National level workshop

National level workshop was held in our college on Dec 28, 2017.
    The titles are
      Cup of Tea, Cup of Teach
      Teaching is Reaching
    In the morning session, Dr. P. Srinivasan took class on the topic ''Teaching is Reaching''. It is good. His class related to psychology. He gave some activities.
    In the afternoon session Dr. K. Thiyagu Suriya took class on the topic ''Cup of Tea, Cup of Teach''. His class is very interesting. Everybody enjoyed a lot. He played many short films related to the topic. He also gave many activities everyone enjoyed it.

Puns

Puns Definition:
Puns are a very popular literary device wherein a word is used in a manner to suggest two or more possible meanings. This is generally done to the effect of creating humor or irony or wryness. Puns can also refer to words that suggest meanings of similar-sounding words. The trick is to make the reader have an “ah!” moment and discover 2 or more meanings.
Example: Santa’s helpers are known as subordinate Clauses.

Prologue

Today I learnt about Prologue
Prologue Definition:
A prologue can be understood to be a sort of introduction to a story that usually sets the tone for the story and acts as a bit of a backgrounder or a “sneak peek” into the story. Prologues are typically a narrative ‘spoken’ by one of the characters and not from the part of the author.
Example:
1. "The origin of this story is..."
2. “It all began one day when…”

Protagonist

Today I learnt about Protagonist.
Protagonist Definition:
    Protagonist is the main character in a story, novel or play about whom the whole story revolves .
   For example In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations Pip is the protagonist.

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton : In literature, the literary device ‘polysyndeton’ refers to the process of using conjunctions or connecting words frequently in a sentence, placed very close to one another, as opposed to the usual norm of using them sparsely, only where they are technically needed. The use of polysyndetons is primarily for adding dramatic effect as they have a strong rhetorical presence.

Point of View

Point of View:
      In literature, the ‘point of view’ is a literary device that depicts the manner in which a story is narrated/ depicted and who it is that tells the story. Simply put, the point of view determines the angle and perception of the story unfolding, and thus influences the tone in which the story takes place. The point of view is instrumental in manipulating the reader’s understanding of the narrative. In a way, the point of view can allow or withhold the reader access into the greater reaches of the story. Two of the most common point of view techniques are the first person, wherein the story is told by the narrator from his/ her standpoint and the third person wherein the narrator does not figure in the events of the story and tells the story by referring to all characters and places in the third person with third person pronouns and proper nouns.

Plot

Plot Definition: The plot usually refers to the sequence of events and happenings that make up a story. There is usually a pattern, unintended or intentional, that threads the plot together. The plot basically refers to the main outcome and order of the story. There is another kind of plot in literature as well; it refers to the conflict or clash occurring as a part of the story. The conflict usually follows 3 regular formats: a) characters in conflict with one another b) characters in conflict with their surroundings and c) characters in conflict with themselves. Example: Many date movies follow a similar simple plot. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back in the end.

Personification

Personification Definition:
    Personification is one of the most commonly used and recognized literary devices. It refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals.
Example:
“The raging winds”
“The wise owl”
“The warm and comforting fire”

Periphrasis

Periphrasis:

    The term ‘periphrasis’ refers to the use of excessive language and surplus words to convey a meaning that could otherwise be conveyed with fewer words and in more direct a manner. The use of this literary device can be to embellish a sentence, to create a grander effect, to beat around the bush and to draw attention away from the crux of the message being conveyed.

Periodic Structure

Periodic Structure:

     In literature, the concept of a periodic structure refers to a particular placement of sentence elements such as the main clause of the sentence and/or its predicate are purposely held off and placed at the end instead of at the beginning or their conventional positions. In such placements, the crux of the sentence’s meaning does not become clear to the reader until they reach the last part. While undeniably confusing at first, a periodic structure lends a flair of drama and romanticism to a sentence and is greatly used in poetry.

Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic Fallacy Definition: Pathetic fallacy is a type of literary device whereby the author ascribes the human feelings of one or more of his/her characters to non-human objects or nature or phenomena. It is a type of personification, and is known to occur more by accident and less on purpose. Example: The softly whistling teapot informed him it was time for breakfast.

Paradox

Paradox Definition: A paradox in literature refers to the use of concepts/ ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet, when placed together they hold significant value on several levels. The uniqueness of paradoxes lies in the fact that a deeper level of meaning and significance is not revealed at first glace, but when it does crystallize, it provides astonishing insight. Example: High walls make not a palace; full coffers make not a king.

One Act Play

One act play Definition: A play in one act, presenting a simple incident involving two or three characters and running for fifty to forty minutes. For example; John Millington Sing’s Riders to the sea is a one act play.

Oxymoron

Oxymoron Definition: Oxymoron is a significant literary device as it allows the author to use contradictory, contrasting concepts placed together in a manner that actually ends up making sense in a strange, and slightly complex manner. An oxymoron is an interesting literary device because it helps to perceive a deeper level of truth and explore different layers of semantics while writing. Example: Sometimes we cherish things of little value. He possessed a cold fire in his eyes.

Nemesis

Nemesis Definition:
  
      In literature, the use of a nemesis refers to a situation of poetic justice wherein the positive characters are rewarded and the negative characters are penalized. The word also sometimes refers to the character or medium by which this justice is brought about as Nemesis was the patron goddess of vengeance according to classical mythology.
Example: In the popular book series Harry Potter, the protagonist Harry Potter is the nemesis of the evil Lord Voldemort.

