Friday, 2 December 2022
Tuesday, 22 November 2022
History of English Drama
Drama:
1) Drama is a composition in verse or prose to be acted on the stage, in which a story is related by means of dialogue and action and is represented with, accompanying gesture, costume and scenery as in real life.
2) Drama is a composition designed for performance in the theatre in which actors take the roles of the characters, perform the indicated action and utter the written dialogue
The elements of drama are-
1. plot
2. characterization
3. dialogue
4. settings
5. stage directions
6. conflict
7. theme
(I) Introduction to English Theatre:
Drama has its origins in folk theatre. Drama is a multiple art using words, scenic effects, music, gestures of the actors and the organising talents of a producer. The dramatist must have players, a stage and an audience.
The beginnings of drama in England are obscure. There is evidence to believe that when the Romans were in England, they established vast amphitheaters for the production of plays but when the Romans departed their theatre departed with them.
(Amphitheaters: a circular building without a roof and with rows of seats that rise in steps around an open space. Amphitheaters were used in ancient Greece and Rome.)
Then there were minstrels. (Minstrels: a medieval singer or musician, especially one who sang or recited lyric or heroic poetry to a musical accompaniment for the nobility.) People enjoyed their performances.
Gradually by the 10th century the ritual of the plays that itself had something dramatic in it and had got few features of a play.
Between the 13th and 14th century drama started having themes which were separated from religion. The words themselves were spoken in English, a longer dramatic script came into use, and they were called as Miracle plays.
(Miracle plays: Miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. These plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches.)
Later, these religious dramas were the Morality plays in which characters were abstract vices and virtues. (Mortality Plays:a kind of allegorical drama having personified abstract qualities as the main characters and presenting a lesson about good conduct and character, popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries.) These were allegories. (Allegory:a story, play, picture, etc. in which each character or event is a symbol representing an idea or a quality, such as truth, evil, death, etc.; the use of such symbols.)
(II) Elizabethan and Restoration Theatre:
The Secular Morality plays have direct links with Elizabethan plays.
Features of the Renaissance Period:
i) They imposed a learned tradition.
ii) They were classical in depth with themes of education.
iii) They presented general moral problems.
iv) They showed secular politics.
v) These plays had nothing to do with religion.
vi) There were examples of both, comedy and tragedy.
Prime Dramatists:
Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are the prime dramatists of this era.
It was Kyd who discovered how easily blank verse might be converted into a useful theatrical medium which Shakespeare used brilliantly in all his plays.
Tragedy developed in the hands of Kyd and Marlowe.
Comedy had also proceeded beyond rustic humour.
By the nineties of the 16th century, the theatre in England was fully established but complicated conditions governed the activities of the dramatist.
The public theatre of the 16th century:
i) It differed in many important ways from the modern theatre.
ii) It was open to sky.
iii) They were without artificial lighting.
iv) The stage was a raised platform with the recess at the back supported by pillars.
v)There was no curtain and the main platform could be surrounded on three sides by the audience.
vi) There were galleries around the theatre.
In the 17th century the enclosed theatre gained importance. There was increasing attention to scenic device as theatre became private.
William Shakespeare:
Shakespearean era came into existence in the 16th century to the public theatre. He wrote for the contemporary theatre, manipulating the Elizabethan stage with great resource and invention. William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".
Ben Johnson:
Ben Johnson was contemporary to William Shakespeare. He was a classicist, a moralist and a reformer of drama. In comedy, Johnson’s genius is found at its best and his influence was considerable. The Restoration dramatists leaned strongly upon him.
Closing of theatres:
Closing of theatres by the Puritans in 1642. The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. With the Civil wars no theatre existed between 1642 to 1660.
The next phase which appeared after the Restoration produced a very different kind of dramatic literature. Dramatists like Chapman, Thomas Middleton, Webster and Dekker were at the forefront.
When Charles II came back with the Restoration of 1660, the theatres were reopened. The Restoration comedy achieved its peculiar excellence. Drama developed into class drama with upper-class ethos. It lasted beyond this period into the first decade of the 18th century.
Comedy in the early 18th century declined into sentimentalism. It became Comedy of Manners. George Etherege was its most important exponent. From such depths the drama was rescued by Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Sheridan.
(III) Modern Theatre:
Features:
1) Use of picture frame stage.
2) Actresses taking female parts.
3) Moveable scenery designed to create a visual image for each scene.
4) Use of artificial lights.
5) Irregular spectacle, melodrama and farce.
6) Monopoly held by the two houses, Covent Garden and Drury Lane, for the performance of serious drama.
7) The audiences which gathered to the 19thcentury theatre had not the intelligence or the imagination of the Elizabethan audience.
8) The danger in the 19th century theatre was that, above all, it was unrelated to the life of the time.
