Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers
Introduction and theme
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a poem fully representing Adrienne Rich’s feminist ideas as well as her concept of art. This is also an autobiographical poem that reflects the deep recesses of Adrienne Rich’s mind and also the social mould in which she was thrown as a result of which she gives full vent to her feminist feelings in Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers.
First, important theme to be running in the poem is the male-dominated society which leaves women with no choice but marry and be resigned to her fate whatever it is and wants woman to be hush regarding her rights. Women are taken as nothing but commodity to be possessed by others. They are projected to be having no emotions of their own  and so they must be dominated by the supreme authority of man. The poem also shows the urge of woman to break away the above shackles laid down by society for her and fulfil her desires of freedom. The tigers also represent art, which has permanent value as compared to the short-lived life of the artist who dies but whose art remains in the world. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a fine example of feminist poetry, which holds a banner of protest against the patriarchal society.
A Critique of Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
Introduction

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a fine example of feminist poetry with imperialistic and psychological tensions of the 20th century in which especially women find themselves as insecure and afraid of the Patriarchal social authorities. This is also a visionary poem, which dreams of a happy and fearless life free of male domination, which may give equal and parallel opportunities to the womankind so that they can progress without being hampered by the social male constraints. Aunt Jennifer appears as a symbol of the oppressed women and also the nations dominated by imperialistic powers.
Poem also shows the routine life of a woman any where in the world. Jennifer like any woman is sitting embroidering her screen may be for her marriage is thinking about her future and the household duties followed by it. Her end of life is also similar and reminiscent of a woman’s common lot.
The poem is packed with a number of themes, images symbols and various stylistic merits, which we may discuss as under:

Development of Thought
Fight for the Rights

They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty

Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is also ironical because most of the women issues emerge not mainly because of male domination, but because of their own urge to get themselves free. Though male domination over women is a factor yet it is their desire to forget their feministic features and behave like men or become like men. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a fight for the equal rights. Aunt Jennifer wishes for a tiger’s life free of jungle law where she may define the law and lay restrictions and scope for the womankind. She breaks away from the 20th century traditions in which woman is nothing but a sex symbol. Her prancing tigers exhibit her desire to let loose her ambitions and materialise them.
Women, be they American or Pakistani, are propagating against men and want to break away from the (secure) circles they have laid about them, but I fail to understand what equal rights these women are striving to find because they already possess the rights they must have. I personally believe that most of the tensions for women are not created by men but by themselves. It is the woman who wants to play the role of man, they have forgotten their sense of womanhood, they don’t know it means to be a woman, they think they can replace men, but they don’t try to understand that God didn’t create man and woman equal. They are physically, emotionally, domestically and socially as different as two poles of the world. God created women equal in terms of their reverence, status and importance, but the problem is that women don’t want to excel in second priority of divine creation rather they want to improve in the former aspect that is where they are mistaken and this is what destroys them in society and it is unnatural desire. It is actually that women themselves are responsible for their sense of inferiority and male domination.

Dark Aspect of Married Life

The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer’ hand

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers paints a decidedly dark portrait of a married woman's life in the domestic sphere. Patriarchal society, oppression and female helplessness are all delicately chided in this powerful poem. By examining the way Rich uses metaphor to further her purpose, we will unearth the deeper and multi-layered implications of this well known piece.
In the first stanza, we are introduced to the sympathetic protagonist of the poem, Aunt Jennifer. Instead of describing her, however, Rich chooses to establish Aunt Jennifer's ownership of Tigers and continues to describe them. The tigers are vivacious and vividly portrayed. The tigers are colorfully described as "bright" and seeming full of energy; they happily "prance across the screen.

Aunt Jennifer is described as conducting needle work with a piece of wool. ” We then realize that this menial, domestic task is made difficult by the “massive weight” of the wedding ring that Aunt Jennifer is wearing. ” This is a particularly daunting notion as usually we thing of death as although tragic in many senses, ultimately a liberator. " Completely free and fearless of the men below them, the tigers "pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Where the first stanza serves as a medium to explain what the tigers represent, the second stanza tells us who Aunt Jennifer is, and what she represents. So in order to create something to stand up against the patriarchal society in which she lived, Aunt Jennifer decided on masculine creatures. Aunt Jennifer and her tigers are in fact polar opposites, her tigers are everything that she isn’t and wishes to be. ”

In a possibly subconscious attempt to live vicariously through free and happy beings, Rich’s protagonist, Aunt Jennifer, has created tigers. However, under the oppressive world that she lives in, even this relatively symbol embroidery seems somewhat of a daunting task, for “even the ivory needle is hard to pull. However, Aunt Jennifer’s oppression is so extreme that not even death will grant her freedom. ” As the poem unravels, we realize these tigers serve as a sharp contrast to the psyche of Aunt Jennifer. In a very bittersweet closing couplet, the tigers are described as eternal beings, having the freedom to forever “go on prancing, proud, and unafraid. In short, she says that even in death, she will be oppressed by patriarchal society, or “ringed with the ordeals she was mastered by. Here, we begin to really appreciate the juxtaposition between Aunt Jennifer and her tigers. Sedentary and listless, Aunt Jennifer represents an oppressed housewife lacking the ability to stand up for herself.

Aunt Jennifer – a symbolic character

Who is Aunt Jennifer? Does she even exist? I had to ask myself these questions before even going further into the poem. The answers opened the door to a deeper meaning behind Aunt Jennifer's Tigers. Based on Adrienne Rich's background I believe Aunt Jennifer did exist. However, Aunt Jennifer was not Rich's aunt. Aunt Jennifer represented women all over the world, particularly women in American, who were caught under the oppressive hand of a patriarchal society. Adrienne Rich was perhaps one of those women. Rich, one of the most influential poets of her time, dealt with controversial issues such as sexuality, race, language, power, and women's culture. Her passion in this area forced her to look and challenge the standard and the norm. The popular cliché that refers to marriage as that old "ball and chain" takes on a more serious meaning with Rich as she reveals, through the simple lines of Aunt Jennifer's Tigers, a woman's struggles with expression, rebellion, and a society where power is defined as masculine. This poem  tells of "Aunt Jennifer", who is the symbol of feminism in this particular poem. This poem offers an image of power revealed and restrained by domestic arts. This is shown in the case that she is restrained by her husband's wedding band, thus revealing that she Aunt Jennifer was expected to be a devoted and domesticated wife. Aunt Jennifer living her part in a man's world is forcing her into a role that she does not fit naturally. Aunt Jennifer symbolises oppressed women, imperialistically dominated nations and weakness.

Feminist conflict
According to Deborah Pope, the poem shows a conflict in the feminist mind. The fearful, gloomy woman waiting inside her darkening room for the emotional and meteorological devastation to hit could be Aunt Jennifer, who is similarly passive and terrified, overwhelmed by events that eclipsed her small strength. “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” is, however, an even clearer statement of conflict in women, specifically between the impulse to freedom and imagination (her tapestry of prancing tigers) and the “massive weight” of gender roles and expectations, signified by “Uncle’s wedding band.” Although separated through the use of the third person and a different generation, neither Aunt Jennifer in her ignorance nor Rich as a poet recognizes the fundamental implications of the division between imagination and duty, power and passivity.

Oppression, Rebellion and Immortality

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

According to Thomas B. Byars, Rich's own remarks on this poem, in "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision" , are an important starting place; she discusses how even in a formal and consciously distanced poem of her early period, she can discover clear (if latent) feminist concerns.

