Characteristics of Do-Well in William Langland’s" Piers the Plowman": Stands for Certain Virtues and Positive Values




The second part of William Langland’s Piers the Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Piers depicts the life of Do-Well. Do-Well (Dowel) manifests itself in the form of Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best. The life of Do-Well is seen from Passus VIII to Passus XIV. The poet is in quest of Do-Well. He meets various abstract qualities, such as Thought, Wit, Clergy, Scripture, Imagination, etc. He enquires of them about Do-Well. Each replies in its own way, but the Dreamer is not satisfied with any reply. Read More Middle English As Wikipedia says, “Piers the Plowman —part theological allegory, part social satire—concerns the narrator's intense quest for the true Christian life, from the perspective of medieval Catholicism. This quest entails a series of dream-visions and an examination into the lives of three allegorical characters, Dowel ("Do-Well"), Dobet ("Do-Better"), and Dobest ("Do-Best").”

Do-Well stands for certain virtues and positive values. Do-Well suggests — be honest, be friendly and neighbourly, be hard-working and painstaking and be loyal and devoted to the Church. As Thought replies, Do-Well, Do-Better and Do-Best are three noble values. Any man who is truthful in word and deed and earns his living by his own hand or labour, who is honest in keeping accounts and takes no more than his due, and who is not scornful or given to, drunkenness, is familiar With Do-Well. Read More Middle English 

Do-Well cannot reconcile with Do-Evil, though they exist together. The Friars tell the Dreamer that both Do-Well and Do-evil have existed with man forever and will ever be with him till the end of this world. They are two opposing qualities yet they live together in peaceful co-existence. It is pointed out by one of the Friars that since man is not perfect, he cannot escape sins, altogether. The sins of frailty are to be distinguished from the conscious sins, and sins are ills that flesh is heir to. Read More Middle English The Dreamer is in search of the perfect man, hence the answer of the Friars does not satisfy him. The Dreamer cannot believe that Do-Well can live with the Friars because the life of the Friars is not free from sins.

What Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest represent is another point of contention. There have been many attempts to equate them with the triad of the Active, Contemplative, and Mixed Lives or with the triad of the Illuminative, Purgative, and Unitive stages of mysticism. However, A distinction is made among the activities of Do-Well, Do-Better ( Dobet) and Do-Best(Dobest).

1. Do-Well: Do-Well stands for active life. Read More Middle English
2. Do-Better: In the opinion of Thought Do-Better has all the fair virtues of Do-Well. He is as meek as a lamb in speech. He is always willing to help those in dire need.
3 Do-Best: Do-Best is better than either Do-Well or Do-Better. He has the cozier of a Bishop and drags man out of hell.

All these three have sought to crown the King Who will cast Do-Well and Do- Better in fetters if they try to wrong Do-Best. The Dreamer asks how Do-Well, Do- Better and Do-Best work among the people. Wit or Intelligence explains that the man who fears God, Do-Well; the man who fears God out of love and not in dread of punishment Does Better; but to Do-Best is to abstain, by day and night, from wasting any word or time. Intelligence tells that to live in true marriage is Do-Well. For the married man must work and earn a living and keep the world going. Read More Middle English 

Do-Well is a life among lay people of believing in Holy Church and all the articles of Faith that she enjoys upon us. The learned and ignorant alike must believe steadfastly in the great God, who has no beginning. His true Son has saved mankind from the power of the Devil with the help of the Holy Ghost. Do-Better suffers from man’s soul’s health. Man has to practice what he professes. Study is concerned with facts. Practice, however, is the only way out. Knowledge and practice may also fall short. What is inculcated is simple faith.