Henrik Ibsen:
Ibsen was the great Norwegian dramatist of the 19th century. He dominates the modern drama. He developed modernist, realist, social and psychological dramas like The Doll’s house, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People. They are far more subtle in stagecraft and profound in thought than anything in the modern English theatre.
G. B. Shaw:
George Bernard Shaw was deeply influenced and affected by Ibsen’s innovative contributions and experimentation. He was the most brilliant playwrights of his times. He alone had understood the greatness of Ibsen and he was determined that his own plays should also be a vehicle for ideas.
The responsibility of elevation of the English drama to the brilliance of the Ibsen, fell with Oscar Wilde and G. B. Shaw in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The 20th century Drama:
The 20th century showed a talent in the drama with which the 19th century could not compete. H. Granville Barker, John Galsworthy, St. John Ervine were some of the playwrights who explored contemporary problems. St. John Ervine had been associated with a group of Irish dramatists whose work was normally produced in the Abbey theatre in Dublin. Much that is best in the modern drama in English developed from this movement. One of its originators were Lady Gregory with W. B. Yeats and J. M. Synge. They were the most important dramatists of this Irish revival who used a sense of tragic irony, a violent species of humour and a rich and highly flavoured language.
T.S. Eliot experimented with Greek tragedy in the early forties of the 20th century. Other dramatists of the modern era, John Osborne, wrote on people who grew up after the Second World War.
Kingsley Amis wrote about frustrated, anti-establishment young people. Osborne’s ‘Look Back in Anger’ brought a new vitality to the theatre scene. It was more a cultural phenomenon than the work of literature.
Other important playwrights of the modern era include Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, Tennessee William, Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter.
(IV) Indian Theatre:
Featurers:
i) Earliest seeds of modern Indian Drama can be found in the Sanskrit Drama.
ii) From the first century A.D. ‘Mahabhasya’ by Patanjali provides a feasible date for the beginning of theatre in India.
iii) ‘A Treatise on Theatre’ (Natya Shastra) by Bharat Muni is the most complete work of dramatology in the ancient world. It gives mythological account of the origin of theatre.
iv) Modern Indian drama however, has influences from all over the world, as well as Sanskrit and Urdu traditions.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Objective Test
1) Name any four periods of History of British Drama.
Answer:- The four periods of History of British Drama are:
i) Medieval period
ii) Renaissance period
iii) Restoration period
iv) Victorian period
2) List the four elements of drama.
Answer:- The four elements of drama are plot, characters, theme and stage directions.
3) State a type of drama each from any four periods of history.
Answer:-
i) Medieval period
:- Robin Hood, Everyman
ii) Renaissance period
:- Romeo and Juliet, Duchess of Malfi
iii) Restoration period
:- All for Love, The Way of the World
iv) Victorian period
:- The Importance of Being Earnest, A Doll’s House
4) Compare the features of a comedy and tragedy.
Answer:-
Comedy
Tragedy
i) A comedy deals with humorous story with a happy ending.
i) The tragedy deals with a serious or darker themes with sad ending.
ii) A comedy creates laughter and fun.
ii) A tragedy creates emotions of pity and fear.
iii) A comedy depends mostly on unusual circumstances and witty dialogues
iii) In tragedy the main character mostly has a moral flaw that causes the tragic end.
iv) A Comedy uses humorous dialogues and situations to give relief
iv) A tragedy evokes pity for the characters and teach moral lesson.
5) Define drama.
Answer:- Drama is a composition in verse or prose to be acted on the stage. It tells a story through action, costume, setting and dialogue.
.
Chapter 4: History of English Drama
Name any four periods of History of British Drama.
SOLUTION
The periods of History of British Drama are as follows:
The Medieval Period
The Renaissance Period
The Restoration Period
The Victorian Period
The Modern Period
The Postmodern Era.
List the four elements of drama.
SOLUTION
The elements of drama are plot, characters, characterization, dialogue, stage directions, conflict, and theme.
State a type of drama each from any four periods of history.
SOLUTION
The periods of the history of British Drama are each well known for their characteristic plays. These are of the following types:
Medieval Period: Didactic plays, Mystery plays, Miracle plays, Cycle plays, Morality plays.
Renaissance Period: Tragic – Comedy, Melancholy, Revenge plays.
Restoration Period: Heroic drama, Pathetic drama, Restoration drama, Restoration comedy.
Victorian Period: All types of plays.
Modern Period: Stream of consciousness, Absurd plays, Poetic drama, Radio drama.
Post-Modern Era: Almost all types of dramas, Kitchen sink drama.
Compare the features of a comedy and tragedy.
SOLUTION
Comedy and Tragedy differ from each other in the following ways:
Comedy
Tragedy
a.
Theme
A Comedy deals with lighter themes like happiness, fun, laughter, etc.
A Tragedy deals with the darker themes of pain, death, etc.
b.
