My Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is a short lyrical poem by William Wordsworth in 1802. According to his sister Dorothy’s diary entry, William Wordsworth composed the poem on March 26, 1802, while living at Dove Cottage in the scenic Lake District of northern England. However, the poem was first published in 1807 in his poetic collection ‘Poems: in Two Volumes’. Wordsworth and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge were working together for the publication of the third edition of Lyrical Ballads which was meant to oppose the priggish, learned, and highly sculpted forms of 18th-century English poetry and to make poetry accessible to the average person via verse written in common, everyday language. ‘My Heart Leaps Up’ is a prime example of this effort because the vocabulary and meaning of this poem are pretty easy to grasp. The major theme of the poem is to signify the importance of childhood feelings and suggests that one should try to keep their childlike nature alive while aging. The most quoted line of the poem is ‘The Child is father of Man.’

Another important theme of the poem is Love for nature, the natural life cycle, and purity in nature.

Structure of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’:

It is a short poem consisting of only nine lines that do not follow any particular poetic form. While there is only one stanza, these nine lines can be divided into three sections. In the first two lines, the speaker mentions how wonderful and joyful he felt when he glimpsed a rainbow. In the next four lines (3-6), he mentions that he has felt the same since childhood and throughout adulthood and wishes to feel the same till his death. In the final three lines, the speaker expresses his philosophical note on the feelings in the lines above. The poet followed iambic tetrameter throughout the poem, however, in line 2, he used iambic trimeter, and line 6 is composed in iambic dimeter. The rhyming scheme of the poem is ABCCABCDD, however, one may say it is written in free verse.

Consonance, Assonance, Personification, Paradox, Allusion, Enjambment, Hyperbole, Imagery, and Symbolism are used in the poem.

Summary of ‘My Heart Leaps Up’:

Lines 1-2

“My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:”

Wordsworth is often considered as a nature poet. His deep love towards nature is well expressed in his various poems and this poem follows the same pattern. In the first two lines, the speaker mentions his deep affinity towards nature as he glimpses a rainbow in the sky. Rainbows are, universally, regarded as beautiful, but the rainbow in this poem is a symbol of nature as a whole. The speaker says ‘My heart leaps up’...which suggests that it is an extreme reaction. Almost everyone likes to see a rainbow, but adults generally do not feel such excitement while seeing a rainbow. However, as the poem progresses, the speaker suggests that everyone should be similarly excited like a child while witnessing the wonders of nature. 

The poet used Symbolism in Line 2. The rainbow is used as a symbol of hope. Rainbows are beautiful sights that show up after storms. As such, they signify the passing of a storm—symbolically, of turmoil and suffering—and the start of a calmer, lovelier period. The rainbow may also allude (Allusion) to the story of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which God sends a rainbow as a promise to never again destroy the earth with floods. The heart of the speaker fills up with the same sense of hope and promise.

Lines 3-4

“So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;”

In these lines, the speaker mentions that he felt a similar joy, and sense of wonder-struck when he saw a rainbow as a child, and he feels the same now when he is an adult. The speaker expresses that his admiration for nature began right from his childhood and persisted through his adulthood.

The poet began lines 3 and 4 with ‘So’ using Anaphora to emphasize that aging has not reduced his admiration for nature. Consonance has also been used in line 3 (sound of /w/).

Lines 5-6

“So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!”

The poet used Hyperbole in these lines. The speaker says that he wishes to grow old with the same reverence, awe, and love for nature that he has maintained since his childhood. Otherwise, he will prefer to die (Or let me die!). The sixth line shows the strength of the speaker's convictions. The speaker suggests that he would rather prefer death than live a boring life bereft of beauty, unable to grasp the wonder of nature.

