Friday, February 24, 2012

Heritage of Words - The Boarding House

17. The Boarding House

“The Boarding House” is a social story written by James Joyce. The writer deals with the experience of adolescence. The story is about an Irish middle class family living in Dublin. Mrs. Mooney, one of the main characters of the story, was a butcher’s daughter. She was very much confident and independent woman. She was married to her father’s foreman (helper). After marriage she started a butcher’s shop which she ran successfully. But her husband was very stupid and drunkard. He drank all the time and finished most of the property. He fell into a heavy debt. He quarreled with his wife and sometimes attacked her with a cleaver. So she had to go to neighbor’s house to sleep. Therefore she got divorced from her husband and opened a boarding house where many tourists, office workers, artists would come to stay.     

Mrs. Mooney had a son and a daughter. Her daughter, Polly Mooney was a beautiful girl of 19. She fell in love with Mr. Doran, one of the young boys living at the boarding house. Mrs. Mooney suspected their relation but kept quiet watching their activities. One day she asked Miss  Polly about went to Mr. Doran’s room and informed him that her mother had known their secret relation.

Mr. Doran fell in confusion not knowing what to do. In fact, he was not in mind of marrying Polly, she was not educated and her language was not good. She was the daughter of a butcher and her boarding house had no good fame. On the other hand, he was from gentle family and he had a good job. He thought that if he married her all his friends would laugh at him. Miss Polly began to weep but he asked her not to lose patience. At the same time maid (servant) came in his room and said that Mrs. Mooney wanted to talk to him. Wearing a coat he went to see her. Miss Polly sat alone in the room thinking about what he and her mother would make the decision. After sometime her mother called her and said that Mr. Doran wanted to speak to her.

Thus, the story ends in suspense. We don’t know what decision has been made. However, we can say that Mr. Doran must have agreed to marry Miss Polly.      

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

2/21/2012 05:47:00 PM - , No comments

Heritage of Words - Purgatory

16. Purgatory

In the Christian religion, purgatory is a place where souls of people that cannot go straight to heaven go to get purged because their sins have not been forgiven. Purgatory is the gateway to heaven where souls have to face the rest and purification. If the souls cannot purge up at purgatory, they come back to the earth and roam around in the familiar places as ghost and spirits. They suffer and cause other to suffer. They then take rebirth as lives and continue the good or bad deeds.

“Purgatory” is one act play. The scene of the play is a ruined house and a bare tree in the background. The play opens with the conversation between an old man and a boy. The boy is the old man’s son. They are standing in front of the ruined house. The old man tells the boy the history of the ruined house and the tragedy of a reputed family. The house belonged to the old man’s mother, a lady from aristocratic family. She fell in love with a groom (the old man’s father). She had died at giving birth of a child (the old man in the drama). After her death, the old man’s father began to waste money drinking wine, playing card and on women. He neither educated the old man nor left property to him. One day he burnt down the house being mad drinking wine. The house had a long and glorious history in which the reputed and great people of the nation were born. So the old man stabbed him to death and ran away from the village and worked as a peddler. After several years he came back to his house with his son (the boy).

As he is telling the story of his parents, the old man hears the hoof-beats of his father’s horse and sees his mother’s figure at the window of the ruined house he asks his son to hear the sound and  see the figure. The old man believes his mother’s soul is suffering in Purgatory. He believes she constantly repeats the wedding night. However, the boy neither hears sound nor sees any figure. He thinks his father to be mad. Therefore, he tries to run away stealing money from the old man. The old man sees it and grabs it. The boy asks for his right share and insists that it’s his right to get the money and spend it as he wishes. His behavior resembled his grandfather’s habits. The old man realizes that his mother’s soul can never get purged till her criminal generation survives. So to release his mother’s soul from the purgatory the old man stabs the boy to death. He says that if he is left alone, he will be more dangerous than his father. If the boy had been left, he would have married and passed the pollution on. He again hears the sound of hoof-beats and he wishes his mother’s spirit for emancipation and prays with God to appease the misery of the living and the remorse of the dead. There is darkness everywhere but the trees are bright which is the symbol of purified spirit. He did what a man could do for Purgatory of soul.

Thus, the old man tries his best for the purification of his mother’s soul. Here, the ruined house is symbolically the country, Ireland and the old man’s father is the symbol of people of new generation who have lost the sense of nationality. The old man is symbol of patriotism.          

Monday, February 20, 2012

Heritage of Words - The Tell - Tale Heart

15. The Tell - Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is a psychological story based on the obsession of the narrator of the story. The narrator kills an old man and confesses to the policemen but still he tries to prove that he is not mad. He claims that crazy people cannot tell their story calmly. In the story the narrator tells us how he murdered the old man, how the idea cropped up in his mind and how he committed the action and finally why he confessed his crime to the policemen.

The narrator and the old man lived in the same house. Every time they met they talked in a friendly way. He loved the old man. The old man had also remained very kind and friendly to the narrator, but the writer hated the old man’s vulture eyes and his looks. For an unknown reason, the old man’s cloudy, pale blue eye incited madness in him. Whenever the old man looked at him his blood turned cold. Thus, he thought of getting himself rid of the old man’s eye by murdering him. So making up his mind to murder the old man, he would get up at midnight and sneak into the old man’s room. For the past seven nights he tried to gain courage to get into the room and murder him. But he could not bring himself to kill the man without seeing his “evil eyes”. Every next morning he used to talk to the old man about how he slept at night.

On the eighth night he was there again to kill the old man. He entered the old man’s room quietly opening the door and lighting the lantern to its minimum so that the tiny ray of light would pass to see the old man’s vulture eyes. Then suddenly he tapped the lantern and the old man sprang up and cried “Who’s there?” In the dark room, the narrator waited silently for an hour. The man did not go back to sleep; instead, he gave out a slight groan, realized that ‘Death’ was approaching eventually; the narrator shone his lamp on the old man’s eye. The narrator immediately became furious at the ‘damned spot’ i.e. the vulture eye, but soon he heard the beating of a heart so loud that he feared the neighbors would hear it. With a yell, he leapt into the room and killed the old man pressing the bed over him. Despite the murder, he continued to hear the old man’s relentless (constant) heartbeat.