Perhaps most interesting, however, is the fact that the needlework tigers, like Rich's poem itself, are ineffectual as rebellion, because the very means of their rebellion are inscribed in the oppressor's language, and thus reveal an unhealed split in the psyche of the oppressed.
The tigers display in art the values that Aunt Jennifer must repress or displace in life: strength, assertion, fearlessness, fluidity of motion. And the poem's conclusion celebrates the animal images as a kind of triumph, transcending the limited conditions of their maker's life. Accepting the doctrine of "ars longa, vita brevis," Rich finds in her character's art both persistence and compensation; she sees the creations as immortalizing the hand that made them, despite the contrary force of the oppressive structure of Aunt Jennifer's conventional marriage, as signified by the ring that binds her to her husband. This doctrine is utterly consonant with what was, according to Rich, "a recurrent theme in much poetry I read [in those days]. . . the indestructibility of poetry, the poem as vehicle for personal immortality" (Blood 168). And this more or less explicit connection helps show how deeply implicated Rich herself was in Aunt Jennifer's situation and her achievement, despite the "asbestos gloves" of a distancing formalism that "allowed me to handle materials I couldn't pick up barehanded" (Lies 40-41).

The problem, however, is that the tigers are clearly masculine figures--and not only masculine, but heroic figures of one of the most role-bound of all the substructures of patriarchy: chivalry. Their "chivalric certainty" is a representation by Aunt Jennifer of her own envisioned power, but it is essentially a suturing image, at once stitching up and reasserting the rift between her actual social status an her vision. Aunt’s name, after all, echoes with the sound of Queen Guinevere's; her place in chivalry is clear. Her tigers are only Lancelots, attractive because illicit, but finally seducing her to another submission to the male. So long as power can be envisioned only in terms that are culturally determined as masculine, the revolutionary content of the vision, which was all confined to a highly mediated and symbolic plane in any case, will remain insufficient. Indeed, the fact that assertion against the patriarchy is here imagined only in terms set by the patriarchs may be seen as this poem's version of the tigers' "fearful symmetry." And the "Immortal hand or eye" that framed their symmetry is not Aunt Jennifer's framing her needlework, but patriarchy's, framing Aunt Jennifer.

Symbolism in Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers

The poem is packed with symbolism from the first to the last. Introduction of the tigers, how they are prancing across a screen  symbolizes Aunt Jennifer, roaming in a world freely; although it is telling of a screen she crafted. The tigers are bright topaz denizens because they are different in the world, and are not just plain, (green), like everyone else. This symbolizes Aunt Jennifer's individual thinking, and how she is different. The tigers don't fear the men beneath the tree because Aunt Jennifer did not fear men at first and was living as an independent individual with her own mind.

The tigers are slowly walking elegantly, showing that they are confident and 'chivalric' (gentlemanly)---this may show that Aunt Jennifer knows she is fine without having to be married. This line is telling of Aunt Jen's fingers 'fluttering' through her wool--this is just an allusion using an activity she likes to do, to tell of how she was roaming freely and happily before marriage. The ivory needle is a symbol for how hard it is to keep yourself independent and essentially a free-thinker when you are married. Uncle's wedding band on her finger is massive because he is strict towards how she should be a domesticated wife and not a free soul. It "sits heavily upon her hand" because her marriage has taken a toll on her, and she can feel it heavily on her heart and soul. When Aunt Jen dies, she will die as a lonely and depressed woman, and her hands are terrified because they never got to be free again.

Jen's hands stand as a symbol of her body, in that she was tired and sick from the ordeals (being a housewife) that she was mastered by [her husband--making her act this way] The tigers are a symbol of what will be left of Aunt Jen's existence after her death, in that she never got to "prance" as proud and unafraid when she was married and was constrained by what women were expected.

Style and Imagery
Visual imagery predominates in the first stanza. We learn that the speaker is a niece or nephew from the title and the first line, but we actually learn very little about Aunt Jennifer herself. Instead we see the tapestry that she is weaving and the tigers that “prance”across it. The two action verbs “pace”and “prance emphasize the strength of these animals, while the vividness oftheir “topaz”color draws attention to their striking presence. The aabb rhyme scheme mimics the rhythm of their movement. The word “denizens”has a negative connotation that links with the dark picture of “Uncle”in the second stanza.

In the second picture we shift to a visual picture of Aunt Jennifer. The alliteration “fingers fluttering”suggests her physical weakness; she is so feeble that she has trouble manipulating the needle “through her wool.”In the last part of the stanza we find out that her troubled marriage has had something to do with her condition. The words “massive weight suggest oppression, as do the words “Sits heavily.”The end rhymes “band”and “hand”also indicate that being married has kept this woman down. The point of view here would seem to be that of a woman, indicating that the speaker is the niece rather than Aunt Jennifer’s nephew.
In the third stanza, the speaker projects into the future, and suggests that once she is dead, Aunt Jennifer will continue to be encumbered by her earthly marriage. Her hands will still be “terrified,”suggesting that “Uncle has been so abusive that his reach will exceed human limitations. The word “ringed”has a double connotation—indicating not only the ring that “sits heavily”on her hand, but the difficulties in her life that will continue to surround her. The“tigers in the panel”will also go on forever, but by contrast they will continue into infinity as fierce, arrogant beings. The alliteration in the last line of “prancing”and “proud”heightens our sense of the irony in this poem, because they are so much stronger than the woman who created them.
Technique

It is difficult to depict a primary poetic technique within this poem. The reason being that, many devices are used to bring forth the message that Rich has embedded within it. However, symbolism is the most prominent. The poem is set in a traditional format, using simple rhyme and meter to give the reader a sense of formality. Adrienne Rich's "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers", depicts an audacious woman trapped within a timid and suppressed life. Marriage and the culture that supports it have effected the character in this poem greatly. Reality seems inescapable because of the ring that "sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand". The tapestry that Aunt Jennifer is creating in the poem, is very symbolic of her potential. When you picture a tiger, the words power, fluidity, nobility, and strength may accompany that image. Those same words accompany the hidden life of Aunt Jennifer.
The first stanza opens the poem with a truly bold image of tigers as "They pace in sleek chivalric certainty". The tigers obviously have a very significant symbolic purpose in this poem. They portray the fearlessness, assertion and power, that Aunt Jennifer displaces in order to lead her conventional life

Conclusion
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers is a fabulous poem may also be serving a wife of a colonial officer (Uncle) and being repressed because of his hard attitude. Though Jennifer is unable to change the patriarchal system, she, to some extent, contributes to the rebellion against this system which leaves women but no options to perform in society. The poem is remarkable for its style technique, imagery, symbolism and theme – a typical quality of Adrienne Rich as a modern poet.  Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers being a rebellious in nature is an autobiographical poem at the same time because the repressed and dominated personality of Jennifer parallels Adrienne Rich’s. In short, the poem is to be understood at so many different levels that its single interpretation is not possible.

-: THE BANISHMENT OF ADAM AND EVE:-

--: THE BANISHMENT OF ADAM AND EVE:--

The banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is one of the most well known Biblical stories. As most believe, the reason why both Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden was because they disobeyed God and ate from the tree, and hence they committed sin, and as a result of this sin they were banished from the presence of God as sin cannot be in the presence of God.

Now is the above account actually biblical? That might sound strange, as this has become quite an established tradition, so one would assume this is actually straight from the Bible itself. Yet if anyone actually reads the entire story one will see that Adam and Eve were not banished because they sinned, but they were banished for another reason. Let us read the story piece by piece to get a clear picture:

""Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)""

So the serpent began to tempt Eve to eat from the tree, and the serpent told Eve that once she eats from the tree her eyes shall be opened and she will become like God and will know good from evil, basically according to the serpent Eve will acquire knowledge by eating from this tree. The story goes on:

""""When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:6-12)"""

So eventually both Adam and Eve eat from the tree, disobeying what God had commanded them to do, and God finds out about it as well. Now the assumption that is then made is that as a result of this action, sin entered the garden, and what followed was their banishment from the garden. Yet as we read on we get the answer as to why God threw them out:

""""The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east sideof the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:21-24)"""

So as one can read, the reason why God decided to banish Adam was because Adam now had the knowledge of good and bad, and that he should be prevented from eating from the tree of life, which was ANOTHER tree in the garden, and if Adam ate from this tree he would live forever. So God banished Adam from the Garden not because of sin, but to prevent him from eating from the tree of life! God event went as far as to place a flaming sword to guard the tree of life:

This is something many people often overlook, or are even ignorant about, that the Bible speaks of two trees, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge:

""""Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9)""""

So we have two trees, the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, and not the tree of life. So God was now worried as they both gained knowledge, and that they would now go and eat from the tree of life gaining immortality, but God didn’t want that to happen and so he kicked them out of the garden. So there is absolutely nothing in this entire account saying they were banished because they disobeyed God, or that sin had entered heaven (a claim evangelicals love to make, claiming that sin had now entered heaven, and man needed redemption now).