Line 7

“The Child is father of Man;”

This is the most popular, deep, and intriguing line of the poem. The poet used Paradox in this line. Readers can have different interpretations of the line. The simplest and logical understanding of this line is that wonder, awe, and respect towards nature, along with many other values such as sincerity, honesty, enthusiasm and respect for others are characteristics of a child, and these characteristics shape the growing child into the man he becomes. The experiences of a child make him a man and hence, the child is a father of a man. The speaker stresses that for an ever-evolving individual, one should maintain these childlike characteristics, at least, the speaker suggests that one should maintain, the wonder and respect towards nature that one feels as a child, throughout their life.

Another interpretation of the same line can be that for a parent, a child can be a great teacher and a role model from whom the adult parent may learn to respect and admire nature and other little wonders of life.

Lines 8-9

“And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.”

The poet ends the poem by stressing the importance of childhood and how strongly he desires to maintain its characteristics throughout his life.

The importance of childlike attributes was also explained in Tintern Abbey in which the speaker suggested that children are closer to heaven and God, and through God, nature, because they have recently come from the arms of God. The speaker expresses the importance of staying connected to one's own childhood. Wordsworth was a naturalist who believed nature is divine and thus, he uses the phrase ‘natural piety’ that children often enjoy and that the speaker wishes to enjoy throughout his life.

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!

Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg | Structure, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘Sunflower Sutra’ is a free verse poem by Allen Ginsberg published in 1955. Ginsberg’s poetry was strongly influenced by Walt Whitman and he always maintained that William Blake was his idol. In 1948, Ginsberg claimed that he had visions of Blake reading his poems. One of Blake’s poems that Ginsberg claimed he heard in his vision was “Ah! Sunflower”. Blake’s "Ah! Sunflower" mentions a withering sunflower ‘weary of time.’ Still, the poem ends with a positive note suggesting that the sunflower will reach the heights of spirituality and be with the celestial beings.

Ginsberg’s poem ‘Sunflower Sutra’ follows a similar pattern. Ginsberg describes America as a sunflower in withering dilapidated condition. He tells about a desolate American landscape, destroyed and devastated by the careless work of modern society, capitalism, and consumerism. However, he ends the poem on a hopeful note, suggesting that he will preach a “sermon” of light to all who see only despair in their country and their lives.

In Blake’s poem, the sunflower is a metaphor for the soul seeking the afterlife. In Ginsberg’s poem, the sunflower symbolizes the individual, Ginsberg himself, and many others suffering the ills of the war-oriented consumerist, capitalist American socio-political scenario of that period. In ‘Sunflower Sutra’, the murky industrial world of postwar America has corrupted Blake’s sunflower, leaving it ‘dusty with the smut and smog and smoke’ in its eye.

Structure of ‘Sunflower Sutra’:

It is a long poem, 63 lines of varying lengths written in free verse, following no definite meter or rhyming scheme. There is no division of the poem in specific stanzas. The poet used Assonance, Anaphora, Consonance, Imagery, Metaphor, Rhetorical Question, and Symbolism in the poem. The main theme of the poem is the triumph of individuality. It is a poem of crisis and recovery. Ginsberg’s sunflower suggests an America that has been tarnished and battered by the carelessness of modern society but contains the ability to be redeemed and to be beautiful once again.  In observing the “dead gray shadow” that is the sunflower Ginsberg finds both beauty and horror within it.

Summary of ‘Sunflower Sutra’:

Part 1 Lines 1-9

“I walked on the banks of the tincan banana dock and sat down under the huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive to look at the sunset over the box house hills and cry.

Jack Kerouac sat beside me on a busted rusty iron pole, companion, we thought the same thoughts of the soul, bleak and blue and sad-eyed, surrounded by the gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery.

The oily water on the river mirrored the red sky, sun sank on top of final Frisco peaks, no fish in that stream, no hermit in those mounts, just ourselves rheumy-eyed and hung-over like old bums on the riverbank, tired and wily.”

The speaker opens the poem while lamenting how industrialization and modernization have ruined the landscape of America and mourns the loss of a “wild” West and the end of the American frontier.

