Analysis of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"


Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening (included 1923 volume New Hampshire) is one of the most moving lyrics of Robert Frost (1874 - 1963). It moves us as unobtrusively as it conveys to us the profundity of its thoughts. It is this lyrics that appealed to the late prime minister Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru and guided and inspired him to be able constantly on the move, adhering to his duties. After his death on 27th may, 1964, it was found that on the office table of the Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, there lay a piece of papers bearing the following four lines written by his own hand from this lyric:
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”

The Poetic Quality of the Colloquial Speech in J. M.Synge's ‘Riders to the Sea’.


Synge began his literary career as a poet but he proved to be a failure. This is because of his inability to transcribe the language of the Aran Islanders into material structures. Later on in his life, as advised by Yeats, he thoroughly studied this language of the Aran-Islanders and carefully and comprehensively studies in different shades of life that existed there. Synge realized that the colloquial speech untarnished by cultural polish and sophistication had immense poetical potentialities. Synge knew that poetry and dramatic expression may co-exist; poetry and drama may even be simultaneous. Synge recognized the need of instilling poetry into drama and thereby sustains British dramatic art from degenerating into the state track of naturalism and realism. He, therefore, revived the art of poetic drama and in the Shadow of the Glen, Deidre of the Sorrow and Riders to the Sea he achieved his dreams very successfully.

Seven Ages Of Man --from "AS YOU LIKE IT" by William Shakespeare


AS YOU LIKE IT
William Shakespeare

Lines 139-166, Act II, Scene VII

JAQUES :

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.



“The Drama is the action of soul upon soul. It is philosophic in the deepest sense, and yet it is not a philosophic disquisition. It is the noblest preaching on the most momentous truths, yet never sermonizing.  A noble, vivid aim, clearly and definitely acknowledged, must thrill and hold the spectator.” The comedy is not for sport, nor to kill time. It takes up the moral sphere of human life's activity. In kaleidoscopic glimpses it flings a slice of life before us, and it works out for righteousness.  Shakespeare’s As You Like It is such a model piece where such truism is abundant. Here Jaques and Touchstone is two visionary judges to human desires and destiny. The quoted passage can be seen through this perspective.

G. K. Chesterton’s use of Paradox in "The Architect of Spears"


Saintsbury, while introducing Chesterton and assessing his position in the history of English prose observes that Chesterton’s strength as a writer neither rely on any propensity of thought nor on any original point of view, but on the clear and witty way is which he expresses commonplace truths. Read More Essay Admittedly this thorough going vindicator of the romantic imagination has a charming style, at once splendid and perfect. A careful scrutiny of The Architect of spears reveals that the secret of Chesterton’s flawless artistry is his ‘love of paradox’. Paradox, incidentally, is a statement that seems to say something opposite to common sense (or the devious truth) but which actually contains a deeper truth. In his essay Chesterton, like show, widely uses paradox as a vehicle for promulgating his points of view. Legovis is right in her conclusion that he had made platitudes sparkle by clothing them in the outward form of paradox. The Architect of Spears best illustrates this. This is uniquely Chestertonian type of extravagant statement.

Lord Tennyson’s Philosophy of Life as Reflected in the Poem “Ulysses”


Few poets have produced acknowledged masterpieces in so many different poetic genres as Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892); he furnished perhaps the most notable example in English letters of the eclectic style. His consummately crafted verse expresses in readily comprehensible terms the Victorian feeling for order and harmony.

Tennyson, like Browning, is the great literary titan of Victorian Age whose philosophy of life is expressed again and again through his poetry.

Tennyson was devout Christian and ardent believer in God;
                “That God, which ever loves and loves   
                One God, one law, one element,
                The one far off divine event
                To which the whole creation moves”.

Principles to be Followed by Teacher in Realizing the Aims of Teaching English as a Second Language in the Secondary Stage


        In order to secure or realize the aims of teaching English in the secondary stage the teacher will have to adopt the following principles.
  • The teacher will use audiovisual aids to help the pupils to perform the task of understanding speaking, reading and writing language. The different aids will be demonstrated and at the same time the students will be asked to read and write corresponding things in English language. They will make more and more practices and when they will be able to understand, write and read the corresponding things in English without the help of aids or without the assistance of teacher then it may be said that the linguistic aims has been acquired to same extent by the students.