      (  αccσrdíng tσ вíвlє). n.в.:--íf αnч míѕrαkє plz lєt mє knσw.

(Poetic Devices of Meaning II)

(i) Define oxymoron.
Ans. Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings e.g., "cruel kindness" or "living death". However, the contrasting words/phrases are not always glued together. The contrasting ideas may be spaced out in a sentence e.g., "In order to lead, you must walk behind.
(ii) What is a paradox?
Ans. A paradox is an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ides for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight. It functions as a method of literary composition - and analysis - which involves examining apparently contradictory statements and drawing conclusions either to reconcile them or the explain their presence. For example, "I must be cruel to be kind" (Hamlet by Shakespeare), "Child is the father of man". (William Wordsworth)
(iii) Define satire.
Ans. Satire is a technique employed to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humour, irony, wit, exaggeration or ridicule.
(iv) What is escapism?
Ans. Escapism is the desire to retreat into imaginative entertainment rather than deal with the stress, tedium, and daily problems of the mundane world. Pitted against its supposedly superior counterpart, realism, escapism is considered inconsequential and superfluous. Genres which can have elements of escapism include; romantic poetry, romance novels, fantasy fiction and thrillers etc.
(v) What is escape literature?
Ans. Escape literature includes books and short stories about desperate protagonists escaping from confinement -- especially from prisoner-of-war camps during the First and Second World Wars. Examples include; The Tunnellers of Holzminden by H.G. Dunford and The Wooden Horse by Eric Williams.
(vi) What is pessimism?
Ans. Pessimism is a state of mind in which one anticipates undesirable outcomes or believes that the evil or hardships in life outweigh the good or luxuries. Pessimism is often described by using the crappy metaphor that a glass of water is half empty rather than half full. Friendrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hobbes and Charles Baudelaire are some famous pessimists.
(vii) What is mysticism?
Ans. Mysticism is a belief in direct experience of transcendent reality or God, especially by means of contemplation and asceticism instead of rational thought. The poetry of William Blake, Emily Dickinson and Rumi is full of mysticism.
(viii) Define romanticism.
Ans. Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 1700s and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure form attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. The major Romantic poets include; Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley and Byron.
(ix) What is negative capability?
Ans. Negative capability is a term coined by English poet, John Keats. It is a writer's ability to accept uncertainties, mysteries and doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. An author possessing negative capability is objective and emotionally detached, as opposed to one who writes for didactic purposes.
(x) What is Hellenism?
Ans. Hellenism was a neoclassical movement which emerged after the European Renaissance in Germany and England. The term Hellenism refers stories, novels, dramas, or poetry that has been inspired by classic Greek literature or makes use of classic Greek style or forms. In English, Keats, Shelley and Byron are considered examplars of Hellenism.
(xi) What do you mean by supernaturalism?
Ans. Supernaturalism is a secular designation for those who believe that there are beings, forces, and phenomena such as the human soul, God, angels, miracles, pixies, faeries, hobbits, magic etc which claim to interact with the physical universe in remarkable and unique ways. The poetry of S.T. Coleridge is full of supernaturalism.
(xii) What do you understand by medievalism?
Ans. Medievalism is the systme of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vechicles of popular culture.
(xiii) Define comedy.
Ans. A comedy is a dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict. A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, Every Man in His Humor by Ben Johnson and Arms and the Man by Bernard Shaw are examples of comedy.
(xiv) What is a parable?
Ans. A parable is a story or short narrative designed to reveal allegorically some religious principle, moral lesson, psychological reality, or general truth. The Blind Men and the Elephant by John Godfrey Saxe and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad are examples of parables.
(xv) What is sensuousness?
Ans. Sensuousness is poetry is that quality which appeals to our five senses. In other words, it is a quality which affects our five senses of smell, taste, touch, hear and sight at one. The poetry of Keats is full of sensuousness.