Ginsberg uses the phrase ‘tincan banana dock’ in the opening line. "Tincan banana dock" is an expression that consists of basic words that have no apparent meaning. The expression is often read as a juxtaposition of images, often contrasting nature and humanity, and government and sex. The speaker uses varied images to depict the growth of modern industrial and commercial society which is hazardously polluting the natural environment. The speaker says that he sits down “under the / huge shade of a Southern Pacific locomotive” and looks at the sunset over “the box house hills....” (1-3) The scene of growing urbanization in the face of this beautiful sunset only makes the speaker cry. Ginsberg is not alone though, his friend Jack Kerouac is sitting alongside him and he shares the same pain. They weren’t sitting in a lush garden with tall trees, rather they were surrounded by the “gnarled steel roots of trees of machinery” and they were lamenting the loss of nature.

Ginsberg uses natural imagery to depict industrial blight. Ginsberg is using a technique that the Romantic poets used; a picture of raw nature meant to elicit a feeling in the reader of awe and respect for the natural world. Yet Ginsberg twists this imagery. It is not really a tree’s roots we are looking at but machinery and rusted iron. The reader is disappointed because nothing is as beautiful as it should be.

The picture of industrial waste continues. The river that the two see is covered with a film of oil that makes it impossible for fish to live in. The mountains that overlook San Francisco can no longer support the hermit who might live off the land. Ginsberg alludes to Thoreau, whose famous experiment at Walden Pond is a prime example of the American Romantic tradition. Ginsberg and Kerouac sit and watch this display of wasted land and resources, “rheumy-eyed and hung-over like old bums....” (9) In Beat literature, ‘the bum’ means a respected figure who became sacred by the sacrifices he made to live both in and outside the restrictions of the modern world. The bum is a part of the society that he hates, and the fact that he too is a part of the same society drives him insane. Thus, he chooses to live apart from society, from art, and from his own expression.

Lines 10-21

“Look at the Sunflower, he said, there was a dead gray shadow against the sky, big as a man, sitting dry on top of a pile of ancient sawdust—

—I rushed up enchanted—it was my first sunflower, memories of Blake—my visions—Harlem

and Hells of the Eastern rivers, bridges clanking Joes Greasy Sandwiches, dead baby carriages, black treadless tires forgotten and unretreaded, the poem of the riverbank, condoms & pots, steel knives, nothing stainless, only the dank muck and the razor-sharp artifacts passing into the past—

and the gray Sunflower poised against the sunset, crackly bleak and dusty with the smut and smog and smoke of olden locomotives in its eye—”

Kerouac shows a sunflower to Ginsberg a sunflower which appears to be an object out of place in such a blighted landscape that Ginsberg had described. But, as Ginsberg looks at the sunflower he sees both beauty and horror. Ginsberg first sees an abnormality of nature, a “dead gray shadow” that is “big as a man...” He believes that, at first, he cannot see what he is actually seeing and he has memories “of Blake / my visions - Harlem.” (11-14). Ginsberg remembers one of William Blake's famous poems, titled “Ah, Sunflower.” The poem references the beauty of youth that mankind strives for. Ginsberg’s poem is a continuation of Blake’s modernism, yet it shows the extremes of pollution and corruption that have come into the world. In the next few lines, the speaker continues to describe the deadly, lifeless pictures of pollution and environmental devastation that Ginsberg finds on the West Coast. New York is filled with the culmination of industry and this culmination has made the city foul and nasty. But there was a moment of redemption for Ginsberg in New York; it was the vision of Blake’s sunflower, “poised against the sunset, crackly bleak and dusty / with the smut and smog and smoke of olden locomotives....” (20-21).

Lines 22-46

“corolla of bleary spikes pushed down and broken like a battered crown, seeds fallen out of its face, soon-to-be-toothless mouth of sunny air, …….

…….

A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze!”