Relationships

Names of the Family Relations and Translation in Tamil Here are the names of the relations in a family and their translations in tamil Father - அப்பா Mother - அம்மா Grandfather - தாத்தா Grandmother - பாட்டி Great Grandfather - கொள்ளுத் தாத்தா Great Grandmother - கொள்ளுப் பாட்டி Spouse - கணவன் அல்லது மனைவி Siblings - அண்ணன் , தம்பி , அக்கா , தங்கை Brother - சகோதரன் Elder brother - அண்ணன் Younger brother - தம்பி Sister - சகோதரி Elder sister - அக்கா Younger sister - தங்கை Elder brother's wife - அண்ணி Maternal Uncle - மாமா (தாய் மாமா ) Paternal Uncle - பெரியப்பா , சித்தப்பா Aunty - அத்தை , சித்தி , மாமி , பெரியம்மா Husband - கணவர் Wife - மனைவி Mother -in-law - மாமியார் Father-in-law - மாமனார் Brother-in-law - மைத்துனர் (கணவரின் or மனைவியின் - அண்ணன் , தம்பி ) Sister -in-law - நாத்தனார் or மைத்துனி (கணவரின் or மனைவியின் -அக்கா , தங்கை ) Co-sister - ஓரகத்தி -ஓர்ப்படி (கணவரின் சகோதரரின் மனைவி ) Co-Brother - சகலை (மனைவியின் சகோதரியின் கணவர் ) Son-in-law - மருமகன் Daughter - in-law - மருமகள் Son - மகன் Daughter - மகள் Grand son - பேரன் Grand daughter - பேத்தி Great Grand son - கொள்ளுப் பேரன் Great Grand daughter - கொள்ளுப் பேத்தி சம்பந்தி - மகன் அல்லது மகளின் மாமியார் , மாமனார் Nephew - அண்ணன் , தம்பி , அக்காள் , தங்கை - இவர்களின் மகன் Niece - அண்ணன் , தம்பி , அக்காள் , தங்கை - இவர்களின் மகள் Cousin - அத்தை , மாமா - இவர்களின் மகன் , மகள் Cousin Brother - பெரியப்பா , சித்தப்பா மகன் (அம்மா , அப்பா இரண்டு பக்கமும் ) Cousin Sister - பெரியப்பா , சித்தப்பா மகள் (அம்மா , அப்பா இரண்டு பக்கமும் ) Step father , Step Mother, Step son, Step daughter - இரண்டாம் திருமணத்தின் மூலம் வந்த உறவுகள்

Metaphysical Poetry

Metaphysical Poetry Definition: Metaphysical means beyond physical or something abstract. A metaphysical poem is a poem that consists of abrupt beginning, abstract theme, and use of conceits, bending of passion and arguments and colloquialism. The major theme of this poetry is love, death and religious faith which are all conceptual truths.

Melodrama

Melodrama Definition: "Melos" is Greek for song, and the term "melodrama" was originally applied to all musical plays, including opera. In early nineteenth- century London, many plays were produced with a musical accompaniment that (as in modern motion pictures) served simply to fortify the emotional tone of the various scenes; the procedure was developed in part to circumvent the Licensing Act, which allowed "legitimate" plays only as a monopoly of the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theaters, but permitted musical entertain­ ments elsewhere. The term "melodrama" is now often applied to some of the typical plays, especially during the Victorian Period, that were written to be produced to musical accompaniment.

Myth

Myth Definition: In classical Greek, "mythos" signified any story or plot, whether true or invented. In its central modern significance, however, a myth is one story in a mythology a system of hereditary stories of ancient origin which were once believed to be true by a particular cultural group, and which served to explain (in terms of the intentions and actions of deities and other supernatural beings) why the world is as it is and things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the sanctions for the rules by which people conduct their lives.

Motif

Motif Definition: The literary device ‘motif’ is any element, subject, idea or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature. Using a motif refers to the repetition of a specific theme dominating the literary work. Motifs are very noticeable and play a significant role in defining the nature of the story, the course of events and the very fabric of the literary piece. Example: In all the famed fairytales, the motif of a ‘handsome prince’ falling in love with a ‘damsel in distress’ and the two being bothered by a wicked step-mother/ evil witch/ beast and finally conquering all and living ‘happily ever after’ is a common motif. Another common motif is the simple, pretty peasant girl or girl from a modest background in fairytales discovering that she is actually a royal or noble by the end of the tale.

Mood

Mood Definition:

    The literary device ‘mood’ refers to a definitive stance the author adopts in shaping a specific emotional perspective towards the subject of the literary work. It refers to the mental and emotional disposition of the author towards the subject, which in turn lends a particular character or atmosphere to the work. The final tone achieved thus is instrumental in evoking specific, appropriate responses from the reader.

Example: 
  In Erich Segal’s Love Story, the relationship of the two protagonists is handled with such beauty, delicateness and sensitivity that the reader is compelled to feel the trials and tribulations of the characters.

Metonymy

Metonymy Definition:

   Metonymy in literature refers to the practice of not using the formal word for an object/subject and instead referring to it by using another word that is intricately linked to the formal name/word. It is the practice of substituting the main word with a word that is closely linked to it.

Example:
When we use the name “Washington D.C” we are talking about the U.S’ political hot seat by referring to the political capital of the United States because all the significant political institutions such as the White House, Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol and many more are located her. The phrase “Washington D.C.” is metonymy for the government of the U.S. in this case.

Metaphor

Metaphor Definition:
 
    Metaphors are one of the most extensively used literary devices. A metaphor refers to a meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of another. In a metaphor, one subject is implied to be another so as to draw a comparison between their similarities and shared traits. The first subject, which/who is the focus of the sentences is usually compared to the second subject, which is used to convey/carry a degree of meaning that is used to characterize the first. The purpose of using a metaphor is to take an identity or concept that we understand clearly (second subject) and use it to better understand the lesser-knownelement (the first subject).

Example:
“Henry was a lion on the battlefield”. This sentence suggests that Henry fought so valiantly and bravely that he embodied all the personality traits we attribute to the ferocious animal. This sentence implies immediately that Henry was courageous and fearless, much like the King of the Jungle.

Irony

Irony Definition:

    The use of irony in literature refers to playing around with words such that the meaning implied by a sentence/word is actually different from the literal meaning derived. Often, irony is used to suggest the stark contrast of the literal meaning being put forth. The deeper, real layer of significance is revealed not by the words themselves but the situation and the context in which they are placed.

