Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers is a short metaphorically driven poem written by Emily Dickinson which was posthumously published in 1891. The poem appears in Fascicle 13 of her handwritten manuscript and is believed to be written around 1861. Emily Dickinson wrote this poem aphoristically, compressing lengthy details into some words. Emily Dickinson hardly ever published her massive stock of 1800 poems. Only her sister stumbled upon the prolific collection and took the liberty to publish the massive literary work. The poem was published in 1891 in a collection of her works under the title Poems, which was edited and published by Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Mabel Loomis Todd.

Structure of ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers:

As the title suggests, it is a metaphorical poem. When abstract concepts are under study such as death, love, and hope, they are often represented by an object from nature. The small bird represents hope in this poem. The poem is written in 12 lines composed in Three quatrains following a hymnal meter, which maintains the rhythm of alternating between four beats (iambic tetrameter) and three beats (iambic trimeter) during each stanza. The poem follows a loose rhyme scheme of ABCB, conforming to the expected pattern of a ballad. Dickinson used the Repetition of the words, 'that’ and ‘and’ several times in the poem. Using Enjambment, she cuts off a line before its natural stopping point in many instances. For example, the transition between lines three and four of the second stanza. Dickinson used extended metaphor to transform hope into a bird that rests within the human soul. As part of this metaphor, the poem draws a symbolic link between birdsong and the indomitable (undefeatable) power of hope. Dickinson used Anaphora in lines 7, and 8 of the poem, and the polysyndeton ‘and’ has also been used several times.

The main theme of the poem is ‘Hope.’ Dickinson wrote this poem as a hymn of praise, written to honor the human capacity for hope. The poem calls upon the imagery of seafaring adventures with the use of the words "Sea" and "Gale." Dickinson uses the metaphor of "Hope" being likened to a bird that does not disappear when it encounters hardships or "storms."

Summary of ‘Hope is the thing with feathers:

Stanza 1 lines 1-4

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

Dickinson offers an extended definition of a particular simple word ‘Hope’ and casts it in a new, surprising light using metaphor. She takes the abstract concept of Hope and applies a concrete idea or image of a bird to it. Dickinson wrote this poem without any title and the opening line was thus chosen as the title. The title or the opening line clearly expresses the motive of the poem which is to explain how hope is like a bird, and why that connection is important in the first place.

The poetess feels that hope can be deemed as a bird with feathers, singing in its own tune merrily. It may not speak any specific language, yet it’s certainly present within human souls. The poet uses the verb ‘perches’ which is almost exclusively used for birds, and as a noun, the word has a connotation of signifying the bird's home or the place where it is at rest.

Just as importantly, Emily Dickinson voices that hope is an eternal spring that never stops, as it’s a vital constituent of human beings, enabling us to conquer unchartered territories.

Stanza 2 Lines 4-8

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

In the second stanza, the poetess extends her metaphors elucidating the expansive power hope wields over us. It gets merrier and sweeter as the storm gets mightier and relentless. The poetess deems that no storm can sway hope and its adamant attitude. Hope is always singing, but it sounds the sweetest when the wind gets rougher. The storm rages and the song sweetens. When life gets tough, it is hoped that serves as a ray of light in the storm of darkness. When everything turns somber, hope is all one holds onto. It is what keeps one moving forward. Hope provides a safe haven for many people. It would take a lot for a storm to weaken hope. In line 7, the poetess directly mentions hope as a bird for the first time.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

In the third and the last quatrain, the poetess concludes her poem by stressing that hope retains its clarity and tensile strength in the harshest of conditions, yet it never demands in return for its valiant services. The poetess says that she has witnessed hope in the most adverse events, and yet it has never asked for even a tiny part of a person’s self. Everything in life comes with a price, except hope. It comes from within. Hope strengthens one against all extremities of life and acts as an unsung hero.

Dickinson used the personal pronoun ‘I’ in line 9, suggesting the personal connection of her or an individual with ‘hope.’

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!

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Cannery Row is a novel by John Steinbeck that was published in 1945. The novel tells about the experiences of people down on their luck, living in Monterey, California, on a street lined with sardine canneries that is known as Cannery Row. The novel is set in the period of the Great Depression and expresses the frustrations and struggles of common men during that period.

The novel is based on the theme of camaraderie and community values. Despite their hard situations and struggles, the characters of the novel strive to do better to make each other happier. The novel suggests that the desire to survive and to find happiness within one's immediate environment is the most adorable kind of ambition. The novel is about the Everyman, the common man. The characters in the novel are prostitutes, bums, Chinese grocers, married couples who live in boilers, and socially awkward youths. Another important theme of the novel is domesticity, the desire of human beings to have a safe space, a home of their own. Another theme of the novel is contentment which brings peace.

Characters of Cannery Row:

Mac is an intelligent young guy, the leader of a group of bums called ‘the boys.’ he is a good-hearted philosophically intended person. He is a poor man suffering bad luck during the period of economic depression. Horace Abbeville was a resident of Cannery Row who owned a building there. He suffers great losses in business and sells his building to Lee Chong to pay his debts. He then commits suicide. Lee Chong is a Chinese grover. He is a benevolent helping man. He allows Mac and his friends to stay at the building he bought from Horace Abbeville. Lee Chong faces trouble from Chinese goons. Doc is a scientist and the most beloved person living on Cannery Row. He is erudite and cerebral, but he also loves beer and gets along with everyone. He has women around but does not enter into serious relationships. He is deeply curious and enthusiastic about life. He owns Western Biological, a laboratory where he experiments. Dora is the madam at the Bear Flag Restaurant, Cannery Row's local brothel. Dora is friendly, kind, compassionate, and a superb businesswoman. Alfred is the watchman of the brothel, he is a friendly, calm guy. Hazel is 26 years old and one of Mack's boys. He helps Doc at his laboratory. Eddie is a member of Mack's gang, as well. He is a fill-in bartender at La Ida. Hughie and Jones are the other two members of Mac’s boys. Gay is an experienced mechanic. He is married but continues to fight with his wife. Often he spends time in jail for petty crimes. Mac invites Gay to stay with him at the Palace Flophouse. Frankie is a teenage boy who stopped going to school because he has trouble learning and coordination.