Response
A Comedy seeks to evoke laughter.
A Tragedy seeks to induce emotions of pity and fear in the audience.
c.
Plot
A Comedy relies on unusual circumstances and witty dialogues.
In a Tragedy, the main character usually has a moral flaw that causes the central tragic event.
State the difference between poetry and drama.
SOLUTION
Drama is a medium of expression through performance based on a script. This script is written in the form of dialogues. On the other hand, poetry language is expressed in rhythm and metre.
State the difference between drama and novel.
SOLUTION
Drama is a medium of expression through performance based on a script. While the script of a drama is written in the form of dialogues, a story or novel is written in a narrative form, i.e., in a manner that is similar to telling a story.
Define drama.
SOLUTION
Drama is a creative work in verse or prose that aims to tell a story through action, costume, setting as well as dialogue and is typically performed in a theatre.
Explain the term plot.
SOLUTION
The plot is the series of events that take place during the course of the play. It is like the plan or scheme of the play. It has a beginning, middle, and an end.
Differentiate between characters and characterization.
SOLUTION
While the characters of a drama are the personalities that the actors must play, characterization refers to the understanding of the unique qualities of the actors and gaining insight into who they are, and establishing connections with them.
Enlist a few reasons for watching a drama live on the stage.
SOLUTION
Some of the reasons for watching a drama live on stage are:
Each performance is unique: Unlike watching a movie on the screen, each performance differs from the next, even when the same play is being performed. This is because the emotions of the actors, their gestures, dialogue delivery, etc. can never be exactly the same for every performance.
The audience is a part of the performance: The reaction of the audience may directly influence the actors and as a result, they might change or modify their performance. Thus, the audience is a crucial part of each performance.
It is an experience in reality: Unlike a movie screen, everything that happens on stage seems more real. Because the performance unfolds before our very eyes, there is a greater connection to the characters and story as compared to watching it on a screen.
Every aspect is visible: In a live performance, the audience can choose to focus on whatever aspect of the drama that they like, no matter how minor. This is because the entire setting is visible to them at the same time, unlike a movie screen, in which the character or frame to be shown to the audience is pre decided.
Sunday, 20 November 2022
Makes a Good Paragraph
Paragraphs are distinct blocks of text which section out a larger piece of writing—stories, novels, articles, creative writing or professional writing pieces—making it easier to read and understand. Good paragraphs are a handy writing skill for many forms of literature, and good writers can greatly enhance the readability of their news, essays, or fiction writing when constructed properly.
A good paragraph is composed of a topic sentence (or key sentence), relevant supporting sentences, and a closing (or transition) sentence. This structure is key to keeping your paragraph focused on the main idea and creating a clear and concise image.
While creative writing does not necessarily follow the traditional paragraph structure, it’s more about scene building and continuing a narrative. Efficient, well-written paragraphs are a staple of good flash fiction and short fiction writing, as short stories need to stay more focused on a central idea. As long as your sentences form cohesive ideas and connect to one another, you can write a good paragraph.
Tips for Structuring and Writing Better Paragraphs
Whether you’re writing a short paragraph or a long paragraph, each should follow the same basic rules of structure. While this format is not as rigid when writing fiction as it is for non-fiction, the information or story you craft must logically or sequentially relate to the next paragraph. These elements help the coherency of your body paragraphs, tying them together to unify around an idea, or set up a narrative story.
1. Make the first sentence of your topic sentence. The first line of your first paragraph sets up what information is to come as your audience reads on. Even in fiction, the introduction of a paragraph either establishes an idea or scenario or continues one from the paragraph before. Regardless of what format or genre you’re writing for, every good paragraph starts with a central focus that the rest of the paragraph will aim to support.
2. Provide support via the middle sentences. These sentences include follow-up information to your key sentence or previous paragraph. Whatever idea you aim to convey, these sentences are where you convince your reader to believe or envision what you do, and give them everything they need to see your point of view.
3. Make your last sentence a conclusion or transition. Even if it’s not at the end of the piece, a conclusive sentence can refer to the last line of its own paragraph, which concludes a particular idea or train of thought before moving on to start a new line for the next paragraph. This next paragraph can continue on the same idea, but the ending of each paragraph should briefly summarize the information that was provided before moving on.
4. Know when to start a new paragraph. A paragraph break is necessary when starting a new topic, introducing a new speaker, contrasting other POVs or ideas, or providing white space to give readers a pause from a longer paragraph. For example, in a novel, you may start a new paragraph when bringing in a new character, or specify when a different character is speaking, which can help the reader separate action text from dialogue more readily. Paragraph breaks can control the pacing of your writing, and generate particular feelings or moods for your reader. While there is no set amount of sentences required per paragraph, in some instances, a single paragraph may consist of a single sentence, but it is acceptable as long as it supports your central idea, and doesn’t overwhelm your audience with too much information.
