Hugh Selwyn Mauberley by Ezra Pound | Structure, Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley by Ezra Pound | Structure, Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Hugh Selwyn Maubereley’ is a long poem by Ezra Pound that was first published in 1920. It is a long poem containing 397 lines. Pound referred to the poem as an attempt to “condense a {Henry} James novel.” Pound said that the poem was modeled on the technique used by Henry James in his fiction: it presents its subject through the medium of a character's mind or voice, a "center of consciousness" that assesses the subject in question.

The consists of eighteen short poems that can be treated as stanzas. The poem is written in past tense and is narrated from a third-person omniscient perspective. The poem is an autobiographical content in which Ezra Pound discusses his own life, failure, and success as a writer and his views on arts, literature, modernism, and other historical prospects and events. Some critics have mentioned Hugh Selwyn Mauberley as a ‘quintessential autobiography.’ Pound reached London in August 1908 and began working there. After finishing Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, he swiftly left England.

In the poem, Pound introduces E.P. and Hugh Selwyn Mauberley as fictional characters who appear to be his own alter egos. E.P. and Mauberley can be thought of as different versions of Pound. Part 2 explores Mauberley's psychological experience as a poet.

Structure of Hugh Selwyn Mauberley:

The whole poem is divided into two parts. The first part contains 12 sections that can be treated as short poems or stanzas. Part 1 of the poem follows Pound's alter ego E.P. around London and Paris as he engages in conversations about writing and gaining recognition for poetry. The poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue, a form which Pound borrowed from Robert Browning and then later adapted and described as a ‘dramatic lyric.’

The title of the first section is "E.P. Ode pour l'élection de son sépulchre" (E.P. Ode for the Choice of His Tomb). The next four sections (II-V) are titled as Ran numerals. The sixth through ninth sections of "Hugh Selwyn Mauberley" are named with capitalized phrases and names rather than numerals. In these sections, Pound offers a brief overview of British culture as he found it when he arrived in London in 1908. Sections 10, 11, and 12 sections are again titled with Roman Numerals. The thirteenth section is titled Envoi which represents the end of the first part. Generally, ‘Envoi ’ is a stanza or a set of stanzas at the end of the poem. However, Pound used it not as the end of his poem but rather as a mid-station for the termination of the first part of his poem.

Part 2 begins with the title "Mauberley 1920" in which he introduces his second alter ego Hugh Selwyn Mauberley as a fictional character. Part 2 is also narrated from a third-person omniscient narrative. The first and second sections of Part 2 are titled Roman Numerals while the third section is titled ‘The Age Demanded.’ The fourth section is again titled a Roman numeral and then Pound offers a ‘farewell poem’ at the end titled Medallion.

The poem is a long-form, free-verse, complicated, scholarly poem that expresses the poet’s feelings and thoughts. As he bids farewell to the city of London, Pound also says goodbye to using traditional forms of poetry in favor of more individual, creative forms. The poem is written in traditional four-line stanzas (quatrains) and employs an ABAB rhyme scheme, but there is no meter within the lines. Pound has used a lot of allusions in the poem.

Summary of Hugh Selwyn Mauberley:

The poem begins with an Epigraph "Vocat aestus in umbram" taken from the "Fourth Eclogue" of Nemesianus, a third-century Latin poet, and it translates as "The heat calls us into the shade," which suggests that the poet is willing to discuss the problems he is facing.

Part 1 Section 1 Lines 1-20

Section one is titled "E.P. Ode pour l'élection de son sépulchre" which is in French, meaning, E.P. Ode for the Choice of His Tomb. The title appears pessimistic as if it is a last farewell from a guy who's had enough of the world. The title suggests as if it is a suicide note. This is a reference to Pound's feeling that his poetry underwent a major change when he left London at age 31. E.P.'s poetry had not become popular with his peers because it was out of step with what was in fashion at the time. E.P. had tried to change the nature of poetry, but he failed and died young.

The first short poem consists of 20 lines set in five quatrains with a rhyming scheme of ABAB but irregular meter.

The speaker begins by introducing E.P. as a struggling poet who has been working hard for the last three years but it appears as if E.P. is ‘out of key with his time.’ E.P. "strove to resuscitate the dead art/ Of poetry," that is, he tried to make poetry relevant again while the people were losing interest in poetry. E.P. tried to maintain "'the sublime'/ In the old sense.” Pound uses Allusion in Line 8, comparing E.P. to Capaneus, a warrior in Greek mythology who tried to win over the city of Thebes but Zeus got angry and killed him with a lightning bolt. Pound feels that E.P. was a bit cocky in thinking that he could change the perception of the world towards poetry.

Line 9 (Idmen gar toi panth, os eni Troie) is written in Ancient Greek which means "For we know all things suffered in Troy," and it's the first line of the Sirens' song in Homer's Odyssey. The poet compares E.P. with Odysseus who survived the Sirens because his ears were closed by candlewax, but E.P. had an ‘unstopped ear,’ so his fall was imminent. Pound continues the allusion in the next quatrain and mentions Penelope, wife of Odyssey. E.P.'s true Penelope or love was Gustav Flaubert, a French writer of the Nineteenth century.

Section 2 Lines 21-32

Again, it is a short poem consisting of 12 lines set in three quatrains. The speaker criticizes the current time and the age in which he lives and the public who could not appreciate the poetry E.P. He writes that the people of his time want to see in the arts an extreme version of their own miserable experience of life, stating "The age demanded an image / Of its accelerated grimace." He feels that the masses desire poetry and literature that reflect what he judges to be an overly industrialized, modern, and false society.

E.P. strived to revive some sense of classic beauty and morals in modern poetry but he found that the modern age is not interested in beauty at all, but only conflicts. The modern age demands “an image/ Of its accelrated grimace.” The modern world doesn’t care about anything that tries to make people think deeply about their lives, rather they prefer “better mendacities” or lies, and thus, ignore the truth.

Section 3 Lines 33-60

Section 3 consists of 28 lines set in 7 quatrains in which the narrator offers many references to ancient Greek, Roman, Shakespearean, and Christian stories and mentions pairs of characters who are considered moral and immoral to suggest that the past was morally superior to the present. The poem comments on modern society's lack of quality and morals. While the arts and religion once led society in meaningful ways, Pound feels that his own society is characterized by "a tawdry cheapness." E.P. lacks a "god, man, or hero" at a time when leadership is sorely needed.

