ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL

ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL

Novel is an invented story in prose, long enough to fill a complete book. According to Jane Austan, a Novel is…

“ A work is which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language”

The germ of the novel lay in the mediaeval romance, a fantastic tale of love and adventure, itself derived from the ballads and fragments of epic poems sung by the wandering minstrel. In 1350 Boccaccio wrote a world famous collection of love stories in prose, entitled the Decameron. Such short stories are called in Italian Novelle.  The term originally meant a ‘fresh story’ but gradually came signify a story in prose, as distinguished from a story in verse, which continued to be called a romance. When prose became almost the universal medium. The term ‘romance’ implied a story or series of stories of the legendary past, of which Malory’s ‘ Morte d’ Arthur’ is a famous example. It is often used today to describe an historical novel which is intentionally picturesque and exciting rather than scholarly, and still more frequently for a piece of light fiction of an emotional type, somewhat remote from the facts and probabilities of everyday life.

The term novel is now applied to a great variety of writing that has in common only the attribute of being extended works of prose ‘fiction’. As an extended narrative, the novel is distinguished from the work of middle length called the ‘novelle’, its magnitude permits a greater variety of characters, greater complication of plot or plots, an ampler development of social milieu.

The genuine novel is found in the Eighteenth Century, which is called the modern novel. The true novel implies…

“A work of fiction which relates the story of a plain human life, under stress of emotion, which depends for its interest not on incident of adventure, but on its truth to nature.”

Eventually in the Eighteenth Century English attained a sudden maturity. All this threads of tendencies and techniques which so far helped the growth of English fiction. These tendencies and techniques were taken up by the writers of this Century in order to fashion the fascinating fabric of the English novel.  English fiction awaited the development of English prose and the growth of English reading public to give it character and purpose. By the beginning of the Eighteenth Century these necessities were supplied and in consequence. In this context Oliver Goldsmith, Daniel Defoe, Richardson, Henry Fielding all seem to have seized upon the idea of reflecting life as it is, in the form of story and to have developed it simultaneously which led English novel a sudden maturity.

Some of the major factors that helped the rise of middle class…

Rise of the Middle class:

The literature was patronized formerly by the upper class. All the authors except Langland and Bunyan used to write largely for the upper classes.  Thus the number of readers was comparatively small.

“ But in the Eighteenth Century the spread of education and the appearance of newspapers and magazines led to an immense increase in the number of readers; and at the same time the middle class people assumed a foremost place in English life and history. These new readers and this new powerful middle class had no classic tradition to hamper them. They cared little for the opinions of Dr. Johnson and the famous literary club; and, so far as they read fiction at all, they apparently took little interest in the exaggerated romances of impossible heroes and the picaresque stories of intrigues and villainy which had interested the upper class. Some new type of literature was demanded and this new type must express the new ideal of the Eighteenth Century namely, the value and the importance of the individual life.  So the novel was born, expressing though in a different way, exactly the same ideals of personality and of the dignity of common life which were later proclaimed in the American and French Revolution, These tendencies were welcomed with rejoicing by the poets of the Romantic revival. To tell men not about knights or kings types of heroes, but about themselves in the guise of plain men and women, about their own thoughts and motives and struggles, and results of actions upon their own characters, -- this was the purpose of our first novelists. The eagerness with which their chapters were read in England, and the rapidity with which their work was copied abroad, show how powerfully the new discovery appealed to readers everywhere.”

The Reading Public and the Rise of the Novel:

The Novel’s formal realism involved a many-sided break with the current literary tradition. Among the many reasons that made it possible for that break to occur earlier and more thoroughly in England than elsewhere, considerable importance must certainly be attached to changes in the Eighteenth century reading public. Leslie Stephen long ago suggested in his book English Literature and society in the Eighteenth Century, that…

“The gradual extension of the reading class affected the development of journalism, as prime example of the effect of the changes in the audience for literature.”

Most circulating libraries stocked all types of literature, but novels were widely regarded at their main attraction: and there can be little doubt that they led to the most notable increase in the reading public for fiction which occurred during the century. They certainly provoked the greatest volume of contemporary comment about the spread of reading to lower orders. These ‘slop-shops in literature’ were to have debauched the minds of schoolboys, plough-boys, servant women of the better sort, and even butcher and baker, cobbler, and tinker, throughout the three kingdoms. The middle-class of London tradesman had only to consult their own standards of form and content to be sure that what they wrote would appeal to a large audience. This is probably very important effect of the changed composition of the reading public and the new dominance of the booksellers upon the rise of the novel.

