BA English Poems & the Old Man and the Sea

Poems LEISURE by William Davies CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM Leisure by Davies moves us emotionally and provides a food for thought. The poet has criticized the life of a modern man. The poet has based this poem on the personal experiences of his life. The evils of modern civilization are the topic progress of science has made man machine like. It has turned him into a material beast. It has deprived him of two things. First it has deprived him to freedom and secondly it has made him greedy and ambitious. Man has become a slave of time. Each breath of his life is spent in collecting wealth. Davies suggests that a very important factor of human life is enjoyment from various objects of nature scattered in our surroundings. But in just of wealth and status man has lost happiness and peace of mind. He is deadly busy in his worldly pursuits. He has no time to stand and stare at the beautiful and green branches of trees. In this regard, his lot is worse than animals. Even cows and sheep have spare time to enjoy the beauties of nature. He laments that man himself is the author of his tragedy. Man crown of creature. But unfortunately his life is miserable. The poet feels very sad at man‘s indifference to nature. Night looks beautiful with its shining stars on the sky. The reflection of the stars in the water of stream is a sight to be fully enjoyed. The broad day light is charming in its effects. Man is not blind to the ugliness of wealth but blinds to the liveliness of nature. The sight of the squirrels hiding their nuts in the grass contains many enjoyable points. All these sights of nature are inviting and tempting. Man is more than a robot and computer having no aesthetic sense. The poet sums up the poem by saying that our life is full of worries and hardships. We must have some leisure time to enjoy life and its joys. We have no time to enjoy the loving eyes and dancing feet of young maiden. TECHNICALITIES OF THE POEM The use of personification in the poem increases its beauty, appeal and importance. The diction is very simple and quite appropriate to the subject-matter of the poem. The tone of the poem is satirical. EXERCISE What are some of the simple delights we miss in our rushed life? OR Point out the beauties of nature that can be source of pleasure for man in his day to day life. Some of the enjoyments which I personally miss because of shortage or lack of time are my visits to Northern areas of my country. I often make plan to move out of my city towards paradise like areas like Swat, Naran, Kalam, Muree and Skardu which possess simple and innocent beauty of nature. Alas! I cannot go there because of my busy life. I miss viewing the grandeur of the mountains, trees and flowers and flowing streams and fountains in these valleys. I also miss the joys of novel reading due to my busy life. I spend these hours in money earning programs. I also miss sports very much.

TARTARY by Walter De la Mare CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM Water De la Mare is pure poet who is known as the poet of images and impressions. He always aims at providing imaginative pleasures to his readers instead of teaching them some moral or social lesson. Like all romantic poets, he escapes into an idea and longed for world. It has always been a desire of man to consider him all powerful and mighty to attain power. He uses all means, foul or fair to gain endless power. The poets are sensitive people. They do not have the skill and art to attain power and derive pleasure out of this image of glory. Walter de la Mare also dreams of having great powers after becoming the lord of Tartary. It is the figment of poet‘s imagination. The poem is a journey into the realm of imagination. The poem is romantic in its essence. The land of Tartary has been painted by the poet with various attractive and sensuous images. He imagines himself the lord of a land rich with all worldly resources. Like all the ancient kings, he longs to have an ivory bed and throne of beaten gold. His court will be attended by peacocks. The peacocks will walk and dance in his court. Fish will swim in his pools and tigers roar in his forests. In this way, he longs to rule not only men but animals and beats also. He wants to be monarch of all he surveys. The main idea of the poem is that every person wants to get rid of his worried and artificial world. Like all royal and lofty kings of the past, he wants to enjoy all the comforts of his life. He wishes to eat his meal with the announcement of a bugle. In the evening, his place will be illuminated with lamps, ‗yellow as honey‘ and ‗red as wine‘. He longs to enjoy the charming notes of music in the evening. Slowly and gradually the poet creates an imaginary pleasure place for his satisfaction and consolation. As a lord of Tartary, the poet longs to wear gorgeous dress, decorated with jewels. Jewels will be of white, gold and green colour and they will be clustered thick as seeds. In the morning, he would put on his royal robes with a sword in his belt. His carriage will be driven by ‗zebras seven‘, through dark glades of Tartary. Although this heaven-like wonder may not be feasible to achieve yet it is certainly possible and desirable of every person to enjoy it intellectually. The land of Tartary would be remarkable for its rich and abundant growth of fruits. It is rich in its resources. Its hills and rivers will add to its beauty. Its valleys and forests are green and dark with trees. It is known for its scented breeze and overflowing lakes. The chirping birds with their beautiful songs will transport the soul of man into happiness. It is a fertile land full of flowers, greenery and fruit. EXERCISE Tartary is a romantic poem. Discuss it. Like all romantic poets, he escapes into an idea and longed for world. It has always been a desire of man to consider him all powerful and mighty to attain power. He uses all means, foul or fair to gain endless power. The poets are sensitive people. They do not have the skill and art to attain power and derive pleasure out of this image of glory. Walter de la Mare also dreams of having great powers after becoming the lord of Tartary. It is the figment of poet‘s imagination. The poem is a journey into the realm of imagination.

The poem is romantic in its essence. The land of Tartary has been painted by the poet with various attractive and sensuous images. He imagines himself the lord of a land rich with all worldly resources. Like all the ancient kings, he longs to have an ivory bed and throne of beaten gold. His court will be attended by peacocks. The peacocks will walk and dance in his court. Fish will swim in his pools and tigers roar in his forests. In this way, he longs to rule not only men but animals and beats also. He wants he wants to be monarch of all he surveys. Although this heaven-like wonder may not be feasible to achieve yet it is certainly possible and desirable of every person to enjoy it intellectually. The land of Tartary would be remarkable for its rich and abundant growth of fruits. It is rich in its resources. Its hills and rivers will add to its beauty. Its valleys and forests are green and dark with trees. It is known for its scented breeze and overflowing lakes. The chirping birds with their beautiful songs will transport the soul of man into happiness. It is a fertile land full of flowers, greenery and fruit. The images used in the poem are highly romantic and colorful. The images of an ‗ivory bed‘, ‗golden throne‘, ‗dancing peacocks‘ etc. make the poem romantic. The image of the lord of Tartary, with a gorgeous dress sitting in a carriage, driven by seven zebras is a romantic picture. Discuss De la Mare as a lover of nature with reference to his poem ‗Tartary‘. OR Give your impression of Walter de La Mare as a poet after reading his poem ‗Tartary‘. Walter De La Mare is a romantic poet like Wordsworth. As such, his poetry deals with common place things. To make Tartary an ideal land, the poet has given a good proof of his love for nature. He believes that the beautiful scenes of nature and its enchanting sound are a precious treasure of delight and wonder for man. The poet has no liking for the industrial and mechanical life like William Davies. So the poet does not ignore the soothing and pleasing function of nature while giving the concept an ideal life. The poet wishes that his kingdom of Tartary should have all the variety of natural society. There should be thick forests, deep valley and tall hills. The sky of his country should be decorated with shining stars. It should be a land dazzling rivers, trembling lakes and foamless seas. He loves to have abundance of fruit trees that delight the birds and inspire them to sing cheerfully. On every morning he would love to ride through the dark glades of Tartary to enjoy the beauties of nature. Instead of driving an air conditioned Mercedes car, he likes to sit in an open coach driven by seven zebras. He likes to hear the songs of birds and to feast his eyes on the beauty of the green world. His dream of happy life remains incomplete without such aesthetic pleasure driven form, the world of nature. CREATIVE EXERCISES 1. What is the importance of the word ‗Tartary‘. Tartary was the paradise like region ruled by Changez Khan. This region was spreading over Turkey, Iran, Kashmir, Tibet and Afghanistan. This region was considered very prosperous and peaceful. On the same pattern Walter De la Mare wants to build his own imaginary state. It is an ideal land full of beautiful lands with difference fruits and crops of many colors.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTION by Elizabeth Sewell CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR What is the three resolutions which the poetess wants to make at the arrival of New Year? OR How does the poetess welcome the New Year? OR What is the real beauty of the poem, ‗New Year Resolutions‘? OR The poem is very brief, but is a master piece literature. OR The poem can be reduced to one sentence but it is still estimated as the highest form of literary expression. Discuss it. ‗New Year Resolution‘ may be taken as a precious piece of advice to lead a good and successful life in this society. Three sound and solid resolutions which the poetess makes at the even of the next year sum up the golden principles of a respectable life. According to the poetess, the life must be spent consciously and with a sense of discipline. It is absurd to spend lie in a care free and jovial manner. We must take stock of our good and week point throughout the year. We should try to correct our weaknesses by self-examination. It is our accountability by our own conscience which corrects our life. The poetess does not welcome the New Year in a traditional manner. In this brief but thoughtprovoking poem, she urges us to examine our own ‗self‘ in the beginning of every year. She wants to drink deep at the fountain of thoughts. It is only in quietness and moments of calm that she can search her own soul search in moments that she will purge out the sins and shortcomings of herself. This meditation may become a means of cleansing herself. It is with clean mind and soul that she will welcome the New Year. The poetess is a realist. She does not run away from the harsh realities of life. She wants to know her identity and nature quite impartially. She wants to know about herself and her duties to her fellow beings and to her God. In solitude man comes to know about his obligations in society. Being a husband, father, mother, brother, son, friend and citizen of a country he has different responsibilities. Again as a farmer, businessman, and a soldier and as an administrator or a clerk etc. one has to perform various kinds of tasks. Idealistic and unrealistic attitude of life create a lot of worries and troubles in our life. Although reality is bitter, ugly and painful yet we should accept it and learn to live with it. Therefore the poetess declares that she would like to pass the whole night in the ‗bony arms of Reality‘. As a result of the fulfilment of the above-mentioned resolutions she will be satisfied and comfortable. EXERCISE What new resolutions do you make? At the arrival of a new year different persons make different resolutions. Being a student I make my own resolution. I stop for a while in the journey of life to ponder upon what I have lost and what gained. Different calculations tell me that I have lost much as compared to what I have gained. Thus I begin to endeavour for improvement to make my personality better. Every time I find myself making resolutions to check the way of temptations. Every year I have resolved to avoid backbiting, flattery, lie and dishonesty. As long as I possess the owner of resolutions I avoid all these evils. Sometimes I feel myself weak but I get energy by my will power.

WOMAN WORK by Maya Angelou CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Write a character sketch of a woman in ‗The Woman Work‘. OR How far it is correct to say that the poetess in this poem has idealized female nature and role of woman in human life? The woman in this poem has been presented as a universal woman. This is the true role of a woman which has been given to her by God and by nature. A woman is responsible to maintain her home and contributes her love and energy to the peaceful life of home. The maintenance of home is not easy. It is possible only because a woman devotes herself completely to the small chores which apparently do not seem much important and valuable. The woman has to perform different duties at her home. The first duty of a man is to maintain her home and contribute her time and energy for running it. She has to perform manifold duties in and outside her home to run it properly. She works for the welfare of her family from dawn to dusk. She prepares breakfast for her children and makes them ready for school. She presses their cloths and makes them spick and span. She dusts her home and keeps it neat and clean. She goes to the market to shop for her home. Her miseries do not end here. A woman has to work in the garden where she roots unnecessary grass and makes the land fit for cultivation. She sows seeds in the land, waters it and harvests it. Though she feels her life dull, drab and mechanical she is so noble that she endures it silently. She expresses her desire to live among the objects of nature. She dreams of spending her time in the company of snow, rain, sunshine, seas and moonlight. These elements of nature will be freshness and calm to the fever of daily life. Her only recreational activity is to enjoy the open sunshine or to expose herself to strong wind. They will give her strength to bear the hardships and drudgery of life. We see that her contribution for the uplift of the family is very great. Without her services and cooperation domestic life cannot be smooth and enjoyable. EXERCISE how can nature be a source of relief and refreshment for a domestic lady? OR Describe briefly the poet‘s deep love of Nature as shown in her poem ‗Woman Work‘. The woman in this poem shows great love and appreciation for the beautiful scenes of nature. Nature leaves soothing effect upon her soul when the woman gets tired after performing her domestic chores. She wishes to seek charm and variety in its company. Though she feels her life dull, drab and mechanical she is so noble that she endures it silently. She expresses her desire to live among the objects of nature. She dreams of spending her time in the company of snow, rain, sunshine, seas and moonlight. These elements of nature will be freshness and calm to the fever of daily life. Her only recreational activity is to enjoy the open sunshine or to expose herself to strong wind. They will give her strength to bear the hardships and drudgery of life. We see that her contribution for the uplift of the family is very great. Without her services and cooperation domestic life cannot be smooth and enjoyable. In short, the exhausted and tired domestic woman turns to the blessing of Nature to sustain, nourish and refresh her.

