The Significance of the Bear and Squirrel Game in Look Back in Anger

In his groundbreaking work, Look Back in Anger (1956), John Osborne uses the bear and squirrel game scene to explore the ups and downs seen in any marriage. Despite its adolescent nature, the game is highly symbolic and serves an important dramatic purpose. The players of the game are Jimmy Porter and Alison Porter, to whom this game is not only an escape from the harsh realities of life but also from their loveless conjugal life. To be precise, the game is simply a device for distraction or a gateway into the fantasy.

The subject couple could not form true feelings for each other in material life because of their discrete social gradation. Jimmy hails from a working class family while Alison from a middle class. Such class divergence creates a social barrier between the duos which always keeps them divided. However, the bear and squirrel game provides them the opportunity to overcome this class conflict since during the game they act like animal, whose only concern are food,  shelter and sex. Therefore, the game helps them to forget the marital agony, for it enables them to disregard their misunderstanding, and their maladjustment. In this way they momentarily transform into a romantic couple whereas they have fierce enmity in actual life.

The objects of the game, i.e., the stuffed teddy bear and the squirrel toys are kept on their dressing table or in the chest of drawers. In the bear and squirrel game Jimmy assumes the role of the bear while Alison of the squirrel. The large and ragged teddy bear which signifies the strength and arrogance of a real wild bear represents Jimmy's haughtiness. Contrariwise, the soft wooly small squirrel represents the feminine softness of Alison. The importance of the subject toys is first highlighted in Act II where Alison tells Helena about her bad experience after her marriage to Jimmy. Alison shares that she married Jimmy against her parents' consent as there was a huge gulf between their social statuses. She had subsequently found herself leading a very unsatisfactory life owing to Jimmy's unemployment, poverty, and above all his fiery temper. Jimmy always mocks about Alison's family and very rude to her. In short, the marriage, according to Alison's account, has come to nothing. The conjugal relationship between Alison and Jimmy is so unpleasant that Alison doesn't reveal her pregnancy to him. Alison then shows Helena the toy bear and the toy squirrel and explains the meaning of the game.  She goes on to say that this game was the only way in which she and Jimmy could escape from everything.

The couple is seen playing this game in Act I when Cliff goes out.  Jimmy affectionately calls Alison a "beautiful, great-eyed squirrel", a "Hoarding nut-munching squirrel", "With highly polished, gleaming fur, and an ostrich feather of a tail", etc. And this quasi-poetic description is so appealing to Alison that she produces the sound of a squirrel and calls Jimmy a "jolly super bear, too",  "A really marvelous bear". She jumps up and down in a state of excitement, making little "paw gestures". They are both very happy at this time and they lovingly embrace each other.  Alison thinks that everything just seems to be all right suddenly. Then, in that state of extreme bliss, she is about to tell Jimmy about her pregnancy when Cliff suddenly enters, and the dreamy world of the pair shatters.

Although Jimmy and Alison have played the game on certain occasions to have solace, now even that game seems to have lost its purpose.  In Jimmy's case the disillusionment stems from Alison's refusal to visit London to see dying Mrs. Tanner. Alison turned Jimmy down when he needed her most.  Her callousness shocked him so much that he suddenly feels solitary and forsaken. When Alison leaves with Helena for the church Jimmy picks up the teddy bear gently, looks at it, and then throws it on the floor realizing that it can't pacify him anymore. Contrariwise, being fed up with Jimmy’s rudeness Alison too is disillusioned from the fantasy world of animals. She decides to leave him for her parents' home. When Alison is packing up her things to go with her father, she picks up the toy squirrel from the chest of drawers and is about to put it in her suitcase when she changes her mind and puts it back. She realizes that now with a change in her relationship with Jimmy whom she has decided to leave the squirrel can have no meaning.

Towards the end of the play, however, Jimmy and Alison reunite. Their misunderstanding ends with a touching and romantic scene. Alison crawls and grovels at the feet of Jimmy. For a moment Jimmy stands rigid; then he bends and takes her trembling body in his embrace. He asks her not to cry, and tells her that he cannot bear see her in that condition. Jimmy also feels that he is not alone. He has somebody to cling to, somebody to lean on amidst the endless trials and tribulations of life. He then reminds her of the bear and squirrel game which they used to play, and says that they will again be the bear and the squirrel which they had previously imagined themselves to be. Like a bear and a squirrel they will live on honey and nuts; they will sing songs about themselves, about warm trees and cozy caves, and about sunlight. She will keep her big eyes on his fur, and she will keep his claws in proper order because he is a careless kind of bear. And he will see that she, the squirrel, keeps her soft and bushy tail shining as brightly as it should, because she is a very beautiful squirrel. At the same time, he points out that they have to be very careful because there will be cruel steel-traps lying about everywhere, just wanting to catch timid little animals. He then asks Alison if he is right, and she nods in agreement. He says in a pitying voice: "Poor squirrels!" At this she laughs a little, and looks at him very tenderly.

In fine, although initially the bear and squirrel game seems a trivial escape from the complexities found in any marriage,  at the end of the play the game becomes a statement of the nature of human love to share the pain and the pleasure of physical relationship.

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Quotations by Ezra Pound

EZRA POUND (1885-1972) WAS AMERICAN POET AND CRITIC AND ONE OF THE SEMINAL FORCES OF MODERNISM.

“The man of understanding can no more sit quiet and resigned while his country lets literature decay than a good doctor could sit quiet and contented while some ignorant child was infecting itself with tuberculosis under the impression that it was merely eating jam tarts.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“Anyone who is too lazy to master the comparatively small glossary necessary to understand Chaucer deserves to be shut out from the reading of good books forever.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“No teacher has ever failed from ignorance. That is empiric professional knowledge. Teachers fail because they cannot ‘handle the class’. Real education must ultimately be limited to men how INSIST on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear. It doesn't matter whether the good writer wants to be useful, or whether the good writer wants to be harm.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“More writers fail from lack of character than from lack of intelligence.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“A people that grows accustomed to sloppy writing is a people in process of losing grip on its empire and on itself.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“The critic who doesn't make a personal statement, in remeasurements he himself has made, is merely an unreliable critic. He is not a measurer but a repeater of other men's results. KRINO, to pick out for oneself, to choose. That's what the word means.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“A nation which neglects the perceptions of its artists declines. After a while it ceases to act, and merely survives.

“There is probably no use in telling this to people who can't see it without being told.”

~ Ezra Pound, ABC of Reading

“A great spirit has been amongst us, and a great artist is gone.”

~ Ezra Pound, Gaudier-Brzeska: A Memoir

“Why do you look so eagerly and so curiously into people’s faces,
Will you find your lost dead among them?”

~ Ezra Pound, Coda

“If a man have not order within him
He can not spread order about him;
And if a man have not order within him
His family will not act with due order;
And if the prince have not order within him
He can not put order in his dominions.”

~ Ezra Pound, Canto XIII

“And round about there is a rabble
Of the filthy, sturdy, unkillable infants of the very poor.
They shall inherit the earth.”

~ Ezra Pound, The Garden

“Let the gods speak softly of us”

~ Ezra Pound, Greek

“If a man have not order within him
He can not spread order about him;
And if a man have not order within him
His family will not act with due order;
And if the prince have not order within him
He can not put order in his dominions.”

~ Ezra Pound, Canto XIII

“And even I can remember
A day when the historians left blanks in their writings,
I mean, for things they didn't know,
But that time seems to be passing.”

~ Ezra Pound, Canto XIII

“Without character you will
be unable to play on that instrument”

~ Ezra Pound, Canto XIII

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Shaw’s Treatment of Love and War in “Arms and the Man”

The 19^th century plays mostly centred around the idealistic aspects of life, frequently recounting the incredible deeds and exploits of the heroes. However, during the latter half of the very century, George Bernard Shaw came forward and brought about an epoch-making change in the presentation of plays. His technique placed reason over emotion with a view to disillusion humanity of its cherished ideals. Hence, Shaw strongly liberated himself from the infatuation of romanticism and enacted his plays to reform the society. For this reason, Shaw often regarded as an anti-romantic playwright.