The sunflower is a difficult thing for Ginsberg to interpret because, while it is meant to be an object of beauty, it has taken over the weariness and pollution of the environment it lives in. Yet, Ginsberg sees the flower as persevering in the face of such hardships and he relates to such action. The holy bums of the Beat poets must do the same. Ginsberg writes that “The grime (of the flower) was no man’s grime but death and human locomotives” (31). Ginsberg subtly changes the meaning of the word “locomotive” here. When first used, it denoted the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and the way that revolution ended up paving a path of devastation. Here, when using the word, Ginsberg means himself and Kerouac and the other Beat poets. They have taken on the characteristics of the locomotive - always in motion, powerful, and dominant in their artistic landscape.

Ginsberg continues to describe the desolate scene in which he and Kerouac find themselves, yet this time he means to call attention to the plight of these human “locomotives” who find themselves in an America of waste and destruction. Much like he did in “Howl,” Ginsberg uses crude sexual imagery and vivid pictures of homosexual acts to wrap this American landscape into a picture of lewd censorship of its best minds.

These lewd, disturbing images are contrasted with the sunflower, the “perfect beauty” which is a “sweet natural eye to the new hip moon....” (45-46). Here, Ginsberg means to suggest that the Romantic tradition still has something to say to the modern industrial and corporate society. Just as the Romantic poets prophesied of the pending doom of the growing industrialism contrasted with the natural beauty and order of the world, so too can that message be translated into Ginsberg’s America and a “hip” new direction.

Lines 47-55

“How many flies buzzed round you innocent of your grime, while you cursed the heavens of the railroad and your flower soul?

Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your skin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive? the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive?

You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower!”

In these lines, Ginsberg clarifies what he means by the word “locomotive” that he used as a symbol. He also expresses more specifically what the “sunflower” represents. He clarifies that the sunflower represents America, a land once filled with the promise of progress and advancement. The locomotive was the symbol of that progress - a machine powerful enough to connect the coasts and bring about a revolution in transportation and human ingenuity. Yet, the sunflower, as well as the locomotive, have lost their luster and have in a way died. America has given up and decided that it is “an impotent dirty old locomo- / tive...” (51-52). But that’s not who America really is, Ginsberg says. “You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower!”

Lines 56-65

“And you Locomotive, you are a locomotive, forget me not!

So I grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck it at my side like a scepter,

and deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack’s soul too, and anyone who’ll listen,

—We’re not our skin of grime, we’re not dread bleak dusty imageless locomotives, we’re golden sunflowers inside, blessed by our own seed & hairy naked accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our own eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening sitdown vision.”

As the speaker realizes that America is not the pollution-creating machine ruining everything, rather, America is the sunflower, he decides to confront the corruption caused by the locomotive. His new vision of an America that remembers its progressive roots has taken root in his own soul, so he “brabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck it at my side like a / scepter...” (57-58). This message is so dangerous, and will be offensive to so many, that he will have to use this sunflower not for its beauty but as a weapon. Ginsberg knows that he will “deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack’s soul too, and anyone who’ll / listen...” (59-60).

Ginsberg ends with the beginning of this sermon. Humanity, and America, are not composed of the grime of industry, the greed of corporatism, and the violence of war. People are “golden sunflowers inside, blessed by our own /see & hairy naked accomplishment...” (62-63). 

The speaker decides to discard the corrupt locomotive causing ruin, blight, and corruption, rather he envisions America as a new kind of locomotive that may turn the desolate landscape as, once again, a picture of beauty.

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!

London, 1802 by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. ‘London, 1802’ is a poem by William Wordsworth, a Petrarchan sonnet about England’s decadence at the turn of the nineteenth century. The sonnet was first published in 1807 in “Poems, in Two Volumes”.

The poet emphasizes the need for John Milton’s virtuous example. The speaker notices that selfishness has resulted in a lack of happiness and virtue and invokes John Milton, seeking his wisdom and guidance to confront the social and spiritual ills of contemporary England.

