English Notes

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 and died in 1850. He was an English poet and one of the best known figures of the Romantic period. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth wrote Lyrical Ballads, and the publication of this collection launched the Romantic Age in English literature in 1798. However, Wordsworth’s most important work is said to be The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem that he wrote in his youth. This poem was revised several times, and William Wordsworth worked on it during his whole life. The Prelude was published posthumously. As a central figure of the Romantic Movement, William Wordsworth focused his poetry on the personification of nature and its relationship with men. Moreover, his poems describe intense emotions; these are the main source of his aesthetic experience. Also, past and nature are meant to be glorified by the use of spontaneous language. ‘She Was a Phantom of Delight’ was written in 1803 and published in 1807. It is said that William Wordswor...

Train to Pakistan is a 1956 historical novel by Indian novelist Khushwant Singh.During  1947, partition of India that created the nations of Pakistan and India, it focuses on the way partition impacted the people on the ground. Focusing on the lives of ordinary citizens as they were torn from their homes, Train to Pakistan brings a human dimension to one of the bloodiest periods in the history of the two countries.  Before the 1947 partition, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs lived side by side, despite occasional conflict and violence. Partition set such religious and cultural differences in stone and families were forced to abandon their homes, moving to areas that were deemed safe for those of their religious belief. However, the resettlement process itself was filled with danger as extremist elements sought to take advantage of the chaos. These ad hoc evacuations took place on foot, via cart, and on crowded trains. As these refugees attempted to escape the violence, they would so...

  Karma, written by Khushwant Singh, an indian writer, politician and journalist. In his story, we have different perspectives like self-importance, heritage, control, insecurity, shame, identity and acceptance. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator the reader realises after reading the story that Singh may be exploring the theme of self-importance. Sir Mohan Lal considers himself to be better than others. Particularly other Indians. It is as though Lal has forgotten or abandoned his heritage and culture in favour of taking on the role of an Englishman. Though Lal has only spent five years in England he has adopted the ways of an Englishman and appears to be somewhat arrogant. Something that is noticeable by Lal’s desire to travel first class away from other Indians including his wife. Who does not appear to have adopted the same traits as her husband. If anything Lady Lal feels comfortable in her surroundings and does not seem to mind the position she finds herself i...

Death Be Not Proud " is included as a sonnet of 'Holy Sonnets: this sonnet the poet sings the glory and immortality of the soul, and the ultimate defeat of death. Demolishing the popular idea of death as a mighty and dreadful power, the poet says that it is not powerful as men think. It is rather a miserable slave, an agent of fate, chance, actions of wicked people, poison, wars, sickness and old age. It induces sleep but there are various other means like opium and drugs which give a better and gentler sleep. So death has no reason to be proud of its power. It can only make people sleep for a temporary period of time, and after sleep in the grave people shall wake up on the day of resurrection and live forever. Then death's jurisdiction comes to an end. Importantly, death does not kill human beings. It is actually death that dies, not the soul. Thus, the immortality of the soul is ensured.                 ...

As we all know that in the present era of transnational migration, the flow of the people among the different countries, convergence of the heterogeneous cultures, creolization of languages and hybridization of identities have broken the concept of fixity or absolute territoriality. Another thing that makes a difference in her work the intersection between the terriorialization and deterritorialization creates the 'third space' or liminality where the ‘cutting edge of translation and negotiation’ occurs. Therefore, the concepts of homeland and identity in this age of global migration form a complex framework. According to the critics like Homi K. Bhabha, Avtar Brah and Stuart Hall, the floating nature of home and fluid identity have replaced the age-old concepts of fixed ‘home’ and identity as well. The idea of ‘home’ evokes the spatial politics of home, the sense of self, its displacement, intimacy, exclusion and inclusion. The flow of the people across different countries bre...

In Thomas Hardy's play, Nature plays an important part. Nature is herself a  character and Hardy's scenes are set in (Wessex) among trees, farms, fields and low Hills. Hardy believed that the past has built up a mass of conditions which remain to influence people's lives and I also thought that blind chance has a very important effect. The best way of life is therefore to accept calmly the blows of luck. His famous novels, spread over the years 1870-96 are mostly pictures of human beings struggling against fate or chance or luck.                      His best and most significant work is Far From The Madding Crowd written in 1874. He explains in this novel a patient love on one side and selfish passion on another side. Gabriel Oak, a gentleman or a shepherd, loves blindly Bathsheba Everdene from the bottom of  heart. He serves her for many years with true heart and mind. Bu...

  GB Shaw was a great dramatist. He wrote 50 plays and his plays are full of wit and humour.  Show was a great critic. He shocked the society of his time by presenting the ideas that were quite opposite of popular belief. Dolly at the dentist is the opening scene of one of his plays " You Never Can Tell."                                       Dolly is a young lady who visits a dentist to have her tooth taken out. The dialogue between the dentist and Dolly are extremely witty and entirely enjoyable. Dolly is a young woman of eighteen. She visits a dentist named Valentine.  The dentist is known as five shillings dentist because he charges five shillings for each thing.  He has set up a clinic and he is a bachelor and has been in his clinic for six weeks.  He has had no patient ...