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Elements of Poetry that Differ from Drama and Novel


"When you write in prose, you cook the rice. When you write poetry, you turn rice into rice wine. Cooked rice doesn't change its shape, but rice wine changes both in quality and shape. Cooked rice makes one full so one can live out one's life span . . . wine, on the other hand, makes one drunk, makes the sad happy, and the happy sad. Its effect is sublimely beyond explanation." - Wu Qiao 

Introduction: The Elements of Poetry 

The elements of poetry that differentiate it from the other major genres of literature, drama and the novel, give us a better understanding of poetry. With some suitable eyes, a reader is able to indicate as well as demonstrate the nature of these elements and their contribution to the effectiveness or quality of a poem. The elements – imagery, rhythm, sound and diction –are the vehicles that the poet utilizes to convey his thoughts and emotions as well as delight his readers. Read More: How to analyze a poem: Technicality &  Ethics



Difference Between Prose and Poetry

Coleridge in his Biographia Literaria emphasizes that point and mentions the difference between prose and poetry: “A poem contains the same elements as a prose composition.” Both use words. The difference between a poem and a prose composition cannot then lay in the medium, for each employs the same medium, words. It must, therefore, ‘consist in a different combination of them, in consequence of a different object being proposed.’ A poem combines words differently, because it is seeking to do something different. In fact, poetry is the oldest of the three major forms of literature with roots deep in our heart. The impulse responsible for man’s creation of poetry, whether oral or written, is as varied as there are individual differences and individual situations of life. 

However, three main motivations are generally discernible by critics, namely: Imitative (Mimetic): The innate human instinct to imitate things, which one can observe even in young children and monkeys.  Aesthetic/Emotional: The natural pleasure of recognizing good or effective mimicry. This is why Aristotle referred to poetry as “an imitative art”. Musical: The impulse or instinct for tune, music and rhythm as means of expressing and thus giving vent to emotions. These motivations by and large would apply in the consideration of other literary and even plastic art forms but they assume greater significance in the study of poetry.

Difficult to Distinguish between Poetry and Prose

It is difficult to distinguish between poetry and prose. Poetry is now practiced without the use of rhyme. Blank verse used by Shakespeare in his later stage of dramatic career approximates to prose. There is an interaction between prose and verse, and this interaction, as T. S. Eliot says is a condition of vitality in literature (The use of Poetry, and The use of Criticism). Modern Verse libre is not prose poem. The rejection of rhyme is not an attempt at facility; on the contrary, it imposes a much severe strain upon the language. Rhyme removed, much ethereal music comes up from the word. Modern poets have shown that metre and rhyme are not essential to poetry. Blank verse has metre, but no rhyme. It is written in Iambic pentameter. Verse libre has an internal rhythm which differentiates it from prose. However, there cannot be a single definition that will be comprehensive enough to accommodate the various shades of opinions and schools of thought regarding the exact nature of the genre, poetry

While one cannot correctly adjudge one definition as superior, better or more comprehensive than another, it is true that each of them has its point of emphasis which in turn places it in one or the other of the great literary/creative debate over content, style and effect. It is thus clear that Edgar Allan Poe’s conception of poetry   emphasizes style or form over content and effect while, on the other hand, both William Wordsworth and Edwin Arlington Robinson focus more attention on content and effect in their definitions to reflect their English and American Romantic pedigrees respectively. In this regard, we should take particular note of Emily Dickinson’s own idea of poetry whose essential criterion is the effect it has on her and is capable of having on a reader. In a final analysis, one cannot fault any one of these definitions given the special interests and period fascinations that shape them.

However, many prose compositions have poetic qualities, and poetry has prosaic qualities. A good deal of what we regard as prose is, in essence, poetry, and a good deal more of what we commonly regard as poetry is in essence, prose. Even a composition with rhyme and metre has no poetic fire and again a composition without rhyme and metre is instinct with poetry. As for example the verse lines: “No more the rising sun shall gild the morn/Nor ev’ning Cynthia fill her silver born” have no poetry in It — it does not evoke the picture and resonance in the mind. But such prose passage as “the love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women” is as evocative as poetry is. It is clearly evident that many of the beautiful passages in the king James version of the Bible (1611), though they are not in metrical form are more eloquently poetical than all the rhymed couplets in existence. Read More: How to analyze a poem: Technicality &  Ethics 
“And when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grass-hopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. (12th  Chapter of Ecclesiastics)"

Here are pictures, symbols, images, phrases haunted with the accumulated connotations of man’s centuries of experience with life and death. Many passages of English prose from the writing of Ruskin and Carlyle glow with poetic fire. Synge’s prose play  Riders to the Sea  is called a poetic drama because its language has the pulsations of verse, the symbolic significance, and contrapuntal depth of poetry: “They are altogether this time, and the end is come. May the Almighty God have mercy on Bartley’s soul, and on Michael’s soul, and on the souls of Sheamus and Patch, and Stephen and Shawn, and May He have mercy on my soul, Nora and on the soul of every one is left living in the world.” Cadences are often counterpointed in a parallel structure:
‘For the tide’s turning at the green head
And the hooker’s tacking from the east.”

