Tag: literature

What are the main characteristics of Pre-Raphalite poetry?

The Pre-Raphaelites were a loose and baggy collective of Victorian poets, painters, illustrators, and designers whose tenure lasted from 1848 to roughly the turn of the century. Drawing inspiration from visual art and literature, their work privileged atmosphere and mood over narrative, focusing on medieval subjects, artistic introspection, female beauty, sexual yearning, and altered states of consciousness. In defiant opposition to the utilitarian ethos that formed the dominant ideology of the mid-century, the Pre-Raphaelites helped to popularize the notion of ‘art for art’s sake’. Generally devoid of the political edge that characterized much Victorian art and literature, Pre-Raphaelite work nevertheless incorporated elements of 19th-century realism in its attention to detail and its close observation of the natural world. Those poets who had some connection with these artists and whose work presumably shares the characteristics of their art include Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, George Meredith, William Morris, and Algernon Charles Swinburne.

They were inspired by Italian art of the 14thand 15th centuries, and their adoption of the name Pre-Raphaelite expressed their admiration for what they saw as the direct and uncomplicated depiction of nature typical of Italian painting before the High Renaissance and, particularly, before the time of Raphael. The Pre-Raphaelite movement during the Victorian era was an idealistic reaction against the didacticism moral fervor and pre-occupation of poets and novelists with contemporary society. In the reign of Queen Victoria, there was a growing tendency to make literature a handmaiden social reform and an instrument for the propagation of moral and spiritual ideas. Literature became the vehicle of social, political, and moral problems confronting the Victorian age. Ruskin, Carlyle, Dickens were engaged in attacking the evils rampant in the society of their times. So the movement was against this pre-occupation of poets, prose writers, and novelists with the mundane problems of their times, that a set of high souled artists formed this group.

Main Characteristics of Pre-Raphaelite

  • Like the Romantics, the Pre-Raphaelite was inspired by the art of the Middle Ages. The romance, chivalry, superstition, and mysticism of the Middle Ages inspired them. They gave a touch of modernism to the medieval concepts and vivified them.
  • The Pre-Raphaelite poets gave extreme attention to realistic details. This pictorial quality is noticeable in Pre-Raphalelite paintings. The Pre-Raphaelite poets transposed this into poetry. Rossetti’s ‘The Blessed Damozel’ and ‘Silent Noon’ and Morris’s ‘The Haystack in the Flood’ give several instances of beautiful word painting.
Silent Noon by Rossetti
  • Pre-Raphaelite poetry was free from any didactic zeal. It aimed at the perfect form and finish. Precise delineation, lavish imagery, and wealth of details are its distinguishing features. For the Pre-Raphaelite, art was for art’s sake.
  • Pre-Raphaelite poetry is rich in melody and music. The most melodious among the Pre-Raphaelite was Swinburne in whose poetry the musical language is so swift and effortless that it sometimes obscures the meaning. His famous poem ‘Atlanta in Calydon’ is an example. The Pre-Raphaelite poets used alliteration and musical words profusely.
  • Some critics attack the Pre-Raphaelite for their so-called sensuality. The love poetry of Rossetti and others is indeed outspoken, rich, and sensuous. But to call it sensual is to under-estimate Rossetti’s subtle imagination and artistic devotion to the beauty of the human body.
  • The Pre-Raphaelite had an affinity with the Romantics. Saintsbury thinks that this new school of poetry is a direct development of the Romantic Revival. Rossetti himself was greatly influenced by Keats. The Pre-Raphaelites were also the forerunners of the Aesthetic movement led by Oscar Wilde.

The Pre-Raphaelite Poetry’s characteristics are very rich and very vast. It focuses on the glorification of art, escape from the darkness, and the ugliness of contemporary society, a continuation of Romantic poetry, and gives a strong conception of scenes and situations, precise delineation, lavish imagery, and metaphor. By these characteristics, the Pre Raphaelite Poetry leaves a lasting impression in English Literature.

The Pre-Raphaelite Poetry

The Pre-Raphaelite movement was started by two German painters based in Rome in 1810. The movement drew inspiration from Italian painters before Raphael such as Giotto, Bellini, and Fra Angelico. The movement was concerned with the art of painting. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics. It was formed in England in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Michael Rosetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member “Brotherhood” modeled in part on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes, and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, and John William Waterhouse.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in September 1848, is the most significant British artistic grouping of the nineteenth century. Its fundamental mission was to purify the art of its time by returning to the example of medieval and early Renaissance painting. Although the life of the brotherhood was short, the broad international movement it inspired, Pre-Raphaelitism, persisted into the twentieth century and profoundly influenced the aesthetic movement, symbolism, and the Arts and Crafts movement.

Firstly, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1849), in which passages of striking naturalism were situated within a complex symbolic composition. Already a published poet, Rossetti inscribed verse on the frame of his painting. In the following year, Millais’s Christ in the House of His Parents (1850) was exhibited at the Royal Academy to an outraged critical reception. The master of a brilliantly naturalistic technique, Millais represented biblical figures with closely observed portrayals of the features of real, imperfect models. In 1850 the Pre-Raphaelites also produced a literary and artistic magazine, the Germ, which was something of a manifesto for their artistic concerns and ran for only four issues.

The Girlhood of Mary Virgin by Dante Gabriel Rosetti

From the first, the Pre-Raphaelites aspired to paint subjects from modern life. In The Awakening Conscience (1854), Hunt represented a kept woman realizing the error of her ways, and in 1852 Madox Brown began the most ambitious of all Pre-Raphaelite scenes from modern life, Work (1852–1865). Although the brotherhood included no women, Christina Rossetti, sister of Dante and William, pioneered a Pre-Raphaelite style in poetry, and Elizabeth Siddall-model, muse,
and eventually wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti-produced distinctive watercolors and drawings that went unrecognized in her lifetime but received critical attention after the advent of feminist art history in the late 1970s.

The Awakening Conscience by Hunt

Another element in Pre-Raphaelite poetry is perceived in love for beauty. The Pre-Raphaelite poets are lovers of beauty. Here they are the followers of the great poetic creed of Keats. In their rich sensuousness, they are also found to carry on the tradition of great romantic poetry. They are also found to be medievalistic in their attachment to the medieval past. This also constitutes another romantic aspect of Pre-Raphaelitism. Their attempt to follow Byron’s revolutionary spirit and Shelley’s inspiration for loveliness does not appear to have much succeeded, yet these elements are not ignorable in them. Pre-Raphaelite poetry, in this respect, appears to be the second phase of Romanticism in the nineteenth century. This, however, appears to lack in humanism and the idealistic vision of human life, so much marked in romantic poetry. The Pre-Raphaelite poets aimed at infusing the art and spirit of the Pre-Raphaelite painters into poetry.


Kinds Of Essay

An essay is a short composition in prose. It discusses, either formally or informally, one or more topics. This term was first applied to Montaigne’s volumn of informal pieces. This volume was first published in 1580. After seventeen years, Francis Bacon used the English word ‘essay’ to describe his brief philosophic discourses. With the development of periodicals, the essay become a popular form. Addison, Steel, Lamb, Hazlitt, and Pater made it their major concern.

The Aphoristic Essay Bacon was the first to write proper essays in English. Though he was inspired by the French writer Montaigne, his essays are more objectives and impersonal than those of the French master. Bacon’s essays are written in an aphoristic style. They contain mostly short, crisp sentences with a didactic bent. Bacon called his essay’s ‘counsels civil and moral’ and ‘dispersed meditations’. Aphoristic essays are known for their precision of style and balancing structure. No superfluous words are used and sentences flow rapidly. They seem abrupt and rugged but express the ideas directly and clearly. As a critic says, the sentences in an aphoristic essay are in a state of ‘literary undress’

The Character Essay In the earlier part of the 17th century, the essay took the form of character sketches in the writings of Joshep Hall, John Earle, and Sir Thomas Overbury. They were inspired by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus and the Roman Seneca. The early character essays were marked by minute details and were often presented in a humorous and satirical manner. Such essays were almost like pen pictures of various types of men and women. Some traits of the character essay can be seen even in Addison’s essays on Sir Roger de Coverley.

The Critical Essay Dryden introduced this type of essay during the Restoration period. Though the critical essay retained the traditional form, its theme was literary criticism. Dryden’s Prefaces and other prose writings can be included in this category. The critical essay is the main objective. However, it often exhibits traits of the personal essay because critical opinions are generally colored by the personality of the writer. In the 19th century, the critical essay flourished in the writings of Emerson, Hazlitt, Arnold, Carlyle, and Ruskin. The 20th century has seen a host of critics who made valuable contributions to the critical essay. Among them, T.S.Eliot and F.R.Leavis are the most important.

The Periodical Essay The periodical essay became popular in the 18th century especially with the publication of the ‘Tatler’ and the ‘The Spectator’. The essay that began to appear in the periodicals drew their inspiration from the social life of the people. The periodical essay was adapted for literary criticism and the delineation of character. Addison’s essay delineating the character of ‘The Spectator’ and the several essays by Steele and Addison on the imaginary character Sir Roger de Coverley is the examples of how journalistic writings could attain artistic perfection.

The Personal Essay In the Personal Essay, the personal element predominates. Charles Lamb is known as the greatest writer of the personal essay in English Literature. There is no formal or logical development of thought in an essay. The various points are mentioned haphazardly. Its author likes to enjoy the freedom of conversation. So, he is informal and often chatty. Hazlitt, De Quincey, and Charles Lamb brought the personal essay to a level that has remained unsurpassed. George Orwell, E.M. Forster, James Thurber, and E.B. White are excellent model practitioners of the personal essay.

Twentieth Century Essay In the 20th century, the development of the essay is encouraged by a large number of periodicals and newspapers. Many of the modern essays appear in the form of articles and are often collected and published in book form. In the modern essay, the distinction between the personal and the objective is hardly noticeable. It is at once expository, reflective, and descriptive and one of its main elements is humor. Some of the important modern essayists are G.K.Chesterton, A.G.Gardiner, F.L.Lucas, Max Beerbohm, and Hilaire Belloc

https://track2training.org/2022/01/11/what-is-an-essay/

The Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry

Metaphysical poetry is a group of poems that share common characteristics; they are all highly intellectualized, use rather strange imagery, use frequent paradox, and contain extremely complicated thought. The most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry contained large doses of wit. Although the poets were examining serious questions about the existence of god or whether a human could perceive the world, the poets were sure to ponder those questions with humor. In addition, many of the poems explored the theme or carpe diem(seize the day) and investigated the humanity of life.

Delight in novel thought and expression The metaphysical poet deligthed in novel thoughts and expression. As Scott said, they played with thoughts. There is a fusion of passionate feelings and thought in their poems. Instead of the Elizabethan splendor of sound and imagery, the metaphysical employed subtlety of thought and verbal fancies.

conceit Metaphysical poetry uses conceit. A conceit is a far-fetched simile, an ingenious parallel between two highly dissimilar things. It is the ingenuity of a conceit rather than its justness that invites the reader’s attention. A metaphysical conceit is used to prove or define a point. In ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’, Donne compares two lovers to the two legs of a compass. In ‘The Ecstay’ he compares the eye beams of the lovers to a twisted thread that connects the lover’s eyes. This is exemplified in Cowley’s comparison of the experience of loving different women with traveling through different countries.

Concentration Metaphysical poetry is noted for its concentration. The reader is not allowed to pause and muse over the poem; he is required to pay attention and read on. A metaphysical poem tends to be brief. Words and thoughts are compressed. Length of line and rhyme scheme enforces the sense. Hence the reader is expected to concentrate.

Affectation, Hyperbole and Obscurity Metaphysical poetry is characterised by affectation and hyperbole, and occasional obscurity. The metaphysical poets had the license to say something unexpected and surprising. Their fancy and amplifications have no limit. In the task of finding verbal equivalents for their thoughts and feelings, the metaphysical poets often become obscure. As Dr. Johnson said, dissimilar ideas are yoked by violence together leading to obscurity. In Donne’s A Valediction of Weeping’, the use of geographical conceits makes it a little difficult to understand.

A Valediction of Weeping by John Donne

Argument and persuasion Argument and persuasion are two of the elements of a metaphysical poem. Every poem two is based on the memory of the experience. A need to argue arises out of it. The argument is done with help of conceit and dramatic presentation of thought and feelings.

The Scholarship of author Metaphysical poetry shows the scholarship of its authors. As Dr. Johnson pointed out they drew their similes and conceit from the recesses of learning unfamiliar to an average reader. The poems of Donne, Marvell, and Cowley especially show their vast learning in philosophy, literature, science, astronomy, and geography.

Love Metaphysical poetry includes the most impassioned love poetry in English. Donne’s poems like ‘The Anniversarie’, ‘The Good Morrow’, ‘The Canonisation’ and ‘The Extasie’ are love poems that raise the great metaphysical question of the relation of the spirit to the senses. Similarly is Marvell’s ‘To His Coy Mistress’. Some of the finest religious poems in English are also metaphysical poems. The poems of Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell are examples.

