The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost | Themes, Structures, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Road Not Taken is a narrative poem written by Robert Frost that was published in 1915. It became the first poem of Robert Frost’s poetic collection titled Mountain Interval which was published in 1916. It is one of the most commonly read popular poems of Robert Frost though it is a difficult and complex poem and often the reader misinterprets it as an optimistic poem about success by opting for a path ‘less traveled by.’ However, the poem is satirical poem lightly mocking such people who remain undecided and confused at any juncture of choices, and suggests that no matter whichever path they may take, they will always feel that had they taken the other path, it might have worked wonders.

The poem suggests that life is full of ambiguities and there is no meaning in regretting the past decisions that we took. While one should be careful while making a decision in life, he should not remain indecisive, rather he should be swift and confident while making a choice and should not regret it later in the future.

Themes of The Road Not Taken

Some of the minor themes of the poem include life as a journey, desires, uncertainty, indecision, ambiguity, and overthinking. The main theme of the poem is carpe-diem. The poet suggests that a person should not worry too much about the past or the future. One should live in the present and seize the moment at every instance without overthinking. One should opt for what he feels is right at the moment and stick to it, without regretting the other choice he might have made. The journey of the poet is indicative of the journey of life of any person and the divergent road offering two different similar paths suggests all the major and minor choices that we usually make in our day-to-day life. The choices that we omitted often face us as desires that we couldn’t fulfill. However, one should understand that one cannot have their cake and eat it too. One shouldn’t regret such desires. Life is full of uncertainties and we must embrace them. Overthinking won’t ascertain a good future, it may snatch or waste opportunities though. Thus, one should avoid indecision and should take swift, confident, and careful decisions appropriately at the proper time. The poem is against the idea of “What if...” had you made the choice you did not make. This pondering about the different life one may have lived had they done something differently is central to 'The Road Not Taken."

Structure of The Road Not Taken

The poem consists of four stanzas of five lines each, thus each stanza is a quintain or quintet with a rhyming scheme of ABAAB. Robert Frost used iambic tetrameter mixed with anapest in place of an iamb in some lines. It is a short poem with only 20 lines offering a sound of sense in many instances. Sound of sense implies that the poet used such words in a poem whose sound forms imagery due to the form of words and sound of sense. The mood and tone of the poem are reflective and meditative.

Literary Devices used in The Road Not Taken

The title of the poem The Road Not Taken itself is a metaphor and indicates the choice we omitted for different opportunities. Frost used the phrase “yellow woods” as a metaphor to indicate the idea of change in a difficult situation as trees change their leaves. In the last stanza, the phrase “less traveled road” suggests the choices less preferred by individuals. Anaphora has been used in the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th lines of the first stanza (repetition of And). The third and fourth lines also contain enjambment. Alliteration has been used in the phrase “wanted wear.” The line “In leaves no step had trodden black.” contains Anastrophe and Hyperbaton. The last stanza contains irony and paradox. Robert Frost has made excellent use of imagery throughout the poem right from the start (“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.”) which clearly gives the idea of the autumn season and thus the reader can guess where the poet is facing the struggle to take a decision. The poem is full of tricky symbolism. "Road" symbolizes the journey of life Diversion splitting the road symbolizes the choice a person takes. "Yellow woods" symbolize change, and "Ages and ages" symbolize the assumption of the future. The most tricky symbol is at the beginning of the poem, “Two roads” which symbolizes two identical choices, both are equally endearing and thoroughly similar. None of the roads is less traveled. The two superficially identical roads symbolize the choices a person has to make.

Summary of The Road Not Taken

1^st Stanza

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

The first two lines show the dilemma of choice that we often face. The poet is strolling through a jungle when he meets a divergence, splitting the road in two. He feels sorry as he cannot opt for traveling on both as he is just one traveler and cannot live two divergent lives and still be one single person. The poet is mesmerized by the beauty of the road in the woods and he wishes to experience nature on both roads. However, he can’t “have his cake and eat it, too.” Thus, he stops and contemplates which path to take. The poet understands the importance of being careful while making such choices. He patiently takes time and stares down one path as far as he can, to where it trails off into the undergrowth. He does so to make an informed decision so that he could justify his choice when the regret of not opting for the other road starts haunting him.

2^nd Stanza

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

While the poet was contemplating which path to take, he noticed that one of the paths appears greener with fresh grass as if not many have traversed through that path and hence the grass on it hasn’t worn out. He pts the fresher path with less trodden grass.

Then the poet suggests the irony that “the grass is always greener on another side of the fence.” In the 9^th and 10^th lines, the poet says that as he chose the path and stepped forward on it, he realized that it was equally worn out a used as the other that he omitted. He realized that the path he has chosen is not as less traveled as he was telling himself.

3^rd Stanza

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

The poet further exclaims and accepts that both the paths were equally fresh and green and none could be said as better. After examining both paths properly, the poet realizes that both paths are equally shed by falling leaves and no one has yet stepped on the leaves fallen on both paths yet. But he has already chosen one of the paths. So he offers a justification to himself that he kept, or saved the other path for another day. That he has chosen this path for today, but the next time when he will visit the same juncture, he will opt for the other path as it appears equally good and beautiful. Line 13 suggests that the poet has taken a firm decision to step forward on the chosen path. However, he is doubtful that the other path may appear to be more beautiful and adventurous. He confesses that it is highly unlikely that he will ever reach the same juncture to opt for the other path that he rejected today. This is because as he is moving forward, he will continue to face such divergences again and again and will keep taking his decisions which will continue to further away him from the other path. There is no turning back.

