Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Hello, i am himanshi. Here i write a blog about Hard Times play review, as a part of Thinking activity. Given from the paper no - 4, Literature of the Victorians. But before discussing about the play. It is very important to know about the original novel and it's author. So let me first write about the novel.

Hard times by Charles Dickens :-

"Hard Times: For These Times", is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirises the social and economic conditions of the era. Hard Times, a social protest novel of nineteenth-century England, is aptly titled. Not only does the working class, known as the "Hands," have a "hard time" in this novel; so do the other classes as well. Dickens divided the novel into three separate books, two of which, "Sowing" and "Reaping," exemplify the biblical concept of "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap". Firstly let me discuss about the short summary of novel Hard Times.

Summary of the novel : Hard Times :-

Before summary let me put video of the movie based on novel Hard Times.

Thomas Gradgrind, a wealthy, retired merchant in the industrial city of Coketown, England, devotes his life to a philosophy of rationalism, self-interest, and fact. He raises his oldest children, Louisa and Tom, according to this philosophy and never allows them to engage in fanciful or imaginative pursuits. He founds a school and charitably takes in one of the students, the kindly and imaginative Sissy Jupe, after the disappearance of her father, a circus entertainer.

As the Gradgrind children grow older, Tom becomes a dissipated, self-interested hedonist, and Louisa struggles with deep inner confusion, feeling as though she is missing something important in her life. Eventually Louisa marries Gradgrind’s friend Josiah Bounderby, a wealthy factory owner and banker more than twice her age. Bounderby continually trumpets his role as a self-made man who was abandoned in the gutter by his mother as an infant. Tom is apprenticed at the Bounderby bank, and Sissy remains at the Gradgrind home to care for the younger children.

In the meantime, an impoverished “Hand” Dickens’s term for the lowest laborers in Coketown’s factories named Stephen Blackpool struggles with his love for Rachael, another poor factory worker. He is unable to marry her because he is already married to a horrible, drunken woman who disappears for months and even years at a time. Stephen visits Bounderby to ask about a divorce but learns that only the wealthy can obtain them. Outside Bounderby’s home, he meets Mrs. Pegler, a strange old woman with an inexplicable devotion to Bounderby.

James Harthouse, a wealthy young sophisticate from London, arrives in Coketown to begin a political career as a disciple of Gradgrind, who is now a Member of Parliament. He immediately takes an interest in Louisa and decides to try to seduce her. With the unspoken aid of Mrs. Sparsit, a former aristocrat who has fallen on hard times and now works for Bounderby, he sets about trying to corrupt Louisa.

The Hands, exhorted by a crooked union spokesman named Slackbridge, try to form a union. Only Stephen refuses to join because he feels that a union strike would only increase tensions between employers and employees. He is cast out by the other Hands and fired by Bounderby when he refuses to spy on them. Louisa, impressed with Stephen’s integrity, visits him before he leaves Coketown and helps him with some money. Tom accompanies her and tells Stephen that if he waits outside the bank for several consecutive nights, help will come to him. Stephen does so, but no help arrives. Eventually he packs up and leaves Coketown, hoping to find agricultural work in the country. Not long after that, the bank is robbed, and the lone suspect is Stephen, the vanished Hand who was seen loitering outside the bank for several nights just before disappearing from the city.

Mrs. Sparsit witnesses Harthouse declaring his love for Louisa, and Louisa agrees to meet him in Coketown later that night. However, Louisa instead flees to her father’s house, where she miserably confides to Gradgrind that her upbringing has left her married to a man she does not love, disconnected from her feelings, deeply unhappy, and possibly in love with Harthouse. She collapses to the floor, and Gradgrind, struck dumb with self-reproach, begins to realize the imperfections in his philosophy of rational self-interest.

Sissy, who loves Louisa deeply, visits Harthouse and convinces him to leave Coketown forever. Bounderby, furious that his wife has left him, redoubles his efforts to capture Stephen. When Stephen tries to return to clear his good name, he falls into a mining pit called Old Hell Shaft. Rachael and Louisa discover him, but he dies soon after an emotional farewell to Rachael. Gradgrind and Louisa realize that Tom is really responsible for robbing the bank, and they arrange to sneak him out of England with the help of the circus performers with whom Sissy spent her early childhood. They are nearly successful, but are stopped by Bitzer, a young man who went to Gradgrind’s school and who embodies all the qualities of the detached rationalism that Gradgrind once espoused, but who now sees its limits. Sleary, the lisping circus proprietor, arranges for Tom to slip out of Bitzer’s grasp, and the young robber escapes from England after all.

Mrs. Sparsit, anxious to help Bounderby find the robbers, drags Mrs. Pegler a known associate of Stephen Blackpool in to see Bounderby, thinking Mrs. Pegler is a potential witness. Bounderby recoils, and it is revealed that Mrs. Pegler is really his loving mother, whom he has forbidden to visit him: Bounderby is not a self-made man after all. Angrily, Bounderby fires Mrs. Sparsit and sends her away to her hostile relatives. Five years later, he will die alone in the streets of Coketown. Gradgrind gives up his philosophy of fact and devotes his political power to helping the poor. Tom realizes the error of his ways but dies without ever seeing his family again. While Sissy marries and has a large and loving family, Louisa never again marries and never has children. Nevertheless, Louisa is loved by Sissy’s family and learns at last how to feel sympathy for her fellow human beings. This how novel runs and conclud.

Now after knowing about storyline of the novel, let me discuss about the drama based on novel Hard Times.

