II SEMESTER ADDITIONAL ENGLISH

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, far-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.

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.

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.

II SEMESTER (POEMS) SUMMARIES

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.

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).

Gandhi – Niranjan Mohanty

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.”

  

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 ‘foreigner’ or ‘stranger’. Though Mankind is same all over the world, somewhere, someone is harming other one in the name of foreigner. It is in one way or in the other way we are only harming ourselves.  In the name of destroying another country, we are destroying our own mother earth which supports our life.  

  

To sum up the poem that there are no strange men, no foreign countries though the costumes or dresses may be different but people live 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 the same land and of course we are buried in the same land. 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. They are all similar in every aspect body activities and feeling a sense of pain and pleasure. We all have common life to lead. We all able to recognize and understand that hatredness begets hatredness.

The Unknown Citizen – W. H. Auden

How does W H Auden picturise a socially-regimented citizen in a materialistic Utopia of Modern Age in his poem ‘The Unknown Citizen’?

W. H. Auden is a sensitive citizen, a poet, lover of freedom and desires that every citizen should enjoy freedom. With his remarkable social and political awareness, he opposed totalitarianism which destroys the freedom of an individual by imposing too many controls on one’s freedom and reduces him to a mere ‘number’ on an identity card. According to him, modern society is like a goodly apple rotten at the core.

It is a mockery and irony that the state which is directly responsible for the dilution of individual freedom and appreciates the unknown citizen and makes him known, through a marble monument, to perpetuate his memory. The poet wonders that the monument might have been erected to commemorate his tolerance, even after losing his freedom under the controls of the state. Happiness and freedom for such citizens become words of no substance, and no significance. The actions of the state seem merely to mock these noble concepts.

Auden opens his poem ‘Unknown Citizen’ with reference to a citizen who is unknown. This ordinary citizen was remembered by a marble monument erected by the state in his honour. The bureau of statistics which is there to look after the citizens’ conduct and welfare, made no complaint against this particular citizen at any moment. All the reports on his conduct give him a clean chit. The old-fashioned word ‘saint’ can be used to regard him, although he belongs to the modern times.

Whatever he did, he did only for the benefit of the society. Auden certifies that he served the greater community till the day of his retirement. He worked sincerely in a factory where he was never found to be guilty and no one suspended him or dismissed him from his job. He always satisfied his superiors and his employers. Auden sarcastically describes the company where he works is Fudge Motors Inc.

The citizens never refused to give their opinion of his co-workers, nor did he owe any dues to the trade union. He was as popular with his colleagues as he was with others. Like many ordinary individuals he enjoyed a drink now and then. The press was happy that he read a paper, daily. He never over-reacted to any advertisements. His insurance policies proved that he was fully covered by the insurance. The health card maintained in his name showed that he was healthy. He visited a hospital only once during his long years of service.

He enjoyed all comforts which a common man could afford. He had a gramophone, a radio, a car and a Frigidaire. Public opinion surveys revealed that his opinions about men and matters had nothing offensive. In peace, he enjoyed peace and in war, he went to war when he was called upon. Like many ordinary citizens, he was also married and had five children and at that time population experts considered that this was the right number for any parent. Teachers reported that he never interfered with his children’s education.

Auden concludes his poem very sarcastically saying that he may not ask the citizen a question that whether he was happy. The question, the poet feels, is absurd. If anything had happened wrong, it would certainly have been reported.

Thus, Auden represents through the character of the unknown citizen, modern man who is reduced to a part of a machine. He has no individuality. He accepted the views of the state, without any resistance. So the government was happy with him, but the citizens cannot be called happy in any true sense of the word, as the citizen never enjoyed the benefits of freedom. He lived like a slave without any opinion which could be called his own.

 *****

MOTHER'S DAY - J. B. PRIESTLY

Mother’s Day, a play by J. B. Priestley, portraying the status of a mother in a household. Priestly humorously explores the story when Mrs. Pearson, in her forties, stands up for her rights and how her family reacts at this. Mrs. Pearson is very fond of her family and works day and night to support her family members in the best possible manner. However, she is upset at the way she is being treated. Nobody cares for her or asks about her. All day long she stays at home doing all the work. In the evening when the kids and her husband return she threw herself in meeting their demands. She did not want any dislikeable thing to happen in her household yet she craved for their attention and a little respect. She went to her neighbour Mrs. Fitzgerald, a fortune teller and a magician. Older and heavy, Mrs. Fitzgerald comes out with a plan. She proposed that they could exchange bodies and then with Pearson’s body, she would teach a lesson to Pearson’s family that Mrs. Pearson could not do herself for she was too humble and nice to do that.

