The objectives of this unit are to
enable you to:
·
Outline the history of English
literature
·
Understand English literature from
Chaucer to Pope
·
Identify important passages for explanation
·
Explain passages with reference to
context
·
Understand the works of different
authors
INTRODUCTION
The initial
writings in English, which were in Old English, made their appearance in the
early Middle Ages. The most ancient work that is known to have survived is the Hymn
of Cædmon. The oral culture is known to have been extremely popular in the ancient
English culture with maximum literary works being written with a motive of
being acted out on stage. Epic poems, therefore gained great popularity with
several such poems that included Beowulf, surviving to the present day.
They exist in the rich corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature which bear much
resemblance to the present day’s Icelandic, Norwegian, North Frisian and the
Northumbrian and Scots English dialects of modern English.
1.1 TRACING THE HISTORY
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
The 12th century witnessed the
development of a new kind of English, presently called Middle English. The
oldest kind of English literature could be understood by the readers, although
it did need some effort. Middle English lasted till the 1470s. It was at this
time that the Chancery Standard, a kind of London-based English, grew popular
and the printing press standardized the language. Middle English Bible
translations, of which Wyclif's Bible is the most notable, helped in establishing
English as a literary language.
The most notable Middle English
writer was Geoffrey Chaucer. He played a very active role in the later years of
the 14th century. Frequently considered to be the father of English literature,
he is popularly given the credit to have been the first author who demonstrated
the creative legality of the colloquial English language, instead of French or
Latin. The Canterbury Tales happened to be Chaucer’s best work, besides
being a lofty accomplishment of Western culture.
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
Following the introduction of a
printing press into England by William Caxton in 1476, vernacular literature
prospered. The Reformation stimulated the creation of vernacular liturgy. This
resulted in the Book of Common Prayer, which had a long-lasting effect on
literary English language. The poetry, drama and prose that were created during
the rule of both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I make up that which is
presently known as Early modern or Renaissance.
THE ELIZABETHAN ERA
It was in the Elizabethan age
that literature flourished greatly, particularly in the domain of drama. The
rediscovery of the ancient Greek and Roman theatre by the Italian Renaissance
facilitated the evolution of the new drama. The drama was then starting to
develop besides the ancient mystery and miracle dramas of the medieval era.
It is a fact that the Elizabethan
era was filled with violence and that the increasing rate of political murders in
Renaissance Italy (personified by Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince) could
not do much to put those who feared the popish plot, at ease. Consequently, representation
of that form of violence in dramas happened to be possibly increasingly healing
for the Elizabethan audience. After the former Elizabethan dramas like Gorboduc
by Sackville & Norton and Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy which provided
considerable content for Hamlet, William Shakespeare is the one who is
known to stand out in this age as a poet and playwright par excellence. Not a
person of letters, professionally Shakespeare possessed very little grammar school
education. He did not belong to any of the elite professions like a professor
or a lawyer, like the ‘university wits’ who dominated the English theatre when
he began to write. However, he was extremely talented and his versatility was
incredible. He outdid ‘professionals’ like Robert Greene who made a mockery of this
‘shake-scene’ of humble birth. Although all his dramas were highly successful,
it was the works of his later years (when James I reigned) which have been taken
to be his most memorable dramas, some of which are Hamlet, Romeo and
Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and
Cleopatra, and The Tempest.
The Tempest is a tragicomedy that carves within the main drama an
astonishing spectacle to the new king. Shakespeare even made famous the English
sonnet that brought about noteworthy changes to Petrarch’s model.
Other noteworthy dramatists in
Elizabethan theatre include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher
and Francis Beaumont. In the later sixteenth century, English poetry was marked
by flowery language and extensive references to old myths. Poets who were most
significant during this period are Edmund Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney.
Elizabeth herself, a result of Renaissance humanism, created occasional poems like
‘On Monsieur’s Departure’.
Jacobean literature
Following the death of
Shakespeare, the poet and playwright Ben Jonson became the primary literary figure
of the Jacobean era (The reign of James I). In any case, Jonson’s art can be
traced back to the Middle Ages instead of the Tudor Era: his characters personify
the ‘Theory of Humours’. As per this medical theory, behavioural differences are
given rise to from the existence of one of the body’s four ‘humours’ (blood,
phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) more than the other three; these humours relate
with the four elements of the universe: air, water, fire and earth. This led
Jonson to represent these differences to the extent of producing types, or
clichés.
Jonson is a ruler of style, and an
excellent satirist. Volpone by
him displays the way in which a bunch of scammers are made a fool of by
a renowned con-artist, vice being punished by vice and virtue being rewarded.
Other than Shakespeare, who soars
over the initial seventeenth century, the primary poets of the early seventeenth
century include John Donne and the other Metaphysical poets. Under the influence
of continental Baroque, besides adopting as his subject matter a combination of
Christian mysticism and eroticism, metaphysical poetry uses irregular or ‘unpoetic’
metaphors, like a compass or a mosquito, for lending surprise effects to the
poem. For instance, in ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’, one of Donne's Songs
and Sonnets, the two ends of a compass embody two lovers, the woman at
home, waiting, as the centre, the farthest end as her lover who is sailing away
from her. The more the distance, the nearer the hands of the compass incline
towards one another: being separated from each leads to increasing love. The irony
or the oxymoron can be seen constantly in this poetry. The apprehensions and
anxieties even narrate a world of spiritual sureties that the modern
discoveries of Geography and Science shake, one that has ceased to be the
centre of the universe. Besides the metaphysical poetry of Donne, the seventeenth
century is even commemorated for its Baroque poem. Baroque poetry met the same purpose
as the art of the time; the Baroque approach is towering, sweeping, epic and
religious.
Caroline and Cromwellian literature
The disorderly years of the mid-seventeenth
century, when Charles I reigned and the following Commonwealth and
Protectorate, was a time when political literature in English flourished.
Pamphlets written by sympathisers of every faction in the English civil war ran
from vicious personal attacks and polemics, through many forms of propaganda,
to high-minded schemes to reform the nation. Of the latter type, Leviathan
by Thomas Hobbes would prove to be one of the most important works of British
political philosophy. Hobbes's writings are some of the few political works
from the era which are still regularly published while John Bramhall, who was
Hobbes's chief critic, is largely forgotten. The period also saw a flourishing
of news books, the precursors to the British newspaper, with journalists such
as Henry Muddiman, Marchamont Needham, and John Birkenhead representing the
views and activities of the contending parties. The frequent arrests of authors
and the suppression of their works, with the consequence of foreign or
underground printing, led to the proposal of a licensing system. The Areopagitica,
a political pamphlet by John Milton, was written in opposition to licensing and
is regarded as one of the most eloquent defenses of press freedom ever written.
Specifically in the reign of
Charles I (1625–42), English Renaissance theatre experienced its concluding
efflorescence. The last works of Ben Jonson appeared on stage and in print,
along with the final generation of major voices in the drama of the age: John
Ford, Philip Massinger, James Shirley, and Richard Brome. With the closure of
the theatres at the start of the English Civil War in 1642, drama was
suppressed for a generation, to resume only in the altered society of the
English Restoration in 1660.
Restoration literature
Restoration literature includes both Paradise
Lost and the Earl of Rochester's Sodom, the high spirited sexual
comedy of The Country Wife and the moral wisdom of Pilgrim's Progress.
The official gap
in literary culture that was brought about by censorship and totally moralist
standards during Cromwell’s Puritan regime brought about a gap in literary
tradition. This allowed what appeared to be a new beginning of all kinds of
literature following the Restoration. In the Interregnum, the royalist forces
who were a part of the king’s court I went into exile accompanied by the 20
year old Charles II. The aristocracy that travelled with Charles II were thus
lodged for nearly a decade in the middle of the continent’s literary scene.
Charles spending his time attending dramas in
The biggest and the chiefly
important poetic form of the era had been satire. Generally, satire was
published in with an anonymous status. Association with satire was extremely
dangerous. Defamation law was a wide net, and it was tough for a satirist to
evade prosecution if there was proof against him to show that his writings
contained criticism of the aristocracy. Moreover, rich people responded to
satire very frequently by having the poet beaten up by hooligans. John Dryden,
is an example of one such writer who was planned to get beaten up by the
ruffians merely under the suspicion that he wrote Satire on Mankind. A
result of being anonymous is that several poems, a few of them deserving merit,
have yet to published and remain largely not known.