Review of the Hindi play based on Hard Times :-

"Hard Times", a musical adaptation of Dickens novel of the same name, by khilona theatre for children. The play is in hindi and very well portrayed. The play takes 1 hour 47 minutes to complete for. We had already studied all the characters in advance and also a storyline of the novel. So it was very easy to us to understand the play well. And we enjoyed it a lot. The characters are similar to novel. And even therw where many minor changes they made in drama. Let we discuss about the cast team and actors of the drama.

Cast team and actors in drama :-

Director and costume designer :- kiran deep Sharma.

Adaptation and editing :- V. K. Sharma

Lyrics :- V. K. Sharma.

Music director :- Kashish sharma.

Voice training and flute :- Esraseher jung

Arti vasan :- Jane and Josephine.

Akash Hingorani :- Josiah Bounderby, clown.

Abhishekh :- childrens, jupe, doctor.

Chitra :- clown, mrs. Pegler.

Isha :- mrs. Gradgrind, mrs. Sparsit.

Jyotsana :- louisa

Kajori :- Rachel

Kiran deep sharma :- singer

Kunal :- Tom, Clown

Lakshya goel :- Stephen, narrator, stunts man.

Prakash :- mr. Sleary, james Harthouse.

Pulkit :- butler, clown

Santosh :- Dilkhush, circus crowd.

Saif :- Bitzer, stuntsman.

Sajid Anwer :- mr. Chokumchild, kidder, stephen's wife.

Shubham :- sissy

Sudipto Banerjee :- mr. Gradgrind.

V. K. Sharma :- narrator.

Lighting :-

Lights are very well used in the drama. They did Very good use of spot lights in some parts. For example when Cecelia tell her experience to Louisa, director use two spot lights one for louisa and tom and another for sissy and mr. Mcchoakumchild. It seems quit interesting to the audience and seems like the drama has high dramatic qualities. Also when the situation gets serious or the scene in which something abnormal act take place, at that time they used red light on the whole stage. Which is the symbol of tension or we can say problems. So that thing was also mentioned there well.

Dialogues :-

Script is seems like stick to the original novel. Many times they used original lines from novel, Is in English. As specially the person who is narrating the play uses this kind of lines and words from original text. As he introduced the cocktown and imaginative characters, that is crested curiosity among the audience for play. Most of the script is simply translation of original play. But even if in hindi it was performed so well by all the characters.

Loud expressions :-

Sometimes while watching drama. We may feel that expressions of all characters are quite louder. And we can say not normal. For example josiah Bounderby and mrs. Sparsit gave the expressions loud according to incidents.

Time, place, action and other stage rules :-

  the three principles derived by French classicists from Aristotle's Poetics; they require a play to have a single action represented as occurring in a single place and within the course of a day. These principles were called, respectively, unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time. When we analyses the play. We may find that this unities are not followed exactly in the play. Of course the play starts and end in the cocktown, an imaginative town.and that is the sighn that unity of place is followed well. But the drama is not completed within a course of day, so unity of time declined there. The play starts with the childhood of Luisa and sissy and ends with their young age. It means the story runs more than 20 or 30 years. And that is something against to unity of time.

Also when we think about unity of action, we find that, something makes us disagree that the play followed the unity of action.there where many other rules also for drama and stage. One of that i found which followed well in the drama, you should not show death and fire, war scenes on stage. And that was followed when Stephen Blackpool is almost close to death they sent him off to stage while is in novel he is died in the lap of Rachel. Also they wasn't show war scenes and fire scenes on stage. So that rules are also followed well.

Direction of the play :-

The play directed so well. If we analyses the whole play, we find that at many place we found the charm of best direction. As they start the play with song.The various setting on same time, in one stage, one is in imagination and one to show present condition, and lighting according to it. That is enough to show that the play directed well. Also they show flashback in drama very well. Symbol of stare case, and luisa step down from stare case is good attempt to show her downfall. At the end of the play where tom is in circus, that seen played very interestingly by performing various stunts with ring and joker, and with the music.

Use of mime :-

 The another form of drama used well in the play. They used mime form to portray some elements such as fire and tree. The actors themselves created fire by waving their hands and became a tree by standing in such kind of positions. So here we find combination of two different drama forms.

Songs in play :-

There are five songs are there in drama. And preformed beautifully. One song is in starting as a corus, one in ending, and other three in between. By the use of songs they tried to potray either the situation of industrial revolution time or show the condition of character. And that is something marvellously done in it.

Language in drama :-

Language is also uses in very symbolic way. Circus people used metaphorical language. Their life and language is reflected emotions, composition, imagination. Where in another side characters like Bounderby and Gradgrind uses straight language. Language filled with logic, and Rationality. In the another part of drama where Luisa compared her life with Fire. That is also ironical images he portrayed for her poor condition and his causes. Mrs. Gradgrind feels that there is something missing by them in life. And she feels it when Sissy is around her. She try to explain the lack of emotions and love in their life by this metaphorical language. Show her inner confusion about life through it.

Here, is the video of full play,  Which i review in this blog.

Words :- 2157

Paragraphs :- 12

Images :- 3

Videos :- 2

References :-

1) cliffsnotes.com

2) sparknotes.com

3) Brittanica.com

Religion and PK movie

Hello, i am himanshi parmar. As a part of thinking activity related to book, A tale of tube by Jonathan Swift, here I write a blog about religious controversy in movie pk. Also i mentioned here the story outline of PK, cast of PK, awards to this movie, some of the discutable news about PK movie. The question given to us is -

Identify any one movie/web series/song/poem/novel which talks about the sensitive topic like religion. Write in brief about it and explain what kind questions are raised through that work.

