A Simple Philosophy – Seathl

# Bring out the critical significance of the Chief Seathl’s frequent use of the adjective ‘Savage’ for himself and his people in his letter to the President of the United States in the year 1855.

The letter, ‘A Simple Philosophy’, written by the Red Indian Chief Seathl of the Suwamish tribe of the State of Washington, to the US President Franklin Pierce is a great piece of Sarcasm and also bears inexorable consequences that he was apprehensive about which the Earth is facing today. The Red Indian Chief has skillfully tried to aid and abet a passionate interest towards the well being of the nature and the called ‘bests’, which the ‘white man’ used to kill with immense pleasure.

A critical ideology relating to the utter futility of nature’s destruction roused in Seathl’s heart that eventually made him try to make the white man aware of the verve and vitality of a healthy environment that is required for the existence of human race. The use of the term ‘savage’ in any way, is defending the Chief from being counter attacked. The Utter humbleness with which Seathl has tried to light the idea of being eco-benign has been appreciated with self-acceptance of the red tribe being a savage, In a nut-shell, Seathl has cogently tried to make the US President very clear about that the concept and ideologies of the white man, in accordance with their dealing with nature is merely fallacious with the sarcastic elucidation of the wrongdoings in the corridor of white man’s power and pleasure.

Seathl has to put some conditions before handing the region of Red Indian tribe to the US government. Asking for favours was not so simple for Seathl and that too, when it was about the attitude by which the flora and fauna should be preserved. He has to be genuinely coherent in explanations supporting his tribe’s feelings as a whole – to form a basic platform to put forth logical points and then ask for treating the ‘beasts’ as ‘brothers’ and letting the nature remain undisturbed and the land, undivided. Seathl more or less mulled over his tribe as a colony of nature-lovers as also while drawing a sarcastic contrast between the attitudes of the two races…. The term ‘savage’ used for the tribe implicitly annuls the ideological defiance. Also, he demanded that the aboriginals, i.e. the members shouldn’t be subjugated and hampered for the pleasure of the white-men, by turning the blacks into slaves or the so called ‘the beasts of burden’.

Repetition of the term ‘Savage’ five times in the same letter has for a considerable significance when taken in regard to the US President who had asked for the literal friendship before overpowering the region of the Suwamish tribe by letting them surrender for their own life safety and also for false footed future security.

“How can you buy or sell the sky – the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us”

Here Seathl has directly denied the fact upon which the capitalist world is residing in the world. He has been unable to fathom the way by which the whites distributed and segregate the different parts and aspects of nature. His tribe used to see them with equal appreciation and reverence. Thus, they could never even think of creating natural havocs and hence distributing the whole environment for the sake of pleasure or pain. They were much aware of the natural predicament that could have befallen due to their ruthless activities and thus could not discard the fact that human life has got its existence from its surroundings. They were quite clear in their view that it’s not only the concept or technological power that can make difference in life or positively saying, general betterment, but also – it’s the mere attitude, with which it has been acquired by the world.  

If everyone had followed the Red Indian tribe, none would have been facing the present natural cataclysmic problems of ‘Global Warming’, frequent floods, famines, pollutions in all possible forms and chronic diseases as a result of the negligence and selfishness of mankind.

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I Semester Basic English Poems (Summaries) (Old Syllabus 2012 -2016)

1. Once upon a time – Gabriel Okara

Gabriel Okara’s poem ‘Once Upon a Time’ deals with the artificial manners and relationships of the people of the present time. According to the poet, the past is better than the present because there was true love, faith and sincerity among the people in the past. But in the present all these noble qualities of the erstwhile have disappeared. Hence the poet of this poem wants to relive the past once again.

The poem ‘Once Upon a Time’ is written as though a father is talking to his son who is an embodiment of innocence. He says to his son that once upon a time, the people used to laugh with their hearts and eyes. There was genuineness in what they said and did. But in the present, there is only out ward “laughing with their teeth” with out any feeling or expression in their “ice-block-cold” eyes. Now-a-days people have become money-minded and naturally they develop relation with the rich. The poet says ironically, people shake hands with others very mechanically and artificially while their left hands search others’ empty pockets.