4^th Stanza

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Now when the poet has made up his mind and stepped forward on the road he chose, he is regretting over his choice but tries to cover it up as he thinks of what he will say about his choice, sometime in the future. The poet says that whenever he will remember that juncture when he took the decision to opt for this path, he will take a deep sigh as he knows what he might have missed. However, he decides to lie and confirms that he will present his choice as a brave choice and tell the lie that he chose a path “less traveled” and that made all the difference. However, the truth is known to him that his path was no less traveled, it was exactly similar or equal to the path he omitted. In the last line, the poet suggests that he will strengthen his lie by making another equally farcical claim that his choice to take this less traveled road made all the difference, in where he will be at the time.

The poem is a light mocking of indecisive people and suggests that ambiguity is the way of life. We can never know where our choices will lead us. So preplanning and overthinking at a juncture of choice and decision-making is fruitless and silly. And similarly silly is the habit of justification and regrets over one’s choices.

Life is about the paths one chooses and walks through, not about “the road not taken.”

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

The Bachelor of Arts by R. K. Narayan | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. R. K. Narayan was known for depicting common Indian characters in a realistic yet humorous manner. He judged the Indian life of his time dispassionately and depicted the different colors of life in his words sans any propaganda or socio-political motivation. His characters are closer to reality and often present perfect accuracy because of this, the reader can easily relate to the characters of Narayan’s novels. The Bachelor of Arts was the second novel of Narayan’s trilogy set in the fictional Malgudi which was published in 1937. While the novel is suffused with the colors of Indian traditions and attitudes, the characters are all human. Instead of harshly criticizing the ills of society, he presents them as a mix of gentle irony and sympathy, quiet realism and fantasy. He is not frustrated with the societal conditions and appears optimistic for the future of Indians. He shows goodness along with the ills of Indian society through his novels.

Characters of The Bachelor of Arts

Chandran is the protagonist of the novel. He is the elder son of H.C. Venkatachala Iyer, a retired District Judge of Malgudi. Chandran is a witty, intelligent, and laborious young man who is studying as a final year student of B.A. History in Albert Mission College, Malgudi. His education has made him unorthodox he believes that old customs and traditions should not stand in the way of the happiness of people. H.C. Venkatachala Iyer is a common Indian father, a patriarch who is responsible for the financial well-being and reputation of the family. Chandran’s mother is a homely traditional, noble lady. She isn’t a submissive lady but a strong-headed person devoted to her husband and children. She is very orthodox and conservative and knows and respects the traditions of society and wants her family to adhere to them strictly. Seenu is Chandran’s younger brother. He is very much attached to Chandran. Mr. Brown is the principal of the college and Professor Ragavachar is the teacher of History. Professor Gajapathy is a lecturer of English literature.  

Ramu, Mohan, Natesan, and Veerasami are four college friends of Chandran. While Chandran is too fond of Ramu and spends most of his time with him, they gradually lose contact after college life. Mohan is a poet but he is not good at studies. He flunks college and decides to work as a correspondent for ‘The Daily Messenger.’ He is laborious and becomes successful through his hard work. Unlike Chandran’s other friends, Mohan remains a helping friend of Chandran throughout his life. Malathi is a 15-year-old beautiful girl whom Chandran sees on the banks of the river Sarayu and gets fascinated by her charm. This fascination soon turns into infatuation and becomes a cause of struggle as her parents reject Chandran’s proposal to marry Malathi because Chandran is Mangalik-- a superstition in which marriage to a non-Manglik, Malathi, would lead to her early death. Ganapati Sastrigal and Srouthigal are marriage makers who try to help Chandran get married to Malathi but fail. Kailas is a man who forces his friendship on Chandran during his days at Madras where he goes to visit his uncle, aunt, and cousin. Ragavan is a barber in Madras who helps Chandran turn into an ascetic. Murugesan is an influential General Manager of Engladia Limited at Madras who helps Chandran in acquiring the Malgudi agency of The Daily Messenger at the request of his uncle. Susila is the daughter of a lawyer from Tarapur, a neighboring town of Malgudi. She is beautiful and full of tender feelings and skills. She can play vena and sing well. She is educated and respects traditions. Her father sends a marriage proposal of Susila with Chandran. Chandran feels the same fascination towards Susila at their first meeting that he felt for Malathi and soon they get married to make a happy couple.

Summary of The Bachelor of Arts

The novel begins as Chandran is preparing for a debate in College. The College Union Secretary Natesan has asked him to be the prime mover of the debate against Professor Ragavachar on the topic that ‘Historians must be slaughtered first.’ Chandran is not comfortable about it because he is a history scholar and he respects professor Ragavachar too much. Natesan promises him that he will not invite Professor Ragavachar to debate but insists that they cannot find any better speaker than Chandran and hence, he has to take the lead. Chandran prepares well and offers a good debate. His prime opponent also presents a strong rebuttal. The audience finally votes in favor of annihilating the historians and Chandran wins. Principal Brown then congratulates Chandran and offers a five-minute debate on why Historians must be slaughtered and five minutes debate on why historians must be respected. 