Short questions of drama and novel........part2

What is modern about ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. One thing which is modern about "The Cherry Orchard" is the emphasis on realism. Moreover, money in the play is a modern element which dictates the transformation of landscapes from pastoral to industrial. Thus the play is 'out with the old and in with the new.'
(xi) What is the setting of ‘The Cherry Orchard?
Ans. The action takes place between May and October at a rural estate in Russian three to four decades after Czar Alexander II freed the serf in 1861.
(xii) What is the central conflict in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. The central conflict of the play is the battle between the values of the old Russia and the values of the new Russia.
(xiii) How is ‘The Cherry Orchard’ perceived by the servant class?
Ans. Firs is the representative of the servant class. To Firs, the cherry orchard is something to be revered and remembered, and something that is intimately connected with past times and a very different kind of life from the life that is being experienced by the Ranevsky family now.
(xiv) What is the significance of the axe falling in ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. The axe falling on the tress in Act IV represents the destruction of the orchard and the old aristocratic way of life in Russia.
(xv) What is the ultimate fate of Firs at the end of ‘The Cherry Orchard’?
Ans. Firs is an old footman, faithful to the Ranevsky family for generations. Concerned only with the well-being of his employers, he is inadvertently left to die in the abandoned house, a symbol of the dying past.
What does 'Ezigbo' mean?
Ans. 'Ezigbo' means the good one (child). Ezigbo is the daughter of Ekwefi and Okonkow. She is also called Ezimna; meaning true beauty.
(x) What were the ingredients that went into making the medicine for 'iba'?
Ans. The earth provides ways for humans to combat disease. The ingredients that went into making the medicine for 'iba' were the leaves, grasses and barks of tree.
(xi) Give an account of Chielo's journey to Agbala, having Ezinma on her back.
Ans. While Ekwefi and Ezinma are telling folktales to each other during a moonless night, Chielo arrives. She says that the god Agbala wants to see Ezinma. Ezinma, who is very afraid, climbs on Chielo's back. In the dark night, Cheilo having Ezinma on her back is headed towards the cave of Agbala. Ekwefi follows them. Chielo enters the cave with Ezinma. Ekwefi sits and waits outside the cave.
(xii) Why was Okonkow famous?
Ans. Okonkow was famous because he defeated the most famous wrestler, Alalinze. Moreover, he a a well known farmer and warrior. He was also famous because of how he was able to define his in conjunction with socially established norms of "success".
(xiii) According to the oracle, why do Unoka's crops fail year after year?
Ans. Unoka, Okonkwo's father, visits the tribe's oracle, Agbala, to discover why he has bad harvests. Agbala's priestess says that he has no one but himself to blame for his bad harvests. She points out his laziness in contrast to his neighbours' admirable work ethic and sends him away with simple advicd: "go home and work like a man."
(xiv) What does the repetition the the number seven suggest in 'Things Fall Apart'?
Ans. In several places, the novel explicitly focuses on the theological and moral similarities between Christianity and Igbo religion. The repetition of the number seven -- symbolically important to both religions -- is another way of highlighting the similarities between the two cultures. The text refers to resting on the seventh day for both cultures.
(xv) Who brings the pots of wine in 'Uri' ceremony of Obierika's daughter?
Ans. The groom's family brings the pots of wine in 'Uri' ceremony of Obierika's daughter. They bring fifty pots of palm-wine, a very respectable number. The women of the house drink some wine, including the bride, Akueke.
In what language was 'Waiting for Godot' originally written?
Ans. "Waiting for Godot" was originally written in French in 1948, with the title "En attendant Godot". Beckett personally translated the play into English.  The world premiere was held on January 5, 1953, in the Left Bank Theater of Babylon in Paris.
(xii) What is 'mandrake'? What is its symbolic reference?
Ans. Mandrake is a plant of the nightshade family, with a forked fleshy root which supposedly resembles the human form and which was formerly used in herbal medicine and magic; it was alleged to shriek when pulled from the ground. In "Waiting for Godot", Vladimir says, "Where it falls mandrakes grow". It refers that mandrakes grow where the semen of the hanged man has dripped onto the ground.
(xiii) What does the song about the dog signify in 'Waiting for Godot'?
Ans. In the beginning of Act II, Vladimir moves about feverishly on the stage and suddenly begins to sing a dog song -- an old German Balled. It is a circular song. It is emblematic of the circularity and repetitiveness of the play as a whole. It also reinforces Beckett's idea of the loss of individuality, and creates more conflict between Vladimir and Estragon.
(xiv) What does Lucky's 'Dance in a Net' symbolize?
Ans. When Lucky is commanded to dance in Act I, Pozzo reveals that he calls his dance "The Net", adding, "He thinks he's entangled in a net". Thus Lucky's dance symbolizes the agony, strain and entanglement in life to magnify the ultimate suffering of human existence.
(xv) What is the function of the audience in 'Waiting for Godot'?
Ans. In the Theatre of the Absurd, there is an attempt to draw the audience into the play and make them feel involved. In "Waiting for Godot" it is never revealed conclusively who or what Godot is, this unknown force can be seen metaphorically represent that for which the audience is waiting in their own lives. The audience relates to the protagonists because waiting is common for all.
i) There are many types of war and many types of love in 'Arms and the Man'.
Ans. There are two wars; Serbo-Bulgarian War and Russain-Austrian War. There are two types of war; romanticized war and realistic war. Three love affairs; Raina-Sergius, Raina-Bluntschli, and Louka-Sergius can be grouped into two categories - romantic love and realistic love.
(xii) What characteristics make a person a good soldier?
Ans. Captain Bluntschli represents Shaw's ideal soldier. He harbors no romantic ideals; he views was as business to be efficiently dispatched. If Bluntschli demonstrates what a soldier should be, Sergius and Major Petkoff demonstrate what he should not be. Sergius is filled with poetic ideas about bravery and honour, and Major Petkoff is the picture of incompetence.
(xiii) Which character best serves as Shaw's spokesman?
Ans. Captain Bluntschli serves best as Shaw's spokesman. He is a thirty four year old realist who sees through the absurd romanticism of war. He is the representative of average humanity; he is what Shaw would like Man to be.
(xiv) Which characters have illusions about themselves and the world they live in?
Ans. Raina, Catherine and Sergius have illusions about themselves and the world they live in. Raina reads romantic novels and imagines herself a heroine. Raina's mother, Catherine, shares many of her daughter's allusions about love and warfare. Sergius believes in the romantic ideals championed by poetry and opera.
(xv) Who holds the most power in Petkoff's household?
Ans. Catherine, Raina's mother and Petkoff's wife, holds the most power in Petkoff's household. She runs her house energetically and ably, with a strong ruling will and definite ideas about upholding her position as an aristocrat.
) What role does the conch play in 'Lord of the Flies'?
Ans. The conch is a symbol of social order, respect, decency and power. When the boys hold meetings around the camp fire, only the speaker who is holding the conch may address the crowd. The speaker with the conch is supposed to be respected by the group and heard. When the conch gets destroyed, the boys' civilized world also becomes unglued.
(x) How and why do the boys make fire?
Ans. Boys gather woods and make fire by using Piggy's glasses. They think that this fire may draw the attention of a plane or passing ship, and in turn, help facilitate their rescue.
(xi) Who or what is the Lord of the Flies?
Ans. "Lord" is a word of power, and "Flies" connote death and decay. So "Lord of the Flies" is a power of corruption, decay and death. "Lord of the Flies" is also the popular translation of Beelzebub, who is either a demon or the devil himself. Simon calls the severed pig's head "Lord of the Flies" because he sees it as a manifestation of the boy's nature -- and possibly his own.
(xii) Interpret 'The head is for the beast. It's a gift'.
Ans. This line is from Chapter 8 in "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. This line is spoken by Jack. Jack and his hunters sharpen a stick at both ends and place the dismembered head of a pig on it as a kind of offering for the imaginary beast. It also shows boys' lust for blood.
(xiii) Interpret 'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood'.
Ans. This line is from Chapter 9 in "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. This line is, in fact, the boys' savage chant in the novel. It symbolizes the loss of reason and blind emotion. When boys get involved in it, nothing seems real, they lose their grip on reality. This is why the boys mistake Simon as the Beast and murder him.
(xiv) What does the dead parachutist symbolize?
Ans. The dead parachutist symbolizes; the civilization from which the boys have been cut off, a link to the adult world, the lack of adult supervision on the island, the lack of order on the island, the essence of the beast and the lord of the flies, savagery and evil in action.
(xv) Why does the boys' plan for rescue fail?
Ans. The boys only had one plan for rescue, which was to keep a signal fire burning on the mountain top. One day Ralph spotted a passing ship. All the boys were on a pig hunt and the fire was left untended. The ship passed by and the boys remained unrescued.

Short questions of drama

DRAMA

QUESTION NO. 1
Answer the following questions.
(i) What is Epic Theatre?
Ans. Epic theatre is a form of political drama intended to appeal to reason rather than the emotions. It replaces the dramatic unities with an episodic structure; an important feature is the alienation effect, in which actors and audience are discouraged from identifying with the characters of scenes depicted. The best examples of this drama are Brechet's plays "The Three Penny Opera" and "Mother Courage".
(ii) What is Theatre of the Absurd?
Ans. Theatre of the Absurd is a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development. "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett is an example of the Theatre of the Absurd.
(iii) What is socialism?
Ans. Socialism is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc, in the community as a whole.  "Animal Farm" by George Orwell is an exponent of socialism.
(iv) Why is 'Hedda Gabler' rather than 'Hedda Tesman' the title of the drama?
Ans. Hedda's married name is Hedda Tesman; Gabler is her maiden name. On the subject of the title, Ibsen wrote: "My intention is giving it this name was to indicate that Hedda as a personality is to be regarded rather as her father's daughter than her husband's wife".
(v) Why does Ibsen choose a woman as his protagonist in 'Hedda Gabler'?
Ans. Life was tough for a woman in Victorian Norway and Henrik Ibsen was a feminist so he chose a woman as his protagonist in "Hedda Gabler". Hedda is 'the female Hamlet" in "Hedda Gabler".
(vi) Describe the physical appearance of Hedda.
Ans. Hedda is a woman whose "face and figure show refinement and distinction. Her complexion is pale and opaque. Her steel-grey eyes express a cold, unruffled repose. Her hair is of an agreeable brown, but not particularly abundant".
(vii) Is Hedda a symbol of new woman?
Ans. At the time Ibsen wrote "Hedda Gabler", the term 'new woman' has emerged to describe 'women who were pushing against the limits which society imposed on women". Hedda is an idle, emancipated woman. She is a model case of a 'new woman' who ultimately finds no satisfaction in liberation.
(viii) What clashes between aristocracy and the bourgeoisie does the play 'Hedda Gabler' reveal?
Ans. The aristocratic Hedda, Brack, and Lovborg have dark colour whereas the bourgeois Thea, Miss Tesman, and Geroge are all fair. The aristocrats are smart, quick, rebellious, jaded and aware while the bourgeois are middle-class, slower, more naive, and end up getting played by the other camp.
(ix) What does Hedda complain?
Ans. Hedda complains throughout the play that she is bored by a tedious, monotonous life in which nothing new ever happens. Even after her marriage, she complains to Brack about the unending tedium of her honeymoon with Tesman.

