Imran Hasan

Badhon
Department of CSE at Jagannath University,
Dhaka
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Notes on English Literature Nice to know:

Father of English language/literature Geoffrey Chaucer

Father of English poem/poetry/modern poetry
Father of modern English literature G. B. Shaw
The greatest modern English dramatist
Poet of poets Edmund Spenser
Both a poet and a painter William Blake
Rebel poet in English literature Lord Byron
Famous mock heroic poet in English literature Alexander Pope
English epic poet John Milton
Poet of nature William Wordsworth
Poet of beauty/sensuousness John Keats
Poet of supernaturalism S. T. Coleridge
Poet of skylark & winds/Revolutionary poet P. B. Shelly
The greatest dramatist of all times William Shakespeare
Father of English prose Francis Bacon
Founder of English prose Alfred the Great
The most famous satirist in English literature Jonathan Swift
Father of science fiction Jules Verne
Father of short story Edgar Allan Poe
Father of English novel Henry Fielding / D. Defoe /
J. Swift / S. Richardson

o Chaucer is the representative poet of -----------------14th century.

o Edmond Burke belongs to-------------------------------18th century.
o George Eliot is a novelist of-----------------------------19th century.
o Keats belonged to-----------------------------------------19th century.

Shakespeare is known mostly for his plays/dramas

A. S. Hornby is famous for writing dictionaries
O. Henry is famous for short story
Who is famous for his elegies? Thomas Gray
Who is famous for the theory of „Objective Co-relative‟? T.S. Eliot
Who excels ( ) in dramatic monologue? Robert Browning
Selim Al Deen is renowned for his ethnic theatre
Who is the author of several books on wildlife? George Laylock
Lord Tennyson is known as Lyric poet
Johnson was a famous 18th century poet, critic & lexicographer
The first English Dictionary was compiled by Samuel Johnson (1755)
The founder of English literary club Samuel Johnson (1764)
Ben Jonson introduced comedy of humors
Andrew Marvell and John Donne were Metaphysical poet
Eliot and Pound were literary collaborators
Addison and Steele are known for The Spectator (magazine)
Nelson Mandela is known as Icon of peace and reconciliation
Beethoven is considered one of the greatest personalities in the field of music
Wole Soyinka studied theatre in London
The contemporary dramatist of W. Shakespeare C. Marlowe (predecessor)
Who believed „Man is the maker of his fate‟? C. Marlowe
The contemporary poet of W. Wordsworth S. T. Coleridge
The contemporary novelist of Virginia Wolf James Joyce
Stream of consciousness technique was pioneered by James Joyce
Who succeeded Wordsworth as Poet Laureate? Tennyson
Who was inspired by French revolution? William Wordsworth
Who was English poet addicted to opium? S. T. Coleridge
English poet who died in TB John Keats
English poet who was professionally known as a man of medicine John Keats
First long poem in English Beowulf

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What was the first novel of the Virginia Woolf? The Voyage Out
Which is known as Shakespeare‟s swan song (last work)? The Tempest

o Nom de plume means-----------------------Pen name

o Real name of George Eliot-----------------Mary Anne Evans
o Real name of O’ Henry---------------------William Sydney Porter
o Full name of T. S. Eliot---------------------Thomas Stearns Eliot
o Full name of Dr. Johnson------------------Samuel Johnson
o Pen name of Charles Dickens-------------Boz

Different periods in English literature: ( )

Anglo Saxon Period 450-1066
Middle English Period 1066-1500 1066-1340: The Anglo Norman Period;
1340-1400: The Age of Chaucer;
1400-1500: The Dark/Barren Period
Renaissance Period 1500-1660 1500-1558: Preparation for Renaissance;
1558-1603: The Elizabethan Period;
1603-1625: The Jacobean Period;
1625-1649: The Caroline Period;
1649-1660: The Commonwealth Period
Neo-classical Period 1660-1798 1600-1700: The Restoration Period;
1700-1745: The Augustan Period;
1745-1798: The Age of Sensibility
Romantic Period 1798-1832
Victorian Period 1832-1901
Modern Period 1901-1939 1901-1910/1914: Edwardian period;
1910-1936: Georgian Period
Post-modern Period 1939-present
Mnemonic: AMR NR VMP

o The oldest period in English literature-------------------------Anglo Saxon period

o The Golden Age of English Literature-------------------------The Elizabeth I age
o The Victorian Age is named after------------------------------Queen Victoria
o Renaissance is an _____word.---------------------------------French
o Renaissance means--------------------------------rebirth/revival of learning/
o The beginning of the Renaissance may be traced to the city of-----Florance (Italy)

Famous writer of different period:

Period Poet Novelist Dramatist

Elizabethan C. Marlowe
(1558-1603) W. Shakespeare
Romantic Keats
(1798-1832) Shelly
Lord Byron
Wordsworth
Coleridge
Victorian M. Arnold Charles Dickens
(1832-1901) A. Tennyson George Eliot
R. Browning Treasure Eliot
Mnemonic: MAR Thomas Austin
Modern T.S. Eliot T.S. Eliot
(1901-1939) Thomas Hardy
Joseph Conrad
James Joyce
Rudyard Kipling
H.G. Wells
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Pioneer of Romanticism is/are Wordsworth and Coleridge