Though reluctant, Mrs. Pearson agreed to the idea and the two exchanged their bodies. Mrs. Pearson was still not sure and asked Mrs. Fitzgerald if she could get her body back. However, determined Fitzgerald tells Pearson to not to worry and that she would handle the matter carefully. She left for Pearson’s home with Mrs. Pearson’s body. She entered the home and knew what she was to do to teach Pearsons a lesson so they would not bother Mrs. Pearson in future unnecessarily. Mrs. Pearson (Mrs.Fitzgerald’s soul) smoked a cigarette and was confident than ever. A few moments later, her daughter, Doris Pearson, entered the house and started demanding tea and her dress. Mrs. Pearson was sure to make her realise that she was Doris’ mother and not a servant. She was stunned to see her mother smoking and that she had not prepared tea for her and that her dress was not ready as well. Doris told her mother that she was to go out with her beau Charles Spencer on which the mother remarked if she could not find someone better. This broke Doris and she left weeping.

Then came the son, Cyril Pearson, who is amused at his mother’s strange behaviour. They get into an argument. The children could not baffle the situation. When the mother left to fetch the stout, the children discussed their mother’s behaviour. Doris felt that it might have been that mother got her head hit. Then enters mother with a bottle of stout and a glass half filled with it. The children began to laugh and the mother chided them and asked them to behave like grown-ups. Doris then asked her mother for her such behaviour and if they had done something wrong. Then Mrs. Pearson tells them that it is actually the children’s and her husband’s behaviour that has disturbed her. They always come and go without bothering about her. They demand duties from her and she does her best to keep everyone happy and still no body is bothered about her. She remarks that while the three of them do a job of forty hours a week with two days as weekend, she goes on working seven days round the clock. She proclaimed that she would do some work on Saturday and Sunday only if she is thanked for everything.

When the mother scolded Doris and Cyril duly, entered George Pearson and is annoyed at her wife sipping stout. He told her that he would have supper at the club and that he did not want tea. The wife told him that there was no tea. He got annoyed and the wife then said that when he did not want tea then why was he fighting for it. Mr. Pearson is flabbergasted at such conduct of his wife. The wife continues to rebuke the husband telling him that why he goes to club when he is a joke among all there. He is stunned and demanded the truth from his son. Cyril got upset at his mother yet told the father that it was the truth. Then enters Mrs.Fitzgerald (actually Mrs.Pearson). Mrs. Pearson (actually Mrs.Fitzgerald) told her that she was just putting everyone at place and that the things were alright. Mrs.Pearson(Mrs.Fitzgerald in body) requested to have her body then and Mrs.Pearson(Mrs.Fitzgerald in body) on a condition that Pearson would not go soft on her family again. They got into their original bodies and Mrs.Fitzgerald left. The mother and the children and husband smiled at each other and it was decided that they all will have the dinner together and play a game of rummy.

   

                                                                    ****

The Teaching Staff

The Teaching Staff of Veerashaiva College, Ballari

STANDARD ENGLISH

Standard English is not entirely uniform around the globe. For example, American users of Standard English say first floor, and I have gotten a letter and write center and color, while British users say ground floor and I’ve just got a letter and write centre and colour. But these regional differences are few in comparison with the high degree of agreement about which form should count as standard. Nevertheless, Standard English, like all living languages, changes over time… 

“It is important to realize that Standard English is no way intrinsically superior to any other variety of English; in particular, it should be ‘more logical’, ‘more grammatical’ or ‘more expressive’. It is, at the bottom, a convenience; the use of a single agreed standard form, learned by speakers everywhere, minimizes uncertainty, confusion, misunderstanding and communicative difficulty generally.”

Standard English is the variety of English that is held by many to be ‘correct’ in the sense that it shows none of the regional of other variations that are considered by some to be ungrammatical or non-standard English. ‘Received Pronunciation’, often called RP, if the way Standard English spoken, without any regional variations. Standard English or RP is widely used in the media and by the public figures, so it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable form of the language.

