Bring out the theme of death in Mourning Becomes Electra.

Bring out the theme of death in Mourning Becomes Electra.

Imminence of Death
Beyond the stereotyped message that “adjustment is all”, and in ironic contrast to it, there is in Mourning Becomes Electra an overwhelming, unrelenting sense of the imminence of Death. The events of the plot––murder, murder-suicide, immurement––objectify this sense of death as does the sepulchral facade of the Mannon house. Death is the goal of O’Neill’s Puritan ; he meditates on it, he walks in its shadow, he lives for it. Since this Puritanism does not include a theological dimension, Death is an end in itself, not a passage to another world.

Death as Epiphany
Thus Death is not merely a thematic image in the play or simply a way of dispatching the personae and cleaning up the stage. It is the Epiphany that concludes the action, the vision to which the plot progresses. If Greek tragedy included the death of the hero, it also provided a means of encompassing the idea of death in a framework of death-and-rebirth. O’Neill’s modifications, however, result in a hopeless reiteration that death is final, absolutely conclusive, the end. In addition to the agon and the pathos, the conflict and the suffering, the Oresteia includes a “rebirth” or epiphany, in which the hero is purified by both society and the gods. In Mourning Becomes Electra however, the epiphany is a vision of Death, of existential nothingness, the individual confronted by the void. “Rebirth” and purgation become simple release from suffering through suicide or self-immurement.

The Ubiquity of Death
John Henry Raleigh says : “Underneath the play’s Freudianism ; its analogizing to Greek myth ; its recurrent incest motifs generation after ; its contrast between the uninhibited sexuality. of the South Seas and the rigid prudery of New England and the accompanying contrast between the freedom, rhythm, brightness, and beauty of life at sea and the restrictions, mechanizations, darkness, and dreariness of life on land ; underneath all these devices and themes is the ubiquity of death.” Yes, it is true. It is not only a question of the two murders (those of Ezra Mannon and Adam Brant) and the two suicides (Christine Mannon and Orin Mannon), but of the very fabric of the thought of the play, wherein the characters are not only trapped by their own dead but are also continually, tortuously meditating upon death. No one ever reaches a conclusion ; all they know, with any certainty, is that death is surely, inexorably devouring the Mannons, their power, and their way of life. In act third of Homecoming the newly returned Ezra Mannon, back home from the war, cannot stop talking about death, despite his wife’s plea that he cease : “That’s always been the Mannons’ way of thinking. They went to the white meeting-house on Sabbaths and meditated on death. Life was a dying. Being barn was starting to die. Death was being.” But the war, seeing too many white walls splattered with blood “that counted no more than dirty water”, made all this seem meaningless, ‘‘so much solemn fuss over death !” Real death has thought him the meaninglessness of imagined death, the Mannon obsession. But by dawn he will be death’s victim, murdered by his wife. Ironically, he had earlier observed to his wife : “All victory ends in the defeat of death.”

Death Symbols and Themes
Death symbols and themes are woven into the play in all kinds of ways. For example, the ancestral Mannons, whose portraits glare down from the walls of the house, were “witch-burners”. Again, the black-white symbolism that is endemic in O’Neill’s plays, and in American literature generally, is pervasive in Mourning Becomes Electra : the white faces set off by black clothing ; the white porticos of the house dimming into darkness ; and so on. And as in Melville, white does not signify purity ; rather it means the charnel house. The sound effects concur. The first song heard is “John Brown’s Body”. The theme song of the play, “Shenandoah”, is meant to signify the more sombre aspects of the sea (“a song that more than any other holds in it the brooding rhythm of the sea”). The drunken chantyman of the fourth act of The Hunted staggers off singing “Hanging Johnny”. Even American history plays a role in generating this aura of the charnel house, for the seminal national events in the background of the play are the Civil War, the greatest carnage experienced on American soil, and the assassination of Lincoln, its greatest single political tragedy. Moreover, beautiful, rhythmic ways of life are dying too, with the clipper giving way . to the steamer. As the chantyman drunkenly and lugubriously laments to Adam Brant, the owner of a beautiful clipper : “Aye, but it ain’t fur long, steam is comin’ in, the sea is full smoky tea-kettles, the old days is dyin’, and where’ll you an’ me be then ? (Lugubriously drunken again) Everything is dyin’ ! Abe Lincoln is dead.”

They flee from me text and critical appreciation

They flee from me 


They flee from me that sometime did me seek
With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
That now are wild and do not remember
That sometime they put themself in danger
To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
Busily seeking with a continual change.

Thanked be fortune it hath been otherwise
Twenty times better; but once in special,
In thin array after a pleasant guise,
When her loose gown from her shoulders did fall,
And she me caught in her arms long and small;
Therewithall sweetly did me kiss
And softly said, “Dear heart, how like you this?”

It was no dream: I lay broad waking.
But all is turned thorough my gentleness
Into a strange fashion of forsaking;
And I have leave to go of her goodness,
And she also, to use newfangleness.
But since that I so kindly am served
I would fain know what she hath deserved.



