The Progress of Poesy by Thomas Gray | Structure, Summary, Analysis

The Progress of Poesy by Thomas Gray | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Progress of Poesy is a long poem by Thomas Gray that was published by his friend Horace Walpole in 1757. Gray wrote two Pindaric Odes, ‘The Progress of Poesy,’ and ‘The Bard.’ He considered these two poems as the best of his works. Unlike the Horatian odes which are written more calmly and reflectively, a Pindaric Ode involves fire and passion. Thomas Gray belonged to a period that saw the transition of Neo-Classicism to Romanticism and his Pindaric Odes established Gray to be the precursor for Romantic poetry.

Structure of The Progress of Poesy:

Thomas Gray chose a complex and highly structured form for this poem. He divided the poem into three parts and each part contains three stanzas of varying length (or number of lines). Thus, there are Nine stanzas in total and each stanza has a different rhyming scheme. The first two stanzas of each of the three parts contain 12 lines while the third stanza of all these parts is composed of 17 lines each. The two first two stanzas of each section follow an irregular ABBACCDDEEFF rhyme scheme, while the concluding stanza of each section follows an irregular AABBACCDEDEFGFGHH rhyme scheme. The poem’s meter is irregular and shifts between iambic tetrameter (four feet of two syllables in an unstressed, stressed pattern) and iambic pentameter (five of the same unstressed, stressed feet). The first part is titled The First Age’, the second part is ‘The Second Age,’ and the third part is titled ‘The Third Age.’

Gray used allusion, alliteration, caesura, imagery, metaphors, and personification in the poem.

Themes of The Progress of Poesy:

The poem suggests the NeoClassicist approach of Thomas Gray. He conveys two central ideas through his poem The Progress of Poesy. The first one is that poetry is powerful, as evidenced by its presence in human communities across time and geography. The poem celebrates the poetic development of poetry and suggests the idea of universality or absoluteness. Gray’s repeated allusions to ancients singing poetry and echoing from rugged hills of Greece and Italy are evidence of this point. Another important theme of Gray’s ode is that the modern English poets owe a great debt to the Ancient Greeks and Romans. In the ode, the sources of poetry come from the muses living in the Helicon Valley. The Helicon Valley is surrounded by the different sounds of vales and water flowing meaning that the poetry also flows in different rhymes and music inspired and formed by the muses in Helicon Valley.

Gray suggests his Romantic approach in the ode by examining the impact of poetry on the consciousness of the human mind. Gray says that poetry can control the passion and emotional flow of human beings. It can release the feelings of the anger of Lord of the War and lull the furious eagle from the Jove and it can also subdue the eagle to deep slumber with the musical effects of poetry.

Summary of The Progress of Poesy:

Part 1 Stanza 1 Lines 1-12

“Awake, Æolian lyre, awake,

And give to rapture all thy trembling strings.

From Helicon's harmonious springs

A thousand rills their mazy progress take:

The laughing flowers, that round them blow,

Drink life and fragrance as they flow.

Now the rich stream of music winds along

Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong,

Thro' verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign:

Now rolling down the steep amain,

Headlong, impetuous, see it pour:

The rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar.”

The poet addresses the Greek god Aeolian lyre who spread his winds and it creates a sound of music. The speaker then compares poetry to spring season and flowers where the source of poetry comes from the muses who live in “Helicon”. From this source, the muses inspire the writings of poetry and similarly to the thousands flow of water from Helicon Valley the writings of poetry also flow in different modes of rhymes from the same Helicon Valley. The poet says that poetry can give life and fragrant enthusiastic decorum all around. The poet then compares poetry to music while invoking “Ceres” the goddess of Earth. He says that the flow of poetry is “Deep, majestic, smooth, and strong” through the “verdant vales” and “Ceres golden reign,” which implies that poetry flows and has an influence throughout the world. The poet used the Imagery of a waterfall to suggest that the sound of water and the roaring of nature show the similar effect of poetry that also creates such music whether mild or strong.

Part 1 Stanza 2 Lines 13-24

“Oh! Sovereign of the willing soul,

Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs,

Enchanting shell! the sullen Cares

And frantic Passions hear thy soft control.

On Thracia's hills the Lord of War,

Has curb'd the fury of his car,

And dropp'd his thirsty lance at thy command.

Perching on the sceptred hand

Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feather'd king

With ruffled plumes and flagging wing:

Quench'd in dark clouds of slumber lie

The terror of his beak, and light'nings of his eye.”

In this stanza, the poet explains the powerful effects of poetry on human emotions. The speaker says that poetry can control the passion and emotional flow of humans as it brings a different range of emotions to the mind of a person. The effect of poetry can actually release the anger and fury of the Lord of the War on Thracia’s Hills. Poetry can change the nature of the god of war. The perched eagle on the powerful hands of Jupiter Jove can be lulled by the effects of poetry. The fierce of an eagle is subdued to the effects of slumber through poetry. The poet alludes to the Roman Gods Jove (Jupiter, the god of sky) riding the mighty eagle, and Mars (the Lord of War).

Part 1 Stanza 3 Lines 25-41

“Thee the voice, the dance, obey,

Temper'd to thy warbled lay.

O'er Idalia's velvet-green

The rosy-crowned Loves are seen

On Cytherea's day

With antic Sports and blue-ey'd Pleasures,

Frisking light in frolic measures;

Now pursuing, now retreating,

Now in circling troops they meet:

To brisk notes in cadence beating

Glance their many-twinkling feet.

Slow melting strains their Queen's approach declare:

Where'er she turns the Graces homage pay.

With arms sublime, that float upon the air,

In gliding state she wins her easy way:

O'er her warm cheek and rising bosom move

The bloom of young Desire and purple light of Love.”

