The Two Trees – W B Yeats

The Two Trees – W B Yeats (1865- 1939)

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

The holy tree is growing there;

From joy the holy branches start,

And all the trembling flowers they bear.

The changing colours if its fruit

Have dowered the stars with merry light;

The surety of its hidden root

Has planted quiet in the night;

The shaking of its leafy head

Has given the waves their melody,

And made my lips and music wed,

Murmuring a wizard song for thee.

There the Loves a circle go,

The flaming circle of our days,

Gyring, spiring to and fro

In those great ignorant leafy ways;

Remembering all that shaken hair

And how the winged sandals dart,

Thine eyes grow full of tender care:

Beloved, gaze in thine own heart,

Gaze no more in the bitter glass

The demons, with their subtle guile,

Lift up before us when they pass,

Or only gaze a little while;

For there a fatal image grows

That the stormy night receives,

Roots half hidden under snows,

Broken boughs and blackened leaves.

For all things turn to barrenness

In the dim glass the demons hold,

The glass of outer weariness,

Made when God slept in times of old.

There, through the broken branches, go

The ravens of unresting thought;

Flying, crying, to and fro,

Cruel claw and hungry throat,

Or else they stand and sniff the wind,

And shake their ragged wings; alas!

Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:

Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

Glossary:

wizard:        a man with magic powers

gyring:         to move around in circles                   

guile:           clever dishonest behaviour in order to trick people

barren:         infertile

Summary:

The poet in his poem ‘The Two Trees’ invites his beloved (Maud Gonne) to look inside his heart, where a holy tree grows. Joy shakes its leaves. The shaking of the tree has made him murmur a wizard song for her.

The poet continues, telling his beloved not to look into the mirror, or only for a little while, because a dangerous image there. All things turn to barrenness and mirror holds the image of tiredness. In those frightening places the ravens of unresting thought fly, and make one’s eyes unkind.

This poem, like many that are addressed to Maud Gonne, contrasts her inward with her outward beauty. On a simple level, the poem suggests that the beloved look within herself to the spirit of her nature (the tree), which he himself loves.

Further, she should shun the mirror, which captures her external appearance. Her appearance, though beautiful now, will fade with age. Her inner tree, though, will never grow any less beautiful on a more arcane (mysterious) level. The holy tree could refer either to the tree of knowledge or to the Sephardic tree of the Kabbalah. The Sephardic tree resonates with both good and evil. This poem would fit with the Kabbalic notion of man, which is divided between good and evil. Looking in a glass makes the tree into its reverse image, barren and threatening. Yeats was certainly familiar with the Kabbalah from his theosophical practices.

Sephardim: (pl. Sephardi):                  A Jew whose ancestors came from Spain or North Africa.

Ashkenazim: (pl. Ashkenazi):              A Jew whose ancestors came from central Eastern Europe.

Kabbalah (also: Cabala/Qabalah):      (in Judaism) the ancient tradition of explaining holy texts through

                                                          Mystical means.

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Down by the Salley Gardens – W. B. Yeats

Down by the Salley Gardens – W. B. Yeats (1865- 1939)

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;

She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.

She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;

But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,

And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.

She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;

But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

salley:             willow

weirs:            a low level wall or barrier built across a river in order to control the flow of water or change its direction

About the poet:

William Butler Yeats, poet and playwright, was born in Dublin, Ireland on 13^th June 1865, but moved to ChisWick , London in 1867 due to his father’s career as a lawyer and did not return to Ireland until 1881, where he studied at the Metropolitan School of Art, it was here that he met fellow poet George Russell who shared his interest in mysticism.

“Down by the Salley Gardens’, first published as “An Old Song Resung” in the “Wanderings of Oisin and other Poems” in 1889. “Down by the Salley Gardens” was originally an old Irish folk song, Yeats turned it into a poem as a dedication to oral tradition.

Summary:

“Down by the Salley Gardens” is a short poem written by W. B. Yeats describing both love and nature. The poem is split into two stanzas with two rhyming couplets in each.

The poem is written in the first person that draws the reader strongly into the theme, relating it to personal events. Yeats has the woman deliver the advice and the young man foolishly not take it, so the point is driven home by this repetition making it resemble typical conversational language, as “She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;”

The most significant effect in the poem is the obvious rhyming scheme present at the end of each line. Yeats defines the rhyming clearly by using rhyme scheme ‘ab ab ab’, such as “I did meet and snow-white feet”.

The rhyming couplets give the poem a sing-song style which gives it a positive and light tone. The poem is unique in that it holds many forms of repetition throughout the description.  The second stanza mimics the first theme-wise however its descriptive texts shows that it occurs afterwards. The similarity of expression is as “my love and I did meet” in the first stanza and      “my love and I did stand” in the second stanza

The poem is quite interesting as it holds many themes. The main one is being the man’s regret with not staying with his love. However, it is important to note that nature also plays a large role within the poem rather than having a literal significance. It is the most probable that Nature acts as a metaphorical role as the man’s love:

“She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;”

The lyrical form of the poem creates an imaginative text that draws that reader to a sense of flexibility.