Prose during the Restoration
period was ruled by Christian religious works. However, the Restoration even
witnessed the beginning of two genres that would rule the later periods: fiction
and journalism. Religious writing frequently diverted into political and
economic writing, just as political and economic writing implied or directly
addressed religion. It was during this time that John Locke is known to have
written a number of his philosophical works.
Immediately after the earlier
Puritan regime’s ban on public stage representations was called off, the drama
re-created itself swiftly and in an abundant manner. The most popular dramas of
the initial Restoration period happen to be the unemotional or ‘hard’ comedies
of John Dryden, William Wycherley and George Etherege. They give a reflection
of the environment at Court besides celebrating a noble macho lifestyle of
unremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. A steep downfall in quality and
quantity in the 1680s, the mid-90s saw a brief second flowering of the drama,
especially comedy.
Augustan
literature
The term ‘Augustan literature’ is
derived from the authors of the 1720s and 1730s themselves, in response to a
term that George I of
The most popular poet of the age
was Alexander Pope. However, Pope’s brilliance is to a certain extent in his
never-ending battle with other poets. Moreover, his peaceful, seemingly
neo-Classical approach to poetry would always compete with extremely
distinctive verse and stiff competition from poets like Ambrose Philips. It was
at this period that James Thomson created his melancholy The Seasons and
Edward Young wrote Night Thoughts. It was also the era that saw a
serious competition over the appropriate model for the pastoral. In criticism,
poets struggled with a doctrine of decorum, of matching proper words
with proper sense and of accomplishing a diction that would match the weight of
a subject. At the same time, the mock-heroic was at its peak. Pope’s Rape of
the Lock and The Dunciad are still the greatest mock-heroic poems
ever written.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
1. Which century witnessed the development of a new kind of English, presently called Middle English?
2. What was prose during the Restoration period ruled by?
1.2 THE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES
(i) Whan that Aprill
with his shoures soote ……Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.
(General
Prologue 1 – 12)
The narrator starts the Prologue with a beautiful description of nature during the month of April, when it is the Spring season.
The descriptions in this passage with which the
poem opens, describes the rebirth and renewal of Spring. He says that when
April arrives accompanied with its sweet, scented showers, that penetrate the
parched ground of March, drenching each root of each plant in sweet liquid,
then everybody like to set out on pilgrimages. The constellation Taurus
can be seen in the skies; Zephyr, the warm, soothing west wind, has filled the
fields with life accompanied with the merry chirping of birds. The verbs that have been made use of for
describing the action of nature such as—piercing (2), engendering (4), inspiring (5), and pricking
(11)—invoke the images of conception.
The reawakening of the nature is in alignment with
Chaucer’s likewise ‘inspired’ poetic sensitivity. The classical (Latin and
Ancient Greek) writers that Chaucer imitated and desired to outdo always began
their epic narrative poems by summoning a muse, or female goddess, for inspiring
them, much in a literal manner to speak or breathe a story into them. A
majority of them began with ‘Sing in me, O muse’, regarding a specific theme.
Chaucer also starts with an instant of invocation. However, here there is no
muse invoking him; rather it is the natural inspiration of the earth which is
getting ready for spring instead of some supernatural power putting her own
voice into the body of the poet.
Following the lengthy sleep of winter, people start
stirring, and are filled with the desire to set out on pilgrim journeys or go
to some place which would allow one to worship saint’s remains to cleanse
themselves spiritually and be revived spiritually. Due to travelling to far-off
places was made impossible by the winter ice and snow (it was an age when not
even horse-drawn carriages were properly developed), the desire of getting up,
stretching legs, and seeing the external world through the window would have been
incredible. Pilgrim journey saw the combination of spring holidays with spiritual
edification.
The scenery in this passage is even seen to locate
the subject in England in a clear manner. It is far from being a classical scenery
similar to the Troy of Homer’s Iliad. It is not even a completely fictionalized space such as
the soothing and calm groves and mountainous terrains of the make-believe
Arcadia which belong to the pastoral poetry and romances. Chaucer’s landscape can
be accessed by all kinds of people. It is particularly accessible to the ones
who live in the countryside, as Chaucer describes and talks of blooming
flowers, growing crops and chirping birds.
The
speaker is in the beginning found out to be dwelling at the Tabard Inn in
Southwark (in London). It is here that a group of twenty-nine persons are seen
to be descending on the inn. They are making preparations for going on a
pilgrimage to Canterbury. Following their discussions, Chaucer gives his
consent to accompany the people on their pilgrim journey.
Chaucer’s pilgrims embody a varied
cross section of the 14th century English society. Medieval social
theory categorized society into three wide classes, namely, ‘estates: the
military’, the clergy and the laity. (The aristocracy, not represented in the
General Prologue, actually gets its title and privileges from military duties
and service, due to which it is considered to be a part of the military estate).
Among the pilgrims in the General
Prologue, the Knight and Squire embody the military estate. The clergy is embodied
by the Prioress (and her nun and three priests), the Monk, the Friar and the
Parson. The other characters, from the wealthy Franklin to the poor Plowman, belong
to the laity. These common characters can be further categorized into
landowners (the Franklin), professionals (the Clerk, the Man of Law, the
Guildsmen, the Physician, and the Shipman), laborers (the Cook and the
Plowman), stewards (the Miller, the Manciple, and the Reeve), and church
officers (the Summoner and the Pardoner).
THE KNIGHT
(ii) A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man……. And wente for to
doon his pilgrymage. (The General
Prologue Lines 43 – 78)
The narrator now
describing each character, starts with the knight. He holds a fairly good
impression about the knight who he says was a perfect gentleman. He possessed
all the good qualities of a knight and loved chivalry, truth, honour, freedom
and all forms of courtesies. The
Knight is seen riding in the front of the procession depicted in the General
Prologue. The Host makes no effort in hiding his admiration for the Knight, similar
to the narrator. The narrator appears to remember four primary qualities of the
Knight. The first is the Knight’s love of ideals—‘chivalrie’ (gallantry), ‘trouthe’
(faithfulness), ‘honour’ (repute), ‘fredom’ (generosity) and ‘curteisie’ (sophistication).
Secondly, he talks about the Knight’s remarkable
military career. The Knight had been fighting in the Crusades. These were battles
in which Europeans travelled by sea to non-Christian lands and tried converting
the entire cultures with the threat of their swords. During Chaucer’s period,
the will to conduct these wars was fading away, and had stopped being fought as
often. The Knight had fought the Muslims in Egypt, Spain and Turkey besides the
Russian Orthodox in Lithuania and Russia. He has even fought in formal duels.
The third characteristic the narrator is known to remember
about the Knight is his humble and gentle ways.
The fourth is his ‘array’, or attire. The Knight is
dressed in a tunic made of crude cloth. His coat of mail is rust-stained, showing
his recent return from one of his expeditions.
THE SQUIRE
(iii) With him ther was his sone, a yong SQUYER….
And carf biforn his fader at the table.
(The
General Prologue: Lines 80 – 100)
The narrator now goes on to describe the knight’s
son—Squire. The narrator is once again extremely impressed with this young lad
of twenty who embodies youth, vigour and vitality at its best.
The Knight’s son, who is twenty years old, acts as
his father’s squire, or apprentice. Though he has fought in a number of battles
with much prowess and skill, similar to his father, he too is dedicated to
love. A strong, handsome, young man with curly hair wearing clothes with embroidery
of delicate flowers is a sight worth watching. The Squire indulges in fights hoping
to win the favour of his ‘lady’. He is gifted with the talents of a courtly
lover, in that he can sing, play the flute, draw, write and ride. Moreover, he
is so passionate in his love that he sleeps for a little while during the night,
just like a nightingale. A dutiful son he fulfills his responsibilities towards
his father, like, he carves his meat.
The narrator gives a description of the Knight in
terms of conceptual ideals and battles. However, he gives a description of the
Knight’s son, the Squire, a majority of the times, in terms of his visual appeal.
The Squire is preparing to take on the same role as his father. However, he visualizes
the role in a different manner, and supplements his father’s devotion to
military prowess and the Christian cause with the ideals of courtly love. He exhibits
all of the achievements and behaviours meant for the courtly lover: he is seen
to groom and dress himself with a lot of care. By playing and singing, he attempts
to win favour with his ‘lady’. He does not sleep much at night due to his
overwhelming love. It is imperative here to identify, however, that the Squire
is not simply in love owing to his being young and handsome; he has inculcated
all of his behaviours and poses from his culture.