Guests are no longer welcomed in these days. They are given warm reception only once or twice. If any guest visits more than one time the doors are shut on his face itself.  In this material and artificial world, the poet has learnt many things— especially wearing many faces like putting on many dresses which can suit the occasions.  One has to have ‘home face’ ‘office face’, ‘street face’, ‘cocktail face’ and so on….with a fixed smile as the smile seen in the portrait. Thus, the superficiality, hypocrisy and artificiality have become the way of the world.

In this poem ‘Once Upon a Time’, the poet-cum-speaker has also learnt laughter only with his teeth; the art of saying ‘goodbye’ when he means ‘good riddance’, ‘Glad to meet you’ when he is not very glad; and ‘Nice talking to you’ when he really bored of somebody.

The poet concludes his poem as he wants to be like his son (baby in the cradle) with all the exemplary personification of innocence. He hates himself as he becomes the victim of the ‘present’ showing ‘the bare fangs of a snake’. Towards the end of the poem, the poet appeals to his son to show him how to smile / laugh wholeheartedly. It is a desire to relive the past is nothing but a yearning for the innocence, faithfulness and sincerity.

2. The Man He Killed – Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘The Man He killed’ is superficially simple and uncomplicated composition. The poem is, in fact, a very skilful and heavily-laden with irony and evoking interest in use of colloquialism.  The title of the poem is slightly odd, as Hardy uses the third-person pronoun ‘He’, though the poem is narrated in the first person.  The ‘He’ of the title and ‘I’ of the poem is evidently a soldier attempting to explain and perhaps justify his killing of another soldier in an ancient inn.

In the first stanza, the narrator establishes the common ground between himself and his victim. They have shared hospitality together in an ancient inn in favourable circumstances.  This idea is in striking contrast to that of the second stanza where the circumstances in which the two men did meet.  “Ranged as infantry” suggests that the men are not natural foes but have been “ranged” i.e. set them against each other.  The phrase "I shot at him as he at me" indicates the similarity of their situations.

In the third stanza, the narrator gives his reason for shooting his supposed enemy.  The conversational style of the poem enables Hardy to repeat the word “because”, implying hesitation and doubt on the part of the narrator.  He cannot easily think of a reason for killing a soldier, when it strikes he simply says, “Because he was my foe”. But this reason is utterly unconvincing.  The speaker has already made it clear in which the men were foes: an artificial enmity created by some selfish politicians.  The phrases like “Of course” and “That's clear enough” are deliberately ironic. The enmity is not a matter; of course, the claim is far from “clear” to the reader.

The real reason for the victim’s enlistment in the army, like the narrator’s, is far from being connected with patriotic idealism and belief in the country’s cause.  The soldier’s enlistment in the army was partly whimsical “Off-hand like” and partly the result of economic necessity. Both of them are enlisted in the army because they are unemployed and had already sold off their possessions. 

The narrator concludes the poem with a repetition of the contrast between his treatment of the man he killed and how he might have shared hospitality with him in other circumstances, or even been ready to extend charity to him. This is rather a bitter poem showing the stupidity of war, and demolishing belief in the patriotic motives of those who confront one another in battle.  The narrator finds no good reason for his action for killing of a soldier of the enemy army camp.  The short lines, simple rhyme scheme, and everyday language make the poem almost like a nursery-rhyme.

3. Where the mind is without fear…. Rabindranath  Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, who contributed immensely to giving a modern India a place on the world literary scene, was a multi-faceted personality. As a poet, a dramatist, a short story writer and a novelist, he wrote primarily in Bengali, but translated a number of his own works into English and in the process, he wrote them afresh. The poem “where the mind is without fear….” is a political lyric, and it was included in the Gitanjali from one of Tagore’s Bengali works much earlier. It is one of the most popular and effective lyrics of Tagore.