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The Glory – Edward Thomas

The Glory – Edward Thomas (1878-1917)

The glory of the beauty of the morning, ——

The cuckoo crying over the untouched dew;

The blackbird that has found it, and the dove

That tempts me on to something sweeter than love;

White clouds ranged even and fair as new-mown hay;

The heat, the stir, the sublime vacancy

Of sky and meadow and forest and my own heart: ——

The glory invites me, yet it leaves me scorning

All I can ever do, all I can be,

Beside the lovely of motion, shape, and hue,

The happiness I fancy fit to dwell

In beauty’s presence. Shall I now this day

Begin to seek as far as heaven, as hell,

Wisdom or strength to match this beauty, start

And tread the pale dust pitted with small dark drops,

I hope to find whatever it is I seek,

Hearkening to short-lived happy-seeming things

That we know naught of, in the hazel copse?

Or must I be content with discontent

As larks and swallows are perhaps with wings?

And shall I ask at the day’s end once more

What beauty is, and what I can have meant

By happiness? And shall I let all go,

Glad, weary, or both? Or shall I perhaps know

That I was happy oft, and oft before,

Awhile forgetting how I am fast pent,

How dreary-swift, with naught to travel to.

Is Time? I cannot bite the day to the core.

Glossary:

Glory:              grandeur

cuckoo:            a bird with a call that sounds like its name

blackbird:        a European bird, the male black with a yellow beak and the female is brown with brown beak; a black North American bird is larger than the European black bird.

mow:               to cut gross using a machine or tool.

scorn:              a strong feeling that sb/sth is stupid or nor good enough

sublime:           a field covered in grass

scorn:              a strong feeling that sb/sth is stupid or not good enough

hearkening:     (hearken/harkens) to listen to sb/sth

hazel:               a small tree that produces small nuts those can be eaten

copse (ka:ps): (also coppice) a small area of trees or bushes growing together

lark:                 a small brown bird with a pleaser-song

swallow:           a small bird with long pointed wings and a tail with two points.

oft:                   often

pent:                an expensive

dreary:             that makes you feel sad, dull and not interested.

swift:                done quickly/immediately

naught/nought: (not successful) all our efforts have come to nought

Summary:

Edward Thomas is a famous early modern English poet, began to write poetry late in his short life. His poetry is plain – as Wordsworth’s. He is quite outstanding, conjuring up images of delicate yet sumptuous natural landscapes.

‘The Glory’ is mainly focus on the beauty of Nature that occupies a great deal of Thomas’s work, and it is one of the central concerns of the glory of the nature. For all the ability Thomas undoubtedly a poet, he does not seem to consider his insight to mean much – having been inspired by the Nature around him, its glory leaves him ‘scorning, all I can ever do, all I can be’; any attempt to put the beauty of nature into words can only ever be synthetic in some-way, and therefore inadequate. A feeling of inadequacy seems to pervade in this poem, as Thomas constantly questions himself and wonders whether he should change approach. Thomas appears to be striving for the perfection in the way he writes and describes as he perceives in nature itself. As someone who is wretchedly prone to perfectionism and self-questioning seen in his words. Above all, ‘The Glory’ appears to be a poem of paradoxes. The obvious one is being in the berating of himself for not matching the glory of nature. Thomas writes beautifully and truthfully about the Nature but induces uncertainty and self doubt. Another contradiction comes in the fabulous closing line of the poem: ‘I cannot bite the day to the core’.

Besides producing a great image, it has been suggested that it contains religious undertone referring specifically to the Garden of Eden. For someone who appears to want to know more, too much knowledge can be dangerous – indeed, ‘biting to the core’ may lead to the discovery that nature is not as glorious as it seems, with illusions being shattered, perhaps some trepidation is good if it means you can keep your ideals of ‘glory’ intact.

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The Children of Stare – Walter De la Mare

The Children of Stare – Walter De la Mare (1873-1956)

    Winter is fallen early

    On the house of Stare;

Birds in reverberating flocks

    Haunt its ancestral box:                    

    Bright are plenteous berries

    In clusters in the air.

    Still is the fountain’s music,

    The dark pool icy still,

Whereupon a small and sanguine sun

    Floats in a mirror on,

    Into a West of crimson,

    From a South of daffodil.

    ’Tis strange to see young children

    In such a wintry house;

Like rabbits’ on the frozen snow

    Their tell-tale footprints go;

    Their laughter rings like timbrels

    ’Neath evening ominous:

    Their small and heightened faces

    Like wine-red winter buds;

Their frolic bodies gentle as

    Flakes in the air that pass,

    Frail as the twirling petal

    From the briar of the woods.