Chandran then prepares hard for his final examination and becomes a Bachelor of Arts. He has plans to go to England for higher studies. After college, he starts feeling lonely as his friends gradually start losing contact. He realizes the immaturity of college friendship and comments, “People pretended that they are friends, but the fact is they are brought together by forces of circumstances. How true!!!” One day, while he goes for a stroll on the banks of the Sarayu river in Malgudi, he chances upon a young girl (Malathi) playing with her young companion on the sands of Sarayu. Chandan habitually used to watch young girls at the banks of the river and markets but he never felt such a strong attraction towards any girl ever. He tries to know more about Malathi but doesn’t dare to talk to her. He comes to know that Malathi lives in front of his friend Mohan’s house. His mother realizes that Chandran is facing some emotional turmoil and asks him. Chandran reveals that he wants to marry a girl named Malathi before leaving for England as he loves her. His mother insists that the proposal must come from the girl’s family and only then they will discuss the prospects of his marriage with Malathi. Chandran never talked to Malathi but he wishes to marry her. He takes the help of Ganapati Sastrigal and Srouthrigal to arrange his marriage with Malathi. Sastrigal takes the horoscope of Chandran and discusses him with Malathi’s family. Malathi’s father rejects the proposal because Chandran is Manglik and according to superstition if a non-Manlik girl marries Chandran, she will die soon after their marriage. Chandran decides to write a letter to Malathi in which he requests her to wait for him for two years, he will complete his higher studies and return from England with a stable career and then he will marry her. He gives that letter to Mohan to give to Malathi who lives in front of Mohan’s house. Mohan takes the letter but decides not to deliver it to Malathi as he feels Malathi is not a good match for Chandran. Srouthigal, being an expert in horoscopes tries to offer some solution to Malathi’s father but he fails to convince him. This breaks Chandran’s heart as Malathi is married off to another suitor soon and he feels helpless. Dazed by this emotional turmoil, he decides to leave home and show his rebellion against orthodoxy and superstitions. He goes to Madras and stays at a hotel where he meets Kailas, a very hospitable but reckless young man. He forces his friendship on Chandran and takes him to various places to visit. He openly spends a lot of money on Chandran as he believes that “A man must spend forty years in making money and forty years in spending it” and he acts on this principle. He is a drunkard and gives to excessive spending. He keeps two wives and yet comes to Madras for visiting prostitutes. Initially, Chandran is comfortable with Kailas but soon finds his lifestyle suffocating. He makes a distance with Kailas. Chandran is not at all interested in alcohol or prostitutes. He rather decides to turn an ascetic and lead a celibate life. A barber named Ragavan is very impressed by Chandran’s resolute and helps him in becoming an ascetic and cuts off his hair. For eight months, Chandran keeps moving from one place to another like a hermit, spending most of his time in meditation and introspection. Soon this life of solitude starts to wear off. Chandran starts feeling guilty about deserting his family and parents. The toil and aimlessness of life as a hermit dawn over Chandran and soon he decides to return to normal life as a householder but he has no money to go back. He contacts a postmaster and asks him to send a wire message to his father and demands Rs20 from his father. His father immediately sends Rs50 for his son’s help. Chandran immediately gives away the clothes of the hermit and decides to return to Malgudi. After reaching, he tells to his father that he doesn’t want to waste his father’s money by going to England, rather, he would try to find some work in India. He meets Mohan who suggests that if Chandran gets the Malgudi agency of The Daily Messenger, he will be able to make a stable career. Chandran’s father arranges a meeting of Chandran with Murugesan, an influential General Manager of a private company in Madras. Murugesan recommends Chandran’s name for the Malgudi agency holder of The Daily Express. Chandran returns to Malgudi and starts working as the publisher of the Malgudi newspaper. He still misses Malathi and is sad about her. One day, his father gets a marriage proposal for Chandran with Susila, the daughter of a lawyer from Tarapur, a nearby village. His father asks Chandran to go and meet Susila but Chandran is not interested as he doesn’t want to marry at all. Chandran’s mother insists that he should meet Susila once and she will go to Tarapur with him to see her. Chandran agrees reluctantly. During their journey to Tarapur, his mother says that a marriage has to observe certain well-set procedures and principles of social propriety. She offers the reason for her orthodoxy. She says that one should marry a girl of a family of similar status as his own family and she defends dowry by saying that the dowry is a girl’s right in her parental property and her father’s duty to ensure his daughter’s and her husband’s welfare. She believes that marriages are a matter of destiny, not of choice. She claims, "It is all settled already, the husband of every girl and wife of every man. It is in nobody's choice." She mentions her own experience and says that she was rejected by four persons before her marriage was fixed to Chandran’s father. She then says "You can marry only the person who you are destined to marry and at the appointed time. When the time comes, let her be the ugliest girl, she will look all right to the destined eye.”

