Guidance for WBSSC English

“Freedom” by G.B. Shaw: Questions and Answers

2010-11-15T22:31:00.001+05:30

1) Why according to Shaw no man is perfectly free?

Ans- According to Shaw there is no perfectly free man on earth because logically this is impossible. Whether humans like it or not, they must sleep for one-thirds of their lifetime; wash and dress and undress; they must spend a couple of hours eating and drinking; they spend as much time from travelling from one place to another. For half the day they are slaves to their natural requirements, which they cannot shirk.

2) Do all social and governmental regulations aim at regulating man’s slavery?

Ans- Shaw says that the object of all honest Governments should be to prevent the unnatural slavery of man to man. But he regretfully observes that the actual motive of all Governments is just the opposite. The Government simply enforces the slavery of man to man and calls it freedom. They also regulate the norms of slavery and try to keep the greed of the master class within bounds. This does not leave the repressed class any freer because they have to choose between one master and the other.

3) What does Shaw think of the right to vote?

Ans- Shaw thinks that the governments simply deceive the public by promising that they have the power to govern the country themselves by getting to choose their representative through their right to vote. A general election is held every five years. At the election, two of their rich friends, who are divorced from the pains the commoners, become the candidates for the election. The candidates themselves are unworthy; therefore, in spite of having the right to vote the people are not free to do whatever they would like to do.

4) How is man’s slavery to nature pleasant?

Ans- Shaw believes that man’s slavery to nature is pleasant because even though she (nature) forces man to eat and drink, she makes eating and drinking pleasurable so much so that some people simply live to eat. The comforts of civilised society and family life are so great that young people are eager to get married and join building societies to realize their dreams.

5) How can slavery be ended?

Ans- Shaw points out that man’s slavery to man is unnatural and must be prevented at any cost. He says that poets do not praise slavery. They say that no man is good enough to be another man’s master. Shaw uses the example of Marx who had advocated that law could only stop slavery. Because there were no proper laws against slavery in those times there were continual civil wars. Thomas More also raised his voice against such a social evil. He believed that peace could be achieved only by compelling everyone to do his own share of work with his own hand and brains, and not to put it on anyone else.

6) What means does the master class use to maintain the upper hand over the slave class?

Ans- The master class through its Parliaments, schools and newspapers, makes the most desperate efforts to prevent the mass from realizing their slavery. By directly controlling their thoughts, the master class prevents the slave class from forming a derogatory opinion of them. Whenever the prople complain, they are told that they themselves are responsible for their misery because of their own wrong choice of their representative. When they try to protest about the system of voting they are reminded that they have been given the Factory Acts and the Wage Board, and free education, and the New Deal, and the dole. They always reassure the slave class that they do not need any more than has been already given to them.

7) How do the master class prevent the upheaval of the downtrodden masses when lead by famous figures?

Ans- Shaw says that whenever famous writers protest against the imposture of the master class, they teach the people that they are traitors of the country. Shaw gives the examples of Voltaire and Rousseau and Tom Paine in the eighteenth century, or Cobbett and Shelley, Karl Marx and Lassalle in the nineteenth or Lenin and Trotsky in the twentieth century. These people are declared atheists and libertines, murderers and scoundrels; and often it is made a criminal offence to buy or sell their books. If their disciples make a revolution, England makes war upon them and lends money to the other powers to join her in forcing the revolutionists to restore the slave order.

8) How is the master class led to accepting the righteousness of human exploitation?

Ans- Shaw regrets that though “the prodigious mass of humbug is meant to delude the enslaved class only, it ends in deluding the master class more completely”. A gentleman whose mind has been formed at a preparatory school run by the master class itself, followed by a public school run by the government and university course, is completely under the false notion of created history and dishonest political economy and snobbery taught in these places. The gentleman’s education teaches him to think highly of himself. He thinks that being socially superior to the commoners is his right to get his work done by the other underprivileged people. He sincerely believes it to be his duty to shed his blood and the blood of others to the last drop in order to defend such a nation which has bestowed so many favours on him.

9) Why do most workers or women vote for their social superiors?

Ans- Shaw notes that great men like Aristotle believed that men must be made ignorant idolaters before they can be made obedient workers and law abiding citizens. One must pretend to have God-like-superiority in order to draw the attention of their social inferiors. Women are no exception to this rule. Shaw notes that when women were enfranchised and given the right to sit in Parliament, first use they made of their votes was to defeat all the women candidates who stood for freedom of the workers and had given them years of distinguished service. They had elected only one titled lady of great wealth. The reason behind such mistaken choice is due to human nature. Human nature can of course be changed through education. But education is provided by the Government and the Government would never like to educate the masses to think against the existing system.

10) How does a civilized society protect its citizens?

Ans- According to Shaw, a civilized society has a Government which frames a constitution enumerating the rights and duties of the citizens. Absolute freedom of the citizens is restricted by the laws of the land, enforced by the police, who will oblige the citizens to do something and not do some others and to pay rates and taxes. If they do not obey these laws the courts will imprison them and if they go too far kill them. If the laws are reasonable and impartially administered the citizens have no reason to complain, because the laws increase their freedom by protecting them against assault, highway robbery, and disorder generally.

11) How should an intelligent trade union movement conduct its affairs?

Ans- Shaw points out that it becomes very difficult for the employees to work under such tyrannical employers. They have only one remedy that of joining a trade union movement. The trade unions use the weapon of strike, which is the device of starving on the enemy’s doorstep until justice is done. The extreme form of strike—the general strike of all workers at the same moment—is also the extreme form of human folly, as, if completely carried out, it would extinguish the human race in a week’s time. And the workers will be the first to die. According to Shaw general strike is madness. Practical trade unionism would never sanction more than one big strike at a time, with all the other trades working overtime to support it.

12) What are Shaw’s views on working hours and retirement?

Ans- At the end of his essay, “Freedom”, G.B Shaw tickles our minds with a question that if we had unlimited freedom would we be able to handle it responsibly? Since absolute freedom is impossible, Shaw leaves his readers to decide for themselves that if they had a choice would they work eight hours a day and retire with a full pension at forty-five, or would they rather work for four hours a day and keep on working till the age of seventy. Shaw wittily concludes the essay by urging his readers to talk this proposition over with their wives and not try to send any replies to him.

13) “Nature may have tricks up her sleeve to check us if the chemists exploit her too greedily”. Critically comment on the statement.

Ans- Science and technology can definitely help produce machines and increase the production of food grains which would directly help equal distribution of wealth. The author reflects on the fact that though we can now cultivate the sky as well as the earth, by drawing nitrogen from it to increase the quality of grass to enhance the quality of food given to the cattle, and consequently improve our cattle, and butter and poultry, it might prove risky. Shaw here is talking about ecological disturbance which is the harsh reality of the modern world.

14) How did the author’s forefathers win freedom for themselves? Give some examples.

Ans- Shaw mockingly points out that whenever countries like England or America are attacked by external forces they try to prevent them. If the said countries are victorious in their assault they note it down in their history books as the glorious triumphs of patriotism. He gives a few examples. The forceful signing of the Magna Carta by King John; the defeating of the Spanish Armada; the beheading of King Charles; the acceptance of the Bill of Rights by King William; the issue and implementation of the American Declaration of independence; the victory of the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar and the changing of the German, Austrian, Russian and Ottoman Empires into Republics.

15) What, according to Shaw, are the factors that lead to the curtailment of freedom of common men?

Ans- According to Shaw a lot of factors contribute toward the curtailment of freedom of common men. First of all, man is a slave to his own bodily desires and needs. Secondly, he becomes a slave to the fancies of his employers to whom he has to remain obedient in order to feed himself and his family. Thirdly, he is slave to his landlord. Fourthly, the Government of his country, which extracts income tax from him. Fifthly, by the opaque education given to him by the Governmental institutions. Finally, his independence is mocked at through the flawed institution of voting and democracy.

Interpretation of Wordsworth’s Lucy Poems

2008-12-11T19:51:00.001+05:30

“Lucy Poems” consists of five poems Wordsworth wrote when his mind was at the height of Romantic fancy and idealism. The obvious philosophical inspiration behind this was Rousseau’s Emile... The immediate model for Lucy has been much debated: some argue strongly, like Geoffrey Hartman, in favour of the poet’s sister, Dorothy Wordsworth, some find an image of Annette Vallon and some dismiss all of these in favour of the argument that Lucy is nothing but an ideal construct of the poet’s fancy. Whatever the case may be, the simplicity and beauty of the poems continue to attract the readers to an ideal Romantic world, where a few principles seek to make it different from the real one. The poems appeared in the 1800 edition of the Lyrical Ballads, which was itself a monumental collection of Romantic experiment.

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways

The Text

She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy tone
Half hidden from the eye!

Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

This poem tells the tale of Lucy’s short journey of life in this world—her growth, perfection and untimely death. The poet informs us that Lucy lived a delicate and solitary life in the world of Nature unpolluted by human intrusion. She lived beside the springs of Dove and she was unknown to human beings who could otherwise praise the greatness of her mind. In her isolation she was also quite stranger to human love.

This kind of situation is very hard to explain and that is why Wordsworth resorts to rhetorical deice: he compares the fragility and the beauty of her existence to that of a violent which blooms by a mossy stone, where it remains half-hidden from others. He compares her unusual beauty to that of Venus, which is seen first in the evening sky shining with exceptional beauty in the midst of approaching darkness of night.

In the final stanza Wordsworth informs the reader of Lucy’s secluded way of life and her sudden death. Just as she lived unknown, she also died unknown. No person other than the poet could know that Lucy became one with Nature. Finally the poet suddenly becomes conscious of the immediate reality that she is no more alive in this world and is sleeping forever in her grave. He feels acute pain in his heart and abruptly ends the poet with equivocal words. Now he can feel the difference of his situation of utter grief that has been created by the loss from the one of divine bliss when she was alive.

[to be continued...]

The Character of Macbeth: As a Tragic Hero Villain and a Hero

2008-09-19T20:20:00.000+05:30

Shakespeare must have conceived of Macbeth as a personality caught up between the old and the new world-views and ethos—the conventional one and the Renaissance one. The former defined man’s place on earth in terms of the biblical world-view presented in the first chapter of the Bible Genesis, which necessarily linked it to the concept of Great Chain of Being, and accordingly dictated the codes of conduct. The later yet to come out fully, on the other, was trying to supplant the old ones with the new and pseudo-scientific one, which was slowly but surely encouraging man to think beyond the traditional framework towards the direction of fullest use of the human potentials. The audience/readers feel sympathetic to Macbeth, not because he possesses the high stature of a tragic hero described by Aristotle. They understand that he is a villain and criminal, but at the same time they also share his “vaulting ambition”, which collides head-on with the ethical parameters in the play.

The play has been presented not only against this backdrop, but also against another situation, which much attention has not been paid to. Actually the play starts at the crucial juncture of Scottish history: the king Duncan has grown old and feeble and sensing this, the rebels and the king of Norway the kingdom attacked. Macbeth along with others must have been conscious of this opportunity as ambitious persons always look forward to. Much has been said and written about his association with the Witches, and even if we ignore them, we hear an echo of the Witches’ words from him on his first appearance on the stage:

“So foul and fair day I have never seen”

We may presume that the grand success in the battles with Duncan’s enemy whetted his ambition before his actual meeting with the Witches. And when he learns from them that “”, he gets greatly moved. His excitement at the “strange intelligence” from the Witches begins to transform into a potent ambition very soon at the fulfilment of the two prophecies as he is greeted by Ross:

“Glamis, and thane of Cawdor!

The Greatest is behind.”

Right from this moment Macbeth begins to feel a split in his personality created by the great pulls of morality on the one hand, and terrible anticipation of the royal reality:

“...why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair...”

Of course, Macbeth demonstrates his good sense when he comments on the prospect of his kingship:

“...Present fears

Are less than horrible imaginings.”

Here it must be pointed out that the king does not act prudently in throwing out the proposal of holding communal feast at Macbeth’s castle in such a fluid condition in which a faithful man like the Thane of Cawdor betrayed his trust. This creates an unthinkable opportunity, which Macbeth must have thought a satanic one, if not providential, to seize upon, and his ambition begins to take the shape of a potent plan even before the hot-headed intervention of Lady Macbeth. Sympathetic critics tend to shift the blame on Lady Macbeth who, of course, resorts to emotional blackmail by underestimating his capability just to goad him towards curving out his way to the throne. But Macbeth, whom the bleeding Captain described with such superlative epithets as “valour’s minion”, “Bellona’s bridegroom” etc. should have withstood the insulting exhortations of his wife.

The real nature of Macbeth only comes out as soon as he commits the murder of Duncan and experiences the psychological and moral effects of the such a heinous act. Combined with this is Shakespeare’s presentation of the popular effects of usurping a rightful king. As Macbeth gets alienated from nature and faces the ordeal of the absence of divine grace, he does not learns from the prick of conscience. On the contrary he goes on to affirm his authority in a wrong way, and here again his authority gets snubbed by the intervention of Banquo’s ghost. It must be pointed out here that right from the Banquet Scene, Lady Macbeth’s powers also begin disintegrate and she cannot provide the same amount of support. However, while Lady Macbeth slowly shrinks from the external reality and recoils in her own personality, the opposite happens with Macbeth, who undergoes a total transformation of personality and becomes more and more dependent on the Witches. He becomes a tyrannical, treacherous and suspicious ruler. He emerges as a confirmed villain when he gets the wife and the child of Macduff killed. All these killings cannot be ascribed to the impact of the prophecies of the Witches.

At this point one is reminded of A.C. Bradley’s view that in Shakespeare’s tragedies character is destiny as a character like Macbeth is himself responsible for his downfall. But as Bradley was a Hegelian idealist, he did not consider the fact that the tragedy of Macbeth also involves the tragedy of the Scottish people who suffer just because of the misdeeds of a king. We are attracted to Macbeth because he shows something of a reflective nature and utters some wise words which arouse our sympathy because we share his human nature, his limitation and some of his flaws too. It is here in the theatrical phenomenon that the fall of the tragic hero effects the catharsis of “pity and fear”, that the character of Macbeth passes the test of the Aristotelian concept of tragic hero who vanishes from the scene forever leaving behind some greater understanding. The audience/readers learns from his experience that if not lived properly,

“Life’s but a walking shadow...

...it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

Principles of Good Writing by L. A. Hill

2008-01-09T21:00:00.003+05:30

What are Hills prescriptions for writing well?

Ans: L.A. Hill prescribes that to write well one should write clearly and logically. For this s/he should think clearly and logically. If s/he cannot do this, s/he should practise it taking on a particular problem.

“At first you may find...very difficult...practice will improve your abilities”. In what context does the author say this?

What does Hill prescribe for improving one’s command of vocabulary?

Ans: Hill prescribes that in order to embolden one’s vocabulary, s/he should read widely and carefully. S/he should keep a notebook and write down striking words and expressions. A good dictionary is also necessary for exact meaning and use of words..

“Writing is 99 percent hard work and 1 percent inspiration”. Why does the author say this?

Ans: Hill thinks that one can learn to write well by regular and frequent practice. Inspiration plays a rare role even for most famous writers. What is necessary most is disciplining oneself to the act of writing.

How does Hill advise the reader to find topics for writing?

Hill advises the budding writer to read the newspapers carefully so that s/he may find examples of human joys and tragedies, which will give ideas for writing. S/he should also keep a notebook for writing down ideas.

How, according to Hill, should a writer present his/her theme?

Ans: According to Hill, the opening paragraph should be written in such a way that it is able to catch the reader immediately. It should contain the gist of the topic. One may start with a paradoxical point of view, but it should be cleared away in the rest of the writing.

What are the things that Hill advises the writer to avoid?

Ans: Hill advises a writer not to put in his/her personal problems which may not interest the readers. He also forbids the budding writer to force his/her personal impression upon the readers through writing. He also says that a writer should not imitate someone else’s style. S/he should not employ jargons, officialese, obsolete expressions, rhetorical expression and empty verbiage.

Keats’s Ode to Autumn

2008-01-09T17:07:00.002+05:30

Why is autumn called “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness...maturing sun”?

Ans: The plants and fruits which were born in spring attain maturity in autumn. The rays of the sun help the fruit ripen. The poet imagines that autumn and the sun act together to supply the vines with grapes.

“Until ten...clammy cells.” Explain the situation as imagined by the poet.

Ans: In autumn when the late flowers are still in bloom, the bees go on collecting honey in spite of the fact that during summer they had collected enough honey. They mistake autumn for summer and think that the summer will never while their cells are overflowed with honey.

How does the poet personify autumn in the poem?

Or, Any question on the second stanza.

Or, Imaginative power of the poet.

Ans: Keats here presented autumn in its four striking aspects of the seasonal activities. First, autumn is seen as the harvester, seated careless on the granary floor with the gentle breeze playing with her hair. Secondly, autumn is personified as a tired reaper who falls asleep drugged by the fragrance of poppy. Thirdly, autumn is imagined as a gleaner on her way home across a brook with load of corns on her head. Fourthly, autumn is seen as a cider-presser who, seated beside a vat, watches the apple-juice oozing out.

Why does the poet say “Where are the songs of Spring?”

Or, What makes the poet put this question?

Ans: In the final stanza of the poem the poet reaches the understanding that with the attainment of maturity of everything in nature, the resourcefulness in nature is on the verge of giving way to bareness and scarcity of the winter. So nature is visibly taking the shape towards the direction. This makes the poet mourn while comparing the vitality and vibrancy of spring with those of autumn.

Explain the expression “...barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day/And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue...”

Ans: The declining autumnal sun casts its glow on the clouds, which take a rosy flavour. When this glow of the setting sun is cast on the bare fields with stumps, everything looks rosy.

Why does the poet say “...thou hast thy music too...”? What constitutes the music of autumn?

Ans: In the final stanza of the poem the poet reaches the understanding that with the attainment of maturity of everything in nature, the resourcefulness in nature is on the verge of giving way to bareness and scarcity of the winter. But he is also conscious of the fact that autumn has its own beauty and music. The numerous sounds produced by the gnats, swallows, lambs, crickets and Robin Red Breast collectively produce the autumnal symphony.

What characterises the music of autumn? Or, Why does the autumnal music bear a melancholic overtone?

Ans: In the final stanza of the poem the poet reaches the understanding that with the attainment of maturity of everything in nature, the resourcefulness in nature is on the verge of giving way to bareness and scarcity of the winter. The insects and animals instinctively understand this and that is why the sounds made by them are marked by apprehension and sadness.

Yeats's The Wild Swans at Coole

2008-01-09T15:27:00.002+05:30

The autumnal pathway to the Coole Lake is still mysterious. The photo is published under the generous permission of Ms. Leah Hansen, and it originally appeared in twingomatic.blogspot.com.

How does Yeats portray the beauty of autumn?

Ans: In the poem The Wild Swans at Coole Yeats presents a sombre beauty of the autumnal landscape. The trees are leafless and the paths across the wood are dry. The Cole Lake is full of water to the brim. As there is no wind, its surface is so calm that the clear sky is reflected on it.

How many swans were there in the Shore of Coole Lake?

“I have looked upon those ...tread”. Why does the poet say that “now my heart is sore”?

Ans: Nineteen years ago when the poet first visited the lake one day at a twilight of autumn, he saw the swans fly through the air in small circles lover by lover. When they flew away above his head joyously, the whole air was filled with the music of their wings. All this made him happy and content. But now he has grown old in body and soul. He feels bitter and sad at the fact that he now cannot enjoy the sight as he had done in his youth.

“Their hearts have not grown old....” Why does the poet say so?