The speaker continues to talk about the effect of poetry on the human mind and heart and says that poetry is an essential part of the emotion of love. He alludes to Cupid, the God of Love, and says that Cupid’s messengers dance and obey the voice of poetry and they are seen dancing on “Idalia” in Cyprus on Cytherea’s Day. The poet continues to describe the dancing of the cupid’s messengers who are engaged in “antic sports” and merry-making pleasure. Sometimes, they dance while pursuing something and retreating again. They also circle around and dance around to the rhythm of the music and one can see the shining feet of the cupid’s messengers.

The poet alludes to Venus, the goddess of beauty as the ‘Queen’ who approaches when the music becomes slow and melodious. It is also stated that whenever Venus or the goddess of beauty passes on Cytherea’s Day, the Graces or the daughters of Zeus pay their respect or homage to her. The goddess of beauty is depicted as something that glides and floats beautifully at ease attracting the audience. The poet also goes on to say that she can move the young Desire with her warm cheek and rising bosom meaning her youth and beauty. Desire and Love always accompany Venus as she approaches. It means the progress of poetry is also accompanied by moving desires or passion as well as love for the readers or audiences.

Part 2 Stanza 1 Lines 42-53

“Man's feeble race what ills await,

Labour, and Penury, the racks of Pain,

Disease, and Sorrow's weeping train,

And Death, sad refuge from the storms of Fate!

The fond complaint, my song, disprove,

And justify the laws of Jove.

Say, has he giv'n in vain the heav'nly Muse?

Night, and all her sickly dews,

Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry,

He gives to range the dreary sky:

Till down the eastern cliffs afar

Hyperion's march they spy, and glitt'ring shafts of war.”

In this stanza, the speaker concentrates on human life while mentioning the troubles and miseries of human life (“Labour, and Penury, the racks of Pain”). It is compared to the moving “weeping train” and the last living experience is death as well as the destiny or fate that governs human life. Some disagree with the poet’s song or poem but he tries to justify the “laws of Jove” meaning the law of the effects of poetry on human thoughts and emotions. The poet states that the divine heavenly muse is not given in vain. The poet also states that night carries the sickly dews and bad omen carrying birds and when the night is over, Hyperion or the sun marches or rises battling against the night. It is similar effect with poetry where it brings light onto human life by battling against the miseries of life.

Part 2 Stanza 2 Lines 54-65

“In climes beyond the solar road,

Where shaggy forms o'er ice-built mountains roam,

The Muse has broke the twilight-gloom

To cheer the shiv'ring native's dull abode.

And oft, beneath the od'rous shade

Of Chili's boundless forests laid,

She deigns to hear the savage youth repeat

In loose numbers wildly sweet

Their feather-cinctur'd chiefs, and dusky loves.

Her track, where'er the goddess roves,

Glory pursue, and generous Shame,

Th' unconquerable Mind, and Freedom's holy flame.”

The speaker innumerates the omnipresent traits of poetry which exists even in the remote areas of Earth’s geography beyond the solar road. He gives an image of the natives living in the ice-built mountain and the Muse here refers to poetry. The poetry gives warmth to these people living in the chilly mountains and the in-existence of poetry would have brought dullness to them. Poetry is present even in the areas where there are shades or shades bounded by the forests. Poetry gives a different shade in these areas being savage and wildly sweet in loose rhymes and music. Whenever the goddess is present, glory, fame, and sacredness are pursued. Poetry represents liberty and an “unconquerable mind”.

Part 2 Stanza 3 Lines 66-82

“Woods, that wave o'er Delphi's steep,

Isles, that crown th' Ægean deep,

Fields, that cool Ilissus laves,

Or where Mæander's amber waves

In ling'ring Lab'rinths creep,

How do your tuneful echoes languish,

Mute, but to the voice of Anguish?

Where each old poetic mountain

Inspiration breath'd around:

Ev'ry shade and hallow'd Fountain

Murmur'd deep a solemn sound:

Till the sad Nine in Greece's evil hour

Left their Parnassus for the Latian plains.

Alike they scorn the pomp of tyrant Power,

And coward Vice, that revels in her chains.

When Latium had her lofty spirit lost,

They sought, O Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast.”
In this stanza, the speaker talks about the origins of poetry posits that English poetry is built on an ancient foundation, and suggests that the Muses of ancient Greece are still active in England. He says that poetry took birth and shape in Greece over “Delphis Steep” or the shrine of Apollo. It is an island that crowned the Aegean Sea. He also talks about the river of amber raves and the river flows lingering the sound of poetry meaning that various poems and poets are associated with these places including the Greek poet Homer who was born in Meander or Asia Minor and lyric poetry flourished. The lyric poetry lingered around in Labyrinths Creep for a small temporal time. The poetry seems to fade away due to the voice of Anguish. There were lots of pain in this area and hence poetry faded away. Greeks have a reputation where many poets inspired the people. All these shades and sacred areas of Greece aided in originating the source of poetry. The poetry took its journey to Italy when Greece was enslaved by evil hour. The Nine Muses left their mountain Parnassus to Italy of Latian plains. When the poetry reached Italy, they did not help in enriching the effects of poetry due to the tyrant Power and people were enslaved hence the poetry lost its seriousness and sweetness in Italy. The poetry left and it reached Albion or England or the British Isles.

Part 3 Stanza 1 Lines 83-94

“Far from the sun and summer-gale,

In thy green lap was Nature's darling laid,

What time, where lucid Avon stray'd,

To him the mighty Mother did unveil

Her awful face: the dauntless child

Stretch'd forth his little arms, and smiled.

This pencil take (she said) whose colours Richly paint the vernal year:

Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy!

This can unlock the gates of Joy;

Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears,

Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.”clear

Richly paint the vernal year:

Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy!

This can unlock the gates of Joy;

Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears,

Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears.”