Example:
Writing a sentence such as, “Oh! What fine luck I have!”. The sentence on the surface conveys that the speaker is happy with their luck but actually what they mean is that they are extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with their (bad) luck.

Internal Rhyme

Internal Rhyme Definition:

     In literature the internal rhyme is a practice of forming a rhyme in only one lone line of verse. An internal rhyme is also known as the middle rhyme because it is typically constructed in the middle of a line to rhyme with the bit at the end of the same metrical line.
   Example:
The line from the famed poem Ancient Mariner, “We were the first that ever burst”.

Imagery

Imagery Definition:
   In literature, one of the strongest devices is imagery wherein the author uses words and phrases to create “mental images” for the reader. Imagery helps the reader to visualize and therein more realistically experience the author’s writings. The usage of metaphors, allusions, descriptive words and similes amongst other literary forms in order to “tickle” and awaken the readers’ sensory perceptions is referred to as imagery. Imagery is not limited to only visual sensations, but also refers to igniting kinesthetic, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, thermal and auditory sensations as well.

Example:
    The gushing brook stole its way down the lush green mountains, dotted with tiny flowers in a riot of colors and trees coming alive with gaily chirping birds.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole Definition: A hyperbole is a literary device wherein the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the basic crux of the statement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect. The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point. Such sentences usually convey an action or sentiment that is generally not practically/ realistically possible or plausible but helps emphasize an emotion. Example: “I am so tired I cannot walk another inch” or “I’m so sleepy I might fall asleep standing here”

Hyperbaton

Hyperbaton Definition: A hyperbaton is a literary device wherein the author plays with the regular positioning of words and phrases and creates a differently structured sentence to convey the same meaning. It is said that by using a hyperbaton, words/ phrases overstep their conventional placements and result in a more complex and intriguing sentence structure. This literary device is used to add more depth and interest to the sentence structure. Example: “Alone he walked on the cold, lonely roads”. This sentence is a variation of the more conventional, “He walked alone on the cold, lonely roads”.

Hero

Hero Definition: Hero is a figure of great national or even cosmic importance. The epic hero has super human strength, common character or intellect fighting for nation or collective interest.

Haiku

Haiku Definition: (sometimes spelled hokku) is a Japanese poetic form that represents, in seventeen syllables, ordered into three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, the poet's emotional or spiritual response to a natural object, scene, or season of the year. The strict form, which relies on the short, uniform, and unstressed syllabic structure of the Japanese language, is very difficult in English; most poets who attempt the haiku loosen the rule for the number and pattern of the syllables. The haiku greatly influenced Ezra Pound and other Imagists, who set out to reproduce both the brevity and the distinctiveness of the image in the Japanese original. Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" is a well-known instance of the haiku in the loosened English form; see this poem under imagism

Gothic Novel

GOTHIC NOVEL Definition: The word Gothic originally referred to the Goths, an early Germanic tribe, then came to signify "germanic," then "medieval." "Gothic architecture" now denotes the medieval type of architecture, characterized by the use of the high pointed arch and vault, flying buttresses, and intricate re- cesses, which spread through western Europe between the twelfth and six- teenth centuries. The Gothic novel, or in an alternative term, Gothic romance, is a type of prose fiction which was inaugurated by Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (1764)—the subtitle refers to its setting in the middle ages—and flourishedt hrough the early nineteenth century. Some writers followed Walpole's example by setting their stories in the medieval period; others set them in a Catholic country, especially Italy or Spain.

Change yourself

 

Free Verse

Free Verse Definition: Free Verse is sometimes referred to as "open form" verse, or by the French term vers libre. Like traditional verse, it is printed in short lines instead of with the continuity of prose, but it differs from such verse by the fact that its rhythmic pattern is not organized into a regular metrical form—that is, into feet, or recurrent units of weak- and strong-stressed syllables. (See meter.) Most free verse also has irregular line lengths, and either lacks rhyme or else uses it only sporadically. (Blank verse differs from unrhymed free verse in that it is metrically regular.)

Foil

Foil Definition:

      The term ‘foil’ refers to a literary device where the author creates a character whose primary purpose is to create a contrast to another character by laying emphasis or drawing attention to the latter’s traits and characteristics through the former’s obviously contradictory ones.
 
Example:
In the popular book series, Harry Potter, the character of Hogwarts principal Albus Dumbledore, who portrays ‘good’, is constantly shown to believe in the power of true love (of all forms and types) and is portrayed as a strong, benevolent and positive character while the antagonist Lord Voldemort, who depicts the evil and ‘bad’ in the series is constantly shown to mock and disbelieve the sentiment of love and think of it as a foolish indulgence, a trait that is finally his undoing.

Flashback

Flashback Definition: Flashback is a literary device wherein the writer/ author depicts the occurrence of specific events to the reader, which have taken place before the present time the narration is following, or events that have happened before the events that are currently being unfolded in the story. Flashback devices that are commonly used are past narratives by characters, depictions and references of dreams and memories and a sub-device known as authorial sovereignty wherein the author directly chooses to refer to a past occurrence by bringing it up in a straightforward manner. Flashback is used to create a background to the present situation, place or person. Example: Back in the day when Sarah was a young girl… You can see flashbacks used very often in movies. For example, is is common in movies for there to be a flashback that gives the viewer a look into the characters life when they were younger, or when they have done something previously. This is done to help the viewer better understand the present situation.

Evocation

Evocation Definition: Getting inspiration or guidance or courage from the goddess of Muse before doing any hard task especially in the beginning of an epic.

09/11/17

Mantra to oneself

Epic

Epic Definition:

     Epic is a long narrative poem, on a great and serious subject related in an elevated style and centered on a heroic or quasidivine figure on whose actions defend on the fate of tribe or nation or the human race.