Some suggestions to improve your language ability

v  There are hundreds of different accents within the United Kingdom so categorizing them all as a British Accent is rather in correct. Wherever we go we will find an unbelievable variety of different pronunciations.

v  As with any accent listening to and imitating a native speaker is the most important and fastest way to learn.

v  Take a trip to the United Kingdom and really listen to how they speak.

v  If you’re visiting England visit the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They are some of the strongholds of the traditional of RP accent.

v  As you expand the ability of the ear speaking becomes an automatism. When, the ear can ‘hear’ a sound the mouth has a better chance of producing it.

v  There are a wide range of British accents. For every day use or for Business try learning a ‘received pronunciation’ (RP) accent such as that commonly used BBC newscasters.

 ****

The Old Man and The Sea: Plot Summary

The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle between an old, experienced fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. Santiago is considered "salao", the worst form of unluckiness. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling back his fishing gear, getting him food and discussing American baseball and his favorite player Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north of Cuba in the Straits of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end. Thus on the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf Stream. He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlin takes his bait. Unable to pull in the great marlin, Santiago instead finds the fish pulling his skiff.

Two days and two nights pass in this manner, during which the old man bears the tension of the line with his body. Though he is wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also determines that because of the fish's great dignity, no one will be worthy of eating the marlin. On the third day of the ordeal, the fish begins to circle the skiff, indicating his tiredness to the old man. Santiago, now completely worn out and almost in delirium, uses all the strength he has left in him to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon, ending the long battle between the old man and the tenacious fish. Santiago straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed.

While Santiago continues his journey back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. The first, a great mako shark, Santiago kills with his harpoon, losing that weapon in the process. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; in total, five sharks are slain and many others are driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Finally reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles on the way to his shack, carrying the heavy mast on his shoulder. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Tourists at the nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth—of lions on an African beach.

****

Essays for Five Plays of III Semester

The Marriage Proposal — Anton Chevkov

Stepan Stepanovitch Tschubukov and Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov were neighbours in a village. Natalia Stepanovna was the daughter of Tschubukov. Lomov a man of thirty five wanted to marry. He thought Natalia was good at housekeeping and she was not bad looking. So he came to the house of Tschubukov on one evening to propose to Natalia. Naturally he was in his best clothes befitting the occasion of a marriage proposal. Tschubukov received him cordially in his reception room. Like every young man going to make a marriage proposal Lomov was also excited and nervous. After some nervous stammering, he told Tschubokov that he wanted Natalia's hand in marriage. Tschubokov was very excited and happy at the proposal. He went out and sent Natalia into the room to meet the suitor. Natalia was not told of the purpose of Lomov. Natalia and Lomov began to talk.

Lomov was more nervous as he was facing the bride. He made a strong preface before coming to the proposal. He told Natalia about how the Lomovs and the Tschubukovs had been good neighbours on good terms for many years. In this context, he mentioned that his meadows touched the birch woods of Tschubukov. Natalia was surprised to hear that the meadows belonged to Lomov. She claimed that the plot of land belonged to them, the Tschubukovs. A bitter quarrel ensued. Lomov claimed it belonged to him and Natalia too claimed it to be theirs. Lomov forgot his original purpose. They called each other names, even though a little while ago they were full of good neighbourly feelings. Tschubukov came in and heard their quarrel. He too claimed that the meadows belonged to him. The quarrel grew even bitterer. They called each other names and began to expose the scandals of each others' families. Lomov had a weak heart. He used to have palpitation in the heart. He was excited and he fainted. He rose and left the house. At this juncture, Tschubukov remarked that such a fool had dared to come seeking the hand of Natalia. 

The moment she heard that he had come to propose to her, Natalia changed her tone. She asked her father to bring back Lomov. Her self interest overruled all other considerations like her loyalty to her family. Lomov came back. Natalia was all politeness. She even conceded that the meadows belonged to Lomov. After all, if they were married, the meadows would come to be hers only. Lomov informed that he would go hunting after the harvest. He was sorry that his dog Ugadi limped and he began to praise his dog. He thought that a hundred and twenty five rubles that he had paid for it was very cheap for such a good dog. Natalia, however, thought that it was a very high price because her father had paid only eighty-five rubles for their dog Otkatai, which was a better dog than Ugadi.

