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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 5

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 4 Chapter 5

The narrator, at his master’s command, informs him of the state of England and the causes of war among the princes of Europe. The narrator begins to explain the English constitution.

Over the course of two years, Gulliver described the state of affairs in Europe. Gulliver spoke to his Houyhnhnm master about the English Revolution and the war with France, in which, probably, about a million Yahoos were killed, approximately a hundred or more cities taken, and five times as many ships burnt or sunk.

Gulliver was asked to explain the causes of war, and he did his best to provide reasons for war. He spoke about the ambition of princes who wanted more land or people to rule over. Sometimes, corrupt ministers led the country into a war, in order to draw attention away from their evil administration. Gulliver talked at length about the bloody wars fought for ‘religious reasons’. Likewise, he spoke about the wars fought over reasons as trivial as what is the best colour or length for a coat. He told the Houyhnhnm about colonization and wars over colonies.

Sometimes, a prince declared war for fear of an attack. Wars were fought to dominate a weak neighbour; to subdue a strong one; to plunder a country that had been all but ruined by famine or a natural disaster; to take over a country in order to have its natural riches. The trade of a soldier, maintained Gulliver, was held to be highly prestigious. He talked of mercenary soldiers who fought for money. At times people murdered each other, out of jealousy, for a government post. An invading prince, Gulliver said, would conquer a country, kill half the population, and enslave the rest, all in the holy name of civilization.

Gulliver’s master then told Gulliver that, with all of this warlike nature, it was lucky that humans couldn’t do too much damage to each other because their mouths weren’t designed for easy biting. Gulliver explained the weapons of war and the damage that humans could do to each other. He started describing the horrors of the battlefield when his Master commanded him to silence. He commented that, although his Yahoos were abominable, English Yahoos were far worse because they used their intelligence to magnify, yet excuse, their vices.

The Houyhnhnm then asked Gulliver about England’s legal system. He wondered how laws could be bad or ruin men, when they were designed to save them. Gulliver then explained the legal system in some detail, criticizing lawyers severely in the process. He explained how some lawyers were trained from babyhood to defend the wrong side. So, they had no sense of justice. What was more, judges often preferred to agree with what appeared obviously untrue. So, people with right on their side might only win if they pretended that right was wrong.

Gulliver talked about precedent: anything that had been done before may legally be done again. Lawyers liked to split hairs and talked about irrelevant details to distract from the simple facts of all their cases. They had their own private way of speaking, which excluded ordinary people from either understanding of making laws. People in power could decide to convict others accused of crimes against the state because they had influence over the judges. Gulliver’s master commented that it was a shame that they spent so much time training lawyers to be lawyers and not teaching them to be knowledgeable and wise.

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No Men are Foreign Summary in English by James Kirkup

No Men are Foreign by James Kirkup About the Poet

James Falconer Kirkup, (1918 -2009), was an extraordinarily prolific writer in many genres. Though perhaps best known as a poet, he was also an accomplished translator of verse, prose and drama, a fine travel writer, a dramatist and an autobiographer of distinction. Kirkup started writing simple verses and rhymes from the age of six and his first poetry book, The Drowned Sailor was published in 1947.

His published works include several dozen collections of poetry, six volumes of autobiography, over a hundred monographs of original work and translations and thousands of shorter pieces in journals and periodicals. His skilled writing of haiku and tanka is acknowledged internationally. His home town of South Shields now holds a growing collection of his works in the Central Library, and artefacts from his time in Japan are housed in the nearby Museum. His last volume of poetry was published during the summer of 2008 by Red Squirrel Press, and was launched at a special event at Central Library in South Shields.

Poet Name	James Kirkup
Born	23 April 1918, England, United Kingdom
Died	10 May 2009, Andorra
Genre	Poetry, fiction, journalism
Books	I, of all people, No More Hiroshimas
Education	Grey College, Durham, Durham University

No Men are Foreign Introduction to the Chapter

No. Men are Foreign can be described as a post-colonial poem which talks of globalisation and its resultant human unity worldwide. The poem was written in the late 1940s when World War II had come to an end, and dissidents were revolting against the oppressive rule of the colonial powers. The sense of racial superiority of the colonial powers was being rejected by the local citizens. Kirkup’s poem echoes these sentiments, and he wants his readers to celebrate these differences rather than be enslaved because of them.

No Men are Foreign Summary in English

In the poem No Men Are Foreign the poet tells us that no human beings are different. Beneath the superficial differences in appearance or behaviour, all human beings have similar feelings, emotions and reactions.

The poet begins by telling his readers that human beings are not different from each other simply on the basis that they hail from separate countries. Soldiers from one nation or the other may fight in the army of their nation, but underneath their different uniforms, they are all essentially similar. They live on the same earth and breathe the same air as their enemies and one day all of them shall be laid to rest in the same earth.

In these lines, the poet gives further evidence of the unity of man. He says that in times of war or peace, those who hail from countries other than our own also depend, like we do, on sun and air and water for their survival. Like us, they, too, have seen periods of peace and periods of war. In times of peace, they have experienced abundance and prosperity, just like us. Again, just like us, they have known shortage of food and famine during war. They have worked as hard as us and their hands show the lines of toil just as ours do.

The poet tells his readers to remember the fact that our enemies have eyes like ours and sleep and wake just like we do. We all have physical strength that can be won by force and the strength of the heart that can be won by love. All human beings use their inner strength to help their fellow beings and this strength is nurtured through love. Despite the differences between various nations, the common people live the same kind of life everywhere. Therefore, you can recognize the pattern of life no matter where you travel in this wide world.

The poet raises his voice against those groups that encourage us to wage wars against our brothers. The poet believes that we must all remember that whenever we are brainwashed and compelled to hate and kill our brothers, we only deceive, disown, betray and condemn ourselves; that this is a form of self-destruction. Any hatred that we may harbour for any member of the human race is a betrayal of the entire species and our condemnation of its future. If we kill people of any other nation, we are in fact endangering the human species as a whole and its survival on earth. He says that if we, the guardians of the earth, pick up arms against our brothers, and die as a result of the war, then there would no one left to take care of the home that our ancestors had passed down to us.

Comparing wartime with hell, the poet says that when war breaks out between two hostile nations, we pollute our mother earth to such an extent that we create a living hell of dust and fire that violates the purity of our surroundings including our thoughts and actions. In war as in hell, there is fire and smoke everywhere. As a result of this, the earth is becoming poisoned. The very air that we breathe is becoming impure and will not be able to sustain human life for much longer. That is why the poet encourages us not to wage war on our fellow men thinking they are foreigners and that their countries are unlike our own.

No Men are Foreign Theme

In No Men Are Foreign, James Kirkup reminds us that the man-made differences are baseless and they have caused endless wars and bloodshed. Divisions based on superficial differences are senseless since we all need the same basic resources for our survival. We are all descended from a common source and therefore, we must shun all violence and unite to make our lives better. Armies of the different countries wage war against their brothers.

They do not understand that there is an inherent similarity between all human beings. It is only in the times of peace and harmony that civilization progresses and people are content. In fact if a war is raging in a country then that country faces the threat of starvation since all sorts of production comes to a halt.

No Men are Foreign Tone

As we can see from the word ‘remember’ the poem begins on a didactic note which gives us the lesson that all humanity is alike in their heart and spirit. The poet wishes to show his readers the ultimate effect of hatred for fellow human beings to make them realize how bad it can affect them. He forcefully asserts that people of different countries are in no way different even though they wear different clothes and speak different languages. Emphatically stressing the futility of war, the poet points out that we only defile our own earth and pollute the very air we all breathe.

No Men are Foreign Message

The poem No Men Are Foreign gives a very important message. The poet tells us that some people have ceased to believe in the essential unity of man. They believe that a man hailing from a different country is to be hated and discriminated against. Such people are the ones who cause wars due to their false beliefs. The poet assures his readers that man is just the same everywhere. He experiences the same joys and sorrows and has been descended from the same ancestors. Therefore, he is justified in asking his readers to expel hatred for their fellow humans from their minds and hearts

No Men are Foreign Title

The poem No Men Are Foreign has an apt title. According to the poet we should not consider anyone as foreign or ‘strange’ as we are the children of the same God. The Earth is the common property of the mankind and we are the citizens of the world and not a particular country. We must give up narrow nationalism as humanity is the same all over the world and in harming anyone we are harming ourselves. The poet emphasises the futility of hating those who belong to other countries. When we wage war against others, we only defile our own earth.

No Men are Foreign Setting

The setting of this poem is the post-war modem society. Colonial powers had suppressed the others for centuries, creating the myth of white supremacy. Kirkup rejects racial superiority of the colonial powers and celebrates differences between people.

No Men are Foreign Literary Devices

Apostrophe is a poetic device where the speaker of the poem addresses a dead or absent person, an abstraction, or an inanimate object.

Example: In this poem, the poet uses the device of the apostrophe as he addresses all his advice directly to his readers.

Enjambment

Enjambment is when a sentence, phrase, or thought does not end with the line of poetry. Rather, it carries over to the next line.

Example: Remember they have eyes like ours that wake
Or sleep, and strength that can be won
By love. In every land is common life
That all can recognise and understand.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a comparison between two concepts, tightened by the omission of any adjoining words.

Examples: In this poem, the poet uses metaphor in the line
Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon
as he compares his fellow human beings with his own brothers.
He again uses it in the line
Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.
when he compares war with winter since reduced resources are available at both those sides.
He also uses it in the line
Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence
Of air that is everywhere our own
when he compares wars with hell.

Transferred Epithet

A description which refers to another character or event but is used to describe a different place or character.
In No Men Are Foreign the poet uses transferred epithet when he writes Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.

Here, the phrase “peaceful harvests” is a transferred epithet. It is not the harvests themselves that are peaceful, but peaceful social and political conditions that prevent a shortage of crops or famine and make harvests possible.

No Men are Foreign Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What does the poet mean when he says “Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign”?
Answer:
The poet is making an impassioned plea telling readers to give up extreme nationalism and perceived differences between people belonging to different nations. We are brothers because we inhabit the same planet, drink the same water and breathe the same air, but we feel different and behave like enemies at times. The poet wants us to give up our misplaced patriotism and live in universal brotherhood.

Question 2.
How does the poet prove that there are no foreign countries?
Answer:
Everyone shares the same sun, earth and air. They have the same body structure and its functioning elements. So there should be no biased attitude towards anyone.

Question 3.
What is meant by uniforms? What is there beneath all uniforms?
Answer:
The word “uniform” refers to the distinctive clothing worn by members of the same organization or body or by children attending certain schools. In this poem, the poet uses “uniforms” to mean both the uniforms worn by soldiers and the varied traditional dresses belonging to different cultures and civilisations of the world, or the different clothes that symbolise who the wearers are. Beneath all uniforms lies the same human body.

Question 4.
Bring out the irony in the use of the word “uniform”?
Answer:
Uniform implies a dress, costume or identification code that is similar to a group or organisation. Uniforms are necessary especially during war in order to differentiate between and identify soldiers on different sides who would otherwise appear to be same. But uniforms give rise to differences. Because every nation has a uniform, the world remains divided rather than united.

Question 5.
How are all the people of the world brothers?
Answer:
All human beings are similar in structure as we are all flesh and blood. We walk on the same land as long as we are alive and will be buried in the same earth when we die. We also use the same sun, air and water.

Question 6.
How can we be one people though we belong to different nations?
Answer:
Even if we belong to different nations, we can be one people because we all have the same body and we live and die on the same planet. All of us enjoy the same sun, air and water.

Question 7.
What are peaceful harvests? What do the peaceful harvests symbolise?
Answer:
Peaceful harvests are the bountiful crops grown during times of peace. They are said to be peaceful because they can be nurtured only during times of peace. They symbolise happiness and prosperity.

