Realism

Realism is broadly defined as the faithful representation of reality. Realism is the product of the
reaction against Romanticism, influence of rational philosophy and an interest in scientific
method. Realism is a movement in art, which started in the mid 19th century in France and later
spread to the entire world , it is related to the 19th century movement , Naturalism. In literature,
writers use realism as a literary technique to describe story elements, such as setting, themes,
characters, etc. without using elaborate imagery such as similes and metaphors. Ex: The Rape of
the Lock- Alexander Pope

Sprung Rhythm
Gerald Manley Hopkins invented Sprung Rhythm. It is a new type of strong stress meter. It
requires an equal number of stressed syllables per line, but the number of unstressed syllables can
vary and therefore so can the line length. In other words, sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm
designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech, that is characterized by metrical feet or irregular
composion, each having one strongly stressed syllable and an indefinite number of unstressed
syllables. Sprung Rhythm’s partly intermediate structure makes it a bridge between regular meter
and free verse. The fist two lines of Hopkin’s “ Spring and Fall” provide an example of his use of
Sprung Rhythm.
Margaret are you Grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?

Dramatic Monologue
A Dramatic Monologue is any speech of some duration addressed by a character to a second
person. Dramatic monologue is a poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character,
it compresses into a single vivid scene a narrative sense of the speaker’s history and
psychological insight into his character . Dramatic monologue, however does not designate a
component in the play but a type of lyric poem that was perfected by Robert Browning. In a
dramatic monologue, the poet writes in the voice of a character who speaks directly to the reader
about his/ her life.

Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is a philosophy that measures the virtue of anything or any action by means of its
utility. According to English philosophers and economists Jeremy Benthav and John Staurt Mill,
an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of
happiness . Utilitarianism is a reaction against egoism. Charles Dickens in ‘Hard Times’ heavily
criticized Utilitarianism.

Marxism
Marxim is a body of doctrine or materialist philosophy developed by Karl Marx which tries to
interpret the world based on the concrete,natural world around us and the society we live in. In
general terms, Marxism is the world view of social, economic and political conditions.
 Marxist Elements in Oliver Twist:-
● Exploitation of children
● Class stratification
● The ‘have nots’ seen as merchandise
● “Capitalism alienates workers from themselves by seeing them in terms or production”
● The working class community would live better lives as criminals than as proletariat
workers.
Marxist Elements in Ulysses:-
● “Little Profits”
● Class stratification
● Savage mice” refers to the class differences
● Use of terms such as - labor, useful
● “ He works his work, I mine”

Victorian Novel
The Victorian age ( 1837- 1901) is the age of the novel or fiction as novel became the leading
literary genre in English. The Victorian novel made rapid progress as it was the best means to
present a picture of life and due to the increase of the reading public.

Features
Themes ( concern with the condition of Victorian Society - wrote as satirists/ novelists/
humansists)
Imagination Rendering of Reality (despite mass poverty + concentration of richesin few hands,
they believed that these evils were temporary)
Loose plots (novels were formless)
Characterisation (gave importance to character and not action, like Neo classical novelists)

Victorian Morality
Victorian morality is defined as ‘ the distillation of the moral views of people living during the
time of queen Victoria’s reign, Victorian Era( 1837-1901). It refers to the moral climate of Great
Britain in the mid 19th century. There existed zero tolerance towards sexual promiscuity and
breaches of law. Morals such as truthfulness, family, duty, charity, personal responsibility, strong
work ethics, religion, morality and elitist thinking were prominent Victorian Morality changed
England totally by altering the very thread of social interaction, morees and traditions.

Ulysses
Alfred Lord Tennyson

● WRITING STYLE OF TENNYSON IN ULYSSES

This poem is written as a dramatic monologue: the entire poem is spoken by a single character, whose
identity is revealed by his own words. The lines are in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, which
serves to impart a fluid and natural quality to Ulysses’s speech. Many of the lines are enjambed, which
means that a thought does not end with the line-break; the sentences often end in the middle, rather than
the end, of the lines. The use of enjambment is appropriate in a poem about pushing forward “beyond the
utmost bound of human thought.” Finally, the poem is divided into four paragraph-like sections, each of
which comprises a distinct thematic unit of the poem.

● ULYSSES AS A DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE?

The poem 'Ulysses' by Alfred Lord Tennyson is a dramatic monologue by definition. A dramatic
monologue, a genre sometimes identified with Romantic and Victorian poetry, is defined as a poem that has
the following characteristics:
1. It is written in the first person, but with a narrative persona that is quite distinct from that of the
poet.The narrator of a dramatic monologue often differs from the poet in chronological location, gender, or
life circumstances. In some ways it is similar to a soliloquy excerpted from a surrounding drama.
2. The narrator, in speaking to some putative audience, is gradually revealing his or her character to the
reader. It is often said that the dramatic monologue is not heard, but like a soliloquy in a play, overheard.
Often what is revealed is the opposite of what the reader expects or the narrator intends.
Tennyson's poem fits this definition in that it is spoken in the voice of Ulysses (the Latin spelling of
Odysseus) rather than in Tennyson's own voice, and has the quality of being overheard. Unlike many other
dramatic monologues, we do not get a dramatic conflict between how the speaker intends to portray himself
and what is revealed. Instead, the narrator explicitly reflects on his situation and the need for a final voyage
not so much for its overt purpose, but to regain his sense of personal identity as a heroic figure.

● THEMES IN THE POEM ULYSSES

1. Morality and ageing

From the poem’s beginning, Ulysses unhappily confronts his old age and impending death. He responds
not by settling down to rest, but by striving to relive his adventurous younger days. While he admits by the
poem's end that age has weakened him, he resolves to use whatever is left of his youthful heroism as he sets
out on one last journey. For Ulysses, the honorable response to time and mortality is not to calmly accept
old age and death, but rather to resist them—to wring every last drop of knowledge and adventure out of
life, even if doing so may result in dying sooner.

2. Adventure and knowledge

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus/Ulysses struggles for years to return to Ithaca. In Tennyson’s poem,
however, Ulysses has discovered that home is not enough to make him happy. Paradoxically, his years spent
traveling to return home did not make him love that home; it made him love travel and adventure. Ulysses
urges his crewmates to join him a last, great voyage so he can reclaim what he considers his true identity: an
explorer who is continually striving for more, especially to learn more. In this way, Ulysses recognizes that
the quest for knowledge is never complete. In spite of this—or perhaps because of this—it is the quest for
new experiences and new knowledge that, for Ulysses, defines a meaningful life.

3. Caution vs recklessness

Ulysses describes his son, Telemachus, as a cautious and conservative man. Ulysses seems to scorn his son for
lacking the daring, curiosity, and imagination that Ulysses has himself. However, Telemachus’s prudence
might seem more admirable when contrasted with Ulysses’s irresponsibility and recklessness. Although a
king, Ulysses shows little respect for his people and is willing to abandon his responsibilities as ruler to go on
a voyage with his former crewmates. And even for those beloved crewmates, Ulysses does not express much
concern; he admits that the journey might kill them. But because he would rather die adventuring abroad
than quietly at home, he is willing to put them all at risk. Thus even while the poem portrays Ulysses as a
heroic figure, it also reminds the reader of the recklessness and selfishness that can go along with his brand of
heroism.

4. Heroism and overcoming limitations

Ulysses shows frustration with the limitations imposed on him by his role as a ruler and by old age. He
misses the glory days of his youth when he fought heroically in battles and traveled the world. He urges his
former crewmates to set out on a voyage with him to overcome the limitations imposed by time and age and
reclaim some of their youthful heroism. But throughout the poem, it becomes clear that their heroism
actually emerges from these limitations. What makes Ulysses and his men admirable is the fact that they are
older and weaker than they used to be and yet are still willing to undertake tasks as difficult and dangerous as
the ones they faced in their prime. It is because they see their own limitations and persist in spite of them
that they emerge as heroic figures at the poem’s end.

Character Sketch of Ulysses:

The Character of the King Ulysses is distinctive and refreshing. The poem begins with him expressing his
desire to travel and be active again. Ulysses describes his subjects and Queen, calling his subjects lazy and his
Queen dampened in spirit. While Ulysses, though old, is still young in spirit and longs for some sort of
movement in his life. Though both him and his queen have aged together she has an ages spirit while his is
still young in spirit. He longs for some progression and adventure which he is unable to seek as he sits idle
on his throne. Old age has not snuffed this spirit of travel and adventure in Ulysses. While everything
around him seems stagnant he longs for something more. Ulysses can almost be seen as bored with the
monotonous life that he is leading. The stillness around him and the lack of heat is described through the
“still hearth” and with the way he described his people as being lazy and gluttonous

Ulysses is the kind of man who wants to enjoy every single moment in life. He explains how he has fought
side by side with his men and has enjoyed the victories as well as the sorrows in life. He has enjoyed every
single drop of life and he does not want to stop. He has traveled far and wide and had learnt from different
customs as well as left a piece of himself with them. Ulysses has tasted the storm as well as the calm sea and
knows exactly what life is made up of. He has greatly enjoyed and greatly suffered as well, whatever has come
across him he has felt it to the fullest. He explains how he wants to keep traveling and exploring and never
ending like the horizon that never meets an end. He says it is dull to pause and rest and rust. He wants to
always shine in use like a sword.

He is not the kind of man who will spend his last days gathering all he has to rest in peace. To wait for death
to arrive. He is not the kind who will retire. He says that as death draws close to him the hours that he has
have become more precious and he wants to spend every second of it learning, travelling and making
uttermost use of it. To him, knowledge is like the sun that always comes back. In a cycle that never ends,
and he wants to chase the sun. He says that he is a part of everything that he has experienced, but no
experience is the ultimate experience. Like the horizon it is a never ending adventure of learning that he
wants to chase to his very last breath.

Ulysses is an experienced sailor and knows the temper of the seas. He is a passionate adventure, but not a
passionate king. The idleness that being a ruler demands of him does not suit his fiery spirit that constantly
earns for adventure and movement. That earns for thrill and danger. He does not fear death and is
constantly tempted by adventure. His body might be ailing but his mind is still sharp and young, still
longing for movement. If he was gifted with more than one life he expresses that he would enjoy each of his
lives to the fullest and no time will ever be enough for his energetic spirit.

Character Sketch of Telemachus:

Ulysses describes his son, Telemachus, as a man who lacks his restless, adventurous spirit. He is far more
suited to governing Ithaca, and so he makes the choice to leave the throne and name Telemachus his heir.
“This is my son, my own Telemachus, To whom I leave the scepter and the isle”
It is significant that Ulysses does not judge Telemachus. By pointing out that his son has the "slow
prudence" to carry out the daily chores of administering a kingdom, Ulysses seems to suggest that he does
not. It is significant that Ulysses does not judge Telemachus as a lesser man for his difference in
temperament. He is simply different than Ulysses. Telemachus is described as even-tempered, patient, and
competent, precisely the sort of man who can rule Ithaca effectively after he is gone. Telemachus is content
to rule, just to get by and keep the people happy. Ulysses believes that his son will be a good ruler, that he
will be honorable, but that his life will be boring. And..... that Telemachus will like it that way.
Porphyria’s Lover
 Robert Browning

"Porphyria's Lover" is a poem by Robert Browning which was first published as "Porphyria" in the
January 1836 issue of Monthly Repository. Browning later republished it in Dramatic Lyrics(1842) paired
with "Johannes Agricola in Meditation" under the title "Madhouse Cells". The poem did not receive its
definitive title until 1863.
"Porphyria's Lover" is Browning's first ever short dramatic monologue, and also the first of his poems to
examine abnormal psychology.
Browning is perhaps most famous for his use of the dramatic monologue, a poem written from the point of
view of someone who has dramatic imperative to argue for him or herself. This form fits Browning's
interests perfectly, since it allows him to empathize with perspectives he likely did not hold himself,
thereby considering myriad human perspectives, and to investigate the remarkable human facility for
rationalizing our behaviors and beliefs.

Glimpse of the poem

Porphyria's Lover is narrated by a man who has murdered his lover, Porphyria, in order to capture a
moment in which they are both happy in love. “Porphyria’s Lover,” which first appeared in 1836, is one
of the earliest and most shocking of Browning’s dramatic monologues. The speaker lives in a cottage in the
countryside. His lover, a blooming young woman named Porphyria, comes in out of a storm and proceeds
to make a fire and bring cheer to the cottage. She embraces the speaker, offering him her bare shoulder. He
tells us that he does not speak to her. Instead, he says, she begins to tell him how she has momentarily
overcome societal strictures to be with him. He realizes that she “worships” him at this instant. Realizing
that she will eventually give in to society’s pressures, and wanting to preserve the moment, he wraps her
hair around her neck and strangles her. He then toys with her corpse, opening the eyes and propping
the body up against his side. He sits with her body this way the entire night, the speaker remarking that God
has not yet moved to punish him.

Themes
Truth/Subjectivity
If any prevailing philosophy can be found throughout all of Browning's poetry, it is that humans are not
composed of fixed perspective, but instead are full of contradiction and are always changing.
Therefore, a wise man acknowledges that every person sees the world differently not only from other
people but even from himself as his life changes. Many of the dramatic monologues make this implicit
argument, by suggesting the remarkable human facility to rationalize our behavior and attitudes.

Death
Much of Browning's work contemplates death and the way that it frames our life choices. Many poems
consider the impending nature of death as a melancholy context to balance the joy of life.

Delusion
Perhaps Browning's most effectively used literary device is dramatic irony, in which the audience or reader
is aware of something of which the speaker is not aware. Most often, what this dramatic irony reveals is that
the speaker is deluded or does not quite realize the truth of something. Some poems feature a demented
character who is not aware of the extent of his or her depravity or insanity.

The Grotesque
One of the elements in Browning's poetry that made him unique in his time and continues to resonate is his
embrace of the grotesque as a subject worthy of poetic explanation. Most often, he explores the grotesque
nature of human behavior and depravity/corruption/immorality.

Summary
Robert Browning‘s poem, Porphyria’s Lover, opens up with a classic setting. It’s a stormy evening. The
rain and wind are harsh. The speaker is alone in a small cottage. Suddenly, a woman enters, bringing cheer
and warmth in the midst of the dark and cold night. It seems like a classic love poem, but when the tone
shifts and the speaker does the unthinkable, it leaves the reader questioning everything from the authority of
the speaker, to the reality of his descriptions. The woman’s voice is not heard, and the reader is forced to
draw conclusions from the voice of a speaker who proves to be less than trustworthy.

“The rain set early in tonight,

The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

and did its worst to vex the lake:”

The opening four lines provide the setting and the tone. It was evening, and the rain began to fall. The
wind is described as “sullen” which allows the reader to experience the gloomy, downcast mood the
speaker intends to present. The wind is then personified as the speaker describes that it “was soon awake”.
Once the wind woke up, it then “tore the elm-tops down for spite”. The speaker describes the wind as a
hostile being. It wakes up and destroys its surroundings out of spite. The speaker describes the wind as
doing everything it could to upset the lake. This description effectively sets the tone and mood for the rest of
Porphyria’s Lover. Nature is clearly at odds with humans and itself. The reader can begin to relate with
the uneasy feelings of the speaker who is experiencing the wrath of the wind on a rainy night.

“I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;”

The next lines give the reader insight into the speaker’s feelings. He explains that his heart is “fit to
break” as he listens to the wind and rain outside of his door. Then, there is a sudden shift in tone and mood
when he describes the way that Porphyria “glided in” and “shut out the cold and the storm”. This implies
that her absence was the reason that the speaker’s heart was breaking. For when she came in, she shut
out the cold. Then, she builds a fire, and the blaze made “all the cottage warm”. The fire she built in reality
also represents what she does for his soul. Her very presence provides warmth and light to his otherwise
dreary existence. The wind and the rain outside of the cottage represent that storms of the speaker’s life.
They have a great effect on him when she is not near. When Porphyria is near, however, life’s other
difficulties seem to fade in the presence of her light and warmth.

“Which done, she rose, and from her form

Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,

And laid her soiled gloves by, untied

Her hat and let the damp hair fall,”

These lines imply that Porphyria has offered herself to the speaker. She comes in from the storm, starts
a fire, stands up, and begins to shed her clothes. The speaker describes each piece of clothing as she removes
it. She begins with her coat and her shawl, and then she removes her gloves and her hat. The description of
her clothes allows the reader to further understand the intensity of the storm. It also serves to reveal
Porphyria’s feelings toward the speaker. She was willing to brave the storm to get to him. This shows
how strong willed she is. She desperately wanted to be with him. When she begins taking off her outer
clothes, it reveals that she intends to stay with him through the storm.

“And, last, she sat down by my side

And called me. When no voice replied,

She put my arm about her waist,

And made her smooth white shoulder bare,”

With these lines, it is evident that she is offering herself to him completely. Although she is doing so much in
the house, the lover does not acknowledge her presence and so she calls him. It is unclear what this call
meant, but the speaker says that he did not reply to her. This allows the reader to see that the speaker is
unsure of how to respond to Porphyria’s offer. She does not seem to be discouraged. It would appear
that she is confident of his feelings for her. When he does not reply to her, she takes his arm and puts it
around her waist. She is making it very clear that she is willing to give herself to him. After putting his arm
around her waist, she bares her shoulder.

“And all her yellow hair displaced,

And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,

And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair,”

With these lines, Porphyria continues to try to seduce the speaker. She spreads out her hair, takes his face,
and makes him lay his cheek against her hair. She takes care of him, shows him she loves him.

“Murmuring how she loved me—she

 Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavor,

To set its struggling passion free

From pride, and vainer ties dissever,

And give herself to me forever.”

When Porphyria has made every seductive gesture she could configure, and the speaker has still made no
move, she finally speaks of her love for him. The speaker describes her confession as a “murmuring” and
then claims that she is “too weak for all her heart’s endeavour”. The fact that she murmured of her love to
him in his ear rather than proclaiming it in public is of significance to the speaker. He believes that
her claim to love him is “weak” and believes that her love itself is “too weak…to set its struggling passion
free”. This is the first time the speaker reveals to the reader that he has a reason for his hesitance in
responding to Porphyria. He claims that her love is weak, too weak to withstand all that is set
against. This is why he claims that her passion for him is not strong enough to break free “from pride and
vainer ties”. This reveals that a union between himself and Porphyria would not be accepted by
society. Perhaps this is why the speaker opens Porphyria’s Lover with the description of the storm. The
wrath of the wind and the rain represents society. It is hostile toward the two lovers, and the speaker
knows that Porphyria’s passion is not strong enough to break free from societal restraints. He also blames
her own pride and vanity for her inability to really love him. This is why he knows that even if she
wants to give herself to him at this moment in time, she would never “give herself to [him] forever”.