     The Bollywood movie pk is about an alien who comes to earth on research mission, and lost his remote, was stolen and sold to a godman. Then the alien and his friend journalist quest to retrieve remote, and superstitions, and unlogical beliefs. PK is one of the best movie who satire so harshly on religion with humour. It is a 2014 Indian Hindi language science fiction comedy drama film. Which was directed by Rajkumar Hirani and written by Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi. Also it was jointly produced by Hirani and vidhu vinod chopra, under the banners, Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vidhu Vinod Chopra films respectively.

Cast of the Film :-

Directed by :-  Rajkumar Hirani

Written by :-  Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi

Produced by :- Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani

Starring :- 

1)Aamir Khan

2)Anushka Sharma

3)Sushant Singh Rajput

4)Sanjay Dutt

5)Boman Irani

6)Saurabh Shukla

Narrated by :- Anushka Sharma

Cinematography :- C. K. Muraleedharan

Edited by :- Rajkumar Hirani

Music by :- 

Songs :- 

Shantanu Moitra

Ajay−Atul

Ankit Tiwari

Background Score :-

Sanjay Wandrekar

Atul Raninga

Production companies :- Vinod Chopra Films and Rajkumar Hirani Films

Distributed by :- UTV Motion Pictures

Release date :- 19 December 2014

Running time :- 152 minutes 

Country :- India

Languages :-

Hindi

Bhojpuri

Rajasthani

Budget :- ₹85 crore ($13.9 million)

Box office :- ₹854 crore

($140 million)

After the success of 3 Idiots (2009), Hirani and Joshi's began scripting their next project; finding similarities with the plot of Inception (2010), they scrapped the film. It was later rewritten with a different angle and tone. During production, the film was first titled Talli and later Ek Tha Talli before being changed to PK as the latter title was found too similar to Ek Tha Tiger (2012). The film's soundtrack was composed by Shantanu Moitra, Ajay−Atul and Ankit Tiwari with lyrics written by Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Varma and Manoj Muntashir. UTV Motion Pictures acquired the distribution rights of the film. PK was the first Bollywood movie to be shot in Belgium.

Awards to film PK :-

PK was released on 19 December 2014. It received generally positive reviews, with praise for the performances, particularly by Khan, and its portrayal of superstitions. The film received eight nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards, winning two. Additionally, it won five Producers Guild Film Awards, and two Screen Awards. PK garnered the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Produced on a budget of ₹850 million (approx. $12 million), PK was the first Indian film to gross more than ₹7 billion and US$100 million worldwide. At the time, it emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time and ranks as the 70th highest-grossing film of 2014 worldwide. The film's final worldwide gross was ₹854 crore (US$140 million). It currently stands as the 5th highest grossing Indian film worldwide and 5th highest-grossing film in India.

Characters of the movie :-

Aamir Khan as PK, a humanoid alien

Anushka Sharma as Jagat "Jaggu" Janani Sahani, a news reporter & Sarfaraz's love interest

Sushant Singh Rajput as Sarfaraz Yousuf, a Pakistani Muslim & Jaggu's love interest

Sanjay Dutt as Bhairon 'Bhaia' Singh, PK's beloved friend

Boman Irani as Cherry Bajwa, Jaggu's boss

Saurabh Shukla as Tapasvi Maharaj, the godman

Parikshit Sahni as Jayprakash Sahni, Jaggu's father

Amardeep Jha as Mrs. Sahni, Jaggu's mother

Ram Sethi as the old man in Belgium who betrayed Sarfaraz & Jaggu

Sai Gundewar as the Belgium show Ticket Seller

Rohitash Gaud as Mr. Pandey, a police inspector

Ranbir Kapoor as a fellow alien from PK's home planet (special appearance)

Reema Debnath as Phuljhadiya, the prostitute

Sachin Parikh as Tapasvi's manager

Michael Pekala as bystander in train station

Rukhsaar Rehman as Pakistan embassy receptionist

Plabita Borthakur as Jaggu's sister

Anil Mange as character dressed as Shiva

Brijendra Kala as idol seller at a temple

Alok Pandey as a Reporter

Rajeev Gupta as Inspector of the New Delhi railway station

Monali Thakur as a Kashmiri girl

Maanvi Gagroo as Mitu, Jaggu's colleague

Shaji Chaudhary as Tapasvi Maharaj's bodyguard

This is the list of all the characters, who played a role in the movie. Now let us discuss about the story line of the film and then pk and religion, and controversy between it.

Storyline of the movie :-

An alien (Aamir) lands on earth and is immediately robbed of the only thing he's wearing - his remote to get back to his planet. Wandering desperately, the alien learns he must wear clothes, which he steals from couples making out in 'dancing cars'. He also learns he needs notes to buy food - and he needs to learn a human language which he can only do by holding hands for six hours.

One day, the alien - whose name becomes 'PK' after people think his bizarre antics mean he's drunk - gets knocked down by rustic musician Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt). Bhairon likes the strange guy and thinks he's longing for a woman, so he takes him to a bordello. Here, PK holds a girl's hand all night - and thereby her language, Bhojpuri, is transmitted to him, finally enabling him to express himself.

PK tells Bhairon his valuable remote has been stolen. Bhairon tells him to go to Delhi to search for it but in Delhi, PK is only chased away by unsympathetic cops. People brush him off, telling him God knows where his remote is. Seeking God, PK now goes to temples, churches and mosques but he's utterly confused as each has different ways to worship and different rules. PK can't find God and starts handing out pamphlets seeking the divine. This is how he meets Juggu (Anushka), a TV reporter who saves him from being beaten in a temple, then follows him to the lock-up to learn his story.