George Bernard Shaw applied his anti-romantic technique most brilliantly in his 1894 play Arms and the Man. Shaw was realistic enough to ascertain that people hold an idealized notion about love and war since the society defines these from clichéd standpoint. Therefore, Shaw opted to define love and war from a practical point of view, isolating all their traditional attachments or the romantic glamour.

In practical life, love is full of complexities and is not devoid of blemishes, such as inconstancy, carnality, etc. But in fairy tales or romantic stories, the picture is quite the opposite. In such works love is portrayed ideally, i.e., from Platonic viewpoint, hence it lacks negative sides. On the other hand, in practical life, war stems from unavoidable circumstances and it entails violence, bloodshed, and atrocity. The warriors participated in war are made of flesh and blood like us, possessing all human qualities, especially hunger, fear, and an urge for preserving life. They only battle when it is essential and never exhibit courage unnecessarily. In fairy tales, however, war is a ground for the soldiers to showcase heroism. They are desperate in fighting and reckless in courage. In Arms and the Man, Shaw mainly focused on eliminating the fairy tale or romantic elements from the notions of love and war.

The opening scene confronts us with Raina, the heroine, whose thoughts and attitude are moulded greatly by romanticism since she hovers around the pages of Byron and Pushkin. As a result, her outlook on love and war is illusive.  To her, war is an act of heroism, a deed of glory and patriotism in which the brave soldiers risk their lives for the sake of their country. Her ideals get visible when she becomes a strong enthusiast of her fiancé, Sergius when she was informed about his cavalry charge in the battle at Slivnitza. The incident gives her a faith that the man she is going to marry will be brave and patriotic.

But very soon Shaw shatters Raina’s obsession with the romantic notion about war by introducing an antithetical character, Captain Bluntschli, a runaway Serb officer. With Bluntschli, Shaw has presented a realistic portrait of an average soldier who is of common stature, is ready to fight when he must and is glad to escape when he can. Bluntschli’s character also reveals the truth that a solder is not a superman, he suffers from hunger and fatigue and is roused to action only by danger.

However, observing Bluntschli’s concern about fear and death, Raina considers him to be a coward and proudly claims that in her country there are soldiers like Sergius who can lead to victory. But soon Bluntschli shatters her false ideals by revealing the fact that Sergius’ cavalry charge was not an act of bravery rather was a complete foolish and suicidal attempt. Bluntschli further clarified that Sergius made a heroic charge on the artillery of the Serbs Ignoring the orders of his Russian commander, thereby putting his entire brigade to fight. Pursuant to Bluntschli’s opinion, Sergius’ action was absolutely unprofessional and it was a so serious offence that he should be court-martialed for it. He and his regiment survived since the Serbs couldn’t shoot because of wrong ammunition:

He and his regiment simply committed suicide—only the pistol missed fire, that's all.

With this, Raina could understand that Bluntschli is not a coward, though he likes to save his life as far as possible. Thus Raina is moved by his realistic views on war and she determines to save his life. Afterwards, Sergius himself is also fully disillusioned about the glory of war when he finds that he has not been promoted for his bravery. Even though his country won the battle he still holds the rank of a major. Petkoff remarked that he should not be promoted to put in danger the whole brigade. Thus Sergius realizes that he won the battle by sheer of chance:

Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward's art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm's way when you are weak. That is the whole secret of successful fighting. Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms.

After war, Shaw concentrates on the misconceptions of love. Shaw proves that the higher love between Raina and Sergius is tinged with sentiment and deceit. Apparently they glorify each other and are blind to the faults of each other. On his return from the war, Sergius calls her his “Queen” and “goddess” and she calls him her “King” and “hero”, which recalls the legend of the medieval knight. The medieval knight dedicated his life to his beloved and fought his whole life against injustice and evildoers. Like the knight, Sergius fights solely for Raina and risks his life to get applause. He is not ready to accept that someone else desires his beloved. But at the same time he is getting tired of dealing with this higher love which is full of failure, incompleteness, and emptiness:

… do you know what the higher love is? … Very fatiguing thing to keep up for any length of time, Louka. One feels the need of some relief after it.

Hence, Sergius wants a type of love that is compatible with practical life. So he rejects Raina and accepts Louka as his wife.

Coming in contact with Bluntschli, Raina could realize that her love for Sergius is nothing but an illusion. She doesn’t find Sergius fit for her as his character is full of incongruities and contrarieties. On the other hand, she is amazed by Bluntschli’s practicality, wisdom, determination, and strong personality. Although Raina wants to keep her feelings secret, ultimately the fact is exposed to everybody. This love is heart-felt and is devoid of feigned sentiment.

In fine, Arms and the Man is an amazing anti-romantic play exposing the synthetic appearances of love and war. With great comic sense, in this play Shaw endeavours to make his readers aware of the impracticality of romantic ideals.

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To His Coy Mistress as a Love Poem

Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) is a strong embodiment of the transitions that came over the English society in the course of the 17^th century. Marvell is deemed by many as one of the greatest love poets and is praised extravagantly for his Metaphysical wit and finely balanced lyric verse. His love poems generally deal with the spiritual as well as the carnal properties of love. The following commentary attempts to undertake a critical inquiry into his attitude towards love along with a special reference to his most celebrated poem To His Coy Mistress.

Marvell’s romantic tour-de-force To His Coy Mistress is a rigorous representation of the spiritual and physical aspect of love.  It is a great poem on carpe diem tradition wherein we are confronted with a passionate speaker or lover who is requesting his beloved to forsake her shyness or modesty and submit herself to his embraces. The lover repeatedly offers a series of arguments in support of his proposition. With thoughtful wit and humour he justifies that human life is essentially short-lived and thus it is wise to gratify sexual passion while they still have time at their disposal. Hence, he appeals to his beloved to stop the lingering and expedite the pleasures of the flesh.

In the very beginning of the poem spiritual courtship is presented with a similar style and manner found in the poems of Petrarch. This is noted especially when the lover commends his beloved’s physical beauty. Just akin to a typical Petrarchan lover, the speaker praises the beauty of his beloved’s eyes and limbs in an extravagant manner:

A hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast,
 But thirty thousand to the rest;

Afterwards, the speaker’s spiritual love subsides and he tends towards physical relationship. This urge for physical love has been reinforced through the carpe diem concept. By presenting the images of death and decay the speaker tries to justify the futility of resistance towards carnal pleasure:

Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song; then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.

Through the above coarse imagery the speaker throws an implication towards his beloved to sacrifice her virginity to him rather than foolishly saving herself for the "worms" when buried. Then he also adds that after demise her virginity will be transformed into dust along with her body. He further adds that although the grave is a peaceful place none does make love there. Hence, death would definitely cease their opportunity to make love.

Then the lover draws a conclusion to his arguments by stating that they won't be young forever and thus should take advantage of it while they can. To emphasise the aforesaid statement he makes the following comparison which is quite animalistic and hints at his barely-controlled desires:

Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour

Here the lover becomes extremely impatient and passionately requests his beloved to “seize the day” and enjoy the present moment. The poet advises his beloved not to wait for death and urges her to gratify the pleasure of love like amorous birds.