After the murder, the narrator dismembered (cut into pieces) the corpse and hid the body parts beneath the planks of floorboards. He then cleaned and brushed the room in such a way that there wasn’t even a stain of blood left behind. By then it was 4 in the morning. He heard a knock on the door. To his surprise he found three policemen standing at the gate. They had come as a routine work to investigate the shriek the neighbor had reported. The narrator invited them to search the premises (area). He explained that it was his shriek due to the bad dream and the old man was out of the town. The officers were satisfied but not ready to leave. Soon the sound of the heartbeat resumed, growing more and more distinct. He became pale blue and turned red with nervousness and superstition that that might be the sound of the dead man’s heart. He grew so nervous that it was intolerable for him. So he raised his voice to muffle the sound at last, unable to stand it any longer, the narrator screamed: I admit the deed! – tear up the planks, here, here! It is beating of his hideous (frightful) heart!

Thus, the story revolves around a young man and his obsession, his intense hatred for an old man’s diseased pale blue eyes, which lead him to kill the old man. True to its little, the protagonist commits a crime and confesses his crime due to his guilt-ridden heart.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Heritage of Words - A Child Is Born


14. A Child Is Born

Germaine Greer is a feminist writer and lecturer. ‘A Child Is Born’ is an extract from her book ‘Sex and Destiny’. In the essay Greer presents the comparison between traditional and modern societies in the matter of pregnancy and child bearing system.

In the traditional societies childbirth is accepted culturally and collectively so that the mothers do not feel any psychic burden. The potential misfortunes and anxieties are managed if they follow the ritual approach to pregnancy which limits them with taboos and prohibitions. Many of the ritual observances involve the participation of husband, relatives, and members of the society. The pregnant woman feels secure. She doesn’t need to think about the pain of delivery. The traditional societies are superstitious but the western societies are also not untouched by it. In the western societies a child is born unattended but in non-technocratic societies (traditional), except for remarkable accidents, childbirth is always attended. Child and mother mortality rate is greater in the traditional societies which is a great tragedy and should be prevented. Modern medicinal care for pregnant women in the hospitals has helped to decrease the mortality rate.

In some societies, women are not accepted as members of their new family until they have borne a child. So they wish for a child who provides them recognition in the family. In some traditional societies, the women are known as the mother of her first born child. She loses her identity. In such societies the relationship between the mother and the child is more important than the relationship between husband and wife.

In the Rajput society, to give birth to a child for a woman is a great success in her life. It is an occasion of joy for the whole family. In Bengal, the reward of the pregnancy is that she is allowed to go to her maternal home. The birth of a child is celebrated by feasting and singing by the women of the community. Similarly, in Bangladesh, children under the age of five or six are looked after by the whole family.

The traditional societies are affected by the modernization and technological change. All the emotions have been lost. The allopathic doctors depend only on drugs, equipment and electricity. The labouring women are ignored and treated only as patient or a case without any compassion. Though the chance of live birth is greater, the women will no longer continue to offer their bodies and minds to such brutality, specially if there is no one at home to welcome the child, to praise the mother for her courage and to help her raise it.

At last Greer suggests that if we do not feel so much proud and dignified out of child bearing, the population growth will be controlled. Thus the essay presents a comparison between the parent-child relationship in the affluent (rich) western and traditional agricultural Eastern societies.       


Question

What differences does Greer show between a traditional society and a modern society in matters of pregnancy, child birth and child bearing in her essay “A Child Is Born”?

According to the writer, eastern society is called a traditional society and western society is called a modern society. There are many differences between a traditional society and modern society in matters of pregnancy, child birth and child bearing. In the traditional society, people believe in superstition. Women are prohibited to do something in pregnancy. They have to follow the tradition, customs and religion. They are made sure to think that they are secured and helped by their husbands, relatives and others. They have to follow the rules and restrictions. If a pregnant woman does so, she does not have psychic burden. But in a western society, the pregnant women can do anything that she likes.

In traditional societies, woman is not taken as a member of family until she gets a baby birth but in western societies it is criticized bitterly. In traditional societies, the death rate of child and mother is higher but in modern societies it has decreased.

In traditional societies, a woman satisfies her members of family by giving a baby birth. Family members are eager to see the child. They are happy to celebrate the birth of baby. The mother is visited by her relatives and friends. She gets well treatment and is looked after well. There are many ritual functions after the baby is born in traditional societies but, however, in western and modern societies these all traditions are not found. Therefore, there are some fundamental differences between traditional and modern society concerning child bearing system.     
   

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Heritage of Words - The Children Who Wait

12. The Children Who Wait

The essay The Children Who Wait talks about the adoption system of children. She talks about the children adoption system before and after 1960 (present).

Until about 1960 there was a trend to adopt only the healthy white infants. A child should be white, healthy and in small age to be adopted. All the disabled and diseased children, blacks, children beyond infancy (grown up) minority and mixed racial children were almost ignored. The family did not adopt them. However, in the last two decades, i.e. 1960-1980, the field of adoption has undergone a radical change. Such ignored children, who waited to be adopted, are being placed with different types of family. Such changes are due to the Black Civil Rights movements, birth control, legalized abortion, women’s movements, social science research and many more.

Due to the Black Civil Rights movements, liberal whites adopted black and mixed race infants and toddlers (children). This mode was criticized but left no effect on this. The women’s movement legalized abortion and changed the attitudes towards sexual behavior and marriage. Therefore, the number of healthy infants drastically reduced and moreover the unmarried mothers decided to keep their babies without caring the social stigma.

The researchers show that between 1960 and 1978 the number of children in foster care centers doubled to a half millions or more. The children who are kept in such centers are not all sure to be adopted. If they live in foster care till their maturity, they suffer from several problems like pseudo-mental retardation, learning disabilities, mental illness, sexual perversions etc that can root in the children’s personalities and plague their adult lives and be passed on to their children. To establish them, those foster centers need financial support but unfortunately funding for children’s services had always been scarce. So, it became clear that foster caring was both expensive and cruel.

Traugot in her essay says that today’s buzz word is ‘matching’. It is a process of seeking to match a child and a foster family. First the workers evaluate the child’s personality, cultural background, existing relationships with biological or foster family and emotional state. Based on these factors the workers draw up a profile and seek an appropriate family. Traugot presents two examples: An unmarried man or a single strong male might adopt a badly behaved 15 years old boy and a religious family with older siblings adopts a handicapped child suffering from down’s syndrome, hearing disabilities etc.