Ans: Standing on the shore of the Coole Lake after a gap of nineteen years the poet feels that unlike himself, the swans have not grown old in body and spirit. Full of youthful vigour they can enjoy paddling through the cold water and winning the hearts of their beloved and mating with them.

Why does the poet call the swans “mysterious creatures”?

Ans: As darkness looms large over the surface of the Coole Lake, it seems to the poet that the swans, as if, belong to a different world different from the humans, a world not marked by mutability.

Ode to the West Wind by P.B. Shelley

2007-12-20T17:54:00.003+05:30

ODE TO THE WEST WIND

P.B. Shelley

The poem “Ode to the West Wind” directly conforms to Shelley’s poetic creed. Poetry, Shelley writes in “A Defence of Poetry”, “…awakens and enlarges the mind by rendering it the receptable of a thousand unapprehended combination of thought. Poetry lifts its veil from the hidden beauty of the world.” Consistent with this theory of poetc creation, Shelley’s Romanticism is filled with “vehement feelings, ecstatic, mournful, passionate, desperate or fiercely indignant”. Sometimes he makes a sudden turn of the theme and talks about himself just like the movements in Beethoven’s symphonies. It is in this that he is unique among the Romantics—looking for a better world of liberty, equality and fraternity in his idealistic project of life. For this, he is seen to be pessimistic about the present but highly optimistic about the future to come.

The Romantic poets made frequent use of the wind as a soothing symbol. But in Shelley’s treatment it is not a “correspondent breeze”; it is rather ferocious in its energy. M.H. Abrams says “because of the ferocity the wind becomes a vast impersonal force, which the poet needs as a symbol of both destruction and creation”. Herein lies the importance of the wind as the metaphor for revolutionary social change.

In the very first stanza West Wind appears with an accumulated force–a “breath of Autumn’s being”—to blow away the dead leaves. Shelley compares the West Wind to a magician because, just as a powerful magician drives away ghosts, the wind performs same kind of operation by sweeping away the dead things in autumnal nature by remaining itself invisible. The phrase “pestilence-stricken multitude” here, on the surface level, refers to the leaves, which are decomposing on the ground. But symbolically the ‘multitudes’ refers to the entire human society, which, the poet thinks, in a state of degeneration.

“…O thou

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The wing’d seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave.”

The West Wind carries the seeds with wing-like devices down to the ground where those remain dormant. During spring, however, when Zephyr, the warm and gentle wind will blow across the land, the seeds, shooting forth from the ground, will grow into plants. Here Shelley seems to have a very swift vision of the spring. He sees that just as with the onset of spring shepherds go out with their flocks of sheep for tending on the green field, the gentle breeze similarly causes the buds to bloom and carry the fragrances from one place to another. The West Wind moves with a terrific force and makes massacre of all that stand in its way. But it takes care to preserve the seeds under the soil so as to ensure a resurrection in the world of nature with the advent of the spring. In this way, the West Wind becomes both a “destroyer and preserver”.

In the second stanza the wind changes its field of operation; it is set in air, in the “steep sky”. The West Wind, while operating in the sky, moves along with all its might, Shelley imagines, just as the stream of a river. In so doing it forces accumulated clouds—right from the surface of the ocean up to the sky—to disintegrate. The Wind performs this kind of function by forcing the clouds to—just as it the leaves of the trees to fall off. Shelley here may be referring to the scientific fact that clouds are created in the sky out of the evaporation of water from the surface of the water bodies on earth. But in the immediate context of the poem, he must have observed the clouds to have been accumulated right from the surface of the ocean up to the great heights of the sky. That is why he imagines the clouds as the inter-connected boughs of the ocean and the sky. Shelley compares the clouds ravaged by the power of the wind to the uplifted hair of a Maenad in order to convey the sense that the West Wind operates possessed by some supernatural force.

In the European seasonal cycle, autumn is the season which stands just before winter, at the end of which a year closes. So before the coming of winter West Wind passes over earth destroying the old degenerate things and making horrible sounds. The howling of the wind is, therefore, imagined by the poet to be the dirge or the funeral song for the closing year. Shelley here addresses the clouds, accumulated from the surface of the ocean up to the great heights of the sky, as “angels of rain and lightning” because they obviously indicate that rain and lightning are approaching soon.

By the expression “the dome of a vast sepulchre” Shelley here refers to the closing night which will serve as the dome of a vast tomb, in which the closing year will be buried. The accumulated water vapors also make the roof over the dying year and the atmosphere seems to be solid because of thick layers of dense clouds. The point is that Wind operates with the same and single point agenda: it destroys the dead and preserves the living.

In the third stanza the realm of the ruling West Wind is the sea, both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and both the surface and the vegetation beneath. Shelley here has personified the Mediterranean, which perhaps in its sleep is dreaming of destruction of the palaces. During summer the Mediterranean and the Roman palaces and, the towers which remain submerged, are all quiet as if they seem to be sleeping because no storms appear to ruffle the surface of the sea in that season. But the wind agitates the sea and the palaces seem to quiver on account of the tremendous motion of the waves. This may be easily taken for allusions to Shelley’s hope for political change in Italy, for the collapse of the kings and kingdoms. Shelley here must have tried to bring home a political philosophy. The old palaces and towers symbolize corrupt, degenerate and old power, old order and institutions. All these should be destroyed, the poet dreams along with the sea, in order to make way for new beginning.

As the scene shifts to the Atlantic, “the somnolent summer yields to the ruthless autumn”. The reader is taken not only to the Atlantic, where its smooth surface has turned into a deep waves, but under it, where woods and foliage are forced to dispossess themselves of foliage upon hearing the Wind’s voice.

The fourth stanza begins, as pointed out by Michael Ferver somewhat the way Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” begins, by briefly recapitulating the themes of the first three movements. Now, the Wind is seen in the fourth stanza in relation to the poet himself:

“If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee.”

As an idealist and as an extremely sensitive soul, Shelley was in much distress to see mankind exploited and being dehumanized by the corrupt, degenerate and old political powers and institutions. He wanted to see mankind reach an ideal state of life based on fraternity, equality and democracy. And that is why he was seeking revolution, which he refers to as his “sore need”. Shelley erupts in Romantic agony,

“Oh! Lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”

The poet wants to preach the words of revolution to mankind. But he knows that lacks the energy to do so. In order to acquire the strength and speed of the West Wind, he wants to be a piece of cloud, a leaf and a wave. The poet now remembers that in his boyhood he was full of energy and vigor, and as such that he would not refrain himself from competing with the cloudlets borne away in the sky by the wind. But now he lacks the energy to do so and that is why he seeks to be invaded by the fierce wind so that he may be supplied with energy and inspiration. Again, Shelley here thinks of himself as having accumulated the degenerate habits and ideas. In order to be refreshed and reinvigorated, the poet invites or rather prays to the Wind to invade his self. He wants this also with the intention of acquiring some of the fierce energy of the wind in this process. The West Wind comes into being during autumn with its predestined function of destroying the old and degenerate, thereby paving the way for the new. As it is destructive, its processes are bound to have certain sad implications. But destruction is also a necessary prelude to a new awakening, which implies sweetness.

He longs to be invaded by the fierce spirit of the Wind and cleaves with it to become,

“…through my lips to unawaken’d earth

The trumpet of my prophecy!”

At last he is optimistic of the future and closes the poem with a prophecy:

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

It becomes clear that the poet invokes the example of the operations of the west wind in nature because, in turn, he wants to spread his message of resurrection through this poem and other poems he plans to compose. In other words, an evidence of a natural phenomenon in nature turns out to be a poetic inspiration for him.

1. Why does Shelley compare the West Wind to a magician?

Or, Explain the expression, “Like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing".

Or, In what sense does the West Wind become an ‘enchanter’?

Ans: Shelley compares the West Wind to a magician because, just as a powerful magician drives away ghosts, the wind performs same kind of operation by sweeping away the dead things in autumnal nature by remaining itself invisible.

2. Why does Shelley address the Wind as “the breath of Autumn’s being”?

Ans: Shelley imagines the West Wind here as a restless anthropomorphising force, as a spirit, which comes to being as a result of special climactic condition during the season, autumn.

Who are referred to as “pestilence-stricken multitude”?

Ans: The phrase here, on the surface level, refers to the leaves, which are decomposing on the ground. But symbolically the ‘multitudes’ refers to the entire human society, which, the poet thinks, in a state of degeneration.

3. “Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air”—Explain the expression.

Ans: With the onset of spring shepherds go out with their flocks of sheep for tending on the green field. The gentle breeze similarly, the poet imagines, causes the buds to bloom and carry the fragrances from one place to another.

4. What is referred to here as “azure sister of the spring”? What is its significance in relation to the West Wind?

Ans: The West Wind carries the seeds with wing-like devices down to the ground where those remain dormant. During spring, however, when Zephyr, the warm and gentle wind will blow across the land, the seeds, shooting forth from the ground, will grow into plants.

Why is the West Wind called “destroyer and preserver”?

Ans: The West Wind moves with a terrific force and makes massacre of all that stand in its way. But it takes care to preserve the seeds under the soil so as to ensure a resurrection in the world of nature with the advent of the spring. In this way, the West Wind becomes both a “destroyer and preserver”.

5. Explain the expression “winged seeds”.

Ans: Certain plants and trees in nature produce seeds which are formed in such physical condition that those may be transported by the wind from one place to another. This natural device is employed by the plants and trees to perpetuate their lines over a wide area of land. Shelley suggests that the West Wind performs just this function in nature.

6. How does Shelley equate “Loose clouds” with “earth’s decaying leaves”?

Ans: The West Wind, while operating in the sky, moves along with all its might, Shelley imagines, just as the stream of a river. In so doing it forces accumulated clouds—right from the surface of the ocean up to the sky—to disintegrate. The Wind performs this kind of function by forcing the clouds to—just as it the leaves of the trees to fall off.

7. Explain the expression “...tangled boughs of heaven and ocean”.

Ans: Shelley here may be referring to the scientific fact that clouds are created in the sky out of the evaporation of water from the surface of the water bodies on earth. But in the immediate context of the poem, he must have observed the clouds to have been accumulated right from the surface of the ocean up to the great heights of the sky. That is why he imagines the clouds as the inter-connected boughs of the ocean and the sky.

8. Who is a Maenad? Why does Shelley compare the clouds to the uplifted hair of a Maenad?

Ans: Maenad is a frenzied woman-worshipper of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine. Shelley compares the clouds ravaged by the power of the wind to the uplifted hair of a Maenad in order to convey the sense that the West Wind operates possessed by some supernatural force.

9. Why does Shelley call the West Wind, “dirge of the dying year”?

Ans: In the European seasonal cycle, autumn is the season which stands just before winter, at the end of which a year closes. So before the coming of winter West Wind passes over earth destroying the old degenerate things and making horrible sounds. The howling of the wind is, therefore, imagined by the poet to be the dirge or the funeral song for the closing year.

10. Whom does Shelley address as “angels of rain and lightning” and why?

Ans: Shelley here addresses the clouds, accumulated from the surface of the ocean up to the great heights of the sky, as “angels of rain and lightning” because they obviously indicate that rain and lightning are approaching soon.

11. What does Shelley refer to as “the dome of a vast sepulchre”?

Ans: By the expression Shelley here refers to the closing night which will serve as the dome of a vast tomb, in which the closing year will be buried. The accumulated water vapours also make the roof over the dying year and the atmosphere seems to be solid because of thick layers of dense clouds.

12. How does Shelley personify “the Mediterranean”?

Ans: During summer the Mediterranean and the Roman palaces and, the towers which remain submerged, are all quiet as if they seem to be sleeping because no storms appear to ruffle the surface of the sea in that season. But the wind agitates the sea and the palaces seem to quiver on account of the tremendous motion of the waves.

13. Explain the line: “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”.

Ans: At the very end of the fourth stanza of the poem “Ode to the West Wind” Shelley refers to the troubles, sorrows and the bitter disappointment of life which are inevitable to every human being. Shelley was no exception to it. More importantly, as he was an idealistic and Romantic, he was deeply hurt by the bitter experiences of life.

14. Where is Baiae’s Bay?

Ans: The Baiae’s Bay is situated on the western coast of Italy near Naples. Vesuvius stands close to the Bay. The Bay is famous for islands formed from the deposit of lava.

15. What is the significance of the phrase “old palaces and towers quivering”?

Ans: Shelley here must have tried to bring home a political philosophy. The old palaces and towers symbolise corrupt, degenerate and old power, old order and institutions. All these should be destroyed, the poet dreams along with the sea, in order to make way for new beginning.

16. What does the poet refer to as “sore need”

Or, What is the “sore need” the poet refers to?

Ans: As an idealist and as an extremely sensitive soul, Shelley was in much distress to see mankind exploited and being dehumanised by the corrupt, degenerate and old political powers and institutions. He wanted to see mankind reach an ideal state of life based on fraternity, equality and democracy. And that is why he was seeking revolution, which he refers to as his “sore need”.

17. “If even I were in my boyhood...seemed a vision”—Explain.

Ans: The poet now remembers that in his boyhood he was full of energy and vigour, and as such that he would not refrain himself from competing with the cloudlets borne away in the sky by the wind. But now he lacks the energy to do so and that is why he seeks to be invaded by the fierce wind so that he may be supplied with energy and inspiration. (The expression “scare seemed a vision” means it did not seem impossible in his boyhood.)

18. Why does the poet wish to be “a dead leaf”, “a swift cloud” and “a wave”?

Or, Why does the poet wish to “share the impulse of thy strength”?

Ans: The poet wants to preach the words of revolution to mankind. But he knows that lacks the energy to do so. In order to acquire the strength and speed of the West Wind, he wants to be a piece of cloud, a leaf and a wave.

19. “Make me thy lyre”—Explain.

Ans: Shelley here in the poem Ode to the West Wind thinks of himself as having accumulated the degenerate habits and ideas. In order to be refreshed and reinvigorated, the poet invites or rather prays to the Wind to invade his self. He wants this also with the intention of acquiring some of the fierce energy of the wind in this process.

20. “The tumult of thy mighty harmonies/

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone

Sweet though in sadness—”

Why does Shelley say this? How can sweetness remain side by side sadness?

Ans: The West Wind, the poet thinks, comes into being during autumn with its predestined function of destroying the old and degenerate, thereby paving the way for the new. As it is destructive, its processes are bound to have certain sad implications. But destruction is also a necessary prelude to a new awakening, which implies sweetness.

21. What does Shelley want to mean by “Thy mighty harmonies”?

Ans: The West Wind, as it blows across the world, produces horrible sounds. The poet takes it for granted that the wind possesses a pattern of its operation like musical composition. But since it is destructive in nature, its sounds are horrible.

22. “Drive my dead thoughts...my words among mankind”—Explain.

Ans: Towards the end of the poem “Ode to the West Wind”, it becomes clear that the poet invokes the example of the operations of the west wind in nature because, in turn, he wants to spread his message of resurrection through this poem and other poems he plans to compose. In other words, an evidence of a natural phenomenon in nature turns out to be a poetic inspiration for him.

Dream Children: A Reverie by Chales Lamb

2007-12-17T20:08:00.000+05:30

The E-Text of Dream Children: A Reverie

Children love to listen to stories about their elders, when they were children; to stretch their imagination to the conception of a traditionary great-uncle, or grandame, whom they never saw. It was in this spirit that my little ones crept about, me the other evening to hear about their great-grandmother Field, who lived in a great house in Norfolk (a hundred times bigger than that in which they and papa lived) which had been the scene— so at least it was generally believed in that part of the country— of the tragic incidents which they had lately become familiar with from the ballad of the Children in the Wood. Certain it is that the whole story of the children and their cruel uncle was to be seen fairly carved out in wood upon the chimney-piece of the great hall, the whole story down to the Robin Redbreasts, till a foolish rich Person pulled it down to set up a marble one of modern invention in its stead, with no story upon it. Here Alice put out one of her dear mother's looks, too tender to be called upbraiding. Then I went on to say, how religious and how good their great. grandmother Field was, how beloved and respected by every body, though she was not indeed the mistress of this great house, but had only the charge of it (and yet in some respects she might be said to be the mistress of it too) committed to her by the owner, who preferred living in a newer and more fashionable mansion which he had purchased somewhere in the adjoining county; but still she lived in it in a manner as if it had been her own, and kept up the dignity of the great house in a sort while she lived, which afterwards came to decay, and was nearly pulled down, and all its old ornaments stripped and carried away to the owner's other house, where they were set up, and looked as awkward as if some one were to carry away the old tombs they had seen lately at the Abbey, and stick them up in Lady C.'s tawdry gilt drawing-room. Here John smiled, as much as to say, "that would be foolish indeed." And then I told how, when she came to die, her funeral was attended by a concourse of all the poor, and some of the gentry too, of the neighbourhood for many miles round, to show their respect for her memory, because she had been such a good and religious woman; so good indeed that she knew all the Psaltery by heart, ay, and a great part of the Testament besides. Here little Alice spread her hands. Then I told what a tall, upright, graceful person their great-grandmother Field once was; and how in her youth she was esteemed the best dancer— here Alice's little right foot played an involuntary movement, till, upon my looking grave, it desisted— the best dancer, I was saying, in the county, till a cruel disease, called a cancer, came, and bowed her down with pain; but it could never bend her good spirits, or make them stoop, but they were still upright, because she was so good and religious. Then I told how she was used to sleep by herself in a lone chamber of the great lone house; and how she believed that an apparition of two infants was to be seen at midnight gliding up and down the great staircase near where she slept, but she said "those innocents would do her no harm;" and how frightened I used to be, though in those days I had my maid to sleep with me, because I was never half so good or religious as she— and yet I never saw the infants. Here John expanded all his eye-brows and tried to look courageous. Then I told how good she was to all her grand-children, having us to the great-house in the holydays, where I in particular used to spend many hours by myself, in gazing upon the old busts of the Twelve Caesars, that had been Emperors of Rome, till the old marble heads would seem to live again, or I to be turned into marble with them; how I never could be tired with roaming about that huge mansion, with its vast empty rooms, with their worn-out hangings, fluttering tapestry, and carved oaken pannels, with the gilding almost rubbed out— sometimes in the spacious old-fashioned gardens, which I had almost to myself, unless when now and then a solitary gardening man would cross me— and how the nectarines and peaches hung upon the walls, without my ever offering to pluck them, because they were forbidden fruit, unless now and then, and because I had more pleasure in strolling about among the old melancholy-looking yew trees, or the firs, and picking up the red berries, and the fir apples, which were good for nothing but to look at— or in lying a out upon the fresh grass, with all the fine garden smells around me— or basking in the orangery, till I could almost fancy myself ripening too along with the oranges and the limes in that grateful warmth— or in watching the dace that darted to and fro in the fish-pond, at the bottom of the garden, with here and there a great sulky pike hanging midway down the water in silent state, as if it mocked at their impertinent frisking, — I had more pleasure in these busy-idle diversions than in all the sweet flavours of peaches, nectarines, oranges, and such like common baits of children. Here John slyly deposited back upon the plate a bunch of grapes, which, not unobserved by Alice, he had meditated dividing with her, and both seemed willing to relinquish them for the present as irrelevant. Then in somewhat a more heightened tone, I told how, though their great-grandmother Field loved all her grand-children, yet in an especial manner she might be said to love their uncle, John L—, because he was so handsome and spirited a youth, and a king to the rest of us; and, instead of moping about in solitary corners, like some of us, he would mount the most mettlesome horse he could get, when but an imp no bigger than themselves, and make it carry him half over the county in a morning, and join the hunters when there were any out— and yet he loved the old great house and gardens too, but had too much spirit to be always pent up within their boundaries -- and how their uncle grew up to man's estate as brave as he was handsome, to the admiration of every body, but of their great-grandmother Field most especially; and how he used to carry me upon his back when I was a lame- footed boy — for he was a good bit older than me — many a mile when I could not walk pain; -- and how in after life he became lame-footed too, and I did not always (I fear) make allowances enough for him when he was impatient, and in pain, nor remember sufficiently how considerate he had been to me when I was lame- footed; and how when he died, though he had not been dead an hour, it seemed as if he had died a great while ago, such a distance there is betwixt life and death; and how I bore his death as I thought pretty well at first, but afterwards it haunted and haunted me; and though I did not cry or take it to heart as some do, and as I think he would have done if I had died, yet I missed him all day long, and knew not till then how much I had loved him. I missed his kindness, and I missed his crossness, and wished him to be alive again, to be quarrelling with him (for we quarrelled sometimes), rather than not have him again, and was as uneasy without him, as he their poor uncle must have been when the doctor took off his limb. Here the children fell a crying, and asked if their little mourning which they had on was not for uncle John, and they looked up, and prayed me not to go on about their uncle, but to tell them, some stories about their pretty dead mother. Then I told how for seven long years, in hope sometimes, sometimes in despair, yet persisting ever, I courted the fair Alice W—n; and, as much as children could understand, I explained to them what coyness, and difficulty, and denial meant in maidens — when suddenly, turning to Alice, the soul of the first Alice looked out at her eyes with such a reality of re-presentment, that I became in doubt which of them stood there before me, or whose that bright hair was; and while I stood gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter to my view, receding, and still receding till nothing at last but two mournful features were seen in the uttermost distance, which, without speech, strangely impressed upon me the effects of speech: "We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all. The children of Alice called Bartrum father. We are nothing; less than nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence, and a name" — and immediately awaking, I found myself quietly seated in my bachelor arm-chair, where I had fallen asleep, with the faithful Bridget unchanged by my side— but John L. (or James Elia) was gone for ever.

