Englishman and friend of Belvile, Blunt, and Willmore. He takes a liking to
Valeria, and the two eventually end up together. Frederick proves himself to be a dangerous
and cruel character when he agrees to beat and rape Florinda with Blunt toward the end of the
play; however, it is also he who puts a stop to the attack when uncertain as to whether she
might be Belvile's love.
Hellena
Hellena, sister of Florinda and Pedro, is a Spanish noblewoman and prospective nun. She is
an outspoken, confident, and curious young woman set on making her own decisions. She is
very critical of religion and the path that has been chosen for her by her father and brother. Of
all the characters, she is most cunning, clever, and boldly defiant. Hellena sets her sights on
Willmore, and eventually convinces him to marry her.
Lucetta
Lucetta is a conniving Spanish whore. She cheats Blunt of all of his clothes and belongings.
Moretta
Moretta is Angellica’s lady in waiting; she gives counsel and attends to the famed courtesan.
Moretta is a strong believer in economically advantageous relationships, and disdains
Angellica’s decision to give her heart to Willmore for free.
Phillipo
Phillipo is Lucetta’s gallant; he helps her dupe Blunt, and sleeps with her.
Stephano
Stephano is one of Don Pedro’s servants; he spends most of his time throughout the play
either at Pedro’s side, or completing tasks for him.
Plot:
Having famously worked as a spy for Charles II against the Dutch, Behn lost her meagre
income when the king refused to pay her expenses. She turned to writing for an income.
Behn's work should always be read with an eye toward her contemporary political world. She
was a Royalist, and her works frequently treat Puritans roughly. The subtitle "Banish'd
Cavaliers" is a reference to the exile that the Cavalier forces experienced during the English
Interregnum.
Based on Thomas Killigrew's play Thomaso, or The Wanderer (1664), The Rover features
multiple plot lines, dealing with the amorous adventures of a group of Englishmen in Naples
at Carnival time.
The "rover" of the play's title is Willmore, a rakish naval captain, who falls in love with a
young woman named Hellena, who has set out to experience love before her brother sends
her to a convent. Complications arise when Angellica Bianca, a famous courtesan, falls in
love with Willmore and swears revenge on him for his betrayal.
Meanwhile, Hellena's sister Florinda attempts to marry her true love, Colonel Belvile, rather
than the man that her brother has selected for her. The third major plot of the play deals with
the provincial Blunt, who becomes convinced that a girl has fallen in love with him, but is
humiliated when she turns out to be a prostitute and a thief.
The play opens in Naples, where two Spanish sisters Helena and Florinda, discuss love.
While their father is away, they are under the watchful eye of their brother, Don Pedro. The
ladylike Florinda is in love with the noble but impoverished British cavalier Belvilewhile
witty Hellena is supposed to become a nun, but longs for love. Don Pedro enters and
announces that their father wishes Florinda to marry the elderly, wealthy Don Vincentio; he,
however, wants his sister to marry his friend Don Antonio. Hellena attempts to argue.
Meanwhile, Pedro orders the girls’ governess, Callis, to keep Hellena from the Carnival. The
girls scheme to escape, accompanied by their cousin Valeria.
On a street in Naples, Belvile enters, melancholy with love for Florinda. His friends, Ned
Blunt and Frederick, tease him. The three of them encounter Willmore, the Rover for whom
the play is named; he is overjoyed to see Frederick and Belvile, and the two introduce him to
Blunt. The four Englishmen watch and marvel at a group of revelers at the Carnival.
Florinda, Hellena, and Valeria, disguised as gypsies, enter with Callis and Stephano,
accompanied by a group of revelers including Lucetta and Sancho. Florinda recognizes
Belvile, while Hellena notices Willmore. She tells his fortune, and their exchange becomes
flirtatious. Meanwhile, Lucetta, a prostitute, plots with her pimp Sancho to rob the wealthy
Blunt. Florinda cannot reveal herself to Belvile because of Callis; when she finally does, Don
Pedro enters and she flees. Once she leaves, Belvile begs his friends to help rescue her, while
Blunt leaves with Lucetta. Willmore asks if there are more willing women in Naples, and his
friends tell him of Angelica, a beautiful prostitute who charges a thousand crowns per month.
The group reenters later in the day, intending to seek out Angelica. They encounter Blunt,
who believes himself in love with Lucetta. While they mock him, servants enter and place
pictures of Angelica around the stage, so that all can observe her beauty. Don Pedro enters,
sees the pictures, and resolves to pay Angelica’s thousand-crown price. Angelica herself
appears with her servant Moretta. Don Antonio, also masked, enters and decides to purchase
Angelica despite his betrothal to Florinda. Hearing his sister’s name, Pedro is upset—his
friend is his rival for Angelica’s affections, and does not care for his sister. The two men
duel; the Englishmen part them, but the Spaniards resolve to fight the next day at a public
square, the Molo. Pedro declares that they are fighting not for Angelica, but for Florinda, and
exits.
Willmore pulls down a picture of Angelica. Antonio, believing that the cavalier is insulting
the courtesan, draws his sword and the two fight. Antonio’s comrades join in, as do
Willmore’s, and the Englishmen beat the Spaniards. Angelica, displeased at having lost a
potential customer, commands Willmore to come up and face her in person.
Inside the house, Willmore scolds Angelica for putting a price on love, and the two begin to
flirt. After miscommunications and jibes, Angelica and Willmore admit that they have
feelings for each other, and Angelica tells the cavalier that the only payment she wants is the
exchange of his heart for hers; he agrees, and they rush to Angelica’s bedchamber.
Florinda, Valeria, and Hellena, still masked, enter the same street so that Hellena can meet
Willmore. Valeria, meanwhile, reveals that she fancies the English stranger (Frederick) whom
she met earlier. The Englishmen enter without Willmore, and the girls hide. The men worry
about Willmore’s fate; Hellena grows curious. Willmore enters triumphantly, revealing that
Angelica has given him a great deal of money.
Belvile reminds Willmore of the gypsy girl he had liked earlier (Hellena in disguise), but the
Rover protests that he does not want to think of any other woman. Yet when Hellena emerges
in her gypsy disguise, he immediately begins flirting with her again. Angelica enters with her
bravoes and, seeing the couple, responds jealously. Meanwhile, Hellena takes off her mask,
and Willmore is struck by her beauty. Angelica orders one of her servants to follow Hellena
and discover her identity. Simultaneously, Frederick courts Valeria, while Florinda attempt to
discern whether or not Belvile is faithful to her by tempting him with jewels. As the ladies
leave, Florinda gives Belvile a jewel although he has refused to take it. She exits, and he
discovers that it contains her picture, realizing that he has been talking to his beloved. He
decides to rescue her later that evening.
Blunt enters Lucetta’s home, and the two prepare to sleep together; Blunt undresses and takes
off his fine clothing and jewels. When he enters Lucetta’s chamber, she uses the darkness to
slip out and open a trapdoor, through which Blunt falls. With the help of Sancho, and her
lover Philippo, Lucetta steals his belongings and exit. Blunt enters, dirty, unclothed, and
cursing not only Lucetta, but all women. He exits, still enraged.
Later that evening, Florinda enters her family’s garden in her nightgown and unlocks the door
for Belvile. Willmore sneaks in, masked, drunk and belligerent. She struggles as he attempts
to assault her. Belvile and Frederick enter, also masked, and pull Willmore off of Florinda—
enraged, he draws his sword. Drawn to the commotion, Don Pedro enters with his guards,
Florinda flees, and the Spaniards force the Englishmen out.
Belvile confronts Willmore, telling him that he has nearly raped Florinda and demanding a
duel; Willmore refuses. Belvile grows despairing, remembering that Florinda will marry Don
Antonio tomorrow. As they talk, they reach Angelica’s house, and Willmore makes to enter
it. Before he can, however, Antonio enters, announcing that he has paid Angelica’s fee.
Willmore, enraged, draws his sword, challenges Antonio to a duel, and wounds the Spaniard.
Assuming that he has killed Antonio, the cavalier staggers away. A group of soldiers enters,
believing that Belvile has hurt the Spanish nobleman. Antonio orders them to take Belvile to
his house, mistaking him not only for Willmore, but also for Pedro (with whom he had dueled
previously).
Belvile, imprisoned in Antonio’s house, is surprised when the Spaniard gives him a sword.
Antonio wishes the Englishmen to fight in his place in his duel against Pedro (since he is
wounded). Belvile realizes that he is speaking to Antonio—his rival for Florinda’s hand—and
reacts with dismay. As Antonio explains that the duel is over Florinda, Belvile becomes even
more upset, believing that Florinda has another suitor. The two agree that Belvile will duel
disguised as Antonio.
A masked Florinda arrives at the Molo to watch the fight. Stephano reveals that the duel is for
her honor and she becomes upset, believing that Pedro is fighting against Belvile. When
Pedro enters, he remarks that Antonio is late, and Florinda is relieved. Belvile enters, dressed
as Antonio, and Pedro berates him both for insulting Florinda and finding favor with
Angelica. The duel proceeds. Fearful for her brother’s life, Florinda intercedes, begging
Belvile to stop in the name of his love; he does so immediately. Pedro believes that this is a
sign of “Antonio’s” love for Florinda, and gives his now unmasked sister to his opponent.
Florinda is dismayed at the prospect of marrying Antonio, but Belvile reveals himself to her.
Disastrously, Willmore and Frederick enter, calling out Belvile’s name. Pedro realizes his
mistake and takes his sister back.
As they exit, Belvile draws his sword on Willmore, who runs away just as Angelica enters
with her servants. She reveals that she knows Hellena’s identity as a noblewoman. When
Sebastian reenters with Willmore, she berates him, accusing him of courting Hellena for
money. Willmore is thrilled that his gypsy girl is actually wealthy, and plots to leave. Hellena
enters dressed as a pageboy, and tells Angelica that she comes from a noblewoman who loves
Willmore. The cavalier grows intrigued, believing that a third woman adores him. While
Angelica grieves, he begs Hellena to reveal more about her mistress. She refuses and,
realizing that she is his gypsy girl, Willmore resolves to torment her. Angelica commands
him to remain faithful, and though he scoffs at the idea that she is jealous of a gypsy girl (thus
torturing Hellena), he refuses; enraged, she sends him away. Hellena also exits, and Willmore
vows to find her. Angelica vows revenge.
Florinda and Valeria have escaped from Don Pedro, and are attempting to find the
Englishmen. Valeria reveals that she has contacted Belvile, and that he will stall Pedro.
Seeing both men (along with Wilmore), the women put on their masks. Willmore begins to
harass Florinda and she exits. Frederick enters and tells the group about Blunt’s escapades;
Belvile offers to show Pedro his hapless companion. Florinda reenters, and hides in a house
(coincidentally Belvile’s lodgings), only to encounter Blunt. Enraged against women, he
attempts to rape her, and asks Frederick to help. The two pause when she offers them a jewel
to prove her wealth, and mentions Belvile’s name. They resolve to lock her up until they can
discern whether she is truthful.
Blunt hides in his room as his friends and Pedro besiege the door, finally breaking it down.
As they tease him, he reveals that he has taken a woman prisoner, showing off her jewel,
which Belvile recognizes. He attempts to extricate Florinda without alerting Pedro, but
cannot. The men resolve to draw their swords, deciding that whoever carries the longest
sword will determine whether Florinda is noble. Pedro proves to have the longest sword, and
ends up threatening his own sister. At this point, Valeria enters, distracting Pedro by telling
him that Florinda has escaped. Relieved, Belvile and Florinda resolve to marry, as the other
men beg forgiveness. She grants it, and Frederick and Valeria decide to marry each other as
well. A page enters with a convenient priest, and the four leave to be married, with Willmore
remaining behind to guard the house.
Blunt exits to meet his tailor, and Angelica enters, masked. Willmore believes her to be the
gypsy girl, but quickly realizes his mistake when she unmasks and threatens him with a
pistol, calling him a traitor. She expresses her pain at his abandonment, asserting that she
must kill him for all womankind. Antonio enters and offers to kill Willmore for Angelica,
while Pedro enters and hides. Angelica decides to show contempt for Willmore by letting him
live. She exits, and Pedro confronts Antonio, accusing him of not caring for Florinda.
Antonio exits angrily and Pedro questions whether he should give Florinda to Belvile.
Willmore informs him that the deed is done and threatens Pedro, saying that he will kidnap
the Spaniard if he does not bless Florinda’s marriage.
Belvile reenters and Don Pedro congratulates him; the two exit to tell Florinda the happy
news as Hellena enters, disguised again in boys’ clothes. When Hellena still refuses to go to
bed with him, Willmore agrees to marry her; the two at last tell each other their names. The
two married couples enter, along with Pedro, who is dismayed by but resigned to Hellena’s
union with Willmore. Blunt enters in Spanish clothing, looking ridiculous, as do a group of
revelers. As the other couples dance, Hellena and Willmore admit that they are frightened to
marry each other, but resolve to do so anyway.
The Importance of Being Earnest

-Oscar Wilde
Characters List
John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P. - The play’s protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly
responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he
has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack
was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted
him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in
love with his friend Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name
indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace.
Algernon Moncrieff - The play’s secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative
bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack
Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish,
amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He

has invented a fictional friend, “Bunbury,” an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow
Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.
Gwendolen Fairfax - Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. Gwendolen is in

love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society,
Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is
sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the
name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.
Cecily Cardew - Jack’s ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and
adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character
in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more
intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has
prompted her to fall in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an
elaborate romance and courtship between them.
Lady Bracknell - Algernon’s snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen’s
mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do
the same. She has a list of “eligible young men” and a prepared interview she gives to
potential suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious
pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell’s
speeches is unintentional. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize
the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British aristocracy. Lady Bracknell values ignorance, which
she sees as “a delicate exotic fruit.” When she gives a dinner party, she prefers her husband to
eat downstairs with the servants. She is cunning, narrow-minded, authoritarian, and possibly
the most quotable character in the play.
Miss Prism - Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and
clichés. She highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his
“unfortunate” brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism’s severe pronouncements have a
way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism
seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was
“lost” or “abandoned.” Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.
Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. - The rector on Jack’s estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach
Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened “Ernest.” Dr. Chasuble entertains secret
romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for “Doctor of Divinity.”
Lane - Algernon’s manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows
about Algernon’s practice of “Bunburying.” Lane appears only in Act I.
Merriman - The butler at the Manor House, Jack’s estate in the country. Merriman appears
only in Acts II and III.
Plot:
Jack Worthing, the play’s protagonist, is a pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he
is guardian to Cecily Cardew, the pretty, eighteen-year-old granddaughter of the late Thomas
Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. In Hertfordshire, Jack has
responsibilities: he is a major landowner and justice of the peace, with tenants, farmers, and a
number of servants and other employees all dependent on him. For years, he has also
pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous
life in pursuit of pleasure and is always getting into trouble of a sort that requires Jack to rush
grimly off to his assistance. In fact, Ernest is merely Jack’s alibi, a phantom that allows him
to disappear for days at a time and do as he likes. No one but Jack knows that he himself is
Ernest. Ernest is the name Jack goes by in London, which is where he really goes on these
occasions—probably to pursue the very sort of behavior he pretends to disapprove of in his
imaginary brother.
Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his best friend, Algernon Moncrieff.
When the play opens, Algernon, who knows Jack as Ernest, has begun to suspect something,
having found an inscription inside Jack’s cigarette case addressed to “Uncle Jack” from
someone who refers to herself as “little Cecily.” Algernon suspects that Jack may be leading a
double life, a practice he seems to regard as commonplace and indispensable to modern life.
He calls a person who leads a double life a “Bunburyist,” after a nonexistent friend he
pretends to have, a chronic invalid named Bunbury, to whose deathbed he is forever being
summoned whenever he wants to get out of some tiresome social obligation.
At the beginning of Act I, Jack drops in unexpectedly on Algernon and announces that he
intends to propose to Gwendolen. Algernon confronts him with the cigarette case and forces
him to come clean, demanding to know who “Jack” and “Cecily” are. Jack confesses that his
name isn’t really Ernest and that Cecily is his ward, a responsibility imposed on him by his
adoptive father’s will. Jack also tells Algernon about his fictional brother. Jack says he’s been
thinking of killing off this fake brother, since Cecily has been showing too active an interest
in him. Without meaning to, Jack describes Cecily in terms that catch Algernon’s attention
and make him even more interested in her than he is already.
Gwendolen and her mother, Lady Bracknell, arrive, which gives Jack an opportunity to
propose to Gwendolen. Jack is delighted to discover that Gwendolen returns his affections,
but he is alarmed to learn that Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest, which she says
“inspires absolute confidence.” Gwendolen makes clear that she would not consider marrying
a man who was not named Ernest.
Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to determine his eligibility as a possible son-in-law, and
during this interview she asks about his family background. When Jack explains that he has
no idea who his parents were and that he was found, by the man who adopted him, in a
handbag in the cloakroom at Victoria Station, Lady Bracknell is scandalized. She forbids the
match between Jack and Gwendolen and sweeps out of the house.
In Act II, Algernon shows up at Jack’s country estate posing as Jack’s brother Ernest.
Meanwhile, Jack, having decided that Ernest has outlived his usefulness, arrives home in
deep mourning, full of a story about Ernest having died suddenly in Paris. He is enraged to
find Algernon there masquerading as Ernest but has to go along with the charade. If he
doesn’t, his own lies and deceptions will be revealed.
While Jack changes out of his mourning clothes, Algernon, who has fallen hopelessly in love
with Cecily, asks her to marry him. He is surprised to discover that Cecily already considers
that they are engaged, and he is charmed when she reveals that her fascination with “Uncle
Jack’s brother” led her to invent an elaborate romance between herself and him several
months ago. Algernon is less enchanted to learn that part of Cecily’s interest in him derives
from the name Ernest, which, unconsciously echoing Gwendolen, she says “inspires absolute
confidence.”
Algernon goes off in search of Dr. Chasuble, the local rector, to see about getting himself
christened Ernest. Meanwhile, Gwendolen arrives, having decided to pay Jack an unexpected
visit. Gwendolen is shown into the garden, where Cecily orders tea and attempts to play
hostess. Cecily has no idea how Gwendolen figures into Jack’s life, and Gwendolen, for her
part, has no idea who Cecily is. Gwendolen initially thinks Cecily is a visitor to the Manor
House and is disconcerted to learn that Cecily is “Mr. Worthing’s ward.” She notes that
Ernest has never mentioned having a ward, and Cecily explains that it is not Ernest Worthing
who is her guardian but his brother Jack and, in fact, that she is engaged to be married to
Ernest Worthing. Gwendolen points out that this is impossible as she herself is engaged to
Ernest Worthing. The tea party degenerates into a war of manners.
Jack and Algernon arrive toward the climax of this confrontation, each having separately
made arrangements with Dr. Chasuble to be christened Ernest later that day. Each of the
young ladies points out that the other has been deceived: Cecily informs Gwendolen that her
fiancé is really named Jack and Gwendolen informs Cecily that hers is really called Algernon.
The two women demand to know where Jack’s brother Ernest is, since both of them are
engaged to be married to him. Jack is forced to admit that he has no brother and that Ernest is
a complete fiction. Both women are shocked and furious, and they retire to the house arm in
arm.
Act III takes place in the drawing room of the Manor House, where Cecily and Gwendolen
have retired. When Jack and Algernon enter from the garden, the two women confront them.
Cecily asks Algernon why he pretended to be her guardian’s brother. Algernon tells her he
did it in order to meet her. Gwendolen asks Jack whether he pretended to have a brother in
order to come into London to see her as often as possible, and she interprets his evasive reply
as an affirmation. The women are somewhat appeased but still concerned over the issue of the
name. However, when Jack and Algernon tell Gwendolen and Cecily that they have both
made arrangements to be christened Ernest that afternoon, all is forgiven and the two pairs of
lovers embrace. At this moment, Lady Bracknell’s arrival is announced.
Lady Bracknell has followed Gwendolen from London, having bribed Gwendolen’s maid to
reveal her destination. She demands to know what is going on. Gwendolen again informs
Lady Bracknell of her engagement to Jack, and Lady Bracknell reiterates that a union
between them is out of the question. Algernon tells Lady Bracknell of his engagement to
Cecily, prompting her to inspect Cecily and inquire into her social connections, which she
does in a routine and patronizing manner that infuriates Jack. He replies to all her questions
with a mixture of civility and sarcasm, withholding until the last possible moment the
information that Cecily is actually worth a great deal of money and stands to inherit still more
when she comes of age. At this, Lady Bracknell becomes genuinely interested.
Jack informs Lady Bracknell that, as Cecily’s legal guardian, he refuses to give his consent to
her union with Algernon. Lady Bracknell suggests that the two young people simply wait
until Cecily comes of age, and Jack points out that under the terms of her grandfather’s will,
Cecily does not legally come of age until she is thirty-five. Lady Bracknell asks Jack to
reconsider, and he points out that the matter is entirely in her own hands. As soon as she
consents to his marriage to Gwendolen, Cecily can have his consent to marry Algernon.
However, Lady Bracknell refuses to entertain the notion. She and Gwendolen are on the point
of leaving when Dr. Chasuble arrives and happens to mention Cecily’s governess, Miss
Prism. At this, Lady Bracknell starts and asks that Miss Prism be sent for.
When the governess arrives and catches sight of Lady Bracknell, she begins to look guilty
and furtive. Lady Bracknell accuses her of having left her sister’s house twenty-eight years
before with a baby and never returned. She demands to know where the baby is. Miss Prism
confesses she doesn’t know, explaining that she lost the baby, having absentmindedly placed
it in a handbag in which she had meant to place the manuscript for a novel she had written.
Jack asks what happened to the bag, and Miss Prism says she left it in the cloakroom of a
railway station. Jack presses her for further details and goes racing offstage, returning a few
moments later with a large handbag. When Miss Prism confirms that the bag is hers, Jack
throws himself on her with a cry of “Mother!” It takes a while before the situation is sorted
out, but before too long we understand that Jack is not the illegitimate child of Miss Prism but
the legitimate child of Lady Bracknell’s sister and, therefore, Algernon’s older brother.
Furthermore, Jack had been originally christened “Ernest John.” All these years Jack has
unwittingly been telling the truth: Ernest is his name, as is Jack, and he does have an
unprincipled younger brother—Algernon. Again the couples embrace, Miss Prism and Dr.
Chasuble follow suit, and Jack acknowledges that he now understands “the vital Importance
of Being Earnest.”
Saint Joan
-G.B. Shaw
Characters:
Joan of Arc, often referred to as The Maid Joan is, of course, the central character of the
play. Based upon the historical character, Shaw presents her as a simple country girl who is
uneducated but not unintelligent. For the public, Joan, according to Shaw's Preface, offers her
brilliant ideas in terms of voices from heaven which speak to her. Early in the play, she
establishes her superiority in terms of military tactics and strategy, always knowing where to
place the cannons and other artillery. Until her capture, she proves that her military strategy is
flawless. Throughout the play, in all sorts of situations, Joan's basic honesty and her
innocence shine through all of the hypocrisy of the others, and when her judges use
complicated ecclesiastical terms to trap her, her basic common sense makes them look stupid.
She is, however, inexperienced in the ways of the medieval society and ignorant of the
jealousies of the feudal system. Her belief in the rightness of her own conscience and her
refusal to yield to the authority of the Church have caused Shaw and others to refer to her as
the first Protestant to be martyred by the Catholic Church.
Robert de Baudricourt A gentlemanly squire from Joan's district, Lorraine; he is the first
person of position or rank to back The Maid's plans. Through him, Joan is able to obtain her
first armor and her first chance to show her military skills.
Bertrand de Poulengey (Polly) One of Joan's first converts, he aids Joan in getting an
audience with Robert de Baudricourt, and he later rides with her in the Battle of Orleans.
The Archbishop of Rheims The churchman who, at first, sees Joan as a pious and innocent
girl, one who is in close service with God. As Joan proves to be constantly right, however,
and, later, when Joan is responsible for crowning the Dauphin king, the Archbishop becomes
disheartened with The Maid and, ultimately, sides against her.
Monseigneur de la Trémouille The Lord Chamberlain in the court of the Dauphin and also
the "commander-in-chief" of the French forces. He has been accustomed to bullying the
Dauphin, and, therefore, he deeply resents Joan when she is given command of the French
forces.
Gilles de Rais (Bluebeard) A captain in the army and a devoted follower of The Maid even
though he is not a religious person.
The Dauphin Later to be crowned Charles VII in the Rheims cathedral, the Dauphin is
portrayed as weak, sniveling, and unconcerned about matters of the court or of the country.
He is forced by The Maid to become more manly and to assume an authority that he does not
want.
Dunois (The Bastard) The young, popular, and efficient leader of the French forces who
recognizes Joan's military genius but in the final battle is not convinced that she should be
saved.
The Earl of Warwick The English earl in charge of the English forces and Joan's most bitter
and avid secular opponent. He sees Joan's simple opinions that the people should give their
allegiance directly to the king as being a threat to the loyalty that the feudal lords demand
from their serfs. He demands Joan's death as a way of retaining the status quo of the feudal
system.
John de Stogumber The Earl of Warwick's chaplain. At first, he is seen as a vicious and
ferocious accuser of Joan's. He sees her in the most simplistic terms as a witch who should be
burned without delay. He does not understand either the most complicated or the most subtle
arguments concerning Joan's threat to the Church and to the aristocracy.
Peter Cauchon The academic theologian who represents the "considered wisdom of the
Church." For him, Joan represents a direct threat to the historical power invested in the
Church, and he is proud that he has never asserted his own individuality and has always
yielded to the opinion of the Church. For Joan to assert her own private conscience, to rely
upon her own judgments, and to commune directly with God without the intervention of the
Church is, to Cauchon, heresy in its highest form.
The Inquisitor Physically, the Inquisitor should look like a kindly and sweet elderly
gentleman. However, he represents the institutions of the Church in their most iron-clad
disciplines. He believes strongly in the rightness of these institutions and in the collected
wisdom of the Church. The individual conscience must be subjected to the authority of the
Church, not just in this particular instance but throughout all time. His long rambling speech
on heresy shows him to be a defender of these institutions and one who rejects any type of
individualism.
D'Estivet The prosecutor against Joan; he is often impatient with the subtle questions of the
court, and his case is based on pure legalism.
Courcelles A young priest who has been of help in compiling some sixty-four charges
against The Maid; he is incensed that many of the charges ("She stole the Bishop's horse")
have been dismissed by the court.
Brother Martin Ladvenu A sympathetic young priest who wants to save Joan's life and who
is seemingly deeply concerned about Joan's inability to intellectually distinguish or
understand the charges made against her. He feels her only sin is her ignorance, but once she
is sentenced, he declares her imprisonment to be just. However, he holds up the cross for
Joan to see while she is on her funeral stake, and he is instrumental in Joan's rehabilitation.
The Executioner He represents the horrors of the stake. His other importance is that he
reports that The Maid's heart would not burn.
An English Soldier He is the common soldier who makes a cross out of two sticks and gives
it to Joan. For this deed, he receives one day a year out of Hell.
Plot:
In 1429 A.D., a young country girl known simply as Joan of Arc, or sometimes simply as The
Maid, is given an interview by Robert de Baudricourt since she will not leave until she speaks
with him. She tells him that she needs horses and armor to go to the Dauphin of France and to
raise the siege of Orleans, a city held captive by the English forces. She knows that a siege
would be possible because the voices of Saints Margaret and Catherine have told her what to
do. Upon being convinced by The Maid's simplicity, Captain de Baudricourt grants her
request.
Upon arriving at the Dauphin's castle, The Maid encounters all sorts of difficulties, especially
with the Dauphin, who wants nothing to do with wars and fighting. When France's military
fortunes and predicament are reviewed, Joan's demands that something be done to improve
France's condition fall on deaf ears, but when she is alone with the Dauphin, she is able to
instill enough courage in him so that he finally consents to let her lead the army, knowing full
well that she can't make France's condition worse.
Joan then goes to the Loire River near Orleans, where she encounters Dunois, the commander
of the French forces; he explains the necessity of waiting until the wind changes, but Joan is
determined to lead her forces against the English stronghold without waiting; suddenly, the
wind does change favorably, and Dunois pledges his allegiance to The Maid.
Sometime later, in the English camp, Warwick, the leader of the English forces, and his
chaplain, de Stogumber, are maintaining that The Maid must be a witch because there is no
other way of accounting for the heavy English losses and defeats except by sorcery.
The Bishop of Beauvais, Peter Cauchon, enters and discusses the fate of Joan of Arc.
Cauchon's principal intellectual concern is that Joan is setting up her own private conscience
in place of the authority of the Church. Warwick, who is not influenced by the concerns of
the Church, is, instead, concerned that Joan is telling the common people and the serfs to
pledge their allegiance directly to the king, whereas the entire feudal system is based upon the
lower classes pledging their allegiance to their immediate lords and masters. Joan's simple
pleas can possibly destroy the entire feudal system. Cauchon also adds that Joan is trying to
get the common people to pledge further allegiance to their native countries (France and
England) instead of to the Universal Catholic Church, an act which would further lessen the
power of the Church. Thus, for different reasons, both agree that The Maid must be put to
death.
After more victories, Joan has finally been able to fulfill her promise to drive the English
back and have the Dauphin crowned king in the Cathedral at Rheims. After the ceremony,
Joan is anxious to move on and capture Paris and drive the English from the city. The
Dauphin, however, is content now with what he has recaptured, Commander Dunois is
hesitant to start another campaign after all of the recent successes, and the Archbishop is
beginning to find Joan to be too proud and defiant. Joan then realizes that she must stand
alone in the same way that "saints have always stood alone," and in spite of the warning that
if she falls into the enemy's hands, neither the military, nor the state, nor the Church will lift a
hand to rescue her.
Some nine months later, Joan is standing trial for heresy. She has been imprisoned and in
chains for these nine months and has been questioned many times about the validity of her
"voices." After many complicated theological questions, her accusers force Joan to admit that
her voices were not heavenly sent voices but, instead, came from Satan. After her recantation
of the voices, her judges then sentence her to perpetual imprisonment and isolation, living off
only bread and water. Joan rejects this horrid punishment and tears up her recantation. She is
immediately carried to the stake and burnt as a witch; afterward, the Executioner enters and
announces that Joan's heart would not burn.
Some twenty-five years later, in an Epilogue, Joan reappears before the king (the former
Dauphin) and her chief accusers, who have now been condemned by a subsequent court,
which has pronounced Joan innocent of all charges and her judges guilty of all sorts of
crimes.
The time then moves to 1920, when Joan is declared to be a saint by the Church. As such, she
now has the power to return as a living woman, and she asks everyone present if she should
return. This is a horrifying prospect for them all, and they all confess that they wish her to
remain dead. Joan then asks of God, "O Lord, how long before the world will be ready to
accept its saints?"
Unit IV
Look Back in Anger