5. Use transition words. Transition words help tie together separate paragraphs, connecting them to form a coherent idea. Phrases like “in addition” or “moreover” can help readers track your ideas and understand how they relate to each other, making for a smoother, more pleasant reading experience. This is especially useful for essay writers and bloggers, who often focus on a singular idea at a time to share with their audience.
the sower
Blogs
Go through the blog given in the text and also refer to different blogs on the internet about various social issues and environmental hazards. Now write blogs on the following topics.
 |
| Blog format |
Ans. EARTH WITHOUT TREES
How the Earth would look like with no trees, have you ever thought of that? Imagine what will happen to all the life forms if no trees exist on Earth? What will happen if all the flora of our Earth gets depleted or destroyed by the mankind itself? The mere of thought of this gives us sheer goose bumps, but are we taking the matter that seriously?
According to a study published in journal there are more than three trillion trees in the world. Trees, since eternity have played a major role by providing us with abundant food, wood, shelter and pollution free air. Each and every living organism on earth, the tiniest to the humongous needs oxygen to stay alive and we get this oxygen from trees. Trees also play a major role in maintaining the balance in climatic change and weather; they help in rainfall and also help in controlling pollution. We have seen it clearly; the places where are fewer trees, pollution tends to grow in those areas.
The survival of living organisms including humans will be threatened. And all the life forms on the Earth will perish in the absence of trees.If there won’t be any tree left on earth, mankind will suffer dreadfully. Many animals, birds and rodents would be deeply affected by the annihilation of trees. There will be paucity food, medicines and a plethora of other natural resources. We can’t imagine the world without those simplest of pleasures that we enjoy through with nature like a morning walk among the beautiful trees or a park full of trees, the sound of chirping birds, going for picnics in such places where there plenty of flora and fauna makes our heart fill with joy.
So, we can very well see that how life on earth would be impossible without trees. We should try to do our part to protect the trees as much as we can so that even our future generation can enjoy the benefits that we get from trees.
MAN VS NATURE
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
–Rachel Carson
“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”
–Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Reading the above quotations, we can very well understand that how deep the impact of nature is, on human beings, only if we see to understand its true worth in our lives. The second quote by Jacques-Yves Cousteau says the ultimate truth that how human beings have fought with nature and led almost to its extinction because of our own survival. We failed to understand the truth that to survive in the best possible way we have to go hand in hand with the nature and not against it.
Man’s path to urbanization and modernization has led to extreme destruction of nature and natural resources. Man and Nature always had continuous and an eternal conflict between them since eternity and this tremendous impact on nature and this continuous conflict is majorly because of the human actions.
Man has incautiously used natural resources profusely since the very beginning of man’s existence, whether it is because of hunting for food to digging down the earth for natural resources or even in the name of archeological studies. Man has exploited nature to the extreme. Nature has given its all to us, helped and nurtured us in all the possible ways, but man has gone too far with it, thus nature has now contradicted its actions and the results are extreme, which is unbearable for human beings. Overuse and misuse of natural resources has led to natural calamities like droughts, famines, earthquakes, floods and landslides. Man’s negligence and lack of approbation for nature has also resulted in the loss of nature.
This conflict now seems to be never ending. The only possible way for this conflict to end is in the hand of mankind. Now we have to understand nature’s true worth and change ourselves in the ways of how we use or misuse the natural resources and should learn to respect the nature so that it keeps on nurturing us as it always did.
CHILDLABOUR: A CURSE TO HUMANITY
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
-Nelson Mandela
Child Labour means employing children below the age of 14 – 18 years old, in industries, factories etc. Although, child labour is illegal and punishable act as per the government laws, still, it is highly prevalent in our country and number of factories hire young children to work for them and are paid namesake wages and even in many places they are mistreated as well. Child labour is really shameful thing for humanity. It is a crime against humanity and truthfulness. Child labour leads to deterioration of the country. How a child is treated in a nation shows how the future of that nation will be as it is well said, children are the future of any country.
As we say the children are the future of nation, they should be educated well and should be send to school, they should enjoy and learn new things, but unfortunately their future goes at stake working in these factories and industries. Higher rate of poverty, unemployment are some of the major reasons that children are forced to do such jobs forcefully. We are also the reason of this problem. It is majorly seen in countries which have higher population and poverty rate is also high and it is unfortunate to state that India is one such country and this problem will be prevalent unless and until we ourselves try to control the population.
Smoke, carbon di oxide, global warming, breathing trouble, problems of asthma, smoke from factories, water, air, soil pollution, oxygen, ozone layer depletion, diseases, climatic changes, ultraviolet rays, planting trees.
A4.) Given below are a few topics for blog writing. Discuss and write.
