AD's English Literature

Introduction: The Source of the Title “Passage O soul to India! ---- Passage to India! Lo, soul! seest thou not God’s purpose from the first?             ---------- A worship new I sing,             You captains, voyagers, explorers, yours,             You engineers, you architects, machinists, yours,             You, not for trade or transportation only, But in God’s name, and for thy sake, O soul.  ” -- " A Passage to India"  by  Walt Whitman              Walt Whitman in his poem "Passage to India" wants the soul to take a journey to India for further advance. The ‘passage’ that Forster explores is also a similar journey. Like Whitman’s cry: “Passage to more than India”, Forster’s novel  "Passage to India"  is more than a historical novel about India; it is a prophetic work i...

 "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language."                            --   Oscar Wilde Introduction American English is now a craze. It is obviously due to the fact that the Americans made a spectacular progress in the sphere of science and technology, in the sphere of trade and commerce, in the sphere of literature and athletics. Moreover, political power of America has assumed a formidable proportion. Naturally, the people of the world abroad, by and large, feel and urge to learn the language of the American people. But it is to be noted that American English and British English are fundamentally the same.  Though they share a common origin, centuries of geographical, cultural, and political separation have led to notable differences between the two.  On...

  “Some things are of that nature as to make One’s fancy chuckle while his heart doth ache” Wrote Bunyan.  The nature of things mostly appeared to Charles Lamb in this way. Lamb does not frolic out of lightness of heart, but to escape from gloom that might otherwise crush. He laughed to save himself from weeping. In fact, Lamb’s personal life was of disappointments and frustrations. But instead of complaining, he looked at the tragedies of life, its miseries and worries as a humorist. Thus his essays become an admixture of humour and pathos. Examples of his keen sense of humour and pathetic touches are scattered in all of his essays. Let’s focus our discussion on Dream Children: A Reverie.

Thomas Gray 's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"   is one of the most famous elegies written in any language. It is not on the death of any particular person, friend or relative. One evening while Gray was standing at Stoke Poges Churchyard watching the graves of the poor, unknown peasants, an idea came to his mind, he wrote his elegy on the death of the neglected fellow citizens – A note of deep melancholy, and broad humanity runs throughout Gray’s elegy. It is a retrospective of humble rustics with universal notes and sentiments. It is renowned for its poignant exploration of human life and mortality. The poem's evocative imagery, contemplative tone, and universal themes have resonated with readers for centuries, making it a timeless masterpiece.  After building an atmosphere of befitting evening landscape the transitional poet Gray in his poem  "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"   proceeds further to elaborate the rude ancestors who lie burie...

“Effectiveness of assertion is the Alpha and Omega of style”. –  Preface of Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw. The line bears ample truth in Vijay Tendulkar . He strives for this effectiveness of assertion in a variety of ways. Silence! The Court is in Session is his perfect creation. A multifaceted dramaturgic skill is employed here in this drama-- Stage-within-a-stage, importance of absentee character, the problem of identity and feminine assertion and above all the poetic language are accurately and effectively interwoven in his dramatic pattern.

                                               Swami Vivekananda      (January 12, 1863–July 4, 1902)                                   “If you want to know India , study Vivekananda; in him everything is positive and nothing negative”.                           ---- Rabindranath Tagore                Rightly says Tagore, Swami Vivekananda is the very spirit of youth and dream.  His exemplary and distinguished life i...

Alfred Prufruck is the central character of T. S. Eliot ’s famous poem The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock . He is middle aged dandy, a neurotic and tragic figure. The rottenness, the corruption and decadence of contemporary modern society is exposed with a rare poignancy here. Urban in setting, very often allusive, full of images symbols and references, drawn from various sources, the poem mercilessly exposes the boredom, inaction, restlessness of modem city life. What passes within Prufrock’s consciousness forms the narrative framework of the poem. In an unorganized and seemingly unconnected series of insights, memories and reflections the natural flow of the narrator’s  thoughts here it captures the total in decisions and doubts of Prufrock’s mind. With his mental and physical weakness, alternating between realism and fantasy, faltering within dreams, revisions, and revised opinions, alike the endless rounds of coffee and cigarettes in modern life, Prufrock has become coax, ...

The multidimensional world of As you like It. The conflicting world of reality and romance in As you like It. The Court versus Arden in As you like It.    “Though the ultimate world of Shakespeare’s comedy is romantic, poetic and imaginative, it is by no means unsubstantial and fantastic” – H. B. Charlton.              In fact, the union of fantasy and realism is a peculiar characteristic of the comic world of Shakespeare. Though the world of his comedies is highly romantic and visionary, it is not cut off from the world of reality. Though the background and atmosphere are romantic, they are all built on the solid rock of realism. Shakespeare’s    As You like It is a perfect blend of this singularity – a fusion of reality and romance, of courtly life and pastoral life of Arden, of actuality and imagination. As You like It is a juxtaposition of such variegated elements of life. The many-sided world in    As You like ...

Here is 30 short questions on Literary Topics & Grammar                                                            Fool, said my Muse to me, look in the heart and write – What kind of advice is given by the Muse to the poet? Do you find any anticipation of romantic theory? Ans. Poet Sidney wants to articulate his earnest love in the poetry of his own. But he can’t compose poetry worthy of its own and lacks the faculty of poetic articulation. Hence he steals others poetry to articulate his own verse. The poetic Muse here comes to guide his rescue and instructs him to introspect. Words spoken in the core of the heart must form the real poetry, she instructs.             The line anticipates the romantic theory of poetry as if spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions forms po...

Introduction: As you probably know that Robert Browning’s genius was essentially dramatic. His favourite form is dramatic monologue which though not invented by Browning was immensely popularized after him. Being a psychologist having his main idea to study the incidents that go to compose the development of the soul. Browning found this form to be extremely suitable to his purpose. His purpose is to throw light into the consciousness and so he frees himself from all the shackles that impede analysis. Thus to him dramatic monologue is a comprehensive soliloquy in which a certain critical moment in one’s person is taken and by permitting the individual to speak his character, the whole course of his existence are revealed in a brilliant search light. Now we will discuss his poem  "My Last Duchess"  as a dramatic monologue and see how far it interprets the flow of speaker's conscience.  What is a Dramatic Monologue? Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" is a ...

Rabindranath Tagore, a towering figure in Indian and Bengali literature, was the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His contributions to the world of literature and his influence on Bengali culture and society are immeasurable. A Literary Giant: R abindranath Tagore  is a prolific writer, and he tries his hand successfully at almost all the major forms of literature producing a vast body of work that spanned poetry, drama, fiction, and essays.  Born in an educated Bengali family he receives his education primarily at home and close to natural setting. He paces  Bengali literature  to its highest scale by his versatile genius.  His most renowned work, "Gitanjali" (Song Offerings), a collection of poems, earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. The poems in "Gitanjali" explore themes of love, spirituality, and the beauty of nature, expressed with a lyrical and evocative style.