The Good Marrow

https://track2training.org/2022/01/12/the-metaphysical-school-of-poetry/

The Metaphysical School of poetry

The term ‘metaphysical’ was first applied to Donne by Dryden and later extended to a group of poets by Dr. Johnson. It has been used to describe the special characteristics of the poetry of John Donne and his followers in the 17th century. John Dryden first used this term in connections to the poetry of John Donne and the same was confirmed by Dr. Samuel Johnson. At the beginning of the 17th century, there appeared a group of poets who reacted against the conventions of Elizabethan love poetry and wrote more colloquial, witty, passionately intense, and psychologically probing poetry. This group came to known as the metaphysical poets. They include John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw, and Henry Vaughan. They were men of learning, but wrote colloquial and often metrically irregular lines filled with unusual metaphors, similes, and conceits.

Dr. Samuel Johnson

Dr. Johnson thought that from the Aristotelian point of view they were not poets at all. Though their learning and subtlely were high, they were wholly concerned with something unexpected and surprising. Johnson says that their attempts were analytic and they broke every image into fragments. “The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions”. Dr. Johnson was certainly not impressed by them. However, T.S. Eliot in the present century discovers several beauties in the metaphyscial. He sees in their Poetry “a direct sensuous apprehension of thought, or a recreation or thought into feeling”. Eliot places them in the direct current of English poetry and points to their ‘quaint and pleasant taste’.

John Donne, Founder of Metaphysical poetry

The metaphysical style was established by John Donne. Dryden pointed out that Donne ‘affects the metaphysics not only in his satires but in his amorous verses’. Donne inspired a host of others like Suckling, Cleveland, Crashaw, and Cowley.

Metaphysical poetry resolves itself into two broad divisions amorous verse and religious verse. The amorous verse was generally written by the courtly poets like Carew, Suckling, and Lovelace and religious verse by Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan. Donne wrote amorous, devotional, and satirical poems. In his poetry sensuality and cynical wit mingle at times. He excelled in reflective imaginations and sober meditation. Herrick wrote amorous and religious verses and several epigrams. Crashaw was best in his religious verse. Abraham Cowley’s lyrics were sweet and graceful.

In conclusion, the age of metaphysical poetry successfully presented great educational benefits and presented significant value to English literature. The significance of this age is quite clear as it presented new aspects of value and new methods of expression that were not known before the seventeenth century, the language and concepts used in metaphysical poetry are unique and present significant cleverness. It also focuses on driving the audience to imagine what they have not thought of before and capture their imaginations. Most metaphysical poets suffered from different struggles, but the one they almost all had in common was self anxiety, presented in the fear of the future of the human soul, which is what lead them to speak and express their thoughts on the journey of life and turning points. Also, most of the metaphysical poets were born in the seventeenth century and raised into religious families and therefore carried out a religious mindset, and some of them even held religious positions during his lifetime, which explains the majority of religious poetry over other types of poetry, other topics such as love was also present, and it shared the common point of desiring reciprocity results whether from God or the loved one.

SHAKESPEAREAN COMEDY

A Shakespearean comedy has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare’s other plays. Shakespeare started to write comedies by the year 1600. Shakespeare wrote more comedies than any other kind of play. Shakespeare comedies (or rather the plays of Shakespeare that are usually categorised as comedies) are generally identifiable as plays full of fun, irony and dazzling wordplay. They also abound in disguises and mistaken identities, with very convoluted plots that are difficult to follow with very contrived endings. But Shakespeare’s plays are not in the rigorous sense either pure tragedies or pure comedies. 

Shakespeare’s comedies represented a significant departure from the classical comedy that had dominated the stage before he arrived in London. Whereas classical comedies were fairly straightforward, Shakespearean comedies introduced several elements that made for more complicated plots. Classical comedies typically opened with an already established pair of lovers, and they told of how these lovers had to overcome some obstacle or another to confirm the legitimacy of their union. Shakespeare, however, did not write comedies with already established lovers, and instead emphasized the plot on the process of wooing itself.

Some of the chief characteristics of Shakespearean comedy:

Love and Marriage as motif:

Love and marriage are the main themes in Shakespeare’s comedies. The preoccupation of the noble characters is love. Sometimes love leads to intrigue but is happily resolved at the end. The course of true love never runs smooth and thus conflict arises. But sighers and lovers live side by side. Love is mingled with sighs and even sorrow in some cases, but finally it converges into laughter. Love is treated as a divine passion and life is a pilgrimage towards its realisation.

Love and Marriage in Twelfth Nigth

Supernatural:

Shakespeare uses the supernatural in some of his comedies like ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. However, the supernatural acts as a foil to human actions and errors.

The supernatural element in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Women Characters:


Shakespeare’s comedies are dominated by women characters. As Gordon says “his comedies are a riot of feminine supremacy, a feminine revel”. Shakespeare’s men love and remain idle; his women characters use their brain, wit, and grace to enlarge the progress of love. Such are Rosalind, Viola, Portia, and Beatrice. They are guided by a certain clear-headedness and frankness in facing facts.

Clown:

Clowns and fools are a part of Shakespeare’s comedies. They provide fun and laughter. they are the satiric commentators on life and correctors of the excesses of the urbane characters. Falstaff, Malvolio, and Jaques provide laughter of a high order whereas characters like Dogberry, Verges, Bottom, and Touchstone provide a good deal of farcical mirth by their vanity, stupidly and complacency.

Realism and Fantasy:

In Shakespeare’s comedy, there is a fine blending of observation and imagination, fact and fiction, realism and fantasy. The story and the plot move between the real and the illusory. The forest of Arden assumes a realistic existence due to Shakespeare’s imagination and fancy. In his comedies, the base is real but the superstructure deal.

Laughter:

Shakespeare’s philosophy of laughter is tolerance. His comedies bring together different points of view and contrasts. The end is the realization of perfect order through laughter. Dowden says “Shakespeare made laughter wise and taught seriousness how to be winning and gracious”.

Music:

Shakespeare uses music in most of his comedies. As Orsino says, music is the food of love. It enhances the romantic atmosphere of the play and relieves the tension. There is music in As You Like It, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night”s Dream, and The Merchant of Venice.

Disguise:

In most comedies, Shakespeare has used disguise. This takes the action to several funny situations and complications as in As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and The Merchant of Venice. Disguise brings to focus the incongruities and irrationalities of life’s endeavors.

Voila disguise as Cesario in Twelfth Nigth

SHAKESPEAREAN ROMANCES

“Romance” was not a generic classification in Shakespeare’s time. The plays of Shakespeare’s final period (1608-12) are called Romances. In Shakespeare’s own time they were simply classified as tragedies or comedies. These plays are Pericles, Cymbeline, The Tempest, and The Winter’s Tale. Perhaps another play The Two Noble Kinsmen also may be included in this group. They are called romances because they exhibit several characteristics of romance literature. 

Shakespeare must have written these plays under the influence of his younger contemporaries Beaumont and Fletcher whose tragic comedies were becoming very popular. The masques at the court of James 1 also must have influenced Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s romances are, in fact, neither tragedies nor comedies but are a mixture of both.
Dowden has pointed out that the last plays of Shakespeare reveal sobriety, serenity, and sanity as contrasted with the storm and strain of the tragedies. They supplement the tragedies with their more relaxed atmosphere and are marked by great forbearance, a sense of reconciliation, and forgiveness. However, Lytton Strachey thinks that these plays express a mood of boredom rather than serenity.

Romance is a natural step in describing the human experience after a tragedy. In Romance, time seems to be “reversible”; there are second chances and fresh starts. As a result, categories such as to cause and effect, beginning and end, are displaced by a sense of simultaneity and harmony. The tragedy is governed by a sense of Fate (Macbeth, Hamlet) or Fortune (King Lear); in Romance, the sense of destiny comes instead from Divine Providence.
Tragedy depicts alienation and destruction, Romance, reconciliation, and restoration. In tragedies, characters are destroyed as a result of their actions and choices; in Romance, characters respond to situations and events rather than provoking them. Shakespeare had made use of romance material throughout his career The Two Gentlemen of Verona is based on a famous romance, for instance, and small-scale masques are performed in many plays, while others contain masque-like elements.

The romances of Shakespeare have certain common characteristics. They have motifs common in romance literature such as improbable happenings, separation, wanderings, reunion, and reconciliation. They contain several elements of the tragicomedies made popular by Beaumont and Fletcher. There are only a few memorable characters in these plays Shakespeare has returned to his lyrical style of the earlier plays.

The main characteristics of the Shakespearean romances:

  • The scene of these plays is unknown, remote and the setting is imaginary. Cymbeline is set in early Britain and the setting of The Tempest is somewhere in the Mediterranean.
  • The happenings are fanciful. There is no logical cause-and-effect relationship. In the light of reason, the events may appear absurd. The feats of magic in The Tempest, the concealment of Hermione for sixteen years in The winter’s Tale, and the abduction of the two sons of Cymbeline would appear unnatural. But in Shakespeare’s world of imagination, these events are delightful.
  • Characters are types. They do not have the marked personalities of the characters in the great comedies or tragedies. However, heroines are more memorable than heroes. Miranda, Perdita, and Imogen are lovely but weak. Villains like Iachimo in Cymbeline and Leontes in The Winter’s Tale are not hardened, villains. Even Ferdinand in The Tempest is no match for Benedick or Orlando.
  • The supernatural element is predominant in romances. The Tempest and Cymbeline are examples. The Tempest also shows Prospero’s magic and the elusive character Ariel. In The Winter’s Tale, the Delphic Oracle is introduced and in Pericles, the King’s wife Thaisa becomes a priestess in the temple of Diana. 
  • In romance’s sea is dominant. There is a shipwreck in Pericles and The Tempest. Sea voyages are mentioned in all of them. Sea is the symbol of regeneration.
  • The romances are marked by a spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness. In The Tempest, Prospero forgives his wicked brother Antonio; in Cymbeline posthumous reconciles with Hermione.

The 9 Elements of a Shakespearean Tragedy

In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the main protagonist generally has a flaw that leads to his downfall. There are both internal and external struggles and often a bit of the supernatural thrown in for good measure (and tension). Often there are passages or characters that have the job of lightening the mood (comic relief), but the overall tone of the piece is quite serious. Below we are going to take a more in-depth look at each of the elements of Shakespearean tragedy, as well as explore a few examples

  • The Tragic Hero
    A tragic hero is one of the most significant elements of a Shakespearean tragedy. This type of tragedy is essentially a one-man show. It is a story about one, or sometimes two, characters. The hero may be either male or female and he or she must suffer because of some flaw of character, because of inevitable fate, or both. The hero must be the most tragic personality in the play.
    An important feature of the tragic hero is that he or she is a towering personality in his/her state/kingdom/country. This person hails from the elite stratum of society and holds a high position, often one of royalty. Tragic heroes are kings, princes, or military generals, who are very important to their subjects. In the classic Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague is the tragic hero, whose undoing is his obsession with Juliet Capulet. Juliet’s fake death triggers his emotions, leading him to take poison and die right beside his sleeping love.
Romeo and Juliet, two of Shakespeare’s tragic characters
  • Good vs. Evil
    Shakespearean tragedies play out the struggle between good and evil. Most of them deal with the supremacy of evil and suppression of good. Evil is presented in Shakespearean tragedies in a way that suggests its existence is an indispensable and ever-enduring thing. For example, in Hamlet, the reader is given the impression that something rotten will definitely happen to Denmark (foreshadowing). Though the reader gets an inkling, typically the common people of the play are unaware of the impending evil.
    In Julius Caesar, the mob is unaware of the struggle between good and evil within King Caesar. They are also ignorant of the furtive and sneaky motives of Cassius. Goodness never beats evil in the tragedies of Shakespeare. Evil conquers goodness. The reason for this is that the evil element is always disguised, while goodness is open and freely visible to all.
  • Hamartia
    Hamartia is the Greek word for “sin” or “error”, which derives from the verb hamatanein, meaning “to err” or “to miss the mark”. In other words, hamartia refers to the hero’s tragic flaw. It is another absolutely critical element of a Shakespearean tragedy. Every hero falls due to some flaw in his or her character.
    Once again, Hamlet comes into focus as a perfect illustration of hamartia and its role in the tragedy. His indecisiveness and overthinking lead him to overreact, killing Polonius thinking that he was Claudius, his father’s murderer. His obsession with vengeance leads to the senseless murder of the innocent man stirring up tragedy after tragedy. He could have killed Claudius when he was praying at the church but could not act due to his overthinking.
  • Tragic Waste
    In Shakespearean tragedies, the hero usually dies along with his opponent. The death of a hero is not an ordinary death; it encompasses the loss of an exceptionally intellectual, honest, intelligent, noble, and virtuous person. In a tragedy, when good is destroyed along with evil, the loss is known as a “tragic waste.” Shakespearean tragedy always includes a tragic waste of goodness. Hamlet is a perfect example of tragic waste. Even though Hamlet succeeds in uprooting the evil from Denmark, he does so at the cost of his death. In this case, the good (Hamlet) gets destroyed along with evil (Claudius). Neither of them wins. Instead, they fail together.
Tragic waste in Hamlet.
  • Conflict
    In Shakespearean tragedies, two types of conflict take place:
    • External conflict – The hero faces conflict from his antagonists.
    • Internal Conflict – The hero faces conflict in their mind.
    Macbeth struggles internally, wondering whether to take power by force. He has to choose to either remain loyal to Duncan or heed his wife’s advice. He faces an external conflict when Banquo and Macduff rise to challenge his illegitimate rule.
  • Catharsis
    Catharsis is a remarkable feature of a Shakespearean tragedy. It refers to the cleansing of the audience’s pent-up emotions. In other words, Shakespearean tragedies help the audience to feel and release emotions through the aid of tragedy. When we watch a tragedy, we identify with the characters and take their losses personally. A Shakespearean tragedy gives us an opportunity to feel pity for a certain character and fear for another, almost as if we are playing the roles ourselves. The hero’s hardships compel us to empathize with him. The villain’s cruel deeds cause us to feel wrath toward him. Tears flow freely when a hero like Hamlet dies. At the same time, we feel both sorry for Hamlet and happy that Claudius has received his proper punishment.
  • Supernatural Elements
    Supernatural elements are another key aspect of a Shakespearean tragedy. They play an important role in creating an atmosphere of awe, wonder, and sometimes fear. Supernatural elements are typically used to advance the story and drive the plot. The ghost Hamlet sees plays an important role in stirring up internal conflict. It is the ghost who tells Hamlet his father was killed by his uncle Claudius and assigns him the duty of taking revenge. Similarly, the witches in Macbeth play a significant role in the plot. These witches are responsible for motivating Macbeth to resort to murder to ascend the throne of Scotland.
Supernatural Element in Shakespeare: The three witches in Macbeth
  • Lack of Poetic Justice
    Shakespeare’s tragedies share a strikingly similar trait; the lack of poetic justice. Poetic justice occurs when both good and evil characters experience justice. In the real world, good deeds do not always beget rewards, and evil may go unpunished. King Lear’s benevolent daughter, Cordelia, dies while trying to rescue her father. Her tragic end depicts the unfairness of life, which is relatively common and relatable to most people.
  • Fate
    Othello is a tragedy that depicts the powerlessness of man when it comes to the destiny. His love for Desdemona elicits disapproval from her father due to his black skin. He never chose to be born black and cannot change his appearance. His black skin feeds his insecurities, and the fact that he is commonly referred to as the Moor makes it worse. His insecurities eventually lead him to kill Desdemona and stab himself.