    Above them silence lours,

    Still as an arctic sea;

Light fails; night falls; the wintry moon

    Glitters; the crocus soon

    Will open grey and distracted

    On earth’s austerity:

    Thick mystery, wild peril,

    Law like an iron rod: —— 

Yet sport they on in Spring’s attire,

    Each with his tiny fire

    Blown to a core of ardour

    By the awful breath of God.——

Glossary:

sanguine:         cheerful and confident about the future

timbrels:          (Tumbrels) a kind of musical instrument

ominous:          suggest that sth (bad) is going to happen in the future

frolic:               play and move happily and lively

twirling:           to move or dance round and round

briar:               a wild bush with thorns esp a wild rose bush

lours:               looks sullenly or threateningly

crocus:             a small yellow, purple or white flowers that appears in early spring

austerity:          bad economic condition

peril:                threat, danger

ardour:             passion, enthusiasm

About the poet:

Walter De la Mare (1873 – 1956) was a highly regarded English poet and short story writer who had a particular talent for writing for and about children, although he was no means exclusively a children’s writer. His “The Children of Stare” was originally published in collection, “Poems” that appeared in 1906, and then in Volume 1 of his “Collected Poems 1901 – 1918)”. It is written, although it is not a poem that children would find easy to read or understand. It should therefore be regarded as a poem in which children are the subject matter rather than the intended audience.

Summary:

The first two stanzas of the poem “The Children of Stare” sets the scene of a winter evening in the grounds of a large mansion, “the house of Stare”. This name would appear to an invention on the poet’s part, but the world worked well in this context, with its implications of silence and lack of motion. The house can be imagined as staring at the grounds and the children who are introduced later, and the reader is invited to stare back.

The imagery of these stanzas is fairly standard, with emphasis being given to sound and colour. The flocks of birds are ‘reverberating’, whereas the ‘fountain’s music’ is silent. There is bright colour in the ‘plenteous berries’, but the chief function of ‘the dark pool icy still’ is to reflect the ‘Sanguine Sun’ as its colour changes from ‘daffodil’ to ‘crimson’ as it sets. There is no hint of movement apart from that of the sun, and even the birds ‘haunt’ rather than fly. There is something faintly sinister about this environment that reminds the modern reader of scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”

In the Third stanza the children (De la Mare does not say how many) are introduced, playing and laughing in the snow, but immediately one is thrown off one’s guard with the line

`Tis strange to see young children

In such a wintry house;

The children are clearly unexpected, but is there also another implication to ‘strange’? The final word of the stanza is ‘ominous’ which serves to take today’s reader away from thoughts of Hitch Cock and move towards Stephen King!

In the fourth stanza De la Mare present three similes that link the children to their environment. Their red faces are like ‘wine-red winter buds’ (which refers back to the barriers of the first stanza), and describes them as:

Their frolic bodies gentle as

    Flakes in the air that pass,

    Frail as the twirling petal

    From the briar of the woods.

The children clearly belong to this setting, even to the extent of there being mysterious connection between the world of Nature and these particular children.

The fifth stanza emphasizes the threat from Nature as ‘silence lours’, ‘light fails’ and ‘night falls’. The moon appears bright and all colour will soon be lost to become ‘grey and distracted’. The implication is that this is not the time or the place for children, and that they should be elsewhere. This theme continues at the start of the final stanza:

Thick mystery, wild peril,

Law like an iron rod,

although the reader must decide what nature this mystery and peril might take. Like wise, what is the ‘law like an iron rod’? Is it the law of Nature, or that of parents who might try to force the children to come indoors?

The view of De la Mare’s approach might seem to be belied by the way the poem ends:

“Yet sport they on in spring’s attire,

Each with his tiny fire

Blown to a core of ardour

By the awful breath of God.”

The air of mystery is deepened by the knowledge that these children are dressed “in spring’s attire”, but apparently solved by the revelation that they are warmed by “the awful breath of God”. De la Mare was not religious in an orthodox way, and this is not a religious poem, but he ends with an assertion of the divinity of innocent childhood (in a Blakean sense) as well as drawing attention to the frailty of that childhood in a threatening universe. For the children, the world extends no further than the confines of the (presumably) large garden of their “ancestral box”, But de lad Mare is aware of hostile (ominous) forces from beyond, as represented by the setting sun and “wintry moon” the determine “earth’s austerity”.