Now, some agencies work to find the potential adoptive family or parents by distributing their photos and description (or video-tape) to all other agencies. Their names are sent in the regional or state adoption exchange centers and there they try to match with the prospective parents. If they are not still adopted, the description or profiles of waiting children are published in newspaper or broadcasted through media. The media is the final solution for those children who are waiting to be adopted.

Tammy, a 5 and a half years old black girl who is suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome is waiting for the warm and supportive family. The writer hopes that Tammy would find a warm and supportive family because of the changes appeared in the children adoption system in US after 1960.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Heritage of Words - Women’s Business


11. Women’s Business

Women’s Business is an essay written by Ilene Kantrov. In this essay, the writer presents the entrepreneurship of some women from USA, and their entry into the so-called male world of business. The women were not only the businesswomen. However, they helped the problem facing women by educating them as well as helping them solve their problems. Some of them contributed lavishly to hospitals, schools, and cultural organizations. These women tried to transform the home craft into a thriving business. Women’s business grew out of traditional women’s skill and provided for the needs mostly of women. Lydia E. Pinkham was the pioneer of the women business in USA.

The first women entrepreneurship of USA Lydia E. Pinkham started business to provide support to her family when her husband’s real estate business collapsed. She was a radical feminist and wanted to help the females rather than the males. Within two three years her company earned $200,000. She had launched a home remedy product called ‘Lydia E. Pinkham’s vegetables compound’ for all weakness of women. Her bold marketing strategies made her success in her business. She advertised her product herself creating the image of a gentle and kind woman who appealed to fellow women ‘to feel good’ and to improve the quality of their lives. In her advertisement she claimed that her medicine is the ‘greatest remedy of the world’. Thus, her customers were convinced that she was selling more than a product. Her ‘Department of Advise’ dispensed suggestions for all kinds of feminine problems (about diet, exercise and hygiene) along with prescribing her own remedies. She proclaimed herself as the “Savior of her sex.” Thus, she created history in America’s business. Many women later followed in her footsteps.

Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were the rivals. They sold cosmetics. They were also married to rich and famous aristocrats from Europe. Margaret Rudkin began to sell additive-free wheat bread (healthy foods) that she first used to help her asthmatic son. Similarly, Jennie Grossinger owned a successful resort hotel that began serving 150,000 guests a year. Gertrude Muller, on the other hand, sold things to help people look after their babies, such as ‘toidey seats’. She put small books explaining her ideas about child raising in the packages of the things she sold. In the field of business, black women also showed their entrepreneurship. Annie Turnbo-Malone was a black American. She established a school for training for hairdressing, named it ‘Poro College’, and advertised it as a vehicle for the uplift of her race (blacks) and a passport to economic independence for women.

Thus, the thesis of this essay is that business women in the USA, from the later part of nineteenth century, tried to help women as well as to make money by selling things to them. Often, their methods of helping women, for example, through giving advices, helped them to sell more products. Sometimes, when feminine ideals collided with the realities of the market place, however, the businesswomen often bested the lady.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

10/13/2011 10:07:00 PM - , 1 comment

Magic of Words - In Bed

SUMMARY

The main concern of this powerful personal essay is the migraine headache. The writer Joan Didion describes it in general and her own in particular. She has described’ her physical tension aroused by the pain of migraine in her right temple. She often felt ashamed to check frequently in application form. She had fear of the respect of mankind. In the same time she turns to the human concept toward migraines. She says that people often have misconception about this disease. She comes to the objective point of medical knowledge. It happens not by brain tumor, eyestrain, high blood pressure. Migraine headaches are not imaginary. Migraine is something more than the fancy of a neurotic imagination. It is an essentially hereditary complex of symptoms. Almost any thing can trigger a specific attack of migraine: stress, allergy, fatigue, a flashing light, a fire drill etc. She again talks about personal experience at the point of heredity. She says that her grandmothers’ had migraine. Her father and mother had migraine. From heredity, she turns tq the chemistry of migraine. In the time of severe pain she is fully upset. Physically and mentally she suffers. She says that her husband has this migraine, too. Sufferer hardly can pass days easily.

The writer comes to conclusion by asserting an intellectual response of confronting this disease with tolerance and concentration on the pain for some time like in yoga. The pain dies and she has relief afterwards. We may concentrate our daily household jobs and other activities to divert from the pain of migraine.

Magic of Words - The Six Million Dollar Man

SUMMARY

The American author Harold J. Morowitz is a renown writer who has perfected and accustomed himself on comic, humorous persuasive essays and stories. This is humorous as well as fascinating essay taken from his poplar collection book, “The Wine of Life and Other Essays on Societies, Energy and Living Things” (1979) that is originally appeared in medical magazine “Hospital Practice”. In the essay, the writer talks about the existing price of the chemicals that comprise the human body. The writer tries to revaluate the human body on the recent market price. One day the writer has received a birthday card bearing the message in the caption that the total price of human body is only 97 cents. The writer feels upset and distressed. It is really humorous and ridiculous. He tries to find the real value of human body. Then he began to calculate the price of each and every chemicals of human body according to the current market price that is provided by the bio-chemicals companies. The writer has calculated the price of the dry weight and its ingredients of human body and the chemicals in the following way:
- Hemoglobin - $ 2.95 per gram
- NADP - $ 245.00 per gram
- Purified Tryspin - $ 36.00 per gram - Hyaluronic Acid - $175.00 per gram
- Crystalline Insuline $47.50 per gram - Bilirubin - $ 12.00 per gram
- Acetate Kinase - $ 8,860.00 per gram - Human DNA - $ 798.00 per gram
- Alkaline Phosphatase - $ 225.00 per gram - Collagen - $ 15.00 per gram
- Human Albumin - $ 13.00 per gram - Brradykinin - $ 12,000.00 per gram
- Follicle-Stimulating Harmone - $ 4,800,000 per gram
- Prolactin - $ 157,500,00.00 per gram
- Average value of every gram of dry weight of human body is $ 254.54
- Dry weight of the human body is 168 pounds (76,364 grams with 60% water and 24,436
grams without water)

He became very happy and excited about the fact that human body is worth as six-dollar. Nevertheless, when he calculated every possibility of being a perfect man with the power of thought, speech, reasoning and soul, he felt defeated before the nature. Only God can give humanity, and soul, so science and technology can create only man or human body, but not humanity.