(x) Why is Hedda so cruel to other females in 'Hedda Gabler'?
Ans. Hedda is cruel to Aunt Julia and Mrs. Elvsted because she is not a nice lady. She is a jealous, dishonest and neurotic woman. She wants to be a man and resents her sex. That's why she hates Thea so much -- because Thea is the epitome of femininity.
(xi) How do we know that Hedda is a dishonest character?
Ans. Hedda tells Tesman that he ought to to write Eilert Lowvborg a long letter but then immediately reveals to Mrs. Elvsted that she only did this to get rid of him. When talking to Judge Brack, Hedda says that she really does not care for the house Tesman has bought for her, yet she lets Tesman go on believing that the house is precious to her. From these examples we know that Hedda is a dishonest character.
(xii) Hedda may be portrayed as a victim of circumstances.
Ans. Hedda is a female of Victorian era who finds no outlet for her personal demands. She is trapped in a loveless marriage, completely stifled, living below her standards, married to a buffoon, and about to have a baby she in no way wants. Thus she is a victim of circumstances.
(xiii) According to Hedda, what is 'beautiful death'?
Ans. For Hedda, suicide is the "beautiful death" because in suicide one has to power to determine when and how to die. She gives Lovborg one of her pistols to have a "beautiful death" but when he dies from an unintended shot, she realizes that the "beautiful death" is still a fantasy.
(xiv) For the achievement of what ideal does Hedda die?
Ans. Hedda is unhappy, bored, trapped in a loveless marriage, completely stifled, living below her standards, married to a buffoon, and about to have a baby she in no way wants. She commits suicide because she thinks that death will confer on her ultimate immunity from exposure and scandal, and absolute freedom from the control of husbands and would-be lovers. 
(xv) What is the thematic significance to Aunt Rina's sickness and death?
Ans. Rina is Julie Tesman's sister and George's aunt. Rina is terminally ill at the beginning of the play and dies towards the end. Her sickness lingers over the action. Auntie Julie cannot every stay long at the Tesman's home because she must take care of Rina. Rina's impending death occasions Tesman's absence at the beginning of Act IV, making an opportunity for Brack to have his final, secret, manipulative meeting with Hedda.

(Sound Devices Used in Poetry)

(i) Define alliteration.
Ans. Alliteration is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series of multiple words. For example, A big bully beats a baby boy.
(ii) Define assonance.
Ans. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds or diphthong in non-rhyming words. Assonance is merely a syllabic resemblance. For example, "Men sell the wedding bells", "that dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea". (William Butler Yeats)
(iii) What is consonance?
Ans. Consonance is the repetition of the same consonants within a sentence of phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession. The repetitive sound is often found at the end of a word. For example, "He struck a streak of bad luck", "All mammals named Same are clammy".
(iv) Define resonance.
Ans. Resonance is the quality of richness or variety of sound in poetic texture, as in Milton's: "and the thunder .......... cease now / To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep".
(v) What is cacophony?
Ans. Cacophony is the use of words that combine sharp, hard, hissing, or unmelodious sounds. These words have jarring and dissonant sounds that create a disturbing, objectionable atmosphere. For example, "With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, / Agape they heard me call." (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S.T. Coleridge)
(vi) What is euphony?
Ans. Euphony is the use of words and phrases that are distinguished as have a wide range of noteworthy melody or loveliness in the sounds they create. For example, "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; / Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;" (Ode to Autumn by John Keats)
(vii) Define onomatopoeia.
Ans. Onomatopoeia is a word which imitates the natural sound of a thing or action. It creates a sound effect that mimics that thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. For example, "The moan of doves in immemorial elms, / And murmuring of innumerable bees ....". (Come Down, O Maid by Alfred Lord Tennyson)
(viii) What is repetition?
Ans. Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. For example, "Because I do not hope to turn again / Because I do not hope / Because I do not hope to turn .... (Ash-Wednesday by T.S. Eliot)
(ix) Define rhyme.
Ans. A rhyme is a matching similarity of sounds in two or more words, especially when their accented vowels and all succeeding consonants are identical. For instance, the word-pairs listed here are all rhymes: skating/dating, emotion/demotion, fascinate/deracinate, and plain/stain.
(x) What is an internal rhyme?
Ans. Internal rhyme is a rhyme in which a word in the middle of a line rhymes with a word at the end of the same metrical line. It is also called middle rhyme, since it comes in the middle of lines. For example, "Double, double toil and trouble. / Fire burn and cauldron bubble". (Macbeth by William Shakespeare)
(xi) What is a near rhyme?
Ans. A near rhyme is a rhyme in which the stressed syllables of ending consonants match, however, the preceding vowel sounds do not match. It is also called half rhyme, imperfect rhyme or slant rhyme. For example, "If love is like a bridge / or maybe like a grudge, (To My Wife by George Wolff)
(xii) Define rhythm.
Ans. Rhythm is the pattern of flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in accentual verse or of long and short syllables in quantitative verse. Rhythm is a pattern of beats, while meter organizes these beats in an understandable way.
(xiii) What is an accent?
Ans. Accent is a rhythmically significant stress on the syllables of a verse within a particular metrical pattern, usually at regular intervals. In basic analysis of a poem by scansion, accents are represented with a slash (/).
(xiv) What is modulation?
Ans. Modulation is the harmonious use of language relative to the variation of stress and pitch. It is a process by which the stress values of accents can be increased or decreased within a fixed metrical pattern.
(xv) Define meter.
Ans. Meter is the rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. The predominant meter in English poetry is accentual-syllabic. Falling meter refers to trochees and dactyls while iambs and anapests are called rising meter. Each unit of stress and unstressed syllables is called a "foot".

Final Notation by Andrienne rich

Final Notation by Adrienne Rich
Introduction and Theme
Final Notations is thematically an ambiguous poem. The poem is not understood because of the flowing imagery or stylistically presented issues, but because of the reader’s individual perception of the poem. We can say that unlike Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, which has a few fixed themes and issues, Final Notations is infinite in its interpretations.

Final Notation is a cultural, political and personally emotional poem which has been written in a simple and neat style with careful economy of words. The poet is experiencing new lifestyles, sexual issues, motherhood tensions, friendship or even doctor patient relationship. Final notations shows the last message of the poet or the New World Order of a colonial power when it has controlled a territory or is coming to control it.

In short, we can say that Final Notation shows us things which are difficult at first become easy, things which are strange at one time, become familiar at another, things which may seem painful, but become joyful and pleasant which encountered and things which people apparently looking disgusting in the first impressions, later become our heart and soul with the passage of time.

A Critique of Final Notations
Introduction

This is a fine, simple and little piece of poetry. The speaker is taken to be a lover and the addressee is the beloved. The lover is telling the beloved how to make love. The relationship between man and woman is very complex and this is the point to which the poem alludes.

The poem also shows a pregnant woman who is going to be operated on by her doctor and the doctor is giving instructions to the patients on how to react in this operation or is trying to reassuring the patient so that the seemingly difficult operation for the patient should be completed without any complication.

The poem has layers of meanings and open to various interpretations and the reader should be feel at large to interpret the poem at whatever level he wants. However, the approach suggested for the reader is three-fold. The first is male-female relationship, doctor-patient relationship and the policy of the colonial powers with the poor nations. Though some people might not agree, the poem does have imperialistic allusions in it structure and the American dominating attitude towards the world at large.

The poem is structurally simple, but thematically complex. The language is neat and no difficult word used, but the use of structure is ambiguous.

Development of Thought

Doctor-Patient relationship
The only complete analogy and supposition found in the poem is that a pregnant woman is lying before the doctor, may be to be delivered or her first visit to the doctor regarding her pregnancy. When the doctor is giving her instructions about the new experience. Though it looks difficult, yet

It will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart
It will not be long, it will occupy your thought

The procedure is not long. Normally, it takes a few minutes unless complications arise. The child seemingly so disturbing and troubling in the belly of the mother after a short time and struggle on part of the woman will be delivered. As she says,

It will be short, it will take all your breath

The procedure may be difficult for some women who are taking this first experience, but it is very simple if it taken to be so. The few months of pregnancy are touching and delicate, special care needs to be taken, the overall trouble becomes a reward for the mother. As the doctor is says,

It will be simple; it will become your will.

The disturbing child in the belly ironically becomes the passion, will and the centre of full attention for the mother. The wants to get rid of the child during the delivery, but after the child is born, it becomes the most important thing of the world for her.