“But passion sometimes would prevail,

Nor could tonight’s gay feast restrain

A sudden thought of one so pale

For love of her, and all in vain:”

These lines reveal that Porphyria left a “gay feast” just to come through the storm to see him. This gives
some insight into what her “vainer ties” might be. While the speaker is alone in a small cottage that seemed
barely able to withstand the rain and wind, Porphyria had just come from a fancy party. This suggests that
she is rich and he is poor. This is perhaps the reason that society is against their love. The reader can
speculate that the reason she “murmured” her love for him is because she is of a higher socio-economic class,
and her love for him would be scorned by society. This is why the speaker claims that she would not be
willing to give up her pride or her “vainer ties” in order to really be his forever. Nonetheless, in this
particular moment, she seems to be all his. She left a fancy party because she couldn’t stand the thought of
his being alone and sick with love for her. The speaker claims that this love he has for her is “all in vain”.
Porphyria’s actions on this night do not suggest that their love is in vain. But the speaker has made it
clear to the reader that he has no confidence in the strength of her love when put up against
societal norms.

“So, she was come through wind and rain.

 Be sure I looked up at her eyes

Happy and proud; at last I knew

Porphyria worshiped me: surprise

Made my heart swell, and still it grew

While I debated what to do.”

At this point, the speaker looks up into her eyes, and he sees that she is happy and proud. He realizes that
despite their differences in wealth and class, she holds him in high regard. This is why he claims, “at
last I knew Porphyria worshiped me”. Prior to this moment, the speaker was unsure of whether or
not Porphyria’s love was genuine. This revelation comes as a surprise to him, and it “made [his] heart
swell”. Then he begins to debate what he should do. She has come to him and offered herself to him. He sees
that her love for him his genuine. Yet, he doubts that it is strong enough to stand up against society. He has
not yet made a reply to her or moved to accept her offer.

“That moment she was mine, mine, fair,

Perfectly pure and good: I found

A thing to do, and all her hair

In one long yellow string I wound

Three times her little throat around,

And strangled her. No pain felt she;

I am quite sure she felt no pain.”

The reader expects the speaker to either reject or accept Porphyria’s love, but not to strangle her. For one
moment, the speaker has her completely as his own. He has her in his arms and looks into her eyes and sees
genuine love for him there. He fears he will lose her, and he wants to keep her forever. So, rather than
accept or reject her love, he takes her hair and wraps it around her throat until she is dead. When the speaker
realizes that Porphyria ultimately will choose to return to the order of society, while simultaneously
believing that she wishes to be with him – she "worshipped" him, after all – he chooses to immortalize
this moment by removing her ability to leave. He has an ironic concern for her, as revealed when he
says, twice, that she “felt no pain”. Suddenly, the speaker has transformed from a poor, love sick man to a
deranged killer.

“As a shut bud that holds a bee,

I warily oped her lids: again

 Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.

And I untightened next the tress

About her neck; her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:

I propped her head up as before

Only, this time my shoulder bore

Her head, which droops upon it still:”

With these lines, the reader begins to understand the true depth of the speaker’s mental illness. He had
wanted her for so long, and when she finally came to him in love, he was afraid that he would lose her, so he
killed her. Now that he has killed her, he feels that he finally has her as his own because she cannot
leave him anymore. He wonders if her love for him is still there in her dead eyes. At this point, he opens
and shuts her eyelids, laughs at her blue eyes (or perhaps says that her blue eyes were laughing at him),
unwraps the hair from around her neck, kisses her cheek, and props her body up against him. He still tries to
be in a romantic relationship with her. He looks at her blushing cheeks (red because of the rush of blood
after he “untightens the tress”).

“The smiling rosy little head,

So glad it has its utmost will,

That all it scorned at once is fled,

And I, its love, am gained instead!”

At this point, the speaker reduces Porphyria to a mere object. She is dead, but he still admires her “rosy little
head”. He then makes his own desires out to be hers. Though she is dead and can no longer desire anything,
the speaker says that to be with him forever was her “utmost will”. He claims that because he killed her, he
got rid of everything she hated, and gave her himself instead. Clearly, the speaker is delusional. The reader
can no longer trust his point of view. Nonetheless, the speaker believes that he has given Porphyria her
greatest desire in killing her. He believes that she would have wanted to be with him forever, and to see
the rest of her worldly concerns fade. Therefore, he claims that all that she scorned “at once is fled” and
claims with triumph that he himself was “gained instead”. Thus, the speaker believes that he did her a favor
in ended her life. He took away all of her concerns and presented her with himself. However, the
reader is now aware that the speaker is not to be trusted. Now that the speaker has not only killed the
woman who loved him, but also objectified her by playing with her body, the reader can no longer trust
him. It is apparent that the speaker is not sane, and perhaps never has been. This makes the reader question
everything the speaker has said in the poem thus far.
 “Porphyria’s love: she guessed not how

Her darling one wish would be heard.

And thus we sit together now,

And all night long we have not stirred,

And yet God has not said a word!”

These lines reveal that the speaker, in his delusion, believes that he has given Porphyria the one thing that
she wanted more than anything. He claimed that her “one wish” was to be with him forever. He says,
“she guessed not how her darling one wish would be heard” and then proceeds to explain that he granted
Porphyria’s wish by ending her life. In his delusion, he continues to describe that he has been sitting with
her corpse all night. He ends Porphyria’s Lover by claiming that “God has not said a word!” With this claim,
the speaker concludes that he did the right thing in killing her. He has been laying with her corpse all night,
and because he has not heard anything from God, he concludes that he has done the right thing. He
justifies his act because he knows how much they loved each other.

Q1. Discuss the character of the lover in the poem Porphyria’s Lover.

Ans. From the very start of the poem, the speaker seems to be mysterious, scary, and psychotic . The poem
opens on a dark and stormy night: despite the rain and wind, the speaker has no fire to keep the place warm.
When his love, Porphyria, arrives, he is weak and “pale,” as though there was no life in him, he seems weak:
Porphyria has to support his head on her shoulder. However, once the speaker realizes that Porphyria loves
him, he becomes violent and powerful. He transforms from a weak, wan figure to someone capable of
strangling his lover. He ends the poem in control of Porphyria’s body, which he has reduced to an object.
And, in contrast to his earlier indecision, he is so confident in his own violent choices that he assumes God
Himself approves of his decisions as the love he had for his lover was immense and therefore the act of
murder is justifiable.

Because the speaker is so unpredictable, many people characterize the speaker as a madman. The focus of
the poem is on the acts that his madness makes him commit—and the reasons he develops justifying them.
Some of the speaker’s strangeness comes from the poem’s literary form. “Porphyria’s Lover” is a dramatic
monologue. In a dramatic monologue, the poet writes in the voice of a character, who speaks directly to the
reader about his or her life—as though on stage. This gives the poet the freedom to imagine and occupy
other people’s minds. Browning used this freedom to imagine the minds of violent, disturbed people.
Because the character in a dramatic monologue is so separate from the author, the author has the space to
discuss things that might otherwise be shocking or taboo.

Q2. What are the different interpretations of the name Porphyrias in Browning’s poem
“Porphyria’s Lover”?

Ans. Browning may have based the name Porphyria on the Greek word for purple, porphyrus. Since ancient
times, purple has been associated with royalty, as attested to by the purple robes worn by kings and queens.
It may well be that the narrator calls his beloved Porphyria to indicate that he considers her a regal figure
who has been out of his reach—until the stormy night when she comes to him and confesses her love.
Dictionaries define porphyria as a group of diseases characterized by sensitivity to sunlight as well as other
symptoms, such as skin blisters and anemia. This information might have led you to conclude Porphyria
had this disease and that the narrator murdered her to end her suffering. But such a conclusion would be
wrong as Browning wrote the poem in 1836. Porphyria was not identified and named as a disease until
1874.

Q3. How does the relationship between the lover and porphyria as depicted in the poem
'Porphyria's Lover' suggests social and gender inequality prevalent in the Victorian age?

Ans. Robert Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover” offers a contrasting foundation for examining gender within
the Victorian age because it examines power relations rather than deriving a philosophical reasoning. The
first-person narration allows the audience into the mind of a psychotic speaker. He thinks he loves
Porphyria, but this ‘love’ is based on an objectification of her. He watches his lover intensely, vividly
describing her underdressing and sitting down next to him, showing her “smooth white shoulder bare.” He
is very focused on her physical features and especially fetishizes her hair; he watches her “damp hair”” fall as
she unties her hat and repeatedly draws attention to her “yellow hair” by the repetition of this phrase. He
eventually uses her hair as the method for which to murder her. His words “that moment she was mine”
highlight his intention to capture and control his lover, as if women were objects that could be possessed.
He claims “no pain felt she” as he murdered her, and he further calls upon the external authority of
Christianity to justify his actions, asserting “God has not said a word” judging him. The irony between the
speaker’s perception of his actions and the nature of his actions signals that the poem itself does not
condone violence towards women. Instead, the use of an untrustworthy narrator commands the audience
to criticize his treatment of Porphyria and his line of thinking.

The Windhover
Gerlad Manley Hopkins

Summary

To Christ our Lord

.
I caught this morning morning's minion king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding

● The Windhover is a bird with the rare ability to hover in the air, essentially flying in place while it
scans the ground in search of prey.
● This poem is almost like a prayer to Christ and therefore Hopkins dedicates this poem to the lord
by taking his name before starting the poem.
● The poet describes how he saw (or “caught”) one of these birds in the midst of its hovering. The
use of the simple past I caught suggests caught sight of, but could also imply the act of catching, as
when a falcon is caught by the falconer.
● The bird strikes the poet as the darling (“minion”) of the morning, the crown prince (“dauphin”)
of the kingdom of daylight, drawn by the dappled colors of dawn.
● It rides the air as if it were on horseback, moving with steady control like a rider whose hold on the
rein is sure and firm.
 ● King implies the regal/ majestic authority of the bird in the poet’s imagination.

Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding

High there, how he rung upon the rein of wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! Then off forth on swing

● The Windhover sits high and proud, tightly reined in, wings quivering and tense. Its motion is
controlled and suspended in an ecstatic moment of concentrated energy.
● The poet also reinforces the idea of wonder, for here is a predatory bird manipulating the wind in a
light that seems to set it on fire.

As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on bow-bend:the hurl and gliding

Rebuffed THE BIG wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,-the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

● Then, in the next moment, the bird is off again, now like an ice skater balancing forces as he makes
a turn.
● The bird, first matching the wind’s force in order to stay still, now “rebuff[s] the big wind” with its
forward propulsion.
● At the same moment, the poet feels his own heart stir, or lurch forward out of “hiding,” as it were
—moved by “the achieve of, the mastery of” the bird’s performance.

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that BREAKS from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

● The beauty of the bird’s flight is further elicited and praised by the speaker with the use of words
such as “valour”, “pride” and “plume”
● At the moment of this integration, a glorious fire issues forth, of the same order as the glory of
Christ’s life and crucifixion, though not as grand.
● The bird beats back the strong wind which is uplifting for the speaker, in fact, so inspiring is the
flight and aerial prowess of the falcon a transformation takes place.
● All the qualities of the kestrel in the whole airborne act, buckle, that is, collapse and then re-
combine as one in a spiritual fire : the clean, cruciform profile of the bird when it breaks from a
hover, is symbolic of Christ.
● This revelatory scene is both beautifully exquisite and thrilling - this is a different dimension,
connected to the world of flesh and bone and earth yet transcending reality.
● The speaker addresses the bird (Christ) as chevalier, a french word meaning knight or champion.

No wonder of it: shéer plod makes plough down sillion

Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold vermilion.
 ● This fabulous falcon elicits such spiritual energy. Take the routine of the humble plough, even that
can make the furrowed ridges shine and outwardly dull embers suddenly break and reveal this
gorgeous golden red.
● The speaker is in awe of this everyday occurrence - a kestrel hovering then moving on against the
wind - and likens the event to a wondrous religious experience.
● The suggestion is that common things hold an almost mystical significance and are charged with
potential.
● The speaker sees the divine force and beauty in simple things, in nature and in this falcon.

Words to note in the poem

Minion: Favorite, darling; also, an underling or servant

Dauphin prince: A French historical term, along with “chevalier”
Wimpling: Rippling
Buckle: To bend, attach; prepare for flight or battle. The verb could be descriptive of the bird’s action, or it
could be the speaker’s imperative.
Chevalier: French word for “knight” or “champion”; pronounced Chev-ah-leer, to rhyme with “here” and
“dear”
Shéer plod: Slowly, laboriously, and without break; these accent marks, inserted by Hopkins, tell the reader
to place more accent or emphasis on those syllables when reading aloud
Sillion: Fresh soil upturned by a plow (“plough”)
Vermilion: a vibrant scarlet color
Gall: to become sore, crack, or chafe. Bitterness.

Questions

1. Explain how Hopkins transforms the bird into a spiritual symbol of Christ with the imageries
from the Poem Windhover.

The Windhover is a semi-romantic, religious poem written by Gerlad Manley Hopkins dedicated to Christ. It
is a usual Hopkinsian sonnet that begins with description of nature and ends in meditation about God and
Christ and his beauty, greatness and grace. Hopkins has mixed his romantic fascination with nature with his
religious favor of gratitude towards God for giving us a beautiful poem.

The Windhover is a sonnet whose octave describes the flight of a kestrel (windhover) that he saw that
morning. The sestet is divided in two parts: the first three lines are about the bird and the comparison of the
bird with Christ who is ‘a billion times lovelier’, and the last three lines express his memories and appreciation
of Christ.

The speaker compares the bird with Christ, “my chevalier”, who is a billion times lovelier, morebrute (wild)
and dangerous (consuming) in his beauty. The fire or brilliance of Christ is dazzling this bird is no wonder.
“No wonder”, says the poet about the bird because the real wonder of the world is another supreme gift of
God, his son, the Christ. His steps on the soil make a semblance (shape) of a wound (gash) when the blood-
red (vermilion) and golden light of the sun is cast on it. The flight of the bird reminds the speaker of his
 Christ’s crucifixion; his blood falls on us for redemption: his suffering (gall) is also another thing to
remember.

To this devotee of Christ, everything brings the image of Christ and his wounds and pain and sacrifice. This
suggests that he always remembers and becomes thankful to Christ. As the subtitle suggests, the poem is a
thanksgiving to Christ. It is a hymn that is romantic in form but religious in theme.

The Windhover is a semi-romantic, religious poem written by Gerlad Manley Hopkins dedicated to Christ.
It is a usual Hopkinsian sonnet that begins with description of nature and ends in meditation about God
and Christ and his beauty, greatness and grace. Hopkins has mixed his romantic fascination with nature
with his religious favor of gratitude towards God for giving us a beautiful poem. A wonderful bird flying in
the air here illustrates the beauty of nature.

He describes a bird which he saw flying in the sky that morning. Like in a romantic poem, he remembers the
experience to express his feelings. That morning, the speaker had been out at dawn. From the excited
description in the poem, we can infer that the speaker was probably in the field. His attention was suddenly
drawn by the scene of a bird flying in the sky.

The first stanza of the poem is a description of the different tricks of the bird’s flight. In the second the
speaker remembers the beauty of Christ and says that he is a billion times loveliest. So, claiming that nature’s
beauty is no wonder, he concludes in the last stanza that everything he looks at reminds him of the pain and
suffering of Christ which has made human life so beautiful and given this opportunity to enjoy it. To this
devotee of Christ, everything brings the image of Christ and his wounds and pain and sacrifice. This
suggests that he always remembers and becomes thankful to Christ. As the subtitle suggests, the poem is a
thanksgiving to Christ.

The Windhover is a sonnet whose octave describes the flight of a kestrel (windhover) that he saw that
morning. The sestet is divided in two parts: the first three lines are about the bird and the comparison of the
bird with Christ who is ‘a billion times lovelier’, and the last three lines express his memories and
appreciation of Christ. The bottom-line of the difficult ideas in this poem is that ‘it is because of the sacrifice
of Christ that we have such a life, and we can enjoy the majestic beauty of nature: so we should thank him.

The speaker compares the bird with Christ, “my chevalier”, who is a billion times lovelier, more brute (wild)
and dangerous (consuming) in his beauty. The fire or brilliance of Christ is dazzling this bird is no wonder.
“No wonder”, says the poet about the bird because the real wonder of the world is another supreme gift of
God, his son, the Christ. His steps on the soil make a semblance (shape) of a wound (gash) when the blood-
red (vermilion) and golden light of the sun is cast on it. The flight of the bird reminds the speaker of his
Christ’s crucifixion; his blood falls on us for redemption: his suffering (gall) is also another thing to
remember.

The last stanza associatively brings together unrelated words, each telling something about Christ and his
suffering and sacrifice for human beings. The description of the first stanza and the comparison of the
second stanza are all forgotten when the poet deeply meditates and exalts in the sacrifice and greatness of
Christ in the last three-line stanza. The red ember-like the light of the morning sun on the horizon of the
blue-bleak sky and he is lost in contemplation.

By implication, the poem is therefore a poem of thanksgiving to Christ. It is a hymn that is romantic in
form but religious in theme. When the poet sees the beautiful bird, he is reminded of Christ and becomes
thankful and appreciative of him. The poem’s theme is therefore related to the poet’s praise of Christ rather
than being about the bird.

2. Write a note on Sprung Rhythm using G M Hopkins’ poem Windhover

Or
Comment on the writing style of the poem 'The Windhover'.
'The Windhover' represents a masterful use of language along with confusing grammatical structure and
sentence order. Hopkins blends and confuses adjectives, verbs, and subjects in order to echo his theme of
smooth merging.'The Windhover' is written in 'Spring rhythm'.
Hopkins invented the Sprung Rhythm. It is a new type of meter. It requires an equal number of stressed
syllables per line, but the number of unstressed syllables can vary and therefore so can the line length. This
technique allows Hopkins to vary the speed of his lines so as to capture the bird’s pausing and racing.
First two lines:
- There are 5 stressed syllables in each line
- line 1 is in iambic pentameter, normal in traditional petrachian sonnet.
- But the first line breaks away from the tradition of the petrachian sonnet with the word king-
dom, as the word gets broken up across the first two lines.
- Line 2 breaks into Hopkins Sprung rhythm even though the line 2 is way longer than the first,
it still only has 5 stressed syllables, so it fits the more natural sounding meter that Hopkins was
going for.
- “Sprung rhythm” is meant by Hopkins to convey emotionally charged speech.

EASTER 1916
W. B. Yeats

Q. How does Yeats feel about the people who died in the Easter uprising? Does he admire
them or pity them?

Easter 1916 is one of the most famous political poems and is written by a Northern Irish poet
named William Butler Yeats. The poem is a reflection on the events surrounding the Easter rising,
an armed insurrection that began in Dublin, Ireland on April 24 1916, in which the Irish
nationalists fought for independence against the British.
The nationalists were ultimately executed and Yeats' poem balances the critiques of the rebellion
and it's political extremism with admiration for the rebels' dedication and bravery.
William Butler Yeats admires the revolutionaries for standing up for their ideals, but there is a sense
that the poet wonders whether their deaths were meaningful or if things would remain unchanged
after they passed. This causes him to also feel some pity for them. He feels both admiration for
their sense of purpose and pity for how it all turned out and the possibility that, though they
gave their lives, Ireland would never be free.

