Character Analysis

The word ‘protagonist’ stands for the leading or principal character in the literary work either it is poetry, drama, fiction and legendary story (Protagonist, 2009).  A protagonist is the central or main character of the story or drama which plays a leading role according to the theme or central idea. Antagonist is the person who struggles or opposes the protagonist of drama, an adversary of the hero in any literary work e.g. Iago is the antagonist of Othello (Antagonist, 2009). The Protagonist plays a major part to achieve the goals of the story while the antagonist is an adversary who struggles against the efforts of the protagonist. In literary sense, the protagonist stands for irresistible force while an antagonist is an unbending object (Phillips, 2009).

The conflict between the protagonist and antagonist embodies the inner conflicts. The protagonist characterizes the motivation and impetus efforts to change the status quo. The antagonist personifies the discretion and silence to revolutionize the position. They are the true depiction of the most significant human traits, representing our social environment and personal trends (Phillips, 2009). The story of the drama or any other literary genre revolves around the protagonist, undergoing through a series of dramatic events and he is shown to some extent weak when the climax reaches in the story, a culmination of the story. At the moment, the protagonist would try to stop his efforts to pursue his aims but eventually he will be motivated again to achieve his goals (Phillips, 2009).

The protagonist is the most powerful personality with the extraordinary qualities who overcomes all obstacles successfully, having courageous and audacious spirits. What are the goals or targets of the protagonists; these may be compared with the nature of that character (Phillips, 2009). The antagonist is the character which strives hard to prevent or hinder the protagonist in achieving the goals. Without the role of antagonist, the story has no influential impacts upon the readers or viewers. The protagonist as good character or antagonist as bad character enhances the story of the drama exclusively. The protagonist is judged by the volume of hindrances or obstructions which he or she overwhelmed valiantly without subduing himself under heavy pressures of the antagonist (Phillips, 2009).

In any literary works, the most effective and major roles are depicted by the protagonist and antagonist. These main characters are very complex and magnificent portraits while the minor characters are taken as one-dimensional and flat characters who moves forward smoothly without any change. During the process of characterization, the personal features of the opposite characters (protagonist and antagonist) often may cause the conflicts between conflicts between them (Kurtus, 2007).

The protagonist is the central character who has to struggle with the force of his opponent or antagonist, creating the conflicts and there is a climax of story when both confront with each other (Kurtus, 2007). These characters are well-developed with their complex and distinct personal features, a true representation of a credible character or person. How the reader of the story may find out the hopes, skills, fears, favorite activities, affinity, personal aptitudes or habits etc. This is the process of characterization how they undergo different changes according to the circumstances and how they have capacity to deal with the conflicts (Kurtus, 2007).

Elizabeth Bennet is the most intellectual and quick-witted protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, having the most commendable traits, honesty, loveliness, liveliness, brilliance and sharpness. Elizabeth has to deal with a incorrigible mother, ignorant father, ill-mannered younger siblings, snobbish and antagonistic females while undergoing through familial as well as social commotion (Pride and Prejudice -Character Analysis, 2005). Oedipus Rex is the Greek protagonist of the Greek mythological legend series and the hero has to undergo a lot of transformations from potent to feeble person, suppressed by fate. All other characters of the play, Oedipus Rex struggle to resolve the complex problems apparently but all their efforts remain futile due to the antagonistic influence of powerful fate.

 In Hamlet, Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet plays the central role while facing all kinds of tragedies of his life and here his uncle, Claudius plays the role of antagonist, having intense antagonism and rivalry against his nephew, hamlet to overpower kingship of his deceased father. The conflicts arise between the protagonist and antagonist is the conflicts between goodness and evil. There are a lot of famous heroes in the literary works which are developed gradually from the very beginning to the end of the story. All the protagonists have to face a number of difficulties in the life but they encounter all problems of life bravely. Their courage and passions remain intact in spite of all pressures of tragic life, having very strong and powerful personalities. They have to face the external as well as internal conflicts throughout their life, leading life of bravery and adventure. Without the role of antagonist, there is no more interest or influence in the story of drama or fiction.

References

[1]. Protagonist, 2009, retrieved from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/protagonist

[2]. Antagonist, 2009, retrieved from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antagonist

[3]. Phillips, 2009, The Archetypal Characters: Protagonist and Antagonist by Melanie Anne Phillips, retrieved from: http://storymind.com/content/68.htm

[4]. Kurtus, 2007, Developing Fictional Characters by by Ron Kurtus (14 August 2007), retrieved from: http://www.school-for-champions.com/fiction/craft_fictional_characters.htm

[5]. Pride and Prejudice -Character Analysis, 2005, Article Review by: vas, Published: December 10, 2005, retrieved from: http://www.shvoong.com/books/classic-literature/73818-pride-prejudice-character-analysis/

                                   The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

1. What were your feelings after reading the first chapter of this book? Why?

The readers feel sadness, loneliness, hollowness and nothingness in the life of Chinese women who are living their life in America, San Francisco after war-ravages in 1949. Jing-Mei is a main role in this book whose mother, Suyuan Woo dies due to the severe attack of cerebral aneurysm. We feel the estrangement between mother-daughter relationships as this is expressed by Jing-Mei Woo herself too. “Over the years, she told me the same story, except for the ending, which grew darker, casting long shadows into her life, and eventually into mine” (Chapter 1, pg. 21). There is a generation-gap between old and new one as both mothers and daughters are unable to communicate their exact thoughts and feelings to each other plainly. There is also difference of two civilizations, western and Chinese, the mothers belonged to Chinese culture and want to be in touch with it but daughters are ignorant of all such cultural perspective of china. The influences of past stories of their life have been still intact and they couldn’t escape them from these past bitter realities of life that’s why their life is full of sorrows and pains!

2. Did the book make you laugh? Cry? Cringe? Smile? Cheer? Explain your reaction.

The book has serious thematic concerns of life, provoking our thoughtful ideas about the bitterness of life of the Chinese people who take refuge in American city, San Francisco. “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these things do not mix” (Chapter 15, pg. 254)? All characters of the novel are depicted as embodiment of grief-stricken and alien individuals who don’t find any destination in American cultural set up. It depicts deplorable state of minds of the people who still feel alienation in spite of living so long in American civilized social set up.

3. What connections are there between the book and your own life? (Please give a general answer)

The book demonstrates the realities of common human life, showing the pain, sorrows, bitterness, hollowness and helplessness of the individuals who lead life in foreign lands. It is a life of postwar generation who still recall their past memories and life-style in their beloved country, china. The origin of birthplace and cultural influences always has deep impacts upon human life and they never get rid of their patriotism and home-sickness when they are out of place. “Just as they were divided between American and Chinese culture, Rich, Waverly and Lindo connect over it. The couple decides to have their honeymoon in China, and they are even considering all going together. Lindo needed to be reassured that the American Rich could fit into her life and that Waverly understood her Chinese heritage. Once they understood this, their differences began to disappear” (chapter 10, China/America 6). The book proves that human blood relations are too strong to break off them and if it happens, there would be painful loneliness and disintegration in the minds of the individuals.

4. What parts in the book seem most believable? Why? What parts seem unbelievable? Why?

The parts of book seem unbelievable where the abandoned babies of Suyuan were found by Suyuan and her newly husband during the visit of Kweilin. How it is possible that she recognizes the couples to whom she has given her babies in helpless state during Japanese invasion. She comes back after so long time from America, having no clues to find out her lost babies. The process of self-recognition and self-identification of Jing-Mei after her mother’s death gives a credible touch to story of the novel, vital part of the novel.

5. Do you like the way the book ended? Why or why not? Do you think there is more to tell? What do you think might happen next or what else would you like to learn?

Jing-Mei departs to her motherly land, china to meet her sisters by saying goodbye to her father’s family at airport at the end of the book. She realizes the facts that it is impossible to ignore the facts of life by merging both civilizations, western and eastern into each other. She thinks that Chinese culture is better to understand rather than American. She comes into consciousness by seeing all realities with open eyes and it is highly recommendable process of self-realization and self-identification. Now Jing-Mei can see everything clearly in the light of past and present life happenings after reaching in china and now she realizes the true worth of her mother with whom her relation had not be established in good terms. The plot-construction of the story is fine, having distincition between all parts of the books, beginning, middle and ending. Every thing is explored obviously and there is nothing left to be explained more and it is perfect end of the story.

References

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, textual quotes, summaries and character-portrayals are taken from these web-links:

[1]. http://www.enotes.com/joy-luck

[2]. http://www.bookrags.com/notes/jlc/SUM.html

[3]. http://www.bookrags.com/notes/jlc/QUO.htm

“A Rose for Emily” – Setting

              “A Rose for Emily” By William Faulkner is one of the typical stories, reflecting the main character, Emily as soul of conflicts, disintegrated soul. The whole story revolves round one main character, Emily and one town, narrated by an unknown narrator. Emily lives a luxurious life in a poor southern state, obeying her overbearing father till her ultimate death.

             The narrator of the story depicts Emily’s home and neighborhood in a graphical manner, showing the traditional life-style of Emily. The narrator narrates that her house is a big, squarish, furnished with cupolas, spires and scrolled balconies, all settings of home depicts the life-style of seventies. The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill this room with pervading dust. A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man’s toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured (Faulkner, 1929-30).     Her house is symbol of old and obliterated tradition as every thing at her house had been encroaching as the cotton wagons, gasoline pumps-an-eysore, the august names of neighborhood were on decay. With the passage of time, Emily too grows old, her hair become grey, showing her aged personality and obesity too (Faulkner, 1929-30).   The appearances of her home and her personality are extinguished, only death and decay is prevailing everywhere as the townpeople find Homer’s skeletal body on a luxurious bed in a locked room, Emily’s iron-gray hair lying on the pillow beside his head, a “slender figure in white,” typifies the vulnerable virgin, hovering in the background, subordinate and passive.  The father, “a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip” (CS 123), is a menacing dark image assuming the dominant front position.  His turned back suggests a disregard for her emotional welfare as he wards off potential danger — or violation of her maidenhead — with his horsewhip.  The back-flung door invites suitors in, but only those who meet Grierson’s standards.  Unfortunately, those standards are unattainable – (Janice et al, 2008).

  Emily’s character displays manifold reactionary characteristics, mixed feelings of love, care and hatred for his domineering father, her restricted life-style, her loneliness and alienation from main social stream. Her father’s domineering attitude affects her personality by keeping her away from the rest of the world and there are indelible imprints of her father’s self-restraint behavior upon her living style (Janice et al, 2008).  Emily is characterized as psychic case, mental disorder due to her estrangement and separation from her milieu and she behaves strangely amidst the social surroundings as she has to contend with her family traditional limitation and her own personal desires (A Rose for Emily Themes, 2008). She poisons her lover by suppressing her loving desires to meet him and marry him just because of her father and people of town. Emily had been innocent and chaste but her hair, other physical features, her settings of home depicts her resistibility to change, her tormented soul, torn up due to her father’s restraints and her suppression of her own desires (Bernardo, 2008).

                Though she loves Homer but tries to ignore her love for him by leaving herself alone at her home. Her white dressing has been changed into black dressing after death of her lover, Homer, reflecting her as widow or mourner. How her home and her own character, personality begins to degenerate gradually due to unforgettable influences of her father’s restrictions even after his death or social limitations which constrains herself to be spinster whole life.   

References

A Rose for Emily Summary / Study Guide, retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/rose-emily/

A Rose for Emily Themes, retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/rose-emily/themes

Bernardo, Karen Bernardo, 21 August, 2008, William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” Commentary by Karen Bernardo, retrieved from: http://www.storybites.com/faulkneremily2.htm

Janice et al, 2008, Janice A. Powell, Middle Park High School, Granby, Colorado, Changing Portraits in “A Rose for Emily”, retrieved from http://www.semo.edu/cfs/teaching/index_4883.htm

Faulkner, 1929-30, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, retrieved from: http://www.ariyam.com/docs/lit/wf_rose.html

Literature Reflects The Spirit Of The Age

Or

Literature And Society

A literary man is as much a product of his society as his art is product of his own reaction to life. Even the greatest of artists is sometimes a conscious, sometimes an unconscious exponent of his time-spirit. The time-spirit is the total outcome, the quintessential accretion of all the political, social, religious, and scientific changes of a particular age. The historical aspect of literature, therefore, minor or unimportant though it may be for aesthetic purpose, cannot be totally ignored.

According to Hudson, “A nation’s life has its moods of exultation and depression; its epochs a strong faith and strenuous idealism. Now of doubt, struggle and disillusion, now of unbelief and flippant disregard for the sanctities of existence ; and while the manner of expression will vary greatly with the individuality of each writer, the dominant spirit of the hour, whatever that may be, will directly or indirectly reveal itself in his work.” Thus literature reflects his zeitgeist or the Time-Spirit. Non writer can escape influence of his age. livery titan, according to Gocthe`s statement, is the citizen of his age as well as of his country. Renan remarked: “One belongs to one’s century and race, even when one reacts against one’s century and race.” Thus literature always expresses the thoughts and sentiments of human mind which are closely connected with and conditioned by the age. The influence of the age on the human mind is due to the fact that the latter is constantly influenced by the spirit of the age and reacts to it vividly and vigorously. The reflection of the age depends on the quality of the mind in which it is reflected. if a work of literature is to be judged by the quality of this reflection. It is apparent that it depends on the quality and nature of the reflecting mind. A sensitive mind will be able to render back the slightest shades and nuances, and its creation are characterized by delicacy, subtlety and depth.

Literature studied as a reflection of the spirit of the age creates a new spirit for us. With its help, we travel into the minds of the other races and the minds of the other epochs. Thus it becomes a son of sociological approach, a supplementary and eomtnentary on history. Once we are steeped in the spirit of a by-gone age, we are able to enjoy even archaic books which otherwise would not appeal to us. . ·

Influence of the Writer

 We do not find any interest in the novels of Richardson or Fielding if they are studied as the books of social facts. Even we do not find charm in the Spectator, The Faerie Queene and Arcadia, if they are studied for understanding the ages of their respective authors. Thus it is an admitted fact that if the work of a writer merely reflects the spirit of his times. It cannot be great literature. It is a very useful piece of valuable material for the sociologist and the historian. It is entirely devoid of the virtue of permanence and universality. The literature of the Greeks should not appeal to an Indian or a German mind if its historical factor is taken into consideration. Similarly Shakespeare should not be regarded a great dramatist, if he simply and purely reflects the Elizabethan period.

The essence ofliterature lies in the individual approach of the author, his personality which will  dominate over other influences. Undoubtedly, the author is shaped by the spirit of his age, but he has also got the capabilities to mould his period. A great man of letters is the creature as well as the creator of his age in which he exists. Thus we talk of the age of Shakespeare, the age of Dryden, the age of Wordsworth, the age of Bernard Shaw and so on. The students and literary historians keep in view a process of social growth; always mistake the real point at issue. They at once ignore the genius of the man of letters who can manage to transcend the bounds of race and country. For example, Milton`s Paradise Lost, was a great challenge to the age of cynicism, low morals and satirical literature. This mighty book does not reveal the time spirit of his age. Milton revolted rather than expressed the spirit of his times. Similarly, in spite of all the atmosphere of heroism and love of song and drama, the Elizabethan age could not produce another Shakespeare. The original, mysterious and incommunicable element of personal genius of Shakespeare made him the dramatist for all ages and climes. lt is this factor which gives an abiding  and universal appeal to the work of a great writer.

The function of literature is different from that of history. Literature is the revelation of beauty. Beauty is the expression of emotion and all such expression without any exception is beautiful.

Santayanas defines beauty as ‘value, positive, intrinsic and objectified`. We may explain this in less technical language as pleasure regarded as the quality of a thing. Aesthetic pleasure or beauty differs the same school of thought. H.R. Marshall speaks of the ‘stable pleasure` which is especially provided by art and known to us by the name of beauty. Another psychological aesthetician M. Porena defines the beautiful as that which pleases the mind as an objective value, i. e. without any apparent reference to ourselves as the sources of feeling. There is this element of objectivity in our appreciation of the beautiful. Tolstoy, in his famous book What is Art, defines art and literature as the communication of emotions. When we tell a story, compose a song or paint a picture with the object of communicating to others an emotion, we have ourselves felt, that is Art. Art leaps to the Olympian height of great art when emotion is fresh and springs from a fresh and vivid attitude to the world. The beauty of a work of art to Tolstoy should be assessed entirely by reference to the verdict of the greatest number of men. Thus a democratic principle was applied to the field of art criticism because Tolstoy took beauty not to be objective and inherent in works of art. Beauty is a quality of the effect produced by works of art on those who are brought into contact with them. lt is a mere subjective experience; works of art and literature simply produce a sense of the beautiful in the people who view it. Undoubtedly it is extreme subjectivism. The position of Tolstoy has been further strengthened by Dr. I.A. Richards has ably offered a psychological explanation of the enjoyment of the beautiful. Dr. Richards in his Principles of Literary Criticism and Foundations of Aesthetics defines beauty as emotional satisfaction. By the contemplation of a beautiful object certain impulses in ourselves are brought to emotional equilibrium of harmony. We experience satisfaction because of this condition of equilibrium and postulate the presence of beauty in that which has caused it.

From the above criticism it is apparent that some critics wish to disassociate from the spirit of the age. According to them, literature can be disassociated from the age to which it belongs. But it is not always true. The literature which is solely concerned with emotions and sense of beauty is more or less ephemeral in character. Such literature may be hopelessly romantic. lt may be morbidly called fin de siècle (decadent).  “lnstead of being conserved with the grand realities of human existence, it creates a sort of ‘palace of art’ or `ivory tower’, where it isolates itself from the freshening current of life. There can be no doubt, however, that in a measure, this literature also derives its character from the character of the age; instead of canalizing the progressive urge inherent in the age, it picks out the careful jetsams that stream of the time carries into the gulf` of oblivion and makes an interesting no doubt, but meant only for the hour, without any basis on permanence.”

Style in Literature

          Literature has to do with written words, not with spoken words. Spoken words have only a limited range. They have a sort of immortality conferred on them, when they find their place in literature. Thus there is difference between. speech and literature. Literature is a permanent record and it is personal in character. lt is the voice of one individual, not several individuals that speaks to us in literature. The writer expresses his personal feelings and thoughts in literature, but they must have universal truth. Language has an important bearing upon literature. Literature is the personal use or exercise of language. Language is the vehicle of thought. Now there is a question whether language can be superimposed. It is true that poor thought can be dressed up in fine words but all the same we detect the poor thought. The fact is that thought and expression are inseparable. The one is made to suit the other. There is the story of a learned Arabic scholar handing over his matter to a country-curate to touch it and polish it. The curate damaged his matter by polishing it.

       So in great writers, thought and expression are equally matched. What may appear as lavish richness of style or over-elaboration in Shakespeare or Cicero is but an adequate rendering of thought. ln great writers expression is dictated by thought. Cicero’s is the voice destined to proclaim great things. His rich, majestic diction and his elaboration are but the natural expression of his thought. Nor should he forget that genius takes pains with the medium of expression. Some amount of elaboration will naturally go with the expression of deep, stirring or tumultuous thoughts as we find in Shakespeare’s tragedies.

         It is wrong to think that language is something coming from without, or that it can be superimposed upon thought. Language is the skin and body of thought. We must look to the adequacy of language to thought, and this is the characteristic of a great writer. A mediocre writer may try to conceal his poor thought in flamboyant language but his poor thought does not go undetected. lf we think that his language is richer than his thought, it betrays lack of judgment or discernment in us. It has been said that men of genius take pains with their thoughts and their language. They never let language run ahead of their thought, otherwise they will be no great writers. We may mention here Demosthenes who studied Thucydides over and over, before he formed his style. Gibbon was not satisfied with the first draft of his history till he developed the style to suit his subject. Richness of style and elaborateness are not faults in a great writer. They are demanded by the subject he deals with.

In a nutshell, “literature is the personal use or exercise of language. That this is so is proved from the fact that one author uses it so differently from another. While the many use language as they find it, the man of genius uses it indeed, but subjects it withal to his own purposes and moulds it according to his own peculiarities. The throng and succession of ideas, thoughts, feelings, imaginations, speculations, which pass within him, the abstractions the juxtapositions, the comparisons, the discriminations, the conceptions, which are so original in him, his views of external things, his judgments upon life, manners, and history, the exercises of his wit, of his humour, of his depth, of his sagacity all these innumerable and incessant creations, the very production and throbbing of his intellect, does he image forth . . . in a corresponding language, which is as multiform as this inward mental action itself, and analogous to it, the faithful expression of his intense personality, attending on his inward world of thought as its very shadow, so that we might as well say that one man’ s shadow is another’s as that the style of a really gifted mind can belong to any but himself. lt follows him about as a shadow. His thought and feeling are personal, and so his language is personal.” (Newman)

         William Henry Hudson has lucidly elaborated the chief features of literature. According to him, “first, there is the intellectual element—the thought which the writer brings to bear upon his subject, and which he expresses in his work. Secondly, there is the emotional element—the feeling (of whatever kind) which his subject arouses in him, and which in turn be desires to stimulate in us. Thirdly, there is the element of imagination (including its light form which we call fancy), which is really the faculty of strong and intense vision, and by the exercise of which he quickens a similar power of vision in ourselves. These elements combine to furnish the substance and the life of literature. But, however rich may be the materials yielded by experience, however fresh and strong may be the writer’s thought, feeling and imagination, in dealing with them, another factor is wanting before his work can be completed. The given matter has to be moulded and fashioned in accordance with the principles of order, symmetry, beauty, effectiveness; and thus we have a fourth element in literature, the technical element, or the element of composition and style.”