In this stanza, Thomas Gray mentions Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, and praises him. The speaker says that Shakespeare was ‘Nature’s darling,’ or a natural poet whom Mother Nature herself taught how to create poetry and dramas. Shakespeare didn’t have a formal education in a University. The speaker says that Mother Nature gave the ‘golden keys’ to the bard of Avon through which he could ‘unlock the gates of joy, of horror, and thrilling fears. The poet mentions Shakespeare as the ‘immortal boy.’

Part 3 Stanza 2 Lines 95-106

“Nor second he, that rode sublime

Upon the seraph-wings of Ecstasy,

The secrets of th' Abyss to spy.

He pass'd the flaming bounds of Place and Time:

The living throne, the sapphire-blaze,

Where angels tremble, while they gaze,

He saw; but blasted with excess of light,

Clos'd his eyes in endless night.

Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car,

Wide o'er the fields of Glory bear

Two coursers of ethereal race,

With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-resounding pace.”
In this stanza, the speaker mentions John Milton in the lines “Nor second He, that rode sublime Upon the seraph-wings of Extasy, The secrets of the Abyss to spy.” The speaker says that the sublime poet was second to none. He mentions how Milton lost his eyesight yet was able to see that even ‘angels tremble, while they gaze.” Having gone blind in 1652, Milton wrote Paradise Lost entirely through dictation with the help of amanuenses and friends. The speaker then mentions John Dryden and his “less presumptuous car”. Dryden, of the previous generation of poets to Gray, rides behind two divine horses (Shakespeare and Milton).

Part 3 Stanza 3 Lines 107-123

“Hark, his hands thy lyre explore!

Bright-eyed Fancy hovering o'er

Scatters from her pictur'd urn

Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.

But ah! 'tis heard no more—

O lyre divine, what daring spirit

Wakes thee now? tho' he inherit

Nor the pride, nor ample pinion,

That the Theban Eagle bear,

Sailing with supreme dominion

Thro' the azure deep of air:

Yet oft before his infant eyes would run

Such forms, as glitter in the Muse's ray

With orient hues, unborrow'd of the Sun:

Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way

Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,

Beneath the good how far—but far above the great.”

Part III of the poem describes the final stage of poetry when it reaches its pinnacle of perfection. Gray describes the great poets of his own time, such as Milton and Shakespeare, who have taken the art of poetry to new heights and have made it a powerful force for change and inspiration. He talks about how these poets used their own experiences and emotions to create works that were deeply personal and relatable. The language used in this part of the poem is more emotional and expressive, reflecting the romantic nature of this era.

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!

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Catch-22 is an American satirical novel written by Joseph Heller that was first published in 1961. It is a satirical war novel set in World War II which also satirizes McCarthyism and the Red Scare during the 1950s in the United States. The Red Scare was a period of public fear and anxiety over the supposed rise of Communist and Socialist Ideologies in a noncommunist state such as the United States. Joseph Heller began writing the novel in 1953.

The term Catch-22 is also used in logic and it means a paradoxical situation that arises from rules, regulations, or procedures that an individual is subject to, but has no control over because to fight the rule is to accept it. Let us suppose that you need a loan. Still, the bank says that if you need a loan, it means your financial situation is not proper and hence a loan to you will be a bad investment, hence denies the loan unless you prove that you do not need a loan in which case, it will be proven that your financial situation is strong. But if you prove that you do not need a loan, you won’t get the loan. Joseph Heller coined the term Catch-22 and used it as the title of his novel. Joseph Heller employed a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration in the novel, describing events from the points of view of different characters.

Characters of Catch-22:

Captain John Yossarian is the protagonist of the novel. He is a squadron bombardier in the U.S. Air Force but he hates the war. His powerful desire to live has led him to the conclusion that millions of people are trying to kill him, and he has decided either to live forever or, ironically, die trying. Orr is Yossarian’s roommate. He almost always crashes his plane or is shot down on combat missions, but he always manages to survive. Yossarian believes that Orr is crazy but one day Orr disappears after another typical crash landing. Mudd is another roommate of Yossarian who is killed just two hours after he arrives in Pianosa. Clevinger is an idealistic member of Yossarian’s squadron. He is a Harvard graduate who firmly believes in such concepts as country, loyalty, and duty, and argues about them with Yossarian. One day, Clevinger mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead. Havermeyer is another leading squadron bombardier who, unlike Yossarian, never takes evasive action but volunteers to go on every mission. Chief White Halfoat is an alcoholic Native American from Oklahoma who has decided to die of pneumonia. He curses the Americans for the wrongs they have committed against his people, and he enjoys scaring Captain Flume, his roommate. Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder is an unscrupulous businessman in the squadron. He is a powerful mess officer who controls an international black-market syndicate named M&M Enterprises and he makes great profits during the war. Corporal Snark is Milo’s cynical, bitter assistant cook. Doc Daneeka is the medical officer who is sad because the war ruined his lucrative private practice in the US. He refuses to help any of the men with their illnesses or problems. Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen is a nasty man who is in charge of the mail. He constantly manipulates and plays politics with everyone's correspondence. Chaplain Albert Taylor Tappman is a friend of Yossarian. He is kind and weak-willed but he firmly believes in trying to save human life. He enjoys his job and hopes to win a medal for his exemplary work. Corporal Whitcomb is a jealous assistant of the Chaplain who tries to make his superior's life as miserable as possible by criticizing him and taking over his operations. Dunbar is a friend of Yossarian who understands the gravity of war. Captain Aardvark or Arfy is Yossaian’s navigator. He pretends to be friends with Nately in an attempt to endear himself to Nately's rich father. Nately is one of Yossarian’s co-pilots who falls in love with a whore whom he wishes to marry. Colonel Cathcart threatens to send Nately home without the whore unless he continues to fly more missions. He gets killed during one of the missions. Lieutenant Colonel Korn is Colonel Cathcart’s wily, cynical assistant. McWatt is Yossarian's pilot. He enjoys infuriating Yossarian by flying his airplane just a few inches over Yossarian's tent. General Peckem is a pseudo-sophisticated general who is trying to displace Dreedle. Lieutenant Scheisskopf works under General Peckam who despises him for being too ignorant and stupid. However, Scheisskopf is accidentally promoted to Lieutenant General due to an oversight and a misunderstanding of memos by General Peckem. General Dreedle nasty man who taunts General Peckem for his veneer of sophistication. He also hates his son-in-law Colonel Moodus. Appleby is a handsome, athletic member of the squadron and an excellent Ping-Pong player. Captain Black is the squadron’s bitter intelligence officer. Captain Black wants nothing more than to be squadron commander. Major Major is a shy, awkward boy misnamed by his cruel father. Nurse Cramer is a puritanical nurse who helps the injured soldiers. Nurse Duckett is a co-worker of Nurse Crammer who flirts with soldiers. The Soldier in White is injured and encased entirely in white bandages. Nurse Cramer takes care of him.