Finally, they reach Susila’s home. Susila is a very beautiful young voluptuous girl who is full of tender feelings and feminine strength. Like Chandran’s mother, she is confident and believes in her tradition. She expertly plays vena to welcome Chandran and his mother. Chandran feels the same strong fascination towards Susila at the first sight that he felt for Malathi and soon he finds himself engrossed with her charms. He feels sorry for having doted on Malathi whose very name is tongue-twisting and whose beauty cannot stand comparison with Susila who is ‘divine’. Soon Chandran marries Susila and describes her merits to Mohan in poetic terms. Mohan is satisfied seeing his friend happy with his married life.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of Indian English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Alexander Pope | Biography and Literary Works

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Alexander Pope was one of the most distinguished poets, satirists, and translators of the Augustan Period of the Enlightenment Age. He was born on May 21, 1688, in London in a Catholic family and his father was a successful wholesale linen merchant. It was the year of the Glorious Revolution by which, Catholic monarch James II was replaced by his protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William III of Orange. His father suffered losses in business and in 1700, he was forced to leave London and shift to live at Binfield in Windsor Forest. There were many other Catholic families at Binfield. It was a safer option and Alexander Pope made some really close friends including John Caryll the younger who became the second Baron Caryll of Durford in the future. John Caryll persuaded and financed Alexander Pope to write a satirical poem based on a real incident involving his relatives. That poem was titled The Rape of The Lock. Another of Pope’s close friends was Martha Blount to whom he dedicated some of his most famous poems and bequeathed most of his property to her. However, there were some repercussions of leaving London. Pope was 12 years old and he failed to attain any formal education at Binfield. Though he was a precocious child who wrote his first poem Ode to Solitude in 1700. He got some academic help from Catholic priests at his home but mostly, he was a self-taught boy who enjoyed solitude and invested most of his time in books, learning Latin, Greek, French, and Italian. He then translated Greek and Roman classics and which influenced his own writing. One other reason for his remaining in solitude was his illness as he suffered from Pott disease, a kind of tuberculosis that attacks the spine. As a result, his spine became weak and he grew a hunchback and failed to attain proper height. As an adult, his height was 4 feet 6 inches with a hunchback.

Being a Catholic, he couldn’t get admission to any of England’s Universities. But he continued to visit London frequently and made friends with some students of John Dryden including William Wycherly, Henry Cromwell, and William Walsh. Alexander Pope admired John Dryden and considered Dryden his idol. By 1705, Alexander Pope had already written his Pastorals which were being circulated among the best critics and literary groups in London. In 1709, Jacob Tonson published Pastorals in the poetic collection titled Poetical Miscellanies and it became Pope’s first published work. Pastorals are a series of seasonally themed four short poems which shows Pope’s love for Classics. These poems were based on Virgil’s work Ecologues. The four shepherds of Alexander Pope’s Pastorals are named Alexis, Damon, Lycidas, and Thyrsis and they all appear in Virgil’s Ecologues too. The first poem is titled Spring in which he reflects art as natural beauty. The second poem is titled Summer in which he personifies the season. The third poem is Autumn, in which he uses metaphor in place of personification and the fourth poem is Winter in which the poet becomes the absolute force. Through these four poems, Pope explains that art does not reflect nature, but that nature is just a poetical device to depict man. The Pastorals were written in Heroic couplets and iambic pentameter.

Despite his weak health and a hunchback, Pope had an attractive personality though he continued to suffer migraines throughout his life. He learned to ride a horse and enjoyed traveling but was restricted by his medical helpers from doing most of the physical activities. As a result, he had all the time and mental strength to invest in reading and writing. In 1711, Pope published An Essay on Criticism which was a verse essay (an essay in poetic form). The structure of this poem was influenced by Horace’s Ars Poetica and Lucretius’s De Rerum Natura. Pope used the Horatian style of satire and Heroic couplets (pairs of adjacent rhyming lines in iambic pentameter) again in An Essay on Criticism. The poem contains some brilliantly polished epigrams that were later used as proverbs such as “A little learning is a dangerous thing,” “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” and “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” The main theme of this poem was to introduce and demonstrate the ideals of poetry and teach critics how to avoid doing harm to poetry. The poem got strong reactions from critics including Thomas Rymer, John Dennis, and Jonathan Swift. While Thomas Rymer and John Dennis strongly criticized Pope for this poem (John Dennis attacked Pope in his criticism by mentioning him as a hunch-back’d toad), Jonathan Swift supported Alexander Pope and that developed a friendship between the two. In 1713, Alexander Pope joined the Scriblerus Club, an informal group of writers who were Tori supporters. The group included John Gay, Jonathan Swift, John Arbuthnot, Henry St, John, and Thomas Parnell who became close friends with Alexander Pope. Pope became so close to this group that he addressed one of his epistles, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot who was a physician, and it as a memorial to their friendship.

However, the success of An Essay on Criticism brought Alexander Pope close to some authors related to the Whigs group too, including William Congreeve, Nicholas Rowe, Richard Steele, and Joseph Addison. Steele and Addison were working on the publication of The Spectator, a socio-political periodical journal. Alexander Pope contributed to The Spectator and his most successful and original pastoral poem The Messiah was published in The Spectator in 1712. Pope was influenced by Steele and Addison and their idea of reforming public morals and attitudes through satire and admonishment. He exercised the same technique in writing The Rape of The Lock to satirize a real argument between two Catholic families. The first two cantons were published in 1712 and the remaining 3 were published in 1714. This mock-heroic was also written in Heroic couplets.