Summary of Cannery Row:

The story is about a group of broken, down-on-luck people who are suffering the tumultuous years of the Great Depression. They maintain their humanity and find ways to make each other happy during the difficult period. Mac and his friends are unemployed drifters and they do not have any place to live. They ask help from Lee Chong a local grocer who just bought a building from Horace Abbeville, a despondent bankrupt businessman. Abbeville committed suicide after paying his debts.  Mack asks Lee if he and his friends can move into the storehouse, pointing out that if the building is unoccupied, teenagers might break the windows or set it on fire. Lee realizes he has no choice but to allow these men to move in since he knows that if he refuses, they will break the windows themselves to prove that he should let them live there. Lee Chong agrees to let Mack and his friends stay at the building which used to be a fishmeal store but sets a rent of five dollars. Mack and his boys move in and christen their new place the Palace Flophouse and Grill. They fix it up and feel proud of their home.

There is a brothel named Bear Flag Restaurant near the Palace Flophouse. It is owned and run by Dora. The watchman at Dora’s is Alfred, who took over after the last watchman committed suicide in a fit of despair. Across the street from Dora's brothel is Western Biological, the laboratory belonging to Doc, a wiry and bearded scientist. Everyone on Cannery Row likes Doc and thinks about doing nice things for him. Doc and one of Mack’s boys, Hazel, collect specimens in a tide pool. Hazel tells Doc that another man is coming to stay at the Palace Flophouse – Gay, who fights with his wife and goes in and out of prison. Back at the Palace, the boys discuss doing something nice for Doc and light upon the idea of throwing him a party.

Mack realizes that he has no money to arrange the party so he asks Doc if he has some work for them. Doc is wary, knowing that Mack can’t be trusted, but he needs frogs to fulfill an order. He tells Mack that he will pay him a nickel per frog. However, Mack and his boys will need to drive to find the frogs, so he asks Lee Chong for his truck. Lee Chong agrees to let Mack borrow the truck after Mack promises that Gay, who is a gifted mechanic, will fix it up.

A teenage boy Frankie hangs around Doc’s lab. Frankie no longer goes to school because he has trouble learning and coordinating. He takes a liking to Doc, who lets him help out around the lab. Frankie grows to love and respect Doc and is always eager to impress his mentor but he is clumsy and often ruins things.

Gay fixes up Lee Chong's truck and they start on their journey. At one point, the truck breaks down and Gay leaves to find a part for it, but he does not return. It turns out that he ended up in a Salinas jail after a random and unlucky series of events. After some time, another member of the gang, Eddie, manages to find the part, and the journey continues.

On the night of their frog hunt, Mack and the boys camp out on a piece of land. However, a man approaches them and tells them that they must leave immediately. Mack, a seasoned sweet-talker, befriends the man, whom they call "the Captain." The Captain invites the boys in for a drink and then permits them to gather frogs on his pond. He also gives Mack a puppy to take home. While Mack and the boys are on the frog-collecting trip, Doc drives down to La Jolla to collect baby octopi. He stops many times along the way for food and drink, picks up a hitchhiker, and then discards him when he says Doc ought not to drive drunk. Doc then goes to a diner and orders a beer milkshake from a surprised waitress just to see what it tastes like. He proceeds to the tide pools and gathers his specimens, but is disturbed when he peers off the edge of the reef and sees the floating body of a dead girl in the water. He cannot get her face out of his head. Back in town, Mack and the boys trade frogs for party supplies at Lee Chong’s, telling Lee that he can sell the frogs to Doc for money. They have planned to throw Doc's party that night, as they are expecting Doc to return. The boys gather at Doc's laboratory and the festivities begin. However, Doc does not return until the following morning, by which time the party is over. Furthermore, all of the frogs have escaped. When Doc gets back to his lab, it is utterly destroyed. His precious records are smashed, windows are broken, and greasy dishes are piled high.

Mack meekly apologizes, but Doc pummels him in anger. Mack refuses to fight back, knowing that he deserves it, and Doc relents. He pours Mac a beer and, with a sigh, asks him what happened. Mack and the boys become outcasts after the party debacle, and all of Cannery Row sinks into a malaise. Everyone is miserable, tired, and prone to fighting or issues with their businesses. The boys' beloved puppy, whom they have named Darling, falls ill. They have to ask Doc to help her out, which he does coolly but willingly. Doc does not hold a grudge against Mack and the boys and muses to his friend that they are the most philosophical men in Cannery Row. Doc's advice proves to be helpful and Darling quickly recovers. After that, things slowly begin to improve around the Row. Mack asks Dora what he should do to make it up to Doc, so she suggests throwing a party that Doc can actually attend. Mack once asked Doc’s birthday and Doc gave him a false date. Mack plans to arrange Doc’s birthday party. All of Cannery Row knows about the party except for Doc, who forgets that he gave Mack a made-up birthday. Everyone comes up with heartfelt and homemade presents for Doc. Frankie loves Doc so much that he tries to steal an expensive clock to give him, but in the process, he is captured by the police and sent to a mental institution because it is assumed that his lack of intelligence and criminal proclivities will make him a danger to society once he hits puberty. Doc does eventually hear about the planned party from a random drunk at a bar, and he decides to forestall some of the problems from the first celebration by buying alcohol and food and locking up his cherished and/or breakable possessions. The night of the party arrives, and it begins slowly but then it soon blossoms into a lively, fun, and boisterous affair with fights and food and dancing. Doc even reads a poem to the crowd that renders them pensive and nostalgic for lost loves. The next morning, Doc cleans up, hearing music in his head and reciting lines from the poem again.