Paraphrase:

In this poem, the poet expresses his subjective experience with women in general. He shows his attitude towards woman. Yet, he expresses his view through a narrow perspective. His outlook on woman's nature is  very narrow and biased. Here, he moves from the general to the particular. In both cases, he is subjective. He looks down upon woman. He shows that all women are manipulative. They come near men stealthily when they look forward to certain interest or benefit. Yet, after they get what they want, they forsake their lover. This shows that he undermines women. His view is degrading. When they reach their end, they run away and desert their lovers. This shows that he considers women to be ego-centric and materialistic. He belittles women. They manipulate men to benefit from their relationship. They walk stealthily and slowly in a proud and threatening way to come closer to their target. They act submissively to deceive the naive and silly men. After they fool men, they forsake them. Moreover, they recall how his beloved used to draw near him to benefit from him. Then, her attitude towards him turns upside down. Her delicacy and tenderness change to indifference, rejection and neglect. 

This shows that fickleness of women's emotion. It is a part of women's nature. The poem is dramatic. Then, he recalls a scene from the past. This shows his nostalgia. He invokes a special relationship. He visualizes a sensual scene. She used to come to his room naked and hold him in a worm embrace. She used to be affectionate and tender. He describes a scene of seduction. He recollects her passionate and gentle words and her subdued manner. Then, he turns to present. He confirms that their relationship has not been a dream. It is real. In spite of his love, faithfulness and passion, she deserts him. She considers his love and relationship to be out of fashion. She yarns for a new relationship. He mocks her infidelity. He is sarcastic. He expresses his feeling of bitterness which is caused by her unfaithfulness. She is not sincere. Her feelings are changeable, so  she proves to be untrustworthy. The poet shows that she has served him kindly. Yet, the reader sees that he says something. but he means the opposite. She is not sincere. Her feelings and emotions are changeable, so she proves to be untrustworthy.

Figure of Speech:

Wyatt uses conceptual images, which appeal to the reader's mind. There is sustained image in the poem. There is a metaphor in the first stanza. The poet compares his beloved to an animal that is domesticated. It draws near him to feed on what he offers her. After it is fed, it runs away. When it is hungry, it appears to be subdued and tame.  Yet, after it snatches from the poet's hand what gratifies its hunger, it turns to be wild. This animal image shows that women manipulate men. They take benefit from men, and then they forsake them. This shows that he looks down upon woman. He belittles them. It also reflects his sarcastic mood and feeling of bitterness. Yet, the reader sees that his view is subjective and biased. He looks to woman through narrow perspectives.

Intention:

The poet wants to draw the reader's attention to the fickleness of women's emotion. Women's emotions are not constant. Their feeling and passion are changeable. He shows how women manipulate and fool men to benefit from them. As soon as they get what they want, they forsake their lovers. He belittles women and satirizes their infidelity and the mutability of their emotion. The reader sees that his view is subjective and biased. He looks to women through narrow perspective. His outlook on women's nature is distorted by his bitter personal experience.

Tone:

The tone of this poem is sarcastic and cynical. It shows the poet's feeling of bitterness. He satirizes his beloved's infidelity and changeability. He shows how women are deceitful and cunning. They manipulate men to benefit from them. Yet, as soon as they reach their purpose, they forsake their lovers. He is indignant at the fickleness of women's emotion. Women seduces men to satisfy their selfish desires, but soon they desert them. Thus, the tone shows his feeling of bitterness and sadness. Moreover, the reader sees the tone of vindictiveness. The poet shows a degrading view about women. He presents a distorted image of women. He undermines women.

Form:

The poem is written in the form of a lyric. The lyric is a short musical poem which can be sung. It is full of sound devices. It also deals with a personal experience. The poet here is subjective. He is biased against women. He judges women's nature through his narrow perspective. He reveals how he is manipulated and deceived by his beloved. He satirizes women's infidelity. He generalizes his idea. He uses many sound devices. The rhyme scheme is regular, but there is a change in the pattern of the second stanza. The rhyme scheme follows this pattern ababbcc. The change in the rhyme scheme of the second stanza reflects the shift in the tense and the tone. In the second stanza, the poet recalls the past of the relationship with his beloved. She used to be tender and gentle with him, but now she becomes cruel and hard-hearted. The change in the rhyme scheme also reflects the change in the tone. The tone is sarcastic and indignant, but in the second stanza it playful and gay. There is alliteration in "fashion, frustrating" due to the repetition of the /f/ sound. It intensifies the musical effect and creates unity between isgwords. It draws the reader's attention to the usual habit of women. They are fond of change. This shows the mutability of women's emotion. There is alliteration in "flee, from" due to repetition of /f/ sound. It shows the unfaithfulness of women because they forsake men as soon as they have got what they want. The /f/ sound has negative and unfavorable impression. It connotes disgust. There is assonance in "flee, me and seek". It raises musical effect and creates unity among words. It shows the poet's feeling of bitterness and indignation. 

Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth:

Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth:

 Summary and Critical Analysis

The poem Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey is generally known as Tintern Abbey written in 1798 by the father of Romanticism William Wordsworth. Tintern Abbey is one of the triumphs of Wordsworth's genius. It may he called a condensed spiritual autobiography of the poet. It deals with the subjective experiences of the poet, and traces the growth of his mind through different periods of his life. Nature and its influence on the poet in various stage forms the main theme of the poem. The poem deal with the influence of Nature on the boy, the growing youth, and the man. The poet has expressed his tender feeling towards nature.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) 

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

 

He has specially recollected his poetic idea of Tintern Abbey where he had gone first time in 1793. This is his second visit to this place. Wordsworth has expressed his intense faith in nature.