10/13/2011 10:04:00 PM - , 1 comment

Magic of Words - The Gardener

SUMMARY

There are two main characters in this story, they are Helen and Michael. Apart from them, the other minor characters are Mrs. Scarworth and the Gardener. This story is set against the background of the First World War that killed thousands of the British people. This story discloses the fate of the child born out of an unmarried woman. The woman who bore such an illegitimate child should have to face the social scorn and hate, thus she had to live the hateful life. Because of that, the woman had planned various ways to make her sin as real and truthful. It is the worthlessness of the crooked and dishonest society.

According to the story, there was Miss Helen Turrell who told the long and terrible story in her life. She said that she had a lung problem and suffered from it badly; but in fact, she had not such a problem, she said so to save herself from her sin in the society. She exiled into France because in England it was a big problem to sustain herself, sooner or later, the villagers would find the reality. She was pregnant from her illegal and unauthorized relation, so she wanted to give birth to a baby secretly.

She had given the birth to a baby in France, though his father had remained unknown and the baby was named as Michael in a baptism in a local church. In England, Helen had made a truthful story that she had gone to France to care for her Brother’s son. To escape from social criticism and disrespect, she said that Michael was not her son, he was the son of her Brother George. George had served in Indian Army and engaged with the daughter of non-commissioned officer. They gave the birth to a baby but George had died of a fall from the horse. Unfortunately, both George’s father and mother had died. The small baby was taken care by a nurse but her services to the baby is negligence and careless, as a result, the baby had suffered from dysentery (a kind of disease). Helen had brought the baby back to England and mother the baby.

In his school level, Michael was said that Helen was not his mother, instead, she was his aunty. She instructed Michael that he could only call her “mummy” at the bed time. Michael was troubled by the other boys about asking his father and he was unanswered. Michael grew up and finished his secondary level school and joined the University for the training of arms affairs. He applied in armed force and enlisted, but during his bravery in the battle in Belgium, he was killed by an opponent army. Miss Helen was notified about the death of her nephew by the certain authorities and she wished to visit the grave of her nephew.

Helen had decided to visit the grave, and left for the graveyard. On the way she met another woman named as Mrs. Scarworth. Initially she pretended that she wanted to visit the grave of her relatives, but in fact, she lied that she wanted to visit the grave of her dearest person. It was her secret lover. Helen and Mrs. Scarworth were the same kind of women who rushed from the reality and lived in the illusion.

Helen finally reached in the cemetery and confused by seeing the thousand of graves. She could not find the grave of her nephew or son. The officer and the gardener helped in search of her son and nephew’s grave. The gardener said that he knew the grave of her son, that is most wonderful fact. How did the gardener know that she was searching her son’s grave instead of her nephew? We may assume that there might be illegal relation between Helen and the gardener, but it was not confirmed.

10/13/2011 10:02:00 PM - , 1 comment

Magic of Words - Malini

SUMMARY
Malini is two-act play by Rabindranath Tagore and it is all about love and hatred; religion and dogma of the contemporary Asian society. Malini is the central figure of the play and she is the princess of the palace and lovely daughter of King and Queen. Malini is very different from her early age, who thinks differently. She is different in her thinking as well as attitude than the rest of the members of the royal palace. She opines differently and everyone including King and Queen are surprised due to her feelings. The kingdom is basically rooted on Hindu ideology and doctrine but the princess Malini promotes Buddhism and its ideology. There is the clash between Hinduism and Buddhism in the play. The Brahmins are the Hindu extremist and the Princess Malini is the promoter of Buddhism and its ideology.

Malini is isolated from Royal pleasure and happiness and wants to share the pity, sorrows, pain and sufferings of ordinary people as her own. These ideas principally promotes Buddhism doctrine and because of that Hindu extremists such as Brahmins, Kemankar, Supriya are irritated from Malini. The Brahmins strongly suggests the King to banish Malini from the Royal Palace so that the stain in Hindu Religion can be erased, she is labeled and compared as the poisonous snake in the palace. The King and the Queen worry much as they find that their daughter wants to walk in the perilous path in her life. Despite the great request and pleas; Malini decides to banish from the Palace. The Brahmins are always giving the pressure to the King to banish Malini to save the religion and Hindu ideology, so they protest and march against the King in the street. Eventually Malini is banished from the Palace.

The circumstances is reversed when Malini has returned from the banishment. King and Queen are happy from the arrival of Malini who are much anxious before and they follows the footstep of Malini who has brought outer world into the palace. The Brahmins who has raised their hand against Malini are now enchanted and attracted by her mercy, pity and tenderness. They have thought that Malini has understood the essence of Hindu doctrine and gained the divine spirit. They blindly suppose her as the form of Goddess who has descended from the heaven. According to the Brahmins, the divine spirit is existed in the heart of Malini. People are gathering in front of Palace to take the blessing of Malini who understand the real virtue, pity and love of human being. Love, virtue, mercy, pity are the pure source of divine spirit and knowledge and it makes one enlightened.

On the other hand, Supriya and Kemankar are much critical to the King who finally accepts the norms and notions as well as doctrine of Buddhism. They try to revolt against the King, so they secretly plan to make the plot against the King. They blame that the King rejects the Hindu doctrine and turns to Buddhism. On the course of time, all are become the follower of Malini, but Supriya and Kemankar has stayed aloof. Kemankar has fled to another country so that he can assemble armies to fight against the King to protect the religion as the King has deviated from his original religion. Kemankar and Supriya are the true friends from their childhood. Supriya has remained in the country and informed Kemakar about happening in the Kingdom and acted the role of spy. Kemankar tries to control the kingdom by doing armful revolution.

The fame and charm of Malini has been spreading rapidly. Supriya who was very critical to Malini, now influenced and enchanted by the divine spirit of Malini. Supriya then reveals the plan and shows the letter of Kemankar to the King and won the mercy of King. Supriya makes treachery to his friend. Thought, Supriaya urges to the King to forgive Kemankar who has been arrested by the King’s army in the frontier of the Kingdom. Finally Kemankar has been presented in front of King. The King has asked him for his last wish before he faces the death penalty.

In the last scene of the play, Kemankar and Supriya are talking and condemning each other. Kemankar does not tolerate the betray of Supriay, so he gives the big strike (blow) to Supriya who falls down on the ground and dies immediately. The King is enraged by this and stands out to look for his sword to attack Kemankar but Malini urges her father to forgive Kemanakar. This is the ideology of Buddhism. In every sin and mislead, forgive is the best solution to make our lives peaceful.