THE REBEL by D. J. Enright CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Write a character sketch of the rebel in this poem. OR What does D. J. Enright want to say in this poem? OR What makes a young man rebellious? What should be our attitude towards him? ‗The Rebel‘ is a humorous poem motivated by a serious idea. Through the character of rebel the poet wants to emphasize the importance of individual liberty. Their eccentric behaviour has psychological reasons. They suffer from inferiority complex due to being the victim of neglect, and try to attract attention and appraisal of other people. The rebels are serious and solemn in themselves but they look funny and non-serous to us. The rebels in this poem the poem gives us the views, habits and manners of a young man, who is different from other people in every matter. Such a young man is called rebel by the poet. The rebel tries to assert his individuality everywhere. He is completely different from other people. For example, he grows long hair, when other people have short hair. When everybody has long hair, the rebel cuts his hair short. When everybody talks during the lesson the rebel remains silent. When everybody is silent in the class the rebel keeps on speaking and produces a disturbance in the class. When the people wear a uniform or simple dress, the rebel wears fantastic and colorful cloths. When he sits in the company of dog lovers, he speaks in favour of cats. When he sits in the company of cat lovers he gives his reference to dogs. When everybody goes to some function or meeting, he stays at home and reads a book. When everybody stays at home and reads a book, he goes to attend meeting. His behaviour is quite different from other people in every matter. When other people say ‗yes please‘ to some matter, the rebel says, ‗no thank you‘. When everybody says, ‗no thank you‘ to some matter, he contradicts him and says, ‗yes please‘. In the end of the poem, the poet expresses his liking for the presence of a rebel in society. He says that the presence of the rebels in society breaks the boredom of society. We should not follow the social evils blindly. In the last two lines the poet has masterly hit the blind followers. The poet emphatically suggests that the rebels should not be tolerated but appreciated in a progressive society. Because all the development in our culture. And civilization depends on constant change towards betterment and not on blind following and opposing change.

PATRIOT INTO TRAITOR by Robert Browning CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR What does Robert Browning want to say in this poem? This poem gives us the picture of a political leader who suffers a downfall in his career quite dramatically. The frustration of the political leader has been described in a graphic and realistic manner. The poet tells us about the reaction of the people that the common uneducated people have poor and immature sense of judgment and cannot judge justly the right from wrong. The people welcome the political leader with great enthusiasm. But due to some sudden stroke of luck or political crisis in country, they discredit his deeds. He is labelled as a traitor and his deeds are judged as misdeeds. This shows that the political leaders become a victim of the judgment of the common masses. The poem tells us many things about the immature and shaky judgment of common people. The uneducated common people are passionate and partial in thinking. The poem is also a criticism on the power-worship. This poem is a good example of unreliability of Time and public fame. Circumstances of life are always beyond the control of man. They take unexpected turn and may devastate all his enviable achievements. All these ideas have been illustrated through a political leader. As long as he is in power every one supports and loves him. He is respected and loved. But when he is out of power, all his supporters leave him. The political leader is welcomed with great love and enthusiasm as he steps into power. When he is taken to the gallows, he is left alone and is deserted by everyone. Browning‘s poetry is full of hope and optimism. The most important feature of Browning‘s poetry is the optimistic attitude of life. Browning tries to console the people by pointing out that if they get the rewards of their efforts in this world they will get nothing from God in the next world. He wants to assert man‘s faith in God. The heroes of his poetry do not lose hear in the face of hardships and trials. His poetry advises us to face the hardships of life courageously in every odd situation. The condemned leader in this poem tries to console oneself by thinking that he will get his true reward in the next world. God is the best judge of his actions and true intentions, and will reward him justly and suitable. Therefore, he is far better than those people who die after receiving full reward of their wordy deeds in this life. They will have nothing to demand from God on the Day of Judgment. As compared with them, he can hope to benefit largely in the life hereafter. So Browning‘s poetry gives us hope and courage to face life. The political leader in the poem is humiliated and disgraced in the end. He is going to be stoned at. But he still has faith in the reward of God. He thinks that people have not rightly judged his good deeds. They are sadly mistaken at it. But he hopes that God will reward him for his service to the public in the world hereafter. He accepts the gallows with the power of conviction and faith. EXERCISE What is dramatic monologue? Discuss this poem as a dramatic monologue. In a dramatic monologue on character speaks, while there are other characters on the scene. This poem is also a dramatic monologue. The unfortunate political leader is made to tell his story of rise and fall. He continues on speaking to some imaginary and silent listener. There is no one on the stage to interrupt him or answer his queries.

THE HUNTSMAN by Edward Lowbury CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR What does Edward Lowbury want to say in this poem? The present poem is based on a Kenyan folklore and carries a moral lesson that one should not talk too much. The poem narrates the story of a tragedy of a hunter. He is a hunter of lions, but the stroke of luck, he becomes a prey. The poem throws light on the fact that lie is a complicated affair. It is full of unexpected situations and mysterious facts. Sometimes it happens that the hunter becomes the hunted. The poem also points out that talking is a good thing but one should not talk too much. A man must be careful before he speaks. He must think before he speaks. The poem hint at the fact the Kagwa should not have spoken to the king. Kagwa spoke to the king to a carelessness and foolishness manner. That is why, he met his death. Kagwa did not know this fact. Had the known this fact, he would not have met his misfortune. The poem contains the elements of sick humour. It is also full of the elements of suspense and supernatural. The presence of the talking skull inspires dread in us. We try to know the mystery of the talking skull but fail. The end of the story of Kagwa is tragic indeed. The hunter becomes the hunted and his tragic death has a shocking effect on the mind of the reader. Deep irony runs through the poem. The irony of the poem is hidden in the fact that the hunter in the end and has to lose his life. Like all folk tales, it has a hidden message to convey to the readers. The poet suggests that we must be careful in our conversation with others. EXERCISE The poet uses very beautifully the elements of irony and suspense in the poem. Comment. OR Relate briefly how the huntsman becomes a victim of cruel fate. Irony is literary device which shows the reversal of the situation. It is also meant to show the unexpected results of an action based on innocence and good intentions. The huntsman Kagwa was a great hunter instead of hunting a new prey and he himself becomes a victim of his cruel fate. It is his ignorance of the naked realities of life that leads him to his ultimate ruin. The poem describes that he is simple person. He has good health. He is physically strong but he lacks wisdom. When he sees talking skull, he is emotionally excited. He must have control over his sentiments. He does not know that kings are trustworthy people. He goes to the king and tells him about the talking skull. The talking skull has told him about the reason of his death. He must have realized that he same loose and careless talk could have brought death to him. He talks to the king in a carefree manner and does not keep in mind the advice of the talking skull. This becomes the basis of irony in the story. If he had been wise, he must not have told the king about the talking skull. The suspense of the story is quite obvious in the last lines of the poem. ‗Talking brought met here‘. It was careless and loose talk which was responsible for the death of the talking skull. This secret has been unfolded by the talking skull. Kagwa does not follow his advice. He tries to learn the same secret at the cost of his own life. This is the suspense of the story. The reader waits a long for the end of Kagwa‘s story. His story ends with the end of his life.

ONE ART by Elizabeth Bishop CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Is this poem a true philosophy of life? ‗One Art‘ is a lightly satirical poem, expressing an important idea in a humorous manner. The poetess has discussed the question of peace and happiness in human life and need healthy attitude to attain it. She suggests that it is a loss of things which disturbs us. We should not feel sad at this. We should bear the loss costly as well as ordinary things with a brave heart. There are several things which have a tendency to get lost or misplaced. Their disappearance should not perturb us. In order to be skilful in the art of losing, we must lose something daily. ‗Lose something every day‘, is a sane advice on the part of poetess. We should not feel restless at the loss or door keys or the loss of time ‗badly spent‘. These small losses will prepare us to face the heavy disasters of life. The tone of the poetess is here humorous but it contains a word of wisdom of us. The poetess suggests that we should go on losing things faster and rapidly. ‗Then practice losing faster‘ can make us perfect in the art of losing. We must try to forget the name of places and people we have seen. This will dispel our fear of facing losses. The poetess happens to lose her mother‘s watch. She forgets the name of three houses where she has stayed and lived. She makes the names of a continent slip out of her memory. The forgetfulness of such important things does not bring ruin to her. She is not perturbed about the loss of her love, loving voices and happy gestures. She bears all these losses with courage because she has become skilful in the art of losing things. This poem is written in a mocking and half humorous manner. The poetess treats a serious subject in a non-serious and frivolous manner. But the message of the poem is clear. Man should not lose heart of face of hardships. He should produce in him a spirit of acceptance and resignation. The loss of door keys or loss of an empire should be accepted with smile on our face. It is only in this way that the defeat loses its bitterness and we form a healthy attitude to fact he odds of life. The ordinary tragic incident and the greatest disaster should be faced with out any fears. The art of losing means to live life without making complains. It means to live life hoping for the best and to be ready to face the worst. EXERCISE The poetess has used the elements of satire, humour and irony. How are they combined? Satire is a work of literature, theatre and speaking etc. intended to show the selfishness or evil of some establishment of practice in an amusing manner. The poem is a satire on the selfishness of those people who consider themselves wise not to lose anything. The poetess points out that every one of us loses his time, friend, money and precious things but does not admit it. He considers other people fool for losing such things but does not hold enough to confess this. Humour is the ability to amuse other. The aim of the humourist is to delight the people by pointing out the follies of others. When we learn that the poetess has lost many things, we cannot but smile at it. She describes in an amusing manner the things she has lost in her life. She remarks in a funny manner that she lost her mother watch. Then she lost a house. She remark in a funny manner that she does not remember whether it was her second or third house, which she lost. Then she goes on to say that she lost two cities both of which were beautiful. We can simply laugh at such a person who learns the art of losing things by practice. Irony is a mode of speech in which the meaning is contrary to the word. The poetess points out in the poem ‗the art of losing is not hard to master‘. By these words she means to say that the art of losing things is very difficult. It is very difficult to remain contented and resigned to fate. It is not