THE PRIORESS
(iv) Ther was also a Nonne, a PRIORESSE…. And after, Amor
vincit omnia.
(The General Prologue: Lines 118 – 162 )
The narrator now goes on to give a description of
the Prioress, called Madame Eglentyne. Though the Prioress does not belong to
the royal court, she tries her best to emulate its ways and manners. She is
very careful about eating her food in a dainty manner, reaching for food on the
table in a delicate manner and wiping her lip clean of grease before she would drink
from her cup. She could speak French, although with a provincial English
accent. She loves animals and weeps on seeing a mouse caught in a trap and feeds
her dogs roasted meat and milk. The narrator now describing her physical
appearance says that she has nice features including her huge forehead. On her
arm can be seen a set of prayer beads, from which a gold brooch hangs that bears
the Latin words which when translated means ‘Love Conquers All’. Another nun
and three priests accompany her.
The narrator draws his attention to the Prioress’s
table manners in minute detail, and is frank when he admires her courtly ways.
He finds her mouth mesmerizing, as he states her smiling, her singing, her
French speaking, her eating and her drinking. In a way of apology for dwelling
so long on what he seems to see as her erotic manner, he moves to considering
her ‘conscience’. However, his decision of illustrating her great compassion by
concentrating on how she treats her pets and reacts to a mouse is probably
tongue-in-cheek. The Prioress is seen to somewhat emerge as a very
realistically portrayed human being, but she seems somewhat lacking as a
religious figure.
The Wife
of Bath
(v) A good WYF was ther of bisyde BATHE…In
a tabard he rood upon a mere.
(The General Prologue: Lines 447 – 478)
The Wife of Bath is perhaps the character with the
longest description.
One of two female storytellers (the other is the
Prioress), the Wife is more experienced and carries it under her belt. She has
travelled the world over on pilgrim journeys, and therefore Canterbury is a
jaunt in comparison to other dangerous journeys that she is known to have endured.
Besides visiting and seeing several places, she has been with five husbands.
She is worldly in both senses of the word: she has seen the world and is much experienced
in its ways, which mean, in love and sex.
Rich and of good taste, the Wife’s attire is
slightly towards flamboyance: her face is wreathed in heavy cloth, her
stockings are a superior scarlet colour and the leather on her shoes is soft,
fresh and brand new—all of which show how rich she has become. Scarlet in
particular was an expensive dye, as it was manufactured from individual red
beetles that one could find only in certain parts of the world. The fact that
she comes from Bath, a major English cloth-making town in the Middle Ages, can
be seen in both her talent as a seamstress and her stylish garments. Bath at
this time was struggling to find a place among the great European exporters of
cloth that were generally in the Netherlands and Belgium. Therefore, the fact
that the Wife’s sewing surpasses that of the cloth manufacturers of ‘Ipres and
of Gaunt’ (Ypres and Ghent) is seen to speak highly of Bath’s (and England’s)
attempt to surpass its overseas competitors.
Even though she loves
to argue and is fond of talking, the Wife is intelligent in a commonsense, instead
of in the intellectual way. Her varied experiences with her husbands have
taught her to fend for herself at a time where women were not given much power
and liberty. The main method of her being successful in gaining control over her
husbands lies in her controlling their using her body. The Wife makes use of
her body as a technique using which she bargains, and withholds sexual pleasure
until her demands are fulfilled by her husbands.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
3. How does the narrator, Chaucer start the Prologue?
4. How is the squire related to the knight?
1.2 THOMAS WYATT—I FIND NO PEACE
I find no peace, and all my war is
done….And my delight is causer of this strife.
Explanation: The poet in this
poem expresses the internal war that is going on between him and his lady love.
The poet is seen to reflect on the contradictory
nature of his love. While on one hand, he has a desire to love profoundly, on
the other his approach towards the situation of love is such that he expects
that it will bring about a great transformation in his life. Thus, he gives an explanation
of both anticipation and apprehension. While expressing such contradictory
emotions, which are at war with each other, he is seen to introduce many
metaphors and similes, similar to those of peace and war (line 1), burning and
freezing (line 2), flying like a bird (line 3), and wealth and poverty (line
4). All these paradoxical metaphors, if seen closely are successful in bringing
out the contrary states of the speaker’s feelings.
The poet is trying his best to
communicate his desire to express his feelings for his lover, but is not able
to muster the courage to do so. The entire poem is contradictory. He fears
rejection which makes him freeze while the prospect of winning her makes him to
burn with desire. He imagines a typical situation in which being in love makes
him fly above the winds; however, the reality does not allow him to rise and
fly.
In the fourth line he talks about
love and claims that if he fails to win over his beloved, he would feel like he
has nothing at all. However, if does succeed in winning her he would have the
whole world to himself. He means that for him possessing his beloved is similar
to possessing the world. In the next lines, a common belief that existed during
the Renaissance is brought forth. It was popular belief during the Renaissance
that the loving glances of one’s lover had magical powers and could cast a
spell on the beloved. The line ‘yet can I escape no wise’ proves this fact.
The poet shows his ultimate
hopelessness when he says that ‘Nor letteth me live nor die at my
device, And yet of death it giveth me occasion.’ Here the poet means that the love which he has for his beloved does not
allow him to either die or live. He says that wants to perish and die, and yet
he prays for health.
Finally, the poet resigns by
saying that he realizes that it is his lady love who is the cause for all the
pain that he is experiencing and that he is a lost cause.
1.3 THE FAERIE QUEENE – EDMUND SPENSER – BOOK I
(i) A GENTLE Knight was pricking on the plaine......Yet
nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.
(Canto
I)
Explanation: Book I starts with the tale of the knight of Holiness, the Redcrosse
Knight. The hero’s name is derived from the blood-red cross adorned on his
shield on his breast. It reminds him of his dying Lord. It was for his Lord’s
sake that he wore the badge. The dead praised him just as much as the living,
for his gallantry and valour. He was faithful and true in word and deed. He
appeared to be solemn and sad, but his brave nature did not allow him to fear
anything or anybody. He was a brave and gallant knight.
(ii) Upon a great adventure he was bond.... .His Magick
bookes and artes of sundry kindes, He seekes out mighty charmes, to trouble
sleepy mindes.
(Canto
II)
Explanation: The epic
continues with Gloriana, ‘that greatest Glorious Queen of Faerie lond,’ has given
him a task to perform; that of fighting a dangerous dragon (I.i.3). He is travelling
accompanied by a beautiful, chaste young lady and a dwarf as servant. As soon
as the reader is seen to join the three travellers, a storm break n them which
send them rushing, in search of a shelter in a forest closeby. Upon the
clearing of the skies, they realize that they have wandered away in the forest.
Finally, they reach a cave, recognized by the woman as the ‘den of Error’. Not
paying attention to her warnings, Redcrosse goes in and the horrifying beast,
Error, along with her child attacks him.
He gets wrapped in her tail, when he ultimately succeeds in strangling
her and chopping off her head. Error’s young then drink her blood till they
burst and die. Jubilant, the knight and his fellow travellers embark once again,
watching for the right path. As the sun sets and night begins to appear, they come
across an elderly hermit who offers them lodging in his inn. As the travelers
sleep, the hermit assumes his real identity—he is Archimago, the black
sorcerer, and he conjures up two spirits to trouble Redcrosse.
(iii) Yet she most faithfull Ladie all this while.... And to her snowy
Palfrey got againe, To seeke her strayed Champion, if she might attaine.
(
Canto III)
Explanation: Una, from whom the Redcross knight has parted wanders
around looking for her companion. She is a faithful lady, who on the parting
away from her companion is filled with sadness and gloom. Far from her people,
as if in exile, she wanders in the forest and in the desert in search of her
companion who had betrayed her the night when the magician exercised his
powers, abandoning her to be all alone. One day, tired of wandering in her
search she alights from the animal she was on and stretched out her beautiful
and tender legs on the grass. She lies in a ‘secret shadow’ where no man could
see her. She kept aside her stole while her face that looked like an angel
shone bright. Such beauty had no man beheld.