In 1714, Queen Anne died, and that caused a dispute of succession. During the Jacobite rising of 1715, Pope, being a Catholic was suspected of helping the rebels. This created a distance between Pope and Richard Steele and Joseph Addison. Steele and Addison were staunch Whigs supporters. While Pope maintained friendly relations with some Whigs supporters including Congreeve and Rowe, he grew strong closeness with Tories involved in the Scriblerus Club (Gay, Swift, Arbuthnot, and Parnell).

In 1717, Pope wrote another poem titled Eloisa to Abelard in which he experimented with Ovid’s ‘heroic epistle’ to tell the story of Eloisa who opts for nunnery but struggles to quench her sexual passion while maintaining her dedication to a life of celibacy. The symbols of religious ecstasy further fan the sexual fire in her while she is determined to resist any temptation.

Pope translated Homer’s Iliad in 1720. he translated Odyssey in collaboration with William Broom and Elijah Fenton in 1725. The Tory writers of the Sriblerus Club supported Pope’s translation of Homer. But John Addison and Richard Steele introduced Thomas Tickell, a rival translator of Homer. Undoubtedly, Tickell’s translation was way too inferior to Pope’s work but Addison praised Tickell while ridiculing Pope. Pope wrote the mock epic The Dunicad in 1728 in which he satirized Lewis Theobald as the Goddess of Dullness’s favorite son.

Pope wrote Peri Bathous; or, The Art of Sinking in Poetry in 1728 which was an essay in which he ridiculed contemporary poets. In 1741, a part of "Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus" was published in which all those works that Pope wrote by the shared pseudonym Martinus Scriblerus, were included. The other writers who used the same pseudonym in collaboration included John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Dr. Arbuthnot, and Thomas Parnell.

In 1716, Pope and his parents left Windsor Forest and shifted to Chiswick. After his father died in 1717, Pope rented a villa on the Thames at Twickenham and started living there. He engaged in gardening and often gave advice to his friends including Jonathan Swift and henry Saint John on maintaining their landscapes. In 1731, Pope wrote Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Earl of Burlington in which he offered some advice regarding architecture and gardening to Henry Saint John in a poetical manner of Horace. Pope wrote An Essay on Man in 1734 which examined the relationship between man, nature, and society. While Pope continued ignoring Addison’s attacks and criticism for a long, he wrote An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot in 1735 in which he satirized Addison as the character of Atticus, the insincere arbiter of literary taste.

Pope published Epilogues to Satire in 1738 in which he imitated Horatian themes adapted to contemporary societal and political situations. In 1742, he published The New Dunicad in which he replaced Theobald with Colley Ciber who was newly appointed as Poet Laureate of England. He was writing Brutus, an epic poem in heroic couplet when he died in 1744 and it remained incomplete.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.

Mending Wall by Robert Frost | Themes, Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Mending Wall was the opening poem of the second poetry collection of Robert Frost titled North of Boston which was published in the year 1914. It is one of the most anthologized and analyzed poems in modern literature. Most of Frost’s poetry is principally about the rural life and landscape of New England. Mending Walls is a poem describing the discussion between two neighbors. The poet is a New England farmer who contacts his neighbor during the spring season to repair the stone wall between their farms. As they start mending the wall the poet and his neighbor engage in a discussion. The poet wonders if they need any such wall and asks "where it is we do not need the wall"? The poet mentions that nature doesn’t like the wall. The poet is of the view that they don’t need a wall but the neighbor is adamant and suggests "Good fences make good neighbors".

Themes of Mending Wall

The poem can be seen in many ways. Through the wall, the poet suggests how individuals create barriers to isolate themselves from others. It also gives impetus to the debate of nationalism and globalization as the wall can be the boundary between two nations. Thus, the poet stresses the idea of the free market.

The neighbor doesn’t agree with the poet and this dispute shows the frequent clash of modernity and traditionalism. In this sense, the poem becomes an argument of a generation where the youth is trying to throw away the age-old traditions while the older generation is trying to do anything to maintain the sanctity of traditions. The neighbor says twice "Good fences make good neighbors" (Lines 27, and 46). This is a strong message. The wall appears to separate the two neighbors but in reality, it brings them close. The wall is not only a physical reality, but it is an ideal sphere of one’s identity. The wall suggests that every individual has got right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and those rights must be respected and maintained. In a relationship, if there are limits to be respected, the relationship goes strong as the limits avoid oppression and humiliation of one by the other.

The poet also suggests that nature doesn’t like the wall between his and his neighbor’s farm and hence it continues to fall again and again. He attacks the neighbor using the word “savage” as he wants to shy away from others around him. However, it is just the opposite. Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men. (Ayn Rand). Our clothes and dresses are also a form of the wall separating us from others. Giving us a sense of privacy against nakedness. Animals feel no shyness. The civilized, and intelligent people seek privacy, not the savages.

Structure of Mending Wall

The poem is a dramatic narrative written in blank verse. Iambic pentameter appears great as it offers a sense of speech and debate within the poem. The poem contains a single stanza of 46 lines without any end rhymes or rhyming patterns. However, the poet used assonance at end-words (wall, hill, balls, wall, and well sun, thing, stone, mean, line, and again or game, them, and him twice). Consonance has also been used “And set the wall between us once again”, (sound of /t and /n). Symbolism has been used as, “fence” to symbolize the ‘gap’ that one should maintain to establish long-lasting relationships and maintain privacy. “Nature” symbolizes the reunion of the two as the speaker meets his neighbor every year in spring to fix the fence. Frost also used metaphor and imagery in this poem. “And some are loaves and some so nearly balls”, “He is all pine and I am apple orchard” and “Not of woods only and the shade of trees.”

