Social and literary background to Mirza Ghalib's works. Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan known as Ghalib in Urdu literature was born in Agra on December 27th, 1797
Social and literary background to Ghalib's works Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan known as Ghalib in Urdu literature was born in Agra on December 27th, 1797 to the parents of Turkish aristocratic ancestry. He spent a good part of his early boyhood with his mother's family. Ghalib grew up relatively free of any oppressive dominance by adult, male father-figures. This accounts for at least some of the independence of spirit he showed from very early childhood. On the other hand, it placed him in the humiliating situation of being socially and economically dependent on maternal grandparents giving him a sense that whatever the worldly goods he received were a matter of charity and not legitimately his. His preoccupation in later life with finding secure, legitimate and comfortable means of livelihood can perhaps be at least partially understood in terms of this early uncertainty. Ghalib was a remarkable man in many ways. He was remarkable for his personal appearance, for his frankness, for his friendliness, for his originality and most importantly for his wit. Around 1810, events of great importance occurred in Ghalib's life. There is evidence that most of what we know as his complete works were substantially completed by 1816, when he was nineteen years old and six years after he first came to Delhi. The migration from Agra to Delhi is notewotrthy here, which had once been a capital
The Glass Jar (Gwen Harwood) Analysis. The Glass Jar, dedicated to Vivian Smith, is a narrative poem about a childs fear of the dark, and reflects, as many of her poems do, Gwen Harwoods knowledge and understanding of children.
The Glass Jar 'The Glass Jar', dedicated to Vivian Smith, is a narrative poem about a child's fear of the dark, and reflects, as many of her poems do, Gwen Harwood's knowledge and understanding of children. The poem can be read at a number of levels. At one level it is a story; at another it explores fears and taboos common to humankind, expressed in the language of myth or childhood fantasy; at a third level it addresses the struggle between good and evil from a Christian viewpoint, finally offering hope through Christ's Resurrection, symbolised in the last stanza as 'the resurrected sun'. The Christian perspective established early in the poem by words such as 'disciples', 'host', 'monstrance', 'bless', 'exorcize', and 'holy' contributes to the poem's unfolding spiritual meaning. The child's awareness of evil expressed in his fear, is a reminder of Adam and Eve's loss of innocence, an act which condemned humankind to suffering and death. Gwen Harwood counterbalances this universal loss of innocence with the boy's naivety, captured in the poem's first striking image when the child attempts to trap some of the sun's light in a glass jar he plans to use later as a night light to scare away the demons of his dreams. The poem is overlaid with Christian imagery symbolising the struggle between good and evil implicit in the boy's attempts to defeat his demons. Apart from the
One Flesh
"One Flesh" Elizabeth Jennings has produced this poem with an extraordinarily deep meaning that has seldom been seen in other poems of this genre. The poem in itself is pessimistic while the message is the exact opposite. The first thing that I wish to discuss is the sole title of this poem. It is of great significance because it can be related to several times within the poem. One Flesh is biblical and it is meant to say that when a man (or woman) marries, he or she becomes one with the other. In actual fact this poem can be compared to William Shakespeare's 116th sonnet. Before we actually commence with the poem there are a few facts about Elizabeth that we should include as they may be useful later on when interpreting this poem. Elizabeth was a well-educated woman who was born in 1926 and died just three years ago. She worked in publishing and as a librarian. Most of her poems were based on spiritual and emotional topics and they were often quite person as is "One Flesh". Her poems included suffering, relationships, loneliness and religious faith. This is highly peculiar because "One Flesh" has every single one of those characteristics. Our first concern before explaining the actual meaning of the poem is the diction used. We can clearly observe that it is simple. This could be linked to the way in which Elizabeth has decided to demonstrate a very boring lifestyle. This
Making close references to language, imagery and form, consider the ways Owen presents and uses mockery and detachment in 'Insensibility' and how this poem relates to his methods and concerns in other poems