Who is the anti-romantic novelist belonging to the Emile Bronte
romantic age?
Romantic poets are so called because they are connected more with heart than with head
Jonathon Swift belongs to Neo-classical age
Chronological order of poets: Chaucer > Spenser > Shelley > Swinburae
Robert Greene is one of the University Wits

The University Wits: The witty students of Cambridge and Oxford are called University wits. They are—
Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Lodge, John Lyly, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe, George
Peele (Mnemonic: GKLMNP)

Novel laureate writers:

T.S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, Winston Churchill, Bertrand Russell, J. B. Shaw, Orhan Pamuk, Harold
Pinter, H.G. Wells, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, Rudyard Kipling, John Galsworthy, Doris
Lessing

Famous writer from different country:

British writer:
Novelist Charles Dickens, D. H. Lawrence, Doris Lessing, Emily Bronte
Playwright Harold Pinter
Poet Robert Herrick, William Wordsworth, William Blake
Philosopher/ Essayist Bertrand Russell, Charles Lamb, Francis Bacon, William Hazlitt
Short story writer Somerset Maugham

American writer:

Novelist Perl S. Buck, Earnest Hemingway, William Faulkner

Poet Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, Walt Whitman
Short story writer O‟ Henry

French writer:

Novelist Alexander Dumas , Victor Hugo

Short story writer Maupassant

Others:

Leo Tolstoy-------------------------------------------Russian novelist

W.B. Yeats -------------------------------------------Irish poet & dramatist
G. B. Shaw--------------------------------------------Irish dramatist
Nissim Ezekiel ---------------------------------------Indian poet
R. K. Narayan----------------------------------------Indian novelist
Goethe ------------------------------------------------German poet
Langston Hughes is----------------------------------American poet
The national poet of England William Shakespeare
Who is known as the bard of Avon? William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was a famous 16th century English
playwright, poet and actor
William Shakespeare was born in 26th April, 1564 AD
William Shakespeare was died in 23rd April, 1616 AD
Shakespeare lived during the reign of Elizabeth I
What sort of life does Shakespeare lead? a care free and simple life
A Shakespeare play consists of five acts
Shakespeare composed much of his plays in what sort of verse? Iambic pentameter
In Shakespearean tragedy, the hero is a high ranking man

Nobel prize & others:

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Award of Nobel prize in literature was started from the year 1901
Who was the first recipient of Noble prize in literature Sully Prudhomme
A statesman but awarded Nobel prize in English literature Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Churchill got the Nobel prize in 1953
A modern philosopher but awarded Noble prize in English literature Bertrand Russell
A senator and a poet who won the Nobel prize for literature W. B. Yeats
American female novelist Perl S Buck awarded Nobel prize in The Good Earth
1938 for the book
A French author who refused Nobel prize Jae Paul Sartre
A Russian author who refused Nobel prize Boris Pasternak
Booker prize is awarded for Literature

o Most translated author of the world-------------------------------V. I. Lenin

o Who translated the Bible into English for the 1st time?--------John Wycliff
o Who translated the New Testament?------------------------------John Wycliff
o Who translated ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’?----------------Edward Fritzgerald
o Who wrote the introduction of ‘Song Offerings’?--------------W.B. Yeats
o Who translated ‘Gitanjoli’ in English?---------------------------Rabindranath Tagore

Theme:
The only medium of literature is language
What is the salient feature of all literature? artistic quality
Elizabeth Tragedy is centered on revenge
The main feature of the Renaissance is humanism
Most important feature of romantic poetry subjectivity
Romanticism is mainly connected with love and beauty
„The Good Earth‟ of Perl S Buck deals with the Chinese life
P. B. Shelly‟s „Adonais‟ is an elegy on the death of John Keats
„The Merchant of Venice‟ is a Shakespearean play about a Jew
„Othello‟ is a Shakespearean play about a Moor
„The Ancient Mariner‟ is a poem of Coleridge about sin and punishment
„Moby Dick‟ is the story of a Whale
„Tennyson‟s in Memoriam‟ is an elegy
„Alice in the wonderland‟ belongs to Juvenile literature
The Wrath (anger) of Achilles is the theme of Iliad
In which poem do you find Hindu allusion of philosophy? The Waste Land
Class and societal conflict is the key understanding of Marxism
The school of literary writings that is connected with a medical theory Comedy of Humors
What is the inner significance of the poem Cruel deeds and good deeds have
„The Arrow and the Song‟? effect upon mind
The theme of „Paradise Lost‟ is To justify the ways of God to man
Emily Dickinson‟s poems are about Religion, love and death