Q. What does Yeats mean by 'a terrible beauty is born'? Bring out the significance of the
figure of speech.
Easter 1916 is one of the most famous political poems and is written by a Northern Irish poet
William Butler Yeats. The poem is a reflection on the events surrounding the Easter rising, an
armed insurrection that began in Dublin, Ireland on April 24 1916, in which the Irish
nationalists fought for independence against the British.
Yeats mentions the phrase ‘a terrible beauty is born’ three times in the poem. By this phrase, Yeats
actually is referring to the ‘Easter Uprising’ that happened in Dublin in 1916. Terrible and
beauty are opposite sentiments and speak to the concept of the "sublime" in which horror and
beauty can exist simultaneously. The rising was terrible because of its violence and loss of life, but
the beauty was in the dream of independence.
These lines remind the reader of the brutal execution of the leaders of Irish Republican
Brotherhood, the ones who rebelled against the British for independence and so evokes emotions
of sadness, which is terrible, but also of pride and patriotism , which is beautiful. Yeats
mentions that all things are changed and even though people seem unchanged, the truth is that
lives were changed after a terrible history that was born in Ireland. He mentions the terrible beauty.
He talks about Countess Markieviez, who Yeats describes as a woman ‘in ignorant goodwill’
and ‘her nights in argument’. This can also mean that she represents rebellion because of the
word ‘argument’. It signifies and evokes emotions of the Irish rebellion towards England for
independence. ‘Ignorant goodwill’ may apply to being ignorant of the goodness of everyday life
and thus choose to be more aggressive to come out independent.

Q. What are the themes ?

Easter 1916 is one of the most famous political poems and is written by a Northern Irish poet
William Butler Yeats. The poem is a reflection on the events surrounding the Easter rising, an
armed insurrection that began in Dublin, Ireland on April 24 1916, in which the Irish
nationalists fought for independence against the British.
The following are the themes - IASRU
● Immortality / Ambivalence
Yeats's poem questions the great loss of lives during the Easter Uprising of 1916, particularly
questioning whether the rebels had to die. The narrator asks, "O when may it suffice?", seeming
to question why the rebels would sacrifice themselves for a cause they knew they were doomed
to lose. Yet the narrator even to the end of the poem, questions whether they needed to die: "Was
it needless death after all?". Yeats immortalises these revolutionaries in song. He chooses to
name them at the end of the poem like an Epitaph - a phrase or form of words written in memory
of a person who has died.
● Admiration
Admiration is a conflicted theme in "Easter, 1916," in the sense that Yeats seems to always be on
the verge of admiring the people who died in the Irish Uprising. But at the end of the day, he can
never seem to take that final step and declare his admiration for the rebels. Yeats struggles between
his distaste for violence in general and his admiration for the ultimate sacrifice made by these
rebels. Several lines in the poem are ambiguous in nature and serve to express these conflicted
feelings.
● Sacrifice
While he may not be sure about whether he admires the Irish fighters, Yeats hails the fact that
these people sacrificed themselves for their ideals. In doing so, they show a level of passion and
courage that moved him.
● Resurrection
The fact that the uprising takes place on Easter, a Christian religious holiday that celebrates the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, immediately conjures images of rebirth. In the Bible, Jesus Christ
offers a blood sacrifice to atone for human sin by dying on the cross. He lies, as if asleep, in a tomb
for three days, rising from the dead on Easter Sunday. Many rebels were influenced by the idea of a
"blood sacrifice" to rejuvenate Irish nationalism, and there's no question their executions inspired a
new wave of patriotism. Yet the narrator questions whether the sacrifice was needed, noting that
the rebels were ordinary men who, unlike Jesus Christ, were not themselves resurrected.
● Unity and a sense of nationalism
Unity and a sense of nationalism are created by the repeated coda, “a terrible beauty is born” and
the symbol “wherever green is worn”, the colour that symbolises Irish Catholicism and Irish
Nationalism. Even though the revolutionaries were ultimately executed, their death and fight for
independence led to pride and patriotism amongst the people.

THE LOVE SONG OF J ALFRED PRUFROCK

T. S. Elliot

The first great poem of T. S. Elliot, The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock is a parody of a romantic
poem and is much stranger. T.S. Eliot, along with Ezra Pound, were the pioneers of modern poetry
which is a specific historical category. “Modern” is to choose the position of this kind of poetry in
literary history: does it mean a renewal of the past or is it simply breaking away from the past with
the arrival of something new and completely different?
 T.S. Eliot wants to ally himself with tradition. His relationship with tradition was very subversive
with his poetry being very new and disturbing. He expresses a special combination of ambition and
aggression as is very often, by young people, through parody or satire, which is very powerful. ( It is
important to note that Eliot wrote this poem at the age of 20, during his college days.

The Title:

The title itself: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock immediately suggests that there is something wrong and
contradictory. How does a modern man with such a peculiar, strange name talk about romantic ideas, one that
for sure has no business in a love song, a very traditional mode of poetry going back thousands of years? The
incongruity in the title in turn indicates the structure of this poem at large, and of many other poems in Elliot's
early career, namely, the difference between romance and realism.
Here, "love song" is an example of verbal irony. This is far from being a typical love poem. The title implies the
speaker may be preparing to make some kind of romantic declaration—perhaps a marriage proposal—but his
ambivalence, depression, and alienation repeatedly prevent him from speaking. Instead, the speaker describes his
conflicted feelings about the woman he desires and his sense of alienation from modern society.

Dante’s Inferno

Just beneath the title, the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock we get one of the allusions that are so characteristic of
Elliot's poetry. This is what Elliot meant by saying he was a classicist in literature. That is to say a poet who
ransacks the literature of the past, trying to dig up valuable and meaningful items that are still relevant to us
today, that can still help us understand our lives today and help us know how to live our lives in this crisis of
belief period.

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse

A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.

"If I thought that my reply were given to anyone who might return to the world, this flame would stand forever
still; but since never from this deep place has anyone returned alive, if what I hear is true, without fear of infamy
I answer thee."

The Italian passage under the title is an excerpt from Dante's Inferno, and it describes Dante reaching a level
in lower hell where the sinners are so ashamed of their depravities committed in the upper world that the last
thing they want is to be remembered in the upper world. Dante goes to hell, observes, and comes out. This
passage is from a soul that is in hell who tells his story to Dante cause no one ever leaves the realms of hell. Turns
out this assumption is wrong and Dante does come up to reveal this embarrassing story. The point of the
excerpt in Italian is to highlight the theme of loneliness, of isolation, of a man being unable to tell his
story, which is exactly Prufrock's predicament.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

http://www.lem.seed.pr.gov.br/arquivos/File/livrosliteraturaingles/prufrock.pdf- Line by line
interpretation (PDF)

J.Alfred Prufrock- Character Analysis

J. Alfred Prufrock is a figure of extraordinary indecisiveness and indeterminate will. He is someone who is
diffident. His name suggests an upper-class English or Anglophile person. The formal initials are, in a way,
almost pretentious. Through the course of the poem, the thing that sticks out is his hesitation to ask a question.
He appears to be quite afraid of confrontation. Prufrock is again, with bald spots appearing on his head that he
is very conscious and embarrassed about. He is not secure, he is not confident. He is extremely worried that
people will think he is silly, stupid, and old.

He is questioning the worth of his life. “The eternal footman”- ref to death that is inviting him with a laugh as if
his life is a joke. The pessimism that reeks through his words cannot be ignored. There is a mention of death,
several times in the poem. He is constantly questioning himself and living in the world of what-ifs? What if he
was confident enough to talk to these women? What if he said- “I am Lazarus…...all”- again, a mention to death

● Lazarus- Brought back to death by Jesus, has been to wherever death takes him and comes back. Has
seen death in some way
● So he asks what if he was able to speak to women and tell him about his adventures just like Lazarus did.

He says that he has “measured out his life in coffee spoons” indicative of the fact that he has always weighed the
pros and cons in life. Prufrock is a walking skeleton, much as T. S. Elliot was in fact, so thin and frail with
bald spots on his head. He believes he is an inferior male, in short, judged by his external appearance, a man
who's not able to attract any desirable woman.

Maturity seems to have brought him nothing but self-loathing and a fear of intimacy so great he is in a state
of emotional paralysis. Prufrock appears to be well educated and affluent; money is one of the few things he
doesn't seem to worry about. He's proud of his elegant clothes, and he knows how to dress for different
occasions. He's clearly a cultivated man as well, effortlessly able to quote various writers.

Despite these advantages, he is powerfully insecure. He projects his insecurity onto others, imagining women
are making fun of him behind his back and won't understand, or care about, the things he wants to tell them.
He refers to Hamlet and says that he isn’t like the hero of a play( Hamlet). He is more of a secondary character.
He is more like Polonius- who is a little obtuse, is almost a fool, and is glad to be of use, but is not the hero. He
simply doesn’t see himself in a good light.

● It is important to note that in Hamlet- Polonius, father of Ophelia, who is killed by Hamlet by mistake,
is used as an instrument to take the plot forward and when isn’t of any use, is killed.

By the end of the poem, we can see that there is something special about him. He has seen special things(the
mermaids riding the white waves), but simply isn’t able to express them in the way Lazarus did.

FORM

We can say that the poem doesn’t limit itself to any particular, strict structure or meter. The rhythm is languid,
open to variation, including hesitancy and abruptness. Alternatively voluble and nervous. The formal instability
in the poem is related to and constructs a special type of speaker: one who is performing for us his thoughts
experienced as a set of routines /riffs/acts, and they come and go without any definite aim or conclusion. This
man that is speaking to us in a dramatic monologue is strange, awkward, and even his name quite peculiar.
The speech doesn’t flow musically or melodically.

Just for your reference- Allusions to different literary texts

TS Eliot has quoted several works of poetry and made references to a lot of writers. This poem is a masterpiece
only because of its allusions. This is a list of the same:

1. Dante’s Inferno (already explained)

2. “And there will be time”- from Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Misstress”
3. “To prepare a face to meet the faces you meet”- ref to Alexander Pope’s “ The Rape of the Lock”
4. “ And time for all the works and days of hands”- ref. To Hesiod’s “Works and Days”
5. “I know the voices dying with a dying fall”- an allusion to William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
6. John the Baptist- Biblical allusion- He says that even though he has wept and prayed, and is now with a
bald head, he is not doing all the suffering to be a martyr or prophet. Even though he feels persecuted,
like John the Baptist, he is not a prophet.
7. “I am Lazarus…...all”- Biblical allusion: Lazarus-Brought back to life by Jesus, has been to wherever death
takes him and comes back. Has seen death in some way.
8. “ I am not Prince Hamlet….am an attendant Lord”- ref. To William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
 Q. How would you interpret the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was T.S. Eliot's first important publication and it has
often been called the first masterpiece of Modernism in English. It represented a break with
the immediate past being as radical as that of the English romantic poets, Coleridge and
Wordsworth, in Lyrical Ballads. Through this poem, Eliot examines through inspections of the
narrator, the emptiness and soulless quality of the bleak, social, modern world that surrounds
him.
The most persuasive possibility is that “you and I” are the two voices in Prufrock, the realist
Prufrock, versus the romantic Prufrock longing to have a relationship that will break out of his
loneliness. In fact, the rest of the poem will give us a narrative along those lines. What happens in
the poem is that Prufrock is going to a party where he hopes to bring up his feelings to a woman
at the party. The question is whether he will get up enough nerve to actually say something, to
sing his love song, or will he fail to do that?
Before settling on "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," T.S. Eliot considered titling the poem
"Prufrock Among the Women." Though that would have been a less compelling title, it
would have been emotionally accurate. The poem revolves around Prufrock's inability to "say
just what I mean"; "what he means" might well be his desire for her.
For Prufrock, getting older is a source of mingled anxiety and shame. In a classic example of
projection, he curses himself for not being brave and then, piling on the self-hatred, decides
everyone thinks he looks old. He, therefore, feels that he will never be able to seek the approval of
any of these women that he is attracted to simply because he is afraid of the fact that he might not
be understood by them or vice versa.
There are several interpretations that have come forth: is he speaking to his lady love when he says
“you and I” or is he simply allowing us, the readers, to go along with him through the journey of
his life and into the depths of his mind?

Q. “ In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo”. What is the
significance of these lines in the poem?
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was T.S. Eliot's first important publication and it has
often been called the first masterpiece of Modernism in English. It represented a break with
the immediate past being as radical as that of the English romantic poets, Coleridge and
Wordsworth, in Lyrical Ballads.Through this poem, Eliot examines through inspections of the
narrator, the emptiness and soulless quality of the bleak, social, modern world that surrounds
him.
“In the room, the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo.”
Prufrock is describing the trivial conversation of women at a social gathering. They're discussing
an artistic genius, but the phrase "come and go" implies they're not saying anything important
about him. Nor are they themselves particularly interested in what they're saying. Perhaps the
speaker considers himself more intelligent than these women. Perhaps he's indicting polite
society. It is possible he's doing both things since he appears to feel detached and dismissive. He
is definitively not part of this group.
Now, this line is representative of another feature of Elliot's poetry. The past is always
superior to the present. And so we have these giant figures of the past. This great Renaissance
genius, Michelangelo. How is Prufrock supposed to insert himself into this conversation? Or
maybe the women are trying to be one up on each other in the conversation. It is to be noted that
a lot of these women at the time believed that talking about things like art made them seem more
fashionable and well-read. That doesn't help Prufrock either. We have other giants, Hamlets,
John the Baptist, Lazarus risen from the dead. And they along with Michelangelo suffice to
make Prufrock feel even more inferior, more insignificant, more unable to insert himself
into the picture at the party.
This line is repeated again in the poem in order to emphasize the fact that he is noticing these
women passing by and is simply wondering how to approach them and what he would talk to
them about. He is also worried about their response and judgement.

Q. Comment on the title “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock”

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was T.S. Eliot's first important publication and it has
often been called the first masterpiece of Modernism in English. It represented a break with
the immediate past being as radical as that of the English romantic poets, Coleridge and
Wordsworth, in Lyrical Ballads. Through this poem, Eliot examines through inspections of the
narrator, the emptiness and soulless quality of the bleak, social, modern world that surrounds
him.
The LoveSong of J. Alfred Prufrock is a parody of a romantic poem and is much stranger. The
title itself: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock immediately suggests that there is something
wrong and contradictory. How does a modern man with such a peculiar, strange name talk
about romantic ideas, one that for sure has no business in a love song, a very traditional mode
of poetry dating back thousands of years? The incongruity / absurdity in the title in turn
indicates the structure of this poem and of many other poems in Elliot's early career, namely, the
difference between romance and realism.
Here, "love song" is an example of verbal irony. This is far from being a typical love poem. The
title implies the speaker may be preparing to make some kind of romantic declaration—perhaps
a marriage proposal—but his ambivalence, depression, and alienation repeatedly prevent him
from speaking. Instead, the speaker describes his conflicted feelings about the woman he desires
and his sense of alienation from modern society.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------

THE QUESTION
Adrien Mitchell

Adrian Mitchell was committed to a form of poetry that welcomes as many people as
possible. He wanted to urge more people to indulge in poetry reading and writing. He
belonged to the poets that were ‘pacifist’.He was known for his writing on the Vietnam
War. This is a post war poem. The poem is written in couplets. There are two stories
portrayed in this poem, one based in London, where people are peaceful and happy while
the other based in Lebanon, where people are dying of poverty. The first lines of the
Poem depict London, while the second lines of the poem depict Lebanon. Through the
'Question' in the poem the poet draws attention to a the hypocrisy where man creates
global suicide due to war.

The Question by Adrian Mitchell is a poem which draws parallels between two
contrasting events happening at the same time. The poem initially begins on a peaceful
note and suddenly takes a turn into a violent world. The question the poet is trying to
pose is about a choice between peace or global suicide. All the first lines of the poem are
of a joyous setting while the second lines are about destructive things. The poem tries to
compare Imagination vs reality.

The Use of Juxtaposition

The poet uses juxtaposition to put forth the idea of the poem. Juxtaposition is a literary
device used to create deliberate differences for the reader to compare and contrast. Here
the differences are ‘peace’ and ‘ global suicude’ where one is calm and happy while the
other is that of destruction.

Q1. How is 'the question' put to the reader by Adrien Mitchell in the poem?
‘The Question’ is a post war poem penned by Adrian Mitchell in which the readers are
met with a juxtaposition, that is, a literary device used to create deliberate differences for
the readers to compare and contrast.
In the poem, the poet puts forth the question by building two contrasting scenes, one of
peace, happiness and the calm of daily life in London, while the other is that of
destruction and war in Lebanon. Through the use of juxtaposition, he brings this
difference to sharp focus. By drawing parallels between two contrasting events happening
at the same time, Mitchell highlights the hypocrisy in this coexistence. He uses examples
of nuances of daily life, such as ‘watching over a pond’ vs ‘a crushed house’, ‘children
laugh’ vs ‘a midwife draws a baby out of dust’ and ‘children and dogs rush over to the
Heath’ vs ‘baby is covered with cement dust’ to make the readers understand the reality
of life by demonstrating the difference between those who cause the war and those who
are affected by the war. By comparing Imagination and reality, he further sheds light
upon this existing false virtue that seems to favour those belonging to the first world
countries by letting them control the lives of people inhabiting other small countries. The
Question is against those polarised nations that attack small countries who are unable to
retaliate and defend themselves. War which causes a situation like global suicide is a
representation of anything that hinders peace.
By adopting the method of fragmentation, Mitchell is able to put forth the
straightforward yet impactful question to the readers - "peace or global suicide ? you
decide. "

HAWK ROOSTING
Ted Hughes

ABOUT THE POET

● Highly celebrated poet laureate

● Spent most of his life outdoors, in rural areas. Enjoyed being in nature. Thus, a lot of his poems
revolve around the same. He was aware of the harsh realities of growing up in the countryside.
● Is often called a “war poet once removed’ though he never fought in the war, he still grew up in
the era.
● Studied anthropology

THE TITLE

● Hawk- predator, power, first-person dramatic monologue

● The hawk represents-
1. An arrogant, self-obsessed dictator. A fascist dictator, a tyrant.
2. Hughes, however, said that it was simply about a hawk. It is about giving a voice
to a natural predator and exploring nature.
● The use of “hawk” in the title emphasizes the bird’s importance to the poem
● roosting= resting. The hawk must feel comfortable, safe, and in control.
● Ted Hughes' poem 'Hawk Roosting' on its literal level of meaning is an expression of a bird of
 prey, the hawk, which is sitting on a tree and meditating about its power of destruction, its
ability to suppress change, and its conceited arrogance and superiority.

