Dialogue Writing and Practice

Model Exercise

Read the following dialogue.

Mother    :               Are you ready, Uma?

Uma        :               Yes, I’m.

Mother    :               Have you taken the library books?

Uma        :               Yes, I’ve. What is there for breakfast, Mum?

Mother    :               Idli and chutney. Don’t you like it?

Uma        :               I love it. What’s there for lunch?

Mother    :               Can you guess? What did you want?

Uma        :               Oh! Now I guess. How do you find time for all this? So sweet of you.

Exercise – 1

Ganga wished Arun good morning and enquired of his well being. Arun said that he was fine and thanked her for the enquiry. Ganga then said that it was along time since they had met and added that she thought they had not met since he joined the Bangalore University. She then asked him how he liked his new set up. Arun replied that he liked the campus very much and added that the faculty was very competent and that all facilities for academic growth were available there. Ganga further wanted to know the duration of his course. He said it was four semesters in two years. Then he suggested that she make a trip to Bangalore. She exclaimed that it was a fine Idea. Arun asked her whether she would bring her brother also and added that he would love the city. Ganga apologised and said he wouldn’t be able to go since he was leaving for U.K. the next day. Arun was surprised to hear that. Then he invited Ganga home to tea that evening. She agreed and thanked him for the invitation. Then they bade farewell to each other.

Read the following conversation.

Ganga     :               Hi Arun! Good morning! How are you?

Arun       :               I’m fine. Thank you.

Ganga     :               It’s a long time since we met. I think we haven’t met since you joined the

                                Bangalore University. How do you like your new set up?

Arun       :               I like the campus very much. The faculty is very competent and all facilities for

                                academic growth are available there.

Ganga     :               What’s the duration of your course?

Arun       :               Four semesters in two years. Why don’t you make a trip to Bangalore?

Ganga     :               What a fine idea!

Arun       :               Will you bring your brother also? He’ll love the city.

Ganga     :               I’m sorry. He won’t be able to come. He’s leaving for U.K. tomorrow.

Arun       :               Is it so? By the way, will you please come home this evening for tea?

Ganga     :               Thank You. I’ll surely come. Bye.

Arun       :               Bye bye.

Exercise – 2

Write the report for the following dialogue.

Balu         :               My friends are coming home in the evening. Will you also come?

I               :               I’m tired. I don’t think I will be able to.

Balu         :               I’ve told them you’ll be there.

I               :               You inform me of their next visit. I’ll definitely be there.

Balu told me that his friends were coming home in the evening. He asked me whether I would also go. I replied that I was tired and expressed my inability to go. Balu said that he had told them that I would be there. Then I requested him to inform me of their next visit and assured him that I would definitely be there.

Exercise – 3

Read the following passage and write dialogue.

Ann asked Reena whether she had had her dinner. Reena replied that she had had it just a while ago and added that her tummy was full. Then Ann commented that in that case she could eat the chocolate she had brought for Reena. Reena immediately responded in the negative and said that there is always room for chocolates.

Ann        :               Did you have your dinner?

Reena     :               Yes, just a while ago and my tummy is full.

Ann        :               So, can I eat the chocolate I’ve brought for you?

Reena     :               Oh no, there’s always room for chocolates.

Exercise – 4

Read the following dialogue and a report to it.

Vishnu    :               What’s happening here?

Renu       :               It’s my birthday.

Vishnu    :               Whom have you invited?

Renu       :               All my friends.

Vishnu    :               How can this hall accommodate all your friends?

Renu       :               I’ve only a few friends.

Vishnu asked Renu what was happening there. She replied that it was her birthday. Then Vishnu asked whom she had invited. She said that she had invited all her friends. He wondered how that hall could accommodate all her friends to which she replied that she had only a few friends.

Exercise –5 

Ramesh wished Raja good morning and he too wished him back and then said that he thought they had not met each other before. Ramesh confirmed it and then introduced himself as a tourist from abroad and journalist by profession. Raja politely asked him what he could do for him. Ramesh replied that he had heard that Raja’s school had been selected as a model and congratulated for that. Raja thanked him. Ramesh requested Raja to answer some of the questions as he is going to write an article on the school. Raja agreed to co-operate. Then Ramesh asked him how he maintained discipline there. He wanted to know whether he was very strict with the boys.  Raja replied in the negative. Then Ramesh asked him whether he allowed the boys to smoke and drink. Raja emphatically denied it. Then he asked him whether they went for films. He answered that they went for films once in a while. Then Ramesh exclaimed that it was a very rigid system. Raja responded that you/one cannot have discipline in an institution for young boys, unless you are/ one is a bit rigid.

Ramesh   :               Good morning. Mr. Raja.

Raja        :               Good morning. I think we haven’t met each other before.

Ramesh  :               No, We haven’t. I’m Ramesh a tourist from abroad and a journalist by profession.

Raja        :               What can I do for you?

Ramesh   :               I heard that your school has been selected as a model. Congratulations!

Raja        :               Thank you.

Ramesh   :               I’d like to write an article about your school. Would you please answer a few

                                questions about your students?

Raja        :               Certainly, with pleasure.

Ramesh   :               How do you maintain discipline here? Are you very strict with the boys?

Raja        :               No, not very.

Ramesh   :               Do you allow the boys to smoke and drink?

Raja        :               Definitely not.

Ramesh   :               Do they go for films?

Raja        :               Only once in a while.

Ramesh   :              What a rigid in a system!

Raja        :              You cannot have discipline in an institution for young boys, unless you are a bit                                     rigid.

Exercise – 6

Read the following passage and a dialogue.

Rishi requested Arjun to lend him his pen. Arjun refused to so and said that he had only one pen with him. Then Rita said that she had a spare pen, which she would lend him. Rishi thanked her and promised to buy her a chocolate that evening.