In 1738, Samuel Johnson wrote a long poem titled London. In that poem, Samuel Johnson also described the various problems of London, including an emphasis on crime, corruption, and the squalor of the poor. William Blake wrote a short poem of 16 lines titled London published in 1794. In that poem, Blake expressed his disappointment in the socio-political situation of London during that period, emphasizing the effects of Industrialization, Moral Corruption, Poverty, Exploitation of the masses, and Universal suffering.

In 'London, 1802', William Wordsworth castigates the English people as stagnant and selfish and eulogizes seventeenth-century poet John Milton. The speaker laments that 19th-century England has failed to maintain certain standards. These standards, the speaker believes, were perfectly exemplified by the 17th-century poet John Milton, a writer widely admired for his artistic innovation, religious devotion, and moral compass.

Structure of London, 1802:

‘London, 1802’ is an Italian sonnet or the Petrarchan sonnet.  The poem has 14 lines. The first 8 lines are known as the octave, which is made up of two four-line quatrains. The next six lines make up the sestet, which itself is composed of two three-line tercets. Wordsworth followed the standard structure of the Italian sonnet and split the octave and sestet with ‘volta’ in the first line of the sestet.

In a standard Petrarchan sonnet, the Octave is used to describe a problem while the volta is used to offer a possible solution to the problem. That is what Wordsworth does in his poem. In the first eight lines, he describes England as a swampy marshland of "stagnant waters" where everything that was once a natural gift (such as religion, chivalry, and art, symbolized respectively by the altar, the sword, and the pen) has been lost to the scourge of modernity. In the sestet, he celebrates Milton, praises the famous poet and his way of life, and presents it as the antidote to England's societal decline.

The poem is written in Iambic Pentameter, with frequent disruptions as the poet used trochees instead of iambs in some instances. The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBACDDECE. Though the speaker remains unidentified, he or she is a citizen of England, respects its past glory, and admires John Milton. One may safely assume that the speaker is Wordsworth himself.

The poet used Apostrophe, Caesura, Personification, Metaphor, Simile, Metonymy, Enjambment, and Consonance in the poem. The poem's tone is pleading and praising as the speaker pleads and praises the dead poet Milton to reappear and lead his countrymen to better ways of living.

Summary of London, 1802:

The Octave Lines 1-8

“Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:

England hath need of thee: she is a fen

Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,

Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,

Have forfeited their ancient English dower

Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

Oh! raise us up, return to us again;

And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.”

The speaker begins with the use of Apostrophe as he calls out John Milton, the 17th-century poet. The speaker exclaims that England needs Milton now in 1802 though he died in 1674, thus, Milton cannot answer his call. (Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses someone (or something) that is not present or cannot respond in reality. )

The poet used Trochee (Milton) with the stressed-unstressed metrical foot, he changed the meter back to iambic pentameter after the caesura. However, this abrupt opening of the poem emphasizes the importance of Milton. The speaker mentions that Milton is the need of the hour and expresses his plight, for England has become like a swamp full of still water (fen). The speaker uses ‘she’ for England, personifying the country as a woman (she is a fen). Fen is a low, marshy body of water. Such bodies of water often develop a filmy appearance and rank odor, emphasizing the sense of decay and rot being evoked. The poet used Enjambment as the sentence continues from the first line to the second without punctuation. The speaker uses a metaphor and says England is not just a fen, but a fen "of stagnant waters," which means England has lost its energy and momentum.

When looking at England’s prosperous history, and comparing it to the country’s current religious values, Military, literature, and common life, the speaker feels they are no longer the same.

Wordsworth used Metonymy while describing England becoming ‘stagnant’ and corrupt. In lines 3-4 (“altar, sword, and pen, / Fireside the heroic wealth of hall and bower”) means the church, the army, British writers, and homes.

The speaker mentions the reason for this decline of his nation in line 6 and says ‘we are selfish men.’ The speaker continues to call upon Milton and seeks his help to uplift the people of England, to the former glory, he prays Milton to rise from death and bring the English ("us") "manners, virtue, freedom, power".