         The essential characteristic of literature is that it produces aesthetic pleasure by manner in which theme is handled. Beyond its intellectual and emotional content and beyond its fundamental quality of life, it appeals to us by reason of its form. This means that literature is a fine art and like all fine arts. It has its own laws and conditions of workmanship. Literature always communicates experience of the writer. These experiences of the author’s mind at once affect the reader’s mind because of the intercommunication of style and thought. His experience may be actual of a sort of day-dreaming, but imagination can transform it into something, for the reader. By means of his imagination, the writer can continue the existence of his experience and communicate it to the reader as if he has recently caught it out of the flux of life.

        “In order to achieve this, the writer must arouse me acre imagination in his reader, and control it in such a manner that the reader may also imitate the experience. This he achieves by means of words which should act as symbols of his experience, so that it can be properly represented to the reader. The writer must translate his experience into such symbolic equivalence of language, that the symbol may be translated back again by the reader’s imagination into a similar experience. lt is here that the skill of the artist lies. Literature thus expresses and communicates experience by means of language. lt is the expression in language for its own sake, of experience for its own sake. It is beautiful when it achieves this aim. In it, the experience of receiving the communication, and the experience communicated are indistinguishable.”

Literature and Society

              Literature is the representation of social life. The quality of literature e is intimately connected with the quality of the life that it reflects. Literature is always a reflection of life which presupposes a social background. “Even when attempts are made—as sometimes, in recent times—to create an ‘ideal’ literature, something abstracted from life (as a thing of pure beauty it is claimed),—even then that attempt reflects the `ivory tower` attitude that is developed in the mind of the artist as a result of excessive sophistication of life in a highly artificial society. Such un·social or anti-social literatures are to be regarded rather as intellectual curiosities and aberrations than as the genuine thing.” The function of the literature thus comes to the manifestation of basic class-struggles.

          This manifestation must be objective in the sense that the writer must not allow his own prejudices to interfere with the truth of his representation. For example, it might be said that, as a rule, Shakespeare is conservative in his attitude to social life. He makes no secret of his fear of any change in the existing pattern of human relationship within the framework of feudal organization. Yet he represents with sufficient clarity the influence of the conflict between vanishing social order and the emerging social order based on individual life, and the formation of individual character and ideals.

       That is why, though sharing in popular prejudices, he is truthful in representing the justice of the cause of the oppressed people (as in Shylock or Caliban), or the revolt of the individual against authority. It is this objectivity of vision that has ensured Shakespeare’s supreme position in the world of literature. On the other hand, a writer may be progressive in his class-consciousness but is unable to shed certain personal prejudices which are in themselves the accretions of mass-consciousness.

       Saratchandra, for example, is apparently on the side of progress; he brings a rare gift of sympathy to the understanding of men and women who are victims of social injustice. But something in his make-up and training keeps harking back to traditional values. He falsifies the trend of social developments as emerging out of contemporary conflicts. This is likely to stand in the way his future position. The writer must be quick to discern, and objectively present the real trends in social life, the direction towards which society is moving. This is why a great writer becomes something of a prophet.

Literature and Life

        Literature has close connection with life. In fact, literature is the study of life. The subject-matter of literature is the presentation of life. Life provides the raw material by which literature interfuses an artistic pleasure, pattern and form. Literature is the communication of the writer’s novel and unique experiences of life. Thus, there is the vital and intimate connection between literature and life which is inseparable. Life is not a simple phase. It possesses both depth and comprehensiveness. So, literature manifests the subtle problems of life. “It used to be believed at one time that the deepest things in life are those that deal with what were called the eternal varieties of life. The idea of God, for example,’ or of certain moral virtues, were supposed to be eternal. But experience and a wider knowledge of the changing conditions of social life have shaken man’s faith in the unchangeableness of these concepts. It is found that ideas are rooted in the material conditions of life and the change with those conditions which are never static. Thus, different peoples have different ideas of the Godhead. The vengeful Jehovah of the Israelites is something essentially different from the benignant deity whom, for example, the Vaishnavas worship. The laws of morality again undergo changes from country to country and from age to age. Hence in modern times, our conception of the depth and profundity does not revolve round this doctrine of eternal varieties. We try to understand the forces behind these social changes; and we understand them as mainly economic forces. We try to understand the nature of these changes, and we understand them as the replacement of the old order by the new.

        Hence, with regard to literature, our idea or its value depends on the extent to which it has been able to express the changing conditions of social life; the emergent truths that supersede the discredited falsehoods of the past. Great literature always grasps and reflects these emergent truths that rise triumphant over the wreckage of the past. Indeed, literature as its deepest has a revolutionary content, and is violently condemned by unreasoning orthodoxy.

      Literature involves the objective and subjective outlook of the writer. He observes humanity and makes the subjective approach to it. Literature plays a vital part in the life of man. lt is the greatest of the secondary sources of sensation. lt makes an immense contribution to the sum total of fact, i.e., the joint result of the experience of the individual and of the fact. Thus there is subjective outlook of the writer upon the world at large. Through literature, we converse with the great dead, with Plato, with Buddha, with Montaigne with Addison. We walk the streets of Babylon, of Athens, of Rome, and of Alexandria. We see great monuments, reared ages ago and long since crumpled to the dust.

      We recreate the life of distant epochs, and thus by comparison gauge the progress achieved by the men of today.  Through literature, we learn wisdom from Aristotle, geometry from Euclid, law from Justinian, morality front Christ and St. Paul. Literature makes the physical features, the inhabitants, the climate the produce of the antipodes as familiar as those of the neighboring country. More than this, the masters of creative literature have made regions of their own which they have peopled with me children of their genius. Thus the subjective outlook reacts upon the objective. The knowledge which have gained through our own previous sensations and through literature increases our capacity for understanding the objective world, and heightens and intensifies the pleasure which we derive from the contemplation of work of art or the face of nature. it is only by and through the subjective aspect of the world that we can rightly appreciate the objective.

       ln conclusion, literature is the brain of humanity. Just as in the individual. The brain preserves he record of his previous sensations, ol` his experiences, and of his acquired knowledge, and it is in the light of this record that he interprets every fresh sensation and experience; so the race at large had a record of its past in literature, and it is in the light record alone that its present conditions and circumstances can be understood. The message of the senses is indistinct and valueless to the individual without the co-operation of the brain; the life of the race would be degraded to a mere animal existence without the accumulated stores of previous experience which literature places at its disposal.

Stream Of Consciousness

      Stream consciousness is known as literary genre which exposes the thoughts, passions and feelings of the characters which are developed via continuous process of soliloquy, an incessant flow of ideas and emotions which comprise an individualistic conscious experience.  According to the literary critics, stream of consciousness is also taken as a narrative mode of novelists, dramatists and poets who portray a character of an individual (Stream of Consciousness, 2010).    In other words, it is defined as the gush of thoughtful ideas in one’s conscious mind. Stream of consciousness is a narrative technique to expose the inward feelings and experiences of the individuals to give impressionism and naturalism in the character-portrayal, representing the random growth process of the character via its thoughts and sense impressions (Stream of Consciousness, 2010). 

Writers who create stream-of-consciousness works of literature focus on the emotional and psychological processes that are taking place in the minds of one or more characters. Important character traits are revealed through an exploration of what is going on in the mind (Stream of Consciousness, 2010). 

      Stream of consciousness is an advanced writing technique which reveals the perceptions, judgments, feelings, memories, and thoughts as if they are disclosing from the brain of the character directly and writer interpret them in unstructured and ungrammatically mode of writings without any specific chronological order in accordance with the portrayal of the character. According to William James, it is disclosure of inner experiences of an individual, used as tool of depicting the multitudinous ideas and feelings which comes in the mind of the individual. The term of coin is used for the first time by Dorthy Richardson, Conrad, James Joyce, W. Faulkner and Virginia Woolf (Stream of Consciousness, 2010). 

      W. Faulkner portrays the character of the child in ‘‘Barn Burning,’’ exposing the moral awareness how he finds himself alone from the social stratum when he is reaching the age of adolescence. As consciousness develops more deeply, this sense of loneliness and alienation deepen so strongly in the son-father relationship, Sarty and his father (Barn Burning | Themes, 2010).

      Faulkner displays a marvelous harmonious blend of ‘blood relation’’ and “morality” by exposing the feelings and thoughts of young boy who has to prefer some existential choice to get be relieved. The close affinity of family is based on the moral grounds to constitute the morality of higher level (Barn Burning | Critical Overview, 2010).

      William Faulkner’s Barn Burning (1939) is one of the masterpieces of artistic writings, employing all modern techniques of narration like use of stream of consciousness to expose the dilemma of modern American society which is going to degenerate socially as well as culturally. In the beginning, Faulkner became unpopular due to his vague expressive mannerism and in the later stage, Faulkner had gained immense popularity due to his influential style of prose-writing and Barn Burning is the exclusive example of his modernist style and psychological approach how he probes deep into the minds of his character to reveal the very truth in lucid manner (Barn Burning | Introduction, 2010).

      The opening scene of Barn Burning expose the entire story of the different incidents via individualistic monologues or soliloquy of the protagonist, Starty who is accompanied with his father, Abner Snopes in the courtroom, whole story is revealed round after 10-15 years of Civil War. The mental process of generating thoughts and feelings in the child character reveals how much he has sincerity and loyalty for his family-relationship due to the ethical obligations (Barn Burning | Introduction, 2010).

Cited Works

Barn Burning | Themes, 2010, Barn Burning | Themes, retrieved from:

http://www.enotes.com/barn-burning/themes

Barn Burning | Critical Overview, 2010, Barn Burning | Critical Overview, retrieved from: http://www.enotes.com/barn-burning/critical-overview

Barn Burning | Introduction, 2010, Barn Burning | Introduction, retrieved from:

http://www.enotes.com/barn-burning/

Stream of Consciousness, 2010, written By Esther Lombardi, retrieved from:

http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/g/aa_stream.htm

A Doll’s House

            The struggle to harmonize with society’s expectations can destroy relationships. When one strives to conform into the set regulations of his environment, he is bound to interact with the world through appearances rather than reality, and that creates a harmful impact on his relationship with his spouse. In “A Doll’s House”, Henrik Ibsen demonstrates this notion through his character, Torvald Helmer, a husband who dissipates his relationship with his wife because of his determination to stick to the moral code that he entirely derives from society’s expectations. Torvald’s relentlessness to follow society’s regulations- his fixation on maintaining a high status in the eyes of others- causes him to lose sight of the values that matter, and he isn’t able to save his relationship with his wife- to be her hero (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).

For the author, Torvald stands for all the individual-denying social ills against which Ibsen has dedicated all his writing….Ibsen, however, drives home the loathsome qualities of such a character by attributing to him a personal decadence. Implying that Torvald considers Nora merely an ornamented sex object, the author shows how he maintains amorous fantasies toward his wife (Character Analysis, Torvald Helmer, 2010).

      The play, “A Doll’s House”, emphatically stresses upon the status of women how their roles should be perceived in the context of the social norms, related with marriage and motherhood. The character of Torvald Helmer is portrayed in displaying the specific roles of women how they should perform their sacred duty as faithful wife and loving mother. Ibsen also focus on the roles of women how the women are liable to develop ethical sense of morality in the minds of their children (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).

      Ibsen portrays the characters of women as childlike, powerless and helpless creatures who have no concerns with realistic approach of life but there is influential role of women to develop a sense of sincerity, purity, morality and responsibility in the children. Torvald is not much award about the conflicting pressures on the manhood powers rather than the incompatible pressures on the performance of the women in the society. Torvald has viewpoints about the manliness as it has great significance of total independence. He disregards the very idea of financial or moral dependence upon anybody else and his this passion of entire freedom keeps him out of the social circles where there is need of human interaction or interdependence in real life (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).

The major thrust of this play has something to do with gender relations in modern society and offers us, in the actions of the heroine, a vision of the need for a new-found freedom for women (or a woman) amid a suffocating society governed wholly by unsympathetic and insensitive men (Johnston, 2000).

      Torvald is always seen in amassing wealth and indulging in materialistic pursuits rather than the human relationship, depicting the social interaction of the people in the modern society. Torvald assumes the role of Nora as diminutive character and calls her with different names like “little songbird,” “squirrel,” “lark,” “little featherhead,” “little skylark,” “little person,” and “little woman (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).”

Ibsen’s concerns about the position of women in society are brought to life in A Doll’s House. He believed that women had a right to develop their own individuality, but in reality, their role was often self-sacrificial (A Doll’s House, Theme Analysis, 2010).

      Light is used metaphorically for the illustration of self-journey of Nora. When Torvald claims to do everything by himself in the presence of Dr. Rank, the light begins to diminish into darkness as “Nora sinks to new levels of manipulation (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).” Nora comes into her sense of reality rather than living in her fantasy, when Dr. Rank exposes his love for her, she insists to bring lamp into the room. Light is emblem of enlightenment, used as metaphors for developing understanding of the readers by Ibsen. The fancy dress of Nora is also symbolism of her role in married life when she puts on such fancy dress. She changes herself by choosing such gorgeous costumes and at end of the play, she leaves Torvald and is ready to play role as new women of the modern society (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).

Nora’s final exit away from all her traditional social obligations is the most famous dramatic statement in fictional depictions of this struggle, and it helped to turn Ibsen (with or without his consent) into an applauded or vilified champion of women’s rights and this play into a vital statement which feminists have repeatedly invoked to further their cause (Johnston, 2000).

       The play focuses upon the clash between the real life and moral ideals as his other famous play, The Wild Duck also depicts same themes of human life. At the end of the play, the glorious victory of individualistic success reveals through the character of Nora how it would be foolish or idealistic decision to end up happy moments in the life of Nora (A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010).

      In A Doll’s House, portrays a depressing picture of the sacrificial role of women in all societies of the world and his heroine, Nora is exemplified with all women of the world how they have to sacrifice them while men deny to sacrifice their veracity, “hundreds of thousands of women have (Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).” Ibsen displays the theme of incestuous relationship of the husband and wife in the portrayals of Nora and Torvald. How Torvald takes his wife as show piece for sex only and encourages her to dance like pretty doll or Capri fisher girl in order to arouse his sexual passions. It is with this ultimate touch of falsification that Ibsen portrays the character of Torvald systematically culpable to the audience (Character Analysis, Torvald Helmer, 2010).

Marriage was a trap in another sense, too. Though divorce was available, it carried such a social stigma (not just for the woman, but also for her husband and family) that few women saw it as an option. This is why Torvald would rather have a pretend marriage, for the sake of appearances, than a divorce or an amicable parting (A Doll’s House, Theme Analysis, 2010).

      The theme of the play is related with the moral concerns of the individuals and society, a suffocating moral climate which is criticized so harshly in A Doll’s House. How Nora plays a heroic action in her life to safeguard her life as unpardonable misdemeanor and dutifulness as illegal action and it is not astonishing end of the play when her journey of self-recognition starts to probe into the reality of life, “who is right, the world or I (A Doll’s House, Theme Analysis, 2010).”

Cited Works

A Doll’s House, Theme Analysis, 2010, retrieved from:

http://www.novelguide.com/ADoll’sHouse/themeanalysis.html

A Doll’s House Study Guide, 2010, written by Henrik Ibsen, retrieved from:

http://www.gradesaver.com/a-dolls-house/study-guide/major-themes/

Character Analysis, Torvald Helmer, 2010, retrieved from:

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/A-Doll-s-House-Character-Analysis-Torvald-Helmer.id-80,pageNum-155.html

Johnston, 2000, On Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, published by Ian Johnston,

[This is the text of a lecture delivered, in part, in Liberal Studies 310 at Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada. References to Ibsen's text are to the translation by James McFarlane and Jens Arup (Oxford: OUP, 1981). This text is in the public domain, released July, 2000], retrieved from: http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/introser/ibsen.htm

Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen,

Retrieved from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dollhouse/themes.html

Cubism in Hemingway’s the Sun Also Rises

      Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) has gained immense popularity due to his innovative and creative writings, a marvelous American fiction of 20^th century. Hemingway has portrayed the realistic picture of the modern man’s wretched life how the modern man is disillusioned and disintegrated due to the shattered old values. It is dilemma of modern man that he has become a mechanically a machine like man by indulging himself into his materialistic pursuits. Ernest Hemingway’s prose style is very simple, unconventional and genuine, depicting the problems of postwar era, death, violence and degeneration of old values in his novels (Balakrishnan, 2003).

       The themes of his novels range from moral, social, psychological and ethical degradation to horror, futility and fear of human existence, showing the frustration, demoralization and degeneration of human spirits. He is a realist prose-writer who portrays a true picture of reality on the canvas of life with exclusive pictorial quality (Balakrishnan, 2003).

Hemingway has been immortalized by the individuality of his style. Short and solid sentences, delightful dialogues, and a painstaking hunt for an apt word or phrase to express the exact truth, are the distinguishing features of his style (Balakrishnan, 2003).

       It is unjustifiable statement about Hemingway that his writings are devoid of high seriousness but Hemingway is a philosophical writer, interpreting his famous `Iceberg theory’: ‘The dignity of the movement of an iceberg is due to only one eighth of it being above the water’ (Balakrishnan, 2003).  His novels reveal the symbolic implications of his art, very true nature of human life how he represents human life in his fiction-writing. He aims to show the dramatic value of human life in this vast universe where supernatural elements influence man’s life (Balakrishnan, 2003).

As with them, a moral awareness springs from his awareness of the larger life of the universe. Compared with the larger life of the universe, the individual is a puny thing, a tragic thing. But in this larger life of the universe, the individual has his place of glory (Balakrishnan, 2003).

      Hemingway gives the very idea of futility of human existence in this cosmic world by exposing the themes of death, violence, darkness and predicament of human life. Hemingway presents metaphysical philosophy about the nature of human existence in this universe by delineating his protagonists as alienated and disintegrated individuals who struggle with the odds of life with endurance, bravery and courage. He portrays his heroes, who are wounded emotionally or physically. His all protagonists are depicted in terms of code of courage, fortitude and loneliness who have to fight a losing battle in this world of irrational devastation (Balakrishnan, 2003).

      If we observe the novels of Hemingway critically, it is noteworthy that all his novels are panorama of general drama of human pain by posing symbolic questions about life. Hemingway gives symbolic presentation of predicaments in man’s life how a man has to carry on his perpetual struggle for overcoming the supernatural forces which restrain man’s free will power. In nutshell, Hemingway gives an excellent picturesque of human life which ends in death, combating with odds of life perpetually. It is futile to fight a battle for man who is reduced to a pathetic figure by some hostile forces (Balakrishnan, 2003).

However, what matters is the way man faces the crisis and endures the pain inflicted upon him by the hostile powers that be, be it his own physical limitation or the hostility of society or the indifference of unfeeling nature (Balakrishnan, 2003).

      The ultimate triumph depends upon the ways of struggling how individuals assert their dignified status in this cosmic world by facing pains and failures with courage and strong will power. Man has free will power to establish his own ideals and values by indulging into the persistent combat against oppressive forces in three dimensions like biological, social and environmental obstacles in this universe.  Charles Child Walcutt comments about Hemingway’s fiction writings in these words:

The conflict between the individual needs and social demands is matched by the contest between feeling man and unfeeling universe, and between the spirit of the individual and his biological limitations (Balakrishnan, 2003).

      Cubism is an abstract art of exposing the intellectual vision of modern life, an industrial and materialistic society. Cubism is the pure and artistic technique to give pictorial quality to the landscape of the artists’ mind rather than the external world. Cubism is the embodiment of the modern environment, landscape and materials of everyday life (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France).  As Legar explains:

A modern man registers a hundred times more sensory impressions than an eighteenth-century artist. . . . The compressions of the modern picture, its variety, its breaking up of forms, are the result of all this (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France).

      Cubism is the excellent art movement which leaves deep impacts upon the mind in order to produce new visual consciousness. The cubists have presented the viewpoints more understandable in the post-war era when war was proved to be catalytic to generate elements of modern consciousness (When Cubism Met the Decorative Arts in France).

      In the beginning of 20^th century, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway present their innovative and creative visions about the modern life in graphical manner. Both Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway has earned great fame for the particular artistic qualities as Picasso’ unique and original style of painting while Hemingway’s revolutionary prose-style, abstract ideas, terse but simple style of writing, ambiguous stories which evoke the intuitive and imaginative powers of the readers (Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009).

       Hemingway is inspired by Picasso’ new style of painting, known as cubism and the deep impacts of Picasso’ artistic style, cubism can be seen in his writing works, particularly in his famous novel,  The Sun Also Rises. Picasso and Hemingway depict the moral human drama of modern life in their artistic works. Hemingway portrays the exotic world with all colors in order to expose the inherent response of the individuals towards the real life, both artists expose the futility of war and its destructive influences upon humanity (Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009).

         In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway presents his war experiences by portraying the uncertain world of lost generation who indulge in merry-making and pastimes like fishing trips, bullfighting, passing time in nightclubs and cafes.  All main characters of the novel, The Sun Also Rises like Jake; Brett’s fiancé, Mike Campbell, Brett, Count Mippipopolous are true depiction of the lost generation who lead life of uncertainty and ambiguity (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010).  In the novel, everything is painted as reaction to the dilemma of the war how the major characters of the novel are affected physically and psychologically, engaging them in incredible consumption of alcohol and continuous travelling from place to place. Hemingway paints the life of those characters in vague manner to reveal the very truth of life how these characters are leading life without any proper destination. All these characters reveals the devastating influences of Great War upon their minds and souls, if they are not post generation of war, they would act in different way (The Sun Also Rises, 2002).

       In the novel, The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley are attracted by each other sexually but their sexual desire is too much intense. But Jake is unable to consummate his desire of love-making due to the wounded physique in war. But in spite of being injured, he can’t control his passionate desire of sexual intercourse, though he has lost his penis, yet he has deep emotions for Brett. He wants to satisfy her sexually after developing this deep relationship but Jake is incapable to do so (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010). Jake’s agony interprets the mechanization of industrialized society where life is much happier and better but after World War II, life has become more terrible for the individuals. The lives of Jake and Brett are true mirror to the lives of people after the Great War. The Sun Also Rises is one of the greatest novels ever written by Hemingway due to its unique literary devices like realism, impressionism and cubism to elaborate the stories of love and war more perfectly (About The Sun Also Rises, 2010).