Juggu is shocked to hear that PK's remote is now with Sadhu Tapasvi ji (Saurabh Shukla), her family guru, but is determined to get it back for him - using his straight, simple, clear questions and honesty as weapons. Using PK's concept of 'wrong numbers' to the divine against fake god-men, she convinces her channel head Cherry (Boman Irani) to produce a show pitting PK against Tapasvi. PK meanwhile has fallen in love with Juggu but can't say it when he learns she's broken-hearted, thinking her Pakistani boyfriend Sarfaraz (Sushant Singh Rajput), who met her as a student in Belgium, had ditched her, which Tapasvi ji had warned her father (Parikshet Sahani) about and which caused a huge family rift for Juggu.

Meanwhile, Bhairon catches the thief who had looted PK's remote and brings him to Delhi, but both perish in a terror bomb blast which leaves PK shaken. In the TV show later on, Tapasvi ji challenges PK to tell the truth of Sarfaraz's story and take back his remote. PK reveals how a mistaken letter - and not religious differences - parted Sarfaraz and Juggu. Cherry rings the Pakistani Embassy in Belgium live on TV and Juggu and Sarfaraz are reconciled after which PK wins back his remote.

PK is escorted by Juggu to the desert where he's called his spaceship. As he leaves, she discovers he loves her but PK has also learnt to lie and says he's carrying back various sounds from earth where in fact his transistor tapes only contain Juggu's voice. She later writes a book on PK, saying how much she misses him and how he gave her two great gifts - her father's love and Sarfaraz.

PK returns to earth one year later with a new research team, also containing Ranbir Kapoor as an alien.

Watch the full film here -

Pk and religion :-

Khan plays an alien in the film who comes to visit the earth and almost immediately falls victim to human greed.His "remote control" - a device without which he cannot go back to his planet - gets stolen.From that moment, he embarks on a journey to discover the world. He meets people, "both good and bad", visits places and learns the language. He painstakingly discovers that many people believe that only god can help him find his remote control.

So that he visits remote temples, mosques and churches. He follows advices given by priests and religious leaders to convince the god of every faith. And suffer a lot for this. But he can not get any result and hope to get his remote back.pk slowly finds out that some self-styled gurus or "godmen" use superstitions and "fraud" to "cheat" people. And concider themselves very close to god. And their conversation with god as a "Tapasya". But when we see the movie, we find that There where a harsh satire on religious priests and god men. There is one scene in the movie where one priest doing magic and evils gold chain in his hand. At that time one man from audience asked him that if you are this much capable to produce gold by your own, then why you asked for a money to us for your religion, temple works and why don't you pay all the dues of nation. That time we feel that it has some logic in the dialogue of the man. And that force us to think of it.

In one of the scenes, a priest tells a man to take an arduous journey to a temple in the Himalayas to ensure that one of his sick family members gets well. PK jumps into the conversation and asks the priest if it's true that god considers all humans as his sons and daughters. Yes, says the priest. PK follows up with another question: "Which father would send an already troubled son on an arduous journey?". Such simple but important questions have made the movie a thought-provoking drama.

The another satire he claims on people that people only remember the God when he is in trouble. If everything will run smoothly then no one can going to remember god. And to prove this point in the movie, there is one scene is mentioned. In which pk and the team of T. V reports go out of the one college. Where the exams is running on. And there pk take one stone, colour it and put it under the tree. And after a few minutes students started praying to that stone. And started putting coins and money there. This how the film makers satire on two concepts, first the concept of "dakshina". And other one is concept of "god and fear".

The another satire on casteism we find in the part of movie where jaggu fell in love with a pakistani Muslim man named sarfraaz Yusuf. And when her family, the biggest disciple of hindu prist called "Tapasviji",came to know about this they denied to their love because of tapasviji's suggestion. Who claims prophecy that the muslim Pakistani man can definitely betray jaggu. And the prophecy also comes true. But at the end audience come to know that it was happened because of misunderstanding not of prophecy.

 When we all fighting for casteism and religion conflicts and harming human being. The movie pk satire on casteism by single dialogue that, " where is the symbol on human body whuch reveals that he or she belongs to this cast and this religion." God made no changes among all human being. That is we who distributed our selves among the boundaries of cast and religion.

We also come across ‘wrong numbers’, which are priests whom falsely bless their worshippers with fake solutions. As the public come to terms with P.K. they begin to notice how they are being fooled, thus causing hype around the country. And we are also able to find certain kind of situations around us, in our society and in religion. And we also started analysing all this things, so basically this movie gave us such vision to see all the superstitions by being out of the box.

Controversial script of PK :-

Many of the controversies occurs after the publishing of movie. His script is also can not be apart from this. Because the famous author Kapil Isapuri accused that the concept and many of the Themes and dialogues are stolen from his book, titled "Farishta". And he filed case against the team of PK. To read full information about this script controversy (click here).

Words :- 2142

Paragraphs :- 12

Videos :- 7

Images :- 5

References :-

1) filmibeat.com.

2)https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_(film)

3) timesofindia.com

4) bbc.com

William Wordsworth

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, here i am going to write a blog on very well known English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, as a part of Thinking activity about Romantic poets. Here i discuss about his life, his literary career, some interesting facts about him. And some of his important poems is in brief.

    William Wordsworth was one of the most important figure of the Romantic Age. He was an English Romantic Poet, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he launched the Romantic age in English literature, with their combined publication of Lyrical Ballads. He was born on 7 April 1770, in cocker mouth, united Kingdom. He was the second of five children of a modestly prosperous estate manager. He lost his mother when he was 7 and his father when he was 13, upon which the orphan boys were sent off by guardian uncles to a grammar school at Hawkshead, a village in the heart of the Lake District. At Hawkshead Wordsworth received an excellent education in classics, literature, and mathematics.