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 Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox Ramsay | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Charlotte Ramsay was a Scottish-English novelist, playwright, and poet who was born in 1729 and died in 1804. She was a contemporary author associated with other notable authors of the time, including Samuel Johnson, Henry Fielding, and others. During her career, she was a prominent and popular writer. She is known for her novel The Female Quixote which was published in 1752. The full title of the novel was The Female Quixote or The Adventures of Arabella. Ramsay was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ work, Don Quixote. Ramsay’s work was considered to be a discourse as well as an impersonation of Cervantes’ book. The Female Quixote is regarded as an investigation of Cervantes’ optimism and a valuation of his humor and his incongruity. Although The Female Quixote has been popularly read as a parody of historical romances, it was by a long shot the most mainstream and continuing of its kind.

Characters of The Female Quixote:

Arabella is the major character and heroin of the novel. She is the daughter of a disillusioned widowed nobleman. Her mother died during her pregnancy and her father raised her up in his castle. Being a motherless child with a delusional father coping with the loss of his wife, Arabella spends her secluded childhood and teenage while reading reading the books of her dead mother which are ‘badly translated French romances.’ While these books were mere entertainment for her mother, Arabella learns from them and creates an idea of the world and how to behave in the world. She is also influenced by Cassandra and Pharamond to dictate the terms of her marriage. Arabella holds the Melisintha (of Pharamond) of La Calprenède as a model woman. She also learns the Roman history and takes inspiration from Cloelia (Clelie), the legendary woman from Ancient Rome. Sir Charles Glanville is her cousin who is a young rational person. He cares for Arabella loves her and treats her patiently. Sir George Bellmour is a friend of Sir Charles. Like Arabella, Sir George too loves to read romances gluttonously and tries to imitate them by being a false knight. Countess Charlotte is the elder sister of Sir George Bellamour. She is a sane intelligent person who tries to help Arabella come out of her fantasies and understand the real world. The Doctor is an educated well-meaning person who realises the delusions of Arabella and explains to her the difference between literature and reality.

Summary of The Female Quixote:

Arabella’s mother was a beautiful woman who was married to an English nobleman. She was an avid reader and used to read romantic French novels. During her pregnancy, she suffered some issues and died while giving birth to her daughter. Her husband was deeply shocked and sad by her death and lost interest in life. However, he had the responsibility of his daughter whom he named Arabella. She is brought up by her widowed father in a remote castle in England. Arabella’s life is governed by the semi-historical seventeenth-century French romances which constitute ‘history’ for her. She doesn’t understand the difference between history and fiction. Arabella’s retreat into the world of historical French romances influences her perception of ‘truth’ and ‘reality.’ Arabella, being the daughter of a disillusioned marquis leads a secluded life in her father’s estate which is far away from the actuality of the world, and therefore, has a poor idea of the reality of an English society. She grows up reading the books of her dead mother which are ‘badly translated French romances.’ Her interpretations of the books that she reads can be understood as her reaction to the submissive and passive lifestyle in her father’s estate. Much similar to her mother, Arabella reads these books to pass her time, but unlike her mother, Arabella creates an ‘alternate reality’ for herself by withdrawing into the world of these romances. She also read Ancient history and models her behavior based on women like Statira, Thalestris, Cleopatra, and Media.

The romances that Arabella reads are replete with the chivalric codes of conduct and these goals progress towards becoming Arabella’s own.

As she grows old, her delusions continue to become stronger. As her father grows old, he decides to marry her to her cousin Sir Glanville. Arabella responds with indignation to her father’s statement. She refuses to marry her cousin against her will, but promises at least to make an effort to accept Mr. Glanville and see where circumstances are taking her. But, Mr. Glanville proves to make her unhappy with his misunderstanding of romance conventions. This causes Arabella to ‘banish’ him, and he actually leaves the estate, which sends Arabella’s father to a state of fury because his patriarchal authority is challenged and thwarted. Arabella raises valid questions, Why should she marry someone based merely on relationships? Mr. Glanville has not done anything to deserve her love. These seem like perfectly fair and reasonable oppositions to her father’s design, and perhaps he realizes this.

He declares that she would lose part of her estate if she did not marry her cousin Glanville. Arabella believes that the more miserable and wretched a male suitor is, the better he proves himself worthy to perhaps eventually kiss his beloved’s hand. In the meantime, anything less than at least ten years of devoted service, in which either he kills thousands of enemies for her sake, or lives in a pastoral, hermitic retreat, is considered insufficient. Sir Glanville loves Arabella but is not ready to fulfill her demands which he assumes preposterous. Glanville’s sister Charlotte tries to reason with Arabella pointing out, rather inconveniently, that ten years of service will make both parties “old” when they finally begin courting; Arabella responds with horror and disgust at Miss Glanville’s vulgarity, since of course the consequences of the passage of time are never dwelt upon in heroic romance.