       Hemingway portrays how World War has destabilized the conventional concepts of faith, justice and morality. The people are unable to rely upon each other traditionally, they are lost generation who have undergone the bitter experiences of War, leading aimless and meaningless life as they are morally and psychologically lost people (The Sun Also Rises, 2002).  The lives of Jack and Brett are embodiment of hollowness as they have good acquaintances with each other but still they are not contented due to the lack of consummation of love who try to fill this gap of life via escapist activities e.g. dancing, drinking, travelling, debauchery etc. Hemingway never exposes explicitly that Jake and his friend’s lives are pointless and aimless but it is his style of writing which implies such ideas about the sentimental and mental background of the characters. This implied manner of exposing ideas shows the influences of cubism in this novel, The Sun Also Rises (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

      In the novel, all characters live a life of discontent and dejection, Jake and his friends always indulge in constant merry-making but all merrymaking or revelry activities remain joyless. They involve themselves in heavy drinking in order to forget about War and internal spirits. They always remain busy in partying, dancing, drinking and chattering but still they remain sorrowful, dejected, purposeless and nothingness (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).          The novel depicts the post war era by narrating the destructiveness and aimlessness of human lives, victimized by horror of war. Jake and other soldiers have to lead life without manhood due to his physical injury (loss of penis). He is confused soul who can’t deter his feelings of sexual love for Brett as he thinks that he is “less of a man” than he was before. Jake is personified as weakened or empty soul of masculinity who feel unconfident of their manhood power (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

        Hemingway doesn’t narrate this fact directly but it is the reaction of Jake and his friends towards Cohn. They hit hard Cohn by abusing when they capture him while showing “unmanly” attitude with Brett. They handle their fears of being pathetic and unmasculine by pointing out the weakness they observe in him. Hemingway also stresses upon this thematic sense by portraying the character of Brett, who often behaves like men as she too introduces herself as “chap,”having short boy haircut and masculine name. she is physically and spiritually too strong, confident and independent as if she embodies all traditional masculine characteristics while all male characters are doubtful about their masculinity like Jake, Bill and Mike (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

       Sex is the most influential and critical force in The Sun Also Rises. It is the sexual jealousy which forces Cohn to infringe his basic code of ethics and assault Jake, Romero and Mike. It is the sexual desire which prevents Brett to establish intimate relationship with Jake despite of her true love for him. It is the sex passion which undercut the self-respect of Cohn, passions of love, displayed by Jake and Brett. Brett is characterized to display the negative influences of sex as she is a modern woman, having sexual relations with several men without any scrupulous feelings (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

       The gap of communication is also displayed the influences of cubism in the novel how Hemingway depicts his characters without effective communication with each other. The hide their true feelings and never be honest or direct to each other. They can’t share their torments which is the legacy of war. As they talk about war in ridiculous manner, Georgette and Jake have agreed on this point during dinner that the war “would have been better avoided” (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010). The dejected feelings are expressed when Brett distresses Jake and he exposes his discontent with her. Similarly, Mike is drunk aimlessly and expresses his disgusting feelings for Cohn. Drunkenness helps Jake and his friends to tolerate their lives without any true passions of love and aim. They want to escape the reality of life by indulging themselves in drinking and merry-making (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

Oh, Jake, Brett said, “we could have had such a damned good time together (The Sun Also Rises, 2002).

       The bullfighting in the novel is symbolic presentation of healthy activity and bright aspect of life. It is the presentation of postwar society in the perspectives of Jake’s characterization. For example, we can construe the outline of Belmonte from the viewpoint of Jake and his acquaintances. Just as Cohn, Mike, and Jake all once swayed Brett’s love, so too did Belmonte once control the fondness of the crowd, which now rejects him for Romero. Belmonte is the symbolic representation of the lost generation while bullfighting is the symbol of destructiveness of sexual passions. The words Hemingway use to portray Romero’s bullfighting is about sexual, and his assassination of the bull gives shape of a seduction (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

This symbolic equation of sex and violence further links sexuality to danger and destruction. It is important to note that the distinctions between these interpretations are not hard and fast. Rather, levels of meaning in The Sun Also Rises flow together and complement one another (The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010).

       In nutshell, the words and forms in the novels and short stories of Hemingway have visual art akin to Paul Cézanne, portrayed on the canvas of real life so accurately. Several critics identify the works of Hemingway in the context of visual and verbal arts (Recurrence in Hemingway and Cézanne).

The motif is at its most dominant in the middle chapters of The Sun Also Rises where the route tournante takes us not only into the Spanish Pyrenees but into Cézanne’s world of color and forms (Recurrence in Hemingway and Cézanne).

        Hemingway’s cubism can be displayed like a powerful light which mitigates the darkness in order to clarify everything prominently. In Our Time, Hemingway probes into the disparaging influences upon the human existence how his words have been changed into horrified creatures with dominant standpoint towards the world and all apparent qualities are exposed by employing this technique of 20th century (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

An artificial extension of the human eye, the searchlight for Hemingway also possesses a peculiarly tactile quality, as if to emphasize the physical force of this technology, and reverse the conventional associations of light with objectivity and enlightenment (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

       In Our Time, Hemignway provides an appraisal and cautious clarification of domineering culture, giving appropriate touches of light and darkness. In Our Time, Hemingway relates the people, creatures and things without objectifying them if we evaluate the very structure of In Our Time with the modern cubist styles of painting, the readers would be enjoyed such interesting comparisons when unique touches of cubism are employed to see the world in new angle, modern set of techniques (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

       After critique of Paul Rosenfeld, several critics have agreed that there are cubist elements in this book, In Our Time. For instance, Jacqueline Vaught Brogan discusses that the fragmentation of the story in In Our Time is directly associated with the visual fragmentation of cubist painting styles. In the similar context, Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn asserts that Hemingway’s verbal recurrence is equal to repetition of visual images, painted by Picasso in geometrical shapes (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism). Elizabeth Dewberry Vaughn states:

Both Hemingway and Picasso emphasize form over content; because of this emphasis the audience discovers meaning by looking both at the work as a whole and at the relationship among the individual parts of the text or painting  (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

         Like Cubists, Hemingway brings into the light by showing multi-faceted things, events, people, ideals and concepts on his textual canvas in order to dominate the world. In Hemingway’s novels, the themes of alienation, disintegration, fragmentation and dejection are linked with cubism. 

The continuous vibration and twinkling of brush-strokes against the discontinuous geometry of their structure is set forth, not as light, but as a property of matter—that plasma…. of which the Cubist world was composed (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

         Paul Rosenfield relates Hemingway’s prose-style with cubist painting how he employs direct, rudimentary, fragmentary and simple forms, textures and rhythmical tones, depicting the modern American society which enhances his value as a revolutionary American story-teller (Wagner-Martin, 2002). Hemingway paints a true picture of postwar era by representing the scenes of Spain’s hotels, churches, nightclubs, fishing streams and bullfights in authentic manner. Everything is painted with the fine touches of brush strokes of the expert painter who portrays a realistic picture on the canvas of real life (Wagner-Martin, 2002).

The intellectual structure built up from the story makes for violent dislocations in the customary logic of narrative (such as the “dislocations” inherent in both visual and literary “cubism,” I would add) (Brogan and Vaught, 1998).

       According to Berger and Hughes, cubism is a form of realism, depicting the latest world of scientific advancement so perfectly. It is the gradual process of unfolding the utopian truths in pre-war era, how the cubists strive hard to amalgamate all disparate elements of the cosmos as whole.

In a Cubist picture, the conclusion and the connections are given. They are what the picture is made of. They are its content (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

           The reader of Hemingway’s fictitious stories has to find his role within the textural content while the intricacy of the forms and fragmentary phrases allocate him as partial reviewer. Hemingway uses the artistic techniques of cubism in In Our Time and The Sun Also Rises, parallelizing the spirit, themes, content, forms and characteristics (Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism).

Cited Works

About The Sun Also Rises, 2010, About The Sun Also Rises, retrieved from:

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/The-Sun-Also-Rises-About-The-Sun-Also-Rises.id-178,pageNum-14.html

Balakrishnan,2003, Introducing Ernest Hemingway by Prof. Ganesan Balakrishnan, Ph.D.

Retrieved from: http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/hemingway.html

Brogan and Vaught, 1998, Article: Hemingway’s ‘In Our Time’: a cubist anatomy.

(Ernest Hemingway), Article from: The Hemingway Review Article

dated: March 22, 1998 Author: Brogan, Jacqueline Vaught,

Retrieved from: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20653057.html

Hemingway’s In Our Time: Cubism, Conservation, And the Suspension of Identification, Lisa Narbeshuber, Acadia University

Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, 2009, Picasso and Hemingway – 20th Century Innovators, retrieved from:

http://modern-american-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/picasso_and_hemingway_20th_century_innovators

Recurrence In Hemingway And Cézanne, Recurrence In Hemingway And Cézanne,

 Published By Ron Berman, University Of California, San Diego

The Sun Also Rises, Themes, Motifs & Symbols, 2010, retrieved from:

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/sun/themes.html

The Sun Also Rises, 2002, The Sun Also Rises, written by Ernest Hemingway

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Sun-Also-Rises/Ernest-Hemingway/e/9780743237338

Wagner-Martin, 2002, Ernest Hemingway’s The sun also rises: a casebook By Linda Wagner-Martin, retrieved from:

http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=giRG96HKM9oC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=cubism+in+sun+also+rises&source=bl&ots=Mm6PAGEzyU&sig=Qkw3yANb7RwkRYPLzfXJeNIsX8M&hl=en&ei=e6GbS-_2Oc2HkAWZhezMAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CAwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

When Cubism Met The Decorative Arts In France, When Cubism Met The Decorative Arts In France, written By Paul Trachtman,

All My Sons

           In All My Sons, Arthur Miller has depicted the American Dreams by exposing some fundamental tragedies in the lives of his protagonists. According to modern concept of tragedy, the protagonists should be accountable for their deeds while facing any kind of moral dilemma, they make some wrong decisions and choices for themselves which lead them on the verge of worst kind of tragedy. Such critical thinking is also observed in several TV programs, movies and other media sources where American dream is exaggerated to attract masses to move to America but they have to encounter bitter realities of life (All My Sons Summary, 2010).

        What are the American Dreams; these are to grow up with heaps of wealth and precious properties! There are different interpretations of the American Dreams but it is the common gist of it. But at the end of this play, All My Sons, the American Dreams are depicted contrarily where it is described how someone lives happily even after growing up, owing lots of property and becoming prosperous financially.  Joe Keller had become prosperous and auspicious in his life financially but his life turned into a tragic life as the story moves towards a conclusive end, Arthur Miller wants to convey two contradictory viewpoints in his play, All My Sons, the American dream is bogus dream which is depicted only in very few and certain people’s life but most of them suffer from some panic situations in life in spite of having money (All My Sons Summary, 2010).

           Arthur Miller has evoked some fundamental questions in his play, All My Sons what are the individualistic social obligation, personal responsibility and dissimilarity between personal and public matters.  In the play, All My Sons, Keller performs his specific actions during the war, he is depicted an individual who is accountable for himself and his family rather than for society. Miller evaluates Keller’s discriminatory worldview which affirms his belief; there is no value of crimes which are committed for sake of the family (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010). The main reason of conflicts which arises in the mind of Keller, who believes that Keller is not wrong in his proclaims, there is nothing more valuable than the family rather than whole world where Keller lives, “To cut yourself off from your relationships with society at large is to invite tragedy of a nature both public (regarding the pilots) and private (regarding the suicides)” (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010).

          Miller wants to show that it is not necessary to enhance some carefulness for others being a family member, it is most important to develop an individual’s responsibilities to the family versus society at large. The family is also depicted as unit within the society and it is distorted or damaged by the individualistic actions. Though All My Sons is related with the past but this past helps to shape present and future of the individuals. It is inescapable to ignore or forget crimes. The characters speak such words or dialogues in the pay which disclose the different secrets about the current history of the Keller family. Arthur Miller displays how such past secrets of life have influenced the lives of his characters in the play who keep themselves in past always (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010).  

          Arthur Miller has manipulated the flow of the story in the most technical manner that revelation of all secrets of the characters in play occurs on the same day. Such revelations are inevitable, causing the fatal consequences due to Denial and self-deception. The questions are raised how we deceive ourselves and others? We choose things to spotlight on life but we also need to refute some certain things for upgrading our living standards? What are impacts of denial upon the psyche of family and certain society? Keller family history displays what factors causes distortion and confrontation in the life. These factors include Larry’s death and Keller’s sense of liability for the consignment of defective parts. In the whole play, the mother denies first while she has to accept it and same case is with Keller himself. Such acts of denial and self-deception are rooted in both characters who live in a state of self-deception, avoiding one of the realities of life willingly in order to keep up the functional life-style of family (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010). 

           Chris is also characterized as an idealist who remains angry against the wartime profiteering. Some people views that he is a man of scruples setting apart from the social networks. Chris thinks to abandon all such scrupulous brooding who sends his father to jail. How idealism are not sustainable in the practical world which is very complex. Miller wants to stress upon the values of ideals or dreams by depicting such characters in his play how such ideals are sacrificed according to the current circumstances (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010). 

          Keller gives solid arguments during wartime how all his actions are so defensible in maintaining good business practice. He always asserts himself as an ill-mannered and uneducated person, boastfully taking pride in his financial success without any business education. But gradually his well-flourished business is victimized of downfalls. Here Miller takes this failure in comparison with loftiest politics and awkward system of capitalism which enhance the value of materialistic pursuits rather than the moral sense. The dramatist raises the question how rules of good business are exempted from moral and ethical norms & laws of the certain society (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010).   

             Every character is delineated with different kinds of self-blames, Joe Keller doesn’t miss any chance to blame anybody and everyone for crimes of wartime and the main cause of his partner’s imprisonment. When he has to encounter with truths of life, he finds faults in business practice and US army and everyone he may have contacts. When he admits such blames after self-recognition process, Larry had taken to his heart all such shameful blames and Keller commits suicide in fits of despairs (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010).

          Chris feels culpable himself for the ongoing of the war and materialistic pursuits but when the crimes are disclosed, he shifts his blame to his father side, blaming his father for his incapability to imprison his jails. You may observe such several instances of deflected blame in this play; very human impulse is reflected to demonstrate the actual relationships and powerful role of characters which maintains self-respect and family honor (All My Sons Study Guide, 2010).

           Miller reveals how such individualistic flaws can be interpreted with the economic progress and business success in terms of American dream. Keller has sacrifices all other parts of the American dream for just materialistic pursuits or financial growth only. He has given up the main role of his life as head of family, the basic human nature how he has made sacrifices of Steve and Larry. Miller points out the basic flaws of capitalist system which has no concerns with cultural as well as social morals. Miller criticizes such system of capitalism which encourages just greed for profiteering shares in the business stakes holders who may want to sacrifice the human life and happiness. So American dreams are so attractive apparently but there is too much hollowness inwardly which splits up the social networks in fits of despair and anger. But media and broadcasting sources have interpreted the American dreams in very attractive manner which shatter down the people so badly that they are forced to kill themselves (American Dream, 2010).  

            There is need to recover the full American dream of vigorous communities with prosperous families whether or not capitalism would lead economic system on right direction of progress and happiness. Only economic prosperity and mobility is very detrimental as man can’t enjoy life joyfully with just financial progress, there should be some social order which controls any kind of chaotic state of mind of individuals within the society to lead a peaceful and blissful life (American Dream, 2010).   Is the American Dream can be depicted as nightmare by Arthur miller who portrays the picture of a typical American family life after world war second. All characters are displayed with complacency and prosperity due to thriving business but at end of the play Keller shoots himself to complete the nightmare! The Americans are suffering from such tragic and panic situations which come on their way in the pursuit of the financial progress and prosperity. The people have become so materialistic and morally vacant that they don’t have any scruples in their hearts while committing crimes with the self-deception and denial approaches how they think that they are doing rightfully rather than confessing their crimes (American Dream, 2010).  

The media plays vital role in idealizing America via different attractive advertisements on TV channels and heroes of movies how American is shining so brightly and everyone is entangled by such attractive commercial ads which invite the people to come to America. In All my Sons , Arthur Miller has delineated an ideal family characters which seems externally very good and complacent but inwardly there is nothing good, having many dark aspects of American life which seems very charming in media portrayals. The American dream idealizes the particular life-style of people in America which relates with potential and rights rather than morals or means (American Dream, 2010).  

           In different TV dramas and shows, we observe how people are living an idealized life-style without knowing how it has been achieved via fair or unfair means. For instance the main character of Dr. Huxtable in Cosby Show is depicted how he has good standard of living, apparently good relationships with his family and friends but he never seems to be a good and responsible doctor, he always tries to take advantage of his patients via his deceitful nature. Media disseminate the ideals of American life-style and happiness to indulge the masses to work hard for achieving successful status as publicized by big multinational corporations (American Dream, 2010).  

        You may observe American dream as depicted by some TV shows and plays like the Cosby Show, Married with Children and Family Ties, all these depicts the same attitudes, hollow aptitudes and confused state of minds, full of despair and despondency as it is shown by all characters of All My Sons. “Real people with real feelings are potentially harmful to the American Dream which, really, encourages selfishness because of the emphasis on individual achievement. It does not explicitly say that one should not trample on others while striving for happiness” (American Dream, 2010).

           In nutshell, media depicts the American Dream externally without discussing the main sources of happiness and prosperity. But reality is entirely different; most of people has to use such unfair means which remains them more unscrupulous to attain successful and luxurious status of life. This may result into panic situations for the people how they are suffering, it is not portrayed in media, “Other vision’s and goals not in line with the mainstream American Dream are potentially troublesome to economic progress” (American Dream, 2010).

Works Cited

[1]. American Dream, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.sacredswans.com/AmericanDream.pdf

[2].Miller,2010,  All my Sons by Arther Miller, retrieved from: http://pdfdatabase.com/download/all-my-sons-pdf-1438948-html

[3]. All My Sons Summary, 2010, retrieved from: http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/2/13/211719/251

[4].All My Sons Study Guide, 2010, written by Arthur Miller, retrieved from http://www.gradesaver.com/all-my-sons/study-guide/major-themes/

Universality in Literature

Literature is great because of its universality. It is powerful enough to supersede the narrow interests of a class in favor of humanity as a whole. lt does not deal with the specific society of a specific community, but with the society of man as a whole. For this reason literature that appealed to the people through the spoken word has a greater appeal than which appeals through the written word—which may not reach all men. “The recited epics of

Homer, the acted plays of Shakespeare, the chanted songs of Chandidas have a more universal appeal than our modern poets and novelists who express only segments of social life and direct their appeal to particular social classes. Poetry that expresses intensely individual standpoints, novels that depict manners of a class or community, and deal with highly specialized problems cannot surely be of the same level as are Tulsidas’s or Krittidas‘s Ramayana which had and still have a mass appeal.”

Universality in literature connotes the appeal to the widest human interests and the simplest emotions. Though we speak of national and race literatures, like the Greek or Teutonic, and each has certain superficial marks arising out of the peculiarities of its own people. It is nevertheless true that good literature knows no nationality, nor any bounds save those of humanity. It is occupied chiefly with elementary passions and emotions,——love and hate, joy and sorrow, fear and Faith which are an essential part of our human nature; and the more it reflects these emotions, the surely does it awaken response in men of every race.  Every father must respond to the parable the prodigal son; wherever men are heroic, they will acknowledge the mastery of Homer: wherever man thinks on the strange phenomenon of evil in the world, he will find his own thoughts in the Book of Job whatever place men love their children; their hearts must be stirred by the tragic sorrow of Oedipus and King Lear. All these are but shining examples of the law that only as a book or little song appeals to universal human interest does it become permanent. The restricted appeal of modern literature resulted from the dependence of writers on the patronage of great men. Necessarily such writers had to produce work that would appeal to their patrons primarily. As a result became limited.

But compensation was offered by the delicacy and refinement of their work. The contrast between these writers and the popular writers may be seen in the contrast between Chaucer and balladists. Chaucer is the perfect artist; his insight into life is also profound; but he lacks spontaneity, the range, the popular appeal of the ballad-writers. “Such also is the difference between Bharatchandra of Bengal and the anonymous poets of the Mymensingh ballads. Modern writers depending on the patronage of an educated and well-to-do public, have developed a flair for expressing feelings and situations that are subtle and complex in language that verges on the idiosyncratic. Wordsworth realized this when he made the revolutionary statement that poetry, should use language of common speech. The more literature is freed from its class limitations and becomes the expression of the thoughts and feelings of the common man, the community of working people, the more it will tend to conform to the Wordsworthian doctrine.

lt must be noted that literature contains the universal and the particular which are combined together. According to Aristotle, literature indicates the universal element, i.e., what is true for all times and ages and the particular, i.e. what is true of the men, events, customs, culture, and manners of an age. To quote John Bailey: “lt must be at once individual life and universal. If Homer contained nothing but what was abstractedly or universally true, he would be dull. He must have, as he has many things which surprise, amuse, even perhaps, disgust us who live in so different an age and country. He must have things which are peculiar to the Greeks of his day, and even things peculiar to himself alone among the Greeks.

Without that, he would not have individuality or even nationality; and without individuality and nationality there is no life in literature …. But if he were only Homer or only Greek, he would be something worse than dull he would be dead for us, because there would be link between us; dead, because the life of poetry needs an immortal and universal element without which its lease of life is a very short one. A poet cannot carry himself and his own age and their idiosyncrasies and peculiarities unless he provides them with the elixir of immortality which is universal truth.” In other words, literature is manifestation of life as handled by the writer’s personality. His distinctive imagination, his slant of outlook, his feelings, and the character of his experience constitute the medium through which his reading of life is communicated to the reader.

