English Literature: 2021

Saturday, 24 July 2021

What is Shaw's Concept of Life-force and of Superman in “Man and Superman”?

Shaw's Concept of Life-force and of Superman in "Man and Superman"

 

Life force is Shaw's name for creative evolution and his main philosophy outlook that he wants to draw in Man and Superman. Shaw called his play "a dramatic parable of creative evolution- and added that 'nobody noticed this new religion in the center of the intellectual whirlpool." Superman is the higher being evolved from those few who are dedicated to contemplation and who have rejected base aims and the pursuit of happiness as the goals of life.

 

Saturday, 19 June 2021

Evaluate "Man and Superman" as a Philosophy and a Comedy.

Subtitled "A Comedy and a Philosophy," George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman is a comedy of ideas: its characters talk over philosophies such as social reform, capitalism, male and female roles in courtship, and other existential matters in elongated speeches that resemble arias in an opera.  

   

Saturday, 29 May 2021

Why Spenser is Called "The Poet’s Poet”?

Spenser as "The Poet’s Poet":

It was Charles lamb who called Spenser “the poet’s poet” and lamb was not wrong in giving him that honored title. Spenser is regarded as the poet’s poet and the second father of English poetry and Chaucer is the first. The poetic faculty in Spenser is so abundantly and predominantly present that we cannot think of any other poet without Spenser to occupy the pride of place among English poets.

Thursday, 1 April 2021

Comment on Shelley's Myth-Making Power as "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark".

Shelley's myth-making power in "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark":

 

By 'myth' we generally mean an absolutely invented narrative  involving mystic people and so forth and typifying mainstream thoughts on common wonders or such different things. The beginning of myth lies in  the old days when individuals, unfit to shape theoretical conceptions, described the marvels of nature in wording relevant to their personal activities. The presentation of fantasy in verse is a much later     development.

 

Sunday, 21 March 2021

Give a Description of Hell as Milton Presents it in Book-II of "Paradise Lost".

Milton Presents Hell in Book-II of "Paradise Lost":


Paradise Lost by Milton is an excellent piece of writing. It is an epic. In Book-I of this epic, Milton presents a vivid picture of Hell. Hell was created by God after the revolt of the angels. It is a place of torment. It is the gathering place of bad wildness. It is situation of waste and wild. It is the hellish world of horrors. It is just like furnace where Satan and followers have fallen. It was a place where "torture without end afflicted its victims." 

 

Sunday, 14 March 2021

Essay on the Mysticism of Wordsworth Poetry.

 

Mysticism of Wordsworth Poetry:

Wordsworth's mysticism is remarkable for his meditative mood and pantheistic conception of Nature. In fact the mystic clings to the truth behind the shifting symbol. About mysticism Tennyson says, "By God Almighty! There is no delusion in the matter! It is no nebulous ecstasy but a state of transcendent wonder, associated with the absolute clearness of mind." The fundamental basis of a mystic is grounded in the belief of the mystic that there is an essential unity, oneness of likeness in all the objects of nature and human nature created by the Almighty God. As a mystic Wordsworth sees one undivided changeless life in all lives and sees the one inseparable in the separate. The transcendental feeling of ecstasy and cosmic consciousness comes to Wordsworth at intervals and in such moment he becomes a living soul forgetting all about his external existence.

 

Monday, 8 March 2021

Discuss Swift as a Misanthrope.

Jonathan Swift as a Misanthrope:

Whether Swift was a misanthrope basically identifies with the subject of his demeanor toward humankind in his ironical works. The title of misanthrope is saved normally for somebody who loathes or questions humankind. Quite a bit of Swift's humorous work display neither contempt nor doubt. Quick, nonetheless, plainly discovers mankind imperfect. Those blemishes, especially the pride of mankind, fill in as the meat of his work.

Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Write on Shakespeare’s Wit and Humour in "As You Like It"

Shakespeare's "As You Like It" is one of the prominent humorous comedies. It keeps us smiling most of the time because of the richness of wit and humour. "As You Like It" is an illustration of humour shown in dissimilar characters of the drama. The dramatist has infused amusing humour of different tunes and tones in the drama. 