There is both hope and fear expressed by “The children of stare”. If the children can continue to play in an environment that would seem not to be conducive for play, thanks to their “tinyfire”, this bodes well for how they will face when they are exposed to the world beyond the garden. However, will those outside forces of “austerity” prove too much for their “frail” bodies? As mentioned this question, leaving the reader to make up his or her own mind

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THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER – OLIVER GOLDSMITH

 THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER – OLIVER GOLDSMITH

Oliver Goldsmith, poet, dramatist and essayist, was born on 10 November 1728 at Pallasmore in Ireland. At eight, he had a severe attack of smallpox which disfigured him for life. In Spite of repeated interruptions in his studies, he managed to take his B. A. degree in 1746. After several avocations he took to writing as his means of livelihood, but with little success. He died on 4 April 1774.

Among his works The Traveller (Poem), The Deserted Village (poem), She Stoops to Conquer (play), and The Vicar of Wakefield (novel) are accepted classics.

‘The Village Schoolmaster’ is taken from his most famous poem The Deserted Village. It is one of the most endearing pen-portraits in the whole of English Literature.  The original of the Schoolmaster is supposed to be Thomas Byrne a retired soldier who opened a school at Lissoy. Goldsmith was at Byrne’s schools for two years.

Oliver Goldsmith, poet, dramatist and essayist, was born on 10 November 1728 at Pallasmore in Ireland. At eight, he had a severe attack of smallpox which disfigured him for life. In spite of repeated interruption in his studies, he managed to take his B.A. degree in 1746. After several avocations he took to writing as his means of livelihood, but with little success. He died on 4 April 1774.

Poem:

Besides yon straggling fence that skirts the way,

With blossom’d furze unprofitably gay,

There, in his noisy mansion, skill’d to rule,

The village master taught his little school;

A man severe he was, and stern to view;

I knew him well, and very truant knew;

Well had the boding tremblers learn’d to trace

The day’s disasters in his morning face;

Full well they laugh’d with counterfeited glee,

At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;

Full well the busy whisper, circling round,

Convey’d the dismal tidings when he frown’d;

Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,

The love he bore to learning was in fault;

The village all declar’d how much he knew;

‘Twas certain he could write, and cipher too;

Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,

And e’en the story ran that he could gauge.

In arguing too, the parson own’d his skill,

For e’en though vanquish’d, he could argue still:

While words of learned length and thund’ring sound

Amazed the gazing rustics rang’d around,

And still they gaz’d, and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew.

‘The Village Schoolmaster’ is taken from his most famous poem The Deserted Village. It is one of the most endearing pen-portraits in the whole of English literature. The original of the Schoolmaster is supposed to be Thomas Byrne a retired soldier who opened a school at Lissoy. Goldsmith was at Byrne’s school for two years.

The original of the Schoolmaster is supposed to be Thomas Byrne who taught Goldsmith for two years. The schoolmaster was a serious looking man; but he was really very kind at heart. His severity arose from his love of learning. When he came to school in the morning, by looking at his face, the children were able to guess at their experiences of the day.

The schoolmaster had a few stale jokes. Whenever he cracked a joke the children pretended to enjoy it and laughed liberally. This they did only to please him. When he frowned they knew that trouble was coming and the sad news was communicated among themselves through whisper.

The extent of his learning was known to one and all in the village. He could work out simple arithmetical problems and calculate the area of a piece of land. He could also make the necessary calculations and say when the seasons would start or when movable feasts like Easter would occur.

His skill in arguing was admitted by no less a person than the parson of the village. When he was defeated in an argument he would start using high sounding words, to the merriment of all the rustics who were seated around. As a matter of the fact the rustics wondered how a small head could contain all he knew.

Thus the pen-portrait of the village schoolmaster is humorous and at the same time endearing.

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MENELAUS AND HELEN – RUPERT BROOKE

MENELAUS AND HELEN – RUPERT BROOKE

Rupert Brooke, famous for his selfless patriotism, was born on 3 August 1887. He was educated at the Rugby School, where his father was teacher, and at King’s College Cambridge. At the outbreak of First World War in 1914 he joined the Royal Navy, but was not able to serve long, for he died a premature death in the following year. On 23 April 1915, the day of St. George and Shakespeare’s birthday he died at Scyros and was buried in an olive garden where he had sat with his friend a few days before. Rupert Brooke is best remembered for his war sonnets and the poem ‘Old Vicarage Grantchester’.

Poem:

Hot through Troy’s ruin Menelaus broke

To Priam’s palace, sword in hand, to sate

On that adulterous whore a ten years’ hate

And a King’s honour. Through red death, and smoke,

And cries, and then by quieter ways he strode,

Till the still innermost chamber fronted him.

He swung his sword, and crashed into the dim

Luxurious bower, flaming like a god.

High sat white Helen, lonely and serene.

He had not remembered that she was so fair,

And that her heck curved down in such a way;

And he felt tired. He flung the sword away,

And kissed her feet, and knelt before her there,

The perfect Knight before the perfect Queen.