In this inspiring poem the poet prays to God for the spiritual emancipation of his country. True freedom lies in a full and virtuous living. Therefore, the poet prays to God that his countrymen may be fearless, truthful, rational, God-fearing, noble and generous. Knowledge should be free and there should be no division of caste, creed or nationality. It is to be noted that the “heaven of freedom” for which the poet prays is not a heaven of political and economic freedom but of spiritual freedom from fear, narrow-mindedness and evil desires.

Rabindranath Tagore expresses his innate love and patriotic feelings in this poem. He prays to God to make his country perfect as he has many wishes for his ideal country. He wants that the people should not have any kind of fear and they should live their life with self-respect. In his ideal country everybody should get free knowledge and the people will live together with unity. The reason of their mind should be truthful and constantly strive for perfection. The people of his ideal country should not become slaves of bad habits but have clarity of thoughts. Further, he says that the world has not to be broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls. Thus, he prays to God for freedom for his country.

 Q.  How does the poetess Maya Angelou focus on the plight of the women in the male 

      dominated society in her poem ‘Woman Work’?

4. Woman’s work – Maya Angelou

MAYA Angelou a poet, an essayist, a lecturer and predominantly civil rights activist, is among the most distinguished African-American writers devoted to women’s lives and their identities in a male dominated society. Race, family and kinship are the major concerns in her works.  Maya Angelou’s poem “Woman work” is a very domestic poem depicting the typical routine life of woman who performs her daily responsibilities effectively and then yearns for a small break amidst the elements of nature to give her strength and comfort.

As a wife she has to perform many responsibilities. She has to tend her children, mend their clothes, mop the floor and do some shopping for their meals. Then she has to fry chicken, dry the baby, feed animals, weed off the garden, press the shirts, dress the tots, cut the cane, pick the cotton, nurse the sick and clean up her whole house to make it beautiful and appealing.

The exploitation of the women is the major concern of this poem. It can not be denied that among all sections of the people women are the most exploited in this male dominated society. Women are treated as slaves without considering their hard work in raising the family and being helpful in every stage of man’s success.

The drudgery of her routine life makes her life so monotonous and prosaic; but the woman in this poem is an idealist and wants to go in the lap of nature expecting her relief and comfort. She helplessly calls forth the fiercest wind to take her away to distant lands where she can get some rest.  She frantically asks snowflakes to cover her with icy kisses to rest at least tonight. Though she sacrifices every thing for the welfare the man she does not claim anything is her own.   The sun, rain, curving sky, mountain, oceans, star shine, moon glow, leaf and stone are only things belonging to her. So that she can fly there, to forget her neck-breaking routine, and feel the freshness and coolness of natural elements to stimulate her body and soul once again to perform the next day’s duties effectively. Thus, the plight of the woman is depicted in this poem with a touch of human concern.

5. An Old Woman – Arun Kolatkar

‘An Old Woman’ is a short poem extracted from the collection of poems, ‘Jejuri’, written by Arun Kolatkar. The poem is about an old woman who entreats the speaker (the poet) to help her. The speaker is, at the beginning, indifferent to this poor old woman and refused to offer any help. But seeing at her miserable state and pitiable look of old woman bring change in his response towards the woman.

In this poem ‘An Old Woman’, narrates a common experience. At every tourist place you will meet a self-appointed tourist guide like this old woman. Usually they pester you for money (alms) and they even promise you to offer some service as a tourist guide to the money you give them. Many tourists give them something to get rid of them.

The poem ‘An Old Woman’ begins when poet visits a hill temple of western Maharastra. There he comes across an old woman who grabs his sleeve and wants fifty paisa. She promises to take him to the horseshoe shrine. The tourist tells her that he had already visited the place and there is no need of any tourist guide. He requested her to let him go alone. But she persists and keeps on pestering him ‘like a burr’. The poet turns to face the old woman to end up their association ‘with an air of finality’ to ‘end the farce’. He decides with an air of firmness to get rid of her annoyance but her question “what else can an old woman do on hills as wretched as these?” stops him in his tracks and think…..