Summary of Catch-22

The novel begins on the island of Pianosa a small Italian island not far from Rome, at the end of the Second World War. Captain Yossarian is stationed at Pianosa as the squadron bombardier. He begins avoiding missions by faking illness but learns that the Air Force regulations prevent him from being grounded for illness or obtaining a leave. Yossarian wasn’t like this before but he saw too many crazy incidences on the war front. He often remembers Snowden, a soldier who died in his arms on a mission. Yossarian lost all desire to participate in the war after Snowden’s death. He began observing the discrepancies in the war. He also witnesses the death of Mudd who was killed just two hours after his arrival and was dumped in his tent. Everyone denied the existence of Mudd, so he lied there despite Yossarian's protests. He continues to spend time in the hospital but gets bored. Thus, he began to write letters using the pseudonym ‘Washington Irving.’ This creates a ruckus and the government sends two C.I.D. men to investigate.

His squadron gets bombed by its own mess officer, and colonels and generals volunteer their men for the most perilous battle to enhance their own reputations. He observes that his squadron is thrown thoughtlessly into brutal combat situations and bombing runs in which it is more important for the squadron members to capture good aerial photographs of explosions than to destroy their targets. He notices that the superior officials continually raise the number of missions that they are required to fly before being sent home so that no one is ever sent home. Thus, he starts believing that the war is actually to kill him while he desires to live as long as possible. He continues to fake his liver ailment and remains in the hospital. A Chaplain named Albert Taylor Tappman visits him. The chaplain feels uncomfortable talking to most officers, but Yossarian is kind to him and invites him to return in the future. Many other men seek the haven of the hospital by feigning illness.

Yossarian’s roommate, Orr crash-lands every time he goes on a mission and talks about putting apples and horse chestnuts in his cheeks. Clevinger, a Harvard graduate, argues with Yossarian about whether or not people must obey their institutions and fight the war. Havermeyer munches on peanut butter brittle all the time, loves to shoot innocent field mice with his pistol, and earns the wrath of his men by never taking evasive action on a mission. The war takes an especially harsh toll on the men and their morale. Yossarian continuously opposes the war and Colonel Cathcart’s frequent increases in the number of missions required to obtain leave. Yossarian argues with Clevinger that everyone is trying to kill him. He says that anyone who tries to make him fight is just as dangerous as the enemy. Yossarian's various attempts to be grounded fail. He meets the group medic Doctor Daneeka and asks if he can be grounded from flying on account of insanity. Doctor Daneeka answers that it is not possible and when he explains why, the idea of “Catch-22’ comes in front. Doctor Daneeka says that Yossarian is sane enough to ask to be grounded, he is sane enough to fly. Only those crazy enough to want to fly are crazy enough to be grounded. This is called a Catch-22. Yossarian begins observing ‘Catch-22’ everywhere. He notices a law that is illegal to read. Ironically, the place where it is written that it is illegal is in Catch-22 itself. Another similar law is that the enemy is allowed to do anything that one can’t stop him from doing. Yossarian realizes the paradoxical and circular illogic of these laws and notices that such laws only serve those who have made the law. He notices that most of his colleagues and superior officers are also trapped in similar Catch-22 situations. Chief White Halfoat is an alcoholic who forges other men's signatures to procure more alcohol. He curses the Americans for the wrongs they have committed against his people, and he enjoys scaring Captain Flume who is in constant fear that Chief White Halfoat will slit his throat while he is asleep. Consequently, Captain Flume goes to live in the woods where the chaplain finds him. When winter comes, though, he moves back inside, hoping that Chief White Halfoat will die of pneumonia. McWatt, Yossarian's brainless pilot, irritates Yossarian by flying his airplane a few inches above Yossarian's tent. Hungry Joe has screaming nightmares although he denies them each morning, and he gets into fistfights with the cat that belongs to his roommate. Nurse Duckett, a good friend of Nurse Cramer. She despises Yossarian at first, but later, she pursues a passionate fling with him. She enjoys flirting with the other men, but she eventually leaves Yossarian for a doctor.

Meanwhile, the Chaplain continues to meet Yossarian and tries to help him because he believes that saving human life is most important. He tries to convince Colonel Cathcart and Korn to send the pilots who have flown enough missions home. Cathcart, Korn, and other higher-ups rebuff the chaplain. The C.I.D. officers investigating the group for supposed forgeries of letters settle on the chaplain as their prime suspect; he is tortured and threatened with imprisonment, but later set free.

The Chaplain spends his time peacefully in the woods on the periphery of camp but his assistant Corporal Whitcomb is furious and constantly abuses the chaplain and collaborates with Colonel Cathcart to have the chaplain court-martialed.