Q.N.1 What was the revolt against? Against Malini? Against the king? Against Buddhism?
Ans: Kashi is one of the centers, where Hinduism originated and prospered. It is also the place highly dominated by Brahmins. Remarkable things are that the Brahmins enjoy the great privilege in Hindu society. In such condition any blow to the dominant religious dogma may result in disadvantage of all Brahmins. Therefore when Malini comes out with a new concept influenced by Buddhism all the Brahmins get united against her and shouted for her banishment.

Q. N. 2 Why does Malini ask for her own banishment from the place?
Ans: Malini thinks that she is inspired by some divine force in heaven. She thinks she should go out of the place among the common people. It will help her to teach them what is right and what is wrong. The instructions of Malini will help them to attain nirvana. Therefore when the king informs her about Brahmins’ dissentient she takes it positively. She tells her father that they are not asking for her banishment but want her to live with them. So she requests her father to listen to Brahmins demand and banish her from the place.

Q.N.3. Draw a characteristics of Malini.
Ans: Malini is the protagonist of Rabindranath Tagore’s play “Malini”. She is the princess of Kasi, a land where Hinduism originated and prospered and where her new thoughts stirred the conservative Hindus. Although she is a princess, she doesn’t wear dresses of ornaments like a princess. This annoys her mother but Malini thinks her destiny is “to find riches in the property”.

Malini is inspired by a divine force of heaven. She thinks she should leave the place and go among people. It is important because she thinks only by bridging the gap between palace and people, she can preach and rescue them from the troubled life of earth. According to her the whole world is like a ship left by its captain on a stormy see. The ship might destroy if she will not reach. Iin other words she thinks she can help people to achieve nirvana.

However once she goes out, she finds the reality quite different from what she has supposed. She asks help from Supriya in her mission as she lacks words when she is amidst human crowd. This might make the readers think that all her visions are in fact illusions.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean she posses any power at all. In fact she looks so bright than agitating Brahmins takes her as an incarnation of a goddess who has descended on the pious land of Kasi to rescue it from the possible bloodshed.

Malini is taught by Buddhist monks. Accordingly she is very much influenced by its philosophy non- violence and peace. When Supriya tells about how he has informed the king about Kemanker’s plan. Who makes him a captive, she doesn’t like it. She thinks her heart is big enough to greet even the opponent. Not only that when Kemankar kills Supriya, she pleads the king to forgive him. Remarkable thing is that Supriya is very dear to her and king wants her to marry him.

Magic of Words - Oops! How’s That Again

SUMMARY

In our daily life, we make numerous verbal errors. They become the cause of embarrassment, insult and sometimes just laughter. But most of the time we are not serious about it although they seem surprisingly interesting. Rosenblatt in “Oops! How’s that again”, has discussed on such verbal errors in a humorous way. However, at the same time he has provided some reasonable explanations behind such errors. He has categorized the verbal errors into 4 groups. They are slips of tongue, mistranslation, bloopers and spoonerisms.

In slip of tongue we mistakenly tell something else instead of what we intend to or are supposed to tell. On the conscious level, we never mean what we speak and sometimes we regret for it. For example once a businessman Peter Balfour wished Prince Charles “Long life and conjugal happiness with Lady Jane” on the day when he has engaged to lady Diana. Similarly when Chicago's mayor wanted to make his city men feel comfortable, he assured them “The policemen isn’t there to create disorder, the policemen is there to preserve disorder.” Clearly, both the miss speaker didn’t mean what they told.

Mistranslation is different but perhaps the most interesting among all verbal errors. A popular slogan “Come alive with Pepsi” was mistranslated in Germany as “Come alive out of Grave with Pepsi”. Similarly, once the German president, Heinrich Lubke went to receive the president of India at an airport. He wanted to ask “How are you?” to Indian President but asked “Who are you?” instead.

Bloopers are embarrassing errors made in public. Once David Hartman, the anchor of “Good Morning America” infuriated his sponsor General Foods when he announced “We will be right back after this word from General Fools”. Similarly American radio anchor Harry Von Zell called his president “Hoobert Heever”. In fact the president’s name was Herbert Heever. However the bloopers largely consists low life verbal errors and toilet jokes. It is also an interesting fact that bloopers records became great hit programs on American radio and television in 1950s.

Spoonerism an utterly different kind of verbal error is named after and Oxford scholar Archibald Spooner. It is the transposition of initial or other sound of words in a sentence. It seems deliberate. The popular example is the transposition of “Conquering Kings Their Titles Take” as “Kinquering Kongs Their Titles Take”. In another interesting example, Spooner scolded his student “You have hissed all my mystery lectures…….” Instead of “You have missed all my history lectures”.

Although we just laugh at such verbal errors, they are of great importance for linguists and psychologist. According to some linguist, like Victoria Fromkin, brain stores idea in a particular grammatical pattern of a particular language. When we speak, we express our idea on the same pattern, but if the ideas are arranged in wrong way, we make mistakes. Mistranslation can be taken as a result of such attempts too.

According to psychologist, our brain has three stages called sub-conscious, conscious and super conscious. In our sub conscious mind there are many wishes related to primitive needs. But our super conscious mind always forces us not to reveal them. Our conscious mind is a balance between them. But sometimes the latent desires of sub conscious mind tend to come out in front of slips. For example when a nun asked the Irish Bishop “How may lords, my lump?” instead of “How may lumps my lord?” She intended to ask profound theological questions.

There is also another psychological theory, which gives a second reason for such verbal errors. According to the psychiatrist, Richard Yazmajian, there are some incorrect words that exist in associative change with the correct ones. He calls it “Dream Pair” of words. When we speak sometimes incorrect words of dream pair substitute the correct words and we make verbal errors.

10/13/2011 09:54:00 PM - , No comments

Magic of Words - Concrete Cat

SUMMARY

Concrete cat is a concrete poem. A concrete poem is an experimental poem, which verbally deals with visual ideas with an attempt to articulate visual thinking and bring the aesthetic principle of paintings into the poetry. It is mostly written to look at although it uses letters instead of painting brush.

In “Concrete Cat” we can see Dorthi Charles has used black letters and placed it in such a manner that it shows us the picture of a cat on the page. To make the picture more vivid, he has used pointed letters. “A” shows the pointed ears of cat, the capital “Y” is used to show the wide opened eyes of cat as it is approaching food. The stripes, whiskers, mouth, paw and tail also made visible by appropriate arrangement of letters.

