Some types of characters are are: • Protagonist: The main character on whom the author focuses most of the narrative attention.. • Third-person limited: The narrator is not one of the ch
FUNDAMENTALS OF LITERATURE
AN OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE
Definition of “Literature”
Broadly speaking, "literature" describes anything from creative writing to technical or scientific works, but the term commonly refers to works of creative imagination, aesthetic, and/or humanistic purposes such as poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction (Terry Eagleton, 1996) It may also contain political messages or beliefs
Task 1: Match the benefits of literature with each description
2 Literarure helps us to expand our minds with each exposure to those who differ from us We may still reject their unique beliefs and assumptions, but we're one step closer to understanding them
1 History, anthropology and religious studies provide a method of learning about the cultures and beliefs of others from the outside Literature, on the other hand, allows us to experience the cultures and beliefs of others first-hand from the inside looking out
3 When we explicate literature, we build a solid case in support of our opinions, and we build self-confidence in our own interpretations of language
4 Literature hones our language skills and teaches us valuable techniques for communication Thus, literature becomes an important tool to sharpen our linguistic skills.
5 World literature contains most available knowledge about humanity and interactions with the world at large Some most important lessons are subtly expressed in literature Great literature has hidden meanings that we have to dig and analyze to find the gold
6 Literature teaches us better courses of action and more effective responses to situations It forces readers to challenge their simplistic ethical conceptions and sometimes their outright condemnation of others' actions Ethical exploration is a mature endeavor; it is not for the thin-skinned
A To exercise our brains from the insights of others
B To explore other cultures and beliefs
C To appreciate individuals at a deeper level
D To further our mastery of language
E To explore ethical complexities and learn better ways to behave
F To learn how to support our points of view and trust our own interpretations
G To know we aren't alone
Elements of literature
Theme is the main idea or message about humans, society or life in a literary work In literature analysis, it should be stated in the form of a message (a full statement)
Task 2: Decide which option is a better description of the theme in each situation
1 Mr Know-all by William Somerset Maugham
The story of Mr Know-all holds a belief that humans tend to judge other people by stereotypes and races rather than examining the true character of people as individuals
The story of Mr Know-all is about the theme of cultural and racial prejudice This prejudice exist among human beings and should be avoided
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy involving
Hamlet and his responsibility to avenge the murder of his father
In Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the pervasive theme of deception within the human realm is inextricably linked to the moral legitimacy of leadership and the well-being of the nation The article establishes that the play explores the inevitable nature of deception and its profound impact on society, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between a ruler's moral authority and the health of the state they govern.
3 The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du
The main message of the story is moral issues when the main character managed to save her family and the innocence of her soul regardless the circumstances she faced
The main message of the story is a respect towards women and desire for women’s freedom from all the norms of a male-dominated society, which reinforces an oppression as a result of Confucian tradition and the patriarchal society
The main theme of the poem “Daffodils” is about the beauty of nature The author is shown to be lonely, but when he thinks back to the Daffodils, he is happy and content
The poem enchanted the beauty of nature which could empower people to put human problems into perspective and transform their sadness into joy for more motivation to survive
The central theme of the story is the disappointing transformation of humans when confronting with reality The boy undergoes emotional growth, changing from an innocent boy to an adolescent when he goes to a bazaar
The central theme of the story is the maturity change in terms of understanding about human relationship and the challenging reality This is a major step toward adulthood when people coming of age and dealing with reality
Task 3: Write one theme for the following Vietnamese fictions
1 When the light is out (Tắt Đèn – Ngô Tất Tố)
2 The A-Phu couple (Vợ chồng A Phủ – Tô Hoài)
3 Mountains and Rivers of the Southern Country (Nam quốc sơn hà – Lý Thường Kiệt)
Plot is a sequence of events that occurs to characters from the beginning to the end of a story
Exposition/Introduction: This is the beginning of the story, where characters and settings are established to explain or summarize background information
Rising action: It occurs when a series of events begin to get complicated It is during this part of a story that excitement, tension, or crisis is encountered
• Internal conflict: It is a struggle which takes place in the protagonist’s mind and through which the main character reaches a new understanding or dynamic change
• External conflict: It is a struggle between the protagonist and another character against nature and some outside force
Climax: This is the moment of highest interest and emotion, leaving the reader wondering what is going to happen next
Falling Action (or the winding up of the story): This part occurs after the climax has been reached and the conflict has been resolved
Resolution: This is the end of a story, which may occur with either a happy or a tragic ending
Denouement : A French word meaning "unknotting" or "unwinding," denouement refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath or resolution that usually occurs near the final stages of the plot
Open Plot: Open plot is one of those things where the author never gives a definite ending, and is very vague about what happens You can use your imagination for what happens to the characters
Closed Plot: A restricted sequence of events in a play, novel, or film
Task 4: Identify the required element in each literary work
1 Climax - The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du
2 Conflict - Romeo and Juliet by W Shakespeare
3 Falling Action – The last leaf by O.Henry
Characterisation refers to the way how an author or poet uses his/her description, dialogue, and action to create in the readers an emotional or intellectual reaction to a character or to make the character more vivid and realistic
Some types of characters are are:
• Protagonist: The main character on whom the author focuses most of the narrative attention
• Antagonist: The character against whom the protagonist struggles or contends
• Static Character/Flat Character: A simplified character who does not change his or her personality over the course of a narrative
• Dynamic Character : a character whose personality changes or evolves over the course of a narrative or appears to have the capacity for such change
• Round character: a well-developed character who demonstrates varied and sometimes contradictory traits
• Foil: A character that serves by contrast to highlight opposing traits in another character
• Confidant: A character in a drama or fiction, such as a trusted friend or servant, who serves as a device for revealing the inner thoughts or intentions of a main character
• Antihero: A protagonist who is a non-hero or the antithesis of a traditional hero While the traditional hero may be dashing, strong, brave, resourceful, or handsome, the antihero may be incompetent, unlucky, clumsy, dumb, ugly, or clownish
• Stereotype: A character who is so ordinary or unoriginal that the character seems like an oversimplified representation of a type, gender, class, religious group, or occupation
• Stock Character: A character type that appears repeatedly in a particular literary genre, one which has certain conventional attributes or attitudes d) Setting
The setting of a literary work encompasses a number of different elements:
• Time: refers to day or night, summer or winter, and the historical period Period is the common historical eras that scholars use to divide literature into comprehensible sections Dividing literature into these arbitrary periods allows us to better compare and contrast the works in different ages, to more easily trace chains of influence from one writer to another, and to appreciate more readily the connection between historical events and intellectual trends
• Place: implies the location of inside or outside, country or city, specific town and country,
Cultural milieu (urban, rural, multicultural, ethnic, diverse), and real or fictional areas,
• Social situation: implies the social status and situation of not only the main characters but also the minor characters who take little part in advancing the plot, and even from those whose presence contributes to the realism of the work
• Mood and atmosphere : can be eerie, dangerous, menacing, tense, threatening, relaxing, nostalgic, happy, light-hearted, etc
It is the method of narration/ the voice that determines the position from which the story unfolds
It governs the reader's access to the story It includes:
• First-person Narrator: A narrator that indicates the speaker It means we are seeing events through the eyes of the character telling the story
E.g.: “I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.” (Daffodils by William Wordsworth)
• Second-person Narrator: A narrator that indicates the person spoken to
E.g.: “You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.” (Bright Lights, Big City by Jay Mclnemey)
• Third-person Narrator: A kind of narrator very commonly found in fictions written as third‐person narratives
E.g.: He entered, vociferating oaths dreadful to hear; and caught me in the act of stowing his son sway in the kitchen cupboard Hareton was impressed with a wholesome terror of encountering either his wild beast’s fondness or his madman’s rage … (Rip Van Winkle’s by Washington Irving)
There are three kinds of third-person point of view:
• Third-person objective narrative : The narrator is not one of the characters in a story but he or she expresses only about all actions done by the characters in the story and not their feelings or thoughts
In third-person limited narration, the narrator exists outside the story's events but possesses privileged access to the thoughts and feelings of a single character The narrator describes the actions of all characters but only delves into the internal experiences of this designated protagonist This perspective provides an intimate understanding of the character's motivations and emotions while maintaining an objective observer's stance.
Common literary devices/ Figurative languages
Figurative languages express an idea or image with words which carry meanings beyond their literal ones They give extra dimension to language by stimulating the imagination and evoking visual, sensual imagery a) Simile
Simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared by using a connective words such as “like” or “as”
E.g.: a I wandered lonely as a cloud (Daffodils – Wordsworth) b "… and her eyes sparkled as bright as diamonds" (Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte) => This comparison using like or as describes Miss Cathy and helps us illustrate the beauty she held c “… But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (Araby – James Joice) b) Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that share some characteristics
E.g.: a “…a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use” (Rip Van
Humans navigate the world like actors on a grand stage, portraying various roles with entrances and exits as dictated by life's script (Shakespeare, "As You Like It") Similar to the intertwined relationship between a thorny plant and delicate flowers (Bronte, "Wuthering Heights"), individuals may possess both strengths and flaws Catherine Earnshaw's stubbornness contrasts with the Lintons' gentle nature, reflecting the complex interplay between personality traits and the roles we adopt in society.
Personification is a figure of speech when the author assigns the qualities of a person to something that isn't human or, in some cases, to something that isn't even alive
E.g.: a "…her tongue was always going-singing, laughing, and plaguing everybody who would not do the same." (Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte) => Catherine's tongue is singing, laughing, and plaguing people We can infer that Catherine was a happy, talkative, and lively spirit b "…but the snow and wind whirled wildly through, even reaching my station, and blowing out the light." => The snow and wind blew out the light This shows how powerful the blizzard was
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept
E.g.: a The pen is mightier than the sword => Pen refers to written words, and sword to military force b Maybe one of the guys would lay enough bread on him for a meal or at least subway fare.(In another country – Hemmingway) => Bread is metonymy and stands for money c “The Silicon Valley” is a metonymy for the technology sector e) Synecdoche
Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole E.g.: a Four still faces passed her with their burden (In another country – Hemmingway) => faces stand for people b The Eyes around-had wrung them dry-
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset-when the King
Be witnessed-in the Room (I heard a Fly buzz when I died" by Emily Dickinson)
=> “Eyes" stand for people Dickinson's use of synecdoche emphasizes that the people in the room are watching the speaker
Irony is a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from the actual meaning of the words It may also be a situation that ends up in quite a different way than what is generally anticipated In simple words, it is a difference between appearance and reality
There are 3 types of irony:
Verbal irony (also called sarcasm) occurs when a speaker makes a statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply from the meaning that the words ostensibly express
E.g.: a “A little more than kin, and less than kind.” (Hamlet-Shakespeare) => He is talking about his uncle, who is also now his step father – a little more than kin When he says “less than kind,” it is ironic because his uncle is the one who killed his father b In J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry says, "Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher There was just that minor drawback of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head!"
Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows something about present or future circumstances that the character does not know In that situation, the character acts in a way we recognize to be grossly inappropriate to the actual circumstances, or the character expects the opposite of what the reader knows that fate holds in store, or the character anticipates a particular outcome that unfolds itself in an unintentional way
E.g.: a When Rose was leaning on the balcony right before the ship hits the iceberg says, "It's so beautiful I could just die” (Titanic) => Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows something that the characters don't b The apple that puts Snow White into a deep sleep is dramatic irony, because the audience knows that the Wicked Stepmother cursed the apple, but Snow White does not
Situational irony is a literary device involving unforeseen circumstances that align in a seemingly fitting manner This discrepancy between expectation and outcome creates a paradoxical effect The key characteristic of situational irony lies in the simultaneous awareness of this incongruity by both the characters involved and the audience This interplay between perception and reality generates a sense of poetic justice or humorous coincidence, highlighting the unpredictable nature of life's events.
E.g.: a Posting on Facebook about what a waste of time social media is b A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets
18 c In the novel Dumb Luck of Vu Trong Phung, Red-haired Xuan's luck and his knack for bullshitting helps him become a familiar face in the Vietnamese bourgeoisie crowd as he continues to dabble in medicine after unfortunately saving Van Minh's grandpa, Hong He eventually becomes the champion of science, a professional tennis player, and a national hero although he is an uneducated and unscrupulous vagrant g) Paradox
Paradox is a figure of speech in which two events seem unlikely to coexist
E.g.: a I must be cruel only to be kind (Hamlet – Shakespeare) b All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (Animal’s Farm - George Orwell) h) Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings, such as “cruel kindness,” or “living death”
E.g.: a Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow (Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare) b Paid volunteers were working for the company c The CEO of a multinational company said, “We have been awfully lucky to have survived the disastrous effects of the recent economic recession.” d The program was not liked by the people, for a lot of unpopular celebrities were invited
Hyperbole (exaggeration or overstatement) is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis
Practice
Task 5: Decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE
1 Literature refers to human exploitations written in words that are well-chosen and arranged
2 A great book is born of the brain and heart of its author; he has put himself into its pages; they partake of his life, and are instinct with his individuality
3 People are strongly impelled to confide to others what they think and feel; hence the literature which deals with the great drama of human life and action
4 Literature does not only keep experiences but also exposes relevant experiences to audiences around the world
5 A piece of literature differs from a specialized document on astronomy, political economy, philosophy, or even history, in part because it appeals not to a particular class of readers only
6 Literature is composed of those books which, by reason of their subject-matter and their mode of treating it, are of general human interest
7 Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us
8 People are intensely interested in men and women, their lives, motives, passions, relationships; hence the literature which directly expresses the thoughts and feelings of the writer
Task 6: Choose the correct answers
1 It is a quality of literature which appeals to our sense of beauty
A Style B artistry C universality D intellectual value
2 During what part of "The Little Mermaid" does Ariel have to choose whether to kill the prince or not?
A Climax B Rising action C Falling action D Introduction
3 The events that take place in a story make up the story's
4 Which of the following is not a type of conflict?
A person vs person B person vs society C person vs identity D person vs nature
5 Because Chi Pheo changes his thoughts and actions during the course of narrative, he's said to be a _ character
A one-dimensional B symbolic C static D dynamic
6 What are conventions in literature?
A The events that lead to the climax of a novel
B The conflicts between the protagonist and the antagonist
C The traditions and rules that lead to a reader's expectations
D The difficulties a writer encounters in creating characters
7 Which point of view is told from one character’s viewpoint?
A omniscient B first person C neutral view D second narrator
8 An author's purpose in using rhetoric is to _
A create a certain effect for the reader B present facts as they really are
C provide hints as to what's going to happen D separate realism from idealism
A the cosmos, state, family, and individual follow the same pattern
B the audience knows something the character or characters don't
C things are going to end very badly for someone
D everything works out in the end
10 The mood (or the feeling you get when reading a piece of writing) can also be called the
11 The person telling the story is called the _
12 The words characters think or say out loud alone are called _
A monologue B dialogue C conflict D point of view
13 Point of view is revealed as the _
A narrator tells everything that happens B main character experiences the events
C writer communicates in his/her own voice D one character sees things from his/her perspective
14 What are the elements of a story?
A mood, theme, beginning, middle, end
B author, reader, book, paper, ink
C plot, setting, characters, conflict, theme, point of view
D mood, characters, conflict, setting, plot
15 The _ in a story is made of both time and place
16 The main character in a novel or play who keeps the action moving forward is the _
A main man B heroine C antagonist D protagonist
17 A story’s plot outline follows which pattern?
C beginning, problem, character introduction, conclusion
D introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
18 Some tales have a “twist” in the plot This discrepancy between what a reader expects to happen and what really does happen is _
19 The evil, bad guy in a story is the
20 The overall meaning of the story or piece of writing is the _
21 What are some types of conflict characters encounter?
A happy, sad, old-fashioned, modern
B person vs person, person/society, person/nature, and person vs supernatural
C monster, goblin, warrior, sorcerer, troll
D gambling, drinking, fighting, lying, stealing
22 The most significant conflict in "Chu nguoi tu tu" is between _
A Huan Cao and the prison warden B Huan Cao and the feudal society
C traditional values and the modern values D real life and fantasy
23 The wicked witch and the big bad wolf are examples of _
A dynamic characters B archetypes C protagonists D anecdotes
24 In "When the light is out," Mrs Dau is a _ in the story
A symbol of fun B stock character C protagonist D genre
25 An author may intentionally use objects, colors, images, names, and events as _ in a story
A themes B moods C symbols D important events
26 What are the literary device based on Similarity or Likeness?
27 What are the literary device based on Association or Substitution?
28 Which figurative device is used in the poetic line "I wandered lonely as a cloud"?
29 Which one of the following sentences is an example of a metaphor?
A I am a rock B She eats like a bird
C I'm as hungry as a wolf D The breeze blew the branches back and forth
30 The figure of speech in which animals, objects, or ideas are given the characteristics of a person is called
31 Extreme exaggeration is a figure of speech called
A showing the readers the dark side of a character's personality
B describing what happens at night, for example in a dark basement
C hinting at things that will occur later
D putting secondary characters in the foreground of the story
33 "Foam brightens like the dogwood now" is an example of
34 Hopkins's use of "seared," "bleared," and "smeared" is an example of
35 A person trying to survive a terrible storm is an example of
A flashback B biography C man vs nature D stereotype
36 Which one of the following items is an example of a symbol in "The Xa Nu Forest" by Nguyen Trung Thanh?
A xa nu tree B Mai’s death C Dit D the village
Task 7: Identify the italicized literary device in each situation
1 Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself (Hamlet talks to the ghost)
2 Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy,
And will not let belief take hold of him
3 That if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes and speak to it
4 Claudius-“Laertes, was your father dear to you? Or are you, like the painting of a sorrow, a face without a heart?”
5 Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles …
6 But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
7 Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of you own will, did it
8 he gnashed at me, and foamed like a mad dog, and gathered her to him with greedy jealousy
9 Are you possessed with a devil," he pursued, savagely, "to talk in that manner to me when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in my memory, and eating deeper eternally after you have left me?
10 The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces
11 I wanna be your left hand man
12 Tell them you’ve got a pal who’s got all the liquor in the world
13 Mr Kelada was born under a bluer sky than is generally seen in England
14 …the best hated man in the ship
15 If I had a pretty little wife I shouldn’t let her spend a year in New York while I stayed at Kobe
16 When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory
17 The brush grabbed at his legs in the dark until one knee of his jeans was ripped
18 The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin tells the tale of a wife who learned her husband was dead She felt a sense of freedom, thinking about her new life out from under his thumb Suddenly, the husband returned (he was never dead) and she died of shock
19 “Today was a very cold and bitter day, as cold and bitter as a cup of hot chocolate; if the cup of hot chocolate had vinegar added to it and were placed in a refrigerator for several hours.”
(Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket)
20 Rain on your wedding day
A free ride when you’ve already paid
Good advice that you just didn’t take (A song of Alannis Morisette)
FORMS OF WRITTEN LITERATURE
Poems
A poem is a work of literature that uses the sounds and rhythms of a language to evoke deeper significance than the literal meanings of the words (Terry Eagleton, 1996)
E.g.: The poem “I love you” by Puskin
I loved you, and I probably still do,
And for awhile the feeling may remain;
But let my love no longer trouble you,
I do not wish to cause you any pain
I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew,
The jealousy, the shyness — though in vain
Made up a love so tender and so true
As may God grant you to be loved again
Tôi yêu em: đến nay chừng có thể, Ngọn lửa tình chưa hẳn đã tàn phai;
Nhưng không để em bận lòng thêm nữa; Hay hồn em phải gợn bóng u hoài
Tôi yêu em âm thầm, không hy vọng, Lúc rụt rè, khi hậm hực lòng ghen;
Tôi yêu em, yêu chân thành, đằm thắm, Cầu em được người tình như tôi đã yêu em
Form - the arrangement of words, lines, verses, rhymes, and other features
Stanza: a part of a poem with similar rhythm and rhyme that will usually repeat later in the poem Rhyme: words that end with similar sounds Usually at the end of a line of the poem
Rhyming: two lines of a poem together with the same rhythm
Rhythm: a pattern created with sounds: hard - soft, long - short, bouncy, quiet - loud, weak - strong Meter: a rhythm that continuously repeats a single basic pattern
• Myths, legends, fables, folk tales, fairy tales, folk songs, proverbs, historical recitations, nursery rhyme, ritual songs, and laments
Stanzas, like paragraphs in essays, are units of text grouped into multiple lines, separated by blank lines The length of a stanza varies, ranging from two lines to multiple lines.
In English literature, some kinds of stanza are:
• Free verse poem (no particular stanza length and no particular rhyme scheme) b) Rhymes and rhyming
Rhymes refer to the words that end with similar sounds, usually at the end of a line of the poem Rhyming: two lines of a poem together with the same rhythm
A rhyme may or may not be present in a poem Free verse of poetry does not follow this system However where present, the pattern is present in different forms, like aa, bb, cc (first line rhymes with the second, the third with fourth, and so on) and ab, ab (first line rhymes with third and the second with fourth)
E.g.: "The time is out of joint, O cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!" – Hamlet
Meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern with stressed and unstressed syllables in a verse, or within the lines of a poem The study of different types of versification and meters is known as “prosody.”
A meter contains a sequence of several “feet”, where each foot has a number of syllables such as stressed/unstressed
English poetry employs five basic meters, including:
E.g.: “If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die
That strain again! It had a dying fall:” (Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare)
E.g.: “Shadows pointed towards the pithead:
In the sun the slagheap slept
Down the lane came men in pitboots
Coughing oath-edged talk and pipe-smoke.” (The Explosion by Philip Larkin)
E.g.: Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go (Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare)
• Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed)
E.g.: “Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair …” (The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll)
• Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)
All in the valley of Death” (The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson)
There are three most common types of poems in Western culture:
1 Lyric Poetry: It is a type in which one speaker (not necessarily the poet) expresses strong thoughts and feelings Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems There are three subtypes:
• Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? (Grecian Urn by John Keats)
• Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead It has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality It can have a fairly formal style, and sound similar to an ode
“Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more
Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never-sear,
I com to pluck your Berries harsh and crude,
And with forc'd fingers rude,
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year
Bitter constraint, and sad occasion dear,
Compels me to disturb your season due:
For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime,
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer …” (Lycidas by John Milton)
• Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and is usually written in iambic pentameter There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines) The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines) The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two parts (argument and conclusion), while the Shakespearean into four (the final couplet is the summary)
2 Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story and its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement]
• Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung A ballad usually has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people
• Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero
Some famous epic poems are: The Odyssey by Homer (~800 BCE)
Beowulf of English literature (~8th-11th century CE) Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667)
The Mahabharata of Indian literature (350 BCE)
E.g.: Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: Or if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's Brook that flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime (An excerpt from Paradise Lost – Milton)
• Limerick: It is a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain), in an aabba rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, &
5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4 It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald anecdote E.g.:
There was a Young Lady of Lucca,
Whose lovers completely forsook her;
And said, 'Fiddle-de-dee!'
Which embarrassed the people of Lucca (Young Lady of Lucca - Edward Lear)
3 Descriptive Poem: It is a poem describing the world that surrounds the speaker It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives
Two types of poetry might belong to any of the above genres:
• Free verse : Much modern poetry does not obviously rhyme and doesn't have a set meter
However, sound and rhythm are often still important, and it is still often written in short lines
• Concrete poetry (pattern or shape poetry) is a picture poem, in which the visual shape of the poem contributes to its meaning
Other types of poems from other cultures include:
• Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form with seventeen syllables, having three lines (a tercet) and usually written with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third (5,7,5 syllables respectively) It's usually considered a lyric poem The present tense is used, the subject is one thing happening now, and words are not repeated The origin of the haiku is Japanese
• “Luc - Bat” poem (six-eight meter poem): is a traditional Vietnamese verse form "Lục bát" is
Sino-Vietnamese for "six eight", referring to the alternating lines of six and eight syllables It will always begin with a six-syllable line and end with an eight-syllable one
• Tang poetry: refers to poetry called “shi” (thi), written in or around the time of or in the characteristic style of China's Tang dynasty This contrasts to poetry composed in the earlier Han dynasty and later Song and Yuan dynasties, which are characterized by “fu” (phú), “ci” (từ) and
“qu” (khúc) forms respectively The poems generally consisted of multiple rhyming couplets, with no definite limit on the number of lines but a definite preference for multiples of four lines and seven lines (seven-character four-line regulated verse and seven-character eight-line regulated verse)
The poet uses his/her own personal and private language which leaves poetry open to different interpretations Although the poet may have had one specific idea or purpose in mind, the reader’s response may be completely different Nevertheless, this does not mean that readers may interpret poetry any way they wish All interpretations must be supported by direct reference to the text As with any type of literary analysis, readers need a basic knowledge of the elements of poetry The following guide and questions might help
• Read the poem entirety to get a general impression
• What is the poem about?
• What is the title of the poem? What is it theme?
• What is voice of the poem? To whom is the speaker speaking?
• What is the purpose of the poem: to describe, amuse, entertain, narrate, inform, express grief, celebrate or commemorate?
• What is the tone of the poem? Sad, happy, melancholy, bitter?
• What is it rhyming and meter?
• What literary devices are used in the poem?
Task 1: Choose the correct answer for each question
1 Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
What literary device can we find in this extract?
A A piece of writing in paragraphs B A work with lines and stanzas
C A performance on stage D a talk on the TV
3 Which is the traditional Japanese poem of 3 lines, each having a certain number of syllables (5 7 5)?
4 What is it called when two consecutive lines of poetry rhyme?
5 What is a 14-line lyric poem written in iambic pentameter and with a specific rhyme scheme?
6 What element of a poem that describes a regular pattern or stressed (/) and unstressed (U) syllables?
7 What kind of poem that tells a story?
8 Which element of a poem that describes the musical quality of language, produced by repeating accents?
9 Which term refers to a line of poetry with 5 iambs (U / U / U / U / U /) as its rhythm?
10 Which one is a very long narrative poem about a hero with superhuman abilities?
11 Which one is storytelling poem in a predictable rhythm, usually written to be sung?
12 Which element of a poem that describes the situation in which words close together have the same or similar sounding final syllable(s)?
13 What is a segment of a poem that is divided into groups of lines?
14 What is a poem that does not have a rhyme scheme or typical measure?
A “luc bat”poem B sonnet C free verse D Tang’s “shi”
15 There once was a man from Peru,
Who dreamed of eating his shoe,
In the middle of the night,
And found that his dream had come true!
What type of poem is this?
16 Who is a famous poet, known for their sonnets?
A John Steinbeck B W Shakespeare C James Joyce D Emily Bronte
17 A poem with four lines is called a _
18 If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved
These lines are an example of a/an _
19 The line "A tree whose hungry mouth is prest" is an example of iambic
20 What is the most probable reason that rhyme and repetition first found their ways into poems?
A People wanted a beat they could dance to
B They were written for the upper class
C Heroes in epics tended to talk that way
D The poems were easier to remember and pass on
21 A definition of formal poetry is verse that
A sticks to certain traditional patterns B has no rhyme scheme
C uses figurative language D is written in blank verse
A figure of speech B literary genre C complex rhyme scheme D three-line stanza
23 Which one of the following lines is written in iambic pentameter?
A "I lift my lamp beside the golden door"
B "When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me"
C "Not that the pines are darker there"
D "And sorry I could not travel both"
Task 2: Read the following free verse and answer the questions
Excuses Excuses - by Gareth Owen
What’s the excuse this time?
Who’s fault is it then?
Grandma’s? What did she do?
She’s seriously dead alright sir
That makes four grandmothers this term
Blenkinsopp And all on PE days
I know It’s very upsetting sir
How many grandmothers have you got
You said you had four
And what about yesterday Blenkinsopp?
That was the dentist sir
No sir My teeth sir
You missed the maths test Blenkinsopp! I’d been looking forward to it sir
Right, line up for PE
No such word as “can’t” Blenkinsopp
What’s it doing at home?
Why couldn’t she do it?
1 Identify the meter of the poem
2 Underline four rhymes in the poem
3 What is the tone of the poem?
4 List two figurative devices in the poem
Dramas and films
Dramas and films are two modes of representation through pantomime, dialogue and/or performance The person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a “dramatist” or
“playwright”, and the person who writes the film is called “scriptwriter”
The components of dramas and films include:
• Theme: It can either be clearly stated through the title, dialogues, actions, or can be inferred after watching the entire performance
• Plot: The order of events is the basic storyline in a play or a film The logical connection between the events and the characters, which enact the story, form an integral part of the plot
• Characters: Each character in a play has a personality of its own and has a distinct set of principles and beliefs Actors who play various roles in a drama have the very important responsibility of bringing the characters to life
• Dialogue: The success of a drama or a film depends hugely on the contents of the dialogue and the quality of dialogue delivery by the actors and actresses
• Sound effects: The background score, the songs and the other sound effects make up the significant musical element of a work Music composers and lyricists sit together to create music that can go well with the theme of the play or a film
• Visual Elements: The visual elements, also known as the spectacle, deal with the scenes, costumes and special effects used in a play or a film
2 Popular types/genres of dramas
• Comedy: are intended to make the audience laugh and usually come to a happy ending
Comedies place offbeat characters in unusual situations causing them to do and say funny things Comedy can also be sarcastic in nature, poking fun at serious topics There are also several sub-genres of comedy, including romantic comedy, sentimental comedy, and tragic comedy
• Farce: is a nonsensical genre of drama in which characters intentionally overact and engage in slapstick or physical humor E.g.: the farce “Ben Thuong Hai Parody” of X-Pro group
• Tragedy: tragedies portray serious subjects like death, disasters, and human sufferings in a dignified and thought-provoking way E.g.: Shakespeare's Hamlet burdened by tragic character flaws that ultimately lead to their demise
Melodrama stands apart as a dramatic genre characterized by heightened characters and emotions, surpassing the subtleties of real-life expressions This theatrical style amplifies both behavior and emotional displays, creating a more captivating and distinct performance An example of melodrama in Korean drama can be found in the renowned series "Way to the Heaven" (Nac thang len thien duong), where exaggerated actions and sentiments drive the narrative.
• Opera: combines theater, dialogue, music, and dance to tell grand stories of tragedy or comedy Since characters express their feelings and intentions through songs rather than dialogue, performers must be both skilled actors and singers E.g.: the opera “Swan Lake” of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Docudrama: is a dramatic portrayal of historic events or non-fictional situations It is more often presented in movies and television than in live theater E.g.: the docudrama “Dien Bien Phu" by Schoendoerffer (1991)
• Pantomime: is a form of drama where the action of a story is told only through the movements of the body
Main film genres Film sub-genres
Action films Biopics, Heroic bloodshed, Military fiction, Spy fiction, Wuxia (A martial arts genre with chivalrous protagonists on fantastic adventures) Adventure films 'Chick' Flicks, Shōnen manga, Superhero films
Comedy Action comedy, Romantic comedy (Rom-com), Satire, Slapstick, Sitcom,
Sketch comedy, Stand-up comedy
Courtroom drama, Detective story, Whodunit, Gangster, Gentleman thief, Gong'an fiction, Hardboiled, Heist, Legal thriller, and Murder mystery Historical Films Biography, Memoir, Alternate history, Counterfactual history/ virtual history, Period piece, War/Anti-War Films
Ghost story, Killers, Monsters, zombies, Jiangshi, Slasher,
Survival horror, Disaster, Techno thriller
Musicals history and criticism, Rock films history and criticism
Apocalyptic and Post-apocalyptic films, Hard science fiction, Soft science fiction, Space opera, Punk, Biopunk
Romantic films Romantic drama, Bromantic comedy, Romantic fantasy, Paranormal romance, Danmei/Yaoi/BL, etc
Traditional animation/cel (celluloid animation), Animated series,
Computer-generated imagery (CGI), Puppetry
Fantasy Bangsian, Contemporary fantasy, Urban fantasy, Fables, Fairy tales,
Hard fantasy, Legends, Magical girl, Mythic fiction, Shenmo, Sorcery and
Game show, chat show, cooking show, documentary, news, Infomercials,
Weather forecast, Music, Sport Show, etc
Task 3: Decide if the following statements about drama are TRUE or FALSE
1 Drama is the written words and directions for actors to follow
2 Narrator is the person who tells the story, often spoken in third person
3 Lines are the speech between characters in a play
4 The person who writes the play is called the director
5 The play or drama is organized in acts and scenes
6 The written words that characters speak and directions in a play/drama make the ‘script”
7 Comedy is a form of drama in which the events lead to the downfall of the main character
8 A dialogue is a series of spoken words that states the inner feelings and thoughts of a character
9 Cast of characters refers to a character who has the opposite characteristics of the protagonist in order to highlight their good qualities
10 3-D technology could be found in a movie but NOT in a play
Task 4: Here are some quotes about drama Do you AGREE or DISAGREE with them? Why?
1 All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed - Seán O'Casey
2 Art is not what you see, but what you make other people see – Degas
3 I think the hardest thing to do in the world, show-business-wise, is write comedy - Carol Burnett
4 The battle of getting better is never ending - Antonio Brown
5 Conflict is drama, and how people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are - Stephen Moyer
Task 5: Fill in the crossword below
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure as in traditional poetry There are two major types of prose:
Many novels are the combination of these following fictional genres:
This is a symbolic story in which what the writer says is totally different from the conveyed meanings at the end It normally contains a moral or hidden meaning
• Dong hao co ma (Nguyen Cong Hoan)
• Dumb Luck (Vu Trong Phung)
This is a type of satirical stories focusing on the paradoxical facts of the society and their desires
Stories in the “Tuoi tre cuoi” magazine, lampoon
3 Epistolary This is a collection of letters, mails, or diaries, normally of famous people
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Helen Fielding)
• 999 letters for my own (Miêu Công Tử)
4 Feminist This type is written by women writers around the world to describe the place of women in a male dominated society
• A Room of one's Own (Virginia Woolf)
5 Gothic This is the combination of both horror and romance
6 Romance It basically revolves around love affairs and relationship topics of main characters
• Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
• The Journey of Flower (Fresh Guoguo)
• To Tam (Hoang Ngoc Phach)
• The Hunchback in the Nortre Dame
7 Narration It is a type of fiction in which the writer becomes the third person who narrates whole story around the characters
• Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'en)
8 Realism The realistic novels are based on the truths of ordinary society and their problems
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
• When the light is out (Ngo Tat To)
9 Naturalism It is a type of extreme realism which is based on the idea that environment determines and governs human character
• The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
• Call of the wild (Jack London)
10 Picaresque This is an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero It highlights themes that refuse the so-called prejudices of the society
• Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)
11 Psychology This type of fiction entails psychological prospective of mind with a resolution
• The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner)
12 Comics This is a type of fiction used to express ideas through images, often combined with text or other visual information
• Manga (Shonen, Shojo, Seinen, Josei, and Kodomomuke) such as Doraemon, Dragon balls, …
13 Digital fictions Digital Fiction is fiction that is written for and read from a computer and can be web- or app-based (for tablets and smartphones) or accessed via CD-ROMs
Movies, audio, digital poetry, and video CD's that present current literature are widely used today Comic books, cartoons, ebook and Internet games have become useful learning tools in education
Nonfiction literature comprises the interesting facts with analysis and illustrations
Main genres of non- fiction literature include:
Non-fictional forms Definition Example
1 Autobiography This type is the story of the author's own life Family Life at the White
2 Essay This types expresses the authors' point of view about any particular topic in a detailed way
Different types of essay are: personal essays, expository essays, response essays, process essays, persuasive essays, argumentative essays, critical essays, reflective essays, evaluation essays, observation essays, application essays, compare and contrast essays, and narrative essays
3 Literary criticism This type is the critical study of a piece of literature Here critics apply different theories, evaluation, discussion and explanation to the text or an essay to give total judgments
Vietnamese poets (Thi Nhan Viet Nam – Hoai Thanh)
4 Travel literature This type is the narration of any tour or foreign journey with the description of the events, dates, places, sights and author's view
Francis Bacon's works in the
5 Diaries This type tells the incidents recorded by the author without any means of publishing them
In today's world of Internet, some profound forms of diaries are online diaries, travel, sleep, tagebuch, fictional, dream and death diaries in blogs, forums, polls and social networking sites
• Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl' (a story of a girl trapped during German invade Amsterdam)
6 Journal This is one type of diaries that records infinite information It includes:
Personal: It is for personal analysis In this journal one can write his goal, daily thoughts, events and situations
Academic: It is for students who do research or dissertation on particular subjects
Creative: Creative journals are the imaginative writing of a story, poem or narrative
Trade: Trade journals are used by industrial purposes where they dictate practical information
Dialectical: This journal is use by students to write on double column notebook They can write facts, experiments, and observation on the left side and right side can be a series of thoughts and response with an end
This type includes a collection of daily or weekly news as well as the current affairs or opinions of various contents
How to analyse a film, drama, or a prose
Below is a list of elements and questions to help you analyze a play, a film, or a prose
• Names of the main character (Does the name has any special meaning
• When does it take place? (in the present, the past, or the future)
• What aspects of setting should be aware of? (geographical location, weather conditions, physical environment, time of day)
• Where is the opening scene and the closing scene?
• How is the plot structured? What are the sequences?
• Is it linear, chronological or is it presented through flashbacks?
• How is suspense built up?
• Do any events foreshadow what is to come?
• How would you describe the main conflict?
• Is it internal where the character suffers inwardly?
• Is it external caused by the surroundings or environment?
• What kind of characters they are? How are their physical appearances and background?
• What are special about their thoughts and feelings?
• How are their interaction and act towards other characters?
• What type of characters are they? Do their characteristics develop by the end of the story?
• What qualities of the main characters stand out? Are they stereotypical in some way?
Narrator and point of view
• Is there a narrator in the film or the play? Who?
• Through whose eyes does the story unfold? Is the story told in the first person “I” point of view or through an off-screen narrator?
• What literary devices are used? Can you find any special symbols or imagery?
• What effect does the choice of music have? Does it suit the theme?
• Are any particular sounds accentuated?
• What special lighting effects are used during the most important scenes?
• What colors are most dominant?
• Can you see a pattern to how the scenes are cut?
• How would you describe the pace/tempo of the film/drama?
Practice
Task 6: Choose the correct answer for each question
1 It is a discourse which uses sentences usually forming paragraph to express ideas, feelings and actions What is it?
2 When an author writes about his/her own life, it is a(n) _
A true story B play C autobiography D anthology
3 It is a short story that has animals for characters and teaches a lesson is called a
A fable B fairy tale C short story D limerick
4 Which one of the following types of writing would most likely be fiction?
5 Which one of the following genres presents the author's personal ideas and feelings about a particular topic?
A short story B novel C allegory D essay
6 The term “realism” refers to _
A making things better than they actually are
B describing things just as they are
C using as much descriptive language as possible
D allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions
7 Emphasizing the importance of order, law, discipline, and tradition is typical of _ literature
Task 7: Answer the following questions
1 Who is the narrator of Arthur Conan Doyle's “Sherlock Holmes” stories?
2 What is the name of the two main characters in the novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Victor Hugo?