Tired of her search when she stops to relax
under a tree, she is all of a sudden attacked by a lion. Just as the beast is
about to attack her, he sees her peaceful beauty and senses how innocent she is,
his anger is forgotten. Instead of attacking the damsel he accompanies her and
guards her as a protector and a companion. Soon, Una meets a damsel with a pot
of water; terrified at seeing the lion, the girl, who happens to be deaf and
dumb, rushes home to her mother, who is blind. Una follows the girl to her
house and asks for a place to sleep; when the women inside refuses to open the
door for her, the lion forces it open. During the night, a church robber, who generally
would share his spoil with Abessa (the daughter) and Corceca (the mother), visits
them accompanied by his recently robbed plunder. However, on entering, he is
attacked by the lion and is torn to pieces. As morning approaches Una once
again embarks on her journey. As she rides along, she all of a sudden thinks that
she has seen her knight on a hill closeby. It is not in fact Redcrosse but a
disguised Archimago; however, Una is made a fool of and gives a warm welcome to
her knight accompanied by tears of joy, and they now journey together. Immediately,
though, they chance to meet the knight Sansloy, who is eagerly waiting to take
revenge of the death of his brother Sansfoy. He also mistakes Archimago for
Redcrosse. He attacks him knocks him down. When he is just on the verge of
killing him the sorcerer’s disguise falls apart. When he sees that it is
actually not Redcrosse, Sansloy leaves him, taking Una as his prize, and kills
the lion, when it attemps saving Una.
(iv) To sinfull house of Pride, Duessa
guides the faithfull knight,
Where brothers death to wreak Sansioy
doth chalenge him to fight.
Young knight, what euer that dost
armes professe…..That doth this Redcrosse knights ensample plainly
proue.
(Canto
iv)
Explanation:
The poet now takes us back to the knight, Redcrosse. He
is seen to be approaching the House of Pride accompanied by Duessa.
The poet in these lines is warning the knight against
fraud and deceit. The poet is requesting the knight not too be taken by any
such deceptions. He warns the knight, stating that if he does foolishly give in
to such deceptions, he will most likely lose his lady love. His rash behaviour
may result in the breaking of his lady’s heart. The poet then goes on to say
that it is a matter of great shame for a knight to come across as being
unfaithful in his love. The poet says that it is a shameful thing for a knight
to be treating his love with lightness, and not being serious about it. His
being allured by the deceptions will prove him to be infidel in love.
(v) But this was drawne of six vnequall beasts…..Like
to an holy Monck, the seruice to begin.
(Canto iv)
EXPLANATION: The canto starts
with Lucifera who is the Queen of the House of Pride, welcoming Redcrosse who
is accompanied by Duessa. They have reached a palace called the House of Pride.
Filled with pride, Lucifera flaunts in
front of the knight when she calls her couch. Here ‘this was drawne’ stands for
the coach. Six beasts pull her couch with six of her cousellors riding upon it.
These six counsellors are the deadly sins according to the Bible, namely,
Idleness, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice, Envy and Wrath. They look like their
names. They are spiteful and look at each other with contempt. Some of them
frown, while some push their curly hair, so are their actions, befitting their
names.
The first one to arrive is Idleness. He comes riding on a
lazy ass, dressed in a black attire, extremely thin in appearance. His
countenance is as solemn as that of a Holy Monk, who is about to start a church
service.
Lucifera shares her name with Lucifer of the Bible. He is
a fallen angel, whom God threw from the heights of glorious heaven into the
deep dungeons of hell due to his pride and arrogance.
(vi)
The noble hart, that harbours vertuous thought…. Still did he wake, and still
did watch for dawning light.
(Canto v)
EXPLANATION: In this passage, a duel has been fixed between
Sansloy, who wants to avenge the death of his brother and Redcrosse. Sansloy
challenges Redcrosse to a duel, to which Redcrosse readily agrees. However, the
queen asks them to wait till the morning.
Here the poet is talking about the characteristics of a
noble. He says that a noble heart that is filled with virtuous thought and
belongs to great intents of glory can never rest. It cannot rest till it has
brought forth or proved its excellent glory. It was this kind of a restless
passion or longing that tormented the knight Redcrosses all night. It tormented
the fiery bravery of that knight. He kept thinking about the tournament all
night. He was sure that with great honour he will win. He kept awake and kept
watching for daybreak.
(vii) The wyld woodgods arriued in the place…..In their rude eyes vnworthie
of so wofull plight.
(Canto vi)
EXPLANATION: The poet now takes us back to where Una is lying.She has been captured by Sansloy. He now makes an attempt to outrage her modesty. She cries for help. The woodgods on hearing her cries immediately rush to her rescue. Sansloy disappears on seeing the woodgods. They find her lying in a desolate manner. Her clothes are all ruffled and her face looks disheveled just as her foe had left her. She is still trembling with hatred for her foe, while the woodgods stand looking amazed at this woeful sight. They pity her unhappy state and at the same time they feel astonished at her striking beauty. They feel that she does not deserve to be in this woeful plight.
(viii) Faire virgin (said the Prince)
ye me require…..To be vpbrought in gentle thewes and martiall might.
(Book ix)
EXPLANATION: These lines have been spoken by Arthur, who is telling Una about his history as she had requested him to. As far as he knows it, the prince himself relates to Una, at her request. They do this before setting out from Orgoglio’s castle in search of new adventures. He does not know about his father and lineage: the moment that he took birth he had been taken from his mother’s lap and was given to a fairy knight, so that he could be brought up with gentle ways and in martial prowess. Further in the poem, the fairy knight directly took the child to old Timon, so that he could be taught martial arts and exercises—old Timon, who was the best among living men in warlike feats, and was the wisest of the people on the earth: ‘His dwelling is, low in a valley green, | Under the foot of Rauran mossy hore’ — that is Rawran-Vaur hill in Merioneth. It was here that the great magician Merlin frequently visited the boy; and it was he who assured that he was son and heir to a king. However, Una asks him as to what had brought him to fairy land. And, when the prince, in answer, hints at some concealed sorrow rankling in his riven breast,‘Ah! courteous knight, quoth she, what secret wound | Could ever find to grieve the gentlest heart on ground?’ This is when he states how in his approaching youth he had frquently been warned by Timon of the dangers and miseries of love, and how ‘that idle name of love, and lover's life,’ he had ever scorned.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
5. What does possessing his beloved mean for the poet in ‘I find no peace’?
6. Who is Lucifera?
1.4 MICHAEL DRAYTON’S LOVE’S FAREWELL
Since
ther’s no helpe, come let us kisse and part,
Nay, I have done: you get no more of me,
And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,
That thus so cleanly, I my selfe can free,
Shake hands for ever, cancel all our vowes,
And when we meet at any time againe,
Be it not seene in either of our browes,
That we one jot of former love reteyne;
Now at the last gaspe, of love’s latest breath,
When his pulse fayling, passion speechlesse lies,
When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,
And innocence is closing up his eyes,
Now it thou
would’st when all have given him over,
Now death to life thou might’st him yet recover.
EXPLANATION: In the
lines given above, in the first eight lines, the poet is telling his lover that
since he sees no help, they must kiss and depart. Their love relationship has
come to an end and he is now talking to his lover during these final moments of
their togetherness. He says that that he’s happy with all his heart that he can
set himself free from this relationship so cleanly and easily. He means to say
that he feels no guilt at breaking off this relationship. He asks his lover to
shake hands for one last time and cancel all their promises and vows. He warns
her that when they meet at any point of time in life again, none of them should
show any signs of any kind of feelings or even that they were once in love.
In the next
four lines, the poet compares their love to a person who is on deathbed,
breathing his last. He says, that their love is dying, breathing its last, its
pulse failing and all signs of passion for each other have gone. Faith is
kneeling by the bed, still hoping for their love’s revival while innocence chooses
to become blind to this entire scene of departure.
In the last
two lines, the poet suddenly turns and earnestly asks his lover if there are
still any chances of their getting back together. He asks her if it is still
possible for them to revive their dead love for each other and remain lovers
forever.
The poem is
about two lovers who after having a bitter fight have decided to part ways.
1.5 SHAKESPEARE’S
SONNETS
1.5.1
TO ME FAIR, FRIEND
To me, fair friend, you never can be
old,
For as you were when first your eye I ey’d,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold,
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn’d,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes
burn’d,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah! yet doth beauty like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceiv’d;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv’d:
For fear of which, hear this thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.
