AFTER APPLE PICKING

BY ROBERT FROST

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.

But I am done with apple-picking now.

Essence of winter sleep is on the night,

The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

I got from looking through a pane of glass

I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough

And held against the world of hoary grass.

It melted, and I let it fall and break.

But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,

And I could tell

What form my dreaming was about to take.

Magnified apples appear and disappear,

Stem end and blossom end,

And every fleck of russet showing clear.

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,

It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin

The rumbling sound

Of load on load of apples coming in.

For I have had too much

Of apple-picking: I am overtired

Of the great harvest I myself desired.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

For all

That struck the earth,

No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,

Went surely to the cider-apple heap

As of no worth.

One can see what will trouble

This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.

Were he not gone,

The woodchuck could say whether it's like his

Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,

Or just some human sleep.

After Apple Picking

-Robert Frost

This is a pastoral poem that appeared in Frost’s volume of poems called ‘North of Boston’. This nature lyric presents and experience in daily life in simple and casual way. It describes the experience of the Apple-Picker who has been working throughout the day. It reveals his sense of fatigue and fulfilment he felt after a day’s work.

The Apple-Picker has been working has been working throughout the day with his long two-pointed ladder. Now it is kept sticking on a tree with its pointed ends towards the sky. He can still see the unpicked Apples on the trees. But he is tired now. He has no mood of picking Apples any further.

But I am done with Apple-Picking now

. . . I am drowsing off.

The smell of the Apples makes him drowsy. He yearns for a winter sleep like the birds. His thinking gets confused. He gets a thought about the pane of glass which he broke on that morning. He dreams about the Apple Picking which he did from morning to evening. Big apples appear and disappear in his dream.

What from my dreaming was about to take

Magnified apples appear and disappear

The poet in his dream can feel the touch of the Apples, he picked. The instep arch in his feet can feel the touch of the ladder and the swaying of the ladder among the branches. He can hear the rumbling sound of the loads of Apples added in the cellar bind. He feels satisfied about the year’s harvest. He has collected nearly ten thousand apples and does not worry about the wasted ones. The poem ends with a complete satisfaction of the poet. So the poet plans to have a winter sleep as wood chuck enjoys its ‘long sleep’. He wonders whether his sleep is like the long hibernating sleep of animals or something human.

Thus the fact and fancy get intermingled in the poem. The poem appeals to the five senses. It is similar to the poem of Keats. In ode to ‘Autumn’ Keats reminds us the fume of poppies which is drowsy. Here the scent of apples produces the drowsing effect.

ROBINSON CRUSOE EPISODES

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THE RAVEN

-Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous American poet and fiction writer. His stories are noted for horror and supernatural element. In this poem ‘The Raven’ he narrates his horrible experience with Raven which has entered his chamber in a storming midnight.

One December midnight, Poe was reading some old books of magic. When he was half asleep, he heard somebody knocking the door gently. He thought that it might be some unknown visitor. The poet is in a distressed mood due to the recent death of his wife Lenore.

            

                              For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore

Meantime, the poet was thrilled by the eerie atmosphere in the room. The silken curtains rustled and it increased his heartbeat. It filled him with ‘fantastic terrors’. Yet he went out and opened the door, but could find nothing.

                        

                                The only word he could whisper is ‘Lenore’ which was echoed back.

The poet again heard a tapping louder than before from the window lattice. When he opened that a ‘stately’ Raven came in. It entered without hesitation and sat on the statue of Pallas above the chamber door. The poet became happy on seeing the bird. The poet was surprised to hear a bird talking.

The poet was startled to hear the words of the Raven. He thought that the bird could have learned the single word from his unhappy master. Sinking on his velvet cushion chair, he remembered his loving Lenore who was ‘nomore’.

The poet who was disturbed scolded the bird as ‘Prophet of Doom’ and ‘Agent of Evil’. He again asked for a balm in Gilead to cure his sadness.

            

                                 Is there – is there balm in Gilead tell me- tell me. I implore.

The bird again refused to it by saying ‘Nevermore’. He again asked the bird whether it had seen Lenore ‘The Sainted maiden’ in the distant land. The bird replied of the bird the poet became very angry. He asked the bird to get out of his chamber.

                    

                               Take thy beak from out my heart, and taken thy from, from off my door!

Yet, the Raven was still sitting on the bust of Pallas and looking at the poet with its fiery eyes. The poet could not lift his soul from the shadow of the bird that laid on the floor.

In this poem, the poet uses the conversational tone. The poem is also considered as the dramatization of the poet’s despair.

SYLLABUS B.A. ENGLISH LIT.