3 What is the main theme of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel “Gone with the Wind”?
4 What are the four famous Chinese classics?
5 List 4 Vietnamese realistic novels at the early half of 20 th century
LITERATURE ANALYSIS
Definition of literary analysis
A literary analysis is a type of argumentative essay in which the writer examines a literary work from different aspects of literature fundamentals such as themes, plots, characters, tones, writing style, literary devices which the writer uses to narrate a story or a poem
There is no single typical set of paragraphs which a literary analysis essay should contain It depends on the type of the writing piece, a field in which it is written and requirements of the teacher The length of the analysis can also differ Here is the common list of points that should be discussed:
• Genre, structure, and writing style
• Analysis of main ideas, plot, setting, and point of view/tone
Typical structure
A typical literary analysis essay includes:
1) Introduction: forms the context of your critique
• Include the full name of the author, the title and any supplementary information that will be helpful to strengthen the arguments
• Deliver clearly thematic statement/ statements Your thesis statement should include parts of the question (WHO, WHAT, WHY) that you intend to answer
WHAT: The response to the question
HOW: The manner in which meaning is shown
WHY: How the meaning relates to life or what the true message that the author wants to deliver is
2) Body: normally includes three paragraphs
• Start each paragraph with a concise argument that relates to the thesis statement(s).Each paragraph must have one single point of view
• Include relevant quotes to validate the argument Quotes should/might consist of both narrative and dialogue
• Explain how using a particular literary technique relates to the topic sentence or the theme instead of uncovering the technique or offering an example of it
• End with a strong statement that reiterates the sole focus of the paragraph
• Start your conclusion by carefully and concisely restating your thesis
The essay's theme is woven throughout the body through a meticulous examination of key concepts and ideas These elements effectively portray the author's intended message, which centers on the profundity of life and its complexities By analyzing specific examples presented in the essay, readers gain insight into the author's perspective on navigating life's uncertainties and embracing its transformative power Furthermore, the conclusion skillfully ties together these ideas, reinforcing the central message and resonating with the reader's own experiences and understanding of life.
Criteria and requirements
Avoid plot summary: The main purpose of an English paper is to advance an argument
Therefore, plot details that are relevant to the argument should only be mentioned We may occasionally need to contribute a small amount of additional information about the storyline to make the analysis coherent, but keep the summary to a minimum, and leave plenty of space for our own ideas We can assume that the readers know the narrative well
Master the art of the analytical thesis: A good thesis is a statement of roughly one to three sentences that says something intelligent about a literary work It is not sufficient simply to identify a theme in your thesis For instance, saying that a text deals with the theme of love or death or betrayal is not enough A thesis must be complex enough that it would not be immediately obvious to a casual reader, but it must be simple enough that it can be stated in a relatively short amount of space
Here is a list of possible questions to construct a solid thesis: How does the author’s or narrator’s perspective on a given theme shift as the text develops? Are there any apparent tensions or contradictions within the text? If so, how might they be resolved? How does the text engage with the major political or cultural ideas of the era in which it was written? How does the text challenge or undermine the dominant conventions of the genre in which it was written? These are just a few suggestions Here are two examples of effective thesis statements:
E.g.: By incorporating novelistic techniques (e.g., sustained imagery and character development) into a non-novelistic work, Alice Munro, in her short story collection “Who Do You Think You Are?” subverts the narrative conventions of novelistic discourse to raise an awareness about the true purpose of human life
Yeats’s “Easter, 1916” appears both to condemn and to celebrate the revolutionary impulse in early-20 th century Ireland It is neither a nationalist rallying cry nor an anti-nationalist cautionary tale Rather it conveys profound ambivalence toward the Easter uprising
Let the structure of the argument determine the structure of the paper In most cases, the argument can be deviated from the chronology of events It is fully acceptable to pluck pertinent evidence from the beginning, middle, and end of a literary text and to use these disparate examples in the same paragraph However, the teacher might occasionally require a line-by-line or paragraph-by-
49 paragraph analysis of a poem, passage, or story This is one of those rare instances in which a more sequential approach is appropriate
Opt for analysis instead of evaluative judgments: When writing a paper, focus on analyzing the work, not describing it Instead of telling the readers that a given work is beautiful, lyrical, or timeless, focus on the ideas the text conveys and the ways it goes about conveying them You may come across a line in a poem or novel that is so beautiful, or so sloppy, that you cannot resist commenting on it If you’re burning up to make an evaluative point, then do so But keep it short and sweet, and don’t let it become the focus of the paragraph
In poetry, the author and the speaker are distinct entities While tempting, equating the two is typically incorrect Poets often adopt the voices of various characters, without explicitly identifying the narrator The speaker's anonymity does not imply they represent the author The writer and speaker are separate identities; however, in certain instances, the speaker can be interpreted as a proxy for the writer, but such interpretation should be supported by specific reasons and acknowledged within the analysis.
For example: In the opening to Ezra Pound’s short poem “A Pact,” the speaker addresses the nineteenth-century American poet Walt Whitman, Pound’s literary predecessor:
I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—
I have detested you long enough
I come to you as a grown child
Who has had a pig-headed father;
I am old enough now to make friends (1-5)
In this poem, the speaker seeks to make amends with Whitman, whose poetry he once detested Although the passage conveys a desire for reconciliation, it does not do so in an amicable manner The writing is portioned out into short, terse statements, with little concession to diplomatic language Consequently, the passage reads more like a pledge or vow than a peace offering Moreover, Pound’s verse is inflected with familial language The speaker refers to himself as a “grown child” who is finally “old enough now to make friends,” whereas he positions Whitman as the “pig-headed father.” Clearly, the speaker is motivated not by a genuine need for conciliation but by a begrudging sense of familial duty toward a father whom he never respected
Integrate quotations fully into the argument Whenever incorporating a literary quotation into the writing, make sure to justify its usage First, be sure to contextualize the quotation by giving
50 some information about it (who is speaking, what part of the text it comes from, etc.) Then, follow each quotation with a few sentences to unpack the passage and relate it back to the argument In other words, a quotation should never speak for itself, it should be analysed to demonstrate what it means in the context of the argument For example, the following passage offers an argumentative close reading of a quotation from Keats:
In the opening of “To Autumn,” Keats depicts the harvest period as a “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun” (1-2) Here, the speaker juxtaposes images of seasonal abundance with notions of loss connected to the impending winter The word
"Fruitfulness" evokes agricultural abundance, yet the adjective "mellow" implies restraint Keats' phrase "the maturing sun" combines warmth and comfort with connotations of aging and diminishing vigor This interplay modifies the straightforward association of "fruitfulness" with unbridled production.
Essay development
Read the work thoroughly for several times, make sure that we completely understand the author's idea, the plot, the characters, writer’s points of views, and his messages When reading, try to answer the questions:
• Which parts of the text were remarkable?
• Why the author used these literary devices?
• Do you see the development of characters?
Try to find connections between the ideas and plot, the characters’ behavior and the changes in their role in the text
Collect facts, expressions, and other evidence to make a reasonable conclusion in the analysis You should have enough material to be persuasive in your conclusions Make the notes while reading You should also learn some information about the author and the historical period in which the work was written, it will help you to understand the literary work better
Making literary analysis outline is an important part of a writing process You should understand what you will start with and what you will say in the conclusion Make sure that you devote space to all important ideas of the author and don’t miss anything
You should formulate a thesis and explain why your arguments have a great significance, how are they connected to the ideas and thoughts of the author Support your contentions with specific references to the story you are analysing Quotations can be particularly convincing
Be sure your thesis is clear, decisive, and thought-provoking The most basic ingredient in a good essay is a strong thesis—the sentence in which you summarize the claim you are making Your thesis should say something more than just the obvious; it should be clear and decisive and make a point that requires evidence to persuade your reader to agree A sharp, bold thesis lends energy to your argument
E.g.: A comparison between two thesis statements about the poem "Nothing gold can stay": a The poem argues that like Adam and Eve we all lose our innocence and the passage of time is inevitable => This thesis may not be bold or specific enough to make for an interesting argument A careful reader would be hard pressed to disagree with the observation that the poem depicts the passage of time or the loss of innocence Moreover, no name of the poem is given b In "Nothing gold can stay", Frost makes a bold claim: sin, suffering, and loss are inevitable because the passage of time causes everyone to fall from grace => The essay's author pushes the claim further, going beyond the obvious to its implications Instead of simply asserting that the poem looks with sorrow on the passage of time, the thesis raises the issue of why this is so It makes a more thought-provoking claim about the poem An arguable thesis can result in a more energetic, purposeful essay
5 Make sure each paragraph contains a topic sentence
Each paragraph in your essay should develop a single idea; this idea should be conveyed in a topic sentence As astute readers often expect to get a sense of a paragraph's purpose from its first few sentences, a topic sentence is often well placed at or near a paragraph's start
To ensure that your reader's journey from one idea to the next is a smooth one, insert transitional words and phrases at the start of new paragraphs or sentences Phrases such as “in contrast” and
“however” signal a U-turn in logic, while those such as “in addition” and “similarly” alert the reader that you are continuing in the same direction you have been traveling Seemingly inconsequential words and phrases such as “also”, “similarly”, or “as mentioned above” can smooth the reader's path from one thought to the next
6 Check whether the argument is logical or coherent
Reevaluate your arguments for logical fallacies, including hasty generalizations, causality confusions, and non sequiturs Ensure that connections between ideas are evident, as illustrated in the examples In the first instance, the connection between spring and innocence is unclear In the second, the connection is explained, enhancing readability and persuasiveness.
7 Finish the conclusion with implications and revise
The conclusion should give the reader some closures, tying up the paper's loose ends without simply (and boringly) restating ail that has come before However, the concluding paragraph doesn't simply restate the thesis It should push the idea further by exploring the poem's implications
After finishing your work put it aside for some time and get back to it for the revision This short break will give an opportunity to look at your work from a fresh perspective
Example: From James McBride’s The Color of Water
An important difference between James and his mother is their method of dealing with the pain they experience While James turns inward, his mother Ruth turns outward, starting a new relationship, moving to a different place, keeping herself busy Ruth herself describes that, even as a young girl, she had an urge to run, to feel the freedom and the movement of her legs pumping as fast as they can (42) As an adult, Ruth still feels the urge to run Following her second husband’s death, James points out that, “while she weebled and wobbled and leaned, she did not fall She responded with speed and motion She would not stop moving” (163) As she biked, walked, rode the bus all over the city, “she kept moving as if her life depended on it, which in some ways it did She ran, as she had done most of her life, but this time she was running for her own sanity” (164) Ruth’s motion is a pattern of responding to the tragedy in her life As a girl, she did not sit and think about her abusive
53 father and her trapped life in the Suffolk store Instead she just left home, moved on, and tried something different She did not analyze the connections between pain and understanding, between action and response, even though she seems to understand them As an adult, she continues this pattern, although her running is modified by her responsibilities to her children and home
The image of running that McBride uses here and elsewhere supports his understanding of his mother as someone who does not stop and consider what is happening in her life yet is able to move ahead Movement provides the solution, although a temporary one, and preserves her sanity Discrete moments of action preserve her sense of her own strength and offer her new alternatives for the future Even McBride’s sentence structure in the paragraph about his mother’s running supports the effectiveness of her spurts of action without reflection Although varying in length, each of the last seven sentences of the paragraph begins with the subject “She” and an active verb such as “rode,”
AN OVERVIEW OF BRITISH LITERATURE
The history of English language
The history of English language can be divided into four periods:
Old English was split into four different dialects:
• Kentish Old English was influenced by other languages: Old Norse (the Vikings), and the Celtic
It originated from the blend of the following three languages:
• Anglo-Saxon spoken by the majority of the people
• Latin was the language of the Church and of learning
• French was the language of the ruling class and the aristocracy (new words such as pork, beef)
The language was much like the English that we know today, but there are some differences in spelling and grammar The press printed materials that helped to standardize the language grammar and spelling
4 Late Modern English (1800 - Up To Now)
The growth of the British Empire, the current expansion of the American influence on the world, neologism from other languages, the Internet, etc due to all these factors modern English is a very rich and flexible language
Historical periods of British literature
There are nine major periods in the British literature:
Period Sub-period Description Major Writers or Works
• It began with the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians) in.450 and lasted until the conquest by the Norman-French William the Conqueror in
• The earliest works in Old English were mostly composed orally and anonymously They are mainly chronicle and poetry was chiefly narrative or epic
Poetry: Beowulf, The Wanderer, The
Prose: Writings of Alfred the Great
• The Norman Conquest under William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, marked the establishment of feudalism in England
• This period sees a huge transition in the language, culture, and lifestyle of England and results in a form of “modern” (recognizable) English
• M writings were religious in nature; however, from about 1350 onward, a range of genres emerged, including chivalric romances, secular and religious songs, folk ballads, medieval dramas
Poetry: William Langland’s Piers Plowman, Geoffrey Chaucer’s
Prose: Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’ Arthur
Drama: Three main drama types are mystery plays (about Bible stories), miracle plays (about the lives of saints and their miracles), and morality plays
(about moral lessons through allegorical personifications of virtues and vices)
The Renaissance marked the transition from the medieval to the modern world This period is characterized by a rebirth among English elites of classical learning, a rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman authors, and a recovery of the ancient Greek spirit of scientific inquiry This new outlook places emphasis on Man rather than on God, and is divided into five subsections: a) Early Tudor Period (1500-1558)
• The Early Tudor period is known for its poetry and nonfiction prose
• The first theatres were built in the outskirts of the City
Poetry: The Earl of Surrey was the first to use blank-verse Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced into English verse Dante’s terza rima and Petrarch’s sonnet
Prose: Sir Thomas More’s Utopia Drama: First dramatic comedy, Nicholas Udall’ Ralph Roister Doister, was performed in 1553 b) Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)
• This era spanning the reign of Elizabeth I was marked by developments in English commerce, nationalism, exploration, and maritime power
• It is considered a great age in literary history, particularly for drama
Poetry: Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella, Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, William Shakespeare’ sonnets
Prose: Francis Bacon’s philosophical works, Sir Walter Raleigh
• The Jacobean Age, coinciding with the reign of King James I, was more interested in the mind than in heart or eye A group of poets, known as the
Metaphysical poets and started by John Donne, began to write poems which were less beautiful and less musical, but contained tricks of style and strange images They had their own thoughts and they found their own manner of expressing them
They searched all fields of knowledge, science, as well as, nature, for comparisons This made their poetry difficult to understand
Poetry: John Donne, George Chapman Prose: Francis Bacon, Robert Burton,
Jonson, John Webster, John Fletcher, Thomas Middleton, George Chapman d) Caroline Age
• The Caroline Age (during the reign of Charles I) marked the period of the English Civil War between the supporters of the King (called Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament (called the Roundheads) Literature of this period is characterized by poetry, nonfiction prose, and the
Cavalier poets who were associated with the court and wrote poems of gallantry and courtship
Poetry: John Milton, George Herbert
Prose: Robert Burton, Sir Thomas
.Drama: Philip Massinger, John Ford e) Commonwealth
• England was ruled by the Parliament and Oliver Cromwell, and then by his son, Richard, until 1659
Theatres were closed on moral and religious grounds, but significant examples of nonfiction prose and poetry were written during this period
Poetry: John Milton’s Paradise Lost,
Prose: Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, Sir
• The Restoration era begins with the crowning of Charles II and the restoration of the Stuart line A great change in literature happened after Charles II became king The theatres were reopened and new forms of drama appeared, including heroic plays and comedy of manners
Poetry: John Milton’s Paradise Lost,
Prose: Samuel Pepys’ Diary, John
Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Isaac Newton’s Principles of Mathematics
Drama: William Congreve’s The Way of the World b) The Augustan age (1700-1745)
The Enlightenment era, also known as the Age of Reason, aimed to illuminate the world with the principles of modern philosophy and art This era emphasized reason, equality, and science It also advocated for order, logic, and regulations During this time, numerous writers sought inspiration from their predecessors in the Roman Emperor Augustus's reign, emulating the literary styles of Horace, Virgil, and Ovid, and adopting their perceived ideals of structure, moderation, civility, and wit.
Poetry: Alexander Pope, John Gay,
Drama: Henry Fielding, John Gay’s
The Beggar’s Opera c) The Age of sensibility (1744-1785)
• In contrast to the Augustan era, the Age of Sensibility focused upon instinct, feelings, imagination, and the sublime
• New cultural attitudes and new theories of literature emerged at this time
• The novel became an increasingly popular and prevalent form
Poetry: Thomas Gray’s Elegy written in a Church-Yard, William Collins
Prose: Samuel Johnson’s essays and
Drama: Sheridan’s The School for Scandal
• Romantic writers emphasized feelings and imagination and looked toward insight into the divine Individual, subjective experiences and expressions were highly valued
• The artistic and aesthetic freedoms in romanticism in contrast to the ideals of neoclassicism
• In addition to a wealth of poetry, the Romantic period featured significant innovations in the novel form, including the Gothic novels
Poetry: Robert Burns, William Blake,
William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, John Keats
Austen, Sir Walter Scott, Mary Shelley, Ann Radcliffe
• This time marked the struggle between workers and capitalists, the Chartist Movement, and the Victorian morality Victorian literature reflects a changing social, political, economic, and cultural climate
• Industrialization, urbanization, technological advances, and economic and political changes are reflected in Victorian literature
• Recurrent issues include poverty, class, gender, philosophy, and religious issues
Darwin, Charlotte Brontở, Emily Brontở, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, and William Makepeace Thackeray
7 End of the 19th century a Naturalism
Naturalism, a literary movement emphasizing realism, demanded that literature accurately portray life's complexities and struggles Naturalists believed in presenting unvarnished reality, incorporating both the pleasant and unpleasant aspects of human existence into their works They often explored the lives of the marginalized and oppressed, capturing the harshness of their circumstances and the impact of social conditions on their lives.