“You look right at the sky

Clear through the bullet-holes

She has for eyes.”

The narrator is shocked by looking at her pitiable pathetic condition. The old woman’s eyes are just two gaping holes filled with empty air, with the hills and the sky. The cracks begin around her eyes, spreading beyond her skin. In the course of time “the hills crack, the temples crack and the sky falls with a plate-glass clatter around” but the old woman remains intact because she is already a ‘shatter-proof’ and nothing happens to her.    

The poem begins with a common experience, but ends in a revelation. The old woman is an ordinary woman but she is the ‘shatter-proof’ of the degradation of humanity. The poem presents true picture of pathetic condition of the woman familiar to those who visit holy places to seek divine blessings without caring the poor and the downtrodden. It is in true sense the hollowness of humanity and religion. With all these self-realization the poet reduced himself so small in the hands of the old woman.  

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I Semester Basic English Poems

Once Upon a Time – Gabriel Okara

Once upon a time, son,

they used to laugh with their hearts

and laugh with their eyes;

but now they only laugh with their teeth,

while their ice-block-cold eyes

search behind my shadow

There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts;

but that’s gone, son.

now they shake hands without hearts

while left hands search

my empty pockets.

“Feel at home!” “Come again”;

they say, and when I come

again and feel

at home, once, twice,

there will be no thrice—

for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.

I have learned to wear many faces

like dresses—homeface,

officeface, streetface, hostface,

cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles

like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned, too,

to laugh with only my teeth

and shake hands without my heart.

I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye;

when I mean ‘Good-riddance’;

to say ‘Glad to meet you;

without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been

nice talking to you; after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be

when I was like you, I want

to unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror

shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

So show me, son,

how to laugh; show me how

I used to laugh and smile

once upon a time when I was like you.

laugh with their hearts : laugh sincerely with genuine happiness

laugh with their teeth   : laugh superficially without any feelings

ice-block-block eyes    : cold and without any warm feelings

shake hands with their hearts: greet with sincerity

doors shut on me         : this means that though people speak with warm feelings, they actually do not

                                       mean anything nice and do not want visitors.

wear many faces          : to fit into the present world and be just as superficial as others

unlearn all these muting things: the speaker would like to forget being insincere and be genuine and

                                         sincere like his son again

The Man He Killed – Thomas Hardy

‘Had he and I but met

By some old ancient inn,

We should have sat us down to wet

Right may a nipperkin!

‘But ranged as infantry,

And staring face to face,

I shot at him as he at me,

And killed him in his place.

‘I shot him dead because—

Because he was my foe,

Just so: my foe of course he was;

That’s clear enough; although

‘He thought he’d ’list, perhaps,

Off-hand like— just I —

Was out of work—had sold his traps—

No other reason why.

‘Yes; quaint and curious war is!

You shoot a fellow down

You’d treat if met where any bar is,

Or help to half-a-crown’.

nipperkin         : a measure for liquids, containing half a pint or less

infantry            : soldiers who operate on foot

’list                  : abbreviated form of ‘enlist’, that is, enroll for

sold his traps   : sold whatever he had

quaint              : strange and (here) somewhat unpredictable

Where the Mind is without Fear – Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and

the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken

up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost

its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into

ever-widening thought and action—

Into that heaven of freedom my father,

my country awake.

where the head is held high     : refers to pride in one’s freedom

where knowledge is free          : where one does not have t pay for acquiring knowledge

fragments                                 : bits and pieces

narrow domestic walls             : this refers to divisions of caste and creed.

truth                                         : the ultimate reality, the goal of great poets and philosophers

depth of truth                           : where what one says is completely honest

tireless striving                        : refers to the endless efforts that need to be made

clear stream of reason             : a reference to the rule of reason

dead habit                                : outdated practices

ever-widening                          : expanding horizons

thought and action                   : the two facets of a balanced personality

let my country awake               : a prayer for the intellectual and spiritual freedom of the country.

heaven of freedom                    : a joyful abode which has freedom for the individual

Woman Work – Maya Angelou

I’ve got the children to tend

The clothes to mend

The floor to mop

The food to shop

Then the chicken to fry

The baby to dry

I got company to feed

The garden to weed

I’ve got shirts to press

The tots to dress

The cane to be cut

I gotta clean up this hut

Then see about the sick

And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine

Rain on me, rain

Fall softly, dewdrops

And cool my brow again.