Also Wordsworth attended Hawkshead Grammar School, where his love of poetry was firmly established and, it is believed, he made his first attempts at verse. While he was at Hawkshead, Wordsworth's father died leaving him and his four siblings orphans. After Hawkshead, Wordsworth studied at St. John's College in Cambridge and before his final semester, he set out on a walking tour of Europe, an experience that influenced both his poetry and his political sensibilities. While touring Europe, Wordsworth came into contact with the French Revolution. This experience as well as a subsequent period living in France, brought about Wordsworth's interest and sympathy for the life, troubles, and speech of the "common man." These issues proved to be of the utmost importance to Wordsworth's work. 

Wordsworth's marriage life and literary life :-

Now let us discuss something about Wordsworth's literary career. He was a great poet of nature. Nature and its objects get reflection in many of his works. In 1795, Wordsworth received an inheritance that allowed him to live with his sister, Dorothy. That same year, Wordsworth met Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The two became friends, and together worked on Lyrical Ballads (1798). The volume contained poems such as Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey," and helped Romanticism take hold in English poetry. And his literary life starts.

The same year that Lyrical Ballads was published, Wordsworth began writing The Prelude, an epic autobiographical poem that he would revise throughout his life, it was published posthumously in 1850. While working on The Prelude, Wordsworth produced other poetry, such as "Lucy." He also wrote a preface for the second edition of Lyrical Ballads; it described his poetry as being inspired by powerful emotions and would come to be seen as a declaration of Romantic principles.

In 1802, a temporary lull in fighting between England and France meant that Wordsworth was able to see Vallon and their daughter, Caroline. After returning to England, he wed Mary Hutchinson, who gave birth to the first of their five children in 1803. Wordsworth was also still writing poetry, including the famous "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." These pieces were published in another Wordsworth collection, Poems, in Two Volumes (1807).

Evolving Poetry and Philosophy

As he grew older, Wordsworth began to reject radicalism. In 1813, he was named as a distributor of stamps and moved his family to a new home in the Lake District. By 1818, Wordsworth was an ardent supporter of the conservative Tories.

Though Wordsworth continued to produce poetry including moving work that mourned the deaths of two of his children in 1812 he had reached a zenith of creativity between 1798 and 1808. It was this early work that cemented his reputation as an acclaimed literary figure.

Death :- 

In 1843, Wordsworth became England's poet laureate, a position he held for the rest of his life. At the age of 80, he died on April 23, 1850, at his home in Rydal Mount, Westmorland, England.He was died from an aggravated case of pleurisy, and was buried at St Oswald's Church, Grasmere.

   

 This are the graves of William Wordsworth and his Family, in St Oswald's Church, Grasmere.

Interesting facts about Wordsworth :-

Here let me mentioned some interesting facts about Wordsworth's life.

1) Wordsworth was separated from his sister, Dorothy :- 

  After the death of their mother in 1778, William and Dorothy were torn apart by their father, who sent them to live with different relatives and Wordsworth ended up in Penrith. They didn’t see each other for the next nine years, despite having been so close as children.

  After being reunited, they made up for lost time by spending many of the next few decades living and travelling together, even taking trips to France and Germany.

2) ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ wasn’t entirely written by Wordsworth :- 

More commonly known as ‘Daffodils’, Wordsworth’s most famous poem is considered to be ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’. This lyric poem was inspired by a walk Wordsworth took with his sister Dorothy where they came across a field of yellow daffodils on the shores of Glencoyne Bay at Ullswater.

The poem itself was written two years after the fact, but what you didn’t know was two of its famous lines, often mentioned in the school curriculum, weren’t in fact written by Wordsworth.

‘They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude’

The lines above were added by Wordsworth’s childhood friend and future wife, Mary Hutchinson.

3) Wordsworth was inspired by her sisters journals :-

interestingly, Wordsworth often found inspiration for his poetry by reading from Dorothy’s journal, in which she kept detailed accounts of her explorations through nature. Dorothy is now considered to be a writer herself because of this and many of her journals can be read at Dove Cottage.

4) William Wordsworth as a poet laureate for seven years :-

he maintained the title of poet laureate, until his death despite not writing a single verse during that time.

Considering himself too old for the title and responsibility, Wordsworth initially declined the offer to be Poet Laureate but was assured by the Prime Minister at the time, Robert Peel, that there would be no expectation of him to write further.

William Wordsworth’s Poet Laureate status was taken entirely on his previous merit as a writer. Wordsworth did continue to write personally, but no further work of his was ever published and he officially gave it up in 1847, after the death of his daughter.

5)Mike Myers is a descendant of William Wordsworth :- 

Mike Myers Hollywood Star, famous actor is actually related to Wordsworth. the Canadian-born actor, best known for his iconic portrayal of Austin Powers, is in fact Wordsworth’s first cousin, seven times removed.

(Click here to read more about Wordsworth)

Some of his Famous Poems :-

1] The Prelude :- 

“The Prelude” is an autobiographical poem in black verse by William Wordsworth, which he started writing at the age of 28 in 1798 and continued writing it throughout his life. Published posthumously in 1850, the poem was first intended as an introduction to his philosophical poem “The Recluse”, which Wordsworth never did finish.

2] Tintern Abbey :-

“Tintern Abbey” is William Wordsworth’s most famous poems, published in 1798. It is a conversational poem that contains elements of an Ode and dramatic monologue. The poem is based on a small place situated in the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye. Wordsworth, through this poem, helps his readers understand his philosophies on nature and its beauty.