Lover and beloved relationship

It will not be simple, it will not be long
It will take little time, it will take all your thought
It will take all your heart, it will take all your breath.
It will be short, it will not be simple.

A young girl, running towards teens, feels a number of strange romantic and ideal desires, looks for partners and once finding a partner becomes terrified at the idea of physical relationship. As the woman, however bold or open-hearted, is naturally shy and repressed, is unable to understand the nature of the first physical union.   Ultimately the responsibility is left to the lover who in a small and brief style tries to explain the importance and process of this newfound physical relationship. The nature of this relationship is not simple, but once experienced, it will bring abundance of joys in the life the partner. This physical relationship may be the first one in the life of unmarried woman or may be the first on the first marriage night in which the lover is trying to make physical contacts. Thus things seemingly looking dangerous or troubling are sometimes sweet in actual experience.

Sexual Harassment in the Final Notations

It will touch through your ribs, it will take all your heart
It will not be long, it will occupy your thought
It a city occupied, as a bed is occupied
It will take all your flesh, it will not be simple

The modern world is the age of harassment especially for women. The young girls let loose for various experiences in the name of freedom and modernity or broadmindedness fall a prey to such harassment where studs try to encourage these young modern girls into such physical activities. These studs gradually make women slave to their own appetites; they occupy their bed like a ruler occupies a city. They leave them no options but be ruled and controlled by their passions.  The studs use various tactics to convince their new prey of the physical contact. The newborn and uncontrolled desires in women ultimately lead them astray without proper management or responsibility of their parents.

Theme of Eagerness and Oneness in Love

It will be short, it will take all your breath
It will be simple, it will become your will

Final Notations can also be taken to be a pure love poem in which the poet wants to achieve pure love regardless of the metaphysical speculations of Donne or casualness of Surrey-Wyatt in a concise and simple language. The most important point in lovemaking is eagerness and wilfulness. It is not difficult to achieve this state if sure determination and seriousness is show. This seriousness leads to oneness of the lovers when love becomes a passion or will of the two.

Unfaithfulness of the lover

You are coming into us who cannot withstand you
You are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
You are taking parts of us into places never planned
You are going far away with pieces of our lives

The lover has left her beloved and went on to establish relations with some other woman and as a result he leaves a note behind giving her instructions that she should forget him. The above lines are an ample proof of this interpretation. The beloved outbursts into the above lines. The repetition of ‘coming into’ reinforces the idea of establishing relation with the beloved first and the phrase ‘pieces of life’ symbolises faithlessness and quit love on part of the lover. The love once developed in the beloved by the lover is disintegrating and those pieces are being shared by the lover with some body else.

Style, Imagery, Symbolism and Technique

The style of the poem is simple. There is no stylistic ambiguity. The only ambiguity lies in the nature of theme or the message of the speaker and also the identity of the speaker and the addressee needs to be resolved by different speculations from the reader. The themes of the poem range from personal to social, medical, psychological, political and emotional.
The repetition of different lines and words show intensity and importance of the theme (though theme is not directly addressed by the poet, it is to be explicated by the reader on the strength of his speculation. The lines are erratic which symbolise the complexity of the theme, again whatever it may be.
The title has been made ambitious. Does it related to music, dictation or what? In short, the poem is not rich in great images or symbols. The only thing important about the poem is complexity and that is what it is rich in.

Conclusion
Cutting the long story short, we can say that the poem depends on the experience of the reader for various interpretations. The complexity of the poem is also caused by the extreme subjectivity in the poem. The poem is too personal to understand in its true perspective. This complexity is the typical characteristic of modern American poetry which is based on confessional and experimental nature of their artists.

Ode to a Grecian Urn

#ODE_ON_A_GRECIAN_URN : "Summary and Critical Analysis"
#Summary
Keats' imagined urn is addressed as if he were contemplating a real urn. It has survived intact from antiquity. It is a "sylvan historian" telling us a story, which the poet suggests by a series of questions. Who are these gods or men carved or painted on the urn? Who are these reluctant maidens? What is this mad pursuit? Why the struggle to escape? What is the explanation for the presence of musical instruments? Why this mad ecstasy? Imagined melodies are lovelier than those heard by human ears. Therefore the poet urges the musician pictured on the urn to play on. His song can never end nor did the trees ever shed their leaves. The lover on the urn can never win a kiss from his beloved, but his beloved can never lose her beauty. Happy are the trees on the urn, for they can never lose their leaves. Happy is the musician forever playing songs forever new. The lovers on the urn enjoy a love forever warm, forever panting, and forever young, far better than actual love, which eventually brings frustration and dissatisfaction. Who are the people coming to perform a sacrifice? To what altar does the priest lead a garlanded heifer? What town do they come from? That town will forever remain silent and deserted. Fair urn, Keats says, adorned with figures of men and maidens, trees and grass, you bring our speculations to a point at which thought leads nowhere, like meditation on eternity. After our generation is gone, you will still be here, a friend to man, telling him that beauty is truth and truth is beauty — that is all he knows on earth and all he needs to know.
#Critical_Analysis
Ode on a Grecian Urn is an ode in which the speaker addresses to an engraved urn and expresses his feelings and ideas about the experience of an imagined world of art, in contrast to the reality of life, change and suffering. As an ode, it also has the unique features that Keats himself established in his great odes. The features of Keatsian Romanticism and Keats’ philosophy of art, beauty and truth are also important in this poem. Though it is a romantic poem, we find the unusual classical  interests of Keats in the style and form of this poem. This is a romantic poem mainly because of its dominant imaginative quality. Like Wordsworth’s nature, Keats' imagination is a means to understand life, a means of the quest for truth and beauty, and the most reliable mode of experience and insight. The speaker in the poem begins with reality- an ancient marble urn with engravings around it. He addresses to the urn as a virgin bride of quietness. Time is slow for it. It is unchanging, perfect and silent. The carving around the urn is expressing the story of the pilgrims, lovers and other mysterious people recorded in times of gods and men on its outside. In the poet's imagination, this world and people made immortal by art are real as well as beautiful.
The Ode on a Grecian Urn expresses Keats's desire to belong to the realm of the eternal, the permanent, perfect and the pleasurable, by establishing the means to approach that world of his wish with the help of imagination. This ode is based on the tension between the 'ideal' and the 'real'. Keats here idealizes a work of art as symbolizing the world of art which represents the ideal world of his wish at an even deeper level. Then he experiences that world thus created through imagination. In this poem, the two domains of the transient real and the permanent ideal are the two facets of a deeper reality, the reality of imaginative experience. The perfect, permanent and pleasurable world of the Urn, or that of the ideal, stands against the destructive corrupting and painful effects of time. Keats’ fascination with the immortality of art is duly counterbalanced with his awareness that it is lifeless. He neither supports gross realism against truly imaginative art, nor does he wander in imagination alone. Life compensates for the incompleteness of art and art compensates for the transience of life. This ode which represents Keats mature vision consists of one of his central philosophical doctrines of art itself: "Truth is Beauty and beauty truth". This famous maxim of Keats has an intellectual basis of truth and also an emotional basis in beauty. Art may appeal to the sensuousness or just the emotion of common people, but Keats' response extends from the sensuous to the spiritual and from the passionate to the intellectual. Keats establishes a balance between the real and the ideal, and art and life, and he finds the deepest of reality in its balance. This ode gives a much importance to passion as to the idea of permanence. It is not a lyric of the escape of a dying young man, unwilling to face bitter life into the realm of everlasting happiness, but is a poem that embodies his mature understanding. Keats indicates a contrast between the unchanging 'Urn' and temporal life in the very beginning of the poem, but shifting to the other side from where he seems to prefer warm life against the 'Cold Pastoral' where he finally resolves the duality in his doctrine of beauty and truth. The Ode begins with an apostrophe to the urn: "Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, / Thou foster child of silence and slow time, / Sylvan historian". Keats addresses the urn as a bride of quietness that is still unravished by time. That reminds us of life that is ever ravished by time. The urn narrates its history in a silent but musical form. The silent music which Keats, the addressee, feels he can hear is sweeter than the music of the human voice for it is permanent. Unlike the temporal presentation of poetry which is prone to narrate the histories of human being, the urn narrates a 'leaf-fringed legend' as if it were in space rather than in time. The narration of the urn is itself liberated from time. The worlds of reality and of imagination (or the real and the ideal) are explicitly contrasted in this ode. But the permanence of art created out of imagination is a  complement to the temporary aspect of life. The creation of art and its realization in the contemplation of a higher reality is a complement to the tragic awareness of temporal and painful life. Even the realities are of two kinds: the reality of life or the objective reality and the reality of art or the world of imagination. On the one hand, the lover in the world of the urn can never kiss his beloved as one can in real life. But on the other hand, the lover on the urn has the privilege that the beauty of his beloved can never fade away – as it happens in real life. This is why the poet is seeking for the reality of life to be like that of the ideal art. The urn's immunity to the time could not be an absolute ideal without the consummation of love. But the temporary satisfaction in life only intensifies the awareness of transience by consummation itself. The act of imaginative experience can bring together the unheard into a lasting melody. The poet who is emotionally involved with the picture of passion also has the unifying vision that reconciles the real with the ideal by idealizing the real.
In short, the permanently ideal world of the urn is presented in the urn that is lifeless thing when seen from the viewpoint of real life. But the idea that comes under the domain of imaginative reality is reconciled in the act of imaginative creation of the urn’s legend. Therefore, the real life is complemented and enriched by this ideal. Thus, the two domains of the real and the ideal coming into conflict as usual, ultimately reconcile to make a more permanent truth as asserted in the 'truth and beauty' maxim. To sum up, in this ode, Keats begins by idealizing, personifying, and immortalizing a real object. This ideal at first clashes with the real but is reconciled by imagination and insight at the end. The poem begins with an address to the Grecian urn and with almost envious amazement, but it ends with the realization that beauty or ideal is also a dimension of the truth of the real; the beauty of imaginative experience is a part of reality or truth and the knowledge of all truth is beautiful.