Lomov disagreed and asserted that Otkatai had a smaller lower jaw than the upper one and Ugadi was a far better dog than Otkatai. Once again their pride in their dogs led to another quarrel. Tschubukov came in and joined the quarrel. Lomov once again got excited and he fainted. Tschubukov who knew the importance of getting his daughter married, at once joined the hands of Natalia and Lomov and declared that Natalia agreed to the match. Natalia too, declared that she was willing and Lomov declared that he too, was happy. Tschubukov shouted for champagne to celebrate the intended marriage.

*****

Refund — One Act Play: Summary        

                                         

The Refund is an unusual story. A student who was a bad performer in school comes back to the school as a young man and wants a refund of all the fees that he paid. He jeers his professors, calling them names and tells them that they were as much “good for nothings” as he was and since he did not derive any value from them, it is only rightful that he be paid back all his tuition. He also threatens the school with legal action if they don’t return his money. The Principal is livid, but the Maths teacher sizes up the situation quickly and proposes a solution.

She says that each of the teachers would administer an oral quiz to him and if he gets even one question right, then he is deemed to have passed all his exams and so he will not be entitled to any refund, otherwise he can be given a refund if he fails to answer ALL of the questions correctly. According to her plan, every professor should ask him two questions – one easy and the other hard. The young man agrees to this proposition since he is determined to get his money and so he looks forward to answering every question incorrectly even if he knows the right answers to some or all of them. So, one by one, the teachers quiz him – the Biology professor, the English professor, the Chemistry professor and the Physics professor but he answers all of them incorrectly and is quite delighted at the progress he is making. The Principal feels uneasy but the Maths professor assures her that she can handle it. Finally it is the turn of the Maths professor. She says she is going to ask him the easy question first.

Her first question is, “If we represent the speed of light by X and the distance of the star Sirius from the Sun by Y, what is the circumference of a one-hundred-and-nine-sided regular polyhedron whose surface area coincides with that of the hip-pocket of a state railway employee, whose wife has been deceiving him for two years and eleven months with a regimental sergeant major of hussars”.

The young man is flummoxed with this question but recovers quickly and says “28 apricots” as the answer. There is tension in the air as the Principal and other Professors look expectantly in the direction of the Maths Professor, who coolly says that it is the wrong answer and that the correct answer is 27 apricots. The young man is greatly relieved and looks extremely happy in flunking this quiz. The Maths teacher turns around to the horrified Principal and coolly says that the young man is right about asking his fees back and that the school should refund him.

The Maths teacher turns to the young man and asks him how much the school owes him. Overjoyed at the prospect of getting some money, the young man goes over each year and the fees for that year in detail and comes up with the final amount the school owes him. All along as he is counting mentally and saying what is due to him, the Maths teacher writes the figures down on a piece of paper and calculates the total. Finally the teacher acknowledges to the young man that his mental arithmetic adds up correctly. The young man says that they can bet on it since he has it all worked out.

That is when the Maths Professor drops the bombshell that her asking him what the school owed him was her “hard” question and that since he got it right, he has now passed his course with flying colors and so the school doesn’t owe him anything now. That is when the young man realizes that he has been tricked and as he prepares to leave the school in disgust, he is mocked at by each of the professors in turn.

****

The Never-Never Nest — Cedric Mount

“The Never-Never Nest" is a comic one-act play about a young couple. They make full use of the buy-now-pay-later marketing system. This comedy is very relevant today, because we can buy almost anything now on the installment basis.

Jack and Jill were a young married couple who had a small baby. One day Anut Jane visited them. She was surprised to find that even though Jack's salary was not very high, they lived in a beautiful house with all comforts, such as a radio, a car and a refrigerator. She began to wonder whether, as a wedding gift she had giving them 2000 pounds instead of the 20 pounds she had wanted to give them. Otherwise how did jack and Jill buy all these things? She suggested that the rent for such a house must be very high. Jack replied that they owned the house.