FORM

● The uniform stanza lengths reflect the speaker’s tight control and hold over its surroundings. The
speaker is strong and dominant and the uniformity of the stanzas is indicative of this.
● The pairs of stanzas show the development in the presentation of the speaker
○ The first two show physical superiority
○ 3 and 4 discuss how the speaker sees themselves within nature
○ 5 and 6 forms an explanation and justification for its actions

LANGUAGE

● Repetition of the first person pronouns shows how the speaker is central to the poem. The
speaker is arrogant, self-centered and the poem highlights it’s egotistical nature
○ I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
○ My feet are locked upon the rough bark
○ I kill where I please because it is all mine.
○ I am going to keep things like this
○ Now I hold Creation in my foot
● The use of negatives suggests a political speech, using political slogans where they are rejecting
rhetoric and relying on strength and brute force instead. Politicians are known to use rhetoric all
the time, to manipulate language and use it to make a particular point
○ no falsifying dream- there is no need for fake dreams since it’s reality is perfect.
○ no sophistry
○ No arguments
○ Nothing has changed
● The simple and direct language contrasts the violent imagery in the poem. The speaker is
imitating a politician’s sophistication but. in reality, is a brutal thug. The hawk seems to think
that the natural world has been designed just to suit it, showing it’s arrogance
○ And the earth's face upward for my inspection.
○ My manners are tearing off heads
○ Through the bones of the living.

IMAGERY
 ● Violent imagery- the hawk thinks about killing even in it’s sleep, emphasizing its power and
violence.
○ Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat- ‘Perfect’ here implies the pleasure it takes from
killing.
○ ‘flight is direct/Through the bones of the living
● Use of assonance- repeating the ee sound mimics the screech of the hawk. This is the
predominant sound in the poem showing how the hawk dominates its surroundings.
○ feet/sleep/eat/trees/me
● The contrast of God with nature- the speaker talks about how it is a product of ‘Creation’. On
one hand, this suggests that it has evolved into a supreme predator at the top of its food chain.
Alternatively, by capitalizing the C implies a God-like creator indicating that the speaker thinks of
themselves as being made in God’s image. This further accentuates the speaker’s arrogance and
egotism (just as a fascist dictator)
○ It took the whole of Creation/ To produce my foot
● The speaker is described as an indiscriminate killer and this is the ultimate control they have over
their surroundings.
○ I kill where I please because it is all mine.
● The hawk’s physical positioning indicates its power. The personification of the earth ‘looking up’
suggests that the hawk is above it both literally and hierarchically. More generally, it could be said
that the bird is a symbol of the human evils of arrogance, destructiveness, conceited and
egotistical attitude, an obsession FOR power and tyranny; in short, the hawk is a symbol of
inhumanity.

RHYTHM AND RHYME

● Irregular meter- the lack of regular meter and rhyme scheme show that the speaker is above these
things. They have ownership and control over their surroundings and are not going to be dictated
to patterns of rhythm and rhyme in the poem.

TONE

● The poem has a sinister and threatening tone whether it is representing a dictatorial leader or the
thought processes of a natural predator. We are left with the chilling image that there is little
change under the regime of a dictator, but also, by extension that there will always be these types
of political leaders. The poem is cyclical in that the first and last lines start with ‘I’ showing how
the speaker is central to the poem. This may also be a comment on the prevalence of autocratic
leaders throughout history, strengthening the threatening tone of the poem.
● “The allotment of death” emphasizes a god-like arrogance. The hawk ‘grows’ death as in
 ‘allotment’. The juxtaposition is ironic and shows the hawk’s preoccupation with murder.
● ‘For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.’
This line uses enjambment; it mirrors the directness of the hawk’s path- not even the constraints
of the poem can stop the hawk from doing what it wants to.
● Monosyllabic language such as “I kill where i please” creates an eerily calm, or emotionally
detached tone in this poem. This combined with the violence makes the hawk seem like a
psychopath.

Q. Comment on the use of allegory in “Hawk Roosting”

The hawk, which is the main focus or center of Ted Hughes’s Hawk Roosting,
embodies both characteristics of man and nature, demonstrating how the two
intertwine. Thus, there is a clear theme of man versus nature.
The hawk symbolizes more of the negative behavior of man, such as power and how
too much of it results in a lack of reasoning, ignorance and arrogance. With
respects to its embodiment of nature, that hawk represents nature’s voice and
thoughts.
This poem is about a hawk observing the natural world. The hawk is an arrogant,
self - obsessed dictator, a tyrant. It discusses killing (“I kill where I please because it is
all mine” ), how it is God’s masterpiece (“It took the whole of Creation/ To produce
my feet”) and how it holds power over the world around it. A clear connection to
humanity can be demonstrated by dictatorship, particularly fascism. Often
dictators are “roosting” when they come to their position of ultimate power and
superiority, as well as biting the hands that feed them. In the poem, this abuse of
power is especially evident in the third stanza. This demonstrates the separation from
God (“Creation”) and nature, as well as how many (dictators) often forget how they
got to their position of power, which is mostly because of their people.
The hawk could be seen as a metaphorical representation of the dictators and
bullies of the world that are always hungry for more, grasping onto their power,
trying to prevent change.
“My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.”
These two lines at the end of the poem are quite reminiscent/ similar to Shelley's
poem Ozymandias which is about a dictator wanting to keep a hold of his land,
just as the hawk would like to keep hold of its spectacular sense of power.

Q. How does Hughes bring out the power of nature through the hawk?
The hawk, which is the main focus or center of Ted Hughes’s Hawk Roosting,
embodies both characteristics of man and nature, demonstrating how the two
intertwine. Thus, there is a clear theme of man versus nature.
The hawk symbolizes more of the negative behavior of man, such as power and
how too much of it results in a lack of reasoning, ignorance, and arrogance.
With respect to its embodiment of nature, that hawk represents nature’s voice and
thoughts.
Having grown up in the countryside, Hughes embraces the violent aspects of
nature, rejecting the stereotypical images of it being something beautiful and
innocent. The hawk represents an arrogant, self- obsessed dictator. A fascist
dictator, a tyrant. Hughes, however, said that it was simply about a hawk. It is
about giving a voice to a natural predator and exploring nature.
By means of straightforward, yet hefty statements, Hughes demonstrates that the
hawk’s behavior is natural and that its actions are based on pure instinct and
sophistry. This contrasts with the more dominant characteristic that man possesses:
the ability to reason. In the fifth stanza, this is also elaborated as the hawk justifies
his actions with fate (“for the one path of my flight is direct”), meaning that it is
destined and has a right to kill. From this aspect, the last line of the poem would
make sense, as nature will continue on this cycle of violence and predation. While
one can argue that he has made violence appear more acceptable in this poem,
Hughes defends himself by stating that this is a cycle in nature, and perhaps that
such behavior is more acceptable in nature rather than among mankind. By the
use of the hawk, Hughes has symbolized the clash between man and nature, and
that man’s (for the most part) rational nature is what separates it from the more
instinctual, kill-or-be-killed ways of nature, as well as God, who “created”
nature.

Q. Explain the significance of imagery in the poem “Hawk Roosting”.

Ted Hughes' poem 'Hawk Roosting' on its literal level of meaning is an expression of
a bird of prey, the hawk, which is sitting on a tree and meditating about its power of
destruction, its ability to suppress change, and its conceited arrogance and
superiority. The hawk, which is the main focus or center of Ted Hughes’s Hawk
Roosting, embodies both characteristics of man and nature, demonstrating how the
two intertwine. Thus, there is a clear theme of man versus nature.

The poem is filled with violent, visual imagery. The hawk thinks about killing even
in its sleep, emphasizing its power and violence.
○ Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat- ‘Perfect’ here implies the pleasure it takes
from killing.
 ○ ‘flight is direct/Through the bones of the living
The poet has used assonance- repeating the ee sound to mimic the screech of the
hawk. This is the predominant sound in the poem showing how the hawk dominates
its surroundings.
○ feet/sleep/eat/trees/me
The contrast of God with nature- the speaker talks about how it is a product of
‘Creation’. On one hand, this suggests that it has evolved into a supreme predator at
the top of its food chain. Alternatively, by capitalizing the C it implies a God-like
creator indicating that the speaker thinks of themselves as being made in God’s
image. This further accentuates the speaker’s arrogance and egotism (just as a fascist
dictator)
○ It took the whole of Creation/ To produce my foot
The speaker(hawk) is described as an indiscriminate killer and this is the ultimate
control they have over their surroundings.
○ I kill where I please because it is all mine.
The hawk’s physical positioning indicates its power. The personification of the
earth ‘looking up’ suggests that the hawk is above it both literally and hierarchically.
More generally, it could be said that the bird is a symbol of the human evils of
arrogance, destructiveness, conceited and egotistical attitude, an obsession FOR
power and tyranny; in short, the hawk is a symbol of inhumanity
The poem is reminiscent of WWII. The hawk resembles the power and domination
of the Nazi period. Hughes is simply trying to explore how people hold onto
power through the personification of a predatory bird, like the hawk.

(Note: This is only an addition to the notes, it's very long and not very important.
Just wrote it for myself, but added it as it might benefit you. Please understand that
it's only my interpretation!)

Allegory of Hawk Roosting:

In “Hawk Roosting,” Ted Hughes imagines the interior thoughts of one of the great
birds of prey: the hawk. The poem is told entirely from the perspective of the hawk,
which is personified as having the powers of conscious thought and a command of
English. What the hawk lacks, however, are human qualities like mercy and remorse:
it is ruthless and direct in its thoughts about hunting prey, though this violence is
presented matter-of-factly, as simply part of who the hawk is.
Though Ted Hughes insisted that the poem is only an elaboration and an insight into
to the thoughts of a bird of prey, the poem has very significant indications and hints
of an egoistic and self centered fascist dictator. Hughes was knows as a” war poet
twice removed”, he never fought in a war but grew up in the era. This could be one of
the reasons his poem so significantly seems to have the voice of a prominent
personality of the time, one that seems to be satirised by the characteristics of this
hawk.

The poem also has very significant features of nature. Imagining what goes on in the
mind of the hawk facilitates a deeper meditation about nature, which the poem
presents as both majestic and fearsome. Violence, the poem suggests, is just as much a
part of nature as is beauty, and the natural world isn’t subject to human notions of
morality. Saying this the poem in a rhetorical manner seems to be asking if this kind
of behaviour is acceptable for a human being. While the hawk seems to be very
correct in its thoughts even though they are violent, is it something expected of a
human being?

The hawk is a killer, and part of the poem’s aim is to make clear just how natural this
violence is. To that end, the opening line depicts the hawk sitting at the “top of the
wood,” symbolizing its place at the top of its ecosystem. And the poem is graphic in
its depiction of the bird’s violence throughout—the hawk refers to its “Manners” as
“tearing off heads” and its flight path as “direct / Through the bones of the living.”
The hawk’s life is literally governed the “allotment of death.” In other words, it is
meant to kill. This egoistic personality and pride of the hawk seem to perfectly
reflect that of a fascist dictator. While killing is natural to the hawk and it is in fact
what it is meant to do, it is well understood that this kind of thought and violence is
not expected in a human being. However, fascist dictators seem to have the same
natural disposition to violence as the hawk.
The hawk knows comments on the way that nature seems to be perfectly designed to
facilitate the hawk’s hunting. Just as a dictator would view himself, at a possession
that naturally gives him the advantage to kill and hunt those who are not in his
favour.

In. This manner, if one looks closely into the poem the clear egoistic characters of a
dictator can be seem through the personality of the hawk.

Another allusion that is made is to that of religious worldview. Nature is “of

advantage to me,” it says, and describes itself as the product of “the whole of
Creation.” "Creation" here refers to both nature and the entirety of existence, while
also alluding to a religious worldview. This religious element is relevant to the poem
because much of human morality is based on or informed by religion (and vice versa)

The Power of Nature:

In “Hawk Roosting,” Ted Hughes imagines the interior thoughts of one of the great
birds of prey: the hawk. The poem is told entirely from the perspective of the hawk,
which is personified as having the powers of conscious thought and a command of
English. What the hawk lacks, however, are human qualities like mercy and remorse:
it is ruthless and direct in its thoughts about hunting prey, though this violence is
presented matter-of-factly, as simply part of who the hawk is.

Nature is “of advantage to me,” it says, and describes itself as the product of “the
whole of Creation.” "Creation" here refers to both nature and the entirety of
existence. The mention of Creation speaks to the hawk’s prowess, but also to the
incredible way that nature evolves to create the conditions for its creatures to flourish
—even if those same creatures are essentially killing machines.
The hawk insists upon its rightful place within the natural order by describing the
prey that it holds “in my foot” as part of “Creation” too. The hawk understands that
both it and its prey have their roles to play, even if one seems easier to stomach than
the other. In other words, the hawk’s capacity for violence is as natural as things that
seem more innocent: flowers or puppies, for example!

This understanding that killing and violence are an integral part of nature informs the
hawks’ attitude and personality. It rejects human understanding and morality, claiming
that it has no need for “falsifying dream[s]” or “sophistry.” Sophistry is the use of
clever but false arguments, which the hawk, acting in accordance with its true nature,
has no need for. As such, humans are wrong to project their moral frameworks—
especially the equation of violence with evil—onto the natural world. Nature, insists
the hawk, is governed by its own laws.
That’s why the hawk has only “one path”; it’s one true way is that of a killer—killing
is its nature. And that’s why the hawk states that “Nothing has changed since I began
[…] I am going to keep things like this.” Its way of being is innate and natural, and it
will continue to be this way, stoking fear in the hearts of its prey. The poem, then,
explores nature by focusing on one small part of it, the hawk. Through giving voice
to the hawk, the poem insists on the way in which nature is both miraculous and
 violent. It argues that violence and innocence, in the natural world at least, coexist in
balance—and that human moral frameworks don’t really apply accurately to
creatures like the hawk.

DIS POETRY
Benjamin Zephaniah

Important Terms:

1. The Beat Generation/ The Beat Movement:

● American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s and centred in the
bohemian artist communities of San Francisco. Its adherents, self-styled as “beat”,
originally meaning “weary,” but later also connoting a musical sense, a “beatific”
spirituality, and other meanings, and derisively called “beatniks,” expressed their
alienation from conventional, or “square,” society by adopting a style of dress, manners,
and “hip” vocabulary borrowed from jazz musicians.
● They advocated personal release, purification, and illumination through the heightened
sensory awareness that might be induced by drugs, jazz, sex, or the disciplines of Zen
Buddhism.
● The Beats and their advocates found the joylessness and purposelessness of modern
society sufficient justification for both withdrawal and protest.
● The rebellion of the beatniks was against the materialistic society of the American
middle class. The Beat Generation found a way to rebel against the horrors they saw
in society by pulling away from it, but not without being heard. Their rebellion was done
through literature and was one of self expression.
● Beat poetry emerged from the disillusionment that followed World War II, a period of
unimaginable atrocities including the Holocaust and the use of nuclear weapons against
Japan. Following the end of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union quickly
entered a Cold War, a period of geopolitical hostility that created paranoia and cultural
and political repression at home.

2. DUB Poetry:
● Dub Poetry is performance poetry originating from the West Indies. This genre
advanced from dub music consisting of the “spoken word” over reggae balanced rhythm.
Dub Poetry was started in Jamaica in the 1970’s.
● These amazing poems are performed without any additional music. This in turn
transports speech with chant, rhythmical accentuation, and a dramatic, unique gesture.
● Dub poetry can be extremely political and social by nature. It was often part of
“underground music” until the arts community formally recognized its significance.
 ● Dub poetry, in effect, promotes politics and social justice. This poetry can be often
voiced through a critique on current events.

3. Rastafari Movement:
● Rastafari, also spelled Ras Tafari is a religious and political movement that began in
Jamaica in the 1930s
● Members of the movement are called Rastas . They believe that they are being tested by
Jah (God) through slavery and the existence of economic injustice and racial
“downpression” (rather than oppression).
● Jamaican Rastas are descendants of African slaves who were converted to Christianity in
Jamaica by missionaries using the text of the King James Version of the Bible. Rastas
maintain that the King James Version is a corrupted account of the true word of God,
since English slave owners promoted incorrect readings of the Bible in order to better
control slaves.
● Rastas sought to provide a voice for the poor Blacks in Jamaica by encouraging
resistance to oppressive societal structures. At the core of their belief is the re-
interpretation of the Hebrew Bible with a focus on Blacks as God’s chosen race, and the
belief that the true Messiah comes to us as Emperor Haile Selassie I (Ras Tafari) of
Ethiopia.
● Rastas believe that they can come to know the true meanings of biblical scriptures by
cultivating a mystical consciousness of oneself with Jah, called “I-and-I.”
● Through extensive spoken discourse, the Rastafarians aim to clarify the Western
misinterpretation of the Bible, so as to spread the true word and fight against the unjust
hierarchy of Western culture (collectively called Babylon).

Summary:
The poem itself says that there is no rhythm and in case, found any that is pure coincidence.
The poem is just flatly put, to showcase that the poet is not that specific about any particular
event or thought, but yet words and thoughts in mind are much stronger than words put out.

The first part of the poem says that the poem does not hold any specifications as it is not for
preaching, nor for following, it is not for putting you to sleep or for reciting after me, it is
just that pope duo in my thoughts and is within me when I go to bed or bike. Loved
Shakespeare and his work, but this is my style and I like it.

In the second stanza he says that he is not afraid if his poem gets published, for it does require
imagination to understand. He tried being romantic, but since it was of no good to him, he
even left that subject. He tried to be personal, but all those have been discussed earlier and there
is no use in discussing repeated words and thoughts.

He says the poem is for all alike, the child and adult, the wise and the fool, anybody could take it
for free and read as it is just for you and me. In spite of all these, you are still honored from
Universities under a spotlight. Lastly he says the poem is within him and would be with him all
the time, no matter what or where he is, it is from him to you, just like that.

This poem has depicted his own life and he has put that in simple format as just a saying
through this poem. If the entire poem is summarized and compared with Zephaniah life, it
does have a lot of resemblance, he does clearly say that he has not come for preaching or to be
followed, yet he would like to spread the message, similarly, the poem says it is not specific for
any character or subject, just like not for any age categories or politic, but for the Nation. He has
clearly said in the poem, it is within me and no words would be from the past, where he shows
that his ideas were not with anyone and not like the famous poet Shakespeare, but it has derived
from within him and has been with him day and night.The poem is just the depiction of his life
and the message that he wants to convey to all, penned down beautifully and simply.

Questions:

Q1. Zephaniah portrays 'freedom of expression' in his poem Dis Poetry. Explain.
Zephaniah portrays many ideas about his opinion on poetry, and he also portrays his personal
experience with poetry, and how poetry affects him as a person.
Through ‘Dis Poetry’, he aims to break many of the stereotypes surrounding poetry, and how it
should be something that is accessible to all, rather than just the elite or well-read.
One of the main ideas that Zephaniah portrays in this poem is that poem is all about ‘freedom
of expression’, and that it is meant for everyone. He initially writes how ‘dis poetry is not Party
Political’, which could be used to suggest that poetry is not meant to affect the real world, and
shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but instead is simply something that everyone can enjoy. The
fact that he writes ‘I’ve tried Shakespeare, but dis is de stuff I like’ goes to show how people
should not be confined to specific types of poetry, or forced to respect poetry from history, but
instead that everyone should be allowed to enjoy whatever form of poetry pleases them.
Zephaniah also writes how ‘dis poetry is fer de wise an foolish’, which further illustrates his point
that poetry should be accessible to all. He also writes how ‘anybody can do it fe free’ and that
‘dis poetry is fe yu an me’, further showcasing his views on how poetry should be widespread
and accessible. He ends the poem with the phrase ‘It goes to yu WID LUV.’ This shows how
Zephaniah believes he uses this poem as a message, and the full stop after LUV could be used to
emphasise this ‘LUV’, and show Zephaniah’s affection behind the message. Because Zephaniah
believed in the need for multicultural acceptance, this poem could be used as a message to
portray how everyone should be allowed to enjoy whatever poetry they like, not depending on
their background, and this ‘LUV’ possibly is used to show Zephaniah’s love to these other
cultures.