Question 8.
What does the poet mean when he says “by war’s long winter starv’d”?
Answer:
If a war is raging in a country then that country faces the threat of starvation since all agricultural production comes to a halt. Just as there are no crops in winter, war renders a land barren. That is why there is a shortage of food in winters and in times of war, too, there is deprivation and famine. People starve to death. Thus, starvation is associated with war and with winter.

Question 9.
What do you understand by “Their hands are ours”? What are their lines? How can we conclude that their labour is same as ours?
Answer:
Their hands are ours means that people living in other countries have hands just like ours which toil hard to earn a living. Their lines mean the lines on their face and body which are just like ours. Hence, we can conclude that though they belong to another land, they have worked hard throughout their lives, just like us.

Question 10.
The poet says that men from other countries have the same basic requirements as us. Elaborate.
Answer:
The poet says that men from other countries have the same requirements as his own countrymen by saying that they enjoy the same sunlight, breathe the same air and drink the same water. Not only this, they also work hard to earn a living. They too eat when their harvest is plentiful during times of peace and starve during war.

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Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 3 Chapter 9

Summary of Gulliver’s Travels Part 3 Chapter 9

The narrator returns to Maldonada. He sails to the kingdom of Luggnagg. The narrator is confined. He is sent to the court. The manner of his admittance and the king’s great levity to his subjects are described.

Gulliver finally left Glubbdubdrib and headed for Luggnagg. He arrived in Luggnagg on 21 April 1708. Gulliver started speaking to a customs officer in Luggnagg, where he pretended to be Dutch, since Gulliver’s eventual destination was Japan and the Japanese would only allow Dutch traders access to their harbours.

Gulliver was detained in Luggnagg by red tape, so he hired an interpreter who spoke both Luggnagg and Balnibarbi and answered frequent questions about his travels and the countries he had seen.

Eventually, Gulliver was granted audience with the King of Luggnagg and was given lodging and an allowance. He learned that subjects were expected to lick the floor as they approached the king and that the king sometimes got rid of opponents in the court by coating the floor with poison.

Gulliver exchanged ritual greetings with the king and then spoke to him through his interpreter. The king really liked Gulliver: he gave him some money and let him stay at the palace. Gulliver lived in Luggnagg for three months, but decided that, overall, it would be safer to go home to his wife and children.

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

The Snake and the Mirror Summary in English by Muhammad Basheer

The Snake and the Mirror by Muhammad Basheer About the Author

Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (1908-1994) was a Malayalam fiction writer. He was a humanist, freedom fighter, novelist and short story writer. He is known for his path-breaking, disarmingly down-to-earth style of writing that made him equally popular among literary critics as well as the common man. He is regarded as one of the most successful and outstanding writers of India. Translation of his works into other languages has won him world – wide acclaim. Basheer is fondly known as the ‘Beypore Sultan’. Basheer is known for his unconventional style of language. He did not differentiate between literary language and the language spoken by the commons and did not care about the grammatical correctness of his sentences. He was awarded with Padma Shri in 1982 for his overall contributions to the nation as a freedom fighter, writer, and as a political activist.

Author Name	Vaikom Muhammad Basheer
Born	21 January 1908, Thalayolaparambu
Died	5 July 1994, Beypore
Parents	Kaye Abdul Rahiman
Movies	Mathilukal, Bhargavi Nilayam, Balyakalasakhi, House of Stories
Awards	Vallathol Award, Muttathu Varkey Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, Kerala State Film Award for Best Story

The Snake and the Mirror Introduction to the Chapter

An astute observer of human character, Vaikom Mohd Basheer skilfully combined humour and pathos in his works. Love, hunger and poverty are recurring themes in his works. The Snake and the Mirror presents a contrast between dreams and reality. This contrast has been depicted in a humorous manner.

Into the lonely and dull life of a young homeopathic doctor, who has just started his practice comes a venomous and life threatening visitor – a snake. The doctor is a great admirer of beauty and when he looks into the mirror, he is full of appreciation for his good looks. The seemingly dangerous situation of the snake coiling round the doctor’s arm turns him to stone in fright. However, the snake spares him and is itself attracted towards a mirror.

The Snake and the Mirror Summary in English

The Snake and the Mirror is a story about a doctor, who had only recently commenced his practice. His earnings were, therefore, meagre. He lived in a small rented room – an outhouse – with two windows and a tiled roof. The tiles were supported by gables which rested on the beam and there was no electricity. He had only sixty rupees in his bag. Apart from a few shirts and dhotis, he had one solitary black coat. The room was infested with rats. However, his dreams and ambitions were in contrast to this.

One hot summer night, he had his meal at the restaurant and returned home. He lighted the kerosene lamp, took off his coat and shirt and opened the two windows. He settled on the chair and took out a medical book to read. There was a large mirror on the table on which stood a lamp. Since it was too hot to sleep, and he had nothing better to do, he sat down in front of the mirror, admiring himself, admiring his looks and smile and planning that he should do to look more presentable. He was a great admirer of beauty and he believed in making himself handsome. He also laid great emphasis on the fact that he was unmarried and a doctor. Pleased with his appearance, he decided to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. The manner in which he decided that this decision was an ‘important’ one, and his ‘earth-shaking decision’ to always keep smiling in order to look more handsome bring out the contrast between the kind of person he was and the kind of person he wanted to be and make the story humorous.

Gradually, his thoughts shifted from self- admiration to planning his future marriage. He wanted to marry a woman doctor who had plenty of money and a good medical practice because he did not have either. He wanted a fat wife so that whenever he made a mistake, he would run away and his wife would not be able to catch him.

He was so engrossed in his daydream that he did not give much importance’to the sudden silence. The rats had stopped scampering and there was a sound of something falling behind him. He brushed it aside, but even before he could turn around to have a look, a snake had slithered over the back of the chair and perched itself on his shoulder. The doctor was extremely frightened as the snake was only a few inches away from his face. Horrified, he sat turned to stone. The snake slithered along his shoulder and coiled around his left arm above the elbow. The doctor felt a crushing force on his arm. Moments ago, the doctor who had been feeling so proud of his looks and his profession, was weak with fright. He thought of various medicines he had and if any was good enough to save him if the snake did bite him. In this moment of fear of death, he realized that he was but a mere human, a poor man, nothing to boast about.

At this moment, he felt the presence of God near him. In his imagination, he tried to write ‘O God’ in bright letters outside his heart. He felt pain in his left arm where the snake was coiled. He realized that if the snake struck him, he did not even have any medicines in his room for the same. That was when he thought that he was a poor, foolish, and stupid doctor. In this way, his thoughts changed from calling himself a handsome, unmarried doctor to calling himself a poor, foolish, and stupid doctor. This sequence of events also provided humour to the story.

The moment he accepted his true worth, the Gods appeared pleased and the snake of its own free will left him and sat on the table in front of the mirror. The doctor got up silently and rushed out of the door. Next morning when he came back, all his belongings had been pilfered but for his dirty vest which was too dirty even for the thief.

The Snake and the Mirror Title

The Snake and the Mirror is a very apt title for this frightening tale presented in a very humorous manner. The story narrates a young doctor’s encounter with a snake. The doctor is sitting on a chair, looking at himself in the mirror when a snake lands on his shoulder and coils itself around his left arm, its hood only three or four inches away from his face. The doctor sits turned to a stone, but reprieve comes when the snake turns its head, and looks into the mirror. It sees its reflection and is so enamoured with its image that is slithers across to the mirror, sparing the life of the narrator.

Thus, the story revolves round the snake and the mirror. The vain narrator, who has been at the centre of the narrative until the snake appears, turns into an unimportant spectator. It is the snake who is so enamoured of its own reflection that it spares his life. Had the snake not moved to the mirror, and had bitten him, he would have surely died for there was no medicine in his room for snake-bite.

The Snake and the Mirror Setting

The setting of the story is a hot summer night; about ten o’clock. The young writer returns to his room after a meal. The room is a small rented one and is not electrified. There are two windows in the room. It has a tiled roof with long supporting gables that rest on the beam over the wall. There is no ceiling. The room is infested with rats.

The Snake and the Mirror Theme

The humorous narrative is based on the theme of human vanity and fears and how they affect people. The young doctor is a homeopath, struggling with his poverty and a fledgling practice.

However, he is vain about his looks and as he admires himself in the mirror, he thinks of ways in which he can look more handsome – by smiling more, or by growing a moustache. He also hopes to marry a fat woman doctor with a large practice and lead a happy life. The sudden arrival of a snake on the scene turns him to stone, but fate intervenes, when the snake, attracted by the mirror, decides to ignore him. The narrator takes this opportunity to make good his escape. The snake seems to be almost as vain as the doctor himself, and is too busy gazing at itself in the mirror to bother about the escaping prey.

An additional theme in the story is how crises make people turn to God for help.

The Snake and the Mirror Message

The Snake and the Mirror gives the message that faith in God and humility in thoughts are what make a person strong enough to face any adversity. The doctor in the story is cured of his arrogance after a close brush with death. He is young, arrogant, lull of himself, because he is unmarried and is a doctor. As he sits admiring himself, his only thought is of improving his looks.

However, faced with death, he realizes the futility of worldly possessions as he prays to God as he feels “the great presence of the creator of this world and this universe.” He feels maybe he was being taught a lesson for his arrogance and his pride in his appearance. Thus, the lesson learnt by the narrator is the writer’s message – one should never be proud of one’s beauty, strength or achievements.

The Snake and the Mirror Humour

The story presents a contrast between dreams and reality. This contrast has heen depicted in a humorous manner. The young doctor has just started his practice and, so, his earnings are meagre. He lives in a small rented room, which is not electrified and is full of rats. He has only sixty rupees in his bag, he has few clothes, and a solitary black coat. However, his dreams and ambitions are in contrast to this.

He admires beauty and he believes in making himself handsome. He lays great emphasis on the fact that he is unmarried and is a doctor. He decides to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. He describes this decision as an ‘important’ one. Later, he also makes an ‘earth-shaking decision’ to always keep smiling in order to look more handsome. This contrast between the kind of person he is and the kind of person he wants to be makes the story humorous.

He has thought about the kind of person he wants to marry. He wants to marry a woman doctor who has plenty of money and a good medical practice because he did not have any of those. He wants a fat wife so that whenever he runs away making a mistake his wife is not able to catch him. However, the woman he marries is a thin and slender person who can run like a sprinter. This contrast between the kind of wife he wanted and the kind of wife he ends up marrying adds to the humour of the story.

Ironically, the snake too is as narcissistic as the doctor. It coils itself around the petrified doctor’s arm, and spreads its hood, just inches from the doctor’s face, when it suddenly turns its head and sees its reflection in the mirror. It unwinds itself from the doctor’s arm and slowly slithers across his lap, onto the table towards the mirror to enjoy its reflection at closer quarters. The fact that the snake also wishes to admire itself in the mirror, like the narrator, and leaves the narrator alone also creates humour.

The fact that the thieves decamp with the narrator’s meagre belongings, but for a dirty vest is also funny.

The Snake and the Mirror Characters

Doctor

The young homeopathic doctor has been portrayed as a person who is vain and arrogant. He admires beauty and he believes in making himself handsome. He lays great emphasis on the fact that he is unmarried and is a doctor. He decides to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome. He describes this decision as an ‘important’ one. Later, he also makes an ‘earth-shaking decision’ to always keep smiling in order to look more handsome. However, in contrast to the preoccupation with the external appearance, is the dirty vest that even the thieves leave behind.

The doctor, however, can assess himself critically and humorously. He honestly admits that as a new practitioner of medicine, he could not earn much and had to rent a poor, rat-infested house without even the facility of electricity. He is materialistic and admits that he wanted to marry a rich lady-doctor. He is opportunistic enough to want his wife be fat as it would help him run away without getting caught when he would make some silly mistake.

The doctor is a chauvinist, who has a poor opinion .of women. He is not above marrying a woman for her money, and running away from her, when he has done something wrong.

The young doctor has presence of mind to sit still without panicking when the snake crawls on him. He doesn’t jump or cry out but keeps his cool and casts his mind around to remember if he has any anti-dote to snake-venom in the room. He makes the most of the opportunity when the snake is absorbed in its reflection in the mirror and makes good his escape.