Rhythm Secured by Regularity of Metrical Pattern

The most tangible characteristic of poetry is rhythm secured by regularity of metrical pattern. Much prose has every element of poetry except the regularity of metrical pattern. But all poetry including verse libre has some pattern of recurrent rhythm. Read More: How to analyze a poem: Technicality &  Ethics A poet uses words in such a way as to suggest more than what they mean. A prose writer aims at making statements, at giving information and conveying ideas and facts. In poetry, language is used to move and thrill, and arouse deeper awareness of things. Over the gates of Hell, Dante says, are these words:
“All hope abandon,  who enter here ."

The significance of these words stir the imagination of generations. Milton’s words are simpler, but invested with greater poetic intensity and with tragic note: “Hope never comes that comes to all.”

Critique on Prose

Many prose -writers use words which arouse our feelings and our imagination by their evocative power. As for example James Joyce writes “But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires”. (Araby). It has the image pattern of poetry but not its rhyme pattern. H. E. Bates in his Ox gives this pregnant sentence: ‘Money is money, death is death, the living are the living. The living were the future”. The words are simple, but the combination and the arrangement and the structure produce a poetic resonance and depth of meaning. Again, Joseph Conrad’s beautiful suggestive sentence has the richness and evocative power of poetry: “In the merciless sunshine the whisper of unconscious life grew louder, speaking in an incomprehensible voice round the dumb darkness of that human sorrow.” (The Lagoon)

Prose has different styles — plain prose, rhetorical prose, subjective prose, prose with psychological notations, and poetic prose. Eighteenth century prose writers like Addison and Steele practiced simple, precise plain prose. Dr. Johnson’s prose is elegant but sometimes bombastic and circumlocutory. Burke writes rhetorical prose: “If reconciliation fails, force remains, if force fails, nothing remains”. (Antithetical style). Bacon is a master of rhetorical prose: ‘some books are to be chewed, some to be swallowed, and some to be disgusted’; Prose is sometimes metaphorical as in ‘they are the current coin and counters of verbal intercourse, and to refuse them, and to deal only in freshly-minted coin is possible only to a few autocrats.’ (The Times Literary Supplement) Read More: How to analyze a poem: Technicality &  Ethics

There is the subjective and personal style in Charles Lamb’s prose:

“We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence and a name

— and immediately waking, I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor arm-chair where I had fallen asleep ....“. The prose of D. H. Lawrence, Conrad is orchestrated with psychological notations.

There is difference between good prose and bad prose just as there is difference between good poetry and bad poetry. In good poetry, substance, manner, rhyme and metre are fused into significant form. Bad poetry is that poetry which has rhyme jingles and technical brilliance but which is empty of meaning. Bad prose is clumsy, intricate and involved, while good prose is precise, elegant and free from ponderousness. Prose style is adapted to the matter that the writer deals with. As in good poetry, matter and style should be adjusted to each other. Milton writes in a grand style to achieve the grandeur of his subject-matter which deals with heaven, earth and hell. Similarly, Addison and Steele speak about ordinary manners and morals of men and society, and his style is easy and precise. D. H. Lawrence in his story A Peasant and the Cock (The Man who died) writes in an easy, colloquial prose. Victorians like Carlyle and Ruskin often write in a cumbrous metaphorical style. Conscious heaviness makes the style artificial. Good prose style is characterized by the lack of affectation and deliberateness in the cultivation of style. Style would come naturally and will be dictated by the subject-matter. Read More: How to analyze a poem: Technicality &  Ethics

Prose is a particular form of art. Remy de Gourmont suggests that the qualities of style appear in verse and prose indiscriminately. This view accounts for the rejection of structural distinctions between prose and verse. M. Albert Thibaudet makes a subtle distinction between prose and verse. In prose, each phrase creates for itself the law of its rhythm, in verse each phrase creates for itself a personal reason for submitting to the existing law. The art of writing, according to the French critic Remy de Gourmont depends on the union of visual image and the emotions associated with it. This is as much applicable to poetry as to prose. A bad writer of prose uses stale expressions—expressions which are not evoked by the visual image. Words charged with individual and original meaning are used by a few great writers. 