Soon the lover moves away from all the negativities and reaches the zenith of his passion when he invites his beloved to have the pleasure of the flesh. He maintains that physical intercourse is the way to enter into another world, a way to break out of the confinement of time. He also feels that bringing the "strife" of life into the bedroom will enhance the sexual experience:

Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:

In the end of the poem the lover appears somewhat calmer since he admits that sex is a compromise. He also admits that sex cannot be employed to stop time but they can use it to make time go faster:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

To conclude, Andrew Marvell did an outstanding job in presenting the heart-felt emotions of a passionate lover from both spiritual and physical point of view. Although certain images seem a bit coarse and vulgar, To his Coy Mistress is still able to receive the reader’s admiration due to the speaker’s intense devotion to his beloved. Thus it won't be an overstatement if we call it one of Marvell's best love poems.

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Robinson Crusoe as an Allegory

The Eighteen century English novelist Daniel Defoe (c. 1660–1731) was part of a Protestant culture that was vigorously intellectual and energetically literary. Separated from the life of the upper classes and their erudite writers, he produced, amongst many pieces of commissioned writings, a series of purportedly true but actually fictitious memoirs and confessions, which made him one of the great masters of realistic narrative. His skillfully crafted fictions, presented by specific and well – chosen details create the illusion of exact truth, tricking the reader into suspension of disbelief.

Robinson Crusoe (1719) is an allegorical story of conversion employing metaphoric symbols readily recognisable to an audience familiar with a similar set of symbols found repeatedly in the sermons, tracts, and other religious writings of both Anglican and dissenting divines. Defoe’s novel does not simply chronicle a practical man’s continuous strife and struggle for adjustment of life on a deserted island; rather it is the record of a notable spiritual pilgrimage across the sea of life, from a lawless course of living to true Christian repentance.

Crusoe’s wandering in desolate and afflicting circumstances stresses the allegorical and figurative meaning of the novel. Crusoe’s journey advances through suffering, repentance and realisation. Finally, he finds atonement by exploring himself and God. Each adverse situation makes Crusoe realise that it is a punishment for him given by the God for his wicked deed of ignoring the good advice of his parents and defying his duty to God. Each time he promises and vows to God that he will not continue his journey and return to home. However, when he is saved from the danger, he forgets all his repentance and repeatedly makes the same mistakes. He learns almost nothing. His emotionally volatile mind entirely kept him aloof from becoming spiritually enlightened.

Eventually, under the stress of the hardships of life on the island, and more specifically under the severe strain of his illness, Crusoe realises his sin and undergoes a spiritual transformation. During his illness he sees a frightening dream in which a man, having descended from a cloud, threatens to kill him with a spear. This dream may be considered as a kind of divine warning or a divine guidance to him. On waking up from dream, Crusoe recalls the excellent advice which his father gave him at his desire to set out for the journey. But it is the irony of his fate that Crusoe did not pay any heed to his father’s advice. He now remembers that during the past eight years since he left home, he had not looked upwards to God with any sincerity of feeling even once. During these eight years he has been guilty of a certain ‘stupidity of soul’ without any desire for goodness and without any repentance of evil. Tears now begin to flow from his eyes, and he prays to God for help. This, Crusoe tells us, was the first prayer which he had ever addressed to God for many years. Here we have the turning point in Crusoe’s spiritual life. From this time onwards, his mind is essentially at peace and entirely free from spiritual apathy.

Thus, Robinson Crusoe allegorically treats the theme of transgression, punishment, and repentance. Crusoe suffers from his sin and he is salvaged through his repentance and prayer. In this way, the novel becomes essentially a religious tale. Crusoe ultimately possesses the infinite knowledge. He becomes spiritually enlightened by believing in God. Like the journey of the Christian hero in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, the journey of Robinson Crusoe in not merely a physical journey but a religious journey too.

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My Cocoon Tightens Colors Tease

My Cocoon tightens — Colors tease (1099) 

Emily Dickinson

Full Text

Main Text	Bangla Translation
My Cocoon tightens — Colors tease —  I’m feeling for the Air —  A dim capacity for Wings Demeans the Dress I wear —	আমার কোকুন এঁটেছে—জীবন হয়েছে বিবর্ণ— আমি বাতাসের সন্ধান করছি— ডানার জন্য ক্ষীন ধারনক্ষমতা হীন করেছে আমার পোশাককে—
A power of Butterfly must be —  The Aptitude to fly Meadows of Majesty concedes And easy Sweeps of Sky —	প্রজাপতির শক্তি অবস্যই নিহিত রয়েছে তার— উড়ার স্বভাবিক ক্ষমতায় মহিমান্বিত তৃণভূমিজুড়ে এবং আকাশে অবাধ সঞ্চালনের মাঝে—
So I must baffle at the Hint And cipher at the Sign And make much blunder, if at least I take the clue divine	তাই আমার উচিত ইঙ্গিতটিকে পরাভূত করা এবং সংকেতটিকে খাটো করা এবং যথাসম্ভব অনিশ্তিত করা, যদি অন্ততঃ আমি ঐ সংকেতটিকে ঐশ্বরিক বলে ধরে নেই

Commentary

The subject poem recalls the powerlessness of women in an essentially male-dominated society. The prevailing social norms don’t permit women to lead a free life. Women are forced to spend life within the confinement of four walls, which is akin to entrapment. Dickinson artistically portrays this state of entrapment by conceiving herself trapped inside a cocoon.

The poet feels that the agonies of subjugation decline a woman's confidence and ultimately convert her into a powerless personality. The poet reinforces this idea by comparing her own insensibility with the free life of a butterfly. Like her, the butterfly is neither cocooned nor powerless since it has the freedom to fly anywhere. But trapped within a restricted society the poet cannot even move or breathe freely. Thus being restless and impatient with her mundane existence, she seeks in vain to free herself from the clutches of society.

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Chaucer as a Social Chronicler of His Age

Preamble

Chaucer has been extravagantly eulogized to be the greatest social chronicler of the 14^th century England. His acknowledged magnum opus The Canterbury Tales mirrored an all-embracing portrait of the social, economic, cultural, and religious milieu of his age. In many respects, Chaucer’s representation of his age was more faithful and realistic than any other contemporaries. He primarily achieved this goal through the portrayal of a wide variety of characters chosen carefully from all facets of society along with their real follies and virtues. By portraying each character realistically, he, in turn, satirized the manners and affectations of the whole medieval society as well. The following discussion revolves around the various social issues captured in the writing of Chaucer:

Socio-political Condition

Initially, the medieval English society was divided into three groups, namely the church, the nobility, and the peasantry. The Church was a visibly potent force throughout England. The chief business of this sector was to pray. They did not need to work as they were supported by the nobles and the peasants. The nobility was represented by the Knight, whose job was to fight. The other characters in this group are the Yeoman, the Franklin, the Miller, and the Reeve. The peasantry consisted of the working class, represented by the Plowman.

So far, the lifestyle in the medieval society was free from the complexities of modern life. But by the late 14^th century the English society encountered a huge shift and changes. During this phase the established social structure began to disintegrate due to the devastation of the grievous plague or the Black Death, which was subsequently much deteriorated by the peasant revolts such as Jack Straw rebellion of 1381. The shock of the Black Death loosened peoples’ trust on the authority of the Church, whereas the turbulence of the Jack Straw rebellion eventually paved the way for the emergence of a new middle class. This new middle class mostly consisted of the educated workers such as the merchants, the lawyers, and the clerks. Gradually, this new class gained more power and attention than ever before. And Chaucer, being a member of this new middle class endeavoured to depict and satirise the conventions of these turbulent times. In Chaucer’s description this group was represented by the Pilgrims, the Doctor, the Lawyer, the Manciple, the Merchant, and the Wife of Bath. The Haberdasher, the Carpenter, the Weaver, and the Dyer collectively presented as the members of one of the great parish guilds and the new urban artisans achieved the power through these guild associations.