Rishi       :               Arjun, will you please lend me your pen?

Arjun      :               No, I’ve only one pen with me.

Rita         :               I have a spare pen, which I’ll lend you.

Rishi       :               Thank you Rita. I’ll buy you a chocolate this evening.

In a restaurant

Rani        :               Can you please serve some more salad?

Bearer     :               Yes, madam. Anything else?

Rani        :               No, thanks. Please get me a cup of vanilla ice cream in a parcel.

Bearer     :               O.K., ma’am.

In the class room

Kumar    :               Could you please lend me a pen? Mine doesn’t write.

Ravi        :               Sorry, I don’t have one to spare.

Kumar    :               May be you’ve a pencil?

Ravi        :               Sorry, I don’t have a pencil either.

Requesting a friend to go with you to the town

Rani        :               Anu, are you free this evening? Can you please come with me to the town?

Anu        :               Yeah, sure. I’m free this evening.

Rani        :               Can you take me to the Gems? I don’t know the way.

Anu        :               Certainly. What time shall we go?

Rani        :               Let’s go at five.

At the post-office to a strange

Jacob                      :               Excuse me. Could I borrow your pen for a minute, please?

Stranger                  :               Certainly. Here it is.

Jacob                      :               Thank you.

Over the telephone

Receptionist          :      Good morning. Paradise Towers International.

Anurag                  :      Good morning. May I speak to Mr. Keshava murthy of room number 12,

                                     please?

Receptionist          :      May know who is calling, please?

Anurag                  :      I am Anurag Pande from Choice Towers.

Receptionist          :      Please hold on for a moment, sir. Let me see if he’s available… 

                                     Please speak on, sir. Mr. Keshava murthy is on the line.

Requesting your Principal to forward your application

Savithri  :               Good morning, Sir.

Principal:                Good morning.

Savithri  :               Sir, I’m applying for the Nehru Fellowship for higher studies. Would you kindly

                               forward my application.

Principal:                Very good. Please give it in the Office. I’ll forward it. I wish that you’d get it.
                               All the best.

Savithri  :               Thank you, sir.

Inviting a reputed writer

Arjun      :               Sir, We’re planning to organize a workshop on the effects of criticism on young                                   writers.

Writer     :               That’s a good idea. But what can I do for you?

Arjun      :               We’d be delighted if you could spare some time for us and address the students.

                                It’s for two days, the 10^th and 11^th of January.

Writer     :               All right. You just send me the details.

Arjun      :               I’ll do so. Thank you very much, sir.

Invitation declined by the District Collector.

Shekar    :               Good morning, Sir. I’m Shekar, Chairman of the College Students’ union of

                                Kottureshwara College.

Collector:               Good morning. Shekar, please sit down.

Shekar    :             Thank you, sir. I’ve come to invite you to inaugurate our College Day celebrations.

Collector:              When is it?

Shekar    :               Any day between 12^th and 16^th of February, according to your convenience.

Collector:              Sorry, Shekar. I’ll be in Delhi that week to attend a conference.
                              However, thank you very much for the invitation, and wish you all the best.

Congratulating one’s son for winning a championship

Nikhil      :               Dad, I’ve won the championship in athletics. Here’s the cup.

Dad         :               Well done my boy! You deserve it. Hearty congratulations!

Nikhil      :               Thank you, dad. There was stuff competition.

Dad         :               You’ve had good practice. Hard work always pays. But I must remind you not to

                                neglect your studies.

Nikhil      :               Don’t worry, dad. My rank is quite high in the proficiency list.

Dad         :               Congratulations, My son! I’m really proud of you.

Exercise – 6

Both Father and daughter went to Post Office and met the postmaster.

Shankarappa         :         Good morning sir, I’m Shankarappa, she is my daughter Rama.

Postmaster            :          Good morning, Oh! Shankarappa, for a long time you have come to the

                                         Post office. What can I do for you?

Shankarappa         :          There must be a parcel from Mumbai on her name. Is there any such

                                         arrival, sir?

Postmaster            :          Oh! That parcel of books has been delivered to you? We did not know

                                         Whose parcel was that because the address was insufficient.

Sankarappa           :          What is wrong with it, sir.

Postmaster            :          There was only Rama’s name in the address. And there was no name of

                                         you. How can we find out the addressee? There must be the name of the

                                         family’s head in the address.

Sahnkarappa         :          Wrongly written in Urgency, Excuse me, sir.

Postmaster            :          All right, I’ve known you, and there is no difficulty in delivering the

                                         parcel. (towards his assistant) Raja, could you bring that parcel in the name

                                         of Rama, which was kept undelivered for a long time.

Raja                      :          Yes, sir. (he brings and gives it to him)

Postmaster            :          Mr. Shankarappa could you please put the signature here on this form.

Shankarappa         :          Ok. sir.

Postmaster            :          Rama, could you please lend me your book to read at once?

Rama                     :          Yes, sir. I will give this book after my reading. (Postmaster laughs at her

                                          words)

Shankarappa         :           Thank you, sir. We have been benefited by you. We will see you latter,

                                          Sir. (goes out)

DIALOGUE PRACTICE

Murali:                   Hi! Manoj, what brings to this office again?

Manoj:                   I’ve come for my service certificate.

Murali:                   How long did you work here?

Manoj:                   I joined here at the age of 20 and left at the age of 23. That means 3 years. 
                              To be exact it is a little over three years.

Murali:                   Murthy has also left us, isn’t he (is he not) the same age as you?

Manoj:                   No, I am 23 now. And he is above 24. He is at least a year older than I. What                                        about you?