But his feelings and thoughts and fusion of elements extracted from the chaos of life have deeper and paramount significance for all. According to Middleton Murry, “the highest style is . . . a combination of the maximum of personality with the minimum of impersonality 1 on the one hand, it is a concentration of peculiar and personal emotion, on the other, it is a complete projection of this personal emotion into the created thing …. ‘There is no antithesis between personal and impersonal art.” That is why Aristotle said; “Poetry is more philosophical than history.” What he meant was that literature is the mixture of the personal and universal. The whole effort of a sincere man is to build his personal impression into universal pattern.

Chief Qualities of Literature

How literature can be evaluated? In other words, literature has main characteristics which can be differentiated by science. Science uses words as the mere vehicles of things. Scientific words are not concerned with human feelings and emotions. These words are dry and cold as reason. Science deals with things which exist independently of the mind. In other

Words, science has the objective outlook. Metaphysics, ethics, law, political economy; chemistry, physics have an objective approach to truth. Thus they are distinct from literature. In other words, science has to do with things and literature with thoughts. According to William J. Long, literature is based upon three qualities———artistic, suggestive and permanent. Without these characteristics literature cannot exist. Literature has aesthetic and moral values. Literature does not please by moralizing us; it moralizes us because it pleases. The main qualities of literature are enumerated below which are adapted from English Literature: William J. long.

Artistic Quality: The first significant thing is the essentially artistic quality of all literature. All art is the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty; or rather, the reflection of some truth and beauty which are in the world, but which remain unnoticed until brought to our attention by some sensitive human soul, just as the delicate curves of the shell reflect sound and harmonics too faint to be otherwise noticed. A hundred men may pass a hayfield and see only the sweaty toil and the stocks of dried grass and potential savings for the farmer; but here is one who pauses by a Roumanian meadow, where girls are making hay and singing as they work, He looks deeper, sees truth and beauty where we see only dead grass, and he reflects what he sees in a little poem in which the hay tells its own story: ”

Yesterday’s flowers am l,

And I have drunk my last sweet draught of dew,

Young maidens came and sang me to my death;

The sun looks down and sees me in my shroud,

The shroud of my last dew.

One who reads only that first exquisite line, ‘Yesterday`s flowers am l,’can never again see hay without recalling the beauty that was hidden from his eyes until the poet found it.

ln the same pleasing, surprising way, all artistic work must be a kind of revelation. Thus architecture is probably the oldest of the arts; yet we still have many builders but few architects, that is, men whose work in wood or stone suggests some hidden truth and beauty to the human senses. So in literature, which is the art that expresses life in words that appeal to our own sense of the beautiful, we have many writers but few artists. ln the broadest sense, perhaps, literature means simply the written records of the race, including all its history and sciences, as well as its poems and novels, in the narrower sense, literature is the artistic record of life, and most of our writing is excluded from it, just as the mass of our buildings, mere shelters from storm and from cold, are excluded from architecture. A history or a work of science may be and sometimes is literature, but only as we forge the subject-matter and the presentation of facts in the simple beauty of its expression.

Suggestiveness: The second quality of literature is its suggestiveness, its appeal to our emotions and imagination rather than to our intellect. lt is not so much what it says at what it awakens in us that constitutes its charm. When Milton makes Satan say, ‘Myself am Hell,` he does not state any fact but rather opens up in these three tremendous words a whole world of speculation and imagination. When Faustus in the presence of Helen asks, `Was this the face that launched a thousand ships`?` he does not state a fact or expect an answer. He opens a door through which our imagination enters a new world, a world of music, love, beauty, heroism-—the whole splendid world of Greek literature. Such magic is in words when Shakespeare describes the young Biron as speaking

ln such apt and gracious words

That aged ears play truant at his tales,

He has unconsciously given not only an excellent description of himself, but the measure of all Literature, which makes us play truant with the present world and run away to live awhile in the pleasant realm of fancy. The province of all art is not to instruct but to delight; and only as literature delights us, causing each reader to build in his own soul that ‘lordly pleasure house` of which Tennyson dreamed in his ‘Palace of Art`, is it worthy of its name.

Permanence: The third characteristic of literature, arising directly from the other two, is its permanence. The world does not live by bread alone. Notwithstanding its hurry and bustle and apparent absorption in material things, it does not willingly let any beautiful thing perish. This is even more true of its songs than of its painting and sculpture; though permanence is a quality we should badly expect in the present deluge of books and magazines pouring day and night from our presses in the name of literature. But this problem of too many books is not modern, as we suppose. lt has been a problem ever since Caxton brought the first printing press from Flanders. four hundred years ago and in the shadow of Westminster Abbey opened his little shop and advertised his wares as ‘good and chepe.’ Even earlier, a thousand years before Caxton and his printing press, the busy scholars of the great library of Alexandria found that the number of parchments was much too great for them to handle; and now, when we print more in a week than all the Alexandrian scholars could copy in a century, it would seem impossible that any production could be permanent; that any song or story could live to give delight in future ages. But literature is like a river in flood, which gradually purifies itself two ways,—the mud settles to the bottom, and the scum rises to the top. When we examine the writings than by common consent constitute our literature, the clear stream purified of its dross, we find at least two more qualities, which we call the tests of literature, and which determine its permanence.

Important Questions……..John Donne’s Imagery Or Conceits

Q: Discuss the main characteristics of John Donne’s imagery or conceits?

Q: “John Donne’s imagery has always impressed readers by its range and variety and its avoidance of the conventionality ornamental.” Discuss this statement?

Q: “In metaphysical peots, a conceit is not empty stroke-play, but a serious means of persuasion or illustration. Discuss with arguments?

Q: What is meant by a conceit? Write a note on the use of conceits in John Donne’s poetry?

           John Donne is one of those great poets who have left deep marks on the history of English poetry. He is a pioneer of metaphysical poetry because he introduces new orientation and tradition in English literature. He paves a way for adapting new modes and trends of poetic style in literary circle. He creates an essence of originality, novelty and peculiarity in English versification. As Legouis remarks, “John Donne is perhaps the most singular of English poets.”

          Poets create beautiful sound-effect by the magic of their words, used and arranged in measured, rhythmic and rhyming words. Very often they create beautiful sight-effects as well as sound-effect through the agency of words. In their rich and sensitive imagination, they conjure up vivid  and very effective pictures of objects and situations which as a matter of fact, may or may not exist in the real life. Such use of words is called imagery. A conceit  (far-fetched witty though which is the result of very complicated ratiocination) which literally means “a fanciful notion, far-fetched comparison, or other euphuism is in connection with poetry, used in the sense of witty thought, far-fetched, ingenious or even over-genious.” In the words of Helen Gardner, “In metaphysical poem, the conceits are instruments of definition in an argument or instrument to persuade. The poem has something to say which the conceit explicate or something to urge which the conceit helps to forward.”

            In metaphysical poetry, conceit helps to bring together emotion, sense impression and thought and Joan Bennet has rightly pointed out that “metaphysical at its most complete is a focal point at which emotion, sense impression and thought are perceived as one.” Much Elizabethan verse, from Wyatt and Surrey to Shakespeare and Drummand is decorative and flowery in its quality. Its images adorn its metre is mellifluous. Image harmonize with image, and line swells almost predictably into line. The poetry of John Donne represents a sharp break with that written by his predecessors and most of his contemporaries. As Jane Bennet says, “J. Donne had a different conception of the function of imagery from that of the other poets. The purpose of an image in his poetry is to define the emotional experience by an intellectual parallel.”

           Here we examine how John Donne uses conceits in his poetry to convey his feelings and thoughts to us by using his intellectual power. Because his images are the manifestations of the fantastic operations of wit to which feelings and passion are eventually subject. John Donne’s conceits indeed are original and startling, but ultimately just. However, fantastic they appear to be at first sight, they are in fact just. The poet often proves their truth. The ability to elaborate a conceit to its farthest possibility without losing the sense of its appropriateness speaks for a high intellectual caliber. As The Good Marrow is a brief and well-woven poem in which John Donne using his intelligence, develops the theme without digression that the poet and his beloved are passionately in love. What did the lovers do before they loved? Did they feel themselves on country pleasures or did they snort in the seven sleepers’ den? All the women whom the poet has loved before were merely anticipation of his present beloved. Each of lovers is a whole world to the other and their little room is a kind of everywhere. Not only is that, the lovers the best possible hemispheres who make up a complete world. Those lovers can never die because they love each other with an equal intensity.

WHERE CAN WE FIND TWO BETTER HEMISPHERES

WITHOUT SHARP NORTH, WITHOUT DECLINING WEST?

WHATEVER DYES, WAS NOT MIXT EQUALITY;

IF OUR TWO LOVERS BE ONE, THOU AND I

LOVE SO ALIKE, THAT NONE DOE SLACKEN, NONE CAN DIE.

           In this poem, although there are a number of ideas, yet these are concentrated and connected only with one main idea in a very suitable manner that the poet and his beloved are passionately in love. As Helen Gardner says, “the first characteristic of metaphysical poetry is its concentration. The reader is held to an idea or a lien of argument. He is not invite to pause a passage, wander with it and muse upon and dream upon it.” In this poem, he draws upon several spheres of knowledge——-geography, medieval philosophy, sea-discoveries, etc. all to prove that the world of love is more important than geographical world. Here the conceits are used to illustrate his argument and to persuade. Step by step, point by point, the poet succeeds in establishing his point of view.

         In addition to ingenious, fanciful, hyperbolic, fantastic and ridiculous conceits which are a striking feature of John Donne’s metaphysical poetry, we find plenty of paradoxical statements in almost all his poems as in The Sunne Rising, the poet argues that the poet and his beloved have no reason to feel afraid of the sun which has risen because love does not recognize any season or clime. The poet wants to prove that the sun has no power over the lovers. The poet can eclipse and cloud the beams of sun, while dazzling light of the beloved’s eyes can blind the sun. both the west and east Indies lie with the poet in the shape of his beloved. Then after terribly chiding the sun, John Donne intelligently convinces to warn the whole world by remaining stationary before the windows because he and his beloved constitutes the whole world and by warming their room, the sun will perform its assigned duty of warming the whole world.

SHE IS ALL STATES, AND ALL PRINCES, I

NOTHING ELSE IS;

          In this poem, John Donne’s ratiocinative style, reasoning step by step towards his conclusion, which in this case is that love is self-sufficient and unaffected by any outside force, expose his intellectual power, with full concentration, conceits and paradoxes. R. G. Cox says, “No doubt there is a crowding of thoughts and images in John Donne’s mind which his powerful intellect and ratiocination can control and bring into another.”

      John Donne deliberately rejected the conventional conceits and images such as flowers, sky,  moon, river, and stream etc. he coined new images which were an outcome of popular belief of scientific discoveries. The conceits employed by John Donne are learned——-they display the poet’s thorough knowledge of a wide range of subjects such as science, chemistry, exploration, medieval philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, cartography, geography and several others. The conceits thus give the poetry an intellectual tone. However, the intellectual conceits are not in disharmony with the feeling in the poem’ they actually add weight and illustrate that feeling giving rise to the impression of what T .S. Eliot called “the unification of sensibility.”

        There are fantastic comparisons in A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, here the soul of the beloved is like the fixed foot of compasses as by her inborn nature stays at home whereas the soul of lover is like other foot of compasses which moves beyond the centre to complete a circle of journey.

IF THEY BE TWO, THEY ARE TWO SO

AS STIFF TWIN COMPASSES ARE TWO,

THY SOUL THE FIX FOOT MAKES NO SHOW

TO MOVE, BUT (DOTH) IF THE OTHER DOE.

           In this poem, he also compares his and his beloved’s separation with the expression of a piece of gold beaten to thinness for the sake of production of gold leaf. So this separation is rather an extension of love.

THOUGH I MUST GOE, ENDURE NOT YET

A BREACH BUT AN EXPANSION,

LIKE GOLD TO AYERY THINNES BEATE,

The comparisons extracting from the principles of geometry and chemistry are so valid in the argumentation of this poem, showing his intellect at his full zenith i.e. he thus wants to persuade his beloved not to mourn.

          In A Valediction Weeping, the note of passion is intense, concentrated and bursts forth in such fanciful and intellectual conceits. This poem employs images from variety of sources. The lover’s tears are like precious coins because they bear the stamp of beloved (image drawn from mintage). Next, the beloved’s tears are compared to the moon which draws up seas to drown the up seas to drown the lover in her sphere (image drawn from geography).

WHEN A TEAR FALLS, THAT THOU FALL’ST WHICH IT BORE

O MORE THAN MOON DRAW UP SEAS TO DRAWN ME IN THE SPHERE;

WEEP ME NOT DEAD IN THINE ARMS;

SINCE THOU AND I SIGH ONE ANOTHER’S BREATH.

In this poem, the passion is conveyed in images which are erudite, logical and of an intellectual nature. As R.G. Cox says, “Donne’s imagery has always impressed readers by its range and variety and its audience of the conventionally ornamental.”

           There is an exceedingly hyperbolic and complex conceit in The Relique, Donne imagines himself lying in a grave as a skeleton with the undeniable token of spiritual love in the shape of his beloved’s bright lock of hair, forming a bracelet about his wrist-bone and because of their great love, he and his beloved will be honored like saints.

ALL WOMEN SHALL ADORE US, AND SOME MEN

           John Donne’s images stimulate one to thin. They bring one to an awareness of the new angles from which an experience can be viewed in The Anniversary. John Donne exposes his emotional experience with full intellect, lying on same string. This poem celebrates the first anniversary of Donne’s marriage with Anne More. In the start of the poem, the poet says in a very intellectual and philosophical tone that everything is drawing nearer to its destruction (by growing old that it was last year) only our mutual love knows no decay. Though it is growing old, yet it never loses its freshness or charm, being truly eternal and everlasting.

ALL OTHER THINGS, TO THEIR DESTRUCTION DRAW,

ONLY OUR LOVE HATH NO DECAY;

              Furthermore, Donne says, he and his beloved are like kings and subjects of each other, neither needing to fear any treason.

HERE UPON EARTH, WE ARE KINGS, AND NONE BUT WE

CAN BE SUCH KINGS, NOR OF SUBJECTS BEE.

          John Donne uses conceits not only in his love poems but also in his religious poems. In his holy sonnet, Batter My Heart, he compares himself to a usurped town. At the same time, there is an image drawn from the purification of metals by knocking, blowing and shining it. Later on, imagery usually associated with love is drawn upon to illustrate his spiritual prayer…he wants God to ravish him in order that he may be chaste.

BATTER MY HEART, THREE PERSON’D GOD; FOR, YOU

AS YET BUT KNOCKE, BREATH, SHINE AND SEEK TO MEND;

THAT I MAY RISE AND STAND OVERTHROW MEE, AND BEND

YOUR FORCE, TO BREAKE, BLOWE, BURN AND MAKE ME NEW.

           So John Donne’s rich imagery and conceits indicate his agility and vigilance of fertile mind which have deep-rooted association with his feelings and experience. They indicate his sharp, all-inclusive and all comprehensive with. As Bennet aptly sums up, “Donne’s images are drawn from his own interests, so that he is always illustrating one facet of his experience by another. Everything that played an important part in his life or left its marks upon his mind, occurs in his poetry, not as subject-matter but as imagery. His subject-matter was confined almost entirely to various aspects of love and religion, but his imagery reveals the width of intellectual explorations.

Important Questions……Donne As A Metaphysical Poet

What is meant by metaphysical poetry? In what sense is John Donne known as a “metaphysical poet”? Illustrate his use of metaphysical poetry from his poems you have read?

OR

How far are justified in using Dr. Johnson’s label “metaphysical” for John Donne?

OR

Bring out clearly those characteristics of John Donne’s poetry because of which he is generally described as a metaphysical poet?

OR

In what way, John Donne is a “metaphysical Poet”? Illustrate your answer with reference to the poems in your course?

         John Donne is the name in English Literature who gave new direction to the literary activities of his age. He is in a sense founded the metaphysical lyric, which was practiced by scare of writers. As Dowden says, “We are told that in the decline of the greater poetry of the Elizabethan period, a metaphysical school arose and that John Donne was the founder or the first eminent member of this school.” John Donne set up a new tradition in versification by and large Donne must be regarded as an original poet, “a poet who gave much more than what he borrowed from his age.”

         The word “metaphysical” has been defined by various writers differently. The learned critics feels that “metaphysical poetry” is inspired by a philosophy, philosophical conception of the universe and the role assigned to human spirit in the great drama of universe. However in very simple tone, we can interpret the term metaphysical as meta (beyond) and physical (physical nature). “There is a harmonious blend of passion and argument which is an essential characteristic of metaphysical lyric.”

           In brief, the term, “metaphysical poetry” implies the characteristics of complexity, intellectual tone, abundance of subtle wit, fusion of intellect and emotion, colloquial argumentative tone, conceits which are always witty and sometimes fantastic, scholarly allusions, dramatic tone and philosophic or reflective element. These metaphysical poets have specific characteristics as ‘Dr. Johnson’ points out that “The metaphysical poets were men of learning, and to show their learning was their whole endeavor. They neither copied nature nor life neither painted the forms of matter nor represented the operations of intellect. Their thoughts are often new, but seldom natural.”

          As we find all these characteristics and features in John Donne’s poetry, therefore it is easy to say that John Donne is the metaphysical poet. However it is Dryden who first of all used this term for John Donne by sayi8ng that “he affects the metaphysics.”  Concentration is an important quality of metaphysical poetry in general and John Donne’s poetry in particular. As Helen Gardner says, “The first characteristic of metaphysical poetry is its concentration. The reader is held to an idea or a line of argument. He is not invited to pause upon a passage, wander with it and muse upon and dream upon it.”

          The Good Marrow, the poem is one long argument to prove that the poet and his beloved are passionately in love. What did the lovers do before they loved? Did they feed themselves on country pleasures or did they snort in the seven sleepers’ den? All the women when the poet has loved before were merely anticipations of his present beloved. Each of lovers is a whole world to the other and their little room is a kind of everywhere. Not only is that, the lovers the best possible hemispheres who make up a complete world. These lovers can never die because they love each other with an equal intensity.

WHERE CAN WE FINDE TWO BETTER HEMISPHERES

WITHOUT SHARP NORTH, WITHOUT DECLINING WEST?

WHATEVER DYES, WAS NOT MIXT EQUALITY;

IF OUR TWO LOVES BE ONE, OR, THOU AND I

LOVE SO ALIKE, THAT NONE DOE SLACKEN, NONE CAN DIE.

      Furthermore as fondness for conceits is a major characteristic of metaphysical poetry and John Donne employs fantastic comparisons. As in the words of Helen Gardner, “In metaphysical poem, the conceits are instruments of definition in an argument or instrument to persuade. The poem has something to say which the conceit explicates or something to urge which the conceit helps to forward.”

The Sunne Rising is another passionate poem. But here too the poet argues and reasons. The poet and his beloved have no reader to feel afraid of the sun which has risen, because love does not recognize season or clime. A sense of fanciful and fantastic conceits follows to prove that the sun has no power over the lovers. The poet can eclipse and closed the beams of the sun, while dazzling light of the beloved’s eyes can blind the sun. Both, the West and the East Indias lie with the poet in the shape of his beloved. Then comes a conceit which also expresses the passion of the lovers:

SHE’S ALL STATES, AND ALL PRINCES I;

NOTHING ELSE IS.

     The most striking and famous one is the comparison of man who travels and his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in ‘A Valediction Of Forbidding Mourning’. Here soul of the beloved is like the fixed foot of compasses as by her inborn nature she stays at home whereas the soul of the lover is like the other foot of compasses which moves beyond the center to complete a circle of journey.

IF THEY BE TWO, THEY ARE TWO SO

AS STIFF TWIN COMPASSES ARE TWO,

THY SOUL THE FIX FOOT, MAKES NO SHOW

TO MOVE, BUT (DOTH) IF THE OTHER DOE.

In The Relique, John Donne imagines himself lying in a grave as a skeleton with the undeniable token of spiritual love in the sphere of his beloved’s bright lock of hair forming a bracelet about his wriste borne and because of their great love, he and his beloved will be honored like saints,

ALL WOMEN SHALL ADORE US, AND SOME MEN.

          Another feature is the use of colloquial speech which marks the metaphysical poetry. In John Donne’s poems, the vigor of colloquialism is especially apparent in the abrupt, conversational opening of many of his poems. He selected colloquial diction which has vigor, freshness and originality. He discarded literary words and phrases which became rusty because of repetition. Another characteristic of metaphysical poetry is a rejection of what is known as poetic diction and the use of colloquial speech.

I WONDER BY MAN TROTH, WHAT THOU AND I

DID TILL WE LOV’D (Good Marrow)

BUSIE OLD FOOLE, UNRULY SUNNE,

WHY DOST THOU THUS. (Sunne Rising)

 DEATH BE NOT PROUD, THOUGH SOME HAVE CALLED THEE

MIGHTY AND DREADFUL,

           Furthermore it is enough to prove John Donne as a metaphysical that he speaks of the soul and of the spiritual love but not of the body and physical love. In A Valediction Forbidding Mourning, love is so refined that the lovers do not much miss each others’ eyes, lips and hands which are normally the demands of the lovers.

BUT WE BY A LOVE, SO MUCH REFINED,

THAT OURSELVES KNOW NOT WHAT IT IS,

INTER-ASSURED OF THE MIND,

CARELESS, EYES, LIPS, AND HANDS TO MISSE.

In The Relique the lovers do not even know the difference of sex and kiss each other sparingly.

FIRST WE LOV’D WELL AND FAITHFULLY,

YET KNEW NOT WHAT WEE LOV’D, NOR WHY,

DIFFERENCE OF SEX NO MORE WEE KNEW,

THEN OUR GUARDIAN ANGELS DOE;

          But the most famous poem in this connection is The Ecstasy in which the souls of the two lovers come out of their bodies and negotiate with each other, though finally they return to the bodies. John Donne’s muse loves these sudden flights from the material to the spiritual sphere. He often relates those phenomenons which lie beyond normal physical experience with those which can be physically experienced.