So far the poet. How should he behold

That journey home, the long connubial years?

He does not tell you how white Helen bears

Child on legitimate child, becomes a scold,

Haggard with virtue. Menelaus bold

Waxed garrulous, and sacked a hundred Troys

’Twixt noon and supper. And her golden voice

Got shrill as he grew deafer. And both were old.

Often he wonders why on earth he went

Troyward, or why poor Paris ever came.

Oft she weeps, gummy-eyed and impotent;

Her dry shanks twitch at Paris’ mumbled name.

So Menelaus nagged; and Helen cried;

And Paris slept on by Scamander side.

The Trojan War was fought between the Greeks and the Trojans to avenge the abduction of Helen, wife of Menelaus, by Paris son of Priam. Menelaus was the king is Sparta and Priam was the king of Troy. The first 14 lines are faithful to Greek mythology. The second part of the poem is wholly Brook’s own version of what might have happened in their old age.

In the poem ‘Menelaus and Helen’ Rupert Brooke has recapitulated the most romantic love episode in classical literature, namely the abduction of Helen by Paris, son of Priam who was the king of Troy. It resulted in what is now known as the Trojan War fought between the Greeks and the Torjans. In the end the Trojans were defeated and Menelaus was able to take his wife back to Sparta.

In the first sonnet the poet describes the meeting between the insulted husband and his unfaithful wife. Burning with anger Menelaus crashes into Helen’s chamber where he finds her sitting majestically. Forgetting all about his intention of taking revenge on his adulterous wife, the king flings the sword away and falls at her feet. He kisses her feet and then kneels before her like a perfect knight before a perfect queen.

In the second sonnet is described the dull and weary life of the couple in their old age. The once voluptuous Helen has now become virtuous; but she has lost all her former charm. Menelaus now is not valorous but garrulous. Unable to fight any more battle he can only was eloquent about has past adventures. Irritated by Helen’s haggard look he often wonders how Paris was so much attracted by her appearance. Menelaus now cannot understand why he decided to fight a war on her account. Very often he nags her and she in turn can only cry helplessly.  Ironically enough when this is happening, Paris the author of all mischief is enjoying has eternal sleep on the bank of Scamander.

The description of Menelaus entering Helen’s chamber is very realistic. The comparison of Menelaus to a perfect knight and Helen to a perfect queen is a good example for the figure of speech called simile. It also helps us to remember that Helen is still young and beautiful. The symptoms of old age mentioned towards the end of the poem are to facts. It is a very evidence of the young poet’s observation of real life.

In conclusion it must be said that the poet’s knowledge of classical literature coupled with his imaginative faculty has enabled him to give a new rendering of an old theme.   

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Fra Lippo Lippi – Robert Browning

Fra Lippo Lippi – Robert Browning

The poem begins as the painter and monk Lippo Lippi, also the poem's narrator, is caught by some authority figures while roving his town's red light district. As he begins, he is being physically accosted by one of the police. He accuses them of being overzealous and that he need not be punished. It is not until he name-drops "Cosimo of the Medici" (from the ruling family of Florence) as a nearby friend that he is released.

He then addresses himself specifically to the band's leader, identifying himself as the famous painter and then suggesting that they are all, himself included, too quick to bow down to what authority figures suggest. Now free, he suggests that the listener allow his subordinates to wander off to their own devices. Then he tells how he had been busy the past three weeks shut up in his room, until he heard a band of merry revelers passing by and used a ladder to climb down to the streets to pursue his own fun. It was while engaged in that fun that he was caught, and he defends himself to the judgmental listener, asking "what am I a beast for?" if not to pursue his beastly appetites.

It is then that Lippo begins to tell his life story. He was orphaned while still a baby and starved until his aunt gave him over to a convent. When the monks there asked if he was willing to renounce the world in service of monk-hood, Lippo was quick to agree since renouncing the world meant a steady supply of food in the convent. He quickly took to the "idleness" of a monk's life, even at eight years old, but was undistinguished in any of the studies they had him attempt.

His one talent was the ability to recreate the faces of individuals through drawings, partially because as a starving child he was given great insight into the details that distinguished one face from another and the way those faces illustrated different characteristics. Instead of studying in the convent, he devoted himself to doodles and drawings, until the Prior noticed his talent and assigned him to be the convent's artist.

As the convent's artist, Lippo proceeded to paint a myriad of situations, all drawn from the real world. The common monks loved his work since in his artistry they could recognize images from their everyday lives. However, "the Prior and the learned" do not admire Lippo's focus on realistic subjects, instead insisting that the artist's job is not to pay "homage to the perishable clay" of flesh and body, but to transcend the body and attempt to reveal the soul. They insist that he paint more saintly images, focusing on representations of praise and saintliness instead of everyday reality.