Then Aunt Jane understood that though jack and Jill had everything, nothing really belong to them. They bought everything they had on the installment basis. Only a steering wheel of the car, a wheel and two cylinders had been paid for. And only one leg of the sofa that Aunt Jane sat on, belonged to them. The total amount to be paid towards installments per week came to more than seven pounds. Jack was earning only six pounds a week. Jill was a housewife. When Aunt Jane asked how he could pay seven pounds a week when he was earning only six pounds, Jack said that they could take a loan. Aunt Jane was shocked at the way jack and Jill ran their family. Before she left, she gave ten pounds to Jill and told them to make at least one article completely theirs, using that money. While jack went with Aunt Jane to the bus stop, Jill sent the money to Dr. Martin. Jack came back and said that he wanted to pay two months installments on the car using that money. But Jill said that by paying the money to Dr. Martin, their baby would become completely theirs!

The end of the play is ironical, though it is an exaggeration. The play is really a satire on the materialistic bent of the modern man.

****

The Rising of the Moon — Lady Gregory

Lady Gregory’s The Rising of the Moon is a political play dealing with the relation between England and Ireland. Here we find Ireland trying to free itself from the English rule. The English has dominated over Ireland for a long period of time. In this play we find that the characters are torn between duty and patriotism and are ultimately united together as Irishmen through the folklore, myths and songs which they share as a nation. The thought of being the citizen of a country is considered as more important over one’s feelings of duty towards of foreign nation

Patriotism is the force that unites the people of a country. Lady Gregory’s play written in Irish English presents two characters. One is an Irish patriot with a prize on his head who is involved in the Irish struggle for freedom. The other person is a sergeant who is on the look-out for him. He is posted at the harbor to check whether the wanted man who has escaped is seen passing by. The sergeant is a poor family man who is badly in need of money. The patriot comes that way disguised as a ballad singer. He sings patriotic folk songs and arouses the sergeant’s nationalistic feelings. Finally he identifies him but does not arrest him. He lets him go and willingly loses the reward. His patriotism outweighs his duty. The scene is a harbor somewhere in Ireland. The British are still the rulers and the Irish patriots are still fighting for their country’s independence. One such Irish nationalist has been arrested but he has escaped from jail. The authorities put a prize on his head and the play begins with a sergeant and two policemen pasting a notice or a placard with physical details of the escaped prisoner.

The sergeant suggests that they put up the notice on the barrel. There is a flight of steps that lead to the barrel.  This place must e watched because there is every chance that the friends of the escape might bring a boat there to help him get away to some a safe place. The sergeant reads the placard and feels sorry that he had not seen before he escaped from the jail. He knows that the wanted man is no ordinary criminal but an important political figure. He is the person who makes all the plans for the entire Irish nationalist organization. The sergeant believes that he could not have escaped without the support some of the jailors. Policeman B says that the hundred pounds reward is not enough but he is sure that any policeman who captures him will get promotion. The sergeant then says that he will mind the place himself because he is sure that he will be able to catch the wanted man himself. However he regrets the fact there is no one to help him. He, being a family man requires the money.   

****

Othello — A domestic tragedy

“Othello” is regarded by some of the critics as a domestic tragedy, for it deals with the domestic life of Othello and Desdemona and shows how it fell into ruin by the intrigues of a villain Iago through his intrigues makes Othello jealous of Cassio and suspicious of Desdemona. He begins to doubt his innocent wife of having immoral relations with Cassio. He suffers hellish tortures; and spurred on by Iago, ultimately destroys first Desdemona and then himself. Such in short is the plot of “Othello”. Moreover, it is a drama of contemporary life, having for its background a historical event of recent occurrence. Since it has obvious and close resemblance with the plot of a domestic tragedy, critics have called the play a domestic drama.

But the resemblance is only superficial. It must be remembered that Othello is not a private individual. He is descended from a royal family. He is a soldier and military general of great ability and renown. He is considered indispensible for the defense of Cyprus and is appointed as the Governor of Cyprus by the Duke of Venice. Thus he is man of importance occupying a conspicuously high place in the life and affairs of the state of Venice. He can in no way be regarded as a private individual – like the hero of a domestic tragedy.

Moreover, Othello is not a common individual. He is a man of exceptional nature. His qualities of bravery and courageous deeds as a military general made him run above the common mankind. He is noble and daring. He has had a romantic career and travelled to distant lands, He comes of a royal family. By his tales of travel he is able to win over the heart of Desdemona – a girl of exceptional beauty, sought after by the gallants of her own country. He is honest, frank and confiding. He can command and inspire confidence, and he is conscious that he can do so. When such an exceptional individual falls, his fall produces the pity and terror apt to the true tragedy.