The superior officials too engage in meaningless competition and squabbles. Colonel Cathcart and his assistant Colonel Korn try to gain favor by constantly raising the number of missions that the men must fly to obtain leave. Korn merely wants a promotion to Cathcart’s job, and Cathcart wants to be made general, replacing Dreedle and Peckem, the two warring commanders in charge of the Italian campaign. Dreedle is mostly concerned with his mistress, and Peckem does not care what gets bombed so long as bombs fall in an appealing “bomb pattern” for documentary photographs. Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen doesn’t like General Peckem and his verbosity. Since he is in charge of the mail, he always ruins General Peckem’s letters while favoring General Dreddle. Colonel Scheisskopf is so obsessed with winning the weekly parades that he ignores his own wife's sexual overtures.

Two months ago, Yossarian and the other pilots were given a mission to fly to Bologna, north of their base near Rome. Yossarian nearly died during the mission when his plane was struck by enemy fire. After returning to the base, Yossarian sneaked away to Rome. He met a woman named Luciana in the Italian capital and enjoyed the night with her. When he returned to the base, he learned the mission quota was increased again, and he immediately left for the hospital with his fabricated liver problem. Since he is in the hospital, life on the base becomes darker and more ominous. Deaths become more frequent, and some pilots simply vanish and never return. Not all these disappearances are due to enemy activity. Yossarian knows a man named Dunbar whom American generals target because he complains about the frequency of the dangerous but purposeless missions. Dunbar deliberately “disappeared” during one mission by the commanding officers, and he is never mentioned again. Orr has to crash land his damaged plane in the Mediterranean Sea and float away on a raft. McWatt, buzzing the camp once more, kills Kid Sampson by accident and, in recognition of this, flies his plane into a mountain.

The squadron’s mess hall officer Milo runs a syndicate in which he borrows military planes and pilots to transport food between various points in Europe, making a massive profit from his sales. He persuades everyone to join his syndicate by arguing that, because everyone has a share in M&M Enterprises, everyone profits from his work. This promise is later proven false. Milo’s enterprise flourishes nonetheless, and he is revered almost religiously by communities all over Europe. Milo also tempts the officers with offers of delicious food such as lamb chops and fresh eggs doused in butter. He recruits people from both sides and, since he owns the planes for both sides, he charges each side a commission when they engage each other. Milo makes a critical business error when he purchases the entire crop of Egyptian cotton only to discover that there is no market for it. His attempt to destroy his own crop creates widespread fury, but Milo pacifies his angry clients by bribing the government to purchase it from him. In the end, Milo tries to persuade Colonel Cathcart to relieve him of the enterprise so he can fly missions like everyone else. At first, Colonel Cathcart agrees, but when he realizes how much work there is, he instead offers Milo all the planes he wants and any medals that may result from the men being killed during the missions.

An injured soldier completely covered in white bandages is being nursed at the hospital. Nurse Cramer announces that the soldier in white is dead. Yossarian doubts that Nurse Crammer killed the soldier because she was attending to him. Two C.I.D. men visit to investigate the mystery of letters written by ‘Washington Irving.’ Major Major, an assistant of Colonel Cathcart is promoted to squadron commander and is banished away to a trailer where he is forced to sign piles of useless papers. Eventually, he pretends to be "Washington Irving" and pits the two C.I.D. men against each other for his own amusement.

Yoassarian learns that Nately, one of his colleagues who accompanied him during the mission in Bologna, fell in love with a whore he meets in an apartment. Aarfy and the other soldiers mock him, and the whore rejects Nately and says he is boring. Nately, however, insists that he wants to marry her, despite her continued indifference and the fact that her kid sister constantly interferes with their romantic rendezvous. Captain Black sleeps with her repeatedly to torment Nately. Yossarian learns that Colonel Cathcart threatened to send Nately home without the whore unless he continues to fly more missions. While Nately agrees, Yossarian argues against it. During their argument, Yossarian gets furious and attacks Nately. The whore defends Nately and expresses her love for him.

Later on, Colonel Cathcart sends Nately on another dangerous mission during which he dies along with Havermeyer and Dobbs. When Yossarian brings her the bad news, she blames him for Nately’s death and tries to stab him every time she sees him thereafter. Yossarian is utterly disturbed by now. He refuses to fly any more missions. He wanders the streets of Rome, encountering every kind of human horror—rape, disease, murder. He is eventually arrested for being in Rome without a pass, and his superior officers, Colonel Cathcart, and Colonel Korn, offer him a choice. The only catch is that the deal is ethically repulsive to him; they will send him home as long as he likes them. If he does not give in, he will be court-martialed for being involved in black market practices. Initially, Yoassarian tends to agree with the deal but the Chaplain interrupts and subtly explains that Yossarian liking his superiors would mean injustice to other soldiers. It would mean as if he was an accomplice in the death of his innocent colleagues. Yassarian then understands the gravity of Catch-22 he has been trapped. He remembers how Orr, Dunbar, and Clevinger disappeared. He is convinced that Orr and Clevinger are still living while remaining disappeared. Yossarian decides to run away to Sweden both to avoid a court-martial and to avoid Nately's whore, who is trying to kill him to avenge Nately's death. The novel ends with Yossarian running out the door on his way to neutral territory where he wishes to wait until the end of the conflict. The confusion of wartime life remains unresolved.

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 Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis

‘I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died’ is a poem written by Emily Dickinson in 1862. Like her other poems, this poem also remained untitled and unpublished. It was published with an informal title ‘I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died after her death. In the poem, a speaker communicates to the reader from beyond the grave. The speaker is already dead but the speaker isn’t yet not worried about the afterlife or eternity, they just died and they are startled while observing the activities around their deathbed. The speaker is focused on the actual rites of dying, of having one’s last moments. The poem appears quite serious but then the irritating fly arrives and the speaker gets disturbed by the fly. The poem shows the poet’s doubts regarding religion and social comforts.