easy to lose one‘s friend, one‘s beloved, and one‘s kingdom without feeling undisturbed. But in an ironic manner the poetess tells us that the art of losing things is not difficult. THE SOLITARY REAPER by William Wordsworth) CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POE OR ‗The Solitary Reaper‘ as a romantic poem OR Do you think that Wordsworth‘s poetry deals with common people? ‗The Solitary Reaper‘ is one of the finest lyrics of Wordsworth. It is one of the top ten best poems of the English poetry. It is a romantic poem in its nature. Wordsworth‘s poetry deals with the problems of common people. His poems have farmers, workers, cottage dwellers, fishermen, and leech gatherers as their main characters. The Highland girl is also a common girl, who is innocent and lovely in her charms. She is a rustic in her manners. The poem is an exquisite lyric by Wordsworth. It strikes a new romantic note. In it subject matter as well as in its style, it presents a sharp contrast to poetry of the 18th century. The romanticism of the poem is evident from the following points. In the first place, it strikes a democratic note. Secondly, the poem is written in a simple and direct manner. It has nothing to do with the mannerisms of the 18th century. Thirdly, the poet treats the solitary reaper as an object of beauty, pleasure and mystery found everywhere in the world of nature. Romantic poetry does not deal with the subject matter only. But it is the novel and interesting way which makes the subject matter romantic and attractive. The beautiful song of the girl lingers in the imagination of the poet for a long time. Memory plays an important part in the romanticism of Wordsworth‘s poetry. Fourthly, the chief merits of the poem are its lyricism, pictorial quality, its romantic atmosphere, and sad sentiments. It combines in it all the elements of romantic school of poetry. There are for example the following lines which have a distinctly romantic note. ‗Far old, unhappy, far off thins and battles long ago.‘ Then there are references to the distant lands. The poet appreciates the sweetness of the girl‘s songs and takes us to the romantic lands like Arabia and Hebrides. The poem is written in a simple and direct language. Apart from its simplicity, the poem is rich in musical quality. ALL THE WORLD‟S A STAGE by William Shakespeare) CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM In the present poem Shakespeare compares the entire world to a theatrical stage, where all the human beings perform their allotted role given by the God. Every individual has to go through seven acts that are seven stages of man‘s life. In the first stage of his life man appears as child in the world. As a child, he is helpless creature. He cries in the arms of his nurse for one reason or the other. He cries and vomits. In the second stage of his life man appears as a child in the world. He goes to school with a bag hanging round his shoulder. He goes to the school creeping like a snail. He marches to the school unwillingly. In the third stage of his life, man plays the part of lover. He grows into a young man full of desires, ambitions and dreams. He becomes a romantic young man. He falls in love and sights like a furnace. He begins to write sad poems to his beloved he cannot control his sad feelings. In the fourth stage of his life man becomes a foul mouthed soldier who has learnt queer words at this stage, he tries to give himself a formidable look with a beard like a pard. He is emotional and

jealous. He quarrels with others for his honor and grace. He hankers after temporary and bubble fame. In the fifth stage of his life, he becomes a judge. He becomes mature and experienced in his thoughts. The heat of youth has completely cooled down and he becomes very realistic. He wishes to grab wealth by foul or fair means. He begins to accept bribe and thus adds much to his material comforts. He becomes ease loving and therefore becomes fat. His belly becomes round. He eats healthy fowls and chicken presented to him as a bribe. His eyes become severe and he grows beard of formal cut. In the sixth stage of his life, man grows old. He looks quite ridiculous in his movements. He wears glasses because his eyesight is weak. His shoe becomes wide for his feet. His voice suffers a change. It becomes a shrill and quivering whistle. In the final stage, man turn into a child once again. He seems to forget everything. He becomes ‗toothless‘. His eyesight is weakened and he is deprived of taste. He is ready to leave this world. Shakespeare has the seven stages of man‘s life with a touch of satire and cynicism. In each stage, man imagines himself great and important, but there is something ridiculous in his behavior all through his life. Shakespeare has described each of the man‘s life stage with great economy of words. He uses living and concrete images to describe the different stages of life. The use of the word ‗mewling‘ of the infant‘s cry and the school boy‘s reluctance for going to school described in phases ‗creeping like a snail‘ are examples of living images. DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL by T. S. Eliot CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Write a note on optimism of T. S. Eliot OR What are the views of T. S. Eliot on hoe and struggle in this poem? This poem builds our faith in the power of struggle. It is only through struggle and hard work that we can leave a better future to the coming generations. In his view, we stand upon the shore and we linger for a moment doubtfully. After some hesitation, we set sail on the sea of life. We are unaware of the deep waters of the sea. We do not know about the dangerous rocks hidden in the water. We are without a map. There is no one to make us unaware about the angers of the sea, but we accept the challenges bravely. The poet further develops the arguments and urges us to speed up our struggle to attain the ideal of life. He says that our path of life may be ‗torturous and slow‘. It may ‗bristle with a thousand fears‘. It may pose serious threats. But for a young man, it is still tempting and thrilling. He accepts the challenges of life bravely. To him ‗life appears to be a lane by which, the thorn and hawthorn grow‘. The future looks bright and rosy to a person who marches through the path of life with conviction and struggle. Being a poet of idealism and path, T. S. Eliot urges us to double our efforts to attain our goal in the 20th century. In his view 20th century has to offer us more and better opportunities than the previous ages. Modern age offers us better prospects for onward march. Our age invites us to explore new fields and new ideals in life. Our distant years may bring to us new heroes greater than the old ones. Who knows that man may overcome ‗pain and misery‘ and finish it for ever? This bright future that lies ahead of mankind can only be achieved by means of hard work and labor. We shall have to work hard to make the present age better than all the previous ages. It is, with eager heart we can ‗help mould well‘ the fate of his century. We should leave a ‗legacy of benefits‘ and bright future to the coming generations. The poet asks the young men to send high ideals before them and ‗labor for the good‘ till death. Only the courageous and Nobel deeps will

be remembered by the future generation. The struggle to make this world better place according to our lights is rewording in itself. This is a great poem of faith, hope and optimism. The poet is of the view that high ideals can only be achieved with courage and fortitude. He urges us to set high goals and strive undauntedly for their fulfilment. We must be guided by vision and faith. Nations and individuals wither away without faith and vision. EXERCISE The poet in this poem has used a metaphor of human life as a voyage. Discuss. The poet has used a metaphor of voyage for human life in this world. According to him, man‘s stay in this world is temporary. He comes in this world for a short time. After doing his duty, he is ready to journey to the world of eternity. During his stay in this world, he sets sail on the ‗ocean of time‘. He has a mission to perform. This bright future that lies ahead of mankind can only be achieved by means of hard work and labor. We shall have to work hard to make the present age better than all the previous ages. It is, with eager heart we can ‗help mould well‘ the fate of his century. We should leave a ‗legacy of benefits‘ and bright future to the coming generations. The poet asks the young men to sent high ideas before them and ‗labor for the good‘ till death. Only the courageous and Nobel deeps will be remembered by the future generation. The struggle to make this world better place according to our lights is rewording in itself. This is a great poem of faith, hope and optimism. The poet is of the view that high ideals can only be achieved with courage and fortitude. He urges us to set high goals and strive undauntedly for their fulfilment. We must be guided by vision and faith. Nations and individuals wither away without faith and vision. Wordsworth has defined poetry as ‗spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings‘. Do you find this quality in T. S. Eliot‘s poetry? Wordsworth has defined poetry as a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. It means that poetry is the outcome of our personal feelings and emotions. It is a matter of mood and inspiration. It flows from the internal feelings of the poet. When the poetic mood is in on the poet, he sings out his sorrows, joys and fears all of sudden. Poetry cannot be composed under pressure. It takes its birth in heart and not in intellect. When we study this poem we can say that the theory of Wordsworth regarding poetry cannot be applied to this poem. This poem by T. S. Eliot is highly reflective and thought provoking. It is an intellectual type of poem. It is burdened with a moral message. It seems to be the product of poet‘s intellect. It is not spontaneous overflow of feelings. Moreover, T. S. Eliot is a classical poet and he believes in polished verses. Wordsworth is a romantic poet and he stands for poetry of emotions and feelings, T. S. Eliot plans before versification. He presents sublime thoughts in his poems. A POISON TREE by William Blake CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR What does moral lesson William Blake want to convey through this poem? Generally William Blake in his poetry aims at giving the message of selfless love and universal brotherhood of mankind. According to him, life must be guided by vision instead of reason. It is the force of vision and imagination which restores balance and order in life. The soul of man is corrupted by evil passions of anger, hatred, and malice. If we conquer these evil poisons, we can create a happy and wonderland of bliss for us. The poet advises the readers not to nourish the anger and hatred against our friends and foes. He preaches love against hatred, trust against misunderstanding.

The moral of the poem is illustrated through a parable. The poet was angry with his friend. It was the result of some misunderstanding. He talked to his friend about his anger and the misunderstanding between them was over soon. It was discussion about the misunderstanding which destroyed anger. The poet points out that it is always good and desirable to discuss the cause of misunderstanding. We should not let our anger pile up and lead it to enmity. The poet was angry with his foe. He did not discuss the cause of anger with him. The anger continued to grow. The poet did another folly. He did not give vent to his anger, but continued to nourish it with fear, suspicion and doubt. He met his friend with a smile on his face, but inwardly he was with him. He was soft and gentle with him outwardly, but inwardly he nourished hatred against him. In this way, his behavior towards him was marked with hypocrisy. The poet kept on watering the plant of anger with hatred and suspicion. Soon it grew into a tree. The tree ‗bore an apple bright‘ of hatred. The brightness of the apple attracted his enemy and stole it in the darkness of night. In the morning, he found that his enemy was dead. The poem suggests the hidden meaning quite clearly. If anger is suppressed and kept secret for a long time, it gives birth to poisonous tree. Hatred is not a passion to be desired by any one. It is hatred which breeds hatred in turn. The poet‘s enemy was the victim of hatred. The enemy too hated the poet. This mutual hatred resulted into the destruction of the poet‘s enemy. EXERCISE Bring out the symbolism of the poem. OR Comment on the title of the poem. Do you think it appropriate? OR This poem is a psychological analysis of a spiteful person and his revengeful attitude. Explain. The poem is full of symbolical interpretations. The poem moves round a tree which has been introduced by hatred, fear and suspicion. The poet uses the symbol of plant growing into tree. He has used the legend of Adam and Eve living in paradise and falling of prey to the temptations of eating the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve found the forbidden fruit ‗charming‘ and fell prey to it. In the present poem the poet tells us that he felt angry with a man whom he considered his enemy. But he did not communicate his hatred to that man, in this way the plant of anger in his heart continued growing till it became a full-fledged tree of hatred and enmity. He continued watering it with his fears. His apparent civility served as sun shine for the growth of this tree. At last the free born an apple bright which looked sweet outwardly but was very poisonous in reality. The supposed enemy was tempted to eat it. He entered the garden under the cover of darkness to steal that apple. But he fell dead after that. Furthermore the act of theft is committed at night…….the time of darkness is associated with evil.

BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH by Emily Dickinson CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POE OR Emily Dickinson conceives death as a journey to eternity. Do you agree? OR Emily Dickinson‘s views death as a gentle and comfortable companion to man. Do you agree? OR The journey of the poetess in the coach of Death is actually the journey of a funeral procession to the graveyard. Do you agree to this view?

The poetess discusses the reality of death in the religious light. Her poetry deals with the theme of morality and immortality. Death was a central problem of her life. She lived at the place which fell on the way to cemetery. She saw death all around herself; in her family; friends and relatives. She was moved by death of babies and women. In this poem she deals death as a gentle friend and soothing companion. Her views on death are quite different from other poets. It is called a mighty leveller by the poetess. It strikes its icy blow on the rich and poor equally. It is thought something horrible and painful. People are afraid of it. But the poetess has presented death as a kind and gentle companion. As such it transports man to its final goal in a pleasurable manner. Moreover, the poetess has pointed out that death does not put an end to life. It is the beginning of a new life. It is an essential part of human life on earth. Man performs his journey of life from childhood to old age in the carriage of death. Death is very kind on man. Man forgets death in the pursuits of his daily life. But death does not forget him. It calls on him. According to the poetess death brings with it a wonderful sense of peace and religious serenity. The poetess conceives death not an end to human life but a beginning to immortality. In her view, we must face death with calm and serenity. EXERCISE Is there anything in the poem to suggest that it is written by a woman? The poem contains many references which suggest that it is written by a woman, death in the poem has been presented as a suitor and lover. It was the tradition in London and America in the past years that the suitor would go a journey on a long ride with his beloved. Death has been personified as a lover and it transports the poetess to her eternal home. The gown and the tippet are worn by ladies. We can conclude in the light of above discussion that the poem has been written by a woman. Do you think that there is an element of fear in the poem? OR Does the poem inspire fear in us? This is a thought provoking and beautiful poem on death. Death has been considered as a painful and horrible thing on earth. But the poetess has presented death as a kind and gentle companion. As such it transports man to its final goal in a pleasurable manner. Moreover, the poetess has pointed out that death does not put an end to life. It is the beginning of a new life. It is an essential part of human life on earth. Man performs his journey of life from childhood to old age in the carriage of death. Death is very kind on man. Man forgets death in the pursuits of his daily life. But death does not forget him. It calls on him. According to the poetess death brings with it a wonderful sense of peace and religious serenity. The poetess conceives death not an end to human life but a beginning to immortality. In her view, we must face death with calm and serenity. Write a note on the symbolical significance of the poem. Emily Dickinson has used symbols in this poem. School children, gazing fields, and setting sun represent childhood, youth and old age respectively. As the poetess believes in life after death, she points out to her inadequate gown, not strong enough to protect her body. In fact she is pointing to the inadequate good deeds which could not protect her soul in the next world. The gown is, thus symbol of deeds which protect her from wrath of God in the next world. The image of the ride in the carriage has a dual significance. It is a journey from life to death, from the physical to the spiritual, from time to timelessness. In this way it is the journey of life from cradle to grave. ‗The swelling of the ground‘ is the symbol of grave.