Epilogue

Epilogue Definition:
 
      Epilogues are an inherent part of any story or poem and are essential to the structure of any written form. The epilogue is an important literary tool that acts as the afterword once the last chapter is over. The purpose of an epilogue is to add a little insight to some interesting developments that happen once the major plot is over. Epilogues often act as a teaser trailer to any possible sequels that might be created later. Sometimes the epilogue is used to add a little bit about the life/future of the main characters after the story itself has unfolded and wrapped up. Epilogues are an interesting faction because they can be written in a number of ways: sometimes the same narrative style as adopted in the story is continued while at other times one of the characters might take up the narrative or speak one-to-one with the audience.

Example:
       In a remarkably contemporary moment at the end of The Tempest, Shakespeare's wizard Prospero addresses the audience directly, breaking down the boundaries of the play. He informs them that the play is over, his powers are gone, and thus his escape from the play's island setting depends on their applause--that they, in effect, get to decide his fate. This serves as a Epilogue for Shakespeare's tragi-comedy The Tempest.

Essay

Essay Definition:

   Any short composition in prose that undertakes to discuss a matter, express a point of view, persuade us to accept a thesis on any subject, or simply entertain. The essay differs from a "treatise" or "dissertation" in its lack of pretension to be a systematic and complete exposition, and in being ad- dressed to a general rather than a specialized audience; as a consequence, the essay discusses its subject in nontechnical fashion, and often with a liberal use of such devices as anecdote, striking illustration, and humor to augment its appeal.

Elegy

Elegy

Definition:

      In Greek and Roman literature, "elegy" denoted any poem written in elegiac meter (alternating hexameter and pentameter lines). The term was also used, however, to refer to the subject matter of change and loss frequently ex- pressed in the elegiac verse form, especially in complaints about love. In accordance with this latter usage, "The Wanderer," "The Seafarer," and other poems in Old English on the transience of all worldly things are even now called elegies. In Europe and England the word continued to have a variable application through the Renaissance. John Donne's elegies, written in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, are love poems, although they re- late to the sense of elegy as lament, in that many of them emphasize mutability and loss. In the seventeenth century the term elegy began to be limited to its most common present usage: a formal and sustained lament in verse for the death of a particular person, usually ending in a consolation.

Examples are the medieval poem The Pearl and Chaucer's Book of the Duchess (elegies in the mode of dream allegory); Alfred, Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850), on the death of Arthur Hallam; and W. H. Auden's "In Memory of W. B. Yeats" (1940). Occasionally the term is used in its older and broader sense, for somber meditations on mortality such as Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1757), and the Duino Elegies (1912-22) of the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke on the transience both of poets and of the earthly objects they write poems about.

Diction

Diction Definition:
    Diction is the distinctive tone or tenor of an author’s writings. Diction is not just a writer's choice of words it can include the mood, attitude, dialect and style of writing. Diction is usually judged with reference to the prevailing standards of proper writing and speech and is seen as the mark of quality of the writing. It is also understood as the selection of certain words or phrases that become peculiar to a writer.

     Example:
Certain writers in the modern day and age use archaic terms such as ‘thy’, ‘thee’ and ‘wherefore’ to imbue a Shakespearean mood to their work.

Drama

Drama

       Drama is a form of literature which is written in dramatic dialogue form to be performed by some characters on the stage before the audience. A drama can be compared to the mountain. It comes to life when it is taken in the performance of actors who accept the roles of characters and speak the dialogues.

Denotation

Denotation Definition:

    Denotation refers to the use of the dictionary definition or literal meaning of a word. Example: They made a house. In the above sentence, house is meant literally as in a building where a family lives. If the word "home" was used instead in the above sentence in place of "house", the meaning would not be so literal as there are many emotions associated with the word "home" beyond simply the structure where people live.

Dramatic Monologue

Dramatic Monologue Definition:

     A speech delivered when a character is either alone or isolated on the stage. In dramatic monologue or soliloquy, the character freely gives vent to his feelings. The audience overhears the character talking himself or herself. The Monologues could be private as well as public.

Catharsis

Catharsis Definition: Catharsis is the emotional arouse which makes pity and fear to the audiences after watching the end of tragedy.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief Definition:

  A Comic Relief is the introduction of comic characters, speeches, or scenes in a serious or tragic work, especially in dramas. Such elements were almost universal in Elizabethan tragedy. Sometimes they occur merely as episodes of dialogue or horseplay for purposes of alleviating tension and adding variety; in more carefully wrought plays, however, they are also integrated with the plot, in a way that counterpoints and enhances the serious or tragic significance.

Example:
     Examples of such complex uses of comic elements are the gravediggers in Hamlet (V. L), the scene of the drunken porter after the murder of the king in Macbeth (II. iii.), the Falstaff scenes in 1 Henry IV, and the roles of Mercurio and the old nurse in Romeo and Juliet.

Chorus

Chorus Definition: A group of person who give much information to decorate and enlarge the act but they are not the character of the act. They make bridge among the past, present and future condition of the act and inform the audience.

Character

Character Definition: A person in a literary work. Any person in a play is considered as a character.

Conceit

Conceit Definition: Conceit is an elaborate figure of speech comparing two very dissimilar things or situations. The comparison may be startling, farfetched, fanciful or highly intellectual and may develop an analogy to its logical limits and beyond. John Donne has used many conceits in his poem, ‘The Good Morrow’. For example: ‘Or snorted we in the seven sleepers den?’

Comedy

Comedy Definition: Comedy is a play which ends happily. In general, any literary work that ends to amuse by dealing with humorous, familiar situation involving ordinary people speaking everyday language. There are different kinds of comedy; such as- comedy of humors, comedy of intrigue and comedy of manners. George Barnard Show’s Arms and The Man is a great comedy. Deve

Consonance

Consonance Definition:

     Consonance refers to repetition of sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. In this regard consonance can be understood to be a kind of alliteration. What sets it apart from alliterations is that it is the repetition of only consonant sounds. Consonance is the opposite of assonance, which implies repetitive usage of vowel sounds.

Example: 
Sing sweet songs for suzy.