The Rise of the Democratic Movement:

The rise of the novel was the result of democratic movement in eighteenth-century England. The romance like tragedy had been almost consistently aristocratic. But the comprehensive of the novel, its free treatment of the characters and doings of all sorts and conditions of men, and especially its sympathetic handling of middle-class and low life, are unmistakable evidences of its democratic quality. It is not by accident, therefore, that it appeared at a time when, under Sir Robert Walpole’s firm rule, ‘this was settling down after a  long period of military excitement’ and when, with the consequent growth of commerce and industry the prestige of the old feudal nobility was on the wane, and the middle classes were increasing steadily in social and political power. As lord Morely has said of Pomela, it was the…

“ Landmark of great social no less than a great literary transition, when all England went mad with enthusiasm over the trials, the virtues, the triumphs of a rustic lady’s maid.”

The wider Scope of the Novel:

 The form of the novel gives a far wider scope than the drama for the treatment of motives, feelings and all the phenomena of the inner life, it tended from the first to take a peculiar place as the typical art-form of the introspective and analytical modern world. The novel was the instrument in which the author could express himself thoroughly. As compared with drama it was the most suitable medium for analysing the sentiments and feelings which are lying in the inner recesses of mind. Samuel Richardson was past master in exposing the deep-rooted sentiment of characters.

The Rise of the Periodical Essay:

 In the Eighteenth Century we see another development in Coverley Papers of Richard Steele and Joseph Addison. There is little plot in this essay-series and only a rudimentary love- theme; but the allegorical fabric is gone, there is much entertaining character sketching, and the spice of delicate humour. We should note also that we have here the origin of the society and domestic novel, for the newspapers deal with ordinary people and incidents.

The decline of the Drama:

In the Eighteenth Century the drama was on the wane. So that time was ripe for the maturity of the novel. The drama, which had helped to satisfy the natural human desire for a story, was moribund. Thus something had to take its place. A Licensing Act was passed in 1737as Fielding and others attacked Walpole Government in their comedies. The novel proved to be one of the major species of literature catering to the taste of the public.

Main Tendencies of Eighteenth Century Novel

Ethical Tendency:

Richardson carried on the ethical traditions of Addison and Steele. In his own pragmatic fashion, he undoubtedly did good work in the purification of Society and manners. “ But his moralising is apt to sink overstrained and mawkish” Regarding his morality, E. Albert remarks: “a professed teacher, he is the embodiment of the religious eagerness of the rising puritan middle class. The virtue, he advocates is typically utilitarian rather than fanatical and its reward is material prosperity. Thus Pamela married he wicked master and prospers in the world as a direct reward for her virtue.”

Love and the Novel:

During Richardson’s lifetime, many important and complex changes in the ways that the sexes oriented themselves to their roles were already far advanced. These changes are of considerable intrinsic interest, since they herald the establishment of what is substantially the concept of courtship, marriage and feminine role that has obtained most widely in the last two centuries. The reason for our interest in them here, however, is of more directly literary nature: it derives from the fact that these social and psychological changes go far to explain two of the major qualities posed by Pamela: its formal unity and its peculiar combination of moral purity and impurity.

Dr. Johnson, with the novella in mind, defined a ‘novel’ as a ‘small tale’ generally of love. When Pamela appeared it was called a ‘dilated novel’, because its subject was essentially the single amorous episode which previous short novels has usually been concerned with, but its treatment was on a scale closer to that of romance.

Realism in Eighteenth-Century Novel:

Realism was the main discovery of the Eighteenth-Century English novelist. English novel was greatly influenced by the French writers because the latter was regarded as the eventual change of tradition.

This, of course, is very close to the position of the French Realists themselves, who asserted that their novels tended to differ from the more flattering pictures of humanity presented by many established ethical, Social and Literary codes. It was merely because they were the products of a more dispassionate and scientific scrutiny of life than had ever been attempted before. It is far from clear that this ideal of scientific objectivity is desirable, in the first sustained effort of the new genre to become critically aware of its aims and methods. This is essentially an epistemological problem, and it, therefore, seems likely that the nature of the novel’s realism.