However, his ability to admit his follies and laugh at himself makes him quite endearing. The encounter with the snake helps him realise that to be alive is more important than to look good. His arrogance turns into modesty after his encounter with the snake. This witty side of the doctor is seen again at the end of the story when he remarks that the thief did not take away his dirty vest because he had a sense of cleanliness.

Similarities between Doctor and Snake

Both the Doctor and the Snake display a narcissistic trait that renders them hot oblivious to their surroundings. The Doctor admires beauty and he believes in making himself handsome. He lays great emphasis on the fact that he is unmarried and is a doctor. He decides to shave daily and grow a thin moustache to look more handsome.

He describes this decision as an ‘important’ one. Later, he also makes an ‘earth-shaking decision’ to always keep smiling in order to look more handsome.

The Snake is coiled around the Doctor’s arm, with its hood spread out, its head hardly three or four inches from his face, when it looks into mirror. So enamoured is it by its looks that it slithers off to look at its reflection. It forget the reason why it was there, probably hungry and chasing some rats.

The Snake and the Mirror Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Who narrated his encounter with a snake? To whom? Why did he narrate the incident?
Answer:
The narrator of the incident was a homeopathic doctor. One day, when the narrator and some others were discussing snakes, the doctor was reminded of his own encounter with a snake and he narrated the incident.

Question 2.
When and where did the incident with the snake take place?
Answer:
The incident took place in the narrator’s room after he had taken his meal in a restaurant and had returned to his room at about ten o’clock in the night.

Question 3.
Why did the narrator have to light the kerosene lamp on reaching his room?
Answer:
The narrator had to light the kerosene lamp because it was ten o’clock and it was very dark. The room did not have electricity and the narrator had limited money and could not afford a better place.

Question 4.
Describe the narrator’s room?
Answer:
The narrator lived in a small, poorly furnished rented room infested with rats. It was an outer room, its one wall facing the open yard. The room had two windows and its tiles were supported by gables that rested on the beam over the wall. There was no ceiling. The room was not electrified. Outside the room there was a veranda. The room was meagrely furnished; among the few pieces of furniture, there was his bed, a chair, a table with his medical books, usual accessories, a kerosene lamp and a mirror on it.

Question 5.
What circumstances prompted the doctor to live in a small, poor house?
Answer:
The doctor had just started his practice and his earnings were meagre. Therefore, he lived in a small, poor house because he could not afford to rent a better and more comfortable accommodation. Besides, he was not married at that time so he could manage in a small rented room until the time he got married.

Question 6.
The doctor was not a man with many material possessions. Elaborate.
Answer:
The doctor had just started his practice. Therefore, his earnings were meagre. He lived in a small rented room, which was not electrified. He had only sixty rupees in his bag. Apart from a few shirts and dhotis, he had one solitary black coat. His room was full of rats.

Question 7.
Why was the narrator awake despite the lateness of the hour?
Answer:
It was about ten o’clock on a hot summer night when the narrator reached his room. He made his bed and lay down on it, but he could not sleep due to the heat. He got up and went out to the veranda for a little air, but there was no wind. So, he went back into the room and sat down on the chair.

Question 8.
What did the doctor do after coming back inside?
Answer:
The doctor sat on the chair and, opening the box beneath the table, took out a book, the Materia Medica. He opened the book at the table on which stood the lamp and a large mirror. At once he was tempted to look into the mirror and he set about making himself look handsome.

Question 9.
“The sound was a familiar one.” What sound did the narrator hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? When and why did the sounds stop?
Answer:
The narrator heard the familiar sound of movement of some animals on the beam. He thought that the sound was being made by the scampering of rats as always. He heard the sound thrice. After the third time, the sound stopped. This was probably because of the appearance of the snake and the disappearance of the rats in fear.

Question 10.
What were the narrator’s feelings as he looked into the mirror?
Answer:
At that time the narrator, who was unmarried and a doctor, was a great admirer of beauty and he believed in making himself look handsome. He felt he had to make his presence felt by improving his appearance.

He began to comb his hair, adjusting the parting so that it looked straight and neat in order to appear more handsome.

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The Lost Child Summary in English by Mulk Raj Anand

The Lost Child by Mulk Raj Anand About the Author

Mulk Raj Anand was one of the first Indian writers who wrote in English and gained popularity at an international scale. He produced a remarkable body of work that contains several short stories, novels and essays. Anand was bom in Peshawar and his father was a coppersmith. Anand was a highly educated man; he graduated with honors from Punjab University and then went to University College, London. While studying in England, he worked at a restaurant to finance his education. He went on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University. This was also the time when he became involved in India’s struggle for independence.

He first gained popularity for his novels, Untouchable and Coolie. Among his other notable works is a trilogy consisting of The Village, Across the Black Waters and The Sword and the Sickle. Anand wrote extensively about the lives of the poor, oppressed Indian people and about social evils like the caste system, untouchability and communalism. Through his empathetic portrayal of the lives of the common Indian people, he provided stark social commentaries on the structures of society. Anand is regarded as one of the founding figures of Indian English literature.

Author Name	Mulk Raj Anand
Born	12 December 1905, Peshawar, Pakistan
Died	28 September 2004, Jehangir Hospital, Pune
Education	University of Cambridge (1929), University College London, Khalsa College
Awards	Sahitya Akademi Award for English Writers, Padma Bhushan

The Lost Child Summary in English

The story is set during a spring festival. The road to the fair is full of people. An excited little boy is running alongside his father. He watches the toys in the shops with wonder and his parents tell him to hurry up. The child goes to his parents and feels the urge to tell his parents that he wants a toy, though he knows from the look on their faces that they will refuse. His father gives him a strict look while his mother gently tries to distract him by showing him the flowering mustard field. The child then begins chasing dragonflies and his mother has to call him back to the footpath. He walks with his parents for a while till once again, he becomes distracted by the insects and worms on the footpath. His parents call him from under the shade of a grove where they are seated and he runs towards them.

As he enters the grove, flowers begin to fall upon him and he begins collecting petals. Then he hears doves cooing and he runs towards his parents, dropping the petals and looking for the dove. He begins running around a banyan tree. His parents pick him up and take a narrow, winding footpath through the mustard fields to the fair. As they approach the village, the child sees that a huge crowd is gathering at the fair. He is both frightened and fascinated. The child sees a sweetmeat seller’s shop stacked with many coloured sweets. He murmurs that he wants to have a burfi—his favourite sweet. But he knows that his parents will call him greedy if he demands a sweet, so he does not wait for their answer. He then sees a flower-seller selling garlands of gulmohur flowers. He is very attracted by the flowers and softly murmurs that he wants one. But he knows his parents will say that the flowers look cheap, so he does not wait for an answer from them and walks ahead.

Next, the child sees a man selling balloons of many colours. He wants to get them all. But he knows his parents will say he is too old to play with balloons and so he walks ahead. Then he sees a snake charmer playing music to a snake that is coiled in a basket. The child knows that his parents will scold him for listening to such coarse music and so he walks on ahead.

Then the child comes upon a merry-go-round. He sees grownups and their children on it laughing and having fun. Finally, he requests his parents for a turn at the merry-go-round, but he receives no reply. He realises that his parents are nowhere around him. He panics and starts running around crying for his parents. He becomes overcome with fear and runs around, crying out for his parents. His yellow turban comes off and his clothes become dirty.

Soon, he exhausts himself and starts sobbing. He looks around for people dressed in yellow, but he cannot find his parents anywhere. He then runs to a shrine, walking under people’s legs, sobbing for his parents. The crowd thickens near the temple’s gates. Here, men are pushing each other and the child struggles to get ahead. He shrieks for his parents and a man notices him and lifts him up into his arms. He shields the child and takes him

away from the crowd. The man asks him who he is and how he came to be there. The child now cries even more bitterly and weeps for his mother and father.

To soothe the crying child, the man asks him if he wants to ride the merry-go-round. But the child says that he just wants his parents back. He then takes him to the snake charmer and tells him to listen to the music. But the child puts his hands over his ears and cries even louder. He keeps saying that he wants his parents.

The man offers to buy him a multi-coloured balloon from the balloon seller, but the child turns his eyes away from the balloons and asks for his parents. The man then takes him to the flower-seller and asks if he would like to wear a garland of fragrant flowers. The child turns his nose away and continues sobbing for his mother and father.

Lastly, the man brings the child back to the sweet-seller, hoping to console him with a sweet. He asks the child to choose a sweet. But the child continues to sob and says that all he wants are his mother and father.

The Lost Child Title

The title beautifully captures the reactions of the child to the world around him before and after he is lost.

The lesson is about an event that takes place in the life of a child who gets lost in a fair. It expresses the fears, anxieties and worries of this very young child who is separated from his parents due to his fascination with the world around him. When he gets lost and separated from his parents, however, his fascination with the world around is also lost.

The Lost Child Theme

The underlying theme of the story “The Lost Child” is the universality of a child’s desire for everything that he claps his eyes on. All that the child witnesses—from the toys lining the street, to the dragon flies in the mustard field, to the snake swaying to the tunes of a snake charmer’s pungi—obsesses the child. It is a visual assault on his senses. He looks at everything in wonder, his senses almost rejoicing at being alive. His parents on the other hand are like a parental control filter, making him abstain him from the lures of the illusionary world as if secretly knowing that what he needs most is something else entirely. They offer a quiet reminder that the child must learn to prioritise what is important and what is not in life.

In the end when the child loses his parents he understands what his parents’ silent gestures and reprimands were trying to teach him. He realises now that what he wanted most was his parents. He continuously refuses everything that the kind stranger offers to console him with—the very same things he was goading his parents for moments ago. Within minutes his life changes and offers him an entirely new perspective of looking at life and understanding what is truly important.

The Lost Child Setting

The story is set in an Indian village around the time of Independence. Set during springtime, the story offers a look into a period of time in history when changing seasons were celebrated with fairs, which offered simple pleasures like the sweetmeat seller, the flower seller, the snake charmer, a balloon seller, etc. The time period is emphasised further by mention of the modes of transportation, such as people riding on horses on the roads, while Others rode in the bamboo and bullock carts.

The Lost Child Message

The story highlights the value of relationships over material goods. The child realises the true value of his parents once he is separated from them. It also sheds light on the universal fear of children and parents of getting separated from one another and the result of such a calamity as seen from the eyes of a little child.

The Lost Child Characters

There are four characters without any names—the child, his parents, and the unknown man who tries to console the lost and sobbing child.

The child is very young and full of joy and excitement at the thought of visiting the fair. He is attracted by all the sights and sounds of the fair. Like all children of his age, he wants whatever catches his fancy, whether a sweetmeat or a dragonfly. He is however quite obedient and disciplined as he does not throw a tantrum when his parents don’t give him any of the things that he demands. In the end he dissolves into tears asjie realizes that he has lost his parents and makes a valiant effort to look for them, almost getting trampled underfoot by the people at the temple before he is rescued by a stranger. The same things that he had desired a little while ago lose all meaning when he gets separated from his parents.

The Parents

The father of the child appears to be a strict disciplinarian who does not give into the demands of the child for toys and sweets. He is the head of the family and both his wife and child do not question his decisions. In fact he seems to be leading the family, expecting them to follow him without dawdling.

The mother has been described as a typical loving mother who tries to soften the disappointment of the child by diverting his attention from the objects that he wants to possess. She seems to be tom between her husband and her child as she struggles to keep pace with her husband and at the same time keep her child from straying. At some point her attention seemed to have wavered, when her child gets separated from her.

The stranger appears to be a kind hearted man who rescues the lost child from under the feet of people thronging outside the temple. He tries hard to stop the child from weeping by offering him all the goodies at the fair and appears to be genuinely concerned to restore the child to his parents.