-John Osborne
Characters
Jimmy Porter
Jimmy Porter is the play's main character. He is the "Angry Young Man" who expresses his
frustration for the lack of feelings in his placid domestic life. Jimmy can be understood as
both a hero for his unfiltered expressions of emotion and frustration in a culture that
propagated unemotional resignation. He can also be considered a villain for the ways in
which his anger proves to be destructive to those in his life.
Cliff Lewis
Cliff is a friend to both Jimmy and Alison. Cliff lives with them in their attic apartment. He is
a working class Welsh man and Jimmy makes sure to often point out that he is "common"
and uneducated. Cliff believes this is the reason that Jimmy keeps him as a friend. He is quite
fond of Alison and they have a strange physically affectionate relationship throughout the
play.
Alison Porter
Alison Porter is Jimmy's wife. She comes from Britain's upper class, but married into Jimmy's
working class lifestyle. The audience learns in the first act that she is pregnant with Jimmy's
child. Jimmy's destructive anger causes her great strain and she eventually leaves him. Her
child miscarries and she comes back to Jimmy to show him that she has undergone great
suffering.
Helena Charles
Helena Charles is Alison's best friend. She lives with them in their apartment while visiting
for work. Helena is from an upper class family. She is responsible for getting Alison to leave
Jimmy. She and Jimmy then begin an affair. Her sense of morality leads her to leave. She can
be considered the play's moral compass.
Colonel Redfern
Colonel Redfern is Alison's father. He represents Britain's great Edwardian past. He was a
military leader in India for many years before returning with his family to England. He is
critical of Jimmy and Alison's relationship, but accepts that he is to blame for many of their
problems because of his meddling in their affairs.
Plot:
Look Back in Anger begins in the attic flat apartment of Jimmy Porterand Alison Porter. The
setting is mid-1950's small town England. Jimmy and Alison share their apartment with Cliff
Lewis, a young working class man who is best friends with Jimmy. Cliff and Jimmy both
come from a working class background, though Jimmy has had more education than Cliff.
They are in business together running a sweet-stall. Alison comes from a more prominent
family and it is clear from the beginning that Jimmy resents this fact.
The first act opens on a Sunday in April. Jimmy and Cliff are reading the Sunday papers
while Alison is ironing in a corner of the room. Jimmy is a hot tempered young man and he
begins to try and provoke both Cliff and Alison. He is antagonistic towards Cliff's working
class background and makes fun of him for his low intelligence. Cliff is good natured and
takes the antagonism. Jimmy attempts to provoke his wife, Alison, by making fun of her
family and her well-heeled life before she married him. Jimmy also seems to display a
nostalgia for England's powerful past. He notes that the world has entered a "dreary"
American age, a fact he begrudgingly accepts. Alison tires of Jimmy's rants and begs for
peace. This makes Jimmy more fevered in his insults. Cliff attempts to keep peace between
the two and this leads to a playful scuffle between the two. Their wrestling ends up running
into Alison, causing her to fall down. Jimmy is sorry for the incident, but Alison makes him
leave the room.
After Jimmy leaves, Alison confides to Cliff that she is pregnant with Jimmy's child, though
she has not yet told Jimmy. Cliff advises her to tell him, but when Cliff goes out and Jimmy
re-enters the room, the two instead fall into an intimate game. Jimmy impersonates a stuffed
bear and Alison impersonates a toy squirrel. Cliff returns to tell Alison that her old friend,
Helena Charles, has called her on the phone. Alison leaves to take the call and returns with
the news that Helena is coming to stay for a visit. Jimmy does not like Helena and goes into a
rage in which he wishes that Alison would suffer in order to know what it means to be a real
person. He curses her and wishes that she could have a child only to watch it die.
Two weeks later, Helena has arrived and Alison discusses her relationship with Jimmy. She
tells of how they met and how, in their younger days, they used to crash parties with their
friend Hugh Tanner. Jimmy maintains an affection for Hugh's mother, though his relationship
with Hugh was strained when Hugh left to travel the world and Jimmy stayed to be with
Alison. Jimmy seems to regret that he could not leave, but he is also angry at Hugh for
abandoning his mother. Helena inquires about Alison's affectionate relationship with Cliff
and Alison tells her that they are strictly friends.
Cliff and Jimmy return to the flat and Helena tells them that she and Alison are leaving for
church. Jimmy goes into an anti-religious rant and ends up insulting Alison's family once
again. Helena becomes angry and Jimmy dares her to slap him on the face, warning her that
he will slap her back. He tells her of how he watched his father die as a young man. His father
had been injured fighting in the Spanish Civil War and had returned to England only to die
shortly after. Alison and Helena begin to leave for church and Jimmy feels betrayed by his
wife.
A phone call comes in for Jimmy and he leaves the room. Helena tells Alison that she has
called Alison's father to come get her and take her away from this abusive home. Alison
relents and says that she will go when her father picks her up the next day. When Jimmy
returns, he tells Alison that Mrs. Tanner, Hugh's mother, has become sick and is going to die.
Jimmy decides to visit her and he demands that Alison make a choice of whether to go with
Helena or with him. Alison picks up her things and leaves for church and Jimmy collapses on
the bed, heartbroken by his wife's decision.
The next evening Alison is packing and talking with her father, Colonel Redfern. The
Colonel is a soft spoken man who realizes that he does not quite understand the love that
exists between Jimmy and Alison. He admits that the actions of him and his wife are partly to
blame for their split. The Colonel was an officer in the British military and served in India
and he is nostalgic for his time there. He considers his service to be some of the best years of
his life. Alison observes that her father is hurt because the present is not the past and that
Jimmy is hurt because he feels the present is only the past. Alison begins to pack her toy
squirrel, but then she decides not to do so.
Helena and Cliff soon enter the scene. Alison leaves a letter for Jimmy explaining why she
has left and she gives it to Cliff. After Alison leaves, Cliff becomes angry and gives the letter
to Helena, blaming her for the situation. Jimmy returns, bewildered that he was almost hit by
Colonel Redfern's car and that Cliff pretended not to see him when he was walking by on the
street. He reads Alison's letter and becomes very angry. Helena tells him that Alison is
pregnant, but Jimmy tells her that he does not care. He insults Helena and she slaps him, then
passionately kisses him.
Several months pass and the third act opens with Jimmy and Cliff once again reading the
Sunday papers while Helena stands in the corner ironing. Jimmy and Cliff still engage in
their angry banter and Helena's religious tendencies have taken the brunt of Jimmy's
punishment. Jimmy and Cliff perform scenes from musicals and comedy shows but when
Helena leaves, Cliff notes that things do not feel the same with her here. Cliff then tells
Jimmy that he wants to move out of the apartment. Jimmy takes the news calmly and tells
him that he has been a loyal friend and is worth more than any woman. When Helena returns,
the three plan to go out. Alison suddenly enters.
Alison and Helena talk while Jimmy leaves the room. He begins to loudly play his trumpet.
Alison has lost her baby and looks sick. Helena tells Alison that she should be angry with her
for what she has done, but Alison is only grieved by the loss of her baby. Helena is driven to
distraction by Jimmy's trumpet playing and demands that he come into the room. When he
comes back in, he laments the fact that Alison has lost the baby but shrugs it off. Helena then
tells Jimmy and Alison that her sense of morality -- right and wrong -- has not diminished and
that she knows she must leave. Alison attempts to persuade her to stay, telling her that Jimmy
will be alone if she leaves.
When Helena leaves, Jimmy attempts to once again become angry but Alison tells him that
she has now gone through the emotional and physical suffering that he has always wanted her
to feel. He realizes that she has suffered greatly, has become like him, and becomes softer and
more tender towards her. The play ends with Jimmy and Alison embracing, once again
playing their game of bear and squirrel.
Top Girls
-Caryl Churchill
Characters
Marlene
The central protagonist of Top Girls, who has just been promoted to managing director at the
employment agency where she works. Marlene’s career ambitions have led her to abandon
her family, including her daughter, Angie, who was instead raised by Marlene's sister, Joyce.
Isabella Bird
An English woman who lived from 1831-1904. She was an avid explorer and travelled all
around the world between the ages of 40 and 70. She wrote extensively about her experiences
abroad. Bird married late in life because of her professional aspirations, but her husband died
short of their 5-year anniversary. She is one of Marlene's dinner guests in Act I.
Lady Nijo
A concubine to the Emperor of Japan in the 13th Century, and later, a Buddhist nun. She had
4 children, all of whom were taken away from her. She is one of Marlene's dinner guests in
Act I.
Dull Gret
The subject of Brueghel's famous painting called Dulle Griet, which depicts a woman in an
apron and armor leading an army of women in battle against a horde of demons in Hell. She
is one of Marlene's dinner guests in Act I.
Pope Joan
A legendary Englishwoman believed to have disguised herself as a man and served as the
Pope from 854-856. Joan is brilliant and well-versed in philosophy, theology, metaphysics,
and poetry. Her reign as Pope ended tragically - she revealed her gender when she gave birth
during a public procession and was subsequently stoned to death. She is one of Marlene's
dinner guests in Act I.
Patient Griselda
She is based on the character of the obedient wife in the “Clerk’s Tale” from Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales. In Chaucer’s story, Griselda marries a Marquis who tests her fidelity by
taking her children from her. She remains obedient, and the Marquis eventually rewards her
by reuniting her with her children. She is one of Marlene's dinner guests in Act I.
Jeanine
A twenty-year-old woman who Marlene interviews at Top Girls. Jeanine wants to save
money for a wedding and eventually have children. Marlene takes this to mean that Jeanine
lacks career ambitions and therefore, Marlene treats her as an inferior.
Joyce
Angie’s adoptive mother and Marlene’s sister. Joyce and Marlene do not get along well.
Joyce raised Angie because Marlene wanted to escape Ipswich and pursue a career. Joyce
represents the perspective of the working class. However, she is not a particularly
sympathetic character and is very resentful of her sister.
Angie
Marlene's 16-year-old biological daughter who was adopted by Marlene's sister, Joyce. She is
aggressive and unintelligent and spends most of her time with her younger neighbor, Kit.
Angie makes an unexpected visit to London to see Marlene (whom she believes to be her
aunt) because she aspires to be like her.
Kit
Angie’s younger next-door neighbor and closest friend. Kit is a bright girl with academic
ambitions.
Win
One of the female employees at Top Girls. She is focused on her career.
Nell
One of the female employees at Top Girls. She is also career-driven and is jealous of
Marlene's promotion.
Louise
A forty-six year old woman interviewing at Top Girls. She wants a new job after twnety-one
years at a firm that does not truly value her experience, but Win feels that her age will make
it difficult to find her a new position.
Mrs. Kidd
The wife of Howard Kidd, Marlene's co-worker. Mrs. Kidd visits Marlene at the Top Girls
office to request Marlene to give up her promotion since Howard has worked at the firm
longer and has a family to look after.
Shona
A young girl who interviews with Nell. Nell is impressed with her until she discovers that
Shona has falsified her background and actually has no experience at all.
Plot:
Top Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It is about a woman named Marlene, a career-
driven woman who is only interested in women's success in business. In the famous opening
scene, she hosts a dinner party for a group of famous women from history. As the play
unfolds we find Marlene has left her 'poor' life, and illegitimate child with her sister Joyce, in
order to tread the path to 'success'. The play is contemporary and examines the role of women
in society and what being a successful woman means.
The play was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London on 28 August 1982. It was
directed by Max Stafford-Clark, the Royal Court's Artistic Director, who premiered several
of Churchill's plays. The cast was Selina Cadell, Lindsay Duncan, Deborah Findlay, Carole
Hayman, Lesley Manville, Gwen Taylor and Lou Wakefield.
A production ran at the Watford Palace Theatre November 2–18, 2006 (before transferring to
the Greenwich Theatre November 21–25, 2006). The cast included Rachel Sanders, Zoe
Aldrich, Elaine Claxton, Sara Houghton, Emma Pallant, Claire Redcliffe and Hayley Jayne
Standing.
During the 2007–2008 New York theatre season, Manhattan Theatre Club presented the play
at the Biltmore Theatre in a production starring Mary Catherine Garrison, Mary Beth Hurt,
Jennifer Ikeda, Elizabeth Marvel, Martha Plimpton, Ana Reeder, and Marisa Tomei. The
production was directed by frequent Churchill collaborator James Macdonald. The MTC
production marked the Broadway premiere of "Top Girls", though the original Royal Court
production had visited New York's Public Theater.
A 2011 revival at Chichester Festival Theatre, co-produced with Out of Joint and directed by
the play's original director Max Stafford-Clark transferred to Trafalgar Studios in the West
End, opening on 16 August 2011. The cast included Suranne Jones, Stella Gonet, Olivia
Poulet, Lucy Briers, Laura Elphinstone, Lisa Kerr and Catherine McCormack. This
production tours in the UK in early 2012, with a new cast including Caroline Catz as
Marlene.
Act I of Top Girls takes place in a hip London restaurant where Marlene is gathering five
other women to celebrate her promotion to managing director of Top Girls, the employment
agency where she works. This scene is surreal, because Marlene's 5 dinner guests are female
figures from different historical eras: Isabella Bird; a 19th century writer and traveler, Lady
Nijo; a 13th century courtesan and later, Buddhist nun, Dull Gret; the subject of a Brueghel
painting who led an army of women into hell to fight the devils, Pope Joan; a 9th century
woman who disguised herself as a man and became Pope, and Patient Griselda; the obedient
wife from The Clerk's Tale in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. These women are bound
together by their struggles against patriarchy and oppression - and Marlene relates to each of
them differently.
Act 2 is set at the Top Girls employment agency. Marlene is interviewing a woman named
Jeanine who wants a new job because there are no prospects for advancement at her current
position. Through her questions, Marlene reveals that she looks down on Jeanine for her
desire to get married young, have children, and her uncertainty about her professional future.
Marlene only offers Jeanine two openings, one at a company that makes knitwear and the
other lampshades - neither of which fulfill Jeanine's request for opportunities and travel.
Regardless, Marlene tells Jeanine to be confident and present herself well, because her
performance reflects on Marlene and the agency.
Act 2, Scene 2 is set in Joyce’s backyard, where two young girls, Angie and Kit, have built a
shelter out of junk. They tease and challenge each other, and make a plan to see an X-rated
film in town. Angie speaks in a blunt and monosyllabic manner, and vocalizes her desire to
kill her own mother. Angie also reveals secret plan to visit her aunt (Marlene) in London.
Later, Joyce (Angie’s mom) makes Angie clean her room before she can go to the movies.
Angie returns wearing an old best dress that is slightly small for her. It begins to rain and
Joyce and Kit run inside while Angie stays put. Kit comes out of the house and shouts at
Angie to come inside, then goes down to Angie. Angie tells Kit “I put on this dress to kill my
mother.”
Act 2, Scene 3 is set in the Top Girls Employment Agency on a Monday morning. Win and
Nell have just arrived to begin work. They are drinking coffee and chatting about the men
they dated or had affairs with over the weekend. Marlene arrives and Nell and Win applaud
and whistle for her after being promoted over Howard, but Nell also indicates that she envies
Marlene's success.
Later, Win interviews Louise, who is 46 and feels that it’s time to move on from her long-
term job. Louise is frustrated at her lack of a personal life due to her sustained commitment to
the job, and has watched as younger men are consistently being promoted to better positions
while she is never considered. Win tells Louise the reality of the situation: that some
companies may value her experience but they are more likely to hire younger men.
After the break, the setting reverts to the main office at Top Girls. Angie comes to see
Marlene - who does not recognize her niece at first. Angie reveals that she has come to
London on a one-way ticket without telling Joyce and will be needing a place to stay. Angie
idolizes Marlene and starts asking questions about her job. While Angie is in Marlene's
office, Mrs. Kidd enters. She is the wife of Howard Kidd, who lost the promotion to Marlene.
Mrs. Kidd tells Marlene that the news has left Howard a nervous wreck and requests Marlene
to give up the promotion - since Howard is a man and he has a family to support. Marlene
brushes off Mrs. Kidd and her absurd request - and in response, Mrs. Kidd calls Marlene “one
of those ballbreakers” and tells her she’ll end up “miserable and lonely.”
After the break, Nell is interviewing Shona, who claims to be twenty-nine and working at her
current sales job for four years. Nell, impressed, suggests that Shona might a good employee
for the Top Girls employment agency. Nell then presses Shona a bit on her current job and
personal life, collecting details to present to potential employers. Shona delivers a far-fetched
story about driving a company Porsche and staying in hotels on the company’s expense
account. Nell realizes that Shona is lying and calls the interview a "waste of time". Shona
finally admits that she is only twenty-one and has no experience.
After a scene break, Win enters the main office to find Angie seated at her desk. She
introduces herself and praises Angie's aunt Marlene. They start talking and Win tells Angie
about her professional trajectory. She offhandedly mentions getting married but indicates that
her husband has been imprisoned. However, Angie falls asleep during Win's story. Moments
later, Nell comes into the office and tells Win that Howard’s Kidd has had a heart attack.
Marlene comes into the office and sees Angie asleep. Win tells Marlene that Angie aspires to
work at Top Girls, and Marlene says bluntly, “Packer in Tesco more like.” Win says she
thinks Angie is a nice kid, but Marlene says she’s “a bit thick…a bit funny” and that she’s
“not going to make it.”
Act 3 is a flashback scene set at Joyce’s home on a Sunday evening, three years earlier - the
last time Marlene visited Joyce and Angie in Ipswich. One of the gifts Marlene has brought is
the dress that Angie wears in Act 1. Joyce grumbles that Marlene's surprise visit has caught
her off-guard, and we learn that Angie has orchestrated the visit and invited Marlene without
telling Joyce. In this scene, we learn more about Joyce and Marlene's past as the sisters begin
sharing a bottle of whisky. At one point, Angie asks her aunt to tuck her in, and Marlene
does.
When the sisters are alone, Joyce scolds Marlene for leaving town when she was younger and
leaving Joyce to look after their mother and Angie, who is actually Marlene's biological child.
The sisters continue to argue, and it comes out that Marlene got pregnant with Angie at age
seventeen, but didn’t tell anyone about it until it was too late for an abortion. Joyce and her
husband Frank offered to take the child, after being married for three years and having no
children of their own. However, Joyce blames the stress of raising Angie for her subsequent
miscarriage. Marlene and Joyce begin to argue about British politics, with Marlene taking the
pro-Thatcher conservative side, and Joyce siding with the socialist left wing.
Marlene tells Joyce that she doesn’t “believe in class.” Anyone ought to be able to pursue
their desires if they “have what it takes.” Marlene does not feel that she should be expected to
help “stupid or lazy or frightened” people find jobs. Joyce thinks that Angie falls into the
"stupid, lazy, and frightened" category, but Marlene brushes off her concerns. Joyce,
meanwhile, expects Angie to have a wasted life so long as England is run by “them” meaning
Thatcher’s conservative party. Joyce accuses Marlene of being one of "them". Later, Marlene
tries to tell her sister to relax and says she did not mean everything she said. Joyce does not
accept the gesture and holds onto her claims. She does not want to be friends with her sister -
it is clear that their opposite life choices have driven a wedge between them. Joyce goes to
bed.
Alone, Marlene sits wrapped in a blanket and pours herself another drink. Angie comes into
the room and calls out “Mum?” Marlene says “Angie? What’s the matter?” and again Angie
calls out “Mum?” Marlene replies, “Not, she’s gone to bed. It’s Aunty Marlene.” Angie then
says “Frightening” and when Marlene asks if she’s had a bad dream and suggests things are
fine now because she’s awake, Angie again says “Frightening” and the play ends.
Indian Ink
-Tom Stoppard
Indian Ink is a 1995 play by Tom Stoppard based on his 1991 radio play In the Native State.
In 1930, the year of Gandhi's Salt March, British poet Flora Crewe travels to India for her
health. Flora is a thoroughly modern girl who has modeled for Modigliani, hobnobbed with
communists, and been accused of obscenity for the racy book A Nymph and Her Muse. In
India her portrait is painted by the Indian artist Nirad while she fends off the attentions of a
dashing but dimwitted scion of the British Raj. But her bravado hides the knowledge that she
is severely ill with tuberculosis.
In the 1980s, American academic Eldon Pike seeks out Flora's younger sister Eleanor to
discover the truth about the end of the poet's life — she died in India soon after meeting
Nirad. Eleanor, who married an Englishman she met at Flora's grave and became a staunch
Conservative, reveals little to the scholar, sending him off on a wild goose chase tracing
Flora's path through India. But she is more welcoming to Nirad's son Anish, who also comes
looking for answers. Eleanor shows Anish a painting by Nirad done partly in a classical
Indian style, and partly in the style of Western realism. The painting's erotic symbolism
convinces him that his father and Flora were lovers before she died.
Unit V
One Act Plays
Riders to the Sea