What Is a Shakespearean Tragedy?

A Shakespearean tragedy is a play penned by Shakespeare himself or a play written in the style of Shakespeare by a different author. Shakespearean tragedy has got its own specific features, which distinguish it from other kinds of tragedies. Traditionally Shakespeare play types are categorized as Comedy, History, and Tragedy, with some additional play categories proposed over the years. The plays grouped as Shakespeare tragedies follow the Aristotelian model of a noble, flawed protagonist who makes a mistake and suffers a fall from his position before the normal order is somehow resumed. It must be kept in mind that Shakespeare is mostly indebted to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy in his works.

Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy
A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language; in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”
— Aristotle

What Is a Tragedy?

A tragedy is a play which when adequately acted before an audience can produce a complete cleansing of the emotions. To effect such a catharsis the dramatist much move the audience; he must have a capacity to feel the patho of human suffering, a strong moral sense, and great craftsmanship. The word tragedy was derived from the Greek word tragoidia, which means ‘the song of the goat.’ It is called “the song of the goat” because in ancient Greece the theater performers used to wear goatskin costumes to represent satyrs. Today in theater and literature a tragedy is a work that has an unhappy ending. The ending must include the main character’s downfall.

List of Shakespeare Tragedy Plays

Shakespeare wrote eleven tragedies beginning with ‘Titus Andronicus’. They include the four great tragedies ‘Hamlet’, ‘Othello’, ‘Macbeth’ and ‘king Lear’, the two great Roman tragedies ‘Julius Caesar’, and ‘Antony Cleopatra’ and the lyrical tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

The Origin of Shakespearean Tragedy

One of the main features of Renaissance art is that it was inspired by classical art and philosophy. This is evident in the work of such artists as Michelangelo who, caught up in the spirit of Humanism that was sweeping across Europe, focused on the human form. Focusing on the human form during Mediaeval times would have been impossible as it would have been a distraction from the necessary focus on God.

The essence of Humanistic art was that human beings were created in God’s image so it was possible for Michelangelo even to portray God – as a beautiful and physically powerful man with realistic human features, presented as perfection – in fact, the human form at its most beautiful. Artists became anatomists, going as far as buying human bodies for dissection. The result was a new realism in the representation of human beings in art.

Shakespeare is, in a way, the Michelangelo of literature. That he could, in one play, Othello, written four hundred years ago, represent what we can recognize as a modern psychopath and a modern alcoholic, in Iago and Cassio respectively, is incredible. Iago is a fully realized psychological character just as David is a fully realized man physically.

Greek drama was an important model for Renaissance drama after the flat, unrealistic morality plays of the medieval centuries. The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, defined tragedy and asserted that it was the noblest and most serious, dignified, and important form of drama. Many of the plays of the Renaissance resembled those Greek tragedies. In several of Shakespeare’s plays, there is a central protagonist who undergoes a harrowing experience as he is brought down from his lofty height, ending up dead.

There is also a special feeling created in an observer of those Shakespeare dramas, similar to the feeling described by Aristotle as the effect of tragedy on an observer. Critics thus thought of those Shakespeare plays as tragedies and that notion has remained with us to this day, although many of those interested in Shakespeare are now thinking differently about the plays from this ‘Shakespearean tragedy’ label. There are still teachers, though, who teach the ‘tragedies’ as though they were Aristotelian tragedies and miss a great deal of what those plays are doing.

EXAMPLES OF SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGIC CHARACTERS

Using the term ‘Shakespeare tragedy’ about any of Shakespeare’s plays invites attempts to fit them to the Aristotelian pattern but none of them fits exactly. Othello seems to conform to the pattern but when one thinks about it, Othello, superficially resembling a tragic hero, doesn’t even seem to be the main character in the play. It can be seen as a modern psychological drama about a psychopath who manipulates every one around him just for fun – just because he has nothing better to do – and destroying other human beings gives him pleasure or is necessary because they get in his way.
Othello may seem to have a fatal flaw – too trusting, gullible – but so do all the other characters, because Iago has deceived them all with his psychopathic charm and a deliberate effort of making himself appear trustworthy. Every misjudgment Othello makes is the hard work of Iago. Easily manipulated? Jealous? Does he have all those ‘tragic flaws’ as well? The feeling at the end is not quite Aristotle either. Perhaps it is more of disgust for Iago than pity for Othello, who comes across as more stupid than tragic. And to make things more complicated, our feeling of pity is directed more to, Desdemona. And yet some teachers miss the meaning of this play by their insistence on teaching it as an Aristotelian tragedy.
Antony and Cleopatra are sometimes called a ‘double tragedy’. While Othello appears to fit the Aristotelian pattern because of the huge charisma of Othello at the beginning of the play Antony and Cleopatra cannot fit it in any shape or form. In tragedy, the focus is on the mind and inner struggle of the protagonist. The emotional information comes to the audience from that source. In comedy the information comes from a variety of sources and the comic effect is produced by a display of many different points of view, coming at the audience from different angles. That is exactly what happens in Antony and Cleopatra, so we have something very different from a Greek tragedy. What we have is a miracle – a tragic feeling coming out of a comic structure.
So what is Shakespearean tragedy? Perhaps there is no such thing. And yet we can identify tragic moments, feelings, and even a cathartic effect in some of the plays. We must be very careful not to insist on fitting them to any pattern because that wouldn’t help us understand the plays. We must look elsewhere for our understanding of them. Moreover, all of Shakespeare’s plays have elements of both tragedy and comedy, sometimes very finely balanced, creating effects that Aristotle could never have dreamt of.

Women penned by women


Ever wonder why fictional women are always someone who looks beautiful, whose sole work is to attract men and always the one who aids men, it’s because most of those character are written by men. But we could see a lot of difference in women characters if it is created by a women. This is what gyno criticism concerned about, the search of essential difference in women’s writing. But let’s not get deep into it, in this article we generally view some of the great women characters created by women writers.



One of the classic women writers is Jane Austen. Emma is the novel written by her. In this novel, the protagonist is a woman. The titular character Emma Woodhouse is the young woman who in need of doing something starts a matchmaking service to find partners for her friends. Though it went not well at the beginning, she understands a lot about love and marriage. From analysing Emma, we could understand how Jane Austen created Emma as an aspiring young woman who wants to do something in her life and as the person who learn from her mistakes.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is again a classic novel of 19th century. Jane is the orphan who lived in her aunt’s house. From her abusive aunt Reed, her strict Lowood school to her mysterious lover Rochester, everything in her life was miserable. But with her stern heart she faced everything bravely. She wanted to live independently that’s why she became a governess. Her love life was not a peaceful one, but she find what is right for her. Bronte had written Jane as a woman who is strong enough to change the fate of her unhappy life.

Little women by Louisa May Alcott, which is undoubtedly the masterpiece. The full novel is about a set of sisters and their journey from childhood to adulthood. Each character from this story is effective and important. But our concern is on Jo March and Amy March. Jo is the wannabe writer in this story, in the course of story, her writing career is discussed and how she finds her path in her career as well as in her love life. Then Amy, she is an artist with great skills, from being a mischievous girl, she becomes a respectable woman. These two women in the story are the women of today’s world. Alcott prophetically created these two characters in her story back in 1868.

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, one could never surpass the greatness of this novel. It is one of the greatest fantasy novels ever made. Though this novel is about Harry, there are prominent women characters who awed the readers. First, Hermione Granger, the girl of golden trio, she is the brain behind the success of Harry. She helped him whenever he is lost. Apart from that, she is ambitious, witty and powerful. Then Harry’s mother, Lily Potter who bravely fought Voldemort to save his son. There are lots of women characters like Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Molly Weasley and Professor Mcgonagall etc…

These are the women characters that I love which were created by women writers. They are timeless and eternal in the history of literature who are different from the stereotypical women characters. Who is your favourite women writer? Tell me in the comments.

Shakeapearean women


What’s important for a story to last long? You may think plot and action, but the most prominent and efficient thing in a story is character. We may forget the plot, setting and action of a story but we never forget the character. Shakespeare, the most important figure in English literature was not just capable of making great plays but of creating timeless characters. His characters like Romeo and Juliet is still stands as an epitome of love. But what we are going to look upon is Shakespeare’s women character. He showed women in a different perspective even in sixteenth century.

Shakeapearean women

Portia from Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare designed her as a driving force for the action of play. To woo Portia, Bassanio went to Antonio for help, which made Antanio to get money from Shylock. But the real weightage of Portia’s character is revealed when she wins the case of Antonio and Shylock by arguing intelligently in the court. She is the example of Shakespearean witty women character.

Roselind from As You Like It, she is a courageous women who left the palace to find her love Orlando. She disguised herself and went to the forest. She even tests Orlando of his love towards her. She is an example of courageous Shakeapearean women character.

Desdimona from Othello is the meek women who died just because of her husbanb’s suspicious thoughts. She didn’t do any wrong, but accused of love affair and at last killed because of misunderstanding. She comes under the meek women characters of Shakespeare.

Goneril and Regan from King Lear are the evil and manipulating women. They are the reason for the downfall of King Lear and the death of their sister Cordelia. Cleopatra from Antony and Cleopatra also the awe-inspiring women who manipulates the great emperors like Julius Caesar and Antony and shattered the great Rome empire. One should not present the positive side alone but also the negative side, which might be the reason why Shakespeare created this manipulating and evil women characters.

To phrase it nice, we could name Shakespeare as the lowkey feminist. He created such women character to explain that women are capable of everthing, they are witty and intelligent and they are full of knowledge. What is your favourite women character of Shakespeare? Let me know in the comments.

The Verts

All the people in the world have type of personality traits that they sometimes acquire themselves and others they get it genetically from their parents. Because of these specific personality traits they get the personality which describes them as an outgoing person or a staying in person. The kind of places they like to visit, the kind of activity they like doing while free, they way they act in front of a group of people, the fears that they have and the kind of friends they make all describe their personality type. The type of personality sometimes is very descriptive in it-self and is easy to recognize but other times it tough to the read a person and they themselves might not be aware of the kind of personality they own.

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Introverts=

These are the people who like to stay in their homes mostly and they do not like socialising or meeting people on daily basis. They avoid any social or public gatherings many times so as to avoid any more than necessary human contact. They like having their “me time” as away from world affair, like reading a book or watching their favourite movie or show rather than going out and meeting people. They have a small circle of friends and they hardly know more than names of their own family members sometimes. They have their favourite person and they are happy with just that one person most often. They generally take time in befriending someone and can still be quit in that new found friendship and they just like it that way.

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Extroverts=

This personality’s people generally like going out with their friends, colleges, neighbours, basically everyone. They have the gift of befriending anyone and everyone. They could talk to, hang out with everyone. They like spending time with the people outside the four walls of their home and they are mostly party animals and like socialising. They do not spend their “me time” inside their rooms rather they go outside in the want of exploring something new and getting to know new people. They have huge friends circle and even manage to hang out with all of them in even one day. They love social gatherings for the reason that they meet new people in them.

Ambiverts=

With a lot of introverts and extroverts, the individuals usually forget about the people who have the traits of them- the Ambiverts. They are the people who are somewhat introverts and somewhat extroverts. They like having their “me time” alone but also do not avoid social gatherings. They could talk to anyone if they want but also sometimes are in the want to avoid human contact. They could become friends with anyone and hang out with them but on some days they just want to be with their best friend and that is whole for them. They could roam around the city if they like but also come back home to their cup of coffee all alone gazing the stars.  Because of the mixed personality traits of introverts and extroverts, they usually aren’t counted in any of the two personalities. They are most often to choose either of them and in failing to do so they went the term ambivert which describes now as the third personality trait with distinct characterstics.