Plot in the Eighteenth-Century Novel:

Defoe and Richardson are the first great writers in our literature who did not take their plots from mythology, history, and legend of previous literature. In this, they differ from Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton. For instance, who like the writers of Greece and Rome habitually used traditional plots. Who did so, in the last analysis, because they accepted the general premise of their times, since Nature is essentially complete and unchanging, its records, whether scriptural, legendary or historical, constitute a definite repertoire of human experience.

The novel’s use of non-traditional plots is an early and probably independent manifestation of this emphasis. When Defoe, for example, began to write fiction as he took little notice of the dominant critical theory of the day. Which still inclined towards the use of traditional plots; instead, he merely allowed his narrative order to flow spontaneously from his own sense of what his protagonists might plausibly do next. In so doing Defoe initiated an important new tendency in fiction. His total subordination of the plot to the pattern of the autobiographical memoir is as defiant an assertion of the primacy of individual experience in the novel.

Individualisation of character: 

The concept of realistic particularly in literature is itself somewhat to general to be capable of concrete demonstration: for such demonstration to be possible the relationship of realistic particularity to some specific aspects of narrative technique must first be established. Two such aspects suggest themselves as of especial importance in the novel characterisation and presentation of background. The novel is surely distinguished from other genres and from previous forms of fiction by the amount of attention and it habitually accords both to the individualisation of its characters and to the detail presentation of their environment.

Conclusion:

 In the Eighteenth Century the English Novel attained maturity. All the threads of tendencies and techniques, which so far helped the growth of English Fiction, were taken up by the writers of this century in order to fashion the fascinating fabric of the novel. Time and circumstances were most responsible for the starting perfection of the novel. Thanks to William Caxton who set up the first printing press in England, in Westminster, in 1476, an army of printers came into existence, providing a variety of books to suit the taste of ‘persons of quality’ and of the ‘readers of the meanest capacity’ as well. Lords and thinkers alike read the Authorised Version of the Bible. All this trends brought a great change in the English Society and in the art of writing by the beginning of the 18^th Century. A new reading public came into existence. The Puritan middle class and even the Dissenting merchants and shopkeepers evinced interest in reading, and dominated the book trade. Moreover, the Puritans’ religious zeal for right conduct, and their attachment to moral standards and good manners exercised considerable influence on the material and purpose of the novelists of this period. Fiction took upon itself to portray the virtues and vices of the average man, together with the opportunities, which might reward his industry, goodness and benevolence. Novelists, as well as other writers, became sentimental moralists preaching new philosophy with democratic implications, which emphasized the innate virtue of every man irrespective of his birth and breeding. ‘Realism and satire, a sense of fact, and the impulse to chasten and reform---these characterise to a great extent the whole literature of the period, whether its form be verse or prose, its inspiration Horace or the Society for the Reformation of manners.’ To all these may be added two other facts. The new and increased reading public made literature, especially novel writing, a paying profession. The same public helped the coming into existence ‘the noble simplicity of prose’. All these circumstances determined the character and development of the 18^th Century novel—with ‘its judicious mingling of entertainment and instruction to its common milieu.

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DEATH, BE NOT PROUD – JOHN DONNE (II Sem B. Com. Basic English)

DEATH, BE NOT PROUD – JOHN DONNE 

                                                

DEATH, BE NOT PROUD, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not soe;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poore Death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure — then from thee much more must flow;

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones and soul’s deliverie.

Thou’rt slave to Fate, Chance, kings and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppie of charms can make us sleepe as well,

And better than thy stroake. Why swell’st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And Death shall be no more, Death, thou shalt die.

Glossary:

mighty:                                     great and powerful

dreadful:                                  fearful

overthrow:                                defeat; (here) kill

which but thy pictures bee:        which closely resemble death. “Death’ is often referred to as ‘sleep’.

best men:                                  most virtuous people; those who are loved by God die young.

soules deliverie:                        their souls are freed from their bodily prisons

poppie:                                     opium or opium preparations.

charmes:                                  drugs with magical properties.

better than they stroake:            their operation is gentle and painless.

swell’st:                                    feels proud

wee wake eternally:                  live forever in the other world.

Summary:

“Death Be Not Proud” is one of the finest poems of John Donne from his collection of poems “Holy Sonnets” addressed to Death. Death is generally supposed to be ‘mighty and dreadful’, but in reality it is neither ‘mighty’ nor ‘dreadful’. Therefore it should not be proud.