The Sestet Lines 9-14

“Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:

Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:

Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,

So didst thou travel on life's common way,

In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart

The lowliest duties on herself did lay.”

The first line of the sestet serves as the volta. After describing the problem the speaker is facing regarding England, his nation, he offers a solution that lies within the means and way of life that Milton followed. The speaker says that Milton’s "soul was like a Star," he was different even from his contemporaries in terms of the virtues listed above. The speaker tells Milton that his voice is like the sea and the sky, a part of nature and therefore natural: "majestic, free." The speaker also compliments Milton's ability to embody "cheerful godliness" even while doing the "lowliest duties." The speaker deliberately compares Milton to things found in nature, such as the stars, the sea, and "the heavens." Wordsworth was a nature devotee and for him,  being likened to nature is the highest compliment possible. Furthermore, the speaker also offers a contrast between the highly devoted religious life that Milton led while living an ordinary life as everyone. The speaker says that though Milton was a highly successful and celebrated poet, he led an ordinary life with no sham and pompousness. The speaker wishes his countrymen to learn and follow the simplicity of life that Milton followed.

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 Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. It is the only play by Shakespeare in which he used Induction, a framing device and this is why The Taming of the Shrew is also known as ‘A Play within a Play.’ The induction tells the tale of a beggar who finds himself mysteriously in power in a rich man's world. Shakespeare used farcical elements and themes of disguise and mistaken identity in this play which he used again in Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The induction used in the play is often criticized as a faulty framework with an unfulfilled narrative because the whole play ends with the end of the play within the play while leaving the Induction incomplete.

Characters of The Taming of the Shrew:

Petruchio is a young man who visits Padua while searching for a girl to marry. He is the son of a rich man from Verona who is ready to marry any girl with enough money. When he hears about Katherine’s dowry, he becomes interested in marrying her but her cleverness and "shrewishness" excite him genuinely. Lucentio is another male lead who belongs to Florence. He visits Padua to study at the University but falls in love with Bianca. He makes friends with Petruchio but unlike Petruchio, he isn’t interested in Dowry. Both men are well-off, but Lucentio’s father is incomparably rich Pisan. While Lucentio single-mindedly pursues Bianca, he cannot marry her until Bianca’s elder sister Katherina gets engaged.

Katherina Minola or Kate is the shrew to be tamed. She is a beautiful, intelligent, shrewd, and haughty girl who knows that men are pursuing her for the money she will bring as dowry. Her father Baptista is worried about her marriage and suggests two suitors, Hortensio, and Gremio to Kate but she lashes out at them and they run away. Bianca is the younger sister of Kate. She is just opposite to Kate, a moderate well-behaved beautiful girl. Lucentio falls in love with her. Baptista is a wealthy resident of Padua and the father of Katherina and Bianca. He openly prefers his more well-behaved daughter and has no compunction about referring to Katharina as "the veriest shrew of all." Tranio, Lucentio’s servant, helps him woo Bianca by assuming Lucentio’s identity. Horentsio is a suitor of Bianca. He is a foolish and pompous man whom Tranio baits and sends off to woo and marry a rich widow. Gremio is another suitor of Bianca. Other minor characters include Grumio, Petrucho's servant. Christopher Sly, the main character of the Induction. He is a drunkard made to think he is a lord by a real lord who plays a trick on him.