II Semester 

Jacobean to Augustan Age 

(GMEN21)

Unit I

            Age of Milton and Dryden


Unit II

Poetry
            John Donne : A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
            George Herbert : The Collar
            John Milton : On His Blindness
            Henry Vaughan : The Retreat

Unit III
Prose 
            Swift : The Spider and Bee Episode from The Battle of Books

Unit IV
            John Dryden  - All For Love

Unit V
Fiction
            Daniel Defoe  - Robinson Crusoe

American Literature

(GMEN22)

Unit I
            Introduction to American Literature
               " The Rise of a National Literature" and an American Renaissance
                       (Chapter 3     from An Outline of American Literature. Peter B. High)
                       (Chapter 4 from An Outline of American Literature. Peter B. High)
Unit II
Poetry
            Edgar Allan Poe : The Raven
            Emily Dickinson : Arcturus is his other name
            Robert Frost : After Apple Picking
            Sylvia Plath : Lady Lazarus

Unit III
Prose and Short Stories
             V.K. Chari :Indian Thought in EMERSON, THOREAU and WHITMAN
            Allen Tate : The Man of Letters in the Modern World
            Hawthorne : Young Goodman Brown
            Mark Twain : Tom meets Becky

Unit IV
Drama 
            Tennessee Williams : The Glass Menagerie

Unit V
Fiction 
            Earnest Hemmingway : Farewell to Arms

Communicative Grammar and Usage

(GAEN21)

Unit I 
            The sentence : Different Types
            The Structure of Sentences
            Transformation of Sentences

Unit II
            Tenses
            Auxiliary Verbs

Unit III
            Word Classes : Form Class
            Word Classes : Function Class

Unit IV 
            Concord 
            Linkers 
            Punctuation
            Letter Writing
            Messages through E-mail and Fax

Unit V 
            Report Writing
            Note Making
            Advertisements, Telegrams
            Notices, Agenda, Minutes
            Circulars
            Essay Writing
            Precis Writing 

WATERLOO

                                                                                                                        -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The play Waterloo revolves round a retired military hero, Gregory Brewster. He was ninety six years old. He was a corporal in Royal Scots Guards. He had won a medal for courage in the battle of Waterloo. He spends the last days of his life remembering his great deeds of glory.

Waterloo original text

Norah was the grand niece of Gregory Brewster. She had come to his house in Woolwich to help him. The corporal used to sleep till 10 O' clock in the morning. One-day Sergeant Archie McDonald had come to visit the corporal. As he was asleep he saw the medal as well as a piece of print hanging by the fire place. The sergeant read all the heroic deeds of the corporal.

During the battle of Waterloo, the troops were running short of gun powder. Brewster succeeded in his attempts to make the cart pass through the flames. So he was awarded a medal by Prince Regent the first gentle man of England.

Norah offered a cup of tea to the corporal. The sergeant came again to invite corporal Brewster to visit Scots Gaurds. In the meantime, the corporal asked Norah to read about the battle of Armageddan from the Bible. The colonel of the Scot Gaurds, James Midwinter, came to their house after sometime. He told him that the officers of the Battaleon wanted to give some present to give him honour. Brewster could not forget how he fought in the battle. It was fresh in his memory. Talking about that he breathed his last.

The play reflects the mentality of a true soldier with humour, pathos and spirit of courage. 

THE NIGHT THE GHOST GOT IN

                                                                                                               -  James  Thurber

James Thurber is one of the celebrated essayists of the 20th century. His essay covers a variety of fields and subjects. His style is spontaneous lucid and witty.

One November night at one O' clock Thurber heard someone walking in the dining room. James Thurber thought that it was ghost. So he woke up his brother Herman. Both of them listened the sound. There was no sound. A little later they heard the steps running around the dining table out of fear locked themselves.

On hearing the sound their mother woke up and she thought that there was Burglars. She wanted to inform the police. But the phone was downstairs. So she threw a shoe into the bedroom of their neighbours Bodwell. Bodwell was very angry to find the window glass pane broken Mrs. Bodwell was shocked.

Bodwell immediately informed the police and they came to Thurber's house. A cop came to Thurber's room and asked him who he was. Thurber replied that, he lived there.

At the time grandfather woke up  and he thought that the cops were the deserters from General Meade's Buttalion in the American Civil war. He attacked the policemen and the policemen escaped.

Next day the grandfather asked innocently what the cops were doing in their house the previous nights.

Thus Thurber's story is filled with wit and humour that arise out of mistaken identity.