Having stated his point of view, Donne proceeds like a clever lawyer to give argument to prove it. Death is not dreadful, for those whom death is supposed to kill are not killed in reality. They do not die; they only sleep a long and peaceful sleep. Rest and sleep resemble death. As great comfort and pleasure results from sleep, so greater comfort and pleasure must result from death. That is why those who are virtuous die young. Death merely frees their souls form the prison of their bodies, and provides rest to their bodies. As death brings rest and quiet, it cannot be regarded as dreadful in any way. 

Death is not ‘mighty’ as well. It is not like a mighty king, but like a wretched slave. It is a slave of fate, chance, wicked and malicious persons, poison, wars and sickness. Death is not the cause, but the instrument. It obeys the call of accidents, kings, wicked murderers, poison, war, old age, and sickness. It is not a free agent, but a miserable slave who lives in such wretched company with sickness and old age. It cannot be regarded as glorious or mighty in any way. As a matter of fact, opium preparations or similar other intoxicants, or drugs supposed to have magical properties, can induce better sleep and with a far gentler and painless operations.

Finally, there is reason at all for Death to be proud of its powers. Death can make sleep only for a short while. After our short sleep in the grave, we will awake in the other world and live there eternally. Then Death will have no power over us. Thus, in reality, Death does not kill us; it is death itself, which dies. In this way, the sonnet ends with a paradox, which the poet has already proved and established. 

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THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER – OLIVER GOLDSMITH (II Sem B. Com. Basic English)

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.

Summary:

‘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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Teaching English at College Level: Problems and Possibilities

Teaching English at College Level: Problems and Possibilities

English is being treated as a global language because of its vast presence all over the world. More or less English is enjoying the status of lingua franca of the world. With the IT revolution, most of the software and operating systems being in English Language, a new utility for written and oral communications in English language has emerged. English is used all over the world not out of any imposition but because of the realization that it has certain advantages. A very important reason for regarding English as a world language is that the most of the world’s knowledge is enshrined in English.  It is, undisputedly, a progressive, dynamic and flexible language. Over and above English is universally renowned for its power of expression and its rich literature. So, English has been lauded as the most successful language. In modern prospective, English symbolizes as better education, better future, better culture and higher intellect, therefore, in present times, English is the most preferred language for higher education as well as technical education.

The advent of English in India happened as early as in 1800 AD as the East India Company (EIC) imparted English education only to the children of the European employees of the company and to the very small percentage of Anglo-Indians in the country, hence English has a very limited sphere of dominance and it was an extremely marginalized language used only by the British. Invariably English has co-existed in the Indian sub-continent along with hundreds of local languages.

It was an historical movement when Lord Macaulay’s ideas took a clearer picture in 1835 when he presented his ‘minute’ on 2^nd February 1835 in the ‘Manifestation of English Education in India’. This ‘minute’ is often quoted as ‘the real beginning of bilingualism in India’.  This ‘minute’ was very clearly pushed for the English education for ease in administration and in civilizing ‘race of half-naked, uncivilized’ people in India. This controversial ‘minute’ was given the Seal of Approval by Lord William Bentinck in 1835 in spite of facing strong protests by the orientalists on the pretext that Indians ‘wanted’ English Education. This resolution “formed the cornerstone of the implementation of a language policy in India and ultimately resulted in the dissemination of bilingualism in English” and paved way to Christian missionaries to enter India to establish a number of schools and colleges.

Of course all these facilities are only benefited the students of cosmopolitan cities like Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) etc., According to recent surveys, approximately 4% of the Indian population use English. This figure might seem insignificant, but out of the total population it represents 35 million people communicate in English. It means India is the largest English speaking community outside USA and UK.   English may be virtually the mother-tongue for many educated Indians, but for the vast majority of people, it remains as a second language.

Language learning is a natural process for the natives of any country. The approach to this learning process is called the ‘behavioristic approach’. But the students of other languages, deliberate efforts are required to learn a foreign language which requires a ‘mentalistic approach’. The students of rural and semi-urban areas in India face such problems because English is not their mother-tongue. It is either instinctive nor intuitive. Language acquisition seems to be a process of both of analogy and application, nature and nurture. In the process of teaching English as a second language in India the teachers of English language have adopted, invented and developed a variety of methods to teach English. Edward M. Anthony says in his book “Approach, Method and Technique – Teaching English as a Second Language”, “Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material no part of which contradicts and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. Approach is axiomatic and a method is procedural”. The orderly presentation of language to students is influenced by several factors. The teacher has to keep in mind the age of the student, his native language, his cultural background and his previous experience with English. The experience of the teacher and his level of mastery over his English language are equally important. To achieve desired effects, the goal of course must be kept in mind – whether it is aimed at reading, fluency in speech, inculcating translation skill. All these objects shape methodology.