There is Wordsworth’s realization of God in nature. He got sensuous delight in it and it is all in all to him. Tintern Abbey impressed him most when he had first visited this place. He has again come to the same place where there are lofty cliffs, the plots of cottage ground, orchards groves and copses. He is glad to see again hedgerows, sportive wood, pastoral farms and green doors. This lonely place, the banks of the river and rolling waters from the mountain springs present a beautiful panoramic light. The solitary place remands the poet of vagrant dwellers and hermits’ cave.

The poem is in five sections. The first section establishes the setting for the meditation. But it emphasizes the passage of time: five years have passed, five summers, five long winters… But when the poet is back to this place of natural beauty and serenity, it is still essentially the same. The poem opens with a slow, dragging rhythm and the repetition of the word ‘five’ all designed to emphasize the weight of time which has separated the poet from this scene. The following lines develop a clear, visual picture of the scent. The view presented is a blend of wildness and order. He can see the entirely natural cliffs and waterfalls; he can see the hedges around the fields of the people; and he can see wreaths of smoke probably coming from some hermits making fire in their cave hermitages. These images evoke not only a pure nature as one might expect, they evoke a life of the common people in harmony with the nature.

The second section begins with the meditation. The poet now realizes that these ‘beauteous’ forms have always been with him, deep-seated in his mind, wherever he went. This vision has been “Felt in the blood, and felt alone the heart” that is. It has affected his whole being. They were not absent from his mind like form the mind of a man born blind. In hours of weariness, frustration and anxiety, these things of nature used to make him feel sweet sensations in his very blood, and he used to feel it at the level of the impulse (heart) rather than in his waking consciousness and through reasoning. From this point onward Wordsworth begins to consider the sublime of nature, and his mystical awareness becomes clear. Wordsworth’s idea was that human beings are naturally uncorrupted.

The poet studies nature with open eyes and imaginative mind. He has been the lover of nature form the core of his heart, and with purer mind. He feels a sensation of love for nature in his blood. He feels high pleasure and deep power of joy in natural objects. The beatings of his heart are full of the fire of nature’s love. He concentrates attention to Sylvan Wye – a majestic and worth seeing river. He is reminded of the pictures of the past visit and ponders over his future years. On his first visit to this place he bounded over the mountains by the sides of the deep rivers and the lovely streams. In the past the soundings haunted him like a passion. The tall rock, the mountain and the deep and gloomy wood were then to him like an appetite. But that time is gone now. In nature he finds the sad music of humanity.

The third section contains a kind of doubt; the poet is probably reflecting the reader’s possible doubts so that he can go on to justify how he is right and what he means. He doubts, for just a moment, whether this thought about the influence of the nature is vain, but he can’t go on. He exclaims: “yet, oh! How often, amid the joyless daylight, fretful and unprofitable fever of the world have I turned to thee (nature)” for inspiration and peace of mind. He thanks the ‘Sylvan Wye’ for the everlasting influence it has imprinted on his mind; his spirit has very often turned to this river for inspiration when he was losing the peace of mind or the path and meaning of life. The river here becomes the symbol of spirituality.

Though the poet has become serious and perplexed in the fourth section the nature gives him courage and spirit enough to stand there with a sense of delight and pleasure. This is so typical of Wordsworth that it seems he can’t write poetry without recounting his personal experiences, especially those of his childhood. Here he also begins from the earliest of his days! It was first the coarse pleasures in his ‘boyish days’, which have all gone by now. “That time is past and all its aching joys are now no more, and all its dizzy raptures”. But the poet does not mourn for them; he doesn’t even grumble about their loss. Clearly, he has gained something in return: “other gifts have followed; for such loss… for I have learnt to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity”. This is a philosophic statement about maturing, about the development of personality, and of the poetic or philosophic mind as well. So now the poet is able to feel a joy of elevated thought, a sense sublime, and far more deeply interfused. He feels a sense of sublime and the working of a supreme power in the light of the setting sun, in round oceans and in the blue sky. He is of opinion that a motion and a spirit impel all thinking things. Therefore Wordsworth claims that he is a lover of the meadows and of all which we see from this green earth. Nature is a nurse, a guide and the guardian of his heart and soul. The poet comes to one important conclusion: for all the formative influences, he is now consciously in love with the nature. He has become a thoughtful lover of the meadows, the woods and the mountains. Though his ears and eyes seem to create the other half of all these sensations, the nature is the actual source of these sublime thoughts.

The fifth and last section continues with the same meditation from where the poet addresses his younger sister Dorothy, whom he blesses and gives advice about what he has learnt. He says that he can hear the voice of his own youth when he hears her speak, the language of his former heart; he can also “read my former pleasure in the soothing lights of thy wild eyes’. He is excited to look at his own youthful image in her. He says that nature has never betrayed his heart and that is why they had been living from joy to joy. Nature can impress the mind with quietness and beauty, and feed it lofty thoughts, that no evil tongues of the human society can corrupt their hearts with any amount of contact with it.

The poet then begins to address the moon in his reverie, and to ask the nature to bestow his sister with their blessings. Let the moon shine on her solitary walk, and let the mountain winds blow their breeze on her. When the present youthful ecstasies are over, as they did with him, let her mind become the palace of the lovely forms and thought about the nature, so that she can enjoy and understand life and overcome the vexations of living in a harsh human society. The conclusion to the poem takes us almost cyclically, back to a physical view of the ‘steep woods’, ‘lofty cliffs’ and ‘green pastoral landscape’ in which the meditation of the poem is happening.