Why is the essay entitled “Dream Children”?

Ans: Charles Lamb entitled the essay “Dream Children” because he never married and naturally never became the father of any children. The children he speaks of in the essay were actually the creations of his imagination or fancy.

2. Who was Field? How does Lamb present her before his dream children?

Ans: Field, pseudonym for the actual person, was Lamb’s grandmother. Lamb presents her as an ideal grandmother in an imaginary and inflated way before his “dream children”—she was extremely pious, fearless and compassionate person besides being the best dancer of the area in her youth.

3. Why is the essay entitled “A Reverie”?

Ans: The essay is subtitled as a ‘reverie’ because Lamb never married and so he never had children. In the essay he created an imaginary picture of a happy conjugal life—a picture which finally dissolves into nothing as he comes back to reality.

4. How does Lamb present his brother John L—?

Ans: Lamb’s elder brother, John L—in his youth was a handsome, high-spirited, strong and fearless person. He loved Lamb very much. But subsequently in his old age he became lame-footed and spent the rest of his life in utter hopelessness, irritation and pain.

5. Whom does Lamb refer to as “faithful Bridget” by side?

Ans: Lamb had a sister, Mary Lamb, who did not marry since she had attacks of insanity. She has been referred to here as “faithful Bridget” because she never married and was Lamb’s only companion in his life. At the sudden breakdown of his reverie, he finds her seated by his side.

6. What, according to you, is the most striking feature of the essay and why?

Ans: The chief characteristic feature of the essay is the author’s mingling of pathos and humour. Lamb begins the essay in somewhat deceptive fashion, describing the incidents, full of humour. But gradually he reduces the tone towards the end describing the tragedies of his personal life.

7. How does Lamb present the autobiographical elements in the essay?

Or, Why is the essay called a personal essay?

Or, What type of essay is Dream Children?

Ans: Dream Children is a personal essay. Lamb presents the characters and incidents from his own life—the sketches of his grandmother, Field, his brother—John Lamb, his sister—Mary Lamb, his tragic love-affairs with Ann Simmons. But Lamb is always playing with facts and fictions and transforms the real into the literary.

8. How does Lamb show his knowledge of child psychology?

Ans: It is surprising that without ever having children Lamb had acute sense of how children react to the happenings in the world of the adults. By deceptively referring to the meticulous reactions of his dream children, he succeeds in catching the reader immediately. The aesthetic impact of the essay becomes more effective for this reason.

9. “...till the old marble heads would seem to be live again...to be turned into marble with them”—Where does the expression occur? Explain the context.

Ans: Lamb told his “dream children” that in his boyhood he would enjoy rambling in and around the great country house in Norfolk. He would gaze at the twelve marble busts of Caesars in such an intensely meditative way that it seemed to him after some time that those were coming back to life again, or that he would be himself transformed into marble with them.

10. Where does the expression “busy-idle diversion” occur? What does the author mean by this?

Ans: Lamb told his “dream children” that in his boyhood he would enjoy rambling in and around the great country house in Norfolk more than the sweet fruits of the orchard. He would remain busy with this though he had no work to do.

11. “When he died though he had not been...died great while ago”.

Who is referred to as ‘he’? Why is he spoken of?

Ans: Lamb loved his brother John L— very much. But very shortly after his death it seemed to him that death had created such an immeasurable vacuum in his life that it made impossible for him to comprehend the significance of the difference between life and death.

12. “...such a distance there is betwixt life and death”—Explain the significance of the line in light of the context.

Ans: the immediate absence of his brother John Lamb created by his death forced Lamb to feel the gulf the difference between life and death. He understood that death created a permanent absence as the dead cannot be restored to life. Again, death is unknowable and Lamb was forced to reflect on his brother’s absence in this way.

13. “...the soul of first Alice looked out at her eyes with such reality of re-presentment that I came in doubt”—Who was Alice? What does the word ‘re-presentment’ mean here?

Ans: In the course of his day-dreaming when Lamb looked at his dream-daughter, her physical resemblance reminded him of his dream-girl Alice W—n, a fictitious name for Ann Simmons who did reciprocate his love.

14. “But John L—(or James Elia) was gone forever”—Who was James Elia? Why does the author say this?

Ans: At the end of his day-dreaming Lamb coming back to reality finds his sister (Bridget) Mary Lamb by his side; but he realises and remembers that his brother James Elia or John Lamb had died and would no more be with them. So he laments his loss thus.

15. “Here Alice put out one of her dear mother’s looks, too tender to be called upbraiding”—What does the word ‘braiding’ mean here? What makes Alice react thus?

Ans: While describing the great country house in Norfolk, lamb tells his “dream children” that the chimney piece of the great hall was decorated by the curving of the story of Robin Redbreasts. At the information that a foolish person pulled it down, Alice’s countenance changed, which suggested that it should not have been done. The word ‘braiding’ here means castigation or censure.

16. How does Lamb record Alice’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: While listening to Lamb’s personal tale, Alice reacts firs by spreading her hands when Lamb says how good, religious and graceful person Field had been. Alice reacts to it either in great astonishment or putting up some pious gesture. She also cries out When Lamb talks about his elder brother’s pain and death.

17. How does Lamb record John’s reactions to his story-telling?

Ans: At the information of the great house being stripped off its ornaments John smiled, which suggested the foolishness of the work. He was trying to look brave and impress upon his father that he would not have been afraid of the ghosts like his father. At the end of the story, when Lamb was talking of his elder brother’s pain and death, John, like Alice, began to cry.

Exercises

1. Give a pen-picture of Field.

2. How would you comment on the style of the essay?

3. “...We are only what might have been, and must wait upon the tedious shores of Lethe millions of ages before we have existence and a name.”—Explain the context.

Or, What is the significance of the river Lethe here?

Or, Why are the shores of Lethe called ‘tedious’

Or, Why should the ‘dream’ children wait for million years for their existence and name?

[All are important]

Shelley's To a Skylark Text, Analysis and Questions Answers

2007-12-16T22:37:00.004+05:30

To a skylark

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from heaven, or near it
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strain of unpremeditated art.

Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

In the golden lightning
Of the sunken sun,
O'er which clouds are brightning,
Thou dost float and run;
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.

The pale purple even
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of heaven,
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight.

Keen as are the arrows
Of that silver sphere,
Whose intense lamp narrows
In the white dawn clear,
Until we hardly see, we feel that it is there.

All the earth and air
With thy voice is loud,
As, when night is bare,
From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflow'd.

What thou art we know not:,
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see,
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody.

Like a poet hidden,
In the light of thought,
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not;

Like a high-born maiden
In a palace-tower,
Soothing her love-laden
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower;

Like a glow-worm golden
In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its aerial hue
Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view;

Like a rose embower'd
In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflower'd,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-winged thieves:

Sound of vernal showers
On the twinkling grass,
Rain-awaken'd flowers,
All that ever was
Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.

Teach us, sprite or bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine;
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine;

Chorus hymeneal,
Or triumphal chaunt,
Match'd with thine would be all
But an empty vaunt -
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.

What objects are the fountains
Of thy happy strain?
What fields, or waves, or mountains?
What shapes of sky or plain?
What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?

With thy clear keen joyance
Languor cannot be -
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee:
Thou lovest - but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.

Waking or asleep,
Thou of death must deem
Things more true and deep
Than we mortals dream,
Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Yet if we could scorn
Hate, and pride, and fear;
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.

Better than all measures
Of delightful sound -
Better than all treasures
That in books are found -
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now!

Critical Interpretation, Summary and Analysis of Shelley’s To a Skylark

In Livorno in June of 1820, according to Mary Shelley, on a beautiful evening, she and Shelley heard the carolling of a lark, and that inspired the poet to compose the poem. The attempt turns out to be one in imitation of the bird’s skill. In his Defence of Poetry, he wrote, “A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; his auditors are men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician...” but the bird here is skylark, not nightingale. What the birds share, of course, is their invisibility, their reduction to pure bodiless voice. Therefore we are to take the part as a symbolic representation of bodiless audible beauty that strives, like the one in Plato’s Phaedrus, up towards perfection. What matters for the poet is not any particular bird or thing, but is the idea of beauty. The skylark can sustain a loud, merry musical note at great height while flying, and only while flying, and they sometimes fly so high that can only be heard and not seen. All these natural facts were sufficient to inspire Shelley to start the poem by calling the bird a spirit, “Hail to thee, Blithe spirit”. That Shelley calls the bird’s art “Profuse strains of unpremeditated art” often gives a clue to the critics to call Shelley’s poem itself an exercise of unpremeditated art. The next stanza provides the movement and activity of the bird, and this in turn becomes applicable to the whole poem:

“higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest,

Like a cloud of fire,

The blue deep thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.”

As Shelley saw the bird singing in evening time he ignored the literary fact that larks are morning birds, which Shakespeare relied upon for his famous debate between Romeo and Juliet over whether the bird they have heard is the nightingale or the lark. For, above all, Shelley is concerned here with “an unbodied joy whose race has just begun”. The point of reference takes the safe propagandas between the visible and the invisible which may have the philosophical dimension of the dialectics of the material and the spiritual:

“Like a star of heaven

In the broad day-light.”

It even elicits the sense of existence in bodiless beauty, beauty, as the idealist philosophers would believe, is essentially bodiless. As a poet Shelley enjoys the lark’s outpourings as it can give him aesthetic pleasure.

In the eighth stanza Shelley likens the bird to “a poet hidden/In the light of thought”, and here we come to understand something of his intention. But the bird is not hidden in “the light of thought”. It is surrounded by its own happy outpourings. In the subsequent four stanzas, the bird’s song is likened to a high-born maiden’s song, to s glow worm’s aerial hue, to a rose’s fragrance, to the “sound of vernal shower” and the different types of simile establish the one fact that “All that ever was/Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.”

Now the bird’s perfection of arts is seen in contrast to the imperfection of human life and arts as well. Here the bird comes nearer the one Plato’s Phaedrus, which is an example of how and why human beings should try to achieve the ideal. In an agonising gesture Shelley questions the bird what philosophy of life enables it to live in the realm of perfection. The archetype of fountain as a symbol of poetic inspiration comes in Shelley’s mind along with the beautiful forms of nature, ‘fields’, ‘waves’, ‘mountains’ and so on. In the next stanza the lark’s joyfulness is seen in contrast to the inevitable short life of the highest human emotion, love:

“Thou lovest but ne’er knew love’s sad satiety.”

So in Shelley art and life become inter-related and this is evident in the question—“What ignorance of pain”. The poet has confronted with the paradoxes of life:

“We look before and after,

And pine for what is not”.

Shakespeare in Hamlet makes his Prince utter similar words:

“Sure he that made us with such large discourse

Looking before and after gave us not

That capability and Godlike reason.”

The crux of the matter is that like a great poet Shelley has also come to understand the great divide in the human psyche,

“Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

The reason he traces is human adherence to “the ground” or the material world opposed to the spiritual world as Plato taught. The lark can achieve perfection because it is “scorner of the ground”. This is where we come to the difference of attitude of the two Romantic poets, Shelley and Wordsworth. Shelley’s skylark is an inhabitant of purely ethereal arena and is a symbol of perfection. On the other hand, Wordsworth’s skylark in his poem To a Skylark is an inhabitant of both earth and ether:

“Type of the wise who soar, but never roam;
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home!

In the last stanza Shelley has stated his intention clearly. He longs to follow or imitate the eudemonic being and learn the “harmonious madness”. This Platonic concept of divine frenzy clearly indicates Shelley’s desire for artistic creation which will be perfect products, and he perhaps thinks that this is possible only in art or imagination, not in real life. To conclude, it is perhaps natural for the great souls to feel what Goethe’s Faust tells his student:

“It is inborn in each of us

That our feelings thrust upward and forward

While over us, lost in blue space

The lark sings its thrilling songs.”

Towards the end of the poem the skylark is transfigured into a sort of poetic inspiration for the poet as he desperately craves for the possession of the artistic qualities essential for the creation of his own poetry.

*Why does the poet address the skylark, a bird as a spirit/”a blithe spirit”?

Ans: In the poem “To a Skylark” Shelley is listening to the song of a bird, which is itself invisible. It seems to the poet that the bird, while singing, soaring high above the ground, has lost its physical existence and has become a spirit. Shelley is here trying to represent the bird as an abstract quality of pure joy, a quality so poignantly missing in the humans.

2. Explain the expression “profuse strains of unpremeditated art ”.

Ans: In the poem “To a Skylark” the birds are ‘unpremeditated’, that is, natural or spontaneous in the sense that those are not preconceived or pre-planned, unlike the human art, generally, or more specifically, the poet’s art, which is preconceived. Shelley is here trying to represent the bird as an abstract quality of pure joy, a quality so poignantly missing in the humans.

3. *Explain the simile “Like a cloud of fire”.

Or, Why does Shelley introduce the image of fire in the poem?

Ans: In the poem “To a Skylark” the bird in its venture up in the sky is compared to a cloud lit up by the rays of the setting sun at twilight. Thus Shelley links the bird to the image of fire in order to emphasise the bird’s abstract existence as a quality having the power to purify the human mind.

4. ***“Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun”—Explain.

Ans: In the poem “To a Skylark” Shelley seeks to convey the idea that in its flight for singing, the bird, as if, has found a new life, a life of abstract delight which is possible only by transcending the body and becoming a spirit.

5. **“Keen as the arrows...we feel that it is there”. Explain the lines.

AnsAns: The skylark is imagined here to be venturing up in the sky at dawn when Venus, the morning star shines brightly before its disappearance. The comparison, implicit here, is that the bird is seen momentarily before its swift arrow-like disappearance in the sky. However, its presence can be felt from its song.

6. 6. **“When the night is bare...heaven is overflow’d”—Explain the situation imagined by the poet.

Ans: In the poem “To a Skylark” the bird’s pouring out of numbers is compared to a full moon’s shining from above on the ground. Its song has moved the poet so immensely that it seems to him that it has filled the air under the earth with its melodies.

7. ***“Like a poet hidden/In the light of thought.”—Explain the simile used by the poet.

Or, Why does the poet compare the bird to a poet?

Ans: In a poem the presence of the poet can be felt in the radiance of the thoughts and ideas s/he intends to convey to the reader. As a poet remains physically absent yet spiritually present in a poem, the skylark remains hidden in the sky while singing.

8. ***“Till the world is wrought...it heeded not”.

What does poet mean by “hopes and fears”?

Or, What is Shelley’s view of the world’s reaction to the bird’s song?

Ans: In these lines from the poem “To a Skylark” Shelley speaks of the idealistic projects of the bird. Like a poet the bird, it seems to the poet, is concerned with those activities, which worldly men cannot aspire to do. But they are led to sympathise with the bird for such idealistic activities with the mixed emotions of hopes and fears.

9. **“Like a high-born maiden...in secret hour”—Bring out the justification of the simile.

Ans: Shelley here stretches out his imagination further to compare the skylark to a maiden confined in her secret chamber. Just as an aristocratic maiden sings in her secret chamber at midnight to soothe her love-sick mind from high above the ground, the bird, it seems to the poet, is similarly pouring out music.

10. **“Teach us, spirit or bird...a flood of rapture so divine”—Why does the poet say so?

Ans: The poet is very much pained to find his own world filled with sorrows and anxieties whereas the skylark remains untouched and unaffected by all these things. To him the bird is a bodiless embodiment of joy, and that is why he seeks inspiration of “sweet thoughts” in its song.

11. ***“Chorus hymeneal ...But an empty vaunt”—Explain.

Ans: Shelley thinks that, compared to the skylark’s song the marriage songs or songs of victory would be nothing but empty hollow boasting; for, he feels that in those songs joy cannot be fully expressed.

12. ***“What objects are the fountains...What ignorance pain”—Explain.

Ans: The poet is here desperate to find out the inspiration of those things which remain behind the Skylark’s production of pure joy. This becomes necessary for Shelley since he finds his own world, the human world with pain, sorrow and anxiety that do not allow him to sing in pure joy.

13. ***“Waking or asleep...we mortals dream”—Why does Shelley refer to death here in the context of the skylark’s song?

Ans: What Shelley wants to convey here is that human understanding and experience of joy always remain affected or limited by an unseen overhanging presence of death. On the contrary, the skylark, Shelley presupposes, must have remained unconscious of or oblivious to death. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for it to sing so purely.

14. ***“We look before and after...Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts”—Explain.

Ans: What Shelley wants to convey here is that, because of the dominance of sorrows in life—arising out of our mundane attachment to things—the songs, which refer to our sorrows, appeal to us most. This view is, however, psychologically justified as we find echoes of our own sorrows experienced in real life in sad songs. This happens, Shelley tells us, because we go by mundane calculations. [We find here some of the Shakespearean echoes from Macbeth.]

15. **“If we were things born...Not to shed a tear”

What does Shelley want to mean by the unfulfilled wishes?

Ans: Shelley acknowledges that there are human limitations to experiencing pure as opposed to the skylark. That is why the poet laments that, had human beings been born without those limitations, it would have been possible for them to reach the realm of perfection the bird lives in.

16. ***“...the scorner of the ground”—Why is the skylark called so?

Ans: The skylark sings soaring high above the ground. The ground here symbolically stands for the harsh mundane realities, which affect human appreciation and experience of joy and beauty greatly. The bird can sing so perfectly, the poet thinks, because it hates the mundane world and flies high above it.

17. **“Teach me half the gladness...as I am listening now”—Explain.

Ans: At the final stanza of the poem, Shelley seeks inspiration in the bird’s song for his own purpose, that is, creating poetry. Following the classical Greek tradition he longs for “harmonious madness” or the poetic frenzy, which was considered essential for poetic creativity.