Ans. (1) PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. It is a perfect concoction of a person’s physical and psychological development and other attributes. It also comprises of the person’s positive as well negative traits.For the overall and appropriate development of our personality starts with understanding our own selves first. In this blog, I am going to discuss some easy ways,that I personally feel are important, to develop our personality and become a better version of ourselves.
1) Analyzing ourselves in and out – To develop our personality in a positive way first of all we need to analyze our own selves, we need to find out both the positive as well as negative traits within us and jot them down. It is a very helpful task and helps us to know ourselves better.
2) Focusing on our positive traits – Once we have jotted down our positive traits, we now need to rub up those positive traits and keep on developing them more and more which will help us to enhance our personality more and thrive ourselves as a better person.
3) Working on our detrimental traits – Now that we know both our positive and evil traits and have brushed up our positive qualities, we are now confident enough. Now the next most important step is to work on the negative traits that weaken our personality.
We can work on them by being thoughtful and learn to evaluate our personality by being patient. We shouldn’t be aggressive. Practicing regular meditation helps a lot in curbing our personality in a positive way. If we feel like we need some help to discuss and get some positive advices, we should take such kind of helps as well from our family, close friends or directly talking to a counselor. Reading good books, gaining knowledge helps a lot in the development of overall personality. As it is rightly said,
“A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”
-Charles Baudelaire
Having a positive personality is not a thing we can get in a day or two. It is a continuous process, on which we need to invest and work on so that it will shine bright one day.
(2) HEALTH AND FITNESS
We have heard this saying many a times that health is wealth and cannot disagree with it that our health is truly our wealth. But do we really take care of our health, just as we take care of our wealth? There is nothing more important in our lives than good health. Without a healthy mind and body, we cannot stay happy and if we are not happy from within then for sure we won’t find mental peace, and without these mentioned things, no success in life. Good health is a boon that keeps us optimistic, thus happy and successful. However, these days with the prevalent lifestyle not many people are able to take care of this wealth, so let’s see what all we can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle and become happy and successful.
Though it seems to be one difficult task, but it takes absolutely nothing to stay healthy and fit. We just need to maintain a very healthy lifestyle, which includes healthy diet, maintenance of hygiene, regular exercise or yoga and meditation. And with all these we need to have a pragmatic outlook towards life, a person’s positive attitude towards life matter the most.
Now-a-days when market is filled with multitude of junk foods, frozen foods and processed food items, we need to have a proper and nutritious diet which can keep us physically fit. Yes, we do feel the urge to eat junk foods sometimes, but that should be taken in limit and not every day, which will eventually lead to various health problems.
Besides having healthy and nutritious food, we need to do some physical activities as well, like going for morning walks, or exercise or I personally feel yoga and meditation is one of the best ways to keep our body as well as mind healthy. Regular practice of yoga and meditation reduces stress, which is very common these days with extreme work pressure on adults and kids too face a lot of stress now a days. Yoga and meditation also helps reducing the blood sugar level and various other health issues.
Hope people understand the importance of good health and try to cultivate a healthy lifestyle; especially the young generation should understand what a boon it is to have healthy mind and body and to live stress free life.
(3) SOCIAL DYNAMICS
We humans are social animals. Human beings cannot live in some lone places, without society or other social beings and their actions are greatly influenced by the people around them. We are born in a society and grow up according to the social set ups, customs, values and traditions of the society and hence learn those customs and values while growing up.
Each and every individual in a society is different, acts and behaves differently. When we interact with other people in society, we tend to see new behavior and hence decide what is good and bad and what we should cultivate and what not. Thus social dynamics is in the behavior of a group that highly influences other people of a group in a society.
Social dynamics involve the study of interrelationship of people with one another. It is the study of the behavior of groups that results from the interactions of individual group members as well to the study of the relationship between individual interactions and group level behaviors. Two or more people come together to make a group. People in a group interact, share their thoughts, ideas and knowledge. Thus, these exchange of thoughts, knowledge and ideas bring about changes in the behavior of other social beings. People learn to interact and socialize and also bring about heterogeneity in their behavior, bringing change in the society.
(4) Communication skills (5) Self-defense. (On the basis of the blogs written above as examples, students will try to write the topics on their own.)
Saturday, 12 November 2022
Monday, 10 October 2022
"The Sower” by Victor Hugo
“The Sower”
1. About the Poem, Poet and Title-
The poem “The Sower” is a translated poem from French into English language. It is translated by Toru Dutt who is one of the founding figures of Indo-Anglian literature. She was a literary genius who blended three literary traditions – Indian, English and French. The original poet of these French poem is Victor Hugo. The title of the poem represents the central character of the poem, the Sower. The poem is about the poet’s observation of the sower; his dedication, determination and selfless hard-work. The poet observes the painstaking dedication of the sower and has a deep feeling of reverence for him. The central idea of the poem revolves around all these actions of this sower. The title of the poem represents the central character of the poem, the Sower who works hard in his farm.