LIGHTS OUT by Edward Thomas CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Sleep is a power urge, comment. This poem is a beautiful description of sleep. The poetry of Edward Thomas is marked with his love of the ordinary things and people of the English Countryside. Trees and flowers are always with him. It is not wrong to say that half the birds are there by name and nature in his poems. In this poem he views sleep from a very interesting angle. Sleep is very powerful thing. It has a dominating over all human interests and activities. No man can withstand its lure. It is a great source of comfort and relief. After a day‘s hard work, man likes to go to sleep. Sleep removes his weariness and makes him fresh. Sleep is very might and powerful thing. The poet compares it to a forest whose depths are not known. Sleep is such a forest in which everyone is lost. Sleep has an equal influence on everybody. The pious and the wicked have to yield before it sooner or later. It levels everybody. People work from dawn to dusk. They remain busy in their jobs and pursuits. At night when lights go out they find themselves in the lap on sleep. Sleep is the end of everything. Feelings like love, despair and ambition come to an end. When a person is attacked by sleep, he forgets everything. He throws away the most interesting book. He divorces from his mind the faces of his dear friends and relatives. The poet wishes to go into the unknown forest of sleep without holding anything in his mind. He doesn‘t know how he will overcome this difficult experience. A study of the poem fills us with a sense of gratitude for the blessings of sleep. God is praised for bestowing on us the gift of sleep. Sleep provides joy and pleasure to us. It puts an end to our activities. The poet‘s submission to the force of sleep is total and unconditional. He surrenders before the magical power of sleep and drifts into the valley of silence. The poem seems to have a hidden and implicit idea of death in it. Death and sleep are closely related. After death, the activities and pursuits also come to an end. The poem is written in a simple language. It makes an interesting reading. EXERCISE Do you think that the poem has a hidden and implicit idea of death in it? OR Does the poet compare sleep to death in this poem? Sleep has been often treated as death by English poets. Sleep is regarded as death for obvious reasons. Sleep as well as our death takes away our consciousness and awareness from us. In this poem, the poet compares sleep to a deep forest, where everything is lost. Death is also a sleep forest where man loses his worldly pursuits and desires and ambitions. In this poem, there are hints which suggest that the poet has death in his mind while he is writing about sleep. Imagery of the leaves, darkness, foliage trees etc. is fit for the theme of sleep as well as death. Sleep is said to be mighty and powerful thing. Same is the case with death. When sleep comes, it conquers everybody. The wicked and the pious are helpless before it. All our joys, ambitions and pains are lost in the forest of sleep. Same is the case with death. Death levels everything. The rich and poor, the wicked and the pious, the king and the masses are helpless before it. Death puts an end to our worries, grief, joys and hopes. The poet has presented the theme of death and sleep very intelligently in the poem.

APPLE PICKING by Robert Frost CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Discuss the symbolic meaning of the poem OR What does the act of the apple picking actually mean? OR Do you thing that the thoughts contained in the poem forecast death? OR Discuss the poet‘s love for nature in this poem. This poem has been explained by critic on symbolic level. The poem forecast the poet‘s old age and death in the long run. It is matter of general observation that a man is always dissatisfied with what he has done in his life. This feeling is quite intense when he is about to depart from this world. He remembers the desires not fulfilled, the tasks not accomplished and the duties not performed at the end of his life. The apple picking may be taken to symbolize the tasks of life. The writer has been extremely preoccupied with the task of life. He is in the winter of his life. He feels like drowsing. He is near his death; for winter can symbolize decay, drowsiness and death. The poet‘s emphasis on the task of apple picking shows that on the whole, he is satisfied with his work. But there are still some desires which remain unfulfilled in his life. There are certain tasks which man wants to perform but death comes to him. The ladder pointing to the sky symbolizes the high and unlimited human ambitions. The apples stand for worldly interests, while the halffilled drum represents the achieved as compared to the unachieved in the human life. The fall of evening, the winter sleep and the intoxicating fragrance of apples symbolize natural weaknesses of human body that prevent the fulfilment of human tasks. The barrel in the poem stands for heart of man which is never full of worldly ambitions. It is this sense of accomplishment that is implied in the following lines: ‗And there‘s a barrel that I did not fill‘. The scent of the apples is spread in the garden. The essence of winter sleep is on night. The poet takes to another sight indeed. The poet remembers another scene which indicates much about his love of nature. In the morning, he happens to remove transparent sheet of snow from the chilled water of trough and hold against the white snow grass. The piece of snow is melted now. The poem gives us many hints about the pastoral activity. In his dream, the poet hears the rumbling sound of apples pouring in the small store room. He is tired of the apple picking. The injured or damaged apples are preserved for wine. The description of the apple trees, the apples and the frosty scene of the evening speaks fully of the poet‘s love of nature. The images uses in the poem have also been taken from natural sights. The words like apples, blossom, apples‘ fragrance, harvest, and snow have been taken from the world of nature. We can say that this is a beautiful lyric on the pot‘s love for nature. EXERCISE Do you think that the sleep which the poet enjoys is an ordinary sleep or something else? OR The poet leaves the explanation of human sleep to the reader‘s mind. What is your opinion about the sleep? OR Explain the last four lines of the poem. The poet has very carefully hinted at the essential character of his sleep in the last four lines. He compares his sleep to the hibernation of wood-chuck. The wood-chuck digs holes in the earth

and hibernates there throughout the winter. His sleep is a long. The author says that this animal can only tell us as to whether the poet‘s sleep is just like his. If we study the poem critically, we can say that the poet‘s sleep is nothing but death. It is at the approach of death that poet recollects the tasks he has done and the task which he has yet to complete. This sense of incompleteness haunts his mind. At the sane time, he recounts the tasks which he has completed. It is a common experience with every one of us that we take stock of our present and past achievements at the time of death and try to count the one which is left unfulfilled. The poem suggests that the sleep of the poet is nothing but the arrival of death. Can you find out the points of comparison between the poem ‗after apple picking‘ and ‗light out‘?

THE VANISHING VILLAGE by R. S. Thomas CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Do you find any element hopefulness in this poem? OR This poem excites the feelings of despair and hope about the future of human civilization. Do you agree? The poet has painted a dark and disappointing picture of village life in this poem. It seems to be haunted village. It has scarcely a street and too few houses. Its inhabitants have left. Here the poet suggests that urbanization of cities has forced the villagers to migrate to the cities. That is why the villagers in the modern age have become empty and deserted. In the deserted village, there is only left one tavern and one shop. The houses are also in bad shape. The streets of the village have disappeared. There is a just one path lead to the short hill. The hill to is eaten away by long erosion of green tide. The green grass which once covered the hill has withered. The village offers us a gloomy and dismal picture of life. It suggests the negation of life. The deserted village is the symbol of the waste and barrenness of modern life. Like the vanishing village, the signs of healthy life have disappeared from modern life. There is waste and wilderness everywhere in the world. The forces of death and destruction have overpowered the forces of life and birth. The poet feels very sad at this change. The poet continues to build sad and gloomy picture of the deserted village in the rest of the poem. He says that ever the black dog, which once tried to ‗cracking his fleas‘ has also died. There is however, one way of hope in this gloomy village life. There is a girl who crosses from door to door and in this way connects the village life and nature. The presence of the girl in the village does not lessen the gloom of the village but by contrast it adds to its total annihilation. The deserted village is not going to disappear at all. Perhaps this is the central them of the poem. The poet believes that the unchecked migration of the village people to the cities goes unchecked. But the basic unit of civilization and culture is still a village. A village still remains the most powerful unit of life in the world. It has to play a meaningful role in the social evolution explained by the great thinker Plato. The poet yearns for the survival of the previous colorful life and activity of the ideal Greek village. He is sad and serious at the vanishing of the basic unit of civilization. In the destruction of that village, he sees the annihilation of village life with its golden traditions and social values. He sincerely believes that village life still holds an important position in the modern human civilization. In the poem, the barren wastes of life have been contrasted with the regeneration of life. The poet longs to retain the village in the modern set up of the world.

WHEN I HAVE FEARS by John Keats CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Do you find any element hopefulness in this poem? OR This poem exist the feelings of despair and hope about the future of human civilization. Do you agree? The poetry of Keats is remarkable for its love of Nature, imagination and rich description. The theme of pain, death, and beauty are also found in abundance in his poems. This sonnet is about death. He wrote this sonnet at the beginning of 1818 when he was only 23 years old. Three years later, he died, in a way, the sonnet proved prophetic. Keats also knew that he could not live very long because he had consumption in his family. In this sonnet we are told that the poet is haunted by a fear of imminent death. He developed a sense of despair at it. He has lot of things to write about. His brain is teeming with ideas and imaginations and he wants to covey them to people through his poetry. The poet believes that he has capacity to become a great poet. He is filled with fear to think that he might be snatched away by death before he becomes great and records his ideas. The poet is highly afraid of death. He is an artist with rich imaginations. In case of his early death, the world will be deprived of many lofty and grand themes he wants to write in his poem. He looks at the star. The shapes of the clouds suggest to the poet‘s rich fancy themes for romantic poems. The poet is afraid lest he should die before he interprets the mystery and the wonder of these cloud symbols. The poet is worried that in case of his early death, he will be deprived of fame, which he rightly deserves. In the last part of the sonnet, he turns to his fair love lady. He is actively pained to think that with his death, he will be permanently separated from her. Never again, he will deprive the joy of the passionate and heavenly love. The poet feels very unhappy at the fear of his early death. He apprehends that an early death might rob him of his poetic fame and love. These top things love and fame seem to him to be fine gifts that life can bestow upon him. He imagines standing on the shore of the world and is likely to be swept away be the waves of the ocean of eternity. He is only a tiny particle. This makes him realize the futility and unimportance of earthly ambitions. Love and fame which he so much aspires to gain in life appear to him to be totally meaningless. It is remarkable that the poet never mentions the word, death in the sonnet. The phrase ‗cease to be‘ is far more effective in it suggestion of death. The image of harvest is typically Keastian and original. The pen is compared to ‗the harvest sticks‘ and the thoughts of the brain to the ‗full ripened gain‘ laden with grain sheaves. It is a fanciful image and suggestive of Keats‘ love for nature. EXERCISE Two of the Keats favorite themes are touched in this poem is love and beauty. Discuss. This poem is beautiful sonnet on death by Keats. The poet is afraid of his early and premature death. His brain is teeming with mature and romantic thoughts. But his early death is likely to deprive him of presenting his ideas to the world. The poem also deals with the theme of love and beauty. Both love and beauty are the favorite themes of Keats‘ poetry. Both the themes have been presented in many of his other poems like ‗Ode on a Grecian Urn‘, Ode to Nightingale‘ and ‗Endymion‘.