18. **How does Shelley turn the bird’s song into a source of poetic inspiration?

Ans: Towards the end of the poem the skylark is transfigured into a sort of poetic inspiration for the poet as he desperately craves for the possession of the artistic qualities essential for the creation of his own poetry.

19. *What is Shelley’s philosophy implicit in the flight of the bird?

Ans: Shelley, following flight of the soul described by Plato in his ‘Phaedrus’, preaches his idealistic philosophy that, if human beings want at all to reach at the level of perfect happiness and joy, they must rise above the mundane existence.

20. **What is the difference between Shelley’s skylark and that of Wordsworth?

Ans: Wordsworth’s skylark in his poem “To the Skylark” is a creature of flesh and blood, while Shelley’s skylark is a philosophical abstraction. It despises the cares and anxieties of the world while Wordsworth’s has its eyes fixed on its nest on the ground.

Justice

2007-12-03T19:52:00.003+05:30

What is the pseudonym that Galsworthy took? What kind of aesthetic theory did he believe in?

Ans: Galsworthy took the pseudonym ‘John Sinjohn’. Galsworthy was a representative of the literary tradition, which has regarded the art as an instrument of social debate. He believed that it was the duty of an artist to examine a problem, but not to provide a solution.

Justify the significance of the title ‘Justice’.

Ans: John Galsworthy deliberately chose the title Justice in order to satirise the contemporary social and legal systems of the country, which in the name of ‘justice’ forced the helpless individuals like Falder and Ruth to suffer and perish finally in the most inhuman way in a ‘civilised’ society.

Justify the sub-title of the drama ‘A tragedy’. Or, Do you think Justice a social tragedy?

Ans: Justice is different from the other tragedies written in Aristotelian formula. There is no conventional hero-villain conflict in the play. The central protagonist Falder is not at all a heroic figure; rather he is of a weak-willed and nervous personality. Again, the place of the villain has been taken by the inhuman social and legal systems, to which the hero becomes a victim.

Character of Falder/Falder as a tragic hero.

Ans: In Galsworthy’s Justice the central protagonist, Falder is a weak-willed and nervous person with a good intention of providing relief to a suffering woman. In so doing he commits a crime which leads him to prison and to death. Thus he becomes a pathetic figure rather than a tragic one.

Ruth Honeywill

Ans: Ruth is a poor, unimpressive woman married to a brutish drunkard. Her suffering makes her love Falder sincerely. Again, she does all this more for her children than for herself. Like Ruth in the Old Testament she is sad and gloomy figure. All her hopes, however, get shattered at the death of Falder.

Who is James How? How and what does he declare about Falder?

Ans: James How is the embodiment of the cruel, inhuman social and legal system. It is not, of course, that he is the villain of the piece. He judges and acts on the prevalent conventional morality that makes him blind to the serious flaws in the systems. He is the owner of the firm in which Falder is a junior clerk. When he comes to know of the crime, he decides to send him to jail.

Who is Walter How? What does he decide about Falder?

Ans: Walter How, the son of James How, stands as a foil to his father. Owing to generosity and clear view of events, he judges everything on the human ground and tries his best to dissuade his father from sending Falder to prison. While his father represents conventional morality, Walter How represents the kind of morality Galsworthy wants the social and the legal institutions to go by. When Walter comes to know of the crime committ4ed by Falder, he decides not to send him to jail as it is his first crime.

The character of Cokeson

Ans: In Galsworthy’s Justice Cokeson, the head clerk of How’s firm, is a good-natured person, but he has his limitations as a member of the lower middleclass. He understands Falder and feels for him, but he cannot go against his employer. Finally, he answers all fittingly at the end when Falder dies.

“It is a matter of life and death”.Who says this and to whom and why?

Ans: Tortured by her drunkard husband almost to death, Ruth Honeywell comes to meet Falder for being rescued from him. But in the office, Cokeson tells her that such personal affairs are not entertained. This forces Ruth to entreat him with these words.

“Justice is a machine.” Who says this and why?

Ans: Falder’s defence counsel, Mr. Frome introduces the metaphor of machine in order to convey the sense that the legal system operates in such an inhuman way that it makes mockery of the concept of ‘justice’ and destroys the individual completely. The end of the drama, the end of Falder’s life proves his words.

“Law is what it is, a majestic edifice sheltering all f us” Who says this, when and why?

Ans: In the course of sentencing Falder to imprisonment, the judge as a protector and agent of the existing legal system asserts that the institution of law is a noble one. It seeks to protect the good citizens from the bad ones, to protect the society. The judge is the spokesman of the conventional concept of ‘justice’ in the contemporary judicial system. Naturally, his opinions and views do not go by human norms.

“It must have been temptation of the moment” ...A man does not succumb like this.” Who says this? Why does he say so? What do you think of his character from the speech?

Ans: After the detection of Falder’s forgery and his confession, James How decides upon prosecuting Falder. Walter How, his son, pleads for Falder’s case. He opines that Falder, a gentleman, must have been tempted to do this. His words indicate that he is a good-natured youth, who judges everything on the human ground.

“The quality of mercy is not strained...” Where does the speaker quote the line from? Why does he do so?

Ans: The speaker, Walter How, quotes the famous line from Portia’s speech in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, where she appeals to Shylock for Antonio’s case. Walter How wants to convey that mercy is a greater virtue and, therefore, greater justice, which makes everyone happy. He tries to convey his father that they should pardon on this virtue.

Significance of the Mute Scene in Justice.

Ans: The Mute Scene (Act III, scene iii) is very important from the theatrical point of view since through this Galsworthy presents the deep agony of a helpless man, Falder in the solitary confinement. The scene arouses not only our pity and fear, but also our hatred for the system.

Significance of the Trial Scene in Justice.

Ans: The Trial Scene in Justice sets the play in motion. The title of the play is directly related to the Trial Scene which concretises the conflict between two abstract forces of antagonism—law versus humanity.

Exercises

1. Would you consider Justice a problem play? Give reasons for your answer.

2. Who stood for Falder’s defence in the court? Comment upon his character.

3. How does the play Justice present women’s problem in the contemporary England?

4. Comment upon the character of the Governor of the prison.

5. How does Galsworthy present the prison as a torturing machine?
What does Cokeson say when Falder dies?

6. Comment upon the language of the prisoners in Justice.
What is the dramatic significance of other prisoners in Justice?

Arms and the Man

2007-12-02T22:39:00.004+05:30

Comment on the title of the drama ‘Arms and the Man’.

Or Comment on the sources of the drama ‘Arms and the Man’.

Ans: Bernard Shaw borrowed the title from the opening line of Virgil’s great epic Aeneid, which reads as follows: “Arma virumque cano", meaning “Of arms and the man I sing”. Shaw’s obvious purpose was to satirise and puncture the inflated balloons—the romantic ideas about war and love.

What is “drama of ideas”? Would you classify ‘Arms and the Man’ as a drama of ideas?

Or, Is ‘Arms and the Man’ a problem play?
Or, is ‘Arms and the Man’ a radicalist propaganda?

Ans: A drama of ideas or a problem play concerns itself with the problems of life—the maladies of society. The dramatist presents those vividly before the audience/readers with a view to bringing about radical changes in the real situation. Arms and the Man can definitely be classified as a drama of ideas since it deal s with the undesirable presentation of the romantic concept of love and war.

Do you consider Bluntschli a Shavian hero/an anti-hero/numeric hero/anti-romantic hero?

Ans: Bernard Shaw deliberately created Bluntschli as an anti-hero or unheroic hero, who exposes the false romantic ideas of love and war. He brings all the characters round back to the practical problems of life, doing which, he shows that he is truly heroic in the sense that happiness actually lies in that. He is radically rational and logical in his actions and views about life.

Character of Sergius: a foil to Bluntschli/a Byronic hero/romantic fool/romantic idiot.

Ans: G. B. Shaw created Saranoff Sergius as a romantic type made famous by the craze of Byronism in Europe, as a foil to Bluntschli in an obvious attempt to expose the hollowness of the conception of love and war, which, the character of the former believes to live by. Shaw shows that, in reality, Sergius is a romantic fool, a coward, full of contradictions. In spite of his higher love for Raina, he flirts with a maid-servant louka. In practical affairs, he fails utterly.

Character of Raina:

Ans: Shaw presents Raina as a young girl with as head full of false conceptions of love and war. But very quickly she learns the truth as she comes in contact with Bluntschli whom she rightly chooses as her husband free from all the illusions. But above all, Shaw endows her with all the attributes of a woman, of a mother, which Shaw later on necessary for the creation of Superman.

Character of Louka:

Ans: From the very beginning Louka knows her worth and judges all other characters correctly. With her physical charm, practical calculations and feminine tricks, she succeeds in winning over Sergius who in the beginning looked upon her as a mere maid at his disposal for flirting. Ultimately she boldly stands upright against the whole family to save her honour and win her object, Sergius.

Character of Nicola:

Ans: Louka flirtingly describes Nicola as a man with the “soul of a servant”. It is true that he is of servile nature; yet Bluntschli describes him as the “ablest man in Bulgaria”. He is free all the illusions. He leads his life calculating for specific purpose of achieving his financial freedom. Above all, he knows himself and others very well.

Raina: Some soldiers are afraid to die.

The Man: All of them...It is our duty to live as long as we can.
Compare and contrast the views of the speakers.
Or, Why does the man say that “It is our duty to live as long as we can”?
Or, How does Bluntschli counter the views of Raina?

Ans: Raina, under the influence of her romantic conception of heroism, mocks at Bluntschli. She thinks as he was afraid to die, he escaped from the field. Bluntschli, an experienced soldier, tells her that everybody is afraid to die, and that no soldier should sacrifice a precious possession as life for a false conviction in heroism.

“You can tell the young ones by their wildness...The Old ones come bunched up under the numbers and guard”

Who is the speaker? Why does he say all these?
Ans: Prepare the answer yourself.

I thought you might have remembered the great scene where Ernani flying...an old Castilion noble”.

Who is the speaker? How does she find similarity between the conditions of Ernani and Bluntschli?

Ans: In the opera Ernani by the Italian composer G. Verdi, the hero Ernani runs away from his enemies and takes refuge in the castle of his rival in love, Ruy Yomet, who refuses to hand over him to his enemies. Raina thinks that Bluntschli’s taking refuge in Petkoff’s house is comparable with that of Ernani.

Character of Catherine:

Ans: Catherine, a housewife of over forty years, is a typical fashionable ragging wife, who, in spite of her false romantic conceptions of love, war, patriotism and aristocracy, bears some secrets with herself. She is also a typically concerned mother, whose aim in life is now to marry her daughter off to a rich aristocratic groom.

Character of Major Petkoff:

Ans: Petkoff is a typical husband about fifty. His life in the military has made him a coarse and proud man who can easily be duped by the women at home. He proves to be an affectionate husband and father.

“What a man! Is he a man!”

Who said this and about whom? Why did he say so?

Ans: After his engagement with Raina is made final, Bluntschli gives necessary instructions for sending off the infantry of Timok division. He requests Sergius not to get married until he returns and he promises to arrive “punctually at five in the evening on Tuesday fortnight.” Sergius is amazed at his businesslike attitude and almost superhuman efficiency. That is why he says this about him.

What is the kind of morality G. B. Shaw wants to propagate through the play?

Ans: Shaw believes that moral ideals are reflections of past social needs. Modern man has outgrown such needs and therefore the ideals of the past will cause unhappiness. What produces the most good and happiness should be regarded as moral. Such natural morality cannot be systematised into rules.

What does Shaw mean by ‘Byronism’ in the play?

Ans: Lord Byron, an English poet, the author of Child Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan revolted against the conventional society of the day, against hypocrisy and oppression. Sergius’s Byronism is shown in his contempt for everything to do with caution, prudence, commerce and middleclass. He is moody, aristocratic and has an exaggerated sense of humour and also in his sensual fickleness. He has also like Byron a confused mixture of various personalities.

“Soldiering is the coward’s art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak” Who says this? Why does he think so? Is he honest about his claims?

Ans: Sergius accidentally won a battle in an unscientific and impractical manner. That is why he was not promoted to higher rank. To protest against this, he tells Catherine that he gave up the job. Now he intends to use his accidental victory to prove his heroism, which, in reality, is false.

“If pity is akin to love, gratitude is akin to other thing.”

Why does the speaker say this? What does he mean by the ‘the other thing’?

Ans: As Raina charges Bluntschli of his ingratitude and betrayal of faith by making the incident public, he answers that if pity leads to love, gratitude leads to hatred.

“You are a romantic idiot”

Who says this? Is her opinion justified?
Or, How does Shaw prove his theory that it is the woman who chases and chooses the man in the play?

Ans: in spite of his vast experience Bluntschli commits a mistake regarding the exact age of Raina. This enrages Raina. She succeeds in showing that he has not been able to know all woman. On the other hand, Raina knows all about him perfectly and has marked him and has been pursuing him for a long time. In fact, as a woman she outsmarts Captain Bluntschli.

Is the play solely a satire on love and heroism? Justify.

Ans: Shaw’s play’s is not limited to a demonstration of the utility of rational behaviour. If so, Raina would not have saved Bluntschli or Bluntschli would not have returned to the Petkoffs. Certainly there is romance and bravery enough in the play. Shaw is not criticising love, impulse, generosity or bravery; he is showing the foolishness of acting by false systems of behaviour.

What did Bluntschli say about the old and new soldier?

Ans: Bluntschli informs Raina quite unexpectedly and contrary to her romantic conceptions of heroism that experienced and practical soldiers know that food is more valuable in the battlefield than ammunition. He also means to say that old soldiers act from sagacity and prescience, while the young ones conduct themselves foolishly and sometime recklessly.

“This is a better weapon than a revolver”.

Who is the speaker and what is the ‘better weapon’?

Ans: According Bluntschli, Raina cloak is the better weapon that a revolver because without it, Raina will not be able to dress herself properly and that will prevent her from permitting Bulgarians to enter her room. So he will be safe as long as he has her cloak with him.

(For Broad Discussion on Bluntschli, click here)
Character of Sergius: a foil to Bluntschli/a Byronic hero/romantic fool/romantic idiot.>>Click here for Broad Discussion
Character of Raina>>Click here for Broad Discussion
Character of Louka>>Click here for Broad Discussion
Charactr of Nicola>>Click here for Broad Discussion

Questions for Exercise

Why does Shaw call it an “anti-sentimental comedy”?
What is Bluntschli’s view on war?
How does Raina define ‘higher’ love?
How does Sergius reciprocate Raina’s higher love?
Why does Raina address Bluntschli as “a chocolate cream soldier”?
What dramatic function does Major Petcoff’s coat play in the drama?
What dramatic purpose does Raina’s photograph fulfil in the play?
In Arms and the Man who is the ‘man’ and how are arms related to the man?
How does Sergius express his adverse criticism of warfare?
"Nine soldiers out of ten are fools.” Who says this and when? What does the speaker want to mean?
Comment on the play as a popular comedy.
Comment on the theme of the play.

SSC Mock Test Paper II

2007-11-30T21:12:00.000+05:30

Full marks 20 x 2 = 40

Duration: 1 hour
Answer all the questions:

1. How does the poet describe the loss of Lucy?

2. ”Fair as a star when only one / Is shining in the sky.” – Bring out the significance of the comparison.

3. How will Nature be both “law and impulse” to Lucy?

4. “How soon my Lucy’s race was run”. Give the meaning of this line.

5. “A slumber did my spirit seal”. – What is meant by ‘slumber’ here? What was its impact on the mind of the poet?

6. “ ‘O Mercy!’ to myself I cried.” – How would you account for such an emotional outburst?

7. “What fond and wayward thoughts will slide / Into a lover’s head!”—What thought is referred to here? Why is it called “fond and wayward”?

8. “ I would rather be / A pagan suckled in a creed outworn”. Explain the significance of these lines.

9. Who is a Maenad? Why does Shelley mention her in Ode to the West Wind?

10. What is a ‘dirge’? Why is the West Wind called the “dirge of the dying year?

11. Give an example of past perfect continuous tense.

12. Give the meanings of the phrasal verbs:
i. Hold over……………..
ii. Lay by ……………………….
iii. Make away………………..
iv. Come of……………………….

13. Change the voice of the following sentences:
i) He likes people to call him ‘sir’.
ii) Honey tastes sweet.
iii) Rice sells cheap.
iv) He hoped to win the match.
v) One should keep one’s promise.

14. What is an essay? What type of an essay is Dream Children?

15. “With thy clear keen joyance/ Langour cannot be”. Where do these line occur? What is the meaning of the word ‘langour’ here?

16. What is the name of Lamb’s grandmother in Dream Children? How does Lamb present her in the essay?

17. Explain the expression “love’s sad satiety”.

18. How does Ulysses present Ithaca in the poem Ulysses?

19. Rewrite the following sentence correctly and explain the reason: The Career Coaching and Counseling Centre of this college offers many opportunities, like meeting knowledgeable persons, reading useful books and obtain information about public careers.

20. Suppose a student of class vi stammers while reading English, but while reading Bengali he does not. Now how will you guide him to pronounce English correctly?

(Answer the questions and send the answers to us for an evaluation and get feedback)

G.B. Saw’s Freedom

2007-11-18T20:58:00.000+05:30

Criticism

G.B. Saw’s Freedom actually is one of the series of radio talks delivered in 1935 on the B.B.C. As it was intended for the larger circles in their capacity as listeners, the lecture seems to be free from theoretical jargons. But Shaw can be very much deceptive in what he says. For, behind his homour lies the satire of the contemporary social condition. Not only that, his simple talk was actually a denunciation of the conventional and capitalist view of freedom. Politically Shaw conformed to democratic socialism, a variant of Marxism, according to which the society should try to reach the socialist political condition gradually by the democratic means. The concept of freedom, which Shaw satirises, was the fundamental principle of Enlightenment, and he does so because in a capitalist society, according to the Marxian view, freedom of the individual can never be realised.
Shaw begins the essay with the proposition that a person can be called completely free in such a condition, in which he will be able to “ do what he likes, when he likes, and where he likes, or do nothing at all if he prefers it”. He firmly denies the possibility of the existence of such a person as human beings are all slaves to nature:
“…we must all sleep for one third of our lifetime__ wash and dress and undress__ we must spend a couple of hours eating and drinking__ we must spend nearly as much in getting about from one place to place.”
From this funny yet inexorable condition of human life, Shaw very cleverly moves on to the fact that some of the “natural jobs” can be placed on others’ shoulders:
“What you do to a horse or a bee, you can do to a man or woman or child…sort”.
With this Shaw, however, comes to the immediate social and political condition of the time, in which the concept of freedom __ derived from the grand idealistic project of the Enlightenment, and nationalistic bias produced by the First World War __ was being glorified and used by the upper class as a means to achieving their self-interests. According to Shaw the farce of the democratic system in a capitalist state lies in the fact that “most actual governments…enforce your slavery and call it freedom”. But the citizens of the state continue to be duped by the system instead of rising to protest. Shaw terms this unequal relationship “the unnatural slavery of man to man”.
Shaw points out an important difference between the “natural slavery of man to Nature and the unnatural slavery of man to man”. According to him, the first, though unavoidable, provides pleasure after its fulfilment; for instance, if nature forces us to drink, she makes drinking pleasant. The same is true of eating, drinking, sleeping and other activities. Shaw introduces this difference and cites examples more importantly to explain the evils of the former in more acute terms. He refers to few thinkers like Karl Marx and Thomas Moore, who denounced this slavery and tried to abolish it. At this point his explanation of the capitalist mechanism, that is, the means by which the system tries to dupe people and establish, legitimize and perpetuate itself approaches the ideological theories of Althusser and Gramsci. “Ideology represents”, Althusser tells us, “the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real condition of existence.” He points out that there are found a number of ideologies – namely, religious ideology, ethical ideology, legal ideology, political ideology – all of which operate invisibly in the superstructure. Shaw strikes at the very root when he says, “Naturally the master class, through its parliaments and schools and newspapers, makes the most desperate efforts to prevent us from realizing our slavery.” He explains historically how the British capitalist system has established itself by propagating the so-called glorious events as the Magna Charta, the defeat of the Spanish Armada and Napoleon. Then he explains how “ideological apparatuses”, to quote Althusser, manipulate the common mass to cast votes in favour of the capitalist leaders. What is more alarmingly effective, according to him, is the educational system, which operates in the superstructure and “ends in deluding the master class much more completely”.
Thus Shaw explains the difference between two kinds of slavery and conclusively tells the listeners/readers: “Wipe out from yours dreams of freedom the hope of being able to do as you please all the time.” For, according to him, people have to remain occupied doing the natural slavery for at least twelve hours a day, while their unnatural slavery is controlled and regulated by the legal and administrative system of the country.