EXPLANATION: In these lines, Shakespeare, the poet, is addressing his lady love. He is admiring her unsurpassable beauty. In praise of her beauty he says that for him his love will remain eternally beautiful and that here would be no signs of age showing on her face. In the first eight lines, he says, to me, beautiful friend, you can never be old. Your beauty appears to have not changed in the least bit, since the first time when I set my eyes upon you. Three chilly winters have led to shedding of the leaves of three lovely springs and autumns from the forests since I have been watching the passing of seasons. The beautiful fragrance of three Aprils have been burnt up by three scorching months of June since I first set my eyes on your youthful splendour, which continues to remain at its peak.
In the next six lines, he compares her beauty to the hands of a clock. He exclaims, Ah! However, beauty continues to move ahead unceasingly, invisibly, similar to the hands of a clock. Similarly, your beauty, which appears unchanged to me, is moving ahead, misleading my eyes. Considering this fact, pay heed, you generations who have not yet taken birth: the peak of beauty was dead before you were born.
1.5.2 SHALL
I COMPARE THEE
|
Shall
I compare thee to a summer's day? |
|
Thou
art more lovely and more temperate: |
|
Rough winds do
shake the darling buds of May, |
|
And summer's lease
hath all too short a date: |
|
Sometime too hot
the eye of heaven shines, |
|
And often is his
gold complexion dimm'd; |
|
And every fair from
fair sometime declines, |
|
By chance or
nature's changing course untrimm'd; |
|
But thy eternal
summer shall not fade |
|
Nor lose possession
of that fair thou owest; |
|
Nor shall Death
brag thou wander'st in his shade, |
|
When in eternal
lines to time thou growest: |
|
So long as men can
breathe or eyes can see, |
|
So long lives this
and this gives life to thee. |
EXPLANATION: This sonnet, which is sonnet number 18 is the most popular of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. Its language is direct and can be understood easily by the reader. Appreciation and love are the themes of the poem. In this poem, he is once again praising the beauty of his lover.
In the first line, he asks if he should compare her with a summer’s day. However, in the next line he says, that like a summer day which is hot and the temperature is at maximum, she is more even-tempered and controlled in her passion. He finds her to be more constant and more beautiful than a summer’s day.
In the next six lines he says that violent winds shake the lovely buds of May off the trees and summer is way too short. Sometimes the sun is scorching hot and frequently hides behind the clouds. All beautiful things will one day or the other lose their charm and beauty; the cause for this loss of beauty could be either some misfortune or by nature’s planned happening.
In the last six lines, after having talked about fading beauty of other things, he comes around to his lover again and says that her beauty and youth shall not diminish with passing times, nor will she lose the beauty that she possesses nor will the inevitable death snatch her from him. This is because, he has made her beauty eternal by explaining it in the poem in verse form. He hopes that his verse will be read all through the coming times and her beauty will be talked about for times immemorial. He concludes by saying that as long as these is mankind on this earth will poem will live on, making his lover immortal.
|
1.5.2 WHEN
IN DISGRACE WITH FORTUNE When, in disgrace with
fortune and men's eyes, EXPLANATION: Shakespeare’s sonnet number 29,
‘When in Disgrace with Fortune’, is an expression of the mournful feelings
credited to the darker aspect of love. This poem of Shakespeare expresses his
sadness arising from a feeling of dejection and loneliness. In the
first line, he presumably, speaks about not being favoured by fortune. He
likens fortune to a goddess while he also mentions in the latter part of the
line that he has even fallen out with men. The line ‘I all alone beweep my outcast state’ expresses his feeling of
dejection. He calls himself an outcast which fills him with grief and
sadness. In the next line, he says that he constantly cries and calls out to
heaven. According to him heaven is deaf and cannot hear his cries which are
useless, neither does it answer his prayers. This is in parallel to Old
Testament’s Job, in the Bible. Job was thrown away in a dung heap where wept
his mournful state. The poet sees himself and curses his fate that has
brought him to this condition. This is again in parallel to Job in the Bible.
According to Job 3: 1 – 4: ‘Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
said, 'There is a man child conceived'. Let that day be darkness, let not God
regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it etc. ’ He wishes
that he was like those who were more hopeful and whose hopes would never die.
In doing this he wishes he was more richly bestowed with all manner of
blessings, including wealth. He wants
to be like the one who has beautiful features and looks beautiful, while he
also envies one who possesses many friends. He envies others who are happy
and desires to be like them. He desires someone’s art while he desires
someone’s scope, while at the same time he is even least satisfied with what
he enjoys doing the most. Here, probably the poet could be hinting at enjoying
the love of his beloved. While he is still engaged in these thoughts and is
despising himself for being an outcast, he compares his state to like that of
a lark that rises up from the gloomy earth and sings beautiful hymns at
heaven’s gate. The subject is a lark’s song, and at the same time, also the
poet’s soul which has been liberated by the thoughts of his beloved. He says
the thoughts of his beloved make bring him much wealth. In the last line, he
once again cheers up when he thinks of his beloved and says that her thoughts
make him happier than a king and therefore he does not wish to exchange
places anymore. 1.6 JOHN
DONNE 1.6.1 THE
GOOD MORROW I wonder, by my troth, what thou
and I EXPLANATION: The given lines are from John Donne’s ‘The Good Morrow’, which is a popular and well-loved poem. It is a love poem in which the speaker is addressing his lady love after their having spent an entire night together. The poem starts with the poet questioning his lady love, asking her that he wonders what they did before they met and fell in love. He asks her if they had not completed weaning till then. Another option that he thinks they may be doing could have been that they were sleeping in the ‘seven sleeper’s den’. Here, ‘seven sleepers den’ could have more than one interpretation. A Christian and Muslim legend has it that seven youths of Ephesus hid in a cave for 187 years in order to escape from participating in persecuting the pagans during the dawn of Christianity, according to Bloom. Surprisingly, these youths did not die, but kept sleeping for the complete period. Thus, the poet may be comparing the period before they grew aware about their love to the ‘seaven sleepers’ in which they both ‘snorted’, or slept, in what seemed to be an infinite period of time. However, besides line 4, there are no other references that take the analogy further. Another interpretation is that, in
his article, ‘Plato in John Donne’s ‘The Good Morrow’,’ Christopher Nassaar says
that this allusion could be more precisely hinting at Plato’s Cave Allegory.
Book VII of The Republic, has Plato, through Socrates, describing a world in
which humanity has been imprisoned in a cave since birth. Chains are put on these
‘prisoners’ at the legs and neck. They can only see the shadows on the wall
that they themselves cause and other objects that block the firelight. Thus, all
that the prisoners think is real is actually an illusion. They are making a
mistake of understanding ‘shadows of shadows for reality’. The analogy goes on in that a prisoner is
set free and he ascends from the cave into the external world. It is here
that he ultimately happens to discover God, the actual fact of the world and
the illusionary nature of the cave. The poet then compares his life before
love with the imprisonment of Plato’s prisoners. Typically, when he compares
their state with their present love, ‘all past pleasures have been merely
‘fancies,’ and the women he ‘desir’d, and got’ were merely a ‘dream’ of this
one woman’. Finally, on ascending from the cave, he finds out the superior fact
of his lover. This leads to the diminishing of his desire of never returning
to the lust-filled cave of his past. |
|
1.6.2 AT
THE ROUND EARTH’S IMAGINED CORNERS At the round earth's imagined corners blow
(Para 1) EXPLANATION: The lines given above are from Holy Sonnet 7, of the Holy Sonnets by John Donne. The poet in these lines is asking the angels from heaven to blow their trumpets. At the same time he is asking all the dead of the earth to rise up. He is asking the souls of the dead people to go back to their bodies and assume their respective forms. He asks those people to rise who were killed during the flood in Noah’s times, or those who shall be overthrown by the fire. According to the Bible, God destroyed everybody during Noah’s time, as the sins that the people committed during those days were abhorred by God. The sins of the people were too many and they reached heaven. They were heinous in nature and extremely hated by God. Therefore, God chose to destroy mankind. Man had become too arrogant and adamant and would not pay heed to God’s word. He thought he was too wise and started to consider himself to be even wiser than the Almighty who had created him. In the next few lines, Donne is asking all those who were killed in war, or died due to age and ailments to rise. He also asks those who died due to some despair or were put to death by law or were killed by chance to rise. He then addresses those who shall never taste death but will be lifted up into heaven by God and shall see Him as He is. In these lines, Donne is once again quoting the Bible.