Time Heals Everything

Past two years have all been about deaths and losing our loved ones. It is nobody’s fault yet everybody had to pay. We might have been able to get the statics about the number of people who left us forever but there can never be the data regarding the emotions that accompanied those deaths. Some lost their parents, some their children, some their grandparents, some their brothers and sisters and others their friends and some their life partners. But one thing that is common among them is the vacuum they all feel in their lives and hearts with the loss of their loved ones. It is said that time heals everything, that people move on as time passes but can we really say that these people who lost their loved ones? One moment they were there smiling and the next moment they were in the hospital begging for oxygen, waiting for their turns on their death beds. Can we say them to be okay?

The fact that death is inevitable and the only truth of the life is all accepted but the suddenness with which individuals lost their family can never make them accept the truth of the life. They all had it in one moment and the next second they lost it altogether forever. They are left with a hole in their hearts, cried their eyes out, breath their lungs out for the people they lost to the havoc of the pandemic and with what fault? That they were not able to arrange oxygen for them in time or that they were poor to even afford an ambulance or that they just decided to wait long enough? No. Their mistake was to believe that the pandemic a conspiracy by some nation against them, their mistake was to accept the fact that covid is dangerous, their mistake was socializing when government even rolled out advisory, their mistake was that they left their home and their mistake was that they were naive enough to commit these stupid mistakes.

Now, as the world is getting towards normalcy, as the citizens are getting back at their lives as did before the pandemic hit the world, they want to believe that everything will be all fine, they want to have faith and hope in their lives ahead. Though it is difficult to even think of lives without our loved ones in it, it is far more difficult to even live the pain, but they will have to. Life has always been beautiful for one or the other reason, they had always been able to cope in one way or the other but this time it might be different but they have to for this is the right thing. They have to live on, for themselves, for their loved ones, for they live within them and live through them. They are allowed to miss them for they love them, but aren’t allowed to step back, to become fragile and lose what they are left with. They need to hang in there for it is the right thing to do, for no matter how hard one is affected, time indeed heals everything.

The Habit of Reading

We have heard people telling us to read books for improving ourselves. There are a number of different books that people read so as to be in the habit of reading. Sometimes people read to entertain themselves and other time they read to pass their time and further some might read to improve their knowledge of certain language. There can be a lot of reasons of reading books and all of them are certainly justifiable. But very often it has been observed that people don’t actually read but they just put it in their resumes to look more apt for the jobs they apply for. But why do people insist on including the reading habit in their resumes even when they don’t really read? The answer is that people know the importance of reading but they hardly care to actually read. Some people believe it to be highly boring when they have to read and thereby completely ignoring the benefits of reading.

With reading our knowledge of a certain language improves. There are examples where people who are indulged in reading are better off in communicating their thoughts in a particular language as they read in that language. When people read in one language they usually start thinking and then conversing in that language. They get a hold of a certain language just by reading in that language. Reading not only improves their vocabulary but also help them enhance their overall knowledge. Reading just not mean reading novels, or books but it might also mean reading blogs, news etc, which enhances their knowledge and makes them smarter than they were before they started reading. Reading gives a person a sought of confidence that they get because of the knowledge which they achieve as they feel more comfortable in participating in intelligent conversation for they have their own say now.

The habit of reading as some might believe or some might not but teaches the art of patience. For to complete a thriller novel you cannot skip to the end or reach to the climax as some might do in movies and web series, for you need to follow the story word by word, sentence by sentence and page by page, so as to feel the euphoria of finally getting to the end. This euphoria can be achieved only by the art of patience as taught by reading. Reading improves our level of concentration for it is important to focus only on the story while reading it for we would be lost if we lose if slightest of our attention away from it. Reading improves our attention span and gives us some major focus goals. We see people reading while travelling in metro, while waiting for someone, just before going to sleep, all of this and more proves how entertaining reading could be. The best possible thrill, excitement, emotions of happiness, sadness, love, hate and others that reading make us feel are surely something we cannot even experience through some movie or other digital works.

Digital And Text Based Literacy

Meaning And Introduction

The field of literacy studies has made many of us take a deeper look into the similarities and differences between text based and digital literacy. It seems not only through the literature but also by observation as a classroom practitioner that there are certain elements and conflicts between digital literacy and text based literacy that need to be combed through by educators in the field.

One of the most powerful lessons we’ve learned through our work with schools is the importance of doing the work we ask our students to do. Nothing helps us anticipate misunderstandings or understand the strategic support our students will need as much as stepping into their shoes, and doing the reading, writing, and thinking they will do as part of upcoming instruction. The approach to these said instructions is what one may categorize into digital literacy and text based literacy.

Similarities And Dissimilarities

There are a number of similarities between digital and text based literacy, one of them being, both have a common goal, which is, to gather information and communicate effectively. Digital literacy means having the skills you need to live, learn, and work in a society where communication and access to information is increasingly through digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices. While, text literacy is the ability to gather information to communicate using text. The common goal in both the cases is clearly somewhat similar, just the catalyst is different.

From school to the workforce, digital literacy is vital in many areas of life — but simply, having it is an absolute necessity for anyone who uses the internet. Sometimes forms and applications are only available online, so you’ll need to be comfortable accessing and using them. In short, digital literacy is a necessary skill for navigating in our modern, digital world.

Advantages And Disadvantages

Text based literacy has many advantaged over digital literacy. Text based materials are available all the time, regardless of not being in a good internet zone. Text based materials are not as expensive, But its limitation says, they are not as interactive as digital literacy might be. Also, text based literacy works merely on facts and memorization and has zero scope of innovations and ideas, unlike digital literacy.

Importance Of Effective Communication Skills

Contemporary World

People feel generally competent and confident when discussing matters of communication. Some perceive communication as one of the fundamental differences between human and other animal species, and as the very element that led to human change, development, adaptation, and domination. But to try and define such a broad term is a difficult task – one that many scholars have undertaken. The essence of communication though can be expressed in simple words: communication is the transfer of thoughts, feelings, ideas, and opinions from one person to another (or to a group of others) through specific channels.

The Virtual Scenario

Virtual communication clearly has many advantages including increased productivity, reduced business costs and a better work/life balance of the workforce. However, virtual communication also entails numerous challenges and obstacles which are often neglected in light of the benefits.

When communication is effective, it leaves all parties involved satisfied and feeling accomplished. By delivering messages clearly, there is no room for misunderstanding or alteration of messages, which decreases the potential for conflict. In situations where conflict does arise, effective communication is a key factor to ensure that the situation is resolved in a respectful manner. How one communicates can be a make or break factor in securing a job, maintaining a healthy relationship, and healthy self-expression.

In contemporary virtual  scenario, effective communication  fosters trust with others. Your ability to listen attentively and embrace different points of view helps others trust that you are making optimal decisions for everyone in the group. The ability to communicate effectively plays a large role in resolving conflicts and preventing potential ones from arising. The key is to remain calm, make sure all parties are heard and find a solution that is ideal for everyone involved. With people feeling more confident in their work and in their understanding of what they need to do, they become more engaged with their work as a whole. To cite a day-to-day example, video-conference with clients on another continent or even replying to a flood of emails for that matter, can be two of the very prominent instances, one may come across quite frequently.

A video-conference with clients on another continent, can be best accomplished only with one’s spontaneous communication skills, virtually. It is definitely not as easy as it may seem in an authentic face-to-face scenario.

The same holds true for online classes as well. Communicating with teachers, and students, virtually, isn’t as fun as it used to be in the past in a non-virtual scenario. To make situations like these more welcoming. One must have good communication skills and must know the right way to make use of it too. Being able to communicate effectively is one of the most important life skills to learn.

A MACBETHIAN ANALYSIS OF JOJI

Malayalam movies are getting wider audience attention since the development of OTT platforms. Even before that Malayalam film industry was also considered as one of the best industries among Indian film industries. Joji (2021) is one of such movie which gained worldwide attention through its plot, making and casting. This 2021 film was written by Shyam Pushkaran and directed by Dileesh Pothan. In the title itself the makers said it is ” inspired from Shakespeare’s Macbeth”.

The plot revolves around a wealthy family of three sons, their father , daughter in law and grandson Poppy in Kerala. Joji , the character played by Fahad Faasil is the youngest son of the family is the protagonist of the movie who has a negative shade. Joji along with his elder brothers Jomon and Jaison lead a submissive life under their dominating father Panachel Kuttappan. Bincy (Unnimaya Prasad) is the daughter in law of the family. Though the father of the family is old, he is fit and active in the family affairs. The elder sons aids him in agriculture and business, but Joji is financially dependent on the father and running unsuccessful ventures, where Bincy, wife of Jaison manages the household chores and is always in the kitchen. As the movie progresses Kuttappan meets with an accident while engaging in affairs in pond and become paralyzes. However Kuttappan returns home bed ridden and unable to speak. Joji was happy for this but his other brothers arrange for his last rites. But after a surgery the father’s condition gets improved. At this all both sons ask money from him for their ventures , but he rejects. Here, we can see that Bincy is the brain behind these actions by Joji and Jaison. Bincy shares her frustration and also triggers Joji by saying that ” your good days will be wasted on this kitchen slab”. Joji finally decides to kill the father. Then Joji replaces father’s daily medication, and this is witnessed by Bincy. Bincy and Jaison too secretly wishes for the death of their father. Finally the father, Kuttappan dies soon. After the death, Dr Felix, a family friend presides for the partition of the dead father’s estate. After this an encounter with an employer of the plantation results in the death of Jomon. This was also a murder by Joji. Over the next few days the family members finds that Joji is the killer of Jomon, but Joji denies the claim. Towards the end Joji attempts suicide by firing the same air gun he used for killing Jomon. In the suicide note left by Joji he blames the family members and society for all his acts. In the final scenes we can see that Joji survives in the hospital bed , while the police officer asks Joji to confess his crime by blinking his eyes, Joji forcefully does not blink and at this the movie comes to an end.

While analyzing Joji in the light of Macbeth, Joji can be identified as Macbeth, with his aim towards power. The tragic flaw of Macbeth was over ambition. Here Joji’s character also shows this same ambition and power and he needed independence from the dominating power of his father. Macbeth’s ambition began from the moment, when he witnessed and heard the witches. Their prediction was one of the reason for his change. In the same way Dr Felix addressed Joji as “rich” and this triggered Joji. Whereas the character of Bincy (Unnimaya) who is Joji’s sister in law, resembles all the characteristics of Lady Macbeth. By being a mute witness to Joji’s acts, she agrees to all his acts. While Joji longs for power and money, Bincy’s motive behind these acts are independence from the patriarchal family. Like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Joji and Bincy are the powerful characters who shares same dependence. Bincy clearly knows the state of mind of Joji. That’s why she says to Joji in his father’s funeral to “wear a mask and come”. Whereas other son Jomon is loyal to their father like Banquo, who was loyal to King Duncan, and in many ways Macbeth’s opposite.

After the murder Joji feels the same kind of frustration and confusion, which Macbeth felt. But on the other hand Bincy is portrayed as powerful than Joji. The dream of dead father, resembles Macbeth’s three apparitions and visions. His soliloquies in the closed room (Joji’s Palace) also resembles that of Macbeth’s. But he was not ready to reveal and confess his crime, that’s why he blamed the society for all his acts. There is a slight deviation in the characteristics of Joji from Macbeth. Macbeth is the one who always was the winner, and this made him greed. He believed that with his greatness in the battlefield he deserves the throne of Scotland. But on the other hand Joji is the one who is an engineering dropout, who doesn’t have any ambition, but only greed.

Towards the end Macbeth is stripped of “honor, love, obedience, troops of friends” and there is a kind of sympathy towards Macbeth in the end. But in this film, the police says to Joji that “you didn’t die, so it is trouble for you and us as well”. Even though Joji resembles the plot and narrative aspect of theatre, there are a lot of variations. With the praiseworthy performance of Fahad Fasil, Unnimaya, Sunny and other casts, Joji fits in the universe of Macbeth. Dileesh Pothan brilliantly fits Macbeth in the twenty first century universe with Joji’s palace. The music and cinematography makes this film a classic one.

THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND – BOOK REVIEW

Dr. Joseph Murphy has constructively written this book which intends to imbibe within the readers, the idea of – if you believe in something and picture it in the back of your mind, you remove the subconscious obstacles that prevent you from achieving your aim and your belief then turns into reality. Dr. Murphy’s book is inclusive of real life case studies and anecdotes, which adds to the facts check. The book serves as a manual to self confidence, unshakable self esteem, techniques to strengthen marriages, create true friendships, give up on bad habits, conquer inhibitions, earn wealth and get recognition. The book endorses techniques to remove fear from the mind and pave the road to success. Dr.Murphy has provided the readers with the golden tips to succeed at life.