The poet has expressed his honest and natural feelings to Nature’s Superiority. The language is so simple and lucid that one is not tired of reading it again and again. The sweetness of style touches the heart of a reader. The medium of this poem is neither ballad nor lyric but an elevated blank verse. The blank verse that is used in it is low-toned, familiar, and moves with sureness, sereneness and inevitable ease. It has the quiet pulse, suggestive of 'central peace', which is felt in all his great poetry. This is the beauty of Wordsworth’s language.

★ Comedy and Types of Comedy:

★ Comedy and Types of Comedy: 

     

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

1. What is comedy? 

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

 ★. Comedy is a literary genre and a type of 

       dramatic work that is amusing and 

       satirical in its tone, mostly having a 

       cheerful ending. 

 ★. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph

       over unpleasant circumstances by  

       creating comic effects, resulting in a

       happy or successful conclusion.

 ★. Thus the purpose of comedy is to amuse 

       the audience. 

 ★. Comedy has multiple subgenre depending 

       upon the source of the humor, context, in 

       which an author delivers dialogues, and  

       delivery methods, which include farce, 

       satire, and burlesque.

 ★. Tragedy is  the another type of drama 

       which is  opposite to comedy, as tragedy 

       deals with sorrowful and tragic events in a 

       story.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

2. Types of comedy:  """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

≥≥ There are five types of comedy in literature:

 ♥ I. Romantic comedy

 ♥ II. Comedy of Humors

 ♥III. Comedy of Manner

 ♥IV. Sentimental Comedy 

 ♥ V. Tragicomedy

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 ♥1 :: Romantic Comedy :

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

★. Romantic comedy involves a theme of love 

      leading to a happy conclusion.

★. These are plays concerned with idealized 

      love affairs.

★. It is a fact that true love never runs 

      smoothly; however, love overcomes  

      difficulties and ends in a happy union.

★. We find romantic comedy in 

      Shakespearean  plays and some 

      Elizabethan contemporaries.

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♥ 2 :: Comedy of Humors:

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 ★. The term humor derives from the Latin  

       word "humor", which means "liquid". 

 ★. It comes from a theory that the human 

       body has four liquids, or humors, which 

       includes phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and 

       black bile . when human beings have a 

       balance of these humor in their bodies, 

       they remain healthy.

 ★. Ben Johnson is the first dramatist who 

       conceived and popularized this dramatic 

       genre during the late sixteen century.

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♥ 3 :: Comedy of Manner:

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 ★. The form of dramatic genre deals with 

        intrigues and relations of ladies and 

       gentlemen living in a sophisticated society.

 ★. This form relies upon high comedy, 

       derived from sparkle and wit of dialogues, 

       violations of social traditions, and good 

       manners,by nonsense characters like 

       jealous husband, wives, and foppish 

      dandies. 

 ★. We find its use in Restoration dramatists, 

       particularly in the works of Wycherley and 

      Congreve. 

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♥ 4 :: Sentimental Comedy :

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

  ★. Sentimental drama contains both comedy 

        and sentimental tragedy .

 ★. It appears in literary circle due to reaction 

       of the middle class against obscenity and 

       indecency of Restoration Comedy of 

       Manner

 ★. This form, which incorporates scenes 

       with extreme emotions evoking excessive 

       pity, gained popularity among the middle 

       class audiences in the 18th century. 

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

 ♥ 5 :: Tragicomedy:

 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

 ★. The dramatic genre contain both tragic 

       and comedic elements.

 ★. It blends both elements to lighten the 

       overall mood of the play.

 ★. Often, tragicomedy is a serious play that  

       happily. 

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

How to Write a Critical Appreciation of a Poem:

How to Write a Critical Appreciation of a Poem:

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Critical appreciation of a poem is defined as the critical reading of a poem. The meaning of its words, its rhyme, scheme, the speaker, figures of speech, the references to other works (intertextuality), the style of language, the general writing style of the poet ( if mentioned), the genre, the context, the tone of the speaker and such other elements make up the critical reading or appreciation. It does not mean criticising the poem. A critical appreciation helps in a better understanding of the verse.

Meaning- Read the poem more than once to get a clear idea of what the speaker is trying to say. Look up the meanings of difficult or unusual words in a thesaurus. The title of the poem is a key to the general meaning and summary of the thought presented. A poem might be about lost love, 'Lucy' (Wordsworth).

Rhyme Scheme- Find the rhyming words. These occur at the end of each line. Rhyming words might be present in the middle of the line also. Mark the rhyme scheme. For example, if rhyming words occur at the end of each line alternatively in a poem of 4 lines, the rhyme scheme will be 'a b a b'. In the poem, 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost, the second stanza goes like this:
"My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year... "

In these lines, the rhyme scheme is 'a a b b'

In several poems, there are no rhymes. Such a poem is called a blank verse.

Speaker- Identify the speaker of the poem. It can be a child, an elderly, a shepherd, a swordsman, a student, a milkmaid, a sailor, an animal or even an object like a chair or a place like a house or a mountain. Each Speaker will speak differently.