Summary of The Taming of the Shrew:

The Taming of the Shrew is a Five Act play beginning with an Induction. It is the only play by William Shakespeare in which an Induction is used at the beginning as a framing device for the main play. The induction begins as a drunken beggar Christopher Sly gets thrown out of a tavern and falls asleep on the street. A Lord passing by notices Sly and decides to trick him. Sly is carried to the Lord's bedchamber and decked in lavish attire. Upon waking, Christopher Sly is understandably confused. He immediately calls for a drink and is attended to by three servants (supposedly his). The Lord himself assumes a servant’s role and convinces him that Sly is a wealthy nobleman who has recently been mad and has forgotten his true identity. The Lord’s young pageboy dresses up as a lady and pretends to be Sly’s noble wife. Sly resists for a while but when he sees his beautiful wife and a lot of wine, he falls into the trap and decides he must indeed be a lord. Meanwhile, a group of artists arrive at the Lord’s house to perform and they unwittingly perform a drama for Sly, the fake lord. This drama is the main plot of The Taming of the Shrew.

Act 1

Lucentio is the only son of a wealthy Pisan merchant Vincentio. He is a well-behaved studious young man who arrives in Padua to study at the University of Padua. His servant Tranio accompanies him. On the very first day, Lucentio and Tranio see two beautiful young girls with their father as two young men approach them. Lucentio learns that the old man is Baptista a rich merchant of Padua along with his elder daughter Katherina and the younger one Bianca. The two men approaching him are Horentsio and Gremio. Both ask for Bianca’s hand in marriage but Baptista says no one shall court Bianca until her older sister is successfully married. Horentsio objects that Katherina is an ill-tempered, feisty, and quarrelsome "shrew" and they can think of no one who would possibly want to marry her. Baptista intervenes and says that he agrees Katherina is "the veriest shrew of all," and he will allow tutors into his house, but no suitors until Kate is wed. Upon hearing this, Katherina gets furious and lashes out at Honrentsio and Gremio and they flee away from the scene. Bianca gets sad, Lucentio notices her weeping, and falls in love with her. Gremio and Horentsio decide that they will put aside their rivalry until they have found someone to wed the "shrew" Katharina.

Act 2

Lucentio decides to enter the Minola house as a Latin teacher Cambio to teach Bianca. Tranio accompanies him disguised as Lucentio and becomes Bianca's third suitor. Horentsio disguises as a music teacher named Litio to access Bianca as her teacher and woo her. Meanwhile, Petruchio, a young man from Verona arrives and hears that Baptista is willing to marry his elder daughter. When he hears about Katherina’s wittiness and shrewdness, he gets excited and feels he wants her as his wife. He learns that Baptista is rich and decides to marry her. As he reaches Minola’s house, he gets engaged in a furious battle of wits with Katherina. He engages Katherina in an embittered and passionate volley of insults and slurs, each meeting the linguistic challenges posited by the other.

When Baptista, Gremio, and Tranio see them arguing, Baptista intervenes. Petruchio excitedly announces that he and Katharina are to be wed on Sunday. Katherina protests and says, "I'll see thee hanged on Sunday first." Petruchio reassures Baptista that Kate and he have agreed that she will remain "crust" in public though they will be affectionate in private. He then firmly picks Katherina in his arms and takes her away.

Baptista is relieved that his elder ‘shrew’ daughter is finally getting married. He turns to Gremio and Tranio and says that whoever is willing to pay a higher dowry for Bianca will be able to marry her. Tranio assures that his father Vincentio will pay a higher dowry. Baptista says that he will need assurance from Vincentio that Lucentio will be his heir. Tranio then determines to find someone to play the part of Vincentio, to allow Lucentio to win Bianca. Meanwhile, Cambio and Litio both try to woo Bianca while teaching her but Bianca clearly prefers Lucentio, although she is cautious in her judgment.

Act 3

Despite her protest, Katherina feels Petruchio outwitted her and eagerly awaits the wedding day. Sunday approaches and Baptista makes all the arrangements for the wedding in the Church. However, Petruchio doesn’t arrive on time. Katherina becomes worried. When he finally arrives, he is wearing an absurd outfit, which irritates Baptista and Katherina. Petruchio ignores Katherina’s response to his dressing, behaves like a tyrant during the service, and then refuses even to let Katharina stay for the wedding feast, instead sweeping her away to his home in the country. Baptista is bewildered at Petruchio's hastiness but doesn’t intervene. After they leave, Baptista tells Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) that the feast will go as planned, and that he and Bianca may take the seats of the bride and bridegroom if Vincentio assures that Lucentio will be his heir.