Murali:                   I am under twenty-one. I am slightly, that is, just a few months over 20.

Introducing self and others

Raghav:                 Excuse me, can I sit here please?

Sudhir:                   Yes, please.

Raghav:                 Thank you, Hello, I am Raghav Rai.

Sudhir:                   I’m Sudhir Sen.

Raghav:                 What do you do Mr. Sen.

Sudhir:                   I’m a salesman in Mega Electricals. What about you?

Raghav:                 I’m an accountant in the Bank of India.

Sudhir:                   Where are you from?

Raghav:                 I’m from Mumbai. But now I settled in Bangalore. And You?

Sudhir:                   I am from Bangalore Itself.

Raghav:                 My stop has come. O.K. Bye, Sudhir.

Raghav:                 Bye.

After a few days when two families are meeting

Sudhir:                   Hello Raghav, How are you?

Raghav:                 Fine, thank you. And you?

Sudhir:                   Fine, here, Meet my wife Meeta, my son Mohit, and my daughter Neha.

Raghav:                 Hello Mrs Sen, hello children. My wife Shefali and my daughter Soma.

Sudhir:                   Hello Mrs Rai.

Meeta:                    (to shafali) Hello, nice meeting you.

Shafali:                   Nice meeting you too.

Meeta:                    Do you work, Shefali?

Shafali:                   No, I’m a housewife. What about you?

Meeta:                    I teach in a school.

Shafali:                   Which school?

Meeta:                    Nehru Public School.

Shafali:                   Where is that?

Meeta:                    In mission road.

Shafali:                   In V.V. Puram. Please drop in sometime.

Meeta:                    Sure, you too.

Mother and son

Mother:                  Get up Rishal, It’s five o’clock.

Rishal:                    It’s too early, mom.

Mother:                  You have your science exam today. Get up and revise your course.

Rishal:                    O.K. Mom, I will get up in two minutes.

Mother:                  Hurry up and wash your face. Meanwhile, I’ll get milk for you.

Rishal:                    O.K. mom.

Mother:                  Did you take out your clothes last night, Rishal?

Rishal:                    Yes, I did.

Mother:                  And your shoes? Did you polish them?

Rishal:                    No, I forgot to polish the shoes, I’ll do it now.

Mother:                  Do that later. First finish your revision.

Rishal:                    O.K. mom.

Mother:                  Haven’t you finished yet, Rishal?

Rishal:                    Yes, I have.

Mother:                  Have you revised everything well?

Rishal:                    Yes, mom. I have revised everything well.

Mother:                  are sure of writing your exam well?

Rishal:                    yes, mom

Mother:                  O K, my child, I wish you the best of everything.

Secularism

Secularism is not atheism but it is dedication to the core of all religions. Secularism is more a social ideal than a political policy. Every religion believes in the essential dignity of every individual irrespective of creed or clan. Secularism is the direct continence of humanism. It clearly demonstrates the peaceful co-existence of all people belonging to various clans and communicates.

India is a land of unity in diversity. It is the land where a number of different languages and religions are existing. Despite all these India ought to secure Unity, Harmony and Tolerance among people. Though, people belong to various faiths and religions ought to live together at peace. Thus, millions of people have to contribute to the rich treasure of culture and heritage of India.

Above all, all religions preached love, compassion and tolerance albeit through different ways. God or no God, rebirth or rebirth, one must live as a good human being, helping and not harming fellow citizens. Harmony and friendliness are the basis for peace and Prosperity – it does not happen by miracle – we have to work for it.

Growing Hindutva and its fanaticism is a trauma of secular ideology of Indian constitution. The 464 – year – old Babri Masjid has been razed to the ground and led to serious repercussions of killing and looting – Secularism is at stake.

Ours is an ancient country and hence our history is ancient. There is a great deal that has come down to us as a legacy. It is both varied and rich and has the happenings of the time’s woven into it. We need not only respect this heritage but also to hand it down to posterity.  What was bequeathed to us is the bonding between successive generations and communities. We must also remember that our national heritage knows no religion.

Let not our people are killed for the sake of futile political gain for a few. Secularism is a living idea that strengthens the base of unity of humanity. Though the Republic of India and its secular constitution received the biggest blow in its 45 years existence when the mob of vandals destroyed the 16^th century monument. 

Integrated Circuits / Microchips

Electronic devices – including computers, portable stereos, calculators, microwave ovens or cookers and digital watches – are all around us, making modern life more convenient. In spite of their many differences, these devices all rely on the same invention – the integrated circuit (IC), also known as the micro chip – which can calculate, process, send, receive and store information faster, more cheaply and more accurately than any other machine ever made.

A microchip or IC is a collection of thousands of electrical circuits, all of them tiny and laid out on wafers of silicon about the size of a fingernail. Information enters as pulses of electric current. These chase along the pathways of the circuit, picking up other pieces of information, changing it, working on it, keeping some bits and rejecting others, and producing a new set of information at the other end within a flash of time.

The speed and the potentiality of a microchip or IC are really amazing. For example, predicting the world’s weather condition is a complex business. The computer of the British Meteorological office can make up to 80 billion calculations in a second, although it usually operates at 1 billion calculations a second. A six-day global weather forecast takes it about 15 minutes to work out. 

The smallest IC of the world is called a Tiny mite. It is surrounded by its electrical connectors and total microchip is designed on its panel is the size of a human fingernail.

As we know, the computers are digital machines, chiefly working on integrated circuits. The means of storing and processing all information like words, music, pictures and sounds – as long strings of numbers, or codes. Computer programmes, also known as software, tell a computer how to process its information by breaking down every task into a series of simple steps. These are carried out at amazing speeds. Some home computers or personal computers can deal with 400 million codes per second; bigger machines are considerably faster than this.