Blank verse

Blank Verse Definition:
   
     Blank Verse consists of lines of iambic pentameter (five-stress iambic verse) which are unrhymed—hence the term "blank." Of all English metrical forms it is closest to the natural rhythms of English speech, and at the same time flexible and adaptive to diverse levels of discourse; as a result it has been more frequently and variously used than any other type of versification. Soon after blank verse was introduced by the Earl of Surrey in his translations of Books 2 and 4 of Virgil's The Aeneid (about 1540), it became the standard meter for Elizabethan and later poetic drama; a free form of blank verse is still the medium in such twentieth-century verse plays as those by Maxwell Anderson and T. S. Eliot. John Milton used blank verse for his epic Paradise Lost (1667), James Thomson for his descriptive and philosophical Seasons (1726-30), William Wordsworth for his autobiographical Prelude (1805), Alfred, Lord Tennyson for the narrative Idylls of the King (1891), Robert Browning for The Ring and the Book (1868-69) and many dramatic monologues, and T. S. Eliot for much of The Waste Land (1922). A large number of meditative lyrics, from the Romantic Period to the present, have also been written in blank verse, including Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight," Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey," Tennyson's "Tears, Idle Tears" (in which the blank verse is divided into five-line stanzas), and Wallace Stevens' "Sunday Morning."

Biography

Biography Definition:

   Late in the seventeenth century, John Dryden defined biography neatly as "the history of particular men's lives." The name now connotes a relatively full account of a particular person's life, involving the attempt to set forth character, temperament, and milieu, as well as the subject's activities and experiences.

Ballad

Ballad Definition:

      A short definition of the popular ballad (known also as the folk ballad or traditional ballad) is that it is a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story. Ballads are thus the narrative species of folk songs, which originate, and are communicated orally, among illiterate or only partly literate people. In all probability the initial version of a ballad was composed by a single author, but he or she is unknown; and since each singer who learns and re- peats an oral ballad is apt to introduce changes in both the text and the tune, it exists in many variant forms.
   Typically, the popular ballad is dramatic, condensed, and impersonal: the narrator begins with the climactic episode, tells the story tersely by means of action and dialogue (sometimes by means of the dialogue alone), and tells it without self-reference or the expression of personal attitudes or feelings.

    The most common stanza form—called the ballad stanza—is a quatrain in alternate four- and three-stress lines; usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme. This is the form of "Sir Patrick Spens"; the first stanza of this ballad also exemplifies the conventionally abrupt opening and the manner of proceeding by third-person narration, curtly sketched setting and action, sharp transition, and spare dialogue:
The king sits in Dumferling towne, Drinking the blude-red wine:
"O whar will I get a guid sailor,
To sail this schip of mine. 

Autobiography

Autobiography Definition:

     An Autobiography is a biography written by the subject about himself or herself. It is to be distinguished from the memoir, in which the emphasis is not on the author's developing self but on the people and events that the author has known or witnessed, and also from the private diary or journal, which is a day-to-day record of the events in one's life, written for personal use and satisfaction, with little or no thought of publication.

Example:
      The latter type are the seventeenth-century diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, the eighteenth-century journals of James Boswell and Fanny Burney, and Dorothy Wordsworth's remarkable Journals, written 1798-1828, but not published until long after her death. The first fully developed autobiography is also the most influential: the Confessions of St. Augustine, written in the fourth century.

Antihero

Antihero Definition:

       The chief person in a modern novel or play whose character is widely discrepant from that which we associate with the traditional protagonist or hero of a serious literary work. Instead of manifesting largeness, dignity, power, or heroism, the antihero is petty, ignominious, passive, ineffectual, or dishonest.

Analogy

Analogy Definition:

       An analogy is a literary device that helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas. By using an analogy we can convey a new idea by using the blueprint of an old one as a basis for understanding. With a mental linkage between the two, one can create comprehension regarding the new concept in a simple and succinct manner.

Example:
    In the same way as one cannot have the rainbow without the rain, one cannot achieve success and riches without hard work.

Asyndeton

Asyndeton Definition:

          Assonance refers to repetition of sounds produced by vowels within a sentence or phrase. In this regard assonance can be understood to be a kind of alliteration. What sets it apart from alliterations is that it is the repetition of only vowel sounds. Assonance is the opposite of consonance, which implies repetitive usage of consonant sounds.

     Example:
“A long song”. (Where the ‘o’ sound is repeated in the last two words of the sentence)

Antithesis

Antithesis Definition:

    An antithesis is used when the writer employs two sentences of contrasting meanings in close proximity to one another. Whether they are words or phrases of the same sentence, an antithesis is used to create a stark contrast using two divergent elements that come together to create one uniform whole. An antithesis plays on the complementary property of opposites to create one vivid picture. The purpose of using an antithesis in literature is to create a balance between opposite qualities and lend a greater insight into the subject.

Example:
         When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon it might have been one small step for a man but it was one giant leap for mankind.

Anastrophe

Anastrophe Definition:

  Anastrophe is a form of literary device wherein the order of the noun and the adjective in the sentence is exchanged. In standard parlance and writing the adjective comes before the noun but when one is employing an anastrophe the noun is followed by the adjective. This reversed order creates a dramatic impact and lends weight to the description offered by the adjective.

Example:
      He spoke of times past and future, and dreamt of things to be.

Assonance

Assonance Definition:

  Assonance refers to repetition of sounds produced by vowels within a sentence or phrase. In this regard assonance can be understood to be a kind of alliteration. What sets it apart from alliterations is that it is the repetition of only vowel sounds. Assonance is the opposite of consonance, which implies repetitive usage of consonant sounds.

Example:
“A long song”.
(Where the ‘o’ sound is repeated in the last two words of the sentence)

Anagram

Anagram Definition:
     Anagrams are an extremely popular form of literary device wherein the writer jumbles up parts of the word to create a new word. From the syllables of a phrase to the individual letters of a word, any fraction can be jumbled to create a new form. Anagram is a form of wordplay that allows the writer to infuse mystery and a little interactive fun in the writing so that the reader can decipher the actual word on their own and discover a depth of meaning to the writing.
 
Example:
    An anagram for "debit card" is "bad credit". As you can see, both phrases use the same letters. By mixing the letters a bit of humor is created.