The Corruption of the Church

Geoffrey Chaucer was brave enough to unveil the decadence of the medieval Catholic Church. Chaucer’s description confirms the moral and spiritual bankruptcy within some of its officials. Since the Church officials were not allowed to work for a living, they disregarded the vocational rules or values and resorted to various unfair means for personal gain. For example, the Monk prefers hunting and horse riding than worshipping at his monastery. Although he is aware that the monastery rules discourage monks from hunting, the Monk deliberately breaches them by stating them outmoded:

“But this same text he held not worth an oyster;
And I said his opinion was good.”

But Chaucer satirically remarked that the Monk ignores the rules lest he should give up hunting, owing possessions, and eating fine foods. The handsome and well-dressed Monk resembles more like a wealthy lord than a religious figure.

The Friars were also corrupt and hypocritical. They lived entirely by begging. They used to hear confessions and assigned relatively easy penance to those who donated money. They held that donating the friars is a good sign of true repentance.  Although they vowed to eradicate poverty, they paid no attention to the poor and used the donations to live a lavish life. Chaucer ridicules the Friars as under:

“He was the finest beggar of his house;”

In addition, the Friars also maintained a good relationship with the innkeepers and the barmaids, who can provide them with food and drink.

The Summoner and the Pardoner belongs to the most corrupt Church officials. Both the characters turn to dishonesty for personal gain. The Summoner is a lecher and a drunk, always looking for a bribe. The Pardoner has a mesmeric voice to convince his audience to purchase indulges to get forgiveness for their sins.

The superficiality within the religious figures is portrayed with the character of the Prioress. Even though she is not a member of the court she is striving too hard to be courtly. In the words of Chaucer:

“She was at pains to counterfeit the look
Of courtliness, and stately manners took,
And would be held worthy of reverence.”

The Prioress is not corrupt like the other characters but Chaucer satirizes her for her affectations, the habits which do not necessarily suit a religious figure. She is so obsessed with courtly mannerism that she always dresses elegantly, speaks incorrect French and eats so carefully that she never spills a drop. Like courtly damsels, she weeps when she sees a trapped mouse. But ironically, she feels no discomfort while feeding her hounds flesh, which is suggestive of her feigned courtliness. Even her devotion to Christ is also showy since instead of carrying a rosary beads with a crucifix she wears a pendant which seems much more like a shiny piece of jewellery than a sacred religious object. More importantly, the pendant has an inscription that reads "Amor Vincit Omnia," or "Love Conquers All." Although most appropriately it could refer to God’s love but in her case more probably refers to the courtly love between a damsel and hero in one of the romances that were popular reading material for women of this time:

“Of coral small about her arm she'd bear
A string of beads and gauded all with green;
And there from hung a brooch of golden sheen
Whereon there was first written a crowned "A,"
And under, Amor vincit omnia.”

The Parson is the only honest man amongst all religious figures. He is temperate, learned, virtuous and deeply respectful towards the teachings of Christ. The Parson is dedicated to his parish and does not seek a better appointment. He visits all his parishioners of no matter how far away. He is also compassionate to the sinners and instead of rebuking he tries to teach them to lead an honest life.

Vanishing Chivalric Spirit

Chaucer’s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales remarks on the diminishment of the true chivalric spirit in medieval England. Through the character of the Knight Chaucer visualized the true spirit of chivalry. The aged Knight was a brave warrior and fought fourteen mortal battles for the sake of preserving religion. On the contrary, the young Squire, his son represents the rising conception of chivalry. Unlike his father, he fights for pleasure and to receive attention from the ladies. The Squire lacks the intelligence and seriousness of his father and is much interested to lead a carefree life:

“Well could be sit on horse, and fairly ride.
He could make songs and words thereto indite,
Joust, and dance too, as well as sketch and write.
So hot he loved that, while night told her tale,
He slept no more than does a nightingale.
Courteous he, and humble, willing and able,
And carved before his father at the table.”

Courtly Love

In The Knight's Tale Chaucer gives us a description of courtly love, a recurring subject in the Middle Ages. Such a relationship is usually constituted between knights, squires and women from a noble background. The knights exhibit great courage to earn their ladies’ respect, while the ladies exhibit grace, modesty, and loyalty for the knights.  Although the lover and the beloved are not married to each other, they fall deeply in love but strictly avoid immorality. Courtly love was deemed to be the true form of love and was valued over the marital relationship. Marriage was treated as a social formality and a wife was treated as another property owned by the husband. More obviously, marriage was nothing but an arrangement for procreation and to avoid fornication with the partner of courtly relationship.

Feminism

A great deal has been written about the position of women in the middle ages. Chaucer’s description confirms that some part of the womankind sought to liberate themselves from the clutches of the patriarchal society. The Wife of Bath, for example, is an epitome of the emancipated women since she reacted against the accepted norms of sex and marriage. She wanted to release women from the male-domination by stressing on women’s freedom in marriage. With reference to the Bible, she argues that there is nothing wrong to marry several times. The wife has extensive knowledge about love and sex as she was married for five times. Multiple marriages helped her to understand the ruse to gain independence in an essentially male-dominated society. She did that by depriving her husbands from using her body until they agreed to meet certain demands:

“The remedies of love she knew, perchance,
For of that art she'd learned the old, old dance.”

Criticism

Chaucer’s poetry came under fierce attack for his apathy towards social reformation. He opted to depict life as he saw it and humbly refrained from suggesting any moral improvement over the blemishes of humankind. Moreover, his poetry encompasses a partial picture of the then society and is devoid of many other significant issues of the day. His description chiefly hinges round the tumultuous moments in England during the second half of the 14th century.

References

“How Does Satire in Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Work within a Subtle Frame

of Evaluation of the Pilgrims.” eNotes.com. 2014. eNotes.com, Inc. 14 September 2014

<http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/satire-chaucers-prologue-canterbury-tales-works-441519>.

 “The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue & Frame Story.” Shmoop University. 2014. Shmoop University.

14 September 2014 <http://www.shmoop.com/canterbury-tales-prologue>.

“The Canterbury Tales : Prologue.” Fordham University. 1996. Paul Halsall. 14 September 2014

<http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/CT-prolog-para.html>.

 “The Canterbury Tales.” LitCharts. 2014. LitCharts. 14 September 2014

<http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-canterbury-tales/themes>.

“The Canterbury Tales.” SparkNotes. 2014. SparkNotes. 14 September 2014

<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/canterbury/themes.html>.

“TheBestNotes on The Canterbury Tales.” TheBestNotes.com. 2014. TheBestNotes.com.

14 September 2014 <http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Canterbury_Tales/Canterbury_Tales41.html>.

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Desire Under the Elms as a Psychological Play

Preamble

Nobel Laureate Eugene O’Neill’s plays are influenced by psychoanalytical theories of the 19^th century and they boldly disrobe people’s civilized appearance and probe their inner psyches. His well-admired play Desire Under the Elms (1925) alludes to the ancient Greek legends about Oedipus and Phaedra and the modern Freudian theory known as the Oedipus complex and adopts mid-nineteenth century New England farm life as the setting for a tragic tale about adultery, incest, and infanticide. The play penetrates deep inside the inner states of its dramatis personae to dissect the motives and nature of human beings.

From a careful reading we can comprehend that the inner workings of all the major characters such as, Cabot, Eben and Abbie reveal different sorts of human nature. A great sequence of psychological realism pervades the play through some instances like the fierce hatred of Cabot and Eben, Eben’s desire for revenge upon Cabot, Eben’s Oedipal instincts, Abbie’s motives in marrying old Cabot and having a son, etc. Let us see in detail how aptly the playwright portrays various psychological implications in this play:

Simeon’s and Peter’s Revulsion for Their Father

At the onset we can observe the distant relationship Cabot had with his two sons from his first marriage, namely Simeon and Peter. Here we can certainly trace a mental conflict between the father and his sons. Both the sons had a notion that their father lacked any filial or human emotions and thus hated them. They were so obsessed with this thought that they wished his death. Both the brothers were annoyed with their father as he constantly imposed heavy farm tasks on them. In the backdrop of this desire they had a plan to escape from the farm and go to California where they think they can get rich in a relatively short time.