These microchips are applied in various activities of our lives, particularly where human eye failed to judge. For instance, some tennis players can serve a ball at 200 km/h, which is too fast for the eye to follow the ball clearly.  In professional matches, linesmen and umpires rely on an electronic eye to tell them if a service of the ball has crossed a line or not. The system sends an infrared beam along the service line, about 15mm above the ground. If the service of the ball crosses the beam; a microchip activates a warning beeper and a red light in the lineman’s box.

Thus microchip or IC has become an indispensable object, which continuously making our lives more easily and more efficient than ever before.

The Olympic Games

The Olympic Games have become so much a part of our lives that we are no longer curious about its beginnings. We talk of legendary sportsmen and their exploits at the games but a few of us know the legends behind the games. The first Officially recorded Olympic Games was held as far back as 776 BC. But the Games are believed to have begun as early as 1370 BC. 

According to legend, the games were conducted to commemorate the victory of the Greek God Zeus in his battle with a rival God Tronous for possession of the Earth. The battle was believed to have fought at Olympia in Greece, said to be abode of Gods, and the games were held periodically in Olympia. And there are many legends, which explain the beginning the legendary Olympic Games.

The Olympics in ancient Greece began in a small way with a few games, and few competitors from nearby regions, but soon grew to be a mammoth festival. Participants came from every corner of Greece, and a sacred truce was declared during the games to enable warring states to partake amicably and to ensure safety of all participants and spectators. 

The ancient Olympics were not merely spectacles of physical prowess. The Olympic festival continued for five days and there was big fair. The Greeks, who believed in the harmonious development of the body and soul, included in Olympics, Competitions for poets, dramatists and orators. The Games became so popular that in later years even the Romans participated in them. In 65 AD Emperor Nero of Rome took part in the chariot race at the 211^th Olympiad. He was awarded the prize although he did not complete the course!

There were, in all, 293 Olympics spread over 1,168 years.  The games finally came to an end in 393 Ad when the roman Emperor Theodesius banned them. The reasons for the ban are not certain.

Exactly 101 years ago, in 1892, the Baron de Coubertin, French founder of Modern Olympics, gave his clarion call for the resurrection of the games. French aristocrat and educationalist who wanted to restore the glory of sport and promote Global Peace and understanding through medium of sport. In 1893, he was instrumental in calling an in international conference at Paris in which 13 nations were represented and unanimously adopted the Coubertin’s proposal of holding the Olympic Games every four years. Accordingly, the first modern Olympics were held, quite appropriately, in Athens in 1896. The Baron also introduced the Olympic Flag, with it five colourful interlaced rings, at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920. The five rings represent the five continents and their colours include colours from the flags of all partaking countries, which supports the spirit of international good will.

Adult Education

Man is no better than a beast without education. Education is light, which illuminates all dark corners of human brain. It is not merely learning three R’s, i.e., Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. It is a change from good to better and better to best. Thus and educated person is one who grows creatively, without change in creativity life remains dull and drab.

India lives in her villages. There are millions of uneducated people live in her/our villages. These people do a number of jobs to earn their livelihood. As a result of illiteracy of these millions, nation is relegated to backwardness. Education gives them, new skills and talents and it increases their efficiency.

India, with its lofty idea of education to rural millenium, launched National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) in 1978, followed by the State Adult Education Programme (SAEP), which accounted rather modest results. In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi government, which took office included literacy as one of its Technology Missions, and on May 5^th 1988 the Prime Minister launched the National Literacy Mission (NLM). All these programmes took shape into Total Literacy Campaigns (TLCs) proved outstanding success in Ernakulam district, by the then collector of Ernakulam shaping into fully literate district by over 20,000 volunteers involved to educate more than 1.5 lakh illiterates. Each volunteer had put in around 240 hours over a six-month period to achieve this Herculean task. By February 4^th 1990, the date which, the Prime Minister V.P. Singh declared Ernakukam the first literate district in the country.

Thus, today the Government of India (GoI) is spending millions of rupees on Adult Education. Though Adult Education Programme gives Education to the countryside adult agriculture labourer and it dispels his idleness. Farm labourers by the help of their education they may put his leisure in productive way but the achievements of AEP are not satisfactory. Let us wish Adult Education Programme should be a successful one though it is an image of gold with feet of clay and hope for golden harvest.  

Science and Technology

The insatiable thirst for knowledge never ends and inexhaustible. Man is never tired of finding out what he fails to know once. His efforts have been expanded to the horizons of knowledge. Sky is the limit in triumph of modern man.

The modern age challenges the man with its complexity although he achieved a lot. It is eternal quest for knowledge makes man more optimistic than pessimistic to find out the remedy for every riddle in his life. The world has become smaller than before due to tremendous inventions and developments in every dimension of progress such as communications and travel facilities. But man does not satisfy with what he accomplished.

The western world achieved incredible development by passing through two major Industrial Revolutions while India trudging for its existence from its futile multi-faceted lingual and communal problems. The Industrial growth and economy brought change in every walk of life in European community. Hence, India relegated to centuries of backwardness of both Research and Industrialization.

However, the young Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who came to office in 1985, dreamt for India’s 21^st century prospectives and challenges and tried to lead the country to step into the future century by welcoming the third Industrial Revolution Known as Computer Revolution. This bold decision minimizes the gap from centuries to decades and decades to a few years between west and east. India is, however stepping forward rather slowly towards maturity in every dimensional progress.

India is, in fact, trying to develop indigenous world-class technology rather than import. ISRO’s successful INSAT-2A is the landmark of India’s matured capabilities in satellite building for multi-purpose applications, which launched in July 1992. IRS-IA is the first successful satellite, which preceded INSAT-2A with total indigenous capabilities orbited in March 1988; spread wings of Indian Technology Mission. Rightly said ISRO’s chairman Prof. U.R. Rao that Indian satellite technology has reached maturity.