According to the Bible, in the last days before Christ’s second coming,
Christians those who endure sufferings and turmoil shall be lifted up into
the clouds when Christ comes to take his children away. They will not see
death and will have the privilege of seeing Christ as He is. This whole
process of Christians being lifted up into the clouds is called ‘The
Rapture’. |
|
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 7. What happens in the last two lines of the poem ‘Love’s Farewell’ by Miachael Drayton? 8. Name the sonnet by Shakespeare that is known to be the most popular. |
|
1.7 HENRY
VAUGHAN—THE RETREAT O how I long to
travel back EXPLANATION: Henry
Vaughan, a Welsh poet, wrote in the latter half of the seventeenth century.
He converted to Christianity which was for him a major experience. A majority
of his writings are marked by Christian views and beliefs. The basis of the poem
‘The Retreat’ is belief that we live as souls in heaven before our taking
birth on Earth. People who believe in this also have the belief that infants
are naturally sin-free, since they have only lately descended from heaven. In the given lines,
Henry Vaughan is bewailing his sins. He desires that he could return to a
purer state, one that would make his soul sinless. In the poem, he states
how, prior to the present life, his soul was undefiled and without any sin.
He makes a contrast between the pure heavenly state with his state on earth.
Here, he has a specific form of sin for every sense in his body. He concludes
by stating that he hopes that there will be no more of a delay before he can
return to this undefiled state of being. 1.7.1 ANDREW MARVELL—THOUGHTS IN A GARDEN
(Stanza 8) EXPLANATION: This is the eighth stanza of the poem. In the poem,
Marvell proves that nature is far more superior than any other man-made thing
on this earth. The tranquility and serenity that only nature can give cannot
be felt by anything else. Taking a ‘Garden’ as nature’s example, Marvell goes
on to describe how walking through a garden gives him pleasure and delight
besides relaxing his sense. A walk through nature’s garden also fills him
with a deep sense of contentment and also gives him the time to meditate. In the given para, Marvell is
talking about the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden epitomizes God’s
creation at its best. Its beauty is beyond comprehension and imagination. The
poet here says, that the Garden was an extremely place, as long as man had no
mate. The man here is Adam, and the mate here is the woman Eve. The garden
without a mate was beautiful and man actually needed no help or mate.
However, it was beyond a mortal’s capacity to live lonely in that big garden
and roam around solitary there. But, he states that Adam would have been
happier in the absence of Eve. This in contradiction to Genesis 2 of the
Bible. 1.8 JOHN MILTON—PARADISE LOST (i) Of Mans First Disobedience,
and the Fruit EXPLANATION: These
are the beginning lines of the poem, Paradise Lost, by John Milton. In these
lines, he is talking about Man’s first obedience. Man here refers to Adam and
the first disobedience refers to not obeying God’s command when He forbade Adam
and Eve from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life. The mortal taste of this
fruit brought death into the world besides bringing great miseries and woes
to mankind. He says in the fourth line that ‘one greater man’ restored to
mankind the blissful seat. This ‘greater man’ was Jesus, the Son of God.
Milton here is referring to the supreme sacrifice that Jesus did by shedding
His precious blood by dying on the Cross of Calvary, for the sins of mankind.
This sacrifice helped mankind regain its lost seat in heaven. In the next lines, Milton is
invoking his Heav’nly muse. He calls for her help in writing this epic. This
muse is the same as Urania, traditionally the muse of astronomy. However,
Several theories have it, that Milton could be invoking the Holy Spirit in
helping him write this epic. In asking the heaven’ly muse,
Milton asks her to sing as she is the same muse who inspired the shepherd
Moses on top of Mt. Horeb or Sinai. It was that shepherd, Moses, who first
taught God’s ways to the chosen seed. The ‘chosen seed’ here refers to the
people of Israel. The people of Israel have been referred to as the chosen
people all through the Bible. It was Moses who taught the Israelites about
how the heavens and the earth were created out of what was chaos. (ii)
A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round EXPLANATION: Milton in the given lines is describing hell. He
describes hell as being a dungeon which was covered by flames. It had flames
and only flames all around it, yet those flames gave out no light. They only
had the power to burn but did not give out any light, due to which the
dungeon remained dark. There were only sights of cries and groans. They are
places of immense sorrow and grief where peace and rest never come that come
to all. It is endless torture which remains unconsumed by ever-burning
sulphur. This is the kind of place that God has prepared for those who are
rebellious and do not obey God’s word and command. It is into this prison
that he will throw such people. The place is filled with utter darkness with
their portion set. This place is thrice as far removed from God and the light
of heaven as the distance between
center of the earth and the utmost pole.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 9. What is the basis of the poem ‘The Retreat’? 10. Who does the word ‘Man’ refer to in the beginning lines of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’? 1.8 JOHN DRYDEN—MAC
FLECKNOE All
human things are subject to decay, EXPLANATION: These are the starting lines of the popular satire,
Mac Flecknoe by John Dryden. The poet in these lines is saying that all human things, one day or the other will come to an end and get decayed. When future comes a calling even monarchs, that is, kings and rulers have to obey. In the next line he says that like Augustus ascended the throne when he was very young so also Flecknoe rose to the throne when he very young. He was the undisputed king of nonsense in the realms of prose and verse. The poem is a direct satire upon Dryden’s contemporary, Thomas Shadwell. Shadwell has been depicted here as being the most foolish and unwise of all men on earth. He was a dimwit and lacked the power to understand things. Leave
writing plays, and choose for thy command EXPLANATION: In this stanza, Flecknoe, Shadwell’s father is
advising his son to give up writing plays and choose to command some peaceful
province in a far-off land. In that land he would have the freedom to express
his talent by torturing one word in multiple ways. He asks him to write his own
songs and set them to the musical accompaniment of a lute. These last words
of his were scarcely heard as he was borne upward by a subterranean wind
while his mantle fell on Shadwell to inherit his father’s part. This falling
of the mantle has connotations with the Bible, in which, Elijah, the great
prophet’s mantle fell on another prophet Elisha, while Elijah was carries up
into heaven in chariot of fire. Elisha then got Elijah’s powers. Similarly, here the falling of the mantle on
Shadwell, denotes that he too will inherit his father’s foolishness and
stupidity. 1.9 ALEXANDER POPE—RAPE OF THE LOCK Sol
thro' white Curtains shot a tim'rous Ray, (Canto 1) EXPLANATION:
Following his invocation
of the muse, the poet says that the sun through the white curtain has
shot a ray. It has initiated the happenings of a day in a rich household.
Lapdogs are seen shaking themselves out of sleep, bells begin to start ringing
and though it is already noon, Belinda is still sleeping. She is dreaming,
and we learn that it is ‘her guardian Sylph’, Ariel who is responsible for
sending this dream. The dream is about a handsome young man informing that
these are ‘unnumber’d spirits’ protecting her. These spirits are an army of
supernatural creatures who once were known to be living on earth as human
women. The young man explains that they are the ones who invisibly guard the
chastity of women. The credit for this although is generally by mistake given
to ‘Honour’ instead of their divine stewardship. Out of these creatures, one specific
group—the Sylphs, that live in the air—serve as Belinda’s personal guardians;
they are devoted, lover-like, to any woman that ‘rejects mankind’, and they
understand and reward the vanities of a beautiful and playful woman such as
Belinda. Ariel, the chief of all Belinda’s puckish protectors, gives her a
warning in this dream that ‘some dread event’ will happen to her that day. He
can tell her nothing more besides this and concludes by saying that she
should be ‘beware of Man’! It is now that Belinda wakes up, when her lapdog,
Shock, licks her. When a billet-doux or love-letter, is delivered to her, she
forgets all about the dream. She then goes to her dressing table and goes
through an elaborate ritual of dressing. Here her own image in the mirror is
described as a ‘heavenly image’, a ‘goddess’. The Sylphs, invisible, assist
their charge as she gets ready for the activities of the day. |
|
(ii) Th' Adventrous Baron
the bright Locks admir'd, (Canto
2) EXPLANATION:
These lines follow the scene when the beautiful Belinda has sat herself on a
boat and is sailing on River Thames. Her beauty is unsurpassable and all
those who see her get captivated by her beauty. Pope’s depiction
of her charms includes ‘the sparkling Cross she wore’ on her ‘white breast’,
her ‘quick’ eyes and ‘lively looks’, and the effortless grace with which she is
seen to bestow her smiles and attentions equally among all the adoring
guests. Her crowning glories, though, are the two ringlets dangling on her ‘iv’ry
neck’. These curls are described as love’s labyrinths, particularly designed
to capture any helpless heart who might get entangled in them. In the given
lines, a young and adventurous baron has set his eyes on Belinda and hopes to
win her love. He admired her beautiful locks and wished to acquire them. Making
a strong decision of winning her he begins to think of ways and means of
winning his love. He wonders if he should win her by force or by fraud. To
him both the options are not wrong since when finally he has won his love,
there will be very few who will ask him whether he won his love by fraud or
force. It was only winning her that mattered and not the technique used that
mattered anymore. (iii) But when to Mischief Mortals bend their Will,
(Canto iii) EXPLANATION: In these lines the poet is speaking about how when a mischievous thought takes over a human mind, it stops him from thinking clearly. Belinda along with is relaxing while Clarissa, takes out a pir of scissors from her box and hands it ti the knight. Generally, while in love, ladies present a spear to their knight and arm him for the fight. This man takes the gift from his ladies’ hand and taking them between his fingers thrice touched Belinda’s locks with it. (iv) BUT anxious Cares the
pensive Nymph opprest, (Canto iv) EXPLANATION:
These lines follow the cutting of Belinda’s beautiful locks.