The Lost Child Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What are the things the child sees on his way to the fair?
Answer:
He sees people gaily dressed, some on horses, some in bamboo or bullock carts. He also sees toys, dragon ‘flies, insects, worms, flowers, and doves on his way to the fair.

Question 2.
Why does the child lag behind?
Answer:
He lags behind because he is attracted by several of the things he sees on the way like toys, sweetmeats, dragonflies, flower garlands, the snake charmer and the roundabout.

Question 3.
What are the things that he wants at the fair?
Answer:
At first he wanted a burfi, then a garland of gulmohur flowers, next some colourful balloons, after that he was attracted by the snake charmer and finally he wanted a ride on the roundabout.

Question 4.
Why does the child move on without waiting for his parents’ answer whenever he asked for things that attracted him?
Answer:
He moves on without waiting for an answer because he knew they would not pay attention to his demands or give him what he asked for.

Question 5.
When does the child realize that he had lost his way?
Answer:
At the roundabout, when he turned to request his parents to allow him to sit on the ride, he did not get any reply. When he looked around for them he realized he had strayed away from his parents and lost his way.

Question 6.
How has the lost child’s anxiety and insecurity been described?
Answer:
His anxiety and insecurity have been described through his reaction to his realisation that he was lost. Tears rolled down his cheeks, his throat became dry, his face flushed and convulsed with fear and he ran in all directions in panic without knowing where to go.

Question 7.
Why does the lost child lose interest in the things that he had wanted earlier?
Answer:
He lost all interest in the things that he had wanted earlier because he felt fearful and insecure at being separated from his parents and all he wanted was to be reunited with them.

Question 8.
What do you think happens in the end? Does the child find his parents?
Answer:
This question can be answered in either way –
In my opinion the child is reunited with his parents who are also searching for him and find him crying in a stranger’s lap.
Or
No, the child is not reunited with his parents but is taken by the man who finds him and is brought up by him.

Question 9.
Why was the fair being held in the village?
Answer:
It was being held to celebrate the spring season.

Question 10.
What tells us that the little boy was excited about going to the fair?
Answer:
The fact that the little boy has been described as “brimming over with life and laughter” tells us that he was happy and excited to be going to the fair.

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If I Were You Summary in English by Douglas James

If I Were You by Douglas James About the Author

Douglas James bom in Bray in 1929 as written frequently for television, most notably as the creator of The Riordans, RTE’s long-running serial in the 1970s. He has also written a number of plays including The Savages, The Ice Goddess and North Traffic Straight Ahead, an ironic drama of wasted urban lives.

Author Name	Douglas James
Born	13 October 1888
Died	11 December 1946
Education	Westminster School, Trinity College
Nationality	British
Books	The Mad Mullah of Somaliland

If I Were You Introduction to the Chapter

If I Were You by Douglas James is an interesting play that has mystery, suspense, surprise and humour. It is a story in which an Intruder intends to kill Gerrard and impersonate him to escape the law but the tables are turned on him as he is trapped due to Gerrard’s presence of mind. The play thus brings out that intelligence and presence of mind can help us come out of trickiest of situations.

If I Were You Summary in English

If I Were You is the story of Gerrard a cultured playwright. He is something of a mystery man. He is not very social, lives in a lonely cottage in the wilds of Essex, gives his orders on the phone and never meets the tradesmen.

The play opens with Gerrard answering a phone call which is from a client to whom he promises to deliver the props for rehearsal. He is busy packing for travel in this connection when a flashily dressed Intruder, wearing an overcoat and a soft hat and carrying a revolver in his hand enters the room. However, before he can take Gerrard by surprise, the Intruder bumps accidentally against a table, and alerts Gerrard to his presence. Not at all nonplussed, Gerrard tries to figure out who the Intruder is when the latter threatens him with dire consequences if his questions are not answered. The Intruder declares that he is not there to tell him about himself but to learn more about Gerrard.

The Intruder, who looks somewhat like Gerrard, wants to murder Gerrard and thereafter steal his identity. He is a robber who specialises in the theft of jewels and plans to use Gerrard’s house and car for his schemes. By assuming his identity, he can evade the police and lead a peaceful life. The Intruder further surprises Gerrard by telling him that he has noticed his (Gerrard’s) manner of speech and has taken care to adopt a resemblance to him in looks too. He needs to change his identity because the cops are searching him for having killed on of their colleagues. He also tells Gerrard how he has come to know about him, and his habit of keeping aloof, by overhearing a conversation between two people.

But it is the clever Gerrard who has the last laugh when he fools the Intruder into believing that he, too, is running from the law and is about to flee. He explains to the Intruder that unfortunately one of his men has been caught.

He is expecting trouble that night. That is why he is ready to make his getaway. He has a disguise outfit ready; false moustaches and what not.

He adds that he has posted a man on the road to call him the moment he sees the police.

The Intruder seems taken in.

As the telephone bell rings, Gerrard tells the Intruder that it might be the call from the Informer. He completely befools the Intruder by making him check for himself if everything is safe outside before they escape. He makes him peep into a dark cupboard giving the impression that it leads to the garage. The moment the Intruder peeps in, Gerrard pushes him into the cupboard, knocking the revolver out of his hand.

While the Intruder keeps rattling the door and shouting, “Let me out of here!”, Gerrard gets down to business. Very coolly he answers a phone call, apologising that he wouldn’t be able to deliver stage props in time for rehearsal. At the same time he requests the caller to send the sergeant to his place. All this while he guards the cupboard with the Intruder’s revolver.

Gerrard is so impressed by this incident that he decides to use it as the plot for his next play.

If I Were You Title

If I WAre You is a very appropriate title. It refers to the wishful thinking of the Intruder who wants to assume Gerrard\s identity in order to escape the law. His idea of eluding the police by living on a borrowed identity remains unfulfilled as he is trapped by Gerrard and outwitted before he can end Gerrard’s life assume his identity. His dreaiij to impersonate Gerrard comes to an end, when Gerrard turns the tables on him and captures him. The speculative “If’ in If I Were You remains just that – mere speculation.

If I Were You Setting

The setting of the play is a room in the cottage of a playwright, Vincent Charles Gerrard, in the in the wilds of Essex. The dottage is isolated and quite sitable as a writing retreat for a playwright who is something of a mystery man as he is not very social and never meets the tradesmen. It is also quite suitable as a hideout for a criminal on the run.

If I Were You Theme

The theme of the play emphasizes the need of retaining one’s presence of mind and a cool head in situations of crisis. Panic complicates matters but cool temperament can help one escape fro any tight comer with ease. Criminals, who mastermind most well thought out crimes, can also be outwitted because they are fearful of the law and of getting caught. Hence, tactful planning and handling of a situation can trap even ‘experienced’ criminals.

If I Were You Message

The play gives the message that over-confidence can lead to disastrous results. One should never consider oneself to be smarter than the opponent. The Intruder makes the serious error of thinking that Gerrard is no match for him. Therefore, he lets down his guard. The play also conveys the message that intelligence, presence of mind, and keeping a cool head can help us overcome the gravest of problems that we may encounter. Gerrard retains his cool and turns the situation to his advantage and cleverly tricks the Intruder and locks him up in the cupboard before calling the police.

If I Were You Humour

Though the play deals with a criminal and a playwright threatened by him, there is a thread of humour that runs through the play. The humour is neither boisterous nor unnatural. It is refined and subtle. Gerrard’s cool- headedness and presence of mind make him come out with such witty and sarcastic remarks that annoy the Intruder and amuse the audience. When the Intruder asks him to talk about himself, rather than panicking, he says he is happy to have a sympathetic audience. When the Intruder says he intends to live in his cottage, Gerrard, rather than being shocked, says, “You have not been invited”. Talking about the Intruder’s looks, Gerrard remarks, “You are not particularly decorative”. Such humour runs throughout the play and making it not just a gripping drama but also an entertaining one.

If I Were You Characters

Gerrard

Gerrard, the protagonist of If I Were You is portrayed as a man of many virtues. He is endowed with a brilliant wit, a sharp mind, smart thinking, and a sense of humour. All these qualities, combined with his ability to keep a cool head enable him to handle even a life-threatening situation very successfully and easily.

Gerrard is associated with the theatre. He is a playwright who also acts in and provides props for plays. He is not very social, lives in a lonely cottage in the wilds of Essex, gives his orders on the phone and never meets the tradesmen. This is probably because he likes his solitude while writing.

A refined and a cultured man, Gerrard keeps his cool even in the most difficult situations. The sight of an Intruder doesn’t ruffle him and he talks to him very courteously and pleasantly. His sense of humour irritates the Intruder many times. He calls the situation melodramatic and calls himself a sympathetic audience.

Even when he is confronted with a life-threatening situation, Gerrard retains his presence of mind and lays a trap for the Intruder. He handles the situation with the Intruder very cleverly. He convinces the Intruder that he, too, is a criminal on the run, and they can both escape together.

Everything comes so naturally and spontaneously to him that the Intruder walks into his trap unsuspectingly. Gerrard’s intelligence not only outwits the Intruder and saves his own life, but also helps the police in nabbing a Wanted criminal. In fact, Gerrard, with his unagitated, composed manner serves as a foil to villainous Intruder who is edgy and agitated.

Intruder

The Intruder is a criminal on the run. His “speciality” is jewel robbery. The police is on the lookout for him. So, he is looking for a safe place to hide. The villainous scoundrel, makes an intriguing plan to dodge the police. Cold blooded, as he is, he has hatched a crafty plan to achieve his aim. He plans to kills Gerrard and steal his identity. He is smart and has chosen Gerrard, as he realises he is a bit of a mystery man – a recluse – and that they are somewhat alike in looks. He decides to use these facts to his advantage.

The Intruder is a criminal who has been eluding the police ever since he killed a cop. He has no sense of remorse for the crime he has committed. In fact, he is further sinking in the mire of criminal activities by killing Gerrard and stealing his identity.

The Intruder is a bungler. This is probably because he is edgy and agitated. He enters Gerrard’s cottage silently, but accidently bangs against a table. This alerts Gerrard to his presence. He, thus, is not able to take him by surprise. In the end, too, he goes to inspect what is actually a cupboard, but which Gerrard claims is the garage and is trapped.

The Intruder copies the American way of speaking. “Put those paws up!” An amused Gerrard asks him “Are you American, or is that merely a clever imitation?” This shows he either watches a lot of Hollywood films or reads Crime novels.

If I Were You Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Briefly describe Gerrard’s appearance.
Answer:
Gerrard is a man of medium height and wears horn-rimmed glasses. When the play opens, he is dressed in a lounge suit and a great coat. He talks in a cultured voice and his demeanour is confident.

Question 2.
Who was the Intruder in Gerrard’s house? Why did he break into his house?
Answer:
The Intruder, who broke into Gerrard’s house, was a criminal. He had murdered a cop and was being chased by the police. He broke into Gerrard’s house with the intention of murdering him and taking on his identity to evade the police.

Question 3.
How did Gerrard behave on seeing a gun-totting stranger in his cottage?
Answer:
Gerrard kept his cool and remained absolutely unruffled when he saw the gun-totting stranger in his cottage. There was neither any panic nor any ring of tension in his voice. He remained his normal self and talked to him casually.

Question 4.
Why does the Intruder intend to kill Gerrard?
Answer:
The Intruder is a criminal who is being chased by the police for having murdered a cop. As per his plan, the Intruder intends to kill Gerrard in order to take on his identity and escape capture by the police. In this way, he can lead a peaceful life without living in constant fear of arrest and punishment.

Question 5.
Why does the Intruder not kill Gerrard immediately?
Answer:
The Intruder does not kill Gerrard immediately because he first wants to get all the necessary information from him. Without this information, his plan to take on Gerrard’s identity will not succeed.

Question 6.
What impression do you form of the Intruder as he comes in? Give examples to illustrate.
Answer:
The Intruder is similar in build to Gerrard enters from the right silently – revolver in hand. He is flashily dressed in an overcoat and a soft hat. He seems to be a dangerous person as he is carrying a pistol and threatens Gerrard. He claims to have killed a cop. He is mean, heartless and crafty, for he plans to kill Gerrard and assume his identity in order to escape the police. He is over-confident because he claims that Gerrard is no match for him.