Here both the themes have been touched with an autobiographic touch. The poet was madly in love with a beautiful girl Fanny Brawn but she did not properly appreciate his feelings and sentiments. This unsuccessful love broke his heart. The poet addresses his beloved and calls her a fair creature of an hour. He believes that her beauty and youth are temporary things. He calls that her death will not let her enjoy the pleasure of looking on her charming face. According to the poet, Love and Beauty are quite short lived and temporary when views them standing on the shore of eternity. The poet feels greatly consoled when he finds himself entering into the world of eternity after his death. He feels that beauty and love lose their importance when he will start his journey to the eternal world. KUBLA KHAN by S. T. Coleridge CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Discuss Kubla Khan as a romantic poem. Coleridge is an eminent romantic poet. The salient features of his poetry are supernaturalism imaginative flight and narrative power. He is also a master of words and melody. He is a lover of color and has a much trained ear for music. This poem is a product of his imagination. It is really the outcome of a dream. The poem has been described with most vivid picture of words. Kubla Khan ordered a pleasure-dome to be built for him. The river Alph flowed nearby. It passed through deep caverns and ultimately ran into the dark sea. The pleasure-dome was surrounded by walls and towers for about ten miles. There were also a number of gardens in which fragrant trees grew. There were forests too. In the midst of this romantic setting on the slope of a hill, there was cleft. Out of this opening, a fountain sprang up. It emitted huge fragments of water which ran into the form of rive. The river flowed for five miles and then sank into the stagnant sea. There was an Abyssinian damsel who was playing on her musical instrument. The melody of her note beggars description. Her sweet music enraptured the poet greatly. If he reproduces that music again, the readers would consider him some haunted spirit. They would ask each other to enclose the poet in a circle and close their eyes with mixed feeling of terror and reverence. The poem is very great as regards its romanticism. The poet has created a dream-like atmosphere throughout the poem. It paints a pleasure garden, a dome and a sacred river with minimum words possible. The whole scene of the pleasure-dome is built round suggestions and images. The imagery and the music of the poem take us to a romantic world. The pleasuredome, with its description of the river and fragrant flower trees seem to take us to paradise. There are echoes of Milton in the beautiful dream poem. Her song inspires the poet so much that he wants to create his poetry with the same force and the same imaginative flight. Throughout the poem, Coleridge refers to things of the past. We find in the poem such things cacred river, the Abyssinian maid and the Mount Abora. This gives the poem romantic touch.

HAWK‟S MONOLOGUE by Ted Hughes CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM OR Write a short note on the character of hawk. How does he symbolize the activities of tyrannical rulers? The poet in this poem has expressed his views about human nature and human life indirectly by describing the nature, activities and thoughts of a hawk. The all-powerful often forget that their power may become the cause of their downfall. The poem is written in the form of a dialogue.

In this poem, the hawk is the main character who boasts of his supremacy over all other creatures of God. The hawk is sitting on the top of a tree. His eyes are closed. He is power drunk. He is sitting idle but he claims that he knows his action well. His hooked head and hooked feet never forget to prey their victim ever when they are inactive. They can hunt, kill and rehearse in sleep also. The hawk claims that he suffers from no delusion of power. He is sitting on a tree higher than other birds. This is a position of advantage and supremacy for him. He receives the sun‘s rays and pleasing effect of the air contrary of God. The earth too raises its face upward to salute him. His feet firmly grip the branch of a tree. He boasts that he is the crown of all creatures. His each foot and each feather is fashioned by God with extreme care and beauty. He flies up in the air with full freedom and joy. He is the monarch of all surveys. He has the power and authority to kill anything anywhere. He is very powerful and mighty. It is his habit to tear off the heads of his victims. He is merciless and inhuman. His main aim is to plunder and destroy. The path of his flight is filled with the bones of the living. He has the absolute authority to kill and destroy others. Nobody has the right to question hi. The hawk goes son to assert that nothing is going to change. He has going on in his destructive activities for centuries together. His eye has ‗permitted no change‘. His supremacy and excellence are permanent and are not going to suffer any change. The Poem points out the basic truth which is heard by all power drunk rulers. These rulers suffer from delusion and fail to face the realities of life. The over-powering spirit leaves them with no change to retreat. They worship the image of power. They do not know that everything is bound to decay and die. Their tragic end is wrapped in their passion to rule others. They shut their eyes from the fact that there unlimited powers contain the seeds of death and destruction. In this respect, the hawk is a tragic figure, who fails to see the points of his weaknesses. The poet wants to give us a message that they way to success cannot be achieved by wishful thinking. For hold and courageous there are no hurdles that can deviate them from their mission. So we must have high aims and strong determination to achieve our purpose. SAY THIS CITY HAS TEN MILLION SOULS by W. H. Auden CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM The present poem is a satire on political and religious discrimination. The pot describes the pathetic condition of the outsiders to a country. In this view, such immigrants lead a life below animal level. In this poem the poet gives a picture of America where class distinction exists completely. There are people who live in lofty and high buildings and there are other people who live in holes. But there is no room for those who come to this country from other countries for protection and shelter. The poet recalls there pathetic manner that one they had a country of their own. It existed in the ‗Atlas‘ of the world. It was very dear to them. But now they cannot go back to that country. He remembers the different scenes of his country. In the village of his country, life was very simple and pure. They grew a yew tree in the grave yard which blossomed in every spring. But they cannot go back to see that tree and they have built up an atmosphere of hatred and distrust against them. The old passports are a hindrance in their going back. The old passports do not let them establish their lost identity. The poet is very sad at the inhuman treatment which he meets at the hands of passport officials. He is told that without a passport, he is officially dead. He feels as if he had no entity. He is not allowed to go back to his country on an expired passport. He feels that he is still alive but the officials of the embassy treat him dead.

The poet narrates and incident of maltreatment which he suffers at the hands of the officials of the embassy. They offer the poet chair but ask him to come to them next year. The poet has gone there to settle the case of his citizenship. The pot is wonderstruck at his decision. He asks where he should spend his next year. This problem is faced by every immigrant. The immigrants are treated with hostility. It is feared that they will snatch the bread of the local people. A sort of general hatred exists against them. The politicians, the thinkers and the press are against them. The poet goes to the sea port and sees the fish swimming freely in the water. He sees the birds in the trees, which enjoy more freedom than human beings. Perhaps, they enjoy this freedom because they have no politicians in them. They are fortunate because they are not human beings. The poet laments that there are very high buildings in America. They have ‗a thousand windows and thousand doors‘. But it is pity that none of them is meant for immigrants. On the other hand, they are suspected as an enemy to the country by thousand soldiers who are deputed to check their identity. They are likely to be killed by these soldiers. The poet has been successful in painting the miserable plight of immigrants and refugees in this poem. The refugees suffer physically as well as emotionally. They are isolated and alienated from the main lot. The point of the poem is that man is imprisoned in a thousand shackles of race, nationality and passports. Human life falls beneath the animal level. EXERCISE Point out the typically urban elements of this poem. The present poem is a satire on political and religious discrimination. The pot describes the pathetic condition of the outsiders to a country. In this view, such immigrants lead a life below animal level. In order to describe hatred and alienation for the refugees the poet has selected an urban scene. The homeless Jews have tried to seek refuge in a bid city of America where ten million souls live. The city has thousands of houses with numberless doors and the Jews are not allowed to enter in any one of these houses. Such as selfish and cruel attitude is found only in big cities. It is also in big cities that people keep pet dogs and cats and pay more attention to them than human beings. There are many things in the poem which relate to the city life. The poet talks about ten million souls and we know that one can live only in the city. Also the words like ‗passport. Chair, table, committee, are related to urban life. The poet goes to the office of the embassy; the Consul gives him a chair but does not solve the problem. The poet talks about the public meeting where the speaker is seen talking. The poet mentions about Hitler and Europe. He talks about a poodle in a jacket, harbour, politicians, soldiers and thousand windows and doors. POLITICS by W. B. Yeats CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM This poem conveys the idea that emotional satisfaction derived out of the pleasurable experience of love dominates rational faculty of man. The poem is a contrast between the reality of politics and that of live. The poet advocates the power of imagination reason. According to the poet, love is a mite and powerful thing. It exercises a deep influence on the mind, heart and soul of man. The poet himself has the opportunity to make love to many women in his life. Many of his poems are addressed to Maud Gonne and Lady Gregory, the women whom he loved and admired. His knowledge of love centres round his personal experience. That is why he depicts the various moods of love in realistic and power manner. Modern age is remarkable for its interest in politics. Politics has entered into every field of life. Religion, art and culture have been corrupted by politics. It has raised quarrels and disputes among the nations of the world. In spite of its wickedness, the influence of politics in the modern

world cannot be ruled out. However, there is something better in the world than politics. It is love. Love is supreme and excellent. It is above petty quarrels and bickering. The poet refuses to be dragged into the dirty game of politics. He does not show any interest in Roman, Russian or Spanish politics. He does not want to know that is happening in these countries. The girl standing there symbolizes youth and beauty. She offers a better alternative to the world of politics the world of politics and wars. The world of power politics appears meaningless in the face of this. The poet builds his point of view from another angle. He does not deny the power of politics. He points out that a well-developed person may have a broad vision of life. He may have an adequate knowledge of the political situation of different countries. He is well read and a well thought person. His arguments on politics are weighty. His knowledge of the current affairs of life is sound. His analysis of the world politics may be correct. But in spite of all his sound knowledge and judgment, he cannot be considered better than that of a true lover. True love conquers all fields of life and enlightens out mind and soul. It moves our heart to things of nobility and grandeur. Politics in spite of tis influence holds inferior position to the power of love. SNAKE by D. H. Lawrence CRITICAL APPRECIATION OF THE POEM The novels as well as the poems of Lawrence are marked with his hatred for mechanical way of living. His hatred is directed against man‘s lust for money and his lust for affected love. He wanted love to be strong and animal but not lustful. He hated reason and the use of mind in everything. He is for old simple and plain life of ancient days. He holds that the old civilization is better that the industrial civilization. One hot summer day, the poet happened to see snake, drinking water from his water container. The poet was coming downstairs to fill his pitcher with water. The water container was lying under the scented shade of a carob tree. The snake came here from a hole in the wall. The poet did not come downstairs. He was afraid of the snake. The snake was beautiful to look at. It had golden skin. It rested his throat on the edge of the stone water container. Her sipped water with his straight mount and passed it into his long body, silently. The snake lifted his head form drinking as cattle do. Then he pushed his two forked tongue form his lips and mused form a moment. He stooped and drunk a little a more. The poet was terrified to see the snake. His education told him to kill him because the snakes of Sicily were known to be poisonous and dangerous. It guided him to take a stick and finish him off to prove his bravery and manhood. But the poet liked the snake because he was beautiful and also a great. It was cowardice on his part to kill the snake. It was not perversity that he wanted to talk to him. he considered it an honor not to harm his guest. The snake drank the water again and felt satisfied. He began to draw into the hole or the wall. As the snake was entering his body into the hole, the poet felt great horror at it. It did not hit the snake but the last part of his body seemed to be disturbed by it. The snake rushed at into the hole and disappeared. The poet felt ashamed of his mean act and considered it to be the product of his education. The poem can be interpreted on many levels. The snake in the poem represents the forces of darkness, brutality and ignorance. These forces harm man no doubt, but they should be crushed with power and authority. They must be conquered by the use of creative and intuitive powers. The poet has drawn the conflict power the uses of rational power intuitive powers. The poet listens to his rational voice and attacks the snake only to regret his mean and vulgar act.