Amplification

 
Amplification Definition:
    Amplification refers to a literary practice wherein the writer embellishes the sentence by adding more information to it in order to increase its worth and understandability. When a plain sentence is too abrupt and fails to convey the full implications desired, amplification comes into play when the writer adds more to the structure to give it more meaning.

Example:
Original sentence- The thesis paper was difficult. After amplification- The thesis paper was difficult: it required extensive research, data collection, sample surveys, interviews and a lot of fieldwork.

Allusion

Allusion Definition:

An allusion is a figure of speech whereby the author refers to a subject matter such as a place, event, or literary work by way of a passing reference. It is up to the reader to make a connection to the subject being mentioned.
Example:
It’s no wonder everyone refers to Mary as another Mother Teresa in the making; she loves to help and care after people everywhere- from the streets to her own friends.
In the example the author uses the mention of Mother Teresa to indicate the sort of qualities that Mary has.

Alliteration

Alliteration Definition:

Alliteration is a literary device where words are used in quick succession and begin with letters belonging to the same sound group. Whether it is the consonant sound or a specific vowel group, the alliteration involves creating a repetition of similar sounds in the sentence. Alliterations are also created when the words all begin with the same letter. Alliterations are used to add character to the writing and often add an element of ‘fun’ to the piece.

  Example:
The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way. (The ‘W’ sound is highlighted and repeated throughout the sentence.)

Literary Terms

Allegory Definition:

An allegory is a symbolism device where the meaning of a greater, often abstract, concept is conveyed with the aid of a more corporeal object or idea being used as an example. Usually a rhetoric device, an allegory suggests a meaning via metaphoric examples.
Example:
       Faith is like a stony uphill climb:
a single stumble might send you sprawling but belief and steadfastness will see you to the very top.

Jane and Eliza

There were two little girls, neither handsome nor plain; One's name was Eliza, the other's was Jane: They were both of one height, as I've heard people say, They were both of one age, I believe, to a day. 'Twas fancied by some, who but slightly had seen them, That scarcely a difference was there between them; But no one for long in this notion persisted, So great a distinction there really existed. Eliza knew well that she could not be pleasing, While fretting and fuming, while sulky or teasing; And therefore in company artfully tried­ Not to break her bad habits, but only to hide. So when she was out, with much labour and pain, She contrived to look almost a pleasant as Jane; But then you might see, that in forcing a smile, Her mouth was uneasy, and ached all the while. And in spite of her care, it would sometimes befall, That some cross event happen'd to ruin it all; And because it might chance that her share was the worst, Her temper broke loose, and her dimples dispersed. But Jane, who had nothing she wanted to hide, And therefore these troublesome arts never tried, Had none of the care and fatigue of concealing, But her face always show'd what her bosom was feeling. At home or abroad there was peace in her smile, A cheerful good nature that needed no guile. And Eliza work'd hard, but could never obtain The affection that freely was given to Jane. ~ Jane and Eliza

Me thinks this heart

Me thinks this heart should rest awhile So stilly round the evening falls The veiled sun sheds no parting smile Nor mirth nor music wakes my Halls I have sat lonely all the day Watching the drizzly mist descend And first conceal the hills in grey And then along the valleys wend And I have sat and watched the trees And the sad flowers how drear they blow Those flowers were formed to feel the breeze Wave their light leaves in summer's glow Yet their lives passed in gloomy woe And hopeless comes its dark decline And I lament because I know That cold departure pictures mine

I loved you

I loved you, and I probably still do, And for a while the feeling may remain... But let my love no longer trouble you, I do not wish to cause you any pain. I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew, The jealousy, the shyness - though in vain - Made up a love so tender and so true As may God grant you to be loved again. Translated by Genia Gurarie, 11/10/95 Copyright retained by Genia Gurarie. email: egurarie@princeton.edu http://www.princeton.edu/~egurarie/ For permission to reproduce, write personally to the translator. ~ "I loved you..." - Alexander Pushkin Shared Via English Poems Android App. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.banaka.mohit.englishpoems