Question 7.
“You’ll soon stop being smart.” Why did Intruder think that Gerrard was being smart?
Answer:
The Intruder thought that Gerrard was being ‘smart’ or clever and facetious because he did not show any fear at the sight of an armed man enter his house and threaten him. To the contrary, he was giving the Intruder smart answers to his questions.

Question 8.
How did the Intruder threaten Gerrard ?
Answer:
The Intruder threatened Gerrard by saying that he would soon stop being smart. He would make Gerrard crawl.

Question 9.
“I want to know a few things, see.” What sort of information did the Intruder want from Gerrard?
Answer:
The Intruder wanted personal details from Gerrard like whether he lived alone, what his Christian name was, whether he had a car and whether people visited him. All this information was necessary for the execution of his plan to dodge the police by killing Gerrard and taking on his identity.

Question 10.
Why did the Intruder say, “They can’t hang me twice?”
Answer:
The Intruder said this because he was already wanted for having murdered a cop. If he managed to kill Gerrard, as per his plan, and was later arrested, it would not matter as the punishment for this murder, too, would be a hanging. They could not hang him for the two murders twice.

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The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary in English by William Butler Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats About the Poet

Noted poet and playwright William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Yeats was bom in Dublin, Ireland and received an education in both Dublin and London. Throughout his career, he was deeply invested in helping Ireland reclaim a literary culture of its own, free from English influence. When Yeats wrote ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ in 1888, his journey into poetry had just begun. Yeats writes about the natural beauty of Ireland. In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, for his always inspiring poetry, which is a highly artistic and gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.

Yeats is generally considered as one of the twentieth century’s key English poets. He was a symbolic poet because he used allusive imagery and symbolic structures throughout his career. Yeats chose words carefully and assembled them brilliantly in his poetry. In addition to a particular meaning, they suggest other abstract thoughts that seem more significant.

Poet Name	William Butler Yeats
Born	13 June 1865, Sandymount, Ireland
Died	28 January 1939, Hôtel 3 étoiles Idéal Séjour Cannes- 16 chambres atypiques – un Jardin confidentiel, Cannes, France
Poems	The Second Coming, Lake Isle of Innisfree
Education	National College of Art and Design (1884–1886), Godolphin and Latymer School, The High School

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Introduction to the Chapter

The Isle of Innisfree is an uninhabited island within Lough Gill, in County Sligo, Ireland, where Yeats spent his summers as a child. Yeats describes the inspiration for the poem coming from a “sudden” memory of his childhood while walking down Fleet Street in London in 1888. He writes, “I had still the ambition, formed in Sligo in my teens, of living in imitation of Thoreau on Innisfree, a little island in Lough Gill, and when walking through Fleet Street very homesick I heard a little tinkle of water and saw a fountain in a shop-window which balanced a little ball upon its jet, and began to remember lake water. From the sudden remembrance came my poem “Innisfree,” my first lyric with anything in its rhythm of my own music.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary in English

The Lake Isle of Innisfree expresses the idea that nature is essentially restorative, a place to which human beings can go to escape the chaos and corrupting influences of civilization. The poet dreams of escaping from the busy streets of London. He remembers Innisfree, as a perfect little island that fulfilled all his needs.

The poem opens very formally with the words ‘T will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.” It has been pointed out that these words echo those of the prodigal son in the Bible when he says, ‘T will arise and go to my father.” These Biblical overtones reinforce the idea of Innisfree being an almost holy place and bring to mind the prodigal son’s sense of relief when he resolved to leave his chaotic, unhappy life and return to his childhood home—a place of serenity and simplicity. The poet goes on to describe the life he will lead on the island. At Innisfree he will build a small cabin “of clay and wattles made”.

There, he will be completely self-sufficient as he will plant nine bean-rows and build a beehive and live alone in the glade loud with the sound of bees. The poet’s vision is of a romantic, idyllic, timeless way of life. Yeats imagines living in peace and solitude; where the only sounds will be those of nature.

Yeats becomes so involved with the idea of this peaceful paradise that the future tense is abandoned and he uses the present tense instead. It is almost as if, by thinking and writing about Innisfree, he imagines himself there at that moment. He tells us that he will have peace there. In the morning, the mist is like veils thrown over the lake; at noon, the purple heather blazes under the sun; the evening is full of the whirr of the linnet’s wings and at night, the stars fill the sky.

The vision of the peaceful place is so powerful that Yeats once again asserts, ‘T will arise and go”. The solemnity is reinforced and emphasised by this repetition, as is the strength of his longing. He declares again that he will arise and go to Innisfree, for always, night and day, he hears the lake water lapping “with low sounds by the shore”, While he stands in the city, “on the roadway, or on the pavements grey”, he hears the sound within himself. The colourless grey of the pavements seems dreary and depressing and we can empathise with Yeats’ yearning for the Lake Isle of Innisfree, a yearning he feels in ‘’the deep heart’s core.”

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Message

The Lake Isle of Innisfree expresses a familiar desire in the modem world: to escape, to achieve peace and solitude, to be at one with nature. Although Yeats says almost nothing in the poem about what he would like to escape from, but his reader can easily imagine the stressful conditions of modem, especially urban, life in a hectic city. It also expresses the idea that nature provides an inherently restorative place to which human beings can go for succour. The speaker feels as if that is where he/she belongs and that is where he/she can find his/her hue self, since the speaker states, “I hear it in the deep heart’s core”, showing how the speaker feels a deep connection with the island of Innisfree and its nature.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Title

The poem has an apt title. The Lake Isle of Innisfree is an actual place, an island in Lough Gill off the coast of Ireland in County Sligo. To the poet, living as he is in London, the title gives us a hint of what’s to come. It prepares us for the dreamy, picturesque place that the speaker describes away from the hubbub and the “grey” concrete of the city. It brings up an image of pastoral beauty which stands in direct contrast to “the roadway” and “the pavements grey” referred to in the last stanza.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Setting

Though the poet is in London on a grey street, “ While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey” we spend most of the poem dreaming about the ideal country setting, Innisfree. The Lake Isle of Innisfree is a perfect little island that would supply all the poet’s needs. This poem explores his longing for the peace and tranquillity of Innisfree where he spent a lot of time as a boy.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Theme

The main theme of The Lake Isle of Innisfree is the harmony between man and nature. Though the speaker lives in the city, he/she longs for a simpler life in Innisfree where he/she can engage with nature and its beauty. Yeats wishes to leave the hectic city life of London and escape to Innisfree, a perfect little island off the coast of Ireland. He longs for the peace and tranquility of the place where he spent a lot of time as a boy. Here, the poet implies that there is no peace in London.

The poet describes Innisfree as a simple, natural environment where he will build a cabin and live alone on beans and honey which he will cultivate himself. He imagines finding harmony on the island. He dreams of living in a delightful climate there and listening to the songbirds at dusk. As a child Yeats spent his holidays in the County Sligo, where Innisfree is located. So, in a way, the poet is also wishing to return to the carefree days of his childhood.

The speaker, who lives in London, is fed up of the hubbub of the congested city. He longs for the solitude of an isolated island where the only company he desires is that of the bees and the birds.

The poem also expresses the poet’s longing to go back to nature and live a self-sufficient life. The poet thinks he can get closer to his roots, or his true self, by abandoning the chaotic, hectic life of the city and embracing a life in the lap of nature. Peace is a natural outcome of living in harmony with nature.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Tone

The poet’s tone is yearning, as he longs for the serene beauty of Sligo amidst the chaos and traffic of London. As he imagines the life he will lead at Innisfree, his longing for the life increases. Despite his longing to escape to the lap of nature, the tone poet’s is peaceful, thoughtful, expectant and harmonious in keeping with the poem’s theme. The poem ends on a note of determination as he decides to leave London and go to Innisfree.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Literary Devices

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the initial letter (generally a consonant) or first sound of several words, marking the stressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Example: A hive for the honey-bee
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds

Allusion

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication.

Example: The poem opens very formally with the words ‘’I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.” It has been pointed out that these words echo those of the prodigal son in the Bible when he says, ‘’I will arise and go to my father.”

Imagery

Imagery is a poetic device wherein the author uses words or phrases that appeal to any of the senses or any combination of senses to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. Imagery is not limited to only visual sensations, but also refers to igniting kinesthetic, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, thermal and auditory sensations as well.

Examples: And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, (visual imagery)
And live alone in the bee-loud glade, (sound imagery)
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; (sound imagery)
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, (visual imagery)
And evenings full of the linnet’s wings, (sound imagery)
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; (sound imagery)
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, (visual imagery)
I hear it in the deep heart’s core, (sound imagery)

Metaphor

A metaphor is a comparison between two concepts, tightened by the omission of any adjoining words.

Example: “Peace comes dropping slow / Dropping from the veils of the morning” (lines 5-6) in which the dropping of the mist in the sky is compared to the peace that overcomes the island.

The entire poem is an extended metaphor in which Innisfree represents an escape from reality.

Repetition

Poets often repeat words, phrases, lines, or stanzas to create a musical effect, to emphasize a point, to draw attention to a point, or to lend unity to a piece.

In The Lake Isle of Innisfree certain words, sounds and even stanzas are repeated in a poem which serve to stress certain ideas, pictures / images, sounds or moods,

Example: I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, (Line 1)
I will arise and go now, for always night and day (Line 9)

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings

Symbolism

A symbol is literary device that contains several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight, and is representative of several other aspects, concepts or traits than those that are visible in the literal translation alone. Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

Example: The poet uses Innisfree as a symbol. The Lake Isle of Innisfree is used to show that there is a place for everyone to find peace and quiet. It allows people to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. It also allows one to be stress-free and take time to appreciate nature. Innisfree is the symbol of inner peace and freedom.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Describe the Lake Isle of Innisfree as seen through the eyes of the poet.
Answer:
The Lake Isle of Innisfree is an island that is incredibly peaceful. The island is also a place of great natural beauty. Yeats describes many different aspects of its appeal, from the various birds and insects to the striking light at different times of day. This is a landscape that has not been damaged or diminished by human interference.

Question 2.
Why does the poet want to go to Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet wants to go Innisfree in search of peace. He does not like London with its noise and grey pavements. He wants to live in a place which is the opposite of London; he craves for some peace and hence he wants to go to Innisfree where he will be self-sufficient. He will build a small cabin and grow beans and make his own honey by keeping honeybees. Instead of city noise, he will hear the buzzing of the bees and the sound of lake water lapping against the shore.

Question 3.
How is the city life different from the life at the Lake of Innisfree?
Answer:
City life according to the poet is routine and wearisome. The city is noisy, the pavements are dull and grey; there is chaos all around. But at Innisfree, he can escape the noise of the city and be lulled by the “lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.” On this small island, he can return to nature by growing beans and having bee hives, by enjoying the “purple glow” of noon, the sounds of birds’ wings, and, of course, the bees. He can even build a cabin and stay on the island.

Question 4.
What kind of life does the poet William Butler Yeats imagine in his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”?
Answer:
Yeats imagines Innisfree as an idyllic place of peace and solitude. He imagines living in a “small cabin” of “clay and wattles” where he will support himself on beans he plants and honey from his bee hive, and he will “live alone in the bee-loud glade.” There is also a sense that the “peace” he will find there is connected to its natural beauty.

Question 5.
Write three things that the poet would like to do when he goes back to Innisfree.
Answer:
Innisfree is a perfect island that provides everything desired by the poet. The poet will build a small cabin of clay and fence. He will have nine rows of beans. He will also have a hive for the honeybees.

Question 6.
How will the poet live on the island of Innisfree ?
Answer:
The poet will go to Innisfree and live in the lap of nature in quiet solitude. He will build a small cabin there. He shall have nine rows of beans and a hive of bees. He will survive on the beans and the honey cultivated by himself.