The book consists of several chapters such as :

  1. The treasure house within you
  2. How your own mind works
  3. The miracle working power of your subconscious
  4. Mental healing in ancient times
  5. Mental healing in modern times
  6. Practical techniques in mental healing
  7. The tendency of the subconscious is lifeward
  8. How to get the results you want
  9. How to use the power of your subconscious for wealth
  10. Your right to be rich
  11. Your subconscious mind as a partner in success
  12. Scientists use the subconscious mind
  13. Your subconscious and the wonders of sleep
  14. Your subconscious mind and marital problems
  15. Your subconscious mind and your happiness
  16. Your subconscious mind and harmonious human relations
  17. How to us your subconscious mind for forgiveness
  18. How your subconscious removes mental blocks
  19. How to use your subconscious mind to remove fear
  20. How to stay young in spirit forever

The book has accurately explained about the two functions of the human mind – ‘conscious and subconscious’ and how both are necessary to be developed for well-being. It helped me realize how getting acquainted with both the aspects and working to strengthen them is essential. Understanding the things said to you be people on a daily basis, helps you to look at yourself from a different perspective altogether. This book has helped me convey the ideas of a can-do attitude, self evaluation and a will to complete my aims, to my conscious mind. It assisted me in understanding what enormous power one’s subconscious mind withholds. During my years of schooling, I had never purchased a philosophical guide because of the misinterpretation, that a mere book cannot be of much help, for one to make amendments in his or her life. Later I came across this particular book and slowly got engrossed into Dr. Murphy’s strategies of having faith in your subconscious mind. This book has the potential to answer many of our doubts which we are at times, unable to ask others. The examples listed out in the book, make the theories more believable and meaningful. The author has beautifully crafted the content by mentioning real life incidents wherein people have used their subconscious minds to resolve the problems faced by them. According to the Audience Rating Summary, this book has received 4.7/5 stars, which is commendable. In my opinion, The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind is definitely a must read for all bibliophiles.

Interpretation Of The Poem – MONEY

When I had money, money, O!

I knew no joy till I went poor;

For many a false man as a friend

Came knocking all day at my door.

Then felt I like a child that holds

A trumpet that he must not blow

Because a man is dead; I dared

Not speak to let this false world know.

Much have I thought of life, and seen

How poor men’s hearts are ever light;

And how their wives do hum like bees

About their work from morn till night.

So, when I hear these poor ones laugh,

And see the rich ones coldly frown

Poor men, think I, need not go up

So much as rich men should come down.

When I had money, money, O!

My many friends proved all untrue;

But now I have no money, O!

My friends are real, though very few.

This poem has been penned down by a Welsh poet and writer, William H Davies. He took first hand experience of being a poor man by travelling as a tramp or a hobo and singing on the streets to earn money. The present poem -Money, expresses the joy of being poor.

The poet intends to tell his readers that, when he possessed a lot of money, many friends would come knocking at his door to spend time with him. These were not his true friends as they were only stooped on his wealth and had got nothing to do with his friendship. His so called ‘friends’ would come over to his place, to grab advantage of his possessions and luxury. He did not realise their motive, until he got poor by giving up his affluence.

While he was rich, he would feel bound with social restrictions and unnecessary etiquettes. He used to feel trapped under the burden of mannerisms of the high classed. He described this feeling of his, by writing that, he felt like a child who owns a trumpet, but is disallowed to blow it as a man was dead. The poet does not wish to let his feelings be known by the outer world, because people are already under the influence that money is the sole route to happiness.

He wholeheartedly wishes, that the rich men must try going down to the status of poor men in order to experience real joy of life. According to him, the poor ones need to go up to the level of the rich men, because they are already enjoying the real happiness in life. He has noticed that, the rich men have a very vinegar aspect, they control their laughter and happiness in order to display themselves as composed and well mannered. But, the hearts of poor men are always light, since they express their contentment as they wish to, without the concern of what image they are portraying to the world.

Also, the people who used to visit the poet’s house masked as friends, all vanished after the poet gave up on his money. Hence, he realised that, those friends of his, were all untrue, since they were only interested in his money. After giving up all the wealth, he remained with a very few number of friends but those were all genuine ones.

Through this piece of writing, we can infer that happiness is the ultimate goal of life and money plays a minor role in it. This poem attempts to make us aware about the situations and ways in which one can experience the real happiness in life, apart from materialistic joy.

Nobel Prize For Literature – 2021

The Nobel prize ceremony is literature’s greatest show of the year and the jury ensures that only the best make it to the podium. Each year, the literature community is abuzz with speculations regarding the potential winner. The wait came to an end on Thursday when this year’s victor was declared.

About the Prize

The Nobel Prizes, which have been awarded since 1901, recognise achievement in literature, science and peace. As stated by Alfred Nobel in his will, the Nobel Prize in Literature is given to “the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” The 18-member Swedish Academy selects the Nobel Laureates in Literature. Nominations come from members of the Academy, members of literature academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former Nobel literature laureates, and the presidents of writers’ organisations. However, it is against the rules to nominate oneself.

Winner of 2021

Abdulrazak Gurnah was preparing a cup of tea in the kitchen of his Canterbury home on Thursday when he received the auspicious call, telling him that he had won the most esteemed prize in the field of Literature. He admitted, that he didn’t have the slightest idea that he was being considered for the award.

A novelist and academic based in the United Kingdom, Gurnah was bestowed with the Nobel Prize for his eminent contributions to literature. In the words of the academy, the prize motivation was “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”            

About the winner

Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Gurnah was displaced from his country and was forced to take refuge in Britain as a young teenager. His books pronouncedly detail the struggles of refugees who sought asylum in other countries. In the 1960s, the Arab Muslims fled Zanzibar to shield themselves from the oppressive regimes that persecuted their community. After reaching England, Gurnah found solace in writing which helped him cope with the loss of his home. He soon became a member of the faculty, at the University of Kent, following the completion of his studies in Canterbury. Gurnah proceeded to have an illustrious career in both academics and writing. The settings in his stories are diverse, ranging from East Africa under German colonialism to modern-day England. Many of Gurnah’s characters deal with the dilemma of leaving their old lives behind and prepare for the life to come, finding themselves in a gulf between cultures while confronting racism and prejudice. He has authored ten novels, throughout his life with three of them featuring in the Man Booker shortlists — “Memory of Departure,” “Pilgrims Way,” “Paradise”. The novels have left a profound impact all across the world, by highlighting the issues of migration, focusing mainly on uprooted people and the places they make their new homes. His work’s relevance has increased even more now, as the world witnesses the large-scale displacement of the Afghan natives.

Past Winners

Past winners have included novelists such as Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, poets such as Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky and Rabindranath Tagore, and playwrights including Harold Pinter and Eugene O’Neill.

Oscar Wilde – A Short Biography

Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After experimenting with different forms, he became one of the most accomplished playwrights in London in the early 1890s. It is quite difficult to encapsulate Wilde’s brilliance in a few short sentences as there is no dearth of literary accomplishments when it comes to him. In his lifetime, he carved a niche for himself churning out several, critically acclaimed masterpieces, the relevance of which are even profound to this day. He went on to make eminent contributions during the aesthetic and decadent movement, making him one of the most prolific writers of his era.

Early life 

Oscar Wilde was born to an Anglo – Irish couple in Dublin, Ireland on October 16, 1856. He had two siblings, an older brother named Willie, and a sister, Isola, who unfortunately died at the age of 10. Wilde’s mother, identified as an Irish nationalist and wrote under the alias, Speranza. She attracted many other intellectuals and artists who frequented her place. The seeds of art, culture and literature were sown in the Wilde kids’ lives quite early on. They learnt to appreciate scholarly conversations by mingling with the guests. Wilde’s childhood left a lasting impression on his life.

Till the age of nine, Wilde was homeschooled. He joined his brother later on at the Portora Royal School. His peers were awed by his disposition, while many considered him a prodigy for his speed reading abilities. 

Contributions to Literature

Wilde is most fondly remembered for the iconic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. He found great fame and fortune after releasing three very successful comedies-  Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Ernest. Also, he authored critical essays like Intentions (1891), and his long letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, several fairy tales and various proses. Later on, he diversified into shorter tales, publishing works like The Happy Prince and Other Tales. In 1891 he published two more collections, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories, and A House of Pomegranates. Wilde poured his unmatched wit and dazzling flamboyance into his stories which made his work incredibly engaging for the readers. His illustrious career made him a Victorian celebrity. 

Trial and Conviction 

Wilde’s life was riddled with problems as well as scandals. Although he was married and had two children, he led a double life by being a frequent visitor of male brothels. Homosexuality was a crime in the United Kingdom until the 1960s and the punishment meted out, if convicted, was severe. Lord Alfred Douglas and Oscar Wilde began an affair in secret. Douglas was a British poet and aristocrat, and also 16 years his junior. The romantic tryst was eventually uncovered and Douglas’ father put forth a public accusation by calling Wilde a ‘sodomite’. Wilde sued him for libel, subsequently lost and was found guilty of gross indecency arising from indulgence in homosexuality. Soon he was rounded up and sent to prison, where he spent two very difficult years. He first arrived at Newgate Prison in London and was later shifted to Pentonville Prison. The court had sentenced him to hard labour, which comprised of picking oakum and several hours of walking on the treadmill. After a few months, he was again moved to a different prison where the grueling conditions started taking a toll on his fragile health. On one such day, he collapsed from illness and hunger. The fall ruptured his ear drum, which played a major role in his eventual death.

Later Years 

Following his imprisonment, Wilde was shunned by society and left bankrupt. His immaculate public image was tarnished after the invasive court trials. He spent his last years in Europe, strolling in boulevards and drowning in his miseries. The little money he had was spent on alcohol. Wilde soon died of cerebral meningitis which stemmed majorly from his prison injury, leaving behind a rich legacy. He is a celebrated figure even today.

The Stranger by Albert Camus – A critical commentary

“My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know.”

The Stranger , Albert Camus

Albert Camus lures his readers in like a moth to a flame with his powerful diction, giving the reader a fair idea of the whirlwind of emotions they will be descending into. In this masterpiece, Camus puts forth the absurdity of life through the eyes of Meursault, a peculiar shipping clerk residing in French Algiers. It doesn’t shy away from exploring difficult themes of death, dissociation, and sociopathy 

Part 1 

L’Étranger introduces us to Meursault, a man bearing an astonishingly apathetic worldview that is completely detached from society. We witness this when the protagonist doesn’t display any signs of mourning throughout his mother’s funeral instead, maintaining a stolidly indifferent demeanour while smoking a cigarette. This outlandish attitude is met with contempt and hatred from others.

Meursault is merely a spectator of the events around him, leading a life devoid of meaning and emotions. Through this narrative we examine his perceived alienation, relating it with how he is a stranger to the norms of society. 

Throughout this narrative, Meursault conducts himself absurdly and often immorally, not putting much effort to assimilate into the world around him. His indifference is mainly pointed towards women which are affirmed through many instances. He comfortably turns a blind eye to his friend’s ex-girlfriend who was brutally beaten, his loveless relationship with his girlfriend which he pursued mainly for physical gratification and finally his refusal to mourn over his mother. 

The scorching Algerian sun is revealed to have some form of unusual hold over the protagonist that brings to the surface his irrationality.

Often calling the sun ‘oppressive’ and ‘inhuman’, it can be seen how the heat disorients him. The force of the sun eventually makes him commit murder. 

Part 2 

As the murder trial proceeded, the jury was aghast seeing Meursault’s utter lack of remorse for his actions and his disregard for human life. He talked about death in a frigid manner with his jailer, emphasising that death is an inevitable phenomenon. In his words, “I wasn’t unaware of the fact that it doesn’t matter very much whether you die at thirty or at seventy since, in case, other men and women will naturally go on living, for thousands of years even. Nothing was plainer, in fact. It was still only me who was dying, whether it was now or in twenty years’ time. “

Although after he is sentenced to death we see a paradigm shift in this attitude. The readers witness his cold exterior shattering when he realises that his time had come to an end. He is angry at the unfairness of the world, reproaching how he, a simplistic man with such little needs, is unfairly condemned to death. This rage-filled outburst is followed by passivity. While being isolated in a jail cell he is made aware of how he had isolated himself from the world. Upon a priest’s visit before his execution, Meursault’s aversion to religion is disclosed. He found no sense in religion but didn’t outrightly reject it either, believing that the world would descend into chaos without the principles of religion. After letting the priest know that he would rather not waste his last moments praying, he spent his time reflecting on his actions instead and contemplating the worthlessness of life. A newer, more intellectual Meursault was born, quite ironically, only mere moments before his death. He wished to break free from the alienation and hoped that his execution would attract a huge crowd.

Eventually coming to terms with his impending death, he concluded that he doesn’t regret anything and is ready to live his life all over again. 

Conclusion 

Leading a life sans personal values, morals kept Meursault satisfied. He went through his life without truly living. He questioned the purpose of life, declined the societal conventions and still managed to emerge happy, proving himself to the readers as an existentialist anti-hero.

About the Author – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22nd May, 1859 in Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland). He was a bristish writer and physician by profession. His early education was completed at Jesuit Preparatory School at Lancanshire. Later in life, he took education at Stella Matutina in Feldkirch. This was the period of time when he rejected the Catholic faith and turned agnostic.

Sir Arthur Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1876-1881. He also pursued practical botany at the Royal Botanic Garden. Sir graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery Degree from the University of Edinburgh and later obtained his Doctor of Medicine Degree. He worked as a ship surgeon during a voyage to West African Coast. Later on, he began practicing independently and while waiting for his clients, he would write literary content. Sir Arthur also tried his hands on Opthalmology but his efforts did not turn out successful.