The snake becomes a king, a lord of the underworld and a god. The poet is reduced to shabby human beings who feel remorse at his mean act. The poet feels that he must expiate for his pettiness. The use of the word expiation suggests that he looks upon his act as a violation of a religious bond. EXERCISE Point of the symbols of the poem. OR Why does the poet curse education and rationality? The novels as well as the poems of Lawrence are marked with his hatred for mechanical way of living. His hatred is directed against man‘s lust for money and his lust for affected love. He wanted love to be strong and animal but not lustful. He hated reason and the use of mind in everything. He is for old simple and plain life of ancient days. He holds hat the old civilization is better that the industrial civilization. One hot summer day, the poet happened to see snake, drinking water from his water container. The poet was coming downstairs to fill his pitcher with water. The water container was lying under the scented shade of a carob tree. The snake came here from a hole in the wall. The poet did not come downstairs. He was afraid of the snake. The snake was beautiful to look at. It had golden skin. It rested his throat on the edge of the stone water container. Her sipped water with his straight mount and passed it into his long body, silently. Our intellect and reason promote the forces the darkness, brutality and ignorance. Under the influence of these forces, man has become cruel to creatures of God. He does not live with birds, beasts and animals with peace. He has forgotten the rule of co-existence. The poet wants to impress us that everything has its own place in the pattern of Nature. Man should not deprive other creatures of their right to live. It is sinful to attack an innocent creature without any reason. It is education and rationality of man which guide him to commit acts of violence and cruelty. It is our instinctive nature which makes us noble, kind and sympathetic towards other. A rational and education man is haunted by ignoble fears, superstitions and doubts.

The Old Man and The Sea CHARACTERS IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA SANTIAGO (The Old Man) Santiago, the old man, is a fisherman by trade, living a simple lonely life in a coastal colony. He is the chief character of the novel. This novel describes Santiago‘s adventure with the giant fish marlin and then his fight with the sharks, which throws light on the old man‘s personality and various aspects of his character. He has been without a fish for the last eighty four days. He is old, physically thin and gaunt person. He fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. Everything about him was old except his eyes, which were full of colour of the sea and were cheerful and undefeated. According to boy Manolin, Santiago is the best fisherman, with a unique ability and skill in his profession. He is an idealist for whom fishing is more than an occupation. It is not merely a way of making money; it is a way of life. Santiago has lived an ordinary poor man‘s. As a small boy he started his fishing career as apprentice on a boat and it was very thrilling and adventurous for him. He had been on African seacoast, where he saw lions running and playing about in jungle. Those pleasant days were still dream and enjoyed by him. In his youth he had been very strong and powerful man. In a hand game contest, he had defeated the Negro and won the title of the champion. Santiago is a man of determination and resolution. After eighty four days he decides to go far out to catch a big fish. He succeeds in catching a big Marlin, but he loses the battle at the hands of the sharks. But he remains undefeated because he has gone on trying. His victory is a moral victory. His belief in that, ―Man can be destroyed but not defeated‖ established him a man of strong determination. The old man does not become impatient or desperate rather he is determined to stay with the marlin until death. He tells the fish, ―I will kill you dead before the day ends‖. He has first-hand knowledge of the sea and its creatures that he has acquired through lifetime experiences. He judges the behaviour of the marlin and of the sharks very accurately. Though he wants luck, but he believes in the techniques and skills. He says, ―It is better to be lucky. But it should rather be exact‖. Santiago is not an ordinary fisherman. He loves all the creatures and forces of universe. He calls the baited fish his brother. Not only fish, but also birds, wind and sea are regarded as friends by him. He thinks that man is never alone on the sea. He thinks that killing the fish was perhaps a sin. But he argues that everyone was killing someone else and survival of the fittest was the law nature. Santiago has a sportsman spirit and takes very keen interest in the baseball. He reads sports column in the newspapers and talks about it with great zeal. During his fishing adventure he wishes to have a radio to listen news about the matches. When weak and exhausted during his struggle with sharks he remembers how Di Maggio, a great baseball hero could continue playing in spite of pain in the spur bone. He attaches great value to valour and courage than resulting victory. He appreciates the noble struggle of the marlin. But he challenges the huge marlin with the remarks, ―I will tell him what a man can do and what he can endure.‖ He knows that the marlin is superior to him in all aspects except intelligence. The marlin does not know that there is a single handed, weak old man with whom he has to fight. During his fight and struggle with the sharks he knows that he cannot fight and kill all the sharks and the loss of the marlin is inevitable. He wishes not to have killed the marlin. He condemns himself again and again for going beyond the ordinary fishing boundary yet he does not give up the struggle and determines of fight with them until death.

There are men and men but every stone is not a gem. In fact, he is the epitome of noble human characteristics. The brave manner of facing danger and fighting till death is the moral lesson he wants to convey to the readers. The greatness of man should not be measured by the mere achievement of his result but by the strength of his spiritual. MANOLIN (The Boy) Manolin is the second important character in this novel. We are introduced with him in the beginning where he is shown as an obedient, respectful and sincerely devoted disciple of the old man. He has been assisting Santiago in his fishing excursions since his childhood, and learning the art of fishing from him. At the opening of the story the boy has been already withdrawn by his parents as Santiago had failed to takes any fish for forty days. Manolin is Santiago‘s only companion in the old age. The old man is leading a secluded life in the hut. His wife has died and he has no issue. Now he helps Santiago in his fishing preparations, brings him bait for catching big fish and also carries fishing gear and other things to his boat. He brings him beer and coffee from the Terrance and also provides food to him when needed. Although Manolin wants to learn the craft for fishing from Santiago, yet his attachment with him is not merely for material benefits. Both have deep spiritual attachment with each other. Manolins‘ feelings are badly hurt when he looks at the old man‘s broken condition and wounded hands after his return from fishing adventure. He weeps bitterly and administers for his comfort and hot coffee. During conversation he offers him his full cooperation and ties his level bet to console and make him cheerful. Santiago depends on the boy in all matters. He really fulfils a vital emotional need of the old man. They have a mutual sense of understanding. In the course of his voyage the old man remembers the boy time and again. Santiago knows that if the boy had accompanied him, he would have rendered him full assistance in hunting the huge marlin. He would have massaged his cramped hand and helped in wetting the coils and other things. So the boy is a source of great inspiration for the old man. The idea of the boy revives the image of his own youth in his mind. The boy and the lions together help him in a notable way to endure his ordeal. They are both related to one of the fundamental psychological laws of Santiago‘s nature. As the boy recognizes and admires the unique ability of Santiago as a great fisherman, the old man unconsciously tries to prove himself to his estimate. He says, ―I told the boy I was a strange old man; now it is time when I must prove it.‖ The author elaborates it. ―The thousand times that he had proved it meant nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it.‖ At the end of the novel we see that the boy‘s welcome to the old man on the shore and inside the hut was great spiritual tonic for him. It pulled him out of the depths of grief and brought him back to the heights of hoop and joy and life normally in society. The inner fighting spirit and courage of Santiago was revived by Manolin‘s encouraging talk and inspiring presence. THE MARLIN (The Baited Fish) The baited fish is also a character in the novel. Santiago calls it by the title of brother. Santiago is the hero of the story and the marlin that he has hooked is the hero of the sea. The fish takes old man‘s skiff for hours and hours and thus heroically proves his greatness equal to that of Santiago. This huge fish lives one mile down in the deep sea. The fish is very claver; he puts the hook on one side of his mouth. The old man fears that he would jerk again and again and if he jerked too often he would throw off the hook from his mouth.

We learn a lot about the marlin from the old man. It is bigger than his boat. It was a big scythe like blade and purple strips. It was a huge fish eighteen feet long. Its weight was fifteen hundred pounds. It had purple and silver colour. The fish is very attractive and dignified. To the old man he appears experienced. He is a male fish. The only flaw with him is that he does not know that his adversary is a single-handed weak old man. In order to catch fish the old man had to say prayers. He also promises to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin de Cobre if he caught him. The old man admires him throughout and justifies his right to kill him in return, and says, ―I don‘t care who kills who‖. Important Lines of “Old Man and the Sea” for Quoting As Textual References: 1) ―If you were my boy, I‘d take you out and gamble,‘ he said. But you are your father‘s and your mother‘s and you are in a lucky boat.‖ 2) ―Que Va (what does it matter?)‖, the boy said. ―There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you.‖ 3) ―I may not be as strong as I think,‖ the old man said. ―But I know many tricks and I have resolution.‖ 4) ―Fish, he said softly, aloud, ―I‘ll stay with you until I am dead.‖ 5) ―Fish, he said, ―I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you and dead before this day ends.‖ 6) I wonder why he jumped, the old man thought. He jumped almost as though to show me he big he was. I now know anyway, he thought. I wish I could show him what sort of man I am. 7) ―How do you feel, fish?‖ he asked aloud. ―I feel good and my left hand is better and I have food for night and a day. Pull the boat, fish.‖ 8) I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers. 9) He felt faint again now but he held on the great fish all the stain that he could. I moved him, he thought. May be this time I can get him over. Pull, hand, he thought. 10) You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or nobler thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who. 11) The old man felt faint and sick and he could not see well. But he cleared the harpoon line and let it run slowly through his raw hands, and when he could see, he saw the fish was on his back with silver belly up. 12) ―He took about forty ponds,‖ the old man said aloud. He took my harpoon too and all the rape, he thought, and no my fish bleeds again and there will be others.‖ 13) You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive, and you loved him after. If you love him, if is not a sin to kill him. 14) Now they have beaten me, he thought. I am too old to club sharks to death. But I will try it as long as I have the oars and the short club and the tiller. 15) ―The hell with luck,‖ the boy said. ―I‘ll bring the luck with me.‖ „The Old Man and the Sea‟ - Writer: Ernest Hemingway Question # 1: Write a note on the soliloquies and monologues of the old man. Answer: A soliloquy a device which is employed to reveal the inner-most thoughts of the speaker. Here the speaker speaks to none but to himself. A monologue is a speech by one person who speaks alone. It may be distinguished from the soliloquy by the fact that the monologue is addressed to someone. The novelist has used both these devices to being to light the inner working of the old man‘s mind. Throughout the adventure with the giant fish and his fight with the sharks in the sea, the

novelist has shown him talking to himself, to huge fish, marlin, to a small bird, Warbler, and to the sharks. This is his loud thinking. The novelist has used the techniques of soliloquy and monologue for the following reasons: Being a lonely soul, Santiago does not appear to have close relationship with other fishermen. There is only the boy, Manolin, who comes to him to learn the art of fishing. Later on, he too leaves him on the orders of his parents. He is thus left alone. He feels himself lonely. To get rid of the sense of loneliness or isolation, he sometimes talks to the huge fish, marlin, and sometimes to the other creatures of the sea. Being far out and all alone on the sea, he also thinks loud of the Boy, Manolin, the lions, watched by him on the African Coasts during his youth, the baseball champion, DiMaggio, and his victory over a Negro in Hand game completion. While on the ocean, Santiago speaks to the huge fish, Marlin as: ‗Fish I‘ll stay with you until I am dead.‘ Another major reason of his talking to himself has been described by Santiago himself as: ‗If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy,‘ he said aloud. ‗But I am not crazy, I do not care. And the rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball.‘ It is clear that he has no sources of communication that is why he talks to himself. If he had radio he would not have talked to himself. Another important technical aspect is that Santiago has to remain on the sea for a long time and if there is no communication with the readers, they will not understand anything about their hero. For better understanding of the readers the devices of soliloquy and monologue have been used. Question # 2: What are the interests of the old man besides the fishing? Answer: Santiago is by birth a fisherman. Fishing is his source of income and livelihood. In addition to fishing Santiago has many other interests and hobbies. Santiago is deeply interested in the game of Baseball. He takes keen interest in reading the newspapers in order to receive first hand information about the Baseball game. He takes interest in the league matches of this game. In fact, reading of the news of baseball in the newspapers gives him endless joy. The interest in this game is an inevitable part of his daily life. Santiago‘s interest in the game of hand wrestling is also notable. He is a great player of this game. Once in his youth he fought and won with a contest in had wrestling. He had contested a big Negro. The Negro was a recognized hand wrestler in the area. The old fisherman felt himself encouraged after the contest. No doubt it was a grand contest between Santiago and the Negro. These are the chief interest and hobbies of Santiago in addition to his fishing. Question # 3: Is Santiago believer of Christianity? Justify or otherwise your answer. Answer: Santiago has been introduced as a religious old fisherman but, he is, however, not a staunch believer in Christianity. When he suffers and is engaged in his struggle with a big fish, the marlin, he says that although he is not a religious fellow, yet he is believer in Christianity. ‗Blessed Virgin pray for this fish, wonderful thought he is‘ Santiago‘s allusion to Christ to God and to Virgin is simple appeal to strengthen him when he is in trouble. Before he is able to hook the fish, the Marlin, he exclaims with uncertainty. ‗Christ know he (Marlin) cannot have gone.‘ When his left hand has become temporarily useless, he says: ‗God help me to have the cramp go.‘ Nevertheless, he does not solely depend upon God‘s help. He massages his cramped hand and exposes it to the sun. He, however, think that his prayers to God, to Christ, and to Virgin may also help him. So Santiago‘s faith and belief in God is not sole but man‘s capacity to endless suffering.