Structure of I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died:

The poem has 16 lines set in four stanzas with four lines each, that is, there are four Quatrains in the poem written in alternate iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. The first and third lines each of all four Quatrains are with four feet and eight syllables while the second and fourth lines each with three feet and six syllables. The four stanzas have a loose rhyme scheme of ABCB. The poem is mostly written with half rhyme (room/storm; but it also exhibits perfect rhyming (see/me; room/room).

Emily Dickinson majorly used Enjambment, Repetition, and Alliteration (“Stillness” and “Storm” in lines three and four of the first stanza as well as “Blue” and “Between” in lines one and two of stanza four) in this poem. Emily also used Juxtaposition in this poem.

Themes of I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died:

The major theme of the poem is the mystery of Death as the poet attempts to describe the transition between life and death. The poet isn’t certain about the afterlife and thus, she stresses the moment of death. The speaker appears to just die, speaking from beyond the grave which appears paradoxical because no one has yet been able to describe what happens after death. The poetess however decides to bust the mystery behind death but while doing so, she succeeds in avoiding being too sentimental as a fly buzzes and interrupts her. A flying buzz appears to be a mundane issue, it appears to be a symbol, suggesting that no matter how well one prepares to face the other side, it’s impossible to be ready for something unknowable.

While the speaker is already dead, she is describing the things and activities that happened just before their death, when they were on the deathbed facing their final moments. At such a grave time, the room and the air are notably filled with “stillness.” While the mourners are busy with the necessary rituals, the speaker feels nothing but stillness. This stillness may suggest a blurring of the border between life and death.

Summary of I Heard a Fly Buzz—when I Died:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-4

“I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -”

In the first line, the speaker announces that they are dead, making the poem paradoxical and mysterious. The speaker is reporting right after they died (although it is impossible) and what they report is that they heard a flying buzz right at the moment when they died. The poet decorated the first line of the poem with juxtaposition. While death is a grave thing, and a dead person conversing and expressing appears to be much more profound and deep, it is juxtaposed with a flying buzz, a rather mundane thing. The associations between flies and death are gross and spooky too. The fly buzz is contrasted with the stillness of the Room where the speaker died. Everything was still, there was no sound and that is why the speaker could hear the fly buzz so clearly. While the speaker was on the deathbed, she wasn’t alone, there were other people but everyone was completely silent. It's so still in the room, like the calm before the storm, almost a false calm that is only present because of the coming storm. So, the speaker is apparently alive to the atmosphere, the present atmosphere in the room.

Stanza 2 Lines 5-8

“The Eyes around – had wrung them dry –
And Breaths were gathering firm
For the last Onset – when the King
Be witnessed – in the Room –”

In the second stanza, the speaker is focused on the people around her deathbed while she is already dead. The speaker is surrounded by her friends and relatives and the speaker says "The Eyes around – had wrung them dry – " that is, the people close to her have been crying, their eyes were wet, but now they are not. Maybe they feel exhausted, resigned, or even at peace. Maybe the speaker was suffering too much while she was alive, maybe she had been ill for a long. These are the final seconds of consciousness when the soul is preparing to take flight as the body shuts down, so to speak. The final breaths are taken as the speaker awaits the arrival of the King, who has to be the Angel of Death. The speaker expects that he will show up in the room at the moment of her death.

Stanza 3 Lines 9-12

“I willed my Keepsakes – Signed away
What portion of me be
Assignable – and then it was
There interposed a Fly –”

In the third stanza, the speaker explains that she was all ready for her death, she had accepted it and had prepared for it. She had all of her “keepsakes” designated to certain people. Her will was in order. The room was peaceful, and the air was still. But then, something unexpected happened and ruined the moment or irritated the speaker. That unexpected thing was the appearance of the Fly. The fly interposed between her preparedness for death and death. This again offers a sense of Juxtaposition. Before we were thinking about calm, spiritual, somber things. Now we have to think about a grubby little fly.

Stanza 4 Lines 13-16

“With Blue – uncertain – stumbling Buzz –
Between the light – and me –
And then the Windows failed – and then
I could not see to see –”

The fly is blue, a blue bottle, and it's buzzing in the window. The speaker is aware of it as the light streams into the room. So the speaker's eyes are still able to discern the light but not for much longer because the 'Windows failed' that is, seeing didn't work any longer. The speaker is leaving the material plane and is now blind—still wanting to see but unable to because the dying process means the brain stops working and therefore the sense of self is lost.

The last stanza shows the uncertainties in the mind of the poet regarding the mysteries of death and the afterlife and all the mythical religious notions of it. The speaker was at the moment of death when the fly appeared and the speaker could feel her own anxiety as she describes the fly in his uncertainty. He buzzes here and there, not sure where to land. This uncertain buzzing is disturbing to the speaker, in her moment of death. While she was hoping God or the Angel of Death to take her to the bright light, the speaker suggests that the fly ruined that moment and she failed to notice that bright light. The windows failed and then the speaker could not see anything anymore. When she died, the speaker heard the buzzing of a fly, experienced darkness, and had a feeling of uncertainty.

This uncertainty is about the religious viewpoints about death and the afterlife and the notions of heaven and hell.

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 Binding Vine by Shashi Deshpande | Characters, Summary, Analysi

The Binding Vine by Shashi Deshpande | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Binding Vine is a novel by Shashi Deshpande that was published in 1992. Shashi Deshpande's ‘The Binding Vine’ is very similar to her earlier novels, as it sketches her middle-class female protagonist's predicament in a male-dominated world, where she has minimal scope to give voice to her concerns. The Binding Vine is often regarded as an example of a ‘Stream of Consciousness’ Novel. ‘Stream of Consciousness’ was a phrase used by William James to characterize the unbroken flow of thoughts. Stream of consciousness is a narrative style to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings that pass through the mind" of a narrator. The stream-of-consciousness novel differs from the psychological novels because it is more concerned with the incoherent and inexplicable parts of the mind. The Binding Vine deals with the multi-facetedness of its central character Urmi who plays the role of anchor, it is she who is used by the novelist very cleverly to expose the sufferings of women from different sections of our society. Thus, the novel is narrated from the point of view of Urmi in first person narrative style. This novel is a multi-dimensional narrative about family bonds, human relationships, women's right to their bodies, and the need to speak out to set right the wrong.