Act 4

At his home, Petruchio’s behavior further deteriorates. He rudely treats all his servants. He constantly corrects and berates Katherine, and pretends to find something wrong with all the food his servants bring her so that she gets nothing to eat. This is all part of his plan to tame her by denying her food and preventing her from even sleeping. He returns to his servants and explains his intention to tame the shrew by out-shrewing her: he will mistreat her and deprive her of what she needs, all under the guise of kindness and love. Thus, by insisting that neither her food nor her bed is worthy of her, he will wear out her spirit with lack of nourishment and sleep.

At Padua, Horentsio realizes that Bianca is preferring Cambio. When Tranio reaches there, he complains that Bianca is flirting with low-class Cambio. Tranio too instigates him and says he would never marry a girl flirting with such low-class people and suggests to Horentsio that they should rather pursue a rich woman who recently got widowed. Horentsio agrees and decides to leave Bianca to flirt with Cambio while he pursues the rich widow. Tranio informs Cambio and Bianca that Horentsio has left and then goes to find a man to pretend to be Vincentio. He finds an old merchant arriving at Padua and lies to him that his life is in danger in Padua and makes him play the part of Vincentio in exchange for saving his life. The old man promptly assists him. Baptista is satisfied after meeting the merchant disguised as Vincentio and agrees to the wedding of Lucentio and Bianca.

Back at Petruchio’s home, Katherina is still hungry. Petruchio arrives at her room with a plate of freshly prepared meat in the hands of Horentsio who visited to congratulate them. Petruchio insists Katherina must thank him for the meat but secretly tells Horentsio to eat all the meat by himself. Petruchio then tells Katherina to dress up in her best garments as they will soon go back to her father’s house for the marriage of Bianca. A Tailor brings a hat and a gown for Katherina which she likes very much but Petruchio declines them saying they are of low quality. Then he tells Katherina to hurry up and come as she is dressed as clothes are of little worth and they should reach Minola’s house by noon. Katherina protests and says that it is already 2 o’clock. Petruchio berates her for constantly contradicting him. His servants notice that Katherina is much more polite than Petruchio now. On the road, Petruchio continues to mistreat Katherina and she continues to subdue. They meet Vincentio. Petruchio greets him as ‘gentlewoman’ and asks Katherina to agree with him, Katherina promptly agrees and calls Vincentio ‘ a budding virgin.’ Shocked by their jester, Vincentio informs that he is going to Padua to meet his son Lucentio. Petruchio then tells him that his son is to be married to Bianca pretty soon.

Act 5

At Padua, Vincentio encounters the old merchant and Tranio disguised as Vincentio and Lucentio. He argues with them, asserting that he is the real Vincentio and Tranio is his servant. Baptista doesn’t believe him and calls for the police to arrest the real Vincentio as an imposter. Cambio and Bianca approach the scene, and Cambio confesses to his deceit and says that he is the real Lucentio while revealing the true identities of the merchant and Tranio. Baptista and Vincentio are upset by all this but ultimately approve of the marriage between Bianca and the real Lucentio. Meanwhile, Horentsio succeeds in marrying the rich widow.

At the feast of Lucentio and Bianca’s wedding, Horentsio and Gremio tease Petruchio for being married to a shrew. Petruchio says that they should call their wives and whoever appears first, should be considered the most obedient wife. Lucentio and Horentsio agree, and all three send messengers to call for their wives. Bianca and the rich widow don’t appear but Katherina appears promptly. Then Petruchio sends her back to call the other two wives. When all three are present, Katherina delivers a long speech detailing a wife's duties owed to her husband. While Horentsio and Lucentio are shocked at witnessing the change in Katherina, Petruchio is pleased as he leaves with Katherina to his bedroom.

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!