She rejects Glanville’s advances and requests him to leave the manor. Additionally, she commands Mr. Glanville to keep a conscious and respectful distance from her for a while. Arabella has an absolute belief in her own righteousness. She berates a man for his insolence in following her, and the equally strong belief, in the society in which she lives, that women simply do not have a right to privacy. Meanwhile, Glanville’s friend, Sir George Bellmour meets Arabella and finds her interesting and pursues her. He attempts to court her in the same chivalric language and high-flown style as in the novels. Arabella makes him suffer to extremes but directs Sir George, who plays alongside Arabella’s extravaganza, to live as well.

One day, while walking alone, she is stalked by some horsemen whom she mistakes as ravishers. Imitating Clelie, she throws herself into the Thames in an attempt to flee from horsemen. She is later saved by the same horsemen but this leads to Arabella falling ill, upon which a doctor is called to take care of her. It is then that the doctor learns of Arabella's delusions concerning romance, and explains to her the difference between literature and reality. As a result, she finally decides to accept Glanville's hand in marriage.
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!

It Was The Nightingale by Shashi Deshpande | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Shashi Deshpande is an Indian novelist who won the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri Award in 1990 and 2009 respectively. She is known for her four children’s books, six novels, various travelogues, and essays. Shashi Deshpande is also one of the prominent short story writers. Deshpande's short stories have, like those of Jane Austen‟s, a narrow range. Her stories are written by keeping in frame the socio-literary themes and institutions such as family, home, and middle-class society in India. They are more or less a fictionalization of personal experiences. They had been collected in five volumes: The Legacy and Other Stories (1978), It Was Dark and Other Stories (1986), It Was the Nightingale and Other Stories (1986), The Miracle and Other Stories (1986) and The Intrusion and Other Stories (1993). They had also been reorganized into two collections: Collected Short Stories I (2003) and Collected Short Stories II (2004).

Her short story collection titled It Was the Nightingale and Other Stories was published in 1986 and the cover story of that collection was It Was the Nightingale. Her short stories deal with the problems of women in the society. The primary focus of her works is the world of women, and the struggle of women in the context of modern Indian society. The novels of Shashi Deshpande depict the woman’s search for self, a vivid picture of the female psyche, and the place of females in society. She puts forth the problems which a woman faces in day-to-day life.

Characters of It Was the Nightingale:

Jayu is the main character of the story. She is a young married housewife living with her husband. While her in-laws and her husband expect her to become a mother, Jayu avoids becoming a mother because she is ambitious and wishes to explore ways to improve the family’s financial situation. She decides to work in any one of the foreign countries to get a high salary. For that, she has to leave her family in India. Jayu’s husband is a traditional calm guy who is not violent and doesn’t impose his will over Jayu. Jayu loves her husband but her will and ambition to attain better financial status is stronger than her husband’s. While Jayu expects assistance and support from her husband in her decision to leave the family for the job for two years, her husband doesn’t support her emotionally and calls her stubborn and obstinate. Jayu’s mother-in-law is a traditional woman who spent her life taking care of her husband and son. Jayu’s mother too is a traditional woman who sacrificed her ambitions just to take care of her family and kids. Jayu is tom between her ambition and love for her husband. She sacrifices her conjugal bliss to preserve her identity.

Summary of It Was the Nightingale:

The story highlights the dilemma of working women in the middle class of India. Jayu, the protagonist of the story, is confined to the household work. Presently she has to accomplish the economic problem faced by her family and this crisis cannot be taken over by one person’s income. She acclimatizes to give big hands to eradicate this problem. Hence, she decides to work in any one of the foreign countries to get a high salary. For that, she leaves her family in India. In order to indulge her identity in her family, she has to acquire a job with a decent salary. She feels that securing a job is a way of gaining respect from others too. However, it is very difficult to carry out both the responsibilities at home and at the job, especially for mothers of young children.

Jayu is an educated working woman. She decides to search for a job but finds it difficult to get any job with a good enough salary for which she may give away her comforts as a housewife. Then she gets an opportunity to go abroad and get skilled training for two years that will allow her to secure a nice high salary paying job in India. Jayu is in two minds. While she is expected to be with her husband and be a mother, she wishes to have a better financial status.

She discusses with her husband who doesn’t support her openly but does not oppose her too. He leaves the decision to herself. She thinks about her mother. Her mother was a scapegoat. She hid all her desires for the ingratitude family and vehemently felt for the loss of her identity. Her life was dilapidated for her family and finally outraged for not having an ambition in her life. By now, Jayu frankly expresses her disgust to pursue her mother’s life. She feels that her stay with her husband is a pleasure to her and that she should sacrifice in order to attain a better future.

Her husband suggests that if she decides to go, he will call his mother, or Jayu’s mother-in-law to live with him during those two years. While Jayu loves her husband and enjoys living with him, she doesn’t share those warm feelings with her in-laws. As she hears that her mother-in-law is about to arrive, she decides that she is going abroad for her career for two years. She has to get a bigger salary for her family on her return.

Her husband argues that they should think of developing a family but she shows such a revolt against her husband, “Now the child will have to wait. We will not let it born yet.” She has to fight against her family members to bring out her identity. The next day, Jayu goes to the firm for an interview and to offer her application for going abroad. She feels guilty of her decision and she sees her husband waiting for her arrival. When she reaches her home, her husband has prepared food for both which they eat together and go to bed. The whole night they keep on talking about practical deals, business matters, and different things. Jayu loves her husband very much. She is unwilling to leave her husband. Her love for her husband makes her feel that he should not have accepted her request to work in a foreign country.