The poet has also associated some catness with the concrete cat. For example a mouse is shown upside down. It means the cat has recently killed it, which is cat’s nature. Similarly, the letter “U” is used mouth to suggest that a cat licks its food. There are some litter boxes at the corner, which suggests that the cat is in a storeroom. The food kept near it also suggests that the cat is a domestic one.

The poet has also used a pun in the poem. A pun is a device of figurative language in which a word with two meanings is playfully used in a context. The punning words are spelled and pronounced in the same way. We find the mid stripe on the cat’s body can be read as “stripe”, which means a long extended black line on a cat’s body. At the same time it can also be read as “tripes”, which means the food inside its stomach.

UNDERSTANDING
“Concrete Cat” is an example of a “concrete poem,” a poem made for the eye. The chief concern of such a poem is with the physical appearance of poetry – not primarily with ideas or emotions, not with language as we ordinarily use it, but with the “reduced language” of the word itself as it appears on the page or elsewhere.
The pet may be telling us about a cat, but may be showing its “catness” in action – as far as this can be done by black and white letters on a page. We see that the cat’s tongue is a U, and so on. The pun in the cat’s middle stripe (tripes) is the only place where language aspires toward poetry and become figurative.

“Concrete Cat” is implied poem that indicates the concrete ideas about something. This type of poem is meant to see rather than to read. is a concrete poem by which we mean a poem for the eye not for the ear. However, this type of poem reveals the pun through of words and it is good fun to read and see the concrete poem. The poet here experiences his sight of cat through the letters and he organizes the words in a very skillful way that represent a shape of a cat and different organs of the cat. The letter “A” indicates or creates the shape of pointed ears and U makes the mouth. The white backdrop and black letters here show the real stripe of the cat. This cat concentrates here in front of the readers after killing the mouse. The upside down letter of mouse indicates that the mouse is killed by the cat. The selections of words such as stripe, whisker, paw, tail etc characterize the real cat like a picture but if the poet would use sentences instead of words, his concrete poem would never come to a form of cat.


Some of the letters are capitalized by the poet, such as A to show the pointed ends of the ear; U to show the curved position of its tongue and mouth and Y to show the nose that separates two eyes. The letters of the word “tail” is written by giving more space to show the length of the tail, which is long and slightly bending.

The poet sets the letters of the word “mouse” upside down to indicate that the mouse is dead and it is lying behind the cat. In front of the cat, a mouse can not stand upright. We can assume that the cat is playing with the dead cat by turning it upside down.

The pun can be created by the middle stripe of the cat. As the letters are repeated, each word can create different meaning. It is the play of the words. When we separate the letters from “stripe”, the two words are created, “tripe” and “stripe”. Tripe means the belly of animal to carry the food stuffs and “stripes” means a relatively long band of colour or texture. The cat as the poet describes here are consisted of two basic words stripes and tripe and other letters and words as necessary.

10/13/2011 09:52:00 PM - , No comments

Magic of Words - Unchopping a Tree

SUMMARY 1

“Unchopping a tree” is a pseudodirective essay. W.S.Merwin has coined a new term by adding the prefix “un” to chopping by this he has meant the process of reserving the action of chopping a tree. Merwin has used imperative sentences to give direction to reserve the process of chopping. Our common sense makes us realize its impossibility from the very beginning.

W.S. Merwin instructs us to begin the “unchopping” by joining leaves to their respective twigs and twigs to their respective branches. If the tree has a hollow trunk, the nest of birds, hive of bees and insect and their hoard of nuts and food must be resembled .if there were spider webs on trees before the fall. It must be waved again any damage done to the neighboring trees must also be repaired.

In the second step the tree must be erected on its stump without grinding its base into the ground. While putting the tackle into place no damage to the neighboring trees can be done. If it occurs any of such damage must be corrected later. If any leaf or branch is broken they must be rearranged by putting the tree on the ground.

The last step is to arrange the wooden chips, which fell on the ground during the chopping. After that saw dust and bark of the trees must be fixed. Here one must be careful to use correct adhesive so that natural look of the tree is not distorted.

After giving the instructions, the essayist asks how long such tree can stand. Any blow of wind will be enough to put the tree back on the ground. No one can stop the blowing of the wind so the only thing that you can do is to start the process of unchopping from the beginning if you have to get any success.

By giving a Sisyphus-like task, the essayist intends to make every reader realize that you can hardly undertake and complete such process. Therefore it is unwise to chop a tree because we are not wise enough to unchop it.

SUMMARY 2
“Unchopping a Tree” is an essay written by W.S. Merwin, he has used the work “Unchopping” for the process of reversing the action of “Chopping” or chopping a tree means cutting a tree whereas unchopping a tree means joining the same tree.


The essay shows the fact beautifully that unchopping a tree is not as easy as chopping the trees. A man can chop a tree within a few minutes but the tree takes at least ten years’ time to be grown up. To unchop or join all the parts of a tree, one has to collect the leaves, twigs, sawdust and put them again in their own places. To join all the parts properly one should work very hard like the ants. One should put everything in the original order. Let’s suppose that tree can be joined, but nobody can give its life. The writer says the chopping a tree is very easy but unchopping is out of our imagination. One can use scaffolding and tackle very carefully to be free from the future trouble.

The nuts inside the hollow may not be in right place. As such, one has to lift the trunk vertically above the stump. After fixing the splinters of the both parts properly, one has to use the fixative or any sticky materials. Three different types of fixatives should be used for the core to the trunk. By following all this process very properly, one can erect the tree. But when the tree stands on its own, the first breeze or the motion of the clouds might push the tree over. At this time one can do nothing except watching and waiting.

Thus, the process of unchopping trees is impossible. Though a man tries his best, he cannot give the life for the fallen or chopped trees. The essay had a different meaning from its apparent meaning. It is persuasive essay.

Magic of Words - Keeping Things Whole

SUMMARY

Mark strand is a surrealist. Therefore the image that he creates in his work seems alien or uncommon to us. However he always writes on common theme. Through the present poem also he wants to appeal for universal brotherhood a kind of wholeness against all the usual fragmentation that appears in our life.

The poet tells when he is in a field he finds himself absent there. It happens because he allows his own individual entity to submerge into a bigger entity in the field. By doing so he does not lose anything rather he is recognized as a greater body. According to him it is always the same case with him. Wherever he goes he finds himself absent there.

However, it is the human tendency to make things apart rather than keeping it whole, such attempts can never succeed because the universe is one. He has given an example to prove his point when h walks in a field his body parts the air as it moves forward. But immediately after he moves forward vacuum created by his body is filled with air. Thus he is not able to part things at last. Rather he joins at his back too.