-JM Synge
Characters:
Maurya
Maurya has given birth to six sons during her life on the coastal island lying of at the mouth
of Ireland's Galway Bay. Four of them are already dead, along with their father and
grandfather. She is old and poor and fears that the extended and uncharacteristic absence of
her son Michael means he is about to added to the list of her deceased loved ones. As if
worrying that Michael has drowned weren't enough stress, she also doesn’t appear to be very
successful at persuading her other remaining son, Bartley, from crossing over to the mainland
in a bid to deal away a couple of horses. In the end, Maurya has only her daughters to help
with the cold comfort of knowing that there are no more men in her life for the sea to take
from her. She feels at last a sense of peace and serenity now that her greatest anxiety has been
lifted.
Cathleen
Cathleen is the eldest of Maurya’s daughter. Cathleen is 20 years old; she commiserates with
Bartley’s position and is scornful of her mother’s superstitions. In contrast to the somewhat
mystical bent of her mother, who is given to lamentations and omens, Cathleen is pure
practicality in action, which is a great necessity when living with someone like Maurya.
Nora
The youngest member of the clan, Nora is much more patient with mother’s penchant for
self-pity than her oldest sister is. At the same time, she provides a great sounding board for
Cathleen to express her contrarian views.
The Priest
The priest is never actually seen on stage, but his presence is so vital to the story that he must
be considered at least as important a character as Nora. It is the priest who delivers the
message through Nora that Maurya must put her faith and trust in a God that would never
allow every last one of her sons to die while she is still alive. He is younger and more modern
than Maurya.
Plot:
The setting of the play is a small island off the West of Ireland; the curtain rises on a cottage
kitchen. Cathleen, a twenty-year-old girl, kneads cake. Nora, a younger girl, looks in from the
door and asks where their mother is. Cathleen replies that she is lying down.
Nora enters with a bundle that the young priest had brought: clothes from a dead man washed
up in Donegal. The sisters plan to see if they belong to their brother, Michael. The young
priest on the island said that if the clothes are Michael's, then it would mean that he received a
clean burial. Nora adds that they should not tell their mother about this.
Cathleen asks Nora whether she asked the priest if he thought it would be okay if their
brother Bartley took the horses to the Galway fair; Nora replies that he said God would not
leave her mother without any son.
The girls wonder if they ought to look at the bundle. Cathleen decides to hide it up in the turf-
loft (peat used for fires) for the time being.
Maurya, the girls' mother, enters. She asks why Cathleen needs more turf and Cathleen
explains about the cake, saying that Bartley might need it. Maurya replies that he will not be
leaving today because the priest will stop him. Nora retorts that he will not, and that Bartley
is already down seeing about the boat.
Bartley arrives at the cottage and asks for the rope he bought at Connemara. Maurya tells him
he ought to leave it there because if Michael washes up tomorrow morning they will need it
for the deep grave. Bartley does not agree: he says he has to use it for a halter today, because
there will not be another boat for two weeks or more and he has to sell the horses.
Maurya is piqued and says there has to be a coffin for Michael, especially since she just
bought new white boards with which to build it. Bartley asks why the body would wash up
now since they’ve been checking for nine days, and also how she could think his own boat
would be harmed. Maurya refers to the star rising in the night against the moon, saying that
the horses are not worth losing her son. In response Bartley turns to Cathleen and talks to her
about gathering weeds and selling the pig. Maurya is undeterred, saying that if she were left
with no sons, then she and the girls could not survive.
Bartley asks Nora if the ship is coming to the pier; she says it is letting its sails down. Bartley
prepares to leave, telling his family he will be back in two days. Her back to him, Maurya
calls him cruel for not listening to an old woman. Bartley takes the halter and hesitates for a
moment at the door. He says he must go, and falteringly tells her “the blessing of God on
you” (64). He leaves. Cathleen asks her mother why she did not bless him, especially as there
is already so much sorrow in the house even without him being unlucky. Her mother simply
pokes at the fire.
Nora and Cathleen realize they forgot to give Bartley the cake-bread. They are distressed and
blame their senseless mother for causing chaos in the house. Cathleen gives her the bread and
tells her she must go give it to her son so that “the dark word will be broken” (65). Maurya is
reluctant to leave the cottage, but Cathleen tells Nora to give her mother the walking stick so
she can get down there.
Maurya grumbles but departs. The daughters watch her leave and then grab the bundle. Nora
tells her sister that the young priest said two men were rowing a boat and one’s oar struck a
body. Cathleen opens the bundle while they discuss how long it would have taken for the
body to get to Donegal.
Nora is dismayed to see that the sock in the bundle is just like one she knit for her brother.
She becomes more upset and wonders aloud that a man who was once a great rower and
fisher is now represented merely by a shirt and sock.
Suddenly, the sisters they hear their mother returning. They hide the clothes and try to
conceal their tears. Maurya comes in slowly and sits by the fire. The bread is untouched.
Maurya begins to wail and refuses to answer Cathleen’s queries. Finally Maurya replies
weakly that her heart is broken.
Cathleen looks outside and sees Bartley on the mare with the gray pony behind him and
rebukes her mother. Maurya is still acting oddly, saying that she saw the most fearful thing.
The girls ask her to tell them. She explains she went down to the spring and saw Bartley
riding with the pony. As she talks she becomes distressed, and admits she saw Michael.
Cathleen says that this can't be true, but Maurya explains: as Bartley was riding toward her
she tried to bless him, but the words stuck in her throat and she could say nothing; she then
looked up and saw Michael, dressed nicely.
Cathleen starts to wail that they are destroyed. Nora wonders about the young priest saying
God would never leave Maurya without a son. Maurya scoffs and says that her husband, her
husband’s father, and six sons have all died.
The women hear something outside coming from the northeast. Maurya continues to narrate
how all of her sons died. She ends by talking about Patch, who was brought in dripping wet
even though it was a dry day. She then stretches her hand toward the door and women begin
to come in, just as they did in the story about Patch’s death.
Cathleen asks her mother again about how she could have seen Michael, handing her the
clothes. Nora looks outside and sees men carrying something with water dripping off of it.
Cathleen whispers to the women, asking if the men are carrying Bartley. The women say that
they are.
The men enter and put Bartley on the table. A woman explains that his pony knocked him
into the sea and he was washed out to the white rocks. The women wail and Maurya kneels at
the head of the table. She raises her head and says that, finally, there is nothing else the sea
can do to her; she need never pray or cry again when the wind blows and she will not care
even when other women wail.
Maurya drops Michael’s clothes on Bartley’s feet. She speaks to him, saying it is not that she
has not prayed for him but now she will be able to rest. She kneels and crosses herself.
Cathleen asks an old man to make a coffin with the fine white boards. He wonders how
Maurya forgot to buy nails. Cathleen sighs that she is old and broken.
Maurya spreads Michael’s clothes beside the body and sprinkles holy water on them. Nora
whispers to Cathleen that their mother must have loved Michael more than Bartley because
she wailed insanely when he died. Cathleen attributes it to her mother being tired of crying.
Maurya asks God for mercy on the souls of Michael and Bartley and all her deceased sons.
She adds that Michael had a clean burial in the north and Bartley will get a fine white coffin;
what more is there to desire, especially in such a short life?
The Dumb Waiter

-Harold Pinter
Characters
Gus - Gus is a submissive junior hit man who is constantly bossed around by Ben. Both Gus
and Ben are protagonists of the play, but the audience, also limited in knowledge, sees the
play from Gus's point-of-view, and empathizes more with him. Gus is more sensitive, has a
conscience about his job, and is bored by the stale routine of his lower-class life. He also
questions the inner workings of their job more, especially with regards to the mysterious
Wilson.
Ben - Ben is the senior hit man, the dominant foil to his submissive partner Gus. He runs
their outfit, but pays strict attention to the demands of Wilson, their boss. He often broods
silently, reads the newspaper, doesn't question their job, and evades Gus's probing questions.
Wilson - Wilson is a mysterious figure, the boss of Gus and Ben. He never shows up but the
messages from the dumb waiter may be from him. He may also own the café in which the
play is set. Regardless of his physical reality or lack thereof, he plays an important role in the
other characters' minds.
Plot:
In a basement with a kitchen and beds Ben reads a newspaper while Gus ties his shoelaces.
Gus walks to the kitchen door, then stops and takes a flattened matchbox out of one shoe, and
a flattened cigarette carton out of the other. He puts both items in his pocket and leaves for
the bathroom. There's a sound of the toilet chain being pulled without it flushing, and Gus
returns. Ben reports to Gus a newspaper article about a truck running over an elderly man.
Ben orders Gus to make tea. Gus hopes, "it won't be a long job." Ben reports on an article
about a child who kills a cat. Gus asks if Ben has noticed how long it takes for the toilet tank
to fill.
Gus complains he didn't sleep well on the bed, and wishes that there were a window. He
laments that his life revolves around sleeping all day in an unfamiliar, dark room, then
performing a job, and then leaving at night. Ben tells him they are fortunate to be employed.
Gus asks if Ben ever gets fed up, but they soon fall silent. The toilet finally flushes. Ben
commands him to make tea, as they will go to work very soon. Gus asks Ben why he stopped
the car that morning in the middle of the road. Ben says they were early. Ben tells Gus they
are in the city of Birmingham. Gus wants to watch the Birmingham soccer team tomorrow
(Saturday), but Ben says that there is no time and that they have to get back. Gus speaks
about a Birmingham game they once saw together, but Ben denies it. An envelope slides
under the door.
Neither one knows what is in the envelope. Ben orders Gus to pick it up and open it. He does,
and empties out twelve matches. They are confused, and Ben commands Gus to open the
door and see if anyone is outside. With a revolver for protection, Gus finds no one. Gus says
the matches will come in handy, as he always runs out. Ben tells him to light the kettle
instead. They debate the phrase "light the kettle." Gus feels one should say the "gas," since
that is what is being lit, or "put on the kettle," a phrase his mother used. Ben denies this and
challenges Gus to remember the last time he saw his mother. After further arguments about
the phrase, in which Ben reminds Gus that he has seniority, Ben chokes Gus and screams
"THE KETTLE, YOU FOOL!"
Gus acquiesces and tries to see if the matches will light. They don't light on the flattened box,
but they work on his foot. Ben says, "Put on the bloody kettle," then realizes he has used
Gus's phrase. He says he wants to ask Ben something, and sits on Ben's bed, which annoys
him. Ben asks Gus why he barrages him with so many questions, and tells him to do his job
and shut up. After Gus repeatedly asks who it's going to be tonight and a moment of silence,
Ben orders him to make tea. After he leaves, Ben checks his revolver under his pillow for
ammunition.
Gus returns and says that the gas has gone out and the meter needs to be refilled with coins.
Ben says they'll have to wait for Wilson. Gus says that Wilson doesn't always come—he
sometimes sends only a message. Gus argues that since no one ever hears anything, Wilson
must own all the places they go to; Ben says Wilson rents them.
They are interrupted by a sound from the wall. They investigate and find a box on a dumb
waiter (a small elevator used for conveying food and dishes between stories of a building).
Gus pulls a piece of paper out, and reads out an order for food. The dumb waiter ascends. Ben
explains that the upstairs used to be a café, the basement was the kitchen, and that these
places change ownership quickly. The dumb waiter descends again, and Gus pulls out another
order for food. Gus looks up the hatch, but Ben pushes him away. Ben decides they should
send something up, but they have only a little food. They put everything on a plate, but the
dumb waiter ascends before they can put the plate on it. The box descends again with another
order, this time for "high class" exotic food. They put the plate on and Gus calls up the brand
names of the food. Ben tells him not to shout, as "It isn't done." Gus then discusses, without
Ben's answering, his feelings of anxiety about the job and Wilson. Another order comes down
the passage for more food with which they are unfamiliar. The packet of tea they sent up has
also returned.
Ben decides they should write a note telling them they can't fill the orders, but then they
notice an intercom tube. Gus yells into the tube that there is no food. Ben gives Gus the
instructions for the job. They must corner the target with guns when he or she enters the
room. Gus excuses himself to the bathroom, where the toilet again does not flush, and returns.
He asks Ben who is upstairs. They argue, and Gus wants to know why they have to play these
"games." Ben hits him twice on the shoulder. Another order comes, they fight again, and then
they retreat into silence, Ben reading his newspaper, as the dumb waiter goes up and comes
down again. Gus leaves to get a drink of water, and the speaking tube whistle blows. Ben
listens through the tube and confirms that it is time to do their job. He hangs up and calls for
Gus. He levels his gun at the door and Gus stumbles in, vulnerably stripped of some of his
clothes and his gun. He looks up at Ben, and they stare at each other through a long silence.
Mother Figure
-Alan Ayckbourn
"Mother Figure": Housewife Lucy has the difficult job of looking after the children alone
whilst her husband is away. This job of looking after the children has taken over her life; so
much so that she never leaves the house and doesn't even have the time to change out of her
pyjamas. Concerned neighbour Rosemary decides to come around to check on Lucy and to
give her the number of her husband Harry who has been trying to call her for a while, and is
shocked to find Lucy rushing around trying to look after the children and revealing that she
doesn't listen to bells. Rosemary enlists the help of her husband Terry to discover what is
wrong with Lucy. Terry is a chauvinist with no respect for Rosemary, and this attitude is clear
in the way he speaks to both Lucy and Rosemary. However Lucy, in her permanent state of
the "mother", treats the pair in the only way she knows how, as children. This approach
quickly puts Terry in his place and puts an end to the petty squabbles between Rosemary and
Terry, and the end result is the pair leaving hand in hand (if rather reluctantly).
PAPER-IV
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AND PHONETICS
Unit I
a) Language as a System of Communication
Language is a system for communicating. Written languages use symbols (that is, characters)
to build words. The entire set of words is the language's vocabulary. The ways in which the
words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the language's syntax and grammar. The
actual meaning of words and combinations of words is defined by the language's semantics.
In computer science, human languages are known as natural languages. Unfortunately,

computers are not sophisticated enough to understand natural languages. As a result, we must
communicate with computers using special computer languages. There are many different
classes of computer languages, including machine languages, programming languages, and
fourth-generation languages.
Systems of communication are not unique to human beings. Other animal species
communicate in a variety of ways. One way is by sound: a bird may communicate by a call
that a territory is his and should not be encroached upon.
Features of Human Communication
Vocal-auditory channel. Refers to the idea that speaking/hearing is the mode humans use
for language. When Hockett first defined this feature, it did not take sign language into
account, which reflects the ideology of orality that was prevalent during the time. This
feature has since been modified to include other channels of language, such as tactile-visual
or chemical-olfactory.
Broadcast transmission and directional reception When humans speak, sounds are
transmitted in all directions; however, listeners perceive the direction from which the sounds
are coming. Similarly, signers broadcast to potentially anyone within the line of sight, while
those watching see who is signing. This is characteristic of most forms of human and animal
communication.
Transitoriness Also called rapid fading, transitoriness refers to the idea of temporary quality
of language. Language sounds exist for only a brief period of time, after which they are no
longer perceived. Sound waves quickly disappear once a speaker stops speaking. This is also
true of signs. In contrast, other forms of communication such as writing and Inka khipus
(knot-tying) are more permanent.
Interchangeability Refers to the idea that humans can give and receive identical linguistic
signals; humans are not limited in the types of messages they can say/hear. One can say "I am
a boy" even if one is a girl. This is not to be confused with lying (prevarication). The
importance is that a speaker can physically create any and all messages regardless of their
truth or relation to the speaker. In other words, anything that one can hear, one can also say.
Not all species possess this feature. For example, in order to communicate their status, queen
ants produce chemical scents that no other ants can produce (see animal communication
below).
Total feedback Speakers of a language can hear their own speech and can control and
modify what they are saying as they say it. Similarly, signers see, feel, and control their
signing.
Specialization The purpose of linguistic signals is communication and not some other
biological function. When humans speak or sign, it is generally intentional.
An example of non-specialized communication is dog panting. When a dog pants, it often
communicates to its owner that it is hot or thirsty; however, the dog pants in order to cool
itself off. This is a biological function, and the communication is a secondary matter.
Semanticity Specific sound signals are directly tied to certain meanings.
Arbitrariness ** languages are generally made up of both arbitrary and iconic symbols. In
spoken languages this takes the form of onomatopoeias. In English "murmur", in Mandarin
"mao" (the higher tone) (cat). In ASL "cup", "me" "up/down", etc. There is no intrinsic or
logical connection between a sound form (signal) and its meaning. Whatever name a human
language attributes an object is purely arbitrary. The word "car" is nothing like an actual car.
Spoken words are really nothing like the objects they represent. This is further demonstrated
by the fact that different languages attribute very different names to the same object.
Signed languages are transmitted visually and this allows for a certain degree of iconicity. For
example, in the ASL sign HOUSE, the hands are flat and touch in a way that resembles the
[3]
roof and walls of a house. However, many other signs are not iconic, and the relationship
between form and meaning is arbitrary. Thus, while Hockett did not account for the
possibility of non-arbitrary form-meaning relationships, the principle still generally applies.
Discreteness Linguistic representations can be broken down into small discrete units which
combine with each other in rule-governed ways. They are perceived categorically, not
continuously. For example, English marks number with the plural morpheme /s/, which can
be added to the end of any noun. The plural morpheme is perceived categorically, not
continuously: we cannot express smaller or larger quantities by varying how loudly we
pronounce the /s/.
Displacement Refers to the idea that humans can talk about things that are not physically
present or that do not even exist. Speakers can talk about the past and the future, and can
express hopes and dreams. A human's speech is not limited to here and now. Displacement is
one of the features that separates human language from other forms of primate
communication.
Productivity Refers to the idea that language-users can create and understand novel
utterances. Humans are able to produce an unlimited amount of utterances. Also related to
productivity is the concept of grammatical patterning, which facilitates the use and
comprehension of language. Language is not stagnant, but is constantly changing. New
idioms are created all the time and the meaning of signals can vary depending on the context
and situation.
Traditional transmission Also called cultural transmission. While humans are born with
innate language capabilities, language is learned after birth in a social setting. Children learn
how to speak by interacting with experienced language users. Language and culture are
woven together.
Duality of patterning Meaningful messages are made up of distinct smaller meaningful units
(words and morphemes) which themselves are made up of distinct smaller, meaningless units
(phonemes).
Prevarication Prevarication is the ability to lie or deceive. When using language, humans
can make false or meaningless statements.
Reflexiveness Humans can use language to talk about language.
Learnability Language is teachable and learnable. In the same way as a speaker learns their
first language, the speaker is able to learn other languages. It is worth noting that young
children learn language with competence and ease; however, language acquisition is
constrained by a critical period such that it becomes more difficult once children pass a
certain age.
Differences between Animal and Human Communication
Human Animal
Distinctive sounds, called Other animals do not communicate by arrangin
phonemes, are arbitrary and have arbitrary sounds, which limits the number of
Duality of no meaning. But humans can messages they can create.
Patterning string these sounds in an infinite
number of ways to create meaning
via words and sentences.
New words can be invented Animals have to evolve in order for their signs
Creativity easily. to change.
Humans can talk about remote, Animal communication is context driven—the
abstract, or imaginary things that react to stimuli, or indexes.
Displacement aren't happening in their
immediate environments.
Any gender of human can use the Certain animal communications in the animal
Interchangeability same languages. world can only be used by one gender of that
animal.
Humans acquire language The way that animals communicate are
Cultural
culturally—words must be biological, or inborn.
Transmission
learned.
Human language is symbolic, Animal communication is not symbolic, so it
using a set number of sounds cannot preserve ideas of the past.
Arbitrariness (phonemes) and characters
(alphabet), which allows ideas to
be recorded and preserved.
On a purely biological level, the Other animals have different biological

human voice box and tongue are structures, which impact they way they make
Biology very unique, and are required to sounds.
make the sounds we recognize as
language.
A word, or sign, can have several Every sign has only one meaning.
Ambiguity meanings.
Human language can arrange Animals only have a limited number of
words into an infinite number of combinations they can use to communicate.
Variety ideas, sometimes referred to as
discrete infinity.
b) Verbal Communication:
Verbal communication is called oral communication. It uses spoken words to communicate a

message. When most of the people think of verbal communication, they think of speaking,
but listening is also a very important skill. It is an equally important skill as the others.
Improving verbal communication skills can help the learners to promote better relationships
with his co-workers. It maintains a large network of contacts also.
Communicative English is based on real language, as used day-to-day. It is the language that
is expressive, active and fun. It stresses on the interaction between two people or more than
two people. It has some activities such as role play, interviews, group work and debates. The
main purpose of it is to share ideas and to communicate something with others.
English is one of the most important languages in the present days. It is commonly used as a
medium for the communication of information. Most of the messages and telegrams are sent
in English. More than eighty percentages of computer data are processed and stored in
English. If we see the books, newspapers and journals, they are published in English. It is the
link language, library language, bookish language, and communicative language. Since
English is an international language, the people, who speak English, have a definite status in
society. In the modern days, Standard English is taught in schools and colleges because of
necessity. As it is the job orientated language, it has been given more importance than other
languages. It has brought the importance of communication.
Formal vs Informal Communication
Companies need to be able to communicate effectively. This is especially true of large

companies where personal interaction may not be practical. This is where formal
communication comes into play.
Formal communication involves utilizing the formal communication channels of an
organization. Formal communication can move vertically in an organization. Information is
collected and flows up to the top levels of management for review and decision making,
while orders flow down from the top to the place where it will be implemented. For example,
employees may be given a presentation from the human resources department on new
policies and procedures.
Formal communication can also flow horizontally across the organization. Unlike vertical
communication that involves communication between a higher and lower level of an
organizational hierarchy, horizontal communication occurs between two parts of the
organization at the same level. For example, the vice-presidents of a company may hold a
quarterly meeting to discuss the upcoming quarter.
Not all communication in an organization is formal. Informal communication is
communication between employees outside the formal communication structure of the
company. While the subject of informal communication can be business-related, it need not
be. You can think of informal communication as 'water-cooler talk.’
One way vs Two way Communication
One-way communication is linear and limited because it occurs in a straight line from sender
to receiver and serves to inform, persuade or command.
SENDER MESSAGE RECEIVER
Two-way communication always includes feedback from the receiver to the sender and lets
the sender know the message has been received accurately.
In two-way communication, communication is negotiated. Both sender and receiver listen to

each other, gather information and are willing to make changes to work together in harmony.
Their intent is to negotiate a mutually satisfactory situation.
c) Non-Verbal Communication
Non-verbal communication includes body language, gestures, facial expressions, and even
posture. Non-verbal communication sets the tone of a conversation. It can seriously weaken
the message contained in the speaker’s words if he is not careful to control it. For example,
slouching and shrinking back in the chair during a business meeting can make one seem
under-confident. It may lead people to doubt the strength of his verbal contributions. We can
see non-verbal communication from the following image.
There are five primary functions of non-verbal bodily behavior in human communication
1. Express emotions
2. Express interpersonal attitudes
3. Work with speech
4. Present one’s personality
5. Greetings
Non-verbal communication includes:
Ø Body Language
Ø Gestures
Ø Facial Expressions
Ø Posture
It’s well known that good communication is the foundation of any successful relationship, be
it personal or professional. It’s important to recognize that it’s our nonverbal communication
—our facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and tone of voice— that speak the
loudest. The ability to understand and use nonverbal communication, or body language, is a
powerful tool that can help us connect with others, express what we really mean, and build
better relationships.
When we interact with others, we continuously give and receive wordless signals. All of our
nonverbal behaviors—the gestures we make, the way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk,
how close we stand, how much eye contact we make—send strong messages. These messages
don’t stop when we stop speaking either. Even when we are silent, we are still
communicating nonverbally.
Aspects Relating to Body Language

Body language is very important in non-verbal communication. They include:
Body Movements and Posture

Facial Expressions
Gestures
Eye Contact
Touch
Space
Voice
1. Body Movements and Posture

One should consider how his perceptions of people are affected by the way they sit, walk,
stand up, or hold their head. The way the speaker moves and carries communicates a wealth
of information to the world. This type of nonverbal communication includes his posture,
bearing, stance, and subtle movements.
2. Facial Expressions
The human face is extremely expressive, able to express countless emotions without saying a
word. And unlike some forms of nonverbal communication, facial expressions are universal.
The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust are the same
across cultures.
3. Gestures
Gestures are very common in our daily lives. We wave, point, signal, and use our hands when
we are arguing or speaking animatedly—expressing ourselves with gestures often without
thinking. However, the meaning of gestures can be very different across cultures and regions,
so it’s important to be careful to avoid misunderstandings. The following image shows many
gestures:
4. Eye Contact
Since the visual sense is dominant for most people, eye contact is an especially important
type of nonverbal communication. The way we look at someone can communicate many
things, including interest, affection, hostility, or attraction. Eye contact is also important in
maintaining the flow of conversation and for gauging the other person’s response.
5. Touch
We communicate a great deal through touch. Think about the messages given by the
following: a weak handshake, a timid tap on the shoulder, a warm bear hug, a reassuring slap
on the back, and a patronizing pat on the head.
6. Space
We all have a need for physical space, although that need differs depending on the culture,
the situation, and the closeness of the relationship. We can use physical space to
communicate many different nonverbal messages, including signals of intimacy and
affection, aggression or dominance.
7. Voice
It’s not just what we say; it’s how we say it. When we speak, a number of people observe us
and read our voices in addition to listening to our words. Things they pay attention to include
our timing and pace, how loud we speak, our tone and inflection, and sounds that convey
understanding, such as “ahh” and “uh-huh.” We should think about how someone’s tone of
voice, for example, can indicate sarcasm, anger, affection, or confidence.
Unit II
a) Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech,
or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the
physical properties of speech sounds or signs (phones): their physiological production,
acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neuro-physiological status. Phonology, on the
other hand, is concerned with the abstract, grammatical characterization of systems of sounds
or signs.
Articulatory Phonetics
It is the study of the organs of speech and their use in producing speech sounds by the
speaker.
Organs of Speech
Speech organs or articulators, produce the sounds of language. Organs used for speech
include the lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, velum (soft palate), uvula, glottis and
various parts of the tongue. They can be divided into two types: passive articulators and
active articulators. Active articulators move relative to passive articulators, which remain
still, to produce various speech sounds, in particular manners of articulation. The upper lip,
teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, uvula, and pharynx wall are passive articulators.
The most important active articulator is the tongue as it is involved in the production of the
majority of sounds. The lower lip is another active articulator. But glottis is not active
articulator because it is only a space between vocal folds.
Important organs
1. Lips 7. Epiglottis
2. Teeth 8. Pharynx
3. Alveolar ridge 9. Soft palate
4. Tongue 10. Uvula
5. Larynx 11. Hard palate
6. Vocal cords
Descriptions and Functions of Some Important Organs of Speech
The vocal cords