Setting- Every poem has a specific setting. It might be a ship or a modern condominium. The setting is the background of the poem and contributes to its meaning. For example, the setting of a pastoral is very likely to be a grazing ground for a flock of ship. The setting of Eliot's 'Preludes' is a modern city with its people leading a mechanical life. The words also convey the same sense.
"And short square fingers stuffing pies,

And evening newspapers, and eyes,

Assured of certain certainties... "

Context- The context gives us the time and location of the poem. It is what prompted the poem. The context might be an event of great political significance like the French Revolution. It prompted P.B. Shelley's famous, "Ode to the West Wind." The poem beautifully upholds the spirit of the revolution and heralded the dawn of a new age.

Language- The language of a poem is the very vehicle of its thoughts and ideas. Study the language in terms of the use of figures of speech, its tone, use of loan words or archaic words, length of sentences, the rhythm (meters- iambic, Trochaic or any other), number of lines etc. Note the introduction of new ideas and mark the place where it occurs. For example, in the poem, 'The lamb' by William Blake, the lamb refers to both the baby sheep, the little boy who is the speaker and the Lamb of God. Here the word, "lamb" is a metaphor.

Intertextuality- While writing the critical appreciation of a poem, we notice that another poem is alluded or looked back upon. This is called intertextuality or reference. For example, Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' allude to Boccaccio's 'Decameron' in its structure of people narrating stories during a journey.

Genre- Genre roughly means the category of the poem. Each genre has set rules and characteristics. For example, a very long narrative poem, running into a several thousands of lines, dealing with divine figures or demi-gods or great generals of the past and describing a terrible war or an incredible journey on which the fate of humanity rests can be termed as epic. For example, the 'Iliad' (Homer), 'Paradise Lost' (J. Milton) and such poems. A short poem of 14 lines expressing intimate emotions is a 'sonnet'. For example, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds' (Shakespeare) is a sonnet extolling real love and devotion. There are several genre- satire, mock-epic, ballad, lyric, ode, parody etc.
8 easy-to-use steps to writing an effective critical appreciation for any given poem with lots of examples from well known poems to make things lucid and graspable. For the use of all English literature enthusiasts!

Poetry Appreciation Methods
Critical Appreciation simply means to evaluate and analyze a poem in order to have its better understanding. It includes two steps:
Step 1
In order to write a critical analysis of a poem, one is required to first evaluate the poetic techniques used by the poet. It includes analysis of the genre: Genre simply means category. Every genre has its own distinct features. e.g. Sonnet has 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a couplet. Thus the poem could be a sonnet, ballad, elegy, ode, lyric, dramatic etc.
the rhyme scheme: It could either be abba, aabb, abab etc. However, some poems are blank verse as well i.e. without any rhyme scheme (Background, Casually by Nissim Eziekel)
the figures of speech: it includes imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, repetition, pun, oxymoron, alliteration etc.
the language style: It includes the use of figures of speech, rhythm, word length, number of lines, images, senses (e.g. in Happy Insensibility) etc.
the tone of the speaker: tone can be mysterious, provocative, ominous, festive, fearful, exuberant, hopeful etc.
the references to other works: it includes reference to works of other authors (like Eliot’s reference to Murry in his work The Function of Criticism)

Step 2

Second, the reader should evaluate the meaning of the poem. It includes
Speaker: Speaker could be the poet himself (like Wordsworth) or a hero (as in the poems of Keats) or a shepherd etc. Knowing about the speaker is important as every speaker speaks differently.
Title: it includes the relevance of title, its historical significance, etc.
Denotation: the literal meaning of the words. It helps to get the basic idea of the poem. e.g. in the poem The Good Morrow by John Donne, the meaning of the words help to understand the diverse knowledge possessed by the Metaphysical Poets.
Connotations: the ideas invoked by the words i.e. deeper meaning-the message or universal truth it conveys. This helps to understand the central theme of the poem. e.g. in the poem Ode to Autumn, the central idea is quite different from what the words perceive.
Purpose of writing: The purpose of writing could be to inform with facts or to persuade with an appeal to reason or emotions or just to entertain the readers.
Movements: A reader is required to have information about the movements that were trending during the time of poet. The movements have a significant influence on the writing of a poet. e.g. Romantic Movement influenced the poets of the early 19th century.
Having done all the analysis and evaluation, the reader should first write a description of the poem and then its comprehensive interpretation in his own words.

William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge are two giants of the Romantic Period.

William Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge are two giants of the Romantic Period. They are the leaders of the Revival of Romanticism. They contribute a great lot in this respect. But they do not hold the same views on the nature, function and creation of poetry. Their attitude to them often differs from each other. Their ideas show their different dispositions. It is also true that their ideas are innovative. None of them is totally accepted by the critics of the different ages. Coleridge is an apt critic of different literary works. He is also a harsh critic of Wordsworth. He criticises Wordsworth's poetic theory and language of poetry in his world famous critical book, "Biographia Literaria".

Coleridge does not accept the poetic theory of Wordsworth. He expresses some objections to Wordsworth's theory and language of poetry. He does not accept as Wordsworth defines poetry. Wordsworth declares that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility. Coleridge opposes and objects it. He says that Wordsworth is in this respect on the wrong track. He believes that poetry is the product of powerful emotions and imagination. The guiding force of poetry is deliberate thinking. Wordsworth's recollected emotions actually mean fancy. They are not imagination. The simple emotions of Wordsworth's theory cannot be the raw materials of poetry. Deep contemplation or imagination is the motivating force of poetic creation. So Coleridge is for imagination but Wordsworth is for spontaneous emotion or fancy.