3] Ode: Intimations of Immortality :-

Referred to as Wordsworth’s greatest ode, the poem explores the narrator’s divine relationship with nature. The poem compares the deep connection between a child and the nature, which is lost when the child grows and loses his divine vision. However, the narrator’s recollections of the past allows him to relive his relationship with the nature

4] The Solitary Reaper :-

Published in 1807, “Solitary Reaper” is a beautiful ballad about a young girl, who is reaping in the fields and whose song captivates the attention of the narrator. He is so mesmerized by the song’s tone, expression and lyrical composition that he asks passers-by to wait and listen to the reaper’s song. The ballad is one of Wordsworth best known works.

5] Daffodils :-

One of the classics in English Romantic poetry, “Daffodils” tells a tale about a poet discovering a field of the beautiful flowers while wandering around a village. Published in 1807, the poem was inspired by Wordsworth’s encounter with a long belt of daffodils while taking a walk with his sister Dorothy in April 1802.

6] Ode to Duty :-

Another one of Wordsworth’s odes, “Ode to Duty” deals with the poet’s attitude and understanding towards the idea of duty. As much as he appreciates love and joy, he feels there is more grace and significance in the nature of duty. Although stern, he thinks duty is also graceful and divinely beautiful, if performed with a greater purpose.

7] London 1802 :-

Composed in 1802 itself, the poem is a medium that Wordsworth uses to reprimand his fellow English people for becoming selfish and morally stagnant. He eulogises seventeenth-century poet John Milton and explains how Milton could improve the present situation of England if he was alive. Through “London 1802”, Wordsworth shed light upon the deteriorating conditions of the English society while paying homage to Milton.

8] Composed upon Westminster Bridge :-

Written in 1802, the sonnet was composed to depict the beauty of London in the early morning light. While standing on the Westminster Bridge, the poet admires the early morning serenity of his surroundings, which will eventually be destroyed by the industrial activities during the day.

9] Strange Fits of Passion have I known :-

Written in 1798, the poem was one of the most famous amongst Wordsworth’s ‘Lucy Poems’. After the poet’s death, many critics and publisher came together and created a collection of five poems by Wordsworth written between 1798 and 1801 and named it the ‘Lucy Poems’. “Strange Fits of Passion have I known” is also a part of the collection and revolves around the fantasy of Lucy’s death.

10] Resolution and Independence :-

Composed in 1802, “Resolution and Independence” is a beautiful lyric poem by William Wordsworth published in 1807 in ‘Poems, in Two Volumes’. The poem is based on Wordsworth’s actual encounter with a leech-gatherers near his home at Dove Cottage in Grasmere.

Thus to conclude, we can able to say that William Wordsworth is one of the major romantic poet. People also concider him nature poet. He was the Father of Romantic Movement. Here we discussed about his life, some of the interesting facts about him, and some of his major works.

Words :- 1817

Paragraphs :-19

Images :- Nine

Videos :- Three

References :-

1) Brittanica.com

2) poets.org

3) biography.com

4) sykescottage.com

5) timesofindia.com

Metaphysical Poetry

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar. As a Part of Blog task, here i write a blog about Metaphysical poetry and some of the notable poems of that time. But before that i want to write about my own experience of learning this unit, 'metaphysical poetry' is in online mode.

   R. K. Mandaliya sir was  taught this unit to us. He start the unit with basic informations about metaphysical poetry, so that all students can easily understand the base of that poetry. And i think because of that easy starting, i got intrest in the lectures. Also Sir's teaching style is quite interesting, as he gave us so many examples from various Fields like cinema, sculpture etc. This thing kept my intrest throughout the lectures.

  Also i enjoyed all the poems. As sir sing it and explain, it is much easier to understand the concept. I never feel comfortable with online studies because it's less interactive. But this lectures of 'metaphysical poetry', i found much interesting and easy. Mandaliya sir was also dictated some questions. As he dictate the questions, repeat all the sentence twice a time, spell all hard spelling. That all thing are being very useful to us. And make the concept of 'metaphysical poetry' clear in our mind.  Now let me start my blog about characteristics and poems of 'metaphysical poetry'.

    

      Metaphysical poetry is a group of poems that share common characteristics and they all are highly intellectualized, uses strange imaginary and contain complex thoughts. The group of metaphysical poets emerged in the second half of the sixth century.  Metaphysical poems also have the elements of metaphors, metaphysical conceits, paradoxes, and analogies. Metaphors and metaphysical conceits, a type of extended metaphor, are used to show a connection between two things that are not similar and to prove the speaker's point in his poem.

   A metaphysical conceit is an extended metaphor that makes an outstretched comparison between a person's spiritual faculties and a physical object in the world. For example Metaphysical poets such as John Donne and Andrew Marvell, among others, made use of metaphysical conceits to explore the relationships between lovers by such poems like The Flea, To his coy mistress, and other.

   Literary critic and poet Samuel Johnson first coined the term 'metaphysical poetry' in his book Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1179-1781). In the book, Johnson wrote about a group of 17th-century British poets that included John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell and Henry Vaughan.

  Now let me discuss about some of the important definitions and the meaning of metaphysical poetry.

1] definition and meaning of Metaphysical poetry :- 

Metaphysical is a philosophical concept used in literature to describe the things that are beyond the description of physical existence. ... '

     The meanings are clear that it deals with the things that are beyond this the existence of the physical world.Also The term metaphysics comes from Aristotle, it means a science which investigates being as being reality rather than poetic convention, exploring life through the senses. A 'metaphysical conceit' is an extended metaphor; making ingenious comparisons between two apparently incongruous things or concepts.

   If we understand the word 'metaphysical', then it is like - 'meta' means 'beyond' and 'physics' means 'physical nature'.Metaphysical poetry means poetry that goes beyond the physical world of the senses and explores the spiritual world. Metaphysical poetry began early in the Jacobean age in the last stage of the age of Shakespeare.