(Contextual Q/A to be published soon.)

Guidelines for the Personality Test

2007-11-03T17:49:00.005+05:30

Guidelines for the Personality Test

Face the SSC Interview Board Easily
For the English (Pass/Hons-PG) candidates of West Bengal School Service Commission Test

First things first:

Have a sound and deep sleep at night.
Rise up early and collect the English newspapers like The Statesman or The Telegraph (if possible). Read the important news of the day.
Make sure that you have got the necessary documents (Call Letter, original and photocopies of all the mark-sheets and certificates other documents if required) and a pen with you. Use an elegant file (Clear Book) with transparent pockets that display the mark-sheets and certificates from within.
Make sure that you have put on light coloured dress. Do not use any perfume. Female candidates should put on sari and should avoid using lipstick and excessive and self-fashioning ornaments. Remember, you should feel comfortable whatever you are dressed in.
Do not chew or smoke anything that would stink (like pan, cigarette, guthka). To resist bad breath, if you unfortunately have, you may use mouth-freshener candies. But don’t go for any chewing-gum as excessive chewing caused by tension results in cramp in the oral muscles.
Prepare yourself sufficiently ahead of time and start for the SSC Office confidently.

At the Office before the Interview:
Before you enter the office, make sure that you have some dry food and a bottle of water with you.
Get your documents checked properly and wait for the call to the board.
You may talk to other candidates in a light-hearted manner. This may reduce the tension level in you. But don’t talk too much as you may lose you focus.

Getting the personality right for the Personality Test:
Try to remain focused and feel comfortable. Remember you have crossed the barrier of 90 marks out of 100. Your task is to score well out of remaining 10.
Tell yourself that you need the job. But in order to get it, do not think of presenting yourself as someone begging a job before the board. Think of presenting yourself as a candidate fit for the job. Now it is your task to convince the interviewers that you are fit enough for the teaching job. Gather the whole weight of your knowledge, teaching skill, extra-curricular skills and will to do the job sincerely and present those before the board.
So instead of evading the board, wait eagerly for the call.

Feel easy at the table:
Approach the allotted room or the table without making noise of your shoes and ornaments. Standing at the door, with a sincere smile on your face, ask their permission to enter by saying “May I come in sir/madam?”. After they have said “Yes, come in”, proceed to the table and wish them “Good morning” (if it is before 12p.m.) or “Good afternoon” (if it is after 12 p.m.). They will return the courtesy and say to you “sit down” on the chair kept there for the candidates. Say in a low but audible voice “Thank you sir/madam”.
Be seated confidently and feel comfortable and with a smile wait for the questions.
Don’t feel cramped. Remember the interviewers are also somewhat apprehensive of the encounter. This happens because whenever we meet a stranger we feel somewhat shaky.
It is expected that they will want a short introduction from you—your name, address, degree/s you have done, the institutions you studied in, and, above all, your present position. Answer the questions smoothly and clearly so that they can hear you and understand your words. Since you are supposed to speak in English, answer in English if any interviewer asks you any question in English. But if any member asks you questions in Bengali, you should then speak in standard Bengali. Remember, since you will have to speak both in English and Bengali in school, they will test your skills in both languages. By ‘test’ it is meant here that they will see to whether you can speak fluently and clearly, and loudly enough so that you teach a class of 100 students or not. So don’t stammer, don’t speak in a weak and inaudible voice, don’t answer in one word or only in expressions (incomplete sentences) and don’t pronounce any meaningless expression. For your convenience, a fictitious dialogue about the introductory part is given below:
1st Member: What is your name?
Candidate: My name is Amit Chaudhuri.
2nd Member: Where are you hailing/coming from?
Candidate: I live at Silapur. It is an ancient village in the Kharagpur Sub-division of Paschim Medinipur.
1st Member: Where did you do your graduation from?
Can: I passed B. A. Hons. in English from XYZ College, XYZ (Place), which is affiliated to XYZ University.
3rd Member: What are you doing now?
Can: I am now teaching in a college/school as a part-time teacher and preparing for the examination of School Service Commission/ I give tuition for English to the students from Class VIII to X. (Here whatever you do, tell them honestly)
After the introductory part is over, they may ask you specific questions. For instance, “Why do want to be a teacher? Why don’t you look for other jobs?” Here you should prepare a ready-made answer. The answer may be like the following one:
“I want to be a teacher because it is directly related to social service. In my school I was inspired by my teachers. I loved the job they did. When I went to my college, I was further inspired by my teachers. I think that only this job will allow me to do my work by being directly associated with common people. Not only this, this will also give me the opportunity of helping the young generation shape their destiny and become ideal citizens. Besides, by being a teacher, I think, I will be able to remain with knowledgeable persons.”
After you have finished, the members may ask you some specific questions relating to Environmental and Social Awareness in Bengali. Answer the questions as far as you know. If you do not know any answer, tell them smilingly: “I can’t recall it right now/ I don’t know the answer.” Don’t give wrong answer.
As you know, there will be a subject-expert among the members. He/she may ask you specific questions relating to your subject. Subject specific questions do not have any range. In spite of that, you should have your preparation:
i. Memorise a short important speech (10-15 lines) from one of Shakespeare’s drama. Again, memorise one or two stanzas from one of the Romantic poems like Immortality Ode you have read. Remember they may ask you questions from the speech of a drama or the stanza/s of a poem you will recite.
ii. Now re-read the important events and topics like the Renaissance, Neo-classicism and Romanticism, Wordsworth’s pantheism/attitude to Nature, Coleridge’s supernaturalism, Shelley’s revolutionary and Platonic ideals, Keats’s sensuousness, Keats’s theory of “Objective Co-relative”, modernism, postmodernism. Get acquainted with certain important years like 1066, 1453, the span of the Elizabethan period, the year of Shakespeare’s birth, 1688, 1798, Victoria’s ascension to the throne, 1914, 1922, 1939 etc.
iii. Memorise the definitions and examples of certain literary types and terms like sonnet, lyric, ode, tragedy, hamartia, essay, one-act play, problem play, poetic drama, dramatic monologue, blank verse, different kinds of novels—like Gothic novel, picaresque novel, historical novel, psychological novel, the stream of consciousness fiction, short story etc.
iv. As to questions from grammar, you will have to have a thorough knowledge of English grammar. Go through a good book of grammar like “A Higher English Grammar (General)” by P.K. De Sarkar. Memorise the definitions of important terms like adjective, adverb, preposition, auxiliary verbs, transitive/intransitive verbs, infinitive, present participle, gerund, verbal noun, case, moods etc.
v. Take note of the English (French and Latin loans) words having difficult spelling.
20. Now come to the question of teaching in school. Here you may be asked very simple basic yet difficult question like: “How would you teach English in class V/VI?” The answer should be as follows:
“I will teach English through functional communicative approach. I will start the day’s lesson by asking a few questions relating to the lesson in order to draw their attention and make them interested. Then I will read the text loudly and explain the new words in English by giving concrete examples and writing the synonyms on the blackboard. If some of the words are abstract words, I will explain those by supplying Bengali words for those. After I have finished explaining the text, I will ask some students to read a few lines. In this way I will see whether they can pronounce the new words correctly or not. After that I will ask them questions given in the book to see whether they have understood the text or not. If they face difficulty, I will explain the difficult portion. Sometimes if it is necessary to create an imaginary situation, I will form groups among the students and tell them to communicate with one another as if they are in real-life situation. Thus I will finish with them the questions given at the end of text and give them home-task and finish the day’s lesson."
The questions may be specific, like “How would you teach grammar in Class V/VI?” Your answer may be as follows:
“I will teach grammar through the text book. For instance, if I am to teach the use of simple present tense, I will not start by telling them the definition and giving some examples. Rather I will first make them familiar with the uses by referring to the examples given in the text book. Then I will ask simple questions in order to see whether they can use the example in real-life situations. In order to do this, I may create an imaginary situation. Finally when I am satisfied that they can apply the use of simple present tense in real life, I will tell them the definition.”
Again they may ask some questions relating to the problems of teaching in school. For instance, they may ask you to give your opinion regarding the recent circular issued by the West Bengal Council of Secondary Education. So collect the circular and read it and prepare your arguments in favour of the circular. The same is the case with Sarba Siksha Obhijan and the disputed Sex Education (Life-Style Education). Remember that whatever you say must be directed towards the development of the students, irrespective of class, caste and gender. Don’t talk of the weakness of the students. If they are weak, it is the teacher’s fault.
In other words, you will have to present yourself as a candidate with positive mindset and flexible attitude and willingness to do the job seriously and sincerely. Remember you’re your role in school should be that of a facilitator.
So, after the interview is over, say “Thank Sir/Madam” to them and walk out of the room modestly.

General Guidelines for SSC English (Pass/Hons-PG)

2007-10-17T21:39:00.002+05:30

General Guidelines for West Bengal School Service Commission's English Tests

The Context

The West Bengal School Service Commission was formed the West Bengal School Service Commission Act in 1997 as a fair system of appointing teachers in Non-Govt. Govt.-Aided Secondary schools and madrasahs in both Hons/PG and Pass categories. The prime aim of the Government was not only to bring in clarity in the system of recruitment, but also to make sure that only the suitable candidates enter the profession. The ‘suitability’ of the candidates raises certain issues that occasion the present discussion. It should be noted that the purpose of holding a competitive exam. is not at all to select a few and drive away others, but to sort out candidates who will be able to perform the job required of him/her in a specific field. The SSC candidates, therefore, bear in mind the scope and nature of the job you are going to compete for. An understanding of this will help the candidates to mark out for them the position they are in and they will have start from.

Nature and Scope of the Job

Specifically speaking, a teacher’s job in a secondary school is to participate in the organised dynamic process, in particular, of an institution, and in general, of the society—a process, which remains responsible for the all-round social, psychological, cultural and intellectual development of a child. This is called education. The individual role of a teacher out there is to make sure that all the students of a particular class, say for instance class V, come within the circle of his/her conduction of the subject he/she assigned with. A teacher beginning to teach English in class V should take care as to whether or not all the students have learnt to recognise, read and write the English alphabet correctly. If they can, only then the teacher should proceed on to teach some common questions. Again, a teacher assigned to teach in the H.S. level should remember that H.S. is the first stage of higher education. Accordingly, he/she is required to take care that the learners come in touch, know and understand well the fundamentals of a specific subject and be prepared for the next stage as well. Once the nature and scope of the job are understood properly, it will be easier for to understand what is expected of you out there in the examination and prepare for it and make through it.

General Guidelines

The Commission does not expect you to excel with vast and deep knowledge of English Literature, nor that you revel in high standard of criticism. What is actually expected is that you are well acquainted with the main trends and movements in English Literature, the vogue of the particular genres in particular periods, the use of literary terms and answer certain questions from the prescribed texts clearly in correct English.

If you look at the syllabus, you may discern a pattern there. Candidates appearing for the pass category will find that the texts cover the area beginning with the Romantic Period down roughly to the first quarter of the 20th century, just prior to the beginning of the Modernist Movement of Pound, Eliot and others. Candidate appearing for the Hons/PG category will find that the texts range from the Elizabethan period down to the British literature produced before 1950 or so. The syllabus can be divided, for convenience, into two levels—the general and the particular.

General Aspects:

On the general level, here you should therefore be will acquainted with the prevalence of different genres in different periods that come within the area of the syllabus: for instance, ‘sonnet’ during the Elizabethan period, ‘Mock-epic’ during the Augustan period, ‘Ode’ and ‘Lyric’ during the Romantic period, disconnected irregular utterances during the Modernist period etc. You are also advised to take note of the genres like ‘novel’, ‘short-story’ and ‘essay’.

You should have clear conceptions regarding different trends and movements in English literature; for instance, the Neo-classical trend in Augustan period, the Romantic Movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, the Symbolist Movement, the modernist Movement etc.

You should take care to remember the importance of certain years in which some epoch-making events took place; for instance, the accession and death of Queen Elizabeth in 1558 and 1603 respectively, the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the fall of the Bastille Fort and the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, the publication of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798, the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, First World War (1914-18), the publications of Eliot’s Waste Land and Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922, the Second World War (1939-45) etc.

On the general plane, the candidates may be asked directly to express their opinions on individual writers, for instance you may be asked, ‘How would you differentiate among Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats?’ or ‘In what ways Wordsworth’s poetry is different from Coleridge’s?’

You should also remember the full name of a writer from the prescribed texts: for example, ‘What is the full name of T.S. Eliot?’

Particular Aspects:

The Commission intends to test you on some particular levels as well, and that is why there is a prescribed syllabus. But it does not expect you to examine the texts from the perspective or on the critical level you did in your college/university exams, nor is there any scope for doing so. The Commission’s experts will see into whether or not you are capable of answering the given questions clearly to the point in correct English in two or three sentences. Your answer, therefore, should be assertive, clarifying and illuminating and informative, if necessary. It should never be reflective, nor incomplete in sense, nor put in the form of circumlocution. In other words, the experts will see into whether or not you possess the necessary knowledge and skills for explaining the school texts in classroom situation. Therefore, remember the following points:

Before entering a text, it is necessary to note whether the title bears any special significance for an understanding and discussion of the text.

Second in importance in order, certainly not in degree, comes the opening or unfolding of an action or story in drama or short story. The opening scene sometimes anticipates or sets the keys for the events going to take place in the text; for instance, the opening scene in Macbeth.

Then enter the characters. Different character plays different roles. Sometimes foils or opposite characters are introduced to highlight some lack or excess or flaw in the principal character. For instance, Telemachus in Ulysses stands in sharp contrast as a symbol of domesticity and stability to his father who lacks or defies these. Or, in Macbeth Banquo is presented as a foil, as a moral rebuke to Macbeth in order to emphasise the latter’s immoral and illegal project.

Sometimes the characters are named after the kind of function or idiosyncrasy they are associated with; for example, Tony Lumpkin.

The incidents scattered throughout the text are no less important; in other words, it is equally important know and remember and explain what happens when, or who/what makes what happen when. For instance, you may asked, ‘When/How did Falder die?’, or ‘When did Darcy confess to Elizabeth that he was violently in love with her?’ etc.

Some character sometimes utters words which turn out to be highly significant in the context of an action or a whole text. For instance, Lady Macbeth’s false conviction that a little water was sufficient to wash the mark of the blood, turns back later on herself and it brings about her nemesis. Or, the Duke’s sudden utterance ‘All the smiles were stopped together’ suddenly supplies the information of his heinous act of murdering his innocent wife and points to his monomania.

The end is always replete with significance. However, more often it is in the ending of a short story and a one-act play that the significance lies.

While preparing for the poems you should, first of all, mark the particular rhyme a particular poem is written in. For instance, you may be asked, ‘What is terza rima? Give an instance of its use by a poet from the prescribed texts’.

You should also note the rhyming scheme, especially in the sonnets. You may be asked, ‘What is the difference in stanzaic pattern between a Shakespearean sonnet a Spenserian sonnet?’ You may also be asked, ‘What is blank verse?’

It is equally important to make note of significant lines in a poem and their meaning, their denotations and connotations. For instance, Ulysses’ exhortation to the sailors, ‘To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield’ on the surface level denotes an optimistic overture, but into the deeper one it connotes a fruitless and pessimistic desperate cry of an ageing person.

A poem sometimes contains images that become notable for artistic beauty or that may have deeper significance. For instance, Shelley’s comparison of the skylark to ‘a poet/ Hidden in the light of thought’, or Coleridge’s description of ‘the one red leaf, the last of its clan’ in Christabel, or his picture of the ‘woman wailing for her demon lover’ etc. should be carefully noted.

The prescribed essays are mixed in type. In the Pass category while Lamb’s Dream Children is a personal essay, L.A. Hill’s is of prescriptive nature. In the Hons/PG category, however, besides Lamb’s there is Shaw’s Freedom written in light-hearted and humorous vein, and another by Bacon instructive in nature. While doing Lamb you should be careful of his favourite tactics of mixing autobiography with fiction, humour with pathos, of presenting fictional names for real-life persons and use of pedantic tags. In Bacon you will find the use of pithy and contracted constructions which can easily be expanded into paragraphs. Try to understand only what the author wants to mean.

In the secondary and H.S. schools teachers are required not so much to teach English literature nor to inculcate literary habits as to teach them the use of the English language in practical situation. The teacher should be there to help them so that they can read a text with proper pronunciation, comprehend it, answer the related questions vocally and write those in correct English. What matters here most is teaching situational grammar fruitfully. That is why you should have a sound knowledge of the English grammar and the skills for application. In this you may be tested in many ways:

First of all, you will have to answers questions from the prescribed texts and the experts will scrutinise your answers so as to find out whether you have written your answers in correct English or not. Bear in mind, this matters most.

There will be questions specifically related to the definition and its application; you may be asked ‘What is split infinitive? Give an example in a sentence.’

You may be asked to apply your grammatical skills; for instance, ‘The building is building. Change the voice.’

You may be tested whether or not you can explain different sentences in terms of tense, voice, mood and so on; for instance, ‘I was to go there, I had to go there, I am to go there. Differentiate.’

You will be tested whether or not you can mark out an error in a construction, rewrite it correctly and give explanations for it. For instance, ‘I am looking forward to you come. Rewrite it correctly and explain it.’

You may be asked to give adjective/adverb/verb/noun form/s of given word/s and use those in sentences.

You may be asked to differentiate between/among homonyms, that is, a word identical with another in pronunciation, but different from it in the spelling and meaning.

Since you are going to enter the profession of teaching, it is expected that you are acquainted with the general climate of education, the issues, problems, new changes that have bearing upon or related to the system of education in West Bengal. For instance, you should prepare short compositions on topics relating to the new changes and introductions in schools.

The Things you should not do:

Do not think that whatever you get here are all. You need to consult books, magazines and other authorities.

Do NOT build up your preparation the way you prepared for Graduate/Postgraduate courses. Remember, it’s a competitive exam and there is nothing in between getting selected and rejected. Either you are recruited or simply not counted.

So, do NOT just gather notes or depend on notes provided by the famous Coaching Centres (This should not mean I’m telling you not to join one of those. On the contrary, I say join a centre and remain in a process!).

Do NOT channelize all your energies into committing to memory the notes you collect. You will never find more than 80% of the questions tallying with the suggestions, be it from our site or somebody else’s.