 

Monday, 1 March 2021

Comment on Marlowe's Use of Blank Verse.

Blank verse refers to unrhymed verse, particularly that form of unrhymed heroic verse which is commonly employed in English dramatic and epic poetry. Blank verse can be composed in any meter and with any amount of feet per line (any line length), though the iamb is generally the predominant foot. Along with the iamb there are 3 other standard feet and a number of variations that can be employed in a blank verse poem. It is difficult--almost impossible--to write a blank verse poem consisting of all iambs and other types of feet get used more often than one may think. These are: 

Tuesday, 16 February 2021

Critically Comment on Swift’s Satirical Technique in the First Two Books of "Gulliver’s Travels".

Satirical Technique in the First Two Books of "Gulliver’s Travels":

Jonathan Swift is one of the greatest satirists of English literature. He had a sort of political background in his early career. He worked as the Chief Publicity Agent and Adviser to the Tory Ministry of Harley and St. John from 1710 to 1713. He, therefore, saw at close quarters the working of the courtiers and the politicians and he was filled with disgust. This disgust is reflected in his famous prose "Gulliver’s Travels".

 

Thursday, 4 February 2021

How does Wordsworth Deal with the Theme of Loss and Gain in 'Immortality Ode'

Theme of Loss and Gain in 'Immortality Ode':

The poem Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood commences with a note of regret that the heavenly or celestial spark that the poet found in his childhood days in all the phenomena of nature has disappeared in his mature age. He finds no divine spark or beauty to whatever beautiful objects he now turns such as the rainbow, the rose, the moonlight, the sun light etc. The poet is grief stricken because of the sense of loss of divine glory. The sight of a tree or a field or a flower pathetically reminds him of his loss of celestial glory.

 

Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Discuss 'Michael' as a Pastoral Poem

 'Michael' as a Pastoral Poem:

 William Wordsworth Michael is an elongated poem in blank verse. The Michael of the heading is the poem’s protagonist. The subtitle, A Pastoral Poem,” appears to challenge the traditional idea of pastoral poetry as a form for the peaceful and the pastoral, and to make prepare the reader to accept the “low and rustic life” as the perfect pastoral.

 

The poem deals with man's battle in this unfriendly world to keep up his reputation and values, through the life of Michael, a forlorn previous. As Bernard Groom comments about the verse, “Wordsworth’s picture of rural life in Michael is less idyllic and nearer to historical truth than some readers may suppose." Michael is a straightforward peaceful poem however doesn't follow its specific

'Michael' as a Pastoral Poem

meaning. The poem tells the pitiable life story of a helpless shepherd. The setting of the poem is peaceful as it occurs around the spot in "Greenhead Ghyll." But, it does not have the aesthetic magnificence and disposition of the commonplace peaceful poems.

Monday, 1 February 2021

How does Wordsworth Show the Dignity of Labour in 'Michael'

Michael is a famous poem in which Wordsworth has portrayed the inevitable relationship between work and existence. Existence requires work because survival is for the fittest.

 

Wordsworth Show the Dignity of Labour in 'Michael':

 

Michael is a pastoral poem, defines about the man the spirit of man and human life. Michael is an aged man but he has won the limitations of age. He works hard in the field from dawn to late at night. His only son Luke is instructed how to look after the sheep. His wife Isabela also works all the time. Michael’s wife Isabela as

Wordsworth Show the Dignity of Labour in 'Michael'

the perfect maintenance impressively for her family and works hard to care them. She has two spinning wheels.
Even returning from the field in the evening Michael lits a lamp and all the members of the house work very sincerely. Even sitting by the fire at night they work as far as possible. They have proverbial reputation all over the locality for their tireless industry. Actually for the inhabitants of the world work is of central importance:

Saturday, 2 January 2021

Lord Byron as a Romantic Poet

Lord Byron as a Romantic Poet:

 

Lord Byron was the immensely popular poet of his time. His prolific writing has placed him among the bright galaxy of English Literature. His view and philosophy of life have distinguished him very remarkably. Besides, his rebellious spirit has given a new dimension to him and distinguished him among the romantic poets in English Literature.