Eben’s Hatred for Cabot and his Step-brothers

Eben blindly believed that Cabot gradually killed his mother by overworking her for the farm. This view made him sternly vindictive towards his father. Again, he also held his step-brothers responsible for his mother’s death as they did nothing to save her from the clutches of Cabot’s torture. Eben also believed that the farm actually belonged to his mother and Cabot dishonestly grabbed it from her. Eben maintained that in this way Cabot not only deceived his mother but also deprived him of the lawful clamant of the farm. When his father returned home with his third wife, Eben became more revengeful to his father as he thought that she might eventually make a claim to the farm.

Eben’s Mother Fixation

Eben’s excessive mother fixation is revealed in a number of times. This is, because, even after his mother’s death Eben believed that he could feel her presence beside the stove, which he told to his step-brothers. He told that she cannot rest peacefully in her grave as she feels sorry to see that her son has to perform the same hard duties which had been performed by her previously. Eben tried to reinforce the idea of his dead mother’s spirit when Abbie told him that she felt some invisible presence in the parlour. In this way Eben blindly thought that his dead mother is spurring him to accept amorous advances of Abbie to take revenge upon his father.

Eben’s Oedipal Instincts

In many ways, Eben possesses the Freudian instinct of Oedipus Complex. This is first revealed when Eben formed a sexual relationship with a prostitute named Minnie, who was once a mistress to his father. Afterwards we see that he forms an incestuous relationship with his step-mother only to have a revenge on his father.

Subconscious Yearning of Eben and Abbie

The subconscious mind of the pair of lovers - Abbie and Eben was painstakingly analyzed in Act-II, Scene-II. In this scene we see that the couple had so strong yearning for each other that they could feel that urge even though they were in separate rooms. They seem to see each other through the wall. Ultimately, Abbie gets up and listens to the wall; Eben believed that he could see every move she is making.

Abbie’s Inner Desires

Abbies desires play an important role in the development of plot construction of the play. Abbie decided to marry Cabot since she was looking for a home for herself and for security. Her motive was to secure the sole ownership of the farm. When she found Eben as a possible heir of the farm, she decided to have a son for herself. She conspired to have a child by Eben and make it look like that Cabot is the father. During materialization of her plot, she truly falls in love with Eben and abandons her plan to grab the farm. But when Eben misunderstood her motive, she decided to murder her child to prove the fact that nothing can come in between their love.

Cabot’s Inner Workings

Cabot is an essentially religious man with an unusual obsession with work. He was a hard-worker so he engaged his wives and sons in heavy farm jobs. Unfortunately, they never understood him and as such he felt lonely even when they were around him. From a sense of dissatisfaction, he longed to be a parent in his old age. Cabot used to feel that some mysterious things were happening in the corners of his house. The fear from his subconscious mind signifies that in reality something unnatural is happening in the house.

Conclusion

Desire Under the Elms is an extensive exploration of motives underlying human behaviour. Although it adopts Greek mythical background for its plot construction, the play becomes a modern piece of art for its psychological side. Here, the playwright deals with the psychological part incredibly well by analyzing each characters mind acutely.

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The Theme of Death in Dickinson's Poetry

Introduction

Emily Dickinson has been the centre of curiosity for a number of researchers due to her insuppressible obsession with death. Even though death has been the subject of scrutiny for numerous literary artists and philosophers for centuries, Dickinson audaciously secluded herself from others by conceiving it in a rather unique way. She portrayed death as a fascinating, fantastic and cryptic phenomenon rather than representing it in its traditional mundane outlook. In fact, she was attached with death too such an extent that one-fourth of her poetry revolves around the theme of death.

Background

Emily Dickinson encountered many tragic deaths of friends close to her which eventually led her to live a reclusive and sorrowful life. This sense of doom significantly engendered her interest in writing poetry of death. In fact, Dickinson lived in a time when medical science was less developed so people died from simple symptoms. Therefore, she again and again confronted with the cycle of human existence, from birth to death and birth again. Dickinson endeavoured to capture this tragedy of human life through her poetry.

Types of Death

Dickinson’s attitude towards death differs from poem to poem. A careful reading of her poetry reveals that she treated death from every possible perspective. For example, she commonly portrayed death as a welcome relief from life‘s tensions; as a force which heightens one‘s satisfaction with life; as an assassin; as a lover gently conveying one to hidden pleasures; as a physical corruptor; as a cynical caller who poses beneath a cordial exterior; as an ever free creature in nature; and lastly as a solemn guide leading one to the threshold of immortality. Thus, keeping the context of the current discussion in mind we can roughly categorize her death-specific poems in the following vein:

1. Poems dealing with death and immortality.
2. Poems dealing with the physical aspects of death.
3. Poems which personify death.
4. Poems with the elegiac note.

Now let us see in detail how Dickinson treated death in different categories:

CATEGORY -1

Poems in this category primarily reflects Dickinson’s spiritual views on death. In her world, she positioned death second only to god. Dickinson’s solitary life provided her much incentive to attain mystical experience. The centre of her mystical concept is deathlessness of death. She believed that all things in this world will one day perish but death alone will remain forever. Physical death is not the end rather it is the beginning of a perpetual life.

Because I could not stop for Death (712)

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some(816)

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
Who till they died, did not alive become —
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, Vitality begun.
Drowning is not so pitiful (1718)
Drowning is not so pitiful
As the attempt to rise
Three times, 'tis said, a sinking man
Comes up to face the skies,
And then declines forever
To that abhorred abode,
Where hope and he part company —
For he is grasped of God.
The Maker's cordial visage,
However good to see,
Is shunned, we must admit it,
Like an adversity.

If I should die (27)

If I should die,
And you should live,
And time should gurgle on,
And morn should beam,
And noon should burn,
As it has usual done;
If birds should build as early,
And bees as bustling go, --
One might depart at option
From enterprise below!
'T is sweet to know that stocks will stand
When we with daisies lie,
That commerce will continue,
And trades as briskly fly.
It makes the parting tranquil
And keeps the soul serene,
That gentlemen so sprightly
Conduct the pleasing scene!

CATEGORY-2

This category is concerned with the physical aspects of death. In such poems Dickinson primarily fixed her attention on the scenes of dying, the deceased person, and the effects of death as seen in burials, funerals, and household activities. She observed such aspects of death to comprehend how death may like physically.

How many times these low feet staggered - (187)

How many times these low feet staggered —
 Only the soldered mouth can tell —
 Try — can you stir the awful rivet —
 Try — can you lift the hasps of steel!

 Stroke the cool forehead — hot so often —
 Lift — if you care — the listless hair —
 Handle the adamantine fingers
 Never a thimble — more — shall wear —

 Buzz the dull flies — on the chamber window —
 Brave — shines the sun through the freckled pane —
 Fearless — the cobweb swings from the ceiling —
 Indolent Housewife — in Daisies — lain!

The last Night that She lived (1100)

THE last night that she lived,
It was a common night,
Except the dying; this to us
Made nature different.

We noticed smallest things, —
Things overlooked before,
By this great light upon our minds
Italicized, as 't were.

That others could exist
While she must finish quite,
A jealousy for her arose
So nearly infinite.

We waited while she passed;
It was a narrow time,
Too jostled were our souls to speak,
At length the notice came.
She mentioned, and forgot;
Then lightly as a reed
Bent to the water, shivered scarce,
Consented, and was dead.

And we, we placed the hair,
And drew the head erect;
And then an awful leisure was,
Our faith to regulate.