At the age of 27, he wrote his first successful piece of writing – A Study In Scarlet. He received positive reviews in the Scotsman and Glasgow Herald. Sir Arthur created the iconic character – Sherlock Holmes, by trying to mirror his former University teacher, Joseph Bell. He wrote a plethora of Sherlock Holmes and Watson series and decided to discontinue it. He felt, these two major characters is all what his stories revolved around and that is distracting him from other topics. This prominent writer attempted to raise the price of his Sherlock Holmes writings in order to check whether his audience would still buy his writings. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that, his readers were ready to pay larger sums to read more of Sherlock Crime Fiction. Hence, he became one of the finest paid authors.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has written five narratives, short stories, novels such as The White Company, The Sign of Four, and works for the stage such as The Waterloo, The Speckled Band, etc.

He has been honoured with several awards such as – Knight of Grace of the most venerable order of the hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, Queens’s South Africa Medal, Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy, Order of the Medjidie.

Sir Arthur succumbed to a heart attack on 7th July, 1930 in East Sussex at the age of 71. He was buried in Minstead Churchyard in Hampshire. A statue in the honour of the writer has been constructed at Crowborough and a statue of the character Sherlock Holmes has also been raised at Edinburgh. Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is not physically present today, his remarkable writings still continue to be read by masses.

COPING STRATEGIES ADOPTED DURING LOCKDOWN

GOOD SAY OR BAD ADOPTING COPING STRATEGIES OR HOBBIES ARE THE THING ON WHICH NOBODY HAS A CONTROL OVER DURING THE LOCKDOWN.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown measures have created unprecedented circumstances that increase stress and anxiety, thus leading individuals experiencing home confinement to adopt various coping strategies that contribute to building resilience. Given the novelty and recency of the COVID-19 lockdown, factors of coping and resilience in this specific context of home confinement remain undefined. Some put this time in effective routine to get good result but there were some who waste their time with some bad coping strategies.

SOME COPING STRATEGIES WERE-

  • COOKING– people have learnt to cook for them-self. People who live alone and deprived from the food delivery option have taken up the ladle, some who have no choice and some who see this as a opportunity to learn or put their confined time to some effective work or activity.
  • DUSTING AND CLEANING- people have to take this activity without any choice as with this lockdown and without any house help their hands were tied or say only their hands were the one left to do the job. Some saw this as an opportunity to cover their missed fitness routine and some did because they didn’t have any choice but to keep their house clean.
  • READING- This is one of the good coping strategies people have taken up in this lockdown. Prior to this covid-19 lockdown, people with their busy and anxious schedule and working hours with no time left to give to literature or reading has taken this opportunity for an mind relaxing time with reading .
  • SCREEN TIME – This is the most adopted and with too much used time, it’s seen as and become a bad coping strategy and habit especially during this lockdown. Most people coped this confined and with too much time on digital screen with movies, shows and net etc, under these most people are kids and students with no school and colleges.
  • YOGA – Yoga during this lockdown has replaced the gym for fitness routine and mental health also. Some has adopted it to replace the gym but some ha adopted it to relax their mind from this anxious and confined situation. And surprisingly during lockdown it has become a big hit among all age of people from kids to adult and old people also.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – AGATHA CHRISTIE

Known Mysterious Incident About “the queen of crime” except her famous novels.

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time.

She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Agatha Christie is one of the greats of mystery literature. For eleven days, she was at the center of her own mystery, that got international headlines. Unlike the plots in her brilliant books, the motives underpinning this particular storyline are rather vague.

The characters of this real and known incidents were the Two of Britain’s most famous crime writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey series and herself (Agatha Christie” the queen of crime”).

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S DISAPPEARANCE CASE

WHAT DO WE KNOW-

On the December night of 3rd,1926 she drove away from her home in Berkshire and vanished completely. Her car was found abandoned and a huge manhunt was launched. Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories and Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey series, participated in the search. Their specialist knowledge, it was hoped, would help find the missing writer.

Her disappearance would spark one of the largest manhunts ever mounted. Agatha Christie was already a famous writer and more than one thousand policemen were assigned to the case, along with hundreds of civilians.

Agatha Christie’s disappearance prompted a nationwide search and for the first time in UK history, aeroplanes were employed as part of the search effort.

Newspapers offered rewards for information and her husband Archie was suspected of foul play.

The Home Secretary, William Joynson-Hicks, urged the police to make faster progress in finding her.

It didn’t take long for the police to locate her car. It was found abandoned on a steep slope at Newlands Corner near Guildford. But there was no sign of Agatha Christie herself and nor was there any evidence that she’d been involved in an accident.

Not until 14 December, fully eleven days after she disappeared, was Agatha Christie finally located. Eventually, it was revealed that Christie had absconded to Harrow gate via train, where she spent eleven days hobnobbing with the young social crowd under the name of her husband’s mistress. Christie, upon being discovered, says she had no memory of the events.

The Speculations–

  • Agatha Christie rarely talked about the incident, simply putting it down to about of temporary amnesia caused by a blow to the head.
  • The consensus of opinion at the time was that the whole affair (no pun intended) was an act of revenge aimed at her erring husband.
  •  Recent researches on her medical condition suggest that she was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. She died of natural causes in early 1976.

To Read List (Sci-fi)

“Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all gravities of terrestrial life.”

-H.g Wells
See the source image

Introduction

Sci-fi is perhaps one of the coolest literary genre, that is widely read. Scientific fiction encompasses the vast abyss of human imagination that manifests itself in an astounding blend of creativity and literature. Sci-fi stories have a wide variety of themes, they can be based on absolute facts or be a figment of someone’s imagination as well. Fictitious sci-fi stories can include aliens, a world based in space, time travel, strange inventions and weird creatures as well.

Sci-fi might be hard or soft. Hard sci-fi is based on the real world with less novel elements. Soft sci-fi, however, includes far fetched scientific technology.

Sci-fi requires ingenuity on part of writers and proper assimilation of the readers part. Sci-fi is probably one of the most interesting of the genera of the great literary canyon.

Curated below is a list of 4 interesting Sci-fi books that you can check out.

1. The Time Machine

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H.G Wells, renowned as ‘The Father of Sci-fi’, wrote ‘The Time Machine’, in 1895. In this extremely enthralling book, the protagonist goes on a time safari 800,000 years beyond his time. He is transported to an era of devastation and utter destruction of Earth, there he discovers two strange races ,the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks that manifest the terrifying future occupants of the planet and describe the dying humane in humanity.

An absolutely enthralling read, that has gripped readers throughout years.

2. Snow Crash

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Neal Stephenson’s, ‘Snow Crash’, is a riveting book that describes the parallel life of Hiro Protagonist in the real world and the Metaverse. Delivering pizzas for  Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc. in the ordinary world, a warrior prince in the Metaverse. The story takes pace as he crusades through a volley of mysterious computer viruses. He strives to prevent utter destruction by bringing down the ultimate virtual villains.

The story meanders through technical know how of computers and is an absolutely thrilling read.

3. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

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Christopher Paolini’s, ‘ To Sleep in a Sea of Stars ‘, revolves around Kira Navárez, who dreams of life beyond the scape of Earth, in new unchartered worlds. When during a survey mission on a planet, Kira stumbles across an alien relic, although thrilled at first, Kira soon comes to dread her discovery as the ancient relic begins to move around her.

With Earth in great jeopardy and a war brimming amongst the stars, Kira experiences a life altering journey. With her being the ultimate hope, Kira must brave against all odds and delve into the expanse of the universe to bring about order.

4. Cinder

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Marissa Meyer’s, ‘Cinder’, is a riveting tale of a girl Lihn Cinder, a mechanic in New Beijing, the capital of the Eastern Commonwealth, s, who is a cyborg i.e. she is half mechanical, has prosthetic limbs and a complex wiring of internal organs. New Beijing is a place that faces consistent scourge of plagues. In this retelling of Cinderella, humans and androids coexist. When the heir to the throne of the Commonwealth, Prince Kai requires Kai’s help to fix his android, their lives take a thrilling turn. With her mysterious past and a strange Lunar people waiting for ambush from the space, Cinder must traverse through several trials to save the fate of her people and perhaps even the entire world.

A sci-fi twist to the classic Cinderella.

Importance of Meditation

When we hear the word meditation, we feel like we have to get immersed in a deep concentration. We feel like we have some magical powers for the same. But today I am here to brief you about what meditation is. It is a calm and lovable state of mind. It is a journey of slowing your thinking process and also a path towards positive thinking. So, meditation is a state of mind which should incorporated in your life. In times of crisis, where the pandemic has significantly affected our mental health ,we should spare at least 5 mins wherein we could sit in peace, let the thoughts and emotions flow. 

Photo by Prasanth Inturi on Pexels.com

So yes , it is rightly said that we thrive every moment to turn our lives into a positive direction. 
But only a calm, relaxed and blissful mind can pave the way for a successful and well lived experience on this planet. To do so , we have to acknowledge and adopt meditation in our culture.

Now let’s take a look at some benefits of meditation 1- regular meditation helps in coping with anxiety attacks- practicing meditation decreases grey matter in the areas of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, and increases grey matters in areas where compassion and love exist. 

2- helps in getting rid of unwanted/ negative thoughts- As an idol is created after removing unwanted stones, in the same way, meditation helps you to remove unwanted thoughts and a beautiful personality comes before everyone. 

3-Meditation improves concentration and memory- the calmer the mind is , the more you can focus on things and see them clearly ; which also makes it easier to remember. 

4- increases your productivity- when you’re in a peaceful state of mind , you would be able to determine which tasks are most important and which aren’t urgent.

To conclude, when we start meditating we start seeing significant changes in our life. Therefore, start meditating today to live a stress free , productive life.

LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE OF NORTHERN INDIA

The languages were evolved at two levels namely the spoken and the written language. The old Brahmi script of Ashoka has uneven letter size by the period of Harsha, the size of letters become even and regular. By comparing the scripts of Hindi, Gujarati, and Punjabi, we can easily discover the changes of how they slowly developed over a long period. About 200 languages are prevailing for spoken languages in India. But some of the languages are spoken in only particular regions. Out of these only 22 languages have been recognized by our constitution. Hindi is spoken by different people in different forms. Rajasthani, which is a language spoken in Rajasthan is another variant of Hindi. This classification is based on the literature written by several poets over years. The Hindi that is spoken now is called Khadi Boli. In the 13th century, Khusrau has used Khadi Bholi in his compositions. But the extensive use of Hindi has started in the 19th century and also it shows some influences of Urdu.

PERSIAN AND URDU:

By the end of the 14th century AD, Urdu emerged as an independent language. By the existence of Turks and Mongols in India, Arabic and Persian were introduced. Urdu was served as an interaction between Hindi and Persian since Persian served as a court language for many centuries. After the conquest of Delhi (1192), the Turkish people acquired this region and slowly Urdu has become a formal language. As time passes, many people around Hindi started speaking Urdu. It became more popular in the early 18th century. Poetry in Urdu is also written by some Mughal emperors.

Khusrau(1253-325) is the earliest known Urdu poet. He was a follower of Nizam ud-din Auliya and he was a poet in the court of Sultan Balban. About 99 works have been completed by him. Laila Majnun and Ayina- I-Sikandari dedicated to Alau-din-Khalji was the most popular works written by him. Ghalib, Zauq, and Iqbal were the other well-known poets in that period. Iqbal’s “SareJahann se achcha Hindostan Hamara” is sung in many national celebrations of India. The Nawabs of Lucknow patronized the Urdu language and slowly it reached its height and now it has been adopted by the Pakistanis as their state language.

Most of the literature was written in Persian since Persian was the language of court during that period. Amir Khusrau and Amir Hasan Dehelvi wrote poetries in Persian. The account of kings, important political events, and incidents during that period was written in Persian by the historians like Minhas-us-Siraj and Zia Barani, and Ibn Batuta. The tuzuk(autobiography) of Babar is originally written in Turkish by him. But later it was translated to Persian by his grandson Akbar. He patronized many scholars and got Mahabharata translated to Persian. Another unique piece of literature in Persian is Jahangir’s autobiography (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri). The history of Akbar is dealt in it. Abul Fazl’s Akbarnamah and Ain-e-Akbari. Another good piece of poetry was written by Faizi. The Shahjahan’s days were written by Chandra Bhan. By the 20th century, Iqbal wrote some good poetry. All of these have become a part of Indian culture.

HINDI LANGUAGE:

During this time, there was growth in many regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Marathi, and Gujarati. The 1st book in Hindi was Prithviraj Raso. It dealt with the exploits of Prithviraj Chauhan. The language has undergone several changes as the area where it was originally spoken expands. Many Hindi writers had looked to Sanskrit classics for guidance while writing literature. Due to the influence of the Bhakti movement in southern India, many poetries and prose written in Hindi were affected. Between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, the Hindi language has evolved during the Apabhramsa stage. This was characterized as Veergatha Kala (early period). Many Rajput rulers have patronized the poetry written in this period. Kabir and Tulsidas were the famous figures of this period. Surdas wrote Sur Sagar in which he talks about Lord Krishna as an infant. The festivals of Rama and Krishna are still celebrated grandly. Another important poet in this period was Nandadasa. Rahim and Bhushan wrote spiritual stories. In the 17th century, Bihari wrote Satsai which talks about shringar(love).   