The other successful stages of accomplished development like atomic explosion at Pokharan in Rajasthan on 18 May, 1974 headed by Dr. Raja Ramanna; launching a Centre for Development of Telematics (C – DoT) in Delhi led by Sam Pitroda; BHEL’s and Development Centre in Hyderabad are worthy to note. 

India’s Defence Research and Development Base – Hyderabad has just crossed three milestones by successfully testing highly sophisticated computerized missiles in recent years. ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) which adds another feather to the plethora of successful achievements of India by HAL – Bangalore by the joint venture with Euro-Copter – Germany. Though we achieved a great deal is less than what we achieved, a great deal is less than what we need. India is many miles to go to meet the needs of the people.

AN OLD MAN – R. S. THOMAS

LOOK at him there on the wet road,

Muffled with smoke, an old man trying

Time’s treacherous ice with a slow foot.

Tears on his cheek are the last glitter

On bare branches of the long storm

That shook him once leaving him bowed

And destitute as a tree stripped

Of foliage under a bald sky.

Come, then, winter, build with your cold

Hands a bridge over those depths

His mind balks at; let him go on,

Confident still; let the hard hammer

Of pain fall with as light a blow

On the brow’s anvil as the sun does now.

REV. RONALD STUART THOMAS (1913—) is a Welshman and priest, ordained in 1936. His poems are honest, realistic and sometimes severe. They have the naked strength of the Welsh landscape which forms the background of his poems. The rhythm of his poems is slow and deliberate.

AN OLD MAN deals with the coming of old age. As the body decays and death draws near the old man falters on the path of life and slowly succumbs to the ravages that life had wrought on him. Here winter is taken to represent time and the poet requests winter to be kind so that the severity of old age and death are allayed or mitigated. The image of the bridge that winter is asked to build presents the picture of man’s life as a journey across the bridge of death to the world beyond.   

muffled:            wrapped or covered

trying time’s treacherous ice with slow foot: time is described as treacherous like the crust of ice on 
                       road,lakes or rivers. On road it is slippery, on lakes or rivers it may break when stepped                       on letting the man fall into the icy water below. As one becomes old the world becomes                        a dangerous place for him. So one has to tread carefully (live carefully).

long storm:      the span of life; the storm here is used as a metaphor of life

destitute:          poor, bereft

stripped:          made bare

bridge:             the bridge here symbolizes death

balk:                shirk, hesitate; (here) to be afraid to go forward

anvil:               an iron block on which the blacksmith hammers metal to shape

AN OLD MAN – REV. RONALD STUART THOMAS

Rev. Ronald Stuart Thomas’ poem ‘An Old Man’ is one of the shortest and beautiful poems of his imagination but it is the best of its kind. His poems are remarkably honest, realistic and sometimes very severe in suggestion. As a parson R. S. Thomas is successful in this poem in bringing out the true difficulties of ‘the old age’ and exerting the public sympathy towards old people.

The poem ‘An Old Man’ deals with the subject of approaching old age and its difficulties. As the body decays and imminent death draws near, the old man falters on the path of life and slowly succumbs to the ravages that life had wrought on him. Metaphorically, the season ‘winter’ is taken to represent the time of ‘old age’ and the poet requests ‘the winter’ to be kind enough towards old men so that the severity of old age and death are allayed. The image of the bridge that winter is asked to build presents the picture of man’s life as a journey across the bridge of death to the world beyond.

The poet asks us with a great concern to look at an old man reverentially who is trying with slow foot on the wet road muffled with smoke. The old age, the last stage of the life, is compared to winter as the last season of the year. The old man is seen in this poem, walking slowly on the dangerous slippery icy roads. The winter time is described as treacherous like the crust of ice on roads, lakes or rivers. The icy roads are slippery and on lakes or rivers the ice may break when stepped on letting the man fall into the icy water below. As a person becomes old, the world becomes a dangerous place for him so he has to tread carefully (live carefully). The tears on his cheeks resembling as the last glitters on the bare branches of a tree whose foliage ravished in the long storm. He asks the winter to build a bridge with its cold hands to walk slowly and confidently across the deep depths like difficulties of his life to meet his Death. The poem concludes with great revelation that all people on this earth are shaped with a hard hammer of ‘Pain’ on the anvil of the ‘Time’ under the Sun subjected to endure the difficulties of old age.

—     406 —

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.

JOHN DONNE (1571 – 1631) was born in London and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. Then he entered Lincoln’s Inn. At first a Roman Catholic he later became Anglican. He was secretary to the lord keeper, Sir Egerton, from 1596 to 1602 but upon secretly marrying Anne Moore, the lord keeper’s wife’s niece, he fell from grace. His sermons rank among the best in the seventeenth century. He wrote a large variety of poems: satires, epistles, elegies, and miscellaneous poems. His poetry has been described as ‘metaphysical’.

DEATH BE NOT PROUD is a poem where Donne challenges the power of death and by argument shows him (death) to be powerless. He describes death as a slave of fate, chance, kings, and murderers, and one who lives a miserable life with poison, war, and sickness. Death cannot destroy man because man’s soul is liberated by death and in the other world it does not even exist. In the poem Donne addresses death as a person; this device is known as personification.

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. 

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI — JOHN KEATS

O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?

The sedge has withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.

O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

So haggard, and so woe-begone?

The squirrel’s granary is full,

And the harvest’s done.