The larynx contains two small bands of elastic tissues. They are called vocal cords. The
opening between the vocal cords is called epiglottis. When we breath in or out, the glottis is
open. This is the position of the production of voiceless sounds. e.g. /f/, /s/, /h/, etc are
voiceless sounds in English. The sounds produced when the glottis comes together are called
voiced sounds. So the main function of the vocal cords is to produce voiced and voiceless
sounds.
The soft palate

The soft palate is also called velum. It is the roof of the mouth. It separates the oral and nasal
cavity. The last part of the soft palate is called uvula. When it is lowered, the nasal sounds
(/m, n, ŋ/) are produced. When it is raised, the air passes out through the oral cavity and the
oral sounds (/p, t, k, s, etc/) are produced.
The tongue
The tongue is an important organ of speech. It has the greatest variety of movement. It is
divided into four parts: the tip, the blade, the front and the back. The number of vowels is
produced with the help of the tongue. Vowels differ from each other because of the position
of the tongue.
The tip of the tongue helps to produce /t, d, z, etc/. The blade of the tongue helps to
produce /t∫, dÎ, ∫, etc/. The front of the tongue helps to produce palatal sound /j/ and the back
of the tongue helps to produce /k, g/ sounds.
The Lips
The upper lip and lower lip help to produce bilabial sounds /p, b, m/. If they are held
together, the sounds produced in that position are bilabial stops: / p, b/. If the lips are held
together, they produce different vowels.
The Teeth
The teeth take part in the production of consonant sounds. The upper teeth only take part in
the production of speech sounds. The lower teeth don't take part for the production of sounds.
The sound produced with the help of the upper teeth is called dental sound.
The Alveolar Ridge

The alveolar ridge is the part between the upper teeth and the hard palate. The sound
produced with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge is called alveolar sounds, e.g. /s/, /t/, /d/,
etc. Producing different speech sounds depends on the movement of speech organs. It is
essential to know the movement and the placement of each organ to produce particular
sounds. The above descriptions and functions of the organ of speech help you to guide
students to produce the consonants and vowels in a right way.
Speech Mechanism
Speech production is the process by which thoughts are translated into speech. This includes
the selection of words, the organization of relevant grammatical forms, and then the
articulation of the resulting sounds by the motor system using the vocal apparatus. Speech
production can be spontaneous such as when a person creates the words of a conversation,
reactive such as when they name a picture or read aloud a written word, or imitative, such as
in speech repetition. Speech production is not the same as language production since
language can also be produced manually by signs.
Respiration
The respiratory system [2] is located in the chest (thorax) – a cavity, created by rib cage and
the muscles. The ribs are posteriorly connected to the vertebral column, and anteriorly to the
sternum (breast-bone). This thoracic cavity is on its top limited by the shoulder blades
(scapuae), and on the bottom by the diaphragm. The lungs are located within the thoracic
cavity: they are a cone-shaped organ, made of sponge-like matter, consisting of many
bronchioles that branch into numerous alveoli. The lungs and the inward surface of the cage
are connected with pleural linkage, a fluid-like matter that makes possible for the lungs to
expand or shrink simultaneously with the cavity. The lungs act as bellows (Crystal 20): after
the chest muscles flex, the pressure inside the lungs increases, which forces air to exit; in
reverse, by lowering the diaphragm or flexing the rib muscles, the pressure inside the lungs
decreases, which forces the air to enter the respiratory system.
The Respiratory System
There are two important phases in the respiratory system that are related to speech:
inspiration and exhalation. They make the respiratory cycle, which is relevant not only in
providing the energy, but also “in the sequential organization of speech” (Clark, Introduction
21). Inspiration, or the process of inhaling, occurs when the thoracic volume increases, which
causes the lowering of the pressure in lungs. This pressure difference causes air to enter the
system. The increase of space within the thorax is achieved by the rib cage moving upwards
(caused by shortening of intercostal muscles) or by lowering of the diaphragm. Expiration, or
exhalation, is achieved by the “elastic recoil forces” or relaxation pressure (24).
b) Phonetic Sounds vs Phonetic Sounds

Phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior
knowledge of the language being spoken.
Phonology is about patterns of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different

languages, or within each language, different patterns of sounds in different positions in
words etc.
Classification of Phonemic Sounds IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation

based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic
Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken
language. The IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers,
linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators and
translators.
The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of oral language:
phones, phonemes, intonation and the separation of words and syllables. To represent
additional qualities of speech, such as tooth gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft
lip and cleft palate, an extended set of symbols, the extensions to the International Phonetic
Alphabet, may be used.
IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types, letters and diacritics.
For example, the sound of the English letter t may be transcribed in IPA with a single letter,
[t], or with a letter plus diacritics, [t̺ ],ʰ depending on how precise one wishes to be Often,
slashes are used to signal broad or phonemic transcription; thus, /t/ is less specific than, and
could refer to, either [t̺ ]ʰ or [t], depending on the context and language.
Occasionally letters or diacritics are added, removed or modified by the International
Phonetic Association. As of the most recent change in 2005, there are 107 letters, 52
diacritics and four prosodic marks in the IPA. These are shown in the current IPA chart,
posted below in this article and at the website of the IPA.
Phonemic Transcription (Word and Sentence Levels)
absorption əbˈzɔːbʃən
absurd əbˈsɜːd
anxious ˈæŋkʃəs
apricot ˈɛɪprɪkɒt
arctic ˈɑːktɪk
aren't ɑːnt
Asia ˈɛɪʒə
asphalt ˈæʃfɛlt
balm bɑːm
band bænd
basically ˈbɛɪsɪkliː
basil ˈbæzəl
bath bɑːθ
beauty ˈbjuːtiː
been biːn
beret ˈbɛrɛɪ
clique kliːk
cloth klɒθ
colonel ˈkɜːnəl
colour ˈkələ
comfortable ˈkəmftəbəl
do duː
docile ˈdəʊsɑɪl
doesn't ˈdəzənt
doll dɒl
dress drɛs
either ˈiːðə
electric ɪˈlɛktrɪk
English ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ
force fɔːs
forehead ˈfɔːhɛd
from frɒm
fully ˈfʊliː
herb hɜːb
historic hɪsˈtɒrɪk
hovercraft ˈhɒvəˌkrɑːft
Sentences
Some full‐length case‐studies – they may not be phrases that come up frequently in
conversation, but all of them have been used before, and “The North Wind and the Sun”
often turns up as a sample text in comparative studies. In each case, I am speaking with
normal levels of emphasis at ordinary conversational speeds.
With tenure, Suzie'd have all the more leisure for yachting, but her publications are no
good. /wɪð ˈtɛnjə ˈsuːˌziːd hæv ɔːl ð mɔː ˈlɛʒə fə ˈjɒtɪŋ bət hɜː ˌpəblɪˈkɛɪʃənz ə nəʊ ɡʊd/
c) Description of Consonant Sounds and Vowel Sounds

Consonant Sounds
The organs of speech are capable of uttering many different kinds of sounds.
From the practical point of view it is convenient to distinguish two types ofspeech sounds: vo
wels and consonants.
A vowel is a voiced sound produced in the mouth with no obstruction to theair stream.
The air stream is weak.
The tongue and the vocal cords are tense.
A consonant is a sound produced with an obstruction to the air stream.
The organs of speech are tense at the place of obstruction.
In the articulation ofvoiceless consonants the air stream is strong, while in voiced
consonants it isweaker.
Consonants are the bones of a word and give it its basic shape.
English accents differ mainly in vowels;
The consonants are more or less the samewherever English is spoken.
On the articulatory level the consonants change:

1. In the degree of noise (noise consonants – sonorants);
2. In the manner of articulation (it is determined by the obstruction:
Complete organs of speech are in contact and the air stream meets a closure in the
mouth or nasal cavities;
In the place of articulation (it is determined by the active organ of speechagainst the point of
articulation)
An obstruction is formed in the articulation of sonorants as well, but the airpassage is wider
t han in the formation of noise consonants.
The air stream is weak and it produces very little friction.
That is why in the articulation ofsonorants tone prevails over noise.
Consonant Sounds (24)
/p/ Pen, Temple, Top

/b/ back, baby, job
/t/ tea, tight, button
/d/ day, ladder, odd
/k/ key, clock, school
/g/ get, giggle, ghost
/tʃ/ church, match, nature
/dʒ/ judge, age, soldier
/f/ fat, coffee, rough, photo
/v/ view, heavy, move
/θ/ thing, author, path
/ð/ this, other, smooth
/s/ soon, cease, sister
/z/ zero, music, roses, buzz
/ʃ/ ship, sure, national
/ʒ/ pleasure, vision, measure
/h/ hot, whole, ahead
/m/ more, hammer, sum
/n/ nice, know, funny, sun
/ŋ/ ring, anger, thanks, sung
/l/ light, valley, feel
/r/ right, wrong, sorry, arrange
/j/ yet, use, beauty, few
/w/ wet, one, when, queen
Place of Articulation
Bilabial made with the two lips (/p/, /b/,/w/ /m/)

Labiodental the lower lip articulates with the upper teeth (/f/, /v/).
Dental the tongue tip articulate with the upper teeth (/Ɵ/, /ð/)
Alveolar the tongue tip and/or blade articulates with the alveolar ridge (/t, d, n, l, s, z/).
Post-alveolar the blade articulates with the alveolar ridge (/r/)
Palato-alveolar The tip, blade, and front of the tongue articulates with the hard palate (/ʃ ʒ tʃ
dʒ/ )
Palatal the front (or blade) of the tongue articulates with the hard palate (/j/).
Velar the back of the tongue articulates with the soft palate (/k g Ƞ/).
Glottal sounds involving an obstruction or narrowing of the glottis (/h/)
Manner of Articulation:
Plosives: A complete closure at some point in the vocal tract, behind which the air pressure
builds up and can be released with a sudden burst (plosion) /p, b, t, d, k, g/.
Affricates are consonants articulated with a stricture of firm closure of mouth followed by a
slow release. /tʃ/ /dʒ/
Fricatives are produced with a stricture almost approximation. / f, v, Ɵ, ð, h, z, s/
Frictionless continuant: These are sounds produced with an open approximation /r/
Semi Vowels: These are also consonants articulated with an open approximation. They are
vowel like in quality and function like consonants. /j/ & /w/
Description of English Consonants
1. /p/ - voiceless bilabial plosive

2. / b/ - voiced bilabial plosive
3. / t/ - voiceless alveolar plosive
4. / d/ - voiced alveolar plosive
5. / k/ - voiceless velar plosive
6. /g/ - voiced velar plosive
7. /f/ - voiceless labio-dental fricative
8. /v/ - voiced labio-dental fricative
9. /Ɵ/ - voiceless dental fricative
10. /ð/ - voiced dental fricative
11. /s/ - voiceless alveolar fricative
12. /z/ voiced alveolar fricative
13. / ʃ / - voiceless palate-alveolar fricative
14. / ʒ / - voiced palato-alveolar fricative
15. /h/ - voiceless glottal fricative
16. /tʃ/ - voiceless palato -alveolar affricate
17. /dʒ/ - voiced palato -alveolar affricate
18. /m/ - voiced bi-labial nasal
19. /n/ - voiced alveolar nasal
20. /Ƞ/ - voiced velar nasal
21. /j/ - voiced palatal semi-vowel
22. /w/ - voiced bi-labial semi-vowel
23. /r / - voiced post-alveolar frictionless continuent
24. /l/ -voiced alveolar lateral
Vowel Sounds
Vowel: Monophthongs
In articulating vowel sounds, the sound comes out without any friction in vocal cards. From a
phonological point of view, vowels generally occupy the initial, middle and final of the
syllable.
There are twenty vowel sounds in English. They are mainly categorized into two groups.
1. Monophthongs
2. Diphthongs
A monophthong is a pure or single vowel sound. Monophthings are twelve in number. They
are:
Sl Vowel
No Phonemes Initial Medial Final
1 /iː/ Eat neat Key
2 /ɪ/ It nit Many
3 /e/ Any dress It does not occur finally
4 /æ/ Accent fan It does not occur finally
5 /ɑː/ Art cart Car
6 /ɒ/ Odd lot It does not occur finally
7 /ɔː/ Ought caught Law
8 /ʊ/ It does not occur initially good To
9 /uː/ Ooze group Two
10 /ʌ/ Up blood It does not occur finally
11 /ɜː/ Earn world Err
12 /ə/ About forget Standard
The complete diagram of English vowels is:
Monophthongs are again divided into two classes.

1. Long vowels
2. Short vowels
There are five long vowels: /iː/, /uː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /ɜː/
There are seven short vowels: /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/, /ʊ/, /ə/
From the 12 pure vowels, there are 4 front vowels (/iː/, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/); 5 back vowels (/ɑː/, /ɒ/,
/ɔː/, /ʊ/, /uː/); and 3 central vowels (/ʌ/, /ɜː/, /ə/). These are:
Front Vowels:
1. /iː/
It is a front close long unrounded vowel. While producing the sound, lips are spread. The
front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate. This vowel can occur initially,
medially and finally in words as in ‘eat’ /i:t/, ‘meat’ /mi:t/, ‘see’ /si:/ respectively. It is spelt:
‘e’ as in remark, economy; ‘ee’ as in see, feet; ‘ea’ as in each, seal, plea; ‘ie’ as in seize.
2. /ɪ/ or /i/
It is a front just above the half-close short unrounded vowel. Lips are spread while producing
this sound. The front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate. The tongue is
comparatively lax. This vowel can occur initially, medially and finally in words like ‘it’ /it/,
‘sit’ /sit/, ‘busy’ /bizi/ respectively. This sound is spelt: ‘i’ as in ill, tick; ‘y’ as in syntax,
party, city.
3. /e/
It is a front between half-close and half-open short unrounded vowel. While producing this
sound, lips are partly open. The front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate
to a height between half-close and half-open. This vowel can occur initially and medially in
words as in ‘any’ /eni/ and ‘bed’ /bed/. It does not occur finally. The vowel is spelt: ‘e’ as in
elf, fell; ‘ea’ as in lead, head, bread.
4. /æ/
It is a front unrounded short vowel and occurs between open and half open positions. While
producing this sound, the lips are neutral and front of the tongue is raised in the direction of
the hard palate. This vowel can occur initially and medially in words as in ‘act’ /ækt/ and ‘rat’
/ræt/. It does not occur finally in a word. It is spelt: ‘a’ as in fan, man, act, fact.
There are five back vowel phonemes in English.
1. /ɑː/
It is a back long open unrounded vowel. While articulating this sound, the lips are neutral and
mouth wide open and sound comes out freely. /ɑː/ can occur initially, medially and finally in
r
words as in ‘art’ /ɑːt/, ‘dart’ /dɑːt/ and ‘car’ /kɑː / respectively. It is generally spelt by the
letter ‘a’ followed by a silent ‘r’ in syllable as in art, cart, jar; It is often followed by a silent
letter ‘l’ in words as in palm, calm, balm; Sometimes ‘f’ or ‘ff’ can follow: after, staff;
Sometimes ‘ss’ can follow: pass, class.
2. /ɒ/or /o/
It is a back rounded short vowel. It occurs just above the open position. While producing this
sound, the lips are slightly rounded and the back of the tongue is just above the fully open
position. /ɒ/ can occur initially and medially in words as in ‘ox’ /ɒks/ and ‘box’ /bɒks/. The
vowel is spelt ‘o’ as in odd; ‘ou’ as in cough.
3. /ɔː/
It is a back rounded long vowel. It occurs between half open and half close position. While
pronouncing, the lips are rounded and the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the
soft palate. /ɔː/ can occur initially, medially and finally in words as in ‘ought’ /ɔːt/,
‘bought’ /bɔːt/ and ‘law’ /lɔː/ respectively. It is generally spelt ‘aw’ or ‘au’: drawn, taught,
draught.
4. /ʊ/
It is a back rounded short vowel. It occurs just above half close position. While articulating,
lips are rounded, the tongue is lax and the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the
soft palate. /ʊ/ does not occur initially in a word. It can occur medially and finally in words as
in ‘put’ /pʊt/ and ‘to’ /tʊ/. The sound is spelt: ‘u’ as in push cushion, pull, put; ‘oo’ as in
look, book, foot, soot, wood, stood, wool, room.
5. /uː/
It is a back rounded long vowel. It occurs at the close position. While articulating the sound,
the tongue is tensed, lips are rounded and back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the
soft palate. /uː/ can occur initially, medially and finally in words as in ‘ooze’ /uːz/, ‘root’
/ruːt/ and ‘zoo’ /zuː/ respectively. The sound is usually spelt: ‘u’ or ‘oo’ as in rule, root and
taboo. The letter ‘o’ is as in route, through, routine, soup. The sound is often preceded by the
palatal /j/ which optionally inserted in words like suit, fruit, music, mutiny.
There are three central vowel phonemes in English. They are:
1. /ʌ/
It is a central unrounded short vowel. It occurs just above the open position. During
pronouncing this sound, the centre of the tongue is raised towards between hard palate and
soft palate. /ʌ/ can occur initially and medially in words such as ‘up’ /ʌp/ and ‘cut’ /kʌt/. It
does not occur finally in a word. It is usually spelt: ‘u’ as in under, but; ‘o’ as in come, front,
and honey. ‘ou’ and ‘oo’ are as in courage, southern, rough, tough, blood, flood.
2. /ɜː/
It is a central unrounded long vowel. It occurs between half close and half open. While
articulating the sound, lips are spread, the tongue is tensed, and the centre of the tongue is
raised towards between hard palate and soft palate. /ɜː/ can occur initially, medially and
finally in words as in ‘earn’ /ɜːn/, ‘learn’ /lɜːn/ and ‘fur’ /ɜː/ respectively. It is spelt: The
letters ‘it’ ‘ur’ ‘er’ ‘ar’ ‘yr’ followed by a consonant sound as in bird, burn, fern, myrtle,
learn, early, journal, journey.
3. /ə/
It is a central unrounded short vowel. It is the most frequent vowel in English. It occurs
between half close and half open position. While producing this sound, the centre of the
tongue is raised towards between hard palate and soft palate. /ə/ can occur initially, medially
and finally in words as in ‘alas’ /əlæs/, ‘forgive’ /fəgiv/ and ‘master’ /mɑːstə/ respectively.
The sound is spelt: The letters ‘a’ and ‘e’ as in aside, collide, rather,
Vowel Sounds - Diphthongs:
A diphthong means two sounds or two tones, also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two
adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable.
Examples:
/eɪ/ face, day, break, case, make, shady, crazy, game, vain, pay
/aɪ/ price, high, try, time, cry, right, lie, tried, bye, dry, rhyme,
/ɔɪ/ choice, boy, point, join, joy, toil, noise, coin, soil, boil
/əʊ/ goat, show, no, go, bold, gold, joke, post, cold, home, road
/aʊ/ mouth, now, allow, cow, how, town, brown, ground, round
/ɪə/ near, here, weary, ear, pierce, fear, tear, dear, idea, museum
/eə/ square.fair, various, care, share, dare, scare, chair, heir, pair
/ʊə/ poor, jury, cure, sure, endure, furious, tour, fewer, securit
Unit-III
a) Word Accent / Stress
Syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of written and spoken language. It is a unit consisting of sound that
can be used to make up words. For example, the word hotel has two syllables: ho and tel.
These will be marked here as in ho/tel. The English word "plant" consists of a single CCVCC
syllable. The rhyme has been further divided into the nucleus, which in the vast majority of
syllables is a vowel (the exceptions are syllabic consonants) and the coda, which are any
consonants following the nucleus.
Eg: Plant
Class
Room
Church
Syllabication
To find the number of syllables in a word, use the following steps:
Ø Count the vowels in the word.
Ø Subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent e at the end of a word, or the second vowel
when two vowels are together in a syllable)
Ø Subtract one vowel from every diphthong (diphthongs only count as one vowel
sound.)
Ø The number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of syllables.
Dividing Words into Syllables

There are four ways to split up a word into its syllables:
1. Divide between two middle consonants.

Split up words that have two middle consonants. For example:
hap/pen, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner, and Den/nis. The only exceptions are the consonant
digraphs. Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound. The
exceptions are "th", "sh", "ph", "th", "ch", and "wh".
2. Usually divide before a single middle consonant.

When there is only one syllable, you usually divide in front of it, as in:
"o/pen", "i/tem", "e/vil", and "re/port". The only exceptions are those times when the first
syllable has an obvious short sound, as in "cab/in".
3. Divide before the consonant before an "-le" syllable.

When you have a word that has the old-style spelling in which the "-le" sounds like "-el",
divide before the consonant before the "-le". For example: "a/ble", "fum/ble", "rub/ble"
"mum/ble" and "thi/stle". The only exception to this are "ckle" words like "tick/le".
4. Divide off any compound words, prefixes, suffixes and roots which have vowel
sounds.
Split off the parts of compound words like "sports/car" and "house/boat". Divide off prefixes
such at "un/happy", "pre/paid", or "re/write". Also divide off suffixes as in the words
"farm/er", "teach/er", "hope/less" and "care/ful".
Primary and Secondary Stress

Primary stress is the strongest accent in a word or breath group.
Secondary stress is the accent on a syllable of a word or breath group that is weaker than the
primary stress but stronger than the lack of stress.
Rules of Word Stress
A few things to remember:

1. A word can only have one stress. In a very long word you can have a secondary stress,
but it is always a much smaller stress.
2. Only vowels are stressed, not consonants. The vowels in English are: a, e, i, o, and u.
The consonants are all the other letters.
3. There are many exceptions to the rules. The word stress rules in English are
complicated. Remember that there are exceptions to every rule. Use a dictionary to check the
word stress of new words. Soon, you will know English well enough to add word stress
naturally.
It is important that you stress the right syllables, so people can hear and understand your
words.
Before continuing, make sure you read and understand the basics of Word Stress and
Syllables.
Word stress rules

1. Two-Syllable nouns and adjectives
2. Two-Syllable verbs and prepositions
3. Three-Syllable words
4. Words ending in er, ly
5. Words ending in consonants and in y
6. Words with various endings
7. Words ending in ade, ee, ese, que, ette, oon
8. Stress on the second from the end syllable
9. Stress on the third from end syllable
10. Word stress for compound words
11. Proper nouns
12. Reflexive pronouns
13. Numbers
1. Two-Syllable nouns and adjectives

In most two syllable nouns and adjectives, the first syllable takes on the stress.
Examples:
· Father
· SAMples
· CARton
2. Two-Syllable verbs and prepositions
In most two syllable verbs and prepositions, the stress is on the second syllable.
Examples:
· reLAX
· reCEIVE
· diRECT
· aMONG
More about word stress on two-syllable words
There are many two-syllable words in English that can be pronounced in two different ways.
The stress change also changes the part of speech of the word.
Examples:
· PREsent = a gift (noun); non past or future (adjective)

· preSENT = to give something to someone (verb)
· OBject = something you can see and touch (noun)
· obJECT = to disagree with something (verb)
3. Three-Syllable words
For three-syllable words, look at the word ending (the suffix), using the following as your
guide.
4. Words ending in er, ly

For three-syllable words ending with the suffixes er or ly, the stress is placed on the first
syllable.Examples:
· ORderly
· SIlently
· LOvingly
5. Words ending in consonants and in y

If there is a word that ends in a consonant or in a y, then the first syllable usually gets the
stress.
Examples:
 RARity
 OPtimal
 GRAdient
 GEnorous
6. Words with various endings

Take a good look at the list of suffixes below (suffixes are word endings).
The stress is going to be on the syllable right before the suffix. This applies to words of all
syllable lengths.
Examples:
1. able: ADDable, DURable, LAUGHable

2. ial: differENTial, SOcial, fiNANcial
3. cian: muSIcian, phySIcian, cliNIcian
4. ery: BAkery, SCEnery
5. ian: coMEdian, ciVILian, techNIcian
6. ible: reSIstible, imPOSsible, TERRible
7. ic: arCHAic, plaTOnic, characteRIStic
8. ics: diaBEtics, paediAtrics, TOpics
9. ion: classifiCAtion, repoSItion, vegeTAtion
10. ia: MEdia, bacTERia, vicTORia
11. ient: inGREdient, PAtient, ANcient
12. ious: mySTERious, reLIgious, VARious
13. ish: SELfish, ENglish, PUnish
14. osis: hypNOsis, diagNOsis, osmosis
7. Words ending in ade, ee, ese, que, ette, oon
Words that use the suffix ade, ee, ese, eer, que, ette, or oon have the primary stress actually
placed on the suffix. This applies to words of all syllable lengths. Examples:
1. ade: lemoNADE, cruSADE, arCADE

2. ee: aGREE, jamborEE, guaranTEE
3. eer: sightSEER, puppeTEER
4. ese: SiamESE, JapanESE, chEESE
5. ette: cassETTE, CorvETTE, towelETTE
6. que: unIQUE, physIQUE
7. oon: baLOON, afterNOON, carTOON
8. Stress on the second from the end syllable

You put stress on the second syllable from the end of the word with words ending
in ic, sion, and tion.Examples:
· iCONic
· GRAPHic
· hyperTENsion
· teleVIsion
· nuTRItion
· reveLAtion
Note: Native English speakers don't always agree on where to place the stress on a word. For
example, some people pronounce television as "TELevision" while others say "teleVIsion."
9. Stress on the third from end syllable

You put stress on the third from end syllable with words that end in cy, ty, phy, gy and al.
Eg:
· deMOcracy
· geOGraphy
· ALlergy
· NAUtical
· CLArity
· CRItical
10. Word stress for compound words
A. Compound noun
A compound noun is a noun made out of two nouns that form one word. In a compound
noun, the most stress is on the stressed syllable of the first word. Examples:
· SEAfood (sea + food)

· ICEland (ice + land)
· TOOTHpaste (tooth + paste)
· FOOTball (foot + ball)
· BAsketball (basket + ball)
B. Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is an adjective made of at least two words. Often, hyphens are used in
compound adjectives. In compound adjectives, the most stress is placed in the stressed
syllable of the second word.
Examples:
· ten-MEter
· rock-SOlid
· fifteen-MInute
· old-FAshioned
C. Compound verbs
A compound verb is when a subject has two or more verbs. The stress is on the second or on
the last part.
Examples:
· Matilda loves bread but deTESTS butter.