Question # 4: Is Santiago a superstitious man? Explain. Is the old man superstitious? Justify or otherwise. Answer: Santiago is not superstitious character. Having remained unsuccessful for eighty four days, he believes that he may succeed in future. He is a realist and believers in his skills and the techniques of fishing. He tells to the boy (Manolin). ‗Every day is new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. They say when luck comes you are ready.‘ Santiago‘s ideas are real. He believes in the power to endure suffering. The suffering provides a basis for hope and faith. He tells the Boys: ‗I may not be as strong as I think‘, the old man said. ‗But I know many tricks and I have resolution.‘ Santiago feels that he has committed no sin by killing the big fish, the Marlin. He attacks the sharks. He knows that the attack of sharks is not surprising. His defeat by the sharks is due to his going ‗to far out‘ on the sea. All this is beyond the limits of the human beings. He also feels that he has betrayed the Marlin through ticks. He never shows any sign of being a superstitious. Question # 5: “The fish is Santiago‟s friend and enemy at the same time.” Discuss and explain the statement. Answer: In fact Santiago, the old fisherman, is both compassionate and cruel towards the fish, Marlin. Obviously, attitude towards the marlin is that of a benevolent-cruel fisherman. Santiago‘s adventure and fight with the big fish brings to light that the fish (Marlin) is the old man‘s both friend and enemy at the same time. The following textual references while his struggle with the marlin, are noteworthy. I. ‗Fish ————– I love you and respect you very much but I will kill you before the day ends.‘ II. ‗The fish is my friend too.‘ III. ‗There are three things that are brothers: the fish (Marlin), and my two hands.‘ The novelist also tells us about Santiago‘s feelings of friendship and enmity for the giant fish, the Marlin as: ‗Then he was sorry for the great fish (Marlin) that has nothing to eat and his determination to kill him (Marlin) never relaxed in his sorrow for him.‘ The above textual references show that Santiago loves and respects the big fish, but at the same time, he feels the fish that he will certainly kill him before the day ends. He treats the Marlin both as a friend or brother and as an enemy. ‗Come on and kill me, I do not care who kills who.‘ Question # 6: Read the following extracts from your novel (The old man and the sea) and answer the questions given at the end. Questions: i. “I will show what a man can do and what a man can endure.” Hemingway, the novelist, is referring to one of the old man‟s quality here what is the quality? ii. “The old man was wet him with sweat and tired deep into his bones.” The old man was deeply tired, but still did not give up. Explain how he had to bear pain? Answer: i) In this extract, the novelist is referring to the old man‘s quality of ‗endurance‘. It is his power to face the sufferings. He wants to win his goal. He wants to hunt and kill the giant fish, the Marlin. He has already hooked this big fish. The sight of the big fish, Marlin, is a symbol of his stimulus to move towards his goal. The old man says: ‗Let him (Marlin) think I am more man than I am and I will be.‘ Santiago compares himself with the huge fish, Marlin, when he says:

‗I will show him (Marlin) what a man can do and what a man endures.‘ It is the quality of endurance, resolution or determination. He wants to do something for the achievement of his goal. Killing the Marlin shows of symbolizes the old man‘s goal in life. It is a goal that is far off and the way leading to it is full of hardships and dangers. Santiago‘s voyage towards his goal causes him much pain. ii) In this extract, the novelist tells us that the old man was wet with sweat. He was dead tired. He had his prolonged adventure with the big fish, marlin. He had hunted it. He lashed it along one side of his skiff for his return voyage towards the sea shore. In the meantime, the sharks arrived there. The old man already expected them. The sharks came to attach the dead fish one after the other and then in groups they snatched away the flesh of the fish from the old man. It is here the novelist tells us that the old man was already wet with sweat and was dead tired. But he fought a heroic fight with the sharks. The old man‘s hands were badly cramped. But he did not yield to the sharks. He faced all the pain heroically. He remained undefeated despite his outward defeat by the sharks. His victory over the sharks was no doubt a moral victory. Question # 7: Is to retain a thing more difficult in the American Society than to obtain the same? Explain. Answer: The novel ‗The Old Man and the Sea‘ highlights Santiago‘s quest for a big fish. He wins the battle against the giant fish, Marlin. He is gifted with courage and strong will power. He addresses the big fish, Marlin as: ‗You are killing me fish. But you have a right too. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or nobler thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.‘ It is now evident that it has become difficult for the old man to prolong and retain his big fish with him. The sharks prove to be more terrible enemies for him than the marlin. In his struggle with the marlin, the old man comes out victorious. But in fight with the sharks to save the Marlin from them Santiago suffers a defeat. The sharks attach the Marlin time and again. Ultimately they snatch away from the poor old man all the flesh of the Marlin. As Santiago is a member of American Society, he fails completely to retain the Marlin. No doubt the Marlin was obtained after a prolonged and painful struggle. The author is fully justified in concluding that it is more difficult to retain a thing than to obtain it. Question # 8: Once the old man said, “His hope and his confidence have never gone. But they were freshening as when the breeze arises.” Explain. Answer: Santiago believes in hope. To him it is sin not to hope. For eighty-four days he fails in catch in any fish. But even then he does not fall a prey to sadness. He has a firm faith and selfconfidence. He goes far out on the sea. He is all alone. On eighty-fifth day, he succeeds in catch in a big fish. It is all the result of his firm faith in hope. At the same time, the old man is a believer in realism. He is not superstitious. He does not believe in luck. He depends on his technique of fishing. He succeeds in hunting the big fish. According to him, hope and confidence are two important pillars of success. In this regards, he is a spokesman of the novelist, Hemingway. Question # 9: Justify the ending of the novel, „The Old Man and the Sea‟. Answer: Some critics are of the view that the ending of the novel is not justified but most of the critics are of the view that the author is fully justified. The old fisherman goes far out on the sea. He hopes to catch a big fish. After a constant struggle of forty-eight hours, he succeeds in hunting a big fish, Marlin. He lashes it with skiff.

The sharks come out to attack the big fish, Marlin. The old fisherman fights like a hero but all his efforts end in smoke. At last the sharks snatch away the whole flesh of the big fish, Marlin. The old man is left with nothing except the skeleton of the fish. He returns to the seashore. It is a heroic fight. It is the struggle. But he fails to protect the big fish, Marlin. The novel is a story of ‗gain and loss‘. It provides the readers a satisfaction. The author wants to justify that human life does not depend on success or failure. Its greatness lies in constant struggle and invincible will power. The old man loses the battle but does not lose his heart. The ending of the novel is natural and realistic. Question # 10: Would you call the novel a tragedy, if so, does it carry a sense of moral order. Discuss. Answer: According to Aristotle a tragic hero is one who has the following qualities: i. He is better than ordinary human beings. ii. He suffers because of his mistaken act or his error of judgment. iii. He exhibits great endurance in face of sufferings. He may die or fail miserably at the end. iv. There is an inner conflict, which keeps the hero in confusion. v. His suffering may arise pity and terror. In the light of above points we see that the old man is a perfect tragic hero. Question # 11: “Nothing is easy” the old man in the novel „The old man and the sea‟. This is what Hemingway wants to convey us that every one has his challenges in life to meet. Discuss. OR Discuss and explain Hemingway‟s novel as symbolic one. OR „Man can be destroyed but not defeated.‟ Discuss and explain. OR „It is silly not to hope —————— Besides, I believe it is a sin ———————- I‟ll fight them (Sharks) until I die.‟ Discuss and explain this statement. Answer: The novel is highly a symbolic composition. The old fisherman believes in hard work. He does what he is born for. He shows heroism in his every day‘s work. He ventures all alone. He fights with the big fish, Marlin. He uses his full strength, will power and determination. He wishes to prove his worth against a worthy adversary, the marlin. He says: ‗I will show him (Marlin) what a man can do and what a man endures.‘ Santiago addresses the big fish Marlin as: ‗You are killing me, fish. But you have a right to —- come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who. Eventually he succeeds in harpooning the Marlin. The killing of Marlin has a symbolic meaning. Although the old man is physically weak, yet he is not ready to surrender. In fact, life is constant struggle. The sharks do represent evil faces. It is the theme of the novel, ―Man can be destroyed but not defeated.‖ Question # 12: Does the incident of the land bird, a Warbler (which comes to rest on the Santiago‟s skiff far out at sea) reveal his sense of brotherhood with creatures of the water and the air? Explain. Answer: When the old man is busy in his struggle with the giant fish, Marlin, there comes a small bird suddenly. It comes towards his skiff from the North side. It is flying every low over the surface of the water. The old man thinks that the bird is extremely tired:

Later on, the small bird, Warbler, flies to the back side of the skiff and sits there for taking rest. After some moments, it flies and sits on the line of the fishing rod where he seems to be feeling more comfortable. It is here that Santiago asks this small bird: ‗How old are you? Is this your first trip?‘ The bird looks at Santiago when he speaks to it. He again speaks to the bird as: ‗It‘s steady‘, the old man told him. It‘s too steady. You shouldn‘t be that tired after a windless night. What are birds coming too?‘ Santiago affectionately advises this small bird to take some rest on the fishing line. He treats the small bird in such a manner as if it was his friend and companion, on the sea. It is just to say that Santiago‘s affectionate attitude with the small bird, Warbler, on the sea, reveals his sense of brotherhood with the creatures of the water and air. Question # 13: What is the symbolic significance of the following? i) Baseball ii) De Maggio iii) Boy iv) Lions v) Hand Wresting Completion Answer: i. Baseball: We notice that the old man and the boy are equally interested in the baseball. They have enough knowledge about its teams, its champions, and the results of the matches. It is their hobby, but it also shows that how enthusiastic and full of life they are. During the course of his fishing adventure, Santiago wonders what the result of the league matches has been. Then he tells himself: ‗Now it is not time to think to baseball. Now is the time to think of only on thing. That which I was born for‘ The baseball has a symbolical significance because the games teach a man to live and fight in the world. They are a symbol of discipline in our life. ii. De Maggio: De Maggio, the baseball champion has also significance in the story. The baseball reminds him, of the great players. De Maggio is worshipped by the old man like a hero. He is the symbol of endurance, because he could play despite pain and suffering. The old man says: ‗De Maggio does all things perfectly even with pain of the bone spur in the heel.‘ The old man himself wants to be perfect and exact. He hangs the lines at different depths of fathoms. Thus De Maggio also becomes a source of strength, courage and endurance. iii. The Boy: Santiago misses the boy time and again during the adventure. He badly needs his company. The boy has the greatest significance for the old man. The old man has transmitted his ideas, his characteristics, his values and above all the art and tricks of fishing to the boy. In fact, he wants to transform his physical and spiritual personality in the boy upon whom he bestows his fatherly affections. The boy is not only his apprentice but a son and companion as well. Since the boy‘s absence in the fishing adventures he has begun to talk loudly to avoid pressure of loneliness. iv. Lions: The thought of lions is also a source of inspiration for the old man. Lions remind him of his childhood when he was free and full of energy and when he enjoyed to look at the lions running and playing in the jungle at sea coast. The lions symbolize the old man‘s youth and his youthful strength. They provide him an additional stimulus. All such thoughts serve him as psychological props to boost his moral. v. Hand-Wrestling: The thought of hand-wrestling competition with the Negro also serves him as a source of inspiration. He has defeated the Negro who was regarded the strongest man on the docks. The match had continued for more than twenty-four hours. Santiago had won the