Character:
Character of Shakespeare’s play:
Character Play
Brutus Julius Caesar
Ophelia Hamlet
Shylock The Merchant of Venice
Three Witches Macbeth
Calliban, Prospero, Alonso, Antonio The Tempest

Julius Caesar was the ruler of Rome about 2000 years ago
The name of Hamlet‟s fiancé is Ophelia
The name of Othello‟s wife is Desdemona
Othello gave Desdemona ___as a token of love Handkerchief
Achilles was a great Greek fighter
Who was the first husband of Helen of Troy? Menelaus
Helen of Troy was the wife of Menelaus

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Adela is a character in a novel written by E.M. Forster

The characters Willy Loman, Linda and Biff are from The Death of a Salesman
The main character in Paradise Lost Book I and II is Satan
The most striking feature of D.H. Lawrence‟s character is that the almost portray himself
Who is the only Trojan who did not speak evil of Helen and was Priom
gentle and kind to her?
Octopus is the name of a person
Who described the „Monalisa‟ as older the rocks among which she Walter Pater
sit‟s?
Whose dying words were, “Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius, will Socrates
you remember to pay the debt?”
According to the writer of „A Mother in Mannville” which of the Integrity
following word best describes the character of „Jerry‟?
Della in the „Gift of the Magi‟ thought there “the best Christmas showed how much they loved each
presents in the world” because they other

*** A list of 20 most important writers of English literature

William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, William Wordsworth, S
T Coleridge, John Keats, P B Shelly, John Milton, Alexander Pope, T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, Robert
Browning, Thomas Gray, William Blake, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Earnest Hemingway,
D.H. Lawrence, Jonathan Swift

Writers Important works

W. Shakespeare Tragedy:
Romeo and Juliet; Othello; Macbeth; Antony and Cleopatra; King Lear;
Julius Caesar; Hamlet; Titus Andronicus (1st tragedy)
Mnemonic: ROMA K Julia’ Hamlet Comedies:
As You Like It; The Tempest (last play); The Merchant of Venice;
Twelfth Night; The Comedy of Errors; Winter‟s Tale; The Midsummer
Night‟s Dream; The Taming of the Shrew; Measure of Measure; Love‟s
Labour‟s Lost; All‟s Well That Ends Well; Much Ado About Nothing.
Mnemonic: As you like it, let’s go to the tempest of the merchant of venice
at twelfth night to see the comedy of errors and winter’s tale. At the
midsummer night’s dream we will see the taming of the shrew, measure of
measure and love’s labour’s lost & will say all’s well that ends well.

J. B. Shaw Drama:
o Joan of Arc o You
Never Can Tell o Caesar
and Cleopatra
o Candida o Arms and
the Man o Man and
Superman o Mrs.
Warren‟s Profession o
Pygmalion
Mnemonic: Joan, it’s Your CAMP.
Ben Jonson Drama:
o Silent Woman o Alchemist o Volpone
(The Fox)
o Everyman in His Humor, Everyman out of
His Humor Mnemonic: SAVE
Christopher Marlowe Drama:
o Edward (II) o The Jew of Malta o Tambeurline the Great
o Doctor Faustus (The tragical history of Dr. Faustus) Poem:
o The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Mnemonic: Edward, The Jew of Malta, was a Great Passionate Doctor

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W. Wordsworth Poems:
o The Solitary Reaper o Michael o The Lucy Poems o
Written in March o Ode on Immortality
o The Daffodils/ I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud o Rainbow
o The Excursion
o Revolution and Independence
o Tintern Abbey
Mnemonic: The Solitary Michael Lucy Written the Ode ‘Daffodils in
Rainbow’ during Excursion of Independence day at Tintern abbey.
Famous book of poems:
o Lyrical Ballads Verse: o Prelude Drama:
o The Borderers

S. T. Coleridge Poems:
o The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (ballad) o
Christabel o Kubla Khan (verse) o Dejection: An
ode Famous book: o Biographia Literaria
Mnemonic: ABCD

John Keats Poems:

o Isabella o Ode on a Grecian Urn o Ode to a
Nightingale o Ode to Autumn
Mnemonic: Isabella went to Greece at Night with an Auto.
Famous book o Lamia o
Endymion (epic)
o Hyperion
Mnemonic: Lamia at the end Hyper

P. B. Shelly Books:
o Prometheus Unbound (a
four act play/tragedy) o
Adonais (Elegy, Keats
)
o The Revolt of Islam o The
Necessity of Atheism o A
defense of Poetry
Mnemonic: Prome Adona Islam Atheism Defense
Poems: o Ozymandias
o Ode to a Skylark o Ode
to the West Wind
o The Cloud o When Soft
Voices Die
Mnemonic: Ozymandias soft voice
John Milton Famous work:
o Paradise Lost (epic) o
Paradise Regained (epic) o
Areopagitica (prose) o
Lycidas (elegy)
Mnemonic: PAL
Alexander Pope Famous work:
o Rape of the Lock (epic) o An
Essay on Man (poem) o An Essay
on Criticism (poem)