2. Theme/ Summary/ Gist of the poem-
The Sower is a pastoral poem written in the first person narrative. The theme of the poem is about the sower who works hard in his field with dedication, perseverance and commitment and the poet observed his all activities at sunset time and admired of the sower’s actions as Noble and selfless. The poem opens with the poet-persona resting in his porchway at the time of sunset. The porchway opens to the vast farmlands.
The farmers are all returning having finished a hard day's work but an old man continues sowing.
initially, the old man was ignored by the poet taking him to be an ordinary old farmer, but as the old man continues his sowing way after sunset, the poet changes his mind.
He sees in the old man an optimism, a wisdom not often matched to other people. Life has taught him many harsh lessons yet he continues with his work in dedication waiting for it to bear fruit.
3. Poetic style/ Language/ poetic Devices-
The poetic devices used in this poem are Alliteration, Antithesis, Personification, Hyperbole, Inversion etc. For example ‘Shadows run across the lands’ – in this line, The Shadows are given the human quality of running. The poem is based on figurative language. Visual imagery, symbolism and metaphors are its main rhetorical devices. A pastoral image is created through its subject. Nature and Man is beautifully portrayed through the poem. The sower as in the title stands as a synecdoche for the entire Mankind.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is ' 'abab' and rhyming pair is cool- rule ; fast- past.
4. Special features-
This is a narrative poem. The special features of this poem are imagery and symbolism. Descriptive imagery is used in this poem. For example- ‘Marches, he along the plane’ – in this line the word ‘marches’ indicates movement and thus creates a visual image in the minds of the readers. The dominance of the silhouette of the sower over the deep furrows is symbolic of the dominance of man over nature.
5. Message / Values/ Morals in the Poem-
The message of this poem is that we all should work sincerely with a positive attitude in life. The tone of the poem is full of optimism and is fresh and appealing. Poem gives the message of the importance of farmer and his service to society.
6. Your opinion about the Poem-
I like the poem for its positive tone and vivid, pictorial imagery. The poem subtly highlights the value of commitment, determination, optimism and selflessness. The value that we learn from this poem is 'Farmers are the heroes' and 'Work is worship'.
Sunday, 2 October 2022
summary writing
A summary begins with an introductory sentence that states the text’s title, author and the main point of the text as you see it. A summary is written in your own words. A summary contains only the ideas of the original text. Do not insert any of your own opinions, interpretations, deductions or comments into a summary.
Read the following magazine article carefully and then write a summary of it in NOT MORE THAN 120 WORDS.
Despite their geographical closeness and their common history, the countries of the Caribbean richly diverse and take pride in their diversity. Cricket is popularly seen as the activity that brings them together, but the cultural festival, Carifesta, is just as effective in a different way. The main purpose of Carifesta is to gather artists, musicians, and authors, and to exhibit the folkloric and artist manifestations of the Caribbean and Latin American region, in an international multicultural event organized on a periodic basis by the countries of the Caribbean.
The idea of Caribbean arts festivals was first proosed at convention of writers and artists held in 1970 Guyana. It involved a vision of the region’s peoples with roots deep in Asia, Europe and Africa, coming together to share their art forms, Literature inspired by the Caribbean’s own peculiar temperament, paintings drawn from awe inspiring tropical ecology and the visionary inheritance of our forefathers.
Two years later, Carifesta I was billed as a grand cultural exposition and was held in Guyana with almost 1000 participants from 30 countries in the Caribbean, Central, and South America. It was originally hoped that Carifesta would be held every two years in a different country, but the second festival, in Jamaica, did not take place until 1976. It was followed by a Cuban Carifesta in 1979 then Carifesta IV in Barbados in 1981. Various problems prevented staging of other and the ravages of Hurricane Gibert made it impossible. The islands of Monsterrat, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda offered to co-host the festival in 1989, but the idea was not practicable. Subsequent festivals were hosted in Trinidad, St Kitts, and Nevis and The Bahamas.
Carifesta aims to depict the lives heritage of people of the region, show their similarities and their differences, and by creating a climate in which arts can flourish, persuade artists who have migrated for their art’s sake, to return to the region.
The Carifesta slogan, selected after a regional contest, was created by a Guyanese who lives in Jamaica. It aptly sums up Carifesta and its vision. ‘’ Sea of sounds, medley of images, world of peoples, common heritage’’.
Summary
Although some Caribbean countries may have similarities they are diversed. However, they all desire cricket the cultural festival Carifesta brings people together to present Caribbean festivals which were first proposed at a convention of writers and artists held in 1970 in Guyana. Years past by Carifesta was built as a grand cultural explosion until it started to keep regularly all over the Caribbean. Then a problem occurred due to economic problems and the wreck of Hurricane Gilbert. Carifesta and differences in the region The Carifesta slogan were written by a Guyanese who lived in Jamaica. ‘’sea of sounds, medley of images world of peoples, common heritage’’. Which means how harmony it is in the region.