          Intellect and with blending with emotions and feelings marks the metaphysical poetry, especially that of John Donne. John Donne is the classic representative of metaphysical poetry. His instinct compelled him to bring the whole of experience into his verse and to choose the most direct and natural form of expression by his learned and fantastic mind. Grierson aptly sums up, “Donne is metaphysical not only by virtue of his scholasticism but by his deep reflective interest in the experience of which his poetry is the expression, the new psychological curiosity with which he wrote of love and religion.” According to Grierson, “The finer psychology of which their conceits are often the expression; their learned imaginary; the argumentative, subtle evolution of their lyrics; above all the peculiar blend of passion and thought, feeling and ratiocination which is their greatest achievement. Passionate thinking is always apt to become metaphysical probing and investigating the experience from which it takes its rise. All these qualities are in the poetry of John Donne and Donne is the greatest master of English poetry in the seventeenth century.

TRANSLATED OUT OF GAZÆUS, “VOTA AMICO
FACTA,” FOL. 160.

GOD grant thee thine own wish, and grant thee mine,
Thou who dost, best friend, in best things outshine ;
May thy soul, ever cheerful, ne’er know cares,
Nor thy life, ever lively, know grey hairs,
Nor thy hand, ever open, know base holds,
Nor thy purse, ever plump, know pleats, or folds,
Nor thy tongue, ever true, know a false thing,
Nor thy words, ever mild, know quarrelling,
Nor thy works, ever equal, know disguise,
Nor thy fame, ever pure, know contumelies,
Nor thy prayers know low objects, still divine ;
God grant thee thine own wish, and grant thee mine.

A SHEAF OF SNAKES USED HERETOFORE TO BE
MY SEAL, THE CREST OF OUR POOR FAMILY.

ADOPTED in God’s family and so
Our old coat lost, unto new arms I go.
The Cross—my seal at baptism—spread below
Does, by that form, into an Anchor grow.
Crosses grow Anchors ; bear, as thou shouldest do
Thy Cross, and that Cross grows an Anchor too.
But He that makes our Crosses Anchors thus,
Is Christ, who there is crucified for us.
Yet may I, with this, my first serpents hold ;
God gives new blessings, and yet leaves the old.
The serpent may, as wise, my pattern be ;
My poison, as he feeds on dust, that’s me.
And, as he rounds the earth to murder sure,
My death he is, but on the Cross, my cure.
Crucify nature then, and then implore
All grace from Him, crucified there before ;
Then all is Cross, and that Cross Anchor grown ;
This seal’s a catechism, not a seal alone.
Under that little seal great gifts I send,
Works, and prayers, pawns, and fruits of a friend.
And may that saint which rides in our great seal,
To you who bear his name,* great bounties deal !

TO GEORGE HERBERT,

SENT HIM WITH ONE OF MY SEALS OF THE
ANCHOR AND CHRIST.

QUI prius assuetus serpentum fasce tabellas
    Signare, hæc nostræ symbola parva domus,
Adscitus domui Domini, patrioque relicto
    Stemmate, nanciscor stemmata jure nova.
Hinc mihi Crux primo quæ fronti impressa lavacro,
    Finibus extensis, anchora facta patet.
Anchoræ in effigiem Crux tandem desinit ipsam,
    Anchora fit tandem Crux tolerata diu.
Hoc tamen ut fiat, Christo vegetatur ab ipso
    Crux, et ab affixo est Anchora facta Jesu.
Nec natalitiis penitus serpentibus orbor,
    Non ita dat Deus, ut auferat ante data.
Qua sapiens, dos est, qua terram lambit et ambit,
    Pestis, at in nostra sit medicina Cruce
Serpens fixa Cruci si sit natura, Crucique
    A fixo nobis gratia tota fluat.
Omnia cum Crux sint, Crux Anchora fixa, sigillum
    Non tam dicendum hoc, quam catechismus erit.
Mitto, nec exigua, exigua sub imagine, dona,
    Pignora amicitiæ, et munera vota preces.
Plura tibi accumulet sanctus cognominis, Ille
    Regia qui flavo dona sigillat equo.

A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER
by John Donne

I.
WILT Thou forgive that sin where I begun,
    Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
    And do run still, though still I do deplore?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.
II.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have won
    Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
    A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
        When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done,
                    For I have more.
III.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
    My last thread, I shall perish on the shore ;
But swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son
    Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore ;
        And having done that, Thou hast done ;
                    I fear no more.

HYMN TO GOD, MY GOD, IN MY SICKNESS.

SINCE I am coming to that Holy room,
    Where, with Thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made Thy music ; as I come
    I tune the instrument here at the door,
    And what I must do then, think here before ;

Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
    Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
    That this is my south-west discovery,
    Per fretum febris, by these straits to die ;

I joy, that in these straits I see my west ;
    For, though those currents yield return to none,
What shall my west hurt me ?  As west and east
    In all flat maps—and I am one—are one,
    So death doth touch the resurrection.

Is the Pacific sea my home ?  Or are
    The eastern riches ?  Is Jerusalem ?
Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar ?
    All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them
    Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem.

We think that Paradise and Calvary,
    Christ’s cross and Adam’s tree, stood in one place ;
Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me ;
    As the first Adam’s sweat surrounds my face,
    May the last Adam’s blood my soul embrace.

So, in His purple wrapp’d, receive me, Lord ;
    By these His thorns, give me His other crown ;
And as to others’ souls I preach’d Thy word,
    Be this my text, my sermon to mine own,
    “Therefore that He may raise, the Lord throws down.”

THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMY, FOR THE MOST
PART ACCORDING TO TREMELLIUS.

CHAP. I.
  I. HOW sits this city, late most populous,
      Thus solitary, and like a widow thus ?
      Amplest of nations, queen of provinces
      She was, who now thus tributary is ?

  2. Still in the night she weeps, and her tears fall
      Down by her cheeks along, and none of all
      Her lovers comfort her ; perfidiously
      Her friends have dealt, and now are enemy.

  3. Unto great bondage, and afflictions,
      Judah is captive led ; those nations
      With whom she dwells, no place of rest afford ;
      In straits she meets her persecutors’ sword.

  4. Empty are the gates of Sion, and her ways
      Mourn, because none come to her solemn days.
      Her priests do groan, her maids are comfortless ;
      And she’s unto herself a bitterness.

  5. Her foes are grown her head, and live at peace,
      Because, when her transgressions did increase,
      The Lord strook her with sadness ; the enemy
      Doth drive her children to captivity.

  6. From Sion’s daughter is all beauty gone ;
      Like harts which seek for pasture, and find none,
      Her princes are ; and now before the foe
      Which still pursues them, without strength they go.

  7. Now in their days of tears, Jerusalem
      —Her men slain by the foe, none succouring them—
      Remembers what of old she esteemed most,
      Whiles her foes laugh at her, for what she hath lost.

  8. Jerusalem hath sinn’d, therefore is she
      Removed, as women in uncleanness be ;
      Who honour’d, scorn her, for her foulness they
      Have seen ; herself doth groan, and turn away.

  9. Her foulness in her skirts was seen, yet she
      Remember’d not her end ; miraculously
      Therefore she fell, none comforting ; behold,
      O Lord, my affliction, for the foe grows bold.

10. Upon all things where her delight hath been,
      The foe hath stretch’d his hand, for she hath seen
      Heathen, whom thou command’st, should not do so,
      Into her holy sanctuary go.

11. And all her people groan, and seek for bread ;
      And they have given, only to be fed,
      All precious things, wherein their pleasure lay ;
      How cheap I’m grown, O Lord, behold, and weigh.

12. All this concerns not you, who pass by me ;
      O see, and mark if any sorrow be
      Like to my sorrow, which Jehovah hath
      Done to me in the day of His fierce wrath ?

13. That fire, which by Himself is governed
      He hath cast from heaven on my bones, and spread
      A net before my feet, and me o’erthrown,
      And made me languish all the day alone.

14. His hand hath of my sins framèd a yoke
      Which wreathed, and cast upon my neck, hath broke
      My strength ; the Lord unto those enemies
      Hath given me, from whom I cannot rise.

15. He under foot hath trodden in my sight
      My strong men ; He did company accite
      To break my young men ; He the winepress hath
      Trod upon Judah’s daughter in His wrath.

16. For these things do I weep ; mine eye, mine eye
      Casts water out ; for He which should be nigh
      To comfort me, is now departed far ;
      The foe prevails, forlorn my children are.

17. There’s none, though Sion do stretch out her hand,
      To comfort her ; it is the Lord’s command
      That Jacob’s foes girt him ; Jerusalem
      Is as an unclean woman amongst them.

18. But yet the Lord is just, and righteous still ;
      I have rebell’d against His holy will ;
      O hear all people, and my sorrow see,
      My maids, my young men in captivity.

19. I called for my lovers then, but they
      Deceived me, and my priests, and elders lay
      Dead in the city ; for they sought for meat
      Which should refresh their souls, and none could get.

20. Because I am in straits, Jehovah, see !
      My heart o’erturn’d, my bowels muddy be ;
      Because I have rebell’d so much, as fast
      The sword without, as death within, doth waste.

21. Of all which here I mourn, none comforts me ;
      My foes have heard my grief, and glad they be,
      That Thou hast done it ; but Thy promised day
      Will come, when, as I suffer, so shall they.

22. Let all their wickedness appear to Thee ;
      Do unto them, as Thou hast done to me,
      For all my sins ; the sighs which I have had
      Are very many, and my heart is sad.

CHAP. II.
  I. HOW over Sion’s daughter hath God hung
      His wrath’s thick cloud ? and from heaven hath flung
      To earth the beauty of Israel, and hath
      Forgot His foot-stool in the day of wrath ?

  2. The Lord unsparingly hath swallowed
      All Jacob’s dwellings, and demolished
      To ground the strengths of Judah, and profaned
      The Princes of the kingdom, and the land.

  3. In heat of wrath, the horn of Israel He
      Hath clean cut off, and lest the enemy
      Be hinder’d, His right hand He doth retire,
      But is towards Jacob all-devouring fire.

  4. Like to an enemy He bent His bow ;
      His right hand was in posture of a foe,
      To kill what Sion’s daughter did desire,
      ‘Gainst whom His wrath He poured forth like fire.

  5. For like an enemy Jehovah is,
      Devouring Israel, and his palaces,
      Destroying holds, giving additions
      To Judah’s daughters’ lamentations.

  6. Like to a garden hedge He hath cast down
      The place where was His congregation,
      And Sion’s feasts and sabbaths are forgot ;
      Her King, her Priest, His wrath regardeth not.

  7. The Lord forsakes His altar, and detests
      His sanctuary, and in the foes’ hands rests
      His palace, and the walls, in which their cries
      Are heard, as in the true solemnities.

  8. The Lord hath cast a line, so to confound
      And level Sion’s walls unto the ground ;
      He draws not back His hand, which doth o’erturn
      The wall, and rampart, which together mourn.

  9. Their gates are sunk into the ground, and He
      Hath broke the bar ; their king and princes be
      Amongst the heathen, without law, nor there
      Unto their prophets doth the Lord appear.

10. There Sion’s Elders on the ground are placed,
      And silence keep ; dust on their heads they cast ;
      In sackcloth have they girt themselves, and low
      The virgins towards ground their heads do throw.

11. My bowels are grown muddy, and mine eyes
      Are faint with weeping ; and my liver lies
      Pour’d out upon the ground, for misery
      That sucking children in the streets do die.

12. When they had cryed unto their mothers, “Where
      Shall we have bread, and drink ?” they fainted there,
      And in the streets like wounded persons lay,
      Till ‘twixt their mothers’ breasts they went away.

13. Daughter Jerusalem, O what may be
      A witness, or comparison for thee ?
      Sion, to ease thee, what shall I name like thee ?
      Thy breach is like the sea ; what help can be ?

14. For thee vain foolish things thy prophets sought ;
      Thee, thine iniquities they have not taught,
      Which might disturb thy bondage ; but for thee
      False burthens, and false causes they would see.

15. The passengers do clap their hands, and hiss
      And wag their head at thee, and say, “Is this
      That city, which so many men did call
      Joy of the earth, and perfectest of all ?”

16. Thy foes do gape upon thee, and they hiss,
      And gnash their teeth, and say, “Devour we this,
      For this is certainly the day which we
      Expected, and which now we find, and see.”

17. The Lord hath done that which He purposèd ;
      Fulfill’d His word of old determinèd ;
      He hath thrown down, and not spared, and thy foe
      Made glad above thee, and advanced him so.

18. But now their hearts unto the Lord do call ;
      Therefore, O walls of Sion, let tears fall
      Down like a river, day and night ; take thee
      No rest, but let thine eye incessant be.

19. Arise, cry in the night, pour out thy sins,
      Thy heart, like water, when the watch begins ;
      Lift up thy hands to God, lest children die,
      Which, faint for hunger, in the streets do lie.

20. Behold, O Lord, consider unto whom
      Thou hast done this ; what, shall the women come
      To eat their children of a span ? shall Thy
      Prophet and priest be slain in sanctuary ?

21. On ground in streets the young and old do lie ;
      My virgins and young men by sword do die ;
      Them in the day of Thy wrath Thou hast slain ;
      Nothing did Thee from killing them contain.

22. As to a solemn feast, all whom I fear’d
      Thou call’st about me ; when Thy wrath appear’d,
      None did remain or scape, for those which I
      Brought up, did perish by mine enemy.

CHAP. III.
  1. I AM the man which have affliction seen,
      Under the rod of God’s wrath having been ;
  2. He hath led me to darkness, not to light,
  3. And against me all day, His hand doth fight.

  4. He hath broke my bones, worn out my flesh and skin,
  5. Built up against me ; and hath girt me in
      With hemlock, and with labour ; 6.  And set me
      In dark, as they who dead for ever be.

  7. He hath hedged me lest I ‘scape, and added more
      To my steel fetters heavier than before.
  8. When I cry out He outshuts my prayer ; 9.  And hath
      Stopp’d with hewn stone my way, and turn’d my path.

10. And like a lion hid in secrecy,
      Or bear which lies in wait, He was to me.
11. He stops my way, tears me, made desolate ;
12. And He makes me the mark He shooteth at.

13. He made the children of His quiver pass
      Into my reins.  14.  I, with my people, was
      All the day long, a song and mockery.
15. He hath fill’d me with bitterness, and He

      Hath made me drunk with wormwood.  16.  He hath burst
      My teeth with stones, and cover’d me with dust.
17. And thus my soul far off from peace was set,
      And my prosperity I did forget.

18. My strength, my hope—unto myself I said—
      Which from the Lord should come, is perished ;
19. But when my mournings I do think upon,
      My wormwood, hemlock, and affliction,

20. My soul is humbled in rememb’ring this ;
21. My heart considers, therefore, hope there is.
22. ’Tis God’s great mercy we’re not utterly
      Consumed, for His compassions do not die ;

23. For every morning they renewed be,
      For great, O Lord, is Thy fidelity.
24. The Lord is—saith my soul—my portion,
      And therefore in Him will I hope alone.

25. The Lord is good to them, who on Him rely,
      And to the soul that seeks Him earnestly.
26. It is both good to trust, and to attend
      The Lord’s salvation unto the end.

27. ’Tis good for one His yoke in youth to bear.
28. He sits alone, and doth all speech forbear,
      Because he hath borne it.  29.  And his mouth he lays
      Deep in the dust, yet then in hope he stays.

30. He gives his cheeks to whosoever will
      Strike him, and so he is reproached still.
31. For not for ever doth the Lord forsake ;
32. But when He hath struck with sadness, He doth take

      Compassion, as His mercy’s infinite ;
33. Nor is it with His heart, that He doth smite,
34. That underfoot the prisoners stamped be,
35. That a man’s right the judge himself doth see

      To be wrung from him ;  36.  That he subverted is
      In his just cause, the Lord allows not this.
37. Who then will say, that aught doth come to pass,
      But that which by the Lord commanded was ?

38. Both good and evil from His mouth proceeds ;
39. Why then grieves any man for his misdeeds ?
40. Turn we to God, by trying out our ways ;
41. To Him in heav’n our hands with hearts upraise.

42. We have rebell’d, and fallen away from Thee ;
      Thou pardon’st not ;  43.  Usest no clemency ;
      Pursuest us, kill’st us, cover’st us with wrath ;
44. Cover’st Thyself with clouds, that our prayer hath

      No power to pass.  45.  And Thou hast made us fall
      As refuse, and off-scouring to them all.
46. All our foes gape at us.   47. Fear and a snare
      With ruin, and with waste upon us are.

48. With watery rivers doth mine eye o’erflow
      For ruin of my people’s daughters so ;
49. Mine eye doth drop down tears incessantly,
50. Until the Lord look down from heav’n to see.

51. And for my city daughters’ sake, mine eye
      Doth break mine heart.   52.  Causeless mine enemy
      Like a bird chased me.   53. In a dungeon
      They’ve shut my life, and cast on me a stone.

54. Waters flow’d o’er my head ; then thought I, I am
      Destroy’d ; 55. I called, Lord, upon Thy name
      Out of the pit ;  56. And Thou my voice didst hear ;
      O from my sigh and cry, stop not Thine ear.

57. Then when I call’d upon Thee, Thou drew’st near
      Unto me, and said’st unto me, “Do not fear.”
58. Thou, Lord, my soul’s cause handled hast, and Thou
      Rescuest my life.   59. O Lord, do Thou judge now.

      Thou heardst my wrong, 60. Their vengeance, all they’ve wrought ;
61. How they reproach’d, Thou’st heard, and what they thought ;
62. What their lips utter’d, which against me rose,
      And what was ever whisper’d by my foes.

63. I am their song, whether they rise or sit ;
64. Give them rewards, Lord, for their working fit,
65. Sorrow of heart, Thy curse ; 66. And with Thy might
      Follow, and from under heaven destroy them quite.

CHAP. IV.
  1. HOW is the gold become so dim?   How is
      Purest and finest gold thus changed to this ?
      The stones which were stones of the sanctuary,
      Scatter’d in corners of each street do lie.

  2. The precious sons of Sion, which should be
      Valued at purest gold, how do we see
      Low rated now, as earthen pitchers, stand,
      Which are the work of a poor potter’s hand ?

  3. Even the sea-calfs draw their breasts, and give
      Suck to their young ; my people’s daughters live,
      By reason of the foes’ great cruelness,
      As do the owls in the vast wilderness.

  4. And when the sucking child doth strive to draw,
      His tongue for thirst cleaves to his upper jaw ;
      And when for bread the children cry,
      There is no man that doth them satisfy.

  5. They which before were delicately fed,
      Now in the streets forlorn have perished ;
      And they which ever were in scarlet clothed,
      Sit and embrace the dunghills which they loathed.

  6. The daughters of my people have sinn’d more,
      Than did the town of Sodom sin before ;
      Which being at once destroy’d, there did remain
      No hands amongst them to vex them again.

  7. But heretofore, purer her Nazarite
      Was than the snow, and milk was not so white ;
      As carbuncles did their pure bodies shine,
      And all their polish’dness was sapphirine.

  8. They’re darker now than blackness ; none can know
      Them by the face, as through the street they go ;
      For now their skin doth cleave unto their bone,
      And withered, is like to dry wood grown.

  9. Better by sword than famine ’tis to die ;
      And better through-pierced, than through penury.
10. Women, by nature pitiful, have eat
      ‘Their children—dress’d with their own hand—for meat.

11. Jehovah here fully accomplish’d hath
      His indignation, and pour’d forth His wrath ;
      Kindled a fire in Sion, which hath power
      To eat, and her foundations to devour.

12. Nor would the kings of th’ earth, nor all which live
      In the inhabitable world believe,
      That any adversary, any foe,
      Into Jerusalem should enter so.

13. For the priests’ sins, and prophets’, which have shed
      Blood in the streets and the just murdered ;
14. Which, when those men whom they made blind did stray
      Thorough the streets, defilèd by the way

      With blood, the which impossible it was
      Their garment should ‘scape touching, as they pass,
15. Would cry aloud, “Depart, defilèd men,
      Depart, depart, and touch not us !” and then

      They fled, and stray’d, and with the Gentiles were ;
      Yet told their friends, they should not long dwell there.
16. For this they’re scatter’d by Jehovah’s face
      Who never will regard them more ; no grace

      Unto their old men shall the foe afford ;
      Nor, that they’re priests, redeem them from the sword.
17. And we as yet, for all these miseries
      Desiring our vain help, consume our eyes.

      And such a nation as cannot save,
      We in desire and speculation have ;
18. They hunt our steps, that in the streets we fear
      To go ; our end is now approached near.

      Our days accomplish’d are ; this the last day ;
      Eagles of heav’n are not so swift as they
19. Which follow us ; o’er mountain tops they fly
      At us, and for us in the desert lie.

20. Th’ Anointed Lord, breath of our nostrils, He
      Of whom we said, under His shadow we
      Shall with more ease under the heathen dwell,
      Into the pit which these men digged, fell.

21. Rejoice, O Edom’s daughter, joyful be
      Thou that inhabit’st Uz, for unto thee
      This cup shall pass, and thou with drunkenness
      Shalt fill thyself, and show thy nakedness.

22. Then thy sins, O Sion, shall be spent,
      The Lord will not leave thee in banishment.
      Thy sins, O Edom’s daughter, He will see,
      And for them, pay thee with captivity.

CHAP. V.
  1. Remember, O Lord, what is fall’n on us ;
      See, and mark how we are reproached thus ;
  2. For unto strangers our possession
      Is turn’d, our houses unto aliens gone.

  3. Our mothers are become as widows ; we
      As orphans all, and without fathers be ;
  4. Waters which are our own, we drink and pay ;
      And upon our own wood a price they lay.

  5. Our persecutors on our necks do sit ;
      They make us travail, and not intermit ;
  6. We stretch our hands unto th’ Egyptians
      To get us bread ; and to th’ Assyrians.