· Sarah baked cookies and ATE them up.
· Dogs love to eat bones and love to DRINK water.
D. Noun + compound nouns

Noun + compound Nouns are two word compound nouns. In noun + compound noun, the
stress is on the first word.
Examples:
 AIRplane mechanic
 PROject manager
 BOARD member
11. Proper nouns

Proper nouns are specific names of people, places or things. For example: Jeniffer, Spain,
Google. The second word is always the one that takes the stress
Examples:
· North DAKOTA
· Mr. SMITH
· Apple INCORPORATED
12. Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns show that the action affects the person who performs the action. For
example: I hit myself. The second syllable usually takes the stress.
Examples:
· mySELF
· themSELVES
· ourSELVES
13. Numbers
If the number is a multiple of ten, the stress is placed on the first syllable.
Examples:
· TEN
· FIFty
· ONE-hundred
Consonant Clusters
These materials can be used as additional phonetic exercises for practicing typical initial and
final consonant clusters in short frequently used words. Be careful not to insert the neutral
sound [ə] between the consonant sounds of the clusters.
Initial consonant clusters
[pl], [pr], [bl], [br]

Plead, please, pleasant, plenty, Preach, priest, pretty, prepare, prefer, Bleed, bleak, blink,
bliss, bless, blend, black, blank, Breed, breeze, breathe, brief, bring,
[tr], [dr]
Tree, treat, trim, trip, trick, trend, dream, drill, drink, drip, draft, drama
[kl], [kr], [gl], [g

Clean, clear, click, cling, cream, creed, critical, crib, credit, crest, crack, crash, crawl, cross,
crop
Glee, glib, glimpse, glare, glad, glamor, glance, glue, gloomy, glum, glide.
[fl], [fr]
Flee, fleece, flick, flint, flip, flesh, flex

Free, freeze, freak, frequent, frisk, frigid, Fred
[θr], [shr]
Three, thrifty, thrill, thread, threat, shriek, shrimp, shrink, shred, shredder, shrewd, shrug,
shrine;
[sk], [skr]
Skin, skip, skim, scare, scream, screen, screech, scribble, scrimp, script, scrap
[sl], [sm], [sn]

Sleep, sleet, sleeve, smear, Smith, smell, smash, sneeze, sneak, sneer, sniff, snip, snare
[sp], [spl], [spr]

Speak, speed, spin, Spleen, split, splint, splinter, Spree, spring, sprint, sprinkle
[st], [str]
Steal, steam, steel, steep, steer, stick, still, stiff, step
Street, stream, streak, strict, string, strip, stress, stretch
[sw], [tw], [dw], [kw], [skw], [gw]

Sweet, sweep, swim, swift, switch, swing
Tweed, twin, twist, twig, twelve, twenty, twang, twice, twilight, twine;
Dwarf, dwell, dwindle, Dwayne, Dwight;
Queen, queer, quick, quit, question, quest,
quarrel Squeeze, squeak, squeal, squid, square,
squad Gwen, Gwendolen, Guatemala.
Final consonant clusters

[ft], [kt]
Drift, gift, lift, sift, left, draft, shaft, loft, soft;
Act, fact, tact, elect, affect, depict, deduct;
[lt], [ld]
Belt, dealt, felt, melt, built, guilt, kilt, tilt, halt, malt, colt, jolt;
Old, bold, cold, fold, gold, hold, mold, scold, sold ,build, held, bald, world;
[lk], [lp], [lb]
Milk, silk, elk, bulk, hulk, sulk;
Help, yelp, palp, pulp, bulb;
[lf], [lv]
Self, elf, shelf, golf, gulf, wolf, Ralph, Rolph, Rudolph;
Solve, involve, valve, delve;
[lch], [lj], [lm], [ls]
Belch, bilge, bulge, divulge;
Film, helm, realm, else, pulse;
[mp], [mf]
Limp, temp, camp, lamp, ramp, stamp, stomp, bump, dump stump;
Lymph, nymph, triumph;
[nt], [nd]
Mint, lint, sent, spent, bent, tent, vent, moment saint, pint, point, joint;
Wind, send, spend, lend, friend, attend, band, land, hand, sand, bond
[nch], [nj]
Finch, pinch, bench, French, branch, ranch, launch, crunch, hunch, lunch;
Change, range, strange, binge, cringe, fringe, tinge, sponge, lunge, lounge;
[ns], [nz]
Rinse, since, mince, wince, dense, fence, sense, absence, license, science, chance, dance,
fragrance, ounce;
[ŋk]
Pink [piŋk], ink, drink, think, link, mink, sink, shrink
[ŋg]
Finger ['fiŋgər], linger, hunger, hungry, anger
[ps], [pt]
Perhaps, lapse, collapse, ellipse, glimpse, oops;
Apt, rapt, crept, kept, accept, crypt, script, adopt, erupt, attempt, tempt;
[sk], [sp], [st]
Risk, flask, mask, task, desk, mosque, dusk, husk;
Lisp, crisp, wisp, clasp, grasp, wasp;
least, feast, beast, mist, wrist, best, chest, test, fast, last, past, cost, lost, first, thirst, burst,
dust, must, rust, paste, taste, waste, boast, coast, roast, most, post;
Clusters with final [θ]

Month, health, wealth, stealth, filth, warmth, strength, length, width, breadth, depth;
Three letters initial consonant clusters

scr-, shr-, spl-, spr-, squ-, str-, and thr-.
Script screen, Shrine, Shr
Final consonant clusters with the ending

S/ES [ps], [ts], [ks]
Stops, lamps, helps, writes, tests, texts, links, thanks, sharks;
[bz], [dz], [gz]
Rubs, bulbs, needs, holds, worlds, thousands, pigs, legs;
[fs], [θs]
Beliefs, laughs, gulfs, cliffs, deaths, myths, births;
[vz], [ðz]
Leaves, knives, wolves, valves, saves, clothes, breathes, bathes;
Note: cloths [kloðz] or [kloθs]; clothes [klouðz] or [klouz]; oaths [ouðz]; BrE: baths [ba:ðz]
or [ba:θs]; AmE: baths [bæðz] or [bæθs];
[mz], [nz], [ŋz], [lz]
Homes, storms, cleans, fans, lungs, rings, girls, thrills.
Final consonant clusters with the ending ED

[pt], [kt], [ft]
Hoped, stopped, tipped, linked, locked, marked, sniffed, laughed, coughed;
[st], [sht], [cht]
Missed, danced, mixed, washed, rushed, fished, watched, reached, searched;
[bd], [gd]
Robbed, stabbed, tubed, begged, lagged, logged, hugged;
b) Aspects of Connected Speech: Weak Forms and Elision

English words are stressed when speaking. It is very common to use strong form and weak
form when speaking in English because English is a stress-time language. It means you stress
on content words such as nouns and principal verbs, while structure words such as helping
verbs, conjunctions, prepositions… are not stressed. Using proper strong form and weak
form can help you to speak English more fluently.
In this case the words ‘can’ and ‘is from’ are weak form. The weak form changes the vowel
to “ə” sound.
can in strong form: /kæn/
can in weak form: /kən/
from in strong form: /frɔm/
from in weak form: /frəm/
Below are some function words that you can remember:
Articles Conjunctions:
a, /ə/
the, /ði/ And / ənd, ən, n/
an, /ən/ As / əz/
Than / ðən/
Pronouns That /ðət/
He /hi/
She /ʃi/ Prepositions:
You /ju/ At /ət/
We /wi/ For /fə/
Her /hə/ From /frəm/
Me /mi/ Of /əv/
Them /ðəm/ To /tə, tu/
Us /əs/
Verbs:
Am /əm/
Are /ə/
Can /kən/
Does /dəz/
Had /həd, əd, d/
Has /həz, əz, z, s/
Have /həv, əv, v/
Is /z,s/
Shall /ʃ/
Was /wəz/
Were /w ə/
Will /l/
Would / əd, d/
MA ENGLISH I Semester Notes, Satavahana University Compiled by Dr Adi Ramesh
Elision
The removing of a sound or syllable when speaking (as in I'm, let's ).
Can not
Can’t
Cup board
Cupboard
c) Intonation: Tones of Intonation and Meaning Making

Intonation and stress are closely linked. In fact it's impossible to dissociate them. They go
hand in hand.
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say, the way the voice rises and
falls when speaking, in other words the music of the language. Just as words have stressed
syllables, senentences have regular patterns of stressed words. In addition, the voice tends to
rise, fall or remain flat depending on the meaning or feeling we want to convey (surprise,
anger, interest, boredom, gratitude, etc.). Intonation therefore indicates the mood of the
speaker.
There are two basic patterns of intonation in English: falling intonation and rising intonation.
In the following examples a downward arrow (➘) indicates a fall in intonation and an
upward arrow (➚) indicates a rise in intonation.
Again, these are not rules but patterns generally used by native speakers of English.
Just remember that content words are stressed, and intonation adds attitude or emotion.
This explanation on intonation is intended to serve as a general guide to help learners. It
should in no way make them unnecessarily anxious!
It should be remembered that a written explanation can never be a substitute for a 'live'
conversation with a native speaker.
Attitudinal intonation is something that is best acquired through talking and listening to
English speakers.
Falling Intonation (➘)
(The pitch of the voice falls at the end of the sentence.)
Falling intonation is the most common intonation pattern in English.

It is commonly found in statements, commands, wh-questions (information questions),
confirmatory question tags and exclamations.
Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, GDC, Hanamkonda 197
Statements
Nice to meet ↘you.
I’ll be back in a ↘minute.
She doesn’t live here ↘anymore.
Dad wants to change his ↘car.
Here is the weather ↘forecast.
Cloudy weather is expected at the end of the ↘week.
We should work together more ↘often
I'm going for a walk in the ↘park.
Commands
Write your name ↘here.
Show me what you’ve ↘written.
Leave it on the ↘desk.
Take that picture ↘ down.
Throw that ↘out.
Put your books on the ↘table.
Take your hands out of your ↘pockets.
Wh- questions (requesting information.)

(questions beginning with 'who', 'what', 'why', 'where', 'when', 'which', and
'how') What country do you come ↘from?
Where do you ↘work?
Which of them do you ↘prefer?
When does the shop ↘open?
How many books have you ↘bought?
Which coat is ↘yours?
Whose bag is ↘this?
Questions Tags that are statements requesting confirmation rather than questions Not
all tag questions are really questions.
Some of them merely ask for confirmation or invite agreement, in which case we use a falling
tone at the end.
He thinks he’s so clever, doesn’t ↘he?
She's such a nuisance, isn't ↘she?
I failed the test because I didn't revise, did ↘ I?

It doesn't seem to bother him much, does ↘ it?
Exclamations
How nice of ↘ you!
That's just what I ↘need!
You don't ↘ say!
What a beautiful ↘ voice!
That's a ↘surprise!
Rising Intonation (➚)
(The pitch of the voice rises at the end of a sentence.)
Rising intonation invites the speaker to continue talking.

It is normally used with yes/no questions, and question tags that are real questions.
Yes/no Questions
(Questions that can be answered by 'yes' or 'no'.)

Do you like your new ➚teacher?
Have you finished ➚already?
May I borrow your ➚dictionary?
Do you have any ➚magazines?
Do you sell ➚stamps?
Questions tags that show uncertainty and require an answer (real

questions) We've met already, ➚haven't we?
You like fish, ➚don't you?
You're a new student ➚aren't you?
The view is beautiful, ➚isn't it?
Rising intonation is also used in expressions like:

1. Excuse me?
2. Really?
We sometimes use a combination of rising and falling intonation in the same sentence.
The combination is called Rise-Fall or Fall-Rise intonation.
Rise-Fall Intonation (➚➘)
(The intonation rises and then falls.)
We use rise-fall intonation for choices, lists, unfinished thoughts and conditional
sentences. Choices (alternative questions.)
Are you having ➚soup or ➘salad?
Is John leaving on ➚Thursday or ➘Friday?
Does he speak ➚German or ➘French?
Is your name ➚Ava or ➘Eva?
Lists (rising, rising, rising, falling)
Intonation falls on the last item to show that the list is finished.
We've got ➚apples, pears, bananas and ➘oranges
The sweater comes in ➚blue, white pink and ➘black
I like ➚football, tennis, basketball and ➘volleyball.
I bought ➚a tee-shirt, a skirt and a ➘handbag.
Unfinished thoughts (partial statements)
In the responses to the following questions, the rise-fall intonation indicates reservation.
The speaker hesitates to fully express his/her thoughts.
Do you like my new handbag? Well the ➚leather is ➘nice... ( but I don't like it.)
What was the meal like? Hmm, the ➚fish was ➘good... (but the rest wasn't great).
So you both live in Los Angeles? Well ➚Alex ➘does ... (but I don't).
Conditional sentences
(The tone rises in the first clause and falls gradually in the second clause.)
If he ➚calls, ask him to leave a ➘message.
Unless he ➚insists, I'm not going to ➘go.
If you have any ➚problems, just ➘contact us.
Fall-Rise Intonation (➘➚)

(The voice falls and rises usually within one word).
The main function of fall-rise intonation is to show that the speaker is not certain of the
answer they are giving to a question, or is reluctant to reply (as opposed to a falling tone used
when there is no hesitation). It is also used in polite requests or suggestions.
Hesitation/reluctance:
So you'd be willing to confirm that? ...Well ... I ➘sup➚pose so ...

You didn't see him on Monday? I don't quite ➘re➚member ...
Politeness-Doubt-Uncertainty: (You are not sure what the answer might

be.) Perhaps we could ➘vis➚it the place?
Should we ➘cop➚y the list?
Do you think it's ➘al➚lowed?
Unit-IV
a) Levels of Language Description—Phonology: Definition,
Scope and Other Aspects
Definition:
Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
Discussion:
The phonological system of a language includes
· an inventory of sounds and their features, and

· rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.
Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such as
phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
The aim of phonology is to discover the principles that govern the way sounds are organized
in languages and to explain the variations that occur. We begin by analyzing an individual
language to determine which sound units are used and which patterns they form--the
language's sound system. We then compare the properties of different sound systems, and
work out hypotheses about the rules underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of
languages. Ultimately, phonologists want to make statements that apply to all languages.
b) Morphology: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects
The term morphology is generally defined as the study of the internal structure of words. The
‘Morph’ means ‘shape’ or ‘form’, and ‘-ology’ means ‘the ‘study of something’ in Greek.
Hence, as briefly we can say that the morphology is ‘The study of shape of words’. Since this
study is mainly focus on words, sometimes morphology is misunderstood with syntax. This
essay will talk about the nature and scope of morphology and clarify the difference syntax.
First, as mentioned above, morphology is the study of shape of words. There is an important
concept which is called ‘morpheme’ in morphology. Morpheme is the smallest meaningful
unit. For example, if we see the word ‘cats’, we can identify that ‘cat’ means an animal,
which has small ears on the head and has long tail, it usually smaller than dog, also their skin
are covered by soft and long hair. On the other hand, ‘-s’ indicates a plural. If we look at the
morpheme concept again, it is ‘minimal meaningful unit.’ Since ‘cat’ and ‘-s’ has each
different meaning, we can count as there are 2 morphemes in the word ‘cats’. Also, more
details, the word ‘cat’ can be used by itself. The morpheme, which can stand itself called
‘free morpheme’. If we look at the next morpheme ‘-s’, the word ‘-s’ itself has no meaning.
But once it combine with a noun, the ‘-s’ indicates plural. The morpheme which cannot stand
itself called ‘bound morpheme’. The morphology is the study of the combination of
morphemes to yield words.
In this second paragraph, it will be classified the difference between morphology and syntax.
First, let us compare the way of approaches. As mentioned in first paragraph, the morphology
is the study of internal structure. The term ‘morpheme’ deals main object to analyze in
morphology. On the other hand, syntax is the branch of linguistics that deals with the
grammatical arrangement of words word and morphemes in the sentence of a language or of
languages in general.
For example, if we look at the sentence:

Pulluri Eshwaraiah studied a lot today.
As a morphology approach, first we segment these words as morpheme. ‘Pulluri Eshwaraiah’
is a person’s name, so this is one morpheme. As next, we can find out the 2 meanings from
the word ‘studied’. One is the verb ‘study’ and other is ‘-ed’ indicates past form. We can
identify there are 6 morphemes in the above sentence.
As a conclusion, we can say that the differences between morphology and syntax are first, the
object of research. Morphology focuses on the internal structure of word, which is morpheme.
Syntax focuses on the grammatical structure of words. Second, the research approaches are
different. While the morphology segments the morpheme from the word by each meaning,
Syntax analyzes the sentence structure and identifies the function of each word.
Although, we can say that morphology and syntax are very close relationship. Since both
subjects are sub disciplines of grammar. Hence, we can say that while studying one of the
subject, as simultaneously we also learning another one.
c) Syntax: Definition, Scope and Other Aspects

In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of
sentences in a given language, specifically word order and punctuation. The term syntax is
also used to refer to the study of such principles and processes. The goal of many
syntacticians is to discover the syntactic rules common to all languages.
A basic feature of a language's syntax is the sequence in which the subject (S), verb (V), and
object (O) usually appear in sentences. Over 85% of languages usually place the subject first,
either in the sequence SVO or the sequence SOV. The other possible sequences are VSO,
VOS, OVS, and OSV, the last three of which are rare.
Syntax is the level at which we study how words combine to form phrases, phrases combine
to form clauses and clauses join to make sentences. The study of syntax also involves the
description of the rules of positioning of elements in the sentence such as the nouns/noun
syntax phrases, verbs/verb phrases, adverbial phrases, etc. A sentence must be composed of
these elements arranged in a particular order. Syntax also attempts to describe how these
elements function in the sentence, i.e. what is their role in the sentence. For example, the
word ‘boy’ is a noun. However, in each of the following sentences, it functions in different
roles:
(a) The boy likes cricket

(b) The old man loved the boy.
In sentence (a), it functions as the subject of the sentence
In sentence (b), it functions as the object.
A sentence should be both grammatical and meaningful. For example, a sentence like
‘Colourless green ideas sleep furiously’ is grammatically correct but it is not meaningful.
Thus, rules of syntax should be comprehensive enough to explain how sentences are
constructed which are both grammatical and meaningful.
PAPER V
Modern Indian
Literatures in
Translation
Unit I
Background
Concept of Sahitya
Sahitya, in its broadest sense, is any single body of written works. More restrictively,
literature is writing considered to be an art form, or any single writing deemed to have artistic
or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.
Sahitya was used to refer to all written accounts, though contemporary definitions extend the
term to include texts that are spoken or sung (oral literature). The concept has changed
meaning over time: nowadays it can broaden to have non-written verbal art forms, and thus it
is difficult to agree on its origin, which can be paired with that of language or writing itself.
Developments in print technology have allowed an evergrowing distribution and proliferation
of written works, culminating in electronic literature.
Sahitya can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction, and whether it
is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as
the novel, short story or drama; and works are often categorized according to historical
periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre).
Indian Concept of Translation

The word ‘translate’ comes from the Latin ‘translatio’ where ‘trans’ means across and ‘latus’
means carrying; the word thus means the carrying across of meaning from one language to
the other. India is a multi-lingual country and has always been so. There are actually two
distinct language families in India—the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian. The most ancient of
the Dravidian languages is Tamil, the others being Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam which
evolved later than Tamil. The major Indian languages of today derive from either of the two
groups, and sometimes two Indian languages might not have many linguistic traits in
common. For instance, translation from Hindi to Malayalam means that translation is between
two languages that are radically different although they belong to the same region called
India. But despite this diversity, we can safely state that Indian languages own a shared
sensibility, partly derived from the common heritage of Sanskrit and from ancient theories of
literature and language.
Sanskrit was the dominant language in the northern part of India in the ancient times but
other languages like Prakrit, Pali and Apabhramsa were used as languages of communication
by the common masses. Sanskrit was the language of literature and religious rites. But even
in the Sanskrit plays of Kalidasa and other playwrights of the time, the women and lower
caste/ class characters speak Prakrit or other dialects like Sauraseni and Magadhi. It was
normal and acceptable to change from one dialect into another or one language into another
in the course of the same text.
Translation in the Colonial Period

English became the dominant language, ousting Sanskrit and Persian when India was
colonized by the British. They initially attempted to establish that the English language and
literature were superior to all the Indian languages and literature put together. But it was also
important for the British to know the local language as matters of administration had to be in
Indian languages. They had to know India well to govern it better. So there was also a reverse
movement of translation from India to England. Sir William Jones, founder of the Asiatic
Society, translated Abhijnanasakuntalam into English in 1789. Charles Wilkins, official
translator of Persian and Bengali to the Commissioner of Revenue, was the first to translate
the Bhagavad-gita into English in 1784. These translations had official blessings as they were
undertaken with the specific purpose of helping the British to know India better.
After the First War of Indian Independence in 1857 English became the language of
administration and it was promoted among the Indians. There were large-scale efforts to
translate English books into Indian languages and promote English literature. Many obscure
18th and 19th-century English novels found their way to Indian languages. It was during this
period that the Bible came to be translated into most of the regional Indian languages The
Bible translations helped a great deal in strengthening the regional languages of India. They
were translated into simple language that could be understood by the lay person. It also
enriched the vocabulary by bringing in idioms and imagery to illustrate its concepts. The
British also contributed to the local languages by bringing out systematic books on grammar
and compiling dictionaries. The credit for compiling the first dictionary in most Indian
languages goes to some European or the other.
Another major impact of the Bible translations was felt in the translation strategies. The
concept of fidelity to the original and the notion of equivalence were introduced to the Indian
sensibility. Fidelity in translation became a concern for the first time, because it was felt that
the word of God had to be conveyed accurately and with no distortions. This also meant that
translators had to be extremely careful about equivalence – that is, if the translation
successfully and truthfully ‘carried across’ the meaning/message of the original.
The obsession with the original and the anxiety of not being able to capture the meaning is in
some way connected to the theological concept of a paradise that has been lost and has to be
regained. The Hindu belief is that human existence on earth is a constant progression of the
soul from one birth to the other. It is not concerned about an original state. Time is not
conceived of as a linear progression but as a cycle where there are no origins or endings.
Hence the almost metaphysical obsession about equivalence that haunts translation activity in
the west is alien to us.
Indian theories of aesthetics and translation

The influence of Indian critical theory also impacted other aspects of translation. Equivalence
as we understand the concept today, as in achieving the same meaning in the target language
as in the source language, thus was not a major concern as far as Indian translators were
concerned. But there was a different sort of equivalence that translators hoped to achieve,
which was in matters of the emotional impact of the text and other matters of style, like rasa,
and dhvani.
It is interesting that this discussion points to a concept that has only recently emerged in the
field of Translation Studies, which is that translation means more than transfer of meaning
from one language to the other. It is also a transfer from one culture to another. So the good
translator has to be more than merely bilingual; s/he has to be very conversant with both
source and target cultures. Only such a translator will be able to arrive at the dhvani which is
not apparent on the surface of a text. Literal or word-for-word translations will not be able to
capture dhvani.
This is what Aurobindo means when he says that '…there will naturally be no success unless
the mind of the translator has sufficient kinship, sufficient points of spiritual and emotional
contact and a sufficient basis of common poetical powers not only to enter into but to render
the spiritual temperament and the mood of that temperament…' ('On Translating Kalidasa') of
the author s/he is translating. This is the intuitive understanding of a text, which necessitates a
metaphysical communion between the translator and the author, and functions at a much
higher level than the reading and understanding of a text at its denotative and connotative
levels.
The translator seeks first to place the mind of the reader in the same spiritual atmosphere as
the original; he seeks next to produce in him the same emotions and the same kind of poetical
delight and aesthetic gratification and lastly he seeks to convey to him the thought of the poet
and substance in such words as will create, as far as may be, the same or a similar train of
associations, the same pictures or the same sensuous impressions' ('On Translating Kalidasa').
To achieve this, however, the translator will have to forego the idea of fidelity. Because
literature is culture specific and so will be the countless references and allusions. Then the
foreign text will have to be tailored to suit the target culture. This might sometimes result in
paraphrase rather than transaltion but that is a professional hazard that the translator has to
live with. One example he cites is from his own experience where he translated a line in
Kalidasa’s Meghadutam, where a huge dark cloud is compared to 'the dark foot of Vishnu
lifted in impetuous act to quell Bali' as, 'Dark like the cloudy foot of highest God/When
starting from the dwarf shape world-immense / With Titan-quelling step through heaven he
strode'. Aurobindo points out that a non-Hindu western reader could not have understood the
Bali comparison and that he had to come up with a suitable western analogy that would be
comprehensible to the target readers.
A.K. Ramanujan
A. K. Ramanujan, besides being a poet himself, was a translator who facilitated the
introduction of ancient Indian texts as well as modern regional writers like U.R. Anantha
Murthy to the world outside India. His translations ranged from classical and bhakti poetry in
Tamil, Virasaiva vacanas (poetic aphorisms) in Kannada, bhakti and court literature in
Telugu, folktales and women’s oral narratives written in the 19th century, and the poetry and
prose of India after independence. As can be seen, the challenges facing him as a translator
were huge—he had to carry texts not only across cultures and languages but also across ages.
He had to ‘translate’ sensibilities of the Tamil/ Kannada region in very ancient times to those
of a contemporary Indian or non-Indian reader located anywhere in the world. He also had to
maintain some conformity with the source text as well. Ramanujan is unique because he
managed to achieve this fine balance.
Translation as Perjury
If Aurobindo and Ramanujan were translators of works from other languages and cultures
into English, Rabindranath Tagore presents the case of the poet himself becoming the
translator. This act of translation is self-translation in every aspect of the word—the translator
is translating his self, text and context into another language. Most of Tagore’s poetry
including the Nobel-winning Gitanjali was translated by himself. This act of self-translation,
however, has also made him the subject of criticism. He has explained why he translated
Gitanjali into English: 'I simply felt an urge to recapture, through the medium of another
language, the feeling and sentiments which had created such a feast of joy within me in past
days' and that 'I was making fresh acquaintance with my own heart by dressing it in other
clothes' (quoted in Mukherjee 1981:104).
This aspect of Tagore translations has influenced many debates about self-translation not only
in India but the world over. Mary Lago who is a renowned Tagore expert, has a book on the
subject. In India, Sujit Mukherjee is the foremost who has written about this.
Tradition-Modernity
Tradtion Modernity
basic belief that the society was better the way it strong belief in change being a good thing.
was in the past.
Belief that things were easier and happier in the Appreciation for the advancements made in
past. society
Fearful of change, because of all of the negative Dislike the past or belief that past was not as
externalities (negative consequences that can good.
come from change, intended or unintended)
Strong faith in religion, and questionable of the Stronger belief in science, but still religious
motives and goals of science/scientists Tend to live in cities or outlying areas
(atheists?)
Tend to live in rural areas (farms, or country) Tend to support consumer culture
Bought consumer goods, but fearful that Tend to believe that we must adapt ourselves
technology can lead to laziness, disconnect with with the changing times, else we shall deprive
“society”, and hard work ethic ourselves of the opportunity to make any
progress or development
See education as important, but morals and See education as very important in a way to get
values are more important. a better paying job.
Modernity tends to take people apart.
Traditions represent the culture and the history Modernism is not to do away with traditions
of a society, so stopping them or ending them is but to modify it according to changing times
seen as trying to change the society or not and people.
recognize the history
Tend to be conservative Tend to be liberal
Tend to be older Tend to be younger
Tend to have more strict moral standards Tend to have more loose moral standards
Tend to support family values over individual Tend to support individual freedom and
freedom and expression expression over family values
Traditions tend to unite people Modernity tend to separate people