Her husband sorrowfully hurries her to prepare for her journey. She hesitates to separate her husband and reluctantly reaches the airport along with her husband. She immediately requests her husband to forgive her leaving her husband alone in India. Her husband returns to their home alone. During the flight, she remembers how she neglected to meet her relatives (Sumi, Jayu’s sister) who came to send her off. She rather chose to have her privacy with her husband to fight and discuss before her departure. She will have with her all the memories from the house. Even she carries bundles of guilt and walks towards the life of a professional woman.

During those two years, she really struggles hard to put away her longing and even puts off her pregnancy for the sake of working in a sector to earn more money. She thinks that her life will be pleasant after returning to her husband after two years. Consequently, she cannot share her experience with her husband during those two years. This becomes a barrier between the couple. She is exhausted by the office work and returning home late, as usual, due to her bundle of work. Uncompromisingly, she struggles with her inner desires and regains her stamina. By this, she cannot sleep. She feels guilty of her decision and she sees her husband waiting for her arrival.

Jayu alleviates to be independent and to contribute to the family expenses. By earning, she almost enriches her family with the needed repository. Ultimately, she surrenders her marital happiness for the sake of preserving her identity. She bestows her energy on the family by indulging them in the unruffled life. But she has failed to receive love and care from her husband and is also betrayed. She repeatedly and happily imagines that her husband affectionately calls her Jayu. She might be struck by this unforgettable incident. On sticking with the prestigious career, she leaves her husband and relatives in India. She assumes that her husband does not encourage her constant decisions. She also feels that he is not a perfect match for her, and she puts it in her own words that he is “understanding but not caring”

The adamant and determined attitude of Jayu has formed a gap between herself and her husband without having quarrels among them. It remains an unbreakable wall and smashes the marriage. She will be away for two years and she will have to live alone but with those experiences. She inquires in pain to have aspersion from society, “Can we stand two years of separateness?”

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.

A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is an unfinished novel written by Laurence Sterne that was published in 1768. Sterne died in the same year. It is a sentimental novel written from a sentimental point of view. The novel can be considered as a travelogue as Sterne traveled through France and Italy as far south as Naples and on his return, decided to write about his experiences. In 1767, Tobias Smollett wrote a travel essay titled Travels Through France and Italy in which he criticized the social norms of the Kingdom of France and the Italian Peninsula. Laurence Sterne didn’t approve of Tobias’s writing. He met Tobias during his travels in Europe and found him very quarrelsome. In response, Sterne wrote A Sentimental Journey in which he ridiculed Tobias Smollett too, and modelled the character of Smellfungus on Tobias Smollett.

Characters of A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy:

Reverend Mr. Yorick is the main character of the novel. He appears to be an alter ego of Laurence Sterne himself. He is the sentimental traveler and narrator of the novel. He is quick to judge other people by their physical appearances at the beginning of his journey, but later regrets the assumptions he makes. Yorick is very interested in women and engages in many flirtations in the course of his travels. Father Lorenzo is a poor monk whom Yorick encounters and at first, refuses to assist. Father Lorenzo eventually becomes a longtime acquaintance of Yorick. Monsieur Dessein is the owner of the hotel in Calais where Yorick stays; he helps Yorick secure a carriage. La Fleur is a handsome, faithful, affectionate, simple-of-soul young man whom Yorick takes on as a servant. Count de B. is a man who mistakes Yorick for a character from the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and gives Yorick a passport in Versailles. Maria is a young widowed woman who recently lost her husband. Yorick knows her from the past and meets to console her. Madame de L is a beautiful and sorrowful woman Yorick meets at the door of the Remise, where he is to pick out a chaise. He receives a letter from her and sends back a love letter written by someone else, but the two do not cross paths again. Madam de R is a woman to whom Yorick is supposed to deliver a letter in Paris. The Lady is a thirty-year-old woman who is traveling with her fille de chambre and who has to sleep in a bed next to Yorick's bed. She is very uncomfortable with this arrangement, especially when Yorick speaks after he is requested not to. The fille de chambre is a young woman who works for Madame de R. Yorick initially sees her in a bookshop and compliments her on her virtue. The two later engage in a flirtatious interlude, with Yorick touching her satin purse and helping her with her broken shoe. Their flirtation gets Yorick kicked out of his hotel room. The grisset is a beautiful shopkeeper whom Yorick asks for directions and flirts with at some length, even though she has a husband.

Summary of A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy:

Reverend Yorick is an English priest who never visited France. One day, he suddenly feels an urge to compare France to Britain. Thus he packs lightly and sets sail the next day from Dover to Calais.
In Calais, a Franciscan monk begs Yorick for alms. Yorick cruelly rebuffs him. The monk leaves once Yorick chastises him for depending on the bread of “other people’s” labor. After the monk leaves, Yorick regrets his cruelty and resolves to let his trip teach him to be a better person. He meets with Monsieur Dessein, the owner of the tavern where Yorick stayed. Dessein also owns a carriage yard and offers to show him some carriages for Yorick’s travel. While walking to the carriage yard, Yorick finds himself caught alone with a young woman named Madame de L. He accidentally insults her, eventually deciding that the monk told her a bad story about him. The monk is nearby and he and Yorick exchange snuffboxes; Yorick is desperate to make amends for the non-existent insult.

Yorick waits for the employees of the carriage store. He sees Madame de L again and tries to strike up a conversation. His attempts fail but the hotel manager returns with the key to the store and begins to show Yorick the carriages. Yorick and Madame de L are shown in one carriage and then accidentally locked inside. They share a brief conversation before the woman is told that her brother has come to collect her. Yorick mentions that her brother’s arrival has spoiled a proposal he wanted to make her; she replies that she guesses what the proposal is and that if her brother had not arrived, she would have accepted. She then leaves. Yorick purchases a carriage and thinks about a writer named Smelfungus with whom he has a bitter rivalry.