  7. Our fathers did these sins, and are no more ;
      But we do bear the sins they did before.
  8. They are but servants, which do rule us thus,
      Yet from their hands none would deliver us.

  9. With danger of our life our bread we gat ;
      For in the wilderness the sword did wait.
10. The tempests of this famine we lived in,
      Black as an oven colour’d had our skin.

11. In Judah’s cities they the maids abused
      By force, and so women in Sion used.
12. The princes with their hands they hung ; no grace
      Nor honour gave they to the elder’s face.

13. Unto the mill our young men carried are,
      And children fell under the wood they bare.
14. Elders the gates, youth did their songs forbear ;
      Gone was our joy ; our dancings, mournings were.

15. Now is the crown fall’n from our head ; and woe
      Be unto us, because we’ve sinnèd so.
16. For this our hearts do languish, and for this
      Over our eyes a cloudy dimness is.

17. Because Mount Sion desolate doth lie,
      And foxes there do go at liberty ;
18. But Thou, O Lord, art ever, and Thy throne
      From generation to generation.

19. Why shouldst Thou forget us eternally ?
      Or leave us thus long in this misery ?
20. Restore us, Lord, to thee, that so we may
      Return, and as of old, renew our day.

21. For oughtest Thou, O Lord, despise us thus,
      And to be utterly enraged at us ?

TO MR. TILMAN AFTER HE HAD TAKEN ORDERS.

THOU, whose diviner soul hath caused thee now
To put thy hand unto the holy plough,
Making lay-scornings of the ministry
Not an impediment, but victory ;
What bring’st thou home with thee ? how is thy mind
Affected since the vintage ?  Dost thou find
New thoughts and stirrings in thee ? and, as steel
Touch’d with a loadstone, dost new motions feel ?
Or, as a ship after much pain and care
For iron and cloth brings home rich Indian ware,
Hast thou thus traffick’d, but with far more gain
Of noble goods, and with less time and pain ?
Thou art the same materials, as before,
Only the stamp is changèd, but no more.
And as new crowned kings alter the face,
But not the money’s substance, so hath grace
Changed only God’s old image by creation,
To Christ’s new stamp, at this thy coronation ;
Or, as we paint angels with wings, because
They bear God’s message and proclaim His laws,
Since thou must do the like and so must move,
Art thou new feather’d with celestial love ?
Dear, tell me where thy purchase lies, and show
What thy advantage is above, below.
But if thy gainings do surmount expression,
Why doth the foolish world scorn that profession,
Whose joys pass speech ?  Why do they think unfit
That gentry should join families with it ?
As if their day were only to be spent
In dressing, mistressing and compliment.
Alas ! poor joys, but poorer men, whose trust
Seems richly placèd in sublimèd dust,
—For such are clothes and beauty, which though gay,
Are, at the best, but of sublimèd clay—
Let then the world thy calling disrespect,
But go thou on, and pity their neglect.
What function is so noble, as to be
Ambassador to God, and destiny ?
To open life ? to give kingdoms to more
Than kings give dignities? to keep heaven’s door ?
Mary’s prerogative was to bear Christ, so
‘Tis preachers’ to convey Him, for they do,
As angels out of clouds, from pulpits speak ;
And bless the poor beneath, the lame, the weak.
If then th’ astronomers, whereas they spy
A new-found star, their optics magnify,
How brave are those, who with their engine can
Bring man to heaven, and heaven again to man ?
These are thy titles and pre-eminences,
In whom must meet God’s graces, men’s offences ;
And so the heavens which beget all things here,
And the earth, our mother, which these things doth bear ;
Both these in thee, are in thy calling knit
And make thee now a blest hermaphrodite.

The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power

              The Literature of Knowledge and the Literature of Power: According to De Quincy, “there is first the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is to teach, the function of the second is to move.” Literature of knowledge speaks to the discursive understanding of man. Literature of power appeals to the higher understanding of reason through affections of pleasure and sympathy. lt is nothing short of a paradox to think that literature aims at giving information only. It is inherent truth which makes literature great or small. This truth is present in all—-high or low—in the form of seed or germ. Literature only gives novel forms to truth, and helps to develop their birth in the hearts of man. But this can be done only in the literature of power.

              Literature of power represents in itself the Heavenly innocence that man has and also his original simplicity. Further, De Quincy gives the examples of literature of power. “When, in King Lear, the height and depth and breadth of human passion is revealed to us and for the purpose of a sublime antagonism, is revealed in the weakness of an old man’s nature, and in one night two worlds of storm are brought face to face—the human world and the world of physical nature–mirrors of each other, semi-choral antiphonies, strophe and antistrophe heaving with rival convulsions, and with the double within me, is his power, or what may I call it? Then De Quincy gives the example of Milton`s Paradise Lost which is definitely a great poem. It is an outstanding example of the literature of power that does it teach?

          We do not get much information out of it. We do not give great importance an ordinary cookery-book because it does not inspire us, although it gives more of information. Milton `s Paradise Lost is great because it helps man to develop or expand his latent capacity for sympathy with the infinite. All the steps of knowledge carry us further up towards the infinite. lt is concerned with the highest in man. It is relation to the higher moral capacity of man that the literature of power as different from the literature of knowledge lives and has its field of action. Great tragedies, romances, fairy-tales and epics restore to man’s mind to ideals of justice, hope, truth, mercy and retribution. Moreover, in literature of power there is poetic justice. It is a moral world in which virtue triumphs in the end and human dignity is maintained.

              Sometimes, these two types of literature are inseparable. De Quincy’s dichotomy gives no place in the map of literature to books which also “communicate knowledge” and others which impart power. There are books that give a new vista of life and open our mind to the marvels of nature. They reveal manifoldness, intricacy and beauty beyond words. They exhibit and unfold the story of civilization and culture. They make us aware of the mystery and paradoxes of events and character. They thrill us like a drama as well as illuminate our understanding. There are innumerable essays that take us to the obscure byways of the human spirit and reveal a profound significance in things that never happened to us before. In fact, knowledge and power are often found fused and dovetailed. So De Quincy’s sharp division does not appeal’ to us. There can be no water-tight compartments of literature of Power and Literature of Knowledge.  Literature has a double aspect, one is Knowledge and the other is Power.

UPON THE TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS BY SIR
PHILIP SIDNEY, AND THE COUNTESS OF
PEMBROKE, HIS SISTER. 

ETERNAL God—for whom who ever dare
Seek new expressions, do the circle square,
And thrust into straight corners of poor wit
Thee, who art cornerless and infinite—
I would but bless Thy name, not name Thee now
—And Thy gifts are as infinite as Thou—
Fix we our praises therefore on this one,
That, as thy blessed Spirit fell upon
These Psalms’ first author in a cloven tongue
—For ’twas a double power by which he sung
The highest matter in the noblest form—
So thou hast cleft that Spirit, to perform
That work again, and shed it here, upon
Two, by their bloods, and by Thy Spirit one ;
A brother and a sister, made by Thee
The organ, where Thou art the harmony.
Two that make one John Baptist’s holy voice,
And who that Psalm, “Now let the Isles rejoice,”
Have both translated, and applied it too,
Both told us what, and taught us how to do.
They show us islanders our Joy, our King ;
They tell us why, and teach us how to sing.
Make all this all three choirs, heaven, earth, and spheres ;
The first, Heaven, hath a song, but no man hears ;
The spheres have music, but they have no tongue,
Their harmony is rather danced than sung ;
But our third choir, to which the first gives ear
—For Angels learn by what the Church does here—
This choir hath all.   The organist is he
Who hath tuned God and man, the organ we ;
The songs are these, which heaven’s high holy Muse
Whisper’d to David, David to the Jews ;
And David’s successors in holy zeal,
In forms of joy and art do re-reveal
To us so sweetly and sincerely too,
That I must not rejoice as I would do,
When I behold that these Psalms are become
So well attired abroad, so ill at home,
So well in chambers, in Thy Church so ill,
As I can scarce call that reform’d until
This be reform’d ; would a whole state present
A lesser gift than some one man hath sent ?
And shall our Church unto our Spouse and King
More hoarse, more harsh than any other, sing ?
For that we pray, we praise Thy name for this,
Which, by this Moses and this Miriam, is
Already done ; and as those Psalms we call,
—Though some have other authors—David’s all,
So though some have, some may some Psalms translate,
We Thy Sidneian psalms shall celebrate,
And, till we come th’ extemporal song to sing
—Learn’d the first hour that we see the King,
Who hath translated those translators—may
These their sweet learned labours all the way
Be as our tuning, that when hence we part,
We may fall in with them, and sing our part !

A LITANY.

I.

THE FATHER.
   FATHER of Heaven, and Him, by whom 
It, and us for it, and all else for us, 
   Thou madest, and govern’st ever, come 
And re-create me, now grown ruinous: 
              My heart is by dejection, clay, 
              And by self-murder, red. 
From this red earth, O Father, purge away 
All vicious tinctures, that new-fashioned 
I may rise up from death, before I’m dead. 

II.THE SON.
   O Son of God, who, seeing two things, 
Sin and Death, crept in, which were never made, 
   By bearing one, tried’st with what stings 
The other could Thine heritage invade ; 
              O be Thou nail’d unto my heart, 
              And crucified again ; 
Part not from it, though it from Thee would part, 
But let it be by applying so Thy pain, 
Drown’d in Thy blood, and in Thy passion slain. 

III.

THE HOLY GHOST.
   O Holy Ghost, whose temple I 
Am, but of mud walls , and condensèd dust, 
   And being sacrilegiously 
Half wasted with youth’s fires of pride and lust, 
              Must with new storms be weather-beat, 
              Double in my heart Thy flame, 
Which let devout sad tears intend, and let—
Though this glass lanthorn, flesh, do suffer maim—
Fire, sacrifice, priest, altar be the same. 

IV.

THE TRINITY.
   O blessed glorious Trinity, 
Bones to philosophy, but milk to faith, 
   Which, as wise serpents, diversely 
Most slipperiness, yet most entanglings hath, 
              As you distinguish’d, undistinct, 
              By power, love, knowledge be, 
Give me a such self different instinct, 
Of these let all me elemented be, 
Of power, to love, to know you unnumbered three. 

V.

THE VIRGIN MARY.
   For that fair blessed mother-maid, 
Whose flesh redeem’d us, that she-cherubin, 
   Which unlock’d paradise, and made 
One claim for innocence, and disseizèd sin, 
              Whose womb was a strange heaven, for there 
              God clothed Himself, and grew, 
Our zealous thanks we pour.   As her deeds were 
Our helps, so are her prayers ; nor can she sue 
In vain, who hath such titles unto you. 

VI.

THE ANGELS.
   And since this life our nonage is, 
And we in wardship to Thine angels be, 
   Native in heaven’s fair palaces 
Where we shall be but denizen’d by Thee ; 
              As th’ earth conceiving by the sun, 
              Yields fair diversity, 
Yet never knows what course that light doth run ; 
So let me study that mine actions be 
Worthy their sight, though blind in how they see. 

VII.

THE PATRIARCHS.
   And let Thy patriarchs’ desire, 
—Those great grandfathers of Thy Church, which saw 
   More in the cloud than we in fire, 
Whom nature clear’d more, than us grace and law, 
              And now in heaven still pray, that we 
              May use our new helps right— 
Be satisfied, and fructify in me ; 
Let not my mind be blinder by more light, 
Nor faith by reason added lose her sight. 

VIII.

THE PROPHETS.
   Thy eagle-sighted prophets too, 
—Which were Thy Church’s organs, and did sound 
   That harmony which made of two 
One law, and did unite, but not confound ; 
              Those heavenly poets which did see 
              Thy will, and it express 
In rhythmic feet—in common pray for me, 
That I by them excuse not my excess 
In seeking secrets, or poeticness. 

IX.

THE APOSTLES.
   And thy illustrious zodiac 
Of twelve apostles, which engirt this All, 
   —From whom whosoever do not take 
Their light, to dark deep pits throw down and fall ;— 
              As through their prayers Thou’st let me know 
              That their books are divine, 
May they pray still, and be heard, that I go 
Th’ old broad way in applying ; O decline 
Me, when my comment would make Thy word mine. 

X.

THE MARTYRS.
   And since Thou so desirously 
Didst long to die, that long before Thou couldst, 
   And long since Thou no more couldst die, 
Thou in thy scatter’d mystic body wouldst 
              In Abel die, and ever since 
              In Thine ; let their blood come 
To beg for us a discreet patience 
Of death, or of worse life ; for O, to some 
Not to be martyrs, is a martyrdom. 

XI.

THE CONFESSORS.
   Therefore with Thee triumpheth there 
A virgin squadron of white confessors, 
   Whose bloods betroth’d not married were, 
Tender’d, not taken by those ravishers. 
              They know, and pray that we may know, 
              In every Christian 
Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow ; 
Temptations martyr us alive ; a man 
Is to himself a Diocletian. 

XII.

THE VIRGINS.
   The cold white snowy nunnery, 
Which, as Thy Mother, their high abbess, sent 
   Their bodies back again to Thee, 
As Thou hadst lent them, clean and innocent ; 
              Though they have not obtain’d of Thee, 
              That or Thy Church or I 
Should keep, as they, our first integrity, 
Divorce Thou sin in us, or bid it die, 
And call chaste widowhead virginity. 

XIII.

THE DOCTORS.
   The sacred academy above 
Of Doctors, whose pains have unclasp’d, and taught 
   Both books of life to us—for love 
To know Thy scriptures tells us, we are wrote 
              In Thy other book—pray for us there, 
              That what they have misdone 
Or missaid, we to that may not adhere. 
Their zeal may be our sin.  Lord, let us run 
Mean ways, and call them stars, but not the sun. 

XIV.
   And whilst this universal quire, 
That Church in triumph, this in warfare here, 
   Warm’d with one all-partaking fire 
Of love, that none be lost, which cost Thee dear, 
              Prays ceaselessly, and Thou hearken too 
              —Since to be gracious 
Our task is treble, to pray, bear, and do—
Hear this prayer, Lord ; O Lord, deliver us 
From trusting in those prayers, though pour’d out 
       thus. 

XV.
   From being anxious, or secure, 
Dead clods of sadness, or light squibs of mirth, 
   From thinking that great courts immure 
All, or no happiness, or that this earth 
              Is only for our prison framed, 
              Or that Thou’rt covetous 
To them whom Thou lovest, or that they are maim’d 
From reaching this world’s sweet who seek Thee 
       thus, 
With all their might, good Lord, deliver us. 

XVI.
   From needing danger, to be good, 
From owing Thee yesterday’s tears to-day, 
   From trusting so much to Thy blood 
That in that hope we wound our soul away, 
              From bribing Thee with alms, to excuse 
              Some sin more burdenous, 
From light affecting, in religion, news, 
From thinking us all soul, neglecting thus 
Our mutual duties, Lord, deliver us. 

XVII.
   From tempting Satan to tempt us, 
By our connivance, or slack company, 
   From measuring ill by vicious 
Neglecting to choke sin’s spawn, vanity, 
              From indiscreet humility, 
              Which might be scandalous 
And cast reproach on Christianity, 
From being spies, or to spies pervious, 
From thirst or scorn of fame, deliver us. 

XVIII.
   Deliver us through Thy descent 
Into the Virgin, whose womb was a place 
   Of middle kind ; and Thou being sent 
To ungracious us, stay’dst at her full of grace ; 
              And through Thy poor birth, where first Thou 
              Glorified’st poverty ; 
And yet soon after riches didst allow, 
By accepting kings’ gifts in th’ Epiphany ; 
Deliver us, and make us to both ways free. 

XIX.
   And through that bitter agony, 
Which is still th’ agony of pious wits, 
   Disputing what distorted Thee, 
And interrupted evenness with fits ; 
              And through Thy free confession, 
              Though thereby they were then 
Made blind, so that Thou mightst from them have gone ; 
Good Lord, deliver us, and teach us when 
We may not, and we may, blind unjust men. 

XX.
   Through Thy submitting all, to blows 
Thy face, Thy robes to spoil, Thy fame to scorn, 
   All ways, which rage, or justice knows, 
And by which Thou couldst show that Thou wast born ; 
              And through Thy gallant humbleness 
              Which Thou in death didst show, 
Dying before Thy soul they could express ; 
Deliver us from death, by dying so 
To this world, ere this world do bid us go. 

XXI.
   When senses, which Thy soldiers are, 
We arm against Thee, and they fight for sin ; 
   When want, sent but to tame, doth war, 
And work despair a breach to enter in ; 
              When plenty, God’s image, and seal, 
              Makes us idolatrous, 
And love it, not him, whom it should reveal ; 
When we are moved to seem religious 
Only to vent wit ; Lord, deliver us. 

XXII.
   In churches, when th’ infirmity 
Of him which speaks, diminishes the word ; 
   When magistrates do misapply 
To us, as we judge, lay or ghostly sword ; 
              When plague, which is Thine angel, reigns, 
              Or wars, Thy champions, sway ; 
When heresy, Thy second deluge, gains ; 
In th’ hour of death, th’ eve of last Judgment day ; 
Deliver us from the sinister way. 

XXIII.
   Hear us, O hear us, Lord; to Thee 
A sinner is more music, when he prays, 
   Than spheres’ or angels’ praises be, 
In panegyric alleluias ; 
              Hear us, for till Thou hear us, Lord, 
              We know not what to say ; 
Thine ear to our sighs, tears, thoughts, gives voice and word ; 
O Thou, who Satan heard’st in Job’s sick day, 
Hear Thyself now, for Thou in us dost pray. 

XXIV.
   That we may change to evenness 
This intermitting aguish piety ; 
   That snatching cramps of wickedness 
And apoplexies of fast sin may die ; 
              That music of Thy promises, 
              Not threats in thunder may 
Awaken us to our just offices ; 
What in Thy book Thou dost, or creatures say, 
That we may hear, Lord, hear us when we pray. 

XXV.
   That our ears’ sickness we may cure, 
And rectify those labyrinths aright, 
   That we by heark’ning not procure 
Our praise, nor others’ dispraise so invite ; 
              That we get not a slipp’riness 
              And senselessly decline, 
From hearing bold wits jest at kings’ excess, 
To admit the like of majesty divine ; 
That we may lock our ears, Lord, open Thine. 

XXVI.
   That living law, the magistrate, 
Which to give us, and make us physic, doth 
   Our vices often aggravate ; 
That preachers taxing sin, before her growth ; 
              That Satan, and envenom’d men— 
              Which will, if we starve, dine— 
When they do most accuse us, may see then 
Us to amendment hear them, Thee decline ; 
That we may open our ears, Lord, lock Thine. 

XXVII.
   That learning, Thine ambassador, 
From Thine allegiance we never tempt ; 
   That beauty, paradise’s flower 
For physic made, from poison be exempt ; 
              That wit—born apt high good to do— 
              By dwelling lazily 
On nature’s nothing be not nothing too ; 
That our affections kill us not, nor die ; 
Hear us, weak echoes, O, Thou Ear and Eye. 

XXVIII.
   Son of God, hear us, and since Thou 
By taking our blood, owest it us again, 
   Gain to Thyself, or us allow ; 
And let not both us and Thyself be slain ; 
              O Lamb of God, which took’st our sin, 
              Which could not stick to Thee, 
O let it not return to us again ; 
But patient and physician being free, 
As sin is nothing, let it nowhere be.

GOOD-FRIDAY, 1613, RIDING WESTWARD
by John Donne
LET man’s soul be a sphere, and then, in this,
Th’ intelligence that moves, devotion is ;
And as the other spheres, by being grown
Subject to foreign motion, lose their own,
And being by others hurried every day,
Scarce in a year their natural form obey ;
Pleasure or business, so, our souls admit
For their first mover, and are whirl’d by it.
Hence is’t, that I am carried towards the west,
This day, when my soul’s form bends to the East.
There I should see a Sun by rising set,
And by that setting endless day beget.
But that Christ on His cross did rise and fall,
Sin had eternally benighted all.
Yet dare I almost be glad, I do not see
That spectacle of too much weight for me.
Who sees Gods face, that is self-life, must die ;
What a death were it then to see God die ?
It made His own lieutenant, Nature, shrink,
It made His footstool crack, and the sun wink.
Could I behold those hands, which span the poles
And tune all spheres at once, pierced with those holes ?
Could I behold that endless height, which is
Zenith to us and our antipodes,
Humbled below us ? or that blood, which is
The seat of all our soul’s, if not of His,
Made dirt of dust, or that flesh which was worn
By God for His apparel, ragg’d and torn ?
If on these things I durst not look, durst I
On His distressed Mother cast mine eye,
Who was God’s partner here, and furnish’d thus
Half of that sacrifice which ransom’d us ?
Though these things as I ride be from mine eye,
They’re present yet unto my memory,
For that looks towards them ; and Thou look’st towards me,
O Saviour, as Thou hang’st upon the tree.
I turn my back to thee but to receive
Corrections till Thy mercies bid Thee leave.
O think me worth Thine anger, punish me,
Burn off my rust, and my deformity ;
Restore Thine image, so much, by Thy grace,
That Thou mayst know me, and I’ll turn my face.