Question 7.
Why does the speaker in the poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” desire to spend his time alone in his cabin?
Answer:
The speaker longs for a quiet place where he can live in peace and in harmony with nature. He envisions a simple life in a cottage surrounded by a garden instead of the dull “pavement” of the city. In his mind, he hears the gentle “lapping” of the water against its shore, the bee loud glade instead of the noise of city traffic. And he will be self-sufficient, growing his own food.

Question 8.
‘And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow.” Where will the poet have some peace ? How?
Answer:
The poet indicates that peace of mind can be slowly acquired in the lap of Nature. From the morning, when the mist is like a veil thrown over the lake, to the noon when the purple heather blazes finder the sun and the evening is Ml of the sound of the linnet’s wings and finally, at night, the glow of stars lighting up the sky, the poet will have peace.

Question 9.
How does the poet describe the lake’s waves?
Answer:
The poet says that the lake’s waves hit its shore and create a low sound. The sound, different from the sounds of the city, gives him great pleasure. He hears it in his heart and enjoys it. It also gives him solace and comfort as he realises he can visualise the island in his heart in the city.

Question 10.
How is the ‘roadway in London’ different from the Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Answer:
The roadway in London is dull and grey. But there is nature’s beauty all round in the isle of Innisfree. The poet finds himself surrounded by the beauty of nature and its sounds. He hears the sweet sound of the lake water lapping against the shore.

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Rain on The Roof Summary in English by Coates Kinney

Rain on The Roof by Coates Kinney About the Poet

Coates Kinney (1826-1904) was a man who had a full life. During the 19th century he was, at various times a wistful and skillful poet, a politician – filling the role of Senator in the State of Ohio for two years, a lawyer in Cincinnati and a journalist on several publications and newspapers. He served in the US Army during the American Civil War as a commissioned officer, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the appointment of Paymaster. Finally, he held several school teaching posts. Throughout all of this though he made the time to write poetry and he had two collections published: Keuka and Other Poems in 1855 and Lyrics of the Ideal and the Real in 1888. One of his most famous poems, written in 1849 was the lilting, and haunting, The Rain on the Roof. It could be said that this poem established the name of Coates Kinney as a popular poet.

Poet Name	Coates Kinney
Born	24 November 1826, Penn Yan, New York, United States
Died	25 January 1904, Ohio, United States
Nationality	American
Education	Antioch College

Rain on The Roof Introduction to the Chapter

Rain on the Roof by Coates Kinney is a poem lauding the healing power of rain, especially when heard from a cosy bed in a lovely cottage. It is a poem that is also about the poet’s memories of his childhood. At night, when dark clouds cover the sky and it rains gently then the poet lies in his cosy bed listening to the sound of the gentle rain on the roof top of his house. He remembers his mother smiling down at him and his siblings which gave him immense solace and pleasure. The patter of rain stirs in him fond memories of his mother in all her gentle loveliness.

Rain on The Roof Summary in English

Describing a rainy night, the poet says that the stars of the sky have become invisible because they have been covered by clouds. Darkness usually has a negative connotation, and the poet makes no exception to this rule.

He says that the darkness is making him sad and reflective, and the rain also seems to mirror his emotions as it looks like tears falling softly from human eyes. At this point, the only thing that can bring joy to the poet is to curl up with a pillow in the bed of a country cottage. It is the sound of raindrops that help him recover from his melancholic mood. .

The poet describes how the raindrops make a tinkling sound as they fall on the shingles of the roof. Each sound that is made by the rain in this way is repeated the next instant by the beating of his heart. The things he has only been imagining now start to appear before his very eyes. As he is listening to the soft and continuous falling of the raindrops on his roof, all his memories come back to him, but they are not discrete and separated from each other. Instead all of his memories seem to have formed a patchwork by becoming entwined with one another.

He describes the first memory that he can actually identify among the patchwork that all his memories have formed by meshing together. He remembers how many years ago, in his childhood, his mother used to look down at him and his siblings as they were sleeping and having pleasant dreams. His mother would make a point to look at them every night, for she knew she would not see them again till the next morning. What the poet remembers more than anything is how his mother would bend down and watch over him in particular. These memories are evoked as he listens to the repetitive rhythm of the raindrops as they are falling on his roof.

Rain on The Roof Title

The poem has an apt title. The poet enjoys the sound of rain as it falls on the roof and creates a gentle melody, more so because he is lying snug in bed in the lovely cottage where he spent his childhood. The gentle tinkle of the rain on the shingles brings dreamy fancies with bright hues of recollection. It also arouses fond memories of his mother in all her gentle loveliness as she looks down on her sleeping children before leaving them to go to her room.

Rain on The Roof Setting

The poet is lying comfortably snug in his bed with his head pressed against the pillow, in a room in his cottage listening to the patter of the soft rain as it falls on the shingles of the roof.

Rain on The Roof Theme

The poem Rain on the Roof highlights the power of rain to heal the mind. The poet, who is in a melancholy mood, feels oppressed by the humidity of the atmosphere and the dark skies. He lies brooding, in his bed, when rain begins to fall. Its sound produces an echo in Kinney’s heart and starts a thousand fancies in his thoughts. As he listens to the patter of the rain on the roof, he remembers his mother in the early years when she observed all her off-springs in their sleep.

Rain on The Roof Tone

The poem begins on a reflective and solemn note as the poet talks about the gathering darkness. He is sad and thoughtful, and the rain also seems to mirror his emotions as it looks like tears falling softly from human eyes. However, soon the sound of raindrops helps him recover from his melancholic mood. The poet remembers his mother and the poet takes on a nostalgic tone.

Rain on The Roof Literary Devices

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the initial letter (generally a consonant) or first sound of several words, marking the stressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Example: Over all the starry spheres

Imagery

Imagery is a poetic device wherein the author uses words or phrases that appeal to any of the senses or any combination of senses to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. Imagery is not limited to only visual sensations, but also refers to igniting kinesthetic, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, thermal and auditory sensations as well.

Example: When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres (visual imagery)
And lie listening to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead! (sound imagery)

Onomatopoeia

It is the use of words which imitate sound.

Examples: Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their bright hues into woof,
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof.

Refrain

A refrain is the repetition of lines or whole phrases in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza. It creates a musical effect, emphasizes a point, draws attention to a point, or lends unity to a piece.

Example: And to listen to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof.
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme is an unusual one, but was once used by Mozart in his opera Cosi fan tutte. The rhyme scheme is ABCBDE, FG, with the FG lines (“And to listen to the patter / Of the soft rain overhead!”) repeated at the end of each stanza in different variations.

Rain on The Roof Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What is the setting of the poem?
Answer:
The poet is lying comfortably snug in his bed with his head pressed against the pillow, in a room in his cottage listening to the patter of the soft rain as it falls on the shingles of the roof.

Question 2.
How old do you think the poet is? Justify your answer.
Answer:
The poet is a young man. He remembers his mother looking down at him and his siblings, who are sleeping in their room, long ago. The poet’s mother also is no longer alive as he says she lives on in his memories.

Question 3.
How does the sky look before the rain falls?
Answer:
Before the rain falls, the weather turns humid and great dark clouds gather in the sky. They cover the stars and spread darkness. The poet feels these dark clouds are gloomy and melancholic. To the poet the darkness spells despondence and gloom as the clouds – humid shadows – weep gentle tears that fall as rain.

Question 4.
‘And the melancholy darkness gently weeps in rainy tears.’ Explain the phrase ‘melancholy darkness’. What does it do?
Answer:
“Melancholy darkness” refers to the dark rain bearing clouds. The poet imagines that the clouds covering the sky are gloomy and depressed because they are heavy and grey. The poet further imagines that the clouds are weeping and their tears are falling down as rain drops.

Question 5.
What is a ‘bliss’ for the poet in the poem ‘Rain on the Roof?
Answer:
The poet thinks it is blissful to lie in his cozy bed with his head on the pillow and listen to the sound of rain falling on the shingles of the roof. He enjoys the music of nature which arouses fantasies and memories in his mind.

Question 6.
What does the poet like to do when it rains?
Answer:
The poet likes to lie in his room in his cottage, snug in bed with his head on a pillow when it rains. It gives him the greatest pleasure.

Question 7.
What feelings does the falling rain arouse in the poet in the poem ‘Rain on the Roof?
Answer:
The poet first describes the falling rain as the tears of the dark, gloomy clouds. However, as he lies snug in his bed, listening to the patter of rain on the shingles, the sound provides him immense pleasure and he is lost in fantasies and memories.

Question 8.
What are the poet’s feelings as the rain falls on the shingles?
Answer:
As the rain falls on the shingles, its tinkling sound creates an echo in the poet’s heart. As he listens to the patter of the raindrops on the roof, his gloom is lifted and his heart is filled with a thousand fantasies and fond memories of his mother.

Question 9.
When do the ‘thousand dreamy fancies’ begin to weave in the poet’s mind? What are these fancies?
Answer:
When the poet is in his cottage and lies in his cosy bed listening to the soft music of rain on the roof, his mind is flooded with various thoughts and imaginations. These fancies or imaginary thoughts and ideas spin threads of bright fanciful colours in his mind.

Question 10.
“And a thousand dreamy fancies into busy heart.” When do the ‘thousand dreamy fancies’ begin in the poet’s heart?
Answer:
When the poet is in his cottage and lies in his cosy bed listening to the soft music of rain on the roof, his mind is flooded with various thoughts and imaginations. The soothing sound of the gentle rain on the shingles fires his imagination.

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A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Summary in English by William Wordsworth

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal by William Wordsworth About the Poet

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication of Lyrical Ballads. This piece of work is considered to be Wordsworth’s magnum opus. The Prelude is a semi auto biographical poem of his early years which the poet revised and expanded a number of times. The work was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem “to Coleridge”. Wordsworth was England’s Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

Poet Name	William Wordsworth
Born	7 April 1770, Cockermouth, United Kingdom
Died	23 April 1850, Rydal Mount & Gardens, Rydal, United Kingdom
Poems	I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
Education	Hawkshead Grammar School, University of Cambridge, St John’s College, Cambridge

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Introduction to the Chapter

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1798 and published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads. During the autumn of 1798, Wordsworth travelled to Germany with his sister Dorothy and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. From October 1798, Wordsworth worked on the first drafts for his Lucy poems, which included Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known, She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways and A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal. Eventually, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, was published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads.

The poem is unique amongst Lucy poems as it does not directly mention Lucy. The decision by critics to include the poem as part of the series is based in part on Wordsworth’s placing it in close proximity to the other Lucy poems in the Lyrical Ballads. All these poems are about a young girl named Lucy whose identity and relationship with Wordsworth are unknown. However, the poems reveal that the poet loved her dearly and she died very young. As in other ‘Lucy Poems’, here too, the poet presents Lucy as having become one with nature after her death.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Summary in English

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal is one of the five Lucy Poems, a cluster of elegies about the death of a young girl named Lucy (though she remains unnamed in this poem) which brings to Wordsworth the realization that bad things can happen in a beautiful world. In this poem, the poet seems to be immortalizing Lucy’s death as he describes and appreciates life beyond death.

The poem is a mere eight lines long; two “stanzas.” The first stanza reveals the poet’s innocent unawareness about the fact that one day Lucy too would age or meet her death like other human beings. The second stanza deals with her death that has made her motionless, forceless, and without the faculties of sight and hearing. However, the poet is at peace even after losing Lucy to death because he finds that she has become an inseparable part of the earth by mingling with the rocks, the stones, and the trees.

The opening lines of the poem tell us about the poet himself. “A slumber did my spirit seal” could mean that the speaker is in some sort of a lethargic state, as if he isn’t living in reality but rather in fantasy. This ‘slumber’ transports him to a state of unawareness which keeps away all his human fears like the fact that age and death spare none, not even his dear Lucy.