The poet describing Belinda’s state of sadness and despair compares her with
many other things. He says that no young king , captured alive in a battle,
nor scornful virgins who their charms survive, nor passionate lovers who have
been robbed of all their happiness, nor ancient ladies who were refused to be
kisses nor dictators fear the death of the unrepentant, not Cynthia , did
ever fell such anger and despair as did Belinda for her cut locks. (v) Then cease, bright
Nymph! to mourn the ravish'd Hair (Canto
v) EXPLANATION: This is the last paragraph of the poem where the poet is consoling Belinda on the loss of her beautiful locks. He asks her to stop mourning her lost hair. He agrees that of all the locks that fair heads can boast, the beauty of Belinda’s locks will remain unsurpassable. However, he tries to make her understand that after having killed so many people just by one
look that she gave them, and after many are slain she too will die. When the
sun sets which it must, her locks too will be laid in the dust. This lock, he
says, the muse shall dedicate to fame and among the stars inscribe Belinda’s
name, thereby making her and her locks immortal. CHECK
YOUR PROGRESS 11. Who is the poem ‘Macflecknoe’ by Dryden a direct satire upon? 12. How is Belinda’s image in the mirror described? 1.10
SUMMARY In this unit, you have learned that: The 12th
century witnessed the development of a new kind of English, presently called
Middle English. The oldest kind of English literature could be understood by
the readers, although it did need some effort. Middle English lasted till the
1470s. It was in the
Elizabethan age that literature flourished greatly, particularly in the
domain of drama. The rediscovery of the ancient Greek and Roman theatre by
the Italian Renaissance facilitated the evolution of the new drama. The disorderly
years of the mid-seventeenth century, when Charles I reigned and the
following Commonwealth and Protectorate, was a time when political literature
in English flourished. The narrator starts the Prologue with a beautiful description of nature during the month of April, when it is the Spring season. The reawakening
of the nature is in alignment with Chaucer’s likewise ‘inspired’ poetic sensitivity.
The classical
(Latin and Ancient Greek) writers that Chaucer imitated and desired to outdo always
began their epic narrative poems by summoning a muse, or female goddess, for
inspiring them, much in a literal manner to speak or breathe a story into
them. In the poem ‘I find no peace’ by Thomas Wyatt, the poet expresses the internal war that is going on between him and his lady love. The poet is
seen to reflect on the contradictory nature of his love. While on one hand, he
has a desire to love profoundly, on the other his approach towards the
situation of love is such that he expects that it will bring about a great
transformation in his life. The sonnet, ‘Shall I compare thee’ which is sonnet number 18 is the most popular of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. Its language is direct and can be understood easily by the reader. Appreciation and love are the theme of the poem. In this poem, he is once again praising the beauty of his lover. The poem ‘Macflecknoe’ is a direct satire upon Dryden’s contemporary, Thomas Shadwell. Shadwell has been depicted here as being the most foolish and unwise of all men on earth. He was a dimwit and lacked the power to understand things. 1.11
GLOSSARY Elizabethan era: It was an era when Queen Elizabeth
ruled and when literature
flourished greatly, particularly in the domain of drama. Theory of Humours:
It was a medical theory during the
Jacobean times, according to which behavioural differences are given rise to
from the existence of one of the body’s four ‘humours’ (blood, phlegm, black
bile, and yellow bile). The Knight: One of the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Prologue, he is the first one to be described as someone who possessed all the good qualities of a knight and loved chivalry, truth, honour, freedom and all forms of courtesies. The Redcrosse
Knight: The hero of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, his name is derived from the blood-red cross adorned on
his shield on his breast. When in Disgrace
with Fortune: It is Shakespeare’s sonnet number 29, is
an expression of the mournful feelings credited to the darker aspect of love. 1.12 ANSWERS TO
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS 1.
The 12th
century witnessed the development of a new kind of English, presently called
Middle English. 2.
Prose
during the Restoration period was ruled by Christian religious works. 3. The narrator starts the Prologue with a beautiful description of nature during the month of April, when it is the Spring season. 4. The squire is the knight’s son. 5. Possessing his beloved in the poem ‘I find no peace’ means that for the poet possessing his beloved is similar to possessing the world. 6. Lucifera, is the Queen of the House of Pride in Spenser’s Faerie Queene. 7.
In the last two
lines of the poem ‘Love’s Farewell’ by Miachael Drayton the poet suddenly turns and earnestly asks his lover
if there are still any chances of their getting back together. He asks her if
it is still possible for them to revive their dead love for each other and
remain lovers forever. 8. The sonnet by Shakespeare that is known to be the most popular is sonnet eighteen, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’. 9. The basis of the poem ‘The Retreat’ is belief that we live as souls in heaven before our taking birth on Earth. 10. Man in the beginning lines of Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ refers to Adam. 11. The poem Macflecknoe by Dryden is a direct satire upon Dryden’s contemporary, Thomas Shadwell. 12. Belinda’s image in the mirror is described as a ‘heavenly image’, a ‘goddess’. 1.13SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (SAQs)
1. The initial writings in English, which were in Old English, made their appearance in the_____________-. (a) Medieval ages (b) Modern ages (c) Early Middle ages (d) Olden ages 2. Who became the primary literary figure of the Jacobean era after Shakespeare’s death? (a) Edmund Spenser (b) Michael Drayton (c) Geoffrey Chaucer (d) Ben Jonson 3. During whose reign did the English Renaissance theatre experience its concluding efflorescence? (a) Elizabeth (b) Charles 1 (c) Augustus (d) Cromwell 4. How old was the knight’s son? (a) 20 years old (b) 15 years old (c) 30 years old (d) 25 years old 5. Who was the first one to arrive in Lucifera’s march of the seven deadly sins? (a) Wrath (b) Idleness (c) Avarice (d) Gluttony 6. With reference to time, what does Shakespeare compare his lover with? (a) Mirror (b) Hands of a clock (c) Heart (d) Appearance 7. According to Marvell, in what state did Adam exist in the Garden of Eden without Eve? (a) Happy (b) Sad (c) Miserable (d) Lonely 8. Who does Milton invoke to help him write the epic, ‘Paradise Lost’? (a) Another poet (b) His family members (c) A muse (d) An angel 9. What does Flecknoe ask his son to do in an acrostic land? (a) Dance (b) Write his own songs (c) Sleep (d) Practice fighting 10. What the poet’s reaction towards Belinda’s loss of her locks in the last stanza of the poem ‘Rape of the Lock’? (a) Feels happy for her (b) Gives the locks back to her (c) Consoles her (d) Is indifferent
1. The oral culture is known to have been extremely popular in the ancient English culture. [T/F] 2. The Elizabethan era was a peaceful era. [T/F] 3. The most popular poet of the Augustan age was Alexander Pope.[T/F] 4. The Prioress in the Prologue is a simple nun, not in any manner given to the ways of the world. [T/F] 5. Una in the Faerie Queene feels happy on parting from her companion. [T/F] C. Short Answer Questions 1. Write a short note on Middle English literature. 2. What can you say about metaphysical poetry? 3. Who is Lucifera? How can you relate her to the Bible? 4. What does Marvell say about Man in the Garden of Eden? D. Descriptive Type Questions 1. Describe the Caroline and Cromwellian literature. 2. Paraphrase: I find no peace, and all my war is done….And my delight is causer of this strife. 3. Discuss Shakespeare’s ‘When in disgrace with fortune’. 1.14ANSWERS TO SAQs A. Multiple Choice Questions
B.