In Quatrain 1, line 36, Pound mentions ‘Sappho’s barbitos.’ Barbitos means poems. Sappho was a 6th-century B.C.E. poet. The narrator suggests Sappho as a model of classic poetic beauty.

In the next stanza, the narrator complains that true passion isn’t appreciated in the modern world. Christ’s model of sacrifice has overtaken Dionysus’ model of passion. While poetry is about passion, true passion has "Made way for macerations." That is, a passionate poet like E.P. suffers hunger and starvation. Pound also mentions Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher.

Pound says that modern people too like beauty (Toh Kalon) but they seek beauty in the marketplace, they are too materialistic, and beauty in the modern world is determined by market forces.

Section 4 Lines 61-85

In this part, Pound discards the quatrain form and begins with two lines and an ellipsis. The narrator mentions the widespread death and trauma Europe had just experienced during World War I (1914–1918). He reviews the reasons why young men go to war, such as "for adventure" and "from fear of weakness." Even those soldiers who had gone to war "for love of slaughter, in the imagination" ended up hurt and disillusioned by this brutal conflict. Pound depicts the surviving soldiers returning from World War I as having "walked eye-deep in hell" and then coming home to a damaged, corrupt society. E.P. expresses grief about the death, hurt, and trauma that he and his entire generation experienced as a result of the war.

Section 5 Lines 86-93

It is a short section or poem consisting of 8 lines in which the narrator describes European society as "an old bitch gone in the teeth" and "a botched civilization." Pound writes that "a myriad" of people had died in the war, but the achievements of humanity do not at all justify such a gigantic loss of human life. Pound denigrates modern culture even though he is clearly a devotee of the arts and scholarly knowledge. E.P. feels let down by human society, as represented by Pound's description of it as "two gross of broken statues" and "a few thousand battered books."

YEUX GLAUQUES Lines 94-117

In this section, Pound returned to the quatrain form. Yeux Glauques means ‘sea green eyes’ or grey eyes. In line 95, he mentions William Ewart Gladstone, a former prime minister of Britain, and criticizes him and the society. John Ruskin criticized British society and said that the British were a terrible society full of people who hated literature, art, beauty, and human compassion. He published ‘King’s Treasuries’ in which he attacked the government but the crooked Prime Minister Gladstone remained unfettered and well-respected. He further mentions Robert Buchanan who criticized the works of poets like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Swineburn while they deserved much more respect. Pound criticizes prominent British writers and critics from the past and describes their "vacant gaze." The color grey commonly represents old age, sadness, and emptiness.

“SIENA MI FE’, DISFECEMI MAREMMA” Lines 118-137

The title of the 7th section is an Italian phrase taken from a story in Divine Comedy, an epic poem by Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), a classic work about purgatory and hell that was written in the 1300s. The quote translates to "Siena made me, Maremma unmade me." A female character in Dante's Divine Comedy is speaking here about the speaker's transformation from her birth in Siena to her death in Maremma, two Italian cities. Pound may have related this line to his own transformations from his life in the United States through the years he spent developing as a poet in London.

BRENNEBAUM Lines 138-145

Pound continues with the quatrain form in this section. In this section, Pound makes a personal attack on Max Beerbohm, a British humorist and essayist who was Jewish by religion. The narrator mentions him as Brennebaum while making an antisemitic portrayal of him. Beerbohm wrote essays full of parodies and sarcastic caricatures of London's literary elite, including Pound and his contemporaries. Pound may have detested Beerbohm because of his satirical criticisms, but he limits his description of Brennebaum to negative physical characteristics, including "limpid eyes," a "circular infant's face," and "stiffness." Pound closes this section while making references to the Jewish religion as he mentions “Horeb, Sinai, and the forty years,” an allusion to the biblical story of the 40 years that Moses and the Jewish people spent in the desert. He then offers an ironic nickname to Beerbohm as ‘Brennebaum ‘The Impeccable.’

MR. NIXON Lines 146-169

In this section, the narrator mentions a wealthy literary critic named Mr. Nixon who invites E.P. into the “cream glided cabin of his steam yacht” to advise him on how and on what to write. Mr. Nixon says that E.P. must concentrate only on what the reviewers will say about his work. He asserts that the reviewers have no knowledge of good art or good writing, but they are influential. Mr. Nixon says that without the help of the reviewers, there is no money to be made as a writer. He advises, whenever you write something, make sure that the person you're writing for is the person who's going to review your book.

He says that the main struggle for the writers is to gain the attention and approval of the reviewers. He mentions Mr. Dunas as one of the toughest reviewers and advises E.P. to sell his pen to attain success. Mr. Nixon advises E.P. to quit writing poetry and verses as there is no value in it, or it will earn no money for E.P. The narrator then ends the discussion of Mr. Nixon with three dots and mentions a friend of Blougrham who advised the same to him. Blougrham is a character from Robert Browning’s poem ‘Bishop Blougram’s Apology.’

Section 10 Lines 170-181

Ezra Pound again returned to Roman Numeral for the title of the sections of his long poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. In section 10, the narrator tells about "the stylist," an idealized artist who is "unpaid, uncelebrated" but content and close to nature. The stylist "offers succulent cooking" and enjoys his "placid and uneducated mistress." Pound seems to say that this simple man has more pleasure and peace in his life than most of the more refined members of society he describes in the poem.

Section 11 Lines 182-189

In this section, Pound again praises the ancient past while criticizing the present time and behavior of people. To do so, he makes a reference to a “Conservatrix,” a woman who guards and keeps things safe. Pound is not a fan of modern women. Pound says it's an exaggeration to compare any modern woman with one from the world of Ancient Greece. The reason for this is that modern women no longer have the instincts these ancient women once had. Instead, all they have are the instincts and behaviors that their grandmothers told them would "fit their station," or be appropriate for their social class.

Section 12 Lines 190-217

In this section, Pound portrays London's wealthy women of the time who ran literary gatherings of people in their homes to discuss and enjoy literature, music, and ideas. The Lady Valentine is a stand-in for such women. E.P. portrays her as materialistic and vain. Pound seems to imply that these women know little about the poetry they enjoy and sometimes financially sponsor. He refers to London as a city in which "the sale of half-hose has / Long since superseded the cultivation / Of Pierian roses." London society values socks more than the beautiful art represented by the reference to the ancient Greek Pierian Spring, a mythological body of water that inspired art and music.