Zephaniah also suggests that, in his opinion, poetry does not necessarily need to have any sort of
structure or seriousness. He states how it is ‘not designed fe dose who are critical’, which is used
to show that the poetry should just be accepted as it is instead of being over analysed and
scrutinised. In addition, he states how ‘no big words are involved’ and that ‘pages of of crafted
word; will be ‘not needed’, showing that he is convinced that poems are all about the meaning
behind what, as well as the ‘riddim’ rather that just how it is presented or organised, and the fact
that there are ‘no big words’ shows how poetry needs to be accessible to everyone, not simply
those who are well-read. Furthermore, the truly amazing use of enjambment in the poem, as well
as the portions where this breaks out of framework during the ‘chant’, showcases Zephaniah’s
beliefs which a strict composition is not required, and the fact that the meaning of the
composition is still very evident deplays how a poem does not need ‘long words’ and a ‘structure’
to convey a strong message.

Zephaniah also shows the way in which poetry is a way of life. He writes how this ‘is wid me
after I gu to my opinion bed’ and how ‘it climbs into my dreadlocks’ , showing just how his
lifestyle essentially revolves around poetry. Furthermore, he produced how ‘if I have a problem
de riddim gets it solved’, wish displays how important poems are to him and how that plays an
important role in his life.

Overall, Zephaniah uses this poem to somewhat break the stereotypes regarding poetry, it is only
intended for those who are sensible, well-read and analytical, simply by instead laying out how it
ought to be accessible to any or all and it is needless for poems to be so serious.

Q. Comment on the language used by Benjamin Zephaniah in his poem Dis Poetry.

In this poem, Benjamin Zephaniah describes poetry and its rhythmic beat and its joyfulness. He’s
showing his love to poetry in words and how much it gives to the world by raising people's
spirits. He uses a modern post-colonial form of poetry called Dub Poetry. The poet often uses
words that are created such as ‘ghettology’. Many standard spellings are incorrect and the poet’s
dialect is used. In this poem Benjamin Zephaniah uses Non- Standard English. This is often used
as a technique to say challenging or radical things, or to emphasize that they are not part of the
‘establishment’. Regular rhyme scheme. Examples include ‘Dis poetry is not Party Political, Not
designed fe dose who are critical.’ Benjamin Zephaniah uses in his poems a sort of Black British
English that is very close to Standard English. He explains his choice by his will to mediate his
ideas to more people and especially to the white British people.

Q. Comment on the beat generation with illustrations from Benjamin Zephaniah's poem
Dis Poetry.
The beat generation is an American social and literary movement originating in the 1950s and
centred in the bohemian artist communities of San Francisco. Its adherents, self-styled as “beat”,
originally meaning “weary,” but later also connoting a musical sense, a “beatific” spirituality, and
other meanings, and derisively called “beatniks,” expressed their alienation from conventional,
or “square,” society by adopting a style of dress, manners, and “hip” vocabulary borrowed from
jazz musicians. The poetry produced during this time is most effective when said out loud as the
language and beats that it follows is a part of the message. Therefore, the beat generation often
brings to mind the spoken word DUB poetry of that time.
Through their poetry and the movement they advocated personal release, purification, and
illumination through the heightened sensory awareness that might be induced by drugs.
The Beats and their advocates found the joylessness and purposelessness of modern society
sufficient justification for both withdrawal and protest. The rebellion of the beatniks was
against the materialistic society of the American middle class. The Beat Generation found a
 way to rebel against the horrors they saw in society by pulling away from it, but not without
being heard. Their rebellion was done through literature and was one of self expression. In the
poem 'Dis Poetry' Benjamin Zephaniah expresses his distaste for the materialistic pleasures that
the society has succumbed to and through his poem aims to explain how knowledge or art such
as a poem should not be restricted to the upper class or the so called intelligentsia of the society.

THE DEAD
James Joyce
(he was deeply disappointed in the Irish and had exiled from Ireland himself).

"The Dead" is the final short story in the 1914 collection Dubliners by James Joyce. It is based
upon the individual hero’s biography. The story deals with themes of love and loss as well as
raising questions about the nature of the Irish identity. The story that seems to be about a
Christmas party at the Morkan family’s house is full of symbolism and meanings that represents
Gabriel’s relation with the dead and living as a way to search his own soul and identity.

The story is divided into three parts:

1. Arrival of the guests and the first dances.
2. Gabriel’s dance with Miss Ivors followed by supper and his speech.
3. The song ‘The Lass of Aughrim’, departure and the scene at the hotel - Revelation of Gretta’s
past love (Michael Furey)
The three stages of a unified heal projects towards a man’s realisation of his psychological paralysis.

Gabriel’s Egotism is broken down by three failures:

1. Lily’s sharp remark on men when he mentions a possible future wedding. - Failure as a gentleman.
2. Miss Ivors use of the abusive term ‘West Briton’. - Failure as an Irishman.
3. Gretta’s withdrawal to the past and her revelation about her past love. - Failure as a man, lover,
husband.
 The ambiguous conclusion of the story shows how he gives into the final paralysis symbolised
by the snow. He rises from the shades through deeper understanding, generosity, love, closer
union with nature. In the final part of the story, Gabriel gradually abandons his egotism and
starts feeling like a member of a bigger community. In the final three paras, he compares his love
to Michael Furey’s love. He then imagines seeing the young man as well as other human beings
that are dead. He feels his identity fading out and becoming a part of the community of the
living and dead, whom the snow covers with the same whiteness and silence.

Characters

Gabriel Conroy - The main character of the story.

The story’s protagonist, a middle-aged Dublin teacher and writer. Gabriel’s name, which means “man of God”
in Hebrew, carries Biblical significance, as it is the name of the angel who announces the coming of the Messiah
to the Virgin Mary. He is Kate and Julia’s favorite nephew, and the son of their sister, Ellen, who has died.
Gabriel seeks validation from the women in his life. His aunts continually praise him and he runs small errands
for them in return. However, he allows his male pride and desire for female validation to distract him from
having meaningful interactions with women, and he often fails to see how his words and actions affect the
female characters. Additionally Gabriel is distracted by nostalgia, and fails to find passion in the present. He is
very interested in England and the continent, and generally detests Dublin life. At the end of the story Gabriel
comes to the realization that he has failed to find true love or passion in his life, and that he is on track to live a
meaningless life and die a meaningless death.

Kate Morkan and Julia Morkan – Gabriel and Mary Jane's aunts. They are elderly sisters who throw
a party every year during Christmas time. The Hostesses.

Kate Morkan - Gabriel’s aunt, who lives and is hosting the dinner party with her sister Julia, and niece, Mary
Jane. She is a musician who gives piano lessons in their home, since she is “too feeble to go about much.” As far
as physical appearance goes, Kate seems to be the most lively of Gabriel’s aunts, with a face like a “red apple”
and a long braid of a “ripe nut color.” Kate feels strongly about the Catholic Church’s decision to ban women
from church choirs, but she is conflicted because she also believes the pope is infallible. She downplays her own
opinions about this to avoid offending others, even though she feels passionately about the issue.

Julia Morkan - Gabriel’s other aunt, who is also hosting the annual Christmas party along with Kate and Mary
Jane. She works as the leading soprano in Adam and Eve’s, which is a popular Dublin name for the Church of
the Immaculate Conception. According to the text she has “not aged well” and is described as having gray hair
and a gray face, further emphasizing her age. She has trouble understanding Gabriel’s speech and is often
confused. Towards the end of the text, Gabriel imagines her funeral, which he believes will happen soon in the
very same house.

Mary Jane Morkan – niece of Kate and Julia Morkan.

Kate and Julia’s niece. Her father Pat died and her aunts took her into their care around thirty years ago. Now
she plays the organ at Haddington Road. She acts as a peacekeeper throughout the night, diffusing tension
when the discussion turns too controversial. She is the third of the “Three Graces” Gabriel describes in his
speech, along with his two aunts.

Lily – the caretaker's daughter.

The caretaker’s daughter who helps attend to the party guests. She seems to have known the family since she
was a child, since Gabriel remembers when she was little and “used to sit on the lowest step nursing a rag doll.”
Lily has a good relationship with Kate, Julia, and Mary Jane as she rarely makes mistakes. She becomes bitter
when Gabriel makes a comment about her being of the age to marry.

Gretta Conroy – Gabriel's wife.

Gabriel’s wife, a good-natured and kind woman. She does not hate Dublin as Gabriel does, and finds his interest
in things like galoshes to be ridiculous. She reveals the story of her first love, Michael Furey, to Gabriel on the
night of the party. Gretta believes that Michael died for her sake, and for this reason, she is also distracted by the
past and unable to focus on finding love and passion in the present.

Molly Ivors – a long-time acquaintance of the family, University teacher, madly in love with Ireland.
Mr Browne – only Protestant guest at the party.
Freddy Malins – an alcoholic and friend of family.
Mrs Malins — Freddy Malins' mother.
Bartell D'Arcy – a tenor.

Symbolism of Snow

Throughout the text all manifestations of winter—cold, the color white, snow, and the season itself—usually
represent mortality. The fact that snow falls indiscriminately “on both the living and the dead” all over Dublin
highlights the fact that many Dubliners are living meaningless lives and are essentially dead while alive. As
Gabriel enters the house there is “a light fringe of snow” on his coat and galoshes. This use of snow and cold in
relation to Gabriel’s body accentuates his relationship with death. As we later learn, Gabriel feels (or learns
himself) that it would be better to die young for passion, as Michael Furey, than to live a long empty life, as he is
doing.

This indiscriminate quality of snow, which is said to be falling all over Ireland, highlights the fact that mortality
is universal, and also serves to unite the living and the dead. Some of the living, like Gabriel, have not
really lived, and some of the dead, like Michael Furey, hold significance equal to that of the living, as in Gretta’s
mind. So the living and the dead are not really that different, and the snow is a reminder that everyone will end
with the same fate.

Themes

Epiphany
Stephen Hero in 1944 defined by epiphany as a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of
speech or of gesture or in a memorable phase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters
to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that they themselves are the most delicate of moments.
Gabriel experiences epiphany at the end of the short story in ‘The Dead’. After his wife’s confession of
having a lover before she met him, Gabriel realizes that he has no idea who his wife is, what she feels, what she
thinks and what she wants from life. This insight takes shape when he looks into the mirror and sees, “a ludicrous
figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and
idealizing his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror”. This
realization also brings truth about himself, he is not who he thought he was. He is a pathetic human being,
more dead than alive and now he is assuming his absurd and ephemeral/ fleeting/ passing existence. The
moment he is looking through the window is the moment when he starts to connect with his Irish soul and the
others, it means the death of his pretentious and self-centred character.

Death
The theme of death is present from the beginning until the end of the short story. In spite of the normal
beginning of the short story, as it progresses we can see an atmosphere characterized by a dark tone of decay.
Many deaths are reminded through the story such as Gabriel’s mother Ellen, Patrick Morkan and even a legendary
tenor, Parkinson. All of them are remembered in a good way, highlighting only their good qualities, such as the
snow that is covering Ireland that night also covers their bad qualities leaving only positive aspects of their life.
Likewise in Gabriel’s dinner speech the theme of the death is clearly introduced ”we shall still speak of them with
pride and affection, still cherish in our hearts the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world
will not willingly let die’. In this speech he points out again the virtues of the dead showing them as an ideal to
follow for the present society.
At the end of the story when Gretta tells Gabriel about Michael Furey, a comparison between both men arises in
Gabriel’s mind. He realises that he was not even so important in the life of his own wife as he thought before. The
story ends with Gabriel imagining a hypothetical death of his aunt, and he makes a self-reflection about how she
passes away ordinarily, unlike Michael, who had died for love and with courage for Gretta. As a consequence he is
scared to have the same death as Julia, a death through progressive decay ‘Better pass boldly into that other world,
in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age’. Another important moment at the end
of the story is Gabriel's interior monologue ‘His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through
the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.” This may be a
metaphor related to the death of the soul, in the sense that the soul dead or alive will be covered by the snow
erasing everything and giving the chance to start over again. His soul is being buried in order to be a new man.
 Q1. How does Joyce portray the paralysis of his age through the story “The Dead”?

Ans. In ‘’The Dead’’, James Joyce criticizes the Irish society. The Irish are seen as hypocrites,
spiritually and morally paralyzed by the nets of social norms and conventions. The best
example of this is the protagonist – Gabriel. Gabriel's paralysis is partly a result of his denial
and lack of interest in those fellow Irishmen, dramatized by the conversation with Miss Ivors.
He only cares about himself and is obsessed with the impression he leaves on others, he must have
everything in control. Despite being an educated intellectual Irish gentleman, he doesn’t know
how to converse with people of different social classes; his conversation with Lily, the caretaker’s
daughter, makes this inability known. He’s paralyzed by his self-consciousness. He feels
uncomfortable when someone is opposing his attitudes, and, instead of defending himself
diplomatically as an intellectual, he runs away from conflicts. Gabriel is spiritually dead, as he’s
unable to move forward and feel deep emotions, he’s walking around in circles like Johnny, old
Morkan’s horse. But, in the end of the story he has an epiphany – revelation and
disillusionment as he finds out that his marriage wasn’t based on true, passionate love. His wife,
Gretta, knew a boy in her youth, Michael Furey, who loved her so much that he was ready to
sacrifice his life for her. Realizing that he could never feel what the young boy felt, Gabriel starts to
view his life in a new way – all his beliefs and attitudes about life shattered. He no longer
knows who he really is or what his real worth and importance is; he becomes a stranger to himself,
his identity fades out.
Gretta is also paralyzed, by being a person who lives in her past memories. Both Gretta and
Gabriel live in a world of their own, and not in reality. The theme of paralysis is embodied in
the characters’ movement as well, “Kate and Julia came toddling down the dark stairs at once.
Both of them kissed Gabriel’s wife, said she must have perished alive”.
Snow as well is an important symbol that may represent the spiritual paralysis, as it covers all of
Ireland, the living and the dead.

Q2. What do the names Gabriel and Michael signify in the story “The Dead”?
Ans. In ‘’The Dead’’, James Joyce criticizes the Irish society. The names Gabriel and Michael
have a biblical symbolism. Gabriel and Michael are both angels of high standing in the Bible.
Gabriel shares his name with the archangel Gabriel, who informed Mary that she would be the
mother of Christ. Gabriel means “God’s strength”. Gabriel’s obsession with strength can be
seen throughout the text. Whenever someone opposes or challenges his authority or power, it
leaves him feeling uncomfortable and helpless. Instances that portray this would include - When
Lily does not take kindly to his advice, he takes it personally, when Molly Ivors accuses him of
being weak and a West Briton, his mind flies to ways to reassert his strength and he lusts after
Gretta making this obsession with strength even clearer. Furthermore, The angel Gabriel is
associated with fire. Gabriel Conroy constantly thinks in terms of fire, this can be seen in his
thoughts while he was walking home after the party and begins to lust after his wife, strengthening
this tie.
Michael Furey is commonly read as Michael the archangel. While this may be true, his symbolic
connections with Christ are too apparent to be disregarded. As Gabriel is “God’s strength,”
Michael is “God’s likeness”. Gretta reveals to Gabriel about ‘a young boy she used to know’
who she loved greatly at the time. She also mentions that Michael died for her. The scene
describing his death is rich with Crucifixion symbolism. Where the angel Gabriel is associated
with fire, the angel Michael is associated with water. It is also notable that the story ends with all
of Ireland covered in snow, or water. This snow, a projection of Michael Furey onto all of Ireland,
is a type of resurrection. Michael, though once dead, was figuratively brought back to life by
Gabriel, who only knew him after his death.

Q3. What does the story “The Dead” reveal about Gabriel’s understanding of his wife as
an individual?
Ans. In ‘’The Dead’’, James Joyce criticizes the Irish society. In the story “The Dead”, we get
an insight on the immense love Gabriel has for his wife, Gretta. His appreciation for his wife’s
beauty leads to renewed feelings of closeness, love, and lust. In the beginning of the story when
both the characters are introduced it is observed that Gabriel likes to be in control of his wife.
He ensures that she wears what he wants her to wear. He seems to look at Gretta as merely an
object rather than an actual person. After they leave the party, all that Gabriel could think of is to
 hold Gretta close and make love to her. At the hotel room, when Gretta seems to be
indifferent, Gabriel’s first reaction was not concern for his spouse but instead he wanted to be
the ‘master of her strange moods’. With the revelation of Gretta’s past love, Michael Furey, who
sacrificed his life for love, Gabriel begins to feel insecure. He realises that the face he sees is no
longer the face for which Michael Furey braved death. Although hurt, he still tears up
generously at the thought of the image of Gretta’s lover’s eyes locked in her heart. While
imagining the young boy, he begins to feel his own identity fading out. Gabriel has never felt the
same towards any woman and therefore realises that this feeling is love.

A CUP OF TEA
Katherine Mansfield

"A Cup of Tea" is a 1922 short story by Katherine Mansfield. ‘Kathleen’ Mansfield Murry was a
prominent New Zealand modernist short story writer and poet who was born and brought up in
colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield.

Story Setting

The story setting takes place in the early 1900’s back in Britain. The story begins with the shopping scenario
of Rosemary stopping at a florist's shop and afterwards visiting the antique ornament shop till darkness strikes.
It’s where she meets poor Miss Smith outside the shop.

Character

Rosemary Fell
A socially poised, rich married woman with a devoted and loving husband, who has a great lifestyle. She is
well-dressed and well off with all the luxuries she desires for. Her interest is mainly in reading books, always
indulged and above all greatly inspired by the characters and their adventurous lives which she comes across in
the stories. Her inspirational interest can be judged from the decision she takes when she interacts with a poor
soul called Miss Smith by taking her home with a mere thought of it being an adventure for her recalling the
stories of Dostoevsky. Apart from this possession, insecurity can be sensed in her character.

Philips Fell
Husband of Rosemary, is in fact one of the richest people of his society. He loves his wife devotedly and cares
for her a lot. He calls Miss Smith pretty, much to his wife’s chagrin / annoyance, just to make her send Miss
Smith away as she refuses to do so when he asks her in the first place even though making his wife feel insecure
about herself and her beauty.