 

Lord Byron as a Romantic Poet


Comment on Julia's Letter from the Convent to 'Don Juan'

Julia's Letter from the Convent to Don Juan:

The letter which was written by Donna Julia from the convent to Don Juan highlights the positive aspects of her character. Donna Julia apparently seems to me a sex-box. But in this letter she explains why she feels fascination for Don Juan. She was not satisfied with her husband Don Alfonso. As a man of fifty he was not competent to satisfy the sexual hunger of her, so she felt fascination for Don Juan. Eventually she was discovered in her bed room with Don Juan and her conjugal life comes to an end. She was sent to the convent for purification.

Julia's Letter from the Convent to Don Juan

Friday, 1 January 2021

Note on the Romantic Elements in Don Juan

Romantic Elements in Don Juan:

 

Byron is the chief exponent and most renowned figure of the whole Romantic Movement. But he is hardly a romantic at all. His apology is not in favor of romanticism as it was with his contemporaries including Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Southey, Scott. He was not a romantic in the way the word means for the traditional romantics. Byron was fascinated by the Augustan code of life which was a consistent reincarnation of the classical view of life. Not imagination but the exercise of instinct is important for life was his ideal. So in his work as in his life was a creature of instinct.

Romantic Elements in Don Juan

 

 

Describe Byron as a Satirist

Byron as a Satirist:

 

Byron was one of the most vigorous and powerful satirists of England during the nineteenth century. His genius was essentially satirical. In satire Byron found the suitable media for his rebellious and passionate nature and it is in satire which turned more joyously from the early years of his life. He had a great liking for Alexander Pope, the prince of satirists in the 18th century and for Gifford, his successor. He closely imitated their form and style in his satires, and almost, all the satirical works of Byron were written under the influence of Pope, Gifford and Swift.

 

Comment on the Byronic Heroic Elements in 'Don Juan'

Byronic Heroic Elements in 'Don Juan'

 

Before going to labor our topic it is better to have a sound knowledge about Byronic hero. W. H. Auden analyzed the conception of the Byronic hero as follows: Byron spent his early years in comparative poverty with a mother who alternately hit him and covered him with kisses and a Calvinist nurse who spoke to him of hell-fire and predestined damnation... Unhappiness sharpens a child wits and he soon realized that his parents were violent and odd people, that this ancestors were violent and odd too and that his deformity made him different from other children. Further as usually happens when the parents are separated he idealized the absent one, the father. Out of this background came the Byronic Hero. Father made him passionate, Nancy made him doomed ancestors and the little lame foot made him aristocratic yet the bitter enemy of society.


Byronic Heroic Elements in Don Juan

Note on the Autobiographical Elements in Byron's Poetry

Autobiographical Elements in Byron's Poetry:

 

Byron is pre-eminently the most vital reactionary poet of his age. He is not only sensitive but also sensible. He is dissatisfied with the current social order. So he revolts against the social, political and religious injustice and hypocrisy. The follies and frailties of the society have become a sort of object whom he pricks with the sharp weapon of his satirical disposition. He has experienced his time and life as his hero Don Juan does. Thus his autobiographical elements come abundantly in his poem Don Juan.

 

Autobiographical Elements in Byron's Poetry

Lord Byron as a Revolutionary Poet and a Poet of Freedom

Byron as a Revolutionary Poet:

 

Though Byron was not as studious as Shelley, his attitude towards life was very profound and convincing. He was never happy with the going on customs of the society. He wanted to bring about a revolutionary change in the society. This longing for regeneration makes him a great revolutionary poet and lover of man. Byron was one of the proudest revolutionary poets and the poets of freedom and liberty that England has ever produced. He was a born rebel and the fire of liberty and hatred for tyranny burnt furiously in his veins. "Art for Art's Sake", says Courthope, was abhorrent to his genius. He was the Avtar of the revolutionary movement, where every thought was prompted by revolt against the moral postulates of society.

 

Lord Byron's Attitude Towards Nature

Byron and Nature:

To Byron Nature is a great metaphor which has helped him to interpret many of his ideas and feelings. His emotion has been strengthened in association with the phenomena of Nature. It has provided him with a ground on which he has presented his views and ideas of life.

 

Lord Byron's Attitude Towards Nature