Analysis of Charles Lamb’s essay, "Modern Gallantry"


The ward ‘gallantry’ means a special respect or a show of chivalrous attention to women. Charles Lamb builds the essay, Modern Gallantry, on this theme and shows how the social attitude towards women in the 19th century England falls short of a genuine sense of gallantry.

Lamb begins with an attack against the popular pretension of the age that in comparison to the ancient times, the 19th century can pride itself upon a growing sense of gallantry. Lamb lashes at the falsity of this idea and points out in this essay that even the 19th century is devoid of a genuine sense of gallantry. Though, in contemporary times, Lamb saw the end of the practice of whipping females in public or similar disreputable and discourteous attitudes to women Lamb believes that in social life gallantry is still missing. “ In comparing modern with ancient manners, we are pleased to compliment ourselves upon the point of gallantry; a certain obsequiousness, or deferential respect, which we are supposed to pay to females, as females. I shall believe that this principle actuates our conduct, when I can forget, that in the nineteenth century of the era from which we date our civility, we are but just beginning to leave off the very frequent practice of whipping females in public, in common with the coarsest male offenders.”
 This idea he explicates in this essay.

Analysis of O' Henry's Short Story "The Gift of the Magi": Neatness, Brevity and a Significant Incident



As A Short Story
To be perfect short story neatness, brevity and a significant incident or an aspect of character or an experience of some psychological moment is essential. Within its short frame work, it must have a beginning, middle and an end. There must be completeness in its structure. All the elements plot, character, dialogue, descriptions and background must be organically connected with each other. Generally a good story has a surprising end which bears a sense of endlessness. All these characteristics of a good short story are fulfilled in the short story of O Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. The story contains Porter’s characteristic ironical twist at the end that is surprising and at the same time striking to the readers. Jim and Della’s bold self sacrifice for the sake of love comes unexpectedly to the readers, but none the less convincing and admirable.

Tragic Atmosphere in J. M. Synge's play Riders to the Sea by means of hints and forebodings


Riders to the Sea dramatizes the archetypal struggle of man against the hostile natural forces and rends man’s inevitable defeat in the war against destiny which brings out the tragic effect of the play. Man as rendered in Riders to the Sea is, as if pitted to undergo the sinister attack of an unsympathetic death. Maurya, the protagonist has to suffer the loss of all men folk in her family. The hungry Atlantic has mercilessly devoured her husband, her husband’s father and her four sons, before the play began, and the play ends when all her six sons are dead. Maurya’s life is a long tale of agony. Her life records a history of unmitigated pain. Tragedy gains poignancy through the excruciating against suffered by this mother excruciating figure under the crushing burden of death. Right from beginning, as a matter of artistic strategy Synge focused on the ultimate disaster of Maurya’s life through different hints and forebodings.

Key Factors of Word Formation in English Language


Introduction: Word formation, it should be noted, does not mean absolutely new creations, words whose components have had no associations is a rarity today. In fact, the English vocabulary has changed continually over more than 1,500 years of development which has more than 1 million words, including obsolete forms and variant spellings. The English vocabulary is more extensive than that of any other language in the world which has a word-building capacity equal to that of Chinese. There are many reasons for this upgradation .Interestingly, the most common way of adding to the vocabulary is by making some new use of words or word elements already existing in the language. Let us now discuss most common ways by which new words are formed and added to the vocabulary.

The Conflict Between the Pleasures of Youth and the Pleasures of Poverty-- An Analysis of Charles Lamb's Essay, "Old China"



 Old China by Charles Lamb is not about Ancient China nor is it about delicate China- tea cups, vases, and dishes. Old China, 1823 - March included in Last Essays of Elia is rather contemplation upon the nature of youthful pleasures irrespective of physical and economic situations. Read More Romantic Period The major part of the essay comprises of Bridget’s harangue upon Elia’s human deterioration with increasing wealth and in an explication of the pleasures that were attendant upon them during their days of severe economic constraints. Contrasted to this idea stands Elia’s counterpoint that the past was indeed pleasurable not because of poverty, but because of the dilatoriness of youth that lightens even the heaviest burden of misery.

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