Section 13 Envoi (1919) Lines 218-243

Pound ends the first part of his long poem with Envoi. An envoi is a short summary verse that traditionally ended certain French forms of poetry. This section takes a completely different form from the rest of the modern, disjointed work. Pound creates a version of a lyrical British poem from the 1600s. Pound uses an old-fashioned poetic style to reflect on the passage of time, life, death, and art.

Part 2 Section 1 Lines 244-259

Pound ended Part 1 with an end note Envoi (1919)suggesting that his alter ego E.P. ended there and this second part is written by someone else, his own other alter ego who is named Hugh Selwyn Mauberley. Mauberley is a bit different from E.P. Mauberley is less confident than E.P. as an artist. He is generally frustrated both artistically and personally. He is much more inward-looking than E.P. His section focuses more on his thoughts about art and life than on other people as E.P. did. While E.P. appeared to be rebellious and criticizing, Mauberley appears self-criticizing.

He begins Part 2 in the same manner mentioning Hugh’s true love or Penelop was Gustav Flaubert. But unlike E.P. Hugh’s favorite tool was the engraver’s tool. Hugh turned his eyes from “eau-forte” a famous art piece towards the ‘strait head Of Messalina.’ Messalina was the beautiful wife of Roman Emperor Claudius who murdered her. Messalina’s face was engraved on Roman coins.

In this section, Pound scathingly criticizes artists (Pier Francesca and Antonio Pisalleno) who create metal medallions of beautiful women's faces. The medallion relates to a central theme Pound explores throughout the poem regarding how artists and writers use language in new ways to express modern realities. Pound's goal was to create a new movement in the arts within Modernism, called Imagism. Later, artist Pound did not approve of laying claim to the Imagist title, so he developed the term Vorticism. Each of these movements within Literary Modernism centered on the idea of one image perfectly expressed in words that use only the words that are absolutely required. The medallion is a single visual image full of beauty and serves as a symbol for the kind of poetry and art that Pound thought was ideal.

Section 2 Lines 260-296

In this section, Pound deals with Mauberley's dissatisfaction with his tendency to get overwhelmed by the beauty of the natural world at the expense of other people and his art. He faces "estrangement," and his sense of having "drifted on" is hinted at with many sets of ellipses, or three periods that can indicate an omission, a pause, or a thought trailing off.

THE AGE DEMANDED Lines 297-356

Pound didn’t use Roman numerals for the title of this poem, rather titled it The Age Demanded. The narrator begins explaining the frustration of Hugh Mauberley by alluding to the Cytherean, also known as the goddess Aphrodite, the epitome of beauty. In Greek mythology, mythical Greek doves with ‘red-beaked steeds’ pulled the chariot of the Cytherean. However, while doing so, they couldn’t see the goddess, the epitome of beauty. The same is the case of Mauberley. He knows and understands the true beauty of poetry. But he is forced to turn his back on it to pull it and bring it into the modern world of fashion. However, his efforts are not working and are proving to be ‘social inconsequence.’ In Part 1 of the same long poem, Pound used the same phrase (The Age Demanded) to express his frustration with the current age which demands art that is simple and cheap. In the first part, E.P. engaged in literary circles and tried to bring change, and failed, but Hugh Mauberley is different. Instead of engaging in a literary society like E.P., Mauberley isolates himself and dwells on feeling rejected. He deeply resents "his final / Exclusion from the world of letters.”

Section 4 Lines 357-381

In this section, Pound creates a picture of a lush forest through his words. A river flows slowly by in the mist. Flowers and flamingos show that it is a warm, even tropical climate. Mauberley muses that he might have been a "hedonist," or person who only seeks pleasure. He stops himself from accepting such a thought with the quip "I was / And I no more exist; / Here drifted a hedonist." Mauberley realizes that even though he fantasizes about the indulgent life of a hedonist, he would rather be a writer and leave a lasting legacy through art and poetry.

MEDALLION Lines 382-397

In the last section, Pound returns to the allusion to the engraver’s tools and medallion makers that he discussed at the beginning of Part 2. Pound describes the eternal beauty of the woman's face that the ancient Greek medallion maker portrays in metal. The medallion captures a single, beautiful moment in time. Pound hopes to create poetry that is lasting and meaningful through the ages like the medallion.

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!

A Bird Came Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

A Bird Came Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. A Bird Came Down the Walk is a poem by Emily Dickinson that was published posthumously in 1891. It is a typical Dickinson poem in which she used imagery, symbolism, and her signature rhyme scheme and meter to explore the themes of nature. She used the symbol of the bird is used to represent nature's simultaneous beauty and brutality. Dickinson wrote 'A Bird, came down the Walk' in 1862, following a decade in her life that had been full of death. Her cousin, Sophia Holland, and friend, Benjamin Franklin Newton, had both died as had her close companion Reverend Charles Wadsworth. Dickinson’s mother had also become bedridden with illness during the 1850s, requiring the care of her daughters.

Structure of A Bird Came Down the Walk:

The poem is 20 lines long, composed in five quatrains or stanzas. Each quatrain follows a loose rhyming scheme of ABCB and the poet rhythmically breaks up the meter with long dashes. Dickinson used her signature iambic trimeter and occasional tetrameter feet in the lines of the poem. The dashes serve a relatively limited function, occurring only at the end of lines, and indicating slightly longer pauses at line breaks. The major strength of the poem lies in the Imagery. The poet takes the reader to a whole new world of watching the action of a bird. She does so with the help of her writing, making the readers observe the actions of the bird in their minds by picturizing the whole scene as if the bird is in front of them. The bird represents Death and the poem as a whole is a Metaphor. In addition, Emily used Alliteration, Enjambment, Juxtaposition, Simile, and Personification (of the bird).

Summary of A Bird Came Down the Walk:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“A Bird, came down the Walk -
He did not know I saw -
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,”

The poet describes the simple, yet beautiful movements of a bird that is coming down the Walk. The poetess is probably talking about a sidewalk or a path near her home or where she is situated, from where she could observe this bird. While the speaker is observing the bird, the bird is unaware of being observed. The poetess is careful enough not to frighten the bird or startle him. Emily Dickinson personifies the bird by using the adjective ‘He’ for the bird. The poetess indicates the intervening interactions of men with nature. Birds are often wary of human beings and will not behave the same way if they are aware that they are being watched. The whole scene appears naturally beautiful but nature is brutal too. The speaker notices that the bird finds a worm, and eats it raw, biting it in half. To accentuate the brutality, the poetess notifies the worm as an ‘Angel Worm’.