According to the poet everybody has some projects or goals in his life. His mission is to keep things whole.

OUTLINES
Mark Strand is a Canadian-born poet, educated in the US. He has taught at various universities. His poems of alienation treating darkness and doubleness in man, are minimalist in style and affected by surrealism. “Keeping Things Whole,” taken from his Selected Poems (1980), pleads for wholeness against the usual fragmentation6 that goes on in life.

* The poet here in the poem elaborates the various objects to make things whole.

* To keep things whole is to keep something absolute and complete from the possibility of division and fragmentation.

* Fragmentation is necessary to keep something whole. Wholeness is formed due to the unification of fragmentation.

* The poet here claims that fragmentation and movement are interrelated to create the absolute object.

* The poet in the poem moves despite the fragmentation in his life to maintain the journey of life and keep things whole.

* When the poet is in the field, he considers that he is absence of the field. On the other hand, the presence of the poet marks some space on the field and that is missing. But as the poet walks on the field, his bodily movement divides the air and then the air again fill the space to make things whole (here air is whole) that is made by the body of the poet. The poet says that every one has the reason to move, and he has the reason to move to keep things whole.

* As we move the particular space is in the process of being fragmented and whole.

* To keep things whole, the three major things happen. Movement, fragmentation and unification for wholeness.

* The poet walks in field moving so as to make the field and fragmented air whole, thus the entire backdrop will be whole.

Interpretation and the and central idea of the poem.
The poem, “Keeping Things Whole” talks about the wholeness against the usual fragmentation which goes on in life. The course of actions; incidents and happenings of our life are often fragmented. Nothing is absolute in fragmentation and division. So the poet stresses on wholeness. The poet claims that movement in the course of action is the key to keeping things whole or undivided. The poet gives example of field, he says if one presents or stays in the field; he takes some of the space of field, thus the field is fragmented. But as he moves from there, the filed will be whole. Movement is thus necessary to keep things whole. The poet has a distinguished (remarkable, eminent, notable) notion regarding the term “wholeness” and it is essential, according to the poet, to think about the perception of wholeness.


Magic of Words - The Nightmare Life Without Fuel

Synopsis of the Essay
The present essay written by the Russian writer Isaac Asimov basically concerns about the fuel shortage in the present world. He has given us the instances from America about how the fuel shortage directly or indirectly relates to human life and its adverse impacts. The writer kindly advices us to preserve the existing natural resources that gives us the enormous fuel to sustain life. The essay “The Nightmare Life Without Fuel,” originally published in the Time Magazine in 1977, portrays America in the late 1990s, where the existing fuel resources have reduced this developed and rich nation to miserable condition of dark and dirty replica of the pre-industrial 1800s. America is just a small example to show how dwindling fuel resources have been reducing. The central essence of this essay is considerable that the worst condition will be happened if we do not preserve the natural resources of the world.

The writer describes the terrific situation in the urban areas of America where people are wandering here and there for the fuel and energy. People gather in the subways where the bus is already left and bicycles are splashed on the muddy water, which indicates difficulties in life due to shortage of fuel. Coal is difficult to get by digging and nuclear fusion is very risky and then the solar batteries are very costly. The stuff of the decaying city should be the mineral mines to use again.

There are several adverse impacts on human life due to fuel shortage; but the writer says that this kind of shortage would be beneficial to some extent. Automobiles are vanished and become the metal resources; likewise the ration system also be decreased. According to the writer, there is the reports from the newspapers in 1997 that the environment becomes cleaner, crime rates are reduced and the policemen are returned to their beats. The streets are deserted and the legs of the people become superior in the street. People do not consume the expensive electricity; they are deprived from modern facilities. For them open air is the air condition and home made sweaters are popular indoor wear.

The people in the city feel comfort rather than the people in suburbs. Energy crisis is the vital problem for the city dwellers. The nation should find the alternative source of energy to soothe the growing population. The condition outside USA and Europe is even worst and the people do not have sufficient food stuff to eat; only more than one in five has enough food to eat. Rest of people would die of starvation. But the writer states that starvation reduces the world’s population and more than two billion people suffer from brain damage due to less nutritious food. The fuel resources are limited, so it has the great impact on human life. The energy crisis is continued and as a result, the world’s countries would not afford their cost, keep their soldiers for the long time and unable to feed their people properly. Because of fuel shortage, the electricity is not possible, the people will deprive from watching TV, movie and reading books and they will ultimately return to the age of 1800. Then the existing fossil fuel (natural fuel produced by decomposition of organic) will work out.

The agricultural system will be also destroyed, the new technologies will be halted due to fuel crisis and farmer can not produce enough crops to sustain people’s life. As a result more people will die of starvation. The situation will be havoc, to cope with such situation, we had to take step to improve the situation 50 years ago, and then it would have been quite better to cope with fuel crisis.

It is indeed a serious issue to preserve the dwindling natural resources and if we do not think positively, it will devastate our society, and nation which are completely depended on fuel. The general people on the outskirt of the city (suburbs) will die untimely because of fuel shortage. The condition of poor nation will be perilous and the women and children’s mortality rate will increase and those who remain alive also suffer from bad health. But in the case of rich nation, it won’t be serious problem, they can afford their necessities and there will be the wider distinction between poor and rich people.

Finally the writer recommends us the possible solution of the current fuel crisis in the world. He strongly suggests to preserve the natural resources though it is very late. The remaining natural resources will also make us relieve if we seriously ponder about it and do something for the sake of natural resources to tackle the fuel crisis.


Q.1. What kind of serious problems could fuel shortage cause?
Ans: In the essay “The Nightmare Life without Fuel”, Isaac Asimov has tried to foresee into future when human will have to suffer from extreme fuel crisis.

The essayist is an American and has started the essay by mentioning the negative effects of fuel scarcity on American society. According to him, the American life will be changed into a nightmarish life. They will find themselves unable to keep private vehicles and have to travel in crowded public transport. The factories will stop production and they will have to rescue the metal parts from old and demolished buildings. Inside the house, they won’t be able to operate AC’s, heaters of refrigerators. Hardly any Americans will be able to lit lights after supper. In short, they will have to live inside their dark cold and cave like houses. The fuel shortage will put the human settlements in and end in suburbs.