Pope's The First Epistle

The First Epistle Awake, my ST. JOHN!(1) leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of Kings. Let us (since Life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die) Expatiate(2) free o'er all this scene of Man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan; A Wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot, Or Garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield; The latent tracts(3), the giddy heights explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies, And catch the Manners living as they rise; Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate(4) the ways of God to Man. 1. Say first, of God above, or Man below, What can we reason, but from what we know? Of Man what see we, but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer? Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, 'Tis ours to trace him only in our own. He, who thro' vast immensity can pierce, See worlds on worlds compose one universe, Observe how system into system runs, What other planets circle other suns, What vary'd being peoples ev'ry star, May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties, The strong connections, nice dependencies, Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look'd thro'? or can a part contain the whole? Is the great chain, that draws all to agree, And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee? II. Presumptuous Man! the reason wouldst thou find, Why form'd so weak, so little, and so blind! First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess, Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less! Ask of thy mother earth, why oaks are made Taller or stronger than the weeds they shade? Or ask of yonder argent fields(5) above, Why JOVE'S Satellites are less than JOVE?(6) Of Systems possible, if 'tis confest That Wisdom infinite must form the best, Where all must full or not coherent be, And all that rises, rise in due degree; Then, in the scale of reas'ning life, 'tis plain There must be, somewhere, such rank as Man; And all the question (wrangle e'er so long) Is only this, if God has plac'd him wrong? Respecting Man, whatever wrong we call, Nay, must be right, as relative to all. In human works, tho' labour'd on with pain, A thousand movements scarce one purpose gain; In God's, one single can its end produce; Yet serves to second too some other use. So Man, who here seems principal alone, Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; 'Tis but a part we see, and not a whole. When the proud steed shall know why Man restrains His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains; When the dull Ox, why now he breaks the clod, Is now a victim, and now Egypt's God:(7) Then shall Man's pride and dullness comprehend His actions', passions', being's, use and end; Why doing, suff'ring, check'd, impell'd; and why This hour a slave, the next a deity. Then say not Man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault; Say rather, Man's as perfect as he ought; His knowledge measur'd to his state and place, His time a moment, and a point his space. If to be perfect in a certain sphere, What matter, soon or late, or here or there? The blest today is as completely so, As who began a thousand years ago. III. Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of Fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state; From brutes what men, from men what spirits know: Or who could suffer Being here below? The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, Had he thy Reason, would he skip and play? Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food, And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood. Oh blindness to the future! kindly giv'n, That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heav'n; Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, A hero perish, or a sparrow fall, Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; Wait the great teacher Death, and God adore! What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that Hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never Is, but always To be blest: The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; His soul proud Science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk, or milky way; Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'n, Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heav'n; Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd, Some happier island in the watry waste, Where slaves once more their native land behold, No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold! To Be, contents his natural desire, He asks no Angel's wing, no Seraph's(8) fire; But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company. IV. Go, wiser thou! and in thy scale of sense Weigh thy Opinion against Providence; Call Imperfection what thou fancy'st such, Say, here he gives too little, there too much; Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust,(9) Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust; If Man alone ingross not Heav'n's high care, Alone made perfect here, immortal there: Snatch from his hand the balance(10) and the rod, Re-judge his justice, be the GOD of GOD! In Pride, in reas'ning Pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere, and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, Men would be Angels, Angels would be Gods. Aspiring to be Gods, if Angels fell, Aspiring to be Angels, Men rebel; And who but wishes to invert the laws Of ORDER, sins against th' Eternal Cause. V. Ask for what end the heav'nly bodies shine, Earth for whose use? Pride answers, "Tis for mine: For me kind Nature wakes her genial pow'r, Suckles each herb, and spreads out ev'ry flow'r; Annual for me, the grape, the rose renew The juice nectareous, and the balmy dew; For me, the mine a thousand treasures brings; For me, health gushes from a thousand springs; Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My foot-stool earth, my canopy the skies." But errs not Nature from this gracious end, From burning suns when livid deaths descend, When earthquakes swallow, or when tempests sweep Towns to one grave, whole nations to the deep? "No ('tis reply'd) the first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral laws; Th' exceptions few; some change since all began, And what created perfect?" -- Why then Man? If the great end be human Happiness, Then Nature deviates; and can Man do less? As much that end a constant course requires Of show'rs and sun-shine, as of Man's desires; As much eternal springs and cloudless skies, As Men for ever temp'rate, calm, and wise. If plagues or earthquakes break not Heav'n's design, Why then a Borgia,(11) or a Catiline?(12) Who knows but he, whose hand the light'ning forms, Who heaves old Ocean, and who wings the storms, Pours fierce Ambition in a Caesar's(13) mind, Or turns young Ammon(14) loose to scourge mankind? From pride, from pride, our very reas'ning springs; Account for moral as for nat'ral things: Why charge we Heav'n in those, in these acquit? In both, to reason right is to submit. Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear, Were there all harmony, all virtue here; That never air or ocean felt the wind; That never passion discompos'd the mind: But ALL subsists by elemental strife; and Passions are the elements of Life. The gen'ral ORDER, since the whole began, Is kept in Nature, and is kept in Man. VI. What would this Man? Now upward will he soar, And little less than Angel,(15) would be more; Now looking downwards, just as griev'd appears To want the strength of bulls, the fur of bears. Made for his use all creatures if he call, Say what their use, had he the pow'rs of all? Nature to these, without profusion kind, The proper organs, proper pow'rs assign'd; Each seeming want compensated of course, Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; All in exact proportion to the state; Nothing to add, and nothing to abate. Each beast, each insect, happy in its own; Is Heav'n unkind to Man, and Man alone? Shall he alone, whom rational we call, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not bless'd with all? The bliss of Man (could Pride that blessing find) Is not to act or think beyond mankind; No pow'rs of body or of soul to share, But what his nature and his state can bear. Why has not Man a microscopic eye? For this plain reason, Man is not a Fly. Say what the use, were finer optics giv'n, T' inspect a mite,(16) not comprehend the heav'n? Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er, To smart and agonize at ev'ry pore? Or quick effluvia(17) darting thro' the brain, Die of a rose in aromatic pain? If nature thunder'd in his op'ning ears, And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, How would he wish that Heav'n had left him still The whisp'ring Zephyr,(18) and the purling rill?(19) Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Alike in what it gives, and what denies? VII. Far as Creation's ample range extends, The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends: Mark how it mounts, to Man's imperial race, From the green myriads in the people grass: What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam: Of smell, the headlong lioness between, And hound sagacious(20) on the tainted(21) green: Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood,(22) To that which warbles thro' the vernal(23) wood: The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine! Feels at each thread, and lives along the line: In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true From pois'nous herbs extracts the healing dew:(24) How Instinct varies in the grov'ling swine, Compar'd, half-reas'ning elephant, with thine: 'Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier; For ever sep'rate, yet for ever near! Remembrance and Reflection how ally'd; What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide: And Middle natures,(25) how they long to join, Yet never pass th' insuperable line! Without this just gradation, could they be Subjected these to those, or all to thee? The pow'rs of all subdu'd by thee alone, Is not thy Reason all these pow'rs in one? VIII. See, thro' this air, this ocean, and this earth, All matter quick, and bursting into birth. Above, how high progressive life may go! Around, how wide! how deep extend below! Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal,(26) human, angel, man Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no eye can see, No glass can reach! from Infinite to thee, From thee to Nothing! -- On superior pow'rs Were we to press, inferior might on ours: Or in the full creation leave a void, Where, one step broken, the great scale's destoy'd: From Nature's chain whatever link you strike, Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. And if each system in gradation roll, Alike essential to th' amazing whole; The least confusion but in one, not all That system only, but the whole must fall. Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly, Planets and Suns run lawless thro' the sky, Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl'd, Being on being wreck'd, and world on world, Heav'n's whole foundations to their centre nod, And Nature tremble to the throne of God: All this dread ORDER break -- for whom? for thee? Vile worm! -- oh, Madness, Pride, Impiety! IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread, Or hand to toil, aspir'd to be the head? What if the head, the eye, or ear repin'd(27) To serve mere engines to the ruling Mind? Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains The great directing MIND of ALL ordains. All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body, Nature is, and God the soul; That, chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the same, Great in the earth, as in th' ethereal frame, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent, Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal parts, As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns, As the rapt Seraph that adores and burns; To him no high, no low, no great, no small; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. X. Cease then, nor ORDER Imperfection name: Our proper bliss depends on what we blame. Know thy own point: This kind, this due degree Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee. Submit -- In this, or any other sphere, Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear: Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r, Or in the natal, or the mortal hour. All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee; All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see; All Discord, Harmony, not understood; All partial Evil, universal Good: And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite, One truth is clear, "Whatever IS, is RIGHT." Argument of the Second Epistle: Of the Nature and State of Man, with respect to Himself, as an Individual. The business of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of Mankind is Man. Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,(28) A being darkly wise, and rudely great: With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side, With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest, In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast; In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer, Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such, Whether he thinks too little, or too much: Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd; Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd; Created half to rise, and half to fall; Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all; Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd: The glory, jest, and riddle of the world! ENDNOTES: 1[His friend, Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke] 2[to wander] 3[hidden areas] 4[explain or defend] 5[silvery fields, i.e., the heavens] 6[the planet Jupiter] 7[ancient Egyptians sometimes worshipped oxen] 8[the highest level of angels] 9[pleasure] 10[the balance used to weigh justice] 11[Caesar Borgia (1476-1507) who used any cruelty to achieve his ends] 12[Lucious Sergius Catilina (108-62 B.C.) who was a traitor to Rome] 13[Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) who was thought to be overly ambitious Roman] 14[Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.)] 15[Psalm 8:5--"Thou hast made him [man] a little lower than the angels...."] 16[small insect] 17[vapors which were believed to pass odors to the brain] 18[the West Wind] 19[stream] 20[able to pick up a scent] 21[having the odor of an animal] 22[ocean] 23[green] 24[honey was thought to have medicinal properties] 25[Animals slightly below humans on the chain of being] 26[heavenly] 27[complained] 28[i.e., on the chain of being between angels and animals] ~ Essay on Man - Alexander Pope