Summary of Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Lines 1 – 4:
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The poet begins by mentioning that there is ‘something’ mysterious that doesn’t like the wall between the two farms. The poet uses ‘something’ to clarify that it is not a work of humans, indicating nature. He speculates that the water beneath the ground freezes during the winter and swells. This forces an upward thrust that creates cracks in the wall. As the spring comes, the sun heats up and the cracks widen so much that two people can pass through it side by side and walk in the same direction.

Lines 5 – 11:
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.

In these lines, the poet says that the hunters are another challenge to the wall as the wall restricts the otherwise wider spread of the hunting ground. During the hunting season, the hunters come and damage the wall during their sports and never bother to repair it again. The poet says that he has been witness to the hunters' acts when they make holes in the wall for their dogs to catch rabbits. The hunters believe that no one is watching them over and hence, they do not sense the responsibility of repairing the wall before leaving. But the poet caught them doing so as he followed them and then repaired the wall. The poet suggests that it could be the hunters’ act as there are gaps in the wall again.

Lines 12 – 15:
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.

In these lines, the poet informs that his neighboring farmer lives on the other side of the hill and every year he informs his neighbor about the damage to the wall. The neighbor and the poet then decide on a day on which they both meet and walk along the wall, each on his side surveying the damage.

Lines 16 – 19:
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’

In these lines, the poet expresses the act of mending the wall and how difficult the process is. The poet and the neighbor meet on a fixed day on their side of the farm and start putting back every single boulder that has fallen on each of the sides of the wall. The poet picks up the boulder fallen on his side and restores it, while the neighbor does the same on his side. However, it is a difficult and cumbersome task as there are many fallen boulders and they are not of the same size. Some are big, some small, some are very heavy, and some are light. They are not of the same shape too. Some are round and some are oblong and it is very difficult to balance them together in the wall as it is no less than magic to keep them at their places.

Lines 20 – 24:
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on aside. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

The poet tells how difficult the task is as his and his neighbor’s hands become rough and tired while handling the boulders. And it is unnecessary work, like a play, as the poet believes that they do not need the wall because they grow different kinds of plants. The poet grows apples, and his neighbor grows pine trees.

Lines 25 – 29:
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:

The poet has argued with his neighbor that since they grow different kinds of trees, the poet’s apples will never encroach on the land of his neighbor’s pines and thus they do not need the fencing wall. However, the neighbor is not convinced and he always answers ‘Good fences make good neighbors’ However, this time in spring, the poet is adamant to try another trick to make his neighbor realize and agree that they do not need the wall and hence, no need to mend it.

Lines 30 – 35:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.’

The poet explains his trick, his new line of argument. He asks his neighbor why good fences make good neighbors? He explains to the neighbor that the grass on another side often attracts cows and to stop the cows from going to other person’s farms, they build fences. However, neither the poet nor his neighbor has got any cow, so why do they need the wall? The poet says that this time he will mend the wall only after knowing what his neighbor is keeping safe by building the wall and what is he keeping out of his reach. The poet stresses that this time, he might not agree to mend the wall without knowing the proper reason.

Lines 36 – 41:
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.

In these lines, the poet says that despite his initial adamancy, the act of mending the wall is going on as he failed to convince the neighbor. He again speculates that the wall could have been pulled down by some mysterious force, maybe the Elves. However, the poet decides not to say that to his neighbor as it may offend him which the poet doesn’t want. The poet rather wishes that his neighbor may himself realize it and give up the strenuous task of mending and keeping the wall.

The poet then observes his neighbor picking up a fallen boulder from the wall and feels that he resembles an uncouth and uncivilized inhabitant of the stone age, whose weapons are the very rocks that make up the wall.

Lines 42 – 46:
He moves in darkness as it seems to me –
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

In these lines, the poet says that he feels that his neighbor has some kinship with the darkness or ignorance and he is not ready to learn new things, light. This darkness is not of dense woods and shades of tall trees. But this darkness is of rudimentary archaic ideas, thoughts, traditions, and rituals. The neighbor cannot disagree with his father in saying that good fences account for peace among neighbors.

Robert Frost an excellent use of Paradox in this poem by juxtaposing two opposing instances and opinions by repeating the contrasting lines ‘Something there is that doesn’t love a wall’ and ‘Good fences make good neighbors’. The poem ends with ‘Good fences make good neighbors’ as the poet suggests that this old saying may appear archaic and useless but it holds more weight and sense. Even if the neighbor is a savage, the wall will keep the poet safe against his neighbor, and mending the wall keeps these two neighbors peaceful and stable.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Swami and Friends by R. K. Narayan | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Swami and Friends was the first novel by R. K. Narayan that was published in the year 1935. R. K. Narayan along with Mulk Raj Anand, and Raja Rao was a prominent author of early Indian literature in English. Most of his works s set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. Malgudi is a fictional town that is both mythical and mundane and thus it becomes a place that is no place in reality yet it can be any town, any place in India.