In a domestic tragedy, the action of the drama moves on a common everyday level. The characters are nearer to us and so is the action. There is no remoteness and no suggestion of mysterious fatal forces working against mankind. All this cannot be said of Othello. Its action does not take place in familiar England, but we are transported to romantic Venice and from there to the remote, unknown Cyprus. Although there are no ghosts or witches as in other tragedies, there is nevertheless a very strong sense of some hidden forces, malignant and hostile, Iago, the embodiment of Evil, appears in the very first scene, and his appearance with all his evil designs fills us with foreboding. The impression of Destiny working against the hero and driving him to an inevitable doom is further strengthened by the preponderance of the Chance element.  

Thus Othello does not sink to the level of a domestic tragedy. Rather, in it even the commonplace has been lifted up, and transformed, to the level of a heroic tragedy. A trifle, like a handkerchief, has been used to bring about the catastrophe, and arouse the emotions of awe and fear. It is a pure tragedy, truly Cathartic in its effect.

******

Reunion – W. St. John Tayleur

W. St. John Tayleur’s one act play ‘Reunion’ brings out successfully how a man changes himself according to the circumstances and become selfish.  In the hour crisis the well trained soldiers decided and promised among them that they should sacrifice their lives for the nation in the process of its rebuilding. Soon after the war, all their promises and moral values were kept aside for their personal growth and development.

Four friends — George Carter, Reverend Philip Rowlands, Mark Tallis and Peter Ransome — meet in an exclusive West End Hotel to celebrate their ‘Reunion’.  They have come here to meet after ten years to honour their ‘promise’ that they had made to one another as soldiers fighting together in the war. Ten years ago, exactly on this particular day, they (seven soldiers) had fallen in a great risk being surrounded by enemy armies from all sides. There was no hope to escape from the attack of enemy armies. Defeat and death was almost imminent for them.  In that hour of crisis they made a pact: if they survived the war, they would all meet again after ten years to share their experiences and contributions to the society as citizens of the nation.

 

The four friends share their experiences of the their intervening years and the audience learn that George Carter is now an important public figure, Mark Tallis has become London’s most successful playwright and Reverend Rowlands has risen in the church as a clergyman. These three persons are well settled except Ransome. Ransome, the youngest among four, is embittered and disheartened with his life, informs them that he is about emigrate to United States in search of an opportunity. In the course of their conversation they wonder whether their other comrades —Sergeant Smith and Colin Grayson have been able to pull through.

Reverend Rowlands recalls Colin Grayson’s sacrifice, after cutting the lowest value of cards according to their agreement, in venturing into enemy territory to save other’s lives. The situation has become very grim and serious when they recall how Grayson had received fatal wounds from the enemy’s bullets and how he had been taken away by them as a prisoner of war. At this juncture, a rather changed looking Grayson makes his entry. All four are startled at Grayson’s appearance. They thought that the Grayson’s appearance is an apparition. After a little while, they believe that Grayson is still alive against their belief of his death in the enemy camp.

Grayson enquires his friends about their lives after the war. His penetrating questions lay bare how their success is a sham, and how they have failed to live up to their ideals. He reveals the shocking truth that George Carter’s corrupt practices, unknown to Carter himself, have led to Sergeant Smith’s suicide. He also exposes how Mark Tallis has compromised his intellectual integrity to win easy fame and popularity. He shows how Reverend Rowlands has abandoned his East Mission and Ransome his motherland.

Finally, he proceeds to make the most startling revelation of all: that he is not Colin Grayson, but the brother of their dead friend. Before succumbing to his injuries in the enemy camp, Colin Grayson had written letter to his brother (John Grayson) about his comrades, their lives and future aspirations, and also directed him to attend the promised ‘Reunion’ in his stead.  The dead Colin Grayson’s brother John Grayson confronts with Colin Grayson’s friends about the futility of Colin’s sacrifice. They have survived the crisis of war on the sacrifice of their friend but dishonoured their friend’s heroism and sacrifice by forsaking their nobler goals for their personal ambitions. At this point John Grayson leaves, hoping that, at least in the future they would be true to their promises, by leaving their personal means and ends.

*****