Wordsworth believes that nature plays a vital role in the creative mind of a poet. He analyses this in his famous poem, "I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud". But Coleridge does not believe it. He thinks that nature does not have any influence in the creative mind of a poet. Nature is totally objective to human passions. He asserts this in his " Biographia Literaria ". We find his same view in his famous poem, " Dejection: an Ode". So Coleridge criticises Wordsworth for his sentimental explanation about poetic creation. Coleridge also criticises Wordsworth for his theory of poetic diction. According to Wordsworth, the language of poetry should be the language of the general people. Poetic language must be the apart from that he cannot endorse his friends view that there can be no essential difference between the language of prose and metrical composition spoken language of the rustic people. Coleridge does not support this conception. He believes that poetic language should be suitable to the manner and matter of poetry. He is for simple poetic language if the subject matter and the style of a poem are simple. He is for dignified language when the subject matter is serious and the style is lofty. He also thinks that the language of poetry should be purified. Poetic language should be free from the grossness, vulgarity and defects of rustic language. 

Coleridge never supports the artificial language of the Neo-classical poets. He is for simple language. But he does not show any partial inclination towards the language of the general people. Coleridge uses many figures of speech and ornamental language in his poetry. He supports it in his "Biographia Literaria". He supports figurative language when ornamental language is necessary to convey the message of the poet. He criticises Wordsworth because Wordsworth has totally rejected the importance of figurative expression in the case of poetry. Even he says that Wordsworth has failed to maintain his simple language in most of his poems. According to Coleridge, Wordsworth does not practice what he says. Coleridge also shows his distinctive qualities in the field of Romanticism. He does not impart his romantic messages in the manner of Wordsworth. His romantic message is given in a different way. He mainly selects supernatural incidents. He always tries to create " willing suspension of disbelief' in the mind of his readers. He supports "willing suspension of disbelief" in his "Biographia Literaria" too. According to him, Wordsworth has failed to create this sensation in the mind of his readers. Therefore, most of the poems of Wordsworth are not constructed on logical appeal. Coleridge can make an unreal situation realistic but Wordsworth can not do it. He severely criticises Wordsworth for this lacking.

Coleridge also criticises Wordsworth for his idealisation of nature. He never supports mysticism or pantheism of Wordsworth. He believes that nature is cold and lifeless. Nature cannot influence the mind of a man. Coleridge never glorifies her as a living entity. He thinks that the source of all inspiration is human soul. When human beings are in a happy mood, they observe happiness in nature. Human beings observe a gloomy mood in nature when they are in a sad mood. Thus a cold and lifeless nature cannot heal the sorrow-stricken soul of a man. Coleridge strongly objects Wordsworth's tendency to personify nature.

Thus Coleridge has tried to affirm that Wordsworth is on the wrong track. Wordsworth misinterprets nature and misguides his readers. Coleridge believes that human beings can see the images of their own mind in the lifeless objects of nature. They paint or decorate the natural objects with the colour of their mind. So Wordsworth is on the wrong track in his treatment of nature according to Coleridge. In this way, Coleridge raises objections to Wordsworth's theory and language of poetry. He is able to represent him as a critic of Wordsworth.

Soliloquy in Hamlet

Soliloquy in Hamlet

Soliloquy, a dramatic device used by playwrights to reveal characters’ innermost thoughts, is used in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Hamlet.to show Hamlet's feelings, thoughts and the changes of his mind that undergoes throughout the play. As the play progresses, the audience witnesses Hamlet in a vast range of emotions and much of these are revealed in his soliloquies. Without these “Hamlet’s character would have even less incomprehensible, and the audience and audience would be less able to experience the tension of the play and to gain insight into its problems.”(Wolfgang)

Hamlet's initial soliloquy is found in Act 1, scene 2. His speech portrays his disgust, anger, sorrow, and grief over his mother's sudden re- marriage so soon after his father's death. This soliloquy gives ‘’his own side of matter, expressing disgust at Claudius, venting at his anguished disappointment at his mother” (Maher) Hamlet is lost and locked in his own mind. He starts his soliloquy-

"O that this too too solid flesh would melt,

Thaw and resolve itself into dew."

He does not want to think about all the events happening around, but he can't help doing so. He is very upset and does not know what to do. He feels disillusioned with the world.-

"How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable'

Seem to me all the uses of this world!"

Hamlet goes on to complain about his mother for not mourning long enough. He deplores his mother's character. Not even two months have passed and she has married a man who is much inferior to her old husband. Her over hasty marriage, which he considers "an incestuous affair" makes him believe that women are weak and inconsistent creatures, he generalizes-

" Frailty thy name is woman!

Hamlet's second soliloquy comes just after the Ghost leaves him, after charging him with the duty of taking revenge upon the murderer of his father. Hamlet resolves to wipe out everything else from his memory and to remember only the Ghost's command.-

"from the table of my memory

I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,

And thy commandment all alone shall live."