Lippo protests to his listener that a painter can reveal the soul through representations of the body, since "simple beauty" is "about the best thing God invents." Lippo identifies this as the main conflict of his otherwise-privileged life: where he wants to paint things as they are, his masters insist he paint life from a moral perspective. As much as he hates it, he must acquiesce to their wishes in order to stay successful, and hence he must go after prostitutes and other unsavory activity, like the one he was caught involved in at poem's beginning. As a boy brought up poor and in love with life, he cannot so easily forget his artistic impulse to represent life as he sees it to be.

He then speaks to the listener about what generations of artists owe one another and how an artist who breaks new ground must always flaunt the conventions. He mentions a painter named Hulking Tom who studies under him, who Lippo believes will further reinvent artistic practice in the way he himself has done through pursuing realism.

He poses to his listener the basic question whether it is better to "paint [things] just as they are," or to try to improve upon God's creations. He suggests that even in reproducing nature, the artist has the power to help people to see objects that they have taken for granted in a new light. He grows angry thinking of how his masters ruin the purpose of art, but quickly apologies before he might anger the policeman.

He then tells his listener about his plan to please both his masters and himself. He is planning to paint a great piece of religious art that will show God, the Madonna, and "of course a saint or two." However, in the corner of the painting, he will include a picture of himself watching the scene. He then fantasizes aloud how a "sweet angelic slip of a thing" will address him in the painting, praising his talent and authorship, until the "hothead husband" comes and forces Lippi to hide away in the painting. Lippo bids goodbye to his listener and heads back home.

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THE PILLARS OF THE SOCIETY - HENRICK IBSEN

THE PILLARS OF THE SOCIETY - HENRICK IBSEN

The Title of the Play

It is the first serious social drama produced by Henrick Ibsen. The Play describes the shady machinations of the rising businessman. He employs all means of fair or foul to acquire wealth and build up an image in the  society completely concealing his real self even from his wife. The play comes to an end with the confession of the leading characters. He declares his intention to start a new era without affection, hypocrisy and its pretence of virtue and its miserable fear of public opinion.

Mr. Karstan Bernick is the main leading character of the play. He is the most important man. He is regarded as a man with high morality and a pillar of the Society. He is a weed. But he is considered as the corn. Mr. Bernick and other pseudo pillars of the society are the cankers of the society.

Mr. Karstan Bernick is a ship builder. At first his mother looked after the firm. Bernick took over the firm from his mother. At that time the financial condition of the firm was in the worst position. At first he loved Lona Hossel but her half sister Betty came into his life. Bernick found that she was prettier and richer than Lona Hossel. So he changed his love from Lone to Betty. At the same time he was found in the house of Mrs Dorf. But Johan for the sake of his sister took the blame and went to America. Later a rumour was spread that Johan and taken cash also from the firm. Thus Bernick could get time to repay his creditors.

The men like men surrounded Mr. Bernick. Mr. Rorland, Mr. Rummer and Mr. Hilmar were of the same category, the pseudo pillars of Society. All of them agreed to support the Railway Project on the condition that they would get one fifth of the booty.

Every action of Bernick was selfish. He objected the coastal line because it affected the steamer service. The branch line was proposed to exploit the forest wealth. Buts they passed on as the pillars of society. A huge gathering assembled to greet him.

He was callous towards the problems of the employees. He did not realise the problems of the retrenched workmen. He wanted only profit.

He was not happy in domestic life. There was no communication between Benrick and his wife and his son Olaf. He could did everything from his wife when he realised his son was stow away in the Indian Girl felt repentant.

When Lona hear the Bernick thrived on a lie, she decided to make Bernick himself. So she made Bernick to shed away the false morality and confess the guilt. He felt the women were the pillars of Society. Lona corrected him. She told him that the spirit of truth and the spirit freedom are the pillars of the Society. The society ladies Mrs. Rumme, Mrs. Olt and Mrs. Leynge pretended to be virtuous. But they were the real gossipmongers. Though they haunted Bernick’s house, they stopped visiting him when Lona and Johan returned. The theme of the play has a universal appeal. So the title of the play The Pillars of the Society is very appropriate.

Character Sketches

Mr. Bernick:

Mr. Karstan Bernick is the hero of the drama The Pillars of the Society. In the beginning of the drama, we have seen him as a very busy businessman, with high morality and principles. Though a weed of the society he was considered the corn. He cleverly hid everything from his life.

Bernick was filled with hypocrisy, false affection, and false virtue was afraid of public opinion. His entire progress depended on a lie. His brother-in-law Johan took away the cash and he was in the house of Mrs. Dorf.

The moving spirit of his actions was selfish craving for power, influence and position. At first when he heard of the coastal line, he fought against it as if affected his steamer service. When an inland line has to be considered, Bernick proposed a branch line to exploit the minerals of the area. He made arrangements to buy lands to become a millionaire. The other pillars of society agreed to it for one fifth of the profit.