Making close references to language, imagery and form, consider the ways Owen presents and uses mockery and detachment in 'Insensibility' and how this poem relates to his methods and concerns in other poems Throughout Owen's collection of poetry, on of the running themes that we can pick up on is that of detachment and mockery of the situation, as opposed to being emotionally engaged with the subject and causing the reader to feel any empathy. The poem in the collection which is key to this idea is 'Insensibility', which both uses and explains the detachment which soldiers feel, and therefore makes a strong connection between itself and many more of his poems. The very name of the poem, 'Insensibility', seems to me to be quite detached from feeling in itself. It is quite a formal word, and not one which is used that often, and gives a sense of being quite removed from reality. This immediately gives the reader an idea of what to expect as it seems that the soldiers are even detached from the idea that they are lacking feeling and use such a cold and emotionless word to describe the state which they are in. I also think that the connotations the word carries by being synonymous with the word for lacking sense or intelligence are important, as they also give the idea that these soldiers who have become numb to feeling have also lost the power of intelligent thought and this
The Darkling Thrush, The Voice, The Going and The Convergance of the Twain revision notes
The Darkling Thrush Stanza 1 * How does Hardy establish a sense of time, place and mood in this stanza? o The frost reminds Hardy of ghosts, since it is described as 'spectre-gray'. A word like 'dregs' suggests 'residue' or 'remains'. The light is not fading, but 'weakening' as if engaged in a conflict which it is losing. We gain a sense of struggle. The bine-stems, instead of providing a lattice decoration for the sky, are said to 'score' it as if it is cutting the sky. The harmony of music is reduced to the 'strings of broken lyres'. Hardy alone can see this scene, since everyone else was sensibly sitting round their household fire. This could have been an enchanting scene. Hardy could have gloried in the solitude; taken pleasure in the myriad shapes displayed by the frost, welcomed the soothing approach of night, and delighted in the patterns of the bine-stems. Instead he does the precise opposite, and intensifies the sense of gloom with the long vowel sounds at the end of every line. As an example of establishing a mood by the selection of evocative images, this first verse is superb. * Consider the time of year (and of the century), the time of day, and the place where the poet finds himself. o End of the century, considering the change in society. The pome's altrenate title was "by century's deathbed" * Why does Hardy tell the reader that other people who might
To what extent is Hardys poetry dominated by relationships?
To what extent is Hardy's poetry dominated by relationships? When looking at this question it is important to define what could be meant by the term "relationships". What the word immediately connotes is an emotional connection between a couple. A lot of Hardy's poetry concerns this type of "relationship" but he is by not so narrow that this is his only subject matter. However the broader definition of just any state of "connectedness" may also be taken into account when coming to a conclusion. Hardy's most positive poem about relationships is "When I Set Out For Lyonesse". It was written after a trip to Cornwall in which he met Emma Gifford who later became his wife. At the start of the poem the landscape is cold and desolate and love feels "a hundred miles away". He does not describe what happened whilst he was there and he creates an aura of mystery around the Arthurian Lyonesse. The importance of Lyonesse is emphasised by its repetition within the poem. The mystery is enhanced when he proclaims that no "prophet" or "wisest wizard" could guess what would "bechance at Lyonesse. He himself seems incredulous that he could find love because the outlook in the first stanza is so decidedly bleak. When he returns he is transformed by what has happened and "magic" is in his eyes. He has a "radiance" which, unlike the macrocosmical "starlight", comes from within. Love is
Understanding Place and Language in Olive Senior's "Gardening in the Tropics"
Understanding Place and Language in Olive Senior's "Gardening in the Tropics" "On a hilltop, at that, you find yourself drowning, a movement of ebbing and flowing. You recognize early (or too late) that you failed to detach From that mooring. Always, cruelty of choice. Here's the knife. Yourself: Executioner Midwife" - Olive Senior, "Leaving Home", Over the Roofs of the World Gardening in the Tropics exploded onto the literary scene from the pen of Jamaican novelist and poet Olive Senior in 1994. A collection of poems, paralleling the Tropical Garden and landscape with European tropes of an Edenic garden, Gardening in the Tropics covers a wide range of themes, inclusive of which are displacement, loss of personal, national and cultural identity, and a response to colonial and imperial oppression. Her exploration of these themes is however layered and multi-dimensional. In addition to being filled of threads of post-colonialism, her literature also surrounds a fixation on migration and the African diaspora- the historical movement of Africans and their descendants throughout the world. This is consequent of Senior's migration to Canada during the 1970's where much of her works were written. From this remote location, she was able to garner a different perspective on Caribbean life and society, and in essence reconcile a Caribbean past with a North American present