The Snake

D. H. Lawrence Snake A snake came to my water-trough On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat, To drink there. In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree I came down the steps with my pitcher And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before me. He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough And rested his throat upon the stone bottom, i o And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness, He sipped with his straight mouth, Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, Silently. Someone was before me at my water-trough, And I, like a second comer, waiting. He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do, And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do, And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment, And stooped and drank a little more, Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking. The voice of my education said to me He must be killed, For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.

The Stone

"And will you cut a stone for him, To set above his head? And will you cut a stone for him-- A stone for him?" she said. Three days before, a splintered rock Had struck her lover dead-- Had struck him in the quarry dead, Where, careless of a warning call, He loitered, while the shot was fired-- A lively stripling, brave and tall, And sure of all his heart desired . . . A flash, a shock, A rumbling fall . . . And, broken 'neath the broken rock, A lifeless heap, with face of clay, And still as any stone he lay, With eyes that saw the end of all. I went to break the news to her: And I could hear my own heart beat With dread of what my lips might say; But some poor fool had sped before; And, flinging wide her father's door, Had blurted out the news to her, Had struck her lover dead for her, Had struck the girl's heart dead in her, Had struck life, lifeless, at a word, And dropped it at her feet: Then hurried on his witless way, Scarce knowing she had heard. And when I came, she stood alone-- A woman, turned to stone: And, though no word at all she said, I knew that all was known. Because her heart was dead, She did not sigh nor moan. His mother wept: She could not weep. Her lover slept: She could not sleep. Three days, three nights, She did not stir: Three days, three nights, Were one to her, Who never closed her eyes From sunset to sunrise, From dawn to evenfall-- Her tearless, staring eyes, That, seeing naught, saw all. The fourth night when I came from work, I found her at my door. "And will you cut a stone for him?" She said: and spoke no more: But followed me, as I went in, And sank upon a chair; And fixed her grey eyes on my face, With still, unseeing stare. And, as she waited patiently, I could not bear to feel Those still, grey eyes that followed me, Those eyes that plucked the heart from me, Those eyes that sucked the breath from me And curdled the warm blood in me, Those eyes that cut me to the bone, And cut my marrow like cold steel. And so I rose and sought a stone; And cut it smooth and square: And, as I worked, she sat and watched, Beside me, in her chair. Night after night, by candlelight, I cut her lover's name: Night after night, so still and white, And like a ghost she came; And sat beside me, in her chair, And watched with eyes aflame. She eyed each stroke, And hardly stirred: she never spoke A single word: And not a sound or murmur broke The quiet, save the mallet stroke. With still eyes ever on my hands, With eyes that seemed to burn my hands, My wincing, overwearied hands, She watched, with bloodless lips apart, And silent, indrawn breath: And every stroke my chisel cut, Death cut still deeper in her heart: The two of us were chiselling, Together, I and Death. And when at length my job was done, And I had laid the mallet by, As if, at last, her peace were won, She breathed his name, and, with a sigh, Passed slowly through the open door: And never crossed my threshold more. Next night I laboured late, alone, To cut her name upon the stone. by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

About Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".[1] He is the subject of the most famous biography in English literature, namely The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.[2] Samuel Johnson  Samuel Johnson c. 1772, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds Born 18 September 1709 (O.S. 7 September) Lichfield, Staffordshire, England Died 13 December 1784 (aged 75) London, England Occupation Essayist, lexicographer, biographer, poet Language English Alma mater Pembroke College, Oxford (no degree) Spouse Elizabeth Porter (née Jervis) Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford, for just over a year, but a lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene. After nine years of work, Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been acclaimed as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship".[3] This work brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was the pre-eminent British dictionary.[4] His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, and the widely read tale The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; Johnson described their travels in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.