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T.S. Eliot Poems:

o Gerontion o
Ash Wednesday o
The Waste Land
o The Love Song o
The Hollow Men
Drama:
o Murder in the Cathedral
Mnemonic: Gerontion West Land Hollow Men Murder

W.B. Yeats Poems:

o Leda and Swan o The Wild
Swans at Coole o The Lake
Isle of Innisfree o Sailing to
Byzantium
Mnemonic: Leda Coole free Byzid
Robert Browning Poems:
o My Last Duchess o Andrea Del
Sarto o Rabbi Ben Ezra o The Patriot
Mnemonic: MART Book of poems:
o Men and Women

Thomas Gray Famous Elegy:

o Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
W. Blake Poems:
o Milton-a poem
o The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
o The Four Zoas o Songs of Innocence o Songs of Experience
Mnemonic: Milton Blake

Alfred Lord Tennyson Poems:

o Tithonus
o Ulysses
o Locksley Hall
o Oenone
o Lotus Eaters
o Morte D‟ Arthur
Elegy:
o In Memorium
Mnemonic: Titho Lysse Memorium Hall
Charles Dickens Novels:
o David Copperfield o Hard Times o Great Expectations
o The Adventures of Oliver Twist
o A Tale of Two Cities
Mnemonic: David Oliver

Earnest Hemingway Novels:

o The Old man and the sea
o The Sun Also Rises o A
Farewell to Arms o For
Whom the Bell Tolls
Mnemonic: The old man’s son (sun) went to a farewell to see for whom the
bell tolls.

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D. H. Lawrence Novels:
o The Rainbow o
Sons and Lovers o
Lady Chatterley‟s
Lover
o Modern Lover o
Women in Love
Mnemonic: Love
Jonathan Swift Novels:
o Gulliver‟s Travel (A Voyage of Lilliput)
o A Modest Proposal o A Tale of a Tub o The
Battle of Books
Mnemonic: Guliver Proposal

Important works and their authors:

Works Types Authors

A Brief History of Time --- Stephen Hawking
A Christamas Carol Short novel Charles Dickens
A Doll‟s House* Play Henrik Ibsen
A House for Mr. Biswas Novel V.S. Naipul
A Golden Age Novel Tahmima Anam
A Mercy Novel Toni Morrison
A Mother in Mannville* Story M. K. Rawlings
A Passage to India Novel E.M. Forster
A Rose for Emile* Short story William Faulkner
A Suitable Boy Novel Vikram Seth
A Thousand Splendid Suns Novel Khaled Hosseini
Alice in Wonderland Novel Lewis Carrol
An Apology for Poetry* Literary criticism Philip Sydney
Anna Karenina Novel Tolstoy
Animal Farm Novel George Orwell
Arabian Nights* Fairy tales Sir Richard Burton
Around the World in Eighty Days Novel Jules Verne
As I Lay Dying Novel William Faulkner
Asian Drama --- Gunnar Myrdal
Aspects of Novel --- E.M. Forster
Brick Lane --- Monica Ali
Cancer Ward* Autobiographical Alexander Solzhenitsyn
novel
Crime and Punishment Novel Dostoevsky
Das Capital --- Karl Marx
Divine Comedy* Poetical work Dante
Don Juan* Poem Lord Byron
Dr. Zivago Novel Boris Pasternak
Emma Novel Jane Austin
Essays of Elia* Essays Charles Lamb
Faerie Queene* Epic Edmund Spenser
Far from the Madding Crowd Novel Thomas Hardy
Fire and Ice* Poem Robert Frost
Friends not Masters --- Gen Aiub Khan
From September 1, 1939* Poem W. H. Auden
Glimpses of World History --- Jawaharlal Nehru
Jane Eyre Novel Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter Novel J. K. Rowling
Heart of Darkness Novel Joseph Conrad
Heaven and Earth --- Lord Byron
History of the II world war --- Sir Winston Churchill
Huckleberry Finn Novel Mark Twain
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I died for beauty* Poem P. B. Shelly

India Wins Freedom* Autobiography Abul Kalam Azad
Inheritance of Loss Novel Kiran Desai
Ivan Hoe Novel Sir Walter Scot
Justice* Poem Henry W. Longfellow
Kim Novel Kipling
Leaves of Grass* Poem Walt Whitman
Less Miserables Novel Victor Hugo
Lord Jim: A Tale Novel Joseph Conrad
Lord of the Flies Novel William Golding
Lorna Doone Novel Blackmore
Madame Bovary Novel Gustav Flaubert
Man in the Iron Mask --- Alexander Dumas
Marriage and Morals Book Bertrand Russell
Mending Wall* Poem Robert Frost
Midnight‟s Children --- Salman Rushdie
My Experiments with Truth* Autobiography Mahatma Gandhi
Nineteen Eighty Four Novel George Orwell
Of Human Bondage Novel W. Somerset Maugham
Pamela 1st English Novel Samuel Richardson