So, build up “active preparation”, that is, while you memorise certain answers, practise how to write good answers in real-time situation.

Finally, remember success is a continuous process. This demands that you are familiar with all kinds of advice and guidelines and tips. Do not think mine are final. Read other experts views and read books written by various writers. Remember I just want to help you like them on the ether.

SSC MOCK TEST I

2007-10-16T20:30:00.000+05:30

SSC MOCK TEST I
(Model Questions for the English (Pass/Hons-PG) candidates of West Bengal School Service Commission Test))

[ FULL MARKS 10X2 = 20 MARKS EACH QUESTION CARRIES 2 MARKS]

ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS.

‘Thus Nature spake—The work was done’. What work does the poet refer to here? How did Nature speak?
‘Take back the hope you give—I claim only the memory of the same.’
Who is the speaker here? Under what circumstances does he utter these words?
What is meant by ‘the ancient pulse of germ and birth’?
Explain the expression “busy idle diversion”.
‘ The building is building.’ Change the voice.
Correct the following sentence and explain: In the classroom one of the boy raised the question of the faults inherent in the examination system.
Correct the following sentence and explain the reason: On the way to go to Calcutta I saw an airport.
‘…I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.’
What does the poet want to mean by ‘sore need’?
‘ Like a poet
Hidden in the light of thought,’
Explain the simile introduced by the poet here.
Explain the phrase ‘empty vaunt’ in Shelley’s To a Skylark.
‘ But in the lovers ears alone
What once to me befell.’ What is the incident referred to here?
‘The land’s sharp features seemed to be
The Century’s Corpse out leant.’ What does the expression ‘ Century’s corpse’ stand for?
‘Thou lovest—but ne’er knew love’s sad satiety’. What does the poet want to mean by ‘love’s sad satiety’?
What is the ‘blessed hope’ that the poet speaks of in The Darkling Thrush?
Correct the following sentence: The Macmillan printed Tagore’s Geetanjali on papers first in England.
‘ ‘Tis past, that melancholy dream!’ What is the ‘melancholy dream’ spoken of here? How did it come to an end?
Correct the following sentence: When the moon comes between the earth and the sun, her shadow causes lunar eclipse.
Correct the following sentence: The practices of the lawyers vary from those of the doctors.
How does Lamb describe the loss of his brother?
Why does Shelley seek inspiration from the West Wind in order to refer to the resurrection in the human society?

Noun, Number, Case, Pronouns,

2007-10-16T20:25:00.002+05:30

USE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CORRECTLY
MODULE I

NOUN
Definition: A noun is a word used as a name of a person, a thing, a place, an action, or a quality.

USAGES:
Usage 1: Proper Noun: proper nouns are written with a capital letter at the beginning.
* The capital of west bengal is calcutta. (Incorrect)
* The capital of West Bengal is Calcutta. (Correct)

Usage 2: A Proper noun may be sometimes used as a common noun.
* Gandhiji is Christ of India. (Inc.)
Here Christ does not mean Jesus Christ, the preacher of Christianity. But the word stands for the possessor of qualities, which Christ is most known for __ non-violence and love. Therefore, Christ here stands for “the man acting on the principles of non-violence and love”. In the correct sentence ‘the’ must be written before ‘Christ’ for this reason.
* Gandhiji is the Christ of India. (Cor.)

Usage 3: Collective Noun: A collective noun (e.g. flock, army, committee, crowd, fleet, parliament, team, mob, herd, band, group etc) goes by a singular verb and should be substituted by a singular pronoun.
* The committee have submitted their report. (Inc.)
* The committee has submitted its report. (Cor.)

Usage 4: A collective noun may, however, go by a plural verb and may be substituted by a plural pronoun when the individual members __ of which it is composed__ are separately thought of, or considered divided among themselves.
* The committee was divided in its opinion. (Inc.)
*The committee were divided in their opinions. (Cor.)

Correct the following sentences: 1. A band of robbers were lurking at a corner of the jungle. 2.The parliament has not come to a unanimous decision. 3. The capital of India is delhi. 4. Shakespeare is called Kalidas of England.
GENDER:
Usage 1: When collective nouns are used to denote living beings as a group, those are considered of the neuter gender.
* Prof. Nilesh Saha runs an N.S.S. unit of fifty boys. He has to look after him. (Inc.)
* Prof. Nilesh Saha runs an N.S.S. unit of fifty boys. He has to look after it. (Cor.)

Usage 2: Young children and lower animals are referred to as of the neuter gender (because perhaps it does not matter to a child or a cow whether it is referred to as a male or female).
* The baby loves his mother. (Inc.)
* The baby loves its mother. (Cor.)

Usage 3: When objects without life are personified, those are considered of
(i) the masculine gender if the object is marked by strength or violence or any masculine quality; e.g. Sun, Summer, Winter, Time, Death etc.
* The Sun came out with all her force from behind the clouds. (Inc.)
* The Sun came out with all his force from behind the clouds. (Cor.)
(ii) the feminine gender if the object is marked by beauty, gentleness, gracefulness or any feminine quality; e.g. Earth, Moon, Spring, Nature, Mercy etc.
* The Earth invites everybody to his world. (Inc.)
· The Earth invites everybody to her world. (Cor.)

Usage 4: If objects without life, however, are not personified, those are considered of the neuter gender.
* The sun is the reservoir of energy. That is why he is so important to us. (Inc.)
* The sun is the reservoir of energy. That is why it is so important to us. (Cor.)

Correct the following sentences: 1. Since you are the teacher of this class of 100 students, you will have to manage them. 2. The child was looking for his mother. 3. The moon is the only satellite of the earth. Do you know her speed? 4. Death lays her cold hand over all. 5. Nature burst out with all his furies!

NUMBER:
Usage 1: Plurals of the words ending in -o are generally made by adding –es to those, e.g. mangoes; but there are some exceptions, e.g. ratios, cantos, mementos, pianos, photos etc.

Usage 2: Plurals of the compound nouns are made by adding –s to the principal words of the compounds, e.g. vice-presidents, sisters-in-law, courts-martial etc.

Usage 3: Some nouns have the same forms for both the singular and plural numbers, e.g. sheep, deer, cod, trout, swine etc.

Usage 4: Plurals of words ending in –f and –fe are made by changing –f and –fe into –ves; e.g. thief (thieves), wife (wives). But there are some exceptions, e.g. belief, brief, dwarf, grief, gulf, safe etc.

Usage 5.When units of counting (dozens, pair, score, gross, hundred, thousand) are used after numbers, those retain the singular forms.
* I want two hundreds rupees. (Inc.)
* I want two hundred rupees. (Cor.)

Usage 6. Certain nouns are used only in the plural forms: scissors, spectacles, measles, mumps, billiards, droughts, cattle, poultry, gentry, people, vermin, annals, thanks, assets, proceeds, nuptials, tidings etc.
* The landed gentry was against the abolition of the Zamindari system. (Inc.)
* The landed gentry were against the abolition of the Zamindari system. (Cor.)

Usage 7.Certain plural forms are generally used in the singular, e.g. innings, physics, mathematics, news, politics etc.
Correct the following sentences: 1.He brought two dozens eggs. 2.His brother-in-laws are all scientists. 3. Every one should respect other people’s religious beliefes. 4. His spectacles was broken. 5. India made 550 runs in the first inning.

CASE
Usage 1.Nominative case: If a noun or pronoun is used as the subject of a verb, it is said to be in the nominative case. Ex. Ram killed Ravana. Here ‘Ram’ is in the nominative case.

Usage 2. Accusative or objective case: If a noun or pronoun is used as the object of a verb, it is said to be in the accusative or objective case. Ex. Ram killed Ravana. Here ‘Ravana’ is in the nom. case.

Usage 3.Possessive or genitive case: If a noun is used to denote possession, authorship, origin, kind etc., it is said to be in the possessive or genitive case. Ex. It is Ram’s book. Possessive cases are made by adding an apostrophe ( ’) or –s or -’s to a noun:
i) An (’s) is added to a singular noun; e.g. Ram’s book, the man’s house etc.
ii) An (’s) is added to plural nouns not ending in s; e.g. children’s park, women’s hostel, men’s club etc.
iii) Only an apostrophe is added if there are too many hissing sounds; e.g. Moses’ commandments, for conscience’ sake, for justice’ sake, for goodness’ sake etc.
iv) Only an apostrophe is added to the classical Greek and Roman names ending in (s) ; e.g. Sophocles’ tragedies, Marcus Aurelias’ book Meditations etc.
v) Only an apostrophe is added to plural nouns ending in (s); e.g. players’ unity, boys’ school etc.

Usage 4: The possessive cases of compound nouns, names having several words, and of nouns in apposition are made by adding (’s) to the last word; e.g. brother-in-law’s house; Monmohan Sing, the Prime Minister’s office; Nimai Sadhan Basu’s book etc.
* We are now going to visit Rabindranath Tagore’s the poet’s house. (Inc.)
* We are now going to visit Rabindranath Tagore the poet’s house. (Cor.)

[N.B. When one follows another to describe it more clearly, the noun, which follows, is called to be in apposition to the noun, which precedes it; e.g. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, will inaugurate the ceremony. ]

Usage 5: When there are two or more separate nouns joined by and , (’s) is added to the last noun if joint possession is meant. For example: Dashsrata was Ram and Lakshman’s father.
* Ram was Bharat’s and Lakshman’s elder brother. (Inc.)
* Ram was Bharat and Lakshman’s elder brother. (Cor.)

Usage 6: When two or more separate nouns are joined by and, (’s) is added to each noun, if separate possessions are meant. For example: We listened to Kishore Kumar’s and Lata Mangeskar’s songs.
* We listened to Kishore Kumar’s and Lata Mangeskar’s songs. (It means that we listened to the different songs sung by the two singers differently.)
* We listened to the Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeskar’s songs. (It means that we listened to the songs (duets) sung together by the two singers.)

Usage 7:Both the forms ‘of’ and (’s) are used, when one possession is meant out of many. For instance,
· I saw a picture of Tendulkar’s. (i.e. There were many pictures of Tendulkar, and I saw one of those.)
· I saw a picture of Tendulkar. (i.e. I saw Tendulkar’s picture bearing his likeness.)

Usage 8: Nouns denoting Inanimate Objects are not generally put in the possessive case.Possessions in such cases are denoted by using the preposition ‘of’.
* I knocked at his house’s door. (Inc.)
* I knocked at the door of his house. (Cor.)

Usage 9: But there are certain exceptional cases, in which we make possessive cases of the inanimate objects by using the possessive inflexion (’s),
i) nouns denoting personified things: Fortune’s favour, Death’s cold hands etc.
ii) nouns denoting time, space and weight: a week’s journey, a stone’s throw, a pound’s weight etc.
iii) nouns denoting dignified objects: the ocean’s cry. The country’s call, the moon’s light etc.
iv) in certain familiar phrases for the sake of shortness: wit’s end, to one’s heart’s content, at arm’s length etc.

Usage 10: The Elliptical or Absolute Possessive: Sometimes nouns denoting house, shop, cathedral etc. are omitted after the possessive case of nouns, e.g. I went Mr. Bose’s (i.e. Mr. Bose’s house or shop). But if similarly the possessive cases of nouns are made, the nouns (words denoting houses or shops or anything) are to be mentioned previously; e.g. This is my book. Where is yours?

Correct the following sentences: i) Puru tried to resist Alexander’s the Great’s advance. ii) I could not remember his car’s number. iii) I have read John Keats’ On Fame. iv) India is Ram’s and Rahim’s motherland. v) For the sake of heaven! Hold your tongue and let me love.
___

A. Point out the errors in the following story and rewrite it correctly: Ram and shyam were very good friends. One day they decided to take a leave of one day to go to a far-off town. When they reached there, the rays of the sun’s were fading. So they decided to spend the night in a hotel, but they had only one hundreds rupees. A crowd of people who were passing by. They approached them. They advised them to spend the night in a Dharmashala. But they had no believes in what they said. So they went along. On their way to finding a shelter, they, however, saw the Governor’s-General office. Suddenly they heard somebody’s voice calling their names’. As they turned around, they found it was Upen, Ram’s and Shyam’s old friend. When he heard that they were now in deep trouble, he told them to come to his room, which was at the distance of the throw of a stone from the place.

MODULE II
SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUNS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGS
MEANINGS of certain words sometimes depend on their numbers or the form of the number.
1. Cloth: Kind or pieces of cloth.
Clothes: Garments.
* He wears costly cloths. (Inc.)
In this the word ‘cloths’ means the kind or pieces of cloth. But what the speaker wants to refer to is garments. So the correct sentence is: He wears costly clothes.

2. Air: atmosphere (n), Ventilate (v), declare (v).
Airs: (Affected) manners.
* She gives herself air whenever she goes outside. (Inc.)
* She gives herself airs… (Cor.)

3. Brother: Sons of the same parents.
Brethren: old archaic form of brother: now it means members of a particular society or community.
· Ram and Lakshman were brethren. (Inc.)
· Ram and Lakshman were brothers. (Cor.)

4. Colour: hue (red, green, blue etc.). Ex. The colour of the sky is blue.
Colours: appearance or aspect. Ex. We should see the thing in its true colours.

5. Compass: extent or range. Ex. We were amazed at the compass of the singer’s voice.
Ex. We need to bring modern techniques within the compass of normal teaching.
Compasses: an instrument with two long thin parts joined together at the top, used for drawing circles and measuring distances on a map. Ex. When we draw a circle, we use compasses.

6. Custom: an accepted way of behaving or doing things in a society or community, habit.
Ex. We are now observing the custom of giving presents at Christmas.
Customs: the government department that collects taxes on goods bought and sold and on goods brought into the country, and that checks what is brought in.
Ex. The customs have seized large quantities of smuggled heroin.

7. Die: small cube used in games. (pl.)
Dice: the plural form of die, i.e., small cubes used in games. Ex. We played dice at night.
Dies: stamps for coining. (pl.)

8. Force: strength (Sing.)
Forces: troops (Plu.)

9. Genius: person with great talent (sing.).
Geniuses: persons with great talent (pl.).
Genii: supernatural creatures, spirits (pl.).

10. Ground: earth (sing.).
Grounds: reasons, sediment or dregs in coffee or tea (pl.). Ex. He was dismissed on solid grounds.
11.Iron: a kind of metal (sing.).
Irons: fetters or chains made of iron (pl.).

12. Manner/s: both the singular and plural forms are used in the sense of method.
Manners: only the plural form is used in the sense of behaviour.
· I was amazed at his manner as he did not shake hands. (Inc.)
· I was amazed at his manners… (Cor.)

13. Mean: adj. Meaning average, unkind, poor.
Mean: n. way or method (sing.).
Means: n. ways or methods (pl.). Ex. Internet is an effective means of communication.
Means: n. wealth (pl.). Ex. He does not have the means to support a wife and child.

14. Quarter: fourth part, a person or group of people, especially as a source of help, information or help.
Ex i) Cut the apple into quarters.
ii) It is a quarter to four now – I will meet you at a quarter after.
iii) Support for the plan came from an unexpected quarter.

Quarters: lodgings. Ex. Next month we are moving to more comfortable quarters.

15. Respect: regard (sing.). Ex. In this respect we have been fortunate.
Respects: polite greetings (pl.). Ex. With due respects I would like to draw your attention to the dismal condition of the drinking water supply in our locality.

16. Spectacle/s: When it means sight both forms are applicable.
Spectacles: When it means eyeglasses only the plural form is used.

17. Premise/s: proposition/s.
Premises: buildings (pl.).

18. Advice: counsel
Advices: information
19. Pain: suffering.
Pains: troubles, a lot of effort. Ex. Team India went to great pains to keep its winning record.
20. Sand: the material
Sands: sandy places. Ex. He crossed the sands of Arabia in great distress.

Correct the following sentences:
A. i) He stuck to his ground while arguing against the dispute.
ii) In the Mahabharata Shakuni was expert in the game of dies.
iii) Use your forces of mind whenever you are under pressure.
iv) Do not explain the incident in false colour.
v) We were astonished at the compasses of his knowledge.
vi) Don’t be deceived by the air of a lady.
vii) Loitering in the school premise is prohibited.
viii) In the past iron was attached to the legs and hands of the prisoners.
ix) He was absent-minded and lost his spectacle.
x) Mr. Dutta is a custom official.

MODULE III
Pronouns

USAGE 1: When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to separate persons, the pronouns used for them must be plural;
Ex. Both Ram and Shyam show his love for his brother. (Incorrect)
Both Ram and Shyam showed their love for their brother. (Correct)

USAGE 2: When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to the same person, the pronoun used for them must be singular:
Ex. The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the university expressed their regret over the theft of the Nobel. (Incor.)
Here the nouns the Prime Minister and Chancellor are used for the same person because we can find the definite article used only once before a noun. If it is written in this way—The Prime Minister and the Chancellor—it will refer to two different persons.
So the correct form of the sentence is:
The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the university expressed his regret over the theft…

USAGE 3. When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and are preceded by ‘each’ or ‘every’, the pronoun must be singular.
Ex. Every poet and every singer should show their talent in their works.(Incor.)
Every poet and every singer should show their talent in his/her works. (Cor.)
*To avoid gender discrimination in language use both the masculine and feminine form of the pronoun.

USAGE 4. When two or more nouns are joined by ‘or,’ ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, the pronoun is generally singular.
Ex. Neither Ram nor Shyam has brought their books. (Inc.)
Neither Ram nor Shyam has brought his books. (Cor.)

USAGE 5. When a plural noun and a singular noun are joined by ‘or,’ ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, the pronoun must be plural.
Ex. Either the captain or the players will go to justify his poor performance. (Inc.)
Either the captain or the players will go to justify their poor performance. (Cor.)

USAGE 6. When a pronoun refers to more than one noun or pronoun of different persons, (I) it must be of the first person plural in preference to the second, and (ii) of the second person plural in preference to the third.
Ex. (i) You and I, husband and wife, have to look after your home. (Inc.)
You and I, husband and wife, have to look after our home. (Cor.)

Ex. (ii) you and Hari have done their job. (Inc.)
You and Hari have done your duty. (Cor.)
USAGE 7: When all three persons are taken into account, it has to be first person plural.
Ex. You, he and I have done your duty. (Inc.)
You, he and I have done our duty. (Cor.)
Usage 8. In an a sentence the second person come before the third person, and the third person should come before the first person.
Ex. I, you and he will go there. (Inc.)
You, he and I will go there. (Cor.)
Usage 9: The complement of a verb, when it is expressed by a pronoun should be in the nominative case.
Ex. : It is him whom I am looking for. (Inc.)
It is he whom I am looking for. (Cor).
Usage 10: When a pronoun is used as the object of a verb or of preposition, it should be in the objective case.
VERB: Ex. Let you and I go there. (Inc)
Let you and me go there. (Cor.)
PREPOSITION: Nobody will help you but I. (Inc)
[ because ‘but’ in the construction is not a conjunction. In that case, it would mean—Nobody will help you but I will help. In the above sentence ‘but’ is a preposition and ‘I’ is an object to the preposition ‘but’. So instead of ‘I’ ‘me’ should be used.]
Nobody will help you but me.(Cor)
Ex. He earns more than me. (Inc)
[ In the above sentence ‘than’ is not a preposition, it is a conjunction joining clauses. So it will be followed by nominative ‘I’ . So the correct form of the sentence should be—He earns more than I (earn).]

Test of the English Language for SSC, WBCS, IAS,Banking Service,Railway Service, TOEFL and other competitive Examinations

2007-10-16T20:25:00.001+05:30

(For the English (Pass/Hons-PG) candidates of West Bengal School Service Commission Test)
MODULE I

NOUN
Definition: A noun is a word used as a name of a person, a thing, a place, an action, or a quality.

