Sigh No More, Ladies

Sigh No More, Ladies

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one in shore,
To one thing constant never,
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into ‘Hey nonny, nonny’.

Shakespeare’s Message in His Poem “Sigh No More, Ladies”
      Shakespeare has message for women in this poem, especially for women who ever been hurt/ betrayed by men in a relationship. According to Shakespeare, women should not sigh, sad, or even mourn too much for any unfaithful men who betray the holiness of love in a relationship. It is alright for the betrayed women to sigh, but just don’t do it repeatedly. Shakespeare tells them so, probably because being sad for a long time could affect beauty. This all can be implied from the title: “Sigh No More, Ladies”.
                Shakespeare describe the unfaithful men as deceivers and inconstant. Their hearts are belonging to two (or more) women. They cannot decide for just one woman to be loved and stay constant with only her, as it is seen as follows:
 “Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one in shore,
To one thing constant never,”
                For that kind of men, Shakespeare tells the betrayed women to not be sad of the situation, just let the unfaithful men go, heal their own selves, then be happy again as usual, as it is seen as follows:
“Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into ‘Hey nonny, nonny’.”
                From the lines above, we can catch Shakespeare’s message to women who ever been hurt by men in a relationship, that they should not being sad too much. They should let the unfaithful men go, forget it, heal their wounds, then be cheerfully again.

Pippa's song- By Robert Browning

Pippa's song- By Robert Browning

The year’s at the spring,  

 And day’s at the morn;  
Morning’s at seven;  
The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d;  
The lark’s on the wing;  
The snail’s on the thorn;  
God’s in His heaven—  
All’s right with the world.

The "Song From Pippa Passes" is a short lyric poem sung by a character in a verse play by Robert Browning. This play, or dramatic poem, is entitled Pippa Passes. Its story centers on a fourteen-year-old girl, Pippa, who works in a silk mill. On her only day off in the year, she wanders through the town of Also singing happy songs that change for the better the lives of those who hear them. 

Pippa's little song says that everything is as it should be in the world of man and nature and that everything is full of promise. Moreover, God is watching over His creation. Therefore, the song says in presenting the theme, all is right with the world. 

The eight-line poem has a neat little structure. First, all the lines contain five syllables. Second, the subject of each clause is a noun that unites with the verb is to form a contraction (year's, day's, Morning's, etc.). Third, a prepositional phrase ends each line except the fourth. Fourth, the first three lines center on time; the second three, on nature; and the last two, on God and His dominion. The balanced rhyme scheme is abcd, abcd. All the rhymes are masculine, consisting of a single syllable at the end of one line rhyming with a single syllable at the end of another line. (In feminine rhyme, two syllables rhyme, as in in singing and ringing, flower and power, and razzle and dazzle.)

ON HIS BLINDNESS

ON HIS BLINDNESS 

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide,

"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts: who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed

And post o'er land and ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait." 

SUMMARY OF ‘ON HIS BLINDNESS

When Milton become blind. He began to think about his fate. He felt very sad that he became blind even before he could complete half of his life. The world became dark and wide. What pained him most is that his talent as a poet could not be used. As he became blind, it was difficult for him to read and write. He had hoped write many poems, but the chance was lost. On the day of judgment, when all the souls will meet God. Milton wishes to present all his work to God and prove that he has made the best use of the talent that God had given him. But blindness denied him that chance. In agony and anger, Milton questions God - if He wanted Milton to use his talent of writing poetry, why did he lake away his sight ???

                After sometime, the Goddess of patience answered his question. She said, God doesn't want man's work or his gifts. The people who accept god and his decisions willingly and cheerfully, they are the best servants to god. God has many angles to serve him: man and his work are nothing before them. Only those who stand and wait patiently, who bear their problems without any murmuring, they serve god the best.

Break, Break, Break- By Alfred Lord Tennyson

Break, Break, Break- By Alfred Lord Tennyson

This short poem carries the emotional impact of a person reflecting on the loss of someone he (or she) cared for. Written in 1834 right after the sudden death of Tennyson’s friend Arthur Henry Hallam, the poem was published in 1842. Although some have interpreted the speaker’s grief as sadness over a lost lover, it probably reflects the feeling at any loss of a beloved person in death, like Tennyson’s dejection over losing Hallam.