Good prose like good poetry is creative. Critical prose is business like, straightforward and clear. But literary prose must have the basic elements of art. It must not be cliche-ridden, clumsy and affected. It must have words that create individual, original meaning. Words evoke the pictures. Prose used for information, explanation or instruction must be plain, direct and precise. But literary prose demands different sensibility and different technique. It has image, rhythm, like poetry. Prose of art has to be distinguished from the prose of business and expediency. Even utilitarian or scientific prose is good prose if it is made vital with picture and emotion. As for example, Gibbon’s prose in The Fall and Decline of Raman Empire and Sir Julian Huxley’s prose in Towards a new Humanism have the vividness and charm of good prose. A good prose writer uses personal idiom. Good prose must have structure of thought. Thought must progress, finally, the quality of mind determines the style.

Critical Conclusion

Poetry, drama, and novels are distinct forms of literature, each with their unique characteristics. Poetry, unlike drama and novels, employs figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, to convey meaning and emotion. It often uses rhyme and meter to create a musical quality, and it is highly condensed and concentrated in language. Drama and novels, mainly prosaic literature,  on the other hand, rely on dialogue, character development, and plot to tell a story. Despite these differences, all three forms of literature offer readers an opportunity to experience the power of words and storytelling.

Ardhendu De

REFERENCES:

1. Abrams, M.H. (1971). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Third Edition. New York: .
Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
2. Angelou, M. (1993). Life doesn’t frighten me. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang.
(Original work published 1978)
3. Aylesworth, J. (1998). Old black fly (S. Gammell, Illus). New York: Holt.

4.Terry, A. (1974). Children’s poetry preferences. Champaign, IL: National Council of
Teacher of English.

Second Reading of Walter De la Mare's 'Silver' (Slowly, silently, now the moon)


Walter De la Mare's 'Silver'   describes the beauty of a moonlit night and the effect of the moonlight on the earth. The poet has sketched a number of different pictures of the moonlight scene through extended metaphors. But as we know De la Mare's writings have an eerie, fantastic quality, which serves as a means of entry into a world of deeper reality, his perceptions in 'Silver' endow   with charm and candor . Read More Poetry

The moon is here merely not a physical form, lifeless, moving around earth.  Moon   is a Personification of a muse. The silver moon turns everything into mystic beauty. The light of the moon falls on different objects and things and turns them into silver. The repetition of the word  'Silver' in the poem creates a vivid picture before our eyes of silvery moonlight.  

 In the beginning the poet gives a human personality to the poem, He pictures the moon as a young lady who walks in the silvery shoes that turn everything into silver. Read More Poetry With this personification in mind the poet goes on to describe the onward journey of the moon. It is a moonlit night. The silvery moonlight makes everything look silvery, as it goes up and up in the sky. The trees with their fruits, the windows under the thatched roofs, the paws of a dog fast asleep, the feathers of doves in their shady nests, the claws and eye of a harvest mouse and the reeds in a stream where a fish lies motionless—turn into silver in the light of the moon. The whole surrounding is transformed into a dreamland of beauty.

Now as the line goes  'Silver'  looks as a creation of one intense image or impression and notable for its compression and suggestiveness. Through a vivid but fleeting observation    'Silver'  evokes moody and emotive nature- the nocturnal one. Being truly Georgian the poem metaphorically tells the story of King Midas’s golden touch of his finger, rendering it lifeless. Have we no way to free ourselves from the enchantment! Read More Poetry the harvest mouse, however, escape this lot which obliquely suggests a relationship between Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and her daughter, Persephone, as both the goddess of the dead and the goddess of the fertility of the earth. It suggests a mystic relationship between us and the nature.

