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Showing posts from July, 2011

Sonnet- A Brief History of Its Journey

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Introduction The Sonnet as a literary form, inferior to none in variety or extent, is superior to many in nobility of thought, in sanctity of spirit and in generality of comprehension. In beauty or prolixity, it can vie with any other literary genre ancient and modern. Despite of the various experimentation, internal and external, Sonnet had to encounter ever since the dawn of its birth, she has successfully held up to the world her archaic literary beauty. Sonnet , derived from the Italian word ‘Sonneto’ meaning a little sound or strain, is a lyric poem of 14 lines with a formal rhyme scheme, expressing different aspects of a single thought, mood, or feeling, sometimes resolved or summed up in the last lines of the poem. Originally short poems accompanied by mandolin or lute music, sonnets are generally composed in the standard meter of the language in which they were written—for example, iambic pentameter in English, and the Alexandrine in French. Such outburst o

The Prologue To "Canterbury Tales": A Picture Gallery of 14th Century

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14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer’s "Canterbury Tales" (probably written after 1387), the crowning achievement of Chaucer's life, is of perennial importance, invaluable alike to the student of poetry, to the historian who aspires to delineate the social life of the period, and to the philosopher.  The  Tales  is a collection of stories set within a framing story of a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket. The poet joins a band of pilgrims, who assemble at the Tabard Inn outside London for the journey to Canterbury. The Host of the inn proposes a storytelling contest to pass the time; each of the 30 or so pilgrims (the exact number is unclear) is to tell four tales on the round trip. Ranging in status from a Knight to a humble Plowman, they are a microcosm of 14th-century English society.  Chaucer completed less than a quarter of this plan. The work contains 22 verse tales (two unfinished) and two long prose tales; a few

Analysis of Virginia Woolf's Essay "Modern Fiction"

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  V irginia Woolf in her Modern Fiction makes a fair attempt to discuss briefly the main trends in the modern novel or fiction. She begins her essay by mentioning the traditionalists like H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett and Galsworthy, who, while they propound new ideas and open out new vistas to the human mind, still follow the Victorian tradition as far as the technique of the novel is concerned. Read More Essay They believed that a great force on the individual was environment. However, they differed from one another in subject matter – in Arnold and Galsworthy the socialist point of view dominated and Wells, a brilliant writer of scientific romances. Read More Essay Mrs. Woolf marks these three as ‘materialists’. While defining the term Woolf states that these writers as well as their writing is stuffed with unimportant things; they spend immense skill and dexterity in making the trivial and transitory a boost of truth of life. As life escapes, the worth of the literary piece

A Critical Essay on the Use of Symbols in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of The Ancient Mariner"

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Symbolic Tapestry in T. S. Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" Introduction The term ‘symbolism’ can be defined as the practice, system and art of representing ideas by means of symbols. The term ‘symbol’ although is a word, a phrase, an object, or a clause even, yet it always represents an abstraction. So the thing represented is an idea, quality, condition, or any other abstract thing.  T. S. Coleridge's renowned poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," weaves a complex tapestry of symbolism, captivating readers with its profound imagery and allegorical depth. Published in 1798, this narrative masterpiece employs a plethora of symbols to convey deeper meanings and explore themes of guilt, redemption, and the human relationship with the natural world. This critical essay delves into the rich symbolism embedded within "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and elucidates its significance within the poem's broader context. Kinds of sym

Stephen in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is the Search of an Artist in Exile

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E scape is the natural complement to the theme of Entrapment and Constraint. Joyce depicts escape metaphorically by the book's most important symbol and allusion: the mythical artificer Daedalus is not at all an Irish name; Joyce took the name from the mythical inventor who escaped from his island prison by constructing wings and flying to his freedom. Stephen, too, will eventually escape from the island prison of Ireland.

What are the specific objectives of teaching English as a second language at the secondary stage? How far is the current high school curriculum helpful in realizing the objectives?

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Part-I: Objectives of teaching English at the Secondary school stage: In order to make the programme of Teaching English effective, we should first of all identify our objectives we want to achieve. It will help the teacher to apply the correct methods and devices to achieve the particular object at any particular stage. So it is extremely necessary to fix up the objectives of teaching English in the beginning. Read More Teaching English ( TEFL )                   With the change of the position of English in the new set up of India, the aims and objectives of teaching English has naturally undergone a change. We have accepted English as a second language. English is , therefore, taught now as a skill subject as opposed to literary subject. So the objectives of teaching English in schools will be the acquisition of linguistic or communicative skills.

How to Approach Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Masterpiece, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

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Introduction No ballad is so fun to read than Coleridge's masterpiece, The rime of the Ancient Mariner . Lowell, a renowned critic, Says ,"Coleridge has taken the old ballad measure and given to it, by an indefinable charm wholly his own, all the sweetness, all the melody and compass of a symphony and how picturesque it is in the proper sense of the word. I know nothing like it. Read More Romantic Period There is not a description in it. It is all pictures." For a clear understanding, obsolete words must be discussed, figures must be explained, and pictures must be clearly dwelt upon. In studying this poem, we cannot help but feel the wonderful imagery weird, grotesque, and romantic; we recognize back of it a powerful allegory; we see the double setting of a story within a story; we thrill at the supernatural; we feel the music of rhyme and rhythm, the throb of the internal rhymes, and the fascination of alliteration; we project ourselves back into the emotions of

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