Swami and Friends was the first part of a trilogy whose sequels were The Bachelor of Arts, published in 1937, and The English Teacher, published in 1945. The major themes of Swami and Friends include teenage, child psychology, authority, innocence, oppression and escape, colonial domination, friendship, belonging, and competition. Swami and Friends was the first work of R. K. Narayan that got published with the help of his friend Graham Greene who recommended his book to publishers. The initial title of the novel was Swami the Tate, which indicated the excellent skills of Swami as a cricket player, an allrounder batsman, and bowler much like Maurice Tate, the English cricketer. However, the title was changed to Swami and Friend considering the earlier success of Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky & Co.

Characters of Swami and Friends

Swami or Swaminathan is the main character of the novel. He is a 10 years old school-going boy who is a bit lazy and doesn’t like studying much. He is innocent and honest but doesn’t mind telling lies to his father or friends. He is a good friend and a good cricketer. He is popular among his friends which include Mani, Somu, Shankar, and Samuel or Pea. Mani lives with his poor widowed mother. He is strongly built and is also known as ‘Mighty good-for-nothing.’ He often bullies his classmates but he is not good at studies. Somu is the monitor of Swami’s class. He is confident and tries to impose his authority. Swami calls him the ‘uncle of the class.’ Shankar is a very studious and brilliant boy in Swami’s class. Swami admires Shankar’s intellect and often takes his help. However, Shankar leaves Malgudi as his father is transferred to another town. Samuel is the only Christian boy in the class who is short in height and thus, Swami and his friends call him the Pea (Matar). Rajam is the new boy in the class and is the son of the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Malgudi. He is a rich boy who fluently speaks English like a European kid. Being the son of the DSP, he gets more attention at school. He is fearless, witty, and authoritative. Initially, Swami feels threatened by Rajam as he loses his popularity but soon he develops a friendship with Rajam and becomes his fan so much so that his older friends start chiding him as ‘Rajam’s tail.’ Swami develops an inferiority complex. When Rajam visits Swami’s house, Swami lies to Rajam, saying that the room they were seated in was his room and not his father’s when the opposite was true. Rajam sees past Swami’s sham and yet is gracious enough not to ridicule him in his dwelling. Swami and his four old friends do a great job of seeing the positives of their differences but struggle to see the good in Rajam. Mani especially has animosity towards Rajam. However, Rajam manages to bring all of them together and be a close friends. Later on, he gives the idea of making a cricket team. He becomes the captain of the Malgudi Cricket Club (M.C.C) whose other members include Swami, Mani, Somu, and Samuel.

Shrinivasan is Swami’s father. He is a lawyer who is a strict and authoritative father. He adores Swami but wishes to work hard. He wishes Swami to study for long hours but Swami is careless about his studies. When all other students including Mani realize the importance of exam and answering an exam paper with all sincerity or at least as well as possible, Swami is careless and is more interested in non-essentials like clips, pins, nibs, exam cardboard pads, etc to buy which he asks money from his father. He is more interested in the summer vacations that would come after exams. He is so careless about his studies that he gets bored with exams and writes answers haphazardly and leaves the examination hall twenty minutes early. Lakshmi is Swami’s mother who is a housewife. She cares for Swami but remains busy with her kitchen chores and nursing Swami’s newly-born younger brother. Swami’s grandmother is an old religious lady who tells stories to Swami and is fond of him. However, Swami feels that both his father and mother are more concerned for his younger brother. Mr. Ebenezar is Swami’s scripture teacher at the Albert Mission School. He is a Christian fanatic and degrades Swami’s religion, Hinduism, and considers Christianity superior to other religions. Later, he is scolded by the headmaster of the school.

Summary of Swami and Friends

The story is set in the 1930s in British Colonial India. Swami is a 10-year-old boy who lives with his father, mother, and grandmother. His father is an authoritative disciplinarian and doesn’t like his son acting lazy. He may appear irritable to Swami at times but he cares for him and wishes him to succeed in his life. Swami has four close friends Mani, Somu, Shankar, and Samuel who are his classmates at Albert Mission School. Often they call Samuel Pea because of his short height and thin figure while Mani is the tallest and strongest among them and is often called Mighty good-for-nothing. Swami is witty and often leads his friends in games. One day, Mr. Ebenezar, Swami’s scripture teacher criticizes and degrades the Hindu religion in the class. All the students including Samuel, who is a Christian don’t like Mr. Ebenezar. As the teacher continues to chide Hindu deities while praising Christianity, Swami stands against him and asks some witty questions that prove otherwise. Mr. Ebenezar gets angry and punishes Swami. Later on, Swami informs his father about the incident and when his father complains about it to the headmaster, he scolds Mr. Ebenezar. While Swami’s friends appreciate Swami for his wittiness, they stress that it was a school matter and he didn’t need to complain to his father about it. At home, Swami feels that his father isn’t caring enough as his father continues to push him to study for long hours and understand the importance of exams. This creates a distance between the father and the son. Lakshmi, his mother cares for Swami but she is often aloof because of housework and as she gives birth to Swami’s younger brother, she gets busier in nursing the newly born child.