Prose: Thomas Hardy’s Wessex Novels
(about characters and environment, and people who live in agricultural settings menaced by invading capitalism
• This sub-period was in favour of adventures and fascinating stories
Prose: Robert Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde c Aestheticism • This sub-period suggests the “theory of art-for- art’s sake”, implying that art was not meant to serve moral or didactic or purpose; art’s value was in its beauty
Prose: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
• This is a period in British and American literature spanning the years between WWI and WWII
Works in this period reflect the changing social, political, and cultural climate and are diverse, experimental, and nontraditional Modernism rises out of skepticism and disillusion of capitalism, takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base
Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, D.H Lawrence
Drama: William Butler Yeats, George
• The postmodern period refers to literature written after WWII The postmodern period reflects anxieties concerning, and reactions to, life in the 20th century Postmodern works are often highly experimental and anti-conventional
Poetry: Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin,
Ted Hughes, Stevie Smith, Seamus Heaney
Prose: George Orwell, Jeanette Winterson, William Golding, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch, Salman Rushdie
Drama: Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter
62 (Source: Bridge-online, (2006) British literature in history, p.12)
63 (Source: Bridge-online, (2006) British literature in history, p.13)
Practice
Task 1: Decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE
1 The history of English language can be divided into five periods
2 Old English was split into four different dialects
3 Old English was influenced by the Celtic and the Latin
4 During Middle English era, French was the language of the Church and of learning
5 There are not many differences between Early Modern English and Late Modern English
6 There are nine major periods in the British literature
7 The earliest works in Old English were mostly composed in writing
8 The Middle English period was also known as the Medieval Time
9 Feudalism in England started in the Middle English period
10 William Shakespeare was a major figure in the Middle English period
11 Metaphysical poems appeared in the Jacobean Age
12 John Donne was a metaphysical poet
13 Drama flourished significantly during the Commonwealth period
14 The Neoclassical period is often divided into three sub-eras
15 The Augustan Age was also called as the age of Enlightenment
16 Writers in the Romantic period emphasized feeling and imagination and looked toward nature for insight into the divine
17 Victorian literature reflects a changing social, political, economic, and cultural climate
18 There are five major trends in the literary trends at the end of the 19 th century
19 Aestheticism means literature must be true to life, and exactly reproduce real life, including all the details without any selection
20 The Modern period lasts from the First World War until now
Task 2: Choose the best answer for each question
1 What kind of English language was spoken during 1100-1450?
A Old English C Early Modern English
B Middle English D Late Modern English
2 During the Middle English period, who would mostly use French in their conversations?
A poor people C the ruling class
3 What does the word “Renaissance” mean?
A an achievement in writing C to see from another point of view
B to honor D revival or birth
4 How many major periods are there in the English literature?
5 Who marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon period?
6 Which type of drama does not belong to the medieval genre?
7 Which period is considered to be the transition from the medieval to the modern literature?
B The Neoclassical period D The Victorian period
8 During what period does William Shakespeare belong to?
A The Middle English period C The Renaissance
B The Victorian period D The contemporary period
9 What type of literature did John Donne establish?
10 Which era does not belong to the Neoclassical period?
A The Restoration era C The Age of Sensibility
B The Augustan age D The Commonwealth
11 What is another name of the Augustan age?
A Age of Sensibility C Age of Discovery
B Age of Romance D Age of Enlightenment
12 What is the focus of literature during the Romantic period?
A It emphasizes reason, science, logic, order, rules, and philosophical ideas
B It focused upon instinct, feeling, imagination, and sometimes the sublime
C It highlights feelings, imagination, subjective experiences, and aesthetic freedoms
D It reflects huge changes in the social, political, economic, and cultural climate
13 In what literature period experienced the struggle between workers and capitalists?
A The Victorian period C The Modern period
B The Anglo-Saxon period D The Contemporary period
HAMLET – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Contextual background
During the time the play “Hamlet” was written, England experienced some major issues as follows: a England had long history of violent succession to throne:
• Wars of the Roses (the 1390-1485 hundred-year Civil War):
• The deadly plague (or the Black Death)
After these events, British citizens could finally settle down in a life of relative peace and safety after a long time However, England became the “police state” Spies were everywhere and recorded everything b Queen Elizabeth I had ruled England since 1558 but she was childless and had not named an heir
As a result, there was great deal of anxiety in England about who would follow Elizabeth, who would reign the country after her death, and whether there would be civil war or a foreign invasion This period was characterised as turmoil and uncertainty In addition, questions of what makes good ruler and how right to rule should be determined were important to Elizabethans c Humanism arose as a system of values and beliefs based on the idea that people are basically good and that problems can be solved using reason instead of religion This was contrasted to medieval code of honor of revenge killing The Elizabethans began to regard killing as less heroic than people of the Middle Age (E.g., Hamlet was torn between concepts of vengeance as honorable and sin as murder) d The Renaissance had spread to European countries Renaissance basically means 'rebirth' or 'revival’, starting in Italy in about the late 14th century It made its way over to England around
1500 and lasted about 100 years Scholars and artists of the Renaissance purported that human understanding of the world was based on appearance, and that it was difficult to go beyond these appearances in order to see the “real.” Characters constantly face difficulty in finding the truth about others, whether it is their intentions, their true characters, or even their sanity e Another major event in the late 15th century was the introduction of the printing press This made it possible to mass-produce written works, and it strengthened society's ability to create a literary culture
2 Supernatural beliefs in the Elizabethan age
The Elizabethans believed strongly in ghosts and supernatural powers The concept of Fate or Fortune was common in Elizabethan tragedies and was depicted in the form of “Wheel of Fortune”
In the concept of “Wheel of Fortune”, a female (because of the association of women with the moon and changeability) stands behind the wheel with outstretched wings and continually moves the Wheel- -on which at the top is a king, at the bottom a beggar This is a belief that individuals were not responsible for their own destinies but were victims of Fortune’s turning of the Wheel
(Wheel of Fortune from http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/drama/early tragedies/medievaltragedy.html)
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-
Avon His father was a successful local businessman and his mother was the daughter of a landowner Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist He is often called England's national poet and nicknamed the Bard of Avon He wrote about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright
At the age of 18, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior They welcomed three children into their family After his marriage, details about Shakespeare's life became scarce It is believed that he primarily resided in London, where he dedicated himself to writing and performing in plays From 1585 to 1592, he established a thriving career in London as an actor, playwright, and shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men acting company, which later became known as the King's Men.
Around 1613, at the age of 49, he retired to Stratford, where he died three years later on 23 April
1616 He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect health" In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613 His early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights
Shakespeare's plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
Shakespearean tragedies
Shakespeare wrote 10 tragedies in all namely, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens and Titus Andronicus The four dark tragedies, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear are the most admired Shakespearean tragedies are highly influenced by Greek drama and Aristotle's notion of tragedy Most of the tragedies written by Shakespeare have the following themes
A 'tragic flaw' is a personality trait that leads to the downfall of the protagonist It can also be a wrong action performed by the protagonist that results in his own ruin It is the most important element in the tragedy and almost every hero/heroine of a Shakespearean tragedy possesses a tragic flaw Examples of tragic flaws in Shakespearean tragedy are: Macbeth's obsession with power, Othello's jealousy, and Hamlet's indecisiveness
Supernatural powers contribute to the fate of the protagonist However, they are not solely responsible for the downfall of the hero; it still lies in the actions of the hero Usually, these actions are the outcome of the protagonist's over-ambitious nature (as in Macbeth where he wants to become the king) or the feeling of revenge (as in Hamlet) Furthermore, they are not illusions in the mind of the hero because they contribute to the action of the play with their presence in more than one or two scenes The use of supernatural elements in Shakespeare's plays reflect ancient social beliefs in the evil powers who practice evil rites to affect the central character(s)
The external conflict is the conflict between two people, the tragic hero and another main character of the story It can also be the conflict between two parties, one of which is led by the tragic hero The result of the external conflict is always in favor of the other party as it is the good party
In terms of inward struggle of the hero, the internal conflict represents the struggle of thoughts in his mind The result of this struggle, many a time is that the hero goes insane This type of inward struggle also includes the action of spiritual forces which work against the hero
As the tragic character is of high estate and is a public figure, their downfall produces a contrast which affects not only their personal life, but the fate and welfare of the entire nation or the empire
It reflects the powerlessness of human beings and the omnipotence of fate that a personal story of a peasant or a worker cannot produce
As it is a tragedy, foul has to counterfeit fair In fact, "fair is foul and foul is fair" is the refrain of the play The entire play revolves around the theme of foul turning fair For instance, in Hamlet, revenge is the theme built cleverly right from the beginning of the play and making it the driving force behind the character of Hamlet
Shakespeare's tragedies reflect the paradox of life, in the sense that the calamity and suffering experienced by the tragic hero are contrasted with the previous happiness and glory This paradox is very clear in Hamlet Initially, Hamlet was portrayed as a young, intelligent, and kind-hearted prince with his promising future However, after his father’s death, the desire to take revenge turned him into a procrastinated, seemingly crazy guy This nature leads him to think evilly and act on it, which is an extreme end of his real personality.
Analysis of Hamlet
1 Setting and sources of Hamlet
• The setting is the Medieval Denmark in 11 th century during Viking Age
• The plot is based on stories of Danish prince, Amleth, who may or may not have really existed Amleth feigns insanity to veil a plot of revenge for his father’s murder It is also based on Francois de Bellegforest’s Histoires Tragiques (1576), Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, (1592), and Kyd’s Ur-Hamlet (original Hamlet)
• Many elements of Danish politics represented in play reflect important English political concerns in late 16 th and early 17 th centuries (see the Historical context)
• Norway versus Denmark: The conflict between Norway and Denmark serves as backdrop to main action of play The Danish king, Hamlet’s father, has killed Norwegian king Fortinbras in battle and confiscated Norwegian land Prince Fortinbras (son of Norway’s king) has vowed revenge
• Chivalric code : The code of honor influenced from the Middle Age included avenging lawless killing For instance, in the story, the ghost wants Hamlet to avenge his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder”
Written circa 1601 in Denmark, "Hamlet" evolved from earlier medieval revenge tales and a Renaissance play attributed to Thomas Kyd Shakespeare's version, however, surpassed its predecessors by transcending the genre of revenge tragedy Instead, it became a profound exploration of the human will and the complexities of destiny.
- Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is home from school to mourn the death of his father, King Hamlet, who has died two months earlier Hamlet is disgusted by the marriage of his newly widowed mother, Queen Gertrude, to his Uncle, King Hamlet’s brother Claudius, who now has the throne Shortly thereafter, a ghost has appeared to guards on nightly watch as well as Hamlet’s good friend, Horatio, who thinks the spirit has a likeness to the former King Hamlet When prompted to speak by Horatio, the ghost will not Horatio asks Hamlet to wait for the ghost and see if it will speak to him The ghost of his father beckons Hamlet to follow him and reveals that his brother Claudius poisoned him in the ear Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s murder
- Meanwhile, Laertes, son to the King’s advisor Polonius is set to return to France Before he leaves, he tells Ophelia, his sister, to be weary of Hamlet’s affections towards her Polonius gives Laertes advice on how to act abroad and orders Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet Hamlet’s sanity begins to be questioned by all Claudius and Gertrude are both concerned; Polonius suggests it is Ophelia’s rejection of his advances Claudius and Polonius decide to spy on Hamlet and Ophelia Claudius further employs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two childhood friends of Hamlet, to spy on him further Hamlet quickly realizes their intentions
- A troupe of players happens to be in town and Hamlet utilizes the actors to determine the validity of his father’s murder He asks them to perform the very act of murder, killing a king through poison in the ear, which the ghost has claimed He asks Horatio to watch Claudius’ reactions throughout the play While the court is watching, Claudius is enraged and leaves the play This action convinces Hamlet that he is the murderer Hamlet comes upon Claudius in the chapel who is kneeling down to pray Hamlet considers killing Claudius there, but since Claudius is in mid-prayer, and will therefore go to heaven if he dies, Hamlet decides to wait until Claudius is committing some sin, so that he will
71 go to hell like Hamlet’s father before him Hamlet meets Gertrude in her room and an argument ensues When he hears Polonius (who is hiding behind the curtain) shout for help, he stabs Polonius because he assumes it is Claudius The ghost appears to Hamlet to refocus him on the task of killing Claudius
- Soon later, Prince of Norway Fortinbras, whose father’s lands were seized by the late King, decides to head to Denmark Claudius demands Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to head for England Claudius has sent a letter with them ordering Hamlet’s execution during the trip While at sea, however, Hamlet discovers his planned murder and switches the orders, causing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to be executed, then Hamlet returns to Denmark Meanwhile back at Elsinore, Ophelia has gone mad with grief Laertes returns from France and learns it was Hamlet who has killed his father, Polonius Claudius suggests that Laertes duel with Hamlet and poisons the tip of Laertes foil for a fatal blow If Laertes loses the duel, Claudius will put poison into a drink for Hamlet Gertrude enters and announces that Ophelia has drowned In the graveyard, Hamlet reminisces on a friend of his whose skull he has found When the processional arrives with Ophelia’s corpse, Laertes and Hamlet argue A duel is scheduled
In the tragic climax, Gertrude ingests poisoned wine, leading to her demise Hamlet sustains a wound from the poisoned sword, but the foils are inadvertently exchanged during the battle, resulting in Laertes's injury with the same weapon Dying, Laertes reveals Claudius's treacherous plot against Hamlet Enraged, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword, avenging his father's murder As Hamlet succumbs to the poison, he entrusts Horatio with the task of recounting his tragic tale The arrival of the Norwegian army under Fortinbras marks the end of the Danish monarchy, with Fortinbras assuming control of the realm.
Hamlet: As a student at the university in Wittenberg, Germany, Hamlet is typically thought to be between 23 and 30 years old He is the Prince of Denmark, son of the former King named Hamlet Senior and his wife, Gertrude Hamlet does not automatically become King upon his father's death because Denmark was an elective (not hereditary) monarchy; his uncle, Claudius, assumes the throne (although apparently there was no vote on the matter) in Hamlet's absence From the beginning of the play, Hamlet is troubled by his mother's decision to marry Claudius - he thinks it is a bit too hasty, not to mention incestuous However, soon he learns even more troubling news: a ghost in the guise of his father informs him that the former King was murdered by Claudius and the ghost asks Hamlet to revenge his father Thus begins the greatest revenge story, as Hamlet first must seek confirmation of the ghost's tale, and then he has to find the perfect timing to commit murder Hamlet struggles at times with suicidal thoughts, but in the end he decides it is more honorable to live a difficult life and see his father avenged than to give up Throughout much of the play, Hamlet plays the madman so that he
Amidst his meticulous plotting, 72's inherently ruthless nature poses a threat However, his actions are often hindered by a debilitating "paralysis of analysis," paralyzing him in indecision as he overthinks every detail of his plan for vengeance This inability to act stems from his excessive contemplation of the ideal time and manner of execution, ultimately rendering him ineffective.
Claudius, the current Danish King, emerges as a cunning and manipulative figure Having murdered his brother, Hamlet's father, to seize the throne, Claudius masterfully manipulates public opinion However, as Hamlet suspects his treachery, Claudius's attempts to eliminate him with Laertes as a pawn ultimately backfire, leading to his demise.
Gertrude - Gertrude is first married to Hamlet Senior and then to his brother, Claudius She doesn't see much wrong with marrying again so shortly after her husband's death, nor does she apparently think twice about the dubiousness of tying the knot with her former brother-in-law Her actions terribly irk her son, Hamlet While Gertrude no doubt loves her son, she also has desires - sexual, emotional and otherwise - which she thinks will be best fulfilled by marrying Claudius She is unaware of his crime and thus repeatedly sides with him against Hamlet for most of the play, even agreeing to send her son off to England The Queen herself eventually falls victim to Claudius' concoctions, as she accidentally imbibes the poisonous drink designed to kill Hamlet
The ghost - The ghost appears in four scenes throughout the play (I.i, I.iv, I.v and III.iv), only speaking with Hamlet During the course of the play, it becomes clear that the ghost is indeed the former Hamlet Senior, who during the night manages to escape what are most likely purgatorial fires in order to communicate with Hamlet He relates to his son the story of his murder at the hands of his own brother, Claudius The ghost is rather explicit in his demand: his son is to revenge his "foul and most unnatural murder," and he is to leave Gertrude alone, ultimately to be handled by heaven
Ophelia - Ophelia is daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes, and she is the beloved of
Hamlet’s soliloquy
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action - Soft you now! The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy prisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Meaning of the soliloquy
Hamlet’s desperate question, in Act 3, Scene 1 - "To be, or not to be" - is the most celebrated one because of its philosophical nature by questioning life and death in human short existence He wonders which is more appropriate in his desperate situation: to die and end his suffering, thus avoiding the cruelties of fate; or to put up a fight against the misfortunes of life He also weighs life's worth against the nothingness of nonexistence as he toys with the idea of suicide
This conflict begins with a consideration of the way one deals with life Life is a lack of power: the living are at the mercy of the blows of outrageous fortune (“slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”) In this soliloquy, life is burdensome and devoid of power It’s ‘weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,’ like a garden overrun with weeds In this soliloquy Hamlet gives a list of all the things that annoy him about life: the whips and scorns of time, the oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, the pangs of despised love, the law’s delay, the insolence of office and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes The only action one can take against the things he lists among those blows is to end one’s life However, there’s a sense of agonised frustration in this soliloquy that however bad life is, humans tend to strive for life by fear of the unknown He claims that living is a passive state, and dying is an active state But in order to reach the condition of death one has to take action in life – charge fully armed against Fortune – so the whole proposition is circular and hopeless because one does not really have the power of action in life
Then, Hamlet reflects on the other end of the conflict Death is something desirable as a perfect closure because he assumes it’s nothing more than a sleep He questions whether death is in fact an end to all his troubles, or if things may become worse as he is forced to reflect on all of the misdeeds and crimes he has committed throughout his life He turns over the idea of death and questions if it is truly an eternal sleep or a hellish and unceasing restlessness Hamlet lets his imagination wander on the subject of the voyages of discovery and the exploratory expeditions Dying is like crossing the border between known and unknown geography One is likely to be lost in that unmapped place, from which one would never return The implication is that there may be unimagined horrors in that land
Death, a shroud of mystery, conceals the secrets of what lies beyond our mortal coil Dead men, silenced by the cruel hand of fate, are unable to impart tales of the unknown Thus, the enigmatic curtain of the afterlife remains impenetrable, leaving humanity to speculate and ponder the nature of existence and its enigmatic end.
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
Hamlet, using the word "we" in "and makes us rather bear those ills we have," aims to encompass all those who have sinned have considered death as a way out of their sufferings We don’t control our dreams so what dreams may come in that sleep in which we have shuffled off all the fuss and bother of life? He uses the word ‘coil,’ which is an Elizabethan word for a big fuss, such as there may be in the preparations for a party or a wedding – a lot of things going on and a lot of rushing about
With that thought, Hamlet stops to reconsider What will happen when we have discarded all the hustle and bustle of life? The problem with the proposition is that life after death is unknown and could be worse than life It’s a very frightening thought and prevents people from committing suicide
Hamlet's conscience becomes a significant obstacle in his quest for revenge His religious beliefs instill a fear of sin and the unknown afterlife, exacerbating the moral dilemma of taking a life Moreover, Hamlet's inability to confront Claudius directly stems from an internal conflict between societal expectations and his moral qualms, emphasizing the complex interplay between conscience and action.
In short, this soliloquy partly explains the dilemma in Hamlet’s mind regarding his delay in executing the revenge of the Ghost and killing King Claudius If Hamlet kills King Claudius, he believes that he'll be dead too after killing him, and he is afraid of death because of the unknown consequences he mentions above That is why he is not able to make a decision on whether to execute the Ghost's revenge or to endure his sufferings at this point in the play.
Practice
Task 1 What is meaning of the title/phrase ‘To be or not to be’ by your own words?
Task 2 List 3 literary devices in the soliloquy
Task 3 Match parts of the soliloquy with the corresponding summary in modern language
1 The dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
2 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?
3 Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
A But what is there after death? This is a difficult question and maybe there are more problems afterwards! So we prefer to tolerate the problems we have now
B Who wants to fight against so many problems? We could find peace by killing ourselves
C This is one great way of avoiding these problems - then we can sleep
D Is it better to tolerate problems and difficulties, or to fight them?
E But there is another problem: if we die, we sleep, and if we sleep, we might dream But what kind of dreams would we have?