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“And then, he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass -
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass -”

The bird continues to amaze the speaker as she observes that the bird is drinking the “Dew” from the grass. It doesn’t have to go anywhere else to find water, making the “Dew” and “Grass” “convenient.” The bird’s life is shown as a simple movement from need to need. Then the bird sees the beetle and hops sidewise to let the beetle crawl past. These two creatures may appear simple to the reader, but just a while ago, the bird ‘bit an Angle Worm in halves’. Unlike the worm the bird killed and ate, it let the beetle go away undisturbed. One may assume the beetle’s death is yet not imminent. The poetess continues using Caesura by using Dashes.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“He glanced with rapid eyes,
That hurried all abroad -
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. -“

The speaker continues to study the bird with a keen interest as if trying to understand the inner feelings of the bird, as if trying to live the life of that bird herself. The speaker notices that the bird is anxious, and alert as it looks around “with rapid eyes.” The bird’s eyes move quickly, “all abroad,” trying to see everything at once. The bird is very on edge and aware of the variety of dangers it might face.

The eyes of the bird are probably black and as they move hurriedly in the bird’s eye sockets, the speaker feels as if they are like ‘frightened Beads.’ At this moment, the bird becomes aware that it is being observed, and this scarce the bird. The bird stirs its “Velvet Head” to look towards the poet. Dickinson used the word ‘Velvet’ to express the grand stature of the bird and how loving it appears.

Stanza 4 Lines 13-16

“Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
And rowed him softer Home -”

The speaker notices the bird is scared of her as it appears ‘Cautious.’ The speaker didn’t wish to startle the bird, she loved to observe the bird quietly. But now when the bird appears frightened and cautious, the poet tries to calm the bird down and shows a friendly gesture by offering “him a crumb” of food. The bird isn’t interested though, rather the bird feels as if the poet is intruding on his privacy and instinctively, the bird flies away, as if protecting itself. However, the process is not as straightforward as the poetess observes, it is rather delicate and beautiful. The bird “unrolled his feathers,” and as each feather passes her by in all its “Velvet” beauty, the poetess admires the bird. The bird flies away to the sky, going towards his home, wherever it is. However, the speaker uses a metaphor to suggest that the bird “rowed,” comparing the sky with water. The comparison between a bird’s flight and sailing in water appears.

Stanza 5 Lines 17-20

“Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.”

The poet continues to describe the flight of the bird and she continues with the metaphor, comparing the bird’s flight in the sky with movement in water. The speaker observes how the bird’s wings move through the air and compares that movement to “Oars divid[ing] the Ocean.” An Oar is a long pole with a broad blade at one end used for propelling or steering a boat.

The speaker further beautifies the bird and compares it to a butterfly that takes off from the “Banks of Noon” in the heat of the day. It jumps and moves and “splashes” through the air.

When someone moves and jumps through the water, the movement creates splashes. However, the movement of the bird is soft like that of a butterfly moving without causing any ruffles or splashes. The poet continues the metaphor by comparing the bird’s flight to movement in the water as if the bird swimming in the sky without causing any stir, ruffles, and splashes. In the first line of the 5^th Quatrain, Dickinson used Alliteration while repeating the letter ‘o’ (Oars, Ocean) and in the second line, the letter ‘s’ (Silver, Seam) is repeated.

In the last lines, Dickinson used Enjambment to express the flight of the bird, showing how the bird's actions are more fluid when it is flying. In addition, the poetess used Simile, Butterflies, off Banks of Noon, / Leap, plashless as they swim,' to describe the beautiful flight of the bird.

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!

It Was Dark by Shashi Deshpande | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “ It Was Dark” is a short story by Shashi Deshpande that was first published in 1986. The story explores the theme of child sexual abuse and the related fears, uncertainties, hopes, and human connections. The story is written in first person narrative while the narrator remains unnamed and so do the other characters. Shashi Deshpande used some significant symbolism in this story that explains the fear and uncertainty within the story.

Characters of It Was Dark:

The narrator is a married woman, the mother of a teenage school-going girl. She is going through a rough patch of time. Her husband is equally concerned and worried about the situation. While none of them are aware of the possible damage that has been done, they fear the worst. The narrator’s daughter is a school-going girl who is seriously injured and is unable to move or speak. She appears to be in a coma as she continues to look at a fixed spot on the ceiling, without saying anything. She appears to be unaware of her whereabouts. The narrator’s neighbor knocks at the door to pry upon what has happened and it disturbs the narrator and her husband.

Summary of It Was Dark:

The story begins as the unnamed narrator is woken up from a dream. It appears as if it was a dreadful nightmare. She explains to her husband that in her dream she was searching for something and she appears very afraid. The dream suggests her current situation. The narrator and her husband are trying to ascertain what has happened to their daughter who is there with them in the house but appears seriously ill. The daughter is unresponsive to anything. She doesn’t move, nor does she speak anything.

The discussion of the narrator and her husband reveals to the reader that their daughter was kidnapped by someone and though they have recovered their daughter, they are not aware of what happened to their daughter when she was away, forcibly taken by her abductor. However, nothing is certain and the narrator and her husband appear to be in utter confusion. The husband suggests that this may have happened to her and that is why she is unresponsive. The narrator and her husband are unsure if they should discuss this with others or if should they try to hide what had happened to their daughter. This is why they have closed all the doors and windows of the house, trying to avoid the prying eyes of the neighbors. The room is almost dark.

Nothing is certain but the narrator’s husband and the narrator fear this may have been what happened to their daughter. The narrator’s daughter is a teenage girl who has reached puberty and the narrator suggests to her husband that things may become clearer in a week when their daughter’s due date is expected. If she misses her period, it will suggest that she has been raped.

It appears as if their daughter is aware of her situation and is worried about this as she is fixated on a dark spot on the ceiling that she continues to look at. The dark spot on the ceiling suggests a point in time when the daughter had clarity and certainty and after that, everything became confusing and dark for her. Up to this point in time, she was safe, healthy, unafraid, and full of life but after that, she now appears listless, lifeless, paralyzed on her bed. She is uncertain of what is to come. Her surroundings are dark and gloomy, and the situation of her parents, their uncertainty, and indecisiveness about how to handle the situation further increase the tension.

Each character of the story is literally and figuratively in the dark as they are unaware of what had happened to the daughter and what will be her future.