Characters of The Binding Vine:

Urmi is the central character of the novel. She is a married woman who recently lost her one-year-old daughter Anusha in an accident. Kartik is her toddler son. Urmi is an intelligent, educated middle-class wife, who is employed as a lecturer in a college. She is married to Kishor who is a merchant navy officer. Though Urmi loves Kishor and prefers him, Urmi has an egoistic clash of feelings with Kishor. Urmi is a financially independent woman who seeks emotional love from her husband but Kishor because of his job often remains away and when Urmi tries to reveal her emotional insecurity, he asserts himself sexually rather than understanding that her desire is not physical, what she needs is something else. Vanaa is Urmi’s childhood friend and her sister-in-law, she is the sister of Kishor. Vanaa is married to Harish who is a doctor. Vanaa too is a medical social activist. Unlike Urmi, she never dares to question her husband’s supremacy. Mandira is the daughter of Vanaa and Harish. Though Vanaa is equally contributing financially to her family, Harish is careless not only about his household duties but he is also unsympathetic towards his wife. Amrut is Urmi’s younger brother and Inni is their mother. While Amrut spent his childhood with his parents, Urmi was sent to her grandparents to live with them and for this, she has a grudge against her mother. Akka is the stepmother of Kishor and Urmi’s stepmother-in-law. Kishor’s mother Mira died when Kishor was just one day old. His father married Akka to take care of his son. Mira was a well-educated girl and a poet. She got married to an abusive sadistic man who was very possessive and obsessive towards her. Though he believed he loved his wife, it was no less than torture for Mira who was afraid of her husband. Shakutai or Shakuntala is a woman whom Urmi meets in the hospital. She is an aged woman whose young daughter Kalpana was brutally raped and seriously injured as she is admitted to the hospital. Shakutai is a peon in a girl’s school. Kalpana and Sandhya are Shakutai’s daughters and Prakash is her son. Shakutai’s husband was an alcoholic indolent man who deserted her long ago. Shakutai’s younger sister is Sulochana or Sulu who is married to Prabhakar. Sulu is very supportive of Shakutai but has her own marriage troubles as she failed to conceive a child. She fears her husband may leave her for another woman. On the other hand, Prabhakar is obsessively attracted to Kalpana, the young voluptuous daughter of Shakutai. Dr. Bhaskar Jain is the doctor attending Kalpana, the rape victim.

Summary of The Binding Vine:

The story begins as Urmi goes to a hospital for a checkup. She lost her one-year-old child Anusha in an accident and since then she has been inconsolable. Nothing can cheer her or divert her attention from her daughter. She is flippant, angry, irritated, and even hysterical. In such a state she hit her head with a wall and had an injury. Vanaa, her sister-in-law and a childhood friend is with her. Urmi’s husband Kishor is a merchant navy officer and remains on the sea for half a year or more. Thus, Urmi lives with her mother Inni in Bombay. While ruffling her nerves, Vanaa tries to divert Urmi’s mind from her recent troubles and reminds her how strong she used to be during her childhood when she fell off a bicycle while learning in Ranidurg. Urmi gets irritated by this. She understands that Vanaa wants her to be strong and forget the pain of losing Anu, her daughter. However, Urmi doesn’t wish to be strong. "This pain is all that's left to me of Anu. Without it, there will be nothing left to me of her; I will lose her entirely.” she feels. Her childhood memories remind her of how she was forced to stay with her grandparents while her younger brother remained with her parents. Urmi is a strong woman who doesn’t like submissive women. Vannaa too appears to be submissive to her and never says a word against her careless husband Harish who often belittles her. Harish has examined Urmi and found that she is asthmatic. He offers to inform Kishor about it but Urmi insists that she will recover soon and they need not disturb Kishor who is on his touring job.

One day, Urmi’s mother-in-law Akka gives her a trunk containing Mira’s diaries, papers, and old photographs. She informs her that Kishor is Mira's son while she is the stepmother. Kishor was just one day old when his mother Mira died. To take care of the newly born baby, his father remarried Akka, but Akka couldn’t become his wife ever, her only role remained to be a caretaker of Kishor and his sister Vanaa. Urmi feels sorry for Akka. As she begins reading the diaries and papers of Mira, she realizes that Mira used to be a great poet. She was not happy in her marriage because her husband’s love was a “trap”, it did not give her individual freedom but suffocated her by over-riding passion. Kishor’s father was obsessive towards Mira and he had a sadistic streak of which Mira was afraid. However, Mira had no recluse but to continue marital rape every now and then. Mira's diary is a glaring revolution of her extreme dislike of the sexual act with her husband, a physical repulsion for the man she married. Taken collectively, her poems and diary entries pointed out molestation in marriage. Urmi is aghast by knowing all this. She also begins thinking about Kishor and how he too thinks of her as a sexual object. As she reads further, she learns that Mira once met a poet named Venu and showed him some of her poems. Venu discouraged and ridiculed her and said, “Why do you need to write poetry? It is enough for a young woman like you to give birth to children. That is your poetry; leave the other poetry to us men."

Urmi feels too bad while reading all this and decides to try getting Mira’s poems posthumously published. However, Vanaa is not happy about this, rather she opposes Urmi’s effort. She feels that this stride of Urmi in publishing the poems of Vanaa’s dead mother will destroy and demolish the honor of her family.

