English Notes

After the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, there was a complete repudiation of the Puritan ideals and way of living. In English literature the period from 1660 to 1700 is called the period of Restoration, because monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who had been defeated and beheaded, came back to England from France and became the King.It is called the Age of Dryden, because Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary figure of the Age. As the Puritans who were previously controlling the country, and were supervising her literary and moral and social standards, were finally defeated, a reaction was launched against whatever they held sacred. All restraints and discipline were thrown to the winds, and a wave of licentiousness and frivolity swept the country. Charles II and his followers who had enjoyed a gay life in France during their exile, did their best to introduce that type of foppery and looseness in Engl...

The poem 'Desideria' has been composed by William Wordsworth after his daughter's death. He is one of the greatest poets of Romantic Age. This poem is the deepest feeling of the poet because of losing his flower of family as his lovely daughter 'Catherine'. The poet composed this poem into fourteen lines, that is called Sonnet. This Sonnet shows poet's memory for his daughter. Let's see stanza by stanza of this poem.  "Surprized by joy- impatient as the wind, I turned to share the transport--Oh!with whom, But thee-deep buried in the silent tomb,  That spot which no vicissitude can find?"                                       In the first stanza of the poem, the poet says that when she comes to our family then we surprise with a lot of joy and happiness. We want to share thi...

This poem has been composed by William Wordsworth. He is one of the best poets during Romantic Period. He wrote many poems with romantic atmosphere during his poetic career and his name and fame struck in the pages of world's history. He draws a real picture of human feelings and he believes himself as a heart motivator because he gives a sense of affection to the readers in the world through his conception of poetry. Here, I am going to explain line by line of "A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal ".It is an elegy written by him on the death of Lucy. So simple question is here, who is lucy….I think she is a beautiful creation of William Wordsworth's imagination. But most of us not sure that she was a real girl of his life or a girl in imagination. This poem has only two stanzas with a wide sense of realization.  "A slumber did my spirit seal,  I had no human fears; She seem'd a thing that could not feel,  The touch of earthly years ".     ...

Virtue is a part of The Temple, a collection of poems written by Herbert. Herbert was a religious man whose devotion for Christianity. This poem has been written by him with not so simple meaning but with a sense of positive purpose. This poem has four stanzas and he used many figures of speech to one another. I think virtue means spiritual quality. Let us know stanza by stanza of this poem.  "Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,  The bridal of the earth and sky: The dew shall weep thy fall to night,  For thou must die". In the first stanza, The poet says that sweet, calm,cool,and bright day as the moment of bridal of the earth and sky. People feel so happy with this sight but in the same stanza, the poet also says that after ending of the day dew shall weep now and then everything must go away from the present life to enter into another world. So I think it's physical beauty and brightness has limited period to glow then must pass away.  "Sweet ...

This is a voice of Macbeth in Act 5,written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is a par excellence in the world of English literature. It is a type of order given by Macbeth to the defence of the castle.  Shakespeare says in this poem that time is the most powerful weapon in the world. He says that he knows about tomorrow because from his birth, it is being continued. What is the real future of us, he introduced here.        "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,  Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,  To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, The way to dusty death".                   In these lines, the poet says that all living creatures across the world creeping silently day by day in their lives like time. Here, in this poem, the poet says tomorrow means coming time which has been...

This poem has been composed by William Wordsworth in 1804. He was one of the best poets of Romantic Age. He wants to describe his own feeling for his lovely wife. This poem is a beautiful tribute to the poet's wife(Mary Hutchinson).  "She was a phantom of delight,  When first she gleamed upon my sight; A lovely apparition, sent  To be a moment 's ornament; Her eyes as stars of twilight fair; Like twilight's too, her dusky hair,  But all things else about her drawn  From May-time and the cheerful dawn; A dancing shape, an image gay, To haunt, to startle, and way lay".                      The poet says in the first stanza that she is a visionary element of beauty. At first sight, I understood that she has been created by the heaven during the best time of this natural atmosphere. Her eyes are as the stars and her hair is as bright a...

The story" The Vertical Ladder " is a compassionate and virtuous creation of William Sansom. This story shows the courage of a young man whose name is Flegg, who wants to impress a beautiful girl among the group of boys. He attempts to climb a vertical ladder on an old gasometre a storage tower in a deserted gasworks. The Reader experiences the event through the consciousness of the climber living through a various perceptions and changing emotion of the performer as he undergoes a wide gamut of feeding from foolish bravado to sheer terror and dreadful isolation.                         The group of boys and two girls are probably teenagers because they are apparently old enough to be given considerable freedom, yet young enough to have little sense of responsibility. They are immature to judge the things, that is wrong and right concept of life. Even they don't kn...