     Metaphysical poetry began early in the Jacobean age in the last stage of the age of Shakespeare.

John Donne was the leader and founder of the metaphysical school of poetry. Dryden used this word at first and said that Donne “affects the metaphysics”. Among other metaphysical poets are Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Robert Herrick etc.

So this how we can identify metaphysical poetry, different from other era's poetry. Now let me switched to characteristics of metaphysical poetry.

2] characteristics of the metaphysical poetry :-

(1) Dramatic manner and direct tone of speech :-

     This is one of the major characteristic of the metaphysical poetry. We found this Dramatic spice and direct tone and subject which is taken from the field which is not related anyhow with literature, Is in many poems, like in the starting of the poem, "The Canonization" - there is given dramatic starting.

For God's sake hold your,

Tongue, and let me love.

(2)  Fondness for conceits :-

   Fondness for conceits is a major character of metaphysical poetry. Donne often uses fantastic comparisons. The most striking and famous one used by Donne is the comparison of a man who travels and his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

“If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two,

Thy soul fixt foot makes no show

To move, but doth, if th’other do”.

We find another conceit in the very beginning couple of lines of “The Extasie”

“Where like a pillow on a bed,

A pregnant bank swel’d up.”

(3) Metaphysical Poetry is a blend of passion and thought :-

  T. S. Elliot thinks that “passionate thinking” is the chief mark of metaphysical poetry. There is an intellectual analysis of emotion in Donne’s Poetry. Though every lyric arises out of some emotional situation, the emotion is not merely expressed, rather it is analyzed. Donne’s poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” proves that lovers need not mourn at parting. For instance,

“So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,

‘Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love”.

(4) Wit :-

Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets were examining serious questions about the existence of God or whether a human could possibly perceive the world, the poets were sure to ponder those questions with humor.

(5) Unclarity :-

    Metaphysical poetry is considered highly ambiguous and obscure due to high intellect and knowledge of metaphysical poets. The poetry is greatly challenging to understand at the first reading. It needs full concentration and full attention to getting to the roots of the matter. Metaphysical poetry is considered to be brief and concise. Every line conveys a lot of meanings in a few words. Every word is adjusted in every line like a brick in a wall and conveys the message of the author. Hence there is no wastage of words.

(6) Express love and faith in Christianity :-

   metaphysical poetry express love and faith in Christianity. It talks about deep things. It is also talks about soul, love, religion, reality etc. You can never be sure about what is coming your way while reading a metaphysical poem. There can be unusual philosophies and comparisons that will make you think and ponder. Also they brought the subject of their poetry from various fields like Geography, Biology, Engineering, Architecture, Geometry, Political Science etc. This thing gave unique identity to their poetry ans make them different from Elizabethan poets.

To read more characteristics click here.

   Now let me discuss about some important poems of Metaphysical age.

(1) The Flea :-

   The Flea is one of the most popular metaphysical poem published in 1633. The poem written by a well known poet John Donne (1572-1631).Donne wrote this poem in the 1590s when he was a young law student at Lincoln's Inn, before he became a respected religious figure as Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. The poem uses the conceit of a flea, which has sucked blood from the male speaker and his female lover, to serve as an extended metaphor for the relationship between them. The speaker tries to convince a lady to sleep with him, arguing that if their blood mingling in the flea is innocent, then sexual mingling would also be innocent.

Summary of the poem :-

   In the poem a lover tries to convince his beloved for physical interaction. And for that he told his beloved to look at the Flea. And then he explains that the flea first sucked his blood, then her blood, so that now inside the flea, they are mingled and so that, this mingling can not be called, "sin, or shame, or loss of Maidenhead". As her beloved denied and considering that thing. He tries to convince his beloved that the flea joined them together.

"Alas, is more than we would do".

  When his beloved tries to kill the flea, he stopped her and tell that she is doing sin by killing three lives. The life of him, life of herself and flea's life, also he used to give example that when the flea sucked both of them. They get married and now flea is like their marriage temple. Then the speaker calls his lover as "cruel and sudden", who has now killed the flea. "Purpling" her fingernail with the "blood of innocence". At last he made last attempt to convince his beloved and told her that, if she were sleep with him, she would lose no more honor than she lost when she killed the flea. And the poem ends. Poet beautifully portrait the poem. With the unique example of flea.

(2) Death be not proud (Sonnet x) :-

  Sonnet X, also known by its opening words as "Death Be Not Proud", is a fourteen-line poem, or sonnet, by English poet John Donne.Written between February and August 1609, it was first published posthumously in 1633."Death Be Not Proud" presents an argument against the power of death. Addressing Death as a person, the speaker warns Death against pride in his power. The poem starts with,

   Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

   Donne says that Death should not feel proud of itself. Death is neither frightening nor powerful although some people have called it so. It has no power over the soul which is immortal. The poet explains his idea through the examples of rest and sleep. He says that rest and sleep are only the pictures of death. We derive pleasure from rest and sleep. So death itself should provide much more pleasure, which is the real thing. Secondly our best men get death very soon. Their bones get rest and their soul gets freedom. Hence death is not frightening thing.

Now the poet blasts the popular belief that death is all powerful. Death, in fact is a captive, a slave to the power of fate, chance, cruel kings and bad men. It lives in the bad company of poison, war and sickness. Opium and other narcotics are as effective as death in inducing us to sleep. They, actually, make us sleep better. Death cannot operate at its own level. So death should not feel proud of its powers.

In the end, the poet once again says that death is a kind of sleep, after which the soul will wake up to live forever and becomes immortal. Then death has no power over us. In other words the soul conquers death; it is the death which itself dies. Thus Donne degrades death and declares happily the impotence of death. It is, in no way, powerful and dreadful. So we should not fear death as it has no power over our souls. (Click here to read further).