There is paradise within outreach and the fairy land needs ours eyes open to see. Walter De la Mare is the laureate of the fairy land. The poem Silver describes the effect of the silvery moonlight on certain things which turn into silver. The picture of a calm and peaceful quiet landscape on a moonlit night is vivid and lifelike. The charm of the poem lies in its atmosphere built up with triumphant art. The peace and quiet of the scene is brought out most effectively in the following lines:

“And moveless fish in the water gleam By silver reeds in silver stream.”

The poet has repeatedly emphasized the idea of silence and the silvery moonlight throughout the poem. It is, in fact, a dream world where one walks on tiptoe. 'Silver' has the charm of simplicity which is the feature of Walter De la Mare’s poetry. It contains his characteristic touches of beautiful features of World of nature — the trees, the thatch, the dog sleeping unconsciously in his kennel, the doves, the mouse running briskly, and the unmoved  fish in the stream. The music of the language has a fairy quality about it. No one can fail to be struck by the mood correspondence between the theme of the poem and the brooding haunting rhythm of the lines. Read More Poetry Soft liquid sounds predominate and there is alliteration almost in every line. The poet makes very effective use of them and the total effect is musical. To read such a poem truly, receptively, is to yield oneself to an intense imaginative experience, to enter a world where all are made beautiful. Fluent and clear in expression the poem presents no difficulty to the understanding.

Ardhendu De          

Critical Commentary on Francis Bacon’s Essay "Of Marriage And Single Life"


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"He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief."

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

(Note: Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher and statesman, who is notorious for his Machiavellism, is also very simple and pleasant when the subject happens to be of human interest apart from ambition or politics etc. Bacon’s scholarship, observation, wisdom and analytical faculties are always  evident  ; and are employed to great advantage. Bacon rose through the ranks of the Elizabethan bureaucracy to achieve the position of Lord Chancellor during the reign of King James I. Bacon wrote important literary and philosophical works and was a major contributor to modern scientific thought. His Essays (published sporadically between 1597 and 1625) incorporate elements of all worldly wisdom and are considered his chief contribution to literature.)

The essay Of Marriage And Single Life  was published in the second edition of Bacon’s Essays (1612). In  Of Marriage And Single Life  the essayist have given a comparative study between the traits and characteristics, virtues and vices of married and unmarried persons.

1. Nature: Bacon begins by stating that those who have a wife and children have "given hostages to fortune," meaning that they are bound to their families and cannot easily pursue great works of virtue or mischief. He says, "He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public." A man having a family to  maintain will generally take no risks. As he has the responsibility to look after his wife and children; a man is in no position to undertake great   enterprises whether these are directed to good purposes or evil. He then goes on to argue that the best works in history have been accomplished by unmarried or childless men who have been able to dedicate their time and resources to public endeavors. Certainly, he argues, the best works and of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the unmarried or childless man. Because, the persons who are married and have children should have greatest care of future times.

Francis Bacon
2. Reasons for not getting married: These are various reasons for which some people remain unmarried. Some of these are as under.

(i) Some persons lead a single life because their thoughts do end with themselves.

(ii) Some chronic bachelors think that wife and children are bills and charges. Since they do not want to spend any money, they prefer to be unmarried,

(iii) Some unmarried persons are foolish rich covetous men, as they take pride in having no children because they may be thought so much the richer. They often hear  'he (the rich person) hath a great charge of children as if it were abatement to his riches.'

(iv) The most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty- Especially in certain self pleasing and their humorous minds “They look upon even their belts and garters to be curbs on their liberty.

3. Qualities of Unmarried Persons: Unmarried men are best friends, best masters and best servants. Some professions are proper only  for unmarried persons  - A clergyman should not get married. If he has a family, he will not save any money or affection to offer to others.

It does not matter if judges and magistrates do not marry. If they are corrupt they will receive bribes through agents which are much worse than wives.

4. Qualities of Married Persons: Married person are better citizens because the unmarried persons having no responsibility find it easy to flee from the country if it becomes  necessary for them to do so.