A CUP OF TEA

                                                                                                           -Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield is the author of this essay. She was born at Wellington (New Zealand) . Her essays cover the evils of hypocrisies and self deception of life. Her work is a real criticism of life. She believed in the art of suggestion.

Pretty Rose Mary Fell

Rose Mary Fell was a pretty girl. She was young, brilliant, extremely modern, well dressed, well read, presentable and amusing. She was a married girl. Her husband name was Philip.

Flower loving Rose Mary Fell

      1) Rose Mary was fond of flowers even if she wanted to buy flowers she would go to prefect shop.

       2) Among them she loved roses and tulips but hated life.

Art loving Rose Mary Fell

One-day she went to an antique shop. She saw an exquisite little enamel box. She loved it very much. Its price was 28 guineas. So she didn't buy. She said to the shop man, keep the price till I get.

Snogging Rose Mary Fell

It was drizzling. A young girl drenched in the rain requested (begged) for the price of a cup of tea. Suddenly Rose Mary remembered a similar scene from the Dostoevsky's novel.

Mothering Rose Mary Fell

She decided to take girl home and play the role of a fairy good mother. She took her home. She made her feel comfortable. She fed her with hearty meal and gave her many cup of tea. She made the girl quite comfortable and happy.

Persuading Rose Mary

When Philip came, she introduced Miss. Smith as her friend. She persuaded her husband saying she wants to put the words in the novel in reality.

Possessive Rose Mary

Rose Mary could not bear her husband's compliments about the girl. She realised the daughter. She presented three hundred pounds and sent her away.

Glamourizing Rose Mary

She glamourized herself. She informed him, that she went away and asked him "Am I pretty"?

Conclusion

            Thus the author proved the sobbing character of Aristocrats.

THE DONKEY

                                                                                                             - Sir Arthur Thomas

Introduction

Sir J. Arthur Thomas is the author of this essay. He responded to nature and life in all varieties. His essays are based on difficult science subjects. His style is lucid and literary.

Thomas pictures the donkey as a fire, lovable, strange, affectionate, clever and philosophical creature. But the traditional view is that the donkey is ugly, stupid sulky and dull creative.

The author says, that the domesticated donkey is descended from the African wild ass. There is a variety of donkeys. The donkey differs physically and mentally among them. The donkey looks like the pony but has different features.

The Hee- Haw is one of the weirdest sound in the animal kingdom. It commence with loud enthusiasm and ends in melancholic sobs. This braying sound is associated with its ancestral home desert. This sound wakes up the other creatures in the desert.

It's dirty colour is often suited to sandy background. This helps to hide itself in the dry dust it recalls its past. Its long sensitive ear helps to locate the enemy. It's very simple and poor food shows its desert home but man exploits them and does not give enough food.

The African wild ass is a handsome, agile, high spirited, courageous creature. A male ass lives with many females and their young ones. They also fight fiercely with confidence. But often the domesticated donkey is pictured as a depressed creature. The Egyptian high caste white ass is an example for good breeding.

Conclusion

It will be sad pity if this fine type of donkey vanishes from the world. Even though donkey retains many good qualities they are depressed by the careless nature.

ON LETTER WRITING

                                                                                                           -Alpha of the plough

Alpha of the plough was the pen name of A.G. Gardiner. He was one of the finest essayists. In this essay "On Letter Writing" he talks about the lost art of letter writing.

The essay opens with the conversation between two soldiers Bill and Sam. They find it very difficult to write letters.

A.G. Gardiner says that letter writing is not practised by many people now-a-days. They do not have the gift of self-expression. They are not able to condense the atmosphere into concrete word.

The art of letter writing was killed by penny post and modern hurry. The poor people could not enjoy the luxury of letter writing. In those days a letter was an important event.

The art of letter writing is not practiced in our age. This is because of the advent of the penny post. Letter writing has become very cheap. So people do not bother to write good letters. Moreover the telephone, the telegraph and the type writer has destroyed  the art of letter writing.

Modern people do not write literary letters. They are not able to put the great things that happened in their life into words. The secret of letter writing is intimate triviality and through such trivialities a living picture  should be presented.

In short, a good letter should be written in a light and casual way. It should be simple and perfect. It should be personal and not abstract. It should not be orderly, stately and elaborate like a good essay. It should be written in a familiar tone.

        

     Thus A.G. Gardiner advices the readers to review the art of letter writing by constant practice.

PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN

Virginia Woolf was a critique and novelist. This essay ‘Professions for Women’ is plea for intellectual freedom and artistic integrity. Woolf’s profession was literature. Many women writers came before her. They made the path smooth and regulated the steps. So that was not much difficulty in writing. Writing was a reputable and harmless occupation. The family peace was not broken by it. Much money was also not needed.