He was callous in his attitude towards his employees. He introduced modern machines for more profit without showing any concern for the retrenched workers. He wanted that Indian Girl should sail at the fixed time. When he heard that the repairs were done was defective he did not stop the sailing of it. When he heard that his son Olaf was in the ship he felt very much.

There was no communication in his house between himself and his wife and his son. He hid his real self from his wife. He did not allow his son to grow up freely. He boasted of high moral principles. At first he loved Lona. When he found her sister Betty was more rich and pretty, he courted her. At the same time he had relationship with the pretty actress Mrs.Dorf.

When Lona and Johan returned from America he was not surprised. To the surprise of his wife he asked her to treat them well. Lona let in the fresh air into the stuffy life of Bernick. She made him to confess and be himself. When he was exposed and brought face to face with the realist of the situation his conscience made him a coward. He confessed and was exonerated.

Ibsen gave much importance to the plot. So the portrayal of Bernick’s character is not convincing. But still in our life we see many Bernick realised that spirit of the truth and spirits of freedom are the pillars of Society.

Lona Hessel

Lona Hessel is one of the famous women characters of Ibsen. She anticipates the famous characters like – Nora in Doll’s House. She has her individuality. She is capable of intense love and necessary willingness to sacrifice self-interest for the welfare of the man whom she loved.

She is a representative of the New World free from inhibitions, prejudices and narrow-minded morality. When she was in America she cut her hair, wore men’s boots to spite the people.

She had too much affection to her brother Johan. So she went to America with him. There she sang in taverns, preached and published books. Though Mr. Bernick loved and rejected her she did not think of revenge.

One day she came to know that the life and progress of Mr. Bernick was based on a lie. She pretended to be home sick. She returned to Norway. In the beginning she told them that she was no supply of fresh air into the stuffy life of the people there.

She told Bernick to confess the guilt and be himself, so he confessed. Betty was able to win him. Lona is the symbol of reformation of Mr. Bernick and the society.

Martha Bernick

Martha Bernick is the sister of Mr. Bernick. Johan was her playmate. She loved him. But he went to America. She could not inherit money from her mother. So she taught in a school. She lived with the Bernicks. She helped the poor children.

When Dina Dorf became an orphan Martha took her to the house of Bernick. She took good care of Dina. Johan returned. He looked much younger by breathing fresh and free air. Martha looked older by the stuffy atmosphere. Johan had no eye for Martha.

Johan was attracted by Dina. Dina was ready to marry him. At that time the person Rorland revealed the shady past of Johan. Dina was confused. Then Martha and Lona persuaded Dina to trust Johan.

Martha and Lona herald the strong women characters of Ibsen like Nora. She made the supreme sacrifice for her lover.

Miss Dina Dorf

Miss Dina Dorf was the young girl, who lived with the Bernicks. She hated the people with prudish morality. She wanted to be free from the convention-ridden society. She had a rebellious and independent spirit. But sometime she was confused. She was not certain to whom she should trust.

Her father and mother were actors. One day Bernick was found with her mother. So her father desertyed her. After the death of Dina’s mother, Martha took her to Bernick’s house. She hated the prudish morality of the people especially the gossipmongers like Mrs. Rummer and her friends.

She decided to go to America to be herself first. After setting her foot properly she desired to marry Johan. She called Rorland a parson because of his hypocrisy and prudish morality. She hated the behaviour of the people towards her, as she was the daughter of Mrs. Dorf, an actress. She hated Rorland because he acted as if he was lifting a poor despised girl to his level.

Johan

Johan was the younger brother of Mrs. Betty Bernick. In the beginning he was thought less youth. Mr. Bernick was engaged with Betty. But one day he was found in the room of Mrs. Drof. It would have spoiled Bernick. But Johan took the blame and went to America. Later rumours were also there about the missing cash.

Lona Hessel accompanied him. She called him my boy she work hard to help Johan during his difficult days.

Martha expected Johan to return like the prodigal son. Johan prospered and returned. He looked young no ineliation to Martha. He fell in love with Dina. But at that time Rorland disclosed that Johan was responsible for the tragedy of Dina’s mother. 

Johan requested Bernick to exonerate him. He threatened to black mail Bernick with the two letters. When he could win the heart of Dina, he gave the letters Lona to return to Bernick.

At first he wanted to travel in the Indian Girl. Later made a plan to travel by the Palm Tree.

Personally he was not interested to black mail Bernick. So he gave the two letters to Lona before he went for America. Johan is the representative of the New World, free from inhibitions, prejudices and narrow-minded morality. He offers refreshing and informative, contrast to the stuffy world of hypocrisy and pettiness in which men like Bernick live.