competition and was given the title of champion. This was the biggest achievement of his youth. During the adventure, the fight was revived in his mind to inspire him. Question # 14: What is Social Significance of the Novel? Answer: The social significance of the novel can be noted by the situation of the chief character Santiago. Santiago lives a lonely life but he greatly depends on the physical and spiritual support of the boy. The boy has not only been fishing assistant to Santiago, but also companion and friend. The boy serves him with coffee and meal and takes care of his comfort in the hut. He also helps him to carry the fishing gear. The image of the boy is always with the old man during the fishing adventure. He remembers him time and again and wishes he had the boy with him. Every new crisis reminds him the necessity of the boy. The boy could have rubbed the old man‘s cramped hand. He could have wetted coils and could have relieved the old man for rest. A spiritual kinship exists between the old man and the boy. The restaurant owner sends him food and drink. The wine shop owner supplies him old newspapers. The concept of social solidarity and our inter-dependence for a good civilized life is clear from the novel. The deprivation of social life creates many problems for a man. The old man has begun to speak loudly since the boy left him. The old man says, ‗No man should be alone in old age.‘ Hence the lonely deprived life of the old man stresses the importance of peaceful family life for individual. The old man himself enjoyed a good family life when his wife was alive. In the sea when the old man is alone he tries to create a social atmosphere by speaking to the fishes, birds and other surrounding objects. He calls them brothers and friends. If we notice the old man in isolation on the sea, it is because the nature of his profession forces him to venture in isolation. Question # 15: What is moral significance of the novel? Answer: The moral aspect of the novel has been much emphasized in the novel. The author has laid great stress on human values. These values are of fundamental nature for civilized human life. The theme of the novel which defines all difficulties remains undaunted in the face of all calamities and disasters. The story of the novel is remarkable for it stresses on what man can do, and on the world as an arena where heroic deeds are performed. His steadfast struggle for a big catch and wait patiently for eighty five days make him an unusual man from the very beginning. He is sorry for the birds because they have a harder life than human beings. He also feels a great love and sympathy for the giant fish marlin that he was hooked and is determined to kill. Santiago‘s general conclusions about the human behavior are also significance. Challenging his adversary he says: i. ‗I will tell him what a man can do and what a man can endure.‘ ii. ‗Man has not been made for defeat. Man can be destroyed but cannot be defeated. Question # 16: What is Religious Significance in the novel? Answer: This novel has also a great religious significance and purpose. In the course of his adventure with the giant fish marlin, and his fight with sharks, Santiago prays to God. He does not think himself to be a religious person, but he possesses all those virtues which religion enjoins upon man. He promises to say that ‗Our fathers‘ and ten ‗Hail Marys‘ if he succeeds in catching the huge fish marlin. In this he also promises to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin de Cobre. Santiago‘s deep religious faith can be noticed as he analyses his own actions from moral and religious aspects. He feels troubled by thinking that he may have committed a sin by killing the marlin. At last he comes to the conclusion that it was no sin because he loved the marlin when it

was alive and he loved it afterwards. He gets over the feelings of his guilt by thinking that the marlin was born a fish and he was destined to become a fisherman. Then he said to himself: ‗Do not think about sin. It is much too late for that and there are people who are paid to do it. Let them think about it.‘ There is also the crucifixion imagery which gives the novelist religious character and significance. Santiago‘s sufferings are depicted in terms of the sufferings of the Holy Christ. For example, we read Santiago‘s feelings as if nails have been driven though his hands into the wood beneath. Further we read about carrying a mast on his back and struggling up the hill under the heavy burden. In the end, the author tells us that the old man has fallen asleep with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up. Such allusions, to the old man‘s sufferings can certainly move a Christian and remind him of the entire story of Holy Christ‘s martyrdom. Question # 17: What did the boy and the old man discuss about the lottery? Answer: The boy and the old man had great love for each other. They discussed ordinary matters quite friendly. They talked lucky 85 and 87 numbers on account of their previous fishing experience and proposed to buy a lottery ticket with terminal number 85. They also discussed that they could manage to buy tickets by borrowing two and a half dollars but the old man rejected the proposal with the remarks: ‗But I try not to borrow. First you borrow then you beg.‘ Question # 18: How did the old man use his fishing skill? Answer: The old man used his fishing skill as great expert. He rowed the boat gently to keep the lines straight up and down and at their proper depths. He looked down into the dark of the water. He kept them straighter than any one did, so that at each level in the darkness of steam there would be bait exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swan there. He kept the lines with precision. Question # 19: What was the idea of the old man about luck? Answer: The old man always hopeful about luck. He would never get disappointed. His faith in the ability of man was unshakable. In his opinion a man destroyed but not defeated. He believed more in man‘s ability than that of luck. He says: ‗Who knows, may be today. Every day is new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.‘ It shows that his belief in luck was not blind. He preferred to be more practical than merely being lucky. Question # 20: Had the old man any mysticism about turtles? What were his ideas about them? Answer: The old man had no mysticism about turtles although he had gone in turtle boats for many years. Most people were heartless about turtles because a turtle‘s hear will beat for hours after he had been cutup and butchered. But the old man had sympathetic attitude towards them. The old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs. He believed in their strength. He ate the white eggs to give himself strength. He ate them all though may to be strong in September and October for the truly big fish. He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the shack where many of the fishermen kept their gear. Question # 21: How far the old man was familiar with the various kinds of fish in the sea? Answer: The old man was very much conversant with all the creatures of the sea. He could minutely differentiate in their movements and actions. Once during the night two porpoise (small whales) came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing. He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female. He said: ‗They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish.‘

Question # 22: How did the old man compare himself with the big fish hooked by him? Answer: ‗Comparing himself with the big fish the old man said: ‗When once through any treachery, it had been necessary to him to make a choice— his choice been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people—beyond all people in the world. Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either one of us.‘ Question # 23: What memorable incident of his life did the old man recall? Answer: While on the sea, the old man recalled a memorable incident of his life. He had played the hand game competition with a Negro. The trail of strength continued for one day and one night. Each one was trying to bring the other‘s hand down to the table. Blood came from the finger nails of Santiago‘s and Negro‘s hand. The people suggested that match should end in draw, but Santiago who was then young, did not agree. At last Santiago defeated his opponent and he was declared the champion. This established his reputation among the fishermen. Question # 24: Describe briefly the fight between the old man and the big fish. Answer: When the old man hooked the big fish, the fish pulled the old man in his boat for two days and two nights. On the morning of the third day, it rose to the surface. It began to swim round the boat. The old man struggled to bring the fish near. When the fish came close to the boat, the old man attacked the fish and drove the harpoon in its flesh. The fish leapt and fell dead. Question # 25: Describe the old man‟s fight with big Mako shark that attacked the big fish. Answer: The old man laid the big fish by the side of his boat and sailed towards the shore. As soon as the sharks smell blood on the water, they rushed to eat the dead big fish. First, a big Mako shark attacked the fish. The old man saw it, picked up his harpoon and stuck the head of the shark. The shark was fatally wounded, it swam away and dead. But it took away the old man‘s harpoon Question # 26: How did the old man fight with other shark which attacked him after the Mako shark? Answer: Two hours after the old man killed the Mako shark, two more sharks came. They had smelled the blood and were exited. The old man took up the oar. He tied his knife to it. One of them came under the boat and pulled the meat from the big fish. The old man drove the knife into the brain of the shark. It was killed but it had swallowed a part of the big fish. The other shark came and the old man stabbed it into the eye. He twisted the knife; the shark slid down and was gone. Question # 27: Give a description of a big fish. Answer: The big fish was about eighteen (18) feet long its weight, as guessed by the old man, was 1,500 pounds. Its colour was purple and silver. The fish‘s eyes looked like mirror in a periscope. The old man called it a thing which is great, calm and beautiful. Question # 28: Write a note on Santiago as an optimist man. Answer: Santiago is a staunch optimist. He is never dejected by the adverse circumstances. He is always hopeful and looks at the bright side of the matter. Even after eighty four days of failure in catching a fish he remains hopeful. During his fishing adventure of the huge marlin, he knows the fish is experienced and can ruin him, but he is fully confident to kill the fish. He challenges the fish saying. ‗I will tell him what a man can do, and what he can endure.

Question # 29: What were the feelings of old man about the boy? Answer: The old man had the feelings of great affection for boy, as he generally looked at him with his unburned loving eyes. When the boy was called back by his parents and attached to work on another boat, considering the old man most unlucky, the old man said to boy: ‗If you were my boy, I‘d take you out and gamble, but you are your father‘s and your mother‘s and you are in lucky boat.‘ The above statement shows the old man‘s parental affection for the boy in spite of having affective influence over the boy; he does not allow him to work on his boat against his parents‘ desire. He is also sincere with the boy and does not employ him for selfish ends. The old man strongly remembers and desires the boy‘s company in his fishing adventure when he is in great trouble. He remembers his again and again as he was remembering his own son. Question # 30: What did the old man think about his cramped hand and what was his idea about the feeling of nausea? Answer: The old man felt sorry why he was not born with both good hands. He guessed that it was perhaps his own fault in not training that one properly. But again he thought that the hand had enough chances to learn. He also justified its role because it had cramped only once. Then he decisively decided, ‗If he cramps again let the line cut him off.‘ The old man could not tolerate the feeling of nausea. He thought it better to be light headed than to lose his strength from nausea. The eating of dolphin created a feeling of nausea in him. At last he crushed himself as stupid for not eating the flying fish that did not create nausea in him. Question # 31: Why did the old man think of dish meat and why did he fear that bad time was coming? Answer: The old man thought that the quality of the great fish meat was good and he also knew that it would bring the highest price in the market. But at the same time he also feared of shark‘s attack on the big fish as there was no way to keep its scent out of water. Thus the old man knew that a very bad time was coming because the smell of fish blood was constantly inviting the sharks to follow the boat. Question # 32: What are the old man‟s views about good luck and how could he deserve it? Answer: The old man think that he should have some luck at least to safely transport the half eaten fish to home. But he argues with himself and says: ‗You violated your luck when you went too far outside.‘ But he is not completely disappointed. He criticizes himself and says: ‗Don‘t be silly, and keep awake and steer. You may have much luck yet. I would like to buy some if there is any place, they sell it.‘ What could I buy it with? He asked himself. Could I buy it with lost harpoon and a broken knife and two bad hands? ‗You might,‘ he said, ‗you tried to buy it with eighty four days at sea. They already sold it to you.‘ I must not think nonsense, he thought. Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her? I would take some thought in any form and pay what they asked. I wish I could see the glow from the lights, he thought. I wish too many things. But that is the thing I wish for now. He tried to settle more comfortably to steer and from his pain he knew he was not dead.

Question # 33: Why, among all the Spanish people, the hero is an American? Comment it. Answer: It really looks strange that most of the characters in the novel are Spaniards or carry Spanish names. Spain had been ruling Cuba and vast areas of South America until 1898 when she lost her empire in the Spanish-American war. Spaniards had settled in the US much earlier, and later too during the Spanish rule over the Western hemisphere. The novel represents the social life of the Spaniards most of whom happen to be fishermen and workers on the sea cost as, by and large, the Spanish community was poor and backward. Cuba and Havana were not far away from the American mainland, and their coastal areas were the fishermen‘s paradise. The life and personality of Santiago, the Cuban or Spanish or American or someone else, is presented as very different from those of other fishermen who were mostly Spaniards. Spaniards were mostly practical and worldly whereas he was idealistic and spiritual in his approach to life. But his life and vision were the result of his personal ideas or philosophy or outlook on life. Nowhere in the novel does he claim to be Cuban or Spanish or American as he was above nation and nationality. However, Santiago is a city of north-western Spain (and also the capital of Chile in South America). If Santiago, the grand hero‘s name, is after the Spanish city, it can be said that his forefathers were Spaniards, and later he settled in Cuba with the Spanish Settlers.