Many writers have contributed to the development of modern Indian literature over the last 150 years. And in 1913, Rabindranath Tagore Tagore became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for literature (Geetanjali). Hindi prose came into its own during the 19th century. Bharatendu Harishchandra and Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi translated the works in Hindi from Sanskrit and other languages. Vande Mataram, a patriotic song in Sanskrit was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterji (l 838-94). IT was later translated to Hindi and became very popular. Swami Dayananda has also contributed to the growth of the Hindi language. His SatyarthaPrakash was the important literature. Mahadevi Verma was awarded Padma Vibhushanis the first woman writer in Hindi to highlight issues related to women. Maithili Sharan Gupt is another important name. Jaishankar Prasad wrote beautiful dramas.

HINDI LANGUAGE MAKES PROGRESS IN MODERN PERIOD:

By the end of the 18th century, the development of modern language was started. The main writers of this period were Sadasukh Lal, Inshallah Khan, and Bhartendu Harishchandra. Shakuntala is translated to Hindi by Raja Lakshman Singh. Many proses of Hindi literature were written by Bhartendu Harish Chandra, Mahavira Prasad Dwivedi, Ramchandra Shukla, and Shyam Sunder Das. A great contribution to the development of Hindi poetry was given by many poets like Jai Shanker Prasad, Maithalisharan Gupta, Sumitranandan Pant, Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, Mahadevi Verma, Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ and Haribans Rai ‘Bacchan’ made a great contribution to the development of Hindi poetry. Prem Chand, Vrindavan Lal Verma, and Ellachandra Joshi were great novel writers of Hindi. 

LITERATURES OF SOUTH INDIA

LITERATURE

     Literatures is a piece of writings that are valued as a word of art. The literature works maybe novels, plays, or poems, fiction or non-fiction that have long-lasting importance. It is also known as the preserved writings of a certain language or people. It is used to describe anything from the creative works including any technical works, scientific works. Fictional literature includes plays, poems, short stories, and songs. The non-fictional literature includes biographies, autobiographies, essays, newspapers, journals, essays, and diaries. The four Dravidian languages in India had developed their works of literature. These Dravidian languages are Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.

TAMIL LITERATURE

     Tamil, being the oldest language among these developed the Sangam literature. Sangama literature is the oldest literature in Tamil. Tamil as a written language came into light during the Christian era. The literature of the Tamil language was compiled together in 600 AD. The poets in the assemblies who helped in gathering the Sangam literature over 3 to 4 centuries were patronized by the kings and chieftains. Poets from various parts of south India gathered in Madurai and these assemblies are known as sangams and the literature produced in these assemblies is known as “Sangama literature”. The Sangam literature was the collection of poems and songs written by different poets praising the heroes and heroines. This literature was unique and high in quality. Three sangams were held. The literature collected in the first Sangam was lost. About 2000 poems with more than 30000 lines of poetry have been found in the second Sangam.

     There were two main groups. They are Pathinenkilkanaku and Pathinenmelkanaku. The eight anthologies named Ettuthogai and the ten songs named Patthupaatu come under Pathinenmelkanaku. Pathinenkilkanaku has eighteen works about ethics and morals. The most important work among these is Thirukural written by Tiruvalluvar. Thirukural is divided into three parts. The first part deals with epics, the second part deals with polity and government, and the last part deals with love. Besides this Sangam literature, there is a work named Tholkaapiam which deals with grammar and poetry. Around the 6th century, there were two famous epics namely Silapathikkaram and Manimegalai. During the 6th to 12th century, Tamil devotional poems written by Alwars and Nayanmaars impacts the Bhakti movement. Kambaramayanam and Periya puraanam were two literaaly classic works.

TELUGU LITERATURE

     The golden age of Telugu literature was the Vijayanagara period. Uttaraharivamsam, a literary work was produced by the court poet, Nachana Somanatha. Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529), wrote an excellent prabandha named Amukta Malyada. Ashtadiggajas, eight Telugu literature were popular works in his court. Among them, literature named Manucharitram, by Allasani Peddana was the greatest. He was known as Andhra kavitapitamaha. Some of the author’s and their literature in Telugu are listed below:

  • Dhurjati – Kalahasteeswara Mahatmayam and Kalahasteeswara Satakam
  • Pingali Surana – Raghavapandaviyam and Kalapuranodayam
  • Ramakrishna – Panduranga Mahatmayam
  • Ramarajabhushana – Vasucharitram, Narasabhupaliyam and Harishchandra Nalopakhyanam.
  • Madayagari Mallana – Rajashekharacharitra
  • Ayyalaraju Ramabhadra – Ramabhyudayam and Sakalakathasara Sangraham.

KANNADA LITERATURE

       Apart from Telugu, Vijayanagaras’s extended their patronage over Kannada and Sanskrit writers. Kannada literature was contributed by many Jain scholars. After the 10th century AD, the Kannada language was developed. The Kannada literatures in this period are Dharmanathapurana by Madhava, Dharma Parikshe by Uritta Vilasa, Kavirajamang by Rashtrakuta king, Nripatunga Amoghavarsha, Adi Purana and Vïkramarjiva Vijaya by Pampa, Shanti Purana by Ponna, and Ajitanatha Purano by Ranna. The title of Ratnatraya was given to Pampa, Ponna, and Ranna.

       During the 13th century, many literary works were developed in Kannada. Some of them are Harishchandra Kavya and Somanatha Charita by Harishvara, Harivamshabhyudaya and Jiva Sambodhana by Bandhuvarma, Jagannathavijaya by Rudra Bhata, Madana Vijaya by Andayya, and Suktisudharnava by Mallikarjuna. The first Rama Katha in Kannada composed based on Valmiki’s Ramayana named Tarave Ramayana was written by Narahari. Sarvajna’s aphoristic tripadi (three-lined) compositions serve as a source of wisdom and ethics. Honnamma was the first outstanding poetess in Kannada. She wrote Hadibadeya Dharma (Duty of a Devout Wife).

MALAYALAM LITERATURE

       The people of Kerala and the surrounded areas speak Malayalam. The language of Malayalam emerged in the 11th century AD and become an independent language in the 15th century. A commentary on Arthashastra and Kokasandisan are two great works written by Bhasa Kautilya. Rama Panikkar and Ramanuj were two great authors of Kannada literature. Malayalam has a powerful form of expression even though it has emerged lately. People always enjoy writing in their mother tongue. Nowadays, many newspapers and magazines are published in the magazine.

WHY READING IS IMPORTANT IN TODAY’S WORLD

Amidst our daily lives filled with activities throughout our entire day from the crack of dawn to dusk, we often find ourselves multi-tasking with little to no time for our own wellness. Our constant need for checking social media instead for trying to gather more knowledge and trying to learn new things has not helped much in improving the situation at all. When was the last time you picked up a book and were actually able to finish it? Certainly we may not always have time to read books in our busy schedules. However, trying does not hurt at all. Reading is an activity that might have picked up ever since we were kinds. It is actually a privilege; being able to read and write is a privilege in itself. But sometimes we severely fail to acknowledge this.

Photo of Opened Book

Reading comes with a variety of benefits. Some of them are discussed as follows:-

HELPS IMPROVE CONCENTRATION AND FOCUS

As multi-task away our days into oblivion, when we actually nothing getting done at times, it can be quite frustrating when we are just trying to do our best. We might get distracted by that twitter notification or that whatsapp message from the friend’s group planning a reunion.This results us in losing our focus and make us completely forget what we were actually doing in the first place. However, reading can really help us solve this issue at hand. A number of studies have shown that reading around 15-20 minutes a day can significantly improve your focus and concentration levels to a maximum.

Boy in Gray Jacket Reading Book

So, read a book to focus on your everyday tasks better!

MAKES US EMPATHETIC

Woman in White Shirt Reading Book

Reading a book about the experiences of everyday racism tolerate by African-american people may help us understand the major problem of the world that affects these innocent souls at a massive scale. Certainly, in such cases, books may help us to become more empathetic towards the way we observe and perceive things in our life. We may become kinder and compassionate to our fellow beings, all thanks to our books.

So, make the world a better place by initiating a change and start reading!

#3 MAKES US BETTER AT COMMUNICATION

Readings book can actually make us a better communicator. This is evident through the fact that a we read books, knowing about stories, differing point of views, they offer us common ground for analysing the various side of arguments. This may help us in our everyday conversations as we are often able to understand the situations in better manner, keeping in mind not only our requirements but that of the other parties as well. This helps us communicate without any chances of misunderstandings and makes sure that the conversation is fruitful and productive.

Man Reading Book

Furthermore, reading also makes us an interesting person too. People would often prefer and like to interact with the ones that have knowledge about what they are saying and actually understand the depth of their words.

In conclusion, we can say that reading may be life-changing for the ones who try it. So,try reading to understand people and even yourself better!

Tips to learn a new language faster

Learning a new language often considered as really tough task, but is it true? Maybe for some, but the real truth is if followed right resources and direction is definitely an task to do so. So for this here are some tips that might help you.

1) Know about the language that you are going to learn

By writing this I mean one should know what language is he or she going to learn. If you have clear idea of what actually you are going to learn will help you to set almost perfect goals which will ultimately help you to do what you want.

2) Set goals

Setting goals to learn a new language will help you to go far and keep yourself ahead. Goal setting should be done after being familiar by the subject.

3) Set small goals

Setting small goals will help you to complete your work on given time. Setting small goals will also help you to analyse yourself and keep your records on track.

4) Analyse yourself

Analysing is an art if done properly will take you way to far. Whenever do things do them on time and analyse what mistakes you make or what are the problem that you have encountered.

5) Challenge yourself

This part will help you to grow. grow beyond your limits. But one thing to keep in mind while doing so is do not challenge yourself more than what will harm you. Doing this in moderation will definitely help but if done excessive will also harm.

6) Use the language as frequently as you can

If you do so it will help you to retain things faster. It will also help you to clear your vocabulary and pronunciation and also will help you to keep everything you learn stored in your brain for a long time.

7) Test yourself

At the end complete your learning and test your self this will help you to know how much you have learn about the language.

Hope you will like my blog follow the steps and go ahead. Happy learning!

How to become A Leader

Photo by Rebrand Cities on Pexels.com

Transformational leaders are positive, empowering, and inspiring. They value followers and inspire them to perform better. So what can you do to embrace these valued leadership qualities and become a stronger and more effective leader?

Understand Your Leadership Style: Understanding your current leadership style is essential. What are your strengths? Which areas need some improvement? One way to start assessing your skills is to take this leadership style quiz to get a general idea of how you lead.

Once you have completed the quiz, read about the major characteristics of your dominant style. Are these qualities helping or hindering your leadership? Once you’ve determined which areas need some work, you can begin looking for ways to improve your leadership abilities.

Encourage Creativity: One way to foster creativity is to offer challenges to group members, making sure that the goals are within the grasp of their abilities. The purpose of this type of exercise is to get people to stretch their limits but not become discouraged by barriers to success.

Show Passion: You can develop this leadership quality by thinking of different ways that you can express your zeal. Let people know that you care about their progress. When one person shares something with the rest of the group, be sure to tell them how much you appreciate such contributions.

Communicate Effectively: Another important quality of transformational leadership involves a focus on providing one-on-one communication with group members. Transformational leadership is effective when leaders are able to communicate their vision to followers, who then feel inspired and motivated by this vision.

Part of the trust-building process is creating an environment where it’s safe to take risks and allows you and your employees to comfortably exchange candid, honest and direct feedback without the fear of being punished.

It’s important you provide ample channels for two-way communication between employees and managers, and also solicit and reward them for their ideas and contributions. This facilitates progress toward reaching organizational goals. As a leader, you should foster trust and cooperation. Leaders can paint a vision of the future that inspires the team to do whatever it takes to get there.

And as a coach, you have to inspire action that will help execute that goal. Reinforce an honest and candid environment without taking information personally. Equally treat everyone like you would want to be treated.

Give credit where credit is due. Say “thank you,” be encouraging, and try to put yourself in their shoes to better understand their everyday challenges.

You have to support and assist your team. Give them the confidence to take risks and speak up without being punished.

When the mistake is yours, take ownership. Don’t try to blame someone else, the situation or a circumstance.

Be credible – people want to follow an honest leader. Be candid about why things didn’t work out, learn from the mistake and move on. People will trust someone who actively displays honesty. As you work toward developing some of these leadership qualities, don’t forget to look to your followers for feedback and inspiration. Pay attention to the things that have been effective in the past and always be on the lookout for new ways to inspire, motivate, and reward group members.

5 Classic Reads with a Female Protagonist

For a long time, the main protagonist in a book was a male. As reflected in the patriarchal values of times long gone, women were relegated to either secondary background roles or as love interest or a role relative to the male lead. Gradually, as the times began to change, more and more authors started giving female characters the spotlight too, until literature finally breached the gender divide with the inclusion of women protagonists. Particularly, books with young female leads and their experiences became popular.

Here are 5 classic stories with a young female protagonist you must read:

The Anne of Green Gables series

The Anne of Green Gables series

Ever since its first published book (Anne of Green Gables), the Anne of Green Gables series has been considered a popular classic, with the titular character Anne Shirley becoming one of the most popular female protagonists in literary history. The Anne of Green Gables series is written by the Canadian author Lucy Mond Montgomery (published as L.M. Montgomery). The series follows the story of Anne Shirley, an orphan taken in by middle-aged siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. The series follows her life and experiences with others as she grows up.