I see a lily on thy brow,

With anguish moist and fever dew;

And on thy cheeks a fading rose

Fast withereth too —

I met a lady in the meads,

Full beautiful — a faery’s child,

Her hair was long, her foot was light,

And her eyes were wild—

I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;

She look’d at me as she did love,

And made sweet moan —

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long;

For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A faery’s song —

She found me roots of relish sweet,

And honey wild, and manna dew;

And sure in language strange she said —

‘I love thee true.’

She took me to her elfin grot,

And there she wept and sigh’d full sore,

And there I shut her wild wild eyes

With kisses four.

And there she lulled me asleep,

And there I dream’d —Ah! Woe-betide!

The latest dream I ever dream’d

On the cold hill’s side.

I saw pale kings, and princes too,

Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;

They cried — “La Belle Dame Sans Merci

Hath thee in thrall!’

I saw their starved lips in the gloam

With horrid warning gapèd wide,

And I awoke, and found me here,

On the cold hill’s side.

And this is why I sojourn here

Alone and palely loitering,

Though the sedge has withered from the lake,

And no birds sing.

JOHN KEATS (1795 – 1821), son of a stable keeper in London, learn Latin, history, and some French. He was apprenticed to become a doctor but ultimately qualified as a surgeon. But he abandoned surgery owing to his passion for poetry. He wrote for a short period from 1816 to 1820 when he became seriously ill with tuberculosis. He died in Rome. He desired that on his tomb should be written: ‘Here lies one whose name was writ in water’. His poetry, however, has etched his name in bold letters which will survive long. Keats is a worshipper of beauty and his verse is passionate and moving.

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI is a ballad (a popular story narrated in short stanzas). It narrates the story of a knight who is enticed by a beautiful elf. This elf is the beautiful but merciless woman of the poem. She offers him many pleasures but when he wakes in the morning he finds no beloved and is left alone on the cold hillside where ‘no birds sing’. The story treats beauty, women, and love cynically.

loitering:          to stand or stroll in public place, usu. with no particular/obvious purpose

sedge:              a plant like glass that grows in wet lands near water.

haggard:          looking very tired and unhappy

woebegone:     looking very unhappy and worried

steed:               horse / stallion

faery:               fairy / elf

grot:                 (grotto) a cave, esp. one made artificially in the garden

sore:                painfully

woe-betide:      (idm.) woe-betide sb. There will be trouble for sb.

gloam:                         (gloom) the faint light after the sun set or before its rise.

horrid:                         very bad and unpleasant / horrible

sojourn:           to stay in a place away from one’s home for a time

Summary:

‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ is one of the short but very popular poems of John Keats. In its brief space of forty eighty lines Keats has achieved the highest perfection of the ‘ballad’ form. This is the only one of its kind by him. ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’ can hardly be said to tell a story. It sets before us the wasting of Power and Time just for the sake of Love, when either the hostility of fate or a mistaken choice makes of love not a blessing but a disaster. The wretchedness of love which the poet describes in the poem is partly that of his soul in relation to Fanny Brawne.  The imagery of the poem is drawn from the medieval world of enchantment and knighthood.

The poem abounds in vivid pictures such as of the pale young knight whose forehead is moist with sweat, the beautiful lady with long hair and wild eyes, and the pale kings and princes dressed as warriors. The theme of the poem is unrequited love: The language used to narrate the story is simple, but sprinkled with archaic terms and expressions, that give a romantic glamour to the poem. ‘Palely loitering’, ‘woe-begone’, ‘fragrant zone’, ‘relish sweet’, ‘manna-dew’, and ‘woe betide’, are some such expressions. On the whole the poem helps to recall the medieval days and chivalry with its tales of knights and fair ladies. 

The poet in the course of his wanderings happened to meet a young knight in a strange place. The poet asked the knight why he looked so frightened and miserable. The knight replied that some time ago, in a far off meadow, he met a beautiful lady with long hair and wild eyes. He fell in love with her and adorned her with a wreath, bracelets and a belt, all made of fragrant flowers. She looked at him and by making sweet moans signaled that she loved him. He placed her on his horse and walked by her side. He was led to a small cave where she fed him with some delicious food and afterwards lulled him to sleep. During his sleep he dreamt of kings and princes who had been previously enchanted by the same lady. They told him that he too had been enslaved by the beautiful lady without pity. That was why he was found loitering in the strange place.

THE SOLITARY REAPER – WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

BEHOLD HER, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

Reaping and singing by herself;

Stop here, or gently pass!

Alone she cuts and binds the grain,

And sings a melancholy strain,

O listen! For the vale profound

Is overflowing with the sound.

No nightingale did ever chaunt

More welcome notes to weary bands

Of travellers in some shady haunt,

Among Arabian sands:

A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard

In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird,

Breaking the silence of the seas

Among the farthest Hebrides.

Will no one tell me what she sings?—

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow

For old, unhappy, for-off things,

And battles long ago:

Or is it some more humble lay,

Familiar matter of today?

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,

That has been, and may be again?

Whate’er the theme, the maiden sang

As if her song could have no ending;

I saw her singing at her work,

And o’er the sickle bending;—

I listened, motionless and still;

And, as I mounted up the hill,

The music in my heart I bore,

Long after it was heard no more.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770 – 1850), born at Cockermouth, was educated at Hawkshead and Cambridge. As a young man he undertook a walking tour of France and Italy and was deeply influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution. Later, Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with which began the Romantic Revival in English poetry. Wordsworth is not only initiator but also a leading poet of the movement. He was known as a poet of nature and of man.