Patriotism* Poetry Sir Walter Scot

Point Counterpoint Novel Aldous Huxley
Pride and Prejudice Novel Jane Austin
Prometheus Unbound* Lyrical drama Aeschylus
Riders to the Sea* A one act play E. M. Synge
Roads to Freedom --- Bertrand Russell
Robinson Crusoe Novel Daniel Defoe
Roots Novel Alex Haley
Satanic Verses --- Salman Rushdie
Sense and Sensibility Novel Jane Austin
September on Jessore Road* Poem Allen Ginsberg
Sherlock Homes* Detective stories Sir Arthur Canon Doyle
Spirit of Islam --- Syed Amir Ali
Sula Novel Toni Morrison
Surrender at Dhaka-Birth of a nation --- J. F. R. Jacob
Treasure Island Novel Stevenson
The Affluent Society --- J. K. Galbraith
The Aim of Education* Essay Whitehead
The Ancient Society --- L. H. Morgan
The Birthday Party Novel Harold Pinter
The Bluest Eye Novel Toni Morrison
The Canterbury Tales* Collection of tales Geoffrey Chaucer
The Caretaker Novel Harold Pinter
The Caucasian Chalk Circle* Play Bertolt Brecht
The Charge of the Light Brigade* Poem Lord Alfred Tennyson
The Diamond Necklace* Short story Maupassant
The Diary of a Young Girl --- Anne Frank
The End of History and the Last Man* --- M. Francis Fukuyama
The Gift of the Magi* Short story O‟ Henry
The God of Small Things Novel Arundhati Roy
The Good Muslim Novel Tahmima Anam
The Importance of Being Earnest* Play Oscar Wilde
The Invisible Man* Science fiction H.G. Wells
The Judgment --- Kuldip Nayer
The Jungle Book Novel Rudyard Kipling
The Kite Runner Novel Khaled Hosseini
The Last Leaf* Short story O Henry
The Luncheon* Short story W. Somerset Maugham
The Mayor of Casterbridge Novel Thomas Hardy

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The Odyssey and the Iliad* Epic Homer

The Origin of Species* Scientific writing C. Darwin
The Palace of Illusion Novel Chitra Banerjee
The Picture of Dorian Gray Novel Oscar Wilde
The Prince --- Machiavelli
The Rape of Bangladesh --- Anthony Mascarenhas
The Return of the Native Novel Thomas Hardy
The Sacred Flame Novel W. Somerset Maugham
The School Boy* Poem William Blake
The Sense of an Ending Novel Julian Bernes
The Social Contract --- Russo
The Spanish Tragedy* Play Thomas Kyd
The Time Machine* Science fiction H. G. Wells
The Trial Novel Franz Kafka
The Unfinished Memories* Autobiography Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
The Vinci Code* Detective novel Dan Brown
The Women Novel T. C. Boyle
Things Fall Apart Novel Chinua Achebe
Three Musketeers Novel Alexander Dumas
Thyrsis* A pastoral elegy Mathew Arnold
Time, you Old Gipsy Man* Poem Ralph Hodgson
To Daffodils* Poem Robert Herrick
(„The Daffodils‟ poem—William Wordsworth)
To the light house Novel Virginia Woolf
Ulysses Novel James Joyce
(„Ulysses‟ poem—Alfred Lord Tennyson)
Uncle Tom‟s Cabin Novel Mrs. Harriet Stowe
Utopia Novel Sir Thomas More
Vanity Fair Novel William Thekary
Voices from Chernobyl --- Svetlana Alexievich
War and Peace (an epic tale of Napoleonic invasion) Novel Leo Tolstoy
Waiting for Godot* Absurd drama Samuel Beckett
White Devil* Play John Webster
Wuthering Heights Novel Emily Bronte

Quotations:
Quotations Author
Know thyself. ( ) Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living. ( ) Socrates
We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle
Man is by nature a political animal. Aristotle
He, who is unable to live in a society, must be either a beast or a god. Aristotle
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities. Aristotle
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen; ( ) And Thomas Gray
waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. Thomas Gray
( , )
Give me good mothers I will give you a good nation. Nepoleon
The career is open to the talents. Nepoleon
Knowledge is power. Francis Bacon>Hobbes
Opportunity makes a thief. ( ) Francis Bacon
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact Francis Bacon
man.
Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed, and some few to be Francis Bacon
chewed and digested.
Wives are young men‟s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old Francis Bacon
men‟s nurses. ( , )
The people are the masters. Edmund Burke
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. Edmund Burke
( , )
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A perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world. Edmund Burke
Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King
( )
I have a dream. Martin Luther King
Govt. of the people, by the people, for the people. Abraham Lincoln
You may fool some of the people some of the time; you can even fool some Abraham Lincoln
of the people all the time; but you can‟t fool all the people all the time.
The govt. is the best which governs least. Henry David Thoreau
( )
Justice delayed is justice denied. Gladstone
( )
England expects that every man will do his duty at the battle of Trafalgar. Nelson