I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - (591)

I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air –
Between the Heaves of Storm –

The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For the last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –

I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –

With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340)

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading - treading - till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum -
Kept beating - beating - till I thought
My mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down -
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing - then –

The Bustle in a House (1108)

The Bustle in a House
The Morning after Death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted opon Earth –

The Sweeping up the Heart
And putting Love away
We shall not want to use again
Until Eternity –

Not any higher stands the Grave (1256)

Not any higher stands the Grave
For Heroes than for Men —
Not any nearer for the Child
Than numb Three Score and Ten —

This latest Leisure equal lulls
The Beggar and his Queen
Propitiate this Democrat
A Summer's Afternoon —

CATEGORY-3

This category consists of Dickinson’s most ingenious ideas about death, which is namely personification of death. Dickinson believed that if she visualizes death as a human then she will be able to come closer to death to understand its purpose. Therefore, she opted to attribute human qualities to death. Such a technique enabled her to express the abstract concept of death in terms of the concrete.

Dust is the only Secret — (153)

Dust is the only Secret —
Death, the only One
You cannot find out all about
In his "native town."

Nobody know "his Father" —
Never was a Boy —
Hadn't any playmates,
Or "Early history" —

Industrious! Laconic!
Punctual! Sedate!
Bold as a Brigand!
Stiller than a Fleet!

Builds, like a Bird, too!
Christ robs the Nest —
Robin after Robin
Smuggled to Rest!

CATEGORY-4

This category comprises elegiac poems. These poems are generally written in a somber voice and they are profoundly sentimental in tone. These are mournful laments over some real, or in many cases, imaginary individuals.

Mama never forgets her birds (164)

Mama never forgets her birds,
 Though in another tree —
 She looks down just as often
 And just as tenderly
 As when her little mortal nest
 With cunning care she wove —
 If either of her "sparrows fall,"
 She "notices," above.

References

Antony, Omana and Suchi Dewan .“Emily Dickinson’s Perspectives on Death:

An Interpretation of Dickinson’s Poems on Death”. Lapis Lazuli. 2013.

Lapis Lazuli. 9 June 2013

< http://pintersociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Omana-Antony13.pdf>.

“Inside The Mind Of Death”. Free-Essays-Free-Essays.com. 2013.

Free-Essays-Free-Essays.com. 9 June 2013

< http://www.free-essays-free-essays.com/dbase/3c/enq265.shtml>.

Abeijon, Brittany. “A Close Analysis of Major Themes in Emily Dickinson's Poetry”.

Yahoo Voices. 2013. Brittany Abeijon. 9 June 2013

< http://voices.yahoo.com/a-close-analysis-major-themes-emily-dickinsons-75243.html?cat=10>.

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Coleridge as a Romantic Poet

Samuel Taylor Coleridge happens to posses the most vigorous mind amongst the English romantics. During the 19^th century he produced some of the most stirring and eloquent verse that no other poets of his generation could able to replicate. His poetry is, indeed, the supreme embodiment of all that is purest and the most ethereal in romantic spirit. One of England’s many magnificent gifts to English literature, this rather unproductive poet wrote poems that have become the priceless assets of romantic literature.

Supernaturalism

Coleridge’s contribution to romantic poetry reached its apex through his treatment of the supernatural. He is a master poet of the supernatural. He attempts to draw the supernatural in a convincing way, where the reader is compelled to take it for real or natural by willingly suspending disbeliefs. This environment has been created most convincingly in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Element of Mystery

Coleridge’s poetry is noted mostly for its elements of mystery. Coleridge displays painstaking mastery in creating some characters and events that evoke a sense of curiosity or suspense because of an unknown, obscure or enigmatic quality. In his seminal work The Ancient Mariner, Coleridge creates a mysterious character by portraying him as a man of glittering eyes and long grey beard.

Vivid & Convincing Imagery

Coleridge has the most imaginative mind amongst the romantic poets. Coleridge is essentially good at portraying vivid imagery. He has the power to transport the audience in his realm of imagination by convincing the reader to accept no-existent as real. And this is the very quality which enables Coleridge to incorporate convincing/effective elements of mystery. For example, his description of Kubla Khan’s palace forces the reader to believe in its existence:

Dream

The major poems of Coleridge have a dreamlike quality. His poems were inspired by reveries. He saw them in his dreams and visualized in the poetry. For instance, Kubla Khan is a superb example of his dream poetry. In this poem he recounts in poetic form what he saw in a vision.

Medievalism

Coleridge had a strong devotion to the spirit of the Middle Ages. Coleridge’s love for the supernatural was engendered by romance and legends of the Middle Ages. Medievalism provides him the opportunity to create the sense of remoteness and a mysterious setting.

Nature

Coleridge’s initial attitude towards nature was pantheistic. During this stage, he treated nature as a moral teacher. Later on he changed his attitude towards nature. He believed that it depends on our mood and temperament how we would interpret nature. This mood is reflected in Dejection: An Ode:

"O Lady! We receive but what we give,
And in our life alone doth Nature live
Ours is her wedding garment, ours her shroud!"

Narrative Skill

Coleridge is a master story teller. This is probably the strongest part of his poetic potentials. He is aware of the fact that a successful story telling involves a griping  suspense or continuous evocation of interest. For example, in Kubla Khan Coleridge is able to retain the reader’s interest when he mentions about the romantic chasm:

"But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!"  

Humanism

Coleridge always cared for the wellbeing of the humanity. His love for the humanity is revealed through his strong support for the French revolution. He supported the upheaval assuming that it would free the masses from the oppression of the dictators. But subsequently, Coleridge windrowed his support as the revolutionists deviated from their principles. Coleridge showed this dissatisfaction in his French: An Ode. His love for the humanity is seen best in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

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Spiritual Decay in The Waste Land

Literature is a diverse form of art. Its range is inexhaustible. It is able to penetrate into almost every corner of life. The creator of literature has the liberty to explore all things around him, whether social, political, moral, religious, secular, or even trivial subjects. Literature enables the writer to do those impossible tasks which the general people couldn’t even conceive of. He hovers in the realm of his imagination and creates numerous works of art. Imagination sometimes includes simply idealistic manifestation of a subject. But sometimes it is employed to convey materialistic subjects too.

Imaginative literature chiefly revolves round idealistic matters. It is devoid of practical outlook of life. In most cases it transmits the audience into a world that is completely replete with situations that is not seen in the materialistic world. These include society without corruption, men having no characteristic shortcomings, supernaturalism, etc. Literature based on realism, on the other hand, reflects pragmatical aspects of life, along with its goodness and blemishes. Such a literature saw its heyday in the 20^th century through the firm hands of a band of creative writers, such as Yeats, Eliot, and Auden.

Amongst the heavyweight modernist writers of the 20^th century, T.S. Eliot is widely celebrated for his all-inclusive observation over the spiritual bankruptcy in modern Europe. Eliot’s scrutiny of the degraded modern civilisation not only earned him wide-reaching acclamation but also forged him as the voice of a disillusioned post-World War I generation. Eliot’s study of spiritual deficiency is amplified best through his groundbreaking poem The Waste Land, which, according to many literary scholars, is the apex paradigm of poetic expression in Modern Age. The poem is a symbolic representation of the sterility and degeneration of modern Western civilization as well as the poet’s own inner despair at the desolate prospect of the post-World-War I era, its havoc and frustration.

In The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot expands his theme of sterility and decay in the post-World War I man by focusing on the aspect of religious dearth or superficiality reflected in dispirited love. According to Eliot, man's inability to find real love or to move beyond superficial sexual gratification is congruous to the spiritual decay of his soul. Sex plays an important in human life. It is an expression of love and procreation. But in modern times sex has been moved too far from its real purpose and has become an animal urge without any moral or social commitment. Its severe perversion forced men to forget the true spirit of divine love. Now men and women engage in illegal relationship without any hesitation to fulfill their amorous desires. Sacrificing chastity and gratification of body has become a common phenomenon. Now their one and only concern is to gain filthy sexual pleasure, not spiritual experience. They are unaware of the fact that this type of pleasure is both transient and superficial/mechanical. The idea of superficial sexual gratification is revealed by the dull and loveless scene of seduction of a typist by her "lover". The sexual act is meaningless to the both participants.