THE SOLITARY REAPER is a thoughtful poem on man (human being) and nature. The poet wandering in the hills and valleys of the Scottish Highlands once saw a lovely peasant girl reaping and singing in the field. The sight was pleasing and the sad song appeared enchanting and more moving than the songs of nightingales and cuckoos. The poet tried to get at the meaning of the song which he did not understand: it might be about things long past like battles or some unhappy events; it might be about some matter of common sorrow that had happened and might happen again. The sight and the song have made a deep impression on his mind and will stay in his memory for long.  

behold:                        look

yon:                 (yonder), there at farthest distance

highland:         the Scottish highlands

lass:                 girl

strain:              a sad note of song

weary:              very tired

shady haunt:    cool shelter / Oasis

vale:                 valley

Hebrides:         a group of islands off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are popular with tourists in the summer

plaintive:          sounding sad, esp. in a weak complaining way

Summary of the poem

In the year 1803 William Wordsworth toured Scotland with Dorothy Wordsworth and his close friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge as his companions. The sight of reapers in the harvest fields reminded Wordsworth of a sentence in a book by one of his friends: ‘passed a female, who was reaping alone: she sang in Erse as she bent over sickle: the sweetest human voices I ever heard; her strains were tenderly melancholy, and felt delicious long after they were heard mo more’. The poem was thus inspired partly by his own experience and partly by that of his friend. The subject of the poem is familiar scene from rustic life. In order to relate an incident from common life the poet has made use of a language which is used by common people in their everyday life. By doing this, Wordsworth has fulfilled the promise made in the preface to the Lyrical Ballads which is the manifesto of the Romantic Movement.

Once, Wordsworth saw a young girl reaping and singing all alone in a field. The echo of her sweet song was about a battle fought long ago. The song of the solitary reaper was no doubt as sweet as the song of a nightingale which sang from an Oasis in the Arabian Desert. It was certainly more thrilling than the song sung by a cuckoo in the Hebrides. The poet wondered at the subject of her song. Perhaps the subject of the song was a battle fought long ago. Or perhaps she was singing about a humble subject like the sufferings of ordinary people. Whatever might be the subject; the song was spontaneous and seemed to have no end. It impressed the poet so much that he felt thrilled for quite some time. In other words it was an unforgettable experience.

Gandhi – Niranjan Mohanty

Gandhi – Niranjan Mohanty

They didn’t tell me

how much of my flesh and blood

they needed; how much of my silence

would have reared the weeds

of their votive ego,

I’d have given them much more.

They didn’t tell me

how much of my tears

they needed to hoist

a jungle of their pride;

surely, I’d have given them,

even much more.

They didn’t tell me

how much of my pains

they needed to quench their thirst;

I’d have given them.

surely, a sea of it

I’d have given them.

They only needed

my blood’s still breath;

and I flooded them

with my love.

O’ Lord of the universe

save them.

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Summary:

The father of our nation, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, is compared to great saints of the world. His love for nation and exhibiting fearless and undaunted bravery in the freedom struggle is known to every human being of the world. The ‘Truth’ and ‘Non-violence’ are the two invincible weapons with him to fight against British Empire to secure freedom to the nation. In this poem titled ‘Gandhi’ Niranjan Mohanty recounts Mahatma Gandhiji’s sacrifices and sufferings during India’s struggle for freedom. Gandhiji is ready to shed tears, suffers pains and even give his life for the sake of the Nation.

The poet, Niranjan Mohanty imbibed with patriotic feelings of Gandhiji, has expressed Gandhiji’s through this poem. “They” refers here the people of India who have been divided among themselves in the name of religion, caste, creed, regionalism and language besides socio-economic challenges like ignorance, illiteracy, poverty and untouchablity before Gandhiji to achieve unity among the people. He wanted to eradicate these votive egoistic self-centered demonic people at the time of freedom struggle by sacrificing everything even his flesh and blood. Flesh and blood is the rich and fertile manure for the growth of Liberty.

Gandhiji had sacrificed everything his personal possessions, wishes, joys, happiness and every possible good moment for the sake of united India. He shed his tears, blood to satisfy the dirty monstrous selfish dividers of the nation. Probably Gandhiji’s aims and ambitions for harmonious nation were supposed to be unwanted. Finally, Gandhiji fell to the bullets of a haughty fanatic and his body is laid to rest as a martyr, honouring him as Mahatma (the Great Soul) of the nation. Nobody was in a position to understand his great motivation to build a mighty nation.

\

“O’ Lord of the universe

Save them”

The last two lines of the poem reveal the magnanimity of the Mahatma who seems to say, as Jesus Christ actually about his tormentors, “Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

  

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No Men are Foreign – James Kirkup

James Kirkup tells us through this poem “No Men are Foreign” that we should not consider any human being on this earth as ‘a foreigner’ or ‘a stranger’. Though Mankind is same all over the world, somewhere, someone is harming other one in the name of hatred of a foreigner. It is in one way or in the other way we are harming ourselves.  In the name of destroying another country, we are destroying our own mother earth which supports our life.   

There are no strangers or no foreigners in his world. The costumes or dresses may be different but people live in them are same. The Land on which we walk, the air what we breathe, the water that we drink are same wherever we go on this earth. We share and live on this same earth and of course we are buried in this same earth only. The sun, the air, the water and the food we consume are same all over the world.

All people are same all over the world and there is no difference from one to one. We are all similar in every aspect of our body activities, feelings and senses of pain and pleasure. We all have common life to lead. We have ability to recognize and understand each other.   Hatred begets hatred. It is unworthy to fight with others for the sake of our selfishness. The very acts of betrayal and condemnation of other people may lead to take arms against each other. We are creators of Hell as well as we are the creators of the Heaven by our own deeds. Through hatred the holy innocence of the world may put death by our hells of fire. So, the poet James Kirkup suggests us to live peacefully with coordination of Nature and at the same time make others live peacefully. Respecting mankind is respecting godliness. Here no men are foreign and no countries are strange. We are all here belong to the same earth. 