Task 4 Hamlet talks about various things that make life difficult Please match these miseries to the following examples with Hamlet’s descriptions
A - Your arrogant friend never treats you with respect
C - The flowers you send to someone you like are returned
D - Your legal case takes years to be decided
E - You are always nice to someone who treats you badly
F - Your boss is rude to you all the time
1 The whips and scorns of time
3 The pangs of despised love
6 The spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes
Task 6 Write a short paragraph about one theme of the soliloquy
DAFFODILS - WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
The poem “Daffodils” or “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, (over valleys) When all at once I saw a crowd,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way, (Earth’s galaxy)
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay: (edge, border)
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance (lively) The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: (delight)
A poet could not but be gay, (happy)
In such a jocund company: (cheerful)
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie (often)
In vacant or in pensive mood, (thoughtful)
They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
Meaning of the poem
The following paraphrase could give you some idea of the literal meaning:
When I went for a walk, I felt like I was a cloud, floating above the hills and valleys below Suddenly I saw a huge number of daffodils, right beside a lake and under some trees They were swaying in the breeze
There were so many daffodils that they looked like the stars in our galaxy The daffodils formed a line that stretched around much of the bay In one glance I could see ten thousand of them They looked liked they were dancing
The waves in the bay also seemed to dance, but the daffodils looked happier A poet couldn’t avoid being happy in such circumstances I did a great deal of gazing, but didn’t fully appreciate the moment at the time
Often when I’m lying on my couch, and feeling a bit emotionless or thoughtful, I can still see those daffodils in my mind By the way, being able to remember is quite pleasant when you’re all alone Now, when I recall the daffodils, I feel warm and fuzzy, as if I’m dancing with the daffodils.
Analysis
“Daffodils” or "I wandered lonely as a cloud" is one of the most famous poems written in the English language, composed by Romantic poet William Wordsworth around 1804 On April 15, 1802, William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy went for a walk near Ullswater Lake in the English Lake
District Dorothy recounts the experience of seeing the daffodils as a “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions.” Wordsworth leaves that out of his poem, but then he also doesn’t mention Dorothy’s presence, despite the fact that he seems to have relied on her description when he composed
“Daffodils” two years after the event (1804) The poem was first published in 1807, in a collection titled Poems At that point, the poem only had three stanzas The second stanza was added in 1815 Another noteworthy point is William Wordsworth was not without his share of loss In fact, he lost his mother when he was seven, and his father when he was thirteen More than that, three of his children preceded him in death This background gives this particular poem greater meaning The poem reveals that the speaker feels far more comfortable and peaceful when thinking about the afterlife than he feels at home on his couch in real life This reveals a sense of longing for what is after, and a sense of disappointment in earthly life This experience of wandering as a cloud was either a dream or a vision, a glimpse of heaven Whatever this experience was, it is clear that Wordsworth holds on to the memory of this experience to give him hope in life
Initial responses to the poem were often negative The main problem was Wordsworth’s use of daffodils, a kind of “low, silly, or uninteresting” flowers We generally accept that poems can be about any topic, but Wordsworth’s contemporaries felt that a poem that claimed to describe some powerful experience should also have a worthy subject Daffodils simply don’t cut it The description is beautiful, but it would be better bestowed on something more impressive However, over the time the poem won over its readers, and it is now Wordsworth’s most famous poem
In the poem, these daffodils have a long-lasting effect on the speaker, firstly in the immediate impression they make and secondly in the way that the image of them comes back to the speaker's mind later on “Daffodils” is a quintessentially Romantic poem, bringing together key ideas about imagination, humanity and the natural world
Throughout the poem, the tranquil tone and peaceful imagery along with the steady flow of rhymes implies the joyful yet peaceful feeling of being on this cloud The way the speaker attributes his own feelings to parts of nature, shows that he feels one with his surroundings when he is in this place For three stanzas, the speaker describes a kind of utopia, where peace and joy abound In the fourth stanza, however, he reveals that his time in this perfect place was short lived, and that reality is different from his experience wandering as a cloud However, this experience has obvious, long term effects on the speaker
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
This lyrical poem utilizes first-person perspective to evoke a personal and profound connection, employing contrasting diction to depict the speaker's initial isolation and subsequent euphoria The vivid imagery of "golden daffodils," "fluttering" and "dancing in the breeze," transports the reader to a serene and idyllic setting The harmonious language and evocative descriptions create a sense of tranquility, inviting the reader to experience the speaker's carefree and relaxed state of mind.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
In the second stanza, the speaker shifts his focus from the daffodils and compares them with the
“continuous…stars…that shine and twinkle on the milky way” The speaker allows to reader to experience the majesty of seeing “ten thousand [stars]…at a glance” At this point, the reader begins to sense that he is not on earth anymore, but rather in a place full of majesty and beauty, perhaps heaven or some forms of afterlife Throughout the poem, rhyme and rhythm help it to flow smoothly, giving the readers a continued sense of utopian peace The rhyme scheme, ab ab cc, is an integral part of bringing the reader a sense of rest and peace This stanza not only allows the reader to feel the sense of peace the speaker feels, but also to feel life This is not simply a peaceful place; it is full of life Figurative language and personification are used when the daffodils are described as tossing “their heads” This gives the readers the feeling that this peaceful, utopian place, is also lively and spirited Stanza 3
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
The third stanza continues the personification describing how the waves “danced” and the daffodils “out-did the sparkling waves in glee” This continues to give readers a sense of peace and joy combined with lively action The personifications of the daffodils also reveals their effect on the speaker as he regards them with life and attributes to them the ability to feel “glee” The speaker then shifts the focus back to himself as a poet when he says, “A poet could not but be gay” This portrays the effect the dazzling daffodils had on the speaker When he says, “What wealth the show to me had brought”, it shows that the mere sight of the golden daffodils somehow enriched his life and brought wealth to him The use of the word “wealth” reveals that this sense of peace and joy are worth more to the speaker than money or other worldly wealth This also gives the reader the idea that some things are worth more than money and worldly goods, such as peace, joy, and life
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils
In the fourth stanza, the speaker shifts from a peaceful, joyful tone to one of pensive thought
He also comes down from the cloud and reveals the reality of his current physical state Even though he no longer sees the dancing waves and the golden daffodils, he reveals that he will never forget them when he says, “they flash upon that inward eye” The speaker reveals that he not only still has the memory of the daffodils, but that he has also kept the memory of how they made him feel He reveals this when he says, “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils” This implies that the speaker has either been dreaming, or has had an experience in which he caught a glimpse of heaven It leaves the reader with a yearning to find that perfect place of utopian peace
It could be said that Wordsworth’s poem consists of two sections The first three stanzas describe how the speaker felt in the moment; the last stanza relates how the memory of the scene subsequently affected him In both instances, the speaker feels “lonely” (1) or experiences “solitude” (22), but each time the daffodils give him pleasure However, there are some differences between the two
Wordsworth's initial encounter with the daffodils sparks an overwhelming emotional response However, in the moment, he fails to appreciate its profound significance In contrast, the subsequent recollection of this experience, while less intense, grants him a heightened self-awareness With the benefit of hindsight, he recognizes the immense value of the encounter and the enduring wealth it bestows upon him.
Perhaps that is what makes this one of Wordsworth’s finest poems: not only does it show that nature can be magical and that our imagination adds to the effect, but it also allows us to fully immerse ourselves in nature without feeling embarrassed or too self-aware
This poem is a short lyric, a relatively brief poem that describes the speaker’s emotions Wordsworth chose this form not only to express his strong feelings about nature, but also because the lyric has a simplicity and directness that itself seems natural
Each stanza of “Daffodils” rhymes ABABCC The last two lines of each stanza thus form a rhyming couplet, which provides a sense of closure after the previous flowing lines
Wordsworth wrote the poem in iambic tetrameter because this stress pattern sounds easy and natural It fits his Romantic notion that poetic language should avoid artificiality In addition, the lines are fairly short, which again makes the poem more direct and accessible
Practice
Task 1: Choose the correct answers
Task 1: Choose the correct answer
1 What figurative device is used in the line “I wandered lonely as a cloud”?
2 What figurative device is used in the line “Fluttering and dancing in the breeze”?
3 Ten thousand I saw at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
What does this line refer to?
A inward eye B milky way C pensive mood D daffodils
4 Why does the speaker compare himself to a cloud at the beginning of the poem?
A He feels as he looks down on a lake from higher up
B He believes that poets have thoughts that rise as high as the clouds
C He is outdoors performing a scientific experiment
D He spills ink in the shape of a cloud on his journal page
5 How do the words “fluttering and dancing”, at the end of the first stanza, influence what the speaker wants you to feel about daffodils?
A The words add a positive energy to the image of the daffodils
B The speaker thinks of dancing daffodils as a silly joke
C The words make the daffodils seem lonely and depressed
D The speaker believes that fluttering daffodils bring bad luck
6 In the second stanza, what are the stars in the Milky Way compared to?
B The speaker’s sister, who silently walks beside him
C The towns that the speaker has already wandered past
D The many daffodils growing in a line
7 Besides daffodils, what else dances in the poem?
A Stars B Waves C Clouds D The speaker
8 The daffodils bring “wealth” to the speaker because they _
A give him something to write about B increase the value of his lakeside property
C serve as a gift for his sister D provide him with rich memories
9 Where is setting of the last stanza of the poem?
A On the banks of the lake the speaker has wandered to
B In the Milky Way, above the clouds
C At a later time, on a couch in the speaker’s home
D At another lake where daffodils do not grow as well
10 The speaker says in line 19-20, "For oft when on my couch I lie/In vacant or in pensive mood " What is his tone in this section?
Task 2: Why is the poet referring to daffodils as a crowd?
Task 3: What do daffodils represent in the poem?
Task 4: What was the poet doing in the first stanza? In what sense was he like a floating cloud?
Task 5: What is the message of daffodils?
Task 6: Why do you think the poet refers to the daffodils as golden?
Task 7: Why are the daffodils compared to the Milky Way?
Task 8: List 3 figurative devices used in the poem
Task 9: Why are the clouds lonely?
Task 10: Write one paragraph to analyse the theme of the poem
WUTHERING HEIGHTS - EMILY BRONTE
Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontở was born in 1818, two years after Charlotte and a year and a half before her sister Anne, who also became an author Her father worked as a church rector, and her aunt, who raised the Brontở children after their mother died, was deeply religious She lived an eccentric, closely guarded life The Brontởs lived in Haworth, a Yorkshire village in the midst of the moors These wild, desolate expanses - later the setting of “Wuthering
Heights” - made up the Brontởs’ daily environment, and Emily lived among them her entire life She died in 1848, at the age of thirty
As witnessed by their extraordinary literary accomplishments, the Brontở children were a highly creative group, writing stories, plays, and poems for their own amusement Largely left to their own devices, the children created imaginary worlds in which to play Yet the sisters knew that the outside world would not respond favorably to their creative expression; female authors were often treated less seriously than their male counterparts in the nineteenth century Thus the Brontở sisters thought it best to publish their adult works under assumed names Their real identities remained secret until after Emily and Anne had died, when Charlotte at last revealed the truth of their novels’ authorship
“Wuthering Heights”was published in 1847 with at a very low sales rate and with a few mixed reviews Victorian readers found the book shocking and inappropriate in its depiction of passionate, ungoverned love and cruelty (despite the fact that the novel portrays no sex or bloodshed), and the work was virtually ignored Even Emily Brontở’s sister Charlotte - an author whose works contained similar motifs of Gothic love and desolate landscapes - remained ambivalent toward the unapologetic intensity of her sister’s novel In a preface to the book, which she wrote shortly after Emily Brontở’s death, Charlotte Brontở stated, “Whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff, I do not know I scarcely think it is.”
Today, “Wuthering Heights” has a secure position in the canon of world literature, and Emily Brontở is revered as one of the finest writers - male or female - of the nineteenth century “Wuthering Heights” is based partly on the Gothic tradition of the late eighteenth century, a style of literature that featured supernatural encounters, crumbling ruins, moonless nights, and grotesque imagery, seeking to create effects of mystery and fear However, “Wuthering Heights” transcends its genre in its sophisticated observation and artistic subtlety The novel has been studied, analyzed, dissected, and discussed from every imaginable critical perspective, yet it remains unexhausted And while the novel’s symbolism, themes, structure, and language may all spark fertile exploration, the bulk of its popularity may rest on its unforgettable characters As a shattering presentation of the doomed love affair between the fiercely passionate Catherine and Heathcliff, it remains one of the most haunting love stories in all of literature
In “Wuthering Heights”, Brontở manipulates conventional story elements and explores established ideas about heroes and villains By shifting characters' roles throughout the novel and employing two narrators, she, at times, misleads readers and thwarts their expectations It is helpful to be familiar with a few basic hero conventions when reading Wuthering Heights
• Conventional hero: Displays characteristics of goodness and virtue, such as bravery, courage, honesty, and integrity
• Antihero: A protagonist lacking in heroic qualities; typically possesses both qualities of good and evil, and is often the second most important character
• Gothic villain-hero/villain-hero/Satanic-hero: All evil-type villainous main characters whose ill-devised schemes and justifications make them more interesting than a conventional hero
• Villain: Acts as the antagonist of the main character; typically embodies evil or negative forces
• Romantic hero: Possesses boundless energy and desire to force the world to bend to their individualism
Summary of Wuthering Heights
In the late winter months of 1801, a man named Lockwood rents a manor house called Thrushcross Grange in the isolated moor country of England Here, he meets his dour landlord, Heathcliff, a wealthy man who lives in the ancient manor of Wuthering Heights, four miles away from the Grange In this wild, stormy countryside, Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him the story of Heathcliff and the strange denizens of Wuthering Heights Nelly consents, and Lockwood writes down his recollections of her tale in his diary; these written recollections form the main part of Wuthering Heights
Nelly remembers her childhood As a young girl, she works as a servant at Wuthering Heights for the owner of the manor, Mr Earnshaw, and his family One day, Mr Earnshaw goes to Liverpool and returns home with an orphan boy whom he will raise with his own children At first, the Earnshaw children—a boy named Hindley and his younger sister Catherine—detest the dark-skinned Heathcliff But Catherine quickly comes to love him, and the two soon grow inseparable, spending their days playing on the moors After his wife’s death, Mr Earnshaw grows to prefer Heathcliff to his own son, and when Hindley continues his cruelty to Heathcliff, Mr Earnshaw sends Hindley away to college, keeping Heathcliff nearby
Three years later, Mr Earnshaw dies, and Hindley inherits Wuthering Heights He returns with a wife, Frances, and immediately seeks revenge on Heathcliff Once an orphan, later a pampered and favored son, Heathcliff now finds himself treated as a common laborer, forced to work in the fields Heathcliff continues his close relationship with Catherine, however One night they wander to Thrushcross Grange, hoping to tease Edgar and Isabella Linton, the cowardly, snobbish children who live there Catherine is bitten by a dog and is forced to stay at the Grange to recuperate for five weeks, during which time Mrs Linton works to make her a proper young lady By the time Catherine returns, she has become infatuated with Edgar, and her relationship with Heathcliff grows more complicated
When Frances dies after giving birth to a baby boy named Hareton, Hindley descends into the depths of alcoholism, and behaves even more cruelly and abusively toward Heathcliff Eventually, Catherine’s desire for social advancement prompts her to become engaged to Edgar Linton, despite her overpowering love for Heathcliff Heathcliff runs away from Wuthering Heights, staying away for three years, and returning shortly after Catherine and Edgar’s marriage
When Heathcliff returns, he immediately sets about seeking revenge on all who have wronged him Having come into a vast and mysterious wealth, he deviously lends money to the drunken Hindley, knowing that Hindley will increase his debts and fall into deeper despondency When Hindley dies, Heathcliff inherits the manor He also places himself in line to inherit Thrushcross Grange by marrying Isabella Linton, whom he treats very cruelly Catherine becomes ill, gives birth to a daughter, and dies Heathcliff begs her spirit to remain on Earth—she may take whatever form she will, she may haunt him, drive him mad—just as long as she does not leave him alone Shortly thereafter, Isabella flees to London and gives birth to Heathcliff’s son, named Linton after her family She keeps the boy with her there
Thirteen years pass, during which Nelly Dean serves as Catherine’s daughter’s nursemaid at Thrushcross Grange Young Catherine is beautiful and headstrong like her mother, but her temperament is modified by her father’s gentler influence Young Catherine grows up at the Grange with no knowledge of Wuthering Heights; one day, however, wandering through the moors, she discovers the manor, meets Hareton, and plays together with him Soon afterwards, Isabella dies, and Linton comes to live with Heathcliff Heathcliff treats his sickly, whining son even more cruelly than he treated the boy’s mother
Three years later, Catherine meets Heathcliff on the moors, and makes a visit to Wuthering Heights to meet Linton She and Linton begin a secret romance conducted entirely through letters When Nelly destroys Catherine’s collection of letters, the girl begins sneaking out at night to spend time with her frail young lover, who asks her to come back and nurse him back to health However, it quickly becomes apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine only because Heathcliff is forcing him to; Heathcliff hopes that if Catherine marries Linton, his legal claim upon Thrushcross Grange—and his revenge upon Edgar Linton—will be complete One day, as Edgar Linton grows ill and nears death, Heathcliff lures Nelly and Catherine back to Wuthering Heights, and holds them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton Soon after the marriage, Edgar dies, and his death is quickly followed by the death of the sickly Linton Heathcliff now controls both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange He forces Catherine to live at Wuthering Heights and act as a common servant, while he rents Thrushcross Grange to Lockwood
After Lockwood's departure from Thrushcross Grange, Nelly informs him of significant developments during his absence Despite initially mocking Hareton's illiteracy, Catherine develops love for him as they live together at Wuthering Heights Heathcliff's actions against Hareton, including preventing his education, ultimately fail to suppress his development.
97 more and more obsessed with the memory of the elder Catherine, to the extent that he begins speaking to her ghost Everything he sees reminds him of her Shortly after a night spent walking on the moors, Heathcliff dies Hareton and young Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and they plan to be married on the next New Year’s Day After hearing the end of the story, Lockwood goes to visit the graves of Catherine and Heathcliff.
Summary of Chapter 15
Four days after visiting Wuthering Heights, Nelly gives Catherine Heathcliff's letter, leading to his sudden appearance Catherine and Heathcliff confront each other, expressing broken hearts and a desire to be together However, Heathcliff cannot forgive Catherine for the pain she has inflicted upon herself and blames her actions for her impending death.
The church service is over, Edgar reaches the house, but Catherine pleads with Heathcliff not to leave He promises to stay by her side As Edgar hurries toward Catherine’s room, Nelly screams, and Catherine collapses Heathcliff catches her, and forces her into Edgar’s arms as he enters the room, demanding that Edgar see to Catherine’s needs before acting on his anger Nelly hurries Heathcliff out of the room, promising to send him word about Catherine’s condition in the morning Heathcliff swears that he will stay in the garden, wanting to be near her.