(3) The sun Rising :-

   "The Sun Rising" is a thirty-line poem with three stanzas published in 1633 by poet John Donne. The meter is irregular, ranging from two to six stresses per line in no fixed pattern. The longest lines are at the end of the three stanzas and the rhyme never varies each stanza runs ABBACDCDEE.

The poet asks the sun as to why the sun is shining and disturbing him and his lover at the bed. He says that the sunbeams are nothing in compared to their power of love. In the poem, the poet considers the bedroom to be the entire world. The sun should go away and do other things rather than disrupt or bother them, like wake up ants or schoolboys who are late to school. In the first two paragraphs, the poet complains the sun for its misconduct but in the third paragraph the tone is a demanding one.” to read line to line summary (click here).

(4) The Ecstasy :-

The poem, ‘The Ecstasy’, is a clear and coherent expression of Donne’s philosophy of love. Donne agrees with Plato that true love is spiritual. It is a union of souls. But unlike Plato, Donne does not ignore the claims of the body. It is the body that brings the lovers together. Love begins in sensuous apprehension and spiritual love follows upon the sensuous. So the claims of the body must not be ignored. The union of bodies is as essential as the union of souls. Thus, Donne goes against the teachings of both Plato and the Christian Divines in his stresses on sensuous and physical basis even of spiritual love.

Summary :-

   The speaker and his beloved sit together on the bank of a river. It is spring, and the violets are blooming. The two hold hands and gaze into each other's eyes, but this is the extent of their physical intimacy. They have not yet made love. Although their bodies stay as still as statues, their souls have left their bodies and are occupying the space between them. There, the souls seem like two armies engaged in negotiations. This state of affairs continues all day as the two sit and remain silent.

The speaker then imagines what a bystander might think of them. He says if this imaginary bystander understands the language of the soul, he would be able to hear their souls speak as one soul. He would be made "purer" by witnessing their love. Their souls, mixed and intertwined by love, have transformed two into one a new soul made of the two.

The speaker wonders why, since their souls are so unified, they continue to forego sex. Their bodies are the vehicles that brought them together and where their souls first lived before they combined into one soul. He notes that their souls must eventually go back into their bodies, and the combination of soul and body is part of being human. The poem is well written by the poet. Portrait physical attraction along with spirituality.

(5) The Collar :-

Here i mention one video of this poem recitation.

The Collar" is a poem by Welsh poet George Herbert published in 1633, and is a part of a collection of poems within Herbert's book The Temple.As with virtually all of Herbert's poems, "The Collar" is a meditation on his relationship with God. And as a metaphysical poet, Herbert uses an elaborate metaphor , or conceit, to illustrate the nature of that relationship.

The title word of the poem "Collar" refers to the white band worn by the clergy, and it is the role of a priest that the poem alludes to. The word ‘collar’ in the title, therefore, symbolizes the priest's role as servant. Ironically written, ‘The Collar’ is, in fact, about the struggle Critical Appreciation of George Herbert’s The Collar to maintain faith in God, although the thirty-two of its thirty-six lines describe what the poem itself calls the ravings of a person who is rebellious against the restrictive pressures that surround him as a priest.

Summary :-

In the first sixteen lines of the poem, the speaker (or “the heart”) states that he is fed up with the current state of affairs and plans to seek out his freedom. He laments that he is “in suit,” in a lowly position, and that he has not reaped greater rewards. As these lines progress, we learn that the speaker has undergone a period of pining and sadness, leading to his present anger.

   In lines 17-26, another inner voice interjects, “not so, my heart,” reminding the first speaker that there is an end to sadness in sight. If only the speaker will “leave [his] cold dispute” and stop his rebellion, he will be able to open his eyes and see the truth.

In lines 27-32, the will reappears, commanding the other speaker “away!” and restating his commitment to going abroad. In the final four lines of the poem, the irregular free verse gives way to an ABAB rhyme scheme. The second inner voice reveals that, even in the midst of raving, he heard someone calling “Child” and replied “My Lord.” This indicates a return to God after a period of rebellion.

(6) To his Coy mistress :-

“To His Coy Mistress” is his most celebrated poem, which showcases some of the most conformed traits of metaphysical poetry.

Summary :- 

The poem is spoken by a male lover to his female beloved as an attempt to convince her to sleep with him. The speaker argues that the Lady’s shyness and hesitancy would be acceptable if the two had “world enough, and time.” But because they are finite human beings, he thinks they should take advantage of their sensual embodiment while it lasts.

He tells the lady that her beauty, as well as her “long-preserved virginity,” will only become food for worms unless she gives herself to him while she lives. Rather than preserve any lofty ideals of chastity and virtue, the speaker affirms, the lovers ought to “roll all our strength, and all / Our sweetness, up into one ball.” He is alluding to their physical bodies coming together in the act of lovemaking.

Here is the video of poem recitation of, "To his coy mistress".

Thus to conclude we can able to say that, metaphysical poetry is a group of poet who uses wired imaginary and complexity in language. Language of this kind of poetry is hard to understand and quite complex.

Words :- 3005

Paragraphs :- 22

References :-

1) study. Com

2) bartleby. Com

3) literarydevice. Com

4) studyhub. Blogspot. Com

5) Englishsummary. Com

6) Wikipedia

7) sparknotes. Com

8) englishclasses. Com

9)knowledgeemerge. Com

10) poemanalysis. Com

11) coursehero. Com

12) englishliterature24.blogspot. Com

13) gradesaver.com

14) beamingnotes. Com