The poem is four stanzas of four lines each, each quatrain in irregular iambic tetrameter. The irregularity in the number of syllables in each line might convey the instability of the sea or the broken, jagged edges of the speaker’s grief. Meanwhile, the ABCB rhyme scheme in each stanza may reflect the regularity of the waves.

On the surface, the poem seems relatively simple and straightforward, and the feeling is easy to discern: the speaker wishes he could give voice to his sad thoughts and his memories, to move and speak like the sea and others around him. The poem’s deeper interest is in the series of comparisons between the external world and the poet’s internal world. The outer world is where life happens, or where it used to happen for the speaker. The inner world is what preoccupies him now, caught up in deep pain and loss and the memories of a time with the one who is gone.

For example, in the first stanza, the sea is battering the stones. The speaker appears frustrated that the sea can keep moving and making noise while he is unable to utter his thoughts. The sea’s loud roar, its ability to vent its energy, is something he lacks. The repetition of “break” aptly conveys the ceaseless motion of the waves, each wave reminding him of what he lacks.

In the second stanza, Tennyson similarly expresses distance between himself and the happy people playing or singing where they are. They possess joy and fulfillment, whether together or alone, but he does not. The brother and sister have each other; the sailor has his boat; the speaker is alone. They have reason to voice pleasure, but he does not. One might sense envy here, but “O, well” also suggests that these blithe young people have losses yet to come.

In the third stanza the poet sees the “stately ships” moving to their “haven under the hill,” either to port or over the horizon. Either way, they seem content with a destination. But the mounded grave is no pleasant haven, in contrast. That end means the end of activity; there is no more hand to touch, no more voice to hear. Again the speaker is caught up in his internal thoughts, his memory of the mourned figure overshadowing what the speaker sees around him. The critic H. Sopher also interprets the contrast in this stanza as such: “The stateliness of the ships contrasts with the poet’s emotional imbalance; and the ships move forward to an attainable goal ... while the poet looks back to a ‘vanish’d hand’ and a ‘voice that is still.’”

In the fourth stanza, the speaker returns to the breaking of waves on the craggy cliffs. The waves come again, again, again, hitting a wall of rock each time. But for him there is no return of the dead, just the recurring pain of loss. Why speak, why act? Sopher explains that “the poet’s realization of the fruitlessness of action draws the reader’s attention to the fact that the sea’s action is, seemingly, fruitless too—for all its efforts [it] can no more get beyond the rocks than the poet can restore the past.” Nevertheless, both the sea and the speaker continue with their useless but repeated actions, as though there is no choice. The scene evokes a sense of inevitability and hopelessness.

While the feeling here could involve merely the loss of a romantic relationship, it seems more poignant if the speaker has no hope for the return of the one who is lost. Without a death, there is no opportunity to connect the “hill” to a mounded grave, the “still” voice would be harder to interpret, and the “day that is dead” would be a weaker metaphor.

short story The Last Salvation

5) The Last Salvation

       This story has been written by R.P.Sisodia who was originally from Rajasthan and joined IAS in 1991 and since 1993 he has been serving in the Andhra Pradesh. The present story has been selected from his collection of short stories titled ‘A world Lost and other stories’, the author has depicted the harsh reality of the modern world where parents are treated badly. Children forget all their sacrifice and love and care. In the present story, author describes how a modern is illtreated b her son and daughter-in-lows.

The story has been described by the narrator who is the son of the motibai. The locale is that of Rewari village in Haryana. The story opens with a scene before 40 years when motibai, her husband and two children lived in a mud-plastered hut. 

     The narrator was a six month baby at that time. It rained drenching the hut. There was no dry place to sleep. The child started crying to inform the mother about the situation who wake-up and searched for a safe place for 9the baby. She found one small dry patch fit for the size of the baby. Motibai suffered from intense fever but she was satisfied that she could protect the baby. Motibai went on working next day even during her illness.

       The scene changes then. After forty years everything has changed. Rewari too has got many facilities. People have progressed too. Narrator was now a husband and the father of the one child. His mother motibai was old coughing all the times as she suffered from T.B.Bharati was the wife of narrator.