Today the entire society is infected with the germ of sex pervasion. The conception of family is being shattered day by day. The lawful sex relationship between husband and wife is hard to find. People no longer want to confine their personal freedom within the obligations of married life. Now they want to be reinless like animals. They are desperate to fulfill their animal urge in anyway. For instance, Sweeney is a rich man who has formed amoral relationship with Mrs. Porter and her two daughters just to gratify his sexual passion. There is also adulteress like Lil who is degrading the divinity of marriage by sleeping with other men during her husband’s absence. However, the filthiest culture of all is the practice of homosexuality, which is preferred by persons like Mr. Eugenides. But all these misdeeds beget/bring nothing but utter frustration or mental tension. They feel guilty for their misdeeds and start to realise that they have lost their innocence. The story of the German princess (Marie), the hyacinth girl and Lil show the barrenness, frustration and pangs of guilty/recreational love.

The post-World War I society is corrupt to such a great extent that rape or sexual harassment is now a common occurrence. The victims don’t even dare to protest or complain because the so-called civilised society is unable to provide any solution. The bestiality of modern society is revealed through the seduction stories of the three Thames daughters.

Perverted sensuality has depraved human mind severely. Now man cannot think acutely. He is now spiritually barren. As a consequence, he has renounced religion and welcomed secularism. Excessive love sickness has made him insensible and narcissistic. He doesn’t feel any urge to revitalize his spiritual life. As a result, the emergence of April (the month of regeneration and rebirth) doesn’t stimulate his conscience or even make him happy. To him April is cruel because it reminds him of his spiritual decay and makes him think of regeneration. He likes Winter, the month of death and decay because during this period he feels free to enjoy all sorts of animal passions.

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.”

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John Donne’s Treatment of Love and Women

The literature of the 17^th century is rife with conflicting as well as novel poetic ideas. Being the major metaphysical poet of that era, John Donne contributed much in the escalation of the flow of that literary transformation. In his poetry he sought to establish a view of love and women that was diametrically opposite to the conventional philosophy of courtly love of the great poetic personalities like Sidney and Petrarch. From this point of view, his approach to love was much brave and original than the poets of the preceding generations.

The most original contribution of John Donne in love poetry is perhaps the blending of thought with imagination, passion with intellect. This intellectuality is expressed in the conceits he frequently employs in his poems. His conceits are based on the similes and metaphors drawn from all branches of knowledge such as theology, cosmology, philosophy, medicine, chemistry, law, etc. The Elizabethan poets based their conceits on the conventional physical comparisons, but Donne, on the other hand, moulded his ones by scholastic and fanciful comparisons. He is exceptionally good at creating unusual unions between different elements in order to illustrate his point and form a convincing argument in his poems. His most outstanding and striking example of conceit appears in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, where the poet compares the two lovers’ souls to a draftsman’s compass:

“If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin copmpasses are two,
Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the ’other doe.”

Donne looked upon the relationship of love between man and woman from both sensuous and realistic standpoints. In scrutinising the pragmatic sides of love Donne supports the necessity of both the body and the soul. This attitude is another aspect that distinguishes Donne from both the Petrarchan and the Platonic school of thoughts. In his poems Donne seeks to establish the relationship between the body and the soul. He assumed that physical intercourse without spiritual union cannot be considered as love; such passion is nothing but momentary attraction. Again, true spiritual union cannot be accomplished without the union of the bodies. Thus true love is engendered by the mating of both the bodies and the souls, and such a love lasts long. For example, in the poem The Canonization physical love is regarded as a holy emotion like the worship of devotee of God. After physical intercourse the lovers feel a strong emotional passion for each other, and it is this fire of passion that unites their souls together. Thus physical love helps to form a spiritual bond between the lovers. However, in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, Donne’s treatment of love is sensuous. In this poem his statement reverberates the Platonic assertion that physical contact is unnecessary for the formation of spiritual love. A truer and more refined love, Donne explains comes from a connection at the mind, the union of two souls as one. The Physical presence is irrelevant if a true bond of the minds has occurred, joining a pair of lovers’ souls eternally.

Another novel aspect in Donne’s poetry was the difference in angle in which he looked at womankind. The followers of Petrarchan tradition depicted women as deities. They only portrayed their beauty and positive sides. But with a sharp contrast to the Petrarchan followers, Donne was bold enough to expose the negative sides of women. He sceptically believes that women are neither deities nor fully honest; they possess all the human shortcomings. Thus Donne’s attitude towards women is materialistic, pessimistic, and occasionally misogynistic. For example, in the poem Goe, and Catche a Falling Starre Donne comments on the faithlessness of women. He ironically remarks that it is totally impossible to find a constant woman in this world. However, he is not always cynical towards women, because when he finds a woman really honest and faithful he deeply admires her virtues. For instance, in the poem Twicknam Garden he cynically says that all women are false; they cannot remain faithful to a single lover. But he shows a ray of optimism when he says that only his beloved is true, since she is faithful to a single lover. He greatly admires her for this particular quality, which is, undoubtedly, a rare virtue in womanhood.

The Petrarchan poets sang about the pains and sorrows of love, the sorrows of detachment, and the pains of rejection by the cruel mistress. But Donne, in sharp contrast to the Petrarchan poets, considered love to be mutual and self-sufficient. In the poems The Canonization and The Sunne Rising, he expresses the delight of mutual love-making, without reference to outside interference, and with no hint of inadequacy in the beloved. Donne often tells about separation but in an unconventional way. For example, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Donne tells us about the mystical union between him and his beloved despite their discreet position.

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Wordsworth's Mysticism

William Wordsworth is an eminent mystic poet of the Romantic Age with an amazingly subtle mind and a deviant capacity for expressing personal beliefs and thoughts. Wordsworth was a true mystic. His mystical experiences are principally revealed in the context of his treatment of nature. Wordsworth never confined his verse within the vivid portrayal of the sights, sounds, odors, and movements of various elements of nature. He aimed at attaining something higher and divine and leaving behind a record of his mystical experiences in nature and human life in his poetry. So his poetry is not simply an artistic encapsulation of lovely and tranquil aspects of nature but also a comprehensive account of his mystical experiences.

Wordsworth’s mysticism is remarkable for its meditative mood and pantheistic conception of nature. It is moulded by the belief that nature is a living being and the dwelling place of god. Nature is the means through which a man can come into contact with god. Wordsworth maintains that a divine spirit pervades through all the objects of nature. As a true pantheist he also says that all is God and God is all. Many of his poems can be studied with this contextual consideration. This perception is particularly reverberated in Tintern Abbey, where he says with great devotion:

“...And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something for more deeply infused,
Whose dwelling is the light of the setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:”

He finds the existence of god even in the mind of man. Wordsworth upholds that there is a pre-arranged harmony between the mind of man and the spirit in nature, which enables man to form a relationship or communication with nature. The relationship is materialised when the mind of man forms a kinship with the thoughts of nature. And it is this cordial and intellectual junction between man and nature that helped to shape his belief that nature has the power to teach and educate human beings. Man accomplishes perfection and practical knowledge through the education he receives from nature. He believes that the person who doesn’t receive education from nature is worthless and his life is unsuccessful. The poet considers nature as a bountiful source of knowledge. He also believes that nature is the nurse and the protector of the mankind. Nature’s benignity considers only the welfare of human beings. In his words, nature is:

“The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul.
Of all my moral being.”