Meanwhile, a new student Rajam joins the Albert Mission School in Swami’s class. He is the son of the new DSP of Malgudi who came from Madras. Rajam is rich, intelligent, and fluent in English. Being the son of DSP he gains the limelight. Swami and his friends don’t like Rajam much. Swami feels an inferiority complex as he cannot match Rajam with his charm, good English, and richness. Yet, Swami finds himself attracted to Rajam and gradually develops a friendship with Rajam. Swami’s old friends start ignoring Swami and calling him Rajam’s Tail. Mani hates Rajam and warns Swami to remain away from Rajam. It isn’t until the three boys confront each other that they realize they have a lot in common, and become fast friends. However, the other three friends remain away from Swami. One day, Rajam invites Swami, Mani, and the other three friends to his home and offers them cakes and new toys if they agree to become friends again. The six boys forget their differences and become a pack of friends.

Swami is intelligent and witty but he is lazy and careless towards his studies and exams. His father warns him that if he won’t study well, he will flunk and will be forced to study with his juniors. Swami convinces his father that he will study well but most of his time is spent on games.

It is a time when Gandhi’s non-cooperative movement is at its peak. A popular leader of Malgudi is arrested in Bombay to oppose which people in Malgudi announce a protest march. Swami hears his father discuss the matter and feels the nationalist fervor. The next day, when he is feeling a bit lazy and wishes to avoid school, his father forces him to go to school. As he goes to school, he sees a crowd shouting slogans against colonial rulers and in support of Gandhi and Gauri Shankar, the leader who was recently arrested. Swami is swept by the crowd and joins them. He feels as if he is giving his bits to the nationalist cause. The DSP decides to quash the protest violently and policemen start beating the protestors with batons. As the crowd responds by throwing stones at police, Swami too picks up a rock and throws it toward his school, and runs back home.

The next day, the school headmaster enquires about the incident and Swami disrespectfully shouts that he doesn’t care for the school and runs away. He is punished for his actions. Not only is Swami forced to switch to a more strict school, but Rajam, being the son of the DSP, is hurt by the actions of his friend, making their friendship unstable.

Swami’s new school The Board High School is an indigenous school and hence, it is not as reputed as Albert Mission School. It is a stricter school with rigorous school studies and extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Attendance is compulsory and the homework and classwork surpass that of Albert Mission School. The Albert Mission School shows the complacency of the Colonial government. Despite being more reputed, that school had little to do with the advancement of students while the teachers openly engaged in trying to proselytize students. The Board High School represents the upcoming wave of Indianized schools with their rigorous school studies and extracurricular and co-curricular activities to mainly prove that even indigenous schools could be run as well as British schools. Swami realizes that his life was much easier at Albert High School but he is forced to learn the rigorous ways and take charge of his life and studies. In a sense, it proves to be better for him though he feels suffocated. His main grumble is that he lost his friends and Rajam is angry with him. Mani softens Rajam’s attitude towards Swami and then Rajam plans to create Malgudi Cricket Club. Swami is a good cricket player and is often called Malgudi’s Tate by his friends. He decides to help Rajam in establishing his cricket club. The two boys are intensely passionate about the team, but tensions rise as Swami’s strict school and intense workload get in the way of his commitment to the club. Rajam threatens to never speak to Swami again if he misses the match of the year against a competing club Young Men’s Union (YMU).

Despite his best efforts, Swami is forbidden by his strict headmaster from leaving early to go to his daily practices. In a rage, Swami throws his headmaster’s cane out of the window. Then, he thinks that his father Srinivasan, would not tolerate his dismissal even from this school in a matter of a few months. Thus, Swami resolutely decides to run away from home. He takes a naive decision, thinking that even though he was running away from home, he would be able to return somehow to the Y.M.U. vs. M.C.C. cricket match happening in one and a half-day. While fleeing, he becomes lost and wanders until he is rescued. Meanwhile, Lakshmi goes berserk, creates a funeral atmosphere in the house, and stops eating until Swami returns. When Swami learns this, he feels elated that his younger infant brother was sidelined in his place of him, at least in this singular instance in his life. While he was missing, Shrinivasan blames himself for being too harsh and aloof to Swami’s concerns. Thus, during the disappearance, the prime thought in his mind is not that Swami has had an accident or been kidnapped but that he must have committed suicide due to harassment.

He has missed the M.C.C. match he swore to go to. Already knowing his best friend may never speak to him again, Swami finds out from his friend Mani that Rajam is leaving the next morning to move to a new city with his family. Swami tries to mend his friendship with Rajam by giving him his favorite book Anderson’s Fairy Tales. This is Swami’s pathetic and simplistic gesture to at least keep his memory fresh in the mind of his friend, who meant so much to him. Swami fails to realize that Rajam would never read Anderson because he is too old and well-read for reading fairy tales.

In a desperate attempt to make amends, Swami rushes to the train station the next morning with a book he intends to give to Rajam as a way to make peace. He nearly misses the train’s departure and looks at his best friend through the window, who still refuses to speak to him. Mani must hand him the book, as he would not take it from Swami. The story ends as the train pulls away. Swami is left wondering if his friend will write and if he is forgiven. The writer leaves the reader with the same question. However, it doesn’t matter. Rajam came like a tornado into the lives of Swami and the rest of his friends and changed them forever, raising their standards about studies, friendship, and good behavior. Swami has a better sense and attitude towards life, friendship, studies, and the importance of exams. He understands his father, mother, and younger brother better now.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.