“The manner in which Hamlet here speaks of never forgetting the Ghost's words makes us think that Hamlet will soon plunge into action and carry out the behest of the Ghost” (Arora)

In act 2, scene 2, Hamlet's third soliloquy is seen which reveals Hamlet's views and feelings. Hamlet starts this soliloquy with "now I am alone", in a tone that he's had enough of it and that he needs to get away from other people.  “Hamlet is so full of conflicting . . . in avenging his father’s murder that he is virtually puzzled by the inner turmoil. His soliloquies reveal his dilemma” (Ron Cameron) In this soliloquy he also bitterly scolds himself for having failed to execute his revenge so far. He calls himself

"a dull and muddy melted rascal, peak

…And can say nothing- no, not for a king,’’

But again he castigates himself not for taking action to avenge his father's death-

"Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,

That I, the son of a dead father museder'd,

Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,"

Thus at the end of the soliloquy we see him planning to enact the Mouse trap play

"The play is the thing

wherein I'llcatch the conscience of the King."

In the 4th soliloquy, Hamlet hits upon a mental nadir. "To be or not to be "can arguably be Shakespeare's most recognizable quote in all of his works. Hamlet attempts to reason with himself on whether or not death is the only solution to end all life suffering portrays him as both confused and cowardly. In this monologue, Hamlet goes into tough debate over whether he should end his own suffering by committing suicide or to step it up and revenge for his father. This soliloquy partly explains Hamlet's delay in carrying out his purpose.

Hamlet's mental status shows some promise in his 5th soliloquy. Hamlet describes his mood as one in which he could "drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look on". In this mood he can even kill his mother. He resolves to "speak daggers to her, but use none."

This soliloquy occurs on his way to meet his mother in the closet. He sees the King at prayer and gets an opportunity to kill him, an opportunity for which he has been longing so far. And yet he does not act because-

Now might I do it pat,now  he is praying.

And now I will do it, and so he goes to heaven

Hamlet decides to wait for an opportunity when his uncle is

"drunk asleep, or in his rage,

…or about some act

That has no relish of salvation in't . . .

This soliloquy emphasizes his delay and procrastinating nature.

Hamlet finally gains the courage to avenge his father.. Hamlet then feels ashamed of his unwillingness to go after Claudius. It dawned on Hamlet that he had been thinking too much and acting too little. With his new determination to avenge his father's murder he vows,

"o, from this time forth,

My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!"

This soliloquy once again emphasizes Hamlet's irresolution and his meditative temperament. His temperament pricks him and urges him but as a natural deficiency always obstructs him.

In addition to that various scholars and authors have shown the importance of the soliloquies of Hamlet. For example, Rolf Soellner says, “Hamlet’s soliloques. . . are fascinating and perplexing exercises in self analysis”

Ralph Berry argues that a principal function of Hamlet's soliloquies is to impose "his viewpoints upon the audience."

In act 3, scene1, there is a soliloquy by Ophelia in which her grief over what she thinks over what she thinks to be Hamlet's loss of reason. This soliloquy gives her idea of the great qualities of Hamlet- scholar, soldier, and ‘the observer of all observers

To conclude we can say that each soliloquy gives us insight into his ability to think and his failure to act in it. It brings the audience into his consciousness and gives us reflection into the most profound thoughts and emotions of the character. Each soliloquy divulges his motivations, or lack thereof, as well as his mental state of the time of each one.

Poem by KEATS " ODE ON A GRACIAN URN "

Poem by KEATS

 " ODE ON A GRACIAN URN "

The poem begins with the narrator's silencing the urn by describing it as the "bride of quietness", which allows him to speak for it using his own impressions.[21] The narrator addresses the urn by saying:

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness!

Thou foster-child of silence and slow time (lines 1–2)

The urn is a "foster-child of silence and slow time" because it was created from stone and made by the hand of an artist who did not communicate through words. As stone, time has little effect on it and ageing is such a slow process that it can be seen as an eternal piece of artwork. The urn is an external object capable of producing a story outside the time of its creation, and because of this ability the poet labels it a "sylvan historian" that tells its story through its beauty:[22]

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flow'ry tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? (lines 3–10)

The questions presented in these lines are too ambiguous to allow the reader to understand what is taking place in the images on the urn, but elements of it are revealed: there is a pursuit with a strong sexual component.[23] The melody accompanying the pursuit is intensified in the second stanza:[24]

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: (lines 11–14)

There is a hint of a paradox in that indulgence causes someone to be filled with desire and that music without a sound is desired by the soul. There is a stasis that prohibits the characters on the urn from ever being fulfilled:[24]

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal – yet, do not grieve;

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! (lines 17–20)

In the third stanza, the narrator begins by speaking to a tree, which will ever hold its leaves and will not "bid the Spring adieu". The paradox of life versus lifelessness extends beyond the lover and the fair lady and takes a more temporal shape as three of the ten lines begin with the words "for ever". The unheard song never ages and the pipes are able to play forever, which leads the lovers, nature, and all involved to be:[24]

For ever panting, and for ever young;

All breathing human passion far above,

That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,

A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. (lines 27–30)

A new paradox arises in these lines because these immortal lovers are experiencing a living death.[25] To overcome this paradox of merged life and death, the poem shifts to a new scene with a new perspective.[25] The fourth stanza opens with the sacrifice of a virgin cow, an image that appeared in the Elgin Marbles, Claude Lorrain's Sacrifice to Apollo, and Raphael's The Sacrifice at Lystra[26][A 1]

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?