Strom, blow me from here

With your fiercest wind

Let me float across the sky

’Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes

Cover me with white

Cold icy kisses and

Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky

Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone

Star shine, moon glow

You’re all that I can call my own.

tend                 : to look after and care for

tots                   : tiny children

weed                : to remove the weeds which are intrusive and destructive of plants

cotton to pick   : picking cotton from its capsule is usually done manually, by hand. This refers to the

  woman’s labour of cultivating cotton

cool my brow   : to soothe one’s tiredness and exhaustion

snowflakes       : the frozen crystals of ice which fall to the earth at very low temperatures

curving sky      : refers to the shape of the which is spherical

An Old Woman – Arun Kolatkar

An old woman grabs

hold of your sleeve

and tags along.

She wants a fifty paise coin.

She says she will take you

to the horseshoe shrine.

You’ve seen it already.

She hobbles along anyway

and tightens her grip on your shirt.

She won’t let you go.

You know how old women are?

They stick to you like a burr.

You turn around and face her

with an air of finality.

You want to end the farce.

When you hear her say,

‘What else can an old woman do

On hills as wretched as these?’

You look right at the sky.

Clear through the bullet holes

she has for her eyes.

And as you look on,

the cracks that begin around her eyes

spread beyond her skin.

And the hills crack.

And the temples crack.

And the sky falls

With a plateglass clatter

around the shatter proof cone

who stands alone.

And you are reduced

to so much small change

in her hand.  

tag                   : follow closely

hobble             : walk with difficulty because of hurt or disabled legs

burr                 : a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to clothing and animal fur

air of finality   : the impression that there is nothing more to be said or done

farce                : an absurd event

wretched          : in a very unfortunate state; miserable

plateglass        : very clear glass of fine quality made in thick sheets

clatter              : confused noise as of hard ad heavy things falling or knocking together

crone               : (derogatory) an ugly old woman

DAFFODILS - WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

William Wordsworth, the great nature poet, was born on 7 April 1770 at Cockermouth in Cumberland. He lost his father and mother at a very early age. Thanks to the generosity of his uncle was given a good education. He was educated at Hawkshead School and St. John’s College, Cambridge, His meeting with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795 was turning point in his life, in the sense that he decided to devote his life completely to poetry. Wordsworth and Coleridge together published The Lyrical Ballads in 1798. In 1843 he succeeded Robert Southey as poet Laureate and remained in office till his death on 23 April 1850.

Though Wordsworth has written long poems, he is at his best in the shorter poems like ‘Tintern Abbey’ and ‘Intimations of Immortality’. By writing a number of short poems like ‘The Daffodils’, ‘The Solitary Reaper’ etc.: he has shown in practice that beautiful poems can be written on ordinary subjects and in ordinary language; but they can be made beautiful with the colouring of the poet’s imagination. According to Wordsworth ‘Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility’.

Once, Wordsworth was walking alone through a beautiful landscape of the countryside. All of a sudden he saw a large number of daffodils by the side of a lake. They were fluttering and dancing in the breeze. They were as numerous as the stars and stretched in a never ending line. It seemed to the poet that he saw at least ten thousand flowers at a glance. The waves of the lake were also dancing, but the daffodils surpassed them. After watching such a fascinating scene a poet like Wordsworth could not do anything but be happy (gay). At that moment he did not realize that the beautiful sight was going to be a source of joy for him in the future also. Afterwards on many an occasion, he tried to recollect the scene. Every time he did it his heart was filled with joy.

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