Belief that traditions are what helped build and Belief that change is what brings progress and
make this country and society. improves everyone’s lives.
Tend to be realistic Tend to be idealistic
Not opposed to science, but object to its Not opposed to religion, but to religious
misapplication fundamentalism
For example: take the family to a Xmas tree For example: go to the local tree farm, select a
farm and chop down your own Xmas tree. tree, then have someone else carry it and put it
in your car.
Family of the bride usually pays for the Both families can share in paying for the
wedding. wedding.
For Example: Belief that marriage is only meant For Example: Belief that marriage is about love
for a man and a woman. between two individuals. (regardless of sex.)
Belief that men should open the door for a lady. Belief that hats don’t need to be taken off,
Belief that children should always take their hats because they are part of your outfit.
off when they enter a room.
Progressive Writers Movement

The Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind or Progressive Writers' Movement was
a progressive literary movement in pre-partition British India. Some branches of this writers'
group existed around the world.
These groups were anti-imperialistic and left-oriented, and sought to inspire people through
their writings advocating equality among all humans and attacking social injustice and
backwardness in the society
According to The Dawn newspaper, "Progressive Writers Movement in Urdu literature was
the strongest movement after Sir Syed's education movement. The progressives contributed
to Urdu literature some of the finest pieces of fiction and poetry. Undoubtedly, they were the
trend-setters for the coming generation of writers."
The Indian Progressive Writers' Movement and Association first began after the publication
of Angare (Embers or Burning Coals), a collection of nine short stories and a one-act play by
Ahmed Ali, Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jehan and Mahmuduz Zafar in 1932, and its proscription
by the British U. P. Government in 1933. A 'League of Progressive Authors' was first
announced by Ahmed Ali and Mamuduz Zafar in The Leader of Allahabad dated April 5,
1933, which later expanded itself and became 'Indian Progressive Writers' Association'.
The Indian Progressive Writers' Association was set up in London in 1935

The Progressive Writers' Association was set up in Kolkata in July 1936.
The All India Writers' Association was set up in Lucknow on 10 April 1936 under the
leadership of Syed Sajjad Zahir and Ahmed Ali at the Rifa-e-Aam Club in Lucknow. Both of
them invited Syed Fakhruddin Balley (known as Balley Alig) to join. Syed Fakhruddin
Balley then initiated work to promote the Association. Many writers and poets like Hameed
Akhtar, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, Saadat Hasan Manto and Ismat Chughtai
joined the Association.
The All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association was set up in Pakistan in December 1947
after the Independence of Pakistan in 1947.
Ø Mirza Adeeb
Ø Hameed Akhtar
Ø Jan Nisar Akhtar
Ø Ahmed Ali
Indian Dramatic Traditions
Drama in Indian English writings has gained not only strength and impulse but popularity
and interest also. It has given great contribution to world literature and has got a special place
in Indian English literature. The writings of Indian English playwrights have acquired a status
of independent literature and their sense of expression and experience has been increasing
with leaps and bounds.
Drama comes in direct connection with literate as well as illiterate people through stage
production. The study of drama is partially literary and partially social. Hence the themes and
techniques of Indian English drama have been derived from the Indian glorious culture and
tradition. The maximum numbers of the Indian English plays are based on the themes related
to myths, values and socio- cultural tradition.
In the ancient times, Indian theatre was influenced by the Hindu religion, the caste system,
and by the literature in Sanskrit language of India. The theater in olden times was sponsored
and patronized mainly by the ruling classes. The Mahabharata and the Ramayana were two
great renowned Sanskrit epics. These epics were fully based on history, legend, and myth and
proved to be the major sources of information for early Sanskrit dramatists.
Natya Shastra relates how the Hindu God Brahma created drama to entertain and to educate.
Priests, musicians, and dancing nymphs used to perform divinely created stories, whereas
jealous demons used to attack the sacred stage. Brahma created purifying rituals to include all
beings - even demons. The playwright with his extraordinary efforts used to approach the
audience effectively through varieties and impressive theatrical performances. Actors used to
dive deep into the theatrical techniques and reach the heart and soul of the spectators.
Natya Shastra details the requirements for theater architecture, costumes, training,
performance, music, playwriting, and the emotional exchange that takes place between the
audience and the actors. It is the most significant and renowned work on Indian dance and
drama.
The drama of divine origin used to claim close connection with the sacred Vedas. That was
the time when the dramatic performances accompanied with music mainly depicted events of
daily life. The members of the stage used to act sometimes as wild animals and their opposite
characters as hunters. There used to be the staging of mock-hunt. The performers acted as
animals like goats, buffaloes, reindeers and monkeys who were chased by the hunters. Drama
had been performed in such simple and easier way during the age of the Vedic Aryans.
Slowly and gradually important episodes of The Ramayana, The Mahabharata and The
Bhagvadgita began to be staged and enacted on the theatres. Such performances are still
popular in India. There were many such festive occasions when the episodes from epics were
enacted and performed in different parts of country. There were references to drama from
Patanjali's Vyakarna Mahabhashya, Jame's Aagam of Raypaseni Sulta as well as
Vatsyayam's Kamasutra, Kautilya's Arthasastra and Panini's Ashtabhyam.
Sanskrit drama appeared as one of the most ancient formal theatrical genres in India. It
conformed to the rules laid out by the Natya Shastra, which used to be accompanied with
lyrical poetry, songs, dances, and mimes. Both men and women probably acted in these
dramas, though actors did not always portray gender of their characters. Ancient opened
theatre used to have sittingarrangement of around three to four hundred people. The stage
used to have a rear balcony and machinery to depict supernatural events, such as the
appearance of heavenly nymphs etc.
Classical drama had witnessed a great downfall immediately at a particular period of time.
This was like a blank period in the history of Indian Theatre. It led to a big gap and no plays
were performed. Drama on the Indian stage returned after a long gap but this time it covered
a large area with the growth of vernacular languages and some other reasons. It was a kind of
fresh start unlike classical dramas in Sanskrit.
Sanskrit drama was replaced by many new forms of entertainment like folk drama, shadow-
puppet plays, and dances and music in the seventh century B.C. Various companies started
touring and staging plays in various regional languages around tenth century B.C. It led to the
emergence of many regional theatrical forms by the end of the fifteenth century. These
performances were dominated by folk plays. They were performed at local places where
audiences used to gather and witness these plays. The stories of these plays were based on
traditional and mythological heroes foregrounding the themes of love and chivalry.
Indian drama is said to have come into being as a subtle means of communicating significant
incidents and experiences. It gives an exposure to new forms of literature and drama to
strengthen the reposing impulse of Indian drama. By the end of the nineteenth century,
modern Indian drama that had come into being, was written originally in vernacular
languages and sometimes translated into English. This new form of drama represented the
western tradition on the one hand and it experimented with the Indian tradition on the other
hand.
The growth of vernacular languages flourished and regional plays created attractions in the
spectators. The multiplicity of languages in India obstructed the emergence of Indian English
Drama. English as the second language could not reach to the heart and mind of the common
people. Even the writers at times found themselves comfortable only in their regional
languages. Another reason for the failure was that the writers had failed to highlight Indian
ethos, culture, myth and heritage through a foreign language. Lack of adequate stage and poor
remuneration to the actors in India was also responsible for this setback.
Dalit Aesthetics
The aesthetics of Dalit literature is also discussed by Limbale in the essay wherein it is
suggested that Dalit literature being a revolutionary form of literature does not adhere to
traditional principles of aesthetics. In the Marathi literature, emphasis is put on the beauty
factor of literature due to which pleasure is cited as the foremost aesthetic value. Pleasure is
said to be native to Marathi Savarna literature while pain is said to belong to Dalit literature.
Due to belonging to the lower caste, Dalit literature is often accused of arousing feelings of
pain, suffering and anger in the reader whereas non-revolutionary literature arouses feelings
such as happiness and delight. Overall Dalit literature is painted in a negative picture when it
comes to aesthetic evaluation as it is accused of portraying only grief and sufferings. It is said
to not provide happiness as the literature of the upper and middle class does. However, what
needs to be considered is that the feelings of pain and suffering are the primary feelings that a
piece of Dalit Literature can evoke as it is a social document of rebellion designed for social
upliftment of Dalits and hence pleasure and beauty are not its chief considerations, unlike
other literary works. Hence analyzing a Dalit text on these pre-established universal aesthetic
principles is a a meaningless futile endeavor.
One sees it as a challenging task when it comes to placing the subject of aesthetics in dalit
literature. The en route to dalit aesthetics emits a bitter sweet feeling because it does not
deliver aesthetics based on pleasure giving beauty. When it comes to dalit literature the idea
of beauty needs to be re-examined and re-analysed. Commonly the idea of beauty is
associated with spiritualism but dalit aesthetics is derived out of a sense of artistic reality.
Hence dalit aesthetics bends more towards materialist rather than spiritualist.
It is a well known fact that writers gain their share of popularity through readers. The
relationship between a writer and reader decides the faith of a book. The same can be applied
to dalit literature. Most of the Dalit writers derive their inspiration from Dr. B.R Ambedkar.
He has become a cult figure in the field of dalit literature but dalit aesthetics can only be
uprooted when a Dalit writer succeeds in plunging dalit consciousness among the readers.
The process demands a heightened sense of ambedkarite consciousness from the writer. The
ambedkarite consciousness comprises of a firm assertion of dalit identity and calls for justice,
freedom and equality. Dalit aesthetics is built upon three major components- the artist, the
artistic creation and the reader. The artistic creation binds the artist and the reader. The artist
pours out his experience and inspiration in his artistic creation. The reader develops a sense of
understanding about the artist’s experience but a dalit reader’s level of relativity will be more
intense when compared to a non-dalit reader. Thus the idea of beauty in dalit literature cannot
be called as universal because the intensity of consciousness among the readers differs in
varying volumes. On the other hand the ambedkarite inspiration in dalit literature possesses a
universal value.
Dalit writers do not keep the urbane readers in a pedestal while creating a work of art. Their
main intention is to inform and expose the evil practice that shapes Indian society. They write
in order to throw a light on the problems of society. Unlike other writers they do not have pre
conceived sets of audience or readers to acknowledge their work. It is also important to note
that form is something which a dalit writer is not concern about because the context lays the
foundation in their writing. Therefore the readers have to set aside their preference for “form
over content” while reading works produced by dalit writers.
There are four main standards of dalit literature
1: artists must be motivated by their experience

2: artists must socialize their experience.
3: artist’s experiences must cross provincial boundaries
4: artist’s experience must seem relevant to all time.
When it comes to dalit aesthetics one cannot rely on pleasure giving beauty and taste. Dalit
literature calls for liberation and freedom. The fact that it shouts out loud for peace and
equality makes it a revolutionary literature. The paradigm of measuring a work of art should
not be only based on pleasure giving sensation but arousing a sense of social consciousness
can have its own aesthetic value. Revoulutinary writers such as Rosseou, Marx, Phule and
ambedkar sealed the deal when they dedicated their writing to being about a social
consciousness.
The dalit writers are not very well received by the critics; the savarna Marathi critics have
always passed their judgment on dalit literature. Some call it plain flat but some pass their
approval to give it the tag of literature. It is commendable that the dalit writers never resorted
to traditional form of writing but they build their own platform to deliver their dalit reality
and experience.
Unit-II
Banalata Sen
-Jibanananda Das
Banalata Sen is a Bengali poem written in 1942 by the poet Jibanananda Das that is one of
the most read, recited and discussed poems of Bengali literature. The title of this lyric poem is
a female character referred to by name in the last line of each of its three stanzas. A draft of
the poem was also discovered that widely differs from the final version. Poet Jibanananda
Das was a quiet person, who preferred to live in obscurity. Until the discovery of his diaries
in the mid-1990s, it was considered unlikely that he could have been in love with a woman
with or without the name of Banalata Sen. However, Banalata Sen of Natore, a tiny town in
the Rajshahi area of what was then Bengal, has become an emblem of feminine mystery as
well as beauty and love.
It has been a thousand years since I started trekking the

earth A huge travel in night’s darkness from the Ceylonese
waters to the Malayan sea
I have been there too: the fading world of Vimbisara and
Asoka Even further—the forgotten city of Vidarva,
Today I am a weary soul although the ocean of life around continues to foam,
Except for a few soothing moments with Natore’s Banalata Sen.
Her hair as if the dark night of long lost Vidisha,

Her face reminiscent of the fine works of
Sravasti, When I saw her in the shadow it seemed
as if a ship-wrecked mariner in a far away sea
has spotted a cinnamon island lined with greenish grass.
“Where had you been lost all these days? ”
yes, she demanded of me, Natore’s Banalata
Sen raising her eyes of profound refuge.
At the day’s end evening crawls in like the sound of dews,

The kite flaps off the smell of sun from its wings.
When all colours take leave from the world
except for the flicker of the hovering fireflies
The manuscript is ready with tales to be told
All birds come home, rivers too,
All transactions of the day being over
Nothing remains but darkness
to sit face to face with Banalata Sen.
(Translated by Faizul Latif Chowdhury)
"Banalata Sen" was composed by Jibanananda Das in 1934 when he was living in Calcutta, at
a time in his life when he had lost his job of Assistant Lecturer at the City College, Kolkata.
The relevant manuscript was discovered and labelled Book-8 while preserved in the National
Library of Calcutta; the poem occurs on page 24 of this manuscript. It was first published in
the December 1935 issue of the poetry magazine Kavita, edited by poet Buddhadeva Bose. It
is also the first poem of his third collection of poetry published in 1942 under the title
Banalata Sen. Earlier, the lyric was collected in Modern Bengali Poetry, jointly edited by
Abu Sayeed Ayub and Hirendranath Mukhopadhyaya, published in 1939. Although popularly
regarded a romantic lyric, the poet’s historical sense of human existence is unmistakably the
underlying essence.
The poem consists of three stanzas each comprising six lines composed in the Bengali
metrical pattern Aksherbritta or Poyar. The title of this lyric poem, Banalata Sen, is a female
character referred to by name in the last line of each of its three stanzas. The poem is self-
narrated by an unnamed traveller. Banalata Sen is the name of a woman whom the poem
describes as being from the town of Natore, a town in Bangladesh.
In the first stanza the traveller describes seeing her after having wandered upon the earth over
thousands of years. The narrator says that it has been a thousand years since he started
trekking the earth. He describes it as a long journey in night’s darkness from the Ceylonese
waters to the Malayan seas. From this geographical expanse he goes on to the extent of time,
saying that, in the course of his wanderings he has traversed the fading world of Bimbisara
and Ashoka. He adds that he went further, to the forgotten city of Vidharbha. Finally he
speaks of himself as now being a weary soul although the ocean of life around continues to
foam and adds that in the meanwhile he had a few soothing moments with Natore’s Banalata
Sen.
In the second stanza the traveller describes Banalata Sen. First he compares her hair with the
dark night of long-lost Vidisha. Then he compares her face with the fine sculpture of Sravasti.
Then the traveller-narrator recollects that when he saw her in the shadow it was like a mariner
whose ship was wrecked in a faraway sea spotting verdant land among barren islands. In the
first encounter Banalata Sen, raising her comforting eyes, inquires of him, “Where had you
been lost all these days?”
In the third stanza the traveller returns from geography and history and recalls Banalata Sen
with emotion. He says that when at the day’s end evening crawls in like the sound of dews
and the kite shakes off the smell of sun from its wings; and, then, when all colours take leave
from the world except for the flicker of the hovering fireflies as all birds come home and
rivers retire, a time comes when all transactions of the day are done. Then nothing remains
but darkness when the traveller would like to sit face-to-face with Banalata Sen and share
with her his ballad of stories.
The poet-narrator proceeds by alluding to different mythological and ancient persons, places
and events. He describes having wandered from the Ceylonese Ocean to the seas of Malaya,
having travelled in Ancient India in the times of Emperor Bimbisara, and centuries later, in
the times of Ashoka the Great. He describes having wandered in darkness in the ancient cities
of Vidarbha and Vidisha, yet, for his tired soul, the only moment of peace in any age was
with Banalata Sen of Natore.
The lyric Banalata Sen is the most representative of the essence of Jibanananda's poetry and
exemplifies his use of imagery. The weary traveller is an interactive motif in his poetry. The
poem itself uses four key images comprehensively, namely the darkness, flowing water,
passage of time, and a woman. Jibanananda progressively develops these same four images
throughout the poem, metamorphosing these from remoteness to intimacy, dimness to
distinction and from separation to union.
Naked Solitary Hand

--Jibanananda Das
Darkness once again thickens throughout the sky:

This darkness, like light's mysterious sister.
She who has loved me always,
Whose face I have yet to see,
Like that woman
Is this darkness, deepening, closing in upon a February sky.
A certain vanished city comes to mind,

In my heart wake outlines of some gray palace in that city.
on shores of the Indian ocean

or the Mediterranean
or the banks of the Sea of Tyre,
Not today, but once there was a city,
And a palace-
A palace lavishly furnished:
Persian carpets, Kashmiri shawls, flawless pearls and coral from waters
round Bahrain.
My lost heart, dead eyes, faded dream desires
And you, woman-
All these once filled that world.
There was orange sunlight,

Cockatoos and pigeons,
Dense, shady mahogany foliage.
There was orange sunlight,
Much orange-colored sunlight,
And you were there.
For how many hundreds of centuries I have not seen the beauty of
your face,
Have not searched.
The February darkness brings with it this tale of a seashore,
Sorrowful lines of fantasy domes and arches,
Fragrance of invisible pears,
Countless deer and lion parchments, graying,
Stained glass rainbows rippling over drapes-
A fleeting glow from
Room through anteroom to further inner room.
Momentary awe and wonder.
Sweat of ruddy sun, smeared on curtains, carpets,

Watermelon wine in red glasses!
Your naked lonely hand
Your naked lonely hand.
(The poem ‘This Earth’ written by Jibanananda Das is not available.)
The Heart of Silence

-Makhdoom Mohiuddin
Not even a heart-throb
No footfall anywhere around
Nor a flicker of my soul.
The air is still—
your body beyond my reach,
I miss the warm caress of your breath.
The core of this silence is unredeemed
even by a leaf’s rustle.. Not even
the muffled sound of a teardrop
Plumetting like a molten pearl.
Eternal void.
Sable desolation broods over this highway.

Why doesn’t shine inoonface illumine
the deep recesses of my gloom,
some lightning’s whiplash quicken me into sentience?
(Translated from Urdu Shiv K Kumar)
Prison
-Makhdoom Mohiuddin
Within its four walls, time has come
to a stop. Its only logic is tyranny,
unmitigated, relentless.
The night is fallen—silence and loneliness

gnaw into my soul. Far, far away from the city’s
deep bosom rises the clangour of chimes,
and I’m startled.
My being flares up, kindling
the tapers of my imagination till the spool
of all my yesterdays lies bare, uncoiled.
These clusters of humans on the highways,

down the streets and narrow lanes—
their hustled footfalls.

On their foreheads the indelible imprints
of angst; from the hollow sockets of their
eyes the blank stare of all the sorrows of yester-
years, the dark forebodings of toinmorrow.
Hundreds of thousands of such fugitives

from life move about listlessly, anguished by
the remorseless brute power of kings and demagogues.
Who knows at what crossroad, this human fodder

may burst into balefire, ignited by centuries of
deprivation of youth sunk in sleep,
chained and bonded.
Only when the fetters clang on tossing in bed
does the din of life break into my being.
Oh, a thousand pities that! Have

squandered away the treasure of my life
within these walls, not demolishing
the other prison, offering myself
at the altar of my country’s freedom.
Darkness
-Makhdoom Mohiuddin
In the night’s hands a beggar’s bowl,
These flaming stars, this throbbing moon—
these destitutes of the earth whose deprivation
is their resplendent vesture,
also their shroud.
Ensconced in this darkness, their famished
bodies break into wails—
their bodies, the devil’s easy sport.
These wounds of civilization

deep trenches
spiked fences
in whose tangled cobwebs dangle human corpses
on which perch shaggy vultures. These sundered
heads, hands and feet.
And there across these mounds of putrient flesh

howls glacé wind.
Is it some piercing lament,

wail or supplication?
In the womb of night’s silence, is it

the sobbing of some mothers and children,
doomed? Or is it the plaintive cry of the pallid
moon, the stars?
I see on the night’s forehead a cluster

of jaded stars poised in aching eagerness
for the sun to blaze forth.
Gloom—night’s only largesse to man—

what else can it offer?
The Orang-Outang
-Gajanan Madhav Muktobodh
Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh was one of the most prominent Hindi poets, essayist, literary
and political critic, and fiction writers of the 20th century. He also remained assistant-editor
of journals like, Naya Khun and Vasudha etc
He is widely considered one of the pioneers of modern poetry in India, and doyen of Hindi
poetry after, Surya Kant Tripathi 'Nirala', and known as being a pioneer, the mainstay of
Prayogvaad Experimentalism movement of Hindi literature and it was also his work, which
also marked the culmination of this literary movement and its evolution into the Nayi Kahani
and Nayi Kavita Modernism in 1950s, his presence is equally important in the rise of 'New
Criticism' in Indian literature.
(The poems ‘The Orang-Outang’ and ‘The Void Within’ written by Gajanan Madhav
Muktibodh are not available.)
A Single Shooting Star

-Gajanan Madhav Muktobodh
A single shooting star

A distant star
shoots through the blue of space
Here, someone measures its speed,

records the rise and set.
But nothingness of space,
assumed to blue, must spell
an answer inaccessible.
To stretching scope
eye muscle's strain.
Astronomers describe
its pace and spatial shift;
account for its time concealed
in tunnels of shade.
Yet it tracks only itself,
oblivious to sketch
and sketcher, eye and scope.
With equal speed

another lone star seems
to move across the space
So in moving out of shades
of evil , reining self,
riding the void,
each star
becomes the image
seeing
its own fearless offspring---
because of this
I shall put faith in every man,
in every man's son.
(Translated from Hindi by James Mauch)
The Day She Was Gone
-Namdeo Dhasal
Namdeo Laxman Dhasal (15 February 1949 – 15 January 2014) was a Marathi poet, writer
and Dalit activist from Maharashtra, India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and a
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sahitya Akademi in 2004. In 2001, he made a
presentation at the first Berlin International Literature Festival.
The day she was gone,

I painted my face black.
I slapped the savage schizophrenic wind hard in its face.
I picked up small pieces of my life
And stood naked in front of a cracked mirror
I allowed me to wreak vengeance upon myself.
I stared condescendingly at the Sun and said, 'You screwball!'
I showered choice curses upon all artists who paint dreams;
I walked from the East towards the West;
I picked stones I found on the way and hurled them at myself,
How boisterously flows this water in its fit of laughter
Through mountains and gorges
What ocean is it seeking to meet?
Or will it seep
Into the soil at sea-level?
Did even I belong to myself?
I could not even embrace her dead body
And cry my heart out.
The day she was gone,
I painted my face black.
New Delhi, 1985
-Namdeo Dhasal
The needle probes for the artery;
Enemies of poetry gather in your city.
Your town is cursed with power;
Roses flow in this stream of blood;
The waters of your Yamuna stand exposed.
India Gate:
Over there, the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
How ruthlessly has this city been combed and groomed!