However, the poet soon encounters the hard fact that the young girl has passed away. He does not address the matter directly perhaps because the pain and agony that he is because of her death is far too overwhelming for him to even mention it in a direct manner.

The lines
“No motion has she now, no force;” tell us how she is lying still, how she is now an inanimate object, devoid of life. In this way the poet subtly implies that she had once been an energetic person, not one to stay put in one place for long. When he writes about her current lack of senses he also implies that the woman might have been one to live life fully, using all of her senses to enjoy each day. He emphasizes how she can no longer enjoy the world through sight or sound by stating that she can no longer see, hear or move; she doesn’t have power.

The last two lines explain how her body has become one with earth, how she is now a part of nature. She is one among the other elements of nature like rocks, stones, and trees. Her only movement is along with the rolling of earth, of which she is now an integral part.

This movement is seen positively by the poet and he does not feel sad or bitter at the girl’s death. For him, her integration with nature transforms her human form and she continues to live like the animate and inanimate objects of nature.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Theme

The theme of A Slumber Did My Spirits Seal is the idea of life, death, and life after death. The poem, like all Lucy Poems, treats the subject of her death. The poet deals with the theme of loss through death and the sorrows that follow. The death of Lucy has left the poet in great pain to the extent that he talks of her death as transforming her into “rocks and stones and trees”. The poet does not mourn her death as an ultimate end. He, who had once considered her to be above old age and death, now finds her inseparably blended with the earth and the nature. Thus, another theme is the immortality of the human soul; Williams Wordsworth immortalizes Lucy by stating that she lives in nature after her physical death. Finally, the third theme is nature. After her death Lucy has become a part of nature and lives on in it.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Tone

The poems tone is one of acceptance as the poet comes to terms with the death of his beloved Lucy.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Message

The keynote of this poem is immortality. Through the death of Lucy, Wordsworth conveys the message that death is inevitable. Nobody is beyond the reach of death. But death does not imply a complete end as the dead person gets integrated with nature and thus lives on. Although to the poet Lucy had seemed a ‘thing’ that could not be touched by the passing of time, ‘the touch of earthly years’, Lucy has breathed her last. She now lacks ‘motion’ and ‘force’, both ideas associated with positive human action. Now she ‘neither hears nor sees’; all those special marks of humanity are gone. But Lucy has been absorbed into nature. She is now one with the rocks, stones and trees and part of the greater pattern of the universe. After death she has become immortal as she is now a part of the earth and its routine rolling.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Title

The title A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal is taken from the opening line of the poem. The title refers to the drugged, drowsy, nearly unconscious state of the poet’s mind that has kept him from realizing reality. He has been in a dream-like state, devoid of any common fears (“human fears”). To the speaker, “she” (his unnamed female love) seemed like she would never age:. However, the death of Lucy has awakened him to the bitter truth of life – its ultimate end in death.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Literary Devices

Alliteration

Alliteration is a poetic device in which the poet repeatedly uses a sound at close intervals with the purpose of making the poem lyrical.

Example: A slumber did my spirit seal-

Enjambment

Enjambment is a literary device in which a line does not have a comma or a full stop at the end; the line rolls on to the next line.

Example: She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.

Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme is a popular literary device in which the repetition of the same or similar sounds occurs in two or more words, e.g., covers and lovers. Rhyme occurs usually at the end of a line in a poem. The rhyme scheme in this eight-lined poem is abab cdcd.

A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What does the poet mean by ‘spirit’ and in what state was it?
Answer:
In the poem the word ‘spirit’ refers to the mind of the poet. He was in a slumber. That is, a deep sleep or a state of unawareness as if unconscious to the realities of life. It is as if he was drugged or under some spell.

Question 2.
What caused the slumber of the poet?
Answer:
The poet was passionately in love with the girl. Her death shocked and saddened him. He felt bitter grief. His deep emotion overwhelmed his mind. Such was the intensity of his sorrow that it overpowered his consciousness.

Question 3.
What changes did the slumber bring in the poet’s feelings?
Answer:
The poet was shocked and saddened by his beloved’s death. But the slumber brought peace to his mind. He realised that his beloved had become part of Nature and would always remain around him.

Question 4.
Who does not feel any human fears? Why?
Answer:
The poet does not feel any fears and his soul feels at peace, as though asleep and existing in a deep calm where he has nothing to fear. His love for Lucy was so strong that he did not want her to grow old and suffer the problems of old age as human beings do. She would not now be marked by the passing of time or the ravages of nature as other mortals are. For him, she has attained the status of a supernatural being.

Question 5.
Explain the line: “The touch of earthly years”. Who would not feel the touch of earthly years?
Answer:
The expression “The touch of earthly years,” refers to the ravages of old age faced by human beings – the depletion of energy, diseases, senility and death which a person has to suffer as one grows old during life on this earth. The poet’s beloved Lucy will not face the problems of old age as she is no more alive.

Question 6.
How does the poet come out of his ‘slumber’?
Answer:
The poet comes out of ‘slumber’ as the realisation dawns of him that with her death Lucy is no longer a human being and as vulnerable to death as others. She has become an immortal being and he sees her as a supernatural goddess. This brings him out of his unconsciousness or ‘slumber’.

Question 7.
How does the poet react to his loved one’s death?
Answer:
At first the poet is shocked by the death of his beloved and he feels bitter grief. But after some realisation, he feels a great peace. He is content that the passing of time will no longer affect her. She has become part of Nature and is free from human travails.

Question 8.
The poet does not refer to the death of Lucy. How does he reveal that she is no more?
Answer:
The poet does not refer to Lucy as being dead directly. However, he makes it obvious that she is no longer alive by stating that she has become completely still, motionless, inactive and inert. Moreover, she has lost her senses of hearing and seeing.

Question 9.
How does the poet imagine “her” to be after death?
Answer:
The poet imagines her to be at peace after death. She is in a deep sleep, no longer affected by worldly affairs or by the passage of time. She is now part of nature.

‘No motion has she now, no force
She neither hears nor sees,’

Question 10.
What does the poet mean by “earth’s diurnal course”? How has “she” become a part of earth’s diurnal course?
Answer:
The phrase “earth’s diurnal course” refers to the daily rotation of the earth on its axis that causes day and night. According to the poet Lucy has become an inseparable part of the earth after her death. As she has mingled with the earth, she naturally participates in its daily course just like the stones, the rocks, and the trees.

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The Snake Trying Summary in English by W.W.E. Ross

The Snake Trying by W.W.E. Ross About the Poet

William Wrightson Eustace Ross (1894-1966) was a Canadian geophysicist and poet. He was the first published poet in Canada to write Imagist poetry, and later the first to write surrealist verse, both of which have led some to call him “the first modem Canadian poet.” Ross’s passion for the natural world is evident in his poetry through its focus on Canada’s physical environment. He published only two collections during his lifetime: Laconics (1930) and Sonnets (1932). After 1930 the majority of Ross’s work was published in anthologies and LITERARY MAGAZINES at the behest of editors. Though now considered to be Canada’s first Imagist poet, Ross remained relatively unrecognized during his lifetime.

Poet Name	W.W.E. Ross
Born	14 June 1894, Peterborough, Canada
Died	26 August 1966, Toronto, Canada
Albums	Six Toronto Poets
Education	University of Toronto – St. George Campus

The Snake Trying Introduction to the Chapter

Snakes generate both horror and fascination because our reasoning often misleads us into looking at them as fearsome symbols of death. Though snakes are creations of nature, we are afraid of them. Snakes fascinate us but we do not understand the beauty of nature, and we have the impulse to kill it even though we are astounded by its beauty. In the poem The Snake Trying, WWE Ross shows the snake as a victim and man as the assailant.

The Snake Trying Summary in English

In The Snake Trying the poet describes how a snake is trying to get away from a man who is chasing him with a stick.

The snake, who has been lying on the sandy bank of a water body – a pond or a stream – is trying to escape from the man pursuing it with a stick. As it gracefully glides away, curving its thin long body, the snake looks very beautiful. It glides through the water trying to escape from the stroke. The poet exhorts the person attacking the snake to let it go over the water into the reeds to hide, and not hurt it. He adds it is a small, green snake, completely harmless even to small children. The snake lies on the sand until it is observed and is chased away. In the end, it disappears in the ripples in the green reeds.

The Snake Trying Theme

The theme of the poem The Snake Trying is man’s relationship with nature. The narrator offers us two possible ways we can relate to the natural world. The first way is to admire the beauty and grace of the snake. The small green snake is harmless, even to children. We can simply stand by and appreciate its grace and beauty. The second way to relate to nature is through fear and try to eliminate the cause of fear – the snake. Most people perceive the snake as being dangerous and attack it before it can harm them, even if it is lying peacefully until it is disturbed. It is a harmless snake, who is lying on the sand till he is chased by a human being with a stick. Yet, despite being attacked, the snake makes good its escape, rather than retaliate. The snake is in that case a victim.

The Snake Trying Message

In the poem the poet tries to say that human beings react to snakes based on their own fears. He points out that not all snakes are poisonous; in fact, some of them are quite harmless. It is cruel to attack a snake as soon as we see it. Even if a snake is poisonous, it will do us no harm if it doesn’t see any danger from us because a snake only bites in self-protection. Otherwise, it is as harmless as any other creature. Sadly human beings are the ones who attack a snake without provocation.

The Snake Trying Tone

The poet’s mood is that of fear as he sees the man pursue the snake with a snake. The snake’s beauty and grace fill movements arouse awe and fascination in the poet. His tone is filled with admiration for this beautiful creation of nature. He takes on a pleading tone as he begs the man to let the snake go because it is harmless. As he thinks of man attacking the snake, his mind is filled with regret at man’s cruelty.

The Snake Trying Setting

The setting of the poem is the sandy bank of a water body – a pond or a stream with reeds growing on the banks.

The Snake Trying Literary Devices

Imagery is a poetic device wherein the author uses words or phrases that appeal to any of the senses or any combination of senses to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings. Imagery is not limited to only visual sensations, but also refers to igniting kinesthetic, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, thermal and auditory sensations as well.

Example: The snake trying
to escape the pursuing stick,
with sudden curvings of thin
long body, (movement)
and now
he vanishes in the ripples
among the green slim reeds, (visual imagery)

The Snake Trying Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What is the snake trying to escape from?
Answer:
The snake is trying to escape from a being hit by a stick, or even worse, being killed. It is being chased by someone with a stick. The person is afraid of the snake and perceives it as a potential threat.

Question 2.
Is the snake harmful?
Answer:
No, it is not a harmful snake as it is not poisonous. The poet says the snake is a green one. Green snakes are generally garden snakes and are considered harmless as they are not venomous.

Question 3.
Why did the person with a stick attack the snake?
Answer:
The person attacked the snake when he saw it lying on the sand. He was driven by his own fear of snakes and their being venomous that led him to attack the snake to either kill it or drive it away.

Question 4.
What do you learn about the person attacking the snake?
Answer:
The person attacking the snake is governed by his fear of snakes. He wishes to kill or hurt the snake and rushes in to attack the snake, without pausing to consider that the snake is a green garden snake which is not venomous. Moreover, the snake is lying on the sand, and is not about to attack anyone. The man is also pitiless as he goes to hurt or kill the snake.

Question 5.
What does the poet wish for the snake?
Answer:
The poet sees the snake as a beautiful creation of Nature. Moreover, it is a green garden snake and not a harmful one. He wishes that it should not be assaulted with the stick. It should be allowed to go under the water into the reeds to hide without being hurt.

Question 6.
Where was the snake before someone saw it and chased it away? Where does the snake disappear?
Answer:
The snake was lying unobserved on the sand till someone saw it and, fearing it, rushed to attack it with a stick. The pursuer chased it away. The snake disappeared in the ripples of the water among the green reeds.

Question 7.
What does the poet mean when he says ‘O Let him go’?
Answer:
The poet tells the man chasing the snake with a stick to let the snake go. The poet wishes that the snake should not be hurt and should be allowed to make its escape and reach its destination safely.