1. True 2. False 3. True 4. False 5. False C.
ANSWERS TO
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS 1. The 12th century witnessed the
development of a new kind of English, presently called Middle English. The
oldest kind of English literature could be understood by the readers,
although it did need some effort. Middle English lasted till the 1470s. It
was at this time that the Chancery Standard, a kind of London-based English,
grew popular and the printing press standardized the language. Middle English
Bible translations, of which Wyclif's Bible is the most notable, helped in
establishing English as a literary language. The
most notable Middle English writer was Geoffrey Chaucer. He played a very
active role in the later years of the 14th century. Frequently considered to
be the father of English literature, he is popularly given the credit to have
been the first author who demonstrated the creative legality of the
colloquial English language, instead of French or Latin. The Canterbury Tales happened to be
Chaucer’s best work, besides being a lofty accomplishment of Western culture. 2. Metaphysical poetry uses irregular or
‘unpoetic’ metaphors, like a compass or a mosquito, for lending surprise
effects to the poem. For instance, in ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’,
one of Donne's Songs and Sonnets, the two ends of a compass embody two
lovers, the woman at home, waiting, as the centre, the farthest end as her
lover who is sailing away from her. The more the distance, the nearer the
hands of the compass incline towards one another: being separated from each
leads to increasing love. The irony or the oxymoron can be seen constantly in
this poetry. The apprehensions and anxieties even narrate a world of
spiritual sureties that the modern discoveries of Geography and Science
shake, one that has ceased to be the centre of the universe. Besides the
metaphysical poetry of Donne, the seventeenth century is even commemorated
for its Baroque poem. Baroque poetry met the same purpose as the art of the
time; the Baroque approach is towering, sweeping, epic and religious. 3. Lucifera
is the Queen of the House of Pride, who welcomes Redcrosse accompanied by
Duessa. They have reached a palace called the House of Pride. Filled with pride, Lucifera flaunts in front of
the knight when she calls her couch. Here ‘this was drawne’ stands for the
coach. Six beasts pull her couch with six of her cousellors riding upon it.
These six counsellors are the deadly sins according to the Bible, namely,
Idleness, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice, Envy and Wrath. They look like their
names. They are spiteful and look at each other with contempt. Some of them
frown, while some push their curly hair, so are their actions, befitting
their names. Lucifera shares her name with
Lucifer of the Bible. He is a fallen angel, whom God threw from the heights
of glorious heaven into the deep dungeons of hell due to his pride and
arrogance. 4. The poet for the Man in the Garden of Eden says, that the
Garden was an extremely place, as long as man had no mate. The man here is
Adam, and the mate here is the woman Eve. The garden without a mate was
beautiful and man actually needed no help or mate. However, it was beyond a
mortal’s capacity to live lonely in that big garden and roam around solitary
there. But, he states that Adam would have been happier in the absence of
Eve. D.
ANSWERS TO DESCRIPTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS 1. The disorderly years of the
mid-seventeenth century, when Charles I reigned and the following
Commonwealth and Protectorate, was a time when political literature in English
flourished. Pamphlets written by sympathisers of every faction in the English
civil war ran from vicious personal attacks and polemics, through many forms
of propaganda, to high-minded schemes to reform the nation. Of the latter
type, Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes would prove to be one of the most
important works of British political philosophy. Hobbes's writings are some
of the few political works from the era which are still regularly published
while John Bramhall, who was Hobbes's chief critic, is largely forgotten. The
period also saw a flourishing of news books, the precursors to the British
newspaper, with journalists such as Henry Muddiman, Marchamont Needham, and
John Birkenhead representing the views and activities of the contending
parties. The frequent arrests of authors and the suppression of their works,
with the consequence of foreign or underground printing, led to the proposal
of a licensing system. The Areopagitica, a political pamphlet by John
Milton, was written in opposition to licensing and is regarded as one of the
most eloquent defenses of press freedom ever written. Specifically in the reign of
Charles I (1625–42), English Renaissance theatre experienced its concluding
efflorescence. The last works of Ben Jonson appeared on stage and in print,
along with the final generation of major voices in the drama of the age: John
Ford, Philip Massinger, James Shirley, and Richard Brome. With the closure of
the theatres at the start of the English Civil War in 1642, drama was
suppressed for a generation, to resume only in the altered society of the
English Restoration in 1660. 2. The
poet in this poem expresses the internal war that is going on between him and
his lady love. The poet is seen to
reflect on the contradictory nature of his love. While on one hand, he has a
desire to love profoundly, on the other his approach towards the situation of
love is such that he expects that it will bring about a great transformation
in his life. Thus, he gives an explanation of both anticipation and apprehension.
While expressing such contradictory emotions, which are at war with each
other, he is seen to introduce many metaphors and similes, similar to those
of peace and war (line 1), burning and freezing (line 2), flying like a bird
(line 3), and wealth and poverty (line 4). All these paradoxical metaphors,
if seen closely are successful in bringing out the contrary states of the
speaker’s feelings. The poet is trying his best to
communicate his desire to express his feelings for his lover, but is not able
to muster the courage to do so. The entire poem is contradictory. He fears
rejection which makes him freeze while the prospect of winning her makes him
to burn with desire. He imagines a typical situation in which being in love
makes him fly above the winds; however, the reality does not allow him to
rise and fly. In the fourth line he talks
about love and claims that if he fails to win over his beloved, he would feel
like he has nothing at all. However, if does succeed in winning her he would
have the whole world to himself. He means that for him possessing his beloved
is similar to possessing the world. In the next lines, a common belief that
existed during the Renaissance is brought forth. It was popular belief during
the Renaissance that the loving glances of one’s lover had magical powers and
could cast a spell on the beloved. The line ‘yet can I escape no wise’ proves
this fact. The poet shows his ultimate
hopelessness when he says that ‘Nor letteth me live nor die at my
device, And yet of death it giveth me occasion.’ Here the poet means that the love which he has
for his beloved does not allow him to either die or live. He says that wants
to perish and die, and yet he prays for health. Finally the poet resigns by
saying that he realizes that it is his lady love who is the cause for all the
pain that he is experiencing and that he is a lost cause. 3.
Shakespeare’s
sonnet number 29, ‘When in Disgrace with Fortune’, is an expression of the
mournful feelings credited to the darker aspect of love. This poem of Shakespeare
expresses his sadness arising from a feeling of dejection and loneliness. In the
first line, he presumably, speaks about not being favoured by fortune. He
likens fortune to a goddess while he also mentions in the latter part of the
line that he has even fallen out with men. The line ‘I all alone beweep my outcast state’ expresses his feeling of
dejection. He calls himself an outcast which fills him with grief and
sadness. In the next line, he says that he constantly cries and calls out to
heaven. According to him heaven is deaf and cannot hear his cries which are
useless, neither does it answer his prayers. This is in parallel to Old
Testament’s Job, in the Bible. Job was thrown away in a dung heap where wept
his mournful state. The poet sees himself and curses his fate that has
brought him to this condition. This is again in parallel to Job in the Bible.
According to Job 3: 1 – 4: ‘Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was
said, 'There is a man child conceived'. Let that day be darkness, let not God
regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it etc. ’ He wishes
that he was like those who were more hopeful and whose hopes would never die.
In doing this he wishes he was more richly bestowed with all manner of
blessings, including wealth. He wants
to be like the one who has beautiful features and looks beautiful, while he
also envies one who possesses many friends. He envies others who are happy
and desires to be like them. He desires someone’s art while he desires
someone’s scope, while at the same time he is even least satisfied with what
he enjoys doing the most. Here, probably the poet could be hinting at
enjoying the love of his beloved. While he is still engaged in these thoughts
and is despising himself for being an outcast, he compares his state to like
that of a lark that rises up from the gloomy earth and sings beautiful hymns
at heaven’s gate. The subject is a lark’s song, and at the same time, also
the poet’s soul which has been liberated by the thoughts of his beloved. He
says the thoughts of his beloved make bring him much wealth. In the last
line, he once again cheers up when he thinks of his beloved and says that her
thoughts make him happier than a king and therefore he does not wish to
exchange places anymore. |
No comments:
Post a Comment