White elephants sway at the gate of the past.
Goldsmiths mould replicas of peacocks.
Your well-carpentered glory.
Long Kashmiri carpets are rolled out in your streets.
Armed regiments on alert;
The showy itch of culture;
Wooing guests, dancing before them;
Parading cavalry;
Anti-aircraft guns;
Nuclear missiles to frighten off enemies;
The President accepting a salute from those hanging between the sky and the earth;
The Prime Minister shaking hands
With the glorified blemished.
Bravo!
What a spectacular festival
In this collection, the poem called ‘New Delhi, 1985’ Namdeo Dhasal brilliantly mocks the
celebration of Republic Day at India Gate in New Delhi.
On the way to the dargah

-Namdeo Dhasal
A leaking sun
Went burning out
Into the night’s embrace
When I was born on a pavement
In crumpled rags-
And became orphaned-
To the one who gave birth to me
Went to our father in heaven
She was tired of the harassing ghosts in the streets
She wanted to wash off the darkness of her sari
And I grew up
Like a human with a fuse blown up
On the shit in the street
Saying, ‘Give five paisa
Take five curses’
On the way to the dargah.
*Dargah – the tomb or shrine of a Muslim saint.
Unit-III
Samskara A Rite for A Dead Man
-U R Ananthamurthy
Characters:
Praneshacharya – learned scholar and priest of Durvasapura

Naranappa– a Brahmin who leads a non-Brahminical life
Chandri – a dalit woman who lives with Naranappa
Garudacharya– a relative of Naranappa Lakshmanacharya–
a relative of Naranappa Dasacharya – a poor Brahmin of
the agrahara Durgabhatta– a Smarta Brahmin living in
Durvasapura Anasuya– wife of Lakshmanacharya
Plot
The story is set in a street in a small village called Durvasapura in the Western Ghats of
Karnataka. A majority of the people who live in the street belong to the community of
Madhwas (a Brahmin community). The people who stay here have a traditional mindset and
strictly follow the rules defined by their religion. Two of the main characters in the story
are Praneshacharya (Girish Karnad) and Narayanappa. Praneshacharya is a devout Brahmin
who has completed his Vedic education at Varanasi and has returned to
Duravasapura and is considered as the leader of the Brahmin community of his village and
the surrounding ones. His main goal is to attain liberation (moksha) and he is willing to go to
any length to achieve it. To remain focused on his goal and as an act of self-sacrifice, he
marries an invalid woman and hence remains celibate.
The other main character, Narayanappa, a Brahmin by birth but one who has rejected the set
rules of Brahminism by eating meat and by keeping the company of a prostitute named
Chandri. Once Narayanappa and his friends catches the sacred fish in the temple tank, cooks,
and eats them. This causes the Brahmins in the villages to rise up against him. They approach
Praneshacharya to throw him out of the village. Praneshacharya decides against taking this
extreme step and he believes that Narayanappa can be convinced to get rid of his immoral
acts. Once Narayanappa visits Shimoga and he returns to Duravasapura with high fever and
dies. The Brahmins are left in a piquant situation because, according to Brahmin principles, a
person who dies should be cremated as early as possible. None of the Brahmins wants to
cremate the body — they feel that by cremating Narayanappa's body, they will become
polluted as he was against the Brahmin principles during his life.
However, the Brahmin principles also stipulate that a non-Brahmin cannot cremate the body
of a Brahmin. Praneshacharya, being the leader, is responsible for finding the solution to this
difficult problem. He reads the holy books, but they do not provide any solution. He then
goes to a temple to pray to God and spends a whole day there. Disappointed at not being able
to solve the problem, he trudges back home. On his way, he encounters Chandri. He is
mesmerised by her beauty and when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he finds himself
lying on Chandri's lap. Chandri rushes home, finds that Narayanappa's body has started to rot,
gets it cremated in secrecy, and leaves Durvasapura. Praneshacharya is left in a piquant

situation on whether he has to reveal his immoral act to the people of the village or keep quiet
about it. Feeling guilty, he leaves the village but the guilt never leaves him. Finally deciding
to own up to his act, he returns to the village and the story ends there. It's left to the
imagination of the viewer on whether Praneshacharya owns up or not.
Mother of 1084
-Mahasweta Devi
The World of ‘Marginalised’ in Mahasweta Devi’s Play “Mother of 1084” G.Gulam Tariq
Mahasweta Devi was born in the year 1926 and belongs to Bengal. She began to show keen
interest in literature since the young age itself. This can be witnessed in her contribution of
several stories to the various literary magazines.
Characters:
Sujata Chatterjee- mother of the protagonist of the play

Brati Chatterjee- protagonist and revolutionary man
Dibyanath Chatterjee, a chartered accountant and husband of Sujata
Two sons (Jyoti and Brati) and two daughters (Nipa and Tuli).
Nandini-Brati’s lover
The play Mother of 1084 is the original translation of Mahasweta Devi’s Bengali play “Hajar
Churashir Ma” has the best illustrations for the marginalized category. The neglected and
suppressed plight of the woman is represented by Sujata Chatterjee, mother of the protagonist
of the play Brati Chatterjee whose ideology i.e., commitment to the revolutionary and
Communist Naxalite movement has labeled him as a rebel, and was killed ruthlessly by the
police in an ‘encounter’.
In the play Mother of 1084 Sujata Chatterjee, a traditional upper middle class lady, an
employee who awakens one early morning to the shattering news that her youngest and
favourite son, Brati, is lying dead in the police morgue bearing the dead body no.1084.
The play moves around Sujata, a middle-aged woman belonging to a ‘bhadralok’,

bourgeoisie Calcutta family.
Born into a conservative, affluent family, Sujata is advised to pursue her B.A. so that it helps
her marriage prospects, but is ultimately married off to Dibyanath Chatterjee, a chartered
accountant, despite his unsound financial situation.
In thirty-four years of their married life, Sujata gives birth to four children, two sons (Jyoti
and Brati) and two daughters (Nipa and Tuli).
When the play opens, two of her children are already married, Jyoti to Bina and Nipa to
Amrit. In the eyes of the world, all of them are leading perfectly happy and settled lives, but
as Sujata goes on to discover later, that this happiness is only superficial. Significantly, Sujata
makes several other discoveries, only after the sudden and mysterious death of Brati, her
younger son, with whom she had always shared a very special relationship. For instance, she
discovers that all her thirty-four years of her married life, she has been living a lie, as her
husband, being an incorrigible philanderer, always cheated her with his mother’s and
children’s tacit approval. He fixed up a petty bank job for her, when Brati was barely three
years old, is not out of any consideration for her economic independence, but essentially to
help the family tide over a temporary financial crisis. And, as soon as the tide is over, he
wants her to give up the job, which Sujata simply refuses.
Brati decides to join the Naxalite movement sweeping through the State of West Bengal in
late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Unaware of his secret mission, Sujata is not able to dissuade her son from joining this
movement. During his period of struggle, he comes into contact with a young girl, Nandini,
who is also a member of the underground movement and with whom he shares his vision of a
new world order.
On being betrayed by one of his comrades, Brati and three of his close associates, Somu,
Parth and Laltu, are brutally murdered by the hired assassins of the police.
Later, the police call up his father, asking him to come and identify the dead body of his son,
who, has in the meantime been divested of his identity as a person, and given another
‘dehumanized identity’ as corpse number 1084.
Not only does the father refuse to go, but he also forbids other family members from doing
so. Outraged at the manner in which his associates, his immediate family and the state have
abandoned the dead Brati, his mother, Sujata decides to go, throwing all pretensions to false
social respectability and the fear of public censure, to winds.
Dibyanath Chatterjee, father of Brati Chatterjee is represented, as an honest representative of

the male dominated society. As soon as he comes to know about the news of his son, instead
of rushing to the police station he tries to hush up the matter.
Sujata was neglected though she was the second important member of the family. Dibyanath
Chatterjee bothered to consult his son Jyoti rather than his wife, Sujata. Sujata felt shocked
when Dibyanath Chatterjee refuses to go to the police station with the fear of stigma in the
society for his son’s involvement in anti-government affairs.
The four chapters in the play mark a new stage in the evolution of Sujata’s consciousness, as
it enables her to re-order her fragmented and chaotic life in search of a cohesive identity.
Every time she visits her own past or that of Brati, Somu’s mother or Nandini, her long-
suppressed personal loss is slowly released into the ever-widening, spirals of betrayal, guilt
and suffering. From a weak-willed, hopelessly dependent and a non-assertive moral coward,
Sujata is transformed into a morally assertive, politically enlightened and a socially defiant
individual. In the first chapter, significantly titled ‘Dawn,’ Sujata primarily returns to her
interior, private world of personal suffering, torture, betrayal and loneliness. Negotiating the
inner time in relation to her immediate familial situation, she becomes aware of how she and
Brati were not just fellow sufferers but also soul mates.
In the second chapter, ‘Afternoon,’ Sujata’s visit to the bank to get jewellery from the locker
is only a pretext for her to visit the house of Somu’s mother. A close associate of Brati, Somu
had been killed in the same encounter. More significantly, Brati had spent his night in
Somu’s house before his mysterious disappearance and death. While Sujata goes to Somu’s
mother with the specific aim of retrieving the memories of Brati’s last few hours, it turns out
to be her entry and initiation into another world altogether.
It is the world of primitive squalor, filth, poverty, degradation and subhuman existence that
only hovers tentatively on the margins of ‘bhadraloks’ consciousness. She enters into the little
known world of slum dwellers. The sight of Somu’s ageing mother, her disgruntled daughter
and that of their ramshackle tenement with a straw roof is enough to complete the rituals of
initiation.
In the third chapter titled ‘Evening,’ when she visits Nandini, who apart from being Brati’s
comrade-in-arms was also his beloved. It is Nandini who reconstructs for Sujata all the
events leading up to Brati’s betrayal and murder. In the process, she also initiates Sujata
into the little known world of the underground movement, explaining to her the logic for an
organized rebellion, giving her firsthand account of state repression and its multiple failures.
It’s through Nandini that Sujata is finally able to understand the reasons for Brati’s political
convictions and his rejection of the bourgeoisie code. All this leaves her so completely
bewildered that she openly admits to Nandini, “I didn’t really know Brati.”
In the last chapter of the novel titled ‘Night,’ we meet a transformed Sujata, one who is more
self-assured, morally confident and politically sensitive. She decides to leave the house in
which Brati never felt at home, where he wasn’t valued while he was alive, nor his memory
respected after his death. Having found a soul mate in Brati, she turns her back on Dibyanath
and his decadent value-system. Bound by a sense of moral responsibility, she does go through
all the rituals and ceremonies connected with Tuli’s engagement, but during the party, she
maintains stiff, studied silence. Her insistence on wearing a plain, white sari for the party is
also a significant gesture. The feelings of Sujata were not respected but misinterpreted by the
members of the family. The given conversation between Sujata (Tuli, the second daughter of
Sujata) and Tuli represents this thought, Tuli: Didn’t Brati laugh at other people’s beliefs?
Sujata: Brati’s belief was so different from your belief in the Swami, or Bina’s in her prayer
room, that it sounds utterly absurd when you drag his name into the same context. Tuli: The
same thing again! You will react every time we mention
It is a well known fact in the society that father and mother play an important role in bringing
up the children. But it is ridiculous to notice that when the children get spoiled, complete
blame is thrown on mother.
Being physically weak and fragile, (for a few years, she had been living with a rotten
appendix inside her system), and traumatized by her younger son’s death and subsequent
repression of grief, she simply gives up on life. When she screams and collapses into a heap,
her husband is quick to react that her “appendix” has burst. Whatever the symbolic overtones
of his statement, she certainly succumbs to the slow process of inner-outer rot and decay.
Finally, as she herself says, “Now that Brati is dead, I, too, wouldn’t like to go on living.” She
discovers her inner self but on the whole loses her will to live and survive. Time constantly
swings back and forth, and so does the pendulum of two interconnected, intertwined lives,
that of Sujata and her son, Brati. Interestingly, it is death that unites them both, irrevocably
asserting the authenticity of their lives, too. Mahasweta Devi’s predominant concerns are the
tribal backwaters, the “exploitations of the Adivasis by the landed rich or the urban-
administrative machinery callously perpetuating a legacy of complicity with the
colonizers, bonded labour and prostitution, the destitution and misery of city dwellers who
are condemned to live at the fringes and eke-out a meager livelihood, the plight of woman
who are breadwinners and victims of male sexual violence, dependent widows, ill-treated
wives, and unwanted daughters whose bodies can fetch a price – are adequately
represented”.8 . From the above situations, one can infer the insignificant role of Sujata in the
play Mother of 1084, as a woman who has been relegated to the position of a neglected,
suppressed, ill-treated, mechanical and marginalized in all forms in the male dominated
society who consider woman as an object of sex, only to reproduce, bring money when
needed and does not possess even a voice to express her own concerns.
Karukku
-Bama
Bama, the Tamil Dalit woman writer, in her foreword to Karukku, her autobiography
published in 1992, presents the text as a double-edged sword before the reader. Hailed as the
first Dalit woman writer in India, Bama’s Karukku is the first autobiography of its kind in
Tamil Dalit literature. Her family was converted to Christianity way back in 18th century.
Bama began to be noted as a writer with the publication of Karukku, her debut work, in
1992.It was immediately translated into English by Lakshmi Holmstrom in 2000 and won the
Crossword Award in India in 2001. The works of Bama voiced the emergence of Dalit
Literature. Bama is the pen name of Fausthina Mary Fathima Rani. In Tamil, Fathima is
pronounced as Bathima and from that name, ‘Bama’ comes. As Bama indicates:
Mary is overtly Christian, Fathima could also be a Muslim name and Rani means ‘queen’
which does not appeal to me. I wanted a different sort of name, so I took the first and last
syllables of Fathima and made of this name Bama.
Bama’s Karukku becomes a testimonial literature since it handles the issues of oppression
faced by the Dalits, especially in Tamil Nadu. When Bama speaks as the representative of the
subaltern community, Karukku becomes the testimony which accounts not only her life but
also the life of the Dalit community into which Bama belongs. Bama’s unusual way of
writing her autobiography demands the immediate response and attention from the readers.
Her deliberate attempts to break away the so-called style and diction of autobiographies made
it unusual and thereby appreciative.
Karukku can be considered as the childhood memoir written by Bama, which voices the joys
and sorrows of her people, oppressed by the higher castes in India. The book reflects the
various events happened in her life. She was born into a poor Dalit family. Her grandmother
and mother toiled in the fields and the homes of the Naicker landlords. Despite the misery,
she had a carefree childhood. Her brother, Raj Gauthaman, also a writer, introduced her to the
world of books and inspired her to write. In college, she used to write poetry. Later she turned
into writing fiction. After education she became a schoolteacher. Bama portrays the
oppression she faced as a student and a teacher. She said that, because she was bright in
studying and teaching, she managed to escape from the violent oppression to a certain extent.
Her life took a big turn, when at the age of 26, she took the vows to become a nun. But in the
seminary and later in the convent, Bama realized the bitter truth that the situation of Dalits
will always be the same. Thus seven years later, in 1992, Bama walked out of the convent.
Outside the convent, she faced lots of questions arrowed upon her. It is her decision to
account the experiences in the form of her autobiography that saved her from ending her life
in the midst of all that struggles. Thus with Karukku, Bama shot into immediate fame and
was discussed in higher literary circles.
As a woman and as a Dalit Christian, Bama’s act of expression can be viewed as a subaltern
expression. It came out as a resistance against the ongoing caste and gender oppression. Also
the book becomes the testimonio of a Dalit Christian woman’s bitter experiences. Her act of
witnessing turned out to be a source of inspiration to her fellow-beings. Bama’s way of
writing her autobiography is quite different from the usual style. Her deliberate attempts to
deviate from the usual style of autobiographies resulted in a subaltern testimonial
autobiography. So it is relevant to study a text which records the oppression faced by a
subaltern Dalit woman and how Karukku can be treated as a subaltern testimonial
autobiography.
Karukku depicts how Dalits are not allowed to sing in the church choir, are forced to sit
separately, away from the upper caste Christians, are not allowed to bury their dead in the
cemetery within the village, behind the church, but are made to use a different graveyard
beyond the outskirts.
The Paraiyars who converted to Christianity in order to escape from the caste oppression in
Hinduism were greatly shocked to experience the oppression within the church. Further,
reservations benefits were not granted to Dalit Christians as theoretically, Christianity does
not recognize caste. The government’s reservation policies fail to take into account the gap
between the belief and practice and Dalit Christians face the brunt of it. Bama, personally,
was against the reservation system.
Life as a Paraya is hard to live from the very childhood. Everyone has to work in order to
earn their living by laboring either for the Naickers or in the fields. Apart from this, they
work as construction labourer by digging wells, carrying loads of earth, gravel and stone and
even if this work is not available they go to the hilltop to gather firewood. Each Paraya family
is attached to a Naicker family as bonded labour. There are Nadar men who have shops in the
Paraiyar streets. Paraiyars would exchange the goods, which are brought to them and in return
Nadars used to give what the Paraiyars needed. The Paraiyars are badly cheated during their
bartering session. They exchange the harvest grain, cotton pods. Every time they take the
advantage. But the Dalits are the ones who toil hard to make good.
In the churches, Dalits are the most, in numbers alone. In everything else, they are the last. It
is only the upper caste Christians who enjoy the benefits and comforts of the church. Even
amongst the priests and nuns, it is the upper-castes who hold the high positions, show off
their authority and throw their weight about. And if Dalits become priests or nuns, they are
pushed aside and marginalized first of all, before the rest go about their business. It is because
of this that even though Dalits might take up the path of renunciation.
The Tamil Paraiyar nuns are considered lowest of the low. The Paraiya caste nuns are not
given any kind of respect and positions in the convent. It is a kind of artificiality. Their
treatment is different towards Dalit nuns. They do not consider Dalits as human beings. Dalit
Christians are fighting against this partiality. The Christian Dalits formed Christian Dalit
movement and now they demand equality with upper caste Christians. In Tamil Nadu, eighty
percent of the Roman Catholics are Dalits. But in the Tamil Nadu Catholic Church, Dalits are
not given high positions.
Bama’s Karukku, apart from being her autobiography, becomes the testimonio of a
community. Her personal experiences reveal the life that a Dalit has to lead in a caste based
society. This chapter talks about the experiences that Bama had in her Dalit life and discusses
how Karukku becomes a testimonio of Dalits. Karukku focuses on two essential
aspectsnamely: caste, and religion that cause great pain inBama’s life.Bama has bitter
experiences at the school: One day Bama and her friends were playing at the schoolin the
evening. At that moment somebody has stolen the coconut. The guilt is thrown on her.
Everyonesays that it was Bama who had plucked the coconut.Actually she was not guilty but
the headmaster treatsher badly. He scolds her in the name of caste.
Bama’s elder brother’s counsel makes a very deepimpression on Bama. She wants to prove
herself. Eversince her brother speaks to her, she studies hard withall her breath and being.
Bama takes her studies veryseriously. She sees to it that she always stands first inthe class.
Bama writes: “In fact, because of that, many people become my friends, even though I am
aParaichi.” (15).Throughout her period of education, Bama findsthat wherever she goes, there
is a painful reminder ofhercaste in the form of untouchability. The government offers the
financial grants and specialtuitions to the Harijans. These grants and tuitions weremore of
humiliation than consolation, mainly becauseit singled out her caste identity. Once the
identity isrevealed, Bama opines: “Among the other students, asudden rustling; a titter of
contempt. I was filled witha sudden rage.”(19). It was against the odds that Bamacompletes
her under graduation and B.Ed.Subsequently, she decides to become a teacher. Sheworks in a
convent. Bama finds that the nuns workingthere constantly oppress the Dalit children. When
sheis in the hostel after completion of her eighth class, Bama painfully recalls the nuns
commenting on the Dalit children.
The Paraiya caste nunsare not given any kind of respect and positions in theconvent. Bama
notices the casteism in the convent.She thought convent is the only exceptional place.She
starts realizing that one can tolerate outsidediscrimination from society. But it is very hard to
facepolitics and casteism inside the convent. Because ofthe purpose of her survival, she has to
pretend there.Though the crucial circumstances are like this inthe convent, Bama continues to
stay in the conventbecause of her strong determination and perseverancetowards the poor and
the Dalit children. Those whoare taking training with Bama to become nuns areanxious to
find out to which caste Bama belongs.Whoever asks Bama about her caste, she answers
honestly without any hesitation. The religious orderitself has its own reservation about the
Harijan womento become nuns. In a particular class a sister tells Bamathat there is a separate
religious order for Harijan womento become nuns.
Bama is admitted in the religious order only after shegets confirmation from the convent. The
convent has asked for her services. The nuns in the conventconstantly threw insults and abuse
against the Dalitstudents. Christianity stands for love, service and helping others. Convents
are service oriented but theirorientation is different towards upper castes and Dalits.They
could not admit Dalit students in their conventschool. Because their standard will fall.
Theymarginalize all Dalits as poor quality. The nuns in theconvent speak very insultingly
about low caste people.They speak as if they do not even consider low castepeople as human
beings.
In Karukku, Bama deliberately breaks away from the usual style of writing an autobiography.
Her intense urge to save her people from the clutches of caste oppression is evidently
reflected in the work. The style and language she used proves the arrogant attitude that Dalit
writers possess towards the standard language and diction. Bama thus became a
representative writer of Dalit literature. She thus casts away the bonds made by the upper
literary world.
Bama breaks the rules of written grammar and spelling throughout, elides words and joins
them differently, demanding a new and different pattern of reading… by using an informal
speech style which addresses the reader intimately… As well as this subversion of received
Tamil…an oral tradition made up of work chants, folk-songs, songs sung at rites of passage,
as well as proverbs…there is often a layering of meaning in certain words…often there is a
spin or a turnaround of meaning, a freshness in some of the coinages…breaking a mainstream
aesthetic….proposing a new one which is integral to her politics.
Unit-IV
Drama
Chandalika
-Rabindranath Tagore
Tagore's play Chandalika is a short two act play. The story of the play revolves round only
three characters – Prakriti, a chandal Girl, Ananda, a Buddhist monk and Prakriti's mother
who has magic powers. The play is a story of very sensitive girl condemned by her birth to a
despicable caste.
The play begins at the confrontation of Prakriti and her mother over the topic of Ananda’s
inspiration of Prakriti as a living, breathing human being and not as an untouchable,
despicable, socially neglected chandalini. Prakriti was born in a chandal family; and, like all
chandal children, she has been brought up in the belief that she was inferior to all other
people and that even her touch would pollute a member of the other classes of society or of
the other castes. As usual Prakriti went to the well to fetch water, finding her nowhere to be
seen the mother of Prakriti calls out to Prakriti who should by now come back home.
When asked for whom she had been doing penance, Prakriti tells her that a few days ago
someone had come to the well and asked her to give him water to quench his thirst. She says:
“I told him, yes. He said it wasn’t true. If the black clouds of Sravana are dubbed Chandal, he
said, what of it? It doesn’t change their nature, or destroy the virtue of their water. Don’t
humiliate yourself, he said; self-humiliation is a sin, worse than self-murder.”
Prakriti feels thrilled and delighted by the Bhikshu’s words and she then pours water into his
cupped hands. The Bhikshu drinks the water and leaves; but his words have made a powerful
impression upon the girl’s mind. She has, for the first time in her life, been told by someone
that she is a human being like any other. The Bhikshu’s words have brought an awakening in
her and
have given her a new awareness of herself. At the same time she has fallen in love with the
Bhikshu, and in fact begun to be haunted by the thoughts of him.
Prakriti ignoring her mother’s warning says: “Once did he cup his hands, to take the water
from mine. Such an only little water, yet the water grew to fathomless, boundless sea. In it
flowed all the seven seas in one, and my caste was drowned, and my birth washed clean”
The mother says that even Prakriti’s manner of speaking has changed, and that it seems that
the Buddhist monk had cast some kind of spell upon her. She then asks Prakriti if she really
understands all that she has said. Prakriti replies that the Buddhist monk had come to her for
water when he could have got water from any other place in the city of Sravasti through
which he had been walking all day. He had come to her at this well instead of going to any
other well. It was on her that he had bestowed the honour of quenching his thirst. It was truly
a new birth for her. The Buddhist monk had performed a highly commendable act by asking
her for water and thus conferring an honour upon her. Evidently he wanted to fulfill some
sacred purpose by coming to her, though he could have gone to some sacred stream to quench
his thirst.
Prakriti shows herself to be a very sensitive kind of girl and she proves to be a sensual one
too. When the Buddhist monk happens once again to pass the well where Prakriti had given
him water to quench his thirst, he does not even look towards the well because he is not
thirsty and because he had completely forgotten the incident of his having met a Chandal girl
to whom he had imparted the knowledge of her identity as a human being. Prakriti
misinterprets the Buddhist Bhikshu’s forgetfulness of the whole incident as an insult to her;
and she now becomes even more determined than before to have him as her lover. With that
object in her mind, she becomes even more insistent that her mother should use her maximum
strength as a sorceress to compel the monk to come to her. She even says that her mother’s
magic is something ancient, as old as life itself, while the Mantras of the Buddhist Bhikshu’s
are raw things of yesterday. These Bhikshus can never be a match for her mother, she says,
and that this particular Bhikshu is therefore bound to be defeated by her magic.
Prakriti’s mother gives Prakriti a magic mirror in which Prakriti would be able to see where
the Bhikshu is and what is happening to him as a result of the magic spells which the mother
would begin to chant. The mother then begins her magic operations, while Prakriti looks into
the mirror. The magic of Prakriti’s mother begins to take effect. Prakriti sees Bhikshu
showing symptoms of a change in his look and behaviour. Soon, a conflict begins in
Prakriti’s mind. This conflict shows that Prakriti is not merely a creature of lust that she is not
a brazen woman seeking merely the gratification of her sensual desire, and that she is devoid
of all moral scruples.
Prakriti’s mother asks Prakriti to look into the mirror and tell her where the Bhikshu is at this
time. Prakriti looks into the mirror, and then throws it away. She asks her mother to stop and
to undo the spells at once. She tells her mother that Bhikshu is very near their house but a
great change has come over him. All the light and the radiance, all the shining purity, and all
the heavenly glow, which he originally had, are now gone completely. He looks worn-out and
faded. It seems that he carries on his back the heavy.
The Bhikshu now released from the effect of magic, becomes aware of his surroundings and
begins to sing a song in honour of his master, the Buddha.
Prakriti tells her mother that for the first time she had heard the kind of words which the
monk had spoken to her and thatordinarily, she would have not dared even to touch the dust
under the feet of that man to whom she had given water and who had actually drunk the
water. She had so deeply been influenced by the monk's words while pouring water into his
cupped hands. She had felt that the water was growing to a bottomless sea and that into the
water were flowering all the seven seas of the world, drowning her caste and washing her
clean of the stigma of her low birth.
Silence! The Court is in Session
-Vijay Tendulkar
Vijay Tendulkar was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary
essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi.
Characters
Leela Benare: is a school teacher of eight years standing. She comes across as a vivacious
and unconventional woman. She seems to have a mind of her own and is very forthright. She
has a sense of fun. She is also able to laugh at the foibles and eccentricities of the various
members in the group.
Sukhatme: Arrives on stage along with the rest of the characters. He is introduced as a
lawyer in the stage directions. He comes in smoking a beedi.
Balu Rokde: As a young boy he was given shelter by the Kashikars, who fed, clothed and
educated him while he ran errands and performed odd jobs for them. He accompanies them
and takes orders from them.
Ponkshe: Is introduced as the Science student. Leela Benare tells us that he has failed his
intermediate examinations, these are examinations that would have allowed him to join the
university. Ponkshe smokes a pipe, has taken his inter exams for the second time and works
as a clerk at the Central Telegraph office.
Mrs. Kashikar: Benare introduces her as “The-hand-that-rocks –the-cradle.” Yet, Mrs