The narrator looks at her daughter’s school dress which is black and white. It again is a symbolism that the writer used. The school uniform is black and white which is easier to understand but what is not black or white is the current situation of her daughter as she is unaware of what happened to her or how she is feeling. The uncertainty of the situation haunts the narrator, her husband, and their daughter.

The narrator and her husband hear the knock on the door. The neighbor continues to knock on the door and the narrator is disturbed by the neighbor’s nosiness and presumptuous inquiry. The narrator and her husband are trying to keep their secret intact and the knock on the door appears to be a direct attack on their privacy. The neighbors could be enquiring out of compassion or goodwill, but they represent the outside world to the narrator and her husband while the narrator and her husband are too busy with their inner turmoil and fears. The narrator only wants to see inside her daughter’s world which is unclear, and uncertain. She desperately wants to know what happened with her daughter and how can she soothe her. She is failing to feel the connection with her daughter that she wishes to regain as soon as possible.

Suddenly, the narrator gets up and goes to the window and pulls down the blinds curtain from the window. The rays of sunlight begin to enter the room. The brightness attracts her daughter who changes her attention from the dark spot on the ceiling to another brighter spot. The writer thus suggests there is some hope for the narrator’s daughter and that she will overcome the fears and pain that she is going through. The rays of light begin to defeat the darkness of the inside house and this suggests that the narrator will eventually learn fully what has happened to her daughter and will manage the situation. She will come to know whether or not her daughter was raped by the man who abducted her. This sense of hope is vital for the narrator as she struggles against confusion and indecisiveness while trying to know what has happened to her daughter.

The narrator knows that she cannot change the past, she can do nothing but reclaim her daughter and soothe her, help her. However, she knows that it would be much more difficult if the assault on her daughter had been sexual. The narrator knows that she will be able to revitalize her daughter and make her forget all the bad memories of the assault if it isn’t sexual, but if it is of a sexual nature, it will be difficult for her daughter to overcome. An assault of such a nature would leave a permanent scar on the narrator’s daughter and on the narrator.

Things remain uncertain at the end though there is hope that situations will improve and the narrator will be able to reclaim her daughter.

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!

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was published in 1751. It is a contemplative thought-provoking poem written by Thomas Gray that he completed in 1750. It is an elegy that mourns the death of the people of the village who lie buried in a country churchyard. “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is among the most important and influential elegies ever written, and among the most well-regarded poems written in 18th century England. In this poem, Thomas Gray didn’t talk about some rich famous person, rather he contemplated the lives and deaths of the lower-class farmers. They were insignificant and more humble compared to the people of the privileged sections of society. The tone of the poem is mournful, melancholic, and thoughtful. The poet says that after death, even the privileged lie under the earth in the same way the poor and ordinary people do. The poor died unsung, unhonored, and unwept. Had they been given the privilege, they would have achieved something with their talents that remained undiscovered. In the end, the poet says that one day the poet too will die and be buried in the same graveyard, and the epitaph that he wrote for himself would be inscribed on his tomb. It is the poem that established Thomas Gray as one of the famous Graveyard Poets of the 18^th century.

Structure of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is written in heroic quatrains. A quatrain is a four-line stanza. Heroic quatrains rhyme in an ABAB pattern and are written in iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic foot consisting of one unstressed and one stressed syllable, as in the phrase “the world.” Pentameter simply means that there are five feet in each line. In each stanza, the first line rhymes with the third and the second line rhymes with the fourth (ABAB). The poem has 32 Heroic quatrains (or 128 lines).

Gray frequently used Inversion (reversal of normal word order) for poetic effect. For example, Line 6: And all the air a solemn stillness holds (all the air holds a solemn stillness). The poet also made use of Syncope while omitting letters or sounds in a word used in the poem for example, ov’r, glimm’ring, tow’r, twitt’ring, etc.

Gray also used Alliteration, Anaphora, Metonymy, Metaphor, and Personification. In lines 53-56, he uses Metaphor to compare common dead village people with gems and flowers. In lines 71-72, he compares flattering words to incense. In lines 29-32, Gray Personified Ambition and Grandeur, in lines 49-50, Knowledge is personified, and in lines 119-120, Science and Melancholy are personified.

Summary of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

Stanza 14 Lines 1-16

“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.”

The poet begins by explaining the surroundings in a village during an evening in 1750 when English towns had a “curfew,” the time when a bell was rung in the evening that signaled people to put out their fires and go to bed. It is the time when cattle herds are turning back home and the tired farmers are returning from their fields. All is quiet and everything is still. Only the beadle buzzes and the owl hoots. It appears as if the owl is the ruler molesting (inspecting) her reign. Among a group of elm trees, there is the graveyard. There are burials of the villagers’ ancestors in the graveyard and the omniscient speaker is standing there in the graveyard. Throughout the poem, the word ‘Save’ is used to mean ‘except.’

Stanza 5-8 Lines 17-32

“The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,
The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.”

The poet who is standing in the graveyard, begins to discuss the people who have been buried there. They are sleeping in beds that are low to the ground. No sound can wake them up. The twittering of the swallow, the morning call of the cock, even a horn cannot wake them. Their wives and their children, nobody cares for them anymore. They were hard-working men when they were alive. Their plowing, their harvesting, and their farming were all efficient. The speaker asks not to look down upon their simple life and hard work. Ambitious people think of village life as simple. But the villagers had their joy and sorrow much like others.

Stanza 9-12 Lines 33-48

“The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.”

The omniscient speaker continues to appreciate the common dead villagers and says that the poor are not inferior to the rich in death. Invariably, every human life ends in death. The beauty, the wealth, and the glory all lead to the unavoidable end. The villager’s grave does not have the grandness of ceremonies and tombstones. But, none of that can bring a person back to life. So, there is no use for them. One should remember that no one knew that one of the dead villagers may have achieved greatness. Therefore, there may be a ruler or a poet buried in there.

Stanza 13-16 Lines 49-64

“But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;
Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,”

In these stanzas, the poet continues to support the common men and remarks that the villagers who were dead would also have talent. There might be a Milton or a Cromwell buried there. They did not get opportunities to prove themselves. Like gems hidden deep under the ocean and like desert flowers, they have perished without notice. Given opportunities, they would have also succeeded. People would have read their deeds in history.

Stanza 17-20 Lines 65-80

“Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.”