England respects everyman to do his duty. Nelson

( )
Sweet is revenge, especially to women. Lord Byron
Ignorance is not innocence but sin. Robert Browning
But I have promises to keep; And Robert frost
miles to go before I sleep.
Good face is the best letter of recommendation. Queen Elizabeth
( , )
The country is good if its universities are good. Pundit Nehru
Be You Ever So High, the Law is Above You. ( ) Lord Denning
No man is above the law and no man is below it. Roosevelt
The good of the people is the chief law. Cicero
( )
Come, live with me and be my love. C. Marlowe
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton
( , )
Judges like Caesar‟s wife should be above suspicion. Bowen L J
A little learning is a dangerous thing. Alexander Pope
To err is human, to forgive is divine. An Essay on Criticism,
Alexander Pope
That‟s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. New York Times, 21st July, 1969;
Neil Armstrong
Truth sits upon the lips of dying man. Sohrab and Rustum, Mathew
( ) Arnold
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. (Satan) Paradise Lost, John
( ) Milton
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. The Marriage of Heaven & Hell,
William Blake
Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Du Contract Social, Rousseau
( , )
Water, water, everywhere; Not The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
any drop to drink. Coleridge
Alone, alone, all, all alone, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
Alone on a wide, wide sea…. Coleridge
He prayeth best, who loveth best. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
( ) Coleridge
Poets are the unacknowledged legislature of the world. A defence of Poetry, Shelly
( )
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. ( ) To a Skylark, Shelly
We look before and after and pine for what is not. To a Skylark, Shelly
If winter comes, can spring be far behind. Ode to the West Wind, Shelly
( ?)
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I Ode to the West Wind, Shelly
fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth
( )
The child is father of the man. My heart leaps up when I behold,
( ) Wordsworth

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Ten thousand saw at a glance; ( ) Tossing their The Solitary Reaper,

heads in sprightly dance. Wordsworth
Behold her, single in the field/You solitary Highland Lass! Reaping The Solitary Reaper,
and singing by herself Wordsworth
The music in my heart I bore Long after it was heard no more. The Solitary Reaper,
Wordsworth
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful things. Preface to Lyrical Ballads,
( : : ) Wordsworth
All at once I saw/a crowd, a host of golden daffodils. I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud,
Wordsworth
Beauty is truth, truth is beauty. Ode to a Grecian Urn, Keats
Heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter. Ode to a Grecian Urn, Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. ( ) Endymion, Keats
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/My sense, as though of Ode to a Nightingle, Keats
hemlock I had drunk. ( ,
, )
A short sleep. Keats
Cowards die many times before their deaths. Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
( )
Veni, vidi, vici. ( , , ) Julius Caesar, Shakespeare
To be or not to be, that is the question. Hamlet,
( ) W. Shakespeare
There are many things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in Hamlet,
your philosophy. ( , W. Shakespeare
)
Frailty, Thy name is woman. ( / ) Hamlet, W. Shakespeare
Brevity is the soul of wit. ( ) Hamlet, W. Shakespeare
There is a divinity that shapes our ends. ( ) Hamlet, W. Shakespeare
All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Macbeth, W. Shakespeare
( )
Fair is foul, and foul is fair. ( , ) Macbeth, W. Shakespeare
Sweet are the uses of adversity. ( : ) As You Like It, Shakespeare
All the world‟s a stage and all the men and women merely players. As You Like It, Shakespeare
( , )

Blow, blow the winter wind/ Thou (you) are not so unkind. As You Like It, Shakespeare
( , )
A young man married is a man that‟s marred. All’s Well that Ends Well,
Shakespeare
Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. The Merry Wives of Windsor,
Shakespeare
Corruption wins not more than honesty. The Merchant of Venice,
Shakespeare
The upright judge condemns crimes but he does not hate the criminals. Shakespeare
I am a man more sinned against than sinning. Shakespeare
( , )
Life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. Shakespeare
While I stand on the roadway or on the Pavement grey, I hear it in the The Lake Isle of Innis free,
deep heart‟s core. W. B. Yeats
For God‟s sake hold your tongue, and let me love. The Canonization, John
Donne
When wisdom brings no profit, To King Oedipus, Sophocles
be wise is to suffer.
Hold fast to dreams. Dreams, Langston Hughes
Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Dreams, Langston Hughes
All people dream but not equally. D. H. Lawrence
The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the Schopenhauer
commentary.
How can the bird that is born for joy, Sit The School Boy, William
in a cage and sing? Blake

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How shall the summer arise in joy, The School Boy, William
Or the summer fruits appear? Blake
Justice is truth in action. Benjamin Disaraeli
I have not seen Himalayas. But I have seen Sheikh Mujib. Fidel Castro
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say Voltaire
it. ( , )
The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. Henrik Ibsen

Literary terms and figures:

Terms Definition Example

Alliteration The repetition of the same letter Mist and mellow fruitfulness. Budding beauty.
(consonant) at the beginning of She sells sea shells on the sea shore. A storm
successive words man struggling with the storm of the fate.
Anaphora The repetition of the same word or Every day, every night, in every way, I am
phrase at the beginning of successive getting better and better.
clauses or verses
Assonances The close repetition of the same The flash of a hand. (ash,and= ) An
vowels followed by different Austrian army awfully arrayed.
consonants
Simile Explicit comparison between two I wandered lonely as a cloud.
different things using the words My love is like a red, red rose.
as/like
Metaphor Implicit comparison between two Sabrina has a heart of stone.
different things without using the My heart leaped into my mouth.
words as/like/such Bangladesh Biman, your home is in the air.
Onomatopoeia Jingle-jangle, melodious murmur,
I raised my head at the rustling of the leaves.
Personification Time waits for none.
The radio suddenly stopped singing.
Death, thou shalt not die.
Apostrophe O death! The poor man’s friend and the best.
,
Personification.

Hyperbole / overstatement Ten thousand saw I at a glance. Here’s the

Exaggeration ( ) smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia
will not sweeten this little hand. She felt it was
taking a hundred years to complete the exam.
King of kings.
Paradox (Self-contradictory) I must be cruel to be kind. There is no one so
poor as a wealthy miser.
Oxymoron oxymoron Open secret. Deafening silence. Darkness
visible.
Antithesis idea/words Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
balance Man proposes, God disposes
( )
Irony The boy showed his merit by making twenty
mistakes in ten minutes. King Lear banished
his youngest daughter Cordelia from his
Kingdom; but in the end, she became her only
shelter.
Satire The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And
wretches hang that jurymen may dine.
Euphemism (inoffensive expression) Kick the bucket (=death) ‘ ’
‘ ’
Litotes He is not bad. (= good)
Man is not immortal. (= mortal)
Pleonasm / Repeat it again.
Tautology ( )

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Chiasmus word/phrases Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

Periphrasis / The sleeps that never breaks (= death)

circumlocution
Pun The leopard never changes its spot, whenever it
goes from one spot to another.
Metonymy Address the chair (chairman). Pyongyang and
Washington have finally come to consensus.
The Bench found him guilty.

An epic is a long narrative poem dealing with heroic deeds

Epics are divided into two types
A „Canto‟ is a division of an epic
Stanza is one of the division of a poem
Sonnet is a poem of 14 lines
The word „sonnet‟ is originated from Italian language
Which is not true of an English sonnet? It has 14 syllables in each line
The Shakespearean sonnet pattern is ababcdcd efefgg
Parody is a funny imitation of a poem
Prosody signifies the systematic study of versification
Blank verse is a kind of verse having no rhyming end
Tri-meter is a line of poem consisting of three feet
Limerick is a short form of light verse / a funny poem of five lines
Ballad is a kind of short narrative poem / a story in verse
Couplet means two lines of poem / poetry of equal length and rhyme
Refrain means line of a song or a poem repeated at the end of each verse
The „Poet Laureate‟ is the Court Poet of England
Poetic License means freedom to change the normal rules of language in a special
piece of writing
In „poetic justice‟ vice is punished and virtue is rewarded
Which is not a poetic tradition? the Comic
Eulogy is speech expressing high praise of somebody
Elegy is a song of mourning
Dirge is a song to be sung at funeral
Hymn is a song embodying religious & sacred emotions
A drama is a/an magical performances on the stage
Melodrama is play of violent and sensational themes
An „act‟ is one of the major divisions of a play
Breath is a shortest dramatic work
Tragedy is a serious play with a sad ending
Comedy is a light play with a happy ending
Pantomime is action on the stage without speech
Prologue is an introduction to a play or literary work
Epilogue is a closing speech in a play
Monologue is a lengthy speech presented by a character of a play to other
characters or audience
Soliloquy means a lengthy speech presented by an individual character to
himself/herself
Debut means first appearance
Protagonist is leading character or actor in a play
A Machiavellian character is a selfish / cunning person
Catastrophe is the tragic end of dramatic events
The „Climax‟ of a plot is what happens at the height/ a crisis in a drama
Playwright is someone who writes plays
It is impossible to write a drama without plot
A fantasy is an imaginary story
A fiction means a branch of literature that describes imaginary people and
events
Fable is a story, with animals as the main characters, and a moral
Myth is the story of the ancient history/a legend
Mythology is the study of various beliefs about gods and goddesses

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Epistolary novel is a novel in the form of letters

Linguistics is the scientific study of languages
In linguistics, „collocation‟ means words that go together
A lexicographer is a person who writes dictionaries
An autobiography means a person when writes about own life
Memoir is a composition which emphasizes on author‟s witness and
experiences rather than his/her own personality or life
Allegory is a word which has a meaning behind the surface meaning
Dramatic irony is the situation when the audience understand the implication
and meaning of an action on stage but the characters don‟t
Allusion is a reference to another literary work that the reader should
understand in order to make connections

Some important information:

