AD's English Literature

SECTION – I (  In the newly structured syllabus it is in Paper III, Section IV) UGC NET Solved  Paper  III ; Subject -- English  ; December :  2009. This section contains five (5) questions based on the following poem. Each question should be answered in about thirty (30) words and carries five (5) marks. (5 × 5 = 25 marks) Wisława Szymborska We drew lots, who would go and see him. It was me. I got up from our table. It was almost time for visiting hours. He said nothing in reply to my greeting. I tried to take his hand – he pulled it back like a hungry dog who wouldn’t give up a bone. He seemed ashamed of dying. I don’t know what you say to someone like him. As in a photomontage, our eyes would not meet. He didn’t ask me to stay or go. He didn’t ask about anyone at our table. Not about you, Bolek. Not about you, Tolek. Not about you, Lolek. My head began to ache. Who was dying for whom ? I praised medicine and the three violets in the glass. I talked a...

The beautiful part in reading literature is the reading poetry. In fact, you too enjoy the practice of making clever rhymes or noting down your own feelings in loose sentences, known as poetry. The periodicals and newspapers make a large demand for these exercises in rhyme and rhythm: it is really nice to see you born as poet. As a Student of Literature , however, you have to read rather than write most of Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Chaucer, Byron, Eliot, Sidney, Spenser, John Donne, and John Milton, some William Shakespeare, a little Dryden, and a certain amount of Tennyson . While reading a poem and reaching to its meaning you are following the prime of an objective observer rather than a creative articulator. Before we go any further, I want to set some straight points regarding an analysis of a poem. Analyzing a poem involves a deep engagement with its structure, language, themes, and underlying messages. It requires both a technical understanding of poetic devices and an ethic...

Timeline of English Literature:  The age of Pope (1700-50) The Age of Pope, also known as the Augustan Age or the Neoclassical Age, refers to the early 18th century in English literature, when writers imitated the classical works of ancient Rome and Greece, emphasizing reason, order, and decorum. This era is often named after Alexander Pope (1688-1744), the period’s most influential poet, but it also saw the rise of significant prose writers, dramatists, and satirists. Historical Context The Glorious Revolution (1688) : Established a constitutional monarchy in England, leading to political stability. Queen Anne's Reign (1702-1714) : Her reign marked the peak of the Augustan Age, fostering a growing appreciation for art, culture, and literature. Whigs and Tories : Political parties emerged, and the period was defined by their ideological conflicts. Writers often aligned with one of these factions, influencing their works. Growth of Periodicals : The rise of journalism and periodica...

Introduction:   Virginia Woolf Written from multiple perspectives and shifting between times and characters with poetic grace, Virginia Woolf's  To The Lighthouse is not concerned with ordinary story telling. Rather through integrate symbolic web it reads the mind and recounts the passage of multiple experiences of different characters in the novel. The key symbols in To The Lighthouse are are – the sea, the lighthouse, Lily’s painting, the window, and the personalities of Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay. They are all woven together, along with many other less important ones, into a central meaning, which suggests Mrs. Woolf’s conception of life and reality.  Structurally, To The Lighthouse  is set in two parts, spanning over a decade before and after World War I. It focuses on the Ramsay family and their experiences at their summer home in the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The first part of the novel is a stream of consciousness narrative that explores the inner th...

Poets create literary history and tradition by using and passing on poetic structures and ideas about life and art from generation to generation. They transmit information about the cultural life of the country. Their Literature can be a source of pleasure and a stimulus towards the citizens’ personal development. Much of the literary importance of Poets and their work stems from their use of moments that evoke an identity. In common usage, an identity indicates a realization or understanding that comes from an personality. Poet's identity , however, occur during his literary life. It covers the wide gamut of -- TEXT, TEXTURE, PLATFORM, SOCIETY, UNIVERSALITY etc. Although great poetry is sometimes said to be timeless, poets think of their writing as part of history, and they intentionally imitate earlier poets. The idea that a poem should be original is a relatively recent development, dating from English romantic poets of the early 19th century. Read More Poetry In fact ...

"Romanticism is the art of presenting people with the literary works which are capable of affording them the greatest possible pleasure, in the present state of their customs and beliefs. Classicism, on the other hand, presents them with the literature that gave the greatest possible pleasure to their great-grandfathers." Stendhal  (1783 - 1842),  French writer,   Racine and Shakespeare   T he Romantic Movement lasted from about 1750 to about 1870, is often defined as second Renaissance. Romanticism cannot be identified with a single style, technique, or attitude, but romantic writing is generally characterized by a highly imaginative and subjective approach, emotional intensity, freedom of thought and expression, an idealization of nature, and a dreamlike or visionary quality.  The Romantic Movement is both a revolt and revival .This movement in literature and the revolutionary idealism in European politics are both generated by the same...

T he article "The Problems of  Learning English Literature  For   Rural Indian Students" is based on my own observations and sharing views with students in India , supplemented by information collected from other resource persons in this field. A major source of information has been the large number of sighs and whims on exam papers, written by students . F ield survey of "The Problems of Learning English Literature For Rural Indian Students” took place during the rainy season 1999 when I was volunteering in a village primary school. This was during a rare and colourful phase of my transition, when I was preparing myself teaching and setting up structures for the continuation of my work. Further investigations have been made during visits to different schools and colleges in India and coaching tutorial to my students ranging primary to teaching aspirant from 2000 to till date. The better part of my study is conducted with rural students who have be...

  S imply speaking, romances are fantasies in which the authors make the fullest use of their imagination and fancy and create an ideal world, which bears little or no semblance with real life. In the middle of the fourteenth century a revival of the old English alliterative verse occurs through romances, which develops – side by side with religions literature. This literature is inspired by French romantic poems and centers around Chivalry. There is an absence of originality but the fervour of nationalism is present in the literature of this period. Heroes and subjects connected with Britain are given reference in the romantic cycles of chivalry. British stories are valued most and the native poets get material for their original works.

Francis Bacon in his writing Essays rather drives at a masculine and clear expression than at any fineness or affectation phrases. He rejects the flowing, ornate and copious Ciceronian style and follows the mode of Lypsian brevity and the cryptic aphoristic Senecan sentence structure. Despite this quite paradoxically Bacon is a rhetorical writer and his Essays are marked by the general ornateness, the fondness of imagery, the love of analogy and metaphor, which are so much in the taste of the time. It is also very highly Latinized. But it’s most important characteristics are its marvelous terseness and epigrammatic force. Here is an unparalleled power of packing his thoughts into the smallest possible space. Here is ‘infinite riches in a little room’. We will now try to access the rhetorical devices as employed in the two essays  – of Studies & of Discourse . In of Studies there is mainly similes and metaphors used to simplify his ideas into more detailed and analytical ...