A Little Princess

A Little Princess

A Little Princess is another popular classic, and has a high-ranking book in a number of surveys. It is written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, a popular children’s writer A Little Princess follows the story of young Sara Crewe, a kind young girl sent to a lavish boarding school. The death of her father sees her fall into poverty and being treated horribly by the headmistress and her peers. Yet, Sara does not lose her kind and generous personality. A Little Princess is, at its heart, a story about staying strong in the face of adversity.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, commonly known as the Wizard of Oz is one of the most iconic literature pieces to come from the United States of America. The Wizard of Oz is written by Frank L. Baum, who went on to become one of the United States’ prolific children’s book writers with his Wizard of Oz series. The story follows Dorothy, who along with her dog Toto get caught up in a cyclone which transports them to a mysterious and magical land called Oz. Dorothy and Toto, along with their new allies, a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman and a Cowardly Lion embark on a journey to find the powerful Wizard of Oz, the only one who can solve their problems.

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca of Sunnybrook farm is written by Kate Douglas Wiggins, an American author for children. The story follows Rebecca Randall, who is sent to live with her mother’s sisters at their farm. The story follows her experiences with them and her journey from a child to a young lady, gaining knowledge and wisdom along the way.

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland requires no introduction. Though primarily made for children, its story appeals to adults to, even in this age. It is one of the world’s most popular stories and has been adapted multiple times in different formats. It follows the story of Alice, a young girl who follows a mysterious rabbit down a rabbit-hole to a magical fantasy world and follows her adventures there.

Enid Blyton’s Best Series

When English children’s literature is discussed, the name Enid Blyton is bound to be brought up sooner or later. Enid Blyton was a British author who is known worldwide for her books targeted towards children. Even today, decades after her death, her books can still be found in the children’s section of libraries across the world even today. Out of the numerous books she’s written, she is most famed for her series. They span various genres like fantasy, boarding school slice of life as well as mysteries.

Out of Enid Blyton’s book series, these are her most popular five ones:

The Famous Five series

The Famous Five series

The Famous Five is centered around siblings Julian, Dick, Anne and their cousin Georgina and her dog Timothy. The series is set during their school vacations and follows various adventures the Five experience in the English countryside.

The St. Clare’s series

The St. Clare’s series

The St. Clare’s series is the second school boarding school-based series written by Enid Blyton after the Naughtiest Girl series. The story follows two twin girls- Patricia and Isabel O’Sullivan and their journey as well as the journey of their friends and schoolmates at the boarding school of St. Clare’s. The series sees their growth from conceited and arrogant girls to dignified and kind young women. While the original series contained only 6 books, author Pamela Cox, who was responsible for continuing Enid Blyton’s unfinished works after her death, added 3 more titles to the series.

The Secret Seven series

The Secret Seven series

The Secret Seven series follows the adventures of a group of seven children- Peter, his sister Janet, and their friends Pam, Barbara, Jack, Colin and George. The friends form a secret group, which they call the Secret Seven and solve mysteries together. The Secret Seven is one of Enid Blyton’s rare series in which the characters do not attend boarding school; all seven of the children are shown to be attending day school. Coincidentally, the Secret Seven group is based on a real group of friends. Enid Blyton’s publisher’s son Peter and his friends had a ‘secret’ group of their own; they even possessed badges with the inscription of ‘SS’ on them. Enid Blyton exchanged correspondence with this Peter and through his help laid the foundation of the Secret Seven. In 2018 and 2019, two new books, written by author Pamela Butchart were officially added to the Secret Seven series.

The Malory Towers series

The Malory Towers series

The Malory Towers series is Enid Blyton’s third school boarding school series. It follows the story of Darrell Rivers over her years spent at the boarding school of Malory Towers. The original series written by Enid Blyton consists of 6 books. In the year 2009, there was an official continuation to the series. Written by Pamela Cox, the books were a continuation of Darrell’s younger sister, Felicity’s life at Malory Towers.

The Five Find-Outers series

The Five Find-Outers series

The Five Find-Outers series is another children-based detective series by Enid Blyton. It follows the adventures of Fatty, Larry, Pip, Daisy, Bets and Fatty’s dog Buster and the various mysteries they get entangled in and trying to solve it before the local policeman Mr. Goon.

PEN AND PANDEMIC

Literature acts as a powerful tool for capturing moments. Its influence is visible from the very beginning of the human civilisation. Experiences of a particular time period can be restored mentally by the reading/rereading of a text. It also has the ability to create a new world filled with fantasy. Literary works produced in different genres are uncountable and the various methods used by the authors in different contexts help readers to connect with the social- political- economical- cultural scenarios of the time. In history how do we understand that one led to the other? How can we be certain that one was the cause and the other was an effect?  The historian links these two facts and provides a narrative where we can see the cause – effect sequence. Therefore we can know history only in the form of narrative or texts.

Texts are necessary to understand social contexts. These texts are literature. Literary texts not only reflect an age’s themes and contexts, it shapes those contexts by persuading people to accept particular believes and opinions. We can’t separate literature as an effect of historical or social contexts but have to see literature as contributing to informing, influencing and participating actively in the construction of those contexts.

Behind every illness there is a mystery; literature discuss about mysteries. Literary perspective of Pandemic become more important because it shows how disease, death, sex are affecting humans and society, socially mentally and culturally. It is also important that by recording pandemics, literature tries to show pandemic in a literary discourse rather than in a medical discourse. Pandemics in literary discourses help the common people to understand the context. Many authors used pandemic as a narrative device to showcase the effect of diseases and deaths in the lives of creatures, mainly humans. Pandemics have been fictionalised by some writers, but the advancement of science has increased the knowledge of illness by creating an understanding that truth or reality is stranger than fiction.

Pandemics are nothing new in the path of human history and pandemic literature helps to contextualise real incidents. It mirrors people’s fears about disease and societal collapse, but it simultaneously shows that survival is possible and that rebuilding ourselves into something new is not only necessary but inevitable. A story about a pandemic is rarely about the disease itself and as a genre pandemic literature focuses more on sociology, psychology and human behavior. There is a long history of authors writing about and writing in times of pandemics. Human beings have indeed for a very long time experienced pandemics (experiencing) and they have written about it.  Concept of universal fear questions the notion that humans are not in control.

At the beginning of Susan Sontag’s classic text, Illness as Metaphor, she writes, “Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.” According to commonly accepted psychological theories of illness, the sick bear ultimate responsibility for both being sick and getting well. A reading of Susan Sontag’s text says that isolation is a mode of oppression. They are being constantly watched and controlled by the ‘kingdom of well’. People who are trapped in the ‘kingdom of sick’ are treated as mere biological bodies which contain infection instead of ‘normal’ human beings. Medical gazes would follow them until they reach in the ‘kingdom of well’.  Till the mid 19th century modern epidemiology was hardly in action. For most of the time people were confused about the origin and center of diseases and it’s spread. So early examples of pandemic literature focuses more on what people do during the pandemic, with a touch of moralising trend of that period.

The pandemic reached us in an unforeseen way and we’re going through a huge, collective transition. Historically distant texts felt urgent and real, with quarantines, stay-at-home orders, critical staff, and rule breakers. We started to understand the ability of literature to convey something new about the shared experience, something that was not possible to communicate through clear reporting. Perhaps it’s a stretch to say that our answer to COVID-19 gave us knowledge and experience, but we discovered dimensions of our existence that were unmistakably familiar as we entered the foreign worlds of epidemics through history.

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard


Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard was published in 1751. Thomas Gray began writing this poem in 1742 shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West. This Elegy is noteworthy that it mourns the death not of great or famous people but of common men. It’s Gray’s masterpiece and it’s emotional and philosophical at the same time. The beauty of the poem lies in simplicity. Poet brings out the ultimate truth about life and death.
THEMES OF ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD
 UNIVERSALITY OF DEATH: The central focus of Gray’s elegy is the inevitability of death and how people from different social class are remembered. In this elegy Gray meditates on death as it relates to the rustic commoners who populate the village and the country churchyard. Gray’s opening salvo in this contrast between two vast social classes emphasizes death’s universality; just as the poor and the common people are subjected to death, the paths of the rich and glory lead to grave as well. Death is the ultimate which is blind to mankind’s social class and destruction.
 SOCIAL CLASS AND VALUE: Gray’s meditation on how the wealth and the poor are remembered allows him to explore social class and value. The poem suggests that an individual’s value should not be tied to social class. The poem asks whether the rich and the powerful can be brought back to life by “storied urn” or “animated bust” any more effectively than the poor whose graves are marked by “no trophies”.
 IMPORTANCE OF LOVE: Despite their humble lives the dead enjoyed simple pleasures in life. One of these is the love of their families and friends. A clear image of children greeting his father when he came home from the fields is shown. The lively picture of family is full of joy. Gray identifies family and friends both simple pleasures as the greatest joy in life
 THE QUALITY OF MORTALITY: Within the odes and elegies of gray we find him questioning towards the very concept of morality and what it really means to say when one exists.

Journey of the Magi

Journey of the Magi

Journey of the Magi is a poem by Thomas Stearns Eliot. This is an allegorical poem and it speaks more generally about pains of letting go of the one way of life, faith and acknowledging the birth of another. T. S Eliot is an American born British Poet known as the leader of modernist movement in poetry.
The Journey of the Magi is an allegorical dramatic monologue as it inhibits the voice of one of the Magi. The theme of this poem is Journey. It is a religious poem and also a mystic poem. The first stanza speaks about the types of trials difficulties faced by the travellers. It was freezing cold and they travelled at the worst time of the year, and it took ages. The path were difficult and the weather was horrible and it was a brutal winter. Camels were in pain and unwilling to go on. They lay down in the snow. The Magi missed their old days, the summer places on slopes, the terraces and the silken girls bringing drinks to them. The camel drivers were cursing and grumbling and some ran away wanting their liquor and women. The villages they went were filthy and lodging was expensive. They decided to travel throughout the night and sleep when they could.. They heard their voices saying all this was folly.
The second stanza is about The Recovery of Faith. One morning the Magi arrived at a pleasant valley. It was damp but not snowy and full of plant life. There was a stream and a watermill beating the darkness, and three trees on low sky. They saw a white house in a nearby medeow. Then they came there to a tavern with nine leaves over the lintel. Six hands at an open door were dicing for pieces of silver, none of them gave any useful information, so they continued along their way. That evening they finally got to Bethlehem. It was wellsatisfactory. The final stanza speaks about acknowledging the birth. Jesus’s birth didn’t feel like a positive development, but something full of pain like it represented their own death. After returning to their place they felt like they did not belong there anymore, in the old ways. Their people seemed foreign to them, with their false idols. He says that he would be happy to encounter another death..

VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE: BOOK REVIEW

“Veronika Decides to Die” gives you an impression the book is depressing, right? I can assure you it isn’t.

Paulo Coelho, the best selling Brazillian author brings another beautifully woven story. It is bound to make you sad and leave you happy by the end. The story does begin with a depressing tone but takes a twist no one expects.


The story revolves around a 24- year-old girl, Veronika. Veronika lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia and has everything one asks for in life. She is beautiful, has loving parents, a lover and a job. But a feeling of fear that everything will go downhill for her after 24 takes over her mind. So, one evening she sits near her window with a bottle of painkillers. As she starts talking one pill at a time, she takes a look at all the things outside which she sees every day. Slowly, she started getting sleepy but death had not yet come.


The plan to kill herself fails and she woke up to find herself in a mental hospital, Villette. The doctor tells her that her attempt at suicide had failed and her heart had taken the toll of it. She finds out that she has a week only to live. Her world had taken an unexpected turn.


Coelho then goes on to explain how he came to know about Veronika’s story. He relates to her story because his parents also admitted him into a mental institution for his “unusual behaviour”. But Coelho appears in the story for a brief moment only.


Coming back to Veronika, shocked and resistant to live in Villette she tries to find a way out of there. But she fails at this too. Reluctantly she becomes friend with Mari, who suffers from panic attacks. Later she claims that she might have fallen in love with Eduard, a schizophrenic. Somehow she slowly gave in and accepted her reality. She decided to live the last few days of her life to the fullest.


Dr Igor, one of the main characters of the stories gives Veronika series of shocks to test his medical theory. He wants to prove through his experiment that he can shock someone into wanting to live again by convincing them that their death is around the corner. That is exactly what he did with Veronika.


Veronika finds herself on a journey to discover herself before she dies. She rediscovers her passion for piano. She played the piano every evening that lifted the spirits of many at Villette. She suffered a heart-attacks throughout the week, she found her desire to live again.


Coelho, makes you rethink your decisions and your routines. Just like all his other books, this book also successfully connects with its readers. Like Veronika, all of us have had moments in our life where we thought the only way out is to die. Paulo gives his readers a new hope to live. You will reevaluate your reasons to continue living. He leaves a hidden message that there a number of reasons in this world to live and suicide is not an option. A moment can change your life.


I recommend this book to everyone especially the people who have been suicidal some time in life. Veronika decides to Die is not a long read. The stories winds up in around 200 pages. By the end of the book, it will leave its readers happy to be alive. Paulo focuses on the fact that even the slightest of change in perspective can make a broken person stronger.