Yorick rides to Montriul, where he hires a servant, a young man named La Fleur with no useful skills. Yorick and La Fleur travel on to Amiens, where Yorick sees Madame L riding by in her brother’s coach. Later, Madame L sends Yorick a letter asking him to deliver another letter to Madame de R in Paris and inviting him to visit her sometime in Brussels. Recalling that he has sworn faithfulness to Eliza back in England, Yorick vows not to visit Brussels without her. By a series of coincidences, La Fleur ends up running into Madame L, who asks him whether he has a letter from Yorick for her. La Fleur, embarrassed, runs back to Yorick and convinces him to copy a love letter La Fleur has on hand so that La Fleur can give something to Madame L. Unable to think up a letter of his own on the spot, Yorick goes along with La Fleur’s plan and copies the letter. Then he and La Fleur leave for Paris.

In Paris, Yorick meets a barber and has a new wig fitted. He then visits the opera, where he witnesses a French military officer intervene in a situation to help a dwarf. On the way home, he stops to buy a book and meets a woman who works as a chambermaid for Madame de R, the person to whom he is meant to deliver the letter. He takes the chambermaid to his hotel where He and the chambermaid end up sitting on the bed; helping her with a loose shoe strap, Yorick knocks her over and feels extreme sexual temptation, but he hustles her out of his room before anything happens.

Soon he discovers that the police are searching for him, as he does not have a passport. Yorick must travel to Versailles to obtain a passport. Yorick calls at the home of a French aristocrat but is told that the gentleman is not available. Yorick begins to travel back to Paris but he is struck by the idea to visit Count de B whom he heard about in the bookstore. The Count is allegedly a fan of William Shakespeare so Yorick hopes that his nationality and his literary knowledge will secure a meeting. The Count agrees to see Yorick and the two men talk about books. The Count delights in the fact that Yorick shares a name with a Shakespearean character and he promises to bring him a passport. The Count appears to believe that Yorick is some kind of jester but Yorick does not correct him. Yorick accepts the passport which describes him as a jester because he does not want to argue with the Count.

Over the course of the coming days, Yorick begins to befriend the upper classes in Paris. He is introduced to a string of aristocrats by the count but eventually grows weary with the schedule and decides to move on to Italy. While traveling to Italy, Yorick stops to meet Maria. She is a young girl whose story was told to him by a friend, Mr. Shandy. Yorick finds Maria in a state of mourning and senses a great tragedy in her life. Moved by her plight, he bids her farewell. He thinks that if it weren’t for his beloved Eliza, he would marry her. The memory of Maria stays with him on the road to Lyon. One night, they stop at a small house in the French countryside. Yorick eats dinner with the family and watches them dance in the evening. The next day, Yorick stops at an inn for the night, where the innkeeper demands that Yorick share his room with a lady from Piedmont and her maid. Embarrassed at having to share a room for the night, Yorick and the lady talk through a series of rules they will follow to make the experience as painless as possible. Among the rules is that Yorick will not speak after they have gone to bed except to say his prayers. After they go to bed, however, Yorick tosses and turns so miserably that he ends up shouting, “O my God!” The lady scolds him. While making excuses for his outburst, the maid quietly enters the room. Yorick throws out his arm in the dark catching hold of her...the novel stops here with an incomplete sentence.

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.

The Economy of War | The Armed Conflicts and the Goal of One World Government

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. 

This has been a tumultuous year for the world as we faced multiple armed struggles at different fronts around the world. Russia and Ukraine have been struggling against each other since February 2014 and in February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and began occupying more of the country. The Israel-Palestinian conflict began in 1947 and currently, there is an ongoing war between the nations. The issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue growing while Taiwan seems like a boiling pot. While the US and NATO armies left Afghanistan, the area is hardly at peace as Pakistan continues to face insurgencies by terrorist groups like TTP. India continues to struggle against the infiltrators through its borders. Yemen, Congo, Sudan, and many other zones are still suffering the war cries. The second world war ended in 1945 but the war continued. It appears that we live in a perpetual war ground. Common sense suggests that war brings destruction, war hampers progress, productivity, and prosperity and it brings loss, sorrow, and death. Yet, the war continues, it never stops. However, man is a selfish animal, we always strive for self-interest, progress, and prosperity. So why does war continue? Why does it appear as if men are acting against their self-interest? After all, wars are not in our interest.

Reasons Behind the Perpetuality of Wars:

Wars are fought between Armies. Common citizens often remain away from the active areas of wars, battles, and insurgencies. However, more than often, common citizens especially women do become casualties of wars. But the moderator that controls armies, the machines of wars is the state government.

Hans-Hermann Hoppe in his essay ‘On Centralization, Decentralization, and Self-Defense’ explains the government as, “States, regardless of their constitution, are not economic enterprises. In contrast to the latter, states do not finance themselves by selling products and services to customers who voluntarily pay, but by compulsory levies: taxes collected through the threat and use of violence (and through the paper money they literally create out of thin air). Significantly, economists have therefore referred to governments—i.e., the holders of state power—as stationary bandits. Governments and everyone on their payroll live off the loot stolen from other people. They lead a parasitic existence at the expense of a subdued “host population.”