Commentary on The Lost Heritage by Heather Buck
Commentary on the Lost Heritage The Lost Heritage by Heather Buck expresses the message that in today's lifestyle, we have lost our touch with our past. The main theme of the poem is the fact that the present's children are not informed about their detailed past. We are blind to the importance and significance of our heritage. The opening phrase "Coreopsis, saffron, madder, daily we tread kaleidoscopes of [color], on Persian rugs we set our feet" indicates that we have a colorful and bright heritage but that daily we ignore it and shun ourselves out from that. We "tread" on it as if it meant nothing to us. It is clear that Heather Buck views our heritage as a wondrous object as she describes it as a Persian carpet full of many different bright and colorful aspects. Heather Buck then moves on to say that we are "blind to the woven threads and dyes, the intricate patterns that shape our lives". Through this phrase, Heather Buck expresses that we in the present do not realize the complex nature of our heritage, but despite our ignorance at our heritage, it still continues to affect our lives. The finishing line "while our minds are indelibly printed by one another" indicates that our ideas and values are taken forth from the actions of the people around us and this makes up for our lost heritage in our minds. We gather up new values and ideals from the things that we see and
"All The major Romantics...were engaged...in the rediscovery of nature, the assertion of the one-ness of man and the rest of creation" James Reeves. What has interested you about the ways in which Coleridge has asserted this one-ness?
"All The major Romantics...were engaged...in the rediscovery of nature, the assertion of the one-ness of man and the rest of creation" James Reeves What has interested you about the ways in which Coleridge has asserted this one-ness? Throughout Coleridge's works, we can see that he tries to unify nature, through both the workings of his superior secondary imagination and his language. He constantly strives to give a sense of togetherness between all aspects of Nature and himself, even if through the idea that we are united in our diversity. Coleridge also shows us the effects of a lack of this 'one-ness', effectively emphasising its importance. Perhaps the most frequent impression of 'one-ness' in Coleridge's work is given by the assertion of God in Nature. In The Aeolian Harp, Coleridge talks about "the one life within us and abroad/ Which meets all motion and becomes its soul". This 'one life' is God, and Coleridge emphasises how He connects us all through the soul. Coleridge also unifies nature in the following description, "A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, /Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere". This emphasis connects 'light', which is an indication of Divine power, with nature, and also brings in the key to the 'one-ness' of Man and Nature: Joy. We can also see this reflection of God in Nature in Lime-Tree Bower, where Coleridge describes
What methods does Browning use to tell the story in 'Porphyria's Lover'?
What methods does browning use to tell the poem 'Porphyria's Lover'? The poem 'Porphyria's Lover' written by Robert Browning appeared in 1836 and is one of the earliest and most shocking poems from the collection of dramatic monologues known as 'madhouse cells'. This poem is about a psychotic character who strangles his lover Porphyria with her own hair and manages to kill her when she comes to visit him. The visit took place on a stormy night when Porphyria comes in, out of a storm and proceeds to make a fire bringing warmth and happiness to the cottage. Browning narrates the poem from the lovers point of view but makes the character Porphyria more powerful and dominant through the first part of the poem. The title chosen by Robert Browning informs the reader that the poem is about an obsessive love between two main characters, as the poem goes along we learn that a major theme is the power struggle between the two characters. The common themes used in the poem are: love, madness and power. Robert Browning uses techniques such as pathetic fallacy to set the scene and portray the mood of the lover and his characteristics, the character of Porphyria's Lover is disturbingly portrayed through the words he uses. Robert Browning begins his poem by using pathetic fallacy to set the scene, he begins by using personification of a stormy night, he creates imagery which reflects