USAGES:
Usage 1: Proper Noun: proper nouns are written with a capital letter at the beginning.
* The capital of west bengal is calcutta. (Incorrect)
* The capital of West Bengal is Calcutta. (Correct)

Usage 2: A Proper noun may be sometimes used as a common noun.
* Gandhiji is Christ of India. (Inc.)
Here Christ does not mean Jesus Christ, the preacher of Christianity. But the word stands for the possessor of qualities, which Christ is most known for __ non-violence and love. Therefore, Christ here stands for “the man acting on the principles of non-violence and love”. In the correct sentence ‘the’ must be written before ‘Christ’ for this reason.
* Gandhiji is the Christ of India. (Cor.)

Usage 3: Collective Noun: A collective noun (e.g. flock, army, committee, crowd, fleet, parliament, team, mob, herd, band, group etc) goes by a singular verb and should be substituted by a singular pronoun.
* The committee have submitted their report. (Inc.)
* The committee has submitted its report. (Cor.)

Usage 4: A collective noun may, however, go by a plural verb and may be substituted by a plural pronoun when the individual members __ of which it is composed__ are separately thought of, or considered divided among themselves.
* The committee was divided in its opinion. (Inc.)
*The committee were divided in their opinions. (Cor.)

Correct the following sentences: 1. A band of robbers were lurking at a corner of the jungle. 2.The parliament has not come to a unanimous decision. 3. The capital of India is delhi. 4. Shakespeare is called Kalidas of England.
GENDER:
Usage 1: When collective nouns are used to denote living beings as a group, those are considered of the neuter gender.
* Prof. Nilesh Saha runs an N.S.S. unit of fifty boys. He has to look after him. (Inc.)
* Prof. Nilesh Saha runs an N.S.S. unit of fifty boys. He has to look after it. (Cor.)

Usage 2: Young children and lower animals are referred to as of the neuter gender (because perhaps it does not matter to a child or a cow whether it is referred to as a male or female).
* The baby loves his mother. (Inc.)
* The baby loves its mother. (Cor.)

Usage 3: When objects without life are personified, those are considered of
(i) the masculine gender if the object is marked by strength or violence or any masculine quality; e.g. Sun, Summer, Winter, Time, Death etc.
* The Sun came out with all her force from behind the clouds. (Inc.)
* The Sun came out with all his force from behind the clouds. (Cor.)
(ii) the feminine gender if the object is marked by beauty, gentleness, gracefulness or any feminine quality; e.g. Earth, Moon, Spring, Nature, Mercy etc.
* The Earth invites everybody to his world. (Inc.)
· The Earth invites everybody to her world. (Cor.)

Usage 4: If objects without life, however, are not personified, those are considered of the neuter gender.
* The sun is the reservoir of energy. That is why he is so important to us. (Inc.)
* The sun is the reservoir of energy. That is why it is so important to us. (Cor.)

Correct the following sentences: 1. Since you are the teacher of this class of 100 students, you will have to manage them. 2. The child was looking for his mother. 3. The moon is the only satellite of the earth. Do you know her speed? 4. Death lays her cold hand over all. 5. Nature burst out with all his furies!

NUMBER:
Usage 1: Plurals of the words ending in -o are generally made by adding –es to those, e.g. mangoes; but there are some exceptions, e.g. ratios, cantos, mementos, pianos, photos etc.

Usage 2: Plurals of the compound nouns are made by adding –s to the principal words of the compounds, e.g. vice-presidents, sisters-in-law, courts-martial etc.

Usage 3: Some nouns have the same forms for both the singular and plural numbers, e.g. sheep, deer, cod, trout, swine etc.

Usage 4: Plurals of words ending in –f and –fe are made by changing –f and –fe into –ves; e.g. thief (thieves), wife (wives). But there are some exceptions, e.g. belief, brief, dwarf, grief, gulf, safe etc.

Usage 5.When units of counting (dozens, pair, score, gross, hundred, thousand) are used after numbers, those retain the singular forms.
* I want two hundreds rupees. (Inc.)
* I want two hundred rupees. (Cor.)

Usage 6. Certain nouns are used only in the plural forms: scissors, spectacles, measles, mumps, billiards, droughts, cattle, poultry, gentry, people, vermin, annals, thanks, assets, proceeds, nuptials, tidings etc.
* The landed gentry was against the abolition of the Zamindari system. (Inc.)
* The landed gentry were against the abolition of the Zamindari system. (Cor.)

Usage 7.Certain plural forms are generally used in the singular, e.g. innings, physics, mathematics, news, politics etc.
Correct the following sentences: 1.He brought two dozens eggs. 2.His brother-in-laws are all scientists. 3. Every one should respect other people’s religious beliefes. 4. His spectacles was broken. 5. India made 550 runs in the first inning.

CASE
Usage 1.Nominative case: If a noun or pronoun is used as the subject of a verb, it is said to be in the nominative case. Ex. Ram killed Ravana. Here ‘Ram’ is in the nominative case.

Usage 2. Accusative or objective case: If a noun or pronoun is used as the object of a verb, it is said to be in the accusative or objective case. Ex. Ram killed Ravana. Here ‘Ravana’ is in the nom. case.

Usage 3.Possessive or genitive case: If a noun is used to denote possession, authorship, origin, kind etc., it is said to be in the possessive or genitive case. Ex. It is Ram’s book. Possessive cases are made by adding an apostrophe ( ’) or –s or -’s to a noun:
i) An (’s) is added to a singular noun; e.g. Ram’s book, the man’s house etc.
ii) An (’s) is added to plural nouns not ending in s; e.g. children’s park, women’s hostel, men’s club etc.
iii) Only an apostrophe is added if there are too many hissing sounds; e.g. Moses’ commandments, for conscience’ sake, for justice’ sake, for goodness’ sake etc.
iv) Only an apostrophe is added to the classical Greek and Roman names ending in (s) ; e.g. Sophocles’ tragedies, Marcus Aurelias’ book Meditations etc.
v) Only an apostrophe is added to plural nouns ending in (s); e.g. players’ unity, boys’ school etc.

Usage 4: The possessive cases of compound nouns, names having several words, and of nouns in apposition are made by adding (’s) to the last word; e.g. brother-in-law’s house; Monmohan Sing, the Prime Minister’s office; Nimai Sadhan Basu’s book etc.
* We are now going to visit Rabindranath Tagore’s the poet’s house. (Inc.)
* We are now going to visit Rabindranath Tagore the poet’s house. (Cor.)

[N.B. When one follows another to describe it more clearly, the noun, which follows, is called to be in apposition to the noun, which precedes it; e.g. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, will inaugurate the ceremony. ]

Usage 5: When there are two or more separate nouns joined by and , (’s) is added to the last noun if joint possession is meant. For example: Dashsrata was Ram and Lakshman’s father.
* Ram was Bharat’s and Lakshman’s elder brother. (Inc.)
* Ram was Bharat and Lakshman’s elder brother. (Cor.)

Usage 6: When two or more separate nouns are joined by and, (’s) is added to each noun, if separate possessions are meant. For example: We listened to Kishore Kumar’s and Lata Mangeskar’s songs.
* We listened to Kishore Kumar’s and Lata Mangeskar’s songs. (It means that we listened to the different songs sung by the two singers differently.)
* We listened to the Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeskar’s songs. (It means that we listened to the songs (duets) sung together by the two singers.)

Usage 7:Both the forms ‘of’ and (’s) are used, when one possession is meant out of many. For instance,
· I saw a picture of Tendulkar’s. (i.e. There were many pictures of Tendulkar, and I saw one of those.)
· I saw a picture of Tendulkar. (i.e. I saw Tendulkar’s picture bearing his likeness.)

Usage 8: Nouns denoting Inanimate Objects are not generally put in the possessive case.Possessions in such cases are denoted by using the preposition ‘of’.
* I knocked at his house’s door. (Inc.)
* I knocked at the door of his house. (Cor.)

Usage 9: But there are certain exceptional cases, in which we make possessive cases of the inanimate objects by using the possessive inflexion (’s),
i) nouns denoting personified things: Fortune’s favour, Death’s cold hands etc.
ii) nouns denoting time, space and weight: a week’s journey, a stone’s throw, a pound’s weight etc.
iii) nouns denoting dignified objects: the ocean’s cry. The country’s call, the moon’s light etc.
iv) in certain familiar phrases for the sake of shortness: wit’s end, to one’s heart’s content, at arm’s length etc.

Usage 10: The Elliptical or Absolute Possessive: Sometimes nouns denoting house, shop, cathedral etc. are omitted after the possessive case of nouns, e.g. I went Mr. Bose’s (i.e. Mr. Bose’s house or shop). But if similarly the possessive cases of nouns are made, the nouns (words denoting houses or shops or anything) are to be mentioned previously; e.g. This is my book. Where is yours?

Correct the following sentences: i) Puru tried to resist Alexander’s the Great’s advance. ii) I could not remember his car’s number. iii) I have read John Keats’ On Fame. iv) India is Ram’s and Rahim’s motherland. v) For the sake of heaven! Hold your tongue and let me love.
___

A. Point out the errors in the following story and rewrite it correctly: Ram and shyam were very good friends. One day they decided to take a leave of one day to go to a far-off town. When they reached there, the rays of the sun’s were fading. So they decided to spend the night in a hotel, but they had only one hundreds rupees. A crowd of people who were passing by. They approached them. They advised them to spend the night in a Dharmashala. But they had no believes in what they said. So they went along. On their way to finding a shelter, they, however, saw the Governor’s-General office. Suddenly they heard somebody’s voice calling their names’. As they turned around, they found it was Upen, Ram’s and Shyam’s old friend. When he heard that they were now in deep trouble, he told them to come to his room, which was at the distance of the throw of a stone from the place.

MODULE II
SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUNS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGS
MEANINGS of certain words sometimes depend on their numbers or the form of the number.
1. Cloth: Kind or pieces of cloth.
Clothes: Garments.
* He wears costly cloths. (Inc.)
In this the word ‘cloths’ means the kind or pieces of cloth. But what the speaker wants to refer to is garments. So the correct sentence is: He wears costly clothes.

2. Air: atmosphere (n), Ventilate (v), declare (v).
Airs: (Affected) manners.
* She gives herself air whenever she goes outside. (Inc.)
* She gives herself airs… (Cor.)

3. Brother: Sons of the same parents.
Brethren: old archaic form of brother: now it means members of a particular society or community.
· Ram and Lakshman were brethren. (Inc.)
· Ram and Lakshman were brothers. (Cor.)

4. Colour: hue (red, green, blue etc.). Ex. The colour of the sky is blue.
Colours: appearance or aspect. Ex. We should see the thing in its true colours.

5. Compass: extent or range. Ex. We were amazed at the compass of the singer’s voice.
Ex. We need to bring modern techniques within the compass of normal teaching.
Compasses: an instrument with two long thin parts joined together at the top, used for drawing circles and measuring distances on a map. Ex. When we draw a circle, we use compasses.

6. Custom: an accepted way of behaving or doing things in a society or community, habit.
Ex. We are now observing the custom of giving presents at Christmas.
Customs: the government department that collects taxes on goods bought and sold and on goods brought into the country, and that checks what is brought in.
Ex. The customs have seized large quantities of smuggled heroin.

7. Die: small cube used in games. (pl.)
Dice: the plural form of die, i.e., small cubes used in games. Ex. We played dice at night.
Dies: stamps for coining. (pl.)

8. Force: strength (Sing.)
Forces: troops (Plu.)

9. Genius: person with great talent (sing.).
Geniuses: persons with great talent (pl.).
Genii: supernatural creatures, spirits (pl.).

10. Ground: earth (sing.).
Grounds: reasons, sediment or dregs in coffee or tea (pl.). Ex. He was dismissed on solid grounds.
11.Iron: a kind of metal (sing.).
Irons: fetters or chains made of iron (pl.).

12. Manner/s: both the singular and plural forms are used in the sense of method.
Manners: only the plural form is used in the sense of behaviour.
· I was amazed at his manner as he did not shake hands. (Inc.)
· I was amazed at his manners… (Cor.)

13. Mean: adj. Meaning average, unkind, poor.
Mean: n. way or method (sing.).
Means: n. ways or methods (pl.). Ex. Internet is an effective means of communication.
Means: n. wealth (pl.). Ex. He does not have the means to support a wife and child.

14. Quarter: fourth part, a person or group of people, especially as a source of help, information or help.
Ex i) Cut the apple into quarters.
ii) It is a quarter to four now – I will meet you at a quarter after.
iii) Support for the plan came from an unexpected quarter.

Quarters: lodgings. Ex. Next month we are moving to more comfortable quarters.

15. Respect: regard (sing.). Ex. In this respect we have been fortunate.
Respects: polite greetings (pl.). Ex. With due respects I would like to draw your attention to the dismal condition of the drinking water supply in our locality.

16. Spectacle/s: When it means sight both forms are applicable.
Spectacles: When it means eyeglasses only the plural form is used.

17. Premise/s: proposition/s.
Premises: buildings (pl.).

18. Advice: counsel
Advices: information
19. Pain: suffering.
Pains: troubles, a lot of effort. Ex. Team India went to great pains to keep its winning record.
20. Sand: the material
Sands: sandy places. Ex. He crossed the sands of Arabia in great distress.

Correct the following sentences:
A. i) He stuck to his ground while arguing against the dispute.
ii) In the Mahabharata Shakuni was expert in the game of dies.
iii) Use your forces of mind whenever you are under pressure.
iv) Do not explain the incident in false colour.
v) We were astonished at the compasses of his knowledge.
vi) Don’t be deceived by the air of a lady.
vii) Loitering in the school premise is prohibited.
viii) In the past iron was attached to the legs and hands of the prisoners.
ix) He was absent-minded and lost his spectacle.
x) Mr. Dutta is a custom official.

MODULE III
Pronouns

USAGE 1: When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to separate persons, the pronouns used for them must be plural;
Ex. Both Ram and Shyam show his love for his brother. (Incorrect)
Both Ram and Shyam showed their love for their brother. (Correct)

USAGE 2: When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to the same person, the pronoun used for them must be singular:
Ex. The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the university expressed their regret over the theft of the Nobel. (Incor.)
Here the nouns the Prime Minister and Chancellor are used for the same person because we can find the definite article used only once before a noun. If it is written in this way—The Prime Minister and the Chancellor—it will refer to two different persons.
So the correct form of the sentence is:
The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the university expressed his regret over the theft…

USAGE 3. When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and are preceded by ‘each’ or ‘every’, the pronoun must be singular.
Ex. Every poet and every singer should show their talent in their works.(Incor.)
Every poet and every singer should show their talent in his/her works. (Cor.)
*To avoid gender discrimination in language use both the masculine and feminine form of the pronoun.

USAGE 4. When two or more nouns are joined by ‘or,’ ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, the pronoun is generally singular.
Ex. Neither Ram nor Shyam has brought their books. (Inc.)
Neither Ram nor Shyam has brought his books. (Cor.)

USAGE 5. When a plural noun and a singular noun are joined by ‘or,’ ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, the pronoun must be plural.
Ex. Either the captain or the players will go to justify his poor performance. (Inc.)
Either the captain or the players will go to justify their poor performance. (Cor.)

USAGE 6. When a pronoun refers to more than one noun or pronoun of different persons, (I) it must be of the first person plural in preference to the second, and (ii) of the second person plural in preference to the third.
Ex. (i) You and I, husband and wife, have to look after your home. (Inc.)
You and I, husband and wife, have to look after our home. (Cor.)

Ex. (ii) you and Hari have done their job. (Inc.)
You and Hari have done your duty. (Cor.)
USAGE 7: When all three persons are taken into account, it has to be first person plural.
Ex. You, he and I have done your duty. (Inc.)
You, he and I have done our duty. (Cor.)
Usage 8. In an a sentence the second person come before the third person, and the third person should come before the first person.
Ex. I, you and he will go there. (Inc.)
You, he and I will go there. (Cor.)
Usage 9: The complement of a verb, when it is expressed by a pronoun should be in the nominative case.
Ex. : It is him whom I am looking for. (Inc.)
It is he whom I am looking for. (Cor).
Usage 10: When a pronoun is used as the object of a verb or of preposition, it should be in the objective case.
VERB: Ex. Let you and I go there. (Inc)
Let you and me go there. (Cor.)
PREPOSITION: Nobody will help you but I. (Inc)
[ because ‘but’ in the construction is not a conjunction. In that case, it would mean—Nobody will help you but I will help. In the above sentence ‘but’ is a preposition and ‘I’ is an object to the preposition ‘but’. So instead of ‘I’ ‘me’ should be used.]
Nobody will help you but me.(Cor)
Ex. He earns more than me. (Inc)
[ In the above sentence ‘than’ is not a preposition, it is a conjunction joining clauses. So it will be followed by nominative ‘I’ . So the correct form of the sentence should be—He earns more than I (earn).]

Tintern Abbey

2007-10-11T21:12:00.001+05:30

1. What is the full title of the poem Tintern Abbey?
2. What does Wordsworth mean by “a soft inland murmur”?
ANS: Wodrsworth here refers to the soft murmuring sound of the river Wye. The river emerges from the mountains and flows through plain lands.

3. “Five years have past…winters.”(Lines 1-4) Why does Wordsworth here “five…. winters” here?
OR, How many years have elapsed between Wordsworth’s last visit and the present one?
ANS: At the beginning of the poem Tintern Abbey Wordsworth speaks of the years that elapsed between his last and present visit to the Way. Now he finds that there is a great difference between the two experiences.

4. *“Once again…the quiet of the sky.” (4-8) What does W mean by “thoughts of more seclusion” OR, What does W mean by “the quiet of the sky”?
ANS: At the beginning of the poem Tintern Abbey Wordsworth finds that in his present visit to the Wye after five years the landscape appears different to his eyes. Now, the high cliffs, covered with vegetation, on both sides of the river give him a sense of wildness of the place and of tranquillity all around him. As he looks ahead, the landscape seems to merge gently with the quiet sky. He experiences the feeling that the loneliness is deepened by the overhanging silence of the sky, which remains in perfect harmony with the horizon below.

5. *“With some uncertain notice…The Hermit sits alone.” (Lines 20-22) Explain the situation imagined by Wordsworth.
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth looks on the Wye landscape and tallies it with that of his last experience in the poem Tintern Abbey, he finds coils of smoke arising from somewhere out of the trees. This makes him imagine that either some vagabonds have come to stay there temporarily, or there lives a hermit who sits alone in his cave.

6. **“These beauteous forms…a blind man’s eye.” (23-25) What are referred to here as “beauteous forms”? Explain the phrase “a landscape to a blind man’s eye”?
ANS: By “beauteous forms” Wordsworth refers to the beautiful scenes of the Wye landscape—the green cottage grounds, the green orchards overloaded with fruits, the hedgerows spread along the farms, the coils of smoke rising from somewhere, either out of the temporary camps of some vagabonds under the trees or out of the fire made by some lonely hermit. He says that though he had been physically absent from the place for five years, the landscape had been very much present in his mind. He compares his state to that of a blind man: unlike a blind man he could remember the landscape vividly.

7. **“But oft, in lonely rooms…. Felt along the heart.” (26-29) What does the poet mean by “sensations sweet”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he recalls that, whenever he felt exhausted at the cacophonies of town and city life, the memory of the beautiful scenes of the landscape provided him with solace of soothing sensations, which he felt in his blood, heart and finally in mind.