What little town by river or sea shore,

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,

Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore

Will silent be; and not a soul to tell

Why thou art desolate, can e'er return. (lines 31–40)

All that exists in the scene is a procession of individuals, and the narrator conjectures on the rest. The altar and town exist as part of a world outside art, and the poem challenges the limitations of art through describing their possible existence. The questions are unanswered because there is no one who can ever know the true answers, as the locations are not real. The final stanza begins with a reminder that the urn is a piece of eternal artwork:[27]

O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought,

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold pastoral! (lines 41–45)

The audience is limited in its ability to comprehend the eternal scene, but the silent urn is still able to speak to them. The story it tells is both cold and passionate, and it is able to help mankind. The poem concludes with the urn's message:[28]

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst,

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," – that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. (lines 46–50)

chief thematic and stylistic features of Sir Francis Bacon's Essays?

What are some chief thematic and stylistic features of Sir Francis Bacon's Essays? 
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Thematically, Francis Bacon’s essays typically deal with universal themes announced in their titles: “Of Adversity,” “Of Beauty,” and “Of Death” are a few. Bacon used an impersonal style when philosophizing on these types of themes and avoided referencing his personal experiences. He often expressed his ideas in short, pithy phrases, and while he sometimes eschewed conventional grammar, Bacon was adept at crafting a carefully balanced sentence structure using semicolons. His essays are full of references to  classics.
When discussing the style and themes of Sir Francis Bacon’s Essays, it’s important to remember that the Essays were published in three editions in Bacon’s lifetime. Each new edition added more themes to the list of topics treated, and each of the later editions presented essays that tended to be longer, and more elaborate in style, than the editions that preceded them. Nevertheless, critics have cited some common traits of Bacon’s style and themes, and perhaps these can best be illustrated by examining a particular essay – in this case, the essay titled “Of Death.”

Bacon’s essays are often said to contain short, pity, memorable phrases as well as balanced sentence structure, and certainly all of those traits are evident in the opening words of the essay “Of Death”:

Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other.
Here the phrase “men fear death” immediately catches our attention. “Men” is balanced later by “children,” and the phrasing that follows the semicolon is as balanced as the phrasing that precedes it. Meanwhile, the phrases on either side of the semicolon are themselves balanced, and this frequent use of balance in Bacon’s essays suggests the mental balance and sensible reasoning of the author. The fact that Bacon is dealing with such a universally interesting topic as death is also typical of his essays, which very often deal with precisely such topics. Rather than writing about his personal experiences or perceptions, Bacon writes about topics likely to interest most readers, and he does so in a fairly impersonal style.

Bacon is often said to write in a crisp, terse, clipped manner, in a style influenced by Tacitus and Seneca rather than by the long, elaborately developed sentences of Seneca, and this tendency to terseness can be seen in the following sentence:
Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it . . . .
In his essays, especially the later or revised ones, Bacon tends to cite classical examples to make his points and even to quote from classical sources.  In the essay “Of Death,” for , he writes as follows.

When discussing the style and themes of Sir Francis Bacon’s Essays, it’s important to remember that the Essays were published in three editions in Bacon’s lifetime. Each new edition added more themes to the list of topics treated, and each of the later editions presented essays that tended to be longer, and more elaborate in style, than the editions that preceded them. Nevertheless, critics have cited some common traits of Bacon’s style and themes, and perhaps these can best be illustrated by examining a particular essay – in this case, the essay titled “Of Death.”

Bacon’s essays are often said to contain short, pity, memorable phrases as well as balanced sentence structure, and certainly all of those traits are evident in the opening words of the essay “Of Death”:

Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other.
Here the phrase “men fear death” immediately catches our attention. “Men” is balanced later by “children,” and the phrasing that follows the semicolon is as balanced as the phrasing that precedes it. Meanwhile, the phrases on either side of the semicolon are themselves balanced, and this frequent use of balance in Bacon’s essays suggests the mental balance and sensible reasoning of the author. The fact that Bacon is dealing with such a universally interesting topic as death is also typical of his essays, which very often deal with precisely such topics. Rather than writing about his personal experiences or perceptions, Bacon writes about topics likely to interest most readers, and he does so in a fairly impersonal style.

Bacon is often said to write in a crisp, terse, clipped manner, in a style influenced by Tacitus and Seneca rather than by the long, elaborately developed sentences of Seneca, and this tendency to terseness can be seen in the following sentence:

Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear preoccupateth it . . . .
In his essays, especially the later or revised ones, Bacon tends to cite classical examples to make his points and even to quote from classical sources.  In the essay “Of Death,” for instance, he writes as follows:

Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, conjugii nostri memor, vive et vale. Tiberius in dissimulation; as Tacitus saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant. Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut puto deus fio. Galba with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi Romani; holding forth his neck. Septimius Severus in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum. And the like.
Today, many of Bacon’s sentences, as in the passage just quoted, would be considered fragments, but they are typical of the often lightning speed of his style and of his emphasis on matter over manner, substance over conventionally “correct” grammar. Bacon rarely develops the full implications of many of his ideas. Instead, he often mentions an idea quickly and then swiftly moves on to the next, thereby encouraging readers to make connections and to think for themselves. Certainly that is one of the effects of the essay “Of Death.”