Analysis of chapter 15
“Wuthering Heights” was a unique novel for its time and still resists attempts to fit it neatly into a specific literary genre Instead the novel is its own creature, a hybrid that combines various genres, including romanticism, gothic literature, and realism
Gothic literature aims to fascinate and terrify readers It generally includes grotesque or monstrous characters, violent or otherwise disturbing events, eerie, elaborate settings (such as crumbling castles or dark, twisted forests), supernatural beings such as ghosts and demons, and disturbing imagery such as dripping daggers or broken mirrors Characters in gothic literature frequently transgress traditional social boundaries or categories, such as the living and the dead, animal and human, or traditional male and female roles “Wuthering Heights” with its violent characters and events, and stormy moors, displays many of the qualities of the genre
Romanticism emphasized the power of imagination and emotion over the rational and scientific and the freedom of individual self-expression, which might come in conflict with society Antihero protagonists, like Heathcliff, were common, functioning as a means for rebellion against the calm, harmony, and balance associated with classicism The genius, sublime qualities of nature, and supernatural were lauded in Romanticism The spirit of “Wuthering Heights” with its powerful and evocative natural imagery embodies the genre
Characters and events in “Wuthering Heights” are typical of gothic and romantic literature, but the novel also falls in the genre of realism Its focus on the manipulation of property and marriage, the death of numerous characters from consumption, the prejudice against non-Brisith and poor people, and the struggle of the characters against the strictness of the Victorian society
As members of the gentry, the Earnshaws and the Lintons occupy a somewhat precarious place within the hierarchy of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British society At the top of British society was the royalty, followed by the aristocracy, then by the gentry, and then by the lower classes, who made up the vast majority of the population Although the gentry, or upper middle class, possessed servants and often large estates, they held a nonetheless fragile social position The social status of aristocrats was a formal and settled matter, because aristocrats had official titles Members of the gentry, however, held no titles, and their status was thus subject to change A man might see himself as a gentleman but find that his neighbors did not share this view A discussion of whether or not a man was really a gentleman would consider such questions as how much land he owned, how many tenants and servants he had, how he spoke, whether he kept horses and a carriage, and whether his money came from land or “trade”—gentlemen scorned banking and commercial activities Considerations of class status often crucially inform the characters’ motivations in “Wuthering Heights” Catherine’s decision to marry Edgar so that she will be “the greatest woman of the neighborhood” is only the most obvious example The Lintons are relatively firm in their gentry status but nonetheless take great pains to prove this status through their behaviors The Earnshaws, on the other hand, rest on much shakier ground socially They do not have a carriage, they have less land, and their house, as Lockwood remarks with great puzzlement, resembles that of a “homely, northern farmer” and not that of a gentleman The shifting nature of social status is demonstrated most strikingly in Heathcliff’s trajectory from homeless waif to young gentleman-by-adoption to common laborer to gentleman again (although the status-conscious Lockwood remarks that Heathcliff is only a gentleman in “dress and manners”)
Lockwood, a newcomer to the locale of Wuthering Heights, narrates the entire novel as an entry in his diary The story that Lockwood records is told to him by Nelly, a servant, and Lockwood writes most of the narrative in her voice, focusing only on what Nelly could see and hear, or what she finds out about indirectly Nelly frequently comments on what the other characters think and feel, and on what their motivations are, but these comments are all based on her own interpretations of the other characters—she is not an omniscient narrator Some parts of Nelly’s story are narrated by other characters, such as when Nelly receives a letter from Isabella and recites its contents verbatim
It is not easy to infer the author’s attitude toward the events of the novel The melodramatic quality of the first half of the novel suggests that Brontở views Catherine and Heathcliff’s doomed love as a tragedy of lost potential and wasted passion However, the outcome of the second half of the novel suggests that Brontở is more interested in celebrating the renewal and rebirth brought about by the passage of time, and the rise of a new generation, than she is in mourning Heathcliff and Catherine
Major conflicts: Heathcliff’s great natural abilities, strength of character, and love for Catherine Earnshaw all enable him to raise himself from humble beginnings to the status of a wealthy gentleman, but his need to revenge himself for Hindley’s abuse and Catherine’s betrayal leads him into a twisted life of cruelty and hatred; Catherine is torn between her love for Heathcliff and her desire to be a gentlewoman, and her decision to marry the Edgar Linton drags almost all of the novel’s characters into conflict with Heathcliff
The arrival of Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights initiates the novel's conflicts Hindley's cruel treatment of Heathcliff and Catherine's visit to Thrushcross Grange sow the seeds of their feud Crucially, when Heathcliff overhears Catherine dismissing the idea of marrying him, it triggers his vengeance-fueled disappearance Nelly's conversation with Catherine, unknowingly witnessed by Heathcliff, becomes the catalyst for his departure and subsequent pursuit of retribution.
Climax: Catherine’s death is the culmination of the conflict between herself and Heathcliff and removes any possibility that their conflict could be resolved positively; after Catherine’s death, Heathcliff merely extends and deepens his drives toward revenge and cruelty
Falling action: Heathcliff destroys Isabella and drives her away, takes possession of young Linton, forces Catherine and Linton to marry, inherits Thrushcross Grange, then loses interest in the whole project and dies; Hareton and young Catherine are to be engaged to be married, promising an end to the cycle of revenge
Heathcliff – He is an orphan brought to live at Wuthering Heights by Mr Earnshaw Heathcliff falls into an intense, unbreakable love with Mr Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine After Mr Earnshaw dies, his resentful son Hindley abuses Heathcliff and treats him as a servant Because of her desire for social prominence, Catherine marries Edgar Linton instead of Heathcliff Heathcliff’s humiliation and misery prompt him to spend most of the rest of his life seeking revenge on Hindley, his beloved Catherine, and their respective children (Hareton and young Catherine) A powerful, fierce, and often cruel man, Heathcliff acquires a fortune and uses his extraordinary powers of will to acquire both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the estate of Edgar Linton
Catherine – She is the daughter of Mr Earnshaw and his wife Catherine falls powerfully in love with Heathcliff, the orphan Mr Earnshaw brings home from Liverpool Catherine loves Heathcliff so intensely that she claims they are the same person However, her desire for social advancement motivates her to marry Edgar Linton instead Catherine is free-spirited, beautiful, spoiled, and often arrogant She is torn so much between her wild passion for Heathcliff and her social ambition that she brings misery to both of the men who love her
Edgar Linton – He is a well-bred but rather spoiled guy, who grows into a tender, constant, but cowardly man He is almost the ideal gentleman: Catherine accurately describes him as “handsome,”
Edgar's genteel demeanor and civilized attributes, despite being highly esteemed, fail to empower him in confrontations with his formidable adversary This weakness stems from his opponent's ability to exert dominance over Edgar's loved ones, effectively undermining the effectiveness of Edgar's refined character.
Nelly Dean – Nelly Dean (known formally as Ellen Dean) serves as the chief narrator of
MR KNOW-ALL - WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM
William Somerset Maugham
Born in 1874, William Somerset Maugham gained significant literary acclaim as a dramatist, short story writer, and novelist Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his paternal uncle and attended King's School at age thirteen.
William Somerset Maugham was a British writer who initially pursued a career in the clergy However, his passion for writing led him to study in Heidelberg, Germany, and eventually medicine in London Despite completing his medical training, Maugham abandoned the profession to pursue his writing career in Paris He faced financial struggles during this period, but his determination to be a writer prevailed His early play, "Lady Frederick," marked the beginning of his successful literary career.
1907, and was followed by three others within a year Thus he launched his long and illustrious career as a writer During World War I he worked as a secret agent After the war he resumed his interrupted travels and, in 1928, bought a villa on Cape Ferrat in the south of France, which became his permanent home Maugham was the highest paid writer in the world during the 1930s, and he also made a great deal of money from theater productions and Hollywood film adaptations of his work during and after
WW II He prospered financially from shrewd stock market investments
Despite these successes, he did not get especially high marks from many critics and other writers of his era They found his clear, lucid and economical writing style to be plain and suited to his short stories Maugham, himself, was quoted as saying “I have never pretended to be anything but a story- teller” in his 1947 booklet with that same quote for its title, and he attributed the criticism to his own acknowledged lack of a lyrical quality, small vocabulary and failure to use metaphors
Summary
The story took place on an ocean-going liner sailing from San Francisco, U.S.A to Yokohama, Japan on the Pacific Ocean As the war had just ended, it was difficult to get accommodations Therefore, the narrator had to share a cabin with a total stranger, but he expected that stranger to be one of his own countrymen Instead, he was deeply shocked to realize it was a chatty Levantine of oriental origin, Mr Max Kelada, who was not British, but a native of one of the British colonies (he did have a British passport) Although his origin isn't stated precisely, his name suggests Spanish, Portugese, Syrian or even Jewish origin The narrator mentions Mr Kelada's "hooked nose", which might imply an anti-Semitic remark against Jews
The narrator was prepared to dislike Mr Kelada even before he saw him When he first entered the cabin, he saw Mr Kelada's luggage and toilet things that had already been unpacked The man's name and the sight of his things aroused a strong repulsion in him since he was prejudiced against all non- Britons, feeling superior to them The irony of the story lies in the fact that the list of Mr Kelada's
"negative" traits presented in the beginning of the story shows an orderly, neat and tidy gentleman When the narrator met Mr Kelada, his hatred got even stronger He abhorred the cultural differences between Kelada and himself He both detested and despised Mr Kelada's gestures Therefore, the description of Kelada is negative and biased The narrator's prejudice is based on several cultural differences between him and Mr Kelada: a) A total stranger should address a gentleman with "Mr." and be formal b) A gentleman shouldn't be pushy c) A gentleman should be modest d) A gentleman should keep quiet during meals e) A gentleman shouldn't be too chatty and argumentative f) A gentleman shouldn't show off and boast about his super knowledge g) A gentleman shouldn't be too dogmatic
Mr Kelada was a person that seemed to know everything and was involved in everything, not sensing that he was disliked by everybody He was very chatty and talked as if he had been superior to everybody else The passengers mocked him and called him Mr Know - All even to his face There was another dogmatic person on the ship - Mr Ramsay - who was an American Consular Serviceman stationed in Kobe, Japan He was on his way to Kobe after having picked up his pretty little wife, who had stayed on her own in New York for a whole year Her clothes were simple although they achieved an effect of quiet distinction She looked very modest and was adorable
One evening, the conversation drifted to the subject of pearls As Mrs Ramsay was wearing a string of pearls, Mr Kelada announced that it certainly was a genuine one which had probably cost many thousands of dollars He was ready to bet a hundred dollars on it Mr Ramsay, on the other hand, stated that his wife had bought it for 18 dollars in a department store When Mr Know - All took out a magnifying glass from his pocket, he noticed a desperate appeal in Mrs Ramsay's eyes He then realized that Mrs Ramsay got the pearls from her lover Since Mr Kelada didn't want to destroy Mrs Ramsay's marriage, he ruined his reputation instead - he told everybody that he was wrong and that the string was an excellent imitation He gave Mr Ramsay a hundred dollars
The story spread all over the ship and everybody mocked Mr Kelada Later, while the narrator and Mr Know - All were in their cabin, an envelope was pushed under the door It contained a hundred dollar bill from Mrs Ramsay It was then revealed that the narrator learned to value the dark - skinned Levantine and he was amazed at Mr Kelada's generosity
This story shows that first impressions are often misleading and that appearances are sometimes deceptive Mr Kelada who is described as a disgusting person who shows off all the time and knows everything better than others, is in reality a sensitive, brave gentleman who wouldn't hurt others On the other hand, Mrs Ramsay, whose modesty and good qualities no one questions, has been unfaithful to her husband.
Analysis
The story takes place on a passenger ship sailing from San Francisco to Yokohama, shortly after the end of the First World War The significance of World War One is twofold:
• First, it explains why the narrator and Mr Kelada had to share a cabin The narrator would have preferred a single cabin, but was forced to share with someone that he did not know The importance of the ship is that it is a closed environment On land the narrator could have easily avoided Mr Kelada On a ship, this would be impossible
• Second, it explains the narrator’s use of the word Levantine in describing Mr Kelada The term, which means “Eastern Mediterranean” in French, was originally a positive one used to refer to the (mostly French and Italian) Christian Europeans who settled in the old Ottoman Empire to conduct trade
The story is told in the first person - the narrator sees everything and is a part of the plot
In part one, where he meets with Mr Kelada, the narrator is more active, and involved He observes comments and judges Mr Kelada as he sees him through his own eyes Since he is influenced by his prejudiced British society, his judgments are subjective
In part two, involving the necklace examination, the narrator is less involved He is like a cameraman who takes photos and writes down what he hears objectively After the chain examination is over, the narrator becomes subjective again
In part three, the narrator discovers Mr Kelada's true character As a result, he undergoes a change - he realizes that people should not be judged by their looks but by their actions and character
It is the narrator who closes the story
The story is called "Mr Know-All” which is the nickname that the people on the ship give to Max Kelada They do this in order to make fun of him because he believes that he is always right and knows everything better than anyone else That is why it is so difficult for him, a pearl expert, to lie about the necklace saying he has made a mistake in thinking it is real However, Max Kelada really is
Mr Know-All for a few reasons First, he is the only one who notices Mrs Ramsay's scared face Second, he realizes that she has a secret affair and doesn't want her husband to know that the pearls are real Third, he knows how to behave as a perfect gentleman and is willing to lose his reputation in order to save her marriage
The narrator, on the other hand, who considers himself a real British gentleman, doesn't read between the lines to infer the reason for Mrs Ramsay's pale face and clear distress
On the contrary, he misjudges her, thinking she is elegant and modest - the perfect little wife
He also misjudges Max Kelada, believing that he is not a British gentleman
The story consists of two plots:
- The main plot deals with the conflicting relationship between the narrator and Mr Kelada
- The sub-plot deals with the relationship between Mr Kelada and Mr Ramsay They discuss real pearls (nature-made) and cultured pearls (man-made), then they bet whether Mrs Ramsay's necklace is made of real pearls or imitation The sub-plot serves to bring the complications of the main plot to its climax and solution In other words, after the narrator discovers that Mr Kelada is in fact a gentleman, he understands he has been prejudiced and changes his opinion about him
Mr Kelada and Mr Ramsay have a heated argument about cultured pearls This argument leads to the turning point of the story Mr Kelada, who is a pearl expert, examines Mrs Ramsay's pearls
The minute he notices Mrs Ramsay's pale face, he decides to declare that they are fake, although they are real This is the turning point (climax) of the story since as a result of Mr Kelada's declaration, the true nature of the characters is revealed
Mrs Ramsay is revealed as being unfaithful to her husband When she was alone in New York for a year, she probably had a lover who gave her the expensive pearls
Mr Kelada, who has been considered a pushy, inconsiderate and vulgar person, turns out to be a real gentleman who saves Mrs Ramsay's marriage
The narrator undergoes a change When he realizes that Mr Kelada has endangered his reputation to save Mrs Ramsay's marriage, he becomes aware that generalizations and stereotypes are not the right ways to judge people This is the moral lesson of the story
The protagonist is the narrator Although his main dislike and criticism is referred to Mr Kelada, he is also critical of each of the other characters except for Mrs Ramsay The narrator is British and admits he would prefer a cabin companion with a name like Smith or
Brown British gentlemen at that time had typical characteristics
During the British Empire's reign, individuals from conquered colonies possessed British passports but faced societal stratification as second-class citizens The narrator depicts Mr Kelada's unconventional behavior through several descriptive terms, emphasizing his lack of adherence to social norms.
The antagonist is Mr Kelada who is a successful, businessman His informality can perhaps be attributed to trying a little too hard to be liked and accepted
Minor characters: Mr and Mrs Ramsay, the doctor
In behaviors, Mr Kelada is the double of Mr Ramsay: both are dogmatic and cocksure Physically, however, Mr Kelada is a contrast to Mr Ramsay While Mr Kelada is “short and of sturdy build”, Mr Ramsay is a “great heavy fellow” Their physical contrast is an expression of their contrasting mental and cultural attitudes
ARABY – JAMES JOYCE
James Joyce
James Joyce was born into a middle-class, Catholic family in
Rathgar, a suburb of Dublin, on February 2, 1882 The family’s prosperity dwindled soon after Joyce’s birth, forcing them to move from their comfortable home to the unfashionable and impoverished area of North
Dublin Then, Joyce attended a prestigious Jesuit school and went on to study philosophy and languages at University College, Dublin He moved to Paris after graduation in 1902 to pursue medical school, but instead he turned his attention to writing In 1903 he returned to Dublin, where he met his wife, Nora Barnacle, the following year Feeling constrained by the social and moral expectations of life in Dublin, Joyce had left for Europe with Nora Barnacle in 1904 He returned for a handful of visits before quitting his homeland entirely in 1912, and he appeared to feel little common ground with the other writers of the period From 1905 to 1915 he and Nora lived in Rome and Trieste, Italy, and from 1915 to 1919 they lived in Zurich, Switzerland Between World War I and World War
II, they lived in Paris They returned to Zurich in 1940, where Joyce died in 1941
Joyce's influence on Irish identity was profound Unlike his contemporaries who romanticized Irish history, Joyce focused on the mundane experiences of Irish life, capturing the struggles of various societal strata His participation in European culture broadened his perspective, leading him to align his work with broader European literature In Paris, Joyce found intellectual kinship among modernist writers, particularly Ezra Pound Modernism emphasized real-life experiences, personal identity, and unconventional writing techniques like stream-of-consciousness, which Joyce employed in his exploration of Irish identity in "Dubliners."
Summary of Araby
The little nameless boy lives with his aunt and uncle on a dead-end street in Dublin, in a house formerly occupied by a deceased priest The boy is impressed and somewhat mystified by the moldy books—a historical romance and a detective autobiography—and other reminders of the previous tenant
The action of the story begins with the children’s games, played in the lanes and backyards of the neighborhood during the winter twilight These games end when a sister of one of the boys— named Mangan—calls her little brother in to his tea The image of this girl standing in the lighted doorway so fixes itself in the boy’s imagination that he begins to pursue her shyly in the street Even in the bustle of the weekly grocery shopping, he carries with him a feeling about her mystical rapture Then, one day, while the other boys are playing, she asks him if he is going to a bazaar, named Araby She is unable to go there because of religious activities at her school, but he undertakes to go and bring her a gift instead This brief conversation and the prospect of the trip to the bazaar causes the boy to lose concentration on his lessons and regard his playmates with disdain
The Saturday of the bazaar is acutely agonizing for the boy He has to wait all day long for his uncle to come home and give him the required pocket money He withdraws from play and wanders through the upper empty rooms of the house, dreaming of the girl His apprehension during suppertime is compounded by the chatter of a visiting woman Finally, at nine o’clock, his uncle arrives home, somewhat drunk, for his dinner He greets the boy’s anxious reminder of his trip with some patronizing cliches
When he sets out at last, the boy finds that he is alone on the special train arranged for the bazaar, and finally arrives there at 9:50 p.m In his haste, he pays the adult fee at the turnstile, only to find that the bazaar is just about to close Hesitantly, he approaches one of the few stalls still open, one selling pottery The young lady in charge of this stall pauses momentarily in her flirtatious banter with two young men to attend to the boy’s diffident interest in her wares He is so put off by all his disappointments and her tone of voice, however, that he at once decides not to buy anything Instead, he simply stands there in the middle of the darkening bazaar, incensed at the betrayal of his hopes and the shattering of his illusions
The first part of the story takes place in and around the narrator's home in a neighborhood in Dublin, Ireland At the end of the story, the action moves to a bazaar (a kind of traveling market) across town
“Araby” employs a close first-person narrator describing the world as it appeals to his senses and leaves the readers with only a suggested, rather than outright, moral resolution
Araby is poetic name for Arabia (a Middle Eastern area) This names was chosen because bazaars were a known feature of life in the Middle East and thus the name would lend an air of mystery and exoticism to a middle-class event For a teenager of any Western country, Araby or Middle East is a far off land that cannot be reached Anything that cannot be reached or seen becomes an ideal Maybe in reality the place is not that much of an attraction, but as long as it remains untouched, it could be a dream-land-or a utopia to be desired for This goes hand in hand with the love for the little girl Thus, from the very beginning of the novel, the title implies that the boy’s ideal love does not become a reality It remains ideal, far-off, just like the concept of Araby
The Araby Bazaar was a grand public spectacle that showcased the modernization of Irish culture in the late 19th century Held annually for over a week, the bazaar featured elaborate stage-set backdrops, a vast array of goods, and entertainment ranging from restaurants and bars to fireworks and tightrope demonstrations This cultural event served as a platform for international commodified leisure, reflecting the integration of Ireland into the broader sphere of popular culture during the 1890s.