Woolf explained how she became a journalist. She wrote review and sent them. It was rewarded. She got one pound ten shillings and six pence. She bought a Persian cat with that money.

Woolf narrated her experiences as a novelist. A novelist must be as unconscious as possible. Woolf wanted to review a novel by a famous man. For that she had to fight with the phantom. The phantom was a woman. She was called as the Angel in the house (the heroine of the poem written by Coventry Patmore) She was symbol of domestic dependence and domestic drudgery. 

The phantom disturbed her mind. Woolf killed that phantom. Killing the Angel in the house was part of the occupation of a women writer.

Women writers were impeded by the conventionalities of the other sex. The obstacles against women were very powerful. Women had to overcome many problems.

Killing the Angel in the house and telling the truth about her own experience were two important adventures of Woolf's professional life.

Woolf concluded the essay by saying that no profession was without obstacles. She called woman to break the idol of womanly profession to challenge the world.

LORD BYRON'S LOVE LETTER

                                                                                      -Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams was an American poet, play wright and short story writer. The one act play Lord Byron's Love Letter was set in the Northern part of U.S.A. and abroad used to come to new Orleans  during carnivals like Mardigras.

An old woman and a Spinster, aged 40, lived in the French quarter of new Orleans. They kept a sign board in front of their house. They had Lord Byron's love letter with them. They earned their living by exhibiting the letter to the Tourists. They also used to collect small donation from them.

A Matron and her husband Mr.Tutwiller (Winston) came from Milwavkee for Mardigras. On seeing the sign in the door. The Matron was curious to see Lord Byron's love letter. She entered their house and asked the letter, the spinster explained her that Lord Byron had written the letter to her grandmother Irenee Marguerite De Poitevent. When she was sixteen Byron met her on the steps of the Acropolis in Athens.

Byron went into voluntary exile from England because of the gossip in the Regents' court. In Greece, he served for the cause of freedom.  Irenee met him there while she had gone to study about the ancient Europe civilization. Byron met her and conveyed his love. Unfortunately he was killed in a battle. So the grandmother wanted spend the rest of his life in complete seclusion.

In the meantime Martons husband came there in a fully drunken state. He disturbed them. In the end the spinster showed the love letter of Byron from a distance and asked for some money. At that time the sound of the parade was heard Tutwiler at once ran towards it. The Marton also followed him without giving any money.

A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

                                                                                           -Anton Chekhov

The one act play Marriage proposal was written by Anton Chekhov. Anton Chekhov was a Russian writer. The play at first sight appears as nothing more than a farce. It exposes the true nature of various kinds of people.

Stepan Stepanovich Choobookov was a land owner. He had a twenty five years old daughter named Natalia Stepanovna. Ivan Vassileivich Lomov, their neighbour was thirty -five years old. He was a terribly hypochondriac land owner. One day Lomov dressed himself neatly in marriage coat and gloves and went to the house of Choobookov. He asked Choobookov for Natalia's hand in marriage. Choobookov was extremely happy and told that Natalia was madly in love with him.

Lomov was excited on hearing this. He waited to see Natalia. Natalia came and greeted him. They started a conversation.

When Lomov talked he made a mention of his property. 'The Ox Meadows '. Natalia stopped him and said that they belong to them. Both had arguments over that. Lomov said that the Ox Meadows belonged to his ancestors and it was given to Natalia's grandfather's peasants for 40 years to be used free of charge. The argument became severe and they started calling each other 'names'.

Choobookov came there. He also joined in support of Natalia. The quarrel was too intense that Lomov finally walked out of the house with great insult. After Lomov had gone, Choobookov told Natalia the reason why Lomov had come to their house and scolded him. On hearing that Natalia became hysterical and wanted to bring Lomov back to their house. Choobookov was shocked. But for the sake of his daughter he invited Lomov again.

Lomov once again came there. Natalia apologised and admitted that the ox meadows belonged to him. Then they began their conversation again. They changed their topic to hunting. Lomov had a hound guess. He had bought that from Mironov for 125 rubels. Choobookov had a dog leap. They bought that for 85 rubles. Natalia said that their dog leap was a superior variety. Lomov said that his guess was superior than the leap. Again there was a heated argument. Choobookov intervened to stop but failed.

The argument became strong and Lomov's heart began to palpitate. His foot paralysed and he fainted on the arm chair. Natalia thought that he was dead. They gave him water to drink. After sometime he moved slowly. Atonce Choobookov urged them to marry soon. They accepted each other and got married.

Thus the play ends happily with the marriage of Lomov and Natalia inspite of their differences.