115 Words
Summarize in not more than 120 words
As what geographers have estimated, about twenty percent of the earth’s surface is occupied by deserts. A majority of us view deserts as one unique kind of landscape — areas with little or no rainfalls.
In actual fact, there are differences between the deserts, though in varying degrees. While it is common for laymen like us to see deserts as rocky or covered with gravel or pebbles, there are somewhere large sand dunes inhabit. Despite the fact that rainfall is minimal, temperatures do change in deserts, ranging from seasonal ones to daily changes where extreme hotness and coldness are experienced in the day and night.Unfavorable conditions in the deserts, especially the lack of water, have discouraged many living things from inhabiting these landscapes. Nevertheless, there are exceptionally surviving ones which through their superb tactics, have managed to live through and are still going strong. One such kind is the specialist annual plants which overcome seasonal temperature changes with their extremely short, active life cycles. In events of sudden rain, the plant seeds pullulate
The Cacti, a native in American deserts, adapts to the dry surroundings by having unique body structures. The plant has swollen stems to help store water that carries it through months. By having sharp pines instead of leaves, water loss through respiration is minimized. Besides, these pointed pines also help the plant ward off grazing animals, thus enhancing its survival period.Besides plants, there are also animals with distinct surviving tactics in deserts too. For instance, Skinks ( desert lizards ) metabolize stored fats in their bulbous tails, producing water to supplement their needs, just like what camels do with the stored food in their humps during long journeys through deserts. Antelopes like the addax, have very low water needs and hence are able to tolerate the conditions in deserts, extracting moisture from the food they eat. Finally, there are the sandgrouses (desert birds ) which do not have special features to overcome the drought-like nature in deserts. Hence, to survive in these hot, dry deserts, they need to spend a large part of their time flying in search of waterholes.
Summary
Some plants and animals still manage to survive despite the dry conditions in the deserts. One of them is the specialist annual plants. Their short life cycles allow them to germinate, grow and produce seeds during short rainy seasons. These seeds are drought-resistant and are able to wait for the next rainy season before starting their life cycles again. The Cacti adapts to the dry weather by having swollen stems for water storage and pine-like leaves to minimize water loss through respiration. Skinks generate water from stored fats in their tails and antelopes which requires very little water, survives in deserts by extracting water from the food they eat. Finally, Sandgrouse with no adaptive features turns to waterholes constantly for help. 119 words
Read the following magazine article on drug testing carefully and then write a summary of it.
In your summary you will be assessed on how well you :
Were able to identify the main ideas and opinions
Organized and expressed main ideas and opinion
Used appropriate grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation.
Drug Testing
Most of us know that cancer, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death in the west. But many people would be surprised by the next biggest killer: the side effects of prescription medicines. Adverse drug reaction kills more than 110,000 people in a year in the United Kingdom, and more than 100 000 in the United States of America.
Many studies published in the scientific literature comparing drug side effects in humans and animals have found animal tests to be unlikely to predict any more accurately than if you had simply tossed a coin. One review of human- animal correlation in drugs that has been withdrawn found that animal tests predicted the human side effects only six out of 114 times. Hundreds of drugs used to treat strokes have been found safe and effective in animal studies, and then injured or killed patients in clinical trials. Dr Richard Klausner, former director of the US National Cancer Institute lamented that the history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. ‘’we have cured mice of cancer for decades, antisimply did not work on humans’’. Cigarette smoke, asbestos, arsenic, benzene, alcohol and glass fibre are all safe to ingest, according to animal studies. Penicillin , the world’s first antibiotic, was delayed for more than 10years by misleading results from experiments on rabbits, and would have been shelved forever had it been tested on guinea pigs, which it kills. Even the handbook of laboratory Animal Science admits that uncritical reliance on the results of animal tests can be dangerously misleading and has cost the health lives of tens of thousands of humans.
Summary
Chronic disease is the leading cause of death in this world, but the biggest killer is the side effects of prescribed medication. Studies have shown the side effects of drug testing on animals have a low percentage compared to the side effects in humans.
Hundreds of drugs used to treat strokes have been found safe and effective in animal studies but when used in clinical trials many patients injured or killed. The cure for cancer has been discovered but only works on animals instead of humans.
Many substances that might be bad for humans to ingest aren’t for animals. Animals testing inaccurate information have cost the health and lives of tens of thousands of humans. 114 words
summarize in not more than 120 words
The emergence of paper money used widely today.
Buying things today is so simple. Just enter a shop, say a book store, choose the desired book and pay for it. Long ago, before the invention of money, how did people trade?