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When I have fears…….. – John Keats

John Keats is a celebrated romantic poet destined to die too young owing to his tuberculosis. He was only 25 when he died in 1821. Like most tragic heroes, Keats never lived to see the public appreciation on his works¸ In fact, during his life, all publishing houses have rejected to publish all his poetic endeavours. It was only after his death that his poetry collections like ‘Ode to Nightingale’, ‘Endymion’, ‘Ode to Grecian Urn’ etc. received the critical acclaim from all quarters.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever;

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us; and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing,”

This small illustration shows the spirit of Keats’s romanticism, with its perfect finish and melody, John Keats was not only the last but also the most perfect of Romanticists. While Walter Scott was merely telling stories, and William Wordsworth reforming poetry or upholding the moral law, and P. B. Shelley advocating impossible reforms, and Byron voicing his own egoism and the political discontent of the times, Keats lived apart from these men and all political measures, worshipping beauty like a devotee, perfectly content to write what was in his own heart, or to reflect some splendour of the natural world as he saw. His reputation as a poet grew steadily after his death with the increasing popularity of Romanticism. He is now seen as a key figure of the Romantic Movement in English Literature. His works greatly influenced his later writers and his letters and poems are still very popular even today and studied in detail by the students of English literature.

The present poem “When I have fears….” expresses his fear of dying young. At the age of twenty one he wrote,

“Oh, for ten years that overwhelm

Myself in poesy.”

By the age of twenty four there is only three years later, he had stopped writing because of his ill health. There were times he felt confident that his poetry would survive him, “I think I shall be among the English Poets after my death.” Nevertheless, the inscription he wrote for his headstone was, “There lies one whose name was writ in water”.

Keats poetry was morbidly fascinated with the thought of his own demise. He spent most of his youth and adulthood suffering from tuberculosis that brought him into frequent contact with the possibility of death.

The ‘fear’ of his death worried him that he could not fulfill his strong wish of writing poetry. He may not use his genius capabilities that have been endowed with him from the high piling books in different charactery. His knowledge and his new fertile ideas gathered from various sources. His collection of ideas represents that a farmer collecting ripened seeds of wisdom from his harvest. He felt starry nights and huge clouds in the sky created by magic hand of the ‘Time’ are often initiate with high romance. Suddenly he felt his advancing death may not allow him to trace at least their shadows again. Nature appears to him so beautiful and he was magically enchanted by its beauty. But those creations may remain only for a short time and disappear forever. He may not enjoy such ‘Faery Power’ of the Nature of the full length of his life. Hence the poet does not want to miss every opportunity to enjoy personally all alone before his advancing death. He concludes the poem with a remark,

“Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.”

He would never be able to relish the charms of passionate love and beauty of nature. He feels lonely in this wide world all alone. He fears that his love and his fame would sink into nothingness if death comes before the fulfillment of his wish.        

However, Keats is trying to reflect upon his feeling that he achieves some distancing from his own feeling and ordinary life. This distancing enables him to reach a resolution. He thinks about human solitariness (‘I stand alone’) and human insignificance (‘the wide world’). The shore is a point of contact, the threshold between two worlds or two conditions of land and sea (life and death). So Keats is crossing a threshold, from his desire for fame and love to accepting their unimportance and ceasing to fear and yearn (desire).

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Digging – Seamus Heaney

The most covetous Nobel Prize winner of 1995, Seamus Heaney expresses his feelings in his typical poem ‘Digging’ extracted from his first volume of poems called “Death of Naturalist”. His poetry mostly deals with the history of his family. The opposing natures and backgrounds of his parents caused considerable tension in his mind. The poet considered that the agriculture is the noblest of all professions of a man by which a farmer could feed the nation. The farmer strives hard both day and night throughout the year to grow more food to shun the hunger from the face of this earth.

                   “But I’ve no spade to follow them”

The poet worried himself that he could not follow his for fathers’ work. Similarly the modern youth is also slowly drifting away from these agricultural activities and had fallen behind the white collar jobs. In this context the opening lines of the poem say….

                   “Between my finger and my thumb

                    The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.”

The poem ‘Digging’ begins with our speaker at his desk, his pen poised to begin writing. Heaney gives us an image of a hand holding a pen as a gun. The pen rests between the poet’s fingers as warm and comfortable as a gun with a filled magazine of bullets like words and novel ideas to awake the people. Suddenly, he gets distracted by the rasping sound of his father outside, working with a spade in the garden. This sends our speaker into a spiral of memories about his father working in the potato fields when the speaker was young boy. The poet looks down from his reading desk through the window as hears the unpleasant sound of a spade digging the gravelly ground. Through which the poet could see the rhythmic movements of up and down of his father’s straining rump among the potato drills digging potatoes.   The poet recalls that his father was doing same type of agricultural work since his infancy. His work is so hard as his body is old enough to comply his work. As a child the poet enjoys the cool and hardness of potatoes when he picked the scattered ones.

“By God, the old man could handle a spade,

Just like his old men.”

The memory stretches even farther back to his grandfather whose hard-work as a peat harvester. His grandfather was also engrossed in the same kind of job. He proved that he could cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner’s bog. He fondly recalls, once he carried his milk in a bottle. The bottle was sloppily ‘corked with paper and straightened up to drink it then he fell right away. Eventually, our speaker snaps out of his day-dream and comes back at his desk to get on to his writing work.

“Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.”

The concluding lines of the poem gave us an idea that the poet could not copy the same type of his father’s farming of potatoes but farming the ideas in the farmland of his brain. Instead of the spade his pen is used to harvest the ideas that have been growing up in his mind. The pen is mightier than anything else and a small idea can change the world.

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