The government is a legal stationary Bandit that considers it is their right to rob citizens through levies, taxes, inflation (the hidden tax), and other means. Being stationary or permanent, the government intends to increase the base of its loot and always try to increase its tax revenue and further increase its spending by issuing more paper money. The larger the loot, the more favors they can do for themselves, their employees, and their supporters through freebies like free electricity, free ration, subsidized LPG, houses, toilets, and so on. However, there is a limit to increasing the taxes.  The government has to be careful not to burden the “hosts” whose work and performance make their parasitic existence possible so much that the latter stop working. On the other hand, they have to fear that their “hosts”—and especially the most productive among them—will migrate from their dominion (territory) and settle elsewhere.

This gives birth to the tendency towards territorial expansion and political centralization: with this, states succeed in bringing more and more “hosts” under their control and making it more difficult for them to emigrate to foreign territories. This is expected to result in a larger amount of loot. And it becomes clear why the end point of this process, the establishment of a world state, while certainly desirable from the standpoint of the ruling gang, would by no means be a blessing for all of mankind, as is often claimed. Because one cannot emigrate from a world state, and hence, there exists no possibility of escaping state looting by emigration. It is, therefore, to be expected that with the establishment of a world state, the scope and extent of state exploitation—indicated, among other things, by the level of state income and expenditure, by monetary inflation, the number, and volume of so-called public goods and persons employed in the “public service”—will continue to increase beyond any previously known level. And that is certainly not a blessing for the “host population” that has to fund this state superstructure!

This is the reason why various centralized groups, including the European Union, BRICS, NATO, UNO, World Bank, and their counterparts come into existence. Every superpower tends to increase its base and the whole world under a single power structure appears to be the goal. This is the reason for the conflict between the EU, the USA, Russia, and China. The same is the case with the Israel-Palestine struggles as the Western powers continue to support Israel in the hope of having a controlling hand in the Middle East. This is the reason why in 1948, the state of Palestine was divided in such a haphazard manner, and the same was done in the Indian sub-continent that resulted in East and West Pakistan and India. The West hoped to have an invisible command over the Indian sub-continent, which it has to some extent. The West (the US, Britain, Germany, and other Governments) continue to interfere, hamper, and topple governments worldwide in the name of the War on Terror, or the spread of democracy and others. It is worth noticing that these Western governments are excessively liberal to their own citizens.

Why the Foreign Policy of the West is so Aggressive? Supremacy of Dollar

Territorial expansion requires war – wars between rival gangs of stationary bandits. But the conduct of war requires means (economic resources), and bandits do not produce anything. They parasitically draw on the means produced and provided by others. They can influence the overall volume of production and the size of their own loot indirectly, however, through the treatment of their “host population.” Other things being equal, the more “liberal” – the less exploitative – the ruling gang, the more productive will be the host population; and parasitically drawing on a more productive host population, then, it is internally “liberal” gangs that tend to win out in war and drive the centralization process. This is the paradox of imperialism: internally liberal regimes tend to conduct a more aggressive foreign policy and are the central promoters of imperialism.

These imperialist ventures may initially have liberating effects: a relatively more liberal – less exploitative or more capitalist – regime may be exported to a comparatively less liberal society. However, the further the process of imperial expansion and political centralization advances, i.e., the closer one gets to the ultimate goal of a one-world government with a global central bank issuing a single universal fiat currency, the less pressure there is on the ruling gang to continue in its former internal liberalism. Internal exploitation, taxation, inflation, and regulation will increase and economic crises, stagnation impoverishment, and decline will result. With the economic failure of political centralization becoming increasingly dramatic, then, the opposite tendency toward de-centralization gains in strength.
The states tend to create and support conflicts and wars because the governments believe in Military Keynesianism. John Meynard Keynes proposed that government should raise military spending to boost economic growth. Despite the common belief that wars bring destruction, despondency, death, poverty, impoverishment, and overall ruin, the state, and the government know that wars are the only means for them to increase their territorial influence, their tax bases, and they will help in boosting the economic growth at the expense of common men. That is why the governments continue to develop and buy lethal weapons and there remains a race among countries to own the most lethal weapons.

About 3% of Indian GDP is spent on the education sector. The percentage of ‘education expenditure’ over ‘total government expenditure’ indicates the importance of education in the scheme of things before the government. The percentage of ‘education expenditure of GDP’ expresses how much of people’s income is being committed to the development of education in India. In 2023, India’s Defense Budget was around 13%-15% of Indian GDP which expresses the importance of spending on wars. This shows that under the current system of democratic governments, legal robbers controlling the citizens, the game of wars and defense will continue and prosper. Such armed conflicts are obvious and imminent.

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

Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

“Because I could not stop for Death” is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson. It was first published posthumously in the 1890 collection, Poems: Series One. This collection was assembled and edited for publication by Dickinson's friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and it was originally published under the title "The Chariot.”

A Lyrical Poem is a short poem, often with songlike qualities, that expresses the speaker’s personal emotions and feelings. Historically intended to be sung and accompany musical instrumentation, lyric now describes a broad category of non-narrative poetry, including elegies, odes, and sonnets.

In the poem, Emily Dickinson describes her idea about Death, Afterlife, and Immortality. She uses personification to portray Death and Immortality as lively characters.

Structure of Because I Could Not Stop for Death:

The poem is 24 lines long and composed of six stanzas containing four lines each. A stanza of four lines is known as Quatrain. So, Because I Could Not Stop For Death has six quatrains with no regular rhyming pattern. The poem appears to be written in a regular metrical pattern. The first and third lines of each quatrain contain eight syllables written in iambic pentameter while the second and fourth lines are written in iambic trimeter.