Mr. Krap

Mr. Krap is the confidential clerk of Bernick. At first we see him talking to Mrs. Aune. He was asked to pass a message to Aune to stop his Saturday lectures to the men. He was true and faithful to the master.

Later he reports to Bernick the way in which Aune got the American ship called Indian Girl was repaired. Aune patched up the ship, and it was sure to sink.

He advised ernick to check the ship. But Bernick was happy when the inspection was over. Bernick was at a loss when he realised that his son was a stowaway in the ship.

The character of Mr. Krap is not given much importance.

Mr. Aune

Mr. Aune was the foreman of Mr. Bernick’s ship building yard. At first Mr. Bernick told him through Mr. Krap to stop his Saturday lectures to the workers. Mr. Aune believed that it was his duty to enlighten the workers about the harm done to the workers by the modern machines. He presented his case to Mr. Bernick. According to Bernick many copywriters lost their job when printing was introduced. Mr. Aune retorted and said that Mr.Bernick would not have felt that way had been a copywriter.

Bernick gave Aune the ultimatum. If the American ship called Indian Girl, was not ready for sail along with the Palm Tree. Mr. Aune would be dismissed. Mr. Aune took it seriously. He patched up the ship so that it would perish in the sea. Before the ship taken to the yard. Aune enquired Bernick whether he would be dismissed in case if the ship were not ready. Bernick repeated his threat. So Anue allowed the ship to go to the sea. When he came to know that Olaf, the son of Bernick was stowaway in the American ship he took his boat and went to the ship with Betty Bernick. He used Bernick’s good name to stop the sail of the ship and saved Olaf and the crew. He was very happy when he learn that he was not dismissed.

Mr. Aune is the representative of sulking employee under as over bearing chief. He resents the way of Bernick to sabotage his plans. He got a ready patched up ship to spite Bernick. Three gnerations of Aune had worked for Bernick.

Mr. Rorlund

Mr. Rorlund was a schoolmaster. Dine called him parson In the first act we see him reading gilt-edged book to the ladies. Rorlund is quite necessary for the plot. Rorlund’s hypocrisy was worse than Bernick’, because it was without any motivation.

His prudish morality and condensation in lifting a fallen woman’s child drove Dina crazy. So she ran away to America to escape from him. He felt that he was a strong pillar of the Society. He was like a puritan. He always preached to Dina. His morality did not prevent him from loving Dina. He unnecessarily told Dina that Johan was responsible for the tragedy of her mother. Lona and Martha prevailed up on Dina, and she went to America to have her footing. Rorlund spoke to the crowd in praise of Mr. Bernick and other pillars of Society. So in the end we find the pseudo pillar of Morality is exposed.

Explain Importance of IV Act.  (Or) Elucidate Circumstances that led to the confession of Bernick.

In the drama The Pillars of Society the most important act is IV Act. A huge gathering of citizens assembled in front of the house of Bernick to felicitate him for the railway project. Rumme and Vigeland made arrangement for it. Dine decided to go to America with Johan. At first she wanted to make her footing and then to become the wife of Johan. She was fed up with prudish morality of the people.

Olaf escaped from the house to say good bye to his uncle. Martha disclosed that she had been waiting for Johan returned but he showed no inclination to her. His eyes were on Dina. So she sacrificing nature of Martha is shown.

Bernick and Lona met; Lona enquired Bernick whether he was happy at that solemn movement. He said that he was a tool of the society. He told her that his wife was nothing to him. Lona told him that he was so because he failed to share his interests with her. She lived under the self-reproach for the shame. Bernick cast upon Johan.  So Lona advised him to confess the guilt and make himself. Lona informed him that went to America with Dina. Dina was going to be the wife of Johan. In that way Dina was going to spoil the prudish morality.

Lona also informed Bernick that she was there not to take revenge. She came to know that the  Bernick’s life was based on a lie. She wanted to blow some fresh air in the stuffy atmosphere of Bernick's life. She tore the letters given to her by Johan. It moved Bernick very much.

The procession of the citizen reached the house. Betty was not there. He learnt the Olaf was stowaway in the Indian Girl. Bernick felt that the illuminations were like candles in a dead room. At that time Betty Bernick reached there. She told him now Olaf was taken from the Indian Girl with the help of Aune.

Rorlund spoke very vociferously about Bernick. Bernick told the crowd he was selfish in his actions. He was the man who bought the lands. He also told them how he lived on a lie by abusing Johan. He admitted his guilt.

Betty was very happy, she felt that she won him. He allowed Olaf to grow up freely. Thus Bernick confessed and was exonerated. But the confession is not convincing. Bernick believed that “women were the pillars of the Society”. Lona corrected him by saying that the “spirit of freedom and spirit of truth were the pillars of Society”.

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