Readers who have eclectic tastes in literature read books on different topics
If a part of speech or writing breaks the theme, it is called digression
Actors tells a story by gestures in a mime
Dramatic monologue is used in poetry
Animal can speak in a fable
When a poem has a speaker, what does a novel have? narrator
The narrator of a novel written in the 3rd person is called an omniscient narrator
Novel means something new and is derived from Latin
The romantic age in English literature began with the lyrical Ballads
publication of
The year 1798 is famous for publication of lyrical Ballads
The collaborators of lyrical Ballads were Wordsworth & Coleridge
„Tom Jones‟ by Henry Fielding was first published in 1749 (the 1st half of 18th century)
„A Tale of Two Cities‟ was written on the basis of French revolution
„A Tale of Two Cities‟ refers to London and Paris
London town is found a living being in the work of Charles Dickens
Phoenix is a mythological bird regenerating from ashes
Octogenarian is a person between the ages of 80-90 years
Tom Tykwer‟s „Run Lola Run‟ is a film
„Who doth ambition shun‟ means a person who gives up ambition
Who was the tutor of Alexander the Great? Aristotle (S-P-A-A)
[Socrates > Plato > Aristotle > Alexander]
The last word of the proverb—“A good husband should blind
be deaf and a good wife_____”
The sentence “Who would have thought Shylock was so wonder
unkind?” expresses
The Canterbury Tales is as alive and__ today as it was appealing
nearly 600 years ago
Into the ___of death rode the six hundred. valley
They ___ in never-ending ___. stretched, line
According to William Wordsworth‟s „A man speaking to poet is a man who speaking to men
man‟—what is the central idea of poet?
A novella is a short novel

Less important information: ( )

To Daffodils (Robert Herrick):

The central idea of „To Daffodils‟ is that life is short, so live to the fullest
“Fair daffodils! We weep to see; you haste away so soon” who Robert Herrick
wrote these beautiful line?
Which two things of nature does Robert Herrick find similar to summer‟s rain and morning‟s dew
human beings and daffodils?
In „To Daffodils‟ human life is compared with morning‟s dew, summer‟s rain, spring
In the poem „To Daffodils‟ the poet weeps over short-lived human life
„Hasting day‟ in „To Daffodils‟ means hurriedly passing day
Which word seems out of place? Daffodil
The last line of „To Daffodils‟ is as quick a growth to meet decay
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The Daffodils/ I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud (W. Wordsworth):

The central idea of „I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud‟ is that we can find solace in nature
“Ten thousand saw at a glance; Tossing their heads in sprightly Daffodils
dance”—what is the poet W. Wordsworth referring to?
The speaker of „I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud‟ saw Golden daffodils
Why were the daffodils in Wordsworth‟s „I Wandered Lonely there was a strong wind
As a Cloud‟ dancing?
In „I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud‟ Wordsworth compares the the stars of the milky way
daffodils with
In „I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud‟ the daffodils gave the poet a great deal of pleasure
Why is the poet so sad to see the daffodils in „The daffodils‟? because the flower remind him of his own death
Who wrote the following lines—“all at once I saw a crowd, a Wordsworth
host, of golden daffodils”?

Ozymandias (Shelly):

The central idea of „Ozymandias‟ is that all things, both great and small will perish
In the poem „Ozymandias‟ who calls Ozymandias „king of Ozymandias himself
kings‟?
In the poem „Ozymandias‟, the phrase „king of kings‟ is an exaggeration
example of
In Shelly‟s „Ozymandias‟ the words, “My name is the pedestal of the statue
Ozymandias, king of kings” are inscribed on
The statue of Ozymandias is in a desert
In „Ozymandias‟ who saw the statue of Ozymandias? a traveler
In „Ozymandias‟ the poet says, “I met a traveler__an__land”. from, antique
The phrase „trunk less legs‟ in the poem „Ozymandias‟ refers to legs without body
Which phrase would best describe „the cuckoo‟? the harbinger of spring
What lies half sunk in the sand in Shelly‟s „Ozymandias‟? broken head of a statue
In Shelly‟s „Ozymandias‟ „frown‟ and „sneer of cold shattered visage
command‟ are seen on
„Visage‟ in Shelly‟s „Ozymandias‟ refers to face

The Solitary Reaper (W. Wordsworth):

The Solitary Reaper is a romantic poem
In „The Solitary Reaper‟ what does the solitary mean? lonely

Under the Greenwood Tree (W. Shakespeare):

The central idea of „Under the Greenwood Tree‟ is that life in nature is simple and free

In the lines “Here shall he see/ No enemy” taken from „Under the greenwood tree
the Greenwood Tree‟. „Here‟ stands for
In „Under the Greenwood Tree‟ the „Tree‟ refers to nature/forest
In „Under the Greenwood Tree‟ the poet mention two enemies
In „Under the Greenwood Tree‟ which of the following is forest
mentioned as an „enemy‟?
“Here shall he see/ No enemy/ But winter and rough Under the Greenwood Tree
weather”—where do you find these lines?

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