     Motibai had to live in the corner of the courtyard in a hut. Bharati sent her out of the house because she could not sleep when motibai was coughing all night. Bharati cursed her mother-in-low all the time. Bharati sent rotis and onion to motibai through her son raghu. She never allowed raghu to sit with his grandmother.

      Once motibai sent a message with raghu that she wanted to bathe at the confluence of holy rivers during the kumbh before dying. The narrator put the proposal fearing that bharati will disagree but to his surprise, the next day she showed her readiness to go with motibai.

     They all went to Allahabad. It was cold January and nobody except highly religious people would think of taking bath in the Ganga. Motibai was very happy. They reached Allahabad and decided to spend night on the riverbank only. At night all slept peacefully except the narrator. Suddenly at midnight bharati awoke him and declared her wish to return home. The narrator was surprised. He could not understand how could they go without bathing? But bharati went on insisting. She knew that motibai would not be able to survive. She wanted her to stay there forever. She left the mat and rug for her mother-in-low showing that she was generous.

     The narrator proved to be an absolute unworthy son as he did not object to the intentions of bharati. He noticed utter relief on the face of his wife. Here, there is a big question of morality and goodness of human being.

short story The gift of magi

3)  The gift of magi

      ‘The gift of magi’ of one of the famous stories written by O.Henry (William Sidney porter). His stories are always touching and they had endings which were shocking and surprising. His stories are marked by his sensitive perception of human nature. ‘The gift of magi’ is the story of a poor couple, Jim and Della.

        

       Jim and Della are poor couple who struggle hard. Bothe tried to save money everywhere. On coming Christmas both wanted to give each other a gift. Della could save only one dollar and eighty seven cents. She was disappointed when she went to the market. Della and Jim had one pride possession Della’s long hair and an old watch gifted to Jim by his grandfather. Seeing her own hair, Della got an idea of selling it so that she can get a chain for Jim’s watch. She got 20 Dollars for her hair. She purchased a beautiful chain for Jim’s watch.

          She prepared herself to meet Jim without her long hair. Jim was shocked to see her small hair. Off course he recovered and said that he loved her very much. We are also shocked to read that jim had brought combs and buckles made of tortoise shells but she had no long hair now.

      Della brings the chain for him and gift it to him but Jim starts laughing. To our surprise, we came to know that he had sold his gold watch to buy her combs. Here, we can see that the couple loves each other so much that they sold their proud possession. Actual gift they gave was love. Writer says that all who give and receive gifts are the magi angles who brought gifts for Jesus on his birth.

short story Between the mosque and the temple

 Between the mosque and the temple

Between the mosque and the temple is the short story written by a Parsi writer Boman Desai. The present story is an excerpt from his first novel ‘The memory of elephants’ in which he opens the novel with the arrival of the Parsis in India in the seventh century. He focuses on their generation of the Parsis in India during the 20^th century.

The present story focuses its attention on the importance of religious places and intolerance connected with touchy issues. The episode here describes the violence between two communities on a trivial matter of placing a dustbin. Here the chairman of the communities is Banu, a woman who settles the matter wisely and tactfully.

      Banu was supposed to settle a dispute between the Hindu and the musalman concerning the placement of a dustbin. Hindus complained that rubbish bin was too ear to the  temple and musalmans found it too close to the mosque and it must be moved close to the temple.

Banu decides to tackle the matter in her own way. She went there and people went on joining her. With a big retinue she reached the place. Both the Hindus as well as musalmans were amazed to see a woman chairman. Banu gave a very simple solution to it.  She declared that she will place the rubbish bin exactly between the mosque and the temple. To find the exact place, she walked and counted footsteps. Both the leaders also walked with her.

It was exactly two hundred and thirty two steps. So they had to move the bin to one hundred and sixteen footsteps. They placed the bin to the middle point. Now the bin was closer to the temple and little away from the mosque.

All had to accept the decision. The leaders of both the communities approved the decision. Banu believed that she succeeded because she was a Parsi and neither a Hindu nor a musalman. Thus it shows tactful handling by woman.