Miss Smith
She is a lean and thin poor girl, the age of Rosemary. She can’t even afford a single cup of tea and comes to
ask Rosemary to pay her the price of a cup of tea. She is an odd person, frightened and confused. She is
shocked when Rosemary asks her to have a cup of tea with her at her home. In Mr. Philips’ point of view Miss
Smith is very attractive and pretty.

The Shopkeeper
The owner of a very beautiful antique ornaments shop which in fact was one of Rosemary’s favorite shops.
He would always be looking forward to having Rosemary at his shop and always saving a lovely piece of art for
her, just like he had been saving the eye-catching blue velvet box.

Q1. Write a short note on the husband in the story “A Cup of Tea”.

Ans. "A Cup of Tea" is a short story by Katherine Mansfield that explores the theme of class or
rather the differences between social classes of twentieth century England.
In “A Cup of Tea”, Philip Fells, Rosemary’s husband, is known to be one of the richest people
in his society. Philip is a loving husband and truly cares for Rosemary. He has great
admiration for her artistic taste and says ‘yes’ to all of her whims and fancies. When Rosemary
brings Miss Smith to the house to “adopt” her, Philip uses a clever trick to ensure this does not
happen since he does not want to associate himself with those (Miss Smith) he considers to be of a
lower class. He knows that his wife is insecure and so remarks that Miss Smith is ‘pretty’ which
makes Rosemary send Miss Smith away. When asked if he likes Rosemary, he immediately
reassures her of the same.

Q2. Write a short note on the relationship between Rosemary Fell and her husband in the
story “A Cup of Tea”.

Ans. "A Cup of Tea" is a short story by Katherine Mansfield that explores the theme of class or
rather the differences between social classes of twentieth century England.
In the story “A Cup of Tea”, Rosemary, the protagonist, meets a woman, Miss Smith, belonging
to a lower class in Curzon Street. Rosemary fantasizes about helping Miss Smith by taking care
of her indefinitely, and so decided to take her home. When Rosemary explains her intentions to
her husband, Philip, who has just seen Miss Smith, calls her “mad” and insists that "It simply
can't be done." Rosemary begins to argue with him when he interrupts to tell her that Miss
Smith is “so pretty”. This stops Rosemary in her tracks. By saying the one thing he knew
would stop Rosemary from opposing him, we might wonder if he really did not want Rosemary
helping Miss Smith. It can be understood here that Philip knew Rosemary’s insecurities and used
it to get his way. A moment later, Philip repeats his praise of Miss Smith's beauty,
calling Rosemary, "my child”. From a husband to a wife, this is a pretty shocking term of
endearment. She's his wife, his peer and partner, not a child who needs petting and coddling.
We begin to understand that Philip thinks of his wife not as an equal but as someone lesser than
him, someone to be petted and coddled, like a child. Rosemary leaves and goes to her room to fix
her hair and put on make-up and jewelry; we see her count out five one-pound notes, and then
return two of them to the drawer. Her husband's manipulation has worked. He made Rosemary
jealous, and so she evidently gives Miss Smith - to whom she made such promises of a new life -
three pounds and sends her away. In the end, Philip calls Rosemary his "little wasteful one"
when she asks for the expensive box, and she asks him if she's pretty. Rosemary seems like a doll,
interested in pretty things like flowers and enamel boxes, and she wants to be appreciated for her
beauty--even more so than for her good intentions and generosity toward Miss Smith. Philip
wants a pretty and submissive wife, and Rosemary wants her husband to think of her as pretty,
and so she defers to him in order to retain his good opinion (and not have to share it with
another woman).

Q3. “A Cup of Tea” portrays the class consciousness of twentieth century England.
Explain.

Ans. “A Cup of Tea” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield that explores the theme of class or
rather the differences between social classes of twentieth century England.
By telling the reader that ‘they were rich, really rich, not just comfortably well off’ Mansfield
succeeds in not only highlighting how wealthy Rosemary and Philip are but more importantly
she manages to highlight how different Rosemary is from others. Mansfield puts this across by
telling the reader ‘if Rosemary wanted to shop she would go to Paris as you and I would go
to Bond Street.’ The fact that Rosemary is surprised when Miss Smith first speaks to her
suggests that Rosemary may be different to others. It would have been uncommon in the early
1900s for those considered to be of a lower class (Miss Smith) to engage with those considered to
be upper class (Rosemary). Rosemary thinks it is ‘extraordinary’ that Miss Smith has no
money; she can't imagine that somebody would have no money. This would again suggest that
Rosemary is different from others. By describing Miss Smith as the ‘other’ when Rosemary leads
Miss Smith into the hall of her home and Rosemary as being like ‘the rich little girl in her
nursery’ Mansfied highlights the difference in class between both Miss Smith and Rosemary.
Mansfield may be suggesting that in Rosemary’s eyes, Miss Smith is not her equal by pointing
out that while Miss Smith is in her bedroom having tea, Rosemary leaves Miss Smith’s hat and
coat on the floor, making the reader doubt whether Rosemary would do the same should one of
her upper class friends visit her home. This would further highlight the difference in class between
Miss Smith and Rosemary. The readers are made to feel that Rosemary's action of taking Miss
Smith home was purely done to boost Rosemary's perception of herself. She does after all
consider the taking of Miss Smith home with her to be an adventure, something she will be able
to boast about to her friends.

Q4. Comment on the various themes in the story “A Cup of Tea”.

Ans. “A Cup of Tea” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield that explores the theme of class or
rather the differences between social classes of twentieth century England.
The major themes in the story are class consciousness, jealousy, insecurity and materialism.
This story portrays the differential behaviour of the upper class towards the lower class
through the character of Rosemary. Her attitude and behavior gives a clear image of the
mentality possessed by discriminating elites. Miss. Smith belongs to the lower class; she didn’t
even have enough money for a cup of tea. For this, she begs Rosemary. In contrast, Rosemary is a
rich woman having every luxury of life. She appears well dressed while Miss. Smith is in a miserable
situation. This draws a comparison between both classes. On one hand, the wealthy are enjoying
everything in their life. On the other hand, lower classes are exposed to hunger and disrespect at
the hands of the upper classes.

Insecurity is a prominent theme. When Philip remarks that Miss Smith is ‘pretty’, Rosemary
appears to be insecure about her own physical appearance. After Miss Smith leaves Rosemary’s
home, Mansfield tells the reader that Rosemary has ‘done her hair, darkened her eyes a little
and put on her pearls.’ This action is important as it suggests that Rosemary is attempting to
make herself pretty, at least in Philips eyes. By ending the story with Rosemary asking Philip ‘am
I pretty?’ Mansfield may be further highlighting the fact that despite being wealthy and living a
life that the majority of people were unable to live, Rosemary is insecure.

Materialism has also been discussed explicitly in the text by Mansfield. Rosemary could be seen
chasing material objects throughout the text. Firstly, she appears to be desiring an enamel box.
Afterwards, she helps Miss. Smith just to gain praise and upgrade her social status.
Through this Mansfield highlights how true emotions are fading from society and people are
running after material objects.

Q5. Comment on the narrative voice in the story “A Cup of Tea”. How does the narrator
create an identity for herself?
Ans. . “A Cup of Tea” is a short story by Katherine Mansfield that explores the theme of class or
rather the differences between social classes of twentieth century England.
Katherine Mansfield unfolds the story “A Cup of Tea” with a third person omniscient
narration. However, intrusion into the consciousness or thoughts of the character are mentioned
only in certain parts of the story. The author mainly focuses on physical descriptions and
conversations that take place between the characters. It also includes elaborate descriptions of the
actions of characters to forward the plot. Some instances of intrusion of thoughts of the character
can be seen when the narrator talks about how Rosemary feels like taking in Miss Smith would be
an adventure, like something out of the novel by Dostoevsky.
The narrator uses an exaggerated or hyperbolic tone throughout the story to convey the various
themes of the story. The narrator creates an identity for herself by using a narrative persona that
is not dissociated from the story. The narrator also addresses the reader using the second
person pronoun ‘You’ to engage the reader actively into the narration and plot development
or to hint at a shared opinion between the narrator and the reader.
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist Titular protagonist

Orphaned at birth
Raised in a workhouse
Kind-hearted , honest boy
Helps those in need
Shows gratitude to those who help him
His charms draw the attention of several wealthy benefactors

Fagin Old man, Jew

Recruits poor children and makes them pickpockets
Criminal mastermind / sly career criminal - centre of all the conflicts in
the novel
Anti - Semitic Caricature - paints a deeply problematic picture of Jews
Self confessed miser - Looks and lives like a pauper, but has a lot of money
Dickens refers to him as the devil.

Bill Sikes Brutal professional burglar

Brought up in Fagin's gang
Nacy's pimp and lover
His behavior is a mixture of low intelligence and brute strength.
Treats his dog Bull's-eye and Nancy with cruelty and grudging affection
Murders Nancy

Nancy Young prostitute

Fagin's former child pickpockets
Bill Sikes's girlfriend / lover
Criminal lifestyle - but a noble character
 Gives her life for Oliver when Sikes murders her for revealing Monk's plans.

Artful Dodger Cleverest of Fagin's pickpockets

Real name - Jack Dawkins
Talks and dresses like an old man
Introduces Oliver to Fagin

Mr. Bumble Parish beadle- a minor church official in the workhouse

Proud, overbearing, self - important, greedy man
Behaves without compassion towards the paupers in his care despite
preaching to Christian Morality
Dickens mercilessly satirizes his self-righteousness, greed, hypocrisy, and
folly, of which his name is an obvious symbol.

Mr. Brownlow Well - off, well - educated gentleman

Oliver's first benefactor
Compassionate with common sense
Emerges as a natural leader

Mr. Sowerberry An undertaker

Oliver is apprenticed to him
Decent man, kind to Oliver
Makes a grotesque living arranging cut-rate burials for paupers
Mrs. Sowerberry Sowerberry’s wife
Mean, judgmental woman who bullied her husband

Rose Maylie Beautiful, compassionate, forgiving young woman

Novel’s model of female virtue
Oliver's Aunt (Oliver's mom - Agnes Fleming's sister)
Establishes a loving relationship with Oliver

Mrs. Bedwin Mr. Brownlow's kindhearted housekeeper

Unwilling to believe Mr. Bumble's negative report of Oliver's
character.

Q. How can social justice be considered a major theme in the book Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens?
Oliver Twist is a dark, social novel written by Charles Dickens that deals with the terrible effects of poverty
on an individual's life.
Social justice is considered to be a major theme of this dark novel as the titular character is not a well to do
middle class man but a destitute/poverty stricken orphan who faces the abuses and injustices prevalent in
the Victorian Age.
We are made to see London and it's miseries through the eyes of the poor boy : this is called the 'view from
below'. It is often a perspective used in novels that hope to promote social justice. Dickens having
developed a radical social view, sought to expose the exploited lives of children in the workhouse and of
the vulnerable of the society.
From the beginning of the novel Charles Dickens speaks of the way in which the poor were set apart and
stigmatized.
Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist displays the idea that the poor were a class apart, somehow
different and inferior to the rest of society, and thus deserving of suffering. Oliver was a perfectly ordinary
child, but once he was dressed in the special clothes that marked him as from the workhouse, he was open
to being despised and abused, although he has done nothing wrong.

Q. Write a critical analysis on Charles Dickens's irony, satire and humour in Oliver Twist.
Oliver Twist is a dark, social novel written by Charles Dickens that deals with the terrible effects of poverty
on an individual's life.
Charles Dickens's style is based on exaggeration, satire, humorism, sentimentalism based on the
comparison of realistic descriptions and caricatured details.
Charles Dickens employs irony, satire and humour to great effect in Oliver Twist and does so in a manner
that is not too straightforward. His use of irony and humour, in the form of comparisons of London
misery and caricatures, as a weapon to show the maltreatment of the poor at the hands of the upper
classes, serves to both amuse the audience and make them uncomfortable at laughing at the unfair and
improper situations that are being portrayed. The use of satire which is exaggerated, exposes the
ridiculousness and impropriety of the Victorian Age and represents the true effects of the Poor law and
the workhouse system of that time.
In the famous scene, Oliver asking for more supper can be seen as a humorous event due to the extreme
reactions by the masters to such a trivial event. The very naming of characters such as 'Mr. Bumble', 'Master
Charles Bates - known as Master Bates' is considered to be a form of humour.
Dickens's novel is loaded with irony. The opening chapters exemplify this irony when Oliver cries himself
to sleep and Dickens sarcastically exclaims, "What a novel illustration of the tender laws of England! They
let the paupers go to sleep!" - this irony is effective in showing the discontinuity between the various
classes in Victorian London. In the famous scene, where Oliver asks for more supper is also ironic as Oliver
being a helpless, starving orphan who is only trying to improve his situation in life is treated horribly and
punished by the healthy and well fed board members, who in reality should be the ones who are punished
for their treatment of the poor.
There are multiple examples of social and political satire throughout the novel Oliver Twist. This novel is
a satirical attack of the way in which predestined /predetermined social class and poverty affects the
outcomes of a person's life.

Q. How does Charles Dickens reflect the social concerns of the Victorian Age in his noble Oliver Twist?
Or
Q. How did Charles Dickens's work reflect the Victorian Age?
The Victorian Age was a complex and contradictory era. It was an age of progress, stability and social
reforms but on the other side it was characterized by poverty and Injustice. The most prominent early
Victorian novelist was Charles Dickens, who dealt with social themes and expressed the ideas of that age.
Oliver Twist is a dark, social novel written by Charles Dickens that deals with the terrible effects of poverty
on an individual's life.
Oliver endures the type of poverty and deprivation which inspired Dickens to write the novel in the first
place and to which he hoped to draw the public's attention. Oliver is the vehicle employed by Dickens to
display the inadequacies within the society. He highlights various social injustices prevalent during that
age. . Through the use of Oliver, the vulnerable of society are given a voice. The characters that Oliver
encounters each represent a different corrupted socio-political aspect prevalent in the Victorian era.
From the beginning of the novel Charles Dickens speaks of the way in which the poor were set apart and
stigmatized.
Charles Dickens in his novel Oliver Twist displays the idea that the poor were a class apart, somehow
different and inferior to the rest of society, and thus deserving of suffering. Oliver was a perfectly ordinary
child, but once he was dressed in the special clothes that marked him as from the workhouse, he was open
to being despised and abused, although he has done nothing wrong. Another concern highlighted was the
conditions of life in the workhouse: the children were starved and barely given the physical means to
stay alive. This is an indictment of the 1834 Poor Laws, which tried to reduce the cost of supporting the
poor. Part of the reason for reducing this cost was to make conditions in the workhouses so miserable that
nobody would go to one unless truly destitute/poverty - stricken.
However, as the novel points out, young children like Oliver had no choice. The novel makes an argument
for the basic humanity of funding the proper feeding, clothing, and caring for innocent young children.
Part of Dickens argument is based on the reality of what happened to Oliver: poor young children with
nobody to care for them often had no choice but to adopt a life of crime.
Dickens also condemns/criticizes a soulless, ineffective bureaucracy, typified by people like Mr.
Bumble and Mr. Fang, who do not protect the interests of society's most vulnerable and are only after
satisfying their interests.

Q. Discuss how Fagin and Sikes treat Oliver and how he reacts.
Oliver Twist is a dark, social novel written by Charles Dickens that deals with the terrible effects of poverty
on an individual's life.
Charles Dickens's makes Fagin and Sikes appear horrific by having them target sweet, innocent Oliver.
Fagin is portrayed as the ugly, mean, selfish criminal mastermind, who is the centre of all conflicts in the
novel. He recruits young poor boys, like Oliver, and trains them to become criminals (pickpockets). He
treats them well when they are making money, and with neglect and abuse the rest of the time. Oliver does
not realize this. It is not until he actually sees the boys steal handkerchiefs that he realizes what they are
doing, and the oblivious part he has played in it.
Bill Sikes is portrayed to be a scowling, dirty, brutal professional burglar. Whose behavior is a mixture of low
intelligence and brute strength. He kicks his dog, Bull's-eye and hits his girlfriend, Nancy. He forces Nancy
to help him take Oliver back, so as to take advantage of him.
Fagin and Sikes both act in their own best interests at all times. These criminals kidnap Oliver and force him
to break into Brownlow’s house. Despite being terrified and not wanting to participate, Oliver is forced to
cooperate due to Sikes's unyielding threats of killing Oliver.

Q. Why isn't Fagin able to corrupt Oliver?

Oliver Twist is a dark, social novel written by Charles Dickens that deals with the terrible effects of poverty
on an individual's life.
When Oliver escaped from the undertaker, Mr. Sowerbery , in the beginning of the book, foreshadowing
the fact that he is incorruptible. Throughout the story, several incidents and people such as Fagin and Bill
Sikes tried to corrupt Oliver, but he never changed his good and gentle nature. This is why the story is a
“progress” as the subtitle suggests, that is, 'The Parish Boy's Progress'. Fagin was unable to turn Oliver
into a thief like the other boys because he isn't like the other boys. He comes from a higher class. He also
has a genuinely good nature at heart, and refuses to allow himself to be corrupted.

PYGMALION
George Bernard Shaw

Q. How does the play Pygmalion bring out the prudish attitudes of the Victorians?
Substantiate your claims with examples from the text.
OR
Q. Describe how Shaw attacks the fake manners of high Victorian society through
humorous illustrations of the affections of refined class in the play Pygmalion.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political
and social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
In his play Pygmalion, Shaw utilizes his sharp verbal humour to criticize the British class system
by depicting situations that show that it is nurture, not nature, that influences the worth of a
person. In other words, by ridiculing class-based ideology asserting that certain people are
naturally better than others because of who their parents are. This has been put to test by Henry
Higgins by transforming Eliza and fooling high society, proving that her poor genes do not actually
affect how society views her if she wears the right clothes and acts the right way.
The first thing Shaw satirizes in Pygmalion is gender roles. Traditionally, in romantic dramas of
this period, women were treated as weak and passive and men as heroes who protected and
rescued them. In the end of the play, Eliza must choose between living with Higgins, living with
her father, or marrying Freddy. In any case, her future can only be under the control of a man of
some sort. Similarly, the other female characters—Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Higgins are largely
confined to their respective households, despite any redeeming aspects to women's roles in the
play, they ultimately cannot escape the constraints of their sexist world.
Shaw uses Higgins to attack the British class system. Higgins, a typical representative of his
class, is cruel, cold-hearted and uses lower-class people like Eliza as conveniences that can be
thrown away indifferently when he is finished with them. He feels no responsibility toward his
fellow men or towards conditions in England that leave so many people poor.
Shaw skewers middle-class moral hypocrisy through Mr. Doolittle, Eliza's father, a poor street
sweeper who comes into money. Shaw is at pains to show that Doolittle's reformed moral
character has nothing to do with innate traits he was born with and everything to do with how
much money he has. As Doolittle and Shaw fully understand the moral judgments of the
middle class, such as insisting the poor behave in a "deserving" and servile manner, function
primarily as a way to keep the poor oppressed.
 Q. What is Eliza's greatest concern about returning? Explain with reference to the play
Pygmalion.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political and
social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
Eliza has been exposed to an entirely different lifestyle through the efforts of Henry Higgins
and Colonel Pickering. Her changes in appearance and language have made it possible for her to
interact with such people as the Eynsford-Hill. But more than that, she has changed on the inside
as well. As she tells Higgins and Pickering, "I was brought up to be just like him [Higgins], unable
to control myself, and using bad language on the slightest provocation. And I should never have
known that ladies and gentlemen didn't behave like that if you [Pickering] hadn't been there."
Eliza herself asks, what is she fit for, and where is she to go, and what will become of her?
Higgins has been so completely involved with his experiment and the success of it that this
question has never seriously entered his mind. Eliza knows that she absolutely cannot return to her
old way of making a living, for she is now trained to be a lady. Now, she has developed self-
respect and a taste of what a gentlewoman's life could be like. She later compares herself to a
child who is brought to a foreign country and in picking up a new language, forgets her own.
She has adopted the language, the manners, the dress, but most importantly the self-respect that
will not allow her to resume her life in the gutter. She knows she is capable of much more, a much
better life than being a flower girl. She now has options that she never had before. She can work in
a flower shop, she can teach others how to speak properly, she can marry Freddy. With the
education that she has received from Higgins and Pickering, she can improve her lifestyle, and she
fully intends to do just that.