Question 8.
‘He is harmless even to children.’ What does the poet think about the snake?
Answer:
The poet is of the opinion that the snake which is being chased is a green snake of the garden variety and is not venomous. It is not harmful, not even to children who are more vulnerable. He feels the snake should not be hurt and should be allowed to reach its place safely.

Question 9.
What impression do you form of the poet in this poem?
Answer:
The poet loves Nature and all its creations. He finds the snake and its graceful movements beautiful. He is compassionate and does not want the snake harmed. He tries to stop the person with the stick from attacking the snake and is happy to see the snake glide away into the reeds.

Question 10.
What is the central idea of the poem “The Snake Trying”?
Answer:
The poet says that all snakes are not venomous or harmful. Nor do they attack without provocation.

Even if a snake is poisonous, it will do us no harm if it doesn’t see any danger from us. It is wrong to attack or kill a snake as soon as we see it. But sadly, human beings always try to kill a snake as soon as they see it. All creatures have a right to their life. Like the snake in this poem all try to save themselves in case of danger.

 

We have decided to create the most comprehensive English Summary that will help students with learning and understanding.

On Killing a Tree Summary in English by Gieve Patel

On Killing a Tree by Gieve Patel About the Poet

Gieve Patel (1940-) is a famous Indian poet and playwright. Patel belongs to a group of writers who have subscribed themselves to the ‘Green Movement’ which is involved in an effort to protect the environment. His poems speak of deep concerns for nature and expose man’s cruelty to it. Patel’s works include Poems which was launched by Nisim Ezekiel in 1966, How Do You Withstand, Body (1976) and Mirrored Mirroring (1991). He has also written three plays titled Princes, Savaska, and Mr Behram. He currently resides in Mumbai and practices medicine. He is also a painter. As one of the contemporary Indian artists, he has been part of exhibitions around the world.

Poet Name	Gieve Patel
Born	1940 (age 80 years), Mumbai
Education	Grant Medical College
Profession	Poet, Playwright, Painter, Physician, Artist
Books	Mirrored, Mirroring, Mister Behram and Other Plays, Gieve Patel: Sculptures and Drawings
Nationality	Indian, British Raj

On Killing a Tree Introduction to the Chapter

The poem On Killing a Tree has been taken from Gieve Patel’s anthology named Poems. The poem is a graphic picture of man’s cruelty towards the tree, which symbolises Nature. The poet gives us step-by-step instructions on how to kill a tree and makes us realize that killing a tree is akin to murdering a human being. It also refers to the destructive nature of humans and the indestructibility of Nature.

On Killing a Tree Summary in English

On Killing a Tree paints a vivid and brutal picture of what is involved in killing a tree. The poet tells us that killing a tree is a difficult and time-consuming process. Simply stabbing it with a knife is not enough to kill it. A tree grows straight out the earth, getting its nourishment from the nutrients found in the earth, along with years of sunlight, water, and air. The leaves and branches of the tree sprout from its bark which looks diseased because it is irregular and scaly.

Hacking a tree with a knife or an axe or chopping off a bough may inflict pain on the tree but it is not enough to bring a tree down. The ‘bleeding bark’ – the wound in the bark from where the sap flows out or where a bough has been chopped off – will heal with time. New green twigs will grow again; boughs that were chopped off will be replaced by new boughs, which will grow to their former size.

The poet then goes on to give instructions how a tree could be killed. He says to kill a tree its root has to be pulled out of the earth. The term ‘anchoring earth’ implies that the trees are held secure with the help of the roots in the earth. So long as the roots are firmly held by the earth, the tree is safe and cannot be killed by a simple jab of a knife. To kill the tree, it is essential that the root, which is the source of a tree’s life, must be pulled out of its deep hole in the earth. By ‘earth-cave’ the poet suggests the space created in the earth by uprooting a tree. Once the centre, the life source – the root – is exposed, the tree becomes vulnerable. The source is described as white and wet, probably alluding to tree sap which is a white liquid.

If it is exposed to the sun and air, this life source will be scorched. Slowly, it will start to become brown, with all the softness fading out. With time, it will wither, become dry and bent out of shape, leaving a corpse where a tree used to be. In short, the exposure will leave the root vulnerable to all vagaries of weather, which will ultimately weaken the tree and kill it.

On Killing a Tree Theme

In On Killing a Tree, Gieve Patel gives us a a graphic picture of man’s killing of the tree. He says that hacking a tree with a knife or an axe will not harm it. The bleeding bark will heal and the tree will grow again to its former size. To be killed a tree must be uprooted completely. The poet hints at rampant deforestation and through the very visual representation of the murder of a tree wishes to communicate to the readers the dangers of deforestation. The poet considers the tree as a living organism which has the right to live like any other creatures on earth. But man is killing trees with utmost cruelty and callousness. The tree represents Nature and the poem also suggests that nature is indestructible. The tree could also be a symbol of mankind. Despite wars and other destructive activities, human kind will not easily come to end.

On Killing a Tree Tone

In On Killing a Tree, the poet, Gieve Patel adopts a sarcastic tone to make us aware of the vulnerability of human lives, and how proper care of environment can keep one safe from harm. Man is presented as a killer who thinks of all possible ways to get rid of the tree, which represents Nature. The poet, ironically, suggests how to completely kill a tree. For years, the tree, like a parasite, has consumed the earth’s crust and absorbed sunlight, air and water to grow up like a giant. So, the tree must be killed. But it is not an easy task. A simple jab of the knife will not do it. From close to the ground it will rise up again and grow to its former size. It will again become a threat to man. So, the tree should be tied with a rope and pulled out entirely. Its white, bleeding root should be exposed. Then it should be browned and hardened and twisted and withered and it is done.

On Killing a Tree Message

Gieve Patel gives a very important message in his poem On Killing a Tree. Trees feel pain, grief, suffering, sorrows and joys as sensitively as human beings do. So we should never hurt them. The poet reminds us that we have not inherited these green trees for our use; they are held by us in trust for our future generations. It is, therefore, our sacred duty to conserve trees as a legacy for future.

On Killing a Tree Title

In the poem On Killing a Tree Gieve Patel, from its beginning to the end, describes in detail the process and consequences of killing a tree. In the first two stanzas the poet talks about Nature’s resilience. He feels one cannot kill a tree with just a stab of a knife. The tree has grown slowly consuming the earth and absorbing years of sunlight, air and water. So the tree cannot be tree cannot be killed easily. The bleeding bark will quickly heal and the tree will produce curled green twigs, which will soon expand to their former size. In the following two stanzas he gives a detailed process of killing a tree. The root of the tree must be entirely pulled out of the earth into which it had been anchored and then left exposed to wither and die. Then only will the killing process be over. In this way the poet highlights man’s systematic destruction of the environment. Hence the title is appropriate and it drives the poet’s point home in a superb way.

On Killing a Tree Setting

The setting of the poem is the modem world. The world is facing rapid deforestation for urbanisation and industrialisation. This world where trees are being killed is the setting of the poem.

On Killing a Tree Literary Devices

Imagery

Imagery is a poetic device wherein the author uses words or phrases that appeal to any of the senses or any combination of senses to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically the author’s writings.

Examples: Slowly consuming the earth,/Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing/Years of sunlight, air, water,
And out of its leperous hide/Spouting leaves ’ –

The imagery used here is strong and it depicts the growth of the tree by consuming nutrients from the earth and absorbing sunlight, air and water from nature.

The language through the poem is simple, remarkable and vivid. Every word in the poem has a remarkable evocative power and is accurate and suggestive. Expression such as “bleeding bark” “leprous hide” and “anchoring earth” present memorable visual images. The poem powerfully portrays man’s callousness in killing a tree. It is a telling commentary on one of the major environmental issues that encounters modem man.

Irony

The term irony refers to a discrepancy, or disagreement, of some sort. The discrepancy can be between what someone says and what he or she really means or verbal irony. The discrepancy can be between a situation that one would logically anticipate or that would seem appropriate and the situation that actually develops or situational irony.

The poet describes the cruelty of man in annihilating the tree with irony and detachment. He tells the man how hacking the tree with an axe will only injure it, and not kill it. To kill the tree, it must be uprooted and its roots exposed to the sun. Only then will the tree wither and die. But, the poet’s own sympathy is with the tree.

Personification

A figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, or inanimate objects with human traits or abilities. Personification is the poetic practice of attributing human qualities, a character or personality to inanimate or non¬human beings such that they appear to be living human beings.

In the poem the tree has been personified. The poet speaks of trees as human beings, when he says that one cannot kill a tree with a jab of a knife or by hacking it, like they would kill any human being, ‘bleeding bark’— this is an example of personification. The tree is portrayed as a human being throughout the poem, and thus, the part of the bark where it is wounded is represented as bleeding.

Rhyme Scheme

There is no particular rhyme scheme followed in this poem. The poem is divided into 4 stanzas. Each stanza comprises varying lines. The poem is then written in free verse.

On Killing a Tree Summary Questions and Answers

Question 1.
How does a tree become strong?
Answer:
A tree feeds on the earth’s crust, consuming nutrients from the earth. The tree also absorbs years of sunlight, air and water. This makes it strong.

Question 2.
“So hack and chop/ But this alone won’t do it.” What won’t this do? Why won’t it do it?
Answer:
Hacking and chopping is not enough to kill a tree. The tree endures the pain but continues to live on as it heals over time. The bark which has been chopped will heal itself. Green twigs and small branches will soon emerge from the bleeding bark and in time the tree will regrow to its original size.

Question 3.
What is the meaning of “bleeding bark”? What makes it bleed?
Answer:
Bleeding bark suggests the wound on the tree that is caused by hacking or chopping the tree. When the branches of a tree are chopped off, the tree bleeds as the sap can be seen to flow. It expresses the pain of a tree.

Question 4.
What are miniature boughs? What happens if they are left unchecked?
Answer:
Miniature boughs are new branches which sprout where the tree was hacked or chopped. If they are left unchecked, they expand and become a huge tree. The chopped tree grows back to its former size.

Question 5.
How does the tree heal itself?
Answer:
The tree is equipped with a power to heal itself. When a tree is hacked or chopped, leaves sprout from the wopnded bark. From close to the ground curled green twigs rise. Miniature boughs expand again to their former size. The tree, in time, grows back to its former size.

Question 6.
How does the poet describe the growth of the tree in the first stanza of the poem?
Answer:
The poet says that the tree grows slowly getting its nutrients from the earth. Then it absorbs sunlight, water and air for many years. The bark of the tree looks ugly because it is rough and has crooked lines on it. It is very ironical that soft and green leaves come out of the leprous hide. Gradually, it grows into a big tree.

Question 7.
Why does it take so much time to kill a tree?
Answer:
It is not easy to kill a tree simply by hacking or chopping it. The tree has deep roots which give birth to tiny twigs and branches which help the tree attain its old stature. For a tree to be killed, the root has to be uprooted, and it has to be scorched and choked in sun and air. This process takes much time and it requires a lot of effort.

Question 8.
How does the tree grow to its full size? List the words suggestive of its life and activity.
Answer:
The tree grows to its full size by consuming nutrients from the earth, feeding upon its crust absorbing years of light, air and water. Consuming, rising, feeding and absorbing are the words suggestive of its life and activity.

Question 9.
The poet uses several images of death and violence in the poem. Can you list them?
Answer:
The images of death are “hack, chop, scorching, choking, browning, hardening, twisting and withering”. The words that show violence are “roped, tied, pulled out and snapped out entirely from the earth’s crust”.

Question 10.
Why does the poet use the word ‘kill’ rather than ‘cut’?
Answer:
The poet makes a distinction between cutting a tree and killing it. Cutting a tree, or hacking and chopping, does not destroy the tree completely, and the tree regrows by sending out new shoots and miniature boughs. The poet then gives step-by-step instructions on the total annihilation of a tree. Once the roots of the tree are pulled out, and are exposed to sun and air, the killing of the tree is complete. The tree will have no second life.