4 Major characters a) The narrator/the boy
The narrator is unnamed in 'Araby,'' and he lives with his aunt and uncle on North Richmond Street in Dublin He lives a rather typical life, playing with neighborhood friends and attending school until he notices the sister of one of his friends Once he sees his friend Mangan's sister, the narrator thinks about her constantly He is experiencing sexual attraction for the first time, and he believes he is in love with the girl In fact, the narrator becomes so obsessed with her that he begins to take on the behavior of a stalker: Then, the boy wants to buy something from Araby as a gift to his teenage love The love that the boy has for Mangan’s sister is an ideal love as it has not been contaminated with the harshness of reality His ideal love needs to be bolstered upon a tangent, physical thing- in this case the prospective gift from Araby- in order for the love to become real and to not stay ideal b) Mangan's sister
Mangan is one of several neighborhood boys who play with the narrator on North Richmond Street The narrator develops an obsession with Mangan's sister, who is unnamed in the story in order to convey how impractical and illusory the narrator's perception of her is
The young narrator believes he is in love with Mangan's sister, but in reality he barely even knows the girl To underscore the fact that the narrator has only a passing acquaintance with her, Mangan's sister speaks only once in the story: ''At last she spoke to me” When she addressed the first
120 words to the boy, he was so confused that he did not know what to answer She asked him to go to Araby He forgot whether he answered yes or no,'' the narrator confesses When she says that she is unable to go, the narrator promises to bring her gift from the bazaar c) The uncle and aunt
• The narrator's aunt is a devout Catholic, and she appears to be primarily concerned with domestic tasks and shopping
• The narrator's uncle seems to display little concern for the youth's desires When the youth reminds his uncle on Saturday that he wishes to attend the bazaar in the evening, his uncle answers curtly, "Yes, boy, I know." However, he neglects to return until nine o'clock because he has stopped at the pub and he has forgotten He apologizes, but detains boy with his questions d) The shopkeeper
When the narrator finally arrives at Araby, most of the stalls have closed He notices a young woman shopkeeper tending one of the stalls at the bazaar As he waits for the woman to help him with his purchase, the narrator notices the way she flirts with men at her stall The narrator is incensed by the shopkeeper's behaviors The narrator feels superior to her, thinking that his love for Mangan's sister is much more profound than the silly flirtation she carries on with some young men at her booth Finally the young woman asks the narrator if he would like to buy something, and he says “No”
“Araby” is about a young boy in Ireland obsessed with the girl living across the street When the young girl mentions how badly she wants to attend a certain bazaar, he sees an opportunity to win her heart by attending the bazaar himself and bringing her back a gift Unfortunately, due to the carelessness of his uncle, when he arrives at the bazaar it's already closing Additionally, the gifts he might buy the girl don't appeal to him The story shows us some major themes as follows:
• Maturity: “Araby” is the third of the fifteen stories in Dubliners (1914) These stories examine the hazards of the various stages in life, and “Araby” marks the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence This protagonist begins his story as a boy amid his peers, full of childish energy and short-lived attention The image of Mangan’s sister gradually emerges from these confused impressions, however, gathering itself into a vision of desire, both erotic and religious The growth of these feelings soon sets the boy apart from his fellows, and becomes even more consuming at the mention of the bazaar No sooner are these connections made, however, than they are compromised: The girl cannot be possessed (because of her “retreat”), and in the compromise—the material gift—lie the seeds of the destruction of the dream The rest of the story dramatizes the painful deflation of that dream: the human limitations of his uncle and
AN OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
The history of American literature stretches across more than 400 years It can be divided into several periods:
Period Description Major Writers or Works
• When European explorers first saw North America, Native American cultures had rich, established literatures
Legends, folktales, and other forms of literature were preserved in oral form and passed down from one generation to the next through ceremonies and other community gatherings, as well as within family groups and other informal settings
• However, much of this literature disappeared with the destruction of Native American cultures that followed white settlement of the continent
Most of them are oral narratives such as myths; legends; songs; creation stories from tribal groups of the Zuni, Aztec, Navajo, Cherokee, Inuit, and so on
• The first European writings about North America were written in this period These European writings describe the explorers' travels and impressions of the continent and its native people There were also non-fiction literature including documents, reports, letters, and maps which were circulated among explorers and high-ranking political officials who made decisions about funding further expeditions
• Prose: Christopher Columbus’ letters and documents, Sir Walter Raleigh’s prose and poems, Thomas Harriot’s A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia
• Oral narratives: Seneca legend "How America was discovered."
• In its earliest days during the 1600s, American literature consisted mostly of practical non-fiction written by British settlers who populated the colonies that would become the United States The Colonial period was dominated by Puritan beliefs and thus literature of this period is usually historical, religious, practical, straightforward, and often derivative of literature in Great Britain
• The most common genres were tracts, polemics, journals, narratives, sermons, and some poetry
• The first slave narratives were written at this time
• Imaginative literature was rare; in some colonies, it was banned for being immoral
• Poetry: Michael Wigglesworth, Anne Bradstreet,
Edward Taylor Anne Bradstreet’s The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650) is the earliest collection of poetry written in and about America
• Prose: John Smith’s Histories of Virginia,
Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanacks
• Narratives: Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs Mary Rowlandson
• This period begins with the passing of the Stamp Act in England and ends in 1790 A new era began when the United States declared its independence in 1776, and much new writing addressed the country’s future
• The writings are politically motivated, either in support of British rule, in support of American patriotism and independence, or relating to the Constitution However, American poetry and fiction were largely modeled on what was being published overseas in Great Britain, and much of what American readers consumed also came from Great Britain
Benjamin Franklin’s Declaration by the Representatives of the USA, Thomas Paine's Common Sense; William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy, Olaudah Equiano’s The interesting narrative
• Drama: Royall Tyler's The Contrast, Religious and Moral
• Poetry: Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various subjects, an African woman enslaved in Boston and wrote the first African American book
• A body of distinctly and truly American imaginative literature began to emerge Though still derived from British literary tradition, short stories and novels began to depict American society and explore the American landscape in an unprecedented manner
• Poetry, essays, and sketches also began to flourish
• The publishing world and readership in America also began to grow
• Slave narratives were published with increasing frequency
• This period is sometimes called the Federalist period after the conservative federalists in power at the time
• Poetry: Phillip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant,
• Prose: Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, Hannah
Webster Foster's The Coquette, James Fenimore
• Narratives: Olaudah Equiano's The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano
(from Jacksonian democracy to the end of the Civil War)
• This period was the first major explosion of a distinctly American body of literature; therefore, this period is also referred to as the American Renaissance Many of American literature's most well-known writers emerged during this time
• A new trend of American literature appeared, called as romanticism Romanticism is a way of thinking that values the individual over the group, the subjective over the objective, and a person’s emotional experience over reason It also values the wildness of nature over human- made order
• Poetry: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Prose: Edgar Allan Poe’s detective stories,
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and
The House of the Seven Gables, Herman
Melville’s Moby Dick, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Maria Susanna Cummins' The Lamplighter
Antebellum literature explored diverse themes, including the formation of American identity, the contentious debate over slavery, and the recounting of historical events Romantic influences inspired poetry and narratives, while prose works probed the complex question of national unity.
• During the 1850s, as the United States headed toward civil war, more and more stories by and about enslaved and free African Americans were written
• Narratives: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs’
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
• Drama: George Aiken's play Uncle Tom's Cabin
• The Transcendentalists emphasize subjective intuition over objective empiricism Humanbeings have the power to learn from outside through their five senses and inner world by intuition It arose as a reaction to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality
• Five key aspects of transcendentalism are Equality, Individualism, Self-Reliance, Integrity, and Optimism
• Transcendentalist writers believe that while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent
• Transcendentalists had faith in oversoul Since all people came from the same source and going back to same, it is futile to have clashes in the name of religion
• Poetry: Walt Whitman’s Song of myself, Ralph Waldo Emerson's Water, Henry David Thoreau's
• Prose: Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature, Self- Reliance, and The American Scholar, Margaret
Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Henry David Thoreau's Walden
• The human cost of the Civil War was immense: more than 2.3 million soldiers fought in the war, and perhaps as many as 851,000 people died in 1861–65 As a result, what emerged in the following decades was a literature that presented a detailed and unembellished vision of the world as it truly was
• Moreover, the post-Civil War period was an era of increased industrialization and urbanization as the nation attempted to recover emotionally, culturally, and politically from the aftermath of the war Though there were still elements of romanticism, this period was considered realistic in its emphasis on unidealized and truthful depictions
• Poetry: Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence Dunbar,
• Prose: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, Kate Chopin’s The awakening
• Travel narratives: Mark Twain's The innocents abroad and Life on the Mississippi
• As an offshoot of realism, naturalism claimed to give an even more realistic and unflinching depiction of contemporary life It was a literary movement that drew inspiration from French authors of the 19th century who sought to document, through fiction, the reality that they saw around them, particularly among the middle and working classes living in cities
• Naturalism was characterized by a pessimistic view of humanity and human existence
• Poetry: William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, Alfred Tennyson’s The Brook
• Prose: Frank Norris' The Octopus, Theodore
Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Jack London's Call of the wild These novels vividly depict the reality of urban life, war, and capitalism
• Advances in science and technology, the devastation of World War I, and the Great Depression caused widespread sufferings all over the world These impulses can be found swirling within modernism
• A sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in traditional structures and beliefs pervades much American modernist fiction That sense may be centered on specific individuals, directed toward American society or toward civilization generally It may generate a nihilistic, destructive impulse, or it may express hope at the prospect of change As a result, works in this period reflect the changing social, political, and cultural climate and are diverse, experimental, and nontraditional
• Poetry: T.S Eliot’s The Waste Land, E.E
Cummings’s Anyone lived in a pretty how town
• Prose: F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby,
William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury,
John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath; Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms
• Drama: Eugene O'Neill's Long Day’s Journey into Night, and The Emperor Jones, Thornton
• The United States, which emerged from World War II confident and economically strong, entered the Cold War in the late 1940s This conflict, the proxy wars and threat of nuclear annihilation were just some of the influences shaping American literature during the second half of the 20th century The 1950s and ’60s brought significant cultural shifts within the United States driven by the civil rights movement and the women’s movement All of these elements shaped changes in American thinking and literature styles
RIP VAN WINKLE - WASHINGTON IRVING
Washington Irving
He was born April 3, 1783 and grew up in Manhattan, New York as an adventurous kid who liked to go wandering and dreamed of the day This frustrated his parents a bit because as he got older, he often skipped class to attend plays When Irving was around the age of 15, yellow fever had broken out in Manhattan, so his parents sent him away with some friends in Tarrytown,
New York (Tarrytown and the near-by village of Sleepy Hollow are where his
138 later stories are set) It was during this time that he first saw the Catskill Mountains, which set the scene for his character Rip Van Winkle's 20-year sleep
At the age of 17, his father sent Washington to Europe to help with the family business, which he was not real keen on and he got involved with the literary scene there with Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott gave him some advice about writing such as reading the German Romantic authors, folklore, and legends for some inspiration Washington took this advice, and he began to set himself apart from the other writers in America at that time
In spite of having been greatly influenced by European writing, especially the German legends, Irving's style is all his own Washington Irving was considered the father of American literature because his writing shaped the American identity with the use of imagery Washington Irving also had a great sense of humor, which transcended into his writings He had a unique voice His words were sophisticated, so his sentence structure was kind of like what we saw in early American sermons and political documents Nevertheless, he was also mocking that preachy sound, which added humor to his stories Through the use of irony, he was able to poke fun at his characters and their situations Irving was also known to have introduced the idea of the modern short story to the United States Prior to this period, people were writing instructional, political documents and lots of religious-based poetry Irving changed that up by writing fictional stories
To captivate readers, Washington Irving employed a unique storytelling technique by adopting pseudonyms and creating vibrant personas Through these alter egos, he published works that resonated with audiences One notable pseudonym, Diedrich Knickerbocker, served as the author of "A History of New-York," a satirical masterpiece that employed irony and sarcasm to expose societal flaws, earning Irving widespread recognition for his literary prowess.
The story starts before the American Revolution, when King George was ruling the colonies Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old New York gentleman with an interest in the histories and stories told by the descendants of Dutch settlers in the early 19th century, narrates the story of a simple, good- natured man named Rip Van Winkle, who lives in a small village in the Catskills Though Rip comes from a family full of chivalrous and militaristically successful men, he is unconcerned with those things and is chiefly occupied with shirking his duties to his home and family In fact, Rip is a friendly man, and people in town tend to like him If someone needs an extra hand, Rip is always ready to lend a hand He is often flocked by children and has a loyal dog companion named Wolf However, Rip's problem is that he isn't motivated to do much work around his house or really take care of his family
He could spend most of his day out of the house with his dog, where his wife can’t reach him as easily,
139 either talking with townspeople at the inn, hunting squirrels, fishing, or helping on farms other than his own As a result, Rip as the henpecked husband is constantly being nagged by his wife
One day his wife is so persistent in her arguing with Rip that he flees to the woods with his gun and dog He absently follows a squirrel high into the Catskill Mountains and ends up taking a nap Just as the day’s light is fading and Rip is preparing to go back down the mountain, he encounters a stranger The stranger is holding a stout keg on his back, and Rip, drawn by some mysterious force, helps the stranger carry the keg to the top of the mountain, where he finds strange men wearing antiquated clothing playing ninepins (these men are the spirits of Hendrick Hudson and the crew of the Half Moon, though Rip doesn’t know that) Rip is instructed to serve them a drink that is so enticing that Rip secretly tastes some himself, and then consumes it immoderately and falls into a deep sleep on the mountain
When Rip wakes up he assumes he has slept through the night, and worries about the backlash he will face from the wife However, something strange has happened The gun by his side becomes an old and rusty one, and his beard is now a foot long His joints are stiff, and he finds it difficult to climb the mountain He tries to locate the peak on which he fell asleep but cannot find it Wolf is also nowhere to be found, and after searching for him as long as he could, Rip apprehensively descends the mountain with the rusty gun, dreading his reunion with his wife Though the path is nowhere to be found and the landscape is strange, Rip successfully makes his way back to the village
On the outskirts of the village, a group of children - none of whom are familiar to Rip - chase after him and point at his beard Rip notices that the village is now larger and more populated New houses line the roads and unfamiliar faces peer out at him from windows Perplexed, Rip finds his old house He expects to hear his wife yelling at him shrilly, but never does What’s more, his house is dilapidated, as though no one has tended to it in a very long time He sees a dog that resembles Wolf, but the dog is dirty and emaciated, and does not recognize Rip He goes to the inn to look for his old friends and finds the new name of the inn as the Union Hotel
Rip introduced himself to the strangers at the hotel as a “loyal subject of the king” but this is met with outrage He discovers that 20 years have passed since he went up the mountain The American Revolution has taken place Most of his friends and neighbors are dead, and one friend is working in the newly established American Congress His son Rip Van Winkle Jr has grown up to be just like his father, and his daughter Judith has married and has a child (Rip Van Winkle III) The townspeople come to believe Rip’s story on the mountain after his tale is corroborated and explained by the oldest man in town, Peter Vanderdonk, and the townsfolk eventually turn their attention back to the upcoming presidential election Rip moves in with his daughter and spends the rest of his days
140 living as he did prior to his disappearance, only now he has no need to fear his wife’s intrusion and lives freely and peacefully
The story ''Rip Van Winkle'' is set in the mid-1700s, before the American Revolution in an unnamed village in New York in the Catskill Mountains The beginning of the story is set before the American Revolutionary War When Rip fell asleep, he ended up sleeping through the entire war! It's a big surprise for him because, when he went into the mountains and fell asleep, the American colonies were under English rule When he woke up, the colonies were now the United States of America and free from the English
2 Plot a) Before Rip falls asleep
• His wife is always nagging him, so Rip heads up into the mountains, taking his dog with him
• Twice, he hears a voice calling, 'Rip Van Winkle!' but doesn't see anyone
• Rip sees a strange-looking man dressed in the 'antique Dutch fashion,' carrying a keg full of liquor
• He goes deep into the forest with the strange man
• Rip hears a sound like thunder in the distance
• They get to an opening in the woods, where they come upon a group of men, also wearing old- fashioned clothes, who are playing ninepins, a game similar to bowling
• Rip serves the men their drinks
• When the men begin their game again, Rip drinks some of the liquor himself
• He falls into a deep sleep
• Rip wakes up in the spot where he first saw the strangely-dressed man
• He finds a rusty old gun beside him and can't find his dog
• Thinking the men robbed him, he calls for them, but there's no answer
• Rip tries to find the gully through which he followed the strange man, but it's filled with water from a stream
• He finds that there's no opening in the forest where the men were playing ninepins the night before; it's a wall of rock
• He heads toward the village, but recognizes no one he passes
Rip Van Winkle realized that:
• He has a very long beard
• He finds his own house, but it's now falling down and looks abandoned
• The dog he sees at his house looks like Wolf, but doesn't recognize Rip c) Rip goes to the village
• Rip goes to the inn where he used to tell stories with his friends
• He finds the inn is gone and a different building is in its place
• A crowd of villagers ask him questions about why he's there with a gun on Election Day
• Rip tells them he's a 'loyal subject' of the King, but they think he's a 'Tory,' so they try to get rid of him
• Rip asks about some of his friends, but none of them are still in the village
• When he asks if none of them 'know Rip Van Winkle,' they point to Rip's son by the same name, who is sleeping under a tree
• Rip recognizes his daughter Judith in the crowd and she identifies him as her father d) Rip and Judith
• Rip tells them he's been sleeping all this time, and many in the crowd don't believe him
Peter Vanderdonk verifies Rip's account, claiming that Rip encountered Hendrick Hudson and his crew from the ship Half-moon According to Vanderdonk, the crew returns to the Catskills every 20 years, providing a supernatural explanation for Rip's absence.
• Rip lives with his daughter and spends the rest of his days telling stories in front of the inn
3 Conflicts a) Man vs Man (family conflicts)
In Rip Van Winkle, one of the main conflicts is man-vs-man conflict between Rip and his wife, Dame Van Winkle She doesn't understand why Rip helps the village wives and their husbands with
142 difficult tasks when he won't do any work on his own farm Rip teaches the village children to fly kites, play marbles, and even tells them stories, but he doesn't do any of these things for his own children This conflict between Rip and Dame Van Winkle gives Rip a reason to go to the mountain b) Man vs Nature
In a way, there is also conflict between Rip Van Winkle and the Catskill Mountains, which provide the setting for the story When Rip wakes up from his long nap, he tries to retrace his steps to find the strange men he met on the mountain before he fell asleep The mountain keeps him from doing this; the dry gully he'd walked through is now full of water and the opening where he met the men is now a wall of rock Thus, the mountain is keeping Rip from getting back to his home and the village c) Man vs Supernatural
I HEARD A FLY BUZZ WHEN I DIE – EMILY DICKINSON
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was born in Massachusetts in 1830 and lived there all her life Her grandfather was the founder of Amherst College, and her father was a lawyer who served as the treasurer of the college He also held various political offices Her mother was a quiet and frail woman
Dickinson went to primary school for four years and then attended Amherst
Academy from 1840 to 1847 before spending a year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary Her education was strongly influenced by Puritan religious beliefs, but Dickinson did not accept the teachings of the Unitarian church attended by her family, and she remained agnostic throughout her life After completing her education, Dickinson lived in the family home with her parents and younger sister, Lavinia, while her elder brother, Austin, and his wife, Susan, lived next door She began writing verse at an early age, practicing her craft by rewriting poems she found in books, magazines, and newspapers During a trip to Philadelphia in the early 1850s, Dickinson fell in love with a married minister, the Reverend Charles Wadsworth; her disappointment in love may have brought about her subsequent withdrawal from society
Dickinson experienced an emotional crisis of an undetermined nature in the early 1860s Her traumatized state of mind is believed to have inspired her to write prolifically For instance, in 1862 alone, she is thought to have composed more than three hundred poems In that same year, Dickinson initiated a correspondence with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the literary editor of the Atlantic Monthly magazine Over the years, Dickinson sent nearly one hundred of her poems for his criticism, and he became a sympathetic advisor and confidant, but he never published any of her poems Dickinson’s isolation further increased when her father died unexpectedly in 1874 and her mother suffered a stroke that left her an invalid Dickinson and her sister provided her constant care until her death in 1882 Dickinson was diagnosed in 1886 as having Bright’s disease, a kidney dysfunction that resulted in her death in May of that year.