In these stanzas, the poet exclaims the innocence and straightforwardness of the common villagers. The omniscient speaker says that the villagers did not wish to be involved in treachery and deceit. They were honest people and wished to lead simple lives. So, they kept themselves away from the mad crowd of the cities and kingdoms. They were true to themselves. They liked peace and honesty. But still, there were markings to note their memory. The tombstones were simple. The language was ordinary. But, there is truth in their memory.

Stanzas 21-24 Lines 81-96

“Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,”

The poet laments that the dead villagers rest in the graveyard without recognition. The omniscient speaker is happy to declare that this poem will be a tribute to them. They lived their lives with morals. They died in the care of a loving person. And, they closed their eyes with prayers in one’s eyes. One day, a kind soul may come and enquire after the dead one out of curiosity.

Stanza 25-28 Lines 97-112

“Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;”

In these stanzas, the poet suggests as if he is also dead and dwelling in the graveyard among the other dead villagers. If someone asks about the poet who rests in the graveyard, one of the villagers may talk about him. A free-spirited man was the poet. He went to the mountains in the morning and stood under the beach tree sometimes. Then, he went to the brook. Besides, he was sometimes muttering his fancies. The villager would say that he missed seeing the man one day. The poet was missing. The villager did not see him in his usual places. But, he saw the funeral procession and how the man was buried in the graveyard

Stanza 29-32 Lines 113-128

"The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

THE EPITAPH

“Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose)
The bosom of his Father and his God.”

The poet suggests that the epitaph of the poet buried in the graveyard would say: Here lies the young man who was not popular. His life was full of sorrow. Knowledge was his only wealth. He gave his life to misery and all he longed was for a friend to support him. One need not look away to know about him. All that he did lies with him, close to god in the lap of earth.

Themes of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

The main theme of the poem is the inevitability of Death which is a universal truth. Irrespective of a person’s social status, political power, wealth, or fame, everyone is a subject of death and death doesn’t discriminate. Even the omniscient speaker of the poem is a subject of death. Since it is an elegy, the poem laments the death of everyone who died and was buried in the Country Churchyard and it is also a sorrowful note for those who will die and will be buried in that churchyard, including the poet himself. In fact, the poem can be taken as an elegy for every death in the past, and in the future anywhere in the world, and thus, the poem establishes the sense of looming inescapable mortality.

The other important theme of the poem is the importance of Commemorating the Dead. The poem suggests that memorizing the dead helps the living in accepting the inevitability of death. The poet further asserts that fame is not a virtue. He focuses on all the common people who have died without fame, power, or wealth. In particular, he realizes that many people could have been great and famous if only they had grown up under the right circumstances. Rather than lamenting this fact, however, the speaker suggests that these people led less troubled lives than those in elite society. The speaker rejects wealth, fame, and power, and instead celebrates regular people living ordinary lives. Anonymity, the poem suggests, is better for the soul.

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 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Grapes of Wrath is one of the three Dust Bowl novels written by John Steinbeck that was published in 1939. The other two Dust Bowl novels by John Steinbeck include Of Mice and Men, published in 1937, and In Dubious Battle published in 1936.

Dust Bowl literature is a genre of American literature that illustrated drought, dusters, and economic depression through powerful stories and contributed to aesthetic movements for social realism and cultural regionalism during the 1930s. These novels are all set in the period of the Great Depression in the 1930s during which severe drought and dust storms greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies. Dust Bowl literature thus illuminates the human fight against extreme temperatures, soil erosion, agricultural maladjustment, and swirling winds, during a period when the whole of the United States was also suffering the effect of economic turmoil.

The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. John Steinbeck won the Nobel prize for literature in 1962 and The Grapes of Wrath was mentioned as a prominent novel by him in the Presentation Speech.

The novel tells the story of the Joad family and depicts the hardships and oppression suffered by the Joad family representing the migrant laborers during the Great Depression.

Characters of The Grapes of Wrath:

Tom Joad is the central character of the novel. Tom is a young man recently released from jail on parole who returns to his family and finds out that they have lost their land and have been evicted from their home. He and his family then decide to go west to California to find some work. Ma Joad is the mother of Tom. She is a kindhearted yet determined woman with a tenacity to fight hard against odds and deprivation. She continues to fight for the unity of her family. Pa Joad is the father of Tom, he has lost the way to earn and provide for his family and thus he takes a lesser role in deciding the fate of his family. Muley Graves is an old man from the village whose family has already moved away but he remains back. He informs Tom about the eviction of his family. Uncle John is a sad, alcoholic, and depressed man who believes he is responsible for his family’s misfortune. He allows the Joad family to stay at his house when they get evicted. Rose of Sharon is Tom’s younger sister who is recently married to Connie Rivers. She is pregnant and an optimistic person. She dreams of a happy settled middle-class life with her husband but fails to maintain herself when her husband abandons her. When Connie reaches California and does not find work, he immediately becomes disillusioned and abandons his pregnant wife. Noah Joad is Tom’s elder brother who has been mentally disabled since childhood. He abandons his family and leads a life of vagabond. Al Joad is the younger sixteen years old brother of Tom who has a keen interest in cars and dreams of becoming a mechanic. Winfield Joad is another younger brother of Tom who is still a kid and Ruthie Joad is the youngest child of the family, a sister of Tom. Granpa Joad is an energetic and passionate man who doesn’t wish to leave his homeland but is forced by his family. After her husband’s death, Granma Joad falls ill and dies soon. Reverend Jim Casy is an agnostic man who left the ministry because he believes that all that is holy comes from collective society and discards the absolute idea of sin. Sairy Wilson is the head of another poor family moving west of California. She helps the Joad family when Granpa Joad dies. The Mayor is a half-crazed migrant worker who leads a colony of workers in government-protected quarters. Floyd Knowles befriends Al Joad and informs him about the government camp at Weedpatch.

Summary of The Grapes of Wrath:

The novel is set during the Great Depression. Tom Joad appears at a diner in a formal spotless dress and asks for a ride to Oklahoma. A truck driver offers him a ride but questions his about his identity. Tom Joad reluctantly reveals that he is a resident of Oklahoma returning home as he recently was released from McAlester prison on parole. He was imprisoned because he killed a man during a fight. Meanwhile, Tom notices a turtle trying to cross the busy road and thinks about the struggles of the common man of the working class during these hard times.