In Wordsworthian belief, nature is capable of alleviating the tormented mind of man. The beautiful and frolicsome aspects of nature are an infinite source for healing power. The material life sometimes become so stark and painful that human beings loose the aspiration for living. When life becomes such unbearable then the sweet and affectionate contact with nature can easily drive away the cloud of cynicism from the mind of the viewer of nature. The noise and disturbance of the town or city life may make human life intolerable but even the recollections of nature in some lonely room can eliminate the burden of desolation, anxiety and suffocation:

“But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them
In hours of weariness, sensation sweet.
Felt in the blood and felt along the heart;
And passing even into the purer mind
With tranquil restoration...”

Wordsworth, like a true mystic, sees life in all objects of nature. According to him, every flower and cloud, every stream and hill, the stars and the birds that live in the midst of nature, has each their own life.

Wordsworth honours even the simplest and the most ordinary objects of nature and human life.  For him nothing is mean or low, since everything that is present in the universe is touched by divine life.

To conclude we ought to say that Wordsworth never looked at nature like the way we do. With great devotion and enthusiasm, he sought to read the profoundest meaning of human life in nature. In the way of doing so he forged himself as a great poet of nature with a true mystical vision.

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The Poetic Imagery of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas is widely regarded as one of the 20th Century's most influential lyrical poets, and amongst the finest as such of all time. His acclaim is partly due to the force and vitality of his verbal imagery that is uniquely brilliant and inspirational. His vivid and often fantastic imagery was a rejection of the trends in the 20th Century poetics. While his contemporaries gradually altered their writing to serious topical verse, Thomas devoted himself to his passionately felt emotions. Thomas, in many ways, was more in alignment with the Romantics than he was with the poets of his era. He was considered the Shelley of the 20th century as his poems were the perfect embodiments of 'new-romanticism' with their violent natural imagery, sexual and Christian symbolism and emotional subject matter expressed in a singing rhythmical verse. His rich rhetoric and imagery gave his poetry a magical touch.

Dylan Thomas attached great importance to the use of imagery, and an understanding of his imagery is essential for an understanding of his poetry. Thomas' vivid imagery involved word play, fractured syntax, and personal symbolism. Thomas’ poetic imagery shows the use of a mixture of several techniques, the most prominent being the surrealistic, imagistic, and metaphysical. But the bible, his study of Shakespeare and other English poets also laid under contribution. Thomas as a resourceful "language-changer", like Shakespeare, Dickens, Hopkins and Joyce, shaped the English language into a richly original mélange of rhythm, imagery and literary allusion. Here follows a brief discussion on Dylan Thomas’ poetic imagery along with a critical inquiry into the major woks by this poet:

Nature Imagery

Dylan Thomas is especially renowned for his celebration of natural beauty. Some of his poems contain vivid and refreshing pictures of nature, even though he does not have any philosophy of nature to offer. The influence of the Romantic poets is seen in his recurrent vision of a pristine beauty in nature. Indeed, Thomas was a nature poet in the sense that much of his truest inspiration arose from a natural scene which he had observed long and lovingly. This is particularly seen in Poem in October. In this poem Thomas illustrates nature wonderfully alive with ordinary sights and sounds. In his thirtieth birthday when he comes out of the town, he finds the whole nature is greeting him. Thomas sees himself on his way to heaven or in the sight of heaven. The whole scene seems holy to him. He feels a complete harmony with nature. The wood seems to him to be his neighbor, the herons to be priests and the waves of the ocean rise high as if in honour and worship of their creator. The birds are calling and the gardens are blooming. In short, the poem encapsulates one of the most remarkable accounts of wonderful vivid nature pictures with a general atmosphere of joy.

Imagery of death

Death is a frequent theme in Dylan Thomas’ poetry, especially in the corpus of his mature work. Thomas employs different interesting and unorthodox images to present various aspects of death. In the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, for example, he emphasizes resistance towards death as he repeats this appeal in the last line in every stanza. Imagery is used by Thomas to create the theme of his poem and what it means. Although readers are unaware of the details behind the on coming death of Thomas’ father, the motives of the author for writing this poem are very obvious. In this Thomas is asking his father through pleading words to fight against the darkness that is taking over and leading him into the afterlife.

Initially, Thomas uses images of fury and fighting in the lines "do not go gentle", "good night" and "dying of the light" to emphasize the resistance towards death. With these images, Thomas conveys death as the end and where darkness prevails. He takes his stand within concrete, particular existence. He places birth and death at the poles of his vision. Excessive images of anger and rage towards death exemplify the passion Thomas feels for life.

Secondly, Thomas brings into action images of "burn" and "rave at close of day" to show and emphasize the resistance towards death. Contrasting images of light and darkness in the poem create warmth of living and the coldness of death, so as to discourage people from choosing the dreary, bitter coldness of death:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

In addition, Thomas uses images of " wise men" and " grave men [who] have not used their blinding sight" to tell his dying father that all men either smart or ignorant need to fight against death. A man peacefully may prepare to die only when he has made his true contribution to society. Here Thomas shares an attitude towards death, which is very much similar to Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a snowy Evening:

The Woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Sexual Imagery

Sexual imagery is recurrent in Thomas’ poetry. He uses sexual imagery almost everywhere. The influence of the seventeenth-century metaphysical poets is often cited in connection with Thomas' unconventional religious imagery. Thomas speaks with directness and passion on the theme of sex quite similar to Donne. Thomas’ work shows the same fusing of sexual and religious imagery as it is seen in Donne’s poetry. In both poets there is an intense consciousness of death. Donne preached a sermon in his grave-clothes and Thomas’ poems show a similar fixation with the physical fact of death:

And I am dumb to tell the lover’s tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

Imagery of Growth and Decay

The imagery of Destruction and creation are very much common in Thomas’ poetry. Like Thomas Hardy, he indicates a driving force of the universe, which both generates and destroys. Many of his poems can be studied in this contextual consideration. In The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower, for instance, he indicates that an invisible cosmic force is responsible for both creation and destruction. The process of life goes on because of the operation of this force. Again, this force is working in the animal, vegetable and human world. This is the force that destroys the roots of trees and also acts as the destroyer of the poet’s youth. The force is watering the ground and withering away the mountain spring. In the same way, the very worm, which is eating up the body of the dead lovers, will also eat up the poet when he is dead:

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.

Imagery of the Subconscious

During the 20^th century Thomas was being hailed as the most spectacular of the surrealist poets, or poets who used fantastic imagery of the subconscious in their verse. And it cannot but be so in the age of Freud, Jung and Bergson. Dylan has uncanny insights into the processes of the mind, much more profound than that of any other poet. He penetrates deeper into the human soul than even Freud and his followers.

In his best works he captures psychological moods which have been rarely captured, especially those of childhood and adolescence. He himself matured early, and his early poetry is the poetry of an adolescent. In The Hunchback in the Park Thomas talks about a solitary hunchback who eats bread from a newspaper, drinks water from the chained cup of the fountain, and sleeps at night in a dog-kennel. These details about him show that he is a homeless outcast, not a normal member of society. He is doubly an outcast, because of his deformity and vagrancy, and therefore an object of mockery to the truant boys playing in the park.

Religious Imagery

Dylan Thomas’ interests were psychological but they were also religious. Indeed, God and Christ are rarely absent from his poems since he takes imagery largely from the Bible. For example, in the poem After the Funeral we see religious imagery when the poet regards the woods as a kind of chapel where a religious ceremony would be held in honour of his deceased Aunt. He visualises four birds who will fly over her, making the sign of the cross in order to bless her spirit. Again, in the poem A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London we have religious imagery like: “Zion of the water bead” and “the synagogue of the ear of corn”. The words “Zion” and “synagogue” provide a sacramental quality to enhance its religious appeal.

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