THE ANNUNCIATION AND PASSION
by John Donne
TAMELY, frail body, abstain to-day ; to-day
My soul eats twice, Christ hither and away.
She sees Him man, so like God made in this,
That of them both a circle emblem is,
Whose first and last concur ; this doubtful day
Of feast or fast, Christ came, and went away ;
She sees Him nothing, twice at once, who’s all ;
She sees a cedar plant itself, and fall ;
Her Maker put to making, and the head
Of life at once not yet alive, yet dead ;
She sees at once the Virgin Mother stay
Reclused at home, public at Golgotha ;
Sad and rejoiced she’s seen at once, and seen
At almost fifty, and at scarce fifteen ;
At once a son is promised her, and gone ;
Gabriell gives Christ to her, He her to John ;
Not fully a mother, she’s in orbity ;
At once receiver and the legacy.
All this, and all between, this day hath shown,
Th’ abridgement of Christ’s story, which makes one—
As in plain maps, the furthest west is east—
Of th’ angels Ave, and Consummatum est.
How well the Church, God’s Court of Faculties,
Deals, in sometimes, and seldom joining these.
As by the self-fix’d Pole we never do
Direct our course, but the next star thereto,
Which shows where th’other is, and which we say
—Because it strays not far—doth never stray,
So God by His Church, nearest to him, we know,
And stand firm, if we by her motion go.
His Spirit, as His fiery pillar, doth
Lead, and His Church, as cloud ; to one end both.
This Church by letting those days join, hath shown
Death and conception in mankind is one ;
Or ’twas in Him the same humility,
That He would be a man, and leave to be ;
Or as creation He hath made, as God,
With the last judgment but one period,
His imitating spouse would join in one
Manhood’s extremes ; He shall come, He is gone ;
Or as though one blood drop, which thence did fall,
Accepted, would have served, He yet shed all,
So though the least of His pains, deeds, or words,
Would busy a life, she all this day affords.
This treasure then, in gross, my soul, uplay,
And in my life retail it every day.

Literature and its Scope

Literature can be viewed from various angles. Some critics interpret literature in its comprehensive sense. Others take its restricted and ordinary meaning. Sometimes literature is implied in a technical sense. lt is essential to understand these different interpretations of the term `literature` Here the views of Anthony X. Soares are adapted:

Literature in its Comprehensive Sense: Literature in its most comprehensive meaning includes all the activities of the human soul in general, or within a particular sphere, period, country, or language and therefore embraces all manner of composition in prose and verse, scientific or purely literary, set down in writing or communicated by word of mouth; thus we speak of the literature of Greece, of Eighteenth century literature, of the literature of Mathematics or the Law, of the Latin or Persian literature. When we speak of the literature of India, we do not wish to exclude those poems like the Ramzuyana or the Mahabharata which were handed down for generations by word of mouth and which only during recent times have been committed to writing.

Literature in its Restricted and Ordinary Meaning: ln the restricted sense in which we generally employ the term, literature is that class of writing which aims at rousing the feelings of the beautiful by the perfection of form or excellence of ideas or by both. ln this sense, literature is distinguished from purely scientific and technical treatises; works on Mathematics, or Prosody, or Philosophy, would not be literature. Under literature, when used in its narrower meaning. We should include only such works, as, by reason of their subject-matter or the artistic way in which they are handled, are of general human interest, and awaken in us one or more of the pleasurable feelings of the beautiful, the sublime, the pathetic or the ludicrous, Such are poetry, romance, history, Biography and essays, as opposed to scientific works or those writings which aim expressly at imparting, knowledge. A piece of literature differs from a specialized treatise on astronomy, political economy, philosophy or even history, in part because it appeals not to a particular class of readers only but to men and women; and in part because while the object of the treatise is simply to impart knowledge. One ideal end of the piece of literature, whether it also imparts knowledge or not, is to yield aesthetic satisfaction by the manner in which it handles its theme. It is essentially this aspect of literature which was well brought out by the late Viscount Morley when he spoke of it as consisting of all the books—and they are not so many——where moral truths and human passions are treated with a certain largeness, sanity and attractiveness of form. For the much in little, the extent of its scope and yet its brevity, this description of Morley’s would be hard to beat, though if it were a question of finding a synonym for the word literature, the French belles letters, beautiful or polite, polished or refined letters would do admirably well. The French mean by their very expressive and apposite phrase belles letters exactly what we mean by our word ‘literature`, when we use it in its restricted sense.

Literature used in a Technical Sense: Besides the two above senses in which the term ‘literature’ is commonly employed, there is one in which it is also used, viz., in a technical sense. To designate in the first place, the study of the rules of literary composition or what is called literary technique and secondly, to describe the different phrases through which the intellectual development of a people has passed, or, in other words, to narrate the literary history of a people. In this latter meaning, a work on English literature would treat of the literary activities of the English people from the earliest times to the present, considered in respect of the national progress, and also of the literary forms which go on changing from age to age, in which such activities have been embodied. lt would give an account of the literary achievements of the different writers from very early times to our own day.  It would show how in different ages, different poetic and prose forms were invented and became popular.

RESURRECTION, IMPERFECT
by John Donne
SLEEP, sleep, old sun, thou canst not have repass’d,
As yet, the wound thou took’st on Friday last ;
Sleep then, and rest ; the world may bear thy stay ;
A better sun rose before thee to-day ;
Who—not content to enlighten all that dwell
On the earth’s face, as thou—enlighten’d hell,
And made the dark fires languish in that vale,
As at thy presence here our fires grow pale ;
Whose body, having walk’d on earth, and now
Hasting to heaven, would—that He might allow
Himself unto all stations, and fill all—
For these three days become a mineral.
He was all gold when He lay down, but rose
All tincture, and doth not alone dispose
Leaden and iron wills to good, but is
Of power to make e’en sinful flesh like his.
Had one of those, whose credulous piety
Thought that a soul one might discern and see
Go from a body, at this sepulchre been,
And, issuing from the sheet, this body seen,
He would have justly thought this body a soul,
If not of any man, yet of the whole.

THE CROSS
by John Donne
SINCE Christ embraced the cross itself, dare I
His image, th’ image of His cross, deny ?
Would I have profit by the sacrifice,
And dare the chosen altar to despise ?
It bore all other sins, but is it fit
That it should bear the sin of scorning it ?
Who from the picture would avert his eye,
How would he fly his pains, who there did die ?
From me no pulpit, nor misgrounded law,
Nor scandal taken, shall this cross withdraw,
It shall not, for it cannot ; for the loss
Of this cross were to me another cross.
Better were worse, for no affliction,
No cross is so extreme, as to have none.
Who can blot out the cross, with th’ instrument
Of God dew’d on me in the Sacrament ?
Who can deny me power, and liberty
To stretch mine arms, and mine own cross to be ?
Swim, and at every stroke thou art thy cross ;
The mast and yard make one, where seas do toss ;
Look down, thou spiest out crosses in small things ;
Look up, thou seest birds raised on crossed wings ;
All the globe’s frame, and spheres, is nothing else
But the meridians crossing parallels.
Material crosses then, good physic be,
But yet spiritual have chief dignity.
These for extracted chemic medicine serve,
And cure much better, and as well preserve.
Then are you your own physic, or need none,
When still’d or purged by tribulation ;
For when that cross ungrudged unto you sticks,
Then are you to yourself a crucifix.
As perchance carvers do not faces make,
But that away, which hid them there, do take ;
Let crosses, so, take what hid Christ in thee,
And be His image, or not His, but He.
But, as oft alchemists do coiners prove,
So may a self-despising get self-love ;
And then, as worst surfeits of best meats be,
So is pride, issued from humility,
For ’tis no child, but monster ; therefore cross
Your joy in crosses, else, ’tis double loss.
And cross thy senses, else both they and thou
Must perish soon, and to destruction bow.
For if the eye seek good objects, and will take
No cross from bad, we cannot ‘scape a snake.
So with harsh, hard, sour, stinking ; cross the rest ;
Make them indifferent ; call, nothing best.
But most the eye needs crossing, that can roam,
And move ; to th’ others th’ objects must come home.
And cross thy heart ; for that in man alone
Pants downwards, and hath palpitation.
Cross those dejections, when it downward tends,
And when it to forbidden heights pretends.
And as the brain through bony walls doth vent
By sutures, which a cross’s form present,
So when thy brain works, ere thou utter it,
Cross and correct concupiscence of wit.
Be covetous of crosses; let none fall ;
Cross no man else, but cross thyself in all.
Then doth the cross of Christ work faithfully
Within our hearts, when we love harmlessly
That cross’s pictures much, and with more care
That cross’s children, which our crosses are.

John Donne As A Love Poet……..Donne’s Contribution To English Poetry

          It would not be easy to extract a simple definition of love from Donne’s love poems as these present a surprising variety of moods and attitudes to the emotion or feeling. The poems are at times general, at other times, splendidly passionate, at yet other times cynical and touched with scorn and bitterness. Passion makes much of the love poetry of Donne. The opening of many poems is dramatic in its passion.

“I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I did till we loved.” (The Good Marrow)

“Whoever comes to shroud me do not harm” (The Funeral)

“Busie old fools, unruly sunne,

Why dost thou thus” (The sun Rising).

          These poems are marked by cynicism and scorn. In these poems, Donne seems to be expressing contempt towards love itself. Even here, however we have a variety. His song, beginning with “Go And Catch A Falling Starre” ends with a bitter mocking, cynicism and denunciation of the fair sea. No where can one find a true woman even if one travels the whole globe.

“Yet she

Will be,

False, ere I come to two, or there.”

There is no Platonism here but bitter satire against women’s insincere attitude.

“Though she were true, when you met her,

And last, till you wait your leter.”

          Several of the love poems are marked by simple, pure affection. Here the conception of love rises to something concrete, tender and affectionate, here Donne is neither petrarchan nor Platonic. In these poems, Donne celebrate the best in conjugal love, “The Anniversarie” was written to celebrate the anniversary of his wedding. It gives a fine picture of domestic bliss. Conjugal love knows no change or decay. It is immortal and must continue even in the grave.

“All other things to their destruction draw,

Only your love hath no decay;

This no tomorrow hath, nor yesterday.”

Donne’s poems also present sensuous love in all its aspects. From the bitterness of love thwarted, to the fleeting paradise of desire fulfilled. For example, in “The Relique” the poet says,

“First, we lov’d well and faithfully,

Yet knew not what we lov’d, nor why,

Difference of sex, no more we knew,

Then our guardian angels doe;”

          On the whole one can discern five major themes in Donne’s love poetry. There is the sorrow of poet, the misery of secrecy, the falseness of the mistress, the fickleness of the lover and finally contempt for love itself. However, we love to differentiate between the kinds of love in Donne’s poetry.

           Love in one sentence is a holly passion, and in this sense it is irrespective whether it is within marriage or outside it. In another sense, it is purely physical in which case, it is nothing better than just love which partakes of the body and soul is the best.   John Bennet is right when she observes that Donne’s love poetry is not about the difference between marriage and adultery, but about the difference between love and lust.

          It is not easy to extract a definition of love from poems which deal with so many attitudes to the emotion. However, whether dealing with sensual or spiritual love, or the complex combination of both, Donne is always passionate. The problem which forms the basic theme of Donne’s love poetry is the place of love in this world of change and death. The problem is viewed from different angles as a result, love is sometimes seen as immortal and sometimes as futile.

          The love poems of John Donne thus express a surprising variety of attitude. On the whole, one may say that Donne’s love poems celebrate love in both its physical as well as spiritual aspects. Donne’s treatment of love is entirely unconventional. He does not adopt the ways and modes of feeling and expression found in the Elizabethan love poetry. Most of the contemporary poets followed the passion, expressed by Petrarchan Italian poet, but Donne rebelled against them.

Write a note on the Old Man’s love of nature and man?

It is said that ` Hemingway’s heroes learn from the pain and suffering they undergo. Explain it in the case of Santiago?

OR

Discuss briefly how does Santiago’s struggle with the marlin make him compassionate?

           Hemingway may be called a naturalistic novelist. He considered man as apart of nature and tried to depict his life, fate and personality in relation with the other objects of nature. Nature in his eyes is perverted and cruel and is bent upon destroying its creatures or making life hard for them. Hemingway believed that man’s happiness comes wholly from the expression and fulfillment of his natural self. The primary enjoyments such as active sports, violence, drinking, sex, friendship, etc. can help in minimizing the tensions and miseries of life in this unfriendly universe. Similarly, the pursuing of noble ideals, the assertion of masculine courage and the demonstration of human pride and honor can also help man in making his life purposeful and worth living. In order to illustrate this view of life, Hemingway always puts his heroes in difficult and dangerous situations where they have to face death and destruction.

        They have to struggle hard and bear pains that display their courage, bravery and the power of endurance. The pain and suffering they undergo leaves healthy impact on their minds and makes them saner in their attitude. Hemingway’s hero is a realistic person, showing stoical acceptance of painful reality, having nothing to complain or mourn if he is defeated. His heroes are given the choice of facing the inevitable with fortitude or despair. This philosophy of life made him select such rough fields of life for writing as fishing, hunting, horse-racing, bull-lighting, war, etc. He invariably tries to demonstrate through his novels that since extinction is the ultimate destiny of all living beings, to die gracefully is as important as to live honorably.

          In the novel “The Old Man and the Sea”, the hero is alienated from human society and is left alone on the wide sea for three days and nights. During this time he does not feel alone end establishes his solidarity with the world of nature around him. This feeling enables him to bear his ordeal more easily. His isolation creates in him the feelings of brotherhood with the creatures of water and air. He loves the flying fish, the green turtles and the hawkbills and calls them brothers. He even liked the loggerheads that looked huge and stupid. The only sea creature that excited his contempt was the Portuguese men-of-war and scavenger sharks. When a tired warbler came to rest on his line, the Old Man felt very happy and wished to spread a sail for his comfort. He felt pity for the poor bird and thought that the life of birds was the hardest of all creatures. He felt compassionate even to the marlin he had hooked and called it his brother. He wished that he could feed the marlin as he had fed himself.

          When the dead marlin is attacked by the sharks, the Old Man feels that his own body is being torn by the scavengers. He considered his moral duty to defend his ‘brother’ against the wild creatures who wanted to eat away the meat of the baited fish. Afterwards he did not like to look at the body of the beautiful marlin that had been mutilated by the sharks. He regretted of having hooked the marlin and said, “Fish, I am sorry for having killed you, I should not have gone so far out. It ruined both of us.” Thus we see that the pain and suffering born by the Old Man makes him charitable and loving to all the creatures of God. When he nears his destination, he thinks that many old fishermen would be worried about his safety, besides the boy Manolin. He feels consolation to think that he is living in a good locality. This compassionate attitude is not due to any religious creed but the result of a sense that he and all creatures participate in the same pattern of necessity.

Write short note on the Old Man’s religion,

OR

Do you think that Santiago was a superstitious person?

OR

Discuss briefly the Old Man’s sense of sin?

             Santiago, the Old fisherman, is the hero of Hemingway’s novel, “The Old Man and the Sea”. He plays the central role in the story. All the incidents throw light on one or the other aspect of his personality. As a novelist, Hemingway was more interested in the complexities of human nature and the possibilities of human personality than in the social, economic or political problems of his time, In his novels, he tries to set man against the background of this world and the universe, and then tries to examine the human situation from various points of view. In the Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway has glorified human struggle against heavy odds, and wants to show how man possesses vast fund of courage, power of endurance and ingenuity to defeat the forces of nature much stronger than himself. His hero, the old fisherman happens to hook a huge marlin that proves to be too strong and unmanageable for an old and unaided man like him. Instead of yielding to her angler, the fish decides to put up resistance. The Old Man’s sense of honor and pride does not permit him to let the sea-monster go. He is determined to overpower it by means of his skill and experience. Hemingway tries to demonstrate that in the struggle of life man is essentially alone, and he should depend upon his own qualities and resources. His heroes seldom seek the help of God or any supernatural power.

              Santiago, the old fisherman, is not a superstitious person. In his hour of despair he thinks of God’s help. He prays to God to make the marlin eat the bait and get hooked. He says that he is not a religious man in the traditional sense, yet he would say “Our Fathers” ten times if he succeeds in angling the fish. He even starts saying “Hail Marys” in a mechanical manner. Then he again seeks God’s help when his left hand gets cramped. lt shows that Santiago’s religiosity is only of practical utility, without having any concern with faith or outlook of life. He admits to himself that he has no knowledge of religion or sin. When the baited fish is plundered away by sharks, he realizes that perhaps he had committed a sin and invited the wrath of nature by going beyond the normal boundary for fishing. But then he tries to banish the idea of sin from his mind by thinking that “everything kills everything else in some way.” He tries to justify his act of taking the life of the marlin by saying that he was born to be an angler just as the fish was created to be preyed upon. It shows that like other heroes of Hemingway, the Old Man is also mystified by the universe he has been put in, but he does not show any allegiance to metaphysical forces. He is a man of realistic approach to life who believes that life is full of hardships and problems that must be faced in a dignified manner.

Do you think that The Old Man had philosophical bent of mind?

OR

Describe some of the deep thoughts that occurred to Santiago when he found himself alone on the wide sea.

           The Old Man and Sea can also be called a character novel. Its story is meant to illustrate the different qualities of the character of the old fisherman who plays the role of the hero in it. It is his personality which remains the centre of our attention throughout. We remain interested in his thoughts, feelings, interests, fears, desires and memories of the past. Hemingway has refrained from making his hero a philosopher or psychologically split personality. He shows no spiritual cravings and no dissatisfaction of life like a romantic hero. Rather, Santiago is a common kind of person with a practical mind and realistic attitude of life. However, he is a man of experience and practical wisdom, having his own common sense ideas and views of life.

                It is true that Santiago, the old fisherman, is a poor and uneducated person of humble position. Yet God has gifted him with a reflective mind. During the period of two days and nights that he spends on the wide sea alone, he continues pondering on the things that strike his attention. It is like the ruminations of an idle mind. His thoughts serve as a running commentary on his inner state of mind and the outside world seen by him. During his struggle with the marlin, the Old Man gets a deeper insight into himself and a better understanding of his relation with the system of life around him. For example, he realizes that the vast ocean, like a beloved, has many favors to give to man as well as to hide from him. He felt satisfied to bait a huge fish, but then felt pity for the sea creature that had fallen a prey to human deceit. He thought that the marlin had decided to live in the deep sea, far away from human society.

        She meant no harm to the Old Man, whereas he had put her in great distress without any justification. He thought that he should not have been a fisherman. Then he realized that according to the divine system, he was born to be an angler just as the fish was created to be preyed upon. After killing the marlin, Santiago tried to justify his cruel act by thinking that he had put the fish to death to keep himself alive and to feed a number of other human beings. At the same time he realized that he had killed the marlin for the satisfaction of human pride also. He had feelings of respect and love for the powerful fish that had given him tough time. He wondered how many of the human beings would be worthy of eating the meat of that brave sea creature.

               After remaining all alone on the wide sea for a day or two, the Old Man realized how painful isolation was. He thought that no body should be left alone in old age. When a tired Warbler descended to rest on his line, he welcomed it as a good companion. Then he realized that the life of sea-birds was perhaps the hardest of all creatures. Man was required by nature to catch fish for his livelihood. How difficult his life would have been if he were required to catch and kill such distant things as stars? The Old Man felt guilty after losing the baited fish to the sharks. He thought that perhaps he had committed a sin by going too far into the deep sea. But he consoled himself by thinking that everything in this world was killing something else for its own survival. When he was returning home empty handed, he thought of the comfortable bed. He said that the bed was the only source of comfort for a defeated person. Such stray thoughts are a sufficient proof of the fact that the Old Man had a philosophic mind.

Give a brief account of the hand-game competition Santiago had with the Negro from Cienfuegos. What is its importance in the plot of the novel?

           Santiago, the hero of this novel, is shown to be a man of exceptional courage, physical strength, determination and power of endurance. These qualities make him a great tighter and enable him to win our sympathies and admiration. He is shown to be an old man, worn out by age and miseries of life, with a thin and lean body. But in his youth Santiago was a strong man, with a muscular body and great physical strength. He was strong and courageous enough to accept all kinds of challenges. To show bravery and to give the tough tight had always been the motto of his life. When he was engaged in the epic-fight against the powerful marlin in the deep sea, he felt deeply fatigued and broken hearted at times. But his sense of pride and honor did not permit him to give up his struggle and to accept defeat. At such moments of failing faith, he tried to boost up his morale and strengthened his confidence by recollecting his deeds of bravery in the past. His remembrance of the hand-game competition with the Negro from Cienfeugos was also an attempt to encourage himself against his difficult adversary.

             The Old Man recalled to his mind the great trial of physical strength and power of endurance that made him the Champion of that area. It was the hand-game competition held at the inn of Casablanca. His opponent was the famous Negro from Cienfeugos who was known as the strongest man at the harbor, Santiago decided to refute the popular notion that the negro was matchless in strength and an undefeatable hero. He challenged the Negro to a hand-game competition. Both of them sat round a table facing each other. Their elbows were resting on a line drawn across the centre of the table. They held their arms erect and gripped each other’s hand tightly.

          Both the competitors tried to bring each other’s hand down to the surface of the table, without leaving their seats. The competition started early in the morning and continued throughout the day and night without a break. There was a large crowd of spectators, watching the trial of strength and cheering their own heroes. There were many to bet on the fate of the competition that went on changing from time to time. People continued watching the game in the light of oil lamps. The referees were changed after every eight hours to provide them relief. The supporters of the Negro offered him drinks and cigarettes. Santiago continued looking into the eyes of his adversary and upon his arm. Both of them strained themselves so severely that blood began to ooze from the tips of their fingers.

             When the day was about to dawn, people demanded that the competition should be declared ending in a draw. But the referees did not agree to the proposal. The Negro was a man of strong nerves, great power of endurance. He once succeeded in bowing Santiago’s hand three inches below the balancing position, But Santiago soon retaliated and brought his arm back to the balancing point. This gave him a new confidence. He exerted himself with full might and determination and succeeded in defeating the Negro. In this way he was declared the Champion of the dock.

Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:
Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot
A constant habit; that when I would not
I change in vows, and in devotion.
As humorous is my contrition
As my profane love, and as soon forgot:
As riddlingly distempered, cold and hot,
As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.
I durst not view heaven yesterday; and today
In prayers and flattering speeches I court God:
Tomorrow I quake with true fear of his rod.
So my devout fits come and go away
Like a fantastic ague; save that here
Those are my best days, when I shake with feare.

Show me, dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear.
What! is it she which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robbed and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here?
Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?
Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seven, or on no hill appear?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travel we to seek, and then make love?
Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,
And let mine amorous soul court thy mild dove,
Who is most true and pleasing to thee then
When she is embraced and open to most men.

Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt
To Nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,
And her soul early into heaven ravishèd,
Wholly on heavenly things my mind is set.
Here the admiring her my mind did whet
To seek thee, God; so streams do show the head;
But though I have found thee, and thou my thirst hast fed,
A holy thirsty dropsy melts me yet.
But why should I beg more love, whenas thou
Dost woo my soul, for hers offering all thine:
And dost not only fear lest I allow
My love to saints and angels, things divine,
But in thy tender jealousy dost doubt
Lest the world, flesh, yea, devil put thee out.

Father, part of His double interest
Unto Thy kingdom Thy Son gives to me ;
His jointure in the knotty Trinity
He keeps, and gives to me his death’s conquest.
This Lamb, whose death with life the world hath blest,
Was from the world’s beginning slain, and He
Hath made two wills, which with the legacy
Of His and Thy kingdom do thy sons invest.
Yet such are these laws, that men argue yet
Whether a man those statutes can fulfil.
None doth ; but thy all-healing grace and Spirit
Revive again what law and letter kill.
Thy law’s abridgement, and Thy last command
Is all but love ; O let this last Will stand !

Wilt thou love God as he thee ? then digest,
My soul, this wholesome meditation,
How God the Spirit, by angels waited on
In heaven, doth make His temple in thy breast.
The Father having begot a Son most blest,
And still begetting—for he ne’er begun—
Hath deign’d to choose thee by adoption,
Co-heir to His glory, and Sabbath’ endless rest.
And as a robb’d man, which by search doth find
His stolen stuff sold, must lose or buy it again,
The Sun of glory came down, and was slain,
Us whom He had made, and Satan stole, to unbind.
‘Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But, that God should be made like man, much more.

Batter my heart, three-person’d God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

What if this present were the world’s last night ?
Mark in my heart, O soul, where thou dost dwell,
The picture of Christ crucified, and tell
Whether His countenance can thee affright.
Tears in His eyes quench the amazing light ;
Blood fills his frowns, which from His pierced head fell ;
And can that tongue adjudge thee unto hell,
Which pray’d forgiveness for His foes’ fierce spite ?
No, no ; but as in my idolatry
I said to all my profane mistresses,
Beauty of pity, foulness only is
A sign of rigour ; so I say to thee,
To wicked spirits are horrid shapes assign’d ;
This beauteous form assures a piteous mind.

Why are we by all creatures waited on ?
Why do the prodigal elements supply
Life and food to me, being more pure than I,
Simpler and further from corruption ?
Why brook’st thou, ignorant horse, subjection ?
Why dost thou, bull and boar, so sillily
Dissemble weakness, and by one man’s stroke die,
Whose whole kind you might swallow and feed upon ?
Weaker I am, woe’s me, and worse than you ;
You have not sinn’d, nor need be timorous.
But wonder at a greater, for to us
Created nature doth these things subdue ;
But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tied,
For us, His creatures, and His foes, hath died.

Spit in my face, you Jews, and pierce my side,
Buffet, and scoff, scourge, and crucify me,
For I have sinn’d, and sinne’, and only He,
Who could do no iniquity, hath died.
But by my death can not be satisfied
My sins, which pass the Jews’ impiety.
They kill’d once an inglorious man, but I
Crucify him daily, being now glorified.
O let me then His strange love still admire ;
Kings pardon, but He bore our punishment ;
And Jacob came clothed in vile harsh attire,
But to supplant, and with gainful intent ;
God clothed Himself in vile man’s flesh, that so
He might be weak enough to suffer woe.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ;  why swell’st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ;  Death, thou shalt die.

 Write short note on Santiago as the hero of the novel “The Old Man and the Sea”?

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What makes The Old Man a code hero?

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Santiago, the hero, stands for a style of leading life cherished by Hemingway. Discuss this statement.

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Describe briefly The Old Man’s moral code?

        ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Hemingway is an adventure tale. It is the story of an adventurous deed performed by an ordinary man. Hemingway wants to show in this novel that heroism is not the monopoly of the young, the wealthy and the influential persons. It is open to all types of human beings, in all walks of life and at every stage of man’s life. Santiago, the hero of this novel, has nothing heroic in the traditional sense. He is not an extra ordinary man in physical appearance, material resources or social status. Rather he is a poor old fisherman living alone in a humble hut on the coast of Havana in Cuba.

          He used to be young and physically strong once, but now he is an aged man of thin and lean body, with wrinkled face and scarred hands. What makes him exceptional is the heroic spirit, unconquerable will power and great capacity for endurance. It means that Hemingway does not make heroism a display of muscles and physical strength. He presents it as an attitude of mind and a spiritual quality and treats it psychologically. Instead of providing us the thrill of action, the novelist tries to show how an intelligent and determined person can make wonderful achievements by making use of the qualities of head and heart found in himself.

          The most remarkable quality of the Old Man is that he does not feel discouraged by the unfavorable circumstances and hardships of life. His repeated failures to catch any fish make him an unfortunate fisherman in the eyes of others. But he refuses to be cowed down and firmly believes that the fish to be caught by him must be found in the sea somewhere. He does not feel afraid of going into the deep sea alone in his small boat and succeeds in angling a huge marlin. But the fish proves to be too strong for him and decides to resist instead of yielding to her angler. After a hard struggle of two days and nights, the Old Man succeeds in overpowering the sea monster with his skill and experience. It becomes a competition between animal strength and human ingenuity. Ill luck again overtakes the Old Man in the form of sharks that attack the hooked marlin and plunder away its meat. Here again we are made to admire the Old Man who bravely fights against this calamity in spite of being alone, tired and incapacitated. Hemingway wants to show that success or defeat do not matter much, because they are in the hands of fate. The real thing is the heroic struggle and the doing of one’s best under the circumstances.

           Santiago, the Old fisherman, is a code hero because he stands for a moral code or a style of leading life. He represents certain moral qualities which were highly valued by Hemingway such as courage, sense of honor, determination and endurance. All of his heroes follow this moral code to give meaning and justification to human life that is otherwise a futile struggle and a losing game.

            Thus the Old Fisherman, though put in a difficult and dangerous situation, considers it a sin to be disappointed and give up the struggle. He is capable of suffering and enduring whatever is in store for him. He suffers a crushing defeat at the hands of the sharks, but he goes down in a brave and dignified manner. The real thing is that his defeat fails to disillusion him or make him dejected for ever. He does not reject the proposals given by the boy Manolin for their future fishing adventures. He beautifully demonstrates the belief that man is not made for defeat; man may be destroyed but his will power cannot be broken. Besides courage, determination and endurance, professional skill or competence is also an essential qualification for the game of life. The Old Man says: “lt is better to be lucky, but l would prefer to be exact”. He is a superb craftsman who knows his business thoroughly and prepares himself rightly for all kinds of eventualities. In short, Hemingway tries to illustrate his view of life through his hero that the world is full of pain, misery and problems   and human life is a losing game, yet man must accept this challenge bravely and should try to lend grace to his defeat and destruction. The Old Man is a beautiful illustration of Hemingway’s cult of the assertion of human dignity and personal honor.

Discuss Briefly How Hemingway Proves Through His Hero That Man Is Not Made For Defeat ; He Can Be Destroyed But Not Defeated?

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Discuss “The Old Man And The Sea” As A Glorification Of The Heroic Spirit In Man?

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Discuss Briefly How Hemingway Illustrates Through The Story Of A Fisherman. “What A Man Can Do And What He Can Endure”?

           The Old Man and the Sea is an adventure tale, glorifying the heroic spirit in man. Hemingway wants to show how man can attain great glory and can rise to a high stature if he makes use of the valuable qualities and great capacities given to him by God. He has expressed his views by presenting a conflict between man and nature. According to him, man is precariously poised in this world. He has been made dependent upon nature for his sustenance or subsistence. But nature is hostile and niggard in its relation with mankind. Although it has been blessed with unlimited treasures and bounties yet it is never prepared to offer them to humanity generously and freely. Man is required to struggle hard and make use of his all capabilities to snatch his livelihood from the miserly hands of nature. So human life in this world is a continuous and tenacious struggle against the uncooperative and uncompromising nature.

            Although man is much weaker as compared with the gigantic forces of nature, yet God has blessed him with great potentialities to conquer the hostile nature. Ingenuity and heroic spirit are the most effective weapons in the hands of man, which help him in exploring the hidden treasures of the earth and the sea, to conquer the sky-high peaks of mountains, to turn deserts into smiling green lands, to drill mountains, to get path for himself and to utilize winds, waters and sun-beams for his own well-being and comfort. Thus the world of nature is full of unlimited prospects of greatness and glory for man. At the same time it is fraught with great perils for those who dare to step out of a routine type of secure life and throw a challenge to Nature. Greatness and glory seldom descend on human beings. They have to earn it through sweat. And it can be achieved by those heroic souls who refuse to bow before the adverse circumstances and are determined to come out victorious. Hemingway wants to demonstrate through the example of his hero that man is not made for defeat; he can be destroyed but not defeated.

               All these ideas have been brought home through the heroic struggle of a fisherman against a hooked fish that proves to be too stronger for him. Although he is old and weak and poor yet he is a man of invincible courage and unshakable determination. He refuses to be discouraged by his repeated failures to catch any fish for eighty four clays continuously. He also refuses to bow before the general opinion about himself that he is an unlucky fisherman. He persists in his belief that his big fish must be found somewhere and some day. On the 85th day he takes his small boat and goes far into the open sea where no other fisherman has ever ventured. I-le succeeds in hooking a big marlin at a depth of a hundred fathoms. But the baited fish refuses to come to the surface and starts swimming in the sea, towing the fisherman and his boat after itself. Santiago finds himself put into a dangerous situation as the powerful fish may drag him far into the perilous sea and may upset his boat to perish him. If he liked, he could cut the line and let the dangerous fish escape. But he is a brave man who is prepared to risk his life instead of accepting defeat to save himself. He firmly believes that man is not made for defeat. A man may be destroyed but he cannot be defeated. Therefore he holds the line tightly and gives full liberty to the marlin to take him anywhere she likes. I-Ie addresses the marlin and says: “Fish l’ll stay with you until I am dead.” The Old Man is determined to defeat his big adversary with ingenuity and skill. His whole body remains tightly strained for two days and nights without getting any rest, sleep or nourishment. His hands are badly bruised and his arms are painfully cramped.

               But he refuses to give in. He endures his suffering without complaint and says that “Pain does not matter to a man”. It is the human pride and the desire for victory which sustains him. He is determined to show to the huge sea creature, “What a man can do and what a man endures.” He is conscious of the fact that the marlin is fatiguing him to death and in his attempt to kill the fish he may get killed himself. But he declares, “I do not bother who kills who”. At last the fish feels totally exhausted and gives up` resistancej The Old Man pulls her up gradually and kills her with a harpoon as soon as it gets within his easy reach. It is a marvelous victory of a valiant, determined and experienced man against the hostile nature.

               It must be pointed out that the struggle of the Old Man against the giant fish is essentially the struggle of a bread-earner against the uncompromising nature. But it is kept up by the invincible heroic spirit. The Old Man undergoes untold miseries because he considers it beneath human dignity to be defeated by a mere fish. lt is the human pride, not the consideration of material gain which supports the Old Man in continuing the epic fight.

             Whenever he finds his strength failing he tries to revive his heroic will by recollecting his singular victory against the negro in the hand-game. When his left hand gets cramped and he feels afraid of losing his contest with the baited fish, he tries to strengthen his heroic spirit by reminding himself of his baseball champion Di Maggio who fought and won in spite of a bone spur in his heel.

              Santiago’s dream of the lions playing on the African beach is also a bid to boost up his failing physical strength. His wish to have the boy Manolin with him at that hour of the need is actually his wish for his youth that has deserted him. So we can say that the story of “The Old Man and the Sea” is essentially the story of man’s heroic and adventurous spirit that never feels contented at any stage, and always aspires to make historic achievements without caring for the dangers and difficulties involved in this struggle. Santiago’s brave fight against the sharks also bears testimony to his undefeatable will-power and his determination to do his best under the circumstances. It is true that he returns home empty handed but he leaves behind a shining example of human dignity and brave fight that lends beauty and honor to his loss.

What is a tragedy? Do you think that “The Old Man and the Sea” is a tragic novel?

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Discuss “The Old Man and the Sea” as a tragedy?

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What makes Santiago a good tragic hero?

            Tragedy is a popular form of literary writing dealing with human sorrows and misfortunes of life. It is a tale of hard struggle and exceptional suffering resulting in the death, though not always, of the principal character. The tragic hero is a man of exceptional qualities of character who wants to overpower his opponent called the villain. By means of his valiant fight and great capacity for endurance, he succeeds in winning our sympathies as well as admiration. But the hero has some tragic flaw which brings about his defeat or destruction. Destiny and chance also play their own role in the downfall of the tragic hero. The heroic struggle and the tragic fate of the hero excite our feelings of pity and sympathy, besides suggesting some high moral and philosophical ideas about the system of life.

           The Old Man and the Sea can also be called a tragedy because it fulfils almost all the criteria of classical concept of tragedy. It depicts the heroic struggle of man against the hostile Nature. The novelist wants to show how a man can achieve admirable stature in the eyes of others by displaying the valuable qualities of courage, determination, endurance and ingenuity. lt is true that its protagonist or hero is not wiped out of existence at the end of the story. But he suffers a crushing defeat at the hands of the cruel forces of Nature which prove to be far stronger than him. His frustration excites our feelings of pity for him. He does all that can be humanly possible under the circumstances, But luck does not favor him and he is deprived of the fruit of his hard struggle. We cannot help sympathizing with him to see him engaged in a losing battle. The pathetic end of the story does not excite pessimistic feelings in the readers. It is true that the Old Man lying exhausted and dejected on his bed looks like Christ crucified. Yet he is neither disillusioned nor sunk in incurable despair. His heroic spirit remains undefeated and he does not reject the suggestion of Manolin that they will soon proceed on a greater adventure and will be making bigger catches in the future. So this novel is not a dark tragedy, showing the ignoble defeat and death of the hero at the hands of callous and unjust destiny. It is a glowing tribute to the heroic spirit of an Old Man who refuses to bow before his ill luck and succeeds in rehabilitating his image in the eyes of his fellow-men.

           Santiago, the old fisherman who plays the leading role in the story is presented in true heroic colors. He is an ordinary person without any social status or great powers like the Kings and Warriors of classical tragedies. But he has been made exceptional in human qualities which really matter in the struggle of life and which make man great in the real sense. He is a man of great physical strength, undaunted courage, indomitable determination and wonderful capacity for endurance. He is also very expert in his field of life and knows many tricks of hooking fish. The boy Manolin admits that he has never seen more skilful and experienced fisherman than the Old Man. His power of perseverance and the will to dominate his adversary can be estimated from the admirable way he defeated a Negro in the hand game and won the contest after a tenacious struggle of twenty four hours. He is so brave that he does not feel discouraged by his failure to catch any fish for eighty four days continuously. The other fishermen consider him an unlucky person but he remains confident of making some big catch some day.

             Like all tragic heroes, Santiago is also adventurous by nature. It is his epic struggle and great suffering which make the novel a tragedy. , He breaks the boundaries of the ordinary fishing area and goes far into the open sea where no fisherman with a small boat has ever ventured. By chance, the fish he succeeds in hooking proves to be far stronger than him and refuses to come to the surface. The baited fish starts swimming in the sea dragging the fisherman and his boat after herself. But the Old Man does not feel afraid and does not let the marlin go. He is determined to defeat the powerful sea creature with tact and experience. We cannot help praising the brave Old Man for waging a tenacious light against the powerful marlin which continued swimming for two days and nights without allowing him a moment of rest or sleep. At last he succeeds in making his adversary yield to his will and get killed, The same heroic spirit is shown by the Old Man in facing the ravenous sharks that want to eat the flesh of the dead marlin. He employs all the resources at his disposal and all the methods suggested by his intelligence, but fails to save his booty. His loss is quite pathetic and touches the deepest chords of our hearts. We feel for him being so unlucky but we admire him for proving his worth.

            Like all great tragedies, the Old Man and the Sea also raises issues of deep moral and philosophical significance. Hemingway wants to show that life in this world is a continuous battle against the hostile nature and the adversities of life. Man depends upon Nature for his livelihood. Nature has for man unlimited possibilities of progress and chances of greatness and glory. But the world of nature is also full of unseen hazards and pitfalls for those who prove to be adventurous and ambitious. Success and failure do not matter much in life because they are in the hands of fate. The real thing is the lighting, spirit, the desire to achieve something great and the determination not to be discouraged by the adverse circumstances. Greatness cannot be achieved by living an ordinary kind of routine life. But those who happen to be adventurous and ambitious invite the wrath of Nature and expose themselves to dangers. The Old Man realized that he had committed a sin by going far into the deep sea and was punished by nature in the form of sharks attacking the dead fish. This was his tragic faw which brought about his misery and unhappiness.

Comment on the theme or background idea of the novel “The Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway.

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Discuss briefly the social and moral values preached by Hemingway through his novel, “‘The Old Man and the Sea.”

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Discuss the Old Man and the Sea as a symbolic story or an allegorical tale.

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Elaborate Hemingway’s attitude towards life as illustrated through his novel, “The Old Man and the Sea”. Was he an optimist or a pessimist?

            The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway is a thoughtful novel with a message of life. It may be called an allegory of human life on earth. The novelist has glorified human struggle for a noble cause and the difficulties involved in it. He has emphasized the greatness of man and his potentialities of character which he can use to fulfill high ambitions of life. Its hero is the embodiment of valour, determination, intelligence and endurance—the valuable human qualities essentials for all kinds of successes in the world. The most admirable thing in man is the heroic spirit that remains undaunted against the heavy odds and tights against all challenges with courage and determination. Hemingway wants to demonstrate through the tenacious struggle of his hero that man is not made to be defeated and that he has vast possibilities of ingenuity and action and great capacity for endurance. Success and failure do not matter much as these are in the hands of fate. The real thing in life is to be desirous of achieving something great, to do one’s best under the circumstances and not to be discouraged by the adversities. Life is full of problems and trying situations, which require men of exceptional caliber to surmount them To show one’s worth and come out victorious in the· battle of life is what makes man truly great and honorable.

               These ideas have been illustrated by Hemingway through a parable or fable. He has told the story of an old fisherman named Santiago who possesses rich experience and skill in fishing. He is also a man of great physical strength and endurance. He had defeated a Negro in the hand·game when he was young. But he is considered a ‘Solao’ or unlucky person as be has failed to catch any fish during the past eighty four days, However, he does not feel discouraged and is confident of angling some big fish some day. At last he sets out on a fishing errand and goes far into the deep sea where no other fisherman has ever ventured. He succeeds in hooking a big marlin that refuses to come to the surface and gives him tough time for two days and nights.

The Old Man displays a wonderful fighting spirit and great capacity for endurance and finally succeeds in killing the baited fish. But when he is returning home with his booty, hordes of sharks attack his marlin and tear away its whole flesh. The Old Man faces these invaders bravely and succeeds in driving away many of them. But he feels helpless in view of the insufficient weapons with him and returns home with a bare skeleton of the big fish.

              The novelist has used symbols to illustrate his philosophy of life. The Old Man is a representative of all valiant fighters in various fields of life. The big marlin is a symbol of lofty aims and objectives of human life. The novelist mu wants to show that only daring and ambitions persons can make remarkable achievements in life, they break the bounds of the routine type life and try to do something extraordinary. The sea is the symbol of the world of Nature that is full of prospects as well as hazards for mankind. Man depends upon nature for his sustenance and struggles hard to snatch something from its cruel hands.

            The sharks symbolize the unforseen distresses and adverse circumstances that spoil the fruit of human struggle and leave a hitter taste in the mouth. The Old Man passes through the ordeals of catching and losing the big fish all alone, without enjoying the aid of the apprentice boy Manolin. It shows Hemingway’s belief that in the struggle of life every individual is essentially alone and un-aided. Even the near and dear relatives of a man cannot share his burden of life and can render him no help at the hour of distress. Santiago’s wish that young boy Manolin should have been with him symbolizes his wish for his lost youth and physical vigor which he needs badly to match the powerful marlin that proves to be too strong for an old fisherman like him. Santiago’s dreaming of lions on African shores stands for his desire to gain vigor and vitality, essential for his struggle of life. Similarly the Old Man remembers his favorite base-ball hero Di-Maggio who fights and wins the game in spite of having a bone spur in his heel. The thought of this great fighter acts as a spur for the old fisherman when his hand is cramped.

              In short, The Old Man and the Sea is a glowing tribute to the heroic impulse in man. Hemingway wants to show that this world is a battlefield where the daring, the determined and ambitious persons like Santiago can make remarkable achievements to get honor and prestige. It is true that the game of life is not without pain, suffering and despair, but the feelings of pride and the satisfaction of ego can sustain man to continue his nerve-breaking struggle. The man is shown pitted against the forces of Nature which are callous and far stronger than him. Yet the real thing is to wage the struggle and refuse to be defeated. lt is true that the Old man loses the big fish caught after such a hard struggle and returns home empty handed. Yet he remains disillusioned throughout and feels amply rewarded to get the applause and recognition from Manolin and other fishermen who were wonderstruck to see the skeleton of the gigantic Marlin.                        Therefore, we can say that the Old Man and the Sea ends at a note of affirmation rather than despair as compared with the previous novels of Hemingway. The story of this novel does not excite pessimistic feelings and does not leave negative impact on the mind of the reader. The world is not painted as a trap where man is doomed to struggle, to suffer and to die an ignoble death. Rather it is a battlefield where man can show his worth and can attain emotional satisfaction and personal glory. Life is not without tragedy, indeed, but its grimness and bleakness has been diffused by the noble purpose in the mind of the tragic hero. The reference to the crucification of Christ is meant to show how man gets mortified at the hands of miseries of life.