On his way back home, Tom meets Reverend Jim Casey, the Preacher Tom has known since his childhood. Caset reveals that he has resigned from the Ministry and is no longer a preacher. He says that he does believe in the Holy Spirit but does not believe in Organized religion. Casey says that he believes the love for fellow human beings and humanity is the Holy Spirit. Casey believes that all people are holy, everyone being part of the whole soul of humankind. Tom requests him to come with him on his way home.

During their walk back home, Tom and Casey observe the ruined farmlands because of the Dust Bowl storms. When they reach a farm previously owned by the Joad family, Tom comes to know that his family has been evicted. Muley Graves, an old neighbor of Joad Family notices Tom and informs him that his family has been evicted by the bank for not paying back the loan and now they are living at the farm of old Uncle John. Muley Graves also informs that Tom’s family has planned to move to California to find work. Tom and Casey spend the night at the abandoned farm and decide to visit Old John’s farm early in the morning.

The next morning, Tom and Casey visit Uncle John’s farm and come to know that the Joad family is preparing to leave for California. Casey proposes that he may accompany them to California and help them around and the Joad family agrees to take him along. Tom is happy after meeting his elder brother Noah who has been mentally challenged since his birth and his three younger brothers Al, Ruthie, and Winfield. He comes to know about the pregnancy of his sister Rose of Sharon who is married to Connie Rivers. All of them are eager to move to California. Al knows a lot about cars and aspires to become a mechanic on reaching California while Connie Rivers wishes to study Radios and become a technician. The Joad family planned to go to California on account of flyers advertising work in the California fields.

They sell off all their belongings and then pack their bags. However, Granpa Joad is not happy about leaving his old land and wishes to stay back alone. Joad’s family tries to convince him but fails. At last, they drug him to get him in the truck. The Joad family, Casey, and Uncle John roll on the highway in their truck. The family dog also accompanies them but a truck is run over by the dog on their first stop.

The next day when Granpa Joad comes back to his consciousness, he feels heartbroken and soon he suffers a stroke. The Joad family stops in the evening to take care of Granpa Joad but fails to save him. Another traveling family of Saira Wilson helps the Joads while they perform the last rites of Granpa Joad. Wilson's family’s car fails but Tom and Al fix their car and then the two families decide to travel together towards California. On their way, they notice the vacant homes and colonies deserted by the homeowners.

When they reach New Mexico, Wilson’s car fails again. Tom and Al suggest that they will look for a part required for the car while the rest of the two families should continue the travel on the truck. But Ma Joad opposes this idea and insists that the whole family must remain together. Meanwhile, Granma Joad is severely ill as she is depressed by the death of Granpa Joad. Somehow, Tom and Al find out the required part, and the two families decide to travel again. Before they can begin, they meet a man returning from California who informs them that there is no work there and that the promises of work in the flyers are all fraudulent. The man tells Pa Joad that 20,000 people show up for every 800 jobs and that his own children have starved to death. The families decide to test their luck.

As they reach the desert bordering California, they suffer intense scrutiny and intimidation by police officers who derisively call them, and other migrant laborers, "Okies." Sairy Wilson becomes so ill that she is unable to continue. The Joads leave the Wilsons and continue across the California desert on their own. Soon Granma Joad passes away and when the police stop them again to inspect, Ma Joad sternly opposes them to conceal the death of Granma Joad.

The Joads stop at the first camp they come to, a dirty Hooverville of tents and makeshift shelters. The men are talking to Floyd Knowles, a young man in the camp when a businessman accompanied by a cop offers them work. When Floyd asks for a wage offer in writing, he is accused of being a "red," and the cop attempts to arrest him. Tom trips an officer and Casy knocks him unconscious. Since Tom is on parole, Casey takes the whole blame on himself and gets arrested. Uncle John leaves them to get drunk while Pa Joad is too sad about the demise of his parents and blames himself for not being able to provide for his family. Noah decides to leave society altogether and live alone in the woodlands. Connie too realizes that he is chasing false dreams and there is no better future in California and thus, he abandons his pregnant wife and runs away. Floyd Knowles informs Al about Weedpatch, a government camp where the residents are spared harassment by police officers and have access to amenities such as baths and toilets. The remaining Joads decide to continue their travel and before they leave, Tom succeeds in picking Uncle John back.

When they arrive at the Weedpatch government camp, the Joads are shocked to find how well the other residents treat them and how efficiently this society (which even features democratic elections) functions. Tom also finds work quickly. The Joads are comfortable but, after a month, are still unable to find any stable work and realize they must move on.

They are offered work picking peaches at Hooper Ranch in Tulare. The camp gate is surrounded by a large group of men shouting and waving. The Joads, escorted through the gate by state police, begin work immediately. They are paid five cents a box, not sufficient to feed the family a day's meal. After the first day of picking, Tom wanders outside the ranch. He meets up with Jim Casy, who is leading a strike against the peach orchard owners who want to pay two-and-a-half cents a box. Tom learns his family is being paid five cents because they are working as strikebreakers. As the men talk, authorities sneak up, looking for Casy, the presumed leader of the strike. Unprovoked, one of the men strikes Casy on the head, killing him. Without thinking, Tom begins beating Casy's killer. The other men intervene, and Tom's nose is broken. He escapes, hiding in the peach orchard until he can reach his house.

Tom wishes to leave the family to save them from taking responsibility for his actions, but Ma Joad insists that they will remain together. They leave Hooper Ranch for a location where Tom can be safe. They reach cotton fields up north, where Tom hides in the woods while the family stays in a boxcar. Although the family attempts to keep Tom's identity and location a secret, young Ruthie Winfield reveals it during a fight with another child. When Ma tells Tom about this, he decides to leave the family and go off alone, determined to fight for the cause for which Casy died. He vows to return to his family one day.

As soon as Tom leaves the family, heavy rains begin which causes massive flooding. The Joads are caught in a dangerous situation: they cannot escape the flooding because Rose of Sharon suddenly goes into labor. While other families evacuate the camp near the rapidly rising creek, the Joads remain and attempt to stop the flood waters. Without the aid of others, the Joads are unsuccessful, and they must seek refuge on the top of their car. Rose of Sharon delivers a stillborn child that Uncle John sends in a box down the creek.

After a few days, the rain subsides. Leaving Al and the Wainwrights, the remaining Joads abandon the boxcar for higher ground. They find shelter in an old barn already occupied by a boy and his starving father. The child tells the Joads that his father has not eaten in six days and is unable to keep down solid food. Rose of Sharon, barely recovered from the delivery, breastfeeding the dying man to nurse him back to health. The others leave the barn as she cradles the dying man to her breast.