Being English as a second language, Students of rural colleges face a number of problems. Learning second language means acquiring a system of rules with little knowledge of those rules. Students learn basic grammar at school level for the purpose of passing in the school examinations and not to face any real life situations.  Application-oriented grammar is rarely taught. Inadequate practice and facilities are provided to students to learn English language. In this phase a student grows from a small child to a grown-up when he/she completes higher secondary examinations. In this transition period each student has his own whims and fancies about college life because of the tremendous influence of mass-media. Many a time the media project a false perception about colleges and life of a student. On seeing such things in movies, students take it for granted. As a result of this, they have formed an image for a college and want to act upon those images.

The twelve years of school life is considered as a restricted life of students. They are taught with heavy dose of discipline and obedience. The moment they enter into college life; they think as if they got freedom from their confinement. During adolescence students usually embark to learn all bad things and forget good things, which have learnt through twelve years of rigorous training in schools. Carefree life and without responsibilities give them opportunity to implement whatever they can think off. No compulsion for attending classes and being away from family elders’ supervision make them feel difficulty to sit in the classes and listen to the lessons. The students of UG Courses are neither immature nor fully matured group. This adolescence is really a challenging age to deal with. They are egoistic in many ways. The students of this group are tend to be identified by many means. They are more idiotic than rationalistic understanding. For them, sitting and listening a language class is something an uphill task. 

English is made compulsory as a second language for all students who seek admission at U G level. A large number of students are really not interested in studying English however they are all forced to undergo this trouble despite their lack of basic knowledge in English in previous classes. Many students in B.A. and B. Com classes are not able to read the simplest sentences even though they are very familiar to them. Further, they are not able to mange to read the sentences meaningfully dividing them into meaningful units. Such students do really lose interest in learn English and fail in the examinations.

The hackneyed, stereotyped and traditional pattern of exams aims at clearing English not as a language but as a subject. The students, therefore, are guided to practice pick and choose method from the sub-standard material available in the market. So, the students merely pass the subject far away from learning any level of the Language. It is shocking to learn that even the questions that students supposed to answer are told to learn through their own vernacular. Lack of proper vocabulary, lack of skill in making the sentences, no knowledge of English usage forces the student to adopt a casual approach. Even after studying English for 14 to 15 years the level of student’s skills in English remain poor.

Generally, the classrooms are often overflowing with students in rural and semi-urban colleges which have a name and little fame despite the poor performance of students. The strength of each class may usually ranging from 250 to 300 students comprising with students of mixed ability. English Language Teaching (ELT) experts suggest ways for teachers to teach English meaningfully by grouping them according to their ability as ‘very able’ ‘able’ ‘less able’ and ‘unable’ students.  No doubt some good teachers are trying to group the students with the limited resources and time available to them. However, a large number of college teachers do not do such activities because of their apprehension that they won’t be able to complete the syllabus within the set time frame. Teachers cannot be blamed for this because they are answerable to the stakeholders as well as institutional authorities and hence their aim is to teach in such large classes and make a good number of students pass in the examinations. Thus, testing and evaluating designed by boards of education and universities have a negative effect on their teaching efforts in the classrooms.

It often surprises to hear that many of the ‘less able’ and ‘unable’ students have scored first class marks in their previous qualifying examinations although spellings of simple words are also a great puzzle for them.  For obvious reasons, let us not discuss their failure in constructing simple meaningful sentences. Such weak knowledge of English underscores the fact that there is something awfully wrong in the way the typical student is ‘brought up’ to do his graduation in colleges where all efforts of teachers to reform their English language skills prove futile.