(i) It is better for soldiers to be married. They fight much better if just before the battle they are reminded by their commanders of their families waiting for them back at home. Turkish soldiers are so vulgar and base.

(ii) Having a wife and children develops the softer feelings of a man. An unmarried man may give more charity because he can easily spare the money for the purpose. But otherwise he is likely to be more cruel and hard hearted than a married man.

5. Wives and Husbands: Women who are faithful to their husbands are often proud of their chastity. If a wife thinks her husband to be wise he will command her loyalty as well as obedience. A wife does not respect a jealous husband: "For a Youngman a wife is a mistress. For a middle-aged man she is a companion. For an old man, she serves as a nurse." This means that a man may marry at any age.

Concluding Words: There can be no doubt about Bacon’s greatness as an essayist or a prose artist. The essay Of Marriage And Single Life clearly demonstrates Bacon’s powers and talents. Bacon was a scholar, a man of sound commonsense and great practical wisdom. H was a scientist by temperament, a judge by profession, a great Parliamentarian with a shrewd and observant eye. Bacon exploits all his attributes to the maximum to achieve his purpose. He has very keen insight into human character id affairs. He has the rare talent of discussing everything from various angles and cents of view. He expresses his ideas and observations effectively and forcefully. His arguments are logical and convincing — most of them are drab from everyday life. The choice of his images is also very happy. His illustrations and discussions are so powerful that they never fail to achieve their purpose. Bacon is a scholar and a practical philosopher who speculates about commonplace subjects and makes them enliven and exalted with his treatment. Morality, if it suits the purpose of practical utility, has a place in his scheme of this. His talent for condensation (epigrammatic quality) is also employed to advantage here— “for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool.”

Such passages have the force of a rapier, the grace of a beautiful poem and also the quality of being automatically committed  to marriage.

Ardhendu De          

Reference
1. The Project Gutenberg Works of Francis Bacon. (n.d.). The Project Gutenberg Works of Francis Bacon. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59163/59163-h/59163-h.htm
2. The essays, or counsels, civil and moral, of Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Albans. (1890, November 15). Notes and Queriess7-X(255), 400–400. https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/s7-x.255.400a
3. Woodward, P. (2017, December 3). Sir Francis Bacon: Poet Philosopher Statesman Lawyer Wit (Classic Reprint).
4. Essential articles for the study of Francis Bacon : Vickers, Brian : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/essentialarticle0000vick
5. Knights, Lionel Charles, ‘Selected Essays in Criticism’. Cambridge University Press.1981.
   

Analyses, after Marcel Junod, how “Hiroshima had ceased to exist” in “The First Atom Bomb”: Brutal Destruction of Hiroshima Pains us and Makes us Aware of the Great Dangers of a Nuclear War


Marcel Junod’s essay The First Atom Bomb (from "Warrior without Weapons" written by the ICRC's Dr. Marcel Junod, the first foreign doctor to reach Hiroshima after the atom bomb attack on 6 August 1945, and to treat some of the victims) describes the terrible destruction of practically everything of the once prosperous city of Hiroshima in Japan on 6th August, 1945 as a result of the atom bomb, used for the first time in warfare. Though the Second World War ended soon after, it revealed the great danger of a war in future. The whole essay may be divided into three sharp sections on the three following points:
(a) The description of the prosperous Hiroshima,
(b) The detailed account of the destruction of the city by the atom bomb,
(c) MacArthur’s speech on the futility of war.

Critical Analyses of Oscar Wilde’s "The Selfish Giant":One of the Stylish Fairy Tales


Oscar Wilde’s one of the stylish fairy tales The Selfish Giant was included in, The Happy Prince and Other Tales published in 1888. Noted for his witty dialogues, humour, careful choice of words and arrangement of words, Oscar Wilde showed his best in The Selfish Giant . Very simple and very interesting story The Selfish Giant is full of inner meaning and moral message. It suggests that if we give happiness to others we can also feel happiness in our life. The story tells about a giant who was really selfish. In fact, The Selfish Giant moves around a person who is very selfish by nature. He is tall, massive and looks ugly. He doesn’t like the children who are playing in his Garden. His selfishness was quite evident in the act of his depriving the children from the pleasures of his garden.