Q. Much is made of 'middle class morality' in Pygmalion. To what extent is this phrase an
oxymoron? What is Shaw suggesting about the rules and traditions of his class?
OR
Q. Defend or support Doolittle's accusations about 'middle class morality'. Substantiate
with instances from the play Pygmalion.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political and
social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
George Bernard Shaw made middle class morality a huge emphasis in Pygmalion. People who
were a part of the middle class were expected to behave in a certain way, but no matter what they
did, they were still looked down upon by the upper class. Things like accents, clothes, and
manners often made it apparent what class you were in so it was difficult to try to blend into a
class where you didn't belong. People in the middle class were supposed to be respectful and were
expected to be generous and share their wealth with those who asked for it because they could
afford it. Everything that was expected of the upper class was also expected of the middle class, the
only difference being that the middle class didn't have as much money. Based on the way Shaw
presented his views on the different societal classes, we can say he respected the middle class the
most. The lower class has the excuse of being poor so they have no shame in asking for help or
money from others. The upper class has the excuse of being rich and better than everyone else.
Simply put, the middle class gets the short end of the stick.
The phrase "middle class morality" is an oxymoron because people in the upper class view those in
the middle class as people without morals. Even if they had morals they were not rewarded or
acknowledged for them. Shaw makes it clear that the generalized middle class is not genuinely
moral. They aren't respected, they don't have a lot of money, yet they still get asked by the poor to
share their money. This is made apparent when Alfred Doolittle stumbles into his small
inheritance. He complains that people keep asking for a share of it and he doesn't like that he has
to act more properly because he is now part of the 'middle class morality'.

Q. Compare Higgins and Pickering's treatment of Eliza in the play Pygmalion.

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political and
social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
Higgins treats Eliza like the subject of an experiment, while Pickering treats her respectfully.
Professor Higgins is described by Shaw as a very ignorant and rude man having no awareness of
the norms of behavior in situations. Regardless of Higgins's great educational background, he has
poor manners that are painfully evident. The professor merely diminishes Eliza's worth. He
views Eliza as a subject of an experiment-"phonetic job" and nothing more. His impatience is
not directed at anything she does or does not do, but at her mere mortality. He is insensitive to
her feelings, reckless in the hands of Eliza’s future, and his constant psychological and verbal
abuse of Eliza takes a toll on her individuality. She is unable to fend for herself due to Higgin’s
control over her every thought and action. In comparison to his attitude towards Eliza in the
beginning, he regards her at the end still as despicable, but it seems that he treats and views her
with some appreciation.
Colonel Pickering along with being a well-educated academic, he is an authentic gentleman
with excellent manners. Contrary to the professor, Pickering treats Eliza kindly and does not
ignore her inner feelings and concerns. He respects her as a human being. Consequently, he
unknowingly worked on her self-respect and dignity, and ended up making her a proper
duchess, rather than just a rough-mannered common flower girl who can parrot the speech
of a duchess. He even calls her Miss Doolittle, demonstrating that her social status and material
conditions should never prevent the girl from respecting herself.
 Q. Why do you think Shaw created the character of Alfred Doolittle in his play
Pygmalion?
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political and
social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
In Pygmalion, Alfred Doolittle is not only a character but he is a vehicle which George Bernard
Shaw manipulates for his own dramatic purposes. Through Doolittle, Shaw is able to make
many satirical thrusts at middle-class morality and make additional comments on class
distinctions and manners.
As his name suggests, Doolittle does as little as possible to get through life. He is a dustman
because that is easier for him than "real work." While his daughter wants to become a member of
the respectable middle class, Mr. Doolittle would rather be a poor garbage man having no
morals, living in the gutters of London, than be a member of the middle class and be subject to
the 'dreadful' middle class morality; this perception demonstrates Shaw’s own distaste for the
middle class’s twisted morality. Shaw uses Doolittle to represent the oppressed, lower class in
order to convey a personal message of what he believes to be actual morality.
In the last act, Doolittle has been forced to accept responsibilities that he would rather not face
due to Higgins having given his name to Ezra D Wannafeller. Due to receiving a large sum of
money, the immoral blackmailer and dustman has now been forced into the role of a lecturer on
moral reforms, and he is now compelled to adopt 'middle-class morality' and become a person he
despises; a member of the middle class. Since Shaw philosophically wanted to do away with the
lower class, he is pleased to force Doolittle into accepting a position where he will not be
comfortable being one of the 'undeserving poor'.

Q. Why is Alfred Doolittle so unhappy to be so wealthy in the play Pygmalion?

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion skewers and satirizes the British class system of the late
Victorian Era. In Pygmalion, he utilizes his characters as mouthpieces to convey his political and
social viewpoints by focusing on class, gender roles, speech and manners.
As his name readily suggests, Alfred Doolittle is a simple, uninspired man who does as little as
possible to get through life. He is a dustman because that is easier for him than "real work." He
holds disdain/ distaste for "middle class morality” because it is accompanied by expectations and
a show of respectability.
In the last act, Doolittle has been forced to accept responsibilities that he would rather not face
due to Higgins having given his name to Ezra D Wannafeller. Due to receiving a large sum of
money, the immoral blackmailer and dustman has now been forced into the role of a lecturer on
moral reforms, and he is now compelled to adopt 'middle-class morality' and become a person
he despises the most; a member of the middle class. He wishes to be free and poor rather than
having money and forced to face family and friends who want it.
Since Shaw philosophically wanted to do away with the lower class, he is pleased to force
Doolittle into accepting a position where he will not be comfortable being one of the
'undeserving poor'.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter
● The Birthday Party was Pinter’s first commercially produced full-length play.
● He began writing it after acting in a theatrical tour during which in Eastbourne, England,
he lived in filthy and insane conditions.
● He got acquainted with a great bulging scrag of a woman and the man who stayed in a
small house.
● The flock house became the model for the rundown boarding house of the play and the
woman and her tenant became the characters of Meg Boles and Stanley Webber.
● In an earlier work called “The Room”, a one-act play Pinter had worked on the themes
and motives that he would use in The Birthday Party.
● Among these themes are the failure of language, to serve as an adequate tool of
communication, the use of place as a sanctum that is violated by the menacing intruders
and the surrealistic conditions that obscure and distort facts.

Themes:
1. Absurdity
● As in many absurdist works, the play is full of disjointed information that defies efforts
to distinguish between reality and illusion. For example, despite the presentation of
personal information on Stanley and his two persecutors, who or what they really are
remains a mystery.
● Example- Goldberg provides all sorts of information about his background but he offers
only vague clues as to why he has intruded upon Stanley’s life.
● The readers do not know the reasons why or what Stanley has done to deserve
persecution.
● The play influences the audience to doubt anything with certainty which as it does in
Kafka’s works intensifies the dreadful angst experienced by the protagonist.
● The effect is achieved through the confusing dialogue by Pinter’s deliberate failure to
provide conclusive or consistent information thereby leading to ambiguity and nonsense.

2. Alienation and Loneliness

● Example- Stanley has isolated himself from society.
● He has only vague explanations of why he has isolated himself.
● He has dropped out of everyday life.
● He is the sole lodger in the Boles boarding house.
● He has forgone any efforts to make himself presentable, remains depressed and sullen,
half-dressed, unkempt and unwilling to leave the womb-like comfort of his rundown
boarding house.
 ● Clues suggest that he is not hibernating but hiding, being afraid of some retribution if he
is found.

3. Apathy and Passivity

● Although anger and even violence break through Stanley’s apathy at key moments, he
generally appears to have given up on his life.
● His apathy is apparent in his shabby outlook as he remains unshaven, unwashed and
half-dressed.
● He is unwilling to venture out although he talks about his dreams. He is as Lulu says “ A
bit of a washout”.
● In mood shifts that turned him suddenly aggressive, Stanley resists his tormentors just as
he lashes out at Meg.
● In the end, he is passive and docile, no longer able to resist, no longer even able to voice
objections to his fate.

4. Doubt and Ambiguity

● The play is built on words that confuse more often than clarify.
● Things that the audience or reader thinks are revealed by one snatch of a dialogue may be
contradicted or rendered illogical in the next, making it impossible to separate allegations
from truth and fact from fiction.

5. Guilt and Innocence

● Although Goldberg and McCann’s verbal assaults on Stanley defy any easy interpretation,
it is clear that Stanley is vulnerable and that their accusations wound him.

6. Language and Meaning

● A concern of absurdists is their belief that language rather than facilitate may prevent
genuine human connection.
● Meaning is more likely to be conveyed not by what is being said but by its subject, what
is left unsaid or the manner in which it is said with Pinter’s work, in particular, words
tend to mask the authentic self, while silence threatens to expose it and make it
vulnerable.
● Pinter’s characters seem to dread silence.
● In the play, words are not used in non-communicative ways. For example, there are
meaningless exchanges between Meg and Petey, who, when alone, have little or nothing
to say to each other.
● They live in the ashes of their marriage, a condition they will not face.
● They evade the truth by mouthing empty and routine phrases that confirm only self-
evident and insignificant facts.
● Their small-talk both begins and ends the play.

Important Terms:

Absurd Literature: Aristotle laid down the guidelines for the order and structure of literature.
Traditional literature tends to reinforce this by being coherent, linear in structure and
aiming for order and unity. Furthermore, traditional criteria aims for close correlation
between character and plot. It is imperative that the characters act consistently throughout and
never act “out of character”. The beginning, middle and end lead to closure.

Absurdist literature defies all these conventions, reflecting changes in mankind’s

philosophical perception of our place in the universe. The Literature of the Absurd had its
origins in the Theatre of the Absurd, notably following the first and second world wars. This
absurdity has no purpose, meaning goal or objective. It is the result of disillusionment with
rationalism, which attempted to justify the exploitation of the working class and poor, the
affluence of the rich. In reflecting the world they live in, dramatists no longer enjoy universally
accepted dramatic conventions in which the action proceeds within a framework of a fixed set of
accepted values. The Literature of the absurd attempts to depict a grotesque caricature of our
world; a world without faith, meaning, direction or freedom of will. Human life is more and
more removed from natural; we are alienated from the earth and each other. Human behaviour
is no longer governed by logic or the rational.
The Literature of the Absurd shows the world as an incomprehensible place. Language fails to
communicate and explain symptoms.

Absurd Theatre: The Theatre of the Absurd is a movement made up of many diverse plays,
most of which were written between 1940 and 1960. When first performed, these plays shocked
their audiences as they were startlingly different than anything that had been previously staged.
In fact, many of them were labelled as "anti-plays.“ Essentially, each play renders man's existence
as illogical, and moreover, meaningless. This idea was a reaction to the "collapse of moral,
religious, political, and social structures" following the two World Wars of the Twentieth
Century Absurdist Theatre was heavily influenced by Existential philosophy. The absurd
dramatists, however, did not resolve the problem of man's meaningless existence very easily. In
fact, they typically offered no solution to the problem whatsoever, thus suggesting that the
question is ultimately unanswerable.

Questions:
Q1 . What do you understand by Absurd Theatre? Is the play The Birthday Party an
example of this school? Explain with instances from the text.
The Theatre of the Absurd is a movement made up of many diverse plays, most of which were
written between 1940 and 1960. When first performed, these plays shocked their audiences as
they were startlingly different than anything that had been previously staged. In fact, many of
them were labelled as "anti-plays.“ Essentially, each play renders man's existence as illogical, and
moreover, meaningless. This idea was a reaction to the "collapse of moral, religious, political, and
social structures" following the two World Wars of the Twentieth Century Absurdist Theatre
was heavily influenced by Existential philosophy. The absurd dramatists, however, did not
resolve the problem of man's meaningless existence very easily. In fact, they typically offered no
solution to the problem whatsoever, thus suggesting that the question is ultimately unanswerable.

Pinter’s decision to destabilize the expository details of The Birthday Party while giving privilege
to ludicrous notions makes sense when one considers the fact that he is one of the first
playwrights to produce work in a genre known as the Theatre of the Absurd. This genre is,
according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, “theater that seeks to represent the absurdity of
human existence in a meaningless universe.” By rendering his characters’ backstories and
personal details difficult to understand, Pinter puts audience members in the position of having
to accept that these kinds of details are “meaningless,” at least in the context of the play itself.
What’s left, then, are the ways in which the characters interact with one another. During the
actual birthday party, for example, McCann and Meg have a conversation while Goldberg and
Lulu have their own discussion, but there’s very little in the way of true give-and-take. Instead,
everyone but Stanley simply lists off memories, telling each other about their childhoods or
repeating anecdotes about their lives without fully establishing why they’re telling such stories.
And all the while, Stanley sits in utter silence at his own birthday party. This, it seems, is what
Pinter is most interested in establishing: the ways in which Stanley exists in a “meaningless
universe.” By flooding the plot with non-sequiturs and contradictions, he makes his characters’
lives seem unimportant and random, manufacturing a nonsensical environment so that the
audience can better understand Stanley’s estranged perspective. Simply put, then, the lack of
exposition in The Birthday Party becomes expository in and of itself, since it ultimately helps
audience members relate to the protagonist.

Working through some sort of causal necessity, such a structure traditionally imposes predictable
patterns of behavior on character, but Pinter breaks through such strictures, at times letting his
characters go amok. For example, at the birthday party in the second act, for no discernable
reason, Stanley becomes very violent. There are also strange bits of stage business that border on
the bizarre, as when, for example, in the last act Goldberg has McCann blow in his mouth. Such
odd behavior offers a very unsettling contrast to the more predictable events that usually evolve
within such a traditional structure.

As in many absurdist works, The Birthday Party is full of disjointed information that defies efforts
to distinguish between reality and illusion. For example, despite the presentation of personal
information on Stanley and his two persecutors, who or what they really are remains a mystery.
Goldberg, in particular, provides all sorts of information about his background, but he offers
only oblique clues as to why he has intruded upon Stanley’s life.

Q2. . Comment on the relevance of the title The Birthday Party.

The Birthday Party, a play about a spontaneous birthday party that quickly turns dark. In fact, most
of what the characters present as fact is later contradicted or ignored

In the sense that it conveys doubt and ambiguity, The Birthday Party is built on words that confuse
more often than they clarify. Things that the audience or reader thinks are revealed by one
snatch of dialogue may be contradicted or rendered illogical in the next, making it impossible to
separate allegations from truth and fact from fiction. Even the most mundane issues are cloaked
in doubt—questions for which there should be simple yes or no answers. Is it really Stanley’s
birthday, as Meg claims, or is it not, as Stanley insists? Has Meg really heard Stanley play the
piano, as she claims, or has Stanley’s situation made that an impossibility? Is he, in fact, even a
pianist?

Q3. . Comment on the role played by Petey and Meg in the play The Birthday Party.
Petey’s wife, Meg Boles is a good-natured woman in her sixties. If only from a lack of any
reference to offspring of her own, it is implied that she and Petey are childless, thus she fills a
void in her life by turning the Boles’s boarding-house tenant, Stanley Webber, into a kind of
surrogate child. She insists on calling him “boy” and mothering him. She even takes liberties
appropriate to a parent—though not to the landlady of an adult roomer—by invading his privacy
to fetch him down to breakfast.

At the same time, Meg flirts with Stanley, trying to fill a second void in her life. Her marriage to
Petey has settled into mechanical routine, as their listless and inane dialogue that opens the play
reveals. Meg tries to win Stanley’s approval of her as a woman, shamelessly fishing for
compliments. Stanley, in his mildly perverse manner, responds by teasing her, knowing that she
is both vulnerable and gullible.
As the play progresses, it becomes clear that Meg, though a mental lightweight, is a decent
woman. She is also rather sentimental. Although it is probably not even Stanley’s real birthday,
she insists that it is, determined to help Stanley weather his self-destructive despondency. She
also seems to be his last hope, and her absence when he is taken away near the end of the play
intensifies his final wretchedness.

Like his wife, Petey Boles is in his sixties. He is a deck-chair attendant at the unidentified seaside
resort where he and Meg own their boarding house, which, although it is “on the list,” has seen
much better days. Petey is dull and ambitionless, no more inclined than his wife to find
challenges beyond the confines of their rooming house. The pair have simply settled into a
humdrum existence appropriate to their mundane minds.

Because it is his chess night, Petey is not present during the birthday party. He leaves before it
begins, then appears the following morning, when he makes a feeble attempt to prevent
Goldberg and McCann from taking Stanley away, though he backs down when the two men
suggest that they might take him as well. Petey’s decency is finally as ineffectual as Meg’s. At the
play’s conclusion, he can do nothing but slip back into vapid conversation with his wife, who
reveals that she was not even aware that he had completely missed the party.

Other Characters (read through)

Nat Goldberg
Nat Goldberg, in his fifties, is the older of the two strangers who come to interrogate and
intimidate Stanley before taking him away. He is a suave character, a gentleman in appearance
and demeanor. He also seems to exude superficial good will, inclined to give kindly advice to
both his henchman, McCann, and the other characters. He is nostalgic, too. He fondly and
affectionately recalls his family and events in his early life. He also insists that Meg and the others
honor Stanley with a birthday party. Goldberg’s softheartedness is, however, pure sham. His
outward charm and polite manner mask a sadistic nature. This cruelty is first revealed in his
initial interrogation of Stanley. His ugliness is further betrayed by his unspecified carnal use of
Lulu, who complains the morning after the party that Goldberg subjected her to some deviant
sexual experiences inappropriate even for wives. It is this discrepancy between Goldberg’s calm
appearance and his vicious interior that makes him the more sinister of Webber’s two
persecutors.

Lulu
Described as a “girl in her twenties,” Lulu is a neighbor who first appears carrying Stanley’s
birthday present, the toy drum and drum sticks that Meg had bought for him. On the flirtatious
side, she is self-conscious about her sexual appeal and can not sit still for long without taking out
a compact to powder her face. To her looks are obviously important, and she sees Stanley as a
“washout” because he seems to care nothing about his unkempt appearance.