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!

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous American Poets of the 19th century. Dickinson's poems have a distinct use of structure and dashes that has caused her work to be recognizable. During the period from 1860 to 1880, many of her close friends and relations would die of tuberculosis. These deaths greatly affected Emily, and the presence of the Theme of death was increasingly seen in her poetry. Her most creative years are considered to be from 1861-1865 during which she wrote most of her poetry. She wrote I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain in 1861 and was published posthumously in 1890.

Structure of I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain:

The poem consists of 20 lines written in five stanzas or quatrains. The rhyming scheme is ABCB. However, some of these are slant rhymes (similar words that do not rhyme identically). For example, ‘fro’ in the second line and ‘through’ in the fourth line are slant rhymes. The poem is written in Ballad form. The poet used iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter alternatively.

Enjambment has been profusely along with dashes and caesuras, and irregular Capitalization of words that offers an irregular structure to the poem. The poetess also employed imagery and symbolism. The funeral can be considered as an allegory while the imagery of mourners as faceless beings that seem to torment the speaker offers an eerie experience. The poetess used the imagery of the coffin by the term ‘Box’ to indicate the deteriorating mental state of the speaker. The funeral is a metaphor for the speaker’s loss of self and sanity. In line 11, the speaker mentions ‘Boots of Lead’ which is a symbol of how much the “treading” of the mourners weighs on the speaker’s “mind”, and how torturous it is for the speaker.

Themes of I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain:

The poem begins with a seemingly paradoxical statement, ‘I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,’ which suggests that the speaker isn’t talking about her death or her funeral, rather, she is talking about the death or depreciation of her rational faculties. The poem traces the speaker's descent into madness. The speaker depicts the terror and helplessness of a person who is gradually losing her grip on reality. The speaker appears passive and confused and the steps of ‘Mourners’ seem to wear down whatever is holding “Sense” back. The speaker depicts her mind as a two-floor structure. The speaker only has partial access to this structure, listening from below to the funeral on the second floor. The mourners are a metaphor to express her pain. Their treading (note the repetition of the word, which gives emphasis and suggests the action) indicates a pressure that is pushing her down. The speaker has a momentary impression that reason ("sense") is escaping or being lost. The pressure of the treading is reasserted with the repetition, "beating, beating." This time her mind, the source of reasoning, goes "numb," a further deterioration in her condition.

Another theme of the poem is Death and the poem can be interpreted as the speaker is describing her own demise and funeral that she cannot see, but can feel because though she is dead, her soul is still not far away from her body, which is in the Box.

Summary of I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“I felt a Funeral in my Brain,
And Mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through.”

The speaker is conscious of her surroundings. She hears all that is going on around her, and she feels it, but she cannot see it. The opening line is striking because while most of us have seen a funeral process some time, we hardly know how to feel a funeral. One may compare with the sense of grief and sorrow, but the poem proceeds in other territory and the reader realizes that it is not some common funeral. The speaker could feel the movement of mourners and she describes the treading of the mourners. The poet capitalized ‘mourners’ because it is a metaphor to express the pain that is overwhelming her, torturing her to the extent that she is losing her sense, her rational faculty. ‘Sense’ is again capitalized.

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“And when they all were seated,
A Service like a Drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
My Mind was going Numb.”

The mourners finally settled in her mind. They were all seated and hence, the torturous treading sound stopped. However, it was not the end of her torture. The mourners, representing her pains, her suffering, and her ill memories are deep-seated in her consciousness now. She hears the drum roll in her mind. ‘Drum’ is capitalized as the poet personified as a harbinger of a bad omen, the one bringing the bad news. The treading stopped but the painful Mourners were deep-seated in her mind and that created the painful sounds of a Drum that kept beating until the speaker felt as if she would lose her consciousness, her mind would go Numb.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“And then I heard them lift a box,
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again
Then Space- began to toll”

The speaker's mind is like a two-story building and she is on the lower floor. Her sense of hearing and ability to feel is still strong and though she cannot see what’s happening in the upper floor, she can hear it and feel it. She hears the sound of the box being lifted. Box is capitalized again because it is used as a metaphor for a coffin. A part of the speaker’s mind is dead and it is in that box. She can’t see it, but she can feel its demise, its loss, its funeral. As she hears it, she feels a creek in her Soul, something has broken down and lost forever.

One may also interpret here that the speaker is talking about her own funeral and that is why she cannot see it, but she can feel it. As the mourners, whom she cannot ‘see’, lift the Box and take it to the burying ground, she begins to hear the torturous sound of “Boots of Lead.” It is a metaphor for the pain and sense of loss of the speaker. The space begins to toll, and the speaker feels as if moving through the space. She hears the sound of the boots of the mourners who are lifting and moving her away.

Stanza 4 Lines 13-16

“As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being but an Ear,
And I and Silence some strange Race,
Wrecked, solitary, here.”

The speaker is now more aware of her situation. She mentions the Heavens and feels as if the heavens were ringing bells for her. She feels she is no longer a being but just an ear (Ear is capitalized). She could hear and feel, but she couldn’t make any sound, she and silence are some strange race (Race is capitalized) suggesting that she is no more a human being, but some strange being. Either she has lost her rational faculties to express herself and has gone mad, thus it is the death of her sanity, or the poet means her own death, and now when she is dead, she is no more a human but some strange race. Either way, she knows she is destroyed and lonely here.

Stanza 5 Lines 17-20

“And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down and down--
And hit a World at every plunge,
And Finished knowing--then--”

In the last stanza, the speaker is pretty clear about what happened to her. She realizes that either she is dead, or she has lost her sanity and it is the death of her rational faculty, and she has drowned into the madness where she cannot say what is real and what is not. The death that the speaker is experiencing is physical but also mental. The speaker is witnessing the death of her sanity, stating that am‘Plank in Reason, broke-’. The “Plank,” or piece of wood broke as her coffin was lowered into the earth. The word “Reason” is capitalized because it is personified as the one who finally broke through to the speaker, causing her to become fully aware of what was happening to her. As she lowers down, she hits ‘a World at every plunge.’ World is capitalized as it represents her various feelings and experiences, she felt confusion, panic, wonder, and maybe even acceptance. One by one, she kept losing all her feelings and sensibilities and then she finished knowing anything, she was dead, or totally mad. The poem ends with a dash (-), showing that this new existence will not end, it is the solitary afterlife.

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!