Gabriel by Andrienne Rich

Gabriel by Adrienne Rich

Introduction and Theme
The poem tells us about the meeting of two strangers who share many things with each other. There are certain reasons or perhaps things remain unsaid on part of the lovers for which they are separated. The nature of the person is gentle and dangerous at the same time.
The poem also shows the hollowness of modern age, which has become materialistic and has quite the religious ways and manners in the 20th century. All the things have come to be questioned including religion in the 20th century. The angel is bright and dark at the same time. The people are kind and poisonous. These contradictions are the results of the 20th century.

The poem shows a turn of events in the life of people. Those happy at one times become different or sad at the other. Things favourable today become unfavourable tomorrow and people take to new possessions. Adrienne Rich is a product of the 20-century that is fraught with tensions and confusions. Man in this century is suffering and undergoing various battles. He is enslaved by the materialistic system of the contemporary powers and he is in chains as W.B. Yeats says,
Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the earth

And the remedy is the Second Coming of Christ to rid man of the contemporary chains of materialism, faithlessness and bondage. Gabriel is the messenger thought whom Christ sends a message to the poet.

A Critique of Gabriel

Introduction
The poem in its simplicity tells us that the world is devastated and the people have become corrupt so the inspiration of Christ is important for the salvation of humanity. A new faith is necessitated for the survival of the world.
Adrienne Rich, being a poet, spends most of her time reading poetry and when she reads poetry this time, new ideas emerge in her mind those, which never emerged before. The angle appears which shows sympathy towards her. She experiences various troubles of the 20th century and finally finds their solutions in the divine inspiration through the message of Gabriel sent by Christ according to their faith as salvation for humanity in the confused times.

Though the poem has religious significance, the poem is also taken to be purely on love foundations. Gabriel is the poet’s previous lover which for reasons left her, but has come back to join her.
The various themes of the poem can be studied as under:

Development of Thought

Gabriel as a symbol of Revelation and Salvation
Gabriel is traditional known as the Angel of Revelation who brought revelation to all the prophets in the world. In this poem, Gabriel does stand for revelation, but he also symbolises Christ who sends Gabriel to the poet for salvation, the poet who in turn stands for humanity. Humanity in the form of poet has taken many turns. The Two Great World Wars have shattered the values cherished by the 19th century and even the previous centuries. These wars devastated the structure of the world. There is anarchy ruling the world. It seems that no goodness is left in the world as the poet cries in the beginning,

There are no angels yet
Here comes an angel one
With a man’s face

The exploitive nature in the world surprises the poet that no angels are left in the 20th century of science and materialism and she is amazed to an angel in her room. The angel bears a young man’s face. It is Gabriel who awaited by the poet for revelation. The poet has faith in the power of Christ that he could never have left the world in its inertia because he is a benevolent prophet. So he sends Gabriel as a symbol of himself so that he may give the poet a message to renew the world once again in its former shape. But the poet is not used to angels in this materialistic age, so she is terrified when she sees the angel,

But he doesn’t say that His message
Drenches his body
He’d want to kill me
For using words to name him

This shows that the poetess has no touch of spirituality. She is occupied with all the knowledge of the world, but she is spiritually hollow. Even the poet’s attitude towards Gabriel is casual as she says,

I get your message Gabriel
Just will you stay looking
Straight at me

This is not usually the behaviour of man before an angel if one becomes visible. The angel, Gabriel being a symbol of truth and revelation, comes with a definite message to convey to humanity but humanity is not even ready to listen or act upon what he might say. Poet symbolising humanity is even doubtful of the identity of the angel.

Lost and Found Love
The poem has another strand apart from its religious connotations. The second strand of the poem is lost and found love. Gabriel also symbolises lost love, which is ultimately found. The meeting between the poet and her previous lover starts in the following manner,

Here comes an angel one
With a man’s face young
Shut-off the dark
Side of the moon turning to me
And saying: I am the plumed
Serpent the beast
With fangs of fire and a gentle
Heart

She recognises that he is her past lover who left her and now he has come in the shape of an angel, though the inner reality of the lover is perceived by the poet and she does understand how poisonous he was and could be. The Gabriel symbolising a handsome man who comes to meet his beloved (with inner bad intentions or a bad past) whom he left. The poet is so terrified may be at her past experience with the lover when she says that

He’d want to kill me
For using words to name him

The poet wants to remain busy in her studies and contemplation of the world affairs and political and social tensions rather than get involved into his love affair again because he previously deceived her. As she says,

I sit in the bare apartment
Reading
Words stream past me poetry
Twentieth-century rivers

Apart from his newborn love for the poet, the so-called angel is not behaving in a manner that a lover should. Importance of communication cannot be denied in love but this lover is silent.

The angel is barely
Speaking to me

Certainly, because of the 20th confused times and lack of assurance on part of the lover, the poet cannot be blamed and especially she has been previously deceived by him or some one like him. As she has lost faith in love, she finds all men equal. She says,

He stood or someone like him
Salutations in gold-leaf
Ribboning from his lips
Today again the hair streams
To his shoulders

His physical appearance is as charming as it was before. The word Gabriel appears satirical and ironical because he has come with a motive perhaps (of sexual nature) rather than true love. The poet also feels mixed feelings of joy and terror. Rather than speaking or communicating love,

We glance miserably
Across the room at each other

It’s true there are moments
Closer and closer together
When words stick in my throat
‘the art of love’
‘the art of words’

I get your message Gabriel
Just will you stay looking
Straight at me
Awhile longer

At such times, the art of love is important because mere facial expressions perhaps don’t work. But in the present situation, the Gabriel’s attitude seems based on a sexual motive rather than real love. He has come back with the motive of establishing physical relationship, but the poet understands his games and satirically says,

I get your message Gabriel
Just will you stay looking
Straight at me
Awhile longer

The poet understands the motives of men and she rejects seemingly beautiful and inwardly serpent like Gabriel. He is a fake lover and not a true Gabriel who believes in revelations and truth.