Behind her glamour, there is some youthful innocence to Lulu. She is blind to Goldberg’s
predatory nature and is drawn into his charm. She sits on his lap and flirts with him, a
foreshadowing of what occurs between them later that night. That she is some sort of sexual
sacrifice is also suggested in the conclusion to the bizarre events that take place when the lights
go out during the party. When they are restored, she is revealed “lying spread-eagle on the table,”
with Stanley hunched over her giggling insanely.
In the last act, Lulu seems broken by the night’s experiences, but she is also angry. Goldberg,
who baldly claims that he shares some of her innocence, had entered her room with a mysterious
briefcase and begun sexually abusing her, using her, she complains, as “a passing fancy.” She
leaves angry and frightened when McCann and Goldberg threaten to exact a confession from
her.

Dermont McCann
McCann, in his thirties, is Goldberg’s younger associate. Unlike Goldberg, who reveals a Jewish
heritage, McCann is a immoral Irish Catholic, possibly a defrocked priest. Like Goldberg, he
exercises careful self control, a quality which contributes to the sinister impression of both men.
He is also methodical and compulsive, as is revealed in his ritual habit of carefully tearing Petey’s
newspaper into strips. He differs from Goldberg in important respects, however. More reticent,
he is not as superficially warm or outgoing, and when he does speak he seems more inclined to
echo Goldberg than to offer new observations. He is also physically more intimidating than
Goldberg, who deliberately covers his viciousness with a mask of fatherly interest in the others
and disarms everyone with his nostalgia. It is McCann who shoves Stanley at the party and snaps
and breaks his glasses. When he does talk, McCann usually just adapts to the mood set by
Goldberg. Usually, too, he defers to Goldberg’s age and authority, even obeying the older man’s
peculiar request that McCann blow into his mouth. However, at times he seems more
Goldberg’s equal partner, especially during the interrogations of Stanley, when, just as voluble,
he become Goldberg’s co-inquisitor.
Simey
See Nat Goldberg

Stanley Webber

Until his nemeses Goldberg and McCann appear, Stanley is the only lodger at the Boles’
rundown seaside boarding house. The basis of his relationship to Goldberg and McCann, at best
hinted at, is never fully revealed, but their coming finally destroys Stanley’s last vestiges of self-
control. Near the play’s end, when they have reduced him to idiocy, they haul him off in
Goldberg’s car to face the “Monty,” some vague, ominous fate.

Stanley, in his late-thirties, is an unemployed musician, reluctant to leave the boarding house,
which has become a kind of refuge from “them,” the nebulous persecutors who, in the past,
destroyed his career as a concert pianist. He has grown both slovenly and desultory, and
although he fantasizes about playing in great cities on a world tour, he has no real hope. Lacking
a piano, he cannot even practice. As he confides in an honest moment, his only success in
concert was in Lower Edmonton, a pathetic contrast to the cities he names as venues on his
dream tour.

Stanley’s dread of what lies beyond the boarding house traps him in a trying relationship with
Meg, for whom he must act as both wayward child and surrogate husband. He is not always able
to mask his disgust with this relationship and is prone to express his contempt for her in cruel
verbal jibes and petty behavior. He also teases her. For example, he tells her that “they” are
coming in a van with a wheelbarrow, looking for someone to haul off, presumably Meg. His
hostility finally takes a more violent form, when, during the birthday party, he tries to strangle
her but is stopped by McCann and Goldberg.
Stanley, the nominal protagonist of The Birthday Party, barely struggles against his persecutors,
quickly succumbing as if before some inevitable and implacable doom. Although he never
evidences any guilt for his betrayal of the unspecified cause, he responds to his inquisitors as if
he knows that there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. At the end, although unable to voice his
feelings, he seems resigned to his unknown fate.

Q4. Define Comedy of Menace with illustrations from the play The Birthday Party.
A comedy of menace is a play in which the laughter of the audience in some or all situations is
immediately followed by a feeling of some impending disaster. The audience is made aware of
some menace in the very midst of its laughter. The menace is produced throughout the play
from potential or actual violence or from an underline sense of violence throughout the play.
The actual cause of menace is difficult to define: it may be because, the audience feels an
uncertainty and insecurity throughout the play.
Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party is a comedy of menace. The play is actually the mingling of
comedy with a perception of danger that pervade the whole play. Stanley, the central protagonist
always finds his life beset with danger. Meg is the owner of the boarding house away from the
society where Stanley stays temporarily as a tenant.
Pinter's The Birthday Party is a perfect example of Comedy of Menace. Throughout the play, we
find that the hint of menace is inflected upon the individual freedom of a person and it
juxtaposes the comic element drastically dilutes the comic appeal. Pinter shows his state in the
existential view that danger prevails everywhere and life can't escape from it. Pinter thinks that
Stanley, the protagonist, might have committed a serious crime and is on the run for escaping
the consequence and legal implications of his life. This is precisely comprehended while he
almost never leaves his room and becomes furiously apprehensive when Meg informs him that
two gentlemen are coming to stay in this boarding house. Stanley soon tactfully tries to conceal
his apprehension by mentioning his successful concert and about a favourable job proposal of a
pianist. But we can realize his innate apprehension for imminent interrogation or arrest by the
two new guests at the boarding house
Meg arranges a birthday party in Stanley's honour though Stanley denies it being his birthday.
Two gentlemen called Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Mc Cann (the two gentle men Meg mentioned)
come to stay in the boarding house for a couple of nights. Their appearance fills Stanley's mind
with unexplained fear and tension. Stanley attempts to disturb the strangers so that they will be
forced to go away. The feeling of menace is reinforced when Stanley scares Meg by saying that
some people would be coming that very day in a van. They would bring a wheelbarrow with
them to take someone away. Eventually no one comes but Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Mc Cann take
Stanley with them. In fact Goldberg and Mc Cann represents parts of Stanley's own
subconscious mind. Nothing is stated or hinted about Goldberg and Mc Cann and about their
attitude towards Stanley. At best they seem to be agents of some organisation which has sent
them to track down Stanley.
The Birthday Party and Look Back in Anger perfectly reveal the individual and social problems
and doubts that great Britain was moving through during the post-war era. Both this two famous
plays indicate the spirit of times and become vehicle or instrument for dramatic action.
Q5. Comment on the ending of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party.

CORALINE
 Neil Gaiman

Gothic fantasy children's book Coraline is penned by the English novelist Neil Gaiman in
2002. Written in a style similar to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and
Through the Looking-Glass, Coraline consists of a fantastic world filled with dangers and
amusements with the titular character utilizing courage and common sense to sidestep
mishaps that adults seem unable to avoid.

Q. "Fairy Tales are more than true ; not because they tell us that dragons exist,
but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten". Bring out the relevance of
this statement by G. K. Chesterton in validating the narrative of Neil Gaiman.
Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline is a coming of age story; it’s participating in the tradition of
stories in which a youth overcomes a trial to develop their identity. The book is about
independence, identity, and development.
This quote appears at the beginning (or epigraph) of Caroline, where the author attributes
it to the famous writer, G.K. Chesterton. Simply put, it means that fairy tales aren't just
made up to entertain kids before bedtime. They also have important lessons that teach
us things. Any good story will show us how to overcome our dragons and that's exactly
what Coraline does in her tale.
Neil Gaiman wrote Coraline with an intent to give children an understanding of darker
forces that come up in life and that they can be beaten ; he was successful in putting
across a moral message that taught children to appreciate what they have and confront
their fears head on. With the adoption of a third-person narrative, an adult's voice, he
was able to teach the young readers a moral lesson.
What makes Coraline different from the fairy-like children’s novels is the setting of the
place and environment. There are no castles or capes, but simple old houses that separate
it from other dark gothic fiction. The mere ordinary elements of the novel mixed with a
little hinge of gothic eeriness like button eyes, the other mother, the talking cat and the
spirits of the three children give it the creepy irksome visuals that enhance the telling in
Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. Thereby , opening a door to imparting wisdom whilst enjoying a
fantasy tale.

Q. Why does Neil Gaiman use an adult's voice to tell the story of a child in his
novel Coraline?
The narrative voice is that of an adult's and not Coraline's. This is the best point of view
from which a story can be told about a child by being able to observe and say things that
a child would not. Being the centre of the story, we are told of Coraline's thoughts and
feelings by an adult.
Neil Gaiman started writing Coraline for his daughter Holly and later picked it up again
and finished it for her little sister Maddy. Due to their liking for scary stories, Gaiman felt
it more fitting to narrate the tale in an adult's voice to impart some life lessons that would
be vital for his young girls and the children of the world.
Neil Gaiman wrote Coraline with an intent to give children an understanding of darker
forces that come up in life and that they can be beaten ; he was successful in putting
across a moral message that taught children to appreciate what they have and confront
their fears head on. With the employment of a matter-of-fact, adult's voice, this moral
message is successfully put across and picked up by the young readers.

Q. The narrative of Neil Gaiman does not impose one meaning on the story. What
are the many meanings you can interpret from your reading of the novel Coraline.
The narrative voice is that of an adult's and not Coraline's. We are told about the titular
character's thoughts and feelings as by a third-person narrator who is able to observe and
say things that a child would not.
Neil Gaiman wrote Coraline with an intent to give children an understanding of darker
forces that come up in life and that they can be beaten ; he was successful in putting
across a moral message that taught children to appreciate what they have and confront
their fears head on. With the employment of motifs, this dark fantasy novel is enhanced
and made unique. Eye motifs are a recurring motif, along with buttons signifying The
Other Mother's control over her creations and the black cat symbolizing danger and
misfortune, strong themes such as alienation, exploration, bravery, hope, home and
appreciation several meanings can be interpreted.
● The importance of overcoming one's fear is made painfully aware to the readers.
At the beginning of the story, Coraline feels secure in her comfortable existence despite
feeling unmotivated. Once Coraline is put in an uncomfortable and compromising
situation, she learns to confront and conquer her fears and fight for those she truly cares
for. In the other world, along with conquering fears that intensify as she progresses, she
learns to conquer her fear of the other mother in order to restore her reality.
● Imagination playing an ambiguous yet essential role throughout the story provides
a meaning of its own.
At the very beginning of the novel, it is clear that Coraline uses her imagination in order
to escape life's banality. It is clear that Coraline's imagination is her personal salvation as
she opts to give a provocative answer to simple questions. For example, on being asked
by her mother where she wandered off to, Coraline chose to imagine herself being
kidnapped by aliens and being let go because of her imitation of a foreign accent. The
Potential of Imagination seems to give a new meaning to this novel.
● The power of choice seems to be made obvious to the readers.
Coraline touches on a theme that is essential to human existence—the importance and the
difficulties of making choices. In the novel, Coraline must consistently make choices,
both big and small. After her parents are abducted, Coraline must choose how to
structure her time and make herself comfortable in the real world. As the narrative
intensifies, Coraline is faced with big choices that will affect her and her family's futures.
By being pushed by her own will, she effectively helps in putting a moral message across.
The search for self identity and true identities of people around, the harm of
manipulation and truth about family are some other meanings to which Neil Gaiman
educates the children upon.
It's safe to say, Coraline, a Gothic fantasy adventure imparts numerous meanings.

Q. Analyse the role played by the cat in the novel Coraline.

The cat is described as a large, haughty black cat and is one of the major supporting
characters of the story, Coraline. He demonstrates the ability to appear and disappear on a
whim, often to hide from danger or to help Coraline from danger. For unexplained
reasons, he is able to speak in the other world.
The cat appears to be sarcastic and ironical.
Initially, the cat is impatient and sardonic toward Coraline for satirizing him and calling
him a "wuss-puss," acts which he loathes with intensity. Finally, the cat slowly seems
more attached to Coraline.
When in the real world, he seems to act much more like a cat would, such as enjoying
being petted and hunting, and then bringing what he'd caught to Wybie. Whereas, in the
other world the cat's behavior is more intellectual, as he understands what others say
and can respond to what was said. He responds by talking, like a human.
Although black cats typically symbolize danger and misfortune, the black cat in Coraline
is an ironic interpretation of this canonical character. As Coraline continues her journey
in the other world, the black cat is a source of comfort. In addition, the cat is an ally and
confidant as Coraline fights against oppressive forces.
In this way, the cat is an essential character in the story.

Q. How does the graphic representation enhance the telling in Neil Gaiman's
Coraline?
Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is full of absurd dark imagery, as it follows a creepily darker
tradition in children’s literature. It started off as a novel that included illustrations by
Dave McKean, it was then adapted as a graphic novel in 2008 illustrated by P. Craig
Russell. Russel is best known for his finely rendered realistic style and this is the style he
employs in Coraline. According to the two most prominent theorist-practitioners to
emerge from American comics, Will Eisner and Scott McCloud, cartoonish art can have
particular effects, it can contribute to reader identification with characters more than
realistic art can. Whereas realistic art can limit the reader’s perception of the character,
but still Russell chooses to go with realistic art rather than cartoon because it fits Coraline
well and gives the entire novel a sense of identity through Gaiman’s eyes as he was the
one who approved Russell’s art. In Gaiman’s novel, much of the horror of Coraline’s
situation stems from the creepiness of the button-eyed Other Mother, abduction of
Coraline’s real parents, and her creations along with the Other Mother’s desire to possess
her. Realism in this novel thus heightens the terror element whereas the cartoonish
element in Mckean’s creates a sense of fantasy. What makes it more different than the
fairy-like children’s novels is the setting of the place and environment. There are no
castles or capes, but simple old houses that separate it from other dark gothic fiction. The
description of characters has played a critical role in the novel, for example, the
distinction between the real parents and the 'Other' parents , the rude yet helpful talking
cat, and Coraline’s neighbors, one being the old man that is supposedly training a circus
of mice and Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. The mere ordinary elements of the novel
mixed with a little hinge of gothic eeriness like button eyes, the other mother, the talking
cat and the spirits of the three children give it the creepy irksome visuals that enhance the
telling in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

Q. What is the contrast between the other parents and real parents in Coraline
When Coraline Jones finds herself frustrated with her parents and yearning for their
attention, she is, at the height of her unhappiness, presented with a world in which a set
of “other” parents has been waiting to lavish her with attention, cook her all her favorite
foods, and cater to her every whim. Coraline’s other parents are also, however, evil
entities with black buttons for eyes who “kidnap” her real parents and hold them
hostage. Coraline suddenly finds herself tasked with being the one to save her family and
hold them together. Ultimately, Neil Gaiman argues that sometimes, children must be the
ones to help or even save their parents; the love and responsibility between parents and
children must, he suggests, be a two-way street.

At the start of the novel, Coraline believes that her mother and father exist to provide for
her, entertain her, and, in effect, worship her. Over the course of the novel, though, she
comes to realize that just as parents have an obligation to keep their children safe and
healthy, children have certain obligations to their parents, as well.

In Coraline’s view, her parents are uninteresting and exist only to move her around the
country; dictate what she eats and what she wears; and impose rules, regulations, and
chores upon her life. Coraline is so detached from them that after they first disappear,
she doesn’t quite seem to mind until they’ve been gone for a full day. Coraline’s
contentious relationship with her parents shows that she feels if she could be free of
them, she’d be happier—a notion that will soon be questioned as a strange turn of events
takes place.

In the other mother’s world, which lies through a strange dark hall on the other side of
the door, Coraline’s “other” parents are waiting for her. The two of them are overjoyed
to see Coraline and attempt to woo her into staying by cooking her delicious meals,
letting her shirk her chores, and spend all her time playing with toys. But she soon grows
creeped out by their strange obsession with her and begins longing for her old parents.
She returns to her world to find they’ve gone—and when she returns to the other
mother’s world again is told they’ve abandoned her forever.She is determined to get her
parents back. She knows that she’s the one who’s landed them in this predicament in the
first place, and, as she searches the other mother’s world to see where they’ve been
hidden, she’s reminded of pleasant memories of her parents which illustrate how much
they really do love her.Coraline realizes that if her real parents gave her everything she
asked for whenever she asked for it, doted on her constantly, and never gave her any
rules or responsibilities, she’d be unhappy. What she wants, she’s learned, is the
relationship she had with her parents before—imperfect, sure, but built on a strong
foundation of love, respect, and the pursuit of what’s right (even when what’s right isn’t
what’s easy).

Symbols in Coraline:

Buttons (Symbol)
Buttons are an important symbol throughout the novel. In the other world, people have
buttons in place of their eyes. They act almost as masks, as they conceal the true identities
of the individuals in the other world. As the popular adage explains, "eyes are the
windows to the soul." Because the buttons cover the eyes of each character in the other
world, it is impossible for Coraline to determine each person's moral intentions. The
protagonist is unable to gauge their human emotion through the plastic eyes. Coraline is
explicitly told that in order to stay in the other world forever, she would need to forgo
her eyes and instead replace them with buttons. This would indicate that Coraline would
have to sacrifice her soul in order to exist in the beldam's world.

The Key (Symbol)

From the moment that Coraline moves into the new home, she is intrigued by the key
that hangs in the kitchen. It turns out that the key allows the bearer to access the portal
between the human world and the other world. As the story progresses, it becomes clear
that both Coraline and the other mother fight to possess the key, as it represents
freedom, mobility, and power. The other mother specifically wishes to keep the key so
that she can hunt for victims in both dimensions. For Coraline, the key represents escape
and victory from the beldam's world.

Motifs in Coraline:
Food (Motif)
The motif of food appears throughout the novel. Coraline is often hungry and searches
for comfort through food, but her family is unable to provide her with satisfying meals.
Specifically, Coraline has issues with her father's intricate recipes. When Coraline first
visits the other world, she is immediately surprised that her other parents prepare all of
her favorite foods. As the story progresses, Coraline often clings to the apple that she
keeps in her pocket for nourishment. Through these various examples, it is clear that
food symbolizes comfort, warmth, and love.

Mirrors (Motif)
Both literal and figurative mirrors play an important role in the novel. Coraline is
intrigued by the mirror in the hall, and she finds that it becomes particularly significant as
the story progresses. Coraline often looks at her own reflection in order to muster her
strength and encourage herself to succeed. Coraline first becomes aware that her parents
are in danger by noticing their cry for help in the mirror. The motif of mirrors extends
thematically, as the beldam's world is a warped reflection of Coraline's real world. The
motif of mirrors pays homage to Alice in Wonderland and specifically its sequel, Through
the Looking-Glass, another fantastic story that centers around the adventures of a young,
female protagonist.

Names (Motif)
Coraline takes pride in her unconventional first name. There are numerous instances in
which Coraline grows frustrated at her neighbors for mistakenly calling her "Caroline."
Coraline's insistence on the proper pronunciation of her name signifies her strong
character and sense of self. Coraline extends her opinions about names to the black cat.
She asks for the cat to reveal its name, but the cat explains that names are not necessary.
This opinion prompts Coraline to alter her perspective on names and their rigid ties to
identity.