The most primitive way of exchange should be the barter trade. In this form of transaction, people used goods to exchange for the things that they had in mind. For instance, if person A wanted a book and he had a spare goat, he must look for someone who had the exact opposite, that is, that someone, say person B, must have a spare book of person A’s choice and is also in need of a goat. Having found such a person, the problem does not end here. A big goat may worth not only one book, hence person B may have to offer person A something else, say five chickens. However, he runs the risk of person A rejecting the offer as he may not need the chickens. The above example clearly illustrates the inefficiency of barter trading.
Many years later, the cumbersome barter trade finally gave way to the monetary form of exchange when the idea of money was invented. In the early days, almost anything could qualify as money: beads, shells and even fishing hooks. Then in a region near Turkey, gold coins were used as money. In the beginning, each coin had a different denomination. It was only later, in about 700 BC, that Gyges, the king of Lydia, standardized the value of each coin and even printed his name on the coins.
Monetary means of transaction at first beat the traditional barter trade. However, as time went by, the thought of carrying a ponderous pouch of coins for shopping appeared not only troublesome but thieves attracting. Hence, the Greek and Roman traders who bought goods from people faraway cities invented checks to solve the problem. Not only are paper checks easy to carry around, but they also discouraged robbery as these checks can only be used by the person whose name is printed on the notes. Following this idea, banks later issued notes in exchange for gold deposited with them. These banknotes can then be used as cash. Finally, governments of today adopted the idea and began to print paper money, backed by gold for the country’s use.
Today, besides enjoying the convenience of using paper notes as the mode of exchange, technology has led man to invent other means of the transaction too like the credit and cash cards.
summary
Long ago, people bought things through barter trade. However, the difficulty of having to look for the right partner and dividing the goods led people to switch over to monetary transactions. at first, beads, shells and fishing hooks were used as money. Near Turkey, gold coins with irregular denominations were used for trade. Later, King Gyges standardized the individual coin value. People soon found carrying coins around for shopping troublesome and thieves courting. Hence, merchants started to issue checks with the names of the users on them to discourage robbery. Following that, banks started to issue cash notes in return for gold deposited with them. Finally, adopting the idea, today, governments printed paper money backed by gold for the country’s usage. ( 120 words )
Summarize in your own words not more than 120 words.
The advantages and disadvantages of television.
With the invention of televisions, many forms of entertainment have been replaced. Lively programs like television serials and world news have removed from us the need to read books or papers, to listen to radios or even to watch movies. In fact, during the 1970s, when televisions were first introduced, cinema theatres suffered great losses as many people chose to stay in the comforts of their homes to watch their favorite programs.
Indeed, television brings the world into our house. Hence, by staying at home and pressing some buttons world happenings are immediately presented before us. Children nowadays develop faster in language, owing to early exposure to television programs. At such a tender age, it would be difficult for them to read books or papers. Thus, television programs are a good source of learning for them. Furthermore, pronunciations by the newscasters, actors or actresses are usually standardized, hence young children watching these programs will learn the ‘right’ pronunciations too. Owning a television is also extremely beneficial to working parents who are usually too busy or tired to take their kids out for entertainments. Surrounded by the comforts of their home, the family can have a chance to get together and watch their favorite television programs.
Of course, we should not be too carried away by the advantages of the television and overlook its negative points. Watching television programs takes away our need to read. Why bother to read the papers when we can hear them from the television news reports? Why read books when exciting movies are screened? The lack of reading is unhealthy especially to younger children as they will grow up only with the ability to speak but not write. I have a neighbor whose six-year-old child can say complete sentences like “I like cats,” but when told to write out the sentence, is unable to do so. Not only are the writing skills of children affected, their thinking capacities are also handicapped. Television programs remove the need to think. The stories, ideas, and facts are woven in the way television planners wanted. Exposure to such opinions and the lack of thinking opportunities will hinder the children’s analyzing ability.
Despite the disadvantages of watching television programs, personally, I think that choosing the ‘middle path’, which is to do selective television viewing and not overindulging in the habit should be the best solution to reconcile both the merits and demerits of owning a television.
summary
The television keeps us informed of world affairs. Early exposure to television programs helps to develop the language skills of young children. These children can also learn to pronounce words accurately because of the standardized pronunciation in the programs. In a family where both the parents are working, the television provides the family an opportunity to get together at leisure times. One disadvantage of watching television programs is that we do less reading and hence our writing skills are affected. Younger children may learn to speak but not write from television programs. Furthermore, television programs often spare viewers, especially the young ones, from pondering upon opinions presented before, which will, in turn, handicap their ability to analyze facts.. ( 119 words )
Mind-Mapping
Q.2 C Mind-Mapping14
5. You live in an era where huge information is communicated to you in different forms continuously. Develop a ‘Mind Mapping’ frame/design using your ideas/thoughts/concepts to illustrate/develop on the topic, ‘Forms of Communication’.
(Q1)