8. “As have no slight or trivial influence… acts/Of kindness and of love.” (31-36) What does Wodrsworth want to mean here?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he recalls that the beautiful scenes of the landscape provided him not only with relief of soothing sensations, which he felt in his blood, heart and finally in mind, but it also exerted an unconscious influence on him by inspiring him to acts of kindness and love.

9. **“To them I may have owed another gift…We see into life of things” (37-50) What is the referred to here as “another gift”?
OR, ** What is the gift referred to here?
OR, **What does W mean here by “blessed mood”?
OR, What does W mean by “the burthen of the mystery”?
OR, What does W mean by “that serene and blessed mood”?
OR, *What does W mean by ‘affections” here?
OR, What is the state in which W thinks, “the breath of this corporal frame…Almost suspended…living soul…the life of things”?
OR, **What does W mean by “We see into the life of things”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he recalls how the beautiful scenes of the landscape provided him not only with relief of soothing sensations, but also created in his mind a mood, which was divine. At that mood he felt that all the insoluble questions regarding life and the world were resolved as all mellow and tender feelings like love, faith, compassion, devotion and piety went on to suspend his breathing and even the movement of his blood. He experienced a dreamlike condition induced by those feelings; he understood that his existence was in perfect harmony with Nature. Wordsworth thinks at that particular moment the functions of our outer eyes are suspended; our inner eyes come into action and we can understand the reality of the physical things around us.

10. * “If this be …turned to thee.” What does W refer to as “a vain belief”?
What does he mean by “many shapes/Of joyless delight”?
OR, What does he mean by “fretful stir/Unprofitable, and the fever of the world”?
OR, Why does he address the Wye as ‘sylvan’?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he recalls how the memories of the landscape provided him not only with relief of soothing sensations, but also created in his mind a mood, which was divine. He emphasises that this cannot be a ‘vain’, that is, false belief since those gave him much needed relief whenever he went through depressed states of the mind. Whenever he became burdened with unhealthy thoughts and anxieties, common to human beings, he turned to the memories of the Wye, which runs through the wild woods and cliffs and has a kind of sylvan identity about her.

11. **“And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought…the picture of the mind revives again”(59-62) What does W refer to as “gleams of half-extinguished thought”?
What does W mean by “picture of the mind”?
OR, Why does he call the ‘recognitions’ “dim and faint”?
OR, What does Wordsworth mean by “sad perplexity” in the poem TA?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, the picture of the landscape, preserved in his mind during his previous visits, comes back to him as if in kaleidoscopic flashes. Though he cannot recapitulate his past experience fully, he seems to capture it in the presence of the original landscape that acts as a kind of mirror to his mind. (Wordsworth here refers to his memory of the landscape preserved in his mind as “picture of the mind”). (Here Wordsworth calls his past ‘recognition’, that is, past experience “dim and faint”.) (But Wordsworth is puzzled by the fact that the present experience does not fully tally his previous ones. An aspect of change in the landscape makes him both perplexed and sad.)

12. What does W mean by “life and food/ For future years”(ll. 65)

13. “…And so I dare to hope… Wherever nature led”(ll. 66-71) Explain how W feel during this period?
OR, **“The coarser pleasure of my boyish days…gone by.” What does W mean by “the coarser pleasure of my boyish days”?
OR, What does W mean by “animal movements”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he understands that, as he has grown in years the appeal of the landscape has changed considerably over the years from what it had been during his first visit. At that time as a mere boy, his delight in the lap of Nature was coarse and animalistic in the sense that his enjoyment of the natural beauties was instinctual and grossly physical. Like a young deer he jumped up and down the valley and the riversides; he now feels that at that time as if he was led by Nature herself.

14. **“…more like a man…the thing he loved.” (71-73) Explain the poet’s experience during the period.
OR, **“The sounding cataract/ Haunted me like a passion.” What does W mean here?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he remembers how he would enjoy the beauties of the Wye landscape during his second visit in 1793. Then his enjoyment of nature had been purely emotional and sensuous. He would seek only the gratifications of the senses in his search for the natural objects like the sounding waterfall, the high rock, the mountain, the mysterious forest. It seems to him now that in his excitement he was running away from something present in Nature rather than seeking that in love.

15. *“…the tall rock…Their colours and forms, were then to me/ An appetite; a feeling and a love” (78-81) What does W mean by “an appetite”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he remembers how he would enjoy the beauties of the Wye landscape during his second visit in 1793. Then his enjoyment of nature had been purely emotional and sensuous. He would seek only the gratifications of the senses in his search for the natural objects like the sounding waterfall, the high rock, the mountain, the mysterious forest. He would love those natural objects passionately as someone seeks the objects of his appetite, that is, desire.

16. “That had no need of a remoter charm…Unborrowed from the eye.” What does W mean by “remoter charm”? **Why does W use the phrase “unborrowed from the eye”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he remembers how he would enjoy the beauties of the Wye landscape during his second visit in 1793. Then his enjoyment of nature had been purely emotional and sensuous. He had not been conscious of the fact that pleasures of the sights and sounds of nature can be obtained through contemplation even being absent from the actual landscape. He would seek only the gratifications of his eyes in his search for the natural objects like the sounding waterfall, the high rock, the mountain and the mysterious forest.

17. **“That time is past…And all its dizzy raptures.” (84-85) What time is referred to here? What does W mean by “aching joys” and “dizzy raptures”

18. “Not for this…other gifts have followed…Abundant recompense…A presence…rolls through all things.”(ll. 86--103)***What are the ‘gifts’ referred to here?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he understands that the appeal of the landscape has changed considerably in the lapse of five years from what it had been during his second visit as a young man. He does not feel ecstatic at the sight of Wye landscape. But he does neither mourn nor complain of the loss. He comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is moved to higher thoughts by its presence in every inanimate and animate thing. He refers to these as “other gifts” of Nature.

19. *What does W mean by “thoughtless youth”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he understands that the appeal of the landscape has changed considerably in the lapse of five years from what it had been during his second visit as a young man. He does not feel ecstatic at the sight of Wye landscape. But he does neither mourn nor complain of the loss, because he feels now that during his youth he enjoyed Nature without the realisation that Nature does have a benevolent influence on man.

20. ***What does W mean by “The still, sad music of humanity”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he understands that the appeal of the landscape has changed considerably in the lapse of five years from what it had been during his second visit as a young man. He does not feel ecstatic at the sight of Wye landscape. But he does neither mourn nor complain of the loss. He is now happy to find that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He understands that the suffering and sorrows of mankind find an echo in the solemn order of Nature. He is also satisfied to find that Nature possesses enough power to purify and soothe the excited or suffering human mind.

21. *What does W mean by “Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power”?
ANS: Now in his present visit while Wordsworth, standing on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, looks on the landscape, he understands that the appeal of the landscape has changed considerably in the lapse of five years from what it had been during his second visit as a young man. But he does neither mourn nor complain of the loss. He is now happy to find that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He understands that the suffering and sorrows of mankind are in harmony with the solemn order of Nature. Those are not in cacophonic relationship with Nature.

22. *What does W mean by “a sense sublime”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is moved to higher thoughts by its presence in every inanimate and animate thing.

23. ***Whose ‘dwelling’ is referred to here?
OR, What does W refer to as “A motion and a spirit”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is moved to higher thoughts by its presence in every inanimate and animate thing—in the light of the setting sun, in the ocean, in the fresh air, in the blue sky and in the human mind. He thinks that this Divine Being is the prime mover of all the animate and inanimate objects in the universe. He calls this Being “a motion and a spirit.”

24. “Therefore I am still …of my moral being”(103--112)
**What makes W declare, “Therefore am I still/ A lover of the meadows and woods”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He realises now that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is moved to higher thoughts by its presence in every inanimate and animate thing—in the light of the setting sun, in the ocean, in the fresh air, in the blue sky and in the human mind. That is why he firmly declares that he still remains a lover of the beautiful of Wye landscape and of the world of Nature.

25. ***What does W mean by “the mighty world/ Of eye, and ear”? (ll.106--107)
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He realises now that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. That is why he firmly declares that he still remains a lover of the beautiful of Wye landscape and of the world of Nature. He is satisfied with power of his senses—eye and ear, which, though unable to capture Nature fully, can recreate this spiritual pattern of the universe in imagination.

26. * What does W mean by “language of the sense”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He realises now that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is satisfied with power of his senses—eye and ear, which, though unable to capture Nature fully, can recreate this spiritual pattern of the universe in imagination. In this the senses become the medium, through which the realisation of the deeper significance of Nature can be understood.

27. **What does Wordsworth refer to as “the anchor of my purest thoughts”?
OR, What does W refer to as “The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/ Of my moral being”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding. He realises now that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. He is satisfied with the power of his senses—eye and ear, which, though unable to capture Nature fully, can recreate this spiritual pattern of the universe in imagination. He is delighted to find that man can remain in perfect harmony with Nature. In this harmony he finds the support for his lofty ideas, the cherisher and guide and protector of his true feelings, and finally it seems to him that his soul has become a part of the harmony, thereby influencing his ethical and moral decisions.

28. “If I were not thus taught…Of thy wild eyes…dear sister.”(114--122) What does W mean by “genial spirits to decay”?
OR, Whom does W address here as “my dearest friend”?
OR, How can he catch “the language of my former heart”?
ANS: Towards the end of his meditation on the bank of the Wye in the poem, TA, Wordsworth comes to the conclusion that his sensuous ecstasies have been replaced by a philosophical understanding that Nature possesses enough power to mitigate the suffering and sorrows of mankind and by an awareness of the presence of some mysterious Divine Being in everything. In the final section of the poem TA, Wordsworth turns to his sister and addresses her as ”my dearest friend”. He declares that if he had not realised that man can remain blissfully by remaining in harmonious relationship with Nature, if he had not found in Nature the support for his lofty ideas, the cherisher and guide and protector of his true feelings and a part of his soul, he would not have been able to enjoy natural sights and sounds cheerfully. In that case, he would have to face melancholia.

29. “…this prayer I make…Is full of blessings.”
30. “Therefore let the moon…For al thy sweet memories…”About whom is all this said and why?
31. “…wilt thou then forget…We stood together.”(150--151)
32. What does W mean by “holier love”?
33. Why does W refer to the Wye as “sylvan”?
(Write the unanswered questions yourself and send to me.)

Spenser: One Day I Wrote Her Name

2007-10-11T21:09:00.002+05:30

1. How did the poet try to immortalize the name of his beloved?

Ans. Spenser begins the sonnet No. 65 with a simple yet archetypal and obsessive and symbolic act on the part of a lover. One day in the presence of his beloved he wrote the name of his beloved on the sea-beach in the hope that he would be able to immortalize her name. But he very tragically found it being washed away by the waves. He tried for the second time. But in same way his second attempt was futile.

2. Why did the beloved rebuke the poet?

Ans: One day in the presence of his beloved he wrote the name of his beloved on the sea-beach in the hope that he would be able to immortalize her name. But he very tragically found it being washed away by the waves. He tried for the second time. But in same way his second attempt was futile. Seeing her name thus being repeatedly wiped out, the beloved reminded him that he was trying to immortalize a mortal thing, as like her name she would also one day be wiped out from this world. Unusually for a Renaissance lady, the beloved has been given a voice here, and she seems to understand the symbolic and archetypal significance of the waves leveling the sand. The evidence of the destructive properties of time available in the natural world has been grafted on to the context of the human world by the beloved.

3. How does the poet-lover answer the beloved’s questionings about his attempt at immortalizing her name?

Ans: The speaker starts with a belief of the renaissance alchemy that baser elements naturally perish in the dust. For him, however, “baser things” symbolize the earthly things subject to decay and death. What he seeks to immortalize is not the physical beauty of the beloved, but those spiritual qualities which provide the beloved with spiritual beauty. The poet is hopeful that his verses will be able to eternalise the memory of the spiritual beauty of the beloved and transfigure her into a heavenly being. Thus he will be successful in preserving her name even after the world is destroyed in the Apocalypse. The poet finally wants to use this kind of idealization as a way to preserving and immortalizing their love; for, in accordance with the Platonic belief, realization of the spiritual beauty of the beloved will lead them to the realization of the supreme beauty of God. He hopes further that this will help them to transcend their mundane existence and find a permanent place in the divine scheme of things.

Loving in Truth (Hons/PG)

2007-10-11T20:55:00.002+05:30

(For the English (Pass/Hons-PG) candidates of West Bengal School Service Commission Test-westbengalssc)
1. What is a sonnet?
Ans: A sonnet is a succinct fourteen-line poem, divided in two unequal parts; the first eight lines form the ‘octave’, and the last six lines ‘sestet’. Invented about the year 1230 in southern Italy, the form was popularized by Petrarch in his Canzoniere, and during the Renaissance it spread to different parts of Europe.

2. Who introduced sonnet in England? Why did the form appeal to the Elizabethan poets?
Ans: In the early 16th century Sir Thomas Wyatt imitated Petrarch and introduced sonnet in England. The sonnet amply supplied the Elizabethan poets with a form through which they could experiment with their language, English in an effort to bring in refinement, and also with a form which became a suitable medium to express the new kind of emotions, thoughts, feelings and sentiment that came to dominate the mind of a Renaissance European.

3. What was the theme of a conventional Petrarchan sonnet?
Ans: A conventional Petrarchan sonnet deals with a typically unhappy relationship of a man with a woman, who was highly idealised. But sometimes it becomes a demoralised representation of the self, a problem arising out of the nature of secular love in its relation to the spiritual counterpart. For a solution the speaker would seek final refuge in the neo-Platonic theorising of love.

4. What is an Alexandrine?
Ans: An Alexandrine is the iambic hexameter, that is, having six feet and twelve syllables. This kind of line is often seen as the last line of a heroic triplet or of a Spenserian stanza.

5. Who is ‘She’ in Sidney’s Sonnet Loving in Truth? What does “Astrophil and Stella” mean?
Ans. On the fictional level, she refers to Stella, the poet’s beloved. On the autobiographical plane, however, Stella is said to have been modelled on Penelope Devereux, who did not reciprocate Sidney’s love and married Lord Rich. ‘Stella’ in Latin means ‘star’, while ‘Astrophil’ in Greek means ‘Star-lover’.

6. Why did the poet seek “to paint the blackest face of woe”?
Or,
How did the poet co-relate ‘pain’, ‘pleasure’, ‘knowledge’, ‘pity’ and ‘grace’?
Or,
How does the octave deal with the double theme of writing poetry and winning the beloved?
Ans. The poet thinks that the beloved takes pleasure in reading a love-poem that speaks of pain and suffering of the lover. If it be so, she will get interested in his poems, and this will, in turn, provide her information about his sincerity and anguish. This would lead her to pity him. The poet hopes that pity might give birth to love for him in her mind. In this way by writing good poetry the poet plans to win his beloved.

7. Explain the expression, “Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain”.
Ans. The poet in his attempt at winning his beloved through writing poetry feels short of words and expressions poignant enough to convey his suffering and pain. This leads him to look through other poets’ works so as to work out his poem by imitation, a misconception, nonetheless, that does not work. Sidney implies that this was dominant practice during the period.

8. “…if thence flow/ Some fresh…sun-burnt brain”. Why does the poet think that his brain has been burnt by the sun?
Ans. Sidney feels that his intellect or creative faculty has been dried up, as if by the flames of love for his beloved. Just as showers of rain are required to invigorate a perched field, he is seeking some ideas or inspiration that would fertilise his dried up brain.

9. What does the poet want to convey by “Invention; Nature child fled step-dame Study’s blows”?
Or, How does ‘Study’ become “Invention’s stepmother in Sidney’s poetic equation?
Or, What is the literary theory that Sidney implies here?
Ans. Here Sidney poetically introduces Aristotle’s idea of imitation, and distinguishes it from ‘study’, that is, literary imitation. According to Aristotle, art is an imitation of Nature. It follows, therefore, that invention—which is spontaneous artistic creation, is the child of Nature. On the other hand, literary imitation, the product of study, is a secondary derivative activity. Thus study is the step-mother of invention.

10. What is Muse?
Ans. In Greek mythology there were nine goddesses who were considered inspirational forces behind different kinds of fine arts, and they were called Muses. For instance, the muse of poetry was Urania. It was a dominant practice with the Renaissance artists to invoke the aid of the goddess.

11. What does Sidney mean by “blackest face of woe”?
Ans. Here Sidney has personified ‘woe’ in order to convey the sense of extreme unhappiness caused by the love he has for the beloved.

12. Explain the meaning of the word ‘pain’ used by Sidney in the poem.
Ans. The word ‘pain’ has a double meaning here. It refers to the pain felt with out of his love for the beloved, the pangs of a lover. But it also refers to the hardships of creative writing. Sidney implies that writing poetry is not always just inspirational or impulsive but a long struggle with words, emotions and feelings.

13. What does Sidney mean by “Other’s feet still seemed but strangers in my way”?
Or,
Explain the pun used in the word ‘feet’ here.
Ans. The word ‘feet’ has a double meaning here. The word ‘feet’ means either the footsteps pf other poets who are being imitated, or metrical units which constitute a poem. What Sidney wants to emphasise here is that writing poetry in imitation of other poets will not help him in his purpose, and he has to be original in both subject-matter and technique.

14. What does Sidney want to mean by the expression “helpless in my throes”?
Ans. Sidney here compares poetical composition or creative writing to giving birth to a child. Both activities involve struggle, suffering and pain. But Sidney’s condition is more precarious since his poetic endeavour stands on the verge of abortion in the absence of a proper inspirational force.

15. “Fool…look in thy heart and write”. Explain the poet’s sudden enlightenment.
Ans. At the closing line of the sonnet, a sudden realisation dawns upon the poet as he reaches the conclusion about the inspiration required to write poetry. He understands that writing poetry in imitation of other poets will not help him in his purpose, and he has to be original in both subject-matter and technique.

16. Do you find any of Sidney’s critical creeds in the poem?
Or,
How does the sonnet become a poem about poetic inspiration?
Ans. The last line of the sonnet elicits Sidney’s critical conviction that great poetry does not result from imitation of other poets, but from the spontaneous expression of personal passion. This conviction is much similar to that of the Romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and others.

(Common Message: Just copy and paste on an MS Word file and order a print-out.)

Syllabus of West Bengal SSC English Pass, 2007

2007-10-11T20:23:00.003+05:30

Syllabus for West Bengal School Service Commission Exam: English (Pass/ General)

Poetry
1. Wordsworth.................... Lucy Poems, The World is too Much
2. Shelley.......................... Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark
3. Keats............................ Ode to Nightingale, To Autumn
4. Tennyson........................ Ulysses
5. Browning........................ The Last Ride Together
6. Hardy............................ The Darkling Thrush
7. Yeats............................. The Wild Swans at Coole
8. Owen.............................Strange Meeting
9. Walter de la Mare...............The Listeners

Drama
1. Goldsmith............................... She Stoops to conquer
2. Shaw.................................... Arms and the Man
3. Galsworthy............................. Justice

Short Story
1. Conrad................................. The Lagoon
2. Maugham.............................. The Lotos Eater
3. O Henry............................... The Gift of the Magi
4. H.E. Bates............................ The Ox

Essay
1. Lamb.................................. Dream Children
2. L.A. Hill............................... Principles of Good Writing

Grammar and Usage
Common Errors
Number, Gender, Tense, Voice, Mood
Agreement of Verbs, Use of Articles and prepositions
Sentence Forms
Simple, Compound, Complex, Relative Clauses
Joining and Splitting of Sentences
Narration
Direct and Indirect Speech
Composition
A single paragraph of 50-60 words to be written on a given topic