Conclusion
Gabriel is a thought-provoking poem which highlights current tensions in the 20th century and the importance of truth and revelation for the salvation of this downtrodden humanity. Gabriel becomes before us a symbol of divinity as well as a secular symbol of a young man with a fantastic expression on the face wrapped with inward lust.
Technically, Gabriel is a superior poem which has used the image of Gabriel beautifully and its relevant to the changing conditions of the world.
The poem is based on a socio-political background. Though the atmosphere is that of a love poetry, the poem is remarkable for its ironical images. Taken in view the feminism of those days the poem seems fit to be studied in the light of Rich’s passion for the liberation of women

After the last bulliten

                                                   "AFTER THE LAST BULLETINS"By.Richard wilbur
Critical Appreciation:-
1) In this poem the poet throws beams on the flood of information technology. That every moment there is something new sensational and crucial but at the very next moment it becomes something worthless and useless hence it is treated as trash.
2) The title of the poem is quite suitable and apt because after the last bulletins even the news reporters enjoy the sound sleep quite indifferently. The subject of the poem is the excess of information in the modern world and the death of substantial knowledge and wisdom in the people.
3) The attitude of the poet is satiric and ironic as we know despite having a lot of information reports man has no time to pay heed to it rather modernman seems to be indifferent to the information which is provided to him. To the background of this poem is the shallowness of modern information and technology.
4) After the last bulletins is a thought provoking poem by richard Wilbur. The poem deals with an important aspect of modern life i.e modern information and technological advancement. The flood of information which is devouring the public of the city at every moment of life soon becomes a wastage.
5) The poem deals with the important fact of modern life of the city dwellers. The poet seems to satirize the chams of modern information media which is pouring out heaps andpiles of news items that have no real or intinsic value for man as such rather modern information becomes old and stale overnight . Each new morning sets the people as much for repetition of the same dull and old routine gossips.
6) The news collectors are tired down as the night approaches so they withdraw themselves hastily to their beds after they have issued last bulletins: " After the last bulletins the windows darken".  News reporters sink into the ocan of sleep like Atlantis. Though they themselves go to sleep yet they make other people restless by their unwanted heaps of news.
7) The poet tries to affirm that something of great importance today will become trash tomorrow. Early in the morning everything returns back to activity. Sweeper, saint like people are seen cleaning up the litter while the birds are singing.
8) The poet talks about the cycle, It's like a process in which all of us are invovlved. He talks about being born and die. The poem has an underlying ironic tone as well but we have to be a bit conscious about that. The news and views are thrown away every moment in a modern society from all the different media channels.
9) But the news have no weight because all of people draw down the curtains at their bedroom windows and go to sleep rather peacefully. Even the public do not know the real worth of the material supplied to them. Thus ironically enough, the poet seems to satirize the so called charm and spell of modern information media.
10) So far as the form of the poem is concerned , the poem has been written in old classic Stanza Style . There are 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Each stanza has a rhyme scheme of abcd, thus line num 2 and 4 of each stanza is a run on line , carrying its views on to the next stanza. The poem lends a lasting imopression on us.

LITERARY FORMS AND MOVEMENTS, SHORT ANSWERS

LITERARY FORMS AND MOVEMENTS, SHORT ANSWERS
What is round character ?
A round character is a complex and dynamic. In this character improvement and change occurs during the course of work .
What is a soliloquy?
Soliloquy is a device use in drama in which a character speaks to himself or herself (thinking loud) by showing his feelings or thoughts to audience.
What is a Lyric?
Lyric is a short poem in which poet’s own feelings and emotions are expressed normally having musical quality to sing.
What is heroic couplet?
A rhyming couplet written in iambic pentameter and it is traditionally used in epic and narrative poetry.
What is Neo-classicism?
Neo-classicism is a eighteenth century western movement of art, literature and architecture. They got inspiration from ancient Greece and ancient Rome.
What is a mock-epic?
Mock-epic is a poem in which satire, exaggeration, irony and sarcasm is used to mock the subject or used the epic style for the trivial subject etc.
What is a complex plot?
A complex plot according to Aristotle is that have ‘peripeteia’ (reversal) and ‘anagnorisis’ (denouement) without these is a simple plot.
What is novella?
Novella is a narrative fictional work longer than story and shorter than novel.
What is interior monologue?
Interior monologue is the expression of internal thought, feelings and emotions of a character in dramatic or narrative form.
What is blank verse?
Blank verse is a form of poetry that written in iambic pentameter but un-rhymed.
What is Art for Arts’ sake?
“Art for Arts’ sake” is nineteenth century literary movement which gives importance to aesthetic pleasure instead of moral, didactic or utilitarian function of literature.
What is Epistolary novel?
Epistolary novel is a narrated work. In this type of novel the story is narrated through letters sent by the observer or by those who participating in the events. Example: 18th century’s novel ‘Richardson’s Pamela and Clarissa etc.
Differentiate between novel and novella.
Difference between novel and novella is length of the narrative work. Novella is shorter than novel and longer than short story but novel is long narrated work.
Define sonnet? What is the structure of Shakespearian sonnet?
Sonnet is a fourteen line poetry written in iambic pentameter having some rhyming scheme. Shakespearian sonnet consists of three quatrains and final couplet with rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.
What is the difference between “Open form poetry” and “Closed form poetry”?
Close form poetry used the fix pattern of stanza, rhyme and meter etc. For example: sonnet, limerick, haiku and sestina etc. Open form poetry does not use these fix patterns.
What is the structure of Spenserian stanza?
Spenserian stanza consist of nine lines, eight lines are in iambic pentameter and followed by single line in iambic hexameter. The last line is called Alexandrine.
Differentiate between ‘Blank verse’ and ‘Free verse’.
‘Blank verse’ follows the fix meter like iambic pentameter and un-rhymed but ‘Free verse’ is also un-rhymed and does not follow the fix meter.
How can you define “Pastoral elegy”?
Pastoral elegy is a poem about death. In this poem poet expresses his grief for the dead in rural setting or about the shepherds.
What is ‘Point of View’?
‘Point of view’ is an opinion, judgment or attitude on a matter. It may be against are in favor.
Define plot. What are its various elements?
Plot is a logical arrangement of events in a story or play. The exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution are the elements of plot.
What is conflict?
Conflict is a problem or struggle in a story or play. It occurs in rising action, climax and falling action. It creates suspense and excitement in the story or play.
How can you explain catharsis?
Term catharsis used by Aristotle in the definition of tragedy. It is the release of emotions of pity and fear.
Define black comedy.
Black comedy is a humorous work in which human suffering regards as absurd and funny.
What is comedy of manners?
Comedy of manners is a humorous work in which the manners of society or class satirized. For example: “The importance of being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde.
What do you mean by Theater of the absurd?
Theater of the absurd is one kind of drama in which absurdity emphasized and lack realistic and logical structure. For example: “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett.
How can you differentiate between flat and round characters?
A round character is a complex and dynamic. In this character improvement and change occurs during the course of work but flat character are uncomplicated and remains unchanged through the course of work.
What was the Oxford movement?
Oxford movement starts in 1833 and for the revival of Catholic doctrine in Anglican Church. It is against the conventional understanding of the religion.
Define Puritanism?
Puritanism is the religious movement starts in sixteen century and the goal of the movement is to purify the church of England from its Catholic practices.
What is Imagism?
Imagism is a movement of Anglo-American poets started in early nineteenth century in which they emphasize the use of clear images and simple and sharp language.
What is meant by Stream of Consciousness?
Stream of Consciousness is a technique of narration in which the series of thoughts in the mind of the character are presented. “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf is one example.
What is your understanding about the word Renaissance?
Renaissance is a French word means rebirth. It is a literary movement of fourteenth century to sixteenth century the revival of literature takes place in this period. The Renaissance writers are Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow etc.
What is meant by Gothic Novel?
Gothic Novel is one type of novel. In this type the cruel passions and supernatural terror is presented. Example: Monastery or Haunted Castle etc.
What is Metaphysical Poetry?
Metaphysical poetry is a highly intellectualized poetry with the use of wit, imagery, conceits and paradox etc. It is obscure and rigid. For example: “John Donne’s poetry