The Selfish Giant tells the story of the moral decay of everyman. An adherent of the principle that art exists for art’s sake, Wilde sets out the painting everyman’s inner corruption and way to salvation. Thus, the story The Selfish Giant focuses a great moral lesson of love and living a stir among straight-laced Victorian readers. It is the lesson of love. Love is a divine quality. God Himself is the image of love. God has created man and nature. His boundless love rules the universe and brings about a harmony among the heterogeneous elements on earth and it lends grace to everything. Love is a mighty power that has bound man and nature together. Love should be showered on all equally. He, who loves all things, best, irrespective of their greatness or smallness, is the best prayed for:

“He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small
For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.”—Coleridge :

Love is a great virtue, but it is difficult to cultivate. For the sake of love (which is the image of God) one has to sacrifice a lot. But once love is enthroned in one’s mind, one is lifted up to heaven as a reward. For God is Love and Love is God.

The Giant Going To His Castle
The   Giant  had a beautiful garden where some children played during his prolonged absence. The children, who played in the Giant’s garden, felt fortunate enough to enjoy so many beautiful objects of nature like star-like flowers, delicate flowers of peach-trees, their ripe and delicious fruits and the note of sweet-singing birds. The birds sat on the trees—in the garden, birds were attracted by beauty of the flowers and their fragrances and they sat on the trees. Nature provided the garden with so many objects that the children’s eyes and ears were feasted and they gave up playing in order to enjoy them. Indeed, they were really very happy in the garden.

However, on his return to his castle the Giant found the garden being used by the children as a play-ground. He built up a high wall around his garden and put up a notice board “TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED”. This is really an act of selfishness. This very act makes it evident that the giant is very selfish. His crude selfishness will prompt him to drive away the children playing in the garden. Thus, he will deprive them of their simple and innocent pleasures in the garden.

The   Giant  is very conscious about his property and will not allow anybody to enjoy the beauties of his garden. Of course, the beauties of his garden are the beauties conferred upon it by Nature.

So he built notice board—the wall that the Giant’s wall was the wall of selfishness against the children who are blessed by Jesus Christ. It is a wall between Nature and man. It amounts a violation of the commandment of God—the love to and in children, who are simple and innocent, should be loved.

The Giant deprived the children of their communion with Nature. Of course, the Giant was punished by Nature for his selfishness Neither Spring nor Autumn visited his garden, but Winter prevailed all over it.

But, in one day, in the farthest corner of the garden was the ‘marvelous sight’- a tree covered with lovely white blossoms. Once, early in the morning he hears a sweet song and thought that kings’ musicians are passing nearby his home, but he found a linnet in his garden who is singing on a tree. After a long time he hears a sweet song put into the great joy and he found spring in the farthest corner of the garden. The children came though the little hole. He goes downstairs and found a little boy who is trying to climb up on the tree. Its branches were golden and silver fruit hung down and underneath it stood the little boy the Giant loved. The   Giant picked up the little boy in his hands and placed him on the tree. He told the children that the garden belonged to them. Finally, he took a huge axe and broke down the wall. With these actions the Giant showed his melting heart. The children are pure in heart and beautiful in mind. They are innocent. They are as pristine and simple as nature. Joy, bliss, warmth and life returned to the garden with the coming back of the children. They brought about a change in the Giant’s heart and helped to redeem his soul.

When he gave up his selfishness and began to love the children dearly, he was relieved of his punishment. The winter weather was removed from his garden. The Giant was rewarded. “But these are the Wounds of Love” and “You let me play once in your garden, today you shall come.”

The boy was Jesus Christ in disguise. He came to the Giant once again to take him to his garden, Paradise, as a reward for letting him play once in his garden. The Giant was redeemed by Jesus. He was absolved     of all his sins. His soul became pure and sacred. The ‘white blossoms’ symbolize the purity and sacredness that the Giant’s soul   attained and the ever-lasting peace that he obtained after death. He was taken to Paradise for his unselfishness by Jesus Christ.

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Objective Questions from English Literature

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