The American government will have to overlook the personal interests of his citizen. They will only allow the railway to use the coal. The remaining energy will be used by agriculture sector. The car factories will start producing agricultural machines. This will grow the agricultural product in America. But the price of food will knowingly kept high. This will discourage the people to buy more food and allow the government to export them, as it will be the only source of national income.

The condition outside America will be more pathetic. There will be widespread starvation, as only one out five people will get sufficient food. About 80% people will suffer from hunger. Around 2 billion will have their brain permanently damaged. Human muscles and beasts of burden will replace the use of machines. They will have to work for longer hours with less leisure time and amusement. Even then, there won’t be any guarantee of food. In short, the whole human race will be doomed to languish in the hell like situation.

Q.2. What specific problem does Asimov focus on in this essay? Why does he consider this issue worth of attention?
Ans: Asimov focuses on the fuel crises in this essay. He considered this issue worth attention because the amount fossil fuel is limited .it couldn’t fulfill the insatiable human demands forever. But human beings are using it ignoring its limitation. This trend might finish and might invite countless troubles for human being. It is also a considerable issue because the time has come when we must look for some alternatives of fossils fuel. If other alternatives to produce energy are found in time, the human will be doomed to live a cursed life in the future.

Q.3. According to the author, what will be the advantages and disadvantages of the fuel crisis?
Ans: Quite surprisingly Isaac Asimov has counted some advantages of fuel crisis. He tells the fuel crisis will make the air cleaner. As the result less people will suffer from cold. Crime rate will come down. The police would be present in their beats and people will be able to walk on the streets in late nights.

However if we look at above advantage carefully, we will find they are actually the result of several disadvantages. The air will become pure not due to our inability to drive vehicles or run factories. So the air will become cleaner only at the cost of human comfort. Similarly, the crime rate will be found low because the police will be unable to patrol on the roads or reach crime scene. Thus they cannot keep record of crime due to fuel crisis. The American will be walking on streets in late nights because they will be compelled to do so. They won’t be able to afford vehicles even at the late nights or in time of emergency.

There are several other disadvantages of fuel crisis too. It will force the human to give up the use of AC’s, heaters, and refrigerators. They will have to languish inside the dark, cold and cave like houses. They must need to work manually as they won’t be able to run machines .in short these disadvantages will force the human to live in a nightmarish hell-like situation.

Q.4. In Asimov’s essay what is happening in the rest of the world as America struggles without fuel?
Ans: The situation outside America is worse as the people are dying out of hunger there. Only one of five people gets enough food. About 80% people outside America and Europe are compelled to live in hunger. The first victims of starvation are innocent children. They can hardly survive once their mothers become dry.

There are some who are getting only that much food which can move their bodies. But it cannot keep their mind feet and there are around 2 billion people whose brains are permanently damaged.

Q.5. What does the author means when he says,” the suburbs are born with auto lived with auto and are dying with auto?
Ans: Asimov has imagined a nightmarish life, which can be turned into reality due to the fuel crisis in “The Nightmare without Fuel”. In the given line he has presented the dependency of America suburbanites on automobiles.

When the cities grew a lot of industries and factories were established in it. To run them they needed extra manpower. But there were not enough space to accommodate them all inside the cities. So these workers settled several kilometers away from the cities. They could do so because their life was supported by their automobiles. They could easily go to their work and come back home in time. Thus the automobiles helped the human to settle in suburbs. As the habitation grew the facilities also grew there. It attracted the rich and professionals to come and colonies were established and the suburbs developed.

But all of the sudden the automobiles, the only medium that has linked them to cities, has stopped working. When the suburbanites cannot afford the price of fuel, they left driving cars and cannot reach office or do the shopping in time. They are cut with mainstream of America. Therefore, they are dying now.

10/13/2011 09:41:00 PM - , No comments

Magic of Words - The Poplar Field

SUMMARY

William Cowper gave up his public career for a life of retirement in rural area and exclusively, devoted his later life in writing poetry. His love towards nature in rural life is also visible in the poem “The Poplar Field”, which is remarkable for his celebration for the rural and nostalgic tone.

The poem is a result of the poet’s second visit to the same landscape, which he had visited 12 years ago. It was the bank of river Ouse, which was filled with tall poplar trees. It provided shade to the poet. There used to blow cool breeze and the melodious song of black birds which had entertained the poet. But now the trees are cut and are fallen on the ground. It cannot provide shade to anyone nor there is cool breeze blowing. The black birds have flown away in search of new shelter and therefore, the poet cannot listen to their sweet songs anymore. By looking this degraded situation of the same landscape, the poet becomes very sad.

The poet thinks that limited years of his life are passing away very quickly. Very soon he will be dead and buried in a grave. But he regrets that he will not be able to see such poplar trees on the bank of the river Ouse again in his life. He not only regrets for himself but the pathetic one of nature also draws his attention towards the “Perishing Pleasure” of human. Life is very short and one must try to fill with joy and pleasure. But their bad luck is their joy and pleasure last for shorter time and for this they themselves are responsible.

ANALYSIS

The poet strongly protests the sinful deeds against the natural resources in the poem. Basically, deforestation is really the great challenge in the world to sustain ecological balance. The poet sentimentally recalls that the cutting down poplar trees cause the adverse impact in human life.

The poem is all about deforestation and destruction of the poplar fields in the bank of the Ouse River in England. That shows that human civilization is the curse for the protection of natural resources. The result of cutting down of the poplar trees, as poet recalls, the shade and the whispering sound of the row of trees are disappeared. The winds no longer play with the leaves of the trees and no reflection of the trees in the river water is seen. He says that he has missed everything in his twelve years of running life. He recalls that it was his favorite place to stay which gave him shade; but regrets that they are laid.

The poet has deep-rooted sympathy upon other creatures in the trees such as blackbird that gets relieve from the hazel in the heat. As the trees are cut, the blackbird has fled to another shelter. Likewise their melodious chirping tone and sweet booming (echoing) song that charmed the poet most has also be gone.

The poet again laments (regrets) that his fleeing (running) years are all in hurry that he couldn’t understand the value of trees and environment in his life. Now he is more conscious about the value of trees and says that he’ll soon die like the trees and the grass will grow on his chest and stone at his head in his grave and says that other trees will arise in that place.

The poet finally says that the trees in the bank is the sight to engage him and considers that human pleasures and ecstasies are decaying. He states that we’re short-lived like the poplar trees but our enjoyments and happiness are less durable than our own lives.