Emily Dickinson used personification, symbolism, alliteration, allusion, enjambment, and volta in the poem.

Themes of Because I Could Not Stop for Death:

The major theme of the poem is the inevitability of Death. The narrator begins by saying that she “could not stop for Death” which shows she had not necessarily planned to die--but Death came for her anyway. It's not clear if the speaker is already dead, or she is traveling towards death. Either way, her death is presented as something natural, strange, and inescapable.

The use of “stop” in the first line could imply that the speaker was too busy living their life to acknowledge Death’s approach but when the speaker says Death stopping for her, she means Death is making a stop to pick her up, similar to a taxi or bus. The first line could also be interpreted as

perhaps the speaker could not stop for Death because she was too afraid. “Death” here is presented as something of a gentleman, “kindly” stopping his carriage so that the speaker can climb in, to make the speaker comfortable. Death isn’t cheery in this poem--but it’s also not a terrifying, horrible process. The other theme is Immortality who is also present in the carriage along with Death. It’s not clear if this is another personified figure—a kind of chaperone—or something more abstract. But the presence of “Immortality” does speak to one of humanity’s deepest questions: what happens to people when they die? Immortality is ambiguous here, it could refer to the Christian idea of Afterlife or it could also mean the permanent nothingness that awaits in death. The other important theme is the connection of Life and Death. “Death” is in “no haste.” That is, he doesn’t need to hurry to make death happen, because it is an automatic fact of life. In fact, the whole journey has the air of unhurried purpose, as though reaching the destination is a given and that therefore rushing is unnecessary. The carriage stops by a school, fields, and perhaps even the speaker’s own grave (stanza five). These seem to represent different stages of life, starting from childhood and preceding—like the journey itself—to the inevitable final destination.

Summary of Because I Could Not Stop for Death:

Stanza 1)

“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.”

The poet personifies death, portraying him as a close friend or perhaps even a lover. In the first stanza, she reveals that she welcomes death when she says, “He kindly stopped for me.” The pleasant tone of the poem further suggests that the author is quite comfortable with death. Even if she was afraid of death, Death as a gentleman made her comfortable. The poet describes a carriage ride with the death personified which is symbolic of the author’s departure from life. Along with Death, the poet finds Immortality personified in the carriage.

Stanza 2)

“We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –”

She might have been afraid of death in the past but now she is comfortable with death and she says that she had “put away…labor and…leisure too, for his civility”. The author has come to terms with her own mortality.

She has set down all she wanted to do in life and willingly entered the carriage with Death and Immortality. She may be aware that had she not gone willingly, Death and Immortality would have taken her captive nonetheless. But the poet suggests that Death is kind, thoughtful, and even gentle. Death drives slowly for her, allowing her to reminisce. He “knew no haste” as they drove. He takes her through the course of her life with a slow and patient ride. Immortality rides along but is silent.

Stanza 3)

“We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –”

The poet continues to describe how gentle Death and Immortality are for her as they drove “passed the School where the Children strove” suggesting that the poet is generously given a few moments to remember her childhood. Then the carriage passes through ‘Fields of Gazing Grain’ allowing the poet to remember the prime of her life, her productive years. Then the carriage passes the ‘Setting Sun’ which symbolizes the poet’s death. The sunset is beautiful and gentle, and the passing from life to eternity is portrayed as such.

Stanza 4)

“Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –”

The poet uses Volta in the fourth stanza. A volta, or a turn, is often used by poets to create a significant shift in the tone and theme of a poem.

The poet shifts the nature of the personification of Death from pleasant to more ambiguous. Before the volta, Death is portrayed as a civil and courteous gentleman. After the volta, which occurs in line thirteen of the poem, Death takes on a more mysterious quality. Now that the sun has set, the author realizes that she is quite cold, and she shivers. Then, she becomes aware that she is underdressed. Prior to this moment of realization, the poet felt quite comfortable with Death and Immortality. After all, she was riding along with them in only her “gossamer” and her “Tippet – only Tulle”, or in other words, in only a sheer nightgown. When the sun sets and the cold damp sets in, she becomes aware of her inappropriate attire.

Stanza 5)

“We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –”

The poet realizes that she was seduced by Death who appeared to be a nice, gentle lover but now she faces disappointment. The carriage pauses before her new “house,” a “Swelling of the Ground.” She claims that “The Roof was scarcely visible” and the “Cornice – in the Ground.” The tone becomes one of disappointment as the author realizes that death is not all she thought it would be. Now, as the sun has set on her life, and she is standing before her new forever home, disappointment sets in. Death was kind and gentle, like a gentleman suitor. He lured her in with grandiose promises of eternity. Now that she sees her small, damp, eternal home, she feels cheated.

Stanza 6)

“Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –”

Now when the poet realizes that she has been seduced and trapped by Death, she feels centuries have passed “and yet Feels shorter than the Day” as life goes on without her. It has been centuries since that moment of realization when she “first surmised” that Death had seduced her, that he had appeared a kindly gentleman at first but had left her alone in the dark, cold, damp grave.

Literary Devices in Because I Could Not Stop for Death:

Apart from Personification, Symbolism, and Volta, Emily Dickinson also used alliteration, allusion, and enjambment. The Christian concept of the afterlife has been alluded to in the poem it is ambiguous if the poet agrees with it or not because instead of the common belief of eternal bliss in the ‘Afterlife,’ the poet ends the poem suggesting the gloomy, dark, eternal reality of nothingness after death. Alliteration is easily visible in lines such as ‘He Knew No Haste’ or ‘My labor and my leisure. The poet also used enjambment within the lines cutting them off before their natural stopping point.

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!