Urmi joins duty after her leave expires and gets busy in her daily routine. One day, she learns of a rape case when she goes to the hospital to meet Vanaa who is a medical social worker. The rape victim is Kalpana. Kalpana is a young vivacious girl from a lower class background. She is Shakutai's daughter. Shakutai has one more daughter Sandhya and a son. Her husband does not stay with them so it is Shakutai who is the breadwinner. She has a sister, Sulochana (Sulu). Sulu is childless and is afraid that her husband, Prabhakar, may marry another woman and shunt her out of his house. Her husband is enamored of Kalpana and is keen to marry her. Both Shakutai and Sulu approve of this proposal. Sulu likes it because if Kalpana comes as the co-wife, Sulu will not be driven out. After all, Sulu is Kalpana's aunt (Masee). Shakutai likes the idea because she thinks Prabhakar is a good man and since he loves Kalpana, he will keep her happy. Kalpana, however, has her own aspirations. She likes a young man whom she wants to marry and rejects Prabhakar's offer.

Now she is lying in the hospital, unable to speak or express, almost dead. Nobody knows what happened to her. When Dr. Bhaskar examines her, he announces that she was brutally raped. The police officer examining the case doesn’t agree with the doctor as he wishes to register the case as a road accident. He says, “She’s going to die anyway, so what difference does it make whether, on paper, she dies the victim of an accident or a rape?” the Police officer is unwilling to register it as a rape case because such cases become complicated and harrowing for them; Dr. Bhaskar admits based on the medical examination that the girl was raped but his point is simple— the girl will not recover from her coma and so it does not matter whether it is reported as a rape or an accident.

When Shakutai hears this, she panics. Kalpana’s mother is hysterical as she pleads with the doctors not to report the matter as a rape case. She is afraid of the social stigma. She says that if the people came to know that Kalpana was raped, nobody will marry her, nor will her younger sister get a man to marry. Urmi’s heart goes out to the wailing mother and sensing that the woman is alone, she offers to escort her home in a taxi. This is how Urmi comes to know more about Shakutai, a peon in a girls’ school. She lives in a chawl along with her children—Kalpana, Sandhya, and Prakash (son); her husband has deserted her for another woman and Shakutai has no male support except Prabhakar, her younger sister’s husband. Urmi learns more about Kalpana. Kalpana was a

good-looking child, and Sulu (Shakutai’s sister and Kalpana’s mausi) was attached to her. When Kalpana was growing up, Sulu offered to take her to her house and look after her and educate her. The offer was good from Shakutai’s angle also. She wanted her children to get an education and settle down well in life. But after a while, Kalpana had come back and refused to go to Sulu Mausi. Shakutai cursed the obstinate girl, without ever looking into the cause of her refusal. Now Shakutai accuses Kalpana of her condition. They tell Urmi to keep away from this mess. Shakutai blames her for crossing the limits of a woman's life and attracting attention through her modern ways of dressing up. Shakutai also felt that Kalpana was punished because she broke all these rules. Urmi refuses to agree with her views but Shakutai silences her on the plea that Urmi, belonged to the higher middle class, and, therefore, could not understand the constraints of people like Shakutai.

Urmi begins taking interest in Kalpana’s case while her mother and Vanaa try to discourage her. However, Doctor Bhaskar supports her. One day Shakutai comes to Urmi’s house and as Urmi gets busy making tea, Shakutai tells her the story of her marriage, her journey from the village to Bombay, and her life with her husband. He was a good-for-nothing fellow and never gave Shakutai a home. They shared a room with his cousin where she gave birth to her children, cooked, worked at a shop, and in fact did everything to run the household. She was overworked and it was only when Sulu came to stay that she got some help. However, Shakutai’s husband got involved with another woman and left her. Urmi continues to investigate Kalpana’s case while Inni, and Vanaa all offer only lip-sympathy. They tell Urmi to keep away from this mess. However, Urmi continues her efforts and comes to know that Kalpana returned from Sulu’s home only because Prabhakar tried to molest her while she was still a child. When Kalpana rejected Prabhakar’s offer of a second marriage which was illegal on its own, Kalpana rejected it. Prabhakar was enraged at this rejection. He waited for an opportunity, raped her, and leaving her mutilated body in a dark street, ran away. Urmi gives the facts about the rape case to Malcolm, a journalist and it is published. As the case becomes public, the government offers more attention. The reluctant police officer registers a rape case and offers protection to Kalpana in the hospital. The hospital authorities too begin observing Kalpana keenly. However, Sulu fails to bear all this. When she comes to know that Prabhakar raped Kalpana, whom she cared for like her own daughter, she commits suicide. Shakutai fails to understand how to react. Urmi feels deeply for Shakutai; she can empathize with her but cannot do anything further. She finds that she couldn’t talk about all this to anyone.

While Urmi is going through these problems, she talks freely to Dr. Bhaskar, seeing in him a good listener. Somehow, Dr. Bhaskar imagines that Urmi is unhappy in her marriage and he indirectly proposes to her. Urmi is shocked at his boldness. Though she likes his companionship, she has no reason to deceive Kishore. Kishore is remote and reticent by nature but he is a loving husband and a doting father. Urmi realizes that she loves Kishore, despite her disillusionment with him and his long absences. Urmi liked Dr. Bhaskar’s warm companionship, but she loved Kishore.

During this tumultuous period, Inni tells her that it was not Inni but Papa who sent Urmi to Ranidurg to live with her grandparents. When Urmi was a child, Inni had gone out leaving her in the care of Divakar, a trusted servant. Urmi's father had come home early that day and seeing that the girl was left with a male servant, had got angry. After that, he decided to send Urmi to his mother. He made his decision without even consulting his wife- Inni, Urmi's mother. Urmi learned that though her mother was sophisticated, she was submissive and couldn’t oppose her daunting dominating father. Urmi realizes that just like other women, her mother too is a victim, not a culprit.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please s