Kashikar, although she is given this epithet has no children of her own. Her role, it is
suggested at the outset is one of providing nurture and secondary support as a housewife. The
use of a married title “Mrs. And her husbands surname are the only way in which she is
represented throughout the play. This perhaps is her only public identity. She is known as the
wife of Mr. Kashikar. It is her husband who calls all the shots and is shown as very rude to
her, putting her down and cutting her short on every occasion.
Mr. Kashikar: The dominant spouse, he has indulged his wife by stopping on the way to the
hall and buying her flowers to put in her hair. He is referred to as the chairman of the group
by Benare and sees himself as a man of superior intelligence. He is shown to have a great
sense of self-importance and sees himself as undertaking any and every action only with
Prime objectives in view.
Plot:
Vijay Tendulkar is one of the most famous Indian playwrights. He is a television and film writer,
journalist and literary essayist. He is well thought-out as the first playwright who made sex and
violence on the Indian drama. His works deal with the themes of marriage, gender inequality and
social inequality. He writes in his mother tongue, Marathi, the language
of the Maharashtra state. His play, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe was translated into English as
Silence! The Court is in Session by Priya Adarkar. He got the inspiration for this play from
the members of a small theatre group who one day approached him at Ville Parle, a village
where he lives and requested to be escorted to a place where they were going to stage a mock-
trial. He got some bits of dialogues for this play. Social issues, sex, violence and human
relations are the other themes in the play. It is a satirical, tragic and socialistic drama. It deals
with not only gender discrimination and exploitation but also the problems of middle class
Indian women. The writer polished the theme and added some ironical ideas.
Miss Benare, the protagonist of the play, works as a teacher in a school. She is a very hard
working lady. She is loved and admired by pupils. She is also an enlightened activist, being a
member of the amateur theatre group called “The Sonar Moti Tenement (Bombay)
Progressive Association” (59). The main objective of association is to educate the villagers. A
group of teachers plan to stage a drama in a village. One of the members of the cast does not
show up. A local stagehand is asked to replace him. A mock charge of infanticide is levelled
against Miss Benare who is one of the members of the cast. Then the pretend-play or game
suddenly turns into a grim charge and it emerges from the witness that Miss Benare has killed
an illegitimate child by Prof. Damle who is the missing member of the cast. The charges have
become voiced only in the absence of Damle. Miss Benare is trapped by the male vultures
around her. Witness after witness, charge upon charge is heaped upon her. The defence
lawyer is so frightened that he only asks for a little mercy on her behalf. He announces:
“Prisoner Miss Benare, under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, you have been accused of
the crime of infanticide. Are you guilty of the aforementioned crime?” (25) She argues that
she has not killed anybody and says: “I couldn't kill even a common cockroach. I'm scared to
do it. How could I kill a newborn child?”(73)
Ponkshe, who is a scientist, asks Benare: “Miss Leela Benare, you have been arrested on
suspicion of a crime of an extremely grave nature and brought as a prisoner before the bar of
this court” (74). On hearing this sudden charge, she is stunned, shocked and bewildered, the
entire atmosphere becomes very serious. He also says, “She runs after men too much” (81).
‘The play- within-play’ slowly grows into a serious affair. Karnik, one of the characters, says
that Benare was in love with her maternal uncle but the affair ended in failure. He further
“reveals her past life by saying that she first proposed to Ponkshe and then tried to deceive
Rokde, a young boy. Karnik is persuaded to confess the fact that Rokde has seen Benare in “a
compromising situation” (85).
Finally, Benare ends up confessing that she is afraid of them all. She further admits the fact
that she perpetrated a sin once in her life that she loved with her maternal uncle as a teen-aged
girl. She later came to know that he had kept his eyes on her young beauty. At the end,
confronted with, her demand to marry her he “turned tail and man” (117). She tried to commit
suicide but she would not die. She admitted that as a grown up woman, she fell in love with
professor Damle and thought that it was an intelligent love and she offered her body to him
on the altar of her worship, “My intellectual god took the offering and went his way” (118).
Benare’s monologue towards the end of the play is directed against men in general, and
Professor Damle in particular. It shows her women are suppressed in the male dominated
psyche. Here, she almost the playwright’s mouthpiece. In her monologue, some of her
statements are satirical “Emotion is something people talk about with sentiment. It was
obvious to me. I was living through it. It was burning through me” (117). She says in pain
and anxiety that hers is a selfless mother’s quest, founded on her would be son’s most
essential needs. The people should think about it very seriously and the problem is not only
Benare’s but also of many young unmarried girls. We can imagine how an orphan faces the
problems in the society that is why Benare killed her child and she does not want her son to
be humiliated. Benare has set a very bad example as a teacher. Benare loses her job at the
school and punished by the court but Prof. Damle who was the father to her child does not
lose his job. It is highly ridiculous thing that the man who had sexual pleasure with her is not
punished but Benare was arrested. Similar incidents one can observe in the present socio-
political cunning society. When a prostitute and a debauchee are caught for having sex, she is
focused publicly whereas he is left by media and public also. It shows how the male
dominated society can do whatever men want. In the play, Mr. Kashikar thinks that a grown-
up married girl is ‘a sinful canker on the body of society.’ He thinks that the old custom of
child marriage must be revived and the girls should be married before puberty. Then only we
can stop promiscuities. Through this play, Tendulkar also makes a review of the present day
court procedures, and points out the problem of dilapidations and the loss of the dignity of the
court.
In Tendulkar’s plays, most of the action revolves around the female protagonists. The
marginalization, exploitation and dehumanization of women are clearly portrayed in the play.
Leela Benare presents a world apparently dominated by male chauvinists. She is helplessly
harassed by her co-actors. She wants to live a free life, free from the male dominance. She
displays self-determination, self-assertiveness and cynicism. Tendulkar has tried to initiate
the new form by commenting on the mendacity of the social and ethical standards existing in
the society. The character of Ms. Benare is also identical to various female characters
presented by Shashi Deshpande, Maheswetha Devi, Anita Desai and Kiran Desai. They have
also exposed the naked realities of women suffering at the hands of the male psyche.
Benare represents the women in India who are suppressed, oppressed and marginalized. She
is brutally destroyed for her actions both physically and mentally. She breaks down during
the mock trial because of the story of the character in the play. She performs at the mock trail
is identical to her own. Mrs. Kashikar does not help anyway the helpless Benare in the court.
She is against Benare because she is a conventional Indian housewife who has accepted all
the norms framed by the society. She accepted the role of a woman as a beautiful lady who
should serve for her family. Thus Benare was exploited by co-women also. It designates how
the women are commented by another woman in the society. Benare, on the other hand, was
a progressive contemporary woman. She was psychologically tortured but was still starving
to search for her existence. The last speech of Benare is skilfully constructed by Tendulkar. It
echoes the irony, sorrow and satire that still existed present in the Indian society.
Hayavadana
-Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad is a well-known personality famous for his acting skills and direction abilities.
Most people are not aware of the spell bounding plays written by Karnad in Kannada
language. He started his career with a one act play titled “Maa Nishaadha” and became
famous for his works like Tuglaq, Hayavadana, Taledanda, Yayati, etc. The play Hayavadana
was published in the year 1972 and is inspired by the work of Thomas Mann titled “The
Transposed Heads”.
The source for this work by Thomas Mann is “Kathasaritsagara”, which is an old Sanskrit
collection of stories. Mann used mock-heroic tone to tell the story, whereas Karnad focuses
on the incompleteness, twisting relations, humanity and the dark nature of humans to tell the
story. However, there is not much seriousness that one could observe in the play and
everything goes as if it is normal. Hayavadana is written in two acts with the involvement of
Bhagavata who is the commentator to the actions done in the play.
ACT ONE
The play Hayavadana starts with prayer to Lord Ganesha and Bhagavata sings the verses for
the success of the play. In the verses, the narrator talks of the incompleteness of God and
declares that man is not wise enough to comprehend what is complete and what is
incomplete! He says that people should accept God no matter the shape one visualizes Him.
Bhagavata introduces the place and setting, which are announced as the city of Dharmapura
ruled by the King Dharmasheela. The two lead characters are introduced – Devadatta and
Kapila. Devadatta, son of Brahmin Vidyasagara, is considered a great scholar with wonderful
poetic abilities. Kapila, son of Ironsmith Lohita, is considered a daring personality with
unbelievable physical skills.
A scream is heard off the stage and Bhagavata pauses and carries on with the description of
the two. He says that Devadatta and Kapila are inseparable friends and live like brothers.
They are compared to Rama and Lakshmana, Lava and Kusha, Krishna and Balarama.
Another scream comes from the same direction and the narrator wonders what is causing the
disturbance. He sees an actor who is anxious and comes to the narrator. Words stutter from
his mouth as he tries to explain something he has witnessed. After Bhagavata calms him
down, the actor explains the strange thing he saw. He explains that he saw a horse that spoke
when he was about to urinate on the road. The actor says that the horse with a thick voice tells
him not to commit such thing in public.
Bhagavata asks the actor to leave the matter and prepare for the play. However, the actor says
that he is too nervous to hold a sword and cannot act. Therefore, the narrator asks the actor to
go back and find the talking horse [as an attempt to clear the confusion of the actor]. As
Bhagavata tries to motion the play, the actor comes back shouting that it or he is coming.
Bhagavata confused and worried about the discretion of the audience, he asks the curtain to
be lowered and decides to inspect the matter before allowing the audience to witness it.
Bhagavata discovers a strange being with the head of a horse and the body of a man. At first,
he believes that the horse head is a mask and tries to remove to no use. After a few futile
attempts, Bhagavata realizes that the horse head is indeed real and the being is half-man, half-
horse.
Bhagavata enquires about the plight and asks whether it was because of the curse of a sage or
because of discretion of pilgrimage or due to insulting a righteous wife. The horse headed
man interferes and says that it is not due to any of the reasons and feels sad for the
accusations. Bhagavata tries to console and asks the name. He introduces himself as
Hayavadana. The narrator asks about the head and Hayavadana says that he is born with the
head. He was silent when they try to pull it [thinking of it as a mask] because he felt that the
actors and the narrator with so much accumulated righteousness and virtues would be able to
liberate him of the horse head.
The Story of Hayavadana – ACT ONE
Hayavadana is very disturbed about his birth and goes on to narrate the details of his parents.
The Princess of Karnataka was a very lovely girl who was allowed to choose a husband of
her own choice. Many came to see her from far regions of the world like Africa, Persia and
China. However, she did not like any of them. Then one day Prince of Araby came to see her
riding on his white stallion. She faints the moment she looks at the scene. King and the
Queen decide that he is the right man for the Princess and make all the arrangements.
The Princess recovers and announces that she is in love with the white stallion. She insists on
marrying the horse and unable to dissuade her feelings, the wedding is done. She and the
horse live together for fifteen years and the horse transforms into a celestial being. The
celestial being or Gandharva is cursed by Kubera for misbehaving and he regains his actual
state after leading the life where he could get human love.
After transforming into his former self, he offers the princess to come to the Heavens and live
with him. However, she refuses and this act angers the celestial being. He curses her to
become a horse and she feels very happy about the curse. Gandharva leaves the palace and
goes to Heaven, Princess becomes a horse and roams freely; whereas, the fate of the child
born to them becomes questionable.
Hayavadana asks Bhagavata to suggest a solution. He names a number of temples and
Hayavadana says that he has already tried them all. Finally, he asks Hayavadana to visit the
Kali Temple of Chitrakoot. Hayavadana feels very happy and says that he will start
immediately. However, the narrator asks the actor to go with Hayavadana so that he won’t
lose the way. As the two exit the stage setting out for the Kali Temple, Bhagavata comes back
to the story of the two friends – Devadatta and Kapila.
Friendship and Love – ACT ONE
The narrator speaks of the like mindedness of the two friends who are about to meet a girl.
Then, female chorus is heard representing the girl. The chorus sing in bewilderment about the
state of love, where it is expected to happen with a single soul and compares it to a flower.
The chorus desires a head for each breast without any shame or fear.
Devadatta is shown sitting in a chair when Kapila approaches him questioning his absence at
the gym. Devadatta seems preoccupied while Kapila brags about his wrestling match against
a great wrestler of Gandhara. Kapila is delighted to say that the wrestler praised the technique
of him and said that he would have a great future. He observes that Devadatta is thinking of
something else and questions him about the details.
Devadatta reveals that he saw a girl and could not stop thinking of her ever since. Kapila is
familiar with this sort of situations as Devadatta does this quite often. However, he feels by
listening to the words of Devadatta that he is serious this time. He offers to help and knowing
some details about the place of her living, Kapila leaves Devadatta to his thoughts. But,
Devadatta feels really tensed as he thinks that Kapila is not suitable for this type of job. He
prays to God Rudra and offers him his head if everything goes right. He prays to Goddess
Kali and offers her his arms if everything goes right.
Kapila enters the street mentioned by Devadatta and finds the house after a few trials. He
knocks the door and sees the girl described so beautifully by his friend. He speaks aside and
claims that she is more beautiful than the eternal dancers of the Heaven and the celestial
incarnates who came to become humans. However, he does not lose track of his errand and
announces that Devadatta wishes to take her hand in marriage. Padmini blushes and calls for
her mother; later, it is announced through Bhagavata that Devadatta and Padmini are married.
The Three Hearts – ACT ONE
Padmini is pregnant and the couple seems to prepare for a journey. Devadatta does not like
the idea of the journey as it could upset the pregnancy. Further, he says that tagging along
Kapila will disturb his idea of being alone with Padmini. He emphasizes the fact that
whenever Kapila is around Padmini reacts over enthusiastically and concentrates on him
more. Padmini supports her reactions by saying that she likes to make fun of innocent Kapila.
Aside, Devadatta says that Kapila blushes in front of Padmini like never before and Padmini
shows great affection without caring about her status. Aloud, he says to Padmini that Kapila
is not used to woman and she understands the suspicion in his words.
They debate and finally decide to cancel the trip. Devadatta asks Padmini to go into a room
and says that he would tell Kapila that she is ill. Padmini agrees and pretends to go into the
room; however, she goes and stands in a corner as Kapila arrives. Kapila brings a hired cart
and apologizes for being late. As he goes on speaking about the cart and the problems he had
to face for hiring one – Devadatta says that Padmini is sick and they have to cancel the trip to
Ujjain. Kapila becomes silent, but recovers to say that he will send off the cart.
Aside, Kapila feels very disheartened about the cancellation of the trip. He feels that the
whole week would be in emptiness and he has nothing to do.
Devadatta asks Kapila to sit to have a chat and Padmini comes in to their surprise. She asks
them why they are not doing preparations. Kapila asks about the illness and she says that the
minor headache disappeared after taking medicine. She goes to Devadatta and pleads him to
proceed with the trip. She says that Kapila has done so much over the week with the
preparations that it would be unfair to cancel the journey. Devadatta could not say anything
and accepts her wishes.
Padmini praises the driving skills of Kapila and reminds how awful Devadatta manages a
cart. As they move, she looks at a tree and is attracted towards the flowers. Kapila explains
that it is a Fortunate Lady’s Flower and goes to bring one to her. As he climbs the tree,
Padmini is attracted by the strongly built body of Kapila. Devadatta feels jealous as he
observes the looks of Padmini towards Kapila. He does not blame her as he knows that the
body of Kapila is irresistible. Meanwhile, Kapila brings a heap of flowers for Padmini. He
explains that the flowers contain all the colours a married bride would have; hence the
flowers are called Fortunate lady’s Flowers. They speak of other matters and Kapila mentions
of the Rudra Temple and Kali Temple in the vicinity. Devadatta suddenly remembers his oath
to the two deities. Kapila asks them to visit Rudra Temple, but Devadatta insists that he
would stay put. After a few forward and backward debates Kapila and Padmini decide to visit
Rudra Temple without Devadatta.
ACT TWO
As the curtain is removed, the narrator poses the same question again to the audience about
the solution to the problem. He refers to King Vikrama who faced a similar problem while
answering the questions of Bethala. King Vikrama answers that the head is superior to body;
hence the person with the head will be identified as the real individual. Bhagavata reveals that
the three have gone to meet a sage [Rishi] to get a solution for the problem. In the
background, the verdict of the Rishi will be announced after the narration. The sage clearly
states that the person with the head of Devadatta shall be called as the husband of Padmini.
Devadatta and Padmini are so happy with the decision that they embrace and speak soft
words to each other. Padmini calls Devadatta thus:
“My celestial-bodied Gandharva… My sun-faced Indra…”
“What a wide chest. What other canopy do I need?”
“My Devadatta comes like a bridegroom with jewellery of a new body…”
They bid goodbye to Kapila and move along. Before separating, Padmini goes to Kapila in
order to reconcile him. She tells Kapila not to worry as it is his body that is with the head of
Devadatta. Kapila does not say anything and the couple move forward.
The death of friends – ACT TWO
Devadatta comes to the forest in search of Padmini and confronts Kapila. They feel that they
are back to their normal selves. Then, Kapila praises the greatness of Devadatta’s body. He
says that he was able to look at things with great imagination. Kapila hopes that the three can
live together without any problem; but, Padmini expresses nothing. Therefore, Devadatta
comes directly to the point and draws a sword. He asks Kapila to bring his sword as well.
They understand that the problem to this everlasting solution is the death of them.
Devadatta and Kapila fight and die together.
Padmini is once again left alone and she once again thinks of her predicament. She says that
both the individuals finally forgave each other and died without any concerns. But, she was
the one who needs to face life. Bhagavata enters and is in shock at the sight of the dead
bodies. Padmini asks him to take care of the child resting in the hut. She instructs the narrator
to take the child to the hunters in the forest and tell them that it is the child of Kapila. After
five years, she asks Bhagavata to take the boy and give him to the father of Devadatta –
Brahmin Vidyasagara and tell him that boy is the son of Devadatta. She gives the dolls
brought by Devadatta to the narrator. Bhagavata inquires about Padmini, wherein she
declares to undergo Sati along with Devadatta and Kapila.
Bhagavata narrates about the dedicated wives of India and the uniqueness of Padmini. He
tells to the audience that no one knows the spot of Sati and the hunters only point at the
Fortunate Lady Tree. He says that in full moon and new moon a song can be heard near the
tree [which is sung by Padmini in the beginning].
“Why should love stick to the sap of a single body?”
As Bhagavata prepares to end the play a loud scream is heard. An actor comes horrified and
says to the narrator that there is a horse singing National Anthem and other patriotic songs.
As they are speaking, another actor enters with a boy who seems very serious. The boy has
two dolls, which are somewhat dirtier. Bhagavata inquires about Hayavadana and gets to
know that the actor is chased away by him after they reach the Temple of Kali. The actor says
that he resided in a village of hunters where a woman gave the boy to hand him over to the
city.
Bhagavata relates the words of the woman and the dolls. He tries to go near the boy, but he
gets back with serious look. The narrator assures that he will not touch the dolls and looks at
his shoulder. He finds a mole and concludes that the boy is the son of Padmini.
FACULTY OF ARTS
M.A. (ENGLISH) I SEMESTER (CBCS) EXAMINATION
The English Language: History, Description and Practice
PAPER- I
Time 3 Hours] [Max. Marks: 80
SECTION-A (5X4=20)
1. Answer all questions
a) The rise of Standard English

b) Word Formation and different processes
c) Write the structure of English Noun Phrase
d) What is Slang?
e) How do you introduce to your friend to others?
SECTION-A (5X12=60)
2. a) Write about Indo-European Family of Languages

(OR)
b) Explain of Old English and its spellings and pronunciation
3. a) The different processes in changing the meaning

(OR)
b) Influence of Greek, Latin, French and German on the English language
4. a) What is Coordination and Subordination in English language. Discuss.

(OR)
5. a) Write about the standard dialect and idiolect with related examples
(OR)
b) Differences in spelling and pronunciation of British English and American English
6. a) What is direct speech and indirect speech? Write the transformations of the sentences?
(OR)
b) Write a conversation between two friends about seeking permission and inviting
someone
to something?
FACULTY OF ARTS
English Poetry
PAPER- II
SECTION-A (5X4=20)
a) Fancy and Imagination

b) Write the theme of John Donne’s “The Canonization.”
c) What does P.B. Shelly tries to express in his poem “To a Skylark.”
d) The speech of Ulysses
e) Write the theme from the poems of Carol Ann Duffy.
SECTION-A (5X12=60)
2. a) Explain Renaissance and Reformation critically

(OR)
b) What is Modernism and Postmodernism? Substantiate with suitable examples.
3. a) Write the conversation of God and Satan from Milton’s Paradise Lost.
(OR)
b) Belinda’s inner opinions and physical beauty
4. a) How did Wordsworth present ‘nature’ in his poems

(OR)
b) Write the differences between “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.”
5. a) The technique of dramatic monologue from Robert Browning’s poems

(OR)
b) What does the poet’s ideas in Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach
6. a) Attempt critical analysis of TS Eliot’s The Wasteland

(OR)
b) The modern ideas of Philip Larkin’s from his poems
FACULTY OF ARTS
English Drama
PAPER- III
SECTION-A (5X4=20)
a) Tragedy
b) Sketch the character of Prospero
c) The thematic elements from Aphra Behn’s The Rover
d) What is an Indian Ink
e) Housewife Lucy
SECTION-A (5X12=60)
th
2. a) Write the origin and development of British Drama till the 17
century (OR)
b) What is Restoration Drama? Give suitable examples.
3. a) Tragic elements from Shakespeare’s King Lear

(OR)
b) Write the self-destruction of Doctor Faustus
4. a) Give the importance of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

(OR)
b) Illustrate the war scenes from GB Shaw’s Saint Joan
5. a) Sketch the character of ‘Angry Young Man.’

(OR)
b) Who are the top girls of Caryl Churchill’s ‘Top Girls’ and write the relationship among
them.
6. a) Maurya’s flashback from JM Synge’s Riders to the Sea

(OR)
b) Write the dramatic scenes among Gus, Ben and Wilson
FACULTY OF ARTS
English Language and Phonetics
PAPER- IV A
SECTION-A (4X5=20)
a) Feature of Human Communication

b) Syllabification
c) Morphology
d) Convert the following words into phonemic transcription
a) English
b) City
c) Examination
d) Laboratory
e) Over
SECTION-A (4X15=60)
2. a) What is non-verbal communication and write the aspects relating to body language in
non-
verbal communication
(OR)
b) Differences between animal and human communication
3. a) Describe all the consonant sounds with suitable examples

(OR)
b) Explain vowel sounds with the three term label
4. a) What is Intonation? Write the rules of intonation marking?

(OR)
b) What are the primary and secondary stress? Write how to mark the stress.
5. a) Define phonology and its scope

(OR)
b) What is syntax? Explain its scope.
FACULTY OF ARTS
Modern Indian Literatures in Translation
PAPER- V
SECTION-A (4X5=20)
a) Concept of Sahitya
b) Write about the poem “A Single Shooting Star”
c) The feministic point of view from Mahasweta Devi’s Mother of 1084
d) Sketch the character of Prakriti
SECTION-A (4X15=60)
2. a) What is tradition and modernity and how can you differentiate them?
(OR)
b) Explain of Indian Dramatic Traditions
3. a) Write the theme of “Banalata Sen.”

(OR)
b) Attempt the poems of Namdeo Dhasal critically
4. a) Write the religious aspects from U R Ananathamurthy’s

Samskara (OR)
b) Describe the problems of Dalit women with the special reference to Bama’s Karukku
5. a) Give the inner ideas of Padmini. Explain her achievements.

(OR)
b) Explain gender bias from Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session

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MA ENGLISH, I Semester Material, OU, TU, SU, MU, PU Compiled by Dr Adi Ramesh

FIRST SEMESTER (CBCS)

Written & Compiled by

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 1

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 2

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 3

Paper II ENG 102 English Poetry (5 Credits)

Unit II Geoffrey Chaucer The General Prologue To The Canterbury

Unit III William Blake From Songs of Innocence

Unit IV Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese

Unit V T S Eliot The Waste Land

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 4

Paper III ENG 103 English Drama (5 Credits)

Unit II Christopher Marlowe Doctor Faustus

Unit III Aphra Behn The Rover (Part I)

Unit IV John Osborne Look Back in Anger

Unit V One-act Plays

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 5

Paper IV ENG 104 A English Language and Phonetics (4 Credits)

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 6

Paper V ENG 105 A Modern Indian Literatu res in Translation (4 Credits)

Unit III Fiction

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 7

Dr Adi Ramesh Babu is presently working as Assistant Professor, Department of English,

The author is available at adirameshan@gmail.com

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 8

Unit-I: (a) Indo-European Family of Languages and its Branches 15

(c) The Simple Sentence—its types, constituents and organization; Coordination

(c) Functional English-II: Seeking permission, Inviting friends / colleagues,

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 9

ENG 102: English Poetry

William Wordsworth: Tintern Abbey, Anecdote for Fathers 77

John Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode to a Nightingale” 91

Robert Browning: “My Last Duchess”, “The Lost Leader” 102

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 10

ENG 103: English Drama

ENG 104 A: English Literature in the Eighteenth Century

Unit-I: (a) Language as a System of Communication: Features of Human Communication,

(c) Non-verbal Communication: Aspects relating to body language. 174

(b) Phonetic sounds vs Phonemic sounds; Classification of Phonemic Sounds IPA,

(b) Aspects of Connected Speech: Weak forms and Elision 196

ENG 105 A: Modern Indian Literatures in Translation

Makhdoom Mohiuddin: “The Heart of Silence”, “Prison”, “Darkness” 219

Model Papers 243

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 12

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 13

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 14

ENG 101: The English Language: History, Description and

Unit-I: (a) Indo-European Family of Languages and its Branches

The Indo-European languages have a large number of branches: Anatolian, Indo-Iranian,

Branches of Indo-European Languages

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 15

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 17

Ø change over time;

Important Features of Old English–Spelling, Pronunciation and

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 18

1. anser goos (i.e. ‘goose’)

Dr. ADI RAMESH BABU, Asst Professor of English, KDC, Hanamkonda 19