To solve above discussed problems a systematic approach is required. Governments of the states should develop sufficient infrastructure in the schools and appoint well trained teachers to teach English more impressively on modern lines not knowledge but skill. Teachers of English should be very resourceful to help students to enjoy their language activities in the classroom. Exposing students to the language laboratories may enhance their confidence in the process of learning language. Students learn by way of imitation, similarly, the students tend to follow the example set by their teacher.  The English teacher should be more resourceful with considerable amount of enthusiasm and imagination in inculcating the habit of learning new words in them. Students newly learnt words will become a part of their vocabulary and they will be in a position to use those words purposefully and meaningfully. This enhancement of vocabulary will result into better expression. Timings for English teaching in the college time-table should be convenient for the students who travel from remote places. Appointing good number of language lecturers and reducing student and teacher ratio may yield better results. Minimum student strength of each class, regular attendance and personal assessment of each student are to be exercised in every college. Personal guidance is to be provided for the students who are less able and unable students through remedial classes.

At the outset, teachers should motivate students for participative learning. This will solve all the stumbling blocks in students. Above all, a teacher is not only a teacher but also a friend, guide and a philosopher to students. The teacher guides not only to pass in the exam but also to face challenges and take right decisions during the time of crisis in life. This is, of course, a real and tough task ahead of a good teacher.

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Philosophy for Laymen – Bertrand Russell

Philosophy for Laymen – Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell achieved an international reputation as a philosopher, mathematician, thinker, social critic, pacifist and a fighter for freedom. Born in a family of English aristocrats, he consistently advocated democracy and was an inveterate opponent and enemy of colonialism, racism and totalitarianism. He waged a relentless war against massive armament, especially nuclear arms, in which the major countries of the world are now involved. As a rationalist, he tried to expose every kind of irrational humbug prevalent in a contemporary society. He was a prolific writer and expressed his ideas with great power and precision on a variety of subjects, but he was essentially a philosopher.

In the essay ‘Philosophy for Laymen’ Russell explains very briefly the uses of philosophy. Philosophy, he says, means a love of wisdom. Philosophy, in this sense, is what people must acquire if new technical powers achieved by man are not to plunge mankind into the greatest that the ordinary people should be taught is not the same thing as the philosophy of specialists.

The theoretical function of philosophy:

Philosophy has always had two different objects: to arrive at a theoretical understanding of the structure of the world; and to discover and propagate the best possible way a life. Philosophy has thus been closely related to science on the one hand and to religion on the on the other. On its theoretical side philosophy partly consists in the framing of large general hypotheses they become part of science, and no longer belong to philosophy. There are a number of purely theoretical questions, of everlasting interest, which science is unable to answer at present. Do we survive after death? Can mind dominate matter? or does matter completely dominate mind?  Does this universe has a purpose, or is it driven by blind necessity? To keep alive the interest in such questions is one of the functions of philosophy.

The practical aspect of philosophy:

On its practical side, philosophy can greatly increase a man’s value as a human being and as a citizen. It can give a habit of exact and careful thought. It can give an impressive breadth and scope to the conception of the aims of life. It can give to the individual a correct estimate of himself in relation to society and of man in the present to man in the past and in the future. It can offer a cure, or at least a palliative, for the anxieties and the anguish, which afflict mankind at present.

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Milton’s portrayal of Satan in the first two Books of "Paradise Lost".

Milton’s portrayal of Satan in the first two Books of 'Paradise Lost'.

Satan, before fall, was called Lucifer and was far superior to all other angels in shape, pomp, authority, worthiness and dwelling. His pride was responsible for his fallen state. Milton accepted the image of Satan as conceived by the ethnologists and depicted Satan as an embodiment of the spirit of pride and ambition in ‘Paradise Lost’. This ambition is the fevered lust for power, which sprang from self-exaltation; This pride and egotism vitiate all that is noble and good in him. He declares to his followers that they might have lost Heaven, but still possesses the unconquerable will, courage never to submit or yield. This is heroic quality. He is also presented by the poet as a noble rebel and acts as poet’s mouthpiece. Milton’s republican fervor and his Fustian sense of freedom are reflected in Satan.

Satan’s firm conviction is that it is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. He succeeds in achieving unanimity among his followers about this. In Hell, he cherishes the desire of being the leader and gives a call to his legions “to Arise, awake, or be for ever fallen”. Like an able leader, he intelligently tells his legions that Heaven is not at all lost, because “The mind its own place; it can make a Hell of Heaven and Heaven of Hell”.

Thus Satan with his heroic qualities as presented in Book I makes most readers feel that he is the real hero of "Paradise Lost".