The poem “I heard a fly buzz when I die”
I heard a fly buzz when I died
I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -
The Eyes around - had wrung them dry -
And Breaths were gathering firm
For that last Onset - when the King
Be witnessed - in the Room -
I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away
What portion of me be Assignable - and then it was There interposed a Fly -
With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz - Between the light - and me -
And then the Windows failed - and then
I could not see to see
Summary
From the perspective of one who has passed, the poem presents a unique account of the dying experience Despite the gravity of the moment, the speaker chooses to recall the sound of a fly, an element that may seem insignificant in such a life-altering event This peculiar memory prompts the reader to delve into the significance of the fly, as it serves as a lasting and immediate recollection of the speaker's final moments.
The speaker describes a stillness, or absence of movement and noise, in the room where the death scene takes place The feeling in the room is compared to “The stillness in the air/ Between the heaves of storm.” This is a comparison to what is known as the eye of a hurricane, or the circular area of relative calm that is found at the center of a cyclone The poem’s speaker suggests that there is a moment of absolute calm and quiet between the storms of life and death
In these lines, Dickinson uses metonymy “Eyes” represents the mourners themselves, who are observed standing around the bed of the dying person Also, “Eyes” means, quite literally, the eyes of those same people who have been crying for the loved one who is dying Their eyes “had wrung them dry,” meaning that the people had cried all the tears that they could during this exhausting death ritual
“Breaths” is also an example of metonymy, for the word represents both the people themselves and their breathing The people at the death bed are “gathering firm,” meaning perhaps that they have gathered together to support each other in the fixed and unalterable understanding that the loved one will die, and they are waiting for the end to come At the same time, their breathing has stopped shaking and trembling because they are calmly awaiting what is now inevitable
In these lines, “that last onset” probably means the final stage of the dying process Because the mourners in the room were most likely to be nineteenth-century American Protestants, they would have been expecting some formal sign that their loved one had been welcomed into the Kingdom of God, or into the arms of Christ the “King.” Perhaps the speaker recognizes the eagerness of his or her loved ones to “witness” Christ in the room This expectation is quite ironic because the poem’s speaker sees not Christ but a common blowfly
In this stanza, the speaker describes the completion of personal business as an important part of the dying process He or she has made a last will and testament, giving “Keepsakes,” or token possessions, away to relatives and friends “signed away / What portions of me be / assignable” probably refers to the dying person’s request for the memorial ceremony and disposal of the body These acts have more to do with the needs of the living than the needs of the dead, and yet they are commonly accepted and widely expected rituals of death and dying in Western society In the midst of all this business activity, “There interposed a fly.” This could mean that the speaker is interrupted from the social ritual of death by the fly’s presence
In Emily Dickinson's poem, blue ironically symbolizes eternity, juxtaposed with the fly's representation of mortality The fly's uncertain buzz suggests its transient nature, while its presence obstructs the speaker's connection to "light," both physically (as their eyesight fails) and metaphorically (as the fly interrupts their spiritual or heavenly experience).
The “Windows” can have two possible meanings in this line Perhaps the speaker is transposing the experience of the light failing (blindness) to the windows, describing the loss of the sense of sight in terms of an external, inanimate object On the other hand, perhaps “Windows” is a metaphor for the eyes, much in the sense that people call eyes the windows of the soul The final line of the poem is a description of blindness On one level, it is the loss of the physical sense of sight On another level, it might be a spiritual blindness, indicating that there is no great spiritual vision after death but rather nothingness This second explanation is in keeping with Dickinson’s reputation as a skeptic, but it does not explain how the poem’s persona could be describing this incident after extinction
"I heard a fly buzz when I died" is a lyric poem composed in four quatrains, or four-line stanzas The lines of each stanza alternate regularly between eight and six syllables The rhyme scheme, on the other hand, is much less conventional, with “was/buzz” and “me/be” the only true rhymes
Dickinson creates other tonal harmony, though, in her rich, highly original images: “heaves of storm,”
“breaths gathering firm,” “blue—uncertain stumbling buzz,” “windows failed.”
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, common English nouns and other words were often capitalized Dickinson adopted this out-of-fashion form in this poem, capitalizing “fly,” “stillness,”
“room,” “air,” “heaves,” “storm,” “eyes,” breaths,” “onset,” “king,” “keepsakes,” “signed,” “blue,”
“buzz,” and “windows.” She does this because her poetry is a celebration of the exact, perfect word, and capitalization can be used to highlight the intensity of meaning
Dickinson is also noted for her unusual handling of punctuation In this poem, she uses dashes both at the ends of lines and between phrases This peculiar technique is generally believed that Dickinson would like to indicate how words, phrases, and clauses should be interpreted in her poem
"I heard a fly buzz when I died" employs all of Dickinson’s formal patterns: trimeter and tetrameter iambic lines (four stresses in the first and third lines of each stanza, three in the second and fourth, a pattern Dickinson follows at her most formal); rhythmic insertion of the long dash to interrupt the meter; and an ABCB rhyme scheme Interestingly, all the rhymes before the final stanza are half- rhymes (room/storm, firm/room, be/fly), while only the rhyme in the final stanza is a full rhyme (me/see) Dickinson uses this technique to build tension; a sense of true completion comes only with the speaker’s death
Dickinson was fond of using oxymorons to assert the double truth of what was seemingly contradictory For example, death was the “enhancing shadow” of life that draws value to life even as it threatens it In a dynamic similar to the Puritan ethic that views sorrow, trial, or threat as a necessary feature of a world in an unseen divine justice, death is, for Dickinson, a true and serious sorrow that is necessary if we are to fully appreciate our temporary freedom from its grasp
Yet, the poem is equally concerned with life: it is preoccupied with the “stillness” that rests between life and death It repeatedly draws readers’ attention to sight and sound Drawn focus on eyes, ears, windows, and house, we are brought features of the world made precious and poignant by their dissolution Whether or not a transcendent reality awaits us after death is never fully solved in the poem The high value of the small features of this world are fully confirmed If death is ushered in by a vivid fly and signaled by the disappearance of that fly with a dying person’s failed vision, we can perhaps be encouraged to appreciate the abundance of sensory experience we enjoy while alive The oxymoronic "I heard a fly buzz when I died" is in this sense a death poem about life
Emily Dickinson's "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" portrays a private and public experience of death, symbolized by the poem's setting Despite being surrounded by loved ones in the death chamber, the speaker's perception of a buzzing fly and dimming light remains deeply personal and unshared This private experience underscores the solitude of death, where life expires in a realm of personal sensation inaccessible to external observers Whether this solitude is chosen or enforced remains an unresolved question, reflecting both Dickinson's lifestyle and the poem's enigmatic narrative.
The first image we get in this poem is of that pesky fly (Line 1), but we don’t see it yet We just hear it "buzz." That’s a great word to put in here, because it describes the noise of a fly, but the sound of the word also imitates the sound of the fly That buzzing sound cuts across the quiet in the room
We get a whole landscape of sounds before we even see the fly or what’s in the room
ROMAN FEVER – EDITH WHARTON
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton was born on January 24, 1862 as a daughter of a wealthy and powerful family in the upper echelons of New York society She had two older brothers who went to a boarding school, so they were often away from home As a result, Edith was essentially raised as an only child in her brownstone mansion She spent much of her childhood and adolescence touring and studying in Europe Thus, from the beginning of her life, Edith was immersed in a society noted for its manners, taste, snobbishness, and long list of social do's and don'ts
Edith Wharton was educated privately, demonstrating proficiency in several languages Despite initial discouragement from her parents, her writing talent was recognized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Encouraged by Longman's recommendation, her collection "Verses" was published privately At the age of 16, Wharton completed her novella "Fast and Loose," a critique of high society, showcasing her literary abilities at a young age.
At the age of seventeen, Edith was so immersed in her books that she seemed indifferent to people at her own age Worried about Edith, her parents decided that she should make her debut in society Despite her natural shyness, she was a social success At the age of nineteen, Edith became engaged to Harry Stevens, a prominent figure in New York society By October of the same year, the engagement was broken as a result of meddling by the mothers of the engaged couple Then, she married Edward Robbins Wharton at the age of 23 Following her divorce in 1913, Wharton moved to France, where she devoted herself both to writing and to humanitarian causes She was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her service to the country during World War I Wharton continued to write and publish extensively throughout her life, and in 1921 became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for fiction She was also the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Yale University, and to receive full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters Wharton died in France in 1937 at the age of 75
Edith Wharton is known for her ironic and polished prose about the aristocratic New York society into which she was born Her protagonists are most often tragic characters portrayed as intelligent and emotional people who want more out of life Her protagonists also challenge social taboos, but are unable to overcome the barriers of social convention
The story opens on a veranda overlooking
Rome It is afternoon, and two women are relaxing together after lunch Their daughters leave to explore the city, laughing together about their poor, docile mothers Mrs Grace Ansley is embarrassed by her daughter's audacity, while Mrs Alida Slade only finds the comments amusing Mrs Slade suggests they should spend the rest of the afternoon talking on the veranda
At first her friend is uncertain, worried that the waiter will be upset if they continue to occupy a table without buying anything else In response, Mrs Slade calls over the waiter and asks him if it would be alright for them to stay He agrees and then suggests that the women should stay for dinner Mrs Slade thanks the waiter, and he leaves them alone to continue their conversation They are both unaware that this afternoon will change their casual friendship forever
Part 2: Bringing up the Past
Mrs Slade remarks on the past and the differences between their daughters She expresses regret that her daughter, Jenny, lacks the fiery nature of Mrs Ansley’s daughter, Barbara Mrs Ansley seems troubled by Mrs Slade's references to their youth and her frank analysis of their daughters
The discussion becomes more specific when Mrs Slade recalls Mrs Ansley's unexpected illness when they were last in Rome together, as young women After staying out late one night Mrs Ansley fell prey to the notorious "Roman fever" that threatened the city during their youth She was sick for days and left the city shortly afterwards Mrs Slade admits she was surprised at the time, since Mrs Ansley had always been so careful, having a delicate disposition that made her prone to illness It seemed very out of character for her
As the conversation continues, Mrs Slade starts pushing Mrs Ansley more into talking about the past She asks her guiding questions about her activities that night and becomes increasingly frustrated with Mrs Ansley's reticence While Mrs Slade is eager to discuss that time in their lives, Mrs Ansley is much less comfortable She tries to remain focused on her knitting as a way of deflecting Mrs Slade's questions At last, Mrs Slade abandons subtlety and tells Mrs Ansley that she knows Mrs Ansley stayed out late that night years ago because she wanted to meet with Delphin, Mrs Slade's fiancé
In fact, these two introduces readers to the main characters, Mrs Grace Ansley and Mrs Alida Slade, as well as the setting for their interaction They have spent years watching each other and comparing themselves against each other without ever understanding the truth
This information shocks Mrs Ansley, since she had no idea Mrs Slade was privy to her activities that night To prove her claim, Mrs Slade recites from memory the letter that Delphin sent Mrs Ansley, begging her to meet him at the Colosseum after dark She then reveals that she was the letter's author She knew that Mrs Ansley loved Delphin and struck back at her out of jealousy Her hope was that Mrs Ansley would spend the night waiting for Delphin and then come to the conclusion he did not love her However, she did not imagine Mrs Ansley would become ill She tries to laugh the situation off as a folly of youth, but Mrs Ansley is much more troubled by the revelation than she anticipated
Mrs Slade realizes that Mrs Ansley's love for Delphin was more than a fleeting affection She had assumed that Mrs Ansley got over her crush on Delphin since she married Horace soon afterwards In reality, Mrs Ansley treasured the memory of that letter She burned it after reading it to keep anyone from finding out about their rendezvous, but she memorized every word Now Mrs Slade has tainted that memory with her confession
Abashed by Mrs Ansley's reaction, Mrs Slade apologizes She confesses she was angry at Mrs Ansley and feared she would steal Delphin away Imagining Mrs Ansley wandering outside the Colosseum made her feel better at the time At this point Mrs Ansley reveals her own secret
All these years Mrs Slade imagined her friend spending that night alone However, the actual events of that evening were quite the opposite of what she expected Mrs Ansley confesses to Mrs Slade that Delphin met her at the Colosseum and they spent the night together This idea is too much for Mrs Slade to accept She insists that Delphin would never meet with Mrs Ansley and that her friend must be lying to get back at her for her own deception
Upon receiving Delphin's letter, Mrs Ansley responded, expressing her genuine feelings Delphin withheld his deception and met Mrs Ansley at the Colosseum Unbeknownst to Mrs Slade, her plan to separate Delphin and her friend inadvertently brought them together This outcome highlights Mrs Ansley's sincere and compassionate nature, unlike Mrs Slade's manipulative intent.
FLIGHT – JOHN STEINBECK
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck was born into a family of moderate means on
John Steinbeck, an acclaimed American author, was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California His formative years were spent in the Salinas Valley, which became a recurring backdrop in his literary works Steinbeck's exploration of the connection between characters and their environment is a hallmark of his writing Notably, he pursued higher education while working to support himself.
After dropping out of Stanford University, F Scott Fitzgerald pursued a writing career in New York City in 1925 However, despite his efforts, he struggled to gain recognition as a freelance writer and ultimately returned to California.
When studying at Stanford University in California, he became interested in biology and this led him to take an evolutionary view of human society He referred to
178 this as his “biological” approach to understanding and writing about human behavior Steinbeck’s novels normally dealt with economic problems of rural labour, and some serious fictions were aggressive in its social criticism, which does not always agree with his matter-of-fact sociological approach This placed him in philosophical alignment with other naturalist writers who were influenced by Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution and natural selection Such stories end usually with the destruction of the main character, who by acting in response to his impulses and instincts, is crushed by the forces of the environment However, Steinbeck is not strictly naturalistic, as he frequently casts his stories in mythic frameworks, giving them romantic or spiritual dimensions lacking in much naturalistic fiction
Steinbeck’s greatest achievement was The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 This novel enabled him to win the 1940 Pulitzer Prize in literature In 1937, he achieved the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for his theatrical adaptation of his novella Of Mice and Men, and won the 1962 Nobel Prize for literature He also served briefly as a war correspondent during the Vietnam conflict Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968
Fifteen miles south of Monterey, Mama Torres and her three children, Pepé, Rosy, and Emilio, reside on their farm Despite the family's diligence, Pepé remains idle, indulging in trivial pursuits while his siblings engage in productive tasks Mama Torres harbors a deep affection for Pepé, believing him to possess bravery However, she keeps this opinion to herself.
One day, Mama Torres is looking for Pepé because she wants him to ride into Monterey to buy salt and medicine, and he can spend the night in Monterey at the home of a family friend, Mrs Rodriguez Pepé is surprised that he will be allowed to go alone, and he asks to wear his father’s hat, hatband, and green silk handkerchief He tells his mother that he will be careful However, before sunrise the next morning, Pepe returns unexpectedly to the farm He tells his mother he must go away to the mountains because he had drunk wine at Mrs Rodriguez’s, quarreling with a man, and stabbing that man since that man dared to call his name
Donning his father's regalia and provisions, including his saddle, hat, coat, rifle, water, and beef jerky, Pépé embarks on his fateful journey into the mountains As he disappears into the rugged terrain, his mother's anguish pierces the air, knowing that her beloved son's path leads to a perilous end, leaving no hope of his return.
Pepé rides into the mountains, and as he climbs, the trail changes from soft black dirt beside a stream to redwood forest, and to rough, dry, rocky open country As he rides higher toward the pass, he glimpses a dark figure on the ridge ahead, then looks quickly away He stops in the evening by a small stream, tying the horse A wildcat comes to the stream and stares at Pepé, who does not use the rifle for fear of revealing his location to his pursuers He sleeps, then wakes suddenly in the night when his horse whinnies to another horse on the trail After hastily saddling his horse and going up the hill, he realizes that he has left his hat behind
He continues riding into the dry waste countryland Then, without warning, his horse is shot dead by a rifle shot Pepé fires back at his unseen assailant with one of the ten rifle cartridges he has
In the return fire, a chip of granite embeds itself in his right hand Pepe takes the stone out and the cut bleeds He stuffs a dusty spider web into the wound to stop the bleeding, then crawls slowly up the hill He is almost bitten by a rattlesnake, and lizards scatter before him as he crawls upward He sleeps in the bushes until night His arm is infected and swollen tight inside the sleeve of his father’s coat, so he discards that coat
That night he comes to a damp stream bed and digs frantically for water Exhausted, he falls asleep until late the next afternoon He awakens to find a large mountain lion staring at him The big cat moves away at the sound of horses and a dog Pepé crouches behind a rock until dark, then moves up the slope before he realizes he has left his rifle behind He sleeps, then awakens to find his wound swollen and gangrenous He clumsily lances the wound with a sharp rock and tries to drain the infection from his hand Hearing the dogs, he rises up on a big rock on the ridge and is silhouetted against the morning sky looking down A bullet strikes at his feet, and a second bullet hits him in the chest He falls forward toward the little valley he came from in an avalanche Pépé comes to rest at the bottom of the ridge and the stones cover his head
“Flight” is set on the coast of central California as well as further inland in the coastal mountains The story could have taken place any time between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s The Torres farm is located on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific coast, at the edge of the continent The country to the east, toward which Pepé flees, is a wilderness first of redwood forest and then dry, rocky hills and mountains It is the ideal setting for the confrontation of man against nature
In the course of running from his crime, Pepé starts as a youth fleeing responsibility As he loses the tools that define his humanity, he is reduced to crawling on the ground like an animal, wriggling like a snake and "worming" his way along Thus, “Flight” can mean fleeing from danger and running away “Flight” can also be a frenzied escape for freedom, but it also can be slow and painful depending on strength
"Flight" embodies a naturalistic style, akin to folktales in tone and structure Naturalism, influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theories, posits humans as part of nature, devoid of a soul or spiritual essence Naturalist writers believe that heredity and environment solely determine a person's character and destiny, emphasizing the absence of supernatural or divine influences in human affairs.
Steinbeck was also influenced by his study of biology at Stanford, and “Flight” is a combination of a folktale form and a scientific attitude toward the human condition The folktale and scientific style are conflicting forms and styles, and this conflict emphasizes the ambiguity of the story’s ending Did Pepé simply die, as a failure and an animal, or did he succeed in his quest for manhood by standing up before his enemies?