     

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My Last Duchess - Robert Browning

My Last Duchess – Robert Browning

Ferrara

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive.   I call

That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will’t please you sit and look at her?    I said

“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance,

The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

But to myself they turned (since none puts by

The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)

And seemed they would ask me, if they durst,

How such a glance came there; so not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus.    Sir, ’twas not

Her husband’s presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps

Fra Pandolf chanced to say “her mantle laps

Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or Paint

Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat”: Such stuff

Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

For calling up that spot of joy.     She had

A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er

She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,

The dropping of the daylight in the West,

The bough of cherries some officious fool

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule

She rode with round the terrace – all and each

Would draw from her alike the approving speech,

Or blush, at least. She thanked men – good! But thanked

Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame

This sort of trifling? Even had you skill

In speech – (Which I have not) – to make your will

Quite clear to such a one, and say, “Just this

Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,

Or there exceed the mark” – and if she let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set

her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse

--E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose

Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt

Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet

the company below, then. I repeat

The Count your master’s known munificence

Is ample warrant that no just pretence

Of mine dowry will be disallowed

Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go

Together down, Sir. Notice Neptune, though,

Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

My Last Duchess (Summary)

The duke of Ferrara, a powerful, and hard-hearted Italian Duke of the 16^th century, has been widowed recently, He intends to marry a second time. The messenger of the powerful count, who has his estate in the neighborhood, comes to the Duke’s palace to negotiate with him the marriage of the Count’s daughter. The Duke takes him round his picture-gallery and shows to him the portrait of his last Duchess. The portrait is life-like and realistic, and the Duke, who is a great lover of the fine arts, is justly proud of it.

The Duke points out the portrait to the messenger and tells him that he alone uncovers the picture and nobody else is allowed to do so. At this point, the Duke notices an inquiring look in the eyes of the messenger and at once understands that he wants to know the cause of the deep, passionate look in the eyes of the Duchess, and proceeds to satisfy his curiosity.

In response to the inquiring look of the messenger, the Duke tells him that the deep passion in the eyes of the Duchess does not result from any sex-intrigue of guilty of love. He did not give her any occasion to be unfaithful to him. Even the portrait on the wall was done not by an ordinary artist, but by a monk, and he was allowed only one day to it. He did not allow the Monk any longer time, for he did not want to provide them any occasion for intimacy. This shows that the Duke is a jealous tyrant and the poor Duchess could not have enjoyed any freedom of movement as the wife of such a man.

Continuing further with his explanation, the Duke tells the envoy that his last Duchess had very childish and foolish nature. She was pleased with trifles, would thank others for even the slightest service they happened to render to her, and had no sense of dignity and decorum. For example, the faint blush of joy on her cheek and neck was not caused by the presence of her husband alone. If the painter happened to mention that her cloak covered her wrist too much, or that paint could never hope to capture the light pink glow on her throat, she would take such chance remarks as compliments and blush with pleasure. She had a childish heart, and was pleased too easily by such trifles as the gift of a branch laden with cherries, the beautiful sunset, or the mule presented to her by someone for her rides round the terrace. She would blush with pleasure at such trifles, just as much as she would at some costly ornament presented by him. She was the wife of a Duke who belonged to an ancient family, nine hundred years old. But she considered even this gift of his at par with the trifling services rendered to her by others.

As a matter of fact, she had no discrimination, and no sense of dignity and decorum. She smiled at everybody without any distinction; she thanked everybody in the same way. He expected better sense from his wife. He did not correct her, for even to notice such frivolity would have meant loss of dignity, and he did not like to suffer this loss. Besides, she would have argued and discussed with him, instead of listening to his advice. Her habit of smiling continued to grow will it became intolerable to him. At last he gave orders, and, “Then all smiles stopped together”. Te line has been left intentionally enigmatic; we cannot say certain how the smiling stopped. But, most probably, the poor, innocent Duchess was murdered at the command of her brutal and stony-hearted husband.

The duke then asks the messenger to come down, where the other guests of his are waiting. In passing, he tells the messenger that he would expect a rich dowry from his master, the Count, though, of course, he adds very cleverly, his primary concern is the daughter, and not the dowry. The duke is not only hard-hearted, proud and tyrannical, but also greedy and cunning. He is a hypocrite of the first water. The only good point about him is his love of art. As they go down the stairs, he asks the messenger to have a good look at the bronze statue of Neptune, the sea-god. In this statue, the god is shown riding and controlling a sea horse. It was done specially for him by the great sculptor, Claus of Innsbruck. It is the name of an imaginary artist invented to impress the messenger; just as earlier he invented the name of the painter, Fra Pandolf

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